The Art of Holiness: Recent Episodes
Seedbed
In "The Art of Holiness," we explore the intersection of three strands: practical holiness, supernatural ministry, and intergenerational encouragement. We talk with practitioners who are innovating in these areas, filtered through two generations of ministry. Hosted by Carolyn Moore and Pierce Drake, these are casual conversations with people who are sowing for awakening in hearts, homes, churches, and communities. The Art of Holiness is a New Room Network podcast.
Jonathan Edwards is our faithful and gifted producer of this podcast. He listens to every episode and every once in a while we get together and recap what we’ve experienced through listening to the amazing people who make these conversations worth it. I hope you enjoy …
Ryan Barnett serves on the teaching staff of Truett Theological Seminary (Baylor University), and with the leadership team of the Mid-Texas Annual Conference of the Global Methodist Church. He spent twenty years as a local pastor and learned a lot about evangelism by growing congregations that were focused on winning those who had not yet professed faith in Jesus Christ. In his zeal for seeing the Global Methodist Church become more than a migration of churches from one tribe to another, he has created a resource for the local church focused on organic evangelism – drawing on some of the best Wesleyan voices practicing evangelism in the U.S. and beyond. This conversation will be about what his workbook is about … how to winsomely invite the next ones into the family of Jesus. Find Christ For All here.
BIO: Timothy Jones is a pastor and author known for helping people uncover greater warmth and depth in their relationship with God. His books include Awake My Soul: Practical Spirituality for Busy People; The Art of Prayer; and Celebration of Angels. Tim enjoys good stories and playing old-time banjo music. He lives near Nashville with his wife, Jill.
While many theological texts treat the Trinity as a complex doctrine to be studied, this book reframes it as a community of affection to be experienced. Rather than complicating our view of God, the Trinity warms the picture. Jones presents the Father, Son, and Spirit not as a puzzle, but as the ultimate blueprint for connection, inviting readers into a life-changing relationship.
Al Gordon is a Christian leader, pastor, and voice in the global creative movement within the church. He is the founder of Renaissance, a movement focused on helping artists, leaders, and innovators reclaim their God-given creative calling. He leads SAINT, a church in East London with a mission to bring hope and renewal to the city. He is known for working at the intersection of faith, culture and creativity. He has collaborated with artists, musicians, and designers, and is a sought-after communicator in Christian creative spaces. Al consistently pushes one big idea: The church should not just consume culture—it should create it, becoming “a cathedral of creativity.” And because we believe in creativity here at the Art of Holiness, we wanted to learn from Al what it means to be live within our created design.
Friends, this is such a rich conversation on the Wesleyan doctrine of assurance -- everything Katherine has learned in her recent deep dive into the topic. You don't think you need this, but by the end of the conversation you'll be saying, "Wow ... I needed this."
This week, Brandy, Katherine and Carolyn process all theyve learned during this series on healing from generational consequences. This is a solid episode, if we do say so ourselves!
Rica McRoy is sheer treasure. Such wisdom and spiritual depth! Today, she shares with us the wisdom of her exploration into healing generational harm, as we continue a series of messages on this topic. Rica is wife to Spike, Momma to Rily, Parker and Sophie, optometrist, and member of the body of Christ in her hometown of Huntsville, Alabama. Spurred by the Holy Spirit, Rica reads and writes, learns and teaches, listens and speaks with a passion for people of all nations to see the hope of their calling in Christ Jesus.
In today's conversation with Dr. Steve Seamands, we continue to explore how to deal spiritually with generational consequences. Steve served as the Professor of Basic Christian Doctrine at Asbury Seminary for close to 40 years. In addition to that class, he taught Introduction to Spiritual Warfare, Introduction to Healing Prayer, and a class studying the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Seamands has authored several books, including Wounds That Heal and Ministry in the Image of God (a Christianity Today book award winner). Now retired, he continues to pray and work actively toward the renewal of the Methodist tradition, serving as a prophetic voice, mentor, and all-around great guy!
This week, we begin a series of conversations on what it means to heal from generational consequences. Some of my best teachers on this topic have been Rica McCroy, Luther, Oconer, Steve Seamands and Angel Davis. This week we hear from Angel Davis, a long-time friend and mentor to me in the area of healing prayer. Angel is a Christian psychotherapist who in this season of life mostly mentors Christian leaders and offers healing prayer. Angel is the author of The Perfecting Storm, one of the best books I’ve found on how one person working under the power of the Holy Spirit can transform a bad marriage into a flourishing one. I love her ability to care for both brains and souls, and how for her it is always wrapped up in the Holy Spirit. Today, we’re talking about healing from generational harm.
Dr. John West is Vice President at the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, where he serves as their director of the Center for Science & Culture. His work emphasizes the impact of science on public policy. His research and writing also focuses on constitutional law, American government and institutions, and religion and politics. Dr. West is a prolific author, having written or edited thirteen books … including The Magician's Twin: C.S. Lewis on Science, Scientism, and Society. Find him on YouTube and all over the interwebs, with videos and articles helping us interpret the times. Today we’ll be talking to him about his latest … Stockholm Syndrome Christianity.
I’ve had the privilege of knowing Dr. Sandra Richter not just as a respected Old Testament scholar, but as a thoughtful mentor and deeply generous human being. Sandy has an extraordinary gift for bringing the ancient world of Scripture into sharp, living color. Whether in the classroom or in conversation, she has a way of making the Hebrew Bible feel cohesive, compelling, and profoundly relevant. Her work—especially in The Epic of Eden—reflects what I so appreciate about her: intellectual rigor paired with a pastoral heart. She cares just as much about forming people as she does about informing them. Having taught at places like Westmont College and Asbury Theological Seminary, she’s shaped countless students, but what stands out to me is her humility and authenticity. Sandy doesn’t just teach the story of Scripture—she lives it with integrity, curiosity, and deep faith.
Darin Stephens has worked with youth for over twenty-five years. The mission of Start to Stir flows from his experience of sharing faith with youth who are several generations removed from the Church. Darin is married to Joy and together they lead a team dedicated to teaching a new generation how to share the gospel in organic and winsome ways. Their teaching comes out of their own experience of leading students at their home church in Whitney (that’s in the UK) and their website is full -- I mean full! -- of resources and ideas for taking the gospel to places where people live and think. Its good stuff, and worth learning about. Find them at starttostir.com.
Dan Jennings attends a Global Methodist church, works as a creative designer, and writes books and loves Jesus. He is the author of The Supernatural Occurrences of John Wesley. He wrote that book twenty years ago and has just re-released it for its twentieth anniversary. I say Dan wrote the book, but actually he just compiled what John Wesley wrote in his journal about the plethora of miraculous events that occurred while he was ministering at the birth of Methodism. So Dan searched Wesley’s journals and found all the stories of visions and dreams, miraculous healings, exorcisms and spiritual warfare (even stories of how God miraculously healed Wesley’s horse, not once or twice but three times)! So today, we’re just going to have fun wallowing in the stories that led John Wesley down the path of supernatural ministry.
Kim Maas is an international speaker, author, revivalist, and prophetic voice, She is the leader of Kim Maas ministries (look it up at KimMaas.com) which has a mission to train and equip the body of Christ, its leaders, emerging leaders and prophets. She is the author of Prophetic Community: God’s Call for All to Minister in His Gifts and The Way of the Kingdom: Seizing the Moment for a Great Move of God, and also Finding Our Muchness: Inheriting Audacious Boldness From Women in the Bible. She has Bible studies and other resources out there, so go find them! Kim is passionate about helping you hear the voice of God and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and thats exactly what we’re talking about today.
Mike Voigts is a great man of God, and he loves a lot of the same things I love – spiritual formation, the life of prayer, Asbury Seminary. He also loves HEB … more on that later. His focus is on personal and community spiritual direction … drawing connections between spiritual traditions in the global church. He served as a professor at Asbury SEminary for nine years, and now serves as the lead pastor of Waco First Global Methodist Church. He has written The Fourth Degree of Prayer (Cascade, 2022) and Letters of Ascent: Spiritual Direction in the Letters of Bernard of Clairvaux (Wipf & Stock, 2013). A great contemplative life … enjoy this conversation.
David Chotka strikes me as a well educated mystic, which is a delightful combination. He has degrees from Regent College in Vancouver and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he studied under Gordon Fee. He served for three decades as a pastor and for all those years plus some he has traveled as an evangelist and teacher especially of prayer – healing prayer, spiritual discernment, the Lord’s prayer, and using our spiritual gifts. To learn more about him, go to spiritequip.com. He has written a book together with Maxie Dunnam on the art of healing prayer, and another on hearing the voice of God, entitled, Hey, Are You There? Its Me – God! That’s our topic today. This is all about what it means to hear the voice of God so we can more confidently do the will of God.
This one is good, people ... really dense. Lisa Allen has served on staff and on the teaching team with with Proverbs 31 Ministries, on staff with a large church, and as a coach and mentor to women leaders around the country. She is the author of Your Confidence Compass: From Self-Doubt to Self-Leadership, which is all about peeling back the parts of our ministry stories that are not true so we can confidently live in and tell the story we actually have. Today we’ll talk about how to get thick skin without getting a hard heart and how to reject the lies so we can live in the truth. So … yep! This is really good. It was like counseling and spiritual direction and revelation ... all rolled into one podcast. I hope you listen.
Dr. Lynn H. Cohick is a for-real Bible scholar – which is the way you say that when you’re not a for-real Bible scholar. Dr. Cohick is Professor of New Testament and also Director of Houston Theological Seminary at Houston Christian University.She served as President of the Institute of Biblical Research, as a senior translator on the New Living Bible Translation team. She serves on the Board of Trustees at Biola University and as the founder and President of Center for Women in Leadership. She has a great podcast – The Alabaster Jar -- and she’s just a delightful human being. It is a joy today to talk with her about women in the Bible and in the 21st century, and about a passage in Ephesians that I think you’ll find illuminating.
You will love this conversation with Dr. Jonathan Powers, a Levite all the way through. He has a great take on what it means to worship in Spirit and in truth. Dr. Powers serves as Associate Professor of Worship Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. He has (I’m quoting from the seminary website here) "a passion for the intersection of liturgy and spiritual formation in the life of the church." Look up his books on Seedbed: Echo: A Catechism for Discipleship in the Ancient Christian Tradition, The 12 Days of Christmas Sermons, and Watchnight: John Wesley’s Covenant Renewal Service. He had done good work with grief and lament, and he has participated in the formation of a hymnal (Our Great Redeemer’s Praise). His most recent book is New Life in the Risen Christ: A Wesleyan Theology of Baptism.
Today, we kick off a new year on The Art of Holiness with a conversation amongst ourselves* about evangelism. These seminary students did a FABULOUS job thinking through what it means to evangelize in the 21st century, and their conversation will be the first of several this semester on the topic. Glad to be back, and glad you're back with us.
- This semester, "us" includes Brandy Lee and Katherine Reiley. Our good friend, Taylor Williams, has concluded her time on AoH. We will miss having her solid voice among us, but thank God for all the good he is generating in her life.
Jonathan Edwards is our faithful, fun producer of The Art of Holiness podcasts, who listens to -- and loves! -- every single episode. Today, Jonathan and I think back on all the ones we produced this fall, discussing what stood out for us and what's worth listening to twice.
