All Things

The American Criminal Justice System Needs Reform: A Christian Proposal with Matt Martens

It is comfortable and easy to remain naive and sheltered from the realities of the American criminal justice system. Hearing the stories of those who’ve been wrongfully held and convicted is heartbreaking. Reading the statistics is shocking. In our democratic republic, we must do better. You and I and all citizens have conferred the responsibility to carry out justice to our elected officials, so it’s on us to hold them to an honest standard. Listen to this episode of All Things to gain a ...

The Grumbler’s Guide to Giving Thanks with Dustin Crowe

Do you find yourself grumbling about life, circumstances, work, stress? Are you quick to complain? Do you have an established routine of giving thanks? Do you know to whom you give thanks and why that matters? What about giving thanks in the midst of a dark trial? It’s Thanksgiving week and Dustin Crowe and Jen Oshman are diving deep into all of this. We hope you catch this episode before Thanksgiving, but if you don’t, it’ll encourage and equip you anytime of the year! Stopping a habi...

Gender Roles, Church Mothers, and the Wide Open Arms of the Black Church with Khristi Adams

“Debates about women’s roles in the church are back in the headlines, but a lot of them leave out a large and important group of American Christians: the Black church.” - Khristi Lauren Adams, author, minister, dean, and advocate. When we read these first lines of a recent Christianity Today article by Khristi Adams, we knew we wanted to hear more. Why do so many of our conversations about the church or the Evangelical church sideline the wisdom and experience of the Black church? Khristi...

Cross-Cultural Adoption Takes More than Love with Brittany Salmon

Should white parents adopt children of color? Today more than 40% of adoptions are transracial, so it’s a conversation we need to have. November is National Adoption Month, so we’re talking about adoption, ethnicity, adoptee and birth mom voices, and more on this episode with Dr. Brittany Salmon. As an adoptive mom herself, she offers a ton of wisdom and encouragement to adoptive parents. Adoption and cross-cultural adoption can be both hard and beautiful. There are opportunities here, tho...

New Research Reveals Troubling Inequities in Women’s Ministry: A Conversation with Jen Wilkin

A new survey of churches across the US reveals that only 17% of women’s ministry leaders are in paid staff positions at their churches. Put another way, 83% of women’s ministry leaders serve totally as volunteers. Additionally, only 5% of women’s ministry leaders conduct their planning with the involvement of the wider church staff. Women’s ministry can be a great joy, but it can also be a heavy burden. Women’s ministry leaders often face variables that are unseen by other church members an...

What is the unborn? And Other Questions to Advance the Pro-Life Movement with Scott Klusendorf

While the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022 was a victory for life, we have so much more work to do. Most Americans are pro-choice and lack a vision for what a truly pro-life society could look like. Pro-life advocates must get better at articulating our position and moving our mission forward with energy and passion. This episode includes both data and answers to practical questions for our current historical moment when it comes to abortion in the United States. Be sure to pursue more inf...

A Palestinian Brother in Christ Shares His Experience and Perspective: Pastor Marwan Aboul-Zelof

On this bonus episode of All Things we are taking time to listen to the experience of our Palestinian brother in Christ, Pastor Marwan Aboul-Zelof. He shares openly with us what it’s like to be a Palestinian Christian in the Middle East at this time in history. Pastor Aboul-Zelof was born in the Middle East and has family roots throughout the region. Due to war in his birth country, his family moved to the US when he was a child. While in university, Marwan's desire grew to return to the M...

Is it Even Possible to Love People Who Drive you Crazy? Finding Real Church Unity with Jamie Dunlop

Almost half of all Christians and pastors associate “unity” with “agreement.” Almost half of all Christians say they experience unity in their friendships, but only about one-third say they experience unity with their church family. The data bears out what many feel: our local church families are not deeply unified. In fact, we find agreement, harmony, and alliance elsewhere. How can we, as followers of Jesus—who gave his own life that we might be reconciled to the Father—be truly and de...

