The Arsenal Church

The Arsenal Church
  • 5.0 (10)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to the audio podcast of The Arsenal Church in Southtown San Antonio. We hope that these podcasts encourage you, speak life, and bring hope to you throughout your week. To learn more about The Arsenal Church visit www.thearsenal.church.

  1. Aug 9

    Nobody Argues Their Way Into a New Life | Unforced (Week 1) | Chad Belew

    What if the life you're trying to earn is one you've already been given? Chad opens Unforced — an eight-week series on the rhythms of grace — by going back to where the summer left off. Four people stood on this stage and told their stories, and across four very different lives one word kept surfacing. It wasn't a churchy one. It was safe. From there he opens Matthew 11 in Eugene Peterson's translation: "Come to me… get away with me and you'll recover your life… learn the unforced rhythms of grace." He takes apart what a yoke actually was, why "rooted and grounded" in Ephesians is a Greek perfect passive — already done, and done to you — and what the Eastern church meant by theosis: becoming like Christ isn't the prize at the finish line, it's the life right now. He's blunt about the risk of a series like this. If any week of it starts to feel like a scoreboard, a new way to fail, come tell him — because then it was built wrong. The practices ahead are deliberately small, and the smallness is the theology: if you can't fail it, it can't become a scoreboard. Nobody argued their way into a new life. They practiced their way there, in a room where it was finally safe to stop hiding. In this episode: - A month of listening to your stories - The one word that showed up in all four: "safe" - Matthew 11 — "I'll show you how to take a real rest" - What a yoke actually was, and how that changes the invitation - Practices, not performance - "If this sounds like a new way to fail, come tell me" - Already rooted, already grounded — the Greek perfect passive - Theosis — becoming like Christ is the life, not the prize - Jesus and the Sabbath - Why the series is called Unforced ???? References: Matthew 11:28–30 (The Message) · Ephesians 3:17–19 · the Sabbath grain-field accounts Series: Unforced Speaker: Chad Belew Date: 8/9/2026 Location: The Arsenal, San Antonio, TX — The Arsenal | San Antonio, TX ???? thearsenal.church ???? Download the Arsenal Church app ???? Questions or need prayer? hello@thearsenal.church ???? Give: thearsenal.church/give

  2. Aug 2

    I Had to Believe Shalom for Myself, Too | Arsenal Stories (Week 4) | Taryn Tipton

    What if the faith that formed you also handed you the things you'd spend years unlearning? Arsenal Stories continues — the series where we stop knowing people as a category and actually hear what they've lived. Taryn Tipton shares her faith journey: growing up in a small town where church, school, and family were so intertwined that "every part of my life was connected and colored by church." It was mostly good. And the same people who taught her about Jesus also taught her that a woman couldn't preach, that being gay is a sin, and quietly excluded people she loved. The beautiful and the harmful, all wrapped together. Underneath it, she was scared all the time — scared she'd gotten salvation wrong, scared of the rapture, wondering if she needed to get baptized again just to be safe. She traces what came next: discovering Shalom and a faith bigger than staying out of hell, deconstruction, a mustard-seed tattoo, a one-way flight to Spain, and finding God in a smoky temple in Bali, a Catholic mass, the NICU after her daughter was born, and crying with her foster son's mom. It lands on the line she had to grow into: if she could believe in Shalom for the world, she had to believe it for herself too. In this episode: - Finding the Arsenal — Daniel, Grace, and their foster son Alistair - Why she'd never told this story before - When every part of life was church — the beautiful and the harmful, wrapped together - Being scared of the rapture, and never sure salvation "took" - Shalom: a faith bigger than staying out of hell - Deconstruction, and a mustard seed tattoo - A one-way flight to Spain - Seeing God in Bali, a Catholic mass, the NICU, and her foster son's mom - "If I believed in Shalom for the world, I had to believe it for myself, too" - Ephesians 4: "Live a life worthy of the calling you have received" ???? References: Ephesians 4:1 · Matthew 17:20 (the mustard seed) · the idea of Shalom Series: Stories Speaker: Taryn Tipton Date: 8/2/2026 Location: The Arsenal, San Antonio, TX — The Arsenal | San Antonio, TX ???? thearsenal.church ???? Download the Arsenal Church app ???? Questions or need prayer? hello@thearsenal.church ???? Give: thearsenal.church/give

  3. Jul 26

    Nothing I Asked For, But Everything I Needed | Arsenal Stories (Week 3) | Nate Kindig

