More than 360 million Christians face high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith in Jesus. Jared Vander Meulen from Open Doors Canada joins Matt to talk about what severe persecution looks like in the most difficult countries in the world to be a Christian and what Christians in the West can do to support them. This conversation is humbling, inspiring, heavy, and will equip you to pray effectively for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ. ABOUT Open Doors Canada is a ministry that seeks to strengthen Christians where faith costs the most. As promised, here are links to the resources we referenced in the episode:  The World Watch List, Sahar’s story on persecution and gender, and the Prayer resources.

Matt had Joshua Ryan Butler back on the podcast to talk about his latest book, Beautiful Union. About 48 hours after Matt’s interview with Josh in early March, a social media firestorm erupted when an excerpt of Beautiful Union was released on The Gospel Coalition website (that has since been removed). Pushback about Josh’s unpacking of the biblical analogy between Christ and the Church came swift and strong, some calling it dangerous and others simply calling it gross. The uncharitable way in which people lambasted Josh aside, Matt believes that the evangelical church has a lot to learn from a more robust (and beautiful) theology of sex. So give it a listen and let us know what you think! ABOUT Joshua Ryan Butler is the author of Beautiful Union, The Pursuing God, The Skeletons in God’s Closet, and co-author of the forthcoming The Party Crasher. He loves shifting paradigms, to help people who wrestle with tough topics of the Christian faith by confronting popular caricatures and replacing them with the real thing. He has served as a Lead Pastor of Redemption, Tempe for the last number of years. You can find out more about Josh and his ministry here. Matt refers to an episode of the Theology in the Raw podcast that can be found here.

Conversations around human sexuality are some of the most sensitive and complex in our culture today and around the church more specifically. Sam Allberry is a celibate, same-sex-attracted pastor/theologian who has written extensively and spoken all over the world on these topics. In this conversation, Matt chats with Sam Allberry about the tenth anniversary edition of Is God-Anti Gay? and 7 Myths About Singleness. Is God Anti-Gay? is a sensitive exploration of the Bible’s teaching on sexuality that's been written to help both Christians and non-Christians struggling with the Bible's teaching on this issue, and how the gospel is good news for everyone, whatever their sexual orientation. In  7 Myths About Singleness, Sam seeks to help Christians—married and unmarried alike—value singleness as a gift from God so that we can all encourage singles to take hold of the unique opportunities their singleness affords and see their role in the flourishing of the church as a whole. ABOUT Sam Allberry is a pastor, apologist, author and speaker. He speaks throughout the world at conferences, has recently transitioned from pastoring in the UK to a church in Nashville, TN, co-hosts a podcast with Ray Ortlund called, You’re Not Crazy: Gospel Sanity for Young Pastors, is a Canon Theologian for the Anglican Church in North America, is a Senior Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, and was named a Fellow at the recently launched Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. He is the author of a number of books, including Is God Anti-Gay?; What God Has to Say About Our Bodies; Why Does God Care Who I Sleep With?; 7 Myths about Singleness; a commentary on the Book of James; and Why Bother With Church?

Here we go! We’re fascinated by the supernatural. Ghost stories, shows like Stranger Things, super hero movies with villains of cosmic proportions all intrigue us. But when it comes to the spiritual realm that the Bible describes we tend to either ignore that reality completely or have an unhealthy obsession with it. While we need not spend much time thinking about Satan and the demonic (far better to fixate on Jesus than the devil), it is important to have a biblical understanding of Satan, demons, and spiritual warfare. So Matt gets Dr. Gerry Breshears on the line to fill us in. Links referenced in the episode: Live No Lies (John Mark Comer); 3 Crucial Questions About Spiritual Warfare (Clint Arnold); Gerry Breshears resources ABOUT Dr. Gerry Breshears has been Professor of Theology at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon for over 40 years, served on the board and as consultant for the Bible Project, trained and mentored countless Christian leaders, co-wrote Doctrine, Death By Love, and A Gracious Theology (forthcoming) and speaks at conferences such as Exiles in Babylon this March.

In any given year, 1 in 5 Canadians experiences a mental illness. By the time Canadians reach 40 years of age, 1 in 2 have – or have had – a mental illness (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 2022). What does God and the Bible say about mental illness and how can we make churches places where those who struggle with mental health conditions are welcomed, understood, nurtured, and supported: a foretaste of the new creation. Matt interviews Helen Thorne, Director of Training and Resources at Biblical Counselling UK and co-author of the new book, Mental Health and Your Church. *If you are struggling in your mental health, please reach out to your local church, a loved one, or reach out to Talk Suicide Canada or CASP to speak with someone right away. ABOUT Helen Thorne is Director of Training and Resources at Biblical Counselling UK. She formerly worked with the London City Mission and has written Hope in an Anxious World: 6 Truths For When Things Feel Overwhelming; Purity is Possible: How To Live Free of the Fantasy Trap; Walking with Domestic Abuse Sufferers; and 5 Things to Pray for Your City: Prayers That Change Things For Your Church, Community, and Culture. Mental Health and Your Church: A Handbook for Biblical Care with co-author, Dr. Steve Midgley releases March 1, 2023.

A Deep Thought is a concise episode on a particular aspect of the Christian faith that we sprinkle in between full-length episodes. This one's on Faith & Politics and is a sermon Matt did at Central Community Church in the summer of 2021, entitled “Shaped By The Gospel: Politics". It serves as a helpful follow up and compliment to episode 72 and is something of "a theology of politics". It is not a partisan pitch but a vision for engaging politics Christianly.

In this episode Matt sits down with former Member of Parliament Chuck Strahl to talk about Faith & Politics. ABOUT Chuck Strahl was elected to the House of Commons in 1993 and was re-elected in 6 consecutive elections before retiring from Parliament. He filled a number of Parliamentary roles while in Opposition from 1993 to 2006, including House Leader and Deputy Speaker. Upon Stephen Harper’s Conservatives winning the election, he served in several senior roles including Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, and Minister of Transport and Infrastructure. Chuck is a man of deep conviction and faith, resides in Chilliwack (where Matt lives & Pastor) and is an elder in his church. *Disclaimer: There is no partisan agenda here. While Chuck was a Conservative Party MP, his experience as a politician and man of faith is what makes him the ideal guest for this subject matter.

Matt gets Russ Ramsey on the line to talk about art and faith. What is the role of art in the world? In other words, what’s the point of being creative and why is beauty itself important? Russ’s new book, Rembrandt Is In The Wind: Learning to Love Art Through the Eyes of Faith, helps us explore all of this while focusing on some of the most famous artists and pieces of art throughout history. Not only does Russ describe the work of Rembrandt, for example, but the faith of Rembrandt as well. Christians, especially in the Protestant (and more specifically, the evangelical tradition) would do well to wrap our minds and hearts around the place of art in life and faith. ABOUT Russ is a pastor and author living in Nashville, Tennessee. His books include Struck: One Christian’s Reflections on Encountering Death, and the Retelling the Story Series. His personal mission is to communicate the truths of Scripture in accessible ways to people in process. Aside from his books, Russ has written for The Rabbit Room, She Reads Truth, The Gospel Coalition, Crossway, The Art House, Lifeway, Parenting Teens, Dec 2015, The Blazing Center, among others. Follow Russ on Twitter @russramsey or Instagram @russramsey1 to fill your timeline with beautiful works of art, which will be a nice change from what usually clogs our timelines! You can access his weekly Art Wednesday column by going to artwednesday.fathomcolumns.com.

Matt gets Australia’s sweetheart—John Dickson—on the line to talk primarily about his book, Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History. Host of the Undeceptions podcast and professor of ancient history, John does not shy away from the blemishes in Christian history, nor the beauty in it. Matt also asks what we can learn from church history in our modern moment. ABOUT Dr John Dickson works as an author, academic, and media presenter. In 2007 he co-founded (with Dr Greg Clarke) the Centre for Public Christianity, and has published 18 books and three TV documentaries. He teaches ‘Historical Jesus’ at the University of Sydney, and is a Visiting Academic (2016-2021) in the Faculty of Classics at the University of Oxford. In 2019 he was appointed Distinguished Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Public Christianity at Ridley College, Melbourne. In all that he does, whether in the media or the church, creative or academic, he strives to be a public advocate for the Christian faith. His podcast Undeceptions seeks to promote clarity about Christianity in doubting times.

Recent Barna research reveals that 38% of Protestant Pastors (51% of Mainline Pastors) thought about quitting full-time ministry this past year. Tensions over politics, race, and covid have caused enormous divisions in society and have seemed to ramp up the discouragement of pastors in the process. That’s why Jonathan Dodson’s new book—and this conversation—are such a timely word and breath of fresh air. If you are a pastor or want a window into recent challenges in pastoral ministry or simply relate to all the tensions and divisions of the past two years, you’ll love this conversation. ABOUT Jonathan Dodson is the founding pastor of City Life Church in Austin, TX and is also the founder of Gospel-Centered Discipleship, which produces resources to help make, mature, and multiply disciples of Jesus. He is author of a number of books including Here in Spirit; The Unbelievable Gospel; and the brand new book that is the focus of this episode, The Unwavering Pastor. Just about any week you can catch Jonathan listening to M. Ward, watching sci-fi, and going for walks.