In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss what is now the fastest growing Christian movement in the U.S. - the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) - and one that many people don't seem to be aware of. This group of leadership networks that include supposed modern-day apostles and prophets believe they have been called by God to take over the world. And their ideologies have begun to infiltrate mainstream Christianity as well.

Today's conversation was prompted by an article from The Atlantic written by Stephanie McCrummen and titled, “The Woman Who Bought a Mountain for God.” As stated in the article about the NAR: “The movement is seeking political power as a means to achieving a more transcendent goal: to bring under biblical authority every sphere of life, including government, schools, and culture itself, establishing not just a Christian nation, as the traditional religious right has advocated, but an actual, earthly Kingdom of God.”

There was a book written about this movement as well that was mentioned in today's episode. If you'd like to read more about the NAR, be sure to check out The Rise of Network Christianity by Brad Christerson and Richard Flory. Dr. White also referenced another article worth reading written by Matthew D. Taylor and Paul A. Djupe for Religion News Service titled, “How Trumpism has pushed a fringe charismatic theology into the mainstream.”

Finally, the discussion led to aspects of Christian Nationalism and the role of Christians in the political realm. This has been a topic discussed in past episodes of the podcast. We'd encourage you to go back and listen to: CCP83: On Christians and Government, CCP82: On Christians and Politics, and CCP37: On Christian Nationalism.

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 subject of a recent Christianity Today article written by Russell Moore titled, “Why Young Men Are Failing to Launch.” The phrase “failure to launch” is not new on the cultural scene; however, it is increasingly becoming reflective of Gen Z men. This is a generation that Dr. White is very familiar with following the research he did for his book Meet Generation Z. So why do Gen Z men seem to struggle so much with branching out on their own?

As discussed, one of the fundamental issues is that men these days don't seem to know what it means to be a man. This was a trend that Dr. White began to see in culture, and was what prompted the development of a series he delivered at Mecklenburg Community Church called “Defining Manhood.” This topic has also been broached through the Church & Culture Podcast in episodes CCP101: On Bluey and Modern Fatherhood and CCP72: On Toxic Masculinity.

In addition to the CT article from Moore, other journalists who study culture have also taken note of this issue affecting Gen Z men. While there are many others out there, these are a good place to start if you're looking for more to read on this topic. Hannah Fry, writing in the Los Angeles Times, titled her article “A ‘failure to launch': Why young people are having less sex.” Christine Emba wrote a very interesting article on this subject in The Washington Post titled, “Men are lost. Here's a map out of the wilderness.” Glen Stanton, in an effort to help shed some light on this topic, wrote an article titled “Manhood Is Not Natural” in The Journal of the Witherspoon Institute. An article in Medium was titled “Are Gen Z Men Really That Undateable?”

The conversation also explored whether parents could be to blame for this failure to launch. After all, Gen Z have been raised by Gen X. And much of their parenting was focused on not becoming a helicopter parent. The result? They became too under protective when it came to parenting. On that topic, Dr. White gave a series at Meck called “The Under-Protective Parent.”

Lastly, today's conversation talked about the prevalence of domestic abuse and the tragic affects that it has on families. If you or someone you know is being abused, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800.799.7233.

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 data coming from the CDC finding that the worldwide birth rate that had seen an uptick during the pandemic has slowed way, way down. In fact, between 2007 - 2022 the birth rate has fallen 22% with the average woman today having 1.6 children. This is something that we need to pay attention to because it matters a lot more than people may think.

An article in Vox written by Anna North titled “You can't even pay people to have more kids” explores what countries are trying to do to counter this decline (and sadly not having very much luck).

Dr. White noted that part of the reason for this decline can be attributed to people getting married later in life or not at all. The C&C Podcast took a deeper dive into this topic during CCP76: On the Never Marrieds. And the conversation today also touched on the topic of IVF, which was discussed in detail in CCP97: On IVF.

Coincidentally, the topic of IVF also came up as part of a recent message series given by Dr. White at Mecklenburg Community Church. For this series, Meck's social media team took a poll to find out what topics people were most interested in finding out what the Bible had to say about. Coming in at #2 on that poll were the topics of IVF and abortion. You can find that entire series titled “What the Bible Really Says About…” 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 a string of recent articles exploring the growing trend among Generation Z students who are deciding to forego college and instead head to vocational schools. There are a number of reasons for this to be sure - everything from the rising tuition costs of a four-year college education to feelings that the trades lead to a greater chance for job security. What is the impact that this will have on our culture?

Dr. White wrote a book specifically about this generation that is so helpful for having a better understanding of just what makes them tick. You can find Meet Generation Z: Understanding and Reaching the New Post-Christian World HERE. And then there were three articles that provided the fodder for today's conversation if you're interested in reading them:

“How Gen Z Is Becoming the Toolbelt Generation,” The Wall Street Journal, April 1, 2024.

Joshua Bay, “Survey finds many Gen Zers say school lacks a ‘sense of purpose' and isn't ‘motivating,'” Arkansas Advocate, April 30, 2024.

“Sense of Purpose in School and Work Drives Gen Z Happiness, New Gallup Survey Finds,” Walton Family Foundation, April 10, 2024.

One thing is clear: colleges need to change their existing models now before they find themselves without students to teach. Similarly, seminaries across the country are also facing this same challenge. Too many people are leaving seminaries with a lot of head knowledge, but very little practical knowledge when it comes to the day in, day out ministry of leading a church. Dr. White wrote a book titled, What They Didn't Teach You in Seminary that tries to help fill in the gaps. You can find that book HERE.

Finally, the conversation led to a discussion of the Meck Institute's Leadership Development Program - a program developed by Dr. White at Mecklenburg Community Church to help train up future leaders within the church. If you are interested in implementing a similar program at your church, you can find that program 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 widespread campus protests that have been dominating the headlines of late. More than 2800 students have been arrested across 50 campuses across the U.S. Many Americans are unsure about what to think about all of these protests, and have mixed feelings about the response from college administrators to the protests. So how should we think Christianly about what's happening across the country?

The best place to begin is by trying to have a deeper understanding of the conflict itself. While today's conversation does explore that, we'd suggest you go back and listen to CCP80: On the War in Israel. Dr. White and Alexis also mentioned the number of news stories of late tied to these protests happening across the U.S. Here are the ones specifically tied to today's conversation - we hope you'll take the time to read them:

Jerusalem Demsas, “The Problem With America's Protest Feedback Loop,” The Atlantic, May 10, 2024.

Amaris Encinas, “Rabbi decries act of ‘senseless hatred' after dozens of headstones damaged at Jewish cemetery in NY,” USA Today, May 7, 2024.

Livia Albck-Ripka, “Hillary Clinton Accuses Protesters of Ignorance of Mideast History,” The New York Times, May 9, 2024.

“A Few Graduations Are Disrupted by Protest, but Many Are Held as Planned,” The New York Times, updated May 13, 2024.

Elizabeth E. Evans, “Amid surge of campus protests, chaplains find reason for hope in their students,” Religion News Service, May 10, 2024.

Kirsten Grieshaber, “At time of rising antisemitism, Holocaust survivors take on denial and hate in new digital campaign, “ Associated Press, May 2, 2024.

Barbara Sprunt, “House passes bill aimed to combat antisemitism amid college unrest,” NPR, May 2, 2024.

David French, “Colleges Have Gone off the Deep End. There Is a Way Out.” The New York Times, April 28, 2024.

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 what may seem like a surprising topic - hell. An AP/NORC study last year found that belief in heaven and angels is more common than belief in the devil or hell. For many, this may be because culture often portrays hell in a comedic or cartoonish way through various media platforms. Even some Christians struggle with the idea of hell and want to know why a loving God would create it.

It is important for those who consider themselves Christ followers to be grounded in the fundamentals of the Christian faith - to have a solid understanding of biblical theology. Dr. White has a course available through Church & Culture called “Theology on Tap.” Heaven, hell and what will happen at the end of time are components of this study, which you can find HERE. You may also be interested in checking out a series given by Dr. White at Mecklenburg Community Church called “The Apocalypse: The Message of Revelation for Today” which you can find HERE.

Dr. White also explained the importance of reaching those who do not have a relationship with Jesus with urgency. He shared a story of Penn Jillette receiving the gift of a Bible following one of his shows, and the impact that this made on him even though he is an atheist. You can watch Penn's vlog post 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 a recent study from the PRRI titled “Religious Change In America.” One of the biggest headlines from the study is that more and more, Americans are saying “no” to organized religion, and the number of those identifying as atheist and agnostic are on the rise. In fact, since Dr. White wrote his book The Rise of the Nones in 2014, the number of atheists has doubled. But what differentiates an “atheist” from an “agnostic” from a “none?”

Dr. White recently wrote a blog titled “Surprising Mourners for the Decline in Christianity.” It's interesting to find that many who choose to walk away from religion, or who never had a religion they affiliated themselves with, often find that something seems to be missing in their lives. In a recent article in The Atlantic titled “The True Cost of the Churchgoing Bust,” Derek Thompson (who is an agnostic) lamented over what has been lost by our culture abandoning the Christian faith. And self-proclaimed atheist Richard Dawkins recently explained how he considers himself a cultural Christian and is saddened by the thought that we may one day soon lose our cathedrals and parish churches.

Dr. White also wrote a book that's an extremely helpful resource for those who would put themselves into either the atheist or agnostic camps. It's called Christianity for People Who Aren't Christians and 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 fact that as culture becomes less and less rooted in Christianity, and people (sadly) have more and more encounters with Christians who are not very Christlike, misconceptions and caricatures of the Christian faith seem to be growing. Today's discussion, which was a listener-submitted topic, will walk through four of the most common caricatures in today's culture.

Here are some series given by Dr. White at Mecklenburg Community Church related to the caricatures covered in today's discussion that you may be interested in taking a look at:

“The Science of God”

“Astrophysics… for People Who Are Open to God”

“Don't Check Your Brains at the Door”

“When God Makes Us Laugh”

“Why?”

And then here are a few past podcast episodes that you can go back and listen to in case you missed them that may add to today's discussion:

CCP103: On the Sudden Rise of LGBTQ

CCP92: On Challenges to Believing the Bible

CCP63: On Why Christians Are So Mean

CCP49: On Faith vs. Science

Finally, here are two books that were mentioned in the conversation for you:

A Mind for God by James Emery White

The Gift of Pain: Why We Hurt and What We Can Do About It by Philip Yancey and Paul Brand

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.