Latest / Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews / Dr. Tony Evans Launches “The Word Unbound” Podcast: Addressing Culture, Truth & Modern Challenges

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Dr. Tony Evans Launches “The Word Unbound” Podcast: Addressing Culture, Truth & Modern Challenges · Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Life audio Doctor Evans, you have a life full of
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: ministry and writing. What inspired you to launch a podcast
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  Speaker 1: and how does it build on your previous work.
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  Speaker 2: Well, my team came to me and said, you know,
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  Speaker 2: in light of everything that's happening in the culture today,
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  Speaker 2: what about you trying to interact with people, giving your
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  Speaker 2: biblical input to all the variety of voices that are
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  Speaker 2: out here, so that people can hear a biblical framing
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  Speaker 2: from these conversations and not just from sermons. So I said, okay,
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  Speaker 2: I will try it. So we have been putting them
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  Speaker 2: together and it is gone. I have really grown spiritually
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  Speaker 2: through this process of interacting and interfacing scripture with personalities
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  Speaker 2: and different different dynamics and histories and backgrounds and generations.
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  Speaker 2: So it has made the Word of God that I've
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  Speaker 2: been preaching all these years become even more relevant because
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  Speaker 2: of the guests that we're interfacing with. The word unbound
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  Speaker 2: comes from a couple of scriptures. Second I'll be John
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  Speaker 2: chapter ten, verse thirty five, the scripture cannot be canceled,
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  Speaker 2: cannot be annulled. And second Timothy two nine, with the
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  Speaker 2: Word of God cannot be in prison. And so we
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  Speaker 2: want to show that the Word of God, when released,
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  Speaker 2: can address all the topics of all the dynamics that
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  Speaker 2: we're facing in the culture today. Amen to that.
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  Speaker 1: Some sample guests that I have a list of here
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  Speaker 1: I'm manded Bible, Williams, Lacrae, Matt Chandler, Rachel Myers, and others.
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  Speaker 2: It strikes me.
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  Speaker 1: That our culture, doctor Evans, is infatuated with sound bites
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  Speaker 1: and tiktoks and short videos, and that deep conversations about
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  Speaker 1: important topics are very rare. Does do you think do
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  Speaker 1: you agree with that?
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  Speaker 2: First off?
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  Speaker 1: And secondly do you think conversations and podcasts like this
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  Speaker 1: kind of fill and void in our culture?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, for you absolutely correct that sound bites
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  Speaker 2: have become the order of the day. And when you
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  Speaker 2: live in a world whe everybody has their truth and
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  Speaker 2: wonder from the truth, then you're at a never ending
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  Speaker 2: cycle of confusion and chaos. So there is a desperate
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  Speaker 2: need today for people to hear the truth, but through
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  Speaker 2: the relevant varieties of life that people are experiencing. If
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  Speaker 2: you hear the truth and it's not relevant, then you
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  Speaker 2: don't treat it like it's the truth. If you're dealing
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  Speaker 2: with the relevancy without the truth, then you're dealing with
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  Speaker 2: a bunch of ideas that you wind up with babble
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  Speaker 2: by the hour. So in terms of addressing where people are,
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  Speaker 2: but what they need to hear for where they are,
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  Speaker 2: I think a podcast can do that in a way
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  Speaker 2: that just preaching does not, because you have the variety
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  Speaker 2: of voices that you're interfacing with.
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  Speaker 1: Podcast focuses on finding light and life's struggles. How do
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  Speaker 1: you hope listeners who are walking through difficult seasons will
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  Speaker 1: be encouraged by these conversations because.
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  Speaker 2: Seasons change and life comes at you in so many
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  Speaker 2: different ways. So being able to hear voices that are
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  Speaker 2: relevant to the various varieties of experiences that we have
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  Speaker 2: and you really, you know, the Bible was not just
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  Speaker 2: written in a vacuum. It was written to real people
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  Speaker 2: at real places, at real time, with real issues that
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  Speaker 2: God had to speak in to. Podcasts allowed you to
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  Speaker 2: do that, and so being able to speak in the
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  Speaker 2: people's lives with people who living it themselves makes it
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  Speaker 2: relevant to the truth of the Word of God for
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  Speaker 2: where people are right now.
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  Speaker 1: You spent so much of your life in ministry, preparing sermons,
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  Speaker 1: diving deep into scripture and of course, now with this
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  Speaker 1: podcast you are preparing questions for your guests. How has
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  Speaker 1: this transition challenged or even stretched you in new ways?
