Future Christian

Jeya and Daniel So describe third culture leaders

Jeya and Daniel So join the pod to talk about what is a third culture leader, how to develop them, and the gifts they bring. Jeya and Daniel believe that changing our attitude toward post-Christendom will help us all, and why Christ does not erase our cultural or ethnic heritage, but rather redeems it.

Revs. Jeya and Daniel So are the co-founding and co-lead pastors of Anchor City Church, a third-culture community in San Diego,CA. They are contributing authors to the book, "Deconstructing Church Planting: Reconstructing a Post-Colonial and Post-industrial Pneumatology for the Next Generation of Churches" as well as other books.

Jeya also works as a coach, cohort leader, and in other capacities with church and industry leaders in several denominations and organizations, including the PC(USA)’s 1001 New Worshipping Communities, Cyclical Inc. and ISAAC (Innovative Space for Asian American Christianity).Daniel serves as director of Cyclical San Diego — a diverse grassroots network of faithful innovators and church starters.  

During the pandemic, Jeya has enjoyed exploring hidden places in San Diego that reveal new and wonderful things about the city that she loves. When its safe to do so, Daniel will be front and center in the moshpit at local hardcore shows."

The Future Christian Podcast is a production of Torn Curtain Arts and Resonate Media.

Tonya Avent talks about True Victory

American Christianity seemingly has built-in assumptions that God is only honored in victories. Writer and author Tanya May Avent joins the pod to talk about why it's a mistake to only understand God's abundance as being in external metrics, how our own demands for results can hurt the ones we love, and why she's redefined winning and worshipping God and loving her family.

Tonya is an engaging speaker, teacher, and award-winning author who has contributed to Chicken Soup for the Soul and has written for Guideposts and Stay Focused magazines. After a serious injury to her daughter while competing in Track and Field, Tonya started ministering the gospel through a sports lens at destined4thedub.com, offering personal stories relating to the intersection of her Faith, her Family, their athletic pursuits, and everyday life challenges. Tonya has been married to Kenny Avent for 19 years. They reside in New Jersey with their two daughters, Kennedi (17) and Kassadi (14), and are guardians to Anna (15).

The Future Christian Podcast is a production of Torn Curtain Arts and Resonate Media.

Neuro-Ecclesiology with Jessie Cruickshank

"Dreamcrusher" and fellow Coloradan Jessie Cruickshank joins the pod to talk about about Neuro-ecclesiology. In this off-the-cuff conversation, we talk about why shame is never a tool of God, why people will never make it on information alone, and why the brain can't be trusted, or at least, our own understanding of the world. Jessie also talks about why the job description for pastors is one crafted in hell.

Jesse is an ordained Foursquare minister and nationally recognized expert in the fields of discipleship, neuroeducation, and experiential education. She has spent over a decade applying neuroeducation research to discipleship, ministry training, experiential education, and organization development. She is respected globally as a missiological thought-leader and serves the body of Christ as a neuro-ecclesiologist. Jessie is a church and denominational consultant and serves as the Director of Certification with the Future Church Company. She is the Co-Founder of 5Q. Jessie holds a Master’s from Harvard in Mind, Brain, and Education. She is a published academic, author, and serves on multiple boards internationally.

You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @yourbrainbyjess

The Future Christian Podcast is a production of Torn Curtain Arts and Resonate Media.

Thomas Jay Oord describes Pluriform Love

Love is perhaps, one of the most overused and misunderstood words in the English language, especially when it comes to God. Theologian Thomas Jay Oord, author of the new book, Pluriform Love, joins the show to talk about the confusion around live in the Bible, why the Augustinian idea of God's love isn't ideal, and why he believes there is not a distinction between human love and God's love.

Thomas Jay Oord, Ph.D., is a theologian, philosopher, and scholar of multi-disciplinary studies. Oord directs the Center for Open and Relational Theology and doctoral students at Northwind Theological Seminary. He is an award-winning author and has written or edited more than twenty-five books. A gifted speaker, Oord lectures at universities, conferences, churches, and institutions. He is known for his contributions to research on love, science and religion, open and relational theology, the problem of suffering, and the implications of freedom for transformational relationships.

https://futurechristian.podbean.com/e/thomas-jay-oord-on-open-and-relational-theology/

The Future Christian Podcast is a production of Torn Curtain Arts and Resonate Media.

Elizabeth Hagan on what it means to be a Brave Church

With all the controversies of the past few years, many churches have sought to avoid difficult conversations and tough topics. Pastor and Author Elizabeth Hagan believes such an approach is mistaken. Rather, she believes people need to speak their truths without fear of being dismissed, shamed, or judged. In this conversation, we talk about safe spaces vs. brave spaces, why conflict can be a good thing, and the importance of boundaries.

Elizabeth Hagan is an ecumenical pastor at heart who currently serves at First Christian Church in Athens, GA. She is a graduate of Samford University and Duke Divinity School. She is also the author of Birthed: Finding Grace Through Infertility and the executive director of Our Courageous Kids, a foundation serving young adults who grew up in international orphanages with educational and mental health support. She is the proud wife of Kevin and mother of Amelia.

The Future Christian Podcast is a production of Torn Curtain Arts and Resonate Media.

Robert Douglas talks Missional Discipleship

Discipleship is  something we all like to talk about but don't all agree on what it actually means.  Robert Douglas, author of the book The Missional Discipleship-Making Handbook, joins the show to talk about the best ways to live into discipleship, why we are not often clear on definitions and key terms, and why the church overemphasizing the Sunday worship gathering has effectively rendered discipleship optional.

Pastor Robert Douglas has an MA Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary and is a church starter, local pastor, Cyclical Developer, coach, author of The Missional Disciple-Making Handbook, and Director of Cyclical Full Circle.  Rob has taken the lessons learned from starting church planting ecosystems and working with innovative church leaders around the world and applied it to creating frameworks that help churches take faithful next steps toward greater health and vitality.

 

The Future Christian Podcast is a production of Torn Curtain Arts and Resonate Media.

 

 

Jake Doberenz on working for a church that doesn’t fit your theology

Pastors often find themselves working in churches that don't fit with their own personal theology. Jake Doberenz joins the pod to talk about what keeps him in a church that doesn't fit with his own theology, whether he thinks there is a way to bridge the theological divides that often exist between clergy and laypeople, and how to know when it's time to leave. Having served in the Church of Christ, Jake also shares some thoughts on what conservative churches can learn from liberal churches, and vice versa.

Jake Doberenz is a writer, speaker, minister, and creative thinker living in Oklahoma City, OK with my wife Samantha. His main role is the founder and president of Theophany Media, a Christian education company dedicated to helping Christians create better art. Currently, he  serves as producer for Theophany Media's Creatively Christian podcast.  He recently finished a Master of Theological Studies at Oklahoma Christian University, where he also earned a Bachelor’s degree in Bible with a minor in Communication Studies. If you want to see his progress, achievements, and appearances sign up for the newsletter so you’ll never miss an update!

The Future Christian Podcast is a production of Torn Curtain Arts and Resonate Media.

How to Heal our Divides with Brian Allain and Adam Thomas

Recent times have put a spotlight on the inequities, systems of oppression, and deep divisions in our society. Much has been written that acknowledges and describes the divides, but there has been little practical information on what can be done. In this conversation, Brian Allain and Adam Thomas, editors of the book How to Heal Our Divides, talk about why they believe healing our divides is possible, ways that churches and leaders can facilitate healing in their communities, and steps privileged persons often overlook when seeking healing.

Brian Allain founded and leads Writing for Your Life, a resource center and conferences for spiritual writers, which includes the Publishing in Color conference series, intended to increase the number of books published by spiritual writers of color.  Brian also founded and leads the teams that produce Compassionate Christianity and How to Heal Our Divides. Previously Brian served as Founding Director of the Frederick Buechner Center where he led the launch of Mr. Buechner’s online presence and established several new programs and strategic partnerships. Brian has developed and led spiritual writers conferences at Princeton Theological Seminary, Drew Theological Seminary, Western Theological Seminary, the University of Southern California, Belmont University, New Brunswick Seminary, and several churches. He led the publishing effort for the book Buechner 101: An Introduction to Frederick Buechner, in collaboration with Anne Lamott, and also the book How to Heal Our Divides. All of this is a second career, coming after business and technology leadership in high-tech. Brian has an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was designated a Palmer Scholar, their highest academic award. You can learn more about Brian here and here.

Adam Thomas wears many hats: pastoring an Episcopal Church in southeastern Connecticut, editing and designing books for independent writers, writing fantasy novels, podcasting about Jesus and nerdy stuff, and playing lots of Dungeons and Dragons. Adam published four books and curricula with Abingdon Press from 2011 to 2014 (Digital Disciple, Letters from Ruby, Converge: Who is Jesus?, and Unusual Gospel for Unusual People). When the twins were born in 2014, he switched to writing fantasy. You can find hundreds of sermons on wherethewind.com, several fantasy novels on adamthomas.net, and his podcast, The Podcast for Nerdy Christians at nerdychristians.com or wherever you download your podcasts.

The Future Christian Podcast is a production of Torn Curtain Arts and Resonate Media.

Riley Pickett describes Fury & Grace

Lent is often misunderstood as simply being about giving up meat, chocolate, or some other pleasure in the name of spiritual growth. Rev. Riley Pickett joins the pod to talk about why she loves Lent and why believes Lent is so much more than just simple fasts and diets. In the interview, Riley talks about the beauty of Lent, how she helped bring together the book Fury & Grace, and how churches and faith communities can use the book to cultivate communal spiritual practices and growth during the season of Lent, considering the perspectives of the marginalized and often forgotten in prison.

Rev. Riley Pickett (she/her) is an ordained Presbyterian (USA) minister currently serving as Interim Pastor for Hagar’s Community Church, a congregation planted inside of the largest women’s prison in Washington State. She holds her Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and is passionate about creating worshipping spaces with folks who have been historically excluded from the Church, especially queer and trans people. She is happiest by a body of water, on a mountain, or when surrounded by books and her people. Get a copy of the book here: 

The Future Christian Podcast is a production of Torn Curtain Arts and Resonate Media.

Sustaining Grace - with Scott J. Hagley, Karen Rohrer and Michael Gehrling

The biggest challenge to new church start leaders is sustainability. But, these problems are not for church planters to solve alone says Scott Hagley, Karen Rohrer, and Michael Gehrling, editors of the book Sustaining Grace: Innovative Ecosystems for New Faith Communities. In our conversation, we talk about the book, why judicatories ned church planters even if they don't become self-sustaining, and why the metric of "sustainability" needs to be interrogated and cast aside.

Scott J Hagley is Associate Professor of Missiology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He is the author of Eat What is Set Before You: A Missiology of the Congregation in Context.

Karen Rohrer is the director of the Center for Adaptive and Innovative Ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Before coming to Pittsburgh, she was an organizing co-pastor at Beacon, a new faith community in Philadelphia.

Michael Gehrling serves the Presbyterian Church (USA) as an associate for the 1001 New Worshipping Communities initiative. Before coming to this role, he was an organizing co-pastor of the Upper Room, a new faith community in Pittsburgh.

The Future Christian Podcast is a production of Torn Curtain Arts and Resonate Media.