Naseem Khalili joins David Tieche for a fun and lively discussion about singleness, desire and what to do when life doesn’t work out like you’d dreamed. We talk about how unfulfilled longings can lead to deep disappointment with life - and even with God. We talk about how the Psalms of Lament can help pave the way for healing. And Naseem shares som…

Being single in a world that idolizes romantic love - and often sends messages that life really only begins once you’ve met your soulmate - can often make navigating this season of life challenging. And the fact is, whether you’re single or not - having unmet or unrealizead dreams and desires is painful. And the longer you’re in longing, the more d…

Our guest, Joshua Ryan Butler, joins David Tieche for a frank and pointed discussion about sex and gender featuring questions from our congregation. If the Creation story shows how the pairing of male and female (marriage) reflects the intended whole of Creation, then what do single people reflect? Are they incomplete? A sun without a moon? If ever…

In recent years, the question of gender and biological sex - not someone’s sexuality or sexual attraction but a person’s internal sense of self and the social expression of that - has become a cultural flashpoint. What does it mean to be “male” or “female”? Is it fixed, or chosen by an individual? Does a person’s biological sex even matter? And wha…

The Christian sexual ethic has historically been one of the more contentious and contested ideas in our cultural moment. What does the Bible actually say about sex? How is it the same as what our culture says, and how is it different? Is sex really reserved only for straight, married couples? If so, what does this mean for those folks who are teens…

There’s no topic more confusing or contested in our culture than the topic of sexuality. This week, Jay Kim joins David Tieche to dive in. Sexuality is obviously a part of what it means to be human, but how big a part of our identity should it be? What are some ways that Christians talk about sex and sexuality that are reductionist, or incomplete o…

This week starts the beginning of our five-week series called Wonderfully Made, which WestGate Church is doing in coordination with several other Bay Area churches. In this week’s episode of The AfterWord, Jay Kim (lead pastor of WestGate Church), Filipe Santos (lead pastor of Echo Church) and Phil Eubank (lead pastor of Menlo Church) talk about th…

There is a common misunderstanding today, even among Christians, that human beings are primarily souls who happen to have bodies. Or, go to any gym and you’ll see contradictory messages of both idolizing the body AND simultaneous hatred of the body. Sometimes in the same person! But the Biblical story makes clear that from the beginning, to be huma…

The Ancient Greeks and Romans told stories of ambrosia, the mythical food of the gods that granted immortality to all who ate it. And we modern folk are obsessed with bio-hacking our bodies and diets, for the sake of longevity. But while the ancients wanted to defy death, and we Bay Area folks want to delay it, the story of Jesus is how one person …

As Jesus is dying on the Cross, He yells out “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” This is one of the more famous sayings of Jesus, if only because of the anguish behind it. Is God forsaking Jesus? How can that be? This is no mere physical death: this death is also a separation from Himself - a tearing apart of Jesus’ eternal identity. But Je…

After Jesus dies, Matthew writes that the curtain in the temple was torn, a detail he finds incredibly significant, but which might seem bizarre to us. What’s up with this curtain? Why is God ripping it up? Is God upset at His interior decoratingand design? What’s going on? Jay Kim stops by to chat about the implications of this moment in Matthew 2…

Author and researcher Brené Brown defined shame as “the intensely painful feeling of being unworthy of love or belonging.” There are not *some* people who deal with feelings of shame and others who escape this. We *all* deal with this. David Kim stops by to form an-all-David podcast in which we talk about how shame shows up in our lives, how it’s t…

One of the most famous parts of the story of Jesus’ death is that His friends completely fail Him. Most famously, Jesus’ lead disciple, Peter, makes a valiant pledge that he would never deny Jesus, and then, mere hours later, does exactly that three times. There’s much to this story. Matthew is showing us that we all overestimate our own goodness. …

Matthew’s account of Jesus sweating blood in anxiety in the Garden of Gethsemane is an exceptional detail and a stunning moment. Newly minted Pastor Emeritus Steve Clifford stops by to talk about this exceptional passage, what it reveals about Jesus’s interior life with God, how Jesus’s moment is different than ours, and how it’s the same, and what…

On the night before He was killed, Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane. There we find Jesus distraught and more anxious than He has ever been. He is experiencing deep, agonizing grief and anxiety. But facing a brutal death isn’t the only thing happening - Jesus is going to pay for and bear the weight of humanity’s sin. And yet, in the midst of an…

The Last Supper is one of the more important moments in the story of Jesus, memorialized not only in art but also in the life of the church (through the taking of communion). But familiarity sometimes is our enemy of seeing things clearly - and often, we don’t take the time to listen or reflect on not only what Jesus was saying to His disciples at …

The Gospels tell us that Jesus “came to seek and save the lost” - but then later on also tell us that He came “eating and drinking.” Meals play a big role through the story not only of Jesus, but the whole Bible. So why is that? Is God a foodie? Or is there something more going on. Mark Averill stops by to chat with David about the transformative p…

Nobody likes to hang out with arrogant people. Nobody. And we love stories when “important” people are kind and humble. We even say they’re “down to Earth.” But what does it practically mean to be humble? Jay and David talk through professor Daryl Van Tongeren’s research into the three Universal features of humility (from his book Humble), and talk…

In the Book of Matthew, the scene of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is a pivotal moment. This moment, traditionally celebrated the week before Easter on Palm Sunday, is sometimes called “the triumphal entry.” This moment is leading to the central moment in human history, Jesus’ death and resurrection. But this opening scene is one of victory and kings…

Description: David sits down with Keivan Tehrani and Finny Abraham to discuss what it means to be a global Christian with an eye on the worldwide movement of God. How do you not get overwhelmed by the global need? Also, Keivan shares stories from this past year from our missionary partners across the globe. We also talk about some of our missionari…

After a terrible, horrible, no-good very bad week, David invited his three friends from the Compassion Team to help shift his perspective and bring back joy. And it works! Keivan, Finny and Lily stop by to share stories about what God is up to in the world for Week 1 of Compassion Immersion 2024. The team also thoughtfully answers some important cl…

Well, guys, it’s the final week of our Here to Stay Campaign. As we wind up the public-facing aspect of the campaign, Jay talks about the lessons he’s learned during this campaign (including the months and months leading up to this), and what kinds of things he wants to carry forward with him into the future - both personally and us, as a church fa…

One of the most famous stories that Jesus ever told is called the story of the Good Samaritan. It’s a story about activated compassion, about helping people who are hurt, even if it’s risky and even if it costs you. This is the way of Jesus. Over the past 16 years, WestGate Church has been haunted by the question “If WestGate Church burned down, wo…

One of the most famous stories that Jesus ever told is called the story of the Good Samaritan. It’s a story about activated compassion, about helping people who are hurt, even if it’s risky and even if it costs you. This is the way of Jesus. Over the past 16 years, WestGate Church has been haunted by the question “If WestGate Church burned down, wo…

This past weekend, we talked about how one (hugely important!) element of the Here to Stay Campaign is about generosity - we want to try, as a church, to give away more money outside of our walls than we ever have before. But why? Wouldn’t it be faster just to keep that money and use it for our own projects instead of giving it away? Well, it all c…

Elton Trueblood, a 20th-century author and theologian, once wrote, “A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit.” His point is that we find deep meaning in our lives by giving our lives away. And part of the goal of the Here to Stay Campaign is …

We all stand on the shoulders of past generations. And if we slow down for even a moment, the impact of the people in our past on our present is nearly overwhelming. And personally, we all have people who have poured into us and sacrificed for our benefit. Especially as Christians. Jay and I reflect on Saints who have gone before us who have impact…

Every church has to answer the question “Why are we here?” For years, the short answer on that was that WestGate Church exists to be and to make disciples, learning and living the way of Jesus. Summarized in a word, the way of Jesus is LOVE—we exist to love God, one another, and our neighbors. But for the past few years, our leadership team and eld…

At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, this past weekend was a big one for WestGate Church. We launched a massive campaign, called Here to Stay (the first in more than a decade) to raise $35 million. But even though this is the first weekend many people might have heard about it, it’s been in the works for years. Literally years. Jay Kim stops by to o…

For Christians, the Bible isn’t nice to have, it’s vital. Central. Christians believe that the Bible is not just a book, but the divinely inspired Word of God, spoken for us, to lead us in the way of truth and love, down the path toward God’s glory and our good. But it isn’t about intellectual ascent; it’s about transformation. And we find, in the …

For Christians, the Bible isn’t nice to have, it’s vital. Central. Christians believe that the Bible is not just a book, but the divinely inspired Word of God, spoken for us, to lead us in the way of truth and love, down the path toward God’s glory and our good. But it isn’t about intellectual ascent; it’s about transformation. And we find, in the …

In Luke 15, Jesus tells one of His most famous series of stories, and starts by painting a stirring picture of the human condition. Jesus says that humanity is like a sheep that’s been lost. This isn’t an indictment on the sheep necessarily. It’s not that the sheep is bad. It’s that the sheep is bad off. Traditional Christian language is that we ar…

Luke 15 is one of the most famous series of stories that Jesus tells, including one in which Jesus compares humanity to a sheep that is lost. The point of this story - that we are in trouble and need saving - grates at the central story that we modern people tell one another: that humanity is actually stunningly capable of solving nearly every prob…