Bill Kierce has served ten years as an itinerant evangelist, 22 years as pastor of a local church, 5 years as a congregational consultant, and is now serving as the President of the Francis Asbury Society. He has a whole lot of education in organizational leadership, including a PhD in that area of study from Eastern University. Bill’s heart now is promoting the gift of evangelism and the message of scriptural holiness … and today, that’s the heart of our conversation. Got a passion for evangelism? Connect with The Francis Asbury Society: https://francisasburysociety.com/
Beth Felker Jones (PhD, Duke University) teaches theology at Northern Seminary, and loves to write for the church and the academy. She lives in the Chicagoland area with her husband Brian, four kids, two dogs, and Dwight, her theology cat. She was on The Art of Holiness a couple of years ago to talk about her really great work, Practicing Christian Doctrine. She has also published a book called “God the Spirit. Today we are talking with her about her latest work, “Why I am Protestant.” What does it mean to be Protestant? How can its strengths shape faith in the modern world, and how should its challenges be addressed?
Dr. Jason Vickers serves as professor of Christian theology and the Wesley Endowed Chair of Christian Theology at Truett Seminary, on the campus of Baylor University in Texas. He serves as a member of the Discipleship, Doctrine, and Just Ministry Commission of the Global Methodist Church. Ryan Barnett is an ordained elder in the GMC. Today, he serves on staff at Truett and as the Connectional Operational Officer (COO) of the MidTexas Conference of the Global Methodist Church. Together, Ryan and Jason have created a fabulous resource for the church -- Profoundly Christian, Distinctly Methodist. Their work gives us a great opportunity to talk about what it means to be Methodist, and what we can celebrate as we teach our people the joys of this tradition.
Dr. Ken Collins has been a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary since 1995 (which means he got there the same year I did). He has written and taught extensively on all facets of Wesleyan theology. His The Theology of John Wesley: Holy Love and the Shape of Grace was ground-breaking and established Collins as a preeminent theologian in the field. His work on holiness as "holy love” and grace as both "free and co-operant" is fascinating and that's where we'll be in this podcast, as we talk about his latest publication, Generous Divine Love.
Dr. Arnold is the Paul S. Amos Professor of Old Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary. He joined the faculty of Asbury my freshman year, so we have grown up at Asbury together. He has written extensively on the Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern Culture. Look for his excellent book, Introduction to the Old Testament, if you want to get a start on his scholarship. He is currently writing a two-volume commentary on Deuteronomy, the first half of which was released in 2022. He served on the Old Testament translation team for the New Living Translation, and was responsible for translating the books of 1 and 2 Kings. And that’s why we want to talk to him today … because we love Bible translators! Let’s jump in.
Carmen Imes is one of my favorite people, and such a marvelous resourcer of the Church. With her latest book, Becoming God’s Family, she completes a trilogy of teachings on what it means to belong to the Body of Christ. Its an excellent read and this is a great conversation!
Dr. Carmen Imes is the Associate Professor of Old Testament at Biola University in La Mirada, California. Dr. Imes earned a PhD in Biblical Theology from Wheaton College, an MA in Biblical Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a BA in Bible and Theology from Multnomah University. She and her husband, Daniel, served as missionaries with SIM for 15 years.
We loved this conversation with Dee Baty. Dee was a charter member of the Wesleyan Coveanant Association Global Council, where she served on both the Accountable Discipleship Task Force and the Sexuality Task Force. Her call is to equip the church to live into sexual holiness. She authors the weekly
Resources4Redemption newsletter (available on Substack). which serves to equip followers of Jesus to speak the gospel fluently, truthfully, and kindly on issues related to sexuality. Along with Mark Ongley and Garry Ingraham, she is a speaker for the 3 C Seminars on Sexuality and Gender.
David Wilkinson is a Christian theologian and Methodist minister who has earned a Ph.D. in astrophysics and another in systematic theology. His expertise as a scientist is in star formation and galaxy evolution. As a theologian he works to build bridges between science and Christianity. He leads the "Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science" project and is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day. His latest book, just released in August is How Does God Work in the World?: Science, Miracle and Mission. To describe the book, I want to quote from his website: “From The Simpsons to a wedding in Cana, from grace to quantum theory, and from the problem of evil to eschatology, David argues that the biblical picture of a God who acts in the world makes sense in the light of modern science, but how God acts cannot be reduced to simple models.” We are honored to have Dr. Wilkinson with us for a conversation about all these things.
This episode is part of an emphasis we're making this fall on the Bible. Dr. Jennifer Holloran is president and CEO of The American Bible Society (the first woman to hold the this lead role in its 209 year history). Dr. Holloran has a long history in bible advocacy, having spent 22 years at Wycliffe Bible Translators USA and served on all kinds of boards and with nonprofit organizations that champion Jesus and his Word. I’m honored that she’s taken time to be with us at AoH to talk about a growing theme in this fall’s Art of Holiness library … the Word of God for the people of God.
Dr. Instone-Brewer received his PhD from the University of Cambridge, where he specialized in early rabbinic literature. Today he is a Baptist minister in the UK who served for twenty years as a research fellow at Tyndale House in Cambridge, He is the author of lots of books and articles, including Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible (which my friend Gordon Spivey recommends) and also The Jesus Scandals, Moral Questions of the Bible, and Science and the Bible. He has helped develop a solid Bible app called STEPBible -- one more way the academy is shaping the practice of ordinary Christians, especially as they engage scripture. Oh, and Dr. Instone-Bridges is on the NIV translation team … which totally fascinates me and is the reason I asked him to join us on AoH.
J.R. Briggs is a pastor, seminary professor, coach, consultant, and writer. He has served in megachurches, church plants, and house church networks. In 2011, he founded Kairos Partnerships -- "an organization committed to equipping leaders with the perspective and tools they need to lead with clarity, health, and confidence." He works with The Ecclesia Network and Fresh Expressions. Find him in Christianity Today and read his books, including The Sacred Overlap, Eldership and the Mission of God: Equipping Teams for Faithful Church Leadership, A time To Heal and most recently The Art of Asking Better Questions: Pursuing Stronger Relationships, Healthier Leadership, and Deeper Faith ... and that’s why we wanted to have this conversation!
Tara Beth Leach has been with us before. She is a friend of New Room (and a friend of mine!), a pastor, preacher, writer, and advocate for women in ministry (find her latest blog on that topic if you are a woman leader who needs a little encouragement. Its powerful). Currently, Tara Beth serves as the senior pastor at Good Shepherd Church in Naperville, Illinois. She previously served as senior pastor of First Church of the Nazarene of Pasadena (“PazNaz”) in Southern California (that story is also worth finding and reading). She is the author of Emboldened, Radiant Church, and Forty Days on Being a Six. Today, we’re talking with her about a new book that releases this week called The Great Morning Revolution. She’s here to help us get back to the basics and discover how a morning devotional routine can revolutionize your life. I hope you not only listen ... but live this.
I found this author by the title of his book -- You Are Not Your Own. Just the title alone was enough to want to interview Alan Noble, who is Associate Professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University and a fellow at the Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. Dr. Noble is the author of books like On Getting Out of Bed, and Disruptive Witness. His latest book (published by IVP and on sale now wherever you buy your books) is a testament to biblical freedom. It addresses yet one more paradox of the gospel: when we give ourselves away to Christ, we become not less but more free, more human, more whole.
Sterling Allen is a pastor in the Global Methodist Church, but he's also a musician with tremendous contributions to the world of worship. He has given us a hymnal of curated hymns from Charles Wesley's vault, and now he is working togetehr with Seedbed to produce worship planners for each liturgical year. We used the opportunity of this great resource to talk with Sterling about worship elements and planning for the year ahead. Especially if you're a pastor, this is a great listen!
Dr. Ben Witherington is hands down one of my favorite profs and favorite people. Just a solid, good man who happens to be brilliant and crazy-prolific with more than 60 books to his credit … and counting (he is working on two right now … one of which we’ll talk about today). He has been consistently chosen as a Christianity Today book of the Year (or among the top ten). He is a John Wesley Fellow for Life, a research fellow at Cambridge University … and a member of a bunch of other very impressive academic societies. He is also the regular go-to when religious stories break for news outlets like the BBC and CNN. When Ben Witherington speaks, people listen. And I trust you’ll be fascinated by this conversation about three “ologies” that Ben is thinking about a lot these days …
A JD Walt conversation is always a joy. This time we're talking abouat a new study on Romans, part of the Daily Seeds collection at Seedbed. Romans: From Sin Management to Love Unleashed is 80 daily readings from Romans, along with reflection and questions and prayers, all designed to help us get a handle on how the Apostle Paul would have us live in this world as followers of Jesus. It releases officially on September 2, but you can pre-order now wherever you buy your books. We encourage yout to check out seedbed.com first. You’ll get the best deal there and support the work of that great ministry. JD has served as the Sower-in-Chief at Seedbed since its inception and hosts the Daily Text … or you might know it as the Wake Up Call … for a really long time. Thousands listen every day … and you should too!
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.
Winfield Bevins is some of everything good. He is a church planter who planted both a church and a network before taking on the role of Director of the Center for Church Multiplication at Asbury Theological Seminary. He has since stepped out of that role to lead Creo Arts, a non-proift dedicated to fostering creativity within the Church. Winfield is a prolific writer with books to his credit about Anglicanism, discipleship in the home, church planting, and the creative arts. As others have said, Winfield is a hands-on creator of ideas, books, churches, movements, icons … all of it spreading joy and Jesus.
Dr. Chris Bounds, professor of theology at Asbury Theological Seminary, has literally written the book on holiness … or should I say books. His most recent, co-authored with Matt Ayers and Caleb Friedman, is called Holiness: A Biblical, Historical, and Systematic Theology. But wait! There’s more! Dr. Bounds has also done laudable work in the area of worship and has written a book together with Constance Cherry and Mary Brown called Selecting Worship Songs: A Guide for Leaders. In fact, he tells me he has collaborated over the years with Constance Cherry, one of the foremost scholars on worship, and interim President of the Robert Webber Institute for Worship Studies. She has written multiple books on the subject of worship leadership, including The Worship Architect: A Blueprint for Designing Culturally Relevant and Biblically Faithful Services. So that’s the kind of person Chris is collaborating with as he delves into the study of worship. And that’s what we wanted to talk to him about today. I hope you listen.
Dr. Ellen Marmon serves Professor of Christian Discipleship at Asbury Theological Seminary. For years, she served on the leadership team of Asbury's Doctor of Ministry program, and helped so many pastors work their way through dissertation projects. She has lived the discipling life through and through, so it is a pleasure to introduce her to the Art of Holiness community. We talk about the culture of discipleship, evangelism, and some other things. I hope you listen.
This episode drops on the first day of the Mega-Manila Annual Conference, where Dr. Luther Oconer presides as Conference Superintendent in the Global Methodist Church. So its fitting that we should listen to him today and get excited about the kind of faith and leadership that is leading that Conference. Luther Oconer currently serves on the faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary, as an officer with the Wesleyan Theological Society, in addition to his role within the GMC. His focus as an academic is on movements … like the Holiness movement, the Pentecostal and charismatic movements, and church renewal in general. His book, Spirit-Filled Protestantism: Holiness-Pentecostal Revivals and the Making of Filipino Methodist Identity was awarded the Wesleyan Theological Society’s Timothy L. Smith and Mildred Bangs Wynkoop Book of the Year Award in 2018. We wanted to talk to Luther because he not only has studied Spirit-filled Methodism, but has lived it, so we hope you learn that's good a lot from this episode.
