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

Samson is everything a man might imagine becoming. I like to imagine him in Ray-Bans, a man bun, and a CrossFit t-shirt, hiking through some remote red stone canyon, documenting his adventurous life on Instagram. He is the model man, driven by passion and restless for adventure and romance. He was fascinated with the seductive nature of Philistia, the risk of roaming into enemy territory only maki...

Phil Ayres is a pastor serving what he describes as a small church just north of Orlando, Florida. Phil blogs and writes about the challenges of doing ministry in a small church setting. He has published two books, How to Survive Ministry and Flannel-Graph Jesus. And he is also the host of the Bible Revealed podcast. In our conversation, we explore pastoring in a small church setting and the perso...

I recently found a computer emulator for playing vintage Super Nintendo games. And who knew you could buy USB Nintendo controllers on Amazon for eight bucks. Two days of waiting for our Prime package to arrive, and I sat down to introduce my son to the video games of my childhood. The first game I downloaded was Aladdin. Like so many of the other 30-somethings packed into this past Saturday evenin...

Jon and his brother have spent the past 12 years building software for the faith-based community. But they have always had a passion to redesign the experience of listening to the Bible. With the help of their supporters, the Dwell Bible App became the #4 most funded app on Kickstarter. Today, the Dwell app is supported by a large and passionate community of users. With a rich feature set, customi...

This May, Chis Nye is releasing his second book, Less of More: Pursuing Spiritual Abundance in a World of Never Enough . Chris is a pastor in the Bay area and his writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Christianity Today, and RELEVANT Magazine. Chris is passionate about the craft of writing and has thought deeply about how writing has impacted him as a pastor. If you enjoy episodes on writin...

Alan Noble articulates a need for a kind of Christian witness which can break through the secular and distracted lifestyle dominating our culture. Unfortunately, much of how we practice and preach Christ may only be contributing to the challenges we face. Alan's book, Disruptive Witness: Speaking Truth in A Distracted Age , calls for a kind of witness which disrupts the ways we spend our time...

If you are familiar with the gospel of Mark or have paid close attention to your bible’s footnotes, you know there are major questions about how Mark intended to end his gospel. The gospel of Mark ends with chapter 16, and most Bible's include this strange note between verses eight and nine. The ESV puts it, “Some Of The Earliest Manuscripts Do Not Include 16:9–20.” I think Mark was making a...

Adam Lewis Greene is the designer behind the top Kickstarter Bibliotheca campaign to redesign a reader-friendly version of the Bible.

David Rawlings joins me to talk about his transition from copywriting and non-fiction to novels. David just released his debut novel, The Baggage Handler, and is under contract with Thomas Nelson for two more. David's books are modern parables that help readers discover Christ's kingdom through story. We discuss making the transition to fiction and how studying fiction can impact non-fic...

Pierce Taylor Hibbs serves as the Associate Director of the Theological English Department at Westminster Theological Seminary. He is the author of "The Speaking Trinity and His Worded World: Why Language Is at the Center of Everything" and "Finding God in the Ordinary." At the core of our conversation is the question, is there such a thing as Christian writing? Are there quali...

Glenna is a pastor's wife, a mom to two boys, a musician, and writer. She released her first solo album, Hold Me fast, in 2017. You can find her music on Spotify and iTunes. Her first book, The Promise is His Presence: Why God is Always Enough , releases this summer with P & R Publishing. And she already has another book, Everyday Faithfulness , set to release from Crossway in 2020.

I enjoy sharing lessons I'm learning from my writing. This episode addresses my attempts at humor and the disturbing discovery those jokes have lead me to.

David Mathis is executive editor for desiringGod.org and pastor at Cities Church in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is the author of Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines.

Dan Herod joins me to talk about his deepest sufferings and how they have shaped his story and ministry. Pick up his book, Suffer Well: Walking Victoriously Through Your Valleys.

John serves as pastor of Cornerstone Church in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the author of Prayer: How Praying Together Shapes the Church.

Matt Perman has taken up the task of reshaping productivity with a commitment to Gospel centrality. His advice is practical and deeply theological.

The second in our series, Scripture Can Teach You to Write, we take a look at how the author of 1 & 2 Samuel uses setups and payoffs to keep the reader's attention through the story.

Kate Motaung is the author of the memoir, A Place To Land: A Story of Longing & Belonging as well as the newly released book, co-authored with Shannon Popkin, Influence: Building A Platform that Elevates Jesus (Not Me).

The Bible is an incredible work of literature. With careful attention, there is a lot you can learn about writing from it.

Jonathan Rogers is a writer and educator. Through his weekly emails and online courses, he helps writers improve their craft, overcome the fear of grammar, and create new writing habits.

I've compiled my top 10 reads of 2018 and some additional thoughts on buying books in the new year.

Jeff Medders is a pastor, author, and host of the Home Row Podcast, a show with writers on writing. He joins me to talk about writing tools and what he calls the "sin of platforming."

Daniel Im is the Director of Church Multiplication for NewChurches.com at LifeWay Christian Resources. He's also the author of two books including, No Silver Bullets: Five Small Shifts that Will Transform Your Ministry.

I'm joined by Karen Ball & Erin Taylor Young, cohosts of the Write from the Deep Podcast. From their experience as authors, editors, and coaches they describe why so many writers give up.

You need to know why you write. One of the things I've learned from a year of interviews is that authors write for very different reasons. What matters is knowing why you do.