Tag: Faith

Habits of Grace which Lead to Growth: the Benefits of Journaling and Other Spiritual Disciplines – with Mike Neglia

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Spiritual disciplines are intentional, repeated practices which help you to grow in relationship with God.

In this episode of the Theology for the People Podcast, I speak with my friend and colleague, Mike Neglia about his practice of journaling, and how it has benefited him spiritually.

Almost 6 years ago, Mike handed me a Field Notes notebook at a coffee shop in Estes Park. He told me to keep it in my pocket, and he said it would change my life. It took me an entire year to use up that first notebook, but since then writing and journaling in notebooks has become a regular part of my everyday life, and Mike was right: it has changed my life!

In this episode, Mike and I talk about the practice of taking notes in church, the value of different types of notebooks, and other tactile things we can do, which will help us grow in our faith.

Mike is the pastor of Calvary Cork, in Cork City, Ireland, and he is the host of the very popular: Expositors Collective Podcast. 

Together, Mike and I serve on the Executive Team of Calvary Global Network, and we are both leaders in the Expositors Collective initiative to raise up the next generation of Christ-Centered Expository Bible Teachers.

Expositors Collective will be offering an in-person two-day training weekend in the Bay Area of California on May 24-25, 2024. You can find more information and register here.

Click here to listen to the episode, or listen in the embedded player below.

Habits of Grace which Lead to Growth: the Benefits of Journaling & Other Spiritual Disciplines – with Mike Neglia – Theology for the People

Spiritual disciplines are intentional, repeated practices which help you to grow in relationship with God. In this episode, I speak with my friend and colleague, Mike Neglia about his practice of journaling, and how it has benefited him spiritually. We also talk about the practice of taking notes in church, the value of different types of notebooks, and other tactile things we can do, which will help us grow in our faith. Mike is the pastor of Calvary Cork, in Cork City, Ireland, and he is the host of the very popular Expositors Collective Podcast. Together, Mike and I serve on the Executive Team of Calvary Global Network, and we are both leaders in the Expositors Collective initiative to raise up the next generation of Christ-centered expository Bible teachers. Visit the Theology for the People website at nickcady.org

Mike also recently spoke at White Fields Church, and you can watch his message here:

Hard is Only Half the Story: The Role of Taking Steps of Faith in Spiritual Growth – with Wendy Zahorjanski

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Taking a step out into the unknown can be scary, and yet, when you do so led by God, it can lead to growth spiritually and benefits for your life.

In this episode of the Theology for the People Podcast, I speak with Wendy Zahorjanski. Wendy is a missionary in Serbia, where she lives with her husband, who is Serbian.

I first met Wendy and her husband Danny back when I lived in Hungary, and they were studying at Bible College. Since that time, they have moved to a city in Central Serbia called Kragujevac, and they have planted a church there. I recently got to visit Wendy and Danny and see their church, and I’m excited to introduce you to them, and for you to hear more about God’s work in Serbia, and in their lives.

Wendy recently wrote a book about her experiences of stepping into unknown, both in Serbia and in Central Asia, where she spent time earlier. The book is called: Hard Is Only Half the Story: Real Adventures from My Journey into the Unknown. In this book, Wendy talks about the important role that taking steps of faith plays in our spiritual growth, and our relationship with God.

In our conversation, we talk about what it’s like to live as a missionary in Serbia, what makes Serbia unique, and some of the ways that taking steps of faith in obedience to God shapes us and helps us grow.

Click here to listen to the episode, or listen in the embedded player below.

Hard is Only Half the Story: The Role of Taking Steps of Faith in Spiritual Growth – with Wendy Zahorjanski – Theology for the People

Taking a step into the unknown can be scary, and yet, when led by God, it can lead to incredible spiritual growth and benefits for your life. Wendy Zahorjanski is a missionary in Serbia with her husband, Danny, in the city of Kragujevac, where they planted a church. Wendy recently wrote a book about her experiences stepping into unknown, and she talks about the important role that taking steps of faith plays in our spiritual growth and relationship with God.

Writing Update: Study Guide and New Book on the Way

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Since my book, The God I Won’t Believe In: Facing Nine Common Barriers to Embracing Christianity came out in March of 2022, I have been encouraged and glad to hear from many people who say the book has been a helpful resource and an encouragement to them.

Several groups have told me that that they have used the book for group studies, for small groups at their church and for youth groups. One person told me about a lunchtime study group she started at her workplace using the book.

Study Guide Coming Soon

To help those who want to use the book for group studies, I am currently writing a Group Study Guide resource to be a companion to the book, and I’m doing it by teaching the youth group at our church, White Fields Community Church. I’ve had some great help in creating the content from some of the excellent leaders at White Fields.

When the guide comes out, each session will include a group activity, a synopsis, and several study questions which correspond to the content of each chapter. Additionally, we are planning to create a series of videos which can be watched along with the study guide, for groups to use.

That study guide should be coming out in early 2023.

New book in the works

Additionally, I am working on another book called, So That You May Believe, which will be based on the evidence given in the Gospel of John about who Jesus is, and why you should believe in him.

Since my first book was The God I Won’t Believe In, hopefully this next book will be a good follow-up or companion, showing people the evidence for who Jesus is and why he came, So That You May Believe.

I hope to be able to release that book by the end of 2023.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned!

Do Miracles Create Faith?

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In his 1986 book, Power Evangelism, John Wimber suggested that when people see miracles, they are more inclined to believe in Jesus and embrace the gospel.

But is that true? Is that actually what we see in the Bible?

There are verses like John 2:11, where it says that Jesus’ disciples, having seen the first of his signs by which he manifested his glory, believed in him. Furthermore, at the end of the Gospel of John, John says that he has told us about these particular signs that Jesus performed, so that we may believe in him.

However, another common theme in the Gospel of John is that many people in Jesus’ time saw him perform miracles, and although they were fascinated with and captivated by seeing miracles, it did not translate into genuine faith and devotion to Jesus.

Regarding the disciples and the verse in John 2:11 that they believed in Him after they saw the sign he performed, it should be remembered that at this point they were already his disciples – which means they already believed in him. What this miracle did was cause them to believe in a deeper way. It solidified their belief, in other words.

Something that always strikes me, is the fact that Jesus fed over 5000 people (on two occasions!), thousands of others saw him perform miracles, yet on the Day of Pentecost, there were only 120 committed followers in the upper room.

The question that must be asked is: WHY did Jesus perform miracles? Was it an evangelistic strategy (as Wimber supposes), or was it because those miracles were signs, pointing to something beyond themselves (as John tells us in his gospel)?

It would seem that if miracles were Jesus’ evangelistic strategy, they weren’t very effective in producing lasting, genuine faith. A good example is found in John 4, where there is a contrast made between the Samaritans, who believed in Jesus because of his word (John 4:41) – even though they never saw a miracle, and the Galileans, whom Jesus chastised because they were only willing to believe if they saw signs and wonders (John 4:48).

The message is that faith, rather than coming from seeing miracles, comes from hearing the Word of God and believing. This same message is repeated at the end of John’s Gospel in John 20:29, where Jesus tells Thomas: “Have you believed because you have seen? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

In a recent Sermon Extra, Michael and I discussed signs and wonders, whether miracles produce genuine faith:

My Book Is Now Available for Purchase + Book Signing This Sunday

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My first book, The God I Won’t Believe In: Facing Nine Common Barriers to Embracing Christianity, is now available for purchase in paperback and Kindle formats. 

We have paperback copies of the book for sale in our church’s bookstore, and it will be available in other churches and through book distributors soon.

If you would like to get copies for your church or group at bulk discount, contact us here.

Click here for more information and to purchase online.

