I\u2019ve quickly discovered that smoking is both art and science. There\u2019s an artistry to choosing well marbled and fat-capped meat, preparing rubs and seasonings, and cooking the perfect bark\u2014the exterior layer of crispy goodness on a pork shoulder or brisket. But the science of smoking meat is far more technical and complicated than I expected. One factor I learned about early on was how much the ambient temperature affects the process. The same piece of meat can cook much more quickly on a hot summer afternoon than on a brisk November morning. Knowing how this difference impacts the cooking process, and adjusting for it, is important to becoming an expert meat smoker.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your internal temperature?<\/strong><\/h2>\nSo it is with our spiritual lives. Our internal temperature is affected by the temperature around us. It\u2019s not only the Holy Spirit and our own spiritual disciplines, but also the environment around us, which fosters a warm and tender heart. More specifically, one oft-overlooked factor in how we grow spiritually is whether we are surrounded by warm encouragers or people best described as cold and harsh. Failure to account for this can negatively impact our spiritual growth.<\/p>\n
The Company You Keep<\/strong><\/h2>\nPaul speaks to this principle in 1 Thessalonians 5 when he reminds Christ-followers to \u201cbelong to the day\u201d rather than the night, to \u201cencourage one another and build up each other\u201d, and to \u201chold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.\u201d These admonitions are the context for 1 Thess. 5:11, arguably the most famous verse of this epistle: \u201cRejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
In this chapter, Paul envisions a spiritual life wholly devoted to the hope found in Christ, made easier by the community of believers who surround us. Inasmuch as we can control our environment, we ought to keep company with persons who encourage us in faith.<\/p>\n
Reading our Own Thermometer<\/strong><\/h2>\nWhen our environment is not in our control, we must adjust the temperature we can <\/em>control\u2014our own. When I smoke meat I have a good meat thermometer which I check at least every hour to make sure everything is still cooking. Paying attention allows me to adjust along the way for environmental factors that I can\u2019t control, like the weather.<\/p>\nSimilarly, it\u2019s important to pay close attention to our own spirituality. Are we continually warming to the Holy Spirit\u2019s guidance, or have we stalled (or worse, begun cooling off)? Are we noting how different environments\u2014the company we keep and the places we spend time in\u2014help or hinder our growth in Christ? We cannot always control the ambient temperature, but we can monitor our own internal temperature and adjust as needed to make ourselves more warm and tender-hearted every hour.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Erik-Hoeke-Headshot.jpg\")
<\/a>Author: The Rev. Erik Hoeke<\/a> is a writer at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary<\/a> and an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church with 14 years of pastoral ministry experience in Southwestern Pennsylvania.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Like many men of a certain age, I\u2019ve recently taken up the hobby of smoking meat. With the gift of a large pellet smoker by my spouse and the recipes and coaching of my brother-in-law, I am in my second summer of preparing pulled pork, smoked chicken and salmon, and tender slices of brisket for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-8434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-protestant-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\r\n
Tips for Christian Tenderness - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What smoking meat has taught me about growing as a Christ-follower. By the Rev. Erik Hoeke, writer at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tips for Christian Tenderness - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What smoking meat has taught me about growing as a Christ-follower. By the Rev. Erik Hoeke, writer at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-02T13:30:28+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ptsblog\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ptsblog\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ptsblog\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f\"},\"headline\":\"Tips for Christian Tenderness\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-02T13:30:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":577,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Protestant Spirituality\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/\",\"name\":\"Tips for Christian Tenderness - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-02T13:30:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f\"},\"description\":\"What smoking meat has taught me about growing as a Christ-follower. By the Rev. Erik Hoeke, writer at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tips for Christian Tenderness\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\",\"description\":\"Grounded in Faith, Formed in Community\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f\",\"name\":\"ptsblog\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ptsblog\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/ptsblog\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tips for Christian Tenderness - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","description":"What smoking meat has taught me about growing as a Christ-follower. By the Rev. Erik Hoeke, writer at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tips for Christian Tenderness - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","og_description":"What smoking meat has taught me about growing as a Christ-follower. By the Rev. Erik Hoeke, writer at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/","og_site_name":"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","article_published_time":"2022-08-02T13:30:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ptsblog","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ptsblog","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/"},"author":{"name":"ptsblog","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f"},"headline":"Tips for Christian Tenderness","datePublished":"2022-08-02T13:30:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/"},"wordCount":577,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Protestant Spirituality"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/","name":"Tips for Christian Tenderness - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2022-08-02T13:30:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f"},"description":"What smoking meat has taught me about growing as a Christ-follower. By the Rev. Erik Hoeke, writer at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tips for Christian Tenderness"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/","name":"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","description":"Grounded in Faith, Formed in Community","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f","name":"ptsblog","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ptsblog"},"url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/author\/ptsblog\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4MvlM-2c2","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8434"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8623,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8434\/revisions\/8623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8434"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=8434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Paul speaks to this principle in 1 Thessalonians 5 when he reminds Christ-followers to \u201cbelong to the day\u201d rather than the night, to \u201cencourage one another and build up each other\u201d, and to \u201chold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.\u201d These admonitions are the context for 1 Thess. 5:11, arguably the most famous verse of this epistle: \u201cRejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
