Join Rick for the 11th episode of the series IN HIS IMAGE. When you hear the cares and concerns of others, do you enter into their reality, or do you keep your distance (however subtly)? When a conniving Pharisee asks Jesus about the “most important” commandment, Jesus tells him what he already knows—“Love the Lord your God with all your heart…”—but then adds a second “equally important” commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”…
Join Rick for the 10th episode of the series IN HIS IMAGE. We all long to be noticed and enjoyed and appreciated for who we really are—to be pursued by a Lover who will sacrifice to be with us. Today we explore the way Jesus moves toward us in our life, captured best by the word “Pursuit.”…
Join Rick for the ninth episode of the series IN HIS IMAGE. Today author Jeff White is on the podcast to talk about “Authenticity.” His new “story Bible for adults” called Eyewitness is just out—Jeff’s challenge was to tell the stories of the Bible from a raw, first-person perspective.…
Join Rick as he dives into the eighth episode of the series IN HIS IMAGE. Today we’ll be exploring an overlooked but crucial aspect of how Jesus lived His life—the word is “Presence.” Jesus lived in “a state of active, open attention on the present,” which is how the editors of Psychology Today describe “mindfulness,” a New-Agey word that is actually rooted in how Jesus engaged His environment and exercised influence in His relationships.…
Join Rick as he dives into the seventh episode of the series IN HIS IMAGE. Today we’ll be exploring why Relaxed is theologian Dallas Willard’s favorite one-word description of Jesus. When we “live and breathe and move” from a relaxed place in our life, we are fully living our dependent relationship with Jesus.…
Join Rick as he dives into the sixth episode of a new series IN HIS IMAGE. Today we’ll be exploring why Work is a core expression of Jesus’ heart, and why he honors effort but not earning. Work is the transformational expression of His redemptive love, and is therefore central to who we are.…
Join Rick as he dives into the fifth episode of a new series IN HIS IMAGE. Today we’ll be exploring how Trust is central to the Kingdom of God, and is at the core of Jesus’ “operating system.” A proverb reminds us: We gain trust in drops, but we lose it in buckets.…
Join Rick as he dives into the fourth episode of a new series IN HIS IMAGE. Jesus said a lot of hard things—things that sound impossible, actually. But none harder than this: “Love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! …
If you are you have been in youth ministry for more than a few years, you’re likely familiar with the term “Moralistic, Therapeutic, Deism” (MTD)—a descriptor invented by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist-Denton in their groundbreaking report on the National Study of Youth and Religion (Soul Searching).…
At Springtide™ Research Institute we’ve spent the past year researching the consequences of epidemic loneliness among young people. Loneliness The findings are astonishing, heartbreaking, and hopeful… Our newest report, Belonging: Reconnecting America’s Loneliest Generation, documents these findings and offers a research-based pathway forward.…
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