Can the Bible still guide faithful political engagement—or has it been too abused to help?

In this timely conversation, Dave Fitch and Mike Moore welcome theologian, author, and Holy Post co-host Kaitlyn Schiess to discuss her book The Ballot and the Bible: How Scripture Has Been Used and Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from Here.

Together, they explore how American Christians have wielded (and often weaponized) the Bible in public life. From Romans 13 and the Revolutionary War to slavery, civil rights, and the rise of Christian nationalism. Kaitlyn offers both a critique of misuse and a hopeful invitation: to reclaim Scripture as a source of wisdom, hospitality, and faithful witness in the public square.

🎙️ In This Episode:

• Why the Bible still matters for politics (even after all the misuse)
• How Romans 13 has been used to justify everything from rebellion to tyranny
• The disturbing history of biblical defenses of slavery and what we can learn from Black interpreters
• How the civil rights movement modeled faithful, embodied, Scripture-shaped resistance
• Why pastors and leaders must form people for faithfulness, not just political alignment

📌 Highlights:

• [00:06:00] How Scripture became “weaponized” in the American Revolution
• [00:13:00] Romans 13 and the danger of using the Bible to win political arguments
• [00:19:00] How enslaved believers read the Bible differently and more faithfully than their oppressors
• [00:27:00] MLK and the Black Church as a model for Scripture-shaped activism
• [00:33:00] Why true political discipleship starts in the church, not the state

The problem isn’t that the Bible speaks to politics; it’s that we’ve forgotten how to let it form us before we use it. The call today is not to abandon Scripture in public life but to recover its use as an act of love, truth, and hospitality.

📚 Resources Mentioned:

• The Ballot and the Bible by Kaitlyn Schiess
• The Liturgy of Politics by Kaitlyn Schiess
• The Spirit of Our Politics by Michael Wear
• Reckoning with Power by David Fitch
• The Christian Imagination by Willie James Jennings
• The Fire in My Bones by Albert Raboteau
• Resident Aliens by Stanley Hauerwas & William Willimon

When Scripture is used to defend power instead of form faith, everyone loses.

What would it look like to read the Bible not to win debates, but to become the kind of people who can love, listen, and lead in public as followers of Jesus?

What if racism isn’t primarily about ignorance or hate, but about greed?

In this episode, Dave Fitch and guest co-host Gino Curcuruto sit down with Dr. Malcolm Foley, pastor, scholar, and author of The Anti-Greed Gospel: Why the Love of Money is the Root of Racism and How the Church Can Create a New Way Forward.

Dr. Foley unpacks how economic exploitation lies at the heart of racial injustice—and why Jesus’ warning that “you cannot serve both God and mammon” is as urgent today as ever. Together they explore the demonic cycle of self-interest that perpetuates racism through exploitation, violence, and lies, and they offer a vision for Christian communities shaped by deep economic solidarity, creative nonviolence, and prophetic truth-telling.

🎙️ In This Episode:

• Why greed—not hate—is the true root of racism
• How capitalism and racial hierarchy became intertwined
• The role of mammon as a spiritual power deforming the church
• Why anti-racism and reparations often miss the deeper structural sin
• How the church can become a visible alternative to exploitation and fear

📌 Highlights:

• [00:09:00] Race as a “demonic cycle” of exploitation, violence, and lies
• [00:13:00] How greed drives racialized slavery, lynching, and modern inequities
• [00:18:00] Why the church must flee mammon, not just manage it
• [00:24:00] The Sermon on the Mount as a blueprint for kingdom economics
• [00:35:00] How local churches can witness through economic solidarity and love of enemies

We can’t end racism without confronting greed. The good news: the church already holds the resources to resist mammon and embody a new economy of grace.

📚 Resources Mentioned:

• The Anti-Greed Gospel by Malcolm Foley (Brazos Press)
• Asian Americans and the Spirit of Racial Capitalism by Jonathan Tran
• God’s Reign and the End of Empires by Antonio González
• Reckoning with Power by David Fitch
• Mosaic Church Waco
• Malcolm Foley at Baylor University

What if a true test of discipleship isn’t how we treat differences but how we handle money? How could your church become a community of economic solidarity, creative peace, and prophetic truth in the face of mammon’s pull?

What happens when church leadership shifts from pulpits to platforms? In this episode, Dave Fitch and guest co-host Gino Curcuruto unpack Carl Trueman’s article, “Goodbye Big Eva, Hello Gig Eva,” exploring how evangelical culture has moved from the conference stage to the influencer feed, and what that means for the church.

Together, they trace the shift from “Big Eva” (celebrity pastors and large conferences) to “Gig Eva” (independent online influencers shaping faith outside accountability or community). The conversation wrestles with how this new ecosystem forms pastors, congregations, and the public imagination of what “church” even is and calls for a recovery of embodied, local, presence-based ministry.

🎙️ In This Episode:

• The difference between Big Eva and Gig Eva—and why both shape the church’s imagination
• How digital influence redefines leadership, authority, and credibility
• The danger of disembodied discipleship and social media “theology”
• Why pastors must resist measuring faithfulness by metrics or clicks
• How to reclaim embodied church in an age of platform-driven ministry

📌 Highlights:

• [00:07:00] “Big Eva” as the era of celebrity pastors and conference platforms
• [00:10:00] “Gig Eva” as the rise of influencers without local accountability
• [00:17:00] How online perception replaces real discipleship
• [00:24:00] The lure of success, self-promotion, and burnout in ministry
• [00:33:00] Embodied church as the faithful alternative to the gig economy

The future of the church isn’t in virality, it’s in presence. Faithful ministry grows from local soil, not from algorithms. The way forward is slow, small, and deeply relational.

📖 Resources Mentioned:

• “Goodbye Big Eva, Hello Gig Eva” by Carl Trueman (First Things)
• The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl R. Trueman
• Reckoning with Power: Why the Church Fails When It’s on the Wrong Side of Power by David Fitch
• The Strategically Small Church by Brandon O’Brien
• The Glass Church and The Church Must Grow or Perish by Gerardo Marti & Mark Mulder
• Table Philly Church
• Fitch’s Provocations (Substack)

What does it mean to lead faithfully when “success” is measured by followers, not fruit? How can your church move from digital performance to embodied presence?

What’s really driving America’s political chaos, and what does it mean for the church?

In this episode, Dave Fitch and Mike Moore dig beneath partisan headlines to uncover the deeper philosophical divide shaping our cultural and theological conflicts. Fitch traces the roots of our polarization to two competing political visions: liberal democracy (centered on individual freedom) and national conservatism (centered on shared cultural values).

From there, they explore how both sides fall short and why neither has room for the church. The conversation turns toward what it means for Christians to embody a third way: a politic of the kingdom rooted in community, discipleship, and the lordship of Christ.

🎙️ In This Episode:

• The deep ideological divide behind America’s political wars
• Liberal democracy vs. national conservatism—what each gets right (and wrong)
• How both sides sideline the church
• Why coercion and individualism can never produce kingdom life
• What pastors can do to lead faithfully in a polarized world

📌 Highlights:

• [00:05:00] The individual vs. the collective—two visions of society
• [00:10:00] Why Christian nationalism fails in a multicultural world
• [00:15:00] Hauerwas, Rawls, and the politics of virtue
• [00:21:00] The church as an alternative politic
• [00:24:00] “Start with five people”: how pastors can build kingdom communities amid chaos

Both liberal democracy and national conservatism promise freedom, but only the church can form people to live free in Christ.

When Christians embody the politics of Jesus together, they become the living alternative our polarized world desperately needs.

Two weeks after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Dave Fitch and Mike Moore process the grief, confusion, and cultural fallout surrounding his death.

Beyond the tragedy, they explore what Charlie Kirk symbolized in American Christianity—and what his influence reveals about the modern church’s failures in discipleship, community, and cultural engagement.

Fitch argues that Kirk’s rise, and the polarization surrounding him, exposes an empty ecclesiology: a Christianity shaped more by individualism and ideology than by the life of the local church. Together, the hosts ask hard questions about power, influence, and the role of the church in a politically divided age.

Charlie Kirk as a Cultural Symbol (Part 1): https://substack.com/home/post/p-173936722

Charlie Kirk is a Cultural Symbol (Part 2): https://davidfitch.substack.com/p/charlie-kirk-is-a-cultural-symbol

🎙️ In This Episode:

• The difference between Charlie Kirk the person and Charlie Kirk the cultural symbol
• How antagonism replaces real conversation in our political and religious discourse
• The church’s failure to disciple young people and engage complex moral questions
• Why “influencers” are filling the space the church has vacated
• How individualistic faith leads to political idolatry

📌 Highlights:

• [00:05:00] Why Charlie Kirk became a master signifier of political identity
• [00:10:00] How antagonism keeps us from addressing real issues on the ground
• [00:15:00] The influencer as a substitute for the church
• [00:22:00] The hunger of young men for direction and discipleship
• [00:27:00] From personal faith to political power: how individualism fuels Christian nationalism

Charlie Kirk’s rise and death reveal both the brokenness of our political moment and the vacuum left by the church’s retreat from public discipleship. Until the church reclaims its call to embody the presence and power of Jesus in community, political idols will keep filling the gap.

What happens when we read the Bible faithfully but miss the culture we’re speaking into?

In this episode, Dave Fitch and Mike Moore dig into why biblical studies and cultural studies must go hand in hand for pastors, leaders, and everyday Christians. From sexuality to money, from language to power, interpretation always happens inside a culture.

Ignore that, and our preaching either falls flat or feels dictatorial.

🎙️ In This Episode:

• Why evangelicals and post-evangelicals default to biblical studies but often ignore cultural dynamics
• How terms like “gay” or even “marriage” carry radically different meanings in different communities
• Why listening to culture is essential before speaking the gospel into it
• Practical stories from Hyde Park, Wheaton, and Boystown on how cultural contexts shape identity and desire
• What pastors and parents can learn about engaging teens and younger generations

📌 Highlights:

• [00:05:00] Why evangelicals are blind to cultural dynamics
• [00:09:00] Romans 1 and the problem of assuming “gay” means the same thing across times and places
• [00:16:00] Learning cultural dynamics by listening in coffee shops, not just reading books
• [00:21:00] Why assumptions about money, power, and sexuality can shut people off from the gospel
• [00:24:00] The call to humility and presence in our cultural engagement

Pastors don’t just need to read their Bibles; they need to read their neighborhoods. Without cultural awareness, even the most faithful biblical interpretation can miss the mark.

