In this episode, I welcome back Ariel Hill-Davis, the Policy Director for Republican Women for Progress. With populist candidates like JD Vance, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Madison Cawthorn, you have to wonder, can the GOP ever be a serious governing party again. Ariel thinks there’s still a chance and is working to support candidates who have a chance to defeat incumbents like Greene. With Democrats on track to lose the House of Representatives in November, the hope is to have Representatives in the GOP interested in policy and not owning the libs. Is there still hope for the GOP?website: enroutepodcast.orgLeave a Review: https://ratethispodcast.com/churchandmainEmail: [email protected] Notes:The GOP might retake Congress in the midterms. Then what? By Grayson QuayNot All Georgia Republicans Want More Marjorie Taylor Greene by Liz SkalkaRepublican Women for Progress HomepagePrevious Episode with Ariel Hill-DavisSupport the Show! https://pod.fan/en-route-journeys-in-faith-and-modern-life Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

We take a break from religion to focus on hedge funds. Hedge funds and private equity firms have an outsized role in the American economy. Some of your favorite stores might have been owned by a hedge fund or private equity firm. Some of these stores still exist, but some don’t. Stores like Shopko, ToysRUs, Payless Show and Sears were all at some point owned by a hedge fund or private equity firm and most of these firms have gone out of business.Coincidence? Jan Weir doesn't think so. Jan Weir is a Canadian litigation attorney in Toronto and he has followed how financial firms like hedge funds and private equity firms have inserted themselves in the economy and how they affect people from the choices we have in the marketplace or lack thereof to your pension fund. We had a great conversation about how these firms are able to do this, how the media and politics ignore what’s going on and what if anything can be done about it.website: enroutepodcast.orgLeave a Review: https://ratethispodcast.com/churchandmainEmail: [email protected]: https://bit.ly/enrouteytShow Notes:How Hedge Fund Billionaires Loot Worker Pensions by Jan WeirHow Greedy Investors Looted Sears Into Bankruptcy by Jan WeirHow Hedge Funds Helped The 1% Profit From The Great Recession by Jan WeirA hedge fund has targeted Kohl's Corp. with an unsolicited $9 billion purchase offer- Milwaukee Journal-SentinelThe Rewards of Poor Performance: CEO, Hedge Fund, and Private Equity Compensation by Dean BakerThe Value of Nothing: Capital versus Growth by Julius KreinWho Killed Sears and Kmart? Podcast EpisodeThe Men Who Are Killing America’s Newspapers by McKay CoppinsSupport the Show! https://pod.fan/en-route-journeys-in-faith-and-modern-life Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

I came to terms with my sexuality about 30 years ago when I was in my twenties. Because I was a Christian, I wanted to understand what it meant to be gay from a biblical perspective. One of the most formative books I read was Is the Homosexual My Neighbor by Virigina Ramey Mollenkott and Letha Dawson Scanzoni. It provided a theological understanding of being gay and it helped me understand that God accepted who I was as a gay man. That led me to ultimately find a good man that became my husband when we married in 2007.When I looked at the scriptures that were used to prohibit same sexual relations, I came to see them as misinterpretations or laws that were no longer in force. But there are gay Christians who see themselves as gay but take the prohibitions against sex literally.These people have a name: Side B Christians. Many of these people come from more traditional or conservative backgrounds. Side B Christians can be misunderstood by “Side A” Christians or gay Christians who are in same-sex relationships and are feared by straight people in conservative denominations. Today, I talk with a Side B Christian about his journey and the journey of compatriots. Wes Hill is the Assistant Priest at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Pittsburgh, PA and an Associate Professor in New Testament at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, MI.website: enroutepodcast.orgLeave a Review: https://ratethispodcast.com/churchandmainYouTube: https://bit.ly/enrouteytShow Notes:Side B Christians Like Me Are An Asset Not a Threat by Bekah MasonWhat Comes After the Ex-Gay Movement? The Same Thing That Came Before. By Greg JohnsonRevoice and the Vocation of Yes by Wes HillLove, Again by Wes HillBeyond religious life and marriage: A look at friendship as vocation by Eve TushnetSupport the Show! https://pod.fan/en-route-journeys-in-faith-and-modern-life Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Today we are chatting with Lutheran pastor Steve Thomason, who also happens to be an artist. Steve loves to draw and paint and it has been his passion since he was a child. He is the author and artist behind the cartoonist guide to the Bible. Steve is on a mission to use his art to tell the story of faith. “It is my mission to use art to create resources that help people grow deeper in God's love,” he says on his website. In the episode, we talk about how he became an artist, how he became a pastor and how the two passions intersect.website: enroutepodcast.orgLeave a Review: https://ratethispodcast.com/churchandmainYouTube: https://bit.ly/enrouteytShow Notes:A Cartoonist’s Guide to the Bible websiteSteve’s websiteSupport the Show! https://pod.fan/en-route-journeys-in-faith-and-modern-life Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Dennis shares this episode on two women 30 years ago searching for common ground.Full Episode and Show Notes  Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

One of the best takes on Mainline Protestantism are recent converts to Mainline Protestantism from evangelical backgrounds. They are able to see things about that church that people on the inside can’t see. Today, we are talking to Loren Richmond, Jr. a pastor in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) which is my denomination. A few months back he wrote an article on his substack called “Yoyos and Mainline churches.” We use a little physics to talk about how churches respond to members and how they reach out beyond the church.website: enroutepodcast.orgLeave a Review: https://ratethispodcast.com/churchandmainYouTube: https://bit.ly/enrouteytShow Notes:Yoyos and Mainline Churches by Loren Richmond Jr.Future Christian Podcast - Loren's Podcast Support the Show! https://pod.fan/en-route-journeys-in-faith-and-modern-life Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

On the one-year anniversary of the January 6 Insurrection at the US Capitol, Dennis reflects on the day and the American future in three acts.website: enroutepodcast.orgLeave a Review: https://ratethispodcast.com/churchandmainYouTube: https://bit.ly/enrouteytShow Notes:Year in Review Episode with Andrew Donaldson Support the Show! Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Geoffrey Kabaservice talks about J. Irwin Miller and the loss of Mainline Protestantism and Moderate Republicanism.Full Episode and Show NotesSupport the Show!  Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

En Route: Excursions is an experimental microcast that features snippets of longer conversations. This is one is with Drew McIntryre on Black Lives Matter.Do Black Lives Matter to Jesus?Full Episode and Show NotesSupport the Show! Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Sears and Kmart were once leaders in retail. Now they are nearly defunct. What happened? Retail journalist Warren Shoulberg tells us why.Full Episode and Show NotesEn Route: Excursions is an experimental microcast that features snippets of longer conversations.Support the Show!  Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe