Signposts With Russell Moore

In this episode of Signposts I talk with author and speaker Jen Wilkin about the local church, men and women in ministry, and how to build a strong culture of teaching for women in the church. Listen below, and subscribe to Signposts to get new episodes when they publish. __________________ Below is an edited transcript of the audio RUSSELL MOORE: I have with me today nationally known author and teacher Jen Wilkin. She’s the author of several books, including Women of the Word, None Like Him: 10 Ways God’s Different Than Us and Why That’s a Good Thing, and a book about the Sermon on the Mount. Everything I read by Jen Wilkin not only equips me better but provokes me to think and to pray. She has a column in Christianity Today and I commend the stuff she does to you, and if you’re not familiar with it, find it and you will benefit from it. Jen, thanks for being here today. JEN WILKIN: Thanks for having me on! RM: You know sometimes I feel guilty because I feel I’m the only one in ministry who hasn’t used the p

How should Christians respond to cultural transformations, many of which actively threaten the beliefs and practices of the church? Journalist Rod Dreher offers a provocative answer in his new book “The Benedict Option,” which encourages believers and churches to abandon the popular models of cultural engagement and focus instead on shoring up our own theological foundations and communities. In this episode of Signposts I talk to Rod about the Benedict Option and what he hopes Christians take away from his book. Listen below and subscribe to Signposts to get new episodes automatically when they publish. Transcript coming soon The post Signposts: A Conversation With Rod Dreher appeared first on Russell Moore.

How should a teenager who has sinned sexually respond in repentance? How should parents of struggling teens address sexual sin? In this episode of Signposts, I talk to both child and parents about what walking in light of the gospel means for addressing sexual failure. Listen below, and subscribe to Signposts to get new episodes automatically. ________________ Below is an edited transcript of the audio.  I received a question from a teenager who told me he had committed sexual sin, and is trying to think of what steps he should take next. He seems genuinely repentant and broken over this. And I also received a question from a parent of a teenager, who had also discovered their teen in sexual sin and are trying to figure out how to address it as parents. This isn’t the same family! But both this teenager and these parents are grappling with how they should respond to sexual sin. First, I want to address to this teen, and anyone who might be in the same situation he’s in. First of all, you should know the weigh

This special episode of Signposts features a portion of my sermon at our 2017 Evangelicals For Life gathering in Washington, D.C. You can listen to the full message at the Evangelicals For Life page here. Be sure to subscribe to Signposts below to receive new episodes automatically. The post Signposts: What Human Dignity Means For the Church appeared first on Russell Moore.

What should Christians think of New Year’s resolutions? Are they a helpful way to make changes, or do they merely represent a modern from of legalism? In this episode I talk about how resolutions can help us form godly habits, and why this doesn’t need to be a slavish, performance-obsessed way of life. Use the links to subscribe to Signposts and get new episodes automatically as they are released. Below is an edited transcript of the audio. As the old Christmas song says, “Fast away the old year passes; hail the New Year, lads and lasses!” As we head into a new year, one thing that many people begin to wonder about is New Year’s resolutions. Recently I received a question from a listener, asking if Christians should have New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps the reason someone would ask this is the reality that most people don’t keep their resolutions. That’s a reason why, for example, gyms will make a lot of money in memberships around the first of the year. People tend to come in January and February and then t

Should Christians take offense when the signs say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”? If not, how can Christians cope with a rapidly secularizing public square? In this episode of Signposts I talk about what is and what is not evidence of a transforming culture, and the right way Christians ought to respond to both. Use the links below to subscribe to Signposts and get new episodes automatically when they publish. Below is an edited transcript of the audio. I found myself really, really irritated one day. I was on a plane, and they had one of those airline magazines, and I was flipping through it, and there was an advertisement from Budweiser, I think, one of the beer companies, that had the headline, “Silent nights are overrated.” And then I flipped the page a couple more pages through, and there was an advertisement for this really expensive, high-end, outdoor grill, and it says, “Who says it’s better to give then to receive?” And my response is Jesus is the one who says it’s better to give than

In this episode of Signposts I respond to an email from a listener, who is facing a volatile situation at her church between a new believer and an older member. How should churches gently shepherd new believers who may bring in “baggage” to the church, and how can more seasoned saints come alongside them in fellowship and support? Listen below, and use the links to subscribe to Signposts and get new episodes automatically when they publish. The post Signposts: Shepherding New Believers Who Cause Controversy in the Church appeared first on Russell Moore.

