Pastor Writer: Conversations on Reading, Writing, and the Christian Life

Our culture considers a person’s ability to speak their opinion not just a right but a kind of necessity. To not have an opinion is to be dull at best and irrelevant and transparent at worst. If a person chooses not to speak are they even still a person? In the digital age, maybe not. The question is not whether we should speak or not speak, it's, have we cultivated the wisdom to even recogni...

Curtis Sergeant is an MK (missionary kid) from Asia who served with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board as a missionary among unreached people groups in China and as a global trainer in missions.  He has also served as a VP (for Global Strategy) with the IMB before leaving to help start the P.E.A.C.E. Plan at Saddleback Church where he directed their church planting efforts for five y...

Nathan Foster is the Director of Community Life at Renovaré as well as a licensed clinical social worker and certified addictions counselor. Prior to Renovaré he was an associate professor and Andrews Chair in Spiritual Formation at Spring Arbor University. Nathan hosts Renovaré's Ordinary Life with God podcast which airs each Monday. Nathan is the author of The Making of An Ordinary Saint: M...

Matt Carter serves as the Pastor of Preaching & Vision of The Austin Stone Community Church. In addition to pastoring at The Austin Stone, Matt is a cancer survivor, author, and speaker for camps and conferences nationwide. He holds an MDiv from Southwestern Seminary. His writing has ranged from a commentary on the Gospel of John to a historical fiction book exploring the relationship of Charl...

Combining their interest in history and passion for ministry, Joel & Troy have set out to revive long-forgotten sermons. From Augustine to Whitfield, the two are recording long-forgotten sermons form some of history's greatest preachers and sharing them through their podcast, Riving Thoughts. They join me to talk about the show, preaching, and how these historical thoughts can rescue us f...

Harold Senkbeil was born and raised on a Minnesota farm and his rural background has shaped his approach to work and people. He was a parish pastor for 31 years prior to accepting a position as Associate Professor of Ministry and Mission at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Since 2008 he has served as Executive Director for Spiritual Care for DOXOLOGY: The Lutheran Center for Sp...

The past years have seen a massive spike in debates, articles, and books on the topic of masculinity, most centered around a call to redefine what masculinity means. What does it mean to be a man? We call for it constantly. Be a man. Act like a man. Man up. Real men don’t… But it’s worth asking yourself, do you have a good definition for it? How would you define what it means to be a man? Prefer t...

Dr. Kevin Vanhoozer joins me to talk about his newest book, Hearers & Doers. The book aims to help pastors better form disciples through theology and doctrine. It provides a great combination of theological reflection, scripture, and cultural awareness. Dr. Vanhoozer's writing draws from a deep appreciation for the arts.  In our conversation, we talk about what it means to "do theolo...

I do realize that for two years I've been talking about writing, publishing, and my own book on Samson. For two years you've listened to me give ask and talk about proposals, agents, and publishers. The obvious question is, am I ever going to publish anything?  I wanted to take a pause from our interviews to give you an update and offer some of the lessons I've been learning along t...

Chad Allen is a full-time writer, editor, speaker, and writing coach. His background is in the traditional publishing industry, where he spent over 20 years as an editor, acquisitions editor, and the last seven as editorial director for Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group. He is also the creator of Book Proposal Academy and BookCamp . Chad joins me to talk about the components of a s...

Scott Kedersha serves as the Director of Marriage Ministry at Watermark Community Church in Dallas, Texas. He writes about marriage, family, leadership, and ministry, and is the author of Ready or Knot? 12 Conversations Every Couple Needs to Have before Marriage. Writing is long and hard work. It requires time, attention, and often money. But few of us write with unlimited quantities of those cate...

Andrew Peterson is a recording artist, songwriter, producer, filmmaker, publisher and award-winning author of The Wingfeather Saga. He is also the founder and president of The Rabbit Room, which fosters Christ-centered community and spiritual formation through music, story and art. Peterson has also been named “one of the foremost singer/songwriters around” and has received multiple “best album of...

Frank Viola is a speaker, blogger, and bestselling author. You might be familiar with his books, Pagan Christianity, Insurgence, From Eternity to Here. His blog— frankviola.org —is regularly ranked in the top 5 of all Christian blogs on the Web and his podcast - Christ is All - has ranked #1 in Canada and #2 in the USA on iTunes. He is committed to helping serious followers of Jesus know their Lor...

Dr. Jim Denison is the CEO of Denison Forum. His Daily Article and podcast globally reach over 160,000 subscribers. Dr. Denison guides readers to discern today’s news—biblically. He is the author of multiple books and has taught on the philosophy of religion and apologetics at several seminaries. Prior to launching Denison Forum in 2009, he pastored churches in Texas and Georgia. He holds a Ph. D...

Jared C. Wilson is a prolific author of both fiction and non-fiction. He is an Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry at Spurgeon College and is an Author in Residence at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He also services General Editor of For The Church. Jared joins me to talk about his career in writing and pastoral ministry. We discuss the role of writers in the work of the church and...

As a part of our summer reading series, Alisse Goldsmith-Wissman joined me to talk about her role at InterVarsity Press and some of their upcoming releases. In addition to new releases, Alisse also shares some of her favorite IVP books. I've been extremely impressed with IVP's work and added several new books to my list based on this conversation.

Tommy Brown is a pastor and a published author, having published the book, Seven Money Types, with Zondervan in 2017. Tommy joins me to talk about how his idea developed into a publishing contract and a best-selling book.  If you have ever thought about publishing a book, there is a lot of helpful advice and perspective in this episode. We talk about the significance of a book's concept and h...

Dr. Andrew Root is a professor at Luther Seminary since 2005. He is often mentioned as one of the leading scholars in youth ministry and practical theology in the world. His first book, Revisiting Relational Ministry (IVP, 2007) presented a new trajectory for youth ministry, offering the field one of the first robust theological projects. Since then, he has published sixteen books. His latest proj...

Can you imagine Ron Swanson waking up to discover he was suddenly allergic to meat? No steaks, no brats, no bacon, no cheeseburgers. Can you imagine his reaction? It would have made a great episode, but maybe it sounds too far fetched. Believe it or not, a meat allergy is a real thing, and I was as horrified to discover I had it as Ron Swanson would have been. Two years ago, I developed what I tho...

Patrick Shcreiner teaches New Testament at Western Seminary in Portland Oregon. His Ph. D. work was on spatial theories and their relationship to the kingdom in the Gospel of Matthew. In addition to his dissertation work, he is also the author of, The Kingdom of God and the Glory of the Cross (A part of the crossway Short Studies in Biblical Theology Series), and the soon to be released Matthew, D...

When C. S. Lewis was asked where he wished his book royalties to be paid upon his death, Lewis responded, "after I've been dead five years, no one will read anything I've written." For all Lewis got right, he predicted that one wrong.  Lewis's impact has only continued to grow. It's hard for me to estimate just how influential Lewis has been on my faith and thinking....

This year’s debate between Jordan Peterson and Slavoj Žižek was marketed as one of the greatest intellectual debates of the century. At one point, tickets were being scalped for over $1,500 a seat. To many’s disappointment, but probably for the best, the event went off without the anticipated drama. Peterson and Žižek managed to find significant common ground. The debate, which lasted over two and...

As a part of our summer reading series, Jenaye White joined me to talk about her role at B&H Publishing and some of their upcoming releases. In addition to new releases, Jenaye also shares some of her favorite B&H books. Her recommendations include non-fiction, memoir, children's, and even a cookbook. I hope a book catches your interest and might become a great summer read for that up...

One of the greatest joys in life is finding a really really good book. That doesn’t happen nearly as often as I would like. But every once in a while, you come across a book, and something about it, usually it only 10 to 15 pages, you just know this book is going to impact your life. Honestly, so much of my reading is just searching for that. To be fair, there is some reading you do just because y...