Show Notes
In this episode of Peaceable and Kind, Derek Vreeland continues the Holy Convergence series by exploring the gift of the evangelical tradition: energy. While the word evangelical has come to carry political and cultural connotations, Derek describes historic or classic evangelicalism as a movement centered on the gospel (euangelion) of Jesus Christ and characterized by conversion, missions, Scripture, and the cross.
Tracing the history of classic evangelicalism from the First Great Awakening through the ministries of John Wesley and Billy Graham, Derek highlights the remarkable missionary passion and evangelistic zeal that have shaped the movement for nearly three centuries. Evangelicalism’s greatest contribution is not simply activity for activity’s sake, but a Spirit-empowered energy directed toward proclaiming the gospel, planting churches, serving the poor, translating Scripture, and calling people to new life in Christ.
Evangelical energy is also evident in the emphasis on intentionality seen, for example, in Dallas Willard’s VIM model of spiritual formation: Vision, Intention, and Means. True evangelical energy is sustained by intentional discipleship rooted in God’s grace. Following Jesus requires both wholehearted commitment and a willingness to cooperate with the Holy Spirit through the ordinary practices of the Christian life.
**Key Takeaways **
Historic evangelicalism is a theological movement, not a political identity.
The word evangelical comes from the Greek euangelion, meaning “good news” or “gospel.”
David Bebbington’s four characteristics provide a helpful framework for understanding classic evangelicalism.
John Wesley’s emphasis on conversion and holiness helped shape the modern evangelical movement.
Billy Graham embodied evangelicalism’s passion for gospel proclamation and global mission.
Evangelical energy has fueled evangelism, missions, church planting, Bible translation, publishing, and social reform.
Dallas Willard reminds us that spiritual formation requires vision, intention, and means.
Grace empowers effort without becoming a system of earning God’s favor.
**Books Mentioned **
Evangelicalism in Modern Britain — David W. Bebbington
Discovering an Evangelical Heritage — Donald W. Dayton
Renovation of the Heart — Dallas Willard
The Great Omission — Dallas Willard
By the Way: Getting Serious about Following Jesus — Derek Vreeland
**Scriptures Mentioned **
Matthew 10:34
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Transcript
Welcome back. Another episode of Peaceable and Kind. Thank you for joining me for this episode. My name is Derek Vreeland and I am your host. And I’m glad that you have found our podcast. If you are new to Peaceable and Kind, welcome. Let me encourage you to subscribe wherever you’re listening to this podcast and leave us a rating or a review. All of those things help. Well, here on the podcast, we are in a mini series this summer where we have been talking about a holy convergence. I’ve been serving A congregation for the last 15 years, a non-denominational church in Northwest Missouri that is fairly unique. And as people have asked me, what kind of church do you serve? I’ve struggled often for language. I like to say that we are a Jesus church. We’re non-denominational. We’re about 47 years old. And the through line from our origins until now. is that we have sought to be faithful to Jesus. But often that’s not enough for people. They want to know more. And so I will often ask people, well, what’s your religious background? Where do you come from? And, you know, if they have an irreligious background, they’ll say, well, you know, just kind of grew up but American. I don’t know one church from another. That actually makes answering the question easy, what kind of church we are. Other people will say, well, you know, I was baptized in the Catholic Church, confirmed in the Catholic Church, but you know, kind of walked away from that. Or I was a Baptist or a Methodist or a Presbyterian or a Pentecostal. And so if a person gives me their background, it’s a lot easier for me to explain what kind of church we are because we as a congregation and me personally, We have been experiencing a holy convergence of various Christian traditions. And in the series, I’ve identified seven traditions that have influenced and shaped us. To make us the unique congregation that we are. And it’s also shaped me as a pastor and podcaster and writer and author. And so this is a in-depth look at our identity as a church and also my identity because often I get pigeonholed as this or that or the other. And I always say, well, I’m not. I often get Pegged as an Anabaptist. So I we had an episode where I talked about Anabaptist peacemaking. Before that I shared with you my Questions about just war theory. I did an entire episode on building a case for Christian nonviolence. I’m certainly influenced by neo-Anabaptists like Stanley Howerwass, David Fitch, and others. But I’m not truly an Anabaptist. I’m not neither Mennonite nor Amish. But I respect uh peacemaking from that tradition So these seven traditions are coming together in a convergence that is producing something I find very beautiful. within our congregation. And so on this episode, I want to talk about evangelical energy. And this is a tradition I’m familiar with because I came to faith in an evangelical context. I was baptized. in an evangelical church. I I met my wife in an evangelical youth group and we were married in that evangelical church, a Southern Baptist church. So I have a lot of thoughts and I want to share with you some of the classic marks of historic evangelicalism, talk about some key figures, and this great gift that the evangelical tradition offers us this gift of energy. Now, the very term evangelical has been maligned and misused recently. rendering it an ineffective term to talk about the historic Christian tradition previously known as evangelicalism Today, the term in, I would say, our wider culture, the term evangelical Is more of a cultural and sadly political identity rather than a Christian or theological one I remember the clash between Donald Trump and Russell Moore during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Dr. Moore at the time was the head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the SBC. So in sense, Dr. Moore was the political face of this very large denomination, the SBC. And so he was often being interviewed, uh, publishing articles in the Washington Post. He would show up on CNN, Fox News. Sort of representing Southern Baptists in matters of politics Now, I grew up a Southern Baptist and have appreciated Russell Moore for a long time. I love his love for scripture. He loves literature. He’s a big Wendell Berry fan. When I heard him first talk about Wendell Berry, I said, okay, you could you can be my guy. Um if you love Wendell Berry, I’m gonna I’m gonna love you and I’m gonna listen to you. And Russell Moore, as long as I have been aware of him, listening to him for probably the last twenty years. I’ve really appreciated his very Jesus informed political opinions. Plus, I should add Uh Dr. Moore loves Johnny Cash, uh, who is a true music icon. How can you not love Johnny Cash? I I love Johnny Cash because Johnny Cash loved both Jesus and America. He’s a true Christian and a true patriot. And so Dr. Moore has this love for country music and and Johnny Cash in particular. And so I love when Russell Moore is talking about either Jesus, the Bible, politics, or Johnny Cash. Now, the Southern Baptist Convention Is one of the largest evangelical denominations in the world. After stepping away from the SBC personally I still desired to keep up with what was happening among these Christians who nurtured my faith during my teenage years. And Dr. Russell Moore was one of the SBC leaders I paid attention to. So that a little bit of background there. So let’s get to the 2016 clash. In 2016, Moore wrote an op-ed in the New York Times criticizing then candidate Trump. for casting, quote, light on the darkness of pent-up nativism and bigotry all over the country Now, to share a little bit more about Dr. Moore, he is a true son of the South. He was born in Biloxi, Mississippi, just an hour’s drive from Mobile, Alabama, where I was born Yes, I grew up in the Midwest. I consider St. Joseph, Missouri my home, but I was born in Alabama. My family comes from the Gulf Coast region, and that’s where Dr. Moore comes from And so, like many Christian leaders, myself included, Moore was concerned with the slogan Make America Great Again. For the way it can invoke a nostalgia for America’s past, a history marked by segregation and racial injustice. So in response to Moore’s 2016 New York Times article, candidate Trump took to social media and posted, quote Russell Moore is truly a terrible representative of Evangelicals and all of the good they stand for. A nasty guy with no heart. Exclamation point. End of quote. When I when I read that, I really did it it really made me laugh. Now I understand the turmoil that it put doctor Moore in, and I’m sure it stung. But when I first read it, it really made me laugh because I realized that while Trump pandered to evangelical Christians for their vote, he understood Very little of the evangelical tradition. Because Russell Moore, in my opinion, is an excellent example of what it means to be an evangelical. So when I use the word evangelical, I’m referring to historic evangelicalism, which I prefer to think of as classic evangelicalism. The word evangelical comes from the Greek word ewangelion, often translated in the New Testament as good news or gospel. In the Greco-Roman world, Ewangelion referred to an official message from Rome, from the emperor, something like our modern official White House press release. In the ancient world, it was an imperial announcement of good news from Rome. Evangelicals have always been gospel people. This good news about King Jesus. Now, historically, the term evangelical has always referred to a set of convictions rather than to a denomination or political movement. Thus, Evangelical describes a theological and practical emphasis rather than an institutional or political identity. So there are evangelicals that are found in all sorts of different denominations. Which I understand that makes things confusing. I mean, defining evangelicalism has never been easy In part because the evangelical tradition as a worldwide movement has crossed over denominational lines. Yet Historians have generally agreed that classic evangelicalism can be identified by a set of theological convictions and practices. And no scholar has shaped this conversation more than the British historian David Bebington. In his 2004 book, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, a history from the 1730s to the 1980s. Bebington identified four defining priorities for evangelicals that have become the standard characteristics of what it means to be an evangelical in the UK, in Canada, and here in the United States. These priorities, which are called the Bebington Quadrilateral, include conversionism, activism, Biblicism, Crucecentrism Now these are academic terms that sound much more British, so let me rename these more technical terms with new labels that come from my own experience of historic, classic American evangelicalism. So here is how I would describe these four priorities. One, conversion. That is the belief that salvation is received individually through the new birth. That is the born-again experience. So sometimes evangelicals are called born-again Christians because of this emphasis on individual conversion. Experiencing the new birth. Second is missions, the responsibility of the church to proclaim the gospel around the world. through evangelism and acts of social justice. Number three is Scripture I think scripture is a better label than Biblicism. Biblicism can often refer to a hyperliteral. Interpretation and application of scripture, which is closer to fundamentalism than evangelicalism But I don’t have time on this episode to parse out the differences between fundamentalism and evangelicalism. But I would say for evangelicals scripture, that is the confidence in the inspiration and authority of the Bible A devotion to scripture that’s expressed in daily Bible reading, Bible study, Bible teaching, and preaching And then number four is the cross. For evangelicals, there is a central focus on the sacrificial and atoning death of Jesus Together, these four priorities, that’s what Bebington called them, have really provided a useful framework. For defining and understanding the evangelical movement and the beliefs that have shaped it for more than two centuries And so while evangelical is a modern tradition, and it depends on where you want to start the beginning, I tend to see the 18th century as the beginning of the evangelical tradition, the word evangelical has been used to describe all sorts of groups in church history Evangelical has been used to describe medieval Catholic movements, namely the Franciscan Missional Movement And Protestants, remember that Protestant audacity, their reforms were centered on the gospel, proclaiming and preaching the gospel. And so they were often referred to as evangelicals. German Christians during the rise of Nazism, those who belonged to the confessing church were often called evangelicals because their allegiance was to King Jesus and not to a national identity. But I really want to focus on the modern evangelical tradition that is rooted in the eighteenth century, in those revival movements in England and Colonial America. So, to start the history, it does begin with the first Great Awakening, which you can date from 1730 to about 1744. It was a revival movement that renewed Protestant Christianity by emphasizing those priorities of classic evangelicalism. They emphasize personal conversion, a renewed devotion to Scripture, an intentional faith expressed in holy living And during the Great Awakening, some of the key leaders were men like John Wesley, George Whitfield, and Jonathan Edwards. though I believe John Wesley best exemplifies evangelical priorities and has had the most lasting impact on the modern evangelical movement. Some want to say that John Wesley was the father of the evangelical movement, but I think that Wesley’s form of evangelicalism is it is really its own tradition. There is a Wesleyan and Methodist tradition, but I think the the most important figure from the First Great Awakening is not Jonathan Edwards. It’s not George Whitfield. It’s John Wesley. Hey friends, I want to pause this episode for just a moment to let you know that Resurrection, eight lessons on how God Restores us. The third and final book in the God and the Neighborhood Bible study series is out now. Go to the show notes for ordering information. So here’s a little aside into my introduction of Wesley for you. John Wesley was an Anglican priest And his life was forever changed on May 24, 1738, during a meeting on Aldersgate Street in London. As he was listening to someone read from Martin Luther’s preface to the Book of Romans, Wesley felt his heart strangely warmed. In that moment, Wesley became aware. There was this awareness that God had saved him and forgiven him of his sins Now, while Wesley had been serving as an Anglican priest, he did so as one with a very troubled soul. And the Aldersgate experience marked the beginning Of a living faith for Wesley, one grounded in an experiential confidence in the grace of God. And I believe that moment is significant because it Lit the spiritual flame that then ignited the Methodist movement in England and the American colonies And it helped to shape the evangelical emphasis on personal conversion. Throughout his ministry, Wesley preached on the necessity of the new birth, that is an experience of regeneration. In his sermon by the title, The New Birth, he preached. but without holiness no man shall see the Lord, shall see the face of God in glory. Of consequence, the new birth is absolutely necessary in order to eternal salvation. The new birth, personal conversion, what modern evangelicals call the born-again experience, was necessary, according to Wesley Well, Methodism spread rapidly through the American colonies. They were combining John Wesley’s theology With this tireless network of circuit riders, itinerant preachers who carried the gospel to ordinary people. And even though Wesley never returned to America after his first trip to America, he he went to Georgia on a mission trip for a couple of years, and it was a disaster. After that, he never returned to America, but his preaching, his influence, his writing, his organizational vision shaped the American Methodist movement. He did so from the other side of the pond. Now the key figure in establishing Methodism in the New Nation was Francis Asbury, whom Wesley sent to America in seventeen seventy one. Asbury spent more than four decades traveling on horseback, across the American West, preaching thousands of sermons. He was organizing groups and ordaining leaders and planting churches. All with the mandate to spread scriptural holiness throughout the land. And by the time of As Barry’s death in eighteen sixteen, Methodism had become one of the fastest growing Christian movements in the United States, helping to define the very evangelical movement. that has this gift of energy to offer us. Now, fast forward to the 20th century And the term evangelical became synonymous with Billy Graham and his preaching ministry. Let me talk to you a little bit about Billy Graham. He was born in November 1918, born on a dairy farm near Charlotte, North Carolina. And after encountering Jesus as a teenager, he felt called to the preaching ministry. And he would become the greatest American preacher of the 20th century He studied at Florida Bible Institute and then later Wheaton College, where he met Ruth Bell, whom he married in 1943. Early in his ministry, Billy Graham faced a profound crisis. It was a true crisis of faith regarding the trustworthiness of Scripture And during the summer of nineteen forty-nine, after a season of prayer and reflection, he resolved To trust the Bible as God’s word. That decision to uphold the sacredness of Scripture became a defining aspect of his life and ministry. Then, just weeks later, Graham arrived in Los Angeles for what began as a modest tent revival. The meetings unexpectedly exploded into a national phenomenon after receiving widespread newspaper coverage, extending from a planned three week event into an eight week crusade. The nineteen forty nine Los Angeles Crusade launched him onto the national stage in post war America. This early evangelical crusade established the pattern that would define Billy Graham’s ministry for the next six decades. And that is preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ from the scriptures, offering an invitation for people to turn from their sin and receive Christ Three, leading those who responded in the sinner’s prayer of repentance and faith in Jesus So over the next 60 years, Billy Graham preached on every inhabited continent on earth proclaiming the gospel to hundreds of millions of people through his crusades, which were attended by huge crowds, as well as broadcasts on radio and television, and then later on the internet. Billy Graham’s approach to evangelism began as an American religious phenomena And it was quickly exported worldwide. He became known as America’s Pastor Not only because he was beloved by the American public, and not everyone loved Billy Graham, but most people did. But he was known as America’s pastor because presidents from Harry Truman to Barack Obama sought his counsel during moments of national crisis. In humility, he consistently directed attention away from himself and towards the gospel, towards Jesus. Whether preaching to massive crowds overseas or comforting the nation after the september eleventh attacks, Billy Graham became one of the most trusted religious voices in the twentieth century. His wife, Ruth, died in 2007, and Billy Graham spent his final years at his home in Montreat, North Carolina, and he died on February 21st. 2018 at the age of 99, leaving behind a ministry that had introduced more people to the Christian message than perhaps any other preacher in history And I was really fortunate to be able to visit the Billy Graham Museum on the campus of Wheaton College. and there they have Billy Graham’s pulpit that he stood behind in all of these crusades for decades and decades. I got to stand behind that very pulpit. I I gripped on to that pulpit. That was a cool moment. But what I want you to see here is that for me, Billy Graham became the face of modern evangelicalism, embodying the evangelical passion and missionary impulse that still remain defining characteristics for classic evangelicalism. And in Billy Graham, we see one of the greatest gifts of the evangelical tradition. And that is energy. Say what you want about evangelicals, but they have become a movement with energy to get things done. Just again, think about Billy Graham and all that he was able to do. According to Lifeway Research, approximately 2. 2 billion people heard him preach. 215 million people heard him preach the gospel at a live event. 2. 