Why I am no Longer a Pastor
It is almost twenty years since I quit being a pastor. It wasn’t always easy, but I do not regret the decision for a minute. I have been, and currently am, enjoying the best, most fruitful days of my Christian life. Someone recently asked me why I quit being a pastor. This blog will give you seven reasons why.
Copyright 2020. Dr. Stephen R. Crosby. www.stevecrosby.org. For video and audio resources, sign up as a student here. You will find a mix of both free resources and those with cost. This ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those believe in the message of a radical grace in a new covenant understanding. If this blog article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a contribution through our Paypal button to help? Stephanos Ministries is NOT a 501-c-3 corporation Click here to understand why. Thank you and God bless you.
Life in the New Covenant – Episode One
It’s finally here!
It is with great pleasure that Loren Rosser and I present Episode One of our Life in the New Covenant video series!
Jesus: The Exact Representation of God
In this first episode, Brad Jersak, Michael Hardin, Bryon Wiebold, Mary Crews, Michael Rose, Mark Drake, Darrin Hufford, and myself talk about the importance of having a correct God image–that being Jesus as the Exact Representation of God—as the foundation of new creation living.
We hope to release episodes every three months and we estimate 6 to 8 more episodes covering different aspects of being a follower of Jesus in a grace-based, new creation paradigm. Men and women with diverse backgrounds and perspectives will be sharing their expertise on different themes of the new covenant life. We plan to release a new episode approximately every three months.
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Copyright 2019, Dr. Stephen R. Crosby, www.stevecrosby.org. This ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those believe in the message of a radical grace in a new covenant understanding. If this article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a contribution through our Paypal button to help? Stephanos Ministries is NOT a 501-c-3 corporation Click here to understand why. Thank you and God bless you
Two years in the making, Episode One presents different voices sharing about the importance of presenting Jesus Christ as the final, definitive, and only accurate representation of who God the Father truly is, and what he is like. The foundation of the New covenant is not a new “system” of doing “religion” or “doing Christianity.” The New Covenant begins with the Person of Jesus Christ as the rule, metron, and the hermeneutic of scripture interpretation, and, as the exact representation of the invisible God, the new ethos of the new era.
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Copyright 2019, Dr. Stephen R. Crosby, www.stevecrosby.org. This ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those believe in the message of a radical grace in a new covenant understanding. If this article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a contribution through our Paypal button to help? Stephanos Ministries is NOT a 501-c-3 corporation Click here to understand why. Thank you and God bless you
God is Not taking you to New Levels in 2019
Every year about this time, social media is saturated with naïve and manipulative Christian “blessings” and “predictions” like this: “In 2019 God is going to take you to new levels!”
That kind of language is not just associated with New Year promises, but it is also stock and trade language in many churches. Well it is 2019, and here is my prediction: God is not going to take you to new levels. Why? Because there is no such thing.
Along with my video production partner, Loren Rosser, we are excited to announce this upcoming video series. It will be available–for free— on Youtube starting in early 2019.
Over the past two years, men and women from diverse cultural and theological backgrounds and perspectives (who do not all agree with each other “doctrinally”) have come together in a display of unity, to talk about the importance of understanding, and living in, the privileges, blessings, AND responsibilities of the glorious new covenant. Each participant is uniquely graced and gifted by God in a facet of theology and practice and share his/her insights on this all important matter.
Topics in the series that will be touched upon include our understanding and expression in areas such as these:
and more.
The participants include: Michael Rose, John Armstrong, Brad Jersak, Jose Bosque, Lisa Koons, Bryon Wiebold, Mark Drake, Mary and Andrew Allen, Bindi and Aaron Tilbury, Paul Wedaa, David Fredrickson, Vince Coakley, Daryl McCray, Darrin Hufford, Wayne Jacobsen, Michael Hardin, Samuel Genus, Jon Zens, myself and others.
Stay tuned for the announcement of the release of the first session!
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Copyright 2018, Dr. Stephen R. Crosby, www.stevecrosby.org. Would you like to partner with us in distributing our materials and perhaps generate some income for yourself? Please go to www.stevecrosby.com for details of our Affiliate program. This ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those believe in the message of a radical grace in a new covenant understanding. If this article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a contribution through our Paypal button to help? Stephanos Ministries is NOT a 501-c-3 corporation Click here to understand why. Thank you and God bless you
Apostolic Covering – Stop the Madness
Within Charismatic circles, there is a widely influential subset group called the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). One of their strongly held beliefs is the necessity of submitting to an alleged “apostolic covering” or maintaining what is called “governmental alignment” to a “covering apostle.” It is alleged that failure to do so, cuts off heavenly blessing and opens the individual to spiritual dangers and demonic attacks. The Protestant forefathers must be rolling over in their graves. They gave their life’s blood to do away with the belief system that required a class of religious professionals to broker or mediate the blessings of heaven to the believer. It is beyond painful to see the resurrected form of this doctrine being espoused in so-called apostolic churches and foisted under the banner of “new revelation,” “restoring apostolic covering,” and “restoring apostolic authority.” It is not new revelation. It is old heresy in a new dress.
Spiritual covering is a biblically illegitimate, bad idea, that just won’t go away.
Where should I go to church? You are asking the wrong question.
I often get asked: “Where should I go to church?” It is the wrong question to ask. Lurking in it are likely inappropriate and unrecognized presuppositions and motives. We need to ask a “who” question, not a what and where question. The correct answer to that question will be found in understanding God-assigned relationships. Relational reality in God-assignments is where you will find your “church,” no other way.
A guest blog by John and Katherine Matthews.
Leaving Institutional Religion
Unfortunately we missed National Coming Out day on Sunday, October 11. Better late than never though, so in honor of that special day, it’s time to officially confirm that we are out of the IRS, aka the Institutional Religious System. Yes, it’s true.