The BEMA Podcast

Brent Billings and Elle Grover Fricks are joined by special guest Mariko Clark, author of The Book of Belonging. She is a mother and a storyteller, and her time as an editor of National Geographic Learning enabled her to make complex topics accessible and engaging. She and her husband live outside of Indianapolis with their three kids.

The Book of Belonging by Mariko Clark and Rachel Eleanor

The Book of Belonging — Substack

The Book of Belonging website

Additional audio production by Gus Simpson

Special Guest: Mariko Clark.

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings join Elle Grover Fricks to close out this series from the Talmud and return to a well where Jesus talks with a Samaritan woman.

Cairo Geniza — Wikipedia

Umm el-Qanatir — Wikipedia

Pesher — Wikipedia

Targum — Wikipedia

Peshitta — Wikipedia

Onkelos — Wikipedia

“Here’s Something about the Bible of the First Christians I Bet Many of You Didn’t Know (You’re Welcome)” by Peter Enns — Patheos

Origin of the Old Testament — The Bible for Normal People

“Tell all the truth but tell it slant” (poem) by Emily Dickinson

“Jacob Traditions and the Interpretation of John 4:10–26” by Jerome H. Neyrey — JSTOR

Eliezer ben Hurcanus — Wikipedia

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer — Sefaria

Only the Lover Sings by Matthew Clark

BEMA 227: The Chosen S1E8 — “I Am He”

BEMA 257: John — Wells and Husbands

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Brent Billings, Elle Grover Fricks, and Josh Bossé examine one more perspective on the ideas of salt and light found in the Sermon on the Mount.

BEMA 257: John — Wells and Husbands

BEMA 313: Parables — The Good Samaritan

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings join Elle Grover Fricks to consider Jesus’s teaching on light through the lens of the Talmud.

BEMA 94: Hope of the World

Bava Batra — Wikipedia

1 Corinthians 3: Building a Temple — Reed Dent, Campus Christian Fellowship

Numbers: The Wilderness Years, volume 4 of Covenant & Conversation by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

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Brent Billings and Elle Grover Fricks unearth a deeper meaning of salt through a Talmudic lens.

“The Salt of the Land and the Light of the World” — BibleProject Podcast

BEMA 248: Joy and Lot’s Untitled Wife

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Brent Billings, Elle Grover Fricks, and Josh Bossé browse through the Beatitudes one by one.

Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing by Søren Kierkegaard

Live Q&A with Josh Bossé (April 2024) — YouTube

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Brent Billings, Elle Grover Fricks, and Josh Bossé crack open the question of what a biblical blessing is.

To Bless the Space Between Us by John O’Donohue

Every Moment Holy, Volume I by Douglas Kaine McKelvey

Every Moment Holy, Volume II by Douglas Kaine McKelvey

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings are joined by Mitch Lavender, longtime BEMA listener and group facilitator, and now Lead Campus Minister in Cincinnati with Impact Campus Ministries, about his experiences with a community dealing with the challenges of diversity and how that can lead to transition with family, friends, and faith.

A Church Called Tov by Scot McKnight and Laura Barringer

Additional audio production by Gus Simpson

Special Guest: Mitch Lavender.

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Brent Billings, Elle Grover Fricks, and Reed Dent revisit Matthew 4 with a Talmudic lens.

BEMA 92: How to Bring Order Out of Chaos

Ethics Ratings of Nearly All Professions Down in U.S. — Gallup

Scutching — Wikipedia

Tractate Sanhedrin — Sefaria

“Questions About Angels” (poem) by Billy Collins

Gospel of Matthew Summary (Part 1) — BibleProject

Gospel of Matthew Summary (Part 2) — BibleProject

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Brent Billings and Elle Grover Fricks take a closer look at the work of John the Baptist.

BEMA 91: Tavilah T'Shuvah

BEMA 92: How to Bring Order Out of Chaos

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Brent Billings and Elle Grover Fricks take a closer look at the magi and the star of the nativity.

