Dr Chala Baker

God made mothers amazing! 🤩

A mist in the pulpit becomes a fog in the pews.

Do you believe that God still speaks?

I do. Yet, I also know that we have to be careful when we confidently say, "God told me...."
We are far more capable of mishearing than we like to admit.

Sometimes what we call “God said” is actually our emotions, or preferences, our wounds trying to feel justified, or our desire to make a decision feel unquestionable. People can use that phrase to be manipulative, or even to harm us. 1 John 4:1 tells us to test these spirits to see if they are from God.

There is responsibility on both the deliverer of the message and the receiver of the message.

If it’s truly from God, it will always align with Scripture. It will always reflect the character of God. In addition, it will produce fruit, and withstand wise counsel. Make sure your identity is in check and rooted in Christ before you give words on His behalf, so your pain and experiences don't mar them.

How do we know if we're hearing from God? Position yourself to know His voice through talking with Him continously (1 Thess. 5:17) and knowing His word.

Have you ever been given an accurate word from God from someone? How does God speak to you? (He speaks to me best and most often through writing, because I'm an avid reader/writer.)
I'd love to hear about it!

When Scripture Feels Foggy

A lot of the confusion that can happen when reading Scripture doesn’t come from the Bible being unclear. It comes from us asking it to say what it was never written to say. We skim and isolate verses. We fail to look up the historical background of a text. We do a LOT of inserting our 21st century context into the history of people who would say, "AI who?"

And then we wonder why it feels muddy or why we don't "get it."

2 Timothy tells us that all Scripture is God-breathed and useful. Nehemiah shows the people hearing the Law explained clearly so they could understand what was being read. And Jesus Christ didn’t twist Scripture. He handled it with precision, context, and authority. Scripture wasn't given to confuse you, it was given to introduce you to God and change you into His likeness.

I am passionate about teaching people how to study the Bible like a theologian so they can stop feeling frustrated when they pick up Scripture. That frustration causes many Christians to put it down completely. And while I have things coming that will help so many with this issue, let me leave you with this small tidbit to get started:

Clarity comes when you slow down enough to ask better questions.

What is actually being said?
Who is it being said to?
What’s happening in the surrounding passage?
What does this reveal about God, not just about me?

Because the goal is transformation for the glory of God.
Wishing you all God's love and smiles!

Hey! You should come join my Skool community! Especially if you've ever wanted to know more about how to study the Bible! We're going to learn to study the Bible like a theologian or biblical exegete! You'll be ready to lead that Bible study, become a leader in your church, or maybe just look forward to studying Scripture more!

Heavy discounts as I get the community going and add courses. 7 day free trial and then only $1 a month for the first 500 community members!

We're learning about the Word! Let's gooooo!

Misfit Theologians Teaching believers to study the Bible with depth, context, and all the tools theologians use.

Church hurt is real.

Recently, a pastor at a medium-sized congregation in our area with multiple campuses was caught commenting on a FB reel about church hurt being fake. "Appalled" does not even begin to capture my emotions. Such beliefs from our very leadership shows where the toxicity in the organization have come from.

Some people weren’t just “offended.”
They were mishandled.
Overlooked.
Manipulated.
Spoken to in ways that never should have come from people representing Jesus.
I'm so sorry if that has been you, because it has also been me.

To pretend otherwise is to continue to perpetuate the abuses happening in our churches. In fact, churches with leadership that think and behave like this are where abuses take place most easily.

Scripture never tells you to deny what happened. In fact, it’s brutally honest about human failure—even inside the people of God. Psalms is full of cries from wounded hearts. Acts of the Apostles doesn’t hide conflict in the early Church. And Jesus Christ Himself had His harshest words for religious leaders who misused their authority.

Healing doesn’t come from pretending it didn’t hurt.
It comes from bringing that hurt into the presence of the One who doesn’t wound like that.

Let's stand up to leaders like this who don't want to take responsibility for the pain they caused, all while bringing our *very real* pain to Christ Himself.

Christians don't always embrace or act out their identity, but Christ always does! Praise God!
Wishing you all God's love and smiles.

Not all deconstruction is rebellion. Sometimes, it's obedience.

Questions about our faith are not compromise. Doubting is not automatically dangerous--its human. And wrestling isn't weakness. Although we tend to label questions, doubt, and wrestling, Scripture does not.

Psalms is full of disoriented prayers in which the psalmist cries out, “How long, O Lord?”
Job spends chapters in pain and demanding answers from God.
Jacob wrestled physcially with God, not just mentally or emotionally.
Even Thomas refused to believe until he saw, and Jesus met him there, not with rejection, but with invitation.

Deconstruction, at its core, is the tearing down of what is false, assumed, or inherited without understanding. And sometimes what’s being dismantled isn’t faith. Instead it's:

Bad theology.
Performative Christianity.
Cultural expectations we confused with the voice of God.

Some of these things need to come down, which means the problem isn't deconstruction, it's what happens after.

If you tear everything down and walk away, you’ve abandoned the process halfway through. But if you and put in the hard work to rebuild on truth, on Scripture, and on the actual person of Jesus, you have the opportunity to come back with an even stronger and better understanding of your faith.

You’re refining it. We all need refining from time to time.

Rebellion runs from God. Honest deconstruction runs toward Him, limping, questioning, and messy.

So no, not everyone who is deconstructing is walking away from Jesus.
Some are finally meeting Him without all the noise and building a faith that is stronger.

Wishing you all God's love and smiles!

I'm praising God for restored relationships today! Don't discount the work He can do in this area!