The Better Samaritan Podcast

In this wide-ranging episode, Jamie and Kent sit down with Bob Smietana, a veteran news reporter and author of Reorganized Religion: The Reshaping of the American Church and Why It Matters. Together they discuss why people are leaving American churches, examine the loss of resources from current trends (and scandals), and discuss what we can do to continue moving forward. Listen in to learn more about: Crises that Jamie and Kent are not prepared for—like cat-worshiping cults.  The changing landscape of religion in America; it's not your grandmother’s church anymore.  How churches and denominations collaborate to get things done at the local level.  As resources become scarce, how can churches and nonprofits effectively weigh the cost-benefit factor? Bob’s thoughts on actions we can each take towards “doing better, faithfully.” Bob’s tips for excellent storytelling, whether your audience is church members, donors, or readers.   Bio:Bob Smietana is an award-winning religion reporter and editor who has spent two decades producing breaking news, data journalism, investigative reporting, profiles, and features for magazines, newspapers, trade publications, and websites. His book on the changing face of the American Church was recently named to Christianity Today’s 2023 Book Awards. Publisher’s Weekly called it “a must-read for anyone invested in the fate of the American church.”RESOURCES: Reorganized Religion: The Reshaping of the American Church and Why it Matters Bob’s piece on “The Better Samaritan” blog: The Organized Kindness of Strangers, and Why It’s in Danger Bob’s article “Apocalypse Meow” Bob’s website: bobsmietana.com  This episode was produced by WildfireCreative Theme Song: “Turning Over Tables” by The BrillianceSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSSFollow us on Twitter:  @drjamieaten |  @kentannanFollow on Instagram: @wildfirecreativeco(Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have Evangelicals, and sometimes we won't. Learning how to do better involves listening to many perspectives with different insights and understanding. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable, sometimes, we'll agree, and sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction– Especially in our blind spots.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We’re excited to begin a brand-new season of “The Better Samaritan” with a special episode.A few months ago, Jamie Aten and Kent Annan were invited by One Collective to teach Spiritual First Aid training for Christians serving refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) impacted by the war in Ukraine. In this episode, Jamie and Kent share audio they recorded on the field and reflections while on the trip and after they’d been home a few weeks. You’ll hear::  How they almost missed the trip before even taking off! Their experience arriving in Ukraine and insightful conversations with their driver, Miroslav.  A conversation with Doug Lando from One Collective with Doug's thoughts about the humanitarian efforts and what the churches are doing.  Why the podcast might have been named “Humanitarians in Cars Getting Coffee.” The war’s effects on university students and how it has changed their lives.  Marena's story.  Final thoughts and reflections. RESOURCES:Video of the Ukrainians singing during the workshop Let’s Not Forget About Ukraine: Three Practical Ways to HelpThe Grief in Ukraine and Our Chance to Live Out the Christian PromiseHow the War in Ukraine is Hurting the Global Food Supply ChainOne Collective Spiritual First Aid Certificate Course"On Being a Good Neighbor" sermon draft by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.This episode was produced by WildfireCreative Theme Song: “Turning Over Tables” by The BrillianceSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSSFollow us on Twitter:  @drjamieaten |  @kentannanFollow on Instagram: @wildfirecreativeco(Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have Evangelicals, and sometimes we won't. Learning how to do better involves listening to many perspectives with different insights and understanding. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable, sometimes, we'll agree, and sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction– Especially in our blind spots.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“Disillusionment is the loss of a lie that we have believed.” —Peter Greer, HOPE InternationalMost people who work in humanitarian and helping professions end up in a familiar cycle: idealism leads to disillusionment which leads to either cynicism, or hope. Peter Greer and Chris Horst, both with HOPE International, have seen it again and again. For their new book, “The Gift of Disillusionment: Enduring Hope for Leaders After Idealism Fades,” they interviewed Christian leaders from around the world who have overcome disillusionment, gleaning lessons for the rest of us.In this episode, Jamie and Kent ask them about:  Takeaways from those interviews How to define hope Shepherding young idealists  Words of advice for people experiencing disillusionment for the first time Why it’s important for the American church to find diverse voices, and why it was important for this book How to assess whether an organization is the right fit for you—and how HOPE assesses how candidates are the right fit for them RESOURCES:“The Gift of Disillusionment: Enduring Hope for Leaders After Idealism Fades” by Peter Greer & Chris HorstWhere are you on the journey from idealism to enduring hope? Take the test that accompanies Peter & Chris’ book here"On Being a Good Neighbor", sermon draft by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.This episode produced by Laura FinchTheme Song “Turning Over Tables” by The BrillianceSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSSFollow us on Twitter: @kentannan | @drjamieaten | @laura_e_finch | @peterkgreer | @chrishorst | @hopetweets(Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have evangelicals, sometimes we won't. We thinking learning how to do good better involves listening to lots of perspectives, with different insights and understanding with us. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable, sometimes we'll agree, sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction. Especially in our blind spots.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"This issue is not going away, and it’s not a one church issue. Has spanned the church world in all denominations. I think it’s something that God is exposing because he loves the church and wants to see her well." —Danielle StricklandDanielle Strickland spent 22 years as a Salvation Army officer in 3 countries, fighting exploitation and human trafficking, before becoming a church planter and teacher. At a Canadian megachurch where she was serving, a survivor of clergy sexual abuse came to her to share her story of abuse by the head pastor. What ensued led to an investigation and ultimately, Danielle's resignation from the church.In this episode, Danielle shares a step-by-step timeline of what happened in the Meeting House investigation: what worked, and what didn't work, and how it all affected the survivor. Jamie and Kent talk with her about how a church can prepare for and be a safe space for survivors.Danielle gives an update on what is currently happening at the Meeting House, as more survivors have come forward, and gives a final exhortation to church leaders: center Jesus by centering the people he did. That's always the oppressed. If there comes a time when it's necessary to choose between protecting the reputation of a particular church and protecting a survivor, choose the survivor. That's what Jesus did.RESOURCES:Until Every Woman is Heard Prayer Movement"On Being a Good Neighbor", sermon draft by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.This episode produced by Laura FinchTheme Song “Turning Over Tables” by The BrillianceSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSSFollow us on Twitter: @kentannan | @drjamieaten | @laura_e_finch | @djstrickland(Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have evangelicals, sometimes we won't. We thinking learning how to do good better involves listening to lots of perspectives, with different insights and understanding with us. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable, sometimes we'll agree, sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction. Especially in our blind spots.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Paul McLaughlin went to his advisor, Mark McMinn, to pitch a dissertation on wisdom psychology, Mark told him: “Paul, that sounds like a great topic, but psychologists do not really study wisdom.” Paul proved him wrong, and years later they’ve together crafted a book on it: As Christians, what can we learn from the science of wisdom? And how we can cultivate this virtue in our hectic, tragic modern world?In this episode, Kent and Jamie also query Paul and Mark on topics like:What’s the difference between information and wisdom?: What’s the cost of operating without wisdom?What are some practices for cultivating wisdom?What is the relationship between adversity and wisdom?RESOURCES:Paul and Mark’s book: A Time for Wisdom: Knowledge, Detachment, Tranquility, Transcendence (Templeton Press, 2022)"On Being a Good Neighbor", sermon draft by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.This episode produced by Laura FinchTheme Song “Turning Over Tables” by The BrillianceSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSSFollow us on Twitter: @kentannan | @drjamieaten | @laura_e_finch | (Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have evangelicals, sometimes we won't. We thinking learning how to do good better involves listening to lots of perspectives, with different insights and understanding with us. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable, sometimes we'll agree, sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction. Especially in our blind spots.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

84 million people have been forcibly displaced around the world. Add to that a recent 5 million from Ukraine, and the world’s borders are under tremendous pressure. According to Ali Noorani, founder of the National Immigration Forum, that creates a deep sense of fear that our borders are out of control. To ‘do something’ used to mean to treat refugees & immigrants in the harshest way possible. But how do we, as a country, uphold our values of both freedom and fairness in this area? Ali has concrete recommendations for the nation and for the church.RESOURCES:Ali’s book: “Crossing Borders: The Reconciliation of a Nation of Immigrants”"On Being a Good Neighbor", sermon draft by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.This episode produced by Laura FinchTheme Song “Turning Over Tables” by The BrillianceSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSSFollow us on Twitter: @kentannan | @drjamieaten | @laura_e_finch | @anoorani(Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have evangelicals, sometimes we won't. We thinking learning how to do good better involves listening to lots of perspectives, with different insights and understanding with us. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable, sometimes we'll agree, sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction. Especially in our blind spots.