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What if staying silent isn’t neutral, but the very thing the powerful are counting on?

Tim and Steve Stewart continue the justice series by moving from the Old Testament prophets and Jesus into our own time, asking what it means for Christ followers to live and speak prophetically today. Steve begins with the Good Samaritan: the great dividing line in that story wasn’t belief but action. The religious people who walked by on the other side stayed silent, and the Samaritan stopped.

That raises a hard question from Tim: how do we speak up without being consumed by anger and doomscrolling? Steve returns to the Beatitudes. Hungering and thirsting for justice has to rest on being poor in spirit and meek. Peacemaking is not passive. And it’s no accident that “blessed are the peacemakers” is followed immediately by “blessed are those who are persecuted.” Steve reflects on Impact Nations’ partners in parts of Southeast Asia who face police questioning and mob violence. That doesn’t happen because they’re sitting at home. It happens because they speak up against injustice and care for the poor, living out Mary’s Magnificat.

From there, Steve names the forces the church is up against. Human law is upheld by the powerful, and policy protects the preferences of the dominant group. Drawing on Walter Brueggemann’s idea of “totalism” and Walter Wink’s “domination system,” Steve describes a worldview that claims to be the only truth. It seeks to control what can be thought, said, and done. It dominates communication and suppresses creative, disruptive imagination. Tim connects this to something Impact Nations has lived firsthand: governments shutting down the internet during elections, including during communication with their partners in Uganda.

The episode’s conclusion is that recognizing these forces is the first step toward becoming a prophetic church, and that being prophetic takes energy, commitment, and community.

In This Episode

• The Good Samaritan’s real dividing line: those who stayed silent and the one who acted
• How to resist injustice without being consumed by anger or doomscrolling
• Why the Beatitudes put “poor in spirit” before “hunger and thirst for justice”
• Why “blessed are the peacemakers” is followed by “blessed are the persecuted”
• What Impact Nations’ persecuted partners are doing that draws opposition
• Walter Brueggemann’s “totalism” and Walter Wink’s “domination system,” explained
• How systems of power control communication, from media pressure to internet shutdowns
• Why being a prophetic church requires community, not lone heroes

This is a conversation, not a lecture. Comment on YouTube or text us through your podcast app. Please share this one with a friend or small group, and follow or subscribe so you don’t miss next week, when Steve turns the usual picture of King Solomon on its head and shows how he came to represent the very system the prophets confronted.

Impact Nations stands with partners who serve the poor and oppressed, often at real personal cost. Giving is one concrete way to refuse to walk by on the other side of the road.

Featured Resources

• The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann: fortresspress.com/store/product/9781506449302/The-Prophetic-Imagination
• Engaging the Powers by Walter Wink, the source of the “domination system” framework: amazon.com/dp/1506438164
• The Beatitudes for a Time of Crisis by Steve Stewart: impactnations.com/product/BTC-PRINT/the-beatitudes-for-a-time-of-crisis
• Earlier interview with Father John Dear (Impact Nations Podcast): Father John Dear: The Lens of Peace | Summer Series 2026
• Impact Nations’ work: impactnations.com/our-work

Explore Impact Nations

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Journeys of Compassion: impactnations.com/journeys-of-compassion
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What if the prayer many of us say every Sunday is one of the most political things Jesus ever taught?

Tim and Steve Stewart continue the justice series by asking whether Jesus was political, not as in Democrat or Republican, but whether his words and actions reshaped the social and economic world around him. Steve reads the Lord's Prayer that way: "your kingdom come" asks for heaven's standards here on earth, "give us this day our daily bread" is a plural prayer from an overtaxed farming people, and "forgive us our debts" can literally be rendered "release us" in a world where debt meant losing your land. Tim asks whether that means freedom from the system's debts as well as sin, and they discuss how people are still trapped by predatory lending and student debt.

Steve then walks through Jesus's prophetic acts: riding a donkey into Jerusalem as street theater against Rome's war-horse processions (Zechariah 9:9-10); cleansing the temple as a nonviolent act against a system that profited from pilgrims, followed by healing the blind and lame there; and welcoming Samaritans, Gentiles, a centurion, and a leper, restoring the calling given to Abraham to be a blessing to the nations. They hear Jesus's lament over the temple's coming destruction and the seven "woes" (better rendered "alas").

