Podcasts about pentecostal

In today's special episode, I'm joined by Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith (R), who is also a Pentecostal pastor, to discuss the danger of Islam in America. He has recently jousted with other Indiana Republicans who believe Islam can be treated like any other religion. Beckwith explains why it is not a real religion and why its political and strategic aims need to be countered immediately. We also delve into a much deeper discussion about the state of Christianity in America and on the political Right, the growing Jew hatred and antipathy toward the Old Testament in some circles, and the need to move away from the weak Republicans of last generation, who had toxic empathy but at the same time teach the new generation traditional virtue.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Do miracles still happen today?” This question opens a discussion on the nature of miracles in the context of Lourdes and Catholicism. Other topics include the thorough investigations the Church conducts on reported miracles and the significance of the miraculous events at Lourdes, as well as the awareness of our loved ones in heaven regarding our lives. Join the Catholic Answers Live Club Newsletter Invite our apologists to speak at your parish! Visit Catholicanswersspeakers.com Questions Covered: 01:00 – Do Miracles Still happen today? 39:48 – I'm a new Catholic and have a Pentecostal background like Tim. It has been very reassuring to me that the Catholic Church does do so much investigation of these miracles. 42:29 – I'm considering Catholicism. But the Lourdes thing confuses me. Lourdes has millions of visitors per year. Why is 72 out of millions significant? 47:35 – Are our loved ones in heaven aware of the details in our lives?

In 1984, soul legend Marvin Gaye was in the grip of a cocaine habit and living with his father, a hard-drinking Pentecostal preacher with whom he had a lifetime of bad blood. One day, Gaye gave his father a gun and told him it was to protect the house. Some would see an elaborate plan to orchestrate suicide by his father's hand.

In this episode of the Live Hill Nutrition Podcast, Liv Hill shares the transformative journey of Sarah, a working mom deeply involved in her church. Sarah struggled with time scarcity and self-care, feeling guilty for prioritizing her needs. Through practical strategies, Liv helps Sarah recognize pockets of time for self-care, navigate church event eating, and redefine her relationship with food and exercise. The conversation emphasizes the importance of mindset shifts, micro self-care practices, and establishing evening anchors to foster a healthier lifestyle without sacrificing family and community commitments.

What is the biblical role of an evangelist?Many Christians associate evangelists with traveling revival preachers who move from church to church preaching special services. While that model has been common in Pentecostal circles, is it the same role the apostle Paul described in Ephesians 4:11?In this episode of Apostolic Life in the 21st Century, Dr. David K. Bernard explores the New Testament ministry of the evangelist and explains why this calling remains essential to the church today. Drawing from Scripture, he discusses how evangelists fit within the ministry gifts Christ gave to the church, how their work differs from that of pastors and teachers, and how they help fulfill the church's mission of reaching the lost.Whether you serve in ministry, feel called to evangelistic work, or simply want a deeper understanding of biblical church leadership, this episode offers practical insight into one of the most important ministry roles in the New Testament.Apostolic Life in the 21st Century is a weekly podcast in which Dr. David K. Bernard answers questions about Scripture, theology, Christian living, and contemporary issues from an Apostolic Pentecostal perspective.If you enjoy this podcast, leave a five-star rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or your preferred podcast platform. We also appreciate it when you share Apostolic Life in the 21st Century with family and friends.

Today on the Artalogue, one of my favourite Canadian painters, Janna Watson, chats with me about her art career, being Queer and taking inspiration from nature. Janna Watson is a Toronto-based abstract painter whose paintings use colour, drag marks, contrast, and negative space to reframe spirituality as something embodied, flexible, and alive. She also intentionally avoids borders, letting the edges stay vulnerable and infinite. We start with her earliest memories of art, shaped by two artist grandparents and a formative critique from her grandfather: “it needs to be wilder.” From there, Watson breaks down how intuition is built through repetition and risk, why “mistakes” often become the strongest moments in a painting, and how she sees herself in collaboration with her tools. We also talk about influences she returns to, what she chooses to collect at home, and how nature, especially the sky, becomes her favourite form of inspiration in abstraction because it changes constantly and belongs to all of us.Because this conversation lands during Pride month, Watson shares her experience as a Queer artist raised in a Pentecostal church, including the  being outed, and how finding queer community in Toronto expanded her sense of self, God, and possibility. She explains what it means to “queer the painting process” through working on the floor, building compositions with multiple orientations. We close with career highlights, discuss sobriety, her new book “Layers of Self,” and practical advice for emerging painters who want a sustainable studio practice. We also have a really great discussion about complicating the Canadian canon! If this resonates, subscribe, share the episode with an artist friend, and leave a review so more people can find these stories of art, identity, and creative freedom. Connect with the Artalogue: Madison Beale, HostBe a guest on The Artalogue Podcast

You're Not Meant to Do This Alone (Living Our Values—Part 5a) Pastors Dave and Gary Download

Have you ever worried you committed the unforgivable sin? You’re not alone. In one of the most misunderstood passages in the Bible, Jesus talks about a sin with eternal consequences—and for generations people have wondered if they’ve accidentally crossed a line they can never come back from. In this message from Mark 3, we unpack […]

Gate Keeping 6-21-2026 Pastor Joe Myers

VersículosMateo 6:6-8Mateo 6:25-34Lucas 11:9-131 Juan 3:221 Juan 5:14-15 ★ Support this podcast ★

Hello and welcome to the Unedited podcast!   The goal of this podcast is to help you develop and enjoy the habit of daily Bible reading and prayer. It is through the Word of God and the presence of God that we GET TO KNOW God.   In today's episode, Meg asks listeners what they are "eating" today and shares an Unedited journal entry, "Sufficient For Today." Jesus taught us to pray "give us this day or DAILY bread," and he invites us to journey through this life one day at a time with our hand in His. What a journey!    If this episode blesses you, please consider share it or leave a review wherever you listen!   Meg's books, are available through Amazon and Pentecostal publishing house: 
  

Samuel Rutherford helped write the Westminster Confession. He also developed a four-part test for evaluating prophetic words. That's not a charismatic running loose, but a Westminster divine doing careful pastoral theology on the gifts.ABOUT THIS EPISODE:There's an assumption that the debate over spiritual gifts is a recent one: a 20th-century Pentecostal invention set against centuries of Reformation clarity. But the historical record tells a different story. John Knox was called "the prophet and apostle of our nation." John Welsh reportedly prayed a dead man back to life. George Wishart publicly predicted Cardinal Beaton's death from the pulpit. These weren't fringe figures. They were architects of the Scottish Reformation.In this episode, Joshua Lewis responds to a four-part viewer question that cuts to the heart of what cessationists often ask about continuationism: 1. Did any Protestant Reformers — Luther, Calvin, Knox, Wesley — actually affirm the continuation of miraculous spiritual gifts?2. Are there accredited seminaries that teach continuationism, and if so, why don't more charismatic leaders pursue formal degrees?3. Did the lack of denominational accountability in charismatic churches contribute to the scandals the show has covered?4. Are continuationists mostly Arminian, or do Calvinists hold this position too?Joshua works through each question with the historical and theological care. Join us for an informative episode.0:00 – Introduction0:34 – Questions2:23 – Reformation-Era Continuationism5:26 – Continuationist Seminaries7:01 – Charismatic Anti-Intellectualism11:27 – Denominational Accountability & Scandal14:52 – Calvinism vs. ArminianismRESOURCES MENTIONED: - Scots Worthies by John Howie (unedited, Project Gutenberg): https://www.gutenberg.org/files/28272/28272-h/28272-h.htm- Spirit Hermeneutics by Craig Keener: https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Hermeneutics-Reading-Scripture-Pentecost/dp/0802874398- Barna Research — "Is There a Reformed Movement in American Churches?": https://www.barna.com/research/is-there-a-reformed-movement-in-american-churches/Subscribe to The Remnant Radio newsletter and receive our FREE introduction to spiritual gifts eBook. Plus, get access to: discounts, news about upcoming shows, courses and conferences - and more. Subscribe now at TheRemnantRadio.com.Support the showABOUT THE REMNANT RADIO: The Remnant Radio exists to equip believers who are hungry for the radical middle of both Word and Spirit. Subscribe for twice-weekly content on theology, church history and the gifts of the Spirit.

What happens to a debt when it's forgiven?In this episode, we explore one of the most overlooked lines in the Lord's Prayer: "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Drawing from personal devotion and Paul's teaching on the Body of Christ, we wrestle with a simple but profound truth: debt never simply disappears. Someone always absorbs the cost.But what about the debts that can't be measured in dollars? What happens when someone steals your peace, damages your reputation, weakens trust, or leaves emotional wounds behind? How do those debts get paid?We discuss the connection between forgiveness and body life, why unresolved offenses affect more than just the people involved, the difference between restitution and restoration, and why true discipleship requires us to stop justifying our own failures while magnifying the failures of others.At its core, forgiveness is not simply a matter of obedience. It's a matter of faith. Do we trust that when we release what we're owed, God is able to restore what was lost?This conversation will challenge the way you think about forgiveness, responsibility, community, and the transforming power of grace.

In this episode, Olivia Hill addresses the feelings of overwhelm that many individuals experience regarding their health and well-being. She emphasizes that these feelings are not a reflection of laziness or lack of discipline, but rather a result of a full nervous system due to various life demands. Olivia provides practical steps to help listeners navigate their overwhelm, including starting with small, manageable changes, separating urgent from important tasks, and seeking support from others. She encourages self-compassion and reminds listeners that they do not need to have everything figured out before taking the first step towards better health.

SPONSORS Ridge -Upgrade your wallet today! Get up to 40% off @‌Ridge during their Father's Day Sale when you go to https://www.Ridge.com/HONEYDEW #Ridgepod Mars Men -For a limited time, our listeners get 50% off FOR LIFE, Free Shipping, AND 3 Free Gifts at Mars Men at Mengotomars.com. My HoneyDew this week is musician Sawyer Hill! Sawyer joins me to Highlight the Lowlights of growing up in Arkansas, coming from a family full of Barry Manilow fans, and finding his way into music after working in a pathology lab and morgue. We talk about his grandfather being a Pentecostal preacher, the experience of processing his own grandfather's amputated leg, and what life was like before his music career took off. Sawyer also shares how he got catfished into appearing on The HoneyDew and tells the story of the worst gig he's ever played—a wake for someone he had never met. Check out Sawyer at a live show near you, and keep an eye out for his first debut album release!

What happens when the son of a Pentecostal megachurch pastor decides to become Mormon?In this episode of Mormon Stories Podcast, we sit down with Lance Kennedy to discuss his unique religious journey from evangelical Christianity to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Raised in Texas as the son of a prominent pastor, Lance grew up behind the scenes of one of the fastest-growing church movements in America, watching firsthand as churches evolved from small congregations into large-scale organizations.Drawing from that experience, Lance offers a fascinating perspective on Mormonism as both an insider and an outsider. He shares what initially attracted him to the LDS Church, why Mormonism felt like a better fit than the religious tradition he was raised in, and how his background shaped the way he approached questions of belief, culture, and church growth.Throughout the conversation, we explore the similarities and differences between evangelical Christianity and Mormonism, the challenges facing the modern LDS Church, and the tension between preserving a distinct religious identity and adapting to a changing world. Lance also discusses his experiences as a branch president in rural Texas, his thoughts on church history and transparency, and why he remains an active member despite his willingness to publicly discuss difficult issues.___________________YouTubeShow NotesAt Mormon Stories we explore, celebrate, and challenge Mormon culture through in-depth stories told by members and former members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as scholars, authors, LDS apologists, and other professionals.  Our overall mission is to: 1. Facilitate informed consent amongst LDS Church members, investigators, and non-members regarding Mormon history, doctrine, and theology2. Support Mormons (and members of other high-demand religions) who are experiencing a religious faith crisis3. Promote healing, growth and community for those who choose to leave the LDS Church or other high demand religions

What happens when the Holy Spirit moves in our communities?Doug Beacham, a longtime leader in the Pentecostal tradition,reflects on the Holy Spirit's ongoing work through holiness, sanctification and renewal. Pointing to moments like the Azusa Street Revival and the Memphis Miracle, he highlights how the Spirit brings spiritual renewal, fosters racial unity and expands the Church's mission. Together, NAE President Walter Kim and Doug Beacham, presiding bishop of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC), also explore the ongoing need for reconciliation and unity within the Body of Christ.  In this conversation, you'll hear: What defines Pentecostal holiness traditions; How Pentecostalism brings both intentionality and intensity to faith; Why the American church continues to struggle with division; and How true revival not only stirs hearts but reshapes communities. This episode invites Christians to remember that true hope endures even in a divided culture, calling us to live with patience, faith and confidence that the Holy Spirit is still at work. Subscribe today wherever you listen to podcasts.Do you like the podcast?Give us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts and leave us a review. This is the best way for others to discover these conversations. If you listen on Spotify, give us a follow and hit the notification bell to be sure you never miss an episode. And don't forget to pass your favorite episodes along to colleagues, friends and family.Resources Full conversation with Doug Beacham on YouTubeFor further study see  Isaiah 53, Acts, Romans 5–6, 1 Corinthians 12, 2 Corinthians 3:17–18Books written by Doug Beacham “Black and White Race in American Denominations,” by A.G. Miller in Evangelicals magazinePrayer, Repentance & Hope for America, NAE podcast with Lisa FieldsTheology of Race, NAE podcast with Walter Kim Today's Conversation is brought to you by Cahoots Communications.

Chris and Carmen McBeath are in the house today as they get ready to head back to Nicaragua. Chris shares a powerful, encouraging word on PATIENCE.

His Story: Holocaust Survivor Nate Leipciger / Living Our Values Part 4: We Value All People Nate Leipciger, Arla Leipziger, Pastor Dave Larmour Download

Hello and welcome to the Unedited podcast!   The goal of this podcast is to help you develop and enjoy the habit of daily Bible reading and prayer. It is through the Word of God and the presence of God that we GET TO KNOW God.   In today's episode, Meg reminds herself and listeners of the Scriptural principle of quiet and share an Unedited journal entry, "Be Still." Stillness and quiet are an underrated and underutilized tool and resource in our Christian lives, and in today's busy age, it is important that we intentionally carve out quiet time to sit with the Lord.  In this episode, Meg references a media panel, "Guarding Our Hearts & Home From a Media Driven World," hosted at Christian Life Church. Listen here!    If this episode blesses you, please consider share it or leave a review wherever you listen!   Meg's books, are available through Amazon and Pentecostal publishing house: 
  

In this episode, Amy sits down with Deborah Santana—author, philanthropist, and lifelong spiritual practitioner—for a conversation that explores what it means to live from inner sovereignty.While many may recognize her through her 34-year marriage to Carlos Santana, this conversation clarifies something more essential: Deborah Santana has lived a deeply self-directed life shaped by spiritual inquiry, service, and the willingness to begin again.Her memoir, Loving the Fire, becomes the thread through which we explore transformation—not as an abstract idea, but as a lived experience of loss, identity shift, and conscious rebuilding.Key Themes Explored1. Early Life and the Roots of Inner StrengthDeborah reflects on her upbringing in San Francisco, shaped by a family that quietly modeled independence and devotion.Her father, Saunders King, was a respected musician who chose presence over fame—offering an early model of values rooted in family rather than recognition.Her childhood was also grounded in spiritual diversity, moving between Pentecostal, Lutheran, and contemplative spaces. This early exposure created a foundation of spiritual curiosity that would later evolve into a lifelong meditation practice.2. Identity, Culture, and AwarenessDeborah shares her experience growing up in a multicultural environment, where belonging felt natural—until moments of racism revealed deeper social realities.These experiences did not define her, but they did shape her awareness. Over time, they became part of the “fire” she would learn to walk through rather than avoid.3. The Fire: Loss, Transition, and ReinventionA central moment in Deborah's life—and in this conversation—is her decision to leave a long-term marriage and step into the unknown.She describes this period with clarity:A sudden shift from a full, externally defined life into silenceThe loss of roles, identity, and structureThe necessity of sitting with herself, without distractionRather than rushing to rebuild, she allowed a period of stillness:Studying the work of Wayne Dyer and Thich Nhat HanhEngaging in self-inquiry through Al-Anon principlesReturning to yoga and meditation as stabilizing practicesThis was not framed as breakdown, but as disassembly for the purpose of reorganization.4. Loving the Fire: A Different Relationship to ChallengeThe central teaching of Deborah's memoir is simple, but not easy:Life is not happening to us—it is happening for us.She describes fire not as destruction, but as a condition for renewal. Like a forest that regenerates after burning, human life can reorganize into something more aligned—if we stay present through the process.This reflects a core principle in yoga therapy:We do not eliminate discomfortWe change our relationship to itWe allow it to inform growth5. Spiritual Practice as a Stabilizing ForceDeborah has maintained a meditation practice since her early twenties. During times of transition, this inner relationship became her anchor.She describes moments of:Deep peace in solitudeHeightened perception in natureA sense of connection beyond identityThese are not framed as extraordinary experiences, but as natural outcomes when external roles fall away and attention returns inward.6. Rebuilding with IntentionFollowing this period of reflection, Deborah began to rebuild her life in alignment with her values:Founded the nonprofit Do A Little, inspired by Desmond TutuProduced documentary films to support global humanitarian effortsWorked with organizations connected to Nelson MandelaBecame a founding donor of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureHer work consistently centers on women, girls, and collective well-being.7. Education and Lifelong LearningIn her 50s, Deborah pursued a master's degree in Women's Spirituality at the California Institute of Integral Studies.This experience reflected a pattern throughout her life:Learning as a form of self-developmentIntegrating intellect with lived experienceValuing wisdom traditions alongside modern inquiry8. Global Perspective and HumilityTravel—particularly to Africa—played a significant role in reshaping her worldview.She describes:A felt sense of humanity's originsA reorientation away from individual-centered thinkingA deep respect for cultural wisdom beyond the U.S. lensThis aligns with a therapeutic perspective: healing often expands when we move beyond our habitual frame of reference.9. Current Work: Courage and EmpathyDeborah is currently involved in developing the Courage Museum in San Francisco, a project focused on:Understanding violence as a learned behaviorTeaching empathy as a skillCreating immersive experiences like “Empathy Mirrors,” where individuals witness and feel others' lived experiencesThe intention is clear: violence can be unlearned, and empathy can be cultivated.Clinical and Philosophical ReflectionsThis conversation offers several points of integration for yoga therapists and healthcare providers:Transformation often begins with disruption of identityStillness and reflection are not passive—they are reorganizing forcesSpiritual practice provides continuity when external roles dissolveGrowth requires both self-inquiry and self-responsibilityMeaning emerges not by avoiding difficulty, but by engaging it with awarenessClosing ReflectionDeborah Santana's life illustrates a steady principle:We are not defined by our roles, relationships, or accomplishments. When those fall away, what remains is the foundation we build from.Her story is not about reinvention as performance. It is about returning to something more essential—and choosing, from that place, how to live.Learn MoreLoving the Fire by Deborah SantanaAvailable via her website and major booksellersUpcoming events and book tour information available online

Vance sits down with St. Louis radio veteran Mark Reardon — 97.1 FM Talk — for a wide-ranging conversation that quickly reveals just how different two people's information worlds can be. Mark has been in talk radio since he was 15, has survived firings and format flips, and still believes in live local radio. But when Vance starts talking about the Bitcoin Clarity Act or Cynthia Lummis, Mark draws a complete blank — and neither of them finds that reassuring. The gap between boomer and younger media diets, they agree, is now so wide that the two groups are essentially living in different realities. From there the conversation gets into territory that makes Mark visibly uncomfortable in the best way: Vance's argument that young people aren't just disengaged from voting — they're losing faith in the entire system. Housing costs, inflation funneled into boomer-owned assets, Social Security nobody will touch, and now AI threatening whatever intellectual edge younger workers thought they had. Mark pushes back but doesn't fully disagree. He also opens up about his own AI intimidation — just getting started with help from a friend at ThrottleNet — and Vance walks him through the Cambrian explosion framing and Pope Leo's encyclical on building AI like Nehemiah's wall, not the Tower of Babel. The episode covers Iran, the Catholic Church abuse scandal, Vance's prediction of a Pentecostal revival, and whether lynch-mob justice is actually coming — before Mark rescues everyone with an extended, genuinely delightful tangent about Oreo, his litter-trained Dutch rabbit who has taken over his couch and his heart.Articulate.Ventures/IBCLegacyInterviews.com

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 "This Is My Door," Apostle Jim Raley continues the Aftershocks series with a powerful word from Acts 9:32-43. Acts 2 was the epicenter, and everything that follows is the aftershock still rumbling along the fault lines of Pentecost. This message takes us to two people most preachers treat as separate stories. A paralyzed man named Aeneas in Lydda and a beloved disciple named Dorcas in Joppa. One frozen. One dead. Two cities, two miracles, and one fault line running through both. Through their stories, Apostle Raley reminds us that frozen is not finished, that the same Pentecostal power still breaks every destructive cycle, and that God wants to raise what we have stopped fighting for. Joppa means "the door." The Holy Spirit has been searching you out, and this is your door. Stop washing what God wants to raise, get a "yet" praise in your mouth, and walk through into your new beginning. Acts 9:32-43 | Psalm 42:11 | Ezekiel 37:3 Stay connected at https://calvaryfl.com

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined, for an absolutely remarkable conversation, by Steve Sjogren, the founding pastor of one of the most influential churches in America, the Vineyard Church Cincinnati, to talk about his conversion to Catholicism. Steve not only founded and pastored one of the most influential churches in America, but was one of the founding pastors of the Vineyard Church movement from the beginning – worshipping alongside the likes of Bob Dylan and Keith Green in the earliest incarnation of the charismatic church movement in Los Angeles. Steve's story is one of servant leadership, radical evangelization, and following the Holy Spirit wherever he was led – including right into full communion with the Catholic Church. You're going to absolutely love Steve's story.For more from Steve Sjogren visit his website. Send your feedback to cordialcatholic@gmail.com. Sign up for our newsletter for my reflections on  episodes, behind-the-scenes content, and exclusive contests.To watch this and other episodes please visit (and subscribe to!) our YouTube channel.Please consider financially supporting this show! For more information visit the Patreon page.  All patrons receive access to exclusive content and if you can give $5/mo or more you'll also be entered into monthly draws for fantastic books hand-picked by me.If you'd like to give a one-time donation to The Cordial Catholic, you can visit the PayPal page.Thank you to those already supporting the show!A very special thanks to our Patreon co-producers who make this show possible: Amanda, Elli and Tom, Fr. Larry, Gina, Heather, James, Jorg, Michelle, Noah, Robert, Shelby, Susanne and Victor, and William.Beyond The BeaconJoin Bishop Kevin Sweeney for inspired interviews with Catholics living out our faith!Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showFind and follow The Cordial Catholic on social media:Instagram: @cordialcatholicTwitter: @cordialcatholicYouTube: /thecordialcatholicFacebook: The Cordial CatholicTikTok: @cordialcatholic

A mother tells her child that one “impure” thought could mean eternal fire and she claims she can read minds. That fear becomes the fuel for a family-run, high-control religious group where confession lasts until 3 a.m., “demons” explain every human impulse, and doubt is treated like a moral failure. Peggy, author of *Surviving the Family Kingdom* and a psychotherapist, unpacks what it's like when the cult leader is also your parent. Peggy walks us through the early chaos that made her mother vulnerable to extreme beliefs, the Pentecostal influence that normalized spiritual spectacle, and the slow shift from searching for faith to building a closed system of control. We talk about coercive control tactics like sleep deprivation, isolation, punishments, the “hot seat,” and how love bombing can flip into fear the moment someone stops complying. Then we follow the moment everything breaks open: motherhood. Peggy describes how parenting clarified what she could no longer accept, how she stopped policing her own mind, and why leaving required a strategy that protected her from manipulation. We also explore the harder, less-discussed part of cult recovery and religious trauma: rebuilding identity, living with triggers, and navigating a complicated relationship with an aging parent who never offers acknowledgement. Peggy shares how EMDR helped neutralize the images and body memories that kept her feeling haunted. If this conversation helps you, subscribe, share it with someone who needs it, and leave a rating and review so more listeners can find stories of survival and recovery.Send us Fan MailSupport the showAdditionally, you can now also watch the full video version of your favourite episode here on YouTube. Please subscribe, like or drop a comment letting us know your thoughts on the episode and if you'd like more stories going forward!If you would like to offer any feedback on our show or get in touch with us, you can also contact us on the following platforms:Website: www.multispective.orgEmail: info@multispective.org Instagram: www.instagram.com/multispectivepodcast Facebook: www.facebook.com/multispectiveorgReddit: www.reddit.com/r/multispectiveSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/multispectiveProducer & Host: Jennica SadhwaniEditing: Stephan MenzelMarketing: Lucas PhiriFatty15 promotes healthy metabolism, balanced immunity, and heart health. 2 out of 3 customers report near-term benefits, including calmer mood, deeper sleep or less snacking, within 6 weeks. 20% off on purchases link and code: ...

