Karam Forum Video Library

From 2017 to 2022, our annual Karam Forum event gathered theological educators for inspiration, connection and equipping as we cultivate theology for the life of the world.

Below is our library of videos from Karam Forum events. First you will find all our videos organized by event year, and then (scroll down) all our videos again, this time organized by type of presentation.

You can also find all our videos on our YouTube channel.

Karam Forum 2022

At Park Church in Denver

Photo gallery from Karam Forum 2022

Videos from Karam Forum 2022

Karam Forum 2021

A Virtual Meeting in January, then at Doxology Bible Church in Ft. Worth in November

Photo gallery from Karam Forum 2021

Videos from Karam Forum 2021

Karam Forum 2020

At InTown Community Church in Atlanta

Photo gallery from Karam Forum 2020

Videos from Karam Forum 2020

Karam Forum 2019

At the Warwick Melrose Hotel in Dallas

Photo gallery from Karam Forum 2019

Videos from Karam Forum 2019

Karam Forum 2018

At the Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Los Angeles

Videos from Karam Forum 2018

Karam Forum 2017

At Trinity International University in “Chicagoland”

Videos from Karam Forum 2017

Karam Forum Formal Addresses

2022

Amos Yong | Thriving Theological Education in a Networked World

At Karam Forum 2022, Amos Yong of Fuller Theological Seminary delivers the keynote address on how theological education can thrive in a networked and pluralistic world by looking to Pentecost as a model of Christian life – including academic life. The address is followed by a panel discussion featuring Philip Thompson (Kairos University), Lisa Slayton (Denver Institute for Faith & Work) and Fernando Tamara (Assemblies of God Theological Seminary).

2020

Greg Jones | Traditioned Innovation in Theological Education

Greg Jones of Duke Divinity School speaks at Karam Forum 2020 about “traditioned innovation” in seminaries, building new modes of theological education to carry the legacy of the church’s scriptural knowledge tradition into future generations. Panel discussion with Charlie Self of Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, Nathan Hitchcock of Sevensided Consulting and Charisse Jones of Asbury Theological Seminary. J. Michael Thigpen of the Evangelical Theological Society hosts the session.

Richard Mouw | Theological Education and the Common Good

Richard Mouw delivers the closing lecture at Karam Forum 2020, speaking about the future of theological education and its contribution to the common good, including the challenges we face to building stronger connections between the theological academy and vocation in the world.

2019

Miroslav Volf | Contending Particular Universalisms

Miroslav Volf address at Karam Forum 2019 on how Christians can work for flourishing in a pluralistic world, followed by panel discussion with Vincent Bacote, Gerry Breshears and J. Michael Thigpen. Hosted by Charlie Self.

Mark Greene | The Three-Eared Scholar

Mark Greene’s closing address at Karam Forum 2019, on what kind of people we need to be and what life practices we need to adopt if we want to be theological educators who equip people with a whole-life disciple-making gospel.

2018

Charlie Self | Poets and Prophets for God’s People and World

Charlie Self’s closing address at Karam Forum 2018, laying out a big vision for what kind of leaders – poets and prophets – the church and the world need theological education to raise up by God’s grace.

2017

Kevin Vanhoozer | Learning Christ

Kevin Vanhoozer’s address to Karam Forum 2017 on how the structure of theological knowledge that currently dominates the academy may be hindering our ability to understand and apply that knowledge with coherence. See also our panel discussion video for this talk.

Amy Sherman | Karam Forum Classroom Applications

This video combines two delightful, fresh, funny and pragmatic talks given by Amy Sherman at Karam Forum 2017, exploring a variety of ways Christian professors can connect the classroom to real life, in order to have an impact on the way people live.

Greg Forster | Christian Higher Education: Tended for God’s Kingdom and World

Greg Forster’s closing address at Karam Forum 2017, laying out the Oikonomia Network’s vision of the essential role of Christian higher education in addressing the challenges of the advanced modern world, for the sake of sound discipleship in the church and fruitful mission beyond its walls.

Karam Forum TED-Style Talks

Consider using these talks in your classroom! See our EWP website for more.

2021 Live Meeting

Gavin Ortlund | Worth Standing Up For: Hearing a 4th-Century Witness for Justice and the Gospel

Christians have always recognized that the gospel calls us to stand up for justice – as difficult and complicated as that can be. Gavin Ortlund of First Baptist Church of Ojai draws on Gregory of Nyssa’s prophetic stand against slavery to help us see how we can stand up for justice in our own time.

Consider assigning in: History, Ethics, Culture, Pastoral Leadership, Theology

Jennifer Powell McNutt | A God Who Crosses the Tracks: Social Action in Reformation Theology

Luther and Calvin said justification by faith alone sets us free to love and serve others, working to bring life to the world, with special care for those most in need – and in their churches and communities, they practiced what they preached. In this stirring talk, Jennifer Powell McNutt traces the connection between justification and social action in Reformation theology.

Consider assigning in: History, Ethics, Theology, Pastoral Leadership

2020

Greg Forster | Fruitful Paradoxes: Bringing Life to the World in the Modern Economy

Being the church means bringing life to the world, but how do we help our students lead churches that do that? In this stimulating talk, Oikonomia Network Director Greg Forster argues that “economic life is the most powerful way to bring life to the world,” because “the economy is where people mostly live.” Drawing on the ancient Letter to Diognetus, Forster unpacks fruitful paradoxes to help Christians think about how to bring life to the world in the modern economy.

Consider assigning in: Ethics, Pastoral Leadership, Culture, History

Jules Martinez | Reconciled to Reconcile: Making the Kingdom Visible in a Divided World

When the church is divided by ethnic separation and political polarization, the kingdom of God is revealed less fully to our neighbors, and has a gravely diminished impact on communities. In this powerful and personal talk, Jules Martinez of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School points us toward essential kingdom virtues and practices that help local churches grow together and make the kingdom visible and effective.

Consider assigning in: Ethics, Pastoral Leadership, Culture, Spiritual Formation

2019

Fred Sanders | The Portable Trinity: Working within God’s Work

The Trinity isn’t about counting to three, Fred Sanders tells us, it’s about the God who sends his Son and his Spirit, and then sends his people. Far from a dry abstraction, the doctrine of the Trinity shows us that we do our daily work within the work of God himself.

Consider assigning in: Theology, New Testament

Michael Wittmer | The Same Call: Vocation Is Integral to the Gospel

Michael Wittmer shows us how to leave behind tired debates (evangelism v. justice) and false dualisms (“I left my job to go into full-time ministry”) by seeing that the call to receive forgiveness through faith in Christ and the call to serve Christ with good works in the world are the same call.

Consider assigning in: Theology, New Testament

Chris Armstrong | God’s People, Christ’s Body, Spirit’s Temple: Being a Sacred Church

What if we’re getting the whole sacred/secular problem backward? Chris Armstrong invites us to rethink what the church really is – a visible sign of invisible grace – before we roll up our sleeves to change the world.

Consider assigning in: Pastoral Leadership, Theology, Spiritual Formation, Ethics, History, New Testament

2018

Andy Crouch | A Pruned Life: Isaiah’s Posterity Gospel

Drawing on Isaiah 5, Andy Crouch speaks about the challenge of separating real flourishing from mere material prosperity in the midst of economic growth and technological innovation. In a world of instant gratification, what is of lasting importance?

Consider assigning in: Culture, Ethics, Spiritual Formation, Old Testament

Deborah Gill | Discipleize! The Great Commission in All of Life

Deborah Gill of Assemblies of God Theological Seminary carefully unpacks the Greek text and biblical/cultural context of the church’s original mission statement, the Great Commission, to show how the church’s task is to “discipleize” in every area of life.

Consider assigning in: New Testament, Spiritual Formation, Theology, Culture

Nathan Hitchcock | A Plan for All Things: The Economy of God in Ephesians

Nathan Hitchcock of Sioux Falls Seminary unpacks the meaning of the biblical term oikonomia. He points out that Paul uses this term frequently; reviewing Paul’s use of the phrase oikonomia theou in Ephesians, Hitchcock argues that God’s creation plan – the economy of God – is an audacious enterprise.

Consider assigning in: Theology, New Testament

W. Jay Moon | Economics and Mission: The Connected Complexity of Cultures

Drawing examples ranging from the book of Acts to modern Africa, W. Jay Moon of Asbury Theological Seminary unpacks how Chrsitian involvement in the economy is vitally interdependent with Christian witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Consider assigning in: Culture, Pastoral Leadership, New Testament

Keith Reeves | Family and Opportunity in the Law and the Prophets

Keith Reeves of Azusa-Pacific University describes the connection between the household, family structure, land ownership and economic opportunity in the Old Testament law and prophets, and how these connections apply today.

Consider assigning in: Old Testament, Ethics, History

Eric Tully | Proverbs and Money: You’re Not Playing Monopoly

Why isn’t Monopoly as fun as it should be – grabbing everything for ourselves should be fun, shouldn’t it? Eric Tully of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School brings wisdom from Proverbs to help us rethink the role of money in our lives and in our economies.

