Recorded

Registration fees. Weekend tournaments. Travel teams.Youth sports in America has shifted over the last several decades. Instead of playing ball in the backyard with friends after school or on Saturday mornings, our kids climb into the minivan so we can drive them to practice, pay for uniforms and court fees, and pick up dinner from the concession stand.Youth sports, it seems, is a merry-go-round of time and money that we can’t get off, because we know it would never slow down enough for us to get back on.At TGC, youth sports is one of the top concerns we hear from pastors and youth leaders: they can’t preach to, disciple, or encourage people who miss Sunday after Sunday for basketball or soccer or baseball.But we know sports is a good gift from God. He created our kids to run and jump and throw, and to delight in doing that with friends. Done well, those things honor him.So how can we do them well?Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra talked to parents, coaches, and pastors to find out.Help The Gospel Coalition build up a renewed church for tomorrow.Let's Build Together: Donate Today at tgc.org/together

Join Collin Hansen and Melissa Kruger for their annual recap discussion on the biggest stories affecting the church around the world in the last year. This conversation was originally featured on TGC's Gospelbound podcast.

Nearly all American teenage boys—97 percent of them—play video games. On average, they spend more than two hours a day maneuvering in digital worlds. For two out of five teen boys, that feels like too much time.They’re probably right. Though  it’s impossible to draw a direct link, it’s hard not to notice that as gaming grows, males are falling farther behind girls in school, in joining the work force, and in starting families. As Reformed Christians, we aren’t ready to give up on video games yet. In this episode of Recorded, Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra examines why boys are more likely than girls to be addicted to video games, why playing with people online doesn’t mean you have more friends, and what it looks like to bring video games under the lordship of Jesus Christ.Learn more about The Defender Way mentioned in this episode. 

When Sinclair Ferguson was growing up in Scotland in the 1950s, the culture was not only Christian but also Reformed. Ferguson memorized Bible passages at his public school, learned nighttime prayers from parents who weren’t believers, and attended church for years before converting to Christianity.In the years since, Ferguson has written more than 50 books, spoken at virtually every Reformed conference, and taught at nearly all the Reformed seminaries.Meanwhile, the Church of Scotland membership has plummeted from 1.3 million to less than 300,000—that’s a million people lost in a single lifetime. The denomination has cut pastoral positions and discontinued ministries. Many of her massive granite church buildings are now restaurants and apartments and bars with names like Soul.Ferguson retired a few years ago. After the career he’s had, he could speak anywhere and write for any publisher. But you won’t find him based in an influential American city or church or ministry. Instead, he’s in a small city in Scotland, writing sermons and preaching the evening services at a church of only 200.This is a story about why he’s doing that, about why it matters. This is a story about the gospel, about hope, and about coming home.