In this special episode, Shane brings an update about a significant change in his life (which might lead to a change in the podcast title), and talks about what that will mean for the future of the podcast.

As always, thanks for listening (and if you missed it, be sure to check out the conversation with N.T. Wright from the previous episode)

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Get 40% off Shane’s book Go and Do: Nine Axioms on Peacemaking and Transformation From the Life of John Perkins.

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Dr. Kyuboem “Kyu” Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea and raised in Nairobi, Kenya. He was educated in evangelical and reformed institutions in the US. He has lived, church planted, and ministered cross-culturally in Philadelphia since 1993. He has also taught urban mission at the graduate level since 2006, has edited the Journal of Urban Mission since 2010, and serves as a leading voice with Missio Alliance. Kyuboem is married to Christe and is the father of two sons, Amoz and Theo.

You can follow Kyuboem on Twitter, @kyuboem.

In this episode, Kyu and Shane talk all things seminary – from the challenges Christian higher-ed currently faces, to its importance for the local Church… and not shying away from the irony of appearing on a podcast hosted by someone who dropped out of seminary.

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Get 40% off Shane’s book Go and Do: Nine Axioms on Peacemaking and Transformation From the Life of John Perkins.

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If you don’t know, my first book debuted last week. Because it was my first time I didn’t do everything right, like turning in my acknowledgments to my publisher with the final draft. I have many people to thank. I am who I am because of the people around me. They make me better and they’ve made this book possible.

First, to Kate my wife, partner, and best friend, thank you for always supporting my unconventional work and vocational life. Whether it’s showing houses until 8pm, flying off to Jackson for a 4 days, or driving to another city to record a podcast, you’ve let me pursue my interests and passion projects, and spend our money that might not get repaid in any earthly way. We are good together.

Margot & Amos… I can’t believe I get to be your dad! You are the best and every day is a new adventure with you. I get sad that you’re not your younger selves anymore and excited about who you’ll become as you get older all at the same time.

To my parents… One of the surprises of adulthood was finding that I never stopped wanting my parents to be proud of me. I don’t know how people who don’t have the full support and love of their parents make it in the world. If I’m anything good, it’s because of you.

My church Austin Mustard Seed, we’re imperfect, we’re messy and real. Thank you for being people for whom I can work out my theology in front of, thanks for letting me cry in front of you and thanks for letting me be myself. April, thanks for being a pastor to me and always having a lot of grace for my scattered brain and busy schedule. Erin, thanks for loving our kids. Josh and Tim, thanks for holding my confessions, and hearing me with nothing but compassionate curiosity.

Chris, thanks for being my friend, and for always being my advocate. Laura and Micah, thanks for being our people.

Kerri, what did we do before we had each other to recognize our mutual comedic genius?! Thank you for reading a million different versions and drafts of this book, and all the priceless feedback. I really don’t think I could have done this without your guidance.

Drew Hart, Tara Beth Leach, Michelle Reyes, and AJ Swoboda I can’t believe we’re friends. BTW I tell people we’re friends… is that ok?! Your endorsements floored me. “Those must be words about someone else and their work”, my brain told me. Thank you for all you’ve taught me through your books, sermons, and conversations.

Lastly, thank you John Perkins. I have been in awe of you since I first read Let Justice Roll Down. Eight years ago I sent an email to The Spencer Perkins Center hoping to get an interview with you. I thought it was a long shot, but you said yes. These last several years getting to know you have be life giving. In addition to our hours of conversations, I’ll always remember being at your house, picking okra, watching TV, making pancakes, and sitting at your kitchen table late at night talking. I’ll also never forget when you came to my house, and seeing you talk and laugh with my kids. Thanks for giving of yourself. I want to be more like you.

The book, Go and Do: Nine Axioms on Peacemaking and Transformation From the Life of John Perkins, is out now wherever books are sold. Go here to get 40% off.

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Cyd Holsclaw is a pastor at Vineyard North in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as well as a ministry and life coach and spiritual director.

Geoff Holsclaw (PhD, Marquette University) is also a pastor at Vineyard North, as well as affiliate professor of theology at Northern Seminary in Lisle, Illinois, and coauthor of Prodigal Christianity.

“I guess I believe that God loves me. But does he like me?” We all know what it’s like to feel overlooked, disconnected, and ashamed. We might believe in God’s love in the abstract, but we often live our lives without experiencing it in any deep or lasting way. Pastors Cyd and Geoff Holsclaw understand this―indeed, they’ve felt it themselves. In this warm, engaging book, they explain from the story of Scripture that God not only likes us and wants to be with us, he also wants to work through us to bless the whole world. Filled with personal stories and simple, clear teaching from the Bible, Does God Really Like Me? applies the good news of the gospel to the shame and disconnection that we all experience in our everyday lives. God wants to be with us―we belong in his presence. And from that place of belonging, we can bless the whole world with the message of God’s love.

-From the Publisher

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This Week on Seminary Dropout…

Natalie Frisk is the curriculum pastor at The Meeting House Church in Toronto, Canada, where she and a team create kids’ and youth curricula for ages 0–18 used by churches worldwide. Frisk is a sought-after speaker on topics of youth and children’s ministry, spiritual formation, and discipleship, and her work has been published in Canadian Youth Workers Magazine and at the ReKnew and Pangea blogs. Frisk has a master’s degree in theological studies from McMaster Divinity College and serves on the board of Be in Christ Church of Canada. She is married to Sam, mom to Erin, and child of God. She loves Jesus, coffee, and samosas.

Children and youth will just “catch” the faith of their parents, right?

Not necessarily. Talking with kids about Jesus no longer comes naturally to many Christian parents. In Raising Disciples, pastor Natalie Frisk helps us reconnect faith and parenting, equipping parents to model what following Jesus looks like in daily life. Filled with authenticity, flexibility, humor, and prayer, Frisk outlines how parents can make openings for their children to experience God in their daily lives.

As curriculum pastor at The Meeting House, one of the largest churches in Canada, Frisk calls parents who follow Christ to ask the big questions about the spiritual formation of children and teens. In practical and thoughtful ways, she equips parents to disciple their kids in various stages of childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Raising Disciples will awaken parents to the possibly of Jesus-centered parenting and encourage us to engage in the lost art of discipling our own kids. – From the Publisher

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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…

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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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…

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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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…

Daniel Hill is the founding and senior pastor of River City Community Church, a vibrant, multiethnic church in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. He is the author of 10:10: Life to the Fullest. Prior to starting River City, Daniel worked in the business world before serving five years on the staff of Willow Creek Community Church in the Chicago suburbs. He has a business degree from Purdue University, an MA in theology from Moody Bible Institute, a certificate in church-based community and economic development from Harvard Divinity School, and a DMin from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is married to Elizabeth, who is a professor of psychology, and they are the proud parents of two children.

Daniel Hill will never forget the day he heard these words: “Daniel, you may be white, but don’t let that lull you into thinking you have no culture. White culture is very real. In fact, when white culture comes in contact with other cultures, it almost always wins. So it would be a really good idea for you to learn about your culture.” Confused and unsettled by this encounter, Hill began a journey of understanding his own white identity. Today he is an active participant in addressing and confronting racial and systemic injustices. And in this compelling and timely book, he shows you the seven stages to expect on your own path to cultural awakening. It’s crucial to understand both personal and social realities in the areas of race, culture, and identity. This book will give you a new perspective on being white and also empower you to be an agent of reconciliation in our increasingly diverse and divided world. -From the Publisher

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167 – Ken Wytsma, Author of ‘The Myth of Equality: Uncovering the Roots of Injustice and Privilege’

Seminary Dropout 117: Drew Hart, Author of “Trouble I’ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism”

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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.

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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• My original intention was to pick SD back up in January, which is now just a few days away. Some of you may remember I did the same thing last year but then wound up not publishing until April. So in the last few weeks I’ve come to a cross roads in deciding what to do about SD. If you benefit from the content of SD, (which I assume you do if you’re listening to this), then don’t worry, I’m not planning on ending the show. However, I do have to make some changes.
• Seminary Dropout is time intensive.
• Because Seminary Dropout is time intensive, it takes time away from either working my day job, or spending time with my family and friends.
• As you may have guessed, I want to use Patreon to fund the next year of SD.
• Here’s how it’s going to work. I’m setting a goal of raising the dollar per episode amount from $66 to $100 per episode, and when we reach that goal, I’ll resume SD for 2018.
• So if you want to become a patron just go to supportseminarydropout.com and sign up. You can also go to that site if you want to see how close we are to the $100 goal. The amount raised will be show right on the front page.

