Soil and Roots

In this funny yet thought-provoking episode, Brian, Doc, and Handsome Kyle take on one of Jesus's intriguing characteristics—his enigmatic style.  

Jesus was sometimes puzzling, confusing, and vexing.  So, if we are to become more like Him, should we expect to be more enigmatic?  What would that even look like?

Once the guys finally settle into the topic, they debate whether this aspect of Jesus is for Him alone, or whether we ma...

Jesus often confused people—and it seems He did so on purpose. While this isn’t a characteristic we typically highlight in Sunday school, a quick look through the Gospels shows that our King didn’t always speak plainly, explain Himself, or behave in the ways people expected.

In short, Jesus was often enigmatic. He could be mysterious. Even puzzling.

So, if the goal of discipleship is to become more like Jesus, should we expect to car...

The guys head back into the Greenhouse to explore what it means to live like the beloved. 

Along the way, they wrestle with the difference between an intellectual agreement and a heart experience and how we need both for a “complete belief.” This leads to some vulnerable and transparent story-telling, as well as what it means to experience God’s love when life doesn’t go our way. 

Come alongside for this very personal episode!

Joi...

We continue to explore what it means to increasingly think, act, relate, and love more like Jesus. 

Jesus is the most relationally secure person in history. His love flows from a deep, abiding attachment to his Father, so he is not swayed by people's opinions or manipulations. 

How might we become more like that?

Today, we focus on experiencing what it means to be "the beloved." Our identity and security are ultimately w...

What does it mean that Jesus is the most relationally and emotionally secure human being in history?  

The guys jump back into the Greenhouse to dissect the idea that, based on Jesus's life, we can become more relationally secure, attuned, and restful in our relationships with God, others, and ourselves. Though this is not normally explored in modern-day discipleship, it is directly related to the biblical concept of “abiding.”

...

As we continue to explore Jesus, the object of our formation, we marvel at one of His most compelling characteristics: his relational and emotional security.

He isn't anxious, rattled, confused, or manipulated by other people's perspectives and opinions. He operates from a rock-solid sense of identity.

If we are to become more like Him, is this type of groundedness also for us?

Join us online! 

Web: ⁠soilandroots.org⁠ 

...

What does the Bible mean by "good" in reference to the creation story? Is creation still good today? Are human beings "good"? How do we reconcile some sort of inherent goodness with the pervasiveness of harmful behaviors?

Doc, Brian, and Handsome Kyle delve into these and other challenging questions raised in the previous episode.

As our hearts continue to be formed, we seek to love more like Jesus loves. If w...

We've turned our attention to exploring what it means to think, act, relate, and love like Jesus, and the answers aren't necessarily straightforward.

At the same time, coming to an agreement on definitions of key words such as "love" and "goodness" can be challenging in our modern culture. How can we love someone if we disagree on what love is? What does it mean to "seek goodness" if we can't agree on what's good?

So, let's dig in...

As we launch further into Season 6, Doc and Handsome Kyle rejoin Brian for the first Greenhouse episode of the season. We are spending this season exploring what it means to think, act, relate, and love like Jesus. The guys briefly review the path we've taken to get here so far, and then wrestle with two key points leading into the rest of the season: -What is the difference between being like Jesus and simply doing the thin...

Welcome to Season 6!

We've mentioned numerous times that the primary purpose of following Jesus is to become more like Him. We intend to think, act, relate, and love like Him more.

It's now time to explore what that really means—and it's not as simple as we might think.

As usual when we start a new season, today we'll review the key points from Seasons 1-5. Then, we'll look forward and sketch the idea-transforming route we'll tak...

Doc, Handsome Kyle, and Brian reconnect in the Greenhouse to wrestle with our bedrock desire for deep, intentionally formative communities in a culture that often promotes the opposite. 

If many modern church institutions only help us with the first few stages of our discipleship, where do we go after that?

Perhaps the “Dones” are not so much guilty of a lack of church attendance as they are signaling a need to which the church sh...

For almost five seasons, we’ve explored the world’s desperate need for deep people and how those people are formed. 

We’ve concluded that we best become more like Jesus in small, organic communities that often look and function differently from some modern church experiences.

While we love and support our local and national institutions, what do we do if we conclude that we are missing these types of intimate, deeply formative co...

Handsome Kyle and Brian jump into the Greenhouse to further explore Richard Foster’s comment, that what the world needs most is deep people.

If a deep disciple is someone increasingly attuned to the heart of God, others, and themselves, what does that mean, exactly? 

And why is a consistent awareness of our own thought patterns, behaviors, inner desires, and assumptions so essential to our walk with God?

Join us online!

Web: s...

If what the world desperately needs is “deep people,” what do we mean by that?

In this Season 5 bonus episode, Brian provides one of his occasional reviews, pulling back out to 30K feet and giving us a flyover of The Great Omission and how we come together to solve it. 

He also dives into the definition of a deep person. Thoughtful luminaries such as Dallas Willard and Richard Foster agree that the most pressing need in the entire...

How do our views of the End Times impact our understanding of the Kingdom of God?  And how does that impact our journey to become more like Jesus?

The guys meet in the Greenhouse to wrestle with Brian’s previous conversation with Dr. Darrell Bock.  Dr. Tim raises some challenging questions about the role of Israel, the church, how we anticipate the future, and why it all matters as we seek to be spiritually formed more like our K...

In Season 4, we spent a few episodes exploring how our views of the End Times impact our journey to become more like Jesus today. We briefly examined the four major modern perspectives: pre-millennialism, dispensationalism, amillennialism, and postmillennialism. 

Today, we dive back into that discussion with Dr. Darrell Bock, Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies and Executive Director for Cultural Engagement at Dal...

Sometimes our institutional churches provide comfort, care, instruction, and community. And sometimes not.  Much like the human person, our Christian communities are beautiful messes. 

The guys jump back into the Greenhouse to expand on Brian’s conversation with ex-mega church pastor Matt Davis and our exploration of The Formation Gap.  Dr. Tim guides the conversation through some challenging questions:

• What is the role...

Brian is joined by Matt Davis, former megachurch pastor and now head of an organization committed to helping leaders and laypeople heal and find purpose after church hurt. 

In a wide-ranging conversation, they discuss and debate several key questions about the modern church:

• Do the power structures that so often characterize our churches help or hurt?
• Is the assumed role of the modern pastor what the Bible envisions for a p...

Doc, Kyle, and Brian further the last episode's interview with Emily Riffe, in which she and Brian explore character development in children.

Are children "empty vessels" waiting to be filled, or are they independent, unique persons waiting to be inspired? What light and dark ideas are at work in school systems, churches, and families in the hearts of our kids? And how can parents relate to their children in ways tha...