#364: The Rival Religion of America and A Prophetic Call to Pastors with Brian Zahnd

Today’s conversation is with Pastor and author Brian Zahnd. Brian is the founding and lead pastor of Word of Life Church in St Joseph, MO and the author of 11 books.

Brian is not my pastor, but he’s one of the voices I look to in this cultural moment. He’s a voice of clarity, sanity, history, and Bible.

Here’s a quick quote from the interview:

“I’m convinced the greatest task of the pastoral vocation in America is discipling people who have already thoroughly been discipled into a rival religion.”

Topics Covered:

• The story of how Word of Life Church lost 1500 people
• Why America is a rival religion to Christianity
• Why America is more akin to Babylon than ancient Israel
• How the charismatic movement went awry
• Why charismatic worship is so aligned with DT and Christian nationalism
• Why music, literature, and films are important to Brian
• How Brian uses music to write sermons
• Brian’s reading habits
• Why Brian is reading the KJV right now
• Why reading fiction is so important to preaching and theology

Resources Mentioned:

• Show Sponsor: Planning Center
• Brian Zahnd
• instagram.com/brianzahnd
• Postcards from Babylon: The Church in American Exile by Brian Zahnd
• Radical Forgiveness by Brian Zahnd (the book Brian refused to be interviewed on the Paula White show with)
• Water to Wine: Some of My Story by Brian Zahnd (a great overview of Brian’s church story)
• Septology by Jon Fosse

Show Sponsor: Planning Center

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