Here’s a List of the Chapters

Each chapter begins with the phrase: “I Could Never Believe in a God Who…”

  1. A God Who Hasn’t Proven His Existence
  2. A God Who Gave Us a Faulty Bible
  3. A God Who Condoned Genocide in the Old Testament
  4. A God Who Creates Hateful, Hypocritical Followers
  5. A God Who Suppresses Women and Minorities
  6. A God Who Sends People to Hell 
  7. A God Who Says Some Love is Wrong
  8. A God Who Lets Bad Things Happen to Good People
  9. A God Who Doesn’t Answer My Prayers

Book Signing This Sunday

For those who are within driving distance of Longmont, Colorado, this Sunday I will be signing copies of the book after each of our 3 services at White Fields Church. We will have copies for sale on site. If you can make it out, I’d love to see you there!

Big Announcement: I Wrote a Book! Here’s the Story Behind It and What It’s About

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In this week’s episode of the Theology for the People podcast, I sit down with Michael Payne and Curt Fuller to discuss my forthcoming book, The God I Won’t Believe In: Facing Nine Common Barriers to Embracing Christianity. The book is scheduled to be released on March 6, 2022, and will be available for purchase online, as well as in our church’s bookstore. We are currently working on distribution, and getting it into other bookstores and book distributers as well.

In this episode, Michael interviews me and Curt, who edited the book, as we discuss the backstory behind how it came about, as well as the content of the chapters, and who this book is for.

I hope this book will be a great resource to help both those who are wrestling through facing these barriers to embracing Christianity, as well as those who seek to be equipped to help their family and friends move from doubt to belief.

I’d love it if you’d consider buying a copy of the book, and if you’d help spread the word about it online!

Click here to listen to this episode, or listen in the embedded player below.

Book Release Announcement & Preview – The God I Won't Believe In: Facing Nine Common Barriers to Embracing Christianity – Theology for the People

Nick wrote a book! It's coming out March 6, 2022 and is available for pre-order on Amazon here. The book is titled, The God I Won't Believe In: Facing Nine Common Barriers to Embracing Christianity.  In this episode, Nick sits down with Michael Payne and Curt Fuller, who edited the book, the discuss how the book came about, who it's for, and what it's about. Make sure to visit the Theology for the People blog at nickcady.org for more articles and content.

Thanksgiving Shapes Us in More than One Way

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Today is the day in the United States when we set aside to give thanks and reflect on all the Lord has done in our lives over this past year.

Other countries, like Canada and Ukraine also have national holidays dedicated to giving thanks, but days of thanksgiving have a rich history in Christian groups all over the world, going back before the pilgrims held their famous thanksgiving feast in Plymouth.

In the Old Testament, God instructed his people to hold several days of thanksgiving every year: Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread in early Spring, thanking God for delivering them from slavery and for the beginning of the barley harvest; the Feast of Weeks in early Summer, thanking God for the beginning of the wheat harvest; and the Feast of Tabernacles in the Fall, thanking God for the end of the harvest season. God told them to “Be joyful at your festival…because the Lord your God will bless you” (Deuteronomy 16:14-15).

For us as Christians, Thanksgiving is not only a day we celebrate, but a way of life. Colossians 2:6-7 says: : “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

Thanksgiving Shapes Us

Spending time reflecting on what God has done for us and giving thanks not only honors Him, it also shapes us. The Thanksgiving meal obviously shapes us into certain kinds of people: slightly rounded than we were before! But the practice of giving thanks also shapes us: the more we give thanks, the more our eyes are opened to see the things God is doing and has done – which builds our faith and trust in Him!

Wishing you a blessed Thanksgiving!

Dominic Done Coming to White Fields Church: November 14, 2021

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Pastor and author Dominic Done will be joining us at White Fields Community Church on Sunday, November 14, at all three services: 8:00, 9:30 & 11:00 AM.

Dominic is the author of When Faith Fails: Finding God in the Shadow of Doubt (Zondervan, 2019), and the host of the Finding Faith podcast, where he discusses issues related to doubt, deconstruction, and faith.

I was given a copy of Dominic’s book when it first came out, and it sat on my shelf until I picked it up one Saturday to thumb through it, and next thing I knew I had read every word and used up an entire highlighter. I read the whole thing in one sitting because it was so fascinating, well-written, and applicable.

