Beyond the Page

Matt Mikalatos is one of my favorite people that I've never met in person. His online presence exudes love and he's always kind, but that doesn't mean he's a pushover or lacks conviction. While most [...] The post Loving Disagreement: A Conversation with Matt Mikalatos appeared first on Life Is Story.

The Conversation This transcript excerpt has been lightly edited for clarity and conciseness. Josh Olds: Give me your elevator pitch for this book. What's it about? Why should people read it? Kaitlyn Schiess: Yeah, so [...] The post The Ballot and the Bible: A Conversation with Kaitlyn Schiess appeared first on Life Is Story.

The Conversation The following is an interview excerpt that has been lightly edited for the sake of conciseness and clarity. Josh Olds: Now I want to start and I hope this doesn't sound confrontational, because [...] The post We'll All Be Free: A Conversation with Caroline Sumlin appeared first on Life Is Story.

Storytelling is much more than writing. In fact, for most of human history, storytelling has come through the spoken word. How can we get back those oral storytelling roots in modern communication? In The Art [...] The post The Art of the Tale: A Conversation with Steven James appeared first on Life Is Story.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, it accelerated something that I had been seeing in churches. People were leaving and they weren't coming back. When COVID forced people out of the normal routine, they were able [...] The post The Road Away from God: A Conversation with Jonathan Martin appeared first on Life Is Story.

Gender identity has recently become part of the “culture war” battles that play out in the media, in our culture, and in our churches. How should Christians respond? How should we talk about the concept [...] The post Gender Identity and Faith: A Conversation with Julia Sadusky appeared first on Life Is Story.

It's not normal for books that I read to be the subject of conversation before I read them. When I shared on social media that I was reading Jonny Rashid's Jesus Takes a Side, reaction [...] The post Jesus Takes a Side: A Conversation with Jonny Rashid appeared first on Life Is Story.

If God is calling women to lead, what's holding them back? Susan Harris Howell has spent her academic life investigating this question and the answer that she's come to is gendered socialization. That is, society [...] The post Buried Talents: Overcoming Gendered Socialization | A Conversation with Susan Harris Howell appeared first on Life Is Story.

On January 6, 2021, Senate Chaplain Dr. Barry Black spent several hours in an undisclosed location with many United States Senators as they took shelter from insurrectionists who had overrun the Capitol building. In the [...] The post A Prayer for Our Country: A Conversation with Senate Chaplain Barry Black appeared first on Life Is Story.

Have you ever read some of the stories of women in Scripture and thought that the traditional interpretation of their narratives just didn't seem quite right? Eve bears the blame for all sin? Bathsheba complicit [...] The post The Most Misunderstood Women of the Bible: A Conversation with Mary DeMuth appeared first on Life Is Story.

What's it like to lose everything, leave your home country, and step out in faith with no safety net? What about raising (and homeschooling!) seven creative children? How about being the middle of the contemporary [...] The post Behind the Lights: A Conversation with Helen Smallbone appeared first on Life Is Story.

For forty-five years, Joni Eareckson Tada's memoir of the years after the diving accident that left her paraplegic has remained in print and read by millions. Reading the latest anniversary edition, I wondered if Joni's [...] The post Joni: A Conversation with Joni Eareckson Tada appeared first on Life Is Story.

Attachment science is both revolutionary and simple. Basically, it states that humans were created for relationships, or, as attachment science founder John Bowlby called it “lasting psychological connectedness between humans.” Of course, this is what [...] The post Attached to God: A Conversation with Krispin Mayfield appeared first on Life Is Story.

From the first pages of Recovering Racists, I was transfixed by Idelette McVicker's authenticity and vulnerability as she shared about the liberating nature of declaring oneself a recovering racist. Her book is mind-opening and paradigm-shifting [...] The post Recovering Racists: A Conversation with Idelette McVicker appeared first on Life Is Story.

Racial issues have rightfully been at the forefront of Christian conversation for the past several years. Not that the racial is just now an issue but that, just now, the church in America is finally [...] The post How to Heal Our Racial Divide: A Conversation with Derwin Gray appeared first on Life Is Story.

Marriage books. Ever since the LaHaye's The Act of Marriage, Christian marriage books have been come and gone and almost all of them have been from a conservative, complementarian, how-to perspective. In Choosing Us, Brian [...] The post Choosing Us: Marriage and Mutual Flourishing | A Conversation with Brian Bantum appeared first on Life Is Story.

Singer, songwriter, Bible teacher, television host, children's author…Sheila Walsh has done it all. And the latest thing she's done is a beautiful children's book meant to teach kids about the comforting nature of God's presence. [...] The post Is God Still Awake? – A Conversation with Sheila Walsh appeared first on Life Is Story.

It seems like news media everywhere are talking about “The Great Resignation.” In the wake of COVID-19 lockdowns, workers realized that they didn't want to go back to “normal.” Normal wasn't working. And business leaders [...] The post Leadership Virtues for Disruptive Times: A Conversation with Tom Ziglar appeared first on Life Is Story.

I picked up God Gets Everything God Wants because I didn't think I agreed with the title's assumption, but by the end of the book I found myself nodding along with Katie Hays and murmuring [...] The post God Gets Everything God Wants: A Conversation with Katie Hays appeared first on Life Is Story.

The murder of George Floyd seemed like a watershed moment. More people than ever before were protesting, calling for justice, and ready to dismantle unjust systems. With that came an influx of a lot of [...] The post How to Fight Racism: A Conversation with Jemar Tisby appeared first on Life Is Story.

I don't know if you've looked out the window recently but…it's been quite the wild ride these past few years. Not just the pandemic, but a whole host of things has Christianity splitting apart at [...] The post When Everything's on Fire: A Conversation with Brian Zahnd appeared first on Life Is Story.

“Look for the words ‘social justice' or ‘economic justice' on your church website. If you find it, run as fast as you can…am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!” – Glenn Beck In [...] The post On Love and Mercy: A Conversation with Stephen Mattson appeared first on Life Is Story.

For over forty years, Philip Yancey has written about faith. You don't a career that lasts that long and has been so successful without intense personal motivation. Throughout his writing, Yancey has shared parts of [...] The post Where the Light Fell: A Conversation with Philip Yancey appeared first on Life Is Story.

Micah Wilder set off on his missionary journey to convert everyone he spoke with to the Mormon faith. Instead, an encounter with a Baptist pastor opened his eyes to the Jesus he never knew—one quite [...] The post Passport to Heaven: A Conversation with Micah Wilder appeared first on Life Is Story.

For well over a decade now, Joel Rosenberg has had his finger on the pulse of the Middle East. His debut novel The Last Jihad opens with terrorists hijacking an airplane to fly into important [...] The post Enemies and Allies: A Conversation with Joel Rosenberg appeared first on Life Is Story.

A few months ago, I began a doctoral program in ministerial leadership. The overarching project for the degree is a dissertation on any subject related to leadership and ministry. After a month of prayer and [...] The post Friendship Leadership: A Conversation with Matt Messner appeared first on Life Is Story.

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. said that “It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o'clock on Sunday.” Almost sixty years later and his words continue to ring mostly [...] The post Becoming All Things: A Conversation with Michelle Ami Reyes appeared first on Life Is Story.

Hinge Moments. Whether you've been preparing for one for a long time or whether one takes you by surprise, they can be scary to navigate and difficult to get through. University president and sociologist D. [...] The post Hinge Moments: A Conversation with D. Michael Lindsay appeared first on Life Is Story.

When you ask the world about the church, what you hear is often not complimentary. Christians are hypocrites is maybe the most common. In the past few years especially, the evangelical church's drive for political [...] The post Radiant Church: A Conversation with Tara Beth Leach appeared first on Life Is Story.

Child loss affects more families than we know, because it's something that's rarely discussed—and even more rarely discussed in a way that's helpful and healing. I'm so thankful for Hallie Scott's willingness to share her [...] The post Hope Beyond an Empty Cradle: A Conversation with Hallie Scott appeared first on Life Is Story.

I almost didn’t read Permission to be Black because I knew that I—a white man—was not the primary audience. But as the father of a Black son who realizes the need for him to have [...] The post Permission to be Black: A Conversation with AD Thomason appeared first on Life Is Story.

