September 22, 2025 • 12 mins
In this episode, I want to take a moment to step aside from the interviews and speak directly to you. Shifting Culture has always been about telling better stories - stories that help us live more faithfully and compassionately in a world that’s so often divided by fear. But to keep these conversations going, I need your help.
My wife and I spend our lives training and coaching disciple makers and storytellers around the world, and this podcast is part of that same mission. You can support the work through our donation link or by subscribing on ShiftingCulture.Substack.com, where you’ll get early ad-free episodes, thoughtful articles, and be part of a community committed to the way of Jesus.
I’ll close by reading one of those articles - Breaking the Binary: Building Longer Tables in the Way of Jesus - as an invitation to imagine what’s possible when love is stronger than fear, and when we build longer tables instead of higher walls.
Thank you for listening, for your support, and for embodying the ways of Jesus in this world.
Subscribe to Our Substack: Shifting Culture
Connect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.com
Go to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Joshua Johnson (00:00):
I Hello and welcome to the shifting culture
(00:15):
podcast in which we haveconversations about the culture
we create and the impact we canmake. We long to see the body of
Christ look like Jesus. I'm yourhost. Joshua Johnson, today, I
want to take a different kind ofmoment with you. Normally, you
hear me in conversation withincredible guests, leaders,
storytellers, disciples, peoplewho are embodying the ways of
Jesus in their own communitiesand helping us do the same. We
(00:37):
talk about what faithfulnesslooks like in this world and how
compassion can be lived out inthe everyday. But this time, I
want to step aside frominterviewing and speak directly
to you. I want to invite youinto something deeper into the
heart of why this podcast existsand how you can be part of
keeping it going. My wife and Ihave given our lives to helping
people embody the ways of Jesusall over the world. We've walked
(01:01):
alongside disciple makers andstorytellers, people who are
learning to bring the love ofChrist into their neighborhoods,
their workplaces and theircultures. We coach them, we
train them, and we encouragethem, and shifting culture is
one expression of that samemission. Every time I sit down,
my goal is to bring you storiesthat expand your imagination,
voices that you might not haveheard of otherwise, perspectives
(01:23):
that stretch us toward a moregenerous, more Christ like way
of living. The stories we tellourselves matter. If the only
stories we hear are built onfear division and scarcity, then
fear division and scarcity willshape the way we live. But if we
choose to immerse ourselves instories of love, compassion,
justice, faithfulness, thenthose are the stories that will
(01:45):
form us. That's what I'm tryingto do here. That's why shifting
culture exists. But here's thehonest truth, this work doesn't
just happen. It takes time. Ittakes energy, resources and a
lot of behind the scenes work tokeep these conversations going,
and I am the one that's doingall of it. And so today I want
(02:06):
to ask for your help, if you'vebeen encouraged by this podcast,
if you've been challenged, ifyour imagination has been
stretched, if you found hope inthese conversations, would you
consider supporting this work?
There are two main ways that youcould do that. One through our
donation link, this goesdirectly to the work my wife and
I are doing around the world,training disciple makers and
(02:27):
storytellers and helpingcommunities embody the way of
Jesus. And two, throughshiftingculture.substack.com,
when you subscribe, you're notjust supporting the podcast. You
also get early, ad freeepisodes, thoughtful articles
and access to a community ofpeople who are asking the same
question, how do we livefaithfully and compassionately
in today's world? Both of theseavenues make a real difference,
(02:50):
and both are a way of saying, Iwant to be part of this. I want
to see more of these storiestold. I want to help create a
world where love gets the lastword, because here's what I
believe, the way forward isn'tabout doubling down on fear. It
isn't about dividing the worldinto neat little categories of
who's in and who's out. The wayforward is about creating longer
(03:11):
tables. It's about making spacefor the immigrant family down
the street. It's about welcomingdoubt and questions instead of
pushing them aside. It's aboutlistening before we speak,
telling better stories andembodying the perfect love of
Jesus that can actually breakcycles of fear and violence. And
that's the vision we're workingtoward, not just through this
podcast, but through our wholelives. And when you support
(03:33):
shifting culture, you're helpingextend that vision further than
I could ever do alone. So today,instead of closing with my own
words, I want to share with youone of the articles I've written
over on substack. This is thekind of reflection you'll find
there if you subscribe. It'scalled breaking the binary
building longer tables in theway of Jesus. It's a piece about
(03:54):
resisting the temptation to seethe world in black and white,
about refusing False Divisionsof us versus them, and about
embracing the love of Jesus thatstretches wider than any binary
could. So let me read it foryou.
