Salty Believer Unscripted

Healthy Church: Discipleship and GrowthWhat does biblical discipleship look like, and why is it essential to a healthy church? In this episode of Salty Believer Unscripted, Bryan Catherman and Josiah Walker continue their Healthy Church series by discussing the importance of discipleship and Christian growth. Looking at Matthew 28:19–20 and 2 Timothy 2:2, they discuss why discipleship involves more than gaining biblical knowledge. Christians should grow in obedience to Christ and help others do the same. They also share practical ways to disciple others through one-on-one Bible reading, intentional relationships, and family discipleship, including how husbands and wives can encourage one another and how parents can disciple their children. Along the way, they recommend David Helm's One-to-One Bible Reading and explain why discipleship doesn't need to be complicated. They also manage to discuss candy corn and bad illustrations of the Trinity. Copyright 2026. For more information, please visit SaltyBeliever.com.

In this episode of Salty Believer Unscripted, Bryan Catherman and Josiah Walker continue their Healthy Church series with a discussion about biblical church discipline. Using the fifth of Mark Dever’s *Nine Marks of a Healthy Church* as a starting point, they discuss why church discipline is essential to a healthy church, why Christians often struggle with it, and how discipline is an important part of discipleship and sanctification. Working through Matthew 18, they examine the seriousness of sin, the importance of humility and repentance, and how Jesus’ teaching about the lost sheep, confronting a brother in sin, and forgiving others all fit together. They also discuss the process of church discipline, the role of church membership and accountability, and why removing an unrepentant person from membership does not mean abandoning the hope of repentance and restoration. They consider why biblical church discipline should be motivated by love, grounded in the gospel, and practiced for the good of the church and the wandering sinner. They also give an unsponsored, unsolicited shout-out to Crossway’s printable ESV Bible PDFs and the CSB’s free downloadable Pew Bible. Copyright 2026. For more information, please visit SaltyBeliever.com.

In this episode of Salty Believer Unscripted, Bryan Catherman and Josiah Walker continue their Healthy Church series with a discussion about biblical church membership. Using the fourth of Mark Dever’s Nine Marks of a Healthy Church as a starting point, they discuss why membership matters, what it means to belong to a local church, and why Christians should be committed to one another rather than simply attending church when it is convenient. They also address common objections to membership, the importance of accountability and pastoral oversight, and how a church covenant helps believers commit to loving, serving, encouraging, and correcting one another according to Scripture. They consider Hebrews 10, Hebrews 13, and Romans 12 to show why meaningful membership is foundational to a healthy church. They also give an unsponsored, unsolicited shout-out to Christopher Ash’s Not Old, Not Young, Not Done and Jen Wilkin’s Dust to Dust. Copyright 2026. For more information, please visit SaltyBeliever.com.

In this episode of Salty Believer Unscripted, Bryan Catherman and Josiah Walker continue their Healthy Church series with a discussion about conversion and evangelism. They discuss why biblical conversion is more than saying a prayer or getting baptized, how genuine conversion produces fruit and a life of following Christ, and why faithful evangelism should lead into ongoing discipleship in the local church. They also consider the danger of giving people false assurance of salvation and why healthy churches should take seriously what it means to repent, believe, and follow Jesus. Copyright 2026. For more information, please visit SaltyBeliever.com.

What does the gospel have to do with a healthy church? Everything. In this episode of Salty Believer Unscripted, Bryan Catherman and Josiah Walker continue their conversation about healthy churches by looking at gospel doctrine. They discuss how the gospel runs through the whole Bible, shapes our understanding of Scripture, and should inform everything the church believes and does. They also discuss the CSB Connecting Scripture New Testament and why seeing how Scripture interprets Scripture can help Christians better understand the gospel throughout the Bible. Copyright 2026. For more information, please visit SaltyBeliever.com

In this episode of Salty Believer Unscripted, Bryan Catherman and Josiah Walker continue their Healthy Church series with a discussion about expositional preaching. Using the first of Mark Dever’s Nine Marks of a Healthy Church as a starting point, they discuss what expositional preaching is, why it matters, and how faithful preaching shapes the health of the local church. They also discuss the difference between expositional and verse-by-verse preaching, the dangers of preaching our favorite topics while neglecting the whole counsel of God, and why preaching should submit to the shape and emphasis of the biblical text. Copyright 2026. For more information, please visit SaltyBeliever.com.

In this episode of Salty Believer Unscripted, Bryan Catherman and Josiah Walker return to the podcast’s audio-only roots and begin a new series on healthy churches. They talk about what makes a church healthy, who gets to decide, and why Scripture must set the standard rather than a ministry brand, book, or preferred church model. Using the *Nine Marks of a Healthy Church* framework as a starting point, they introduce topics such as expositional preaching, the gospel, conversion and evangelism, membership, discipline, discipleship, leadership, prayer, and missions, while emphasizing that the goal is not to criticize imperfect churches but to help churches grow patiently toward greater biblical faithfulness. Find more podcasts and resources at SaltyBeliever.com. 

Key texts: Romans 11:17-32, Genesis 15:13-16, Acts 1:6-8, Revelation 21:1-4. Unsponsored resource shout-out: Bible Talk podcast from 9Marks and Southern Seminary.Topics discussed: modern Israel, Romans 11, partial hardening, the fullness of the Gentiles, “all Israel will be saved,” the olive tree, Gentiles being grafted in, hope for ethnic Jews, modern Israel as a nation-state, prophecy, anti-Semitism, justice for everyone in the region, and why Christian hope rests in Christ rather than political leaders, borders, military power, or prophecy charts.Send questions to [email protected]. Find more resources at saltybeliever.com.

Key texts: Romans 9:1-8, Romans 10:1-4, Romans 11:1-6, Romans 11:25-36. Unsponsored resource shout-out: Three Views on Israel and the Church: Perspectives on Romans 9-11. Topics discussed: Paul’s grief over Israel’s unbelief, God’s promises not failing, physical descent and the children of promise, Israel stumbling over Christ, zeal without saving knowledge, the remnant, and why Romans 9 to 11 matters before talking about modern Israel. Send questions to [email protected]. Find more resources at saltybeliever.com.

Key texts: Ephesians 2:11-22, Galatians 3:16-29, 1 John 2:22-23, 1 Peter 2:4-10.Unsponsored resource shout-out: Reformed Sage.Resources mentioned: Discontinuity to Continuity by Benjamin Merkle and Covenantal and Dispensational Theologies: Four Views on the Continuity of Scripture.Topics discussed: replacement theology, dispensationalism, progressive dispensationalism, covenant theology, progressive covenantalism, continuity and discontinuity, Gentiles being brought near, Abraham’s offspring, faith in Christ, one people of God, and why Romans 9 to 11 needs its own episode.Send questions to [email protected] more resources at saltybeliever.com.