⏱️ Estimated Reading Time: 2 min read
Welcome to the 131st episode of Equipping You in Grace. On today’s episode, Dave Jenkins talks with Dayton Hartman about his book Church History for Modern Ministry: Why Our Pastor Matters for Everything We Do (Lexham Press, 2016).
What you’ll hear in this episode
- The danger of chronological snobbery and how Christians engage in it today.
- Why Christians should study church history.
- How the creeds serve as orthodox guardrails for theologians and pastors.
- The difference between creeds, confessions, and catechisms.
- How the early church’s values of gospel, community, and mission-shaped Dayton’s local church.
- The importance of mentorship in ministry.
- How preachers and teachers of the Word should address the presuppositions of our hearers and help shape their worldview with Scripture.
- Why contextualization and apologetics in preaching are so important to the Christian life and ministry.
- Why Christians should recover the vision of Abraham Kuyper and others on cultural engagement.
- How pastors can help Christians navigate the present and help them prepare for the future.
- Dayton’s recommended list to begin to study church history.
- Asking good questions from sound theological convictions.
- The art of asking good questions and church history.
- Studying Church History and humility.
About the Guest
Dayton Hartman is lead pastor at Redeemer Church in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. He has a Ph.D. in church and dogma history from North West University (South Africa), and serves as an adjunct professor at both Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and Columbia International University. He is the author of Church History for Modern Ministry: Why Our Past Matters for Everything We Do. Learn more at daytonhartman.com.
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Thanks for listening to this episode of Equipping You in Grace!
Dave Jenkins is happily married to his wife, Sarah, and lives in beautiful Southern Oregon. He is a writer, editor, and speaker who loves Christ, His people, the Church, and sound theology.
Dave serves as the Executive Director of Servants of Grace Ministries and the Executive Editor of Theology for Life Magazine. He is the Host and Producer of the Equipping You in Grace Podcast and a contributor to and producer of Contending for the Word.
He is the author of The War of Worldviews: Truth, Lies, and the Battle for the Christian Mind (Theology for Life, 2026), Contentment: The Journey of a Lifetime (Theology for Life, 2024), The Word Matters: Defending Biblical Authority Against the Spirit of the Age (G3 Press, 2022), and The Word Explored: The Problem of Biblical Illiteracy and What To Do About It (House to House, 2021).
You can connect with Dave on Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, YouTube, or subscribe to his newsletter.
When he is not engaged in ministry work, Dave enjoys spending time with his wife, going to movies, sharing a meal at a favorite restaurant, or playing a round of golf with friends. He is also a voracious reader, particularly of Reformed theology and the Puritans, and is often found working through a stack of new books from a wide range of Christian publishers.
Dave earned his M.A.R. and M.Div. from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.
