Philip Graham, the Washington Post’s legendary publisher, once said, “Journalism is the first rough draft of history.” If that’s the case, then with approximately 2,000 stories to his credit, John Kennedy has been writing the first draft of Assemblies of God history for nearly a quarter of a century.
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk with him about what led him into journalism, his favorite stories, and what pastors can learn from journalists about more effective communication.
I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
John Kennedy is a friend, colleague, and editor of AG News, the official news source for the Assemblies of God. He retires at the end of April.
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This podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, the distributors of Created for Purpose: An Esther Study Journal.
These days, women increasingly struggle to find their identity amidst the chaos of living. In Created for Purpose, Esther’s story shows you how to navigate the uncertainty of everyday life by reminding you that your identity is found in Jesus, not in the world. In this 4-week study, your group will see how the story of Esther models how to activate your trust, embrace your assignment, find your voice, and walk in victory.
For more information, visit MyHealthyChurch.com/Fashioned.
“The average pastor’s job is harder than average,” Lyle Schaller once quipped. That’s especially true of the majority of American pastors who lead their churches alone. They face a variety of unique challenges that make their jobs especially difficult.
How to lead church effectively when you’re the only staff member is the subject of Dr. Gary McIntosh’s new book, The Solo Pastor. In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk to him about how to overcome the unique challenges of pastoring alone.
I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Dr. Gary McIntosh is president of Church Growth Network and distinguished affiliate professor of Christian ministry and leadership at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California. His most recent book is The Solo Pastor, published by Baker Books.
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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by The General Council of the Assemblies of God.
General Council is the AG’s premier conference. It occurs every two years the first week in August and incorporates spiritual inspiration, practical leadership training, and denominational business. The theme of the 2023 General Council is “Our Church, Our Family.” The conference will take place July 31–August 4 in Columbus, Ohio.
Visit GeneralCouncil.AG.org for more information and to register.
Christianity is the world’s largest religion. In 1900, approximately 558 million people around the globe identified as Christian. By 2020, that number had grown to approximately 2.5 billion.
Despite that numerical growth, Christianity shrank as a percentage of the world’s population, from 34% in 1900 to 32% in 2020. Atheism and agnosticism grew from 0.2% to 12% of the global population during the same time period, and Islam doubled from 12% to 24%. Demographers estimate that by 2050, Christians will constitute 35% of the world population and Muslims 29%.
What should Christians do with these statistics?
That’s the question I ask Dr. Gina Zurlo in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Dr. Zurlo is codirector of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, and a research fellow at Boston University’s Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs. She is author of Global Christianity: A Guide to the World’s Largest Religion from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, published by Zondervan Academic.
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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by The General Council of the Assemblies of God.
General Council is the AG’s premier conference. It occurs every two years the first week in August and incorporates spiritual inspiration, practical leadership training, and denominational business. The theme of the 2023 General Council is “Our Church, Our Family.” The conference will take place July 31–August 4 in Columbus, Ohio.
Visit GeneralCouncil.AG.org for more information and to register.
The words of the Great Commission are well known: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
Christians often interpret the Great Commission as their mandate for evangelism. According to Jesus, though, it’s about holistic discipleship. What does it mean to follow Jesus in every dimension of life?
That’s the question I ask Charlie Self, Johan Mostert, and Jamé Bolds in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Self, Mostert, and Bolds are ordained Assemblies of God ministers and authors of Life in 5D: A New Vision of Discipleship.
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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by The General Council of the Assemblies of God.
General Council is the AG’s premier conference. It occurs every two years the first week in August and incorporates spiritual inspiration, practical leadership training, and denominational business. The theme of the 2023 General Council is “Our Church, Our Family.” The conference will take place July 31–August 4 in Columbus, Ohio.
Visit GeneralCouncil.AG.org for more information and to register.
On average, American adults read 12.6 books a year, according to a January 2022 Gallup survey. That’s about a book a month. Reliable data on pastor-readers is harder to come by, but a 2013 Barna study found that pastors bought 3.8 books a month. If pastors read what they buy, they read about a book a week.
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking with pastor-reader Heather Weber about why pastors should read, as well as how often and what they should read. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Heather Weber is a writer, certified leadership coach, and ordained Assemblies of God minister. She serves as sectional presbyter for the Iowa Ministry Network and director of the Network of Women Ministers in Iowa and the North Central Region of the AG.
