Podcasts about lifeway research

It's Wednesday, June 24th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com. I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark Attacks on French Christians up by 70 percent Attacks on Christians in France surged over 70 percent last year. The data comes from a recent report by the government.  General anti-religious attacks more than doubled since 2010. Anti-Christian violence followed the trend, nearly doubling over the same period. The European Center for Law & Justice notes that the actual number of anti-Christian acts may be two to three times higher than the official figures. The group also reported that France lacks any dedicated institutional framework to combat anti-Christian hatred. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigned The United Kingdom's head of government announced his resignation on June 22nd. The country is set to have its sixth prime minister in just seven years. Prime Minister Keir Starmer stepped down after his Labor Party experienced major election losses in May.  STARMER: “The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election. I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party, and I accept that answer with good grace. Every decision I have taken has been about putting the country I love first. “That is why I will resign as leader of the Labor Party. I have spoken to His Majesty the King [Charles III] this morning to inform him of my decision. I will ask the National Executive Committee of the Labor Party to set out a timetable with nominations opening on the ninth of July.” Keir Starmer, an avowed atheist, was known for his support for abortion and assisted suicide.  Proverbs 29:2 says, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when a wicked man rules, the people groan.” British study: Marriage brings more stability New research from the United Kingdom confirms that marriage is a major factor in relationship stability.  The report from the Marriage Foundation found that unmarried couples were nearly twice as likely to separate as married couples. Dr. Harry Benson is the Research Director at the Marriage Foundation. He noted, “This groundbreaking study categorically demonstrates the benefits of marrying, and blows apart decades of government policy that has consistently downgraded marriage to just another form of relationship like cohabitating.” Proverbs 18:22 says, “He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord.” U.S. abortions down slightly In the United States, the reported number of babies murdered in the womb decreased slightly last year. The Society of Family Planning, a pro-abortion group, estimates there were 1.13 million abortions in 2025. That's down from 1.14 million in 2024. The data shows in-person abortions are decreasing while so-called “telehealth” abortions are increasing. Nearly a third of abortions are now done outside of physical locations by swallowing the Abortion Kill Pill which mothers order by mail. Texas judge allowed recusal from officiating homosexual faux weddings A Texas judge won her religious freedom case last week against the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. The Commission had issued Judge Dianne Hensley a public warning, sanctioning her for Christian beliefs. She had simply recused herself from performing weddings for couples living in unnatural relations.  The recent settlement awarded Hensley $10,000 and required the Commission to pay her attorney's fees of $630,000.  Economist Alan Greenspan died at 100 Economist Alan Greenspan died at the age of 100 on Monday from complications of Parkinson's Disease. He served as the chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006. He has been credited as the orchestrator of U.S. economic growth in the 1990s. However, his easy-money policies were also blamed for the 2008 financial crisis.  Greenspan was often known as the second most powerful person in the country after the president.  47 percent of Protestant pastors oppose celebrating America's 250th birthday A new survey from Lifeway Research asked pastors about celebrating America's 250th birthday.  Fifty-percent of U.S. Protestant pastors agree that their church should do something special to commemorate the event. Forty-seven percent disagree.  Also, 45 percent of pastors support patriotic elements in worship services during the week of July Fourth. That's down from 61 percent in 2016. Meanwhile, 30 percent of pastors say their congregation's love for America sometimes seems great than their love for God. That's down from 53 percent.   U.S. soccer players glorify God And finally, the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team is advancing in the World Cup. The team has achieved back-to-back victories for the first time since 1930. Members of the team are also making headlines for their faith in Jesus Christ.  Last week, star player Christian Pulisic posted a picture of teammates praying on the field after their game against Australia. One of his teammates, Mark Mackenzie, commented on the photo with a reference to Ecclesiastes 4:9-10. The passage says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.” Listen to Mackenzie comment on his faith in Christ. MACKENZIE: “The salvation that I have is nothing that I earned; it's a gift. There's nothing else to it. Every day that goes by is a day where I have to look up and say, ‘Thank you, Lord, for seeing me through this.'” Close And that's The Worldview on this Wednesday, June 24th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today we're joined by John Plake, Chief Innovation Officer and Editor-in-Chief of the State of the Bible research at the American Bible Society. With decades of experience as a pastor, missionary, professor, and researcher, John brings a unique perspective on how people are actually engaging with Scripture and what we should do about it. The “movable middle” is growing. // One of the most significant insights from recent research is the rise of what John calls the “movable middle”—millions of people who are open to the Bible but not yet engaged with it. This group has grown by approximately nine million people in recent years. They are curious, interested, and even positive toward Scripture, but they lack the tools, confidence, or guidance to engage it meaningfully. This represents a massive opportunity for churches willing to step in and help. People want a guide. // Through focus groups and research, John discovered that many people in the movable middle feel intimidated by the Bible. They struggle with language, context, and navigation. But perhaps most striking is they want help. Contrary to what some leaders might assume, they are not rejecting the church as a guide. In fact, many say, “If we can't trust the church to help us understand the Bible, what good is it?” This creates a clear invitation for churches to step into a more relational, guiding role in discipleship. A surprising discipleship gap. // One of the most sobering findings is that nearly half of weekly church attenders are not regularly engaging Scripture on their own. While churches invest heavily in preaching and programming, many people are not developing personal habits of Bible engagement. John suggests that churches often focus on delivering content rather than equipping people to engage Scripture themselves. The result is a gap between what happens on Sunday and what happens in everyday life. From teaching to equipping. // If churches want to close that gap, they must shift from being primarily content providers to equipping environments. This means helping people develop the skills, habits, and confidence to read and apply Scripture on their own. It also requires understanding the real barriers people face, like time constraints, confusion, or lack of community support, and addressing those barriers with practical solutions. A new tool for churches. // To help leaders take action, the American Bible Society has developed the “Next Step for Church” assessment. This free tool allows churches to measure spiritual health, Bible engagement, and key leadership behaviors within their congregation. Within a few weeks, leaders receive a detailed, data-driven report highlighting strengths, challenges, and suggested next steps. Data that leads to discipleship. // John emphasizes that data is not an end in itself; it's a tool for better shepherding. By listening to their congregation at scale, leaders can identify patterns, confirm instincts, and prioritize what matters most. The assessment surfaces both what's working and where growth is needed, giving churches a clear path forward. It also connects individuals to personalized Scripture engagement resources, helping them take their next step spiritually. Why Scripture engagement matters most. // Nothing has a greater impact on spiritual growth than a person's relationship with the Bible. In fact, Scripture engagement accounts for a significant portion of overall spiritual health. When people consistently engage with God's Word, transformation follows—affecting beliefs, behaviors, and relationships. Signs of hope for the future. // Despite broader cultural challenges, John sees encouraging trends, especially among younger generations. Millennials and Gen Z show increasing openness to Scripture, even if they are still exploring. While overall trends may appear flat, meaningful change is happening beneath the surface. For churches willing to engage this moment, there is real opportunity for impact. To explore the research further or access the free church assessment, visit church.nextstep.bible and begin discovering how your church can better equip people to engage Scripture every day. Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I'm grateful for that. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they're extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Lastly, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live! Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Risepointe Do you feel like your church’s or school's facility could be preventing growth? Are you frustrated or possibly overwhelmed at the thought of a complicated or costly building project? Are the limitations of your building becoming obstacles in the path of expanding your ministry? Have you ever felt that you could reach more people if only the facility was better suited to the community’s needs? Well, the team over at Risepointe can help! As former ministry staff and church leaders, they understand how to prioritize and help lead you to a place where the building is a ministry multiplier. Your mission should not be held back by your building. Their team of architects, interior designers and project managers have the professional experience to incorporate creative design solutions to help move YOUR mission forward. Check them out at risepointe.com and while you’re there, schedule a FREE call to explore possibilities for your needs, vision and future…Risepointe believes that God still uses spaces…and they're here to help. Episode Transcript Rich Birch — Hey friends, welcome to the unSeminary podcast. I am so glad that you have decided to tune in today. This is one of those episodes that there’s a great resource in it that going to want to make sure you engage with. There’s super helpful content. Plus it’s about an area that I know so many of us are thinking about, we’re wondering about, we’re asking questions about. Rich Birch — So super excited to have John Plake with us today. He is the chief innovator ah innovation officer and editor-in-chief of the State of the Bible Research Series, which comes from the American Bible Society. And they’re on a mission to make the Bible available to every person in a language and format each can understand and afford so that all may experience its life-changing message. ABS has really a whole bunch of different tools and approaches, and we’re excited kind of expose a little bit more about that today. John has been in ministry over 30 years. We’ll just call it over 30 years. And it served as a pastor, missionary, professor, researcher. John, welcome to the show. So glad you’re here.John Plake — Thanks so much for having me today. It’s great to be with you.Rich Birch — Why don’t you fill in the picture a little bit? Tell us a little bit about your background. You know, what brings you to your current work?John Plake — Yeah. Closer to 40 years now. Rich Birch — Nice. Yeah, yeah. That’s great.John Plake — It’s a little uncomfortable to talk about that.Rich Birch — That’s great.John Plake — Yeah. You know, I start out like a lot of people in ministry. I grew up in a home that ministry was central. Actually, both my grandfathers were ministers. My father was a minister. Ministry is kind of the family business in a way, but I really did sense a direction from God when I was about 15 years old to to pursue full-time ministry.John Plake — There was some detail around that. Ended up going to Bible college and and then started what turned out to be about nine years of full-time pastoral service. And I hadn’t been in that for very long before I realized that everything I learned in Bible College was preparing me to serve a generation that no longer existed in a culture that was gone. John Plake — And I thought, my goodness, I know God’s word pretty well. And mean, I’m a lifelong learner of God’s word. I love the Bible. And yet, didn’t really know culture very well. And I didn’t develop those tools until just years and years of practice, some missionary service, wonderful teachers at at Wheaton College and graduate school and and just a lifelong journey of learning.John Plake — So at American Bible Society, when I got here, the State of the Bible, program or this research project was already underway. And we’d been helped out by the Barna Group, which does some wonderful foundational work. And eventually it just kind of grew up and it got to a place where we had an internal team that was running it ourselves, now in collaboration with the National Opinion Research Council or NORC at the University of Chicago. We just do, I think, what is the largest ongoing study of Americans’ relationship with the Bible and faith and the church. And we get to talk about it all the time. Rich Birch — Yeah, I love it.John Plake — So, I mean, this is the best job in the world.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s so good. It’s it’s great research, something that I think should be on the kind of list of things that we need to be paying attention to. It’s been a gift to the church for so long and something that we should continue to to pay attention through. Now, let’s talk about you specifically. You spent three plus decades. I didn’t want to say almost 40. You know, I’m not saying that. I’m not saying that. I could say that, you know, a couple years ago, I clicked across one of those numbers with a zero on the end as my birthday. And ever since then, I’m a little sensitive about the the age thing. Rich Birch — So anyways, As a ministry, missionary professor, researcher, you’ve done a lot. How does wearing all of those hats, what do you what does that bring to you as you come to the data? How does that impact you as you think about really the state of the Bible research?John Plake — Yeah, you know, I think research can be dull. You know, it can sound like it’s all about writing questions or it’s all statistics and numbers. But for me, the research is all about the people. Rich Birch — So true.John Plake — It’s all about the people in our communities and in our churches that we’re trying to understand better so we can serve them well with the gospel. I, for years, I’ve used the analogy that that being in gospel ministry is like being a human bridge across a river. I grew up not very far from the Mississippi River in the St. Louis area, and there was a big 100-year flood when I was early on in ministry. And I mean, none of the bridges worked anymore. You couldn’t get from one side to the other.John Plake — And I thought, you know, that’s a tragedy that I encountered sometimes in ministry where maybe I was deeply rooted in one bank of the river, the text, but I wasn’t necessarily deeply rooted in the other bank of the river, which was the context.John Plake — And it’s this lived experience of the people that I was I was serving. And that I wanted to serve in my community, but I needed to understand them better. So I wasn’t just spouting you know Aristotelian logic to them. Or I wasn’t just coming at them with the pat answers that I’d learned. Like I’d never heard anybody in my life walk into my office and say, Pastor John, you got to tell me, what can you describe hamartiology to me from. You know like I had to learn that in school, but that’s not what people struggle with. Rich Birch — That’s so true. Yeah. John Plake — They had totally different questions and I needed to love them and honor them enough to understand their questions and answer them responsibly and reliably from the pages of scripture.Rich Birch — Yeah, love it. Okay, well, we’re going to dig into a little bit of just a couple of the findings just to kind of, we’re trying to whet your appetite, friends, to take steps towards this. So the 2025 data showed, and we’ve seen this, a real bump in Bible engagement, particularly among millennials and men. If I’m reading it correctly, though, we saw 2026, a shift happen, maybe back down. And so what’s going on? Actually, I heard another sociologist in a kind of a related field that was about church attendance talked about the dead cat bounce, that it was like, you know, which I thought, oh, that’s a, but there’s a similarity going on here. Pull this, this finding apart. Help us understand this.John Plake — Yeah, apologies to cat lovers out there.Rich Birch — Yes, exactly.John Plake — We were we were hoping, you know, I think we were really hoping. We looked at 2025. We saw that men in particular were leaning into the Bible in ways we hadn’t seen recently. Millennials doing the same thing. There there were some interesting numbers in 2025. And so when the 2026 numbers came to my desk in late January, I thought, I hope we’re extending I hope it’s going to be a trend. But it wasn’t. It was a blip.John Plake — And there’s more to it, though, than just the fact that scripture engagement didn’t go up. It also didn’t go down. And the level of people in America who are Bible disengaged, meaning they never pick up the Bible on purpose at all, that actually didn’t go up either. What grew was this kind of curious explorer group in the middle that we call the movable middle. And over the last two years, it’s grown by 9 million American adults. Rich Birch — Wow.John Plake — And so what we do see is there’s there’s openness to the Bible. There’s experimentation with the Bible. But people are jumping in and they’re trying it and they’re not being able to get hold of it. And I think that’s largely because of us.John Plake — Because Bible people who are around them aren’t saying, please come do this with me. Let me help you. Let me honor you enough to to respect your questions, to ask what you’re dealing with, and help you explore those issues through the pages of Scripture.Rich Birch — I love that movable middle, man, that feels like the kind of group we want to connect with and reach out to in our community. Any other, when you, when you’ve been thinking about this movable middle, what are some other kind of characteristics of those people or other things that, you know, are kind of telltale signs of this group as we’re thinking about them as it, as it pertains to Bible engagement?John Plake — Yeah, they’re an amazing group, and we’re going talking more about them all year, but they are probably my favorite subject in America. There are 74 million American adults that are in the movable middle.Rich Birch — Wow.John Plake — 74 million of our neighbors who are like…Rich Birch — Wow.John Plake — …and here’s what they tend to say: They love the Bible. They think it’s a great idea. But if you handed them a Bible, they don’t know how to find what they’re looking for. They don’t know how to navigate it. They get confused by the language in in Scripture.John Plake — I remember doing a a focus group with a bunch of people in the movable middle. I was in Chicago. it was an area I was really familiar with. I used to pastor in that area. And we got them talking about their experience with the Bible. And we said, hey, does anything ever stop you or kind of you know make you check out because you’re struggling with what’s going on? John Plake — And one young lady at the table said, yeah, you know the language of the Bible is really really hard for me to understand. It’s it’s a really old book. It uses expressions I don’t understand. And a gentleman sitting across the table from her just kind of chuckled and said, yeah, what the hell’s a mustard seed? And everybody laughed.John Plake — I was behind the glass and I just about fell out of my chair because they didn’t teach me to talk like that in a Assemblies of God seminary.Rich Birch — Yes.John Plake —Things like that, you know, that’s just not the way we roll.Rich Birch — Yeah, yeah. Yes.John Plake — But it was so authentic and he wasn’t being mean.Rich Birch — No.John Plake — He was just saying, boy, I don’t I don’t get it. And then they said, you know, we really want a guide. Rich Birch — That’s good.John Plake — And so we pushed on that a little bit. At the time, there were some clergy abuse scandals that actually there were billboards up in Chicago about clergy abuse scandals that all of us lamented. And so we’re like, OK, listen, do you trust the church to be your guide? Because ee saw these billboards, you know, and it’s your city. And so what what do you think?John Plake — And they said, well, of course we do. I mean, it’s terrible when people in the church abuse their position and abuse others. And that’s not what they’re supposed to do. But if we can’t trust the church to help us understand the Bible, what good are they, really? And so, yes, we’re looking to you, church, to help us connect more deeply with the Bible, understand what it meant to the original hearers and readers and how we apply it to our lives today.Rich Birch — Okay, that’s yeah, that’s really cool. I look forward to hearing more about the movable middle in this coming year. Another thing that jumped out to me, which I feel like, man, I’ve seen this in my church. This is like you you named a group that I see, but it’s surprising, at least it’s surprising on its face. So nearly half of weekly church attenders, weekly church attenders, which is, that’s like really engaged, you know, are not regularly engaging, engaging scripture on their own.Rich Birch — Man, what, so what should we do about that? That’s an interesting, how does, how should that impact our discipleship strategy? What are you encouraging us to be thinking about? And these people that are with us all the time, but they’re not engaged with scripture.John Plake — Well, I think the first thing to do is to just recognize it. Rich Birch — Right.John Plake — You know, a lot of pastors that I’ve talked to, when we talk about scripture engagement, they tell me things like this: Everything we do is scripture engagement. I spend my whole week preparing a scriptural message. I’m, you know, we’re preparing small group curriculum and Sunday school curriculum and all of this stuff. It’s all about the, everything we do is about the Bible. John Plake — Well, okay. But I had a I had a young youth pastor come to me not that long ago and he said, John, look, you were me once a few years ago. If you knew then what you know now, what would you do differently?John Plake — And the answer is I would do everything differently, than the way I ought to do it. Because what, in my tradition, there was a lot of emphasis on the preaching event, and I put a lot of effort into those communication events, but what I didn’t put as much effort into is empowering people in my church to do what I was doing, which was dig into scripture, understand it for themselves, giving them the tools to do that.John Plake — And then in May, we’re going to be releasing a chapter, just in a few few days now, we’re going to be releasing a chapter all about parents. And one of the startling things is the time pressure that moms are under. I mean, it’s incredible. And so we need to understand