The Habit

Ron Block is the banjo player for Alison Krauss & Union Station and the author of Abiding Dependence: Moment by Moment in the Love of God . In this episode, Ron and Jonathan Rogers discuss finding one's true identity, repentance without negative self-talk, and getting free of the anxiety and fear that eat up processing power for a writer or artist. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givin...

Katelyn Beaty is the author of Celebrities for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits are Hurting the Church . In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called the book "a must-read for anyone invested in the fate of evangelicalism." In this episode, Katelyn and Jonathan Rogers talk about the difference between fame and celebrity, the need to challenge (and not mimic) celebrity culture, and the...

David Zahl is the founder and director of Mockingbird Ministries, editor-in-chief of the Mockingbird website , and co-host of The Mockingcast . His new book is Low Anthropology: The Unlikely Key to a Gracious View of Others (and Yourself) . He writes, "Low anthropology keeps the avenues of communication open. It provides a bulwark against burnout. It has led to a kinder view of myself and a fount...

Melanie Penn is a singer-songwriter with a background in musical theater. Through the pandemic, she produced and released twenty pop singles. Those singles have been bundled into two albums: More Alive, Volumes 1 and 2. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joshua Stamper is a composer and collaborator on projects that cross genres and disciplines, from jazz, classical, and avant-garde music to film, dance, visual art, and poetry. In this episode, Joshua Stamper and Jonathan Rogers discuss discord and dissonance, complexity and contingency, and paying attention to the music that is all around us. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com...

Doug Powell is a musician, songwriter, designer, coder, Christian apologist, amateur magician, and now a fiction writer. He recently published Among the Ashes , the second in his Graham Eliot series of biblical archeological thrillers. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sarah Mackenzie is the host of Read-Aloud Revival , a podcast, website, and membership that helps parents nurture warm family relationships and book-loving children through reading aloud. Her new book, is itself intended to be read aloud. Sarah recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for her picture book A Little More Beautiful , which was illustrated by Breezy Brookshire . Support the show: http...

Over the last few years, Lore Ferguson Wilbert has been moving toward a more contemplative and expansive faith. She has learned to be more curious, living into questions as a way of being present with God, rather than seizing too quickly on answers that may not be as helpful–or true–as they first appear. That trajectory gives shape to her new book, A Curious Faith . Support the show: https://thera...

Julian R. Vaca is the author of The Memory Index, a novel set in a world where a disease has ravaged human memories, and people depend on artificial recall. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Richard Gibson and Jim Beitler are English professors at Wheaton College. In 2020 they published a book together called Charitable Writing: Cultivating Virtue through Words, in which they explore the ways that writing can be a spiritual discipline and a means of loving God and loving our neighbors.  Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for priva...

Glen Scrivener is the Director of Speak Life , a UK-based organization that shares the love of Jesus through creative communication. He is a speaker, a producer of online content, and the author of several books. His latest book is The Air We Breathe: How We All Came to Believe in Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality . In it, Glen makes the case that Western culture isn't as post-Christian as...

Dave Connis has written young adult novels in the past—Suggested Reading and The Temptation of Adam. But his most recent books are icture books that explore the connections between human creativity and the creativity of the God in whose image we are made. The Inventions of God (and Eva) came out in 2021. The Stories of God (and Kiki) came out earlier this year. Support the show: https://therabbitr...

Mary McCampbell is Associate Professor of Humanities at Lee University in Tennessee. She is also the author of Imagining our Neighbors as Ourselves: How Art Shapes Empathy . In order to truly love and welcome others, she argues, we need to exercise our imaginations, to see our neighbors more as God sees them than as confined by our own inadequate and ungracious labels.  Support the show: https://t...

Nancy Guthrie is a Bible teacher and speaker and the author of twenty-something books. Her most recent book is Blessed: Experiencing the Promises of the Book of Relevation . Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Singer-songwriter Allen Levi lost his brother and best friend Gary ten years ago this summer. He memorializes his brother's life—and especially the year he was his brother's full-time caretaker—in The Last Sweet Mile , recently re-released by Rabbit Room Press. In this episode, Allen and Jonathan Rogers discuss the impossible challenge of putting words to the things that matter most, and the reaso...

Helena Sorensen is an author, speaker, and writing coach. This episode was recorded live at the first Habit Writers' Retreat at Nashville's North Wind Manor. She speaks with Jonathan Rogers about the particular challenges faced by women (especially mothers) who are struggling to find the permission they need to write. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com...

Pastor Scott Sauls is the author of six books, most recently Beautiful People Don't Just Happen: How God Redeems Regret, Hurt, and Fear in the Making of Better People. In this episode, Scott speaks with his old friend Jonathan Rogers about the beauty that can grow out of past hurts. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jeremy Begbie is the Thomas A. Langford Distinguished Research Professor of Theology at Duke Divinity School. He teaches systematic theology and specializes in the interface between theology and the arts. He is a senior member at Wolfson College, Cambridge, and an affiliated lecturer in the Faculty of Music at the University of Cambridge. Along with David O. Taylor and Daniel Train, Professor Begb...

Robyn Wall is the author of the picture books My First Book of Beards and My First Book of Tattoos (Random House Kids), as well as a story in T he Lost Tales of Sir Galahad .  In this episode, she speaks with Jonathan Rogers about perfectionism, baby steps, and watercolor lessons. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information...

Flo Paris Oakes and Katy Bowser Hutson have been longtime songwriting collaborators through the Rain for Roots collective, which makes singable scripture songs for kids and grownups alike. Both children’s ministry directors, they think a lot and very deeply about the spiritual formation of children. In this episode, Flo and Katy discuss their most recent project, Little Prayers for Ordinary...

Matthew Clark is a singer-songwriter, podcaster, and essayist. He’s exceedingly thoughtful and well-read, and all that thinking and well-reading makes its way into everything he makes–and every conversation. His most recent project is an album called Only the Lover Sings , and a companion book of the same title–a compilation of essays by various writers inspired by the songs on t...

Esau McCaulley is a Bible scholar and Assistant Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College. He’s a contributing writer at Christianity Today, the Washington Post, and the New York Times. His book Reading While Black won the 2021 Christianity Today Book Award for the category “Beautiful Orthodoxy.” His most recent book is a picture book called Josey Johnson’s Hair and the...

Singer-songwriter Sandra McCracken released her first book in 2021. Send Out Your Light: The Illuminating Power of Scripture and Song is a memoir of a creative life and a meditation on the creative process. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Lost Tales of Sir Galahad is a collection of "newly discovered" tales of the Arthurian knight's adventures in the Wild Forest. In this episode of The Habit Podcast, husband-and-wife editorial dream team Pete Peterson and Jennifer Trafton discuss their work in bringing this work to life. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform...

Leslie Bustard is a writer, a teacher, a conference organizer, a publisher, and a museum-goer, among other things. She recruited forty writers to contribute essays to Wild Things and Castles in the Sky: A Guide to Choosing the Best Books for your Children ,  a book she curated and edited with her daughter Carey Bustard and editor Thea Rosenburg. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingf...