Winfield Bevins is some of everything good. He is a church planter who planted both a church and a network before taking on the role of Director of the Center for Church Multiplication at Asbury Theological Seminary. He has since stepped out of that role to lead Creo Arts, a non-proift dedicated to fostering creativity within the Church. Winfield is a prolific writer with books to his credit about Anglicanism, discipleship in the home, church planting, and the creative arts. As others have said, Winfield is a hands-on creator of ideas, books, churches, movements, icons … all of it spreading joy and Jesus. 

Dr. Chris Bounds, professor of theology at Asbury Theological Seminary, has literally written the book on holiness … or should I say books. His most recent, co-authored with Matt Ayers and Caleb Friedman, is called Holiness: A Biblical, Historical, and Systematic Theology. But wait! There’s more! Dr. Bounds has also done laudable work in the area of worship and has written a book together with Constance Cherry and Mary Brown called Selecting Worship Songs: A Guide for Leaders. In fact, he tells me he has collaborated over the years with Constance Cherry, one of the foremost scholars on worship, and interim President of the Robert Webber Institute for Worship Studies. She has written multiple books on the subject of worship leadership, including The Worship Architect: A Blueprint for Designing Culturally Relevant and Biblically Faithful Services. So that’s the kind of person Chris is collaborating with as he delves into the study of worship. And that’s what we wanted to talk to him about today. I hope you listen. 

Dr. Ellen Marmon serves Professor of Christian Discipleship at Asbury Theological Seminary. For years, she served on the leadership team of Asbury's Doctor of Ministry program, and helped so many pastors work their way through dissertation projects. She has lived the discipling life through and through, so it is a pleasure to introduce her to the Art of Holiness community. We talk about the culture of discipleship, evangelism, and some other things. I hope you listen. 

This episode drops on the first day of the Mega-Manila Annual Conference, where Dr. Luther Oconer presides as Conference Superintendent in the Global Methodist Church. So its fitting that we should listen to him today and get excited about the kind of faith and leadership that is leading that Conference.  Luther Oconer currently serves on the faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary, as an officer with the Wesleyan Theological Society, in addition to his role within the GMC. His focus as an academic is on movements … like the Holiness movement, the Pentecostal and charismatic movements, and church renewal in general. His book, Spirit-Filled Protestantism: Holiness-Pentecostal Revivals and the Making of Filipino Methodist Identity was awarded the Wesleyan Theological Society’s Timothy L. Smith and Mildred Bangs Wynkoop Book of the Year Award in 2018. We wanted to talk to Luther because he not only has studied Spirit-filled Methodism, but has lived it, so we hope you learn that's good a lot from this episode. 

Some of our best podcasts have been with historians, and today will be no exception. This is a great conversation. Beth Allison Barr is The James Vardaman Endowed Professor of History professor at Baylor University, specializing in Medieval and Early Modern England, Women’s History, Medieval Sermons, and Church History. She received degrees from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Baylor University. While she has written extensively on the historic role of women, especially in medieval England, her best selling books have focused on women in the evangelical world. If you haven’t read The Making of Biblical Womanhood, that’s a must read. And releasing in March … on pre-order through Amazon .. is Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman’s Path to Ministry. I’ve had a chance to preview the book, and my goodness … what an insightful study of the relationship between the decline of women’s ordination and the rise of the pastor’s wife. 

Oh, and we reference a blog I wrote some time ago on the ESV. Find it here. 

We had Dr. Tim Gaines on the podcast last fall, after I discovered him while speaking at a Salvation Army event. Tim is a professor of religion at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, where he teaches courses in theology and ethics and directs the graduate program in theology and biblical studies. He also serves as a pastor at Trevecca Community Church and as the director of The Center for Wesleyan-Holiness Formation, which serves the Church by advocating for scholarship in the Wesleyan tradition. Dr. Gaines has coauthored and co-edited multiple previous titles, including Walking the Theological Life, Kings & Presidents (a book on politics and the Kingdom of God), and a book simply called Christian Ethics. I knew when we talked last time that we’d want him back so this time we'll talk about moral formation, ethics, the reason for theology, and even get a second dose of secularity.  

Brian Russell is a fine academic, a strong leader, a giving spirit, a remarkable multi-tasker, and man of deep prayer. That mix of gifts and traits makes him a rare treasure in this field called the Body of Christ. He is also an author, blogger, coach, mentor to many, and among the most accessible academics we know. He is a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida, who has authored a book on the devotional reading of scripture called Astonished by the Word … and he has also written and modeled extensively the practice of centering prayer … including a book called Centering Prayer: Sitting Quietly in God’s Presence Can Change Your Life. On his website, brianrussellphd.com, he makes the bold statement, “I can help you thrive and flourish as the person God created you to be.” And that’s his mission. It is to help the rest of us flourish as followers of Jesus. We are having him back today because his gifts were the requests of those being mentored this semester … and also because he has so much to offer. 

Today’s conversation is with Dr. Grant Wacker -- academic and author, and distinguished professor emeritus at Duke Divinity. His studies have focused on American Christian History, particularly on Pentecostalism and American culture. Today, we are talking to him about the Pentecostal life, and also what we might learn from the significant ministry of Billy Graham about how to do evangelism in the 21st century. Dr. Wacker has written two books on that topic – America’s Pastor: Billy Graham and the Shaping of a Nation, and One Soul at a Time: The Story of Billy Graham.

Linda Adams serves as a Bishop in the Free Methodist Church. She first served in the U.S. and now serves in Canada. In this episode, we talk about doing evangelism in a thoroughly post-Christian or secular culture, and also about prophetic gifts, and secularity, and some other things, too. As our producer said of this episode, this one "spanned just about everything.  Such wise and humble insight into every topic she spoke about." Oh, and we referenced that amazing talk on holiness that Miriam Swanson did at New Room a few years ago. Listen to the link after you listen to the podcast!

Bishop Keith Cowart has served as a bishop in the Free Methodist Church since 2019. With has degrees from Asbury Theological Seminary and a very warm heart toward the Global Methodist movement, Keith brings a lot of affinity to this conversation. He is a Methodist-minded follower of Jesus who gets us. I am finding some of the best wisdom comes from friends in other tribes and it was one of those conversations with Bishop Cowart that made me realize just how much we can learn from each other. So I’ve asked my good friend to come and share with us what the Free Methodist Church has learned about healthy denominational systems.