Church Leadership Archives - Stand Up For The Truth Podcast

Mary welcomes back Pastor Mike Spaulding of Calvary Chapel of Lima Ohio to talk about the changing face of an unchanging gospel. How do we navigate profound cultural changes and stay the course? And not only stay the course but exhort others to as well? Change is the one constant, it would appear. With that in mind, we discuss some weighty things with Pastor Mike, such as sound doctrine, political engagement and the church, pastors and their reputations, and how to steady the ship here in 2026. There are so many things tugging at us all, but shouldn’t church be safe, painless, and uncompromising? On paper, yes of course. In practice, with people’s sensibilities today, is it even possible? And if we got a letter from Paul, or John, what might it say? Or maybe we can queue up in the Laodicean line, a prophecy that is easier and easier to comprehend the closer we get to His return. A challenging hour for the church, in real time and on today’s edition of SUFTT.

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Mary is back with a solo podcast taking on the late blooming fruit of the Purpose Driven/Seeker Sensitive/motivational paradigm of the corporate branding of the church. It’s been over 20 years since the Evangelical Industrial Complex redefined what a church is, what preaching is, and the consumer approach to all of it. Where are we at? It’s not good. Even small-to-middlin’ churches have adopted the cape wearing hero style of many if not most pastors today. What is a pastor, after all? Why are so many failing to finish well? If a church isn’t teaching the Bible systematically, what are they doing? Is there a name for what people sit through every Sunday? Many sharp Christians know what is missing, but they can’t seem to name it. We name it today. We look at C. Peter Wagner and Peter Drucker, the men responsible for the Signs and Wonders movement, the NAR, and the corporate top-down, success oriented view of the pews – and it is wholly unbiblical. No sacred cows today, just straight shooting as we assess the fallout of the purpose driven drivel over the Spirit led church.

Stand Up For The Truth Videos: https://rumble.com/user/CTRNOnline & https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgQQSvKiMcglId7oGc5c46A

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[Originally aired 3/2/26]  Stand Up For The Truth features Dave Wager teaching solo, walking listeners through what he calls “four old lessons” from the book of Job, anchored by 1 Peter 5:8, the warning to stay alert because the devil prowls like a roaring lion. Dave frames the whole conversation around “principles” versus opinions, perspectives, or methods. Principles do not change, regardless of feelings or culture, and Job’s story is used as a clear example. He starts with Job 1, highlighting Job’s integrity and unusual blessing, then pulls back the curtain to Job 1:6 and the heavenly scene where God points to Job as blameless and upright, showing that what heaven calls “great” is character, not comfort.

From there, Dave lays out the four lessons: (1) there is an active spiritual battle, (2) the fight centers on people, our allegiance and trust in God, (3) the crowd, even close friends, cannot define truth, and (4) believers must keep growing through humility and repentance. Along the way he illustrates spiritual attack with a vivid story about a cat tormenting a chipmunk, and he warns that deception often feels like “light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Job’s response to loss becomes a model for suffering with worship and steady truth (Job 1:21), and God’s questioning in Job 38 becomes a reminder to focus on what we know about God when we cannot explain what we are living through. Dave closes by re-centering “blessing” as being used by God to represent Him, not simply having ease, and points listeners to God’s higher ways (Isaiah 55:8–9) and His proven Word as refuge (Psalm 18:30).

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Today, it’s a new podcast, host Dave Wager welcomes Brenda Bertram and Mike Jewell from Family Connect Wisconsin, a ministry dedicated to connecting struggling families with churches, businesses, and community members who can help meet practical needs. Drawing from their own experiences with foster care and family challenges, they share how Family Connect works alongside schools, social workers, and local agencies to support children and families facing difficult circumstances.

Mike and Brenda explain how Family Connect uses the CarePortal platform to connect vetted family needs with churches and volunteers who are ready to help. From clothing and furniture to relational support and encouragement, the ministry creates opportunities for local churches to serve as the hands and feet of Christ while helping families remain stable and connected within their communities.

The conversation highlights the important role churches can play in caring for vulnerable families and children. Dave, Mike, and Brenda discuss the vision of equipping local congregations to meet needs more effectively, strengthening communities through practical service, and expanding Family Connect’s reach across Wisconsin so more families can experience hope, support, and meaningful relationships.

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Social media is a fascinating environment. One in particular asks us “What’s on your mind?”, and then proceeds to make value judgments when we dare to tell. Be that as it may, many of us in the church have stuff on our mind too, especially when church doesn’t seem to match up with the biblical parameters and suggestions/commands. Then after mulling that for a bit, we tend to resign ourselves to the fact that people have changed, the culture has changed too much to expect church not to have. But wait, God never changes. The culture will always change. Does that give us the right to change the church? To bring the culture inside to testify of the popular way? Why no, it doesn’t. So in observing something hopefully all believers do every Sunday morning, how can we not have questions and observations? Why is this the object of discussion among believers and yet nothing ever changes? Can we entertain (oops wrong word maybe) the idea that an Acts church is still an option? Today Mary looks at all the ways that believers have handed their fellowships over to corporations and methods and suggests one way that might reverse the trends.

