Shifting Culture

This is a conversation with Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost that gets to the heart of what the church is called to be - a community of adventure, risk, and mission. Alan and Mike have revised and re-released their book "The Faith of Leap" that challenges the church to shed its obsession with safety and security, and instead embrace the risky, liminal spaces where the kingdom of God breaks...

Today, I am excited to welcome you to this conversation with Charlie Peacock. Charlie is a gifted musician, producer, and storyteller whose life and art intertwine in the most captivating way. In this episode, we're going to dive deep into the roots and rhythms that have shaped Charlie's remarkable journey. We'll uncover the hidden history of his family's racial identity, explo...

What does it mean to be a family in the kingdom of God? Not the idealized, airbrushed version we so often see, but the messy, beautiful, ever-evolving reality of what it means to be bound together in love. Too often, we approach family life with a set of assumptions - a blueprint we've been handed, a script we feel we must follow. But what if the way of Jesus calls us to something deeper, som...

Erin Hicks Moon is here with us today, and I'm thrilled to have her. Erin has a new book coming out called "I've Got Questions: The Spiritual Practice of Having It Out with God," and it delves right into the tension at the core of so many of our spiritual lives - the push and pull between our faith and our doubts, our certainty and our questions. You know, we often treat faith...

What if the very institutions meant to uplift us are the ones holding us back? That's the question at the heart of my conversation today with therapist and author Andrew Bauman. Through years of research and interviews, Andrew has uncovered a troubling reality within the church, one where women often feel marginalized, silenced and forced to make themselves smaller just to keep the peace, one...

This is a fantastic conversation with Ian Morgan Cron about his new book "The Fix" and the transformative power of the 12 steps. Ian makes the case that the 12 steps offer a path of healing and recovery not just for addicts, but for anyone struggling with that universal human condition of feeling "not at home" in this world. The key, as Ian explains it, is starting with that cr...

Tori Hope Petersen has a story to tell - one that gets to the heart of how we find our way through trauma and self-doubt to a place of self-acceptance and purpose. As someone who grew up in the foster care system, emancipating at 18 without a forever family, Tori had to navigate a lot of uncertainty and pain. But through that journey, she's learned invaluable lessons about the power of commun...

You know, there's this thing that happens - we get so caught up in the doing, the productivity, the hustle. We define ourselves by what we accomplish, by the checkboxes we can tick off. But what if there's another way? What if we're not just cogs in a machine, but creative beings made in the image of a creative God? In this episode, we dive into that question with author Maria Bowle...

What does it look like to engage culture as a Christian in today's world? Is it a battle to be won, a system to be escaped, or something else entirely? In this thought-provoking discussion, Keith Simon lays out a vision for what he calls "joyful outsiders" - Christians who embrace their identity as outsiders, but who engage the culture in diverse and creative ways. Keith draws from...

This is a conversation about how to faithfully engage culture as a Christian in a disorienting time. Our guest is Patrick Miller. He is a Pastor, Podcast host, and co-author of the book "Joyful Outsiders." In this conversation, Patrick shares how he was drawn to a church that was actively engaged in the community - supporting nonprofits, influencing local businesses, and making a real im...

This is a conversation about discernment - about how we listen for and respond to the quiet, persistent voice of God in our lives. Our guest today is Trevor Hudson, a pastor and spiritual director who has spent decades wrestling with this question. As Trevor puts it, when we open our lives to Christ, he brings his whole family with him. Our faith is never just a private, individual thing - it&apos...

This is a conversation about certainty, mystery, and the divine. Our guest today is Liz Charlotte Grant, author of the book "Knock at the Sky." Liz takes us on a journey through her own life, from growing up in the certainty of white American evangelicalism, to encountering the mystery and presence of God in powerful experiences. As Liz dives into the book of Genesis, she shows us how re...

Today, I'm excited to bring you a conversation that gets to the core of what it means to be human - to grapple with pain, trauma, and the longing to be truly seen and loved. My guest is Michael John Cusick, author of the new book "Sacred Attachment," and he's here to share his deeply personal journey of moving from a place of fear and shame into an embodied experience of God&ap...