Consider assigning in: Old Testament, Ethics

Joshua Jipp | Jesus the Economic Teacher

In this highly personal talk, Joshua Jipp of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School shares stories of his grandfather on the Iowa farm where he grew up. Grandpa Wayne had absorbed key economic teachings from Jesus, prioritizing contentment, productivity and community.

Consider assigning in: New Testament, Ethics

2017

Tom Nelson | If We Would Be Faithful: Fruitfulness Matters

Made to Flourish President Tom Nelson speaks on the integral relationship between faithfulness and fruitfulness, reviewing passages including the Genesis creation account, Proverbs 31 and the teachings of Jesus.

Consider assigning in: Spiritual Formation, Pastoral leadership, Theology, Old Testament, New Testament, Ethics

Bruce Fields | A Humble Dignity: Striving in His Image Is Flourishing

In this very personal talk with a surprise twist at the end, Bruce Fields of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School reflects on a childhood model who helped him learn that striving to bear the image of God more fully is what it means to flourish as a human being.

Consider assigning in: Theology, Ethics

Constantine Campbell | Chosen Sojourners in 1st Peter: Living between Two Worlds

Constantine Campbell of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School describes how Peter calls us “chosen sojourners” because we can make a bigger difference for Christ in this world when they live more fully for the next world instead of this one.

Consider assigning in: New Testament, Theology

Celeste Cranston | Two Sons: The Gospel and Work

Celeste Cranston of Seattle Pacific University demonstrates how the story of the prodigal son invites us into a life of kingdom work marked by abundance and gratitude, not scarcity and fear.

Consider assigning in: Spiritual Formation, New Testament

Mark Roberts | All Good Work: Creation and Parenthood

Mark Roberts of Fuller Theological Seminary draws on the Genesis creation account to invite us to resist the cultural narrative that “work” only happens in a job, contending that all good work is God-valued work – including the critical task of raising children.

Consider assigning in: Ethics, Old Testament

Vincent Bacote | Sending Disciples to a Pluralistic World: Imagination, Hospitality and Hope

Vincent Bacote of Wheaton College invites us into a more full understanding of how worship can form us for a lives of Christian discipleship in a pluralistic world, marked by imagination, hospitality and hope.

Consider assigning in: Culture, Pastoral Leadership, Spiritual Formation, Ethics

Karam Forum Co-Presentations, Panels, Interviews and Mini-Talks

2022

Denise Daniels | Christian Entrepreneurship: Communities Thriving in a Changing World

Co-Presentation

At Karam Forum 2022, Denise Daniels of Wheaton College presents findings from her multi-year research on Christians in the business world, especially Christian entrepreneurs, to see what’s going well and where growth is still needed. This presentation leads into her interview with Helen Young Hayes (our next video).

Helen Young Hayes & Denise Daniels | Christian Entrepreneurship for the Marginalized

Interview

At Karam Forum 2022, Helen Young Hayes of Activate Workforce Solutions tells Denise Daniels of Wheaton College about her revolutionary experience leaving the heights of Wall Street to start a business in Denver that hires former convicts and others on the margins who need a path into the workforce, creating “triple wins for job seekers, employers and the community.”

Karam Forum 2022 Global Session

Special Session

Karam Forum 2022 continued our tradition of holding a Global Session to hear from colleagues around the world. This year’s focus was Africa, and the common theme was spiritual formation in theological education. Host Kara Martin interviewed Bernard Boyo of Daystar University and Linda Chonco of Regent College.

Michaela O’Donnell | Not What I Signed Up For

Mini Talk

At Karam Forum 2022, Michaela O’Donnell talks real talk about the challenges theological educators are facing today in their vocational formation, as well as the opportunities to serve the world that flow from refreshing our vocation. More and more of our jobs as theological educators consist of doing things that we didn’t sign up for back when we entered this sector of service; how can we become the leaders that the church and the world need us to be?

2021 Live Meeting

David French, Michael Wear & Vincent Bacote | Witnesses for Justice Today

Interview

At Karam Forum 2021, David French of The Dispatch and Michael Wear of Public Square Strategies – both of whom operate at the highest levels of American politics, and have made big personal sacrifices for the sake of Christian integrity – joined us digitally to discuss the intense pressures that political polarization is bringing to bear on the church. How can we create a faithful public witness and also maintain our prophetic independence? Vincent Bacote of Wheaton College moderated the discussion.

