Podcasts about shifting culture

In this episode, Ben Norquist and Brian Miller make the case that American Christians have become a placeless, rootless people and that we are shaped by inherited land stories. That our land is exceptional. That property is something to wall off. That the ground exists to be taken and turned into wealth. We dig into where these stories came from, how they affect our faith, and why it matters that Scripture opens with God calling place good. We talk about how to read the place you actually live, whose stories get monuments and whose get erased, and what better land stories, ones shaped more like Jesus, might look like.Dr. Ben Norquist is a writer, researcher, and communications strategist whose work explores how Christian understandings of land shape mora/l imagination and public life. He serves with the Bethlehem Institute for Peace & Justice, engaging American Christians on questions of theology, justice, and the realities in Palestine. He is co-author of Every Somewhere Sacred: Rescuing a Theology of Place in the American Imagination (InterVarsity Press, 2026).Brian Miller (PhD, University of Notre Dame) is professor of sociology at Wheaton College and regularly teaches about and publishes on Christian residential and cultural patterns. His books include Sanctifying Suburbia: How the Suburbs Becamethe Promised Land for American Evangelicals and Building Faith: A Sociology of Religious Structures, coauthored with Robert Brenneman.Ben & Brian's Book:Every Somewhere SacredConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.comGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeSupport the podcast and the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link below Support the show

In this episode with Aaron Cline Hanbury, we think through how we relate to technology and the things we make. We tackle the question underneath the whole AI moment: not just what it means to be human when machines can do more and more, but what it means to be alive. We get into whether any technology is really neutral, where our attention is going and who's buying it, raising kids in a screen-saturated world, and what it takes to stay awake to wonder.Aaron Cline Hanbury is a writer and editor whose essays and profiles have appeared in various publications, including The Atlantic. He is the founding editor of the award-winning magazine Common Good, and a past editor of RELEVANT magazine. He lives in the metro Atlanta area with his wife, Hannah, and their daughters.Aaron's Book:Wired for WonderAaron's Recommendations:The Science of StorytellingMoby DickConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.comGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeSupport the podcast and the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link below Support the show

Soul Sanctuary exists to walk with all people; to invite and guide them into a growing relationship with Jesus, nurture them toward a Christ-like maturity, and equip them for ministry in the world (Matthew 28:18-20).For more information, visit https://www.soulsanctuary.ca/LINKS: Connect Card: https://www.soulsanctuary.ca/hello Kids & Youth: https://www.soulsanctuary.ca/kids-youth Upcoming Events: https://www.soulsanctuary.ca/events

Pastor Lucas closes out the “Forefront” series with a message tackling one of the most controversial and misunderstood topics in today's culture: Islam.On Memorial Day weekend, Pastor Lucas shares highlights from a packed week of travel — from a Red Sox game in Boston, to the “Make Heaven Crowded” event in Portland, Maine where 50 people gave their lives to Christ, to the national Rededicate America gathering in Washington, D.C. with more than 50,000 attendees. He also recounts a private Capitol tour focused on the Judeo-Christian foundations of America's government.In this final installment of the “Forefront” series, Pastor Lucas examines the historical and theological claims of Islam, comparing the Quran with the Torah and Gospels while exploring the relationship between Sharia law and Constitutional freedoms.Through historical evidence, biblical analysis, and cultural commentary, Pastor Lucas challenges believers not to respond with fear, but to boldly and compassionately share the Gospel. He encourages Christians to lovingly engage Muslims in conversation, using both Scripture and truth to point people toward Christ.The message closes with communion, a Gospel presentation, and a reminder that true peace is found in Jesus — not fear, politics, or cultural division.Key Themes:Is Islam truly an Abrahamic religionThe “Islamic Dilemma”Sharia law vs. Constitutional freedomsAbraham, Ishmael, and the claim of MeccaThe reliability of Scripture and the Dead Sea ScrollsHow Christians should engage Muslims with truth and loveTimestamps:0:20 — Opening & trip recap (Boston, Maine, Washington D.C.) 6:04 — Introduction to the “Forefront” series finale: Islam 12:26 — Quran vs. Constitution: Sharia law & American freedoms 22:12 — How Christians can lovingly engage Muslims with truth 31:31 — The “Islamic Dilemma” explained 38:49 — Abraham, Hagar & Ishmael in Genesis 51:35 — Dead Sea Scrolls & the reliability of Scripture 1:00:40 — Peace over fear 1:02:31 — Communion & Gospel presentation

Pastor Lucas closes out the “Forefront” series with a message tackling one of the most controversial and misunderstood topics in today's culture: Islam.On Memorial Day weekend, Pastor Lucas shares highlights from a packed week of travel — from a Red Sox game in Boston, to the “Make Heaven Crowded” event in Portland, Maine where 50 people gave their lives to Christ, to the national Rededicate America gathering in Washington, D.C. with more than 50,000 attendees. He also recounts a private Capitol tour focused on the Judeo-Christian foundations of America's government.In this final installment of the “Forefront” series, Pastor Lucas examines the historical and theological claims of Islam, comparing the Quran with the Torah and Gospels while exploring the relationship between Sharia law and Constitutional freedoms.Through historical evidence, biblical analysis, and cultural commentary, Pastor Lucas challenges believers not to respond with fear, but to boldly and compassionately share the Gospel. He encourages Christians to lovingly engage Muslims in conversation, using both Scripture and truth to point people toward Christ.The message closes with communion, a Gospel presentation, and a reminder that true peace is found in Jesus — not fear, politics, or cultural division.Key Themes:Is Islam truly an Abrahamic religionThe “Islamic Dilemma”Sharia law vs. Constitutional freedomsAbraham, Ishmael, and the claim of MeccaThe reliability of Scripture and the Dead Sea ScrollsHow Christians should engage Muslims with truth and loveTimestamps:0:20 — Opening & trip recap (Boston, Maine, Washington D.C.) 6:04 — Introduction to the “Forefront” series finale: Islam 12:26 — Quran vs. Constitution: Sharia law & American freedoms 22:12 — How Christians can lovingly engage Muslims with truth 31:31 — The “Islamic Dilemma” explained 38:49 — Abraham, Hagar & Ishmael in Genesis 51:35 — Dead Sea Scrolls & the reliability of Scripture 1:00:40 — Peace over fear 1:02:31 — Communion & Gospel presentation

Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today we're joined by Aaron Graham, lead pastor of The District Church, a diverse and growing congregation in the heart of Washington, D.C. Founded in 2010 just a few miles from the White House, the church has become known for its global diversity—with people from more than 80 nations represented—and its commitment to living out the gospel for the good of the city. Are you noticing both spiritual curiosity and spiritual drift among people in your community? Wondering how to disciple people faithfully in a culture that increasingly pushes back against historic Christian orthodoxy? In this conversation, Aaron shares insights from his ministry context in D.C. and his new book Unshakable Faith: How to Stand Firm in a Culture of Lies, offering practical ways churches can respond to cultural pressure while forming resilient disciples from the next generation. A generation leaning in—and drifting away. // Aaron observes a striking tension among young adults today: some are pursuing faith with new seriousness, while others are quietly drifting away. Cities like Washington, D.C., attract highly educated young professionals who want to make a difference in the world through public service. Many are motivated by compassion and a desire to serve others, but they also face cultural pressures that can slowly reshape their beliefs. In Aaron's experience, this environment creates both incredible opportunities for ministry and real challenges in maintaining historic Christian faith. Some people are exploring spiritual questions deeply, while others disengage from church entirely through gradual spiritual drift. Understanding doubt, deconstruction, and denial. // Aaron encourages church leaders to distinguish between three different spiritual responses: doubt, deconstruction, and denial. Doubt is a natural part of faith—it involves uncertainty and questions that can ultimately strengthen belief when handled within a supportive community. Deconstruction, however, goes further by dismantling previously held beliefs. While some deconstruction may be necessary—especially when people have experienced unhealthy theology or spiritual abuse—it becomes dangerous when it happens in isolation without reconstructing a healthier biblical foundation. Denial is the final stage, where a person actively rejects core Christian beliefs. Recognizing these distinctions helps pastors respond with wisdom and compassion rather than assuming everyone wrestling with faith is in the same place. Creating space for honest questions. // One practical way The District Church engages doubt is through a summer series called “This Is My Story.” During this series, church members share short testimonies about their biggest spiritual questions and how God met them through those struggles and doubts. These stories normalize honest questions while showing that faith can deepen through wrestling with difficult issues. Instead of centering doubt itself, the church highlights the journey from questioning to deeper trust in God. This approach has been especially meaningful for newcomers, helping them see that the church is a place where people can wrestle honestly with faith while still moving toward spiritual maturity. Resisting the pull of cultural lies. // Aaron's book identifies several cultural narratives that quietly reshape Christian belief. One example is what he calls the “selective Christian”—someone who edits Scripture to match personal preferences or cultural expectations. When believers accept only the parts of the Bible that feel comfortable, the authority of Scripture slowly erodes. Over time, this selective approach strips the gospel of its transformative power. Aaron emphasizes that discipleship must include serious engagement with the whole Bible, even the passages that challenge modern assumptions. Returning to deep Bible engagement. // One of the most effective ways Aaron addresses cultural pressure is by encouraging consistent Bible engagement within the church. Through reading plans, group discussions, and teaching that emphasizes submission to Scripture rather than simply learning about it, believers begin to develop a more holistic faith. Interestingly, Aaron notes that people who deeply engage Scripture often become both more morally conservative and more socially liberal with deeper compassion toward others. Instead of fitting into political categories, they develop a kingdom perspective shaped by the teachings of Jesus. Holding together justice and biblical conviction. // Throughout his ministry, Aaron has worked extensively in justice initiatives, advocating for the poor and vulnerable. However, he has also seen many leaders abandon historic Christian beliefs while pursuing social justice causes. This experience convinced him that justice and biblical orthodoxy must remain connected. True justice flows naturally from a high view of Scripture and the lordship of Christ. When churches separate the two, they risk losing both their theological foundation and their long-term spiritual influence. To learn more about Aaron Graham's book Unshakable Faith: How to Stand Firm in a Culture of Lies, visit aarongrahamdc.com, where you can find resources, curriculum, and links to purchase the book. Plus, check out District Church at districtchurch.org. 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. Super excited that you have decided to tune in today. I know you got a lot going on this week and the fact that you would turn us on is just incredible. So we want to honor you for that. Thanks for doing that. Rich Birch — Today, we’re going to talk about some stuff that I know is applicable to all of us. It It’s the kind of conversation that we’re we’re wrestling with in all of our churches. And we also have a repeat guest, which you know does not happen that often at unSeminary. And you know when we have repeat guests, it means I really want you to hear them and hear what they have to say out. Rich Birch — Today we’re honored to have Aaron Graham with us. He is the lead pastor of of District Church. It was founded in 2010 in Washington, D.C. It’s a Christ-centered, culture-defining church. for transplants and natives. The church was born from a dream about what it would look like for a church to be, or to seek the peace of the city and to exist for the sake of Christ and for the good of the city.Rich Birch — So we’re really excited to have Aaron with us today. Aaron, welcome back to the podcast after a couple of years, but glad to you glad you decided to come back on. Appreciate that.Aaron Graham — Thanks, Rich, for having me and love what you guys are doing and how you’re practically helping church leaders like myself address problems we’re facing in our organizations and culture cultural contexts. Rich Birch — Kind of you to say that. Give us a bit of the District story for folks that, you know, my mom listens to every episode, but not everyone listens to every episode. But kind of to give us a bit of the District story and and talk a little bit about how you intersect with all of that.Aaron Graham — Yeah, we launched 15 years ago right in the heart of DC. We meet two miles north of the White House, and made up of mostly young adults becoming more intergenerational. But one of the things we’ve become known for is just our diversity. So there’s over 80 nations represented in the church. Last night at the newcomers dinner, there were 14 nations represented… Rich Birch — Wow.Aaron Graham — …and so just in that small little dinner. So that’s a real privilege we have of of doing that. We’re a church of life groups and just love what we’re doing right here in the heart of DC.Rich Birch — So good. I once heard a leader say that, you know, DC is full of young leaders, young people like, and, you know, the the whole thing that, you know, the main business will call it in DC is all run on the back of, you know, 20s and 30s who are making a huge difference. What have you noticed with reaching that? And I know, i know you’re, you’re, you’re, like you said there, you’re becoming a more diverse church and, you know, age-wise in all different ways. But let’s let’s kind of focus in on that kind of 20-somethings, 30-somethings. What have you been noticing with folks in that generation as it comes to faith and their relationship with Jesus and, you know, all of their kind of spiritual side? What’s what are some of the observations you’re seeing?Aaron Graham — Yeah, well, I think a lot of young adults are leaning into their faith more than ever. There’s a revival in so many ways happening among young people, but there’s also a lot of retreating and people drifting in their faith. And so we kind of find ourselves with people either leaning in like never before or leaning out like never before. And in a context like D.C., people move to D.C. to change the world. I mean, this is where you come.Rich Birch — Right.Aaron Graham — This is a city of public service. And so these are the Ivy League, educated top of their class. They move here. They land that that job at the U.S. Capitol working for a member of Congress or the White House or an agency whatever, an advocacy advocacy firm. Aaron Graham — And so what happens is it’s very highly educated people here. And highly educated people I’ve noticed have a deep care for those who are suffering. And they want to make a difference. That’s like what public service is all about. Rich Birch — Right. Aaron Graham — Like I want to help serve people. Rich Birch — Right.Aaron Graham — And like the government is supposed to exist to serve people. And so just that kind of love for neighbor. I want to help people out. And so D.C. is like a very politically progressive, highly educated city. And there’s a lot to draw upon with that because people are making a lot of sacrifices. But it does come with some problems, mainly people drifting from biblical orthodoxy, the historic Christian faith that has been handed down to us.Rich Birch — Yeah, I, so I’m Canadian for folks that are listening in and don’t know that I lived in the States for a bunch of years. We lived in New Jersey. And I remember the first time I visited D.C. as a Canadian, I felt patriotic for America. I was like, man, this place is unbelievable. Aaron Graham — Yeah. Yeah. Rich Birch — I’m like, you know, and obviously I was just there as a tourist and actually we’re visiting some friends and we got the tour of the Capitol, one of these like behind the scenes, let me put you behind the velvet rope. And I was like, this place is unreal. Like what a, what a place to serve and… Aaron Graham — Yeah. Rich Birch — …it has that kind of feeling of, you know, while people are are coming to change the world really in a positive way. I’d love to kind of focus in on this as you talk about people that are leaning, you know, leaning back, leaning away, drifting from their faith, drifting from orthodoxy. You know, we’ve we’ve heard a lot about even the kind of deconstructing movement and that, you know, there’s, it is an interesting time we live in, spiritually, because these are like two realities that are kind of happening at the same time, people leaning in and leaning back.Rich Birch — What are some of those common assumptions that you’ve noticed for people who are leaning back from, from, like you say, an Orthodox Christian faith?Aaron Graham — Yeah, absolutely. I think one is just, we’ve we’ve heard this, but just church hurt. I think scandals and hypocrisy in the church among leaders is kind of at least at an all time high of what we’re hearing about right now. And so because we’re so tapped into the news and online, I think most people are very aware, if they haven’t had a bad experience, they know somebody who has been been hurt by a religious leader or by you know a church leader. And it’s sort of like, you know we always hear the bad examples, right? Aaron Graham — Like all the planes that arrive safely every day, you never hear about. But when when the one plane has some mechanical issues or has has a rough landing, you hear about it. And I think there’s so many just faithful pastors and church leaders out there that are doing awesome work. But unfortunately, we’re hearing about the, the, the bad apples. And there’s been a lot of them that have been reported on. So I think that influences people saying, do I really want to be a part of this? If it’s an option, do I? You know, so church hurt’s one of them. Aaron Graham — I think theological differences. I mean, this is the age of the church split and human sexuality is like front and center of that. Rich Birch — Right. Aaron Graham — But politics increasing these, these last few years or what side are you on and how do you interpret? So, so I think, political, theological differences. And then I think just like complacency, like just straight up spiritual drift. It’s not doctrine doctrinal. It’s not scandal. It’s just like, you know what? Like, it’s just easier not to go to church. Aaron Graham — It’s sort of the folks that left during COVID. It’s like, oh I’m going to watch online and then I’m not going to return to church. It’s just like that spiritual drift. So those are some themes I’m seeing, you know, right here in DC. And I’ve seen as a pattern and talking to other church leaders.Rich Birch — Yeah, that I’d love to kind of narrow in a little bit there on this tension between spiritual drift, like it’s the, you know, I’d rather watch football or whatever, you know, complacency. And then actually folks that are wrestling, honestly, that are asking questions and are are struggling. What have you seen? How how do you discern that how how does that? How does that work itself out? What have you learned about the difference between people who are in these kind of two categories?Aaron Graham — Yeah, I talk a lot about the difference between doubt, deconstruction, and denial. And I think it’s helpful to have these kind of three categories because it’s easy to just put everybody in the same category when they’re not dealing with the same thing.Aaron Graham — And so to doubt is to lack confidence, to be unsure about something. And that’s like part of what it means to be human, to have questions.Rich Birch — Right.Aaron Graham — Like we want to have churches where like youth and young adults can ask honest questions about human suffering and about questions they have theologically like that. You want people to be curious and it says in the book of Jude that we need to be merciful to those who doubt.Aaron Graham — And so we see that modeled in Jesus. But he ultimately calls us beyond our doubt. Like he doesn He doesn’t call us to like center our doubt. He calls us to walk by faith, not by doubt. And so we have to create space for that. But you know if a church is like, you know its mission statement is to just welcome doubters and then you center that, that’s actually not a very forward…Rich Birch — Right.Aaron Graham — …facing thing. Rich Birch — Right.Aaron Graham — And so, so, so we need to create space for doubt. And sometimes people, that’s just what they’re having. They’re are just having questions. Aaron Graham — I think deconstruction is a step beyond doubt and deconstruction is like when you are in the process of dismantling your beliefs. And sometimes there’s some beliefs that need to be dismantled because there’s like, you grew up in a church that had like really messed up theology. Rich Birch — Right. Yeah. Aaron Graham — Like you grew up in a cult or something. Rich Birch — Yeah. Aaron Graham — And you’re like, I’ve got to deconstruct this. Or like I experienced spiritual manipulation and I thought this is what it meant to honor a leader. Or I experienced abuse in some way. And so you have to kind of deconstruct that. The problem is a lot of people are deconstructing outside of the context of community or biblical community. And so they’re doing so in isolation and the enemy loves that. Like the enemy loves to isolate us. Aaron Graham — And so if you’re going to deconstruct something unhealthy, you have to reconstruct. And the problem is there’s been a lot of deconstruction without reconstructing. So so there’s doubt, there’s deconstruction, and then unhealthy deconstruction can lead to denial, right? This is Judas, right? This is like, I will not go with you. Rich Birch — rightAaron Graham — Like and so denial is like, is more active, where doubt is more passive, denial can be ah more more active. And I think it’s very dangerous. This is Jude saying, snatch them from the fire. You know, this is life or death type of thing. So.Rich Birch — Can we focus in a bit on the doubt piece for a second? What does that look like for you as a leader? Like, what are some practical ways that we can offer space for people who are, who do have legit doubts? And, you know, I get that there’s this tension of like, we don’t want to create just like, let’s all get around and talk about what we don’t know. But like, how how can we do that? Or how are you doing that at District? What’s that look like for you guys?Aaron Graham — We do a series every summer called This Is My Story, where I don’t preach for two weeks and we hear 10-minute testimonies from people in our church. So three 10-minute testimonies each week, and we select people in our church and then we coach them around how to prepare for it. And they share a question, their biggest question, their biggest doubt, their biggest struggle and how they’ve moved through that and how it’s actually enabled them to deepen their faith and not to deconstruct their faith.Aaron Graham — So it’s testimony time, but it’s structured around how they’ve moved through doubt. Because I think our biggest questions, for me as a child, it was why do kids die of preventable causes? Like it shapes so much of your calling if you process it in a healthy way. And so, yeah, so this is my story. And that’s just been really helpful. It gives the pastor a break. Rich Birch — Right. Aaron Graham — Sometimes I’m doing it when I’m on vacation. Rich Birch — Yeah. Aaron Graham — So allows me to step out, but it also allows leaders. And so what it does in terms of formation in the congregation is we’re actually moving the date this year to be when most newcomers come at the end of August. Rich Birch — That’s cool.Aaron Graham — Because it’s been so popular with newcomers. Cause they’re like, Oh, I see myself in this church. Like, Oh, you have questions too. I have questions. But once again, it’s not like I’m centering that doubt or that question at the end of the day. So, so that’s, that’s one thing practically, you know, we’ve done.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s cool. I love that. And, you know, there there was a time in the generation before me where, yeah, it was like, you don’t acknowledge any of that, right? It’s like, you don’t, you can’t ask any of those questions. Cause that, that is it’s like, just asking the question is going to, it’s like something bad is going to happen. I worked for a long time for a lead pastor that did open forum Q and A after every single message. So every single message you would say, Hey, like, is there anything, have any questions about anything I said or left unsaid? And similarly, it, it created a culture where, people kept you honest as a preacher. I hated it when I spoke. I was like, gosh, because you know, like any question? Aaron Graham — Totally.Rich Birch — But it did create a culture where like, hey, it’s okay to ask, right? It’s okay to to explore for sure.Aaron Graham — Yeah, that’s great.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s interesting.Aaron Graham — I love it.Rich Birch — So getting back to this whole idea, you know, doubt, discernment, denial, at some point, you know, you’ve started to see some patterns in the culture around us, some recurring themes that you’ve seen. And actually you package these into a book that I want to make sure people, I actually think it’d be a really helpful tool for folks. But and so no, I’m not just trying to sell books, but I do think it’s a helpful thing. Help us talk through, so tell us about the book and how is it set up? What is the framework for it?Aaron Graham — Yeah, so the new book’s called Unshakable Faith: How to Stand Firm in a Culture of Lies. And for me, it really came about from trying to see this pattern of so many people slowly drifting from their faith and saying, how do we prevent this as pastors?Aaron Graham — Like, the if we don’t disciple our people, the world gladly will. And in some ways, they’re doing the world’s doing a better job…Rich Birch — Right.Aaron Graham — …of discipling our people. And so what are these like subtle lies that people are believing that is causing people to, you know, not lean into their faith. And I’ve just seen it like in the urban center here, I’ve just seen so many well-intentioned, highly educated, sometimes often sincere people just drift.Aaron Graham — And so they’re no longer going to church. They’re not raising their kids in the faith. And so, yeah, I’ve just seen it over and over. And so I wrote this book in response to that. And honestly, in so many ways, it’s a critique of what I what I call progressive Christianity. And I mean that theologically, not politically. But it’s it’s when someone reinterprets Scripture, the historic teachings of Scripture, to make it more comfortable or palatable to the current culture.Aaron Graham — It’s it’s like emphasizing relevance over faithfulness. And so what I’ve seen so often over and over is that oh, this isn’t just a conversation around human sexuality or progressive Christianity. Progressive Christianity is becoming a layover to post-Christianity for so many people. And so I just began to say, okay, is this new thing? Oh, it’s actually not new. It’s not in the last like 20 years.Aaron Graham — This has been happening for like 500 years since the enlightenment where you know progressive Christians, or however they’re labeled, end up denying the miraculous. And then denying at the core the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is like the very core of our faith. Rich Birch — Right.Aaron Graham — I was like, this isn’t just a conversation around human sexuality, which is where it started with the newcomer. This is, you know, or with the leader, even in the church, this is about something much more deep.Aaron Graham — And so that’s when I just began to pray in this and and just say, what are the patterns that I’m seeing? What are these lies that people are often like well-meaning, but believing? And how is that compromising our ability to call people to faith, but also help make disciples. So.Rich Birch — Is there, I think, friends, I had a chance to sneak peek at this book and I think it could be a great resource for many of our churches. It could be a great kind of small group discussion, a great leadership book. I think it could be a fantastic thing for us to do with our leadership team together wrestling through these these issues. so We’re not going to be able to cover all of it, but what would you say maybe one of these pernicious subtle lies that you see is prevailing? It it’s it it pops up all the time. Help us unpack one of those.Aaron Graham — Yeah, sure. So one of them I talk about is the selective Christian, the person who edits scripture to fit preferences rather than engaging in the whole word of God. And you know, Jim Wallace, who is a well-known social justice advocate in the 70s, when he was at Trinity Evangelical Seminary, got together with some friends, and they went through the Bible and they cut up every reference in the Bible to the poor, or to the widow, the orphan. And there’s like 2000 verses in the Bible about about that. And he would go around and he’d hold up a Bible and he’d say, this is the Bible we have in in America. It’s a Bible full of holes because we’ve neglected the call to justice and the call to care for the poor.Aaron Graham — Well, I’m seeing that same thing happen in this next generation around some other core doctrine, around human depravity, around human sexuality, around gender and marriage and these other things that we don’t want to talk about. But what’s really at stake in so many ways is the authority of Scripture. And so we pick and choose what parts we want to believe. And then we strip the gospel of its saving power because we’ve only chosen to believe the parts that are the most acceptable to us and our friends in this cultural moment. That’s just a really dangerous way to not be formed in our faith.Rich Birch — Yeah. And, you know, I think we’ve, you can see that in how, you know, we handle scripture. I think one of the dangers that we face as preachers, we did a study where we looked at common passages that people were using over a couple years in churches. And we found that, you know, it’s not surprising, right? People come back to like the same passages time and time again, because I think we are trying to, even if it’s not if it’s not a like a willful decision, we just kind of drift in that direction of like, hey, well, I’m just not going to talk about that because I just am not sure what to say. Rich Birch — How how do you fight this in yourself, in the church around you? Because you know you are a winsome leader. You’re a church full of grace. You’re trying to actually interact with the culture. You’re not running for the hills. You’re not like, you know, putting your head in the sand kind of thing. How, how do you, how does not being a selective Christian work itself out in, in your world?Aaron Graham — Yeah, so one of the things I’m trying to really emphasize in our church is like Bible engagement. It seems like so 101, but it’s like, guys, we got to read our Bibles. Rich Birch — Yeah, no, absolutely. Aaron Graham — And so it’s like you know Bible in a year kind of plans, getting as many groups together. I lead a group on on Bible in a year, and it’s like, let’s read the whole Bible and let’s like struggle with these passages and talking about it and like, let’s see the power of the word of God.Aaron Graham — And so, you know, there’s a lot of research that shows that people who engage with the Bible have like measurable differences in their life. And one of the things is that when you actually engage in not in reading the Bible, but actually submitting yourself to it, you become both more liberal and conservative. Because you you you become more morally conservative and you become more socially liberal, like in caring for the needs of others. And so you just break out of these categories.Aaron Graham — And for somebody like you in Canada, that’s not in the US, like, it’s kind of crazy how we get polarized in the U.S. over certain things that that global Christians don’t get as as polarized on in some ways.Rich Birch — Right.Aaron Graham — And so I think that’s one of the things that I’ve seen a lot of fruit in is like, hey, we’re going to be at a church that’s about the word of God. We’re going to teach the word of God. We’re going to sit under its authority even when it’s uncomfortable.Aaron Graham — And I find even in very progressive cities like D.C., people hunger for biblical teaching.Even if they they don’t agree with it all, they’ll come listen to it because they’re looking for something that’s different than what they’re hearing everywhere else where it’s like affirm, affirm, affirm everything. It’s like, I wanna be called to something higher, something that’s bigger than me, that’s more historic than me. So as it relates to being a selective Christian, I think just simple Bible engagement and really putting effort in that has is has borne a lot of fruit.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s cool. I know my lead pastor has been saying the same thing for the last few years. And I would I would echo this. I think this has been, this is a very unique season where I think in general, the culture is leaning in and asking the question, what is it about this? And, you know, Jeff, my lead pastor makes the joke. He’s like this, you see this rippling it all in all parts of culture. There’s you know one of the outcomes of the fact that things are so kind of changing all the time, we’re we’re obsessed with the you know the latest trend or whatever, is people want things that have been true for a long time. They’re and it’s why are people putting chickens in their backyards? And what is it with all the sourdough? Like, why does that stuff, why is that resonating? Rich Birch — There’s a connection to this so, you know, similar kind of cultural issue that we’re saying here with scripture, where it’s like, I’m intrigued by the Bible. I want to learn about that because that’s it something we’ve been telling each other these stories for thousands of years. And how does that apply to our lives? Let’s not miss that moment, church leaders, and not actually give them what they’re what they’re looking for. So yeah, that’s that’s interesting.Aaron Graham — Absolutely. I think the devil really overplayed his hand as it relates to secular culture. Meaning, secular culture meaning it’s defined itself in opposition to the church with a message of the more personal freedom you have, the more autonomy you have, the more the happier you’ll be. And Gen Z is waking up and being like…Rich Birch — That’s not true. Yeah.Aaron Graham — …no, this is not fulfilling. I want something more historic and rooted. And that’s, I think, one of the things that’s leading a lot of people to come into the church right now in this generation. They’re just saying, I’m hungry for God. And I don’t think that just having more freedom and flexibility is the answer.Aaron Graham — It’s like so somebody just gave their life to Jesus on Sunday, came to the newcomer’s dinner last night, and he’s like, what do I need to do next? And and you know and I gave it to him hard. I was like, it’s not just about praying a prayer. You prayed that, praise the Lord, and you’re going to baptized and you’re doing a Rooted group and all this. But it’s like, what in your life, in your relationships in your work, like you need to cut some things off, like repentance, like change directions. And he’s like, yeah, like, tell me more. You know, he’s like leaning in.Rich Birch — Yeah, yeah.Aaron Graham — Like, I think people want to be led, like in love, but they want to be led. Rich Birch — Yeah.Aaron Graham — It’s not just like choose your own adventure.Rich Birch — Yeah.Aaron Graham — That’s not helping this generation.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s so true. I would echo that. You know, it does feel like we’ve come to the end of secular humanism. And and I remember a time when I first started ministry, I was like, well, it sure seems that that’s working. Aaron Graham — Yeah. Rich Birch — Like, it’s just so dominant, but it feels like there’s this collective like, well, that didn’t work. So. Rich Birch — What was that what’s another lie that we, again, we’re not gonna able to get to all of them. So don’t worry, friends. And we, you know, you’re gonna have to read the book. But what’s another one that that has bubbled up that’s been, you know particularly intriguing as you’ve interacted with people around it?Aaron Graham — Yeah, um there’s there’s so many different ones, but I think um one of them is the divisive influencer. This is the seventh lie, so I’ll kind of take it to the the end of the book here. But the divisive influencer is really growing right now. It’s somebody who kind of mirrors cancel culture instead of practicing radical forgiveness and grace. Aaron Graham — And so we see a lot of political polarization right now. We feel it in our families. We feel it in our churches where it’s like you’re coming for a holiday meal and it’s like, it’s this tension underneath. We feel it in life groups and it’s like, how do we navigate this? And so that’s that’s one of the ones that, you know, being in DC the political…Rich Birch — Yeah, it was gonna that was going to be my follow-up. I’m like, wait a second. Isn’t that the bread and butter of the people you work with?Aaron Graham — Yes. And honestly, people, when they come to church, even in DC, they don’t want to like enter into an echo chamber. They want to be formed. They want to go upstream. They want to hear the word of the Lord.Aaron Graham — And so I think that one of the things as it relates to this, like cancel culture and like the solution to that obviously is like Jesus, it’s like, love your enemies, forgive those who persecute you. Like actually when you lean into relationships with people who are different, like that’s that’s how you you grow.Aaron Graham — And so whenever we’re dealing with an issue, like whatever, some issues in the news, and it’s like, oh, what should should we what should we include in our prayer? Do we need to talk about that in the sermon? And you know you’re getting pressure from certain people to do that. One of the things I’ve realized is that if we haven’t gone upstream as church leaders, and taught our congregation the biblical call around poverty or abortion or immigration or whatever, then when it pops up in the news, we get very reactive and people interpret that through their political lens. They’ve already made their mind up.Aaron Graham — And so some pastors are playing on this and you can kind of grow your church, like you’ll lose 10%, but grow 40% because you kind of lean into that predictable division.Rich Birch — Yep.Aaron Graham — But I think that one of the the calls of of Jesus is like, how do we we go upstream so you can form people to say, hey, we have to engage in poverty. We have to… But like two Christians can agree on addressing something like abortion, poverty, you know justice, and disagree which policy solution will be the best. And so we should have that kind of diversity our church.Aaron Graham — That’s what’s made our nation great is having that level of diversity. And I think we need to model that out in the church, not just our racial and ethnic diversity but I think our political diversity is increasingly important and it’s not to say that each side is like morally equivalent on each issue. I think some parties are way better on certain issues than others. But I think we have to really lean into this forgiveness and not lean into this radical divisive influencer even though that kind of posture may be rewarded online. And this next generation is, I think a high percentage of them want to be influencers online. So there’s ah a great temptation to kind of lean into that. But it’s like, what does Jesus teach us around that?Rich Birch — Right. Yeah, that’s so good. Yeah, I think you’re calling out of something that we you know definitely see. And there’s ah even ah ah this kind of return of particularly young men back to church. There’s some of that that I’m not sure is is actually positive where it’s it’s leaning towards. It’s a it is a very politically charged kind of faith that to me doesn’t read Jesus. It or it’s a it’s just one aspect maybe of of of Jesus. So that’s interesting you’re calling that out for sure.Rich Birch — Off-roading a little bit on a similar topic, one of the things I find fascinating about you, about the church, about District, is that there was like this false dichotomy that’s set up in a lot of churches. It’s like, hey, you can either be a church that is has a high value on scripture, which you clearly do. Or you can be a church that is engaged in issues of development and justice in the world around you. You can’t do both of those. You can’t actually make a difference in the community around you, be cared, be care about the poor care about those things and also have a high view of scripture. I’m not saying that’s true. I’m saying there seems to be this popular notion out there. Your church seems to be doing both, trying to do both. Am I reading that correctly? Help me understand how, how you see those interacting with each other.Aaron Graham — Yeah, I’ve always been known the last 20 years in ministry as the justice guy, the one calling the church to engage in justice. And then I looked up around and saw so many of my justice friends had deconstructed their faith, were no longer pastoring churches, and their kids weren’t following Jesus. Rich Birch — Right.Aaron Graham — And I was like, something’s wrong. Because it’s like, oh, we’re trying to like care for the poor, but now we’ve lost our faith in the process. And the kids that we’re raising, we have no message for them other than just be tolerant and inclusive Christians. Like tolerant being tolerant and inclusive and loving is a great value. Jesus is the most loving person, but he called people to repentance and he called people to the to to the Father.Aaron Graham — And so I think that that’s always just been a a big value of ours is like the authority of scripture and the Lordship of Christ. And I think that leads to justice. Like, um and so I think it’s just being willing to stand alone. I’ve lost a lot of friendships over this. Not not just friendships. Not like I don’t talk to somebody, but just like colleagues in ministry, because there’s like theologically, like you just believe something that’s different. Like you’ve stepped outside of biblical orthodoxy.Aaron Graham — So I think we have to be, be willing to to stand alone. And i think we’re on the winning side. I think Jesus and justice, I think both those things go together. Rich Birch — Right.Aaron Graham — So I don’t think we’re crazy, but it is hard to hold them together when the political narratives are so forming and deceptive. And so it’s hard. It’s hard for me. I got a lot of flack for my theological positions in this city. but I think, you know, we got to be willing to stand alone.Rich Birch — Yeah. Very cool. Well, I want to, I think this could be a great book, as you were writing it. What were kind of what were you picturing your kind of ideal situation where it would land? Obviously you want lots of people to read it, but to me, I saw it. I was like the, when I, the sneak peek I looked into, I was like, man, this could be a great, I think a really good discussion starter in a leadership team. Are there other environments you think, Hey man, this could be really a great place to, you know, to use this resource.Aaron Graham — Yeah, the the the main person I’m writing to, and I hope a lot of people read it, but the main person is like a 23-year-old that graduates from college that has at least a nominal Christian faith. They have the intention to join a church when they move to the city and land their first job, but they are totally at risk of abandoning their faith unless they make some very clear decisions and are a part of a church that has made some really clear decisions around, we’re not going to believe these lies. We’re going to call them out, and we’re going intentionally disciple you away from being discipled by secular culture and disciple you around the Word of God. Aaron Graham — That’s my hope. You know If anybody that’s deconstructed comes back to faith, praise the Lord. Hallelujah.Rich Birch — Right. Yeah, that’s amazing.Aaron Graham — But I’m actually trying to do a prevention so that all the people who are coming to faith right now in this revival, that it falls on good ground. Because we have such a discipleship culture in our churches that is able to name and discern, first, and then name these lies and to help this next generation stand firm in the gospel. And so that’s that’s the subtitle of the the book is how to stand firm in a culture of lies.Aaron Graham — And for so long, we were trained in the church as church leaders to evangelize people who were like spiritually kind of curious and open, like kind of the seeker sensitive movement. That’s how like international, but I grew up as a missionary kid. So it’s like, we were trained to like share the gospel with people who like just needed to hear that there’s one God and that he loves you and that you can have a relationship with him.Aaron Graham — But now we’re trying to evangelize a post-Christian culture, which you know a lot about in Canada. And we’re learning more about here in in North America. And that culture actually is not just like ambivalent towards Christianity. It’s actually anti-Christian faith. Rich Birch — Right.Aaron Graham — They’re trying to evangelize us. And so if we just try to take the same approach where we’re just loving and let me give them a hug, see if they hug back, they’re actually winning. Rich Birch — Right.Aaron Graham — And so so so it’s like, how do we… how do we have a plan to say, you know what, we’re going to love the world. We’re going in the world, but not of the world. But it’s it’s like it’s a whole different, I can use that word on on this, ah the word here on this church leaders podcast. It’s a whole different missiology around how to engage in mission.Aaron Graham — And so, yeah, so I’m hoping that we reach the 20-something and I’m hoping that people talk about this. We wrote this and we have a small group video curriculum coming out as well, because we really want pastors who say, I want this culture in my church to be able to have people do it in groups, discuss it… Rich Birch — That’s great. Aaron Graham — …and be able to make these commitments before it becomes an even greater problem in our churches.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good. That’s a really vivid picture of, like you say, the 23 year old who’s moving to the city, um you know, who has some faith, but is is maybe at risk, I think is ah is ah is a vivid picture for all of us. And I would share, you didn’t actually say it this way, but I would share some concern with the swell towards faith. I don’t, who am I? Like the, obviously it’s an amazing thing that’s going on. Lots of people are taking steps toward Jesus. I’m not going to be the guy that’s like, that’s bad.Rich Birch — But I would say I’m concerned that we are a good steward of this moment, that it’s like, man, I have been waiting my entire ministry career for this to happen.Aaron Graham — Yeah.Rich Birch — And now, gosh, let’s not drop the ball. And I think your book could be a part of helping us think through and helping leaders and individuals think through this. So the name of the book is Unshakable Faith. And again, you said that: How to stand firm in a culture of lies. Where can people, look at that? There’s a shot of it. There’s got a beautiful front on. It’s very hip. I’m assuming we can get it at Amazon. Are there other places we should go to get copies of this?Aaron Graham — Everywhere books are sold so um if you go to aarongrahamDC.com—just my name aarongrahamDC (double meaning for District Church and DC of the the city of DC) aarongrahamDC.com —and then you’ll see the links to all the retailers on there, including Amazon, but all the different retailers Christianbook, Books-a-million, Barnes and Noble, all that. And so, yeah, you can you can grab a copy there, and we’d love to hear from you as well. You you can have a place where you can contact me on there.Rich Birch — Oh, that’s great. Perfect. We’ll put links to all of that in the show notes. And friends, like I say, if you’re a long-term listener, you know, we don’t actually typically have a lot of authors on, but I wanted to have Aaron on because I do think this is particularly poignant for us, I think, in in today’s culture. And I think it could be a thing that could really help your team, help, you know, people at your church, I think could be ah a really great resource for that. Rich Birch — As we wrap up today’s episode, any kind of final words you’d have for a church leader that’s wrestling in, that’s wrestling with these issues today is, is maybe feeling some of this tension around, you know, feeling compromised at the door kind of thing. Help us, help us as we wrap up today.Aaron Graham — Yeah, well, first off, just thanks for having me on and having me back, you know, as a repeat guest. That’s awesome. I love what you’re doing. Like I said, I learned so much from you. Some practical stuff is so great to hear all the different speakers that come on and and leaders. Aaron Graham — But yeah, no, I think the the the message that I want leaders church leaders to hear is that if you don’t run to this problem around what’s happening in our culture and how it’s affecting discipleship, this problem will get worse. And, and I think that one of the the challenges for me being in the belly of the beast in the heart of DC, I’m not just like DC, like, so I’m like in the heart with all these national leaders, very educated people, is that it’s sort of like a signal, kind of like downtown New York city is as well. It’s like a signal of where culture is going.Aaron Graham — And so if, if you don’t lean towards this conversation and learn, this problem will only grow in your church. And so while it might be uncomfortable for some of you based on, like if you’re like me and you’re wired as like a harmony person, like I don’t want to have disagreements on my staff or with my board or in my family conversation, like it will only get bigger and worse. So lean in and and take advantage of of resources from people who are writing about this, who have thought about it. And don’t be alone in this. Don’t try to be isolated in this conversation because there’s a lot of people who, even though you might feel alone where you’re pastoring or where you’re leading, there’s a lot of people who feel the same way you are. And so, so get connected in, in with them. So, so that’s, that’s what I’d say.Rich Birch — That’s great. Thanks so much, Aaron. Give us that website again where we want to send people to if they want to connect more directly with you or with the church.Aaron Graham — Yeah, just aarongrahamDC.com. And that’ll also link to our church website, districtchurch.org. And we’d love to have people visit us when you’re in DC, because like you said, DC is a fun city.Rich Birch — Love it. It is a fun city.Aaron Graham — It’s one of the best cities to 250th anniversary of DC. Lots of celebrations happening this year. Rich Birch — Yes, that’s true. Aaron Graham — So come in and see us. Rich Birch — It’ll be a big year. That’s great. Thanks so much. Appreciate being here today, sir. And we’ll have you back on sometime soon. Thanks for coming.Aaron Graham — Awesome. Thanks, Rich.

