In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a recent viral parody from comedian Druski taking a jab at prosperity gospel preachers and megachurch culture. While some took offense to the skit, others viewed it as a good wake-up call for pastors like the people parodied in the video. It begs the question, are all megachurches mishandling money?

There was a good article on this topic from Religion News Service titled “Druski's viral parody of flashy preachers renews debate over wealth in the pulpit.” We'd encourage you to take a few minutes to read that article HERE. Druski is not the first to notice preachers who like to draw attention to their ostentatious wealth. As Dr. White mentioned, the Instagram account @preachersnsneakers (which has more than 325K followers) is devoted to pointing out ways that some pastors choose to flaunt their wealth from the pulpit.

This is not the first time that megachurches have been a topic on the Church & Culture Podcast. We'd encourage you to go back and listen to CCP31: On Celebrity Pastors, CCP40: On Criticism of Megachurches, and CCP51: On Prosperity Preaching.

Dr. White had commentary to offer on those who would condemn the megachurch model, as though all churches were meant to be small. He wrote about this in a blog titled “Should Churches Meet in Houses?” which you can find HERE. He also spoke of the importance of clear teaching about giving, and how the Church is called to use those gifts. If you would like to see some of his past teachings at Mecklenburg Community Church on this topic, you can find those gathered HERE.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the findings of a recent study from Baylor University reflecting an increased interest in magical thinking - acceptance of the world of the supernatural - even among people who do not hold to traditional religious beliefs. This was actually something that Dr. White forecasted in his book Meet Generation Z, noting the impacts on Gen Z being raised by parents who were increasingly spiritual (interested in things related to the spiritual realm), but not religious.

At the beginning of the discussion, Dr. White made reference to the writings of Pitirim A. Sorokin, and particularly his lengthy four-volume work Social and Cultural Dynamics. As mentioned above, we live in a world where people are more likely to consider themselves spiritual, but not religious. Dr. White delivered a message series at Mecklenburg Community Church to help people have a better understanding of our world and the spiritual realm. You can find the installments of the series “Paranormal” HERE.

For a deeper dive into other topics related to the Christian faith and the world of the supernatural, we'd encourage you to check out these past podcast episodes as well. The links below will take you to the podcast episode on the Church & Culture website, but you can also find them by name on the C&C Podcast YouTube channel or on your favorite podcasting platform:

CCP171: On Halloween

CCP151: On Spirits and Ghosts

CCP107: On Hell

CCP58: On Your Horoscope and Starbucks

CCP11: On Wicca

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss what's left in the wake when a beloved leader - particularly one who works in the ministry of the Christian faith - falls. To be sure, there is heartbreak and disillusionment and confusion. And sadly, more and more frequently we're hearing about the moral failings of pastors or favorite authors - names like Bill Hybels, Ravi Zacharias and, most recently, Philip Yancey.

The recent news about Yancey was what prompted today's conversation. He's the author of such classics as What's So Amazing About Grace and The Jesus I Never Knew. His books have sold more than 20 million copies, and he is arguably the most beloved Christian author of our generation. This past week, he confessed to an eight-year extramarital affair. You can read more about that HERE.

The first question posed by Alexis was, “Why does this keep happening?” Dr. White once wrote a blog titled “Why Leaders Are Falling (and why ‘There but by the grace of God go I' is so inadequate).” If you're interested in reading that you can find it HERE. We'd also encourage you to check out an early episode of the Church & Culture Podcast that touched on this as well: CCP4: On Pastors and Moral Failings.

Dr. White also made note of the harm that can be done within Christian ministry through very broad, generalized NDAs that are used to cover up a multitude of sins. For more on this, we'd encourage you to go back and listen to CCP67: On the Secrets of Hillsong and the Duggars, and a blog titled “Should a Church Use NDAs?, which you can find HERE.

Dr. White brought up how much of the sin that seems to grip leaders - including Yancey and Hybels - is sexual in nature. Dr. White wrote about the importance of those in ministry guarding against this type of sin in his books What They Didn't Teach You in Seminary and A Traveler's Guide to the Kingdom.

Finally, Alexis asked how the body of work - whether sermons or books or Bible studies - related to these fallen leaders is to be handled. Dr. White wrote a helpful blog on this topic that he touched on in today's episode. We'd encourage you to read “Evaluating the Fruit Test” HERE.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.