The 613 laws of the Old Testament are intended to remind us about who God is, and what kind of people He wants us to become. But they’re also there as a sobering reminder: there’s no way for us to keep all of them. Which means, there’s no way for any human to summon up the moral fortitude to earn a perfect score, and earn their way onto God’s good …

What do circumcision, the Book of Galatians and Baby Jesus have in common? MOre than you’d think. In the Book of Acts, chapter 15, we have one of the first real church conflicts. A group of Jewish leaders were conviced that this new Jesus movement was basically a new form of Judaism, with a Messiah tacked on. But others said, “No, no. This a brand …

Nobody likes folks who are arrogant. We even invented a word for people who try to draw attention to themselves while pretending they’re not: humblebrag. But while we don’t like arrogant people, being a person who is humble - well, that takes a LOT of work, too. Does being humble mean we’re a punching bag? Does it mean we have to pretend we’re not …

The Nativity stands as one of the great reminders that God is with us, but if we take a few moments to consider it, we’ll see another level. Not only that Jesus is “God come near.” But considering HOW FAR that journey was. What coming to earth cost Jesus. What is shows about Jesus. The early church had a hymn or song, which the Apostle Paul quotes …

Title: Down to Earth - Week 1 - The Incarnation Description: The birth of Jesus means that God has come to live among us, with the end goal of actually living *IN* us. Bonkers! But what happens if we don’t *feel* that God is very close to us? What happens if God feels pretty far away? Even though we might intellectually know this isn’t true, experi…

There is an art genre of known as “capriccio” (ka-PREE-cho) where artists take famous landmarks and depict them in places and times where they don’t belong. The goal is to shock the viewer out of complacency and really consider the beauty of the landmark depicted. The thing is, sometimes the entire Christmas story becomes so familiar, we need to do…

Christmastime in the United States is a wonderful time, but it’s also a bit of a trap. If we are not careful, as Christians, we’ll allow the imagery of our culture around Christmas to dominate how we think about Christmas. And although there’s nothing wrong with chestnuts roasting on an open fire, one-horse open sleighs, or silver bells, those imag…

Are Nativity scenes dangerous? Not, as in, “could they hurt or kill you” type of dangerous. That’s unlikely. Unless it’s a live Nativity and you get in the way of some angry live camels. But “dangerous” in the sense that they shift our imagination so that we can only see Jesus as a helpless infant. Jay and David stop by to break down three images t…

Most Christians would say that they think about God. Perhaps, even, think about God often, or at least when we’re not too busy thinking about other things. But what if instead of thinking ABOUT God we could make a switch to thinking WITH God. After all, our thoughts determine the orientation and direction of our lives. We examine what it might mean…

Many of us have had the experience of having a good friend, or a spouse, or a co-worker who just *gets* us. If we were to play Taboo!, we would slay. There’s even language for this: we say we are “on the same page” or are “in sync” or “on the same wavelength.” But what if we could do this with God Himself? Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 2 that we can …

What does it mean practically to live life with God? Mark Averill stops by to talk about doing life with God, and how doing life WITH *anybody* is going to require things of us. We talk about what it means to get to know God and what it means to “follow” God. We discuss the metaphors the Apostle Paul uses for this. Also, Dave attempts to make a com…

Just like cars were made to run on gas, human beings were not made to do life on their own. God wants to do life *with* us. And when we decide not to - when we decide to run on our own power and strength – things don’t go well for us. Jesus invites us to do life with him, and when we do we discover life and peace. But…choosing to live life with God…

Dave gets in his DeLorean and goes back in time to his sophomore year of high school when his best friend played him a song that contained a radical idea to him at 15 years old and that still seems incredible: that humans can talk conversationally (and safely) to God Himself. Jay Kim stops by to talk about this idea, and we go through John Calvin’s…

The ability to communicate might be the most valuable gift we have in this life. And the most meaningful communication we can experience is the sort of conversation that maximizes relational connection. Life with God offers us the tremendous gift of being able to talk with God. And yet, we so rarely do. And yet, in the Scriptures, we find a God eag…

There’s a saying that “people who talk to God are religious, but people who hear from God are certifiably insane.” And yet, the idea that God is trying to communicate with human beings is actually a central assumption of the Christian story and the Christian Scriptures. Jay Kim and Steve Clifford stop by to share their wisdom and thoughts about wha…

In our modern world, we are conditioned to believe that the most important thing we can do - indeed the thing that we must do – is BE HEARD. That’s what will give our lives meaning. And as a result, many of our lives today involve so much talking and so little listening. Is it any wonder that we have difficulty listening to God? This week, examine …

This week, David Tieche debriefs Beautiful Day with Jay Kim. And they talk about the ancient spiritual practice of The Examen (which Dave is disappointed to learn has nothing to do with “The X-men.”) We then discuss a book that some scholars think might be the most widely read Christian book in the past 300 years that’s not the Bible - a book by a …