Many Christians feel it—but don’t know how to name it. Their faith isn’t gone, but it’s not as strong as it once was. Convictions feel harder to hold and cultural pressure feels harder to resist. Ed Stetzer talks to Aaron Graham about his book, Unshakeable Faith: How to Stand Firm in a Culture of Lies and the subtle lies that reshape Christianity from within, and how we can build a faith that can withstand a culture of confusion without losing conviction or compassion on Ed Stetzer Live. Ed Stetzer Live is a listener supported program. To donate, click here. To learn more about Ed Stetzer, click here. To learn more about Ed Stetzer Live, click here.Donate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/edstetzerliveSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this message, Lucas Miles dives deep into the biblical story of Israel, God's covenant promises, and the Church's role in God's redemptive plan. Walking through key passages in Genesis and Romans, Pastor Lucas unpacks difficult questions surrounding Israel, replacement theology, antisemitism, salvation, and the tension between politics, culture, and Scripture.This message challenges believers to move beyond reactionary opinions and instead develop a Christ-centered theological framework rooted in God's faithfulness. You'll hear why the Church should reject both antisemitism and spiritual arrogance, why salvation still comes through Jesus Christ alone, and how God's covenant story ultimately points to the redemption of all who believe by faith.Along the way, Pastor Lucas also addresses fear, anxiety, cultural confusion, and the importance of standing firm in truth while remaining humble, faithful, and grounded in the Gospel.Key Themes:Evangelism & Community OutreachAnxiety vs. FaithGod's Covenant with IsraelThe Meaning of "Chosen"Supersessionism vs. Dispensationalism vs. Olive Branch TheologyIsrael's Role in God's Redemptive PlanGentile Grafting & HumilityAntisemitism as Un-ChristianSalvation by Faith AloneThe Church as Witness to God's FaithfulnessTimestamps:0:10 — Community Outreach & Evangelism3:02 — Anxiety, Fear & Faith8:09 — Why Israel Matters22:49 — Different Theological Views on Israel31:08 — Salvation Through Faith Alone32:41 — Antisemitism & Christian Responsibility37:25 — What Does “Chosen” Mean?38:50 — Israel's Role in God's Redemptive Plan58:53 — Gentiles, Grafting & Humility1:00:54 — God's Promises Are Irrevocable

