Episode 118: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives, an Interview with Award Winning Historian Dr. Wayne Flynt
All In! Living the Mission of God
Dr. Flynt is active in a number of professional organizations, six of which have honored him with their highest awards for service. In 2003-04 he served as president of the Southern Historical Association, the largest professional organization devoted to the study of southern history and culture, with some 5,000 members worldwide. He was founding general editor of the online Encyclopedia of Alabama from which he retired in September 2008. I hope you enjoy our conversation today!
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Episode 117: Changing Culture, an Interview with Tammy Dunahoo
All In! Living the Mission of God
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.
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Episode 116: Revolution of Values: Reclaiming Public Faith for the Common Good, and Interview with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
All In! Living the Mission of God
I first learned of Jonathan when I heard him interviewed on a podcast. His work sounded very interesting, so I bought his book, “Revolution of Values: Reclaiming Public Faith for the Common Good.” I ended up reading it twice. An evangelical Christian who connects with the broad spiritual tradition and its monastic witnesses, Jonathan is a leader in the Red Letter Christian movement and the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.
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Episode 115: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness and Reconciliation, an Interview with Miroslav Volf
All In! Living the Mission of God
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. We explore his book Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation
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Episode 114: Discovering New Riches from the Old Testament: An interview with John Goldingay
All In! Living the Mission of God
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.
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Episode 113: Posting Peace: Why Social Media Divides Us and What We Can Do About It, an Interview with Doug Bursch
All In! Living the Mission of God
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 to talk about his book Posting Peace.
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Episode 112: How to Question Your Faith Without Losing It, an Interview with Dr, A.J. Swoboda
All In! Living the Mission of God
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.
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Episode 111: An Interview with Wendy Nolasco, General Supervisor of The Foursquare Church
All In! Living the Mission of God
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.
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Episode 110: Jesus and John Wayne: Have Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Broken a Nation? An Interview with Kristin Du Mez
All In! Living the Mission of God
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 . 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,...
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Episode 109: How I Gained Perspective When I Lost My Sight with Andy Opie
All In! Living the Mission of God
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.
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Hey everybody! If you haven't listened to the Lent series, part one and two, go back and listen. Today I will continue talking to you about the Lenten prayer of Saint Ephrem. This prayer has proved to be very useful in this season of spring cleaning for your soul. We have already covered sloth and faint-heartedness last week. This week we will talk about the lust for power and idle talk.
The Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephrem
O Lord and Master of my life!
Take from me the spirit of sloth, faint-heartedness, lust for power, and idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to Your servant.
Yes, O Lord and King! Grant me to see my own errors and not to judge my brother; For You are blessed unto ages of ages. Amen.
What is Lust for Power?
- As strange as it may seem, it is sloth and faint-heartedness that fills our hearts with a lust for power.
- If my life is not oriented toward God, not aimed at eternal values, it will inevitably become selfish and self-centered and this means that all other beings will become means to my own self-satisfaction.
- If God is not the Lord and Master of my life, then I become my own lord and master – the absolute center of my own world, and I begin to evaluate everything in terms of my needs, my ideas, my desires and my judgments.
- The lust for power is a fundamental depravity in my relationship to others, a search for their subordination to me.
- It is not necessarily expressed in the actual urge to command and to dominate others.
- It may result in
- Indifference
- Contempt
- Lack of interest
- Lack of consideration
- Lack of respect
- It is sloth and despondency directed this time at others; it completes spiritual suicide with spiritual murder
What is Idle Talk?
- Of all creation on earth, humankind alone is endowed with the gift of speech.
- The Fathers saw this as the “seal” of the Divine Image in man because God Himself is revealed as Word.
- Being the supreme gift, it is also a supreme danger.
- The power of life and death are in the tongue.
- We may use it to fulfill and express
- To give life and hope
- To steal, kill and destroy
- It is a means of making Covenant and of betrayal.
- Words save and words kill.
- Words inspire and words poison.
- Words can Proclaim Truth and Spread Lies.
- When deviated from the divine origin and purpose, the word becomes It
- Matt 12:36-37, “And I tell you this, that you must give an account on judgment day of every idle word you speak. The words you say now reflect your fate then; either you will be justified by them or you will be condemned."
Lust of Power and Idle Talk are the objects of our repentance
- They are the obstacles to be removed
- Only God can remove them
- Hence, the first part of this Lenten Prayer – this cry from the bottom of human helplessness.
- Then this prayer moves to the positive aims of repentance:
Applications:
Psalm 19:14
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”
Daily Practice:
- Prayer and Devotional Reading using The Book of Common Prayer (or whatever you use)
- The Lenten Prayer of St Ephrem
- Journaling can be helpful
- During prayer, a “little seed” or thought may come to the surface, follow it.
Recommended Resources
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