Russell Moore kicks off Season 11 with an honest and wide-ranging conversation about the fractured state of American evangelicalism. From his own departure from the SBC to his reflections on revival, integrity, and biblical authority, Moore offers both critique and hope. Dave and Mike push into what needs preserving, what needs reimagining, and where we might see life again in the dry bones of evangelical witness.

Whether you’re nostalgic for the church you grew up in, disillusioned by it, or daring to believe something new is possible—this episode offers wisdom, challenge, and a reminder of the gospel’s power to revive.

🎧 In This Episode:

• The danger of using Christianity as a means to an end
• Why “personal” doesn’t have to mean “individualistic”
• Scripture as encounter vs. information
• What real revival might look like today
• Recovering wonder, hope, and moral credibility in the church

🛠 Resources Mentioned:

• Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America by Russell Moore
• The Russell Moore Show – podcast from Christianity Today
• Reckoning with Power: Why the Church Fails When It's on the Wrong Side of Power by David Fitch
• Center for Public Theology at Christianity Today

Is it time to refresh the old church planting playbook?

In this forward-thinking episode, Dave Fitch and Mike Moore sit down with Dr. Eun K. Strawser to explore how church planting must evolve in a post-COVID world. Drawing on her work with the IWA Collaborative, her leadership at Ma Ke Alo o, and insights from her upcoming book You Were Never Meant to Lead Alone, Eun outlines a vision for leadership that is local, diverse, co-vocational, and built on discipleship, not metrics.

🎙️ In This Episode:

Why the old church planting model no longer fits post-pandemic realities

The rise of co-vocational, prophetically bent leaders—especially Black, Brown, and women leaders

Redefining success: from attendance metrics to neighborhood presence

A vision of shared leadership rooted in communal discipleship

The emerging partnership between Northern Seminary and IWA Collaborative

📌 Highlights:

[00:08:00] What the Eva bird teaches us about leadership and local nesting

[00:13:00] Co-vocational leadership and the shift away from big-budget, parachute church plants

[00:22:00] How prophetic, local leaders are already planting churches—whether they call it that or not

[00:29:00] Eun’s forthcoming book: You Were Never Meant to Lead Alone (pre-order available soon)

[00:33:00] Five pillars of the new church planting initiative:

Centering Discipleship (book link)

Intercultural Dynamics

Sharing Leadership

Pastoring Co-Vocationally

Exegeting Neighborhoods

💡 Takeaway:

📖 Resources Mentioned:

Centering Discipleship by Eun K. Strawser (IVP)

Eun’s upcoming book You Were Never Meant to Lead Alone (Fall 2024 – Preorder link coming soon)

Northern Seminary Church Planting Initiative

IWA Collaborative

Lawndale Christian Community Church

Christian Community Development Association (CCDA)

What happens when expository preaching meets jazz improvisation?

In this musical and moving conversation, Dave Fitch and Mike Moore welcome Mark Glanville, pastor, jazz pianist, and author of Preaching in a New Key, to explore how preaching can meet the needs of post-Christian communities. From shifting cultural landscapes to the crisis of plausibility in faith, this episode unpacks how the preacher’s voice, imagination, and presence can open up space for beauty, belonging, and belief.

🎙️ In This Episode:

Why a 1970s preaching manual is still #1 on Amazon—and why that’s a problem

What a “crisis of plausibility” means for modern preaching

Why Scripture must be heard as a communal word, not just an individual one

How preaching can surprise people into faith through beauty and truth

What jazz, blues, and the Psalms can teach us about crafting sermons today

📌 Highlights:

[00:07:00] Faith in a post-Christian city: what’s changed since the Bible-under-the-arm days

[00:13:00] The power of preaching to restore trust in Scripture

[00:22:00] From “you” to “we”: how preaching shapes the beloved community

[00:36:00] Why preaching from your humanity is not optional—it’s essential

[00:39:00] Blues as a metaphor for the church: grief, joy, and solidarity

💡 Takeaway:

What does real resistance to an unjust state look like—and can the church still embody it today?

In this episode, Dave Fitch and Mike Moore sit down with Bonhoeffer scholar Michael DeJonge to explore the famed theologian’s approach to resisting authoritarian power. Drawing from his article How to Resist an Unjust State and his books on Bonhoeffer's theology, DeJonge unpacks the Lutheran roots of Bonhoeffer’s political vision and why his legacy resists easy appropriation in today’s culture wars.

📖 Suggested Resources:

🎙️ In This Episode:

📌 Highlights:

💡 Takeaway:

Bonhoeffer’s legacy isn’t about mimicking the past but learning how to discern our moment.

Resistance begins not with outrage but with the church being the church—formed, faithful, and ready to speak a word against injustice when the time demands it.