I talk with Dr. Joseph Lear about Christian ethics—what’s right and wrong, a shared vision of the good, and how to live in a world that isn’t as it should be. We discuss sexuality as an everyday ethical issue, the importance of virtue and habits, and how spiritual disciplines can exist without real moral formation. We also explore ethical behaviour online, emphasizing generosity and knowing when to disengage. Dr. Lear connects ethics to eschatology in Luke-Acts: “the last days” prompts “what shall we do?” leading to sharing and justice, and he argues that losing kingdom-focused eschatological imagination fuels partisan visions like Christian nationalisms. He recommends resources and previews his forthcoming book on Pentecostal preaching.

Today we are introducing a new subseries, Ask a Theologian Junior Edition, and talk with Quinn Swoboda, a children’s pastor and theology student, about why parents feel afraid to discuss theology with kids—often from fear of being wrong and from church cultures where questions aren’t welcomed. We explore how kids read our body language and may stop asking if we react with anxiety, so I should affirm their curiosity, admit when I don’t know, and say we’ll figure it out together. We discuss why kids need theology because they’ll seek answers somewhere, and we talk about suffering, church hurt, and big questions like why good things happen to bad people. Quinn shares “Godly Play,” a narrative, wonder-question approach that helps kids engage Scripture without needing perfect propositional answers, and we end by encouraging parents to treat kids as fellow disciples who can even teach us.

In this episode I talk with Dr. Wayne Park, chancellor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Texas and professor of congregational and marketplace leadership, about integrating faith and work. He pushes back on the idea that workplace faith is just Bible studies or evangelism, and argues that work has intrinsic value and can contribute “kingdom value” and the common good. We explore how the workplace can be a primary site of spiritual formation, using practices like a rule of life, Ignatian-style examen, group discernment gatherings, and set prayers like the Serenity Prayer to realign desires and presence during the day. We discuss closing the Sunday–Monday gap by platforming congregants’ everyday work, visiting people at their workplaces, and even imagining communion brought into work settings. He names leadership myths shaped by Machiavellian and Darwinian business models and recommends accountability groups. He suggests Tim Keller’s “Every Good Endeavor.”