Episode 107 - Hello.

After an eighteen month absence, Shawn gives an update on their lives and solicits prayers for their future endeavors (both personally and missionally).

Shawn has a conversation with one of his new church members, Lori Day, who, along with her husband, Weston, showed up to his church a year ago, after making an unlikely move from Texas to Maine to join up with God's mission. Listen in as Lori shares her journey from atheism to grace, and from Texas to Maine.

Shawn interviews a long-time friend he's known since childhood - a friend from the boonies of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada, where Shawn's family has a vacation home. Jimmy tells his remarkable story of coming to Christ - going from a context where there are very few Christians, and mostly just Catholics if anyone is, to one that is learning what it means to follow Jesus. 

Shawn shares about an experience he had recently doing a sort of "public" evangelistic meeting, asking if it was, perhaps, the most successful one ever conducted. Of course, there is a twist to the whole experience, and he asks the question a little tongue-in-cheek.

Don't be too scandalized by the title: Shawn unpacks some recent realizations he's had about how to look at the idea of disciple-making. When understood in this way, he proposes it has a chance to elevate its significance. To subscribe to his new weekly newsletter, Reimagining Faith, go to shawnbrace.substack.com.

After a long, long hiatus, Shawn drops by with an update and a promise of future episodes.

Shawn has a really stimulating conversation with Pastor Kessia Reyne Bennett, pastor for discipleship at the College View Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, as they talk about her journey into faith, the community that drew her in, and whether or not we have to convert people to modernism in order to convert them to Christianity. 

Shawn has a conversation with his new pal Kevin, who became an overnight TikTok star, reflecting on what that's been like personally and missionally - and how it relates to incarnational ministry. 

Shawn has a conversation with his old friend Chad Stuart, pastor of the Spencerville Seventh-day Adventist Church, which is a large "institutional church" in Maryland. Chad talks about transitioning his church to focus on small groups, and what it's been like to do it with his whole family, prioritizing his children.

The title is pretty self-explanatory: as a part of a major recruitment effort, where Shawn's church is trying to bring in 5-10 families to help with their missional work, Shawn provides seven reasons why you should consider moving to Bangor!