Barnabas Piper's Blog, page 49
February 27, 2020
New Happy Rant Sports: Nondescript Teams, Tom Brady, and Sports Personas
In this episode of the Happy Rant Sports Episode Ted and Barnabas suss out the following sports topics:
The most nondescript franchises
The Tom Brady sweepstakes
The alpha dynamic in the clubhouse
One franchise guys
The sports personas of the three Happy Rant hosts
Sponsors
[image error]WE ARE COFFEE MOGULS AGAIN. We’ve joined forces with Redbud Coffee, based out of Auburn IL, to bring you deliciously roasted and beautifully packaged coffee. Check out their variety of roasts and be sure to use the code HappyRant at checkout to get a 10% discount off your purchase.
LIVE AT MIDTOWN
Our next Live recording event is coming up! On the day after Easter and the day before T4G we’ll hold it at a brand new, exceptionally cool location. Get your tickets now!
APRIL 13, 2020
7:00 PM – 10:00 PM EDT
Sojourn Church Midtown
1207 South Shelby Street
Louisville, KY 40203
Be sure to visit HappyRantPodcast.com where you can:
Order your Redbud coffee
Connect with Ted, Ronnie, or Barnabas to speak for your church, organization, or event
Support the podcast through our Patreon page . This helps us cover production and hosting costs so we can keep this thing rolling
To listen you can:
Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher
Listen via just about any podcast app/streaming service out there
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.
Episode #36
February 26, 2020
New Happy Rant: The Manliest Man, Not Funny Enough, and Francis Chan’s Career Arc
In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas suss out the following:
Ronnie’s brush with Beth Moore fame
The manliest man on the internet
Claiming the manhood corner
Language and confusion about how to even discuss manhood
Are we funny enough?
Francis Chan, transubstantiation, transcendental meditation, and whatnot
That Francis Chan career arc
Sponsors
[image error]WE ARE COFFEE MOGULS AGAIN. We’ve joined forces with Redbud Coffee, based out of Auburn IL, to bring you deliciously roasted and beautifully packaged coffee. Check out their variety of roasts and be sure to use the code HappyRant at checkout to get a 10% discount off your purchase.
Thank you to our sponsor for this week’s episode: Dwell Bible App. Dwell is a Bible listening app that we love! If you are looking for a convenient, fresh way of spending more time in God’s word Dwell is ideal. Go to https://dwellapp.io/happyrant to get 33% off your subscription. It comes out to about $20 for the entire year!
LIVE AT MIDTOWN
Our next Live recording event is coming up! On the day after Easter and the day before T4G we’ll hold it at a brand new, exceptionally cool location. Get your tickets now!
APRIL 13, 2020
7:00 PM – 10:00 PM EDT
Sojourn Church Midtown
1207 South Shelby Street
Louisville, KY 40203
Be sure to visit HappyRantPodcast.com where you can:
Order your Redbud coffee
Connect with Ted, Ronnie, or Barnabas to speak for your church, organization, or event
Support the podcast through our Patreon page . This helps us cover production and hosting costs so we can keep this thing rolling
To listen you can:
Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher
Listen via just about any podcast app/streaming service out there
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.
Episode #286
February 18, 2020
New Happy Rant: The Oscars, Axe Throwing, and Crazy Speeches
In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas suss out, well, a bunch of random stuff:
Depressing movies with Trogges
The Oscars in all their self-indulgence
Gender debates and defending John Piper
The popularity of Axe Throwing and Escape Rooms
Crazy acceptance speeches
Craft coffee, Hydroflasks, and cooking shows
Sponsors
[image error]WE ARE COFFEE MOGULS AGAIN. We’ve joined forces with Redbud Coffee, based out of Auburn IL, to bring you deliciously roasted and beautifully packaged coffee. Check out their variety of roasts and be sure to use the code HappyRant at checkout to get a 10% discount off your purchase.
Thank you to our sponsor for this week’s episode: Dwell Bible App. Dwell is a Bible listening app that we love! If you are looking for a convenient, fresh way of spending more time in God’s word Dwell is ideal. Go to https://dwellapp.io/happyrant to get 33% off your subscription. It comes out to about $20 for the entire year!
LIVE AT MIDTOWN
Our next Live recording event is coming up! On the day after Easter and the day before T4G we’ll hold it at a brand new, exceptionally cool location. Get your tickets now!
