Church and Main

Episode 78: Finding God in the Mundane with Corey Nathan

I know you’re going to enjoy today’s episode with Corey Nathan. We had a wide ranging conversation on theology and culture and life in general. It’s a little different than recent interviews that has a specific focus on an issue. Instead it’s more of a conversation about faith, civility, respect and gratitude.Leave a tip: https://www.tipsmack.com/artist/tipjar/qzuq1Show Notes:Corey’s Podcastwebsite: enroutepodcast.orgLeave a Review: https://ratethispodcast.com/churchandmainEmail: reverendpodcast@gmail.comFacebookTwitterYouTube Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 77: How the War in Ukraine Changes Everything

Today, we are talking about the war between Ukraine and Russia and how it is changing everything. Joining me is Andrew Donaldson, the host of the Heard Tell Podcast. We talk about how this war ends the post Cold War order, about the new order that replaces it, about how leadership will change, how Russia will shape this new order with or without Vladamir Putin and the role of the United States in this new world.Leave a tip: https://www.tipsmack.com/artist/tipjar/qzuq1website: enroutepodcast.orgLeave a Review: https://ratethispodcast.com/churchandmainEmail: reverendpodcast@gmail.comFacebookTwitterYouTubeShow Notes:Hello Cold War II! By Dennis SandersA Prayer for Volodymyr Zelensky by Franklin FoerHeard Tell Podcast Andrew’s Podcast Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 76: From Russia With Loathing with Brian Kaylor

In a few hours or a few days, we might see Russia invade its neighbor to the South, Ukraine. President Biden said intelligence indicates Russian President Vladimir Putin has made up his mind to invade Ukraine and he’s set the capital Kyiv in his sights.In 2016, Putin passed a law that basically made all religions and Christian sects illegal unless they were registered by the government. The Russian Orthodox Church was exempt from this law. In this episode we talk about the state of religious liberty in Russia and Ukraine with Brian Kaylor, the editor of Word and Way magazine.Leave a tip: https://www.tipsmack.com/artist/tipjar/qzuq1website: enroutepodcast.orgLeave a Review: https://ratethispodcast.com/churchandmainEmail: reverendpodcast@gmail.comFacebookTwitterYouTubeShow Notes:The Russian Orthodox Church and Ukraine Wall Street JournalFrom Russia with No Love Word and WayDangerous Dogma Podcast (Brian’s Podcast)Brian Kaylor BioForum 18 Website Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 75: A Year of Living Dangerously

In this solo episode, Dennis talks about the reason China is hosting the Winter Olympics in spite of its horrible human rights record, the frustrations of leading a church at this time and why 1983 was the year the world almost ended and why God isn't coming to save us from the horrors of this world.website: enroutepodcast.orgLeave a Review: https://ratethispodcast.com/churchandmainEmail: reverendpodcast@gmail.comFacebookTwitterYouTubeShow Notes:God Will Not Protect You Why China Is Hosting the Winter Olympics (Video) Wanted: Serious Republicans to Run for Congress Support the Show! https://pod.fan/en-route-journeys-in-faith-and-modern-life Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 74: COVID Isn’t Done With You

We are coming up to the 2 year mark since COVID became a daily part of our lives. With little fanfare, America passed 900,000 lives lost to the virus. After two very long years, everyone is tired. We are tried of wearing masks, we are tired of events canceled, we are tired of the culture war- we are just tired. Journalist Barri Weiss recently proclaimed she was “done with COVID.” But is Weiss right? No, says Methodist Pastor Drew McIntrye. McIntyre is the pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Greensboro, NC and is also the spouse of a doctor. He took to the internet to write a blog post reflecting on COVID and his physician wife. Looking at the pandemic through his wife’s experiences gave him a real-time view of the virus and that view is not pretty. We talk about the problem of ignorance passing as knowledge, selfishness as freedom and what it means to be a person of faith in a time of a pandemic.website: enroutepodcast.orgLeave a Review: https://ratethispodcast.com/churchandmainEmail: reverendpodcast@gmail.comFacebookTwitterYouTubeShow Notes:Married to Medicine in a Pandemic by Drew McIntryeScandal of Jesus and Black Lives Matter Episode with Drew McIntyreGod & Whiskey Podcast Drew’s PodcastThe Problem with COVID Contrarianism by Cathy YoungRise of Omicron Episode with Michael SiegelOn the Coronavirus Episode with Michael SiegelSupport the Show! https://pod.fan/en-route-journeys-in-faith-and-modern-life Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 73: Where Two or Three Are Gathered

If you’re like me, the pastor of a small, declining congregation or a member in such a congregation, no doubt you’ve heard this phrase or some form of it from a member leaving the congregation or a denominational official. Your congregation doesn’t have enough people to survive, so its best that you end the visible ministry of the congregation. But is that the whole story? Is viability based on how many butts are in the pews? How many people do you need to to have a church, anyway. Tracy Barnowe says the answer is two. Two people. Tracey is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and she has made it her mission to help congregations grow, not by using some secretive patented process, but by the age old process of welcoming people when they visit and inviting family and friends to worship with you. If you are in a declining Mainline Protestant congregation, this episode is for you. Tracy will also tell you why you just need two people to be church. Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 72: Make Republicans Govern Again