Some of our best podcasts have been with historians, and today will be no exception. This is a great conversation. Beth Allison Barr is The James Vardaman Endowed Professor of History professor at Baylor University, specializing in Medieval and Early Modern England, Women’s History, Medieval Sermons, and Church History. She received degrees from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Baylor University. While she has written extensively on the historic role of women, especially in medieval England, her best selling books have focused on women in the evangelical world. If you haven’t read The Making of Biblical Womanhood, that’s a must read. And releasing in March … on pre-order through Amazon .. is Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman’s Path to Ministry. I’ve had a chance to preview the book, and my goodness … what an insightful study of the relationship between the decline of women’s ordination and the rise of the pastor’s wife.
Oh, and we reference a blog I wrote some time ago on the ESV. Find it here.
We had Dr. Tim Gaines on the podcast last fall, after I discovered him while speaking at a Salvation Army event. Tim is a professor of religion at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, where he teaches courses in theology and ethics and directs the graduate program in theology and biblical studies. He also serves as a pastor at Trevecca Community Church and as the director of The Center for Wesleyan-Holiness Formation, which serves the Church by advocating for scholarship in the Wesleyan tradition. Dr. Gaines has coauthored and co-edited multiple previous titles, including Walking the Theological Life, Kings & Presidents (a book on politics and the Kingdom of God), and a book simply called Christian Ethics. I knew when we talked last time that we’d want him back so this time we'll talk about moral formation, ethics, the reason for theology, and even get a second dose of secularity.
Brian Russell is a fine academic, a strong leader, a giving spirit, a remarkable multi-tasker, and man of deep prayer. That mix of gifts and traits makes him a rare treasure in this field called the Body of Christ. He is also an author, blogger, coach, mentor to many, and among the most accessible academics we know. He is a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida, who has authored a book on the devotional reading of scripture called Astonished by the Word … and he has also written and modeled extensively the practice of centering prayer … including a book called Centering Prayer: Sitting Quietly in God’s Presence Can Change Your Life. On his website, brianrussellphd.com, he makes the bold statement, “I can help you thrive and flourish as the person God created you to be.” And that’s his mission. It is to help the rest of us flourish as followers of Jesus. We are having him back today because his gifts were the requests of those being mentored this semester … and also because he has so much to offer.
Today’s conversation is with Dr. Grant Wacker -- academic and author, and distinguished professor emeritus at Duke Divinity. His studies have focused on American Christian History, particularly on Pentecostalism and American culture. Today, we are talking to him about the Pentecostal life, and also what we might learn from the significant ministry of Billy Graham about how to do evangelism in the 21st century. Dr. Wacker has written two books on that topic – America’s Pastor: Billy Graham and the Shaping of a Nation, and One Soul at a Time: The Story of Billy Graham.
Linda Adams serves as a Bishop in the Free Methodist Church. She first served in the U.S. and now serves in Canada. In this episode, we talk about doing evangelism in a thoroughly post-Christian or secular culture, and also about prophetic gifts, and secularity, and some other things, too. As our producer said of this episode, this one "spanned just about everything. Such wise and humble insight into every topic she spoke about." Oh, and we referenced that amazing talk on holiness that Miriam Swanson did at New Room a few years ago. Listen to the link after you listen to the podcast!
Bishop Keith Cowart has served as a bishop in the Free Methodist Church since 2019. With has degrees from Asbury Theological Seminary and a very warm heart toward the Global Methodist movement, Keith brings a lot of affinity to this conversation. He is a Methodist-minded follower of Jesus who gets us. I am finding some of the best wisdom comes from friends in other tribes and it was one of those conversations with Bishop Cowart that made me realize just how much we can learn from each other. So I’ve asked my good friend to come and share with us what the Free Methodist Church has learned about healthy denominational systems.
J.D. Walt is one of my smartest friends and he's been here before. He has served as Dean of the Chapel at Asbury, and as Chief Sower at Seedbed. He's the creative genius behind so many good things happening in the Methodist stream. As a mutual friend says of him, "If you cut JD, he bleeds Jesus and vision!" Amen to that! In this conversation, we talk about the marks of a movement. Watch for the blog that covers his list, so you can print it out and make it part of your own ministry. Its just good stuff.
Bishop Leah Hidde-Gregory is a leader in the Global Methodist Church, serving as both Conference Superintendent (Mid-Texas Conference) and General Bishop. She served as chair of the Transitional Leadership Council when the GMC was just coming online, and she has inspired so many toward vocational ministry. Our conversation with her today is about challenges and opportunities for women in spiritual leadership. A great conversation with someone who has taken a non-traditional path into spiritual leadership. I hope you listen.
Today’s conversation with Dr. Joe Dongell is part two of a discussion about holy love. Listen for part one on the October 21 AoH episode. Joe, as he prefers to be called, is part of the team at Asbury Theological Seminary, where he serves as Professor of Biblical Studies. Dongell has several books to his credit, including a commentary on the gospel of Mark (must-read) and a small but packed book called The Most Excellent Way, at seedbed.com. Brilliant and faithful and easy to listen to … if you like thinking deeply about biblical concepts, you’ll love this one!
In today's episode we kick off a new project for 2025. I'm combining mentoring with podcasting, with the hope that we might all work together to raise up three women into spiritual leadership while we all enjoy the same amazing conversations we've grown used to at AoH. Want to learn how it all fits together? Listen to this episode!
In this final episode of 2024, Pierce returns to AoH to chat with Carolyn about her election to the role of Bishop in the Global Methodist Church. AND!... Carolyn shares a new series coming in January, 2025. Listen all the way through to get to the good stuff!
David Thomas was a business professional before becoming an ordained pastor, serving in both the local church and on staff with Seedbed Publishing and the New Room Conference. He serves on the Board of Alpha USA and helps to steward a new movement on college campuses called The Awakening Project. I’ve known David for years and can attest to his passion for seeing an awakened spirit in the Church of Jesus Christ. Today, we talk about a piece he wrote that got my attention and interest on Methodism as an awakening movement.
Today we’re going to talk about the legacy of a great Bible teacher and about the sanctifying power of God. Warren Weirsbe’s commentaries and Bible studies are legendary. Weirsbe’s commentaries and Bible studies were on every shelf and in every small group in the late 20th century, and I keep them on my shelf. So I am excited to talk to Dan Jacobsen, Weirsbe’s grandson, who has spent the last two years shaping an unpublished manuscript written by his grandfather. A great conversation about faithfulness, legacies, and the vocation of study.
Dr. Craig Keener is a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, where he teaches subjects as varied as New Testament background (check out his HUGE commentaries on Acts ... yes, multiple volumes), the historical Jesus, miracles (check out a previous podcast with him on this subject), and ethnic/racial reconciliation. Dr. Keener received his M.Div. from an Assemblies of God seminary and his PhD from Duke. A prolific writer, deep thinker, and global churchman, Dr. Keener has much to say about what we can learn from Acts about the Church today ... and that's where out conversation will focus. I hope you listen.
Dr Kenneth Collins is a theologian and professor who has been teaching at Asbury Seminary since 1995 (he and I arrived on that campus at the same time!). He is internationally known as a scholar of historical theology who has spoken in England, Finland, South Korea, Japan, Russia, Estonia, Costa Rica, Brazil, Australia … lots of places. And that’s why I want to talk to him today. I want to talk about how our theology travels. Be sure to check out his latest book, Jesus the Stranger: The Man from Galilee and the Light of the World, published by Seedbed in 2021. I have such deep respect for this man and his work and it is an honor to introduce him to you today, so we can talk about what it looks like through a Methodist lens to share Christ with the whole world.
This one is like drinking from a chocolate fountain. Dr. Joe Dongell (Asbury Theological Seminary), who is not just a New Testament Bible scholar but a legit theologian. In this podcast, he gives us his best thinking on the biblical notion of love, and helps us understand love as the center of everything. He goes deep on this, and still barely scratches the surface so we'll have to have him back. What a great conversation. I hope you listen .
I met Tim Gaines when we were teaching together at a Salvation Army Bible camp (where I discovered so many very cool people). Tim immediately captured my attention with his teaching on what it means to serve the gospel in a secular culture, and that's what we'll be talking about on this podcast. Dr. Gaines serves as Associate Professor of Religion at Trevecca Nazarene University, where he teaches theology and ethics and directs a graduate program in theology and biblical studies. He has authored and coauthored several books, including Christian Ethics, Kings and Presidents: Politics and the Kingdom of God, and A Seat at the Table: A Generation Reimagining Its Place in the Church. He also serves as a pastor at Trevecca Community Church.
Together with her husband, Bill, Diane Ury serves as the National Ambassador for Holiness in The Salvation Army. That’s the best job title I’ve ever heard, and I admit to being just a little jealous of her job! I also admit to being a bit of a fan-girl. Diane excels at everything her job description calls for -- a strong preacher, inspired teacher, articulate writer, and courageous communicator of the Salvation Army's mission and its holiness doctrine and history. You are going to love this person and this conversation.
My brilliant and beautiful friend Sandy is on AoH for the third time with this episode, making her the most interviewed (and also the most listened-to) of our guests. We love Sandy Richter! This time, she is talking about Deborah the prophet, subject of a newly released study in the Epic of Eden series. Professor at Westmont College, Dr. Richter is an OT scholar and an epic (pun intended) story-teller. You'll love this episode!
Rev. Dr. Jerry Kulah is an Elder in the United Methodist Church. He serves as an Evangelist, Pastor, Teacher, and Administrator. Since 1997, he has served in the Liberia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, and currently serves as Vice President of the School of Graduate and Professional Studies at the Graduate School of Theology at United Methodist University (UMU). He also serves as the General Coordinator of the Africa Initiative, an advocacy group within the three Central Conferences of Africa that is committed to upholding the practice of biblical Christianity within the church. This is how we met, as we've contended together for orthodoxy on two continents. Today, we talk discipleship. This is an especially important conversation for those seeking a truly global expression of Methodism.
Today, we’re talking to someone I met while helping another friend with her doctoral work. One of her professors on that journey was Winn Collier, who is the Director of The Eugene Peterson Center for Christian Imagination, and Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Christian Imagination at Western Theological Seminary. He is also the authorized biographer for Eugene Peterson’s story. His biography of Peterson, called A Burning in My Bones, was released in 2021. He has other books to his credit, as well, and it is actually one of those other books we'll talk about today. His book, Holy Curiosity, looks a nine questions Jesus asked people he met on the journey. Collier’s study of those questions unleashes in me a curiosity about questions in general and how we might use them in the work of becoming holy. In this conversation, we'll talk about questions and imagination and Eugene Peterson and curiosity and holiness. Enjoy.
Today, I’m talking to Amy and Rob Dixon, authors, academics, and ministry leaders. Amy is an editor, marketer, and the author of several children’s books. Rob serves on the faculty of Fuller and on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Together, they've written a marvelous children's book called Penny Preaches, illustrated by Jennifer Davison. This beautiful book is why I got in touch with them. Rob has also written book on a related topic called Together in Ministry: Women and Men in Flourishing Partnerships. Relevant conversation, close to my heart. I hope you get some good stuff from this one.
Sean McGever talks like an academic, but he has the heart of a pastor and the gifts of a prophet. He has a PhD from the University of Aberdeen, and serves on the faculty of Grand Canyon University. He is also an area director for Young Life in Phoenix, Arizona and has written books on evangelism and the theology of conversion. Today I want to talk with him about his latest book — Ownership: The Evangelical Legacy of Slavery in Edwards, Wesley, and Whitefield. McGever wants to get us beyond the subject matter to the deeper issue of how we live this life, how we make decisions, what legacy we want to leave. He is using history to do a very pastoral thing, and I am honored to have this opportunity to learn from someone who takes the notion of witness seriously.
