Makerspace

This week I dialled in to Northern Ireland to speak with Alain Emerson, the Irish National Director of 24/7 prayer, and pastor at Emmanuel Church in Lurgan. He’s also the author of a number of books. In this conversation we talk about his latest book, The Cruciform Leader. We talk about the crisis facing Western church leadership, stemming from the temptation toward celebrity and results over character. This book calls leaders back to leadership shaped by the cross. We chat about the Asbury Revival and reflect on how a new generation of leaders, many shaped through the hidden years of COVID, are showing more interest in Jesus than platforms. It's a raw, hope-filled conversation about suffering, formation, and what faithful leadership actually costs. Plus, the conversation is delivered in his Irish accent, so you can’t say I don’t do anything for you.

This week I speak to Kevin Mirchandani, a teacher and researcher at Langley Christian School in Vancouver, Canada, whose work sits at the intersection of faith formation, network theory, and Christian school culture. His PhD research explores the often-overlooked who and where of faith development — arguing that identity, belonging, and purpose are shaped not just by curriculum or content, but by the communities and networks students inhabit. He's a passionate advocate for Christian schooling done well, and a thoughtful voice on what it actually takes to move faith formation from performance to authenticity. We talk identity, belonging, purpose, and why some Christian schools might actually be making students' faith worse!

How do we understand the connection between God and the world? Is God close and involved or is he just watching us get on with it? This week we speak to theological heavyweight, Hans Boersma. Hans is a Dutch-Canadian theologian and prolific author, widely recognised as a leading voice in retrieving the wisdom of the early church for contemporary Christian thought. He holds the Chair in Ascetical Theology at Nashotah House Theological Seminary in Wisconsin.
In this conversation, we talk through what it might mean to listen to the church fathers of the first few centuries, what we may miss in our contemporary ways of thinking, and what it might mean for Christ to be in all things. It’s a revolutionary and challenging conversation and one that I hope inspires lots of chewing over of the ideas afterwards. His book, Heavenly Participation, is a great place to dive into this conversation in more detail.

This week I get to talk with author, speaker and consultant, Mark Strom. Mark is the author of the popular books Reframing Paul, the Symphony of Scripture, and lead with Wisdom. He also served as principal of Laidlaw College in NZ FROM 2005 - 2009, where our paths crossed, despite never actually meeting. Mark is Pauline scholar, and so in this conversation we centre mainly on the thinking of Paul in his letters, and the way he seems to be doing something revolutionary with his understanding of the way the gospel changes the world. This was a dynamic and inspiring conversation that helps us to not sell short, as Mark says in his words, this wild good news. Enjoy!

In this episode I get to speak with Leah Payne. Leah is an award-winning historian and Professor of American Religious History at Portland Seminary. She also is the author of God Gave Rock & Roll to You: A History of Contemporary Christian Music, which was the Christianity Today Book of the Year for History and Biography, and her research on religion, politics, and popular culture has appeared in The Washington Post, Harper's Magazine, The Economist, BBC Radio, and NBC News. She co-hosts the podcast Rock That Doesn't Roll and created Weird Religion, a religion and pop culture podcast.
In his conversation Leah and I talk about the story of contemporary Christian music and the way that Christians have engaged in cultural formation, politics and markets through it, as a way of understanding the story of the church over the last 60 years or so. In the middle I actually take some time to go through her book with some music snippets!
https://www.drleahpayne.com
Rock that Doesn’t Roll podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6duv0G8igy2tL0W1aW8mCU?si=5aa859c1aab348d5