The Prodigal Sons

Wherever you stand with God,

there's a seat here for you.

A weekly Bible study for men, with Glenn and Theo.
Wednesdays, 6 to 7 pm Eastern, on Zoom.

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Two people walking along a hill ridge against a bright evening sky

Who we are

Why we're the Prodigal Sons

Both of us have been the son who walked away. Both of us came home.

We've known each other since we were eighteen. We started out as rivals. We ended up prayer partners, then brothers.

Somewhere in the middle, life took both of us apart in different ways. One of us lost a marriage. One of us ended up in treatment. Each time, the other one showed up.

Now God is all we talk about, so we started a Bible study to have somewhere to put it. We're not pastors. We're not on the same journey, and we never were. But walking next to each other has made both of us stronger. If you're looking for other people on their journey, we're willing to walk alongside you for a while.

Detroit skyline at night with the Renaissance Center lit, seen across the river

The Spirit of Detroit statue in front of the city seal

Glenn

Raised in Detroit

I went my own way, and I thought my ego was my strength. It took me a long time to see it was fear, and longer to admit I was tired of carrying it and couldn't put it down by myself. I'd given up expecting God to care. Then one day I looked up and asked myself why I was still sitting in the pigsty, and I found out my Father had been looking down the road the whole time. That undid me. A happy consequence: I'm closer to my earthly father now too. I'm his son, and I'm also a man he can talk to. I feel like I've been handed another shot at life, and I can't keep that to myself.

A row of brownstone stoops on a New York street

Lower Manhattan from the air with the Twin Towers

Theo

Raised in New York

I've been both sons in that story. The one who stayed in the house and did everything right, and the one who walked away. The walking-away years were the loneliest of my life, and most of that loneliness I chose. Then I came to my senses, the way the story says, and realized I have a Father who cares about me and had never stopped. I still can't say that without feeling it. It changed how I see my own dad too. I'm not here to tell anybody what to do. I'm here because I know what it feels like when God shows up, and I'd want somebody to tell me.

Luke 15

The story of the prodigal son

This is a story Jesus told. It's about all of us, and how much He wants to save us. If you don't know it, here's the whole thing in four and a half minutes.

Video by BibleProject. Watch on YouTube

Wednesdays, 6 to 7 pm Eastern

The hour

Pull up a chair. Same Zoom link every week.

Check-in. How everybody is really doing this week.10 min
Open floor. Questions, especially the ones you're not sure you're allowed to ask.10 min
The study. Right now we're walking through the prodigal sons of the Bible. There's more than one.25 min
Talk it out. Where it landed, and what we're taking with us.12 min
Close. Prayer, and see you next Wednesday.3 min

Coffee cups and a sugar jar on a worn wooden kitchen table

How we do things

Not sure? Say so. Talking it out is how you find out what you think.
No debates. Different view? Let it ride. Nobody needs to win.
No recruiting. We're not here to sign you up for a church. That's between you and God.
Camera on if you can. Off is fine. Put your name on the screen so we know who's talking.
We keep it clean. No cursing, no crude talk, out of respect for what we're doing. Not because we've got it beat (we don't), but because we're trying to be better, and this is a good place to practice.
Grown men, 18 and up. Bring your brother, your neighbor, your boy from work.

Where our hearts are

What we believe

This isn't dogma. It's where our hearts are, and it's still growing. Tap any line to read more.

Jesus came to save us.

That's what the prodigal son story is about, and it's the lens we read everything else through: God is trying to bring us home.

The Bible is our authority, and we do the work to understand it.

It wasn't written in English or for Western ears, so we dig into the history and the situation around a passage. We've found that the deeper you go, the clearer God's heart gets.

God's love comes first. Relationship comes next. Obedience follows.

Not the other way around. We're not here to get the rules right in order to be saved. We're here to know who He is. Surrender, obedience, and love turn out to be the whole thing.

God tests our convictions.

He lets us find out what we actually believe, and it's not about being perfect. If we find ourselves struggling, we can ask Him to help us with our convictions too. God is fair, and He gives us a choice: accept Him for real and He helps you for real. Walk away and He lets you deal with it, and still offers a way back.

A godly man relies on God.

Principled, yes, and he shows up. But mostly he knows he can't do it on his own and doesn't try to. He's a vessel God can use, not a man running his own show.

If you're on a road you don't want, you can choose another one.

That's the pigsty moment. Looking up, and deciding to come home.

Doubt is allowed. Ask the question.

Especially the unpopular one, and especially the one you're actually dealing with. You're probably not the only man in the room thinking it, and the only way to find out is to say it out loud. Questions aren't a lack of faith. They're usually how faith gets built.

We grew up Seventh-day Adventist, and we've lived outside the church too.

That family shaped how we read Scripture, and we're grateful for it. We've also been out there, and we know that not everything outside church culture is wrong, and not everything inside it is right. If you're coming from a secular place, we understand it. We've been there.

Come home.

"While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and ran to him." Luke 15:20

We'll walk alongside you for a while. The light's on.

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Meeting ID 821 4058 5956 · Passcode 379092
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