Your Pod and Your Staff

"Some valorize doubt; others demonize it...[but there's] an alternative path"

After a long podcast silence, Stanford and Peter are back with a banger! They sit down with A.J. Swoboda, pastor, professor, and author of After Doubt - a popular new book exploring the experience of deconstruction and doubt and asking the very simple question: "is it possible to question your faith without losing it?". Chances are that you or someone you love is in the beginning, middle, or ending stages of a deconstruction journey. These stories are common, often-disorienting, and sometimes-exhilarating.  We hope that this conversation is helpful regardless of where you are on that journey. 

There's more to say than what could be said in this short conversation, but this is a great place to start: What is deconstruction? Why does it seem to be happening so much right now?  How do you believe something you don't necessarily like? Where does the Church go from here? 

Want more from A.J.?

Jerry Seinfeld’s Mom was incredulous that anyone could not like her son. And apart from that being a hip reference to draw you in, it also matches our thoughts on stars of this episode.

Kyle Jung and Paige Abril: how could anyone not like them? (Well, John might not like them, but John’s got other problems. Make it to Quarantine Corner, you’ll get what we mean). These two are some of the best conversation partners around, and when you add in the salt of their expertise on their passages, it becomes a tasty-tasty dish.

This is Talks on Talks. We’re pouring cups of recappaccino for anyone who will listen.

Enjoy the podcast!

“We want your time in college to be the best years yet; but we want to do it in a way that ensures the next decade will be even better.”

If you’ve been around College Life, you’ve heard something like that. We don’t want College Life to be the best it gets for our students, we hope that it’s a launching pad to further faithfulness and fruit in Jesus.

Nathan Ely and John Bailey, are two College Life legends who graduated about a decade ago. So we pose the question to them, “how’s it been going?” A decade out, what’s your faith like? Would the college-you like what has become of current-you?

This conversation is provocative, surprising, messy, and hopefully a realistic primer on what life is like in the Next Decade. Our greatest hope is that it’ll help you start to envision what you want your life to look like in a decade.

Enjoy the podcast!

The best conversations almost always start with great questions.

The fans of Your Pod and Your Staff sent in some great questions these past few weeks, and Stanford Gibson and Peter Nittler try their best to turn them into great conversations.

At the very least, they turn them into an eclectic set of conversations. On this episode the guys talk about dinosaurs, Melchizedek, Marvel Movies, how to disagree with people well, Belly buttons, a particular College Lifer’s sense of humor, spiritual gifts, spiritual habits, and spiritual practices.

Much is discussed. But much was left on the table. So if listening to this episode sparks a question in you that you’re dying to hear discussed, it’s not too late to ask that question.

Head to collegelifedavis.com/questions and maybe you can be the spark for the next great conversation.

This episode is our Ode to the Question Mark.

Enjoy the podcast!

Remember when Jensen and Mike finished their Tuesday Night talks and you thought, “I could listen to them for another hour?!”

Today’s your lucky day! We’re back with another episode of Talks on Talks. This week we’re chatting with the aforementioned gentlemen to hear the hard won wisdom they’ve gleaned both from the preaching process and the deep burrowing they’ve done to the passage.

This episode goes in a lot of different directions and we really think you’ll enjoy it. We talk about singles, we chat about spiritual gifts, and we discuss D&D character names.

So lend your ear and enjoy another cup of piping hot recappacino!

Enjoy the podcast!

Well, it’s about that time. Next year is starting to come into focus and the great promise of 2021-2022 is starting to poke its head out of the water.

The first step in next year’s planning is finding out who will be leading us.

As you may know, College Life calls our ministry team The XII. And in this episode we talk about everything you could possibly want to know about The XII: the vision behind it, how it came to be, what it means to be on The XII, and the hopes behind it all. Simply put – if you’re interested (even fractionally) in the significant and important service that is Life on The XII, this episode is a must-listen!

It’s actually a conversation we had last year with Miriam Hamilton, Kyle Jung, Jess Dell’Acqua, Paul Mutz, and Madee Peterson. And is just as relevant today.

We hope that it’s your first step in joining in as we lead College Life hopefully out of one of the strangest and most challenging seasons of our lives together.

Come be a part of something! And enjoy the podcast!

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How great were Teagan and Julia’s Tuesday Night talks?!

Welcome to our new podcast mini-series, Talks on Talks. We will be chatting with some of College Life’s Student Speakers to hear more from them about their experience preparing and giving these talks that are blessing our community.

Like anything in which the Spirit is clearly involved, even when we’re talking about the technical aspects of preparing a talk, spiritual insight and wisdom just ends up oozing out all over the place.

This episode is chalk-full of it, and we think your affection for Teagan and Julia will skyrocket…

So come join us for a nice warm cup of Recappacino… you’ll see what we mean…

I Themed a Theme is back!

We’ll be spending this quarter in the world of Corinthians, so Christian Wingate and Peter are here to help us get our bearings.

We’re once again opening this ancient mail and eavesdropping on the conversation.

What was ancient Corinth like? Why does that matter? Why are there two letters to the Corinthians, again? If these letters were written way back then, how does it impact my life right now?

Come for the tour of Corinthians, stay for Christian-being-Christian and Peter-being-Peter.

We’re one year old!

It’s Your Pod and Your Staff’s birth week and we thought we’d celebrate by going back to our roots. We are re-releasing our first ever episode.

In this episode, Stanford and Peter discussed the ways they were thinking about the Coronavirus. What should or could our posture be during difficult times like these? Do we look for the silver lining? Do we have faith and ignore fear? Do we have blind hope? Do we have the exact same looking anxieties as everyone else?

It’s got everything you love: Stanford being Stanford, Peter doing accents, attempts at bringing Biblical truths to bear on the here-and-now, and, of course, Quarantine Corner.

Chances are, if you listen to this show, you’ve heard this episode. But chances also are, that this year has changed you like it’s changed many people and you might be a different person now then you were then, and we think that person might want to hear this stuff, too.

Here's one more bonus episode for you.

You may or may not know that Stanford and Peter teach a Preaching Class every two years in College Life.  It's awesome. One of our favorite things we get to do. We are consistently amazed at the quality of talks our students end up producing, and delighted in how much fun it is to walk with them through the process. 

We decided to put the last session of the class in podcast form so the students wouldn't have to sit through another long Zoom session to get the content. Here's that session.  The beauty is now anyone who might be interested in how Stanford and Peter think about delivering their sermons, OR anyone who's interested in learning more about public speaking in general can "audit" the Preaching Class. Technology is cool.  

A good sermon is not just a good piece of writing, it must be embodied... it must be delivered

Welcome to the Preaching Class. 

1. Tone

2. Eye Contact

3. Vocal Quality

4. Time

5. Movements / Hand Gestures

6. Teaching Aides

Speech Links:

Week 10 in College Life was a special one. We didn't just get to talk about Revelation. We didn't just have Darrell Johnson speaking to us. We had Darrell Johnson speaking to us ABOUT Revelation.  

We promoted the night far and wide and it didn't disappoint: Darrell was wise, warm, and way too compelling.  He showed us that we didn't have to be scared or even confused about Revelation. He showed us that we can embrace Revelation NOT as a guide to when the world would end, but as a guide on how to follow Jesus right now. 

And now, even if you weren't there, you can hear it too! 

For more Darrell Johnson resources:

READ:

It's a Your Pod and Your Staff BONUS EPISODE! 

A few weeks ago, we had Nic Gibson of High Point Church in Madison on our podcast. We had a great conversation surrounding THE CHURCH.  In that conversation, Nic diagnosed a disease-of-abstract thinking which plagues our view of the Church.  

That was a popular episode. Nic is great to listen to.  

It was also a long episode.  And if that episode was more like the novel, this episode, which is the audio from his message on the same subject to our College Life students at our Tuesday Night Large Group is a bit like the Spark Notes.  

We really encourage you to listen if you, or people you love, are asking questions about the Church to which you're struggling to respond.  You're not going to hear a more cogent description of the Church and why it matters, as well as a diagnosis of why that's hard for us to see. 

Bless you. Enjoy the episode. And crush those finals like a grape.

Again... more from Nic:

Dragons! Beasts! 666!

It’s apocalypse time on Your Pod and Your Staff!

I don’t know what comes to mind when you read those two lines – maybe the end of the world? Maybe the rapture? Maybe just “excuse me, what?”

We’re opening up Revelation 13 this week... in other words… the weird stuff. It might feel foreign. It might feel totally bonkers. But dive in with us! Suddenly you’ll see how these out-of-this-world images are actually a profound window showing you the truth behind reality.

May you resist the beast… may you follow the lamb… may you flourish in the new city… and may Taco Bell not sue us for slander…

Enjoy the podcast. It’s a doozy.

REVELATION RESOURCES

Yup, you read that time right. This is a long episode. And it’s worth it! Break it up in chunks. Take a week to listen!

Is the Church even that important?

Many people are asking this question. And many people have already answered it… No. It might be nice. But it’s not necessary.

This is not a question the Scriptures are asking. The Scriptures simply assume it’s big time important. And, frankly, “important” isn’t even strong enough to capture it. Essential might be a bit better.

And yet, it doesn’t feel that way. Our friends don’t think of like that. It can be easy to dislike. It can be easy to ignore.

But here’s the deal: College Life burns for you to learn to love the local church. So this is important to us. We needed the right conversation partner… We got him.

His name is Nic Gibson. He’s the Lead Pastor of High Point Church in Madison, Wisconsin, he’s the author of books, he’s an incredibly passionate and learned speaker and thinker, and he shares DNA with our very own Stanford Gibson – so he’s bound to be smart, right?

His tone is sharper. He speaks more candidly. And that’s the perfect voice for the seriousness of this conversation.

Enjoy the podcast.

RESOURCES FROM NIC:

I urge you, then, be imitators of me. – 1 Corinthians 4:16

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ – 1 Corinthians 11:1

Join in imitating me – Philippians 3:17

Imitate. Imitate. Imitate.

This is Paul’s consistent drumbeat for the early followers to grow in their faith and learn to live in the Kingdom.

But how does that sit with you? Does Paul want us just to try and be like somebody else? Shouldn’t I be focusing on being the best ‘me’ I can be? Does this mean I’m not enough as I am?

It may feel like a strange idea to us. It might even rub us the wrong way. We’re usually taught to stand out, be original, be unique – not follow in someone else’s footsteps.

So what does this drumbeat of imitation mean? What can we learn from it? And how can we do it?

All of that and more on this episode!

Enjoy the podcast

Resources:

Is the Bible sexist?

This episode never fully asks that question, but it’s bubbling under the surface. The Scriptures say things that, to modern ears, can sound strange at best and problematic at worst.

“Wives submit to your husbands”

“woman as the weaker vessel”

“the husband is the head of the wife”

Do these texts mean what it looks like they mean?

Bronwyn Lea is here to chat about these texts: what they mean, the principles and heart beating underneath them, and how actual Christian marriages seek to follow the advice the Scriptures have for marriage.

What does it mean to submit?

To lead?

Who actually makes decisions?

Good questions with perhaps surprising answers.

Enjoy the podcast

Resources:

What do we do with these texts?!

“women should keep silent in the churches”

“if there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home.”

“I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather she is to remain quiet”

Yikes.

Are we faithful to the Scriptures and accept this even if it feels regressive and cruel? Or are we faithful to our conscience and downplay these texts in order to fit with what feels right?

This is basically an impossible choice. And, as it turns it’s a false binary.

Steve Luxa joins us to discuss these texts and show us what it looks like to wrestle with them.

He also lets us into the process of and the emotions of transitioning a church’s thinking on this issue and these texts. It’s a wonderfully honest conversation about the difficulties both theologically and emotionally; there’s disagreeing, there’s confession, there’s reflection… it’s really good stuff.

Interested in pure Bible? The first half will thrill you. Interested in theology playing out in real time, and the workings of the local church, the whole thing will thrill you.

Enjoy the podcast!

Resources:

For a lightish read and a great introduction out of the binary thinking often dominating this debate: 

What do the Epistles have to say about race, racism, and justice? It’s an interesting question, and as we see from this conversation from Rick Morris, they weirdly have both nothing to say directly, but tons to say when we really hear them.

You won’t find the word “race” or “racism” in the Scriptures; but Rick helps us see that concepts like unity in Christ, the corrosiveness of unjust and arbitrary power dynamics, and the call to pursue justice for the marginalized are deeply Biblical, and deeply relevant to our response to these questions today.

Conversations and arguments on this topic are circling all-around, if you’ve ever wondered where someone would enter into those conversations starting from a Biblical POV, or just wondered what the Scriptures might have to say about something so important to us, you’ll eat this conversation up!

Enjoy the podcast!

…

what we now call ‘racism’ is not simply, for Christians, a failure to obey one or other moral standard … for example… that we should love our neighbour as ourselves. It is deeper even than that. It is a failure of vocation… The church of the anointed Jesus, was designed from the start to be a worldwide family… Rejecting racism and embracing the diversity of Jesus’ family ought to be as obvious as praying the Lord’s Prayer, celebrating the Eucharist, or reading the four Gospels. It isn’t just an extra ‘rule’ we’re supposed to keep. It is constitutive of who we are.

NT Wright, Undermining Racism

...

Joe and Jenni Biggs are willing to talk about almost anything. This vulnerability is not only a wonderful character trait, but it makes great podcast content.

So Joe and Jenni bring us into the often-thought-about-rarely-discussed part of our relationships conversation: sex.

They reflect on their story. The beauty of physical affection, the power of physical affection, and ultimately the effects on a relationship – both good and bad.

If you’ve ever had questions about physical boundaries in dating. Ever wondered if they even matter, why they matter, of how to make them. Please learn from Joe and Jenni. We are thankful for this conversation and think it can bless you mightily.

Let’s talk about sex!

Here are two things you probably already know:

1. College students (and… ya know… other people, too) are interested in dating, relationships, and sex

2. Dating is hard, confusing, frustrating, and exceedingly vulnerable

That’s why over the next three weeks we’re going to be telling relationship stories. Different couples will be coming on our show in the hopes of giving wisdom through nothing other than their own stories – the good and the bad.

The hope is that through hearing these stories, we’ll be able to start to paint a picture of the myriad of different ways dating and romance can look.

How do you know it’s time to date? How do you know who to date? How do you know a wise way to do it? How do you know when to break up? What should it feel like when you feel ready to be married?

The hope is not to necessarily answer all these questions, but to listen to hear how some people navigated these waters. And maybe something in their story will make the waters a little clearer for you – or might give you enough freedom to take a deep breath.

This week: it’s our friends, Christian and Olivia Wingate!

Come hear their story… we hope it blesses yours!

For Olivia's book recommendation on singleness:

It’s Ephesians week on Your Pod and Your Staff.  And this week, it gets a little SPICY.

Our guest this week, former College Life Pastor, Dan Seitz, makes Your Pod and Your Staff history by delivering the hottest take ever to occur on our program.  If you know the Letter to the Ephesians, you won’t believe what he chooses for Can I Have an Eraser?

Beyond his hot take, Dan squeezes a ton of interesting-juice from the fruit of Ephesians with his patented careful and affectionate Scripture reading.

He unearths a theme that we might not see apart from the kind of careful reading to which Dan is accustomed…

He continues our multi-episode conversation regarding the new Jew / Gentile family of God.

He points out Paul’s strange (exciting? embarrassing?) understanding of the spiritual realm.

He waxes eloquently about the future hope for Christians and why it matters right now.

It’s a loaded episode. You’re going to love it.

Peter and Stanford are joined by a brilliant guest this week: Bronwyn Lea!

If there is any encouragement from these pods, any participation in the banter, any affection and hilarity, complete our joy by jumping into this episode on Philippians! Stanford, Madee, and Peter are back talking about one of the most phenomenal of Paul’s letters. And the conversation is as lovely as the letter itself.

They revisit some of the classic segments: In I Themed a Theme, they concede that “joy” is a noun; but, can we make it a verb? They look at one of the most stunning passages in the New Testament and say, “Excuse me, What?!” They play a quick game of Would You Rather? And then Stanford… goes rogue.

I think you’ll agree with us – Philippians really is phenomenal. But Philippians with friends is even phenomenal-er.

Enjoy the podcast.

Resources:

Let’s talk about the end of the world.

No, we have no knowledge of how or when that will happen – sorry to disappoint! The end of the world is on the mind because we just opened up Paul’s Letter to the Thessalonians and – he seems to be pretty interested in the topic. Now, our hunch is that when most people hear eschatological (the study of End Times) talk they either get way too excited, or not sufficiently excited – and that chasm can be explained by how confusing, scary, and unreal it can often seem as we read it in the Scriptures.

So, on this episode, Stanford and Peter chat about it. What does Paul mean in these strange passages about the end of the world? What was he trying to tell the Thessalonians? What would he want to tell us?

Stan and Pete also discuss a few awesome passages about the Will of God, a gutpunch of a passage on sexual ethics, and the strange profundity Paul seems to give something as banal as work.

As always for this series, we hope you hear affection and honesty as we approach the Scriptures, and we hope it inspires you to do the same. Jump in with us!

BOOKS MENTIONED:

Have you heard? 2020 is the pits. Things are hard right now. So why, you may ask, are we choosing to turn back the clock and revisit previous terrible times? Wouldn’t it be nicer to hear about something… happier? Strangely, in casting our eyes onto these difficult times, we see something strangely comforting: that we embody a story that is both firm and flexible, hopeful and realistic, and ultimately, strong and tested. It might not take away the acute pain you might be experiencing (and that’s very real!), but it might just take away any existential dread that’s weighing you down. Next (around 34:00), Stanford and Peter (and a toilet) get us acquainted with some of the fundamental features and most beautiful aspects of the New Testament Letters to prepare us as we dive into them next week (first up... James!).

You become the product of the communities in which you embed yourself. You become your communities– Stanford Gibson

If there was a list in some Google Doc somewhere of all the ideas that makes us excited to do College Life – this would be in the top 5, and it wouldn’t be number 5. In fact, we love this idea so much both for what it tells us about human beings, but also (as you’ll hear in this episode) what it tells us about worship, that we don’t really remember what it was like to hear it for the first time. So, we don’t know if this idea strikes you as good news, bad news, if you’re skeptical of its truthfulness, or somehow, strangely, all 3? But it animates much of what we do and think as a ministry – which is why we’re talking about it.  Peter Nittler and Stanford Gibson talk about the general premise, what it means for college students, what implications it has for who and what we worship, and how it leads to College Life’s cultural focus on both deep formation and deep fun. Plus, we give you an insight into Freshman-Peter and Freshman-Stanford. We can’t wait to be back in your earbuds. Oh! And welcome to Davis to all our new friends!

Book Recommendations:

"You know what plan never fails? No plan at all... With no plan, nothing can go wrong, and if something spins out of control, it doesn't matter." 

It’s the first edition of Podcorn Theology! On these episodes we’ll invite our audience to watch a movie, and then we will turn on our microphones and try to engage that movie in a theological discussion. This week: we’re talking about Just Mercy. The majority of our conversations will be in discussing the film by trying to listen closely to what the film is saying – what is the story it’s trying to tell? That’s step one. And step two is simply to start dialoguing with how that story relates to the story of our faith. We will be committed to a posture of humility, teachability, and expectation that God can meet us in the process and in the movies we see. May it be so! Enjoy the pod…

“Christians need not claim that non-Christian filmmakers are covert Christians or simply appropriate from their movies what is […] congruent with their understanding of the Christian faith. Rather, if viewers will join in community with a film’s storyteller, letting the movie’s images speak with their full integrity, they might be surprised to discover that they are hearing God as well. If this sounds surprising, it is no more so that Assyria was once God’s spokesperson to Israel” – Robert K. Johnston Reel Spirituality, 100

Books on Film and Theology:

...Rafik and Peter do some catching up in the beginning. If you want to jump straight to content, go to (15:23)...

Welcome to Season 2 of Your Pod and Your Staff. It’s good to be back! In many ways this kind of conversation feels new to College Life, but we think the events and aftermath of George Floyd’s death on May 25th demand a response, some hard thought, some honest reflection, and demand to be felt. That’s what we try to do in this conversation. Peter talks with College Life alum, Rafik Wahbi, just before he starts his Ph.D work at UCLA focusing on Public Health, addiction, and incarceration. Rafik has dedicated much of his academic, vocational, and personal life to thinking about and responding to issues of racism and justice and is a great voice to help us get our bearings in this conversation. You’ll hear Peter wrestle and ask questions and you’ll hear Rafik give historical, cultural, scientific, and theological insights into the moment.  As you’ll hear, the hope of this conversation is to help College Life, and anyone who listens, see more clearly. May it be so! Enjoy the Podcast!

Rafik’s Recommendations:

“College is the best years of your life!” One hears that sentiment quite a bit. It sounds great to a Freshman – it’s all ahead of you. But, if it’s true, it’s pretty devastating news to a graduating Senior – it’s all behind you.

We don’t believe it – at least not fully.  This is why we’ve always wanted to do college ministry in a way that makes these years the best you’ve experienced so far– growth, fun, knowledge, laughter, friendship – but that actually sets you up to make the next decade even better. That’s the whole idea of becoming complete and equipped – you’d be ready to thrive in whatever comes next. 

But like, what does come next? Once you return your cap and gown, what world are you walking into? In this conversation, Stanford, Miriam, and Peter look at three spheres of what life looks like after college: the social sphere (10:50), the vocational sphere (37:30), and the Church sphere (1:12:30). We touch on what to expect, what pitfalls to avoid, and what you can do to get to “thriving” more quickly. We believe this conversation is useful for every college student, and we also hope it blesses our graduates: we love you and can’t wait for your next decade. Enjoy the pod...

Stanford’s Book Recommendations:

Can I ask you a question? Do you like questions? No?! Why not? Yes?! Aren’t they best? Can I ask you another question? How do you think we arrive at wisdom? Is it that some are born with an innate knowledge while others aren’t? Or does wisdom grow more slowly and more organically? If that’s the case, where does wisdom start? Is it possible that it often starts with… a question? If that’s true, does it mean that anyone can start getting wisdom? Seems that way, doesn’t it? Didn’t Your Pod and Your Staff ask for students to write in questions? What ever happened to those? What if I told you that’s what this episode is all about? What’s the deal with free will? How can I actually forgive? Why does there need to be four Gospel accounts? Peter, Stanford, Miriam? Any thoughts on these questions and more? How could we not have thoughts? Are there going to be some fun questions, too? How could there not be some fun questions too? Are you tired of these questions? Why don't you just press play?

Will we be offended if you don’t want to hear us answer autobiographical questions at the beginning and want to skip straight to the content starting at 22:30? Is the sky blue?