In this episode of Signposts I respond to a listener’s question about video games, and what parents should remember as they make decisions about this. Listen below, and subscribe to Signposts to get new episodes when they publish. The post Signposts: Should Your Family Play Video Games? appeared first on Russell Moore.

In this special episode of Signposts I sit down with professor and author Rosaria Butterfield to talk about her conversion to Christ, her previous life in the LGBT community, and what Christians need to remember when reaching out to the world around them. Listen below, and use the links to subscribe to Signposts and get new episodes automatically when they publish. The post Signposts: A Conversation With Rosaria Butterfield appeared first on Russell Moore.

In this special episode of Signposts, I sit down with award winning musician and author Andrew Peterson to talk about creativity, marriage, the gospel, and more. Listen below, and use the links to subscribe to Signposts and receive new episodes when they publish. The post Signposts: A Conversation With Andrew Peterson appeared first on Russell Moore.

In this special episode of Signposts, I discuss how Christians should respond to the election results and to President-elect Donald Trump. Listen to the episode below, and subscribe to Signposts to get new episodes automatically when they publish. ____________ Below is an edited version of the transcript.  Donald Trump, of course, was elected last night as the 45th President of the United States. Hillary Clinton conceded in a speech just a few minutes before I’m recording this right now. There are several things we, as Christians, should be thinking about today. The first of those is the requirement that we have to pray for and to honor our leaders. Now, many of you know, I had and have serious concerns about both of these major party candidates and I think one of the things that all of us can probably agree on across the spectrum in American life is that election 2016 was a demoralizing and some ways even traumatic thing for a lot of people. It was a divisive time, sometimes having husbands and wives and chi

On this episode of Signposts I reflect on life lessons I learned from serving Congressman Gene Taylor, and how a politician modeled integrity and conscience for me that made a lasting impact. Listen below, and subscribe to Signposts to receive new episodes automatically. _______________ Below is an edited transcript of the audio. This week I was thinking about the fact that it was the anniversary of the day that my old boss was elected to the United States Congress. On that date every year I tend to reflect on him and what I learned from him and I can tell you that I learned a lot about life and leadership from a politician, in a way that I think might be surprising to some people who tend to think of politicians in a really cynical and negative way. But when I think of this man, I have this sense of great gratitude that I was able to learn from him. Our fifth son, Taylor, is named after him. He is Taylor Eugene Moore, precisely because of the sense of gratitude that I have for him. I started out working for

In this episode I respond to a question about Halloween and the local church, and how Christians can handle disagreements in a way that glorifies Christ and preserves fellowship. Listen below, and use the links to subscribe to Signposts to get new episodes when they publish. _____________________ Below is an edited transcript of the audio. I had a question from a listener asking about Halloween, and she is particularly concerned not about Halloween itself and whether or not Christians ought to celebrate Halloween; there are all sorts of resources you can look at about that. Her question particularly is about disagreements that she has in her small group in her church. They have a small group, community group Bible study and some of the families Trick or Treat and their kids dress up and they do Halloween, some of the families don’t because they think that Halloween is a pagan holiday and they think it celebrates darkness and those sorts of things, and so they have a disagreement. She is just asking, what do w

In this episode of Signposts I reflect on how parents can talk to their adopted children about their story, and what adoption stories should teach us about our own adoption into the family of Christ. Listen below, and subscribe to get new episodes of Signposts automatically. _________________ Below is an edited transcript of the audio I had a listener who asked me how I told our children that they were adopted. At first I was reluctant to take that question because I assumed it’s just a very narrow niche of people for whom this would even be an issue: people who have adopted children and people for whom those children are still at home or still young. But the more that I think about it, the more I think that actually applies to all of us in the body of Christ to some degree or other because all of us are dealing with our adoption into the family of God, and all of us are trying to reckon with who we were before our adoption into Christ. So I think there are some things that we can all learn about that and the

In this episode of Signposts I discuss what the responsibility of the local church is toward members who have experienced divorce, and what the gospel means for how we bear each other’s burdens through this. Listen below and subscribe to Signposts to get new episodes automatically when they publish. ___________________ Below is an edited transcript of the audio. I had a question that came in by e-mail from a listener who is asking about the issue of divorce; and not really a question about whether divorce is permissible, but this listener said, “I see a lot of confusion from church to church about how to minister to divorced people in their congregations. Some churches seem to pretend not to notice while others essentially treat divorced people as second-tier Christians. What can local churches do for those who have come out of or perhaps are in the middle of a divorce, and practically is there anything that churches shouldn’t do?” That’s a really good question and I’m drawn back to a study that I saw several

In this episode of Signposts, I reflect on what being a Baptist has meant for my Christian life, and why I am still one today. Listen using the links at the bottom of this page, read the transcript below, and subscribe to Signposts to get new episodes automatically when they publish. ____________ Below is an edited transcript of the audio. In this episode I am responding to a listener who asked me the question why I am still a Baptist—specifically, is there a set of reasons why I would be committed to the Baptist expression in the church and the Baptist tradition within the church That’s a good question. The reason it is a good question is I was somebody who was reared in a Baptist church but in a largely Roman Catholic community. My family had two distinct sides: one side of the family was evangelical and the other side of the family was Roman Catholic, so I grew up with a deep appreciation of Roman Catholics—my mother’s side of the family was Catholic and really an important part of my life and of my develo

Every Christian has had to wrestle at some point with guilt. Even for those who believe, theologically, that they are forgiven in Christ, the struggle to feel forgiven can be agonizing. How should believers in the gospel of justification handle their residing feelings of shame, guilt, and condemnation? In this episode of Signposts I reflect on what the Scriptures say about our guilt, and why Christians can–and can’t–trust their feelings. Listen below, and use the links to subscribe to Signposts and receive new episodes automatically when they publish. The post Signposts: How Christians Should Handle Shame appeared first on Russell Moore.

I’m often asked about which podcasts I listen to. With all the time I spend traveling, I listen to quite a few podcasts, and there are a few in particular that are especially helpful to me in keeping up with what’s being talked about in broader culture. In this episode of Signposts I talk about which podcasts I frequently return to, and what makes them specifically useful to me in my life and ministry. Listen below and use the links to subscribe to Signposts and get new episodes when they publish. The post Signposts: My Favorite Podcasts appeared first on Russell Moore.

As parents, some of the most difficult conversations we can have with children is about evil. It can often be challenging to know how to explain the reality of evil to children in a gospel-centered way. In this episode of Signposts I reflect on why it’s important to talk honestly to children about pain and death in the world, and to do this in a way that exalts Christ as the final answer to all evil in the world. Listen below, and use the links to subscribe to Signposts and get new episodes when they publish. The post Signposts: How to Talk About Evil With Your Children appeared first on Russell Moore.

The odds are that, sooner or later, you will find yourself disagreeing with the leadership of your local church. The issue may seem small or it may seem very significant; you may be a lay member, or you may be on staff. Regardless of the circumstances, what are the most important things to remember when you don’t agree with the leadership of your church? In this episode of Signposts I talk about what healthy disagreement within a church can look like, and what marks the difference between handling it well and damaging the fellowship. Listen below, and use the links to subscribe to Signposts and download new episodes automatically when they publish. The post Signposts: How Should You Handle Disagreement With Church Leadership? appeared first on Russell Moore.