Plongez dans la liste complète des épisodes de Shifting Culture. Chaque épisode est catalogué accompagné de descriptions détaillées, ce qui facilite la recherche et l'exploration de sujets spécifiques. Suivez tous les épisodes de votre podcast préféré et ne manquez aucun contenu pertinent.
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Date
Titre
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01 Mar 2022
Ep. 44 Scott Rodin - Stewards in the Kingdom of God
00:52:33
In this episode Dr. Scott Rodin shares about having a one Kingdom mentality where all of life is God's and we are stewards of that life in His Kingdom. The conversation hits on this and topics of leadership, fundraising, organizational change, and culture impact.
Over the past thirty-eight years Scott Rodin has helped hundreds of organizations improve their effectiveness in leadership, fund development, strategic planning and board development. His work has impacted individuals, ministries and churches in the U.S., Canada, Middle East, Great Britain, China, Philippines and Australia.
Dr. Rodin is Senior Consultant/Chief Strategy Officer for The Focus Group. He also serves as a Senior Fellow of the Association of Biblical Higher Education and as board chair for ChinaSource.
Dr. Rodin holds Master of Theology and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Systematic Theology from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. He’s written over fourteen books and speaks regularly at conferences, retreats and professional development events.
Ep. 45 Carey Sims - Creating Space for Faith to Flourish
00:45:42
In this episode Carey Sims shares her journey towards embodying faith and helping others create space to hear from and discern the voice of God. From art to business to ministry and family, she helps create places for faith to be caught and lived out.
Carey Sims serves as director of The Center for Faith and Leadership (Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA) where she and her husband, Gannon, are training and equipping the next generation of leaders through faith formation and leadership development.
As the founder of Created Space (www.createdspace.org) Carey offers short courses on listening and discernment in a collaborative learning environment. Created Space is for business and ministry leaders on the edge of a pivot or transition who desire to discover next steps in the context of community.
An entrepreneur and pioneering ministry leader with 25 years of experience, Carey is particularly interested in the intersection between theology and economics and how the church can make social impact while proclaiming the gospel. A spiritual director and ICF certified coach, she delights in helping people achieve their goals and develop practices that deepen and enliven their friendship with God.
She holds the MBA from Regent University and the M.Div. from Duke University.
Ep. 46 Michael Carrion - Knowing our Communities, Surrendering Pain, and Finding Hope
00:51:14
In this episode Dr. Michael Carrion shares about how to engage our neighborhoods long term, empower the marginalized among us, and point to what is good news for the people in front of us.
Rev. Dr. Michael Carrion serves as the Senior Pastor and General Overseer of the Promised Land Covenant Churches located in the North and South Bronx. He also serves as the founding Chairman and Superintendent of the Bronx Academy of Promise K-8 Charter School in the Mott Haven section of the South Bronx and the Regional Coach for Church Planting and Development for the East Coast Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church,assisting with community and regional mapping, the discernment and assessment process of identifying and training new church planters in the NY/NJ areas.
Rev. Carrion has received national recognition and awards from Government, Community Based Organizations, Faith Based Organizations in several contexts throughout the Metro New York & New Jersey areas. Rev. Carrion was nominated and acknowledged as the Latino JSEC Community Champion for the poor – A United States Department of Labor achievement award for his civil rights efforts and community development contributions in bettering the Bronx community.
Serving as the VP of Church Planting and Leadership Development at CTC, Michael oversees the NYC team prayerfully and discerningly recruiting, training and resourcing church planters called to plant healthy missional churches in the five boroughs of NYC. Michael has successfully planted several churches and charter schools across the South Bronx. He is a social justice activist, community organizer who has been nationally recognized for his work among the poor across the city. Prior to working with CTC, Michael held appointments with the city of New York HRA/CAS and the Fedcap Group as the Senior Director of Workforce Development. As well as a prior role as the Deputy Director of Vocational Rehabilitation Services (VRS).
Rev. Carrion has been married to his wife Elizabeth for over 30 years. Pastor Mike and his wife love spending time together with their 5 adult children Michael, Matthew, Tirza, Joshua and Tiffany, 2 granddaughters, 1 grandson, son-in-law Demar, and 3 pitbull dogs.
Ep. 47 Jessica Schrock-Ringenberg - The Fruit of Patience in the Kingdom of God
00:51:44
In this episode, Jessica Schrock-Reingenberg talks about the importance of patience in the Kingdom of God. Patience was a distinctive of the early church that helped it thrive during the Roman Empire. She takes that seed and makes it practical for our daily lives.
Jessica is a pastor, professor, speaker, and business owner, but mostly an "APE." Currently she is the director for the Center for Anabaptist Leadership and Learning at Hesston College. She lives in Excelsior Springs, Missouri with her husband and three children.
In this episode we have a conversation with J.D. Payne around apostolic imagination, missions, and church planting.
J. D. Payne serves as professor of Christian Ministry at Samford University. Prior to this, he was the pastor for church multiplication with The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama. Before moving to Birmingham, he served for ten years with the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and as an Associate Professor of Church Planting and Evangelism in the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he also directed the Center for North American Missions and Church Planting.
Over the years, he has written numerous articles and reviews in the area of missions and evangelism and church growth.
He is the host of Strike the Match, a podcast that addresses missions, innovation, and leadership.
J. D. speaks frequently for churches, denominations, networks, and mission agencies/societies. Believing that every believer is supposed to be a “fruit-bearing” disciple in a local church, he is passionate about seeing the Body of Christ grow as local congregations work to carry out the Great Commission.
He is married to Sarah, a physician in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics with Christ Health Center in Birmingham, Alabama. They have three children: Hannah, Rachel, and Joel. He may be contacted at jd.payne@samford.edu
Ep. 49 Rowland Smith - Missional Living for Kingdom Flourishing
00:53:44
In this episode, Rowland Smith talks about missional living, contextualizing the gospel, micro church, and the future of the church. It's a great conversation that presents really good ideas to bring about Kingdom flourishing in neighborhoods and cities.
Rowland is National Director for Forge America Missional Training Network, where he gives vision and direction for Forge training and support of their hubs and partners in the United States. He also has a staff position at Pulpit Rock Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado where he directs missional discipleship and helps oversee The Pando Collective, a micro-church network launched and supported by their church community. Rowland has experience in church-planting, coaching churches in missional culture, and business-as-mission through a coffee shop he and his wife launched as a Kingdom presence in their city. He is a Doctoral Candidate and part-time faculty at Fuller Seminary in areas of missional theology and intercultural studies. Rowland has authored Life Out Loud: Joining Jesus Outside the Walls of the Church, and is the creator and general editor/curator for Red Skies: 10 Essential Conversations Exploring Our Future as the Church, both published through 100M Publishing. He and his wife Kitty Smith have four adult children, one grandchild and an active house with three dogs. They live at the edge of the Rocky Mountains, enjoying both urban, missional living and the outdoors. You can find out more about Rowland and keep up with his work at www.rowlandsmith.net.
Ep. 50 Mark DeYmaz - Spiritual, Social, and Financial Transformation
00:55:43
Mark DeYmaz talks about diversifying income streams for greater community impact, creating multi-ethnic teams and church, and incarnational missions.
A thought-leading writer and recognized champion of the Multiethnic Church Movement, Mark planted the Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas (mosaicchurch.net) in 2001 where he continues to serve as Directional Leader. In 2004, he co-founded the Mosaix Global Network (mosaix.info), with Dr. George Yancey, today serving as its president and convener of the triennial National Multi-ethnic Church Conference. In 2008, he launched Vine and Village (vineandvillage.org) and remains active on the board of this 501(c)(3) non-profit focused on the spiritual, social, and financial transformation of Little Rock's University District.
Mark has written seven books including his latest, The Coming Revolution in Church Economics (Baker Books, 2019); Disruption: Repurposing the Church to Redeem the Community (Thomas Nelson, 2017); and Multiethnic Conversations: an Eight Week Guide to Unity in Your Church (Wesleyan Publishing House, 2016), the first daily devotional, small group curriculum on the subject for people in the pews. His book, Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church (Jossey-Bass, 2007), was a finalist for a Christianity Today Book of the Year Award (2008) and for a Resource of the Year Award (2008) sponsored by Outreach magazine. Other works include, re:MIX: Transitioning Your Church to Living Color (Abingdon, 2016); Leading a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church (formerly Ethnic Blends; Zondervan, 2010, 2013), and the e-Book, Should Pastors Accept or Reject the Homogeneous Unit Principle? (Mosaix Global Network, 2011). In addition to books, he is a contributing editor for Outreach magazine where his column, "Mosaic" appears in each issue.
He and his wife, Linda, have been married for thirty-two years and reside in Little Rock, AR. Linda is the author of the certified best-seller, Mommy, Please Don't Cry: There Are No Tears in Heaven (Multnomah, 1996), an anointed resource providing hope and comfort for those who grieve the loss of a child. Mark and Linda have four adult children and three grandchildren.
In 2019, Mark launched an academic partnership with Wheaton College (wheaton.edu/mosaix) through which students seeking to earn an M.A. in Ministry Leadership with an emphasis on establishing healthy multiethnic and economically diverse, socially just, and financially sustainable churches. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Charlotte Campus) and at Phoenix Seminary, where he earned a D.Min. in 2007.
Ep. 51 David Garrison - Church Planting Movements Among Unreached People Groups
00:50:39
In this episode, David Garrison discusses the importance of identity and calling and leaving our hands open to following God's leading in our lives. He also dives into church planting movements, movements amongst Muslims, and reaching unreached people groups through global gateway cities.
David Garrison, PhD University of Chicago, is a pioneer in the understanding of Church Planting Movements among unreached people groups. He is the author of several books including "Church Planting Movements" and "A Wind in the House of Islam". Dr. Garrison serves as executive director of Global Gates, a ministry seeking to reach the ends of the earth through global gateway cities.
In this episode Steve Addison speaks about movements, disciple making, identity & calling, and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. As you listen, you will be inspired to be rooted in your identity and empowered to simply make disciples that multiply.
Steve Addison is a catalyst for movements that multiply disciple and churches, everywhere. He is an author, speaker, podcaster, and mentor to movement pioneers.
Steve began his research into Christian movements in the late 1980s while planting a church in Melbourne, Australia. He carried that interest into his Doctor of Ministry with Fuller Seminary.
Steve and Michelle live in Melbourne, Australia. They have four children and two and a half grandchildren.
Steve loves walking, historical novels, Shakespeare, anything written by G K Chesterton or C S Lewis, Sunday afternoon naps, watching Australia beat the Poms at cricket, and the Kiwis at Rugby and supporting the Collingwood Football Club.
Ep. 53 Denny Heiberg - Becoming Disciples of Jesus
00:47:48
In this episode, Denny Heiberg shares about his journey from running an institution to becoming a disciple maker that empowers others to become disciple makers. We talk about what it looks like to make Jesus Lord of everything in our life. We also discuss what it's like to disciple grandchildren.
Denny Heiberg is an elder in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church where he pastored Grace at Fort Clarke UMC in Gainesville, FL from 1994-2012. He currently serves with TMS Global as a member of their Ministry CoServe Group focusing upon Discipleship Training and Member Care. Denny also serves on The National Leadership Team as the Director of International Representatives with The Bonhoeffer Project, a discipleship initiative that trains leaders in the global Church to become disciple-making leaders. Denny graduated from Columbia International University with a BA in Biblical Studies and Christian Education. He also earned an MA in Biblical Studies, an M. Div., and a D.Min. from Asbury Seminary. Denny and his wife, Cindy, live in the Nashville, TN area where he serves in their local church developing disciples. His passion is mobilizing the next generations of leaders who will develop disciple-making cultures in their context of ministry.
Ep. 54 JR Woodward - Imitating Christ: Desire, Belonging, and the Powers
00:50:42
In this episode JR Woodward discusses the fruit of coaching, the importance of the spaces of belonging, and how the powers and principalities affect our imitation of Christ and effectiveness of discipleship.
JR Woodward has been passionately planting churches on the East and West Coast that value tight-knit community, life-forming discipleship, locally-rooted presence and boundary-crossing mission for over 30 years. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Manchester (UK), and a Masters of Art in Global Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the author of Creating a Missional Culture (IVP, 2012) and co-author of The Church as Movement (IVP, 2016). His coming book, The Scandal of Leadership: Unmasking the Powers of Domination in the Church, is expected to be released in the Fall of 2022. This book is based on his experience and Ph.D. research. He co-founded the Missio Alliance and currently serves as the National Director for the V3 Church Planting Movement. He is the co-founder of the Praxis Gathering, writes for numerous websites and journals, and serves on numerous boards. He loves to surf, travel, read, skateboard as well as meet new people. He enjoys photography and film and tries to attend the Sundance Film Festival whenever he can.
In this episode, Michael Frost shares about how the church can look more like Jesus, shuttling the sheep out of the pen, and the importance of knowing and applying contextual clues.
Michael Frost is an internationally recognised Australian missiologist and one of the leading voices in the missional church movement. His books are required reading in colleges and seminaries around the world and he is much sought after as an international conference speaker.
Since 1999, Dr Frost has been the founding director of the Tinsley Institute, a mission study centre located at Morling College in Sydney, Australia. He has also been an adjunct lecturer at various seminaries in the United States.
He is the author or editor of nineteen theological books, the best known of which are the popular and award-winning, The Shaping of Things to Come (2003), Exiles (2006), The Road to Missional (2011) and Surprise the World! (2016). Frost’s work has been translated into German, Korean, Swedish, Portuguese and Spanish.
For twelve years, he was the weekly religion columnist for the Manly Daily, and has had articles published in the Washington Post, The Tennessean, the Charlotte Observer, Le Monde, and other publications.
He was one of the founders of the Forge Mission Training Network and the founder of the missional Christian community, smallboatbigsea, based in Manly in Sydney’s north. He is also well known for his protests against Australia’s treatment of refugees, some of which have resulted in his arrest by the NSW police, as well as his advocacy for racial reconciliation, foreign aid, and gender equality.
Ep. 56 Oneya Okuwabi - Striving for Equity in the Church
00:51:16
Oneya Okuwabi talks about race, gender, and power dynamics in the church and leads us to a path that will reveal equity to the body of Christ.
Oneya Fennell Okuwobi is a sociologist at Rice University’s Reigion and Public Life Program. Her research interrogates how diverse organizations impact racial inequality. She serves as teaching pastor at 21st Century Church, a church plant in Cincinnati, OH. She is also co-author of Multiethnic Conversations: An Eight-Week Journey toward Unity in Your Church, a personal devotional and small group study on multiethnic life and church designed for people in the pews. Oneya is a graduate of the University of Virginia (B.A., Economics), Regent University (M. Div., Practical Theology), and The Ohio State University (Ph.D. Sociology). She is married to Dele Okuwobi and they have one daughter, Cadence. You can find Oneya @Ookuwobi or Oneyaokuwobi.com.
Ep. 57 Tod Bolsinger - Leading Towards Adaptive Change
00:47:08
In this episode, Tod Bolsinger helps us navigate through an unknown future with leadership that brings adaptive change and transforms the world around us. With humility and the posture of a learner, Tod inspires us to think differently around what it's going to take to navigate the world ahead of us.
Tod Bolsinger is Co-Founder and Principal of AE Sloan Leadership and the Exec Director of the Church Leadership Institute at Fuller Seminary.
Ep. 58 David Broodryk - Faith and Obedience to God that Catalyzes Movement
00:52:51
In this episode, David Broodryk shares his story and what it takes to catalyze movement and to have faith that is obedient to God despite the consequences.
David has been pioneering God Movements and mentoring leaders on every continent for over 30 years.
The result has been thousands of new churches and disciples that bring life-giving transformation to their communities.
He currently serves as the Strategic Director for Accelerate Global, Director of Southern Africa and Global Urban Ministry for New Generations and Executive Director of Twofoureight in South Africa.
David is married to Michelle and they have two adult children. He is a bad golfer, average photographer and self-confessed coffee addict. David’s primary role is coaching leaders to launch, lead and multiply God Movements globally.
Ep. 59 Dennae Pierre - Solidarity Across Cultural Boundaries
00:47:30
In this episode, Dennae Pierre talks about solidarity in the church, engaging cross-culturally, and radical obedience to Jesus.
Dennae Pierre is one of the co-Directors for the Crete Collective and leads the Surge Network in Arizona. She also serves as one of the Co-Directors for City to City North America. She has her MA from Covenant Theological Seminary and DMin from Western Theological Seminary (Holland, Michigan). Dennae self-published her first book in 2020– Healing Prayers to Resist a Violent World. She is married to Vermon, the lead pastor at Roosevelt Community Church, a multiethnic church in downtown Phoenix. Dennae and Vermon have five children.
In this episode, Talasi Guerra talks about what it looks like to pursue joy, cultivating joy in the lives of children, and how we can become like Jesus.
Talasi Guerra is a Christian communicator who is passionate about infusing Jesus into her everyday life and empowering others to do the same. Author of Joy Like a Mountain and The 7-Day Joy Challenge, she lives to communicate biblical principles in relevant ways that inspire, challenge, and awaken others to live out their God-given purpose. In 2007, Talasi experienced a radical life-change when God brought her through a period of healing from her long battle with anorexia and depression. Since that time, Talasi has been committed to bringing light and life to the world around her by sharing her story, speaking truth, and offering hope to others. Talasi and her husband Ryan reside in Western Canada along with their daughters, Avra and Katana, and their massive strategy board game collection. Connect with Talasi on Instagram: @talasiguerra.
In this episode Don Waybright talks about how abiding with Jesus propels and sustains movements, Jesus movements breaking out in prisons, and applying principles of movement that is working all over the world to the West.
Don Waybright is a seasoned Church Planting Movement practitioner and Great Commission leader. While serving 20 years as Mission Pastor of large mega-churches Don pioneered the Strategy Coordinator Church role (https://www.frontierventures.org/blog/7-characteristics-of-the-ideal-strategic-coordinator) with the church serving as non-residential missionary to unreached people groups, and was an early adopter of the No Place Left Multiplication vision https://noplaceleft.net. Don has a variety of experience and relationships in CPM/DMM contexts around the world, and now serves as Global Strategy Leader for the movement organization Reach the Rest www.reachtherest.org
Don is a distinguished graduate of John Brown University and of Fuller Theological Seminary. Don and his wife Theresa are passionate about the church and equipping the global church to multiply the Kingdom. They have three children, and three grandchildren all living in the Houston Area.
Ep. 62 Anne Grizzle - Listening to God and to One Another
00:52:00
In this episode Anne Grizzle shares about the importance of listening to God and to one another. With an intentional practice of spending time with God, Anne shares how that time is crucial to the sustaining of her soul and ministry.
Anne Grizzle is chaplain at Boys Home of Virginia, mentors with Leighton Ford Ministries and leads retreats on spiritual direction and Strength for the Journey. She and her husband co-chair World Visions Every Last One campaign ending extreme poverty.
Ep. 63 Brian Zahnd - The Beautiful, Radical Love of Jesus
00:53:58
In this episode Brian Zahnd talks about the radical love of Jesus and touches on deconstruction, love casting out fear, unity of the body, Dostoevsky, the Lord of the Rings, and more.
Brian Zahnd is the founder and lead pastor of Word of Life Church, a non-denominational Christian congregation in Saint Joseph, Missouri. Brian and his wife, Peri, founded the church in 1981. Brian is also the author of several books, including, When Everything's on Fire, Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God, Water to Wine, A Farewell To Mars, Beauty Will Save the World, and Unconditional?: The Call of Jesus to Radical Forgiveness.
In this episode, Gannon Sims talks about the church at and around home, marriage as a church plant, and he helps us take account of what we are doing and gives practical ways to invite Jesus into it.
Gannon Sims is a founding director on the US Fresh Expressions Team. His book Bringing Church Home shares the story of his journey of planting a network of fresh expressions of church rooted in homes and households.
In this episode, Brian Heasley shares about prayer and mission and gives practical ideas and stories on how to engage in both a daily time with God and working out your faith in community.
Brian Heasley serves as 24-7 Prayer’s International Prayer Director, traveling extensively around the globe inspiring and teaching on prayer and mission. He is a global ambassador for Thy Kingdom Come, an initiative of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Brian is the author of 'Be Still. A simple guide to quiet times' and has previously written 'Gatecrashing' The story of 24-7 Prayer in Ibiza. He is also a trustee of Christian Solidarity Worldwide a charity working in the area of Freedom of Religious Belief.
Brian, and his wife Tracy, are long term trailblazers within the 24-7 prayer movement with years of experience in local church and pioneer missions. They pioneered the work of 24-7 Prayer in the party area of Ibiza, Spain, where they lived for 8 years, developing rhythms of prayer and mission and with a heart to bring about change in a place the British press once described as Sodom and Gomorrah. They are passionate about prayer, mission and justice with a real heart for leading in a way that is both sustainable and life giving rooted in a rhythm of devotional and prayerful responsiveness. They have been married over 27 years and have two adult sons.
Ep. 66 Mark Scandrette - The Ninefold Path of Jesus
00:45:18
In this episode, Mark Scandrette talks about what it look like to practically live out the teachings of Jesus in our own personal context, within community, and with an outward orientation toward our neighborhood and culture.
Mark Scandrette is an internationally recognized specialist in practical Christian spirituality. He is the founding director of ReIMAGINE: A Center for Integral Christian Practice, where he leads an annual series of retreats, workshops and projects designed to help participants apply spiritual wisdom to everyday life. His multidisciplinary studies in applied psychology, family health and theology have shaped his approach to learning and transformation. A sought after voice for creative, radical and embodied faith practices, he frequently speaks at universities, churches and conferences nationally and internationally and also serves as adjunct faculty in the doctoral program at Fuller Theological Seminary. His most recent books include The Ninefold Path of Jesus, FREE, Practicing the Way of Jesus and Belonging and Becoming: Creating A Thriving Family Culture. Mark lives with his wife Lisa and their three young adult children in an old Victorian in San Francisco’s Mission District. He loves walking city streets and discovering beauty in unexpected places. He is passionately engaged in sustainability practices and efforts to create safe neighborhoods for all people. www.markscandrette.com
Ep. 67 Keri Ladouceur - Joining Jesus in the Redemption and Restoration of All Things
00:46:42
In this episode Keri Ladouceur talks about the church pacing culture, truly embodying Jesus, giving voice to the marginalized, and the hope that comes in facing reality in the current moment we are in.
Keri Ladouceur serves a pastor in Naperville, Illinois and is founder and lead coach at New Ground Network. As a coach, Keri partners with pastors and denominational leaders, co-conspiring with them to seize their unique vision, develop their team's capacity, and mobilize people for mission. Her coaching was shaped as a former marketplace executive and senior leader at Willow Creek. She has more than sixteen years experience coaching pastors, non-profit, and marketplace leaders. The thrill of launching more than 90 missional communities and having a front row seat to the missional engagement of 100s of churches is exhilarating to her. She is an associate with the exponential team- teaching at conferences and creating leadership resources- most recently her book "Together as a Team". Her newest project is a podcast called A Third Way exploring the tension of following Jesus and the church's invitation to pace culture. She recently served as chair of the board for a global peacemaking organization, and is wrapping up thesis writing for a Master of Arts in New Testament from Northern Seminary. Keri longs to activate the people of God to join Christ in the redemption and restoration of all things.
Ep. 68 Bree Mills - Jesus in the Midst of Microchurches
00:51:47
In this episode Bree Mills talks about microchurches, psychological safety, faithfulness in the small things, meeting the needs of the community, and asking great questions.
Bree is an ordained Anglican minister, a director of Micro Churches Australia, and a doctoral student in the area of Missional Leadership, focusing on innovative leadership in the Australian context. Until the end of 2020, she was Senior Associate Minister at Glen Waverley Anglican Church in Melbourne where she pioneered a network of missional communities alongside a contemporary Anglican Church. Now, along with her husband and kids, they are part of a new micro church network church plant in Melbourne and help lead a community called The Village. Bree has completed a Masters of Missional Leadership, focusing on missional culture change in existing churches. Bree is passionate about spiritual formation, catalyzing change, raising leaders, and contextualized mission. She loves to read, wakeboard, and go for long walks in new places, preferably near the ocean!
Ep. 69 Jamie Winship - Living into Your True Identity
00:52:38
In this episode Jamie Winship shares from his years of experience working with people around the world. He shares how we can exchange the lies brought on by fear, guilt, and shame for your true identity - bringing you to a place where you can hear from God directly about who you truly are.
Jamie Winship has decades of experience bringing peaceful solutions to some of the world’s highest conflict areas. After a distinguished career in law enforcement in the metro Washington DC area, Jamie earned an MA in English and developed a unique process of identity transformation that is the key to resolving inner conflict and acquiring new levels of learning and creativity. His unconventional efforts to bring about societal and racial reconciliation led him to Indonesia, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Israel, and back to the US. Jamie has worked with leaders in professional sports, business, education, law enforcement, government, non-profit and other sectors. Jamie and his wife, Donna, are co-founders of Identity Exchange and its corporate arm, Identity Method, providing training and consulting on the power of living fearlessly in your true identity. Jamie's new book, Living Fearless, will is available wherever books and ebooks are sold. For more information and resources visit us at identityexchange.com and follow @identityexchange.
In this episode Andrew Root talks about waiting for God to act, sharing stories of community encounter, the importance of prayer, and reclaiming resonance in the accelerated age we live in.
