The Dialog

The Pharisees caught Jesus’ disciples eating with unwashed hands. That wasn’t a sin. It was a tradition. Jesus answered, “You cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition.” (Mark 7:13) Most of what we believe about money works the same way. We didn’t get it from Scripture. We got it from our parents, our church, our culture, and every bad example we’ve watched. Then we see more...

If your household makes the median American income, you make more than 92% of the world. Do you feel rich? If not, where does your lack of sufficiency come from? A stranger walked up to me at the gym and asked if I was a pastor or something. I told him I was more of an "or something." Then he found out where our church was." Oh, you're one of those prosperity gospel churches."So I asked him what t...

WIP / Thoughts, conversations or works in progress These are episodes from bible studies, calls, teachings or other kinds of unfinished ideas that don't quite have their place in a normal season.  In Matthew 5:21–26, Jesus puts anger in the same sentence as murder. Then he tells people to walk away from the altar, the most sacred act of worship they knew, and fix relationships first. Not when they...

In 2007, I was a sophomore at Oral Roberts University. One night they woke us up and sent us to the chapel to pray because "the school was under attack." By Christmas, the president had resigned, ORU was $50 million in debt, and none of us knew if there would be a spring semester. Then the Green family, the founders of Hobby Lobby, wrote a $62 million check that came with conditions. Prosperity ne...

Season 1 finale.  Socrates said the whole point of a dialog wasn't to talk to someone else. It was to get you into a conversation with yourself. I turned 39 this July, so I took some time to explain the 39 greatest lessons i've learned in 39 years. I also get into the book deal I didn't get this week, and we end our accidental hiatus and look forward to a new season.  Follow Joshua Craft on Instag...

What does the Bible actually say about manifesting? Manifesting is everywhere—from social media to self-help books—but what if it's just a new version of an ancient human tendency? In this conversation, Josh and Nick explore why every person is wired to worship something and how our desire for control often turns our relationship with God into a transaction instead of a covenant. From the worship...

The church has never struggled to create methods—it has struggled to remember its mission. In this episode of The Dialog, we explore the difference between biblical principles and human preferences, why Jesus gave the Church a mission instead of a blueprint, and how tradition can quietly become mistaken for truth. From governance models and house churches to worship, discipleship, sacrifice, and c...

What happens when traditions become more important than truth? In this episode of The Dialog, we unpack one of Christianity's biggest questions: What is the Church actually supposed to be? From house churches to megachurches, traditions to biblical principles, we explore why every generation wrestles with church models—and why Jesus may have been after something much deeper than methods. Along the...

It's easy to blame what happened to you. It's much harder to ask what needs to change in you. In this episode, Josh and Nick explore how blame can quietly become one of the biggest obstacles to personal growth. After Josh receives unexpected feedback from his literary agent to shelve his first book, the conversation becomes much bigger than publishing. Together, they wrestle with what it means to...

Blame feels productive because it gives us an explanation. Responsibility feels harder because it demands action. In this episode of The Dialog, Josh and Nick explore why so many people search for someone to blame—God, their parents, society, their circumstances—and why that mindset quietly robs them of the power to change. They discuss the problem of evil, self-awareness, depression, responsibili...

Why do some people grow through adversity while others stay stuck? In this episode, Josh and Nick discuss insecurity, self-awareness, depression, personal responsibility, and the ongoing conversation happening inside every person. They explore the difference between opinions and fruit, why understanding a problem isn't the same as solving it, and how learning to lead yourself may be one of the mos...

After spending months writing what he believed was the most important book of his life, Josh received a surprising response: the problem wasn't the message—it was how it was being communicated. In this episode, Josh and Nick revisit the conversation on feedback and explore a lesson that has surfaced repeatedly throughout Josh's life: great ideas alone aren't enough. Whether you're leading a busine...

Most people don't struggle with authority when they agree with it. The real test comes when they don't. In this episode of The Dialog, Josh and Nick continue their conversation on spiritual authority, exploring why submission, honor, and trust are some of the most difficult values to live out in a culture built around personal preference and individual choice. Through stories from Scripture, leade...

Most people think freedom comes from having more choices. But what if real freedom comes from understanding authority? In this episode of The Dialog, Josh and Nick explore one of the most misunderstood concepts in modern culture: spiritual authority. From the early church under Roman persecution to the way we view leadership, government, churches, and personal responsibility today, this conversati...

In this episode of The Dialog, we explore the tension between growth and the human resistance to correction. Most people say they want wisdom, purpose, and maturity, but few people realize those things are impossible without humility. Because correction does not just confront our behavior — it confronts our pride, our insecurities, and the version of ourselves we are trying to protect. Through con...

Most people say they want to grow, but growth requires something most of us subtly resist... being told we're wrong. In this episode of The Dialog, Josh and Nick talk about what it actually means to receive correction, and why so many people never do. We get into why the people closest to you eventually stop speaking up, how maturity shows up in the moments before a conversation has to happen, and...

In this episode of The Dialog, we talk about one of the biggest barriers to growth: the inability to receive correction. Most people say they want wisdom, but wisdom and correction cannot be separated. The problem is correction confronts pride, insecurity, and the version of ourselves we are trying to protect. Because for many people, feedback does not feel like a challenge to their behavior. It f...

In this episode of The Dialog, we address something most people are trying to avoid. Uncertainty is not the problem. It is part of the design. Life is complex at every level, from your own body to the world around you, yet we expect it to be simple and predictable. The tension is not that truth does not exist. The tension is that we want certainty without doing the work required to find it. We tal...

In this episode of The Dialog, we confront a tension most people avoid. Do you actually want truth, or do you just want to feel right? Because those are not the same thing. The pursuit of truth requires you to question your assumptions, challenge your beliefs, and admit when you are wrong. Most people are not resisting truth because it is unclear. They resist it because it disrupts the identity th...

In this episode of The Dialog, we wrestle with a shift most people resist but eventually have to face. Your life is not ultimately about you. Not your preferences, not your timeline, and not the outcomes you thought you needed. Growth begins when you stop interpreting everything through a personal lens and start seeing your life as part of something bigger. We talk through the tension between what...

In this episode of The Dialog, we break down what defining moments actually are and how most people misunderstand them. We tend to think certain experiences shaped us, but the truth is we assign meaning to those moments. The event is not what defines you. The meaning you give it is. And most people are living out beliefs they formed unintentionally, often in moments they never went back to examine...

In this episode of The Dialog, we talk about something most people misunderstand about prosperity. It is not just about how much you have. It is about the order you live in. When your life is out of order, your money will be too. And when money becomes the priority instead of a tool, it starts to reveal what you actually trust. We break down the difference between sufficiency and entitlement, why...

In this episode of The Dialog, we wrestle with a question that exposes the gap between what we say and how we actually live. Most people don’t lack information. They lack application. We live in a time where opinions are everywhere, but conviction is rare. And the result is a culture that talks about truth without being shaped by it. We break down the difference between knowing and doing, why know...

In this episode of The Dialog, we step into a question most people avoid until life forces it on them. What do you actually believe when you are no longer in control of the outcome? What began as a 50 mile ultramarathon quickly turned into a life or death situation, creating a moment where belief was no longer theoretical. It was tested in real time, without warning and without certainty. We talk...

In this episode of The Dialog, we ask a question most people never stop to consider: what did it cost you to believe what you believe? Not just financially, but in time, study, humility, and truth. Because most of us didn’t arrive at our beliefs through deep examination, we inherited them. From culture, from family, from church, from experience. And over time, those beliefs can feel like truth, ev...