United? We Pray

Rashan Frost joins Austin to discuss the ten year anniversary of the shooting at Mother Emmanuel AME in Charleston, South Carolina. Dr. Frost is the ERLC director of research and senior fellow focused on issues of human dignity. He is the teaching pastor of Centerpoint Church in North Charleston, South Carolina, and is also an adjunct professor of Christian Studies at Charleston Southern Universit...

Ivan Gonzalez serves at Christos Para Las Naciones Church in Penson, Alabama, which is a Hispanic Church primarily serving immigrant families. Ivan joined Austin to talk about what life is like for Christians in Hispanic churches in 2025. We really enjoyed this conversation because Ivan is so Biblical in his approach to ministry. We hope you are encouraged to pray for your Hispanic brothers and si...

Dr. Daniel Rienhardt is a 24 year veteran of the police force. He is the author of Rethinking the Police: An Officer's Confession and the Pathway to Reform (IVP, 2023). This book is a refreshing change from most conversations about police reform. Daniel is a retired officer brimming with love for his fellow officers but who understands that serious changes need to be made. We hope this conver...

Caryn Rivadeneira is the author of several books for both children and adults. Her latest book, Gritty and Graceful (Beaming Books) is one we would recommend to all of our listeners. Caryn managed to give a Biblical survey of the work of women in redemptive history and did so in an age-appropriate way for little girls and boys. It's really special. We hope this conversation is encouraging to...

Gavin King is a partner at Beasley Allen law firm in Montgomery, Alabama. He has been a friend of this ministry for a long time, and in this episode, he talks with Isaac about growing up in the black church and highlights some of his personal heroes of the faith. We hope this testimony of deep roots encourages you to press on.  LINKS & SHOW NOTES: This UWP Podcast Episode was produced by Josh...

Walter Strickland is Assistant Professor of Systematic and Contextual Theology at the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also the author of Swing Low: A History of Black Christianity in the United States (Intervarsity Press, 2024). Dr. Strickland joins Austin to talk through his new book.  Dr. Strickland approached his new book theologically, which is not a surprise for a theology pr...

On January 31, United? We Pray's longest-serving staff member resigned to spend more time with her family. Jeri Choi has been a blessing to this ministry for many years, and all of our listeners have benefitted from her hard work. Please join us in thanking her and praying for God's blessing on her life and family! LINKS & SHOW NOTES: This UWP Podcast Episode was produced by Josh Den...

Walter Strickland is Assistant Professor of Systematic and Contextual Theology at the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also the author of Swing Low: A History of Black Christianity in the United States (Intervarsity Press, 2024). Dr. Strickland joins Austin to talk about black history, and why he took a slightly unusual path to write his book.  Often times, works on black history c...

Grace and peace! It's 2025 and United? We Pray is in an exciting place as a ministry. Last year, we recorded more content than any year prior. In today's episode, Isaac and Austin sit down to talk about where we are as a ministry and what you can expect from the podcast and other arms of the ministry in 2025. As always, we covet your prayers over this work and partnership.  LINKS & S...

UWP Founder Isaac Adams recently preached from Revelation 22 to Iron City Church in Birmingham, AL. We're grateful to be able to share this with you, because the ministries of Iron City Church and United? We Pray are intertwined and mutually reinforcing. You will be able to tell from this sermon that the unity we speak about in this ministry is vitally important in the life of our church. We...

Dustin Ratcliff is a pastor at Iron City Church in Birmingham, Alabama. In this sermon, he preaches from Exodus 33 on what it means to be in a relationship, even friendship, with God. Understanding these truths from Scripture has a profound impact on our prayer lives. We hope you are as encouraged and moved by this sermon as we were. LINKS & SHOW NOTES: This UWP Podcast Episode was produced by...

As many of you know, Isaac Adams, who founded our ministry is pastor of Iron City Church in Birmingham, Alabama. This week's episode is an excerpt of a sermon he recently preached on the perseverance of the black church. We hope this testimony of God's faithfulness encourages you! Support the show To learn more about United? We Pray, follow us on Instagram and keep exploring our website....

