Every Church Flourishing by the Great Commission Association

The Dead Sea Scrolls, Why Pastors Talk about Controversial Bible Issues, Textual Criticism, and Guarana Antarctica Soda Review with Textual Criticism Expert Dr. Anthony Ferguson

Why should pastors talk about controversial Bible passages and difficult Bible origin questions with church members? Old Testament Scholar Dr. Anthony Ferguson answers... Today, we talk to Dr. Anthony Ferguson, an Old Testament Textual Criticism expert and pastor, about some pretty deep Bible nerd stuff, including how pastors can talk about the background of the Bible without turning the church into a seminary. Some of this short interview is pretty deep, but if you feel lost, never fear, we will process through a little bit of what we discussed at the end of the episode today, right after Cal Baptist Ministry student J.C. and I review Brazil's #1 Coke competitor, Guarana Antarctica. Like me, Dr. Ferguson was taught in seminary to not use Greek or Hebrew in sermons, and also like me, he pretty routinely ignores this advice, which raises a question that the third part of our interview with Dr. Ferguson brings up: why would we focus a whole episode on some of the more academic points of the Bible, including textual variants, biblical origins, and the Dead Sea Scrolls? At least one of the answers to that question, Dr. Ferguson addressed in our opener - if you don't, somebody else well, and shouldn't a pastor be the one to shepherd the people through those issues, rather than somebody else?

Using AI For Evangelism and Ministry, The Power of Old Testament Lamentation, Dead Billionaire Soda and World Cup Evangelism with Pastor Anthony Ferguson

Today we have Pastor and Professor and Everton Blues superfan Anthony Ferguson with us again, and we are talking to him about World Cup evangelism with the Yellow Card Initiative, and a few other things also, including the Great Commission Value of Artificial Intelligence and the importance of preaching about the OLD Testament in church. We've also got Cal Baptist ministry student and Valley Baptist Youth minister JC Thompson with us today to review a soda that USED to be called Armless Palmer. What is it called now? Will it muster enough Spurgeons to be recommended? Well, you'll just have to listen to find out. If you like the show, please tell a friend about it…that's how podcasts like ours grow - by word of mouth. That said, let's jump into our interview now. To get some yellow cards of your own to equip your church for evangelism! Two ways: ⚽️ visiting the YCI website www.yellowcardinitiative.com [http://www.yellowcardinitiative.com] ⚽️ emailing us at missionadvance@gcasbc.org [missionadvance@gcasbc.org] ⚽️Then, get trained via YouTube training videos @yellowcardinitiative on YouTube. Seeking GCA's next Executive Director of Missions GCA's current Executive Director of Missions, Dr. Mike Stewart, has faithfully led our association for nearly three decades. As he prepares to step into retirement in the coming year, we are prayerfully seeking the next Executive Director of Missions to build on this legacy and help lead GCA into a fruitful future of ministry. Learn more about the role and consider how God might be calling you or someone you know to join the mission in California. Initial review of candidates begins May 21. https://www.vanderbloemen.com/job/executive-director-of-missions-edm-great-commission-association-of-southern-baptist-churches/ [https://www.vanderbloemen.com/job/executive-director-of-missions-edm-great-commission-association-of-southern-baptist-churches/]

Anthony Ferguson and the Yellow Card Initiative - World Cup Soccer Evangelism. + Guardian Angels and Do Churches Have Their Own Angels? Maybe!

Fun show today. We are going to talk about human evangelism - human messengers and heavenly messengers/angels. Our guest is Dr. Anthony Ferguson of 11th Street Baptist Church in Upland, California, which is a city of about 80,000 that borders Los Angeles. Dr. Ferguson is one of the founders of the Yellow Card initiative, bringing the Good News to World Cup attendees this Summer. We will also talk about guardian angels, and whether or not the Bible teaches that each church is assigned its very OWN angel.

The Flourishing Hispanic Church in California - Help for Spanish Pastors in the West. Spanish Language ONLY Episode with Pastor Humberto Hernandez and Dr. Chris Smith of the Great Commission Association

Today's episode is SPANISH ONLY and features a discussion with California Hispanic Pastor Humberto Hernandez and Dr. Chris Smith of the Great Commission Association. Pastor Humberto and Dr. Smith talk about keys to church health in the Hispanic church in America. PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU WANT MORE SPANISH ONLY EPISODES! El episodio de hoy es solo en español y presenta una conversación con el pastor hispano de California, Humberto Hernández, y el Dr. Chris Smith, de la Great Commission Association.El pastor Humberto y el Dr. Smith hablan sobre algunas claves para la salud de la iglesia hispana en los Estados Unidos. ¡POR FAVOR, DÉJENOS SABER SI QUIEREN MÁS EPISODIOS SOLO EN ESPAÑOL!

AI Can't Love: Women in Ministry and Artificial Intelligence in the Church With Dr. Kristen Ferguson of Gateway Seminary + Cheerwine Soda Review and Pleading the Blood of Jesus in Prayer.

Another action-packed episode of the ECF podcast today. Gateway Seminary VP Dr. Kristen Ferguson joins us, and our co-hosts are school superintendent Lanette Lozano and Women's ministry expert Dr. Cathie Smith. Today, we talk about how women in the church are a fundamental key to church flourishing that no wise leader should ever overlook. We will also talk to Dr. Ferguson about AI - can AI take the place of counseling, pastors, sermon prep? How much should Christians lean on AI? We've got Cal Baptist BAT student JC back with us for a review of the South's favorite cherry beverage - Cheerwine - does it actually contain wine? And, finally, we are going to talk about prayer and pleading the blood of Jesus. Is that a thing? Is it biblical? Is there power in pleading the blood of Jesus? Maybe not…but we will discuss one key to faithful, power-packed prayer that is indeed biblical and is also often overlooked. Don't give women the light stuff…we all need meat…we all need the Word of God. Soda Review - Cheerwine, thank you to Virginia listener Jesse W. After Hours ministry - share the gospel with women who are in sex trafficking. A good leader says, I don't really care about how I look, I care about the mission. I cannot commune with God through AI - AI is not the replacement for a living active relationship with the Living God. Idols from the Old Testament did not talk, but AI actually talks. No one is saying that people are worshiping AI, but functionally, we can be going to AI and depending on it for so much of what we do day to day that we could be replacing God with it. A hidden danger of AI is that people will rely on it for deep spiritual conversations that they should be having instead in the Body of Christ…it might make our relationships shallower if we scratch our itch for deep dialog with a machine rather than an Image Bearer. AI can't love