Theology in the Raw

GregColes is back! Actually, he never left. We just split our conversation into two parts. In our first conversation, Greg shared about his coming out story and what advice he'd give to parents with gay kids, and to gay Christians who are thinking of coming out. Speaking of "gay Christians," that phrase is super debated, misunderstood, and has become the subject of much turmoil in the evangelical...

My good friend Dr. Greg Coles hangs out with me in my basement and we talk about faith, sexuality, and what it was like to comeout as gay. Greg gives some fantastic advice to Christian parents with gay kids and how to respond well when they come out. He also helps those who are wrestling with their sexuality to consider the right context, time, and person to come out to. Greg has an awesome book t...

Evan Wickham is a pastor, church planter, song writer, and worship leader. He's the pastor of Park Hill church in San Diego ( https://www.parkhillsd.church ) and has been wrestling with how to handle CA governor Gavin Newsom's order against indoor church gatherings. Should Christian churches obey or disobey this order? How essential are large indoor gatherings for "being" the church? Are Christian...

My friend #SamAllberry joins me to talk about the perennial question: "Is God Anti-Gay?" Many people think he is, that the Christian God has it out for gay people. But, as someone who experiences #samesexattraction and who also loves the Christian God with all his heart, Sam begs to differ. In this conversation, we talk about some pushbacks to the traditional sexual ethic, what the church can do b...

Tyler Burns is the vice-president of The Witness, which is a black Christian collective that engages issues of religion, race, justice, and culture from a biblical perspective. Tyler is also the co-host of "Pass the Mic" podcast. In this extra raw conversation, Tyler helps us understand current race conversations from a black perspective and educates white evangelicals on our own blind spots and h...

Lisa Fields is the founder and director of the #Jude3Project, which helps the Christian community know what they believe and why they believe it, with a strong emphasis in equipping those of African descent in the United States and abroad. In this conversation, Lisa unpacks the #blacklivesmatter concept and movement and how it relates to the #gospel. "Black lives matter to God," Lisa says is the m...

Madison Pierce is a New Testament scholar and professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. She did her Ph. D. on the book of Hebrews under Francis Watson at Durham University. In this conversation, we talk about various things related to her specialty in the book of Hebrews, specifically how the author (and we don't know who it is, by the way) weaves together Trinitarian thought throughout hi...

Lore (pronounced Lor-ee) Ferguson Wilbert just released her provocative book Handle With Care: How Jesus Redeems the Power of Touch in Life and Ministry. And it addresses lots of questions that are on peoples’ minds these days—especially men. Can I hug a woman? Side hug or full frontal? Is “the Billy Graham Rule” a good thing or an insulting thing—or a bit of both? How can Christian men avoid affa...

Becket’s story is absolutely incredible. He has one of those stories you hear from a distance and think, “this can’t be true.” But it is. Jesus is real and he is that powerful. Becket has an amazing story and he also has an amazing passion for an amazing savior. Becket shares his story in this podcast; he and Preston also dig into what it means to “leave homosexuality,” the controversy over gay id...

Spencer is a longtime friend, former boss, and the president of Eternity Bible College. We first met way back in Seminary nearly 20 years ago and have been friends ever since. Spencer is known for his towering height, shiny head, inability to be outwitted, but most of all for his imaginative and integrative approach to Christian education. In this episode, we talk about some of the things that are...

I've tried taking several Enneagram tests but I can never finish them. I hate the binary answers they give: When you walk into a room, do you want to dominate everyone or hide in the corner?" Ugh! What if it's neither!? That's why I reached out to my buddy Jeff Cook to have him give me a personal and conversational evaluation of my Enneagram score. Wait, is it a "score?" Or a number? I'm not a num...

The death of George Floyd has sparked many questions related to race relations, systemic racism, the use and abuse of force and power among the police force, faith and politics, partisanship, and many other questions. To help us think through these questions, I recently interviewed Justin Giboney from the AndCampaign in a live YouTube conversation, and this podcast is the audio version of that con...

Chris Wienand is like the master Yoda of church planting. From planting churches in South Africa to Los Angeles, to mentoring dozens of leaders around the globe, Chris has gained much wisdom about church and the gospel over the years. In this episode, we talk about what it means to be the church and the role that meals and organic gatherings should have in the life of the community. Chris believes...

