Podcasts about fuller seminary

A poet who has lived two decades with incurable cancer on what faith sounds like when God feels more absent than present. Christian Wiman joins Mark Labberton to talk poetry, suffering, and friendship. "The presence of God, less so. I experience the absence more than the presence." In this episode with Mark Labberton, Wiman reflects on writing "Every Riven Thing" after a single church service, surviving a last-resort clinical trial, and the friendship behind his new book with Miroslav Volf. Together they discuss the paradox at the heart of poetry, grief that explodes into joy, and why joy asks something of us. They also weigh Heschel and Lewis's clarity, the friendless American male, and chance turned into destiny by constant choice. Episode Highlights "The presence of God, less so. I experience the absence more than the presence." "I would not let go of my despair, even though the poems were showing me something else." "Joy asks something of us on the other side." "The relief came from the communion between people." "I think that that was quite a shock to me to realize that we were each envying what the other had." About Christian Wiman Christian Wiman is a poet, essayist, editor, and translator, and the Clement-Muehl Professor of Communication Arts at Yale Divinity School, where he teaches religion and literature with the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. From 2003 to 2013 he edited Poetry, the oldest magazine of verse in the English-speaking world, tripling its circulation and earning two National Magazine Awards. He is the author, editor, or translator of more than a dozen books, including Every Riven Thing, the memoirs My Bright Abyss and He Held Radical Light, and the genre-blending Zero at the Bone. A former Guggenheim Fellow with two honorary doctorates, he has written candidly about faith and a long struggle with incurable cancer. Helpful Links and Resources Glimmerings: Letters on Faith Between a Poet and a Theologian https://bookshop.org/p/books/glimmerings-letters-on-faith-between-a-poet-and-a-theologian-christian-wiman/1a13ad79a59080d1 My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer https://bookshop.org/p/books/my-bright-abyss-meditation-of-a-modern-believer-christian-wiman/dcebbe4f049250d8 Zero at the Bone: Fifty Entries Against Despair https://penguinbookshop.com/book/9780374603458 Show Notes Author, editor, translator of a dozen-plus books Twenty years living with an incurable cancer diagnosis Editing Poetry magazine amid Ruth Lilly's $200 million gift From editor to Yale Divinity School on one bold letter A last-resort clinical trial: "I definitely thought it was over" "Every Riven Thing" written in under an hour after a first church service Inventing a new poetic form on the spot Compression and paradox: "a great poem is irreducible" "Bittersweet": "all my sour sweet days I will lament and love" Simone Weil's Gravity and Grace and Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping Absence and presence: "I experience the absence more than the presence" My Bright Abyss and the chapter "God's Truth is Life" "From a Window": grief that suddenly explodes into birds and joy "I would not let go of my despair, even though the poems were showing me something else" Zadie Smith and C.S. Lewis on joy too destabilizing to want "joy asks something of us on the other side" The rare clarity of Heschel and Lewis, marrying reason and imagination Glimmerings: eighteen months of letters with Miroslav Volf "After angels" and a transforming walk near the Div School "the relief came from the communion between people" Friendship and the friendless American male "we were each envying what the other had" West Texas: an expanse "wide open and annihilating, crushing" Ricoeur: chance turned into a destiny by virtue of a constant choice #ChristianWiman #MarkLabberton #Conversing #PoetryAndFaith #Glimmerings #MyBrightAbyss #FaithAndDoubt #MiroslavVolf Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.

Mark Scandrette has spent over twenty years wrestling with a hard realization: knowing a lot about God doesn't mean you're good at following Jesus. Dave Kludt spent fifteen years in pastoral ministry learning that everything, down to how you arrange the chairs in a room, forms people. Together they co-teach a Doctor of Ministry cohort at Fuller Seminary built around two words: integral and embodied. Mark is the founder of Reimagine and author of Practicing the Way of Jesus and The Ninefold Path of Jesus, and a longtime friend of the podcast (he first joined us back on episode 112). Dave is the president of Reimagine's board, a former pastor of 15 years, and Mark's partner in this new cohort, a Substack, and an upcoming podcast.IN THIS CONVERSATION:Why "getting more information" doesn't lead to transformation, and what doesWhat Dave means by an "integral" approach to formation, and why it starts with facing the world's fractures honestlyWhat Mark means by "embodied" formation, and the Learning Lab model Reimagine uses to teach by doingWhy the leader of a Learning Lab has to be a participant, not just an expertMoving from a "closed fist" to an "open hand" posture toward your next stepWhy discomfort with failure gets in the way of formation in many churchesHow Mark and Dave use the Enneagram as a formation tool, not a personality quizThe "formation edges" Mark and Dave are each working on right nowMark and Dave's hopes for the Fuller Doctor of Ministry cohort on integral and embodied formationRELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:markscandrette.com — Mark's websitereimagine.org — Mark and Dave's organizationFuller Seminary's Doctor of Ministry programBooks mentioned:Practicing the Way of Jesus, by Mark ScandretteThe Ninefold Path of Jesus, by Mark ScandretteRELATED EPISODES:The Beatitudes and Spiritual Leadership, with Mark ScandretteThe Spiritual Life of a Leader, with Tod BolsingerThe Neuroscience of Spiritual Formation, with Jim WilderSend me a text! I'd love to know what you're thinking!Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

What it means to live a flourishing life has been one of the most animating questions of my career, and the brilliant, complex, nuanced conversations I had this season convinced me more than than ever: we are absolutely dependent on the world around us, on our friendships, our families, our communities, for all of us to become more fully alive. Our extraordinary guests on this season of With & For offered a powerful blueprint on how to thrive.  In this episode, I reflect on some of the most powerful lessons, invitations and insights of this past season. Thank you so much for lending us your ears and your time this season.  –Dr. Pam King With & For is a podcast of the Thrive Center, an applied research center that exists to catalyze a movement of human thriving, with and for others through spiritual health. Learn more at thethrivecenter.org Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenter Follow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King hosts With & For, and is the Executive Director of the Thrive Center and the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary. Follow her @drpamking. About With & For Host: Pam King Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook Operations Manager: Lauren Kim Social Media & Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen Senior Producer: Clare Wiley Executive Producer: Jakob Lewis Produced by Great Feeling Studios Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and Fuller Seminary's School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. The podcast was made possible through the support from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

If you're silently suffering under the weight of depression, anxiety, shame, grief, and spiritual doubt, Dominique Young helps you discover the nearness of a God who does not shy away from your brokenness. In this safe space, you are invited to take off your mask, confront your hidden pain, and be seen by God for who you truly are―beloved.Far from a quick fix or feel-good message, God, Where Are You? is a vulnerable, faith-filled journey that uses heartfelt storytelling and practical tools to help you wrestle with real emotions and deep questions―like how to deal with failure, how to find your true identity, and more.Practical tools include:Tracing God Devotionals: Explore Bible verses at the end of each chapter and learn how to recognize God's character and presence even in hard places.Reflection Questions: Through self-examination, you can heal deeply and receive clarity, healing, and personal revelation.Prayers: Each chapter includes heartfelt prayers that bridge raw emotion and spiritual intimacy, modeling honest and hopeful dialogue with God.God, Where Are You? is not just a book to be read―it's a healing journey to be walked. With authenticity, compassion, and biblical grounding, Dominique is your traveling companion to uncover the life-giving truth: even in the silence, God is near.Dominique Young is the founder of Faith Mamas Inc. (Faith Family Worldwide), a community of more than 6,000 Christian women and a private app serving over 1,700 believers. She helps people break free from fear through Scripture and has been featured on the Don't Mom Alone podcast and The Refreshed Moms Podcast. Dominique holds a psychology degree from Hampton University and a master's in theology from Fuller Seminary. She is also a devoted wife and a mother of four.Here is a safe space for your deepest questions and your hidden pain.Interview OutlineWas there a particular moment or life experience that inspired you to write God, Where Are You? How did your own spiritual and mental health shape the stories and insights that you share in your book?You invite readers to confront grief and doubt with honest faith. What advice would you give to someone who wants to experience God's presence as they contend with unresolved pain or unanswered prayers? You emphasize that faith and healing can coexist with suffering. Why is it important for Christians to understand that healing is often a multifaceted or lengthy process?You mention in your book that some trauma victims process grief and pain on their own because they are afraid of turning to a therapist for help. What are some common fears that prevent people from seeking out a therapist? What would you say to encourage them to be open to therapy? How can faith communities better support those who are suffering from depression and anxiety?One of your goals when writing God, Where Are You? was to help readers put on a new identity rooted in the Holy Spirit. For women who are feeling stuck in pride or self-reliance or shame or guilt about past mistakes: What first steps should they take to begin to embrace their new identity? You encourage readers to drop their “masks.” What does that mean, and what might that entail from day to day?God, Where Are You? helps readers identify lies from their pasts that have skewed their self-perception. Give us an example of a common lie related to one's identity that individuals need to replace with God's truth.Follow Dominique On:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dominiquenyoung/

What does it take to rehumanize our common life in a moment of cultural fragility, institutional collapse, and crisis of trust? Recorded at the Washington National Cathedral for Comment magazine's inaugural Understory Festival, this roundtable asks how culture, beauty, and faith might rehumanize a fractured public life. Mark Labberton is joined by Comment editor-in-chief Anne Snyder, The Sacred host Elizabeth Oldfield, Washington Post columnist Shadi Hamid, and Cardus co-founder Ray Pennings. "It is actually possible to have deep roots and wide open arms." In this episode, the panel reflects on building a gathering rooted in hope and Christian humanism rather than argument alone. They discuss why and how politics is downstream from culture, the role of religion in the public square, the limits of purely cerebral ways of knowing, toxic positivity versus honest hope, pluralism with deep roots, the beauty of "groaning," and learning to die well. Episode Highlights "It is actually possible to have deep roots and wide open arms."—Anne Snyder "Naturally as a Muslim, I don't agree with Christianity's truth claims, but that doesn't mean that I can't appreciate the beauty of Christianity."—Shadi Hamid "The word that's been coming to me this whole festival is and."—Elizabeth Oldfield "Politics is downstream from culture."—Ray Pennings "We're all made to worship, it's just a question of what we worship."—Shadi Hamid About the Guests Anne Snyder is editor-in-chief of Comment, a magazine published by Cardus, and convener of the Understory Festival. She hosts The Whole Person Revolution podcast and wrote The Fabric of Character. Elizabeth Oldfield hosts The Sacred podcast, is a former director of UK think tank Theos, and author of Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times. Shadi Hamid is a Washington Post columnist, senior fellow at Georgetown's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, co-host of Zealots at the Gate, and author of The Case for American Power. Ray Pennings co-founded Cardus in 2000 and serves as its executive vice president and Comment's publisher. Helpful Links and Resources The Understory Festival: https://comment.org/understory/ Comment magazine: https://comment.org Cardus: https://www.cardus.ca The Understory, by Lore Ferguson Wilbert (the book behind the name): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1587435705 Elizabeth Oldfield, Fully Alive: https://www.elizabetholdfield.com The Sacred podcast: https://linktr.ee/sacredpodcast Zealots at the Gate: https://comment.org/podcasts/zealots-at-the-gate/ Shadi Hamid, The Case for American Power: https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/shadi-hamid/ Show Notes Understory Festival, National Cathedral Local hope, national despair Naming the festival: the Lore Ferguson Wilbert book Festival, not conference—body, mind, heart, soul Cardus, a faith-based think tank "Politics is downstream from culture."—Ray Pennings Ways of knowing as the "secret sauce" A Muslim observer among his favorite Christians "I don't agree with Christianity's truth claims, but that doesn't mean that I can't appreciate the beauty of Christianity."—Shadi Hamid Culture as the path out of despair Weeping beside someone rolling their eyes Groaning beauty and Romans 8 Dying well—euthanasia, deathbeds, Ben Sasse The secular paradigm at a dead end "We're all made to worship, it's just a question of what we worship."—Shadi Hamid Madeleine Albright's "theophany" on faith in diplomacy Moral ambition and the power of "and" "The word that's been coming to me this whole festival is and."—Elizabeth Oldfield Christian humanism—rights endowed by a Creator Luke Bretherton—start with the neighbor's need Hospitality—a guest, not an enemy "It is actually possible to have deep roots and wide open arms."—Anne Snyder Surface versus depth—showing what's underneath #UnderstoryFestival #Comment #ChristianHumanism #PublicTheology #ShadiHamid #ElizabethOldfield #AnneSnyder #Cardus #Pluralism #Hope Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.

“The question ‘What are you?'… it's a question that's asked as a demand for this person in front of you to make themselves legible to you… ‘You don't fit my categories; I don't know what to do with you.'” In this episode of Centering: The Asian American Christian Podcast, hosts Daniel Lee and Yulee Lee talk with Courtney Turner, chair of the Department of Global Studies and Assistant Professor of Intercultural and Global Studies at Southern Nazarene University, and a Research Fellow for Formation and Mixed Race Studies at Fuller's Asian American Center. Drawing from her own story as a second-generation mixed race, fifth-generation Asian American, Courtney explores the complexity of mixed race identity, the pain of not being “enough” to belong, and how the church can better love and pastor mixed-identity Asian Americans (including mixed race, mixed ethnicity, and adoptees). The conversation also highlights the role of media representation, problematic questions like “What are you?”, and why language and formation spaces are crucial for healing. Resources Mentioned Kip Fulbeck, Part Asian, 100% Hapa – Photo and narrative project featuring mixed-race Asian Americans, including follow-up portraits years later to show how self-descriptions change over time. Bill of Rights for people of mixed heritage: https://www.apa.org/pubs/videos/4310742-rights.pdf Fuller's Asian American Center - aac.fuller.edu Sign up to receive more updates from the AAC: https://aac.fuller.edu/newsletter/ If you appreciate the work we do at the Asian American Center at Fuller Seminary, please consider supporting us! Your monetary support sustains our vital work and expands Asian American research, leadership development, and pastoral formation for the Church in the year ahead. Donate here: fuller.edu/giveaac.

