Episode 38: Kenneth Samuel

Matt talks with his parishioners Lovely Carter, Steve Peterson, and Rachel Adams about the expectations listeners bring to sermons, how God might do something good through bad preaching, and the ways religions are like street gangs.

Matt talks with Marlin Lavanhar, senior minister of All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, about how a group of Pentecostal Universalist Christians changed his preaching, the postliberal critique of Unitarianism, and preaching “belief” to rationally-minded people.

Matt talks with Ken Samuel, the founding pastor of Victory for the World Church in Stone Mountain, Georgia, about journeying toward megachurch ministry, insisting on LGBTQ equality as a Southern Baptist pastor, and rebuilding his church after losing thousands of members.

Matt talks with Vince Amlin, copastor of Bethany United Church of Christ and the new church-start Gilead (both in Chicago), about preaching as an associate pastor, why preaching at weddings can feel pointless, and an intense life experience that reshaped Vince’s faith.

Matt talks with Jacqui Lewis, Senior Minister at Middle Collegiate Church in Manhattan, about “white flight” and her childhood church in Chicago, preachers and social media, and how the church/world relationship plays out in her diverse congregation.

Matt talks with Cornelius Plantinga Jr., the former president of Calvin Theological Seminary, about miracles, the collapse of the sacred/secular distinction when “every square inch of creation belongs to Jesus Christ,” and why preachers should read more fiction.

This episode consists of some of our favorite moments from episodes 14-33, which aired during our second season in the winter and spring of 2016.

Preachers on Preaching editor Neil Ellingson, also co-founder of Root and Branch Church in Chicago, interviews Preachers on Preaching host Matt Fitzgerald about the reasons he started the podcast and what he's learned so far, his own self-contradictory preaching approach, and how grace might come inside rising soap bubbles.

This week Matt talks with Liz Goodman, minister of the United Church of Christ in Monterey, Massachusetts, about the value of ferocity in relationships, being perceived by small-town folks as provocative, and the freedom that comes from being in a pulpit for 15 years.

Matt talks to Emily McGinley, site pastor at Urban Village Church Hyde Park-Woodlawn in Chicago, about planting a church for LGBTQ people of color and allies, her own circuitous spiritual journey, and integrating preaching with the congregation’s testimony.