So there it is. Thanks for taking the time and if you want to become a patron today and fund SD into 2018, then please go to SupportSeminaryDropout.com and pledge today.

The post The State of the Podcast first appeared on .

Hosted by Kerri Fisher & Shane Blackshear

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*links to guest books or other products are affiliate links

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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.

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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The post 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 first appeared on .

Our Sponsors:

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…

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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Our sponsor: Compassion International

Check out the new(ish) podcast OnRamp

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

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Our sponsor: Compassion International

Check out the new(ish) podcast OnRamp

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?

Mentioned in this episode…

–Crisis Pregnancy Centers
-For the stats mentioned, Karen recommends visiting the research arm of Planned Parenthood, The Guttmacher Institute and The National Health Institute
– Gosnell: The Untold Story of America’s Most Prolific Serial Killer

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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

Our sponsor: Compassion International

Check out the new(ish) podcast OnRamp

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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Welcome to our new sponsor: Compassion International

Check out the new(ish) podcast OnRamp

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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Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

13th (Link to trailer. Watch the film on Netflix)

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Trouble I’ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism by Drew Hart

Listen to all of season 1 of OnRamp at OnRampPodcast.com

The post OnRamp S1E12: Season 1 Review, Answering Questions & “Why Are You Being So Divisive?” first appeared on .

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

The post OnRamp 008: What is White Supremacy Really? first appeared on .

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

The Negro Family: The Case For National Action (known as the Moynihan Report, 1965)

Can trauma be passed to next generation through DNA?

Outliers by Gladwell

The Hidden Wound by Wendell Berry 

The post OnRamp 007: Lasting Impacts of Jim Crow & Slavery first appeared on .

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
by Peggy McIntosh

Freakonomics: White Names vs. Black Names

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Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

Trouble I’ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism by Drew Hart

https://hhs.texas.gov/about-hhs/process-improvement/center-elimination-disproportionality-and-disparities

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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

ntwrightonline.org is your official site for information regarding online classes that are being developed by Prof. N.T. Wright of St. Andrews University, Scotland. It is our hope that you would have the best on-line learning experience featuring courses based on the teaching of N.T. Wright.

The courses contain video lecture material, written material to augment the videos, textbook recommendations, assessment tools (i.e., quizzes), and discussion sections so you can dialogue on-line with fellow students from around the world. This will help us to ‘be transformed by the renewing of the mind’.

Courses offered at ntwrightonline.org are made possible through the collaboration between N.T. Wright, Professor at St. Andrews University, Scotland, and David Seemuth, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Wisconsin Center for Christian Study. The courses are not affiliated with St. Andrews University and carry no formal credit, but are meant to be sources of enrichment for those who choose to participate in the classes.

Take Wright’s online class on The Day the Revolution Began for 50% off by clicking HERE!

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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.

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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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Ann Voskamp’s the wife of one fine, down-to-earth farmer; a book-reading mama to a posse of seven; and the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Greatest Gift and Unwrapping the Greatest Gift, and the sixty-week New York Times bestseller One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, which has sold more than one million copies and has been translated into more than eighteen languages.

Named by Christianity Today as one of fifty women most shaping culture and the church today, Ann knows unspoken brokenness and big country skies and an intimacy with God that touches wounded places. Millions do life with her at her daily photographic online journal, one of the Top 10 most widely read Christian websites:  www.annvoskamp.com

New York Times best-selling author Ann Voskamp sits at the edge of her life and all of her own unspoken brokenness and asks: What if you really want to live abundantly before it’s too late? What do you do if you really want to know abundant wholeness? This is the one begging question that’s behind every single aspect of our lives — and one that The Broken Way rises up to explore in the most unexpected ways.

This one’s for the lovers and the sufferers. For those whose hopes and dreams and love grew so large it broke their willing hearts. This one’s for the busted ones who are ready to bust free, the ones ready to break molds, break chains, break measuring sticks, and break all this bad brokenness with an unlikely good brokenness.  You could be one of the Beloved who is broken — and still lets yourself be loved.

You could be one of them, one who believes freedom can be found not only beyond the fear and pain, but actually  within it.

You could discover and trust this broken way — the way to not be afraid of broken things. -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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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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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. Dr. James is currently the president of Biblical Theological Seminary. He recently released 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: Church History Bundle. Use the code: FRANKJAMES100 to get $100 off the course!

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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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Gerald R. McDermott (PhD, University of Iowa) is Anglican Chair of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. He is also associate pastor at Christ the King Anglican Church. His books include The Other Jonathan Edwards: Readings in Love, Society, and Justice (with Ronald Story), The Theology of Jonathan Edwards (with Michael McClymond), A Trinitarian Theology of Religions (with Harold Netland), Cancer: A Medical and Spiritual Guide (with William Fintel, MD), Jonathan Edwards Confronts the Gods and World Religions: An Indispensable Guide.

The Great Theologians: A Brief Guide

Who are the church’s great theologians? What was special about their teaching? What can we learn from them today? Gerald McDermott has written this book for those who want a solid introduction that is challenging, but not overwhelming. Provocative but satisfying. And not too long. McDermott not only informs us about eleven pivotal theologians from Origen to von Balthasar, but helps us sort out what is of continuing value today. With study questions at the end of each chapter, this book is perfect for small groups to go through together. As you do, you’ll explore your shared theological history and uncover more about what and why you believe. Here’s your chance to think with “the greats” about God. -From the Publisher

Find Gerald at: beesondivinity.com/gerald-r-mcdermott

This is an oldie but goodie! Does the job and does it quickly. Check all the details on Valium Online to know it better.

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Seminary Dropout 72: Scot McKnight, Author of Kingdom Conspiracy

Seminary Dropout 131: Brian Zahnd Author of “Water to Wine: Some of My Story”

My wife asked me to look into medication for my restless leg syndrome a few months ago because she couldn’t fall asleep with me tossing and turning next to her. On https://www.cruiseshipdrugs.com/Drugs/buy_klonopin.html I found very helpful information pointing me in the direction of Klonopin to alleviate my restlessness at night. Within a week after taking it, we were both sleeping like a baby as soon as we laid down. If you want a good nights’ rest and confidence in going to sleep then I suggest Klonopin as soon as possible.

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Suzanne is a graduate of Cornerstone University and Grace Theological Seminary and serves part-time as discipleship pastor at Three Rivers Wesleyan Church. She writes and speaks on living in the Kingdom of God as a joyful, right-now reality. Suzanne co-authored “Reclaiming Eve: The Identity and Calling of Women in the Kingdom of God”.

Inferior. Second-best. Marginalized. Every daughter of Eve faces an identity crisis at some time in her life. And many wonder where they fit in on a regular basis. Authors Suzanne Burden, Carla Sunberg and Jamie Wright set out to discover what the Bible says about every woman’s identity. What they uncovered is a scriptural blueprint for both women and men that sets them free to serve Christ together as full partners in building God’s kingdom. -From the Publisher

Find Suzanne at: suzanneburden.com

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Seminary Dropout 99: Jackie Roese on Reshaping Our View of Women in the Church

Seminary Dropout 025 Sarah Bessey

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Jessica Kelley is a writer, speaker, and survivor of child loss. She has a B.S. in Psychology, a M.S. in Counseling & Human Development, and experience as a School Counselor. Born and raised in the South, Jessica now lives with her husband and five-year-old daughter in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She survives the absurdly long winters by going to the gym, dreaming about the beach, and eating copious amounts of chocolate. You can find her processing her faith journey at JessicaKelley.com.

Lord Willing?: Wrestling with God’s Role in My Child’s Death

Does God’s perfect plan really include this?

When her young son was diagnosed with brain cancer, Jessica Kelley couldn’t stomach Christian clichés. God’s will? Divine design? The Lord’s perfect plan? In Lord Willing?, Kelley boldly tackles one of the most difficult anti anxiety questions of the Christian life: if God is all-powerful and all-loving, why do we suffer? For Kelley, this question takes an even more painful and personal turn: did God lack the power or the desire to spare her four-year-old son?

For those dissatisfied with easy answers to why evil and tragedy occur, Lord Willing? offers a refreshing, hopeful journey straight to the heart of God. Be prepared for something more beautiful, more pure, and more healing than you can dare to imagine. -From the Publisher

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Episode 132: Jonathan Martin, Author of “How to Survive a Shipwreck: Help Is on the Way and Love Is Already Here”

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Lisa Sharon Harper is the chief church engagement officer at Sojourners, a nonprofit organization committed to putting Christian faith into action in the pursuit of social justice, peace, and environmental stewardship. She is the author of several books, including Evangelical Does Not Equal Republican…or Democrat and coauthor of Forgive Us: Confessions of a Compromised Faith. Harper has been recognized by The Huffington Post as one of “50 Powerful Women Religious Leaders” and is considered one of the nation’s most influential voices on a faith-rooted approach to advocacy. Harper speaks extensively, nationally and internationally, and lives in Washington, D.C.

The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can Be Made Right

God once declared everything in the world “very good.”
Can you imagine it?
 
A Vision of Hope for a Broken World
 
Shalom is what God declared. Shalom is what the Kingdom of God looks like.
Shalom is when all people have enough.
It’s when families are healed.
It’s when churches, schools, and public policies protect human dignity.
Shalom is when the image of God is recognized in every single human.
Shalom is our calling as followers of Jesus’s gospel. It is the vision God set forth in the Garden and the restoration God desires for every relationship.

What can we do to bring shalom to our nations, our communities, and our souls? Through a careful exploration of biblical text, particularly the first three chapters of Genesis, Lisa Sharon Harper shows us what “very good” can look like today, even after the Fall.

Because despite our anxious minds, despite division and threats of violence, God’s vision remains: Wholeness for a hurting world. Peace for a fearful soul. Shalom.

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Seminary Dropout 128: Soong-Chan Rah, on Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times

Seminary Dropout 125: Michelle Higgins on That Sermon at Urbana

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Brian Zahnd is the founder and lead pastor, of Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri. He is a passionate reader of theology and philosophy, an avid hiker and mountain climber, and authority on all things Bob Dylan. He and his wife, Peri, have three adult sons and five grandchildren. He is the author of several other books, including Unconditional?, Beauty Will Save the World, and A Farewell To Mars. Follow his blog at www.brianzahnd.com.

Water to Wine: Some of My Story

Why would the pastor of a large and successful church risk everything in a quest to find a richer, deeper, fuller Christianity? In Water To Wine Brian Zahnd tells his story of disenchantment with pop Christianity and his search for a more substantive faith.

“I was halfway to ninety—midway through life—and I had reached a full-blown crisis. Call it garden variety mid-life crisis if you want, but it was something more. You might say it was a theological crisis, though that makes it sound too cerebral. The unease I felt came from a deeper place than a mental file labeled “theology.” I was wrestling with the uneasy feeling that the faith I had built my life around was somehow deficient. Not wrong, but lacking. It seemed watery, weak. In my most honest moments I couldn’t help but notice that the faith I knew seemed to lack the kind of robust authenticity that made Jesus so fascinating. And I had always been utterly fascinated by Jesus. What I knew was that the Jesus I believed in warranted a better Christianity than what I was familiar with. I was in Cana and the wine had run out. I needed Jesus to perform a miracle.” –Water To Wine

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Seminary Dropout 84: NT Wright

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Seminary Dropout 127: Rethinking Hell with Chris Date & Graham Ware

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Soong-Chan Rah is the Milton B. Engebretson Associate Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois. He is the author of The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity and Many Colors: Cultural Intelligence for a Changing Church, as well as coauthor of Forgive Us: Confessions of a Compromised Faith and contributing author for Growing Healthy Asian American Churches. In addition to serving as founding senior pastor of the multiethnic, urban ministry-focused Cambridge Community Fellowship Church (CCFC), Rah has been a part of four different church-planting efforts and served with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in Boston. He is a founding member of the Boston Fellowship of Asian-American Ministers. An experienced cross cultural preacher and conference speaker, Rah has addressed thousands around the country at gathering like the 2003 Urbana Student Missions Conference, 2006 Congress on Urban Ministry, 2007 Urban Youth Workers Institute Conference, 2008 CCDA National Conference, 2010 Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (GCTS) National Preaching Conference and the 2011 Disciples of Christ General Assembly. He and his wife Sue have two children and live in Chicago.

When Soong-Chan Rah planted an urban church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, his first full sermon series was a six-week exposition of the book of Lamentations. Preaching on an obscure, depressing Old Testament book was probably not the most seeker-sensitive way to launch a church. But it shaped their community with a radically countercultural perspective. The American church avoids lament. But lament is a missing, essential component of Christian faith. Lament recognizes struggles and suffering, that the world is not as it ought to be. Lament challenges the status quo and cries out for justice against existing injustices. Soong-Chan Rah’s prophetic exposition of the book of Lamentations provides a biblical and theological lens for examining the church’s relationship with a suffering world. It critiques our success-centered triumphalism and calls us to repent of our hubris. And it opens up new ways to encounter the other. Hear the prophet’s lament as the necessary corrective for Christianity’s future. A Resonate exposition of the book of Lamentations. –From the Publisher

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Seminary Dropout 98: Efrem Smith of World Impact Talks About A Diverse Church and #BLACKLIVESMATTER

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Dr. A. J. Swoboda is a professor, author, and pastor of Theophilus in urban Portland, Oregon. He teaches theology, biblical studies, and Christian history at George Fox Evangelical and Fuller Seminaries. He is the founder and director of Blessed Earth Northwest, a center that helps think creatively and strategically around creation care issues in the Pacific Northwest.

 The Dusty Ones: Why Wandering Deepens Your Faith

Through every turn of the biblical story, God’s people are a wandering people. When they are rescued from slavery in Egypt, God sends them into the desert, where they wander for a generation. Jesus and his disciples wander from town to town. In fact, some of God’s most important truths are imparted to people with dusty feet as they travel on the road.

With his trademark thoughtful introspection, A. J. Swoboda boldly suggests that wandering is not an absence of faith but a central component of faith. In The Dusty Ones, he leads the restless, the frustrated, and the curious on a spiritual journey to uncover the answers to questions like

– Do I wander because I’m failing or because God has left me?
– Is the desert something I can overcome?
– Why is God sometimes “hidden” in the Bible?
– What do I do when the end seems nowhere in sight?

This compassionate and contemplative book offers hope and peace to Christians and seekers alike as they make their way down the winding road of faith. -From the Publisher

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Seminary Dropout 114: Paul J. Pastor, Author of The Face of the Deep: Exploring the Mysterious Person of the Holy Spirit

Seminary Dropout 104: Sarah Bessey On Her New Book ‘Out of Sorts’

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Brad Lomenick is a strategic advisor and leadership consultant. He is a sought-after speaker at conferences, churches and colleges as well as author of The Catalyst Leader (Thomas Nelson, 2013). For over a decade, he served as lead visionary and president of Catalyst, one of America’s largest movements of Christian leaders. Under his watch, Catalyst convened hundreds of thousands of influencers through high-energy and experiential leadership conferences across the United States. Before running Catalyst, he spent five years involved in the growth of the nationally acclaimed Life@Work magazine and was a management consultant with Cornerstone Group. Before that, he served as foreman for Lost Valley Ranch, a four-diamond working guest ranch in the mountains of Colorado. Brad serves on the advisory board for Suffered Enough, the A21 Campaign, Red Eye Inc. and Praxis.

H3 Leadership: Be Humble. Stay Hungry. Always Hustle.

In his new book H3 LEADERSHIP: Be Humble. Stay Hungry. Always Hustle., Brad Lomenick shares his hard-earned insights from more than two decades of work alongside thought-leaders such as Jim Collins and Malcom Gladwell, Fortune 500 CEOs and start-up entrepreneurs. He categorizes 20 essential leadership habits organized into three distinct filters he calls “the 3 Hs”: Humble (Who am I?), Hungry (Where do I want to go?) and Hustle (How will I get there?). These powerful words describe the leader who is willing to work hard, get it done, and make sure it’s not about him or her; the leader who knows that influence is about developing the right habits for success. Lomenick provides a simple but effective guide on how to lead well in whatever capacity the reader may be in. -From the Publisher

How to find Brad:
Facebook
Twitter
Bradlomenick.com

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Seminary Dropout 31: Halee Gray Scott on Women in Christian Leadership

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Drew G.I. Hart is a blogger, theologian, and activist. His blog is hosted by Christian Century, and he speaks regularly at churches, universities, and seminaries.

