April 1, 2021
A Sorrowful Good Friday
Jesus walked the earth as a man with flesh and bones. Take a moment to try to sense how real He is. Try to feel it. Picture His dark curly hair, His deep olive complexion, His eyes full of…
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March 25, 2021
Gospel Fluency for Our Neighbors
This year has presented many opportunities to speak of Jesus with our friends and neighbors. After all we’ve gone through, our neighbors' needs and emotions create space to enter into their real experiences and point them to the truth…
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March 23, 2021
Hope in the Grave
There is always hope in darkness, because there was Hope lying in a grave for three days—He who now is seated at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. Can you imagine what it must have been like…
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March 17, 2021
Gospel Fluency for Our Fear
Pastors and leaders, have you felt out of control over this past year? If we’re honest, many of us have been filled with fear about our churches, our leadership, and the future of pastoral ministry as a whole. In the…
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March 15, 2021
Communion in Community
Holy Week is almost here and we have the opportunity to remember in our missional communities that what Jesus accomplished for us two thousand years ago matters in our lives today. The gospel isn’t just the good news that…
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March 11, 2021
Gospel Fluency for Our Sadness
The past year has been filled with loss, chaos, and sadness for many. How does the gospel speak to our sadness in this moment? In the video below, Jeff Vanderstelt shared how God has given us the gift of…
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March 2, 2021
Communities of Commitment
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the…
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February 24, 2021
What Story Am I a Part Of?
Written by Kevin Platt and Chris Gonzalez If you have ever led a missional community or a congregation of missional communities, you have fielded some form of at least a few, if not all, of these questions: Who is God?…
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February 18, 2021
Keeping Lent Meaningful
In three of the gospel accounts, Jesus, prior to beginning His ministry, was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. For 40 days He went without food and the comforts of life, yet He…
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February 16, 2021
The Ultimate Aim and Reward of Lent
I am often reminded by one of my friends that the ultimate prize for Christians is simply that we get Jesus. This is the ultimate aim and reward of Lent. The season of Lent is upon us. My first encounter…
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February 11, 2021
Why Practice Lent as a Community on Mission?
What is Lent? Lent is a forty-day-long journey through daily and sometimes hourly reminders of the gospel because our stomachs are hungry or our hearts are longing for something we seemingly can’t live without. Lent and the celebration of Easter…
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February 9, 2021
His Endless Love
A few years ago a lady who had lost her first husband to brain cancer came to me before she married her second husband concerned for her daughters. She was worried that they would doubt her love for them…
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January 8, 2021
Study Guides for Missional Communities
A missional community is a way to organize the church to gather and send groups of people on the mission of God. Simply put, missional communities are a group of people who are learning to follow Jesus together in a…
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December 28, 2020
Moving Forward by Looking Back
Are you planning to skim this article as fast as you can so you can move onto the next thing? If so, then you are fairly normal. We live in a fast-paced, instant gratification, FOMO culture. Rushing from one…
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December 15, 2020
We Must Kill Racism Before It Kills Us
The legendary American poet and activist, Maya Angelou, once wrote, “Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.” As we consider how our presuppositions affect our view of the world, it…
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November 4, 2020
Advent Resources for 2020
Waiting. Waiting etches itself into the experience of every son and daughter of God through the pains of bondage, plague, drought, and storm. Sarah and Abraham waited for Isaac. Joseph waited for his brothers and God’s grace to make…
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October 22, 2020
The Gospel In Me
This is a sneak peek at a lesson from our Online Course: What is Gospel Fluency? All online courses are included in your Saturate Membership. It is out of the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks. We talk…
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October 8, 2020
Don’t Be A Lone Ranger
(Enjoy this final post in Alan Hirsch's eleven-part series.) When the church gets its act together, it is the most potent force for the transformation of the world. One of the most profound ways to embody countercultural dissents against the…
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October 6, 2020
Our Job Is Not to Be Jesus
Pastoral ministry can be a hazardous occupation. Many get into this work with a noble and godly calling: to bring glory to Jesus by shepherding and equipping his flock to make disciples who make disciples. However, too many of…