Dr. Matt O'Reilly is Lead Pastor of Christ Church in Birmingham, Alabama, a fellow of the Center for Pastor Theologians, and Director of Research at Wesley Biblical Seminary, where he provides leadership for their Doctor of Ministry program. He has a ton of honors to his credit, and it doesn't take much of a listen to understand why. Today we talk to him about two things he is passionate about: holiness and Methodism. He has published books on both this month -- Free to Be Holy: A Biblical Theology of Sanctification (published by Seedbed) and Reconstructing Methodism (published by The Francis Asbury Society). I hope you will be as encouraged as I am by the relevance of both topics for our real lives in this real world today.
Caleb Campbell has been a pastor at Desert Springs Bible Church in Phoenix, Arizona, since 2006 and lead pastor since 2015. He is a doctoral student at Fuller Theological Seminary and serves as the regional director for the Surge Network. Today, we’re talking to him about a passion of his that syncs with this season. Caleb has just released a book called Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor, that addresses the whole issue of Christian nationalism. But listen! He does so from the perspective of a missionary and pastor. It is a compassionate look at part of our culture that needs the tender care of Jesus. I’ll tell you now that parts of this conversation may rattle your worldview, but I’m asking you to listen all the way through and consider how God might have you rethink your response to those with whom you disagree in this election season.
This is Lo's second time on our podcast, but he brings a whole new subject to the table this time. Urban Hymnal is a very cool project unfolding in the heart of Houston, Texas. It is a collection of (hundreds, yall!) creatives and young adults gathering weekly for worship and community. Lo and the design team have developed a beautiful structure to hang it all on, so there is a lot to learn here. I hope you'll listen with a spirit open to all the Spirit is doing.
Dr. Elesha Coffman is a professor at Baylor University and the author of several books … including her latest, Turning Points in American Church History: How Pivotal Events Shaped a Nation and a Faith. I want to thank Scot McKnight for his review of this one, which got me very interested. So let’s talk history and Holy Spirit …
Elesha Coffman is a journalist who became an academic, which probably makes her the best kind of academic. She has learned how to remain unbiased in search of truth. Even in our brief correspondence she insisted on staying true to the tools of her trade as a historian, and that alone both won my respect and got my curiosity going. So … what can we learn about the Holy Spirit from a historian? That’s the question on tap today. And our guest is just the person to engage that question. Dr Coffman is a professor at Baylor University, the author of several books … including one about Margaret Meade, which I’m so interested in reading. And then her latest … Turning Points in American Church History: How Pivotal Events Shaped a Nation and a Faith. I want to thank Scot McKnight for his review of this one, which got me very interested. So let’s talk history and Holy Spirit …
Oops! Uploaded the wrong "Bryan Loritts" earlier this week, so let's try this again. Dr. Loritts has written a deep and inviting book about the art of friendship. In an age when we are all scattered, smothered and covered (thank you, Waffle House, for that imagery), it is good to be reminded of the importance of being unified, loving, and full of grace. I hope you find much to inspire you toward relational health as you listen in ...
Dr. Bryan Loritts is a prolific writer, dynamic preacher, and strong advocate for multiethnic communities of faith. We've talked with him before on The Art of Holiness. This time, we have a great conversation around his latest book, Enduring Friendships: : Sticking Together in An Age of Unfriending. It is a great conversation, well timed for a season when division is is our go-to. Here, we discover another option ... the way of Jesus.
Great conversation! Dr. Matt Friedeman has been a professor at Wesley Biblical Seminary since 1987, where he teaches evangelism and discipleship. He is the author of The 5Q Method of Discipleship, The Doctrine of Good Works, and Discipleship in the Home … all of which we’ll talk about today. Matt is also an ordained Nazarene minister who serves as the founding pastor of Day Spring Community Church in Clinton, Mississippi. He is all about discipling students, so I’ve brought a student pastor with me into this discussion.
Dan Wilt is an author, speaker, worship leader, song writer, and student of the Holy Spirit. He is part of both the Anglican Communion and the Vineyard Church and has taught in conferences, university settings, seminaries, and churches across streams of the Body of Christ. He is part of the Seedbed and New Room families and has published several books through them, the latest of which is all about the Holy Spirit. Receive the Holy Spirit is more than a book. It is a primer and a spiritual guide — a 70-day practice of Scripture reading, prayer, and reflection that spans the first moments of creation all the way to today.
Mark Tooley is brings a wealth of real-world experience to his post as president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy and editor of IRD’s foreign policy and national security journal, Providence: A Journal of Christianity & American Foreign Policy. He worked eight years for the Central Intelligence Agency and is a graduate of Georgetown University. He founded UMAction, a subset of IRD. He is both author of and contributor to a number of books, including The Peace That Almost Was: The Forgotten Story of the 1861 Washington Peace Conference and the Final Attempt to Avert the Civil War (2015). He has written for multiple publications you know the names of, like The Wall Street Journal and National Review. All this is to say that Mark is kind of a rock star, and yet one of the most approachable and faithful men I know who is speaking into American politics and culture. Today we talk to him about Methodism, democracy, the rise of Christian nationalism and anti-semitism, and of course, about holiness.
Kevin Watson is a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, based at their Tulsa campus. Before going to Asbury, he taught at Candler School of Theology, where he was awarded tenure, and Seattle Pacific. He has written some very important books for our tribe; Blueprint for Discipleship, The Class Meeting, and The Band Meeting; and this month he publishes Doctrine, Spirit and Discipline. Way beyond being an academic and writer, Kevin cares for souls. As he writes on his blog site, "My favorite thing to do is walk with people who have a calling to local church ministry and help them grow in their confidence in their calling and gifting for ministry.” That heart for people and their call oozes out of Kevin and makes him one of our favorite people. Today we talk to him about his latest book, and about where the Methodist movement is headed.
Dr. Sterling Allen currently serves as the Director of Music and Worship Arts at Good Shepherd Global Methodist Church in Cypress, Texas. He holds multiple degrees in music, including Doctor of Worship in liturgics and hymnology from the Webber Institute in Florida. He has sung as an operatic baritone internationally and is a recognized Charles Wesley Scholar specializing in soteriological-lyrical theology. We’re talking to him today about a his latest publication, a hymnal of Charles Wesley hymns. I didn’t know how much I don't know about Wesley’s hymns, nor did I realize how much I want to know … but I do! So let’s talk about hymnody and theology and eschatology and all that gets packed into a song that stands the test of time.
This conversation is close to my heart because these are people I dearly love. Laura Curry is a sister in the faith who has a beautiful story of recovery and redemption. Joining me in this interview is my dear son-in-the-faith, Christopher Goss (who also happens to be the artist responsible for the theme music on AoH). There's a lot of meat here for those hungry to know more about how the 12 steps work.
Justin Gravitt is dedicated to making disciples and it shows. You can find him at JustinGravitt.com, and he is also on board with The Navigators. He has planted campus ministries and developed disciplemaking resources. He has served on mission in southeast Asia, and lives to cultivate disciple making cultures. His book, The Foundation of a Disciplemaking Culture, comes out later this year. Today we talk about what it means to make disciples who make disciples, and what needs to shift in order for followers of Jesus to do that good work.
Dr. Cheryl Bridges Johns is a visiting professor of Pentecostal Studies at United Theological Seminary. She is the author of four fantastic books, the most recent of which we will discuss today -- Re-enchanting the Text: Discovering the Bible as Sacred, Dangerous, and Mysterious. She has spent a lifetime in the academic world but somehow has an incredible read on culture and a tremendous sensitivity to social justice issues. She is a mentor to many, a fine example of Spirit-led living. When Cheryl speaks, people listen. I’m honored to call her friend and love sharing in this conversation with her today.
I love introducing you to very cool people I know, and Max and Jim are among the very coolest. Max served as a pastor in Florida and Hawaii for 26 years prior to becoming president and CEO of TMS Global. We've heard from him before on The Art of Holiness so go find that podcast so you can learn about his book, Focusing My Gaze, and his podcast called Brilliant Gaze. Max is stepping down from TMS and Jim Ramsey is stepping up. Jim and his wife, Shawn, served in Kazakhstan for 10 years before joining the staff of TMS, and has trained and mobilized who knows how many cross cultural workers over the years. He has a passion for training and sending people into the world to share the good news, and he also has a passion for partnership. It is a joy to have these two good friends on AoH for a great conversation about missions, transitions and life.
Dr. Carmen Imes is the Associate Professor of Old Testament at Biola University in La Mirada, California. She is a prolific and creative scholarly writer, having written everything from a beautifully illustrated version of the Psalms in Hebrew, to an illustrated Exodus in Hebrew. She has written on praying the Psalms in Hebrew, and among her latest books are two we will talk about more today … Bearing God’s Name and Being God’s Image … both reflections on themes found in Genesis. Dr. Imes earned a PhD in Biblical Theology from Wheaton College, an MA in Biblical Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a BA in Bible and Theology from Multnomah University. She and her husband, Daniel, served as missionaries with SIM for 15 years. Today we talk with her about what it means to be the image of God.
MaryLou Reece has owned a successful construction company, raised three thriving kids, joined her husband in ministry, and then walked with him into the episcopacy when Scott Jones was consecrated Bishop in the United Methodist Church. They have since contended faithfully for orthodox Christianity both within and beyond their denomination. They now serve together in the Global Methodist Church and have recently returned from a nine-country tour of Methodists who are finding their way into the GMC. This is a great conversation about how to follow faithfully where God leads.
Mark Webb was a United Methodist for more than four decades, where he served as pastor, district superintendent and bishop, before moving into the Global Methodist Church to become one of two active bishops in this new movement that we call the GMC. He and Bishop Scott Jones are reshaping how we understand what Methodists call the episcopacy, and that’s what we talk about in this episode. We’ll talk not only about the role of bishop, but the broader concept of spiritual leadership and the nature of the church and how all this impacts how you and me.
In February, 2023, Zach Meerkreebs -- writer, speaker, & Pastor in Residence at Asbury University -- preached a solid but "normal" message at a morning chapel service at AU. Chapel was dismissed and most students moved on to class ... but some lingered to reflect on the message and what God was doing in their lives. By that afternoon, the chapel was beginning to fill up again with students who were sensing a move of the Spirit. By the end of this outpouring, Asbury's chapel was overflowing with folks from around the world. This incredible phenomenon -- and all that has happened in the year since -- is what Zach and I sat down to discuss.
Ivan Filby is one of my favorite people in the world, He has a prophetic gift that bears such good fruit, and he has lived most of his call at a unique intersection of church, academia, and the business world. Today, he serves as the CEO of Seedbed (that's the publishing house birthed by Asbury that has published most of my books, so yeah ... I'm a fan). I love this conversation about publishing, prophecy, and holiness. I hope you listen.
Suzanne Nicholson is a professor at Asbury University. She received her Ph.D. in New Testament Studies from the University of Durham in England, an M.Div. at Asbury Theological Seminary, and a B.A., magna cum laude, in journalism from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Nicholson is an elder in the Global Methodist Church, and in this podcast she talks to us about how Wesleyans read the Bible. Its a great conversation, and includes Bob Kaylor, a new cohost for AoH. Thanks for listening!
Dr. Ryan Danker is the Director of the John Wesley Institute, which is part of the Institute on Religion and Democracy. Danker is an author, historian, and Wesley scholar committed to the Wesleyan vision. He has some great books, like Wesley and the Anglicans: Political Division in Early Evangelicalism; and edited another one on Exploring a Wesleyan Political Theology. He has published articles in all kinds of professional journals. Today he talks about The School of Methodism, a very cool new initiative he's working with some very cool colleagues.
