So We Speak

Faith and science. This is one of the toughest relationships to navigate in the modern world. How should Christians who want to do science but also want to read the Bible responsibly and faithfully navigate Darwinism? In this two episode series, Carson Feix and Ben Williams join the podcast to discuss the scientific and philosophical foundations of Darwinism through the lens of the book Theistic Evolution edited by Stephen Meyer, J.P. Moreland, Christopher Shaw, Ann Gauger, and Wayne Grudem.

Faith and science. This is one of the toughest relationships to navigate in the modern world. How should Christians who want to do science but also want to read the Bible responsibly and faithfully navigate Darwinism? In this two episode series, Carson Feix and Ben Williams join the podcast to discuss the scientific and philosophical foundations of Darwinism through the lens of the book Theistic Evolution edited by Stephen Meyer, J.P. Moreland, Christopher Shaw, Ann Gauger, and Wayne Grudem.

This is one of my favorite episodes of the podcast. Daryl Kent is one of my good friends and has one of the best stories. As he talks about coming to know Christ, we talk about taking up the cross every day, winning the battle against lust and pornography, and the power of redemption.

This week we had the opportunity to go to the Oklahoma Counsel on Public Affairs to talk about some of the policy work they’re doing on education. The OCPA is an Oklahoma think tank committed to advancing principles and policies that support free enterprise, limited government, and individual initiative. Some of their work pertains to Oklahoma but most of our discussion has to do with the tensions over religion and education seen in things like the gender and bathroom disputes, whether or not Christian curriculum should be used in public schools, and the importance of school choice. In the beginning of our conversation, we talk about the difference between politics and policy, and I think you’ll start to hear why they have an interesting perspective on things like education, freedom, and being a Christian in America today. Their principles are not overtly Christian, but they do provide for a lot of Christian ideas and commitments to take root in our culture. You’ll hear a bunch of voices on this episode – and because of that there are some places where the quality is not quite as good as usual. Jonathan Small is the president of the OCPA. Dave Bond is the VP for Advocacy, the lobbying side of the organization Brandon Dutcher is a Senior VP and oversees a lot of their policy research. I learned a lot in this conversation, and I hope you all enjoy it.

We're very excited to have Steve Trice as our first guest of the year! Steve was the founder and CEO of Jasco Products in Oklahoma City and now serves as the chairman of the board. When he gave his life to Christ, he decided to live as a Christian at work and at home. Steve and Terry discuss the importance of discipleship, trusting God in business, and the faithfulness of God's provision in their lives.

To kick off the year, we're looking at the most important trends in the church and in politics and making a few predictions about what 2020 might hold.

Terry’s Favorite Books: Biographies (1:10): Victoria: A Life - A. N. Wilson Hitler: A Biography - Ian Kershaw Boris - Andrew Gimson Poetry (3:30) New and Collected Poems - Czeslaw Milosz Kipling: Poems - Rudyard Kipling Pope: Poems - Alexander Pope Let Me Finish - Chris Christie (5:20) Human Nature - David Berlinski (6:00) Understanding Gender Dysphoria - Mark Yarhouse (7:50) The Upward Spiral - Alex Korb (8:50) Christian Beliefs - Wayne Grudem and Elliot Grudem (9:45) Views from the Mountain - James Earl Massey (10:15) The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures - D.A. Carson (10:40) Failure of Nerve - Edwin Friedman (13:50) How to Exasperate Your Wife - Doug Wilson (14:50) Cole’s Favorite Books (16:00): Crossing to Safety - Wallace Stegner (2:30) Cultural Engagement - Josh Chatraw and Karen Swallow Prior (16:10) Faith Among the Faithless - Mike Cosper (17:15) Tending Soul, Mind and Body - Gerald Hiestand and Todd Wilson (19:10) Captain Class - Sam Walker (19:30) Reappearing Church - Mark Sayers (21:00) NFL Century - Joe Horrigan (21:40) Churchill: An Extraordinary Life - Sarah Gristwood and Margaret Gaskin (23:00) Leadership in War - Andrew Roberts (24:45) Hymns of the Republic - S.C. Gwynne (26:40) Books of the Decade (39:40): The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures - D.A. Carson The Coddling of the American Mind - Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff 12 Rules for Life - Jordan Peterson How (Not) To Be Secular - James K. A. Smith Paul and the Faithfulness of God - N. T. Wright Plagues of the Mind - Bruce Thornton The Blessing of Humility - Jerry Bridges Spurgeon on the Christian Life - Michael Reeves The Second World Wars - Victor Davis Hanson Churchill: Walking with Destiny - Andrew Roberts

Should Christians pray for people to rise from the dead? We discuss the tragic situation at Bethel, doing the things that Jesus did, and God's will in life and death.

How should Christians steward the environment? In light all the talk about global warming, how should Christians working in oil and gas think Christianly about their industry? This week Terry Feix interviews Steve Slawson, Vice President of Operations at Slawson Companies, about how his faith impacts his work and how Christians can think about stewarding natural resources. We've got some big goals for So We Speak in 2020! Would you consider supporting us as we head into the new year?

Nahum isn't studied very often, but he gives us a stunning picture of the character of God. It's easy to forget that God is Lord, not just over the church, but over the whole world. With some historical background, the book of Nahum comes alive and shows that God rules over nations, kings, and empires.

In the book of Jeremiah, we get one of the most intimate portraits in Scripture. Through his calling, questioning, suffering, and proclamation of a new covenant, Jeremiah ties the entire Bible together around his life of everyday faithfulness. This week, we discuss all that we can learn from this extraordinary prophet.

Habakkuk is one of the best known of the minor prophets. His prayer shows the inner life of the Old Testament prophet, and God's answers to his prayers gives us a glimpse of what it looks like to trust God when things don't turn out the way we hope. Email us questions, comments, or suggestions at [email protected].

Paul's second letter to Timothy is one of the most commonly studied letters in the New Testament, and it's easy to see why. It's perfect for one on one discipleship, ministry leadership, and understanding the essentials of the faith. Have questions or suggestions for podcast topics? Email us at [email protected].

This week, Terry Feix takes some of his favorite proverbs and applies them to the workplace. We're talking about leadership, specifically how to manage competing priorities and how to make wise decisions. One of the most difficult things to do as a manager is to cultivate a judicial temperament, the ability to sort through lots of competing information to take action. Have questions for the podcast? Email us at [email protected].

This week, we're re-airing the Romans podcast and talking about advent! We're diving into some of Paul's letters in the next few weeks and Romans is the gateway to understanding Paul's writing and his thought.

This week we discuss some of our favorite books we've read recently and why it's good to read history. Terry: The Emperor's Handbook - C. Scot Hicks and David V. Hicks Wesley on the Christian Life - Fred Sanders The Upward Spiral - Alex Korb Understanding Gender Dysphoria - Mark A. Yarhouse Confronting Christianity - Rebecca McLaughlin Cole: Justice on Trial - Mollie Hemingway and Carrie Severino Ball of Collusion - Andy McCarthy Mr. Churchill’s Profession - Peter Clarke In Hoffa’s Shadow - Jack Goldsmith Pastor Paul - Scot McKnight History of England - Lord Macaulay The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon The Inheritance of Rome - Chris Wickham The English and Their History - Robert Tombs Millennium - Tom Holland

This week during the CNN LGBTQ town hall, Beto O'Rourke said he would strip churches, charities, schools, and their religious organization of their tax-exempt status if they wouldn't adhere to the progressive vision of marriage and sexuality. While he may be an outlier in American society, his comments raise important issues for believers. Why do we believe that churches should be tax exempt? How would it affect our society if they didn't? We discuss these questions and others on this week's episode of the So We Speak podcast.

This week we're talking about a couple of fascinating articles: "Sweet Nothings: The ASMR Phenomenon and American Identity" - R. Jay Magill, The Los Angeles Review of Books "The Impossible Dream" - David Wootton, Lapham's Quarterly How is social media teaching us about relationships and intimacy? Can you have intimacy without trust? What does the pursuit of happiness entail and what does that phrase reveal about American society?