How do you give generously when you’re in need yourself? Kevin Wiebe’s Faithful in Small Things looks at a side of generosity and poverty alleviation that’s often not considered. What if poverty relief was best [...] The post Faithful in Small Things – Kevin Wiebe appeared first on Life Is Story.

Christopher J.H. Wright completely revolutionized the way I looked at the Old Testament with his seminal Old Testament Ethics for the People of God. It directly led to a closer study of the Law, which [...] The post Here are Your Gods: A Conversation with Christopher JH Wright appeared first on Life Is Story.

There is perhaps no bigger social issue within Christianity—or within secular culture—than the evolving ideas around same-sex attraction. Within the church, many remain rooted to their traditional convictions that Scripture does not condone same-sex marriage [...] The post An Impossible Marriage: A Conversation with Laurie Krieg appeared first on Life Is Story.

Despite the title, this book isn’t so much a reflection on Christianity in a post-Trump world or where the evangelical church goes from here. It’s a thoughtful memoir of what Heidi Neumark’s ministry and congregation [...] The post Christianity in the Wake of Trump: A Conversation with Heidi Neumark appeared first on Life Is Story.

Who Will Be a Witness? is one of those books I’ll come back to time and time again. Deeply theological yet deeply practical, Drew Hart offers an outright manifesto of the church’s need to be [...] The post Who Will Be a Witness: A Conversation with Drew Hart appeared first on Life Is Story.

I’ve had a lot of conversations this year about racial justice. Particularly in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, the white evangelicals I know have found themselves increasingly uncomfortable but unsure of how to proceed. [...] The post White Lies: A Conversation with Daniel Hill appeared first on Life Is Story.

A while back, I had John Kingston on the podcast to talk about his book American Awakening. What I didn’t know was that the day we were talking, he was getting ready to launch a [...] The post First Principles: A Conversation with John Kingston appeared first on Life Is Story.

As I write this post, the first debate in the 2020 Presidential election is underway and it’s underscoring the prophetic nature of Carrie Lloyd’s call for a noble renaissance. Carrie believes we’ve lost our sense [...] The post The Noble Renaissance: A Conversation with Carrie Lloyd appeared first on Life Is Story.

I’ve done hundreds of interviews and this is one of my favorite conversations of all time. Dr. Brenda is an absolute delight and it was an honor to speak with her about racial justice, particularly [...] The post Becoming Brave: A Conversation with Brenda Salter McNeil appeared first on Life Is Story.

It seems like it’s a simple question with a simple answer. Is Jesus Truly God? Yes. Next question, please. But it’s a question far from settled in the realm of apologetics. We need more than [...] The post Is Jesus Truly God?: A Conversation with Greg Lanier appeared first on Life Is Story.

The church I grew up in was part of what’s called the Restoration Movement. Led by Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell, the movement had the desire to unite the church and do away with denominationalism. [...] The post When Doctrine Divides: A Conversation with Rhyne Putman appeared first on Life Is Story.

American Awakening is more than just a book. It’s a movement. A campaign for the soul of America. Resisting today’s onslaught of anxiety, isolation, and depression, American Awakening instead celebrates the life that’s truly Life, [...] The post American Awakening: A Conversation with John Kingston appeared first on Life Is Story.

Over the last four years, I—an evangelical pastor—have felt less and less connected to my church tradition because my church tradition suddenly became more and more about Donald Trump. I have felt alone. Very alone. [...] The post The Spiritual Danger of Donald Trump: A Conversation with Ron Sider appeared first on Life Is Story.

As a youth pastor, family discipleship is at the core of my ministry philosophy. The job of the parent is to disciple. The job of the youth pastor is to support, teach, mentor, and do [...] The post Family Discipleship: A Conversation with Adam Griffin appeared first on Life Is Story.

The day before I was to interview Joe Rigney and talk about Strangely Bright, I was working on interview prep and making sure I had everything I needed put together. I stepped away for a [...] The post Strangely Bright: A Conversation with Joe Rigney appeared first on Life Is Story.

Every once in a while, I’ll stumble upon a part of Scripture that’s unexpected. Whether is something weird, gross, off-color, or something else—and there’s a lot to be seen—it’ll make me sit back and contemplate [...] The post Murder-Bears, Moonshine, and Mayhem: A Conversation with Luke Harrington appeared first on Life Is Story.