where they’re coming from and where they have barriers, but also have some compassion on them and help to support them when they’re really facing struggles. Like they don’t have enough time. They don’t have the resources or the community coming around them to help them to engage God’s word ah more fulsomely, more transformatively.John Plake — We know how to do this stuff, but we’re not connecting the dots to everybody that’s coming to hear us talk every…Rich Birch — That’s good. That’s good. I know I’ve in my seat as an XP, um you know, I’ve overseen a lot of what we do on the programming side and what we do on the weekends. And I’ve, you know, it’s like, that i don’t think I’ve ever said this publicly. It’s like the kind of behind the scenes conversation. I’ve sometimes wondered, I’ve said, you know, like, what we do on the weekend to try to make the Bible understandable is so completely different than Tuesday morning in someone’s life. Rich Birch — Like, we pull out all the stops to make it interesting. We get like world class communicators, incredible graphics, you know, emotional music, all of this to try to… But then the question is, okay, so now on Tuesday morning when you’re tired and you haven’t had your coffee yet and you’re just about to go read scripture, man, like that feels like a long ways away. There’s like a gap there that I sometimes wonder maybe we’re making it worse. You know. Maybe we’re making it harder. I said that. You didn’t say that. Rich Birch — So maybe there’s pastors that are listening here and they read this kind of report. They read this kind of finding and they’re like, hey, that’s interesting. But like, how what do I do in my church specifically? So you know we want we don’t want to just leave people with a tough stat.Rich Birch — I think we see that in our church. There’s people in our church that are here all the time. They’re not that engaged. But you’ve actually developed a new tool or ABS has developed a new tool to help us think through that. Why don’t you walk us through it? Tell us a little bit about it. How’s it work? Talk us how it can help us.John Plake — Yeah, so recently we developed two tools that kind of work together. One of them you can find on the internet at nextstep.bible. And it’s just for anybody who’s like, hey, I’m on a spiritual journey. I’m kind of stuck. I don’t really know what to do next. Maybe you’re just getting started exploring what it means to be a Christian. Maybe you’re Jesus’ little brother or sister. Wherever you are in that journey, there’s always a next step for us.John Plake — And so what we’ve done is analyzed along about a million spiritual life surveys. Rich Birch — Wow.John Plake — And from this huge quantity of data, we’ve learned that people are at different places in that journey. They’re at different points on the map. And we want to make sure that they’re equipped to have the right thing at the right time. I think currently there are 21,000 scripture engagement resources available there.Rich Birch — Wow.John Plake — They’re absolutely free. They’re in English, Spanish, and French. So go check it out, nextstep.bible.John Plake — But if you’re a pastor or you’re a church leader, you’re probably wondering, well, what’s going on in my church, right? So I see all the national data, but I think our tendency is to say, well, we’re the exception, right?Rich Birch — So true. Well, that’s not our people. John Plake — I know I know everybody else is struggling, but we’re doing okay.Rich Birch — Yes.John Plake — And and so it’s good to check our assumptions a little bit. They used to say a really sad statistic that 10 o’clock on Sunday morning was the most segregated hour in America, which makes me sad. What makes me sad also is that 12 o’clock noon in America is the most dishonest hour in America. That’s the hour when pastors tend to start greeting their people after the church service closes and they hear all these comments: oh, Pastor, that was the best sermon I’ve ever heard. And it wasn’t. It just wasn’t. All right, let’s face it.John Plake — There’s somebody out there who preaches better than you do and better than I do. They’re available on YouTube. People don’t need you to be the best Bible teacher in the world. They need you to be the best pastor for them. Rich Birch — That’s good.John Plake — And the tools that are all about focusing on their relationship with the Bible, their holistic spiritual formation, and our leadership behaviors. And so for that, we built the Next Step for Church Assessment.John Plake — It’s actually standing on the foundation or built on the engine block, if you want a different metaphor, of the old reveal research that the Willow Creek Association had come out with. It’s no longer available. And we were able to acquire all of their historical learnings, but also add in things like human flourishing and e-pastoral leadership behaviors that lead to churches really being missionally effective and strong. Excellent stuff on Bible engagement and spiritual formation. John Plake — So the the big challenge we had, I was talking with Dr. Ed Stetzer about this because he was at LifeWay Research when the Transformational Church Assessment was being built. And it was always hard because analyzing this kind of data required a lot of human intervention. It’s very expensive to do. It’s very complicated to deliver. And even a small cost can be a barrier for churches that have strained budgets. It doesn’t matter if you’re a church of, you know, 2,500 25,000 or 250. There’s always more places to put your money than there are dollars that are available to do it.John Plake — And so at American Bible Society, we said, you know what, as a gift to the church, because we love the church, we need to make it completely free. And so you can go to church.nextstep.bible and you could sign up today. Literally, we’re recording this on a on a Thursday. You could go there today and by Sunday, you could be launching your survey. Two weeks later, you’d automatically have results in your own online dashboard. You’d get key highlights emailed to you. There’s a place for custom questions. There’s just all kinds of really, really rich information.Rich Birch — So good.John Plake — And it it doesn’t take the place of the kind of learning that you have as a pastor. You learn deeply in relationship with others. You’re observing what’s going on. You have a team that’s around you. But what it does is it provides this valid, reliable sift and sort function. It’s based on well, I don’t know even know how many, well over 3000 churches, well over half a million survey responses went into building this and making it a tool that that is a good benchmark for you to say, you know what, if we want to move from where we are today to where God is calling us, here are the things we need to focus on.Rich Birch — It’s so good. And friends, I want to encourage you to to go there. Just church.nextstep.bible. I know many of us have a heart for saying, listen, we want to measure more than just nickels and noses. The number of people that show up and revenue that comes in. And this a great way to kind of inject at something that’s at the core of what we’re supposed to be doing as a church. So why don’t we just give a little bit more detail?Rich Birch — What is it? You know, what’s it actually measuring? How is it? You know, how could it be helpful? How how could it kind of dovetail with some of the things we’re already tracking? Maybe give us, you know, what kind of insights are we going to gain from this if we if we put our people through this?John Plake — Yeah, maybe it’s worthwhile to just back up and say it’s based on a congregational assessment. So really this kind of work is all about just listening to your congregation at scale. So if you have 25 people coming to church, you can probably have this conversation with them if you know how to ask the right questions. Rich Birch — Right.John Plake — You can go to the website. You’re like, what’s in the survey? There’s a button you can click. You can read the whole survey. It’s fine. We’re not going to try and surprise you with anything. But really simple stuff. How’s your relationship with Jesus? How often are you interacting with Scripture? What difference is that making in your life? We ask the standard Harvard human flourishing questions. We ask about um how the pastoral team or the senior pastor, him or herself, is doing at actually modeling Christlike leadership for you. Rich Birch — It’s so good.John Plake — And all of that reporting then gets brought into a database. It’s all anonymous. So individuals don’t, they don’t have to tell you who they are. They can’t tell you who they are other than by characteristics. And you’re going to get this really good, robust picture of what’s going on at the church. John Plake — Now, what does it take for somebody to do that? It takes about 20 minutes of their time, and time is expensive, right? People always have too much to do. So in return for that investment, at the end of their survey experience, they will have already told us everything we need to know to match them to great resources at nextstep.bible.John Plake — And with their permission, not without it, they can click a button, pass that data over to the individual nextstep.bible platform. They can create an account and right away, they’re going to be finding things like YouVersion Bible reading plans that are just for them.John Plake — If you’ve got people in your church and they’re outliers, they’re they’re way more spiritually advanced than everybody else, or they’re just getting started and everybody else is way ahead of them, these kinds of tools create bespoke pathways for them so they know what to do next. All the while, the church leadership can sit back and say, okay, here’s our results. And as a team, now what do we need to do to serve the whole congregation well?Rich Birch — I love this. You know, this is what incredible tool that you’ve put together here for our churches to wrestle through and to, you know, not only help us as a church as we’re thinking about these issues, but then help individuals in our church. What what would be some of the ways that churches might use the data that’s generated to impact what we’re doing in our programming? How how could we use this to improve what we’re doing?John Plake — Sure. There are really three things we want everybody to do. First, just discover what’s going on. Just just check your assumptions at the door and and say, okay, what do the data tell us about what’s going on in our church life and in our people’s lives? That’s the first thing.John Plake — Second thing is it’s going to surface for you the top three things that you’re doing great. And it’s going to give them to you in the report. And you need to throw a party. Like there are people who make these things happen for you. No pastor is doing this all by themselves. And so plan a party, celebrate what’s going well.John Plake — The third thing it’s going to do is it’s going to give you suggestions about, okay, here’s where your congregation is today. It won’t surprise you, but it might inform you. I’ve never seen a pastor look at the report and go, ah you guys got it wrong. Rich Birch — Sure, right.John Plake — Usually they they see the report and they go, yeah, okay, yeah, you got me.Rich Birch — Yeah. Confirmed some hunches I’ve had. Yeah. Yeah.John Plake — Right? But we don’t we don’t have time. We don’t have the resources. We don’t have the expertise to be able to sit down and and kind of scientifically walk through this process. So we do that for you. We deliver the report. And then we’re going to give you two key action items that we think churches like yours in a similar place have done that have helped move them toward spiritual health and missional effectiveness.John Plake — And that’s really what it’s all about. We want your congregation to be spiritually healthy. We want your your church as a whole to be missionally effective. And when that happens, often there’s numerical growth. Often there’s financial growth. But there’s certainly more missional impact that’s coming through your congregation and its work.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s cool. So if I’m like a church of a thousand people, let’s say, and just round number to picking out of the sky, how how what kind of percentage of my congregation would I need to take this to give me a reasonable, you know, statistical, you know, feeling good about the data for it? What what kind of number um should I be thinking about?John Plake — Well, the first thing is we’ve built in a tool that will tell you how to get to a margin of error of plus or minus 3%. Rich Birch — Love it.John Plake — And that does vary depending on the adult attendance that you have. So let’s say you’ve a thousand adults. And by adults, I mean anybody in high school or older can probably take this survey. Rich Birch — Yep.John Plake — And you can cut the data like by gender or by age. All of that live filtering is in the online platform. Rich Birch — Oh, that’s so good.John Plake — So if you’re the you’re the youth pastor and you’re like, well, wait, tell me about the young people that took the survey. You can just look right at them and compare them to the rest of the congregation, which I bet will be enlightening. But nevertheless, how many do you need if you’re a church of 1,000, it’s about 275.Rich Birch — Okay.John Plake — If it’s a smaller church than that, then you’re still going to need a pretty significant percentage. So if I roll that all the way down to a church of 100, you need 80.Rich Birch — Okay.John Plake — And if you roll that up to a church of 5,000, well, you don’t need that many more than 275.Rich Birch — Interesting.John Plake — So you’re going to report that out to you. It’s very, very doable. And, you know, I’ve pastored at large churches and I pastored a small church. And I’ll tell you, when I pastored a church of under 100, I could have gotten a census of the people, like everybody, to do a survey like this. They would have been glad to tell me these things. Rich Birch — Right.John Plake — And it’s not that I couldn’t have had a conversation one-on-one with most of the adults in the congregation. It was something different in that case. I actually didn’t know what to ask. I used to run into this when I was a campus pastor at a Christian university. And I would have young people walk into my office and I was like, I know I should be able to help them, but the challenge they’re facing is different than anything I’m familiar with. I don’t have any analog for this in my personal experience. And so this sort of takes the mystery away. We don’t ask fluffy questions. We ask research proven questions that are going to give you the information you really need so you can take action.Rich Birch — That’s amazing. That’s think this is such a great tool for people. I can see how, you know, it’d be so helpful for folks that are listening in to, you know, might be be able to plug in grab this experience for their people, help their church, help the folks that are attending. That’s, that’s incredible.Rich Birch — So, you know, you’ve picked an interesting vocation to be connected with the American Bible Society. And because, you know, this is such a critical and important part of developing people’s relationship, obviously, with Jesus; its core to all of it. And we have seen a long historical downward trend, and you’re pushing against that, which is amazing. But what gives you hope in the middle of all of that? What would it when you look at the church around you know, the country, where do you see flashes of just good things going on that are like, you know, when it comes to the relationship with scripture that even, you know, even when we see maybe the overall numbers are not as great as we want them to be, what are some kind of flashes of hope we should, that we could encourage folks with today?John Plake — Well, I’d like to maybe point to just three things that leap to mind. Rich Birch — Yep.John Plake — The first of them is I never talk to anybody in the church who says the Bible is a bad idea. Rich Birch — Sure.John Plake — Everybody likes the Bible. We’re all trying to figure out how to communicate its message better, to understand it more deeply. It’s transforming our lives, and we want to be able to share it with others. John Plake — And that’s great because, number two, there’s nothing that makes a bigger difference in somebody’s spiritual life than their relationship with the Bible. I mean, absolutely nothing. And I’m saying this as a researcher. I’ve tested it. I can’t find anything that makes a bigger difference. John Plake — In fact, when we looked at Christian college and university students, 60% of their overall spiritual health across lots of domains—beliefs, practice, putting faith into action, loving God, loving others, all these things, 60% of the variance in their spiritual health is solely accounted for by their relationship with the Bible.John Plake — So if we can help people have a dynamic relationship with scripture, we win. That’s all there is to it. It’s just that simple. And so that is really encouraging.John Plake — And then the third thing, ah the third thing is how I say this nicely? I'm I’m from Gen X and so to my Baby Boomer friends, I’m sorry, but you guys don’t have the influence that you once did.Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s true.John Plake — And that’s a good thing because there’s new openness among Millennials, and Gen Z and even younger Gen X um that we just don’t see among Baby Boomers. It’s like Baby Boomers made up their minds in the 60s and early 70s and said, this is what I believe and I’m not changing. And they haven’t. John Plake — That’s not to say that someone who’s a Baby Boomer can’t have a a spiritual experience and transformational experience. It does happen. But on the population level, like when we looked at the Bay Area of San Francisco, if you look at the scripture engagement, church engagement, love God, love others data in the Bay Area, it looks like what you’d expect, until you strip out the Baby Boomers. And then suddenly it looks better than every place else in America.John Plake — You’re like, what’s going on? Well, looks like all the unreconstructed hippies that moved to the Bay Area are actually holding a lid on the population numbers. And when you remove that and you go, oh, wait a minute, let me look under the headline and say what’s happening. There’s more going on than is easy to see. And I think this happens in big national trends.John Plake — Oh, is Scripture engagement up or down? Is you know church attendance up or down? Whats what’s going… big national trends. Yeah, okay, those are helpful, and we want those to change. But what’s changing first is below the fold. Things in Gen Z, things among Millennials, things in young men, those things are starting to change, and I think those are the first glimmerings that God is at work in a new way in America, and I can’t wait to see it.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s that’s a great word. And that lines up with what we’re seeing, even just experientially talking to churches across the country. You know we’re so we’re seeing there is something going on with younger generations, which is great to see. I was I was born in 1974, the lowest birth rate year of the 20th century. I am classic Gen X. Like you know I am like statistic I’m the statistical average Gen X and has spent a lot of my time trying to hand stuff from the Boomers to the Millennials. And, yeah, there’s lots of encouraging news there, particularly with the younger generations. Rich Birch — I also want to speak to on the the work I’ve done in the church growth stuff that I’ve done and coaching I’ve done with churches, one of the things that’s just undeniable is churches that have a high view of scripture, that is, they’re trying to get people engaged with scripture. They they talk about it like it’s actually true. How do we say don’t know what’s the best way to talk about that? Those are the churches that are prevailing, and that actually works out statistically. You see that time and again. Talk to us about that dynamic, which is kind of co-related to the things we’re talking about today. From your perspective in the stats and all that, how how have you seen that work out as you’ve looked at churches across the country?John Plake — Yeah, I think you’re exactly right. The churches that are the healthiest in America, that are growing, that where where people are spiritually healthy, have a really dynamic relationship with Scripture. And it kind of it cuts across tradition. Rich Birch — Yep.John Plake — There are some traditional things going on. I was listening to Justin Brierley and his surprising Rebirth of Belief in God podcast, and it was from last season, and he he had someone on, he was interviewing, and what she was saying was there are the parts of the church that seem to be thriving are kind of the, the the older, the ancientness traditions, whether it’s Catholic or Orthodox, that what she called somewhat irreverently, the smells and bells side of of the church.Rich Birch — Sure, sure.John Plake — And on the other side, kind of my end of the swimming pool, I’m, from the Assemblies of God, so the Pentecostal and Charismatic side. And she said, what’s going on is that both ends of that spectrum are totalizing. John Plake — They’re saying, you know what, the the Bible places certain expectations and demands on people. Christ places certain expectations and demands on people. And these parts of the church aren’t sort of shy about talking about that from a biblical perspective. She said, what’s what’s dying is that part in the middle where we’ve reduced church to a PowerPoint and you know an Excel spreadsheet. And she said, that part of the church seems to be dying and no one’s coming to the funeral. Rich Birch — That’s good. John Plake — And I thought, you know okay, right?Rich Birch — Yeah. Yeah, that’s good.John Plake — So if we revitalize our relationship with God through scripture, there’s a next step for every church. It doesn’t matter what, you know whether you’re mainline or evangelical or, you know, Pentecostal or Orthodox or whatever it is, but but reviving our relationship with God through Scripture is really where it’s at.Rich Birch — That’s so good. i Yeah, I call that middle group the just because it rhymes doesn’t mean it’s true group. You know, like the, you know, were just like, it’s all my thoughts. No one wants to come and find us. They want to find God ultimately. Well, I don’t want to pick any fights with anybody that’s listening in, but I really appreciate today’s conversation, John. This has been great. So we want to send people to church.nextstep.bible.Rich Birch — The the promise of in two weeks, your church could have a comprehensive report on spiritual health, on where your church is, spiritual health is at, that’s a huge promise. And so again, this is go to church.nextstep.bible. Any kind of final words as we wrap up today’s episode?John Plake — You know, you might be familiar with Cally Parkinson. Cally was the co-author of all of the Reveal books, every single one of them. She was head of communications for the Willow Creek Association when they were running this. She’s probably had more conversations with pastors and church leaders about survey results like this than anybody I know, maybe than anybody alive. And Cally likes this so much. She said, John, I want to have a personal consultation with the first hundred churches that go through this.John Plake — And so if you want to be in that group, she’s going to offer to spend an hour with you and just walk through your results and help explain it. There are videos throughout the platform that will explain it as well. And you can’t beat talking to Cally. She loves pastors. She says you’re the salt of the earth. And she just really wants to serve you because the work that you do to save people is just so valuable to her. So anyway, just wanted to offer that. And I know you’d probably love to meet Cally.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s fantastic. Well, appreciate you being here today. Thanks for the great work you do at the American Bible Society. John, appreciate you being on today. Thank you.John Plake — Thank you.

