Seminary Dropout

J .R. Briggs serves as Cultural Cultivator of The Renew Community a Jesus community for skeptics and dreamers in Lansdale, PA – a suburb of Philadelphia, which he helped start. He is the founder and director of Kairos Partnerships an initiative that partners with leaders, pastors and church planters during significant kairos moments in ministry. As part of his time with Kairos Partnerships, he ser...

K ate Wallace is a co-founder of The Junia Project, Operations Manager for the Wesleyan Holiness Consortium, coordinator for the WHC Freedom Network, and an adjunct professor in political science. She is a committed Christian and millennial feminist who enjoys writing and speaking on the intersection of politics, religion, and gender. Her favorite theologian is Gilbert Bilezikian, and she loves ch...

Dallas Willards ‘The Divine Conspiracy’ focused    on the personal discipleship and transformation, and in the years since it’s release it’s made a profound impact on the lives of thousands of Christ-followers and odds are some of your favorite contemporary Christian authors have a special place in their hearts for The Divine Conspiracy. Willard along with my guest Gary Black Jr broaden the messag...

It’s hard to introduce someone like Walter Brueggemann. There are just too many accolades to mention. Yes, he’s got degree’s from Elmhurst College, Eden Theological Seminary, Union Theological Seminary, and a doctorate from Saint Louis University. He’s written books, at least 58 books by my count. He’s received numerous awards too including the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Union Theological Se...

J ason Boyett has a knack for boiling down complicated concepts and making them easy to understand to the average person. He displays this most notably in his ‘Pocket Guide’ book series. A.J. Jacobs, the author of The Year of Living Biblically called the Pocket Guides ‘smart’ & ‘hilarious’.  He’s written other things too, including a spiritual memoir called ‘O Me of Little Faith’, it’s shockingly...

D allas Willard, Richard Foster are names you probably know, they’ve both been on the forefront on modern Christian spiritual development with books like ‘The Celebration of Discipline’ by Foster and ‘The Spirit of the Disciplines’ by Willard just to name a few. Well if you don’t know James Bryan Smith, you should, he and his works were heavily influenced by Willard & Foster. He’s written among ot...

Y ou’ve probably known who Michael Gungor is for a long time. Maybe you first remember hearing him in The Michael Gungor    bands song ‘White Man’ on the Ancient Skies album. Michaels music is constantly evolving and eventually he went from The Michael Gungor band to a collective simply known as Gungor. The band has released 5 albums so far. Gungor’s latest album is called ‘I am Mountain’, and a d...

T hroughout the years Margot Starbuck has worn many hats, she’s been a chaplain to people with intellectual and physical disabilities, she painted and sold plungers, she’s swam next to a guy with epilepsy so he wouldn’t drown. I did say she wore many hats. Today you probably know her from one or more of her many books, her contributions to publications like Today’s Christian Woman or Red Letter Ch...

Michael Leary, is an Adjunct Instructor of Religious Studies at Fontbonne University as well as being a lecturer at Emmaus Bible College in Sydney, Australia, so naturally I have him here on the show to talk about AMC’s television show Mad Men.   Michael writes for the website  Filmwell  and recently wrote a few  pieces on the biblical imagery in Mad Men . My friends know that I  love  Mad Men, an...

M y guest today is WM Paul Young. Paul grew up as the son a missionaries in what is now West Papua. There he experienced trauma at the hands of the indigenous people, as well as his own family. Paul grew up and worked various jobs, some in ministry, and some outside. Some point along the way he began keeping secrets from everyone around him including his wife and children. When his secrets came to...

M y guest today is worship leader, and author Carlos Whittaker. Carlos has been the worship leader for Andy Stanley’s Buckhead Church in Atlanta and is on the leadership team for Catalyst, as well as leading worship at many of their events. In Moment Maker, Carlos explains his methodology for living intentionally and claiming moments that touch the lives of others, whether that be his family, his...

A s it says on the back cover of ‘Slow Church’: Chris Smith & John Pattison invite us out of franchise faith and back into the kingdom of God, where people know each other well and love one another as Christ loved the church.   Some things we discuss on the show… What is the McDonaldization of the church and what is it doing to us? Some dangerous ramifications of the church growth movements. Why e...

Kerry Weber is a Mercy Associate and Managing Editor of America magazine. She is an alumna of the Mercy Volunteer Corps and of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She lives in New York City. The Corporal Works of Mercy are 7 acts. Six come from Matthew 25:34-40 and the final one comes from  the  Book of Tobit . 1. To feed the hungry. 2. To give drink to the thirsty. 3. To clothe...

Preston Sprinkle is a New York Times bestselling coauthor, he also has a PhD in New Testament from Aberdeen University and currently teaches at Eternity Bible College, and will be moving to Boise, Idaho with his family to help EBC establish a new campus there. You can find Preston online at  PrestonSprinkle.com . affiliate link Preston joins me to talk about his latest book  Fight: A Christian Cas...

David Leo Schultz has had a little bit of experience in show business, even worked with heavy weights like Chevy Chase. Lucky for us David is also a fan of the music and life of Rich Mullins, so much so that he approached Dave Mullins (Rich's brother) about making a movie about Rich's life. David talks about that interesting first meeting with Dave, how he originally got shot down, but then was in...

Christian Piatt is an author, editor, speaker, musician and spoken word artist. Currently he serves as the Director of Acquisitions and Author Development for CrowdScribed, and as the Director of Growth and Development for First Christian Church (DOC) in Portland, OR, of which his wife Amy is the Senior Minister. Christian is the creator and editor of the Banned Questions book series, including th...

B ruxy Cavey, author of best selling End of Religion, is Teaching Pastor of The Meeting House in Canada. If you’ve listened to Bruxy’s sermons in person or online, you know they’re unique, creative, and accessible without being shallow. Bruxy joins me on the show to talk about his fascinating journey that led him to become an Anabaptist and a pastor at The Meeting House, his book  The End of Relig...

Friends David Gungor & John Arndt together form the band, The Brilliance. As I say in the interview, they sound a little like a score from an M. Night Shyamalan movie (one of the good early ones), with a little bit of Ben Folds, and David Bazaan thrown in at times, and at the same time it's something completely unique and groundbreaking. You can find The Brilliance online at  thebrilliancemusic.co...

Brooke Waggoner grew up in a musical household and started writing music around the age of 8 or 9. Luckily for us she kept at it and now has released several albums. Some of her songs are hauntingly beautiful and some are just down right fun. Brooke was classically trained and it shows in a genre that doesn't require a classic influence, but when it's there, you feel it.  Brookes latest album is c...

You can't not love those tattoo's. My friend Andy Campbell joins me on the show to talk his life and work. Andy works at George Fox Seminary and has a pretty great blog on the side. Andy lives in Portland, OR, where he lives with his wife and two daughters. Andy's done some fascinating work in the area of spiritual discipline which we discuss on the show. Andy and I both have contributed to a book...

C hristena Cleveland is many things, she’s a social psychologist, a gifted teacher, a consultant to pastors and leaders on multicultural issues, but she is also a Jesus follower who has used her expertise and research to call the church to unity through diversity.  In  Disunity in Christ: Uncovering the Hidden Forces that Keep Us Apart , Christena aptly points out that simply saying that the doors...

Today on the show my guest is author, speaker, and writer Frank Viola. Frank has written books about the church such as Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices , and  Reimagining Church: Pursuing the Dream of Organic Christianity . He also writes about following Jesus in books such as  Jesus: A Theography , and his latest  Jesus Now: Unveiling the Present-Day Ministry of C...

 Five years ago  When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself  hit the shelves. For many of us, it was a game changer. Most Christ-followers have a desire to help those in poverty, but perhaps the biggest barrier is that we simply don’t know how. Authors Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert establish two main truths that help us navigate this tulmultuous issue:...

In November 2010 Pastor Eddie Byun was given a copy of David Batstone's Not for Sale. Eddie devoured the book and quickly became shocked and outraged about the injustice that was human trafficking. Since then Eddie and his church, Onnuri English Ministry have been working in various ways to combat human trafficking both in their homeland of South Korea and around the world. In his book 'Justice Aw...