Influence Podcast

“God didn’t call the perfect version of you, the version that has years of experience or the version that has it all figured out.” writes John Zick. “In fact, He has no desire for a version of you that does not desperately need him. Paul understood this when he said in 2 Corinthians 12:9 [NLT], ‘I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.’” In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk to Zick about being called into ministry, recognizing personal imperfections, and learning from others on the leadership journey. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. John Zick is an ordained Assemblies of God minister, director of the AG’s Called initiative, and editor of From Leaders For Leaders: A Guide for Those Called Into Ministry, published by GPH. ————— This episode of the Influence podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Guided Student Devotional. Guided Student Devotional will help youth develop a habit of spen

“Church size matters to us far more than it should. From the pride it brings when the numbers are up to the shame and frustration it causes when the numbers are static or down, none of this provides a healthy foundation on which to build a healthy church body,” writes Karl Vaters. He goes on to suggest a solution: “We need to de-size the church.” In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk to Vaters about why bigness is a problem, why de-sizing the church is a solution, and how to do it. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Karl Vaters has served in small-church ministry for over 40 years, so he speaks and writes from decades of hands-on pastoral experience. An ordained Assemblies of God minister, he is author most recently of De-Sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became a Science, Then an Obsession, and What’s Next, published this month by Moody Press. ————— This episode of the Influence podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Momentum Train

“To invest one’s life in the next generation for the sake of the kingdom of God is to do the work that Jesus did,” writes Lee Rogers. “Few will notice the nobility and spiritual richness of the work, yet for those who minister to the next generation, the value is high — and the impact is eternal.” In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk to Rogers about what NextGen ministry is, why it’s important, and what factors contribute to long-term effectiveness. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Lee Rogers is a NextGen ministry veteran with over 25 years of experience working with young people. He serves as director of Student Evangelism for Assemblies of God Youth Ministries and is author of NextGen High Scores: How to Win at Ministry to the Next Generation, published by GPH. ————— This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with free curriculum for presc

“The entire second half of 1 Samuel is the story of an abuser hunting down a victim,” according to Jim Bradford. The abuser is King Saul, and his intended victim is David. “Saul literally threw spears,” Bradford notes; “abusive leaders do so figuratively. I recently heard Bradford preach a sermon about responding to abusive authority based on 1 Samuel and thought it would make an excellent podcast. After all, it seems that every few weeks news breaks about a pastor who has used their position trust for selfish gain. Christians — whether church leaders or laypeople — need to know how to respond. So, I’ve invited Bradford onto the podcast today to talk about how to deal with spiritual abusers. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Jim Bradford, Ph.D., is an ordained Assemblies of God minister; lead pastor at Central Assembly in Springfield, Missouri; former AG general secretary; and a longtime mentor and friend. ————— This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by

“There has never been a better day to plant churches than now in the Assemblies of God.” Mike McCrary recently made that statement in a presentation to the employees of the AG national office. I was so impressed by the presentation that I invited him to join me on the Influence Podcast. So, in this episode, I talk to him about why he thinks that’s the case. Along the way, we also talk about why America needs more churches, church planting myths, and how every church — even already existing churches — can support church multiplication. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Mike McCrary, D.Min., is national director of Funding and Strategic Partnerships for the Church Multiplication Network of the Assemblies of God, an ordained AG minister, and a longtime friend. ————— This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of Bible Engagement Project. Bible Engagement Project equips churches with free curriculum for preschool, kids, youth,

“The first Christians were weird,” writes Nijay Gupta. “I am not talking about their clothing, music preferences, or hobbies. When I say ‘weird’ or ‘strange,’ I am talking about deviation from cultural norms and society’s expectations for how things ought to be done. Especially when it came to religion … the Christians were as backwards and as odd as you could be.” Well, that’s how the Romans viewed them anyway. In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk to Gupta about how Christianity deviated from Roman cultural norms and expectations, and why Romans viewed them as weird and dangerous — but also compelling. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Nijay Gupta, Ph.D., is professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary, a Pauline scholar, and most recently author of Strange Religion: How the First Christians Were Weird, Dangerous, and Compelling, published by Brazos Press. We talked about his previous book, Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Ea

“The complex challenges and demands faced by today’s leaders will not be overcome by simply applying administrative techniques or business best practices,” writes Justin A. Irving. “Today’s leaders need something more — they need wisdom to lead their communities through complex times.” In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk to Irving about what that wisdom looks like in terms of self-leadership; people and teams; organizational dynamics, especially culture; and external dynamics, including crises and change. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Justin Irving, Ph.D., is Duke K. McCall Professor of Christian Leadership and chair of the department of Leadership and Discipleship at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, as well as author of Healthy Leadership for Thriving Organizations, published in 2023 by Baker Academic. He and Mark Strauss wrote “Humility and the Celebrity Leader,” the cover story of the November/December 2019 issue o