Do You See Your Muslim Neighbor? With A. S. Ibrahim

Muslims make up about 1% of our population here in the United States. But what do most of us Americans really know about Islam in general and what do we know about our Muslim neighbors in particular? A.S. Ibrahim, professor of Islamic studies and director of the Center for the Christian Understanding of Islam at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, says most Muslims immigrate to the United States in search of a better life—more freedom, more opportunities, a higher standard of living...

The Good and Dangerous Gift of Authority with Jonathan Leeman

Research and common sense say most of us are suspicious of our authorities. The American way is to be ruggedly individual and totally autonomous. As a people, we don’t like anyone meddling in our own goals and dreams and how we plan to reach them. Making matters worse, examples of terrible authority abound. Daily news headlines reveal bad authorities in our government, police forces, schools, and even churches. Should we do away with authority altogether? Author Jonathan Leeman says that a...

Our Culture Feels Chaotic But there’s a 250 year old Reason for That: 1776 with Andrew Wilson

In the 21st century, culture changes fast. It may seem like there’s never been a more tumultuous period in history. But there was one year - 1776 - that changed the social trajectory of the Western world as we know it. On today’s episode we’re talking with Andrew Wilson about why we are the way that we are. It turns out we in the West underwent some tremendous shaping influences in 1776 that continue to shape us today. Wilson’s desire is “to explain why the modern world is the way it is, s...

Where do Christianity & Mental Illness Collide? With Christian Psychologist Tom Karel

Mental illness has historically been so taboo in the church. Christians struggle to know how our mental health and spiritual health impact one another. Many are paralyzed by the fear of saying the wrong thing. Still others feel ashamed by their own struggles and silently suffer because they fear the judgement of others. Church, this should not be. With September being National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month this is a perfect opportunity to grow in our holistic understanding of mental he...

Online All The Time: Applying Christian Wisdom to our Digital Connection with Samuel James

In 1997 only about 1 in 5 American adults had been on the internet in the last three months. Today, over 85% are online every single day and 30% say they’re almost constantly online. On average we check our phone every 12 minutes and a large portion of us check ours right when we wake up. This is a massive shift for humanity over the span of just one generation. Implications are sweeping with everything from increased loneliness despite connectivity, increased depression and self-harm amon...

Suffering is the Source of Joy: A Conversation with Joni Eareckson Tada

"No one is immune to suffering. It’s a part of life on this side of heaven, and yet we do all we can to avoid it, numb it, or end it. We in the West have a poor theology and practice of suffering. On this first episode of the fall 2023 season of All Things, we are joined by Joni Eareckson Tada. Joni is a well-known author, speaker, and advocate who became a quadriplegic over fifty-six years ago as the result of a tragic diving accident when she was just seventeen. She is CEO of Joni and Fr...

Let's Go Barbie! A Christian Conversation & Critique of the Barbie Movie

Thanks for listening to this Bonus Episode of All Things! Jen is joined by Dr. Christina Crenshaw to discuss the blockbuster Barbie movie, which hit theaters just last weekend. If you’ve already seen it and you’re eager to process it with some girlfriends through a theological lens, this is the conversation for you! Or, if you haven’t seen it, but you’re curious what all the hype is about, we can fill you in. We’re talking feminism, masculinity (or emasculation), motherhood, gender roles and...

Episode 124: With Laura Wifler: People with Disabilities: Seeing What’s Different, Seeing What’s the Same

The conversation surrounding disabilities and people with disabilities is evolving and confusing in the West. On the one hand, we see record numbers of abortions due to parents being afraid or unwilling to bring a child with disabilities into the world. For example 67% of children who *may* have down syndrome are aborted in the United States. On the other hand, conversations about inclusion and access are at an all time high. Do we as a culture value and want to include people with disabili...

Episode 123: With Dan Darling: When Division is Incentivized

One major reason unity in our nation, families, and churches is so fragile is because division and cynicism have been incentivized. We all stand to gain a lot when we retreat to our own corners and tribes. It’s easier to sit in an echo chamber and be told you are right than to wrestle with different perspectives. Less gracious, more extreme opinions get more clicks, followers, and campaign donations. It costs us nothing to think ill of the other side, create caricatures, and retreat—bu...

With Jamie Finn: Jesus’s Heart is Not Just for the Children: A Deeper Approach to Foster Care

May is National Foster Care Awareness Month and there is so much missing in our national and church conversations when it comes to foster care. I’m loving this chance to increase my own awareness and yours on this episode of All Things. Jamie Finn, who wrote Foster the Family, and runs an organization by the same name, joins me today to talk about all the parties involved in foster care. Jamie says her perspective and understanding of foster care has changed so much in the past 10 years, d...

Episode 121: With Chelsea Sobolik: Seeing Every Kind of Woman on Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is this weekend in the United States and for most of us that means celebration mingled with some kind of grief. Many women are childless for a variety of reasons: infertility, miscarriage, child loss, they made an adoption plan, they chose abortion, they never married, and more. The reasons are varied and complex and the weight of that is felt especially on Mother’s Day. Motherhood is a beautiful and worthwhile gift. We celebrate it and praise the Lord for it! At the same time...

Episode 120: With Curtis Yee: How Not to be a White Tourist this AAPI Month

Obviously one 30-minute podcast episode to commemorate Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month is not sufficient—but I’m hoping you’ll tune in to at least get the month going. On this episode I am joined by my friend and journalist Curtis Yee. Curtis regularly contributes to Christianity Today and Sojourners, as well as other outlets, covering a breadth of topics including Asian American culture, church, and mental health. This conversation is a great introduction to all of tha...

Episode 119: With Dr. Derwin Gray: How God’s Plan for a Multiethnic Family Can Heal our Racial Divide

Not a week goes by that the US isn’t rattled by a racially-charged news story. Just last week we reeled and lamented the shooting of young Ralph Yarl, a black teen boy who went to the wrong address in Kansas City to pick up his young brothers. It’s tempting to think such headlines have nothing to do with us, or that we as individuals have nothing to offer our national strife. Christians especially might want to shrink back from the conversation, not wanting to become too political. The rac...

Episode 118: With Christina Crenshaw: When Bio Males go into Spaces Hard-Won by Females, Girls Lose

Dr. Christina Crenshaw has a long history of writing, speaking, and working to protect women. What began as work in the anti-trafficking sphere, has evolved into speaking out in defense of women and girls and female spaces. Dr. Crenshaw has endured a lot of online heat and hate for her solid stance that females deserve their own spaces, but her reasoning, strength, and views are based not only on a Biblical worldview, but also biology and plenty of data. On this episode of All Things she off...

Episode 117: The Impact of Jesus is so Pervasive We Don’t Even Notice It

Why do we in the west value things like equality, compassion, and freedom? These virtues are so woven into our DNA they feel automatic to us. Such virtues, however, are not a given across all time and all peoples. There’s a reason we see headlines and collectively cry out, “Consent!” Or demand, “Progress!” These virtues are the direct result of the holiday we celebrated this past Sunday—Easter. Our reflex to march for justice or to lift the marginalized come from somewhere. On this episod...

Episode 116: Why We Can Believe in the Resurrection and Why it Matters

If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then we have no hope, no reason to gather, and no reason to celebrate Easter. The life, death, resurrection, and second coming of Jesus are all keys to our faith, how we think, and how we live. The resurrection in particular is crucial—did it really happen and how do we know? And why does it matter 2,000 years later? Listeners are in for a treat on today’s episode because I’ve invited Dr. Michael Kruger, one of the leading New Testament scholars of our...