In this episode, we are counting down our ten most listened to episodes of the year. You will hear clips from: 10. Ep. 160 Emily P. Freeman - Discerning When to Stay and When to Go 9. Ep. 187 Elizabeth Oldfield - Becoming More Fully Alive 8. Ep. 212 Brady Boyd - Pursuing Unity in a Divided World 7. Ep. 243 Mike Cosper - The Church in Dark Times: Resisting the Lure of Ideology 6. Ep. 218 Natalie Ru...

In this episode we are counting down our ten favorite movies of 2024 with guests Elijah Davidson and Craig Detweiler. Elijah's List: 10. The Piano Lesson 9. Between the Temples 8. Conclave 7. Dune: Part Two 6. Fly 5. Megalopolis 4. Me 3. Anora 2. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga 1. Challengers Craig's List: 10. Rebel Ridge 9. A Real Pain 8. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga 7. Conclave 6. I Saw the TV Glow...

We are counting down our ten favorite books of 2024. Joshua, Lore, and Liam will each share their list of ten. To see my full list go to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com Lore’s List: 10. The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl 9. How to Walk Into a Room by Emily P. Freeman 8. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr 7. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn 6. The Book of Belonging by Mariko Clark 5. The Quickening...

Today, our guest is Munther Isaac, Academic Dean of Bethlehem Bible College and pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem. Munther’s family have been shepherds in the same hills as the shepherds who heard from the angel of God that first Christmas. And although the world is fighting to dehumanize the Palestinian people and the people in Gaza, the words of the angel are still...

My guest today is Phil Moore, author of the book "The Forgotten Manifesto of Jesus." Phil is a former megachurch pastor in London who went through a major shift during the pandemic. See, Phil was leading this thriving church, doing all the things we're told to do to grow a big, successful congregation. But then COVID hit, and everything changed. Why? Because Phil started asking some...

Today, I’m excited to welcome Anna Morgan to the show to talk about growing women in ministry. Anna is a pastor, academic, and author who has done incredible research on the unique challenges and opportunities that women face in leadership roles within the church. Anna has an amazing personal story that really sets the stage for this discussion. She experienced tremendous tragedy early in her marr...

Patriarchy is a power that steals, kills, and destroys. But in the darkness, the Spirit of God hovers, waiting to give birth to new life. Danielle Strickland joins us today to shed light on this critical issue facing the church. Danielle unpacks how patriarchy has deeply distorted our view of God, the scriptures, and the flourishing of men and women together. She shares how this male-centered orde...

Today we have a conversation with Pete Portal, author of the book "How to Be (Un)successful" (or "Stop Trying to Be Successful" for our American listeners). Pete has spent the last 15 years living and working in the township of Mannenberg, South Africa, a community plagued by gang violence, drug addiction, and systemic injustice. What Pete has learned through this experience fl...

Today we have a conversation about rediscovering the true meaning of Christmas. Our guest is AJ Sherrill, author of the book "Rediscovering Christmas." AJ takes us back 2,000 years to unpack the rich cultural context and deeper significance behind the Christmas story that we often miss in our modern celebrations. AJ explains how the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem - the "house of bread&...

You know, when you think about the Christmas story - the birth of Jesus, the angels, the shepherds, the wise men - it's easy to get caught up in the sentimentality of it all. The cozy nativity scene, the baby in the manger, the promise of peace on earth. But what if I told you that the real story of Jesus's birth is much grittier, much more rooted in the harsh realities of human sufferin...

Our guest is Anjuli Paschall, author of the new book "Feel: A Collection of Liturgies Offering Hope for Every Complicated Emotion." We have a conversation about the power and importance of our emotions, and how to engage with them in a healthy, transformative way. Anjuli has such an insightful and nuanced perspective on this topic. She talks about how she grew up in a Christian culture t...

In this conversation, we dive into how Jesus read and engaged with scripture - and how that should inform how we, as his followers, approach the Bible today. It’s not something I’ve thought about explicitly. This is a much needed conversation. My guest is Michael Pahl, author of the book "The Word Fulfilled," and he brings a really thoughtful, nuanced perspective on this topic. One of th...