Today's Conversation

In this podcast, you’ll hear from a Christian scholar of Islam on: The role of commerce in the spread of Islam; How the main segments of Islam (Sunnis and Shiites) developed; The historical background of “jihad” and how Muslims understand it; and Why Christian and Muslim relations soured. Read a Portion of the Transcript Leith: ...

There are more Muslims now in America than Jews. Yet, many Americans are often confused, afraid and lack a basic understanding of Muslims and the Islamic faith. John Azumah joins Today's Conversation with Leith Anderson to help us understand the history of Islam and how it impacts our relationships with Muslims today.

In this podcast, you'll hear from a Christian scholar of Islam on:

The role of commerce in the spread of Islam;

How the main segments of Islam (Sunnis and Shiites) developed;

The historical background of "jihad" and how Muslims understand it; and

Why Christian and Muslim relations soured.

Read a Portion of the Transcript

Leith: From your perspective, what do you think American Christians most misunderstand about Islam?

John: American Christians are not any different from many Christians in different parts of the world, and the misunderstanding of Islam is not exclusively a Christian problem. Many Muslims doesn’t understand their on faith. If they did, we wouldn’t be having the problem that we’re having. There’s a deep misunderstanding of Islam across boards — it’s both Muslims and Christians.

But when it comes to America, I think, for me, the misunderstanding of Islam is that we don’t really get a sense of the depth of sectarianism within Islam. The sectarian divide is deep, and it’s palpable. If Americans don’t take time, we can easily be co-opted to one side or the other. My fear is that is going on and that Americans have been co-opted into some of these sectarian wars and battles in the Muslim world, and we need to be smart on that.

The other thing, of course, is that we as American Christians because of 9/11 see every Muslim as a potential terrorist. That for me is very, very dangerous, because when you began to demonize everybody of that faith, you run the risk of dehumanizing them and you run the risk of punishing them — implicitly or explicitly harm to these vulnerable people. So for me, the misunderstanding of Islam and of Muslims, we have a lot of work to do in educating our people and helping them to understand that not every single Muslim is a potential terrorist.

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Today's Conversation podcast with Joseph Cumming on Understanding Islam From an Evangelical Perspective

Addressing Radical Islamism webinar with Jennifer Bryson

In this podcast, Bryant and Leith discuss: How expectations for pastors of large churches differ from the expectations of pastors in small-to-medium sized churches; The future of the megachurch movement in the United States; What characteristics a person needs to have to be an effective pastor of a large church; and The case for attending ...

Bryant Wright has been the senior pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church outside of Atlanta since 1981 when the church had a membership of about 20 families. Now it has seven Sunday morning worship services with an average worship attendance of 4,000. In Today's Conversation, he joins Leith Anderson to talk about pastoring a large church.

In this podcast, Bryant and Leith discuss:

How expectations for pastors of large churches differ from the expectations of pastors in small-to-medium sized churches;

The future of the megachurch movement in the United States;

What characteristics a person needs to have to be an effective pastor of a large church; and

The case for attending a large church.

Read a Portion of the Transcript

Leith: If you ask people what size church you would like to go to — I’m not sure if they actually say these words, but they come pretty close to say, "Oh, I'd like to go to church of 300 that does everything for me that a church of 30,000 can do."

Bryant: That's right.

Leith: So as a result, they want a church that's sort of a medium size but has services of a very large congregation. There are far more smaller churches than there are larger churches, so be an apologist​ here and make the case for a large church. Why do we need, why do we want, what's the value? And if you were talking to somebody, how would you convince them — not necessarily Johnson Ferry — but why would they go to a church that's large? Why should they do that?

Bryant: Well for one thing, large or small is neither good nor bad. I mean you have large churches that are heretical. You have small churches that are heretical. You have large churches that have a great spirit and a great love within the fellowship. And you have large churches that don't, as well as small churches the same there. I really believe that it is up to God to determine the size of the church.

Our responsibility is to be the best stewards of the gifts that God​ has entrusted to us, and if for some reason he chooses to bless the church to become a megachurch, then we have a responsibility to make that megachurch small for those that come into the church.

And what I mean by that is where they can find a sense of community. Because the average person within a church is not going to know more than 75 people, so we have got to have systematic structure within that megachurch to allow them to find their “church within a church” — what we call it at Johnson Ferry — so that they begin to feel that it is small once they come inside.

The major hesitation of people coming to Johnson Ferry is they are intimidated by the size. They tell us that over and over again, so we have to go to extra lengths to help them find that “church within a church” where they can have a sense of community, the fellowship, the Christian fellowship that really makes them want to stay and feel part of the fellowship.

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Right From the Heart Ministries

"Everything You Need to Know About Pastoring" Podcast Series: Small Churches & Rural Churches

Today's Conversation is brought to you by Belhaven University.

 

 

In this podcast, Galen Carey, NAE’s policy expert and advocate on Capitol Hill, covers: What the proper place of politics is for the Christian’s mind and experience; How to work in Washington when there is palpable division; Practical ideas to model civility; and What evangelical policy issues are most countercultural. Read a Portion of the ...

Our country seems to be increasingly divided along political lines. Technology has made it easy to reinforce biases in media silos and become deeply entrenched in particular ideologies. In Today's Conversation, NAE leaders Leith Anderson and Galen Carey talk about how Christians fit into this equation.

