Gravity Commons Podcast

We finish (for now) our series on Mental Health and the Church with some reflections and questions we have about how faith and therapy relate: how they overlap and intersect, how they differ, and how to hold onto both.Connect with Gravity LeadershipLeave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.Join our online community for free to get a curated list of interesting and edifying links each week, plus all kinds of other goodies.Check out the Gravity Commons, a place to connect and learn with others in the Gravity community.Check out Gravity Leadership Academy, our 12-month training intensive for Christian leaders who want to bring lasting transformation to their culture.Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Leadership Podcast? Contact us at podcast@gravityleadership.com.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gravity-leadership-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

We continue our series on Mental Health and the Church with our own stories and experiences with therapy and mental health: good, bad and ugly.Connect with Gravity LeadershipLeave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.Join our online community for free to get a curated list of interesting and edifying links each week, plus all kinds of other goodies.Check out the Gravity Commons, a place to connect and learn with others in the Gravity community.Check out Gravity Leadership Academy, our 12-month training intensive for Christian leaders who want to bring lasting transformation to their culture.Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Leadership Podcast? Contact us at podcast@gravityleadership.com.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gravity-leadership-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

We continue our series on Mental Health and the Church with a few MORE myths you sent us in response to last week's episode, plus a conversation with some practical tips on how to be a "resonating witness" for others in conversations about mental health.Connect with Gravity LeadershipLeave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.Join our online community for free to get a curated list of interesting and edifying links each week, plus all kinds of other goodies.Check out the Gravity Commons, a place to connect and learn with others in the Gravity community.Check out Gravity Leadership Academy, our 12-month training intensive for Christian leaders who want to bring lasting transformation to their culture.Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Leadership Podcast? Contact us at podcast@gravityleadership.com.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gravity-leadership-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Today we start a new series on Mental Health and the Church. Christianity in the US has had an uneasy history with the topic of mental health and illness, and we'd like to learn to integrate our faith with the best of what we're learning about mental health.This first episode deals with 5 common Christian myths about mental illness that need to be exposed and rejected if we're going to make any progress. Here are the myths we talk about:Christians Can’t Be Mentally IllThe Cure for Mental Illness Is PrayerDepressed or Anxious Christians Are SinfulSpiritually Healthy Christians Are Mentally HealthyMentally Ill Christians Just Need Biblical Counseling*Show Notes:Our article that lists the 5 myths we discussed on today's episode: Mental Health & the ChurchConnect with Gravity LeadershipLeave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.Join our online community for free to get a curated list of interesting and edifying links each week, plus all kinds of other goodies.Check out the Gravity Commons, a place to connect and learn with others in the Gravity community.Check out Gravity Leadership Academy, our 12-month training intensive for Christian leaders who want to bring lasting transformation to their culture.Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Leadership Podcast? Contact us at podcast@gravityleadership.com.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gravity-leadership-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Deconstruction: is it just a trendy brand name for falling away from belief in God? Or a process essential to authentic faith? Is it liberation or trauma? Prison break or exile? Well, Bradley Jersak joins us again to say... it's complicated (just like you!). We talk with Bradley about the themes of his latest book Out of the Embers: Faith After the Great Deconstruction, which explores the necessity, perils, and possibilities of "The Great Deconstruction."Bradley Jersak is the Dean of Theology & Culture, a graduate studies program at St. Stephen's University in New Brunswick, Canada. He also serves as an editor at CWRmagazine and Clarion-Journal.com. Bradley and his wife, Eden, have lived in the Abbotsford area of British Columbia since 1988, where they served as pastors and church planters for twenty years. Bradley is the author of a number of nonfiction and fiction books, including A More Christlike Word,  A More Christlike God, A More Christlike Way, Her Gates Will Never Be Shut, Can You Hear Me?: Tuning in to the God Who Speaks, and The Pastor: A Crisis.You can connect with Bradley and see what he's up to on his website: bradjersak.com.Show Notes:We mentioned Bradley's article "The Meeting Place: Facilitating Encounters with God".Connect with Gravity LeadershipLeave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.Join our online community for free to get a curated list of interesting and edifying links each week, plus all kinds of other goodies.Check out the Gravity Commons, a place to connect and learn with others in the Gravity community.Check out Gravity Leadership Academy, our 12-month training intensive for Christian leaders who want to bring lasting transformation to their culture.Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Leadership Podcast? Contact us at podcast@gravityleadership.com.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gravity-leadership-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Throughout Holy Week, two competing approaches to peacemaking collide: the way of Jesus and the way of the religious and political elite. What if we're investing our lives in the wrong approach? What if—despite clinging to the cross of Christ for our salvation—we’ve actually embraced a different approach to peacemaking? One that justifies killing enemies. One whose methods include nailing criminals to crosses.Jason Porterfield joins us to talk about these questions, which are central to his book Fight Like Jesus: How Jesus Waged Peace throughout Holy Week, a day-by-day walk through Jesus’ final week that helps readers discover anew why he is called the Prince of Peace.Jason Porterfield holds a masters in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary and has worked in Indonesia and Vancouver, CA with Servants, an international network of Christian communities living and ministering among the urban poor. His previous work includes the ebook 100 Early Christian Quotes on Not Killing which you can get a free copy of directly from his website JasonPorterfield.com.Connect with Gravity LeadershipLeave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.Join our online community for free to get a curated list of interesting and edifying links each week, plus all kinds of other goodies.Check out the Gravity Commons, a place to connect and learn with others in the Gravity community.Check out Gravity Leadership Academy, our 12-month training intensive for Christian leaders who want to bring lasting transformation to their culture.Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Leadership Podcast? Contact us at podcast@gravityleadership.com.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gravity-leadership-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Father Richard Rohr has said that "all great spirituality is somehow about letting go." But what does that mean, and how does it actually work? How is this "letting go" different from not caring? Kevin Sweeney joins us to talk about this dynamic, which is the theme of his new book The Joy of Letting Go: How One Thing Has the Power to Change Everything.Kevin Sweeney was co-founder and lead pastor of Imagine Church—an urban church in Honolulu—for the past decade. He recently closed down this community. He is the host of podcast The Church Needs Therapy and is the author of the books, The Making of a Mystic: My Journey with Mushrooms, My Life as a Pastor, and Why It’s Okay For Everyone to Relax, and The Joy of Letting Go. He lives In Honolulu with his wife and co-founder of Imagine, Christine, and their two kids, True and Mikayla.Show notes:Having the Mind of Christ Discipleship Workshop - Chesterton, IN - Jan 27-28Connect with Gravity LeadershipLeave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.Join our online community for free to get a curated list of interesting and edifying links each week, plus all kinds of other goodies.Check out the Gravity Commons, a place to connect and learn with others in the Gravity community.Check out Gravity Leadership Academy, our 12-month training intensive for Christian leaders who want to bring lasting transformation to their culture.Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Leadership Podcast? Contact us at podcast@gravityleadership.com.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gravity-leadership-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Lots of Christians have a complicated relationship with the Old Testament. It can seem arcane and boring, and even offensive in its depictions of God. Eric Seibert joins us to talk about an approach to reading the Old Testament that helps us actually enjoy it.His most recent book is Enjoying the Old Testament: A Creative Guide to Encountering Scripture.Dr. Eric Seibert is a professor of OT at Messiah Univ and has served as the president of the Eastern Great Lakes Biblical Society. His most recent books are The Violence of Scripture: Overcoming the OT's Troubling Legacy and Disarming the Church: Why Christians Must Forsake Violence to Follow Jesus and Change the World.Connect with Gravity LeadershipLeave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.Join our online community for free to get a curated list of interesting and edifying links each week, plus all kinds of other goodies.Check out the Gravity Commons, a place to connect and learn with others in the Gravity community.Check out Gravity Leadership Academy, our 12-month training intensive for Christian leaders who want to bring lasting transformation to their culture.Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Leadership Podcast? Contact us at podcast@gravityleadership.com.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gravity-leadership-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Sociologist Lisa Weaver Swartz joins us to talk how gender and power work in American evangelicalism, beyond the level of policies, theological positions, and aspirations. Her book Stained Glass Ceilings: How Evangelicals Do Gender and Practice Power explores this dynamic by examining the formation of evangelical leaders in two seminary communities, one complementarian (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) and one egalitarian (Asbury Theological Seminary).Lisa Weaver Swartz holds a PhD from the University of Notre Dame. She lives in the bluegrass region of Kentucky where she teaches sociology and writes about gender and religion. You can connect with her via her website.Connect with Gravity LeadershipLeave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.Join our online community for free to get a curated list of interesting and edifying links each week, plus all kinds of other goodies.Check out the Gravity Commons, a place to connect and learn with others in the Gravity community.Check out Gravity Leadership Academy, our 12-month training intensive for Christian leaders who want to bring lasting transformation to their culture.Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Leadership Podcast? Contact us at podcast@gravityleadership.com.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gravity-leadership-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