On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Roe v. Wade, effectively overturning numerous state laws against abortion and legalizing the practice throughout the land. That decision stood until June 24, 2022, when the Supreme Court reversed itself in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and overturned Roe. This didn’t end the abortion debate, however. Rather, it returned the debates about whether and how to restrict abortion to the states. Ever since, Americans have engaged in a renewed, vigorous debate about what the law should say about abortion. This past Monday was the 51st anniversary of Roe, and therefore a good occasion to talk about abortion from a Christian perspective. So, in this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Allen Tennison about the Assemblies of God’s stance on the sanctity of life, which begins in the womb. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. (Influence is published by the Assemblies of God.) Allen Tennis

In their new book, Faith Beyond Youth Group, Kara Powell, Jen Bradbury and Brad M. Griffin offer this startling statistic about students’ faith after high school graduation: “While spiritual and religious activity under age eighteen seems to slightly increase the odds of faith lasting after youth group, a compilation of studies indicates that about 40 to 50 percent of youth group kids drift from God and the faith community after graduation.” In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Kara Powell about how churches can address this problem by cultivating lifelong faith in youth. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Kara Powell, Ph.D., is executive director of the Fuller Youth Institute, a faculty member at Fuller Theological Seminary, where she also serves as Fuller’s chief of leadership formation. A credentialed Assemblies of God minister, she is author or coauthor of numerous books about ministry to youth. ————— This episode of the Influence podcast is broug

“An intentional prayer life is the nonnegotiable constant of lasting, fruitful Christian life and ministry,” write Ryan Skoog, Peter Greer and Cameron Doolittle in Lead with Prayer. Unfortunately, most Christian leaders report having lackluster prayer lives. A 2005 study by Lifeway Resources found that just 16% of pastors are “very satisfied” with their prayer lives. A 2021 Lifeway study found that 72% percent struggle with consistent personal prayer. Lead with Prayer aims to help Christian leaders narrow the gap between what they aspire to do and what they actually do by showing them how to prioritize prayer, grow in prayerfulness, and build a culture of prayer in their organizations. Those are also the topics I’m talking to Ryan Skoog about in this episode of the Influence Podcast. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Ryan Skoog is cofounder and president of Venture, a Christian ministry to “the least reached and least resourced” parts of the world that partners with “lo

William E. Vaughan once wrote, “An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.” There’s a lot of truth in Vaughan’s statement. Opportunities abound in 2024. What are we doing to welcome them? No doubt there will also be challenges to face, however. The crucial question is how do we face them both and make progress at the same time? In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Doug Clay about big events, challenges opportunities the Assemblies of God faces in the coming year. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Doug Clay is general superintendent of the Assemblies of God. ————— This episode of the Influence podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, distributors of MEGA Sports Camp. The MEGA Sports Camp theme for 2024 is Blaze a Trail. This vacation Bible school program invites kids to live an adventure with Jesus. Kids will learn that Jesus blazed the trail for our salvation, and as they

January 7–13, 2024 is the 82nd Annual Assemblies of God Week of Prayer. The theme verse of the week is Habakkuk 3:2: “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.” For more information about this event, as well as for daily prayer points, print resources, free downloads, and videos, visit WeekOfPrayer.AG.org. In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Joe Oden about how prayer ignites revival and catalyzes spiritual awakening. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Joe Oden, D.Min, is an ordained Assemblies of God minister, national prayer and evangelism director for the AG, director of its World Prayer Center, and evangelism commission chair for the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America. He is author of Prayer That Ignites Revival, forthcoming from Chosen Books in April 2024. ————— This episode of the Influence podcast is brought to you by My Healt

This is part two of my conversation with Craig Keener about the historicity of the details of Jesus’ birth. According to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Christ’s birth was attended by many miracles: angelic visitations, prophetic dreams, the miraculous birth of John the Baptist, and the virginal conception of Christ himself. The first Christmas, then, was a thoroughly supernatural event. Those miraculous elements have led many to question whether Jesus was born the way the Gospels say He was. In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I conclude my conversation with Craig Keener about whether Christmas really happened. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Craig Keener, Ph.D., is the  F.M. and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, and an ordained AG minister. He is author of numerous books on the historicity of the New Testament, including The Historical Jesus of the Gospels, Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accoun

According to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, the birth of Jesus Christ was attended by many miracles: angelic visitations, prophetic dreams, the miraculous birth of John the Baptist, and the virginal conception of Christ himself. The first Christmas, then, was a thoroughly supernatural event. Those miraculous elements have led many to question whether Jesus was born the way the Gospels say He was, however. In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Craig Keener about whether Christmas really happened. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Craig Keener, Ph.D., is the  F.M. and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, and an ordained AG minister. He is author of numerous books on the historicity of the New Testament, including The Historical Jesus of the Gospels, Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts, and Christobiography: Memory, History, and the Reliability of the Gospels. ————— This episode of the

