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Chris Hall

Chris Hall

Chris Hall

Articles & Essays by Chris Hall

09 20 Reflection Of The King
Essay

Bearing the Image of God

Published September, 2016 • Featured February 4, 2021

We learn in Gen­e­sis 1:26 that we are made in the image of God. But, what does that mean? And how can div­ing into this idea of ima­go Dei help us go deep­er into this unfold­ing Mys­tery of God? Chris Hall explores the var­i­ous under­stand­ings of what it means to bear the image of the Trini­tar­i­an God.
Church fathers 1
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?”
04 26 Egret
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.
Chagall David
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 observe, 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.
Windmills
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.
Mary Joseph1
Essay

Walking with Hope

Featured December 5, 2018

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?
2018 05 08 Church Fathers
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.
04 03 Bird
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

Published March, 2018 • Featured March 12, 2018

“​Prayer is a prin­ci­pal means of heal­ing and reshap­ing our char­ac­ter into the image of Christ.” Chris Hall shares a few ancient Chris­t­ian per­spec­tives on trans­form­ing our inner thoughts and out­ward behav­iors through hon­est con­ver­sa­tion with God.