She also hosts Your Pastor Reads Books, a podcast devoted to “conversations about the books pastors are reading that are helping to shape them into whole-hearted followers of Jesus and healthier givers of spiritual care to others.” It’s available on Apple and Spotify.
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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by The General Council of the Assemblies of God.
General Council is the AG’s premier conference. It occurs every two years the first week in August and incorporates spiritual inspiration, practical leadership training, and denominational business. The theme of the 2023 General Council is “Our Church, Our Family.” The conference will take place July 31–August 4 in Columbus, Ohio.
Visit GeneralCouncil.AG.org for more information and to register.
On behalf of the staff of Influence magazine, I’d like to wish all our readers — especially those who listen to the Influence Podcast — a very happy new year!
In this episode of the podcast, the first of many to come in 2023, I talk to Doug Clay about the state of the Assemblies of God. What is going well in our Fellowship? What is challenging? And what is forthcoming? We’ll talk about those questions and more.
I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Doug Clay is general superintendent of the Assemblies of God.
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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by The General Council of the Assemblies of God.
General Council is the AG’s premier conference. It occurs every two years the first week in August and incorporates spiritual inspiration, practical leadership training, and denominational business. The theme of the 2023 General Council is “Our Church, Our Family.” The conference will take place July 31–August 4 in Columbus, Ohio.
Visit GeneralCouncil.AG.org for more information and to register.
Prayer is a hallmark of Pentecostal spirituality, both in the New Testament and today. Acts 2:42 says of the first generation of believers, “They devoted themselves … to prayer.” According to the Assemblies of God Constitution, “the priority reason for being of the Assemblies of God is to be … a corporate body in which man may worship God.”
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk to Rick DuBose about why and how believers should pray in 2023, as well about prayer initiatives that the AG is sponsoring throughout the year. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Rick DuBose is assistant general superintendent of the Assemblies of God. In that position, he provides leadership and direction to General Council-sponsored prayer initiatives.
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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by The General Council of the Assemblies of God.
General Council is the AG’s premier conference. It occurs every two years the first week in August and incorporates spiritual inspiration, practical leadership training, and denominational business. The theme of the 2023 General Council is “Our Church, Our Family.” The conference will take place July 31–August 4 in Columbus, Ohio.
Visit GeneralCouncil.AG.org for more information and to register.
When the Christmas season begins, you can always count on at least one major media company to publish a story debunking the myths of Christmas. The effect, if not the intent, of such stories is to question the historical value of the New Testament. From a Christian perspective, that’s not a good thing.
But the reality is that there are Christmas myths that need to be debunked. Some of those are popular myths that conflate details of birth stories in the Gospels. Other popular myths are based on holiday traditions.
There are scholarly myths that need to be debunked too, however, such as the belief that the Gospel birth stories are contradictory or historically unreliable.
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk to Amy Flattery about the facts and the fictions of Jesus’ birth. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Amy Flattery is co-founder and director of the Assemblies of God Center for Holy Lands Studies and an ordained Assemblies of God minister. She has taught at Continental Theological Seminary in Brussels, Belgium, and led scores of tours to the Holy Lands.
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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by The General Council of the Assemblies of God.
General Council is the AG’s premier conference. It occurs every two years the first week in August and incorporates spiritual inspiration, practical leadership training, and denominational business. The theme of the 2023 General Council is “Our Church, Our Family.” The conference will take place July 31–August 4 in Columbus, Ohio.
Visit GeneralCouncil.AG.org for more information and to register.
“There have always been people with mental and relational health problems in the church,” writes Dr. Jared Pingleton. “Unfortunately, we just haven’t done a very good job helping pastors to know how to recognize and minister effectively to these pronounced and realistic needs.”
How can churches improve their ministries in this critical area? And why should they?
Those are the questions I ask Dr. Pingleton in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Dr. Pingleton is a licensed clinical psychologist and an ordained Assemblies of God minister. In addition to his private practice and preaching ministry, he serves as director of Mental Health Care and Ministry for The American Association of Christian Counselors. His new book is Mental Health Ministry: The Struggle Is Real, published by Trilogy Christian Publishing.
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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Bible Engagement Project gives churches access to a library of kids curriculum and small group resources all in one subscription.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to download sample lessons.“Many transition specialists, denominational leaders, and local churches are starting to question whether the traditional method of pastoral selection is effective,” writes Gene Roncone in Mentored Succession. “The model of bringing in outsiders with no understanding of the church culture, community, and congregation seems to be creating a continual cycle of short-term pastorates.”
Is there a better way for churches to plan for pastoral succession?
That’s the question I ask Gene Roncone in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Gene Roncone is district superintendent of the Rocky Mountain Ministry Network of the Assemblies of God, a position he has held since 2019. An ordained AG minister with decades of pastoral experience, he has authored two resources on pastoral succession: Mentored Succession: A Smarter Way for Pastoral Transition and Rise Up: A Practical and Comprehensive Reference for Pastoral Successions and Transitions. Both resources can be downloaded free from GeneRoncone.org/AGSPE.
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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Bible Engagement Project gives churches access to a library of kids curriculum and small group resources all in one subscription.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to download sample lessons.
“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction,” wrote the atheist Richard Dawkins. He went on to describe God as “jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”
Dawkins, who is frequently wrong but never in doubt, isn’t the only person to perceive problems with God in the Old Testament. The second-century heretic Marcion was so struck by the difference between the Old Testament and New Testament that he believed they taught about different gods altogether. He went on to delete the Old Testament from the biblical canon, along with any New Testament book he perceived as being too friendly with the Old Testament.
So, how do we reconcile the portrayals of God in the two testaments of Christian Scripture? That’s the question I pose to Paul Copan in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Paul Copan is the Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida. He is the author of numerous books dealing with questions in philosophy, ethics, and apologetics. His most recent book is, Is God a Vindictive Bully? published by Baker Academic.
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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Bible Engagement Project gives churches access to a library of kids curriculum and small group resources all in one subscription.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to download sample lessons.
“Opportunity awaits every single day, and God wants you to tap into each opportunity,” writes Jonathan Hardy. “When you remain faithful to God’s purposes, you’ll see how you can easily step into opportunities and give a wholehearted effort toward achieving His will every day.”
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk to Hardy about how to lead a church with an opportunity mentality. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Jonathan Hardy is an ordained Assemblies of God minister and cofounder of Leaders.Church and Church University. These online platforms help pastors develop their ministry and leadership skills. Hardy is author of Arrow Striker: Live with Purpose and Leave an Eternal Impact Every Single Day.
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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Bible Engagement Project gives churches access to a library of kids curriculum and small group resources all in one subscription.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to download sample lessons.
“I am convinced that if you want to see an increase in hope, understanding, and unity amid the engulfing mercilessness of today — indeed, if you want to communicate anything approaching grace — you must begin with a low anthropology.”
So writes David Zahl in his new book, Low Anthropology, published by Brazos Press. Zahl considers such a view of humanity “the unlikely key to a gracious view of others (and yourself),” as the book’s subtitle puts it.
I talk with Zahl about what low anthropology is and how it makes room for grace in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
David Zahl is the founder and director of Mockingbird Ministries, editor-in-chief of the popular Mockingbird website (www.mbird.com), and cohost of The Mockingcast. He and his family live in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he also serves on the staff of Christ Episcopal Church.
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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Bible Engagement Project gives churches access to a library of kids curriculum and small group resources all in one subscription.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to download sample lessons.
“Countless pastors, preachers, teachers, and ministry leaders are dismayed at the dysfunction engulfing the church and the wider culture,” write Matt Kim and Paul Hoffman.
“Every day, headlines reveal a world divided across ethnic, class, sex, and political lines. We are simultaneous a nation and a church with comparable cavernous disagreements. Make no mistake: these chasms are expanding and feel increasingly insurmountable.”
Even so, Kim and Hoffman go to write, “We are convinced that all gospel heralds now have a greater opportunity to intentionally and winsomely use their platforms to proclaim the Holy Scriptures in a way that promotes reconciliation and unity.”
I talk with Hoffman about how to do that in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Paul Hoffman is senior pastor of Evangelical Friends Church of Newport, Rhode Island, and coauthor with Matt Kim of Preaching to a Divided Nation, published by Baker Academic. They also coauthored the topically related cover story of the summer 2022 issue of Influence magazine.
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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Bible Engagement Project gives churches access to a library of kids curriculum and small group resources all in one subscription.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to download sample lessons.
“When the enemy takes a run at your church, he won’t do it through those who attend it; he will do it through those who lead it,” writes Chris Sonksen. “One of his most effective plans against the local church can be summed up in one word: Leaderdrift.”
I talk with Sonksen about what leaderdrift is and how to stop it in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Chris Sonksen is an ordained Assemblies of God minister with extensive ministry experience as a senior pastor and church consultant. He is founder and CEO of Church BOOM, a coaching agency for churches and leaders, and author of Saving Your Church From Itself: Six Subtle Behaviors That Tear Teams Apart and How to Stop Them, published recently by Baker Books.
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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Bible Engagement Project gives churches access to a library of kids curriculum and small group resources all in one subscription.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to download sample lessons.
Many Gospels circulated in early Christianity. Everyone knows about Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but what about the Gospel of Peter or the Gospel of Thomas? Why were some Gospels included in the New Testament but not others?
Scholars such as Bart Ehrman reduce the debate to politics: “one of the competing groups in Christianity succeeded in overwhelming all the others,” he writes.
“This group became ‘orthodox,’ and once it had sealed its victory over all of its opponents, it rewrote the history of the engagement — claiming that it had always been the majority opinion of Christianity, that its views had always been the views of the apostolic Churches and of the apostles, that its creeds were rooted directly in in the teachings of Jesus. The books that it accepted as Scripture proved the point, for Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all tell the story as the proto-orthodox had grown accustomed to hearing it.”
But is politics the real explanation for why those four Gospels were canonized? Or is there a deeper reason?
That’s what I’m discussing with Prof. Simon Gathercole in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Simon Gathercole is professor of New Testament and early Christianity at the University of Cambridge, editor of New Testament Studies, and coeditor of Early Christianity. His new book is The Gospel and the Gospels: Christian Proclamation and Early Jesus Books, recently published by Eerdmans.
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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Bible Engagement Project gives churches access to a library of kids curriculum and small group resources all in one subscription.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to download sample lessons.
“Ordinary people are the primary way God has worked in and through the world over the centuries,” writes Katelyn Beaty. “More and more, though, it seems that a lot of us aren’t content to be ordinary Christians.” Instead, we want to be celebrities.
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk to Beaty about how the desire to become a celebrity, or the need to follow one, hurts the Church. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Katelyn Beaty is a writer, journalist, editor, and keen observer of trends in the American church. Her new book is Celebrities for Jesus, published in August by Brazos Press.
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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Bible Engagement Project gives churches access to a library of kids curriculum and small group resources all in one subscription.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to download sample lessons.
Phillips Brooks, the nineteenth-century minister who wrote “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” defined preaching as “the communication of Truth through Personality.”
Truth is “the most authoritative statement of God’s will,” he said. Personality refers to a preacher’s “character, his affections, his whole intellectual and moral being.” (As Pentecostals, we would add “or her” to Brooks’ statement.)
Absent genuine character, a preacher is merely a “printing machine” or a “trumpet,” not “a real messenger of God.”
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Bob Eby about the relationship of preaching to the character or virtues of the preacher. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Bob Eby is director of the Cordas C. Burnett Preaching Center and associate professor of Biblical Exposition and Preaching at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, Missouri. He is author of Virtue Hermeneutics: New Horizons in Textual Understanding, published by Pickwick Publications.
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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Bible Engagement Project gives churches access to a library of kids curriculum and small group resources all in one subscription.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to download sample lessons.
“In today’s culture, it’s not popular to be against something unless it’s blatantly immoral or illegal,” writes Roger Olson. However, he adds: “If Christianity is to mean something, it has to have some shape, if not boundaries” (emphasis in original).
The thesis of his new book, Against Liberal Theology, is that “liberal Christianity cuts the cord of continuity between itself and biblical, historical, classical, orthodox Christianity so thoroughly that it ought to call itself something other than Christian.”
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Olson about that thesis — what liberal theology is, why it’s not authentically Christian, and why progressive Christians especially need to know these things. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Roger Olson is emeritus professor of theology at George W. Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University, and author of Against Liberal Theology: Putting the Brakes on Progressive Christianity, published by Zondervan Reflective.
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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Bible Engagement Project gives churches access to a library of kids curriculum and small group resources all in one subscription.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to download sample lessons.