Influence Podcast

On average, American adults read 12.6 books a year, according to a January 2022 Gallup survey. That's about a book a month. Reliable data on pastor-readers is harder to come by, but a 2013 Barna study found that pastors bought 3.8 books a month. If pastors read what they buy, they read about a book a week.

In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I'm talking with pastor-reader Heather Weber about why pastors should read, as well as how often and what they should read. I'm George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Heather Weber is a writer, certified leadership coach, and ordained Assemblies of God minister. She serves as sectional presbyter for the Iowa Ministry Network and director of the Network of Women Ministers in Iowa and the North Central Region of the AG.

She also hosts Your Pastor Reads Books, a podcast devoted to "conversations about the books pastors are reading that are helping to shape them into whole-hearted followers of Jesus and healthier givers of spiritual care to others." It's available on Apple and Spotify.

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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by The General Council of the Assemblies of God.

General Council is the AG's premier conference. It occurs every two years the first week in August and incorporates spiritual inspiration, practical leadership training, and denominational business. The theme of the 2023 General Council is "Our Church, Our Family." The conference will take place July 31–August 4 in Columbus, Ohio.

Visit GeneralCouncil.AG.org for more information and to register.

On behalf of the staff of Influence magazine, I'd like to wish all our readers — especially those who listen to the Influence Podcast — a very happy new year!

In this episode of the podcast, the first of many to come in 2023, I talk to Doug Clay about the state of the Assemblies of God. What is going well in our Fellowship? What is challenging? And what is forthcoming? We'll talk about those questions and more.

I'm George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Doug Clay is general superintendent of the Assemblies of God.

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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by The General Council of the Assemblies of God.

General Council is the AG's premier conference. It occurs every two years the first week in August and incorporates spiritual inspiration, practical leadership training, and denominational business. The theme of the 2023 General Council is "Our Church, Our Family." The conference will take place July 31–August 4 in Columbus, Ohio.

Visit GeneralCouncil.AG.org for more information and to register.

Prayer is a hallmark of Pentecostal spirituality, both in the New Testament and today. Acts 2:42 says of the first generation of believers, "They devoted themselves … to prayer." According to the Assemblies of God Constitution, "the priority reason for being of the Assemblies of God is to be … a corporate body in which man may worship God."

In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk to Rick DuBose about why and how believers should pray in 2023, as well about prayer initiatives that the AG is sponsoring throughout the year. I'm George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Rick DuBose is assistant general superintendent of the Assemblies of God. In that position, he provides leadership and direction to General Council-sponsored prayer initiatives.

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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by The General Council of the Assemblies of God.

General Council is the AG's premier conference. It occurs every two years the first week in August and incorporates spiritual inspiration, practical leadership training, and denominational business. The theme of the 2023 General Council is "Our Church, Our Family." The conference will take place July 31–August 4 in Columbus, Ohio.

Visit GeneralCouncil.AG.org for more information and to register.

When the Christmas season begins, you can always count on at least one major media company to publish a story debunking the myths of Christmas. The effect, if not the intent, of such stories is to question the historical value of the New Testament. From a Christian perspective, that's not a good thing.

But the reality is that there are Christmas myths that need to be debunked. Some of those are popular myths that conflate details of birth stories in the Gospels. Other popular myths are based on holiday traditions.

There are scholarly myths that need to be debunked too, however, such as the belief that the Gospel birth stories are contradictory or historically unreliable.

In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk to Amy Flattery about the facts and the fictions of Jesus' birth. I'm George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Amy Flattery is co-founder and director of the Assemblies of God Center for Holy Lands Studies and an ordained Assemblies of God minister. She has taught at Continental Theological Seminary in Brussels, Belgium, and led scores of tours to the Holy Lands.

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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by The General Council of the Assemblies of God.

General Council is the AG's premier conference. It occurs every two years the first week in August and incorporates spiritual inspiration, practical leadership training, and denominational business. The theme of the 2023 General Council is "Our Church, Our Family." The conference will take place July 31–August 4 in Columbus, Ohio.

Visit GeneralCouncil.AG.org for more information and to register.

“There have always been people with mental and relational health problems in the church,” writes Dr. Jared Pingleton. “Unfortunately, we just haven’t done a very good job helping pastors to know how to recognize and minister effectively to these pronounced and realistic needs.”

How can churches improve their ministries in this critical area? And why should they?

Those are the questions I ask Dr. Pingleton in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Dr. Pingleton is a licensed clinical psychologist and an ordained Assemblies of God minister. In addition to his private practice and preaching ministry, he serves as director of Mental Health Care and Ministry for The American Association of Christian Counselors. His new book is Mental Health Ministry: The Struggle Is Real, published by Trilogy Christian Publishing.

