In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the use of AI within the Church, and when and how it might be used. There's no question that AI has become ubiquitous in our world. And while it might not bother you to know that your grocery store, for example, uses AI to generate suggestions to improve your shopping experience, how would you feel knowing that your pastor used AI to write this weekend's message?

Alexis mentioned a study conducted by Barna last year about pastors and their use of AI, which found that 12% said they felt comfortable using AI to write their sermons. You can read more details in an article about the findings on NPR HERE. Dr. White does not share that level of comfort. In fact, he wrote a blog earlier this year titled “Why I Won't Use AI for Writing,” outlining his reason for making this decision. You can read that blog in its entirety HERE. And if you're interested in viewing the scene from Walk the Line that Dr. White talked about related to that blog entry, you can watch that on YouTube HERE.

AI is entering the Church in places other than pastors' sermons. Dr. White wrote another blog simply titled “AI Jesus” about a Catholic chapel in Switzerland where an avatar of “Jesus” was tucked into a confessional booth and parishioners could come and confess their sins and ask it questions. You can read that blog HERE.

There are a number of articles that provided information linked to today's episode or that were mentioned during the conversation. Should you wish to read more about the ways that AI is impacting our culture and the life of the Church, you can find those below:

Lila Shroff, “ChatGPT Gave Instructions for Murder, Self-Mutilation, and Devil Worship,” The Atlantic.

Jocelyn Gecker, “Teens say they are turning to AI for friendship,” AP News.

Deena Prichep, “Are AI sermons ethical? Clergy consider where to draw the line.” Religion News Service.

James Titcomb, “Musk launches AI girlfriend available to 12-year-olds,” The Telegraph.

Steven Lee Myers & Stuart A. Thompson, “Right-Wing Chatbots Turbocharge America's Political and Cultural Wars,” The New York Times.

Emma Roth, “Sam Altman says ChatGPT will soon sext with verified adults,” The Verge.

Rebecca Bellan, “California becomes first state to regulate AI companion chatbots,” TechCrunch.

Lee V. Gaines, “1 in 5 high schoolers has had a romantic AI relationship, or knows someone who has,” NPR.

Chloe Veltman, “AI's getting better at faking crowds. Here's why that's cause for concern,” NPR.

Howard Blume & Jocelyn Gecker, “What counts as cheating with AI? Teachers are grappling with how to draw the line,” Los Angeles Times.

Brian Kennedy et al., “How Americans View AI and Its Impact on People and Society,” Pew Research Center.

Lauren Jackson, “Finding God in the App Store,” The New York Times.

Finally, Dr. White discussed how parents need to be so aware of how and when their kids are using technology and AI. The Meck Institute at Mecklenburg Community Church has an on-demand class called “FaceTime: What Parents Need to Know About Technology, Social Media, Video Games and More,” which you can find HERE.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the results of a multi-year study of about 24,000 church attenders that was conducted by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. The goal was to examine their church engagement. A particular finding stood out, which was that 46% of those 24,000 churchgoers reported active engagement with more than one church. For purposes of the study, they defined “active engagement” as attending in person, watching online or on TV, or taking part in both physical and virtual offerings. So this begs the question: What drives people to want to participate in a variety of church services?

During today's discussion, Dr. White outlined three categories of churchgoers: the church hopper, the church shopper and the church dropper. He also wrote a blog about this topic titled “Church Hopping, Shopping and Dropping,” which you can read HERE.

It's also important to have a clear understanding of what Church is meant to be, and how we are called to engage with the community of the local church. Dr. White delivered a two-week series at Mecklenburg Community Church called “This Is Us,” which outlined the values and the mission of Meck. And then another incredibly helpful series was simply titled “Being Church” and explored what true biblical community looks like. You can find that series HERE.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss how when someone dies, those who call themselves Christ followers often find comfort in the thought that we'll see them again in Heaven (assuming, of course, that our loved one had a relationship with Jesus). But can we say the same thing about our beloved pets? Will we see them in Heaven?

Too often, this question is framed in such a way that people are essentially asking whether animals have a soul akin to humans, and therefore can they be saved. To that, the answer is, “No.” Biblically, theologically, no, they don't have souls. But there's for sure more to it than that. Dr. White wrote a recent blog on this same topic that you might be interested in reading HERE.

When it comes to animals and their presence on Earth, the conversation led to a discussion of creation, and specifically creation care. Dr. White did a series at Mecklenburg Community Church that you should check out if you'd like to go deeper on this topic. You can find that series HERE. Dr. White also mentioned a book that he found to be very helpful related to the series titled Stewards of Eden: What Scripture Says About the Environment and Why It Matters written by Sandra L. Richter.

Finally, Alexis referenced an article from The Washington Post about churches wading into the waters of things related to pets and grieving pet owners. You can read the article “Will My Dog Be in Heaven? Why Grieving Pet Owners Turn to Religious Groups” by Michelle Boorstein HERE.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

This week (And a day early, too!), we thought that we'd re-release last year's episode "On Halloween" for those who are new to the podcast and may have missed the discussion. In this conversation, Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye discuss how misunderstood the cultural history tied to Halloween really is. For many people, Halloween offers an excuse to dress up in a costume, for kids to rack up an insane amount of candy, or a reason to dust off an old horror film for a night's worth of adrenaline. But there are a lot of Christians who grapple with whether they should stay clear of any and everything tied to Halloween. To really understand it, you need to be familiar with its history and its background. Because its Christian roots run deeper than you may realize.

Dr. White began this discussion with a very helpful overview on the history and traditions that have led to our modern day celebration of Halloween. There is an article that you might find interesting written by Sophie Dickinson for The Telegraph titled “The origins of Halloween, from trick-or-treat to pumpkin carving.” And while a New York Times article from 1986 predicted that Halloween was on its way out as a cultural celebration, a recent article written by Aimee Ortiz highlights how it has quickly become a “retail monstrosity.” You can read that article HERE.

Dr. White has blogged in the past about how while many children embrace the fun and childlike innocence that Halloween can hold, it's often parents who are making it dark through their hyper-sexualized costumes. You can read that past blog HERE, as well as the article that Dr. White referenced titled “Good Girls Go Bad, for a Day.” And if you're interested in knowing what the most popular costumes will be this year, you can find the list from Frightgeist HERE.

Finally, at the top the episode, Alexis mentioned how last year, another holiday coincided with Halloween - the celebration of Diwali. Dr. White wrote a recent blog titled “Should I Attend a Diwali Celebration?”, which you can read HERE. This was also the topic of a past podcast episode that we'd encourage you to go back and listen to: CCP38: On Attending Diwali Celebrations and Gay Weddings.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the results of a recent study from Pew Research, summarized in an article titled, “10 facts about teens and social media.” Pew conducted a survey of teens between the ages of 13 and 17, as well as their parents. The goal was to discover teens' perspective on their experience with social media and its overall effect on their lives. And it revealed a great deal about their online world - the good, the bad and the ugly.

In addition to the Pew article, there were several other stories mentioned throughout the discussion that were related to the topic of teens and their online world. And as you heard Dr. White say, many of these are stories that were shared in the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday -posted to Church & Culture. If you're interested in reading more, check out the following articles:

William Wan, “‘It broke me': Inside the FBI hunt for the online predators who persuaded a 13-year-old to die,” The Washington Post, October 16, 2025.

David Ingram, “Instagram says it's overhauling how teens experience the app, making it more ‘PG-13',” NBC News, October 14, 2025.

Rebecca Bellan, “California becomes first state to regulate AI companion chatbots,” TechCrunch, October 13, 2025.

Rhitu Chatterjee, “Kids who use social media score lower on reading and memory tests, a study shows,” NPR, October 13, 2025.