Engage: Worship in Everyday Life (Living Our Values—Part 3b) Pastors Gary and Kristen Download

Charles G. Robinette | Apostolic Mentoring PodcastWhat if the greatest revival in human history will begin the same way the Church began?In this powerful and prophetic teaching, International Evangelist Charles G. Robinette explores the biblical pattern of Gateway City Outpourings and reveals why God has repeatedly chosen strategic cities to ignite worldwide revival.From Jerusalem to Antioch, from Ephesus to Rome, from Azusa Street 1906 to the prophetic possibilities of our generation, discover how one outpouring in a strategic city can impact entire nations and accelerate the fulfillment of Joel 2:28, Matthew 24:14, and Revelation 7:9.Could God once again be preparing to pour out His Spirit in major gateway cities around the world?Could millions be born again in those cities while billions are impacted globally?This message is more than history. It is a call to repentance, apostolic unity, prophetic prayer, bold faith, and Kingdom collaboration in preparation for the greatest end-time harvest the world has ever seen.Charles also delivers a sobering prophetic challenge to the modern Church, warning against the destructive influence of fear, jealousy, and control, and calling believers to embrace faith, humility, and complete dependence upon the Holy Ghost.If you have been praying for global revival, world evangelism, end-time harvest, or a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit, this message will challenge your thinking and inspire your faith.Topics Include:• Gateway Cities in the Book of Acts• Why Pentecost began in Jerusalem• Antioch and the multiplication of revival• Azusa Street and modern Pentecostal history• Why strategic cities matter in global evangelism• Twelve potential gateway cities for end-time outpouring• Apostolic unity and Partnership of Faith• The prophetic significance of Revelation 7:9• The call to reach every tribe, tongue, people, and nation• How the Church can prepare for the greatest harvest in historyThe harvest is ready.The nations are gathering.The Spirit is still being poured out.Will the Church prepare for BILLIONS?Subscribe to the Apostolic Mentoring Podcast and join us as we equip millions 2 reach billions through apostolic doctrine, Spirit-led ministry, prophetic prayer, and global harvest.#GatewayCities #GlobalHarvest #EndTimeRevival #Pentecost #HolyGhost #Acts238 #Revival #WorldEvangelism #Apostolic #Outpouring #JesusName #RevivalFire #KingdomOfGod #Revelation79 #Joel228 #CharlesGRobinetteWe love to hear from our listeners! Thank you! https://www.amazon.com/dp/1639030158?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_VZBSV9T4GT4AMRWEWXJE&skipTwisterOG=1 Support the showhttps://www.youtube.com/@charlesgrobinettehttps://www.instagram.com/charles.g.robinette/https://author.amazon.com/bookshttps://charlesgrobinette.com/

In this conversation, Olivia Hill addresses the common frustrations individuals face when comparing their weight loss journeys to others. She emphasizes that the issue lies not within the individual but in the flawed understanding of calories and nutrition. Hill explains the concept of maintenance calories, the biological factors that influence individual caloric needs, and the importance of personalized nutrition plans. She highlights the impact of dieting history on metabolism and advocates for coaching as a means to achieve sustainable weight loss and health. Ultimately, she encourages listeners to embrace a more abundant approach to eating while still achieving their health goals.

A Lifestyle of Worship (Living Our Values—Part 3) Pastor Kristen Malcolm Download

Everybody loves the idea that Jesus meets us where we are. The harder question is: what happens when He calls us somewhere new? In Mark 3, Jesus leaves the crowds behind, climbs a mountain, and calls a handful of ordinary people to come closer. They could have stayed comfortable. They could have stayed hidden in […]

Pentecost is so important in knowing our identity as believers in God. On the day of Pentecost, the fire of God fell, and tongues of fire allotted to each person's head signified the personal anointing God has for each of us in Christ. In Luke, we read: "And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24:49 The Holy Spirit is our teacher, comforter, and deliverer. The Holy Spirit dispenses gifts and fruits, and most importantly, is the source of all power in our lives. We don't have strength or energy without Him. We have nothing without Him! In 2 Timothy 3, we read that some would prefer to hold to a form of godliness but deny the power of God. Behind this is a religious spirit that shuts down the voice of God and His omnipotence! 

We read the apostle Peter's sermon in Acts 2:22-36, noting how he uses Psalm 15 LXX/16:8-11 and Psalm 109 LXX/10:1 to explain Pentecost to the crowd, and connecting other parts of his sermon with Luke 24:13-45, Phil. 2:5-11 and 2 Peter 1:19. With this Pentecostal witness to Jesus begin the mighty acts of the apostles through God, the Holy Spirit.

In this conversation, Olivia Hill and Lyndi M discuss the intricacies of GI maps, protocols for gut health, and the importance of diet and lifestyle changes. They explore who should consider getting a GI map, the role of probiotics, and share success stories from patients who have undergone treatment. The discussion also touches on the spiritual aspect of health, emphasizing the importance of faith in the healing process.

