The Pivot

Description:  Nine years and about 150 episodes after Andrew Peterson was one of Andrew Osenga's very first guests, the two catch up on everything in between — starting with what it's like to watch a story you wrote in your own head become a TV show and then a graphic novel in other people's hands. He talks about a fan comment that pushed him to publicly clarify he hadn't quietly stepped away...

Description:  Sixteen years ago, Jonathan Rogers finished the novel he was proudest of — and watched it fail so completely that it never made it onto a single bookstore shelf. In this conversation with Andrew Osenga, Jonathan revisits that heartbreak as he re-releases The Charlatan's Boy with a new cover and new illustrations, and traces how the experience forced him to ask an uncomfortable q...

Description:  Doug McKelvey is the author of “Every Moment Holy” a bestselling series of prayer books, and his newest volume, “Rites of Passage”, is written for the leap into adulthood. Writing it meant reliving a pattern he never once recognized in himself as a young man: getting close to someone, whether a friendship or a girlfriend, and then — almost on a dime — deciding he was done, with...

Description:  This episode with Sally Lloyd-Jones originally aired on November 21, 2017, and it's one of Andrew's favorite conversations from the show. Sally spent years working as an editor for other people's books, certain that writing her own wasn't really an option — until, in her forties, everything changed. She and Andrew talk about the fear that kept her editing instead of writing, the mome...

What does a life spent practicing law have to do with crafting a blockbuster novel? For Allen Levi, the answer lies in the power of storytelling. Before the acclaim of his novel, Theo of Golden, Allen spent 13 years honing his skills as a lawyer—a profession where words were his primary tool for persuasion. In this encore episode, we explore how those years of legal practice—combined with his pivo...

It started with a dare. David French had his whole life planned out as a teenager — Air Force, fighter jets, the whole thing — until eyesight issues and a friend's bet rerouted him toward the LSAT, and somehow, Harvard Law School. From there, nothing about his career went the way he expected: over a decade defending free speech cases for people on the right and the left, then a writing habit that...

Jason Gray has spent decades writing the songs that shaped Christian radio, but don't expect this conversation with Andrew Osenga to stay on the hits for long. It winds through Jason's theory of what actually makes a song great versus just successful, and into heavier territory: the childhood speech impediment he once believed God would heal as proof of faith, and what he learned instead when the...

Joey Lankford’s journey is anything but predictable. He went from running a 10-location healthcare company in his early 30s to selling everything he owned and moving his family to the tip of South Africa. When he eventually returned home to Tennessee, he started something totally different: a workforce development farm on state land. In this episode, Joey traces the thread connecting those wild sh...

Sara Groves is on the Mount Rushmore of Christian singer-songwriters, but this conversation is less about the catalog and more about the life she's been quietly building offstage. Sara joins Andrew to talk about trading a 4,000-square-foot suburban house for a 700-square-foot home down the street from an old church, and what it's taken to keep Art House North — a community arts space in Minnesota...

Thirteen years is a long time to be quiet, especially when music has been your whole life. Amy Grant joins Andrew Osenga on The Pivot to talk about what it took to come back: a bike wreck in the summer of 2022, hours of neurological testing at Vanderbilt, and a doctor who gave her two words of advice — lean in . What followed was a new album, The Me That Remains , built not from a record deal or a...

What if the goal of the Christian life isn't to escape this world — but to welcome the next one into it? N.T. Wright, one of the world's foremost New Testament scholars and author of 87 books, joins Andrew Osenga on The Pivot for a conversation as warm and wide-ranging as it is theologically rich. Tom traces the arc of a life shaped by choir stalls in northeast England, Scripture Union camps in th...

What if the thing we're most trying to protect our kids from is exactly what they need? Sissy Goff and David Thomas — children's therapists, co-hosts of Raising Boys and Girls , and founders of Daystar Counseling — join Andrew Osenga on The Pivot to talk about their new book Capable and the growing crisis of capability they're seeing in kids and teens. From the rise of anxiety and depression to ki...

