Shifting Culture

In this episode, Preston Sprinkle and I have a great conversation around being exiles in the shadow of the empire. He wants us to know that this nation that we are living in – no matter what nation in the world it is not my primary political identity – the Kingdom of God is. The church is a political entity itself. We dive into Romans 13, examples of the church being faithful to Jesus while taking up causes for the flourishing of the community, how Israel was designed to be upside down to the kingdoms of the world, and how Jesus subverts power. We talk about how the Kingdom of God transfers power from money and might to weakness and sacrifice and how turning the other cheek is one of the most powerful things we can do. So join us as we discover how to be faithful exiles in the shadow of the empire.

New York Times bestselling author Dr. Preston M. Sprinkle has written more than a dozen books. He serves as the president of the Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender and the host of the Theology in the Raw podcast. His latest book is Exiles: The Church in the Shadow of Empire.

Preston's Book:
Exiles

Preston's Website:
www.prestonsprinkle.com

Preston's Recommendation:
Martyr Made Podcast

Connect with Joshua: [email protected]

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In this episode, Joy Clarkson and I have a great conversation around the metaphors that shape our faith. We talk about rootedness when we are on the move. We get into bad metaphors we like to use that are harming the way we view ourselves – like we are a machine and cancer is a battle. We talk about paying attention to the season that we are in and the fruit that comes in time and in season. We talk birth and rebirth, the meaning of creation and paying attention to art and beauty to create meaning out of our lives. So join us as we dive into the metaphors that breathe meaning into our everyday lives.

Joy Clarkson is the author of Aggressively Happy and host of the popular podcast, Speaking with Joy. She is the books editor for Plough Quarterly and a research associate in theology and literature at King's College London. Joy completed her PhD in theology at the University of St Andrews, where she researched how art can be a resource of hope and consolation. Joy loves daffodils, birdwatching, and a well brewed cup of Yorkshire Gold tea. Learn more at JoyClarkson.com

Joy's Book:
You are a Tree

Joy's Recommendations:
The Map and the Territory
House, M.D.

Connect with Joshua: [email protected]

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In this episode, Nijay Gupta and I go back to the first century. In the Roman-Greco culture there were gods everywhere, blood and smoke from their sacrifices filled the air, icons of gods were on every corner. And here come the Christians – believers in the unseen, in the supremacy of Jesus, in the finished sacrifice of Jesus, meeting in homes instead of temples and the culture around them thought they were weird. They were dangerous. They were compelling. We talk about their different beliefs and practices. Join us as we discover how the first Christians were weird, dangerous and compelling.

Nijay K. Gupta serves as professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary, is the co-host of the Slow Theology podcast, is on the translation committee for the New Living Translation, and has written numerous books including Tell Her Story, Paul and the Language of Faith, and a commentary of Galatians for The Story of God Bible Commentary.

Nijay's Book:
Strange Religion

Connect with Joshua: [email protected]

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In this episode, Emily P. Freeman and I have a great conversation around decision making, discernment and how to know when to stay and when to go. We walk through a four step discernment process telling stories of how it works: pointing and calling, remember your path, acknowledge presence, and yield to the arrows. Our decisions are made in the moment, but our character is formed along the way, so we focus on questions and who we are becoming rather than the answer. We talk about when we are ready to enter a new space, but it’s not time yet and when we know it’s time, but we aren’t ready. It’s such a fantastic conversation. I know you’ll love this one and get a ton out of it. So join us as we discern when to stay and when to go.

Emily P. Freeman is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of six books, including The Next Right Thing and How to Walk into a Room. As a spiritual director and workshop leader, her most important work is to help create soul space and offer spiritual companionship and discernment for anyone struggling with decision fatigue. Her podcast, The Next Right Thing, offers clarity and direction for anyone who wants to move beyond the pro/con list in decision-making. Emily holds a master’s degree in Christian spiritual formation and leadership from Friends University where she also serves as a residency lecturer. She lives in North Carolina with her family.

Emily's Book:
How to Walk Into a Room

Emily's Recommendation:
Braiding Sweetgrass

Connect with Joshua: [email protected]

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Sarah Bessey's latest book is Field Notes for the Wilderness. And telling you that it is my favorite book I’ve ever read is no exaggeration. I love this book. It’s full of grace and love and welcome. I could go on and on. You need to get it. Like right now and then pull up a chair in front of the fire with a warm cup and go deep into the beauty and wonder of Sarah’s writing.

In this episode, Sarah Bessey discuss her journey of evolving faith and new book "Field Notes for the Wilderness." Bessey shares her experience of faith deconstruction as disorienting but empowering, finding support through community. She emphasizes that God's love is present even in our doubts.

She  explores practices for cultivating wonder in daily life through embodiment, Scripture and relationships. They discuss reclaiming repentance as a mind shift rather than shame, and peacemaking as justice work over status quo. Sarah reflects on navigating differing faith journeys in marriage through choosing each other.

Ultimately, Sarah encourages listeners in the wilderness to embrace their identity and find community, even if it means leaving old spaces. She recommends embracing the invitations of the Spirit and knowing you're not alone. This conversation provides wisdom and hope for those navigating spiritual transformation and an evolving faith.

Sarah Bessey is the author or editor of five books, including the New York Times bestseller A Rhythm of Prayer. She also leads Evolving Faith, a conference and online community for people who are reimagining their faith with hope. Bessey lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, with her husband and their four children.

Sarah's Book:
Field Notes for the Wilderness

Sarah's Recommendations:
Black Liturgies by Cole Arthur Riley
Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day by Kate Bowler

Connect with Joshua: [email protected]

Go to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.

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In this episode, Lance Ford discusses the need to re-examine traditional views of Christian leadership and put Jesus back in his rightful place as head of the church. He traces the evolution of modern leadership theory and its influence on churches. Ford and host Joshua Johnson explore biblical models of servant leadership and equipping others. We emphasize distributing responsibility throughout the body of Christ rather than relying on a few individuals. This thought-provoking conversation challenges listeners to reflect on how they can organize churches to maximize the flow of wisdom from Christ as head into every member.

With over three decades experience as a pastor and church planter, Lance Ford is a writer, coach, and consultant who has designed unique training systems currently being used by networks, seminaries, and leaders throughout the world. He has written many articles for Christianity Today, Outreach Magazine, Relevant, and others as well as co-founded the Sentralized Conference. His books include UnLeader, The Starfish and The Spirit, Missional Essentials, The Missional Quest, Next Door as It Is In Heaven, and others. His newest book is The Atlas Factor.

Lance's Book:
The Atlas Factor

Lance's Recommendations:
The Making of Biblical Womanhood
The Scandal of Leadership

Connect with Joshua: [email protected]

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In this episode, Jessica Hooten Wilson and I go deep in her ten year project of reckoning with Flannery O’Connor’s unpublished and unfinished 3rd novel Why Do the Heathen Rage? Jessica shares insights into Flannery’s writing process, themes in her fiction, her perspectives on race and social justice. She talks about reading O’Connor with charity and how that can provide new insights. We get into limitations because of Flannery’s illness that contributed to the depth and particularity of her writing. We also talk grace, sanctity and the connection between body and soul. So join us as we dig deep into the works of Flannery O’Connor.

Jessica Hooten Wilson is the Fletcher Jones Endowed Chair of Great Books at Pepperdine University and formerly Louise Cowan Scholar in Residence at the University of Dallas. She is the author of several books, most recently Reading for the Love of God. Her book Giving the Devil his Due: Flannery O’Connor and The Brothers Karamazov received a 2018 Christianity Today book of the year in arts and culture award and The Scandal of Holiness received a 2022 Award of Merit. In 2019 she received the Hiett Prize for Humanities from the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. Other awards include a Fulbright Fellowship to Prague, an NEH to study Dante in Florence, a Biola University sabbatical fellowship funded by the John Templeton Foundation, and the 2017 Emerging Public Intellectual Award. She is a Senior Fellow at The Trinity Forum.