Now, our world is obsessed withbinaries, right or wrong, safe
(04:15):
or dangerous, us or them. It'seasier that way, isn't it? Life
feels more manageable if wecould divide it into clean
categories. You know where youstand, who you could trust, who
you could fear, but the binaryis a mirage. It comforts us with
a sense of control, whileflattening the complexities of
human lives into caricatures. Itblinds us to the nuance of
(04:36):
suffering, the beauty ofdifference and the mystery of
grace. The problem is real lifedoesn't fit into our binary
systems. You can't reduce thegrief of a mother who's lost her
child to a neat label. You can'tcheck a box for the pain of a
refugee who has fled bombs onlyinto land in poverty. You can't
put into categories the faithand doubt that rise and fall
inside each of us on any givenday the binary. Leaves us stuck
(05:00):
suspicious and small. Jesusoffers something else entirely.
Look at how Jesus moves throughthe world. He doesn't ask the
Samaritan woman at the wellwhich side she's on before
offering her living water. Hedoesn't demand that Zacchaeus,
the tax collector, fix histheology before inviting himself
to dinner. He doesn't treatchildren as a nuisance, but as
(05:21):
honored guests, he doesn't shunthe leper or cast out the
doubter. Jesus refuses thebinary categories of pure,
impure, insider, outsider, holy,profane. Instead, he keeps
building longer tables, tableswhere Pharisees sit alongside
prostitutes, where fishermen rubshoulders with zealots, where
betrayers and doubters share thesame bread. The table keeps
(05:43):
stretching longer, wider withenough room for everyone. The
way of Jesus is not aboutwielding power to dominate or
winning arguments to humiliate.
It is the way of the listenerand the storyteller. Think of
the crowds who pressed in tohear him. He didn't shout
slogans or wield data points. Hetold stories, a farmer
scattering seed, a fatherrunning to embrace his son who
(06:03):
had squandered everything, ashepherd searching for one lost
sheep. These weren't neat littlemoral lessons. They were
disarming invitations. Theyforced listeners out of binary
thinking, out of good peopleversus bad people, and into a
larger imagination where God'sgrace and justice disrupt the
cycle, and Jesus listened to heasked people to tell their
(06:26):
stories. What do you want me todo for you? Who touched me? Why
are you afraid? He dignifiedpeople by listening first, then
invited them into a biggerstory. This way still works when
we choose to listen before wespeak. When we share stories
instead of slogans, somethingshifts. Fear loses its grip.
Walls start to crumble. Storiesmake strangers into neighbors.
(06:48):
I'll never forget sitting in acinder block home in Jordan
drinking tea with a Syrian widownamed Sarah. She had fled bombs
and carried with her the traumaof an uprooted life raising
children alone in a foreignland, we shared a story of Jesus
calming the storm. Disciplesterrified in the boat, waves
crashing, fear overwhelming, andJesus wakes up, speaks a word
(07:09):
and the chaos stills. Sarah'seyes lit up. Can Jesus really do
that? She asked, can he calmstorms? We told her yes, and not
just storms on the sea. He couldcalm the storm in your heart
too. Later, she told us of adream where Jesus himself
appeared, eyes of compassion,words of claim, I want what is
rightfully mine. At first, thephrase felt heavy, almost harsh,
(07:32):
but as she sat in listeningprayer, tears streaming, the
meaning softened into grace.
Jesus wasn't seizing ordemanding. He was renewing,
refreshing, inviting her intothe love she was made for. And
this is how perfect love works.
It meets us in the wreckage. Itdoesn't deny the storm, and it
doesn't let the storm have thelast word either. Fear breeds
(07:55):
violence. Violence breeds fear.
It's a cycle as old as Cain andAbel as current as today's
headlines. We kill because we'reafraid, and our killing makes
others afraid, and their fearfuels retaliation. But perfect
love, the love embodied inJesus, interrupts the cycle.
(08:15):
When soldiers nailed Him to across, Jesus refused to mirror
the violence. He prayed fortheir forgiveness. When his
disciples wanted to call downfire on a Samaritan Village,
Jesus rebuked them and told themanother story. When his accusers
demanded binary answers, are youwith us or against us, he often
responded with silence or with astory that exposed their fear.
(08:37):
Perfect love disarms. Perfectlove refuses to be caught in the
trap of us versus them. Perfectlove sits down at the table,
listens to the story and makesspace for one more we live in a
time where fear sells. Feardrives clicks, votes, donations
and ratings. Fear is thecurrency of our culture, but
Jesus invites us into adifferent economy, not fear and
(09:00):
scarcity, but love andabundance. The way forward isn't
to double down on the binaries.
It isn't to build higher wallsor sharpen our categories. The
way forward is to build longertables, a longer table in your
neighborhood where the immigrantfamily down the street has a
seat, a longer table in yourchurch where doubt and
questioning aren't pushed to themargins, but as are welcomed as
a part of faith, a longer tablein your friendships where
(09:23):
listening takes precedence overwinning. When we build longer
tables, we participate in God'sown hospitality. We resist the
lie of the binary, and we embodya kingdom where fear doesn't
dictate the guest list. Myfriends from Syria, Abu Fatima.
He once counted bombs explodingat night, like others counted
(09:43):
sheep when he fled with hisfamily, his daughter insisted on
bringing her kite in a refugeecamp. Filled with fear, she
unfolded that tattered kite andsent it soaring. Her father
looked at the sky and said, Iused to count bombs. Now I count
kites. That's. What happens whenperfect love breaks in? That's
what happens when we tell betterstories. That's what happens
(10:03):
when we build longer tables. Thebinaries collapse, the fear
begins to fade. Violence losesits grip, and we find ourselves
in the presence of the one whostill calms the storm, still
welcomes enemies, still embodiesa love strong enough to make all
things new. So thank you forlistening. Thank you for being a
part of this journey with me. Ifwhat you just heard resonated,
(10:27):
I'd encourage you to take a steptoday. Go to
shiftingculture.substack.com,and subscribe or give through
our donation link, which you canfind at the bottom of the show
notes on this episode, or go toshifting culture podcast.com and
you can find the donate, donatebutton and donate through there.
(10:49):
Your support keeps this podcastalive. It keeps these
conversations going, and ithelps us all continue to tell
better stories, build longertables and embody the way of
Jesus in the world today, untilnext Time, I'm Joshua Johnson
and this is shifting culture.
Unknown (11:22):
You
I Hello and welcome to the shifting culture
(00:15):
podcast in which we haveconversations about the culture
we create and the impact we canmake. We long to see the body of
Christ look like Jesus. I'm yourhost. Joshua Johnson, today, I
want to take a different kind ofmoment with you. Normally, you
hear me in conversation withincredible guests, leaders,
storytellers, disciples, peoplewho are embodying the ways of
Jesus in their own communitiesand helping us do the same. We
(00:37):
talk about what faithfulnesslooks like in this world and how
compassion can be lived out inthe everyday. But this time, I
want to step aside frominterviewing and speak directly
to you. I want to invite youinto something deeper into the
heart of why this podcast existsand how you can be part of
keeping it going. My wife and Ihave given our lives to helping
people embody the ways of Jesusall over the world. We've walked
(01:01):
alongside disciple makers andstorytellers, people who are
learning to bring the love ofChrist into their neighborhoods,
their workplaces and theircultures. We coach them, we
train them, and we encouragethem, and shifting culture is
one expression of that samemission. Every time I sit down,
my goal is to bring you storiesthat expand your imagination,
voices that you might not haveheard of otherwise, perspectives
(01:23):
that stretch us toward a moregenerous, more Christ like way
of living. The stories we tellourselves matter. If the only
stories we hear are built onfear division and scarcity, then
fear division and scarcity willshape the way we live. But if we
choose to immerse ourselves instories of love, compassion,
justice, faithfulness, thenthose are the stories that will
(01:45):
form us. That's what I'm tryingto do here. That's why shifting
culture exists. But here's thehonest truth, this work doesn't
just happen. It takes time. Ittakes energy, resources and a
lot of behind the scenes work tokeep these conversations going,
and I am the one that's doingall of it. And so today I want
(02:06):
to ask for your help, if you'vebeen encouraged by this podcast,
if you've been challenged, ifyour imagination has been
stretched, if you found hope inthese conversations, would you
consider supporting this work?
There are two main ways that youcould do that. One through our
donation link, this goesdirectly to the work my wife and
I are doing around the world,training disciple makers and
(02:27):
storytellers and helpingcommunities embody the way of
Jesus. And two, throughshiftingculture.substack.com,
when you subscribe, you're notjust supporting the podcast. You
also get early, ad freeepisodes, thoughtful articles
and access to a community ofpeople who are asking the same
question, how do we livefaithfully and compassionately
in today's world? Both of theseavenues make a real difference,
(02:50):
and both are a way of saying, Iwant to be part of this. I want
to see more of these storiestold. I want to help create a
world where love gets the lastword, because here's what I
believe, the way forward isn'tabout doubling down on fear. It
isn't about dividing the worldinto neat little categories of
who's in and who's out. The wayforward is about creating longer
(03:11):
tables. It's about making spacefor the immigrant family down
the street. It's about welcomingdoubt and questions instead of
pushing them aside. It's aboutlistening before we speak,
telling better stories andembodying the perfect love of
Jesus that can actually breakcycles of fear and violence. And
that's the vision we're workingtoward, not just through this
podcast, but through our wholelives. And when you support
(03:33):
shifting culture, you're helpingextend that vision further than
I could ever do alone. So today,instead of closing with my own
words, I want to share with youone of the articles I've written
over on substack. This is thekind of reflection you'll find
there if you subscribe. It'scalled breaking the binary
building longer tables in theway of Jesus. It's a piece about
(03:54):
resisting the temptation to seethe world in black and white,
about refusing False Divisionsof us versus them, and about
embracing the love of Jesus thatstretches wider than any binary
could. So let me read it foryou.
Now, our world is obsessed withbinaries, right or wrong, safe
(04:15):
or dangerous, us or them. It'seasier that way, isn't it? Life
feels more manageable if wecould divide it into clean
categories. You know where youstand, who you could trust, who
you could fear, but the binaryis a mirage. It comforts us with
a sense of control, whileflattening the complexities of
human lives into caricatures. Itblinds us to the nuance of
(04:36):
suffering, the beauty ofdifference and the mystery of
grace. The problem is real lifedoesn't fit into our binary
systems. You can't reduce thegrief of a mother who's lost her
child to a neat label. You can'tcheck a box for the pain of a
refugee who has fled bombs onlyinto land in poverty. You can't
put into categories the faithand doubt that rise and fall
inside each of us on any givenday the binary. Leaves us stuck
(05:00):
suspicious and small. Jesusoffers something else entirely.
Look at how Jesus moves throughthe world. He doesn't ask the
Samaritan woman at the wellwhich side she's on before
offering her living water. Hedoesn't demand that Zacchaeus,
the tax collector, fix histheology before inviting himself
to dinner. He doesn't treatchildren as a nuisance, but as
(05:21):
honored guests, he doesn't shunthe leper or cast out the
doubter. Jesus refuses thebinary categories of pure,
impure, insider, outsider, holy,profane. Instead, he keeps
building longer tables, tableswhere Pharisees sit alongside
prostitutes, where fishermen rubshoulders with zealots, where
betrayers and doubters share thesame bread. The table keeps
(05:43):
stretching longer, wider withenough room for everyone. The
way of Jesus is not aboutwielding power to dominate or
winning arguments to humiliate.
It is the way of the listenerand the storyteller. Think of
the crowds who pressed in tohear him. He didn't shout
slogans or wield data points. Hetold stories, a farmer
scattering seed, a fatherrunning to embrace his son who
(06:03):
had squandered everything, ashepherd searching for one lost
sheep. These weren't neat littlemoral lessons. They were
disarming invitations. Theyforced listeners out of binary
thinking, out of good peopleversus bad people, and into a
larger imagination where God'sgrace and justice disrupt the
cycle, and Jesus listened to heasked people to tell their
(06:26):
stories. What do you want me todo for you? Who touched me? Why
are you afraid? He dignifiedpeople by listening first, then
invited them into a biggerstory. This way still works when
we choose to listen before wespeak. When we share stories
instead of slogans, somethingshifts. Fear loses its grip.
Walls start to crumble. Storiesmake strangers into neighbors.
(06:48):
I'll never forget sitting in acinder block home in Jordan
drinking tea with a Syrian widownamed Sarah. She had fled bombs
and carried with her the traumaof an uprooted life raising
children alone in a foreignland, we shared a story of Jesus
calming the storm. Disciplesterrified in the boat, waves
crashing, fear overwhelming, andJesus wakes up, speaks a word
(07:09):
and the chaos stills. Sarah'seyes lit up. Can Jesus really do
that? She asked, can he calmstorms? We told her yes, and not
just storms on the sea. He couldcalm the storm in your heart
too. Later, she told us of adream where Jesus himself
appeared, eyes of compassion,words of claim, I want what is
rightfully mine. At first, thephrase felt heavy, almost harsh,
(07:32):
but as she sat in listeningprayer, tears streaming, the
meaning softened into grace.
Jesus wasn't seizing ordemanding. He was renewing,
refreshing, inviting her intothe love she was made for. And
this is how perfect love works.
It meets us in the wreckage. Itdoesn't deny the storm, and it
doesn't let the storm have thelast word either. Fear breeds
(07:55):
violence. Violence breeds fear.
It's a cycle as old as Cain andAbel as current as today's
headlines. We kill because we'reafraid, and our killing makes
others afraid, and their fearfuels retaliation. But perfect
love, the love embodied inJesus, interrupts the cycle.
(08:15):
When soldiers nailed Him to across, Jesus refused to mirror
the violence. He prayed fortheir forgiveness. When his
disciples wanted to call downfire on a Samaritan Village,
Jesus rebuked them and told themanother story. When his accusers
demanded binary answers, are youwith us or against us, he often
responded with silence or with astory that exposed their fear.
(08:37):
Perfect love disarms. Perfectlove refuses to be caught in the
trap of us versus them. Perfectlove sits down at the table,
listens to the story and makesspace for one more we live in a
time where fear sells. Feardrives clicks, votes, donations
and ratings. Fear is thecurrency of our culture, but
Jesus invites us into adifferent economy, not fear and
(09:00):
scarcity, but love andabundance. The way forward isn't
to double down on the binaries.
It isn't to build higher wallsor sharpen our categories. The
way forward is to build longertables, a longer table in your
neighborhood where the immigrantfamily down the street has a
seat, a longer table in yourchurch where doubt and
questioning aren't pushed to themargins, but as are welcomed as
a part of faith, a longer tablein your friendships where
(09:23):
listening takes precedence overwinning. When we build longer
tables, we participate in God'sown hospitality. We resist the
lie of the binary, and we embodya kingdom where fear doesn't
dictate the guest list. Myfriends from Syria, Abu Fatima.
He once counted bombs explodingat night, like others counted
(09:43):
sheep when he fled with hisfamily, his daughter insisted on
bringing her kite in a refugeecamp. Filled with fear, she
unfolded that tattered kite andsent it soaring. Her father
looked at the sky and said, Iused to count bombs. Now I count
kites. That's. What happens whenperfect love breaks in? That's
what happens when we tell betterstories. That's what happens
(10:03):
when we build longer tables. Thebinaries collapse, the fear
begins to fade. Violence losesits grip, and we find ourselves
in the presence of the one whostill calms the storm, still
welcomes enemies, still embodiesa love strong enough to make all
things new. So thank you forlistening. Thank you for being a
part of this journey with me. Ifwhat you just heard resonated,
(10:27):
I'd encourage you to take a steptoday. Go to
shiftingculture.substack.com,and subscribe or give through
our donation link, which you canfind at the bottom of the show
notes on this episode, or go toshifting culture podcast.com and
you can find the donate, donatebutton and donate through there.
(10:49):
Your support keeps this podcastalive. It keeps these
conversations going, and ithelps us all continue to tell
better stories, build longertables and embody the way of
Jesus in the world today, untilnext Time, I'm Joshua Johnson
and this is shifting culture.
Unknown (11:22):
You
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