Episode 115: How to Extend Digital Hospitality to Others on a Self-Focused Platform

“I have the minimalist life. My home is beautiful. Now all I have to do is be LDS and I can be an influencer!” It was a joke made by a friend over coffee with Elizabeth Santelmann, who you may know as Sunshine in My Nest on Instagram. Elizabeth points to that coffee date as a watershed moment when she realized Christians are missing a massive opportunity to share the light of Christ on social media. The reality is moms and women flock to Instagram for advice on everything from home decor...

Episode 114: Why are Women Leaving the Church?

For the first time ever in history, American women are leaving the church faster than men. Millions have left over the last decade, and that was even before the pandemic. Research shows they have left church but they still value their relationship with God. What’s going on? Ericka Andersen joins us on today’s episode of All Things to discuss this issue, as well as Reasons to Return: Why Women Need the Church and the Church Needs Women—as her new book is titled. Ericka and I ponder the rea...

Episode 113: The World Needs Who God Made You to Be

Conversations around women and work are complicated, often heated, and rarely satisfying. The heart of the issue for women is: how can we thrive in our capacity for productive work as well as provide care for others (children, aging parents, and other loved ones). This conversation hit fever pitch during the pandemic and it seems we’ve been in a prolonged season of flux since then. The conversation in the church feels tense too. There’s been a gap in discipleship regarding women and work f...

Episode 112: Is Time Ours to Manage or God’s to Give?

Do you derive your value and identity from productivity? Do you try to live beyond your limits? Do you try to live a super-human life rather than a human life that is Spirit-filled? Most of us are constantly asking how we can get more done in the 24 hours a day we each have. We read books, go to workshops, and download apps to help us manage our to-do lists and be as productive as possible. But if we’re honest, I think we also suspect we’re missing the point. Something is off. We work hard ...

Episode 111: What was behind the Asbury revival? Can we trust it?

What was behind the Asbury revival? Can we trust it? On this episode of All Things I am talking with my friend and theologian Missie Branch about: - Why every woman (and human!) is actually a theologian. - What caused revival at Asbury University to break out. - What it looks like to struggle and depend on the Holy Spirit. - How the Spirit moves when and where he pleases, as he is doing at Asbury. - The desperation we see in Gen Z. - The critical spirit we see in the church. ...

Episode 110: Finding Jesus in a Barber Shop and the Generations that Follow

You should listen to this episode just to hear how Doug Logan met Jesus. It’s a wild story involving Doug’s barber shop, the rapture, and a fire alarm at 3am—only God! Ever since Doug’s first days of faith in the barber shop, he’s become a pastor, church planter, and President of Grimke Seminary. Doug has a lot to say about the gospel of Jesus, the mission of the church, and how we can better contextualize the gospel for urban ministry. Listen in as we wrap of National Black History Month, a...

Episode 109: What do you do when it’s hard to love?

What do you do when it’s hard to love? Or forgive? Or extend patience? Do you try harder? Vow to do better? Grab another cup of coffee? Author, editor, and spoken word poet, Quina Aragon, answers that tough question in her third children’s book called “Love Can.” On this episode of All Things we talk about both the goodness and brokenness in all human beings. We talk about God’s provision of the Holy Spirit to help us extend love in a divisive world. Quina’s book and words on this episod...

Episode 108: God’s Word, Creativity, & Call to Unity with Portia Collins

Portia Collins loves God’s Word and God’s church. Both loves come through in this episode of All Things. Portia’s words and wisdom provide us with a rich backdrop for continuing our conversations through Black History Month. Listen in to hear how God’s Word is truly sustenance for Portia’s soul and how it has driven her and her husband to make some really counter-cultural decisions where they live in the Mississippi Delta. I love Portia’s heart for unity in the church. Her words will und...

Episode 107: Jasmine Holmes, Checking the Footnotes, and Black History

Author and history teacher Jasmine Holmes is kicking off National Black History Month for us on All Things! Jasmine loves Jesus, her family, and speaking and writing about black history and identity. I think this conversation will serve you well! Jasmine and I talk about: An eternal perspective on race and ethnicity. Where we are as a nation when it comes to our American perspective on race and ethnicity. Why we even have a Black History Month. Why it’s important to “check the footnot...

Episode 106: Understanding the Record Number of Migrants at our Southern Border

You’ve undoubtedly seen the photos and videos streaming out of El Paso, Texas. Migrants running across highways, crowds camping out on the streets, and of course the stories of mayors and governors putting immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers on buses and sending them to other places in the United States. The images and headlines are hard to process. I invited Jenny Yang, the Senior Vice President of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief, onto the episode of All Things to help us sift thro...

Episode 105: Andrew Tate's Impact on Young Men: What to Know, What to Do

When Andrew Tate and his brother were arrested for sex trafficking in Romania last month, it was the first I’d heard his name. But my teen daughters knew exactly who he was because, as they told me, most of the Christian teen boys they know enthusiastically follow Andrew Tate online. I soon found out that Tate was the most Googled name in 2022 and he had over 11.6 billion views on his TikTok account before it was banned for violent content. Why would a man like this be attractive to the teen...

Episode 104: Love Your Church

What do you think of when you think of your church? What comes to mind—affection, duty, joy, sorrow? On today’s episode of All Things I’m chatting with Tony Merida and Barnabas Piper. These two men are my brothers in the faith, as well as my coworkers in the broader church, and the three of us want you to love your church! We recently released books at the same time, in the same series. The series is called Love Your Church and the books are meant to be very practical tools for churches to...

Episode 103: Following Christ in the midst of Corruption and Collapse in Lebanon

On today’s episode I am joined by Pastor Marwan Aboul-Zelof, the lead pastor at City Bible Church in Beirut, Lebanon. Marwan holds passports to both the US and Lebanon, but he chooses to live in the Middle East with his wife and two young sons, to share the hope of the gospel in a difficult place, which many choose to flee. Marwan and I discuss what life in Beirut is like amidst government corruption, a failing currency, a population with 80% of people living below the poverty line, and sho...

Episode 102: Christian Nationalism with David Ritchie

Tomorrow is the 2nd anniversary of the riot or insurrection at the United States Capitol. Additionally the January 6th Congressional Committee just finished its work and referred former President Donald Trump to the Department of Justice on four criminal charges relating to that day. Nationalism and Christian nationalism are on our minds again, as they have been nearly nonstop for the past two years. On today’s episode of All Things, Pastor and Author David Ritchie helps us look at Christi...

Episode 101: Faithful Disobedience: The State of Christianity in China with Hannah Nation

Episode 100: The Global Population Just Passed 8 Billion--Why That Matters

It’s fitting that this week when the world population reaches 8 billion humans, this podcast reaches 100 episodes. Here’s why: being human matters, and every human being matters. These two truths drive every episode of All Things. There are now 8 billion humans created in the image of God in our world. Being created by God has tremendous implications. It means we are dependent on God, loved by God, accountable to God, and more. You, and I, and all 8 billion people who live now, were made w...

Episode 99: Brothers and Sisters on Mission Together

Last month I had the privilege of speaking at the Acts 29 North America Conference. I gave a message entitled Brothers and Sisters on Mission Together, an issue I am passionate about and one that continues to require care and attention. I’m sharing the audio from that message here, on this 99th episode of All Things. Or you can see video here. This message is brief, just about 18 minutes long as it was one in a series of shorter Ted-style talks. I hope it’s an encouragement to you, whereve...

Episode 98: It's Voting Season: What's Biblical Justice & How Can We Pursue It & Apply It?

