Send us a Text Message. On March 3, 2020, an EF4 tornado struck Cookeville, Tennessee, in the middle of the night, taking the lives of 19 people. Among those who died was four-year old Hattie Jo Collins, the oldest daughter of Macy and Matt Collins. In this episode, Macy and Matt tell the story of what happened that night and in the "dark night of …

Send us a Text Message. Over the last few months (and years), "Christian nationalism" became a buzzword in both Christian and mainstream news media. A few years ago, barely anyone knew the term. Now it may be making its way into everyday conversations, if not the pews at local congregations. But is Christian nationalism even worth talking about? Dr…

Send us a Text Message. In this episode, The Christian Chronicle's CEO, Erik Tryggestad, interviews popular Christian author Philip Yancey, who recently co-wrote with John A. Bernbaum What Went Wrong? Russia's Lost Opportunity and the Path to Ukraine. Yancey was one of the first Western Christians that leaders of the former Soviet Union invited in …

Send us a Text Message. After some time away from the studio (to finish and graduate from the Master of Religious Education in Missional Leadership program at Rochester Christian University), host BT Irwin returns with an episode chock full of information and insight on two timely topics (Christian nationalism and the mental health of LGBTQ+ studen…

Send us a Text Message. In this episode: Christian attitudes on immigration in the United States, how the church is helping its neighbors recover from the 2023 earthquakes in Turkey, and how the Freed-Hardeman University men's basketball team won the NAIA national championship..."the right way." Segment One: Christian attitudes on immigration in th…

Send us a Text Message. The Christian Chronicle, Inc. is getting all-new branding and design across all of its media. In this episode, you'll hear from those who had a hand in the makeover as well as two senior journalism majors who make some predictions about how The Christian Chronicle may function and look in the future. Segment One: The Christi…

Send us a Text Message. Haiti’s government is all but nonexistent and gangs are in near-total control of the country, causing death and destruction, food and medical shortages, and spreading violence. Church of Christ congregations, members, and ministries are suffering along with the rest of the country. Hear Church of Christ minister and Haitian …

Send us a Text Message. Dr. Bob Waldron, a lifelong minister and missionary for congregations around the world, talks about what he has learned about the Lord’s Supper from his reading, study, and travels. How might we renew and restore all that the Lord intended for this “main event” in the life of the church? Dr. Waldron also talks about his book…

Send us a Text Message. Texas preacher Shawn Davis finds strength in the Lord after he loses everything in a wildfire. Herald of Truth, an old radio ministry, is new again (and partnering with The Christian Chronicle). Elsie Stark, an 11-year old baking entrepreneur competes on Food Network’s Kids Baking Championship. SEGMENT ONE: A Texas preacher …

Send us a Text Message. A Kansas City church runs toward gun violence, an Australian teen lost her mom and found her own faith, a puppet ministry bringing Bible stories to 50 million, and a bonus segment (Bible bowling with the Tryggestads). SEGMENT ONE: A Kansas City church runs toward gun violence (Branden and Sharee Mims, Greater Metropolitan Ch…

Send us a Text Message. Dr. O.J. Shabazz (Church of Christ in Harlem, New York City), a congregational minister with more than 40 years of experience, talks about the practical wisdom he shares in his book, 'Excellence in Ministry: A Guide to Protocols and Etiquette for Church Leaders'. Dr. O.J. Shabazz (Church of Christ in Harlem, New York City), …

Send us a Text Message. Dr. Scott Thumma of Hartford Institute for Religion Research reveals how and why minister burnout is on the rise. Dr. Philena Myers (Woodland Place Church of Christ, Ocala, Florida) explains how Black history is Christian history. Let's Start Talking has a waiting list of people who need volunteers to practice conversational…

Send us a Text Message. We continue The Christian Chronicle’s in-depth coverage of how a “Holy Sexuality” chapel program at Abilene Christian University motivated alumni to petition the university’s administration to change its policies and position on same-sex relationships. SEGMENT ONE: The story so far and why The Christian Chronicle is covering…

Send us a Text Message. Christian Chronicle contributor Cheryl Mann Bacon talks more about her recent report on how the cost of insurance is threatening the very existence of some congregations. Ethel Sherrill, a longtime member of the landmark historic Silver Point West End Church of Christ in Silver Point, Tennessee, shares an oral history with T…

Send us a Text Message. Dr. Greg Smith of the Pew Research Center talks about the latest data on "nones," Americans who claim no religious affiliation. Today, that make up 28 percent of all Americans, up from 16 percent less than 20 years ago. Who are they and why are they rejecting organized religion? Bobby Ross, Jr., visits Cuba to interview mini…

Send us a Text Message. Dirk Smith of Eastern European Mission describes how EEM will send 800,000 Bibles to Europe, including Ukraine and Russia, in 2024. Dr. Jeremie Beller explains why The Christian Chronicle's editorial board believes that the "Restoration Plea" is still valid. Jason Bivens is not only a deacon with a Church of Christ congregat…

