Gravity Commons Podcast

Immersed in his physics studies at Cornell, Tom Rudelius never thought much about God until his brother, a new convert to Christianity, challenged him to explore faith. To placate his twin, he reluctantly began exploring the Bible and the life of Jesus. Seeking proof of God's existence, he found himself in a world of uncertainty, faced with plenty of reasons for both faith and doubt. In Chasin...

We are re-posting our 4-part series with Dr. Nathan Cartagena on Critical Race Theory (CRT) from a couple years ago. This is Part 4, where we talk we talk about why this all matters for the church. Dr. Cartagena is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Wheaton College (IL), where he teach courses on race, justice, and political philosophy. He also serves as the faculty advisor for Unidad Cristia...

We are re-posting our 4-part series with Dr. Nathan Cartagena on Critical Race Theory (CRT) from a couple years ago. This is Part 3, where Dr. Cartagena continues to outline a brief history of white supremacy in the United States (using lots of original sources). It's REALLY eye-opening. Dr. Cartagena is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Wheaton College (IL), where he teach courses on ra...

We are re-posting our 4-part series with Dr. Nathan Cartagena on Critical Race Theory (CRT) from a couple years ago. This is Part 2, where Dr. Cartagena outlines a brief history of white supremacy in the United States (using lots of original sources). It's REALLY eye-opening (and will be continued in the next part). Dr. Cartagena is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Wheaton College (IL),...

Over the next few weeks, we are re-posting our 4-part series with Dr. Nathan Cartagena on Critical Race Theory (CRT) from a couple years ago. Back in 2021, people were claiming that critical race theory was a grave threat to the gospel. But what in the world IS critical race theory, anyway? In this first episode, Dr. Cartagena helps us understand what we're actually talking about. In Parts 2 a...

Light as Air: Practicing Authenticity, Depth, and Purpose in a World of Empty Promises . offers readers freedom from unmet desires, a way to disrupt broken systems, and an invitation into a life of depth and creative action. How? By exploring the story of Jesus and the way his kingdom engages our dissatisfaction and invites us into the life we were made for. Jesus' kingdom is a political reali...

Seems like everyone's talking about Amazon's new docuseries Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets , so we wanted to host a discussion about it, and the issues it brings up. We invited Rebekah Mui and Dr. Laura Robinson to join us for this very wide-ranging, longer-than-usual discussion. Have fun! Rebekah Mui is a PhD Student in political, social, ethical and cultural thought (ASPECT) a...

Scot McKnight and Laura Barringer's book A Church Called Tov, readers wrote in with stories of abuse and practical questions, such as: How can I transform the culture in my church or organization to make it tov? I believe my workplace has unhealthy values. How do I initiate change? How do I unleash a culture of goodness in my ministry? I’m not in a position of church leadership. What are some...

Learning to hear God's voice can be a difficult and confusing experience for many. But if we can start with getting real about what's happening in our hearts, we can begin to untangle the mess of our thoughts and feelings and create a stillness that makes it easier to hear what God is saying to us and sense what God is doing in us. Megan Nilsen wrote Untangled Faith: How Honest Conversatio...

A few days ago Gravity Podcast co-host Matt Tebbe wrote an article about 2 kinds of anger : the legitimate anger of the oppressed that tells the truth about injustice, and the illegitimate anger of the powerful who seek to maintain their own privilege at the expense of others. If we can’t discern the difference, we lump all expressions of anger together, and anger itself seems to be our main probl...

For over fifteen years, writer Jeff Crosby has been searching for a language of the soul--a way to articulate our deepest longings. Through his book The Language of the Soul: Meeting God in the Longings of Our Hearts , he gifts us with those so-often-untranslatable desires of our hearts, guiding us to finally find the words and luminous insights for our own longings for home, for friendship, for f...

A few weeks ago we talked about 7 common parenting pitfalls and we wanted to follow it up with a list of parenting "pro-tips" (even though none of us are "professional" parents lol), and make a list of 8 (one more than our list of pitfalls): Reparent yourself first. Cultivate natural consequences. Normalize being wrong and apologizing. Delight in the diversity of your kids. Define...

Christian spiritual formation resources and teachings have primarily come from Western spiritual traditions, which implicitly communicates that the white experience of God is the norm. In Our Unforming: De-Westernizing Spiritual Formation , Cindy Lee proposes that, in our increasingly diverse contexts, we need new, non-Western cultural ways of being formed--turning from linear to cyclical, from ce...

After listening carefully to stories from people who suffered misogynistic, racist, or homophobic abuse at the hands of the church, Charles Kiser and Dr. Elaine Heath bring those stories into conversation with the death and resurrection of Jesus, and find in the gospel a God who shares the experience of the traumatized. The result is their book Trauma-Informed Evangelism: Cultivating Communities o...

A few weeks ago we released an episode (" 5 Signs of a Toxic Leadership Culture ") that garnered more response from listeners than we've ever received! So we wanted to record a follow-up episode reflecting on those responses and offering signs of a healthy, non-toxic leadership culture. Here are the 5 signs, along with their toxic analogues: From power flowing up & in to power flow...

We chat through 7 common parenting pitfalls that Christy compiled from her experience as a mother and a pastor. Take a deep breath and cultivate some compassion for yourself, and let's go! Here's the list: Talk parenting Bribe parenting Excuse parenting Shame parenting Hover parenting Blind parenting Backwards parenting Show notes: Eric Minton: What our Pain Reveals About the Anxious Pursu...

Spiritual director Casey Tygrett joins us to challenge the notion that restlessness is a sign that we must move up, move on, or move out, and instead helps us explore some of our deepest questions: Where do I belong? What am I here for? Is there enough? Casey helps us begin to create a spirituality sturdy enough for our unsettled seasons. Casey's new book is The Gift of Restlessness: A Spiritu...

Rev. Joel Bowman joins Matt to chat about the recent rash of mass shootings and how they are grappling with how to understand and respond. This conversation is more personal and raw than most of our podcasts. Rev. Joel A. Bowman, Sr. is a native of Detroit, Michigan, and has been in ministry for 28 years. He is the founder and senior pastor of the Temple of Faith Baptist Church, in Louisville, Ken...

Sheila Gregoire joins us (again!) to talk about how to raise girls to resist the all-too-prevalent toxic teachings of purity culture. She shares how we can raise girls instead to become strong, resilient young women who know who they are, use their voices, and confidently step into their lives. Sheila's new book is She Deserves Better: Raising Girls to Resist Toxic Teachings on Sex, Self, and...

Why do we find it difficult to find a healthy rhythm of work and rest? Author, storyteller, and songwriter Justin McRoberts talks about this as a journey from the false self to the true self, discovering that growth and maturity take root in the knowledge of our belovedness in Christ. Justin's new book Sacred Strides: The Journey to Belovedness in Work and Rest helps us learn that we are not t...

In our experience, leadership cultures that hinder human flourishing have several common overlapping aspects. If we can learn to see these signs of toxic leadership cultures, we can Here are the 5 signs of a toxic leadership culture we talk about in this episode: Reality distortion Loyalty culture Unable to have a Kairos Power flows up/in rather than down/out Conflict is mishandled Connect with G...

Too often when we come to the Bible, questions make us uncomfortable. But Marty Solomon wants to suggest that when we learn to ask better questions of the Bible, we form a new and deeper way of thinking about Scripture, understanding the Bible, and moving further into the depths of the mystery of God. Marty Solomon is a theologian, the president and director of discipleship for Impact Christian Mi...

There are several major social issues affecting the church today. Not only are they causing confusion, but they are also often hidden beneath the surface, shaping the life of a congregation in ways that are difficult to recognize. But transformation is possible if we'll face these issues directly, seeking to notice how God is at work in the midst of these issues to renew life. We can face thes...

It's common to hear Christians say things like "Christianity is neither right nor left, but a completely different kind of thing," and "Both the far-right and far-left are two sides of the same coin: fundamentalist extremes with different beliefs," and "“The problem is polarization." These phrases are often employed toward a Christian "third way" politics that s...

We finish (for now) our series on Mental Health and the Church with some reflections and questions we have about how faith and therapy relate: how they overlap and intersect, how they differ, and how to hold onto both. Connect with Gravity Leadership Leave us a message or ask a question  about this or any other episode and we'll answer it on a future episode. Join our online community  for fr...