In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a recent Lifeway Research study which found that despite some disturbing trends in the number of church closures across the United States, 94% of pastors believe their church will still be open in 10 years. Whereas in the 1940s nearly 85% of Americans claimed they belonged to a church, now that number is less than 50%. So what happens to these churches when they close? And what is the outcome for pastors as well as those who considered it their church home?

As Alexis mentioned at the top of the podcast, the decline in Christianity in America has been touched on in more than a handful of past episodes. If you've missed these conversations and would like to go back and listen to them, they include: CCP135: On Women Leaving the Church, CCP105: On Cultural Caricatures of the Christian Faith, CCP100: On Unchristian Christians, CCP94: On the Growing Lack of Confidence in Clergy, CCP32: On a Non-Christian America, and CCP15: On Denominational Decline.

If you are interested in looking at more of the data related to the number of church closings forecasted in the U.S. mentioned in today's conversation, as well as what's being done with houses of worship that have already closed, we'd encourage you to check out these two articles:

Yonat Shimron, “Study: More churches closing than opening,” Religion News Service

Mark Dent, “Can God fix America's housing crisis?" The Hustle

They also discussed how when churches close, it can leave a huge void in the wider community being served by the church. Dr. White mentioned a current case gaining attention where Christian pop artist Amy Grant is fighting to save a church that was founded by her grandfather from a local businessman. You can read more about that in the article by Cameron McWhirter in The Wall Street Journal HERE.

Finally, Dr. White very poignantly ended today's episode by reading a blog that is published annually at Church & Culture. It's titled “The Monday After Easter,” and is a blog written specifically to pastors who may be struggling with an underwhelming turnout on Easter Sunday despite all of their prayer, faith and efforts. If you'd like to read that blog, you can find it HERE.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss how for many Americans, Easter is one of the few times in the year they show a willingness to attend a church service. If they do, they'll likely hear about an empty tomb and the significance of the resurrection of Jesus thousands of years later. For many, the hope of new life in Jesus is enough to propel them to faith or to a deeper commitments to Jesus; but for others, they may be left with lingering questions that will serve as stumbling blocks to faith. Questions like: So what? How is this relevant for my life? And can I even believe this happened? So the question for the church is how are we going to answer those questions - what evidence can we offer for the resurrection of Jesus?

There are several series that Dr. White has given at Mecklenburg Community Church if you want to take a deeper dive into the events leading up to Jesus' crucifixion and His resurrection. These include: “The Passion,” “Risen,” “Seven Last Words of Jesus,” and “Why Believe.” And in case you did not know, past messages given by Dr. White are arranged by category at Church & Culture HERE. You'll find series on specific books of the Bible, on evangelism and apologetics, cultural topics and more.

When discussing Jesus' death on the cross in today's episode, Dr. White mentioned an article from the Journal of the American Medical Association written by Dr. William D. Edwards and titled “On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ.” For those interested in reading this article, you can find it HERE. “The Resurrection of the Son of God” by N.T. Wright was another resource that Dr. White discussed, and you can find his book HERE. And one more book that we'd strongly recommend is written by Dr. White himself: Christianity for People Who Aren't Christians. It offers incredibly helpful explanations of the most common questions that people have when it comes to the Christian faith. You can find it on Amazon HERE.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the interesting cultural connection between the demise of Hooters (which has now filed for bankruptcy) and the rise in popularity of OnlyFans. For those not familiar with this website, it's a platform where people offer online content that they've created, which is usually pornographic in nature, to paid subscribers. People are spending thousands of dollars to both see content created by their favorite creators and to interact with them through texting and personalized content - essentially creating a fantasy relationship. To be frank, an establishment like Hooters is absolutely tame when compared to the ubiquitous nature of porn.

Whereas years ago men might have been drawn to a place like Hooters, younger generations are so much more private, and access to websites like OnlyFans affords that privacy. There are several articles that would be worth your time to read, particularly those about OnlyFans, as people need to be aware of how addicting the platform has become for so many people:

Elaine Kurtenbach & Dee-Ann Durbin, “Restaurant chain Hooters goes bust and files for bankruptcy protection,” AP News, April 1, 2025.

Russell Moore, “Hooters and the Future of the Church,” Christianity Today, April 2, 2025.

Carly Lewis, “Addicted to OnlyFans Men are spending tens of thousands of dollars to text with their favorite creators.” New Yorker Magazine - The Cut, April 1, 2025.

Magdalene Taylor, “When Is OnlyFans Cheating, and When Is It Just Porn?” New Yorker Magazine - The Cut, December 14, 2024.

Ezra Marcus, “The ‘E-Pimps' of OnlyFans,” The New York Times, June 15, 2023.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss Barna Group teaming up with the Aspen Group design firm to explore possible connections between spiritual formation and the physical spaces that we inhabit. Questions such as: What does it mean to be formed as a follower of Jesus? And can the spaces that we meet in help motivate this growth? Also, how might our physical experiences of a church relate to our worship and understanding of God? In simple terms, they were trying to determine whether it's best for churches to look “churchy.”

Daniel Silliman wrote an article in Christianity Today which sparked today's conversation. It's titled “Americans Think Church Should Look Churchy,” and Silliman said that the survey found that most people “don't like trendy, modern buildings.” Dr. White would argue that while people do indeed want to attend church in a space that is sacred, spiritual and safe, that doesn't necessarily mean they want it to look overly churchy like some of the medieval churches in Europe. He wrote a blog recently about this topic titled “Churches Looking Churchy” which you can read HERE.

There's another recent blog that was written by Dr. White that was referenced in this episode. It's called “This Is Church,” where Dr. White addresses how many businesses and parachurch organizations can try to step in and supplant themselves as the church when they most definitely are not. And if the discussion of the cathedral found in Chartres, France was of interest to you, we'd encourage you to read the Church & Culture blog titled, “Chartres.”

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they pick up where they left off last week in a discussion prompted by the recent launch of NASA's SPHEREx Telescope, which is hoping to find answers to how the world began. As Christians, we have a firm belief that God created all that there is. However, Genesis says quite a few things with regard to the history of the world that seem - at first glance - to either contradict science or that have not been corroborated by science.

If you missed last week's podcast episode, we'd encourage you to pause and listen to that conversation first. You can find “CCP142: On Genesis, Part One” on your favorite podcasting platform, on YouTube, or HERE on the Church & Culture website. For a deeper dive into the book of Genesis, we'd suggest you check out a series given by James Emery White at Mecklenburg Community Church called “Primordial: Genesis and the World's Primeval History.” This was not the first time that Dr. White tackled the faith-science dynamic in his messages. Here are a few other series that we'd encourage you to take a look at: “The Science of God,” “Astrophysics… for People Who Are Open to God," and “Don't Check Your Brains at the Door.”

Dr. White also made reference to Meck's current series, a study of Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth titled, “Messy.” And as today's conversation delved into Noah and the ark, we thought you'd be interested in checking out this series from James Emery White, “Noah.”

And if you're on the hunt for more info about the SPHEREx Telescope or today's conversation, be sure to read some of these helpful resources:

Marcelo Gleiser, “The 10 Most Important Questions In Science,” NPR, September 11, 2013, read online.

James Emery White, Christianity for People Who Aren't Christians, order from Amazon.

Manuela López Restrepo, “NASA's Upcoming Telescope Launch Aims to Address Some Existential Questions,” NPR, March 3, 2025, read online.

Josh Dinner, “NASA Delays Launch of SPHEREx and PUNCH Missions to March 8,” Space.com, March 5, 2025, read online.

Ari Daniel, “Searching the Entire Sky for the Secrets to Our Universe,” NPR, February 9, 2025, read online.

Fred Heeren, Show Me God: What the Message from Space Is Telling Us About God.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss how NASA has made a huge step forward in wanting to bring science into the realm of the existential as this week, they launched into space what's known as the SPHEREx Telescope. It has the goal of answering some pivotal questions like: How did the universe begin? How did galaxies start to develop? How did human beings get here? Christians feel that the Bible gives the answers to these questions, which some feel flies in the face of what science offers. It's important, then, to have a clear understanding of exactly what the Bible says in the book of Genesis.

If today's conversation prompts you to want to take a deeper dive into the book of Genesis, we'd suggest you check out a series given by James Emery White at Mecklenburg Community Church called “Primordial: Genesis and the World's Primeval History.” And this was not the first time that Dr. White tackled the faith-science dynamic in his messages. Here are a few other series that we'd encourage you to take a look at: “The Science of God,” “Astrophysics… for People Who Are Open to God," and “Don't Check Your Brains at the Door.”

And if you're on the hunt for more info about the SPHEREx Telescope or today's conversation, be sure to read some of these helpful resources:

James Emery White, Christianity for People Who Aren't Christians, order from Amazon.

Manuela López Restrepo, “NASA's Upcoming Telescope Launch Aims to Address Some Existential Questions,” NPR, March 3, 2025, read online.

Josh Dinner, “NASA Delays Launch of SPHEREx and PUNCH Missions to March 8,” Space.com, March 5, 2025, read online.

Ari Daniel, “Searching the Entire Sky for the Secrets to Our Universe,” NPR, February 9, 2025, read online.

Fred Heeren, Show Me God: What the Message from Space Is Telling Us About God.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the recent release of Pew Research Center's Religious Landscape Study. Last conducted in 2014, the 2023-24 study surveyed more than 35,000 Americans concerning their religious affiliations, their beliefs, and their practices. It is simply the largest and most significant study of its kind in terms of getting a snapshot of where our country is on all things spirituality and religion, and the current health of the American Church. The findings go far beyond what some of the headlines from this study would suggest.

Dr. White released a recent blog on this topic titled “The Stall of the Nones” - the “nones” being the group who identifies as having no religious affiliation. Their numbers have been rising for decades, yet seem to have reached a leveling-off point. (We'd encourage you to check out his book on this subject that was discussed in today's episode titled The Rise of the Nones.) Dr. White mentioned a recent New York Times article titled “Christianity's Decline in U.S. Appears to Have Halted, Major Study Shows” which latches onto that finding from the study. The more notable takeaway from the study that seems to have been overlooked is the fact that the number of people who would identify as Christian continues to decline - from 78% in 2007 to 62% in 2024. That decline is stunning.

As Dr. White noted from the Christianity Today article titled “Pew: America Is Spiritual but Not Religious,” six people have left Christianity for every one who has joined. That is certainly not sustainable. Dr. White stressed the importance of reaching the younger generations for Jesus, and the fact that a solid children's ministry is a vitally important component. He wrote a blog on this topic titled “The Most Important Sub-Ministry In Your Church” that would be worth reading if you missed it.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.