Jennifer Woodruff Tait & Charlie Self | The Industrial Revolution and the Wesleyan Movement

Joint Presentation and Panel Discussion

At Karam Forum 2021, Jennifer Woodruff Tait of St. John’s Episcopal Church and Charlie Self of Assemblies of God Theological Seminary discuss our divergent historical views of the Industrial Revolution – the bad news and the good news – and consider how the response of the Wesleyan movement can help us hold together both affirming what is good in major social changes and opposing what is wrong. Panel discussion follows with Jay Moon of Asbury Theological Seminary and P.J. Hill of Wheaton College. Vincent Bacote of Wheaton College hosted the session.

Karam Forum 2021 Live Meeting Global Session

Special Session

At the live meeting of Karam Forum 2021, we held a Global Session to hear from colleagues in theological education across Asia about their work bridging the sacred-secular divide. Speakers included Edwin Tay of Trinity Theological College (Singapore), Havilah Dharamraj of South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (India), Ivor Poobalan of Colombo Theological Seminary (Sri Lanka) and Sutrisna Harjanto of Bandung Theological Seminary (Indonesia). Kara Martin of Alphacrucis College (Australia) hosted the session.

Nathan Hitchcock | Justice Begins with a Meal

Mini Talk

At Karam Forum 2021, Nathan Hitchcock discusses how coming together around a meal – whether at the Lord’s Table or sharing a “Snickers salad” – can be the starting point for really living into the calling to justice.

2021 Virtual Meeting

Mark Labberton & John Nunes | Rising to the Challenge with Vision

Co-Presentations

Mark Labberton, president of Fuller Theological Seminary, and John Nunes, president of Concordia College-New York, share their vision for how Christian higher education can flourish in the 21st century. This is the morning session of the Karam Forum 2021 Virtual Meeting.

Darrell Bock & Panel | Rising to the Challenge with Wisdom

Presentation and Panel Discussion

Darrell Bock of Dallas Theological Seminary and an interdisciplinary panel discuss how theological learning can be more effectively connected to the way people live their lives. This is the afternoon session of the Karam Forum 2021 Virtual Meeting. The traditional closing hymns of Karam Forum are also included. Panelists include: Peter Cha of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Charlie Self of Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, Lynn Cohick of Denver Seminary and Gerry Breshears of Western Seminary.

Karam Forum 2021 Virtual Meeting Global Session

Special Session

The Karam Forum 2021 Virtual Meeting included a special two-hour Global Session. Our longtime Australian partners took over the content for the Global Session, and the result was a rich discussion of the past, present and future of whole-life discipleship and faith/work integration in theological education from outside the North American context. Speakers included Kara Martin of Alphacrucis College (who also hosted), Keith McPherson of Alphacrucis College, Thomas Kimber of the Melbourne School of Theology, Ian Hussey of Malyon College, Dave Benson of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (who stayed up to 3am to be with us!) and Andrew Sloane of Morling College.

2020

Rachael & Jacob Denhollander | Justice and Vocation: A Conversation with Rachael and Jacob Denhollander

Interview

At Karam Forum 2020, Rachael and Jacob Denhollander challenged the church to embrace a bigger vision of justice and the gospel, so the church can respond to injustice with holiness as well as with compassion. They discuss the atonement, eschatology, the relationship between justice and vocation, and a right understanding of the role of pastoral leadership, to show that justice is woven together with everything the church is and does. Patrick Smith of Duke Divinity School moderated the discussion. See also our shorter video for classroom use.

Lisa Slayton & Terry Timm | Discipling People in the New Economy

Joint Presentation and Panel Discussion

At Karam Forum 2020, Lisa Slayton of Tamim Partners and Terry Timm of Christ Community Church of the South Hills discuss how the new economy is reshaping the task of discipling believers in their whole life’s work. Panel discussion follows with Christeen Rico of Apple, DeLano Sheffield of Macedonia Baptist Church, and Michaela O’Donnell Long of Fuller Theological Seminary. Debroah Gill of Assemblies of God Theological Seminary hosts the session. See also our shorter video for classroom use.

Charisse Jones, Joe Gorra and Dean Blevins | Entrepreneurship: Connecting Church, Academy & Community

Co-Presentations

In this session from Karam Forum 2020, Charisse Jones of Asbury Theological Seminary offers a Christian vision for entrepreneurship as a key part of the church’s mission to the world, grounded in God’s creative love. Joe Gorra of the Veritas Life Center points to a broader set of theological questions for understanding entrepreneurship, such as pneumatology and eschatology; and Dean Blevins of Nazarene Theological Seminary shares how his school is training future church leaders to support entrepreneurship. Lawrence Ward of Abundant Life Church hosts the session.

2019

David Miller, Fernando Tamara & Helen Kim | The Faith and Work Movement: Looking over the Jordan

Co-Presentations

David Miller address at Karam Forum 2019 on the state of the faith and work movement, and how theological schools can be part of what’s going on, followed by testimonies from Fernando Tamara and Helen Kim.

Nathan Hitchcock | He Loved Corn: How Theology Changes Life

Mini Talk

Nathan Hitchcock’s shares a funny story at Karam Forum 2019 that illustrates how theology changes real life.

Panel | Seeking Economic Wisdom

Panel Discussion

Four pastors, three seminary professors and two economists discuss theology and economic issues…sitting on only six chairs. Discussing topics that range from the image of God and technology to justice and the modern economic order are Kevin Dudley of The Church at North Pointe, Isaac Frere of The Font, P.J. Hill of Wheaton College, Lawrence Ward of Abundant Life Church and Brent Waters of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. Tom Nelson of Made to Flourish moderates the discussion.

2018

Chris Armstrong | Souls on Sticks: The Gospel and Human Flourishing

Mini Talk

To tee up the topic of the gospel and human flourishing at Karam Forum 2018, Chris Armstrong argued that a well-rounded Christian view of flourishing is essential to nurturing the faith in the coming generation. Too often, the church has treated people as if they were “souls on sticks” – addressing their eternal fate, but not their whole lives. Many young people leave the church today not because they think Christianity is false but because they think Christianity is irrelevant to anything they care about; our problem is not so much “intellectual atheism” as “practical atheism.” Bringing in big, delightful doses of wisdom from C.S. Lewis, and pointing to the origin of these insights in the earlier ages of the faith that Lewis studied, Armstrong made a case for Lewis’ maxim that “because we love something else more than this world, we love even this world better than those who know no other.” (This video is a reshoot – nefarious gremlins sabotaged the audio feed during the original presentation.)

Vincent Bacote | Seminaries or Cemeteries? A Mission as Big as Life Itself

Mini Talk

Vincent Bacote told the audience at Karam Forum 2018 that, being in Los Angeles, they were sitting not far from the most influential seminary in the world: Hollywood. The movies win hearts and minds by showing people an imaginary world on a screen for two hours. Theology may not have big special effects budgets, but it can do something even more impressive than the movies; it can show us the real world. Bacote argued that theological education needs to recover a sense of how big the mission of theology is – a mission as big as the whole world, as big as life itself. Only then will it reverse its reputation as a storehouse of lifeless abstractions and decaying formulas.

P.J. Hill | Theology and Economics: Getting Past Cognitive Dissonance

Mini Talk

P.J. Hill shared with Karam Forum 2018 the story of his journey as an economist who slowly discovered that moral and even theological questions were not secondary to his discipline; they were right at the heart of it. From a starting point where he struggled to connect his faith to his economic studies, producing “cognitive dissonance,” Hill eventually concluded that economic understanding had to begin with questions of justice, rights and morally ordered desires. Hill also described some insights the economic discipline provides on market economies that can inform theological evaluation of their functioning, such as the role markets play in coordinating social activity among people who don’t know each other well.

Greg Forster | Discovering Oikonomia: A Christian Life of the Mind

Mini Talk

Greg Forster described at Karam Forum 2018 how his conversion to the faith as an adult forced him to reevaluate what it meant to live the life of a scholar and educator. In a universe where God cares about building bridges and feeding the hungry as much as he cares about knowledge and insight, how can we have a Christian life of the mind? Forster argued that reason must have a place in the oikonomia theou, God’s plan for all things, because we use reason to discover the oikonomia theou. Everyone in the kingdom of God, in all vocations, has valuable knowledge; nonetheless there is an indispensable role for those who live the life of the mind – as Self put it, raising up poets and prophets for God’s people and world.

2017

Panel | Discussion of Vanhoozer’s “Learning Christ”

Panel Discussion

Panel discussion of Kevin Vanhoozer’s address at Karam Forum 2017. Featuring Rudy Estrada, Will Messenger, Lisa Slayton and Lawrence Ward. Hosted by Darrell Bock.

W. Jay Moon | The Connected Complexity of Culture Change

Mini Talk

Jay Moon memorably illustrates at Karam Forum 2017 how changes in a culture’s economic and technological life affect its beliefs and ideas, and vice versa. See also his TED-style talk expanding on this idea.