Colleen McClain et al., “How Parents Manage Screen Time for Kids,” Pew Research Center, October 8, 2025.

“Social Media and News Fact Sheet,” Pew Research Center, September 25, 2025.

Lee V. Gaines, “1 in 5 high schoolers has had a romantic AI relationship, or knows someone who has,” NPR, October 8, 2025.

Jessie Balmert, “Pornhub says it won't shut down in Ohio over new age-verification law,” USA Today, October 10, 2025.

Caitlin Gibson, “What makes a man? The internet is defining it for teen boys.,” The Washington Post, October 8, 2025.

Geoff Brumfiel, “Kiss reality goodbye: AI-generated social media has arrived,” NPR, October 3, 2025.

Dr. White mentioned an installment of a series that he recently delivered at Mecklenburg Community Church (Meck) called “Streaming Now.” This series took a look at four of the most popular streaming series at the time, including “Adolescence,” which he discussed during today's episode. You can find that series HERE.

Finally, there are several series on parenting that Dr. White has given over the years at Meck that have been incredibly impactful for parents and families. As he said in today's episode, it's crucial for the Church to partner with families and to help guide them. You can find those series, as well as other series related to “Marriage and Family” HERE.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the 50th anniversary of Willow Creek Community Church. In 1975, a young leader named Bill Hybels founded this suburban church in South Barrington, just outside of Chicago. What made it such an outlier were really two things: it had a strong entrepreneurial, outside-of-the-box mentality, and it had a passion to do whatever it took to reach lost people. They became one of the fastest growing churches in the nation and went on to found the Willow Creek Association. While they have had a very rocky road of late, what God did through Willow Creek Community Church can not be ignored.

As Alexis mentioned at the start of the podcast, we've seemingly had a run of anniversary episodes. In case you missed the ones she mentioned, we'd encourage you to check out CCP165: On the Nicene Creed and CCP167: On the 100th Anniversary of the Scopes Trial.

There are two articles that might be of interest to you related to Willow Creek

Bob Smietana, “As Willow Creek Turns 50, the Onetime 'Church of the Future' Redefines Success,” Religion News Service, October 8, 2025.

Laura Barringer, “Did Willow Creek Skip Yom Kippur — Again?,” The Roys Report, October 10, 2025.

And finally, as the conversation eventually turned to the downfall of Bill Hybels, there are a few past podcast episodes that would be worth listening to if you missed them: CCP4: On Pastors and Moral Failings, CCP31: On Celebrity Pastors and CCP40: On Criticism of Mega Churches.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss an announcement made by the IRS back in July that churches and other houses of worship are now allowed to endorse political candidates directly to their congregations. This type of political activity had previously been barred by the IRS because of the tax-exempt status of nonprofits, but that's no longer the case. Today's conversation explores why this ban was initially put into place and what led to the change of heart.

You may be interested in reading more about this decision from the article in The New York Times that prompted today's conversation. “I.R.S. Says Churches Can Endorse Candidates From the Pulpit” was written by David A. Fahrenthold, and you can read it HERE. And Dr. White wrote a blog earlier this year titled “Pastors Endorsing Politicians,” which you can read HERE.

As Dr. White mentioned, while he wouldn't personally make the choice to endorse a political candidate from the pulpit, that does not mean that he feels the Church should shy away from speaking out on cultural and political topics. You may be interested in checking out the following series that were given by Dr. White at Mecklenburg Community Church: “What the Bible Really Says About…” explored the topics of A.I., immigration, abortion, politics and angels, and “Where Angels Fear to Tread: Meck Talks Politics” looked at how we, as Christians, are called to engage the political realm.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss another significant anniversary happening this year. We recently aired CCP165: On the Nicene Creed as 2025 marks the 1700th anniversary of the creed. This year also marks the 100th anniversary of what's known as the Scopes Trial (or the “Monkey Trial”) - a sensational trial in American history where the debate over creation vs. evolution entered the courtroom. Set in the small town of Dayton, Tennessee back in 1925, the trial set defenders of evolutionary theory against those who wanted public schools to teach what was considered to be a biblical view of the origin of the world's inhabitants.