The book of Jude can get passed over for Paul's letters and Revelation, but it is one of the most intriguing letters in the New Testament. Full of unique features, Jude quotes from sources outside the Bible, talks about the archangel Michael battling the devil, false teachers, and closes with one of the most powerful doxologies in the Bible.

Each week we send out a summary of the news with links to the best articles on each topic and Christian worldview commentary and analysis. This week, Cole Feix talks about why and how we do the Weekly Speak. Here's the latest Weekly Speak. Sign up to get it in your inbox every Monday morning!

Has America lost faith in expertise? Tom Nichols argues that we have in a really important article, "How America Lost Faith in Expertise." It turns out those who know the least are often the most confident about their opinions. What effects has the lack of respect for expertise had on politics, foreign policy, and religion? And what does it mean to be an expert in Christianity? We discuss these questions and more on this week's episode.

We're back with Blake Bastin and Lance Ward to talk about preaching and teaching prep, preaching different genres and how to study when you're not prepping. Send in questions to [email protected] for the September/October Q&A episode!

In this week's episode we talked about preaching and the preachers who have had the biggest influence on our lives and in our ministries. Next week, we discuss learning to teach, mistakes young preachers make, and ways to grow in sermon prep.

Every few months we like to talk books and make recommendations. Here's the best of what we've read lately: Spirit and Sacrament - Andrew Wilson My Rebbe - Adin Steinsaltz How Churchill Waged War - Allen Packwood The Theopolitan Vision - Peter Leithart The Churchill Factor - Boris Johnson "Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Man" - Toby Young Range - David Epstein The Undoing Project - Michael Lewis Presidents of War - Michael Beschloss "PPE: The Oxford Degree that Runs Britain" - Andy Beckett Recovering Leadership - Thomas Hill

James is a really practical book - the Proverbs of the New Testament. It's full of wisdom, conviction, and advice, but it also has some difficult passages on faith and works, favoritism, and taming the tongue. Although it's one of the most popular books in the Bible, it's one of the hardest to put into practice. We talk through how to read and study James in this week's episode.

The final part of our Q&A episode on the trinity and the age of the universe

This week we're answering a couple of questions on the doctrine of the trinity and old and new earth creation. Send questions in to [email protected] and we'll answer them on our next Q&A episode! Donnell and Connell Explain the Trinity Faith and Science, Part 1 - What is the relationship between faith and science? Faith and Science, Part 2 - Panel Discussion

Why would a pastor leave the church? In light of the moral failure, burnout, and doubt that have led to dozens of prominent pastors leaving the church in past few years, we wanted to discuss the pressures of pastoral ministry, how pastors can lose their way, and what to do about it.

This week, we're discussing Sophia Rosenfeld's excellent article, "Truth and Consequences," published in the Hedgehog Review Summer 2019 issue.

In the second half of Genesis we meet one of the most important people in all of history: Abraham. For the last 39 chapters of Genesis we see the generations of Abraham, their family disfunction, the twelve sons of Israel, and a trip to Egypt. In the end, we see the character of God as he provides for his chosen people. At the end we give some notes for reading Genesis and getting the most out of some of the difficult passages.

The opening of Genesis is the foundation for all of Scripture, but it can also be confusing. The creation story, the flood, the genealogies, and the tower of Babel can pose more questions than they answer. This week we talk through the history of the ancient world, what we can learn about God, and what he's still saying through these stories.

Matthew's gospel is the first book of the New Testament and has been one of the most prominent books in the history of the church. We discuss the unique features of this gospel and talk about why it is the ultimate manual for disciples to learn how to follow Jesus and obey his commands.

Obadiah is one of the more obscure books in the Old Testament. Although it only takes up one page of your Bible, it's an important book. In this episode we discuss the minor prophets, the historical situation Obadiah was speaking into, and helpful suggestions for reading it today.

We're going deep this week on the podcast. In the first episode all together, we're discussing open theism - the belief that God cannot know the actions of free moral agents before they choose. What should Christians make of open theism?

Deuteronomy gets a bad rap, but it is the centerpiece of the Old Testament. This week, we're talking through the Romans of the Old Testament, and one of the most important books in Jesus' life and ministry.

