The Pivot

Lead singer of The New Respects and author Jasmine Mullen joins The Pivot for a walk down memory lane, revisiting a beautiful childhood, the band members who turned into family, and a unique form of childhood rebellion: playwriting (and yes, they talk about her adorable play about how the star of Bethlehem was chosen). Jasmine and Andrew reminisce about their younger selves, when Andrew was first...

Writer and speaker Liuan Huska joins this episode of The Pivot to share her studies on anthropology and her venture into journalism, as well as her book on reconciling chronic pain and illness with faith. Liuan shares about her family’s year-long travels through South America, her work with Christian conservation organization A Rocha, and reflects on how to find wholeness in the middle of life’s c...

On this episode of The Pivot , we’re joined by Beth Felker Jones, writer and professor of theology at Northern Seminary, and the mastermind behind the Church Blogmatics Substack, where she explores theological themes through storytelling. Beth shares about her journey to becoming a professor, her approach to teaching topics like sexuality to her students and what she’s learned by listening to thei...

Pastor and author Claude Atcho joins The Pivot to discuss the challenging transition from a large, established church to a smaller, new gathering. He explains how this move required him to shed the role of a seasoned veteran and embrace starting over as a newbie. Claude shares insights into the difficulties of driving significant change for one’s family, especially when the decision seems counteri...

On this episode of The Pivot , we’re joined by Andrew Torrance, Professor of Theology and Co-Director of the Logos Institute for Analytic and Exegetical Theology. Andrew shares about his work with the Scientists in Congregations program that opens up avenues for conversations between faith and scientific communities to learn how they can work together for a better understanding of the world and of...

In this powerful episode of The Pivot, Andrew sits down with fellow Christian musician and songwriter Ross King. In this interview (recorded before he lost his wife Staci to cancer), Ross shares how significant traumas—including his father’s drowning and his wife’s cancer diagnosis—have profoundly changed his loyalties to his own mindset. He discusses the nuanced process of grief, not just for wha...

In this episode of The Pivot , Andrew sits down with Marty Solomon, president of Impact Campus Ministries and the co-creator, executive producer, and cohost of The BEMA Podcast . Marty discusses his passion for working with college students and how diverse academic perspectives helped him construct a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the Bible that is true to its origins. He also ex...

On this week’s episode of The Pivot , Andrew sits down with designer, author, and cohost of Fixer to Fabulous , Jenny Marrs. Jenny reflects on the unexpected path to her current career, emphasizing how learning through trial and error shaped her understanding that there’s no single right way to do things. She shares the importance of slowing down, acknowledging past experiences, and approaching li...

In this episode of The Pivot, host Andrew Osenga welcomes singer/songwriter and author Sarah Kroger. Sarah opens up about overcoming people-pleasing and perfectionism, a belief that extended to her relationship with God. Through therapy and self-reflection, Sarah reveals how she discovered the gift of boundaries, understanding it as an act of self-love and protection. This powerful pivot transform...

This week on The Pivot, we’re joined by our long-time friend, the incredibly talented musician and songwriter, Andy Gullahorn. While Andy is still a full-time musician—a career he’s passionately pursued for years—he’s approaching it in wonderfully different ways. We dive into the stories behind his fantastic new record, Winning Streak , and how his unique approach to songwriting often includes tho...

Welcome to The Pivot —relaunched! Joining us this week is Pete Enns, author, Abram S. Clemens professor of Biblical Studies at Eastern University, and cohost of The Bible For Normal People podcast. Pete emphasizes that his response to the question "What have you changed your mind about and why?" is constantly evolving, mirroring his own personal growth. He explores how embracing change respects bo...

It’s a brand new season for The Pivot— hosted by artist, producer, songwriter, and author Andrew Osenga. This podcast delves into the idea of changing our minds in an age of polarization and unyielding beliefs.  The Pivot offers a space for honest, vulnerable, and intelligent conversations about the evolution of thought, belief, and life path. From personal growth to shifts in worldview, from navi...

If you follow a Christian woman between the ages of 20 and 40 on Instagram, then you’ve 1000% seen Morgan’s work. She does these beautiful, inspiring, super shareable quotes and thoughts over wonderful artwork and once they get to the internet they just go EVERYWHERE. I remember seeing Morgan play music once or twice when one of her previous careers overlapped with my orbit. But who would have tho...

MY GOODNESS. I loved this conversation. Douglas McKelvey is a most fascinating human. He’s the author of two incredible books of liturgies, the second actually releases this week and is called Every Moment Holy, Vol. 2: Death, Grief and Hope. He’s also a fantastic songwriter who doesn’t sing or play music, but has penned the lyrics to over 350 songs recorded by a variety of artists including Switc...

Lynn Holloway was an Imagineer for Disney and has designed all kinds of amazing things, from theme parks to Danish parades to Super Bowl halftime shows. He’s a visual storyteller working in three dimensions and his work is fascinating. But this is really more of a love story; How a fear of intimacy left him in years of loneliness, and how finally facing those fears in the shadow of his father’s pa...

After 20 years as a singer/songwriter, Jill Phillips went back to school to get her Masters in counseling and is now a full-time Marriage and Family therapist (who still plays music!) To anyone who knows Jill at all, this career transition is not surprising. She is an incredibly wise and empathetic friend to many, and even her songs are often based on the themes of carrying each other’s burdens, a...

Rob Touchstone is co-founder of The Well Coffeeshop, a chain of non-profit coffeeshops who donate their profits to providing clean water wells to communities in poverty all over the world. (It’s also just a really good coffeeshop.) Besides that, Rob is an entrepreneur, a business professor, and a pastor here in Nashville, TN. This is a great story, how Rob moved from being a theologically trained...

David Zach is an abolitionist in a rock and roll band. He has traveled all over the world, going undercover to help rescue girls from slavery and sex trafficking. It’s a wild story. But 9-to-5, David is the frontman for the band, Remedy Drive. The band started as four brothers and we got to talk about how they had to quit being in a band together to be good brothers. It is also a pretty wild story...

I’m not sure exactly when I started following Michael Wear’s work. I think I just gradually noticed that a lot of people I respected continued to quote him and reference him, so I had to go see who this guy was. Well, it turns out, this guy is pretty dang amazing. The headline is that he led the faith outreach for Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign, served in the White House, leading evangelical outreac...

This conversation I had with Justin McRoberts was one of my favorites in a long while. I took a few great practical things away from this, as well as just deeply enjoying the time. Justin’s work has taken on many shapes over the years: pastor, author, singer/songwriter, YoungLife guy, career coach, podcaster… but at the heart of it, he’s really done one thing this whole time. You’ll have to listen...

Stu G. The legend. Like many of us, I first learned about Stu through his epic guitar presence in the band, Delirious, who basically introduced the world to modern worship music. Over the years I have heard people talk about Stu in hushed whispers and deep reverence. People don’t just like his guitar playing; This is a guy who carries deep respect. About a year and a half ago I started to find mys...

Songwriter, author, recording artist, mother… These are just a few of the hats Cindy Morgan wears. As a songwriter she’s been a part of many more songs than you would imagine, from artists like Vince Gill, India. Arie, Rascal Flatts, Ricky Skaggs, Amy Grant, Mandisa to Brandon Heath, Sandra McCracken, Josh Garrels, Sierra Hull, and EchoSmith. As you’ll learn, Cindy just writes ALL the time. I’ve g...

FRIENDS!! It has been a long time!! I did not intend to take this long between episodes, but between the election and a little Christmas covid (all recovered now, thankfully) it’s felt like a good time to take a little break. But we’re back now with a GREAT one!! Professor Paul C. H. Lim (PhD, Cambridge) is associate professor of the history of Christianity (Divinity School) and affiliate professo...

Santosh John is from India and now lives in Atlanta, where he recently founded the3CG.com - a ministry for people of a Third Culture, who don’t live in their birth or heritage country but also don’t quite fit into the culture in which they live in now. This was the first ever LIVE episode of The Pivot. Santosh John and I got to have this conversation as a part of the Rabbit Room’s virtual 2020 Hut...

It’s safe to say that not many kids grew up more deeply in the bubble of evangelicalism than Barnabas Piper. It’s led to some amazing books: about being a pastor’s kid, about doubt, and about having the ability to ask hard questions of God. Now Barnabas is an author, a father, and a new pastor after two decades in the book publishing business. He wrote a new book called “Hoping For Happiness” as h...