Church and Main

Dennis Sanders

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Church and Main is a podcast at the intersection of faith and modern life. Join Pastor Dennis Sanders as he shares the stories of faith interacting with the ever-changing world of the 21st century.

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Top 10 Church and Main Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Church and Main episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Church and Main for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Church and Main episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

SHORTS: What Will You Preach the Sunday After the Election? with Joshua Gritter | Episode 202

Church and Main

09/25/24 • 16 min

In this Church and Main Shorts, we look at a clip from a May interview with Joshua Gritter, a Presbyterian Pastor in North Carolina. We talk about what he and his wife will preach on at the church they serve on the Sunday after the election (hint: it won't be about the election).

Ministry Along the Border with Joe Tognetti | Episode 197

Church and Main

09/03/24 • 58 min

Joe Tognetti, a United Methodist pastor in McAllen, Texas, returns to the podcast and shares insights on the immigration experience at the U.S.-Mexico border. He dispels common misconceptions about the region and migrant caravans, emphasizing the role of local churches and humanitarian organizations in providing essential support to migrants.

The Man Near the Moon

Church and Main

05/01/21 • 57 min

In this episode, Dennis uses his ADHD/Aspergers brain and takes on a potpourri of issues such as President Biden's speech to Congress, the role of the state and the center-right, Sen. Tim Scott's response and the United States as a racist nation, America becoming a post-religious nation and the fate of the mainline Protestant church. He caps things off with a tribute to the "forgotten astronaut" of Apollo 11, Michael Collins.
Show Notes:
The Era of Limited Government is Over, by Ross Douthat

Individual and National Freedom: Toward a New Conservative Fusion by Brad Littlejohn

What libertarianism has become and will become — State Capacity Libertarianism by Tyler Cowen

Three Motivations for State Capacity Libertarians by Sam Hammond

America Will Be! Podcast Episode

I Love My Country. But Let’s Not Kid Ourselves, by Dennis Sanders

America Without God by Shadi Hamid

Breaking Faith by Peter Beinart

Will the ELCA Be Gone in 30 Years? By Dwight Zscheile

Why I Can’t Give Up on the Mainline, by Dennis Sanders

Astronaut Michael Collins was the ideal ‘Forgotten Man’ for Apollo 11 (Orlando Sentinel from 2019)

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Episode 112: Sabbath-Keeping for Congregations with Kara Root

Church and Main

09/12/22 • 78 min

So the church where I serve is starting an experiment. For the next year, we will be taking sabbath. We won’t be doing some the regular things we used to do and we are focusing on our spiritual walk and then on walk together as a congregation and finally in the spring we focus on the world outside the church. The point of this is to stop, slow down and think about who we are as a congregation moving forward.

Today, I chat with Kara Root, the pastor of Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis. She’s been pastor of the congregation for nearly 15 years. We talk about how a year into her call the church did something different. They decided to not worship every Sunday and take a sabbath on the Sundays they didn’t meet for worship. The story is a bit more complicated than that, but it’s a story about how a congregation redefined and renewed itself not through a new program, or a new mission, but by taking time off and not doing things. I had a great time talking with Kara about this concept of sabbath and I hope it will be as exciting for you as well.

Besides being the pastor of Lake Nokomis she is also a certified Spiritual Director and Christian Educator in the Presbyterian Church (USA). She’s written for Christianity Today, Christian Century, Working Preacher and many other publications. She is also the author of The Deepest Belonging: A Story of Discovering How God Meets Us and blogs at In the Here and Now.

Root Creative: Kara's webs ite that she shares with her husband theologian Andy Root.

God and Whiskey Podcast

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Episode 104: A Ukrainian Psalm with Fyodor Raychynets

Church and Main

07/04/22 • 64 min

Ukrainian pastor and theologian Fyodor Raychynets talks about living out your faith in God in the midst of the current war with Russia.

Show notes:

Interview with Fyodor by Baptist News Global

Podcast Episode with Miroslav Volf Interviewing Fyodor

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Who Mourns for the GOP?

Church and Main

03/17/21 • 34 min

Why should we care about the Republican Party when it's nothing more than a collection of racists and conspiracy mongers? A fair number of Never Trumpers see the party as something that is detested and many think it is now time to look to the Democrats. People associated with the Bulwark are starting to believe that maybe it’s time for former Republicans to become the conservative wing of the Democrats or at the very least work more closely with President Biden. What if leaving the party and movement might make one feel well but the decision is bad for democracy? What if democracies thrive only when there are strong conservative parties dedicated to the experiment in freedom?

In this episode, Dennis talks about the importance of conservative parties in democracies and why it there needs to be a push to either reform the party or create a new center-right party for the sake of American democracy.