BEMA 89: Written in the Stars

BEMA 257: Wells and Husbands

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Brent Billings, Elle Grover Fricks, and Reed Dent explore how the Talmudic conversation might shed new light on the account of Joseph’s angelic visitation in Matthew 1.

BEMA 22: Under the Chuppah

BEMA 85: Mark — Roman Gospel

BEMA 89: Written in the Stars

Berakhot 56 (Talmud) — Sefaria

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings are with Elle Grover Fricks to kick off a new series on Talmudic conversations in Matthew.

Asking Better Questions of the Bible by Marty Solomon

Sefaria: A Living Library of Jewish Texts

Brad Gray on the Genealogy of Matthew — Real Life on the Palouse

“Matthew’s Begats” by Andrew Peterson — YouTube

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings are joined by Tommy Brown, author of The Ache for Meaning. He is a pastor and contemplative teacher with a bachelor’s degree in pastoral ministry and master’s degrees in divinity and management, and a former little league baseball coach.

The Ache for Meaning by Tommy Brown

What Is the Palouse?

Dark Night of the Soul — Wikipedia

The Seven Money Types by Tommy Brown

The Torah for Dummies by Arthur Kurzweil

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Sabbath as Resistance by Walter Brueggemann

Tommy Brown’s website

Additional audio production by Gus Simpson

Special Guest: Tommy Brown.

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Brent Billings, Reed Dent, and Elle Grover Fricks conclude the series on the Psalms and offer a final bit of encouragement to carry with us into the future.

Festival of Faith & Writing — Calvin University

My Bright Abyss by Christian Wiman

Inside Out (2015 film) — JustWatch

“Despite My Efforts Even My Prayers Have Turned into Threats” from Pilgrim Bell by Kaveh Akbar

“The Only Animal” from Walking to Martha’s Vineyard by Franz Wright

“Ulysses” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson — Poetry Foundation

“Bless Me” by Maverick City Music (feat. Kirk Franklin) — YouTube

Liturgy Prints — Every Moment Holy

“A Greek Papyrus Amulet from the Duke Collection with Biblical Excerpts” by Csaba A. La’da and Amphilochios Papathomas — JSTOR

Coble Eye Care

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Brent Billings, Elle Grover Fricks, and Josh Bossé take a second stroll through the words of Psalm 23.

The Gorge Amphitheatre

Saving Paradise by Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker

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Brent Billings and Reed Dent listen to the voice of Psalm 19.

Firefly [Lightning Bug] — Wikipedia

Wishful Thinking by Frederick Buechner

Psalm 19: The Heavens Declare the Glory of God — Aleph Beta

Reflections: Christianity Makes Sense of the World — C. S. Lewis Institute

“The Merton Prayer” — Reflections, Yale Divinity School

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Brent Billings and Reed Dent mull over the words of Psalm 32.

Bad Words Series — BibleProject

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Marty Solomon, Brent Billings, and Reed Dent compare and contrast Psalms 51 and 139.

Psalm 139: Take 1 — Reed Dent, Campus Christian Fellowship

Psalm 139: Take 4 — Reed Dent, Campus Christian Fellowship

The Crucifixion by Fleming Rutledge

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Marty Solomon, Brent Billings, and Reed Dent discuss Psalm 91.

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings are joined by Derek Vreeland, author of Centering Jesus. He is the discipleship pastor at Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, MO, where he lives with his wife, Jenni.

Centering Jesus by Derek Vreeland

Review of Centering Jesus — Marty Solomon, Goodreads

Man Enough by Nate Pyle

God’s Empowering Presence by Gordon D. Fee

Benefit of the Doubt by Gregory A. Boyd

Salvation by Allegiance Alone by Matthew W. Bates

Daily Office Lectionary by Derek Vreeland

Book of Common Prayer — Wikipedia

Derek Vreeland’s Website

Additional audio production by Gus Simpson

Special Guest: Derek Vreeland.

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Brent Billings, Reed Dent, and Elle Grover Fricks discuss the words of Psalm 137.

