This week on The Art of Holiness podcast, we hear the heart of a deeply informed, deeply faithful woman of God, who also happens to be one of the coolest women I’ve met in a while. Cheryl Bridges Johns serves in the Robert E. Fisher Chair of Spiritual Renewal. She is past President of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. She makes a profession out of bridging the gap between tribes and speaks deeply into many front-line world Christians.
In our conversation, I felt such a sense that Cheryl was taking issue by issue — from gender issues, to social justice, to Pentecostalism, to spiritual disciplines — and shaking the proverbial baby from the bathwater. She has a great gift for shaking off the cultural perversions to expose what is good about things we’ve covered over with agenda. The church could use more pure voices like hers to help us recover what is beautiful about our faith.
Cheryl has a gift for encouraging women and men, and she has great wisdom to share around the concept of spiritual eldership. Her definition of an authentic elder, by the way, is this: “When they walk into the room, they make you feel safe.” Lord, send us more leaders who look like that!
As an elder in the Church, Cheryl offers her latest book: Seven Transforming Gifts of Menopause. It reflects her spirit in general — full of grace, searching for blessing even in the unlikely places, boldly gentle, always teaching. This is the kind of book you need on your shelf so that others browsing through your books will find it and discover a grace they need.
I hope you’ll listen this week. You can find us wherever you listen:
Apple: https://apple.co/36xVnFl
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2B4m7Sb
Google: https://bit.ly/2THtw07