In 1985, 67% of Americans rated pastors high in honesty and ethics. Today? Just 27% - and only 17% among those under 35. It's one of the steepest trust declines of any profession. The question isn't if this affects your church - it does. The question is what you do about it.   ============================= Table of Contents: ============================= 0:00 - Intro 1:15 - The Numbers Are Worse Than You Think 3:38 - Why This Happened 13:18 - How to Rebuild Trust Through Communications   THE 167 NEWSLETTER

It's Thursday, May 28th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark and Adam McManus Iranian Christian convert gets 10-year prison sentence A judge in Iran recently sentenced a Christian convert to nearly a decade in prison. That's according to the Persian-language Human Rights Activists News Agency. Authorities raided the home of Ghazal Marzban in January. They arrested her and confiscated her Bible. A judge sentenced her to nine years and eight months in prison last week on trumped up charges.  The 41-year-old Christian woman converted to Christianity from Islam nearly 10 years ago. Since then, she has faced arrest, imprisonment, interrogation, and now another imprisonment.  Please pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ in Iran. The country is ranked 10th on the Open Doors World Watch List of the most oppressive countries to be a Christian.  Hebrews 13:3 says, “Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also.” Trump's Cabinet meeting on war with Iran U.S. President Donald Trump held a cabinet meeting at the White House yesterday about the Iran war.  The United States and Iran remain in a fragile ceasefire that began last month. President Trump hopes to finish the war through negotiations.  Listen. TRUMP: “Iran is very much intent; they want very much to make a deal. So far, they haven't gotten there. We're not satisfied with it, but we will be. Either that or we'll have to just finish the job. Their navy is gone, as I've said a thousand times. Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Everything's gone. And they're negotiating on fumes.” However, the Trump administration is prepared to finish the job with the military if negotiations fail. Listen to comments from War Secretary Pete Hegseth.  HEGSETH: “Whether it is through the efforts of your negotiators, that they ensure they never have a nuclear weapon, or we have to go back to the War Department to finish the job that way, we're prepared to do that.” MAGA Ken Paxton trounced Senator John Cornyn in GOP primary In a rejection of the GOP Establishment in the May 26th Senatorial run-off in Texas, Republican Party voters ousted Senator John Cornyn who has been in the Senate for 23 years, according to World Magazine.   After President Donald Trump endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton during early voting, he trounced Cornyn, 63% to 36%, reported NBC News. CORNYN: “After a public service career lasting more than four decades and 18 consecutive campaign wins, tonight we've come up short in this primary runoff. A few years ago, I had a friend of mine say, ‘You know what makes God laugh?' He said, ‘When we make plans.'” Without referencing Ken Paxton by name, Senator Cornyn vowed to support him in the general election this November. CORNYN: “I've spent most of my time in the Senate, building the Republican Party in Texas, and in the U.S. Senate. I've always supported the Republican ticket, and I intend to do so again in this general election. I've said throughout this race that I trust the voters of Texas. They've made their decision, and I must respect it.” However, Cornyn did throw some shade at the registered Republicans who failed to show up and vote for him. CORNYN: “In this runoff election, approximately 8% of registered voters made their voices heard. Of that 8% who voted, roughly 60% said they were ready for a different direction. Another reminder that those who show up decide for those who do not.” (Watch Senator Cornyn's 7:42-minute concession speech here). Ken Paxton, who has vowed to support the Trump agenda, said this. PAXTON: “Today, change was on the ballot, and change won.” (applause) He expressed his gratitude for President Trump's endorsement. PAXTON: “When everyone in Washington told him to abandon me and abandon the people of Texas, he didn't listen. Instead, he gave his complete and total endorsement. President Trump is the leader of our party, and his endorsement is the most powerful force in politics. And I'm honored to have his support, and I look forward to working with him in the Senate to deliver for Texas.” Despite Cornyn and his allies outspending Paxton 9 to 1, Paxton came out on top in this $163 million primary, making it the most expensive primary in U.S. history. PAXTON: “We went up against $150 million and all the attacks in the world. And you know what happened? The voters declared loud and clear a simple truth that we know in our hearts and in our souls: Texas is not for sale.” (cheers) Paxton pivoted to the general election and spoke about his Democrat opponent, James Talarico, a 37-year-old Texas State Representative. PAXTON: “My opponent is the most extreme radical the Democrats have ever nominated. He's even running a ‘vegan' campaign, whatever that is. (laughter) He goes by a few names that you may all have heard of. Some people know him as ‘Tofu Talarico.' (laughter)  Some people call him ‘Six-Gender Jimmy.' (laughter)  I've even heard some people call him ‘James Tala-freak-o.'  (laughter) “He's a threat to our children. He wants boys in girls' sports, gender mutilation surgery performed on kids. And, when asked what he loved, outside of his family and friends, his first answer was ‘trans kids.' That's weird. That's a radical guy. “He wants the open borders policies of Biden, the woke agenda of AOC. He said, ‘You can't be a Christian if you support the oil and gas industries.'” (Watch Ken Paxton's 9:51-minute victory speech here.) Man who gave Abortion Kill Pill to pregnant woman indicted A Texas jury indicted a man last week in an abortion-related case.  Twenty-five-year-old Jon Rueben Demeter allegedly gave an abortion-inducing drug to a pregnant woman, killing the unborn baby.  It's the first time Texas has criminally charged someone for providing an abortion since banning most abortions in 2022. Connecticut requires background check for homeschool parents Connecticut is expanding its regulation of homeschooling in the state. Democrat Governor Ned Lamont signed Public Act No.26-37 into law on Tuesday. The law requires parents to disclose their intent to homeschool to the state. Also, parents cannot take their children out of public school for homeschooling without undergoing a background check. James Mason, the president of the Home School Legal Defense Association, said, “By requiring every parent to be pre-screened before they can begin homeschooling, it turns parents from trusted actors into potential risks to be managed.” 42% of Christians don't talk about God with other believers And finally, Lifeway Research released analysis of its 2025 State of Discipleship Living Unashamed study. The survey found that 30 percent of Protestant churchgoers agree with the statement that “Many people who know me are not aware I am a Christian.” That's up from 14 percent in 2013. Also, 42 percent of respondents said spiritual matters do not normally come up in daily conversations with other Christians. That's up from 29 percent in 2013. Psalm 71:1 and 15, says, “In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame! … My mouth will tell of Your righteous acts, of Your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Thursday, May 28th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

It's Wednesday, May 27th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com. I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark Canadian group penalized for targeting Christians LifeSiteNews reports that an activist group in Canada recently lost its government funding after being exposed for targeting Christians. The Canadian Anti-Hate Network gets hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funding each year. Conservative lawmakers have called out the group for its hostility to Christians and pro-lifers.  Campaign Life Coalition posted on X, “The Canadian Anti-Hate Network is reportedly out of Canadian Heritage funding. This is welcome news. For years, Canadians have been forced to subsidize an activist organization that has helped fuel suspicion and hostility toward Christians, pro-lifers, and other peaceful citizens.” Only 34 percent of Canadians say Bible is authoritative Lifeway Research released its new State of Theology in Canada Study. The survey found 51 percent of Canadians say that religious belief is not about objective truth. Only 34 percent believe the Bible has the authority to tell us what we must do.  A majority of Canadian adults believe God accepts the worship of all religions, that most people are good by nature, and that the Bible is not literally true.  Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research, noted, “For most Canadians, the Bible's teaching on how to live is only as convincing as the Bible itself. When half openly doubt the Bible, it is not surprising that the majority disagree with the Bible on how it says to live.” Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.” Alaska could expand access to Abortion Kill Pill In the United States, Alaska passed legislation last week that could expand access to the Abortion Kill Pill. House Bill 195 would allow pharmacists to prescribe drugs to individuals, not just administer them.  Pat Martin is the director of Alaska Right to Life. He warned that the measure would “expand Chemical Abortion (Mifepristone) access from Anchorage and Fairbanks Planned Parenthood sites to virtually every city, town, and village that has a hospital, clinic, or pharmacy.” Romans 3:15-18 says, “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Hawaiian officials in hot water for censoring free speech Officials in Hawaii agreed to pay over $100,000 to settle a free speech lawsuit last week. The Babylon Bee sued the state over its law that censored online political speech. The Christian news satire site won a similar case in California last year with the help of Alliance Defending Freedom. Seth Dillon, the CEO of The Babylon Bee, commented on the recent victory in Hawaii. He said, “This settlement marks yet another victory for the First Amendment and for anyone who values the right to speak freely on political matters without government interference.” Buying power of U.S. workers fell by 3% Pew Research released a report on American wages compared to the rising cost of living. In the past 20 years, wages have outpaced inflation. Based on the Consumer Price Index, the median wage's real buying power grew by 12.1 percent between 1999 and 2025.  However, over the past five years, the buying power of median wages actually fell by over three percent. This aligns with record inflation levels in recent years.  Weekly churchgoers have better mental health And finally, the Wheatley Institute published a report entitled, “The Religion and Mental Health Connection.” The report reviewed thousands of studies linking religion to better mental health by a 10-to 1 ratio. Studies found the rates of suicide, depression, and anxiety were lower among people who attended religious services. This was especially true for people who attended services at least weekly.  The report stated, “It is not nominal affiliation, but committed religious involvement that appears to matter most.” Hebrews 10:23-25 says to Christians, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Wednesday, May 27th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

The Spirit of Truth Who Leads Us in Righteousness - John 14:15-17, 25-27; John 15:26-27; John 16:4-15 Please turn in your Bibles to John 14. You can find that on page 1071. Before we read, let me remind you of a couple things and explain why we're jumping ahead to chapter 14. Last week, we finished up John 5. If you remember, chapter 5 was about the Jewish leaders accusing Jesus of equating himself with God. Jesus responded by affirming that, yes, he was indeed equal with the Father. In the middle of chapter 5, Jesus made a very clear declaration that he shares the glory and power of the Father because he and the Father are one. Well, today, I thought we would do something a little different. Since we just considered God the Father and the Son, I thought we would round that out by considering the Holy Spirit. We're going to stay in the Gospel of John, but look at selected passages from chapters 14-16. Next week, we'll return to chapter 6 So, if you would, turn to John 14 and we'll begin with verses 15-17. Reading John 14:15-17, 25-27; John 15:26-27; John 16:4-15 Prayer “Who is the Holy Spirit and what is his role in your life?” That question stumped me. I was a High school senior at the time. And I was applying to a Christian college. That question about the Holy Spirit was on the admissions application, but I didn't know how to answer it. Yes, I had grown up in the church, and yes, I was a believer in Jesus. Our church, although a faithful church, was light on teaching and discipleship or maybe I just wasn't paying attention. “Who is the Holy Spirit?” I didn't know. Maybe that's you… if I asked you to tell me about the Holy Spirit, would you know where to begin? If not, you're not alone. Of all the doctrines about God, the area of weakest understanding is the Holy Spirit. In a recent study from Lifeway Research, 28% of Christians in the United States believe the Spirit is divine but not equal to God the Father and the Son. Another 21% were unsure. In a second question, 56% believed the Spirit of God to be a force but not a divine person. You know, when it comes to God, we can conceptualize God as a Father… we can comprehend Jesus in his human nature, and through Jesus' testimony and ministry, we can understand that he is fully God. But it's harder to understand the Holy Spirit. My hope is that by the end of this sermon... We would each more fully grasp… Who the Holy Spirit is, what role he performs, and how we benefit from and receive him. Who, what, and how. But even beyond these important questions about the Holy Spirit and the benefits we have in him… I also hope that we would each feel and sense his convincing and convicting work in our hearts and minds. That's my prayer. As we begin, let me summarize Jesus' teaching about His Spirit… this way: (1) The eternal Spirit of God, (2) who speaks truth and conviction as God, (3) dwells in those who know God, because they have received his grace by faith in Christ. There are three points there. Let me say that again if you are taking notes... (1) The eternal Spirit of God, (2) who speaks truth and conviction as God, and (3) dwells in those who know God, because they have received his grace by faith in Christ. 1. The eternal Spirit of God… answering the WHO 2. who speaks truth and conviction as God… answering the WHAT 3. dwells in those who know God, because they have received his grace by faith in Christ. the HOW. And just to be sure… These verses on the Holy Spirit are not exhaustive… they are just a few of the many Biblical texts. All throughout the Scriptures we learn about the Spirit of God. ·      In the book of Acts… The Holy Spirit is given and he leads the early church. ·      We learn of his work in and through believers through the apostles Paul and Peter and others. ·      In Genesis 1, we learn that the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters… ·      Furthermore, the Old Testament Feast of Tabernacles… was given as a festival by God to teach about salvation and God's grace in the giving of His Spirit. ·      The prophets also spoke of God's Spirit… ·      And all throughout the Scriptures… we're promised to have “rivers of living waters” flowing forth from us… through the work of God's Holy Spirit. We can't cover all of that, but Jesus' teaching on the Holy Spirit in John's Gospel is very helpful. It's very clear and very foundational. So let's dive in. (1) The eternal Spirit of God So again, #1, The eternal Spirit of God. In the verses we read, Jesus calls God's Spirit by many names. He's called “the Helper” which means advocate. Jesus also names him the “Spirit of Truth” several times … Jesus calls him the “Holy Spirit.” That title is used throughout the New Testament. But the most common New Testament name is just “the Spirit.” Referring to God's Spirit. And from these verses… one thing we see over and over… is that the Holy Spirit is sent from both God the Father and from God the Son. Let me highlight some verses: ·      Chapter 14:16 – “The Father will give you the Helper” ·      and 14:26 “The Father will send [him] in my name” ·      Chapter 15:26, Jesus said, “I will send you from the Father… the Spirit of truth. Who proceeds from the Father.” ·      And again, in chapter 16, Jesus said again, “I will send him to you” We'll be reciting the Nicene creed in a little bit. It summarizes what we believe the Bible teaches about God… And regarding the Holy Spirit, it says He “proceeds from the Father and the Son.” That's helpful… it's a good summary of what these and other verses teach. The Holy Spirit “proceeds from” both the Father and the Son. The Spirit, therefore, has the full authority of God because he is God. He proceeds from God. He's unified with God the Father and God the Son. Furthermore, we learn here that the Holy Spirit is eternal. We get a glimpse of his eternal nature in chapter 14 verse 16… he's given to us forever. He will be with us for all time into heaven. And as we look to eternity past, as I briefly mentioned from Genesis 1, the Holy Spirit has always existed. Jesus teaches that not only is he, himself, fully God… but he teaches that the Holy Spirit is also God. Remember what we considered two weeks ago from John 5? Our God is one God, three persons, same in substance, equal in power and glory. Well, these verses affirm that for the Holy Spirit. We call God a triune God - a Trinity - 3 in 1. All three persons of God work in union one with one another; the Father, the Son, and the Spirit… and they share the same substance and power and glory. That's why in John 16 verse 14… Jesus says of the Holy Spirit that “he will glorify me.” That's because each divine person of the Trinity exalts one another as God. So, to summarize point #1 - the Holy Spirit is the eternal Spirit of God… fully God, forever existing, with all the knowledge, wisdom, glory, power, and authority of God. (2) who speaks truth and conviction as God # 2… He speaks truth and conviction as God. We're on to the what question. What role does the Spirit fulfill? What do the Scriptures teach that the Holy Spirit accomplishes? Well, first, the very titles that Jesus uses for the Spirit reveal his role. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the “Helper.” In our reading, we heard that four times…. the English doesn't really capture the breadth of the concept here. Really “helper” in Greek comes with the sense of being a counsellor or an advocate. You know, someone who represents you, who is for you, like in a legal setting. He guides you and he speaks to you and is for you. Jesus also calls the Spirit, the “Spirit of Truth.” That is in our verses three times. What is this Counsellor counselling us about? Well, he counsels us on the truth. He counsels us on God's truth. His Word. Throughout these verses, over and over, we're given a very clear understanding of what truth the Holy Spirit speaks. Look down at chapter 14 verse 26. Jesus says, “he will teach you all things AND bring remembrance all that I have said” Now keep that in mind and go one chapter ahead to chapter 15, verse 26. The very end of the sentence, there… Jesus says of the Spirit “he will bear witness about me.” So, the Holy Spirit is revealing Christ and his testimony. Chapter 16 is similar. Verse 13 it says, “he will guide you in all the truth” and then “He will declare to you the things that are to come” This is the role of the Holy Spirit… to speak God's truth, to enlighten our minds, to bear witness about Jesus' work… All the things about Jesus… You know, his life, his teaching, his redemption, and our future hope in him to come. The Spirit declares all this to us. He testifies to us the truth of God's Word. You see, all those things are found in God's Word. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals God Word to us. Really, God's Word and Spirit go hand and hand. They are inseparable. We're given a beautiful image of this in Ezekiel chapter 37. God gave Ezekiel a vision. In a dream, God showed Ezekiel a valley full of dead dry bones. But as God's Word went forth… God breathed his breath onto those dry bones. His breath is his Spirit - same word. And through the ministry of the Word being spoken by the prophet and God's Spirit being given… the valley of dry bones began to rattle... And then the bones came together. God gave new life to the bones. A vast army of God's people was resurrected through the work of God's Word and His Spirit… together. Friends, none of us can know and believe this Word without the work of the Holy Spirit. We're ignorant and sinful, we're dead dry bones…. We're unable to know God and nor believe in him by ourselves. But God has given us a great gift… the Spirit of Truth. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit does more than just speak God's word to us. He also convicts our hearts and minds. Look now at chapter 16 verse 8… it says, “He will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment” Verses 9-11 then elaborate on that. We're not capable of seeing our sin and our blindness. And what the Spirit does in our lives is that he persuade us in three ways. He brings conviction of sin. He brings conviction of righteousness. And he brings conviction of judgment. “Conviction” here means to convince. To bring to light. To see yourself and your need for God and his salvation.  Let me say it this way… conviction is the Holy Spirit applying his truth to your heart in your situation. He shows you your condition and he enables you to respond. And it's more than just knowing what is right and wrong. It's also seeing your own depravity and your failure to live up to God's standard. God's Spirit brings that conviction… When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, he enlightens your mind to see your sin and to repent of it. And that's related to the second conviction… the conviction of righteousness. You see, the Holy Spirit also reveals to you God's standard of holiness and goodness. He prompts you to not only repent of your sin, but to pursue the goodness and righteousness that God calls you to in his Word. Do you see the two sides of it? Not only conviction of your sin, but a conviction to pursue holiness. And the third conviction is conviction of judgment. You see, it is more than just knowing your sin and seeing the path to holiness. It is realizing the judgment of God upon sin and the devil. It's a recognition that God has been at work throughout history to bring redemption from that judgment through Christ. Truly, without this conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgment… our hearts and minds would remain blind. We would not be able to see our sin or our situation, nor how to respond. But God has revealed his truth and is applying it in our hearts and minds. So, to summarize point #2… The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, speaks the truth of God, through His Word. He reveals God's redemption in Christ and he brings conviction. He convicts us of sin. He points us to the righteousness of God. And he shows us the judgment and hope of God in Christ. 3.) dwells in those who know God, because they have received his grace by faith in Christ So, here's where we are … #1 The eternal Spirit of God - the who. #2 He speaks truth and conviction as God - the what. And that brings us to #3… he dwells in those who know God, because they have received his grace by faith in Christ. This is the how question. How does God do this? How does he dwell in us?  Well, it's a mystery… ok, let me close in prayer. I'm just kidding. It is a mystery, but we can't leave it at that. Look with me at John chapter 14, the end of verse 17. Look at it. John 14:17 “You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” Do you see that? Notice the two prepositions … “with” and “in.” “He dwells with you and will be in you” Have you ever seen one of the Pixar movies called “Inside out?” There are two movies. Maybe some of the kids have seen them. Well, in the first movie, a young girl named Riley was dealing with all of her emotions after her family moved across the country. And we're brought to the headquarters of her mind… In her head, there's a command center with knobs and levers and buttons. It's where Riley's emotions lived. They're represented by different characters. Joy, sadness, anger, fear, and despair. And of course, they all want control… Well, at one point, Sadness and Joy were arguing… and they accidentally knocked over some of Riley's memory blocks. But as they scramble to retrieve them, Sadness and Joy got sucked like a vacuum out of the headquarters of Riley's mind. Well, that causes Anger and Despair to take over. Because of it, Riley was left in a state of apathy. I won't tell you what happens. You'll have to see it. It's a good movie, helpful in many ways… It's a picture of how we struggle with sin and emotions on the inside. But one thing is apparent. Riley is missing something. Riley is not in control. Her emotions are battling it out. If I can relate this to the Holy Spirit… What the Spirit does is enter into the headquarters of our hearts and minds. He speaks to our thoughts, and our emotions, and our desires, and our passions. Our sinful tendencies don't go away, but as we fill our mind with God's Word, the Holy Spirit takes that and guides us and speaks to us. He guides us in all the ways that we discussed… in truth and conviction. So, when you are on the precipice of sin or when you are struggling with unbelief about one of God's promises, God's Spirit prompts you. For example, maybe a family member or co-worker has said something unkind… and you're tempted to become angry. But then, you're prompted by the Holy Spirit… “Man's anger does not bring about the righteousness that God requires.” James 1. Or it's late at night, you have your phone with you and lustful thoughts come to mind. You're struggling with temptation… but you also have the Spirit's leading. He brings to mind Jesus' word. “if anyone looks at a woman with lustful thoughts he has already committed adultery in his heart” or the corollary “if anyone looks at a man in that way” Will you listen to the Spirit within you in those moments when he prompts you? Or maybe you feel the weight of physical pain, or grief, or discouragement. If so, let the Holy Spirit bring to mind the truth and hope of Christ. That is, what he's accomplished for you on the cross and in the resurrection… and the hope he gives. We would be here for days to unpack all the ways the Spirit prompts, guides, encourages, and convicts us. And to be clear, the Holy Spirit is not like a professional counsellor that you meet with every so often. He does not have office hours nor only occasionally speaks into your life. No, if you believe by faith in Christ, God's Spirit is with you and is in you. He's given you a new heart. He's enlightened your mind. He has applied the work of Christ to you, that you may receive and rest upon Christ alone for salvation. And in that salvation, the Holy Spirit has united you to Christ. You are ingrafted into Christ. The Spirit of God dwells within you. Sinclair Ferguson, you know, pastor and theologian, says it this way, “…to have the Spirit is to have Christ; to have Christ is to have the Spirit. Not to have the Spirit of Christ is to lack Christ. To have the Spirit of Christ is to be indwelt by Christ.” If you are in Christ, you have the Holy Spirit in you. Now, there's a lot more that could be said. When we get to John 15, in particular, we'll consider our union with Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us. As Jesus said, he is the vine and we are the branches. That will be a few months out. Here's the summary: The eternal Spirit of God, who speaks truth and conviction as God, will dwell with you and in you, ifyou have received the grace of Christ by faith in him. Conclusion Back to the opening question: “Who is the Holy Spirit and what is his role in your life?” Honestly, I don't even remember what I wrote on my college application. This was before the internet, by the way, so I couldn't research online. But I did call a friend in another state who was also applying and all I remember is that he was a great help. And the school did accept me. But how would you answer that? Well, if I had to answer that question today, here's what I'd say: The Holy Spirit is one of three Persons of the Trinity. He is the same in substance and equal in power and glory with the Father and the Son. He is eternal and unchangeable having proceeded from the Father and the Son. And he is the one who applies the salvation of Christ in the hearts and minds of God's children. He unites us to Christ by faith. The Holy Spirit furthermore speaks the truth of God Word to us. He brings conviction of sin and causes us to repent and renew our trust in God and in the Gospel. In moments of temptation, he reminds us of God's promises and reminds us of Jesus ministry of reconciliation and his righteousness. The Holy Spirit sanctifies us in truth. He reveals that we are God's and assures us of salvation in Christ. He is not some mystical force, but as God and as a person of the Godhead, he possesses God's nature as a loving, just God, who knows us, his creatures… and speaks to us through his Word… We need God's assurances and his conviction, and we need to know and believe in our Savior, Jesus Christ. I would furthermore add by saying that when I find myself overwhelmed by situations or being tempted, I seek to listen to his convicting voice within… who brings to mind his Word, which he inspired… and who reminds me of the cross and my forgiveness in Jesus. The Spirit of Truth is my Helper and he will be with me forever. May God, through the Holy Spirit, assure and bless us in Christ. May he mature us in our understanding of him and may he lead us in righteousness and truth. Amen

Un estudio de Lifeway Research identificó los principales factores que influyen en la permanencia pastoral. Este análisis reúne datos, experiencias y consejos pastorales para pensar la longevidad ministerial con proactividad.

On this week's program, embattled Kanakuk Kamps CEO Joe White announced he will retire at the end of this summer. We'll have details. Plus, Ligonier Ministries is under scrutiny after it announced that Stephen Nichols, one of its teaching fellows, would be leaving his role. This, around the same time he was excommunicated from St. Andrew's Chapel. We'll take a look at the fallout. And, with many eyes on Iran, one ministry with boots on the ground is encouraging Iranian Christians and sharing the gospel with Muslims affected by the war. But first, a court has ruled that the Chicago-area church led by well-known pastor Dane Ortlund illegally fired an employee back in 2021. The producer for today's program is Jeff McIntosh. We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today's program include Tony Mator, Kim Roberts, Jessica Eturralde, Stacey Horton, Erik Tryggestad, Bob Smietana, and Makella Knowles. A special thanks to Lifeway Research for contributing material for this week's podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.

Christina Hello, everyone, I'm Christina Darnell, the managing editor of MinistryWatch. Welcome to the MinistryWatch podcast. In today's extra episode, I talk with Warren Smith about some news items that are slightly (even significantly) outside of our normal charity and philanthropy “beat.” So, Warren, what's up first? Warren  The National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) has formally asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to investigate comments aired by Jimmy Kimmel during the April 23, 2026, broadcast of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Kimmel's comments were, as a lot of his comments are, thoroughly tasteless. But if they are not protected speech, clearly covered by the First Amendment, then we are all in trouble. Christina And you think it is particularly ironic that the NRB is filing this complaint. Warren I do, because the NRB claims to be a champion of free speech.  The organization claims to be a “nonpartisan, international association of Christian communicators” whose mission is to “protect the free speech rights of our members to speak Biblical truth by advocating those rights in governmental, corporate, and media sectors.” But in recent years, some of its largest members, and the organization itself, has been little more than an unpaid public relations arm for the Republican Party. Christina There was also news this week about a little-known arena of pro-life work: embryo adoption, sometimes called “snowflake adoption.” Warren The National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC) just announced the addition of two new affiliate clinics, bringing its embryo adoption and donation services closer to families across the country. Dr. Craig Sweet of Embryo Donation International, will serve as the NEDC's affiliate physician in Fort Myers, Florida, and Dr. Valerie Shavell & her physician partners of The Fertility Center will serve in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with each performing frozen embryo transfers for NEDC patients in their respective regions. Christina Embryo adoption is often described as a “life-affirming” option because it gives embryos a chance to be born rather than destroyed. Embryos have been donated from all 50 states. Warren Recipients have traveled from across the United States, U.S. territories, and about a dozen foreign countries, including as far away as China, to participate in the program. The NEDC's website is www.embryodonation.org. Christina We have another abortion related story this week. Warren In the years since Roe was overturned, the number of abortions has grown to record levels, with two-thirds of them being chemical abortions. Christina The recent Supreme Court decision restoring abortion pill access via telehealth is another huge blow to the pro-life movement, erasing any gains made by the overturning of Roe. Warren This seems a good moment to state what should be obvious, and that is that we will not eliminate abortion by passing laws. We will eliminate abortions when we change the hearts and minds of Americans about abortion. That means persuading people who disagree with us, not beating them into submission to achieve political goals that do not make a difference. Beating people up makes them less likely, not more likely, to listen to you. Thus endeth the lesson. Christina Southern Baptists released new membership data this week. Warren Southern Baptist churches saw sustained growth in attendance and baptisms, but the two-decade membership decline continued in 2025, according to a statement from the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Total SBC membership fell by more than 3 percent from 2024 to 2025, dipping to 12,331,954, according to the Annual Church Profile (ACP) compiled by Lifeway Research in cooperation with Baptist state conventions. Christina Fewer members belong to Southern Baptist congregations, but more people are attending worship services and small groups and are being baptized. That seems contradictory. Warren It does. These seemingly contradictory data probably reflect efforts by the SBC in recent years to clean up their roles. They were listing people as members who were, in some cases, dead or who had long since joined other churches. There's also probably a bit of generational difference in attitudes relative to church membership and attendance. Older generations are more likely to be members but not attend. Younger generations are more likely to attend for longer periods before becoming members. Christina On average, nearly 4.5 million people attend a Southern Baptist church each week, while more than 2.6 million participate in a small group Bible study or Sunday School class—both up more than 3% compared to 2024 and up for the fourth consecutive year. Warren Meanwhile, the number of baptisms increased by nearly 5 percent to well over a quarter of a million, marking five consecutive years of growth and surpassing pre-COVID levels. Christina Any final thoughts before you go? Warren It was great to visit with readers and donors in Los Angeles and Jacksonville recently. I will be speaking at the annual convention of the Evangelical Press Association in Nashville next week, and I will be holding a reader lunch in Franklin. For precise location, send me an email at wsmith@ministrywatch.com. I will also be in Dallas and Knoxville later in May. I will be speaking at Summit Ministries in Manitou Springs in June, so I will be doing reader lunches in Denver and Colorado Springs during that trip. Let me know if you would like to join us. My email is wsmith@ministrywatch.com. Christina That brings to a close this EXTRA episode of the podcast. The producer for today's program is Jeff McIntosh. I'm Christina Darnell, along with Warren Smith. Until next time, may God bless you.

It's Wednesday, May 6th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark Nigerian Muslim militias killed 9 Christians Over the past week, Muslim gunmen killed at least nine Christians in a spree of attacks across central Nigeria. Others were injured or abducted in the attacks. Fulani Ethnic Muslim Militias also destroyed nearly 100 acres of farmland.  International Christian Concern stated, “Residents across affected areas are now reporting attacks on mining routes and farming communities, vital sources of income for many families. Local leaders are urgently calling for reinforced security deployments and thorough investigations into the escalating incidents.” Nigeria is ranked seventh on the Open Doors World Watch List of the most difficult countries in which to be a Christian.  United Kingdom court rules in favor of 80-year-old pro-life activist A High Court judge in the United Kingdom ruled in favor of a pro-life activist last month. The case began in 2023 when David Skinner sent an email to public authorities in Dorset in South West England. The pro-lifer expressed his opposition to a new buffer zone law that restricted speech near abortion mills. He also included images of babies that had been killed in abortion.  Authorities responded by charging Skinner under communications legislation. However, the recent ruling overturned that conviction.  Eighty-year-old Skinner commented, “This prosecution should never have been brought. It has taken a heavy toll on me, but I hope this ruling will protect others who wish to speak out peacefully on matters of conscience without fear of being criminalized.” Proverbs 24:11 says, “Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.” 75th anniversary of National Day of Prayer on May 7th Tomorrow, Thursday, May 7th, is the 75th anniversary of the National Day of Prayer in the United States. Christians are hosting tens of thousands of prayer events across the country. The day culminates in a prayer service broadcast from Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol at 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Many leaders are attending the event, including House Speaker Mike Johnson. Kathy Branzell, president of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, told CBN News about the theme of this year's event. Listen. BRANZELL: “Our theme this year is glorify God among the nations, seeking Him in all generations, in this 75th year and the 250th of America, even though to other nations, we might still seem like a baby. That's been a long 250 for us. But all glory to God before we get too puffed up in our patriotism and all of that we want to make sure we say, Thank You Lord, it is only by him shedding His grace on us.” The theme verse for the event is 1 Chronicles 16:24. It says, “Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.” Find a prayer event near you by typing in your zip code in the linked page. America owes more debt than it produces The Wall Street Journal reports the United States. now owes more than it produces. The national debt reached $31.265 trillion last week. Meanwhile, the country's gross domestic product, the total of the country's products and services, was $31.216 trillion over the last year. That means U.S. debt now exceeds 100% of GDP. The debt-to-GDP ratio has not been this high since the 1940s. First religious charter school in America A Christian school in Tennessee received approval for what could become the first religious charter school in the U.S. Last week, the Jackson-Madison County School Board approved a charter school application from Union University, a private Christian college. A similar attempt to create the first religious charter school failed in Oklahoma. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court last year. Southern Baptist Convention membership dropped by 3% And finally, Lifeway Research released analysis on the Southern Baptist Convention yesterday. Their membership fell by over three percent from 2024 to 2025. Total membership stands at about 12.3 million. Weekly attendance at Southern Baptist Convention churches averages nearly 4.5 million people each week. That figure is up by over three percent compared to 2024. The number of baptisms also increased last year by five percent.  Jeff Iorg, President and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee, said, “We are grateful Southern Baptists continue to show growth in key metrics like baptisms, worship attendance and Bible study participation.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Wednesday, May 6th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

https://youtu.be/-VkPX-_N9V0?si=_CUPOAwJg7AmJANK NEW SERIES – Simple theme – Make Every Day Matter. Stop living on autopilot. Start living with purpose. Series Outline May 10 Mother's Day: When You Feel Like You're Not Enough May 17 Running on Empty – Filled for a Purpose – serving from God's strength. May 24 Busy… but Not Building Anything – Jesus teaches us how to build a life that lasts. May 31 The Cost of Coasting – Grow Up. Go Out. – purpose moves outward into mission. 30 Day Purpose Plan We need a plan!  Scan to download. One simple step each day: Scripture, thought, action step, prayer. Three minutes a day. This series is not just something to hear. It is something to live. I have reached the end of my day and thought: I was busy all day, but what did I actually live for? I got things done: Answered messages Handled problems Made decisions Showed up Checked things off the list But underneath: Is this it? Is this what my life is supposed to be? Shows up: Driving home tired Scrolling and losing another hour Full calendar, empty heart Life looks fine outside, but inside you are not ok. This series – not just busyness… stress… bad habits…We are going after the deeper question: Why Am I Even Here? – Made for More We know this question. Wake up behind. Move through day reacting: Phone rings Text comes in Meeting gets added Bill is due Kid needs help Deadline moves closer Schedule changes Problem cannot wait How we describe this…“I'm just putting out fires.” Some fires have to be put out. If all we ever do is put out fires, we never build anything that lasts. If all we do is survive the week, we never ask: What kind of life am I actually building? Most of us are not rebellious. We are not shaking our fist at God. We are busy, tired, distracted, and unsure how to get from the life we have to the life we were made for. This Is a Widespread Problem 57% of Americans wonder at least monthly, “How can I find more meaning and purpose in my life?” More than 1 in 5 wonder that every day. (Lifeway Research) 89% of employees want purpose in their lives, but only 18% feel like work gives them the purpose they are looking for. (McKinsey) Only 59.2% of U.S. adults expected high-quality lives five years from now, the lowest level Gallup has measured in nearly two decades. CDC reports depression rose from 8.2% to 13.1% over about a 10-year span. Among adolescents ages 12-19, the rate was 19.2%. We are so focused on Achievement. Achievement is not bad. But achievement is not the same thing as purpose. Adults chasing achievement and unsure the future will be good. Young people looking at the same race and wondering if it is worth running. Maybe the problem is not that we need to achieve more. Maybe we have been chasing achievement without purpose. Deeper question: not “How do I get more done?” but “Why am I even here?” Why Am I Even Here? – Made for More That is why I named today's message Why Am I Even Here? But the answer is: You were made for more. If we want to know why something exists, ask the One who made it. Ephesians 2:10: For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. This verse answers: What was I made for? God's Purpose Timeline Present tense – “You are God's Handiwork Right now. Before you prove, perform, or produce. You are crafted by God. You are given – Giftings, strengths, personality, compassion, creativity, wisdom, encouragement, resilience, influence. God designed you! Everyone is a 10 at something. FIND THAT THING – It is your purpose. God put that thing in you. Past tense: Created in Christ Jesus. Not self-improvement. Not try harder. New creation. Already done. It is finished. God has already restored your purpose. Future: Good works prepared in advance. God created you and has designed your future. Before God created you, He created good work for you to do. Purpose is not: What do I want to do? What will I decide to do? Purpose is: What did God create me to do? Purpose is not invented. Purpose is discovered. When what God placed in you meets what God prepared for you, purpose comes alive. Past, present, future. 360-degree purpose in every direction. We should know what Jesus says about purpose. Matthew 6:33: But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6: Jesus talks about worry, food, drink, clothes, tomorrow. Stuff we chase, stress over, and think will secure us. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Kingdom is not empty religion: Not denominationalism Not rule-keeping Not sitting in a church building Trying to keep all the religious rules The kingdom is God's reign in real life. God's will and purpose as ruling the force in you: Love Hope Peace Plan Purpose When forgiveness beats bitterness – that is kingdom. When generosity beats greed – that is kingdom. When service beats selfishness – that is kingdom. When obedience beats excuses – that is kingdom. When love beats fear – that is kingdom. When you fulfill what God made you to do – that is kingdom. Seek first. Not leftovers. First. All these things will be given. Not earned. Given. Grace. World: Achieve first, then maybe you matter. Jesus: Seek first the kingdom, and let God take care of the rest. Jar, big rocks, small rocks. Small rocks first – big rocks do not fit. Big rocks first – small rocks settle around them. That is Matthew 6:33. Seek first. Big rock – Purpose Faith Parenting Marriage Health Calling Career aligned with purpose Small stones crowd out the big rocks: Achievement chasing Distractions Errands Notifications Noise Pressure Small demands Decide what the big rocks are. Place purposeful things first. So what do you do with this? 3 Steps Toward Purpose 1. Realize you have a purpose We dismiss ourselves too quickly: Not talented enough… Not spiritual Not experienced Not outgoing Too old Too young Too many mistakes Do not know enough Ephesians 2:10 does not say you are God's handiwork if you feel impressive. It says YOU ARE God's handiwork. Stop dismissing what God designed. You were not created to do someone else's good works. Everyone is a 10 at something. Find that thing and use it for God. 2. Notice your design Culture: You can be anything. You can achieve anything. Love the confidence, but not completely true. You were designed to be something specific and unique. LeBron: obvious basketball giftings – height, strength, coordination, durability. He could be anything he wants… not true! World champion horse jockey? That would be ignoring his design. Sometimes we ignore what God placed in us because we chase what looks impressive in someone else. Ask better questions. Want to find your purpose… as these questions. What comes naturally to me that helps others? What breaks my heart or moves me? What do people come to me for? What gives me joy when I do it? ?? Encourager, hospitable, organized, creative, good with kids, good with people, compassionate toward hurting people – that can be purpose. Purpose is using what God placed in you to bless who God placed around you. 3. Prioritize your purpose Purpose cannot stay a nice idea. It has to become first priority. Jesus said, Seek first. Not leftovers, someday, or after everything else. DO NOT JUST PRIORITIZE GETTING THINGS DONE – PRIORITIZE YOUR SPECIFIC PURPOSE Church: We need things done. We do not want to plug you into a hole because something needs doing. We want to help you find what God created you to do. Find Jesus. Follow Purpose. Go Change the World. You may work in an office to pay bills. That matters. But where are you finding and fulfilling your purpose? Life is easier, more enjoyable, and more fruitful when operating in strengths. Easier because you are no longer fighting your design. Tools can help: StrengthsFinder Personality assessments Spiritual gift assessments Prayer Conversation Serving Paying attention to joy People who know you 3. Prioritize your purpose Prioritize it. Make space. Talk about it. Pray about it. Try something. Take the next step. Imagine if we lived on purpose. Imagine if we were not the 57% wondering every month how to find meaning and purpose. Imagine if we could say: I know God made me. I know God placed gifts in me. I know God has good work for me to do. Imagine if we stopped chasing disappointing achievements and started walking in God-designed purpose. Imagine if families asked: What did God put in us, and how can we use it? Imagine if work became a place to carry kingdom purpose, not just pay bills. Church stops being something we attend. It becomes something God does through us. LIVE ON PURPOSE 1. Pray God, show me what You placed in me. What good works have You prepared? Where do You want me to take one step? 2. Start the 30-Day Purpose Plan Scan QR code. Download. Start today. Scripture, thought, action step, prayer. Three minutes a day. Space for what matters. 3. Start a Purpose Conversation Connection card: Purpose conversation. Online: leave a comment – Purpose conversation. We will follow up, pray with you, dream with you, and help you take a next step.

Six years removed from COVID, the data tells a more nuanced story than most headlines. In this episode of The Mobilized Church Podcast, we look at insights from Pew Research Center, Gallup, Barna Group, and Lifeway Research to understand where the Church and mission field really stand today.Yes, decline may be slowing, but stabilization is not transformation. Spiritual openness is still there, especially among younger generations, but it's often unformed and fragmented. At the same time, rising anxiety and renewed interest in faith point to a deep hunger that has yet to become real discipleship.This episode challenges the Church to look beyond attendance and ask the deeper question: are we actually forming disciple-makers?

It's Thursday, February 12th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark Olympics can prompt prayer among Christian viewers (Audio of Olympic theme song) Over 3,500 athletes from 93 countries are competing at the 2026 Winter Olympics Games in Milan, Italy this month. Fourteen of these countries are on the Open Doors' World Watch List of the most oppressive places to be a Christian. Those countries include Eritrea, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, India, and China.  Open Doors has a message for Christian viewers of the Olympics. They said, “Use the Olympics in a potentially surprising way: to pray.  … Take a moment to think about the situation of your brothers and sisters in that country and pray for it.” You can reference the organization's prayer guide for each country through a link in our transcript today at TheWorldview.com.  Ephesians 6:18 says, “Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.” Canadian gunman killed 10 people at school Tragically, a transgender shooter opened fire at a Canadian school on Tuesday, reports LifeSiteNews.com. Jesse Strang, a 17-year-old male pretending to be a female while wearing a dress, reportedly killed 10 people including himself.  He also injured 25 people. It's Canada's deadliest school shooting in decades.   The shooting took place at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in northeastern British Columbia which has fewer than 200 students enrolled in Grades 7 through 12. Chris Elston, a Canadian pro-family activist, said, “He was a young man who needed serious help for his mental health. Instead, his delusion was affirmed, and the result is murdered innocent children.” Later, Elston added, “Someone needed to tell this kid the truth and help him to be happy as a man, but it's illegal to do so. It's a criminal offense of conversion therapy. So, he never got help and he got worse. Murdered children paid the price for our politicians' stupidity and cowardice. Not even our police can call him a man. A cult has taken over our society. “ Please pray for the families suffering through this unimaginable loss. YouVersion Bible engagement up dramatically in Latin America Online Bible platforms are seeing unprecedented engagement in Latin America so far this year. This trend marks a year since the YouVersion Bible platform established a regional office in Mexico City. On January 1, nearly two million people subscribed to Bible reading plans. And the app saw over 22.2 million active users on the first Sunday of the year. This marks a 20% growth from last year. Countries with record levels of engagement include Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, and El Salvador.   Only 31% o Protestants read Bible daily In the United States, new analysis from Lifeway Research found most Protestant churchgoers don't read the Bible on a daily basis. Seventeen percent of churchgoers read the Bible at least monthly. Fourteen percent read weekly. Thirty percent read a few times a week. And only 31% read the Bible daily. However, the percentage of churchgoers who read the Bible daily or at least a few times a week is now 61%. That's up from 36% in 2007. Romans 12:2 reminds us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” GOP to FDA: Abortion Kill Pill is hurting women U.S. Senate Republicans criticized the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday after a closed-door briefing on the abortion kill pill. The FDA is supposed to be conducting a safety review of mifepristone, one of the drugs used in chemical abortions. Republicans are accusing the agency of dragging its feet on the study. Listen to comments from Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri in an interview on Washington Watch with Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. HAWLEY: “Tony. I just think, at this point, this study, it's vital. It should be done. I don't have any confidence that the FDA is actually going to do it. And, in the meantime, abortions in this country are increasing. There are more abortions now than when Roe was the law of the land. And that's because of this chemical abortion.” U.S. homicides down 20% The Major Cities Chiefs Association released its latest report on violent crime in the U.S. The report collects data from 67 of America's biggest police departments. Compared to 2024, reported homicides were down nearly 20% last year. And reported violent crimes are falling after a surge of reports during the COVID-era shutdowns. 130,000 new American jobs The United States added 130,000 jobs in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Analysts expected only 55,000 jobs. It's the biggest job growth in over a year. The gains were led by healthcare, social assistance, and construction.  The unemployment rate remained slightly elevated at 4.3%. 92% of Americans like religious themes in movies & TV And finally, a new survey found most Americans are open to religious themes in movies and TV shows. The 2026 Faith & Entertainment Index found 92% of U.S. adults say faith has a role to play in modern entertainment. And 77% believe it can have broad appeal. Brooke Zaugg, executive director of the Faith & Media Initiative, said, “Religion can feel scary to talk about — like politics — so it creates the illusion that it's a small group. That makes it easy for filmmakers to oversimplify it or not give it much thought, instead of recognizing how valuable faith storytelling can be when it's done well.”  Close And that's The Worldview on this Thursday, February 12th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

In this video, Christian Barrett unpacks the 2026 State of Discipleship study from Lifeway Research and what it reveals about spiritual formation in U.S. churches today. According to the research, average churchgoers are barely passing on key discipleship characteristics, and many churches lack intentional plans for forming mature disciples. The discipleship deficit is real, and pastors across America feel it. This video explores what the deficit means for believers, pastors, and the future of the church in America, and why discipleship can't be assumed without intentional structures and community. Support Emet Ministries, so we can continue to provide content and resources to help disciples become disciplers: https://emetministry.churchcenter.com/givingmy reading list:⁠ https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/74696644-christian-barrett00:00 – Lifeway Research Reveals a Discipleship Crisis00:47 – Why the Church Needs Discipleship, Not Just Attendance04:32 – What Biblical Discipleship Really Is (Belief + Obedience)12:04 – 8 Biblical Signposts of Genuine Discipleship15:10 – Church Attendance vs Real Discipleship20:20 – Giving, Tithing, and Spiritual Formation20:50 – Discipleship Through Outreach to College Students23:30 – Why Discipleship Must Be Intentional25:00 – How to Do Discipleship in the Local Church#Discipleship#DiscipleshipCrisis#DiscipleshipInAmerica#ChurchDiscipleship#ChristianDiscipleship#LifewayResearch#BiblicalDiscipleship#SpiritualFormation#AmericanChurch#EvangelicalChurch#ChurchLeadership#CollegeMinistry

Are our churches actually making disciples, or are we just barely passing? Brian Upshaw and Drew Dabbs dive into the latest LifeWay Research findings and discuss how pastors can move their congregations from a ‘D' average to vibrant, Great Commission impact.  The latest State of Discipleship study reveals a startling disconnect in the pews: while churchgoers score high on “seeking God,” they are failing in Bible engagement and sharing Christ. Drew Dabbs, discipleship ministry strategist, points out that while “Ds get degrees” in college, a “D” average in discipleship suggests that many believers lack the practical tools to study the Word for themselves or engage their culture with the gospel. The conversation highlights that the desire to follow God is present, but the systems for equipping and reproducing disciples are often missing. To address these gaps, Dabbs and Brian Upshaw highlight the upcoming Disciple-Making Conference on Feb. 24 at Hickory Grove Baptist Church. This event is designed to move beyond theory by featuring local practitioners who are effectively building cultures of evangelism and leadership development in diverse contexts. Whether it's understanding new Gen Z trends or learning how to turn volunteers into leaders, North Carolina Baptists have the resources available to help their churches “raise their grades” and thrive on mission. Listener Bonus: Listen for a special code to receive $5 off your registration! Register at disciplemakingconference.org.

It's Tuesday, January 27th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Kevin Swanson Iran Int'l News reports 36,500 protestors killed by Islamic regime As The Worldview reported yesterday, the latest report of the death count for the recent Iranian protests is now at 36,500, according to Iran International News.   (audio of Iranian officials shooting unarmed protestors) This information reportedly comes from Interior Ministry documents. The government carried out 4,000 clashes at various locations around the country over a two-day period earlier in the month. Iran's Health Ministry also revealed that the hospitals in the country performed 13,000 surgeries following the protests. Iran's internet blackout is going into its 19th day today.  Iran International also reports that government officials are still carrying out “extrajudicial killings, deaths under torture, and the systematic mistreatment of detainees and their families.” Several of our sources have reported multiple Christians killed in the conflict.  Communist Chinese president purged military generals China's President and Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping has completed his purge of military generals, beginning with top brass Zhang Youxia and at least 17 other generals, reports NTDTV.com. The Economist called this “the largest political purge of the military's top ranks since Mao Zedong's death in 1976.” Assaults on ICE officers increased by 1,300% in 2025 over 2024 Public protests are increasing in the United States. Last year, the Crowd Counting Consortium counted 10,700 protests in the U.S. That's a 133% increase over 2024. So far this month, there have been 628 protests, the largest of which have centered in Minnesota, Illinois, and California. Disturbingly, the protests have increased in violence. The Department of Homeland Security recently reported a 1,300% increase in assaults against I.C.E. officers in 2025 (over the previous year), and a 3,200% increase in vehicular attacks. Rest assured, where human justice may fail, Ecclesiastes 12:14 assures us that “God shall bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.” Shooting death of Minneapolis man sparks gun control debate The January 24th fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by law enforcement has sparked a debate on gun control. Apparently, the protester was armed at the time of his encounter with the I.C.E. agent. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli took to X, commenting that, "If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you."  However, the pro-gun group, the National Rifle Association, said, "Responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens.” Plus, Gun Owners for America noted, "The Second Amendment protects Americans' right to bear arms while protesting ‒ a right the federal government must not infringe upon." GOP Rep. Thomas Massie and Barack Obama weigh in on ICE killing GOP U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky also jumped into the fray. He said, ”Carrying a firearm is not a death sentence;  it's a Constitutionally-protected, God-given right. And, if you don't understand this, you have no business in law enforcement or government." No comment from the liberal media on Mr. Pretti's choice to carry a gun to the protest. Then, former President Barack Obama took to X on Sunday to encourage the American public to “support and draw inspiration from” what he calls “the peaceful protests in Minneapolis.” Satan worshippers thank Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Speaking of Minnesota, Republican State Representative Pam Altendorf revealed on video a disturbing display recognizing Satan in the state Capitol. ALTENDORF: “As I was leaving my committee meeting today here earlier, I noticed that there is a new display here at the State Capitol, and it's for Governor [Tim] Walz.” The inscription says, “The Democratic Coalition of Satan Worshippers thanks Gov. Tim Walz for not standing in the way of spreading Satanism in the state Capitol building.” Rep. Altendorf concluded with this. ALTENDORF: “Yes, everyone, this is true. I am live, not making this up. You can't make this up. (laughs) I don't know why a governor of a state would want this plaque, but there it is. “The Satan worshipers have thanked Governor Tim Walz, and let me repeat this.  The last line says, ‘Satan has a special place for you.' I'm speechless.” In Exodus 20:3, God revealed to Moses atop Mt. Sinai, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Charismatic leader accused of “fabricated” prophecies and sexual sin The charismatic church is taking more hits from reports concerning alleged scandalous activities of a homosexual nature. Shawn Bolz was platformed by Bethel over a period of ten years.  Bethel leadership now admits to have continued platforming Bolz despite their knowing of his “fabricated” prophecies and alleged sexual sin, reports CBN News. Multiple Christian news organizations have headlined this new revelation in an ongoing series of scandals in the evangelical/charismatic church involving Bill Hybels, Carl Lentz, Mike Bickel, Brian Houston, T.D. Jakes, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, and Jimmy Swaggart.  The deluge of scandals has taken its toll on the nation. Public trust in pastors here is now the lowest in recorded history. According to Lifeway Research, only 27% of Americans say they have a high trust in pastors, down from an average of 56% between 2000 and 2009. Here's a reminder from 1 Corinthians 11:31 and 32. “If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.  But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.” Gold and silver prices soar Gold and silver prices continue to soar. Now, $5,100 per ounce for gold, up from $2,600 just a year ago, reports Reuters. And silver today is $110 per pounce, up from $30 a year ago. 36 states consider anti-transgender bills And finally, at last count, 36 state governments are floating 366 bills which would put the brakes on the advance of “transgender rights,” limit the public display of drag queens, and allow religious exemptions for churches, schools, and businesses that are morally opposed to homosexuality and transgenderism. Close And that's The Worldview on this Tuesday, January 27th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

On this episode of The Lead On Podcast, Jeff Iorg, president of the SBC Executive Committee, explores the practice of giving public invitations in worship services. Drawing from LifeWay Research and his own ministry experience, he discusses the importance of thoughtful invitation planning, the concerns pastors face, and practical ways to invite people to respond meaningfully to the gospel.

On today's program, the judicial commission of the Anglican Church in North America has handed down its long-awaited verdict in the months-long trial of Bishop Stewart Ruch. And that verdict is, “Not Guilty.” We'll have details. And, International Servants has been making big claims about its decades of ministry work in Belize—but verifying those claims has proven more difficult. We'll take a look. Plus, Elevation Church—the North Carolina-based megachurch led by Steven Furtick—has announced the launch of Elevation College. But first, St. Andrew's Chapel in Sanford, Florida, has officially voted to leave the Presbyterian Church in America. The church, originally led by Dr. R.C. Sproul, joined the PCA in 2023. It first considered a vote to leave this summer, but delayed the vote while referring the matter to the church's board of elders, also known as its session, to study the situation and return with a recommendation. Its lead pastor, Burk Parsons, was suspended from his role as a teaching elder in the PCA in June after being found guilty by a church judicial commission of three charges related to, among other things, a “domineering” and “intimidating” leadership style, which included accusations of bullying and slander. The producer for today's program is Jeff McIntosh. We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today's program include Kim Roberts, Kathryn Post, Jessica Eturralde, and Aaron Earls. A special thanks to Lifeway Research for contributing material for this week's podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.

As part of our Across State Lines emphasis, New England Baptist partnered with the ERLC'S Psalm 139 Project to donate an ultrasound machine to Aspire Now Pregnancy Care Center in Vermont, a pro-choice state. On today's episode, you'll hear from Terry Dorsett, executive director of the Baptist Churches of New England, about the unique challenges facing New England Baptists, particularly when it comes to advocating for pre-born lives. He also discusses how cooperation with other state conventions like Tennessee and Alabama, fellow SBC entities, and local churches makes pro-life ministry possible in a region that is largely abortion permissive.New England Baptists face other ministry obstacles and opportunities as well, including family issues, pornography and gambling. Even with these challenges, there are encouraging signs of growth. According to Lifeway Research, New England is the only region in the SBC that has grown over the past five years. Terry has served in New England since 1994, first as a pastor, then a church planner, a director of missions, and finally a church planting catalyst before becoming the executive director of the Baptist Churches of New England in 2015. Now let's turn to Elizabeth Bristow's conversation with Terry Dorsett. Listen to more episodes of The ERLC Podcast at erlc.com/podcast.

Every two years, Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research release The State of Theology—a massive survey that reveals what Americans (including evangelicals) actually believe about God, the Bible, Jesus, and culture. The 2025 report is out, and some of the numbers are… surprising. In this episode of Thinking Christian, Dr. James Spencer is joined by longtime friend and theologian Dr. Ashish Varmafor a wide-ranging conversation about what the data shows—and what it doesn’t show—about the theological landscape among evangelicals today. Rather than panicking over headline-grabbing statistics, James and Ashish analyze the deeper trends beneath the numbers. Together they explore: Why young evangelicals differ sharply from older generations on questions like the Bible’s literal truth and whether science conflicts with Scripture. Why nearly all evangelicals still say the Bible is their highest authority, even when their answers elsewhere seem to contradict that claim. How access to information, cultural context, and community shape belief—for better or worse. The surprising power of church attendance and affiliation in reinforcing core doctrines (and where that influence seems to break down). Why political theology may be quietly distorting how Christians answer moral questions—especially younger believers. Which troubling survey results actually matter—and which ones may simply reflect fuzzy categories or ambiguous wording. How churches should respond: not with panic or doctrinal hammering, but with thoughtful discipleship, richer community life, and deeper formation. James and Ashish also dive into the complexities of interpreting theological surveys at all—how beliefs are shaped by cultural habitus, how people understand (or misunderstand) terms like myth, literal, or love, and why surveys often reveal more about our formation than our formal theology. If you’re curious about what evangelicals really believe—and what the church can do about it—this episode offers a hopeful, nuanced, and deeply thoughtful guide through the data. Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Happy Thanksgiving!  It's Thursday, November 27th, A.D. 2025. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes written by Jonathan Clark and heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  Filling in for Adam McManus I'm Ean Leppin. (Contact@eanvoiceit.com) 18 Church Leaders Arrested in China Authorities in China arrested 18 leaders from Zion Church last Tuesday. Zion Church is one of the largest unregistered church in the country. The congregation has faced persecution for years. In the latest crackdown on the church, police detained at least 30 Christians across seven cities since October. The arrested leaders can effectively be held indefinitely in pre-trial detention. Scott Bower with Christian Solidarity Worldwide said the church leaders were “targeted solely for the peaceful exercise of their religious belief.” Taiwan Spends Extra $40 billion on Defense The self-ruling island of Taiwan plans on spending an extra $40 billion on defense in the face of threats from China. The Chinese government continues to claim the island as its own.  Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te announced the plan yesterday. He said, “China's threats to Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region are escalating. . . . History has proven that compromising with aggression only brings war and enslavement.” The U.S. State Department welcomed the plan. And Japan recently stated that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo. Poland Facing Changes to Marriage Law In Europe, Poland is facing challenges to its marriage law. The country currently bans faux same-sex marriage and defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.  However, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday that Poland must recognize the faux same-sex marriages of other European Union countries.  Some Polish lawmakers are trying to change the marriage law. But Poland's President Karol Nawrocki has said he would veto “any bill that would undermine the constitutionally protected status of marriage.” Jesus said in Mark 10:6-8, “But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.' ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh.” Roman Catholic Church Praises Monogamous Marriage The Roman Catholic Church recently praised monogamous marriage between one man and one woman. The Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released the document Tuesday. The doctrinal note came in response to concerns from bishops in Africa where polygamy is still practiced. The document stated, “Polygamy, adultery, or polyamory are based on the illusion that the intensity of the relationship can be found in the succession of partners.” However, the Vatican's doctrinal dicastery has previously allowed priests to give a blessing to same-sex couples in certain cases.  U.S. Highschoolers Losing Interest in Marriage In the United States, high schoolers are losing interest in eventually getting married. Pew Research reports 67% of 12th graders in 2023 said they would want to get married in the future. That's down from 80% in 1993. Twelfth graders are also less likely to want children or to stay married to the same person for life if they do get married. In particular, high school girls are much less likely to want to get married someday. Boys' interest in eventually getting married has remained relatively unchanged over the last 30 years. U.S. State Department Addresses Human Rights Violations  The U.S. State Department announced a list of acts it considers human rights violations. These acts include transgender surgeries, government funded abortions or abortifacient drugs, attempts at coerced euthanasia, and violations of religious freedom.  Tommy Pigott is the Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the Department of State. He told The Daily Signal, “In recent years, new destructive ideologies have given safe harbor to human rights violations. The Trump administration will not allow these human rights violations, such as the mutilation of children.” Do People Still Thank God on Thanksgiving? And finally, Lifeway Research reports two in three Americans say they typically give thanks to God at Thanksgiving. Lifeway Research also shared the Bible verses Christians turn to at Thanksgiving based on Bible-reading apps. Many of them are from the Psalms. One of the most-read verses at Thanksgiving over the last five years was Psalm 9:1-2. The passages says, “I will thank the Lord with all my heart; I will declare all your wondrous works. I will rejoice and boast about you; I will sing about your name, Most High.” The most popular verse last year was 1 Chronicles 16:34. The verse says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his faithful love endures forever.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 27th, in the year of our Lord 2025. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. Filling in for Adam McManus I'm Ean Leppin (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Give Thanks and seize the day for Jesus Christ.

Nebraska District President Richard Snow shares the joys and challenges of serving as a DP, from walking with pastors and congregations to raising up the next generation of leaders. He reflects on conflict, communication, and why the future of the LCMS depends on deeper discipleship and greater trust in God's Word. To learn more about the podcast or access the show notes, visit www.redletterpodcast.com.Sponsor SectionToday's episode is brought to you by Red Letter Living. We create resources to help the church produce greater disciples. This season we are launching a series of videos on our YouTube channel called “The Voices of the LCMS,” where we are unpacking data from our survey of 1054 Lutheran leaders. These videos are opening up questions, conversations, and opportunities to help us walk together in the future.Richard's ChallengeDo what you've been given. Instead of worrying about what others should be doing, identify one practice you need to put into action this week and start doing it.Are You Following Jesus?Many want to be greater followers of Jesus but don't know how. We extensively studied everything Jesus commanded of us and located five key targets to which Jesus invited His followers. The five targets are Being, Forgiving, Serving, Giving, and Going. In partnership with LifeWay Research, we created a Red Letter Challenge Assessment that will measure you according to these five targets. And the best news of all: it's free! You will receive your results immediately and be presented with the next steps to help you become an even greater follower of Jesus.You can take the FREE Red Letter Challenge Assessment here. Watch the Entire Season on YouTubeWe upload every episode of The Red Letter Disciple on our YouTube channel. Subscribe here.Resources Mentioned in the EpisodeNebraska District LCMS: ndlcms.orgMission Ignition (Nebraska District initiative)Everyone His Witness (LCMS resource)Joining Jesus on His Mission by Greg FinkeLutheran Hour Ministries evangelism toolsRed Letter Living's Spiritual Gifts Test“Voices of the LCMS” VideosSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is going to get weird. This season, we are considering the Alaska State Motto – “North to the Future” as a model for a positive imagining of Anchorage's future. On this episode, AnchorED City Podcast host Joel Kiekintveld interviews himself about the future of religion in Anchorage. We want to hear your positive vision of the future! Record a voice memo on your phone of your positive vision for Anchorage's future and send the audio file to anchorageutc@gmail.com. Please put in the subject line of your email “North to the Future – My Vision.”   https://www.facebook.com/akReclaim @akReclaim #anchoredcity https://anchorageutc.org https://www.facebook.com/AnchorageUTC @AnchorageUTC     Resources Used To Make This Episode: https://www.christiannewswire.com/over-45000-individuals-in-the-most-unchurched-region-in-america-to-hear-about-jesus-at-the-pdx-crusade/ https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/02/26/decline-of-christianity-in-the-us-has-slowed-may-have-leveled-off/ https://www.pewresearch.org/religious-landscape-study/metro-area/portland-vancouver-or-wa/ https://www.pewresearch.org/religious-landscape-study/region/united-states/ https://www.pewresearch.org/religious-landscape-study/state/alaska/ https://www.oca.org/parishes/oca-ak-eklsnc https://www.stseraphim.org/radonitsa-the-orthodox-rejoicing-day-for-the-dead/ https://www.adn.com/alaska-life/2023/10/29/anchorages-oldest-building-a-russian-orthodox-church-gets-new-life-in-restoration-project/ Smith, Gregory A. “Religious ‘nones' in America: Who They Are and What They Believe.” Pew Research Center, January 24, 2024. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2024/01/24/religious-nones-in-america-who-they-are-and-what-they-believe/.  See: Smith, Gregory A. “Has the Rise of Religious ‘nones' Come to an End in the U.S.?” Pew Research Center, January 24, 2024. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/01/24/has-the-rise-of-religious-nones-come-to-an-end-in-the-us/.  “Religious Change in America.” PRRI, May 15, 2025. https://www.prri.org/research/religious-change-in-america/#:~:text=Slightly%20more%20than%20three%20in,sexual%20abuse%20scandals%20(31%25).  Jones, Jeffrey M. “U.S. Church Membership Falls below Majority for First Time.” Gallup.com, March 26, 2025. https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx.  Earls, Aaron. “Small Churches Continue Growing-but in Number, Not Size.” Lifeway Research, August 21, 2024. https://research.lifeway.com/2021/10/20/small-churches-continue-growing-but-in-number-not-size/.  Burge, Ryan. “Is Anyone Going to Church More Now than They Used To?” Graphs about Religion, November 2, 2023. https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/is-anyone-going-to-church-more-now.  Kiekintveld, J.S., 2019. Join Me in the Commons: Towards a Contextual Urban Ministry Education Model for Anchorage, Alaska (Doctoral dissertation, University of Pretoria (South Africa)) - https://repository.up.ac.za/items/1627110e-393d-4b3b-abc2-5389ddd94f91

Dr. Joel Biermann of Concordia Seminary unpacks the good and bad of Lutheran identity, debates the effectiveness of online seminary, and explains why theology matters not just for pastors but for every disciple of Jesus. To learn more about the podcast or access the show notes, visit www.redletterpodcast.com.Sponsor SectionToday's episode is brought to you by Red Letter Living. We create resources to help the church produce greater disciples. This season we are launching a series of videos on our YouTube channel called “The Voices of the LCMS,” where we are unpacking data from our survey of 1054 Lutheran leaders. These videos are opening up questions, conversations, and opportunities to help us walk together in the future.Joel's ChallengeSlow down this week and delight in God's creation. Notice a tree, a person, a cloud—something ordinary—and thank God for the beauty He's placed around you.Are You Following Jesus?Many want to be greater followers of Jesus but don't know how. We extensively studied everything Jesus commanded of us and located five key targets to which Jesus invited His followers. The five targets are Being, Forgiving, Serving, Giving, and Going. In partnership with LifeWay Research, we created a Red Letter Challenge Assessment that will measure you according to these five targets. And the best news of all: it's free! You will receive your results immediately and be presented with the next steps to help you become an even greater follower of Jesus.You can take the FREE Red Letter Challenge Assessment here. Watch the Entire Season on YouTubeWe upload every episode of The Red Letter Disciple on our YouTube channel. Subscribe here.Resources Mentioned in the EpisodeDay 7 by Joel Biermann (CPH / Amazon)Concordia Seminary, St. LouisThe Book of ConcordNorman Nagel (systematic theology influence)Robert Benne (Reasonable Ethics)On the Line Podcast – Debate on Christian NationalismYouTube: @JoelBiermann“Voices of the LCMS” VideosSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On today's program, an Oklahoma pastor was fired after reporting missing church funds—this, despite the fact that he followed denominational rules in raising his concerns. Now, his bishop has been arrested for embezzlement. We'll take a look.  And, Gen Z is bringing a new paradigm to traditional missions.  A new report examines what they value—and what they don't. We'll have details. Plus, churches and ministries are working to fill in the gap as SNAP benefits continue to be unpredictable amid the government shutdown. But first, ACNA Archbishop Steve Wood is taking a leave of absence amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Archbishop Steve Wood, who heads the Anglican Church in North America, is taking a voluntary leave of absence in the wake of allegations of sexual harassment, bullying and plagiarism. Those allegations will be investigated by a 10-person Board of Inquiry, made up of ACNA clergy and laypeople, that will assess whether there are reasonable grounds to initiate a church trial. The producer for today's program is Jeff McIntosh. We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today's program include Kathryn Post, Bob Smietana, Tony Mator, Kim Roberts, Shannon Cuthrell, Cheryl Mann Bacon, Daniel Ritchie, Aaron Earls, and Christina Darnell. A special thanks to The Christian Chronicle and Lifeway Research for contributing material for this week's podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.

Dr. Rich Rudowske, Executive Director of Lutheran Bible Translators, unpacks why Bible engagement is declining in America, what research says about its impact, and why Scripture is vital for the flourishing of the church. Together we explore the global 2033 Bible translation goal and the unique opportunity the LCMS has to play a key role. To learn more about the podcast or access the show notes, visit www.redletterpodcast.com.Sponsor SectionToday's episode is brought to you by Red Letter Living. We create resources to help the church produce greater disciples. This season we are launching a series of videos on our YouTube channel called “The Voices of the LCMS,” where we are unpacking data from our survey of 1054 Lutheran leaders. These videos are opening up questions, conversations, and opportunities to help us walk together in the future.Rich's ChallengeRead your Bible every day, and take it a step further by reading with a group. Use an app like YouVersion, invite friends, and share comments to sharpen and encourage one another.Are You Following Jesus?Many want to be greater followers of Jesus but don't know how. We extensively studied everything Jesus commanded of us and located five key targets to which Jesus invited His followers. The five targets are Being, Forgiving, Serving, Giving, and Going. In partnership with LifeWay Research, we created a Red Letter Challenge Assessment that will measure you according to these five targets. And the best news of all: it's free! You will receive your results immediately and be presented with the next steps to help you become an even greater follower of Jesus.You can take the FREE Red Letter Challenge Assessment here. Watch the Entire Season on YouTubeWe upload every episode of The Red Letter Disciple on our YouTube channel. Subscribe here.Resources Mentioned in the EpisodeLutheran Bible Translators (LBT)God Speaks Challenge BookYouVersion Bible App (1 billion downloads milestone)Collective Impact Alliance (global Bible translation collaboration)American Bible Society research on Scripture engagementAugsburg Confession and the Lutheran Confessions“Voices of the LCMS” VideosSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Michael Newman reflects on lessons from his ministry and leadership, the future of the LCMS, why trust and humility matter, and why discipleship is about doing the Word, not just hearing it. To learn more about the podcast or access the show notes, visit www.redletterpodcast.com. Today's episode is brought to you by our partner Child Beyond International. Thanks to this week's sponsor: Child Beyond International (CBI), a ministry dear to my heart. Based in Guatemala, CBI transforms the lives of orphaned, abandoned, and abused children by offering a Christ-centered new beginning. A dedicated team of caregivers, doctors, and social workers provides round-the-clock care, faith lessons, and prayer. Children are later reunited with safe relatives or adopted into loving Guatemalan families, with ongoing support beyond their time at CBI.For only $40 a month, you can help change a child's life. Because of the intensive care, it takes 20 people to fully sponsor one child. This season, we're using our podcast platform for good—we want Season 9 to sponsor a child through Red Letter Living. Could you be one of the 20? Visit www.childbeyond.org/rll. Jesus said it is more blessed to give than receive—this is a chance to experience that joy.Mike's ChallengeLive out James 1:22. Don't just listen to the Word—do it. Take action this week that aligns your faith with your works.Are You Following Jesus?Many want to be greater followers of Jesus but don't know how. We extensively studied everything Jesus commanded of us and located five key targets to which Jesus invited His followers. The five targets are Being, Forgiving, Serving, Giving, and Going.In partnership with LifeWay Research, we created a Red Letter Challenge Assessment that will measure you according to these five targets. And the best news of all: it's free! You will receive your results immediately and be presented with the next steps to help you become an even greater follower of Jesus.You can take the FREE Red Letter Challenge Assessment here. Watch the Entire Season on YouTubeWe upload every episode of The Red Letter Disciple on our YouTube channel. Subscribe here.Resources Mentioned in the EpisodeTexas District LCMSGospel DNA by Michael NewmanJames 1:22Concordia University TexasEvangelist Training in Texas DistrictSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Brenten reacts to the new State of Theology survey results that were released by Legonier Ministries and Lifeway Research.You can follow along with the visual aids at www.stateoftheology.com while Brenten goes through all 35 statements. Please write to questions@dwellontruth.org to share your answers to the 35 statements whether you 1 Strongly disagree, 2 Somewhat agree, 3 Not sure, 4 Somewhat agree, 5 Strongly agree.  May this episode equip you with understanding the cultural beliefs so we may preach the gospel and teach the Bible as we seek to make disciples of Jesus Christ effectively.

Tim Ahlman shares lessons from his sabbatical, why leadership rhythms matter, and how local churches and institutions can build trust together for the future of the LCMS. He also talks deeply and personally about what it was like to be silenced on his own podcast, how it feels to be misunderstood, and what he said to LCMS President Matthew Harrison. To learn more about the podcast or access the show notes, visit www.redletterpodcast.com.Today's episode is brought to you by our partner Child Beyond International. Thanks to this week's sponsor: Child Beyond International (CBI), a ministry dear to my heart. Based in Guatemala, CBI transforms the lives of orphaned, abandoned, and abused children by offering a Christ-centered new beginning. A dedicated team of caregivers, doctors, and social workers provides round-the-clock care, faith lessons, and prayer. Children are later reunited with safe relatives or adopted into loving Guatemalan families, with ongoing support beyond their time at CBI.For only $40 a month, you can help change a child's life. Because of the intensive care, it takes 20 people to fully sponsor one child. This season, we're using our podcast platform for good—we want Season 9 to sponsor a child through Red Letter Living. Could you be one of the 20? Visit www.childbeyond.org/rll. Jesus said it is more blessed to give than receive—this is a chance to experience that joy.Tim's ChallengeDisciple one and be discipled by one. Find a Timothy you can pour into, and a Paul who can pour into you.Are You Following Jesus?Many want to be greater followers of Jesus but don't know how. We extensively studied everything Jesus commanded of us and located five key targets to which Jesus invited His followers. The five targets are Being, Forgiving, Serving, Giving, and Going.In partnership with LifeWay Research, we created a Red Letter Challenge Assessment that will measure you according to these five targets. And the best news of all: it's free! You will receive your results immediately and be presented with the next steps to help you become an even greater follower of Jesus.You can take the FREE Red Letter Challenge Assessment here. Watch the Entire Season on YouTubeWe upload every episode of The Red Letter Disciple on our YouTube channel. Subscribe here.Resources Mentioned in the EpisodeChrist Greenfield Lutheran Church: christgreenfield.churchUnite Leadership Collective: uniteleadership.orgConfessing Jesus Mission (forthcoming book, 2026)Lead Time PodcastThe Tim Ahlman PodcastGospel DNA by Mike NewmanUnstuck Group (Paul Alexander)Serving Challenge by Zach ZehnderVoices mentioned: President Matthew Harrison, President Tom Egger, Brian Wolfmueller, Mike Gibson, Ryan BarlowSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ben Haupt unpacks the challenges of pastoral formation, why decentralization matters for the future of the LCMS, and how Lutheran theology is deeply relevant for today's culture. We dive deep on some of the pastoral challenges in the LCMS today and what can be done in the future. To learn more about the podcast or access the show notes, visit www.redletterpodcast.com. Today's episode is brought to you by our partner Child Beyond International. Thanks to this week's sponsor: Child Beyond International (CBI), a ministry dear to my heart. Based in Guatemala, CBI transforms the lives of orphaned, abandoned, and abused children by offering a Christ-centered new beginning. A dedicated team of caregivers, doctors, and social workers provides round-the-clock care, faith lessons, and prayer. Children are later reunited with safe relatives or adopted into loving Guatemalan families, with ongoing support beyond their time at CBI.For only $40 a month, you can help change a child's life. Because of the intensive care, it takes 20 people to fully sponsor one child. This season, we're using our podcast platform for good—we want Season 9 to sponsor a child through Red Letter Living. Could you be one of the 20? Visit www.childbeyond.org/rll. Jesus said it is more blessed to give than receive—this is a chance to experience that joy.Ben Haupt's Challenge:Engage in conversation. Start something—a podcast, a video, or a local group—that invites real dialogue. Don't retreat. Lean into Scripture and confessions, and talk with those who see things differently.Are You Following Jesus?Many want to be greater followers of Jesus but don't know how. We extensively studied everything Jesus commanded of us and located five key targets to which Jesus invited His followers. The five targets are Being, Forgiving, Serving, Giving, and Going.In partnership with LifeWay Research, we created a Red Letter Challenge Assessment that will measure you according to these five targets. And the best news of all: it's free! You will receive your results immediately and be presented with the next steps to help you become an even greater follower of Jesus.You can take the FREE Red Letter Challenge Assessment here. Watch the Entire Season on YouTubeWe upload every episode of The Red Letter Disciple on our YouTube channel. Subscribe here.Resources Mentioned in the Episode:PLI: plileadership.orgActon InstituteNot Being There study (ATS) on online theological educationThe Lutheran Confessions (Book of Concord)Voices mentioned: C.F.W. Walther, Wilhelm Löhe, Friedrich Brunn, Jordan PetersonBen's Podcast: Bitcoin Reformation PodcastRed Letter Living resourcesVoices of the LCMS VideosSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode of The Lead On Podcast, Jeff Iorg, president of the SBC Executive Committee, unpacks recent LifeWay Research findings about why pastors leave the pastorate. He explores the top reasons for leaving, like church conflict, burnout, family needs, and finances, sharing practical advice for pastor self-care, building support networks, and sustaining resilience in pastoral leadership.

Bryan Stecker shares his journey from business to ministry, why the Lutheran voice matters online, and how the sacraments and entrepreneurial spirit can shape the future of the church. Plus, how do we stay both confessional and missional as a church body. To learn more about the podcast or access the show notes, visit www.redletterpodcast.com.Today's episode is brought to you by our partner Child Beyond International.Thanks to this week's sponsor: Child Beyond International (CBI), a ministry dear to my heart. Based in Guatemala, CBI transforms the lives of orphaned, abandoned, and abused children by offering a Christ-centered new beginning. A dedicated team of caregivers, doctors, and social workers provides round-the-clock care, faith lessons, and prayer. Children are later reunited with safe relatives or adopted into loving Guatemalan families, with ongoing support beyond their time at CBI.For only $40 a month, you can help change a child's life. Because of the intensive care, it takes 20 people to fully sponsor one child. This season, we're using our podcast platform for good—we want Season 9 to sponsor a child through Red Letter Living. Could you be one of the 20? Visit www.childbeyond.org/rll. Jesus said it is more blessed to give than receive—this is a chance to experience that joy.Bryan Stecker's ChallengeAdd one spiritual discipline into your weekly rhythm. It could be prayer, fasting, or something else. Start small, be consistent, and see how God uses it to shape your discipleship.Are You Following Jesus?Many want to be greater followers of Jesus but don't know how. We extensively studied everything Jesus commanded of us and located five key targets to which Jesus invited His followers. The five targets are Being, Forgiving, Serving, Giving, and Going.In partnership with LifeWay Research, we created a Red Letter Challenge Assessment that will measure you according to these five targets. And the best news of all: it's free! You will receive your results immediately and be presented with the next steps to help you become an even greater follower of Jesus.You can take the FREE Red Letter Challenge Assessment here.Resources Mentioned in the Episode · Red Letter Living resources · On The Line Podcast: https://ontheline.net · Lutheran Institute of Theology: https://lutheraninstitute.org · The Lutheran Confessions (Small Catechism, Large Catechism, Formula of Concord) · Jordan Peterson · Bishop Robert Barron · Pints with Aquinas · Byran Wolfmueller · Voices of the LCMS VideosSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Send us a textSeason 4, Episode 15 - What the Data Demands — Clergy Well-Being in 2025 & Beyond How are clergy really doing in 2025? Several major surveys offer a sobering look:Wespath 2025 Clergy Well-Being Survey — Clergy report higher rates of obesity, hypertension, financial stress, and loneliness compared to benchmarks.Duke Clergy Health Initiative – Mental Health Trends Report — Symptoms of depression and burnout rose through 2021 and remain at high levels.Hartford Institute Clergy Discontentment Report — 44% of clergy have considered leaving their congregation; more than half have considered leaving ministry altogether.Lifeway Research on Pastoral Retention — While only 1% of pastors leave annually, many stay despite deep exhaustion; 22% cite burnout when they do leave.In this episode, we unpack what these numbers mean for long-term sustainability in ministry and offer practical steps to help clergy thrive: caring for physical and emotional health, clarifying finances, nurturing relationships, and advocating for systemic change.