Being Pentecostal - Sunday Morning 05-24-26

Surveys indicate Christianity in America is on the grow. The surveys also indicate the growth is occurring among Gen-Z. So then, where is this spiritual growth actually occurring? For sure, it is not happening among the old, staid denominations where the church, for the most part, continues to be traditional, ritual, predictable, and in the words of one, boring. Renewal and revival of Christianity in America is coming primarily from non-denominational churches and spirit-filled Pentecostal movements. Those growth churches are offering experiential expressions of faith, real Biblical experiences different from and better than the traditional American protestant denominations. At one time, non-denominational Christian churches consisted of approximately 5% of American protestants (1972). Today, those growing non-denominational churches comprise of roughly 30% of all such protestant churches. Why is such growth occurring, wondered the pundits and especially the non-believers. The answer is simple. Those churches function under the direction and influence of the Holy Spirit where the real, vital, saving, forgiving Gospel of Jesus Christ is believed and preached. Pentecostal churches are growing. The Assemblies of God, among the many spirit-filled churches reported growth in: 1. CHURCH SERVICE ATTENDANCE 2. NEW MEMBERSHIP 3. CONVERSIONS AND SAVING EXPERIENCES 4. BAPTISMS 5. THE BUILDING OF NEW CHURCHES So many people, including the young from Gen-Z, want the real Christianity or nothing at all. Spirit-filled Pentecostal movements offer Christian reality, even as so many churches in denominations turn woke, liberal, social, even political in emphasis and so often replace the Gospel with social agendas. The church should be where the real Gospel is preached, where real spirit-led worship occurs, and where the soul is satisfied and blessed. Holiness and Pentecostal churches reported at least 4% growth in all the above categories, and these non-denominational churches far outperformed the old-line denominational churches. These non-denominational churches are “functionally charismatic” even if they do not describe themselves as Pentecostal. They do not belong to Assemblies of God or THE CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST, or foursquare, but their worship styles and theology clearly emphasize expressive worship, spiritual gifts, and direct encounters with God. The real Gospel, the Holy-Spirit-led worship characterizes the beliefs and the worship services of these growing non-denominational Christian churches. In years past, surveys indicate the younger generations (Gen-Z and more) were indifferent and turned off by Christianity and Christian worship. This may have been the case, but then came the growth of these non-denominational, spirit-filled, spiritually-experiential Christian churches, and therefore membership and involvement dramatically increased. The surveys indicate this younger, non-denominational church-goer and worshipper was significantly more diverse than many of the membership in the historic and traditional protestant denomination. These surveys indicated only 60% of the new non-denominational church worshippers where white. Many of the new worshippers were Hispanic, African American, or even Asian. This new spirit-filled church was truly the right example of diversity in race and ethnicity, equity and equality among all men and women in worship, and the inclusion of all (DEI) in worship led by the Holy Spirit, belief in and the preaching of the real Gospel, and where the Bible ruled. People today are hungry for the real Gospel, the real worship experience, for real Bible teaching. The real Gospel would have us as believers rejoice, be glad, be happy, be exuberant in our faith. The real Gospel, as Jesus said, would have us live life abundantly, emotionally, lovingly. These spirit-filled non-denominational churches offer this spiritual reality and more. The growth in non-denominational churches was incredible. In 2010, there were some 35,000 such churches and congregations. Today, there are 44,000 non-denominational church congregations in America, with an estimated 21 million members and worshipers. 21 MILLION soul-satisfied congregants and adherents. PRAISE THE LORD! Churches exist for one reason only: to proclaim Biblical truth, the real Gospel, the salvation experience, the forgiveness and reconciliation to God the Father, and to worship, all of which allow for direct encounters with the very God and the Son, Jesus Christ. These churches offer this and everything real in Scripture, which is why they are growing, and the growth has only just begun. PRAISE THE LORD!

In Mark 3, Jesus heals a man with a shriveled hand…but the real miracle may not be what happened to the man’s hand. It's what the story reveals about the human heart. While one man stretched out the broken thing and found healing, a group of religious leaders hardened their hearts and walked away even […]

Fluent Fiction - Hungarian: Secrets of Buda Castle: Unveiling Hidden Historical Treasures Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/hu/episode/2026-06-01-07-38-19-hu Story Transcript:Hu: Buda Várnegyedének macskaköves utcáin, ahol a történelem visszhangzik az ősi falak között, egy tavaszi napon Lajos figyelő tekintete a Duna csillogásába mélyed.En: On the cobblestone streets of the Buda Várnegyed, where history echoes among the ancient walls, on a spring day, Lajos directs his observant gaze into the shimmering Danube.Hu: Lajos a Buda Vár történész szakértője, azonban gyakran elfelejti a csodálatot, amit jelent.En: Lajos is an expert historian of Buda Castle, but often forgets the wonder it represents.Hu: Munkája néha rutinná válik, s ő, bár lelkes, kissé cinikus.En: His work sometimes becomes routine, and although he is enthusiastic, he is somewhat cynical.Hu: Pünkösd van, és a vár izgalommal teli turisták zsongásától pezseg.En: It's Pentecost, and the castle buzzes with the excitement of tourists.Hu: Emese, a kíváncsi turista, szívesen sétál a vár hegyes útjain.En: Emese, a curious tourist, gladly walks the steep paths of the castle.Hu: Ahogy közelebb ér a Lánchídhoz, észrevesz valamit a patak közelében.En: As she gets closer to the Chain Bridge, she notices something near the creek.Hu: Egy üveg, benne rejtélyes üzenettel.En: A bottle, with a mysterious message inside.Hu: Sejtelmesen mosolyogva Emese elhatározza, hogy megkeresi Lajost, akiről tudja, hogy a történelem elkötelezett híve.En: Smiling mysteriously, Emese decides to find Lajos, knowing he is a dedicated history enthusiast.Hu: Lajos, miután elolvassa a titokzatos sorokat az üzeneten, rögtön belemerül a tartalmába.En: After reading the mysterious lines on the message, Lajos immediately delves into its content.Hu: Azonban szokatlanul titokzatos, és kollégái egyáltalán nem biztosak abban, hogy az ügy érdemes a figyelemre.En: However, it is unusually mysterious, and his colleagues are not convinced that the matter is worthy of attention.Hu: Lajosnak azonban megfordul a fejében, hogy segítséget kérjen Emesétől, akinek fiatalos kíváncsisága lendülettel tölti el.En: Nonetheless, Lajos considers asking for Emese's help, whose youthful curiosity energizes him.Hu: Ekkor meglátogatják Zoltánt, a helyi művészt, aki különösségével és a régi palackok ismeretével segíthet dekódolni a rejtélyt.En: Then they visit Zoltán, a local artist whose peculiarity and knowledge of old bottles may help decode the mystery.Hu: Zoltán, vidám természetével és különleges ismereteivel azonnal belelkesül.En: With his cheerful nature and special knowledge, Zoltán quickly becomes enthusiastic.Hu: Hármuk együttese, szelídítő sétái és élénk beszélgetései, végül elvezetik őket a vár egyik rejtett alagútjához.En: The trio's gentle walks and lively conversations eventually lead them to a hidden tunnel in the castle.Hu: Az üzenet valami rejtett szekcióra utal.En: The message points to some hidden section.Hu: Egy rég elfeledett szobára, amely történelmi gazdagságot rejt.En: A long-forgotten room that holds historical wealth.Hu: Összefogásuk végül egy óriási felfedezéshez vezet.En: Their collaboration ultimately leads to a tremendous discovery.Hu: A kőfal mögött egy titkos helyiségben egy sor elfeledett műalkotást tárnak fel.En: Behind a stone wall, in a secret chamber, they uncover a series of forgotten artworks.Hu: Az alkotások új megvilágításba helyezik a vár történetét, és rejtett dimenziókat adnak hozzá.En: These artworks cast new light on the history of the castle, adding hidden dimensions to it.Hu: Lajos, aki kezdetben önmaga megoldásait preferálta, most felismeri a csapatmunka erejét és a közös felfedezés örömét.En: Lajos, who initially preferred solving things on his own, now realizes the power of teamwork and the joy of shared discovery.Hu: Az új élmények hatására Lajos már nem csak mint történész végzi a munkáját, hanem mint azoknak a tapasztalatoknak lelkes keresője, amelyek új színt visznek a Buda Vár történetébe.En: As a result of the new experiences, Lajos no longer simply works as a historian but as an enthusiastic seeker of those experiences that bring new color to the history of Buda Castle.Hu: A nap lenyugszik a Dunán, a vár pedig soha meg nem szűnő szívverésével emlékezetessé teszi a pünkösdi tavaszt.En: The sun sets over the Danube, and the castle, with its ever-persistent heartbeat, makes the Pentecostal spring memorable. Vocabulary Words:cobblestone: macskakövesechoes: visszhangzikshimmering: csillogásábaenthusiast: hívesteep: hegyescreek: patakmysterious: rejtélyesdelves: belemerülcontent: tartalmábacynical: cinikusconvince: meggyőznipeculiarity: különösségedecode: dekódolnienthusiastic: belelkesüllively: élénkhidden: rejtetttremendous: óriásiuncover: feltárnakartworks: műalkotástdimensions: dimenziókatprefer: preferáltacollaboration: összefogástremendous: óriásireveals: feltárnakchamber: helyiségpersistent: meg nem szűnőshared: közösexperiences: élményekdedicated: elkötelezettenthusiasm: lelkesedés

