“Jesus never told us how to ‘do church’,” writes Mike Burnette. Instead, Christ talked about “how to be his church,” and He did that through parables. Burnette examines what three of those parables say about the organizational culture of a church in his new book, Parable Church: How the Teachings of Jesus Shape the Culture of Our Faith, published by Zondervan.
I’ll be talking to Pastor Burnette about his new book in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Mike Burnette is lead pastor of LifePoint Church in Clarksville, Tennessee, and an Assemblies of God minister. LifePoint was Outreach magazine’s fastest growing church in America in 2018. Parable Church is Pastor Burnette’s first book.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
A 2019 survey by Barna Group reported the startling statistic that 47% of Millennial Christians think evangelizing others is wrong. Craig Springer cites this statistic in the introduction to his new book, How to Revive Evangelism, and writes, “In the US especially, the instinct to evangelize is eroding.” The obvious questions church leaders need to ask are why is this happening and what can we do about it?
Those are the questions I’m discussing with Springer in Episode 247 of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Craig Springer is executive director of Alpha USA, a program that runs in over 6,500 churches across every major denomination and 500 prisons throughout the country. Most recently, he is author of How to Revive Evangelism: 7 Vital Shifts in How We Share Our Faith, published by Zondervan.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
Between 1972 and 2018, the percentage of Americans who identify as Christian declined, while the percentage who claim no religious affiliation increased by nearly 500%. This growing segment of “nones” is younger than the general population, but Ryan Burge writes that “no segment of American society that has been immune to the rise of religious disaffiliation.”
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Burge about everything church leaders need to know about the rise of the nones. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Ryan Burge is an assistant professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University and an American Baptist Church pastor. His most recent book is The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are, and Where They Are Going, just published by Fortress Press..
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
“Young people are experiencing record loneliness,” notes The State of Religion and Young People 2020, a report from Springtide Research Institute. “They have low levels of trust in most traditional institutions, and they are likely not responding to the efforts these institutions are making to connect with them. But they are — amid all these realities — seeking meaning, navigating questions of identity, and pursuing community.”
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Dr. Josh Packard about Springtide’s report and its implications for the ministries of the local church. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Dr. Packard is executive director of Springtide Research Institute, whose mission is to listen to the distinct ways youth (ages 13–25) experience and express community, identity, and meaning. An accomplished researcher with an expertise in the sociology of religion and new forms of religious expression, he has been published widely in both academic and popular outlets. He earned his Ph.D. in sociology from Vanderbilt University.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
According to Pew Research Center, the Assemblies of God is one of the most diverse Protestant denominations in the United States. AG statistics show that 56% of AG adherents are white and 44% ethnic minority. However, statistics also show that two-thirds of AG ministers are white.
The obvious question is how to diversify AG ministers so that our pastors better represent the diversity of our adherents. That’s the question I’m asking Dr. Darnell Williams in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Dr. Williams is an ordained Assemblies of God minister; pastor of One Church in Lima, Ohio; vice president of the AG’s National Black Fellowship; and an executive presbyter of the AG’s General Council. Most recently, he is author of Wings to Rise: Blacks, Leadership, and the Assemblies of God.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
Christians believe that marriage is God’s idea and that divorce is a usually bad idea. And yet, Christians — including Christian leaders — get divorced too. The question that needs to be answered is what married couples can do to cultivate a healthy future for their relationship.
That’s the question I’m talking about with Toni Nieuwhof in Episode 242 of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Toni Nieuwhof is a family law mediator, former divorce attorney, co-host of the Smart Family Podcast, and author of Before You Split, published by WaterBrook. She is the wife of Carey Nieuwhof, an influential pastor, leadership author and podcaster, and international speaker. They live in Barrie, Ontario, Canada.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
February is Black History Month, and in this episode of the Influence Podcast, we’re celebrating the National Black Fellowship of the Assemblies of God, which just completed 40 years of service.
I’ll be talking with Bishop Walter Harvey about the history, growth, and mission of this vital network within the broader AG community. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Bishop Walter Harvey is president of the National Black Fellowship and pastor emeritus at Parklawn Assembly of God in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
Many Christians begin the New Year with a renewed determination to read their Bibles. Their intention is good, obviously, but it needs to partner with understanding and action if it’s to do us any good. In his new book, Missionary God, Missionary Bible, Dr. Dick Brogden argues that the Bible has a missional message: God desires to bless all nations.
That’s the message I’m talking to Dr. Brogden about in Episode 241 of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Dick Brogden is an ordained missionary with Assemblies of God World Missions. He has ministered among Muslims in East Africa and the Middle East for nearly a quarter-century. Together with his wife, he is cofounder of Live Dead, a church-planting movement among people groups not yet reached by the gospel.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
This past year was an unsettling one. I like to think of it as the Year of Three Ps: pandemic, protests, and politics. Each one fomented conflict, but taken together, they were a conflict force multiplier. And that doesn’t even taken into account the normal stressors we face every year.
How can followers of Jesus Christ experience settled souls in the midst of unsettling times? That’s the question I’m talking about with Dr. Jodi Detrick in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Dr. Detrick is a personal coach, public speaker, and most recently author of The Settled Soul: Tenaciously Abiding with a Tender God, published by Gospel Publishing House. An ordained Assemblies of God minister, she loves to talk to people at the heart level about things that matter most.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
According to Stephen Covey, one of the seven habits of highly effective people is beginning with the end in mind. I doubt Covey was thinking about the Book of Revelation when he identified that habit, but I can’t think of a better way to begin the New Year than by talking about the end times. So that’s what I’ll be doing with Dr. Chris Carter in this episode of the Influence Podcast, the first podcast of the 2021 season.
I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Dr. Chris Carter is an ordained Assemblies of God minister, missionary to Japan, and author of Revelation: The End Times and the Never Reached, published in December 2020 by Assemblies of God World Missions. He holds a Ph.D. in New Testament Studies from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
“Jesus uses his power to protect, to expose, and to restore dignity,” writes Dr. Diane Langberg in her book, Redeeming Power. “He calls his people to be in the world using our power under his authority, displaying his character by speaking truth, shedding light, and tending and protecting the vulnerable. How does this become a reality in the lives of individual Christ followers?”
That’s the question I’m exploring with Dr. Langberg in this episode of the Influence Podcast, the final episode of the 2020 season. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Dr. Diane Langberg is an internationally recognized psychologist and experienced counselor. She directs her own counseling practice, cofounded the Global Trauma Recovery Institute at Missio Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and serves on the board of GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in a Christian Environment). Her most recent book is Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority and Abuse in the Church, published by Brazos Press.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
“Almost anybody can accomplish anything if they work at it long enough, hard enough, and smart enough,” writes Mark Batterson. In his new book, Win the Day, he identifies seven “daily habits” that will help readers “stress less and accomplish more.” As 2020 draws to a close, now is a good time to start planning (and working) for a new year better than the old one.
I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Mark Batterson is lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, DC, a New York Times bestselling author, and a fellow Assemblies of God minister. Win the Day is published by Multnomah and comes out later this month.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils,” wrote C. S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters. “One is to disbelieve their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
With Lewis’s insight on the need for a balanced view in mind, in this episode, I’m talking with Gary Tyra about what the Bible teaches Christians about why and how to deal with the devil.
I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine, and your host.
Gary Tyra is professor of Biblical and Practical Theology at Vanguard University of Southern California, an ordained Assemblies of God minister, and author of The Dark Side of Discipleship, recently published by Cascade Books.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is 11 o’clock on Sunday morning.”
King said this about race in 1963, but it is still largely true today. According to sociologist Michael O. Emerson, a multiracial or multiethnic church is one in which at least 20% of attendees do not belong to the majority race or ethnicity. In 2019, just 23% of churches crossed that threshold.
And there is evidence of a growing class divide in church attendance, with working class Americans less likely to attend church than middle class Americans, at least among whites.
The questions pastors and other church leaders need to ask themselves is this: Does this concern me? And what can I do about it? Those are two questions, among others, that I am asking David Docusen in this episode of the Influence Podcast.
I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine, and your host.
David Docusen is author of Neighborliness: Finding the Beauty of God Across Dividing Lines. A credentialed Assemblies of God minister, he has 20 years of ministry experience as a pastor, church planter, and community developer.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
After a D. L. Moody revival meeting, a woman approached the 19th-century evangelist and said, “I don’t like the way you do evangelism.”
Moody responded, “Well, ma’am, let me ask you, how do you do it?”
She said, “I don’t.”
To which Moody replied, “I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it!”
Moody’s answer is the right one, and it also points to the variety of ways Christians can do evangelism. In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Priscilla Pope-Levison about eight models of evangelism that have stood the test of time.
