Seminary Dropout: Recent Episodes
Shane Blackshear: Interviews with Philip Yancey, Derek Webb, Jamie Wright,
On Seminary Dropout you'll hear interviews that go beyond the basic questions. Hear people you want to hear from answer questions you'd ask if you were the host. You'll hear from those who just released their latest best seller or album as well as those who have published classics. Some of the topics we cover are: the church, fasting, human trafficking, meditation, non-fiction Christian literature, racism, prayer. poverty, spiritual development, living simply, and a lot of theology. Past guests include Jamie Wright, Derek Webb, Tony Campolo, Shane Claiborne, Tony Kriz, Richard Foster, Roger Olson, Scot McKnight, Mary Demuth, Katelyn Beaty, Greg Boyd, Austin Fischer, Grace Biskie, JR Woodward, Philip Yancey, Jonathan Martin, Bruxy Cavey, Lacy Borgo, Sarah Bessey, Elizabeth Esther, and many more!
Rev. Esau McCaulley, PhD is an author and associate professor of New Testament at Wheaton College. His writing and speaking focus on New Testament theology, African-American Biblical interpretation, and Christian public theology.
His new memoir How Far to the Promised Land, questions the narrative of exceptionalism that he, and other Black survivors, are conditioned to give when they “make it” in America. His book Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope won numerous awards, including Christianity Today’s Book of the Year.
Esau is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. His writings have also appeared in The Atlantic, Washington Post, and Christianity Today.
Find Esau McCaulley at esaumccaulley.com.
For much of his life, Esau McCaulley was taught to see himself as an exception: someone who, through hard work, faith, and determination, overcame childhood poverty, anti-Black racism, and an absent father to earn a job as a university professor and a life in the middle class.
But that narrative was called into question one night, when McCaulley answered the phone and learned that his father—whose absence defined his upbringing—died in a car crash. McCaulley was being asked to deliver his father’s eulogy, to make sense of his complicated legacy in a country that only accepts Black men on the condition that they are exceptional, hardworking, perfect.
The resulting effort sent McCaulley back through his family history, seeking to understand the community that shaped him. In these pages, we meet his great-grandmother Sophia, a tenant farmer born with the gift of prophecy who scraped together a life in Jim Crow Alabama; his mother, Laurie, who raised four kids alone in an era when single Black mothers were demonized as “welfare queens”; and a cast of family, friends, and neighbors who won small victories in a world built to swallow Black lives. With profound honesty and compassion, he raises questions that implicate us all: What does each person’s struggle to build a life teach us about what we owe each other? About what it means to be human?
How Far to the Promised Land is a thrilling and tender epic about being Black in America. It’s a book that questions our too-simple narratives about poverty and upward mobility; a book in which the people normally written out of the American Dream are given voice.
From the Publisher
Subscribe/Rate/Review Seminary Dropout on Apple Podcasts Get 40% off Shane’s book Go and Do: Nine Axioms on Peacemaking and Transformation From the Life of John Perkins.
John M. G. Barclay is Lightfoot Professor of Divinity at Durham University in England, one of the most highly regarded professorships in the theological world.
John is President of TRS-UK, the body that represents and coordinates all the Departments of Theology and Religion/Religious Studies in the UK, together with twelve subject associations. Out of the study, he enjoys cycling, music, and watching rugby. Having spent three sabbatical periods in New Zealand (where Dan, the editor of Seminary Dropout is based), he is also a fan of their national rugby team, the All Blacks!
John is married to Diana, and they have three grown children.
In this book esteemed Pauline scholar John Barclay presents a strikingly fresh reading of grace in Paul's theology, studying it in view of ancient notions of "gift" and shining new light on Paul's relationship to Second Temple Judaism.
Paul and the Gift centers on divine gift-giving, which for Paul, Barclay says, is focused and fulfilled in the gift of Christ. He offers a new appraisal of Paul's theology of the Christ-event as gift as it comes to expression in Galatians and Romans, and he presents a nuanced and detailed discussion of the history of reception of Paul. This exegetically responsible, theologically informed, hermeneutically useful book shows that a respectful, though not uncritical, reading of Paul contains resources that remain important for Christians today.
From the Publisher
Subscribe/Rate/Review Seminary Dropout on Apple Podcasts Get 40% off Shane’s book Go and Do: Nine Axioms on Peacemaking and Transformation From the Life of John Perkins.
John H. Walton is a professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College and Graduate School. Previously he was a professor of Old Testament at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago for twenty years. Some of Walton's books include The Lost World of Adam and Eve, The Lost World of Scripture, The Lost World of Genesis One, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament, The Essential Bible Companion, The NIV Application Commentary: Genesis, and The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (with Victor Matthews and Mark Chavalas). Walton's ministry experience includes church classes for all age groups, high school Bible studies, and adult Sunday school classes, as well as serving as a teacher for "The Bible in 90 Days." John and his wife, Kim, live in Wheaton, Illinois, and have three adult children. We need a consistent approach to give us confidence as faithful interpreters. In Wisdom for Faithful Reading, the trusted Old Testament scholar John Walton lays out his tried-and-true best practices developed over four decades in the classroom. His principles are memorable, practical, and enlightening, including: * The Bible is written for us, but not to us. * Reading the Bible instinctively is not reliable and risks imposing a foreign perspective on the text. * More important than what the characters do is what the narrator does with the characters and what God is doing through the characters. * Not everything has a "biblical view."
Along with identifying common missteps, Walton's insights point the way to stay focused on what the Old Testament text communicated to its original audience—and what it has to say for us today. When we submit ourselves to be accountable to the authors' intentions we experience the true authority of Scripture, and faithful reading fuels a faithful life. Using numerous examples across the breadth of the Old Testament and its genres, Walton equips thoughtful Christians to read more knowledgeably, to pay attention to God’s plans and purposes, to recognize good interpretations, and to truly live in light of Scripture. You may never read the Old Testament the same way again.From the Publisher Subscribe/Rate/Review Seminary Dropout on Apple PodcastsGet 40% off Shane’s book Go and Do: Nine Axioms on Peacemaking and Transformation From the Life of John Perkins.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Ronald J. Sider, whose book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger has been called one of the top 100 books in religion in the twentieth century, is a well-known evangelical speaker, writer, and editor. Holding a PhD in history from Yale University, Ron Sider is president of Evangelicals for Social Action, director of the Sider Center on Ministry and Public Policy, and a professor at Palmer Theological Seminary. He is also a contributing editor of Christianity Today and an ordained minister in the Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches. Sider has written more than thirty books, including Christ and Violence, Living Like Jesus, Just Politics, Just Generosity, The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience, and I Am Not a Social Activist. Ron Sider lives with his wife Arbutus in Lansdale, Pennsylvania.
Follow Ron on his blog ronsiderblog.substack.com.
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What does Jesus have to say about violence, just war, and killing? Does Jesus ever want his disciples to kill in order to resist evil and promote peace and justice?
This book by noted theologian and bestselling author Ronald J. Sider provides a career capstone statement on biblical peacemaking. Sider makes a strong case for the view that Jesus calls his disciples to love, and never kill, their enemies. He explains that there are never only two options: to kill or to do nothing in the face of tyranny and brutality. There is always a third possibility: vigorous, nonviolent resistance. If we believe that Jesus is Lord, then we disobey him when we set aside what he taught about killing and ignore his command to love our enemies.
This thorough, comprehensive treatment of a topic of perennial concern vigorously engages with the just war tradition and issues a challenge to all Christians, especially evangelicals, to engage in biblical peacemaking. The book includes a foreword by Stanley Hauerwas."
-From the Publisher
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is Week on Seminary Dropout…Emily P. Freeman is a writer, creative director, and spiritual mentor who helps create space for the soul to breathe so people can walk in step with their calling.She is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Simply Tuesday and Grace for the Good Girl as well as Graceful and A Million Little Ways. She’s been writing online for over 10 years and is the co-founder of a growing community for writers at hopewriters.com.She and her husband live in North Carolina with their three children. Connect with Emily online at emilypfreeman.com and on Instagram @emilypfreeman.Nothing gets our attention like an unmade decision: Should I accept the new position? Which schooling choice is best for my kids? How can I support my aging parents? When we have a decision to make and the answer isn't clear, what we want more than anything is peace, clarity, and a nudge in the right direction.If you have trouble making decisions, because of either chronic hesitation you've always lived with or a more recent onset of decision fatigue, Emily P. Freeman offers a fresh way of practicing familiar but often forgotten advice: simply do the next right thing. With this simple, soulful practice, it is possible to clear the decision-making chaos, quiet the fear of choosing wrong, and find the courage to finally decide without regret or second-guessing.Whether you're in the midst of a major life transition or are weary of the low-grade anxiety that daily life can bring, Emily helps create space for your soul to breathe so you can live life with God at a gentle pace and discern your next right thing in love.-From the PublisherSubscribe/Rate/Review Seminary Dropout in iTunes
*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
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This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Rebekah Lyons is the author of Freefall to Fly: A Breathtaking Journey Toward a Life of Meaning and Founder of Q Women.
She is the mother of three, wife of one and a dog walker of two living in Nashville. Rebekah is an old soul with a contemporary, honest voice who puts a new face on the struggles women face as they seek to live a life of meaning. Through emotive writing and speaking, Rebekah reveals her own battles to overcome anxiety, depression, and consumer impulses - challenging women to discover and boldly pursue the calling God has for them.
Alongside her husband, Gabe, Rebekah serves as cofounder of Q Ideas, a nonprofit organization that helps Christian leaders winsomely engage culture. Her favorite pastime is spent with her nose in a book and a discriminating cup of coffee in hand.
Have you bought the lie? Many of us do. We measure our worth by what others think of us. We compare and strive, existing mostly for the approval of others. Pressure rises, anxiety creeps in and we hustle to keep up.
Jesus whispers, I gave my life to set you free. I gave you purpose. I called you to live in freedom in that purpose. Yet we still hobble through life, afraid to confess all the ways we push against this truth, because we can’t even believe it. We continue to grasp for the approval of anyone that will offer it: whether strangers, friends, or community.
Christ doesn’t say you can be or may be or will be free. He says you are free.
Dare you believe it?
In You Are Free, Rebekah invites you to:
• Overcome the exhaustion of trying to meet the expectations of others and rest in the joy God’s freedom brings.
• Release stress, anxiety and worry, to uncover the peace that comes from abiding in His presence.
• Find permission to grieve past experiences, confess areas of brokenness, and receive strength in your journey towards healing.
• Throw off self-condemnation, burn superficial masks and step boldly into what our good God has for you.
• Discover the courage to begin again and use your newfound freedom to set others free.
Freedom is for everyone who wants it—the lost, the wounded, and those weary from all of the striving. It’s for those who gave up trying years ago. It’s for those angry and hurt, brilliant and burnt by the Christian song and dance. You are the church, the people of God. You were meant to be free.
-From the Publisher
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
Our Sponsor:
Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
AUSTIN CHANNING BROWN is a writer, speaker, and practitioner who helps schools, nonprofits, and religious organizations practice genuine inclusion. Her writing has appeared in outlets like Christianity Today, Relevant, Sojourners, and The Christian Century.
Austin Channing Brown's first encounter with a racialized America came at age 7, when she discovered her parents named her Austin to deceive future employers into thinking she was a white man. Growing up in majority-white schools, organizations, and churches, Austin writes, "I had to learn what it means to love blackness," a journey that led to a lifetime spent navigating America's racial divide as a writer, speaker and expert who helps organizations practice genuine inclusion.
In a time when nearly all institutions (schools, churches, universities, businesses) claim to value "diversity" in their mission statements, I'm Still Here is a powerful account of how and why our actions so often fall short of our words. Austin writes in breathtaking detail about her journey to self-worth and the pitfalls that kill our attempts at racial justice, in stories that bear witness to the complexity of America's social fabric--from Black Cleveland neighborhoods to private schools in the middle-class suburbs, from prison walls to the boardrooms at majority-white organizations.
For readers who have engaged with America's legacy on race through the writing of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Michael Eric Dyson, I'm Still Here is an illuminating look at how white, middle-class, Evangelicalism has participated in an era of rising racial hostility, inviting the reader to confront apathy, recognize God's ongoing work in the world, and discover how blackness--if we let it--can save us all. -From the Publisher
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
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This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Bonnie Kristian is a theological and political writer with a national following. She has columns and bylines at publications including The Week, Rare, Time Magazine, CNN, Relevant Magazine, Politico, The Hill, and The American Conservative. Bonnie is active in teaching roles in her church, a Mennonite community where she leads a study group and speaks regularly at Sunday services. She graduated from Bethel Seminary with a Master of Arts in Christian Thought, a theological studies degree with special emphasis on engaging culture with the gospel. Bonnie lives with her husband, two dogs, and two guinea pigs in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She keeps busy running, gardening, and fixing up her 100-year-old house.
It is all too easy to fail to grasp the diversity of the Christian faith-especially for those who have grown up in one branch of the church and never explored another. We fail to realize how many ways there are to follow Jesus, convinced that our own tradition is the one Christian alternative to nonbelief. A FLEXIBLE FAITH is written for the convinced and confused believer alike. It is a readable exploration of the lively theological diversity that stretches back through church history and across the spectrum of Christianity today. It is an easy introduction to how Christians have historically answered key questions about what it means to follow Jesus. Chapters will include 17 big theological questions and answers; profiles of relevant figures in church history; discussion questions; single-page Q&As-profiles of more unusual types of Christians (e.g., a Catholic nun or a member of an Amish community); and a guide to major Christian denominations today. As Bonnie shares her wrestlings with core issues-such as who Jesus is, what place the Church has in our lives, how to disagree yet remain within a community, and how to love the Bible for what it actually is-she teaches us how to walk courageously through our own tough questions.
Following Jesus is big and it is something that individual believers, movements, and denominations have expressed in uncountably different ways over the centuries. In the process of helping us sort things out, Bonnie shows us how to be comfortable with diversity in the Body. And as we learn to hold questions in one hand and answers in the other, we will discover new depths of faith that will remain secure even through the storms of life.
-From the Publisher
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
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Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Jo Saxton is a pastor, a church-planter, an author, and a speaker who travels the globe to address leadership organizations, children's conferences, women's events, and Christian festivals. She also serves on the advisory board for Today's Christian Woman, co-hosts the Lead Stories podcast, and spends much of her time mentoring and training leaders through 3DMovements, an international discipleship operation. She lives with her husband and their two daughters near Minneapolis.
Let’s be honest, the life you lead isn’t what you’ve always dreamt. And maybe the person you’ve become isn’t who you’ve always imagined. Sure, you can clean it up. You can work longer, love harder, and eat better. You can scrub the surface of your life until it gleams and still never address the fact that somehow you lost sight of who you really are and what you’re living for.
Is this the life you were meant to live?
As the child of Nigerian immigrants in the UK, author and speaker Jo Saxton knows firsthand how quickly the world can cause us to doubt our dreams and question who we are. She understands how easily we can exchange our true child-of-God selves for an identity built on lies, guilt, and brokenness.
In this powerful book, Jo examines Biblical figures and shares her personal story as she invites you to turn to the One who knows you intimately and loves you deeply. He sees all you’ve struggled to hide. He hears the voice inside you that others have silenced. He knows the potential and purpose that no one valued. He longs to redeem the story of your life and set you on the path to reclaim The Dream of You.Are you ready?-From the Publisher
From the show...
“I’ve seen how often women can edit their callings in the presence of guys, even if they know those guys are for them…”
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Seminary Dropout 179 – Amena Brown, Author of “How to Fix a Broken Record” on Poetry, Marriage, and Princesses
Seminary Dropout 177 – Tara Beth Leach, Author of Emboldened: A Vision for Empowering Women in Ministry
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
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Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
With over 32 years of ministry experience, Jean serves as a missionary and coach as well as Five Stones Global’s Executive Director. She is the author of We Are Not the Hero: A Missionary’s Guide to Sharing Christ, Not a Culture of Dependency. Jean holds a B.A. in cross-cultural communications from North Central University, Minneapolis, MN, where she also taught as a missionary-in-residence from 2009-2012.
Upon completing her education, Jean worked as a church planter for six years living and serving among Cambodians in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Consecutively, Jean continued her work serving as a career missionary in Cambodia for sixteen years (1992-2009). Jean trained Cambodians through modeling and facilitating how to plant churches that have the vision, God-given authority, and capacity to plant others churches. Her vision for and practice of church planting is encompassed in the Cambodian proverb, “Enter a river where it bends; enter a country by its customs.”
At heart, Jean is a cross-cultural communicator who specializes in worldview strategic church planting, oral strategies, and on-the-job pastoral training. Jean’s current role at Five Stones Global reflects her tenured missionary experience. Jean teaches, coaches, and trains missionaries, pastors, church committees, organizations, and short-term mission teams on how to intentionally build-in sustainability, indigeneity, and multiplication in missions and disciple-making efforts throughout the world.
Drawing from her unique life experiences serving Cambodians both stateside and internationally, Jean invites you on a learning journey to discover ways to contribute to self-sustaining and reproducing church planting movements that are biblically rooted and culturally relevant. Presently, Jean makes her home in Minneapolis where she enjoys reading, writing, spending time with family and friends, walks in nature, biking, and ice cream.
While globalization gives North American Christians unprecedented opportunities to influence the world, we need to take care not to slip into a type of postmodern colonialism in which we make ourselves the experts or the 'hero come to save the day.' Jesus commanded us to make disciples of all nations, not to spread Western cultural Christianity or solve the world with American dollars.
In We Are Not the Hero, the author invites you on a learning journey—through Cambodia and other parts of the world—to discover ways to contribute to self-sustaining and reproducing church movements that are organic to the culture.
If you are a student, missionary, church planter, missions-oriented church, or Great Commission-minded disciple you will find this book both inspirational and valuable to your experience. -From the Publisher
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137: Chris Marlow, Author of ” Doing Good is Simple: Make a Difference Right Where You Are”
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
Our Sponsor:
Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Christopher A. Hall (PhD, Drew University) is the president of Renovaré Institute of Christian Spiritual Formation. He is associate editor of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, and his books include Reading Scripture with the Church Fathers, Learning Theology with the Church Fathers, and Worshiping with the Church Fathers. Hall previously served at Eastern University for over twenty years in several roles, including chancellor, provost, dean of Palmer Seminary, dean of the Templeton Honors College, distinguished professor of theology, and director of academic spiritual formation. He and his wife, Debbie, live in Pennsylvania and have three grown children.
The first centuries of Christianity are like a far country. But despite their foreignness, they hold a treasury of wisdom for living. Early Christians struggled and flourished in a culture that was in love with empire and military power, infatuated with sex and entertainment, tolerant of all gods but hostile to the One. And from this crucible of discipleship they extracted lessons of virtue, faithfulness, and joy in Christ. Christopher Hall takes us to this distant time, where he interviews Christian leaders around the ancient Mediterranean world, inquiring how to live a good life as a Christ follower. The menu of topics wends its way through wealth and poverty, war and violence, marriage and sexuality, theater and the arena, as well as the harsh realities of persecution and martyrdom. Gathering around Basil or Chrysostom or Augustine, we are instructed anew in the way of discipleship. And as they grapple with issues surprisingly resonant with our own, this cloud of ancient witnesses both surprises and challenges us in the life of faith. -From the Publisher
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136: Gerald McDermott, Author of “The Great Theologians, A Brief Guide”
140: Frank James, Logos Video Course: “Introducing Church History”
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
Our Sponsor:
Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
My guest A. J. Swoboda pastors Theophilus Church in urban Portland, Oregon. He is executive director of the Seminary Stewardship Alliance, a consortium of Christian higher education institutions dedicated to reconnecting Christians with the biblical call to care for God's creation. Swoboda also teaches biblical studies, theology, and church history at Portland Seminary and Fuller Theological Seminary, among others. He is an award-winning author or editor of nine books and speaks regularly at conferences, retreats, churches, and seminars. Visit his website and blog at www.ajswoboda.com.
We live in a 24/7 culture of endless productivity, workaholism, distraction, burnout, and anxiety--a way of life to which we've sadly grown accustomed. This tired system of "life" ultimately destroys our souls, our bodies, our relationships, our society, and the rest of God's creation. The whole world grows exhausted because humanity has forgotten to enter into God's rest.
This book pioneers a creative path to an alternative way of existing. Combining creative storytelling, pastoral sensitivity, practical insight, and relevant academic research, Subversive Sabbath offers a unique invitation to personal Sabbath-keeping that leads to fuller and more joyful lives. A. J. Swoboda demonstrates that Sabbath is both a spiritual discipline and a form of social justice, connects Sabbath-keeping to local communities, and explains how God may actually do more when we do less. He shows that the biblical practice of Sabbath-keeping is God's plan for the restoration and healing of all creation. The book includes a foreword by Matthew Sleeth. -From the Publisher
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Fresh Expressions is an international movement of missionary disciples cultivating new kinds of church alongside existing congregations to more effectively engage our growing post-Christian society.
Beginning in 2004 as an initiative of the Church of England and the British Methodist Church, the movement has resulted in the birth of thousands of new communities in the UK alone and brought renewal to scores of established churches. The movement has spread to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Germany. In 2010, the movement began taking shape in the US through the vision and generosity of the Baptist General Association of Virginia and a growing number of partners committed to a new era of missional ecumenism, a unity around the mission of God the Father through the resurrected Son in the power of the Holy Spirit.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Shannon Kiser serves as Director of Training for Fresh Expressions US. She also is the director of the coaching network for the New Worshiping Community movement in the Presbyterian Church USA, and one of the pastors of Riverside Presbyterian Church, a northern Virginia church with multiple Fresh Expressions. She is a graduate of Texas Christian University and holds a Masters of Divinity from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Shannon has served churches in Texas and Virginia, as well as the Church Growth Office of the Presbyterian Mission Agency. Shannon and her husband Patrick live in Springfield, VA and have two high school daughters.
Verlon Fosner has led an innovative congregation in Seattle Washington since 1999. In 2008 the congregation transitioned from a traditional proclamation church into a multi-site Dinner Church called Community Dinners. In 2016, Verlon joined the Fresh Expression US leadership team and began coaching declining churches, leading “Dinner Church Encounters” across the country, and hosting “Seattle Immersions” at their home, which enables a few leaders at a time to observe Dinner Churches in action followed by training conversations around a fireplace. Verlon holds a Doctorate of Ministry from Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, and has written several books. He and his wife Melodee have three adult children, five grandchildren, a collection of grand-foster-kids, and two grand-dogs.
