About That Viral Substack Note
And a quote from a surprisingly enjoyable book about the history of Sundays, a lesson about the power of the walking together, and few other things for you.
For my last post each quarter, I’ll be experimenting this year with some different formats for sharing some things with you from the last three months. I have always enjoyed the weekly 3-2-1 emails from James Clear because it’s a simple format, and I have also enjoyed Austin Kleon’s weekly “10 Things Worth Sharing” emails.
As I’m getting started, I’m going to try my own adapted quarterly 3-2-1 format with you and I’d love to know what you think:
3 Quotes I Highlighted for You
2 Lessons I’m Learning Right Now
1 Sermon You Might Enjoy
In the rest of this email, there’s a surprisingly enjoyable book about the history of Sunday, a lesson on the power of walking together as a family, and a sermon that’s a follow-up to my most viral note on Susbtack—yet.
Three Quotes I Highlighted For You
I make a reading list every quarter and, as I finish up books, most of the time I make a book note with quotes, ideas, and action steps that I can reference later. Here are three quotes from three books I highlighted for you.
1) “Given their observance of the Lord’s resurrection on the first day of the week, and the manner they related that day with the first day of creation, Christians would soon point out that the first day of the week was also the eighth, and that therefore what they celebrated on that day, besides the resurrection of Jesus and the beginning of a new creation, was also the promise of the eighth, the beginning of eternity.”
-Justo L. Gonzalez, A Brief History of Sunday
I began reading about the history of Sunday in preparation for an upcoming teaching series I’m starting on Easter called Resurrecting Sunday. I didn’t expect this book to become one of my favorite books so far this year. While I know not everyone gets Sundays off work, if you do, you can thank the enduring influence of Christianity even in a secular age. The history of Sunday is fascinating.
2) “You must read. Read something new. Read something old. Reread something you’ve already read. Read a few pages of this one or that one. Linger when a passage strikes you. Read something critical. Read something beautiful. Read something dark. Read something you disagree with. Reflect. Read more. Repeat. Talk to the dead until you die.”
-Ryan Holiday, Wisdom Takes Work
I’ve been a fan of reading since high school, and I’m not sure what kind of husband, dad, pastor, writer, or leader I would be without books. As he also says in this book, one of the four books in his series on virtues, “There are many paths to wisdom, but nearly every one of them runs through books.” I agree. If you’re not sure where to start with reading, start with making a reading list of just three books this quarter.
3) “In my lifetime (I am 48) there has been a shift in the way in which evangelicals pray. When I was a student in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and then in Aberdeen, Scotland, one of the defining features of university Christian Unions was the prayer meeting. Evangelical student groups had two main gatherings each week – one focused on Bible teaching and the other dedicated completely to prayer. Whereas in Belfast about 50% of the members came to pray, in Aberdeen the figure was around 80%. But universally, coming together to pray was a reliable index of spiritual maturity and commitment. For most students this pattern was replicated in their local church, where Sunday’s teaching was accompanied by some kind of prayer gathering through the week. The vibrancy may have varied, but the understanding was that to be at the core of church life involved a commitment to prayer. That is no longer the case.”
-Gary Millar, Calling on the Name of the Lord: A Biblical Theology of Prayer
I try to regularly read something out of the New Studies in Biblical Theology series. I picked up this one on the recommendation of Pastor Jon Tyson at Church of the City. (I think!) Millar argues that prayer, at its core, is simply asking God to deliver on his promises, and he makes the case by tracking this thread from Genesis to Revelation. This quote comes from the “Afterword” and it left me convicted about the state of the church’s prayer meeting. We’ve been pursuing prayer as a church for the past two years, and I’ve seen our growth, but I also see the work we still need to do.
Two Lessons I’m Learning Right Now
On our staff team at our church, we like to say, “There are no wins and losses—just wins and lessons.” At the end of each quarter, I try to write down a few lessons I’m learning. Here are just two of those lessons.
1. Don’t skip from “build” to “scale.”
This is actually a lesson I’ve been learning all year. When you’re building something, the common maxim is: build, prove, scale. Whenever I build something, I tend to move immediately from building something to, “How can I get this into as many hands as possible?” In between those steps, though, you have to prove the idea. Since the fall, we’ve been doing that with Everyday Institute—a series of four courses designed to make it simple for people, ministries, and churches to accelerate discipleship every single day. We’ve been “proving” Everyday Institute at our church with a true pilot year, and it’s been a highlight for me. As we’ve been doing so, I’ve been able to test out some aspects of the experience that will make it even better as we give it away to other churches.
2. Families that walk together stay together.
Julie and I both love to walk, and we have discovered the physical and mental benefits that come with walking. (As I wrote in my Hear From God in Forty Emails or Less series: If you want to hear from God, sometimes you just need to take a walk.) As it’s getting warmer outside and our youngest is finally old enough to do some of the walking on his own, we’ve been trying to go on walks and local hikes together as a family of five. There’s plenty of complaining at times, but simply walking for an hour has made space for wonder, conversations, and the occasional sword fight with sticks that might otherwise not happen. Just make sure you bring snacks.
One Sermon You Can Listen to On Your Next Walk or Drive
If you didn’t know, I’m the Lead Pastor at Bellevue Christian Church in Pittsburgh, PA. Over the past few years, we’ve been teaching through an expository series called Highlights from Acts. We broke it into multiple seasons, with other series in-between, and we’re in Season 4 (Acts 18-21).
In February, I shared a note with a picture of my initial sermon preparation notes on Acts 18:24-28. It went a little viral (at least for me), and I was even asked to write an article about it for a British preaching magazine (look for that article in August). It’s the (mostly) analog first step in the sermon-writing process that involves simply sitting with the teaching text, a pen, and the Holy Spirit for 60-90 minutes.
Here’s the sermon those notes turned into by Sunday. It’s all about how the next generation of believers needs more coaches like Aquila and Priscilla and less critics. (You can also check it out on Spotify or Apple podcasts.)
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I’m Austin Gohn, and I want to say thanks for subscribing.
Next quarter, I’ll be writing about my journey this past year reading through the Gospel of Mark with my eight-year-old and some of what I’ve learned from nearly fifteen years of practicing Sabbath.
I’d love to hear from you: What would you love me to write about?
P.S. I’ll also be releasing the next, 100% free course from Everyday Institute in April. To be the first to get access to it as well as a list of 21 Books That Will Accelerate Discipleship, subscribe here.