The Great Evangelical Hand-Off (That Never Happened) with Jake Meador

Derek Rishmawy and Alastair Roberts host Jake Meador for a wide-ranging conversation on why evangelical institutions struggle with leadership transitions and long-term succession. They explore how evangelicalism's emphasis on discontinuity, charismatic personality-driven leadership, and brand-over-institution thinking undermines durability. The discussion touches on the boomer generational bottleneck, the producer-consumer framework shaped by technology, and what healthier models—like RTS or long-tenured churches—might teach us about building things that outlast their founders.

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Chapters

• 00:00 – Introduction & Framing the Problem
• 02:48 – Evangelicalism's Built-In Bias Toward Discontinuity
• 06:34 – Charisma, Personality, and the Exoskeleton Problem
• 08:46 – Brands vs. Institutions
• 11:22 – RTS as a Positive Case Study
• 15:24 – Market Forces and Media Adaptability
• 17:33 – Long-Tenured Churches and the Mold vs. Platform Distinction
• 24:18 – The Boomer Generational Cliff
• 30:16 – Carson, Piper, Keller, and Golden Age Expectations
• 39:23 – Evangelical Anxiety About Institutional Betrayal
• 43:31 – Technology, Formation, and the Performing Self
• 51:26 – Birth Rates, Legacy, and Thinking About Succession