BEMA 380: Psalms — The Hidden Face

Answering God by Eugene H. Peterson

BEMA 36: The Redemption Cycle

The Message of the Psalms by Walter Brueggemann

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Brent Billings, Reed Dent, and Elle Grover Fricks consider the words of Psalm 8.

The Message of the Psalms by Walter Brueggemann

Visual Commentary on Psalm 8 — BibleProject

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Reflections on the Psalms by C. S. Lewis

“Rabbi Simcha Bunem's Favorite Sayings” by Julie Danan — Sefaria

Midrash Tehillim on Psalm 8 — Sefaria

Psalm 8 — Wikipedia

“Stars” by Switchfoot — YouTube

“Friend of God” by Israel Houghton — YouTube

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Brent Billings, Reed Dent, and Josh Bossé discuss Psalm 23.

“House of God Forever” by Jon Foreman — YouTube

Psalm 23 — Wikipedia

The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary by Robert Alter

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Brent Billings, Reed Dent, and Josh Bossé discuss Psalm 13.

The Message of the Psalms by Walter Brueggemann

Telling the Truth by Frederick Buechner

BEMA 282: John — The Dance of Grief

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings join Reed Dent as he launches a series on the Psalms.

Asking Better Questions of the Bible by Marty Solomon

Free at Last by dc Talk — YouTube

“[Psalm] 40” by dc Talk — YouTube

The Art of Biblical Poetry by Robert Alter

The Art of Biblical Narrative by Robert Alter

The Art of Bible Translation by Robert Alter

Preaching and the Literary Forms of the Bible by Thomas G. Long

BEMA 349: The Chosen S3E8 — “Sustenance” (Bonus Episode)

The Message of the Psalms by Walter Brueggemann

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Help, Thanks, Wow by Anne Lamott

Answering God by Eugene H. Peterson

Praying the Psalms by Thomas Merton

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings are joined by Lea Schrumpf, Director of Pastoral Care at Purdue Christian Campus House, to discuss how we are shaped by harm, but how we are created for delight and honor, and how we can enter our stories with compassion and kindness.

BEMA 242: Spiritual Abuse — Commodities and Variables

The Allender Center

Anatomy of the Soul by Curt Thompson

Being Known Podcast

Adam Young Counseling

The Place We Find Ourselves podcast

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem

The Reconnect Institute

Reconnect Marriage Podcast

Purdue Christian Campus House

Snack-Stadium by Ordi Stefan Hossu — Facebook

Additional audio production by Gus Simpson

Special Guest: Lea Schrumpf.

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings conclude the journey through Isaiah by looking at his prophetic visions for the future and how hope changes the substance of our conversations, desires, and experiences.

BEMA 137: A Dry Tree

BEMA 71: The Prophetic Table

BEMA 332: Andrew DeCort — Flourishing on the Edge of Faith

Friend or Foe #1: The Truth and Proper Place of Guilt sermon — YouTube

Overview of Isaiah — BibleProject

King Chizkiah, the Almost Messiah — Rabbi David Fohrman, Aleph Beta

Aleph Beta Academy

Subscribe to Aleph Beta Academy

BEMA listeners can use code friendsofbema for one month off of a monthly Premium membership.

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Brent Billings, Elle Grover Fricks, and Reed Dent discuss the maternal images seen throughout Isaiah.

Aleph Beta Academy

Subscribe to Aleph Beta Academy

BEMA listeners can use code friendsofbema for one month off of a monthly Premium membership.

Behavior of a Pallas’s cat — YouTube

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings press on into the final chapters of Isaiah’s servant discourse, hearing the famous passage of God’s suffering servant and searching for the fruit of those trials.

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings enter a new season of Isaiah’s prophecy. Times have changed, circumstances are different, but God’s love remains the same.

Tikkun Olam — Wikipedia

BEMA 192: Telling a Story

BEMA 64: 3 Isaiah — Servant

BEMA 289: John — Loved to the End

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings are joined by Preston Ulmer, author of Deconstruct Faith, Discover Jesus, founder and director of the Doubters’ Club, pastor at North Point Church in Springfield, MO, and many pastoral roles before that.

