Bob Robinson
Bob is the Executive Director of Reintegrate. View his full bio here.
Bob is the Executive Director of Reintegrate. View his full bio here.
What are we saved for?
God’s inviting us to join his mission to reconcile all things back to himself. JR Rozko helps Bob and Brendan understand the connections between salvation, discipleship, and mission. Salvation is the embodied experience of participating in what God is now doing in the world. “Discipleship is less about me trying to be like Jesus, and more about me trying to live my life as though Jesus were me.” JR is the Executive Director of The Telos Collective, a national church leadership training organization of the Anglican Church in North America.
Stephanie Summers is the CEO of The Center for Public Justice in Washington DC, an organization that equips citizens, develops leaders, and shapes public policy. She discusses with Bob and Brendan ideas for civic engagement that faithfully seeks to further public justice in both our nation but also our local contexts. They discuss how to actively discuss public policy and candidates with others without the trappings of political punditry, which seems to end with everyone hating each other.
How have the various political ideologies become idolatries? We have David Koyzis on to guide us through the strengths and weaknesses of each of them – Liberalism, Conservatism, Nationalism, Democracy, and Socialism. This is a crash-course in political science during the election season from one of our generation’s best thinkers on the subject.
David T. Koyzis earned his Ph.D. in government and international studies from the University of Notre Dame. He has taught undergraduate political science for thirty years. The new second edition of his highly acclaimed book, Political Visions & Illusions: A Survey & Christian Critique of Contemporary Ideologies came out last year, published by InterVarsity Press. Timothy Keller recently cited David’s book writing, “The gospel critiques all ideologies, and all the main political platforms since the Enlightenment have been dominated by reductionism and idols. (See David Koyzis, Political Visions and Illusions).”
2020 has been an incredible year of turmoil. It is the first year of a decade that promises to have lots of challenges. Tom Sine and Dwight Friesen are the authors of a fresh new book, 2020s Foresight: Three Vital Practices for Thriving in a Decade of Accelerated Change. Brendan and Bob discuss with them how these three vital practices can prepare young people, ministry leaders, and marketplace Christians for a decade that promises to be incredibly challenging.
We are experiencing disunity in ever-increasing ways. We are feeling it especially in 2020. What is God’s grand plan? “To unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth!” (Eph 1:10). Dr. Mark Roberts, the Executive Director for the Max De Pree Center for Leadership at Fuller Theological Seminary, wrote a new commentary on Ephesians. He shares with us what Ephesians says the gospel accomplishes: The gospel reintegrates all things, which includes the reintegration of the human race.
We can go to the movies to just be entertained or escape for a couple of hours, or we can look closer and dig deeper. What do the stories and characters in today’s movies tell us about the human condition? How can art teach us things that God wants us to grasp that we may not understand in any other way? Dr. Craig Detweiler (MFA, University of Southern California’s School of Cinema/TV and Ph.D. in Theology and Culture, Fuller Theological Seminary) has thought and wrote about these things for years and helps Bob and Brendan to wrestle with the messages of many of today’s best movies. Craig is the author of several books on Christian theology as it relates to pop culture, including his latest, Deep Focus: Film and Theology in Dialogue, co-written with Robert K. Johnston and Kutter Callaway.
In this podcast, we continue our discussion with Dr. John Fea. Professor of American History at Messiah University. He provides a historical framework for understanding the rise of the Religious Right and the political environment that led to evangelicals embracing Donald Trump in the 2016 election. Issues he addresses in his book, Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump.
The idea that America was founded to be a Christian nation is a presumption that many evangelical Christians have, thanks to conservative preachers and teachers like Robert Jeffress, Eric Metaxas, and David Barton. History professor Dr. John Fea wrote a detailed history on the subject and provides insight and analysis, based on his book, Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?: A Historical Introduction.
Now that I know what I know (about myself, this world, and God), what am I going to do with my life? According to Dr. Steven Garber, this is the essence of the word, “Vocation.” Steve discusses with Bob and Brendan the deep things of vocation, on finding a vision for life, responding to the call of God, and how to live wisely so that our ordinary lives are filled with meaning and purpose. His book, Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good, is essential reading.
Cyd and Geoff Holsclaw, authors of the excellent book, Does God Really Like Me? (IVP), explain that God is not angry with us or disappointed in us. These are severely warped understandings of who God is, what God has been doing and continues to do in our lives, and how we are meant to relate to God. God not only loves us, but actually wants to be with us, and he wants us to work with him in the “family business.”
We can’t even agree during a pandemic! Brendan and Bob discuss how we can begin to overcome the venom in our discourse that we’ve learned from our contentious culture. Instead of mimicking what pundits on cable news do, dehumanizing their opponents, and giving in to fear and rage, we are to be what Jesus called the “peacemakers.”
Can we be dedicated Christians and still indulge in the pleasures of this earthly life? Can we go to the beach, eat at a great restaurant, watch an exciting movie, play our favorite video game or sport, and still be pleasing to God? Or as today’s guest phrases it, “Can you serve Jesus and still enjoy your life?” That’s the subtitle of Mike Wittmer’s book, Becoming Worldly Saints: Can You Serve Jesus and Still Enjoy Your Life? (Zondervan, 2015).