As Dr. White mentioned, the church plays a huge role when it comes to apologetics - helping people to know why they believe what they believe and to be able to give an account of their faith to others. This has always been a priority at Mecklenburg Community Church. In fact, you may be interested in checking out the following series that were given by Dr. White, all related to apologetics and/or faith vs. science:

“Doubt”

“Don't Check Your Brains at the Door”

“The Science of God”

“Astrophysics… for People Who Are Open to God”

“Why Believe?”

There are two resources we'd suggest you check out related to the conversation today. For a better understanding of the Hebrew mindset, we'd suggest Our Father Abraham written by Marvin R. Wilson. And then for more on the interplay between faith and science, we suggest you read How I Changed My Mind About Evolution, edited by Kathryn Applegate and J.B. Stump.

Finally, today's discussion was sparked by an article on NPR by Scott Neuman and Nell Greenfieldboyce titled “100 years after evolution went on trial, the Scopes case still reverberates” outlining the cultural ramifications of this trial even 100 years later. You can read or listen to that article HERE.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a recent article in the New York Times written by Claire Kane Miller titled, “What Happens When Most of the Adults in Boys' Lives Are Women.” Studies show that children struggle acutely from the lack of a father figure in their lives and, according to the US Census Bureau, nearly one in four children lives without a father in the home. Today's conversation explores the impact and significance of not only fathers, but also positive male role models in the lives of young boys in particular, and how the church can play a role as well.

There are two books that Dr. White mentioned in today's episode that would be helpful for fathers and men to read to understand the impact they can have on the lives of their boys, as well as other young men. John Trent and Gary Smalley wrote a book titled, The Blessing: Giving the Gift of Unconditional Love and Acceptance. And John Eldredge wrote a book titled, Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul.

He also discussed two articles that highlight both the impact and role of men in the lives of boys, and also the challenge today in knowing what it even means to be a man:

Demaryius Thomas, “For Mamma,” The Player's Tribune.

Glenn Stanton, “Manhood Is Not Natural,” Public Discourse.

Finally, Dr. White noted how the church needs to step in and cast the vision for manhood, fatherhood, and the way that men can step up and be father figures in the lives of young boys within the church. There are several series that Dr. White has given at Mecklenburg Community Church that you may be interested in checking out: “Father Figure,” “Man Up,” and “The Sins of the Fathers.”

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they dive into the Nicene Creed, as this year marks its 1700th anniversary. As the early church absolutely exploded in growth - from about 7,500 followers in A.D. 100 to around 30 million by A.D. 310 - the challenge and question facing them was this: How would they stay united? How would this fast-growing, quickly expanding movement remain unified in vision and values, mission and purpose? The answer became clear, and led to the Nicene Creed being written in A.D. 325 by the Council of Nicaea.

Modern-day churches are increasingly turning to the words of this ancient creed to ground themselves in the foundations of the Christian faith. In fact, Daniel Silliman recently wrote an article in Christianity Today titled, “How the Nicene Creed Became Cool Again” that you may be interested in reading.

In honor of the Nicene Creed's 1700th anniversary, Dr. White recently kicked off a series at Mecklenburg Community Church titled “Credo,” which is the Latin word for creed. If you're interested in checking out this series, you can find it HERE. It's particularly important in our world today to ground the church in the words of the creed, especially in light of the findings of the most recent “State of Theology” survey showing that culturally, there has been a significant lapse in our understanding of what it means to be a Christian - among Christians. You can find that study HERE.

Finally, if you are interested in doing some additional study about the Nicene Creed, there are a few books that we would recommend on this topic: Mark Noll, Turning Points; Phillip Cary, The Nicene Creed; Jared Ortiz and Daniel A. Keating, The Nicene Creed; and J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.