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The NewCity Orlando All of Life Podcast
The All of Life podcast, hosted by Nate Claiborne, provides weekly episodes that help further our mission to call, form, and send disciple-makers. At NewCity, we want to see Orlando flourish by filling it with people who say "Follow me as I follow Jesus in all of life."
The NewCity Orlando All of Life Podcast
Season 7 Preview with Damein Schitter
In this episode, Nate asked Pastor Damein about the vision for the upcoming season of the All of Life podcast. This season, we're building on the learning event and sermon series, Following Jesus in Politics. We'll have guests like Mike Allen on the role of preaching in Presbyterian thought, Todd Deathrage on steering through tough conversations, and Robert Cunningham on the nuanced world of public theology and political ideologies. Don't miss our insights from key readings like David Koyzis' "Political Visions and Illusions" and Patrick Schreiner's "Political Gospel," all designed to enrich your understanding and challenge your perspectives.
We'll also venture into the oft-overlooked book of Leviticus, shedding light on its relevance today with the help of expert Dr. Jay Sklar. Our playful yet profound sermon series, "Leviticus is for Lovers," aims to reform how you perceive this book where Bible reading plans often die in the wilderness. We'll also add some more episodes along the way that were not mentioned, so stay tuned!
You can access the reading list we mention here.
Welcome to another episode of the All of Life podcast. I'm your host, Nate Clavelin, and today I'm here with our senior pastor, Damian Sheeter. How are we doing, Damian?
Speaker 2:Good, it's good to be back. It's been a while since I've been on a podcast.
Speaker 1:It's been. Yeah, I was going to say, if we go way back to the first real season of this podcast, 2019, it was me and you a lot. It was me, you and Ben. We were doing all these Bible book introductions and we've had a lot of iterations in the podcast since then. But we are starting season seven this fall.
Speaker 2:It's a very biblical number, it's a very biblical number.
Speaker 1:It's a very biblical number. It goes well with pairs, well with Leviticus, exactly Maybe yeah, that's right, which that's going to be one of the topics we talk about. But we're here today just really to give a table of contents for what you can expect on the podcast. This fall. We've got about six to seven episodes coming covering a couple different big things for the life of our church this fall. Damien, do you want to speak to the first one of those? We're talking about politics.
Speaker 2:Yes. So those of you who are with us and have been with us, every fall or leading into the fall, at the end of the summer, in July, we do a Following Jesus In series. This year it was Following Jesus in Politics, so we preach four sermons and a few times during that sermon series, I noted that over the fall we would be releasing various podcast episodes, and I think the sense really is that we're probably all going to be taking in at various levels, maybe information or it's going to be filling our mind. That is the presidential election that's coming up and everything related to it. I think one of the realities is we wanted to offer some perspective and thoughtful conversations in this season, both leading up to the election and probably right after the election. So like, for example, we're going to have an episode with Mike Allen that we did, where we talked about the role of preaching as it relates to current events and how does the preacher speak into current events, particularly thinking about informing the congregation how to think about something or even applying something to their life. And there's this really important section it's 20-2 actually in the Westminster Confession of Faith that says that only the Word of God can bind people's consciences. So we explore. What does that mean? What are the pitfalls that you can go into on either side of that? So maybe not speaking enough or over-speaking. We talk a lot about how we might engage culture, but it's all directly related to politics and this season. So that's the first episode. I think that I had a great time talking to Mike. I think people will find it interesting.
Speaker 2:The other thing we have is we recorded, as far as I know, our first live podcast in front of an audience when Todd Dethridge was here for our Following Jesus in Politics learning event Friday night. Right at the end of his content, with everyone there. We took questions and everything from the audience. We recorded a live podcast and Todd basically told a little bit of his story. It's very interesting and really explores in that podcast the essence of what he talked about the whole weekend, which really serves as a substructure of all types of hard conversations, and politics would be one of those. And that is, for example, our inclination to think primarily in us versus them, categories, and how the Bible, and Jesus, particularly in the Sermon on the Mount, invites us to another way. And then finally, one other one, just as a heads up Robert Cunningham. Some folks will remember Robert Cunningham preached at New City earlier in the year.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's right, yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't even remember when that was In the spring. Maybe I think it was before the summer. It that's right. Yeah, I don't even remember when that was In the spring. Maybe I think it was before the summer. It may have even been longer ago, but I know it was in 2024. It was a calendar year, yeah. But Robert has his own ministry called Christ for Kentucky and he really leans into what is called public theology and he just did everyone a great favor on his podcast, which is he took a political scientist named David Koitsis who had written a book called Political Ideologies and Illusions and there's a subtitle that's escaping me. But the book's fantastic, but it is sort of dense if you're not used to engaging that sort of thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I've tried to. There have been two times where I recommended it to people and both vehemently responded and said don't ever recommend this to someone again and say that it's not academic. So but the point is is that Robert was on their side and he knew that that's what it was.
Speaker 2:And so he's done everyone a favor of synthesizing David Koitsis' thoughts over several episodes. So in the interview with Robert I'm trying to distill all of that work into one episode. But just so it's not a secret. My desire is this episode wets your appetite enough to where you go listen to all of Robert's episodes.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, and let's double click on that a little bit, because I remember when we first started talking about how we might approach a following Jesus in politics either learning event or something like that that Koizet's book was at the top of the list of we think this is the most helpful thing and we'd been trying to figure out, but I don't think we recommend everyone read it or we do a book club on it. It's like we want to figure out some way to distill down this information. But I'd mentioned that book to say there was actually a number of books that we read that informed the sermon series or that informed other things that we're doing. I figured we could just mention a couple of them real quick here. I know Patrick Shriner's got a book that you read. I read, yes, political Gospel, political Gospel. That one actually felt like you could probably recommend it easily too, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that that would be. It's a very accessible book. I think it's a thoughtful book. It would be toward the top for sure. I would say, hey, if you're interested in reading some books on this topic, that's a good one. And in fact, if you read it, there will be at least two illustrations that I used in one of the four sermons or one of the three sermons that I preached, and I said, hey, I heard an illustration and it was from this book from Patrick Schreiner. So there are lots of helpful illustrations. Um, there are some other books that you you thought to mention too, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, preston Sprinkle had a book called Exiles that just came out. It was really useful, um, and we talk a lot about exilic discipleship and just what is our place in the culture, and so he really doubles down on that theme, but particularly as it relates to politics, not just discipleship in general. Yeah, and that was a really useful one. I'm trying to think of the other one that was really really good. I mean Coyces is good, schreiner's good, it was Michael Ware, that's it. His book, the Spirit of Our Politics, we thought was really really useful In some ways because he's drawing on Dallas Willard, which we draw on for a lot of things here, and he's kind of applying Dallas Willard to the posture we bring to politics and so we used some of those books in leadership training. We put together a handout.
Speaker 2:Yes, if we could recommend one book that's not politics but super helpful, and you read this one as well the Super Communicators by Charles Duhigg related to politics is by helping us understand and distilling types of conversations and showing how a lot of conflict not all, of course, but a lot is boiled down to miscommunication because we're having different conversations but we think we're having the same type of conversation.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, the classic. I mean we won't go through his whole typology, but you can. A lot of sitcoms are based around one of the things he highlights, which is one person is having a what are we going to do? Conversation and the other person is having a how do I feel? Conversation, yeah, or vice versa, and they're just they're talking about the same subject, but just one is thinking strategy, the other is thinking subjectivity, emotion, yes, trying to work things out, and it's like classic sitcom. Trope of miscommunication. You're right, totally. That's a great example.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that would be a really excellent book to read, that would inform your curiosity about communicating or just in general, engaging politics, but also more broadly, for sure. So I think it'll be good to, as you said, give these resources in the show notes so people can go to their favorite place of buying books or audio books. And, exactly right, give it a look.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was going to say we could just sit here and talk books all the time. But we won't do that. We'll put it in the show notes so you can get our recommended reading list. There's a bunch of things mostly that I read but that you read as well. That kind of formed the background. So one big thing we're doing this fall is the politics episodes. The other thing that we've traditionally done and we mentioned earlier, we did book introductions to go with CBR on this podcast. The other thing we had been doing was kind of sermon support and just alleviate some of the burden on the preachers. You don't have to get into all the nitty gritty details or background or big picture things. We're just going to record thematic episodes with Mike. Allen has done a lot of these for us, but with Leviticus this fall we thought it would be useful to Not that Mike can't do this. Mike did a great episode on Leviticus. You guys can listen to it. It was a couple months ago for the reading plan.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's right, but we're gonna get an Old Testament professor who's really leaned into Leviticus in a way that none of us else, none of the rest of us have. And so tell us a little bit about who we're talking to, for that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Jay Sklar is his name, dr Sklar and Jay was a professor of mine at Covenant Seminary when I was there and he was young then and he's still young he was probably in his late 30s whenever I was there. But what's unique about Jay as it relates to Leviticus is that he's really given his life, for the last over 20 years of scholarship and study, to understanding the first five books of the Bible the Pentateuch and, in particular, leviticus. So he wrote his dissertation on Leviticus. He's written two commentaries on Leviticus and on his website it actually says he's given his life to understanding Leviticus and the two books surrounding it because of the context, but really the first five books of the Bible. So Jay is fantastic. I can't wait to record this podcast with Jay and release it to everyone, because Jay has a spiritual gift of self-deprecation. In other words, why would someone give their life to Leviticus?