This is a special episode. Its just Pierce and Carolyn, talking about the last three years of podcasting together, and about the nature of transitions. This will be Pierce's last episode on AoH. The podcast continues after this week with Carolyn, some occasional co-hosts and a fresh focus on Spirit-filled Methodism. So much gratitude for Pierce and his idea to do this together ...
Friends, this is a deep and beautiful conversation with a man who has found faith in the fire and who has borne such fruit for the Kingdom. Rich Wilson is the founder of the Fusion Movement, reaching college students for Christ in the UK and US. You'll appreciate Rich's story and and the depth of his wisdom. And this is the last of our New Room 2023 podcasts ... we didn't want you to miss any of the "good!"
Pete Hughes is the founding pastor of King's Cross Church in London, and one of the best thought leaders on the emerging Church -- renewal, revival, planting ... all of it. Pierce does this interview with Pete at the 2023 New Room Conference and we're sharing it here to get you ready for this year's New Room Conference. If you don't have your tickets yet, get 'em here.
Rica McCroy has been with us before. She is a favorite among New Room attenders, and always brings such a fresh and rich word … which comes from a deep well of faith. Find her articles on the Holy Spirit at seedbed.com, along with her featured Bible study, called Wildfire. Today, she’s talking to us about her latest passion, which is deliverance ministry … which might not sound passion-worthy, but keep listening. She gives us a ton of great insight as well as a compelling reason to pursue a ministry that comes against the darkness and wounds that hold us back.
Reward Sbanda became a friend of the New Room Community through his work with The Potters House in Dallas, Texas, where he was steeped in, modeled, and taught the deep-end work of community prayer. He is originally from Zimbabwe, and is now on staff at Saddleback Church where he serves at the intersection of Kingdom and justice. He thrives on this kind of conversation. He has such a fresh and deeply discerned perspective that challenges conventional thinking, and today’s discussion puts us right in the middle of Reward’s best …
Last week, we interviewed our first Canadian. This week, we interview our first Australian. We are covering some miles, friends! Rev. Dr. Mandy Smith is the pastor of St Lucia Uniting Church in Brisbane, Australia. She is a regular contributor to Christianity Today and author of three books — The Vulnerable Pastor: How Human Limitations Empower Our Ministry, and Unfettered … Imagining a Childlike Faith Beyond the Baggage of Western Culture. And her newest book, Confessions of an Amateur Saint: The Christian Leader's Journey from Self-Sufficiency to Reliance on God, releases in October 2024. She is a recent graduate of the Doctor of Ministry program at Western Theological Seminary. Mandy and her husband Jamie, a New Testament professor, live with their family in Australia. Her work can be found at TheWayIsTheWay.org.
Our first Canadian guest, y'all! Dr. Gordon T. Smith is the president of Ambrose University and Seminary in Calgary, Alberta, where he also serves as professor of systematic and spiritual theology. He has written extensively on gifts and call, and he comes at this conversation from a deep place — challenging us to consider how we make decisions for our lives and take responsibility for our place on this earth. We talk to him today about his latest book, Your Calling, Here and Now, and also about an earlier publication called Courage and Calling.
Jeff Haanan is the founder of The Denver Institute for Faith and Work. He has a lot to say about practicing faith in the marketplace but also about how to live and work from a deeply authentic place. He also writes for Christianity Today and is the author of two books on work. One is An Uncommon Guide to Retirement, and his most recent is called Working From the Inside Out. When Jeff talks about work, he talks about things like thinking theologically about your job, and about living a holy life through your work. Its a great conversation about a huge chunk of our lives … I hope you listen.
Show Notes: Jeff's Study Guide: A0331-study-guide.pdf (ivpress.com)
This week, we talk to Dr. Dennis Edwards, an author, pastor, educator, and activity, about the fascinating topic of humlity. In his latest book, Humility Illuminated, Dr. Edwards talks about an under-processed character trait that is actually central to holy living. Dr. Edwards is associate professor of New Testament at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago. He has planted churches and worked in inner city ministries, was educated at Cornell, Trinity Evangelical, and Catholic University of America. He writes on race and power and justice, and now he offers a word on the personality of Christ.
Maxie D. Dunnam is the former president and chancellor of Asbury Theological Seminary. He is now Senior Pastor Emeritus and Executive Director of CCGlobal at Christ United Methodist Church in Memphis. Dr. Dunnam is a powerful and prolific writer, having authored more than forty books, including the Workbook of Living Prayer, which sold more than one million copies.
Sandra Glahn has a PhD from the University of Texas and teaches at Dallas Theological Seminary. Her interests range widely from art, gender, sexual intimacy in marriage, first-century backgrounds as they relate to gender, bioethics ... so you can see why she advocates for "thinking that transforms." She is a thinker, and among the best. She has more than twenty books to her credit, along with multiple Bible studies and online ventures. It is a privilege to talk with her today about her latest book, Nobody's Mother which addresses the topic of women in church leadership through the lens of Paul's word to the church in Ephesus about women and childbearing.
Brian Russell is a gentle force. He is an author, blogger, coach, mentor to many, and among the most accessible academics we know. He is a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida, but he is so much more. He has written deeply on the devotional study of scripture and also on the practice of centering prayer. On his website, brianrussellphd.com, he makes the bold statement, “I can help you thrive and flourish as the person God created you to be.” And that’s his mission. It is to help the rest of us flourish as followers of Jesus. Today we talk to him about his passions — centering prayer and reading scripture transformationally, and about his new book, “Astonished by the Word: Reading Scripture for Deep Transformation.”
Dan Wilt is the co-author of Sheltering Mercy and Endless Grace: Prayers Inspired by the Psalms (Brazos), as well as Jesus in the Wild (Seedbed), and is a writer, speaker,
worship leader, songwriter, and encourager of Christians in many streams of the Church.
Dan is part of the Vineyard and Anglican communions of the Church, and has taught in conferences, university settings, seminaries, and churches across streams of the Body of Christ.
He is completing his doctoral studies with Asbury Theological Seminary in KY, and is a part of the team at Seedbed and New Room—serving the church with resources and events encouraging awakening in our generation.
Dan lives with his wife Anita outside of Nashville, TN, and they have three grown children.
Mark Elliott is a retired professor of history, having taught at Asbury University, Wheaton College, Samford University, and Southern Wesleyan University. Dr. Elliott has a remarkably deep global perspective with particular expertise in East-West Christian studies. He has traveled extensively in Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, and Central and Eastern Europe. And he brings all this experience and a well-honed mind for history to the work of chronicling the Asbury outpouring. We are thrilled to have his wisdom, perspective, and experience in this conversation about just what happened in Wilmore in February, 2023.
This is another great conversation with Dr. Steve Seamands, who is one of our favorite people in the world. Dr. Seamands served as the Professor of Basic Christian Doctrine at Asbury Seminary for close to 40 years. In addition to that class, he taught Introduction to Spiritual Warfare, Introduction to Healing Prayer, and a class studying the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. So Steve knows healing! He has authored several books, including Wounds That Heal and Ministry in the Image of God (a Christianity Today book award winner), and his new book, Follow the Healer: Biblical and Theological Foundations for Healing Ministry (Zondervan, 2023) is maybe his best yet. He takes us “under the hood” of healing ministry and helps us understand the theory behind the practice. I (Carolyn) am so excited about this book, because it roots the charismatic work of healing solidly in the Wesleyan tradition.
We have a lot of reasons to love Becky Castle Miller. She is a PhD student in Biblical and Theological Studies at Wheaton College, under the supervision of Esau McCauley (an Anglican priest we follow and love!). She is an adjunct professor at Northern Seminary so hangs out regularly with Scot McKnight (who we also love!). She regularly quotes Pete Scazzero (we love his work), and Alison Cook (whose work is admirable). And!… Becky is diving deep into the whole area of Jesus and the Spirit-led emotional life, and what she has to say on this subject is just fascinating and oh-so helpful. May this conversation inspire you toward emotional wholeness and deeper intimacy with God.
This week, we are working together with our dear friends at Spirit and Truth, a renewal ministry led by Matt Reynolds. This time, Matt asked if he could interview us, so we all sat down for a more personal conversation about how our podcast happened, what it’s like to do ministry with family, and where the Lord is leading from here. Enjoy this look behind the scenes of The Art of Holiness.
Bryan Loritts is a prolific writer, dynamic preacher, and strong advocate for multiethnic communities of faith. He is a teaching pastor at The Summit Church in North Carolina and serves as the President of The Kainos Movement, an organization that “ exists to see the multiethnic church become the new normal in our country.” Dr. Loritts is the author of eight books, including The Offensive Church, Insider Outsider, and Saving the Saved (which won a Christianity Today book award in 2017). In today’s podcast, we talk together about ethnic unity, how the church can navigate the coming election season, and how we can all play offense in the work of building ethnic unity in the church.
Dr. Pete Bellini is the Professor of Church Renewal and Evangelization at United Theological Seminary. His areas of interest are our areas of interest … particularly the intersection of pneumatology and holiness. I mean, does it get any better than that? I don’t think so. Dr. Bellini has written exceptional books on both mental health and deliverance ministry. His latest books, The X Manual (out last year) and Thunderstruck! The Deliverance Ministry of John Wesley (out this year) offer us a deep dive into Wesleyan spirituality and its take on deliverance ministry. This is deep-end stuff ... and good. I hope you listen.
Brenna Bullock is the worship leader of The Harvest, a contemporary worship expression, at The Woodlands Methodist Church. Brenna has a heart to see all people encounter the presence of God and be transformed. Brenna and her husband are passionate about writing songs that will align every heart with the power and truth of the gospel.
Brenna helps lead Bristol House, a worship collective of worship leaders writing new songs for the people called Methodists.
Dr. Chris Bounds, professor of theology at Asbury Theological Seminary, has literally written the book on holiness … or should I say books. His upcoming book, co-authored with Matt Ayers and Caleb Friedman, is called Holiness: A Biblical, Historical, and Systematic Theology. That one will be released this fall. But he has also co-authored, with Jim Harlow, Christy Lipscomb and Joann Lyon … one of my favorite people on the planet … a book called Holiness: The Power to Transform You, Your Church, and Your World. I’m thinking that book may have been re-released as Holiness for the Real World. And then just to make sure we get it that there is a lot more to say about holiness than we’ve thought about, he also co-authored with Jim Lo a book called Unholiness: Overcoming the Forces that Attack Your Soul. That’s a lot of holiness coming out of one guy. This is going to be a great conversation about something we’re all about … the art of holiness.
The world needs more people like Beth Felker Jones. She has a PhD from Duke and teaches theology at Northern Seminary. She has a dozen books to her credit, including a seminary staple -- Practicing Christian Doctrine: And Introduction to Thinking and Living Theologically -- which is now in its second printing. Dr. Felker Jones is a prolific writer, on-fire blogger, and truly beautiful human being, and it is our pleasure to talk all kinds of theology with her on today's podcast.
Dr. David Watson is the academic dean and professor of New Testament at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. He is the author of Honor Among Christians, and Scripture and the Life of God: Why the Bible Matters Today More than Ever (Seedbed). In this episode, we chat about an article David has written for Good News Magazine on holiness and what it means to be a Wesleyan Christian. We also talk to him about honor and humility in the life of Christ and in Christian culture. This one is all about the art of holiness!
In this episode, we interview Eric Peterson, a writer and pastor raised into faith by one of our generation's most well-known spiritual voices -- Eugene Peterson. We talk with Eric about his father's spirituality and about the re-release of Traveling Light, a thoughtful commentary on the book of Galatians. This one is all about genuine, biblical freedom, something we're all hungry to encounter.
Todd Hunter is the founding Bishop of an Anglican diocese called Churches for the Sake of Others. His spirituality has been raised up through leadership in Alpha USA, so he has been formed by that deep heart for gospel-centered evangelism. His native language is Kingdom, justice, peace, Spirit-empowered leadership and missional ecclesiology. And his passions play out in places like The Center for Formation, Justice and Peace, which he founded … and in seminaries and universities all over the country where he participates in training up the next generation of spiritually formed, justice-seeking followers of Jesus. Bishop Hunter is a gift to the Church, and his latest book — What Jesus Intended: Finding True Faith in the Rubble of Bad Religion — is written to call that Church to become all it is meant to be.
Paul Lawler is the pastor of Christ Church Memphis. He comes to this role after fifteen years at Christ Church Birmingham, where he cast a vision that saw hundreds of new church plants and ten of thousands of people come to Christ. His heart for evangelism is both courageous and contagious. We wanted to talk to him about that, and about the move of Christ Church to the GMC, and about his vision for reviving a heart for evangelism in the Methodist tribe.
Dr. Scot McKnight is a world-renowned speaker, writer, professor and equipper of the Church. He is a recognized authority on the historical Jesus, early Christianity, and the New Testament. He blogs at a Christianity Today site called Jesus Creed, and more recently on his own sub stack newsletter (Scot’s Newsletter). He writes prolifically there, offering book reviews, social commentary, and solid scholarship on all kinds of topics relevant to the Church today. Scot is a recognized authority on the New Testament, and has two books out just this year — Revelation for the Rest of Us, and The Second Gospel. That’s a lot of productivity for one guy! We sat down to talk to him about both of these solid books.
Max Wilkins is the President of TMS Global (TMS stands for Train. Mobilize. Send.) and a man with a fire for global missions. He travels the world encouraging cross-cultural witnesses, developing training materials for those called to serve cross-culturally, and raising up leaders in the Christian movement. His enthusiasm for the world Christian movement is contagious. We hope you listen.
Rev. Mark Sorensen is the senior pastor of the Woodlands Methodist Church in The Woodlands Texas, just north of Houston. Mark has stepped into the beautiful history of The Woodlands Methodist Church of 45 years. Mark is the second senior pastor of in the church's history. While honoring the past leadership of Dr. Ed Robb, Mark is also bringing in his new vision that builds upon what has been. We will hear all about Mark's story and his vision for where the church is leaning in this new season. It was an honor to have him on the podcast!
Austin and Maddie Wofford are the head pastors at Arise Church, which is a house church movement based in Lexington, Kentucky. They meet in House Churches across the city and every first Sunday of the month all Arise House Churches meet together! Arise Church is birthed out of a conviction around church looking like a place for people to be deeply loved, discipled, challenged, and formed into a lifestyle and identity that reflects Jesus.
Austin and Maddie have a deep heart for the next generation, prayer, revival, and discipleship. Come listen and catch the fire of God they carry.
Aaron Calhoun, is a Foursquare pastor, church planter, and Director of next gen ministries with the FourSquare Church. He is bright, humble, faithful, and curious about how to build intergenerational relationships inside the church. Listen to him say more about intergenerational ministry at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TNu8LQRufs. Such a great conversation.
Dr. Sandra Richter is with us for a second time, to talk about the prophetic life. Hers is a voice you want to hear on this subject. She is an internationally known Old Testament scholar, the author of the extraordinary Epic of Eden Bible study, and professor and Dean at Westmont College. Raised in a pentecostal tradition and trained at Harvard, she relates to the beautiful subtleties of God’s voice in our lives like few people do. We hope you listen to this one, and find fresh energy for listening for God’s voice.
Pete Greig is someone we keep coming back to, because his ministry and story have so much to offer. What a great example he is of one who has given himself deeply to the work of prayer over most of a lifetime. Pete is the founder of 24-7 Prayer Network, which reaches more than half the nations on the globe. He is also the pastor of Emmaus Road in England. In this podcast, we talk about the art of prayer and the extraordinary work of living out a long obedience.
Bishop James Swanson is well-known name among Methodists. He has served as a bishop in the United Methodist Church since 2004, and travels widely sharing love and Jesus as a charismatic and prophetic preacher of the Word. In this conversation, he shares his own story of being raised in a Pentecostal tradition and coming home to Methodism as an adult.
Carol Ward has a unique call on her life, to "go where no one wants to go." That call has sent her into some of the darkest places in the world, including war-torn regions of Uganda and South Sudan, where she shares love with those who feel most forgotten. Carol, the child of missionaries, is the founder and director of Favor of God Ministries, which seeks to change whole nations one person and one prayer at a time. Join us for a conversation with a woman of God who is living at the radical edge of obedience.
Friends, we are so excited about Carolyn Moore's new book When Women Lead. Carolyn is not only one of our co-host for the Art of Holiness Podcast, but she is also a church planter, speaker, writer, and most importantly a wife, mom, and grandmama.
Carolyn's new book looks at the topic of Women Leading from a biblical, practical, and cultural view point. This book is for you!
We are on our way to NewRoom Conference 2022 and we hope you will enjoy this podcast as you make your way there as well!
Rev. Dr. Jo Anne Lyon is General Superintendent Emerita of The Wesleyan Church. She serves now as The Ambassador — a position specifically created by action of the General Board of The Wesleyan Church to retain the considerable connections and influence of of Dr. Lyon. It is a great title for a role she plays naturally, not just for The Wesleyan Church but for the whole Church of Jesus Christ. Dr. Lyon also serves on the executive committee of the National Association of Evangelicals along with a ton of other national organizations that advance the Kingdom of God. She is the founder and CEO of World Hope International, and organization formed to direct faith-based relief from suffering and injustice into over 30 countries around the world. In addition to all that, she speaks daily into the lives of those just stepping into ministry. Her heart is clearly for passing the mantle on to those ready to step up and serve the cause of Christ. This is a conversation with a true elder of the Church.
Mark Barrow is the CEO of Aldersgate Ministries, a renewal movement within the United Methodist Church that has been contending for Spirit-filled ministry for decades. Aldersgate’s mission is offer opportunities for every follower of Jesus to experience transforming growth through the love of the Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Mark’s work as a leader in this ministry is to connect local churches with opportunities for growth and renewal. We wanted to talk to Mark about where he is seeing moves of the Spirit in the American Church. We hope you listen.
Scott Kelso is a writer, a community organizer, and a prophet to the Church. Currently, he serves as the General Overseer of the 5 Points Greater Columbus Apostolic Network, which is an alliance of churches and ministries gathered to see the Kingdom of God established and maintained in the greater Columbus, Ohio area. He has served with Aldersgate Renewal Ministries and as the President of the Charismatic Leaders Fellowship, which is a national group of leaders comprising denominational, non-denominational and Catholic fellowships. Scott has authored two books - Ice On Fire, and Theological Violence in the 21st Century. In this episode, we’ll talk with him about theological education, what it means to be a prophetic Church, and the values of God.
We’ve tried with this series of interviews to focus a little more on the value of community, and that’s what led us to Sean. He was part of an intentional community in Texas, then moved to Lexington, Kentucky where he became part of another intentional community in the MLK neighborhood of Lexington. Sean is also part of the larger 12-step community and he will talk about alll these projects and ways of being during our conversation. Sean is just a cool guy. He describes his first book, The Story of God, the Story of Us as an attempt to tell the ‘Big Story’ that unfolds in the pages of the bible. It is a marvelous telling of the over-arching narrative of the Bible. I give it out all the time and highly recommend it. His second book, TEN: Words of Life for an Addicted, Compulsive, Cynical, Divided and Worn-out Culture, was also published with IVP. So much to talk about with Sean. Let’s dive in.
Bob Garrett is the General Coordinator for the Alleluia Community, an ecumenical, charismatic community in Augusta, Georgia. The Alleluia Community is not a church. It is an intentional community of more than 200 households seeking to help one another live lives that glorify God through the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit. For fifty years this community has explored what it means to live in covenant together, and how that might impact the world around them. Bob has been part of this community since its inception, giving him a unique perspective on community, ecumenism, spirituality, and discipleship.
Jessica LaGrone is the Dean of the Chapel at Asbury Theological Seminary, where she leads an amazingly creative team of musicians, worship leaders and servants, prayer warriors, and Levites, or what I like to call holy organizers. She also teaches preaching at Asbury and has a very cool online practice called Preacher's Block … where pastors can block off time to prepare in community but without distraction. We’ll say more about that in a minute. She has written three beautiful Bible studies: Set Apart, Broken and Blessed, and Namesake. And today we’ll be talking about her latest book, Out of Chaos: How God Makes New things from the Broken Pieces of Life. But before we go to this conversation, I want to say that for both Pierce and me, Jessica is more than the sum total of her resume. She’s a wise and anchoring voice, a solid leader in the Methodist movement, and a real friend … the kind who answers texts and phone calls even though miles and time separate us. That kind of person is not so common … it is a true grace to have Jessica with us at the Art of Holiness.
Dr. Sandra Richter is an internationally known Old Testament scholar. She is the author of the extraordinary Epic of Eden Bible study, and professor and Dean at Westmont College. Her areas of expertise include Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and ancient languages, as well as a forthcoming book on environmental theology. We tapped Sandra so we could talk with her about supernatural ministry in the Old Testament, but she shares so much more.
Well it has been a minute for The Art of Holiness Podcast and we are thrilled to be back with you all. In this episode you will hear what we have coming up on this season and what has been happening in the life of Carolyn and Pierce. Let's just say one of them is moving across the country, so don't skip this episode. Thanks for listening!
With this episode, we wrap up season three of The Art of Holiness, and we do so with a ton of gratitude for you. Our podcast community is a great blessing to us. Thanks for listening. Today, we're giving you a double dose of good conversation with two of our favorite people. Dr. Alec Rowlands is the senior pastor of Westgate Chapel in Edmonds, Washington, and the founder of Church Awakening, which equips pastors for spiritual awakening. Rev. Matt Reynolds is the pastor of Stillwater Church in Dayton, Ohio, and the director of Spirit and Truth, a movement among Spirit-filled Methodists who long for a more vibrant Church. These two men share a deep desire to see the Church in America enlivened by the Holy Spirit, and our conversations with them reflect that passion. We hope you listen.
In a season when anxiety and hopelessness seem to be at record highs, today's conversation with Dr. Matthew Sleeth is especially poignant. Dr. Sleeth is a former emergency room physician and Chief of Staff, who resigned from his position to teach, preach, and write about faith and health. He has spoken at more than one thousand churches, campuses, and events, including serving as a monthly guest preacher at the Washington National Cathedral. Recognized by Newsweek as one of the nation’s most influential Christian leaders, Dr. Sleeth is the executive director of Blessed Earth and author of numerous articles and books. In this podcast, we'll talk through his latest book, Hope Always: How To Be a Force for Life in a Culture of Suicide. We hope you listen.
It has been a sheer joy to get to know Dr. Ivan Filby. You're going to love this conversation with him. Ivan has all the credentials of a scholar (he has served as president of Greenville University in Illinois, and taught business studies at Trinity College Dublin for 16 years), and all the heart, soul, and wisdom of a true prophet. Ivan has helped people learn how to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit on five continents for over thirty years, and if you stand still long enough he'll find his way over to you with a word from the Lord! We talked to him in this podcast about his latest book, Livestream, which is all about learning how to hear and follow the voice of God. We hope you listen.