Andrew Root, PhD (Princeton Theological Seminary) is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary. He is most recently the author of four volume Ministry in a Secular Age series (Churches and the Crisis of Decline, The Congregation in a Secular Age, The Pastor in a Secular Age, and Faith Formation in a Secular Age), and The End of Youth Ministry?. He has also authored Christopraxis: A Practical Theology of the Cross (Fortress, 2014) and Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker (Baker, 2014). Root puts together theology and storytelling to explore how ministry leads us into encounter with divine action. His book The Relational Pastor(IVP, 2013) as well as a four book series with Zondervan called A Theological Journey Through Youth Ministry (titles include Taking Theology to Youth Ministry, Taking the Cross to Youth Ministry, Unpacking Scripture in Youth Ministry, and Unlocking Mission and Eschatology in Youth Ministry) break new ground in this direction. In 2012 his book The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry (with Kenda Creasy Dean, IVP, 2011) was Christianity Today Book of Merit. He has written a number of other books on ministry and theology such as The Children of Divorce: The Loss of Family as the Loss of Being (Baker Academic, 2010), The Promise of Despair (Abingdon, 2010), Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry: From a Strategy of Influence to a Theology of Incarnation (IVP, 2007) and Relationships Unfiltered (Zondervan/YS, 2009). Andy has worked in congregations, parachurch ministries, and social service programs. He lives in St. Paul with his wife Kara, two children, Owen and Maisy, and their dog. When not reading, writing, or teaching, Andy spends far too much time watching TV and movies.
Ep. 70 Tori Hope Petersen - Finding Faith and Family through Foster Care
00:49:07
In this episode Tori Hope Petersen shares her story. Spending years in the foster care system, Tori finds a community and a God that pursued her well, gave her opportunities, and instilled hope for a different outcome. Tori shares about finding a God that loved her like a good Father and how she started identifying as a beloved child of God.
Tori is a former foster youth letting her Abba be known. After an adverse childhood, Tori has overcome the odds. Now she is a leading advocate for vulnerable youth and families, a sought out speaker, and influential social entrepreneur. In 2020, she founded the Beloved Initiative to grant people who are often unseen and unheard, opportunities to see that the worst parts of their lives can be used for Good — to glorify God.
Tori has been featured by Child Welfare Gateway, Proverbs 31 Woman, Global Leadership Network,the National Council for Adoption and many other platforms educating the child welfare community and beyond. Tori has presented policy recommendations to White House Policy Staffers and congressmen and women on how to improve the foster care system. In August of 2022, Tori’s book “Fostered” will be published through B&H. You can pre-order it now!
A leading voice in child welfare, Tori is a reminder to have empathy and understanding for those who are different than us as she leads a life of genuine compassion! Her story is one of hope and points to the work of God in her life, while showing others what God can do in their lives!
In this episode Mark Baker discusses his latest book, Centered-Set Church and helps us discover how we can be a community oriented to and oriented around Jesus at the center.
Mark Baker is Professor of Mission and Theology at Fresno Pacific Biblical. He previously was a missionary in Honduras for ten years and a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Syracuse University for three years. He continues ministry involvement in Latin America through regular visits. Since 2008 he has led a weekly Bible study at the Fresno County Jail. He has written a number of books in English and Spanish, including, Recovering the Scandal of the Cross: Atonement in New Testament and Contemporary Contexts, Ministering in Honor-Shame Cultures: Biblical Foundations and Practical Essentials, and Centered-Set Church: Discipleship and Community Without Judgmentalism.
In this episode Mandy Smith shares about what it takes to have a more childlike faith, rest, western cultural baggage that we need to get rid of, and a proper use of power.
In this episode Dr. George Yancey shares about his latest book Beyond Racial Division and gives a unifying vision of race relations that brings in collaborative conversations and mutual accountability.
Dr. George Yancey is a Professor of Institute for Studies of Religion and Sociology at Baylor University. He has published several research articles on the topics of institutional racial diversity, racial identity, atheists, cultural progressives, academic bias and anti-Christian hostility. His books include Beyond Racial Gridlock (InterVarsity Press) a Christian book which articulates a mutual obligations approach to racial issues, and, with Michael Emerson, Transcending Racial Barriers (Oxford University Press) an academic book that articulates a mutual obligations approach and Beyond Racial Division (InterVarsity Press) that examines the use of collaborative conversations to reduce racial tensions.
Ep. 75 Paul Hoffman - Reconciliation and Unity in a Divided World
00:54:35
In this episode Paul Hoffman talks about what it looks like to engage in reconciliation and unity efforts within the church in this divided world that we live in.
Paul has served as the lead pastor of Evangelical Friends Church of Newport, Rhode Island, since 2007. His life’s mission is “contending for reconciliation, unity, and revival.” He is a member of the Oversight Board for the Evangelical Friends Church–Eastern Region and active in the Evangelical Homiletics Society. Paul is a recognized scholar and leader in the area of racial reconciliation and participates in various prayer and unity movements in the United States and abroad. Paul has visited, lived in, studied in, or ministered in thirty-three countries on four continents.
Paul is a graduate of Gordon College (BA, Biblical and Theological Studies, 2000) and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (MDiv, 2003). He earned his PhD in Practical Theology at the University of Manchester, UK, in 2017. His thesis examined Tim Keller’s urban missiology. Paul’s work has appeared in publications such as www.churchleaders.com, Influence Magazine, Preaching Magazine, and the Journal of the Evangelical Missiological Society. He is the author of Reconciling Places: How to Bridge the Chasms in Our Communities and co-author of Preaching to a Divided Nation: A Seven-Step Model for Promoting Reconciliation and Unity.
Paul has been married to his lovely wife, Autumn, for more than twenty-three years and has two wonderful sons, Landon and Kelan. In his free time, Paul enjoys reading, traveling, hanging out with his family at the beach, harvesting sea glass, playing tennis, and watching English Premier League soccer.
Ep. 76 Simon & Ceri Harris - Culture Shifts Towards Missional Discipleship
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In this episode Simon & Ceri Harris share their story of creating change and shifting culture towards missional discipleship where every believer plays a part. They share deep insights from their wealth of experience.
Alongside nearly 30 years in local church leadership at Burlington Church, Ceri & Simon work with Catalyse Change and the 5Q collective, training and coaching leaders and churches to release missional disciples and tap into the latent potential that exists in the church through a rediscovery of the gift of APEST.
Ceri also works as an Executive Coach working in the marketplace, charity sector, alongside church leaders and church teams. As the lead for Accessible Prophecy in the UK, she also coaches and trains churches in hearing God’s voice and building healthy prophetic cultures.
Ep. 77 David Zahl - The Key to a Gracious View of Others and Yourself
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In this episode David Zahl talks about his latest book Low Anthropology and we have a discussion around grace, humility, forgiveness, self-centeredness, self righteousness, parenting, and more.
David Zahl is the founder and director of Mockingbird Ministries, editor-in-chief of the Mockingbird website (www.mbird.com), and co-host of The Mockingcast. He and his family live in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he also serves on the staff of Christ Episcopal Church, supervising their adult education and ministry to college students. Zahl is the author of Seculosity: How Career, Parenting, Technology, Food, Politics, and Romance Became Our New Religion and What To Do About It and coauthor of Law and Gospel: A Theology for Sinners (and Saints). His most recent book, Low Anthropology: The Unlikely Key to a Gracious View of Others (and Yourself) came out in Sept 2022 from Brazos Press. His writing has been featured in The Washington Post, Christianity Today, and The Guardian, among other venues.
Ep. 78 David Fitch - The Presence and Power of Jesus
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In this episode David Fitch talks about the importance of the table - gathering, eating, ministering, and sharing together. We also talk about the presence and power of Jesus and being people of presence in any place we are at.
David Fitch is B. R. Lindner Chair of Evangelical Theology at Northern Seminary Chicago, IL. He is also the founding pastor of Life on the Vine Christian Community, a missional church in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago. He coaches a network of church plants in the C&MA linked to Life on the Vine. He writes on the issues the local church must face in Mission including cultural engagement, leadership and theology and has lectured and presented on these topics at many seminaries, graduate schools, denominational gatherings and conferences.
In this episode Craig Greenfield shares his story living in the slums of Cambodia, raising indigenous leaders from the beginning, finding our way as missionaries, and how the five-fold applies in cross-cultural work.
Craig is the founder and director of Alongsiders International - a fast-growing movement mobilizing and equipping thousands of young Christians in 25 countries to walk alongside those who walk alone - orphans and vulnerable children in their own communities.
During more than 20 years living and ministering in slums and inner cities in Asia and North America, Craig has established a number of initiatives to care for vulnerable kids and orphans, as well as formed Christian communities for those marginalized by society.
He is the author of Urban Halo, and Subversive Jesus. His latest book is Subversive Mission: serving as outsiders in a world of need.
Ep. 80 Andrew Arndt - When You Have God, You Have Everything
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In this episode Andrew Arndt talks about the wisdom learned from his latest book Streams in the Wasteland: Finding Spiritual Renewal with the Desert Fathers and Mothers. We also have a great conversation around prayer, having everything you need with God, and the beauty of relationships.
Andrew Arndt is the Lead Pastor of New Life East (one of seven congregations of New Life Church in Colorado Springs), where he also hosts the Essential Church podcast, a weekly conversation designed to strengthen the thinking of church and ministry leaders. Prior to joining New Life’s team, he served as Lead Pastor of Bloom Church: a neo-monastic, charismatic, liturgical, justice-driven network of house churches in Denver. He received his MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, is working on his Doctor of Ministry at Western Theological Seminary, and has written for Missio Alliance, Patheos, The Other Journal, and Mere Orthodoxy. He lives in the Springs with his wife Mandi and their four kids.
Ep. 81 Lee Wood - Obedience to Jesus No Matter the Cost
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In this episode Lee Wood talks about what it takes to ignite and sustain a movement to Jesus, lessons learned through the mistakes he made, and sustained intimacy with Jesus. Go deep. God will take care of the breadth.
Lee Wood is the Founder and initial catalyst of 1Body Church, as well as a missionary and Apostolic leader with a world vision to launch disciple-multiplying movements until the whole world knows Jesus. He leads and mentors key leaders in launching small house churches to spread the Gospel, starting in the smallest expression in his home in Tampa and eventually across the whole world. This aligns with his philosophy of “dream big, work small”. Lee is married to Stacy, is the father of five and grandfather of five.
In this episode Fouad Masri shares insights and tips on sharing Jesus with Muslims from his years of experience. More Muslims have come to know and love Jesus in the past twenty years than the previous 1400 years combined. It's a great time to share the love of Jesus with Muslims.
Author and lecturer Fouad Masri was born and raised in the war zone of Beirut, Lebanon. As a third generation ordained pastor, he has a passion for sharing the love of Christ with Muslims and has been reaching out to Muslims.
In 1993, he founded Crescent Project to nurture transformational relationships between Christians and Muslims and to rally the Church to reach out to Muslims to share the Good News of Christ.
Since then, through his work, more than 321,000 Christians have been trained to sensitively and purposefully share their faith with Muslims through many training experiences, including Bridges One-Day and Sahara Challenge. He has served as a guest instructor at several universities and Christian ministries and has been featured in several media publications including Christianity Today, Newsweek, and Mission Network News. He has appeared on CBN, TBN, the Janet Parshall Show, and Prime Time America.
He is the producer and teacher in the DVD study, Bridges: Christians Connecting with Muslims. In Bridges, he further exposes Christians to the urgent need for a deeper understanding about Islam and Muslims.
Fouad has authored 11 books including Outreach Magazine’s 2015 Cross Cultural Resource of the Year Connecting with Muslims: A Guide to Communicating Effectively. He holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communication and a master’s degree in Islamic Studies. Fouad lives in Franklin, Tennessee, where he directs the ministry of Crescent Project.
Ep. 83 Julian C. Adams - The Kingdom of God Breaking In
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In this episode Julian Adams shares about the prophetic, hearing God's voice, speaking hope, joining God in His mission to make all things new, and our place and role in the Kingdom of God.
Julian Adams is an author, pastor, and internationally recognized prophet. His mission is to help ordinary people discover God's preferred future for their lives.
As a director of Julian C Adams Ministry, he resource people through creative media, events, and mentorship.
He's also the author of Terra Nova : Fulfilling Your Call to Redeem the Earth and Make All Things New. His online course, Vox Dei, has helped hundreds of people confidently communicate God's heart, step out in greater accuracy in the prophetic.
Originally from Cape Town, South Africa, he now resides in Boston, Massachusetts, with his wife, Katia, and two busy children. Together, they lead The Table Boston Church, a community in the heart of the city.
