Stetzer Leadership Podcast

Latest Episodes:

NAE Calls For Civic Responsibility Oct 06, 2020

Show notes

The National Association of Evangelicals today released a statement calling for civic responsibility in this election season. NAE represents 45,000 local churches from 40 different denominations and millions of people in the U.S. NAE President Walter Kim joins Ed and Daniel to talk about the reason and content of the statement. In this episode, they discuss:

why the statement is needed,
what it means for Christians to seek the health of the nation, and
the difference between a public theology and a political stance.

The Color of Compromise: How Do We Talk about Race? Sep 22, 2020

Show notes

In the midst of the coronavirus crisis, issues of race continue to be an ongoing crisis as well. As churches and the broader society continue to grapple with this important issue, it is critical to know how to talk about it with each other during this continuing conversation. In this episode, with guest Jemar Tisby, we discuss:

Defining racism and systemic racism
The American church’s complicity in racism
How should pastors talk about racism
The legacy of Billy Graham as it relates to race
How to study the history of racism

This episode references:

Our article series on The Exchange about White Fragility.

Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s documentary series on African American Lives

The Enduring Lost Cause: Afterlives of a Redeemer Nation Edward R. Crowther, editor

Reading While Black Sep 08, 2020

Show notes

As church leaders navigate the ongoing health crisis, our world—and particularly the United States—is also engaging in a vital conversation about race. As pastors seek to better understand the role of race in our churches and preaching, we’re excited to discuss a very timely book that just released. Based on his new book, Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope, Dr. Esau McCaulley and Ed discuss:

How to honor the inerrancy of scripture and recognize the role of cultural hermeneutics
How pastors and Christian leaders of all races can benefit from different viewpoints
The role of scripture in discipleship

Is Evangelism Even Possible During Covid-19? Aug 26, 2020

Show notes

In the Western world, we tend to focus on church evangelism, where Christ-followers invest in relationships and invite people to attend church. Many forms of evangelism are less possible during this pandemic (ie. mass gatherings, passing out literature), yet many people are open to the gospel. In this episode, we discuss:

Personal and small group evangelism during the pandemic
Breaking into evangelistic conversations by listening, engaging in natural conversations about what is going on in our world, and topics that have been impacted by Christ in your life
How to train and mobilize people for personal evangelism by sharing stories, demystifying the process
Principles for training everybody to share their faith (you already have everything you need, not trying to win arguments, different types of testimonies, and praying evangelistically)

Discipling Your Kids When Church Isn’t In-Person Aug 21, 2020

Show notes

As pastors and parents prepare for the Fall, many will be attending school remotely. In this episode, Ed and Daniel talk with Valerie Bell, CEO of Awana, the global leader in child discipleship. Several vital issues are addressed:

Shifting your church towards equipping parents for discipleship
Creating faith cultures in our homes by sharing faith stories
How to help kids belong, believe, and become with their faith
How parents can disciple kids as the church of 2050

In this episode, Ed references “Waking Up in 2030” by Ross Douthat (New York Times)

How to Help People Talk About Race Aug 19, 2020

Show notes

These days, it feels like hope is hard to come by, especially when we try to talk to race. In this episode, Ed and Daniel talk with Trillia Newbell about how to grace-filled discussions on race. Topics covered include:

Winsome cultural engagement in what we watch, post, and listen to
Dealing with weariness, anxiety, and other emotions that may arise during difficult conversations
The transformative power of the gospel in our relationships

Trillia Newbell

Author of numerous books, including the recently released Beautifully Distinct: Conversations with Friends on Faith, Life, and Culture.
Her writings on issues of faith, family, and diversity have been published in the Knoxville News-Sentinel, Desiring God, True Woman, Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, and more.
She is also a commentator for World Radio (a sister platform for World Magazine).
Trillia is a highly sought after speaker. She has presented at conferences, churches, women’s retreats, colleges and seminaries, including True Woman, The Gospel Coalition Women’s conference, Southeastern Theological Seminary, and more.
Recently, she began working with Moody Publishers as an acquisitions editor.
Her greatest love besides God is her family. She is married to her best friend and love, Thern. They reside with their two children near Nashville, TN.

