As AI, digital media, and mediated relationships reshape communication, could in-person conversation become more important, not less? Chris Forbes and Matt Tullos talk with missionary, researcher, and communication specialist Steve Evans about the return of orality, the power of story, and the role of trust in human communication. They explore secondary orality, digital isolation, cross-cultural communication, worldview formation, and the growing influence of oral cultures in the Global South. The conversation asks how ministry leaders can communicate more effectively through narrative, experience, and community while remaining biblically grounded in a world increasingly shaped by screens, algorithms, and artificial intelligence.

© 2026 Forbes Nonprofit Strategies. All rights reserved. Signal Café is a podcast of Forbes Nonprofit Strategies, and Incite Futures Labs is a foresight training offering. Music generated using Suno AI, lyrics adapted and produced for Signal Café

Chris Forbes and Matt Tullos talk to Dr. Matthew Klein from the Water Foresight Podcast about how foresight works in practice. Using water as a case study, they explore scarcity, aging infrastructure, contaminants, data-center demand, smart systems, surveillance, regulation, water rights, and resilience. They also examine how foresight can benefit the church through Christian stewardship, human dignity, religious liberty, apologetics, moral realism, and a biblical understanding of humanity. The conversation shows how ministry leaders can read emerging signals, challenge assumptions, exegete the times, and prepare faithfully for disruption.

© 2026 Forbes Nonprofit Strategies. All rights reserved. Signal Café is a podcast of Forbes Nonprofit Strategies, and Incite Futures Labs is a foresight training offering. Music generated using Suno AI, lyrics adapted and produced for Signal Café

Signal Café hosts Chris Forbes and Matt Tullos welcome Dave Weston, an entrepreneur and political strategist, and Joel Harder, a law school graduate, former pastor, and legislative chaplain, for a discussion on how to use political signals to strengthen ministry leadership through strategic foresight. The conversation explores institutional trust, civic engagement, political idolatry, economic pressures, AI, and cultural change while introducing practical foresight concepts such as horizons, drivers, and distinguishing signals from noise. Leaders will discover how slowing down, praying, and separating signals from noise can strengthen discernment and help them lead faithfully through cultural and political change.

© 2026 Forbes Nonprofit Strategies. All rights reserved. Signal Café is a podcast of Forbes Nonprofit Strategies, and Incite Futures Labs is a foresight training offering. Music generated using Suno AI, lyrics adapted and produced for Signal Café

In this special compilation episode of The Signal Cafe, we bring together two separate podcast conversations into one extended discussion. First, Chris Forbes and Matt Tullos interview Steve Lacy from StreamingChurch.tv about AI, church technology, streaming, and recognizing emerging technology signals. Then, in an episode originally recorded for the Church Solutions Podcast, Steve Lacey and Phil Thompson interview Chris Forbes about strategic foresight, signals, trends, drivers, the Three Horizons, common grace, and faithful stewardship. Together, these complementary conversations equip ministry leaders to navigate technological change with wisdom, discernment, and confidence in God's sovereignty.

© 2026 Forbes Nonprofit Strategies. All rights reserved. Signal Café is a podcast of Forbes Nonprofit Strategies, and Incite Futures Labs is a foresight training offering. Music generated using Suno AI, lyrics adapted and produced for Signal Café

Chris Forbes and Matt Tullos talk with Dennis Draeger, Foresight Director at Shaping Tomorrow, and Chris Turner, Director of Communications for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, about artificial intelligence, sentience, and the growing role AI plays in human life. The conversation explores whether AI is truly intelligent or simply performing intelligence through predictive language and immersive design. Topics include anthropomorphism, digital immersion, simulated relationships, corporate governance systems, pastoral concerns, wisdom, and embodied human connection. The discussion also examines how people increasingly seek advice, meaning, and emotional support from chatbots, while raising questions about authenticity, discernment, technological theater, and what happens when humans begin trusting simulated wisdom more than real relationships.

© 2026 Forbes Nonprofit Strategies. All rights reserved. Signal Café is a podcast of Forbes Nonprofit Strategies, and Incite Futures Labs is a foresight training offering. Music generated using Suno AI, lyrics adapted and produced for Signal Café

Chris Forbes and Matt Tullos talk with Rick Presley about recognizing overlooked environmental signals and why they matter for ministry and the future. They explore how bias, political framing, and cultural assumptions can limit awareness, often filtering out important signals. Subtle changes such as fewer insects, declining songbird populations, groundwater contamination concerns, land-use changes, and rising insurance pressures can reveal deeper environmental shifts that are easy to overlook. The conversation connects these weak signals to broader system dynamics, helping leaders better understand change, anticipate emerging challenges, and respond with greater awareness and faithful stewardship.

© 2026 Forbes Nonprofit Strategies. All rights reserved. Signal Café is a podcast of Forbes Nonprofit Strategies, and Incite Futures Labs is a foresight training offering. Music generated using Suno AI, lyrics adapted and produced for Signal Café

In this episode of The Signal Cafe, Chris Forbes, Matt Tullos, and Mike Mirabella explore how digital environments and AI are shaping identity, relationships, and formation. They describe a “crossfade” era where physical and digital realities blend, forming “virtual natives” who experience technology as fully integrated into life. AI is emerging as a relational influence, not just a tool. While digital fluency is rising, critical thinking may be declining. The conversation highlights growing identity fragmentation, dependence on technology, and early signs of pushback toward embodied connection, emphasizing the church’s role in deeper human formation. Form more information about Mike Mirabella see his website

In this episode of Signal Café, we step inside a local Edmond, Oklahoma community group that spent nine weeks using Incite Futures Labs tools to ask a pressing question: What will shape lifelong learning and leadership formation in the church through 2040? Through horizon scanning, signal clustering, and driver mapping, the group explored rapid AI expansion, demographic growth along Route 66, institutional distrust, economic instability, and shifting spiritual landscapes. The conversation wrestles with intergenerational discipleship, technology’s influence on theology and education, and how embodied local churches can remain resilient in a fragmented digital culture. Featuring Chris Forbes, co-host Matt Tullos, and guests Jeff and Isaac Jordan.