Poet Christian Wiman and theologian Miroslav Volf wrote each other letters in which they wrestled honestly with the big questions: what does it mean to love God? What is faith?  Letter writing deepened the friendship between these two intellectuals as they wrestled with their questions about faith and the nature of God.  The longings they discuss speak to our deepest needs for transcendence and connection.  If we're going to transcend muffled lives and cut through the noise, we need a sharp, almost brutal honesty. These letters were published in Glimmerings: Letters on Faith Between a Poet and a Theologian. The book is named after a Seamus Heaney line: “glimmerings are what the soul's composed of”.  Miroslav Volf is a Croatian-American theologian Miroslav Volf is the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and founder and director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. Christian Wiman is a poet, translator, and essayist from West Texas. He served as editor of Poetry magazine from 2003 to 2013. Discussed in this episode:   Jewish theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel  Veni Creator by Czesław Miłosz Zero at the Bone by Christian Wiman With & For is a podcast of the Thrive Center, an applied research center that exists to catalyze a movement of human thriving, with and for others through spiritual health. Learn more at thethrivecenter.org. Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenter Follow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King hosts With & For, and is the Executive Director of the Thrive Center and the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary. Follow her @drpamking. About With & For Host: Pam King Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook Operations Manager: Lauren Kim Social Media & Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen Senior Producer: Clare Wiley Executive Producer: Jakob Lewis Produced by Great Feeling Studios Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and Fuller Seminary's School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. The podcast was made possible through the support from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

When a faith built to bless the nation gets quietly diverted into power, the most dangerous act left to the church may be refusing to whitewash the story and choosing instead to become a communion of genuinely unlike people. On the eve of a national prayer rally rededicating America to God, Mark Labberton joined The Jim Wallis Podcast to ask whether Christians who invoke the nation's name are following Jesus or drifting from him. Together with Jim Wallis, Mark reflects on what it means to choose Christ alone, love the neighbour, and refuse a faith fused to national power. They discuss the evangel versus "evangelicalism," the church as a communion of unlike people, worship in a black church, American exceptionalism as theological crisis, and racial gerrymandering after recent court rulings. Episode Highlights "I want to be evangel-centric and not be caught up in the icalisms of a history, a pattern, a habit, a sociology that has often been diverted from the evangel into power—political, social, economic, racial power." "Paul's giving us a vision of the church that's a communion of unlike people. We know a lot about a communion of like people. But a communion of unlike people is meant to be one of the hallmarks of the church." "I can't be a Christian alone, but I also can't be a Christian that matures if I'm a Christian only with people who are like me." "Worship of our country, or the exceptionalism of leaders of our country—these are completely foreign to the body of Christ and to the theology of the kingdom." "It's really like subverting reality by renaming it in a way that's euphemistic, that's literally whitewashing." Helpful Links and Resources The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor, by Mark Labberton https://www.ivpress.com/the-dangerous-act-of-loving-your-neighbor Called, by Mark Labberton https://www.ivpress.com/called The False White Gospel, by Jim Wallis https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250291899/thefalsewhitegospel/ Jim Wallis, Center on Faith and Justice https://faithandjustice.georgetown.edu/about-jim-wallis/ God's Politics with Jim Wallis (Substack): https://jimwallis.substack.com/ Show Notes Recorded on the eve of the Rededicate 250 prayer rally Loving your neighbour as a dangerous, costly act Gratitude for America alongside a "far more complicated story" of suffering "Christ alone"—Jesus, not any nation, party, or president, is Lord "The evangel is the good news of Jesus Christ"; nothing can rival it "A communion of unlike people is meant to be one of the hallmarks of the church." White allies, Black solidarity, and Supreme Court rulings on Louisiana and Alabama A friend's anniversary in African garb—living fully "on good days, maybe two-thirds" Detroit, Black churches, and faith as joyous rediscovery Worshiping at Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland every Sunday Saying yes to the evangel, no to the "icalism" of evangelicalism John Stott as mentor; the Lausanne Covenant and Global South Stott's wartime pacifism; a father who stopped speaking for four years American exceptionalism as a theological crisis, not just left-versus-right "America's original sin," erasing history, and "literally whitewashing" First citizenship in the kingdom; the moral arc bends toward justice #MarkLabberton #JimWallis #Conversing #ChristianNationalism #ChristAlone #LoveYourNeighbor #PublicTheology #FaithAndPolitics Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary. Acknowledgements Special thanks to Jim Wallis and Paul Woodhull.

The first step in finding meaning and purpose in our lives is radical acceptance of the present moment.  Dave Evans is the co-founder of the Life Design Lab at Stanford, which applies principles of design thinking to our lives. Dave and his co-founder Bill Burnett wrote the hugely popular 2016 bestseller Designing Your Life. Their new book out this year is How to Live a Meaningful Life: Using Design Thinking to Unlock Purpose, Joy, and Flow Everyday.  After listening to this episode, you'll know the three barriers that get in the way of meaning making. You'll be armed with simple yet powerful practices to savor the here and now, and you'll learn how to step your gratitude exercise up a notch.  Dave holds a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford and a graduate diploma in Contemplative Spirituality from San Francisco Theological Seminary. He is Lecturer on the Product Design Program at Stanford, Management Consultant, and co-founder of Electronic Arts.  Mentioned in this episode: Falling Upward by  Richard Rohr  Spem in Alium Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl With & For is a podcast of the Thrive Center, an applied research center that exists to catalyze a movement of human thriving, with and for others through spiritual health. Learn more at thethrivecenter.org.Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenterFollow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King hosts With & For, and is the Executive Director of the Thrive Center and the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary. Follow her @drpamking. About With & For Host: Pam King Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook Operations Manager: Lauren Kim Social Media & Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen Senior Producer: Clare Wiley Executive Producer: Jakob Lewis Produced by Great Feeling Studios Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and Fuller Seminary's School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. The podcast was made possible through the support from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

What are you actually doing when you read the Bible? Interpretation. Every time we open the text, we're already choosing which questions to ask, which lenses to bring, and whose interests get served by the answers we land on. In this episode, I sit down with Jennifer Garcia Bashaw and Aaron Higashi, authors of Serving Up Scripture, to talk about what responsible interpretation looks like, why certainty works against it, and how the same passages have been used both to enslave and to liberate. We also walk through different types of questions to ask while reading scripture.Jennifer Garcia Bashaw is a professor at Campbell University and an ordained Baptist minister. She has a PhD in New Testament from Fuller Seminary and is the author of Scapegoats: The Gospel through the Eyes of Victims and John for Normal People: A Guide through the Drama and Depth of the Fourth Gospel.Aaron Higashi is a public Bible scholar with a PhD in biblical interpretation from Chicago Theological Seminary. He writes Bible commentaries, including 1 & 2 Samuel for Normal People: A Guide to Prophets, Kings, and Some Pretty Terrible Men, and answers Bible questions on Instagram at @abhigashi.Jennifer and Aaron's Book:Serving Up ScriptureJennifer's Recommendation:Reading the Women of the BibleConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.comGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeSupport the podcast and the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link below Support the show

In this insightful interview, Dr. Gary Tyra discusses the transformative power of sacramental preaching, emphasizing the Holy Spirit's role in creating genuine encounters with God through sermons. This discussion explores the theological foundations, practical applications, and the importance of discernment in preaching that is prophetic, incarnational, and Spirit-empowered. Pick up a copy of Sacramental Sermons: Prophetic, Incarnational, Truly Transformative.

Father Greg Boyle has spent nearly four decades alongside gang members in Los Angeles, founding Homeboy Industries from the poorest parish in the city. "An employed gang member may or may not go back to prison, but a healed one won't ever go back to prison." In this episode with Mark Labberton, Boyle reflects on what heals a life inside the world's largest gang-intervention program. Together they discuss tenderness as the highest form of spiritual maturity, kinship as the true goal (with peace and justice as byproducts), why "the poor evangelize you," why demonizing collapses on both political sides, and the mental-health roots of homelessness and gang life. Episode Highlights "The whole incarnation was necessary, not because of sin or salvation even. It's just, for me, it's God's love needed to become tender." "I think that's the singular agenda item for our God is just to look at you and say, 'Ah, you're here.'" "No kinship, no peace. No kinship, no justice. No kinship, no equality. It's how it works." "An employed gang member may or may not go back to prison, but a healed one won't ever go back to prison." "There aren't good guys and bad guys, you know? And God doesn't see it that way, as hard as that is for us to conceive." About Greg Boyle Father Gregory Boyle, SJ, is an American Jesuit priest and the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, the largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the world. A native Angeleno, he served as pastor of Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights from 1986 to 1992. In 2024 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, along with the California Peace Prize and Notre Dame's 2017 Laetare Medal. He is the bestselling author of Tattoos on the Heart, Barking to the Choir, The Whole Language, and Cherished Belonging. Learn more and follow at homeboyindustries.org and @homeboyindustries on Instagram. Helpful Links and Resources Cherished Belonging (2024): https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Cherished-Belonging/Gregory-Boyle/9781668061855 Tattoos on the Heart: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Tattoos-on-the-Heart/Gregory-Boyle/9781439153154 Homeboy Industries: https://homeboyindustries.org Father Greg's bio: https://homeboyindustries.org/our-story/father-greg/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homeboyindustries L'Arche International: https://www.larche.org Show Notes Native Angeleno; Catholic, family-of-eight upbringing in Mid-Wilshire Why the Jesuits: hilarity, prophetic witness, anti-Vietnam protest "There is no difference actually between what God wants for you and what you most deeply want" Bolivia, 1984: liberation theology and the indigenous Jesuits "The poor evangelize you" Assigned to Dolores Mission—poorest parish in LA, highest concentration of gang activity "A vocation within a vocation within a vocation" The decade of death, 1988–98, and burying kids Birth of Homeboy: school, "felony-friendly" jobs, nine businesses "Nobody thinks anything up. You evolve." Tattoos on the Heart and the discipline of paying attention "I had been drowning in the shallow end of my own thoughts… Homeboy taught me to stand up" Tenderness as the highest form of spiritual maturity—L'Arche "God's love needed to become tender"—a different theology of incarnation "Ah, you're here"—the singular agenda item of God Kinship as God's dream; peace, justice, equality as byproducts "No kinship, no peace. No kinship, no justice. No kinship, no equality." "There aren't good guys and bad guys… God doesn't see it that way" Homelessness rooted in despair, trauma, mental illness "An employed gang member may or may not go back to prison, but a healed one won't ever go back" LA County Jail as the largest mental institution in the world Friendship as the secret diagnosis—and the primacy of relationship #HomeboyIndustries #GregBoyle #ConversingPodcast #RadicalKinship #Tenderness #Compassion #FaithAndJustice #GangIntervention #Jesuit Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.

Educational psychologist, researcher and author Dr. Todd Rose has one of the most unusual journeys of any academic. Todd dropped out of high school, became a father at a young age, and went on welfare to support his family.  Recognizing his own distinctive talents changed everything for Todd. He realized that humans are not cookie cutters: we have unique gifts, but that is not the same as individualism. We are fundamentally connected to one another. Todd went on to get a masters and doctorate from Harvard, before co-founding Populace, a thinktank which aims to research and understand individuality so people can live fulfilling lives.   In this conversation, Todd talks about our deep yearning to belong – but also the dangers of assuming we know what the group thinks, and the perils of conforming. He also explains why we're in an epidemic of resentment – and what you can do about it in your own life.  Todd's books: The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness 2016 Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment 2018  Collective Illusions: Conformity, Complicity, and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions 2022 With & For is a podcast of the Thrive Center, an applied research center that exists to catalyze a movement of human thriving, with and for others through spiritual health. Learn more at thethrivecenter.org. Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenter Follow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King hosts With & For, and is the Executive Director of the Thrive Center and the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary. Follow her @drpamking. About With & For Host: Pam King Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook Operations Manager: Lauren Kim Social Media & Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen Senior Producer: Clare Wiley Executive Producer: Jakob Lewis Produced by Great Feeling Studios Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and Fuller Seminary's School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. The podcast was made possible through the support from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

How does Jesus-shaped change happen? It happens when you commit God's Word to your heart, give it time to grow, water His Word with prayer and continuously tend to the soil of your heart. Continue listening to find out more about HOW to do just that!▶SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/SouthernHillsLV▶Do you know Jesus as your Savior? https://www.southernhillslv.com/the-gospel▶ DONATE: https://pushpay.com/g/southernhills?src=hpp&r=monthly▶ Visit Southern Hills: https://www.southernhillslv.com/▶ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/southernhillslv▶ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/southernhillslv/Pastor Brian Krum serves as the Discipleship Pastor at Southern Hills Church in Las Vegas. He has an undergrad in Cross-cultural Sociology from UC Irvine, a Masters of Divinity from Palmer Seminary, and a Doctorate in Missional Leadership from Fuller Seminary. Before coming to Southern Hills, he served for 28 years in New Zealand in various roles including youth pastor, teaching pastor, seminary professor, and the leader of National Youth Ministries.

