In All Things Charity

What is God teaching us right now? Three of your co-hosts share at length about what God is teaching us right now. So pull up a chair, and be sure to tell us what God is teaching you!

While the other cohosts are away, JR. and Tara give the listeners what they want: more fighting! There's nothing too trivial for us to consider, and disagree about!

Leadership is a divisive word among pastors. Should the church value leadership? Or is that kneeling to cultural trends? Might there be a different leadership paradigm? Rev. Deanna Hayden joins us to explore how a Wesleyan framework for leadership transforms the conversation. We dive specifically into a thorny leadership issue - the Billy Graham Rule - to work out how to implement what this framework looks like on the ground.

Reverend Sarah Shay Riley joins us to explore the unique stresses and blessings of being a pastor who is also a parent. We explore everything from spiritual disciplines to raising a kid in a congregation.

How does suburban culture form us away from the life God created us to live? And how can we discover counter-liturgies that form us toward God? Author Ashley Hales joins us to discover how we find Holy in the suburbs.

Minority persons have a unique set of experiences in majority culture organizations. How can leaders of those organizations learn to see those minority persons? Author Adrian Pei joins us to lead us through how we can build more just churches and organizations.

The end of death may be closer than we think. Scientists are closing in on the cure for aging, and maybe death itself. But should we want that?

Thousands of pastors recently signed a statement on Social Justice and the Gospel... but it is really about gender and race. We break down the language the statement uses, and why it's so problematic for persons of faith.

What is Purity Culture? Why is it so dangerous? Author and purity culture survivor Linda Kay Klein joins us to explore the shame that purity culture creates. How can we find freedom from purity culture? And what does good news about holiness actually sound like?

How do we engage favorite books that haven't aged well? Author Matt Mikalatos introduces us to his new fantasy world, The Sunlit Lands, which he created in part as a response to Tolkien, Lewis and other beloved but problematic fantasy. Along the way, we ask about those problematic parts of the Bible as well. What do we do when our sacred book behaves badly?

Speaking up is hard - especially when doing so would cause waves. Author and activist Kathy Khang joins us for the season premier to share how she has learned to speak up - and how we can overcome our obstacles and fears to raise our voices as well.

In our last episode before summer break, we revisit the issue of Biblical translation. Drawing on what we learned from Dr. Emily Wilson, we explore the words of the Bible. What kinds of translations are out there? What's better or worse? And what about the Lord's Prayer?

Who counts as a Christian? What is the difference between Orthodoxy and heresy? Author Bonnie Kristian joins us to discuss how our faith can be more flexible. We do a deep dive into two issues: atonement and gender dynamics!

The US Prison System is one of the great, ignored injustices. Author, pastor and activist Dominique Gilliard joins us to explore God's call to visit those in prison and what that means for Christians today. We explore in depth how the doctrine of Penal Substitutionary Atonement has malformed American Christians to ignore penal injustices.

What's the goal of worship? Is it authenticity? Quality? Comfort? Sandra Van Opstal has a much more radical suggestion: How can our worship represent every culture, tribe and tongue? How can churches embody that vision every Sunday?

Preacher and author Austin Channing Brown joins us to reflect on what it means to be black in a world built for whiteness. From the Women's March to multi-ethnic churches, we explore what a more just, equal world might look like.

A new translation of the Odyssey has hit the shelves and it's a new gold standard. We talk to the translator, Dr. Emily Wilson, about how she approached this epic undertaking. We dive into the challenges of translating, her preference for modern languages and more!

With #churchtoo revealing more and more abuses in the Church, we ask how we navigate the legacies of abusers. Plus, we engage Andy Crouch's article on the dangers of celebrity pastors. How can we build systems that keep us and our congregants safe?

We take some listener questions, which leads to some fascinating questions about patriarchy, leadership and more.

In honor of International Women's Day and Women's History Month, we gush about our favorite women in a wide variety of fields from preaching and theology to film.