Modern Church and Community

Original Airdate: December 10, 2007

Host: Scott Dente

Guests: Jim Palmer and Cheri Keaggy

Have you noticed your home church looking kind of empty on Sunday morning lately? Find out why in this episode as author Jim Palmer explains why more and more people are walking away from churches across the country each week. He also offers some insight into what people are really looking for in church. Then musical guest Cheri Keaggy draws from her vast experience playing concerts in churches to give her take on what people really want to see in church, before wrapping up the show by performing songs from her seventh and latest album.

Guest Bios

Jim Palmer / www.divinenobodies.com

Jim Palmer is the author of Divine Nobodies: Shedding Religion to Find God (and the unlikely people who help you). He is the founder of the Pilgrimage Project, an initiative encouraging the freedom to imagine, dialogue, live, and express new possibilities for being an authentic Christian. His background includes inner-city service and international human rights work. He has a M.Div. from Trinity Divinity School in Chicago . Through writing, blogging, speaking, conversation and friendship Jim offers a unique voice in dialogue about knowing God and spirituality.

Cheri Keaggy / www.cherikeaggy.com

Originally from Southern California, Cheri Keaggy began studying classical piano at age seven. After marrying her high school sweetheart, her home church offered her a job as a novice worship coordinator. There she found herself looking for songs that would best express the pastor's sermon. One week, when she couldn't find one to match a message on Psalm 91, her husband suggested she write something of her own. That afternoon "You, Oh Lord, Are My Refuge" was born. Eventually a recording of her very first songs made its way to Nashville . Six albums, nine number one songs, and a Dove Award later, Cheri Keaggy is recognized as a mainstay in the adult contemporary and inspirational genres, and songs like "There is Joy in the Lord" and "In Remembrance of Me" are sung in churches worldwide. Barring the recently released compilation, the "Very Best Of Cheri Keaggy", it has been five years since her last studio album. Good things come to those who wait and Cheri's seventh offering, "Because He First Loved Us", is something to savor.