... that stuff about being overfed as Christians - Issue #21

And still needing more

Hey, friends! Brothers and sisters in Christ!

I hope your 2026 has started out great and continues that way.

Jules and I were talking this morning about the words we sometimes use as Christians and how we often assume everyone knows what we mean.

This could be your average Joe brother or sister in Christ; it could be a preacher or evangelist; and it could even be a podcaster.

We seem to assume everyone knows everything we know when in truth, they may have questions, don’t quite understand, and are embarrassed to ask because they think everyone else already knows. And the funny thing is, I’d be willing to bet those people don’t know either! That leads to a crowd full of people hanging on your every word while hoping you’ll explain your last one.

I’ve lived all over the place, and I’ve held so many jobs it’s ridiculous. I was a military cop. I’ve managed security for multiple high-end jewelry stores, I’ve trained people on sales and customer service at call centers in foreign countries, I was an editorial assistant for an international living-style website, I ran my own website for expats considering living overseas, I taught a variety of high school classes, and I now edit and create training videos for a software company. And I’m an author.

Many times, I’ve wondered why God has opened such a variety of doors for me. Why have I had such a hodgepodge of work experience? I always figured it was just survival mode, a lot of it taking place when I lived in a foreign country and was just trying to get by.

It was this morning during our conversation that I realized the one thing all those jobs had in common was the need to explain things to people. To break down information into easily understandable fragments.

Because of that, I’m also able to recognize when others are assuming everyone knows what he or she is talking about. Why? Because I’m in that crowd of “everyone,” and half the time I know I’m missing some of the info needed to digest the message. Sometimes, when people speak or preach or even write, they do so in a way that depends on everyone in the room knowing what they know. When they don’t, it becomes the seed falling on rocky places, where there isn’t much soil.

I’m pretty sure that’s not what Jesus meant when he told the parable of the sower. We can’t scatter seed so far and wide that people can’t catch it and plant it in good soil.

Does that make sense?

How often do we hear, as Christians, something along the lines of, “We just need to be out there preaching the Gospel?”

I’d be willing to bet a good majority of Christians can’t easily explain the Gospel. What is it? So many people have gone to church most of their lives and probably don’t really know.

Or we hear, “You need to repent of your sins and…”

Great, but what IS repentance?

“Just pray on it. All you have to do is pray on it.”

How do you pray? What is prayer? What do you mean, just pray on it? How do I do that?

“God is holy. This place is holy.”

What does holy mean?

“Speak to God in the secret place.”

What is a secret place?

“You need to praise and worship.”

Well, what’s the difference? Are they the same thing? How do I praise and how do I worship?

Relationship with God is the most important thing. We need to be teaching and preaching about that. But we also need to break down the basics sometimes. Talk about repentance of sin, but go a step further and explain what that means.

You’re probably thinking, “Great, Chris. You’ve mentioned a lot here. Are you going to explain it now? Practice what you preach!”

And you’re right. However, the point of this newsletter isn’t to answer every question one might have. And in all honesty, I don’t know all the answers. I know many others don’t either, so maybe I’ll tackle some of these in future newsletters. The point here is to shed some light on the fact that there is a lot we as Christians don’t know that many of you who’ve studied a long time might have assumed we know.

Before we can grasp the whole of one concept, we’ve piled on eight more concepts. We’re buried in Scripture, overfed with information, while we’re still trying to wrap our heads around one specific word we don’t quite understand.

I hate to say dumb it down lol. But maybe add a refresher, give a little extra info, when you’re preaching. Don’t assume the audience is on the same page. They might be a whole chapter behind.

We need to feed our Christian brothers and sisters morsels of our faith but not stuff them to the point they can’t enjoy the meal.

Preach AND teach. Don’t expect that our ancestors passed down all the Christian lingo.

Don’t leave your parishioners to seek Wikipedia for the answers.

I’ll try to get better at this myself and maybe come up with a series of newsletter posts that explain some of these concepts or even a list of Christian vocabulary we should know.

My question for this newsletter is…

Is there something always talked about with your Christian friends that you don’t understand? Is there any subject or word you just don’t get? Is there something you feel like you’re missing or that just wasn’t quite explained to you? Drop it in the comments and maybe I can try to tackle it in a future issue.

If you want to learn more about the Bible and need a little extra guidance, one of my professors often uses videos from The Bible Project alongside his lectures. There’s a video for nearly every book of the Bible. I think they’re all on YouTube, and there’s a Bible Project app too. I downloaded the app but haven’t really used it yet.

Here’s a sample of what they do. I’ve always liked the book of Esther, so here’s their video on that:

… that stuff about writing

I’m moving along with my rewrite of Discovering Ivory in a Charcoal Cave: A Christian Poetic Journey to Beat Depression. Wofford Lee Jones is working on the cover right now. Most of the book will remain the same, but I added two chapters and rearranged the chapters.

For anyone not familiar with the book, it’s a chapter book, a novella of sorts, with each chapter written out in poetic form. I don’t have a release date right now, but I might post a few chapters here on Substack just to let people try it out.

With my shoulder surgery looming (January 21st) and what I’m told will be a pretty lengthy recovery time, I’m not sure how much writing I’ll do, but I’m ALWAYS writing something, so I can’t imagine I’ll be down for long.

… that stuff about a song

I was thinking about this post when I drove Lil’ Bit to her Wednesday evening youth ministry get-together. I wasn’t sure what song to choose for this newsletter issue until Anxiety by I Needed This Dave came on. This guy has a great voice, and I was thinking how anxiety may actually come as a result of thinking you don’t know enough to walk in the ways of Jesus. When you hear other church members use words you feel you should already know or the preacher speaks on a topic and you feel lost, it might lead to a bit of anxiety, right? So, here’s Anxiety by I Needed This Dave.

As always, thank you so much for reading, and I look forward to seeing you again in the next issue. If you haven’t already subscribed, please consider clicking on the button below. And I always appreciate a share, too.

Chris (CM Powers)