Empires of the Future

This is Empires of the Future, conversations to encourage the Church in a time of change.  Seven Reasons to Celebrate Advent What is Advent?  Many christians struggle with the busyness and the feelings of loss that often accompany the lights and trees at this time of year.  How should a Christian feel about how we “do” Christmas in our consumeristic age, and how do we make sure Christmas stays about what it should be about, the birth of Christ? In this episode we examine an article by Ryan Shelton for Desiring God which gives us seven reasons to incorporate the sense of longing that Advent brings into our Christmas experience.  https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/seven-reasons-to-celebrate-advent "The Empires of the future will be Empires of the Mind." - Winston Churchill 

This is Empires of the Future, conversations to encourage the Church in a time of change.   We are at the front end of a wave of churches closing in the United States.  But what does it mean when a local church closes its doors? What can be done about it? In this episode, we examine an article from Axios.com by Russell Contreras and consider these questions and more. https://www.axios.com/2025/10/03/us-churches-close-religious-shift-christians "The Empires of the future will be Empires of the Mind." - Winston Churchill

This is Empires of the Future, Conversations to Encourage the Church in a Time of Change Tyler Robinson and the Violence of Pornography The availability and depravity of porn is among the many challenges and toxic elements of the twenty-first century, but one that many adults are not aware of in terms of its subtlety and propensity to twist young minds.  The connection between Tyler Robinson, the alleged assassin of Charlie Kirk, and hardcore pornography provides an opportunity and a milestone for us to stop and consider the dangers of pornography in our day.  What is the hope for anyone caught in the net of porn?  Who can free us from its grip?  We consider all this in this episode of Empires of the Future.  "The empires of the future will be empires of the mind." - Winston Churchill https://firstthings.com/tyler-robinson-and-the-violence-of-porn/

Smart glasses are coming.  This new technology will enable not only easier interaction with the internet and augmented reality, but a greater capability to record everything we see, whether people around us might know it or not.  We talk about all this in this episode of Empires of the Future, dealing with this article by Austin Gravley for the Gospel Coalition.  https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/churches-smart-glasses/ "The Empires of the Future will Be Empires of the Mind" - Winston Churchill

Christians are generally in agreement that baptism is an important practice, but there is considerable disagreement on many other aspects of baptism.  In this video we discuss the rise of infant baptism in the church and the teaching of the New Testament on baptism.   Gavin Ortlund's video on "How did Infant Baptism Begin?: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WE0Ea2ke_c Infant Baptism Rap Battle by Reformed and Dangerous: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od5U9qNTpSw&list=RDod5U9qNTpSw&start_radio=1