In early July 2025, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service changed its interpretation of the tax code to give houses of worship more leeway to engage in political speech, which may include endorsing candidates...even from the pulpit. Is this a good thing for the church and its Great Commission? Chris McCurley , preaching minister with the Walnut Street Church of Christ in Dickson, Tennessee , and host of the popular Dear Church Podcast , joins us to talk about politics in church. How much energy and ...
Jul 17, 2025•42 min
On Sunday, June 22, 2025, a gunman armed with an AR-15 assault rifle opened fire on Crosspointe Community Church in Wayne, Michigan, as it assembled for worship. A fast-thinking deacon and two armed members of the congregation's security team killed the gunman before he could enter the church building and take the lives of any members or visitors. As the frequency of active shooter situations at houses of worship is on the rise, how many congregations are prepared if the worst case happens? Our ...
Jul 10, 2025•45 min
On June 12, 2025, The Christian Chronicle's Bobby Ross Jr. released a story about the Arlington (Virginia) Church of Christ . That congregation removed the pews from the center of its auditorium and replaced them with tables. Now, worshipers leave their seats and gather around those tables to share the Lord's Supper with each other. The article stirred up strong opinions among Christian Chronicle readers. Some affirm how the Arlington Church of Christ is trying a fresh and purposeful practice of...
Jul 03, 2025•46 min
Lifeway Research executive director Scott McConnell is back to talk about some new research that sheds light on current events. For starters, church attendance and sales of Bibles are going up. Not only that, but Americans' regard for the Bible seems to be increasing. Young people, in particular are demonstrating more openness to learning about the Bible. Scott explores what could be driving these trends and what it means for Church of Christ congregations and members. Next, we turn to Lifeway R...
Jun 26, 2025•38 min
Church of Christ member Brian Bates is one of the cleanest--and hottest--comedians in the country these days. In this episode, he takes us behind the jokes to reveal how a comedian builds rapport and trust with strangers--whether they're in a bar on Saturday night or a church on Sunday afternoon. Could all Christians learn something about the "Jesus way" from stand-up comedians? Link to Brian Bates's website, including upcoming shows and videos Link to the Nateland Podcast, featuring co-hosts Na...
Jun 16, 2025•33 min
Could eating more pie lead to healthier and stronger churches? Doug Pell says "yes." A longtime Church of Christ elder and retired senior executive from the U.S. defense industry, Pell recently authored Set in Order the Things That Are Lacking: Lessons in Biblical Leadership (Sain Publications) . In this episode, Pell shares the experience he gained from decades in church and corporate leadership and the knowledge he gained from his intense study of biblical eldership for local congregations. Pe...
Jun 06, 2025•40 min
For Christians who are Black, life in the Church of Christ in the United States is an experience that is formed by the experience of being Black. In other words, each human being encounters life (and church) through her or his experiences. Likewise, the world (and often the church) perceives human beings through the assumptions that form about certain groups of people. Barron Jones (host of the Unfiltered Crossroads Podcast and the preaching team at Holgate Street Church of Christ in Seattle, Wa...
May 30, 2025•50 min
In the United States, the mood about immigration carried a new administration to power in Washington, D.C. Since then, the news media has reported sensational stories of law enforcement arrests around, or in, faith-based ministries and houses of worship. How does this affect Church of Christ congregations and ministries that are active among immigrant neighbors in their communities? Do they have any reason to fear that law enforcement may target them and their own members and neighbors? What sho...
May 23, 2025•49 min
In some congregations, you may find one member whose ministry is sending hand-written cards of congratulations to new Christians upon their baptisms. Imagine if that one member tries to send a card to every new Christian, not just in their own congregation, but in the entire world . Meet Lorraine Smith of Central Church of Christ in Dalton, Georgia . Inspired by a card her grandson received from strangers after his baptism, Lorraine set out to handwrite an encouragement card to every new Christi...
May 14, 2025•36 min
In 2 Corinthians 3:5 , the apostle Paul writes: "Not that we are competent in ourselves...but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of the new covenant." Casey Coston is a veteran Church of Christ campus minister of more than 20 years. As he started his third decade in ministry, he took stock of his own "incompetence" and turned it into a book: Made Competent: A Story About Life in Ministry . In this episode, Casey touches on some of the biggest ministry challenges...