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182 - Travis Collins, What is a Fresh Expression of Church Anyway?
Fresh Expressions 101 (And What To Do Next)”
Subscribe/Rate/Review Seminary Dropout in iTunes
*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
Our Sponsor:
Fresh Expressions is an international movement of missionary disciples cultivating new kinds of church alongside existing congregations to more effectively engage our growing post-Christian society.
Beginning in 2004 as an initiative of the Church of England and the British Methodist Church, the movement has resulted in the birth of thousands of new communities in the UK alone and brought renewal to scores of established churches. The movement has spread to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Germany. In 2010, the movement began taking shape in the US through the vision and generosity of the Baptist General Association of Virginia and a growing number of partners committed to a new era of missional ecumenism, a unity around the mission of God the Father through the resurrected Son in the power of the Holy Spirit.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Michael Beck is the North Central District Cultivator of Fresh Expressions for the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. He is also Senior Pastor of Wildwood and Oxford United Methodist Churches, where he directs addiction recovery programs, a jail ministry, a food pantry, and a network of fresh expressions that meet in places like tattoo parlors and burrito joints. He currently lives in Wildwood with his wife, Jill, and their blended family of 8 children.
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183 – Iosmar Alvarez, Planting, Disciplining, and Fresh Expressions of the Hispanic Church
182 - Travis Collins, What is a Fresh Expression of Church Anyway?
Fresh Expressions 101 (And What To Do Next)”
Subscribe/Rate/Review Seminary Dropout in iTunes
*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
Our Sponsor:
Fresh Expressions is an international movement of missionary disciples cultivating new kinds of church alongside existing congregations to more effectively engage our growing post-Christian society.
Beginning in 2004 as an initiative of the Church of England and the British Methodist Church, the movement has resulted in the birth of thousands of new communities in the UK alone and brought renewal to scores of established churches. The movement has spread to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Germany. In 2010, the movement began taking shape in the US through the vision and generosity of the Baptist General Association of Virginia and a growing number of partners committed to a new era of missional ecumenism, a unity around the mission of God the Father through the resurrected Son in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Be sure register to attend the Rethinking Hell Conference, March 9-10. I'd love to see you there.
RethinkingHellConference.com
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Iosmar Alvarez is originally from Cuba and has been in the US since 2001. God began to work in his life as Local Pastor in United Methodist Church Kentucky Conference in 2002. He has planted 3 Hispanic Churches in Kentucky in the past 10 years. He has his Masters in Divinity from United Theological Seminary (Dayton, Ohio) and another Masters degree in Christian Leadership from Lindsey Wilson College. Dr. Alvarez is a prolific author on leadership development and church growth, having 4 books written in those subjects. Additionally, Dr. Alvarez is a certified coach for SLI & Path1, the national UMC recognized agencies for church planting, development and transformation. At the same time, pastor Alvarez graduated with his Doctorate of Ministry degree from Asbury Theological Seminary on May 20, 2017. Currently Dr. Alvarez serves as Senior Pastor for Fuente De Avivamiento/Spring of Revival with 400+ members and 100 home churches. Dr. Alvarez has the honor to train leaders nationwide on how to plant churches and develop church culture and processes to make disciples. Dr. Alvarez pastors along with his wife Zulayne Alvarez, who supports and helps him in carrying the vision to the future generations.
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Fresh Expressions 101 (And What To Do Next)”
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
Our Sponsor:
Fresh Expressions is an international movement of missionary disciples cultivating new kinds of church alongside existing congregations to more effectively engage our growing post-Christian society.
Beginning in 2004 as an initiative of the Church of England and the British Methodist Church, the movement has resulted in the birth of thousands of new communities in the UK alone and brought renewal to scores of established churches. The movement has spread to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Germany. In 2010, the movement began taking shape in the US through the vision and generosity of the Baptist General Association of Virginia and a growing number of partners committed to a new era of missional ecumenism, a unity around the mission of God the Father through the resurrected Son in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Be sure register to attend the Rethinking Hell Conference, March 9-10. I'd love to see you there.
RethinkingHellConference.com
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Travis’s service as Director of Mission Advancement and Southeast Regional Coordinator brings together his calling and experience as missionary and pastor. He serves as Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Huntsville, Alabama and was previously pastor of Bon Air Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia.
His twenty-five plus years of ministry have included missionary service in Venezuela and Nigeria. He is a graduate of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama and earned the Master of Divinity and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.He is the author of Directionally Challenged (2007), Tough Calls (2008), and From the Steeple to the Street (Seedbed 2016).Travis and his wife, Keri, have three adult children.
In the last decade, a giant cultural wave has swept the North American church into a brand new world—a pluralistic, complicated, high-tech/low-touch world. Faced with the challenge of engaging a jaded culture, a fresh expression of church has emerged alongside the traditional church. This short book gives an overview of the Fresh Expressions movement and its innovative approach to reaching those who would perhaps never come to our church buildings. -From the Publisher
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Fresh Expressions 101 (And What To Do Next)”
Loud Pipes Save Lives: A Biker Church Story
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
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This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Curt Thompson, M.D., is a psychiatrist in private practice in Falls Church, Virginia and founder of Being Known, which develops teaching programs, seminars and resource materials to help people explore the connection between interpersonal neurobiology and Christian spirituality which lead to genuine change and transformation.
He and his wife, Phyllis, are the parents of two children and reside in Arlington, Virginia. He serves as an elder at Washington Community Fellowship in Washington, D.C. His duties there have included preaching, teaching, and participation in the fellowship’s healing prayer ministry. He and his wife (a licensed clinical social worker) frequently provide premarital counseling services for couples in their congregation.
Do you want to improve your relationships and experience lasting personal change? Join Curt Thompson, M.D., on an amazing journey to discover the surprising pathways for transformation hidden inside your own mind. Integrating new findings in neuroscience and attachment with Christian spirituality, Dr. Thompson reveals how it is possible to rewire your mind, altering your brain patterns and literally making you more like the person God intended you to be. Explaining discoveries about the brain in layman’s terms, he shows how you can be mentally transformed through spiritual practices, interaction with Scripture, and connections with other people. He also provides practical exercises to help you experience healing in areas where you’ve been struggling. Insightful and challenging, Anatomy of the Soul illustrates how learning about one of God’s most miraculous creations―your brain―can enrich your life, your relationships, and your impact on the world around you. -From the Publisher
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143: Mike McHargue aka “Science Mike”, Author of “Finding God In The Waves”
Seminary Dropout 52: James Bryan Smith, Author of The Apprentice Series
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
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This Week on Seminary Dropout…
John Mark McMillan is something of an anomaly: an artist and Platinum-selling songwriter bending genres and defying categorization by carving out his own unique and independent path. With an ear for melody and a poet’s eye for metaphor, no topic has been off-limits. While each of his albums over the past decade have continued to explore new territory, it’s McMillan’s ability to give lyric and language to the human experience that many consider his greatest gift.
Mercury & Lightning reminds us why we love great songwriters; The exceptional ones find a way to put new words to private musings and desperate feelings until the songs themselves begin to live in our bones.
The vibe and tone from each song on Mercury & Lightning will mesmerize, but it’s McMillan’s voice that draws you in and makes you feel as though you’ve entered a conversation you want to stick around for. Recorded just outside of Portland, OR at Feng Sway Studios over 18 months with close friend Gabriel Wilson and longtime bandmate Jesse Proctor, this is the kind of record that your kid usually discovers before you do - something progressive yet accessible. Borrowing from their childhood influences, they bring elements of 80’s rock and 90’s R&B together, somehow making the record feel both modern and unexpected.
-From johnmarkmcmillan.com
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Seminary Dropout 94: John Mark McMillan on Making Money as a Christian Artist & More
Seminary Dropout 51: Michael Gungor Talks Creation, Music, & Art.
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
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Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Amena Brown is an author, spoken word poet, speaker, and event host. The author of five spoken word albums and two non-fiction books, Amena performs and speaks at events from coffeehouses to arenas with a mix of poetry, humor, and storytelling. She and her husband, DJ Opdiggy, reside in Atlanta, GA.
Your soul holds a massive record collection: melodies, rhythms, and bass lines. Memories that ask you to dance and memories that haunt you in a minor key. Lies that become soundtracks to your days while truths play too softly to be heard.
Spoken word poet Amena Brown’s broken records played messages about how she wasn’t worthy to be loved. How to Fix a Broken Record chronicles her journey of healing as she’s allowed the music of God’s love to replace the scratchy taunts of her past. From bad dates to marriage lessons at Waffle House, from learning to love her hair to learning to love an unexpected season of life, from discovering the power of saying no and the freedom to say yes, Amena offers keep-it-real stories your soul can relate to.
The hurtful words of others and the failures of your past often determine what record you play the most in your mind. Those painful repetitions can become loud at the most inopportune time, keeping you from speaking up, pursuing your dreams, and growing closer to God.
Recognize the negative messages that play on repeat every day in your mind. Learn how to replace them with the truth that you are a beloved child of God. And discover how to laugh along the way as you find new joy in the beautiful music of your life.
-From the Publisher
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Seminary Dropout 100: Jo Saxton on Post-Christendom, Discipleship, and Being a Woman of Color in Church Leadership
132: Jonathan Martin, Author of “How to Survive a Shipwreck: Help Is on the Way and Love Is Already Here”
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
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Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Bruxy Cavey is the author of the bestselling End of Religion and teaching pastor at The Meeting House, a church for people who aren t into church. The Meeting House is a multisite Anabaptist congregation in Ontario, Canada, where thousands of people connect with God and each other through Sunday services, online interaction, and a widespread house church network. You can learn more about The Meeting House at themeetinghouse.com. Bruxy and his wife, Nina, have three daughters and live in Hamilton, Ontario.
The message of Jesus changed the world…until the world changed the message.
Is a truncated and fragmented version of the good news masquerading as the full, forceful gospel of Jesus? A growing movement of truth-seekers and Jesus-lovers believe so, and they are calling for a return to the first and foundational message of Jesus.
Join Bruxy Cavey, bestselling author and teaching pastor at The Meeting House, in the pages of Reunion: a dynamic investigation of the most earth-shattering, piety-smashing, life-changing news ever. Dig into Scripture with Cavey as he unfolds God’s message for the world. Learn why you shouldn’t follow the Bible (but why you’ll want to read it to learn how to follow Jesus). Scout out the real definitions of sin and salvation, which might surprise you. Discover your true citizenship in the Jesus nation, where you might be ready to die for a cause but never willing to kill for one. Glimpse a God who is love itself and who, like it or not, just can’t stop thinking about you.
-From the Publisher
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Seminary Dropout 41: Bruxy Cavey
133: Lisa Sharon Harper on The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can Be Made Right
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
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Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Tara Beth Leach is senior pastor of First Church of the Nazarene of Pasadena in Southern California. She is a graduate of Olivet Nazarene University (BA, youth ministry) and Northern Theological Seminary (MDiv). She is a regular writer for Missio Alliance and has contributed to other publications such as Christianity Today, Christian Week, The Jesus Creed, The Table Magazine, Reflecting the Image Devotional, Renovating Holiness, and most recently a chapter in The Apostle Paul and the Christian Life. She has two beautiful and rambunctious sons, and has been married to the love of her life, Jeff, since 2006.
