Heather Skriba has experienced #genderdysphoria most of her life and transitioned from female to male a few years ago. But after encountering Jesus, she heard God telling her that she was "daddy's girl" and that God desired her to live as the female He created her to be. Filled with compassion, truth, and authenticity, Heather Skriba helps us understand her transgender experience, gender dysphoria, and what role the church can play in helping people who are wrestling with their gender identity and sexuality.

Dr. Michael Heiser is a biblical scholar with a Ph.D. in Semitic Studies, and he's the author of many scholarly books related to the spiritual realm, including the best-selling book The Unseen Realm. In this challenging conversation, we talk about the divine council that informs God's decisions, the meaning of "Elohim," the origin of demons, the nephilim, the anakim, other giants in the Bible, and lots of other "strange things" in the Bible that are only strange to modern readers.

The Bible seems to say that God created on man, Adam, and the rest of humanity sprang from his loins. (Creepy image, I know.) But the science suggests otherwise. In this conversation, Old Testament scholar Dr. Tremper Longman helps us navigated the thorny issue of the Bible and science as we consider both the biblical and scientific evidence for the historicity of a historical person named "Adam."

Tremper is one of the top evangelical Old Testament scholars alive today, and he's an evolutionary creationist. In this conversation, Tremper explains why he believes that the science clearly shows that the universe and the earth are old and that this fits perfectly fine with Genesis 1-2. Genesis is simply uninterested in the age of the earth. We discuss the meaning of "day," the phrase "evening and morning," the problem of the sun and moon  being created on the 4th day (i.e. how do we determine a "day" without a sun or moon?), and the connection with the Sabbath command in Exod 20/Deut, which seems to assume a literal 24 hour day in Genesis 1.

GregColes is back! Actually, he never left. We just split our conversation into two parts. In our first conversation, Greg shared about his coming out story and what advice he'd give to parents with gay kids, and to gay Christians who are thinking of coming out. Speaking of "gay Christians," that phrase is super debated, misunderstood, and has become the subject of much turmoil in the evangelical community. Greg helps us understand what people mean and don't mean by the phrase. We also talk about other words and phrases like "homosexual," "the gay lifestyle," "practicing homosexual," "same-sex attraction," and "the gay agenda." And we discuss whether same-sex attraction, or "being gay," is itself a morally culpable sin from the perspective of a traditional Christian sexual ethic.

My good friend Dr. Greg Coles hangs out with me in my basement and we talk about faith, sexuality, and what it was like to comeout as gay. Greg gives some fantastic advice to Christian parents with gay kids and how to respond well when they come out. He also helps those who are wrestling with their sexuality to consider the right context, time, and person to come out to.

Evan Wickham is a pastor, church planter, song writer, and worship leader. He's the pastor of Park Hill church in San Diego and has been wrestling with how to handle CA governor Gavin Newsom's order against indoor church gatherings. Should Christian churches obey or disobey this order? How essential are large indoor gatherings for "being" the church? Are Christians being persecuted? We also discuss the weirdly controversial topic of wearing masks. Should we do it? Protest it? What's the rationale for wearing or not wearing a mask?

My friend #SamAllberry joins me to talk about the perennial question: "Is God Anti-Gay?" Many people think he is, that the Christian God has it out for gay people. But, as someone who experiences #samesexattraction and who also loves the Christian God with all his heart, Sam begs to differ. In this conversation, we talk about some pushbacks to the traditional sexual ethic, what the church can do better, the meaning of the term #gay, and how teenage Christians who experience #SSA should think through identity.

Tyler Burns is the vice-president of The Witness, which is a black Christian collective that engages issues of religion, race, justice, and culture from a biblical perspective. Tyler is also the co-host of "Pass the Mic" podcast. In this extra raw conversation, Tyler helps us understand current race conversations from a black perspective and educates white evangelicals on our own blind spots and how we can embody Christ in our culture moment.

Lisa Fields is the founder and director of the #Jude3Project, which helps the Christian community know what they believe and why they believe it, with a strong emphasis in equipping those of African descent in the United States and abroad. In this conversation, Lisa unpacks the #blacklivesmatter concept and movement and how it relates to the #gospel. "Black lives matter to God," Lisa says is the most important thing for people to understand. Lisa clears up some misunderstandings surrounding #BLM as a movement and a phrase. Check out Lisa's ministry: https://jude3project.org Please consider supporting Lisa's invaluable ministry: https://jude3project.givingfuel.com/wwwjude3projectcomdonate

Madison Pierce is a New Testament scholar and professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. She did her Ph.D. on the book of Hebrews under Francis Watson at Durham University. In this conversation, we talk about various things related to her specialty in the book of Hebrews, specifically how the author (and we don't know who it is, by the way) weaves together Trinitarian thought throughout his quotations of Scripture. We also discuss what it's like being a female in Evangelical academia.

Lore (pronounced Lor-ee) Ferguson Wilbert just released her provocative book Handle With Care: How Jesus Redeems the Power of Touch in Life and Ministry. And it addresses lots of questions that are on peoples’ minds these days—especially men. Can I hug a woman? Side hug or full frontal? Is “the Billy Graham Rule” a good thing or an insulting thing—or a bit of both? How can Christian men avoid affairs and sexual temptations without giving the impression that every woman he’s alone with in the elevator is a stumbling block? Unfortunately, Preston’s internet literally shut down toward the end of this podcast (and, in case you care, it didn’t start working again for another 48 hours, which in these Covid-19 quarantine days is like spending two days in hell with everyone out to lunch). But the 40 minutes they did capture were too good to scrap, so we’ll have to live with the technological embarrassments.

Becket’s story is absolutely incredible. He has one of those stories you hear from a distance and think, “this can’t be true.” But it is. Jesus is real and he is that powerful. Becket has an amazing story and he also has an amazing passion for an amazing savior. Becket shares his story in this podcast; he and Preston also dig into what it means to “leave homosexuality,” the controversy over gay identity (Becket is adamantly opposed to it), and what it was like hanging out with Katy Perry, Prince, Paris Hilton, and other Hollywood stars.

Spencer is a longtime friend, former boss, and the president of Eternity Bible College. We first met way back in Seminary nearly 20 years ago and have been friends ever since. Spencer is known for his towering height, shiny head, inability to be outwitted, but most of all for his imaginative and integrative approach to Christian education. In this episode, we talk about some of the things that are broken in our current models of education and explore fresh avenues for education which will be especially pertinent in the wake of Covid-19.

I've tried taking several Enneagram tests but I can never finish them. I hate the binary answers they give: When you walk into a room, do you want to dominate everyone or hide in the corner?" Ugh! What if it's neither!? That's why I reached out to my buddy Jeff Cook to have him give me a personal and conversational evaluation of my Enneagram score. Wait, is it a "score?" Or a number? I'm not a number, I'm a person! Don't put me in a box!! Whatever the Enneagram is, Jeff Cook is an expert in it. Watch him as he uses the force to draw out the inner me with all its grit and grime. After we find out my number, we turn to the biblical writers to see what number they are and why it matters. Yup, we even dare to figure out what Jesus is on the Enneagram. We haven't been struck down by lightening—yet.

The death of George Floyd has sparked many questions related to race relations, systemic racism, the use and abuse of force and power among the police force, faith and politics, partisanship, and many other questions. To help us think through these questions, I recently interviewed Justin Giboney from the AndCampaign in a live YouTube conversation, and this podcast is the audio version of that conversation.

Chris Wienand is like the master Yoda of church planting. From planting churches in South Africa to Los Angeles, to mentoring dozens of leaders around the globe, Chris has gained much wisdom about church and the gospel over the years. In this episode, we talk about what it means to be the church and the role that meals and organic gatherings should have in the life of the community. Chris believes that the table should be the heartbeat of our churches.

Due to the incredible response I got from John’s first appearance on Theology in the Raw (Ep. 788), I had to have him back on! John is an infectious disease expert at the University of Chicago and he gives us an update on the virus. We talk about lockdown versus reopening, the probability of a second wave, the politicalization of the whole mess, what churches should do as they reopen, and much much more.

Sharon is a passionate follower of Christ who’s got a sharp mind and humble heart. Preston and Sharon talk about lots of things related to being a woman in pastoral and theological ministry.

Oh boy, are you in for a good one! Preston and Eugene talk about politics, so-called “Chinese viruses,” multiethnic churches, and much more in this controversy-laden podcast. We also talk about Eugene’s latest book Thou Shalt Not Be a Jerk, which helps Christians navigate the cesspool of partisan politics with truth and grace.

In this long overdue Q & A podcast, Preston works through a fistful of scintillating questions sent in from his followers: Why he's not a fan of the documentary hypothesis, is his podcast anti-Trump, how to dialogue with people you really, really disagree with, unbiased news outlets, why he doesn't like the phrase "white evangelicalism," should churches post LGBTQ statements on their websites, and much more.

Of all of Preston's favorite church planters, Hugh is definitely at the top of his list. In this podcast, Preston and Hugh talk about simplifying church in a post-Covid-19 world and exploring other ways of integrating discipleship into the marketplace, community, and natural rhythms of life. They also discuss the pros and cons of church services and their effectiveness for helping people live the Christian life.

 In this podcast, John C. Bivona shares a wealth of information about the truth about Covid-19. John is a Senior Biosafety Officer for The University of Chicago – Howard T. Ricketts Laboratory, a Regional Biocontainment Laboratory, as well as a Registered Biosafety Professional with ABSA International (American Biological Safety Association). John was a lead trainer with the Duke Infectious Disease Response Training (DIDRT) Program, funded through an NIEHS-NIH Grant, that was designed to prepare workers at risk of infectious disease exposure. Additionally, he is a certified HAZWOPER/HAZMAT Trainer.

Juli Slattery is an expert in all things related to sex, sexuality, purity culture, female sexuality, true intimacy, and sexual discipleship--a super helpful term she unpacks in this thought provoking episode. Preston and Juli talk about a lot of things in this episode that's not often talked about in church, yet absolutely NEEDS to be talked about in church. This episode will be particularly helpful for females, or anyone seeking to understand female sexuality.

Preston is working through a stack of questions in this Q & A podcast. Would he ever participate in a pride parade? How should gay/SSA Christians build healthy relationships with people of the same sex? What are his thoughts on Vaccines? His thoughts on Robert Gagnon’s approach to same-sex sexuality/marriage?The value of reading books vs. blogs vs. periodicals? What’s the meaning of “the worm shall not die” (Mark 9:48)? How does the parable of the rich man and Lazarus fit in with the Annihilation view of hell? Is corporal punishment (i.e. spanking) biblical? My thoughts on attending a UMC church that’s not taking a clear stance on marriage.