Send us a Text Message. On this one-year anniversary of The Christian Chronicle Podcast, we ask The Christian Chronicle news team to share what they think were the biggest stories they reported in 2023...and which stories they wish got more attention and started more conversations among Church of Christ folks. They'll also make their best guesses a…

Send us a Text Message. Author and theologian Curtis Chang talks about his book, 'The Anxiety Opportunity: How Worry is the Doorway to Your Best Self' and 'The After Party,' the new small group curriculum he created with David French and Russell Moore to help Christians practice "better politics" in 2024. Link to The Anxiety Opportunity: How Worry …

Send us a Text Message. SEGMENT ONE: Abilene Christian University is facing organized backlash from LGBTQ-affirming alumni, students, and even some professors for its "Holy Sexuality Week. Christian Chronicle CEO Erik Tryggestad fills in the story and talks about how The Christian Chronicle will cover it in 2024. Link to Religion News Service cover…

Send us a Text Message. John Johnson put on the red suit for the first time 40 years ago and he's been Santa Claus ever since. But it's not just a side job or role that John plays for a few months each year; it is his calling and his ministry. In this episode, the member of the Myrtle Beach (South Carolina) Church of Christ shares his secrets and s…

Send us a Text Message. Legendary performer (and Church of Christ favorite son) Pat Boone has a book and a new hit album, but he really wants to talk about what the Bible is telling him these days, what he sees God doing in the world, and what the choice he hopes everyone makes to obey the Word. And he proves that he still knows how to lead congreg…

Send us a Text Message. Landon Saunders, a broadcaster and preacher who won millions of fans and friends around the world, went to his rest on November 14, 2023. He was 86 years old. In this episode, you'll listen to recordings of Saunders preaching and speaking in his own words. You'll also listen to two friends who knew him well. Mike Cope, direc…

Send us a Text Message. A few weeks before this episode, The Christian Chronicle reported that Oklahoma Christian University is closing its graduate school of theology due to budget cuts and declining enrollment. This latest news follows the trend of enrollment decline in Bible, ministry, and theology programs at colleges and universities with root…

Send us a Text Message. Some segments edited for brevity and clarity Segment One: An Arab Israeli Christian talks about what is happening in Gaza and Israel (Sandro Jadon) Link to Erik Tryggestad’s Christian Chronicle interview with Sandro Jadon in the days imm ediately after the October 7 attack on Israel from Hamas Link to Erik Tryggestad’ Christ…

Send us a Text Message. Some segments edited for brevity and clarity This episode explores what is going on in Christian education and among people between the ages of 13 and 25. Segment One: Dr. Trace Hebert of Lipscomb University talks about his annual report on enrollment trends at colleges and universities from the Church of Christ tradition. O…

Send us a Text Message. After the mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, the surviving victims needed a place to resume learning...and a place to try to recover. Nearby Brentwood Hills Church of Christ opened its building and its hearts to them. Ministers Amy Bowman and Jonathan Seamon talk about what it's like to love neighb…

Send us a Text Message. Few changes in popular culture are causing more discomfort and raising more questions in the church than how the LGBTQ+ lifestyle is going mainstream in North America. It's not just outside the church. Over the last 20 years, Christians who accept and even approve at least parts of the LGBTQ+ lifestyle increased from next to…

Send us a Text Message. On September 6, 2018, off-duty Dallas police officer Amber Guyger entered the apartment of Dallas West Church of Christ member and Harding University alumnus Botham Jean. Mistaking his apartment for her own, she came through the unlocked front door, found Jean eating ice cream and watching TV on the couch, and shot him with …

Send us a Text Message. It's been two full years since most congregations tried to "get back to normal" after COVID turned the world outside in in 2020 and 2021. Our first guest, Aaron Hill, headed up a nationwide study of how COVID is still affecting congregations and what those lingering effects portend for the future. Our second guest, American …

Send us a Text Message. Few articles that The Christian Chronicle published over the last year got more comments and more buzz than a report that the Mayfair Church of Christ in Oklahoma City is becoming part of Crossings Community Church, a 9,000-member multisite congregation with roots in the non-Pentecostal Church of God. Mayfair Church of Chris…

Send us a Text Message. New York Times columnist David French grew up in the Church of Christ, graduated from Lipscomb University (a school with deep roots and strong ties in the Church of Christ tradition), and shaped his political mind in the conservative Republicanism of the 1980s and 1990s. He began and built his legal career litigating institu…

Send us a Text Message. When Dan and Mary Huber (NorthWest Church of Christ) found out that thousands of Afghan refugees were coming to their city of San Antonio, Texas, they chose to extend extraordinary hospitality to their new neighbors. But they soon found themselves to be not the hosts, but the honored guests of their new Afghan friends. What …

Send us a Text Message. Scot McKnight and Laura Barringer, authors of the popular 2020 book, 'A Church Called Tov,' talk to us about their follow up book, 'PIVOT'. They answer questions about how congregations can tell if toxic traces taint their cultures, what it takes to "detox" a church, and practical steps congregations can take to start the pr…

Send us a Text Message. This episode picks up the "Sacred Calling" special series that covers the "minister shortage" among Church of Christ congregations in North America. We ask: Does a tradition that claims to believe in the "priesthood of all believers" (1 Peter 2:5) really have a minister shortage...or a shortage of imagination? The six guests…

Send us a Text Message. For 65 years, Harding University's School of Theology in Memphis, Tennessee, has been a global hub of Bible and ministry education in the Church of Christ tradition, but the school announced that it is closing the campus and moving its programs to Searcy, Arkansas. Why ...and why now? Meanwhile, a congregation is growing and…

Send us a Text Message. On August 7, 37 players on the Faulkner University football team gave their lives to Christ in baptism. Hear the story from coaches and a player who were there (in the water). Personal spiritual direction is emerging as a new kind of minister and ministry among both believers and seekers. What is it? How does it work? Is it …

Send us a Text Message. 'The Sound of Freedom', a small-budget independent film about an agent who fights child trafficking, is the box office surprise of the summer, nearly beating out Indiana Jones. In this episode, Pam Cope, who fights child trafficking in real life, talks about what the work is like and how you can help. The Christian Chronicle…

Send us a Text Message. In his wildest dreams, Lee Camp could never imagine this! Many years ago, the professor of theology and ethics at Lipscomb University had a crazy idea: A live stage show that mixes entertainment and interviews with thinkers who address the "big questions" of life. The 'Tokens Show' first appeared on a Lipscomb University sta…

Send us a Text Message. Even regular churchgoers skip Sunday morning worship sometimes. Scott McConnell of Lifeway Research reveals the latest survey on the top reasons folks skip church. Jeff Dye, a lifer in the Christian Church (instrumental), talks about what it was like to join an a cappella Church of Christ congregation. Dr. Dale Underwood of …

Send us a Text Message. God is alive and working in the world. This episode proves it. First, hear from Julia, a Russian immigrant who is ministering to hundreds of Ukrainian refugees in Houston, Texas. Then listen to Danny Mills and his wife, Heather. Danny got COVID so bad he almost died and only lived after a double lung transplant. Hear their s…

Send us a Text Message. If the jobs section of The Christian Chronicle is any proof, more Church of Christ congregations in North America have open ministry positions than there are ministers able, ready, and willing to fill them. What is the cause of this "minister shortage"? In this episode, Christian Chronicle correspondents Cheryl Mann Bacon, J…

Send us a Text Message. For almost 40 years, Mike Cope preached in Church of Christ congregations from North Carolina to Arkansas to Texas. Now at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, he directs the annual Bible lectures, leads church relations efforts, and takes on the challenge of educating and forming a new generation of ministers and pr…

Send us a Text Message. When the U.S. Supreme Court decided the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case on June 24, 2022, it overturned two cases, Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), that established the federal right to an abortion. For decades in the United States, many, if not most, Church of Christ members praye…

Send us a Text Message. For generations, churches in Texas passed down the tradition of Juneteenth, sometimes called "America's Second Independence Day." In this episode, Karl Berry and Curtis Phillips, elders from Cedar Hill Church of Christ in Cedar Hill, Texas, talk about how their congregation is keeping and sharing the Juneteenth tradition. Th…

Send us a Text Message. Jordan Coss (Redwood Church of Christ, Redwood City, California) shares his research on Church of Christ ministers and retirement. What keeps so many Church of Christ ministers from retiring (if they even finish out their ministry careers)? What can congregations and their ministers do about it? Dr. Kelsey Kramer McGinnis, a…

Send us a Text Message. Capt. Victor Glover, a longtime member of the Church of Christ, will pilot the Artemis 2 mission to the moon in November 2024, but it will not be his first trip to space. Capt. Glover spent 168 days in space, including 167 days aboard the International Space Station in 2020 and 2021. Few human beings know what it's like to h…

Send us a Text Message. For National Church Planting Sunday (May 21), church planters Caleb Borchers, Ron Clark, and Brendin Williamson talk about why church planting is what America (and the world) needs now and why existing congregations should be glad to see church plants come to their neighborhoods. Barry McDonald of the Caruso School of Law at…

Send us a Text Message. We remember the life and work of Sister Ruth Wyrick of the Marsalis Avenue Church of Christ in Dallas, Texas. Born in the segregated South of the 1930s, Sister Wyrick used the power of hospitality and kindness to forever change politics and public service in Dallas. Shay Wyrick Cathey and Christian Chronicle board member Tan…

Send us a Text Message. "All of this started when they took prayer out of schools." This is a line that host BT Irwin heard many times over the years from Christians trying to explain bad things that seem to be getting worse in the United States. While their opinion has elements of truth about it, is their solution--to restore Christianity to a pre…

Send us a Text Message. Church and school security expert Dwayne Harris (Full Armor Church) talks about the most effective (and surprising) way to keep congregations safe. The growth of the Texas Bible Bowl reflects how young people are more interested than ever to know about Jesus. Audrey Jackson reports and we interview Texas Bible Bowl organizer…