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As a helper, you want to help, serve and honor those you work with. That might be as a church leader, disaster relief worker, nurse or barista. But as an imperfect person, you may need to do some soul-searching in order to most effectively help those around you.Dr. Holly Oxhandler’s book, The Soul of the Helper: Seven Stages to Seeing the Sacred Within Yourself So You Can See It In Others, is an invitation for helpers to become curious about their inner landscape. What is happening within us impacts the ways that we serve others—and we have to pay attention to this intersection. For example, we may be trying to act out some of the things we are seeking without offering an open-palmed, unconditional presence. Join us in this episode for an invitation to look deep within yourself and examine your own motives and soul health … so that your service is out of abundant love.RESOURCES:"On Being a Good Neighbor", sermon draft by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.This episode produced by Laura FinchTheme Song “Turning Over Tables” by The BrillianceSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSSFollow us on Twitter: @kentannan | @drjamieaten | @laura_e_finch | @hollyoxhandler(Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have evangelicals, sometimes we won't. We thinking learning how to do good better involves listening to lots of perspectives, with different insights and understanding with us. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable, sometimes we'll agree, sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction. Especially in our blind spots.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How has militarism shaped our idea of the way a Christian ‘should’ be? Does it make sense to put theology at the center of what it means to be an evangelical—even if pastors would like it to be?Jamie and Kent sat down with Dr. Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of “Jesus and John Wayne,” to ask her these questions and talk about her take on evangelicals’ relationship with the ‘outsider’—plus—the dangerous byproduct of attention to global persecution of Christians. RESOURCES:"On Being a Good Neighbor", sermon draft by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.This episode produced by Laura FinchTheme Song “Turning Over Tables” by The BrillianceSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSSFollow us on Twitter: @kentannan | @drjamieaten | @laura_e_finch | @kkdumez(Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have evangelicals, sometimes we won't. We thinking learning how to do good better involves listening to lots of perspectives, with different insights and understanding with us. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable, sometimes we'll agree, sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction. Especially in our blind spots.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1995, a book was published with a provocative opening: "The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind." (Christianity Today would go on to award this Book of the Year.)Today on the podcast, the author of that book—prominent evangelical historian Mark Noll—looks back on the last 30 years of the movement ahead of the book’s re-release. He talks with Jamie and Kent about the vast diversity in the movement, populism and the way it permeates Christian politics, and the tension between evangelicalism and science. They also discuss ways for students and young professionals to cultivate a life of the mind; Mark says “...the ideal Christian is either a thinking activist, or an active thinker.” RESOURCES:The Scandal of the Evanglical Mind—releasing March 31, 2022"On Being a Good Neighbor", sermon draft by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.This episode produced by Laura FinchPhoto credit: William KoechlingTheme Song “Turning Over Tables” by The BrillianceSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSSFollow us on Twitter: @kentannan | @drjamieaten | @laura_e_finch | (Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have evangelicals, sometimes we won't. We thinking learning how to do good better involves listening to lots of perspectives, with different insights and understanding with us. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable, sometimes we'll agree, sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction. Especially in our blind spots.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In just 13 days, two million Ukrainians have so far been absorbed into other nations in the European Union—not in camps, but in homes, welcomed with open arms by 27 nations. How much more can Europe absorb?Roger Sandberg, VP of Field Operations for Medical Teams International, was asked by the government of Poland to operate a clinic on the border of Ukraine. He just arrived in the region, and joins us to update on the humanitarian response to the crisis.RESOURCES:Roger’s organization: Medical Teams InternationalCT: Moldova Welcomes 100K Ukraine Refugees, With Evangelicals Opening Doors"On Being a Good Neighbor", sermon draft by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.This episode produced by Laura FinchTheme Song “Turning Over Tables” by The BrillianceSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSSFollow us on Twitter: @kentannan | @drjamieaten | @laura_e_finch | @medicalteams(Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have evangelicals, sometimes we won't. We thinking learning how to do good better involves listening to lots of perspectives, with different insights and understanding with us. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable, sometimes we'll agree, sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction. Especially in our blind spots.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices