Michelle Van Loon is an author who recently released Moments & Days: How Our Holy Celebrations Shape Our Faith through Navpress Publishers (click on the link for a free excerpt). A regular contributor for Christianity Today and the Her.meneutics blog, you can find more of her writings on her website: http://michellevanloon.com/ or at her blog: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/pilgrimsroadtrip/. Our interview focuses mainly on the new book, what Christians can learn from the Jewish feast (along with all my many questions about them!), and how we modern people can slow down follow a different order of time.
Pam Destri was on call as a volunteer EMT the night Rich Mullins died and Mitch McVicker got seriously injured. Many fans have wondered for years what happened on that night. While Pam doesn't have all the answers she does offer her experience, what she witnessed on that night, some surprising revelations about that night, and why she thinks God brought her there in those moments. Part of the episode features talks from Chris Marchand and Pastor Mark Schoenhals about Rich Mullins, a talk from Pam, and then an after-talk interview with Pam.
Mitch McVicker is a singer-songwriter and musician who's released 7 full length albums over the span of his career. He won the Dove award for "Song of the Year" for co-writing "My Deliver" with Rich Mullins. In our chat we talked about his latest album The Grey: When black and white fade, about being a do-it-yourself touring musician, and what it was like playing himself in the Ragamuffin film. Find out more at McVicker's website: http://mitchmcvicker.com/
Vicky Matthews is the Executive Director of Choices Women's Clinic in Orlando Florida and the president of Life Steward Ministries (http://www.choiceswomensclinic.com/ & http://www.lifestewardministries.org/). Vicky travels around the country speaking about and raising funds for women's pregnancy centers, while also serving as the director of her own center. In our conversation we discuss the pro-life movement, changes that are being made in pregnancy centers, and the challenge set before the Church to help pregnant women in need and the unborn children in our communities. It's some thought provoking material worthy of consideration.
Dr. Melody Green, Dean of Urbana Theological Seminary, is the organizer of the 5th annual Tolkien Conference. She herself is a literature scholar, having published and researched on the works of Tolkein, C.S. Lewis, and George MacDonald. The 2016 Conference is November 5 at Grace Community Church in Champaign, Illinois. Please visit www.tolkienconference.com for registration info and topics to be presented. This episode's conversation focuses on the conference, the place of Tolkien's work in today's world, and a side chat about Lewis' enigmatic novel Till We Have Faces.
In the latest "Dialogue With Brandon," Brandon and I discuss what it takes to make a great novel. We are both attempting to write a novel and so we hammer out what makes for great plot and great characters. Is it OK to use cliches? Should our characters be composites of real people we know? Should we use brand names of different products and stores? On and on we go in pursuit of the Great American Novel.
Dr. Michael Danner is the Executive Minister of the Illinois Mennonite Conference. I invited him on the podcast to discuss a "liberal Christian" political perspective, but soon realized he was instead offering me an Anabaptist Christian perspective. While discussing pacifism, "socialism", abortion, and free market capitalism, Michael lays out how the Church can declare the coming Kingdom in the political realm by following in the way of Jesus.
Zac Hicks is the author of the newly released book The Worship Pastor. He is Canon for Worship and Liturgy at Cathedral Church of the Advent (Birmingham, AL) and writes regularly at zachicks.com. You can find out more about the book (along with a free excerpt) at: http://www.theworshippastorbook.com/
This episode features rare interviews from Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy taken from the Presidential Profiles record series. In preparation for the 2016 election it is time to start considering politics at a deeper level. These speech excerpts and brief bios offer insights into the actions and lives of our presidents and in so doing act as a somewhat sober counter to our currently manic political culture. Also, there is still time to support the Kickstarter campaign for the book "Why Every President Sucked" (You can listen to my interview with the book's author in the previous episode). Follow these links to find out more:
http://www.whyeverypresidentsucked.com/
or
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1929635985/why-every-president-sucked-hardcover-book
Eric Olsen is the author of Why Every President Sucked, and is putting on a Kickstarter campaign until the end of August in order to get the book published. In our conversation we talk about looking at America's presidents with fresh eyes, even the ones we love the most. The book isn't as negative as it sounds, but is an attempt open us up to the simple idea that our presidents were people too and they all made mistakes. To find out more and to support the Kickstarter campaign please visit: http://www.whyeverypresidentsucked.com/
or
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1929635985/why-every-president-sucked-hardcover-book