Series: The Light of the World Originally aired 05/31/2026

Hello and welcome to the Unedited podcast!   The goal of this podcast is to help you develop and enjoy the habit of daily Bible reading and prayer. It is through the Word of God and the presence of God that we GET TO KNOW God.   In today's episode, Meg reminds herself and listeners that "we will understand it better by and by," and shares an Unedited journal entry: "Trust In the Lord With All Thine Heart."    Meg's books, are available through Amazon and Pentecostal publishing house: 
  

In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined after a four year long hiatus, by the one and only Father Gregory Pine, OP to talk about the Eucharist. We dig deeply on the sacrificial nature of the Mass, the Catholic understanding of the Eucharist, and how, truly, an understanding of the 2,000-year old tradition of Christ's Real Presence in the Eucharist, available at every Catholic Church in the world, is an absolute game changer. Plus, we talk about Eucharistic adoration, how the "altar call" in Charismatic Christianity finds its fulfilment in a real altar, and we learn that Father Gregory is a "medium-sized" hugger. Good to know. For more from Father Gregory you can check out his book Your Eucharistic Identity: A Sacramental Guide to the Fulness of Life from Ignatius Press.Send your feedback to cordialcatholic@gmail.com. Sign up for our newsletter for my reflections on  episodes, behind-the-scenes content, and exclusive contests.To watch this and other episodes please visit (and subscribe to!) our YouTube channel.Please consider financially supporting this show! For more information visit the Patreon page.  All patrons receive access to exclusive content and if you can give $5/mo or more you'll also be entered into monthly draws for fantastic books hand-picked by me.If you'd like to give a one-time donation to The Cordial Catholic, you can visit the PayPal page.Thank you to those already supporting the show!A very special thanks to our Patreon co-producers who make this show possible: Amanda, Elli and Tom, Fr. Larry, Gina, Heather, James, Jorg, Michelle, Noah, Robert, Shelby, Susanne and Victor, and William.Beyond The BeaconJoin Bishop Kevin Sweeney for inspired interviews with Catholics living out our faith!Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showFind and follow The Cordial Catholic on social media:Instagram: @cordialcatholicTwitter: @cordialcatholicYouTube: /thecordialcatholicFacebook: The Cordial CatholicTikTok: @cordialcatholic

Generational curses is a phrase many believers have heard, but what does the Bible actually mean? Are repeated struggles, family patterns, and recurring cycles evidence of spiritual bondage, or could we be misunderstanding the battle itself?In this episode, we explore common misconceptions surrounding generational curses and examine what Scripture says about strongholds, inherited patterns, and the renewing of the mind. We discuss how ways of thinking can become deeply rooted over time, why behaviors are often downstream from beliefs, and why discipleship and Holy Spirit transformation are essential for lasting change.What if we have spent years fighting symptoms while missing the actual battle?

In this episode, Damon Garcia joins us to explore the pressure of trying to find — and faithfully follow — God's plan for your life. Growing up in a Pentecostal and charismatic church culture, Damon was taught that God had a specific calling for each person, and that missing it could mean missing the life you were meant to live. Damon reflects on the anxiety, striving, and self-surveillance that this way of thinking can create, as well as his own complicated journey into ministry and eventual departure from evangelicalism.As the conversation unfolds, the lens widens beyond church culture to ask what happens when one version of calling collapses, only for another to take its place. From hustle culture and monetised gifts to the pressure to “become somebody”, Damon reflects on the ways capitalism shapes our understanding of purpose, success, and worth. Along the way, he offers a gentler alternative: a vision of “small, simple callings” rooted less in grand destiny and more in presence, grace, creativity, and the ordinary life in front of us.Following the interview Nomad hosts Tim and Joy reflect on growing up in Pentecostal and charismatic church cultures where “calling” shaped everything from identity and relationships to work, status, and major life decisions. Together they explore the anxiety of trying to discern God's plan, the hierarchies hidden within church culture, and the ways privilege, power, and gender shaped those callings.Interview starts at 12m 24sBooks, quotes, links →The creation of Nomad's thoughtful, ad-free content is entirely funded by our equally thoughtful and wonderful listeners. By supporting us, you gain access to Nomad's online spaces—like the Beloved Listener Lounge, Enneagram Lounge, and Book Club—as well as bonus episodes such as Nomad Contemplations, Homegrown Conversations, and Nomad Revisited.If you'd like to join our lovely community of supporters, head over to our Patreon page. You might even be rewarded with a Nomad pen or our coveted Beloved Listener mug!If a monthly commitment isn't possible right now, a one-off donation is always deeply appreciated—you can do that here.Looking to connect with others nearby? Check out the Listener Map or join our Nomad Gathering Facebook group.And if you're up for sharing your own story, we regularly post reflections from listeners on our blog—all with the hope of fostering deeper understanding, connection and supportive relationships. If you'd like to share your story on the blog, contact us for more information here.

