Center Conversations Mitchell Moore and Izzy Mendez

God’s Perspective on marriage and family: Potential, pleasure, purpose, and pain points with Dr. Greg Smalley.

Dr. Smalley serves as Vice President of Marriage and Family Formation at Focus on the Family (who is opening the "Hope Restored" center in Wimberley https://hoperestored.focusonthefamily.com/ ).

Dr. Smally has served as president of the National Institute of Marriage, written 17 20 books! Including he and his wife, Erin, co-creating “Ready to Wed,” a complete premarital curriculum for engaged couples and the online Focus on Marriage Assessment ( https://www.focusonthefamily.com/themarriageassessment ). Dr. Smalley has a doctorate from Rosemead school of Psychology from Biola University in Southern CA and a degree from Denver Seminary. He is a joyful and authentic communicator who vulnerably shares from experience, and continues to grow by studying a marriage book with Erin every Christmas- well done! This is a fun interview you will enjoy and desire to share.

*Please note when editing- Zach got a bit excited and started questions before I did the introduction- just a few minutes in. Should not hard to find or difficult to edit.

Michael is the lecturer in Old Testament at Carey Baptist College and recently released a new book: Just Discipleship: Biblical Justice in an Unjust World ( https://www.ivpress.com/just-discipleship ). Michael is also the author of Formative Feasting, Practicing the King's Economy (with Brian Fikkert and Robby Holt) along with numerous articles in popular outlets such as Christianity Today and The Biblical Mind. Rhodes has spent more than fourteen years involved in community development and urban ministry work, and is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

Buckle up- This episode is powerful.

This interview will both challenge and inspire as we journey together to understand God’s heart for LIFE. Joining Pastor Izzy and Pastor Mitchell is Dr. Ingrid Skop, a good friend and a true inspiration for many. Dr. Skop currently serves as Vice President and Director of Medical Affairs, Charlotte Lozier Institute. She is Board-certified obstetrician & gynecologist who practiced in San Antonio for decades, now giving her full focus to the pro-life movement in multiple capacities including serving on the medical board of Save the Storks and as medical director of AWC Centers (both key partners for FPC as we plan for a mobile unit that will be wheels down in Spring, 2024, able to serve women all over town).

Links:
Charlotte Lozier Institute: https://lozierinstitute.org
Save the Storks: https://savethestorks.com
AWC Centers: https://www.awccenters.com/

Welcome to a new season of Center Conversations! The next few months we will dive deep into a theological perspective on several contemporary hot topics: Wealth / Poverty, Technology, Human sexuality, Family, Life, Justice, and Beauty. This interview begins with beauty! And is one worth savoring and sharing. We are excited to interview Dr. Johnathan King:

Dr. Jonathan King serves as the International Pastoral Training Director at Family Discipleship Ministries and Executive Director of FDM Institute. A Graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary (CA), JK has a PhD in Systematic Theology from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS). Before joining FDM, King served as a missionary in Indonesia and a Lecturer in Theology at the Universitas Pelita Harapan. Dr. King is married to Sharm and they have two young children, Liam and Eleanor.

Dr. King’s book The Beauty of the Lord, a Theology of Aesthetics ( https://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Lord-Theology-Aesthetics-Systematic/dp/1683590589 ) and several of his articles (including this one https://shorturl.at/dhmP3 ) are worth reading!

Christopher J. H. Wright was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and taught high school there for some years after graduating from Cambridge in 1969. After obtaining a Cambridge doctorate in Old Testament economic ethics, he was ordained in the Church of England in 1977 and served a curacy in an Anglican parish.

In 1983 he went with his family to India and taught a variety of Old Testament courses at the BD and MTh levels at the Union Biblical Seminary, Pune, for five years. He also contributed in other ways to theological education in India.

In September 2001 he was appointed to be International Ministry Director of the Langham Partnership International (https://us.langham.org/), a consortium of trusts founded by John Stott, committed to the strengthening of the church in the developing world through fostering leadership development, biblical preaching, literature and scholarship. Now Chris is the “Global Ambassador” for Langham partnership. Chris’ own podcast, “On Mission” (https://au.langham.org/global-resources/podcast/), features conversations with Christian leaders around the Majority World. Chris is a scholar with multiple publications, most of which can be found here (https://langhamliterature.org/online_resources/chriswright/index.html).

Dr. Richard Pratt is the pioneer and president of ThirdMill Ministries, an organization providing Biblical education to the world- for free. ThirdMill Ministries offers world-class seminary class content to the world, now with more than 1.8 million students in 176 (of 196) nations. Their content was translated into 25 languages! Dr. Pratt taught at Reformed Theological Seminary for 21 years before beginning ThirdMill. He has authored several books and we recommend you begin with Designed for Dignity or He Gave Us Stories.

This interview was recorded during a community Reformation celebration that included six congregations. We hope you enjoy the show!