Gravity Commons Podcast

Recorded back when the pandemic first hit, this conversation with Tod Bolsinger on learning to lead “off the map” of the known and familiar is more needed now than ever, and still so applicable 9 months into the pandemic. Tod Bolsinger is the Senior Congregational Strategist and Associate Professor of Leadership Formation at Fuller Seminary. […] The post Learning to Lead in Uncharted Territory wit...

Marcus Warner joins us for an invigorating and illuminating conversation about the intersection of leadership and neuroscience, which is what his latest book is all about (co-authored with Jim Wilder): Rare Leadership:4 Uncommon Habits For Increasing Trust, Joy, and Engagement in the People You Lead. Dr. Marcus Warner has served as president of Deeper Walk […] The post What Brain Science Teaches U...

Recorded back when the pandemic first hit us, this conversation with Jim Herrington on leading in the midst of anxiety and uncertainty is rich, and still so applicable 9 months into the pandemic. Jim Herrington has been a pastor for 45 years. He has served as a denominational executive and pastor to pastors since 1989 where he […] The post Leading in Times of Anxiety and Uncertainty with Jim Herri...

Susan Carson is the founder and director of Roots&Branches Network, a citywide listening and healing prayer ministry in Cincinnati, Ohio. She authored the spiritual guidebook, rooted (IN): Thriving in Connection with God, Yourself, and Others. (Which you can now buy 1 and get 1 free to gift as a part of her holiday promotion on her […] The post Living and Leading From Rootedness with Susan Car...

Pastor, author, and Gravity coach Kristan Dooley joins us on the podcast to talk about walking through desert seasons, taking “left turns,” and the deep refinement of character that can come from these times in our lives. Kristan encourages us to embrace the identity and alignment work that comes with following Jesus into the unknown. […] The post Following Jesus Off the Beaten Path With Kristan D...

The Bible has problems, but is this a problem? Or a feature? Greg Boyd thinks the Bible’s imperfections actually enhance its authority as Scripture, which is what we talk with him about in this episode. This is the topic of his book Inspired Imperfection: How the Bible’s Problems Enhance Its Divine Authority. Greg Boyd is […] The post Greg Boyd on How the Bible’s Problems Enhance Its Authority app...

Writer and Bible teacher Traci Rhoades shares some of her journey of abandoning the search for the “perfect” church and instead exploring the many ways believers worship Jesus, and what she learned along the way. Traci’s website is tracesoffaith.com. You can follower her on Twitter or connect via Facebook and Instagram. Check out her book […] The post Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost with Traci R...

Marlena Graves talks with us about the upside-down way of the kingdom of God (the way up is the way down, you save your life by losing your life, you become yourself by forgetting yourself), and how this helps us connect spiritual formation to justice. Marlena is a writer, deep thinker, and speaker who is […] The post Becoming Yourself By Forgetting Yourself with Marlena Graves appeared first on G...

Matt, Ben, and Ben conclude our Being a Christian in America series with an Election Day discussion about what we’ve learned in this series, and about what’s more clear now to us about being a Christian in America, and what’s less clear. Connect with Gravity Leadership Want to stay connected with us? Here are a […] The post Election Day Series Recap: Being a Christian in America appeared first on...

Okay we jammed one more episode into our Being Christian in America series! This conversation with Justin Wallace, a Gravity coach and pastor in North Carolina, was originally only going to go out to our Patreon supporters, but it fit really well into our current series, so here it is. Justin and Matt have […] The post A Pastor’s Struggle With Whether to Vote and Who to Vote For appeared first on...

In this bonus episode of our series Being a Christian in America, we talk with Joel Halldorf, a Swedish evangelical, who gives us some outside/inside perspective on American evangelicalism. Joel Halldorf is currently an associate professor of church history at Uppsala University. He works as a senior lecturer at the Stockholm University of Theology, and […] The post A Swedish Evangelical’s Perspec...

Attorney and political strategist Justin Giboney joins us for a conversation in our series on Being a Christian in America, on how faithful political engagement for followers of Jesus must be filled with both compassion AND conviction. Justin Giboney is the Co-Founder and President of the And Campaign, which is a coalition of urban Christians […] The post Justin Giboney on Maintaining Compassion A...