Trouble I’ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism

What if racial reconciliation doesn’t look like what you expected? The high-profile killings of young black men and women by white police officers, and the protests and violence that ensued, have convinced many white Christians to reexamine their intuitions when it comes to race and justice.

In this provocative book, theologian and blogger Drew G. I. Hart places police brutality, mass incarceration, antiblack stereotypes, poverty, and everyday acts of racism within the larger framework of white supremacy. Leading readers toward Jesus, Hart offers concrete practices for churches that seek solidarity with the oppressed and are committed to racial justice.

What if all Christians listened to the stories of those on the racialized margins? How might the church be changed by the trouble we ve seen?

Key Features:
-Written by well-known theologian and blogger Drew Hart with foreword by Christena Cleveland
-Hard-hitting analysis of racial injustice in the twenty-first century
-Provides a call to action for Christians committed to racial justice and creative proposals for antiracist practices for churches
                                                           -From the Publisher

Huge Announcement!!!
Starting next week Seminary Dropout will be hosted at MissioAlliance.org! Hopefully you’re familiar with Missio Alliance but if not please give them a visit and see what they’re about. If you like Seminary Dropout then I think you’ll really like what MA has to offer. I felt this was the perfect next step in the growth of Seminary Dropout. Don’t worry, the contents of Seminary Dropout won’t be affected by our new host. If you regularly listen through an app then nothing changes for you.

Interested in advertising on Seminary Dropout? For rates and information contact me at shane@shaneblackshear.com

If you liked this episode then you might also like…

Seminary Dropout 030: Drew Hart on Race, the Church, Anabaptism & Black Theology

Seminary Dropout 37: Christena Cleveland, Disunity in Christ: Uncovering the Hidden Forces that Keep Us Apart

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Tripp is the founder of Homebrewed Christianity, a popular progressive theology podcast and website that garners over 50,000 listens per month. He is the Director of Theology and Humanities at Hatchery, a church planting center that incubates innovative, sustainable models of church. He is currently finishing a dissertation in Philosophy, Religion and Theology at Claremont Graduate University, and he is working on the first book for a ten volume series with Fortress Press, Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Jesus: Liar Lunatic, Lord or Just Freaking Awesome. More info: www.homebrewedchristianity.com

 
The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Jesus: Lord, Liar, Lunatic Or Awesome?

Christology is crazy. It’s rather absurd to identify a first-century homeless Jew as God revealed, but a bunch of us do anyway. In this book, Tripp Fuller examines the historical Jesus, the development of the doctrine of Christ, the questions that drove christological innovations through church history, contemporary constructive proposals, and the predicament of belief for the church today. Recognizing that the battle over Jesus is no longer a public debate between the skeptic and believer but an internal struggle in the heart of many disciples, he argues that we continue to make christological claims about more than an “event” or simply the “Jesus of history.” On the other hand, C. S. Lewis’s infamous “liar, lunatic, and Lord” scheme is no longer intellectually tenable. This may be a guide to Jesus, but for Christians, Fuller is guiding us toward a deeper understanding of God. He thinks it’s good news—good news about a God who is so invested in the world that God refuses to be God without us. -From the Publisher

Based in Redondo Beach, California, Hatchery LA is a church planting center that incubates innovative, sustainable models of church – with a goal of launching nine new churches each year and ultimately building the Silicon Valley of Church Innovation.

The traditional church, as we’ve known it, is fading from the landscape of our culture. That’s why we’re looking for Innovators who are passionate about planting a new kind of service-centric church…what we call a “Common Cause Community”…

• A “Common” journey in the way of Jesus.
• A “Cause” to rally around on a regular basis.
• A “Community” of people where relationships are nurtured.

These churches – or Common Cause Communities – will look more like a coffee shop, urban garden, or after school tutoring center, than a teaching-centric, weekend gathering. Our three-year training program empowers Innovators to earn a Masters in Theological Studies while launching a ministry the world is waiting for.

Interested in advertising on Seminary Dropout? For rates and information contact me at shane@shaneblackshear.com

If you liked this episode then you might also like…

Seminary Dropout 91: Rob Bell

Seminary Dropout 84: NT Wright

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Natasha Sistrunk Robinson is a leader, speaker, writer, and anti-human trafficking advocate. Natasha has studied education in racial reconciliation, prayer and fasting, and biblical justice. She love’s passionately serving God and his people, bringing Him glory, and pursuing His kingdom work by sharing and living as she puts it ‘in the redemptive power of the cross’. In addition to being a wife and the mother, she’s dedicated her adult life to equipping, nurturing, and empowering a generation of leaders, mentoring and teaching women; and promoting education while serving and uplifting her community.

Mentor for Life: Finding Purpose through Intentional Discipleship

Today’s Christians do not simply want nice fellowships and cookie-cutter answers about how to deal with life. Though churches are filled with good ministry programming—activities, outreach events, and an endless selection of options—many churches neglect their fundamental mission to make disciples.

Christians want to mentor and to be mentored, though they may not fully understand what that means, the significance of this desire, or how to get there. The church must rise to answer these questions, meet life’s challenges, and develop creative ways of equipping modern women to mentor well. In Mentor for Life, Natasha Sistrunk Robinson lays a solid foundation for mentoring that is based on God’s kingdom vision, challenges women to consider the cost of discipleship, and the high calling they have received in Christ. It shows how to develop mentoring relationships that function communally in existing small groups that are diverse and inclusive. It also presents a mentoring framework of knowing and loving God, understanding our identity in Christ, and loving our neighbor, which encourages theological reflection and cultivates a basic Christian worldview.

Filled with examples from Robinson’s experience in the military and business world, this resource gives readers the wisdom they need to disciple others and as a foundation for kingdom service. –From the Publisher

Connect with Natasha for writing and resources:

Official Website: www.natashaSrobinson.com
Blog: http://asistasjourney.com
Twitter: @asistasjourney
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NatashaSistrunkRobinson
You can also find her on Instragram and Pinterest.

Be sure to enter the “Mentor for Life” Giveaway  to win a copy of the book!

Interested in advertising on Seminary Dropout? For rates and information contact me at shane@shaneblackshear.com

If you liked this episode then you might also like…

Seminary Dropout 109: Alli Worthington Gives Practical Steps to Break Busy

Seminary Dropout 84: NT Wright

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Sean is a minister, sought-after preacher, writer, and blogger. He is the Lead Minister at The Vine Church in Temple, TX, and a blogger at The Palmer Perspective. His writings have appeared in numerous magazines and publications. In 2012, Sean was profiled in Christian Standard Magazine’s “40 Leaders Under 40” issue. He and his wife have two wonderful daughters live in Temple.

From the interview:

They talk about Republican In Name Only, being RHINO’s, we might have CHINO’s (Christians In Name Only) because what they really are, are Republicans who have baptized some parts of the Jesus narrative with their politics, and that happens on the other end too. There are liberals that have just taken parts of the Jesus narrative and said “this fits my liberal politics and so I’m going to do that,” and both of them sell out the gospel in some really distressing ways.

-growing up in the Church of Christ.

-Sean’s home life growing up.

-having others shrug off spiritual convictions as being a liberal or conservative.

-the book Sean’s working on “Unarmed Empire”.

Interested in advertising on Seminary Dropout? For rates and information contact me at shane@shaneblackshear.com

Want to start a podcast but don’t know how?! My e-course will teach you everything you need to know. To get a free lesson and register click here. Use promo code SEMINARYDROPOUT to get 25% off.

If you liked this episode then you might also like…

Seminary Dropout 100: Jo Saxton on Post-Christendom, Discipleship, and Being a Woman of Color in Church Leadership

Seminary Dropout 72: Scot McKnight, Author of Kingdom Conspiracy

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The post Seminary Dropout 113: Sean Palmer On Being the Black Pastor of a Predominantly White Church, Politics, and Blogging first appeared on .

Deidra Riggs is an influential blogger at her own blog, JumpingTandem, as well as DaySpring’s (in)courage and TheHighCalling.org, for which she is managing editor. She has been a speaker for TEDx and has organized her own women’s retreat, hosting speakers like Lisa-Jo Baker, Holley Gerth, and many more. She and her husband have two adult children and live in Lincoln, Nebraska. Learn more at deidrariggs.com

Everyone has had that moment–we see a need in our church, our school, our neighborhood, our family, or our world and we think, Someone really should get to work on that, never imagining that we might be the answer to that need. We don’t have the time, the expertise, the money. We’ve got careers to manage, bills to pay, meals to prepare, and families to attend to. Besides, who are we to think we can change the world?

In this encouraging and empowering book, Deidra Riggs calls readers to accept God’s invitation to join him in making a difference right where they are, regardless of their current life stage. She shows readers that they were created with a purpose and with the capacities to fulfill that purpose. And she reminds them that it’s not up to us to fix the world, but it is up to us to join God–and the rest of his people–in his redemptive work. For when God calls and we look over our shoulder and answer, “Who, me?” God always emphatically answers, “Yes, you.” – From the Publisher

Interested in advertising on Seminary Dropout? For rates and information contact me at shane@shaneblackshear.com.

Want to start a podcast but don’t know how?! My e-course will teach you everything you need to know. To get a free lesson and register click here. Use promo code SEMINARYDROPOUT to get 25% off.

If you liked this episode then you might also like…

Seminary Dropout 96: Jen Hatmaker, America’s BFF Talks about Aging, Raising Kids, & Jesus in Her New Book ‘For the Love’

Seminary Dropout 100: Jo Saxton on Post-Christiandom, Discipleship, and Being a Woman of Color in Church Leadership

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The post Seminary Dropout 107: Deidra Riggs on Women of Color Writers, The Church, and More! first appeared on .

Sarah Bessey is the author of Jesus Feminist, an award-winning blogger at SarahBessey.com, and a passionate advocate for global women’s issues. She partners with the Help One Now ministry in Haiti and lives in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, with her husband, Brian, and their three four children.

In Out of Sorts, Sarah Bessey—award-winning blogger and author of Jesus Feminist, which was hailed as “lucid, compelling, and beautifully written” (Frank Viola, author of God’s Favorite Place on Earth)—helps us grapple with core Christian issues using a mixture of beautiful storytelling and biblical teaching, a style well described as “narrative theology.”

As she candidly 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 is rather than what we want it to be—she teaches us how to walk courageously through our own tough questions.

In the process of gently helping us sort things out, Bessey teaches us how to be as comfortable with uncertainty as we are with solid answers. And as we learn to hold questions in one hand and answers in the other, we discover new depths of faith that will remain secure even through the storms of life. -From the Publisher

Discussed in the interview…

… Sarah’s early faith.

…what Sarah learned about community from being out of sorts.

…how being out of sorts affects the way she’ll teach her kids about Jesus and Christianity.

…first naivete, the desert, and the second naivete.

Interested in advertising on Seminary Dropout? For rates and information contact me at shane@shaneblackshear.com

Want to start a podcast but don’t know how?! My e-course will teach you everything you need to know. To get a free lesson and register click here. Use promo code SEMINARYDROPOUT to get 25% off.

If you liked this episode then you might also like…

Seminary Dropout 100: Jo Saxton on Post-Christiandom, Discipleship, and Being a Woman of Color in Church Leadership

Seminary Dropout 96: Jen Hatmaker, America’s BFF Talks about Aging, Raising Kids, & Jesus in Her New Book ‘For the Love’

Subscribe/Rate/Review Seminary Dropout in iTunes

*links to guest books or other products are affiliate links

The post Seminary Dropout 104: Sarah Bessey On Her New Book ‘Out of Sorts’ first appeared on .

You can connect with Jeremy on his Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram accounts.

Redeeming Pleasure: How the Pursuit of Pleasure Mirrors Our Hunger for God

Pleasure. We hear about it, we think about it, and we look for it. Constantly. But why do so few of us ever seem to really experience it? Is it possible to satisfy our deepest cravings for lasting satisfaction? The answer is yes! But it might surprise you as to why. Author Jeremy Jernigan takes readers back to the very beginning and to the root of God’s intention for pleasure. Through personal stories, practical insights, and a depth of wisdom culled from thinkers both ancient and modern, Jernigan reimagines pleasure and unmasks its deceptive allure. -From the Publisher

Our Beloved Sponsor

Remember to support our  sponsor: Greatest Stories Ever Told. GSET is an independent publisher.

Two books I’ve been reading from GSET are Forgotten Gospel & Decoding Nicea.

Want to start a podcast but don’t know how?! My e-course will teach you everything you need to know. To get a free lesson and register click here. Use promo code SEMINARYDROPOUT to get 25% off.

If you liked this episode then you might also like…

Seminary Dropout 82: Jen Pollock Michel, Author of ‘Teach Us to Want’

Seminary Dropout 101: Max Lucado talking Glory Days

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Dr. Jackie Roese grew up in upstate New York in a non-christian family. She received her Doctorate in Preaching from Gordon Conwell Seminary in 2010. She has written fifteen Bible studies and is willing to push us to MORE. Jackie translates the Bible with direct application to our everyday lives.

Jackie’s newest book is Lime Green: Reshaping Our View of Women in the Church.

Each of us, in our own shade of color, says something unique about who God is to the world around us. God didn’t give specific colors to specific genders. It’s one big color wheel, and gender isn’t in the equation. How does our embracing our authentic color – unapologetically who we are – controlled by the Spirit, impact our view of women in conservative faith communities? Lime Green helps answer that questions. This a story about Jackie Roese, a clueless farm girl who stumbled into vocational Christian work. Jackie bumped into walls, crossed invisible lines, and ultimately reshaped her view of women-and her church’s view, too. This book doesn’t make the case for women to preach or lead in the church. Rather, it shares this is one woman’s story of stumbling and bumping to reveal a way, a path with all its rocks, hills, and smooth road, to help others find their footing in reshaping the way we view women in the Church. Every follower of Christ is given gifts by the Holy Spirit for the building up of the church. And the same gifts are given to both men and women. Jackie Roese is a gifted leader and teacher who has an important story to tell about finding her gifts and using them for the building up of the body of Christ. In this book Jackie tells her story with characteristic courage and candor. It’s an important story that will challenge and inspire anyone who reads it. -From the Publisher

Our Beloved Sponsor

I’m very excited to announce to you our newest sponsor: Greatest Stories Ever Told. GSET is an independent publisher.

One book from GSET that you’ll be interested in is Forgotten Gospel.

Want to start a podcast but don’t know how?! My e-course will teach you everything you need to know. To get a free lesson and register click here. Use promo code SEMINARYDROPOUT to get 25% off.

If you liked this episode then you might also like…

Seminary Dropout 89: Carolyn Custis James, Author of Malestrom: Manhood Swept Into the Currents of a Changing World

Seminary Dropout 71: Natasha Sistrunk Robinson on Jesus, Leadership, and Race

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Efrem Smith is an internationally recognized leader who uses motivational speaking and preaching to equip people for a life of transformation. He also consults on issues of multi-ethnicity, leadership, and community development for churches, educational institutions, and other organizations.

Efrem has held positions with church and Para church organizations as well as community foundations. He has also served as Founding Pastor of The Sanctuary Covenant Church and President of The Sanctuary Community Development Corporation in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Currently, he serves as the President and CEO of World Impact, a urban missions organization committed to the empowerment of the urban poor through the facilitation of church planting movements and leadership development. He is the author of the books, “Raising-up Young Heroes”, “The Hip Hop Church”, “Jump”, and “The Post-Black and Post-White Church.”

Efrem is married to Donecia and has two daughters; Jaeda and Mireya.

Some things discussed in the show…

…in The Post-Black and Post-White Church, Efrem uses the example of Jesus to develop a theology of multi-ethnic and missional leadership. What does the example of Jesus teach us about multi-ethnic and missional leadership?

…ways that homogenous churches can become multi-ethnic.

….what it means to “recognizing the race matrix of Black and White that has held the Church captive and break free”.

…Efrem wrote a piece recently on your blog about a situation in which you wrote the #BlackChurchesMatter, and some responded saying #AllChurchesMatter, which is a parallel to the #blacklivesmatter vs #alllivesmatter false dichotomy. Efrem went on to make a Biblical case for saying black lives and black churches matter and talks that through on the show.

…the work of World Impact and Efrem’s role there.

Our Beloved Sponsor

I’m very excited to announce to you our newest sponsor: Greatest Stories Ever Told. GSET is an independent publisher.

One book from GSET that you’ll be interested in is Forgotten Gospel.

Want to start a podcast but don’t know how?! My e-course will teach you everything you need to know. To get a free lesson and register click here. Use promo code SEMINARYDROPOUT to get 25% off.