Throughout Scripture and church history, women have been central to the mission of God. But all too often, women have lacked opportunities to minister fully. Many churches lack visible examples of women in ministry and leadership.
Tara Beth Leach, senior pastor of her denomination's flagship church, issues a stirring call for a new generation of women in ministry: to teach, to preach, to shepherd, and to lead. God not only permits women to minister; he emboldens, empowers, and unleashes women to lead out of the fullness of who they are. The church cannot reach its full potential without women using their God-given gifts. Leach provides practical expertise for how women can find their place at the table, escape imposter syndrome, face opposition, mentor others and much more.
Women who read this book will be inspired to use their gifts to edify the body of Christ and advance the kingdom of God. Men who read it will be inspired to embolden the women in their midst. When women teach, preach, lead, evangelize, pastor, and disciple, the church's imagination expands to better reflect God's story and hope for the world. -From the Publisher
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Seminary Dropout 171 – Mandy Smith, Author of ‘The Vulnerable Pastor’ and Director of SheLeads 2017
Seminary Dropout 157- Tish Harrison Warren & Jonathan Warren: A Biblical, Historical, and Pastoral Defense of Women in Ministry
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
Our Sponsor:
Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Kelley Nikondeha is codirector and chief storyteller for Communities of Hope, a community development enterprise in Burundi, and cofounder of Amahoro Africa, an ongoing conversation between theologians and practitioners within the African context.
In this compellingly readable book Kelley Nikondeha—adoptive mother and adopted child herself—thoughtfully explores the Christian concept of adoption. Her story and her biblically grounded reflections will give readers rich new insights into the mystery of belonging to God’s big family. -From the Publisher
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168 – Jared Patrick Boyd, Author of “Imaginative Prayer: A Yearlong Guide For Your Child’s Spiritual Formation”
5 Lessons Learned through Foster Care to Adoption
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
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Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
The Welcome Wagon is a married couple, the Reverend Thomas Vito Aiuto and his wife Monique, who execute a genre of gospel music that is refreshingly plain. Their hymns are modest and melodic takes on a vast history of sacred song traditions, delivered with the simple desire to know their Maker—and to know each other—more intimately.
Light Up The Stairs, continues The Welcome Wagon's tradition of sacred material, while adding more songs that incorporate original lyrics. The album is an urgent, lively endeavor, largely made so by the work of producer Jeremy McDonald.
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Seminary Dropout 112: Sara Groves on Depression, and Her New Album FLOODPLAIN
Seminary Dropout 97: Jon Foreman on His Solo work, Switchfoot, and Fatherhood
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
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Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Dennis hails from New York City, by way of Washington, DC. He's a learner and a teacher, a husband and a father, a pastor and servant. His BS degree is from Cornell (chemical engineering), his MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and both his MA and PhD (in Biblical Studies) are from The Catholic University of America. He has been in urban ministry for more than 2 decades, having started churches in Brooklyn, NY and Washington, DC and currently serving a congregation in Minneapolis, MN. He's also been an adjunct seminary instructor for several years. Dennis is a Leading Voice for Missio Alliance. He likes to lift weights, ride his bicycle, play racquetball, play around on his saxophone and flute, eat, and read. And he has no witty thing to say as the final sentence of this bio.
1 Peter (The Story of God Bible Commentary)
A new commentary for today’s world, The Story of God Bible Commentary explains and illuminates each passage of Scripture in light of the Bible’s grand story. The first commentary series to do so, SGBC offers a clear and compelling exposition of biblical texts, guiding readers in how to creatively and faithfully live out the Bible in their own contexts. Its story-centric approach is ideal for pastors, students, Sunday school teachers, and all who want to understand the Bible in today’s world.
SGBC is organized into three easy-to-use sections, designed to help readers live out God’s story: Listen to the Story; Explain the Story; and Live the Story. -From the Publisher
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173 – Dennis R. Edwards, Part 1: on the Struggles of Being a Black Person in a Predominantly White Seminary as a Student & Professor, and the Difficulties of Truly Multicultural Churches
Seminary Dropout 159 – Efrem Smith, Author of “Killing Us Softly: Reborn in the Upside-Down Image of God”
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
Our Sponsor:
Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Dennis hails from New York City, by way of Washington, DC. He's a learner and a teacher, a husband and a father, a pastor and servant. His BS degree is from Cornell (chemical engineering), his MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and both his MA and PhD (in Biblical Studies) are from The Catholic University of America. He has been in urban ministry for more than 2 decades, having started churches in Brooklyn, NY and Washington, DC and currently serving a congregation in Minneapolis, MN. He's also been an adjunct seminary instructor for several years. Dennis is a Leading Voice for Missio Alliance. He likes to lift weights, ride his bicycle, play racquetball, play around on his saxophone and flute, eat, and read. And he has no witty thing to say as the final sentence of this bio.
Be sure to listen to part 2 next week as we talk about the commentary he's authored, 1 Peter (The Story of God Bible Commentary).
If you liked this episode then you might also like…
Seminary Dropout 159 – Efrem Smith, Author of “Killing Us Softly: Reborn in the Upside-Down Image of God”
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
Our Sponsor:
Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Michelle Ferrigno Warren is the advocacy and policy engagement director for the Christian Community Development Association. She is an immigration, education, and human service policy specialist and is an adjunct faculty member at Denver Seminary. With over twenty years experience working in Christian community development, Michelle is a part of the national Evangelical Immigration Table and helps consult for the National Immigration Forum. She is a founding staff member of Open Door Ministries, a large community development corporation. Michelle, her husband, David, and their three children live in an immigrant neighborhood in Denver, Colorado.
Noel Castellanos has worked in full-time ministry in Latino, urban communities since 1982, serving in youth ministry, church planting, advocacy and community development in San Francisco, San Jose and Chicago. He is chief executive officer of Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) and was the founding pastor of Chicago’s La Villita Community Church. In addition to being a popular speaker, Castellanos mentors young leaders across the United States and directs the CCDA Institute, training emerging leaders in the Christian Community Development philosophy. He was appointed to serve on President Obama's Council for Faith and Neighborhood Partnerships and has served as the chaplain for the Chicago Cubs. He has a deep passion to serve and invest in the lives of leaders committed to serving the poor. Noel is the coauthor of A Heart for the Community and New Models for Urban and Suburban Ministry and has contributed to various other books and publications including Deep Justice in a Broken World, A Heart for the City, and Crazy Enough to Care. He and his wife, Marianne, have three children and make their home in the barrio of La Villita in Chicago.
We can see evidence of injustice all around us, whether in continuing incidents of racial inequality or in the systemic forces that disenfranchise people and perpetuate poverty. It's important to learn about the world's inequities and to be a voice for the voiceless any way we can. But in an age of hashtag and armchair activism, merely raising awareness about injustice is not enough.
Michelle Warren knows what is needed. She and her family have chosen to live in communities where they are "proximate to the pain of the poor." This makes all the difference in facing and overcoming injustice. When we build relationships where we live, we discover the complexities of standing with the vulnerable and the commitment needed for long-term change.
Proximity changes our perspective, compels our response, and keeps us committed to the journey of pursuing justice for all. Move beyond awareness and experience the power of proximity. -From the Publisher
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Seminary Dropout 170 – Russell Jeung, Author of “At Home in Exile” on Living in Solidarity with the Poor and Taking his Children Along for the Ride
Seminary Dropout 158 – David P. Leong, Author of “Race and Place: How Urban Geography Shapes the Journey to Reconciliation”
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
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Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
If you like Seminary Dropout, be sure to check out OnRamp.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Originally from Australia, Mandy Smith is lead pastor of University Christian Church, a campus and neighborhood congregation with its own fair-trade café in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is a regular contributor to Christianity Today publications, and the Missio Alliance blog, and the author of Making a Mess and Meeting God. Her latest book is The Vulnerable Pastor: How Human Limitations Empower Our Ministry (IVP). Mandy and her husband Jamie, a New Testament professor at Cincinnati Christian University, live with their two kids in a little house where the teapot is always warm.
Often as pastors we feel like we need to project strength and competency in order to minister effectively. That's why we go to conferences and emulate the latest superstars. But we know we can never live up to those images. Deep down, we know our own limitations, our weaknesses, our faults. We fear that if people knew who we really are, we'd be disqualified from ministry.
Not so. Mandy Smith unpacks the biblical paradox that God's strength is revealed through our human weakness. Transparently describing her pastoral journey, Smith shows how vulnerability shapes ministry, through our spiritual practices and relationships, influencing our preaching, teaching and even the nuts and bolts of the daily schedule. Understanding our human constraints makes our ministry more sustainable and guards us against disillusionment and burnout.
We don't have to have it all together. Recognizing our weakness makes us rely on God, so our weakness can become a ministry resource. God has called you to lead not as a demigod, but as a human, so the world can see that the church is a place for humans like them. -From the Publisher
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Seminary Dropout 157- Tish Harrison Warren & Jonathan Warren: A Biblical, Historical, and Pastoral Defense of Women in Ministry
Seminary Dropout 150: #SheLeads: Reclaiming the Blessed Alliance for Faithful Mission – Austin Panel
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
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Arizona indie rock band WILD EARTH have just released their brand new full-length album *HOLY FOOLS* on August 11th. This sophomore album aims to unite pop, experimental alt-rock sounds with spiritual formation in Christ. Listen to the wild, vulnerable and contemplative journey of *HOLY FOOLS,* online now on your favorite digital streaming like iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify or visit http://wildearthmusic.com
Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
If you like Seminary Dropout, be sure to check out OnRamp.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Dr. Russell Jeung is a leading sociologist of Asian Americans, race, and religion. He is professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University and author of Sustaining Faith Traditions: Race, Ethnicity, and Religion among the Latino and Asian American Second Generation (with Carolyn Chen) and Faithful Generations: Race, Religion, and Asian American Churches. Dr. Jeung is also executive producer of Prophetic Voices, a social media project addressing key social issues of the Asian American community within and in the public square. He serves as Board Chair of New Hope Covenant Church and lives with his family in East Oakland, CA. Along with his wife, Dr. Dr. Joan Jeung, they have two foster daughters from Burma and a son.
Russell Jeung’s spiritual memoir shares the joyful and occasionally harrowing stories of his life in East Oakland’s Murder Dubs neighborhood—including battling drug dealers who threatened him, exorcising a spirit possessing a teen, and winning a landmark housing settlement against slumlords with 200 of his closest Cambodian and Latino friends.
More poignantly, At Home in Exile weaves in narratives of longing and belonging as Jeung retraces the steps of his Chinese-Hakka family and his refugee neighbors. In the face of forced relocation and institutional discrimination, his family and friends resisted time and time again over six generations.