Rich Villodas was raised up under the ministry of Pete Scazzero (author of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality and other books in that same theme), and succeeded him as the lead pastor of New Life Fellowship, a large multiracial church with more than seventy-five countries represented in Elmhurst, Queens. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Rich is uniquely gifted to lead this urban and diverse community of faith. His book, The Deeply Formed Life, leads us into the spiritual practices that help us live out some of the most controversial issues facing our culture. We talked to Rich about his book, about holy rhythms, and about what it means to lead in a controversial time.
In this episode, we had a great conversation with Tara Beth Leach about what the Church can be. Tara Beth is a pastor, speaker, writer, and encourager, who has served as a pastor in the Nazarene tradition in Pasadena, California and suburban Chicago. She is the author of Kingdom Culture, Emboldened, and most recently, Radiant Church: Restoring the Credibility of Our Witness. She calls herself a “prisoner of hope” — with a vision for seeing the Church find itself in revival in our day. That heart comes through in this conversation. We hope you listen.
We sat down for an incredible conversation with Bishop Dr.. Todd Hunter at New Room Conference 2021. Dr. Hunter is the founding bishop of The Anglican Diocese, Churches for the Sake of Others. He is a past president of Alpha USA and former national director for the Association of Vineyard Churches. An adjunct professor at several seminaries, he is author of Christianity Beyond Belief, Giving Church Another Chance, The Outsider Interviews, The Accidental Anglican, Our Favorite Sins, and Our Character at Work.
Jo Saxton trains women to lead, which makes her an automatic hero to us. She is a podcast co-host along with Steph O-Brien (the podcast is called Leading Stories), an internationally known speaker, the author of four books (More than Enchanting, The Dream of You), and a leadership coach focusing on helping women find their voice. Her newest book is called Ready to Rise. Using her own story as a backdrop, Jo uses these pages to help women find the relationships, tools, and voice they need to lead well.
This week, we are honored to air a recent conversation recorded with Dr. William J. "Billy" Abraham. It was a privilege that Billy graciously gave us his time during the NewRoom Conference to talk about a broad range of issues. Tragically, just two weeks later, Billy passed from this life unexpectedly. Pierce and I want to remember him by airing this conversation together with two friends who were an integral part of this final chapter of Billy’s life. Ryan Barnett, pastor of Waco First United Methodist Church, will talk with us about the establishment of The Wesley House of Studies and Billy’s work there. After we hear the conversation with Billy, Kevin Watson will help us to put words around where his vision of a renewed Methodism can go from here.
We were honored to sit down at NewRoom Conference 2021 with Allen Hood. Allen is first and foremost a lover of Jesus, Husband, and Dad.
Allen served as the Associate Director of IHOPKC from 2000-2020 and as the President of the International House of Prayer University from 2003-2016.
In January 2019, Allen founded the Excellencies of Christ Ministries, which exists to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth and to disciple the body of Christ through prayer, preaching, creative resources, and the building up of the local church.
Allen also regularly travels, ministers, and consults with various churches and ministries around the world.
We pray this is a blessings for you as it has been for us!
This week, you’ll listen in as we talk with three friends about the love of God. Two you’ve heard from before. Jorge Acevedo is co-pastor of Grace Church in Cape Coral, Florida, and Tom Tanner is the pastor of Riverstone Church in Kennesaw, Georgia. Our third guest is new to The Art of Holiness. Jerry Coleman is with The Francis Asbury Society in Wilmore, Kentucky. In these three conversations, we hear stories of God’s love experienced cross-culturally, as brotherly love, in seasons of ministry. This is rich conversation offered by faithful friends. We hope you listen.
Mark Swayze is a husband, father, pastor, a worship leader and someone we are all learning from year in and year out! We are excited to host Mark on the podcast today as we catch up with him at the New Room Conference in 2021. Mark is the pastor of Rebelbase, the youth pastor at Woodlands Methodist Church in Woodlands, Texas. Grab some coffee and enjoy this blessings of an episode!
J.D. is an author, speaker, thought-leader, and is the "Sower-in-Chief" at Seedbed (and New Room). Formerly the Dean of Chapel at Asbury Theological Seminary, J.D. founded Seedbed in 2012 to begin the work of sowing for a great Awakening. He writes daily to a community of thousands via the Seedbed Daily Text.
We wanted to talk to Mark Nysewander because he wants to talk about revival. His book, Revival Rising, is an inspiring look at the ingredients of revival. Over several decades, he has ministered as an evangelist, missionary, church planter, and pastor. He served as the teaching pastor at RiverStone Church in Kennesaw, Georgia until he retired (he may not know the meaning of the word!), after which he became interim pastor at Church on the Hill in Dalton. Georgia. We are excited to welcome Mark to The Art of Holiness to talk about getting a revival worldview.
Today, it's us. Pierce and Carolyn talk like family about how prayer is working for them right now, and about the kinds of prayer we are putting into the toolbox to help build a bridge through the trauma of our collective reality. Pierce shares his journey into using a prayer language to deepen faith, and Carolyn discusses options for helping to discern beyond emotion into the mind of Christ. We hope you listen.
Dr. Randy Clark is an international itinerant minister birthed from a 4-day meeting in Canada, known to many as the "Toronto Blessing." Randy is the founder of Global Awakening, a teaching, healing, and impartation ministry that crosses denominational lines. An in-demand international speaker, he leads the Apostolic Network of Global Awakening and travels extensively for conferences, international missions, leadership training, and humanitarian aid. Randy has a DDiv and DMin from United Theological Seminary, and he and his wife, DeAnne, live in Pennsylvania.
Peter and Esther Pereira are the founding Directors of Hope for Today, an evangelistic ministry serving southeast Asia. Through their leadership and vision, Hope for Today teams serve soy milk to children, meals to the poorest of the poor, education and training to women, and the gospel to some of the least reached people groups in southeast Asia. Peter’s partners with International Leadership Institute to provide training to tens of thousands of ministry leaders, bringing the hope of Christ to many. It is a great privilege to share with you this conversation with a wise and effective servant of the Kingdom.
Maxie D. Dunnam is the former president and chancellor of Asbury Theological Seminary. He is now Senior Pastor Emeritus and Executive Director of CCGlobal at Christ United Methodist Church in Memphis. Dr. Dunnam is a powerful and prolific writer, having authored more than forty books, including the Workbook of Living Prayer, which sold more than one million copies.
Dr. Michael Beck is Director of Re-Missioning for Fresh Expressions US, Cultivator of Fresh Expressions for the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church, and adjunct professor for the Doctor of Ministry program at United Theological Seminary. Michael serves as co-pastor of Wildwood United Methodist Church with his wife Jill, where they direct addiction recovery programs, a jail ministry, a food pantry, an interracial unity movement, and house a faith-based inpatient treatment center. Wildwood is a traditional congregation and a network of thirteen fresh expressions that gather in tattoo parlors, dog parks, salons, running tracks, community centers, and burrito joints.
Angel Davis is a Christian psychotherapist who practices in Athens, Ga. For the last ten years or so, she has focused almost exclusively on healing prayer sessions, and has a tremendous gift of healing prayer. She is also the author of The Perfecting Storm, a solid book on how one person working under the power of the Holy Spirit can transform a bad marriage into a flourishing one. Angel's podcast is called, "Have You Not Heard?" She interviews practitioners who understand Spirit-led healing, and her six-part series on Healing from Trauma is just exceptional and so relevant for right now. I love her ability to care for both brains and souls, and how for her it is always wrapped up in the Holy Spirit.
Dr. Craig Keener is a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary. With degrees from an Assemblies of God seminary and Duke University, Dr. Keener is that marvelous mix of Spirit-filled faith and academic rigor. His two-book study of miracles is chock-full of stats and first-person stories from all over the world (you owe it to yourself to read it). Today, we'll hear how his interest in miracles was first stoked, and we'll talk together about what God is doing in the world. Join us for this rich conversation with one of the best scholars in our theological tradition .
We are so pleased to share this conversation with Dr. David Watson, Academic Dean at United Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. David teaches New Testament, Greek, courses in church renewal and courses in Bible and disability. In this podcast, we talk with him about his experiences in Cuba and the revival percolating there. He also shares from his heart and from deep personal experience how the Church is enriched by a commitment to integrating persons with disability into its life and ministry. We finish with some thoughts on church renewal and the next Methodism. Hope you'll join us.
Host Rev. Carolyn Moore and Rev. Pierce Drake get back together to take a look at what's ahead for this year in front of us. 2020 was well 2020 in so many ways, but in the midst of it we believe Jesus was leading, guiding, revealing, refining and teaching us. Now the question becomes how does what we walked through help us walk ahead? We are excited to be back with you all and looking forward to what's ahead! Enjoy!
Rev. Adam Weber is the founder and lead pastor of Embrace, a multi-site church based out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Author of Talking With God, Adam now has a new book -- Love Has A Name -- about how to love like Jesus loves. In this conversation we explore love and outreach as ways of practically expressing our call to holiness. Adam gets honest about his own spiritual journey and tells a great story of God's grace through a difficult season. For more "Adam," find on his own podcast (The Conversation), after you've enjoyed this conversation with him here.
You can purchase Love Has A Name at:
https://www.amazon.com/Love-Has-Name-Different-Difficult/dp/1601429479
Rica McRoy was born into a devout and loving Hindu home. She emigrated from India to America as a toddler and had a head-on collision with the grace of Jesus Christ at the age of twenty-seven. She lives with her husband, Spike, and three children in Huntsville, Alabama, where she is a practicing optometrist and founding partner of R City Eye Care. Rica’s passion is for people of every nation, tribe, and tongue to be able to see the hope to which Christ has called them.
You can buy Rica's study "Wildfire" at https://my.seedbed.com/product/wildfire/
Today, we get to explore supernatural ministry, world missions, and orthodox faith with Dr. Tim Tennent, president of Asbury Theological Seminary. Dr. Tennent has multiple books to his credit on world missions and world Christianity. His most recent work, For the Body, explores an orthodox understanding of human sexualitly and will be a much-needed resource for the Church. Beyond his significant contributions in writing and leading, we know Tim Tennent as someone who moves in the power of the Holy Spirit, who cares deeply about the Church of Jesus Christ, and who has what seems like endless energy for the global church. It is a compelling mix. In this conversation, we will be schooled by a man who has given his life to shaping the future of the global Church.
Aaron and Amy Graham have been planting churches and reaching cities for nearly two decades. After planting in Boston, they moved to Washington, DC to plant District Church -- a church with a commitment to doing justice in the nation's capital. District Church is remarkably diverse, with 74 nations and 49 states represented in its congregation. Aaron has been named one of Washingtonian Magazine’s 40 under 40. Aaron and his wife Amy are both pastors as well as adoption and foster care advocates. They founded DC127 with the mission to unite churches to reverse the foster care wait list in DC. They live in Columbia Heights with their two adopted kids Elijah and Natalie.
Matt Reynolds has a beautiful story to tell of how God used New Room, his own church, and a moment at the kitchen table to birth a remarkably fruitful and fresh ministry that is speaking life, health and Holy Spirit into the Church. Matt Reynolds is the founder and President of Spirit & Truth, an equipping ministry designed to serve churches that are ready to go beyond "church-as-a-business." In this conversation, we cover everything from ecclesiology to evangelism, field preaching to fog machines (spoiler alert: he's not a fan). You'll love Matt's gentle and wise spirit. We hope you listen.
