Reconstructing Faith with Trevin Wax

Latest Episodes:

3 Waves That Have Shaped Your Church Jan 23, 2025

Show notes

Nothing alters a terrain like water. In severe cases, like flooding from hurricanes and storms, or mudslides in the mountains, or a tsunami overtaking everything in its path, water can leave a landscape totally transformed. But even in mild cases, wind and waves can leave behind noticeable changes to the scenery. Waves affect the landscape of the church also. There are subtle echoes of movements that have shaped churches across the country, regardless of denomination. You might not see them, but they’re there, shaping how we worship. Cultural currents carve out different streams. Movements rise and fall, personalities come and go, and ministry philosophies shift, leaving the terrain transformed. On this episode of Reconstructing Faith, join Trevin Wax as he asks the question: What waves have shaped the landscape of evangelicalism?

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• on Twitter: @TrevinWax

• on Facebook

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Have a question you want to ask Trevin? Send it to resources@namb.net.

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What If We Can’t Rebuild? Jan 23, 2025

Show notes

For two seasons now, we've looked at the credibility crisis facing the church today and some of the challenges that stand in the way of our attempts to renew and restore the church's witness. We've heard guest after guest give us truth and point us toward hope. We've talked about rolling up our sleeves and finding our place on the wall, doing whatever we can for the church to reconstruct, to rebuild, to restore, to renew. On this episode of Reconstructing Faith, join Trevin Wax as he asks the question: What if we're not up to the task of rebuilding the witness of the church?

Connect with Trevin

• on Twitter: @TrevinWax

• on Facebook

• subscribe to Trevin’s email newsletter

Have a question you want to ask Trevin? Send it to resources@namb.net.

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Season 2, Episode 10: Better Together: Denominations and the Hope of Evangelical Renewal Dec 21, 2023

Show notes

In the first episode of this season, we looked at the reconstruction of Notre Dame after the fire, the painstaking work of refashioning and rebuilding a place that took centuries to construct. Rebuilding requires sacrifice… a dogged commitment to seeing the task through. If this is the case for churches, it’s also the case for families of churches, for networks, partnerships, conventions, and denominations. In episode two, we looked at the trend of “dechurching.” People drifting away from the church is one of the biggest stories in religion reporting right now. But the other big story is about the shifting landscape of those who do belong to a church. I’m talking about the decline of most denominations in America, and the rise of non-denominational churches in Protestant Christianity.

On this episode of Reconstructing Faith, join Trevin Wax as he asks how we look beyond our congregation to the health of the evangelical movement as a whole.

Connect with Trevin

- on Twitter: @TrevinWax
- on Facebook

Have a question you want to ask Trevin? Send it to resources@namb.net.

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Season 2, Episode 9: Family Breakdown and the Family of God Dec 14, 2023

Show notes

The iconic family scenes we see in classic TV are not the norm for most people in American society today. Divorce has disrupted more families than ever before in our history. And the ripple effects go beyond the obvious heartache and loss, affecting even the banalities of annual rituals and traditions. Challenges to family life aren’t new. But the challenges in our day have multiplied. And these problems aren’t unrelated to the difficulties we face as God’s people, especially since we see in the New Testament how the church is to be the family of God. We are in relationship to one another as brothers and sisters, as fathers and mothers in the faith.

On this episode of Reconstructing Faith, join Trevin Wax as he considers the church’s responsibility in the era of family breakdown.

Connect with Trevin

- on Twitter: @TrevinWax
- on Facebook

Have a question you want to ask Trevin? Send it to resources@namb.net.

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Season 2, Episode 8: After the Worship Wars Dec 07, 2023

Show notes

In the latter decades of the 20th century, many churches across the country shifted from a formal style of worship, with traditional and classical music, to a more informal style of worship, with praise choruses and rock-influenced instrumentation. These changes in worship didn’t happen without conflict. In the 1980’s and 1990’s, controversies became so heated in some churches that some observers began calling them “The Worship Wars.” Today, we may be well past the worst of the worship wars, but we’re never going to be in a season where discussions over what we do as gathered members of the body of Christ go away.

On this episode of Reconstructing Faith, join Trevin Wax as he considers the formative influence of how we worship and how that will affect what the future looks like.

Connect with Trevin

- on Twitter: @TrevinWax
- on Facebook

Have a question you want to ask Trevin? Send it to resources@namb.net.

