Ed Gerber
Becoming a Pastor Theologian | Ed Gerber

Ed Gerber joins us to share his story of becoming a pastor theologian. How can the Lord use even a significant break up to prepare someone for ministry? How can those who prepare future ministry leaders be both preachers and teachers to their students? What is the balance between head and heart for those who study theology academically? This and more on today’s episode!

Becoming a Pastor Theologian | Ed Gerber
Center for Pastor Theologians
What We're Reading — June 2025
What We're Reading — June 2025
Mike Niebauer
Encountering God in the Bible | Michael Niebauer

Today on the podcast we are joined by Rev. Dr. Michael Niebauer as he shares about his recent book, Four Mountains: Encountering God in the Bible from Eden to Zion. How can Christians encounter Jesus on every page of the Bible? What can we learn from how the earliest Christians read Scripture, and connect seemingly disparate stories in the text? What is distinct about this style of reading as opposed, for example, to 6-week Bible studies or academic study? This and more on today's episode!

Encountering God in the Bible | Michael Niebauer
Jason Meyer
Becoming a Pastor Theologian | Jason Meyer

Jason Meyer, lead pastor of Urban Refuge Church in Minneapolis, MN, joins the podcast today to tell us about his journey towards becoming a pastor theologian. After serving eight years as a pastor at Bethlehem Baptist, Jason shares what he learned about his own calling, and the identity of a "pastor." This and more on today's episode!

Becoming a Pastor Theologian | Jason Meyer
Douglas Sweeney
Feed My Sheep | Douglas Sweeney

CPT board member Doug Sweeney joins the podcast today. He previews his topic for the 2025 CPT Conference, Good Shepherds: Pastoral Identity and the Future of the Church. What are good Christian pastors supposed to be like? On the other hand, what malformative models of pastoral identity are common in our culture today? Doug also tells us about his 2024 book, Substance of Our Faith: Foundations for the History of Christian Doctrine. Check it out on today's episode!

Feed My Sheep | Douglas Sweeney

Felicia Wu Song | Digital Life as Secular Liturgy

Felicia Wu Song | Digital Life as Secular Liturgy

In a presentation from our 2019 theology conference, Dr. Felicia Wu Song shares a talk entitled, "Digital Life as Secular Liturgy: A Matter of Christian Formation." Dr. Song is a professor of sociology at Westmont College. What is the social imaginary implied in our modern secular life? What effects does social life have on our embodied relationships? How should our Christian faith commitments affect the way we think about social media, constant social stimulation, and the omnipresence of devices in our digital ecology? Dr. Song explores these and other questions in the first half of her presentation.

Todd Wilson | Mere Sexuality

Todd Wilson | Mere Sexuality

CPT President Todd Wilson gave this lecture at the 2016 national conference of the CPT: Beauty, Order, and Mystery – A Christian Vision of Sexuality. According to Dr. Wilson, there is a need for Christians to reclaim what he calls "Mere Sexuality," the historic Christian consensus regarding gender and human sexuality that existed virtually unchallenged for the first two millennia of the church's existence. This can be attributed to two primary factors, argues Wilson: 1) the fracturing of functional biblical authority and 2) the reshaping of moral intuitions in modern Western culture.

Karen Swallow Prior | Christianity, Reading, and Literature

Karen Swallow Prior | Christianity, Reading, and Literature

How can Christians and pastors benefit from literary reading? Karen Swallow Prior, author of On Reading Well, joins the podcast. Dr. Prior is a Professor of English at Liberty University. In these episodes she discusses her childhood fascination with reading. She also talks about her career as a professor and the distinction between fiction, non-fiction, literary and non-literary writings. She also discusses her recent book on virtue, literature, and the good life––as well as ways that pastors and churches can benefit from exploring literary reading and writing.

Eric Johnson | Christian Psychology and Spiritual Formation

Eric Johnson | Christian Psychology and Spiritual Formation

Eric Johnson, professor of Christian psychology at Houston Baptist University, joins the podcast to discuss the integration of scripture, theology, and psychology. How should Christians think about the scientific conclusions of secular disciplines governed by naturalistic worldviews? What are the philosophical and methodological concerns when relating biblical wisdom with scientific inquiry?

Owen Strachan | What Does It Mean To Be Human?

Owen Strachan | What Does It Mean To Be Human?

Owen Strachan, Professor of Christian Theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, joins the podcast to discuss his upcoming book Reenchanting Humanity: A Theology of Mankind (B&H Academic). Owen argues that the nature of human beings is and will continue to be one of the most pressing questions not only in the church but in the Western culture as a whole in the 21st century. He hopes that the book will help fill what he sees as a shortage of quality theological texts on theological anthropology. The book will release on August 1, 2019.

Gerald Hiestand | Confronting the Separation between Theology and the Church

Gerald Hiestand | Confronting the Separation between Theology and the Church

Gerald Hiestand, Senior Pastor of Calvary Memorial Church and Co-Founder of the CPT, joins the podcast again to discuss the inception of the CPT as an organization. What was its original vision for the organization and what is the vision for its future? What opportunities are there for those who love theological scholarship but do not have opportunity or feel called to the academy?