New Wisdom & Influence Podcast Debut from Cornerstone University

Cornerstone University is excited to launch today the Wisdom & Influence Podcast, a new platform that extends the university’s commitment to Christian thought leadership. The podcast is designed not only for Cornerstone students but for a national audience seeking wisdom applied to positive and thoughtful solutions through open engagement around today’s most complex issues in culture and life.

“Our culture is awash with influences that tell us how to live and who to be, but wisdom can be a critical missing perspective,” said Cornerstone University President Gerson Moreno-Riaño and podcast host. “Through conversations with top influencers who have allowed wisdom to shape their lives and work, this podcast invites listeners to think deeply and engage perspectives that can make life meaningful, happy, and well-lived.”

Wisdom & Influence features engaging interviews with influencers who have shaped policy, advanced research, led organizations, and guided ministries. These guests bring experience across business, education, technology, science, health care and ministry — drawing from lived challenges rather than just the theoretical. Their conversations move beyond headlines to tackle questions that affect society and humanity’s future, such as:

• How do we use artificial intelligence responsibly?
• What does scientific progress mean for human dignity?
• Where do we look for truth in fractured global cultures?
• How do we renew confidence in our nation’s institutions?

This initiative is also an extension of the Cornerstone Advantage™ — exposing students to industry and ministry experts who offer real-world insights and solutions-oriented applications. Through this distinctive approach, Cornerstone prepares graduates and a future workforce to serve and lead with expertise, guided by bold and wise, Christ-centered influence.

Wisdom & Influence Episode 1: Pastor Corey Brooks and President Moreno-Riaño discuss Brooks’ Walk Across America, a $25 million fundraising initiative and 3,000-mile walk from New York to Los Angeles to support the new Leadership and Economic Opportunity Center, a boys’ school on Chicago’s South Side, and the expansion of Project H.O.O.D. into inner-city communities across America. Brooks expresses the vital role of the gospel and the church to save lives and help inner-city communities experience the American Dream and restore hope.

Cornerstone invites you to enjoy the debut compelling exchange with Pastor Brooks — founder of New Beginnings Church of Chicago and CEO of Project H.O.O.D., known nationally as the “Rooftop Pastor.” He spent 94 days on a Chicago rooftop to spotlight gun violence and poverty. His ministry has become a model of grassroots leadership, bringing hope and transformation to one of the city’s most challenged neighborhoods. Brooks and Project H.O.O.D. are also Golden Eagle Partners with Cornerstone University, working together to make our accredited, Christian college degrees accessible to students in Chicago.

Highlights from the discussion:

“We found out that 6% of the children in our neighborhood were reading at grade level and 4% math level. So we’re starting something with these young boys to help educate them, to give them an opportunity.”

“I never want little boys in our neighborhood growing up facing violent acts. And I never want little boys in our neighborhood growing up not knowing how to read. Because if you can’t read, you definitely alienate yourself … eliminating you from the American Dream.”

“There was a time in our neighborhood, in our culture where Christ was first and forefront. But over the years we’ve seen the decline of that. And with that decline we’ve also experienced the decline of families. We’ve just experienced the decline of education. We’ve experienced the decline of economics. Everything in our community seems to be going down.”

“I try to teach our church … to understand that it’s about the Scripture, not about being left or right, but it’s about being Christ centered on the Word of God.”

“We [the church] need to take our rightful place, use our prophetic voice, our gifts, skills, talents, and abilities to do everything we can to advance the Kingdom of God and to do everything we can to help transform the lives of people.”

Tune in to the first episode or explore the full transcript now available on YouTube. Subscribe today and join the conversation.

New upcoming episodes feature exchanges with influencers in media, politics, science, and education, including:

• Eric Metaxas — Best-selling Author, National Podcast Host of The Eric Metaxas Show, and Cornerstone Distinguished President’s Fellow
• Tudor Dixon — Political Leader, Commentator, and Former Michigan Gubernatorial Candidate
• Dr. John West — Scholar on Science, Culture and Faith; Vice President of Discovery Institute
• Joanna Ng — AI Research Scientist, Innovator, and Former Head of Research at IBM Canada
• Jean Twenge — Psychologist, Professor at San Diego State University, and Leading Researcher on Generational Trends
• Ian Rowe — Education Entrepreneur, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Author on Opportunity and Family, and Founder of Vertex Partnership Academies