Join Josh and his first repeat guest Drew Anderson as they talk about Drew's new book "No Longer Self-Evident: Are We More American Than Christian?"  Is it possible that the church has been co-opted by American values over Kingdom values?  What kind of damage has that done and what kind of damage can it do?

Buy Drew's book here https://www.amazon.com/No-Longer-Self-Evident-American-Christian/dp/1942221142/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=drew+anderson&qid=1599830668&sr=8-1

So many of us have found ourselves in situations where we are either fired or leave our churches.  What is the reason that this is so common in church work.  Could there be some way to avoid being blindsided with a church job going south?  Join Josh and his guest Marko as they discuss some practical ways that negative church work experiences might be avoided even from the interview process.  

Mark Oestreicher has been involved in church ministry his whole life, particularly with teenagers and youth workers. Marko has had a broad experience working in churches in roles ranging from Junior High Pastor to Executive Pastor. For 11 years, Marko was at Youth Specialties in San Diego, an organization that trains and equips church youth workers – the last 8 of those years as president. Concurrently, Marko was also a part of the leadership team of Zondervan (Grand Rapids, MI).

Marko has authored or contributed to more than 70 books, including the much-talked-about Youth Ministry 3.0. Marko is a partner in The Youth Cartel, providing resources, training and coaching for church youth workers.

It is so important to name things what they are.  Very often we are slow to call spiritual abuse by its' name.  Join Josh and his guest KJ Ramsey for a discussion on how to recognize spiritual abuse and for some examples of things that you may not think of as abuse that are.

K.J. Ramsey (BA, Covenant College, MA, Denver Seminary) is a licensed professional counselor, writer, and recovering idealist who believes sorrow and joy coexist. She is the author of This Too Shall Last: Finding Grace When Suffering Lingers, and her writing has been published in Christianity Today, RELEVANT, The Huffington Post, Fathom Magazine, Health Central, and more on the integration of theology, psychology, and spiritual formation. She and her husband live in Denver, Colorado. Follow K.J.'s writing at kjramsey.com and across social media at @kjramseywrites.

Hired as a young youth pastor, Mike Otto quickly found himself wondering what he was doing.  His mentor was gone and the attitude of a less experienced church worker collided with expectations he was not aware of.  His story is pretty common in church work.  What did he learn through this? What would he have done differently?  Join us this week for this conversation on being a young church worker.

What if you woke up one morning doubting everything?  Would your church allow that?  Can you even serve when you are having doubts?  This week Join Josh and guest Ryan Schaible as they talk about what it looks like to experience doubt while working in a church and how churches can help and minister to a staffer who is experiencing a reconstruction of faith.

As our guest this week said: are you ready for "the most culty sh*t you've ever heard"?  This week we talk about what happens when your church is a little less church and a little more cult.  Elizabeth Halford also talks about what it's like to leave a church situation like that and what its like to see some of those same bad practices enter your own ministry.

Sheila Gregoire has a lot to say about the book "Love and Respect".  Is it possible that the thoughts in the book can be used to hold people in abusive or unhealthy relationships?  Sheila thinks so.  After hearing from thousands of women who shared stories of this kind of hurt, she took her concerns to a group that supported the book only to face backlash from them publicly.  Join Josh and his guest as they unpack the kinds of hurt the Church has caused over the issue of marriage and sex and how we can fight against that to a healthier version of both of these things.

Sheilas original article on Love & respect & sex:

https://tolovehonorandvacuum.com/2019/01/love-and-respect-review-how-sex-portrayed/

Here's the open letter to focus on the family:

When Jennifer felt called to plant a church she could not have known the way her existing faith community would treat that call.  How do you move forward in your call when your church is holding you back?  Is there room for questioning the status quo?  Join Josh and his guest Jennifer Dawn Watts as they discuss these ideas and many others in this weeks episode of Church Hurts.

Gen Z is leaving the Church in droves.  But what are their reasons for doing so?  How can we minister to people even as they walk away from the Church.  In what ways can we still be a blessing and a source of hope and love.  Join Josh and his guest Heather Thompson day as they discuss the things she is hearing from her students in her university classroom and the future of the Church post Covid-19.