Stand Up For The Truth Videos: https://rumble.com/user/CTRNOnline & https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgQQSvKiMcglId7oGc5c46A

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Today’s new episode of Stand Up For The Truth features Dave Wager teaching solo, walking listeners through what he calls “four old lessons” from the book of Job, anchored by 1 Peter 5:8, the warning to stay alert because the devil prowls like a roaring lion. Dave frames the whole conversation around “principles” versus opinions, perspectives, or methods. Principles do not change, regardless of feelings or culture, and Job’s story is used as a clear example. He starts with Job 1, highlighting Job’s integrity and unusual blessing, then pulls back the curtain to Job 1:6 and the heavenly scene where God points to Job as blameless and upright, showing that what heaven calls “great” is character, not comfort.

From there, Dave lays out the four lessons: (1) there is an active spiritual battle, (2) the fight centers on people, our allegiance and trust in God, (3) the crowd, even close friends, cannot define truth, and (4) believers must keep growing through humility and repentance. Along the way he illustrates spiritual attack with a vivid story about a cat tormenting a chipmunk, and he warns that deception often feels like “light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Job’s response to loss becomes a model for suffering with worship and steady truth (Job 1:21), and God’s questioning in Job 38 becomes a reminder to focus on what we know about God when we cannot explain what we are living through. Dave closes by re-centering “blessing” as being used by God to represent Him, not simply having ease, and points listeners to God’s higher ways (Isaiah 55:8–9) and His proven Word as refuge (Psalm 18:30).

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Dr. JB Hixson

Mary welcomes back JB Hixson to talk about trends in the church that bear continual surveillance. Putting together 10 was no challenge at all. So what are we watching? Everything from the state of biblical authority to tech to self-induced isolation from each other. And when you throw in the rise of preterism and the waning of dispensationalism, that tells us an awful lot about interest in the blessed hope. Americans are unique in the world in our emphasis on independence and personal freedoms – that “personal relationship” that is not meant to be stuffed into a bottle but translate into evangelizing, fulfilling the “one anothers” and bearing each others burdens. But all too often all we are seeing is the warning that Paul gave Timothy about the last days and lovers of selfism. Choosing a church based on emotion and what’s in it for us is a community killer. And so many of these trends reflect that, the busy busy church that really doesn’t even disciple, as if being busy is the mark of a Spirit-filled congregation. And just as Paul warns us what flows from selfism is very bad, so it would seem – and a lot of it is, well, really bad. A very full hour with Pastor JB.

Stand Up For The Truth Videos: https://rumble.com/user/CTRNOnline & https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgQQSvKiMcglId7oGc5c46A

The post JB Hixson: Keeping Watch in the Night – Church Trends appeared first on Stand Up For The Truth Podcast.

Today we welcome back apologist/author/researcher Chris Lawson to talk about rebuilding faith after suffering at the hands of false teachers, bible twisters, heretics or just plain abusive leadership. Today, we refer to this as “spiritual abuse” – but what does that mean? It is often tossed about easily, leaving the listener or reader confused about this rather subjective term. Chris helps us sort out the truth, and help the listener find encouragement and comfort if they have indeed been a victim of damaging church experiences. Chris Lawson is an ordained pastor, missionary, and founder of Spiritual Research Network (SRN). With nearly 30 years of ministry experience, he is committed to proclaiming the Gospel, promoting biblical discernment, and equipping believers against spiritual deception, cults, and occult influences through research and teaching. We talk about those movements that have shipwrecked many, and how God views us when we have been deeply hurt by those institutions we were told we could trust. How can we avoid making the same mistakes again? How can we comfort those who have been abused by spiritual movements and leaders?

Stand Up For The Truth Videos: https://rumble.com/user/CTRNOnline & https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgQQSvKiMcglId7oGc5c46A

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Dr. JB Hixson

Mary welcomes back JB Hixson to take a closer look at his latest book, “The Great Last Days Apostasy”. With seemingly so many different ways in which the church has lost the plot regarding her mission, events of late dictate that perhaps the chapter in his book on falling away politically deserves a second and third look. While the church seems to think that saving the American way of life from imploding should include a side order of the gospel, and while that is a noble thought, we should rather ask, “what are we missing?”. Maybe the overarching question should be, “what are we losing?” as politics takes center stage more and more. The passing of the head of TPUSA has revealed many things about the church here in 2025, and the biblical maturity of those who are inheriting it. We talk about Christian Nationalism, the marriage of politics and faith; Dominion Theology, postmillennialism, and why Americans are so obsessed with politics. What is the Left? What is the Right? Is it really just Coke or Pepsi? Are Christians so naive to think that there is salvation of ANY kind in politics, considering who owns the systems of the world? A challenging hour to think long and hard about things that come and go, and things that are eternal.

Stand Up For The Truth Videos: https://rumble.com/user/CTRNOnline & https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgQQSvKiMcglId7oGc5c46A

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Mike Jewell

Today’s FRESH NEW Stand Up for the Truth Podcasts features host Dave Wager with guest Mike Jewell, founder of Family Connect Wisconsin, applying James 1:27 to real families in crisis. Mike explains how churches can become the point of care for vulnerable kids by meeting vetted needs from local caseworkers, then building relationships that lead to stability and discipleship. The tool is simple: a request is posted, a donor funds it, a church delivers it, and a connection begins. Dave underscores that kids don’t just need lectures, they need living examples of Christlike love.

Listeners hear stories of beds delivered, meals shared, and single moms supported, along with early impact numbers and a vision to expand county by county. The invite is clear: pray, give, and form a small church response team so families see healthy believers up close. Pure religion visits the vulnerable and keeps unstained from the world. When the church shows up, kids are protected, parents are strengthened, and communities see the gospel in action.

The post Mike Jewell: Building Bridges – How Churches Can Transform Foster Care appeared first on Stand Up For The Truth Podcast.