It's Wednesday, October 1st, A.D. 2025. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark Chinese Communists arrested 70 Christians Chinese Communists arrested over 70 Christians recently in a major crackdown on churches. The operation began two months ago and involved over 400 police officers. They targeted Christians involved in Bible study groups in east China.  One local Christian told Open Doors, “We have not seen such a massive force used to address church-related matters. This is something that warrants serious attention.” China is ranked 15th on the Open Doors' World Watch List of the most difficult countries to be a Christian.  Psalm 14:4 asks, “Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up My people as they eat bread, and do not call on the LORD?” Trump's 20-point plan to end Israeli-Gaza War On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza. The plan involves the ending of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, the Muslim terrorist group, returning of hostages held by Hamas, and providing humanitarian aid to Gaza. The plan calls for a temporary transitional government over Gaza and an economic development plan to rebuild Gaza.   Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to the plan. Hamas leaders are reportedly leaning toward accepting the plan. War Secretary Pete Hegseth: Out with the woke, in with the warrior U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth addressed the military's most senior leaders yesterday at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia. Hegseth announced 10 new directives, shifting the department from a “woke” to a “warrior” culture. He described what makes a good military leader.  HEGSETH: “If I've learned one core lesson in my eight months in this job, it's that personnel is policy. The best way to take care of troops is to give them good leaders committed to the war-fighting culture of the department. Not perfect leaders, good leaders.  Competent, qualified, professional, agile, aggressive, innovative, risk-taking, apolitical, faithful to their oath and to the Constitution.” Secretary Hegseth addressed the importance of rigorous physical standards for soldiers. HEGSETH: “When it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral. If women can make it, excellent! If not, it is what it is. If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it. That is not the intent, but it could be the result. So be it. “It will also mean that weak men won't qualify because we're not playing games. This is combat. This is life or death. As we all know, this is you versus an enemy hell-bent on killing you. To be an effective, lethal fighting force, you must trust that the warrior alongside you in battle is capable, truly, physically capable, of doing what is necessary under fire.” He asked whether any of the military leaders would want one of their sons to become a soldier and serve alongside unqualified soldiers. HEGSETH: “Would you want him serving with fat or unfit or under trained troops? Or alongside people who can't meet basic standards in a unit where leaders were promoted for reasons other than merit, performance and war fighting?  This means at the War Department, first and foremost, we must restore a ruthless, dispassionate and common sense application of standards.” And Secretary Hegseth explained that the War Department will no longer tolerate the distracting woke nonsense. HEGSETH: “This administration has done a great deal from day one to remove the social justice, politically correct, and toxic ideological garbage that had infected our department. To rip out the politics. No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship, no more division, distraction, or gender delusions. No more debris. “As I've said before and will say again, we are done with that … I've made it my mission to uproot the obvious distractions that made us less capable and less lethal.” YouTube reinstates conservative accounts banned over anti-COVID shot posts Last Tuesday, Google announced that it will reinstate YouTube accounts it banned for political speech. Google said it previously removed YouTube content related to the COVID-19 pandemic after being pressured by the Biden administration.  Google's parent company, Alphabet, wrote in a letter, “YouTube values conservative voices on its platform and recognizes that these creators have extensive reach and play an important role in civic discourse." 52% say sex outside heterosexual marriage is sin; 49% say abortion is sin Here's more data from the State of Theology study study by Lifeway Research and Ligonier Ministries.  Just under half of U.S. adults believe the Bible is 100% accurate in all that it teaches. Sixty percent say the Bible is the highest authority for what they believe. And 50% believe the Bible has the authority to tell us what we must do.  On moral issues, 52% of Americans say that sex outside of traditional marriage is a sin. Forty-nine percent agree that abortion is a sin. Fifty-four percent oppose transgenderism. And 46% oppose homosexual behavior. Psalm 19:7-8 reminds us, “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.” Average American's FICO score is 715 FICO released its inaugural Score Credit Insights Report this month. The report found the national average FICO credit score is 715. However, young consumers are struggling by comparison with an average FICO score of 676. Gen Z borrowers experienced the largest average score decrease of any age group, falling three points year-over-year.  A key driver for this is student loan debt. Over a third of young consumers have student loans, compared to 17% of the total population. Planned Parenthood closed it's 78,000 square foot abortion mill in Houston And finally, Planned Parenthood officially closed what was the largest abortion mill in North America yesterday.  Back in July, the abortion giant announced it would close two locations in Houston, Texas. One of them was its 78,000-square-foot Prevention Park facility.  The Houston Coalition for Life hosted a vigil outside the building to honor the estimated 110,000+ unborn children killed by abortion there. Shawn Carney, the CEO of 40 Days for Life, said the ministry has prayed outside the mega abortion mill since 2006. He commented to Fox News about the closure, saying, “This is massive news for the pro-life movement and shows the direction that Planned Parenthood is going, which is down.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Wednesday, October 1st, in the year of our Lord 2025. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

Three LCMS pastors,Tim Niekerk, Scott Giger, and Brad Hubbard, share how their congregations are growing amid Synod decline, why confessional and missional belong together, and how to raise more leaders without losing our Lutheran soul. To learn more about the podcast or access the show notes, visit www.redletterpodcast.com.Today's episode is brought to you by our partner Child Beyond International.Thanks to this week's sponsor: Child Beyond International (CBI), a ministry dear to my heart. Based in Guatemala, CBI transforms the lives of orphaned, abandoned, and abused children by offering a Christ-centered new beginning. A dedicated team of caregivers, doctors, and social workers provides round-the-clock care, faith lessons, and prayer. Children are later reunited with safe relatives or adopted into loving Guatemalan families, with ongoing support beyond their time at CBI.For only $40 a month, you can help change a child's life. Because of the intensive care, it takes 20 people to fully sponsor one child. This season, we're using our podcast platform for good—we want Season 9 to sponsor a child through Red Letter Living. Could you be one of the 20? Visit www.childbeyond.org/rll. Jesus said it is more blessed to give than receive—this is a chance to experience that joy.The LCN Pastors' Challenge (this week)· Encourage a church worker who needs it (text/call someone today).· Keep the main thing the main thing: lead with love, preach Christ, meet people where they are.· Know your community: identify one tangible need outside your walls and serve it in Jesus' name.Are You Following Jesus?Many want to be greater followers of Jesus but don't know how. We extensively studied everything Jesus commanded of us and located five key targets to which Jesus invited His followers. The five targets are Being, Forgiving, Serving, Giving, and Going.In partnership with LifeWay Research, we created a Red Letter Challenge Assessment that will measure you according to these five targets. And the best news of all: it's free! You will receive your results immediately and be presented with the next steps to help you become an even greater follower of Jesus.You can take the FREE Red Letter Challenge Assessment here.Watch the Entire Season on YouTube We upload every episode of The Red Letter Disciple on our YouTube channel. Subscribe here.Resources Mentioned in the Episode · Salem Lutheran Church (Tomball, TX) — Tim Niekerk · Cornerstone Lutheran Church (Central Indiana) — Scott Giger · St. Lorenz Lutheran Church (Frankenmuth, MI) — Brad Hubbard · LCMS Youth Gathering (New Orleans) · Best Practices Heartland Conference · Best Practices for Ministry in Phoenix · King of Kings (Omaha, NE) · “Voices of the LCMS” VideosSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, Peter looks at the State of Theology survey put out by Ligonier and Lifeway Research (https://thestateoftheology.com/). What trends are we seeing among Christians, and do we have reason to be encouraged or discouraged?If you have found the podcast helpful, consider ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠leaving a review on Itunes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠rating it on Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. You can also find ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Bible Sojourner on Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Consider passing any episodes you have found helpful to a friend.Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠petergoeman.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more information on the podcast or blog.Visit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ shepherds.edu⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more on Shepherds Theological Seminary where Dr. Goeman teaches.

It's Thursday, September 25th, A.D. 2025. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark The martyrdom of 1,624 Christians A Vatican commission has documented the stories of 1,624 Christians who died for their faith over the past 25 years. The stories cover Christians from all denominations. Of the cases, 643 were in Sub-Saharan Africa, 357 in Asia and Oceania, 304 in the Americas, 277 in the Middle East and the Maghreb, and 43 in Europe.  Archbishop Fabio Fabene is the head of the commission. He noted that “Martyrdom has existed in every age of the Church, but perhaps now more than in the past, many surrender their lives in order not to betray the message of Christ.” Typhoon prompts 2 million Chinese to evacuate Typhoon Ragasa made landfall in China yesterday.  Nearly two million people evacuated southern China ahead of the storm. The typhoon is equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane, making it the world's most powerful storm this year.  The typhoon left a path of destruction in the Philippines and Hong Kong and killed at least 17 people in Taiwan.  Oracle to buy Chinese-owned TikTok to allay security concerns Speaking of China, officials from the country reached an agreement with leaders from the United States last week about the Chinese-owned app TikTok. According to the deal, the tech company Oracle will lead a U.S.-backed acquisition of TikTok's assets in America. This is part of the Trump administration's efforts to address national security concerns of China's control over TikTok.    Listen to comments from U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. GREER: “We were very focused on Tiktok and making sure that it was a deal that is fair from the Chinese and completely respects US national security concerns. And that's the deal we reached.” False prophet had predicted end of the world by September 24th Meanwhile on TikTok, claims that the rapture was supposed to have occurred in the last two days went viral this week. The reactions came in response to a video from a South African man named Joshua Mhlakela. He claimed to have a vision that Jesus would return on the 23rd or 24th of September.  I guess he was wrong! The hashtag #rapturenow on TikTok has hundreds of thousands of videos. In the wake of the false predictions, Rev. Franklin Graham called people to turn to Christ, not panic. He wrote on Facebook, “There's no question, Jesus Christ will return—but we don't know when. Jesus Himself tells us, ‘But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of Heaven, but My Father only' (Matthew 24:36)”  Graham concluded, “Surrender your life to Him—this is the preparation that will count.” Chicago dropped charges against 3 street preachers The American Center for Law and Justice announced that a court in Chicago dropped charges against three street preachers this month.  In the case, police arrested three young men for peacefully preaching the Gospel near Chicago's Millennium Park. After six months of court battles, the judge recently dismissed the case.  The ACLJ wrote on Facebook, “Far-Left cities are arresting preachers for sharing the Gospel. We just filed a brief at the U.S. Supreme Court to defend their religious liberty. Help stop the far Left's attack on preachers. Sign our petition.”  You can sign that petition through a link in our transcript today at TheWorldview.com.  Texas law prohibits manufacture or distribution of abortion kill pill Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott signed the Woman and Child Protection Act into law last Wednesday.  The law makes it illegal to manufacture or distribute abortion-inducing drugs in the Lone Star State. It also bans mailing such drugs to or from any person or location in the state. The chemical abortion business has surged after many states passed anti-abortion laws. For example, ever since Texas protected babies in the womb after six weeks gestation, it has seen nearly 20,000 abortion kill pills mailed into the state annually. Most Americans believe we're born without sin nature And finally, Lifeway Research and Ligonier Ministries released their latest State of Theology study. A majority of U.S. adults strongly embraced ideas like the Trinity, God's perfection and unchangeableness, and marriage as the union of one man and one woman.  However, a majority of Americans also strongly agreed that everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God and strongly disagreed that even the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation.  Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research, noted, “When a clear majority of Americans think God is flexible when it comes to religion, it's not surprising that agreement with some teachings in the Bible does not translate to accepting all biblical teaching. Americans want the same flexibility they think God has, even if that contradicts other beliefs they have and how God is revealed in Scripture.” James 1:17 reminds us, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Thursday, September 25th, in the year of our Lord 2025. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

Dr. Gerald Kieschnick, the 12th president of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, reflects on his years of leadership, how he led through the 9/11 terrorist attack, what he has learned about unity in the church, and why the next generation needs courageous, faithful leaders more than ever. To learn more about the podcast or access the show notes, visit www.redletterpodcast.com.Today's episode is brought to you by our partner Child Beyond International. Thanks to this week's sponsor: Child Beyond International (CBI), a ministry dear to my heart. Based in Guatemala, CBI transforms the lives of orphaned, abandoned, and abused children by offering a Christ-centered new beginning. A dedicated team of caregivers, doctors, and social workers provides round-the-clock care, faith lessons, and prayer. Children are later reunited with safe relatives or adopted into loving Guatemalan families, with ongoing support beyond their time at CBI.For only $40 a month, you can help change a child's life. Because of the intensive care, it takes 20 people to fully sponsor one child. This season, we're using our podcast platform for good—we want Season 9 to sponsor a child through Red Letter Living. Could you be one of the 20? Visit www.childbeyond.org/rll. Jesus said it is more blessed to give than receive—this is a chance to experience that joy.Resources Mentioned in the Episode:Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS)Waking the Sleeping Giant by Gerald KieschnickLutheran Hour MinistriesConcordia Seminary, St. LouisLCMS FoundationGBKIES@gmail.comAre you following Jesus? Many want to be greater followers of Jesus but don't know how. We extensively studied everything Jesus commanded of us and located five key targets to which Jesus invited His followers. The five targets are Being, Forgiving, Serving, Giving, and Going.In partnership with LifeWay Research, we created a Red Letter Challenge Assessment that will measure you according to these five targets. And the best news of all: it's free! You will receive your results immediately and be presented with the next steps to help you become an even greater follower of Jesus.You can take the FREE Red Letter Challenge Assessment here. Watch the Entire Season for FreeWe upload every episode of The Red Letter Disciple Podcast on our YouTube channel. Subscribe here! https://www.youtube.com/@RedLetterLivingSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On today's program, an anti-trafficking group based in North Carolina is being accused of exploiting the very women it is supposed to be helping. We'll take a look. And, World Vision's CEO discusses humanitarian work in a post USAID world. We'll have details. Plus, factors that are forcing pastors to quit the ministry. But first, eight leaders at the House of Prayer Christian Church in Georgia have been indicted for fraud and tax charges for defrauding banks through real estate schemes and funneling veterans' benefits to its seminary. The indictment, unsealed on September 10, revealed that eight men associated with the church were charged with various crimes, including conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and assisting in filing a false tax return. The producer for today's program is Jeff McIntosh. We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today's program include Kim Roberts, Daniel Ritchie, Makella Knowles, Tony Mator, Stacey Horton, Fiona André, Kenzie James, Aaron Earls—and you, Warren. A special thanks to The Christian Chronicle and Lifeway Research for contributing material for this week's podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.

In this episode, Matt Engel, a data expert from Gloo, unpacks the survey data of 1054 Lutheran leaders that recently completed “The State of the LCMS” survey through Red Letter Living. He talks about if the survey is reliable, and what the results mean for the future of our LCMS denomination. To learn more about the podcast or access the show notes, visit www.redletterpodcast.com.Today's episode is brought to you by Red Letter Living. We create resources to help the church produce greater disciples. This season we are launching a series of videos on our YouTube channel called “The Voices of the LCMS,” where we are unpacking data from our survey of 1054 Lutheran leaders. These videos are opening up questions, conversations, and opportunities to help us walk together in the future.Resources Mentioned in the EpisodeGloo / Church analytics platformsBarna ResearchLifeWay Research on discipleship metricsData-Driven Ministry (Matt Engel's research/work)Red Letter Living resourcesMany want to be greater followers of Jesus but don't know how. We extensively studied everything Jesus commanded of us and located five key targets to which Jesus invited His followers. The five targets are Being, Forgiving, Serving, Giving, and Going.In partnership with LifeWay Research, we created a Red Letter Challenge Assessment that will measure you according to these five targets. And the best news of all: it's free! You will receive your results immediately and be presented with the next steps to help you become an even greater follower of Jesus.You can take the FREE Red Letter Challenge Assessment here. Technology isn't the enemy, it's a tool to help disciple-makers thrive.#MattEngel #TechnologyAndFaith #ChurchInnovation #RedLetterChallenge #ZachZehnder #VoicesOfTheLCMSSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

John Ortberg unpacks what the Gospel according to Jesus is, how Dallas Willard's theology informs us still today, why all of us should strive to be apprentices of Jesus, and why churches need to take the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous back. To learn more about the podcast or access the show notes, visit www.redletterpodcast.com.Resources Mentioned in the Episodebecomenew.com Steps by John OrtbergThe Divine Conspiracy by Dallas WillardThe Life You've Always Wanted by John OrtbergSoul Keeping by John OrtbergThe Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas WillardRenovaré & Spiritual Formation resourcesRed Letter Living resourcesVoices of the LCMS YouTube VideosAre you following Jesus? Many want to be greater followers of Jesus but don't know how. We extensively studied everything Jesus commanded of us and located five key targets to which Jesus invited His followers. The five targets are Being, Forgiving, Serving, Giving, and Going.In partnership with LifeWay Research, we created a Red Letter Challenge Assessment that will measure you according to these five targets. And the best news of all: it's free! You will receive your results immediately and be presented with the next steps to help you become an even greater follower of Jesus.You can take the FREE Red Letter Challenge Assessment here. Spiritual growth isn't about willpower. It's about training with Jesus in everyday life. #JohnOrtberg #Discipleship #SpiritualGrowth #RedLetterChallenge #ZachZehnderSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest Sam Rainer - HCP 269On this episode of the HCP, Larry and Drew welcome Sam Rainer, who leads Church Answers (a ministry for churches and church leaders). Sam is a Pastor, Author and Church strategist. Sam, with his father Thom Rainer (former lead for Lifeway Research) lead Church Answers and other businesses that help support, train and equip church leaders for effective ministry. Sam will be the featured speaker at this years ReCharge Conference in Memphis. Sept. 29-Oct 2.To Register:https://bmaamerica.org/recharge/Sam RainerSamRainer.comChurchAnswers.comPrevious HCP Podcast with Sam:https://www.buzzsprout.com/835312/episodes/16295111Michael O'BrienMichaelO.orgYou can email us at info@healthychurchpodcast.com orTo find more information about The Healthy Church Podcast go to:http://www.healthychurchpodcast.comor find us on FaceBook!

On today's program, a former employee sues Liberty University, claiming she was given heavier work loads, less pay, and was passed over for promotions. In the end, she claims she was fired for being a whistleblower. We'll have details. Plus, email scams are targeting churches…in some cases, scammers pose as pastors seeking donations. How can churches and members protect themselves? We take a look. Also, the Southern Baptist Convention launches a new abuse helpline. We'll also have a remembrance of Dr. James Dobson, who died on Thursday. First, a lawsuit leveled against Grand Canyon Education has been dropped. The producer for today's program is Jeff McIntosh. We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today's program include Kim Roberts, Tony Mator, Daniel Ritchie, Yonat Shimron, Isaac Wood, Jessica Eturralde, Laura Erlanson, and Aaron Earls. A special thanks to Lifeway Research and Baptist Press for contributing material for this week's podcast.   MANUSCRIPT:   FIRST SEGMENT Warren: Hello everybody. I'm Warren Smith, coming to you from Charlotte, North Carolina. Christina: And I'm Christina Darnell, in for Natasha Cowden this week, and we'd like to welcome you to the MinistryWatch podcast. Warren: On today's program, a former employee sues Liberty University, claiming she was given heavier work loads, less pay, and was passed over for promotions. In the end, she claims she was fired for being a whistleblower. We'll have details. Plus, email scams are targeting churches…in some cases, scammers pose as pastors seeking donations. How can churches and members protect themselves? We take a look. And, the Southern Baptist Convention launches a new abuse helpline. We'll also have a remembrance of Dr. James Dobson, who died on Thursday. Christina: But first, a lawsuit leveled against Grand Canyon Education has been dropped. Warren: The Federal Trade Commission first brought the lawsuit during the Biden Administration, claiming Grand Canyon Education—which is the for-profit marketing arm of Grand Canyon University—misled prospective students about how much it would cost to complete their doctoral programs. Christina: Also, in November, Grand Canyon secured another victory after the court found that the Education Department had used the wrong standard when it denied the university's application for nonprofit status in 2019. All that led to last week, when the Federal Trade Commission formally dismissed their case. Warren: That's right. In a statement, the F-T-C said the case presented “consumers very little upside relative to the cost of pursuing it to completion, especially given the developments chronicled above.” They said it would be “imprudent to continue expending Commission resources on a lost cause.” Christina: Grand Canyon Education praised the decision. Warren: They did. Grand Canyon University President Brian Mueller—who is also president of Grand Canyon Education—says the accusations against them have always been false. Christina: Still, Grand Canyon University isn't out of the woods yet. A civil case brought by former doctoral students is still ongoing in federal court. Warren: In June 2024, Tanner Smith and Qimin Wang are two plaintiffs—both former students who claim they were lied to about the cost of the doctoral programs. They say they were both required to take continuation courses that added over $8,000 to the cost of their degree programs. Christina: Our next story takes us to Liberty University, who is facing a discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuit from a former employee. Warren: Erika Woolfolk, a black woman, worked as a civil rights investigator in Liberty's Office of Equity and Compliance for Title IX. She is a graduate of the school and worked there from 2014 to 2024. She filed a lawsuit on August 12,

On today's program, World Vision prevails in court after it was sued for discrimination. The ruling protects the ministry's right to hire based on its religious beliefs. We'll have details. And, a seminary professor accused of sexual misconduct resigned from Concordia Seminary, and is now hired by an independent seminary…raising questions about what background and reference checks seminaries conduct in its hiring process. Plus, a new study shows that Americans' trust in the church is rebounding—slightly—after dropping to an all-time low in recent years. We'll take a look. But first, a pro-life clinic in Colorado has been cleared by the court to continue offering abortion pill reversal treatments. The producer for today's program is Jeff McIntosh. We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today's program include Kim Roberts, Daniel Ritchie, Makella Knowles, Christin Fejervary, Aaron Earls—and you, Warren. A special thanks to Lifeway Research and The NonProfit Times for contributing material for this week's podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.

