Pivot

#46: Four Key Pivots for Today’s Church

Co-hosts Dr. Dee Stokes and Dwight Zscheile kick off season 5 of the podcast with an overview of the four key pivots for today's church

Welcome to a new season of Pivot! In the first of season 5 (Episode 46), our hosts Dr. Dee Stokes and Dwight Zscheile provide insights into the cultural shift that has/is taking place and where the church is going by engaging four key pivots: posture, focus, structure, and leadership.

In this episode (and throughout season 5), Dr. Dee and Dwight explore these key questions:

  • Does it feel like doing church is harder than it used to be?
  • Are fewer people available to volunteer?
  • Does it feel as if your congregation is less connected to your surrounding community?
  • Are people in your congregation less connected to God and each other?

The times have definitely changed. How do we understand what is going on, and how do we respond?

Listen in as we explore a key shift taking place in our culture today and the four pivots you and your faith community can make in order to faithfully respond.

Show Notes:

Shift Ministry Models
Faithful Innovation

Meet Your Hosts

  • Dr. Dwight Zscheile

    Dwight Zscheile is vice president of innovation and professor of congregational mission and leadership at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.

    He is the author of Embracing the Mixed Ecology (with Blair Pogue, Seabury Books, 2025), Leading Faithful Innovation: Following God into a Hopeful Future (with Michael Binder and Tessa Pinkstaff, Fortress 2023), Participating in God’s Mission: A Theological Missiology for the U.S. (with Craig Van Gelder, Eerdmans 2018), The Agile Church: Spirit-Led Innovation in an Uncertain Age (Morehouse Publishing, 2014), People of the Way: Renewing Episcopal Identity (Morehouse Publishing, 2012) and The Missional Church in Perspective: Mapping Trends and Shaping the Conversation (with Craig Van Gelder, Baker Academic 2011) and editor of Cultivating Sent Communities: Missional Spiritual Formation (Eerdmans, 2012).

    A graduate of Stanford University (BA), Yale University (MDiv) and Luther Seminary (PhD, Congregational Mission and Leadership), Dwight previously served congregations in Minnesota, Virginia and Connecticut. Dwight’s experience growing up in a secular home in California has shaped his commitment to helping the church cultivate Christian community with neighbors in today’s changing world.

  • Dr. Dee Stokes

    Dr. Dee Stokes is an entrepreneurial minister, educator, consultant, author, and podcaster. With 30 years of experience in education, Dr. Stokes understands what it means to be co-vocational and serve God in the Church and in the marketplace. She has worked at every level of education and has also served as a Senior Pastor, Formation and Connections Pastor, and Teaching Pastor. She has a passion for God and His Church and to see people walk in divine destiny. Her degrees are in Sociology (BA from UNC Charlotte), Public Administration (MPA from Devry University), Biblical and Theological Foundations (MBTF from Asbury Theological Seminary), and Educational Leadership (Ed.S. & Ed.D. from Liberty University). Dr. Stokes's research interests include Cultural Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence, Burnout, Transformational Leadership, unconscious bias, and spousal responsibility.

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