In this podcast, Galen Carey, NAE's policy expert and advocate on Capitol Hill, covers:

What the proper place of politics is for the Christian’s mind and experience;

How to work in Washington when there is palpable division;

Practical ideas to model civility; and

What evangelical policy issues are most countercultural.

Read a Portion of the Transcript

Leith: There’s a sense of extremes — that the extremes have gotten more extreme in Washington and around the country, particularly in regards to politics. Is that just my read or is that your sense as well?

Galen: We have been through tough times before as a nation. There were some moments in our early years where elected officials actually got into fist fights or spit in each other’s faces. And of course, there’s nothing that compares with the tragic divisions of the Civil War.

But in recent times, I think it’s clear that the quality of political discourse and statesmanship — or lack thereof — is in decline, and it is very regrettable. Part of this can be chalked up to our technological advances that fragment our journalism, social media and so forth that allow citizens to filter out challenging messages in favor of reinforcing their own biases in media silos. The influence of money and even foreign governments also plays a role.

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For the Health of the Nation

Evangelicals Magazine on Christians in the Public Square

Faith in the Voting Booth book

In this podcast, which is part of our Everything You Need to Know About Pastoring series, NAE President Leith Anderson talks with Paul Jorgensen and Martin Allen, pastors at Cornerstone Church in Litchfield, Minnesota, about the ins and outs of rural church ministry, including: How the particularities of rural culture impact how rural churches operate; ...

American rural counties include 46.2 million people, or 15 percent of the U.S. population. We can all learn a lot from what God is doing in rural America, as well as how to best support churches and pastors in these areas.

In this podcast, which is part of our Everything You Need to Know About Pastoring series, NAE President Leith Anderson talks with Paul Jorgensen and Martin Allen, pastors at Cornerstone Church in Litchfield, Minnesota, about the ins and outs of rural church ministry, including:

How the particularities of rural culture impact how rural churches operate;

The unique challenges that pastors of rural churches face;

Examples of programs and initiatives that work well in rural contexts; and

How rural churches can attract excellent pastors.

Read a Portion of the Transcript

Leith: Paul, as the lead pastor, how do you determine whether the church is healthy? ... How do you sort out health from numerical size and growth? Maybe it’s impossible to completely do it. But what’s your take on that?

Paul: Well, it’s interesting. I’m sitting here, and I’m looking at a white board that has a list of indicators and then spiritual health in a separate column, because we were talking about this very thing. We have some indicators we like to use — obviously attendance is one of them. We kind of refer to it as the Big Three. We didn’t make this up; we learned it from someone else.

First of all, regular attendance at worship services and inviting friends to the services. That’s going to be a mark of health. Secondly, being in a group. If somebody chooses to be in a small group, they’re certainly doing something that can help with spiritual health. And then thirdly, if they’re choosing to serve in some capacity and to give in some capacity. Those are marks of health.

But in addition to that, there are some other things. These are more ambiguous, but I think they’re part of it as well. How do people respond to initiatives? I’ll give you an example. We’re going to be having a day coming where we’re calling people to — whatever town they live in — spend 45 minutes to an hour just walking together on the streets of their community and praying for their town. Well, if people respond well to that initiative, that’s a sign of growth.

I think consistency in their lives. Holy living. Again, we’re in a small town, so there aren’t a lot of secrets. And you kind of know what’s going on in people’s lives. Balance. Are they finding ways to lead balanced lives? Something as simple as, how many calls do we get in a week with people saying they need counseling? Those kind of things are all indicators of health. How we handle conflict? How we interact with each other when we disagree with each other? I think those are things that point to spiritual health.

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Grow! Conference

Evangelicals Magazine on The Thriving Rural Church

"Everything You Need to Know About Pastoring" Podcast Series: Small Churches

Today's Conversation is brought to you by Belhaven University.

 

 

In this podcast, you’ll hear Kathy, a longtime leader at InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and Leith discuss: How power plays into sexual harassment and abuse; What conversations churches and parents should have about consent; How the #MeToo movement has impacted the Church; and What pastors and churches should do about it. Read a Portion of the ...

The #MeToo Movement has gripped the country with disconcerting allegations of sexual harassment and abuse in Hollywood, the halls of political power, universities and even among churches. How are evangelicals to think about the #MeToo Movement? Kathy Khang, author of "Raise Your Voice: Why We Stay Silent and How to Speak Up," joins NAE President Leith Anderson for Today's Conversation.

In this podcast, you'll hear Kathy, a longtime leader at InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and Leith discuss:

How power plays into sexual harassment and abuse;

What conversations churches and parents should have about consent;

How the #MeToo movement has impacted the Church; and

What pastors and churches should do about it.

Read a Portion of the Transcript

Leith: It’s kind of like we’re living in a time of both confrontation and confession — a time that’s focused on openness about ways women have been abused and mistreated. You and I can talk about this theoretically, but there are people who are hearing our voices right now who deal with this specific situation and they’re looking for some kind of guidance, hope, a direction to go. What do you tell people — Christian leaders and people in the pew — what should the response be when facing these issues?

Kathy: I’m hoping that the response will be, is and will continue to be one of grace and love, particularly for the victims and survivors of sexual abuse and sexual harassment in the Church where the conversations around power should be happening but have not. I hope that victims and survivors are finding community, they are finding safety, and they are finding that they have opportunities to tell their story and to be believed. I hope that they are experiencing a degree of relief as things across culture come to light and that there are individuals and churches that are entering into a time of confession as opposed to a time of further accusation.

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If you enjoyed the program, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That will help get the word out and raise the visibility of the show.