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About the Podcast

The Key Chapters podcast began somewhat accidentally in January of 2020.

Bible 2

In the fall of 2019, our church created a 366 day reading plan where, together, we'd read one key chapter a day. We published the list in December and we were gearing up for going through God's Word together.

Then on January 1st, I was in my office working on sermon prep and I was listening to a podcast for pastors. The host said that every church should consider creating a podcast.

As I listened to them, I began to see the value of how a daily podcast might help our church in keeping up with our daily reading plan, and seeing why we chose each chapter to be a "key chapter". So, since it was still just January 1st, I figured, "Let's give it a try!"

The first podcasts were literally recorded with the computer microphone, and the final audio only came out one ear (I was still learning about audio back then!) I created two or three episodes and sent them to the leaders. They liked them, so I created a few more and sent them out to some more people in the church. By the weekend, I had 4 or 5 episodes and a bunch of folks listening. But still, I wasn't sold that we should keep it up.

But then, on Sunday, I began hearing about people in our church using the podcast to start Bible studies in their workplaces. Folks were starting groups where the attendees would read the key chapter, listen to the podcast and then they'd all discuss it. Families were going through it too! That's when things began to get real, so, I kept making episodes. 

Then, to make the podcast more accessible for our folks, we began publishing them to Spotify and Itunes. Little did we know that Spotify (especially) would actually promote the podcast around the world! Somewhere in the mix, Feedspot.com began to include it in their Top Bible Podcast to listen to (thanks Feedspot!). Over the year, it's been fun to watch the podcast continue to move up in their rankings. Amazingly, after just a year, the Key Chapters podcast now ranks in the top 10% of all podcasts currently in production.

These days, things have come a long way. For one thing, I'm no longer using the computer mic! Plus, we use a podcast service that streamlines production and now we're listed on more podcast servers than we can count (they often just automatically include our podcast on their services). Thanks to all of these services, we have listeners from around the world in places like Australia, Taiwan, England, Belgium, etc. If you're one of those listeners, thank you for tuning in! It's an honor and a privilege to go through God's Word with you.

This has been an exciting year, and throughout this time with you, studying God's Word together, I've seen so many ways the Lord is blessing this ministry. Many folks have given feedback about how this podcast is deepening their fellowship with the Lord and their trust in Him; and most of all, their understanding of the overall word of God. Total praise!

My hope is that these episodes will continue to reside on the internet, giving glory to God and teaching people His Word.

Thank YOU so much for listening in and being part of this. If you ever want to drop me a note, I'd love to hear from you and you can This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

About Russ

As for me personally, here's my quick story: Russ 3

I grew up in a strong moral family with a hard work ethic. Although we were very spiritual, we only occasionally went to church; and that for a couple of years. The church we went to for the longest period of time denied the deity of Jesus, the sufficiency of the Bible, the reality of sin, and the need for Christ's cross. Thus, I didn’t know the Gospel.

After a tragic event in my life just after high school, I met with a pastor who shared Christ with me. That was August 17th, 1990. That night I gave my life to Christ.

Soon afterwards, I began attending a Bible study and later went on a short term missions trip to Jamaica. It was in Jamaica that I began to see the call of God in my life.

I went to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, met and married my wife Corinne and I ended up living there for nearly eight years. After college, I worked at Motorola in the Chicago suburbs and later joined the staff of a large church in the area. I worked there for about two years before heading off to The Masters Seminary in Los Angeles county, California. 

After seminary I did church planting in downtown, urban Los Angeles for 2 years and then moved to New Jersey to serve as an associate pastor for 9 years.

I came to Wellington Colorado in January of 2014 and have been blessed to be part of the Lord's work here.

I've been married since 1998. We have five children living at home plus a sixth, our oldest, who is married. 

My degrees are a Bachelors in Pastoral Ministries from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, IL (1996) and a Masters of Divinity from The Masters Seminary in Sun Valley, CA (2003).

You can access my personal theological doctrincal statement here. 

Thanks for reading and I hope you join in the podcast! 

God Bless

Compass Cropped Over the years, I've met many people who hear how great the Bible is, and they want to read it, but when they turn to it, they just don't understand what the fuss is about. I can relate, I didn't grow up as a Christian and when I gave my life to the Lord, the Bible didn't make any sense at all. Well, 30 years later, I'm a seminary trained pastor but I still remember those days clearly

So in January of 2020, I started doing a daily 10ish minute podcast going through the Bible, one key chapter at a time. The idea was that a chapter a day is manageable, and if we can just understand the Key Chapters of the Bible, then we'll have a framework where the other chapters will begin to make sense too.

So the podcast is basically every day, and the idea is that you read that day's chapter, then listen to the podcast with the Bible open, and I'll explain it like I'm sitting next to you. I'm not a professional podcaster by any means, but people have reached out to me (from around the world) about how this podcast has brought clarity to the Word of God like never before.

I'd be honored to have you join in our growing community:

So.. here's the links to the podcast:

Spofity: https://open.spotify.com/show/6OqbnDRrfuyHRmkpUSyoHv

Itunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/366-key-chapters-in-the-bible/id1493571819

Iheart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-366-key-chapters-in-the-bi-56200539/

Direct Audio: http://keychapters.org/index.php/podcast

The Bible is God's wonderful gift to us, but for many people, it's size and ancient age is a barrier to understanding it. To help all of us know and understand God's message to us, we've gone through the Bible looking for the "key chapters" that are necessary to know and understand so that we can see how God's message unfolds. 

This principle was presented to me when I was in seminary. We had a class that required us to memorize all kinds of biblical facts and figures. One of the most helpful requirements was having to memorize the outline of every book of the Bible. We also had to memorize the chapter contents of about 100 key chapters of the Bible. The power of both of those assignments was that we ended with a fairly comprehensive understanding of the thought and flow of the Bible. This podcast has taken the core material from that class and built it into a daily podcast that goes through about 310 key chapters of the Bible. 

So, what makes for a "Key Chapter"? That's a good question because there are times when the podcast seems to skip some of our most beloved passages in scripture. Thus, we need to recognize that for the purposes of this podcast, a "Key Chapter" is not necessarily going to be the most beloved or inspiring chapter. That being said, if you listen to all 300+ episodes, you'll find that most of these beloved passages are mentioned and taught from in other podcasts. 

As for determining what makes a Key Chapter, there are a few criteria that we've used.

First and most importantly, a Key Chapter is one that is necessary to know in order to understand the scope and message of scripture. God's Word has several key themes (kingdom, salvation, grace, sin, etc). Thus, a key lens that I have used is to find and explain the chapters that help us understand the key themes of God's Word. For instance, the principle of atonement is a key truth we need to understand in order to understand the means of our salvation. The best place to learn about atonement is Leviticus 16. The thing is, we tend to not read the Book of Leviticus very much; and even when we do, we have a hard time appreciating the gem of Leviticus 16. Thus, this podcast seeks to explain the profound truths of Leviticus 16, but since the principles of Leviticus 16 are rooted in the sacrificial system, we go all the way back to Leviticus 1 to 5 to understand the foundation of sacrficies (and those studies end up being profoundly edfying).

Another lens for determining Key Chapters is based upon passages that provide key truths for the Christian life. For instance, every Christian needs to know the spiritual principles of abiding in Christ, so John 15 is a Key Chapter. This is often why we'll go through the entire book of Romans or most of the Book of 1st Corinthians.

Another way that Key Chapters are chosen is rooted in their explanation of what's to come, specifically end times prophecy and eschatology. Thus, we spend alot of time in the Book of Daniel or Matthew 24, etc. One point to make note of is that since these passages are some of the most difficult and controversial places in scripture, not every one of these key chapters has a podcast and new ones are still being added. 

Finally, there are a small handful of passages that are in the "We just need to know that" kind of category. These would be passages like Psalm 23 or the Book of Philippians. 

So, hopefully you're ready to join in a profound and edifying study of God's Word. If you want to read ahead, the list of the key chapters is here: Key Chapters Reading Plan (and each chapter links to an online Bible source so you can read it right now). Also, although this list is from 2021, and the actual calendar date is off from today, it still gives you the progression for which chapters to read; of course, you can always just read all the chapters and drop into the podcasts for the Key Chapters.  

I hope you're blessed with this podcast and that it deepens your understanding of God's Word and ultimately your faith in Him and His glorious plan for you and all of mankind!

God Bless 

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