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This is Empires of the Future, conversations to encourage the Church in a time of change.  You are No Longer Invited to Dinner Is there power in your dinner table?  Over the last few decades, socializing is moving out of homes for a lot of us, and while that maybe convenient, there is certainly a loss associated with it.  In this conversation we consider why the vulnerability of having someone in your home might just be worth it, all things considered.  We draw on an article by writer Derek Thompson for his Substack.  https://www.derekthompson.org/p/the-death-of-the-american-host "The Empires of the future will be Empires of the Mind." - Winston Churchill

This is Empires of the Future, conversations to encourage the Church in a time of change.  5 Reasons to Go to Prayer Meeting What good is prayer?  If you ask any christian whether prayer is important to the christian life, inevitably they will answer that it is.  If you followup and ask about their own prayer life, the confidence invariably drains from them.  How do we improve our prayer lives.  The answer, dear christian, does not simply lie in yet another redoubling of effort.  It may just lie behind the difficult doors of being honest about our own hearts and learning how to pray from other believers that God has so graciously placed around us.  We explore all these ideas and more in this podcast inspired by our experiences of prayer and this article by Jonathan Landry Cruse for the Gospel Coalition. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/reasons-prayer-meeting/ "The Empires of the future will be Empires of the Mind." - Winston Churchill

This is Empires of the Future, conversations to encourage the Church in a time of change.  How Colleges Produce Socialists Conversations about socialism seem to be multiplying daily, whether they have to do with the shortcomings of capitalism or the election of the mayor of New York City. But how are young people being convinced of the goodness or even just the utility of socialism?  In a recent opinion column at the Wall Street Journal, Kimberlee Josephson outlines a different way that young people are brought to believe in socialism: through the very experience of life on a college campus.  Here we discuss whether the experience of life at an Ivy League campus or even a State School tells the truth about the economics of the situation, and further if socialism itself accords with human nature and the deeper desires of individuals.  https://www.wsj.com/opinion/how-colleges-produce-socialists-41fe4257 "The Empires of the future are the empires of the mind." - Winston Churchill

This is Empires of the Future, conversations to encourage the Church in a time of change.  The Revival of the Ipod Is there a good use for old(er) tech?  For many, that answer is turning out to be “absolutely”.  Tired of the many distractions that come with using a cellphone for everything, many are picking up their old devices again seeking the peace and quiet that was associated with many kinds of old tech.  In particular, iPod sales are surging, and since both of the hosts of this podcast appreciate the utility of the iPod, it prompted a conversation about the devices we use and whether or not they’re using us.   https://apnews.com/article/ipod-music-streaming-iphone-a6a010a1d9001abb0580b7a1cebe9c13 "The Empires of the future will be Empires of the Mind." - Winston Churchill

This is Empires of the Future, conversations to encourage the Church in a time of change.  Should we use AI in Christian Worship? The predictions concerning the capabilities of Artificial Intelligence are as varied as they are confusing.  It may bring on an age of plenty.  It may take every human job, eventually.  It may open up opportunities undreamt of by previous generations, if it doesn’t kill us all.  And it may do some mixture of all these things in just the next few years.   There is a temptation in the church to take one of two positions on this: either it won’t happen and I don’t want to know about it, or it may signal the end of the world.  Faithful christians cannot assume just because a massive change is coming that we won’t need to make major adjustments to it.  This podcast is our first effort in trying to do that.  Here we discuss how much change A.I. is likely to bring in the church in particular, what uses we should avoid and what uses we could (with some care) engage with.  The technology is not going away, but like so many other technologies, it holds promise and peril already, and certainly more in the future.   We use Ross Douthat’s recent article for the New York Times on changes in the workplace more as a jumping-off point for this discussion, but it is provided here: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/opinion/ai-jobs-employment.html "The Empires of the future will be Empires of the Mind." - Winston Churchill

This is Empires of the Future, conversations to encourage the Church in a time of change.  The Lure of Danger and the Price of Achievement Alex Honnold is a name some of us have come to know in the past few years for his death-defying climbs of both man-made and natural wonders.  His "free solo" climb of natural wonder El Capitan with no safety gear leads us to ask important questions about danger, challenge, and achievement, while also considering sports of various kinds and how they fit into a life well-lived.  We use Rusty McKie's article at the Gospel Coalition as a reference point.  https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/achieve-die-reflections-free-solo/ "The Empires of the future will be Empires of the Mind." - Winston Churchill

This is Empires of the Future, conversations to encourage the Church in a time of change.  Don’t Have it Your Way, Against Consumer Spirituality How should someone formulate his (or her) view of the world?  In an article by Brett McCracken for The Gospel Coalition, he documents the emergence of what he calls “metamodern” Christianity.  This is not “modern”, meaning dedicated to an abstract idea of truth and pointed toward “progress”.  It is also not “post-modern”, dedicated to feelings and dismissing notions of truth in favor of viewing the world as only consisting of power dynamics.  It’s somewhere between the two.  In contrast, christians should be a people dedicated to God almighty, to loving Him first and others second and seeking to live lives of sacrifice and love after our Savior Christ who gave himself for us.  https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/challenge-opportunity-metamodern-christianity/ "The Empires of the future will be Empires of the Mind." - Winston Churchill

This is Empires of the Future, conversations to encourage the Church in a time of change.  Seven Reasons to Celebrate Advent What is Advent?  Many christians struggle with the busyness and the feelings of loss that often accompany the lights and trees at this time of year.  How should a Christian feel about how we “do” Christmas in our consumeristic age, and how do we make sure Christmas stays about what it should be about, the birth of Christ? In this episode we examine an article by Ryan Shelton for Desiring God which gives us seven reasons to incorporate the sense of longing that Advent brings into our Christmas experience.  https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/seven-reasons-to-celebrate-advent "The Empires of the future will be Empires of the Mind." - Winston Churchill

This is Empires of the Future, conversations to encourage the Church in a time of change.   We are at the front end of a wave of churches closing in the United States.  But what does it mean when a local church closes its doors? What can be done about it? In this episode, we examine an article from Axios.com by Russell Contreras and consider these questions and more. https://www.axios.com/2025/10/03/us-churches-close-religious-shift-christians "The Empires of the future will be Empires of the Mind." - Winston Churchill

This is Empires of the Future, Conversations to Encourage the Church in a Time of Change Tyler Robinson and the Violence of Pornography The availability and depravity of porn is among the many challenges and toxic elements of the twenty-first century, but one that many adults are not aware of in terms of its subtlety and propensity to twist young minds.  The connection between Tyler Robinson, the alleged assassin of Charlie Kirk, and hardcore pornography provides an opportunity and a milestone for us to stop and consider the dangers of pornography in our day.  What is the hope for anyone caught in the net of porn?  Who can free us from its grip?  We consider all this in this episode of Empires of the Future.  "The empires of the future will be empires of the mind." - Winston Churchill https://firstthings.com/tyler-robinson-and-the-violence-of-porn/

Smart glasses are coming.  This new technology will enable not only easier interaction with the internet and augmented reality, but a greater capability to record everything we see, whether people around us might know it or not.  We talk about all this in this episode of Empires of the Future, dealing with this article by Austin Gravley for the Gospel Coalition.  https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/churches-smart-glasses/ "The Empires of the Future will Be Empires of the Mind" - Winston Churchill

Christians are generally in agreement that baptism is an important practice, but there is considerable disagreement on many other aspects of baptism.  In this video we discuss the rise of infant baptism in the church and the teaching of the New Testament on baptism.   Gavin Ortlund's video on "How did Infant Baptism Begin?: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WE0Ea2ke_c Infant Baptism Rap Battle by Reformed and Dangerous: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od5U9qNTpSw&list=RDod5U9qNTpSw&start_radio=1

This is Empires of the Future, conversations to encourage the Church in a time of change.  How can we best prepare ourselves and our children for the challenges they will face in the world?  What does it take for a young person to grow up, accept responsibility, hold down a job, and all the rest?  One answer to that question is to take a “gap year”, meaning to take a year off after high school to work or serve one’s country in the military.  We talk about this idea and reference an article by Erica Komisar from the Institute for Family Studies. https://ifstudies.org/blog/the-benefits-of-taking-a-gap-year "The Empires of the future will be Empires of the Mind." - Winston Churchill

This is Empires of the Future, conversations to encourage the Church in a time of change.  The First Sexual Revolution Much has been written about the sexual revolution, and in past podcasts we’ve mentioned a recent book by Louise Perry called “The Case Against the Sexual Revolution”, and believe she makes a strong case that the sexual revolution was actually bad for men, women, and children.  In an article posted at First Things, Kyle Harper explains how Christianity actually drove a completely countercultural sexual revolution in the first century whose effects are not only still felt today, but too often taken for granted.  We explore all this and more in this episode of Empires of the Future.  "The Empires of the future will be Empires of the Mind." - Winston Churchill

The Problem of Sexual Extortion Sexual extortion, or “Sextortion” as it is sometimes called, is a new and growing problem.  In the 21st century, there have been various problems related to the “connectedness” that being online offers, and sometimes these problems are not evenly divided among the sexes.  Sexual extortion is one of the newer ones.  Young men seem to be particularly susceptible not just to being fooled into seeking and sharing nude pictures but also into an even darker situation when those pictures are used against them.  Because of this, we wanted to release a short episode encouraging christian parents and ministers to do two things:  Parents - Talk with your children about why God invented sex but also the dangers associated with it.   All christians - Be clear that Christ died for all sins, and paid for all guilt and shame in the believer’s life so that we don’t have to fear consequences related to sin, even in our very online age.   This too shall pass.  "The Empires of the future will be Empires of the Mind." - Winston Churchill