Spiritual Growth Archives - Saturate

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…

by Dave Ainsworth 0

Bible & Theology Discipleship Gospel Missional Community Spiritual Growth

November 2, 2021

Finding Jesus in the Waiting

Don't look now, but Christmas is coming. Just last week, before I could hide it, my kids tore through Target's holiday toy catalog. And this weekend, they admired Hallmark's Christmas display while we walked by on an October afternoon. PREPARING…

by Jeff Vanderstelt 0

Discipleship Foundations Gospel Missional Community Spiritual Growth

October 19, 2021

Listening Well

I recently observed a conversation a few Christians were having with a man who has yet to come to faith in Jesus. It was amazing to me, and saddening, to watch the Christians missing the point of this man’s…

by Micah Lang 0

Bible & Theology Discipleship Foundations Holy Spirit Spiritual Growth

October 12, 2021

Reading Your Bible is Not the Goal. God Is.

Relationship or Discipline (or both)? How is your relationship with Christ these days? This question is one that is quite familiar in Christian circles. Knowing that our passion for God has a tendency to ebb and flow, often we disciple…

Discipleship Foundations Gospel Spiritual Growth

October 5, 2021

The Things We Carry

When I was heading to Memphis for the recent Gospel Fluency of the Heart training, I happened to throw Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried in my bag. I didn’t realize its relevance to the subject at hand—the gospel and…

by Kendrick Banks 0

Discipleship Gospel Holy Spirit Identity Spiritual Growth

September 28, 2021

Finding Being in Our Boasting

Bragging about what we have attained and accomplished is a constant temptation. It’s also evidence of our deepest desires to be good enough. We’re searching for evidence of right being through right doing. Boasting is an expression of our desire…

by Jeff Vanderstelt 0

Bible & Theology Church Coaching Discipleship Gospel Leadership Pastoring Spiritual Growth

June 29, 2021

5 Ways To Equip Disciples as Gospel Ministers

Church leader? Your job is not to do the ministry for the church, but to equip the church to be gospel ministers. Habakkuk 2:14 speaks of a day when “The knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the…

by Tommy Rutledge 0

Church Gospel Pastoring Spiritual Growth

June 22, 2021

Recovering My Humanity

This fall, Jeff Schulte, founder of Tin Man ministries and Jeff Vanderstelt will be hosting Gospel Fluency for the Heart events. These events are designed to help us learn how to re-engage our emotions, experience Jesus as the healer…

by Jeff Vanderstelt 0

Discipleship Foundations Gospel Holy Spirit Missional Community Spiritual Growth

June 14, 2021

How Do Spiritual Gifts Help Us Make Disciples?

Today we are releasing a sneak peek at one of four new videos in the Q+A series with Jeff Vanderstelt. We love getting to interact with your questions at live events, and want to bring that experience online through…

Church Discipleship Pastoring Spiritual Growth

May 27, 2021

We Choose Exhaustion

Throughout the years, I have come across a growing number of people on the cusp of burnout in communities and organizations across the spectrum of the gospel-centered discipleship movement. Many were close friends, few were acquaintances, and one of them…

by Adam Hillyer 0

Discipleship Gospel Shepherding Life Issues Spiritual Growth

May 20, 2021

Living on Mission This Summer

School is wrapping up, the days are getting longer, and with COVID restrictions easing, we are looking forward to making the most of this summer! Plans are being made for vacations, weddings, camping trips, family reunions, and playing in…

Gospel Leadership Spiritual Growth

May 13, 2021

Toss Your Net

After working tirelessly only to see so many potential hopes, dreams, and plans for ministry fall apart, this past year has left many burnt-out and tempted to question their direction from the Lord. Additionally difficult, our culture has fostered…

Discipleship Gospel Shepherding Life Issues Spiritual Growth

May 6, 2021

A Call to Taste the Bread of Life

“Who will help me plant my seeds?” asked the Little Red Hen. “Not I,” said the dog. “Not I,” said the cat. “Not I,” said the duck. “Then, I will plant them myself,” said the Little Red Hen, and…

Holy Spirit Mission Spiritual Growth Uncategorized

April 6, 2021

Missional Living Unhurried

One of the most powerful practices for the Church today is examining His purposeful, unhurried rhythms, and how He lived counter to the culture of this fast-paced world. Studying the ways of Jesus’ life on earth has led me…

by Kendrick Banks 0

Gospel Spiritual Growth

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…

Kids Spiritual Growth

March 30, 2021

Treasuring Christ during Holy Week

Ever since my children were little, we have kept the tradition of making an Easter Mountain during Holy Week, an idea I took from Noel Piper’s Treasuring Christ in Our Traditions. We make a large lump of salt dough,…

Discipleship Gospel Spiritual Growth Uncategorized

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…

by Adam Hillyer 0

Gospel Leadership Missional Community Spiritual Growth

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…

Discipleship Spiritual Growth Women

March 9, 2021

The Way through the Wilderness

Last year when the Angel Soft and Lysol—along with staple foods like Ramen and Chef Boyardee—disappeared from our grocery shelves, I was strangely filled with a bit of anticipation. I thought it could be the wilderness that would teach…

Discipleship Gospel Missional Community Spiritual Growth

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…

by Kevin Platt 0

Discipleship Foundations Gospel Missional Community Pastoring Spiritual Growth

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?…

by Kendrick Banks 0

Discipleship Family Gospel Missionary Servant Spiritual Growth

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…

by Nate Parry 0

Church Discipleship Everyday Rhythms Gospel Resources Spiritual Growth

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…

Discipleship Family Gospel Leadership Missional Community Missionary Spiritual Growth

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…

Discipleship Missionary Spiritual Growth Uncategorized Women

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…

Prayer Spiritual Growth

December 22, 2020

Listening to God Backward and Forward

One of my favorite rhythms in our marriage is our annual conversation and reflection on the year that was and the year that is coming. It was in these moments we prayed about starting a new missional community, moving…

by Jeff Vanderstelt 2

Church Discipleship Gospel Leadership Pastoring Spiritual Growth

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…

by Alan Hirsch 0

Arts & Culture Bible & Theology Community Discipleship Domains of Society Family Foundations Holy Spirit Mission Missional Community Missionary Spiritual Growth

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…

by Alan Hirsch 0

Arts & Culture Bible & Theology Church Community Current Events Discipleship Domains of Society Everyday Rhythms Faith and Work Foundations Gospel Mission Missionary Spiritual Growth

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…

by Brent Thomas 0

Arts & Culture Bible & Theology Community Current Events Discipleship Domains of Society Gospel Holy Spirit Mission Missionary Spiritual Growth

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,…

by Nathan Cedarland 0

Leadership Pastoring Spiritual Growth

July 15, 2020

Practical Questions to Identify Leadership Idols

As a leader, I find my heart constantly running after new gods; the things in which I pursue greater satisfaction, greater security, and greater significance. Only Jesus can save me from such rampant idolatry. However, I must be intentional…

Discipleship Foundations Gospel Leadership Spiritual Growth

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…

Discipleship Foundations Gospel Leadership Spiritual Growth

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…

Discipleship Foundations Gospel Leadership Spiritual Growth

May 27, 2020

The Effects of Relational Wounds

This post is the third post in a series based on a conversation with Rich Plass on the Saturate Podcast. You can listen to the episode here. Jared Pickney: That's helpful. Would you say that one of the…