282. What Churches Should Learn from Religious Scandals

“There has never been a better day to plant churches than now in the Assemblies of God.”

Mike McCrary recently made that statement in a presentation to the employees of the AG national office. I was so impressed by the presentation that I invited him to join me on the Influence Podcast.

So, in this episode, I talk to him about why he thinks that’s the case. Along the way, we also talk about why America needs more churches, church planting myths, and how every church — even already existing churches — can support church multiplication.

I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Mike McCrary, D.Min., is national director of Funding and Strategic Partnerships for the Church Multiplication Network of the Assemblies of God, an ordained AG minister, and a longtime friend.

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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.

Bible Engagement Project equips churches with free curriculum for preschool, kids, youth, and adults, available in both English and Spanish. The curriculum library provides you with discipleship resources that transform lives and anchor your church in the Bible.

Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to create your free account.

“The first Christians were weird,” writes Nijay Gupta. “I am not talking about their clothing, music preferences, or hobbies. When I say ‘weird’ or ‘strange,’ I am talking about deviation from cultural norms and society’s expectations for how things ought to be done. Especially when it came to religion … the Christians were as backwards and as odd as you could be.”

Well, that’s how the Romans viewed them anyway.

In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk to Gupta about how Christianity deviated from Roman cultural norms and expectations, and why Romans viewed them as weird and dangerous — but also compelling.

I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Nijay Gupta, Ph.D., is professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary, a Pauline scholar, and most recently author of Strange Religion: How the First Christians Were Weird, Dangerous, and Compelling, published by Brazos Press.

We talked about his previous book, Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church, published by IVP Academic, in Episode 315 of the Influence Podcast.

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This episode of the Influence podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of MEGA Sports Camp.

The MEGA Sports Camp theme for 2024 is Blaze a Trail. This VBS invites kids to live an adventure with Jesus. Kids will learn that Jesus blazed the trail for our salvation, and as they follow Jesus, they can live their own adventure that points people to Him.

For more information about MEGA Sports Camp VBS, visit MEGASportsCamp.com.

“The complex challenges and demands faced by today’s leaders will not be overcome by simply applying administrative techniques or business best practices,” writes Justin A. Irving. “Today’s leaders need something more — they need wisdom to lead their communities through complex times.”

In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk to Irving about what that wisdom looks like in terms of self-leadership; people and teams; organizational dynamics, especially culture; and external dynamics, including crises and change.

I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Justin Irving, Ph.D., is Duke K. McCall Professor of Christian Leadership and chair of the department of Leadership and Discipleship at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, as well as author of Healthy Leadership for Thriving Organizations, published in 2023 by Baker Academic.

He and Mark Strauss wrote “Humility and the Celebrity Leader,” the cover story of the November/December 2019 issue of Influence magazine.

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This episode of the Influence podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of MEGA Sports Camp.

The MEGA Sports Camp theme for 2024 is Blaze a Trail. This VBS invites kids to live an adventure with Jesus. Kids will learn that Jesus blazed the trail for our salvation, and as they follow Jesus, they can live their own adventure that points people to Him.

For more information about MEGA Sports Camp VBS, visit MEGASportsCamp.com.

On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Roe v. Wade, effectively overturning numerous state laws against abortion and legalizing the practice throughout the land.

That decision stood until June 24, 2022, when the Supreme Court reversed itself in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and overturned Roe. This didn’t end the abortion debate, however. Rather, it returned the debates about whether and how to restrict abortion to the states. Ever since, Americans have engaged in a renewed, vigorous debate about what the law should say about abortion.

This past Monday was the 51^st anniversary of Roe, and therefore a good occasion to talk about abortion from a Christian perspective.

So, in this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Allen Tennison about the Assemblies of God’s stance on the sanctity of life, which begins in the womb.

I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. (Influence is published by the Assemblies of God.)

Allen Tennison, Ph.D., is theological counsel of The General Council of the Assemblies of God, chair of its Commission on Doctrines and Practices, and an ordained AG minister.

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This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project.

Bible Engagement Project equips churches with free curriculum for preschool, kids, youth, and adults, available in both English and Spanish. The curriculum library provides you with discipleship resources that transform lives and anchor your church in the Bible.

Visit BibleEngagementProject.com to create your free account.

In their new book, Faith Beyond Youth Group, Kara Powell, Jen Bradbury and Brad M. Griffin offer this startling statistic about students’ faith after high school graduation:

“While spiritual and religious activity under age eighteen seems to slightly increase the odds of faith lasting after youth group, a compilation of studies indicates that about 40 to 50 percent of youth group kids drift from God and the faith community after graduation.”

In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Kara Powell about how churches can address this problem by cultivating lifelong faith in youth.

I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Kara Powell, Ph.D., is executive director of the Fuller Youth Institute, a faculty member at Fuller Theological Seminary, where she also serves as Fuller’s chief of leadership formation. A credentialed Assemblies of God minister, she is author or coauthor of numerous books about ministry to youth.

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This episode of the Influence podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, a distributor of In Jesus’ Name.

In this book, Rick DuBose shows the path back to five forgotten altars — and ultimately, the path to your place in heaven's throne room. Full of real-world application and encouraging inspiration, this book will prepare you to pray with humble authority that moves heaven — and unleashes victory here on earth.