ZOOM LINKS FOR UPCOMING EVENTS

SENIOR SUNDAY WATCH PARTY • Sunday May 31st • 11:11am

It’s the podcast conversation you didn’t know you wanted! “What comes to mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you.” AW Tozer said that in The Knowledge of the Holy and in many ways it’s the beating heart of this conversation. What do we think about God? That’s a distinctly different question than “who is God?” and it has massive implications for just about every aspect of our lives and how we view the world. This conversation centers around one prevailing answer Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton discovered from their groundbreaking sociological study uncovering the religious identities of young people. What they found is that many people, without even knowing it, believe what they called Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. Here are its 5 basic tenets.

1. A god exists who created and orders the world and watches over life on earth

2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions

3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself

4. God is not involved in my life except when I need God to resolve a problem

5. Good people go to heaven when they die.

In this episode, we talk about Moralistic Therapeutic Deism: What is it? How do we see it in our lives? And how does it compare to Christianity?

And, of course, Quarantine Corner.

If you’re interested in learning more about the topic:

Here’s something you already know: political conversation can often be… heated. But what if we turn down the temperature a little bit, start with an observation forged from meditating on the Scriptures as opposed start with a left / right dichotomy? Could it be something better? Maybe even something redemptive? That’s the goal of this conversation. Stanford Gibson brings the observations and Miriam Hamilton and Peter Nittler bring the questions. How should Christians be thinking politically? Is there a middle-ground between apathy and idolatry? All this and much more. We hope it feels like a different kind of political discussion. We hope you enjoy.

Resources:

We had a plan. A good plan. The College Life Spring Quarter teaching schedule was going to be – oh baby! After finishing laying out the story of the Old Testament in the Winter, we were primed for a chance to talk about the good stuff – the themes of the Old Testament and how it all points to Jesus Christ. The Coronavirus had other plans, and so now we’re putting ALL that Old Testament goodness into one episode. Here, Stanford Gibson, Miriam Hamilton, and Peter Nittler share their pitches of what would’ve been their Tuesday Night talks this Spring. There’s some good ideas – how did Jesus fulfill Messianic promises and hopes? Why does the word “remember” show up so much in these texts? And, there’s some ideas that will make you want to say, “yaa – you probably want to put that in the maybes”.  The Old Testament is hard, confusing, and can feel distant, we hope this conversation makes it feel easier, clearer, and closer to your life.

Resources:

Well folks, it’s that time of year! This episode marks the beginning of our journey to find the leaders who will make up The XII (College Life’s Leadership Team) in 2020-2021. Miriam Hamilton and Peter Nittler give you XII things to know about The XII – the vision behind it, the stories that have shaped it, and the hopes behind it. Then, at 45:45, the real magic begins as four (Roman Numeral IV) students tell you their stories of life on The XII. It’s a hoot! Whether you’re already interested in leading, not sure, or not at all, this conversation is tied very tightly to who we are and what we do – you won’t be bummed you gave it a listen.

Christian community is – what? A group of friends? An encouraging place to belong? Hopefully – yes. But there’s a more foundational image the New Testament wants us to see. We are to see each other as family. And that’s not just a fancy way of saying “really close”, it’s a fundamental shift on how we see and think about life together. Peter Nittler chats with speaker, author, and pastor Bronwyn Lea about this concept of community-as-family as well as what to do and how to think when the grand promises of Christian community feel like they are far from reality. If you’ve ever been confused by, hurt by, frustrated by, or disappointed in Christian community, this conversation is for you. As a disclaimer, this conversation was had over Zoom, and it can make the audio a bit wonky. Repentance abounds!

Sometimes large doors can swing on tiny hinges. Massive parts of our lives – like our joy, peace, and hope – can often swing on seemingly small, insignificant things. Things like our daily habits, routines, rhythms, and practices. That’s why we’re talking about them in this episode – because we think that the only way to thrive is to take these things seriously. We hope you enjoy this episode about some very important tiny hinges. Don’t forget to brush your teeth :).