Our Method:
Steep & POUR
If you’re looking for the definitive Christian answer on the contentious issues of the day, you’ve come to the wrong place.
We won’t be identifying heroes and villains, calling out sins, or taking political sides. The Pour Over seeks to be a resource that guides you to eternal hope as you sort through current events, whether major or minor.
Steep.
At TPO, we’re convinced that the only source of hope and life is the God of the Bible, revealed in His Son Jesus, and known through the Spirit. It’s through encountering Him over and over that our view of the world will be changed.
So our goal with every story we summarize is to remind you to run to Christ. To remind you of who he is in the face of whatever disaster, injustice, triumph, or triviality the day brings.
We call this meditation on the Lord steeping. Just like the best brews come from intentionally saturated grounds, eternal hope comes from dwelling upon who God is and what he has done.
Only after we are steeped in God’s character are we ready to respond. Our call to response focuses on the perspective, posture, affections, and actions that believers easily lose sight of when not constantly reminded. We call this approach the POUR method…
Perspective.
If the Lord made you and sent his son to die so that you could live with him forever… that puts things into perspective.
Never forget that small things like prayer, brief gospel-centered conversations, and loving people who are hateful and rude towards you help shape eternity, and big things like impeachment, economic collapse, and pandemics will become 100,000-year-old memories.
Openness to Correction.
We honor God by seeking truth and understanding… but our posture is key.
We can be confident that we are right while simultaneously betraying our Savior through our pride. We must be willing to reevaluate our stances and actions, humbly returning to the Bible in pursuit of sanctification.
The same is true with current events. Changing your mind or actions in light of new information is usually not a sign of hypocrisy, but growth.
Unconditional Love.
The good news is that while we were his enemies, Christ died for us.
This should impact our affections — the way we view others. When we learn about a criminal’s actions, a politician’s failure, or a celebrity’s voice crack… we should err on the side of forgiveness and love. That means speaking respectfully, making personal sacrifices, and caring more about people than being right.
Response.
Christians do not have the luxury of philosophizing without ever acting. When the Holy Spirit tugs on our hearts over an event or issue, we are called to act.
Covering current events means we can’t spend extended time on any one topic, but we encourage prayer while working to provide the first steps for people who feel called to go deeper.
Story Selection
How We Select Stories
We write about the biggest, most visible news stories – regardless of their spiritual significance – soon after they happen.
Why We Select These Stories
At The Pour Over, it’s our mission to be a trustworthy news resource guiding people toward eternal hope. We want readers of TPO to be aware of the same events they would learn about from major news sources – the same events their non-Christian coworkers, classmates, and neighbors will be talking about – and help them process it from a foundation of their faith. That means we select stories differently than most Christian news sources.
In general, Christian news sources write three types of stories:
Spiritually significant events (missions, abortion, etc.)
Longform commentary on major world events (usually days after they’ve happened)
Christian current events (what Lecrae is up to)
We don’t do this.
We write about the biggest, most visible news stories, regardless of their spiritual significance, soon after they happen. In fact, we often cover events despite their complete lack of any spiritual value or outright promotion of sin. We then pair these stories with reminders of foundational Christian principles – see how we do that here.
It’s important to note that we don’t believe our way is better… it’s just different. We’re so grateful for other Christian news sources and their ministries; we are simply trying to fill a different need.
Alone, The Pour Over can’t change your heart and worldview to become more like Christ’s. But we hope that our nudges help turn your eyes to Jesus so that you meditate on who God says He is in His word and become more like Him in our world.
When we miss the mark of our mission, please let us know.
The Pour Over Team