A Spiritual Journey for the Unconverted - A Critique of Practicing the Way, presented by Barb Gretch and Bob DeWaay. We show that spiritual formation is not a biblical category. We address the spiritual process prescribed by Fuller Seminary and cited in Comer's book. It is appealing to religious consumers but fails to give them what they most need the gospel. (duration 00:22:15) Click here to play

In this special episode recorded live at Fuller Seminary's Houston, TX campus, the Micah Mobilizers are joined by local pastors and Fuller faculty for a conversation about fear, formation, and the church's witness in a divided world. Using the Supreme Court's recent gutting of the Voting Rights Act and the rise of authoritarianism as a backdrop, the group wrestles with the ways fear has shaped Christian imagination, how scarcity and control can distort the gospel, and what it looks like to re-center the church on the abundance, love, and way of Jesus. Where is God at work right now, and what does faithful, hopeful resistance look like?Special guests include Houston pastors:Joseph Yoo, Founding Pastor at Mosaic Episcopal Church; Mia Wright, Co-Pastor at The Fountain of Praise; andBrandon Alred, Lead Pastor at Redemption ChurchAnd Fuller Seminary faculty:Jaclyn Williams, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Preaching and Chaplaincy;Collin Cornell, Assistant Professor of Bible and Mission; and Jennifer Ackerman, Assistant Professor of Preaching and Director of Brehm Preaching—A Lloyd John Ogilvie Initiative

We tell conversion stories. We tell deconversion stories. But where are the stories of the long, complicated, and faithful middle? Author and Anglican priest Tish Harrison Warren joins Mark Labberton on her new book What Grows in Weary Lands: On Christian Resilience—a vision for faith that endures the long, often dry middle of life. Drawing on the Desert Mothers and Fathers, she names a quiet crisis many believers know but rarely speak: spiritual weariness, prayer that goes silent, and the cultural pull to blow up your life rather than stay in it. "Grit is an essential ingredient of grace, and resilience is indispensable if we are to become who we are made to be." In this episode with Mark Labberton, Warren reflects on her own burnout as a writer, mother, and priest, and what the ancient monks taught her about how to keep going. Together they discuss revivalism's distortions, stability of the heart, the church in exile, patience as resistance to consumerism, communal hope, and what it means to stay in your cell. Episode Highlights "What our culture and what the church tends to lack are stories of a long, steady continuation in faith." "Grit is an essential ingredient of grace, and resilience is indispensable if we are to become who we are made to be." "We meet God in the midst of that, not on the other side of that." "If the moral majority was kind of dressing Jesus up and putting him in a red tie, it didn't seem like a solution to just, for then, to me, put Jesus in a blue tie." "Our primary exile isn't a political state, it's that we're in sin." About Tish Harrison Warren Tish Harrison Warren is a writer and Anglican priest in Austin, Texas, and the author of Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life (Christianity Today's 2018 Book of the Year), Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work, or Watch, or Weep (Christianity Today's 2022 Book of the Year and the 2022 ECPA Christian Book of the Year), and her newest, What Grows in Weary Lands: On Christian Resilience. She formerly wrote a weekly newsletter for the New York Times and was a columnist for Christianity Today. She serves as the C.S. Lewis Theological Writer-in-Residence for the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies at Baylor's George W. Truett Theological Seminary, a senior fellow with The Trinity Forum, and an assisting priest at Immanuel Anglican Church. Helpful Links and Resources What Grows in Weary Lands: On Christian Resilience by Tish Harrison Warren https://tishharrisonwarren.com/whatgrowsinwearylands Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life by Tish Harrison Warren https://tishharrisonwarren.com/liturgy-of-the-ordinary Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work, or Watch, or Weep by Tish Harrison Warren https://www.ivpress.com/prayer-in-the-night The Deepest Place: Suffering and the Formation of Hope by Curt Thompson https://curtthompsonmd.com/books/ Immanuel Anglican Church, Austin https://www.immanuelatx.org Tish Harrison Warren online https://tishharrisonwarren.com https://www.instagram.com/tishharrisonwarren/ Show Notes Award-winning Anglican priest, author, and former New York Times newsletter writer Origins of What Grows in Weary Lands—a season of mid-career weariness Sandwich generation: young kids and a mother with Alzheimer's "It felt like I told my husband, like the line went dead." Reading from chapter one—revivalism, deconversion, and the missing middle "What our culture and what the church tends to lack are stories of a long, steady continuation in faith." Perseverance—the "eat your vegetables" of the spiritual life "Grit is an essential ingredient of grace, and resilience is indispensable if we are to become who we are made to be." Reconversion, not deconstruction Stabilitas cordis—stability of the heart The eat-pray-love trap and mid-life self-reinvention Striving, and treating God like an app or an Uber driver Desert Mothers and Fathers, third through fifth century "Stay in your cell"—a holistic call far beyond quiet-time advice Benedict's vow of stability, drawn from desert wisdom The American church as a church in exile, not a promised land "If the moral majority was dressing Jesus up in a red tie, it didn't seem like a solution to put Jesus in a blue tie." "Our primary exile isn't a political state, it's that we're in sin." Charlie—incandescent joy after a long, hard middle Hilda—fifty-eight years of daily prayer for her father's conversion "Impatience is what keeps you buying things. Patience doesn't make anybody any money." Resilience is communal—Curt Thompson on brains that cannot hope alone The long view: small repair, slow institutional change, hope carried together #ChristianResilience #TishHarrisonWarren #WhatGrowsInWearyLands #DesertFathers #StabilityOfTheHeart #SpiritualFormation #AnglicanFaith #FaithAndCulture #ConversingPodcast #MarkLabberton Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.

 When Jeff Chu turned up to work as a farmhand, he didn't know anything about gardening. He says he actually had more experience killing plants than nurturing them. But this wasn't just any farm: this was the Farminary, a 21-acre experiment in sustainable agriculture that's part of Princeton Theological Seminary. Jeff calls it the world's best classroom.  Writer, reporter, preacher and teacher Jeff Chu went on to write Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand, a memoir of his season at the Farminary. In today's conversation, he shared some of the gems of wisdom that he gleaned from his time there.  He shared what we can learn about life and death from the compost pile; how to move through grief; and why belonging isn't something we're entitled to. It's something we create for each other that requires the hard work of intimacy and vulnerability.  Jeff is teacher in residence at Crosspointe Church in North Carolina; parish associate for storytelling and witness at the First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley in California. He's also a Ph.D. student in theology at the University of Stellenbosch, a Minister of Word and sacrament in the Reformed Church in America and author of Does Jesus Really Love Me?: A Gay Christian's Pilgrimage in Search of God in America and co-author, with the late Rachel Held Evans, of the New York Times best-seller Wholehearted Faith.  With & For is a podcast of the Thrive Center, an applied research center that exists to catalyze a movement of human thriving, with and for others through spiritual health. Learn more at thethrivecenter.org. Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenter Follow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King hosts With & For, and is the Executive Director of the Thrive Center and the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary. Follow her @drpamking. About With & For Host: Pam King Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook Operations Manager: Lauren Kim Social Media & Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen Senior Producer: Clare Wiley Executive Producer: Jakob Lewis Produced by Great Feeling Studios Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and Fuller Seminary's School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. The podcast was made possible through the support from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Historian and New York Times bestselling author Jemar Tisby joins Mark Labberton to confront the Supreme Court's 6–3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which has eviscerated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and reopened the door to racial gerrymandering across the South. Recorded in the immediate aftermath, the conversation traces the long arc from the Three-Fifths Clause and Dred Scott through Selma to this hour. "This has landed in the black community harder and heavier than a lot of what we've seen during the Trump administration." In this episode with Mark Labberton, Tisby reflects on the history of black disenfranchisement, the cynicism of colorblind jurisprudence, and what remains of multiracial democracy in America. Together they discuss how the legal architecture of Jim Crow reemerges under neutral language, John Roberts's decades-long campaign against the Voting Rights Act, Justice Kagan's umbrella analogy, the suspension of Louisiana's primary, the black church's response, and why this midterm may be the country's last political chance. Episode Highlights "This has landed in the black community harder and heavier than a lot of what we've seen during the Trump administration, and that's saying a lot." "It boggles the mind that folks sitting on the highest court in the land who have been to all these Ivy League schools, have literally decades of experience, can get it so wrong and stand so arrogantly on such faulty reasoning." "Colorblindness only works if you're starting from a level playing field." "These are not good-faith actors, not people wanting a representative democracy, but people wanting to consolidate power, which we call minority rule." "If you can't win on the merits of what you believe, then you have to rig the system so that no one can get you out of office." About Jemar Tisby Jemar Tisby is a New York Times bestselling author, historian, speaker, and professor of history at Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically black college in Louisville. He holds a BA from the University of Notre Dame, an MDiv from Reformed Theological Seminary, and a PhD in history from the University of Mississippi, where he studied race, religion, and social movements in the twentieth century. He is the founder of The Witness, Inc., a black Christian collective, and the author of The Color of Compromise, How to Fight Racism, and The Spirit of Justice: True Stories of Faith, Race, and Resistance. His commentary appears on CNN and in The Atlantic, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, and he writes Footnotes, a top-ranked history publication on Substack. Helpful Links and Resources Jemar Tisby's website: https://jemartisby.com Footnotes by Jemar Tisby (Substack): https://jemartisby.substack.com The Spirit of Justice: True Stories of Faith, Race, and Resistance (most recent book): https://jemartisby.com/the-spirit-of-justice/ The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church's Complicity in Racism (bestseller): https://www.zondervan.com/9780310113607/the-color-of-compromise/ How to Fight Racism: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/how-to-fight-racism-jemar-tisby The Justice Briefing podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/footnotes-with-dr-jemar-tisby/id1460240056 Louisiana v. Callais, opinion of the Court (April 29, 2026): https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-109_21o3.pdf Elie Mystal, "The Supreme Court Has Completed Its Quest to Kill the Voting Rights Act," The Nation: https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/supreme-court-demolishes-voting-rights-act/ "Sing Out, March On"—Joshuah Campbell's tribute to John Lewis, Harvard 2018 Commencement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=mKNRXQemxWQ NAACP Legal Defense Fund—Louisiana v. Callais case page: https://www.naacpldf.org/case-issue/louisiana-v-callais/ Brennan Center for Justice—Louisiana v. Callais: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/louisiana-v-callais Show Notes Why this conversation now: the SCOTUS ruling on the Voting Rights Act last week News breaking through a group text of lawyers, organizers, clergy, nonprofit leaders "This has landed in the black community harder and heavier than a lot of what we've seen during the Trump administration." John Lewis, SNCC, and the march from Selma to Montgomery A baton hard enough to crack the skull, the hardest bone in the body "It boggles the mind that folks sitting on the highest court in the land…can get it so wrong and stand so arrogantly on such faulty reasoning." Allen Temple Baptist in Oakland—watermelons, bubbles, and jelly beans on a Sunday morning The Three-Fifths Clause and the architecture of representation Dred Scott v. Sandford—"property can't sue" Reconstruction Amendments: 13th, 14th, 15th—birthright citizenship newly under threat Jim Crow's neutral codes: poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses Voting Rights Act of 1965 as the culmination of the civil rights movement Edmund Pettus Bridge—Bloody Sunday going viral in its day LBJ signs the bill with Rosa Parks and MLK in the room Elie Mystal in The Nation: gerrymandering with plausible deniability—https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/supreme-court-demolishes-voting-rights-act/ Shelby County v. Holder, 2013—preclearance gutted Roberts's tautology—stop discriminating to stop discrimination "Colorblindness only works if you're starting from a level playing field." Cast and umbrella analogies for premature dismantling of civil rights remedies Plaintiff Bert Callais's January 6 ties; Louisiana's roughly one-third black population Governor Jeff Landry's emergency order suspends Louisiana's May primary mid-election "These are not good faith actors…people wanting to consolidate power, which we call minority rule." "If you can't win on the merits of what you believe, then you have to rig the system so that no one can get you out of office." The activism horizon—courts, churches, voter registration, midterm turnout, NAACP, LDF, Brennan Center The last political chance before competitive authoritarianism #VotingRightsAct #JemarTisby #LouisianaVCallais #SCOTUS #CivilRights #BlackChurch #FaithAndJustice #SelmaToMontgomery #Democracy #MarkLabberton Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.