In this message, Lucas Miles dives deep into the biblical story of Israel, God's covenant promises, and the Church's role in God's redemptive plan. Walking through key passages in Genesis and Romans, Pastor Lucas unpacks difficult questions surrounding Israel, replacement theology, antisemitism, salvation, and the tension between politics, culture, and Scripture.This message challenges believers to move beyond reactionary opinions and instead develop a Christ-centered theological framework rooted in God's faithfulness. You'll hear why the Church should reject both antisemitism and spiritual arrogance, why salvation still comes through Jesus Christ alone, and how God's covenant story ultimately points to the redemption of all who believe by faith.Along the way, Pastor Lucas also addresses fear, anxiety, cultural confusion, and the importance of standing firm in truth while remaining humble, faithful, and grounded in the Gospel.Key Themes:Evangelism & Community OutreachAnxiety vs. FaithGod's Covenant with IsraelThe Meaning of "Chosen"Supersessionism vs. Dispensationalism vs. Olive Branch TheologyIsrael's Role in God's Redemptive PlanGentile Grafting & HumilityAntisemitism as Un-ChristianSalvation by Faith AloneThe Church as Witness to God's FaithfulnessTimestamps:0:10 — Community Outreach & Evangelism3:02 — Anxiety, Fear & Faith8:09 — Why Israel Matters22:49 — Different Theological Views on Israel31:08 — Salvation Through Faith Alone32:41 — Antisemitism & Christian Responsibility37:25 — What Does “Chosen” Mean?38:50 — Israel's Role in God's Redemptive Plan58:53 — Gentiles, Grafting & Humility1:00:54 — God's Promises Are Irrevocable

In this message, Pastor Lucas Miles welcomes Bishop Charles Arroyo from Kenya, who oversees 55 churches, inviting the congregation into a special offering to support church roofing projects and highlighting the impact of global ministry. Bishop Charles encourages unity among believers, reminding the church that while spiritual opposition is real, victory comes through standing with God. The moment is marked by prayer over Bishop Charles and a call to begin planning a future mission trip to Kenya.Addressing current events, Pastor Lucas briefly reassures the church following a serious incident connected to a Turning Point USA gathering, emphasizing that showing up in faith is a powerful testimony. He draws a clear line between political engagement and spiritual priority, reminding the congregation that while politics matter, the gospel remains primary.In the main message, Pastor Lucas presents a biblical theology of immigration, calling believers to approach the issue through a scriptural lens rather than emotion alone. He outlines a framework that balances compassion with order, emphasizing love for all people, care for the vulnerable, respect for governing authority, and the importance of national boundaries. By clarifying biblical distinctions around the concept of a “foreigner,” he challenges oversimplified views and ultimately calls the church to a “wise welcome” that reflects both truth and compassion, grounded in Micah 6:8.Key Themes:Theological Clarity Over Emotional ReactionThe Gospel as the Primary MissionGod's Design for Nations and BordersThe Rule of Law as a Biblical ValueDignity and Compassion for All PeopleUnity in the Body of ChristGlobal Missions and Kingdom PartnershipStanding Firm in the Face of OppositionTimestamps:0:40 — Bishop Charles introduced 2:49 — Kenya offering / $6,000 goal 12:47 — 2027 Kenya mission trip mentioned 13:46 — Events of last night addressed 15:11 — "Politics is peanuts compared to the gospel" 16:58 — Sermon on immigration begins 25:05 — Foundation: God loves all people 38:55 — Hebrew word #1: Geer (legal, assimilating immigrant) 46:13 — Hebrew word #3: Zar (hostile invader) 56:31 — "A wise welcome" conclusion 57:46 — Altar call

In this message, Pastor Lucas Miles welcomes Bishop Charles Arroyo from Kenya, who oversees 55 churches, inviting the congregation into a special offering to support church roofing projects and highlighting the impact of global ministry. Bishop Charles encourages unity among believers, reminding the church that while spiritual opposition is real, victory comes through standing with God. The moment is marked by prayer over Bishop Charles and a call to begin planning a future mission trip to Kenya.Addressing current events, Pastor Lucas briefly reassures the church following a serious incident connected to a Turning Point USA gathering, emphasizing that showing up in faith is a powerful testimony. He draws a clear line between political engagement and spiritual priority, reminding the congregation that while politics matter, the gospel remains primary.In the main message, Pastor Lucas presents a biblical theology of immigration, calling believers to approach the issue through a scriptural lens rather than emotion alone. He outlines a framework that balances compassion with order, emphasizing love for all people, care for the vulnerable, respect for governing authority, and the importance of national boundaries. By clarifying biblical distinctions around the concept of a “foreigner,” he challenges oversimplified views and ultimately calls the church to a “wise welcome” that reflects both truth and compassion, grounded in Micah 6:8.Key Themes:Theological Clarity Over Emotional ReactionThe Gospel as the Primary MissionGod's Design for Nations and BordersThe Rule of Law as a Biblical ValueDignity and Compassion for All PeopleUnity in the Body of ChristGlobal Missions and Kingdom PartnershipStanding Firm in the Face of OppositionTimestamps:0:40 — Bishop Charles introduced 2:49 — Kenya offering / $6,000 goal 12:47 — 2027 Kenya mission trip mentioned 13:46 — Events of last night addressed 15:11 — "Politics is peanuts compared to the gospel" 16:58 — Sermon on immigration begins 25:05 — Foundation: God loves all people 38:55 — Hebrew word #1: Geer (legal, assimilating immigrant) 46:13 — Hebrew word #3: Zar (hostile invader) 56:31 — "A wise welcome" conclusion 57:46 — Altar call

