Jordan Raynor offers seven biblical principles for being purposeful, present, and wildly productive in his new book, Redeeming Your Time (WaterBrook). These principles include starting with the Word, eliminating all hurry, and prioritizing your “yes.” You’ll also learn in this book how to say no more often. The book mixes time-tested productivity tips with timeless biblical wisdom. Raynor joins Collin Hansen on this episode of Gospelbound to discuss selective ignorance, inbox zero, and how to be...
Mar 29, 2022•26 min•Ep. 79
Mark Sayers doesn’t mince words about the challenges our world is currently facing. In his new book, A Non-Anxious Presence: How a Changing and Complex World Will Create a Remnant of Renewed Christian Leaders , he sees these challenges as a potential prelude to revival. He writes, “We feel the gap between the vision of the church we encounter in Scripture and the reality on the ground. This gives rise to a deep desire for God’s church to be refreshed, empowered, and renewed.” Sayers serves as se...
Mar 22, 2022•53 min•Ep. 78
George Yancey describes colorblindness as a path that goes nowhere and anti-racism as a path full of dangerous animals. As an alternative, he proposes mutual accountability. He believes this approach will produce a group that wants to address and not ignore unfair racial outcomes. That’s why he wrote Beyond Racial Division: A Unifying Alternative to Colorblindness and Antiracism . Yancey is a professor at the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University, specializing in race/ethnicity ...
Mar 15, 2022•30 min•Ep. 77
In his new book, You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News ,Kelly Kapic aims to lift from our shoulders the sense that we carry the weight of the world. Kapic, a professor of theological studies at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, situates theological truth in contrast with cultural expectations. He writes, “What an irony that our modern age, on the one hand, exhausts us by its calls for complete self-expression and, on the other hand, suffoca...
Mar 08, 2022•37 min•Ep. 76
In his latest book, Why God Makes Sense in a World that Doesn’t: The Beauty of Christian Theism (Baker Academic), Gavin Ortlund discusses the problem of evil and deconstructs arguments against Christianity, while also displaying the beauty of God. Gavin Ortlund joins Collin Hansen on Gospelbound to discuss our deepest intuitions, beauty, creation, love, and all kinds of other good stuff.
Mar 01, 2022•37 min•Ep. 75
Proverbs 31 commends men who do justice—men of wisdom, self-control, and courage. In his new book, The Intentional Father: A Practical Guide to Raise Sons of Courage and Character (Baker), Jon Tyson writes, “Men who use their energy like this, courageous men, wise men, self-controlled men, just men—these kinds of men are the need of the hour." Tyson’s book equips intentional fathers to help their sons reach their redemptive potential. In this episode of Gospelbound, Collin Hansen and Jon Tyson d...
Feb 22, 2022•35 min•Ep. 74
This week on Gospelbound, Collin Hansen is joined by Dave Harvey, president of Great Commission Collective, a church-planting ministry and author of the new book, The Plurality Principle: How to Build and Maintain a Thriving Church Leadership Team (Crossway, TGC). Dave brings more than 30 years of pastoral ministry to this conversation and gives wise counsel for pastors and other church leaders hoping to build thriving leadership teams. Dave argues that “the quality of your elder plurality deter...
Feb 15, 2022•39 min•Ep. 73
In his new book, Talking about Race: Gospel Hope for Hard Conversations (Zondervan Reflective), Isaac Adams argues that if we could just hold our beliefs—and also our tongues—loving across racial lines in the American church “could become one of the most powerful testimonies to a divided and dividing world.” Isaac joins Collin Hansen on Gospelbound to explain blocking, race as a “Velcro issue,” abortion, cultural preferences, and the mission of the church, among other topics....
Feb 08, 2022•48 min•Ep. 72
In his new book, The Flourishing Pastor: Recovering the Lost Art of Shepherd Leadership (IVP), Tom Nelson observes a dripping irony. Though surrounded by many people, pastors are often intensely lonely and socially isolated. They work with the things of God but are tempted by the seduction of accomplishment at the expense of intimacy with God. Shepherd leaders, according to Nelson, are forged on the anvil of obscurity and refined in the crucible of visibility. They get into trouble when they att...
Feb 01, 2022•33 min•Ep. 71
Welcome to a special edition of Gospelbound and Let’s Talk! Join hosts Collin Hansen and Melissa Kruger as they discuss their favorite recent reads and the top 10 theology stories of 2021. They also preview the year ahead in 2022—and reveal a surprise for 2023. Thank you for listening and encouraging us in this work! 09:20 Deconstruction 14:52 Cultural and historical shape of evangelicalism scrutinized 15:58 The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill 25:31 Vaccines and Covid mandates 31:32 Christian Nationa...
