The Barnabas Podcast Grace Church Seattle

In John 12, Jesus tells us that if we are to bear fruit, we must be like a seed that falls into the ground and dies. When the seed lets go of being a seed, God will cause new life to spring up from where that seed was planted. In many ways, our entire Christian lives are an opportunity for us to learn how to live into Jesus' words. We are invited by the Lord to surrender our autonomy and trust him to be at work bringing us into fresh experiences of the new life we have in Christ. Today I'm talking with my friend and fellow Grace staff member, Danielle Taniguchi. She's going to be sharing parts of her story about how God brought different people, churches, and experiences into her life, and through them has shaped her in life-giving ways. It's a story about the unexpected blessings of otherness, a deepening trust in the Lord, and a growing love for the church.

Today we're continuing our conversation with my friend Tom Carpenter, professor of psychology at Seattle Pacific University. One of Tom's areas of emphasis has to do with shame and guilt. Through our conversation today, we'll see him demonstrate an integrative approach to his academic endeavors. This approach combines his Christian faith with his interactions in psychology. As you'll see, Tom believes that the work being done in this field, which includes people from all kinds of faith commitments including agnostic and atheist researchers, meshes beautifully with the promises of God in the gospel. It's no stretch to say that some of the findings in academic psychology point to our need for Christ.

Today I'm talking with my friend Tom Carpenter, professor of Psychology at Seattle Pacific University. One of his students has described him as the human equivalent of a cup of coffee. While he seeks to operate within a Biblical framework, Tom is also convinced that God is at work in his academic field, graciously giving us a deeper understanding of the enigmatic creatures known as human beings. Today, we'll talk about the need for Christians to display intellectual humility in their work and some of the current conversations in the field of psychology. He will also give his take on personality tests and challenge the church to make room for "gruff" people.

In some ways, our lives may fit into broader patterns, but in very important ways, our stories are also one of a kind.Today, I'm joined by my friends, Joy & Eric as they talk about how God led them to adopt twin boys. Until I sat down with them, I understood adoption as being solely about people providing a home for a child for people who wouldn't otherwise have one. I saw adoption almost exclusively as a ministry of hospitality and care for 'the least of these' as Jesus puts it. But when Joy and Eric started their adoption process, they quickly found out that, in their words, they weren't actually needed. In other words, if they hadn't chosen adoption, their sons would have been provided with another home. So, they quickly began to wrestle with an important question: is it possible for adoption not to be about providing a family for someone who would otherwise not have one? In other words, is it ok for adoption to be viewed primarily as a means for growing one's family?

In part I, Jeff talked about how God has given scripture to us to transform us into people who love him and our neighbors. We ended that conversation talking about our need to unlearn some bad Bible-reading strategies.Today we'll pick up where we left off and move into learning Bible-reading strategies and approaches that are in better alignment with God's purpose for scripture.

The Bible is an ancient, strange, long, and difficult to understand collection of writings. Over the centuries, people have read the Bible and come to all kinds of different conclusions about what it teaches. So how do you read the Bible well?Today, we have part I of a conversation with my friend, Jeff Dryden, who is a professor of New Testament at Covenant College. Jeff talks about what the Bible is and how God intends to use it in our lives. Then, based on that understanding, we talk about how we can unlearn some bad Bible reading strategies and adopt some better strategies that are better aligned with the purpose of scripture.