Are Sacraments for Mission?

Are sacraments for those outside the church? Are sacraments for those coming in or going out? Can something that’s not a sacrament be sacramental? Ranging across topics, David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw have two guests on—Ben Sternke and Matt Tebbe of Gravity Leadership—to talk about the role of sacraments in mission.
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Going Deep in APEST? with Alan Hirsch

APEST: Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd, and Teacher. But do these functions or callings go even deeper than personal calling and church organization? David Fitch talks with Alan Hirsch about Hirsch’s new book, 5Q: Reactivating the Original Intelligence and Capacity of the Body of Christ.
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Seminary Dropout 180 – John Mark McMillan, Talks Creativity, Minivans, and His New Album “Mercury & Lightning”

Our Sponsor: Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
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Seminary Dropout 179 – Amena Brown, Author of “How to Fix a Broken Record” on Poetry, Marriage, and Princesses

Our Sponsor: Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
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Episode 029: Take A Knee?

In 2016, NFL players (and others) began taking a knew during the Star Spangled Banner in protest of police violence against unarmed black men. A year later, that protest has become conflated with America’s military and Veterans?
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Seminary Dropout 178 – Bruxy Cavey, Author of “Reunion: The Good News of Jesus for Seekers, Saints, and Sinners”

Our Sponsor: Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
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Seminary Dropout 177 – Tara Beth Leach, Author of Emboldened: A Vision for Empowering Women in Ministry

Our Sponsor: Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
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Seminary Dropout 176 – Kelley Nikondeha, Talks about Being Adopted, Adopting, & the Biblical Narrative of Adoption

*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org Our Sponsor:  Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
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5 Episodes of Seminary Dropout to Listen to Leading up to SheLeads this Saturday

Have you registered? SheLeads is this Saturday! To celebrate I’m looking back at 5 episodes of Seminary Dropout that you should listen to leading up to SheLeads. 1. Episode 171 – Mandy Smith, Author of ‘The Vulnerable Pastor’ and Director of SheLeads 2017 Originally from Australia, Mandy Smith is lead pastor of University Christian Church, a campus and neighborhood congregation with its own fair-trade café in Cincinnati, Ohio.
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Seminary Dropout 175 – Monique & Vito Aiuto of The Welcome Wagon, on Their New Album: Light Up The Stairs

Our Sponsor: Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
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Seminary Dropout 174 – Dennis R. Edwards, Part 2: on his 1 Peter Commentary, and the Underrepresentation of People of Color in Christian Academia

Our Sponsor: Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
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Seminary Dropout 173 – Dennis R. Edwards, Part 1: on the Struggles of Being a Black Person in a Predominantly White Seminary as a Student & Professor, and the Difficulties of Truly Multicultural Churches

Our Sponsor: Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
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Seminary Dropout 172 – Michelle Ferrigno Warren, Author of ‘The Power of Proximity: Moving Beyond Awareness to Action’

Our Sponsor: Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
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Seminary Dropout 171 – Mandy Smith, Author of ‘The Vulnerable Pastor’ and Director of SheLeads 2017

Our Sponsors: Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.
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Seminary Dropout 160 – Karen Swallow Prior: Abortion in the USA

  Our sponsor: Compassion International Check out the new(ish) podcast OnRamp This Week on Seminary Dropout… Karen Swallow Prior is professor of English at Liberty University, Research Fellow with the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, a member of the Faith Advisory Council of the Humane Society of the United States, and a regular contributor to Christianity Today’s Her.meneutics.
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5 Challenges Facing the Church

What do the issues of power, justice, culture, and Jesus have in common? They are all things that church needs to figure out how to relate to! Professors David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw talk about the 5 Challenges Facing the church as a sneak preview of the upcoming “Theology and Mission Lectures” with Stanley Hauerwas (WHICH YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS).
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Episode 025: Rob Bell LOVES The Bible

