If discipleship is important to most churches, and I think it is, why is it that pastors continue to use a very non-effective way of teaching their congregants?
Since when are long monologues the best way to teach and train anyone?
What if, in schools, all the teachers did was give long monologues and never asked questions of the students and never allowed the students to ask questions of them?
How well would they learn?
The same applies to the church, correct?
Interactive dialogue is normally considered far more effective than long monologues.
Interactive dialogue would be the same type of learning you would have with one-on-one tutoring which I would say is universally accepted as way more effective than listening to a long monologue.
Do the pew-sitters have any responsibility to call their leadership into account when their leadership is sitting silently by and watching a God-given republic be lost?
During the Holocaust of the 1940s, as trains went by the churches carrying Jews to the gas chambers, should the pew-sitters have said something to their silent leadership?
Why is it that most pew-sitters sit idly by as they watch their leadership be silent, knowing full well that there are many people sitting in their pews who brainlessly continue to vote for the party that supports and endorses communist socialist principles and candidates?
Will the pew-sitters and leadership in this country ever wake up?
Did the Founding Fathers actually want Christianity out of government, or is that the biggest historical lie ever told? Pastor Josh Howerton sits down with Tim Barton of WallBuilders to go straight to the original documents.
From the Marxist roots of revisionist history to the founding fathers’ forgotten anti-slavery legacy, this episode will challenge everything you thought you knew about America’s founding.
Josh Howerton said this is the best book he has read in the last 5 years – The American Story: The Beginnings By Tim and David Barton Tim had a 1612 Kings James Bible – one year after it was written
America reads the Bible in DC – April 2026
Liberal media goes ballistic thinking that political leaders and presidents reading the Bible in their official government office is obviously out of bounds and is obviously out of step with the historic norms of our nation.
Every single president in American history said that America was a Christian Nation until President Barack Obama.
Dwight Eisenhower, when he became president, led his own prayer at his own inauguration.
George Washington – the first action he took after he was sworn in as president was to take all of the elected officials to a church service.
1777 – Congress approved the importing of 20,000 Bibles
1781 – The Aiken Bible was endorsed/approved by Congress
An ACLU attorney thought David Barton’s writings were awful and he went through them in order to show why they were wrong. After a year and a half the attorney only had one criticism; the facts were understated. And he became a Christian reading through all the documents.
Charles Finney was an atheist – while in law school, reading all the law books which contained massive amount of Bible quotes, he because a Christian.
Marxist
Teach people that they are oppressed – then cause them to rise up against the government.
Rewrite the past to control the future.
Christian theology divides the world on a sin-righteousness dividing line – If I believe that you’re just mistaken, then I can reason with you.
Critical theory divides the world by oppressed and oppressor
If I believe that you’re evil, I begin to feel a moral obligation to stop you and oppose you.
If I cast all the people who founded our nation as evil, wicked men, then by rewriting the past, I’m controlling the future and we need to reject whatever principles that they injected into our culture.
George Orwell wrote in 1984, “Whoever controls the past controls the present, whoever controls the present controls the future.”
Many in our nation have forgotten our starting place.
The most quoted source in the founders writings was the Bible (34%)
By 1815 there had been more than 1400 official government issued prayer proclamations done by governors, presidents or Congress.
1st amendment, establishment clause
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion
To interpret properly requires asking what evil was intended to be remedied
Government cannot establish a state church and require you to go there.
First grade text book used in America
The New England Primer
Used for at least 100 years starting in 1690
A totally Christian textbook.
Jefferson’s wall of separation statement
January 1, 1802 – Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury Baptists – wall of separation between church and state.
January 3rd 1802 – Jefferson goes to church at the capital building, largest protestant church in America took place inside the capital building.
When Jefferson was asked why he attended church at the capital building, he replied, “No nation has ever yet existed or been governed without religion nor can it be.”
Jefferson’s choice as the primary reading text for schools – the Bible and the Watts Hymnal.
Jefferson was active in furthering Christianity among native tribes.
Benjamin Franklin – brought the constitutional convention back to prayer.
Slavery started clear back in Genesis, not from America.
By 1804 every northern colony had passed laws for the abolition of slavery. 1833 – Wilberforce ended slavery in the British empire. 1829 – Jefferson’s original draft of the Declaration of Independence – included a list of grievances, the longest was against the slave trade. The declaration needed to be unanimous so the slave grievance was removed because 2 of the 13 were for slavery – South Carolina and Georgia.
The secret counsel of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he reveals his covenant to them. (CSB)
The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, And He will show them His covenant. (NKJV)
The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. (NIV)
The LORD is a friend to those who fear him. He teaches them his covenant. (NLT)
God’s best is only shared with those who fear Him.
If we desire God’s best counsel we probably need to take more seriously His directives with a commitment to obey.
John Bevere asked Jim Bakker in prison, “Jim, when did you fall out of love with Jesus?” He looked at John and said, “John, I loved Jesus, but I didn’t fear God.” Jim said, “John, this prison is not God’s judgement on my life but his mercy. I believe if I had continued on the path I was on, I would have ended up in hell!” There are millions of Christians in America who love Jesus but don’t fear Him, and it is the fear of the Lord that perfects holiness in our life.
Are we willing to share God’s best with those who have need of His truth? Or, are we more interested in being shallow friends? Thomas Sowell (very wise and respected author) said, “When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.”
Transformational discipleship is the real change that turns followers of Jesus into people who look, think, and live more like Him—day by day, from the inside out.
C.S. Lewis put it plainly: The State exists for one reason—to protect and multiply those moments when people become more of who they were meant to be. Everything else—laws, armies, economies—is wasted time if it fails at that. In the same way, the Church exists for nothing else but to draw people into Christ and make them little Christs. If it’s not doing that, all the buildings, sermons, programs, missions, and even the Bible itself become a waste of time. God became man for exactly this purpose.
So how does that kind of deep transformation actually happen?
Picture this: You’ve been in the same church for years. Same seats. Same Sunday rhythm. Songs, announcements, a long talk from the front… and yet, when you look at your own life and the lives around you, real change feels rare. You know more facts about the Bible, but your heart, habits, and relationships haven’t shifted much.
Most churches excel at one-way information—a monologue from the pulpit. Knowledge goes out, but interaction stays low. Questions stay silent. Real conversation rarely happens.
Have you ever wondered why churches don’t try something different? Imagine a short, clear message followed by honest dialogue—people asking real questions, wrestling with truth together, listening to one another, and hearing the speaker respond directly. It’s the kind of open, back-and-forth format you see in lively town-hall settings. Why isn’t that more common on Sunday mornings?
True transformational discipleship isn’t just about hearing more information. It’s about obeying Jesus in everyday life, surrendering fully to His will, and letting the Holy Spirit reshape you into His likeness. It moves beyond head knowledge into heart-and-life change—becoming the kind of person who loves like Jesus, even loving enemies.
The question is simple and urgent: Do we really want this kind of transformation? Are we willing to move past comfortable routines and create spaces where people don’t just listen—but engage, question, apply, and grow together? Because that’s where real disciples are formed. That’s where lives actually change. And that’s the Church fulfilling its one true purpose.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
