Gravity Commons Podcast

We continue our series on spiritual formation by talking with K.J. Ramsey about how to find grace and transformation in the midst of suffering that won’t go away. K.J. is a therapist and the author of This Too Shall Last: Finding Grace When Suffering Lingers, . You can find out more about K.J. and her […] The post Finding Grace When Suffering Lingers with K.J. Ramsey appeared first on Gravity Lead...

We continue our series on spiritual formation by talking with Jim Wilder about how to cultivate a community of transformation by developing loving attachment to God together. Jim is the author of Renovated: God, Dallas Willard, and the Church That Transforms, and the founder and chief “neurotheologian” of Life Model Works, an organization that links […] The post Transformation By Loving Attachment...

Continuing our series on spiritual formation, and we talked with Fr. Albert Haase on becoming an “ordinary mystic”. Fr. Albert (pronouced “Al-bear”) is a Franciscan priest and author of Becoming an Ordinary Mystic: Spirituality For the Rest of Us. He is the chaplain at Cedarbrake Catholic Retreat Center in Temple, Texas, and leads virtual “at-home” […] The post Becoming an Ordinary Mystic with Fr....

We are starting a new series on spiritual formation, and we kick it off by talking with Gem and Alan Fadling on what it looks like to meet God in your actual everyday life. The Fadlings are spiritual directors and run a ministry called Unhurried Living. We talked with them about their recent book What […] The post Meeting God in Your Actual Life with Gem and Alan Fadling appeared first on Gravity...

Matt and Ben interview Dr. Amy Brown Hughes on how Christian women influenced the shape of the church in its formative centuries. Women were preachers and philosophers, martyrs and empresses, virgins and mothers, faced wild beasts in the arena, and governed the Roman empire itself. Dr. Hughes helps us see the massive role women played […] The post Amy Brown Hughes on Amazing Ancient Christian Wome...

Matt and Ben discuss the complexities of navigating social media as a leader. Quite a few issues are presented, many questions are asked, and only a few provisional conclusions are reached. It could all change at any moment, kind of like social media. Become a patron Gravity Leadership is a community of leaders who […] The post Navigating Social Media as a Leader appeared first on Gravity Leadersh...

Pastor, author, and spiritual director Jared Boyd joins us for this final episode of our mini-series on parenting. Jared wrote a remarkable book called Imaginative Prayer: A Yearlong Guide for Your Child’s Spiritual Formation that’s part catechism, part imaginative prayer exercises, part spiritual direction! Links from this episode Our Parenting in Grace and Truth Workshop […] The post Leading Kid...

Dr. Beth Felker Jones joins us in the final podcast in our mini-series on the coronavirus pandemic (remember that’s still happening?). We discuss why so many of us are finding it difficult to pray right now, and Beth talks about her own experience of praying in this time, which led to her collecting prayers in […] The post How to Pray During a Pandemic With Beth Felker Jones appeared first on Grav...

Mark and Lisa Scandrette join us in our podcast series on parenting to discuss what they’ve learned about creating a thriving family culture of “belonging and becoming” (which sounds a lot like “grace and truth” which is probably why we resonate so much with them!). The Scandrettes are great because they share more than just […] The post Creating a Thriving Family Culture with Mark and Lisa Scandr...

N.T. Wright (!!) joins us for our mini-series on the coronavirus pandemic to talk about his new book God and the Pandemic: A Christian Reflection on the Coronavirus and Its Aftermath. We had a lively and illuminating conversation about the Christian response to the pandemic, as well as the recent protests against police brutality and […] The post N.T. Wright on the Christian Response to the Pandem...

Lacy Finn Borgo joins us in our series on parenting to talk about how to have spiritual conversations with children. Often we as parents are scared to try and have spiritual conversations with our kids, but Lacy shows us how. Lacy teaches and provides spiritual direction for the Renovaré Institute as well as the Doctor […] The post How to Have Spiritual Conversations With Children with Lacy Finn B...

Keirsh Cochran is a cop, and a Christian, and is the youngest active police chief in the country. Keirsh has been seeking to reform the way policing is done since he became a police officer, and he joins us to give us his perspective as a Christian (and a cop) on police brutality, the protests, […] The post A Cop’s Perspective on Police Brutality and the Protests appeared first on Gravity Leadersh...

