Shows / Provoke & Inspire Podcast
Provoke & Inspire Podcast
Provoke & Inspire is a weekly podcast featuring four artists, ministry leaders, and passionate followers of Jesus (Ben, David, Luke, and Chad) with decades of front-line experience and the stories to back it up! Every week they discuss how Jesus might respond to current events and issues facing the church today.
Episodes
- Provoke & Inspire Podcast
686: Jesus and Politics: Fight, Flight, or a Third Way?
Are politics compatible with our faith in Jesus? How do we healthily assess our devotion to either one? Ben goes solo to explore this heavily divisive topic…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast685: Am I Too Weak to Be Used by God?
How do our sins, our shortcomings, effect our capacity or ability to be used by God? How do we balance grace and accountability? Is it possible to destroy the…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast684: Do You Have to Be Like People to Reach Them?
Knowing your scene - the place where you find yourself most often - is important, but what if you are nothing like the people in it? How do you share the love…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast683: Why Nobody Has Friends Anymore (And What Jesus Would Do About It)
Why is true community rare these days, and increasingly so? How can a person find it, and make friends in a world where we simply do not value these things…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast682: KB on Art That Actually Reaches the Lost
How are Christian artists supposed to choose between being bold with the gospel, and paying their bills? Does every song need to have the name, "Jesus", in it?…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast681: What if I’m Single, and I Don’t Want to Be?
The number of unmarried people in our world continues to rise - steadily increasing since the 1970's. More and more young people find themselves single, and…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast680: You're Not Waiting on God, You're Waiting on a Better Offer
You've heard of FOMO, but is FOBO the real issue that the new generations are facing? A fear of missing out may play a part in people rushing into things, but…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast679: The Main Character Problem Nobody in Church Talks About
The world often says we should live our lives as if we are the main character in our story - but is this a biblical way of doing things? Are we sabotaging what…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast678: The #1 Reason Our Faith Grows Cold
What seems to be the primary cause of Christians falling away, becoming lukewarm, or fizzling out spiritually? Is there a common denominator? David and Ben…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast677: Does My Effort Impact God’s Calling?
Is it possible we are missing the plans that God has for our lives? Are we wasting our time and potential, that God would otherwise have extraordinary plans…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast676: The Clutter That's Killing Your Faith | TK Coleman on Finding Freedom Through Spiritual Minimalism
What is minimalism, from a spiritual perspective? How does growth as a Christian depend on our ability to let go of things? Ben speaks to author and speaker…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast675: Ex-Muslim - What Christians Can Learn from Islam | Abdu Murray
How can we hope to reach our Muslim neighbors? How can we cut through hostility and fear with the grace and truth of the gospel? Ben talks with author and…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast674: Am I Too Sinful for God to Use?
Is the life I'm living, the one that God wants me to live? Are we able to change the trajectory of our life and calling through the choices we make? Ben, Chad…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast673: Does God Have a Better Plan For My Life Than The One I'm Living?
Is the life I'm living, the one that God wants me to live? Are we able to change the trajectory of our life and calling through the choices we make? Ben, Chad…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast672: Ex-Witch Exposes the New Age Hiding in Your Feed | Jac Marino Chen
Have we unknowingly embraced New Age ideas and ideals, even as Christians? How do we identify them, in our lives and the lives of others? How can someone find…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast671: Is Evangelism Without Relationship Wrong?
Why is it that Christians often set out to build missional connections with their community, only to do so for years and never end up sharing the gospel? How…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast670: Ruslan KD Exposes the Lie Christians Believe About Ambition
How do we navigate ambition as Christians? Is it worldy - or Godly? Ben talks with YouTube personality, cultural commentator, and author Ruslan KD about…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast669: Why Christians Aren't Less Anxious Than Everyone Else w/ Gary Thomas
Is it possible to idolize our own families at the expense of our faith? What is the real root cause behind the constant restlessness and anxiety modern…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast668: When Your Loved One Stops Believing (And You Don’t Know What to Do)
How do we reach loved ones who have walked away from Jesus, or simply have never chosen to follow him at all? How do we see them as God does? What can we do?…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast667: Why Saying Jesus Doesn’t Work
Have you ever tried to share your faith with a friend, family member, or coworker, only to watch them immediately put up a wall? In a culture where the very…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast666: Atheism Is Unlivable w/ Dr. William Lane Craig
Is there truth to "staying in your lane" regarding what God has called you to do? How do we navigate Gen-Z's view of spirituality? How do we know whether or…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast665: Is YouTube Replacing the Church? w/Allen Parr
Can social media, YouTube, and online content truly disciple followers of Jesus - or are we trading real spiritual formation for sound bites and algorithms?…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast664: Why Do Christians Ignore Angels When the Bible Doesn't?
Have we all, as the author of Hebrews writes, "entertained angels" without knowing it? How do we think about the spiritual realm without granting it too much…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast663: John Lennox | Is AI The Race To Build God?
Is AI a threat to us as image-bearers of God? As we become to depend more and more on machines, what will happen to our daily lives? Are we slowly rotting and…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast662: If Aliens Are Real, Is Christianity Still True?
Is the existence of aliens a threat to our faith? What do we make of this potentially real phenomenon as followers of Jesus? Ben, David and Luke weigh in as…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast661: An Atheist Walked Into A Church. Here's What He Felt.
Most young people never step foot inside of a church, but how do we engage those who do? Is the church supposed to be a place not only for worship and…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast660: When Is It Time to Leave My Church? Discernment vs Consumerism
When it comes to church, how do you know if it’s time to leave or time to finally commit? What’s the difference between healthy discernment and consumer…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast659: Why Christians Stay Silent at the Office - Workplace Evangelism Expert Bradley McCoy
How do you actually live out your faith at work without becoming weird, silent, or compromised? Bradley McCoy shares practical wisdom from over two decades at…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast658: Miss THIS and You’ll Miss Everything
What does it actually mean to be successful in God’s eyes? In a world obsessed with identity, achievement, and self-definition, how do we stop chasing…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast657: What Greg Koukl Couldn't Say to Alex O'Connor on Diary of a CEO
Can secular success satisfy the human soul? Why do even atheists struggle to escape questions of meaning and morality? And is our deepest need actually not…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast656: What Sustains My Faith Beyond the Mountaintop Moments?
Is there such a thing as ordinary life for a Christian? Is ordinary life the sign of a compromised faith? How do we find the abundant life promised us by…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast655: If Jesus Is the Love of Your Life, Why Doesn't Anyone Know? | The Path to an Integrated Faith
We often go years without sharing our faith with neighbors, colleagues, friends, and family members - why is that? How can something so important never be…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast654: What People See Right Before They Die W/ Near-Death Experience Expert John Burke (Imagine Heaven)
Have people really experienced glimpses of heaven? How about hell? What do we do with the thousands of accounts given from those who have died, and come back…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast653: The Approach To LGBT That’s Pushing People Away From Jesus
Christians seem to be either angry and protesting, or silent, when it comes to hot button issues - including the LGBTQ+ discussion. How do we navigate the…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast652: From Crystal Meth Addict to Leading Millions in Worship w/ Stephen McWhirter
Has worship music become corrupted - the Christian music scene as well? How does God bring a person from the brink of destruction and hating him, to a place of…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast651: What it Will Take to Rescue a World Drowning in Superficiality
ATTENTION! If you’re in Minneapolis, don’t miss the No Longer Music Send Off Show, Saturday, 4/25, 630 PM at Grace Church in Eden Prairie. Don’t miss this…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast650: Alisa Childers Exposes What Progressive Christianity Actually Teaches
Has progressive Christianity taken irreversible root in the modern church? How do you talk to somebody who has embraced its tenants? Ben is joined again by…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast649: How Did Jesus Handle Broken People - And Why Don't We Do That?
How do we love people where they are at in their faith journey - no matter where they are at? The guys react to a viral moment of actor Shia LaBeouf leading…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast648: Jon McCray: My Wife Almost Died. This Is What God Taught Me
How do we come to understand that God is all we truly have in this life? How do we navigate hardship without losing faith, and instead let it forge us? Ben is…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast647: Your Phone Is Rewiring Your Soul (And You Don’t Even Notice)
Is the internet a blessing or a curse? What is near-perpetual screen time actually doing to our brains, and societies? Ben, Luke and Chad discuss the…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast646: Christianity Expert: The Secular World Is Living Off Christian Ideas And The Clock Is Running Out! | Glen Scrivener
Where did our moral instincts come from? Did Christianity shape the values we take for granted today? In this conversation Ben talks with apologist, author…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast645: An Atheist Went to Church and Loved It - Should That Worry Us?
What happens when someone who doesn’t believe in God walks into a church and encounters something real? Is it enough for people to simply feel loved and…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast644: Christian Sex Expert: The Church has Misunderstood Desire | Jay Stringer
Is fighting our desires, sexual or otherwise, a losing battle? Have we completely misunderstood what they are, and what they point to? How do we reclaim a…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast643: Have Christians Become Too Nice?
Is following Jesus the truest expression of the punk rock spirit? Has a prominent cultural philosopher now turned to Jesus? Ben, David, and Luke react to an…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast642: Top Christian TikToker, Read Choi: I Almost Got Canceled For Doing the Right Thing!
How do you stay grounded in your faith despite having millions of followers, billions of views, and living in the Hollywood ecosystem? Ben talks with content…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast641: Is “Seeker Sensitive” Just Dumbing Down the Gospel?
Has the seeker sensitive movement gone too far? Is it irreverent for pastors to wear casual clothing during sermons, and is the church not actually for…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast640: A Protestant Asks: What Is Orthodox Christianity? (And Why Is It Growing?) W/ Jonathan Pageau
Why are Christians turning to more traditional expressions of the faith? Is there something in Orthodoxy that's missing from Protestantism? Are there things we…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast639: How Do I Resist Porn in an AI World?
How do we fight an enemy that, especially via our phones, seems to be everywhere? How do we prepare our children to guard themselves against explicit content -…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast638: The Lasting Impact of Charlie Kirk’s Murder W/ Dr. Frank Turek
Ben is joined by renowned apologist Dr. Frank Turek, as he reflects on the tragic murder of his close friend Charlie Kirk and what the tragedy reveals about…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast637: The End of Loneliness Starts With You
What if one of the most powerful ways to reach people isn’t better arguments… but better attention? After reacting to a socially disruptive street comedian who…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast636: What Does the Bible Really Say About Women in Leadership? W/ Preston Sprinkle
Ben welcomes author and speaker Preston Sprinkle back to the show for a candid and thought-provoking conversation about one of the most debated issues in the…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast635: Are Arguments for God's Existence a Waste of Time?
Is apologetics enough to make disciples? Are we aiming at the wrong target by focusing on them? The regulars wrestle with the role of reason, debate, and…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast634: Is the Modern Family Making Us Lonely? (And Is It Even Biblical?)
What if the loneliness we feel isn’t because we’re weak, but because we’re trying to live in a system that was never meant to work? Ben reflects on a clip of…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast633: Jesus Promised Rest, So Why Are You Still Exhausted? | Tim Ross
Why did Jesus call peace a gift, and why do so few Christians actually feel it? What’s the difference between being a peacekeeper and a peacemaker? Ben talks…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast632: How to Avoid Rock Bottom, and Recover If You Hit It
From ministry success and identity confusion to burnout, failure, and suicidal ideation, this episode traces the slow erosion of intimacy with Jesus and the…
Provoke & Inspire PodcastP&I Moments: Why Does Victory Feel Hollow? | Coach RAC
Why do people who look like they have it together still feel empty? What are we hiding that’s actually hurting us? And why does joy seem to show up only after…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast631: Why Do Churches Hide Sin? Bethel, Shawn Bolz, and Cover-Up Culture
When does protecting leaders or institutions become enabling harm? And what happens to faith when silence replaces transparency? The regulars examine the…
Provoke & Inspire PodcastP&I Moments: Why Do So Many Leaders Break the People They Lead? | J.R. Briggs
What if leadership isn’t about influence, platform, or control, but about bearing pain, building trust, and carrying hope for others? Who pays the price when…
Provoke & Inspire Podcast630: ICE in Minneapolis — Why People Say Christians Don’t Care
How do we have a Jesus-perspective in a situation with so many grey areas? How do we react when protestors show up to disrupt our church services? The regulars…
Provoke & Inspire PodcastP&I Moments: Has the Church Misunderstood Justice All Along? | Skye Jethani
Author Skye Jethani unpacks how a 100-year-old divide in the American church still shapes our thinking today. Why did the gospel and justice get separated? How…