In this message at Nfluence Church, Pastor Lucas Miles continues The Four Fronts: Identity, Immigration, Israel, and Islam in a Shifting Culture with a foundational teaching on identity, human dignity, and God's design.The service opens with a special update from Bishop Charles in Kissy, Kenya, who shares how a ministry that began with one church in 2008 has grown to 55 churches. He thanks Nfluence for helping provide roofs for church buildings, and Pastor Lucas invites the church to give toward funding four more.Pastor Lucas then lays a biblical foundation for understanding identity, gender, and purpose. Rather than simply addressing what is right or wrong, this message answers why it matters.Centered on the doctrine of Imago Dei (Genesis 1:26–27), he explains that every person is made in the image of God and therefore has inherent value. He also clarifies the distinction between being made in God's image and becoming a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ.Referencing Romans 1, Pastor Lucas shows how rejecting God leads to confusion and distorted identity, a pattern reflected in today's culture. He challenges the idea of self-defined identity and calls believers to align with God's truth.The message also speaks to self-worth, reminding us that rejecting our identity or body is ultimately rejecting the image God placed on us. Instead, we are called to live in a way that reflects Him in every area of life.Pastor Lucas closes with the hope of restoration in Christ, followed by a ministry time for those struggling with identity and an invitation to receive Jesus — moving from being made in God's image to becoming a child of God.Key Themes:Imago Dei (Image of God)God-Centered Identity vs. Self-Defined IdentityImage Bearer vs. Child of GodSin Distorts IdentityHuman DignityGratitude Over Self-ConstructionRestoration in ChristThe Global ChurchTimestamps:0:00 Welcome & Introduction0:19 Bishop Charles Update8:54 Bishop Charles Wraps Up12:51 Opening Prayer13:21 Series Introduction16:33 You Can't Understand Humanity Without God34:05 Imago Dei (Image of God)36:20 Genesis 9:6 — Sanctity of Life48:15 Sin Distorts Identity (Romans 1)53:56 A Theological View of Life57:00 Restoration in Christ1:01:23 Ministry Time & Prayer

In this message at Nfluence Church, Pastor Lucas Miles continues The Four Fronts: Identity, Immigration, Israel, and Islam in a Shifting Culture with a foundational teaching on identity, human dignity, and God's design.The service opens with a special update from Bishop Charles in Kissy, Kenya, who shares how a ministry that began with one church in 2008 has grown to 55 churches. He thanks Nfluence for helping provide roofs for church buildings, and Pastor Lucas invites the church to give toward funding four more.Pastor Lucas then lays a biblical foundation for understanding identity, gender, and purpose. Rather than simply addressing what is right or wrong, this message answers why it matters.Centered on the doctrine of Imago Dei (Genesis 1:26–27), he explains that every person is made in the image of God and therefore has inherent value. He also clarifies the distinction between being made in God's image and becoming a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ.Referencing Romans 1, Pastor Lucas shows how rejecting God leads to confusion and distorted identity, a pattern reflected in today's culture. He challenges the idea of self-defined identity and calls believers to align with God's truth.The message also speaks to self-worth, reminding us that rejecting our identity or body is ultimately rejecting the image God placed on us. Instead, we are called to live in a way that reflects Him in every area of life.Pastor Lucas closes with the hope of restoration in Christ, followed by a ministry time for those struggling with identity and an invitation to receive Jesus — moving from being made in God's image to becoming a child of God.Key Themes:Imago Dei (Image of God)God-Centered Identity vs. Self-Defined IdentityImage Bearer vs. Child of GodSin Distorts IdentityHuman DignityGratitude Over Self-ConstructionRestoration in ChristThe Global ChurchTimestamps:0:00 Welcome & Introduction0:19 Bishop Charles Update8:54 Bishop Charles Wraps Up12:51 Opening Prayer13:21 Series Introduction16:33 You Can't Understand Humanity Without God34:05 Imago Dei (Image of God)36:20 Genesis 9:6 — Sanctity of Life48:15 Sin Distorts Identity (Romans 1)53:56 A Theological View of Life57:00 Restoration in Christ1:01:23 Ministry Time & Prayer

In this opening message of the Four Fronts series, Pastor Lucas Miles challenges believers to understand the cultural moment we're living in and respond with clarity, conviction, and a biblical foundation. Drawing from the Sons of Issachar, he calls the church to not only recognize the times, but to know how to act.Addressing identity, immigration, Israel, and Islam, he unpacks each topic through a biblical lens—urging believers to engage rather than retreat. From navigating conversations around gender and worldview, to approaching immigration with both compassion and discernment, to thinking critically about Israel and responding to Islam with truth and love, the message emphasizes the importance of being both informed and grounded in faith.Ultimately, this is a call for the church to step up, not stay silent—to renew our minds, live with conviction, and confidently represent truth in a rapidly shifting culture.Key Themes:Engaging Culture, Not RetreatingUnderstanding the TimesA Generational CrisisEquipping the ChurchDigital EvangelismDiscernment in a Contested CultureFear vs. FaithEmbracing Complexity Over SimplificationTimestamps:0:25 — Intro & welcome 2:05 — New series announced 6:15 — Four Fronts series overview (Identity, Immigration, Israel, Islam) 19:25 — Identity / gender begins 32:40 — Immigration begins 39:15 — Israel begins 43:40 — Antisemitism defined 45:15 — Griper movement explained 54:55 — Islam begins 1:02:40 — Landing the plane / conclusion

In this opening message of the Four Fronts series, Pastor Lucas Miles challenges believers to understand the cultural moment we're living in and respond with clarity, conviction, and a biblical foundation. Drawing from the Sons of Issachar, he calls the church to not only recognize the times, but to know how to act.Addressing identity, immigration, Israel, and Islam, he unpacks each topic through a biblical lens—urging believers to engage rather than retreat. From navigating conversations around gender and worldview, to approaching immigration with both compassion and discernment, to thinking critically about Israel and responding to Islam with truth and love, the message emphasizes the importance of being both informed and grounded in faith.Ultimately, this is a call for the church to step up, not stay silent—to renew our minds, live with conviction, and confidently represent truth in a rapidly shifting culture.Key Themes:Engaging Culture, Not RetreatingUnderstanding the TimesA Generational CrisisEquipping the ChurchDigital EvangelismDiscernment in a Contested CultureFear vs. FaithEmbracing Complexity Over SimplificationTimestamps:0:25 — Intro & welcome 2:05 — New series announced 6:15 — Four Fronts series overview (Identity, Immigration, Israel, Islam) 19:25 — Identity / gender begins 32:40 — Immigration begins 39:15 — Israel begins 43:40 — Antisemitism defined 45:15 — Griper movement explained 54:55 — Islam begins 1:02:40 — Landing the plane / conclusion

What if Christianity was never meant to be about escaping earth for heaven, but about God coming home to the world? In this episode, I sit down with N. T. Wright for a wide-ranging conversation that reclaims the Bible's larger story: heaven and earth meant to overlap, God dwelling with humanity, and new creation beginning now. We explore temples and tabernacles, resurrection and judgment, what it truly means to be human, and how the church is called to reflect God's presence in a fractured world. Drawing from Wright's latest book God's Homecoming, this conversation invites youto rethink faith, hope, justice, and the future of the world and to rediscover a gospel that is far bigger, richer, and more grounded than we thought.N. T. Wright is the former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England and one of the world's leading Bible scholars. He is Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University, and Senior Editor at Saint Andrews. He has been featured on ABC News, Dateline, The Colbert Report, and NPR's Fresh Air. Wright is the award-winning author of many books, including Paul: A Biography, Simply Christian, Surprised by Hope, The Day the Revolution Began, Simply Jesus, After You Believe, and Scripture and the Authority of God.N.T. Wright's Book:God's HomecomingConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.comGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link belowGet Your Sidekick Support the show

In this episode, I talk with Lori G. Melton, author of Journey with a Giant, about the practice of walking with spiritual giants from history as a way of formation. We explore slowness, silence, pilgrimage, and what Lori learned by walking with Fred Rogers, including why listening is love, why presence matters more than productivity, and how paying attention to the person in front of us reshapes faith. This conversation offers a grounded, countercultural vision of discipleship rooted in companionship, attentiveness, and trust.Lori G. Melton is an author, spiritual director, podcaster, and retreat leader with a life-long passion for walking with God and helping others grow in their relationship with Him. She and her husband Bryan are the founders of the Sanctuary at Bear Creek Retreat Center in Allegan, Michigan. Lori is the host of the Sanctuary Stirrings podcast.Raised as an Episcopalian and educated in Catholic schools, Lori came to Christ through an Assembly of God youth group and has spent her adult life in non-denominational Bible churches. One of her greatest strengths is her appreciation for diverse Christian denominations.Lori was born in Niagara Falls, New York (Yes, one of the Eight Wonders of the World!), played competitive badminton in high school (Don't laugh, it is a sport), and is the other half of a twin-sister combination. When she's not writing, speaking, or welcoming retreat guests, she loves spending time with her six grown children and three adorable grands. You can find Lori on Facebook and Instagram, and at her website, lorigmelton.com.Lori's Book:Journey with a GiantLori's Recommendation:In Search of God's WillConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.comGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link belowGet Your Sidekick Support the show

What does it mean to take Jesus seriously when he announces good news to the poor, freedom for the captive, and release from debt? In this episode of Shifting Culture, I'm joined by theologian and practitioner Kelley Nikondeha to talk about her new book Jubilee Economics and the disruptive, concrete vision of Jubilee found in Scripture. We explore why Jubilee was never just a spiritual metaphor but a real economic practice involving debt forgiveness, land, labor, and community restoration. Kelley shares stories from her work in Burundi—where economic collapse forced hard, human decisions about care, reentry, and neighbor-love—and helps us reframe Jesus's sermon in Luke 4 as dangerous, embodied good news. This conversation asks what Jubilee might look like today, and what it might cost us to love our neighbors well in a debt-saturated world.Kelley Nikondeha is a liberation theologian, community development practitioner, and author of First Advent in Palestine and Defiant. She is Co-founder of Communities of Hope in Burundi.Kelley's Book:Jubilee EconomicsConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.comGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link belowGet Your Sidekick Support the show

As 2025 comes to a close, I wanted to pause and look back, not at what was loud or polarizing, but at what people actually stayed with. This episode gathers the 10 most listened to conversations of the year, and together they reveal something honest about this moment: a deep longing for a faith shaped by humility instead of power, a discipleship rooted in real life, and a way of Jesus that resists fear, shame, and easy answers. This episode counts down from #10 to #1. I introduce each clip, then step back and let the voices speak for themselves. You'll hear excerpts from conversations with John Eldredge, Sheila Gregoire, Trevor Hudson, Michael John Cusick, Kerry Burnight, Matthew Bates, Beth Allison Barr, Andrew Root, and John Fugelsang voices that helped shape Shifting Culture this year and, judging by the listens, shaped many of you as well.Episodes featured:Ep. 280 Andrew Root - Hope Beyond the Failed Promise of HappinessEp. 287 Sheila Gregoire - The Marriage You WantEp. 327 Dr. Kerry Burnight - JoyspanEp. 281 Beth Allison Barr - Becoming the Pastor's WifeEp. 259 Trevor Hudson - Discerning God's Will in Our LivesEp. 314 Daniel Hummel - The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism Ep. 257 Michael John Cusick - Sacred AttachmentEp. 279 Matthew Bates - What Does the Bible Really Say About Salvation?Ep. 278 John Eldredge - Experience Jesus. Really.Ep. 341 John Fugelsang - Separation of Church and HateConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.comGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link below Get Your Sidekick Support the show

In this episode, I am joined by Lore Wilbert and Byron Borger for a roundtable countdown of our top ten books of 2025. Moving from number ten to number one, we reflect on the novels, memoirs, theology, and cultural criticism that most shaped our reading year. Along the way, the conversation opens into deeper questions about faith and doubt, grief and hope, community and isolation, and what it means to stay human in an anxious, mechanized world. Rather than chasing trends, this episode lingers with books that slowed us down, challenged empire, and pointed toward love, imagination, and faithful presence. This is a conversation about reading as formation and why the stories we choose matter more than ever.Go to Hearts and Minds Books to order any of these books and let Byron know you heard about them from Shifting Culture.Lore's List:10. The Serviceberry9. The Signature of All Things8. Heating and Cooling7. Great Circle6. Nervous Systems5. Wild Dark Shore4. Monsters3. The Names2. Circle of Hope1. The CorrespondentByron's List:10. Becoming God's Family9. The Core of the Christian Faith8. You Can Trust a God with Scars7. Liturgies for Resisting Empire6. The Violent Take it by Force5. Bear Witness4. Rags of Light3. Good Soil2. The Last Supper1. World of WondersJoshua's List:10. Making Time9. We Tell Ourselves Stories8. Wild Dark Shore7. Spellbound6. The Anti-Greed Gospel5. The Teacher of Nomad Land4. Twelve Churches3. The Correspondent2. Christ in the Rubble1. A Beautiful YearConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.comGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link belowGet Your Sidekick Support the show

Pastor Matthew Dehnert joins Phil for Episode 33 of Living God's Truth on Your QFM.