Steve also argues that "say to this mountain, be lifted and thrown into the sea" (Matthew 21:21) was spoken in front of the Temple Mount, making it a prophetic commissioning to stand against the powers, not a name-it-and-claim-it promise. They close on Jesus's commitment to nonviolence, which Steve calls active resistance and not passivity, drawing on Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and John Dear.

In This Episode

• Why Steve defines "political" as having a direct impact on social, economic, and cultural life
• The Lord's Prayer read through that lens: kingdom, daily bread, and "release us from our debts"
• How today's debt traps echo the system that cost first-century farmers their land
• The triumphal entry as political theater: donkey versus war-horse
• The temple cleansing as a prophetic, nonviolent act, and why Jesus healed the blind and lame there
• How Jesus's acts of inclusion restore Abraham's calling to be a blessing to the nations
• A new reading of "say to this mountain" in Matthew 21:21
• Nonviolence as a third way: not passive, and not violent

This is a conversation, not a lecture — comment on YouTube or text us through your podcast app. Please share this one with a friend or small group, and follow or subscribe so you don't miss next week, when the series asks what we're up against.

Impact Nations walks with women escaping exploitation, abuse, and forced labor, offering safe shelter, counseling, training, and spiritual care on the way to lasting dignity. Giving is one concrete way to say yes to the restoration Jesus brought.

Featured Resources

The Gospel of Peace by John Dear — a commentary on Matthew, Mark, and Luke from the perspective of nonviolence: amazon.com/dp/1626985332 

Impact Nations' work: impactnations.com/our-work

Explore Impact Nations

Website: impactnations.com 

Journeys of Compassion: impactnations.com/journeys-of-compassion 

All links: linktr.ee/impact.nations 

YouTube: @ImpactNations 

Facebook: impactnationsministries 

Instagram: @impact.nations

 LinkedIn: Impact Nations 

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What if the most dangerous song in the Bible was sung by a pregnant teenager — and Christianity has spent centuries trying to make it safe?

Continuing straight from the Old Testament prophetic tradition, Tim and Steve turn to Jesus himself, tracing how thoroughly his life was shaped by his actual world: a Jewish minority under Roman occupation, a Galilee of tenant farmers losing land to a wealthy elite, and a religious establishment that traded prophetic independence for Rome's protection and its own wealth. Jesus's parables about farming, land, and debt reflect exactly the world he came from — treating him as unaffected by it isn't reverence, it's a failure to take his humanity seriously.

The centerpiece is Mary's Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55), read here not as a gentle carol but as a prophetic declaration of an upside-down kingdom: the proud scattered, the powerful brought down, the hungry filled, the rich sent away empty. Steve traces how seriously this song has been taken as a threat — echoing Martin Luther's teaching that it comforts the lowly and strips power from the mighty, reportedly forbidden from being read aloud by clergy during the British occupation of India, and sung publicly for years by the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina, protesting their children's disappearance under that country's military dictatorship.

From there, Tim and Steve confront a modern, "tamed" Jesus — one so focused on personal salvation that he poses no threat to any power structure. A purely spiritual gospel, they argue, quietly protects the very status quo it never challenges. They also revisit the widow's two coins (Mark 12:41-44), making the case — alongside a real strand of biblical scholarship — that Jesus wasn't praising her sacrifice but grieving that a system built on "devouring widows' houses" had just taken everything she had. They close with a caution the other direction too: prayer and spiritual language can themselves become a way of avoiding action.

In This Episode

• The socio-political world Jesus actually grew up in: Roman occupation, land loss, and a religious elite allied with Rome
• Why Jesus's parables about farming, land, and debt reflect the world he and his listeners knew firsthand
• The Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) read as a prophetic declaration, not a gentle carol
• Why Mary's song has been treated as dangerous throughout history, from a reported ban in British-occupied India to the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina
• How a "spiritualized," personal-salvation-only Jesus quietly protects the power structures he actually confronted
• A different way of reading the widow's two coins (Mark 12:41-44): grief at exploitation, not praise for sacrifice
• Jesus's confrontations with religious performance in Matthew 23 and Mark 12
• Why prayer and "spiritual warfare" language can itself become a way of avoiding action

This is a conversation, not a lecture — comment on YouTube or text us through your podcast app. Follow or subscribe so you don't miss next week, when the series turns to the temple system Jesus confronted.

Impact Nations' Survive to Thrive program in Uganda works with pregnant teens as young as 13 who've faced abuse and abandonment, offering shelter, medical care, counseling, and a path back into their communities — over 700 babies were born through these shelters, clinics, and outreach programs last year. Giving is one concrete way to move toward the vulnerable the way Jesus did.

