Monday May 01, 2023

339: Thom S. Rainer and The Changing American Church

Thom S. Rainer is the founder and CEO of Church Answers. With nearly forty years of ministry experience, Thom has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of the local church and its leaders. He has been a pastor of four churches and interim pastor of ten churches He is the author of numerous books, including I Am a Christian and I Believe. Today, Thom shares how he ended up in ministry instead of banking, the difficulty of losing his father, and his thoughts on the changing nature of the American church. He reveals what he’s seeing as churches struggle to come back from the pandemic and the problems pastors are asking to be solved. Thom has been steeped in American Evangelical churches for decades and has a finger on the pulse of the local church. His story reminds us that the local church is still a vital institution for growing in Christ.

Listen to Thom’s story in your favorite podcast app now!

Stories Thom shared:

  • Hearing the Gospel from his high school football coach
  • Why it took a couple of days for him to become a Christian
  • Dropping out of church almost immediately
  • Deciding to get closer to Christ when he started dating his wife
  • Going into banking when they got married and getting immersed in church
  • Watching a five year old die and how that led him to a sense of calling
  • Losing his father and how that became a dark night of the soul
  • Becoming the CEO of Lifeway and how that affected him
  • The issue of glass houses for people in the pastorate
  • Why he started Church Answers
  • How churches can get healthier
  • Whether the digital church counts as “being in church”
  • The problem with “consumer Christianity”
  • The issue of expectation in churches

Great quotes from Thom:

I was probably my pastor’s both best and worst church members.

One of the surprises since Covid is that digital attendance has fallen off the cliff.

With expectation should come equipping and empowering.

Resources we mentioned:

Related episodes:

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