Craft & Character

As headlines convulse with the latest news about the Israel-Hamas war, how should followers of Jesus respond? Jon Huckins, professor, author, and founder of Journey Home, shares with Steve Carter about what peacemaking looks like一first in our own hearts, then in the world God calls us to love. This convicting conversation point us toward the way of Jesus, helping us see the image of God in people...

As a leader, how well do you know your people and city? As a preacher, how much does your context shape your content? For Micah Davis, the pastor of teaching and vision at a new church plant, The Sanctuary in Indianapolis, there’s a deep connection between who he serves and how he leads. After hearing God whisper “pastor your neighborhood” during a prayer walk, he’s ignited by the realization that...

If you’re a parent, how do you nurture and guide your children? If you’re a pastor or leader, are you truly creating an environment that draws kids to Jesus? The responsibility of stewarding young hearts can feel immense, but the good news is: you don’t have to figure it out alone. Today’s guest is author Kayla Craig, whose new book, Every Season Sacred, is a collection of practical tools and refl...

How do we call out injustice and seek shalom without becoming self-righteous? In their new book, Pivot: The Priorities, Practices, and Powers That Can Transform Your Church Into a Tov Culture, father-daughter duo Scot McKnight and Laura Barringer follow up their previous book, A Church Called Tov一charting a course for those seeking to create a healthier church culture. In this episode, they share...

Want to become a better preacher? Listen to hip hop.  That’s the advice of Dr. Theon Hill一an enthusiastic hip hop fan who serves as Associate Professor of Communication at Wheaton College. As an expert in rhetoric, Dr. Hill explains to Steve Carter: The three primary ways to reach an audience  How to anticipate and teach to diverse perspectives in your audience Why preaching is about transformati...

Teaching kids about God is one of the greatest tasks of our lives. Even with good intentions, It’s easy to slip into behavior-driven moralism that emphasizes good behavior while neglecting the heart of God. This disconnect一between head and heart一is why Meredith Anne Miller wrote her forthcoming book, Woven: Nurturing a Faith Your Kid Doesn’t Have to Heal From. In this episode, she explains to St...

The world is broken. When we see and feel that brokenness, it sometimes feels impossible一even illogical一to cling to faith. In this episode, Jason Miller, lead pastor of South Bend City Church in Indiana, describes his own journey with loss and how it led him past hollow platitudes into a deeper, more sacred space with Jesus. His new book, When the World Breaks: The Surprising Hope and Subversive...

Steve Carter chops it up with his best friend Tommy Nixon一CEO of the Urban Youth Workers Institute一about how to reach the next generation for Christ. Tommy unpacks 20+ years of urban ministry, including: What to do about the 1.2 million young people leaving the church every year How to communicate effectively to a church that’s increasingly young, urban, and multiethnic The two key ingredients f...

Every communicator must decide: Am I going to be the person pretending I don’t have flaws, or am I going to be someone with something to say? For Michele Cushatt一author, speaker, and communication coach一three bouts with tongue cancer, which left her with only two-thirds of her tongue and a permanent lisp, have taught her it’s the foundation of her life, not a polished facade, that makes her a tr...

If you’ve ever felt creatively fatigued from the demand to preach week after week, meet Bravingbird: a go-to resource to help you communicate the gospel story with more clarity, beauty, and authenticity. In this episode, Steve Carter interviews Nick Benoit (creative director) and Paul Johnson (executive director) about why the art of storytelling is a powerful communication tool for churches and o...

Sex is designed by God to be a gift, but tragically, it’s horribly misused to objectify women一not only in the world at-large一but also in the church. In this episode, Sheila Wray Gregoire, author of The Great Sex Rescue, She Deserves Better, and The Good Girl’s Guide to Great Sex, explains some heartbreaking trends in evangelicalism: Why sex has become about male entitlement and female obligation...

Andrew Arndt had an airtight plan for his life: keep preaching at the same church as lead pastor until his final breath. But when God led him out of his small, artsy community into a megachurch, while grateful for his new assignment, he found himself disoriented and mourning the loss of his former role. That’s when a friend recommended, “You should read the Desert Fathers and Mothers.” So he did,...

Every time James Forsyth preaches, his goal is to set hearts ablaze一like Jesus in Luke 24, when he opened the scriptures with his disciples and their “hearts burned within them.”  As the senior pastor at Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, TN, James is not interested in conjuring a response in himself or his people but wants to genuinely encounter the living God through Scripture.  In...

