Discount Disciples Podcast (Formerly Christian AF)

Send us Fan MailSo… if God has already decided who gets saved, what exactly are the rest of us doing here?EPISODE NOTESA conversation with someone who discovered their church was Calvinist sends Jesse, Evan, and Jen into predestination, free will, and the awkward experience of realizing the community you love may believe something you don’t.Naturally, we begin with tight khakis and a beer can none of us can successfully read.From there, we work through TULIP: total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints. The conversation explores what those ideas mean for salvation, human responsibility, and the character of God—and why the three of us struggle to make the pieces fit.If the outcome is already settled, what is the purpose of evangelism, prayer, or making disciples? Is God knowing what someone will choose the same thing as God choosing it for them? And if God is love, how do we understand a system in which some people are chosen and others aren’t?The discussion turns to Arminian and Wesleyan approaches, including grace at work before belief, atonement offered to all, and the freedom to accept or reject that grace. James 2 brings faith and works into the conversation: not earning salvation by behaving well, but asking whether living faith actually produces anything.We also talk about how we read Paul. His letters were written to real communities, dealing with real questions. Treating every sentence as a detachable piece of a perfectly closed system may tell us more about our need for certainty than our willingness to wrestle with Scripture.Along the way, we get into women in church leadership, Phoebe, spiritual gifts, Revelation’s 144,000, new heaven and new earth, covenantal theology, hell, and universalism. Apparently, predestination wasn’t enough theological material for one conversation.The three of us don’t agree with Calvinism, and we say that plainly. This isn’t a neutral survey or the final word. But the conversation keeps returning to a practical question: can you understand your church’s theology, disagree with parts of it, and still belong to a community that lets you ask honest questions?Also, God might have chosen you.We’ll see. Apparently.EPISODE NOTES — WE DIG INTO:Discovering the theology underneath a church’s welcoming communityThe Reformation, the five solas, and the appeal of systematic theologyThe five points of Calvinism and what TULIP meansPredestination, election, and assurance of salvationThe difference between divine foreknowledge and determining someone’s choicesWhy evangelism, prayer, and discipleship matter if the outcome is already decidedGod’s sovereignty, human freedom, and the question of loveArminianism, Wesleyan theology, and prevenient graceLimited atonement versus atonement offered to allJames 2 and faith that produces worksReading Paul’s letters in their community contextSpiritual gifts and whether Paul’s lists are exhaustiveEgalitarianism, Phoebe, and women in church leadershipRevelation’s 144,000 and the hope of new creationCovenantal theology, hell, and universalismHealthy disagreement and making room for theological questionsEPISODE DRINKING NOTESILLUMINATED BREW WORKS – PRF BBQ PilsPilsner; packaged by Illuminated Brew Works, ChicagoProduct name transcribed inconsistently; ABV unclear in the transcriptGREEN TEA WITH HONEYJen’s drink; brand not statedSHOW NOTE TAGSCalvinism, TULIP, predestination, election, free will, divine foreknowledge, sovereignty of God, grace, atonement, perseverance of the saints, Arminianism, Wesleyan theology, prevenient grace, faith and works, James 2, biblical interpretation, spiritual gifts, egalitarianism, Phoebe, Revelation, new creation, covenantal theology, hell, universalism, discipleship, church community, Discount DisciplesSupport the show––––––––If this podcast has been helpful to you, share it with someone who is asking hard questions about faith, church, doubt, or what comes next.BE A MONTHLY SUPPORTERhttps://www.buzzsprout.com/1019536/supportLINKS AND SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook  •  InstagramEmail: [email protected]

Send us Fan MailSo… what if the greatest threat to faith isn’t doubt—but being absolutely certain you already understand everything?EPISODE NOTESEvan went to a pastors’ conference in Dry Ridge, Kentucky, and received a free pass to the Ark Encounter. Naturally, we made him review it.The verdict: the building itself is genuinely impressive. The empty cages with fake animal growls, dinosaur “kinds,” Ark-era blacksmith shop, and animatronic biblical world-building were… less convincing.What begins as a review of Christian Disneyland quickly becomes a much bigger conversation about young-earth creationism, old-earth creationism, science, biblical interpretation, and what happens when one person’s theory gets presented as the only faithful way to read Scripture.The real issue isn’t whether someone believes the earth is young or old. It’s the insistence that one interpretation is the load-bearing brick holding all of Christianity together. When churches teach speculation as unquestionable fact, they don’t protect people’s faith. They make it dangerously fragile.The conversation digs into the different kinds of writing found in Scripture, why the Bible isn’t a science or history textbook, and how the Noah story speaks within the world of ancient Mesopotamian flood narratives. Rather than merely answering questions about dinosaurs, geological layers, and animal storage, the story reveals something far more important about the character, redemption, and purposes of God.From there, we talk about how churches teach children, why pastors need actual theological formation, and how both fundamentalist and progressive readings can flatten Scripture in opposite directions.Eventually, we arrive at the real theological tension: doubt may not be the enemy of faith at all. Doubt requires faith—because you can only wrestle with something you first care enough to believe. Certainty, however, can eliminate curiosity, growth, transformation, and the need for faith altogether.Also, Evan gives the Ark Encounter a 2/10.One point for the zoo. One point for the zip line.WE DIG INTO:Evan’s visit to the Ark EncounterThe difference between an impressive building and a convincing argumentYoung-earth and old-earth approaches to creationWhy creation debates existed long before modern scienceKen Ham, animal “kinds,” dinosaurs, and the logistics of the ArkWhat happens when biblical interpretation is presented as scientific factReading Scripture according to genre, context, and purposeNoah’s Ark and other ancient Mesopotamian flood narrativesWhat the flood story reveals about the character of GodTeaching children more than one permanently simplified version of ScriptureThe need for theological education and pastoral formationHow fundamentalists and progressives can flatten the Bible in opposite directionsThe demonization of doubt within American ChristianityWhy certainty may be the intellectual enemy of faithChristianity as lifelong transformation rather than rule-followingEPISODE DRINKING NOTESBEST DAY BREWING – KölschNon-Alcoholic Kölsch-Style BeerGUINNESS – GuinnessSpecific variety and ABV not statedCOFFEEBrand and preparation not statedSHOW NOTE TAGSArk Encounter, Noah’s Ark, young-earth creationism, old-earth creationism, Genesis, Genesis 1–11, biblical interpretation, biblical genres, science and faith, Ken Ham, Answers in Genesis, Mesopotamian flood narratives, fundamentalism, doubt and faith, religious certainty, Christian education, pastoral formation, biblical literacy, deconstruction, Discount DisciplesSupport the show––––––––If this podcast has been helpful to you, share it with someone who is asking hard questions about faith, church, doubt, or what comes next.BE A MONTHLY SUPPORTERhttps://www.buzzsprout.com/1019536/supportLINKS AND SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook  •  InstagramEmail: [email protected]

Send us Fan MailSo… what if every church movement is just one generation trying to fix the last generation’s church damage?EPISODE NOTESWelcome to the first official episode of Discount Disciples, the podcast for normal disciples who may or may not be viewed as “discount disciples” by the fancier, more aggressively tucked-in disciples among us.This episode digs into the way American church movements have often followed generational instincts. Evan walks through the post-World War II suburban shift, the church growth movement, seeker-sensitive churches, the emergent church, the missional church, and the question of what might need to come next.The big idea: these movements are not all garbage fires. Some of them corrected real problems. But each one also created new gaps. The attractional church offered accessibility but often lacked depth. The emergent church pushed against rigidity but sometimes tossed out theological clarity with the bathwater. The missional church recovered discipleship language but could still fail to form deep community.The conversation eventually lands on the need for a more communal Christianity: not just “come and see,” not just “go and make,” but becoming a formed people who can actually carry the mission together. Basically, Jesus spent three years building a community before sending anyone out, which feels like a minor detail the church may have misplaced in the filing cabinet labeled “Programs.”Along the way, the conversation touches on Gen Z anxiety, online culture, cultural fundamentalism, third spaces, church programming, sexual ethics, Acts 6, Sunday gatherings, and why the church may need fewer forced agendas and more actual shared life.WE DIG INTO:How different generations shaped modern American church movementsThe post-WWII suburban shift and early church planting movementsThe church growth / seeker-sensitive / attractional modelThe emergent church and the limits of theological loosenessThe missional church, discipleship, and “go and make”Why mission without deep community can become thin and exhaustingGen Z, online life, anxiety, and black-and-white cultural thinkingCommunal Christianity as a needed corrective for the next church movement:::Support the show––––––––If this podcast has been helpful to you, share it with someone who is asking hard questions about faith, church, doubt, or what comes next.BE A MONTHLY SUPPORTERhttps://www.buzzsprout.com/1019536/supportLINKS AND SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook  •  InstagramEmail: [email protected]

Send us Fan MailYes, you heard that right — the podcast has a new name.After six years of conversations about faith, church, doubt, deconstruction, theology, scandals, strange ideas, and all the questions people are often afraid to ask out loud, we’re stepping into a new season as Discount Disciples.In this short intro episode, Evan, Jesse, and Jen talk about why the name changed, what is staying the same, and who this podcast is for. The conversations will still be honest, raw, thoughtful, funny, and occasionally uncomfortable — but the focus is expanding beyond deconstruction into what it might look like to reconstruct faith in a healthier, humbler way.We’re not experts. We’re not shiny. We’re not new. But we’re still here — scuffs, dents, questions, and all.If you’re in church, out of church, church-adjacent, doubting, deconstructing, reconstructing, or just trying to figure out what you believe now, this podcast is probably for you.We’re glad you’re here!Support the show––––––––If this podcast has been helpful to you, share it with someone who is asking hard questions about faith, church, doubt, or what comes next.BE A MONTHLY SUPPORTERhttps://www.buzzsprout.com/1019536/supportLINKS AND SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook  •  InstagramEmail: [email protected]