Two Ministers Step Into a New Role That Could Change Everything

Faith Facts

• Two experienced church ministers are taking over hosting duties for a Christian podcast, bringing fresh perspectives from active congregational leadership
• The outgoing host is transitioning to full-time economic empowerment ministry in Detroit, describing it as challenging pastoral work
• The new format will feature both news discussions and guest interviews, emphasizing unity and diverse perspectives within the faith community

After three and a half years, a Christian podcast is preparing for an exciting transformation. Wes McAdams and Marcus Stenson — hosts of the “Radically Christian” podcast — are taking over as the new hosts, bringing their ministerial experience directly into the recording studio.

If I can even play a small part in encouraging and promoting unity, especially within our fellowship, I want to be a part of that, McAdams said.

Listeners have become familiar with the voice of B.T. Irwin, who has hosted the podcast since its January 2023 launch. But he’s stepping back to devote himself fully to leading economic empowerment programs with a Christian community development organization in metro Detroit.

Irwin described his work connecting and training unemployed and underemployed neighbors for new careers and jobs as some of the hardest pastoral and teaching work I’ve ever done.

Bobby Ross Jr., editor-in-chief, expressed gratitude for the transition and the podcast’s future direction. The show earned national recognition from the Religion News Association earlier this year.

After lamenting B.T.’s departure, my first email was to Wes and Marcus, Ross said. They have such a friendly nature and respectful tone. I asked, ‘Would you ever consider partnering on a podcast?’ I’m so pleased they prayed about it and said yes.

The outgoing host recently welcomed McAdams and Stenson in the recording studio during his final episode in June. McAdams and Stenson’s first episode launches on July 17.

I know that this ministry is in good hands and good heads and good hearts, Irwin said.

Besides hosting podcasts, McAdams preaches for the Church of Christ on McDermott Road in Plano, Texas, and Stenson preaches for the Leander Church of Christ in Texas. However, Stenson is moving to Virginia in August to serve as the pulpit minister for the Church of Christ in Falls Church.

Joining them is Kenzie James, a senior multimedia journalism major at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, who is interning for a second summer. She grew up in Tallahassee, Florida, where she attended the Timberlane Church of Christ.

We had already invited Kenzie to focus on audio and video journalism this summer, so the timing has been perfect, Ross said. We’re excited about her producing the podcast even as she returns to Harding.

Stenson told Irwin in the interview that he hopes their experience as ministers will help in their role as hosts.

My hope, B.T., is really that Wes and I will both be able to bring some of that insight from really, hopefully, having our fingers on the pulse from inside of congregations, Stenson said.

Starting the Conversation

In addition to hearing McAdams and Stenson’s voices, audience members are now able to see their faces through a new video format available via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and RSS feed. For listeners who prefer audio only, the podcast will function as normal on all the same platforms.

The structure of the podcast going forward will be a little different. Each episode will now have two segments.

The first segment will be a conversation among McAdams, Stenson and a staff member about the latest news.

We are going to continue to let staff play the role of journalists, and we will continue to play the role of evangelists, ministers, preachers, McAdams said. (We’ll) lean on people like Kenzie, who’s with us, and her expertise in what is happening in the Churches of Christ, and then Marcus and I will kind of lean into that and share our thoughts on those things, and talk about what we can do with this news … and how we can go from here.

In the second half of each episode, the hosts will interview guests, similar to Irwin’s longtime interview format.

McAdams said that he and Stenson want to interview people with different perspectives within the church. Churches of Christ are diverse, and the new hosts want to have conversations that encourage unity, kindness and peace — even when Christians may disagree on specific topics.

Stenson said he’s also excited for the chance to dive deeper into some of the stories from print editions. Stories in print are limited by the amount of space on a page, and the podcast creates the opportunity for McAdams and Stenson to share aspects of the stories that didn’t make the cut.

There will certainly be some unique offerings that we bring together that aren’t going to be in print, Stenson said. I think it’s really important to respect the diversity of the audience that is growing on digital platforms, and to give as many different outlets as possible for people to connect with the content in a meaningful way.

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