At Sea with Justin McRoberts

I didn’t know a lot about the actual life of Jesus before I was in my mid-twenties. Honestly, even after I started calling myself a Christian (which is far more interesting conversation now than it was then),   What actually led me to do the work of discovery and research wasn’t a sermon series; it was seeing a series of books or short documentaries on what people were calling the “Lost Years” of...

If you've been around me for any significant time, you'll likely know that my mother is a hero of mine. not in a cute "I love my mom, you guys" kind of way but more like "I hope I can be the kind of resilient and faithful and strong as that person" kind of way.  From her very difficult childhood, marked by various in-house abuses and financial destitution to her adventures west to CA from Albuquer...

Most of the guests I host on the podcast share some kind of faith in common. For many of them, that faith carries the label of "Christianity." for others, that label doesn't fit quite as well or as comfortably. My last guest, Jon Steingard, is one such guest for whom religious labels are somewhat unhelpful, at least at this moment in his life and career. But, then again, maybe it's not about this...

Jon Steingard spent 16 years as a musician, songwriter and front man in a band whose success had its context in what some call the "Christian market." I've spent a bit of time there myself and there's a whole conversation herein about whether or not a marketplace can be "christian,"  (I think it can't). But that's what's significant and odd about that conversation is that what seems to bind that m...

Links For Justin: Read Justin's Substack Order In The Low - NEW Book with Scott Erickson Coaching with Justin Order In Rest - New Book of Poems Order Sacred Strides JustinMcRoberts.com Support this podcast NEW Single - Let Go NEW Music - Sliver of Hope NEW Music - The Dood and The Bird The Book - It Is What You Make it Hearts and Minds Amazon Barnes and Noble

When I started the @ Sea Podcast, I was doing a bit of soul searching. The way I communicated it originally was that the cultural spaces I was used to hosting the work of soul-shaping and meaning-making had ceased to work for enough people or enough kinds of people. In response to that, I wanted to be a guide (a good captain, as it were), helping to navigate the turbulent waters of an unsure/uncle...

Links for Eugene Cho EugeneCho.com Thou Shalt Not Be A Jerk - Latest Book  Instagram     Links for Justin JustinMcRoberts.com Support This Podcast Links For Justin: Read Justin's Substack Order In The Low - NEW Book with Scott Erickson Coaching with Justin Order In Rest - New Book of Poems Order Sacred Strides JustinMcRoberts.com Support this podcast NEW Single - Let Go NEW Music - Sliver of Hope...

Links for Levi The Poet: http:/ /levithepoet.net Twitter Instagram Facebook   Links for Justin : JustinMcRoberts.com Support this podcast   Links For Justin: Read Justin's Substack Order In The Low - NEW Book with Scott Erickson Coaching with Justin Order In Rest - New Book of Poems Order Sacred Strides JustinMcRoberts.com Support this podcast NEW Single - Let Go NEW Music - Sliver of Hope NEW Mus...

Links for Latifah: http://www.modaspira.com Page CXVI Twitter Moda Spira Twitter Instagram Facebook   Links for Justin : JustinMcRoberts.com Support this podcast Links For Justin: Read Justin's Substack Order In The Low - NEW Book with Scott Erickson Coaching with Justin Order In Rest - New Book of Poems Order Sacred Strides JustinMcRoberts.com Support this podcast NEW Single - Let Go NEW Music -...

Links for Shaun: Website Instagram Twitter Facebook   Links for Justin : JustinMcRoberts.com Support this podcast Links For Justin: Read Justin's Substack Order In The Low - NEW Book with Scott Erickson Coaching with Justin Order In Rest - New Book of Poems Order Sacred Strides JustinMcRoberts.com Support this podcast NEW Single - Let Go NEW Music - Sliver of Hope NEW Music - The Dood and The Bird...

Links for Sarah: Website Instagram Podcasts   Links for Justin : JustinMcRoberts.com Support this podcast Links For Justin: Read Justin's Substack Order In The Low - NEW Book with Scott Erickson Coaching with Justin Order In Rest - New Book of Poems Order Sacred Strides JustinMcRoberts.com Support this podcast NEW Single - Let Go NEW Music - Sliver of Hope NEW Music - The Dood and The Bird The Boo...

The Center For Bioethics and Culture Network Website Books  Music Instagram Support this podcast Links For Justin: Read Justin's Substack Order In The Low - NEW Book with Scott Erickson Coaching with Justin Order In Rest - New Book of Poems Order Sacred Strides JustinMcRoberts.com Support this podcast NEW Single - Let Go NEW Music - Sliver of Hope NEW Music - The Dood and The Bird The Book - It Is...