APRIL 13, 2020
7:00 PM – 10:00 PM EDT
Sojourn Church Midtown
1207 South Shelby Street
Louisville, KY 40203
Be sure to visit HappyRantPodcast.com where you can:
Order your Redbud coffee
Connect with Ted, Ronnie, or Barnabas to speak for your church, organization, or event
Support the podcast through our Patreon page . This helps us cover production and hosting costs so we can keep this thing rolling
To listen you can:
Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher
Listen via just about any podcast app/streaming service out there
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.
Episode #285
February 17, 2020
New Group Study on Faith and Doubt
[image error]Earlier this month my new 6-session small group study titled Help My Unbelief: Why Doubt is Not the Enemy of Faith released from LifeWay. It is built out from my book by the same title and is aimed at classes and small groups. I developed it (with much help from great editors, designers, and videographers) with the hope that it would help those struggling with crippling doubt and would shake others from apathy by raising questions they need to face. My hope is that it will encourage people whose faith is fragile and exhausted and that it will bolster those whose faith is solid. If you are looking for a study to go through with a small group, discipleship group, or class this could work for you.
[image error]It includes the following.
Leader Kit with videos (12-15 minutes of teaching apiece) and session previews as well as a copy of the paperback edition of Help My Unbelief
Six small-group sessions with discussion questions and guides for the leader
Personal study opportunities for ongoing spiritual growth to be used throughout the weeks between small group gtherings
Digital options, including eBooks and group-use video bundles or individual teaching videos for rent or purchase
Order Your Copy:
Lifeway.com
Christianbook.com
Amazon
New Small Group Study on Faith and Doubt
[image error]Earlier this month my new 6-session small group study titled Help My Unbelief: Why Doubt is Not the Enemy of Faith released from LifeWay. It is built out from my book by the same title and is aimed at classes and small groups. I developed it (with much help from great editors, designers, and videographers) with the hope that it would help those struggling with crippling doubt and would shake others from apathy by raising questions they need to face. My hope is that it will encourage people whose faith is fragile and exhausted and that it will bolster those whose faith is solid. If you are looking for a study to go through with a small group, discipleship group, or class this could work for you.
[image error]It includes the following.
Leader Kit with videos (12-15 minutes of teaching apiece) and session previews as well as a copy of the paperback edition of Help My Unbelief
Six small-group sessions with discussion questions and guides for the leader
Personal study opportunities for ongoing spiritual growth to be used throughout the weeks between small group gtherings
Digital options, including eBooks and group-use video bundles or individual teaching videos for rent or purchase
February 14, 2020
New Happy Rant: The Thrill is Gone: Dealing with Disappointment
In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted and Ronnie suss out how to handle disappointment in life, work, and creativity
Not doing the jobs we expected
Moving on from hopes and dreams of creative endeavors
Finding new creative outlets
Trying to do what we love and still make a living
Teaching & preaching as creativity
The loss of thrill in work
Fighting bitterness
Being grateful
Sponsors
[image error]WE ARE COFFEE MOGULS AGAIN. We’ve joined forces with Redbud Coffee, based out of Auburn IL, to bring you deliciously roasted and beautifully packaged coffee. Check out their variety of roasts and be sure to use the code HappyRant at checkout to get a 10% discount off your purchase.
Thank you to our sponsor for this week’s episode: Dwell Bible App. Dwell is a Bible listening app that we love! If you are looking for a convenient, fresh way of spending more time in God’s word Dwell is ideal. Go to https://dwellapp.io/happyrant to get 33% off your subscription. It comes out to about $20 for the entire year!
LIVE AT MIDTOWN
Our next Live recording event is coming up! On the day after Easter and the day before T4G we’ll hold it at a brand new, exceptionally cool location. Get your tickets now!
APRIL 13, 2020
7:00 PM – 10:00 PM EDT
Sojourn Church Midtown
1207 South Shelby Street
Louisville, KY 40203
Be sure to visit HappyRantPodcast.com where you can:
Order your Redbud coffee
Connect with Ted, Ronnie, or Barnabas to speak for your church, organization, or event
Support the podcast through our Patreon page . This helps us cover production and hosting costs so we can keep this thing rolling
To listen you can:
Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher
Listen via just about any podcast app/streaming service out there
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.
Episode #284
February 11, 2020
5 Reasons Pastors’ Kids Struggle With Doubt
Doubt is common to all Christians. We struggle for a million reasons ranging from difficult intellectual questions to times of extreme suffering to feeling like God is absent.
And sometimes the people you think are the least likely to struggle with doubts actually struggle the most.
My father was a pastor of the same church, Bethlehem Baptist in Minneapolis, from three years before I was born until he retired on my 30th birthday.
The church grew steadily from just a few hundred to a few thousand during his ministry, so I experienced a range of pastor’s kid (PK) environments.
After moving away from home I began to connect with PKs from all over the country and I discovered that our experiences, regardless of denomination or church size or region, were strikingly similar—including a remarkably common and profoundly deep struggle with doubt.
Here are five reasons why PKs struggle deeply with doubt.
1. People’s Expectations vs. Jesus’ Expectations
“You shouldn’t do that; you’re the pastor’s kid” is a common refrain for many PKs. Even if it is not expressed explicitly, the sentiment is very clear: PKs are held to a different standard than our peers.
The eyes of the church, strangers and acquaintances alike, are on them constantly. This perpetual sense of pressure to live up to arbitrary and excessive expectations is brutal emotionally, relationally, and spiritually.
Worst of all, it can drive a wedge between a PK and Jesus as it becomes more and more difficult to differentiate between legalistic demands and what Jesus actually calls His followers to.
2. Borrowed Belief
One of the most difficult things for a PK to figure out is the difference between what he’s been told to believe and what he actually believes.
The inundation of sermons, Bible memory, Bible trivia, theological argument, family devotions, and dinner time conversations about all things church- and Bible-related leaves a PK with an over-stocked pantry and no idea how to cook or even what food he enjoys.
A PK can often describe faith without having it, argue theology without believing it, and quote Scripture without thinking about it.
This isn’t necessarily hypocrisy as much as it is confusion. It’s what happens when someone is handed belief instead of discovering it.
For a PK the discovery often happens much later, after much doubting and confusion.
3. No Room for Questions
When a person is new to Christianity we expect and love their questions about faith and the Bible. It’s a sign they’re growing and pursuing a deeper understanding of God.
But in many church environments the same expectation and love is not afforded to long-time Christians, especially not if they share a last name with the pastor.
One of those false expectations I mentioned above is that PKs should have answers, not questions.
When a PK struggles with his faith and the deeper mysteries of God where does he take his questions? At many churches the answer is “nowhere”—PKs are seen as a threat or a failure. So doubt grows in the dark with no place to take it.
4. No Room for Failure
All of us fail. We sin. We disappoint people. We face the same temptations over and over again with varying results. And it’s hard for anybody to confess and ask for help.
How much more so when you’re held to a higher standard? When everyone is watching. When people would like you to keep your questions to yourself even if you don’t know what you believe.
This is often the atmosphere when PKs live, so what do they do when they screw up? Where do they go when they’re struggling with temptation or have absolutely blown it?
Few things feed the fire of doubts like guilt and shame, and when grace is absent those things flourish.
5. An Undefined Identity
When your faith is handed to you fully formed before you are fully formed, when people expect you to be a wholly sanctified Christian before you can spell “sanctified,” when you know you must hide your questions and your sins in a closet, well, it’s awfully hard to figure out who you truly are.
So many PKs define themselves by what they’re expected to be. Others define themselves by what they refuse to be. And many others waffle between identities, trying to figure out what to be.
A PK can describe what it means to have an identity in Christ infinitely easier than he can find his own.
After all Jesus is daddy’s boss, the topic of a sermon, or the subject matter of a debate much more than He is a savior, redeemer, and friend.
Without an identity in Christ doubts don’t just abound, they overwhelm. They are the sea on which a PK is tossed to and fro because he has no anchor in Jesus.
I don’t mean to paint a bleak picture of all PKs. A huge number of us are blessed to come from homes that valued God’s Word and served God’s Church faithfully.
A disproportionate number of us, myself included, come through our struggles and end up serving the Lord faithfully.
But we don’t do it without scars.
The life of a pastor’s family has unique challenges, even in the healthiest church. And, while PKs may not struggle with doubts more often than other believers, they do struggle alone more often and with deeper intensity. They need your prayers, your patience, and your grace.
[image error]This post was originally published by Facts & Trends and is used with permission.
For more about the unique struggles of pastors’ kids and how you can serve them check out my forthcoming book The Pastor’s Kid: What It’s Like and How to Help (June 1, 2020, The Good Book Company).
January 31, 2020
New Happy Rant: Remembering Kobe and Public Grief
In this episode Ted and Barnabas take a more somber tone to remember the life of Kobe Bryant and reflect on how people grieve publicly.
Our initial response to hearing the news of Kobe’s death
The Mamba mentality and the apex of secularism
Kobe’s complicated legacy and the strength of his family
Processing grief and persona building
How public displays of grief have changed how we respond to it
Sponsors
[image error]WE ARE COFFEE MOGULS AGAIN. We’ve joined forces with Redbud Coffee, based out of Auburn IL, to bring you deliciously roasted and beautifully packaged coffee. Check out their variety of roasts and be sure to use the code HappyRant at checkout to get a 10% discount off your purchase.
Thank you to our sponsor for this week’s episode: Dwell Bible App. Dwell is a Bible listening app that we love! If you are looking for a convenient, fresh way of spending more time in God’s word Dwell is ideal. Go to https://dwellapp.io/happyrant to get 33% off your subscription. It comes out to about $20 for the entire year!
LIVE AT MIDTOWN
Our next Live recording event is coming up! On the day after Easter and the day before T4G we’ll hold it at a brand new, exceptionally cool location. Get your tickets now!
APRIL 13, 2020
7:00 PM – 10:00 PM EDT
Sojourn Church Midtown
1207 South Shelby Street
Louisville, KY 40203
Be sure to visit HappyRantPodcast.com where you can:
Order your Redbud coffee
Connect with Ted, Ronnie, or Barnabas to speak for your church, organization, or event
Support the podcast through our Patreon page . This helps us cover production and hosting costs so we can keep this thing rolling
To listen you can:
Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher
Listen via just about any podcast app/streaming service out there
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.
Episode #283
January 29, 2020
New Happy Rant Sports: Super Bowl Talk and Baseball Cheaters
In this episode of The Happy Rant Sports podcast Ted and Barnabas talk NFL and MLB as we head toward the Super Bowl.
Patrick Mahomes is bonkers
CFL excitement
The future of Ryan Tannehill and the Titans
Breaking down the Super Bowl matchup
Andy Reid’s legacy
Cheating Astros and Red Sox
How should a Christian player respond to cheating?
Sponsors
[image error]WE ARE COFFEE MOGULS AGAIN. We’ve joined forces with Redbud Coffee, based out of Auburn IL, to bring you deliciously roasted and beautifully packaged coffee. Check out their variety of roasts and be sure to use the code HappyRant at checkout to get a 10% discount off your purchase.
LIVE AT MIDTOWN
Our next Live recording event is coming up! On the day after Easter and the day before T4G we’ll hold it at a brand new, exceptionally cool location. Get your tickets now!
APRIL 13, 2020
7:00 PM – 10:00 PM EDT
Sojourn Church Midtown
1207 South Shelby Street
Louisville, KY 40203
Be sure to visit HappyRantPodcast.com where you can:
Order your Redbud coffee
Connect with Ted, Ronnie, or Barnabas to speak for your church, organization, or event
Support the podcast through our Patreon page . This helps us cover production and hosting costs so we can keep this thing rolling
To listen you can:
Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher
Listen via just about any podcast app/streaming service out there
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.
Episode #35
January 28, 2020
New Happy Rant: The Bravery Episode
In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas suss out some very important aspects of bravery:
What is bravery in today’s culture?
What is bravery, actually?
What is an actual brave act today?
Can bravery be done for public consumption?
How does the internet affect bravery?
Are we allowed to call ourselves brave?
Sponsors
[image error]WE ARE COFFEE MOGULS AGAIN. We’ve joined forces with Redbud Coffee, based out of Auburn IL, to bring you deliciously roasted and beautifully packaged coffee. Check out their variety of roasts and be sure to use the code HappyRant at checkout to get a 10% discount off your purchase.
Thank you to our sponsor for this week’s episode: Dwell Bible App. Dwell is a Bible listening app that we love! If you are looking for a convenient, fresh way of spending more time in God’s word Dwell is ideal. Go to https://dwellapp.io/happyrant to get 33% off your subscription. It comes out to about $20 for the entire year!
LIVE AT MIDTOWN
Our next Live recording event is coming up! On the day after Easter and the day before T4G we’ll hold it at a brand new, exceptionally cool location. Get your tickets now!
APRIL 13, 2020
7:00 PM – 10:00 PM EDT
Sojourn Church Midtown
1207 South Shelby Street
Louisville, KY 40203
Be sure to visit HappyRantPodcast.com where you can:
Order your Redbud coffee
Connect with Ted, Ronnie, or Barnabas to speak for your church, organization, or event
Support the podcast through our Patreon page . This helps us cover production and hosting costs so we can keep this thing rolling
To listen you can:
Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher
Listen via just about any podcast app/streaming service out there
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.
Episode #282