2 million people responded to invitations to become a Christian. and a hundred and eighty five nations welcomed him to preach the gospel in their country. John Wesley matched this same energy in the seventeen hundreds without the modern conveniences. available to Billy Graham in the twentieth century. Think about John Wesley. During his itinerant ministry, he rode more than two hundred and fifty thousand miles on horseback. Preached over 40,000 sermons, preached outdoors without a microphone in these open-air meetings to thousands and thousands of people At the time of his death, in 1791, he had nearly 120,000 followers in both England and the newly formed United States of America. Evangelical energy runs throughout the entire evangelical tradition as seen in a number of different ways Just think about all that evangelicals have the energy to do. We see that energy in preaching with rhetorical power. Evangelicals have developed the oratory skills that added emotional appeal to the preaching of the gospel. Think about their revival meetings and evangelistic crusades. There were the moving personal testimonies of conversion. And in the case of Billy Graham’s Crusade, these testimonies, which which had such rhetorical power, often came from celebrities like Johnny Cash, who made over thirty appearances at Billy Graham events where he d just didn’t sing, but he shared his testimony. Evangelical energy is also seen in their Ongoing passion to call people to make a personal decision for Christ. Early evangelicals would hold inquiry meetings They would supplement sermons with altar calls. I grew up in a church that that had altar calls where after the preaching of the sermon People were invited to step out of their pew and come to the front of the church and profess faith in Christ. Think about the street evangelism and door-to-door evangelism and all the training that evangelicals have gone through to equip and empower people to share their faith one-on-one. Evangelical energy can be seen in sending out missionaries. They have established mission agencies and training facilities around the world. They have worked tirelessly to translate the Bible in local languages. They’ve trained local indigenous Christian leaders. And what I think requires the most energy. is they have raised financial support to support their missionary endeavors. They have the energy to plant and establish new churches I think about the circuit writing among the Methodists in the 19th century in the American West. Evangelicals have had the energy to build local church buildings and to start new congregations to Grow and expand local churches through the establishment of campuses. Evangelical energy has produced great Christian literature Not only were they translating the Bible, but they were printing Bibles. They developed Christian publishing houses like Thomas Nelson, Zondervin. Baker, IVP, Tyndale, these are all evangelical publishing houses. They distributed evangelical tracts and literature. I mean, I think I still have a copy of the four spiritual laws somewhere around here in my library. They they launched Christian magazines. Of course, Christianity Today remains their lasting legacy. Evangelicals also had energy for acts of social justice, the abolition of slavery. Think about Will Wilberforce in England, who led the charge to end the British slave trade. Evangelicals worked for prison reform and child labor reform. They empowered women in ministry, women like Lottie Moon, Annie Armstrong, Amy Carmichael, and Ann Judson. They built hospitals and orphanages, food kitchens, inner city missions, and disaster relief organizations. Modern evangelicals, or I would say evangelicals as it’s understood today, don’t hardly recognize their legacy. and acts of social justice. A lot of this has been documented in Donald Dayton’s book, Discovering an Evangelical Heritage If you want to learn more about the history of evangelicalism and social justice, check out Dayton’s book. And they also mobilized ordinary Christians to get involved in ministry. It’s evangelicals that gave us youth ministry. That’s where I found Jesus in the early 1990s. Evangelicals also established university campus ministries and Christian conferences. And then beginning in the 1970s. They put rock and roll energy into worship music in the evangelical church so that the so-called contemporary worship movement With its use of drums and guitars and keyboards is synonymous with the evangelical tradition And all of this, all that evangelicals have done, requires tremendous dedication and energy. And while evangelical energy can be seen in the physical and emotional energy required to do all these great things. The evangelical tradition from John Wesley to the modern contemporary worship movement has emphasized a deeper kind of energy They have emphasized the energy of intentionality. Without hearts intent on the pursuit of God, God’s kingdom, and God’s righteousness We’ll simply miss the mark. We will never be able to explore Orthodox mystery or have the patience to behold Catholic beauty, or prevent Anglican liturgy from becoming wrote memorization, will never have the strength to embody Protestant audacity, or have the endurance to persevere through Anabaptist peacemaking. Without intentionality. Dallas Willard is an important voice in modern evangelicalism. I mean, if we have a Mount Rushmore of evangelical leaders. I will fight hard for Willard to be up there. And he uses the acronym VIM, V I M, as a model for spiritual