In this chapter, Paul envisions a spiritual life wholly devoted to the hope found in Christ, made easier by the community of believers who surround us. Inasmuch as we can control our environment, we ought to keep company with persons who encourage us in faith.<\/p>\n
Reading our Own Thermometer<\/strong><\/h2>\nWhen our environment is not in our control, we must adjust the temperature we can <\/em>control\u2014our own. When I smoke meat I have a good meat thermometer which I check at least every hour to make sure everything is still cooking. Paying attention allows me to adjust along the way for environmental factors that I can\u2019t control, like the weather.<\/p>\nSimilarly, it\u2019s important to pay close attention to our own spirituality. Are we continually warming to the Holy Spirit\u2019s guidance, or have we stalled (or worse, begun cooling off)? Are we noting how different environments\u2014the company we keep and the places we spend time in\u2014help or hinder our growth in Christ? We cannot always control the ambient temperature, but we can monitor our own internal temperature and adjust as needed to make ourselves more warm and tender-hearted every hour.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a>Author: The Rev. Erik Hoeke<\/a> is a writer at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary<\/a> and an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church with 14 years of pastoral ministry experience in Southwestern Pennsylvania.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Like many men of a certain age, I\u2019ve recently taken up the hobby of smoking meat. With the gift of a large pellet smoker by my spouse and the recipes and coaching of my brother-in-law, I am in my second summer of preparing pulled pork, smoked chicken and salmon, and tender slices of brisket for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-8434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-protestant-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\r\n
Tips for Christian Tenderness - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What smoking meat has taught me about growing as a Christ-follower. By the Rev. Erik Hoeke, writer at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tips for Christian Tenderness - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What smoking meat has taught me about growing as a Christ-follower. By the Rev. Erik Hoeke, writer at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-02T13:30:28+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ptsblog\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ptsblog\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ptsblog\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f\"},\"headline\":\"Tips for Christian Tenderness\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-02T13:30:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":577,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Protestant Spirituality\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/\",\"name\":\"Tips for Christian Tenderness - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-02T13:30:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f\"},\"description\":\"What smoking meat has taught me about growing as a Christ-follower. By the Rev. Erik Hoeke, writer at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tips for Christian Tenderness\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\",\"description\":\"Grounded in Faith, Formed in Community\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f\",\"name\":\"ptsblog\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ptsblog\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pts.edu\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/ptsblog\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tips for Christian Tenderness - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","description":"What smoking meat has taught me about growing as a Christ-follower. By the Rev. Erik Hoeke, writer at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tips for Christian Tenderness - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","og_description":"What smoking meat has taught me about growing as a Christ-follower. By the Rev. Erik Hoeke, writer at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/","og_site_name":"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","article_published_time":"2022-08-02T13:30:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ptsblog","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ptsblog","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/"},"author":{"name":"ptsblog","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f"},"headline":"Tips for Christian Tenderness","datePublished":"2022-08-02T13:30:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/"},"wordCount":577,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Protestant Spirituality"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/","name":"Tips for Christian Tenderness - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2022-08-02T13:30:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f"},"description":"What smoking meat has taught me about growing as a Christ-follower. By the Rev. Erik Hoeke, writer at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/smoking-meat-and-discipleship\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tips for Christian Tenderness"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/","name":"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","description":"Grounded in Faith, Formed in Community","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f","name":"ptsblog","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ptsblog"},"url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/author\/ptsblog\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/z-grills-australia-pZyDC7BVN7s-unsplash-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4MvlM-2c2","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8434"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8623,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8434\/revisions\/8623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8434"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=8434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Similarly, it\u2019s important to pay close attention to our own spirituality. Are we continually warming to the Holy Spirit\u2019s guidance, or have we stalled (or worse, begun cooling off)? Are we noting how different environments\u2014the company we keep and the places we spend time in\u2014help or hinder our growth in Christ? We cannot always control the ambient temperature, but we can monitor our own internal temperature and adjust as needed to make ourselves more warm and tender-hearted every hour.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Like many men of a certain age, I\u2019ve recently taken up the hobby of smoking meat. With the gift of a large pellet smoker by my spouse and the recipes and coaching of my brother-in-law, I am in my second summer of preparing pulled pork, smoked chicken and salmon, and tender slices of brisket for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-8434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-protestant-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\r\n<\/a>Author: The Rev. Erik Hoeke<\/a> is a writer at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary<\/a> and an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church with 14 years of pastoral ministry experience in Southwestern Pennsylvania.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"