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Robert Shelby’s boys saved his life. On July 3 Shelby, a pastor in Baton Rouge, was teaching them how to swim when he dove a little too deep and slammed his head into the bottom of the pool, breaking his C-5 vertebra. Unable to move, unable to swim, he was helpless to save himself. For a few moments he hovered between life and death until his young sons realized that something was amiss. They dragged him from the pool, performed CPR and saved his life. 

Last week David Murray and I spoke to Robert about his accident and about life in the aftermath. He is now adjusting to life with quadriplegia (and do note as you listen to the interview that one of the effects of his condition is that it keeps his voice from being as expressive as it once was) and hoping to soon return to the pulpit.

Here is a link to the Shelby Family Fund.

Picture source and story

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Though David Murray and I took a short hiatus from our Connected Kingdom podcast while I travelled to Asia, we are back at last. This week we spent some time with Paul Washer, speaking to him about his new book, about his ministry, and (of course) about the Shocking Youth Message that has in many ways come to define him and his ministry. Here is a short index to our conversation (which lasts just about 25 minutes):

• 1.00 Why did you write your new book, The Gospel's Power and Message.
• 2.30 Who is Paul Washer the person? Conversion, family, hobbies, calling to mission work, etc.
• 7.30 What have you learned through your wife's protracted illness?
• 8.30 Present work is training and supporting 175 missionaries among unreached people groups.
• 10.15 What's the greatest need of the church in India?
• 11.35 How has that "Shocking Youth Message" changed your life?
• 16.00 What is Gospel reductionism and what are its fruits?
• 20.00 Has the Gospel-centered movement helped the church?
• 22.45 What would be your 2 minute message to pastors about building positively for the future?

If you would like to give us feedback or join in the discussion, go ahead and look up our Facebook Group or leave a comment right here. You will always be able to find the most recent episode here on the blog. If you would like to subscribe via iTunes, you can do that here or if you want to subscribe with another audio player, you can try this RSS link.

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There are some stories that just need to be told—some testimonies of the Lord’s grace that are so unusual and so encouraging that they will bless everyone who hears them. This is exactly the case with Rosaria Butterfield who recently authored The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. David Murray and I recently interviewed Butterfield for an episode of the Connected Kingdom Podcast. At the very least, make sure you listen to the first ten minutes or so where she shares the way the Lord saved her. After hearing how she came to know the Lord, we also talk about issues related to the church and homosexuality.

If you would like to give us feedback or join in the discussion, go ahead and look up our Facebook Group or leave a comment right here. You will always be able to find the most recent episode here on the blog. If you would like to subscribe via iTunes, you can do that here or if you want to subscribe with another audio player, you can try this RSS link.

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Tullian Tchividjian is author of several books, including the much-celebrated Jesus + Nothing = Everything. His most recent book is titled Glorious Ruin and it deals with the always-tricky subject of suffering. Tullian was kind enough to be our guest on The Connected Kingdom podcast. What made the interview particularly interesting, at least to me, was that David had some significant disagreements with some of what the book contained so he and Tullian talked out some of those things. I found their interaction very helpful. But, of course, there’s a lot more to it than that. We also speak to him about his own experiences of suffering, why he chose to write about it at this time, and a whole lot more.

If you would like to give us feedback or join in the discussion, go ahead and look up our Facebook Group or leave a comment right here. You will always be able to find the most recent episode here on the blog. If you would like to subscribe via iTunes, you can do that here or if you want to subscribe with another audio player, you can try this RSS link.

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In this week’s episode of the Connected Kingdom podcast, David and I discuss a difficult subject. Early infant loss is a term that applies to miscarriage, stillbirth, and the death of a newborn. We asked Glenda Mathes to join us to help us understand this issue from a practical and biblical perspective. Glenda is the author of Little One Lost: Living With Early Infant Loss and we ask her about how we can minister to (and how we should not attempt to minister to) those who have suffered this kind of loss, about the guilt that is so often a part of the grieving process, about how the church has too often failed such people, and about so much more. From a pastoral perspective, and simply from the perspective of one who has known many who have suffered such a loss, I found her wise counsel very helpful. I trust you will find the same as you listen in.

