How can we have confidence that Christianity is true? How do we make the case for Christ in a culture that defaults to cynicism and mix-and-match spirituality? This semester J.D. Greear, pastor of The Summit Church, will join UNC history professor Molly Worthen for a series of conversations about faith and doubt. We invite you to submit your questions in advance so we can focus on the issues that you think about most.

Speaker Bios

J.D. Greear

J.D. Greear is the pastor of The Summit Church, in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. Under Pastor J.D.’s leadership, the Summit has grown from a plateaued church of 300 to one of over 12,000. Pastor J.D. has led the Summit in a bold vision to plant one thousand new churches by the year 2050. So far, Summit has planted over 700 churches and sent over 2,000 church members to be part of those church plants, including 762 members who have been sent internationally.

Pastor J.D. Greear has authored several books, including 12 Truths and a Lie (2023), Essential Christianity (2023),  Just Ask (2021), What Are You Going to Do with Your Life? (2020), Searching for Christmas (2020), Above All (2019), Not God Enough (2018), Gaining by Losing (2015), Gospel (2011), Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart (2013), and Jesus, Continued… (2014). He also hosts Summit Life, a daily, 30-minute radio broadcast and weekly Ask the Pastor podcast.

Pastor J.D. completed his Ph.D. in Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Chick-fil-A since January 2022 and recently served as the 63nd president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Pastor J.D. and his wife Veronica are raising four awesome kids: Kharis, Alethia, Ryah, and Adon.

Instagram: @pastorjdgreear 

Facebook: J.D. Greear facebook.com/pastorgreear

Twitter: @jdgreear  

Molly Worthen

Molly Worthen is an associate professor of history and a freelance journalist. She received her B.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University. Her research focuses on North American religious and intellectual history. Her most recent book, Apostles of Reason, examines American evangelical intellectual life since 1945, especially the internal conflicts among different evangelical subcultures. Her first book, The Man On Whom Nothing Was Lost, is a behind-the-scenes study of American diplomacy and higher education told through the lens of biography. She created an audio and video course for The Great Courses, “History of Christianity II: From the Reformation to the Modern Megachurch.” She recently released an audio course for Audible, “Charismatic Leaders Who Remade America.”

Worthen teaches courses on North American religion and politics, and the history of ideas in civic life. She has been involved in UNC’s Program for Public Discourse since 2019. Worthen writes about religion, politics and higher education for the New York Times and has also contributed to the New Yorker, Slate, the American Prospect, Foreign Policy and other publications. She is currently writing a book about the history of political and religious charisma in America, due out in 2025 from Penguin Random House.