Glen Henry, the creator of Beleaf in Fatherhood, shares his story of how resistance turned into calling - how learning to father himself helped him become the father his children needed. We talk about the inherited baggage we carry, the control we try to hold, and the grace that grows when we choose presence over perfection. Glen opens up about fatherhood as a form of cultural resistance, the power of family to heal generational wounds, and the daily work of creating a home rooted in love and faith. It's a conversation about wholeness, Black fatherhood, and the beauty of learning to be fathered by God while raising children in a complicated world.Glen Henry is the creative force behind the beloved YouTube channel Beleaf in Fatherhood, where he blends humor, honesty, and heart to uplift and inspire families around the world. A devoted father and visionary storyteller, Glen uses his platform to champion positive parenting and redefine what modern fatherhood looks like. BeyondYouTube, he connects with audiences through social media, workshops, and speaking engagements — encouraging dads to show up with love, purpose, and presence. With his relatable voice and unwavering passion, Glen has become a leading advocate for strong families and meaningful father-child relationships.Glen's Book:Father Yourself FirstGlen's Recommendation:Successful FailureConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.comGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link below Contact me to advertise: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.com Support the show

Kat Armas joins Shifting Culture to talk about her new book, Liturgies for Resisting Empire, a powerful exploration of how empire shapes the way we think about God, community, time, and ourselves. She names the ways control, hierarchy, and productivity have distorted our faith and imaginations, and invites us into practices of resistance rooted in love, rest, and belonging. Kat offers a vision of wholeness that embraces paradox over dualism, kinship over domination, and peace over violence. This conversation points us toward a more human way of living. One where we belong without conditions and find God in the places empire forgets.Kat Armas is a Cuban American writer, speaker, and theologian from Miami, FL. She holds a ThM from Vanderbilt Divinity School, and a dual MDiv and MAT from Fuller Theological Seminary where she was awarded the Frederick Buechner Award for Excellence in Writing.Her first book, Abuelita Faith: What Women on the Margins Teach Us About Wisdom, Persistence and Strength, sits at the intersection of women, decolonialism, the Bible, and Cuban identity. Her second book, Sacred Belonging: A 40-day Devotional on the Liberating Heart of Scripture invites readers to encounter the Bible through a decolonized lens, lifting up themes of creation, wisdom, spirit, the body, and the feminine.Kat has spoken at seminaries, universities, and conferences nationwide and her work has appeared in the National Catholic Reporter—where one of her essays was shared by the pope!, Plough Magazine, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Sojornours Magazine, and more.Kat currently lives on a small farm in middle Tennessee with her family—which includes her spouse, young children, chickens, goats, pigs, dogs, and cats. Her forthcoming third book Liturgies for Resisting Empire: Seeking Community, Belonging, and Peace in a Dehumanizing World examines the ideologies of empire that infiltrate daily life and offers a pathway toward liberation. It releases November 4th.Kat's Book:Liturgies for Resisting EmpireKat's Recommendations:The CorrespondentTell Me EverythingResident AlienConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.comGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link below Contact me to advertise: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.com Support the show

Sara Billups returns to Shifting Culture to talk about her new book Nervous Systems: Spiritual Practices to Calm Anxiety in Your Body, the Church, and Politics. Together we explore the anxiety running through our lives, our churches, and our culture and what it means to find peace that's deeper than control. Sara shares how Ignatian spirituality and the practice of “holy indifference” can help us let go, stay present, and love well in a restless world. We talk about caregiving, community, mental health, and how the embodied way of Jesus leads us toward healing, trust, and wholeness.Sara Billups is a Seattle-based writer and cultural commentator whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Christianity Today, Aspen Ideas, and others. Sara writes Bitter Scroll, a monthly Substack letter and co-hosts the podcast That's the Spirit. She earned a Doctor of Ministry in the Sacred Art of Writing at the Peterson Center for the Christian Imagination at Western Theological Seminary. Sara works to help wavering Christians remain steadfast through cultural storms and continues to hope for the flourishing of the Church amid deep political and cultural division in America.Her first book, Orphaned Believers, follows the journey of a generation raised in the 80s and 90s of evangelicalism reckoning with the tradition that raised them and searching for a new way to participate in the story of God. Her second book, Nervous Systems, will be released November 4, 2025, from Baker Books.Sara's Book:Nervous SystemsSara's Recommendations:Slow HorsesSemi Permanent by Molly PardenConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.comGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link below Contact me to advertise: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.com Catch On Fire PodcastsThis channel does a deep dive into the scriptures so as to teach what it means to be...Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the show

Sharon Hodde Miller returns to Shifting Culture to talk about her new devotional, Gazing at God. Building on her earlier work in Free of Me, Sharon explores how the lies of insecurity and comparison keep us trapped in self-preoccupation and how the way of Jesus frees us to lift our eyes toward God and others. Together we talk about why self-esteem culture falls short, how worship reorients us when we spiral inward, the difference between healing the self and neglecting the self, what true success in the kingdom of God looks like, and how abiding in Christ becomes the foundation for real freedom. This is a hopeful and practical conversation about identity, healing, and the joy of gazing at God.Sharon leads Bright City Church in Durham, NC with her husband, Ike, which they planted together in 2018. Sharon earned her M.Div. from Duke Divinity School, and her PhD from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, where she researched the topic of women and calling.In addition to writing for sites like Christianity Today, She Reads Truth, Propel, Relevant, and more, she is the author of three books: Free of Me: Why Life Is Better When It's Not about You, Nice: Why We Love to Be Liked And How God Calls Us to More, and The Cost of Control: Why We Crave It, the Anxiety it Gives Us, and the Real Power God Promises.Sharon travels the country speaking at churches and conferences, and then she loves to return home to her three awesome kids!Sharon's Books:Free of MeGazing at GodSharon's Recommendations:Regenerative PerformanceSubscribe to Our Substack: Shifting CultureConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.comGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link belowContact me to advertise: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.com Support the show

Nijay Gupta is back on Shifting Culture to share about his new book with A.J. Swoboda, Slow Theology. Together we talk about what it means to follow Jesus at a different pace - resisting the constant pressure to react, hurry, and perform, and instead cultivating practices that lead to depth and resilience. In this episode, we explore the role of lament, the necessity of community, and how theology is less about abstract answers and more about orienting our whole lives toward God. Nijay offers wisdom for living faithfully in a turbulent age and shows us how slowing down might be a core practice for our spiritual formation today.Nijay Gupta (DPhil, University of Durham) has written several academic books including Paul and the Language of Faith, and Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church. He has co-edited The State of New Testament Studies, and The State of Pauline Studies. Nijay co-chairs the Pauline Theology seminar of the Institute for Biblical Research and serves as a senior translator for the New Living Translation.Nijay and A.J.'s Book:Slow TheologyNijay's Recommendations:Becoming God's FamilyThe Fourth Synoptic GospelSubscribe to Our Substack: Shifting CultureConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.comGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link belowSupport the show

What do we do when it feels like God isn't on our side? In this episode of Shifting Culture, I talk with Joshua Ryan Butler about his new book God Is On Your Side and the ways he's wrestled with that very question through seasons of heartbreak, illness, and despair. Josh takes us into the Gospel of John, where one-on-one encounters with Jesus become mirrors for our own stories - the paralyzed man, the woman at the well, the man born blind, Lazarus in the tomb. Each scene reveals a God who sees us before we see Him, who calls us beloved, and who can turn even the hardest places into holy places. This conversation is about finding hope in the dark, learning to trust God in uncertainty, and remembering that we are never abandoned.Joshua Ryan Butler is a Teaching Pastor with the Willamette family of churches in the Portland area and the author of God is On Your Side, The Party Crasher, Beautiful Union, The Skeletons in God's Closet, and The Pursuing God. Josh loves shifting paradigms, to help people who wrestle with tough topics of the Christian faith by confronting popular caricatures and replacing them with the beauty and power of the real thing. He and his wife, Holly, along with their three children, live in Portland, Oregon. They enjoy spending time with friends over great meals and exploring the scenic beauty of the Pacific Northwest.Josh's Book:God is On Your SideJosh's Recommendations:Art of MemoirUnbrokenSubscribe to Our Substack: Shifting CultureConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.comGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link belowThe Balance of GrayFaith That Challenges. Conversations that Matter. Laughs included. Subscribe Now!Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the show

In this episode, I want to take a moment to step aside from the interviews and speak directly to you. Shifting Culture has always been about telling better stories - stories that help us live more faithfully and compassionately in a world that's so often divided by fear. But to keep these conversations going, I need your help.My wife and I spend our lives training and coaching disciple makers and storytellers around the world, and this podcast is part of that same mission. You can support the work through our donation link or by subscribing on ShiftingCulture.Substack.com, where you'll get early ad-free episodes, thoughtful articles, and be part of a community committed to the way of Jesus.I'll close by reading one of those articles - Breaking the Binary: Building Longer Tables in the Way of Jesus - as an invitation to imagine what's possible when love is stronger than fear, and when we build longer tables instead of higher walls.Thank you for listening, for your support, and for embodying the ways of Jesus in this world.Subscribe to Our Substack: Shifting CultureConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.comGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link belowSupport the show