May 01, 2025•43 min
"The Restoration Movement" refers to the 19th and 20th century stream of events, people and thinking from which the Church of Christ emerged. Church of Christ folks of a certain age imagine that they are restoring the first century church as they find it in the New Testament. But does restoration itself sometimes need to be restored? If so, how do Christians restore restoration? Matt Dabbs , a Church of Christ minister and scholar, offers his answers in his book, Restoring a Movement: A Hopeful ...
Apr 23, 2025•58 min
What is Christian nationalism and what are its effects on the United States? Christians these days may choose to consume any number of blogs, books, cable news, podcasts, social media and talk radio shows that deal with those questions. In this episode, however, we address how Christian nationalism may effect the Church of Christ community in the United States. In other words, is it bad or good for the health, integrity and witness of the church and its members? Dr. Christina Littlefield , co-au...
Apr 17, 2025•41 min
It is a fact that more people in the world live in cities than in rural areas. That means the Church of Christ, if it is to be faithful and obedient to Jesus the Christ, must get used to city life and loving its neighbors in the city. But what we imagine to be "urban ministry" in the Church of Christ is outdated and perhaps was never quite right-headed in the first place. These days, affluent professionals are moving to the "inner city" in droves while the things that we once assumed characteriz...
Apr 10, 2025•44 min
It is a common narrative (assumption?) that Church of Christ congregations in rural and small town America are in decline. Perhaps that is a story that numbers (of congregations and members) might tell. But are numbers the whole story? Or even the most important one? Mike Cope believes it is not the whole story. In this episode, he talks about how the way we talk and think about rural and small town congregations needs to change and how those congregations enjoy spiritual gifts that make them ri...
Apr 03, 2025•28 min
It may be said that God does God's mightiest work in the unlikeliest places. Take South Sudan , a young nation where civil war has been the norm for generations. Conditions in that country are as poor as anywhere on earth, yet in just the last year 73 Church of Christ congregations formed and more than 2,400 South Sudanese were baptized into the kingdom of God. What is going on there? In this episode, Dennis Cady (Faith Village Church of Christ, Wichita Falls, Texas) of the Starfish Foundation ,...
Mar 27, 2025•37 min
Almost as soon as Church of Christ missionaries entered Ukraine after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Christian Chronicle reporters entered the country as well. For more than three decades now, The Christian Chronicle has covered how the Ukrainian people embraced with joy the gospel of Jesus Christ. Few parts of Europe can match Ukraine for how the Church of Christ took root, sprang up, grew and spread. Russia's invasion and occupation of Ukrainian territory in 2014 and all-out war against its ...
Mar 20, 2025•51 min
More Christians in more parts of the world may sing Chris Tomlin 's worship music ('Our God,' 'How Great is Our God,' 'God of Angel Armies') than any other artist alive today. A Grammy Award winner and two-time Songwriter of the Year with more than 7 billion global streams, Tomlin is branching out into film. He is executive producer for the new major motion picture The Last Supper , written and directed by Mario Borrelli and starring Robert Knepper , James Faulkner , and Jamie Ward . In this epi...
Mar 11, 2025•18 min
Marie Stroughter ( Westside Church of Christ, Killeen, Texas ) is an all-star "church mom" and "church wife," raising three kids (two adopted), supporting her elder/deacon husband, and volunteering in the life and programs of the church. And she does all of that while living with mental health challenges like obsessive-compulsive disorder and panic attacks. As many as one in four Americans deals with mental illness on some level at some time. As Marie says in this episode, that means that in a c...
Mar 05, 2025•33 min
On March 7, 2025, eleven men from Gamma Sigma Phi (Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas) will push off on a cycling relay that will take them 1,400 miles across deserts, mountains, unpaved trails and Death Valley. Riding day and night, they plan to reach Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, in just five days. They're riding to raise money for Greater Than Three and the Pepperdine Strong Fund. In this episode, Gamma Sigma Phi Jackson Kulp and Carter Young explain why they're doing...
Mar 04, 2025•33 min
The clips at the top of this episode are from (in order) the preaching of Andrew Hairston and James Maxwell , two "giants" who worked for decades to build for the kingdom of God. Andrew Hairston stood in the pulpit at Simpson Street Church of Christ in Atlanta, Georgia , for more than 50 years. Not only did he preach, he was a practicing attorney and judge and a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. Hairston worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. , in his peaceful campaign for equal...
Feb 26, 2025•48 min
Lauren and Owen Mitchell drop in to talk about what they've learned about building a great marriage -- from being Marriage Dynamics Institute facilitators for more than 25 years and by practicing marriage together for more than 28 years. In this conversation, they focus on how the small things often make the biggest difference in how partners experience marriage. This one is full of practical pointers that even the busiest and most stressed-out couples can start using today. Click here for a lin...
Feb 13, 2025•46 min
Jonathan Skrmetti ( Harpeth Hills Church of Christ ), attorney general for the state of Tennessee, is the defendant in what the national media argue is the biggest case of the term for the United States Supreme Court: United States v. Skrmetti . In question is a 2023 Tennessee state law that prevents healthcare professionals from providing gender transition procedures to minors. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Biden administration brought suit against Tennessee for violating th...
Feb 11, 2025•55 min
The way Christians think about and use sex is changing. For example, a recent study by Barna Group and Pure Desire Ministries shows that Christian porn use is almost equal to porn use by the general public. And an increasing number of Christians believe that it is OK to look at porn. At the same time, fewer and fewer congregations are addressing the issue from the pulpit, in recovery groups or in small groups. Meanwhile, Adventures in Missions (AIM) , a popular missionary training program at Sun...
Jan 31, 2025•46 min
The way Christians think about and use sex is changing. For example, a recent study by Barna Group and Pure Desire Ministries shows that Christian porn use is almost equal to porn use by the general public. And an increasing number of Christians believe that it is OK to look at porn. At the same time, fewer and fewer congregations are addressing the issue from the pulpit, in recovery groups or in small groups. In this episode, Rodney Wright talks about the reasons that Christian attitudes about ...
Jan 31, 2025•33 min
The new film, Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin (Angel Studios) is drawing Christian audiences around the world, but does it get the depiction of its title character right? Dr. Myles Werntz (professor of theology at Abilene Christian University ) says it does not...and that Christians should view the movie with caution. In this interview, Werntz talks about the critical review he published about the film (perhaps the most widely read and quoted review out there). He also talks about the real Die...
Jan 23, 2025•53 min
Christian Chronicle Podcast partner Freed-Hardeman University sponsored this special episode on a crisis that is emerging under our noses: screen addiction . In this conversation, Freed-Hardeman University president David Shannon shares some of the latest research on how (much more) young people are using devices and how dramatic increases in "screen time" over the last few years correlates to a rise in anxiety, depression and suicide among emerging generations in and out of the church. Shannon ...
Jan 23, 2025•51 min
Dr. Bill Pink , a Church of Christ lifer (and outstanding song leader) is president of 10,000-student Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan. In this episode, he talks about how he practices Christianity while being a faithful public steward of a secular, tax-funded university where all faiths (and no faiths) have a place. Dr. Pink: Talks about the trends that are shaping higher education in the 21st century (and how universities like Ferris State might respond) Why Christians have a pl...
Jan 16, 2025•39 min
Since it opened almost 119 years ago, Abilene Christian University (ACU) has been educating, forming, and training Christian evangelists who spread the news of Jesus Christ around the world. This year, however, the university is launching something that has the potential to change the world and save lives in a surprising new way. ACU is building and preparing to fire up an experimental nuclear reactor that is cheaper, cleaner, safer and more scalable than any other kind of nuclear technology ava...
Jan 09, 2025•48 min
This Christmas special features a message of "good news of great joy for all the people" (Luke 2:10) by Brother Jerrard Davis ( Spencer Church of Christ, Spencer, Oklahoma ) and vocal arrangements by Praise & Harmony .
Dec 30, 2024•19 min
This Christmas special features a message of "good news of great joy for all the people" (Luke 2:10) by Jonathan Storment ( Pleasant Valley Church of Christ, Little Rock, Arkansas ) and vocal arrangements by Praise & Harmony .
Dec 24, 2024•30 min