The Post-Quarantine Church Aug 19, 2020

Show notes

Thom Rainer, Founder and CEO of Church Answers, shares where he sees opportunities for the church to stay on mission post-coronavirus, including:

This is not a time to panic. We should be concerned, but the church has historically been through a lot of difficult times. It is a new missiological opportunity for the church.
Our Western churches have primarily been vertical, meaning that they’ve grown through large mega churches. Now, we’re seeing more horizontal growth where there’s multi venues, and maybe even micro-sites now.
Some churches have found that during quarantine, the church members have connected with community members better than they had before the pandemic.
It’s a great time to rethink and re-engineer. This is an opportunity to make the necessary changes that you should have pre-pandemic.

Book Referenced in this Episode: The Post-Quarantine Church 6 Urgent Challenges and Opportunities That Will Determine the Future of Your Congregation

Thom Rainer

Founder and CEO of Church Answers
Served as president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources
Served for 12 years at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he was the founding dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism.
He has been a pastor of four churches and interim pastor of ten churches.
Graduate of the University of Alabama, MDiv and PhD degrees from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Written over 30 books, including three bestsellers: I Am a Church Member, Autopsy of a Deceased Church, and Simple Church.

The Impact on Church Attendance and Discipleship Aug 19, 2020

Show notes

Barna recently released research which found that “One in Three Practicing Christians Has Stopped Attending Church During COVID-19”. In light of this research, Ed and Daniel talk with David Kinnaman about the ongoing changes affecting the Church, and how COVID-19 has accelerated those changes. Topics covered include:

Rethinking Christian education for the digital age
How churches can sustain online engagement
Creating resilient disciples

David Kinnaman

President of Barna Group, a leading research and communications company that works with churches, nonprofits, and businesses ranging from film studios to financial services.
Author of the bestselling books Faith For Exiles, Good Faith, You Lost Me and unChristian.
Since 1995, David has directed interviews with more than 1.5 million individuals and overseen hundreds of U.S. and global research studies.
He and his wife live in California with their three children.

Episode 39: Running Crisis Diagnostics and How to Respond to a Crisis Aug 12, 2020

Show notes

The Coronavirus pandemic has become an ongoing crisis. Many leaders have not been trained in crisis management and how to manage it from a Christian perspective. In this episode, Ed and Josh:

Define crisis as any issue or event that unravels the order or threatens the flourishing of a person, group, organization, or a body of people and our role as leaders.
Describe the stages of crisis which start with the basement, where you protect yourself, your family, or your church; the workroom where you change your communication and people’s roles and the laboratory where you help people innovate.
Identify the differences between incident and issue crises for how you lead.
Describe how mission and vision remain, but strategies change.

This episode refers to our new online course on crisis leadership.

Bio:

Josh has been serving local churches in vocational ministry for almost twenty years replanting and revitalizing churches.

He currently serves as the Assistant Director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center, the Assistant Director of Lausanne North America, and the Director of the Rural Matters Institute.

Josh holds a PhD in North American Missiology from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

EPISODE 38: J.D. Greear - Moving to House Church Expressions Jul 31, 2020

Show notes

As churches decide whether to reopen, there are more than two options. In this episode, J.D. Greear describes the approach they have taken at Summit Church, where they are gathering for worship and prayer in smaller groups. In this episode, Ed and Daniel talk with J.D. about:

How they made the decision to shift towards house churches during this season
The theological case for shifting strategies in a crisis
How they anticipate the change will impact their church moving forward

About the Guest:

J.D. Greear is the pastor of The Summit Church, a church in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina that has grown from 300 to over 10,000 in attendance each Sunday under his leadership.
He has authored several books, his most recent being Above All: The Gospel Is the Source of the Church’s Renewal (2019)
J.D. completed his Ph.D. in Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, writing on the correlations between early church presentations of the gospel and Islamic theology. Seeing Muslims come to faith in Christ has long been a burden of his, a burden that led him to serve in Southeast Asia with the International Mission Board.
He is currently serving as the 62nd president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Pastor J.D. and his wife Veronica live in Raleigh. Together they are raising four kids: Kharis, Alethia, Ryah, and Adon

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