Sean and John sit down with best-selling author, provocateur, and Christian thinker, Rob Bell. More than talking about Rob’s newest book, WHAT IS THE BIBLE?, Sean, John, and Rob talk ministry in the 21st-Century, what happens when you grow in your understanding of God, burning down the house, wearing the same clothes on tour, the nature of truth, and much much more.
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Seminary Dropout 157- Tish Harrison Warren & Jonathan Warren: A Biblical, Historical, and Pastoral Defense of Women in Ministry

*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org Our sponsor: Compassion International Check out the new(ish) podcast OnRamp Tish Harrison Warren & Jonathan Warren talking about women in ministry and ordination. William Witt’s articles on women and holy orders: http://willgwitt.org/category/theology/womens-ordination William Webb, Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals John Stackhouse, Finally Feminist Ben Witherington, Women in the Earliest Christian Churches NT Wright’s essay on women in holy orders: http://ntwrightpage.com/2016/07/12/womens-service-in-the-church-the-biblical-basis/ Kevin Madigan, Ordained Women in the Early Church Gary Macy’s Hidden History of Women’s Ordination Gordon Hugenberger’s ‘Women in Church Office’ essay.
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Jesus’ Death: What Kind of Substitution?

Is Jesus’ death a substitute for our penalty? Or does his substitution work in a different way? After David Fitch gets a little coffee (he needed it so bad he was stuttering), he and Geoff Holsclaw about the death of Jesus, the different ways of understanding it as a substitute, and what it means for the gospel.  
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What is the Benedict Option?

Should Christians withdraw from a hostile culture? David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw discuss Rod Dreher’s “Benedict Option” as a Christian response to American culture. While appreciative, Dave and Geoff offer points of concern and criticism.
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Against Antagonisms?

Can we find peace in a polarizing world? Can we cultivate true dialogue in a defensive world? David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw talk about living on the thin line between stoking and reenforcing the cultural and political antagonisms of our day, and the need for staying alert to injustices in the world.
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Returning to Joy in a Troubled World

  How is joy a source of strength? Why was it joy for Jesus to endure the cross? Is joy just happy-clappy sentimentality? Mandy Smith and Scott Jones join Geoff Holsclaw to talk about the need to return to joy.
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Episode 021: Race in America

Sean and John, in partnership with The Lookout Magazine, talk race relations in America. Recorded specifically for The Lookout, this is a primer for those interested in where we are in terms of race in America and around the world and the church’s role.
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Episode 20: The Tension of Trump

Only half of eligible American voters opted-in during the 2016 election. Half of those people elected Donald Trump the 45th President of the United States. That means only 25% of Americans choose, through direct action, for Trump to be President. 
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Not So Black & White 018: Liturgy! Who Needs It?

What’s the deal with Advent? When does Christmas actually begin? What’s Lent for? What’s Ordinary Time? Isn’t the Liturgical Calendar just a leftover vestige of Catholicism and Christendom? Many folks who grow up in “free church traditions” don’t understand the liturgical calendar or why anyone would bother with it.
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Episode 017: Election Aftermath

So how are you feeling after Donald Trump’s electoral victory? Ready to call him “President-Elect” or does the thought of it make you want to curl into the fetal position? Are you happy or stung by the fact that 81% of “evangelicals” (whatever that means) supported Trump?
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Aliens and Exiles (with Dennis Edwards)

Do you need a 1st Century Church Planting Manual? Or, What does 1 Peter teach us about being faithful to Jesus? David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw talk with Dennis Edwards, a pastor and scholar, about exiles, the vocation of the church, and submitting to all human institutions (and what that might mean).
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A Lot Has Been Going On

A lot has been going on. Sometimes the best thing to do is listen. With so much going on in America, Geoff Holsclaw and David Fitch slow down and talk with two area ministers, Juliet Liu Waite and Greg Armstrong, about what they are seeing, feeling, and experiencing, and how the future of the church is multiracial leadership.
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