What can we do to combat the misinformation that's impacting the people we care about and dividing our communities? Life and politics in the US are suffering from a raging knowledge crisis, and the church is no exception. Experienced journalist and author Bonnie Kristian helps us unpack this crisis and explore ways to combat it in our own lives, families, and church communities.These are the themes of Bonnie's new book Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community. Drawing from her extensive experience in journalism and her training as a theologian, Kristian explores social media, political and digital culture, online paranoia, and the press itself. She explains factors that contribute to our confusion and helps Christians pay attention to how we consume content and think about truth. Finally, she provides specific ways to take action, empowering readers to avoid succumbing to or fueling the knowledge crisis.Bonnie Kristian is an experienced journalist and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). She writes and edits opinion pieces on foreign policy, religion, criminal justice, urbanism, civil liberties, electoral politics, and more. Her column, "The Lesser Kingdom," appears in print and online at Christianity Today. A graduate of Bethel Seminary, Bonnie lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and twin sons.Connect with Gravity LeadershipLeave us a message or ask a question about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode.Join our online community for free to get a curated list of interesting and edifying links each week, plus all kinds of other goodies.Check out the Gravity Commons, a place to connect and learn with others in the Gravity community.Check out Gravity Leadership Academy, our 12-month training intensive for Christian leaders who want to bring lasting transformation to their culture.Are you interested in advertising on the Gravity Leadership Podcast? Contact us at podcast@gravityleadership.com.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gravity-leadership-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy