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About

In this inspiring New Year episode of the Resilient Pastor podcast, hosts Glenn Pacquiao, Rich Villodas, and Sharon Hodde Miller sit down with Barna Group president David Kinnaman to explore one of the most encouraging trends in faith today: rising spiritual openness. The conversation dives into how pastors can move beyond resolutions to embrace a Rule of Life, the power of the Holy Spirit in healing, and why people who are spiritually curious often avoid the church. With honesty about deconstruction, cynicism toward the church, and the hunger for authentic encounter, this episode reveals a massive opportunity for the church to rebuild trust and help people rediscover God in a spiritually hungry culture.

Key Takeaways

• 72% of Americans are spiritually open or moderately open, including a majority of Millennials and Gen Z who report being more open to God since the pandemic.
• The church’s biggest challenge has shifted from being seen as irrelevant to being viewed as dangerous — the response must be trust, not just relevance.
• Spiritual indifference and self-made spiritualities are more common today than militant atheism.
• Pastors must stop being ashamed of the Holy Spirit’s power to heal, meet people in pain, and bring radical encounter with God.
• Helping people tell and “restory” their spiritual backstories is one of the most powerful tools for discipleship and evangelism.
• Resilient disciples are formed through answered prayer, a tangible sense that God is real, and families who pray together.
• The church must become a place where people feel truly seen, known, and healed rather than mass-producing disciples.

Highlights

• “The challenge facing the church twenty years ago was irrelevance. Now the challenge is that culture sees the church as dangerous. We respond by building trust.” — Sharon Hodde Miller
• “I am not going to be ashamed of the Holy Spirit’s power to meet people and heal people right where they’re at.” — Rich Villodas
• “Nearly half of all American adults say they are more open to God than they were before the pandemic.” — David Kinnaman
• “We have a huge opportunity right now… there’s an openness to God that we as leaders need to lean into.” — David Kinnaman
• The powerful hospital metaphor: the church must stop offering warm towels and cappuccinos when people desperately need the medicine only the Holy Spirit can provide.
• Testimony vs. Backstory: People are tired of formulaic testimonies. They want honest, complex, nuanced stories where Jesus meets them in their pain and rewrites their narrative.

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