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Jesus asked His disciples an important question in Matthew 16:15: “Who do you say I am?”

Ligonier Ministries surveyed Americans in 2022 about how they perceived Jesus. Responses to three statements in particular are worth highlighting.

First, 54% of Americans and 80% of American evangelicals strongly agreed with the statement, “There is one true God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.” This statement summarizes the doctrine of the Trinity.

But 40% of all Americans and 48% of evangelicals strongly agreed with the statement, “Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God.” This statement is a Christological heresy known as Arianism, not to mention an implicit rejection of the Trinity.

Finally, 31% of all Americans and 29% of evangelicals strongly agreed with the statement, “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God.” How 80% of evangelicals can affirm the Trinity but 29% deny Jesus’ deity is an unsolvable math problem.

But it’s a solvable problem for Christian discipleship. Churches need to do a better job of inculcating what the Bible teaches about who Jesus Christ is.

Toward that end, I talk with Robert M. Bowman Jr. about a biblical case for Jesus’ deity in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Robert M. Bowman Jr. is president of the Institute for Religious Research, which provides “evidence-oriented answers to criticisms of the Bible and alternative views of Jesus Christ advocated by skeptics and members of other religions.” He is author, with J. Ed Komoszewski, of The Incarnate Christ and His Critics, published by Kregel Academic.

https://traffic.libsyn.com/influenceresources/382_Inf-Pod_Robert-Bowman.mp3

P.S. This podcast is cross-posted from InfluenceMagazine.com by permission.

If you could travel back in time and share life lessons with your younger self, what would they be?

That’s the premise of Doug Clay’s new book, Conversations with My Younger Self.

“If I could go back in time,” he asks, “what mistakes would I correct? What choices would I change? What words would I say or leave unsaid? What path would I take?”

Clay answers those questions by drawing on his personal experiences as well as the biblical stories of Samuel, Saul, Jonathan, and David.

I talk to Clay about what he would say to his younger self in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Doug Clay is general superintendent of the Assemblies of God, a U.S. fellowship with nearly three million adherents, 13,000 churches and 38,000 ministers. He is author of Conversations with My Younger Self, forthcoming from Gospel Publishing House.

https://traffic.libsyn.com/influenceresources/381_Inf-Pod_Doug-Clay.mp3

P.S. This podcast is cross-posted from InfluenceMagazine.com by permission.

“The future is coming, and you’re not in it.”

That’s what Rear Admiral Chester Cain (played by Ed Harris) says to Captain Pete Mitchell (played by Tom Cruise) in Top Gun: Maverick.

Cain’s reasoning? Mitchell will be replaced by AI. “These planes you’ve been testing, Captain, one day, sooner or later, they won’t need pilots at all.”

Technological advances initiate a process of creative destruction, in which old ways of doing things give way to new ways, in the process displacing people who do things the old way. The Luddites, for example, were weavers whose livelihoods were threatened by the adoption of automated weaving machines.

The concern with AI is not merely that it will replace people’s jobs, but that it will fundamentally redefine what it means to be human.

How should pastors respond to this concern? That’s the question I ask Paul A. Hoffman in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Paul A. Hoffman is  senior pastor of Evangelical Friends Church of Newport, Rhode Island, and coauthor with Sean O’Callaghan of AI Shepherds and Electric Sheep, published by Baker Academic.

https://traffic.libsyn.com/influenceresources/380_Inf-Pod_Paul-Hoffman.mp3

P.S. This podcast is crossposted from InfluenceMagazine.com by permission.

“Pentecostal historians have always acknowledged the miraculous stories accompanying the Azusa Street revival as an integral part of the Pentecostal experience,” writes Ruthie Edgerly Oberg.

“However, the pressing question is whether the dubious and exaggerated claims of [author Tommy] Welchel will overshadow the genuine stories of ordinary men and women transformed by the Spirit, who carried the Pentecostal message into towns, cities, and nations, sparking a global movement.”