Author and Pastor Ryan King joins Austin to talk about his new book, Every Man's Conscience, which explores the contributions of 17th Century Baptists to political theology. That might sound academic, but we have a lot to learn about honoring the conscience of our neighbors and Ryan has much help to offer. As counter-intuitive as it might seem to us, liberty of conscience is a good thing for...

Dr. Timothy Paul Jones is a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He joins the show today to lend his historical expertise to our conversation about political idolatry. This is the final installment of the series, so if you haven't heard the others, we encourage you to check those out. Dr. Jones surprised us by quoting a lot of second and third century Christian thinkers abo...

A little different this week. We're just praying for the nation. Please join us in doing so. LINKS & SHOW NOTES: This UWP Podcast Episode was produced by Josh Deng with editing by Roshane Ricketts. Support the show To learn more about United? We Pray, follow us on Instagram and keep exploring our website. Please consider rating the podcast on Apple Podcasts , and subscribe using your favo...

Election week is finally here. By the time the next episode airs, votes will be cast. Whether or not we know who won by this time next week. pastor Jared Torrence joins Austin this week to talk about what we need to remember to make sure our joy is tied to the eternal plan and character of God, regardless of who is in the white house.  LINKS & SHOW NOTES: This UWP Podcast Episode was produced...

Rev. Dr. Arthur Price, Jr. graciously hosted us at his home church: 16th St Baptist, which was home to a terrible bombing in 1963, which claimed the lives of four little girls. Though 16th St Baptist is a national historic landmark, Dr. Price is clear that his church is not a museum - it is a living, thriving outpost of gospel ministry. We hope you are encouraged by Dr. Price's testimony.  LI...

Jared Torrence is back with us to discuss the dynamics of raising mixed kids in multiracial families. As always on these family episodes, we are grateful for Jared sharing his experience, which is instructive for us whether we share his same family dynamic or not. Jared reminds us of the pillars we should be teaching our kids, which are especially important when they are in multiracial families. ...

Pastor Jared Torrence of Covenant Fellowship Church in Glenn Mills, PA joins Austin to talk about the relationship between fighting racism and preaching the gospel. Pastor Jared reminds Christians of the power of God for both salvation and sanctification that are found in Jesus and the attitudes Christians should have toward all kinds of sin, racism included.  LINKS & SHOW NOTES: This UWP Podc...

Author, evangelist, and apologist Preston Perry joins the show today to discuss his new book, How to Tell The Truth: The Story of how God Saved me to Win Hearts, Not Just Arguments (Tyndale, 2024). Preston has much wisdom to share about how Christians should engage the lost world around us. He teaches us about humility, boldness, and relying on God in prayer. We hope you are emboldened to share th...

Dr. Nate Brooks, professor at the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary joins Austin today to talk about a few important doctrines of the Christian faith. The first is the sufficiency of Scripture and the second is God's common grace. How are we to think about the Bible? What about other resources like books by non-Christians? Dr. Brooks gives us a helpful framework that prioritizes Scrip...

Adrianna Anderson is back once again as we wrap up our study through the Old Testament. Today we're looking at the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament. There is so much in here about how to live a righteous life, how to seek and acquire wisdom, and how to live at peace with our fellow believers. If we would pay more attention to this portion of Scripture, there is much for us to learn on h...

Dr. Paul D. Miller is a professor at Georgetown University's school of foreign service. He is a veteran, patriot, and author of The Religion of American Greatness: What's Wrong with Christian Nationalism (IVP: 2022). Dr. Miller joins Austin today to talk about Christian Nationalism - what it is, isn't, and what it gets wrong about both the church and the state. Many of us have loved...

Austin is joined today by Dr. Robert Elder, Associate Professor of American History at Baylor University. We're talking about the Lost Cause - the myth that the Confederacy was a noble institution and those who fought for it are worthy of our veneration. The truth is more complicated, as we discuss. Dr. Elder is a model of both clarity and charity in how he deals with this topic and shows how...

In the final episode in this series on virtue, Kaitlyn Schiess joins us to think about the virtue of love, and how we as Christians can exercise this virtue in service of our neighbors. How can we love our neighbors with our politics? How can we cultivate the virtue of love in our hearts? How have we gotten this wrong in the past? What's the role of the local church in all of this? We discuss...