Deconstruct Faith, Discover Jesus by Preston Ulmer

The Doubters’ Club (website)

The Doubters’ Club (book) by Preston Ulmer

Encanto (2021 film) — JustWatch

Conversational Intelligence by Judith E. Glaser

Preston Ulmer on Instagram

Additional audio production by Gus Simpson

Special Guest: Preston Ulmer.

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings are with Elle Grover Fricks to discuss the historical portion of Isaiah that bridges the two parts of the prophetic work, considering the possibilities for voices and redactions.

BEMA 82: The Text — When, Where, Who, and Why

Documentary Hypothesis — Wikipedia

Asking Better Questions of the Bible by Marty Solomon

“The Re-Emergence of Source Criticism: The Neo-Documentary Hypothesis” by Joel S. Baden — Yale Divinity School

BEMA 71: The Prophetic Table

The Documentary Hypothesis and the Composition of the Pentateuch by Umberto Cassuto (PDF)

“You have been weighed, measured, and found wanting” — A Knight’s Tale, YouTube

BEMA 365: Isaiah — Prophet vs. Wizard Priests

Ašipu — Wikipedia

Where God Was Born by Bruce Feiler

If All the Seas Were Ink by Ilana Kurshan

2023 NFL Season — Wikipedia

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings consider the reality of God’s anger in the next portion of Isaiah.

The Jewish Study Bible: Second Edition

“JPS Bible Translation Enters Digital Era with Sefaria” — The Jewish Publication Society

JPS Tanakh 1917 — BibleHub

New Jewish Publication Society of America Tanakh — Wikipedia

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings look at the next portion of Isaiah to see God’s message aimed directly as His own people.

BEMA 176: Revelation — Smyrna and Their Crown

Beth Moore on the Church in History — Twitter

BEMA 136: Each One

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings hear the universal pronouncement of God’s care and judgment in Isaiah, and then see the response of the prophet to what could lie ahead.

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Brent Billings and Elle Grover Fricks are joined by Elisa Bosley, founder of Spiritual Eldercare. Elisa has decades of experience leading worship services and Bible studies, and also working with adults who have dementia. Combining those efforts, she became a chaplain in 2016 and serves at a long-term memory care community in Boulder, Colorado.

Spiritual Eldercare

Additional audio production by Gus Simpson

Special Guest: Elisa Bosley.

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings hear Isaiah communicate the comprehensive and exhaustive nature of how God carries the burdens of all nations, not just the ones that bear His name.

Presentation for Isaiah — Burdens (PDF)

NIV Archaeological Study Bible

NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary by Robert Alter

Cross Vision by Gregory A. Boyd

Crucifixion of the Warrior God by Gregory A. Boyd

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings venture further into Isaiah and the days of Ahaz to see God’s invitation to trust the story—and warnings for what might happen if that invitation is not accepted.

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Brent Billings, Elle Grover Fricks, and Josh Bossé dig a little deeper into the cultural context of Isaiah 6.

“Isaiah's Impure Lips and Their Purification in Light of Akkadian Sources” by Victor (Avigdor) Hurowitz — JSTOR

Myths & Legends of Babylonia & Assyria by Lewis Spence

Bārû — Wikipedia

Bāru (Mesopotamian priest) — Britannica

Bārûtu — Wikipedia

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings journey into the text of Isaiah, hearing the call of a father to his stubborn children.

The Ache for Meaning by Tommy Brown

The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary by Robert Alter

BEMA 51: 1 Isaiah — Vineyard

Isaiah: Holy, Holy, Holy — Derrick Rohr, Campus Christian Fellowship

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings are back with Reed Dent to continue the introduction to the prophecy of Isaiah and consider Walter Brueggemann’s ideas about the prophetic imagination.