With humor and keen insight, At Home in Exile will help you see how living in exile will transform your faith. -From the Publisher
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Seminary Dropout 121: Shawn Duncan, on Truly Helping those in Poverty, Gentrification, and the Role of the Church
167 – Ken Wytsma, Author of ‘The Myth of Equality: Uncovering the Roots of Injustice and Privilege’
Subscribe/Rate/Review Seminary Dropout in iTunes
*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
Our Sponsors:
Arizona indie rock band WILD EARTH have just released their brand new full-length album *HOLY FOOLS* on August 11th. This sophomore album aims to unite pop, experimental alt-rock sounds with spiritual formation in Christ. Listen to the wild, vulnerable and contemplative journey of *HOLY FOOLS,* online now on your favorite digital streaming like iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify or visit http://wildearthmusic.com
Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
If you like Seminary Dropout, be sure to check out OnRamp.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Beverly Roberts Gaventa joined the Baylor faculty in 2013. She previously taught at Princeton Theological Seminary, Columbia Seminary, and Colgate Rochester Divinity School. She has been active in a number of professional societies, including Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the American Theological Association. She has served on a number of editorial boards and lectured widely in the United States, Canada, Europe, South Africa, and Australia.
When reading the book of Romans, we often focus on the quotable passages, making brief stopovers and not staying long enough to grasp some of the big ideas it contains. Instead of raiding Paul's most famous letter for a passage here or a theme there, leading New Testament scholar Beverly Roberts Gaventa invites us to linger in Romans. She asks that we stay with the letter long enough to see how Romans reframes our tidy categories and dramatically enlarges our sense of the gospel.
Containing profound insights written in accessible prose and illuminating references to contemporary culture, this engaging book explores the cosmic dimensions of the gospel that we read about in Paul's letter. Gaventa focuses on four key issues in Romans--salvation, identity, ethics, and community--that are crucial both for the first century and for our own. As she helps us navigate the book of Romans, she shows that the gospel is far larger, wilder, and more unsettling than we generally imagine it to be. -From the Publisher
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147: N.T. Wright Talks about The Day the Revolution Began
72: Scot McKnight, Author of Kingdom Conspiracy
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
Our Sponsors:
Arizona indie rock band WILD EARTH have just released their brand new full-length album *HOLY FOOLS* on August 11th. This sophomore album aims to unite pop, experimental alt-rock sounds with spiritual formation in Christ. Listen to the wild, vulnerable and contemplative journey of *HOLY FOOLS,* online now on your favorite digital streaming like iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify or visit http://wildearthmusic.com
Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
If you like Seminary Dropout, be sure to check out OnRamp.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Jared Patrick Boyd is a pastor (Vineyard USA), spiritual director, and founder of The Order of Sustainable Faith, a missional monastic order for the 21st century. He is the author of the new book Imaginative Prayer and also Invitations & Commitments: A Rule of Life. He and his wife have four daughters, and are planting Franklinton Abbey, a new faith community on the west side of Columbus, Ohio.
Follow him on Twitter: @BoydJared.
Visit imaginativeprayer.com to connect with Jared and view resources from the book.
How do we help our kids connect with God?
Most parents want their kids to learn to love God. But most of us struggle to facilitate real spiritual experiences. It's hard enough to have a meaningful conversation with our kids about spiritual things, let alone help them experience true transformation in the presence of God.
Jared Patrick Boyd discovered that children's spiritual formation is rooted in the imagination. When we lead our children through guided times of imaginative prayer, they can experience a connection with God that transcends mere Bible knowledge or doctrinal content. This unique resource provides six units of weekly guided imaginative prayer, themed around core topics: God's love, loving others, forgiveness, God as king, the good news of God, and the mission of God. Each unit has six sessions, providing a yearlong experience of spiritual formation for children ages five to thirteen.
Through imaginative prayer, you can help your child connect with God. As you do so, you may find yourself connecting more closely with your child, and your own formation as a parent will deepen into greater awareness of God’s work in your lives. -From the Publisher
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Seminary Dropout 011: Richard Foster
Seminary Dropout 013: Lacy Finn Borgo
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If you like Seminary Dropout, be sure to check out OnRamp.
This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Ken Wytsma is a leader, innovator, and social entrepreneur. He is the president of Kilns College, where he teaches courses on philosophy and justice. He is the founder of The Justice Conference--a yearly international conference that exposes men and women to a wide range of organizations and conversations relating to justice and the biblical call to give our lives away. Ken is also a church planter and the lead pastor at Antioch Church. He and his wife, Tamara, have four daughters and live in Bend, Oregon.
It's clear that issues of race and equality have come to the forefront in our nation's consciousness. Every week yet another incident involving racial tension splashes across headlines and dominates our news feeds. But it's not easy to unpack the origins of these tensions, and perhaps we wonder whether any of these issues really has anything to do with us.
Ken Wytsma, founder of the Justice Conference, understands these questions. He has gone through his own journey of understanding the underpinnings of inequality and privilege. In this timely, insightful book Wytsma unpacks what we need to know to be grounded in conversations about today's race-related issues. And he helps us come to a deeper understanding of both the origins of these issues and the reconciling role we are called to play as ministers of the gospel.
Inequality and privilege are real. The Myth of Equality opens our eyes to realities we may have never realized were present in our society and world. And we will be changed for the better as a result. -From the Publisher
Be sure to check out the justice conference at TheJusticeConference.com
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159 – Efrem Smith, Author of “Killing Us Softly: Reborn in the Upside-Down Image of God”
OnRamp 005: Privilege
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This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Leroy Barber has dedicated more than twenty-five years to eradicating poverty, confronting homelessness, restoring local neighborhoods, healing racism and living what Dr. King called "the beloved community." He is the author of New Neighbor and Everyday Missions, and the coauthor of Red, Brown, Yellow, Black and White with Velma Maia Thomas. He was also a contributing author to Tending to Eden by Scott Sabin and the groundbreaking book UnChristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. The co-founder and director of the Voices Project and college pastor at Kilns College, Barber starts projects that shape society. In 1989, burdened by the plight of Philadelphia's homeless, he and his wife Donna founded Restoration Ministries to serve homeless families and children living on the streets, and in 1994 he became the director of internship programs at Cornerstone Christian Academy. He was licensed and ordained at Mt Zion Baptist Church where he served as youth director with Donna, and also served as associate minister of evangelism. In 1997, he joined FCS Urban Ministries, working with Atlanta Youth Project to serve as the founding executive director of Atlanta Youth Academies, a private elementary school providing quality Christian education for low-income families in the inner city. He also helped found DOOR Atlanta, Community Life Church, South Atlanta Marketplace and Community Grounds Coffee shop in Atlanta, as well as Green My Hood and the Voices Project. He is on the boards of The Simple Way, Missio Alliance, The Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) and the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA). Barber and his wife Donna have been married thirty years and together they have five children.
NFLKneelDown.com
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Seminary Dropout 75: Leroy Barber, Author of Red, Brown, Yellow, Black, White—Who’s More Precious In God’s Sight?
OnRamp 011: Race & Representation in Media
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
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This Week on Seminary Dropout…
Andrea Lucado is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. The daughter of the best selling author and pastor, Max Lucado. She inherited an obsession with words and their arrangement. She has a masters in English Literature from Oxford Brooks University and contributes regularly to online and print publications such as Relevant Magazine, and SheReadsTruth.com. When she's not conducting interviews and writing stories, you'll find her laughing with friends at a coffee shop or running in the Texas hill country.
It wasn’t long after arriving in Oxford for graduate school that twenty-two-year-old Andrea Lucado – preacher’s daughter from Texas - faced not only culture shock, a severe lack of coffee, but also some unexpected hard questions: Who am I? Who is God? Why do I believe what I believe?
“So many nights in Oxford, I felt like the details of my faiths were getting fuzzier. Nights turned restless with the questions and the thoughts. I questioned God’s existence and the doubt, it was getting into my bones….”
In this engaging memoir, Andrea speaks to all of us who wrestle with faith, doubt, and spiritual identity. Join Andrea as she navigates the Thames River, the Oxford Atheist Society, romance in ancient pubs—and a new perspective on who God is. As Andrea learned, sometimes it takes letting go of old ideas to discover lasting truth. - From the Publisher
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MATTHEW 7:21-29 (SERMON 2017.06.25)
Seminary Dropout 027: Greg Boyd on Doubt, Anti-Intellectualism & Open Theism
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
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This Week on Seminary Dropout...
Mary DeMuth is a writer and speaker who loves to help people live re-storied lives. Author of more than 30 books, including parenting books, Southern fiction, and a memoir entitled Thin Places, Mary speaks around the country and the world. She is the wife of Patrick and the mom of three adult children.
- Restore your past. See your past in light of God’s healing. (Find practical ways to truly find the healing you’ve been longing for).
- Realize your worth. Understand that you are worth loving, and your life is worth living. (Uncover the lies that undermine your worth and be set free by God’s beautiful truth about your worth).
- Reframe your relationships. Deal with bitterness, unforgiveness, and heartache. (Learn how to live with joy despite the decisions of others.)
- Restory your future. Discover the “So what” to your story. (Now that God has restored you, you understand your worth, and you have a healthy perspective on your relationships, learn how will God use your story to change the world.)
Click here for more info
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7154 – Jamin Goggin & Kyle Strobel on the Church’s Problems with Power
144: Ann Voskamp on her new book “The Broken Way: A Daring Path Into the Abundant Life”
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This Week on Seminary Dropout...
Charles E. Moore is a member of the Bruderhof community and teaches at the Mount Academy in New York. He writes for Plough Quarterly and has compiled and edited several acclaimed books, including Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard, Everyone Belongs to God: Discovering the Hidden Christ, and Bearing Witness: Stories of Martyrdom and Costly Discipleship.
• Gold Medal Winner, 2017 Illumination Book Awards, Christian Living
• Silver Medal Winner, 2017 Benjamin Franklin Award in Religion from Independent Book Publishers Association
Why, in an age of connectivity, are our lives more isolated and fragmented than ever? And what can be done about it? The answer lies in the hands of God’s people. Increasingly, today’s Christians want to be the church, to follow Christ together in daily life. From every corner of society, they are daring to step away from the status quo and respond to Christ’s call to share their lives more fully with one another and with others. As they take the plunge, they are discovering the rich, meaningful life that Jesus has in mind for all people, and pointing the church back to its original calling: to be a gathered, united community that demonstrates the transforming love of God.
Of course, such a life together with others isn’t easy. The selections in this volume are, by and large, written by practitioners – people who have pioneered life in intentional community and have discovered in the nitty-gritty of daily life what it takes to establish, nurture, and sustain a Christian community over the long haul.
Whether you have just begun thinking about communal living, are already embarking on a shared life with others, or have been part of a community for many years, the pieces in this collection will encourage, challenge, and strengthen you. The book’s fifty-two chapters can be read one a week to ignite meaningful group discussion. -From the Publisher
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73: David Jenzen, Author of ‘The Intentional Christian Community Handbook’
161 – Tsh Oxenreider, Author of At Home in the World: Reflections on Belonging While Wandering the Globe
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This Week on Seminary Dropout...
Alan Hirsch is the founding director of Forge Mission Training Network, 100Movements, The 5Q Collective, and Future Travelers. All these are focussed on developing missional leadership and movemental organization. Known for his innovative approach to mission, Alan is considered to be a thought-leader and key mission strategist for churches across the Western world. Hirsch is the author of The Forgotten Ways; 5Q; The Shaping of Things to Come, ReJesus, and The Faith of Leap (with Michael Frost); Untamed (with Debra Hirsch); Right Here, Right Now (with Lance Ford), and On the Verge (with Dave Ferguson).
Alan is co-founder and adjunct faculty for the M.A. in Missional Church Movements at Wheaton College (Illinois). He is also adjunct professor at Fuller Seminary, George Fox Seminary, among others, and he lectures frequently throughout Australia, Europe, and the United States. He is series editor for Baker Books’ Shapevine series , IVP’s Forge line, and an associate editor of Leadership Journal.
His experience in leadership includes leading a local church movement among the marginalized as well as heading up the Mission and Revitalization work of his denomination. He has been on leadership team with Christian Associates, a mission agency planting churches throughout Europe. Alan is adjunct professor at Fuller Seminary and lectures frequently throughout Australia, Europe, and the U.S.
In the pages of this book, Alan Hirsch takes us on a really deep dive into the fivefold (APEST) typology of ministry as articulated in Ephesians 4:1-16, but he takes us to a depth and scope that few (if any) have ventured before. By laying out the most comprehensive model of APEST to date--one that incorporates deep theology as well as innovative practice--Hirsch once again demonstrates an almost uncanny capacity to change not only the nature and content of conversation itself, but also the scorecard on how we understand calling, church, leadership, and organization.
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153: David Fitch Author of ‘Faithful Presence: Seven Disciplines that Shape the Church for Mission’
115: Natasha Sistrunk Robinson “When We Measure the Church by American Standards… …We Strangle the Beauty of the Cross.”
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
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This Week on Seminary Dropout...
Tsh Oxenreider is the founder and main voice of The Art of Simple, a community site that celebrates living slow with passion, and is the host of the top-ranked podcast The Simple Show. She’s the author of At Home in the World, Notes from a Blue Bike, One Bite at a Time, and Organized Simplicity, and she thinks a library card, a Netflix subscription, and a passport are some of the greatest parenting tools in the universe.
Tsh and her vagabonding family once traveled around the world for a school year, and they love exploring new cultures together. They currently live in Central Texas, near Austin, but several dots around the globe have also been called home (and she dreams of one day living in Stars Hollow). Together, they love to travel, read books, go camping, and make homemade pizza for family movie night.
Her passion—besides writing, of course—is to create space in life for the stuff that matters, to make globally-minded choices, and to live unconventionally—and then help others do the same. She also loves coffee and hates wearing socks.
Tsh’s writing has been featured in Real Simple magazine, CNN, Washington Post, CNBC, and more, and has been mentioned on Apartment Therapy, HGTV, Better Homes and Gardens, Food Network, NPR, Parents magazine, and more.
The wide world is calling.
Americans Tsh and Kyle met and married in Kosovo. They lived as expats for most of a decade. They’ve been back in the States—now with three kids under ten—for four years, and while home is nice, they are filled with wanderlust and long to answer the call.
Why not? The kids are all old enough to carry their own backpacks but still young enough to be uprooted, so a trip—a nine-months-long trip—is planned.
At Home in the World follows their journey from China to New Zealand, Ethiopia to England, and more. They traverse bumpy roads, stand in awe before a waterfall that feels like the edge of the earth, and chase each other through three-foot-wide passageways in Venice. And all the while Tsh grapples with the concept of home, as she learns what it means to be lost—yet at home—in the world. -From the Publisher
Find Tsh:
• Blog: theartofsimple.net
• Podcast: thesimpleshow.com
• Twitter: @tsh
• Facebook: theartofsimple
• Instagram: tshoxenreider
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156 – Traveling to Sri Lanka with Compassion International
155 – Esther Emery: What Happens When You Give Up the Internet For a Year
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This Week on Seminary Dropout...
Karen Swallow Prior is professor of English at Liberty University, Research Fellow with the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, a member of the Faith Advisory Council of the Humane Society of the United States, and a regular contributor to Christianity Today’s Her.meneutics. Her most recent book is Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More: Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist.
Some questions discussed in this episode...
When does life begin?
How many abortions happen every year in the United States?
When is abortion legal and illegal?
What does Planned Parenthood do?
Do tax dollars fund abortions?
What are productive ways for Christians to respond to abortion?
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148: Shane Claiborne Talks “Executing Grace: How the Death Penalty Killed Jesus and Why it’s Killing Us”
44: Preston Sprinkle, Author of Fight: A Christian Case for Nonviolence
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
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Efrem Smith's personal and professional story paints a compelling picture of an urban church leader of deep faith who has managed leaders and budgets, transforming people and ministry wherever he has served. His track record in leading Christian Community Development efforts, serving as a Pastor, Church Planter and leader of the Pacific Southwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church, have prepared him for this moment. Throughout his career, Efrem has had a passion for the urban poor, theological education, and training indigenous leaders for service in the Kingdom.
As a preacher, motivational speaker, and author, Efrem Smith is internationally recognized for his passion to see lasting life transformations, communities revitalized to reach the marginalized, and further Kingdom advancement within our churches.
Serving as founding pastor of The Sanctuary Covenant Church, a multi-ethnic church in Minneapolis, MN, Efrem also co-founded and was President for The Sanctuary Community Development Corporation. In his previous role, Efrem was the Superintendent of the Pacific Southwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church, providing leadership to 160 churches within California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, and Utah.
As an itinerant speaker and preacher with Kingdom Building Ministries and the Evangelical Covenant Church, he has been a keynote speaker for such events as Athletes in Action, Campus Crusade for Christ, Youth Specialties, Compassion International, Thrive and CHIC. He is the author of Raising Up Young Heroes, The Hip Hop Church, and Jump. Efrem’s latest book, The Post-Black and Post-White Church, was released in August of 2012.
Efrem is a graduate of Saint John's University and Luther Theological Seminary. He is currently seeking his doctorate in Church Leadership from Bethel Seminary in Minneapolis, MN. He and his wife Donecia, along with their two children, Jeada and Mireya, live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Efrem has received many awards such as the Role Model Award from the Hennepin County Community Coalition and the Community Service Award from Saint John's University.
The Christian life is actually a kind of death. We die to ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus. Dying in Christ, however, is an opportunity—to experience the comforting presence of the Holy Spirit as we spread the Good News of a God who loves us enough to save us and remake us in his image.
Efrem Smith helps us see that Christian discipleship is a counterintuitive life. In a world turned upside down by sin, God carefully and lovingly strips us of worldly values and turns us right-side up as good citizens and ambassadors of his Kingdom. -From the Publisher
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Seminary Dropout 41: Bruxy Cavey
147: N.T. Wright Talks about The Day the Revolution Began
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David P. Leong (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is associate professor of missiology at Seattle Pacific University and Seminary, where he also serves as the director of the Global and Urban Ministry minor. He previously served in churches in urban Seattle through ministries focused on community groups and neighborhood involvement. As a scholar and practitioner, Leong examines the theological meaning of the city in an increasingly globalized and urbanized world. At the intersection of intercultural and missiological discourse, he sees the city as a rich context for theological reflection about topics ranging from hip hop and the built environment to multiculturalism and missional ecclesiology. He is the author of Street Signs: Toward a Missional Theology of Urban Cultural Engagement, and he lives in Seattle's Rainier Valley with his wife and two sons.
We long for diverse, thriving neighborhoods and churches, yet racial injustices persist. Why? Because geographic structures and systems create barriers to reconciliation and prevent the flourishing of our communities.
Race and Place reveals the profound ways in which these geographic forces and structures sustain the divisions among us. Urban missiologist David Leong, who resides in one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the country, unpacks the systemic challenges that are rarely addressed in the conversation about racial justice.
The evening news may deliver story after story that causes us to despair. But Leong envisions a future of belonging and hope in our streets, towns, cities, and churches. A discussion about race needs to go hand in hand with a discussion about place. This book is a welcome addition to a conversation that needs to include both. -From the Publisher
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121: Shawn Duncan, on Truly Helping those in Poverty, Gentrification, and the Role of the Church
137: Chris Marlow, Author of ” Doing Good is Simple: Make a Difference Right Where You Are”
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
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Tish Harrison Warren & Jonathan Warren talking about women in ministry and ordination.
William Witt's articles on women and holy orders: http://willgwitt.org/category/theology/womens-ordination
William Webb, Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals John Stackhouse, Finally Feminist Ben Witherington, Women in the Earliest Christian Churches NT Wright's essay on women in holy orders: http://ntwrightpage.com/2016/07/12/womens-service-in-the-church-the-biblical-basis/ Kevin Madigan, Ordained Women in the Early Church Gary Macy's Hidden History of Women's Ordination Gordon Hugenberger's 'Women in Church Office' essay.
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Seminary Dropout 99: Jackie Roese on Reshaping Our View of Women in the Church
Seminary Dropout 89: Carolyn Custis James, Author of Malestrom: Manhood Swept Into the Currents of a Changing World
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
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In this very special episode, Sam Hoover from Compassion International sits down with me to discuss our recent trip to Sri Lanka.
Compassion International on Social Media
- YouTube
- Snapchat
- Google+
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Seminary Dropout 137: Chris Marlow, Author of ” Doing Good is Simple: Make a Difference Right Where You Are”
Seminary Dropout 35: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor & Yourself – Brian Fikkert
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Esther Emery used to direct stage plays in Southern California. But that was a long time ago. Now she lives with her husband and three children off the grid in a yurt, tending to three acres in the foothills of Idaho’s Rocky Mountains. She writes about faith and trying to live a fearless, free life at www.estheremery.com. Website: http://www.estheremery.com
Esther Emery was a successful playwright and theater director, wife and mother, and loving it all - until, suddenly, she wasn’t. When a personal and professional crisis of spectacular extent leaves her reeling, Esther is left empty, alone in her marriage, and grasping for identity that does not define itself by busyness and a breakneck pace of life. Something had to be done.
What Falls from the Sky is Esther’s fiercely honest, piercingly poetic account of a year without Internet - 365 days away from the good, the bad, and the ugly of our digital lives - in one woman’s desperate attempt at a reset. Esther faces her addiction to electronica, her illusion of self-importance, and her longing to return to simpler days, but then the unexpected happens. Her experiment in analog is hijacked by a spiritual awakening, and Esther finds herself suddenly, inexplicably drawn to the faith she had rejected for so long.
Ultimately, Esther’s unplugged pilgrimage brings her to a place where she finally finds the peace - and the God who created it - she has been searching for all along.
What Falls from the Sky offers a path for you to do the same. For all the ways the Internet makes you feel enriched and depleted, genuinely connected and wildly insufficient, What Falls from the Sky reveals a new way to look up from your screens and live with palms wide open in a world brimming with the good gifts of God. -From the Publisher
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Seminary Dropout 011: Richard Foster
143: Mike McHargue aka “Science Mike”, Author of “Finding God In The Waves”
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Jamin Goggin serves as a pastor at Mission Hills Church. He has been in pastoral ministry for eleven years, including several years as the Pastor of Spiritual Formation at Saddleback Church. Jamin speaks and writes in the areas of spiritual formation, ministry and theology. He holds two Masters degrees and is currently earning a PhD in systematic theology. He lives in Southern California with his wife, Kristin, and their three children.
Kyle Strobel is a professor of spiritual theology and formation at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University and is an emerging voice among evangelicals on spiritual formation, discipleship, and theology. Kyle speaks regularly and has written for Pastors.com, Relevant magazine (and Relevant Magazine.com), ChurchLeader.com, and DeeperStory.com. Kyle lives in Southern California with his wife, Kelli, and their two children.
The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb: Searching for Jesus' Path of Power in a Church that Has Abandoned It
Why do so many rock-star pastors implode under the spotlight? Why do modern-day churches become so entangled in growing their brand that they lose sight of their true purpose? Because, according to Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel, Christians have succumbed to the temptations of power and forgotten Jesus’ seemingly contradictory path to power—first giving it up.
In The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb, Goggin and Strobel paint a richly biblical vision of power through weakness. They invite readers to join them on an adventure around the world, seeking out great sages of the faith with uncommon wisdom to offer those traveling the path of Christian life. As readers eavesdrop on the authors’ conversations with people such as J. I. Packer, Dallas Willard, Marva Dawn, John Perkins, Jean Vanier, James Houston, and Eugene Peterson, they begin to piece together the new-old reality of following Jesus today. In the end, The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb offers a compelling vision of the way of Jesus that will challenge both individual believers and the church as a whole. -From the Publisher
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Seminary Dropout 100: Jo Saxton on Post-Christendom, Discipleship, and Being a Woman of Color in Church Leadership
Seminary Dropout 71: Natasha Sistrunk Robinson on Jesus, Leadership, and Race
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David E. Fitch (PhD, Northwestern University) is the B. R. Lindner Chair of Evangelical Theology at Northern Seminary. He is also the founding pastor of Life on the Vine Christian Community, a missional church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. He is the author of The Great Giveaway and The End of Evangelicalism? and is the coauthor of Prodigal Christianity. Fitch coaches a network of church plants in the Christian and Missionary Alliance and he writes, speaks, and lectures on issues the local church must face in mission including cultural engagement, leadership and theology. He has also written numerous articles in periodicals such as Christianity Today, The Other Journal, Missiology as well as various academic journals.
To enter to win a copy of Faithful Presense sign up for my email list at ShaneBlackshear.com (right hand side).
Thank you all for a great 2016! This is the last episode of Seminary Dropout for the year. Stay tuned to hear more about the "secret project" coming in December.
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Seminary Dropout 126: Nijay Gupta on Bridging the Gap Between Seminary and the Church Pew
Seminary Dropout 115: Natasha Sistrunk Robinson “When We Measure the Church by American Standards… …We Strangle the Beauty of the Cross.”
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Paul Pavao is a teacher at Rose Creek village, a Christian community. He is married and has six children. Paul is a Mensa member and has studied early CHristian history for over 20 years.
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134: Jessica Kelley, Author of “Lord Willing?: Wrestling with God’s Role in My Child’s Death”
140: Frank James, Logos Video Course: “Introducing Church History”
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Greg Boyd is an internationally recognized theologian, preacher, teacher, apologist and author.
He has been featured on the front page of The New York Times, The Charlie Rose Show, CNN, National Public Radio, the BBC and numerous other television and radio venues.
Greg received his Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary (summa cum laude 1988), his M.Div. from Yale Divinity School (cum laude 1982), and his B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Minnesota (1979). He was a professor of theology for 16 years at Bethel University (St. Paul, MN) where he received the Teaching Excellence Award and Campus Leadership Award.
Greg is the co-founder of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minnesota where he serves as Senior Pastor, speaking to thousands each week.
Greg has authored or co-authored 20 books and numerous academic articles, including his best-selling and award-winning Letters From a Skeptic and his recent books Repenting of Religion and The Myth of a Christian Nation. His apologetic writings and public debates on the historical Jesus and the problem of evil have helped many skeptics embrace faith, and his writings and seminars on spiritual transformation have had a revolutionary, freeing impact on thousands of believers.
Check out Greg’s website here.
For several blog post recommendations check out the links below:
Greg on Politics
Doing the Kingdom, Not Voting It In
Greg Boyd and Jim Wallis Discuss Politics & Faith
Defending the Poor
Living With a Kingdom Consciousness
When we return to the simplicity and difficulty of the kingdom of God, the question that defines us is no longer, What are the Christian policies and candidates? No, when love is placed above all kingdom-of-the-world concerns (Col. 3:14; 1 Peter 4:8), the kingdom-of-the-world options placed before us dwindle in significance.
-Greg Boyd
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145: Voting, Part 1 with Greg Boyd
147: N.T. Wright Talks about The Day the Revolution Began
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On Saturday October 29th Missio Alliance hosted She Leads: Reclaiming the Blessed Alliance for Faithful Mission. The main event was simulcast to regional venues all of the country. I had the privilege of moderating the local panel in my hometown of Austin, TX.
Our panelists were:
Latasha Morrison is a bridge-builder, reconciler, fellow abolitionist, and a compelling voice in the fight for racial justice. Having worked with youth and served as a Children’s & the Next Gen Director, she has developed an untamed passion for social justice issues across the globe. A native of North Carolina she attended East Carolina University and earned a Masters in Business from Liberty University in Virginia. She is embarking on a new role as the Director of Operations at Gateway Church Central in Austin. She is currently building a ministry to help equip those interested in racial bridge-building called “Be the Bridge”.
Tish Harrison Warren is a priest in the Anglican Church in North America, serving at Resurrection South Austin. She writes regularly for The Well, InterVarsity’s online magazine for women in the academy and professions, Her.meneutics, and Christianity Today. Her work has also appeared in Christ and Pop Culture, Art House America, Anglicanpastor.com, and elsewhere. Her first book is forthcoming with IVP.
Keith Atkinson is native Austinite who was ambushed by Jesus Christ in 1973 and has never been the same since. He has been involved in Christian ministry in some capacity since he was seventeen years of age. He serves as Pastor of Red River Church in Austin.
Kenny Green is a pastor at Gateway Church in Austin. He was a meth addict for 10 years, yet has now been clean 10 years. He leads Serve and Recovery for Gateway.
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135: Suzanne Burden, Author of “Reclaiming Eve: The Identity and Calling of Women in the Kingdom of God”
Seminary Dropout 99: Jackie Roese on Reshaping Our View of Women in the Church
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Leonard I. Sweet is an American theologian, semiotician, church historian, pastor, and author. Sweet currently serves as the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew Theological School at Drew University, in Madison, New Jersey; and a Visiting Distinguished Professor at George Fox University in Portland, Oregon. Sweet is ordained in the United Methodist denomination.
Check out Leonards website here.
The Bad Habits of Jesus: Showing Us the Way to Live Right in a World Gone Wrong
Did Jesus have bad habits?
In our culture, we have a tendency to describe Jesus in ways that soften his revolutionary edge. Len Sweet uncovers and presents to us the offensive and scandalous Jesus described in the Bible.
- Did he disappear when people needed him most? Yes.
- Did he refuse to answer questions directly? Yes.
- Did Jesus offend the people of his day? Absolutely, yes.
Popular author and speaker Len Sweet examines the words and actions of Jesus and places them in context. We need to understand who Jesus really is if we are to follow him wholeheartedly. That is why it is so crucial to see the “rebellious rabbi” for who he is and not for who we may imagine him to be.
The Bad Habits of Jesus will help you see the untamed Jesus, who isn’t sanitized for our culture. That Jesus just might transform how you live out your life. -From the Publisher
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146: N.T. Wright Talks about The Day the Revolution Began
Mike McHargue aka “Science Mike”, Author of “Finding God In The Waves”
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Shane Claiborne graduated from Eastern University and did graduate work at Princeton Seminary. In 2010, he received an Honorary Doctorate from Eastern. His adventures have taken him from the streets of Calcutta where he worked with Mother Teresa to the wealthy suburbs of Chicago where he served at the influential mega-church Willow Creek. As a peacemaker, his journeys have taken him to some of the most troubled regions of the world – from Rwanda to the West Bank – and he’s been on peace delegations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Shane is a founder and board member of The Simple Way, a faith community in inner city Philadelphia that has helped birth and connect radical faith communities around the world. He is married to Katie Jo, a North Carolina girl who also fell in love with the city (and with Shane). They were wed in St. Edwards church, the formerly abandoned cathedral into which homeless families relocated in 1995, launching the beginning of the Simple Way community and a new phase of faith-based justice making.
Shane writes and travels extensively speaking about peacemaking, social justice, and Jesus. Shane’s books include Jesus for President, Red Letter Revolution, Common Prayer, Follow Me to Freedom, Jesus, Bombs and Ice Cream, Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers – and his classic The Irresistible Revolution. He has been featured in a number of films including “Another World Is Possible” and “Ordinary Radicals.” His books are translated into more than a dozen languages. Shane speaks over 100 times a year, nationally and internationally.
His work has appeared in Esquire, SPIN, Christianity Today, and The Wall Street Journal, and he has been on everything from Fox News and Al Jazeera to CNN and NPR. He’s given academic lectures at Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Liberty, Duke, and Notre Dame. Shane speaks regularly at denominational gatherings, festivals, and conferences around the globe.
Executing Grace: How the Death Penalty Killed Jesus and Why It's Killing Us
In this reasoned exploration of justice, retribution, and redemption, the champion of the new monastic movement, popular speaker, and author of the bestselling The Irresistible Revolution offers a powerful and persuasive appeal for the abolition of the death penalty.
The Bible says an eye for an eye. But is the state’s taking of a life true—or even practical—punishment for convicted prisoners? In this thought-provoking work, Shane Claiborne explores the issue of the death penalty and the contrast between punitive justice and restorative justice, questioning our notions of fairness, revenge, and absolution.
Using an historical lens to frame his argument, Claiborne draws on testimonials and examples from Scripture to show how the death penalty is not the ideal of justice that many believe. Not only is a life lost, so too, is the possibility of mercy and grace. In Executing Grace, he reminds us of the divine power of forgiveness, and evokes the fundamental truth of the Gospel—that no one, even a criminal, is beyond redemption.
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117: Drew Hart, Author of “Trouble I’ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism”
Seminary Dropout 137: Chris Marlow, Author of ” Doing Good is Simple: Making A Difference Right Where You Are”
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N.T. WRIGHT is the former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England and one of the world’s leading Bible scholars. He is now serving as the Chair of New Testament and Early Christianity at the School of Divinity at the University of St. Andrews. For twenty years he taught New Testament studies at Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities. As being both one of the world’s leading Bible scholars and a popular author, he has been featured on ABC News, Dateline, The Colbert Report, and Fresh Air. His award-winning books include The Case for the Psalms, How God Became King, Simply Jesus, After You Believe, Surprised by Hope, Simply Christian, Scripture and the Authority of God, The Meaning of Jesus (co-authored with Marcus Borg), as well as being the translator for The Kingdom New Testament. He also wrote the impressive Christian Origins and the Question of God series, including The New Testament and the People of God, Jesus and the Victory of God, The Resurrection of the Son of God and most recently, Paul and the Faithfulness of God.
The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus's Crucifixion
The renowned scholar, Anglican bishop, and bestselling author widely considered to be the heir to C. S. Lewis contemplates the central event at the heart of the Christian faith—Jesus’ crucifixion—arguing that the Protestant Reformation did not go far enough in transforming our understanding of its meaning.