Featured Resources

Survive to Thrive: Impact Nations' program for pregnant teens in Uganda referenced in this episode: impactnations.com/blogs The Widow's Mites: Praise or Lament? by Addison G. Wright — the scholarly article behind this episode's reading of Mark 12:41-44: pas.rochester.edu (PDF)

Explore Impact Nations

Website: impactnations.com 

Journeys of Compassion: impactnations.com/journeys-of-compassion 

All links: linktr.ee/impact.nations 

YouTube: @ImpactNations 

Facebook: impactnationsministries 

Instagram: @impact.nations 

LinkedIn: Impact Nations 

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Give: impactnations.com/donate

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What if the real test of a prophetic word isn't how bold it sounds, but whether you can hear the tears underneath it?

Picking up where Episode 2 left off, Tim and Steve move from the prophetic tradition into what the prophets actually said about social justice — walking through Jeremiah 22, Psalm 72, Deuteronomy 10, Isaiah 57, and Zechariah 7 to the same claim: caring for the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the alien isn't a footnote to knowing God, it is what it means to know him (Jeremiah 22:16).

Steve also resolves a tension he's carried for years — contemplation or social justice? — by noting that a deeper relationship with God means caring about what God cares about. That leads to the line he wants listeners to leave with above all else: "God's passion must become our passion."

Two real stories, both nearly two decades old, ground the teaching: a single mother abandoned with five children who was given land instead of a handout, now a thriving community of 75 households who own their land outright; and Jyoti, a widow once rescued from a suicide attempt in India, now part of a sewing-school network that has trained close to 9,000 women into self-sufficient careers. Steve calls this "justice as God intended it" — not charity, but restored dignity and ownership.

From there, the conversation turns to the cost of prophetic honesty: how religion becomes a "chaplain of the state" when it trades truth for access to power, why the church has largely lost the practice of lament, and Steve's charge that every prophet — and every believer — fights the temptation to just get along rather than let God's passion become their own. Tim and Steve also open a harder question they'll keep circling all season — where personal responsibility for justice ends and a nation's biblical accountability begins, especially toward immigrants — and deliberately leave it unresolved.

In This Episode

• Why intimacy with God and social justice are the same call lived at different depths
• The line Steve wants you to leave with above all else: "God's passion must become our passion"
• Two real, decades-spanning stories: a mother given land instead of a handout, and Jyoti, a widow rescued from a suicide attempt in India
• How Impact Nations' Skills & Business programs have equipped more than 5,000 people since 2008
• What it means for religion to become "chaplain of the state" — and why Amos said God hated Israel's worship for it
• Why the church has largely lost the practice of lament, and what it loses by forgetting how to grieve honestly before God
• A mentor's charge that reframed how Steve listens to prophecy: "listen for the sound of tears"
• Four Old Testament prophets — Jeremiah, Elijah, Zechariah, and Isaiah — who paid a real price for speaking the truth
• An open question the series will keep returning to: where personal responsibility ends and a nation's accountability begins

This is a conversation, not a lecture — Tim and Steve want your questions and pushback, especially on the harder edges of this one. Comment on YouTube, text us through your podcast app, or email [email protected]. Follow or subscribe so you don't miss next week, when the series turns to Jesus and the prophetic tradition.

Programs like the one that gave Jyoti a sewing machine and a career are still running today, funded largely by gifts from listeners. Giving to Impact Nations is one concrete way to let God's passion become yours.

Featured Resources

Skills & Business Training: Impact Nations' vocational and business programs referenced throughout this episode: impactnations.com/skills-business Embodied Hope by Dr. Kelly M. Kapic: amazon.com/dp/0830851798

Explore Impact Nations

Website: impactnations.com 

Journeys of Compassion: impactnations.com/journeys-of-compassion 

All links: linktr.ee/impact.nations 

YouTube: @ImpactNations 

Facebook: impactnationsministries 

Instagram: @impact.nations 

LinkedIn: Impact Nations 

TikTok: @impact_nations 

Give: impactnations.com/donate

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What if spotting a false prophet has less to do with predicting the future and everything to do with what they refuse to say?

Episode 2 of the Justice & Peace series continues with Tim and Steve Stewart, digging into the Old Testament prophetic tradition as the foundation for everything this season will cover. Steve opens with Amos 5:24 — "let justice roll on like a river" — and argues that before the church tackles immigration, poverty, or war, it has to recover what it means to be a prophetic community: one that declares the kingdom of God and lives it out.

Steve distinguishes popular "foretelling" (a personal word about a job or a relationship) from biblical "forth-telling": speaking God's heart, especially against collective injustice. Drawing on a framework from Dr. Obery Hendricks (a past podcast guest), he names two elements of true prophecy — a real encounter with God, and a message of moral and political judgment — and two marks of a false prophet: silence about social justice, and uncritical support of those in power, becoming "chaplains of the state."

Leaning on Abraham Heschel's classic The Prophets, Steve and Tim trace how Amos, Micah, and Isaiah emerged during Israel's widest-ever rich-poor gap in the 8th century BC, confronting leaders who built wealth through extortion and manipulated scarcity. The conversation turns to how war gets wrapped in religious and patriotic language, then and now — touching on the 2026 U.S.–Iran war, religious leaders praying over the decision to strike, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's reported quoting of a fabricated "Bible verse" from Pulp Fiction, and Pope Leo XIV's public statements against the war. Tim raises a genuine counterpoint — the case for military action in defense of freedom — and they wrestle with it honestly rather than settling for an easy answer.

They close with the prophets' harder claim: that the prophetic word ultimately outlasts the king, and that history is heading toward the day swords are hammered into plowshares.

In This Episode

• Why the church is called to be a "prophetic community" that declares and lives out the kingdom of God
• "Foretelling" vs. "forth-telling": the difference between a personal word and speaking God's heart on injustice
• Two marks of a false prophet: silence on social justice, and uncritical support of those in power
• Why Amos, Micah, and Isaiah emerged during Israel's widest-ever rich-poor gap
• How ancient and modern nations wrap war in religious language — with real examples from the 2026 U.S.–Iran war
• An honest, unresolved conversation about military action in defense of freedom
• Why the prophetic word is ultimately more powerful than the king's power
• The prophets' vision of a day when "nation will no longer fight against nation" (Isaiah 2:4)

This is a conversation, not a lecture — comment on YouTube, text us via your podcast app, or email [email protected]. Follow or subscribe so you don't miss the rest of the series.

With USAID funding cut, Impact Nations' partners see longer clinic lines and more repeat trafficking victims for lack of funds to patrol the borders. Giving is one concrete way to act on justice.

Featured Resources

The Prophets by Abraham Joshua Heschel — the classic study Steve draws on throughout this episode: https://www.amazon.com/Prophets-Perennial-Classics-Abraham-Heschel/dp/0060936991

The Politics of Jesus by Dr. Obery M. Hendricks Jr. — the past guest whose framing of biblical prophecy Steve references: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/78499/the-politics-of-jesus-by-obery-hendricks/

For context on the current events discussed: Pope Leo XIV's statements on the Iran war: https://www.americamagazine.org/news/2026/04/10/pope-leo-war-iran-criticism/ Pete Hegseth's Pulp Fiction quote at a Pentagon prayer service: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/pete-hegseth-pulp-fiction-bible-quote-1236566414/

Explore Impact Nations

Website: https://www.impactnations.com

Journeys of Compassion: https://www.impactnations.com/journeys-of-compassion

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The gap between the world's rich and poor is wider today than at any point in recorded history — in any nation, at any time. So what does that have to do with the gospel?

Season 13 of the Impact Nations Podcast launches with a new format and a new sense of urgency. Tim Stewart is joined each week this season by his father, Steve Stewart, Founder and President of Impact Nations, teaching from his home office as Tim responds in real time with the same questions you might be asking. Together they're beginning a season-long series on justice and peace, originally planned as "Peace and Justice" until Steve felt the Lord redirect him: justice has to come first, as the foundation everything else is built on.

In this opening episode, Steve explains why he set aside a planned continuation of their Genesis series to address this topic with what he calls a greater sense of urgency than any series he's taught before. He walks through where we are: historic political polarization spreading across the U.S., Western Europe, Canada, and Australia; record economic inequality; and flashpoint issues like immigration and racial justice that dominate the news cycle. Steve and Tim compare this moment to the tumultuous 1960s, and Steve makes the case, twice, that "there is no such thing as a nonpolitical gospel or a nonpolitical Jesus" — while carefully distinguishing speaking prophetically about what Jesus cared about from aligning the church with any political party.

