In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the distressing rise of gun violence in the United States. This is an issue, like so many others, that is increasingly polarizing in our culture. Regardless of where you stand on gun control, there is no doubt that gun violence is having devastating impacts on everyone. And there seems to be a radicalization of young people that is taking place through the internet and social media that is a very disturbing trend.

Dr. White wrote a 2012 blog that the Church & Culture Team has (sadly) released over the years as mass shootings have happened in the U.S. It is appropriately titled “The Answer Is Evil”. Dr. White also mentioned that at Mecklenburg Community Church, our MecKidz Children's Ministry sent out resources for parents to help them talk with their children when tragic events occur:

“Talking to Kids about Mass School Shootings” from Focus on the Family

“8 Suggestions for Talking to Your Kids About Mass Shootings” from FamilyLife

“How to Help Your Kids Process Tragic News” from Focus on the Family

During their conversation, they discussed how Christians are called to have the same level of concern for the sanctity of life on the matter of gun violence and its victims as they do for abortion. For reference, it would help to listen to CCP10: On Roe v. Wade.

Often times, the Christian response to mass shootings is to say “you're in my thoughts and prayers.” Dr. White mentioned a resource that sheds light on the importance of not trivializing this phrase to a mere sound bite: Taylor S. Schumann When Thoughts and Prayers Aren't Enough: A Shooting Survivor's Journey into the Realities of Gun Violence, which you can find on Amazon.

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. In fact, here are two recent stories shared related to this episode's discussion that you may have missed, both from the New York Times:

“A Disturbing New Pattern in Mass Shootings: Young Assailants”

“A Church, a Gathering Place for Generations, Becomes a Hub for Uvalde's Grief”

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the nature of today's cancel culture. What started in the '80s in the dating realm has taken on a life of its own in the last few years, largely through the platform of social media. On one side, you have those who say that it keeps people accountable and on the other side you have those who say that it violates free speech. Regardless of where you land, cancel culture has become the effort to block someone from their platform and, when possible, to end their career. So what are Christians to think about it all?

Dr. White has written a few blogs that have touched on this topic that would serve to add to this conversation. “Cancelling Cinderella's Trip to the Ball” looked at the desire some people had to keep Oral Roberts University from playing in the NCAA Tournament in 2021 due to “the university's deeply bigoted anti-LGBTQ+ policies.”

With the increasing frequency of people being “canceled,” it can be tricky for pastors especially to know what topics are considered “safe” to talk about - you can read about that in a blog titled, “Preach the Bible or Talk about Culture? The Answer is…”

Much of the issue with cancel culture has to do with society's quick-to-anger temperament. You can read about that in a blog called, “What's Wrong with People?” And read more about how we've become so divided as a society in the blog post “Why Have Christians Suddenly Become So Divided?”

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. In fact, here are two recent stories shared related to this episode's discussion that you may have missed:

From the Pew Research Center: “How Americans feel about ‘cancel culture' and offensive speech in 6 charts”

From NPR: “Quidditch leagues look to change their name, citing Rowling's anti-trans stances”

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss whether those of us who consider ourselves Christ followers should try to legislate moral issues. Secular culture implies that morals can change, and often, legislative decisions are made on the basis of majority rule. What is certain is that of utmost importance is having a Christian worldview.

The are several blogs written by Dr. White that will help deepen your understanding of this conversation. To start off with, “Worldview Matters” is a blog that examines the foundational reasons to have a Christian worldview through which we engage culture. In considering our faith as it intersects with politics, two blogs that may serve you are “Is Christian Nationalism True?” and “On Being a Political Christian.” The conversation also touched on the importance of having objective truth, an idea fleshed out in a blog titled, “Abandoning Truth in the Name of Love.” And finally, “Culture's New Vocabulary” is an older blog, but one that's message still rings true diving into the ideas of freedom of religion and tolerance.

There are a few series that Dr. White delivered at Mecklenburg Community Church that you may also be interested in exploring. “Hot Topics” was a series on cultural issues and includes two installments on the topic of bioethics. “Where Angels Fear to Tread: Meck Talks Politics” was a very popular series on the Christian's role in the political realm.

Finally, because the conversation did touch on issues related to the LGBTQ+ community and the church, you may be interested in reading a four-part blog series beginning with “Gay Marriage: Part One,” or the weekend message series “Holy Matrimony” highlighting the significance of the biblical significance of marriage.

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.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the increasingly popular practice of Wicca, which involves both witchcraft and nature worship. In 2019, there were so many books being written on the topic that Publisher's Weekly declared it “The Season of the Witch.” Wicca has become the new religion of secularity, but its origins date back for millennia. So how do Christians engage with friends, family members, neighbors and coworkers who may embrace its practices and beliefs?

Dr. White released a blog in 2019 with the same title as the Publisher's Weekly article - “The Season of the Witch” - that you can read at churchandculture.org exploring culture's increased fascination with all things Wicca. To show you how quickly this practice is being embraced by culture, you can also read an earlier blog titled, “More Witches than Presbyterians.” Tied with this trend, the blog “New Age Christians” looks at professing Christians who may be dabbling in the occult without even realizing it. And here's a blog looking at the alarming rise of people using tarot cards - again tapping into the occult: “About Those Tarot Cards.” Along these lines, some Christians believe that reading your horoscope is fine. Find out why that's not the case in this blog titled “About That Horoscope App.” And finally, the conversation even dipped into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter - for that you can read Dr. White's blog called “Mad About Harry.”

The best series delivered by James Emery White at Mecklenburg Community Church that will serve your research into this topic is called “Paranormal” looking at the world of the occult. Another series that was mentioned during this podcast is a series called “Gender” - one of Meck's most popular series to date.

And to help understand why the younger generations are so much more open to allowing things like the practice of Wicca to enter their hearts and minds, we would suggest reading Dr. White's book Meet Generation Z that you can find through your favorite bookseller.

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.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the significance of the leaked draft of the Supreme Court opinion on Roe v. Wade and how, as Christians, we can engage this conversation. The Politico story has unleashed very emotional responses on both sides of this issue, and not even those within the Church see eye to eye on this topic. For Christians, the sanctity of life is clearly understood, however determining when life begins is at the heart of this issue.

There are several news stories of late that have been shared by Dr. White through the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe shared each weekday - that are worth the time to read them to have a full grasp of the weight of this vote.

First is the article that broke the story: “Supreme Court Has Voted to Overturn Abortion Rights, Draft Opinion Shows” by Josh Gerstein and Alexander Ward at Politico.

An article titled “The Roe Leak Spotlights America's Crisis of Credibility” by Russell Moore in Christianity Today calls into question how Americans are to find trust in our governing institutions and the way matters are handled.

And finally, it's worth reading “Roe v. Wade: Faith Leaders React to Leaked SCOTUS Opinion” by Emily McFarlan Miller at Religion News Service to see the reaction from faith leaders around the U.S.

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 to read more insights from Dr. White on all matters of Church and culture.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the exodus of Christians from the Church who are trying to recreate “church-like” experiences elsewhere - whether that's an exercise class, a group Bible study, a parachurch ministry, etc. Their conversation takes a look at what cannot be surrendered to have a biblically functioning Church, and how many evangelicals have a terrible understanding of the doctrine of the church - either devaluing the Church or shaping it into their own image. One thing is clear, there is biblically no such thing as an unchurched Christian.

The conversation kicked off with a discussion about the online church, a prescient decision to end Mecklenburg Community Church's multisite model, and the need to be a hybrid, phygital church - embracing both the digital and the physical. Dr. White has written several blogs that will serve as helpful additions for you to read. “They're Not Coming Back” explores the adjustments that the Church must make as we grapple with the fallout of a decline in attendance that began long before the pandemic. For churches that did experience online growth during the pandemic, the blog “The Importance of Affirming Online Attendance” discusses the need to continue to have a thriving online campus. In “Why We're Ending Our Multisite Approach” you can read about the decision made by Meck's leadership team to end the multisite model, a decision that proved to be a critical missional shift. And finally, “The Shift From Gathering to Connecting” examines just how well people are able to find thriving community through the church, even online.

Then the conversation turned to the doctrine of the Church, and how even Christians can find excuses to devalue the Church and to try to shape it into whatever they want it to be. Here, you'll find the blog “The Unofficial Religion of American Culture” to be an interesting read about people who would equate yoga classes with a church-like experience. And finally “This Is Church” that outlines when you have the church being the church.

Along those lines, Dr. White delivered a series at Mecklenburg Community Church called “Being Church,” with four installments that outline what Jesus had in mind when He said, “... I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out…” (Matthew 16:18, Msg).

A final resource that will serve this conversation is a book written by Dr. White titled The Rise of the Nones that you can find on Amazon or at your favorite bookseller.

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.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss purity culture and the Church. In the 90s we saw the outbreak of sexual permissiveness and sexual saturation within culture – and it hit women particularly hard, as they became the ones to blame. From this, purity culture was born - a movement characterized by modest dress, purity rings, the “true love waits pledge,” etc. Somewhere along the way this morphed into a toxic culture even within the church. What the church needs is a holistic theology of sex, showing the wonder of it all and the gift that it is within the context of a marriage.

To take a deeper dive into this conversation. Dr. White has written several blogs that may serve as helpful additions, such as a blog titled “Sexual Fluidity” showing just how much Generation Z has become sexually and relationally amorphous in today's culture. And porn is not merely a contributing factor in this, it's creating a crisis among both youth and adults alike. There are two blogs Dr. White wrote that would specifically complement this episode: “This Is Your Brain on Porn” paints a very grim picture of how porn and its widespread availability is affecting our youth today and “The Obvious Reason They're Not Having Sex” showing the effects of porn within young adults as it quickly becomes a substitute for sexual intimacy.

There are two series that were delivered at Mecklenburg Community Church that serve as a fantastic model for how the church can talk about sex - painting a picture of God's intent in creating this for our lives. “Fifty Shades” is a series about sex and sexual intimacy with installments that include “A Theology of Sex,” “Pornified” and “Five Questions You Never Thought You'd Hear Answered in Church.” And “Holy Matrimony” is a series on the biblical sacrament of marriage with installments called “Four Big Ideas,” “Christ-Centered,” “Divorce and Remarriage” and “Gay Marriage.”

A final resource that will serve in this conversation is a book written by Dr. White titled Meet Generation Z that you can find on Amazon or at your favorite bookseller.

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.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the very hot topic of women in ministry within the Church. Throughout Christian history, with the increased institutionalization of the Church came very set patterns of misogyny. And certain passages of Scripture have been used to fuel both sides of this debate as to what role women can and should take within the church.

There is so much that can be explored from this conversation. Dr. White has written several blogs that may serve as helpful additions, such as a blog titled “Beth Moore in the Pulpit,” in which he explores the complementarian vs. egalitarian views held by many within the church. And one of the most foundational things Dr. White laid out was to follow the “The Biblical Model of Leadership.” The conversation also touched on Jesus and how He viewed women. Check out this blog simply titled “Sexism” to explore more about this.

Also mentioned was the letter of I Timothy in the New Testament and how that has impacted many churches' views on women in ministry. Dr. White mentioned that a good book on this is The Message of 1 Timothy & Titus by John R.W. Stott.

And at the beginning of the discussion you heard Alexis mention a conversation that took place in the most recent episode of the Christianity Today podcast titled “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill.” While the entire podcast has a lot to contribute to the topic of women in the church, Episode 13 in particular includes an insightful interview with CEO of CT Tim Dalrymple.

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.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss anger and the seemingly endless flow of new stories where people are losing control. For those who are Christ followers, anger is one of the seven deadly sins, yet often times we are among the worst offenders. This conversation dives into everything from orthopathy to righteous anger to how this is impacting our children.

To read more on this topic, Dr. White wrote several blogs related to this conversation that will be really helpful to dig into. His most recent blog is titled “What's Wrong with People?” and explores three of the most likely reasons anger is on the rise. But it didn't just begin to rise. Several years ago Dr. White wrote a blog titled “The Age of Rage” that rings even more true today. Also discussed was how our need to be liked by everyone can come into play, discussing the idea of the “10-10-80” rule when it comes to relationships. Finally, Dr. White mentioned a book written by Deborah Tannen, The Argument Culture.

After living more than a year into the pandemic, Dr. White delivered a series at Meck that would still serve called “The Long Night's Journey Into Day” with a look at how we can rise above our differences and live the life God is calling us to live. You may also be interested in checking out a series called “Wicked” that specifically focuses on sin and how it affects our relationship with God.

To serve parents out there, Alexis mentioned an on-demand class offered through the Meck Institute called “FaceTime: What Parents Need to Know about Technology, Social Media, Video Games and More.” That is definitely a class that you'll want to check out that will be very eye-opening.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the “Parental Rights in Education” bill that is more commonly referred to as the “Don't Say Gay” bill. There seems to be a lot of confusion as to what this bill is really about at its core. Find out how Christians can engage this cultural debate, the role of parents tied to this law, and the difference between acceptance and affirmation.

To read more on this topic, Dr. White wrote several blogs related to this conversation that will be really helpful to dig into. His most recent blog is titled “Don't Say Gay” and explores how more parents would likely support this bill if they really knew what it was about. To dive into issues related to gender and gender identity, here's a three-part blog series: “A Theology of Gender,” “The Transgender Issue” and “Children and Gender Identity.” And finally, a blog exploring the shift in our culture to the denial of biological sex “Sex Matters”. Dr. White also mentioned a book written by Neil Postman, The Disappearance of Childhood.

There are three sermon series related to today's conversation that would serve to provide a firm biblical foundation to engage this topic: “Gender,” “The Underprotective Parent” and “Woke.”

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. In fact, here's a recent news story shared related to this episode's discussion that you may have missed:
”DeSantis Signs Florida Bill That Opponents Call ‘Don't Say Gay'”