    What happens when you finally learn the history of the church that raised you? Arsenal Stories continues — the series where we stop filing people away as "the guy in the back row" and actually hear what they've lived. Chad opens by introducing Nate: one of the kindest and smartest people you'll meet, and someone who has been in church a long time. Then Nate Kindig tells his story. He grew up Southern Baptist in Georgia, in Christian school, headed for vocational ministry — and by his own account he was *really, really good* at the order stage: he knew the rules, he met everyone's expectations, he kept the peace. Then the ground moved. He walks through the actual history of his denomination (including why it was founded in Augusta in 1845, and what it has and hasn't apologized for since), what it was like to move to the Dominican Republic and learn faith in someone else's language, and what he found on the other side of certainty — including a therapist who was "nothing I asked for, but everything I needed." Chad closes with the story of the bodies in the river: what it cost to walk upstream, being called a heretic for it, and who was already up there tending the fire when he arrived. In this episode: - Chad introduces Nate — and why this series exists - Growing up Southern Baptist: Christian school, the rules, and being good at "order" - A history of church denominations — including the 1845 founding of the Southern Baptist Convention - Order, disorder, reorder - The Dominican Republic: learning faith in another language - Looking for a therapist — and the one who showed up - "She was nothing that I asked for, but she was everything that I needed" - Chad: the bodies in the river, walking upstream, and the people around the fire - "If we can't welcome people, I don't think we're teaching the gospel" ???? References: the order → disorder → reorder framework · a history-of-church-denominations chart (truthforsaints.com) · Martin Buber (quoted in Chad's close) Series: Stories Speaker: Nate Kindig Date: 7/26/2026 Location: The Arsenal, San Antonio, TX — The Arsenal | San Antonio, TX ???? thearsenal.church ???? Download the Arsenal Church app ???? Questions or need prayer? hello@thearsenal.church ???? Give: thearsenal.church/give

  4. Jul 19

    What Happens When You Stop Pretending You're Fine | Arsenal Stories (Week 2) | Alexis Uribes

    What if the hardest thing to admit at church is that you're not okay? Arsenal Stories continues — the series where we stop saying a quick "hi" and actually hear what people survived to walk through the door. Chad opens on why the #1 source of awe across cultures isn't a canyon or the sky but *other people*, and how moral beauty — watching one human being love another — is the thing that undoes us. Then Alexis Uribes tells her story. She grew up as the baby of the family, the "good kid" who wanted to care for people and had it all together — and slowly built an identity around always having it together. Being the version everyone complimented meant it got harder and harder to let anyone see her tired, overwhelmed, or not okay. In a church culture where the only acceptable answer to "How are you?" was "We're fine," she learned to wear the mask. Through John Lynch's picture of two roads — the *pleasing God* path and the *trusting God* path — Alexis found language for what had been quietly breaking her, took the mask off, and found a place that finally felt safe: you don't have to have all the answers, you can ask the questions, you can be honest, and you're still loved. Chad closes on what real love actually does — it moves closer. In this episode: - Why the #1 source of awe across cultures is *other people* — and moral beauty (Chad's intro to the Stories series) - Alexis: the baby of the family, the "good kid" who wanted to care for people - Building an identity around always having it together - "How are you?" "We're fine." — the mask everyone learns to wear - John Lynch's two roads: the pleasing-God path vs. the trusting-God path - Taking the mask off — finding a place that finally felt safe - Chad: real love moves closer ???? References: John Lynch — *The Cure* / *TrueFaced* (pleasing God vs. trusting God); the study of awe & moral beauty (Dacher Keltner) — The Arsenal | San Antonio, TX ???? thearsenal.church ???? Download the Arsenal Church app ???? Questions or need prayer? hello@thearsenal.church ???? Give: thearsenal.church/give

  5. Jul 12

    When the House You Built Your Faith In Stops Feeling Safe | Arsenal Stories (Week 1) | Mark Bryand

    What happens when the house you built your whole faith inside of suddenly stops feeling safe? We're kicking off a new series — Arsenal Stories — on a simple conviction: you've been saying hi to people for years without ever knowing what they survived to walk through the door. Chad opens by tracing why the number one source of awe across cultures isn't the sky or a canyon — it's other people — and why every face is a "Thou," never an "it." Then Mark Bryand tells his story. He grew up in a beautiful, spirit-filled faith "house" that gave him love, music, and community — but also taught him that certainty was safer than curiosity and that wrestling made people uncomfortable. One day he woke up and home no longer felt safe. From the outside nothing looked different; inside, everything had changed. What followed — the songs that felt heavy, the prayers that hit the ceiling, the walking away — is what a lot of us call deconstruction. But broken walls can become open doors. Through grief, his mom's words ("everything you need is already within you"), and Psalm 139's promise that there is nowhere we can go from God's presence, Mark found his way home to love — and back to the music. In this episode: Why the #1 source of awe across cultures is other people (Chad's intro to the Stories series)Mark's "house" — the faith that formed him, and the rules that taught certainty over curiosityWaking up when home no longer feels safe: the start of deconstructionThe turtle that only grows to the size of its home — and the glass walls of religionGrief, his mom, and "everything you need is already within you"Psalm 139 (read by Jett Belew) — nowhere you can go from God's presenceBroken walls become open doors: finding the way home to loveScripture: Psalm 139 The Arsenal — San Antonio, TX. Sundays 11am, 105 Sadie St. thearsenal.church · thearsenal.church/give · hello@thearsenal.church

  6. Jun 14

    Who Told You That? — The Q&R Finale

    To close our "Who Told You That?" series, Chad opened the floor to your questions — submitted live via Slido — with Britney Carrasco moderating. It's an honest, unscripted conversation about everything the series stirred up. Chad lays the groundwork in Genesis 3 — the garden, and how the real story of the Fall is distrust that makes us hide, not just rule-breaking — then works through your hardest questions: Is sin a crime, or a disease? How do you reconcile a loving God with the Bible's picture of God as judge? If Jesus didn't die to pay a legal penalty, what did he die for? And what changes when you learn that, in the Hebrew imagination, a "judge" was someone who set people free? It's the heart of the whole series in one conversation: a God you can trust, sin as the distrust that makes us hide, and a Jesus who heals what's broken so we can see clearly and love our neighbor well. Scriptures touched: Genesis 3 · Romans 3:23 · Romans 6:23 · 1 John 1 · John 3:16 — The Arsenal is a Christ-centered community in Southtown, San Antonio. Sundays 11am · 105 Sadie St, San Antonio, TX. ???? thearsenal.church · ❤️ thearsenal.church/give · ???? download the Arsenal Church app Questions or need prayer? hello@thearsenal.church

  7. Jun 7

    "Fear of the Lord" Was Never Supposed to Be Fear | Who Told You That? (Week 8) | Chad Belew

    What if "the fear of the Lord" was never meant to be terror? In the final message of our Who Told You That? series, Pastor Chad Belew traces the difference between fear and awe — from a blackout patrol base in Baghdad to a garden where God came walking in the cool of the day, asking not "gotcha," but "Where are you?" If you've spent your life bracing for a God who's disappointed in you, this one reframes the whole relationship: the voice in the garden isn't hunting you down — it's calling you home. In this episode: - Why "the fear of the Lord" in Scripture reads more like awe than dread - Genesis 3 — God walking in the cool of the day, and the real weight of "Where are you?" - How shame teaches us to hide from the One who wants to carry us home - "Perfect love casts out fear" — what changes when you stop bracing and start trusting - The last question of the series: Where have you been calling it fear when God was offering you awe?

  8. May 31

    John 3:16 Was Never the Verse You Think It Is | Who Told You That? (Week 7) | Chad Belew

    The most famous verse in Christianity may be the most misread. Chad takes John 3:16 back to the late-night conversation it actually came from — Jesus and Nicodemus — and shows how a verse we memorized as a gospel-tract about heaven, hell, and a transaction at the cross was, in the original Greek, never about any of that. "Born again" is better read "born from above." "Perish" means lost, not damned. "Eternal life" is a quality of life that starts now, not a reward after you die. And the word for "gave" is the language of a Father moving toward us in love — not a payment that had to be collected before God could forgive. This is the heart of the whole series: who told you that's what it means, and have you ever gone back to check? In this episode: - A live audience quiz exposes how flattened our reading of John 3:16 has become - Why "born again" is better translated "born from above" — and how the church narrowed it for a thousand years - "Perish" as lost-and-found (the lost coin, sheep, and son), not eternal torment — with D.A. Carson, N.T. Wright, and David Bentley Hart - How Anselm (1098) and later Calvin reframed the cross from rescue into payment, and how we inherited it as if it were always there - The word "gave" vs. "handed over" — love expressing itself, not a transaction making love possible - Nicodemus's slow journey from the dark to broad daylight, and the difference between knowing about God (oida) and knowing God (ginosko) — The Arsenal | San Antonio, TX ???? thearsenal.church ???? Download the Arsenal Church app ???? Questions or need prayer? hello@thearsenal.church ???? Give: thearsenal.church/give

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
10 Ratings

About

Welcome to the audio podcast of The Arsenal Church in Southtown San Antonio. We hope that these podcasts encourage you, speak life, and bring hope to you throughout your week. To learn more about The Arsenal Church visit www.thearsenal.church.

Information

  • Creator
    The Arsenal Church
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Church
  • Show Website
    The Arsenal Church