Category Archives: Podcast

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185 – Shannon Kiser & Verlon Fosner Talk About Revitalizing a 90 Year Old Church, A Bilingual Church, and Fresh Expressions

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Fresh Expressions is an international movement of missionary disciples cultivating new kinds of church alongside existing congregations to more effectively engage our growing post-Christian society.

Beginning in 2004 as an initiative of the Church of England and the British Methodist Church, the movement has resulted in the birth of thousands of new communities in the UK alone and brought renewal to scores of established churches. The movement has spread to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Germany. In 2010, the movement began taking shape in the US through the vision and generosity of the Baptist General Association of Virginia and a growing number of partners committed to a new era of missional ecumenism, a unity around the mission of God the Father through the resurrected Son in the power of the Holy Spirit.

This Week on Seminary Dropout…

Shannon Kiser serves as Director of Training for Fresh Expressions US. She also is the director of the coaching network for the New Worshiping Community movement in the Presbyterian Church USA, and one of the pastors of  Riverside Presbyterian Church, a northern Virginia church with multiple Fresh Expressions. She is a graduate of Texas Christian University and holds a Masters of Divinity from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Shannon has served churches in Texas and Virginia, as well as the Church Growth Office of the Presbyterian Mission Agency. Shannon and her husband Patrick live in Springfield, VA and have two high school daughters.

Verlon Fosner has led an innovative congregation in Seattle Washington since 1999. In 2008 the congregation transitioned from a traditional proclamation church into a multi-site Dinner Church called Community Dinners. In 2016, Verlon joined the Fresh Expression US leadership team and began coaching declining churches, leading “Dinner Church Encounters” across the country, and hosting “Seattle Immersions” at their home, which enables a few leaders at a time to observe Dinner Churches in action followed by training conversations around a fireplace. Verlon holds a Doctorate of Ministry from Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, and has written several books. He and his wife Melodee have three adult children, five grandchildren, a collection of grand-foster-kids, and two grand-dogs.

 

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183 – Iosmar Alvarez, Planting, Disciplining, and Fresh Expressions of the Hispanic Church

182 – Travis Collins, What is a Fresh Expression of Church Anyway?

Fresh Expressions 101 (And What To Do Next)”

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184 – Michael Beck, Talking about Church in a Tattoo Parlor, Yoga Studio, and Dog Park

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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org

Our Sponsor:

Fresh Expressions is an international movement of missionary disciples cultivating new kinds of church alongside existing congregations to more effectively engage our growing post-Christian society.

Beginning in 2004 as an initiative of the Church of England and the British Methodist Church, the movement has resulted in the birth of thousands of new communities in the UK alone and brought renewal to scores of established churches. The movement has spread to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Germany. In 2010, the movement began taking shape in the US through the vision and generosity of the Baptist General Association of Virginia and a growing number of partners committed to a new era of missional ecumenism, a unity around the mission of God the Father through the resurrected Son in the power of the Holy Spirit.

This Week on Seminary Dropout…

Michael Beck is the North Central District Cultivator of Fresh Expressions for the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. He is also Senior Pastor of Wildwood and Oxford United Methodist Churches, where he directs addiction recovery programs, a jail ministry, a food pantry, and a network of fresh expressions that meet in places like tattoo parlors and burrito joints. He currently lives in Wildwood with his wife, Jill, and their blended family of 8 children.

If you liked this episode then you might also like…

183 – Iosmar Alvarez, Planting, Disciplining, and Fresh Expressions of the Hispanic Church

182 – Travis Collins, What is a Fresh Expression of Church Anyway?

Fresh Expressions 101 (And What To Do Next)”

Subscribe/Rate/Review Seminary Dropout in iTunes

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183 – Iosmar Alvarez, Planting, Disciplining, and Fresh Expressions of the Hispanic Church

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org

Our Sponsor:

Fresh Expressions is an international movement of missionary disciples cultivating new kinds of church alongside existing congregations to more effectively engage our growing post-Christian society.

Beginning in 2004 as an initiative of the Church of England and the British Methodist Church, the movement has resulted in the birth of thousands of new communities in the UK alone and brought renewal to scores of established churches. The movement has spread to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Germany. In 2010, the movement began taking shape in the US through the vision and generosity of the Baptist General Association of Virginia and a growing number of partners committed to a new era of missional ecumenism, a unity around the mission of God the Father through the resurrected Son in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Be sure register to attend the Rethinking Hell Conference, March 9-10. I’d love to see you there.

