When you think about church history, what figures come to mind?

Maybe you think of Calvin or Luther, Wesley or Whitfield, Spurgeon or Graham.

But the early church fathers are, for most of us, unfamiliar at best.

But we also might feel even a little bit suspicious of many of them.

What did they really believe about Jesus, about the gospel, about the Bible?

Aren't some of their views pretty odd, if not downright, heretical?

And really, what relevance could their works written over 1,500 years ago, have for us today, living and working and ministering in

the 21st century. Well, a lot, according to my guest today.

Coleman Ford serves as an assistant professor of humanities at Southwestern Baptist Theological

Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and as a fellow with a center for pastor theologians. And in his new book, Ancient Wisdom for the Care of Souls, learning the art of pastoral ministry

from the Church Fathers, which he co-authored with Sean Wilhite, he argues that modern Christians,

and especially church leaders, have much they can learn from the early church fathers.

In our conversation today, Coleman shares his thoughts on why so many evangelical pastors

aren't familiar with the fathers and how this lack of awareness can negatively impact their

ministries.

Let's get started.

Well, Coleman, thank you so much for joining me today on the Crossplay podcast.

Glad to be here, Matt. Thank you for having me. So your new book with Sean Wilhite is, in short, a book about looking back to the church

fathers to find wisdom for pastoral ministry today. And yet my guess is that many,

if not most evangelical pastors today, many of which might be listening to this interview,

they haven't actually spent much time with the church fathers. They haven't read much of the fathers.

Maybe they did a little bit in seminary, but it's not been a

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