PlainSpoken

Mark Maddox is representative of people who were raised outside of the Christian faith, but who was converted by encountering God through his Word and the Holy Ghost. A Navy veteran and successful worker in business, Mark answered a sincere calling and entered the Lord’s service through the Methodist tradition. When it came time to leave comfortable moorings and enter into the wilderness, Mark answered in faith.Superintendent Maddox is based in the heart of Sin City, making the case for Christ to people very much like who he used to be. With a passion for discipleship, accountability, and church planting, he is leading his conference into a bold future in the Global Methodist communion. In this conversation, we cover many features of his story, how he came to Christ, how the Lord is leading his conference, and the ways in which he is faithfully stewarding that which the Lord has entrusted to him. How do we do ministry in a post-Christian context? How is the GMC benefiting him and the churches in his area? Link to the Western States Conference Website - https://westernstatesgmc.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit plainspokenpod.substack.com

American Christians have a problem: We don’t have a right approach to guilt, shame, grief, confession, or repentance. We want all the pleasant, sweet stuff. We shirk the hard work of sanctification, starting at the very beginning of faith. We need to reclaim foundational unpleasant practices rather than continuing to build upon the false foundation of sugar.But we don’t magically know how to do that. It takes people in this generation doing the hard work of connecting us to those previous generations of Christians who knew how to activate these many scriptures around atonement for guilt. Ideally, all clergy can do this, but very few really can. We need leaders to painstakingly make the case that we have largely jettisoned something essential, equipping us to reclaim such life-giving practices.In this conversation, Kelly McCuaig talks about his new book, “Good Guilt,” in which he does exactly what is required for this present moment. We talk about how fraught our general situation is, what the scriptures say about confession of sin, how the church should be centered around these practices, and important things to meditate upon if we wish to reclaim the form and power of righteousness.Link to Purchase ‘Good Guilt’ - https://www.inviteministries.org/store/view/good-guilt/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit plainspokenpod.substack.com

Stephen Rankin has a heart for small town churches and beautiful ideas. Or rather, he has answered a call to help people faithfully navigate a world of beliefs that don’t all fit together. He has done so as the chaplain of a major denominational academic institution, and now as a Texan United Methodist clergyman living in Kansas. His ministry is called the ‘Spiritual Maturity Project.’ I’m not sure how mature I am, personally. I know I struggle with what I routinely perceive to be subtle apathy on the part of spiritual shepherds. Disaffiliation from the UMC exposed, to my mind, just how far the discernment of leadership has fallen. So in this segment I rail a bit against what I’m pretty sure are forces of darkness that we should have clarity about, asking Dr. Rankin to show me the way forward.And he does, patiently. I won’t say that everything is figured out at the tail end of this thing. But I’ll tell you that it was a rewarding conversation for me, and many of you will enjoy it quite a bit.Links:Steve’s Substack - https://substack.com/@UClKEyHgztMvlsCG5DqnjwmASpiritual Maturity Project - https://www.spiritualmaturityproject.org This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit plainspokenpod.substack.com

John D. Scott is a Methodist missionary working to benefit the people of Zimbabwe through a ministry called OneChild. As a missionary in the American and Irish contexts, he is now joyfully dedicating himself to the Lord’s movement among the people in southern Africa.In this conversation, John talks about the work of OneChild, how it is that Christians around the world can make a lasting difference in such contexts, and how the Lord is weaving a tapestry right now for the good of his people. Resolve to have some optimism about the work God is doing, and pray with us that He will see fit to build us into a worthy edifice together!Links:AIM Missionary Page - https://aim2020.com/missions/Linktree Page - https://linktr.ee/hopeforzimbabweOneChild Page - https://onechild.org/OneChild Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/onechildglobal This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit plainspokenpod.substack.com

Jeremy Barbee is a Global Methodist elder serving in New Home, TX. He is a normal, small town pastor. I wanted to hear the story of how it is that he came to be a part of my same covenant tradition and how it is that he is understanding God to be working at this moment in time. I really didn’t know him at all before this conversation.I have, a few times, spoken with sample clergy in various contexts because I think leadership can be someone siloed and disconnected from the grassroots level of the church. It is important for me to feel the camaraderie of ministry that is so often lacking in the lives of clergy. And I want to facilitate that feeling of connection that was once to be found in Methodist clergy, in particular.And because of this time spent, I now feel a brotherhood with another man who grew up in the church, whose journey in Christ led him to the Boston area, then to the Midwest. I met a man who has said ‘yes’ to Jesus even when that brought him into a lukewarm mainline tradition, and then when the GMC was born. I think a lot of you are going to like Rev. Barbee, his humility, his hunger for serving God rightly, his efforts at building up the GMC by attending General Conference. I hope he is an encouragement to you.Links:Jeremy’s Blog - https://jeremybarbee.wordpress.comFaith Global Methodist’s Website - https://faithgmc.org This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit plainspokenpod.substack.com

Lonnie and Odell have a lot of thoughts about what the widespread adoption of the constitutional amendments from last year’s UMC General Conference means for the future of the denomination. One might recall that Odell in particular was skeptical about the likelihood of such an event. What does it mean? Are Africans just tired of dealing with Americans? Have they been successfully cowed by their bishops, who have been successfully cowed by Americans?Also, what are the implications of such an action if American progressives actually cannot tolerate being connected in any sense to an African wing that is bigoted according to progressive standards? What happens if Obergfell is actually overturned in the US and all of this division was for naught? These and many other angles are considered in this episode of Considering Charlotte. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit plainspokenpod.substack.com

Tyger Dupré lives outside of Paris, France and has been working to draw close to the Global Methodist Church. He was able to join a gathering of Global Methodists in Barcelona a few weeks ago, which gave him a picture of how it is that the GMC aims to make inroads among the various nations of Western Europe. This is a very different context than anywhere else the GMC is taking root. While there is much promise, there are also many challenges. Tyger paints a picture of his current setting and the ways in which those who want to offer hope can pray for him and his compatriots.Links:Personal -https://substack.com/@tygerduprehttps://www.instagram.com/tygerdupreOur Church Social Media -https://www.facebook.com/OurSaviourParishttps://www.instagram.com/churchoursaviourhttps://www.youtube.com/@OurSaviourChurch This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit plainspokenpod.substack.com

Jeff Walton has been ably serving as the Anglican Director of the Institute for Religion and Democracy for many years. He has helped me to stay abreast of developments in Anglicanism around the world through many helpful articles. With all of these developments around their bishops in the ACNA, GAFCON, and Canterbury, I thought it might do me well to make sure I’m understanding things correctly.Long story short, communal life in Christ is messy. Methodists and Anglicans have a lot in common. I think that, by learning about them, believers in other tribes can also learn to see themselves rightly.I have had the joy of visiting with solid Anglicans like Gerald McDermott, Joshua Nelson, David Roseberry, and Daniel Hixon. Walton is no exception to the trend I have noticed: Anglicanism has some very solid godly men at all levels of leadership. Take some time to learn from him.Links:‘Juicy Ecumenism,’ Blog of the IRD - https://juicyecumenism.com/‘Anglican Unscripted,’ Podcast Pertaining to Anglicanism - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7p2AAcz9AHjy1NxCjdTpL1uPhtgA40BeArlie Coles Website - https://livingchurch.org/author/acoles/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit plainspokenpod.substack.com

Christ established his church on the earth as an outpost of the Kingdom of Heaven, showing no partiality among men. No ethnicity or nation is given privilege under God’s reign. Rather, Christ’s high priestly prayer requires that we seek to do God’s will on earth as in heaven together. While there is almost certainly room for cultural differences and regional distinctions, such room is not a justification for separation or isolation. The church one finds in the Bible is an international global body that mutually watches over one another in love, each nation blessing and admonishing the others towards holiness.The biblical vision of the church requires that we engage in cross-cultural conversations about the nature of our shared lives in Christ. We must intentionally foster the connection that Christ builds between us. We must cooperate with our own salvation. This means talking to one another at some point, at many points. While this can and does happen in big conferences, it can and should also happen also privately, interpersonally.When Sègbégnon wrote a recent piece in Firebrand, creating a normative vision of what discipleship should look like in a fraught context (Nigeria), I knew I needed to try to understand his perspective. He graciously accepted my invitation, and this is the conversation that followed. We talk about nonretaliation as a universal sign of Christian maturity, the requisite qualities of distinctively Methodist discipleship, and the realities of religious life in Northwestern Africa.Sègbégnon was a gracious guest. You’ll like him. Here is a link to his article: “To Stop Africa’s Bleeding: The Pentalateral Solution for the People Called Methodists” - https://firebrandmag.com/articles/to-stop-africas-bleeding-the-pentalateral-solution-for-the-people-called-methodistsAlso, here is the book we referenced: “A Model for Making Disciples: John Wesley’s Class Meeting” by D. Michael Henderson - https://a.co/d/baf0knE This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit plainspokenpod.substack.com

Rev. Jay Hanson is the Conference Superintendent of the South Georgia Conference of the Global Methodist Church. He is also the founding pastor of The Chapel in Brunswick, GA. He has recently published a book on how to listen to the voice of the Lord, the benefits of which will go to fund the educations of GMC seminarians.In this conversation, I learn about Jay’s background, his faith and calling stories. We talk about theology around how the church should and shouldn’t acknowledge callings, how conferences can and should use coercion, and how to guard against excesses in the charismatic tradition.Superintendent Hanson is not particularly constrained by convention, nor is he motivated by fear or vain ambition. His story is unique, and his background has positioned him to lead boldly in ways that many clergy haven’t really known before. The GMC would do well to observe him, note the experiments he is running, and consider if we might learn from him.Links:“God is Still Calling” - https://www.inviteministries.org/store/view/god-is-still-callingThe South Georgia Conference of the GMC - https://www.sgagmc.org/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit plainspokenpod.substack.com