Ep. 84 Michelle Ferrigno Warren - Stepping into Kingdom Justice
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In this episode, Michelle Ferrigno Warren talks about her latest book Join the Resistance, Kingdom justice, our role as outsiders with marginalized communities, and partnering with God and others in the work.
Michelle Ferrigno Warren is the president and CEO of Virago Strategies, a consulting group that provides strategic direction and project management for civic engagement campaigns alongside communities impacted by racial and economic injustice. She helped found Open Door Ministries, a community development 501(c)(3) corporation in downtown Denver, to address poverty, addiction, and homelessness through social programs.
With policy expertise in economic justice and human service issues, she has served as advocacy and strategic engagement director for the Christian Community Development Association and done coalition work with the National Immigration Forum. Warren is a senior fellow with the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Institute and adjunct faculty at Denver Seminary. She and her husband live in Denver's Westside neighborhood and have three adult children. She is the author of The Power of Proximity.
In this episode, Dr. Jim Wilder discusses topics and themes from his latest book Escaping Enemy Mode. It's an important discussion as we live in a world of increasing us vs. them mentality. Listen in and get inspired to refriend others and live a life with joy and attachment to God.
Dr. Jim Wilder has been training leaders and counselors for over 30 years on five continents. Jim grew up in South America and is bilingual (English/Spanish). He is the author of nineteen books with a strong focus on maturity and relational skills. His coauthored book, Living from the Heart Jesus Gave You, has sold over 100,000 copies and is printed in eleven languages. Wilder has published numerous articles and developed four sets of video and relational leadership training. Dr. Wilder has served as a guest lecturer at Fuller Seminary, Biola, Talbot Seminary, Point Loma University, Montreat College, Tyndale Seminary and elsewhere.
Dr. Jim Wilder has extensive clinical counseling experience and is the chief neurotheologian of Life Model Works, a nonprofit working at the intersection of theology and brain science. Life Model Works builds on the fifty-year legacy of Shepherd’s House, which began in the 1970s as a ministry to street kids in Van Nuys, California.
In those early days, Jim worked with the team of volunteer counselors and Fuller Seminary faculty to build a counseling center to help broken people recover from negative habits, addictions, abuse, and trauma. By the 1990s, Jim was Assistant Director and later Executive Director of Shepherd’s House, helping hundreds of pastors and churches with their toughest counseling cases.
In this episode Sharon Hodde Miller talks about control and anxiety, burnout, co-leading with your spouse, and stepping into the agency that God has given us.
Sharon Hodde Miller, PhD, is teaching pastor at Bright City Church in Durham, North Carolina, which she cofounded with her husband, Ike. The author of Free of Me,Nice, and The Cost of Control. Miller has blogged at SheWorships.com for over ten years, has been a regular contributor to Propel, Her.meneutics, and She Reads Truth, and has written for Relevant, Christianity Today, (in)courage, and many other publications and blogs. She lives with Ike and their three children in Durham, North Carolina.
Ep. 88 Justin A. Bailey - Engaging Culture with Curiosity
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In this episode Justin A. Bailey uses his latest book Interpreting Your World: Five Lenses for Engaging Theology and Culture as a jumping off point to talk about engaging culture with curiosity, vulnerability, and a posture that seeks to understand before casting judgment.
Justin Ariel Bailey is a professor, author, and former pastor who works at the intersection of Christian theology, culture, and ministry. He is the host of the In All Things podcast and writes regularly for their online journal. His written work has also appeared in Christianity Today, The Banner, Fare Forward, and the Reformed Journal, as well as academic publications such as Christian Scholars Review and the International Journal of Public Theology. He is the author of the book Reimagining Apologetics (IVP Academic, 2020) and most recently Interpreting Your World: Five Lenses for Engaging Theology and Culture (Baker Academic, 2022).
In this episode Dr. A.J. Swoboda talks about being formed like Jesus, how life comes out of our differences, sabbath keeping as a discipline, changing our mind as a fundamental truth of who we are as we are becoming more like Jesus, and a so much more.
Dr. A. J. Swoboda (PhD, Birmingham) is a pastor, professor, and writer. For nearly ten years, he served as a college pastor on the campus of the University of Oregon. Then, for another decade, planted and pastored a missional church in urban Portland, Oregon called Theophilus that continues to worship to this day. Currently, he is the Associate Professor of Bible, theology, and world Christianity at Bushnell University. As well, he leads a Doctor of Ministry program around the Holy Spirit and Leadership at Fuller Seminary and has taught at Multnomah University, London School of Theology, LIFE Pacific, and Southeastern University. He is the author of ten books, including Redeeming How we Talk (Moody), After Doubt (Brazos), and the award-winning Subversive Sabbath (Brazos). As well, he is the co-host of the “Slow Theology” podcast with New Testament scholar Dr. Nijay Gupta that reaches thousands each week. He loves Jesus deeply, has been married to Quinn for eighteen years, and is the proud father of one son, Elliot. They live and work on an urban farm in Eugene, Oregon.
Ep. 90 Darren Duerksen - Insider Followers of Jesus
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In this episode Darren Duerksen discusses what he learned while researching his latest book Christ-Followers in Other Religions, what we can learn from Christ followers in various contexts, and how we can seek beauty in a culture and a place that leads to God.
Darren Duerksen (PhD Fuller Theological Seminary) is Associate Professor and director of Intercultural and Religious Studies at Fresno Pacific University in Fresno, California. Prior to teaching in higher ed he served for over 8 years in various ministry/mission related-roles in England and the U.S., and for 6 years in leadership development and church-planting work with the Mennonite Brethren church in India. In addition to his interest in international Christian work he also teaches on and helps develop inter-religious collaborations and initiatives in the U.S. His research and publications have focused on inter-religious witness, ecclesiology, and issues regarding Christian witness in India. He is the co-author with William Dyrness of Seeking Church: Emerging Witnesses to the Kingdom (InterVarsity Academic, 2019), and author of Christ-Followers in Other Religions: The Global Witness of Insider Movements (Regnum Press, 2022).
Ep. 91 Jen Pollock Michel - Receiving the Gift of Time
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In this episode Jen Pollock Michel shares about time anxiety, productivity, waiting actively, rest, a rule of life, and receiving the good gifts that God has given us.
Jen Pollock Michel is an award-winning author and speaker. Her fifth book, In Good Time: Reimagining Productivity, Resisting Hurry, and Practicing Peace, releases in December 2022. She holds a B.A. in French from Wheaton College, an M.A. in Literature from Northwestern University, and is working to complete an M.F.A from Seattle Pacific University. You can follow Jen on Twitter and Instagram @jenpmichel and subscribe to her Monday letters at jenpollockmichel.com. Jen lives in Cincinnati with her family.
Ep. 92 Christopher Watkin - How the Bible's Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture
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In this episode Christopher Watkin shares about analyzing culture, language and thought, how the Bible's story helps us view and critique culture and the world we live in and we get practical examples on how to do it well.
Christopher Watkin holds a PhD in modern French philosophy from Cambridge University. After lecturing at Cambridge he moved to Australia and now teaches at Monash University in Melbourne, where he lives with his wife Alison and their two children. He is the author of ten books, including Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible's Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture (Zondervan Academic, 2022), and Thinking Through Creation: Genesis 1 and 2 as Tools of Cultural Critique (P&R, 2017), as well as volumes on Derrida (2017), Foucault (2018) and Deleuze (2021) in the P&R ‘Great Thinkers’ series. He blogs at christopherwatkin.com and thinkingthroughthebible.com, and you can find him on Twitter @DrChrisWatkin.
Ep. 93 Jonathan Hardy - Overcoming Fear and Stepping Into Opportunities
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In this episode Jonathan Hardy talks about his book Arrow Striker, oververcoming fear, and being people that listens and looks around us, so that we can step into the opportunities that God has given us.
Jonathan Hardy has a passion to help the local church reach their community so more people can experience all that God has for them.
Jonathan has been in full-time ministry for fifteen years. His journey began in 2007 when he became a staff pastor at James River Church in Springfield, Missouri. He served on the executive leadership team, overseeing the church’s discipleship ministries. This included their extensive small groups ministry, men’s ministry, water baptism, altar ministry, and discipleship for new Christians. He also served as the founding director for the Stronger Men’s Conference, which grew to 3,000 attendees under Jonathan's leadership.
Jonathan launched from James River Church in September 2013 to help plant Summit Park Church in Kansas City, Missouri. He served on the leadership team at Summit Park for six and half years. There he oversaw the church’s budget, finances, and business-related operations. Jonathan’s personal experience of leaving a greatly desired ministry role (at James River) and giving up everything to fulfill God’s leading (to plant Summit Park) has positioned him to understand many of the challenges people face when it comes to obeying God’s leading in their lives.
While serving at Summit Park, Jonathan also co-founded Leaders.Church with his father, Dick Hardy. Leaders.Church is an online streaming service to help pastors master their ministry and leadership skills and thereby overcome barriers to church growth and participation. Through this paid monthly membership program, they’ve helped more than 2,500 pastors and church leaders around the world improve their personal effectiveness, and recruit and motivate people to get off the sidelines and use their God-given gifts to contribute to the body of Christ.
As of January 2020, Jonathan began putting his full-time attention toward Leaders.Church and he began writing his first book that launched in October 2022 entitled, Arrow Striker: Live with Purpose and Leave an Eternal Impact…Every Single Day. In Arrow Striker, Jonathan challenges readers to be more intentional each day to make an even bigger impact on the world around them and to live out their faith with passion and enthusiasm.
Jonathan has a B.A. in Church Administration from Central Bible College and a M.A. in Christian Ministries from the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. Jonathan is married to Ashley and has three young children, Emery, Axel and Fia.
In this episode Josh Buck talks about his latest book Everyday Activism, Kingdom flourishing, and engaging in social change and the good of others in a way that is practical and sustainable.
J.W. Buck is a church planter, filmmaker, teacher, and faith-based entrepreneur. With undergraduate degrees in biblical studies and ministry, J.W. has his PhD in intercultural studies, with a focus on the problem of racial violence. He is a cofounder of Pax, a Christian organization designed to inspire and equip the next generation through slow, beautiful, Jesus-centered content created by people of color. He and his wife, Sarswatie, live in Tucson, Arizona, with their three children.
Ep. 95 Beth Paz - A God who Identifies With Us in our Grief and Suffering
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In this episode Beth Paz talks about incarnational work, her journey with Jesus and moments of changing her mind. She shares her journey through the valley of grief and desolation during her divorce and finding that Jesus - the one who suffered - was with her through it all.
Beth has dedicated her life to mobilizing young people to be the next generation of leaders to live out the Gospel and join God’s mission of justice and righteousness.
Growing up in the state of Washington, Beth wanted to be an international missionary, but God redirected her to pursue inner-city neighborhood transformation in Fresno, California. She invested 11 years in leadership development and incarnational ministry with InterVarsity’s Fresno Institute for Urban Leadership, and served 3 years as the Director of High School Ministry at First Presbyterian Church in Fresno, CA.
Beth has traveled to over 35 countries and served as a North American delegate for the Lausanne Movement’s 2016 Younger Leaders Gathering in Jakarta, Indonesia. She is a passionate communicator of the Gospel and preaches at conferences and churches across the United States and internationally. During her time at Fuller Theological Seminary (MDIV 2019) she was the 2018 recipient of the Hooper – Keefe Preaching Award and the prestigious Parish Pulpit Fellowship (2019-2020) where she lived internationally in Guatemala and Albania.
Beth co-founded The PreacHER Academy in 2021, an online synchronous Seminary-level learning community for developing female preachers. Its international participants are empowered for the pulpit in communication of the Gospel. Beth is thriving in singleness post-divorce, she loves CrossFit, reading and cross-cultural community. She pastors at Lake Avenue Church and lives in Pasadena, where she continues to cultivate and build the Kingdom of God.
Ep. 96 Lucy Peppiatt - Implications of the Authority of Jesus
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In this episode Lucy Peppiatt talks about how theology has shaped her life and leadership, and how it affects the practical mission of the church. We also talk through the authority of Jesus and the given authority we have as Christ-followers and the implications of that practically through healing, deliverance, women in leadership, and more.
Lucy Peppiatt is the Principal of Westminster Theological Centre (WTC) in the UK. She lectures in Christian doctrine and in spiritual formation and has written on discipleship, Christ and the Spirit, Paul and Women, 1 Corinthians, and charismatic theology and practice among other topics. Lucy also oversees a small network of community churches in Bristol and London. She is married to Nick Crawley and they have four married sons.
In this episode Pete Greig talks about the paradox of the Kingdom, serving the Good Shepherd and the bleeding Lamb, finding diverse perspectives in the church, the importance of prayer, and hope for what can come out of Waverley Abbey.
