Top 5 Podcasts of 2019

 

I’m given the incredible privilege of talking with disciples across the globe about what Jesus is doing in their neighborhoods, churches, and cities. The power of the gospel transcends strategies, brands, and egos! I’m always amazed how a conversation about strategies tends to always find its way to these incredible truths: Jesus is better than everything, his church is more than we could imagine, and his mission is everyday. Often, after having these conversations in private, we decide they were too good to have just to ourselves and they become Saturate Podcast episodes. This was a great year for the Saturate podcast and I want to highlight my five favorite conversations from 2019. 

Episode 69: Making Disciples in Narcissistic Society  

In this episode, I talked with Adam Breckenridge about the challenges and opportunities we face as we make disciples in a self-focused culture. How do you challenge and encourage people toward Jesus when all we can think about is ourselves? I loved this conversation because I believe it is the central challenge to communities on mission and the central obstacle we face in proclaiming good news to those around us.

Episodes 72: Everyday Intentionality: Bless

In this episode, I talked with my wife, Mirela Watson, about living life with gospel intentionality and why it is hard to think of others as a way of life and how to practically make blessing others an everyday rhythm. This conversation was deep and natural. Also it was interrupted several times by our children: so thank you to the power of editing! This was part of a large series about how the mission is everyday, the whole series is episodes 71 through 77. 

Episode 87: Living the Gospel Locally and Globally 

Every so often, I get to have a conversation with a hero. In this episode I got to spend an hour talking with a gospel movement legend too few people have heard of, Al Henson. He’s been leading a simple Jesus loving movement from Tennessee to southeast Asia for decades. We talked about the power of the church being both on mission across the street and on mission across the globe.

Episode 91: Gospel Movement in Latin America

I spent a week this past year in Mexico dreaming and praying with the Saturate team about the future of this ministry. In the midst of that time, I got to sit down with Atanasio Segovia, leader of Familia Soma, and talk about what God is doing in Latin America, and also dive into how missional communities and churches can be on mission to Latinos in our context.

Episode 92: Marks of a Movement 

In this episode, I got to geek out with professor, pastor, and writer Winfield Bevins about what we can learn from Weslyan revival movement in the 18th century. We talked about the discipleship systems, vision, and transformative power from this movement. More than that, we talked about the ingredients of something we pray for all the time in Saturate: a revival in North America.