If you liked this episode then you might also like…

Seminary Dropout 75: Leroy Barber, Author of Red, Brown, Yellow, Black, White—Who’s More Precious In God’s Sight?

Seminary Dropout 66: Austin Channing Brown, Exploring Civil Rights Sites, Sacrificing a Dream Home, & the Role of the Church

Subscribe/Rate/Review Seminary Dropout in iTunes

The post Seminary Dropout 98: Efrem Smith of World Impact Talks About A Diverse Church and #BLACKLIVESMATTER first appeared on .

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Out of his own commitment to both historical scholarship and Christian ministry, Wright challenges us to roll up our sleeves and take seriously the study of the historical Jesus. He writes, “Many Christians have been, frankly, sloppy in their thinking and talking about Jesus, and hence, sadly, in their praying and in their practice of discipleship. We cannot assume that by saying the word Jesus, still less the word Christ, we are automatically in touch with the real Jesus who walked and talked in first-century Palestine. . . . Only by hard, historical work can we move toward a fuller comprehension of what the Gospels themselves were trying to say.” The Challenge of Jesus poses a double-edged challenge: to grow in our understanding of the historical Jesus within the Palestinian world of the first century, and to follow Jesus more faithfully into the postmodern world of the twenty-first century. – From the Publisher

Some things discussed on the show…

…associating Reformed theology with people like John Piper, Tim Keller, and others with similar theology, and that sometimes causes confusion to know that Wright sees much of his own views in line with reformed tradition, when it seems like his tone is much different that those people just mentioned.

…how do we know that God intended for his authority to be given through scripture. In other words how do we know that some day we’re not going to stand before God with him saying
‘Hey the Bible was just words that were written several thousands years ago by people who were just describing their experiences with me the best they can but it wasn’t suppose to be anything more to you than inspirational and a lose guide’ ?

….in the new introduction The Challenge of Jesus, Wright spent some time talking about the idea that he originally wrote TCoJ on the other side Sept 11, 2001. In what ways Wright thinks that changes our perspective on the words he wrote in TCoJ?

…what view the reformation brought of Jesus that was a change from the old view.

…what view the enlightenment brought.

…the historocity of Jesus and how the oral tradition worked.

…the parable of the sower in Mark 4:1-20. What we usually miss by not paying attention to Jesus’ Jewish roots.

…how all of this relates to the Christian task and vision today.

Sponsorship

Deidox.org

If you’re interested in advertising your non-profit, conference, or other endeavor send me an email at shane[at]shaneblackshear.com

If you liked this episode then you might also like…

Seminary Dropout 72: Scot McKnight, Author of Kingdom Conspiracy

Seminary Dropout 69: Mike Bird, Co-Author of ‘How God Became Jesus: The Real Origins of Belief in Jesus’ Divine Nature’

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Rachel Held Evans is a tremendously successful blogger and author. Many believers have found a refuge in her writings. You can follow her on her blog at rachelheldevans.com and on twitter at @rachelheldevans.

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Rachel’s new book is Searching for Sunday. SfS is about Rachel’s own journey from a simple faith too one with more complexity and subtleties. Many believers, especially of the younger generations will see much of their own story in her’s. Leaving the church, starting a new one, facing failure, and finding a different form of church, Rachel brings us along for the ride.

Some things discussed on the show…

…when going through major doubt and Christians blame you for your doubt,  ‘they aren’t rejecting you for being different, they’re rejecting you for being familiar’.

…when your own theological house falls down sometimes you start throwing rocks at other people houses.

…Rachel’s propensity to talk about very serious and borderline depressing subjects at social functions.

…Rachel could sell more if you just ‘crapped’ on the church and didn’t make an effort to highlight the positive things that happen with churches.

…many boiled down Rachel’s journey as going from evangelicalism to the mainline and that’s really oversimplified and half-true.

…my families own journey without a church last year.

Sponsorship
If you’re interested in advertising your non-profit, conference, or other endeavor send me an email at shane[at]shaneblackshear.com

If you liked this episode then you might also like…

Seminary Dropout 74: Erin Lane, Author of Lessons in Belonging from a Church-Going Commitment Phobe

Seminary Dropout 72: Scot McKnight, Author of Kingdom Conspiracy

Subscribe/Rate/Review Seminary Dropout in iTunes

The post Seminary Dropout 83: Rachel Held Evans first appeared on .

Most of you know that Seminary Dropout is a very DIY operation, so in that spirit I don’t have a fulfillment center, just me putting your shirt in a container and shipping it to you.

Be the coolest kid on the block with a Seminary Dropout T-shirt. These are soft just like you like them. Get one now while they last.

PRE-ORDER: The shirts are being printed now and will be delivered as soon as they’re done. Expect a delay of a few weeks. The woman’s version will be the same design but cut differently. If you’re outside of the continental US, contact me before ordering.
Shirts are here! Order now.

Women’s

Men’s

If you have technical trouble ordering, send me an email shane[at]shaneblackshear.com

Father Factor: American Christian Men on Fatherhood and FaithYou may have heard around the blogosphere and social media sites about  ‘Father Factor’. A friend of mine, Andy Campbell, is the editor and gathered 40 men, including myself, to write essays about fatherhood as a Christian.This is an excerpt from my essay:

Why I have been afraid of inviting you into the same wonderful mystery I have found, I do not know. Perhaps it’s because I have heard that children need security and consistency, but maybe just knowing that Jesus is who he says is, that he loves you, and I do too, is the most secure and consistent feeling in which you could peacefully rest.

As for the rest of it, the wonderful sea of mystery; I’ve decided that we can explore it together, you, me, your mother, and the family that God has given us.

By the time you are able to read this you will have learned that doing things in a timely fashion is not your father’s forte, so you will understand that even this short letter has taken me over a month to write. In that time your mother and I have learned that you are a girl. You are my precious baby Margot, and we have seen your sweet face for the first time thanks to the miracle of three-dimensional sonograms. We’re so excited for your arrival. You are teaching me about Jesus even now because I am already enamored and in love with you even though you have completed no tasks to earn my favor other than existing and belonging to me.

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4. Davey & Goliath

This was way before my time. This was way before most of our times. The first D&G episode was created in 1960. Produced and financed by the United Lutheran Church in America, D&G became a cultural force. Three million people watched D&G at it’s height.

D&G episodes dealt with important life lessons and even helped explain theology in a way that was relatable to children. The show holds up surprisingly well even for being off the air since 1975. The show also featured black characters, which is something that even shows today often fail to do.
The production value was as good as it got in its time, and even now looking back, the claymation is truly beautiful.

3. Gerbert

I’m pretty sure Gerbert played on The Family Channel on Sunday mornings as the Blackshear family was getting ready for church. Gerbert was the product a guy named Andy Holmes who used the puppet to entertain kids in the hospital in Abilene, TX.

Gerbert the show had relatively high production value, especially for its time. The show couldn’t help itself and often included musical interludes lead by actors that most likely were church members who had nothing better to do after church one Sunday but put on an ill-fitting costume and memorize a few lines. Nevertheless Gerbert communicated concepts of Christian morality without being too preachy and with relatively little camp.

2. McGee and Me

Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s a Christian bookstore was magical alternative world. They had T-shirts like any store at the mall but these took the logos of the mall T-shirts and christianized them. Golds Gym became Lords Gym (It took me a really long time to understand what that shirt was parodying and who can blame me, it doesn’t even rhyme), Coca-Cola became Jesus Christ (in Coca-Cola font), and so on and so forth. There was music too, music of every genre that the secular music store had, and many times with very similar cover art, but this was ‘christian’ music.

Then there was the VHS section. It was probably 1/20th the size of a video stores selection, and let me tell you, it got weird. Budgets were low, writing was bad, and puppets abounded. It’s amazing that amongst the riffraff we all stumbled into McGee and Me.

I dare say that McGee and Me could stand toe to toe with any childrens television programing of its time. It was well written, mostly well acted, and the opening credits featured a Goldberg machine that was (ostensibly) created by the main character who was wicked smart and an amazing artist. I was neither of those things but I liked the idea of being those things so suffice it to say that 7-year-old me was definitely on board.

M&M featured animation on top of live acting which in retrospect was probably a respectable technological feat in 1989.