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  Speaker 2: Because it's taken me deeper. You know, I didn't plan
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  Speaker 2: for this season the way it's unveiled. But God can
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  Speaker 2: show that he can work through any seasons to show
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  Speaker 2: new realities for living life under his rule, under his
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  Speaker 2: kingdom authority. So I'm going deeper even as I prepare
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  Speaker 2: and interact with these podcasts as well as my own
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  Speaker 2: time in the world.
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  Speaker 1: Does it feel natural? I mean, you've spent although you've
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  Speaker 1: been preaching sermons, you've also been talking to people and
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  Speaker 1: having deep conversations with people. Does this feel natural? And
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  Speaker 1: in other words, you're just recording maybe what you've been
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  Speaker 1: doing for years and years.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's let's put it this way. It is a
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  Speaker 2: process of spiritual growth. Okay. I wondered whether I would
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  Speaker 2: feel natural. I kind of didn't feel natural when I started.
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  Speaker 2: But the more I do it, the more natural I'm
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  Speaker 2: feeling and the more I'm enjoying it. So we'll call
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  Speaker 2: that technological growth in my life.
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  Speaker 1: How do these conversations with guests maybe uncover topics that
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  Speaker 1: maybe a traditional sermon might not do you any thoughts
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  Speaker 1: on that.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely it covers a lot. I mean, one of our
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  Speaker 2: guests we were talking about experiencing God in nature, and
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  Speaker 2: I'm saying, okay, wait a minute, Okay, I'm a man.
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  Speaker 2: I've got flowers and trees and all that kind of
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  Speaker 2: stuff that ain't grabbing me. I said, help grab me
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  Speaker 2: as a man. And when the guest started out real strong,
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  Speaker 2: she said, well, God has spoken of as a fall,
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  Speaker 2: but he created the trees. Can you relate to him? Bam? Okay.
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  Speaker 2: So that took me to a deeper analysis of pun
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  Speaker 2: nineteenth and then you know, and how they haven't been
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  Speaker 2: earth that declared the glory of God. So you know,
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  Speaker 2: so yeah, I'm being stretched along with everybody else. Amen.
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  Speaker 2: Amen to that.
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  Speaker 1: You said that scripture still speaks to modern day challenges.
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  Speaker 1: What are some cultural issues that you want to tackle
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  Speaker 1: or maybe you've already tackle because you've alady recorded some
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  Speaker 1: of these in these podcasts that are you know, are
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  Speaker 1: modern day challenges.
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  Speaker 2: Everything from rap music to you know, how I'm preacher
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  Speaker 2: Christians relate to that? To gender dysphoria, how do we
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  Speaker 2: relate to that? To political chaos? How do we relate
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  Speaker 2: to that the Bible speaks to all of it. Podcasts
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  Speaker 2: allowed you to end of the faith for people dealing
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  Speaker 2: with it.
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  Speaker 1: So you're not you're not you're not avoiding difficult topics, Sarah.
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  Speaker 2: They know you're not trying to play it safe. No,
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  Speaker 2: we can't do that. Now that we say God's Kingdom
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  Speaker 2: applies to everything, we got to go everywhere. Amen to that.
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  Speaker 1: Give us a preview. Maybe have some other guests that
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  Speaker 1: I didn't mentioned that people can look forward to listening to.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, well, we're working on some with with Kirk Franklin,
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  Speaker 2: you know, and he's got that music king but also
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  Speaker 2: that culture nuance. And we're going to plan a con
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  Speaker 2: We're going to plan a podcast with my new wife.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I've been remarried two years. My wife passed away,
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  Speaker 2: her husband passed away, and while they wanted their way
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  Speaker 2: to my wife's funeral and so and then how how
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  Speaker 2: you handle this kind of blending with loss. We talk
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  Speaker 2: about that too. So yeah, so sensitive subjects of cultural subjects,
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  Speaker 2: So we dive in all that.
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  Speaker 1: Eventually, do you think you'll have people on this show
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  Speaker 1: that maybe you don't agree with in some areas of
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  Speaker 1: life and maybe display how to agree or how to
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  Speaker 1: disagree a cordially.
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  Speaker 2: I guess I should say, well, they didn't agree with
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  Speaker 2: meacop when we started the podcast. When I'm finished, you
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  Speaker 2: know we on the same page. You know, I'll just
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  Speaker 2: get yeah, yeah, we'll deal with some controversial topics. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: but still grappling with the scripture in those controversial topics.
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  Speaker 1: If you like today's episode, please subscribe and leave a
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: five star review.
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  Speaker 3: That's how we help more people just like you find
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: the show. A big thanks to the team at life
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: Audio for their partnership with us on the podcast. If
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: you go to life audio dot com, you will find
• 7:48
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  Speaker 1: See you next time.