Scott Guffin of Samford University discusses how churches can call out the called to vocational ministry.

Rob Jackson and Gary Miller from the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions share about communicating the Gospel with communities, friends, and family.

In this episode of Undivided Birmingham, Dr. Chris Crain interviews Don Barger, Director of Innovation & Artificial Intelligence for IMB. They discuss Faithbot.io, a new bot used by the IMB.

In this episode of Undivided Birmingham, Dr. Chris Crain interviews Matt Mason, senior pastor of The Church at Brook Hills, where he has served for almost ten years. Matt was the Worship Minister for three years before becoming an internal candidate for senior pastor during the transition period of former pastor David Platt’s call to the International Mission Board (IMB). The church voted Matt in as senior pastor with his wife Paula by his side.  Matt shares about his call to ministry at a young age after growing up as a PK and seeing his father and mother’s love for the church. He tells the story of a pivotal moment in his life, at the age of twelve, when his father died in the pulpit in the middle of preaching a sermon on Palm Sunday on March 27th, 1988. His father was only 45 years old at the time. It is a remarkable story of faith and perseverance. His whole family, including all of his siblings and children, serve in ministry at various churches around the country. Matt shares about his love for the book of Philippians and how it was one of the first books in the Bible to light him up for the scriptures. He especially loves Philippians 3. Every morning Matt starts his day praying, engaging in the scriptures, Bible journaling, and reading his daily verses in the Psalms.  We know you will be inspired by this wonderful interview with Matt Mason, senior pastor at The Church at Brook Hills!

In today’s Undivided Birmingham podcast, Dr. Chris Crain interviews Austin Hardison, executive director of Red Mountain Grace. Red Mountain Grace provides safe, clean, and affordable apartments to patients and their families receiving long-term medical care at hospitals throughout the city of Birmingham. Red Mountain Grace has 20 fully furnished apartments and has served over 1,000 families since 2013. There are many ways that churches can be involved at Red Mountain Grace, including adopting an apartment and volunteering through cleaning, celebrating milestones, catering, and ministering to families. Learn more about Red Mountain Grace at https://www.redmountaingrace.org/.

Ministry runs deep in Luke’s family. His grandfather, James Long, serves as the Homebound Minister at First Baptist Church of Trussville, and his father, Alan Long, transitioned from 25 years of practicing medicine to serving as a Teaching Pastor at First Baptist Church of Trussville. Through their examples, Luke has gained valuable insight into what it means to serve others through the local church. “My parents never pushed a certain vocation on me or my siblings, but they have always been supportive of our callings. It’s all about parents being supporters and cheerleaders for God’s work in their children,” Luke said.

🎙️ New Episode of the Undivided Birmingham Podcast! 🎙️ In today’s episode, Dr. Rick Lance, Executive Director of the Alabama State Board of Missions, takes us through the rich history of the Cooperative Program as we celebrate its 100th anniversary this year. Dr. Lance and Dr. Chris Crain also discuss the upcoming Serve Tour, happening in Birmingham on March 20-21, 2026. This powerful, hands-on ministry initiative—modeled after a North American Mission Board (NAMB) template—gives Baptist Associations the opportunity to serve and uplift underserved communities in meaningful ways. 🔗 Learn more about Dr. Rick Lance and the Alabama State Board of Missions at alsbom.org. 📢 Tune in now and get inspired to serve!

In today’s podcast of Undivided Birmingham, Dr. Keith Sharp, pastor of Concord Baptist Church in Hueytown, AL speaks on the topic of balancing ministry and family. His message is especially for young people who are just getting started in ministry.

In today’s Undivided Birmingham podcast, Dr. Chris Crain interviews Dr. Willie Brunetti, founder of The Comfort For Caregivers Seminar which is dedicated to educating and empowering caregivers whose work is vital for the welfare of sick and disabled people. Dr. Brunetti became the caregiver to his father, mother, and mother-in-law all at the same time and all living in the same house with his wife and children. He saw the trauma that the circumstance bought to his family. Later he became the caregiver for his wife who came down with a devastating disease that lasted 15 years until she passed away in 2019. From his experiences in caregiving, a ministry was born. The seminar provides pertinent information that will enrich and support the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of caregivers. The seminar also encourages churches to create care ministries to the caregiver to aid the caregiver in managing the turmoil and stress of their lives.

