Tony Evans Enters a New Season, Says God Still Has Work for Him

Audio By Carbonatix

Pastor Tony Evans acknowledges his current season in life isn’t one he was expecting merely 18 months ago, when he was pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas. However, in June 2024, he stepped down from his pastoral duties due to an incident described as sinful that occurred years earlier. After a season of restoration that included mentoring, counseling, and what the church’s elder board called genuine repentance and godly sorrow, Evans completed the process in early October of this year, although he will not return as pastor or staff member. Members of Oak Cliff honored him with a standing ovation as he and the elder board revealed the news of his restoration. 

“I didn't plan for this season the way it's unveiled,” Evans told Crosswalk Headlines. “But God can show that He can work through any seasons to show new realities for living life under His rule, under His Kingdom authority.” 

Now 76, Evans -- the founding pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in 1976 and the voice behind a nationwide radio ministry -- says he believes God has another chapter for his life. This next season includes a new project, The Unbound Podcast, launching on November 11, where Evans will engage in meaningful conversations with guests about life’s toughest questions through the lens of Scripture. Scheduled guests include Lecrae, Matt Chandler, Amanda Bible Williams, and Raechel Myers. No topic is off-guard in the podcast, which will range from politics to family struggles to gender dysphoria, Evans said. New episodes will drop weekly.

“I have really grown spiritually through this process of interacting and interfacing Scripture with personalities and different dynamics,” he said. “So it has made the Word of God that I've been preaching all these years become even more relevant because of the guests that we're interfacing with.”

In a video message following his restoration, Evans said he is “more passionate about God's Word now than I have ever been.”

“In a world in calamity and chaos, in disillusionment and division, there's nothing more needed now than His Word being relevantly applied to people's lives,” he said. 

Evans believes the podcast’s long-form conversations can stand out in a world dominated by TikToks and short-form videos.

“Sound bites have become the order of the day, and when you live in a world where everybody has their truth and wonder from the truth, then you're in a never-ending cycle of confusion and chaos,” he said.

The world urgently needs to see how Scripture impacts every avenue of life, he said.

“So there is a desperate need today for people to hear the truth, but through the relevant varieties of life that people are experiencing. If you hear the truth and it's not relevant, then you don't treat it like it's the truth. If you're dealing with relevancy without the truth, then you're dealing with a bunch of ideas -- and you wind up with Babel by the hour.

“So in terms of addressing where people are, but what they need to hear for where they are, I think a podcast can do that in a way that just preaching does not, because you have the variety of voices that you're interfacing with.”

Photo credit: ©TheUrbanAlternative/TonyEvans

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel. 

Listen to Michael's Podcast! He is the host of Crosswalk Talk, a podcast where he talks with Christian movie stars, musicians, directors, and more. Hear how famous Christian figures keep their faith a priority in Hollywood and discover the best Christian movies, books, television, and other entertainment. You can find Crosswalk Talk on LifeAudio.com, or subscribe on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an interview that will be sure to encourage your faith.