All Episodes
Displaying 31 - 60 of 175 in total
Episode 145: The Frustrations of a Small Church Pastor
Here is the second of two solo episodes out this week. Filmed last week at the end of a very strange day, Dennis reflects on being the pastor of a small church and wh...
Episode 144: How To Disagree and Still Be Friends
Hello, this is Dennis Sanders. I’ve been on a holding pattern with some potential guests. The interviews should be on the way soon, but in the meantime, I’m sharing t...
Episode 143: Giving Up the Stigma of Mental Illness with Seth Perry
In this episode, we talk with Pastor Seth Perry, the pastor of Elim Lutheran Church in Scandia, MN. During Lent when people give up certain things for the season, Set...
Episode 142: Church and the Crisis of Decline with Andrew Root
If you’re the pastor or leader of a mainline Protestant congregation you have heard about your declining congregation for years if not decades. You probably even lead...
Episode 141: Ralph Yarl and the Erosion of Trust
A teenage African American boy is shot by an elderly man in Kansas City. Ralph Yarl went to the wrong house by mistake and was shot twice by an 84-year-old gentleman. ...
Episode 140: Beyond Colorblindness and Antiracism with George Yancey
Is racism intractable in American society? Or is racism just a thing of the past and we need to “get over” race? Colorblindness and antiracism are the leading ways o...
Episode 139: Why I Am Disciples of Christ with Doug Skinner
Why do you belong to a certain denomination or church? How did you get there?In this episode, I chat with Doug Skinner, a retired pastor in the Christian Church (Dis...
Episode 138: Did Jesus Die for Our Sins?
Due to problems with my podcast recording platform, this is another solo episode using a video from my series At the Intersection (formerly the Weekly Check-in).In thi...
Episode 137: Why We Need 'Thoughts and Prayers'
In this podcast episode, Dennis Sanders, the host of "Church and Main," expresses his frustration with the responses to the recent school shooting in Nashville. He cri...
Episode 136: A Church Grows Again in Odessa with Dawn Darwin Weaks
“We know how to be a Disciple in a town full of Baptists.” That was what the head of the search committee said to Pastor Dawn Darwin Weaks they asked her and her husb...
Episode 135: The Biblical Case for LGBTQ Inclusion
This wasn’t a planned episode, but here it is because a certain podcast recording program decided to eat two of Dennis’ interviews. So, while Dennis works on redoing ...
Episode 134: Finding Faith in the Comics with Drew McIntyre
Superman. Spiderman. Green Lantern. Wonder Woman. Black Panther. Critics tend to think that media based on comic book characters doesn’t really grapple with weighty ma...
Episode 133: These Are Not the Evangelicals You Are Looking For
In this solo episode, I read the story I wrote in Substack and Medium about how white evangelicals are not the major factor in the rise of Donald Trump. The real stor...
Episode 132: Telling the Truth on Church Decline with Ben Crosby
If you are part of a mainline Protestant denomination, you know that decline has been part of the story for over 50 years. And yet, at times people act like this isn’...
Episode 131: The Wesleyan Roots of the Asbury Revival with Frederick Schmidt
The Asbury Revival has brought both praise and criticism from liberals and conservatives. But what’s missing is the context from which the event sprung forth which is...
Episode 130: He Gets Us, Asbury Revival and Progressive Christian Criticism with Loren Richmond Jr.
The “He Gets Us” advertisements in the Superbowl and the revival taking place at Asbury University in Kentucky have drawn a fair amount of criticism from Mainline Prot...
Episode 129: Faith After the Pandemic With Daniel Cox
America becomes more religiously polarized.The United States has always been somewhat of an outlier among highly developed nations. Unlike Canada or Europe, America h...
Episode 128: Who Would Jesus Vote For?
In this solo episode, Dennis shares two videos from his Weekly Check-in video series: one recorded in November after the midterms and the other in mid-January. In bot...
Episode 127: Am I A Progressive? with Amar Peterman
Can Christians in the United States break out of the left-right binary?In the late summer of 2022, a young Christian public theologian penned a document where he asked...
Episode 126: How NOT to do Evangelism
Or how to share your faith without being an ass.Mention the word, "evangelism" and people get nervous. People might have images of an angry preacher yelling at people....
Episode 125: LGBTQ Issues in the Evangelical Covenant Church with Chris Gehrz
The Evangelical Covenant Church is a denomination with roots in the pietist movement with Lutheran roots with about 200,000 members in the United States and Canada. W...
Episode 124: What Is A "Progressive Christian?"
In this solo episode, Dennis shares another video from October of this year where he asks what it means to be a "progressive" or "conservative" congregation and what s...
Trailer: This is Church and Main.
We might not want to admit it, but faith lies at the heart of so many of the issues facing our modern world. That’s why Church and Main exists, to talk about the main...
Episode 123: Church Isn't Safe.
In this solo episode, I talk about how the church doesn't protect us from the evils of the world.In the audio version of a video Dennis did back in October for his con...
Episode 122: Andrew Donaldson on Ordaining Women in the SBC
A frequent guest returns to talk about the ordination of women in the Southern Baptist Convention and more.This is the last interview for 2022 and I’m ending it with o...
Episode 121: Being Church on a Bike with Travis Norvell
A Minneapolis Pastor sees the world around his church differently when he got on his bike.My guest today is someone that is also interested in transportation, but he’s...
Episode 120: What's Christian About Christian Nationalism?
There's a difference between patriotism and nationalism.As I said in a prior episode, I’ve been doing these videos of about 5-7 minutes called the Weekly Check-in. I ...
Episode 119: Church in the Time of TikTok
So, I’ve been doing these videos of about 5-7 minutes called the Weekly Check-in. I have no idea if people are really interested in them, but I like doing them and I ...
Episode 118: Paul VanderKlay on LGBTQ Issues in the Christian Reformed Church
How the Christian Reformed Church is handling LGBTQ inclusion.Over the last 20 years or so most of the mainline Protestant denominations have ended their controversies...
Episode 117: Camp Ministry with Jared Rendell
Church Camp can mean more to their life of faith than just a "camp high."There is evidence out there that kids feel the impact of church camps long after the campfires...