Prayer is the one thing we know we’re supposed to do, but often the thing we don’t know how to do一or if we’re 100% honest一the thing we don’t always want to do. In this episode, Steve Carter talks with Addison Bevere, who’s forthcoming book Words with God tackles questions like: How should we pray? Why isn’t God answering? Why do other Christians seem to hear from God daily, while we experience s...

Knowledge often produces hubris, not humility, which is why Joel Muddamalle is such a refreshing theological voice. As the Director of Theology and Research for Proverbs 31 Ministries, and a preaching pastor at Transformation Church in South Carolina, his passion is to show how theology can be lived out in everyday life. With grandparents who were missionaries in India, and parents who immigrated...

Back by popular demand, author and therapist Aundi Kolber shares about her forthcoming book, Strong Like Water. This book debunks stoic, soul-depleting platitudes like “No pain, no gain,” instead showing that healing from trauma is only possible through freedom, safety, and compassion. Aundi masterfully integrates psychology, neurology, and theology, and explains to Steve Carter three categories o...

UPDATE: Audio has been updated from the previous version. So, if you were only able to listen to the first 7 minutes, now you can hear the entire episode. For Ricky Jenkins, lead pastor at Southwest Church in Indian Wells, CA, preaching is “an exchange between heaven and earth.” He explains how diligent prep overlaps with sensitivity to the Spirit during the sermon一just as jazz music riffs freely...

Some people transport us beyond our blind spots and comfort zones一introducing us to a chorus of diverse voices echoing across God’s kingdom, from both church history and our own age. Jared Alcantara is one of those guides. Growing up in a bi-cultural home in a diverse low-income neighborhood, and now as Professor of Preaching at Truett Theological Seminary, his homiletics classes prominently feat...

In this special episode, Steve Carter talks to one of his mentors, Dr. Joe Grana, a longtime professor and dean at Hope International University, and currently a teaching pastor at The Refinery Christian Church in Arizona. Dr. Grana explains the importance of hermeneutics (the process of interpreting Scripture) and how it rescues teachers from the highly subjective “reader’s response” approach to...

“Ministry to men is on their time, their turf, and their agenda.” Steve Sonderman first heard those words from a mentor, and after pastoring at Elmbrook Church in Wisconsin for 34 years, serving as a chaplain for the Milwaukee Brewers, and launching No Regrets Men’s Ministry, he’s spent over three decades equipping the church to effectively disciple men. He currently serves as the president of No...

What topic is on every page of the Bible? The answer is MISSION: God’s heart to seek and save those who are not yet a part of his family. This mission is not just something we read about in Scripture一it’s happening right now, and you can be a part of it! In this final episode of 2022, Steve Carter, along with his friends at Food For the Hungry (FH), ask you to donate to the severe famine impactin...

Most communicators know the agony of staring at scattered notes, wondering how to shape them into a compelling message. Enter Jarrett Stevens, lead pastor Soul City Church in Chicago, who has spent 25 years honing his writing and outline process into what he now affectionately calls the “funnel of love.” Rather than a predictable formula, the funnel is like a trellis, undergirding messages with a...

For a lot of people, the holidays are physically frenetic, emotionally overwhelming, and spiritually distracting. Few slow down long enough to ponder what’s happening in their own souls, or to give more than a passing thought to the significance of this season: God coming to earth. That’s why Steve Carter is excited to introduce you to an incredible Advent devotional, written by his good friend Va...

The 2022 midterm elections, like most political events in our age, will undoubtedly spark new fires of division in our country一not only in the nation at large, but sadly, within the church. Enter Paul A. Hoffman, the lead pastor of Evangelical Friends Church in Newport, Rhode Island, and co-author of a new book: Preaching To A Divided Nation: A Seven-Step Model for Promoting Reconciliation and Un...

In his new book, Fan the Flame: Let Jesus Renew Your Calling and Revive Your Church, Jim Cymbala distills the Spirit-fueled, Bible-saturated ethos of his 50+ years in ministry. As Steve Carter affectionately quips, "Jim is like a firehose of passion and wisdom." In this episode, Jim explains why Acts 20 is the “spiritual selfie” every pastor should aspire to. He pushes back against the church grow...