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Jon Goodwin

Love God, Love Others…Love Other Stuff

Discernment is a word that has created some confusion in my life.  Not because I don’t know what it means but rather because of its absence.  I have known many who I would view as wise discerning people that lose all semblance of that definition when it comes to politics.  If I might be frank, I would also add that I have lost a ton of respect for people that I once viewed as discerning in the last few years.  

What is the reason for this?  My belief won’t sit well with many but as a pastor and someone who has spent my entire life in and around Christian organizations and Christian people it is my belief that a large portion of Christendom does not have a biblical world view.  Before you get mad at me, please understand that I am not alone in that perspective.  In fact, the Barna Group conducted research and concluded that only 17% of practicing Christians have a biblical worldview.  Many have a world view that is by in large shaped by opinions that they have sprinkled a little Bible on top.  It is my belief that for many their discipleship and formation has been crafted not by the Word of God but by partisan party politics and by their cable news channel of choice. It is my belief that many do not find their identity in Christ as much as they find their identity in a man-made system.  

The idea that we are aliens and strangers and that this world is not our home seems have gotten lost in 2025 American Christianity and the reason for this is because many would define themselves as American Christians rather than simply Christian or Christ follower.  Many of these folks loudly speak of loving God and country when the Word of God clearly speaks not of loving God and country but rather of loving God and neighbor.  These are two wildly different things.  And wildly different because my neighbors and I have a much different view of what our country is supposed to look like.  

If Jesus was serious of what He spoke of in Matthew 22 then loving God is to be our primary objective, loving our neighbor is a close second, and everything else is pretty far down the list.  As a person who claims to be a Christ follower, when my politics grant me permission to mistreat those I disagree with, this is a red flag that my allegiance to country has surpassed my allegiance to my Savior.  When this happens, I have violated the commandment, “You shall have no other God’s before me.”

When loving country outweighs loving neighbor, this is where you find republicans sitting in the diner verbally trashing the democrats or the democrats in the coffee shop verbally trashing the republicans.  When loving country outweighs loving neighbor, talking points become signs placed in front yards and neighbors with different perspectives become enemies.  Why is that?  Because when idols are attacked, idolators must defend them.  

On the flip side, when love of neighbor takes precedence over love of country, and a country abuses its citizens, this is when we are to rise up.  The Bible is littered with references about caring for those who are most vulnerable amongst us. 

I 100% recognize that what I am writing here is controversial in many circles and none more so than the circle I live in.  Over the past few years, I have had people that I thought were in my circle turn on me because they disagreed with something I said about politics or simply had a different perspective than they.  They allowed views of country to ruin a friendship.  In several of those cases, I was stunned.  

I have long been concerned that those who claim Christian as their banner have been way more vocal about what they were against than what they were for.  This should never be.  Our hearts must be positioned towards people.  When this idea holds a proper place in our hearts it is here that we find common ground.  It is here that people feel loved, valued, and safe.  You and I should not have to agree on much for us to be able to treat one another with dignity and kindness.  After all, it is at the core of our belief system…or is it?

That being said, I love America.  I am thankful to be an American.  Despite her flaws, I still believe she is a great nation, and I am blessed to be here.  My goal, make America a little better everyday by serving and loving my fellow man in the name of Jesus.  My God didn’t call me to change the world, but I do believe when I live out His Word, He can change someone’s else world.  So, I will keep living, loving, and serving.  

Jon Goodwin

Put Down The Sword

Like many of you, I am tired of the violence.  I am tired of the vengeance.  I am tired of the weaponization of Facebook posts.  I am tired of the weaponization of Twitter/X posts.  I am tired.  I am tired of the weaponization of words.  We live in a world that seems to love the destruction of enemies.  We witness public celebration when an enemy falls.  As if, the sermon on the mount’s teachings is only to be followed when it is convenient.  The idea of turning the other cheek and loving one’s enemy was not just countercultural when Jesus presented this teaching so many years ago, but it is countercultural today.

If Christ was here, I am sure He would say to many of His followers, “put down your sword”, just as He did to Peter. He would then offer to heal those that sword wielding Christians had wounded. 

