The Alisa Childers Podcast

Holly Pivec and Dr. Doug Geivett join the podcast to talk about their provocative new book outlining the teachings of Bethel Redding, the existence of the New Apostolic Reformation movement, and the influence the movement has on the broader church through its wildly popular worship music. In this episode, Alisa publicly changes her position on singing Bethel songs in church.

In a social media landscape filled with deconstruction stories, here are two encouraging stories of people coming to faith in Christ. Michael Ray Lewis was an atheist who came to faith in Christ after investigating the evidence. He’s now making a documentary about it! Eliza did not grow up Christian, but heard the gospel after a campus ministry reached out to her. Listen as they share their faith journeys.

Natasha Crain joins the podcast today to discuss some common values and beliefs that unite progressive Christians. We use the popular book, If God is Love, Don’t be a Jerk, by John Pavlovitz, a progressive Christian blogger, author, and speaker. This episode is not a book review, but rather, a case study in popular ways progressive Christians define words, identify their key beliefs, and live out their values. We walk through how to apply critical thinking and biblical truth to respond to these ideas. 

Dr. Jeff Myers of Summit Ministries joins the podcast to talk about his new book, Truth Changes Everything. He shares examples of how quirky and determined Christian figures throughout history led the way in human dignity, science, art, medicine, education, politics, justice, and even the idea of meaningful work. He also discusses practical examples of how to engage a post-truth culture with the truth of the gospel. 

In this special LIVE episode of The Alisa Childers Podcast, Dr. Travis Dickinson, Professor of Philosophy at Dallas Baptist University, joined us for another installment of our ask the Professor series. We covered questions such as: Why isn’t God more Obvious? Why did God kill David’s son when the Old Testament says children aren’t to be punished for the sins of their fathers? What does it mean to say Jesus is the word? How can I overcome the existential fear of living forever? What are some good resources to study the cultural background of the Bible? If Jesus is God, why does the Bible say he didn’t know the date of his return? 

A recent study concluded that many Evangelical Christians hold some pretty unbiblical beliefs. About half believe that God changes, half believe that God accepts worship from other religions, and over half believe that humans are born innocent. Dr. Jeremiah Johnston joins the podcast today to unpack these beliefs and several more, including Evangelical beliefs about church membership, the nature of Jesus, sexuality, and the Bible. We talk through what Americans actually believe, how these beliefs affect the gospel, and then we talk through some key Scriptures. Plus, Dr. Johnston gives us an update on the curse tablet found at Mt. Ebal!

Author Rachel Norman joins me to talk about how Christians can have a biblical and balanced view of putting others first while taking care of ourselves. Should we just practice more “self-care” and put our happiness first? Or should Christians take care of themselves so that they have the energy to help others?  Rachel has a popular blog for Christian moms but has so much wisdom to offer Christians in general. Her new book, If Mama Ain’t Happy comes out Oct. 18th.

From the invention of writing to the canon of the Old and New Testaments, the best-selling book of all time, the Bible, has a very interesting history. Who were the scribes who copied the manuscripts? How many manuscripts do we have? When was the Bible canonized? What are some misunderstandings people have about how we got the Bible? Today, Dr. John Mead and Dr. Peter Gurry of the Text and Canon Institute at Phoenix seminary join the podcast to share the amazing story of how we got the Bible and dispel some common rumors. 

Kyle Thompson from the Undaunted Life Podcast joins to talk about the concepts of masculinity and femininity. Are manhood and womanhood simply social constructs or are there innate differences between men and women that are God-ordained and good? Kyle discusses pornography, abortion, modern feminism, toxic masculinity, gender roles, and much more!

This is the episode I’ve wanted to record since starting my podcast in 2017! When we talk about “historic Christianity,” what do we mean? Was early Christianity so theologically diverse that we can’t know what the earliest Christians believed? Historian and New Testament scholar Dr. Gary Habermas joins me to talk about the earliest Christian creeds that predate the New Testament by decades. We discuss the gospel as understood in the first century, as well as the deity of Jesus’ being affirmed by the earliest followers of Christ.