In a polarized culture filled with a growing number of angry people, how do you find your voice, counter-arguments and keep your sanity?
Messy Grace author Caleb Kaltenbach is back with a fresh look on how to embrace a culture of outrage and division. Conservatives and liberals both struggle to respond to the changes around them, let alone to one another. Caleb offers and outlines option for the culture that merits every leader’s attention.
Welcome to Episode 192 of the podcast. Listen and access the show notes below or search for the Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts and listen for free.
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Guest Links
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CNLP 033: Growing Up With Gay Parents—An Interview With Caleb Kaltenbach
Links Mentioned
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3 Insights from This Episode
1. There are 3 Ways People Engage (or don’t engage) in Our Constantly Changing Society
We live in a divided culture. Historically, it’s always been this way, but the tensions of the current climate have stirred up a great deal of fear in many Christians.
Fear isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just depends on how you manage it. We fear what we don’t understand and can’t control. In Caleb’s new book, God of Tomorrow , he shares 3 ways Christians choose to manage their fears when engaging a society that is constantly challenging moral values.
- Aggressively Fighting with a Broken Society – viewing the opposition as the enemy
- Surrendering and Fully Hopping on Board with Society – ignoring the tough subjects for the sake of not hurting others or stirring up conflict
- Investing in Society with Empathy and Conviction – abstaining from negativity with a listening ear, while still standing up for values and injustice.
2. Social Media Filters Are Always a Good Idea
We all know social media has its good and bad sides. Most times, it seems the bad upstages the good – or at least grabs the biggest attention. Engaging in it can be tempting, especially with the best of intentions when it comes to topics close to your heart. Caleb offers 3 simple and smart tips to consider before sending that next potentially damaging post.
Don’t post something online if…
1. You wouldn’t say it to someone’s face.
2. It doesn’t apply to a majority of your followers.
3. It doesn’t lead to encouragement.
3. Allowing Difficult People In Our Lives Creates Opportunities for Jesus to Move
The easiest way to rid your life of difficult people is to kick them out or remove yourself from their paths, but the only person that serves is yourself and in the end, can lead to a callused, empty heart.
There’s nothing wrong with maintaining a healthy level of boundaries when it comes to protecting yourself (and in extreme cases, separation is absolutely necessary), but when you separate from people who are different than you, you are running away from the opportunity to be made more like Jesus. It’s a commitment you are called to make over and over again, because there’s always a chance that God can use you to make a change in the life of someone who needs Him.
Quotes from This Episode
Our differences should drive us to people, not from them. Click To Tweet CNLP 192: Caleb Kaltenbach on How to Embrace an Outraged and Polarized Culture Most Leaders No Longer Like Click To Tweet Combativeness without compassion is always going to be counterproductive. Click To Tweet Allow difficult people in your life because they make you more like Christ. Click To Tweet A lack of empathy will always lead to shame. Click To Tweet Our theology never changes, but out posture towards society has to change. Click To TweetThe podcast releases every Tuesday morning
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Next Episode: Clay Scroggins
There’s no question we’re undergoing one of the biggest transformations in history, but the digital disruption that’s happening around us every day has caught most church and business leaders off guard. Clay talks about how large and small organizations are missing out on one of the greatest opportunities there is, and some ideas on how to respond.
Subscribe for free now and you won’t miss Episode 193.
