Who will the future ministry leaders in the Church be?  There are more protestant pastors over the age of 65 than there are under the age of 40. There is a leadership vacuum in the local church. Where are all of the young leaders in the local church? Is the next generation being challenged to consider if God is calling them to serve in the local church context?

In this podcast, Jonathan interviews Shane Pruitt and Scott Pace on Calling Out the Called .

Ministry leaders are called to teach, serve, and lead. But in leading those under their care, there comes a moment when they recognize the future leaders under their leadership. With this recognition comes an all too familiar question: What comes next?

In Calling Out the Called, Scott Pace and Shane Pruitt answer this question by giving direction, encouragement, and a charge for ministry leaders to recognize the future leaders in their midst and do what needs to be done for the future of ministry: the calling out of the called.

Shane Pruitt serves as the National Next Gen Director for the North American Mission Board (NAMB). He and his wife, Kasi, reside in Rockwall, TX with their six children – Raygen, Harper, Titus, Morris, Elliot, & Glory. He has been in ministry for over 20 years as a church planter, lead pastor, and student pastor. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biblical Studies, and a Master’s Degree in History.

Scott Pace currently serves as the Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC where he also teaches as Associate Professor of Preaching and Pastoral Ministry. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from North Carolina State University, a M.Div. and Ph.D. in Applied Theology from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. His ministry as a pastor has extended over 20 years in a variety of full-time and interim capacities through three states. He has been married to his wife, Dana, since 1999. They have four children, Gracelyn, Tyler, and Tessa, and Cassie.

How Should Christians Think About Critical Theory? What is it? Why does it matter? How is it effecting us?

In this Interview with Neil Shenvi and Pat Sawyer, Jonathan Morrow helps us understand what critical theory is, why it is not biblical, and how critical theory and the secular social justice movement is influencing the church, culture, and the next generation.

Contemporary critical theory’s ideas about race, class, gender, identity, and justice have dramatically shaped how people think, act, and view one another—in Christian and secular spheres alike.

In Critical Dilemma, authors Neil Shenvi and Pat Sawyer illuminate the origins and influences of contemporary critical theory, considering it in the light of clear reason and biblical orthodoxy. While acknowledging that it can provide some legitimate insights regarding race, class, and gender, Critical Dilemma exposes the false assumptions at the heart of critical theory, arguing that it poses a serious threat to both the church and society at large.

Drawing on exhaustive research and careful analysis, Shenvi and Sawyer condemn racism, urge Christians to seek biblical justice, and offer a path forward for racial healing and unity while also opposing critical theory’s manifold errors.

Get the Book >> Critical Dilemma: The Rise of Critical Theories and Social Justice Ideology―Implications for the Church and Society

How do you use questions to answer the hardest challenges to Christian faith? When we have spiritual conversations we need to be prepared to be gardeners and harvesters. Both are critical skills to develop for the disciple of Jesus. Greg Koukl is a master gardener. Jonathan interviews Greg Koukl on his newest book Street Smarts: Using Questions to Answer Christianity's Toughest Challenges. Greg is back on the podcast as a follow up to his book Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions to helps Christians better engage in productive conversations and to handle tough challenges in a straight-forward and a user friendly way, providing practical tools to have spiritual conversations. 

Greg Koukl is the Founder and President of Stand to Reason, and the host of the Stand to Reason talk show advocating clear-thinking Christianity and defending the Christian worldview. He’s the author of several books including the excellent Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions and his new book The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between. Check out Greg and his team online at STR.org.

Listen to previous interviews with Greg Koukl:

Building a Game Plan for Talking About Your Faith with Greg Koukl

What is the Story of Reality with Greg Koukl

Modern culture is increasingly outspoken against a biblical worldview. Jonathan interviews Dr. Rosaria Butterfield on her newest book Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age.

In this powerful book, Rosaria Butterfield uses Scripture to confront 5 common lies about sexuality, faith, feminism, gender roles, and modesty often promoted in our secular culture today. Written in the style of a memoir, this book explores Butterfield’s personal battle with these lies—interwoven with cultural studies, literary criticism, and theology—to help readers see the beauty in biblical womanhood, marriage, and motherhood.

Rosaria Butterfield is an author, pastor’s wife, homeschool mom, and former professor of English and women’s studies at Syracuse University. She is the author of The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert; Openness Unhindered; and The Gospel Comes with a House Key.

Daniel Darling, author of The Characters of Christmas, joins Jonathan Morrow on the podcast to take readers back to the time of Christ’s birth and look at the unusual group of misfits, social outcasts, and often overlooked people in the Christmas story.

With its sparkly lights, piles of gifts, and heartwarming sentiments, it’s easy to be caught up in the flurry of activity at Christmas and forget who is at the center of it all. How do we recapture our love for the Christmas story, for Jesus, and better understand those who played a pivotal role in His birth?

• Joseph: Joseph was a man of simple faithfulness who did the next right thing in front of him. He knew who he was and was committed to Scripture.
• Mary: This young, Jewish peasant girl is at the center of everything. Mary said yes to the hard call of discipleship, even though the circumstances were extraordinary.
• The Innkeeper: The Bible doesn’t mention an innkeeper, but someone must have told Joseph and Mary the inn was full. Regardless, in the end, the innkeeper found room for Jesus.

What do we do when Jesus interrupts our life? Darling also shares insights into the song of the Angels, the shepherds, Herod, Simeon and Anna, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and gives a detailed look into the surprising people in the lineage of Christ. Darling brings each one to life, explores their role in the Christmas story, and digs deep to reveal truths from their lives that impact believers today.