Due to the incredible response I got from John’s first appearance on Theology in the Raw (Ep. 788), I had to have him back on! John is an infectious disease expert at the University of Chicago and he gives us an update on the virus. We talk about lockdown versus reopening, the probability of a second wave, the politicalization of the whole mess, what churches should do as they reopen, and much muc...

Sharon is a passionate follower of Christ who’s got a sharp mind and humble heart. Preston and Sharon talk about lots of things related to being a woman in pastoral and theological ministry. Sharon Hodde Miller leads Bright City Church in Durham, NC alongside her husband, Ike. In addition to earning her PhD, Sharon has blogged at SheWorships.com for nearly ten years, making God's Word accessible t...

Oh boy, are you in for a good one! Preston and Eugene talk about politics, so-called “Chinese viruses,” multiethnic churches, and much more in this controversy-laden podcast. We also talk about Eugene’s latest book Thou Shalt Not Be a Jerk , which helps Christians navigate the cesspool of partisan politics with truth and grace. Eugene Cho is a pastor, speaker, author, visionary and humanitarian. A...

In this long overdue Q & A podcast, Preston works through a fistful of scintillating questions sent in from his followers: Why he's not a fan of the documentary hypothesis, is his podcast anti-Trump, how to dialogue with people you really, really disagree with, unbiased news outlets, why he doesn't like the phrase "white evangelicalism," should churches post LGBTQ statements on their websites,...

Of all of Preston's favorite church planters, Hugh is definitely at the top of his list. In this podcast, Preston and Hugh talk about simplifying church in a post-Covid-19 world and exploring other ways of integrating discipleship into the marketplace, community, and natural rhythms of life. They also discuss the pros and cons of church services and their effectiveness for helping people live the...

In this podcast, John C. Bivona shares a wealth of information about the truth about Covid-19. John is a Senior Biosafety Officer for The University of Chicago – Howard T. Ricketts Laboratory, a Regional Biocontainment Laboratory, as well as a Registered Biosafety Professional with ABSA International (American Biological Safety Association). John was a lead trainer with the Duke Infectious Disease...

Juli Slattery is an expert in all things related to sex, sexuality, purity culture, female sexuality, true intimacy, and sexual discipleship--a super helpful term she unpacks in this thought provoking episode. Preston and Juli talk about a lot of things in this episode that's not often talked about in church, yet absolutely NEEDS to be talked about in church. This episode will be particularly help...

Preston is working through a stack of questions in this Q & A podcast. Would he ever participate in a pride parade? How should gay/SSA Christians build healthy relationships with people of the same sex? What are his thoughts on Vaccines? His thoughts on Robert Gagnon’s approach to same-sex sexuality/marriage? The value of reading books vs. blogs vs. periodicals? What’s the meaning of “the worm...

Preston sits down with his good friend and fellow Boise resident John Whittaker to talk about all things related to the church. Church structure, the role of the Sunday gathering, how preaching needs to change, the heightened need for discipleship, and why the LDS church might be on to something when it comes to Ecclesiology. John Whittaker is a preacher, teacher and pastor. He holds theology and...

Justin Brierley is the host of the very popular radio show (and podcast) Unbelievable. He’s interviewed many scholars, theologians, apologists, and atheists. He’s also hosted many debates between Christians and non-Christians--and he’s still a Christian. In this show, Preston and Justin talk about Christianity, defending the fact, the best arguments against Christianity, the problem of evil, athei...

In this different sort of podcast, Preston moderates a discussion between Chris Date (Trinitarian) and Sam Adams (Unitarian) about whether God is three in one or just one. Sam argues that there’s one God and Jesus and the Spirit are not that God, while Chris Date believes that God is Trinity--three persons of one divine essence. And both argue from the text of Scripture for their view. Sam Adams i...

This week in OT in the Raw, Preston discusses the Abrahamic Covenant and how it relates to the gospel, Abraham’s fragile faith, the weird covenant ceremony of Genesis 15, and the startling incident of Genesis 22--“go kill your son. Support Preston Support Preston by going to patreon.com Connect with Preston Follow him on Twitter @PrestonSprinkle Check out his website prestonsprinkle.com If you enj...