The October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, and Israel’s response to it, has raised anew questions about the morality of warfare. Throughout their long history, Christian thinkers have not had one mind about these questions, but the majority of them have adhered to the just war tradition. This tradition acknowledges that “political authorities are responsible for promoting the good and deterring evil,” as Eric Patterson puts it. That responsibility may involve waging war. In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking to Patterson about how war can be just. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Eric Patterson, Ph.D., is president of the Religious Freedom Institute and scholar-at-large and former dean of the Robertson School of Government at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He previously served in the United States military and at the U.S. State Department. He has authored and edited numerous books on the ethics of war, most recently, A Basic Guide t

On October 1, Dr. John Easter began his duties as executive director of Assemblies of God World Missions (AGWM), succeeding the retiring Greg Mundis. Delegates elected Easter to the position this past August during General Council in Columbus, Ohio. In a leadership profile published in the fall 2023 issue of Influence, Easter said, “We need to increase the missionary sending capacity of the local church.” He went on to explain, “Missionaries don’t fall out of the sky. They are nurtured within the community of faith. Congregations participate by praying, giving, and releasing their sons and daughters to establish the Church among all peoples everywhere.” In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking with him about the local church as the seedbed of missions. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. As noted above, Dr. John Easter is the recently elected executive director of AG World Missions. ————— This episode of the Influence podcast is brought to you by My Healthy C

“To live holistically in the Spirit requires knowing that the Spirit guides us toward beauty, goodness and truth,” write Dr. Steven Félix-Jäger and Dr. Yoon Shin in their new book, Renewing Christian Worldview. “It also requires living out and desiring beauty, goodness, and truth as week to truly know them. If we don’t embody beauty, goodness, and truth as we seek to truly know them, they’ll persist as ideal abstractions, betraying our renewal spirituality,” they go on to explain. In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking with them about how the experience of the Holy Spirit changes our worldview. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Dr. Steven Félix-Jäger is associate professor and chair of the Worship Arts and Media program at Life Pacific University in San Dimas, California. Dr. Yoon Shin is coleader of the Philosophy Interest Group in the Society for Pentecostal Studies. They are authors of Renewing Christian Worldview, published by Baker Academic. ————— Th

“The church’s growing irrelevance in parts of the United States as well as some other places in the world is not because Christianity has lost its brain but because it seems to have lost its heart,” writes Dr. Dennis Edwards. The solution to this problem is straightforward, he believes: “The church … needs to recover, respect, and reenact biblical humility.” In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I talk with him about humility as a biblical path back to Christian character. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.  Dr. Dennis Edwards is dean and vice president of Church Relations at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois. In his three decades of urban ministry, he has planted and pastored churches in Brooklyn, New York; Washington, DC; and Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of Humility Illuminated, published by IVP Academic. ————— This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy Church, a distributor of In Jesus’ Name. In this book, Rick

“Imagine a treasure hunter on a new expedition,” writes Dr. Ian Vaillancourt. “Although they are equipped with the best digging and locating equipment available, they don’t need it for this venture: as soon as they arrive at their destination, they find masses of treasure on the surface of the ground” (emphasis in original). “This is a little bit like encountering the book of Psalms for the first time: even an initial reading turns up glorious, surface-level gospel treasure for the taking,” he explains. In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking with him about how to mine those treasures as Christians — how to read Psalms Christianly, in other words. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Dr. Ian Vaillancourt is associate professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Heritage Theological Seminary in Cambridge, Ontario, and author of Treasuring the Psalms, published in August by IVP Academic. —————— This episode of the Influence Podcast is brought to you by My Healthy C

Ministry is “packed with difficult choices that require wisdom; and often, we have to face problems we’ve never encountered before,” writes Brian Dollar. “Mistakes are inevitable — sometimes really big ones! No matter how hard we try to do things right, the question isn’t, ‘Will I make mistakes?’ but ‘How will I respond to my mistakes?’” In this episode of the Influence Podcast, I’m talking with Dollar about how to learn from your ministry mistakes. I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host.  Brian Dollar is associate pastor at First Assembly of God in North Little Rock, Arkansas, where he leads over 500 volunteers in nearly a dozen ministries. In 1998, he founded High Voltage Kids Ministry Resources, which have been used in more than 15,000 churches around the world. He is the author of I Blew It! The Biggest Mistakes I’ve Made in Ministry … and How You Can Avoid Them, recently revised and published by Arrows & Stones. ––––– This episode of the Influence podcast is brought