Welcome back to another great episode of Group Answers Podcast with Brian Daniel. In this episode, Brian sits down with Andrea Lennon, director of Lifeway Women, to unpack what nearly a year of leading a national discipleship movement has taught her - about people, purpose, and leadership. Reflecting on the challenges of leading remotely, Andrea shares how intentional connection -through screens and in person - can still create meaningful spiritual community.The conversation explores the strategic shift from event-driven ministry to using events as springboards into deeper Bible study and service. Andrea candidly speaks to the need for vulnerability in leadership, the power of relationships over performance, and the importance of engaging the next generation - especially Gen Z - with authenticity and purpose.Whether you're discipling men, leading a group, or building ministry strategy, this episode offers timely wisdom on fostering discipleship environments where people feel seen, valued, and called into something deeper.CLICK HERE to read the report from Lifeway Research about the state of groups.

What does it take to live a life fully surrendered to the mission of God? In a culture that often prioritizes comfort, control, and convenience, many believers wrestle with the tension between knowing the gospel and sharing it boldly. In this compelling episode, host Brian Daniel sits down with Dr. Scott Hildreth to explore that very tension—inviting listeners into a conversation that is both personal and profoundly missional.Scott shares the story of his unlikely path to faith, beginning with a series of theological conversations with Mormon missionaries that forced him to dig deeper into what it truly means to be right with God. That spiritual searching eventually led him into a life of ministry, local and global church planting, and a calling to equip others in evangelism and missions.Together, Brian and Scott unpack themes from Scott's book, The Short Guide to Evangelism and Missions, offering practical encouragement for everyday Christians who feel the nudge to do more than just attend church—they want to participate in God's mission. From the role of prayer to the dangers of passivity, the episode challenges leaders to evaluate how their groups, families, and churches are mobilizing around the Great Commission.Listeners will walk away with a renewed urgency and biblical clarity, inspired by stories of faithful obedience and historic figures like William Carey, and reminded that disciple-making starts with a willingness to go, pray, lead, and live sent.Show Links: The Short Guide to Evangelism and Missions,Sharing Jesus Without Freaking OutCLICK HERE to read the report from Lifeway Research about the state of groups.

In an age of constant digital noise and fleeting attention spans, what role does deep thinking and cultural engagement play in discipleship? In this episode of Group Answers, host Brian Daniel and guest Colin Hansen invite listeners into a rich conversation exploring the intersection of literature, culture, and faith.Colin draws from his extensive study of Russian literature to show how stories shape worldviews and how classic literature can serve as a bridge to deeper cultural apologetics. Together, they reflect on how smartphones, social media, and modern media consumption affect the way people connect, think, and grow within the church.The episode tackles the tension between long-form spiritual formation and our culture's demand for instant answers. Brian and Collin highlight the enduring relevance of Scripture and traditional church rhythms in forming resilient disciples and fostering authentic community.Whether you're a small group leader, pastor, or someone seeking to better understand today's cultural currents, this conversation will challenge and equip you to lead with clarity, depth, and hope.CLICK HERE to read the report from Lifeway Research about the state of groups.

It's Thursday, July 10th, A.D. 2025. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark Pakistani court acquitted two Christian teens of false blasphemy charges A court in Pakistan acquitted two Christians of false blasphemy charges against Islam on Tuesday.  Adil Babar and Simon Nadeem, 18 and 14 years old respectively, were charged and arrested in 2023. A court advocate for the Christian young men told Morning Star News, “There's a dire need to make procedural reforms in cases involving blasphemy to protect the victims, a majority of whom are declared innocent after years of court proceedings and imprisonment.” Sadly, these kind of false blasphemy charges are weaponized against Christians in the Muslim-majority country. Pakistan is ranked eighth on the Open Doors' World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian.  Reformed pastors to call U.K. Parliament to repent over abortion, euthanasia laws A group of Reformed ministers are prepared to call the U.K. parliament to repent next Tuesday, July 15. Christian leaders with UK Gospel Witness plan to proclaim the Gospel and call the government to repentance. In particular, the organizers lament recent legislation on the Assisted Dying Law and New Abortion Law.  The event's Facebook page says, “It is our firm conviction that this is a time for God-fearing Christians to unite together and make a public stand and proclamation of Gospel truth in the face of such evil.” Lamentations 3:40-41 says, “Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the LORD; let us lift our hearts and hands to God in Heaven.” Samaritan's Purse deploying teams to flood-ravaged Texas In the United States, Christian ministries are deploying relief teams to central Texas in the wake of devastating flooding. Authorities confirmed 119 people have died from the flash floods, and at least 150 people are missing in Kerr County. Samaritan's Purse is sending disaster relief teams to the area. Rev. Franklin Graham, President of Samaritan's Purse, wrote on Facebook, “We need to continue to surround these devastated families and communities in prayer.” You can make an on-line donation through Samaritan's Purse through a special link in our transcript today at www.TheWorldview.com.   Listen to the prayer for these hurting families from HUD Secretary Scott Turner during a White House Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. TURNER: “Father, we're humbled by Your grace. We're humbled by Your mercy. Lord God, we surrender to You. Jesus, You are the great Redeemer. “Lord God, we lift up the families that are mourning, that are grieving, those families that are hurting. Father God, we pray for a peace that surpasses all understanding and Lord Jesus, those that are still there, that are alive. “Father, we pray you will help us to find them Lord God and bring them back to their families. We love you. We honor you. In Jesus' name Amen.” Planned Parenthood closes Cleveland abortion mill Planned Parenthood is permanently closing one of its locations in Cleveland, Ohio. The abortion mill blamed funding cuts from the Trump administration, ending over a decade of its killing business. Cleveland Right to Life responded to the closure by “thanking God for the legislators who stood up to the most-evil organization of our time, Planned Parenthood.” China owns 265,000 acres of American farmland; Trump says, “No more!” The Trump administration announced its National Farm Security Action Plan on Tuesday. Specifically, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is banning foreign adversaries, including Chinese nationals, from buying American farmland.  An infographic from the White House shows that China already owns over 265,000 acres of U.S. farmland. Much of that land is located near U.S. military bases.  Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said, “We feed the world. We lead the world. And we'll never let foreign adversaries control our land, our labs, or our livelihoods.” Church discipline rarely practiced in Protestant churches And finally, new data from Lifeway Research shows church discipline is rarely practiced in Protestant churches. Fifty-four percent of pastors said their church has not formally disciplined a member since they became pastor or prior as far as they know. Nevertheless, about 80% of churches have policies for formal discipline.  Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research, said, “The infrequency of church discipline is not because church members aren't sinning. Church discipline typically occurs when a member is not repentant for a sin or is no longer qualified for a role because of sin.” Ephesians 5:11-13 says, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Thursday, July 10th, in the year of our Lord 2025. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

“More of the church is committed to their immigrant neighbours than the media or politicians would like the public to believe.” (Myal Green, from the episode) Myal Greene (president and CEO of World Relief) joins host Mark Labberton to discuss the global humanitarian crises, refugee resettlement, and the church's responsibility to respond with courage and compassion. From Rwanda's post-genocide reconciliation following 1994 to the 2025 dismantling of humanitarian aid and refugee programs in the US, Greene shares how his personal faith journey fuels his leadership amid historic humanitarian upheaval. Rooted in Scripture and the global moral witness of the church, Greene challenges listeners to imagine a more faithful Christian response to suffering—one that refuses to turn away from the world's most vulnerable. Despite the current political polarization and rising fragility of moral consensus, Greene calls on the church to step into its biblical role: speaking truth to power, welcoming the stranger, standing with the oppressed, and embodying the love of Christ in tangible, courageous ways. Episode Highlights “Inherently, reconciliation of people who have done the worst things imaginable to you is not a human thing.” “To truly be a follower of Christ, you can't be completely for a politician or completely for a political party.” “What we've seen is that more of the church is committed to their immigrant neighbours than the media or politicians would like the public to believe.” “The challenge for pastors is: How do I talk about this issue without losing my job or splitting my congregation?” “If we're failing to define our neighbour expansively—as Christ did—we're always going to get it wrong.” Helpful Links and Resources World Relief Open Doors World Watch List 2025 2024 Lifeway Research on Evangelicals & Immigration PEPFAR Program – US Department of State National Association of Evangelicals Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, by Ron Sider Good News About Injustice, by Gary Haugen Walking with the Poor, by Bryant Myers About Myal Greene Myal Greene has a deep desire to see churches worldwide equipped, empowered, and engaged in meeting the needs of vulnerable families in their communities. In 2021, he became president and CEO after serving for fourteen years with the organization. While living in Rwanda for eight years, he developed World Relief's innovative church-based programming model that is currently used in nine countries. He also spent six years in leadership roles within the international programs division. He has previous experience working with the US government. He holds a BS in finance from Lehigh University and an MA from Fuller Theological Seminary in global leadership. He and his wife Sharon have three children. Show Notes Myal Greene's call to faith-rooted leadership in alleviating poverty Greene's path from Capitol Hill to World Relief, shaped by his conversion in his twenties and a deepening conviction about God's heart for the poor “God was working in me and instilling a deep understanding of his heart for the poor.” Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, by Ron Sider Good News About Injustice, by Gary Haugen Walking with the Poor, by Bryant Myers Psalm 31:7–8: “I'll be glad and rejoice for you have seen my troubles and you've seen the affliction of my soul, but you've not turned me over to the enemy. You've set me in a safe place.” “ Not only will God transform your life, but what it means to actually have experienced that and to feel that and to make that a very real personal experience.” 2007 in Rwanda Rwanda's one-hundred-day memorial period for the 1994 genocide “The effects of the genocide were always there. You wouldn't be able to see it, but it was always there.” Gacaca courts (system of transitional justice to handle the numerous legal cases following the 1994 genocide). “People would come and talk about what happened. … The attempts at apology, the attempts at reconciliation were powerful.” ”There are so many stories from Rwanda of true reconciliation where people have forgiven the people who've killed their family members or have forgiven people who've done terrible things to them.” ”How did the Gachacha courts see an interweaving or not of Christian faith in the process of the acts of forgiveness?” The church's role: “The hard part and the amazing part of Rwanda is that reconciliation is deeply connected to individual cases.” “Inherently, reconciliation of people who have done the worst things imaginable to you is not a human thing.” World Relief's Legacy & Mission Founded in 1944 at Park Street Church, Boston, in response to World War II European displacement. “Feeding 180,000 people a day in Korea during the Korean War.” “We boldly engage the world's greatest crises in partnership with the church.” The global displacement crisis Over 122 million forcibly displaced people worldwide—up from under 40 million in 2007 (a fourfold increase) “A handful of the most fragile nations of the world are experiencing extreme violence, fragility, rising poverty, the effects of climate change, and people are being forced to flee and put into d desperate situations.” “The generosity of the country is not being seen at a time when people in crisis face the greatest need.” World Relief is “one of ten refugee resettlement agencies, and we have been a refugee resettlement agency partnering with the US government since 1980 to do the work of welcoming refugees who come to this country. And we've partnered with every presidential administration since Jimmy Carter to do this work and have, have done so proudly.” Trump's immigration and refugee resettlement policies Refugee resettlement has been halted since January 20, 2025—an estimated one thousand people per month left unwelcomed “At a time when people experiencing crisis are facing the greatest need, the generosity of the country is not being seen.” 120,000 refugees were welcomed in 2024. “We expected around 12,000” in 2025. “Should Christian organizations receive federal funding?” Cuts to federal humanitarian funding USAID interruptions directly affect food, health, and medical services in fragile states like Sudan, Haiti, and DRC. On PEPFAR: HIV-AIDS specific program established by George W. Bush PEPFAR: “25 million lives have been saved … now it's among the casualties.” “Have these [federal cuts to humanitarian aid] increased philanthropic giving or has philanthropic giving dropped almost as a mirror of the government policy change?” Church response and misconceptions How should we manage uncertainty? When to use one's voice to speak truth to power? “Polling shows evangelicals overwhelmingly support refugee resettlement—even Trump voters.” “Over 70 percent of evangelicals believe the US has a moral responsibility to welcome refugees to this country. Sixty-eight percent of of evangelicals voted for Trump agree with that statement as well.” Lifeway Research found only 9 percent of evangelicals cite the Bible or their pastor as their main source on immigration. “It would sit uncomfortably to any pastor if that were true about any other major issue.” “Pastors find themselves in this difficult place where they're trying to figure out, ‘How do I talk about this issue without losing my job and splitting my congregation?'” ”The dissonance between the way the press represents evangelical opinions about immigration” “Whether the church's voice has enough authority to be able to actually affect people's real time decisions about how they live in the world” “To be a truly a follower of Christ, you can't be completely for a politician or completely for a political party because then you put that ahead of your faith in Christ.” “You have to be able to have that freedom to disagree with the leader or the party.” “A dog with a bone in his mouth can't bark. … I think that that's where we find ourself as a church right now. We want certain victories through political means, and we're willing to sacrifice our moral authority in order to get those. And I think that that's, that's a very dangerous place to be in as a church.” How Lifeway Research approaches their understanding of “evangelical Christian” “What is the authority of the church, and how is it exercising or failing to exercise its voice right now?” Hope for a compassionate church “The real movement happens when the church unites and uses its voice.” “One in twelve Christians in America will either be deported or live with someone who is subject to deportation.” Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.

It's Thursday, June 5th, A.D. 2025. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark and Adam McManus Christian groups in India to speak out against persecution June 9 Christian groups across India are organizing a protest against persecution of Christians on Monday, June 9. The National Christian Front noted, “Our Christian brothers and sisters are enduring brutal attacks and growing intolerance from anti-social elements. This is not merely a Christian issue — it is a grave concern for humanity, for peace, and for the values enshrined in our Constitution.” Christians suffered over 600 incidents of violence and discrimination in India last year. The country is ranked 11th on the Open Doors' World Watch List of most difficult places to be a Christian. U.K. Christian groups calling for prayer on June 11 In the United the Kingdom, Christian groups are calling for a day of prayer on Wednesday, June 11 for protecting human life. This comes as lawmakers are considering bills to legalize assisted suicide.  Listen to comments from Ciarán Kelly, director of The Christian Institute.  KELLY: “This is a crucial time for our country. So, it's vital that Christians are asking the God, Who made Heaven and Earth, that He would overrule in all these things, to protect vulnerable people from this careless and callous bill.” In 1 Timothy 1:1-2, the Apostle Paul wrote, “I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.” Trump overturns pro-abortion Biden rule In the United States, the Trump administration rescinded a pro-abortion rule on Tuesday that came from the Biden administration.  The rule tried to force hospital emergency rooms to offer abortions even if the state restricted them.  Matt Bowman, Senior Counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, said, “Doctors—especially in emergency rooms—are tasked with preserving life. The Trump administration has rolled back a harmful Biden-era mandate that compelled doctors to end unborn lives, in violation of their deeply held beliefs.” Trump raises tariffs on steel imports President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday to raise tariffs on steel imports. The order doubles tariffs on steel and aluminum coming into the country from 25% to 50%. The levy will affect steel exporters in Canada, Mexico, and many countries in Europe. However, the tariff on steel from the United Kingdom remains at 25% as the U.S. and U.K. work out a trade deal.  Dust from Africa's Saharan Desert hits America Over the weekend, a massive plume of dust made its way to Florida all the way from the Saharan Desert in Africa.  Such dust plumes are known as the Saharan Air Layer and typically cross the Atlantic each year. The current plume is the biggest one to reach the U.S. so far this season. It measures nearly 2,000 miles wide and 750 miles from north to south.  The dust can diminish air quality but also creates spectacular sunrises and sunsets.  Only 1 in 100 Evangelical pastors leave ministry annually A report from Lifeway Research found that only 1 out of 100 Evangelical pastors leave the ministry each year.  This low rate has remained steady for the last 10 years despite many pastors acknowledging their work is very demanding and even overwhelming.  Scott McConnell with Lifeway Research said, “The rate of pastors departing the pastorate is steady and quite low given the demands of the role. Many of those leaving the pastorate feel they are moving at God's direction to another role of ministry.” In 2 Timothy 4:2, the Apostle Paul wrote, “Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” The American Miracle movie shows God's intervention in U.S. The Left insists that there's nothing special about America. But a new docudrama contends that God inspired its founding.  The American Miracle – Our Nation is No Accident hits the silver screen in 1,000 theaters nationwide for 3 days only -- Monday, June 9th through Wednesday, June 11th. Inspired by Michael Medved's bestseller, this exciting, entertaining, and edifying motion picture experience was created in anticipation of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.  ‘ Medved appeared on The 700 Club. MEDVED: “America is no accident. All of our most important leaders, from Washington to Lincoln to Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt -- all of our leaders have understood that America has a divine purpose.” Consider God's protection of George Washington – the Father of our Country -- in a ferocious battle in 1755 during the French and Indian War. During the Battle of Monongahela, 69 of 70 officers were either killed or wounded. Washington was the only officer who was not shot off his horse.  In fact, two horses were shot from underneath him. Yet he lived. Even a Native American chief later said they couldn't touch Washington. Shockingly, after the battle, he found numerous bullet holes in his jacket and bullet fragments in his hair, but he was miraculously unscathed. No wonder they called him “Bulletproof.”  Visit the website https://americanmiraclemovie.com/, watch the trailer, click on Tickets, and type in your zipcode to get tickets for next week at a theater near you. Watch the trailer. Worldview listener in Florida speaks up On Wednesday, I was delighted to receive 23 emails at Adam@TheWorldview.com about what listeners enjoy about this newscast. Amy Cool from St. Cloud, Florida wrote, “I like that I can trust The Worldview newscast to report the truth from a Biblical perspective. I like the Scriptures referenced as they pertain to a particular story because it shows the relevance of the Bible to our life today. That's often hard for people to see when they haven't grown up in a home where the Bible was read or explained.” 14 Worldview listeners gave $1,420 to fund our $123,500 annual budget Toward this week's $30,875 goal to fund one-fourth of The Worldview newscast's annual budget by this Friday, June 6th, 14 listeners stepped up to the plate on Wednesday by 7:15pm Central last night.  Our thanks to Grace in Duncanville, Texas, Greg in Rochester, New Hampshire, Andy in Santa Barbara, California, and George in Carrollton, Missouri – each of whom gave $25. We also appreciate Jalynn in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, Jon in Granger, Indiana, and Steven in Jacksonville, Florida – each of whom gave $50. We're grateful to God for Nancy in Peabody, Massachusetts, Kevin in North Bend, Oregon, and Robert in Plano, Texas – each of whom gave $100. And we appreciate the generosity of Paula in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana who pledged $10/month for 12 months for a gift of $120, Dawn in Troy, Montana who gave $150, Amy in Seminole, Texas who gave $300, and Dawn in Smithville, Texas who pledged $25/month for 12 months for a gift of $300. Those 14 listeners gave a total of $1,420. Ready for our new grand total? Drum roll please.  (Drum roll sound effect) $6,352 (People clapping sound effect)  We missed our goal of 20 donors by just 6 donors. That means by this Friday, we still need to raise $24,523.    Whether it's Thanksgiving or Christmas, we churn out a weekday broadcast 52 weeks per year. It's a commitment we're glad to make, but we need help to cover the cost. Would you prayerfully consider investing $100 per month for 12 months into this ministry, helping to pay for the work of the six-member Worldview team?  If 20 of you made that pledge we would hit our Friday, June 6th goal one day early. Just go to TheWorldview.com and click on Give on the top right.   And click on the button that indicates a recurring donation if you want to give monthly. Thanks for investing your resources into this media ministry that champions the truth.  Our plumbline is Jesus Christ Himself. Close And that's The Worldview on this Thursday, June 5th, in the year of our Lord 2025. Subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Or get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.