For more information about In Jesus’ Name, visit MyHealthyChurch.com.

“An intentional prayer life is the nonnegotiable constant of lasting, fruitful Christian life and ministry,” write Ryan Skoog, Peter Greer and Cameron Doolittle in Lead with Prayer.

Unfortunately, most Christian leaders report having lackluster prayer lives. A 2005 study by Lifeway Resources found that just 16% of pastors are “very satisfied” with their prayer lives. A 2021 Lifeway study found that 72% percent struggle with consistent personal prayer.

Lead with Prayer aims to help Christian leaders narrow the gap between what they aspire to do and what they actually do by showing them how to prioritize prayer, grow in prayerfulness, and build a culture of prayer in their organizations.

Those are also the topics I’m talking to Ryan Skoog about in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Ryan Skoog is cofounder and president of Venture, a Christian ministry to “the least reached and least resourced” parts of the world that partners with “local leaders in those communities to end some of the world’s greatest injustices.”

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This episode of the Influence podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of MEGA Sports Camp.

The MEGA Sports Camp theme for 2024 is Blaze a Trail. This VBS invites kids to live an adventure with Jesus. Kids will learn that Jesus blazed the trail for our salvation, and as they follow Jesus, they can live their own adventure that points people to Him.

For more information about MEGA Sports Camp VBS, visit MEGASportsCamp.com.

William E. Vaughan once wrote, “An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.”

There’s a lot of truth in Vaughan’s statement. Opportunities abound in 2024. What are we doing to welcome them? No doubt there will also be challenges to face, however. The crucial question is how do we face them both and make progress at the same time?

In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Doug Clay about big events, challenges opportunities the Assemblies of God faces in the coming year. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Doug Clay is general superintendent of the Assemblies of God.

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This episode of the Influence podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of MEGA Sports Camp.

The MEGA Sports Camp theme for 2024 is Blaze a Trail. This vacation Bible school program invites kids to live an adventure with Jesus. Kids will learn that Jesus blazed the trail for our salvation, and as they follow Jesus, they can live their own adventure that points people to Him.

For more information about MEGA Sports Camp VBS, visit MEGASportsCamp.com.

January 7–13, 2024 is the 82^nd Annual Assemblies of God Week of Prayer.

The theme verse of the week is Habakkuk 3:2: “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.”

For more information about this event, as well as for daily prayer points, print resources, free downloads, and videos, visit WeekOfPrayer.AG.org.

In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Joe Oden about how prayer ignites revival and catalyzes spiritual awakening. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Joe Oden, D.Min, is an ordained Assemblies of God minister, national prayer and evangelism director for the AG, director of its World Prayer Center, and evangelism commission chair for the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America. He is author of Prayer That Ignites Revival, forthcoming from Chosen Books in April 2024.

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This episode of the Influence podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, a distributor of In Jesus’ Name.

In this book, Rick DuBose shows the path back to five forgotten altars — and ultimately, the path to your place in heaven's throne room. Full of real-world application and encouraging inspiration, this book will prepare you to pray with humble authority that moves heaven — and unleashes victory here on earth.

For more information about In Jesus’ Name, visit MyHealthyChurch.com.

This is part two of my conversation with Craig Keener about the historicity of the details of Jesus’ birth.

According to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Christ’s birth was attended by many miracles: angelic visitations, prophetic dreams, the miraculous birth of John the Baptist, and the virginal conception of Christ himself. The first Christmas, then, was a thoroughly supernatural event.

Those miraculous elements have led many to question whether Jesus was born the way the Gospels say He was.

In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I conclude my conversation with Craig Keener about whether Christmas really happened. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Craig Keener, Ph.D., is the  F.M. and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, and an ordained AG minister. He is author of numerous books on the historicity of the New Testament, including The Historical Jesus of the Gospels, Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts, and Christobiography: Memory, History, and the Reliability of the Gospels,

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This episode of the Influence podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Life of Jesus.

With this 12-part series, the life of Jesus will come alive in your heart as you examine His teachings in their cultural, historical, geographical, and spiritual context. The series includes 12 study videos, study guides, and full sermons.

For more information about Life of Jesus, visit TheCHLS.org/LifeofJesus.

According to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, the birth of Jesus Christ was attended by many miracles: angelic visitations, prophetic dreams, the miraculous birth of John the Baptist, and the virginal conception of Christ himself. The first Christmas, then, was a thoroughly supernatural event.

Those miraculous elements have led many to question whether Jesus was born the way the Gospels say He was, however.

In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Craig Keener about whether Christmas really happened. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.

Craig Keener, Ph.D., is the  F.M. and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, and an ordained AG minister. He is author of numerous books on the historicity of the New Testament, including The Historical Jesus of the Gospels, Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts, and Christobiography: Memory, History, and the Reliability of the Gospels.

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This episode of the Influence podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Life of Jesus.

With this 12-part series, the life of Jesus will come alive in your heart as you examine His teachings in their cultural, historical, geographical, and spiritual context. The series includes 12 study videos, study guides, and full sermons.

For more information about Life of Jesus, visit TheCHLS.org/LifeofJesus.