formation in his landmark book Renovation of the heart. Willard argues that all genuine spiritual transformation, that is The work of the Holy Spirit to form us into the image of Jesus for the joy of God the Father. That’s how I define spiritual transformation. But Willard argues that all genuine spiritual transformation follows the same basic pattern, which he summarizes in three categories: vision. Intention and Means. V I M. Vision, intention, and means So Willard says spiritual formation begins with a vision of life in the kingdom of God, where God’s will is done and where Christ-like living is not only commanded, but has been made possible through grace. This vision awakens our imagination to a new way of being human, a vision embodied in Jesus Himself. So Jesus is the vision for our spiritual formation. From that vision comes intention. A settled decision that the vision is true and our desire is to become a Christ-like person This is the intentionality. This in Willard’s Vim model is at the heart, at the center. Now let’s go on to the the means because that’s also important, but I want to get back to the centrality of intentionality. But the means, according to Willard, are the classic disciplines of the Christian faith. I call these ancient spiritual pathways these well-worn spiritual trails that have been walked upon for centuries. Willard’s means are The classic Christian habits, things like prayer and Bible reading, contemplation, silence, solitude, fasting, communion, and so on. These are the concrete practical habits that reshape our minds, desires, and character According to Willard, remove any one of these three elements and spiritual formation stalls out. And at the center of this Vim model is intentionality. And for me, this is the real gift of the evangelical tradition. this gift of energy in the form of intentionality. For Willard, intention is more than mere desire or quote unquote good intentions. It is a deliberate decision to obey Jesus and to order one’s life around becoming like him. He repeatedly distinguishes intuition from merely wishing or admiring Jesus or agreeing with Christian doctrine. We don’t truly trust Jesus, Willer would argue, unless we intend to obey him In fact, Willard argues that believing the right things about Jesus without intending to follow his example is a contradiction. For me, it’s more than a contradiction. It’s one of the roots of hypocrisy. But real intention always moves towards action because it commits the whole person to a particular direction of life Willard insists that all three elements of his Vim model must work together, and intention is sustained by both vision and means. A compelling vision gives intention its purpose, while the appropriate means gives it a practical expression. Trying to obey Jesus through sheer willpower inevitably fails, but neither does transformation happen automatically The Christian life requires a clear vision of God’s kingdom, a wholehearted decision to live like Jesus right here, right now. and the regular practice of those habits by which we cooperate with the Holy Spirit. And we need energy because we get tired. Jesus said, Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. I love how this verse is rendered in the message. That’s Matthew 11, 28. But I love the message translation here in Matthew’s gospel. Eugene Peterson translates Jesus saying, are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me, and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you Keep company with me, and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly. What a beautiful translation So, are you tired? I mean I know I get tired way more often than I’d like, especially as I’ve gotten older. I mean I wish I had the energy that I had in my twenties. combined with the wisdom from life experience that I have in my 50s. But are you tired? Are you Worn out, I get that way. When I am overloaded, overstressed, living without a work, rest balance, I get worn out I have often found myself shipwrecked in the sea of frustration more than once. Are you burned out on religion? I’m not opposed to religion per se. Religion as the rituals and practices that bind us together can be used for good. But all those prayers and worship services and Acts of service and justice and attention to religious details, all these things can leave us burned out. Jesus says, Come to me. If we can get away with Jesus, Then Jesus himself will show us how to rest. He invites us to walk with him and work with him. And from him, we can learn the unforced rhythms of grace. Willard has said that grace is not opposed to effort, it’s opposed to earning Earning is an attitude, effort is an action. And classic evangelicals have shown us a way to walk in the grace of God without forcing it or expecting it. The evangelical tradition reminds us that there is an energy we can step into that can fuel all of our efforts to live faithfully in the way of Jesus. And after a very lengthy podcast episode, I believe you need some of that evangelical energy today. So stick with Jesus. Trust that he’s going to give you the energy. You need to stay focused on the gospel, the mission of Jesus, and the ways of Jesus. Well, that’s all that I have for you on this episode. Thank you for joining me. Go in peace. And be kind.
This transcript was generated with AI and may contain errors.