Looking for daily inspiration?  Get a quote from the top leaders in the industry in your inbox every morning.   What's the one premier event that brings the global attractions industry together? IAAPA Expo 2025, happening in Orlando, Florida, from November 17th through 21st. From breakthrough technology to world-class networking and immersive education, IAAPA Expo 2025 is where you find possible.  And, just for our audience, you'll save $10 when you register at IAAPA.org/IAAPAExpo and use promo code EXPOAPROSTEN. Don't miss it — we won't!   Coen Bertens is the owner of Coen Bertens Consultancy, where he partners with leisure and hospitality operators on operations, leadership, and guest experience. After beginning his career in banking, Coen joined Efteling in the Netherlands, where he moved from finance to operations, ultimately serving as director/CEO of the park. During his tenure, Efteling earned national recognition for guest friendliness and advanced a long-term, story-driven resort vision. In this interview, Coen talks about starting with people, shifting culture, and creating one fan a day. Starting with people “How you treat your people is how you treat your guests… you have to start with your people and change them into ambassadors.” Coen explains that Efteling's transformation didn't begin with guest-facing tactics—it began by equipping employees. Guided initially by advice from Lee Cockerell, the team built a “personal compass,” a single digital place where employees sought and shared feedback, identified talents, and aligned those talents to both personal growth and organizational contribution. Rather than pushing a hospitality script, leadership focused on pride, ownership, and talent development so that frontline teams would naturally deliver better experiences. That shift also meant moving decision-making closer to the work. Managers stopped “running and doing all the tasks,” and responsibilities—like resolving complaints on the spot—moved to the frontline. The results compounded: ideas surfaced faster, confidence grew, and service recovery became immediate instead of hierarchical. Shifting culture “We knew that if you want to be the most guest-friendly company… it's about changing the culture.” Culture change started with clarity of vision. A survey revealed that only a small slice of leaders could articulate Efteling's vision; nearly everyone else operated without clear goals. Coen's team distilled the vision into a simple, memorable “nine-plus organization”—akin to striving for a five-star standard—and recruited 50 internal ambassadors to spread it. Leaders repeated the vision constantly and connected it directly to tools like the personal compass so it lived in daily routines, not just on a wall. Empowerment mechanisms reinforced the shift. An Innovation Lab replaced the “idea box,” inviting students and staff to pitch solutions onstage to a centralized steering team. One standout idea—using VR to let guests with disabilities experience the Dreamflight dark ride alongside their families—came from a student, not management. Coen also shares a pivotal New Year's Eve story: when buses failed to arrive after midnight, employees self-organized to drive hundreds of guests home. That response—spontaneous, generous, and owned by the frontline—became a living metric of culture more powerful than any dashboard. Creating one fan a day “Keep it simple: create one fan per day… everyone has the time to create one fan per day.” A hospitality professor's advice became a durable operating principle: small, intentional moments scale culture. With ~800 employees a day, one fan per person translates into more than a million fan moments annually. Crucially, it's not about giveaways; it's about personal attention. In Efteling's Fairytale Forest, for example, an employee simply walks a parent and child to the restroom through winding paths, turning wayfinding into a warm, human interaction. Coen ties these moments to financial outcomes with a simple restaurant story: when service anticipates needs: right table, timely drinks, favorite refills, guests happily spend more and tip more. The message to teams is direct and doable: limit training topics, interact far more than you lecture, gamify learning, and repeat small behaviors daily until they become instinct.   For inquiries and further information, connect with Coen on LinkedIn—he welcomes messages and is happy to share tips. This podcast wouldn't be possible without the incredible work of our faaaaaantastic team:   Scheduling and correspondence by Kristen Karaliunas   To connect with AttractionPros: AttractionPros.com AttractionPros@gmail.com AttractionPros on Facebook AttractionPros on LinkedIn AttractionPros on Instagram AttractionPros on Twitter (X)

What happens when the church trades the way of Jesus for the way of empire? In this episode of Shifting Culture, I talk with theologian and activist Drew Hart about his latest book, Making It Plain. We trace the long history of Christendom, the Doctrine of Discovery, and the legacies of white supremacy that continue to shape American Christianity today. But this isn't just a conversation about what went wrong. Drew offers a hopeful vision he calls Anablactivism - a merging of Anabaptist discipleship and the prophetic witness of the Black church. Together we explore how these traditions, born on the underside of oppression, can help us recover a faith that looks like Jesus: rooted in solidarity, committed to justice, and pursuing God's Shalom in our neighborhoods and the world. If you've wrestled with Christian nationalism, wondered how to disentangle faith from power, or longed for a discipleship that takes Jesus seriously, this conversation will both challenge and inspire you.Rev. Dr. Drew G. I. Hart is an associate professor of theology at Messiah University where he has directed the Thriving Together: Congregations for Racial Justice program in central PA since 2021. He co-hosts Inverse Podcast with Australian peace activist Jarrod McKenna and is the author of Trouble I've Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism (2016), Who Will Be A Witness?: Igniting Activism for God's Justice, Love, and Deliverance (2020), and he co-edited and contributed to Reparations and the Theological Disciplines: Prophetic Voices for Remembrance, Reckoning, and Repair (Nov. 2023). His newest book is Making It Plain: Why We Need Anabaptism and the Black Church (September 2, 2025). Drew regularly speaks at colleges, conferences, churches, and community groups across the country. He is married to Renee and is the father of three sons.Drew's Book:Making it PlainDrew's Recommendations:God's Apocalyptic InsurrectionThe Lamb of the FreeSubscribe to Our Substack: Shifting CultureConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@allnations.usGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link belowThe Balance of GrayFaith That Challenges. Conversations that Matter. Laughs included. Subscribe Now!Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the show

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Trymaine Lee joins Shifting Culture to talk about his new book A Thousand Ways to Die and the true cost of violence in America. Known as a griot of Black survival and death, Trymaine has spent decades reporting on the lives and communities most affected by gun violence. But when he suffered a sudden heart attack at just 38, he was forced to reckon with the weight of the trauma he had carried in his body and in his family's history of generational loss. In this conversation, Trymaine traces the roots of America's cycles of violence back to slavery, systemic racism, and disinvestment, showing how those forces still shape families and neighborhoods today. He also shares how identity, mentorship, and joy can disrupt the cycle, and why nothing stops a bullet like dignity, opportunity, and love. This episode is heavy, but it's also filled with hope. Because as Trymaine reminds us, there may be a thousand ways to die, but there are also a thousand ways to live.Trymaine Lee is a Pulitzer Prize and Emmy award winning journalist and MSNBC contributor. He's the host of the “Into America” podcast where he covers the intersection of Blackness, power, and politics. A contributing author to the “1619 Project”, he has reported for The New York Times, the Huffington Post, and the New Orleans Times-Picayune. A Thousand Ways to Die is his first book.Trymaine's Book:A Thousand Ways to DieTrymaine's Recommendation:JamesSubscribe to Our Substack: Shifting CultureConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@allnations.usGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link belowThe Balance of GrayFaith That Challenges. Conversations that Matter. Laughs included. Subscribe Now!Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the show

Prayer can be more than quiet reflection — it can be protest, solidarity, and a catalyst for justice. In this episode of Shifting Culture, I talk with Liz Theoharis and Charon Hribar about their new book We Pray Freedom, a collection of prayers, songs, and liturgies born out of the Freedom Church of the Poor.We explore how faith traditions can sustain movements, how ritual can become resistance, and how communities on the margins are leading us toward a more just and abundant world. From prayer in homeless encampments to liturgy at the border, this conversation invites us to see that prayer isn't escape — it's action, hope, and transformation.Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis is a theologian, pastor, author, and anti-poverty activist. She is the Executive Director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice and Co-Chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. Rev. Dr. Theoharis has been organizing in poor and low-income communities for the past 30 years. Her books include: We Cry Justice: Reading the Bible with the Poor People's Campaign (Broadleaf Press, 2021) and Always with Us?: What Jesus Really Said about the Poor (Eerdmans, 2017) and she has been published in the New York Times, Politico, the Washington Post, Sojourners and elsewhere. Rev. Dr. Theoharis is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and teaches at Union Theological Seminary.Dr. Charon Hribar is a movement song leader, cultural organizer, and social ethicist. She serves as the director of cultural strategies for the Kairos Center and as co-director of theomusicology and movement arts for the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. She cofounded Songs in the Key of Resistance and has been instrumental in creating music and cultural resources like the Songs in the Key of Resistance Songbook and the We Cry Justice Cultural Arts Project. Dr. Hribar combines on-the-ground organizing with teaching and leading social-movement music nationwide, empowering communities to integrate arts into their efforts for justice.Liz and Charon's Book:We Pray FreedomLiz and Charon's Recommendation:AndorSubscribe to Our Substack: Shifting CultureConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@allnations.usGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link belowThe Balance of GrayFaith That Challenges. Conversations that Matter. Laughs included. Subscribe Now!Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the show

Natalie Runion returns to Shifting Culture with her new book I Don't Even Like Women: And Other Lies That Get in the Way of Sacred Sisterhood. Behind the provocative title is a deeper story: how the church has too often handed women scripts of competition, gossip, and scarcity and how those scripts can be rewritten into something truer and freer. In this conversation, we talk about identity, trust, and the work of forgiveness. We explore what women's ministry has been, and what it could become when collaboration replaces competition, when community is rooted in abundance, and when Jesus' vision of sacred sisterhood begins to take hold. This isn't just about women's ministry. It's about how all of us, men and women, learn to build communities that dignify rather than diminish.Natalie Runion is the USA Today bestselling author of Raised to Stay and The House That Jesus Built, as well as the creator of the Raised to Stay Community (@raisedtostay). She lives in Kentucky with her husband, Tony, and their two daughters, where they work together to provide training to leaders in pursuit of a healthy church.Natalie's Book:I Don't Even Like WomenNatalie's Recommendations:Becoming the Pastor's WifeCrushing ChaosSubscribe to Our Substack: Shifting CultureConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@allnations.usGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link belowSubscribe today at shiftingculture.substack.com Support the show

Karen Swallow Prior returns to the podcast to help us rethink what calling really is. It's not a passion we chase or a dream we conjure up, but something that comes from outside of us. Something we respond to. We talk about the slow work of vocation, how it shifts over time, and why pursuing what's true, good, and beautiful in ordinary life might be the most faithful thing we can do. This conversation is for anyone in the middle of change, trying to find their way, or wondering if the work they're doing still matters. There's room for all of it here.Karen Swallow Prior, Ph.D. is a popular writer and speaker. A former English professor, Karen is now a contributing writer for The Dispatch and a columnist for Religion News Service. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Vox, The Washington Post, Christianity Today, and many other places. Her most recent book is You Have a Calling: Finding Your Vocation in the True, Good, and Beautiful (Brazos 2025).Karen's Book:You Have a CallingKaren's Recommendation:Small Things Like TheseSubscribe to Our Substack: Shifting CultureConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@allnations.usGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link belowSubscribe today at shiftingculture.substack.com for early, ad-free episodes and more! Support the show

Discover how God rebuilds shattered lives and faith through the powerful stories of exile and return in the Bible. Janie Stephens from Bible Study Fellowship shares how lessons from Ezekiel, Daniel, Esther, and more can inspire boldness, hope, and restoration in your spiritual journey.  **Key Points:**  - How biblical exiles teach us to stand firm in faith during cultural challenges  - God's faithfulness in seasons of loss, doubt, and rebuilding  - Practical ways to engage culture with grace and conviction  **Chapters:**  1. Introduction & Guest Welcome  2. The Books of Exile & Return: Why They Matter  3. Standing Firm in a Shifting Culture  4. God's Faithfulness in Brokenness  5. How Ordinary People Make an Extraordinary Impact  6. Encouragement for Rebuilding Your Spiritual Foundation  7. How to Get Involved with Bible Study Fellowship  8. Final Words: Trusting God in Every Season  viewers go to learn more and get involved in this BSF study?www.bsfinternational.org or local group info)What if your toughest seasons—where you feel displaced, overlooked, or discouraged—are actually the times God is preparing you to build something greater with Him?Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share for more Christ-centered conversations.Visit thecallwithnancysabato.comUntil next time, let's give all glory and honor to King Jesus!

Send us a textIn this episode, we sit down with Kurt Sarac to explore what it means to stand for Christ with conviction in a world that's constantly shifting. Whether you're navigating cultural confusion, internal doubts, or the pressure to compromise your values, this conversation challenges you to stay rooted in truth and anchored in Christ.In a culture that's always changing, this is a powerful reminder: Christ is unchanging — and in Him, you can stand firm.New episodes every Mondaywww.lifehousemot.cominfo@lifehousede.comJoin us Sundays at 9 & 11 AMIntro music by Joey Blair

Brian McLaren returns to Shifting Culture to explore his new speculative novel The Last Voyage - a prophetic work of fiction set in a world unraveling from ecological collapse, authoritarianism, and cultural despair. But this isn't a story of resignation. It's a call to imagine differently. We talk about the role of art as prophetic witness, how fiction can shape moral imagination, and why we must move beyond systems built on extraction and scarcity. Brian unpacks the concept of polycrisis, the dangers of authoritarian momentum, and the urgent need for new ways of thinking, living, and organizing - rooted in interdependence and care. We also dive into generational shifts, character dynamics, and what it looks like to resist old paradigms by becoming a different kind of presence in the world.Brian McLaren is a bestselling author, internationally acclaimed speaker and outspoken advocate for 'a new kind of Christianity'. Named one of Time magazine's 25 most influential Evangelical Christians, McLaren was a pastor for over 20 years. He is a frequent guest on radio and television programmes, and an in-demand blogger on faith and public policy (brianmclaren.net). @brianmclarenBrian's Book:The Last VoyageBrian's Recommendations:The Structure of World HistoryChildren of TimeMinistry for the FutureSubscribe to Our Substack: Shifting CultureConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@allnations.usGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link belowSubscribe on Substack for Early, Ad-Free Episodes and More Support the show

In a culture increasingly at odds with biblical truth, how can believers remain faithful without compromise? This powerful sermon explores Jesus' letter to the church in Pergamum—a city described as the place "where Satan's throne is." Through historical insights and modern parallels, the message challenges Christians to stand strong amid cultural pressure, idolatry, and moral compromise.Drawing on the example of Antipus, a faithful martyr, pastor Roscoe unpacks Jesus' commendation for loyalty as well as His stern warning against tolerating false teaching and sin. With a compelling call to repentance, this sermon invites viewers to examine their personal integrity, resist gradual spiritual drift, and cling to God's promise of hidden manna and a new identity. It's a timely encouragement for anyone seeking to live boldly and faithfully in a shifting world.