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Articles of note:

Who Mourns for the GOP by Dennis Sanders

Why liberal democracy only dies when conservatives help by Matt O'Brien

“The central weakness of our political system right now is the Republican Party” by Sean Illing

Trump Is Gone, but Democracy Is in Trouble by Yascha Mounk

How to Transcend Trump’s Hold Over the GOP by Jerry Taylor and Samuel Hammond

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Attention Must Be Paid

Church and Main

03/26/21 • 38 min

Why did Donald Trump win in 2016? Was it racism? The stress of the American working class? Could it be both? In this episode, Dennis shares his own working-class roots, how the demise of manufacturing has altered towns across America and how the two major parties ignored the problems of the working class. Dennis believes Donald Trump was a warning to the governing classes to pay attention to the needs of the American worker or get ready for another strongman in the White House.
If you have a question or response to this or any episode, share it via email to [email protected]. Visit our website at spheresofinfluence.org.
Episode Notes:

Workers Are People, Not Widgets: An Epilogue by Amber Lapp

The First White President by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Donald Trump, Class Warrior by Clive Crook
Why They Loved Him by Farah Stockman
Richard Rorty’s 1998 Book Suggested Election 2016 Was Coming by Jennifer Senior
How the American Left Lost Hope by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt
Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in Twentieth-Century America by Richard Rorty
Death of A Salesman by Arthur Miller

Photo credit: Sitdown strikers at the Fisher Body Plant Factory Three in Flint, Michigan. Library of Congress. Public Domain.

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Episode 50: When Is Inclusion a Bad Thing?

Church and Main

10/05/21 • 64 min

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One of the biggest gifts Mainline Protestantism has given to many people is the work of inclusion. It’s the belief that churches should be places where the walls that separate people by race, gender, sexual orientation are torn down. Mainline churches were at the forefront of the civil rights movement, welcomed women into roles of leadership and allowed LGBTQ persons to participate openly in church life.

But are there limits to inclusion? For many years, the Mainline churches were involved in demographic inclusion, like we just discussed above. The goal was to bring diversity into the life of the church, but the basics of the faith, like what is found in the Nicean or Apostles Creed such as the divinity of Jesus Christ, the Trinity, and the Resurrection would be held in common. But over the last two or three decades, there has been a shift towards what might be called conceptual inclusion. Inclusion here is not about the role of women or LGBTQ people in the church, but about allowing heterodox ideas in the larger church. Those ideas would include the views shared earlier like the divinity of Christ or the Resurrection.

What kind of church does that look like? According to Episcopal Priest Frederick Schmidt, it leaves Mainline Protestantism with no reason for existing. Schmidt is currently the Vice-Rector of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Nashville. He is an Episcopal Priest, spiritual director, retreat facilitator, conference leader, writer, and academic. Before his current position, Schmidt held the Rueben P. Job Chair in Spiritual Formation at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL, and directed the Job Institute for Spiritual Formation. We talk about the dangers of conceptual inclusion, the loss of religious language in the public square and in the church and what this all means for Mainline Protestantism.

The Roots of Cognicide

What Are We Being Inclusive For?

Mainline Struggles in the Rural Midwest

The Progressive Obsession with Fundamentalism

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Episode 40: Rob Sanders on the Interstate Highway System (Rewind)

Church and Main

08/02/21 • 65 min

Why does the Interstate Highway System matter? What made it so amazing? Why is it so unappreciated today? How is it learning from its past mistakes?

In this Rewind Episode originally broadcast in April 2021, I talked to Rob Sanders who like me, is a transportation geek. Rob is the creator and host for Road Guy Rob, a video, web, and podcasting platform which connects the general public with today’s cutting-edge developments in transportation engineering. A Utah native, 12-year veteran of public radio, where Rob was drawn to every transportation story he got his hands on. He was so interested in transportation that he went back to school to get a Master's in Civil Engineering from Brigham Young University in 2018.

In this episode, we talk about the Interstate Highway System and its impact on the United States. Show Notes:Road Guy Rob's website Road Guy Rob YouTube ChannelDennis Sanders-Thoughts from a Freeway Lover

Freeways without Futures- Congress for New UrbanismCelebrating Fifty Years of the Interstate Highway System- US Department of Transportation

Save Our Freeways! - Andrew Zimmerman

How Racism Shaped Interstate Highways - NPR

Racist Interstates?- Stephen Malanga

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Be sure to rate us and leave a review. Share the podcast with others! Questions? Send an email: [email protected].

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Did Mainline Protestants Birth Christian Nationalism with Beau Underwood | Episode 186

Church and Main

06/10/24 • 49 min

We tend to think Evangelicals helped create Christian Nationalism, but did Mainline Protestantism have a role? I sat down with Beau Underwood, co-author of "Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped to Build Christian Nationalism," to explore the historical roots and contemporary impact of Christian nationalism in America. Beau talks about how mainline Protestants have laid the groundwork for modern expressions of Christian nationalism, highlighting pivotal moments like President Truman's endorsement of the revised standard version of the Bible in 1952 and President Eisenhower's active role in religious affairs. Beau wants to shed light on the responsibility of Mainline Protestant churches in addressing their historical complicity and suggests practical steps for repentance and change within their communities.

Show Notes:

Baptizing America book (the promo code is BAPODCAST)

Word and Way Magazine (includes several articles related to the book)

Episode 181 with Ted Peters (another view on Christian Nationalism)

Episode 76 with Brian Kaylor (on Religious Freedom in Russia)

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