Ep. 215 - God So Loved!

What does it really mean for a church to flourish? In this episode of Tell Me More, the team sits down with Curt Grice, marking 32 years on staff at First Baptist Church Arlington, to unpack how a study-leave prayer for direction turned into a years-long journey with the Global Flourishing Study, a landmark research partnership between Harvard, Baylor, and Gallup surveying over 200,000 people across 22 countries. Curt and his Dennis trace the story from its roots in the Psalm 1 imagery of deep roots, strong trunks, and fruitful branches, through First Baptist Arlington's own congregational survey of nearly 1,300 adults, to the surprising, humbling results: strong scores in prayer, scripture, and worship, but real room to grow in evangelism and daily Bible reading. They talk candidly about how those findings reshaped the church's 2026 ministry priorities, from a renewed evangelism series to a daily devotional now reaching 800+ subscribers. The conversation closes with a preview of an international gathering of "flourishing" pilot churches near Assisi, Italy, bringing together California Pentecostals, German Lutherans, and Italian Catholics for a shared retreat on what it means to flourish as the people of God — evidence, they say, of a new, global, post-denominational move of the Spirit. In this episode: The origin story of First Baptist Arlington's connection to the Harvard/Baylor Global Flourishing Study Key survey results on prayer, scripture engagement, worship, and evangelism Why daily Bible reading and evangelism became 2026 ministry focus areas A look ahead to the international flourishing retreat in Montefalco, Italy How Psalm 1 shapes the church's vision of spiritual flourishing Tell Me More is a podcast from First Baptist Arlington. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app or visit fbca.org to learn more.