1. VeggieTales

How did this get made? I mean seriously. How did it get funded? How did someone have the vision to bring christian programing not only up to date, but in many ways lead the way for secular programming?! Veggie Tales debuted in 1993. That’s right 1993! Remember Toy Story was released in 1995! Computer animation was still in its infancy at this time. VT must have cost a fortune back then and had some very intelligent, and visionary people behind it (which reminds me, Phil Vischer, please come on Seminary Dropout).

I think VT was the first christian programing that’s almost as fun to watch as an adult as it is for a child. Pop culture references and clever puns abound. You’re kid won’t catch them, but you will.
VT was so good that secular programming wanted them. VT was on NBC at one point with the overtly religious content edited out, and now a reiteration of Veggie Tales (Veggie Tales in the House), runs on Netflix.

Before Bob & Larry plush toys became ubiquitous and VT took over your dvd collection, VT was a clever and fun show with the highest production quality around.

The post 4 Christian Childrens Television Shows That Were Actually Pretty Good first appeared on .

First, Seminary Dropout is a podcast.

Now, What kind of podcast is Seminary Dropout?

I am literally a seminary dropout, but that is not however the primary reason the show is called “Seminary Dropout”. I named it Seminary Dropout because I felt that it served as the perfect metaphor for what the show aims to do. Seminary Dropout features interviews with Christian authors, leaders, and thinkers and exists somewhere between seminary and youth camp. So it’s a little bit seminary and a little bit dropout. Get it?

I’ve been fortunate enough to interview some amazing people like N.T. Wright, Tish Harrison Warren, and Dominique Gilliard, among others. For a full list see tab at the top titled “Guest List”.

I hope you subscribe, listen, and enjoy.

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Making his second appearance on Seminary Dropout is professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary, and author or editor of over 50 books, Scot McKnight.

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Scot’s latest book is ‘Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church’, and in it he makes some controversial claims that have been met with a fair share of criticism as well as considerable praise.

If you are in or near the Nashville, TN area then you may be interested in an upcoming event centered around Kingdom Conspiracy. The Hazelip School of Theology  at Lipscomb University and Missio Alliance are organizing a discussion of the Christian faith led by Scot. The questions asked in the book will be the same questions discussed at the event.

• What is the purpose and role of the local church in kingdom work?
  
• Should our concern be primarily on spiritual matters or on social justice issues?
  
• Are social justice issues kingdom work even if the name of Jesus is not involved?
• Can kingdom work avoid social issues and still be authentically Christian? 

Find out more details about the event here.

Check out Scot’s blog here.

Remember our beloved sponsor for this episode is Deidox Films. If you like the podcast and want to support it then please check out Deidox and tell your pastor, worship leader or whoever organizes your worship gatherings about it.

Deidox produces beautiful, high quality, short documentaries about the real lives of Christians. This week I recommend the short film Alyssa.

Deidox Films is a 501(c)3 film production and distribution company. They are media missionaries. Their mission is to produce and promote documentary films that help the Church reflect Christ and redeem culture.

Their purpose is to partner with Pastors and Church leaders to help make disciples and fulfill the Great Commission. They do this by creating visual models of faith that provide practical examples of modern-day disciples.

If you liked this episode then you might also like…

Seminary Dropout 019: Scot McKnight (my first interview with Scot)

Seminary Dropout 54: Walter Brueggemann Talking – Reality, Grief, Hope

Subscribe/Rate/Review Seminary Dropout in iTunes

The post Seminary Dropout 72: Scot McKnight, Author of Kingdom Conspiracy first appeared on .

You can find Austin’s blog at austinchanning.com.

The folks over at Logos Bible Software asked me to review their new Logos 6 software, so here it goes:

Some of you may be aware of Logos Bible software. Logos has recently come out with Logos 6. The folks at Logos gave me a copy of Logos 6 and asked me to review it, and here is that review.

The word that comes to mind when I play around in Logos 6 is ‘exhaustive’. You can use this software for the rest of your life with no updates and still never get through all of the content. This is essentially a biblical studies doctorate in a box.

If you’re a pastor or someone who gives sermons fairly regularly then this is a no brainer, you absolutely have to get this program. If you’re a seminary student or even someone who just wants to study the bible more in depth then I can’t think of a single better tool to invest in.

Just to run through a few features of Logos 6; it’s got interactive maps -there’s this amazing tool where you can see a picture of a present day sight of a biblical landmark, then you can swipe over that picture to reveal a rendering of what that landmark looked like in biblical times, there are tons and tons of language tools in Logos 6, even if you’ve studied ancient Greek & Hebrew you probably don’t speak it fluently, you probably can’t look at a any random work in the text and translate it with all of the subtleties and nuances, but Logos 6 can! Logos 6 also contains other texts besides the bible such as extra biblical texts, commentaries, and words from important historical figures within Christianity. There are even graphics for sermon notes, and they look good!
Logos 6 has several different versions. There’s a standard version and versions specific to different faith traditions including Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Pentacostal & Charismatic, Reformed, and Seventh Day Adventist. Beyond that there are packages of all different prices to meet anyones needs and budget.

Some might be intimidated at the price of some of the advanced versions, but when you calculate the virtual library of information you’re getting, the cost is well worth it, and if those versions are just too much for you (information or cost), then the basic version is affordable and you can upgrade at any time.

If you purchase and use the code: BLACKSHEAR6 at checkout you’ll get 15% off and a portion of your purchase will go to support Seminary Dropout. 

Go to logos.com/blackshear for more info or to purchase.

If you liked this episode then you might also like…

Seminary Dropout 62: Kyle Canty

Seminary Dropout 37: Christena Cleveland

Subscribe/Rate/Review Seminary Dropout in iTunes

The post Seminary Dropout 66: Austin Channing Brown, Exploring Civil Rights Sites, Sacrificing a Dream Home, & the Role of the Church first appeared on .

Part of the reason why I waited so long to speak up about Ferguson was because I was wrestling and wondering if the world needed another white voice contributing to the conversation. I’ve decided to proceed with writing about it because this piece is intended to speak to other white people, and not signal to people of color that I’m ‘one of the good ones’, also, there have been people in my life that have told me things that were hard for me to believe, and if it had been anyone else talking, I wouldn’t have received it, but because I loved and trusted that specific person, I was able to receive and believe what they were saying. If I can be that person to anyone and say that white privilege is real, there is a big problem, and we need to do things differently, then this will have been worth it. Furthermore, I’ve become convinced that silence is not an option.

I don’t have all the answers and I’m not perfect. Christians many times have no problems admitting in general that we are sinful people, that we can be self-serving and unloving, but when it comes to the specific sin of racism we often claim we are immune. So if I can be uncomfortably honest and transparent, I’ll say that although I don’t know of any forms of racism in my heart, ugliness is not beyond me, so it is plausible that there may be racist ideas, and thoughts in the hidden recesses of my soul, and if there are, I pray that when they are revealed to me, God will eradicate them, and heal and cleanse me from that unrighteousness. Yes, God has made me a new creature, but often I forget to put on that ‘new self’.

So let’s talk about 6 things we have to realize…

1.) Hard facts and statistics show white privilege is real.

The example most widely known is the rate of arrests of black Americans for marijuana as compared to those of white Americans. The rate of use between the two races is similar while the rate of arrest is staggeringly uneven. How do you account for this? The only plausible reason is that whites are treated far more favorably than blacks. That’s white privilege.
But you don’t smoke pot, so you’re not privileged, right? Not so fast. Marijuana arrests are just most well-known and often cited example. Have you sent in a resume to a company you want to work for and received a call back? In all likelihood white privilege had a role in that call back. Easily acquired housing? White privilege. Been given the benefit of the doubt by authorities? White privilege. It’s real and it’s pervasive.
Many of us mistakenly believe that white privilege = racism, so when we hear someone talking about white privilege we think they’re saying – all white people are racist. That’s not the case. We benefit from white privilege whether we want to or not. That’s not to say we shouldn’t fight against the system that perpetuates white privilege, we should. One thing is for sure, not acknowledging it does not make it go away, and doesn’t make it better.

2.) There are good reasons why a black officer killing a white man doesn’t elicit the same response Ferguson, Baltimore and other cities are getting.

