J.D. Greear, 45, is the pastor of the Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, N.C.—one of the largest and fastest-growing churches in the country. He’s also an author and the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Below are edited excerpts of Warren Cole Smith’s recent interview with Greear on Listening In.

Laura Story is a worship leader at Perimeter Church, one of the largest churches in Atlanta. She received national attention as a songwriter when Chris Tomlin's version of her song “Indescribable” went to No. 2 on the Christian music charts in 2004. Laura’s 2011 album Blessings went to No. 1, and the title track from that album won a Grammy Award. Her new album is Open Hands.

Anne Paulk is the executive director of Restored Hope Network, an ex-gay ministry made up primarily of former members of Exodus International, which dissolved in 2013. For many years, Anne and her ex-husband, John Paulk, were perhaps the most visible faces of the ex-gay movement. They wrote a book together called Love Won Out: How God’s Love Helped Two People Leave Homosexuality and Find Each Other. Though John Paulk renounced his ministry, abandoned his marriage, and came out again as gay, Anne Paulk continues her work in ex-gay ministry.

When the Boy Scouts of America decided to accept gay scouts, many Christian families, some with rich histories in Scouting, became concerned. Those concerns turned to alarm as the Boy Scouts allowed gay adult leaders, and, most recently, transgender youth. Those families worked to form Trail Life USA in 2014 as a Christian alternative to Boy Scouts. I spoke with Trail Life USA CEO Mark Hancock at the group’s headquarters, Camp Aiken, in South Carolina.

Chad Lawson’s album The Chopin Variations reached No. 1 on the Billboard, iTunes, and Amazon Classical charts in 2015. His jazz recordings have developed a passionate and growing following. And his music has appeared in such television shows as The Walking Dead, Dawson’s Creek, and Vampire Diaries, as well as many television commercials and some movies. Lawson is a committed Christian who until recently played piano at a large church in Charlotte, N.C.

Until recently, former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory was known as a moderate Republican who governed from a centrist position. Then he found himself at the middle of a national controversy about transgender bathroom use that some say cost him the election. I recently spoke with McCrory at a gathering of conservative activists in Orlando, Fla., where he was a featured speaker.

R.R. “Rusty” Reno has been the editor of First Things magazine since 2011. The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, a Lutheran who eventually became a Catholic priest, founded the publication in the 1990s to give the Religious Right a richer theological and philosophical vocabulary. I had this conversation with Reno at the Union League Club in New York.