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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.

Bible Engagement Project gives churches access to a library of kids curriculum and small group resources all in one subscription.

“Many transition specialists, denominational leaders, and local churches are starting to question whether the traditional method of pastoral selection is effective,” writes Gene Roncone in Mentored Succession. “The model of bringing in outsiders with no understanding of the church culture, community, and congregation seems to be creating a continual cycle of short-term pastorates.”

Is there a better way for churches to plan for pastoral succession?

That’s the question I ask Gene Roncone in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Gene Roncone is district superintendent of the Rocky Mountain Ministry Network of the Assemblies of God, a position he has held since 2019. An ordained AG minister with decades of pastoral experience, he has authored two resources on pastoral succession: Mentored Succession: A Smarter Way for Pastoral Transition and Rise Up: A Practical and Comprehensive Reference for Pastoral Successions and Transitions. Both resources can be downloaded free from GeneRoncone.org/AGSPE.

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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.

Bible Engagement Project gives churches access to a library of kids curriculum and small group resources all in one subscription.

Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to download sample lessons.

“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction,” wrote the atheist Richard Dawkins. He went on to describe God as “jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”

Dawkins, who is frequently wrong but never in doubt, isn’t the only person to perceive problems with God in the Old Testament. The second-century heretic Marcion was so struck by the difference between the Old Testament and New Testament that he believed they taught about different gods altogether. He went on to delete the Old Testament from the biblical canon, along with any New Testament book he perceived as being too friendly with the Old Testament.

So, how do we reconcile the portrayals of God in the two testaments of Christian Scripture? That’s the question I pose to Paul Copan in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Paul Copan is the Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida. He is the author of numerous books dealing with questions in philosophy, ethics, and apologetics. His most recent book is, Is God a Vindictive Bully? published by Baker Academic.

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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.

Bible Engagement Project gives churches access to a library of kids curriculum and small group resources all in one subscription.

Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to download sample lessons.

“Opportunity awaits every single day, and God wants you to tap into each opportunity,” writes Jonathan Hardy. “When you remain faithful to God’s purposes, you’ll see how you can easily step into opportunities and give a wholehearted effort toward achieving His will every day.”

In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk to Hardy about how to lead a church with an opportunity mentality. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Jonathan Hardy is an ordained Assemblies of God minister and cofounder of Leaders.Church and Church University. These online platforms help pastors develop their ministry and leadership skills. Hardy is author of Arrow Striker: Live with Purpose and Leave an Eternal Impact Every Single Day.

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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.

Bible Engagement Project gives churches access to a library of kids curriculum and small group resources all in one subscription.

Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to download sample lessons.

“I am convinced that if you want to see an increase in hope, understanding, and unity amid the engulfing mercilessness of today — indeed, if you want to communicate anything approaching grace — you must begin with a low anthropology.”

So writes David Zahl in his new book, Low Anthropology, published by Brazos Press. Zahl considers such a view of humanity “the unlikely key to a gracious view of others (and yourself),” as the book’s subtitle puts it.

I talk with Zahl about what low anthropology is and how it makes room for grace in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

David Zahl is the founder and director of Mockingbird Ministries, editor-in-chief of the popular Mockingbird website (www.mbird.com), and cohost of The Mockingcast. He and his family live in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he also serves on the staff of Christ Episcopal Church.

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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.

Bible Engagement Project gives churches access to a library of kids curriculum and small group resources all in one subscription.

Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to download sample lessons.

“Countless pastors, preachers, teachers, and ministry leaders are dismayed at the dysfunction engulfing the church and the wider culture,” write Matt Kim and Paul Hoffman.

“Every day, headlines reveal a world divided across ethnic, class, sex, and political lines. We are simultaneous a nation and a church with comparable cavernous disagreements. Make no mistake: these chasms are expanding and feel increasingly insurmountable.”

Even so, Kim and Hoffman go to write, “We are convinced that all gospel heralds now have a greater opportunity to intentionally and winsomely use their platforms to proclaim the Holy Scriptures in a way that promotes reconciliation and unity.”

I talk with Hoffman about how to do that in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Paul Hoffman is senior pastor of Evangelical Friends Church of Newport, Rhode Island, and coauthor with Matt Kim of Preaching to a Divided Nation, published by Baker Academic. They also coauthored the topically related cover story of the summer 2022 issue of Influence magazine.

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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.

Bible Engagement Project gives churches access to a library of kids curriculum and small group resources all in one subscription.

Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to download sample lessons.