More recently, in September of 2021, I got to spend some time with Dominic in Colorado Springs at an Expositors Collective training weekend where he was one of our guest speakers.

We are excited for Dominic to come and speak at our church on November 14, and I encourage you: if you are within driving distance of Longmont, make sure to join us and bring someone with you who needs to here this important, helpful, and relevant message!

If you have ever struggled with doubts, or if you are curious about deconstruction: what it means, if it is a good thing or a dangerous thing – join us for this special Sunday!

A Theology of Music: Discussion with Jon Markey and Michael Payne

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Jon Markey and Michael Payne are accomplished musicians, songwriters, and producers, and in the latest episode of the Theology for the People podcast, I sat down with them to talk about the theology of music.

Michael is the Worship Pastor at White Fields Community Church in Longmont, Colorado. Prior to coming to Longmont, he spent 21 years as a worship leader and missionary in Hungary, and prior to that he served in the US Marine Corps.

Jon is a pastor and missionary in Ternopil, Ukraine. He moved to Kiev, Ukraine with his family in the 1990’s, when he was 5 years old, and earned a masters degree from the Ukrainian National Tchaikovsky Academy of Music.

Jon has been a guest on the podcast before, in fact his episode is the most-listened to episode on the podcast to date: If “It’s All Gonna Burn” Then What’s the Point? – How the Resurrection Gives Meaning to Work & Art

We recently had the pleasure of having Jon and his family visit Longmont and lead worship at our church, and while he was here, I got to sit down with him and Mike to discuss what the Bible has to say about music: its purpose, uses, and significance – including the “song of creation,” and how it serves to counteract pagan origin narratives, as well as Jubal: the first human musician, mentioned in Genesis 4, as well as other practical discussions which have modern application.

Check out Jon’s ministry: Room for More music on YouTube and his church: Calvary Chapel Ternopil (Ukraine)

Check out Michael on Spotify: Michael Payne and you can watch him on the White Fields Community Church YouTube page.

The book mentioned in this episode is Scribbling in the Sand: Christ and Creativity by Michael Card

A Theology of Music: with Jon Markey & Michael Payne – Theology for the People

Michael Payne and Jon Markey are accomplished musicians, songwriters, and producers, and in this episode they talk with Nick about the theology of music. Listen in to this discussion of what the Bible has to say about music: its purpose, uses, and significance – including the "song of creation," Jubal, and practical discussions for today. Check out Jon's ministry: Room for More music on YouTube and his church: Calvary Chapel Ternopil (Ukraine) Check out Michael on Spotify: Michael Payne and you can watch him on the White Fields Community Church YouTube page. The book mentioned in this episode is Scribbling in the Sand: Christ and Creativity by Michael Card Visit the Theology for the People blog.

Theological Method: Sources of Theology and Why People Arrive at Different Conclusions About Matters of Faith & the Bible

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In the latest episode of the Theology for the People podcast, Mike and I discuss the topic of “theological method,” which was a big part of my Masters study in Integrative Theology.

Integrative theology weaves together historical, biblical, systematic, and other approaches to doing theology in order to take a holistic approach, and the result is an integrated theological method.

Here’s the thing: everyone uses a method for doing theology, whether they recognize it or not. Furthermore, the reason why different people and groups arrive at different conclusions is because they are using different theological methods.

In this episode, I explain the 5 commonly recognized “sources of theology,” and answer the question of how to examine your own theological method.

Listen in the embedded player below, or by clicking this link: Theological Method: Sources of Theology and Why People Arrive at Different Conclusions About Matters of Faith and the Bible

Theological Method: Sources of Theology and Why People Arrive at Different Conclusions About Matters of Faith and the Bible – Theology for the People

In this episode, Nick and Mike discuss the topic of "theological method", which involves the study of how people arrive at theological conclusions based on how they use the "sources of theology" in relation to each other. We discuss the 5 commonly recognized sources of theology, explain different theological methods that exist, and how they relate to interpreting the Bible in light of our ever-changing world. Check out the Theology for the People blog site at nickcady.org