Cross Podcast

Panel #3 at CROSS20 was a "Live Question & Answer," answering questions submitted by the audience ahead of time. Speakers are David Platt, Kevin DeYoung, Cyndi Logsdon, and Edgar Aponte.

Panel #2 at CROSS20 with the topic "Preparation and the Missionary Task."  Speakers are David Platt and Brooks Buser.

Panel #1 at CROSS20 with the topic "Your Purpose and God's Glory."  Speakers are David Platt, Zane Pratt, Mack Stiles, Cyndi Logsdon, and Jonathan Morgan.

Plenary #5 at CROSS20. Reflection Questions: 1. From David Platt’s talk, why is it critical for Christians to pray, “Lead us not into temptation?” 2. We’ve been reminded that the best thing we can do with our lives is spend them making Jesus’ name known in every corner of the world. But we also know that in the coming days we will face many temptations. What are some of those temptations and how can we aim to stay focused on what matters most? 3. The message of Christianity is that we all are sinners (we all will fall into temptation) and that’s exactly why we need a Savior. How can we both strive to fight temptations while at the same time not relying on our works for salvation? (Or another way to ask: what is it that motivates you to fight temptation?) 4. As you consider your role in God’s plan for saving the nations, where do you think you fit in? (sender?, goer?, unsure?)  5. Are there sins or even simply distractions in your life that have kept you from leveraging your life for what matters most — the ha

Plenary #4 at CROSS20.    Reflection Questions: 1. It is common in our day to use words like “mistakes”, “struggles,” or “issues” instead of “sin.” How can that confuse the need for forgiveness that comes through the gospel? 2. Wayne Chen said, “When we ask God for daily bread, we are asking God to supernaturally help us to trust in His grace for tomorrow.” What are some ways we grow in having a deep, unshakeable trust in God to provide all that we need? 3. Wayne Chen cited Matthew 10:28 (“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”) and encouraged us to prioritize gospel proclamation over merely doing mercy ministries. Does this sound like you’re loving your neighbor? 4. Wayne Chen encouraged those interested in taking “the next step of obedience” to “throw themselves at their local church.” What are some ways that you can serve and grow through your local church? 5. Wayne Chen challenged us to take a step of obedience either

Plenary #3 at CROSS20.    Reflection Questions: 1. When we ask for “Christ’s Kingdom to come,” what are we asking for? 2. Kevin DeYoung talked about how Christ’s kingdom is carried out through the church. Why is it critical for local churches to be central in missions? 3. How does this prayer for “Christ’s Kingdom to come and His will to be done” strengthen our faith? 4. In order to be a part of Christ’s Kingdom, it requires that you know, follow, and submit to Christ as the King. Have you done that with your life? If not, talk to a Christian friend or mentor about what is holding you back. 

Plenary #2 at CROSS20.     Reflection Questions: 1. John Piper pointed out that the Lord’s prayer is made up of petitions, not exclamations. How can that change the way we approach the Lord’s Prayer? 2. What does it mean to ask God to “Hallow” His name? What other words did John Piper use to replace or illuminate “hallow”? 3. The first commandment Jesus gives is to love God (Matt. 22:37-38) and the first line in the Lord’s prayer is that God’s name would be hallowed. How are these connected? 4. John Piper argued that while there really are two groups of three petitions in the Lord’s prayer, nevertheless he made the case that all five other petitions serve the first one. It is in a class by itself, he said. What is unique about that act of hallowing that puts this request in a class by itself? 5. Jesus pursued the hallowing of God’s name ultimately through suffering. How did Jesus’ suffering in the place of sinners make much of God?  6. John Piper argued that the pandemic is a time of affliction that need not

Plenary #1 at CROSS20.   Reflection Questions: 1. Trip Lee said, “If applause is what you really want, then that’s all you’ll ever get.” What are some good things in your life that you’ve tried to take credit for when in reality those good things are all from God? 2. Matthew 6:6 encourages us to pray in secret so that we might receive a reward rather than praying for the recognition of others. (1) Have you ever thought about getting alone with God to pray so that you might receive a reward? (2) What are practical steps you can take to pray more? 3. Trip Lee said, “Prayer is not us informing God but rather casting our cares on Him.” How can this reality encourage your prayer life? 4. How does Jesus give Christians freedom to pray imperfectly? 5. Would you be content doing good things for Jesus if no one else knew that you were doing them? And if not, who are you really serving? 6. Trip Lee said that one way to fight hypocrisy is to confess sin. Do you regularly confess your sin both to God and to other people?