Are Atheists Finding God? Yes! In this episode, Jonathan Morrow interviews Jana Harmon, the author of "Atheists Finding God: Unlikely Stories of Conversions to Christianity in the Contemporary West," on findings drawn from PhD-based research evaluating a broad range of functional and substantive variables influencing religious conversion. Data was collected by both surveying and interviewing fifty educated, skeptical atheists in the contemporary West who once held belief in God and Christianity as implausible, unattractive, and irrelevant. Yet, they became utterly convinced that the Christian faith was true and good, worth personal life commitment.

In this episode, Jonathan Morrow interviews Dr. Christopher Yuan, the author of Holy Sexuality and the Gospel (2020 resource of the year for social issues by Outreach Magazine) and Out of a Far Country, which details his dramatic conversion from an agnostic gay man, who put his identity in his sexuality, to a pastor, Bible professor, and Christian author who now puts his identity in Christ alone.

Dr. Yuan has adapted his book Holy Sexuality into a 12-lesson video series as a biblical resource for parents and their teens to study the topics of sex, sexuality, and gender from a gospel-centered perspective. This resource can be found at The Holy Sexuality Project.

Listen to Jonathan's previous interview with Dr. Christopher Yuan on Holy Sexuality.

In this episode, Jonathan interviews Nancy Pearcey, the author of the upcoming book The Toxic War on Masculinity: How Christianity Reconciles the Sexes. Her most recently published book is Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality. Her earlier books include The Soul of Science, Saving Leonardo, Finding Truth, and two ECPA Gold Medallion Award Winners: How Now Shall We Live(coauthored with Harold Fickett and Chuck Colson) and Total Truth. Her books have been translated into 19 languages. She is professor and scholar in residence at Houston Christian University. A former agnostic, Pearcey has spoken at universities such as Princeton, Stanford, USC, and Dartmouth. She has been quoted in The New Yorker and Newsweek, highlighted as one of the five top women apologists by Christianity Today, and hailed in The Economist as "America's pre-eminent evangelical Protestant female intellectual."

 Hear previous interviews with Jonathan and Nancy Pearcey on her other books  Love Thy Body  or Finding Truth.

In a world where gender confusion is not just growing, it's exploding, it is imperative that we thoughtfully and intentionally seek truth.  In this episode, Jonathan Morrow interviews Dr. Katie McCoy about how to navigate the Transgender revolution in our culture right now with grace and truth. Here are just some of the issues discussed in this timely and important conversation:

• What is Gender Dysphoria?
• Should Christians use preferred pronouns?
• What are the stages of gender transition?
• Why are other countires banning gender transition surgeries?
• How should churches and pastors respond?
• What is the impact of social media and culture on gender confusion?
• How should parents respond?
• How can we recover a biblical vision for the body as God's good design?
• Why are corporations and companies supporting Trans ideologies?
• Why we need to listen to the testimonies of "Detransitioners."
• What does a biblical and compassionate response look like?
• Why we need to have the courage to say what needs to be said so others will have courage too

“A generation of young women and girls have been swept away by the current of gender ideology, and we are only beginning to see its effects. Behind the headlines, social media campaigns, and political agendas are vulnerable, confused, and often hurting adolescents searching for what it means to be a woman. Only when we confront dominant cultural beliefs with the whole-person vision for humanity in God’s image can we hope to turn the tide." - Katie McCoy, Ph.D.

Get your copy of To Be a Woman: The Confusion Over Female Identity and How Christians Can Respond by Katie McCoy

Learn more about Katie McCoy at www.blondeorthodoxy.com

The great abolitionist Frederick Douglass once observed "Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one's thoughts and opinions cease to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down. They know its power."

Free speech has the power to reveal the truth, expose lies, win hearts, and even change the course of history. And yet, in our current culture, freedom of speech is under attack. So what is free speech, and why does it matter for everyone? What would be the consequence if we lost it?

In this episode of the podcast, Jonathan sits down for an excellent conversation with the CEO, President, and General Counsel of Alliance Defending Freedom, Kristen Waggoner. Join us as Jonathan and Kristen discuss why free speech matters for everyone, how the conversation on free speech is changing, how to respond to challenges to free speech in a divided culture, and much more. 

Kristen Waggoner is the CEO, president, and general counsel of Alliance Defending Freedom. She leads the faith-based legal organization in protecting fundamental freedoms and promoting the inherent dignity of all people throughout the U.S. and around the world. Waggoner oversees the efforts of more than 400 ADF team members in seven global offices as well as 4,700 network attorneys engaged in litigation, legislation, training, funding, and public advocacy. ADF also provides legal resources to nearly 4,000 churches and ministries through its Ministry Alliance program and defends the persecuted church in dozens of countries.

You can read more about what Kristen discussed in this interview in her pieces for WORLD  here and here, and connect with her and ADF at adflegal.org.

When we think about the word progress, it's a good word...right? We want to progress in our faith. But Progressive Christianity is the view that Christianity itself is "progressing" and changing. In this episode, Alisa Childers explains the idea of Progressive Christianity, and how this view fundamentally misunderstands the key issues of the Bible, the cross, and the gospel. 

Alisa Childers is a wife, a mom, an author, a blogger, a speaker, and a worship leader. She was a member of the award-winning CCM recording group ZOEgirl. She is the author of several books including Another Gospel?: A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity and Live Your Truth and Other Lies: Exposing Popular Deceptions That Makes Us Anxious, Exhausted, and Self-Obsessed. 

You can find more and connect with Alisa online at alisachilders.com.