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.

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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?

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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.

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In this episode, Christine Westhoff joins Pete to talk about what the prophetic is actually for. Tracing the prophetic from Genesis to Revelation, she argues the church doesn't have a gift problem but a purpose problem, and that much of what passes for prophecy today (stage performances, personal flattery, political predictions) has little to do with what the prophetic does in Scripture. They talk about power, money, and fame, emotional health in leadership, and how our stages of faith mirror the stages of life.

Christine Westhoff is a seasoned pastor, teacher, and writer with over 30 years of ministry experience across a wide range of cultural and denominational lines. She is deeply involved with the global 24-7 Prayer movement and is passionate about the voice of God, the Prophetic, and building healthy communities. Christine is the author of ReFraming the Prophetic and About the Voice of God. She serves as President of The MESH Objective and trains spiritual directors in Tulsa, OK. Christine has also faithfully served the persecuted church in the Middle East since 2007. She lives in Tulsa with her husband and delights in sharing life with their two adult sons, their wives, and two cherished grandchildren.

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In this episode Lauren Windle joins Pete Portal to talk about addiction, recovery, and what it took for her to get sober. She describes the years when drinking and cocaine ran her life, the moments that finally forced a change, and how a recovery group and a small community of women at church helped her stay sober. Lauren and Pete discuss whether faith is necessary for sobriety, why quick fixes and dramatic deliverance often fall short, and what churches can learn from the honesty of recovery meetings. They also consider the difference between simply abstaining and living a full life with Jesus.

Lauren Windle is a journalist, presenter, public speaker and author of three books: Notes on Love: Being single and dating in a marriage obsessed Church, Notes on Feminism: Being a woman in a Church led by men and Drawing as Prayer. She is published in Vogue, Marie Claire, Church Times, Premier Christianity and others. Lauren has been clean and sober from drug and alcohol addiction for eleven incredible years, thanks to Jesus.

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In this episode Julian Adams joins Pete Portal to talk about what the Spirit actually does in a broken world. They cover racism and the ongoing work of forgiveness, why Azusa Street ended where it did, and they work out a Holy Spirit infused activism. Julian makes the case for mercy and miracles together and for prophetic ministry that stays accountable to a real community rather than a TikTok account, and they talk about hell and what the real question is when people ask about hell.

Julian is an author, pastor, and internationally recognized prophetic voice with the mission to help ordinary people discover God’s preferred future for their lives. He is also a founding pastor of The Table Churches - The Table Boston (est. 2020) and The Table Cape Town (est. 2026).

As a director of Frequentsee Inc, he resources people through creative media, events, and mentorship. He's also the author of Terra Nova : Fulfilling Your Call to Redeem the Earth and Make All Things New. My online course, Vox Dei, has helped hundreds of people confidently communicate God’s heart, step out in greater accuracy in the prophetic.

Having spent the last 20 years living in the UK and USA, Julian now joyfully resides in his home-city of Cape Town, South Africa, with his wife, Katia, and their two children.

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In this episode Jonathan Helser talks with Pete about what happens when songs written out of your own wounds get absorbed into an industry that wants a formula. They get into comparison — the slow poison of checking your streams against a friend's — and whether you can still sing a worship song written by someone whose politics you find anathema. Helser talks about Brennan Manning, who relapsed, didn't finish well, and still wrote the truest things he's read about grace. He also says the most important thing that happens in prayer is letting yourself be loved, not proving anything to God.

18 Inch Journey

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This is a space for those of us who want a faith that is deeply spiritually alive, but also rooted in the big framing issues of the world. Every week, Pete Portal sits down with a guest, and has an honest conversation exploring how faith in Jesus can help us navigate big issues and topics, but also how real life in the real world can challenge our own perspectives that we may have held without much thought. There'll be no easy answers here; just some honest wrestling. So, if you're looking for a podcast that doesn't ask you to leave your mind or your faith at the door, then pull up a chair

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