Jessica and I spent an hour talking about the art of preaching and she is just. so. good. If you want to remember the joy of preaching or learn it, you should listen. 

A.J. Swoboda is a pastor, teacher, theologian, and author of such books as The Gift of Thorns, Subversive Sabbath, Slow Theology, After Doubt … to name a few. He serves on the faculties of George Fox University and Fuller Seminary where he teaches biblical studies, theology, and church history. He pastors Theophilus church in Portland, Oregon and leads a great podcast together with Nijay Gupta called Slow Theology. His most recent book, A Teachable Spirit, caught my attention because of its title. Few of us have that spirit, and more of us need it. Maybe I should speak only for myself. Let’s talk about what it means to be spiritually and intellectually flexible enough to learn from peers, children, the culture … even our enemies. 

Not that Jonathan Edwards ... the other one! The one who has served our podcast week in and week out this year as our faithful, enthusiastic, encouraging and extraordinarily talented producer. Jonathan is part of the Seedbed Publishing farm team, serving as one of their creatives in the area of video production. Because he has been with us behind the scenes for every single episode, I wanted to have a conversation with him about the episodes that made the biggest impression on him. A great conversation with a really sharp and Spirit-infused man. I hope you listen. 

Today, we get the joy of chatting about all we learned this semester as we entered into this experiment of mentoring by podcast. Taylor, Katherine, Brandy and I talk about who we talked to, what we learned, and where we head from here. I hope you listen. 

Dr. Cheryl Bridges Johns – distinguished visiting professor at United Theological Semianry and professor of Christian Formation at Pentecostal Theological Seminary for 35 years –  is a long-time friend of The Art of Holiness, and of me. She has been a great mentor over the years. You can find three other conversations with her in our vault so look them up. Today, we are also joined by her husband, Dr. Jackie David Johns, professor of practical Theology at Pentecostal Theological Seminary for 40 years. Together, they have written books, pastored congregations and raised great kids. Today, they come to talk about their latest project – a tremendous resource for pastors and laypeople alike –  Encountering the Living Word: Relational Inductive Bible Study.

Dr. Nicole Massey Martin is a strong voice in the American Christian movement with decades of experience at the executive level. She currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Christianity Today, and currently hosts The Disrupters podcast (a CT production). Beyond her roles with CT, she is an author, preacher and teacher -- a solid academic, with degrees from Vanderbilt, Princeton and Gordon-Conwell. She is the founder and Executive Director of Soulfire International Ministries, with a mission of helping pastors, churches, and young leaders thrive. Dr. Massey is a member of Kingdom Fellowship AME Church in Maryland, and she has a word for us today about bringing the crucifixion and resurrection into our daily vocations as followers of Jesus. This is a deep and meaty conversation. I hope you listen. 

If you listen to this podcast even occasionally, you know that I love discovering "treasures in a field" -- people I didn't know before who I'm just now discovering, and who are full of wisdom and goodness. Well, I just found another one! Christopher Lohrstorfer, VP of Academic Affairs at Wesley Biblical Seminary (and pastor of a local church, too!)  is the author of Learning to Breathe: Mastering the Art of Spiritual Respiration. It is all about how to the faith is designed to be lived out. We breathe in the presence and power of God, going deep into the Spirit. Then we breathe out the life God calls and equips us to lead. This pattern -- breathing in and breathing out -- breeds healthy followers of Jesus, which is what we all want more of. So this is a good one, friends. Listen all the way through. 

Reverend Doctor Petey Bellini is brilliant and faithful and deeply spiritual and that’s what makes conversation with him so good. He is an interdisiplinary academic, which a gift to the rest of us. It means he can connect the dots between the seen and the unseen, and he does so in the most accessible way. In his latest book, he writes about the intersection between neuroscience, emotional health and spirituality. This is a good one! 

Rev. Dr Christian Selvaratnam serves as the Dean of Church Planting at St. Hild College, York, England. He is also the founder of the Centre for Church Planting at St. Hild and works extensively with Seedbed to train pastors and planters. He has decades of experience on staff with Alpha International, as Head of Alpha UK and and as its National Director. He has planted churches and written books, including The Craft of Church Planting: Exploring the Lost Wisdom of Apprenticeship, Why Plant Churches? Theological and Practical Reasons, and Alpha as a Church Planting Tool (London: Alpha International, 2017). He is a good friend through Asbury and a solid follower of Jesus. It is a privilege to have him sharing on the Art of Holiness about church-planting, Alpha and other things. 

I love finding treasures in a field. Finding Doug Koskela and his work was delightful. He serves through the Free Methodist Church as a professor at Seattle Pacific University, where he teaches Wesleyan Theology, epistemology of theology, vocation and ecclesiology. His is a member of the Wesleyan Theological Society and author of three books. Today, we’ll focus on his latest, The Radiance of God: Christian Doctrine through the Image of Divine Light. We will also dip into the content of a forthcoming book – Made Known to Them: An Invitation to the Study of Theology – which is an invitation to the study of theology, mainly for beginners, framed by the Emmaus road story in Luke 24. Watch for it at the end of this year.