All In! Living The Mission Of God

Hey everybody! Welcome to the final episode of this season of All In! I have a question for you: what do these people have in common? Tim Cook (Apple CEO) Fannie Flagg Harper Lee Booker T. Washington George Washington Carver Hugo Black (Supreme Court Justice) Rick Bragg (Pulitzer Prize) Helen Keller Truman Capote Hank Aaron Martin Luther King Jr. Joe Namath Jesse Ownes Rosa Parks Condoleeze Rice Lionel Richie  Hank Williams Sr. and Jr. They are all from Alabama.  I grew up in a very town of about 200 people in Alabama. I fled the state when I was 19 years old. I moved to the Pacific Northwest, about as far as I could go while remaining in the lower 48 states. I had a very thick southern accent I worked diligently to overcome. When someone finds out you are from Alabama, they generally ask backwardness, bigotry, and incest. To be honest with you. It was challenging.  While on a rare visit to see family, I was in a large bookstore, when I found a book that caught my eye, “Alabama in the Twentieth Century.” I

Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Famous words mistakenly attributed to Peter Drucker.It doesn’t matter who said it, it is TRUE. We can glibly talk about changing culture, but culture is a hard this to change. Yet, if you want real and lasting change, you must do more than change policies, you must change cultures. I could think of no one better to talk about this topic than my friend, Tammy Dunahoo. Tammy hold the title of Vice President – Senior Director of Leader Culture+Care for The Foursquare Church. Tammy Dunahoo has served The Foursquare Church in multiple roles since 2003, including general supervisor, Arkansas District supervisor, vice president of Women in Leadership Ministry, on the National Church Health Initiative team, and multiple boards and committees. She serves on the Foursquare board of directors, the cabinet, and on the board of trustees of Life Pacific University (LPU). Besides these roles, Tammy pastored with her husband, Gary, for 38 years. Tammy’s greatest passion is to educate, tra

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is a celebrated spiritual writer and sought-after speaker. A native of North Carolina, he is a graduate of Eastern University and Duke Divinity School.   In 2003, Jonathan and his wife Leah founded the Rutba House, a house of hospitality where the formerly homeless share community with the formerly housed. Jonathan directs the School for Conversion, a popular education center that works to make “surprising friendships possible.” He is also an Associate Minister at the historically black St. Johns Missionary Baptist Church.   Jonathan is a co-complier of the celebrated Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals, and the author of several books on Christian spirituality, including Reconstructing the Gospel, Strangers at My Door, The Awakening of Hope, The Wisdom of Stability, and The New Monasticism. He is also co-author, with Reverend Dr. William Barber II, of The Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and the Rise of a New Justice Movement. I first learned of Jonat

Hey everybody! Today I am giddy! I am thrilled to be able to have Dr. Miroslav Volf as a guest today. He is probably one of my favorite living theologians. I think you will enjoy this week's episode as we explore his book Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation Miroslav Volf is the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and is the Founder and Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. He was educated in his native Croatia, the United States, and Germany, earning doctoral and post-doctoral degrees (with highest honors) from the University of Tübingen, Germany.  He has written or edited more than 20 books, over 100 scholarly articles, and his work has been featured in the Washington Post, Christianity Today, Christian Century, Sojourners, and several other outlets, including NPR's Speaking of Faith(now On Being with Krista Tippett) and Public Television’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly. Some of his most significant books include:

Hey everybody! Welcome to this week's episode of all in. I have long wanted to interview John Goldingay and the day has finally arrived! You are in for a treat. John Goldingay (PhD, University of Nottingham; DD, Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth) is professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, but lives in Oxford, England.  He is a prolific author. His Amazon.com Author’s Page covers six full pages of his books. His books include: An Introduction to the Old Testament A Reader's Guide to the Bible Reading Jesus's Bible Do We Need the New Testament: Letting the Old Testament Speak for Itself Commentaries on Psalms, Isaiah, and Daniel Biblical Theology The three-volume Old Testament Theology: volume one, volume two, volume three the seventeen-volume Old Testament for Everyone series a translation of the entire Old Testament called The First Testament: A New Translation and most recently, The Theology of Jeremiah Goldingay is a Church of England minister, and now that he is back in England likes

Hey everybody! Welcome to the podcast. I have a confession to make: I have a love hate relationship with social media. Some days I feel really good and I check Facebook and I want to pull my eyes out. Some days I mess up and post something. I posted a really controversial post a while back (you can read it here). After I posted that I wondered: "why is everyone online so upset?" This week, I wanted to invite my friend Doug Bursch on the podcast. He has written a book called Posting Peace: How Social Media Divides Us and What We Can Do About It. In his book, Doug Bursch provides a spiritual examination of why social media divides people and how Christians can address polarization through a ministry of peacemaking. Digital media dehumanizes and disembodies us, dulling our ability to know when to speak and when to remain silent. But healthy online communication is possible through a constructive posture of reconciliation. Posting Peace: How Social Media Divides Us and What We Can Do About It comes out April 20th

Is there a way to walk faithfully through doubt and come out the other side with a deeper love for Jesus, the church, and its tradition? Can we question our faith without losing it? Today, we are going to explore this with Dr. A.J. Swoboda, author of the newly released book: After Doubt: How to Question Your Faith without Losing It. Dr. A. J. Swoboda (PhD, Birmingham) is assistant professor of Bible, theology, and World Christianity at Bushnell University. As well, he leads a Doctor of Ministry program around the Holy Spirit and Leadership at Fuller Seminary. He is the author of a number of books, including the award-winning Subversive Sabbath (Brazos) and his new book After Doubt. He is married to Quinn and is the proud father of Elliot. They live and work in Eugene, Oregon.  Dr. A. J. Swoboda has witnessed many young people wrestle with their core Christian beliefs. Too often, what begins as a set of critical and important questions turns to resentment and faith abandonment. Unfortunately, the church has la

Hey everybody! Today, we have Wendy Nolasco on the podcast. Wendy is the general supervisor for U.S. Foursquare Church. It is said she is able to leap tall egos with a single bound, able to freeze water with a single stare, and she's able to bring peace with a single word. I don't know if that's true, but what I do know is true, is she is a leader, a learner, and a passionate gatherer of people. In my time of getting to know Wendy, my respect and admiration for her has only grown and increased. I think you'll enjoy this podcast as we talk about some very meaningful leadership lessons. Recommended Resources: Divine Mentor by Wayne Cordeiro Brennan Manning Henri Nouwen Social Dilimena on Netflix If you’re enjoying this podcast, spread the word by sharing it with your friends and leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. I encourage you to send me your feedback or suggestions for an interview. Help me help you. You can email me at jroper@foursquare.org, or direct message me on Facebook. You can also submit any feedb

Hey everybody! Welcome back to a new season of All In! I wanted to give fair warning that we will be talking about some fairly controversial topics in this week's episode. It is my privilege to welcome Dr. Kristin Du Mez, author of the book Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation. I read this book recently and it put together a number of pieces that had been building in my mind, but I had not yet been able to put them together. I had been a lifelong member of the Republican Party since 1988 until 2015 when in my estimation, it became a personality cult. I've tried to figure out how evangelicals have come to support systems, structures, and persons that are very questionable in their relationship to what we value as Christians. So I wanted to explore this with Dr. Du Mez and get her input as a scholar and leading thinker. I highly encourage you to read her book, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Fatih and Fractured a Nation. If you’re enjoyin

What happens when your life looks like it's going to go one way, and then reality hits you up broadside and knocks you a completely different way? This week, we're going to explore this a little and what it looks like when tragedy and obstacles happen but God still redeems it. Today I interview someone I've wanted to chat with for some time, Andy Opie. Andy and his wife served as FMI missionaries in Thailand for six years. They currently reside in Illinois as Andy studies for his Ph.D. at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. I think you'll enjoy this episode. If you’re enjoying this podcast, spread the word by sharing it with your friends and leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. I encourage you to send me your feedback or suggestions for an interview. Help me help you. You can email me at jroper@foursquare.org, or direct message me on Facebook. You can also submit any feedback or questions here. Don’t forget to subscribe in Apple Podcasts or where ever you get your podcasts. As always, you can connect with me

It's no secret that our society and culture are changing rapidly.  Sometimes these changes create an expectation for ministry leaders to abandon good theology.  Karl Barth used to advise his preaching students to “preach as though nothing had happened.” In other words, do not be controlled by or allow all the things happening around you to distract you from the central issue of preaching the Word of God. Unfortunately, Barth noticed that most preaching in his day was closer to anthropology spoken loudly than it was preaching the Word of God.  CS Lewis modeled this as well when he gave his famous BBC Radio talks that became Mere Christianity. We may argue that we must speak to the times we live in, and that is true, but we must also speak to the Eternal, not just the contemporary.   Life Pacific University recently hosted a webinar entitled, “Outrage Us: Faithful Theology in an Emotional Age,” led by Dr. AJ Swoboda who is a faculty member at Life Pacific University.  I thought the content was important enough

I used to think of sin as a crime that needed punishment or I would think of my sin as a weakness and feel shame, or a character flaw, something I need to hide. That somehow, sin was evidence that I did not really sell out to God that I was secretly rebellious. But I came to a point where I began to understand that sin is a wound from which I need healing. It started me on a journey that changed the way I view myself and others. I recently read a book that really captures this called The Pastor by Bradley Jersak and Paul Young.  Brad has authored several books and has been a guest on the podcast before and Paul Young is the well-known author of The Shack. This week we are exploring the perilous human journey from self-will and striving through defeat and despair to hope and the redemption found only through surrender. Recommended Resources: My Blog Post: A Second Look at "Judgement is Coming" The Pastor by Bradley Jersak and Paul Young A More Christlike God by Bradley Jersak A More Christlike Way by Bradley

Today, I want to talk about the Bible. The Bible is a complex and challenging book. In fact, it’s not even a book by today’s standards. It’s a compilation of many books, genres, eras, and authors. So keeping that in mind, reading the Bible and making sense of the Bible can really be overwhelming. The complexity of the issue only increases when you factor in that Christians don’t even agree on how many books should be in the Bible. Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Bibles all contain a different number of books.  When you look at it as a Protestant, 76% of our entire Bible is the Old Testament and yet, we are a new covenant people. So what is our relationship to the Old Testament? I wanted to explore this and I could think of no one better than Professor Jim Adams from Life Pacific University. I first got to know Professor. Adams while getting my master’s degree there at LPU. He was both my favorite and most hated professor because he really challenged us. But I will have to say, he was my favorite in the who

Hey everybody! This week I have the privilege of interviewing Matthew Croasmun who wrote the book The Emergence of Sin: The Cosmic Tyrant in Romans. It is rare for me, these days, to read a book and go “Wow!” I generally read 1-2 books per week, but I spent 2 weeks going through this book because it is that good. I’m so excited to interview Matt to explore this book more. In this episode, we explore a little bit about the emergence theory, sin, systemic racism, white supremacy and the gospel, and how the church should address issues of sin. I highly encourage you to check out his book The Emergence of Sin Matthew is the Associate Research Scholar and the director of the Life Worth Living program at the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School. He also is a pastor at Elm City Vineyard Church. To learn more about Matthew be sure to visit his website. If you’re enjoying this podcast, spread the word by sharing it with your friends and leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. I encourage you to send

Welcome to a new season of the podcast! I wanted to start this season off with a deep dive into an area of leadership that has fascinating me for my entire adult life. What does it mean to lead in turbulent times? Here is one of my favorite quotes: It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. Theodore Roosevelt To

Today I want to talk about something that has been on my mind for a long time. As a young child, I was fascinated with Native American culture. Like most Americans in my generation, we played a lot of cowboys and Indians, I always wanted to be the Indian. The one who lived off the land and made cool things like tomahawks and bows and arrows. I was told these people were savages, they were violent, pagan and that our European ancestors came to civilize them. As I grew older, I realized these things didn’t line up with the truth. The sad thing is history is written by the winners. I began to ask difficult questions like: What is the price we have to pay when Christian people justify the genocide of a whole people group? What can I learn from these oppressed people? How can these wounds be healed? What is God doing to redeem and bring healing to the Native people? Today I interview Jeff Yellow Owl where we explore some of these questions. Jeff serves as a pastor, therapist, and conference speaker. Jeff is a Nati

Today I want to ask a question. Do dead theologians matter today? We hear about being the church of now and being cutting edge, and a lot of stuff today that frankly, overtime makes me wonder, should we listen to our ancestors? I love this quote from G.K. Chesterton. “Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is a democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who nearly happen to be walking about.” Today we’re going to explore why dead theologians matter. We’re going to do a deep dive into one of my favorites, Maximus the Confessor. And I could think of no one better to talk about than my good friend Steve Overman from Eugene Faith Center.  Here are Steve's articles for download: Materiality, Beauty, and Space: The Eastern Traditions as a Ressourcement for Pentecostal Worship and the Arts Blood Cries Out: Pentecostals, Ecology, and the Groans of Creation Here are the links to previous posts on my blog referenced in

The Bible says in Proverbs 16:9 (ESV), “The heart of the man plans his way, but the  Lord establishes his steps." Every one of us starts on a journey thinking "man, God is going to do this, and He’s going to do that." That’s kind of how God hooks us in. But what I’ve learned is that God never gives us the fine details because if we would have known the details we probably would have backed out. This week we’re going to explore some of that. If you’ve been part of this podcast for a while you’ll know Jonny and Sarah Griffiths, they have been our guinea pigs for what it means to go on the missions field. In Episode 35, Episode 36, Episode 52 and Episode 76 we talked about various processes they went through along the way. This week I’ve asked them to come back to talk about what they have learned until now.  Be sure to follow All In Griffs on Facebook and check out their website: allingriffs.com If you’re enjoying this podcast, spread the word by sharing it with your friends and leaving a review on Apple Po

Can you believe we are at episode 100! The average podcast only lasts about seven episodes. I feel so privileged to be here, at episode 100. People ask me why I do this podcast. And really, there are two main reasons. I want to pay it forward to the young leaders and I want to expose key leaders and people to the broader arena of people I know. Today, I reminisce about past podcasts and dream about the future. Past episodes mentioned: Episode 001: Am Interview with Ralph Moore Episode 078: The Intersection of the Gospel and the Gay Community, an Interview with Brad Williams Episode 049: A More Christlike God, an Interview with Bradley Jersak Moving forward, I want to provide rich content for you. So if there is something or someone you would like to see on the podcast, send me a note: jroper@foursquare.org. If you're enjoying this podcast, spread the word by sharing it with your friends and leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. I encourage you to send me your feedback or suggestions for an interview. Help m

There’s a phenomenon going on in the church today, among Christians and the non-practicing, post-church Christians. They yes to Jesus, and no to the Church. However, I do not believe that people are rejecting the church outright, but are rejecting the attempts being made at being the church. People work with methods and systems but they never get down to the essence of what The Church is. Church, after all, is not a place you go, but a people who exist. Today our guest has written an insightful book that talks about empowering and transformative relationships that happen among the people of God within community. Dough Bursch wrote The Community of God: A Theology of the Church from a Reluctant Pastor. Today we will explore a little about what it means to be the Church. You can find Doug's book, The Community of God: A Theology of the Church from a Reluctant Pastor on Amazon. If you'd like to connect with Doug you can find him on Twitter, Facebook or at fairlyspiritual.com. If you're enjoying this podcast, s