In this episode, Kayla Craig talks about what it looks like to parent in the mess. How we are to be rooted and grounded in Jesus through the sacred rhythms of our life and the seasons God has given us. How we can implement breath prayers and the examen, how we can bring community along with us to shepherd our families well. And How we can start to order our families and lives that point to values that are of the Kingdom and the values that God has given us as a family. Join us as we navigate the...
Sep 19, 2023•49 min•Season 1Ep. 126
In this episode, Kaitlyn Schiess and I talk about the history of how we used the Bible in America and our politics, how we can faithfully serve God and our community, how we can work for the flourishing of our local communities, how we can see the whole redemptive story of scripture and apply that to our lives and politics, and how we can navigate contentious political seasons coming up. Join us as we figure out how we can read scripture and our context well, so we can faithfully live out lives ...
Sep 12, 2023•55 min•Season 1Ep. 125
In this episode, Father James Martin and I have a great conversation around the story of Lazarus and the implications of it for our life. We talk through disappointments, how Jesus weeps with us through our sorrows, brings new life, and invites us into a participatory life of helping free other people. Join us as we navigate waiting for God to act as we remember what God has done for us in the past. Since we are talking about the story of Lazarus, you might want you to read the story from the Go...
Sep 08, 2023•53 min•Season 1Ep. 124
In this episode, Josh Larsen and I have a great conversation that covers many different horror genres including prophetic horror, zombie films, creature features, slashers, found-footage, and psychological horror. We talk about how each genre provokes certain fears in us like the loss of our humanity, the lack of control, nature run amok, anxieties unmet, and the brokenness of society. We then see how the Bible and the Gospel answers the fears we are confronted with. So join us and open yourself...
Sep 05, 2023•55 min•Season 1Ep. 123
Karen Swallow Prior and I have a fantastic conversation around evangelical culture and true Christian faith. We dig into the history of Evangelical faith, what myths, stories, and narratives have contributed to the underlying assumptions we have on how the world works, and we talk through how to be faithful to Jesus in the midst of unexamined culture. Join us as we start to unveil the underlying narratives that we follow unaware. Karen Swallow Prior, Ph. D., is a reader, writer, and professor. S...
Aug 29, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 122
Karen Wright Marsh and I have a wonderful discussion about our invitation to wonder and amazement. Through looking at the specific lives of those who have come before us, we can find practices that will shape the way we see the world and interact with God. Through beauty, art, singing, poetry, walking, cooking, writing, and more, we can start to pay attention to God at work and become people that are intentioned towards wonder. So join us as we contemplate these things and more. Karen Wright Mar...
Aug 22, 2023•52 min•Season 1Ep. 121
In this episode, Todd Hunter talks about the aims of Jesus and how getting back to His purposes can help us through bad religion. We talk about living in the Kingdom of God, how we receive it and how we are sent to be His witnesses, and many other facets of the Kingdom. We talk about spiritual practices, so that we can do good works when moments present themselves. We talk about the gospel – what it is, what Jesus said it is and how we can live into it. Bishop Todd Hunter’s life-long passion is ...
Aug 15, 2023•53 min•Season 1Ep. 120
In this episode, Mark Baker talks about Paul’s letter to the Galatians. We talk about non-judgmentalism, bounded, fuzzy, and centered sets, our orientation to God and to each other in the body of Christ, spiritual powers that have influenced us and the freedom that we have from them, and more. Mark Baker is Professor of Mission and Theology at Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary. He previously was a missionary in Honduras for ten years and a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at...
Aug 08, 2023•57 min•Season 1Ep. 119
In this episode, Jamaal Williams and Timothy Paul Jones talk about how to create a multi-ethnic Kingdom community in our churches like it will be in heaven. We talk through the unity and diversity in the identity of God, how our unity and diversity flows out of that identity, and how lament is important to establish ties between ethnic groups. We ground our conversation in the story of Jamaal, Timothy, and their church Sojourn Midtown in Louisville as an example of the work we can step into to s...
Aug 01, 2023•57 min•Season 1Ep. 118
In this episode, Jessica Hooten Wilson talks about her latest book Reading for the Love of God , reading as a spiritual practice, how to use the four senses and the four stages to read well, how Jesus teaches us how to read well, what it means to read poorly, and how art, literature, and beauty can help transform our lives and move us closer to God. Jessica Hooten Wilson is the inaugural Seaver College Scholar of Liberal Arts at Pepperdine University and a Senior Fellow at the Trinity Forum. She...
Jul 25, 2023•47 min•Season 1Ep. 117
In this episode, Josh White and I have a conversation about the foolishness of the cross. About our need to be confronted with the end of ourselves, so we can be dependent on Christ. We talk about how confession can drive our communities, being a witness to Jesus in the world, and radical grace and vulnerability. Josh White is a speaker, recording artist, writer and founding pastor of Door of Hope, a family of church’s in the urban core of Portland Oregon. Josh lives with his wife Darcy, son Hen...
Jul 18, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 116
In this episode, Eun K. Strawser talks about centering discipleship in community. She answers the question, how do we imitate Jesus together, so that we can look like Him, and move toward our neighbor in mission? We talk through the elements of formation, rhythms, and examples that move our community towards one that centers Jesus and discipleship to Him. Eun K. Strawser is the co-vocational lead pastor of Ma Ke Alo o (which means "Presence" in Hawaiian), non-denominational missional communities...
Jul 11, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 115
In this episode, Benjamin Windle talks about the themes of his latest book Good Catastrophe. He talks about finding hope in the midst of despair, darkness, and catastrophe. Is it possible to find? Well, Ben takes the story of Job and illuminates it for our time. Benjamin Windle is an innovative and empathic author, speaker, and Millennial/Gen Z specialist. As a pastor for over 20 years, he has walked with many through the dark shadows and valleys of the human experience. He has dedicated his lif...
Jul 04, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 114
In this episode, Andrew Root talks about his latest book When Church Stops Working , and he answers the question why isn't innovation the answer? He talks through waiting for the Spirit's leading, paying attention to our stories, being witnesses to the acts of God, and sitting with the sorrows of our neighbors. Andrew Root, PhD (Princeton Theological Seminary) is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary. He is most recently the author of four volume Mini...
Jun 27, 2023•52 min•Season 1Ep. 113
In this episode, Nijay and I have a great conversation about how women led and ministered in the Bible and in the early church. He digs in to the stories of Deborah, Junia, Mary, Priscilla, Phoebe, and more. He also talks through the context and culture of the time and place of the early church, so we can start to see with new eyes what women were doing and how they were treated. We also talk about the different leadership categories in the early church. Nijay also shares about how growing up as...
Jun 20, 2023•58 min•Season 1Ep. 112
In this episode, Ashley Hales talks about a more spacious life, helping us see that our limits are good and point us to God. She shares spiritual practices to help notice God in everyday life, to remind ourselves that we are His beloved children, and to move from the cerebral to the rest of the body. She also talks about how to have hope in suffering, and helps us navigate the cultural landscape we find ourselves in. Ashley Hales holds a PhD in English literature from the University of Edinburgh...
Jun 13, 2023•49 min•Season 1Ep. 111
In this episode, Jared Brock uncovers the human life of Jesus. Who was he as a child? What was the culture and context of his life and ministry? What were the economics, philosophy, and teachings of Jesus? Who was the crime family that had Jesus killed? We talk about these things and more. Jared Brock is an award-winning author and director of several films including PBS's acclaimed Redeeming Uncle Tom with Danny Glover. His writing has appeared in Christianity Today, The Guardian, Smithsonian, ...
Jun 06, 2023•56 min•Season 1Ep. 110
In this episode, Christopher Wright talks about the great story, the grand narrative of the Bible and the mission of God and discusses what part the great commission plays in the story. We talk about the marks of mission, how we should live in God's story, and how seeing the world through a missional worldview changes the way we interact in the world. Chris Wright is the Global Ambassador of the Langham Partnership ( www.langham.org ), which provides literature, scholarships and preaching traini...
May 30, 2023•56 min•Season 1Ep. 109
In this episode Josh Green talks about what is happening in the youth culture today, hunger for the presence of Jesus, prayer that is persistent, consistent, and resistant, revival that's bubbling up around the world, putting Jesus first and at the center, living out our faith authentically and consistently, and he gives a first hand account of what happened at Asbury. Josh is Youth Director for 24-7 Prayer and Wildfires Festival. Josh travelled the world for years performing and preaching the g...
May 23, 2023•58 min•Season 1Ep. 108
Elijah Davidson talks about finding the Spirit of God in film, craft, and the arts, and his process of writing a Christian guide to the greatest films of all time. He wrestles through questions that films invoke in all of us, he shares how to read film, how film applies to our faith and life, and more. Elijah Davidson is a writer living in California. He is the author of How to Talk to a Movie: Movie-Watching as a Spiritual Exercise, the creator of the Icons of Cinema series of brief texts on pr...
May 16, 2023•59 min•Season 1Ep. 107
In this episode, Jessie Cruickshank talks about her latest book Ordinary Discipleship, how everyone can be a disciple of Jesus and a disciple maker, the hero’s journey, community transformation towards Jesus, hearing God’s voice, experiential and narrative based discipleship that follows brain science and the way we have been wired, and more. It’s a great conversation and builds on our previous episode together. After you listen to this one, go back and check out episode 2 with Jessie Cruickshan...
May 09, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 106
In this episode Dr. Scot McKnight gives a vision for the book of Revelation. He talks about how we, as followers of Jesus, can live faithfully as witnesses to the Lamb in the shadow of Babylon (or the Empire). He talks about being dissident disciples, how black spirituals are an example of the songs in Revelation, how the Gospel sees and utilizes power, and more. Scot McKnight is Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lisle, Illinois. He is the author of more than eighty books, inclu...
May 02, 2023•54 min•Season 1Ep. 105
In this episode Hugh Halter talks about family on mission, raising kingdomlings, not church kids, the importance of being less individualistic, materialistic, and consumeristic, releasing our kids to the Lord, discipleship in the family, and more. HUGH HALTER and Cheryl, as well as their children and truckload of grandchildren, all live in Alton Illinois. They have been missionaries in North America for more than thirty years. They’ve planted two churches and in 2016 founded Lantern Network in A...
Apr 25, 2023•54 min•Season 1Ep. 104
In this episode Kat Armas shares her story and how that informs her faith, and we talk about centering the marginalized, how to embody faith, healing the trauma of our past, and more. Kat Armas is a Cuban American writer and podcaster from Miami, FL. She holds a dual MDiv and MAT from Fuller Theological Seminary where she was awarded the Frederick Buechner Award for Excellence in Writing, and is currently pursuing a ThM at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Her first book, Abuelita Faith: What Women on...
Apr 18, 2023•52 min•Season 1Ep. 103
In this episode Brandon Wrencher talks about the black prophetic tradition, the importance of embodying the truth, practicals around community organizing for the common good, people receiving the power they have that is given to them by God, transformation to hope, peace, and joy, and more. Brandon is a minister, community organizer, teacher and facilitator. He works across faith, higher education, and nonprofit sectors at the intersections of decolonizing church, contemplative activism and loca...
Apr 11, 2023•49 min•Season 1Ep. 102
In this episode Jesse Roberts talks about Poor Bishop Hooper, the EveryPsalm project, getting the word of God in the heart of people through music and song, the importance and power of beauty, small expressions of church, living with others, and being formed by Jesus. Jesse Roberts is one half of the duo Poor Bishop Hooper. Jesse writes, records, and performs with his wife Leah. Their latest project is EveryPsalm, which they began January 1, 2020, in which they wrote, recorded, and released a ne...
Apr 04, 2023•53 min•Season 1Ep. 101
It's episode 100! Thank you for going on this journey with me. It's been an amazing ride. In this episode, Sara Billups talks about her new book Orphaned Believers, the cultural components of white evangelical culture of the 80s and 90s, how we are formed - whether it be by the culture around us or into the image and likeness of Jesus, and the importance of love as the antidote to fear. Sara Billups is a Seattle-based writer and cultural commentator whose work has appeared in the New York Times,...
Mar 28, 2023•54 min•Season 1Ep. 100
In this episode Ed Khouri talks about being God's favorite, receiving grace and joy in recovery from addictive behavior, becoming a face of grace for others, lectio and scripture reflection as a group, the repair of broken things, and more. For more than 40 years, Ed Khouri has served churches, communities, and hurting people worldwide. He worked with substance abusers and their families in diverse settings. As a pastoral counselor, trainer, and writer, Ed’s work has encompassed outpatient couns...
Mar 21, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 99
In this episode Daniel Grothe talks about the power of place, stability, and rootedness. And how the family of God can help re-family the world. Along with ways in which we can help bring Kingdom flourishing to a place and community. Daniel Grothe is the associate senior pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he’s been for eighteen years. He’s the author of Chasing Wisdom and The Power of Place. Daniel and his wife, Lisa, live on a hobby farm outside of Colorado Springs w...
Mar 14, 2023•51 min•Season 1Ep. 98
In this episode Pete Greig talks about the paradox of the Kingdom, serving the Good Shepherd and the bleeding Lamb, finding diverse perspectives in the church, the importance of prayer, and hope for what can come out of Waverley Abbey. Pete Greig is the increasingly bewildered founder of 24-7 Prayer an international, interdenominational movement of prayer, mission and justice which has been praying night-and-day for more than twenty years, and has reached more than half the nations on earth. He ...
Mar 07, 2023•55 min•Season 1Ep. 97
