chad bird

096: Chad Bird on His Journey from a Truck Driver to Theology Writer, Why Some People See Jesus As An Intern, and What Jacob can Teach Us About Discipleship

Chad Bird is a Scholar in Residence at 1517 Publishing. He has served as a pastor, professor, and guest lecturer in Old Testament and Hebrew. He holds master’s degrees from Concordia Theological Seminary and Hebrew Union College. He is also the author of several books, including The Christ Key & Limping with God. To learn more about the podcast or access the show notes, visit www.redletterpodcast.com.

     

Today’s episode is brought to you by Children’s HopeChest. Being a church partner with HopeChest is an amazing two-way transformational experience for your whole church. Not only do you and your church get the joy of knowing you are making a difference, but you also get to experience the love of a community and learn from their community through multiple mission trips to your community overseas.

HopeChest’s model gets into a community, they establish a multi-year partnership, and then build up local leaders in the areas they work with. They develop community plans with clear exit strategies, focusing on empowerment of the local people, not a forever dependence on those of us who want to help. It truly is the “helping without hurting” model that I know as a pastor I looked for a long time in my global mission work. In my mind, they check all the right boxes.

Take a first step and get to know this organization more by going on a vision trip. They are getting ready for some summer vision trips to Guatemala, Uganda, and Ethiopia. You can find out about them and sign up at www.hopechest.org/lutheran. Thanks again to HopeChest for being our Season 8 Sponsor.

Resources mentioned in the episode

1517.org

Limping With God by Chad Bird

The Christ Key: Unlocking the Centrality of Christ in the Old Testament by Chad Bird

Key insights from the episode: 

The Psalms saved my life. – Chad Bird

In our limping, we learn how to steward our pain. – Chad Bird

Discipleship is all about following in the footsteps of our Lord. – Chad Bird

When you’re with Jesus, you’re always safe. – Chad Bird

Imagine all the heroes of the Bible as your next-door neighbors. – Chad Bird

Chad Bird’s Challenge: Pick a short book of the Bible and read or listen to it every day this week. (Bonus challenge: strike up a conversation about Jesus!)

Are you following Jesus? 

Many want to be greater followers of Jesus but don’t know how. We extensively studied everything Jesus commanded of us and located five key targets to which Jesus invited His followers. The five targets are Being, Forgiving, Serving, Giving, and Going.

In partnership with LifeWay Research, we created a Red Letter Challenge Assessment that will measure you according to these five targets. And the best news of all: it’s free! You will get results back immediately and be presented with the next steps to help you become an even greater follower of Jesus.

You can take the FREE Red Letter Challenge Assessment here.

Watch the entire season for free: 

We’ll be uploading every episode of The Red Letter Disciple on our YouTube Channel. If you aren’t subscribed already, you can do so here.

Leave a Reply

Share This:

New Webinar March 31 2025!

Discover the 40-day, Jesus-centered Giving Challenge to ignite generous giving in your church. Join our webinar on Monday, March 31st, Noon-1PM CT to learn practical strategies for inspiring joyful, pressure-free giving.

Red Letter Living Logo
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.