Pete Greig is the increasingly bewildered founder of 24-7 Prayer an international, interdenominational movement of prayer, mission and justice which has been praying night-and-day for more than twenty years, and has reached more than half the nations on earth. He and his wife Sammy, a professional counsellor, serve as Senior Pastors of Emmaus Rd, a church with congregations in Guildford, Woking and Aldershot, England. Pete co-hosts the Lectio 365 daily devotional, is a Director of Waverley Abbey Trust, is an Ambassador for the NGO Tearfund, and a member of The Order of the Mustard Seed. His award-winning books include Red Moon Rising, God on Mute and How To Pray. Pete and Sammy split their time between a barge on the River Wey, south of London, and an island retreat off the south coast of England where they host and mentor leaders.
In this episode Daniel Grothe talks about the power of place, stability, and rootedness. And how the family of God can help re-family the world. Along with ways in which we can help bring Kingdom flourishing to a place and community.
Daniel Grothe is the associate senior pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he’s been for eighteen years. He’s the author of Chasing Wisdom and The Power of Place. Daniel and his wife, Lisa, live on a hobby farm outside of Colorado Springs with their three children—Lillian, Wilson, and Wakley.
In this episode Ed Khouri talks about being God's favorite, receiving grace and joy in recovery from addictive behavior, becoming a face of grace for others, lectio and scripture reflection as a group, the repair of broken things, and more.
For more than 40 years, Ed Khouri has served churches, communities, and hurting people worldwide.
He worked with substance abusers and their families in diverse settings. As a pastoral counselor, trainer, and writer, Ed’s work has encompassed outpatient counseling, jails, transitional housing for homeless addicts, and all residential treatment phases. He supervised all therapeutic services and staff daily in a 96-bed state-licensed substance abuse treatment program. Ed has been sober since 1978.
Ed is passionate about helping churches, leaders, and small groups develop thriving, healthy communities rooted in grace, joy, and peace. He is the small group coordinator at his church, serving as an Elder.
As an experienced trainer, Ed leads workshops in churches and ministries worldwide, equipping workers to serve hurting men and women in their communities. He regularly trains and collaborates with ministries, including Thrive Today, The International Substance Abuse and Addiction Coalition (ISAAC), and Youth With A Mission’s Addictive Behavior Counseling School.
Ed is also an author. • Working with Dr. Jim Wilder, he co-authored the Restarting and Belonging Modules of the Connexus Program. • He is also the co-author of Joy Starts Here: The Transformation Zone.
Ed is the author of: • Becoming a Face of Grace: Navigating Lasting Relationships with God and Others • Beyond Becoming: A Field Guide to Sustainable, Transformational Communities • The Weight of Leadership: How Codependency and Misplaced Mercy Undermine Life and Ministry.
Ed has a B.A. in Behavioral and Social Sciences. He completed his Ministry Training Program in 1987, focusing on addictions and trauma recovery. He was ordained in 1988 and is the president of Equipping Hearts for the Harvest.
He lives with the love of his life, Maritza, in Conover, North Carolina.
It's episode 100! Thank you for going on this journey with me. It's been an amazing ride.
In this episode, Sara Billups talks about her new book Orphaned Believers, the cultural components of white evangelical culture of the 80s and 90s, how we are formed - whether it be by the culture around us or into the image and likeness of Jesus, and the importance of love as the antidote to fear.
Sara Billups is a Seattle-based writer and cultural commentator whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Christianity Today, Ekstasis, and others. Sara writes Bitter Scroll, a monthly Substack letter. She is completing her Doctor of Ministry in the Sacred Art of Writing at the Peterson Center for the Christian Imagination at Western Theological Seminary.
Ep. 101 Jesse Roberts - Poor Bishop Hooper and the EveryPsalm Project
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In this episode Jesse Roberts talks about Poor Bishop Hooper, the EveryPsalm project, getting the word of God in the heart of people through music and song, the importance and power of beauty, small expressions of church, living with others, and being formed by Jesus.
Jesse Roberts is one half of the duo Poor Bishop Hooper. Jesse writes, records, and performs with his wife Leah. Their latest project is EveryPsalm, which they began January 1, 2020, in which they wrote, recorded, and released a new song based on a Psalm each week. You can go, search for Poor Bishop Hooper and listen now.
Ep. 102 Brandon Wrencher - Community Organizing for the Common Good
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In this episode Brandon Wrencher talks about the black prophetic tradition, the importance of embodying the truth, practicals around community organizing for the common good, people receiving the power they have that is given to them by God, transformation to hope, peace, and joy, and more.
Brandon is a minister, community organizer, teacher and facilitator. He works across faith, higher education, and nonprofit sectors at the intersections of decolonizing church, contemplative activism and local presence to build beloved communities.
In this episode Kat Armas shares her story and how that informs her faith, and we talk about centering the marginalized, how to embody faith, healing the trauma of our past, and more.
Kat Armas is a Cuban American writer and podcaster from Miami, FL. She holds a dual MDiv and MAT from Fuller Theological Seminary where she was awarded the Frederick Buechner Award for Excellence in Writing, and is currently pursuing a ThM at Vanderbilt Divinity School.
Her first book, Abuelita Faith: What Women on the Margins Teach Us About Wisdom, Persistence and Strength, sits at the intersection of women, decolonialism, the Bible, and Cuban identity. She also explores these topics and more on her podcast, The Protagonistas, which centers the voices of Black, Indigenous, and other women of color in theological spaces.
In this episode Hugh Halter talks about family on mission, raising kingdomlings, not church kids, the importance of being less individualistic, materialistic, and consumeristic, releasing our kids to the Lord, discipleship in the family, and more.
HUGH HALTER and Cheryl, as well as their children and truckload of grandchildren, all live in Alton Illinois. They have been missionaries in North America for more than thirty years. They’ve planted two churches and in 2016 founded Lantern Network in Alton, Illinois.
Lantern Network is a kingdom ecosystem committed to incubating good works and benevolent businesses to bless the city. Hugh speaks extensively across the globe, encouraging innovative forms of church, and when home loves to help Cheryl run Rí Beag Refuge, an eighty-acre equine therapy farm.
Hugh is a leading missional voice, authoring such books as The Tangible Kingdom, AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church, Flesh, and, most recently, the Life as Mission Series, which seeks to equip Christians to live the missionary life of Jesus in their everyday context.
His mission is to encourage the church to be less churchy and instead work on creating social, personal, & spiritual ventures that serve our cities in ways that make God smile.
Ep. 105 Scot McKnight - Revelation for the Rest of Us
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In this episode Dr. Scot McKnight gives a vision for the book of Revelation. He talks about how we, as followers of Jesus, can live faithfully as witnesses to the Lamb in the shadow of Babylon (or the Empire). He talks about being dissident disciples, how black spirituals are an example of the songs in Revelation, how the Gospel sees and utilizes power, and more.
Scot McKnight is Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lisle, Illinois. He is the author of more than eighty books, including the award-winning The Jesus Creed as well as The King Jesus Gospel, A Fellowship of Differents, One.Life, The Blue Parakeet, and Kingdom Conspiracy. He maintains an active blog at www.christianitytoday.com/scot-mcknight. He and his wife, Kristen, live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, where they enjoy long walks, gardening, and cooking.
Ep. 107 Elijah Davidson - Seeing the Spirit of God at Work in Film
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Elijah Davidson talks about finding the Spirit of God in film, craft, and the arts, and his process of writing a Christian guide to the greatest films of all time. He wrestles through questions that films invoke in all of us, he shares how to read film, how film applies to our faith and life, and more.
Elijah Davidson is a writer living in California. He is the author of How to Talk to a Movie: Movie-Watching as a Spiritual Exercise, the creator of the Icons of Cinema series of brief texts on prominent filmmakers, a contributor to God in the Movies: A Guide for Exploring Four Decades of Film, and the co-editor of the Reel Spirituality Monograph Series with Cascade Press.
Since 2011, he has co-directed Fuller Theological Seminary’s Brehm Film institute of faith and film (formerly Reel Spirituality). In addition to publishing books about movies for Christians, he helps plan Brehm Film's screening series, writes for and edits Brehm Film’s website, Deep Focus, and participates in all other activities of the institute.
Alongside his vocational work as a writer and supporter of the cinematic arts, he works as the Director of Content Strategy for Fuller Seminary's Communication & Branding team. He graduated from Fuller Seminary in 2014 with a Master's of Arts in Intercultural Studies, focusing on American popular culture, theology, and the arts.
He is married, has two children, and a dog. If he is not writing or working, he is most likely camping, weather-permitting or not.
Ep. 108 Josh Green - Hunger for the Presence of Jesus
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In this episode Josh Green talks about what is happening in the youth culture today, hunger for the presence of Jesus, prayer that is persistent, consistent, and resistant, revival that's bubbling up around the world, putting Jesus first and at the center, living out our faith authentically and consistently, and he gives a first hand account of what happened at Asbury.
Josh is Youth Director for 24-7 Prayer and Wildfires Festival. Josh travelled the world for years performing and preaching the gospel in various bands. Now, with a burning heart for revival, he continues to fire up young people to be all-in for Jesus. Josh was captivated by the Vision Poem and Red Moon Rising in his journey to joining 24-7 Prayer. He lives in Manchester with his wife and three kids and attends Ramp Church. He loves good food, proper coffee, and Manchester City.
Ep. 109 Christopher J.H. Wright - The Great Story and the Great Commission
00:54:25
In this episode, Christopher Wright talks about the great story, the grand narrative of the Bible and the mission of God and discusses what part the great commission plays in the story. We talk about the marks of mission, how we should live in God's story, and how seeing the world through a missional worldview changes the way we interact in the world.
Chris Wright is the Global Ambassador of the Langham Partnership (www.langham.org), which provides literature, scholarships and preaching training for Majority World pastors and seminaries. He taught in India for five years. His books include Old Testament Ethics for the People of God; The Mission of God; The God I Don’t Understand; The Mission of God’s People, and the Great Story and the Great Commission. Chris and his wife Liz have four adult children and eleven grandchildren and live in London, as members of All Souls Church, Langham Place.
Ep. 110 Jared Brock - Uncovering the Human Life of Jesus
00:54:13
In this episode, Jared Brock uncovers the human life of Jesus. Who was he as a child? What was the culture and context of his life and ministry? What were the economics, philosophy, and teachings of Jesus? Who was the crime family that had Jesus killed? We talk about these things and more.
Jared Brock is an award-winning author and director of several films including PBS's acclaimed Redeeming Uncle Tom with Danny Glover. His writing has appeared in Christianity Today, The Guardian, Smithsonian, USA Today, Huffington Post, Relevant, and TIME. He has traveled to more than forty countries, including North Korea, Transnistria, and the Vatican. Learn more at jaredbrock.com.
In this episode, Ashley Hales talks about a more spacious life, helping us see that our limits are good and point us to God. She shares spiritual practices to help notice God in everyday life, to remind ourselves that we are His beloved children, and to move from the cerebral to the rest of the body. She also talks about how to have hope in suffering, and helps us navigate the cultural landscape we find ourselves in.
Ashley Hales holds a PhD in English literature from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. With her husband, she is the co-founder of The Willowbrae Institute, a new think tank researching the intersection of Christianity and the common good in America . She is a Kirby Laing Centre Academic Fellow and advisor to the Board of Covenant College. Ashley hosts the The Cartographers Podcast and is the author of Finding Holy in the Suburbs and A Spacious Life. Connect on substack, Instagram or Twitter.
Ep. 106 Jessie Cruickshank Returns - How God Wires us for the Adventure of Transformation
00:58:43
In this episode, Jessie Cruickshank talks about her latest book Ordinary Discipleship, how everyone can be a disciple of Jesus and a disciple maker, the hero’s journey, community transformation towards Jesus, hearing God’s voice, experiential and narrative based discipleship that follows brain science and the way we have been wired, and more.
It’s a great conversation and builds on our previous episode together. After you listen to this one, go back and check out episode 2 with Jessie Cruickshank in which she shares her story and gives us a bit of brain science.
Jessie Cruickshank holds a Master’s from Harvard in Mind, Brain, and Education. She is an ordained minister in the Foursquare Church and a nationally recognized expert in disciplemaking and the neuroscience of transformation. She has spent two decades applying neuroeducation research to discipleship, ministry training, experiential learning, and organizational development. Jessie is respected globally as a missiological thought-leader, and as a church and denominational consultant. She is the founder of Whoology, and is the co-founder of 5Q. Jessie lives and adventures with her family in Colorado. For more information visit OrdinaryDiscipleship.com
Ep. 112 Nijay Gupta - How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church
00:56:22
In this episode, Nijay and I have a great conversation about how women led and ministered in the Bible and in the early church. He digs in to the stories of Deborah, Junia, Mary, Priscilla, Phoebe, and more. He also talks through the context and culture of the time and place of the early church, so we can start to see with new eyes what women were doing and how they were treated. We also talk about the different leadership categories in the early church. Nijay also shares about how growing up as a son of immigrant parents in Ohio has shaped the way he sees Jesus and the gospel.