In The Day the Revolution Began, N. T. Wright once again challenges commonly held Christian beliefs as he did in his acclaimed Surprised by Hope. Demonstrating the rigorous intellect and breathtaking knowledge that have long defined his work, Wright argues that Jesus’ death on the cross was not only to absolve us of our sins; it was actually the beginning of a revolution commissioning the Christian faithful to a new vocation—a royal priesthood responsible for restoring and reconciling all of God’s creation.
Wright argues that Jesus’ crucifixion must be understood within the much larger story of God’s purposes to bring heaven and earth together. The Day the Revolution Began offers a grand picture of Jesus’ sacrifice and its full significance for the Christian faith, inspiring believers with a renewed sense of mission, purpose, and hope, and reminding them of the crucial role the Christian faith must play in protecting and shaping the future of the world. -From The Publisher
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Seminary Dropout 84: NT Wright
140: Frank James, Logos Video Course: “Introducing Church History”
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Nekeisha Alayna Alexis is an independent scholar with wide-ranging interests related to human and other animal liberation. She orients her life toward undoing oppression through her vegan practice, teaching and writing, and various types of organizing in her community. She is co-founder and co-organizer of Jesus Radicals, an online space for exploring faith, politics and the particular connections between anarchism and Christianity, and host of its Iconocast Canvas podcast. She works at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary on the communication team and as the intercultural competence and undoing racism coordinator. Click here to view her website and twitter. For her personal musings you can check out her two blogs Critical Animal and Every Day Oppression
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Seminary Dropout 030: Drew Hart on Race, the Church, Anabaptism & Black Theology
Seminary Dropout 144: Voting, Part 1 with Greg Boyd
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Greg Boyd is an internationally recognized theologian, preacher, teacher, apologist and author.
He has been featured on the front page of The New York Times, The Charlie Rose Show, CNN, National Public Radio, the BBC and numerous other television and radio venues.
Greg received his Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary (summa cum laude 1988), his M.Div. from Yale Divinity School (cum laude 1982), and his B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Minnesota (1979). He was a professor of theology for 16 years at Bethel University (St. Paul, MN) where he received the Teaching Excellence Award and Campus Leadership Award.
Greg is the co-founder of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minnesota where he serves as Senior Pastor, speaking to thousands each week.
Greg has authored or co-authored 20 books and numerous academic articles, including his best-selling and award-winning Letters From a Skeptic and his recent books Repenting of Religion and The Myth of a Christian Nation. His apologetic writings and public debates on the historical Jesus and the problem of evil have helped many skeptics embrace faith, and his writings and seminars on spiritual transformation have had a revolutionary, freeing impact on thousands of believers.
Check out Greg's website here.
For several blog post recommendations check out the links below:
Greg on Politics
Doing the Kingdom, Not Voting It In
Greg Boyd and Jim Wallis Discuss Politics & Faith
Defending the Poor
Living With a Kingdom Consciousness
When we return to the simplicity and difficulty of the kingdom of God, the question that defines us is no longer, What are the Christian policies and candidates? No, when love is placed above all kingdom-of-the-world concerns (Col. 3:14; 1 Peter 4:8), the kingdom-of-the-world options placed before us dwindle in significance.
-Greg Boyd
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Seminary Dropout 72: Scot McKnight, Author of Kingdom Conspiracy
Seminary Dropout 113: Sean Palmer On Being the Black Pastor of a Predominantly White Church, Politics, and Blogging
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Seminary Dropout 83: Rachel Held Evans, Author of “Searching For Sunday”
Seminary Dropout 123: AJ Swoboda, on Wandering, Doubt, and Hope
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
Mike McHargue (better known as Science Mike) is the best-selling author of Finding God in the Waves, host of Ask Science Mike and co-host of The Liturgists Podcast. He's a leading voice on matters of science and religion with a monthly reach in the hundreds of thousands. Among other outlets, Mike has written for RELEVANT, Don Miller's Storyline, BioLogos, and The Washington Post.
Mike loves sharing ideas in person, and is an in-demand speaker at conferences, churches, and colleges. He's recently spoken to sold-out crowds in New York about the science of addiction, explained the science of storytelling at Storyline in Chicago, and shown people how Christianity can embrace the modern world at Belong in London.
Mike lives in Tallahassee, FL with is wife Jenny and two daughters.
What do you do when God dies? It's a question facing millions today, as science reveals a Universe that's self-creating, as American culture departs from Christian social norms, and the idea of God begins to seem implausible at best and barbaric at worst.
Mike McHargue understands the pain of unraveling belief. In Finding God in the Waves, Mike tells the story of how his Evangelical faith dissolved into atheism as he studied the Bible, a crisis that threatened his identity, his friendships, and even his marriage. Years later, Mike was standing on the shores of the Pacific Ocean when a bewildering, seemingly mystical moment motivated him to take another look. But this time, it wasn't theology or scripture that led him back to God—it was science.
In Finding God in the Waves, "Science Mike” draws on his personal experience to tell the unlikely story of how science led him back to faith. Among other revelations, we learn what brain scans reveal about what happens when we pray; how fundamentalism affects the psyche; and how God is revealed not only in scripture, but in the night sky, in subatomic particles, and in us.
For the faithful and skeptic alike, Finding God in the Waves is a winsome, lucid, page-turning read about belonging, life’s biggest questions, and the hope of knowing God in an age of science.
-From The Publisher
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Seminary Dropout 83: Rachel Held Evans, Author of "Searching For Sunday"
Seminary Dropout 123: AJ Swoboda, on Wandering, Doubt, and Hope
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
Brandon is an author, biker, humanitarian, and a huge fan of the underdog.
After more than 20 years of working in the local church, He co-founded and is now the Managing Partner of The Legacy Collective (www.legacycollective.org) and The Legacy Investor Group LLC which focuses on partnering, pioneering, and funding sustainable solutions to systemic social issues.
He co-stars in the HGTV and DIY Network series "My Big Family Renovation" and has had various guest appearances on other HGTV shows (Brother v.s. Brother, Tiny House Arrest...)
Brandon currently lives in Austin, Texas and is married to author and speaker, Jen Hatmaker.
A Mile Wide: Trading a Shallow Religion for a Deeper Faith
In A Mile Wide, he helps readers see more clearly how the gospel works in us and eventually through us to transform an anemic spiritual life into a deeper, fuller, and more effective faith. Offering fresh perspective on eight essentials of Christianity—the gospel, identity, scripture, discipleship, kingdom, mission, community, and justice—Hatmaker provides biblical insight and practical applications that tap into the richer life Christ promised his people, individually and as a community. God wants more than simply to save us; he’s also determined to transform us, restore us, and use us to reveal the coming of his kingdom right here, right now.
-From The Publisher
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Seminary Dropout 102: Jeremy Jernigan, Author of "Redeeming Pleasure"
Seminary Dropout 133 Lisa Sharon Harper, Author of "The Very Good Gospel"
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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org
A Connecticut native and granddaughter of Italian and Irish immigrants, Cathleen is a graduate of Wheaton College, the alma mater of the Rev. Billy Graham, former U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and horror film director Wes Craven. (Admittedly, she often finds more common ground with Craven and Graham than Hastert.) She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University as well as a master’s degree in theological studies from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. She also was a 2009 Divinity School Media Fellow at Duke University, a Gralla Fellow in Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, and was the 1996 Stoody-West Fellow in Religious Journalism.
Jennifer is a graduate of Wheaton College (IL) and received her Masters degree in English literature with concentrations in fiction writing and critical theory (Go Derrida!) from Southern Methodist University. She lives with her husband, four children, and a wise and affectionate mutt named Shiloh outside of Chicago, Illinois.
DISQUIET TIME takes its cue from those venerable, traditional devotionals in format and appearance, but with a twist. Each chapter will feature a scripture passage or verse chosen by the contributor, who will write a 1,000-3,000-word reflection about why this part of the Bible most excites, comforts, disturbs, frustrates, or soothes him or her.
The idea is not necessarily to be irreverent, but rather to acknowledge the parts of the Bible that confound and fascinate us. Our aim is to create a book with all of the humor of a satire or parody but none of the snark or vitriol. -From the Publisher
Find more info visit Disquiet Time
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Seminary Dropout 116: Jackie Roese, "Lime Green"
Seminary Dropout 1 36: Sarah Bessey: "In Out Of Sorts"
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Dr. James has two doctorates, a D.Phil. in History from Oxford University and a Ph.D. in Theology from Westminster Theological Seminary. Dr. James has taught at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florda (where he also served as president) and at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, MA (where he also served as provost). Additionally, he has served on the teaching faculties of Villanova University and Westmont College, and was Visiting Professor at the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Oxford University. He will be releasing a video course titled, "Introducing Church History" for Logos Bible Software.
"How did the earliest Christians think about their faith, and how has that same faith produced the contemporary church? The history of Christianity is a story of ordinary people whose lives have been radically impacted by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. This is a dramatic story filled with heroic achievements as well as human frailty. By studying Christianity’s development from its earliest beginnings, we can live more faithfully into the unique needs of the 21st century." -from the publisher
For more information on these video courses visit: Logos
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Seminary Dropout 116: Trip Fuller, "Home-brewed Christianity"
Seminary Dropout 1 36: Gerald McDermott: "The Great Theologians"
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Todd Adkins is the Director of Leadership at Lifeway Christian Resources. He is passionate about the development of leaders, especially within the church. Todd served in student ministry and as an executive pastor for several years before joining the leadership at Lifeway to head up Ministry Grid, Lifeway’s dynamic new leadership development platform featuring over 3,700 videos and a fully customizable learning management system for churches.
The 5 Leadership Questions podcast is brought to you by LifeWay Leadership. Each episode co-hosts Todd Adkins and Barnabas Piper will ask five questions of different guests or about different leadership topics. The aim of the podcast is to inform and encourage Christian leaders whether they serve in the pastorate, the business world, non-profits, or on a volunteer basis.
Their aim is to encourage leaders, share insights, and learn from other great leaders. They want to help leader grow in character, knowledge, and skills and do so in an enjoyable way. Some conversations are more serious while others are light-hearted. Their hope is that these conversations will build up leaders no matter their position.
Subscribe to Todd's Podcast on itunes: 5 Leadership Questions
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Seminary Dropout 119: Brad Lomenick, Author of H3 Leadership
Seminary Dropout 115 Natasha Sistrunk Robinson When We Measure the Church By American Standards
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Christianity has always been about being saved. But today what Christians need saving from most is the toxic understanding of salvation we've received through bad theology. The loudest voices in Christianity today sound exactly like the religious authorities who crucified Jesus.
How Jesus Saves the World from Us: 12 Antidotes to Toxic Christianity
This is a book for Christians who are troubled by what we've become and who want Jesus to save us from the toxic behaviors and attitudes we've embraced. Each of the 12 chapters proposes an antidote for the toxicity that has infiltrated Christian culture, such as "Worship not Performance, "Temple not Program," and "Solidarity not Sanctimony." Each chapter includes thought-provoking discussion questions, perfect for individual or group study.
There are many reasons to lose hope about the state of our world and our church, but Guyton offers one piece of good news: Jesus is saving the world from us, one Christian at a time. -From the Publisher
Find Morgan at: Mercy Not Sacrifice
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