RethinkingHellConference.com

This Week on Seminary Dropout…

Iosmar Alvarez is originally from Cuba and has been in the US since 2001. God began to work in his life as Local Pastor in United Methodist Church Kentucky Conference in 2002. He has planted 3 Hispanic Churches in Kentucky in the past 10 years. He has his Masters in Divinity from United Theological Seminary (Dayton, Ohio) and another Masters degree in Christian Leadership from Lindsey Wilson College. Dr. Alvarez is a prolific author on leadership development and church growth, having 4 books written in those subjects. Additionally, Dr. Alvarez is a certified coach for SLI & Path1, the national UMC recognized agencies for church planting, development and transformation. At the same time, pastor Alvarez graduated with his Doctorate of Ministry degree from Asbury Theological Seminary on May 20, 2017. Currently Dr. Alvarez serves as Senior Pastor for Fuente De Avivamiento/Spring of Revival with 400+ members and 100 home churches. Dr. Alvarez has the honor to train leaders nationwide on how to plant churches and develop church culture and processes to make disciples. Dr. Alvarez pastors along with his wife Zulayne Alvarez, who supports and helps him in carrying the vision to the future generations.

 

 

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182 – Travis Collins, What is a Fresh Expression of Church Anyway?

Fresh Expressions 101 (And What To Do Next)”

Loud Pipes Save Lives: A Biker Church Story

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182 – Travis Collins, What is a Fresh Expression of Church Anyway?

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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org

Our Sponsor:

Fresh Expressions is an international movement of missionary disciples cultivating new kinds of church alongside existing congregations to more effectively engage our growing post-Christian society.

Beginning in 2004 as an initiative of the Church of England and the British Methodist Church, the movement has resulted in the birth of thousands of new communities in the UK alone and brought renewal to scores of established churches. The movement has spread to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Germany. In 2010, the movement began taking shape in the US through the vision and generosity of the Baptist General Association of Virginia and a growing number of partners committed to a new era of missional ecumenism, a unity around the mission of God the Father through the resurrected Son in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Be sure register to attend the Rethinking Hell Conference, March 9-10. I’d love to see you there.

RethinkingHellConference.com

This Week on Seminary Dropout…

Travis’s service as Director of Mission Advancement and Southeast Regional Coordinator brings together his calling and experience as missionary and pastor. He serves as Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Huntsville, Alabama and was previously pastor of Bon Air Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia.

His twenty-five plus years of ministry have included missionary service in Venezuela and Nigeria. He is a graduate of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama and earned the Master of Divinity and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.He is the author of Directionally Challenged (2007), Tough Calls (2008), and From the Steeple to the Street (Seedbed 2016).Travis and his wife, Keri, have three adult children.

In the last decade, a giant cultural wave has swept the North American church into a brand new world—a pluralistic, complicated, high-tech/low-touch world. Faced with the challenge of engaging a jaded culture, a fresh expression of church has emerged alongside the traditional church. This short book gives an overview of the Fresh Expressions movement and its innovative approach to reaching those who would perhaps never come to our church buildings. -From the Publisher

If you liked this episode then you might also like…

Fresh Expressions 101 (And What To Do Next)”

Loud Pipes Save Lives: A Biker Church Story

Subscribe/Rate/Review Seminary Dropout in iTunes

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181 – Curt Thompson, Author of “Anatomy of the Soul” on Christianity & Science, Why We Keep Sinning, and More

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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org

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Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.

Thanks to all who gave to make Seminary Dropout in 2018 possible!

Be sure register to attend the Rethinking Hell Conference, March 9-10. I’d love to see you there.

RethinkingHellConference.com

This Week on Seminary Dropout…

Curt Thompson, M.D., is a psychiatrist in private practice in Falls Church, Virginia and founder of Being Known, which develops teaching programs, seminars and resource materials to help people explore the connection between interpersonal neurobiology and Christian spirituality which lead to genuine change and transformation.

He and his wife, Phyllis, are the parents of two children and reside in Arlington, Virginia. He serves as an elder at Washington Community Fellowship in Washington, D.C. His duties there have included preaching, teaching, and participation in the fellowship’s healing prayer ministry. He and his wife (a licensed clinical social worker) frequently provide premarital counseling services for couples in their congregation.

Do you want to improve your relationships and experience lasting personal change? Join Curt Thompson, M.D., on an amazing journey to discover the surprising pathways for transformation hidden inside your own mind. Integrating new findings in neuroscience and attachment with Christian spirituality, Dr. Thompson reveals how it is possible to rewire your mind, altering your brain patterns and literally making you more like the person God intended you to be. Explaining discoveries about the brain in layman’s terms, he shows how you can be mentally transformed through spiritual practices, interaction with Scripture, and connections with other people. He also provides practical exercises to help you experience healing in areas where you’ve been struggling. Insightful and challenging, Anatomy of the Soul illustrates how learning about one of God’s most miraculous creations―your brain―can enrich your life, your relationships, and your impact on the world around you. -From the Publisher

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143: Mike McHargue aka “Science Mike”, Author of “Finding God In The Waves”

Seminary Dropout 52: James Bryan Smith, Author of The Apprentice Series

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The State of the Podcast

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Here are the main points of this episode…

  • My original intention was to pick SD back up in January, which is now just a few days away. Some of you may remember I did the same thing last year but then wound up not publishing until April. So in the last few weeks I’ve come to a cross roads in deciding what to do about SD. If you benefit from the content of SD, (which I assume you do if you’re listening to this), then don’t worry, I’m not planning on ending the show. However, I do have to make some changes.
  • Seminary Dropout is time intensive.
  • Because Seminary Dropout is time intensive, it takes time away from either working my day job, or spending time with my family and friends.
  • As you may have guessed, I want to use Patreon to fund the next year of SD.
  • Here’s how it’s going to work. I’m setting a goal of raising the dollar per episode amount from $66 to $100 per episode, and when we reach that goal, I’ll resume SD for 2018.
  • So if you want to become a patron just go to supportseminarydropout.com and sign up. You can also go to that site if you want to see how close we are to the $100 goal. The amount raised will be show right on the front page.


So there it is. Thanks for taking the time and if you want to become a patron today and fund SD into 2018, then please go to SupportSeminaryDropout.com and pledge today.

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A Seminary Dropout Preview of OnRamp Season 2

To hear the rest of the season, subscribe to OnRamp!

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Hey Seminary Dropout listeners this is a very special episode in which I’m previewing the first episode of season 2 of OnRamp, my other podcast.

If you’re not familiar, OnRamp is hosted by myself and my friend Kerri Fisher. It’s a podcast about issues surrounding race through the lens of Christian spirituality. It’s by no mean comprehensive in it’s scope and it’s not perfect in it’s execution. I by no means have these issues figured out. It’s just a conversation, and a conversation meant for those who want to understand these issues better, but don’t have a good place to start. This is meant to be a jumping on point or, an “on-ramp”.

If you like Seminary Dropout then I think you’ll love OnRamp. You can help the show launch by 1. Subscribing in iTunes or your podcatcher of choice, and 2. Sharing this on social media. Thanks for listening and I hope that Christ meets you as you listen.

 

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180 – John Mark McMillan, Talks Creativity, Minivans, and His New Album “Mercury & Lightning”

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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org

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Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.

This Week on Seminary Dropout…

 

John Mark McMillan is something of an anomaly: an artist and Platinum-selling songwriter bending genres and defying categorization by carving out his own unique and independent path. With an ear for melody and a poet’s eye for metaphor, no topic has been off-limits. While each of his albums over the past decade have continued to explore new territory, it’s McMillan’s ability to give lyric and language to the human experience that many consider his greatest gift.


Mercury & Lightning reminds us why we love great songwriters; The exceptional ones find a way to put new words to private musings and desperate feelings until the songs themselves begin to live in our bones.

The vibe and tone from each song on Mercury & Lightning will mesmerize, but it’s McMillan’s voice that draws you in and makes you feel as though you’ve entered a conversation you want to stick around for. Recorded just outside of Portland, OR at Feng Sway Studios over 18 months with close friend Gabriel Wilson and longtime bandmate Jesse Proctor, this is the kind of record that your kid usually discovers before you do – something progressive yet accessible. Borrowing from their childhood influences, they bring elements of 80’s rock and 90’s R&B together, somehow making the record feel both modern and unexpected.