In this episode, we're talking with Blake Choisnet about how to evangelize and disciple in the corporate world. Here are some resources mentioned in our conversation: Every Good Endeavor - Tim Keller Just Do Something - Kevin DeYoung The Gospel at Work - Sebastian Traeger and Greg Gilbert Business for the Glory of God - Wayne Grudem

In 1 Corinthians, Paul gets really practical. He shows us what it's like to take biblical wisdom and apply it to everyday decisions and problems. From lawsuits to sexuality to spiritual gifts, the principles Paul applies are still instructive for us. In the future, we plan to do a couple of episodes on the spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12-14. For the time being - check out our 8-part blog series on the gifts, "In Spirit and In Truth."

We’re back with another leadership podcast with Terry Feix. This week, he covers defining your goals and values, working with difficult teams, and how to stick it out in tough seasons at work.

Mayor Pete is taking the world by storm - and there's something interesting about his candidacy - he's making a big deal about his faith and his sexuality. This week, Terry Feix walks through Buttigieg's statements and the narrative that supports them. Here are the articles mentioned in the podcast: The Briefing, April 26, 2019 - Albert Mohler Mayor Pete and the Queering of the American Soul - Steven Paulikas You Are Not Your Sexuality - Sam Allberry

What are the keys to organizational leadership? What's different about being a Christian leader? In this episode, Terry Feix walks through his leadership journey in business and in the church.

This episode originally appeared on our Patreon last November - but we thought everybody would like it! Here's the best of what we were reading in the fall. Reading and Great Books The Great Books Podcast - John Miller - (1:05) Thinking In Public - Al Mohler - (5:50) David French “The Bookish Life” - Joseph Epstein, First Things - (7:32) “Why Youth Stay in the Church When They Grow Up” - Jon Nielson - (9:27) On China and the Future “How the Enlightenment Ends” - Henry Kissinger, The Atlantic - (11:32) On China - Henry Kissinger “The Real China Challenge: Managing Its Decline” - Bret Stephens, New York Times “The 21st Century Will Belong to China” - The Munk Debates For a while here in the middle, we get off track talking about the ethics of AI and the dignity of every human being… “The Steward of Middle Earth” - Hannah Long, The Weekly Standard - (24:40)

The gospel of Mark is the least studied of the gospels, but with a little bit of study, the pages of this book come alive. In this reading guide we discuss the author, audience, theology and themes, the longer ending, handling snakes, and the naked man who makes an appearance in chapter 15. Open the gospel of Mark with us and join the discussion.

On this episode, we're discussing Les Sillar's article, "The Future of News" and the way journalism has changed in America over the last few years. What is the path forward for journalism in the age of fake news and social media?

We're continuing to work through books of the Bible and this week we're talking through Israel's greatest work of prophecy, the book of Isaiah. First among the prophets in the Hebrew Bible and maybe the first book in the minds of the New Testament authors, you can learn more about the entire Bible by studying Isaiah.

This week we're discussing Andrew Sullivan's article, "The Nature of Sex." He points to the fault lines developing between feminism and transgenderism, and some of the fallout that's beginning to take place.

This week, Terry Feix reviews a few books and makes some recommendations on everything from Bible study material to politics. What's the best thing you've read lately?

Why do Christians support Israel? Do we have theological or biblical reasons that inform American foreign policy? In this episode, we talk about the complex issues surrounding Israel and the way Christians have traditionally supported its relationship with the United States. In addition, we discuss the rise of anti-semitism and the role Christians play in foreign policy conversations.

We're live from Israel! This week, we're recording from Jerusalem with one of our good friends and our Israeli guide, Yehuda. We asked him about his time leading tours of Israel, the history of the country, and what most Americans don't understand about the Middle East.

This week we're talking through the book of Job. Who was he? Did this story really happen? Job is the deepest engagement with suffering in the Bible and it doesn't provide any easy answers. In fact, some have said that the book of Job is long and difficult to get through because that's the way it is with suffering. We discuss how to read this ancient book and apply it to today.

If everything is under the rule of Christ, what does that mean for government? What are the options for Christians when it comes to public policy? This week, we talk about how Christians go about influencing society through legislation and government.