Provoke & Inspire Podcast
Provoke & Inspire is a weekly podcast featuring four artists, ministry leaders, and passionate followers of Jesus (Ben, David, Luke, and Chad) with decades of front-line experience and the stories to back it up! Every week they discuss how Jesus might respond to current events and issues facing the church today.
Episodes
750 episodes
669: Why Christians Aren't Less Anxious Than Everyone Else w/ Gary Thomas
Is it possible to idolize our own families at the expense of our faith? What is the real root cause behind the constant restlessness and anxiety modern Christians feel? How should a generation dealing with severe "church hurt" respond to the fl...
668: When Your Loved One Stops Believing (And You Don’t Know What to Do)
How do we reach loved ones who have walked away from Jesus, or simply have never chosen to follow him at all? How do we see them as God does? What can we do?In this episode, Ben David, and Chad address these crucial questions, drawing f...
667: Why Saying Jesus Doesn’t Work
Have you ever tried to share your faith with a friend, family member, or coworker, only to watch them immediately put up a wall? In a culture where the very name of Jesus is often tied to negative baggage, harsh judgment, or dead religion, how ...
666: Atheism Is Unlivable w/ Dr. William Lane Craig
Is there truth to "staying in your lane" regarding what God has called you to do? How do we navigate Gen-Z's view of spirituality? How do we know whether or not we will fall into sin again when we are in heaven?Author, apologist, and th...
665: Is YouTube Replacing the Church? w/Allen Parr
Can social media, YouTube, and online content truly disciple followers of Jesus - or are we trading real spiritual formation for sound bites and algorithms? Ben sits down with YouTuber Allen Parr to wrestle with the future of disciplesh...
664: Why Do Christians Ignore Angels When the Bible Doesn't?
Have we all, as the author of Hebrews writes, "entertained angels" without knowing it? How do we think about the spiritual realm without granting it too much attention or power?Ben, David and Chad dive into this mysterious topic, using ...
663: John Lennox | Is AI The Race To Build God?
Is AI a threat to us as image-bearers of God? As we become to depend more and more on machines, what will happen to our daily lives? Are we slowly rotting and atrophying our brains by using ChatGPT? Ben welcomes back Oxford Professor, a...
662: If Aliens Are Real, Is Christianity Still True?
Is the existence of aliens a threat to our faith? What do we make of this potentially real phenomenon as followers of Jesus? Ben, David and Luke weigh in as the U.S. Department of War's publishes a second release of Unidentified An...
661: An Atheist Walked Into A Church. Here's What He Felt.
Most young people never step foot inside of a church, but how do we engage those who do? Is the church supposed to be a place not only for worship and communion, but evangelism too?Social media fitness influencer Ben Polson joins the P&...
660: When Is It Time to Leave My Church? Discernment vs Consumerism
When it comes to church, how do you know if it’s time to leave or time to finally commit? What’s the difference between healthy discernment and consumer Christianity? Have we turned church into another product built around our preferences? ...
659: Why Christians Stay Silent at the Office - Workplace Evangelism Expert Bradley McCoy
How do you actually live out your faith at work without becoming weird, silent, or compromised? Bradley McCoy shares practical wisdom from over two decades at Target Corporate on bringing your authentic faith into the workplace wit...
658: Miss THIS and You’ll Miss Everything
What does it actually mean to be successful in God’s eyes? In a world obsessed with identity, achievement, and self-definition, how do we stop chasing significance in the wrong places and discover who we really are in Christ?-----------...
657: What Greg Koukl Couldn't Say to Alex O'Connor on Diary of a CEO
Can secular success satisfy the human soul? Why do even atheists struggle to escape questions of meaning and morality? And is our deepest need actually not happiness… but forgiveness?Ben talks to author, speaker, and Christian apologist...
656: What Sustains My Faith Beyond the Mountaintop Moments?
Is there such a thing as ordinary life for a Christian? Is ordinary life the sign of a compromised faith? How do we find the abundant life promised us by Jesus?The regulars weigh in on living faithfully for Jesus through the highs and l...
655: If Jesus Is the Love of Your Life, Why Doesn't Anyone Know? | The Path to an Integrated Faith
We often go years without sharing our faith with neighbors, colleagues, friends, and family members - why is that? How can something so important never be talked about?Ben and David discuss this strange phenomenon that seems to permeate...
654: What People See Right Before They Die W/ Near-Death Experience Expert John Burke (Imagine Heaven)
Have people really experienced glimpses of heaven? How about hell? What do we do with the thousands of accounts given from those who have died, and come back to life, and who experienced something glorious, or horrifying in between? Are these a...
653: The Approach To LGBT That’s Pushing People Away From Jesus
Christians seem to be either angry and protesting, or silent, when it comes to hot button issues - including the LGBTQ+ discussion. How do we navigate the middle ground of giving measured, grace-filled answers, filled with conviction and clarit...
652: From Crystal Meth Addict to Leading Millions in Worship w/ Stephen McWhirter
Has worship music become corrupted - the Christian music scene as well? How does God bring a person from the brink of destruction and hating him, to a place of influence in the church, and glorifying him?Ben speaks with singer, songwrite...
651: What it Will Take to Rescue a World Drowning in Superficiality
ATTENTION! If you’re in Minneapolis, don’t miss the No Longer Music Send Off Show, Saturday, 4/25, 630 PM at Grace Church in Eden Prairie. Don’t miss this chance to see a truly incredible, and inspiring stage depiction of the life, death and re...
650: Alisa Childers Exposes What Progressive Christianity Actually Teaches
Has progressive Christianity taken irreversible root in the modern church? How do you talk to somebody who has embraced its tenants? Ben is joined again by author and podcaster Alisa Childers for a discussion on defending and uphold...
649: How Did Jesus Handle Broken People - And Why Don't We Do That?
How do we love people where they are at in their faith journey - no matter where they are at? The guys react to a viral moment of actor Shia LaBeouf leading someone in prayer on a secular podcast, and ask how Jesus would approach th...
648: Jon McCray: My Wife Almost Died. This Is What God Taught Me
How do we come to understand that God is all we truly have in this life? How do we navigate hardship without losing faith, and instead let it forge us?Ben is joined by YouTube apologist and cultural commentator Jon McCray for a candid di...
647: Your Phone Is Rewiring Your Soul (And You Don’t Even Notice)
Is the internet a blessing or a curse? What is near-perpetual screen time actually doing to our brains, and societies? Ben, Luke and Chad discuss the ramifications of our so called "connectedness" via the world wide web, how it is a...
646: Christianity Expert: The Secular World Is Living Off Christian Ideas And The Clock Is Running Out! | Glen Scrivener
Where did our moral instincts come from? Did Christianity shape the values we take for granted today? In this conversation Ben talks with apologist, author, and speaker Glenn Scrivener - who makes the case that ideas like human righ...
645: An Atheist Went to Church and Loved It - Should That Worry Us?
What happens when someone who doesn’t believe in God walks into a church and encounters something real? Is it enough for people to simply feel loved and supported, or should they be clearly confronted with the truth of who Jesus is?The ...