The conversation covers what justice actually means biblically (over 2,000 verses touch on it), what peace meant to Jesus and the early church versus the "tame," privatized version many of us inherited, and a real-world picture of both sides of justice at once: Impact Nations' partners in Malawi, who intercept human traffickers at the border and also minister inside the prisons where offenders are held accountable, pursuing restoration for both survivor and perpetrator.

Steve closes by previewing where the season is headed: the prophetic tradition from the Old Testament through Jesus and the early church, the "powers" behind systemic injustice, what the Bible says about immigration, Christian nationalism, Jesus and women, peacemaking, and just war theory.

In This Episode

•  Why Steve set aside a planned Genesis series to teach on justice and peace with unusual urgency
• Why he renamed the series from "Peace and Justice" to "Justice and Peace"
• The historic scale of today's economic inequality and political polarization, by the numbers
• How this moment compares to the polarization of the 1960s — and how it's different
• Why Steve insists "there is no such thing as a nonpolitical gospel or a nonpolitical Jesus," without making Jesus a member of any party
• What justice means biblically, and how Jesus's first public message was itself a justice declaration
• How Impact Nations' partners in Malawi pursue both accountability and restoration in the fight against human trafficking
• Why Steve distinguishes the "tame" gospel of inner peace from the gospel of peace Jesus and the early church actually preached
• A look ahead at the rest of the season: the prophetic tradition, systemic "powers," immigration, Christian nationalism, Jesus and women, and just war theory

This is a season Tim and Steve want to be a real conversation, not a lecture. If something here challenges you, encourages you, or makes you uncomfortable, they want to hear about it — leave a respectful, thoughtful comment on YouTube or send a note through your podcast app. And if you're new here, follow or subscribe so you don't miss the rest of the series.

As always, this season will include real stories of Impact Nations partners participating in God's justice around the world. If you'd like to join that work, you can give at Impact Nations' website below.

Featured Resources

When Everything Changes: Healing, Justice & the Kingdom of God — Steve Stewart's earlier book, source of some of the material he references in this episode: https://www.amazon.com/When-Everything-Changes-Healing-Justice/dp/0981140955 

The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann — the book Steve draws on for the season's framing of "totalism" and prophetic imagination: https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9781506449302/The-Prophetic-Imagination

Explore Impact Nations

Website: https://www.impactnations.com

Journeys of Compassion: https://www.impactnations.com/journeys-of-compassion 

All Impact Nations links: https://linktr.ee/impact.nations 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ImpactNations 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/impactnationsministries 

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What if heaven isn’t somewhere far away—but a dimension of reality surrounding us right now?

To close out the Summer Series, Tim Stewart welcomes back Brian Zahnd for a fascinating conversation about heaven, pilgrimage, wonder, the false self, and his new book, Unseen Existences: Of Heaven, Earth, and the Divine Mystery in All Things.

Brian explains why heaven has become an embarrassment in serious theological circles, lumped in with escapist "fly away" thinking, sentimental clichés about departed loved ones on clouds, and sensationalized "I went to heaven and back" books. His pushback: heaven isn't a distant location somewhere past the clouds, but another dimension of reality, "the heavens," that surrounds us right now. Tim and Brian also talk through where Brian gently disagrees with N.T. Wright's caution around Platonic thought, recruiting C.S. Lewis to make his case.

The conversation moves into life as pilgrimage. Brian, who has walked the 500-mile Camino de Santiago four times, describes what a spiritual journey teaches that a plane ticket to the same destination never could, and how doubt, wonder, and even losing old certainties along the way can be part of authentic faith rather than a threat to it. He shares one of the sharper lines from the book: "Christianity without transcendence degenerates into politics," and what a "holy ambivalence" toward political partisanship might look like instead.

Tim and Brian also dig into one of the book's most striking chapters, "Depart From Me," reconciling Jesus's gentle response to Peter's confession of sin with his far more sobering words at the judgment, "I never knew you." Brian explains why he believes that verdict falls on the false self we try to become, not the person God actually made us to be. Along the way, Brian tells the story behind "The Reverend," a haunting short story cut from the final manuscript about a Puritan pastor who blessed a massacre, and what it imagines happening when that pastor stands before Christ.

