Craft & Character

In this episode, Steve Carter interviews Nancy Beach and her daughter Samantha Beach Kiley一two women humbly modeling what it looks like to lead the church in a skeptical age. They are both pastors, leaders, and champions of the local church.Steve unpacks a recent sermon Samantha delivered at Church on Morgan in Raleigh, NC and the way she writes her messages with such verbal precision.Nancy and Samantha love the local church and they spend time unpacking how they would debrief moments in a service or sermon around the kitchen island most weekends.Their forthcoming book, which they co-authored, looks honestly at issues plaguing the church: racism, patriarchy, exclusivity, abuse, and unchecked power. In light of these sobering realities, Nancy and Samantha are hopeful about the future of the church and fiercely committed to seeing it thrive.This conversation showcases the beautiful dynamic of a mother and daughter partnering in life and ministry一and also what it looks like when a veteran leader champions the next generation.EPISODE LINKSNancy and Samantha’s book: Next Sunday: An Honest Dialogue About the Future of the ChurchWebsite: nancylbeach.com@NancyLBeach@SamanthaBeachk@steveryancarter@craft_character Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Annie F. Downs hosts a podcast called That Sounds Fun一a title which captures the contagious joy emanating from everything she does. Her content travels the globe through speaking tours, books, and podcasts, but her most cherished role is serving on the teaching team at Cross Point Church in Nashville. Her rootedness in this local community keeps her grounded, accountable, and reflects her heart to prioritize people over platform.  For any communicator who struggles against the time clock, or who gets overwhelmed by everything they want to say, Annie helpfully explains her process of elimination when crafting a talk. As a traveling speaker challenged to meet fluctuating time limits, she prepares 30, 45, and 60-minute versions for all her major messages. She also practices out loud, often in front of a football or baseball game on her TV.  Steve Carter and Annie also reflect on the important voice of women in the church, and how she winsomely navigates the tensions facing female preachers today. They end with a discussion on the four Gospels and how they’ve been transformative in Annie’s life in the past few years.  EPISODE LINKS Annie’s books: That Sounds Fun, Remember God, 100 Days to Brave, Looking for LovelyCross Point Church: crosspoint.tvwww.anniefdowns.com@anniefdowns@steveryancarter @craft_character Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ever deliver a message—from the pulpit or in a meeting—that excited some but bored others? Why is the response in the room a mixed bag? Sean Palmer, teaching pastor at Ecclesia in Houston, TX, shares an Enneagram-informed strategy that helps him answer the one question plaguing communicators: How do I reach my entire audience?Sean explains to Steve Carter, how every person has three intelligence centers: thinking, feeling, and doing. We need to understand the demographic of our people to transform the effectiveness of our pulpits. While statistics are helpful, Sean doesn’t reduce effective communication to crunching numbers. As he says, spending time with people, and listening to them deeply, is indispensable to crafting a powerful message.EPISODE LINKSSean’s books: Forty Days On Being a Three, Speaking By the Numbers, Unarmed EmpireEcclesia Church www.seanisaacpalmer.com@seanisaacpalmer@steveryancarter@craft_character Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jonathan Pokluda believes that good teachers are exceptional listeners. As the lead pastor of Harris Creek Baptist Church in Waco, TX, he’s intentional about checking the pulse of his people. Every Friday he hosts a Q&A session on Instagram Live, often with his wife and kids in the car. Of the 2,000-ish questions that pour in weekly, he tackles 50-100 of them. Inquiries come from people of all ages一boomers to Gen Z, and span all topics: sex, marriage, faith, divorce, friendship, you name it. At 3 pm every Thursday, a small group of people from his church listen to his full sermon, then offer honest feedback.Jonathan’s humility to listen fuels his courage to speak on raw issues, like his recent series: The 7 Deadly Sins of Suburbia. Underneath his creative teaching approach to framing a talk is a 7-part outline, which he unpacks with Steve Carter in this episode: Image Subject Need Preview Text Summary Conclusion EPISODE LINKSJonathan’s books: Outdated, Welcome to Adulting, Welcoming the Future ChurchHarris Creek Baptist Church: www.harriscreek.orgjonathanpokluda.com@jpokluda@harriscreek@steveryancarter@craft_character Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What Bible verse did Buzz Aldrin take to outer space? What was the first meal eaten on the moon? What do space travel and the Christian life have in common? In this fascinating conversation, Steve Carter interviews Levi Lusko, the founder and lead pastor of Fresh Life Church, located in Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, and Utah and everywhere online, about his new book, The Last Supper on the Moon, which plays off NASA’s 1969 lunar voyage to draw powerful principles about what it means to follow Jesus.Sometimes we need to hear age-old truths in a new way, which is arguably Levi’s forte. Whether curating a user-friendly digital livestream, or requiring all church employees to read a Michelin-rated restaurateur's manual on hospitality, Fresh Life Church is leading the way in engaging our cultural moment. At the core of his sermon prep and writing is a practice Levi calls “collect and connect,” which is a relentless quest to learn, catalog stories and ideas, then use them as illustrations. He also shares how suffering has shaped him as a pastor, and how something as simple as taking a deep breath can be instrumental in cultivating character.Episode LinksLevi’s newest book: The Last Supper on the MoonHis kids devotional: Roar Like a LionFresh Life Churchlevilusko.com@levilusko@freshlife@steveryancarter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For Albert Tate, a sermon isn’t about words streaming from your mouth, but truths running through your life. He explains how the best sermons start in the head, move to the heart, then lodge in your gut一until the Spirit grips you with conviction, you aren’t actually preaching yet. A cursory glance at Tate’s dynamic teaching reveals not only a willingness to say hard things, but to preach them to himself first.Steve Carter interviews Tate about his forthcoming book, How We Love Matters: A Call To Relentless Racial Reconciliation. With his trademark blend of creativity and conviction, Tate tackles a culturally contentious issue, building off his upbringing in Mississippi and decades of church ministry in Southern California. He views the Table as utterly transformative一a place where, like Jesus, we sit with people drastically different than ourselves. When we learn to listen well, we learn to love well.Episode LinksPreorder his new book: How We Love MattersRead Albert’s chapter in a book on Dr. Martin Luther King JrHis church: Fellowship Monroviaalberttate.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whether in his books or live talks, Bob Goff seems to have ten lifetimes worth of stories. He has an uncanny knack for putting himself in unlikely places with unlikely people. He talks to dozens of strangers every week, because he listed his cell phone number in the back of his New York Times bestselling book, Love Does. He teaches classes at Pepperdine University and San Quentin State Prison. After the Taliban took control of major cities in Afghanistan in 2021, Bob called them to ask if they would allow women to return to a school he helped launch there. They said yes.  Steve Carter talks with Bob about his forthcoming book, Undistracted一a manual for navigating life with purpose and passion. As always, Steve chops it up with Bob about how to put together a talk. They discuss how to spark action in people’s lives, rather than spoon-feeding an audience prepackaged to-do’s. The thread running through this whole conversation is Galatians 5:6, a verse that could easily serve as Bob’s mantra: “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Episode LinksBob’s website The Oaks Retreat CenterBob’s books: Love Does, Everybody Always, Dream BigPreorder his new book: Undistracted Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Few aspects of Joby Martin’s ministry journey have been predictable. His first sermon was an impromptu talk at a youth camp, thanks to a coach who believed in him and tossed him into the deep end. He planted a church almost without realizing it. On Mondays he prepares sermons while hunting, tucked away in the woods, or poised quietly in a tree stand. He rarely plans sermon illustrations beforehand一they just sort of come to him in the moment.Through the ups and downs of 20+ years as a pastor, now as the pastor of The Church of Eleven22 in Jacksonville, the gospel of grace has kept him buoyant and grateful. Steve Carter draws out the hacks and habits Joby has refined through the years, including the storytelling culture Joby grew up in and how it informs his preaching, the necessity of humility, how to map out a preaching series that’s culturally engaging and biblically robust, and the habits that enable pastors to finish well. They also chat about Joby’s new book and it’s central thesis: “If the tomb is empty一then anything is possible.”Episode LinksThe Church of Eleven22If the Tomb Is Empty: Why the Resurrection Means Anything is Possible by Joby MartinIf the Tomb is Empty Study Guide by Joby Martin@jobymartin@steveryancarter@craft_character Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“We are living in times that demand a decision on justice.” In this episode, Steve Carter interviews Historian, Author, and Speaker, Jemar Tisby. Tisby walks listeners through why we have to be pushing people towards the gospel truth, his expansive understanding of what progress looks like, and why the transformation of the heart as people pursue racial justice still gives him hope. He encourages pastors not only on WHY to lead your church well through racial justice, but provides priceless and practical recommendations on HOW to bake racial justice into the core of your culture. Finally, Tisby reminds pastors that as you pursue racial justice, you don’t have to come up with it yourself. If you are ready to proclaim the good news for everyone in your preaching, you won’t be disappointed. Episode LinksThe Color of Compromise by Jemar TisbyHow To Fight Racism by Jemar TisbyHow to Fight Racism: Young Leader’s Edition by Jemar TisbyThe Witness IncWhite Awake: An Honest Look at What It Means To Be White by Pastor Daniel Hill  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Steve Carter interviews Pastor, Teacher, and Author, Daniel Grothe. The vow of stability and place is counter cultural. We live in a world of cultural impermanence… and Daniel challenges us with the question, “How is that going for us?” Place matters. Stability matters. You have to fight to stay. “If salvation is going to break into the world, it’s going to be local and personal.”EPISODE LINKSFollow Craft & Character on Instagram: @craftandcharacterFind Daniel at DanielGrothe.com  Get Daniel’s New Book: The Power of Place: Choosing Stability in a Rootless Age  YouTube: Rev. C L Franklin Sermons Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices