160: Memorable Moments and Lessons with BT Irwin

160: Memorable Moments and Lessons with BT Irwin

BT Irwin’s podcasting journey began with his father. From 2020 to 2022, BT’s podcast “Minister in the Making,” shared his father’s stories and wisdom from 50 years in ministry. Bobby Ross Jr. and Erik Tryggestad then brought BT in to host The Christian Chronicle Podcast.  The 159 episodes BT directed and hosted featured Christians all over the world, including astronauts, authors, professors, ministers, students, journalists, and even Santa Claus. Each guest shared a story about how God is working through a specific ministry or event. Through all of these, BT learned more about how congregations work in their communities and how the church continues to grow. BT, the podcast’s host from 2023-2026, sat down with Wes and Marcus to share some of the most memorable moments from interviews and what lessons he learned about the Churches of Christ through the stories he shared.  Heritage21 offers guidance for churches to plan for the future, whether that be to renew, repurpose or replant. Learn more at heritage21.org/chronicle [http://heritage21.org/chronicle]  Click here to listen to The Christian Chronicle Podcast’s first episode [https://christianchronicle.org/episode/episode-1-news-from-ukraine-105-years-and-done-and-why-a-podcast-now/] Learn more about Wes, Marcus and what’s new to the podcast [https://christianchronicle.org/ministering-with-microphones/]. Please consider donating to this nonprofit ministry at christianchronicle.org/donate [http://christianchronicle.org/donate]. If you have additional comments, ideas or suggestions, email us at podcast@christianchronicle.org [podcast@christianchronicle.org].

Episode 159: Meet your new Christian Chronicle Podcast hosts (Wes McAdams and Marcus Stenson)

It is necessary for good things to come to an end so that new good things can begin. After 159+ episodes, Christian Chronicle Podcast director and host BT Irwin gets behind the mic one last time to interview the show's new hosts, Wes McAdams and Marcus Stenson.  In this episode, McAdams and Stenson share the love and purpose that led them to take on this ministry and their vision for how the Christian Chronicle Podcast will grow in its service to the church around the world.  To learn more about how to join a Thrive cohort, contact Dr. Sears here [djsears@york.edu]. Donate to support this ministry of "information and inspiration" at christianchronicle.org/donate [https://christianchronicle.org/donate/] Send your comments, ideas, and suggestions to podcast@christianchronicle.org [btirwin@christianchronicle.org]

Episode 158: The complicated legacy of Marshall Keeble (Dr. Edward Robinson)

Marshall Keeble [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Keeble] (1878 - 1968) may be the most accomplished and influential Church of Christ preacher of all time. For decades, he preached all over the world, baptizing as many as 40,000 and planting hundreds of Church of Christ congregations. Today, hundreds of Church of Christ elders and ministers trace their own Christian ancestry back to Keeble. What makes this story even more remarkable is that Keeble did most of his work in the Jim Crow South, where legal and social norms limited what he could do and say. Sometimes, Keeble preached at the risk of his own life. Marshall Keeble is one of the greatest preachers of all time, but like all great preachers, his legacy is more complicated than it seems at first look. Dr. Edward Robinson, a "spiritual grandson" of Keeble, is author of Show Us How You Do It: Marshall Keeble and the Rise of Black Churches of Christ in the United States 1914 - 1968 [https://www.amazon.com/Show-Us-How-You-1914-1968/dp/0817358382]. In this episode, Robinson explores the harder questions about Keeble's ministry and what the present-day Church of Christ has to learn from one of its all-time greats. Link to Bobby Ross's Christian Chronicle story on the new Marshall Keeble exhibit that opened in 2026 at Jackson Street Church of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee [https://christianchronicle.org/marshallkeebleexhibit/] To learn more about how to join a Thrive cohort, contact Dr. Sears here [djsears@york.edu]. Donate to support this ministry of "information and inspiration" at christianchronicle.org/donate [https://christianchronicle.org/donate/] Send your comments, ideas, and suggestions to podcast@christianchronicle.org [btirwin@christianchronicle.org]

Episode 157: How not to be a ministry burnout (Dr. Darrel Sears)

If surveys are on point, burnout is epidemic among professional and volunteer ministers in congregations everywhere. Not only does burnout end ministries, it damages churches and families as well. It's a major problem that congregations and ministers brush off or put off at their own peril. In this episode, Dr. Darrel Sears (assistant professor of Bible and ministry, York University) defines "burnout," shares his own experience with it in ministry, and talks about how churches and ministers alike can head it off and recover from it. He also introduces Thrive Network, an online small group-based ministry where ministers help each other prevent, and recover from, burnout. Link to Eliza Rohda's Christian Chronicle story on Dr. Sears's Thrive Network [https://christianchronicle.org/yorkthrive/] Link to Dr. Sears's dissertation (free online) that focuses on the causes and cure for minister burnout (includes many books and other sources for further study) [https://digitalcollections.lipscomb.edu/dmin_project/4/] Link to Christina Maslach's research on burnout (referenced in the interview) [https://www.apa.org/members/content/burnout-research] Link to Resilient Ministry (Burns, Chapman, Guthrie) (referenced in interview) [https://www.ivpress.com/resilient-ministry?srsltid=AfmBOoqvYIBQlHnOn2XLHro9pOfeST2zYkdTd1RlwcpCuRH3vsy2fCoN] To learn more about how to join a Thrive cohort, contact Dr. Sears here [djsears@york.edu]. Donate to support this ministry of "information and inspiration" at christianchronicle.org/donate [https://christianchronicle.org/donate/] Send your comments, ideas, and suggestions to podcast@christianchronicle.org [btirwin@christianchronicle.org]

Episode 156: Artemis II astronaut Victor Glover says you and he are "almost twins"

Many Church of Christ members have preached or testified before thousands at various places and times, but Captain Victor Glover is one of the very few who spoke to an audience of billions. And he is the only one to do it from more than 200,000 miles away from earth. From April 1 - 10, 2026, Glover and three other astronauts completed a 500,000-mile round trip that took them beyond the moon and farther into space than any human beings have ever traveled. NASA's Artemis II mission captivated 8 billion people on earth and gave Glover a stellar pulpit from which to draw humanity's attention to God.  In this episode, Capt. Glover opens up about what he felt, learned and thought during his journey beyond the moon. He also shares what being on the moon mission taught him about community, grace, love and what it means to be part of humanity that inhabits earth. Donate to support this ministry of "information and inspiration" at christianchronicle.org/donate [https://christianchronicle.org/donate/] Send your comments, ideas, and suggestions to podcast@christianchronicle.org [btirwin@christianchronicle.org]