Tim Timmons is a singer/songwriter, author, podcaster, pastor, cancer survivor, and—as of this year—the subject of a major motion picture. But this conversation isn’t really about the movie. It's about what it’s like to be Tim Timmons right now , in the middle of one of the busiest and most surreal seasons of his life. Andrew and Tim talk about what it means to stop working for God and start joini...

What if the problem isn’t that you don’t know enough, but that you’re trying to change alone? In this episode of The Pivot Podcast, Andrew sits down with psychiatrist and author Dr. Curt Thompson to explore the intersection of neuroscience, faith, and emotional healing. Together, they unpack why anxiety is often rooted in the feeling of being alone in our suffering and how real transformation happ...

In this episode of The Pivot , Andrew Osenga sits down with physician and author Lydia Dugdale to explore the surprising wisdom found in confronting mortality. Drawing from her book The Lost Art of Dying , Lydia shares what centuries-old traditions, modern medicine, and her experiences as a doctor in New York City have taught her about death, dignity, and living well. From pandemic hospital tents...

In this episode of The Pivot Podcast , Andrew sits down with James Martin—Jesuit priest, bestselling author, and editor-at-large at America Media—to talk about calling, career pivots, and learning to pray in the middle of uncertainty. Before joining the Jesuits, Father Jim worked in corporate finance after graduating from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, but a growing restless...

In this episode of The Pivot , Andrew talks with Kelsey McGinnis—a musicologist, educator, and writer/editor for Christianity Today —about embracing life’s detours and letting go of the pressure to be perfect. Kelsey shares how she found her unexpected career by following her heart when her original plans fell apart, and how becoming a parent taught her to hold her goals loosely. She and Andrew di...

Miracles! Cancer! Kelly Clarkson! Floods! Family! Oh yeah, and a book, too! On this episode of The Pivot , we’re joined by married couple Jason (Kelly Clarkson’s music director and former member of Sonicflood) and Rhonda Halbert, who have been through way more than their fair share of trauma—including shifting careers, three separate cancer diagnoses, a destroyed home, and loss after loss—and how...

Fred Bahnson is a writer, essayist, and ordained minister whose work explores the intersection of faith, nature, and community. In this profound and far-ranging conversation, Fred and Andrew discuss the adventurous spirit of Thomas Merton, wrestling with the notion of original sin, and finding an “embodied experience” of faith rooted in the natural world. Fred shares how his work—from his book Soi...

In this week’s episode, we sit down with Matt Markins, president and COO of Awana, a global organization dedicated to guiding children toward a meaningful life through mentorship and community partnership. Matt shares the poignant childhood experiences—including the day his father left—that set him on a path defined by the powerful influence of caring mentors. He discusses how those early connecti...

In this week’s episode, Andrew Osenga sits down with friend and musician Josh Wilson to discuss his journey of personal and professional change. Josh shares why his answer to “What have you changed your mind about and why?” is profoundly different now than it would have been four years ago. He opens up about his past struggles with alcohol addiction and anxiety, and how his decision to speak publi...

This week on The Pivot , we had a heartfelt conversation with Robert and Lori Crosby as they shared the vital work of their Reach Hurting Kids Institute. They opened up about what it truly means to apply a trauma-informed lens to ministry, explaining how shifting our perspective is key. Instead of seeing trauma-related behaviors as something to be taken personally, they teach us to see them as opp...

Creator of the beloved series VeggieTales Phil Vischer, whose influence impacted generations of children, joins The Pivot to talk about what happens when you build something incredible, only to watch it fall apart. Phil opens up about what to do when you discover that you’re not as important as you think you are, how to let God save you from your own ambition, and how to cope with devastating fail...

This episode with Ashley Cleveland came out in January 2018—the first time Andrew ever met Ashley. This interview had such a profound impact on Andrew that he’s referenced it again and again throughout the years, and we wanted to re-share it with you as we look to a New Year.    Thought-Provoking Quotes:  “I quickly became an alcoholic and a drug addict, but I also became a musician. I started get...

Join Andrew for a really special end-of-the-year episode as he opens up about the creative work he put out in 2025. He shares some honest reflections about what he learned this year, what didn’t quite work out, and what he’s hoping to carry with him as we step into the new year. We’re talking about how to truly learn from those inevitable failures, seeing them as a chance to redesign the life we w...