In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk to Oberg about numerous problems with the histories of the Azusa Street Revival authored by Tommy Welchel. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Ruthie Edgerly Oberg is an ordained Assemblies of God minister and a conference speaker for the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center in Springfield, Missouri. Our conversation is based on an academic paper Oberg presented at the 53rdAnnual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, which was titled, “The Mythologizing of Pentecostal History.”

https://traffic.libsyn.com/influenceresources/376_Inf-Pod_Ruthie-Edgerly-Oberg.mp3

P.S. This podcast is cross-posted from InfluenceMagazine.com by permission.

If you are a Christian, chances are you know someone who has deconstructed their faith or is doing so right now. You want to help them reconstruct their faith in Jesus, but you don’t know how to act or what to say.

“The truth is that we can’t control someone’s reconstruction,” writes Ian Harber.

“What we can do is create environments — both in our interpersonal relationships and in our churches — that help minimize the intensity of someone’s deconstruction by being a non-anxious presence, creating healthy relationships and churches full of trust and care, and having a more robust understanding of our faith to talk through with them.”

In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk to Harber about what deconstruction is and how to be a better Christian friend and church community for someone who is experiencing a crisis of faith.

Ian Harber is author of Walking Through Deconstruction, published by InterVarsity Press. A writer and Christian media producer, he has written for The Gospel Coalition, Mere Orthodoxy, and RELEVANT. He writes about reconstructing faith in his newsletter Back Again, and about faith, media, and technology at Endeavor. He lives in Denton, Texas, with his wife and sons.

https://traffic.libsyn.com/influenceresources/375_Inf-Pod_Ian-Harber.mp3

P.S. This podcast is cross-posted from InfluenceMagazine.com by permission.

In Matthew 12:38–40, Jesus compared himself to Jonah. “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

That comparison got Gerad Strong thinking about other points where Jonah and Jesus present a study in contrasts. He recently spoke about those contrasts at the biweekly chapel service of the Assemblies of God national office.

In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk to Strong about those contrasts. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Gerad Strong is the director of Training and Church Health with the Church Multiplication Network of the Assemblies of God. Formerly lead pastor of a rural church, Strong led a revitalization effort, resulting in the establishment of seven new church campuses in two years. He is author of The Forgotten Field: Using Multisite Models to Reach and Revive Rural Communities with the Gospel, published in 2022 by Baxter Press.

P.S. This podcast is cross-posted from InfluenceMagazine.com by permission.

“Extensive research reveals that only 10 percent of people possess the raw talent to manage,” writes Stephen Blandino. “And while there are clear differences between leading and managing, Gallup merges the two by defining a manager as ‘someone responsible for leading a team toward common objectives.’”

Blandino goes on to say that while most people are not “natural leaders,” they can become “learned leaders.” In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk to him about learning to lead. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influencemagazine and your host.

Stephen Blandino is lead pastor of 7 City Church in Fort Worth, Texas; a leadership coach, blogger, and host of the Leader Fluent Podcast; and author of Insanely Practical Leadership: 12 No-Nonsense Keys to Master the Art of Leading Yourself and Others, published by Avail.

P.S. This podcast is cross-posted from InfluenceMagazine.com by permission.

“Establishing the Church among all peoples everywhere by reaching, planting, training, and serving” is the mission of Assemblies of God World Missions. AGWM divides its work into five regions: Africa, Asia Pacific, Eurasia, Europe, and Latin America. Over the next few months, I plan to interview AGWM’s five regional directors about the challenges, opportunities, and key initiatives they lead.

I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk to Larry Henderson about Assemblies of God World Missions’ efforts in Europe.

Larry Henderson serves as AGWM’s Europe Regional Director. In that role, he oversees 504 missionaries and associates. He also serves as a liaison between the U. S. Assemblies of God and its fraternal fellowships in the region.

P.S. This podcast is cross-posted from InfluenceMagazine.com by permission.