Posted on

“We Are All Evangelicals” with Vince Bacote

Vince Bacote

David Capes was recently at Wheaton College to record podcasts with their faculty for Exegetically Speaking.  While there, he managed to record a few segments with faculty who were working on interesting projects.

Vince Bacote joins him on The Stone Chapel Podcasts to discuss a documentary he is working on about black evangelicals, tentatively called We Are All Evangelicals.  It should release in 2024.

To hear the podcast (21 minutes) click here.

Who Is Vince Bacote?  

Dr. Vince Bacote is Professor of Theology and Director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL.

He has authored a number of books including Reckoning with Race and Performing the Good News: In Search of a Better Evangelical Theology (2020) and The Political Disciple: A Theology of Public Life (2015).

Now he adds another skill to his resume: documentary creator and presenter.

“We Are All Evangelicals”

A number of years ago Dr. Bacote came up with an important idea: an oral history of black evangelicals.

But over time the project has morphed to become a documentary film, co-sponsored by Wheaton College and Christianity Today.  

If you analyze the theology of black churches, it overlaps in many ways with evangelical theology.  But black “evangelicals” have had an uneasy relationship with white evangelicals, especially in the last decade.

Despite their similarities, both groups have been spiritually formed in separate arenas.

In this film, Dr. Bacote explores that story in a series of chapters which are designed to consider the past, present, and future of that relationship.

The film will likely debute in 2024.  So look for it!

Email Dr. Bacote at vincent.bacote@wheaton.edu and he will send you a link to the trailer.

Dr. Bacote was on an earlier Stone Chapel Podcasts. To hear that click here.

To watch Dr. Bacote on a panel discussion at the Lanier Theological Library, click here. The topic of the panel is How to Have Difficult Conversations When You Know You Disagree.

More Resources

Want more Stone Chapel Podcasts on some great topics? Just click here.

What’s more! You can get information on upcoming lectures at Lanier Theological Library by clicking here.

Posted on

Cultural Engagement with Ed Stetzer

Ed Stetzer, Wheaton College

I recently talked with Ed Stetzer for “The Stone Chapel Podcasts.”

To hear the podcast (20 minutes) click here.

Ed Stetzer is skilled in cultural engagement.  He is simply wired that way.  He is a professor and dean at Wheaton College where he also serves as Executive Director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center.

He has planted, revitalized, and pastored churches, trained pastors and church planters on six continents. 

He has earned two master’s degrees and two doctorates.  He has written hundreds of articles and a dozen books.

Dr. Stetzer is Regional Director for Lausanne North America and is frequently cited in, interviewed by, and writes for news outlets such as USAToday and CNN. 

Ed joins David Capes on The Stone Chapel Podcast to talk about his concerns for the future of the evangelical church and its engagement with western culture. 

In fact, he is finishing up a book about that for InterVarsity Press.  It will be titled, The Future of Evangelicalism. Look for it next year at the Lanier Theological Library. 

America is experiencing a cultural convulsion unlike any we have seen since the 1960s.  And to all observers, America evangelicalism is uniquely influential around the world.

 Rather than thriving in the midst of this time, American evangelicals are themselves convulsing and sorting themselves along ideological lines. 

Stetzer observes: Some have gone “woke.”  Some have gone “political.”  Some have gone full on “Trump.”  Twenty years ago were certainly kinder and gentler times.

Dr. Stetzer is a unique voice for American Christians and has some interesting insights about where America is going and how best to be part of bringing about at least some “Shalom”/Peace for now. 

In the academic year 2022-23 Ed Stetzer is on sabbatical from Wheaton College and will be the guest of the Lanier Foundation staying, along with his wife Donna, at Yarnton Manor. 

He will be teaching two classes for Wycliffe Hall and finishing up yet another book entitled for now, “The Mission to Western Culture.”

You can read more about Ed Stetzer on his webpage: www.edstetzer.com.  He is witty and winsome, and that’s a good thing!  You can follow him on Twitter @edstetzer.

Be sure to stick around for a nugget of wisdom from Ed at the end of the podcast.

One of Ed’s more recent books is Christians in the Age of Outrage. It’s worth a read if we want to be our best when the world is at its worst.

To hear the podcast click here.

For more of cultural engagement at the Lanier Theological Library, click here.