In a culture increasingly at odds with biblical truth, how can believers remain faithful without compromise? This powerful sermon explores Jesus' letter to the church in Pergamum—a city described as the place "where Satan's throne is." Through historical insights and modern parallels, the message challenges Christians to stand strong amid cultural pressure, idolatry, and moral compromise.Drawing on the example of Antipus, a faithful martyr, pastor Roscoe unpacks Jesus' commendation for loyalty as well as His stern warning against tolerating false teaching and sin. With a compelling call to repentance, this sermon invites viewers to examine their personal integrity, resist gradual spiritual drift, and cling to God's promise of hidden manna and a new identity. It's a timely encouragement for anyone seeking to live boldly and faithfully in a shifting world.

There is tremendous cultural pressure on the traditional family from all directions: kid statement t-shirts, books, even beloved cartoons that seem harmless (I'm looking at you, Paw Patrol), commercials...and then the more obvious Drag Queen Story Hours. But we need to be discerning and look at the collective message that is being sent to our kids so we can be in charge of it in our homes. Join Trent Talbot, the Founder and CEO of Brave Books, and me as we talk about what we can do in our daily lives to protect the message our kids are hearing about the values that matter most to us.  Answers in Genesis | AnswersBibleCurriculum.com/HEIDI RVL Discipleship Curriculum | RVLCurriculum.com/heidi HEIDI10 Give Send Go | givesendgo.com Brave Books | heidibrave.com Lifestone Ministries | Lifestoneministries.com/heidi Prime Sponsor: No matter where you live, visit the Functional Medical Institute online today to connect with Drs Mark and Michele Sherwood. Go to homeschoolhealth.com to get connected and see some of my favorites items. Use coupon code HEIDI for 20% off! Show mentions: heidistjohn.com/mentionsWebsite | heidistjohn.comSupport the show! | donorbox.org/donation-827Rumble | rumble.com/user/HeidiStJohnYouTube | youtube.com/@HeidiStJohnPodcastInstagram | @heidistjohnFacebook | Heidi St. JohnX | @heidistjohnFaith That Speaks Online Community Submit your questions for Mailbox Monday heidistjohn.net/mailboxmonday

Terry Crist returns to Shifting Culture to talk about the transformative power of rest, the necessity of Sabbath, and finding true refuge in God. Terry, an experienced pastor and insightful communicator, helps us rethink productivity, loneliness, bitterness, and forgiveness, inviting us into a deeper relationship with God's perfect love. In this episode, you'll discover how to shift your approach to rest, see productivity as a natural outflow of abiding in God, and break free from cycles of striving and bitterness. Join us for a meaningful conversation that will leave you with renewed peace, purpose, and perspective.Terry Crist is the co-lead pastor of City of Grace in Phoenix alongside his wife, Judith. He has a Th.M. and a D.Min. and has a business certificate in nonprofit management from Harvard Business School. Terry is also passionate about community transformation and promotes adoption and foster care through his work in state government. An avid outdoorsman and gifted communicator, he has adventured and preached the gospel in 65 nations. Terry and Judith have three married sons and four grandchildren. They live in Arizona.Terry's Book:Now You Can Stop RunningTerry's Recommendations:Crushing ChaosA Teachable SpiritLit Up With LoveSubscribe to Our Substack: Shifting CultureConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@allnations.usGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link below Friar TimeThrough meaningful interviews and heartfelt conversations, Friar Time, hosted by Fr....Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the show

We have conversations about the culture we create and the impact we can make. With different guests each podcast episode, we have in-depth interviews into what it looks like to live in the Kingdom of God and embody Jesus in the world. We long for a more compassionate and love-oriented world to live in.Support the show

When Sam Jacobs founded Pavilion, formerly Revenue Collective, he set out to build a private community for operators in a startup world that traditionally celebrated only founders and operators. But after the community grew rapidly, now totaling 10,000+ members, questions arose about whether the once-exclusive membership had become too open. In this special Topline Spotlight episode, Sam joins co-hosts AJ Bruno and Asad Zaman to discuss how rapid expansion diluted the community's focus, what it took to course-correct, and why building something great takes time—and restraint.You're invited! Join the free Topline Slack channel to connect with 600+ revenue leaders, share insights, and keep the conversation going beyond the podcast!Subscribe to the Topline Newsletter to get the latest industry developments and emerging go-to-market trends delivered to your inbox every Thursday.Tune into The Revenue Leadership Podcast with Kyle Norton every Wednesday. Kyle dives deep into the strategies and tactics that drive success for revenue leaders like Jason Lemkins of SaaStr, Stevie Case of Vanta, and Ron Gabrisko of Databricks.Key Moments:(00:00) Introduction(00:42) Business Challenge of the Last 24 Months(01:29) What Is Pavilion?(02:43) Launching Pavilion Gold(04:01) Why the Community Scaled So Quickly(06:51) LinkedIn and Slack as Growth Drivers(07:02) Shifting Culture of Openness Among GTM Leaders(08:04) The Consequences of Losing Focus(10:54) The Biggest Mistake: Removing the Qualification Barrier(11:32) The Challenge of Reversing Course(13:46) Continued Opportunity for Operator Advocacy(15:00) Solving the Challenge: Long-Term Vision(15:54) Building a 3-Year Vision for Pavilion(16:08) Importance of Patience in Building Exclusive Communities

Istrouma Baptist Church (BR) May 11, 2025 ========== May 11 - Anxiety Welcome! We're glad you've joined us today for our Sunday morning worship service! For more information about Istrouma, go to istrouma.org or contact us at info@istrouma.org. We glorify God by making disciples of all nations. ========== Connection Card https://istrouma.org/myinfo May 11, 2025 - Micah Cating "Fight for your Family" Nehemiah 4:14 17 Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” 18 I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me. They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work. Nehemiah 2:17–18 NIV 6 So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart. 7 But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem's walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. 8 They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. 9 But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat. 11 Also our enemies said, “Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.” 13 Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. Nehemiah 4:6–9, 11, 13 NIV RECOGNIZE THE OPPOSITION BUILD WITH COURAGE 14 After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” Nehemiah 4:14 NIV REMEMBER THE LORD · Prayer · The Word · Church FIGHT FOR YOUR FAMILY Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families… FIGHT FOR YOUR FAMILY · Teach Biblical Truth at Home · Guard the Gates · Stand Firm in a Shifting Culture 15 So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God. Nehemiah 6:15–16 NIV Want to receive weekly announcements in your inbox each week? https://istrouma.org/email Give Online Text ISTROUMA IBC to 73256 or go to: https://istrouma.org/give Our Website https://istrouma.org

A.J. Swoboda is back on the podcast for the third time. This time we are sitting down to talk about A Teachable Spirit. He hit on something that I think is sorely missing in this world today: being teachable. In a world often drawn sharply into polarized camps, where dialogue seems overshadowed by ideological extremes, cultivating a teachable spirit becomes more than a virtue, it becomes an act of quiet revolution. But what exactly does it mean to approach life, faith, and community with genuine humility and openness, even when our convictions run deep? Our conversation explores what it truly means to possess a teachable spirit, how to stand firmly in our beliefs while also actively listening to, honoring, and learning from those who are different than us. We'll explore themes of humility, empathy, wisdom, discernment and the careful balancing act of maintaining convictions while remaining open to growth and change. This is an important conversation, so join us as we unpack the practice of discerning truth in a fragmented world, and how holding our beliefs can transform both our inner and outer worlds and enable us to have a teachable spirit. Rev. A. J. Swoboda (Ph.D., Birmingham) is the associate professor of Bible and Theology at Bushnell University. He served as a college pastor on the University of Oregon campus for nearly ten years. For another decade, he planted and pastored an urban church in Portland, Oregon, called Theophilus, which continues to worship today. He leads a Doctor of Ministry program around Spiritual Formation and Soul Care at Friends University. He has taught at the London School of Theology, LIFE Pacific, Southeastern University, and Multnomah University. He is the author of over ten books, including Redeeming How We Talk (Moody), After Doubt (Brazos), and the award-winning Subversive Sabbath (Brazos). He hosts the Slow Theology podcast (w. Dr. Nijay Gupta) and writes the widely read Low-Level Theologian Substack. A.J. lives and works on an urban farm with his wife and son in Eugene, Oregon.A.J.'s Book:A Teachable SpiritA.J.'s Substack:The Low-Level TheologianSubscribe to Our Substack: Shifting CultureConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@allnations.usGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link below Support the show

We have a bonus episode for you today. I was recently on the Follow 2 Lead podcast hosted by Tony Miltenberger. And Tony was recently on Shifting Culture, so we decided to give you a glimpse of each other's shows by airing our episodes. So, enjoy. Let me know what you think. Find the Follow 2 Lead podcast anywhere you get podcasts.Subscribe to Our Substack: Shifting CultureConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@allnations.usGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link below Ashley T Lee PodcastAshley T. Lee Podcast will cover many life issues such as overcoming stress, anxiety...Listen on: Apple Podcasts Support the show

The book of Daniel shows us how to stand firm in faith, even in a culture that opposes God. Babylon didn't just conquer—it reshaped identities, but Daniel refused to compromise. Today, the spirit of Babylon still fights for our attention, but God calls us to stay faithful. No matter how loud the lions roar, God is in control!

When we understand and accept that the world is indeed fallen and creates all sorts of chaos, we can better prepare ourselves to become warriors of light, goodness in difficult times.

It's no secret that culture has heavily influenced politics over the years. Gay couples appeared in movies and TV shows long before the Supreme Court's legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015. Likewise, Marxist and socialist ideals have been glorified in Hollywood, making way for those ideas to be promoted by lawmakers in Washington.    Now, conservative politics appear to be influencing culture in a way that has not been seen for some time.    The political right watched in surprise Tuesday as Mark Zuckerberg, the chairman and CEO of Meta, Facebook's parent company, announced that Meta is embracing a free-speech model. Zuckerberg explained that Meta, which also includes Instagram, will end its use of “fact-checkers” and will instead move to a community-notes style of moderation, such as the one that the platform X currently uses.    “The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech,” Zuckerberg said in a video announcing the changes. “So, we're going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies, and restoring free expression on our platforms.”    The shift doesn't stop there. Before the 2024 presidential election season, few cultural figures openly expressed conservative views, but now everyone from Elon Musk to actor Zachary Levi to filmmaker Justine Bateman are speaking out freely about the conservative policy views they support.    On this week's edition of “Problematic Women,” we examine some of the ways in which the 2024 election has already begun to affect American culture.    Also on today's show, we discuss why Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau chose to announces his resignation, the bipartisan passage in the House of the Laken Riley Act, and opine over the engagement of actress-singer Zendaya and actor Tom Holland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, I'm talking with Greg Peters, the co-CEO of Netflix. I caught up with Greg while he was at the Cannes Lions festival in France, which is basically the world's biggest gathering of advertisers and marketers. It's an increasingly important place for Greg to be, as Netflix's new ad tier has nearly doubled in six months to more than 40 million subscribers and feels increasingly pivotal to the future of the company.  On top of that, Netflix is updating its famous culture memo, and I wanted to chat with Greg about the changes he's making to that document, and how he's thinking about maintaining that culture as Netflix grows into things like advertising and gaming. Links:  Netflix Culture Memo | Netflix Netflix Culture Memo (2009) | Netflix Streaming is cable now | The Verge Netflix's ad tier hits 40 million users | The Verge Netflix is different now — and there's no going back | The Verge  Netflix just fired the organizer of the trans employee walkout | The Verge Netflix doesn't want to hear it anymore | The Verge It's hard to believe Samsung's new, matte The Frame is actually a TV | The Verge Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23946561 Credits:  Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Today's episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and was edited by Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James. The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices