jmcconnell@myministrymission.com

In this first episode of Read It Again, I take on the most quoted, most printed verse in modern Christianity: Jeremiah 29:11. It is on coffee mugs, wall prints, and graduation cards everywhere, but almost nobody has read the verse before it or after it. I trace the letter back to where it actually started, a prophet writing to a people who had just watched their city fall and their temple burn, exiled hundreds of miles from everything they knew. What God tells them to do next is not what you would expect, and it changes everything about how verse [...]

In this episode, I sit down with Alex Lopez, a former high school teacher, Maxwell Leadership Certified Coach, and author of A Father's Forge, a 365-day devotional system built to help fathers raise strong sons. Alex's journey started with a single question at a leadership conference: if you've read every personal development book on the shelf, why haven't you read the Bible? That question sparked a daily devotional habit now approaching 1,000 days and eventually produced a book grounded in six biblical pillars: identity, discipline, character, strength, leadership, and legacy. We dig into what Proverbs 22:6 and Deuteronomy 6 actually [...]

Have you ever heard someone drop the phrase "seven deadly sins" and just assumed it was straight from Scripture? In this episode, I unpack the full story behind both the seven deadly sins and the seven virtues -- where they actually came from, who wrote them, and how they hold up against the Bible. We go sin by sin and virtue by virtue, testing each against passages from Galatians 5, Proverbs 6, Colossians 3, and more. My goal is not to tear these lists down but to help you hold them rightly, as a theologically useful tool that serves Scripture [...]

In this episode, I take on something that's quietly reshaping churches across the country: political division in the pew. I look at why political identity has fused with religious identity for so many believers, what the research reveals about pastors losing credibility and leaving ministry over this exact issue, and what real church splits are costing congregations right now. Then I turn to Scripture, walking through Ephesians 4:3 and Paul's call to "make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit," to show that unity in Christ was never meant to require agreement on every political question. If you've [...]

Have you ever read your Bible, understood it, and still felt nothing change in your life? I sat down with Reverend Kimberly Braxton, a speaker, teacher, and ordained minister based in Boston, who has lived that question from the inside out. We talk about what happens when ministry becomes a performance, when seminary knowledge crowds out the Holy Spirit, and why pride is so much harder to see in yourself than you think. Rev. Kim opens up about her own journey through burnout, backsliding, and the moment God broke through everything she had built up, using just a single verse [...]

In this episode, I sit down with Rebekah Van Natta, author of The Growing Christian: Two Paths of the Christian Belief, to explore a question that stops a lot of believers in their tracks: what is the difference between believing in God and truly following him? Rebekah grew up in church, never doubted God's existence, and still found herself living almost entirely on her own terms. Her turning point wasn't dramatic. It was a quiet moment of surrender that began with a conviction about her workout playlist and led to a complete identity shift. We talk about grief, the cost [...]

In this episode, I take on one of the most heated debates inside the church — young earth creationism versus old earth creationism — and try to do something that does not happen nearly enough: lay out both positions fairly. I walk through what each view actually claims, survey where the major Christian denominations land, and then answer the question that really matters. Does what you believe about the age of the earth affect your salvation? Drawing from 1 Corinthians 15:3–4, Romans 10:9, and Ephesians 2:8–9, the answer is clear. And it might just change how you hold this conversation [...]

In this episode, I tackle one of the stranger cultural conversations of our time: what should Christians think about UAPs and the question of alien life? With the government confirming things in our airspace that nobody can explain, and Christians all over the map on what it means, I thought it was time to stop avoiding it. I look at what the government has actually confirmed, honestly examine whether UAPs could be demonic, and sit with what Scripture does and does not say about life beyond Earth. Most importantly, I want to leave you with three things: wonder, discernment, and [...]

Why are so many people deeply unhappy, even when they have everything they ever wanted? In this episode, I explore what the research is telling us about America's growing unhappiness crisis, what Solomon discovered after running the most ambitious experiment in human satisfaction ever attempted, and what Jesus offered a thirsty woman at a well in Samaria that changed everything. Drawing on Ecclesiastes, Isaiah 55, and John 4, I unpack why the things we chase keep leaving us empty, and what it actually looks like to find the living water Jesus promised. If you have ever felt that restless ache [...]

America was founded on prayer, but somewhere between 1776 and today, the Church seems to have quietly set that down. In this episode, I look at what the founders actually did before every major act of the founding, what Scripture says about interceding for the nation you live in, and why passages like Daniel 9, Jeremiah 29:7, and 2 Chronicles 7:14 are more relevant right now than most of us realize. I also walk through what that famous verse from 2 Chronicles really means in context, because the context changes everything. If you've ever felt like America is slipping and [...]