Crackers and Grape Juice

We invited two friends of the podcast, who are longtime friends of one another, to talk about ministry, the state of preaching in the Church, and how they often feel like exiles in Mainline Christianity. We hope you enjoy this conversation with Tony and Will. Be sure to check out Tony's website: https://www.anthonybrobinson.com Also, here's the link to the documentary about Will: https://www.apton...

"God's holiness to mend our brokenness. God's faithfulness to resolve our doubt. It was the exact reversal of Mormonism's worthiness-brings-blessings schema, and my heart sang out. I breathed a sigh of relief. I had come home." Katie Langston is the Director of Digital Strategy for Luther Seminary. Raised in a fundamentalist Mormon home, she became a Christian and was baptized not long ago. She's...

In a post-Christian, post-modern, post-truth society where Jesus' followers aren't often well regarded, modern evangelism approaches are eroding and increasingly ineffective. Christians often talk more than we listen, confront when we should converse, and demand that people believe before they belong. We need a compelling way to share our faith that combines the timeless practices of Jesus with ti...

For this week's episode, we're giving you a sneak peek at a podcast we release only for our paid subscribers to our biweekly newsletter, Crackers and Grape+. We call it the Secret Podcast and we hope you enjoy the conversations between Jason and his Padwan, David King, a rising second year at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Our guest for episode #310 is filmmaker Chris White about his new film, Electric Jesus. CHRIS WHITE has written and directed three micro-budget features: showbiz comedy CINEMA PURGATORIO (2014, co-writer, director, actor), and broken family dramas GET BETTER (2012, co-writer, co-director, actor) and TAKEN IN (2011, writer, director). He co-wrote the screenplay for SIX LA LOVE STORIES (2016), and h...

Six months into a deep personal crisis occasioned by the unexpected end of his marriage, Jamie Howison traveled halfway across the continent to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to engage in a unique and intense five-week contemplative retreat served in the context of the chapel community of the University of King’s College. Immersed in the liturgies of the Canadian Book of Common Prayer, mentored in the writ...

This is Jason speaking... As a Christian, I've never understood the hang-up and/or obsession some Christians have regarding gay Christians. Maybe it's my age. Maybe it's because my first teacher- after my having just become a Christian- was Dr. Gene Rogers, who introduced me to Karl Barth and Thomas Aquinas and who happened to be gay. As a pastor, I'm both exhausted by the sexuality debate and hea...

“We’ve got a list of questions, issues, stuff we’re dealing with. We want your input, your thoughts on this stuff.” Such were the origins of this little book. Two young clergy, early in their first call, imagined that I might have some useful wisdom to pass on based on my own years in ministry. Something like this was once standard preparation. Young people learned a profession like law, ministry,...

Our guest for this episode is Gerald Bray, whose new book is Anglicanism: A Reformed Catholic Tradition. Gerald Bray (DLitt, University of Paris-Sorbonne) is Research Professor at Beeson Divinity School and Director of Research for the Latimer Trust. He is a prolific writer and has authored or edited numerous books, including The Doctrine of God and Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present. What...

Kurt Willems joins the pod to share his new book Echoing Hope: How the Humanity of Jesus Redeems Our Pain. None of us live free of difficulties or hardships. But how can we learn to live richly in the midst of them? And ever grow spiritually because of them? The answer is found in the hopeful humanity of Jesus. Echoing Hope reveals how understanding the humanity of Jesus can radically transform ou...

For eight years, Ellie Holcomb recorded and toured full-time with her husband’s band, Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors, before stepping off the road when her first child was born. Her solo debut, As Sure As The Sun (2014), landed her a Top 10 hit at Christian radio with “The Broken Beautiful” and a GMA Dove Award for “New Artist of the Year.” Her critically-acclaimed sophomore LP, Red Sea Road, foll...

Richard Stearns is a leader who has been tested as a CEO in both secular companies and also as the head of one of the world’s largest Christian ministries. After stints as CEO of Parker Brothers and then Lenox, Stearns accepted the invitation to leave his corporate career to become the president of World Vision US, where he became the longest serving president in their seventy-year history. During...

Tim Gombis joins the pod to talk about his newest book, 'Power in Weakness: Paul’s Transformed Vision for Ministry.' Tim and Teer explore a model for church leadership as old as Paul's letter to the Romans. From the publisher: After Paul’s encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he turned from coercion and violence to a ministry centered on the hope of Christ’s resurrection. In ea...

“My vocation was supposed to be joy, and I was speaking at funerals.” Shortly after being hired by Yale University to study joy, Angela Gorrell got word that a close family member had died by suicide. Less than a month later, she lost her father to a fatal opioid addiction and her nephew, only twenty-two years old, to sudden cardiac arrest. The theoretical joy she was researching at Yale suddenly...

Brian Zahnd is the founding pastor of Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri. He's also the author of many wonderful books, including, Water into Wine, Beauty Will Save the World, and most recently, Unvarnished Jesus. Brian was our first guest five years ago so we invited him to join us for our 300th episode. He talks about his incredibly successful Prayer School, his upcoming corollary, How...

Dr, De La Torre joins the podcast to talk about his latest book, 'Decolonizing Christianity: Decolonizing Christianity: Becoming Badass Believers.' In the interview, Dr. Del La Torre talks about his life in America as an immigrant, makes clear that it is not his job to fix that which White Christians have done, and even disagrees with Stanley Hauerwas. For more information on Dr. De La Torre, visi...

On why a baptism "In the name of the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer" is not a valid baptism (and you should be re-baptized), the resurrection of the flesh and what it means for burial practices, and the Gospel that gives you Christ and everything that belongs to him... This special episode is a session from the Crackers & Grape Juice House of Theological Studies featuring Dr. Phillip Cary. in th...

Friend of the podcast and all around Gandalf to the gang, the irascible Will Willimon returns to talk about meeting the Risen Jesus, fighting in church, Karl Barth, preaching, and the new edition of his first book, The Gospel for the Person Who has Everything.

Our friend, Jack Levison, is back on the podcast to talk about his recent book, An Unconventional God, which examines the role of the Holy Spirit in the Gospels. Jack Levison holds the W. J. A. Power Chair of Old Testament Interpretation and Biblical Hebrew at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. Raised in a tract house in Levittown, New York, Jack left to attend Wheaton Coll...

"When I started out in seminary, I thought I was going into a helping profession, a community-organizer, a therapist, an advice-giver. And then Gerhard Forde upended all that, showing me how a pastor is one is compelled to preach the forgiveness of sins." Check out his new book! Seriously, go get it. Ken Sundet Jones, Professor of Theology and Philosophy at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iow...

“In order to understand why these groups support Trump, it’s important to better understand their vision of the world. Evangelical beliefs are often misrepresented in popular media and in political discussions. These misunderstandings make it difficult to assess and respond to the political situation.” André Gagné is Full Professor in the Department of Theological Studies at Concordia University i...

Many sincere Christians dismiss evangelism due to enduring evangelistic caricatures. This book helps readers move beyond those caricatures to consider thoughtfully and practically how they can engage in evangelism, whether it's through one-on-one conversations, social media, social justice, or the liturgy of worship services. At once biblical, theological, historical, and practical, this book by a...

"Q: Given demographic shifts, immigration trends, white evangelicals' end-times rhetoric, and Republicans' siege, grievance mentality, was something like Donald Trump inevitable? A: Yes. Q: Is it in the past or is it still the future? A: I don't know." Our guest for episode #292 is former Republican campaign operative and fundraiser, Gretchen Purser. Raised a conservative Baptist in Oklahoma, Gret...

A generation of young Christians are weary of the political legacy they've inherited and hungry for a better approach. They're tired of seeing their faith tied to political battles they didn't start, and they're frustrated by the failures of leaders they thought they could trust. Kaitlyn Schiess grew up in this landscape, and understands it from the inside. Spiritual formation, and particularly a...

"We forget...Before Hitler became our absolute fetish of evil, he was in fact just another politician. Before Hitler was Hitler, he was simply Adolf, the bumbling idiot that the German politicians and aristocracy believed they could manage and control if they allowed him to become Chancellor. Likewise, people generations from now will look back upon us and wonder what moral judgments they would've...