Edgar Aponte serves as IMB’s vice president of mobilization. He previously served as director of Hispanic leadership development and professor of theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Prior to SEBTS, Aponte served as Minister Counselor at the ministry of foreign affairs in Washington, D.C., on behalf of his home nation, the Dominican Republic. In addition to undergraduate and graduate degrees in business, he earned a Master of Divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in Theological Studies from SEBTS.

This breakout session was delivered at CROSS19 in Louisville. Find more resources at CROSSforTheNations.org

Zane served as dean of the Billy Graham School at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary from 2011 until 2013, before returning to the IMB where he now serves as the Vice President of Training. He previously served 24 years in an Islamic context with the IMB as a church planter and regional leader in Central Asia. Pratt also has experience as a church planter and pastor in New England and as an Army Reserve chaplain. He is a co-author of Introduction to Global Missionsand a contributor to Theology and Practice of Mission, both published by B&H Academic. Zane holds a BA from Duke and an MDiv from Gordon-Conwell. He is married to Catherine with whom he has two grown children, Charlotte and Greg.

Catherine Pratt is a North Carolina native. She met her husband, Zane, at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary (GCTS). She served with Zane in Central Asia for twenty years. A short-term trip to the Muslim world with a student team from GCTS confirmed her prior calling to unreached people groups. Their two children were born in a mission hospital at the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains. Before leaving the States, Catherine worked in outreach family counseling. Leeann Stiles has been active in ministry for over thirty years in a variety of capacities from directing short-term mission trips to writing and leading Bible studies for women. She and her husband, Mack, spent 15 years in the United Arab Emirates, where they spearheaded a ministry to university students and were involved in church reform and church planting. They currently live in Northern Iraq where Mack pastors an international church. The Stiles have three grown sons, two lovely daughters-in-law and three grandchildren.

John Piper offers a biography on the missionary David Brainerd. This breakout was recorded at CROSS19.

David Platt led this breakout at CROSS19.

The final plenary session from CROSS19. David Platt serves as pastor at McLean Bible Church in Washington, D.C. He is the founder and president of Radical, a resource ministry that serves churches in accomplishing the mission of Christ. Books by David Platt include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me,and Counter Culture, as well as the following volumes in the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series: Exalting Jesus in Matthew, Exalting Jesus in James, Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus, and Exalting Jesus in Galatians. David Platt received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Along with his wife and four children, he lives in the Washington D.C. metro area.

The ninth plenary session from CROSS19. Trip Lee is a recording artist with Reach Records and a pastor at Cornerstone Church in Atlanta. Trip was born and raised in Dallas, TX. He has appeared on numerous independent and national Christian hip-hop releases and has released several solo projects of his own, including: If They Only Knew (2007), 20/20 (2008), Between Two Worlds (2010) and The Good Life (2013), and Rise (2014). Recently, he authored Rise—a book that calls Christian to participate in God’s great story. Trip resides in Atlanta with his wife and their two kids.

The eighth plenary session from CROSS19. John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church. He is the author of more than fifty books, and more than thirty years of his preaching and writing are available free of charge at desiringGod.org. John and his wife, Noël, have five children and twelve grandchildren.

The seventh plenary session from CROSS19. Conrad Mbewe worked as a Mining Engineer in Zambia before answering God’s call into the pastoral ministry. Widely regarded as the African Spurgeon, Conrad is faithfully and powerfully proclaiming the Word of God from Kabwata Baptist Church in Lusaka, Zambia, Africa, since 1987. As well as pastoring, he maintains a full itinerant preaching ministry in different countries around the world and edits the Reformation Zambia magazine. Conrad volunteers with the YMCA, providing vocational training to the many unemployed youths in his community. He is married to Felistas, and has been wonderfully blessed with three children plus two foster daughters.

The sixth plenary session from CROSS19. Pastor J.D. has led his church, the Summit Church, to make the gospel its central focus. The “gospel secret” is that all the things God wants for the Church, such as reckless joy, audacious faith, or radical generosity, are produced not by focusing on them but on what God has done for us. We become what God intends us to be when we focus less on what we are to do for him and more on what he has done for us. J.D. and his wife Veronica live in Raleigh and are raising four ridiculously cute kids: Kharis, Alethia, Ryah, and Adon. J.D. completed his Ph.D. in Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he is also a faculty member, writing on the correlations between early church presentations of the gospel and Islamic theology. Having lived serving among Muslims, he has a burden to see them, as well as every nation on earth, come to know and love the salvation of God in Christ.

Plenary Session 5 from CROSS19. Mack Stiles and his wife, Leeann, have traveled and lived many places before landing in Erbil, Iraq, in July 2017, including 15 years in Dubai, UAE. He’s the pastor of Erbil International Baptist Church.