From the Appostolic Team
Insights, guides, and stories to help your church teach with clarity and confidence.
Seek the Welfare of the City
I was testing the platform for bugs when a Mordecai character study surfaced Jeremiah 29:7 — "seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you." My honest posture had been: to heck with this town.
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Seek the Welfare of the City
How a Character Study on Mordecai Convicted Me About the Town I’ve Been Wanting to Leave
I was testing the platform for bugs when a Mordecai character study surfaced Jeremiah 29:7 — "seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you." My honest posture had been: to heck with this town.
You Don’t Want to Go to Hell, Do You?
What the New Testament Actually Shows Us About How People Came to Jesus — and Why Scaring Them Into It Might Be the Laziest Gospel We’ve Ever Preached
A VBS leader asked little girls, “You don’t want to go to hell, do you?” So I researched how people actually came to Jesus in the New Testament. Not one instance was fear-based.
What Happens When You Ask the Hard Question
On Church Boards, Undershepherds, and the Cost of Caring Enough to Speak Up
The people who care the most about a church are the ones most likely to get hurt - because they're the ones who eventually say something. A healthy church receives hard questions as gifts, not threats
I Didn’t Get Anything Out of Church Today
What If We’ve Been Asking the Wrong Question Every Sunday Morning?
"I didn't get anything out of church today." I said it for years. But it's one of the most self-centered things a believer can say. What if we've been asking the wrong question every Sunday?
We Don’t Accept That Baptism
On Membership Cards, Denominational Walls, and What It Cost to Choose Community Over Conviction
"We don't accept the Assembly of God baptism." I was already a follower of Jesus. Already baptized. But the denomination required it again — in their water. What I did next surprised even me.
The Last Command of Jesus
The Most Under-Preached Words Jesus Ever Spoke — and Why Philippians 2:12 Means Something Different Than You’ve Been Told
Jesus's last command — "love one another as I have loved you" — is the most under-preached instruction in Christianity. And Philippians 2:12? Every word is plural. It was never about you alone.
Deeper Than We Expected
Two Things I Discovered While Building Appostolic That Changed How I Think About What It Can Do
The same architecture that generates a Sunday school lesson can guide seminary-level formation. And when you invite someone into the research, the collaboration itself becomes the discipleship.
Three Sundays Without a Net
What Happens When the Pastor Is Away and Three Different People Fill the Pulpit
The pastor was away for three Sundays. Three men filled in. Three different problems. Theological misalignment, scattered prep, and a Google search sermon. All were predictable and preventable.
The Church We Forgot: Pt 2 - Shared Elders vs. Solo Pastor
How the Early Church’s Model of Shared Leadership Became the Modern Solo-Pastor-as-CEO Model
The New Testament pattern for church leadership is unmistakably plural. So how did a body of elders become a solo pastor carrying everything? The history is clear.
Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Software?
The Church Has Software for Everything Except the Thing It Actually Exists to Do
The church has software for giving, scheduling, streaming, and accounting. But the thing it actually exists to do — teach and proclaim the Kingdom — has almost no technological support. Until now.
When the Sermon Became the Job
The Shepherd's Inversion
The average pastor spends 14 hours a week preparing a monologue and 6 hours being with people. Somewhere along the way, the sermon became the job — and the shepherd became the speaker.
The Church We Forgot: Pt 1 - Ekklesia vs. "Church"
What the Word Actually Meant — and How a Building Replaced a People
The early church didn’t have worship bands, sermon series, or children’s ministry wings. They had each other. They had homes. They had bread and wine and prayer and the apostles’ teaching.