If you would like to give us feedback or join in the discussion, go ahead and look up our Facebook Group or leave a comment right here. You will always be able to find the most recent episode here on the blog. If you would like to subscribe via iTunes, you can do that here or if you want to subscribe with another audio player, you can try this RSS link.

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In this week’s episode of The Connected Kingdom, David Murray and I talk to Steve DeWitt. Steve is the author of Eyes Wide Open, one of my favorite books of 2012 (here’s my review). It is a book about beauty, about learning to enjoy God in everything. We talk to Steve about:

• Getting married (just a few weeks ago) at the age of 44 and after 20 years in ministry
• Why God created this world to be beautiful
• How beauty is meant to motivate worship
• Whether beautiful art is objectively good or whether there needs to be an explicit gospel message
• Why beauty can be so closely associated with lust

We discuss more than that, of course, but that’s the gist of it. I think giving it a listen will prove well worth your while.

If you would like to give us feedback or join in the discussion, go ahead and look up our Facebook Group or leave a comment right here. You will always be able to find the most recent episode here on the blog. If you would like to subscribe via iTunes, you can do that here or if you want to subscribe with another audio player, you can try this RSS link.

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I was unexpectedly called away to a pastoral situation which left David to fly solo on this week’s podcast. He was joined by Trillia Newbell, an African American journalist and blogger who lives in Tennessee and often writes about the interconnected issues of race, women, politics, and the Gospel. The interview covers these issues in addition to Trillia’s conversion story, her experience of four miscarriages, and the voting dilemma that faces many African Americans. You can find more of Trillia’s writing at www.trillianewbell.com and www.wogmagazine.com.

If you would like to give us feedback or join in the discussion, go ahead and look up our Facebook Group or leave a comment right here. You will always be able to find the most recent episode here on the blog. If you would like to subscribe via iTunes, you can do that here or if you want to subscribe with another audio player, you can try this RSS link.

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On this week’s podcast, we’re joined by Trevin Wax, who’s packed a lot into his relatively short life: missionary to Romania (where he also met his wife), Southern Baptist associate pastor, Gospel Coalition blogger, and now Managing Editor of The Gospel Project. We take a quick run through Trevin’s bio before settling down to talk about the exciting work he’s been doing in preparing Gospel-centered curriculum for the whole church. We asked Trevin to “sell us” on the package and he did a pretty good job. He also answered some of the criticisms that a project of this nature inevitably attracts.

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On this week’s episode of the Connected Kingdom podcast, David and I talk to Michael Reeves. Reeves works for UCCF and is the author of a book I absolutely loved, Delighting in the Trinity (you may want to check out my review). We talk to Mike about his work with UCCF but focus on discussions of the Trinity—where Christians tend to go wrong, why illustrations don’t help, why Modalism (or is it Moodalism?) is such an egregious error, and how we can truly delight in the triune God.

If you would like to give us feedback or join in the discussion, go ahead and look up our Facebook Group or leave a comment right here. You will always be able to find the most recent episode here on the blog. If you would like to subscribe via iTunes, you can do that here or if you want to subscribe with another audio player, you can try this RSS link.

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After a summer-long hiatus, the Connected Kingdom Podcast is back at last. In this episode, David Murray and I interview Nathan Bingham. Nathan is a social media guru and we talk to him about this strange new, digital world, what it means to be connected, how the explosion of information has changed us, and so on.

If you'd like to give us feedback or join in the discussion, go ahead and look up our Facebook Group or leave a comment right here. You will always be able to find the most recent episode here on the blog. If you would like to subscribe via iTunes, you can do that here or if you want to subscribe with another audio player, you can try this RSS link.