Our series on Being a Christian in America continues with a discussion about how the church that Ben Sternke and Matt Tebbe co-pastor (The Table in Indianapolis) is speaking about our current cultural moment: by preaching through the Sermon on the Mount, not as pie-in-the-sky idealism or private moral instruction, but as Jesus’ political manifesto. […] The post The Sermon on the Mount as Jesus’s P...

Professor and author Lee Camp helps us continue our series on Being a Christian in the USA with a generous and honest discussion around the themes of his new book Scandalous Witness: A Little Political Manfiesto For Christians. Lee talks about the ditches Christians fall into when trying to live out their faith in public: […] The post Lee Camp on How the Politics of Jesus Disrupt Partisan America...

Our series on Being a Christian in the USA continues with an invigorating conversation with pastor and author David Swanson about how many white Christians across America, when waking up to the deep-rooted racial injustice in our society, insinctively scramble to add diversity to our churches. But David argues that before white churches can pursue […] The post David Swanson on Rediscipling the Whi...

Our series on Being a Christian in the USA continues! We talk with author and professor Alan Noble about the difficulties of speaking truthfully and graciously in a “secular age” where ultimate things are so easily pigeon-holed as consumer preferences. This is the topic of his book Disruptive Witness: Speaking Truth in a Distracted Age. […] The post Alan Noble on Speaking Disruptive Truth to Distr...

Why does “speaking the truth in love” so seldom lead to the life Jesus modeled for us? Biblical scholar and popular podcast host of The Bible for Normal People, Jared Byas talks with us about a vision for the Christian life that’s built not on having all the answers, but on the risk of love […] The post Jared Byas: Why We Don’t Have to Choose Between Truth and Love appeared first on Gravity Leader...

In this installment of our Being a Christian in the USA series, we talk with D.L. Mayfield about the ways we have conflated the values of God’s kingdom with the values of America, and how Christianity actually challenges much of the “American Dream.” This is the topic of her book The Myth of the American […] The post D.L. Mayfield on How Christianity Challenges the American Dream appeared first on...

In this installment of our Being a Christian in the USA series, we talk with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove about reclaiming a Christian faith that is public and political, without being subject to the partisan ideologies of the American political binary, which is the subject of his most recent book Revolution of Values: Reclaiming Public Faith for […] The post Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove on Reclaiming a...

Today we start a new series called Being a Christian in the USA: Pitfalls and Possibilities. In this introductory episode, we discuss how it’s become more complicated than ever to follow Jesus as an American, and our conviction that taking Jesus seriously doesn’t mean finding a “midway point” on the left/right political spectrum as it […] The post New Series – Being a Christian in the USA: Pitfall...

In our efforts to be a people of justice, how do we go beyond merely posting rants on social media? Mae Cannon helps us see how to move beyond #hashtag activism and become people of holistic, biblical justice. Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon is the executive director of Churches for Middle East Peace. She is […] The post Moving Beyond Hashtag Activism with Mae Elise Cannon appeared first on Gravity Lead...

Dr. Heather Davediuk Gingrich talks with us about how trauma works, how it affects our bodies, and how it presents unique challenges for pastors seeking to help people grow in discipleship. Her book Restoring the Shattered Self: A Christian Counselor’s Guide to Complex Trauma provides an overview of the symptoms and struggles that traumatized people […] The post How to Disciple People With Trauma...

In the midst of increasing political polarization and antagonism, gentleness doesn’t seem like a good tool to “get the job done,” but pastor and author Scott Sauls begs to differ. As does Jesus, of course, and the whole biblical witness, which is what Scott’s recent book is all about: A Gentle Answer: Our ‘Secret Weapon’ […] The post How Gentleness Overcomes Antagonism with Scott Sauls appeared fi...

Because of the pandemic, we’ve been dealing with more digital technology than before in an effort to stay connected to each other. But we’re also discovering that digital technology only goes so far. Pastor and author Jay Kim wrote about the limitation of digital technology before the pandemic hit, and we talk with him about […] The post How Digital Technology is Deforming the Church with Jay Kim...

We finish our series on spiritual formation with a bonus episode this week that also hearkens back to our Desert Stories series. David Funk, a pastor in Canada, shares with us the story of the death of his two young children, and the faith crisis that ensued in the aftermath. The painting David talks about […] The post Suffering as the Way of the Cross: A Desert Story with David Funk appeared firs...