Influence Podcast

“If you want to make a difference,” writes Rod Loy, “if you want to fulfill God’s calling for your life, if you want to be a leader, you have to be willing to pay the price. This is the difference between changing the world and living your life without impact.”

In Episode 165 of the Influence Podcast, Influence magazine’s executive editor, George P. Wood, talks to Rod Loy about this and other leadership insights from his new book, Help! I’m in Charge.

Rod Loy is senior pastor of First Assembly of God in North Little Rock, Arkansas, and executive presbyter for the General Council of the Assemblies of God. In addition to Help! I’m in Charge, he’s the author of Immediate Obedience, 3 Questions, and After the Honeymoon, all of which are available in both English and Spanish.

The Americans with Disability Act defines a disability as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity.” How many Americans suffer from a disability? Estimates range from 13 percentof the U.S. populace to 20 percent. That’s between 40 and 60 million persons.

In Episode 165 of the Influence Podcast, Influencemagazine’s executive editor, George P. Wood, talks to Charlie Chivers about how to make your church disability friendly.

Chivers is founder and CEO of Special Touch Ministry, a non-profit faith-based organization, committed to serving people with intellectual or physical disabilities, their families and caregivers. Special Touch is interdenominational in scope, but Chivers is an ordained Assemblies of God minister and a missionary with AG U.S. Missions.

“What your marriage will become is determined by how you pray,” write Joel and Nina Schmidgall in their new book, Praying Circles Around Your Marriage. “Prayers for your marriage will allow you to claim God-given promises, fulfill God-given dreams for your family, and seize a God-ordained legacy for generations.”

In Episode 164 of the Influence Podcast, Influence magazine executive editor George P. Wood talks to the Schmidgalls about their book, which offers great advice about prayer, marriage, and family life.

Joel and Nina Schmidgall are on staff at National Community Church in Washington, DC. Joel serves as executive pastor as well as president of the DC Dream Center, a community center committed to inspiring and equipping youth and adults to reach their God-given potential. Nina serves as director of family ministry. The Schmidgalls live on Capitol Hill with their three kids.

Every New Year, millions of Americans take time to write resolutions about who they would like to become or what they would like to do in the next 365 days. Researchers at the University of Scranton suggest that only 8 percentof people keep their resolutions. According to U.S. News & World Report, 80 percentof those resolutions fail by the second week of February.

What if we’re chasing the wrong thing? What if we need new habits, not New Year’s resolutions?

That’s the question raised by Justin Whitmel Earley’s new book, The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction, which InterVarsity Press will publish on February 5th. According to him, “We are all living according to a specific regimen of habits, and those habits shape most of our life.” He goes on to propose eight purposeful habits Christians should develop to lead spiritually focused lives.

In Episode 163 of the Influence Podcast, Influence magazine executive editor George P. Wood, talks to Justin about his new book, those eight habits, and what to do when we fail.

Justin Whitmel Earley is the creator of The Common Rule, a program of habits designed to form us in the love of God and neighbor. If his name sounds familiar, that’s because he wrote “Habits of the Tech-Wise Heart,”the cover story of the November-December 2018 issue of Influence. He is also a mergers and acquisitions lawyer in Richmond, Virginia, who previously spent several years in China as a missionary. He and his wife, Lauren, have four sons and live in Richmond, Virginia.

For most people, the Christmas holiday is a wonderful time of the year. Families come together to celebrate Christ’s birth and exchange gifts. Churches welcome one and all to worship Christ, the real Reason for the season. The words “Merry Christmas!” and “Happy Holidays!” seem to be on everyone’s lips.

Not everyone is having a good time, though. It’s a myth that suicides increase at Christmastime. But it’s a very real fact that some people are sad and lonely during this season. As Christian leaders, how do we help the hurting during the holidays?

That’s the question I’m talking about with Dr. Don Lichi in Episode 162 of the Influence Podcast. Dr. Lichi is a licensed psychologist and interim president of Emerge Counseling Services in Akron, Ohio.

Andy Williams sang that Christmas is “the most wonderful time of the year.” He was right, though for the wrong reasons. Now, don’t get me wrong! “Parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting, and caroling out in the snow” are great and everything, but they’re not what Christmas is ultimately about.

In Episode 161 of the Influence Podcast, I talk to Dr. Joseph Castleberry about the real reason why Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year. We also debunk a few myths people believe about Christmas.

Dr. Castleberry is president of Northwest University in Kirkland, Washington, an ordained Assemblies of God minister, and a former missionary to Central America. More germane to this podcast, he’s author of 40 Days of Christmas, published by Broadstreet.

When a problem hits a church, who’s responsible for fixing it?

That’s the question Influencemagazine’s executive editor George P. Wood discusses with Rob Ketterling in Episode 160 of the Influence Podcast.

Ketterling is the founder and lead pastor of River Valley Church, a multisite congregation that currently serves more than 10,000 people weekly in greater metropolitan Minneapolis, Minnesota. He’s also author of the just-released book, Fix It!, which talks about three categories of ownership for problem-solving.

America is angry. Turn on TV news, tune into talk radio, check your timeline on social media, and chances are good you’ll see someone angry—outraged!—about something. Some commentators even worry that our nation is on the verge of a civil war.

It would be nice to say that Christians in America are tamping down the fires of outrage, but unfortunately, that’s not always true. Instead, some Christians are fanning the flames. They’re kicking outrage up to 11.

One Christian leader who’s trying to turn the outrage down is Ed Stetzer. He thinks outrage is unbiblical and anti-Great Commission. In his new book, Christians in the Age of Outrage, he explains why Americans are mad, why that’s bad, and what Christians should do about it.

Stetzer is Billy Graham Distinguished Professor of Church, Mission, and Evangelism at Wheaton College; dean of its School of Mission, Ministry, and Leadership; and executive director of the Billy Graham Center. He talks about his new book with Influencemagazine executive editor George P. Wood in Episode 159 of the Influence Podcast.

According to an October 8, 2018, Pew Research Center report, 62 percent of Americans believe that marijuana use should be legal. That represents a doubling of public support for pot legalization since 2000, and a quintupling since 1969.

Although the federal government still classifies marijuana as a prohibited drug, nine states and the District of Columbia permit its use. On Election Day 2018, several other states will consider referenda to legalize recreational and/or medical marijuana usage.

How should Christians think about these things?

That’s the question Influence magazine executive editor George P. Wood explores with Phil Steiger and Chad Graham in Episode 158 of the Influence Podcast.

Steiger and Graham are ordained Assemblies of God ministers and pastors of Living Hope Church and University Assembly, respectively. Both churches are located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Colorado was the first state in the Union to legalize recreational pot.

To hear more of their thoughts about a Christian view of marijuana use and legalization, check out their Thinker Sensitive Podcast series.

It’s been said that teamwork makes the dream work. That’s true for any organization, but it’s especially true for churches. After all, the business of Church isrelationship—with God and with others.

Unfortunately, many churches experience relational dysfunction in the leadership team, the congregation as a whole, or both. They also often fail to realize the vision for the Church laid out by Christ in the Great Commission. In High Impact Teams, Lance Witt explains why churches don’t have to choose between relationships and results. He then shows how to bring those two things together for greater effectiveness in ministry.

Witt is founder of Replenish, a ministry with two goals: (1) to help individuals live and lead from a healthy soul and (2) to teams and organizations become healthy and high-performing. Before launching Replenish, he served twenty years as a senior pastor and six years as an executive and teaching pastor for Rick Warren at Saddleback Church.

He’s the guest on Episode 157 of the Influence Podcast, which is hosted by George P. Wood, executive editor of Influencemagazine.