Welcome to THE LINK: Bridging Faith and Life with Dr. Vincent Bacote! Every month, Dr. Bacote will introduce listeners to ways they can build connections between faith and life in their ministries and personal lives. This month, Dr. Bacote talks about how July 4th presents an opportunity to reflect on what we do in the face of challenges wherever we are. At some point, even when "our side" is mostly doing what we desire, there is still something we hope could be better. Jeremiah 29:7 and 1 Peter 2:12-15,17 are texts that show us that we can have possibilities for a positive witness and action even when we may feel like we are in something like an exile experience. Yes, let's name what is wrong or frustrating, but let's also consider a positive path.

Dr. Bacote is a professor of theology and the director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

If you'd like to connect with Dr. Bacote, click on the link below! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.vincentbacote.com/coaching⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Welcome to THE LINK: Bridging Faith and Life with Dr. Vincent Bacote! Every month, Dr. Bacote will introduce listeners to ways they can build connections between faith and life in their ministries and personal lives. This month, Dr. Bacote invites us to consider our disposition before God when we are thinking about, asking, or hoping for the world to change. Acts 1:4-8 helps us to look at this. The question for all of us: Do I tend to live more with hopeful expectation or do I fine myself demanding that God make something right on my timetable?

Dr. Bacote is a professor of theology and the director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

If you'd like to connect with Dr. Bacote, click on the link below! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.vincentbacote.com/coaching⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Welcome to THE LINK: Bridging Faith and Life with Dr. Vincent Bacote! Every month, Dr. Bacote will introduce listeners to ways they can build connections between faith and life in their ministries and personal lives. This month, Dr. Bacote asks a simple question: who or what is the ultimate authority for the way we conduct our lives in God's world? Using part of the statement about the Bible from the Evangelical Free Church of America (the whole statement is below with the relevant section in bold), he invites us to consider how the authority of the Bible functions in our lives and how other sources of authority play a role. For those who say God's word is the ultimate authority, we have to ask whether this is really true and whether we know how other sources of authority play a role. Are you aware of the ultimate authority in your life?

From the EFCA website:

The Bible

We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.

Dr. Bacote is a professor of theology and the director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

If you'd like to connect with Dr. Bacote, click on the link below! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.vincentbacote.com/coaching⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Welcome to THE LINK - Bridging Faith and Life with Dr. Vincent Bacote! Every month, Dr. Bacote will introduce listeners to ways they can build connections between faith and life in their ministries and personal lives. This month, Dr. Bacote briefly tells the story of making a documentary about Black evangelicals. This documentary is one part of the big story of God's church. In the Nicene Creed we confess "I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church." It is easy to misunderstand the "catholic" terminology; it means one united church, and black evangelicals have much to tell us about this part of our universal family, the church.

Here is a link to more information on the documentary.

Dr. Bacote is a professor of theology and the director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

If you'd like to connect with Dr. Bacote, click on the link below! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.vincentbacote.com/coaching⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Welcome to THE LINK - Bridging Faith and Life with Dr. Vincent Bacote! Every month, Dr. Bacote will introduce listeners to ways they can build connections between faith and life in their ministries and personal lives. This month, Dr. Bacote invites us to think about the following questions:

How do we respond to changing political winds? On the other side of the most recent presidential inauguration, how do we walk the line between highs of optimism and lows of pessimism? The first lines of the Nicene and Apostles creed provide a reminder of God's greatness and human limitations; can this help us be realistic and hopeful?

From the Apostles Creed: "I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth"

From the Nicene Creed: "I believe in one God, The Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth..."

Dr. Bacote is a professor of theology and the director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

If you'd like to connect with Dr. Bacote, click on the link below! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.vincentbacote.com/coaching⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Welcome to THE LINK - Bridging Faith and Life with Dr. Vincent Bacote! Every month, Dr. Bacote will introduce listeners to ways they can build connections between faith and life in their ministries and personal lives. This month's podcast is very brief, offering a word of encouragement from Titus 2:11-14. As we enter the New Year, our great hope gives us reason to pause and make a resolution some us may have made many times: to eagerly seek to do good in the world, no matter the circumstances around us.

Titus 2:11-14 (NIV): "For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."

Dr. Bacote is a professor of theology and the director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

If you'd like to connect with Dr. Bacote, click on the link below! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.vincentbacote.com/coaching⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Welcome to THE LINK - Bridging Faith and Life with Dr. Vincent Bacote! Every month, Dr. Bacote will introduce listeners to ways they can build connections between faith and life in their ministries and personal lives. This month, Dr. Bacote invites us to learn from Mary, the mother of Jesus. Luke 1:32-33, 38 provides the specific focus on the truth about the everlasting kingdom of the Messiah and Mary's response to God's plan for her. As we consider Mary, we can see a way to consider our response to the recent election and seek a path of faithful engagement in the world.

Dr. Bacote is a professor of theology and the director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

If you'd like to connect with Dr. Bacote, click on the link below! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.vincentbacote.com/coaching⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Welcome to THE LINK - Bridging Faith and Life with Dr. Vincent Bacote! Every month, Dr. Bacote will introduce listeners to ways they can build connections between faith and life in their ministries and personal lives. This month, Dr. Bacote reflects on how elections present opportunities for us to think about why we have our political priorities and how our beliefs truly operate. The Nicene Creed includes a line that ought to always be at the forefront of our minds when we think about ultimate political priorities and loyalties: "...his kingdom will have no end". How does Christ's kingdom inform your political choices?

Dr. Bacote is a professor of theology and the director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

If you'd like to connect with Dr. Bacote, click on the link below! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.vincentbacote.com/coaching⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