The narrative of the arrest of Jesus is remarkable in several different areas.  I would like to highlight Peter’s sword fight and Jesus’ work of healing.  The moment Jesus was arrested, Peter started swinging a sword.  He did not even begin to consider that the bad stuff happening was instigated by divine providence.  God the Father set the timing and the plan into motion before the beginning of time.  Perhaps, Peter did not consider this because he never asked.  If he had asked Jesus, what should I do?  Jesus would have replied, nothing or perhaps, pray, and stay awake while you do.  

But Peter never asked Jesus for directives, rather, he just started swinging his sword.  While he believed that he was defending Jesus, he was harming those Christ came to save.  He was stepping in front of an eternal plan that was written out in the very throne room of God Himself and Jesus said, “Peter, put down your sword.”

When we are quick to do battle and slow to consider that perhaps some hardship is necessary for the eternal plan to unfold, we are only revealing that we have a very limited perspective.  We are revealing the biblical truth that “God’s ways are higher than our ways” (Isaiah 55.8-9).  How funny it is that we often regurgitate this truth as though it was merely a motivational saying but at the first sign of hardship, we grab our swords and start lopping ears off.

And that’s exactly what Peter did.  He busted out his trusty sword and started swinging.  Thankfully his aim was a bit off.  Still, he connected.  His sword lopped the ear off a man who was part of Jesus’ arrest party.  A man whom we are told was the servant of the temple guard.  Peter wildly swung the sword, Jesus intervened, and then Jesus picked up the dismembered ear and healed a man who was there to help arrest Jesus.  Jesus healed His enemy and chastised His follower for harming His enemy.  Let that sink in, Jesus healed His enemy and chastised His follower for harming His enemy.  

This should not surprise us if we are students of our Savior.  We must remember that on Palm Sunday, Jesus did not come riding into Jerusalem on a war horse as a conquering hero.  No!  He came riding in on donkey as a symbol of peace.  After all, Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

If that is true, that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and it is also true we are His disciples, then peace should be the overflow of our hearts and lives as disciples of the Prince of Peace.  With this final thought in mind, two Scriptures come to mind, Luke 6.45 and Matthew 5.9.  Luke 6.45 says, that your words, “flow from the abundance of the heart” and Matthew 5.9 says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.”  Now I don’t know about you, but I want to bare the title, “son of God” and I also want the overflow of my heart to look like the overflow of the heart of Jesus.  That will only happen when I put down the sword and make it my mission, like Christ, to be in the business of healing rather than harming.  Friend and foe alike, both need more Jesus and less swords.  

Jon Goodwin

What the presidential election reveals about the evangelical church.

***Note: before you begin reading, please recognize that this is not an endorsement of a political party or a slam on the church.  Rather it is a simple exercise that reveals through statistics that the church is in crisis.  The good news is this; the church does not need to be in crisis.  There is hope!

A few weeks ago, CBS news conducted a poll amongst Republicans about the upcoming presidential election.  If you are into that type of thing it was quite interesting and informative.  As I read it, I was immediately concerned.  Sadly, I was not surprised.

The poll had all sorts of great info and asked many great questions of those who would most likely be voting for Trump.  What concerned me was not that people would vote for Trump but rather the why behind it.  Of the likely Trump voters 51% of them stated that the reason they would vote for Trump was because “he makes liberals angry.”  51%!

What we know is this, 82% of white evangelicals supported Trump in the previous election.  Suppose you are part of that type of church.  Suppose that your church consists of 100 white evangelicals who are registered voters.  Simple math tells us that 82% of them would have supported Trump at the last election.  If we break it down further and look at 51% of the 82, we will find that roughly 42 people out of 100 in a white evangelical church support their president of choice because he makes liberals angry.  On a given Sunday, a white evangelical church in America statistically has a congregation where 42% of its congregants support the idea of making liberals angry.

Why this should concern us? Simply put, four out of ten people who are white evangelicals Christians have allowed their identity politics to be more formative in how they interact with the world than the teachings of Jesus. This perspective is seemingly ok with the Let’s Go Brandon and F*** Joe Biden flags that I have to drive by every day on my way to my office at the church I serve in. This flawed thinking is serving as a stumbling block that effectively shuts down one’s ability to reach people for Jesus.

