Episodes

When it’s about winning people for Jesus. The Greek word for “apologetics” means “to give a defense” and comes from 1 Peter 3:15–16, which starts “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have…” Apologetics in this passage begins with reverence for Christ, and its focus isn’t on defeating others but providing hope. There is no more consequential conversation than the one about who Jesus is an...

Over the past century, American Christians — along with others — have largely embraced the culture war model, bringing a particular edge to the way we engage with the world. The list of topics in which we argue over — both within and outside the faith — seems endless. What can we do about the argumentative spirit present in our churches? In this episode of Difficult Conversations, host Walter Kim interviews Dr. Darrell Bock, one of today’s leading biblical scholars. Together they explore lesson...

It’s no accident that we produced the Difficult Conversations series during an election season, with its heightened tensions and palpable polarization. In this special message, NAE President Walter Kim takes a few minutes to speak to this moment following the election. However you may be feeling about the election results, God remains our refuge. His kingdom is greater, higher than any earthly kingdom. Now having concluded one set of difficult conversations leading up to the election, we embark...

Neither political idolatry nor political disengagement make for peace. What does? If we’re all reading the same Bible, why do Christians disagree when it comes to politics? If we worship the same God, how can we come to such different conclusions? And why have so many Christians in America given up on voting altogether? This episode of Difficult Conversations opens with stories from pastors on what this election season has been like for them. It also features an in-depth conversation between Br...

In this bonus episode, Daniel Yang shares his family’s refugee journey from Laos to Thailand and finally to East Moline, Illinois, where a church welcomed and helped them navigate life in the United States. Daniel’s father soon became a Christian, and in just seven years, the family was an integral part of a Hmong church plant. Daniel is now the national director of Churches of Welcome at World Relief, and previously served as the director of the Church Multiplication Institute at the Wheaton C...

Turning the script on the most segregated hour.When Martin Luther King Jr. famously called the 11 o’clock hour on Sunday the most segregated hour in America, it illuminated the great division in our country. Decades after the Civil Rights Movement, churches remain more segregated than neighborhoods and public schools. How does this play into the polarized climate of our nation today? What would happen if Christians bridged the gap? This episode of Difficult Conversations features candid discuss...

In 2020, Pastor Caleb Campbell watched Christian nationalism take over large swaths of his congregation in Phoenix, Arizona. He thought about giving up on the church, but over the years, he came to see himself as a missionary to Christian nationalists. In Episode 3 of our Difficult Conversations series, Caleb shares his journey from skinhead to pastor, and from accusations of demonic influence to restored relationships. Along with Dr. Sheila Heen at Harvard Negotiation Project, he offers a hope...

In this bonus episode, NAE President Walter Kim hosts an extended conversation with Carl Greene on the shifts that have been happening in rural America. Carl is a rural ministry researcher and advocate, having served as a rural pastor with his family and enjoyed life as a dairy farmer in partnership with his father and brother. Carl talks about his experience growing up in Upstate New York and how he has grappled with his identity as a rural white American. He also sheds light on the complexiti...

From mask mandates and school closures to social distancing and vaccines, COVID brought about one of the most contentious divides we have experienced in recent American history. Countless relationships between families and friends and within churches and communities were tested, and many of those relationships remain fractured. This episode of Difficult Conversations features two Christians who sat on opposite sides of the COVID divide. As director of the National Institutes of Health from 2009...

The primary allegiances of Americans used to be to country and religion. Now Americans’ primary allegiance is to their political party. How did that happen? And what has it done to the state of conversations in our country? What has it done to our churches? Is there hope for the next generation? In this inaugural episode of Difficult Conversations, host Walter Kim interviews Dr. Jonathan Haidt, one of the world’s top experts on the psychology of morality and politics, to explore how we ended up...

A deeper look at a new podcast series on polarization and our call to be peacemakers. As a nation we are playing cultural and political Whac-a-Mole. On college campuses, at workplaces, in houses of worship, and even at the Thanksgiving table, it’s not just the ideas that we are trying to beat back. We’re using verbal mallets to pummel people because of their different views about the world or perceived threats to our identity. As we’ve become more polarized and divided than ever, it feels like ...

Welcome to Difficult Conversations From the National Association of Evangelicals comes a new podcast series, Difficult Conversations. It’s an exploration of how we ended up so polarized, and how Christians can become the peacemakers that Jesus called blessed. Hosted by NAE President Walter Kim, this series will share incredible stories of people who’ve stepped into enemy territory for the sake of building bridges, and you’ll hear from experts on why difficult conversations are so hard, how to ...