The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann

“What Prophecy Is For” — BibleProject Podcast

Thought of the Day: Prophetic Imagination — Marty Solomon, YouTube

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings are with Reed Dent to begin a journey deep into the prophecy of Isaiah by considering what we can learn from Abraham Joshua Heschel about the prophetic pathos.

The Prophets by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Isaiah: History — Reed Dent, Campus Christian Fellowship

A Collision or (3+4=7) by David Crowder*Band

Collected Poems of W. H. Auden (see Part IX)

Lost in the Cosmos by Walker Percy

NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

“I Have a Dream” (Martin Luther King Jr. speech) — Wikipedia

“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” (Martin Luther King Jr. speech) — Wikipedia

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings return to “Ordinary Time” on the podcast and prepare for some fresh studies of the Text.

BEMA 190: Session 4 Capstone

BEMA News & Events

Impact Campus Ministries

BEMA Discord

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings wrap up Session 7 of the podcast by hearing about Marty’s sabbatical experience and reflecting on what we’ve all been through in this season of rest.

“Closing Time” (Marty’s sabbatical recap blog post)

Meet the Solomons: Sabbatical Recap — Marty Solomon, YouTube

Ignatius of Loyola — Wikipedia

BEMA 350: Kat Armstrong — Storyline Bible

BEMA 351: Sabbath Reflection Music

“Birdsongs alleviate anxiety and paranoia in healthy participants” by E. Stobbe, J. Sundermann, L. Ascone & S. Kühn — Scientific Reports

Sound Escapes Podcast

Fasting by Scot McKnight

Beholding by Strahan Coleman

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings are back with Dallas Jenkins to mull over the questions that arose from Seasons 2 and 3 of The Chosen.

The Chosen

The Chosen (TV Series) — Wikipedia

The Chosen (2017 TV Series) — IMDb

5&2 T-Shirt — The Chosen

Ancient Israel by Roland de Vaux

Grafted on YouTube

Additional audio production by Gus Simpson

Special Guest: Dallas Jenkins.

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Brent Billings, Reed Dent, and Elle Grover Fricks pontificate on the practice of prayer.

Presentation for Sabbath Practice — Prayer (PDF)

“Patient Trust” by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Spiritual Direction by Henri Nouwen

Prayer by Richard J. Foster

This Is Water by David Foster Wallace

Every Moment Holy, Volume I by Douglas Kaine McKelvey

Every Moment Holy, Volume II by Douglas Kaine McKelvey

To Bless the Space Between Us by John O’Donohue

The Ignatian Examen — Jesuits.org

“How to Make Ringtones for iPhone” by Don Reisinger — Tom’s Guide

“How to Create Custom Ringtones for Your Android Phone” by Cameron Summerson — How-To Geek

Silence (2016 film) — Letterboxd

The Cast of Rogue One — Wikipedia

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Brent Billings and Elle Grover Fricks traverse the topic of fasting.

Didache — Wikipedia

Basil of Caesarea — Wikipedia

John Wesley (Holy Club section for fasting) — Wikipedia

Jewish Fast Days — Chabad.org

“Fasting for Religious Observance” — Brandeis University

“Intermittent Fasting 101: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide” — Healthline

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Brent Billings is considering the practice of friendship with Reed Dent and his best friend and ministry partner Derrick James Rohr III.

CCF Truman Staff

The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis

Additional audio production by Gus Simpson

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Marty Solomon and Brent Billings explore Marty’s spiritual practices and see what has changed or evolved for him over the last seven years.

Discussion Video for BEMA 355

BEMA 24: Creating a Space

Thought of the Day: Two Hands of Faith — Marty Solomon, YouTube

The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr

Asking Better Questions of the Bible by Marty Solomon

“Is It Time to Quit ‘Quiet Time’?” by Dru Johnson and Celina Durgin — Christianity Today

Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret by Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor (via Jim Feicht)

A Day in the Life: Spiritual Practices — Marty Solomon, YouTube

Thought of the Day: Writing the Text — Marty Solomon, YouTube

Finding Our Way Again by Brian McLaren

The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence

Shaping Faith #5: Fasting sermon — YouTube

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