Aaron
Salvato

There is a dangerous tendency today to make the Kingdom of Heaven about what we need, or want. It is not about us. The Kingdom is about Him. He should be in the center of everything we do as His followers. Self-interest is the great enemy of godliness. It's a sin we commit every day, in all kinds of ways. This is why we have to be so careful about it. We take this mentality to our approach regardi...

Welcome to the GoodLion theology class, a brand new segment on the show where we bring you rich theological lessons and thoughtful discussions with our students! In part one of our 6 part mini series on "Advancing the Kingdom of God", Aaron Salvato teaches a lesson on defining what the Kingdom of Heaven actually is. If we are going to understand HOW to advance God's Kingdom, we need to actually gr...

Sexuality is one of the main ways people identify themselves today. Our modern moment asks people to freely express who they are by unchaining themselves from traditional concepts of sexuality. This has led many Christians to revert to hardline stances about what a person must be, and particularly, what a person must avoid, in order to be accepted by God. What if there was a different way to look...

Aaron and Brian take some time to answer a great question from a friend: "Why do I feel closer than ever to Jesus one day, and then other days I feel so distant I hardly remember I'm a Christian?" We believe this is a real, raw, and valid question that gets to the heart of what so many Christ-followers face: the roller coaster of faith. We would be the first to admit, we have experienced this stru...

The last 18 months seemed to tear everything apart. The normal structures of our lives, our work, and our relationships seems to have fallen completely apart. For many of us, this has created a sense of loss. The things we trusted in let us down and now we don’t fully know where to turn. We’re not sure what we can or should trust in anymore. For others, this has led to a strong desire to rebuild. Rather than wallow in the sadness of loss, we want to simply put our heads down and remake the world we feel we’ve lost. In this episode, Justin Thomas, Pastor at Calvary: The Hill, lays out a different option. Rather than just trying to rebuild what we had, we need to let the chaos of the last 18 months teach us important lessons. Were we approaching church and faith and discipleship the way we should have? Are we sure our old structures were the right structures? What if God is giving us an opportunity to rebuild so we can do better this time? Aaron and Brian talk with Justin about all this and much more as they try to think through what a church would need to look like to be 2020-proof, able to withstand the division and hostility our cultural moment thrives on.

In all of the insanity, confusion, and cultural upheaval of the early 2020s, there's been a growing resurgence of the term “social justice” that has taken the world by storm, especially in the wake of George Floyd's death. However, like many issues today, Christians are divided on the term social justice. To some, it represents a Biblical form of restorative justice that reflects our responsibility to honor, love, and serve all humans as made in the image of God, and to Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. To others, it represents a flawed and broken political idealogy that has been corrupted by secular humanists beyond repair. For this reason, these Christian leaders are urging their followers to completely reject the usage of the phrase "social justice." To discuss this divide and how we can think critically about it as followers of The Way, Aaron has invited a guy he really looks up to: Dave Lomas, lead pastor of reality San Francisco. Dave recently taught a sermon at Evan Wickham’s church all about what it means to "do social justice" as a follower of Christ. In the message it was noted that "while there are many ways the world does social justice that Christians should NOT be about", Dave made the case that there is a way to do it that is both biblical and Christ honoring. Dave believes that while the term can be employed, it must be properly contextualized within the framework of the Christian faith, not the lens of culture. Voddie Baucham disagrees, and is a vocal critic of this position who raises some valid concerns. Dave and Aaron take some time to examine the arguments of Voddie and see what wisdom can be found, and where differences of philosophy of ministry can be found as well. I'm so glad you could join us for this conversation. You're listening to the GoodLion Podcast!

Deconstruction is a growing trend in religious and philosophical circles. While many Christians have begun to address deconstruction, we don’t often engage with deconstructionist ideas directly. In this episode, Aaron and Brian are joined by Dominic Done, author of When Faith Fails: Finding God In the Shadow of Doubt and founder of a ministry to skeptics and doubters called Pursuing Faith. Aaron, Brian, and Dominic respond directly to deconstructionists memes to answer questions coming directly from people wrestling with deconstruction. Throughout this conversation, Aaron, Brian, and Dominic seek to find the valuable elements of deconstruction without it leading to abandoning the fundamentals of Christianity. We hope this episode encourages you to think critically and respond lovingly to deconstructionist concepts.

In this episode Ry talks with Aaron about balancing marriage and ministry. They discuss potential pitfalls of not balancing the two, sabbaticals, habits and more.

Send us your questions! - GoodLion returns in 2 weeks! Hey everyone! We are enjoying the break, and excited to come back soon with a great set of new interviews and episodes. We'd absolutely love to get some fresh questions for upcoming Q&A Episodes! Check the links below for ways to submit. http://goodlion.io/questions - submit questions and upvote which ones you want us to tackle on the show! If you are on spotify, use the new commenting feature to submit a question or topic directly in the comment section of the episode! See you all soon!

As Aaron and Brian get ready to go on an official break, they reflect on the importance of rest, the pitfalls of workaholism in ministry, and the call of Jesus to ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives and embrace a lifestyle of resting in Christ as we live and serve with Him.