Top Theology Stories of 2023 with Collin Hansen and Melissa Kruger

Two and a half years ago, a plane went down in a Texas pasture. On board were five men—the lead pastor, the executive pastor, an elder, and two faithful members of Harvest Church near Memphis, Tennessee.Four of the men were killed instantly—experts later determined the chances of survival were zero percent. But one of the men—lead pastor Kennon Vaughan—lived.This is his story. But this is also the story of what happens when a church of disciple-makers walks through their darkest hours together. And this is the story of what God can do when lives—and deaths—are surrendered to him.—• This episode includes audio provided by StoryTellers Live, Harvest Church, and Gracepointe Church. We're thankful for their generosity and support in telling this story.• This episode is sponsored by Dordt University. To learn more, visit dordt.edu

Over the past few years, we’ve been hearing rumblings of revival on college campuses. To chase down the story, Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra headed over to Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, to see what was going on with the largest campus ministry you’ve never heard of—the Salt Company.Salt Company does a lot of things you’d expect—large worship gatherings, small group Bible studies, and summer mission trips. But they also do some things you wouldn’t anticipate, such as talking about sin, taking kids through Wayne Grudem’s systematic theology (the abridged version), and requiring student leaders to be members of a local church.In today’s sensitive, selfie-obsessed culture, you might wonder if discussions of sin or of robust theology would be a good on-ramp to Christianity. But over the last 40 years, Salt has grown to 12,000 students on 33 campuses (and churches!) in 16 states.What is drawing the most anxious generation to the gospel?

Join Collin Hansen and Melissa Kruger for their annual discussion as they look back on the top theology stories of 2024. They also share their favorite books from 2024, updates on personal projects, and what they're each looking forward to in life and ministry in 2025. They discuss: The rise in Bible sales in 2024Declining fertility rates worldwideBig changes for the United Methodist Church and the role of the Global SouthThe advance of assisted suicide in the UKThe Cass Report and the truth about transgender treatmentsEncouraging signs among Gen ZTrump’s election victory and a GOP shiftAnticipating the 2025 Gospelbound seasonBook highlights from 2024Personal projects and updatesDon Carson’s legacy and an important update about his life and ministryMentioned on this episode:"My Top 10 Theology Stories of 2024" by Collin Hansen (article)Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at tgc.org/together

Over the last few decades, church music has shifted. Congregations sing fewer hymns and more praise songs. We hear fewer organ chords and more guitar riffs. We read lyrics that are less theological and more generic.The move toward quicker and more casual songwriting means new music hits our Spotify—and CCLI—lists more quickly. But it also means Christians are sometimes singing repetitive choruses, nonsensical lyrics, or wrong theology.That matters, because we sing those songs so often that we memorize them. We hum them in the car. We play them while we’re making dinner. We lean on them when hard times hit.About 10 years ago, a church in Australia noticed these problems. They tried a different songwriting process. It was slow and clunky and never should have worked—and yet it did.Odds are, you’ve sung their good theology in your church, in your car, or in your kitchen.Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow. Let's Build Together: Donate Today at tgc.org/together

Registration fees. Weekend tournaments. Travel teams.Youth sports in America has shifted over the last several decades. Instead of playing ball in the backyard with friends after school or on Saturday mornings, our kids climb into the minivan so we can drive them to practice, pay for uniforms and court fees, and pick up dinner from the concession stand.Youth sports, it seems, is a merry-go-round of time and money that we can’t get off, because we know it would never slow down enough for us to get back on.At TGC, youth sports is one of the top concerns we hear from pastors and youth leaders: they can’t preach to, disciple, or encourage people who miss Sunday after Sunday for basketball or soccer or baseball.But we know sports is a good gift from God. He created our kids to run and jump and throw, and to delight in doing that with friends. Done well, those things honor him.So how can we do them well?Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra talked to parents, coaches, and pastors to find out.Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow.Let's Build Together: Donate Today at tgc.org/together

Join Collin Hansen and Melissa Kruger for their annual recap discussion on the biggest stories affecting the church around the world in the last year. This conversation was originally featured on TGC's Gospelbound podcast.

Nearly all American teenage boys—97 percent of them—play video games. On average, they spend more than two hours a day maneuvering in digital worlds. For two out of five teen boys, that feels like too much time.They’re probably right. Though  it’s impossible to draw a direct link, it’s hard not to notice that as gaming grows, males are falling farther behind girls in school, in joining the work force, and in starting families. As Reformed Christians, we aren’t ready to give up on video games yet. In this episode of Recorded, Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra examines why boys are more likely than girls to be addicted to video games, why playing with people online doesn’t mean you have more friends, and what it looks like to bring video games under the lordship of Jesus Christ.Learn more about The Defender Way mentioned in this episode. 

When Sinclair Ferguson was growing up in Scotland in the 1950s, the culture was not only Christian but also Reformed. Ferguson memorized Bible passages at his public school, learned nighttime prayers from parents who weren’t believers, and attended church for years before converting to Christianity.In the years since, Ferguson has written more than 50 books, spoken at virtually every Reformed conference, and taught at nearly all the Reformed seminaries.Meanwhile, the Church of Scotland membership has plummeted from 1.3 million to less than 300,000—that’s a million people lost in a single lifetime. The denomination has cut pastoral positions and discontinued ministries. Many of her massive granite church buildings are now restaurants and apartments and bars with names like Soul.Ferguson retired a few years ago. After the career he’s had, he could speak anywhere and write for any publisher. But you won’t find him based in an influential American city or church or ministry. Instead, he’s in a small city in Scotland, writing sermons and preaching the evening services at a church of only 200.This is a story about why he’s doing that, about why it matters. This is a story about the gospel, about hope, and about coming home.

In 2009, about a quarter of American high school students said they had “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness.” By last year it was up to 44 percent, the highest level of teenage sadness ever recorded.For girls, the rate rose to 57 percent. That means more than half of teenage girls feel persistently sad or hopeless. If you stood a teen from 2009 next to a teen from 2022, what would be the most noticeable difference between them? One of them would be on her phone.In this episode of Recorded, Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra shares the stories of young women who are being shaped by social media and explores what Gen Z thinks, feels, and believes.

When Joe Biden announced last April that all American troops would be leaving Afghanistan, those familiar with the country knew it would eventually fall to the Taliban. But nobody predicted it would collapse before the Americans had even left the country.Caught off guard, Afghans began to run, especially those who feared for their lives—former government employees, American interpreters, and Christians.The Christians were especially interesting, because while conversion was illegal even under the Afghan government, the number of believers had been steadily growing, from an estimated 2,000 in 2013 to about 10,000 in 2021.How were so many hearing about Jesus? With everybody keeping their faith a secret, how were they connecting with each other? And how on earth were they going to get out?This is their story.