Speaker 2:But then on the flip side, he kind of he woos you in with humor and then makes you realize how important Leviticus actually is and how we're weirded out, primarily because of the cultural differences but, there's so much there for us, and so what I love about Jay, among many things, is he can take things to the bottom shelf, and I think that's what we need, because all of us are so unfamiliar with Leviticus.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it definitely feels like a book that needs decoding in a way that Exodus didn't. To some extent we did a lot of heavy lifting with Genesis and some background podcasts on that, but for the most part you can read through Genesis. There's a clear storyline, compelling characters, and you still have that in Exodus. And then all of a sudden you get to Leviticus and there are stories, but it's just list after list of things to do when you bring your animal to the temple and stuff to not eat or wear or do, and you just sort of you get bogged down in like what are we doing here? Because you need someone to kind of guide you through.
Speaker 1:What are the actual big picture themes of what's happening in this book? Why is this book the center of the Pentateuch? Why is it like that's right, it is the climax in a lot of ways of the first five books, but it's as you mentioned in your sermon this past Sunday it's where a lot of Bible reading plans go to die. You're just sort of like I'm gonna read through the Bible in a year and you finish Exodus and you're like, okay, two books down and then you just somewhere in Leviticus 7, 8, 9, 10, you just hit a wall Totally, and I think if people do make it through Leviticus, usually the response is something like I'm so glad we don't have that doesn't apply to us.
Speaker 1:I'm so glad we don't have to do that.
Speaker 2:And Jay will regularly speak to. That's an understandable response, but it's not the ideal response to Leviticus. There's so much more. Yeah, and so Jay will help us. There's so much more, and so Jay will help us explore that so much more, and hopefully we'll touch on a lot of it too in the sermon series itself, but don't miss that episode with.
Speaker 1:Dr Sklar, that's going to add a lot of helpful context that we just we don't have the time for in the time that we're devoting to Leviticus. Yeah, that's right. It it also. I think it also speaks to some people may know this, but calling the sermon series Leviticus is for lovers.
Speaker 2:Obviously we're playing on the Virginia State theme, yes, which I saw a bumper sticker of Virginia is for lovers yesterday here in Orlando.
Speaker 1:Oh, look at that, which is amazing. They're down here. They heard what we're doing. They're coming to investigate.
Speaker 2:Yes. So the idea I'm glad you brought that up is that first of all hopefully it'll be memorable Leviticus is for lovers, but really Leviticus is about loving God and loving neighbor. So the holy God calls his people to himself in covenant and he says I'm going to move in the neighborhood. But the problem is, how can a holy God live in the midst of an unholy people, and so how does he dwell with them and they receive his love and respond? And in many ways that would have been the burning question to the Israelites at this time, and Leviticus is an answer to that.
Speaker 2:But, it's also when you read the case law and other purpose statements in Leviticus. It's also that God's people are to be holy, like him, so that they can represent him among the nations, which is loving their neighbor so lots of case laws about. So it's receiving the love of God and responding to that love and then loving your neighbor as yourself, and this really is at the heart of Leviticus, which is another reason why we call it.
Speaker 1:Leviticus is for lovers, lovers of God and lovers of neighbor. Yeah, which Leviticus which is another reason why we call it Leviticus is for lovers lovers of God and lovers of neighbor. Yeah, which really. I mean those are twin themes of things we've focused on at New City. The common rhythm is built around those two things, so it really there is a lot of things tying it together, even though it feels like, oh man, I gotta do Leviticus Exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, We'll have to do a little bit of work to bring that to the surface, but it really is just below the surface how it ties with a lot of our other themes here at New City.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's going to be an exciting fall. So this is a subtle shift that we've kind of done over the past few months to years maybe, of really letting the podcast just sort of rest at the same time that we're resting in our ministry calendar, and so a lot of these episodes we're talking about they're coming out September, october, november, and then you're probably not going to hear much from us December, january, and then we'll pick back up in February with stuff for the spring that we'll tell you about then. But, damian, it's been great to chat with you for a little bit and get a preview of what's coming up ahead. I'm looking forward to listening to these episodes, maybe recording a few as well myself, and kind of see where the fall takes us.
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely. I would just encourage you all to engage the podcast and follow along, because, of course, we want to. We want to release a handful of episodes this fall related to these topics that we really think will be helpful, and so we're going for quality over quantity.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so don't look for one a week, but they're going to be, they'll come out at a regular interval. Yeah, exactly, don't look for one a week, but they're going to be.
Speaker 2:They'll come out at a regular end. Yeah, exactly. Well, thanks, nate. It's been good to chat about this with you. Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1:Welcome to another episode of the All of Life podcast. We're here starting our newest season and today actually just cut this.
Speaker 2:I'll just edit this later.
Speaker 1:Now, right now. No, I'm going to leave it. I'm just going to let it keep playing. I don't want to create a new file. I realized right as I started I need to see what season we're starting Season seven, okay, this is a good year. It is a good year, all right, take two.
