The Rabbit Trails Podcast

Today Danny shares his song an we talk about creativity, connecting, creating space for a mind to be and more. 

In this the second recording of Rabbit Tunes, the guys each pick a song and talk through it. This is a three part series with Garrick first up. 

Character. It is what matters. Barrett recently watched the movie A Hidden Life, a profound movie about the life of a Christian in the middle of WW2 and the Nazi advance in Europe. The guys discuss the movie and what it says about following Jesus. 

We are finally back after a LONG hiatus for no reason other than what can be blamed on Spanish bureaucracy. Paul Duncan lives in Birmingham, UK, and works with Agape Europe helping to train leaders at all levels. Aside from being fun to speak with, Paul has great insights into what makes a leader, what is needed for future leaders in Europe, and how leadership has changed over the years. 

The 4th most popular religious podcast in Croatia is expanding its empire! We talk a lot about art, music, and culture on The Rabbit Trails Podcast, so we have decided that from time to time we will be joined by our friend Danny Piangerelli to discuss music, movies, and art and how we can better understand God as a result. True to form on this podcast, we just decided to press record and give you the results unfiltered. We went on for a bit and eventually trail off into the wild conversations of life...welcome to the Rabbit Tunes Podcast

Robin Pou is a leadership expert, having consulted with many of today's highest-level business and government leaders. Robin joins us to discuss what real leadership looks like, what misconceptions we need to slay, and what the future of leadership looks like. 

What in the world is leadership anyway? Gary Runn joins us to take a deep dive. 

Should we be focusing on building skills in leaders or character? We discuss a problem that vexes us to a certain extent, while so much secular literature focuses on building character in leaders, much Christian literature is still focused on skills building. 

Nolan Sharp is just that. Sharp. We have a great conversation with Nolan who has been living in Coratia for 20+ years and brings a wealth of wisdom and experience to missions. 

Today we talk about music and one of the world's greatest theologians, Bono, and why this is important to making Jesus known in this world. 

How have missions changed as the world is becoming more interconnected? How has it changed now that "traditional" mission fields are sending to the world? How have missions changed as Christians from cultures less powerful and culturally dominant that the "west" are sending people all over? We talk about this and more with Josh Irby, staff with Cru City. 

This episode we talk about some needed shifts in our paradigms and modes of Evangelism. 

Shane and Shane once sang "When did I replace serving you with knowing you? The trappings of "serving" God can often be that the professional Christian makes an idol out of "building the kingdom."

We often talk about how we cannot really reverse engineer movements that have been seen around the world. So why bother with a list of preconditions for outreach? Well, these particular preconditions can help us to gauge how we ourselves are doing in our Christian life and to prepare our labors and the ground for the gospel. 

Today we think out loud. So, this is like every other podcast that we have done...What is the connection between evangelism and play? Do we stop playing as adults? Or does our play become more sophisticated? If it does, is it possible that evangelism and play are connected? 

What is a movement? We use that word rather loosely in this day and age and we call a lot of things movement which maybe aren't actually movements. Are organizations movements? Were they once movements and now aren't? How does it actually work? Well, don't get us wrong, HR departments and the like of various organizations are essential to the organization, but it is important that we understand if what makes a movement is actually the idea or the structure. We foray into this a bit...

It worked! Great. Now what? Is it possible to learn the wrong lessons from success? We think so. 

People deconstructing their faith is a real thing and needs to be taken seriously. Reconstructing is also a real thing and also needs to be talked about. We wade into this topic again, hoping to process a little bit more along the way. 

How is technology adding to the burnout that we are feeling as a society? 

After a VERY long hiatus, we are back and as RabbitTrail-y as ever. Eventually we land on the ever-present subject of digital and what we should be doing. It's a struggle, let's be honest. How much is possible for organizations and churches? I mean, how much is REALLY feasible? In this season, this is a topic we are going to come back to again and again, hopefully with some great guests to help us along. Thanks for listening!

Barrett and Garrick give some behind the scenes on Barrett and his family's coming move to Santiago de Compostela. It's a frank talk about the fun of a new adventure, the fears you face as a missionary, and the joys of following Jesus.

Listen to us "process out loud" the tension that we all feel between digital tools and being a physical presence in ministry. 

Covid and lockdowns have just turned 1! And so has the podcast! Sans guest, we take some time to reflect over the last year and what are some lessons we have learned along the way. 

Callum is a European living in Texas. We are Texans living in Europe. It is destiny that we would talk! Callum helps to run Alpha courses in Dallas, Texas, and has seen so many good things through them. Alpha is a great means of introducing people to Jesus in our post-modern society. 

Sarah Blakeney loves Millennials and has some really great insights into what makes them tick, how they see the world, and what they will be contributing to the church now and into the future. This is a must-listen if you are in ministry today.

Jason Clark is a pastor in the UK and all around great guy. His wisdom and gentleness are immediately apparent to all. We talked about consumerism in the church and how to create discipleship within it. You can find everything Jason does at www.jasonswanclark.org

After wrapping up some really great guests, we see a theme emerging. Leadership. It turns out it is more than what you think. Tod Bolsinger and Steve Cuss had some really great things to say to us and we begin to apply this to what it means to lead like Jesus. 

Steve Cuss joins us to talk about anxiety, leading, missions, and more. 

Tod Bolsinger is a Senior Fellow of the De Pree Center for Leadership and Associate Professor of Leadership Formation at Fuller Theological Seminary. Tod was the founder of the Fuller Leadership Platform, an innovative approach to online formation and leadership development, and served as a Vice President of Fuller Seminary for six years. www.depree.org/church Tod's incredible book on adaptive leadership Canoeing the Mountains and his latest book Tempered Resilience are must-reads for anyone trying to navigate the current realities of COVID, Post Modernism, and the end of Christendom. 

Everyone is a missionary. Yes...and no. Missions serves a purpose in God's kingdom and we think its specific role should be well understood and preserved. 

Stefan Paas is a Dutch theologian, missiologist, and church planter. He knows from experience what it means to labor in tough circumstances and brings a vast amount of experience, reflection, and good theology to the practice. We hope to have him on again soon as his insights are so important and we feel like we just touched the surface. 

The name of the podcast is called Rabbit Trails for crying out loud. We didn't have a clue where this was going. I'm not really sure I still do. Vintage Barrett and Garrick.

You all know how much Garrick and Barrett talk about the Camino de Santiago and in one of our earlier podcasts, we talked about the documentary entitled I'll Push you, the story of two friends walk along the Camino one in a wheelchair and the other pushing. Patrick Gray and Justin Skeesuck join us to talk about their journey, faith, life, and a few laughs as well. Check out all of their work at https://www.illpushyou.com/

You all know how much Garrick and Barrett talk about the Camino de Santiago and in one of our earlier podcasts, we talked about the documentary entiteld I'll Push you, the story of two friends walk along the Camino one in a wheelchair and the other pushing. Patrick Gray and Justin Skeesuck join us to talk about their journey, faith, life and a few laughs as well. Check out all of their work at https://www.illpushyou.com/

We take some time to reflect and ponder the great guests we have had on lately. What are our takeaways and what struck us?

No, not that Randy Newman. Randy David Newman is a fellow with the CS Lewis Institute, and a fantastic mind and resource when it comes to evangelism and things we should be focusing on in secular western contexts. 

Maxwell Thomas is a pastor, missionary, Minnesotan, and all around great guy. Maxwell comes from a family of missionaries who gave it their all in Papau New Guinea and is heading out with his own family to the Middle East this week! He brings some really great insights into what it means to follow Jesus in a real way and shares his thoughts on being comfortable as a Christian in western society. Maxwell also hosts a podcast entitled Upon This Rock. Give it a listen here

Shawn and Deb live in Spain and have started an initiative to minister to the secular peoples of Western Europe. They have done a lot of serious, important thinking on what it means to be secular and have some really great thoughts to share. Thanks for stopping by!

There seems to be a bit of social contagion around people deconstructing their faith these days. To be honest, some parts of faith need to be deconstructed. But which parts? This important conversation needs ot to happen more openly and honestly in the community of faith and within that community, there needs to be a place for reconstructing the parts that fall. 

Being a missionary is learning to communicate and think cross-culturally. Heck, being alive in the modern world is itself an exercise in living cross-culturally! But how do you do it? Far from experts in life, but with a few trips around the block and more mistakes than we care to remember, we share a few of the things we have learned. Whether you are living in a foreign country or just trying to understand the place you grew up, we think these things can be of service.    Thanks for stopping by! Please share the podcast with a friend and leave us a review on iTunes. 

Burnout. It's not just a river in Egypt. Burnout and a lack of resiliency has been a main contributor to missionaries leaving the field, but also now in Europe to Europeans in their home country leaving ministry as well. In this attempt, we try to put words to what we are seeing and how we think it can be avoided.    As always, thanks for stopping by and please do leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts!

Ok, we talk about the Camino de Santiago A LOT. We get it. But it is so interesting! Barrett and the Family have just returned from walking the last 120km together and the guys take this time to discuss what it is like to walk the Camino with a family versus walking it without family. Completely different Caminos for sure, but both very much worth it.

We take an episode to talk about books that we find interesting and impactful. Maybe you have read some, maybe you get a few ideas. 

After a bit of a summer break the guys revisit some of the realities of the present times, discussing whether or not we face the changing of everything or the continuation of life and all the rest. 

Missions and missionaries have fallen on hard times in some circles these days. Today the guys take up a brief but important discussion around the topic and why missions matters and how it has changed. 

Has Europe really changed? Let's talk about it. 

Today we talk with Samuel Perez, former staff with Agape Spain and all around incredible guy. We talk about how to reach this current world around us and journey with Sam from his roots as a Catholic to working with a Protestant Evangelical organization to his training to become an Anglican priest. 

The reality of COVID-19 has led to the widespread usage of the word, "Unprecedented." Is it though? Barrett ponders the meaning of the word, our lack of historical perspective to allow us to use such words, and then turns it to think a little deeper into the human response to such matters, reflecting on why we as Christians in times of crisis turn to control and false idols. Also, it's short!

Today we talk with Barrett's long time friend and fellow laborer, Michael Mettetal. It is a true treat to get to speak with Michael as he is one of the most thoughtful and deep people we know, a veritable font of wisdom. We talk about evangelism and how at its core, to be done correctly, it must be a selfless act.