Become New with John Ortberg

Can you have peace while the situation you’re facing is still unresolved? During one of the darkest periods of his life, John Ortberg found himself awake early in the morning, needing something solid to hold onto. A passage from Dallas Willard’s Renovation of the Heart helped him consider what peace might mean when circumstances remain frightening. John explores the exhausting work of trying to control outcomes that are no longer in our hands. Picture someone bowling: the ball has been relea...

What do you say to yourself when you make a mistake? For many of us, one wrong answer, awkward conversation, or disappointing performance can turn into a harsh verdict about who we are. John Ortberg offers a different response, borrowed from conductor Benjamin Zander: “How fascinating!” Through stories about music, tutoring, Eugene Peterson, and the disciple Peter, John explores how a growth mindset helps us approach mistakes with curiosity and a willingness to learn. Instead of constantly a...

Why does God sometimes make us wait for something we’ve asked him for again and again? Jesus tells us to keep praying, asking, seeking, and knocking. Yet the silence can be difficult to understand, especially when someone we love needs help. John Ortberg explores that tension through Jesus’ encounter with a Canaanite woman in Matthew 15. She comes to him pleading for her daughter, and at first Jesus says nothing. Drawing on New Testament scholar Kenneth Bailey, John considers how this encoun...

Can you lead with authority and still be genuinely vulnerable? Many of us treat those qualities as opposites. If we want to be strong, we assume we need to protect ourselves from being hurt. But in this conversation with Alan George, John Ortberg offers another picture of leadership. Drawing on Andy Crouch’s Strong and Weak, John explains that authority and vulnerability are two distinct qualities. Jesus held both. He acted with authority and willingly opened himself to pain for the sake of l...

What can still grow in your life after you’ve been hurt? John Ortberg explores that question through a story author James Michener remembered from childhood: an aging apple tree, eight rusty nails, and an unexpected harvest. Years later, after heart surgery and other painful health challenges, Michener returned to that image. He resolved to keep bearing fruit. John connects his story with the poetry of John Milton and the lives of Hank and Jan, a couple whose faithful care for one another be...