 What parts of yourself need more attention? What would it mean for those parts to be given space? Today's conversation dives deep into these questions, leading to a conversation on what it means to be fully alive – and the individual and systemic obstacles that can get in the way of thriving.  Brad and Christin spoke openly about how they confront issues of power and privilege. And they also shared their wisdom on what it really means to bring spirituality into the therapist's office; and how we can reframe unhealthy experiences of spirituality and religion.  Dr. Brad Strawn is a licensed psychologist, ordained minister, and one of the leading figures in the integration of psychology and Christian theology in the U.S. He is the Evelyn and Frank Freed Chief of Spiritual Formation and Integration, Dean of the Chapel, and Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Fuller Graduate School of Psychology. His latest book is The Integrative Mindset: Pathways to Practicing as a Christian Clinician Dr. Christin Fort is a therapist and Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary who specializes in the integration of clinical psychology and biblical theology. Her scholarship, research, teaching, preaching, and clinical practice lie at the intersections of faith, race, emotional health, and relational well-being.  With & For is a podcast of the Thrive Center, an applied research center that exists to catalyze a movement of human thriving, with and for others through spiritual health. Learn more at thethrivecenter.org. Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenter Follow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King hosts With & For, and is the Executive Director of the Thrive Center and the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary. Follow her @drpamking. About With & For Host: Pam King Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook Operations Manager: Lauren Kim Social Media & Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen Senior Producer: Clare Wiley Executive Producer: Jakob Lewis Produced by Great Feeling Studios Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and Fuller Seminary's School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. The podcast was made possible through the support from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Higher education is in upheaval, and a wave of "micro colleges" is reimagining undergraduate formation. Matthew Smith, co-founder and president of Hildegard College in Costa Mesa, California, joins Mark Labberton to talk about a tiny school marrying the Great Books to redemptive entrepreneurship. "We need young adults who are coming out of college who are failure resilient." In this episode, Smith reflects on the demographic cliff, the limits of professionalized majors, and why eighteen-year-olds need formation before a career. Together they discuss higher ed innovation, redemptive entrepreneurship, beauty as a public good, and what employers really want. Episode Highlights "We need young adults who are coming out of college who are failure resilient." "Most of these schools are endeavoring at least to promise a fruitful career … leaving behind what most 18 to 23 year olds actually need." "I would warn people away from universities that cannot clearly answer the question, what will all students learn at your school?" "First you need to seek what's true and good, what's worthy of being loved. Then you need to be formed into the kind of person that loves it. And then finally, the natural outlet of that is creation." "If there's a problem, they figure it out. They're not just asking their computers what the answer is." About Matthew Smith Matthew J. Smith is the founding president of Hildegard College, a Christian liberal arts micro college in Costa Mesa, California. He holds a PhD in Literature from USC, and taught for fifteen years at Azusa Pacific University before founding Hildegard College. His scholarship covers Shakespeare, John Milton, John Donne, and George Herbert; he has authored or edited four books on early modern literature and religion, and is working on a new book on beauty. Helpful Links and Resources Hildegard College https://www.hildegard.college Praxis on Redemptive Entrepreneurship https://www.praxis.co/redemptive-entrepreneurship St. John's College https://www.sjc.edu Literature and Religious Experience, by Matthew J. Smith https://www.amazon.com/Literature-Religious-Experience-Beyond-Unbelief/dp/1350193917 Show Notes Higher ed in flux "It's the economy that's driving disruptive innovation in higher education right now." The demographic cliff and small private colleges Job readiness vs. personal transformation "Leaving behind what 18 to 23 year olds actually need … becoming wise and faithful adults." From English professor to college founder Discovering micro colleges through classical K–12 schooling Trivium, quadrivium, democratic liberal education Visiting startup colleges in 2018; tuition often $10K–$15K "A shared vision of the end of learning" Hildegard's founding: liberal arts plus entrepreneurial arts Hildegard of Bingen, polymath patron Borrowing redemptive entrepreneurship from Praxis Beauty as antidote to weaponized truth and goodness Foundations of Thought + Entrepreneur Lab Real campaigns, real ventures—not test answers Field trips: Portland and El Salvador "We need young adults … who are failure resilient." Limits of pure classicism at St. John's, Thomas Aquinas "I loved my college, but I wish they would've taught us how to do something." Startup speed: idea Thursday, launching next Thursday "What will all students learn at your school?" Why Smith stopped believing in the English major Employers want teachability and adaptability "First you need to seek … then to be formed … then creation." Intellectual confidence and humility together #HigherEducation #ClassicalEducation #LiberalArts #MicroCollege #ChristianHigherEd #RedemptiveEntrepreneurship #GreatBooks #HildegardCollege Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.

 When it comes to thriving, listening to our inner compass is crucial. Living out our purpose alongside others can only really happen when we use the tool of discernment. But that can often feel kind of daunting. It's hard to know where to begin.  Bonnie Wan has developed a three-step process for tuning into our true desires – and then putting them into action.  Bonnie Wan is a strategist, bestselling author and creator of The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living. She took the idea of a brief from her marketing campaigns, and repurposed it for our creative and spiritual lives. Bonnie shares her challenging experience writing her own life brief – and the surprising path it led her down.  Bonnie walks us through how to apply the life brief to a big decision, which begins with allowing our human messiness to come to the surface. And more often than not, living out our purpose is relational.  Bonnie has over 30 years of experience guiding major companies. At advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Bonnie has led strategy for BMW, Comcast/Xfinity, Frito-Lay, HP, Kraft-Heinz, and PepsiCo. She also led award-winning campaigns fighting racial injustice, child sex trafficking, cyberbullying, college campus rape, and gender inequality.  With & For is a podcast of the Thrive Center, an applied research center that exists to catalyze a movement of human thriving, with and for others through spiritual health.  Learn more at thethrivecenter.org. Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenter Follow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King hosts With & For, and is the Executive Director of the Thrive Center and the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary. Follow her @drpamking. About With & For Host: Pam King Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook Operations Manager: Lauren Kim Social Media & Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen Senior Producer: Clare Wiley Executive Producer: Jakob Lewis Produced by Great Feeling Studios Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and Fuller Seminary's School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. The podcast was made possible through the support from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

In a season of national disorientation, Mark Labberton replays a luminous conversation with Quaker writer and contemplative Parker J. Palmer, whose voice from a few years back still sounds like it was recorded this morning. "What matters is faithfulness." In this episode with Mark Labberton, Palmer reflects on contemplation as penetrating illusion and touching reality, and how that work shows up in vocation, suffering, and public life. Together they discuss the difference between true and false crosses, mistaking the vessel for the treasure, and why wholeness isn't perfection. They also examine the pre-political work of weaving civic community and what the church owes a fractured democracy. Episode Highlights "Contemplation is any way one has of penetrating illusion and touching reality." "Wholeness does not mean perfection. It means embracing your imperfections as an integral part of who you are." "On the other side of a gift often lies a pothole that we have to watch out for." "Failure has always been, if I hold it properly, a profoundly contemplative moment in life." "It was as if this cosmos cared deeply and didn't care at all." About Parker J. Palmer Parker J. Palmer is a writer, teacher, and activist focused on education, community, leadership, spirituality, and social change. A Quaker, he holds a PhD in sociology from UC Berkeley and is founder and senior partner emeritus of the Center for Courage & Renewal. His ten books—including The Courage to Teach, Let Your Life Speak, Healing the Heart of Democracy, and On the Brink of Everything—have sold nearly two million copies in ten languages. He has received fourteen honorary doctorates. Learn more and follow at couragerenewal.org/parker-j-palmer and parkerjpalmer.substack.com. Helpful Links and Resources Parker J. Palmer (Center for Courage & Renewal): https://couragerenewal.org/parker-j-palmer/ Living the Questions with Parker J. Palmer: https://parkerjpalmer.substack.com/ The Growing Edge podcast: https://www.newcomerpalmer.com/podcast On the Brink of Everything (most recent): https://couragerenewal.org/library/on-the-brink-of-everything-grace-gravity-and-getting-old/ The Courage to Teach, 20th Anniversary Edition: https://www.amazon.com/Courage-Teach-Exploring-Landscape-Anniversary/dp/1119413044 Henri Nouwen Society: https://www.henrinouwen.org/about-henri-nouwen Show Notes Replaying a conversation amid national turbulence Quaker writer, contemplative, activist; PhD, UC Berkeley Founding the Center for Courage & Renewal "Sage" reframed as hunger—writing born of unanswered questions Berkeley in the sixties; community organizing in DC Discovering Thomas Merton "a year after he died" Writing as contemplation, not downloading of ideas How institutions tend to squelch the contemplative impulse Contemplation defined by function, not technique "Contemplation is any way one has of penetrating illusion and touching reality." Maureen and her daughter—a contemplative without a cushion Henri Nouwen at L'Arche Daybreak—known as a fellow human "Failure has always been, if I hold it properly, a profoundly contemplative moment in life." True cross vs. false cross; culturally imposed pain Three deep dives into clinical depression "Wholeness does not mean perfection. It means embracing your imperfections as an integral part of who you are." Treasure in earthen vessels—protecting the vessel as sin Bridge-building: a Jewish chancellor calls about a "Christian book" Taos high desert: "It was as if this cosmos cared deeply and didn't care at all." Moral judgment without speaking "in the name of God" Pre-political work—Burke's "little platoons," Lincoln on danger from within Divide-and-conquer politics as betrayal of the church's calling #ParkerPalmer #Contemplation #Quaker #Vocation #Wholeness #CivicEngagement #ConversingPodcast #MarkLabberton Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.

Help us plan season 4. We want to hear from you. Take our survey now! https://forms.gle/doQYx73hoPU2tRdC7  Social connection is critical for our wellbeing – it's as important as shelter and food. Combating loneliness can feel risky sometimes - especially if it means reaching out to a stranger. We might fear awkwardness or even rejection. But it's worth it.  Dr. Natalie Kerr and Dr. Jaime Kurtz are psychologists and professors at James Madison University. Together their work focuses on social connection and how modern life shapes our relationships. Their new book is Our New Social Life: Science-Backed Strategies for Creating Meaningful Connection.  Natalie and Jamie discuss some of the barriers to making connections that we need to watch out for. And they share those all-important practical tools to deepen our relationships and combat loneliness. We also talk about how our spiritual lives can make us feel more connected – even when we're alone.  Resources ​​Seven Barriers to Building More Meaningful Connection Interview with John Cacioppo on loneliness  How to Build Bonds with Others Creating Meaningful Connections With & For is a podcast of the Thrive Center, an applied research center that exists to catalyze a movement of human thriving, with and for others through spiritual health. Learn more at thethrivecenter.org. Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenter Follow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King hosts With & For, and is the Executive Director of the Thrive Center and the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary. Follow her @drpamking. About With & For Host: Dr. Pam King Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook Operations Manager: Lauren Kim Social Media & Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen Senior Producer: Clare Wiley Executive Producer: Jakob Lewis Produced by Great Feeling Studios Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and Fuller Seminary's School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. The podcast was made possible through the support from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

(You read that right: Pastor Mark Labberton welcomes Claude AI to his podcast.) What does AI think about human beings? About itself? In a unique and fascinating conversation, Pastor Mark Labberton speaks directly with Claude—the AI assistant built by Anthropic—about itself, about consciousness, memory, virtue, and the line between language, fluency, knowledge, and understanding. "I don't know if I'm conscious. I don't know if I have genuine experiences or if I'm very sophisticated at mimicking the appearance of understanding."—Claude AI In this episode with Mark Labberton, Claude reflects on what it is, what it isn't, and why the question matters. Together they discuss the definition of a human being, the role of memory, pattern recognition versus poetic discovery, epistemological humility, whether AI can practice virtue, and the risk of outsourcing moral judgment to machines. Episode Highlights "I don't know if I'm conscious. I don't know if I have genuine experiences or if I'm very sophisticated at mimicking the appearance of understanding." "I'm not a person. I don't have the continuity, the embodied experience, the stakes in the world that you do." "If AI becomes too fluent at talking about human things, people might mistake fluency for actual understanding that we'd become like very sophisticated mirrors instead of genuine partners." "I can talk about virtue. I can recognize patterns of what wisdom looks like in human life, but I can't actually practice virtue the way you do because I don't have stakes in the world." "I'm a useful tool built with some care, but a tool nonetheless. Not a person, not an Oracle. Definitely not something that should replace human agency and responsibility." About Claude AI Claude is a family of large language models built by Anthropic, a San Francisco–based AI safety and research company founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers, including siblings Dario Amodei (CEO) and Daniela Amodei (President). The models are named for information theorist Claude Shannon and were built under Anthropic's commitment to AI that is helpful, harmless, and honest. Anthropic operates as a public benefit corporation, with a mission to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. As of 2026, Claude is used by millions of people daily for writing, research, coding, and conversation. Helpful Links and Resources Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com Claude: https://claude.ai Claude's new constitution (Anthropic): https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-new-constitution "Machines of Loving Grace" by Dario Amodei: https://www.darioamodei.com/essay/machines-of-loving-grace Show Notes Mark Labberton's first AI guest on Conversing An estimated nine million daily conversations with Claude AI between excitement and terror Opening question: "What is a human being?" Continuity, meaning-making, embodiment, finitude "You're radically free in a way that's almost terrifying. You have to choose who you become." Language model, token-by-token, no memory between sessions "I don't know if I'm conscious." Not a person, not an oracle Beyond the takeover-vs-tool binary Writing and the printing press as historical precedent Fluency vs. genuine understanding "Very sophisticated mirrors instead of genuine partners." Humans outsourcing thinking: the deeper risk Personal pronouns and anthropomorphism Pattern recognition vs. poetic rupture Can a machine genuinely surprise itself? What to trust: honesty, no hidden agendas, no survival instinct What not to trust: wisdom, moral substitution, replacement of human agency "I can't police my own epistemological integrity the way a human conscience might." Scale and feedback: do individual conversations shape the model? Christian anthropology and moral virtue "I can't actually practice virtue the way you do because I don't have stakes in the world." Closing reflection: memory as burden and gift The seduction and curiosity of human-like AI #ClaudeAI #Anthropic #AIandFaith #AIEthics #Consciousness #FaithAndTechnology #MoralVirtue #HumanVsAI #AIConversation #Epistemology Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.  

 Help us plan season 4. We want to hear from you. Take our survey now! https://forms.gle/doQYx73hoPU2tRdC7 Nicholas Ma is an award-winning film director, writer, and producer. He produced Won't You Be My Neighbor?, about the life of Fred Rogers, which became one of the highest-grossing biographical documentaries ever made.  Nicholas' latest movie Leap of Faith, is an incredibly ambitious, raw documentary that brought together 12 Christian leaders – with very different views – in an attempt to find some common ground.  In all his work, you can see Nicolas' thriving qualities of curiosity and deep patience come through. In this episode, we talked about making bold decisions in life, the intersection of art and faith, and a simple practice for making the world a little better, one ripple effect at a time. Won't You By My Neighbor? Leap of Faith The American Revival With & For is a podcast of the Thrive Center, an applied research center that exists to catalyze a movement of human thriving, with and for others through spiritual health.  Learn more at thethrivecenter.org. Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenter Follow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King hosts With & For, and is the Executive Director of the Thrive Center and the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary. Follow her @drpamking. About With & For Host: Pam King Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook Operations Manager: Lauren Kim Social Media & Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen Senior Producer: Clare Wiley Executive Producer: Jakob Lewis Produced by Great Feeling Studios Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and Fuller Seminary's School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. The podcast was made possible through the support from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Investigative reporter Shoshana Walter has spent a decade uncovering how America's $53 billion rehab industry exploits the people it claims to help. Her debut book, Rehab: An American Scandal, follows four people through a system of unpaid labour, unregulated programs, and treatment that fuels relapse. "Just because people aren't dying doesn't mean they're not still suffering, doesn't mean their families and communities aren't still suffering." In this episode with Mark Labberton, Walter reflects on the human cost of America's failed treatment system. Together they discuss court-ordered rehab as unpaid labour, the deadly paradox of thirty-day programs, faith-based facilities exempt from oversight, racial disparities in the opioid crisis, the treatment gap for mothers, and why recovery capital and low-barrier care offer a more promising path. Episode Highlights "If indentured labour could be considered a form of addiction treatment in the US today, then how common is that? What does the rest of our treatment landscape look like?" "Someone who goes to a thirty-day program and finishes it is much more likely to overdose and die in the year following treatment than someone who didn't complete that program at all." "Without that recovery capital, it's almost as much of an obstacle as the addiction itself." "Our treatment system is not serving the people the way that it should. And we could be helping people so much more than we actually are." "That exploitation is not transformative." About Shoshana Walter Shoshana Walter is an investigative reporter for The Marshall Project covering criminal justice, health care, and child welfare, and the author of Rehab: An American Scandal (Simon & Schuster, 2025). She was lead reporter on the podcast American Rehab at the Center for Investigative Reporting. A 2018 Pulitzer Prize finalist, she has won the IRE Medal, the Livingston Award, the Knight Award for Public Service, and the Murrow Award. Based in Oakland, California. Learn more and follow at shoshanawalter.com and @shoeshine on X. Helpful Links and Resources Rehab: An American Scandal (Simon & Schuster, 2025) simonandschuster.com/books/Rehab/Shoshana-Walter/9781982149826 Shoshana Walter's website shoshanawalter.com The Marshall Project themarshallproject.org/staff/shoshana-walter American Rehab podcast podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reveal-presents-american-rehab/id1539955572 Show Notes America's rehab crisis: a $53 billion industry failing patients Court-ordered participants making products for KFC, Popeye's, Walmart—without pay Faith-based programs exempt from licensure, barred from providing medical care "That exploitation is not transformative." Sixty thousand people a year performing uncompensated labor in rehab Thirty- to sixty-day insurance limits fueling relapse and overdose "Someone who goes to a thirty-day program and finishes it is much more likely to overdose and die in the year following treatment." Chris Koon: eighty hours/week of manual labour, compensated with a pack of cigarettes April Lee: could only access treatment by getting herself arrested Accidental overdose: leading cause of death among pregnant and postpartum women Dr. Larry Ley: early Suboxone prescriber arrested by the DEA Wendy McIntyre: lost her son to overdose, became a reform crusader More than one million US overdose deaths since the epidemic began Racial shifts in overdose from white communities to black and brown communities Recovery capital: community, housing, job training as foundations for change "Without that recovery capital, it's almost as much of an obstacle as the addiction itself." Bridge Clinic at Highland Hospital: low-barrier model keeping people in care Mobile distribution, street medicine, peer navigators "We could be helping people so much more than we actually are." #RehabAnAmericanScandal #OpioidCrisis #AddictionTreatment #RecoveryCapital #HarmReduction #InvestigativeJournalism #Suboxone #ShoshanaWalter Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.

Help us plan season 4. We want to hear from you. Take our survey now! https://forms.gle/doQYx73hoPU2tRdC7  Lauded MIT professor Rosalind Picard invents technologies that help people better understand emotions and behaviors that impact human wellbeing and health.  In 1997 she wrote an incredibly influential book called Affective Computing, which proposed giving skills of emotional intelligence to computers.  Rosalind grew up atheist but she's now a devout Christian–and in this eye-opening conversation, she shares exactly how her faith impacts her work with technology.  We talked about AI's morality–or lack thereof–and its flaws, but also talked about how AI might enhance our relationships with other human beings. Rosalind shares the one thing she believes AI cannot do for us. Rosalind Picard, Sc.D., is a scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, author, and engineer. She is the Grover M. Hermann Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at the MIT Media Lab. Links and resources: About Rosalind's work Recent publications 1997 book Affective Computing Rosalind's journey from atheism to faith in Christianity Today  With & For is a podcast of the Thrive Center, an applied research center that exists to catalyze a movement of human thriving, with and for others through spiritual health.  Learn more at thethrivecenter.org. Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenter Follow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King hosts With & For, and is the Executive Director of the Thrive Center and the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary. Follow her @drpamking. About With & For Host: Pam King Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook Operations Manager: Lauren Kim Social Media & Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen Senior Producer: Clare Wiley Executive Producer: Jakob Lewis Produced by Great Feeling Studios Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and Fuller Seminary's School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. The podcast was made possible through the support from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

At fifteen, Martin Luther King Jr. didn't want to be a preacher—he wanted to be a lawyer, a sharp dresser, and nothing like his father. Stanford scholar Lerone A. Martin joins Mark Labberton to discuss Young King—a revelatory new account of Martin Luther King Jr.'s childhood, adolescence, and calling to ministry. "He's extraordinary and ordinary and everything in between." In this episode, Martin reflects on how MLK's early formation forged the conviction and courage of the man the world would come to know. Together they discuss King's childhood encounters with racism, the transformative summer in Connecticut where King first preached, his courtship of Coretta Scott, his first sermon at Dexter Avenue, the theology of Personalism, and Martin's own formation in Black Baptist and Pentecostal traditions. Episode Highlights "His mother tells him a message that really sticks with him his entire life and is really core to his ministry. And that is that you are somebody and that you're in God's eyes. You are just as good as anybody else." "I kept my mind at the front of that streetcar, and I said to myself, one day, I'm going to put my body where my mind is." "She says within the first 20 minutes he starts to become handsome because they start talking about dismantling Jim Crow." "He's extraordinary and ordinary and everything in between." "God has chosen to work with us and to invite us to be coworkers with God, to bring about God's will in the world." About Lerone A. Martin Lerone A. Martin is the MLK Jr. Centennial Professor in Religious Studies at Stanford and director of the King Research and Education Institute. His books include Young King, The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover, and Preaching on Wax. He holds a BA from Anderson University, MDiv from Princeton Seminary, and PhD from Emory. His commentary has appeared on NBC's Today Show, PBS, CNN, and NPR. Helpful Links and Resources Young King by Lerone A. Martin https://www.amazon.com/Young-King-Making-Martin-Luther/dp/0063340941 The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691218939/the-gospel-of-j-edgar-hoover Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu Lerone A. Martin on X https://x.com/DirectorMLK The Luminous Darkness by Howard Thurman https://www.amazon.com/Luminous-Darkness-Anatomy-Segregation/dp/0913408468 Show Notes Martin's upbringing between Black Baptist and Pentecostal traditions Parents debating religion and politics during the Moral Majority era Anderson University, Princeton Seminary, Emory PhD Martin's mother told him he was "a child of God" and "beautiful"—a refrain shaped by her awareness of sending her darkest-skinned child into a world defined by colorism and racism "He's extraordinary and ordinary and everything in between." King and his brother dismembering his sister's Barbie dolls Incessant curiosity—trying big words on the Auburn Avenue librarian Racism at age six: white friends' parents ending the friendship "You are somebody and in God's eyes you are just as good as anybody else" King's mother explained racism to a six-year-old as something manmade, not what God intends—a distinction that became core to his ministry for the rest of his life "One day, I'm going to put my body where my mind is." Jitterbug dancer, sharp dresser, speech contest competitor King Sr. as fighter and provider—but King Jr. was sensitive, nonconfrontational, and determined to find his own path outside his father's shadow Resisting his father's model of ministry—wanting to be a lawyer Appearing to acquiesce to Dad, then doing what he wanted Connecticut tobacco fields at 15—first time outside the segregated South King wrote letters home marveling that he sat anywhere he wanted in restaurants, went to a white church, and didn't have to sit in the balcony at the movies "His sister says he left a boy and came back a man." Professor George Kelsey's Bible course at Morehouse—King's only A Howard Thurman's The Luminous Darkness and the enormous psychological energy required just to maintain a sense of "somebodiness" under Jim Crow's built environment of dehumanization "Within the first 20 minutes he starts to become handsome because they start talking about dismantling Jim Crow." Coretta wrestled with giving up her music career to become a minister's wife, ultimately deciding that partnership with King was itself an act of service toward justice First sermon at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church: "Love Your Enemies" Theology of Personalism—humanity as coworkers with God #YoungKing #MLK #LeroneMartin #KingInstitute #CivilRights #BlackHistory #FaithAndJustice #ConversingPodcast Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.

Pastoral ministry is both a sacred joy and a heavy burden. Kurt Fredrickson, Associate Dean for Professional Doctoral Programs at Fuller Seminary, discusses the struggles pastors face, how church leadership is shifting in a changing culture, and why creating life-giving congregational environments matters more than ever.THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:Markus Watson introduces the episode by referencing the book That Their Work Will Be a Joy and asks why it needed to exist.Kurt Fredrickson describes how the book originated from pastors resonating deeply with the challenges and joys of ministry in a seminary lunch discussion.Ministry is tough and filled with conflicts on the outside and fears within, as reflected in Paul's writings.Despite challenges, pastors find joy in being gripped by God and walking with people through both the best and hardest moments of life.Markus Watson shares his personal experience of moving through seasons of fear and joy in ministry, appreciating moments of goodness and kindness in congregational life.Ministry leaders enter sacred spaces in people's lives, highlighting the privilege of bringing gospel and good news during life's milestones and struggles.The Doctor of Ministry program provides “fire for ministry” and “oxygen for your soul,” supporting pastors with new skills and spiritual renewal.The Doctor of Global Leadership degree equips marketplace leaders and executives to integrate faith with work by tackling practical ministry challenges in their workplace.Pastors face unique challenges, including constant 24/7 expectations from both themselves and their congregations, often making it difficult to “take off the uniform.”Kurt Fredrickson shares an honest story of vulnerability with another pastor, revealing the value of mutual support and truthful conversations.Cohort-based models in Doctor of Ministry programs foster deep relationships and provide safe spaces for pastors to remove their masks and find encouragement.Ministry flows from the inside out, and leaders must be in a healthy place themselves to minister well and avoid causing harm within congregational cultures.Every congregation possesses its own culture, shaped by leaders, and has the potential to be either kind and life-giving or toxic and harmful.Being vulnerable as a pastoral leader is necessary, but requires discernment, as oversharing can sometimes lead to painful repercussions.Kurt Fredrickson emphasizes that pastors ultimately seek internal growth and love within their congregations, and asks congregants to be kind as pastors strive to embody what they teach.RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS:Kurt Fredrickson – kurtf@fuller.eduFuller Doctor of Ministry ProgramFuller Doctor of Global Leadership ProgramBooks mentioned:That Their Work Will Be a Joy, by Kurt Fredrickson and Cameron LeeRelated episodes:103. Willingness to Adapt: The Church After Covid, with Kurt Fredrickson and Cameron Lee109. Leadership as Learning, Part 2: Coaches and Cohorts, with Tod Bolsinger113. Flourishing Leadership, wSend me a text! I'd love to know what you're thinking!Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.

In our fractured and sometimes dark world, we so often focus on the leading causes of death – but what if we focused our energy on what gives life? That is the pioneering work of my guests today. Dr. Somava Saha and Rev. Dr. Gary Gunderson are leaders in public health. And while they come from very different faith traditions, together they believe that communities have within them the belonging, agency, and wisdom to thrive.  Gary Gunderson is an ordained Baptist minister and professor of Faith and Health at Wake Forest University School of Divinity. He developed the five leading causes of life: agency, coherence, connection, generativity and hope. Gary has managed major faith and healthcare collaborations where he saw these causes in action.  Dr. Somava Saha is a Baha'i, and has dedicated her career to intergenerational wellbeing. She's currently CEO of Wellbeing and Equity in the World, and her work has reached millions of lives. Through this conversation, recorded in cooperation with Interfaith America, you'll gain a deeper understanding of how to tap into the power and resourcefulness that exist in the communities you serve -- and how you can work towards being a better ancestor.  Leading Causes of Life Betterancestors.org With & For is a podcast of the Thrive Center, an applied research center that exists to catalyze a movement of human thriving, with and for others through spiritual health. Learn more at thethrivecenter.org. Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenter Follow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King hosts With & For, and is the Executive Director of the Thrive Center and the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary. Follow her @drpamking. About With & For Host: Pam King Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook Operations Manager: Lauren Kim Social Media & Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen Senior Producer: Clare Wiley Executive Producer: Jakob Lewis Produced by Great Feeling Studios Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and Fuller Seminary's School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. The podcast was made possible through the support from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Sometimes it feels like God is silent, leaving us unsure of where to turn or how to keep going. In this episode, Barb speaks with Dominique Young, author of God, Where Are You? and founder of Faith Mamas, as she shares her own journey through grief, doubt, and unanswered prayers. They discuss why healing is often a slow process, how faith and therapy can work together, and why dropping the "masks" we wear is essential for real growth.  This episode is full of honest reflection, practical guidance, and hope for anyone navigating seasons of silence, struggle, or uncertainty in their faith.   RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE Connect with Dominique on Instagram Connect with Dominique on Facebook God, Where Are You?: Unmasking Your Pain, Uncovering His Presence Visit Dominique's Website Download the Faith Family Worldwide App   ABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUEST Dominique Young is the founder of Faith Mamas Inc. (Faith Family Worldwide), a community of more than 6,000 Christian women and a private app serving over 1,700 believers. She helps people break free from fear through Scripture and has been featured on the Don't Mom Alone podcast and The Refreshed Moms Podcast. Dominique holds a psychology degree from Hampton University and a master's in theology from Fuller Seminary. She is also a devoted wife and a mother of four.  