We are starting an extra mini-series this month focused on the church’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. In this first episode we interview Mike Frost on what the pandemic is revealing about us. Mike teaches at Morling College in Sydney, Australia. He is an internationally recognized missiologist and one of the leading voices in the […] The post Mike Frost on What the Pandemic is Revealing Ab...

This is the second episode in our series on parenting, and it’s all about the pitfalls and potential of youth ministry. We talk with Andrew Root, Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary, and author of The End of Youth Ministry: Why Parents Don’t Really Care About Youth Groups and What Youth Workers […] The post The End of Youth Ministry with Andrew Root appeared first on Gravity...

We are starting a new series today on parenting. You don’t have to be a parent to benefit from this series, either. There are a lot of connections and parallels between leadership in general and parenting in particular that we are confident there will be good insights for everyone in this series. To kick things off, […] The post How to Make Faith Matter For Our Kids with Natalie Frisk appeared fir...

So often the reason that nonviolence doesn’t feel like a viable option for Christians is that we simply have never seen what nonviolent action looks like, and because of this lack of imagination, nonviolence seems unrealistic or naïve. That’s why we were excited to talk with Ron Sider about his book Nonviolent Action: What Christian Ethics […] The post Cultivating an Imagination for Nonviolent Act...

What does it actually look like to walk in the way of the Christlike God? To become human as God is human? Author and patristic scholar Brad Jersak walks us through the 7 elements of the “more beautiful way” that results from believing the “more beautiful gospel” that God is just like Jesus. Links from […] The post Brad Jersak on Learning to Become Human Like Jesus appeared first on Gravity Leader...

We continue our Desert Stories series, interviewing John Stallsmith, pastor of Grace Snellville, part of the Grace Family of Churches in the Atlanta area. Part of John’s story is how he needed to confront his own brokenness in the midst of walking through a season of difficulty and loss. Links from this episode The Enneagram […] The post Facing Your Own Brokenness: A Desert Story With John Stallsm...

Many states are talking about “opening up” and churches are confronted with the question of WHEN and HOW to start gathering again. On Wednesday, May 6, 2020, we gathered a few pastors from the Gravity community on Facebook Live for a discussion focusing on the following questions: When and how are you planning to gather? […] The post Reopening Church? A Pastors Panel appeared first on Gravity Lead...

We continue our Desert Stories series, interviewing Angie Ward, author, teacher, learner, and thinker. Angie recently wrote I Am A Leader: When Women Discover the Joy of Their Calling, and we talked with her about the journey of discovering her calling to lead as a woman. Links from this episode The Enneagram and Stress: Transformation […] The post Leading As a Woman: A Desert Story with Angie War...

We continue our Desert Stories series, interviewing Jason Raitz, pastor of Thrive Church in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, about the pressures of church planting, depression, and almost burning down Bill Hybels’ house (yes you read that right). Links from this episode The Enneagram and Stress: Transformation Through Crisis, an online workshop May 9, 2020 Parenting in […] The post Depression and Church...

We continue our Desert Stories series by interviewing Dan Deeble, founder of Lost Ball Consulting, and former lead and teaching pastor of Heartland Community Church in the Kansas City area. Links from this episode The Enneagram and Stress: Transformation Through Crisis, an online workshop May 9, 2020 Parenting in a Pandemic: Grace and Truth in […] The post Fasting From Preaching: A Desert Story Wi...

The devastation and suffering brought on by the coronavirus pandemic has raised a perennial question: “Where is God in the midst of all this?” We interviewed Geoff Holsclaw and Michael Gonzalez, who have both recently written helpfully on this subject. We tackle some of the “go to” phrases we often reach for (like “God is […] The post Where is God in the Coronavirus Pandemic? appeared first on Gra...

We start a new series today called Desert Stories, focusing on how God works in our lives through “wilderness” seasons; times of suffering and struggle, times of grief and loss. In this first episode, Ben, Matt, and Ben share some of their own desert stories to kick off the series. Links from this episode Our […] The post Desert Stories: A New Series on How God Shapes Us in Suffering appeared firs...

We’re a few weeks into the coronavirus pandemic. What is happening now and what are we learning? On Thursday, April 2, 2020, we gathered a few pastors for a COVID-19 / Coronavirus Panel focusing on the following questions: How are you handling care structures? What are you doing for Easter? How are you talking about […] The post Coronavirus a Few Weeks In: Now What? (Pastors Panel) appeared first...