Pastoral Theology with Joseph Lear Podcast

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit pastoraltheology.josephmlear.com The Sahel of West Africa is one of the harshest places on earth to live: desertification, food and water scarcity, malaria and dysentery, and political upheaval. That’s where my parents became missionaries in the early 90s. And it’s where I grew up running the streets, slingshotting lizards, and playing...

Hello everyone, my name is Joseph Lear, and this is Pastoral Theology. I’m a pastor, theologian, and professor bringing theology into the local church and the local church into theology because they belong together. In today’s episode I host Matthew Erickson , author of The Pastor as Gardener. Matt is pastor at Eastbrook Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His book is all about how the pastoral life n...

What if the way evangelicals learned to defend the Bible actually corrupted the way we read it? That’s not a hostile question from a skeptic on the outside. That’s the argument my friend, Tyler Bream, makes from inside the tradition — carefully, historically, and, dare I say, convincingly. He wrote about this at Regent University tracing how evangelical hermeneutics developed, and his conclusion i...

I had the incredible privilege of interviewing Dr. Josh Brahinsky about his forthcoming book, Tongues of Fire: How Charismatic Prayer Changes Evangelical Brains and Inspires Spirit-Filled Activism. Josh is in the department of Religious Studies at Stanford University and the department of Transcultural Psychiatry at McGill University and Sir Mortimer B Davis Jewish General Hospital—Which makes him...

I’m not a fan of trying to argue people into the kingdom of God. But neither do I think becoming a Christian is a leap into the irrational abyss of faith. So what the alternative? Peter’s Pentecost sermon is a great place to start. In this vid, I talk a little about my creative process, and then try to do what Peter did by preaching Mark 2. Give it a watch, give it a listen, and let me know what y...

I’m writing a book about Pentecostal proclamation in the 21st century, and I’m sharing the process with you. The working title is Tongue On Fire: Pentecostal Proclamation in the 21st Century . It’s coming out with Logion soon-ish 😅. In my last post about the book (which is somewhat embarrasingly from October) I sermonized about seeing Jesus without seeing him. This video follows on that, but with...

I’ve been heading up a project to get Chris EW Green ’s Surprised by God: How and Why What We Think About the Divine Matters translated into Spanish. Both the English and Spanish versions are 50% off with free media mail right now with the code CONFSHIP on the Wipf and Stock website. Theology en Español This is all in service of Evangel’s brand spankin’ new Spanish theology initiative. We’ve got a...

Here’s another bit about my forthcoming book on Pentecostal preaching 🤓 In the first part, I talk for 2-3 mins about mechanical and stylistic matters—like how I’ve manuscripted most of my sermons over the last 10 years, and how I always try to preach for the ear 👂. In the second part, I preach a short sermon on Jesus—specifically, how we see him when we can’t see him. The chapter draft I just fi...

One of the odd ways that conservatism and liberalism in theology horseshoe together is anti-intellectualism. It’s a rejection of complicated, calm thoughtfulness about all things theological. In this video I talk about that, and how our zeal and loving devotion for Jesus might actually lead us astray in our worship of him. But you need to watch the whole video to know what I mean by that, because...

All Christian preaching should be Pentecostal preaching. One of the things that means is that all preaching should set the eyes of the congregation to the end times horizon. Jesus is coming back. The resurrection of the dead will happen. There’s a new heavens and new earth. In this video I intro a little more about my new book on Pentecostal preaching, and share a homily I wrote for chapter 2. Thi...

It was my friend Matt Burdette who pointed out to me that the Communist Manifesto is a work of eschatology more than political philosophy. This insight ran parallel to some other research I’d been doing in theological ethics, namely that it’s impossible to know what we should do without knowing what time it is . In this vid, I talk about my research and writing process for my upcoming book on Pent...

I’m a Pentecostal, and, as my mentor, Marty Mittlstadt, has written, Luke-Acts has functioned like a Bible within the Bible for the movement . In this video pod I talk about what my doctoral research was all about, and connect it to my ongoing ministry in the local church. Luke-Acts is not my Bible within a Bible, but my research has definitely impacted my pastoral ministry. I’ve taken very seriou...

Here are a few reasons I wrote Resurrecting Worship: A Pentecostal Liturgy for Slow Burn Revival. * In an American evangelical church dominated by stories of megachurches, we need more stories of the faithful work happening in rural and urban contexts. * I want to show how our works of compassion and social justice need to be founded worship of the Triune God. If they’re not, the church is just an...

My next book is on Pentecostal preaching, which should be out next year. I’m convinced that preachers learn to preach more by imitation than by following a list of principles. With that in mind, I’m including a short homily that touches on the theme of each chapter in the book. This one is from the introduction. You get kudos if you can cite all the scriptures I quote 🙃😉 If you found it helpful...

On Holy Saturday we observed a miscarriage memorial service at Resurrection Assembly of God, and I want to share a portion of that event with you. There’s a number of reasons we did this, the first being that miscarriages are so common, so heartbreaking, so often unacknowledged, and even more frequently un-grieved. But we’ve also been working with the University of Iowa Public Health department th...

The kingdom of God is like an immigrant widow who loved her destitute mother-in-law. That’s what I preached this last Sunday. What I didn’t preach I think is noteworthy: I didn’t preach about the Nov 5th US elections. Instead of focussing on who might end up being the most powerful woman in the world, I preached about perhaps the most insignificant woman in religious history who ends up giving us...

This is Pastoral Theology with Joseph Lear: Housing is a major problem in Iowa City. Over the years at Resurrection Assembly, we’ve moved our congregants in and out of houses, advocated for them with their landlords, and facilitated emergency storage when they have no place to keep their belongings. Pastor Abby and her husband have housed homeless kids. We’ve prayed for the miracle of a roof over...

America is a temporary project. As often as we pray the Lord’s Prayer asking for God’s kingdom to come, we’re praying for the end of the United States of America. We look forward to the day when all people will be united in the one nation, under God, in God, by God, and with God. In this sermon that I preached on the 7th of July 2024 I tell my congregation about the importance of remembering where...

I preached this sermon on June 23, 2024 on 1 Samuel 17. Give it a listen and let me know what you think. Grace and peace to you. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pastoraltheology.josephmlear.com/subscribe

I was on sabbatical from my church, Resurrection Assembly of God, from April-July 2023. This is the sermon I preached my first Sunday back. About two-thirds of the way through, I get vulnerable about the ways I’ve been wrestling with God over the last year. And I challenge you, my listener, to wrestle with God too. I explain why you should in the audio. I’ve left some of the introductory remarks i...