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Season 2, Episode 7: The Spiritual Burnout Society Nov 16, 2023

Show notes

For the past few years, sociologists and journalists have been describing millennials as “the burnout generation.” Now, there are reports that burnout and stress are on the rise with Gen Z as well. And then there’s the reality of spiritual burnout, the inability to feel the presence and power of God, a loss of desire for spiritual things. In the Bible, we see examples of spiritual disillusionment, from the frustrations of Moses as he led the children of Israel, to Elijah fleeing into the wilderness, feeling isolated and forgotten. Read the writings of monks in monasteries in medieval times and, even there, you find similar battles with spiritual apathy, a loss of passion and compassion. Burnout isn’t just a pastor problem. It isn’t just a workplace problem. It’s a spiritual problem, and this challenge affects the church.

On this episode of Reconstructing Faith, join Trevin Wax as he asks why burnout is happening and how we can respond.

Connect with Trevin

on Twitter: @TrevinWax
on Facebook

Have a question you want to ask Trevin? Send it to resources@namb.net.

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Season 2, Episode 6: No One Knows What’s Real Anymore Nov 09, 2023

Show notes

We’ve entered a new era in terms of technology. AI is the most powerful predictive tool we’ve ever created. It’s really good at analyzing and predicting human behavior… like, scary good. And the new world of AI is leading to ethical dilemmas previous generations would have found unimaginable. What will happen when in the future, it becomes even harder to discern truth from falsehood, human fingerprints from AI creations, when we no longer agree on common narratives because we’re living in parallel online AI-influenced universes? What does unity and division look like in the church when these problems arise? And how will we address some of the ethical questions that arise?

On this episode of Reconstructing Faith, join Trevin Wax as he discusses the challenges and opportunities AI will provide for the church, as we seek to fulfill our mission faithfully.

Connect with Trevin

on Twitter: @TrevinWax
on Facebook

Have a question you want to ask Trevin? Send it to resources@namb.net.

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Season 2, Episode 5: Gender Sanity in a World Gone Mad Nov 02, 2023

Show notes

There will be no avoiding conversation about sex and gender in the days ahead, and as Christians, the starting place must be our convictions about reality. All our choices must flow from those convictions. Strong convictions are the prerequisite for true conversations. And convictions and compassion aren’t in opposition. When the world is falling en masse for a bold and terrible lie, the most important and compassionate thing the church can do is uphold the courageous and irrepressible truth.

On this episode of Reconstructing Faith, join Trevin Wax as he asks the question, how can we best present the Bible’s vision of the body as good, as a gift, in a time of radical individualism, digital reinvention, and technological promises?

Connect with Trevin

on Twitter: @TrevinWax
on Facebook

Have a question you want to ask Trevin? Send it to resources@namb.net.

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Season 2, Episode 4: The Secret Catastrophe Oct 26, 2023

Show notes

More and more commentators speak openly about the social and mental health consequences of porn: the degrading nature of warped expectations, the ever-more transgressive practices, the normalization of violence, and the dark underside of human trafficking. But most of the time, they stop short of pronouncing moral judgment about pornography in general. As people who follow Jesus Christ, we go further. We don’t oppose pornography merely because of bad outcomes. We oppose pornography because we know, deep down, our hearts are to be pointed in a different direction. But we fool ourselves if we think porn is something only out there, in the world. The pervasiveness of pornography affects the church as well—young people and old, men and women.

On this episode of Reconstructing Faith, join Trevin Wax as he discusses how to address this secret catastrophe, the challenge that pornography poses to hearts and minds inside the church, not just out in the world.

Connect with Trevin

on Twitter: @TrevinWax
on Facebook

Have a question you want to ask Trevin? Send it to resources@namb.net.

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Season 2, Episode 3: Boys to Men, For Mission Oct 19, 2023

Show notes

All across the spectrum, you find commentators chattering away about the crisis of manhood in the wake of gender confusion, the denigration and disparagement of men traditionally involved in “men’s work,” and the quest for significance and identity among men who seem to be lost and lonely in our strange new world. What happens in a society where markers of manhood, the passing from adolescence into adulthood, become obscured, where men stagger forward without mentors or friends? What happens to a society that pathologizes competition, achievement, roughness, and the aggression required to protect the weak or pursue what’s good? How does it make sense to push back against toxic expressions of masculinity without a clear picture of actual manliness, a positive vision that shatters the caricatures?

On this episode of Reconstructing Faith, join Trevin Wax as he considers how the church can respond wisely to the challenges facing men today.

Connect with Trevin