Jessica's Book:
Flannery O'Connor's Why Do the Heathen Rage?

Connect with Joshua: [email protected]

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In this episode, Brian and I have a conversation around the cross of Jesus and his latest book The Wood Between the Worlds. It’s a deep conversation around suffering and putting to shame the powers and principalities. We talk about the multi-faceted meaning of the cross and view it through a kaleidoscope, so we can uncover more and more depth of meaning. We talk about the Kingdom, galvanizing around an axis of power or an axis of love expressed in forgiveness, and the seduction of power we find in the Lord of the Rings. It’s a fantastic conversation that I know you will enjoy. So join us as we look at the multi-faceted wonder of the cross.

Brian Zahnd is the founder and lead pastor of Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri. Known for his theologically informed preaching and his embrace of the deep and long history of the church, Zahnd provides a forum for pastors to engage with leading theologians and is a frequent conference speaker. He is the author of several books, including When Everything's On Fire, Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God, A Farewell to Mars, and Beauty Will Save the World.

Brian's Book:
The Wood Between the Worlds

Brian's Recommendations:
Bob Dylan - Shadow Kingdom
Metallica - 72 Seasons

Connect with Joshua: [email protected]

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In this episode, Curt Thompson and I have a great discussion around his book The Deepest Place. We talk about how secure attachment to God and others can help root and ground us in a place that enables us to move through suffering and find hope. We need to be in loving relationship with one another because we are the embodied presence of Jesus to each other. We have hope because we have a God that came incarnate in the form of Jesus and He suffered and died, so that He can be not just justify us, but so that he can be with us in our suffering. Hope is an anticipated future of goodness and beauty. Join us as we walk through suffering and find hope.

Curt Thompson is a Christian psychiatrist, working at the intersection of neuroscience and spiritual formation and the bestselling author of The Deepest Place (Zondervan). Inspired by deep compassion for others and informed from a Christian perspective, psychiatrist he shares fresh insights and practical applications for developing more authentic relationships and fully experiencing our deepest longing: to be known.
 
 Through his workshops, speaking engagements, books, organizational consulting, private clinical practice, and other platforms, he helps people process their longings, grief, identity, purpose, perspective of God, and perspective of humanity, inviting them to engage more authentically with their own stories and their relationships. Only then can they feel truly known and connected and live into the meaningful reality they desire to create. Curt and his wife, Phyllis, live outside of Washington DC and have two adult children.

Curt's Book:
The Deepest Place

Curt's Podcast:
Being Known

Curt's Recommendations:
The Chosen
The Bible Project
Dominion by Tom Holland

Connect with Joshua: [email protected]

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In this episode, Peter Greer and I have a great conversation around the book Lead with Prayer. We dive into the gift that prayer is. We talk through group discernment through listening and prayer, new postures that can aid our prayer life, carrying the culture of prayer, so we can help transform others. We marvel at the joy and hope that comes through suffering and the embodied presence of Jesus with us in the midst of that suffering. Join us as we discover new tools and ways to pray, so that we can experience delight in ways that come through being with Jesus as we pray.

Peter Greer is the president and CEO of HOPE International,
a global Christ-centered economic development organization serving throughout
Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Under Peter’s leadership, HOPE
has expanded from working in two to over twenty countries and served over 2.5
million families. Prior to joining HOPE, Peter worked in Cambodia, Zimbabwe,
and Rwanda. He has co-authored 15 books, including Mission Drift, Rooting for Rivals, The Gift of Disillusionment, and The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good. His new book, Lead with Prayer is now available.

Peter's Book:
Lead with Prayer

Peter's Recommendation:
Creek Stewart

Connect with Joshua: [email protected]

Go to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.

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