My Facebook wall tells me that an unarmed white man named Dillon Taylor was shot by a black police officer in Utah. This case and its lack of media attention has been lifted up by many as proof that it is whites not blacks who receive unfair treatment.
So let’s think this through. Why hasn’t this received the media attention that Ferguson has? Because there is not a systematic problem of the criminal justice system treating white people unjustly. There is also not, a tidal wave of support for the black officer who killed Taylor, nor to my knowledge, a GoFundMe.com site for him as there is for Darren Wilson. In all likely hood the black officer will face justice, while the Darren Wilson will receive at least $234,910.00, from his Gofundme site, a goal that was reached in 8 days. If Wilson does face justice, it will be because of the media attention, and protests. In America if you kill a person of a different race, you go to jail if you’re black, and you get rich if you’re white. The system is broken and needs outside accountability to act justly.

3.) ‘Waiting for the facts’ before passing judgement, doesn’t always hold water.

If an officer is killed in the line of duty we want blood, if an unarmed black man is killed by an officer, then we want everyone to “wait for the facts”. The problem is, unless the fact that – an unarmed black man was killed, changes, there are no other facts that could possibly justify what happened. Societies rules state (and almost no one would disagree) that a police officer should be able to defend him/herself, which would include returning lethal force with lethal force. When an officer faces less than lethal force, there’s no reason to return with lethal force. Police are armed with pepper spray and stun guns for this reason.

4.) Putting on a police uniform doesn’t give a person license to do whatever they want. 

You hear often about our brave men and women in blue. I think that’s true for most police officers, it is for the ones I know personally. However, you don’t get don’t get to be brave and shoot anything that moves. We exalt the police for putting their bodies on the line, and we should, but then we can’t also praise and defend one when he decides to shoot instead of putting his body on the line, and risk a beating.

5.) Death is not an appropriate punishment for being less than an upstanding citizen.

A big deal has been made that Michael Brown was a suspect in a robbery that took place before he was shot. Who among us believes that execution is a proper punishment for robbery? This is silly and to use it as some sort of justification for what happened seems to me to be motivated by racism.

6.) We need to perform a heart-check before we speak, even if what we’re saying is true & just.

Even when we’re saying something good, it doesn’t always need to be said by us, and at all times. Before we speak out against racism I think we need to take a long, hard look at our hearts and ask ourselves – Am I speaking out against racism because it’s the right thing to do right now, or am I speaking out because I want people to hear me speaking out. To be clear, silence is not an option, but neither is self-righteous finger-waging. 

But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. James 2:9

The post My Fellow White People, 6 Things We Need to Get Straight first appeared on .

When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself

Not only do Steve & Brian use solid and reliable research, but they also stepped out of the classroom and applied what they’ve learned in real life situations. The book is only filled with insightful concepts about helping the poor, but hopeful stories about erectile dysfunction those who have actually made it out of debilitating poverty. All of this is presented from the viewpoint of a Christ-follower.

Author of WHH, Brian Fikkert joins me to talk about the concepts he laid out in the book along with co-author Steve Corbett. Brian is a Professor of Economics & Community Development, and the
Executive Director of The Chalmers Center in Lookout Mountain, Georgia.
On the show we discuss…
-some things we do that might actually hurt the poor.
-what kind of help is actually needed & when.
-what YOU can do.

Learn more about what Christians can & should do to alleviate poverty at Chalmers.org
Follow Brian Fikkert on twitter.

Subscribe/Rate/Review Seminary Dropout in iTunes
Remember you can support Seminary Dropout by clicking the “Support” tab above.

The post Seminary Dropout 35: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor & Yourself – Brian Fikkert first appeared on .

Drew, along with pastoral ministry, is also a PhD student at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia in Theology & Ethics. His research is focused on the intersection of Black theology and Anabaptism. Drew regularly speaks at churches and conferences, confronting racism, systemic oppression, and violence, while continually pleading with Christians to take a stand. Drew is committed to a life that struggles to take Jesus seriously while following him into the world.

Find Drew online at…
twitter.com/druhart
&
drewgihart.com

Some of the books Drew mentioned in the podcast:

The post Seminary Dropout 030: Drew Hart on Race, the Church, Anabaptism & Black Theology first appeared on .

I’m passionate about creating content that features some of the brightest Jesus-following minds of our time through Seminary Dropout. However, sustaining this effort involves significant time and a few expenses.

As this isn’t my full-time gig, I dedicate at least 40 hours a week to a day job to support my family. Your support, whether through direct donations make it possible for me to keep this going.

Let’s keep it real—I won’t promise miraculous healings or your ‘best life now.’ But if you find value in what I share, please consider a modest donation. Every bit helps, and your support means more to me than you can imagine.

Thank you for being part of this journey.

Gratefully,
-Shane

There are two options: You can become a regular supporter on Patreon , or give a one-time contribution HERE.

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Richard Foster joined me on the podcast to talk about being a Quaker, spiritual disciplines, and social media.

Richard’s writings have had a HUGE impact on my spiritual life and countless others.  I have to say this was a bucket list interview.

Here’s my signed copy of his most notable work The Celebration of Discipline. If you haven’t read this then run to your local bookstore and buy it today!

Here’s Richard & Me, we’re pretty much best friends now (He may not remember my name).

There are so many quotable moments from this interview. Which ones stood out to you?

Enjoy the interview, then enjoy some silence with God.

Rate/Review/Subscribe in iTunes

The post Seminary Dropout 011: Richard Foster first appeared on .

I can hear the cries of now- “That’s just Un-American” “It’s our duty as Christians to vote.”

The fact is that I just don’t believe those sentiments to be true. They might be true for someone who chooses not to vote out of laziness or apathy. But after this campaign season, with the choices that are laid before me, I’ve come to the realization, that the strongest vote I can cast is the vote for neither candidate.

We used to have this idea that candidates had to earn our vote. That idea has long been exchanged for “I may not like X, but he’s better than Y,” and in the past, almost every time, I’ve voted with that mindset.

Please understand that it’s not some misguided youthful idealism that stops me from voting. I’m not waiting for the perfect candidate. I’ll give some things up in order to have the greatest good. It’s just that I can no longer see where that great good is.

Right now one group of people is saying, but Shane, what about life issues? How can you not vote for protecting life?! I’ll get to the specifics on that in a second, but let me plainly respond by asking: Remember when we had a Republican President and abortion stopped for 8 years? Me neither.

On the other side you might be saying, but Shane, aren’t you tired of war and fear mongering, how can you not vote to end violence? I’ll get to that too, but let me ask: Remember when a Democrat was elected 4 years ago and our soldiers were brought home? Me neither.

So first, let me come out of the Life closet. I’m strongly pro-life, but not in the way it’s been politicized. I’m pro-life in the most literal sense (or at least I’m striving to be). I’m with Brennan Manning who said “abortion and nuclear weapons are two sides of the same hot coin minted in hell.”

Even when speaking specifically of abortion, no candidate stands up for the unborn, either in prohibition, OR the social conditions (i.e. health care for starters) that make a person feel that it is a necessary option.

But life issues are bigger than that (not smaller, but bigger). We believe in a Jesus who deeply and passionately loves and gives value to the life of the soldier, the Iraqi and Afghan citizen, the poor, and the oppressed all over the world.

If one group believes life begins only on this side of the birthing canal, the other group believes that it ends there.

Please understand that my decision to not vote for a Presidential candidate is not one that I’m calling on anyone else to make. There are some valid reasons to vote for each candidate, but what I reject completely is this idea that one party/candidate is the defender of what is good and righteous, and that he is the obvious choice for the serious Christian. If there is any obvious vote for the Christian, it might be to vote reluctantly.

After my motorcycle accident a few years ago, very few remedies helped my constant muscle spasms and twitches that haunted me daily. My doctor informed me in detail about the benefits of Klonopin in helping alleviate muscle spasms in many patients. Further reading on (https://www.glowdentaldallas.com/dental-services/clonazepam/) had me sold, and pretty soon I went from 4 episodes a day down to 1 a week. Klonopin helped me maintain a more normal life, and I highly recommend it to anyone like me.

This may seem like a pessimistic viewpoint, but I assure you that it is not! It reminds me “not [to] put [my] trust in princes, in human beings who cannot save (Psalm 146:3),” that “unless the Lord watches over the city,the guards stand watch in vain (Psalm 127:1),” and our hope is in Christ alone, and this hope does not disappoint! And that is brighter than any candidate!

I don’t post this easily and I’m aware of it’s potential to offend and anger. I stand by what I say, but let me just ask for gentleness and civility. I’d really like to know where you are on this. Where has your journey taken you in regards to politics this season?

The post Why I, As A Christian, Am Not Voting For A Presidential Candidate first appeared on .