You will love this conversation with Dr. Jonathan Powers, a Levite all the way through. He has a great take on what it means to worship in Spirit and in truth. Dr. Powers serves as Associate Professor of Worship Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. He has (I’m quoting from the seminary website here) "a passion for the intersection of liturgy and spiritual formation in the life of the church." Look up his books on Seedbed: Echo: A Catechism for Discipleship in the Ancient Christian Tradition, The 12 Days of Christmas Sermons, and Watchnight: John Wesley’s Covenant Renewal Service. He had done good work with grief and lament, and he has participated in the formation of a hymnal (Our Great Redeemer’s Praise). His most recent book is New Life in the Risen Christ: A Wesleyan Theology of Baptism.

Today, we kick off a new year on The Art of Holiness with a conversation amongst ourselves* about evangelism. These seminary students did a FABULOUS job thinking through what it means to evangelize in the 21st century, and their conversation will be the first of several this semester on the topic. Glad to be back, and glad you're back with us. 

* This semester, "us" includes Brandy Lee and Katherine Reiley. Our good friend, Taylor Williams, has concluded her time on AoH. We will miss having her solid voice among us, but thank God for all the good he is generating in her life.  

Jonathan Edwards is our faithful, fun producer of The Art of Holiness podcasts, who listens to -- and loves! -- every single episode. Today, Jonathan and I think back on all the ones we produced this fall, discussing what stood out for us and what's worth listening to twice. 

Bill Kierce has served ten years as an itinerant evangelist, 22 years as pastor of a local church, 5 years as a congregational consultant, and is now serving as the President of the Francis Asbury Society. He has a whole lot of education in organizational leadership, including a PhD in that area of study from Eastern University. Bill’s heart now is promoting the gift of evangelism and the message of scriptural holiness … and today, that’s the heart of our conversation. Got a passion for evangelism? Connect with The Francis Asbury Society: https://francisasburysociety.com/

Beth Felker Jones (PhD, Duke University) teaches theology at Northern Seminary, and loves to write for the church and the academy. She lives in the Chicagoland area with her husband Brian, four kids, two dogs, and Dwight, her theology cat. She was on The Art of Holiness a couple of years ago to talk about her really great work, Practicing Christian Doctrine. She has also published a book called “God the Spirit. Today we are talking with her about her latest work, “Why I am Protestant.” What does it mean to be Protestant? How can its strengths shape faith in the modern world, and how should its challenges be addressed?

Dr. Jason Vickers serves as professor of Christian theology and the Wesley Endowed Chair of Christian Theology at Truett Seminary, on the campus of Baylor University in Texas. He serves as a member of the Discipleship, Doctrine, and Just Ministry Commission of the Global Methodist Church. Ryan Barnett is an ordained elder in the GMC. Today, he serves on staff at Truett and as the Connectional Operational Officer (COO) of the MidTexas Conference of the Global Methodist Church. Together, Ryan and Jason have created a fabulous resource for the church -- Profoundly Christian, Distinctly Methodist. Their work gives us a great opportunity to talk about what it means to be Methodist, and what we can celebrate as we teach our people the joys of this tradition. 

Dr. Ken Collins has been a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary since 1995 (which means he got there the same year I did). He has written and taught extensively on all facets of Wesleyan theology. His The Theology of John Wesley: Holy Love and the Shape of Grace was ground-breaking and established Collins as a preeminent theologian in the field. His work on holiness as "holy love” and grace as both "free and co-operant" is fascinating and that's where we'll be in this podcast, as we talk about his latest publication, Generous Divine Love. 

Dr. Arnold is the Paul S. Amos Professor of Old Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary. He joined the faculty of Asbury my freshman year, so we have grown up at Asbury together. He has written extensively on the Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern Culture. Look for his excellent book, Introduction to the Old Testament, if you want to get a start on his scholarship. He is currently writing a two-volume commentary on Deuteronomy, the first half of which was released in 2022. He served on the Old Testament translation team for the New Living Translation, and was responsible for translating the books of 1 and 2 Kings. And that’s why we want to talk to him today … because we love Bible translators! Let’s jump in. 

Carmen Imes is one of my favorite people, and such a marvelous resourcer of the Church. With her latest book, Becoming God’s Family, she completes a trilogy of teachings on what it means to belong to the Body of Christ. Its an excellent read and this is a great conversation! 

Dr. Carmen Imes is the Associate Professor of Old Testament at Biola University in La Mirada, California. Dr. Imes earned a PhD in Biblical Theology from Wheaton College, an MA in Biblical Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a BA in Bible and Theology from Multnomah University. She and her husband, Daniel, served as missionaries with SIM for 15 years. 

We loved this conversation with Dee Baty. Dee was a charter member of the Wesleyan Coveanant Association Global Council, where she served on both the Accountable Discipleship Task Force and the Sexuality Task Force. Her call is to equip the church to live into sexual holiness. She authors the weekly 
Resources4Redemption newsletter (available on Substack). which serves to  equip followers of Jesus to speak the gospel fluently, truthfully, and kindly on issues related to sexuality. Along with Mark Ongley and Garry Ingraham, she is a speaker for the 3 C Seminars on Sexuality and Gender.