The Cold-Case Christianity Podcast

This episode challenges the modern obsession with platforms and "ministry success" and asks whether followers of Jesus have quietly replaced real service with a pursuit of visibility, funding, and fame. Drawing from years of case work, tentmaking ministry, and mentoring aspiring apologists, J. Warner Wallace contrasts the quiet, often unseen work of everyday Christian service with the drive to build brands, launch organizations, and chase numbers in the name of the gospel.​ You'll hear why Scripture calls believers to serve without needing applause, income, or a 501(c)(3), and how simple daily acts—loving your local church, discipling a few people, posting faithful content, caring for the hurting—can have more eternal impact than any "big" platform. The conversation also addresses the real dangers of pride, comparison, and monetization, and offers a practical vision for using gifts, tools, and even book sales as fuel for generosity and ministry rather than as measures of personal worth.​ To go deeper on these ideas about motives, identity, and calling, check out J. Warner's book The Truth in True Crime here: https://amzn.to/3LNWxp6 If this episode encourages or challenges you, please follow/subscribe to the podcast and take a moment to rate and review it in your app—your feedback helps more people discover this content and rethink what real Christian service looks like.

This episode looks at why humility is the one trait that can quietly destroy our obsession with celebrity, platform, and approval—and why it may be the key to saving your soul in a culture built on self-promotion. Drawing from cold-case investigations, Scripture, and decades in ministry, J. Warner Wallace shows how the pursuit of fame, followers, and influence so often leads to moral compromise, spiritual shipwreck, and deep dissatisfaction, even when it "works" on the outside.​ You'll hear how both secular and religious "doing worldviews" tend to fuel pride by making everything transactional and comparative: do more, get more, be more than the next person. In contrast, the Christian worldview begins not with achievement but with repentance and grace, received through an act of humility before God. By walking through biblical teaching—from the words of Jesus about the last being first, to the letters of Paul and Peter on humbling ourselves under God's mighty hand—this episode highlights why only a cross-shaped, humility-driven faith can free us from the tyranny of image, success, and celebrity.​ To go deeper on these ideas, check out J. Warner's book The Truth in True Crime here: https://amzn.to/3LNWxp6 If this conversation helps you, please follow/subscribe to the podcast and take a moment to leave a rating and review in your app—your feedback helps more people discover this content and rethink what true greatness looks like in light of the gospel.

Conversation about why identity is the most important thing and how it shapes flourishing and trauma. Different ways people form identity are explored: outside-in, inside-out, and topside-down. Discussion of idols like sex, money, and power and how they steal true identity. Biblical passages and real-life examples are used to show how to locate and relocate identity to a lasting foundation.

J. Warner Wallace is interviewed by Pastor David Fleming of Champion Forest Baptist Church and talks about the importance of becoming a good Christian Case Maker and a specific strategy for selecting those with whom we share what we believe. This excerpt is from a longer interview with apologist Mark Lanier.

In this episode of the Cold-Case Christianity Broadcast, J. Warner Wallace responds to two emails from viewers of the show. (1) Is it unbiblical to examine evidence to confirm the reliability of the Bible? Shouldn't we just trust what the Bible says since it is the Word of God? (2) Do the varied interpretations of Genesis 1 invalidate the Bible as a source of reliable information? If the Bible is the Word of God, shouldn't we be able to come to agreement about what it teaches?

J. Warner Wallace joins Pastor David Fleming of Champion Forest Baptist Church and trial attorney Mark Lanier (author of Christianity on Trial) to discuss the evidential case for Christianity and the importance of Christian Case Making.

J. Warner discusses the reliability of the Bible as he examines the unifying theme of the Bible. How does the Bible answer the three most important questions related to "worldview"? Is there a single message that spans the Old and New Testament? Does the unity of the Biblical message provide us with any evidence related to the origin of the Bible?

J. Warner Wallace discusses the unique investigative approach he took to examining the evidence in the universe. Can scientists account for the evidence in the universe with purely "natural" explanations? If not, what is the best explanation for this evidence? For more information about Meg Meeker and Family Talk, please visit their website.

J. Warner Wallace discusses the approach he took with the Gospels when he first began to investigate the case for Jesus. How do we know the gospels can be trusted? Do they contain eyewitness records related to the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus? For more information about Meg Meeker and Family Talk, please visit their website.

J. Warner Wallace examines the creation of artificial life in the laboratory. Would the creation of such life demonstrate that naturalism is true? Do artificial life experiments prove atheism or theism? For more information, refer to J. Warner's book, God's Crime Scene: A Cold-Case Detective Examines the Evidence for a Divinely Created Universe.