Foundations Archives - Saturate

Discipleship Holy Spirit Missionary Prayer Spiritual Growth

April 25, 2023

Noticing God’s Movement

This practice was birthed out of the Ignatian movement started by St. Ignatius of Loyola, which saw monks travel the world to share the power and purpose of the gospel. These missionaries traveled in community and embedded themselves in cultures…

by Kendrick Banks 0

Discipleship Foundations Prayer Spiritual Growth

March 28, 2023

Being with God

I love when my kids tell me about their day. They are 4 and 8 years old, so they’re eager and excited to invite me into their little worlds. When I’m able to be undistracted and present with them, I…

by Kendrick Banks 0

Discipleship Gospel Spiritual Growth

February 28, 2023

Finding Our Humanity Through Lent

As I write this I’m suffering from a head cold. I hate being sick. I feel my mind and my body are failing me even though I know it’s an immune response for which I should be grateful. I just…

Church Discipleship Leadership Spiritual Growth

December 15, 2022

What a Year!

This morning, I read from Henri Nouwen’s book You Are the Beloved. One of the key statements that caught my attention is this: “We can easily lose sight of our joys and speak of our sorrows as the only reality…

by Dave Ainsworth 0

Bible & Theology Discipleship Gospel Missional Community Spiritual Growth

November 22, 2022

Finding Jesus in the Waiting

PREPARING FOR CHRISTMAS Certainly, Christmas is worth preparing for. Alongside Good Friday and Easter, Christmas is the most important holiday for the faith of the Christian. There is no gospel without the Incarnation. However, it is increasingly hard to appreciate…

by Brad Watson 0

Discipleship Foundations Gospel Leadership Spiritual Growth

November 18, 2022

Advent Resources for 2022

In the early days of Advent, we drive out to the Beck family farm to cut down a Christmas tree. Our only rule is it must be shorter than “Mom” so it will fit in our house. This rule is…

by Chuck Gschwend 0

Church Planting Discipleship Leadership Pastoring Prayer Spiritual Growth

November 3, 2022

Enjoying Jesus and Serving Jesus

Every good journey begins with a fresh awareness. An awakening perhaps. This article is written for those in ministry whose enjoyment of Jesus is missing in the current season. It is for those who deeply desire to ENJOY JESUS and…

by Dawson Jones 0

Community Discipleship Family Missional Community Missionary Servant Spiritual Growth

October 26, 2022

Engage this Fall with Missional Intentionality

The Fall season and its holidays, Halloween and Thanksgiving, offer us many opportunities to live as a "beautiful resistance" in our city. The following are suggestions for engaging the Fall season with both communal and missional intentionality. We recognize that…

by Rob Wegner 0

Discipleship Gospel Gospel Shepherding Spiritual Growth

October 18, 2022

Restoring Shalom

It is an understatement to say we encounter free-floating anxiety pretty much everywhere these days—at work and school, in our organizations, in politics, and in our homes and families. We can sense our muscles tightening, our jaws clenching, and our…

Discipleship Gospel Shepherding Mission Pastoring Spiritual Growth

October 11, 2022

Soul Care as Mission

I have a few friends that I meet with regularly that are not (currently) believers in Jesus. We grab coffee and talk about life, the world, and God. When we meet, I ask them about what’s going on in their…

by Ben Connelly 0

Bible & Theology Discipleship Foundations Gospel

October 4, 2022

A Gospel-Centered Gospel

This is adapted from Ben Connelly's newest book Reading the Bible, Missing the Gospel, ©2022 Moody Publishers. Get your copy here or wherever you buy books.I grew up in a religious culture. I knew a lot about Jesus. I was…

Church Church Planting Discipleship Leadership Multiplication Pastoring Spiritual Growth

June 22, 2022

Equipping Disciples for Transformation

When you look at the equipping ministry of Jesus, and then consider common equipping practices today, it is clear that many of us have gaps in our approach. So much of our training merely informs people, leading them to gain…

Church Discipleship Gospel Leadership Pastoring

June 6, 2022

A Call to Fight for the Joy of Unity

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It…

Church Discipleship Leadership Multiplication Spiritual Growth

May 16, 2022

A Pathway for Discipleship

You’ve heard it said, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” The same can be said of our disciple-making strategies. Jesus made it clear that our mission as His disciples is to make disciples of all nations, baptizing…

Apologetics Bible & Theology Discipleship Everyday Rhythms Foundations Gospel Spiritual Growth

April 26, 2022

Bringing the Gospel to Our Lips

If you and others around you are going to grow in gospel fluency, you need consistent immersion in a gospel-speaking community. This needs to be much more than a weekly gathering of the church where the gospel is preached…

Discipleship Everyday Rhythms Faith and Work Missionary Spiritual Growth

April 20, 2022

Devotion and Vocation

I started teaching full-time in October. Prior to this, I had primarily been either a student or a stay-at-home mom, which meant I was consistently able to dedicate a good chunk of time to “being with Jesus'' in Word and…

by Chuck Gschwend 0

Discipleship Gospel Gospel Shepherding Spiritual Growth

April 12, 2022

Holy Saturday

Luke’s account of Good Friday reveals: “It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.…

