Recovering Redemption: A Gospel-Saturated Perspective on How to Change

Matt Chandler serves as Lead Pastor of Teaching at The Village Church in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. He came to The Village in December 2002 and describes his tenure as a replanting effort where he was involved in changing the theological and philosophical culture of the congregation. The church has witnessed a tremendous response growing, from 160 people to over 11,000 with campuses across the DFW metroplex.
 
Matt is currently involved in church planting efforts both locally and internationally through The Village and various strategic partnerships. He serves as president of Acts 29, a worldwide church-planting organization. Over the last 10 years, Acts 29 has emerged from a small band of brothers to nearly 500 churches in the United States and around the world.  Beyond speaking at conferences throughout the world, Matt has also written several books, including The Explicit Gospel, published in April 2012, and Creature of the Word, released in October 2012. His greatest joy outside of Jesus is being married to Lauren and being a dad to their three children, Audrey, Reid and Norah.

Michael Snetzer serves as Recovery Groups Pastor at The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas. He received his Masters in Counseling from Dallas Baptist University. For seven years he served as a counselor at the Center for Christian Counseling. He has served on the pastoral staff at The Village Church since 2007. He has worked part-time at North Texas Christian Counseling since 2012. He has three children: McKenna, Ava, and Greyson. He and his wife, Sonia, were married in 2007.

"Matt Chandler is one of the best Bible preachers on the earth and one of the godliest men I know." -Mark Driscoll, Founding and Preaching Pastor, Mars Hill Church

"Matt Chandler presents the gospel in a way that is balanced, hope-filled, and very, very serious, all the while presented with Matt's trademark humor." -Mark Dever, President, 9Marks

Because we have a tendency to drift from the gospel, we must be reoriented back to the gospel. We must recover a right understanding and application of the gospel. We must see that the gospel is the fuel for salvation and sanctification and the panacea to fix all things.

The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9

I can't. God can.

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

God meets you where you are.

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8