Nijay Gupta is a professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary. Previously, he was a professor of New Testament at Portland Seminary, where he also oversaw the Master's thesis program, and advises doctoral students. He is the author of the book Worship That Makes Sense to Paul and Prepare, Succeed, Advance. His latest book is Tell Her Story. Nijay also co-hosts the podcast Slow Theology with A.J. Swoboda .
In this episode, Eun K. Strawser talks about centering discipleship in community. She answers the question, how do we imitate Jesus together, so that we can look like Him, and move toward our neighbor in mission? We talk through the elements of formation, rhythms, and examples that move our community towards one that centers Jesus and discipleship to Him.
Eun K. Strawser is the co-vocational lead pastor of Ma Ke Alo o (which means "Presence" in Hawaiian), non-denominational missional communities multiplying in Honolulu, HI, a community physician at Ke Ola Pono, and an executive leader at the V3 Movement, the church planting arm of the BGAV. Prior to transitioning to Hawaii, she served as adjunct professor of medicine at the Philadelphia College of Medicine and of African Studies at her alma mater the University of Pennsylvania (where she and her husband served with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship) after finishing her Fulbright Scholarship at the University of Dar es Salaam. She and Steve have three, seriously, amazing children
Rev. Dr. Strawser has nearly two decades of experience in centering discipleship and making mature missional disciples. She has developed lay counseling curriculum, discipleship pathways for children's ministries, and discipleship pathways utilized both in established church and church-planting contexts. While her heart is in locally-rooted kingdom work, she also consults and coaches pastors, planters and market-place/community leaders world-wide in developing discipleship pathways and structuring their context to center discipleship.
Ep. 113 Andrew Root Returns - When Church Stops Working
00:49:57
In this episode, Andrew Root talks about his latest book When Church Stops Working, and he answers the question why isn't innovation the answer? He talks through waiting for the Spirit's leading, paying attention to our stories, being witnesses to the acts of God, and sitting with the sorrows of our neighbors.
Andrew Root, PhD (Princeton Theological Seminary) is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary. He is most recently the author of four volume Ministry in a Secular Age series (Churches and the Crisis of Decline, The Congregation in a Secular Age, The Pastor in a Secular Age, and Faith Formation in a Secular Age), and The End of Youth Ministry?. He has also authored Christopraxis: A Practical Theology of the Cross (Fortress, 2014) and Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker (Baker, 2014). Root puts together theology and storytelling to explore how ministry leads us into encounter with divine action. His book The Relational Pastor(IVP, 2013) as well as a four book series with Zondervan called A Theological Journey Through Youth Ministry (titles include Taking Theology to Youth Ministry, Taking the Cross to Youth Ministry, Unpacking Scripture in Youth Ministry, and Unlocking Mission and Eschatology in Youth Ministry) break new ground in this direction. In 2012 his book The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry (with Kenda Creasy Dean, IVP, 2011) was Christianity Today Book of Merit. He has written a number of other books on ministry and theology such as The Children of Divorce: The Loss of Family as the Loss of Being (Baker Academic, 2010), The Promise of Despair (Abingdon, 2010), Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry: From a Strategy of Influence to a Theology of Incarnation (IVP, 2007) and Relationships Unfiltered (Zondervan/YS, 2009). Andy has worked in congregations, parachurch ministries, and social service programs. He lives in St. Paul with his wife Kara, two children, Owen and Maisy, and their dog. When not reading, writing, or teaching, Andy spends far too much time watching TV and movies.
Ep. 114 Benjamin Windle - The Tide Turning Power of Hope
00:48:03
In this episode, Benjamin Windle talks about the themes of his latest book Good Catastrophe. He talks about finding hope in the midst of despair, darkness, and catastrophe. Is it possible to find? Well, Ben takes the story of Job and illuminates it for our time.
Benjamin Windle is an innovative and empathic author, speaker, and Millennial/Gen Z specialist. As a pastor for over 20 years, he has walked with many through the dark shadows and valleys of the human experience. He has dedicated his life to helping people overcome life's challenges by growing deeper in their faith.
Windle is a new-generation content creator for some of the most respected Christian brands in the world. He has a Bachelor of Theology, an MBA from Deakin University, and Executive Education at Stanford University and the MIT Sloan School of Management. He and his wife, Cindi, have three sons.
Windle’s academic expertise and grassroots experience in discipleship have shaped him into an influential writer and public speaker. He is passionate about helping churches reach the Millennial and Gen Z groups, offering them wise counsel and practical resources.
Windle and his family are based in both the U.S. and Australia. His work has been featured by the Barna Group, YouVersion, RightNow Media, and the Glorify App. For more about the author, go to benjaminwindle.com.
In this episode, Josh White and I have a conversation about the foolishness of the cross. About our need to be confronted with the end of ourselves, so we can be dependent on Christ. We talk about how confession can drive our communities, being a witness to Jesus in the world, and radical grace and vulnerability.
Josh White is a speaker, recording artist, writer and founding pastor of Door of Hope, a family of church’s in the urban core of Portland Oregon. Josh lives with his wife Darcy, son Henry, daughter Hattie. Portland is the city where he and his wife Darcy met 23 years ago while Josh was playing a show with his then Seattle glam rock band, Man Ray, at the now defunct Satyricon night club. Little did they know that their lives within a few years would be turned upside down and revolutionized by the gospel of Jesus. When not traveling, preaching and leading Door of Hope, Josh is enjoying his family, obsessively reading — he actually is just obsessive — writing, producing and designing spaces. He just released his first book ‘Stumbling Toward Eternity’ for Penguin imprint, Multnomah press. Josh often refers to himself as the amateur pastor — for in the words of Robert Farrar Capon, ‘The amateur—the lover, the man who thinks heedlessness a sin and boredom a heresy—is just the man you need. More than that, whether you think you need him or not, he is a man who is bound, by his love, to speak. The role of the amateur: to look the world back to grace.’
Ep. 117 Jessica Hooten Wilson - Reading as a Spiritual Practice
00:45:13
In this episode, Jessica Hooten Wilson talks about her latest book Reading for the Love of God, reading as a spiritual practice, how to use the four senses and the four stages to read well, how Jesus teaches us how to read well, what it means to read poorly, and how art, literature, and beauty can help transform our lives and move us closer to God.
Jessica Hooten Wilson is the inaugural Seaver College Scholar of Liberal Arts at Pepperdine University and a Senior Fellow at the Trinity Forum. She is the author of several books, most recently Reading for the Love of God: How To Read as a Spiritual Practice.
Ep. 118 Jamaal Williams and Timothy Paul Jones - Creating a Multi-Ethnic Kingdom Community
00:55:24
In this episode, Jamaal Williams and Timothy Paul Jones talk about how to create a multi-ethnic Kingdom community in our churches like it will be in heaven. We talk through the unity and diversity in the identity of God, how our unity and diversity flows out of that identity, and how lament is important to establish ties between ethnic groups. We ground our conversation in the story of Jamaal, Timothy, and their church Sojourn Midtown in Louisville as an example of the work we can step into to see the body of Christ start to reflect the vision laid out in Revelation 7:9 where people from every tribe tongue and nation surround the throne of Jesus.
Jamaal Williams (DEdMin) serves as lead pastor of Sojourn Church Midtown in Louisville, Kentucky, and as president of the Harbor Network. In addition, he regularly consults churches on leadership matters and issues related to building healthy multi-ethnic churches.
Timothy Paul Jones (PhD) teaches apologetics at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and serves as a preaching pastor at Sojourn Church Midtown. In addition, he has authored or co-authored more than a dozen books, including Finding God in a Galaxy Far, Far Away; Christian History Made Easy; and, with James Garlow and April Williams, the bestselling The Da Vinci Codebreaker.
Ep. 119 Mark Baker Returns - Freedom From Religiosity and Judgmentalism
00:55:30
In this episode, Mark Baker talks about Paul’s letter to the Galatians. We talk about non-judgmentalism, bounded, fuzzy, and centered sets, our orientation to God and to each other in the body of Christ, spiritual powers that have influenced us and the freedom that we have from them, and more.
Mark Baker is Professor of Mission and Theology at Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary. He previously was a missionary in Honduras for ten years and a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Syracuse University for three years. He continues ministry involvement in Latin America through regular visits. Since 2008 he has led a weekly Bible study at the Fresno County Jail. He has written a number of books in English and Spanish, including Ministering in Honor-Shame Cultures: Biblical Foundations and Practical Essentials, and Centered-Set Church: Discipleship and Community Without Judgmentalism.
Ep. 120 Todd Hunter - Returning to the Purposes of Jesus
00:50:46
In this episode, Todd Hunter talks about the aims of Jesus and how getting back to His purposes can help us through bad religion. We talk about living in the Kingdom of God, how we receive it and how we are sent to be His witnesses, and many other facets of the Kingdom. We talk about spiritual practices, so that we can do good works when moments present themselves. We talk about the gospel – what it is, what Jesus said it is and how we can live into it.
Bishop Todd Hunter’s life-long passion is to help others heed the call of Jesus to “come follow me” and thus to live their life in the kingdom of God as Jesus embodied, taught and demonstrated it. Bishop Hunter’s vision for such a life entails being the cooperative friend of Jesus, seeking to live a life of constant creative goodness, for the sake of others, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
This overarching vision has led Bishop Hunter to engage deeply with a few core themes:
The Gospel of the Kingdom The person and work of the Holy Spirit The nature and purpose of the church at the intersection of gospel and culture (missional ecclesiology) Spiritual formation as core to discipleship to Jesus Servant-hearted, kingdom-minded, Spirit-empowered leadership
Bishop Hunter has expressed his kingdom-Spirit-formation-church-culture focus in various settings. He is the founding bishop of The Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others, a diocese of the Anglican Church in North America. He writes a weekly newsletter: “The Gospel of the Kingdom.” Bishop Hunter is past President of Alpha USA, former National Director for the Association of Vineyard Churches, and retired founding pastor of Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Costa Mesa, California. He is the author of Christianity Beyond Belief: Following Jesus for the Sake of Others, Giving Church Another Chance, The Outsider Interviews, The Accidental Anglican, Our Favorite Sins and Our Character at Work. His latest book is What Jesus Intended: Finding Faith in the Rubble of Bad Religion.
Bishop Hunter is also the founder of the Center for Formation, Justice and Peace. Alongside trauma-informed spiritual director Vanessa Sadler, Bishop Todd hosts Peace Talks, a podcast that spotlights women and men who are working to undo oppression, leading to lives of deeper peace for all.
Bishop Hunter holds a Doctor of Ministry degree and has served as an adjunct professor of evangelism, leadership in contemporary culture and spiritual formation at George Fox University, Fuller Seminary, Western Seminary, Vanguard University, Azusa Pacific University, Northern Seminary, and Wheaton College.
Bishop Hunter and his wife Debbie live in Franklin, Tennessee. They have two adult children.
Ep. 121 Karen Wright Marsh - An Invitation to Wonder and Amazement in the Everyday
00:49:57
Karen Wright Marsh and I have a wonderful discussion about our invitation to wonder and amazement. Through looking at the specific lives of those who have come before us, we can find practices that will shape the way we see the world and interact with God. Through beauty, art, singing, poetry, walking, cooking, writing, and more, we can start to pay attention to God at work and become people that are intentioned towards wonder. So join us as we contemplate these things and more.
Karen Wright Marsh is an author, speaker and the executive director and cofounder of Theological Horizons, a ministry that supports Christians & seekers in academia by providing a welcoming community for engaging faith, thought & life. She is the host of the Vintage Saints and Sinners podcast. She holds degrees in philosophy from Wheaton College & linguistics from the University of Virginia. Karen lives with Charles Marsh, a UVA professor, at the Bonhoeffer House in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Ep. 122 Karen Swallow Prior - The Evangelical Imagination that has Shaped a Culture in Crisis
00:48:01
Karen Swallow Prior and I have a fantastic conversation around evangelical culture and true Christian faith. We dig into the history of Evangelical faith, what myths, stories, and narratives have contributed to the underlying assumptions we have on how the world works, and we talk through how to be faithful to Jesus in the midst of unexamined culture. Join us as we start to unveil the underlying narratives that we follow unaware.