In this episode, I welcome back Ariel Hill-Davis, the Policy Director for Republican Women for Progress. With populist candidates like JD Vance, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Madison Cawthorn, you have to wonder, can the GOP ever be a serious governing party again. Ariel thinks there’s still a chance and is working to support candidates who have a chance to defeat incumbents like Greene. With Democrats on track to lose the House of Representatives in November, the hope is to have Representatives in the GOP interested in policy and not owning the libs. Is there still hope for the GOP?website: enroutepodcast.orgLeave a Review: https://ratethispodcast.com/churchandmainEmail: reverendpodcast@gmail.comFacebookTwitterYouTubeShow Notes:The GOP might retake Congress in the midterms. Then what? By Grayson QuayNot All Georgia Republicans Want More Marjorie Taylor Greene by Liz SkalkaRepublican Women for Progress HomepagePrevious Episode with Ariel Hill-DavisSupport the Show! https://pod.fan/en-route-journeys-in-faith-and-modern-life Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 71: The Hedge Fund that Ate Sears

We take a break from religion to focus on hedge funds. Hedge funds and private equity firms have an outsized role in the American economy. Some of your favorite stores might have been owned by a hedge fund or private equity firm. Some of these stores still exist, but some don’t. Stores like Shopko, ToysRUs, Payless Show and Sears were all at some point owned by a hedge fund or private equity firm and most of these firms have gone out of business.Coincidence? Jan Weir doesn't think so. Jan Weir is a Canadian litigation attorney in Toronto and he has followed how financial firms like hedge funds and private equity firms have inserted themselves in the economy and how they affect people from the choices we have in the marketplace or lack thereof to your pension fund. We had a great conversation about how these firms are able to do this, how the media and politics ignore what’s going on and what if anything can be done about it.website: enroutepodcast.orgLeave a Review: https://ratethispodcast.com/churchandmainEmail: reverendpodcast@gmail.comYouTube: https://bit.ly/enrouteytShow Notes:How Hedge Fund Billionaires Loot Worker Pensions by Jan WeirHow Greedy Investors Looted Sears Into Bankruptcy by Jan WeirHow Hedge Funds Helped The 1% Profit From The Great Recession by Jan WeirA hedge fund has targeted Kohl's Corp. with an unsolicited $9 billion purchase offer- Milwaukee Journal-SentinelThe Rewards of Poor Performance: CEO, Hedge Fund, and Private Equity Compensation by Dean BakerThe Value of Nothing: Capital versus Growth by Julius KreinWho Killed Sears and Kmart? Podcast EpisodeThe Men Who Are Killing America’s Newspapers by McKay CoppinsSupport the Show! https://pod.fan/en-route-journeys-in-faith-and-modern-life Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 70: All About Side B Christianity

I came to terms with my sexuality about 30 years ago when I was in my twenties. Because I was a Christian, I wanted to understand what it meant to be from a biblical perspective. One of the most formative books I read was Is the Homosexual My Neighbor by Virigina Ramey Mollenkott and Letha Dawson Scanzoni. It provided a theological understanding of being and it helped me understand that God accepted who I was as a man. That led me to ultimately find a good man that became my husband when we married in 2007.When I looked at the scriptures that were used to prohibit same sexual relations, I came to see them as misinterpretations or laws that were no longer in force. But there are Christians who see themselves as but take the prohibitions against literally.These people have a name: Side B Christians. Many of these people come from more traditional or conservative backgrounds. Side B Christians can be misunderstood by “Side A” Christians or Christians who are in same- relationships and are feared by straight people in conservative denominations. Today, I talk with a Side B Christian about his journey and the journey of compatriots. Wes Hill is the Assistant Priest at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Pittsburgh, PA and an Associate Professor in New Testament at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, MI.website: enroutepodcast.orgLeave a Review: https://ratethispodcast.com/churchandmainYouTube: https://bit.ly/enrouteytShow Notes:Side B Christians Like Me Are An Asset Not a Threat by Bekah MasonWhat Comes After the Ex- Movement? The Same Thing That Came Before. By Greg JohnsonRevoice and the Vocation of Yes by Wes HillLove, Again by Wes HillBeyond religious life and marriage: A look at friendship as vocation by Eve TushnetSupport the Show! https://pod.fan/en-route-journeys-in-faith-and-modern-life Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 69: Drawing Is Seeing with Steve Thomason

Today we are chatting with Lutheran pastor Steve Thomason, who also happens to be an artist. Steve loves to draw and paint and it has been his passion since he was a child. He is the author and artist behind the cartoonist guide to the Bible. Steve is on a mission to use his art to tell the story of faith. “It is my mission to use art to create resources that help people grow deeper in God's love,” he says on his website. In the episode, we talk about how he became an artist, how he became a pastor and how the two passions intersect.website: enroutepodcast.orgLeave a Review: https://ratethispodcast.com/churchandmainYouTube: https://bit.ly/enrouteytShow Notes:A Cartoonist’s Guide to the Bible websiteSteve’s websiteSupport the Show! https://pod.fan/en-route-journeys-in-faith-and-modern-life Get full access to Church and Main at churchandmain.substack.com/subscribe