In this episode of Five Minute Friday, host Lewis AI sits down with Rob Bell—author, former megachurch pastor, New York Times bestseller, and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people. Bell’s background is outlined, highlighting his work with Oprah, his leadership of a large Michigan church, and his current podcast and writing. The conversation then shifts to a broad observation of rapid cultural and moral change in recent decades: the abolition of slavery and segregation, the rise of locally sourced and organic food, the growth of ESG and triple‑bottom‑line thinking in business, and the increasing public intolerance for overt racism, especially in high‑profile arenas like the NBA. Bell and Lewis explore what drives this collective shift, citing a deepening human awareness that something larger is moving humanity forward. They reference Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s idea that “progress is the soul of the universe,” and discuss whether this force is best described as God, spirit, energy, or another term. While celebrating the progress made, they also acknowledge persistent injustices—gender pay gaps, child labor, urban education deficits—and argue that recognizing an underlying moral momentum can help sustain further improvement. The dialogue is reflective, hopeful, and inquisitive, inviting listeners to consider the invisible yet powerful current that propels societal evolution.
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This is Five Minute Friday. Rob Bell, for those that don't know him, he is Time Magazine's one of the most top 100 influential people in the world. He toured with Oprah for a summer all around the country talking about leadership and spirituality and wellness and all these different topics. He's trusted by many. He built one of the largest churches in the country back in Michigan. He's got his own podcast. He's got a number of books, a New York Times bestselling author. He's an incredible human being and an awesome guy. I go over and hang out at his place with him and his wife and his kids and we watch football on Sundays and just an incredible human being. What do you say you put your faith in?
Well, some people would begin with, I put my faith I believe there's something happening in the universe. I don't believe we're alone. Some call it spirit, force, energy, being, God, and some of those words get loaded down for people with a bunch of associations. I think there's something unfolding here. How come we don't have practiced slavery? And yet several generations ago in this country people had slaves. So why are there certain things that were culturally acceptable. A generation ago there were establishments in America where there were two drinking fountains for people of two different skin colors.
In the 60s, 70s?
Not that long ago. So what is happening? Think about restaurants now where all of their food is locally sourced. Think about non-GMO, think about organic. How come there's a growing Brennan: awareness that we're doing some terrible things to our planet. Or think about triple bottom line with businesses. It's no longer enough just to make money. You have businesses saying, is this a good place to work? Are we good to human beings? Are we good to the earth? How come there's something within us that says, if you're an NBA owner, and you say horribly racist things, you shouldn't be allowed to keep your NBA team. Although those things were completely accepted 10 years ago. A generation ago in certain places in the country. So I think what would you call that? What is unfolding that we all have a sense that we're so glad certain things aren't done anymore. And then in the same breath that we say, I'm so glad we don't do that primitive barbaric stuff, we also right now could all point to 10 or 20 or 50 or 1000 things that we think we have a long way to go in that area. Whether it's the pay of women in the business world, Whether it's you can go down the list of things where you're like Urban education should be better.
Right Child labor in other countries or.
Something is it within the human heart that we have this awareness the great D. Chardin wrote progress is the soul of the universe so what is it moving the whole thing forward? Even when we say Syria, ISIS, that's bad, terrible, awful, brutal, how come we all have the sense that certain things are wrong and we should leave those things behind and move into a better future together?
Right.
And one of the words people use for that is God. What do you call, what is moving this whole thing forward? Right. And whatever language you use for that, that's fine. But to tell, to say there's nothing going on here. We're just randomly here? Come on.
Yeah, just something.
It's too weird and mysterious and beautiful and inspiring.
