The Christian Chronicle Podcast

Church of Christ member Brian Bates is one of the cleanest--and hottest--comedians in the country these days. In this episode, he takes us behind the jokes to reveal how a comedian builds rapport and trust with strangers--whether they're in a bar on Saturday night or a church on Sunday afternoon. Could all Christians learn something about the "Jesus way" from stand-up comedians? 

Link to Brian Bates's website, in...

Could eating more pie lead to healthier and stronger churches?

Doug Pell says "yes." A longtime Church of Christ elder and retired senior executive from the U.S. defense industry, Pell recently authored Set in Order the Things That Are Lacking: Lessons in Biblical Leadership (Sain Publications).

In this episode, Pell shares the experience he gained from decades in church and corporate leadership and the knowledge he gained ...

For Christians who are Black, life in the Church of Christ in the United States is an experience that is formed by the experience of being Black. In other words, each human being encounters life (and church) through her or his experiences. Likewise, the world (and often the church) perceives human beings through the assumptions that form about certain groups of people.

Barron Jones (host of the Unfiltered Crossroads Podcast and the ...

In the United States, the mood about immigration carried a new administration to power in Washington, D.C. Since then, the news media has reported sensational stories of law enforcement arrests around, or in, faith-based ministries and houses of worship.

How does this affect Church of Christ congregations and ministries that are active among immigrant neighbors in their communities? Do they have any reason to fear that law enforceme...

In some congregations, you may find one member whose ministry is sending hand-written cards of congratulations to new Christians upon their baptisms.

Imagine if that one member tries to send a card to every new Christian, not just in their own congregation, but in the entire world.

Meet Lorraine Smith of Central Church of Christ in Dalton, Georgia. Inspired by a card her grandson received from strangers after his baptism, Lorraine se...

In 2 Corinthians 3:5, the apostle Paul writes: "Not that we are competent in ourselves...but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of the new covenant."

Casey Coston is a veteran Church of Christ campus minister of more than 20 years. As he started his third decade in ministry, he took stock of his own "incompetence" and turned it into a book: Made Competent: A Story About Life in M...

"The Restoration Movement" refers to the 19th and 20th century stream of events, people and thinking from which the Church of Christ emerged. Church of Christ folks of a certain age imagine that they are restoring the first century church as they find it in the New Testament.

But does restoration itself sometimes need to be restored? 

If so, how do Christians restore restoration?

Matt Dabbs, a Church of Christ minister and s...

What is Christian nationalism and what are its effects on the United States? Christians these days may choose to consume any number of blogs, books, cable news, podcasts, social media and talk radio shows that deal with those questions.

In this episode, however, we address how Christian nationalism may effect the Church of Christ community in the United States. In other words, is it bad or good for the health, integrity and witness ...

It is a fact that more people in the world live in cities than in rural areas. That means the Church of Christ, if it is to be faithful and obedient to Jesus the Christ, must get used to city life and loving its neighbors in the city.

But what we imagine to be "urban ministry" in the Church of Christ is outdated and perhaps was never quite right-headed in the first place. These days, affluent professionals are moving to th...

It is a common narrative (assumption?) that Church of Christ congregations in rural and small town America are in decline. Perhaps that is a story that numbers (of congregations and members) might tell. 

But are numbers the whole story? Or even the most important one?

Mike Cope believes it is not the whole story. In this episode, he talks about how the way we talk and think about rural and small town congregations needs to change and...

It may be said that God does God's mightiest work in the unlikeliest places.

Take South Sudan, a young nation where civil war has been the norm for generations. Conditions in that country are as poor as anywhere on earth, yet in just the last year 73 Church of Christ congregations formed and more than 2,400 South Sudanese were baptized into the kingdom of God.

What is going on there?

In this episode, Dennis Cady (Faith Village Ch...

Almost as soon as Church of Christ missionaries entered Ukraine after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Christian Chronicle reporters entered the country as well. For more than three decades now, The Christian Chronicle has covered how the Ukrainian people embraced with joy the gospel of Jesus Christ. Few parts of Europe can match Ukraine for how the Church of Christ took root, sprang up, grew and spread.

Russia's invasion and o...

More Christians in more parts of the world may sing Chris Tomlin's worship music ('Our God,' 'How Great is Our God,' 'God of Angel Armies') than any other artist alive today. A Grammy Award winner and two-time Songwriter of the Year with more than 7 billion global streams, Tomlin is branching out into film. He is executive producer for the new major motion picture The Last Supper, written and dire...

Marie Stroughter (Westside Church of Christ, Killeen, Texas) is an all-star "church mom" and "church wife," raising three kids (two adopted), supporting her elder/deacon husband, and volunteering in the life and programs of the church. And she does all of that while living with mental health challenges like obsessive-compulsive disorder and panic attacks.

As many as one in four Americans deals with mental illness...

On March 7, 2025, eleven men from Gamma Sigma Phi (Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas) will push off on a cycling relay that will take them 1,400 miles across deserts, mountains, unpaved trails and Death Valley. Riding day and night, they plan to reach Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, in just five days. They're riding to raise money for Greater Than Three and the Pepperdine Strong Fund. In this episode, G...

The clips at the top of this episode are from (in order) the preaching of Andrew Hairston and James Maxwell, two "giants" who worked for decades to build for the kingdom of God. 

Andrew Hairston stood in the pulpit at Simpson Street Church of Christ in Atlanta, Georgia, for more than 50 years. Not only did he preach, he was a practicing attorney and judge and a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. Hairston worked a...

Lauren and Owen Mitchell drop in to talk about what they've learned about building a great marriage -- from being Marriage Dynamics Institute facilitators for more than 25 years and by practicing marriage together for more than 28 years. In this conversation, they focus on how the small things often make the biggest difference in how partners experience marriage. This one is full of practical pointers that even the busiest and...

Jonathan Skrmetti (Harpeth Hills Church of Christ), attorney general for the state of Tennessee, is the defendant in what the national media argue is the biggest case of the term for the United States Supreme Court: United States v. Skrmetti. 

In question is a 2023 Tennessee state law that prevents healthcare professionals from providing gender transition procedures to minors. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Biden ...

The way Christians think about and use sex is changing. For example, a recent study by Barna Group and Pure Desire Ministries shows that Christian porn use is almost equal to porn use by the general public. And an increasing number of Christians believe that it is OK to look at porn. At the same time, fewer and fewer congregations are addressing the issue from the pulpit, in recovery groups or in small groups.

Meanwhile, A...