637: Your Church is Too American with Steve Bezner

Steve Bezner, a pastor in Houston, had a troubling realization—his people were being shaped more by social media, YouTube, and cable news than by the Bible, and their views of money, sex, and power looked more American than Christian. He talks with Kaitlyn about his new book, “Your Jesus Is Too American,” and how being more relational than organizational may be the first step toward healing our churches. Also this week, are American evangelicals going through the five stages of grief? If so, what does it mean to accept our loss of cultural influence? For the first time, new data says Gen Z men are more religious than Gen Z women. Why are young women leaving the church and why are young men coming? Plus, now even gorillas are addicted to smartphones.   0:00 - Intro   1:46 - Show Starts   2:52 - Theme Song   3:14 - Sponsor - Zondervan - The NIV, Upside-Down Kingdom Bible helps you flip earthly wisdom on its head - Go to https://www.upsidedownkingdombible.com   4:20 - Sponsor - BioLogos - Go to https://biologos.org/podcast/language-of-god/ and check out the Language of God podcast!   5:20 - Kohl’s Makes Decisions Easier   6:28 - Gorillas Getting Too Much Screentime at the Zoo!   11:42 - Accepting Lost Evangelical Influence   18:07 - Collaborating as Political Minorities   31:42 - Are Young Men Taking Over the Church?   51:39 - Sponsor - The National Association of Evangelicals - Listen to the Difficult to explore how Christians can become peacemakers. Go to https://www.nae.org/introduction-difficult-conversations-podcast-series/ to check it out!   53:37- Interview   59:10 - How We’ve Failed to Disciple People About Sex   1:06:48 - Prophetic Politics   1:13:50 - Church Pain   1:19:36 - Community Service in the Church   1:28:38 - End Credits     Links Mentioned in the News Segment: Gorillas and Screen Time https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/zoos-gorillas-screen-time-phones-videos-e88531a7   The Acceptance Stage of Lost Evangelical Influence https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/09/the-acceptance-stage-lost-influence-evangelicals-diverse-democracy/   America’s Young Men Are Falling Even Further Behind https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/young-american-men-lost-c1d799f7   Other resources:   Holy Post website: https://www.holypost.com/   Holy Post Plus: www.holypost.com/plus   Holy Post Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/holypost   Holy Post Merch Store: https://www.holypost.com/shop   The Holy Post is supported by our listeners. We may earn affiliate commissions through links listed here. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.