Podcast
In a phone call shortly after the pandemic locked everything down in March 2020, we (Brad and Bryce) were processing all the potential implications when one of us summed it all up by saying (with no small amount of exasperation), “it feels like everything just changed.” A few weeks later, Bryce floated the idea of recording our conversations on the off-chance that they’d be helpful for others and, gee, maybe we could start a podcast about it…?
But even before the pandemic, we noticed that something was already changing. Culturally, both our country and our churches were more volatile, less understanding, and more deeply and easily divided than we’d seen in our combined 30 years of pastoral ministry. Those changing dynamics were only exposed and accelerated by the pandemic, and Everything Just Changed was birthed as both catalyst and opportunity for the exploration of our emerging cultural moment.
It turns out that our hunch was right, and thoughtful Christians on both the cultural left and right (but all weary of the culture wars) have needed and resonate with these big, change-prompted questions - and we have a lot more questions than answers! So whether you long for a “3rd way” or a way out of the quagmire, all are invited to join us in reimagining a post-culture war church in a post-pandemic world.
Bryce Hales
I came to a local church in southern California after my family decided that to get back on track, church would be key. Though it felt a bit like what "good people" did, it wasn't until high school that I realized that if Jesus was real and if the resurrection happened, then Jesus was more important than playing the guitar, soccer, or going to the beach.
My journey with God and His church has led me through megachurches, mission trips, grad school in Edinburgh, Scotland, starting a campus ministry in Salt Lake City, Utah, to church planting in southern California, and now to Lafayette, Colorado. Through the heartbreak, healing, anxiety, and fears of ministry, God has shown himself faithful and true.
My wife, Ashley, and I grew up together and married right after graduating from Westmont College. We did our graduate degrees in Edinburgh, Scotland and got a taste for the global church in our time there and figured out how to live a hospitable life. Since then, we have had our four active and lovely children -- Ezra, Porter, Camden, and Harriet -- and moved around the West (California, Utah, and now Colorado). In my spare time I’m loving skiing in Colorado, and working on a doctorate in Leadership at Covenant Seminary.
Brad Edwards
To say “I didn’t grow up in church” is a bit of an understatement. I actively disdained Christians and opposed the faith based on the anti-intellectualism and hypocrisy (blind to my own, of course) that I saw played out on TV and among the few Christians I knew. After over a year of depression and deconstruction late in college, I finally stopped trying to achieve my dignity, value, and worth and gave Jesus a chance. He did not disappoint. He also seemed intent to make up for lost time, because he called me into ministry a little over a year later.
I know God has a sense of humor because ministry has been a 15-year roller coaster of serving as a Chaplain in the Army National Guard, starting an art non-profit, and planting a church in Boulder County, CO (among other things). Thankfully, I really enjoy all the cultural contradictions and extremes therein, and am blessed to share it with my wife (Hannah) and 2 sons (Ransom and Deacon).
