The Weight

*** Repost***
As we move closer to the 2024 election season, we thought this episode was worth hearing again.


Show Notes:

“Politics is an essential forum in which we can love our neighbors.”

Michael Wear reminds us that Christians are called to love, love of God and love of neighbor. And if you are a Christian in politics, when you go into the political sphere, what are you doing? What is the orientation of your heart? This question is for everyone to answer, not just politicians. Are you using the vast resources of the Christian tradition—scriptures, history, theology—to guide your decision making? Are you acting out of a spirit of loving service as Jesus did?

Michael is the Founder, President and CEO of the Center for Christianity and Public Life, a nonpartisan, nonprofit institution which seeks to contend for the credibility of Christian resources in public life and for the public good. He has worked as a White House and presidential campaign staffer and as an advisor for a range of civic leaders on matters of faith and public life.

He is the author of The Spirit of Our Politics: Spiritual Formation and the Renovation of Public Life and Reclaiming Hope: Lessons Learned in the Obama White House About the Future of Faith in America.

Resources:

Learn more about Michael at his website, michaelwear.com

Learn more about the Center for Christianity and Public Life

Follow Michael on Facebook and Instagram

Listen to his podcast, Wear We Are, on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Buy his books on Amazon

This episode might leave you fired up for the Holy Spirit, because guest Jack Levison himself is fired up for the Holy Spirit. Not only does he see the boundless work of the Spirit in our world today, he also offers ways for us to dig deeper into finding the Spirit at work in the Old Testament, where we might overlook it.

Dr. Levison holds the W. J. A. Power Chair of Old Testament Interpretation and Biblical Hebrew at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. He is the author of several books, including Fresh Air and A Boundless God, which won a Christianity Today book award in 2021. 

Resources:

Buy Dr. Levison’s books, including Fresh Air and A Boundless God here.

Find interviews and other podcasts featuring Dr. Levison here.

Mark DeYmaz is a pastor, author, and champion of the multi-ethnic church movement. He spent eighteen years as a youth pastor in Little Rock, Arkansas, before stepping away to plant the Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas in 2001 where he continues to serve as Directional Leader. Mark has a clear vision for what the Church should look like: bringing diverse people together to walk, work, and worship God, while investing in the local community. Church should reflect the diverse world we live in, as a true reflection of the Kingdom of God.

Mark earned his Master of Arts from Western Seminary in 1987 and his Doctor of Ministry from Phoenix Seminary in 2006. He is an Adjunct Professor at United Theological Seminary and at Wheaton College He is also the co-founder of the Mosaix Global Network, which helps with multiethnic church planting, growth, and development. Mark has written eight books and is a contributing editor to Outreach magazine. He and his wife Linda have four adult children and five grandchildren.

Resources:
Learn more about Mosaix

Learn more about Mosaic Church

Buy Mark’s books on Amazon, including The Coming Revolution in Church Economics, Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church, and DIsruption: Repurposing the Church to Redeem the Community

Follow Mark on Instagram

It’s a podcast mashup this week as Eddie and Chris are joined by the co-hosts of Pod Have Mercy, John Stephens and Matt Russell. John and Matt are pastors at Chapelwood United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas (senior pastor and executive pastor, respectively), and are no strangers to deep conversations about the state of today’s Church--the challenges modern Christians face and their hopes for the future.

Resources:

Listen to Pod Have Mercy on Spotify or watch it on Youtube

Learn more about Chapelwood

Shelby McEwen has been jumping and flipping off things since he was a little boy, and now he has an Olympic silver medal to show for it--which joins his many other high jump accolades. Shelby is a native of Oxford, Mississippi (where Eddie and Chris currently live). He was a member of the Northwest Mississippi Community College track and field team as well as the University of Alabama track and field team, where he became an SEC champion for both indoor and outdoor high jump. 

Shelby was a member of Team USA in 2020 at the Tokyo Olympics, where he finished twelfth. He earned his 2024 silver medal after a jump off with New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr.

