In this episode, Eric Johnson joins Pete Portal to talk about leaving Bethel, the church his parents built, for a city he had barely heard of. Eric is Lead Pastor of Studio Greenville, a community where faith, culture, and creativity meet. Together they explore how the church’s most cherished words can quietly become a cage, what the charismatic tradition gets right and where it falls short, why “Christian art” may be a contradiction, and how to pastor a divided congregation through an age of outrage. Eric also opens up about the breakdown that rebuilt him. What would it look like for holiness to draw you toward the world rather than away from it?

Eric Johnson and his wife Candace are lead pastors of STUDIO chuch in Greenville, South Carolina. Eric is a pastor, author, speaker, and budding entrepreneur. He is passionate about the future of humanity. He thinks deeply about many things and loves deep philosophical and cultural conversations. He is driven to see beauty, creativity, culture, and faith intersect in our lives.

Follow Pete Portal:

Instagram

Pete's Books:

How to Be (Un)Successful

No Neutral Ground

Contact Pete

Jesus and... Everything is a part of the Shifting Culture Podcast Network

Produced and Edited by Joshua Johnson

Support the show

In this episode, Eric Wood, Pastor of Compassion at Bridgetown Church in Portland, joins Pete Portal in Cape Town after a week with Pete's community in Manenberg. Eric makes the case that proximity to the poor was never meant to be a specialist ministry, but the ordinary shape of following Jesus. They talk about the difference between tokenism and friendship, being led by both Spirit and Scripture, the quiet pressure to perform, and what laying down a life actually costs. Eric argues that mercy begins with the person in front of you rather than the outrage cycle. What would it take to become interruptible?

Follow Pete Portal:

Instagram

Pete's Books:

How to Be (Un)Successful

No Neutral Ground

Contact Pete

Jesus and... Everything is a part of the Shifting Culture Podcast Network

Produced and Edited by Joshua Johnson

Support the show

In this episode, Danielle Strickland joins Pete Portal to ask why the charismatic and justice streams of the church so often stand apart. Danielle argues the divide says less about theology than about our reluctance to live the kingdom now rather than later. They talk about wealth, privilege, and power as things we steward rather than own, what the gifts of the Spirit are actually for, and how an encounter with Jesus in a Toronto holding cell changed the direction of her life. They also discuss why justice work without the Holy Spirit rarely lasts.

Danielle lets Love lead her to inspire, challenge, provoke and disrupt the present, and to live in the future now. Having lived in different cultures and contexts around the world she celebrates diversity and deeply longs for wrong things to be made right. Danielle practises following Jesus daily. This pursuit has led to exciting entrepreneurial exploits (like co-founding multiple charities and non-profits) and a whole host of failures (that we don’t as often talk about). All of this has convinced her of the deep need we all have for hope, faith, and love. Her deepest longing is to demonstrate what living that boundless life looks like.

Danielle has written seven books (the latest is Need to Know), has a podcast called The Right Side Up (which recently celebrated half-a-million downloads), and speaks to people at events all over the world. Danielle leads Boundless Communications Inc. which launches creative exploits like Women Speakers Collective (liberating voices of women around the globe), IMBY (a tiny home movement IN MY BACKYARD), Brave Global (preventing human trafficking), Infinitum (a way of living deeply), and Hagar’s Voice (support and advocacy for survivors of abuse). She lives in Vancouver, Canada with her three sons and husband Steve. Danielle loves getting outside, doing new things, physical adventures, and she can’t seem to turn down a free lunch.

Follow Pete Portal:

Instagram

Pete's Books:

How to Be (Un)Successful

No Neutral Ground

Contact Pete

Jesus and... Everything is a part of the Shifting Culture Podcast Network

Produced and Edited by Joshua Johnson

Support the show