Dec 21, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 70
What ails your church? Hopefully the answer doesn’t come too quickly! Hopefully your church is the picture of health, where everyone’s growing in love of God and love of neighbor. Or maybe your church has a discipleship disease. If so, then JT English can help with his new book, Deep Discipleship: How the Church Can Make Whole Disciples of Jesus, published by B&H. English serves as the lead pastor of Storyline Fellowship in Arvada, Colorado. Previously, JT served as a pastor at The Village C...
Dec 14, 2021•34 min•Ep. 69
During the last decade, one in 20 Americans has shifted from identifying with a religion to claiming “nothing in particular.” And this group is also the least likely of any position on religion to hold at least a bachelor’s degree. Those are just two of the many findings that jump from the page in Ryan Burge’s new book, The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are, and Where They Are Going , published by Fortress Press. Together with atheists and agnostics, sociologists categorize the “nothing ...
Dec 07, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 68
“Our cause is sacred. How can we doubt it, when we know it has been consecrated by a holy baptism of fire and blood?” So said a North Carolina minister about the Confederacy in the aftermath of the South’s defeat at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862. This arresting quote contributes to the title of James P. Byrd’s new book, A Holy Baptism of Fire and Blood: The Bible and the American Civil War , published by Oxford. He writes, “This is a book about how Americans enlisted the Bible in the nation’s mos...
Nov 30, 2021•43 min•Ep. 67
“Do I exist for God or does God exist for me?” That’s the question that I think animates Dean Inserra’s new book, Getting Over Yourself: Trading Believe-in-Yourself Religion for Christ-Centered Christianity , published by Moody. Or, maybe it’s this line: “We can’t make Christianity cooler.” He explains his argument this way: “The entire premise of this book is that spiritual victory and earthly victory are not synonymous.” He identifies a new kind of prosperity gospel that promises earthly succe...
Nov 23, 2021•39 min•Ep. 66
It’s the fundamental lie of modern life, says Alan Noble: that we are our own. Compared to our ancestors, we’re less worried about war. We’re less worried about starvation and famine. But by believing that we are our own, we tend to struggle with new problems: the loss of meaning, identity, and purpose. Noble says this in his new book, You Are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman World , published by InterVarsity: Everyone is on their own private journey of self-discovery and self-expres...
Nov 16, 2021•44 min•Ep. 65
If you want to sell millions of books, tell readers they can be their own hero. Tell them if they don’t have what they want, they need to demand it. Tell them that they can have everything if they work hard enough: the beautiful family, the booming business, the world-changing nonprofit venture. For Ruth Chou Simons, being her own hero doesn’t seem all that freeing. It looks exhausting. She has one overarching message in her new book, When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvemen...
Nov 09, 2021•33 min•Ep. 64
What is faith? Is it a feeling? Is it hope against hope? Belief without evidence? Jen Michel says faith is a habit. It’s not against evidence but careful consideration of evidence. It’s trust in the story that makes sense of the world. It’s curiosity. It’s where the habits of humility take us. “Try practicing your way into faith,” Michel writes in her new book, A Habit Called Faith: 40 Days in the Bible to Find and Follow Jesus , published by Baker. “Go to church, follow the liturgy, act the par...
Nov 02, 2021•35 min•Ep. 63
Breaking news! (Insert dramatic gong sound here.) Find out if you’re on the right side of history. Learn about the latest celebrity you should cancel for the wrong view on oat milk. After this commercial break. Not so fast says Jeffrey Bilbro, editor in chief of Front Porch Republic and the author of the new book Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Inquiry into the News , published by IVP Academic. Bilbro warns that “objects on screen are more distant than they appear,” and that “the p...
Oct 26, 2021•45 min•Ep. 62
In his day job for the last 15 years, Daniel Strange has taught church leaders about culture, worldview, and apologetics. He’s studied worldviews and philosophy. He talks about “plausibility structures” and “social imaginaries” and “cultural liturgies.” But it’s not some kind of vain philosophical exercise. He’s trying to help people grow in how they present the person and work of Jesus to their skeptical neighbors. After years as director of Oak Hill Theological College in London, he now direct...
Oct 19, 2021•39 min•Ep. 61
Blair Linne’s mother planned to abort her before a Baptist minister’s words changed her mother’s mind. Linne moved 25 times before she set out on her own as an adult. She did not grow up with a father. I won’t spoil her new book, Finding My Father: How the Gospel Heals the Pain of Fatherlessness , published by The Good Book Company. But it’s a raw, sometimes shocking memoir with a surprise ending. Blair Linne describes fathers as a covering, a shield from danger. But where do you go when your da...
