Five years ago today, we began to realize our world would never be the same.
I remember sitting in my living room and talking with small-group leaders from my church about how they needed to stock up on essential supplies. They thought I was crazy. But that evening, professional sports began to shut down. Two days later, on Friday, students like my son would leave school and never go back. By Sunday, pastors across the United States were learning to preach into a camera and wondering when their churches would ever gather in person again. By Easter—one year later—my church was still meeting outside in a parking deck. Some churches weren’t even allowed by the government to do that much.
Looking back five years later, I’m sure you can see the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdowns as a turning point. Maybe you knew and loved someone among the more than 1.2 million people who have died of the disease. Maybe you never got to celebrate a major milestone like graduation. Maybe your children lost a year or two of learning as you struggled to work from home and they watched school online. Maybe you still suffer the effects of the disease yourself. Whatever your experience, all of us live in a more polarized, less trusting society that divides between waning trust in credentials and heightened instincts for conspiracy.
When the pandemic hit the United States, this Gospelbound podcast had only recently begun with episodes from Ross Douthat, Mark Sayers, and Tom Holland. I went on to talk with John Piper, John Lennox, and Erik Larson about the spiritual and cultural effects of COVID-19. And on April 2, 2020, I offered five predictions for the COVID-19 aftermath. In this week’s episode of Gospelbound, I revisit those predictions and consider our world and the church five years later. As you mock my faulty prognostications, consider your own expectations in 2020 against reality in 2025.
Since launch, we’ve recorded 159 episodes of Gospelbound, with more than 7.1 million downloads. Thank you to everyone who began listening and watching during those fearful early days and who has encouraged me with many warm and appreciative comments in the last five years.