Are you questioning the value of investing in church life? Are you asking yourself, “Why get up and go to a building with people I barely know? Can’t I just listen to praise songs on my own and find a YouTube sermon from a pastor I like?”

These are good and legitimate questions. Many people in their 20s and 30s have come to see church as more of a problem than a solution.

Does the church still matter?

Dr. Carmen Joy Imes

Dr. Carmen Joy Imes (PhD, Wheaton) is Associate Professor of Old Testament at Biola University. She is the author of a new book, Becoming God’s Family: Why the Church Still Matters (InterVarsity Press, 2025).

Previously, she published Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters and Being God’s Image: Why Creation Still Matters.

In our conversation, we discuss:

* Russel Moore recently wrote, “We now see young evangelicals walking away from evangelicalism not because they do not believe what the church teaches, but because they believe the church itself does not believe what the church teaches.” We see this as very true, and hear Dr. Imes’s response and recommendations.

* The story of Pentecost in Acts 2 is a dramatic and important moment in the initiation of the New Testament church, but Carmen Imes takes us back to the basis of why Pentecost means so much. We learn from the Old Testament the information that explains what really happened at Pentecost.

* We can learn principles from the Old Testament stories that informs how we relate to God and people in the church today.

* As Americans, we swim in a culture of individualism and consumerism. Instead of independence, Perhaps we need to teach ourselves and our children how to be interdependent. The Bible actually informs how Christians can become interdependent.

* The Letter to the Hebrews has a lot to say about the importance of the local fellowship of believers. We discuss how this Hebrew mindset can help us to connect with others in community.

Thanks for listening!

If you enjoyed this podcast, please share it with your friends!

Your hosts are Dr. Bob Robinson and David Loughney. For further resources on reintegrating all of life with God’s mission, go to re-integrate.org.

Where to purchase these books:

Support independent booksellers! Purchase any of the books mentioned above from Byron and Beth Borger at Hearts & Minds Bookstore. They are eager to serve God’s people with great books. Order online through their secure server or call 717-246-3333. Ask for 20% OFF by mentioning that you heard about these books on the Reintegrate Podcast!

God has called each and every one of us to mission, in and through the various vocations we have and the relationships we all have forged.

“Mission” is this: We are Sent People.

Just as Jesus is the Sent One, now the Father and the Son has sent the Holy Spirit into his people so that we too can be sent ones. All of us—not just the ministry professionals—can encounter God and experience God’s power as we are boldly living every aspect of life for Him and for the sake of others.

Our guest is Jon Hietbrink. He is the co-author, along with Linson Daniel and Eric Rafferty, of Reviving Mission: Awakening to the Everyday Movement of God (InterVarsity Press, 2024).

In this episode, we discuss:

* Every believer—not only in ministry occupations as pastors, campus ministers, and missionaries, but also everyone—is in full-time missional work in and through our everyday jobs–businesspeople, teachers, baristas, homemakers, politicians, artists, and scientists. Our “ordinary lives” are the context for amazing mission.

* The “Four Es” for living a missional Christian life: Encounter, Explore, Empower, and Establish.

* Encounter: As Christians, we believe we encounter a God who is here and moving. But what we believe and what we experience can be very different. Many of us have not encountered God like we see in the Bible. We discuss ways to move away from our cynicism and to seek to encounter God in our everyday lives.

* Explore: Since God is with us and God is moving, then God is already at work everywhere we go and he is doing things all around us. We just need to lift up our eyes and become inquisitive as to what’s going on. We talk about practical ways to do this.

* Empower: In John 16:7, Jesus tells his disciples something pretty shocking: “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” A quote from the book: “Let that sink in. The Holy Spirit inside of you is better than Jesus next to you.”

* Establish: Committing to communal rhythms of transforming habits and habitats. We want to live for Christ in every aspect of our lives, but we get burned out, or we just drift away. We need to be resilient. Establishing habits and enmeshing ourselves in various depths of Christian community helps us be able to keep going in our faith and mission.

Scroll down to learn more about Jon Hietbrink.

Thanks for listening!

If you enjoyed this podcast, please share it with your friends!

Your hosts are Dr. Bob Robinson and David Loughney. For further resources on reintegrating all of life with God’s mission, go to re-integrate.org.

Jon Hietbrink

Jon Hietbrink serves as a Vice President of Campus Ministry for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, helping to cultivate missional movements on campuses across the country. He’s one of the founders of the EveryCampus coalition. Jon earned his MA in Missional Church Movements from Wheaton College. He loves hiking in creation and traveling to new places. He lives in the Midwest with his wife, Stephanie, and their two Gen Z kids.