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October 5, 2020
Undercover Subversives
(Post ten in an eleven-part series from Alan Hirsch. Read part eleven here.) The kingdom works covertly to undermine the way things are now and to initiate God’s rule in its place. Contrary to a narrow fundamentalist understanding of…
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October 1, 2020
Discipleship as an Invitation to Relationship
(Post nine in an eleven-part series from Alan Hirsch. Read post ten here.) Stop being overly “spiritual,” using insider, religious language, to talk about God—it mostly alienates people. The reality is, to become a missional Christian, we begin by simply…
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September 28, 2020
The Sacred vs the Secular
(Post eight in an eleven-part series from Alan Hirsch. Read part seven here.) We live as if there is an insurmountable distance between the “sacred” and the “secular.” One of the important dimensions of incarnational mission is to break…
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September 23, 2020
How the Pandemic Will Change Evangelism for Good
Will leaders, called of God to minister, rise to the challenge of equipping the body to do the work of evangelizing others to Christ during this unique and pivotal time in the life of the church? At times, outreach…
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September 22, 2020
Joining God in His Mission
(Post seven in an eleven-part series from Alan Hirsch. Read post six here.) It is false to say that only Christians can experience God. One of the most basic assumptions of the incarnational missionary is to assume God is already…
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September 18, 2020
Listen to the Culture’s Stories
(Post six in an eleven-part series from Alan Hirsch. Read post five here.) Don’t presume you really know what’s going on. A few years ago I ran and organized a conference called St. Paul Goes to the Movies. The idea…
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September 15, 2020
Our Neighborhoods Have Changed
(Post five in an eleven-part series from Alan Hirsch. Read part four here) Whether we like it or not, we live in a world that is culturally fragmented and fragmenting. We are called to be a missional (move-out) people, and…
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September 8, 2020
Learning the Art Of Small
(Post four in an eleven-part series from Alan Hirsch. Read post three here) Every Christian is a missionary, and we are called to live out our commitment to Jesus’ lordship in every sphere and domain of life. The first…
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September 2, 2020
Living the Message
(Post three in an eleven-part series from Alan Hirsch. Read post two here.) You are the church before you do church. If we take Jesus at his word when he says, “As the Father has sent me, I am…
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August 19, 2020
Fear Is Easy
We have lost the art of thoughtful dialogue. Left to ourselves, we seem to avoid controversy or handle it poorly. It's impolite to discuss religion or politics. These are issues held with the head and the heart. Beliefs become convictions,…
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July 10, 2020
Listening to and Pursuing Unity with Jesus’ Church
"This Jesus-way of bringing his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven has a lot of political implications." - Craig Greenfield We're going to bring this introductory series to "Politics with Jesus in Mind" to a close with…
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July 8, 2020
The Story of God and Our Practices of Justice Today
"Faithful political action is about pursuing public justice." - Rev. Dr. Michael Goheen in Seeking the Justice of the Kingdom This post is the 2nd in a 3-part introductory series entitled, "Politics with Jesus in Mind." The first post was:…
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July 6, 2020
How the Hope of Belonging to Jesus Shapes Our Politics
"Our most revolutionary political act is to hope." - James K.A. Smith Awaiting the King: Reforming Public Theology Introduction To Become a People Who Consider What to Say, How to Say It, and Are Quick to Listen and Be…
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June 22, 2020
The Importance of Relational Health for Leaders
This post is the fifth post in a series based on a conversation with Rich Plass on the Saturate Podcast. You can listen to the episode here. Jared Pickney: Rich, we know you've done a lot of work on…
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June 11, 2020
My Confession of the Sin of Racism
The Holy Spirit will not allow me to issue statements signaling my stand against racism without confessing my sin and the cacophony of clanging idols that have become my first loves and have blossomed into the first fruits of…
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June 8, 2020
Relational Challenges in the Family of God
This post is the fourth post in a series based on a conversation with Rich Plass on the Saturate Podcast. You can listen to the episode here. Brad Watson: I think what you’ve described is some of the beauty…
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June 3, 2020
Resources to Listen and Learn
I've been asked by a handful of people what resources have been helpful for me in my own process of listening and learning about racial reconciliation and justice. I have so much to learn, but I'm happy to point…
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