This week, we have the joy of talking with one of our favorite people, Dr. Kevin Watson. Kevin is Assistant Professor of Wesleyan and Methodist Studies at Candler School of Theology at Emory University, and an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church. He is making a remarkable impact on Wesleyan discipleship especially through two books, The Class Meeting and The Band Meeting. Both are designed to move us beyond programmatic "church" to organic discipleship. We loved talking with Kevin about community, discipleship and a renewed Church. We hope you'll love listening.
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Dr. Alec Rowlands is the senior pastor of Westgate Chapel in Edmonds, Washington. Westgate is a marvelously alive and missional, non-denominational and multi-ethnic congregation that moves in the gifts of the Spirit in gracious and fruitful ways. Alec and his wife, Rita, have two daughters who are both on staff at Westgate along with their spouses, so ministry for the Rowlands is truly a family affair. His book, The Presence, beautifully strikes the balance between the heart of Wesleyan theology and the life of Pentecostal worship. His deep reflection on revival cultures makes this a conversation you should not miss.
After serving for a season on staff at 12Stone Church in Atlanta, Kevin Queen was tapped in 2018 to lead CrossPoint Church in Nashville, Tennessee — one of the largest churches in an area with a lot of large churches. But we’re not interviewing Kevin because he leads a large church. We’re talking with him because he passionately goes after a big God. Kevin has a great story to tell about studying revivals and learning how to go deep in prayer and letting God lead. He also has a lot to say about spiritual mentoring.
Rev. Miriam Swanson is the Global Student Mission Leader at Fusion, a student mission movement that originates in the UK but now with vision for spreading throughout the U.S. She is recently married and has relocated to Florida, where she continues to develop her vision for reaching students through Fusion. Miriam is an anointed speaker and evangelist who has shared her message of holiness and hope with thousands on college campuses and global stages. If you didn’t hear her message at New Room 2019, you owe it to yourself to take a listen. She explains holiness like few others and is a gift to the Body of Christ. It is a privilege to share with you this rich conversation with Miriam, along with our prayer that voices like hers will be impacting the Body of Christ for years to come.
Lo Alaman is a spoken word poet, writer, preacher, and all-around faithful man of God who has become a great friend to all of us in the New Room Network. Lo's day job is as Director of Community Life at The Harvest Church in The Woodlands, Texas, but his passion and gift is bringing words to life (you need to watch his wedding poem on YouTube ... its glorious). His most recent creative work is on the subject of lament, and he shares with us the inspiration behind this project, and more on the intersection of art and holiness.
Dr. Tom Tanner has been part of the Riverstone family since its inception in 1999. He now leads Riverstone as the senior pastor, as well as a church-planting network called Transformation. As the long-time director of the UGA Wesley Foundation, Tom's spiritual influence over a generation of pastors is profound, and he shares his experience of intergenerational encouragement (spoiler alert: it includes golf). You will be inspired by the story of his journey into prayer -- from desperation delight.
Dr. Steve Seamands has spoken healing, theology and prayer into countless lives over a lifetime of serving Christ. Seamands served as the Professor of Basic Christian Doctrine at Asbury Seminary for close to 40 years. In addition to that class, he taught Introduction to Spiritual Warfare, Introduction to Healing Prayer, and a class studying the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Seamands has authored several books, including Wounds That Heal and Ministry in the Image of God (a Christianity Today book award winner). Now retired, he continues to pray and work actively toward the renewal of the Methodist tradition, serving as a prophetic voice, In this episode, he shares his own story, then talks about the ministry of healing, spiritual warfare and also principles learned from the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Carolyn and Pierce sit down today to talk about where they are seeing God's love poured out, Christ personified, and Holy Spirit power in action in their life today. We also get a sneak peek at some of the guests we have lined up for Season 2 (which starts next week!) Lean in with us as we continue to press towards practical holiness, supernatural ministry, and intergenerational encouragement.
In this bonus episode, Carolyn Moore and Pierce Drake sit down to have a conversation about spiritual direction, mentoring, coaching, and spiritual parenting. Carolyn kicks us off today asking Pierce about his journey over the last year as he has intentionally gone after those four terms above. We pray these this conversation helps you lean into Jesus more fully.
Join us at A Night With New Room on September 25 for a livestreamed evening of worship, teaching, and prayer for great awakening. With guests Jim Cymbala, Miriam Swaffield, Lo Alaman, J. D. Walt, and more. Register for free at newroomconference.com.
Our host Carolyn Moore and Pierce Drake sit down to reflect on the first season and discuss a question that came out of season one. They dive into looking at the difference of a Holy Spirit led life verses simply acknowledging that the Holy Spirit is with us but living as though it's just on us. May our time today encourage you to lean in with the Holy Spirit and fall forward into grace.
Join us at A Night With New Room on September 25 for a livestreamed evening of worship, teaching, and prayer for great awakening. With guests Jim Cymbala, Miriam Swaffield, Lo Alaman, J. D. Walt, and more. Register for free at newroomconference.com.
Every episode has been for us a gift of great conversation with deep spiritual leaders in the Wesleyan/Arminian tradition, and we end the season with the best of the best — Jack Deere. Author of “Surprised by the Power of the Spirit” and the revised and recently released “Why I Am Still Surprised by the Spirit,” Jack shares his own journey from a successful ministry in a cessationist tribe — a theological stream that assumes the supernatural phased out with the apostles — to being someone who could say that healing ought to be a significant part of a church’s ministry. He shares about his ministry partnership with John Wimber, the relationship between miracles and suffering, and what it might look like to go after the power of God and the work of the Holy Spirit. If you want to be inspired toward more love and more power in ministry, this episode is for you.
Links:
Why I Am Still Surprised by the Power of the Spirit
It was truly an honor to have a conversation with Dr. Scot McKnight. We discovered in this world-renowned speaker, writer, and academic a deeply faithful and socially active man of God who is humble, humorous and courageous. McKnight is a recognized authority on the historical Jesus, early Christianity, and New Testament. His blog, Jesus Creed, is a leading Christian blog. He has authored or edited more than seventy-five books. McKnight is the Julius R. Mantey Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lisle, IL and also an ordained Deacon in the Anglican Church of North America.
Jesus Creed: https://www.christianitytoday.com/scot-mcknight/
Follow Scot on Twitter: https://twitter.com/scotmcknight
Rev Dr Madeline Henners has an amazing story of incremental surrender as the Holy Spirit drew her out of a "mainline" worldview and into the life of the Spirit. She now swims deeply in that stream and talks us through a number of Spirit-filled movements happening in the U.S. In her words, her "dream for the church is revival." Madeline shares also around intimacy with God, the special topic of her D.Min. studies at United Theological Seminary, where she now serves on staff as the Director of Contextual Formation after ten years as an Elder in the Rio Texas Conference of the UMC.
We found a treasure when we found Rev. Dimetra Barrios while watching the online messages of Jon Tyson's Church of the City. She serves as the founding and lead pastor at Legacy Brooklyn. She has studied at Liberty and Fuller, and is a featured speaker at Exponential conference. And she gets the Art of Holiness. Dimetra speaks with such spiritual insight about issues like practical holiness, the nature of the Body of Christ, and ministry in the margins. As she puts it, "it is my goal to walk alongside others in Brooklyn, unified in community, bringing together our vast diversities for the singular glory of God." In this conversation, we trust you will find a new voice to follow in the world Christian movement.
Chris Backert has a passion for creating and supporting new ways of doing Christian community. You know him by his influence over several significant movements. He serves as the national director of Fresh Expressions US, as Director & Organizational Architect for a church planting network called Ecclesia, as a church planter himself in both Virginia and Maryland, and with the Baptist General Association of Virginia the area of church planting. But his greatest influence is in what isn’t on the paper but is in his heart. Chris loves the Body of Christ and loves the work of faith -- things like prophetic ministry and prayer. He brings a deep knowledge of church history -- especially the four waves of charismatic faith -- to every aspect of his work. You’re gonna love this conversation. It is rich and will remind us that we swim in some strong currents and deep waters.
Matt Scott is the founding pastor of the Gathering Place in Moody, Alabama. Since it began in 2011, The Gathering Place Church has grown to average more than 1500 people attending each weekend. In Matt, we discovered a pastor who was not content with large numbers, but someone intensely passionate about pursuing the supernatural power of God. He talks in this episode about that search, and about how he has boldly and lovingly shared his own revival with the people he serves.
Jorge Acevedo is a true elder in the church -- a man of God who has poured in faithfully for more than two decades to a local faith community (Grace Church in Cape Coral, FL), while pouring into the national and even international Church and into generations of leaders who call him both mentor and friend. In this episode, we talk with Jorge about missional discipleship, supernatural ministry, Wesleyan spirituality and generational influence. With Jorge, it is all about relationship -- with God, his staff, and the people of God. Enjoy this episode.
The word that immediately comes to mind when talking to Bob Beckwith is fruitfulness. Bob has served as the director of the UGA Wesley Foundation since 1999. His story is one of “a long obedience in the same direction” (to quote Eugene Peterson). Staying true to his call and passion for developing workable discipleship systems, he has seen significant growth at Wesley in their internship program, discipleship initiatives and conversion stories. And he has never strayed far from supernatural ministry, believing that discipleship necessarily includes prophetic ministry. In this episode, Bob shares about partnerships in Cuba, the role of prayer in developing disciples, and his heart for calling out something deeper in the next generation.
Dr. Helen Musick has served the Kingdom of God as a pastor, seminary professor, leader of a successful recovery ministry, and a featured speaker and leader. In this conversation, she talks about the simple brilliance of the twelve steps of A.A. and how the supernatural power of God works in the midst of recovery. Helen shares as a seasoned pastor what it means to be a spiritual elder in the church and a mentor in the marketplace.
J.D. is an author, speaker, thought-leader, and is the "Sower-in-Chief" at Seedbed (and New Room). Formerly the Dean of Chapel at Asbury Theological Seminary, J.D. founded Seedbed in 2012 to begin the work of sowing for a great Awakening. He writes daily to a community of thousands via the Seedbed Daily Text.
Links:
- Seedbed
- The Seedbed Daily Text
- The Seedbed Daily Text printed books
This conversation with Cheryl Bridges Johns is rich and deep. If you haven't found her already, you need to listen. Dr. Johns serves in the Robert E. Fisher Chair of Spiritual Renewal at Pentecostal Theological Seminary. She carries the fire of a Pentecostal and the heart of a social activist. What humbles and inspires us most is that with thousands of Twitter followers and a national platform, she so graciously gives her time to anyone ready for a serious conversation about what it means to see the Kingdom come. Thanks, Cheryl, for a great discussion!
Links:
- Follow Cheryl on Twitter
- Seven Transforming Gifts of Menopause by Cheryl Bridges Johns
- Sola Sancta Caritas by Joseph Dongell
Special offer for listeners: 16 Seedbed Seedlings for $25
Welcome to our first episode! Dr. Bellini often says: "Pentecostals don’t have a copyright on the Holy Spirit." To which we at The Art of Holiness reply, "Amen!" In this episode we chat about "prophetic informed intercession" and the miracles waiting to happen when we pray from a place of knowing. Dr. Bellini is a professor at United Seminary and he takes us to school for sure. Lean in and join the conversation with us.
Join Pastors Carolyn Moore and Pierce Drake in this introductory conversation and hear why they've decided to start this podcast. You'll hear a little bit of their stories as well as their hope and prayer for this community. We are excited to have you in this conversation!