Karen Swallow Prior, Ph. D., is a reader, writer, and professor. She is the author of The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images, and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis (Brazos, 2023); On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books (Brazos 2018); Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More—Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist (Thomas Nelson, 2014); and Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me (T. S. Poetry Press, 2012). She is co-editor of Cultural Engagement: A Crash Course in Contemporary Issues (Zondervan 2019) and has contributed to numerous other books. She has a monthly column for Religion News Service. Her writing has appeared at Christianity Today, New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, First Things, Vox, Think Christian, The Gospel Coalition, and various other places. She hosted the podcast Jane and Jesus. She is a Contributing Editor for Comment, a founding member of The Pelican Project, a Senior Fellow at the Trinity Forum, and a Senior Fellow at the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture. She and her husband live on a 100-year-old homestead in central Virginia with dogs, chickens, and lots of books.
Ep. 123 Josh Larsen - Gospel Hope in Light of the Horror of Horror Movies
00:53:31
In this episode, Josh Larsen and I have a great conversation that covers many different horror genres including prophetic horror, zombie films, creature features, slashers, found-footage, and psychological horror. We talk about how each genre provokes certain fears in us like the loss of our humanity, the lack of control, nature run amok, anxieties unmet, and the brokenness of society. We then see how the Bible and the Gospel answers the fears we are confronted with. So join us and open yourself up to seeing the reality of Gospel hope in the light of the horror of a horror movie.
Josh’s career began in the newspaper business, where he started out as a beat reporter for a weekly community newspaper and went on to become a film critic for the Chicago-based Sun-Times Media for more than 10 years. In 2011, he joined the Christian media landscape as editor of Think Christian, and in 2012 he joined the long-running weekly podcast Filmspotting, aired on WBEZ in Chicago.
A veteran of the Sundance, Toronto, and Chicago International Film Festivals, Josh has given talks on film at various colleges and conferences. Since 2017, he has led “Ebert Interruptus,” a tradition established by Roger Ebert, which analyzes a single film scene by scene over several days at the University of Colorado’s Conference on World Affairs.
Ep. 125 Kaitlyn Schiess - The Bible, Politics, and a Flourishing Community
00:53:18
In this episode, Kaitlyn Schiess and I talk about the history of how we used the Bible in America and our politics, how we can faithfully serve God and our community, how we can work for the flourishing of our local communities, how we can see the whole redemptive story of scripture and apply that to our lives and politics, and how we can navigate contentious political seasons coming up. Join us as we figure out how we can read scripture and our context well, so we can faithfully live out lives that rightly discern – who am I in this story?
Kaitlyn Schiess is an author, speaker, and perpetual theology student. She is the author of The Ballot and the Bible: How Scripture has been Used and Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from Here (Brazos, 2023) and The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor (IVP, 2020). Her writing has appeared at Christianity Today, The New York Times, Christ and Pop Culture, RELEVANT, and Sojourner. She has a ThM in systematic theology from Dallas Theological Seminary and is currently a doctoral student in political theology at Duke Divinity School.
In this episode, Kayla Craig talks about what it looks like to parent in the mess. How we are to be rooted and grounded in Jesus through the sacred rhythms of our life and the seasons God has given us. How we can implement breath prayers and the examen, how we can bring community along with us to shepherd our families well. And How we can start to order our families and lives that point to values that are of the Kingdom and the values that God has given us as a family. Join us as we navigate the holy mess of parenting, start to notice the grace all around us, and enter in to the rhythms of life as we walk in step with the Spirit of God.
Kayla Craig is a former journalist who brings deep curiosity and care to her writing. She’s the author of Every Season Sacred and To Light Their Way. With a poetic, prophetic voice, she created the popular Liturgies for Parents Instagram account, which Christianity Today named an “essential parenting resource.” She also hosts the Liturgies for Parents podcast. Kayla’s nuanced and accessible reflections, essays, and prayers are featured in various books, devotionals, and Bible studies. Kayla lives in a 115-year-old former convent in her Iowa hometown, where she hopes to create spaces of welcome alongside her four children, two dogs, and husband, Jonny.
Ep. 127 Andrew Whitehead - How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church
00:48:59
In this episode, Andrew Whitehead and I have a conversation around Christian Nationalism. What is it? What is not not? As we deal with the idols of power, of fear, and of violence, we can root out self interest and the temptation to make it all about one group over the other. Then we can deal with these issues and disciple others to a better way: A way that looks like Jesus, that lifts up the marginalized and helps create flourishing for all people. Join us as we wrestle with fear, power, violence and Christian Nationalism.
Andrew Whitehead is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Association of Religion Data Archives (theARDA.com) at the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at IUPUI.
Whitehead is one of the foremost scholars of Christian nationalism in the United States. He is the lead author of Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States (Oxford University Press, 2020)—along with Samuel Perry—which won the 2021 Distinguished Book Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. His new book is American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church, from Brazos Press.
In this episode, Father James Martin and I have a great conversation around the story of Lazarus and the implications of it for our life. We talk through disappointments, how Jesus weeps with us through our sorrows, brings new life, and invites us into a participatory life of helping free other people. Join us as we navigate waiting for God to act as we remember what God has done for us in the past.
Since we are talking about the story of Lazarus, you might want you to read the story from the Gospel of John before we get into the conversation. John 11:1-44
James Martin is a Jesuit priest, editor-at-large of America magazine and bestselling author of Jesus: A Pilgrimage, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, and Between Heaven and Mirth. His latest book is Come Forth: The Promise of Jesus’ Greatest Miracle. Father Martin has written for many publications, including the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and he is a regular commentator in the national and international media
Before entering the Jesuits in 1988, Father Martin graduated from the Wharton School of Business and worked for General Electric for six years. In 2017, Pope Francis appointed him to be a Consultor for the Vatican’s Secretariat for Communication.
Ep. 128 Andrew Root - The Church in an Age of Secular Mysticisms
00:59:46
Andy joins us for the third time! The first two conversations were great and you can go back and listen to those after you listen to this one.
Andrew Root and I have a great discussion around his new book The Church in an Age of Secular Mysticisms. Because we live with an utter buffet of spiritualities and we have our choice of what we use to transform us and because we live in the age of the self in which everything has to go through the self, we are caught in tension and we have become guilt saturated. Not because we live under the should have God’s commands, but because we could have been better. We have let ourselves down. This leads to more depression and anxiety. So, we try and fix ourselves. Andy argues a couple of things here that we get into: Memoirists are the new mystics and they point the way to transformation, and all of our conflicts are not polarized in two directions, but they are triangulated. There are three points of conflict. What are they? You have to listen to find out.
Join us as we uncover a third way of transcendence and transformation that leads to an encounter with something outside of ourselves.
Andrew Root, PhD (Princeton Theological Seminary) is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary. He is most recently the author of four volume Ministry in a Secular Age series (Churches and the Crisis of Decline, The Congregation in a Secular Age, The Pastor in a Secular Age, and Faith Formation in a Secular Age), and The End of Youth Ministry?. He has also authored Christopraxis: A Practical Theology of the Cross (Fortress, 2014) and Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker (Baker, 2014). Root puts together theology and storytelling to explore how ministry leads us into encounter with divine action. His book The Relational Pastor(IVP, 2013) as well as a four book series with Zondervan called A Theological Journey Through Youth Ministry (titles include Taking Theology to Youth Ministry, Taking the Cross to Youth Ministry, Unpacking Scripture in Youth Ministry, and Unlocking Mission and Eschatology in Youth Ministry) break new ground in this direction. Andy has worked in congregations, parachurch ministries, and social service programs. He lives in St. Paul with his wife Kara, two children, Owen and Maisy, and their dog. When not reading, writing, or teaching, Andy spends far too much time watching TV and movies.
Ep. 129 Shauna Pilgreen - Translating Jesus to the Culture Around Us
00:48:21
In this episode, Shauna Pilgreen and I have a conversation around topics and themes from her latest book Translating Jesus. We talk about how to be translators and speak of Jesus in a way that culture can understand. We talk about being curious, paying attention, and being intentional to listen to the Holy Spirit and the person in front of us. She talks about three different spaces where we can encounter Jesus: the gate, the cross, and the table. Join us as we learn how we can start talking to people about Jesus, so that they will start talking to Jesus.
Shauna Pilgreen, along with her husband, Ben, coleads Epic Church, a multiethnic congregation in the heart of San Francisco. She serves on the teaching team at Epic and as a network director for Alpha USA. She writes for "everyday evangelists" on her blog. Learn more at www.shaunapilgreen.com.
Ep. 130 Michael Frost Returns - Mission is the Shape of Water
00:56:32
In this episode, Michael Frost and I have a great conversation around his book Mission is the Shape of Water. We hear how mission has taken different shapes throughout the centuries, but the principles of mission remain the same. We hear stories about The missionaries of the first few centuries after Christ, Boniface and the Celtic movement, Zinzindorf and the Moravians, Mary Slessor, and Alice Seely Harris. We then move into how all of this history impacts our world today. What we can learn, take from, and move on from as we join God in his mission to draw all peoples to Himself. Join us as we learn from past mission to inform our future mission as we join God in His work.
Michael Frost is an internationally recognised Australian missiologist and one of the leading voices in the missional church movement. His books are required reading in colleges and seminaries around the world and he is much sought after as an international conference speaker.
Since 1999, Dr Frost has been the founding director of the Tinsley Institute, a mission study centre located at Morling College in Sydney, Australia. He has also been an adjunct lecturer at various seminaries in the United States.
He is the author or editor of nineteen books, inclunding, The Shaping of Things to Come (2003), Exiles (2006), The Road to Missional (2011) and Surprise the World! (2016). Mike’s latest book is Mission is the Shape of Water which is what we talk about in this conversation.
He was one of the founders of the Forge Mission Training Network and the founder of the missional Christian community, smallboatbigsea, based in Manly in Sydney’s north. He is also well known for his protests against Australia’s treatment of refugees, some of which have resulted in his arrest, as well as his advocacy for racial reconciliation, foreign aid, and gender equality.
Ep. 131 Mark Yarhouse - Talking to Kids About Gender Identity
00:43:25
In this episode, Mark Yarhouse and I have a great conversation around talking to our kids about gender identity. We get into areas like what is gender, what is gender dysphoria, how language has expanded definitions of how we see ourselves, how we can be cultural ambassadors of the Kingdom of God in our conversations about gender and how we can act with convicted civility seasoned with compassion. It’s an important conversation that gives us all hand holds, so we don’t feel unbalanced. Join us as we learn how we can talk to our kids about gender identity.
Mark Yarhouse is the Dr. Arthur and Mrs. Jean May Rech Professor of Psychology at Wheaton College, where he directs the Sexual & Gender Identity Institute. he was named Senior Fellow with the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities to conduct a study of students navigating sexual identity concerns at Christian colleges and universities. He has been a consultant to the National Institute of Corrections to address issues facing LGBTQ+ persons in corrections, and he was part of a consensus panel from the American Psychological Association on sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts that convened to provide input to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services in Washington, DC. Dr. Yarhouse is currently the Chair of the task force on LGBTQ+ issues for Division 36 (Psychology of Religion and Spirituality) of the American Psychological Association. He was also invited to write the featured white paper on sexual identity for the Christ on Campus Initiative edited by Don Carson for The Gospel Coalition.
Ep. 132 JR Woodward Returns Pt. 1 - The Scandal of Leadership: How the Powers and Principalities Shape Our Leadership
00:36:32
In this episode, JR Woodward and I get into how the powers and principalities shape our leadership, what we can learn from the temptations of Jesus, how our desires produce our identity, and how we are all captive to imitation. Join us for part one of this two part conversation as we pursue imitating Christ because To not imitate Christ is to imitate the Devil and to experience all of the craziness when we do that.
JR Woodward (PhD, University of Manchester, U.K.) has been passionately planting churches on the East and West Coast that value tight-knit community, life-forming discipleship, locally-rooted presence and boundary-crossing mission for over 25 years. He is the author of Creating a Missional Culture (IVP, 2012) and co-author of The Church as Movement (IVP, 2016), which won the readers choice award for InterVarsity Press. He co-founded the Missio Alliance and currently serves as the National Director for the V3 Church Planting Movement. He is the co-founder of the Praxis Gathering and writes for numerous websites and journals. He holds a Masters of Arts in Global Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary. He loves to surf, travel, read, skateboard and new people. He enjoys photography and film and tries to attend the Sundance Film Festival whenever he can.
Ep. 133 JR Woodward Returns Pt. 2 - The Scandal of Leadership: Models to Follow the Scandalous Way of Christ
00:36:45
In this episode, JR Woodward gives examples of mimetic rivalry, true humility, emptying ourselves, and how to follow the scandalous way of Christ. He goes deep into the book of Philippians and the story of Oscar Romero to help ground us in the reality of how the powers and principalities play a part in creating scandals of leadership and how imitating Christ helps us lead in the way of the Kingdom. Join us as we look at models for us to follow, so that we can construct our identity on Christ.
JR Woodward (PhD, University of Manchester, U.K.) has been passionately planting churches on the East and West Coast that value tight-knit community, life-forming discipleship, locally-rooted presence and boundary-crossing mission for over 25 years. He is the author of Creating a Missional Culture (IVP, 2012) and co-author of The Church as Movement (IVP, 2016), which won the readers choice award for InterVarsity Press. He co-founded the Missio Alliance and currently serves as the National Director for the V3 Church Planting Movement. He is the co-founder of the Praxis Gathering and writes for numerous websites and journals. He holds a Masters of Arts in Global Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary. He loves to surf, travel, read, skateboard and new people. He enjoys photography and film and tries to attend the Sundance Film Festival whenever he can.
In this episode, Jason VanRuler and I have a great conversation about our past wounds and struggles and how we can heal from them, so that we can be healthy and whole. We can find Christ in the dark places of our lives as he enters into the suffering with us and he will be there to lead us to the next step. We talk about the necessity of acknowledging where we are at, being honest with ourselves and God, asking for help, and finding friends to walk with us. Join us as we uncover the wounds of our past, so that we can heal from them, and move forward into the future in a healthy way connected to God and to one another.
Jason VanRuler is the author of Get Past Your Past: How Facing Your Broken Places Leads to True Connection. He began his career in 2011 and has worked with many populations over the years, ranging from persons who are incarcerated to top CEOs, performers and artists, and just about everyone in between. Jason has extensive experience as a clinician, coach, and speaker and operates a multistate private practice. In 2018, Jason joined Bethesda Workshops in Nashville, TN, where he serves as a group leader and facilitator. Jason is known for his ability to relate and connect with his clients and offer hope to those who have felt hopeless. He has an engaged and rapidly growing online audience for his insightful, short videos sharing practical tips for psychological care, self-help, and healthy relationships.
Ep. 135 Scot McKnight - The Pivotal Priorities, Practices, and Powers to Transform Into a Tov Culture
00:49:59
In this episode, Scot McKnight talks about one of his new books – Pivot. This book is a follow up to A Church Called Tov which really hit a nerve when it debuted. In that book they wrote about toxic church culture and contrast it to tov culture, or goodness culture. Pivot is the book of implementation. What are the steps to get to a tov church? What are the things that we need to implement? We talk about Holy Spirit, Christlikeness, models, long patience, giving ownership over to the church body, and more. It's a great conversation. So, join us as we discover the pivotal priorities, practices, and powers that we can live into, so we can transform into a tov culture.
Scot McKnight is professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary and a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. He is the author of more than ninety books, including the award-winning The Jesus Creed as well as A Church Called Tov, The King Jesus Gospel, A Fellowship of Differents, The Blue Parakeet, and Kingdom Conspiracy. He maintains an active Substack newsletter at https://scotmcknight.substack.com. He and his wife, Kristen, live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, where they enjoy long walks, gardening, and cooking.
Ep. 136 Alan Hirsch & Rob Kelly - Metanoia: How God Radically Transforms People, Churches, and Organizations From the Inside Out
00:49:24
In this episode, Alan Hirsch and Rob Kelly join us to talk about their book Metanoia: How God Radically Transforms, People, Churches, and Organizations from the Inside Out. We have a great conversation on repentance, movements, organizational change, unlearning, relearning, vision, future thinking, and more. This metanoia process that they take us through is really important. How do we have our minds renewed? How do we shift paradigms and have our mind’s blown? Join us as we discover how to engage in paradigm shifts individually and organizationally, so it sticks and lasts.
Alan Hirsch is one of the founders of Movement Leaders Collective, as well as founding the Forge Mission Training Network and 5QCollective. Known for his innovative approach to mission and thought-leadership, Alan is highly sought after movement strategist for leaders, churches and denominations across the Western world. He is the author of numerous award winning books including The Forgotten Ways, 5Q, ReJesus, The Shaping of Things to Come, and The Permanent Revolution. He and his lovely wife Debra hail from the land down under, but currently live in Melbourne, Australia.
Rob Kelly is the Founder & CEO of the FORCLT Network. Rob is also co-founder of the City Leaders Collective (with Eric Swanson), which connects and equips city network leaders globally. Rob is co-author of the book ‘Metanoia’ (with Alan Hirsch), and the founder & lead author of the State of the City Report. Prior to this, Rob served 13 years as a pastor, along with numerous other leadership positions, including co-founding CLT/ONE and lecturing at Gordon-Conwell Seminary. Rob is a graduate of the University of Washington and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary-Charlotte, and is pursuing doctoral studies from Bakke Graduate University. Rob is married to Ani, and they are the proud parents of Addison and RJ.
Ep. 137 Jared Boyd - Facilitating Encounters of the love of God
00:52:35
Jared Boyd talks about finding freedom in the constraint of spiritual disciplines and a communal rule of life. Our leadership and mission can only go as far as our formation, so how do we engage in practices together in ways that help us look more like Jesus? At the core of our conversation is a desire to encounter the love of God through the presence of God. Join us as we seek to find practices in community that facilitate encounters of the love of God.
Jared Patrick Boyd is a pastor (Vineyard USA), spiritual director, and Founding Director of the Order of the Common Life, a missional monastic order reimagining religious vocations for the 21st Century. In local pastoral ministry he has been working to bring together the contemplative, charismatic, and sacramental streams of the church.
Jared is author of Imaginative Prayer: A Yearlong Guide to Your Child’s Spiritual Formation (IVP 2017) and Finding Freedom in Constraint (IVP 2023). He and his wife have 4 girls and live in the west-side neighborhood of Franklinton in Columbus, OH.
Ep. 138 Amber & Seth Haines - Finding Hope in Times of Despair
00:53:12
In this episode, Amber C. Haines, Seth Haines and I talk about their latest book The Deep Down Things, which details the story of Amber’s abuse in the church and her decision to step away. In the despair of loss, confusion, and disillusionment, a lifeline of hope was given. Seth and Amber give us practices and examples of what it looks like to find hope in the times of despair. We talk about calling out the truth of who people are, setting signs that can point to hope, attachment to Christ through adoration, the embodied power of the eucharist, and practicals like trail running and gardening. Join us as we find signs of hope when we are in the pit of despair.
Amber C. Haines is the author of Wild in the Hollow: On Chasing Desire and Finding the Broken Way Home and The Mother Letters.
Seth Haines is the author of Coming Clean (winner of a Christianity Today Book Award of Merit) and The Book of Waking Up. Together with Tsh Oxenreider, he cohosts the podcast A Drink with a Friend.
Amber and Seth have experience speaking at conferences and events. They live in Fayetteville, Arkansas, with their four boys.
Ep. 139 Skye Jethani - What We Get Wrong About Heaven
00:54:19
In this episode, Skye Jethani and I have a fantastic conversation around what we get wrong about heaven. Spoiler alert – almost everything! How can we center Jesus in our faith and not heaven? Why is the gospel more than just going to heaven when you die? How can we taste heaven here and now? How can we be people where heaven and earth overlap? What is the new heavens and new earth? Will the earth be burned up in fire at the end? We answer these questions and more. Join us, as we get a Jesus centered view of heaven and be inspired to live a life that carries the presence and Spirit of God in the world here and now.
An award-winning author, speaker, and co-host of the Holy Post Podcast, Skye has written more than a dozen books and served as an editor and executive at Christianity Today for more than a decade. Raised in a religiously and ethnically diverse family, his curiosity about faith led him to study comparative religion before entering seminary and pastoral ministry. With a unique ability to connect Christian thought and contemporary culture, his voice has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, and The Washington Post, and he’s spoken to audiences throughout the world as diverse as the U.S. Naval Academy, The Chautauqua Institution, and the Lausanne Movement.
Ep. 140 Naghmeh Panahi - Emerging Whole After Deception, Persecution, and Hidden Abuse
01:06:43
In this episode, Naghmeh Panahi shares her story with us. A story that is necessary to hear, although it is difficult. Abuse by pastors, church leaders. Backlash from the Christian community. Naghmeh shares how she was able to hold on to Christ, recover her identity as a child of God, lead a house church movement, and see Muslims from around the world have dreams and visions of Jesus, start to follow Jesus and make him lord. This is a conversation that you don’t want to miss. So join us as we discover the goodness of God in the midst of humans corrupting His goodness and see how God reveals Himself to the broken and desperate.
Born in Tehran in 1977, Naghmeh Abedini Panahi immigrated to the United States at the age of nine and soon converted from Islam to Christianity. In late 2001, after graduating from college, she returned to Iran to work as a businesswoman and missionary. There, she witnessed —and experienced—the oppression and violence women are subjected to every day in the Middle East. It was there that she also met her future husband, Saeed Abedini, with whom she led one of the largest house-church movements in Iran. In 2005, due to persecution, she and Saeed moved to the United States, where their two children were born. When Saeed visited Iran in 2012 to work on opening an orphanage, he was arrested for his involvement in the underground church and sentenced to eight years in a notorious prison. Naghmeh unceasingly advocated for Saeed’s release, appealing to President Barak Obama, Donald Trump, the U.S. Congress, the United Nations, and nearly every major news outlet over the three and a half years that Saeed was in prison.
Yet underneath the surface of her leadership in the Iranian house church, her family life in America, and the spotlight of her advocacy, Naghmeh had been an abused wife, and Saeed’s imprisonment had further intensified his controlling and abusive behavior. It took the crisis and aftermath of Saeed’s arrest for Naghmeh to finally recognize what had been happening to her and begin to find healing.
Naghmeh’s personal experience with domestic violence and the misuse of religion to reinforce abuse has given her a passion to advocate for women who are vulnerable to abuse and oppression because of religion. She is a speaker, a Bible teacher, and the cofounder and executive director of Tahir Alnisa (“Setting Women Free”) Foundation, which serves women and children around the world impacted by domestic abuse and religious-motivated violence.
Ep. 141 Steve Bouma-Prediger - Creation Care Discipleship
00:46:36
In this episode, Steve Bouma-Prediger and I have a great discussion on creation, earthkeeping, and our role in caring for the earth as disciples of Jesus. Since the Bible starts and ends with rivers and trees, our first mandate is to care for the earth, and our vision of the future includes the earth we are now living on, we have a role and responsibility in the way we keep the earth, care for it, and pattern our life. What are the things we can do in our every day lives to be good earth keepers? Who is working on the major problems of the earth at the moment? How is social justice tied to ecological issues? We tackle these questions and more. So join us as we discover our role as earthkeepers as disciples of Jesus.
Steve Bouma-Prediger is the Leonard and Marjorie Mass Professor of Reformed Theology at Hope College in Holland, Michigan and the director of the Environmental Studies minor. A graduate of Hope College, his Ph.D. is in religious studies from The University of Chicago. His most recent book is Creation Care Discipleship: Why Earthkeeping is an Essential Christian Practice. When not teaching or writing, he spends as much time as possible canoeing or backpacking in his favorite places in North America or simply hiking among the magnificent trees in southwest Michigan parks.
Ep. 142 Denise Gitsham - How to Engage in Politics Without Losing Your Friends or Selling Your Soul
01:05:53
In this episode, Denise Gitsham and I talk about her latest book Politics for People Who Hate Politics: How to Engage Without Losing Your Friends or Selling Your Soul. We talk about being ambassadors of the Kingdom of God, discernment of the Holy Spirit, unity, not uniformity, among believers., loving your enemy, engaging in dialogue, asking questions, having empathy. It’s an important conversation as we in the U.S. are about to embark on a contentious political season. So join us as we engage in dialogue with love empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Prior to starting her own public affairs consulting firm, Denise Grace Gitsham worked at the highest levels of federal government from the White House to the US Senate, in law firms, for startups, and as a candidate for Congress. Denise is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center and Bowdoin College, and is a political contributor and commentator on various national cable news networks.
Ep. 143 Justin Davis - A Real and Vulnerable Life That Leads to Transformation
00:55:17
In this episode, Justin Davis and I have a great conversation. Justin shares his story of brokenness, pain, infidelity, and addiction and walks us through the importance of being real, being vulnerable, and being honest with God, so that true repentance and transformation can take place. I know you are going to get a lot of this one. So join us as we take off the masks we’ve been hiding behind, get real, and pursue transformation in Jesus.
Justin is an author, speaker, and pastor who dedicated his life to helping people experience life change through the power of authenticity. He co-founded RefineUs Ministries, where he shares his personal story with honesty and transparency, inspiring others to find the courage to do the same.
Justin is the co-author of the bestselling book, Beyond Ordinary: When a Good Marriage Just Isn't Good Enough, which he wrote alongside his wife, Trisha.
He is a sought-after speaker for numerous conferences, churches, and leadership events, inspiring audiences with a message of hope and transformation through the grace of Jesus.
Justin loves to spend time with his family. He enjoys playing basketball, indulging in the Great Wall of Chocolate at PF Chang's, and taking long walks on the beach with his wife and kids. Justin and Trisha have five kids and live in Indianapolis, IN
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