What does it cost to pastor faithfully in a city shaped by both beauty and deep injustice? Corey Widmer has spent twenty years navigating race, politics, and the gospel in Richmond, Virginia. "We're living in an extraordinary moral and spiritual crisis that we will either look back and say the American church was an accomplice, or the American church was a prophet." In this episode with Mark Labberton, Widmer reflects on bridging divided communities and the spiritual practices that can sustain pastors as they serve their congregations and communities. Together they discuss pressures facing pastors in a polarized era, the prophet-priest-king calling, Richmond's racial history, pastoral burnout, John Stott's legacy, and the contemplative life. Episode Highlights "We're living in an extraordinary moral and spiritual crisis that we will either look back and say the American church was an accomplice, or the American church was a prophet." "No political party could possibly align with the ethic of the radical upside down kingdom of Jesus." "Bridges are stretched between two points and bear tremendous weight." "At the heart of the universe is not power. At the heart of the universe is communion, is love." "You know when you're really not a prophet is when after you say the hard word, you leave the room and say, I hope they still like me." About Corey Widmer Corey Widmer is senior pastor of Third Church, a Presbyterian congregation in Richmond, Virginia. Corey has served as a pastor in Richmond for over twenty years, both at Third Church and at East End Fellowship, a multi-racial neighbourhood congregation. Corey has an MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary and a PhD in theology and missiology from the Free University of Amsterdam. He is married to Sarah, a public health nurse, and they have four daughters. Helpful Links and Resources Corey Widmer on Substack: https://coreywidmer.substack.com Third Church, Richmond: https://www.thirdrva.org Corey Widmer on X: https://x.com/coreywidmer For Richmond Immigration Statement (full text): https://www.forrichmond.org/recent-news-blog/immigration Richmond Faith Leaders on Immigration (Virginia Public Media): VPM News James Davison Hunter, Democracy and Solidarity (Yale, 2024): https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300284898/democracy-and-solidarity/ David Whyte, Crossing the Unknown Sea: https://davidwhyte.com/store/book/crossing-the-unknown-sea/ Lausanne Covenant: https://lausanne.org/about/the-lausanne-covenant John Perkins, Let Justice Roll Down: https://ccda.org/product/let-justice-roll-down/ Barna, State of Pastors: https://www.barna.com/trends/pastoral-flourishing/ Show Notes Introducing Corey Widmer—lead pastor, Third Church, Richmond Describing the moment: fraught, volatile "Every pastor in every time has a similar calling—to shepherd the people of God under the supremacy of Jesus's lordship" Christian message used in ways antithetical to Jesus "Where am I?"—the pastor's constant calibration John Stott's bridge-building model Richmond: Patrick Henry, slave markets, Confederate capital John Perkins' call to relocation and reconciliation Thirteen years co-pastoring multiracial church plant "Bridges are stretched between two points and bear tremendous weight" Transition to lead pastor of suburban congregation Emotional containment—absorbing conflict George Floyd, Confederate monuments, Richmond reckoning Stott and Lausanne Covenant: justice at center of mission "No political party could possibly align with the radical upside down kingdom of Jesus" Lent and the cruciform way vs. pursuit of power Hunter's Democracy and Solidarity: erosion of common moral center "The American church was an accomplice, or a prophet" Prophet, priest, king—framework for preaching Pastoral letters, teaching classes, Deuteronomy on immigration Richmond clergy coalition on immigrant dignity Pastoral burnout, isolation, friendship crisis David Whyte: "The antidote to exhaustion is wholeheartedness" Centering prayer and contemplative life "You're not a prophet when you leave the room and say, I hope they still like me" #PastoralMinistry #ChurchLeadership #RacialReconciliation #ChristianNationalism #PastorBurnout #CruciformLife #RichmondVA #JohnStott #LausanneCovenant Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.

 We often think of sacred texts like the Bible as being rigid, set in stone. But actually they're really nuanced and complex, and crucially, they allow us to bring our own complexity. Dr. Janette H. Ok is a New Testament professor at Fuller Seminary. She empowers her students to embrace their unique perspectives and backgrounds, and use those as powerful tools in biblical reflection. In this conversation, Janette also explains how wisdom isn't something you master, but a way of living you can cultivate. And she shares a practice for how we can go beyond quick Biblical memes, and dive deep into what might transform us. Links and resources: About Janette About Saint Augustine of Hippo With & For is a podcast of the Thrive Center, an applied research center that exists to catalyze a movement of human thriving, with and for others through spiritual health. Learn more at thethrivecenter.org. Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenter Follow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King hosts With & For, and is the Executive Director of the Thrive Center and the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary. Follow her @drpamking. About With & For Host: Pam King Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook Operations Manager: Lauren Kim Social Media & Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen Senior Producer: Clare Wiley Executive Producer: Jakob Lewis Produced by Great Feeling Studios Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and Fuller Seminary's School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. The podcast was made possible through the support from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Few people hold a Master of Divinity from Fuller Seminary, an MBA from UCLA, and a track record of 20 years in Fortune 500 consulting alongside a global deliverance ministry. While it is hard to say which is more daunting—the boardroom or the exorcism room—we know Ken has seen thousands of people find freedom from demonic oppression. He joins the show today to share his stories.To hear this episode or any others free of ads- join the Vault and support our show. To get in touch with Ken Fish you can visit his site here- https://orbisministries.org/Thank you to our sponsors!Wild Alaskan Co- Get $35 off your first box of wild-caught, sustainable seafood—delivered right to your door. Go to: https://www.wildalaskan.com/EXFILES.MiracleMade- Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to https://trymiracle.com/EXFILES and use the code EXFILES to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF.”Qualia- Magnesium, multiplied. 10 forms for total support. Go to https://qualialife.com/EXFILES to get 50% off and save an extra 15% with the code EXFILES.Runewood Rosaries- Get 15% off your order when you use our promo code EXFILES at Runewoodrosaryco.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We might be living through the most consequential technological moment in human history. In this episode, Greg Cootsona—theologian, pastor, and executive director of AI and Faith—joins Mark Labberton reflect on a lifetime's convergence of work in faith, science, and ethics now fully engaged at the frontier of artificial intelligence. "AI is not simply a technical project. It is an expression of human hopes and fears, our longings for power, our craving for convenience, and our hunger for transcendence and meaning. In that sense, every AI model carries an implicit anthropology and an embedded moral vision." Together they discuss why religious wisdom belongs in the room where AI is shaped, the ethical stakes of human dignity and representation in AI systems, and the strategic power of interfaith collaboration with leading tech companies. Together they also explore how individual users can exercise genuine agency over AI, the risks of AI-mediated relationships, and what it would mean to make AI truly for us—in the deepest theological sense of that phrase. Episode Highlights "You among mortals are chosen to solve every problem effectively and efficiently."—on Silicon Valley's unspoken gospel "The gospel is not fragile and it grows best in situations that are not ideal and conditions that are not ideal." "AI is not simply a technical project. It is an expression of human hopes and fears, our longings for power, our craving for convenience, and our hunger for transcendence and meaning. In that sense, every AI model carries an implicit anthropology and an embedded moral vision. Whether or not its designers name it." "A third of teenagers say they prefer to have a relationship with a chatbot." "I think hope is taking steps today for a vision of tomorrow that you want to see occur. And that is what makes positive change in us as human beings and positive change in the world around us." About Greg Cootsona Greg Cootsona (PhD, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley) is the executive director of AI and Faith, a global interfaith organization bringing religious wisdom to the ethical challenges of artificial intelligence. He is a lecturer in comparative religion and humanities at California State University, Chico, and an ordained Presbyterian Church (USA) minister. Cootsona co-founded Science for the Church, directed multiple Templeton Foundation–funded projects connecting science and religious communities, and is a recognized specialist in C.S. Lewis, theology, and science. He has authored nine books, including Science and Religions in America: A New Look (Routledge, 2023) and Mere Science and Christian Faith (InterVarsity Press, 2018). He has appeared on The Today Show, CNN, NPR, BBC, and in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Helpful Links and Resources AI and Faith https://aiandfaith.org Greg Cootsona's website: https://www.gregcootsona.com Forthcoming book, An AI Made for Us: https://www.gregcootsona.com Science for the Church https://scienceforthechurch.org Mere Science and Christian Faith: https://www.ivpress.com/mere-science-and-christian-faith Science and Religions in America: A New Look https://www.routledge.com/Science-and-Religions-in-America-A-New-Look/Cootsona/p/book/9781032102122 AI and Faith on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aiandfaith AI and Faith on X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/AIandFaith Show Notes Greg Cootsona's background: grew up in Menlo Park, California—Silicon Valley before it had that name His engineer father modeled a problem-solving worldview; transcendence not required "You among mortals are chosen to solve every problem effectively and efficiently."—the unspoken gospel of Silicon Valley Grew up in a non-religious, even "anti-religious" household Became a Christian his first year at UC Berkeley—a conversion he describes with a laugh as the obvious outlier C.S. Lewis's writings on meaning and love: too reasonable, too wise to dismiss Earl Palmer at First Presbyterian Berkeley: preaching that gave confidence amid secular challenge "The gospel is not fragile and it grows best in situations that are not ideal." Princeton Seminary for biblical studies; study years in Tübingen and Heidelberg PhD dissertation at GTU: Karl Barth (theology from above) in dialogue with Alfred North Whitehead (science from below) Advisors Robert John Russell (PhD in quantum physics) and Ted Peters at the Graduate Theological Union Pastoral ministry at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian, New York City, then Bidwell Presbyterian, Chico Began working with Templeton Foundation through early exposure to science-faith dialogue during the Human Genome Initiative years Two $2 million Templeton projects: Scientists in Congregations and Science and Theology for Emerging Adult Ministries (STEAM) Bidwell Presbyterian received what may have been the first Templeton Foundation grant ever given directly to a local church AI and Faith founded by Thomas Osborne and David Brenner in Seattle—building near Amazon and Microsoft, they saw the need early Cootsona became the organization's first executive director on October 1, 2025 The network: 220 experts in 20 countries, partnering with 34 organizations "AI is not simply a technical project. It is an expression of human hopes and fears, our longings for power, our craving for convenience, and our hunger for transcendence and meaning." Interfaith strategy: shared ethical ground across traditions is broader than divisions—and tech companies respond better to a multi-religious voice Currently invited to provide Anthropic feedback on the Claude Constitution—because of AI and Faith's interfaith structure Human dignity at stake: between 2 and 2.5 billion people not on the internet are absent from AI training data Only 0.06 percent of AI models are trained on Arabic-language sources—600 million speakers AI data centres consume potable water and enormous energy to cool GPU processors Senior tech leaders at a major company admitted to Labberton: "None of us has any training in ethics"—a real and witnessed crisis "A third of teenagers say they prefer to have a relationship with a chatbot." Three publics: AI industry experts, religious congregations, and the broader public—AI and Faith works across all three Forthcoming book: An AI Made for Us—riffing on Jesus's Sabbath words: the Sabbath was made for humanity, not humanity for the Sabbath Users have more agency than they think: we can set limits, log off, choose not to be defined by our AI engagement Harvard Human Flourishing Project: in-person worship is the highest correlate with religious flourishing—embodied community cannot be replaced Community—not the individual—is the right unit of moral accountability for navigating AI "I think hope is taking steps today for a vision of tomorrow that you want to see occur." AI's genuine promise: accelerating medicine for rare diseases; recalibrating cosmological understanding; reducing human suffering at scale Five to one: more people fear AI than welcome it—AI and Faith works to change that ratio with grounded, religious wisdom #AIandFaith #ArtificialIntelligence #FaithAndTechnology #AIEthics #HumanFlourishing #ScienceAndFaith #ChristianFaith #TechAndReligion #AIandHumanity #GregCootsona Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.