Oct 12, 2021•32 min•Ep. 60
For as long as I’ve been paying attention, some 20 years, I’ve heard Christians complain that we need more attention on the body. I’ve heard that Catholics have much deeper, more comprehensive theology of the body. I’ve seen Protestant evangelicals try to make the case, but for some reason or another their arguments don’t land. I don’t know how to explain the disconnect. We worship the God who became flesh in the incarnation of Jesus. When Paul talks about the body, he’s referencing all of life....
Oct 05, 2021•42 min•Ep. 59
We’re long past the time when we could assume even that dedicated believers in Jesus Christ understood why they should bother with church. The number who identify as Christians is far larger than the number who attend a weekly meeting. Even then, the bulk of the serving and giving in our churches tends to be done by only a few. So it’s not as if COVID-19 suddenly convinced Christians they didn’t need church. Millions had already made that decision even before gathering involved online registrati...
Sep 28, 2021•38 min•Ep. 58
In former Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam’s new book, Faithful Presence: The Promise and the Peril of Faith in the Public Square (Nelson Books), he asks, “Do our political actions match our theology, or has our theology been taken captive to our political beliefs?” A political book that’s driven by theology, Faithful Presence offers a stirring call to justice and mercy with humility. Gov. Haslam sees the “image of God” as the foundational truth that can bridge the gap in our polarized political c...
Sep 21, 2021•29 min•Ep. 57
Jasmine Holmes is the author of Mother to Son: Letters to a Black Boy on Identity and Hope (InterVarsity Press) and cohost of TGC's new podcast for women, Let's Talk . Holmes joined Collin Hansen on Gospelbound to discuss politics, race, police brutality, abortion, and everything else you’re not supposed to bring up in polite company....
Jul 27, 2021•37 min•Ep. 56
Tim and Kathy Keller joined Collin Hansen on Gospelbound to discuss the link between decreasing marriage and decreasing religiosity, how to know you’re ready to get married, how to raise children to prepare them for marriage, and more.
Jul 20, 2021•43 min•Ep. 55
On today’s bonus episode of Gospelbound, we’re featuring a clip from an interview between TGC senior writer, Sarah Zylstra and her guest, J. D. Greear as they discuss his experience as SBC president, future hopes for the SBC and the global church, and the importance of keeping the gospel at the center of it all. To hear the full episode, head to TGC Podcast episode 169. You can hear more about J. D. in the new book, Gospelbound: Living with Resolute Hope in an Anxious Age ....
Jul 13, 2021•14 min•Ep. 54
On today’s bonus episode of Gospelbound, we’re featuring a clip from an interview between TGC senior writer, Sarah Zylstra and her guest, Alex Harris about his experience clerking for two U.S. Supreme Court justices and editing Harvard Law Review , his brother Josh’s high-profile deconstruction of his faith, whether evangelicals invest too much import in presidential politics, and much more. To hear the full episode, head to TGC Podcast episode 166 . You can hear more from Alex in the new book, ...
Jun 08, 2021•15 min•Ep. 53
Because of the gospel, there’s always hope. Even in the rubble, you can find defiant new growth poking through the rocks. A similar hope can be seen in seminary education. One of the greatest success stories can be found in Kansas City at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The president there is Jason Allen, and under his leadership, the school has grown in enrollment and resources and in quality of education. It's exciting to consider what this turnaround means for generations of churches...
May 25, 2021•34 min•Ep. 52
For Shai Linne, the cultural differences in music and dress never seemed to matter compared to unity in the crucified and risen Christ. Shai became a key figure in the growing movement of Christian hip-hop, musically like Wu-tang Clan but lyrically like Billy Graham. The style was appealing, but the crowds seemed more excited about Jesus than anything else. He’s convinced that we’ll look back one day on this era, between 2002 and 2012, as a revival much like the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s ...
May 18, 2021•32 min•Ep. 51
In this live episode of Gospelbound from TGC’s 2021 national conference, Collin Hansen is joined by two esteemed guests who can help explain the origins and shape of Christian nationalism with a view toward the promises of the gospel. Michael Horton is the J. Gresham Machen professor of systematic theology and apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary in California. Justin Giboney is cofounder of the AND Campaign, an attorney, and a political strategist in Atlanta. Whether or not your chur...
May 11, 2021•45 min•Ep. 50