I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Priscilla Pope-Levison is associate dean for external programs and professor of ministerial studies at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, in Dallas, Texas. She is author of Models of Evangelism, recently published by Baker Academic.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
This podcast begins with a paradox: On the one hand, the Assemblies of God recognizes the credentialed ministry of women at whatever level God has called and empowered them. On the other hand, AG women often face barriers to ministry leadership simply because they are women.
In this podcast, I’m talking with Beth Grant and Crystal Martin about how to resolve this paradox, that is, about how to move the ministry of women from something we affirm theologically to something we practice routinely.
I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Beth Grant is co-founder and executive director of Project Rescue, an international ministry to survivors of sex trafficking; an executive presbyter of the Assemblies of God; and author of Courageous Compassion: Confronting Social Injustice God’s Way. Crystal Martin is director of the Assemblies of God’s Network of Women Ministers, director of Cross-Cultural Missions for Chi Alphacampus ministry, and associate pastor of Central Assembly in Springfield, Missouri. Both women are ordained Assemblies of God ministers.
My conversation with them is coming up after a brief word from our sponsor.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
Preaching is one of a pastor’s most important duties. It’s also one of the most difficult. Every week, pastors stand before their congregations and proclaim the Word of God. And often, they leave the pulpit feeling that they have failed.
So, how can preachers get better at their craft? That’s the question I’m talking about with Chris Colvin and Dick Hardy in this episode of the Influence Podcast.
I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Chris Colvin is a sermon consultant, author, and regular contributor to Influence, both print and online. He teaches The Preaching Track at ChurchUniversity.com. Dick Hardy is is cofounder of ChurchUniversity.com, which provides “online resources to unlock your church’s growth.”
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
“God calls people to pioneer,” says Jeffery Portmann, “and simultaneously He calls others to become settlers.” Portmann isn’t talking about the settlement of new frontiers, however. He’s talking about ministry through the local church.
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Portmann about why the Church needs both pioneers and settlers, as well as how best to be one or the other.
I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Jeffery Portmann is executive director of the Church Multiplication Network, the church planting arm of the Assemblies of God (USA). He authored “Developing Leaders from Within” in the July/August 2020 issue of Influence magazine.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
While the divisiveness of our current moment in the United States may be regrettable and fatiguing, it also represents an incredible opportunity for Christians,” writes Don Everts in the current issue of Influence magazine. He goes on to say, “As church leaders, our job is not only to help Christians recognize the temptations we’re facing, but also to highlight another way: a way of neighborly love that can cut through all the yelling and point others to the beauty of the gospel.”
I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Everts about how Christians can be good neighbors in a divided culture. This conversation arises from his Influence cover story, “Neighboring for the Common Good,” which is based on his forthcoming book, The Hopeful Neighborhood, published by InterVarsity Press.
Don Everts is a writer for Lutheran Hour Ministries and associate pastor at Bonhomme Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Missouri.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
“With the massive disruptions we’re facing as a result of the COVID-19 crisis of 2020 and beyond, the problems could not be more disruptive or obvious,” writes Karl Vaters. “From the lockdowns, to the unspeakable pain of the illness and death of loved ones, to the colossal financial upheavals, it is likely that we’ve never faced such a long-term disruption in our lifetimes, possibly even surpassing those that resulted from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.”
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Karl Vaters about what churches—especially smaller churches—can do to recover from the massive disruptions of the COVID pandemic. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Karl Vaters is teaching pastor at Cornerstone Christian Fellowship in Fountain Valley, California; a small-church leadership guru; and author of The Church Recovery Guide, published by Moody. (He’s also a longtime friend and fellow Assemblies of God minister.) He blogs regularly at KarlVaters.com.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
Small groups are a vital component of a church’s ministry. They extend the span of pastoral care, deepen group members’ spiritual formation, and provide a motivated cadre of volunteers for a church’s various ministries. At least that’s what they’re supposed to do. Too often, however, small groups get stuck in a rut, frustrating leaders and group members alike.
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Jason Sniff about how to take your small group to the next level. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Jason Sniff is small groups pastor at Eastview Christian Church in Normal, Illinois, and a licensed professional counselor with more than 15 years of experience developing healthy groups in private and public sectors. He is coauthor with Ryan Hartwig and Courtney Davis of Leading Small Groups That Thrive, recently published by Zondervan.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.
Most people have access to the Bible, but few regularly engage with it. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with digital Bible study resources to help people of all ages read and understand Scripture so they can become more like Jesus and live radically changed lives. Bible Engagement Project is available in both English and Spanish.
Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to learn more.
In late 2014, Slate magazine published a series of articles under the title, “The Year of Outrage.”
If anything, the outrage in America has only worsened since then. Even Christians have jumped onto the outrage train. The results haven’t been pretty, for either society generally or churches specifically.
What would Jesus do? And how should Christians follow His example? Scott Sauls thinks gentleness is the answer to both questions: “Jesus has been gentle toward us,” he writes, “so we have good reason to become gentle toward others, including those who treat us like enemies.”
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Pastor Sauls about how Jesus’ gentleness is the antithesis of outrage culture. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Scott Sauls is senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee, and author of A Gentle Answer: Our “Secret Weapon” in an Age of Us Against Them, published in June by Thomas Nelson.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Tru Fire Curriculum:
Kidmin leaders often feel worn down by curriculum that doesn’t give them what they need to be effective. Tru Fireprovides leaders with engaging lessons and empowers them to connect kids to the Holy Spirit so that they can feel confident their kids are developing lifetime faith through experiences with God they’ll never forget.
To download free sample lessons, visit TruFireCurriculum.com.
In 1 Peter 3:15, the apostle wrote: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” The Greek word the NIV translates as “answer” is apología, from which we get the word apologetics. Apologetics is that branch of Christian theology which offers reasonable answers to skeptical questions about the faith.
Apologetics is a necessary component of evangelism and discipleship, especially in an America that is becoming increasingly post-Christian. But apologetics is not always done well. Too often, it is perceived as a logic-chopping exercise in answering abstract questions no one is asking by faith-defenders who are more concerned with winning arguments than people.
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m exploring a better way of doing apologetics with Joshua Chatraw. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Dr. Chatraw is executive director of the Center for Public Christianity at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, and author of numerous books on apologetics, including Apologetics at the Cross, The History of Apologetics, and most recently, Telling a Better Story. All these books are published by Zondervan.
My conversation with Dr. Chatraw is coming up after a brief word from our sponsor.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Now What? for Youth.
Written in a style that connects with young people, Now What? for Youth booklets walk students through common questions about discipleship. The Salvation edition and Baptism in the Holy Spirit edition can help curious teens unpack the spiritual journey that follows. Help them connect to God now, and for a lifetime to come.
For more information about Now What? for Youth, visit MyHealthyChurch.com/NowWhat.
On June 15th of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, ruling that the prohibition of sex discrimination in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act extends to sexual orientation and gender identity as well. LGBT rights groups hailed the decision as a major victory, but churches and other faith-based organizations worried that it would impinge on their religious freedom.
In three cases since Bostock, however, the Supreme Court has vindicated religious freedom. Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue struck down that state’s (and by extension every other state’s) “Blaine Amendment.” Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania upheld an exemption from the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate based on religious or moral reasons. And Our Lady of Guadalupe v. Morrisey-Berru (in which the Assemblies of God was joined a friend-of-the-court brief) expanded the scope of the “ministerial exception.”
Given the divergent outcomes of these four cases—Bostock pulling one way, the three other cases pulling the other—many people are asking: Where is the Supreme Court heading with religious freedom?
That’s the question Eric Kniffin and I will discuss in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
Eric Kniffin is a partner in the law firm of Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie, where he works in the Religious Institutions Practice Group. Before joining the firm, he worked as a trial attorney for the United States Department of Justice, practicing in the Civil Rights Division. He also served as legal counsel for Becket Law, a leading religious freedom litigator.
The death of George Floyd has sparked a nationwide conversation about racism. As our fellow citizens talk about how to reform public policy, it’s also important for the Church to look inward and see how we can better embody the truth of Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Mark DeYmaz about how the multiethnic church offers a solution to the problem of racism. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.
One of the architects of the contemporary multiethnic church movement, Mark DeYmaz is the cofounder, CEO, and president of Mosaix, “a relational network of pastors and planters, denominational and network leaders, educators, authors, and researchers alike, that exists to establish healthy multiethnic and economically diverse churches for the sake of the gospel throughout North America and beyond.” This October, Fortress Press will release a new version of his classic book, Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church.
-----
This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Radiant Life Sunday School curriculum.
As a leader, it can be frustrating when you don't have the tools your teachers need to engage students in the Bible. Radiant Life Sunday School curriculum is designed to be engaging and easy to use for any teacher, so that leaders can create a thriving ministry that changes lives. Radiant Life is also available in Spanish.
Visit RadiantLifeCurriculum.com to learn more.