In this episode of Undivided Birmingham, Jeff Hurn of Alabama Baptist Childrens Home shares about the ministry of foster care provided by ABCH.  ABCH was founded in 1891 by Rev. John Stewart as an orphanage after the Civil War left so many children in need of care due to the loss of their parents. Today, about 6,000 children are placed in foster care with the State through DHR. ABCH steps in to help DHR by connecting with area churches that have families willing to open their homes and offer Christian foster care as a ministry to these children in need.  Learn more at https://www.alabamachild.org/fostercare.

In today’s Undivided podcast, Dr. Chris Crain interviews Tim Crist and Ashley Turton of Lifeline Children’s Services about CarePortal. CarePortal is a technology platform designed to connect churches and community partners to families in their community. Lifeline offers CarePortal to partner churches for meeting tangible needs and developing opportunities for relationships and gospel conversations with families near them.

Jay Gordon, Minister of Adults and Small Groups at The Church at Brook Hills discusses discipleship, small groups, and how the church can connect people to Christ and each other.

Gary Hollingsworth retired on April 30, 2023, after 47 years in full-time ministry. He had served as SCBC executive director-treasurer since January 13, 2016, based in Columbia. The Alabama native moved to South Carolina from Little Rock, AR, where he was pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church. His pastorates have included churches in Kentucky, Virginia, and Alabama. He also served as senior director of cultural evangelism at Southern Baptists’ North American Mission Board from 2005-2007. Now, Gary is part of the Mission Dignity team of Guidestone Financial Resources.

In this episode of Undivided Birmingham, Mark Clifton of the North American Mission Board, shares about bringing life to dying churches. Approximately 800 SBC churches are forced to close each year unless a healthy church partners with them to replant and revitalize them to new life.  The majority of these churches are in populated areas and not in rural communities as many would think. Listen and learn what can be done to help these dying churches before it is too late.  Also, Mark mentions NAMB’s 2023 REVIVE Summit that will take place at Hope Community Church in Birmingham, AL, on September 12th and 13th. To find out how to register for this event, contact Marisa Taylor at marisat@bmbaonline.org or Josh Cook at joshc@bmbaonline.org.

In this episode of Undivided Birmingham, Dr. Johnny Fain, shares about prayer and the story behind Assignment International Ministries. The story of AIM is one that started back in June of 1978, when Johnny and Debbie were married and shortly after became the pastor of a small church over 3 hours from their home in Ft Worth ,Tx. From that starting point, 41 years later, they found themselves in the crossroads of “What is next, Lord?” The word “assignment”, kept coming up and gradually the Lord revealed His plans to form Assignment International Ministries or AIM. Learn more at https://assignmentinternationalministries.com/ Join us for the If My People Will Pray Multi-City Prayer Rally on October 1, 2023, from 5:00 PM-7:00 PM, at the Wright Center at Samford University for one hour of worship followed by one hour of prayer. Visit the website to join a prayer team at https://ifmypeoplewillpray.net.

In this episode of Undivided Birmingham, Dr. Chris Crain interviews Dr. Rod Marshall, President and CEO of Alabama Baptist Children’s Home and children’s Ministries. Dr. Marshal has degrees from Samford, UAB, and Regent and has served as for 28 years at ABCH. ABCH was established in 1891 as a traditional orphanage, but in the last 20-25 years has become Alabama’s largest foster care provider.

In this episode of Undivided Birmingham, Mary Teel, a Journeyman for the International Mission board (IMB), shares her experience of being called as a missionary to Uganda and her step of faith in following Jesus and trusting Him to lead her and guide her as she shares the Gospel across the world.

In this episode of Undivided Birmingham, Dr. Chris Crain interviews Brandon Knight, Pastor of Victory City Birmingham. They discuss many topics including church planting, co-vocational ministry, family life, discipleship and the pastoral ministry.

Michael Adler has served as Worship Pastor for over three decades in the local church. He currently heads the Worship Arts Ministry at Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Birmingham where he has served for 22 years. With professional credits including Promise Keepers, the Billy Graham Association, TRUTH, LIFEWAY, the southern Baptist convention and others, he is also a published composer and arranger. Michael has served in an advisory capacity and guest teacher for several Christian universities and seminaries in the areas of worship leadership and the local church. He also serves with San Diego based Slingshot Group as a worship leadership staffing and coaching associate.

In this episode of Undivided Birmingham, Dr. Chris Crain interviews Eddie Vines, a former District Judge who holds a Master’s Degree in Christian Apologetics from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Eddie is the founder and president of Faith Fortress Ministries. As the Faith Fortress founder, Eddie Vines, served as a District Judge in Alabama where he became increasingly concerned about the erosion of values in our society as well as the negative influence American popular culture is having on the world.