As long as there's a you… Fights in public. Devil dresses you up in his love. TX attorney berated over a word.

In this episode of Apostolic Life in the 21st Century, Dr. David K. Bernard addresses an important question about divine healing and the gifts of the Spirit.In 1 Corinthians 12, the apostle Paul lists the “gifts of healing” (verse 9) among the spiritual gifts and makes it clear that not every believer operates in this gift (verse 30). Yet in Mark 16:18, Jesus said believers would lay hands on the sick and they would recover.Is healing a special ministry given only to certain individuals, or is it a sign that can follow any Spirit-filled believer? Dr. Bernard responds to this important question, offering clarity and balance on a topic that is central to Pentecostal theology and practice.For further study, see Dr. Bernard's book Spiritual Gifts, available at PentecostalPublishing.com. Enter promo code DKB10 at checkout to save 10 percent on your order.If you enjoy this podcast, leave a five-star rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or your preferred podcast platform. We also appreciate it when you share Apostolic Life in the 21st Century with family and friends.

In this episode of the Straight White American Jesus Sunday Interview, host Leah Payne speaks with Jonathan Calvillo, sociologist of religion at Candler School of Theology at Emory University and author of The Saints of Santa Ana, about growing tensions within Latino evangelical and Pentecostal communities over immigration, political representation, and the public platforming of prominent evangelical leader Samuel Rodriguez. The conversation centers on the recent “We Are Not a Monolith” statement issued by Latino pastors, scholars, and ministry leaders calling for greater nuance and accountability in how Latino Christians are represented in national media. Calvillo explains why many faith leaders believe Rodriguez has come to function less as an advocate for vulnerable immigrant communities and more as a defender of Trump-era immigration policies and conservative political networks. Together, Payne and Calvillo explore how ICE raids and immigration enforcement are reshaping Latino churches across the United States, including the emergence of new theological language around persecution, sanctuary, solidarity, and resistance. They discuss the complex political diversity within Latino evangelicalism, the influence of white evangelical megachurch networks on Latino Pentecostal leaders, and the growing tensions between immigrant-majority congregations and prominent conservative evangelical institutions. The episode also examines how Latino evangelical and Pentecostal churches are responding to fear, surveillance, and political polarization in this moment, including new collaborations between immigrant churches, ecumenical groups, and unexpected community allies. Throughout the conversation, Calvillo situates current debates within a longer history of migration, marginalization, religious activism, and public theology in the United States. The “We Are Not a Monolith” statement and the debate over Latino evangelical representation Samuel Rodriguez, the NHCLC, and conservative evangelical political influence ICE raids, sanctuary politics, and immigrant church communities Why some Latino pastors are increasingly using the language of persecution Latino Pentecostalism, MAGA politics, and white evangelical influence The role of megachurch culture, class mobility, and political power Christian nationalism and competing visions of American Christianity New ecumenical and interfaith collaborations emerging in immigrant communities Theologies of protest, resistance, and accompaniment among Latino evangelicals “We Are Not a Monolith” statement: WeAreNotAMonolith.com Samuel Rodriguez, “ICE Is Devastating Some Latino Churches” (Christianity Today): Christianity Today article Christianity Today response to the “We Are Not a Monolith” statement: CT response article Religion News Service coverage: “Latino Christians release letter saying Trump advisor overexaggerated influence” Robert Chao Romero, “We Refuse to Be Comforted: When Prophets Side with Pharaoh”: Theology and Migration article Jonathan Calvillo faculty page: Candler School of Theology Faculty Profile Jonathan Calvillo on Instagram/X: @yocalvillo Jonathan Calvillo's book, The Saints of Santa Ana: Faith and Ethnicity in a Mexican-Majority City:  Oxford University Press In This EpisodeLinks:Find Dr. Leah Payne at DrLeahPayne.com, subscribe on Substack, follow her on most social media platforms at @drleahpayne, listen along at Spirit & Power: Charismatics & Politics in American Life and Rock That Doesn't Roll, and read along with God Gave Rock and Roll to You: A History of Contemporary Christian Music. Subscribe for $3.65: ⁠https://axismundi.supercast.com/⁠ Subscribe to our free newsletter: ⁠https://swaj.substack.com/⁠ Order American Caesar by Brad Onishi: ⁠https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/⁠ Donate to SWAJ: https://axismundi.supercast.com/donations/new Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Throwback Thursday (Originally aired: 11/16/25)Bunnie Xo sits down with Pastor Kimberly Jones for a powerful conversation about faith, redemption, and breaking generational patterns. Kimberly opens up about growing up in a strict Pentecostal home, the religious trauma she carried, and the years she spent running from the church. She shares her battle with addiction, her experience navigating multiple marriages, and the rock-bottom moments that ultimately led to her transformation.Kim reflects on the unlikely journey from a party girl who rejected religion to a pastor inspired by Rod Parsley's ministry. She talks about the criticism she's faced from the church, the role her father played in supporting her recovery, and how her early motivational videos paved the way for her platform today. Kimberly also gets candid about marrying a man she met on Facebook who later betrayed her, and how that heartbreak fueled her growth.Throughout the episode, she highlights the themes central to her ministry—self-love, forgiveness, resilience, and authenticity—and shares how her church has evolved along with her. Kimberly also discusses the books she's written to help others embrace transformation and healing.Pastor Kim- Website | YouTube | IGWatch Full Episodes & More: YouTubeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.