Episode description

In the mid-1980s, Dad was finding his groove as a minister and as part of the Steele Avenue Church of Christ in Ashland, Ohio. While Church of Christ congregations nationwide were starting to shrink, the Steele Avenue Church of Christ was starting what would turn out to be two decades of trend-busting growth. How did this conservative congregation in small town Ohio manage to do what so many other congregations could not do in the 1980s? Dad will tell you what he thinks. We’ll also talk about the time that a woman in the congregation campaigned to get Dad fired and how he handled that situation and recovered from it. We’ll talk about how much education and training Church of Christ ministers need to do their jobs. I’ll also ask Dad if he thinks the things that grew the Steele Avenue Church of Christ in the 1980s will still work today.