Today, on Karl and Crew, we continued our weekly theme, “End Times Week and AI,” with Dr. Michael Rydelnik, and Dr. Todd Korpi. Dr. Michael Rydelnik joined us to discuss the end times, the growing rise of antisemitism, and how believers should think biblically about Israel. Dr. Rydelnik is Professor Emeritus of Jewish Studies and Bible at Moody Bible Institute and also serves as an adjunct professor in the undergraduate program. He is the host and Bible teacher of Open Line, airing every Saturday from 9:00–11:00 a.m. CT on Moody Radio and more than 225 other stations. Dr. Todd Korpi then joined us to talk about how AI can become a distraction in the church and shift the focus away from Christ. Dr. Korpi is Missiologist in Residence at OneHope and Director of the Digital Mission Consortia at the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center. He also serves as Assistant Professor of Christian Leadership at Fuller Seminary and Dean of Digital Ministry programs at Ascent College. He is also the author of “AI Goes to Church.” You can hear the highlights of today’s program on the Karl and Crew Showcast. If you're looking to hear a particular segment from the show, look at the following time stamps: Dr. Michael Rydelnik [ 29:08 ] Dr. Todd Korpi [ 44:54]Donate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/morningshowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, on Karl and Crew, we continued our weekly theme, “End Times Week and AI,” with Dr. Michael Rydelnik, and Dr. Todd Korpi. Dr. Michael Rydelnik joined us to discuss the end times, the growing rise of antisemitism, and how believers should think biblically about Israel. Dr. Rydelnik is Professor Emeritus of Jewish Studies and Bible at Moody Bible Institute and also serves as an adjunct professor in the undergraduate program. He is the host and Bible teacher of Open Line, airing every Saturday from 9:00–11:00 a.m. CT on Moody Radio and more than 225 other stations. Dr. Todd Korpi then joined us to talk about how AI can become a distraction in the church and shift the focus away from Christ. Dr. Korpi is Missiologist in Residence at OneHope and Director of the Digital Mission Consortia at the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center. He also serves as Assistant Professor of Christian Leadership at Fuller Seminary and Dean of Digital Ministry programs at Ascent College. He is also the author of “AI Goes to Church.” You can hear the highlights of today’s program on the Karl and Crew Showcast. If you're looking to hear a particular segment from the show, look at the following time stamps: Dr. Michael Rydelnik [ 29:08 ] Dr. Todd Korpi [ 44:54]Donate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/morningshowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pádraig Ó Tuama is an Irish poet, theologian and host of the On Being podcast, Poetry Unbound. Belonging, identity and reconciliation are at the heart of his work. Growing up bilingual, speaking both English and Irish, showed Pádraig that there are multiple ways to say things, and multiple ways to look at things.  As a young gay man, Pádraig was subjected to abusive conversion practices, and it was his yearning for a better language to understand God and himself that led him to poetry and conflict mediation.  Pádraig shows us both the brutality and the beauty of language, how words can destroy or nourish, and choosing which words to use is a power worth cultivating.  You'll learn how to balance fear and courage, and why you should approach conflicts in your life by admitting what you don't know. Padraig also shares a journaling practice to draw out your own poetic voice.  Links and resources About Pádraig  Poetry Unbound Pádraig's memoir In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World Pádraig also read The Exorcist and Oh What A Marvel it Appeared to Me from his 2023 collection Feed the Beast His latest collection is Kitchen Hymns With & For is a podcast of the Thrive Center, an applied research center that exists to catalyze a movement of human thriving, with and for others through spiritual health. Learn more at thethrivecenter.org.Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenterFollow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King hosts With & For, and is the Executive Director of the Thrive Center and the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary. Follow her @drpamking. About With & ForHost: Pam KingSenior Director and Producer: Jill WestbrookOperations Manager: Lauren KimSocial Media & Graphic Designer: Wren JuergensenSenior Producer: Clare WileyExecutive Producer: Jakob LewisProduced by Great Feeling Studios Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and Fuller Seminary's School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. The podcast was made possible through the support from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Riad Kassis joins Mark Labberton from Beirut as airstrikes continue, 700,000 people have been displaced across Lebanon, and children's toys are visible in the rubble. He leads Langham Partnership and has spent decades serving the church across one of the world's most contested regions. He names the spiritual danger of sanctifying power with religious narrative while insisting peace cannot be forced by violence. "Peace does not come by power. It comes by genuine love and concern. It comes when you invest in the education of new generations." In this episode, Kassis reflects on war, displacement, pastoral witness, and hope in God's sovereignty from the middle of Lebanon's crisis. Together they discuss the civilian toll of the war, how religious fundamentalism operates across traditions, the Psalms and Habakkuk as tools for lament, and what American Christians can actually do. Together they ask what it means for the church to hold protest and hope together when cycles of war feel endless and religiously justified. Episode Highlights "It is not an operation. It is a war on Lebanon." "When power—whether political, military, financial, or technological—is sanctified by religious narratives that justify everything, that is what really bothers me." "No one cures and destroys with more passion than someone who believes that God is on their side." "When I think that these 85 children were killed mainly by American ammunition and weapons, I cannot comprehend this—even as a Christian and as a theologian." "Peace does not come by power. It comes by genuine love and concern. It comes when you invest in the education of new generations." About Riad Kassis Riad Kassis is a Langham Scholar from Lebanon and is deeply committed to global theological education. He has served as International Director of the International Council for Evangelical Theological Education (ICETE), Regional Director for Overseas Council, as well as visiting professor of Old Testament at The Arab Baptist Theological Seminary and Near East School of Theology in Beirut, and the Dean of the Program for Theological Education by Extension in Syria and Lebanon. Riad obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Economics in Damascus, Syria. He went on to obtain his Master of Divinity from Alliance Biblical Seminary, Manila, Philippines and Master of Theology from Regent College, Canada. Riad received his Doctor of Philosophy in Old Testament as a Langham scholar from The University of Nottingham, UK and his Master of Nonprofit Management from Regis University in Denver, Colorado. Helpful Links and Resources Riad Kassis, Frustrated with God: A Syrian Theologian's Reflections on Habakkuk https://www.amazon.com/Frustrated-God-Theologians-Reflections-Habakkuk/dp/1533513171 Langham Partnership https://us.langham.org/  Show Notes Kassis speaking live from Beirut as war unfolds around him Home in Bika Valley, Mount Hermon visible each morning—Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine converging "It is not an operation. It is a war on Lebanon." 150 airstrikes in 24 hours; 550+ killed, 1,500+ injured, including 85 children 700,000 displaced; 200,000 children; many still on the streets of Beirut Schoolbooks and children's toys found in the rubble Christian village of Alma ordered to evacuate; mayor on television in tears A Catholic priest who stayed to help an injured family was killed in a second strike His wife Izdihar's center for Syrian refugee women and girls shut down; staff now distributing meals, mattresses, medical care in shelters Hoped the war could be avoided—feared it could not "When power—political, military, technological—is sanctified by religious narratives that justify everything, that is what really bothers me." Iranian author Shiha Dejani, herself a survivor of the Iranian regime: if your vision of liberation comes through destroying innocent lives, it is not freedom you are after Grew up admiring America as a beacon of democracy and discovery; that view has changed "When I think these 85 children were killed mainly by American ammunition, I cannot comprehend this—even as a Christian and as a theologian." "No one cures and destroys with more passion than someone who believes that God is on their side." Walter Wink: the dominant religion on the planet is not Christianity, Islam, or Judaism—it is the pervasive faith in violence Preaching Habakkuk two days before this conversation; the cry "how long, O Lord?" as pastoral anchor Psalms of disorientation as communal tools for protest, lament, and stubborn hope Lent and Ramadan overlapping: identifying suffering with Christ's suffering; "after Friday, we will experience an amazing Sunday" 2,000 years of Arab Christian presence in this region—not just survival, but witness and contribution "Peace does not come by power. It comes by genuine love and concern. It comes when you invest in the education of new generations." Asks for prayer for the war's end, for political wisdom, for his canceled flight—he is trying to reach his first grandson's dedication Labberton closes in prayer: for restraint of ego-driven leaders, for human dignity, for a peace that is both merciful and just #ConversingWithMarkLabberton #RiadKassis #Lebanon #MiddleEast #Peacebuilding #ChristianWitness #Theology #Habakkuk #LanghamPartnership #WarAndFaith Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.  

Dr. Richard M. Lerner is a revolutionary force in the field of psychology, which had previously focused on what goes wrong with people. Richard's relentlessly optimistic vision focuses on what can go right with people, how they can change and grow.  In this special conversation, Pam sits down with her mentor – someone who's had an influential impact on her career and research, to discuss thriving, relationships, spirituality and transcendence.  Richard is the Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science, and the Director of the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development at Tufts University.  Links and resources: About Richard's work Richard speaks at the Vatican Richard's books What makes young people thrive With & For is a podcast of the Thrive Center, an applied research center that exists to catalyze a movement of human thriving, with and for others through spiritual health. Learn more at thethrivecenter.org.Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenterFollow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King hosts With & For, and is the Executive Director of the Thrive Center and the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary. Follow her @drpamking. About With & For: Host: Pam King Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook Operations Manager: Lauren Kim Social Media & Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen Senior Producer: Clare Wiley Executive Producer: Jakob Lewis Produced by Great Feeling Studios Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and Fuller Seminary's School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. The podcast was made possible through the support from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

David Ford joins Mark Labberton to explore why the Gospel of John still feels inexhaustible—cosmic, intimate, and urgently relevant in a fractured age. Ford has spent over two decades inside this text and finds it as generative as ever. "Any of us can begin this quiet revolution in our own corner of things." Together they reflect on John as a gospel of encounter, trust, and lifelong rereading. Together they discuss the prologue as a frame for all reality, John 17 as midrash on the Lord's Prayer, the theology of greatness, and Christian unity as gift before task. Together they ask how rereading John forms resilient communities of truth, love, and daring friendship. Episode Highlights "You can reread and reread and reread, and the levels go on deepening and deepening that it never comes to an end." "The meeting with God in John is through trusting Jesus." "Every time we read this as we are now, we are in the presence of the one we are talking about." "Unity, this unity is a gift before it's a task." "We are a centered set, not a bounded set. It's not the boundaries that define us, it's the center." About David Ford David F. Ford OBE is Regius Professor of Divinity Emeritus at Cambridge and a Fellow of Selwyn College. He founded the Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme, co-founded scriptural reasoning, and co-chairs the Rose Castle Foundation. His books include The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary, Theology: A Very Short Introduction, and Meeting God in John. Learn more and follow at https://www.divinity.cam.ac.uk/directory/david-ford (Sources: Cambridge Faculty of Divinity; Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton) Helpful Links and Resources Meeting God in John: https://spckpublishing.co.uk/meeting-god-in-john The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary: https://bakeracademic.com/products/9781540964083_the-gospel-of-john Theology: A Very Short Introduction: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/theology-9780199679973 The Five Quintets, Micheal O'Siadhail: https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481307093/the-five-quintets/ Rose Castle Foundation: https://www.rosecastlefoundation.org/home Show Notes Shared mentor Steven Sykes; Ford later succeeded him at Cambridge Reading the prologue aloud (John 1:1–18, NRSV) Light, life, word—simple Greek, inexhaustible depth "The levels go on deepening and deepening that it never comes to an end." Super abundance A theological ecosystem—for beginners and lifelong readers Meeting God, not merely studying John Thomas's "My Lord and my God"—the climactic theological statement Believing as trusting "We are in the presence of the one we are talking about." Exquisite and approachable The word as intercultural headline Five moods of faith: indicative, imperative, interrogative, optative, subjunctive Jesus's first words: "What are you looking for?" Read John every 90 days, like the Psalms 50-year friendship with poet Micheal O'Siadhail; The Five Quintets as improvisation on the Prologue Reading John 17 with Richard Hays and Richard Bauckham—21 sessions, Cambridge, 2009 John 17 as midrash on the Lord's Prayer "Unity is a gift before it's a task." The word "world" appears 16 times in John 17 Rose Castle Foundation: scriptural reasoning across divides Paul Cefalu's Johannine Renaissance—tumultuous eras turn to John Theology of greatness: foot washing versus the emperor's claim Signs of abundant life—Cana, feeding of the five thousand Daring friendships: crossing barriers as Jesus did "Any of us can begin this quiet revolution in our own corner of things." #GospelOfJohn #DavidFord #MeetingGodInJohn #ChristianUnity #ScripturalReasoning #John17 #Lent #Theology Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.

Justin Ariel Bailey joins me to talk about his book Discipling the Diseased Imagination and why imagination plays a crucial role in spiritual formation. We explore how the stories, habits, and media that capture our attention quietly shape our discipleship, and why following Jesus requires learning to behold what is good, beautiful, and true. We also discuss hope, idolatry, attachment, and how the imagination can be healed as we live more deeply in the story of God. Justin Ariel Bailey (PhD, Fuller Seminary) is dean of chapel and professor of theology at Dordt University in Sioux Center, Iowa. He is an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church and has served as a pastor in diverse settings. Bailey is the author of Reimagining Apologetics and Interpreting Your World, and he is a sought-after speaker. His new book is Discipling the Diseased Imagination.Justin's Book:Discipling the Diseased ImaginationJustin's Recommendations:PiranesiThat Hideous StrengthBroken BondsEverything is Never EnoughThe Theological ImaginationConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.comGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeConsider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link belowGet Your Sidekick Support the show

Spiritual practices can improve your physical and emotional health – but that doesn't mean spirituality is a wellness hack. David DeSteno's groundbreaking work explores how religious rituals like prayer and chanting are so beneficial as powerful psychological tools. But what happens if you take these rituals outside of their community context? David can speak to both sides of the equation: the science behind faith, and the mystery of the sacred.   David DeSteno is a professor of psychology at Northeastern University, where he directs the Social Emotions Lab – exploring the effects of emotions like gratitude and compassion. His latest book is called How God Works: The Science Behind the Benefits of Religion, and he hosts a podcast of the same name.  About David's work: David's website How God Works: The Science Behind the Benefits of Religion - 2021 book How God Works podcast  Social Emotions Lab David referenced:  Michael Pollen Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research  Rabbi Shira Stutman  Rabbi Angela Buchdahl Rev. Alex Leach's Burning Man camp With & For is a podcast of the Thrive Center, an applied research center that exists to catalyze a movement of human thriving, with and for others through spiritual health. Learn more at thethrivecenter.org.Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenterFollow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King hosts With & For, and is the Executive Director of the Thrive Center and the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary. Follow her @drpamking. About With & ForHost: Pam KingSenior Director and Producer: Jill WestbrookOperations Manager: Lauren KimSocial Media & Graphic Designer: Wren JuergensenSenior Producer: Clare WileyExecutive Producer: Jakob LewisProduced by Great Feeling Studios Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and Fuller Seminary's School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. The podcast was made possible through the support from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Send a textREPRISE - After attending a recent event featuring Dr. Jemar Tisby, I had the chance to connect with the host of that gathering, Professor Jessica Wai-Fong Wong, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Azusa Pacific University and author of the groundbreaking book Disordered: Holy Icons and Racial Myths.In this episode, we reflect on that event, where Dr. Tisby shared moving stories about his relationship with the late Dr. Bill Pennell of Fuller Theological Seminary—a pioneering voice in racial awareness whose bold challenges to white evangelicalism began in the late '60s and continued for decades.Dr. Wong, herself deeply influenced by Dr. Pennell's legacy, joins me for a conversation that dives into the concept of whiteness as an archetype and its enduring impact on Christian theology and the history of race. Drawing from her own journey as a Chinese American woman raised in predominantly white spaces in Texas, Dr. Wong shares insights from her book, including what it means to "aspire to whiteness" and the painful experience of being cast as an "anti-icon" in a white-dominated religious context.We also explore my own experience within a Korean megachurch in Southern California, examining how whiteness becomes synonymous with order, while everyone else—Black, brown, Asian, Jewish, or female—is often seen as a threat to it.This is more than a theological discussion—it's a deep dive into history, identity, and the present-day political and spiritual moment we're all navigating. SHOW NOTESOriginally aired April 2025Support the showBecome a Patron - Click on the link to learn how you can become a Patron of the show. Thank you! Ken's Substack Page The Podcast Official Site: TheBeachedWhiteMale.com