Discipleship Leadership Pastoring Prayer Spiritual Growth

March 29, 2022

Pastor, Prioritize the “Mini-Retreat”

Craving a “Date” with Jesus Pastoral ministry comes with some of the greatest joys and deepest sorrows. I remember a particularly draining season, filled with all kinds of discouragements. I was doubting my own effectiveness at discipling others, feeling the…

by Clay Jernigan 0

Discipleship Everyday Rhythms Gospel Mission Missionary Prayer

March 22, 2022

Neighborhood Prayer Challenge

When we think about the magnitude of seeing every life saturated with the gospel of Jesus Christ and how many people live in our cities, it can become overwhelming. For some, that overwhelming feeling can immobilize us. Moving from big…

by Georgia Lee 0

Everyday Rhythms Family Gospel Missional Community Missionary Servant

March 15, 2022

Doing Justice & Loving Mercy

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have…

by Michelle Pallansch 0

Discipleship Foundations Spiritual Growth

March 8, 2022

Longing for More of Jesus

Busyness has a way of stealing our joy and distracting us from the important, lasting things of life. Over the years, I have found this to be increasingly true during big holidays like Easter. Amidst the lists of to-dos, wrangling…

Church Discipleship Leadership Pastoring

March 1, 2022

Culture Makers

Since the beginning of creation, humanity has been creating and cultivating—bringing into existence new ideas and new life, while simultaneously establishing a culture where ideas and life either flourish or flail. As Andy Crouch states in his book Culture Making,…

Discipleship Gospel Leadership Missional Community Spiritual Growth

February 16, 2022

Holistic Discipleship

Discipleship is a holistic enterprise. Any discipleship process that leads people to become more like Jesus will address the head, heart, and hands—what people know, what people feel and believe, and what people do. Whenever the people under our leadership…

by Steve White 0

Discipleship Family Servant Spiritual Growth

February 15, 2022

Sitting Shiva

It’s been a little over a year since we lost our beloved daughter Erin to cancer. My wife and I will never get over it nor do we want to get over it. For some reason, this decision seems to…

by Jayne Vanderstelt 0

Discipleship Foundations Gospel Identity Mission Missional Community

February 1, 2022

Marked by One-ness

Have you ever tried making a sandwich with one hand? We often take for granted that most everyday tasks are a whole lot easier with two. Our body is an amazing picture of what it looks like to need…

by Steve Hart 0

Discipleship Everyday Rhythms Foundations Gospel Spiritual Growth Uncategorized

January 25, 2022

Abundant Fruitfulness

Over the last few years I’ve been increasingly convinced that forming resilient disciples in our culture is going to take a lot more than good Sunday services and healthy small groups. As I survey the landscape of American Christianity, there’s…

Discipleship Gospel Spiritual Growth

January 18, 2022

Hope for a New Year

Every year It’s A Wonderful Life plays in the background as my husband and I set out gifts on Christmas Eve. It’s a story I need amidst the materialism and mayhem. I need it because of the tug of war…

by Brad Watson 0

Discipleship Gospel Holy Spirit Prayer Spiritual Growth Uncategorized

January 11, 2022

The Voice of the Spirit

The following is Day 1 of 5 in a new devotional called Spirit Lead. This devotional helps create a moment of pause and reflection with God while you consider your life within the church, listen to the Spirit, and ask:…

Discipleship Foundations Gospel Mission

December 20, 2021

Advent and the Coming of Christ

I’m not sure why, but every time I’ve heard the word Advent this season I’ve thought of the song “Jesus Is Coming Soon,” a song I’ve never particularly liked. I didn’t know whether to laugh, cringe, or cry the first…

Discipleship Domains of Society Prayer

December 15, 2021

Celebrating God’s Work in 2021

God has been at work in and through all of us this past year. It would take volumes to describe all that He has done. Our team is so encouraged by the way we see God at work in and…

Discipleship Mission Spiritual Growth

December 14, 2021

The Missional Heart of Advent

The holiday season is one of the busiest times of year for most of us. We buy gifts, decorate the house, visit loved ones, enjoy traditions, and plan big get-togethers. Although 30% of all charitable giving happens in December and…

Gospel Prayer Spiritual Growth

December 7, 2021

Hope in God’s Help

READ PSALM 121 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you…

Discipleship Gospel Missional Community Spiritual Growth

November 30, 2021

Trusting the Process

My husband has on occasion accused me of thinking I have a superpower: the power to identify what’s wrong in someone else’s life and the right to tell her what she should do to fix it. But we all know…

by Tommy Rutledge 0

Church Planting Discipleship Leadership Missional Community Pastoring Spiritual Growth

November 22, 2021

Missional Community Living

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” - King Solomon, Ecclesiastes 3:1 This past weekend my two boys and I road-tripped deep into Appalachia, passing through North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky. Our…