BRENT STEPHENS | CONTENT GENERATOR

Jesus saved me when I was 21 years old.  I loved the Lord but didn’t have much to offer Him at the time so I cut church grass as I grew in my Bible studies. Eventually, I began to evangelize and God was very gracious to me.  To date, I have preached and ministered in 17 states, as well as Canada, Mexico, and South America.

During my evangelism ministry, I felt the need to return to school.  I have 2 degrees in the Bible and Pastoral Ministry.  The first is a Bachelor of Science from Lee University.  The second is a Master of Arts from Indiana Wesleyan.

While earning my undergraduate degree I met my wife, Sarah.  She is a true gift from God to me and we are still madly in love after 16 years of marriage.  We have 4 children together.  James David is my oldest son at age 14.  He is the smartest teenager I know.  Abbey is my first girl and 12 years old.  She will own Broadway one day.  Bryar is my second son and 9 years old.  He is my lion and will probably be an MMA fighter.  Hannah is 6 years old and my baby girl.  She is en route to becoming an artist of profound significance.

After settling down from my travels I served one local church as a youth pastor for 4 years, and 2 other churches as short-term interim senior pastor for a year each.  I also served a large denomination with state leadership for 3 years.

The real work of my life though is church planting and now pastoring.  I planted Four Points church in Acworth, GA in 2008.  We just moved into our first building in October of 2016.  In 2017 we helped plant our first church from out of Four Points.

It is at Four Points where God moved me into expositional preaching.  By God’s grace, I have taught through 25 books of the Bible, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse.  God’s Word has changed me.  It is this knowledge and grace that I want to share with the world.

 

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

The Reformation is one of my favorite periods of church history.  The gospel had been drowned out by the economic, social, and political motivations of the church.  The people were suffering under financial burdens and superstitions the church had placed on them.  This is when a few brave men stood up and said “enough!”  They didn’t create a new and better theology for the suffering people of God during this time.  Instead, the reform they brought was in returning to God’s Word.  We are governed by Scripture.  Where men fail, God’s Word is always true.  Thus, the gospel reentered the life of the church and people were freed from the bondages of man-made religion.

Although Martin Luther was only one of many reformers during this period, he is considered the father of the Reformation.  Although he was well-educated, he was crass and politically incorrect in his sermons and writings.  He spoke the truth of Scripture plainly and made no attempts to spare the feelings of those who heard him.  It was for these reasons that the academic world through the Catholic Humanist, Erasmus of Rotterdam, referred to Luther as a “barbarian.”

Barbarian Reformer is my attempt to help the church move forward, by taking us back to the Scripture.  I believe everything we need for Christian faith and life is found in the perfect revelation of God’s Word.  Scripture has the answer for all the difficult questions this current generation is asking.  We just need to be brave enough to faithfully preach what God has spoken.