One of the most persistent criticisms of religious progressivism is that it is reactive, pushing back on (and sometimes warring against) older, institutional practices deemed out of date, unhelpful, and even unjust. And while there is some good to such a posture, it doesn’t constitute a full enough profile of leadership.  In his book “The Shift” Colby Martin rises to meet that challenge and critiq...

It’s one thing to say “we’re in this together.” It’s another thing entirely to practice “belonging” and pay the kind of price required to actually broaden one’s tent; to include people who would just as soon exclude or eliminate you from the socio-cultural mix altogether.  For many years now, Ben McBride has been doing the strange and difficult work of redefining what it means for folks to belong...

This episode airs in February of 2020 and gyms all over the country are wrapping up their New Year’s deals to entice newcomers. It’s a poorly kept secret in the fitness world that most gyms (24 hr Fitness, Planet Fitness and the like) harvest the majority of their memberships in January and then.. come February or March, actually count on you  not  showing up much at all, if at all. In other words...

In a recent poll of Australians, 70% of those polled claimed to mistrust religious leaders. Of course, I don’t spend a lot of time searching Australian polling data. I saw this because I pay attention to author and missiologist Michael Frost. Michael,  has spent much the past two decades tilting his ear towards those who live well beyond the walls of the institutional church, because…  It is impos...

In his early letters to Jesus followers the Apostle Paul regularly and specifically warned against a religious philosophy called Gnosticism. In short, Gnosticism valued immaterial things and particular devalued the human body.  Over 2000 years later, it seems to me that disembodiment of various kinds continues to pose a threat, not just to a healthy Christian practice of faith but to a healthy pra...

The power of those who identify, translate and communicate current events is truly massive; sometimes frighteningly so.  In 1978, Science fiction writer  Philip K. Dick warned against the power of what he called “the media,” writing…  “I distrust their power. They have a lot of it. And it is an astonishing power: that of creating whole universes, universes of the mind.”  I think that’s a fair warn...

World suicide prvention day is Sept 10 this year. If you’ve been around my life or work for any stretch of time, you know that suicide, depression and related realties have played a significant role for me, in the show of my father’s suicide in may of 1998.  I can trace back just about all the work I do as an artist and advocate to some threat extending from that moment. Regardless, the conversati...

I met Sarah Thebarge in Houston at a gathering of speakers and artists focused on advocating for children in poverty. I was immediately struck, not only by how articulate she was but by the depth and breadth of her definition of human flourishing. That depth and breadth runs through all her work and every conversation I’ve had with her, including this one. Check it out. Links For Justin: Read Just...

I first met Christena Cleveland across the street from a conference where, later that day, she would speak on issues of race and the long road towards unity among Christians. Her presentation was 3 minutes long. What I left that conference with was’t just what I heard Dr. Cleveland present in her few minutes.. but I left eyes somewhat newly opened to a system/culture that was comfortable nodding t...

That songwriting is an art is widely understood. What can be messy or confusing is what becomes of any art, and particularly songwriting, when it becomes a job, a business or an industry. And then, what becomes of the people who identified as professional artists when the season changes and the industry evolves?  Part of what makes Andrew Osenga a standout artist, aside from his clear capability a...

For a season, Aaron Niequist worked at a church called Willow Creek in the Chicago area; a church that functioned as a kind of flagship for mainline christian Chruch practice. He also served at Mars Hill in Grant Rapids Michigan, a church whose culture was often seen as a next step away from (if not a remedy for) the culture and practice of churches like Willow Creek. In my conversation with Aaron...

Welcome to Season 4! And what a way to kick it off! In the fall of 2018, I got to spend a few weeks on the road with Jen Hatmaker and Nichole Nordeman on their Moxie Matters tour. For 15 nights, I got to play songs and then watch  rooms full of women (and a few men), find a kind of home in the space Jen and Nichole provided as artist/storytellers.  Between stops in Texas, I sat down with Jen Hatma...

Take a brief tour through some of the key moments in conversations that defined Season 3 of the podcast. My guests: – Dominique Dubois Gillard   – Sandra McCracken   – Carlos Whittaker   – Jeremy Cowart   – Michael Mcbride   – Matt Shotwell   – Scott Erickson   – Jonathan Merritt   – Matt Mikalatos (a reflection on the death of John Chau)   – Jer Swigart (a look at the “border crisis”)   Links For...