On this episode of All Things I have the joy of sharing Dr. Vanessa Hawkins with you. Dr. Hawkins thinks, writes, and speaks about Biblical justice (and more!) and she’s sharing her wisdom with us on today’s episode. We’re looking at questions like: What is Biblical justice? How do we know if we’re pursuing it or avoiding it? Why do we tend to have more conversations (even in the church!) about critical race theory and wokeness than we do about what God says about justice? How can we...

Episode 97: More Women & Girls Are Viewing Porn: Hope for Healing & Recovery

In recent years women and girls have become increasingly active users of pornography websites. Not only that, but young women are increasingly viewing violent porn. Pornography should not be considered a man’s issue, but a human issue. More women and girls are addicted every day and unsure of where to find help. To shine a light on this weighty topic, I invited Ashley Jameson of Pure Desire Ministries onto today’s episode. Ashley says she spent years in a pattern of finding freedom from one...

Episode 96: How One Woman Lost Her Life & Sparked Nationwide Protests for Not Wearing a Headscarf

Protests began erupting across Iran in late September following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested in Tehran by morality police. Amini, who was visiting Tehran with her family, was arrested for not wearing her headscarf, and died in a hospital three days later. Her brother reports she was taken to a “re-education center” for not abiding by the state’s hijab rules and was beaten there. State police say Amini died from a heart attack, but her family insists she had no heart...

Episode 95: The Dark & Recent History of Indigenous Children & Boarding Schools

In 2021, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (the first Indigenous American to serve as a Cabinet Secretary in the US) called for an investigation into the Federal Native American Boarding School System. In May of this year, the first report was made from the investigation—it was the first acknowledgment by the US government that between 1819 and 1969 (150 years!), the United States operated or supported 408 boarding schools across 37 states (or then-territories), including 21 schools in Alaska a...

Episode 94: Finally Talking About Pronouns

Should Christians call our friends, relatives, coworkers, and kids by their preferred names and pronouns if they do not match their biological sex? This is the million dollar question we’ve been asking amongst ourselves for the past few years. I am asked it all the time and I’ve been reluctant to address it publicly until now. As I say on this episode, I think we should offer one another tremendous charity and generosity in this conversation. This past weekend, while speaking on a panel alon...

Episode 93: Exploring Rest and Some Ideas for Getting More of It

Americans only take about half of their paid time off, leaving the other half unspent and unused. Further, only one-third of American adults regularly get at least seven hours of sleep a night. Why do we struggle to rest? What keeps us at work and awake? On this episode of All Things I invite my husband and pastor, Mark Oshman, to help us understand the Biblical idea and command to rest. He helps us to see what we often attribute to one commandment in the Old Testament is actually a patter...

Episode 92: A Christian Perspective on Work

Hopefully you’re enjoying a brief work week after having Labor Day off on Monday! On this week’s episode we are taking a look at work from a Christian perspective. We’re going all the way back to the beginning and unpacking the Creation Mandate and what it means to bear God’s image in the spheres where he has placed us. My hope is that this episode will encourage you in your work, wherever that may. As followers of Christ you are an outpost of his kingdom whether your work is in the home, in...

Episode 91: Pondering Pace of Life and What Really Matters in the New School Year

Welcome back to All Things! As I come off a two-month break and head back to school, along with many of you, I’m contemplating how my family might pursue rest rather than hustle this year. Many (most?) of us in the wealthy west are over-scheduled and over-tired. Study after study (linked in the show notes below) reveal that our kids are not getting enough sleep or down time. Stress and anxiety are on the rise, while slow family dinners and restful times at home are on the decline. What is it...

Episode 90: Expanding the Pro-Life Movement with Lori Arfsten

On this episode of All Things I am joined by Lori Arfsten who has been entrenched in pro-life work in Colorado for decades. Lori’s frontline work gives her a wholistic view of the movement and an educated perspective on how we might better meet the needs of abortion-vulnerable women. I so appreciate Lori’s humility and desire to pay attention to the voices and perspectives of women from across the movement: those who are faith-based and those who are not, women of color, indigenous women, an...