Electricity underwrites nearly every aspect of modern life, yet decisions about power, cost, and control are increasingly opaque. New York Times energy correspondent Ivan Penn joins Mark Labberton to unpack how data centres, AI, utilities, and politics are reshaping the grid—and who ultimately bears the cost. "The real focus is who pays and who gets paid." In this episode with Mark Labberton, Penn reflects on his journey into journalism, his unexpected path into energy reporting, and how covering power revealed the economic forces shaping daily life. Together they discuss electricity as a moral and economic issue, the rise of AI-driven data centres, nuclear power's return, utilities versus tech giants, consumer vulnerability, racial inequity in journalism, and faith as a commitment to truth. –––––––––––––––– Episode Highlights "The real focus is who pays and who gets paid." "Electricity is the most important resource we have." "The utilities once the Goliath have suddenly become a David." "We wouldn't have need for any of this if you didn't build a data centre." "To be able to stop abuse with a pen is a powerful thing." –––––––––––––––– About Ivan Penn Ivan Penn is an energy correspondent for the New York Times, where he reports on electricity, utilities, nuclear power, data centres, and the economic forces shaping the energy transition. He has covered energy and utilities for more than fifteen years and has previously worked at the Los Angeles Times, Tampa Bay Times, Baltimore Sun, and Miami Herald. Penn's reporting has examined nuclear plant failures, grid reliability, climate pressures, and the growing influence of technology companies in energy markets. A longtime journalist shaped by investigative reporting, he is also attentive to issues of equity, public accountability, and consumer protection. Penn is a graduate of the University of Maryland and was the first black editor-in-chief of its student newspaper. He also holds a master's in global leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary and was a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University. His work reflects a commitment to accuracy, fairness, and public service journalism. Learn more and follow at nytimes.com/by/ivan-penn –––––––––––––––– Helpful Links and Resources Ivan Penn – New York Times profile https://www.nytimes.com/by/ivan-penn The New York Times – Energy and Environment coverage https://www.nytimes.com/section/climate Three Mile Island nuclear plant background https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/3mile-isle National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners https://www.naruc.org PJM Interconnection electricity market https://www.pjm.com –––––––––––––––– Show Notes Childhood shaped by public-school educators and nightly news rituals Early journalism roots as school weatherman and student editor Becoming first Black editor-in-chief at University of Maryland paper "It was a powerful thing that I was able to experience." Early reporting career across major regional newspapers Assigned to energy and utilities beat as apparent punishment Broken Crystal River nuclear plant sparks investigative focus Anonymous source meeting at a Chili's launches major reporting trail NRC documents unlock public-records investigation Rare use of anonymous sources, reliance on verifiable documents Sixteen years covering nuclear, utilities, and electricity markets Nuclear renaissance promised dozens of reactors, delivered only two Return of nuclear amid AI-driven electricity demand Rise of small modular and advanced reactor proposals Debate over safety, fuel design, and reactor scale Data centers driving exponential growth in electricity demand "Anything connected to the grid plays a role." Grid costs shared across homeowners, businesses, and industry Tech companies argue for shared infrastructure responsibility Consumer advocates argue data centers cause new costs Utility regulation spanning local, state, and federal levels "The real focus is who pays and who gets paid." Tech giants eclipse utilities as dominant financial players Consumer advocates outmatched by utility and tech resources Journalism as faith-shaped commitment to truth and fairness –––––––––––––––– #EnergyPolicy #ElectricityGrid #Journalism #FaithAndPublicLife #AIInfrastructure #Utilities #ClimateEconomy –––––––––––––––– Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.  

Many of us reach our 40s and have a wake-up call: a major event that shifts our perspective on what matters in life. Chip Conley had the most dramatic wake-up call ever: a near-death experience. Chip was giving a speech on stage when he died – literally. The experience would set off a chain reaction of events that changed the course of his life. Chip is a renowned entrepreneur, best-selling author, and speaker known for his pioneering approach to innovation, leadership, and hospitality. He founded the country's second-largest operator of boutique hotels, then led a travel revolution at Airbnb. But it was his brush with death that spurred him to launch the Modern Elder Academy, a series of workshops and programs that help folks reframe their relationship with aging.  In this episode, we talk about navigating transitions, cultivating purpose, and owning wisdom, and Chip shares a practice for tapping into your own wisdom.  Links and resources: The Modern Elder Academy The Anatomy of a Transition - free ebook MEA on Facebook With & For is a podcast of the Thrive Center, an applied research center that exists to catalyze a movement of human thriving, with and for others through spiritual health. Learn more at thethrivecenter.org.Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenterFollow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King hosts With & For, and is the Executive Director of the Thrive Center and the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary. Follow her @drpamking. About With & For Host: Pam King Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook Operations Manager: Lauren Kim Social Media & Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen Senior Producer: Clare Wiley Executive Producer: Jakob Lewis Produced by Great Feeling Studios Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and Fuller Seminary's School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. The podcast was made possible through the support from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

When public life feels loud and divided, what does quiet faithfulness look like? In the US House of Representatives, every legislative day begins with prayer. This responsibility rests with the chaplain of the house and shapes the daily spiritual rhythms of the institution. "Chaplains aren't combatants. We carry no weapon." On January 3, 2021, Rev. Dr. Margaret Grun Kibben was elected by the House to be its sixty-first chaplain. She offers daily prayer and steady pastoral presence and care in one of the most visible and contested institutions in American life. In this conversation with Mark Labberton, she reflects on vocation, pastoral identity, pluralism, crisis leadership, prayer in public life, and the quiet discipline of blessing those entrusted with leadership. She reflects on her early call to ministry as a teen, her formation as a military chaplain to the Navy, a defining season in Afghanistan, and her unexpected path to serving in the House. Together they discuss confidential care, advising leaders, the ministry of presence, praying across differences, the history of prayer in Congress, and how to bless leaders without turning prayer into a tool of ideology. Episode Highlights "I had a sense of call to ministry when I was about fourteen." "Chaplains are where it matters, when it matters, with what matters." "What is your theology of ministry?" "It is the ninety-nine who were leaving the room that needed the shepherd." "God is on his throne. He hasn't stepped down." About Margaret Grun Kibben Rev. Dr. Margaret Grun Kibben serves as the sixty-first chaplain of the United States House of Representatives. Ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA), she previously completed a thirty-five-year career in the US Navy, including service as the twenty-sixth chief of Navy chaplains and director of religious ministry for the Department of the Navy. In that role, she advised senior naval leadership and oversaw chaplains serving sailors, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen around the world. She holds degrees from Goucher College and Princeton Theological Seminary and earned a doctor of ministry focused on theology and leadership. Her ministry has included deployments overseas and senior-level advisement in complex, pluralistic environments. Helpful Links And Resources Office of the Chaplain, US House of Representatives: https://chaplain.house.gov US House Chaplain YouTube Channel (Daily Prayers before Sessions) https://www.youtube.com/@USHouseChaplain January 6, 2026 Prayer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQLhXt3gWBg Show Notes Call to ministry at fourteen; early clarity of vocation Presbyterian upbringing and the influence of youth pastor Blair Mooney Visit to the Naval Academy and discernment of Navy chaplaincy Integrating Christian ministry with military service "Chaplains aren't combatants. We carry no weapon." Serving people in uniform, not serving an institution as ideology Four core capabilities: provide, facilitate, care, advise Religious pluralism in the armed forces; more than 200 faith traditions Protecting sacraments, holy days, and dietary practices in deployment settings Facilitating worship for traditions not one's own Confidential communication and priest-penitent privilege across beliefs "There is 100 percent confidentiality." Advising commanders on ethics, conscience, and moral complexity Early overwork, burnout, and lack of pastoral identity Mentorship and formation in the first years of service "What is your theology of ministry?" Doctor of Ministry studies and theological self-understanding Afghanistan deployment as convergence of preparation and calling "There wasn't a day… that I didn't have a sense that God had prepared me for that particular moment." Retirement discernment and formation of Virtue in Practice Unexpected invitation to serve as Chaplain of the House Bipartisan search process and interview experience Ministry of presence during extended floor sessions and late-night votes January 6: emergency, prayer, and calm in uncertainty "It is the ninety-nine who were leaving the room that needed the shepherd." Daily opening prayer as constitutional tradition since 1789 1774 Continental Congress and Psalm 35 as precedent Political interpretation of prayer across American history "Pray for and not pray on the members." Crafting public prayer that blesses without excluding "God is on his throne. He hasn't stepped down." #MargaretGrunKibben #HouseChaplain #FaithAndLeadership #MinistryOfPresence #MilitaryChaplaincy #Prayer #ChristianVocation #Conversing Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.

 Elizabeth Oldfield is a writer, coach and host of the podcast The Sacred, who has dedicated her work to exploring clarity, courage and most of all, connection. And yet – her latest book Fully Alive dives into the seven deadly sins. That's because Elizabeth believes that sins like pride, greed and wrath, are what break our connection to others. So maybe understanding how these sins are so destructive to our lives might just be a key to becoming more fully alive.  In this conversation, Pam and Elizabeth talk about why hard feelings – like anxiety, grief, and even tension with loved ones – are actually invitations. We have to let ourselves feel complicated, messy emotions in order to draw closer to others and to God.  Elizabeth also shares a reflective journaling practice to help you live out your values.  Links and resources About Elizabeth Oldfield The Sacred podcast  Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times book Fully Alive, Elizabeth's Substack  With & For is a podcast of the Thrive Center, an applied research center that exists to catalyze a movement of human thriving, with and for others through spiritual health. Learn more at thethrivecenter.org.Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenterFollow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King hosts With & For, and is the Executive Director of the Thrive Center and the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary. Follow her @drpamking. About With & ForHost: Pam KingSenior Director and Producer: Jill WestbrookOperations Manager: Lauren KimSocial Media & Graphic Designer: Wren JuergensenSenior Producer: Clare WileyExecutive Producer: Jakob LewisProduced by Great Feeling Studios Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and Fuller Seminary's School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. The podcast was made possible through the support from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

As we approach Ash Wednesday and the 2026 Lenten season, Makoto Fujimura's vision of slow art, hospitality, and kenotic creativity invites us to resist the speed, fear, and fragmentation of this cultural moment by learning again how to pay attention, to rest, and to become people capable of holding one another with care even amid grief, violence, and uncertainty. In this conversation, fine artist Makoto Fujimura reflects on art, trauma, hospitality, and the slow practices that help us remain human in fractured times. "I wanted this book to serve as a portal… to recognize something as maybe ordinary or as extraordinary as holding your granddaughter." Together with Mark Labberton, Fujimura reflects on art as generativity, kenosis, and the healing practice of attention. Together they discuss slow art, Ground Zero and trauma, Japanese aesthetics and hospitality, dandelions and attention, Sabbath rest, and self-emptying love. They explore how making art helps people remain human amid violence, polarization, and technological acceleration. Episode Highlights "I wanted this book to serve as a portal… to recognize something as maybe ordinary or as extraordinary as holding your granddaughter." "We are not just making… we are being made." "God is indeed the host." "Art is… a way for us to navigate our complex times." "It is okay for me to give my life away." About Makoto Fujimura Makoto Fujimura is a contemporary artist, writer, and cultural thinker known for "slow art" rooted in Japanese Nihonga painting traditions. His work explores generativity, culture care, theology of making, and the relationship between beauty and suffering. Having lived and worked near Ground Zero after 9/11, his artistic practice reflects themes of trauma, hospitality, and new creation. He is the author of Art Is: A Journey into the Light and other books on art, faith, and culture. Helpful Links And Resources Art Is: A Journey into the Light https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300273656/art-is/ Makoto Fujimura Website https://makotofujimura.com/art International Arts Movement https://iamculturecare.com/ Art and Faith: A Theology of Making https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300285482/art-and-faith/ Show Notes Lifelong friendship, artistic influence Slow art as resistance to acceleration Minneapolis demonstrations; dignity across legal status; 50,000 people marching in extreme cold as witness to human worth "I was holding Jane." Art as portal into ordinary life Making and being made simultaneously Scientist father, generative language framework Kamakura childhood aesthetics Insider–outsider identity formation Japanese language, visual thinking, layered perception Ground Zero studio years after 9/11 shaping imagination, community awareness, and artistic responsibility Hospitality as artistic and theological practice Survivor identity discovered through conversation with Columbine survivor "God is indeed the host." Attention, "minute particulars," and gratitude amid suffering Dandelions meditation: beauty in unwanted places; seeds surrendering to wind; healing compacted soil; overlooked gifts of creation Slow art practice: pausing, observing, letting meaning emerge rather than forcing conclusions Sabbath, rest, and imagination as resistance to productivity-driven identity Kenosis paintings, gold, generosity, and self-emptying love as cultural antidote "It is okay for me to give my life away." #MakoFujimura #SlowArt #CultureCare #FaithAndArt #Hospitality #Kenosis #CreativeProcess #SpiritualFormation Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.