Ryan Knudson

Monday, December 22nd.

The Journal is a co-production of Spotify and The Wall Street Journal.

Additional reporting in this episode by Justin Baer, Jason Douglas, Rebecca Fung, Patricia Kausman, Vipal Manga, and Brian Spiegel.

This, by the way, is one of our last episodes of the year.

Tomorrow we'll be back with a new episode of Camp Swamp Road.

Get excited.

And we've got a little treat for you next Monday.

But until then, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and thanks for listening.

Seems nothing can hold back the bulls on Wall Street.

U.S.

markets setting record after record high.

There's a church in Nashville, Tennessee that's been around for generations.

It's a five-story red brick building that was once a pillar of the community.

That's my colleague Cam McWhorter.

Cam says that like many churches around the country, eventually the congregation shrank and got older.

Then, one Sunday in 2017, a man named Sean Mathis showed up.

He came for a service there with his wife.

Mathis was in his 40s, much younger than the average member.

And the congregation, which was desperate for newcomers, welcomed them with open arms.

Mathis said he wanted to get involved and started sharing his thoughts about how the church could grow.