-From johnmarkmcmillan.com

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Seminary Dropout 94: John Mark McMillan on Making Money as a Christian Artist & More

Seminary Dropout 51: Michael Gungor Talks Creation, Music, & Art.

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179 – Amena Brown, Author of “How to Fix a Broken Record” on Poetry, Marriage, and Princesses

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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org

Our Sponsor:

Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.

This Week on Seminary Dropout…

Amena Brown is an author, spoken word poet, speaker, and event host. The author of five spoken word albums and two non-fiction books, Amena performs and speaks at events from coffeehouses to arenas with a mix of poetry, humor, and storytelling. She and her husband, DJ Opdiggy, reside in Atlanta, GA.

 


Your soul holds a massive record collection: melodies, rhythms, and bass lines. Memories that ask you to dance and memories that haunt you in a minor key. Lies that become soundtracks to your days while truths play too softly to be heard.

Spoken word poet Amena Brown’s broken records played messages about how she wasn’t worthy to be loved. How to Fix a Broken Record chronicles her journey of healing as she’s allowed the music of God’s love to replace the scratchy taunts of her past. From bad dates to marriage lessons at Waffle House, from learning to love her hair to learning to love an unexpected season of life, from discovering the power of saying no and the freedom to say yes, Amena offers keep-it-real stories your soul can relate to.

The hurtful words of others and the failures of your past often determine what record you play the most in your mind. Those painful repetitions can become loud at the most inopportune time, keeping you from speaking up, pursuing your dreams, and growing closer to God.

Recognize the negative messages that play on repeat every day in your mind. Learn how to replace them with the truth that you are a beloved child of God. And discover how to laugh along the way as you find new joy in the beautiful music of your life.

-From the Publisher

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Seminary Dropout 100: Jo Saxton on Post-Christendom, Discipleship, and Being a Woman of Color in Church Leadership

132: Jonathan Martin, Author of “How to Survive a Shipwreck: Help Is on the Way and Love Is Already Here”

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177 – Tara Beth Leach, Author of Emboldened: A Vision for Empowering Women in Ministry

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*Originally Posted at MissioAlliance.org

Our Sponsor:

Sponsor a Child — At Compassion we take a committed, long-term approach to fighting child poverty. Our Holistic Child Development Model is made up of four comprehensive programs investing in children from the beginning of their lives until they’ve reached adulthood, and covering everything from prenatal care to university-level education.

This Week on Seminary Dropout…

Tara Beth Leach is senior pastor of First Church of the Nazarene of Pasadena in Southern California. She is a graduate of Olivet Nazarene University (BA, youth ministry) and Northern Theological Seminary (MDiv). She is a regular writer for Missio Alliance and has contributed to other publications such as Christianity Today, Christian Week, The Jesus Creed, The Table Magazine, Reflecting the Image Devotional, Renovating Holiness, and most recently a chapter in The Apostle Paul and the Christian Life. She has two beautiful and rambunctious sons, and has been married to the love of her life, Jeff, since 2006.


Throughout Scripture and church history, women have been central to the mission of God. But all too often, women have lacked opportunities to minister fully. Many churches lack visible examples of women in ministry and leadership.

Tara Beth Leach, senior pastor of her denomination’s flagship church, issues a stirring call for a new generation of women in ministry: to teach, to preach, to shepherd, and to lead. God not only permits women to minister; he emboldens, empowers, and unleashes women to lead out of the fullness of who they are. The church cannot reach its full potential without women using their God-given gifts. Leach provides practical expertise for how women can find their place at the table, escape imposter syndrome, face opposition, mentor others and much more.

Women who read this book will be inspired to use their gifts to edify the body of Christ and advance the kingdom of God. Men who read it will be inspired to embolden the women in their midst. When women teach, preach, lead, evangelize, pastor, and disciple, the church’s imagination expands to better reflect God’s story and hope for the world. -From the Publisher

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Seminary Dropout 171 – Mandy Smith, Author of ‘The Vulnerable Pastor’ and Director of SheLeads 2017

Seminary Dropout 157- Tish Harrison Warren & Jonathan Warren: A Biblical, Historical, and Pastoral Defense of Women in Ministry

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