Special guest Tim Milosch (Ph.D.) joins today’s podcast to speak with Tim and Rick on the multifaceted phenomenon of Christian Nationalism. They cover questions including: What is Christian Nationalism? Why has it been important and garnered so much attention? Who are the kinds of people who identify with this cultural phenomenon? What are some of the confusions around Christian Nationalism? And what are noteworthy cautions for Christians who are thinking through how to practice political engage...
Feb 03, 2025•27 min•Ep 115•Transcript available on Metacast We like to do segments that highlight people who are doing civility right, and it’s pretty special when we see Biola students who are doing it right. On today’s episode, Tim speaks with one of his students, Markus, who is also a film major at Biola. Markus wrote and directed a short film, “ Halfway ,” that addresses the animosity and reconciliation between two families, Israeli and Palestinian. Tim and Markus also reflect on the role of film in helping to foster perspective-taking, including Mar...
Jan 20, 2025•23 min•Ep 114•Transcript available on Metacast On today’s episode, Rachel Gilson speaks with Tim about sexuality, same-sex attraction, and living faithfully as a follower of Jesus. The conversation dips into Rachel’s journey in coming to faith, being attracted to the same-sex and yet choosing to follow the Bible’s teaching on sexuality, considerations of sexuality for discipleship, and what the Church is doing well and not doing well with transgender and LGBTQ communities. Show notes and a full transcript are available....
Jan 06, 2025•46 min•Ep 113•Transcript available on Metacast We regularly host episodes speaking with people who are doing civility right. These “Reports From The Front” provide insights and illustrations from people who are practicing civility and conviction in the day to day. On this episode, Tim and Mark Muha, Vice President for Student Development at Biola University, reflect on a recent learning experience they went through that involved engaging their political opposite. Tim and Mark discuss and unpack some of the stigmas people have with “conservat...
Dec 23, 2024•32 min•Ep 112•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Rebecca McLaughlin (Ph.D. Cambridge University) joins today's episode to speak with Tim on how to engage challenging questions and challenging people. Through the course of the conversation they consider such questions as: How can persuasion be an act of love? When can challenging a person’s belief be a sign of respect? What are the telltale signs that someone is listening to you? And what might loving and respectful engagement look like in contentious topics such as homosexuality and a...
Dec 09, 2024•41 min•Ep 111•Transcript available on Metacast Chris McKinney, co-author of the book Neighborhoods Reimagined , is back on the podcast to speak with Tim and Mike on the surprising relevance of the beatitudes for being better neighbors. They also talk about a litmus test for gauging individualism, the challenges of “having time,” and Chris shares stories on the role of food in bringing people together, including a food event they creatively call “Bite of the World.” Show notes and a full transcript are available....
Nov 25, 2024•21 min•Ep 110•Transcript available on Metacast Recent surveys say less than half of Americans trust their neighbors. What might be some of the reasons for this erosion of trust? On today’s episode, Chris McKinney, co-author of the book Neighborhoods Reimagined , speaks with Tim and Mike on some of factors contributing to healthy and unhealthy neighborly relations, and they discuss the surprising relevance of the beatitudes. Chris also shares some of the practical steps he and his family are taking to build trust with their neighbors and the ...
Nov 11, 2024•23 min•Ep 109•Transcript available on Metacast The presidential election is about to happen, so Tim and Rick take time on this episode to reflect on our cultural moment. They share ideas for having perspective, provide tips for speaking with people who are affiliated with another political party, and emphasize the need for the Church to preserve her integrity regardless of the candidate who becomes president elect. Show notes and a full transcript are available....
Oct 28, 2024•19 min•Ep 108•Transcript available on Metacast Do people even want to engage in civil discourse? How does myside bias keep us from engaging others? On today’s episode, Mike and Tim discuss these questions and more as they discuss some of the motivations in writing End the Stalemate: Move Past Cancel Culture to Meaningful Conversations , a recently published book that Tim co-authored with Sean McDowell. Show notes and a full transcript are available ....
Oct 14, 2024•23 min•Ep 107•Transcript available on Metacast Mike Ahn (Ph.D.), Dean of Spiritual Development at Biola University, is also a new co-director with the Winsome Conviction Project, and we wanted to give you a chance you learn a bit about Mike on this episode. Tim and Mike play two truths and a lie; Mike talks about the role of spiritual formation for helping to foster civility; and they dig into some of the projects on campus Mike is leading that aim to promote faithfulness among undergraduate students, including a training on civility with Po...
Sep 30, 2024•34 min•Ep 106•Transcript available on Metacast Why are we experiencing so much polarization in culture? A common answer is social media. But what is some of the reasoning on how social media contributes to polarization? Today on the episode, Tim and Rick speak with Michael Whitenton (Ph.D.) about three types of polarization that social media incites - ideological, perceived, and affective. Michael also talks about the books and resources he uses for a course he teaches to undergraduate students on how to have courageous conversations in divi...
Sep 16, 2024•37 min•Ep 105•Transcript available on Metacast Radio host and pastor Bob Lepine is back on the podcast to speak with Tim and Rick about notable changes in our cultural communication since late 1970’s, including changes in our cultural tone. They discuss the loss of common ground, the dangers of one-sided winsomeness, how to engage fellow Christians with whom we disagree, and a significant communication pattern with Jesus and the Apostle Paul in the way they communicated with others, including their criticisms of others. Show notes and a full...
Sep 02, 2024•32 min•Ep 104•Transcript available on Metacast What are our expectations for rules of engagement in building a healthy democracy? What shared commitments can we make in our civic aspirations? At the heart of answers to these questions is the issue of pluralism, which was one of the founding creeds of the United States for helping to live peaceably and with civility despite deeply engrained differences. John Inazu, professor of law and religion at Washington University, and author of the book, Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving throu...
Aug 19, 2024•31 min•Ep 103•Transcript available on Metacast Michael Whitenton (Ph.D.) directs the Bridgebuilding Fellows program at Baylor University, a program that seeks to help students to engage in healthy and virtuous civil discourse. Michael joins today’s episode to speak with Tim and Rick about the origins and aims of the program. Today’s episode helps listeners become aware of other groups and organizations who are responding to issues of polarization by championing the work of bridge building in civil discourse. Michael also gives examples on th...
Aug 05, 2024•35 min•Ep 102•Transcript available on Metacast When we move from influencing an individual to influencing a community or a body of people, the field of communication studies would say we transition from persuasion to rhetoric. In this transition, we often find ourselves in “rhetorical situations.” Tim and Rick unpack the rhetorical situation, including elements and affects of this communication event. They also discuss how skills in rhetoric can help you make the most of those moments when you have an opportunity to speak to an audience. Sho...
Jul 22, 2024•30 min•Ep 101•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Austin Suter , executive director for United? We Pray , interviews Tim on his recently released book, End the Stalemate: Move Past Cancel Culture To Meaningful Conversations (released by Tyndale House on June 18, 2024), which Tim has co-authored with Sean McDowell . Tim speaks with Austin about the purposes in writing this book, which is less about learning how to win an argument and more about learning how to foster productive conversations and find common ground. They consider...
Jul 08, 2024•33 min•Ep 100•Transcript available on Metacast Some stories in the Bible are hard to understand, let alone approve. For those who are questioning and finding it difficult to trust the God of the Bible and certain historical events as recorded in the Scriptures, it helps to hear stories from people who have worked through their own questions and doubts to arrive at healthy, more firmly held beliefs and convictions. On today’s episode, History scholar Susan Lim (Ph.D.) speaks with Tim and Rick about her own journey of coming to love the Bible,...
Jun 24, 2024•39 min•Ep 99•Transcript available on Metacast Susan Lim (Ph.D.) is a history scholar and writer who decided to follow Jesus in her teenage years after having grown up in a Buddhist family. Susan joins today’s episode to share her story from Buddha to Jesus, and it’s a powerful story that has reverberated through her family. She also speaks with Tim and Rick on the similarities and differences between Buddhism and Christianity. They discuss what Buddhists get right that Christians can learn from, differing views on suffering, and what happen...
Jun 10, 2024•34 min•Ep 98•Transcript available on Metacast What are communication spirals and how do they contribute to the argument culture? On today’s episode, Tim and Rick discuss these patterns of negative communication and what can trigger them. They also draw from research in communication theory to suggest ways to de-escalate situations when we become perturbed, frustration boils, and we want to up the negative communication. Show notes and a full transcript are available....
May 27, 2024•28 min•Ep 97•Transcript available on Metacast Earlier this year, a convictional firestorm ensued over advice Alistair Begg, a prominent North American pastor and radio host of Truth for Life, gave to a woman about attending her grandchild's gay wedding. Bob Lepine, the on-air announcer for Truth for Life, joins today’s episode to speak with Tim and Rick about how this situation provides us with an opportunity to clarify our thinking around convictions and guidelines for faithful conduct. Bob provides a quick summary of what happened be...
May 13, 2024•34 min•Ep 96•Transcript available on Metacast Can principles from law and a legal education help us in our day to day disagreements with colleagues, neighbors, family and friends? Our guest today, legal professor John Inazu, thinks so, and he speaks with Rick about his newly released book, Learning To Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect . They discuss the value of legal education for learning to get good at disagreement, and they also venture into the cultivation of empathy and fairness, how to t...
Apr 29, 2024•29 min•Ep 95•Transcript available on Metacast Isaac Adams and Austin Suter are back on the podcast to recount a significant disagreement they experienced in their friendship. They go back into the disagreement with Tim and Rick and discuss issues of contempt, interpersonal differences, complexities and wounds, and spiritual battle. They caution against a bulldozer mentality and highlight how to press into hard conversations with gentleness in order to save and deepen a relationship rather than to abandon it. Show notes and a full transcript...
Apr 15, 2024•33 min•Ep 94•Transcript available on Metacast Today’s episode is a joint podcast with the Think Biblically podcast, and we have a great conversation with artist and Connecticut state representative Treneé McGee, who is a pro-life member of the Democratic Party. Rep. McGee has a knack for holding together responsibilities and convictions that don’t often go together in our current political climate - artist/politician and pro-life/Democrat. She shares her backstory and talks through some of the challenges and opportunities of engaging the bl...
Apr 01, 2024•35 min•Ep 93•Transcript available on Metacast Isaac Adams and Austin Suter join today’s episode to discuss the challenges and camaraderie they’ve experienced in their interracial friendship. They speak with Tim and Rick about the beginnings of their friendship and the importance of having an established relationship when the difficulties and disagreements hit, which inevitably occur. They discuss the relational elbow grease that is required for friendships to make it through the hard times, and some great insights are provided on how we can...
Mar 18, 2024•37 min•Ep 92•Transcript available on Metacast On this segment of Reports From The Front, two of Tim’s students, Helena and Carson, who are studying Communications at Biola University, discuss their recent experience on Unify America. They seized the opportunity to speak with their political opposites on contested issues, including abortion, and they speak with Tim and Rick about what it was like. Over the course of the conversation they also consider why it would be good for churches to take part in these Unify America discussions. If this ...
Mar 04, 2024•37 min•Ep 91•Transcript available on Metacast Today on the podcast we have another segment of Reports From The Front, a positive story of someone who is doing things right. Tim and Rick speak with Abby Ferguson, Director of Partnerships with Unify America, on the challenges of communicating personal convictions to people we disagree with as well as progress Unify America is seeing with students who participate in the Unify Challenge College Bowl. They discuss how Unify America brings people together to replace political fighting with collab...
Feb 19, 2024•45 min•Ep 90•Transcript available on Metacast Jim Davis, pastor and co-author of the recent book, The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back , is back on the podcast to speak with Tim and Rick about some of the reasons why people are leaving churches. They talk about the role incivility, poor communication, “clustering,” and online habits play in the process of dechurching. They also reflect on the Apostle Paul’s teaching on the body life of the Church and consider whether there are ar...
Feb 05, 2024•29 min•Ep 89•Transcript available on Metacast Through our connections with CRU, a ministry that engages students and faculty on college campuses across the U.S., the Winsome Conviction Project received an invitation to provide training for a student group at UC Berkeley on how to have winsome conversations with people who hold opposing views. Tim and Rick reflect on this learning experience and the key questions and issues discussed among the group, including student's perceptions of Jesus, and they share ideas on how to show faith mat...
Jan 22, 2024•29 min•Ep 88•Transcript available on Metacast In 2 Corinthians 5:20, the Apostle Paul tells Christians they are “ambassadors for Christ.” Ambassadorship is part of our Christian identity. Paul wrote these words a long time ago, so what does it look like to be an ambassador today? On this episode, communication theorist Tim Downs returns to the podcast to discuss this question with Tim and Rick. They discuss the difference between citizenship and statecraft, the nature of statecraft, including its practices and temperament, and consider what...
Jan 08, 2024•34 min•Ep 87•Transcript available on Metacast Conflict in relationships is unavoidable. Healthy and successful relationships know how to counteract unhealthy communication styles and adopt alternative forms of discourse to work through the conflict. On this episode, Tim and Rick discuss John Gottman’s famous metaphor for unhealthy communication styles that lead to failure in relationships, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They unpack each horseman - complaints vs criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling, and they discuss dia...
Dec 25, 2023•30 min•Ep 86•Transcript available on Metacast 