Resources:

Follow Shelby on Instagram

Tod Bolsinger has built his career on developing and empowering great leaders. In this conversation with Eddie and Chris, he talks about how leaders can leverage the trust they’ve built to make risky decisions with empathy and vulnerability, how to deal with pushback, and how important it is to acknowledge the losses that come with change.

Tod is the Vice-President for Vocation and Formation and Assistant Professor of Practical Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, where he earned his Ph.D. in theology. He has served as Senior Pastor of San Clemente Presbyterian Church. He is the author of a series of leadership guides as well as the books Tempered Resilience and Canoeing the Mountains.

Resources:

Listen to Tod’s previous episode on The Weight, Adaptive Leadership 

Buy Tod’s books at IVPress

Follow Tod on Facebook or X

Is AI going to take over the world?

Probably not in the way pop culture would have us imagine (or in the way Chris fears). Today’s guest, Dr. Robert Hunt, offers Eddie and Chris a broad overview of AI--what it is, how we see it, how we see ourselves in relation to it, and how we use it. 

Dr. Hunt has been the Director of Global Theological Education at the Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University since 2004. He is Professor of Christian Mission and Interreligious Relations and teaches classes on World Religions, Islam, Interreligious Dialogue, Cultural Intelligence, and Mission Studies. He earned his M.Div from Perkins School of Theology and his Ph.D. from the University of Malaya. He is also the creator and host of the podcast Interfaith Encounters.

His upcoming book about AI will hopefully be out this fall.

Resources:

Learn more about Interfaith Encounters or listen to it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Purchase his books, Muslim Faith and Values: A Guide for Christians and The Gospel Among the Nations on Amazon.

We’ve heard it on the news and seen it in the research: American Christianity is declining. Younger generations aren’t interested in organized religion. Young families aren’t raising their children with a Biblical foundation. That’s what we’re told, but what is really happening? Today’s guest has an on-the-ground perspective of how hungry the next generation is for meaningful connection and deeper roots to something powerful.

Brian McCormack is the Executive Director of Breakaway Ministries, a non-denominational Bible study that reaches  tens of thousands of students at Texas A&M University. Brian has served in ministry with his wife Emilie for 17 years. He has worked in student ministry, planted a church in Seattle, and served as a lead pastor, and along the way found time to earn a doctorate from Duke Divinity School and raise 5 kids with Emilie. 

Resources:

breakaway.org

Follow Brian on Instagram

Follow Breakaway on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or Facebook

Matt Luke is a former football player and coach, who served as the head coach for the University of Mississippi (and was a member of Oxford University United Methodist Church while Eddie and Chris pastored there.) Matt is probably most well known for helping to lead the University of Georgia football team to a National Championship win in 2021 as associate head coach and offensive line coach. After that win, Matt stepped away from coaching football in February 2022. 

Walking away from professional success was not a decision Matt made lightly, but it was the right decision for him and his family. He is able to joy in the small, every day moments with his wife Ashley and their sons Harrison and Cooper. 

Show Notes:

Kari Kampakis is an author, speaker, podcaster, and newspaper columnist from Birmingham, Alabama. She writes for teen girls and moms, and her books include 10 Ultimate Truths Girls Should Know, Liked, Love Her Well, and More than a Mom.

Kari offers advice to teens and parents, but more importantly she offers compassion and understanding. Parenting is hard at any stage, even if the struggles from family to family are different. As a mom of four girls, Kari has learned that parenting moves from a place of control to a place of influence. That transition can be hard without faith and without a strong support system. 

We live in a culture of child-centered parenting, which is why it’s important for parents and children that parents have a healthy adult life--passions, interests, and friends. For Kari and her husband, finding an identity in Christ and having hobbies and interests outside of parenting are vital to the overall health of their family.

Resources:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

Girl Mom Podcast

Kari’s Books:

10 Ultimate Truths Girls Should Know 

Liked: Whose Approval Are You Living For

Love Her Well 

More Than a Mom