With the civil unrest,  heightened political climate, changing American culture, and the inability to actually go door-to-door witnessing due to COVID-19, my wife and I decided to start a podcast with the sole purpose of sharing the gospel by addressing the many obstacles preventing others from seeing the cross of Jesus clearly.

In Acts 2, Peter preached to the Jews and presented to them Jesus Christ the Messiah. This was because the Jews already knew about God the creator, sin, and sin’s consequences. The barrier that needed to be removed was whether Jesus was the Messiah. Contrast that with Acts 17, where Paul preached to the Athenians and defended the faith by proving that the unknown God they ignorantly worshiped was the creator of the world.

Notice that while the message of the gospel did not change, the approach did. This was because of the cultural differences between the Jews and Greeks. Once upon a time, the culture in the United States was more like that of Acts chapter 2. However, the culture has changed, and it now looks more and more like that of the Greeks in Acts 17. Many Christians, however, are still presenting the gospel like they are preaching to an Acts 2 audience. In this highly unchurched and ungodly society, our approach needs to change to a more apologetics-based one. I like what one Christian apologist has to say about the issue when he said “The apologetic argument doesn’t save people, but it certainly clears the obstacles so they can take a direct look at the Cross of Christ.”

The Removing Barriers Podcast stated goal is “we are attempting to remove barriers so that we all can have a clear view of the cross.” In the podcast, we address issues that a lot of folks prefer to leave to the privacy of their home. Yet, many of these issues are preventing the unsaved from seeing the cross clearly, while “woke Christians” wrongfully conflate social justice with the gospel. Our prayer is that through our efforts the Lord may be glorified, and lost souls would turn to him.