Renovare
Chris Hall

Chris Hall

President of Renovaré

Chris Hall

Articles & Essays by Chris Hall

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Interview

Ten Questions with Chris Hall

Published June, 2020 • Featured July 30, 2020

In this inter­view with Cre­do Mag­a­zine, Ren­o­varé Pres­i­dent Chris Hall cov­ers the Trin­i­ty, the Church Fathers, and the Great Tradition.
Article jipacker
Essay

He Guided Me to a Better Way: Chris Hall Remembers J.I. Packer

Published July, 2020 • Featured July 20, 2020

“[J.I. Pack­er’s] books have helped so many,” reflects Chris Hall. ​“I’m grate­ful. I’m even more grate­ful, though, for his will­ing­ness to invest his time in a grad­u­ate stu­dent with a ten­den­cy to take the path of least resistance.”
Alabama peace justice memorial
Essay

We Have Refused to Listen

Published June, 2020 • Featured June 5, 2020

The trag­ic events over the past days have left us in shock. Ren­o­varé Pres­i­dent Chris Hall asks, ​“How should we respond? What would Jesus have us say and do?”
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Essay

Navigating a New World

Published April, 2017 • Featured May 11, 2020

Con­tin­u­ing his reflec­tions about loss and grief, Chris Hall turns his atten­tion to the ways those we love nev­er real­ly leave us — even when they are more than a phone call away. He shares some favorite quotes that bring his friend Tom Oden close by, even as Tom’s absence is still keen­ly felt.
Stones Stacked
Letter

Remembering God's Provision: A Response to the Coronavirus Crisis

Published March, 2020 • Featured March 20, 2020

As we unex­pect­ed­ly tran­si­tion into the volatile and uncer­tain envi­ron­ment of the coro­n­avirus, how can we nav­i­gate it well through the guid­ance and empow­er­ment of the Holy Spir­it? Ren­o­varé Pres­i­dent Chris Hall address­es that ques­tion in this let­ter to the Ren­o­varé community.
Shoe Stepping In Water
Essay

The Surprising Power of the Holy Spirit

Published March, 2020 • Featured March 15, 2020

Ear­ly in his faith jour­ney, Chris Hall was taught that many of the gifts of the Spir­it had ceased. Grad­u­al­ly a new open­ness to the Holy Spir­it devel­oped and he decid­ed to dip his toe into the charis­mat­ic stream. Here’s what happened.
03 21 Holy Spirit Has History
Article

The Holy Spirit Has a History

Published March, 2017 • Featured March 4, 2020

Many have believed that God went silent for hun­dreds of years after the 1st cen­tu­ry. Not so. With the help of his men­tor, Tom Oden, Chris Hall learned to trace God’s hand through­out history.
Feather And Sky
Essay

Keeping Our Souls Light

Published April, 2018 • Featured February 9, 2020

Poor choic­es form poor habits which lead to dull and heavy hearts. Chris Hall with help from Abba Isaac lights the way back to feath­er-like sen­si­tiv­i­ty to the Holy Spirit.
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Essay

The Psalms: Our Prayer Mentor

Published March, 2018 • Featured January 27, 2020

When we learn to imi­tate those who mod­el a rich and deep prayer life, their thoughts will shape and become our own. In this endeav­or there is no one bet­ter to look at, Chris Hall writes, than King David.
James Catford Featured
News

Announcing James Catford as New Renovaré Board Chair

Featured November 24, 2019

Long-time board mem­ber and friend James Cat­ford will be the new board chair for Ren­o­varé USA.
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Book Excerpt from The Reservoir

What is the Spirit-Empowered Life?

Published September, 2019 • Featured September 20, 2019

From The Reser­voir, these dai­ly devo­tion­als by Chris Hall dive into the Charis­mat­ic Stream.
Sunset Conversation
Essay

Why Pray If God Already Knows?

Published July, 2019 • Featured July 14, 2019

With help from the church fathers and moth­ers, Chris Hall con­sid­ers what com­mu­ni­ca­tion is like with the God whose knowl­edge is insep­a­ra­ble from his love.
Cow In Field
Essay

Chewing the Cud of Scripture

Published January, 2017 • Featured May 26, 2019

Chris Hall exam­ines John Chrysos­tom’s ​“con­stant reread­ing and mem­o­riza­tion of Pauline texts” in his own trans­for­ma­tion toward Christ­like­ness and encour­ages us to do likewise.
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Essay

Walking with Hope

Featured December 5, 2018

In this read­ing for the first week of Advent, Chris Hall explores the mes­sage of hope that the Mes­si­ah brings. With Mary’s tena­cious faith as his mod­el, he encour­ages us to ​“to live in hope [as our lives unfold] in the strange, won­drous, demand­ing in-between time all Chris­tians indwell.”
Fasting Unplug
Article

Holy Hunger

Published December, 2016 • Featured May 17, 2018

Chris Hall encour­ages us to unplug in the most lit­er­al sense and fast in small ways from media. How might your mind and spir­it be trans­formed by abstain­ing from the dis­trac­tions of the dig­i­tal age?
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Article

Interviewing the Church Fathers

Featured May 8, 2018

Chris Hal­l’s book Liv­ing Wise­ly with the Church Fathers is the last selec­tion in this year’s Ren­o­varé Book Club. Chris shares a snap­shot of what the book is about.
04 10 Purging
Article

Purging the Passions

Featured April 9, 2018

What are the first steps toward unceas­ing prayer? John Cass­ian taught that the key to per­se­ver­ing in prayer is to cleanse the ​“obses­sive emo­tions, atti­tudes, desires, and ways of act­ing” that keep us from lov­ing God, oth­ers, and our­selves as we ought to. Chris Hall guides us in this teaching.
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Article

How Can We Pray without Ceasing?

Featured April 2, 2018

Chris Hall asks the ques­tion that is instant­ly raised by read­ing 1 Thes­sa­lo­ni­ans 5:17: How can one pray with­out ceas­ing when the human mind so often acts like a flighty, wild bird, always ready to fly away at the least provo­ca­tion or dis­trac­tion? Hap­pi­ly, the desert fathers are here to help!
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Article

An Invitation to Openness and Honesty

Featured March 12, 2018

“What rea­son is there to go to prayer with hands indeed washed, but the spir­it foul?” Ter­tul­lian’s ques­tion remains key to under­stand­ing how we ought to pray, Chris Hall explains in today’s post. Only whole­heart­ed sur­ren­der will lead us out of self-decep­tion and into the lov­ing pres­ence of the King.
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Article

The Fruit of Confinement

Featured January 29, 2018

Obe­di­ence and sub­mis­sion will grow in the ​“cru­cible of impris­on­ment” — whether that hap­pens behind lit­er­al bars or in the pris­ons of fail­ing bod­ies. Chris Hall shares some thoughts with us about learn­ing spaces we’d rather not enter and the good fruit God can cul­ti­vate inside them.