At the end of the day I do not care who one votes for.  Scripture doesn’t give that directive.  As a pastor, that not my job.  But Scripture does tell me how to view people and how to interact with people.  So, whether you label yourself as a liberal or a conservative, how you carry yourself matters. My point is not to convince you on how to vote or what label to wear.  My concern is the label of Jesus follower seems to have been covered up by a label that says Republican or Democrat by a large amount of people.  Being like Jesus has become less important than winning for a large portion of Christendom in American.

When we rejoice when others who are opponents are “put in their place”, we are cheapening their value.  Scripture is pretty clear when it says, “Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice.” (Proverbs 24.17) When we rejoice over people being put in their place, we don’t just allow ourselves to cheapen the value they possess, we also ignore the teachings of Christ in the sermon on the mount.  Matthew 5 might as well get ripped from the pages of Scripture.  Simply put, you cannot support someone for the purpose of ticking off those who hold different perspectives as you and represent Jesus well. 

This type of perspective will come out and it does.  In the past six years or so I have heard more defamatory comments about political opponents than I have ever heard in my life and most of them are from Christians.  This is very revealing of where one stores up their treasures.  It reveals very clearly what ones view of the kingdom is. 

To the Christian, let me ask you a few questions.  If you fly a flag that says “Let’s Go Brandon” in front of your house, have a “Don’t blame me, I voted for Trump” bumper sticker on your car, and use the word Dumbocrats whenever you talk politics on social media, do you honestly think your neighbor who voted democrat who doesn’t know Jesus will ever want to know your Jesus?  The answer is no.  You are hindering your effectiveness in the kingdom’s work when you operate this way. 

At the end of the day, the call of every believer is to love God and love their neighbor and these loves are inseparable.  Allow me close with a question.  When it come to the whole loving your neighbor thing, how would your neighbor say you are doing?

Jon Goodwin

Why a blog? – If I Am Honest…

If I am honest, I must admit, I am a person of immense frustration…

We live in days where Christianity has been rocked by scandals of epic proportions.  We have stood as witness as many Christian leaders have had their dark secrets come to light.  We have watched Churches fight over masking and vaccines.  We have seen friendships lost due to politics.  We have witnessed racial unrest rock our nation.  We have seen asylum seekers used as political pawns.  We have shooting after shooting happen in our communities. We have watched nations get invaded and even fought about that.  The list is long and grows longer each and every day.

The dialogue of black vs. white divides.

The dialogue of Republican vs. Democrat divides.

The dialogue of Immigrant vs. Anti-Immigrant divides.

The unity that our country possessed in the days following September 11, 2001 now seems to be nothing more than a memory and has been replaced with division.

Division does not even seem to be a strong enough word.  People are not merely divided from those they disagree with.  They are repulsed.  They devalue and dehumanize those with they disagree with.

So why am I frustrated?  Christians are often no better.  By and large much of Christendom in America is a victim of their discipleship.  Many have been discipled by political parties, politicians, and cable news shows.  Those who think alike are often drawn to one another.  In turn, our churches can quickly turn into echo chambers of this flawed discipleship.  This results in orthopraxy that is not in line with our orthodoxy because Scripture quickly begins to be seen through the lens one’s discipleship and when ones discipleship is on something besides Scripture, ones view of Scripture will always be flawed.

We live in a world that seeks validation more than it does conviction.  When this becomes the model of the church, the church is in trouble.  Every Sunday, I pray that my sermon will encourage and convict.  What people don’t know is that I am praying that as much for me as I am for them.

I am beginning to ramble so I will wrap it.  This blog exists to do the following: Provide a place where we can safely wrestle through tough topics.  Provide a place to discuss current events and issues in a way that demonstrates how to think biblically.  Nothing will be off the table.  Whether it be  race, sexuality, immigration, service, politics, or religion we must be able to dialogue in a manner that infuses dignity back into humanity.

My name is Jon Goodwin. I am frustrated but I am incredibly hopeful. My hope is that you will join me and interact with me as we journey together through this messy world we call home. My hope is that your life will be encouraged and challenged and that as you interact with the world that you would do so through the methodology of Compassionate Engagement.