TGC Podcast What You Should Know About Christian Conversion
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Mar 27, 2026 Michael Lawrence, pastor and theologian at Henson Baptist Church and author of Conversion, offers a concise mini bio. He outlines conversion as God’s initiating work followed by human repentance and faith. The conversation contrasts American reduction of conversion to a decision, traces Old Testament promises of new hearts, and explores pastoral and practical implications for church life.
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Conversion Begins With God
- Christian conversion is primarily God’s initiating work of regeneration, not merely a human decision.
- Michael Lawrence emphasizes conversion begins with God making the dead alive, and then the person repents and believes as a response.
Don't Reduce Conversion To A Decision
- American Protestantism often reduced conversion to a one-time decision like a prayed prayer or aisle walk.
- Ligon Duncan and Michael Lawrence trace this to revival techniques from the Second Great Awakening and warn it fragments repentance, faith, and regeneration.
Nicodemus Shows Human Helplessness
- Jesus tells Nicodemus you must be born again to enter God's kingdom, exposing human inability to achieve it.
- Nicodemus assumed God asks only what humans can do; Jesus insists spiritual rebirth is impossible without God.
