Church and Main

Being Church on a Bike with Travis Norvell | Episode 121

A Minneapolis Pastor sees the world around his church differently when he got on his bike.My guest today is someone that is also interested in transportation, but he’s taken his interest one step further making it an issue of discipleship.Travis Norvell is the pastor of Judson Baptist Church in Minneapolis and a decade ago he decided to put his money where his mouth is by giving up his car and getting around Minneapolis via bike, public transportation or on foot.  When he did this he started to see the world around his congregation in a very different way.  Travis has become an advocate in helping Christians get out of their cars once in a while and move around their world in a different mode of transportation to see what they might be missing. Tarvis is the author of A Church on the Move: A Practical Guide for Ministry in the Community where he talks about his story and how you can become more familiar with the neighborhood around your church.Judson Baptist Church-MinneapolisChurch and Main’s Second websiteThanks for reading Church and Main! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 120: What’s Christian About Christian Nationalism?

There's a difference between patriotism and nationalism.As I said in a prior episode, I’ve been doing these videos of about 5-7 minutes called the Weekly Check-in.  I have no idea if people are really interested in them, but I like doing them and I wanted to share a few for the podcast.  This is one I did in early October about Christian NationalismTalk about Christian Nationalism has risen considerably after the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.  There are a number of laypersons, pastors, theologians, and others that have arisen to talk about what they see as the goodness of Christian Nationalism.  I did a video responding to one prominent nationalist whose tweet seemed to drift into xenophobia.  I talk about how nationalism is different from patriotism, a difference that is sometimes lost in the debate.  What Christian About Christian Nationalism VideoChristian Nationalism Episode with Jack JenkinsEvangelicalism and Trump Episode with Napp NazworthThanks for reading Church and Main! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 119: Church in the Time of TikTok

So, I’ve been doing these videos of about 5-7 minutes called the Weekly Check-in.  I have no idea if people are really interested in them, but I like doing them and I wanted to share a few for the podcast.  I want to set up this episode which is called Church in the time of TikTok.As you know I’ve been the pastor of a small church and one of the things that has been hard over the last year or so is how hard it has been to be church in the aftermath of COVID.  People have left the church and I can remember one person telling me he thought the church didn’t have much of a future so he was going to move on.  There’s always this feeling that being a pastor means that it’s all on you and it feels so much that to be a successful church is to be a “special” church.  I think especially in mainline Protestant churches, you feel that you have to be this big social justice church or basically the Democrats in prayer.  And sometimes what I want is a church where we gather for prayer and worship and reading of scripture.  I want to be a normie church.  That’s the setup for what you are going to hear.  Let let me know what you think of these short talks.  I will also put the link to the video in the show notes and there will be other episodes like this in the future.Church in the Time of TikTok VideoFirst Christian Church of St. Paul Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 118: Paul VanderKlay on LGBTQ Issues in the Christian Reformed Church

How the Christian Reformed Church is handling LGBTQ inclusion.Over the last 20 years or so most of the mainline Protestant denominations have ended their controversies on the role of LGBTQ people in the life of the church.  The arguments usually ended with the denominations voting in favor of clergy and allowing for marriages and conservatives in each denomination leaving to form their own denominations.  The two latest are the Reformed Church in America where conservative churches left to create the Alliance of Reformed Churches and the United Methodist Church where conservatives are creating the Global Methodist Church.  It’s easy to think that more conservative and evangelical churches aren’t dealing with LGBTQ issues, but that is not true. The Christian Reformed Church has also been dealing with LGBTQ issues and last summer’s Synod shows it is still not resolved.  Today, I talk with Paul VanderKlay about what’s going on the denomination and what it says really about the larger culture and how the church deals with such fraught issues.Paul’s Twitter PagePaul’s SubstackPaul’s YouTube Channel Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 117: Camp Ministry with Jared Rendell

Church Camp can mean more to their life of faith than just a "camp high."There is evidence out there that kids feel the impact of church camps long after the campfires go out.  According to the Effective Camp Research Project, a survey of 1000 campers and 300 parents showed that while there is a temporary “camp high” there are positive long-term effects as well including the relevance of faith in everyday life and increased interest in spiritual practices like Bible Study and church attendance.Today, I’m talking with Jared Rendell.  Jared is the Director of Communication and Innovation at Sacred Playgrounds a kind of “think-tank” and research and development organization geared towards camp ministry.  Jared is a communications and web consultant, a musician and also the host of the Sacred Playgrounds podcast.Thanks for reading Church and Main! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Sacred Playgrounds websiteSacred Playgrounds podcastThe Lasting Impact of Christian Church CampThe Boundless Power of Camps (Dakota and Minnesota Conferences UMC)Jared Rendell’s website Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

The Church Transforming with Alex Ruth

I first met our guest today out of the blue on Facebook about four years ago.  I was looking for some leadership coaching for the congregation I serve and he offered to help and help he surely did.  Alex Ruth has been a congregational leader for years.  In 2021 he was called to become the Associate Regional Minister for Transformation in the Illinois-Wisconsin Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) after years of serving in parish ministry, the most recent in Missouri.  Alex is also the Associate Director for Disciples Men and teaches with the Center for Ministry and Lay Training at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma.In our time together we talk about his call to help clergy and congregations respond to a changing culture.  Surprisingly we also spend some time talking about neurodiversity and the church.  Neurodiversity is a topic that is near and dear to my heart since I am on the autism spectrum and I’ve been diagnosed with ADHD.  Thanks for reading Church and Main! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 115: The Once and Future United Methodist Church with Drew McIntyre and Ben Gosden

Today, we will talk about what’s going on United Methodist Church, how it got to this point that's it's splitting in two and what is the future of the church. I’m talking with not one, but two guests. Drew McIntryre is a frequent guest on Church and Main and is the pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. Ben Gosden is the Senior Pastor of Trinity United Methodist in Savannah, GA and this is his second time on the podcast. We had a great discussion that is actually broken up into two parts. The main part is about the United Methodists in General and a smaller part talks about the former Bishop and writer Will Willimon, his role in the UMC and what it means to be an institutionalist. One quick note; Ben had some technical issues, which I tried to fix, but if there are still glitches that’s what it is.I hope you enjoyed the episode. Just a reminder that it takes a lot to make great content like this available to you. Consider making donation by going to Church and Main’s website at churchandmain.org.  Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 114: The Digital Church with Jim Keat

In the wake of the 2020 COVID pandemic, churches were forced into the digital frontier whether they liked it or not. But now what? In this episode, I talk to Rev. Jim Keat the Digital Minister at Riverside Church in New York City about the importance of reaching out to those people living across town and across the country who might want to worship with your congregationI hope you enjoyed the episode. Just a reminder that it takes a lot to make great content like this available to you. Consider making donation by going to Church and Main’s website at churchandmain.org. Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 113: The Rise of Deacons with Nina Joygaard

In Methodist, Episcopal and Lutheran traditions the deacon is a specific ministry in the church. Their ministry is different than pastors, focused more on acts of service whereas pastors are focused more on preaching and the sacraments. The word deacon comes from the Greek word diakonos which means “service.” This understanding of the role of a deacon which adheres more to the original understanding found in the book of Acts and in the early church is not always easily understood by people in the pew who might wonder when deacons are going to be pastors. I talk to Deacon Nina Joygaard about the importance of deacons in the local church, what led her to her call as a deacon, the struggles deacons face and the future of the diaconate in the church. Nina the Deacon for Adult Ministry at Faith Lutheran Church in Forest Lake, MN. Show Notes:DOTAC -(Diakonia of the Americas & Caribbean)  https://dotac.diakonia-world.org/Deaconess Community of the ELCA - https://deaconesscommunity.org/Lutheran Diaconal Association - https://thelda.org/Diakonia World Federation - https://diakonia-world.org/churchandmain.org  Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 112: Sabbath-Keeping for Congregations with Kara Root

So the church where I serve is starting an experiment. For the next year, we will be taking sabbath. We won’t be doing some the regular things we used to do and we are focusing on our spiritual walk and then on walk together as a congregation and finally in the spring we focus on the world outside the church. The point of this is to stop, slow down and think about who we are as a congregation moving forward.Today, I chat with Kara Root, the pastor of Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis. She’s been pastor of the congregation for nearly 15 years. We talk about how a year into her call the church did something different. They decided to not worship every Sunday and take a sabbath on the Sundays they didn’t meet for worship. The story is a bit more complicated than that, but it’s a story about how a congregation redefined and renewed itself not through a new program, or a new mission, but by taking time off and not doing things. I had a great time talking with Kara about this concept of sabbath and I hope it will be as exciting for you as well.Besides being the pastor of Lake Nokomis she is also a certified Spiritual Director and Christian Educator in the Presbyterian Church (USA). She’s written for Christianity Today, Christian Century, Working Preacher and many other publications. She is also the author of The Deepest Belonging: A Story of Discovering How God Meets Us and blogs at In the Here and Now.Root Creative: Kara's webs ite that she shares with her husband theologian Andy Root.God and Whiskey Podcast churchandmain.org  Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe