In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a recent decision from the Starbucks CEO to recapture the coffee company's identity as a “third place” - a place where “community is formed and civility is fostered.” Today's conversation was prompted by an article in The Atlantic that you can read HERE. For many years in the U.S., the church was a key “third place” in people's lives. This is something we've lost, and need to find a way - like Starbucks - to recapture.

The idea of the “third place” was made popular by Ray Oldenberg in his book The Great Good Place. While the home is the “first place,” and work/school is the “second place,” people longed for a “third place” where they could find community, creative interactions, and simply enjoy the pleasure of good company and conversation. As Dr. White noted in his book Meet Generation Z, for the younger generations the “third place” shifted from the coffee shop to the digital world - even to the point that they began to have online house parties and gatherings where they weren't physically together.

Increasingly, though, people are looking for a blend of both - embodied experiences where they can gather together as well as community that they can forge online. This hybrid way of doing life is something that Dr. White explored extensively in his book Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for the Post-Christian, Digital Age. The command that Jesus gave to the Church in the Great Commission makes it clear that we need to be a church that is both reaching people for Jesus and helping them to grow in their faith. Evangelism and discipleship cannot be bracketed off from each other. Dr. White explained this so well in his description of the flywheel that represents the mission that all churches today must be on. If you'd like a really helpful overview of this, we'd encourage you to reach the Church & Culture blog titled “Turning Your Flywheel.”

Finally, for those listeners who live in the Charlotte area, you heard Dr. White mention the Grounds Bookstore and Café at Mecklenburg Community Church. This has increasingly grown as a “third place,” bringing in not only people who attend the church, but also many who are just looking for a really good coffee shop. You can find out more about The Grounds HERE.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the decline in the sanctity of weddings that seems to be happening in today's culture. Couples today aren't simply adding unique touches to their weddings, but instead are reinventing them with little to no concern for preserving any type of tradition, much less the Christian tradition. The trouble with this is that marriage was God's idea, beautifully described in the book of Genesis in the Bible. So how have we gotten so far off course?

Today's conversation was sparked by an article in the New York Times written by Tammy LaGorce titled “Weddings That Are Out of This World (or at Least Way Out of the Chapel).” She notes that today, “Some couples bring in numerologists or lip print readers, while others choose to be married by a spirit guide or practicing witch.”

This is not the first time that the sanctity of marriage has been discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast. We'd encourage you to check out the following past episodes: CCP38: On Attending Diwali Celebrations and Gay Weddings, CCP76: On the Never Marrieds, and CCP122: On Why People Divorce.

Finally, Dr. White has delivered many message series at Mecklenburg Community Church about marriage and the sanctity of marriage with the goal of helping people to truly understand the significance and importance of holy matrimony. If you're interested, we'd encourage you to check out the following series found at Church & Culture:

Marriage Hacks
Don't Do Stupid: Marriage Edition
The Lies We Believe About Marriage
Holy Matrimony
Marriage Mentoring
And the Two Shall Be Done

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss how when natural disasters strike (like the wildfires currently happening in California), it is fascinating to witness the spectrum of ways in which people claim God's involvement. There are some who express anger toward God, wondering how He could allow such things to happen. Some argue that God must have caused the natural disaster as an act of His judgment. Others praise God for helping them to cope with the losses and the rebuilding of their lives. So which is it? What role does God play, if any? Is He a destroyer? Is He a Savior? Or, put another way, where is God in the midst of pain and suffering?

The need to explain the fallout of natural disasters or other forms of pain and suffering that we all face, is something that every religion or philosophy needs to answer for - not just the Christian faith. Dr. White pulled from several sources that you may be interested in reading that will help you understand who God is in the midst of our pain and suffering, and inspirational stories to help you stay strong in your faith. These include:

Philip Yancey, Where is God When It Hurts?

Philip Yancey, Reaching for the Invisible God

C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

Corrie Ten Boom, The Hiding Place

Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking

Dr. White also delivered a series at Mecklenburg Community Church that you might be interested in, to take a deeper dive on this topic. The series is simply called “Why?” with installments that explore: Why Is There Evil and Suffering? Why Me, Why This, Why Now? Why Isn't God Answering My Prayers? and Why Would God Send Good People to Hell? You can find this series at Church & Culture HERE.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.