In This Episode

• Why heaven has "gone missing" from serious theological conversation, and the three unhelpful ways people talk about it instead
• Why Brian says heaven isn't a distant place but "a different dimension" that is all around us right now
• Where Brian pushes back on N.T. Wright's caution toward Platonic thought, with help from C.S. Lewis
• Why Brian argues that "Christianity without transcendence degenerates into politics"
• What walking the Camino de Santiago four times taught Brian about pilgrimage, friendship, and spiritual transformation
• Why losing our sense of wonder isn't inevitable, and a simple daily discipline for reclaiming it
• How to hold together Jesus's compassion toward Peter and his sobering words, "I never knew you," at the judgment
• The story behind "The Reverend," the short story cut from the book, and its message about mercy at the final judgment

This wraps thirteen weeks of Summer Series conversations exploring who God really is. If any of these episodes have challenged or encouraged you, follow or subscribe to the Impact Nations Podcast, and share your favorite conversation with someone who'd value it too.

Featured Resources

Unseen Existences by Brian Zahnd (available now from InterVarsity Press): IVP: https://www.ivpress.com/unseen-existences Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Unseen-Existences-Heaven-Divine-Mystery/dp/1514005646

“The Reverend” (the short story Brian mentions, plus its audio performance): https://brianzahnd.substack.com/p/audio-performance-of-the-reverend

Brian Zahnd's website: https://brianzahnd.com

Brian Zahnd on Substack: https://brianzahnd.substack.com

Word of Life Church: https://wolc.com

Explore Impact Nations

Website: https://www.impactnations.com

Journeys of Compassion (upcoming trips to Zimbabwe, the Philippines, and Nicaragua): https://impactnations.com/joc

All Impact Nations links: https://linktr.ee/impact.nations

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ImpactNations

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/impactnationsministries

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What if the truest picture of power we'll ever see isn't a throne or an army, but a baby who can't lift his own head—or a man nailed to a cross who refuses to fight back?

In this Summer Series conversation, Tim Stewart welcomes Kenneth Tanner, pastor of Holy Redeemer in Rochester Hills, Michigan, theologian, and author of the new book Vulnerable God: How Jesus Upends Our Assumptions About God—and Shows Us How to Be Human, releasing September 29 with a foreword by Brian Zahnd.

Kenneth makes the case that we shouldn't start with abstract ideas about God's power, sovereignty, or holiness and then try to squeeze Jesus into them. We should start with Jesus and let his life rearrange everything else. Tim and Kenneth talk through what it means to call Jesus "the human God," why weakness and humility aren't the opposite of divine power but its actual source, and how the incarnation—from the vulnerability of an infant to the vulnerability of the cross—reveals a strength the world rarely recognizes as strength at all.

The conversation moves into what it means to be truly human. Kenneth reframes salvation less as rescue from an angry God and more as restoration of an image already present in us, borrowing Athanasius's picture of a master restorer cleaning centuries of grime off a painting to bring the original colors back to the surface. He also challenges the popular idea of a "sin nature," arguing instead that our nature is good and has been infected by sin—a disease with a cure, not an identity we're stuck with.

They also dig into some of the Bible's hardest passages, including violent Old Testament stories, and why reading every text through Jesus—rather than reading Jesus through every text—changes the questions we're even allowed to ask. Kenneth shares two deeply personal stories: one from the day the Challenger shuttle exploded, when a grieving professor's words reshaped his entire theology of suffering, and another about sitting with a family after a young man drowned, that together show what it looks like to trust a God who suffers with us rather than one who causes our suffering.

In This Episode

• Why we should start with Jesus, not an abstract idea of God, when we ask what power really looks like
• What it means to call Jesus "the human God"
• Why a woman healed by touching Jesus's robe and a baby lying in a manger reveal the same kind of power
• How Athanasius's image of a master art restorer reframes salvation as restoration rather than rescue from wrath
• Why Kenneth rejects the popular idea of a "sin nature"—and what he says instead
• How Irenaeus's mosaic-floor illustration changes the way we read violent Old Testament passages
• What Kenneth learned about God and suffering the day the Challenger shuttle exploded
• How to sit with someone who's suffering without becoming one of Job's unhelpful friends
• Why Kenneth believes Jesus was inside the water with a young man who drowned, not just watching from the shore

If this conversation gives you a new way to see Jesus, follow or subscribe to the Impact Nations Podcast so you don't miss the rest of the Summer Series. Please share this episode with someone who has ever wondered where God is in their suffering, or who could use a more hopeful picture of who God actually is.

Featured Resources

Vulnerable God by Kenneth Tanner (releases September 29 — foreword by Brian Zahnd): Baker Publishing Group: https://bakerpublishinggroup.com/products/9781540902771_vulnerable-god Pre-order on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Vulnerable-God-Reviving-God-Us/dp/1540902773

Kenneth Tanner on Substack: https://substack.com/@kennethtanner

Kenneth Tanner on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kentanner/

Holy Redeemer (Kenneth's church): https://www.holyredeemer.us

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Jesus spoke truth to power, confronted injustice, and stood with people pushed to the margins. But does that make the church political—and if so, how can it engage public life without becoming captive to a political party?

In this Summer Series conversation, Tim Stewart is joined by Rev. Dr. Jonathan C. “Jay” Augustine, Senior Pastor of Big Bethel AME Church in Atlanta. Dr. Augustine is a pastor, author, legal scholar, educator, military veteran, and public theologian whose work brings together faith, justice, reconciliation, and the public calling of the church.

Jay shares how his mother’s instruction to “call a thing a thing” shaped his life in law, ministry, and public service. He and Tim explore the crucial difference between being prophetic and being partisan, why Jesus provides the clearest model of speaking truth to institutions of power, and what happens when the church becomes more interested in acquiring power than following Christ.

The conversation also moves beyond public statements and political debates. What does a communal gospel require of us? How can churches stand alongside people affected by injustice, meet practical needs, and become living signs of reconciliation? And why does faithful civic participation still matter?

IN THIS EPISODE

●      What it means to “call a thing a thing”

●      Why prophetic ministry is political—but not partisan

●      Jesus as the model for speaking truth to power

●      How Christian nationalism can confuse faith with the pursuit of power

●      Why Christian faith is communal, not merely individual

●      How churches can meet the practical needs of marginalized communities

●      The vertical and horizontal dimensions of reconciliation

●      Why informed civic participation and voting still matter

Follow or subscribe to the Impact Nations Podcast for more honest conversations about following Jesus in the real world. If this episode challenges or encourages you, share it with someone wrestling with the church’s role in public life.

FEATURED RESOURCES

Dr. Jay Augustine:
https://www.jayaugustine.com

Big Bethel AME Church:
https://www.bigbethelame.org

When Prophets Preach:
Leadership and the Politics of the Pulpit

Called to Reconciliation:
How the Church Can Model Justice, Diversity, and Inclusion

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What happens when sharing Jesus becomes a project to manage rather than a relationship built on love?

In this Summer Series conversation, Tim Stewart welcomes back Mercy Aiken, a peace advocate, author, and pilgrimage leader serving with Peace Catalyst International in Jordan.

Mercy shares what she is hearing from people from Gaza who have come to Jordan for medical care. She also tells stories of local teams providing food, shelter, practical care, prayer, and the simple assurance that those they serve have not been forgotten.

The conversation then turns toward a deeper question: How do followers of Jesus build genuine friendships across religious and cultural lines without treating people as projects?

Mercy challenges common assumptions about Christians in Palestine, reflects on the hospitality she has experienced among Muslims, and explains why she believes it is the Holy Spirit’s job to convert people. Our role is to love, listen, bear witness, and make room for the Spirit to work.

Mercy also reflects on the unique invitation of Jesus to know God as Father and shares stories of profound spiritual openness among Muslim and Jewish friends.

This is a candid conversation about suffering, peacemaking, dignity, and the quiet power of presence.

In This Episode

• What Mercy is building through Peace Catalyst International in Jordan
• What she is hearing from Gazans receiving medical care outside Gaza
• How practical relief and compassionate presence help people know they are seen
• Why the Christian presence in Palestine must not be forgotten
• How Christians can build genuine friendships with Muslim neighbours
• The difference between sharing Jesus and trying to control the outcome
• Mercy’s understanding of Jesus as the way to know God as Father
• Why conversion belongs to the Holy Spirit

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If this conversation helps you see peacemaking, mission, or the Middle East differently, follow or subscribe to the Impact Nations Podcast.

Please share this episode with someone who would value a thoughtful conversation about following Jesus in a divided world.

Featured Resources

Impact Nations Gaza Relief

Help provide practical support through Impact Nations’ trusted partners and teams serving families in Gaza:

https://www.impactnations.com/relief-gaza

Peace Catalyst International

Explore Christian peacemaking resources and learn more about the work Mercy is helping lead:

https://peacecatalyst.org

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