PostConsumer Reports Podcast

In celebration of Valentine's Day, here is my conversation with Pastor Dan Leman about sex, relationships, and overcoming sexual sin. Dan is the pastor Faith Evangelical Free Church in Germantown Hills, Illinois . Our friendship goes all the way back to high school, so needless to say, we've been talking about sex for a long tim e.

Jared Grabb is a musician and songwriter from Peoria, Illinois. On March 3rd he releases his third full length album  Masters, which you can purchase at: https://jaredgrabb.bandcamp.com/. Along with his solo work Grabb is also a member of Angry Gods and formerly a member of Scouts Honor and the Forecast. Our interview gets into the making of the new album and his career as an independent artist.

This archive episode of the podcast features my February 2014 interview with director, actor, and writer David Leo Schultz. We discussed Ragamuffin, the biopic he made about the life of singer-songwriter Rich Mullins. It was officially the 4th episode of the podcast, made back in the unofficial days.  David's been busy since we first talked. Along with directing the Brennan Manning biopic he also...

Michael Danner is the Executive Minister of the Illinois Mennonite Conference. Last fall we sat down to talk politics but ended up having a long side conversation about what it means to be a Mennonite in the 21st century and what the state of the Mennonite Church in America is. Whether you are Mennonite or not, if you are interested in how churches work and where church culture is headed, this epi...

My friend Trey Mowder and I spend this episode trying to narrow down The Beatles' White Album  onto a single disc (which means we have to cut out songs, as if such a thing were possible!). On top of that, I also give my year end best of lists (music, TV, films, podcasts) and some highlights for PostConsumer Reports from this past year (2016).

Chris released his Christmas album  The Hopes and Fears of All the Years  last week on his music page, which you can download for $1 throughout the Christmas season at: chrismarchand.bandcamp.com. This episode features excerpts and commentary on the songs and recording process. 

This fall filmmaker Ron Howard released a new documentary Eight Days a Week about the touring years of The Beatles. Trey Mowder and I sat down and discussed what we thought of the film. Part commentary, part movie review, part love letter to the Fab Four, consider this the semi-definitive guide to the new film. 

Michelle Van Loon is an author who recently released Moments & Days: How Our Holy Celebrations Shape Our Faith  through Navpress Publishers (click on the link for a free excerpt). A regular contributor for Christianity Today and the Her.meneutics blog, you can find more of her writings on her website:  http://michellevanloon.com/ or at her blog:   http://www.patheos.com/blogs/pilgrimsroadtrip/ . O...

Pam Destri was on call as a volunteer EMT the night Rich Mullins died and Mitch McVicker got seriously injured. Many fans have wondered for years what happened on that night. While Pam doesn't have all the answers she does offer her experience, what she witnessed on that night, some surprising revelations about that night, and why she thinks God brought her there in those moments. Part of the epis...

Mitch McVicker is a singer-songwriter and musician who's released 7 full length albums over the span of his career. He won the Dove award for "Song of the Year" for co-writing "My Deliver" with Rich Mullins. In our chat we talked about his latest album The Grey: When black and white fade , about being a do-it-yourself touring musician, and what it was like playing himself in the Ragamuffin film. F...

Vicky Matthews is the Executive Director of Choices Women's Clinic in Orlando Florida and the president of Life Steward Ministries ( http://www.choiceswomensclinic.com/ & http://www.lifestewardministries.org/ ). Vicky travels around the country speaking about and raising funds for women's pregnancy centers, while also serving as the director of her own center. In our conversation we discuss the pr...

Dr. Melody Green, Dean of Urbana Theological Seminary, is the organizer of the 5th annual Tolkien Conference. She herself is a literature scholar, having published and researched on the works of Tolkein, C.S. Lewis, and George MacDonald. The 2016 Conference is November 5 at Grace Community Church in Champaign, Illinois. Please visit www.tolkienconference.com  for registration info and topics to be...

In the latest "Dialogue With Brandon," Brandon and I discuss what it takes to make a grea t novel. We are both attempting to write a novel and so we hammer out what makes for great plot and great characters. Is it OK to use cliches? Should our characters be composites of real people we know? Should we use brand names of different products and stores? On and on we go in pursuit of the Great America...

Dr. Michael Danner is the Executive Minister of the Illinois Mennonite Conference. I invited him on the podcast to discuss a "liberal Christian" political perspective, but soon realized he was instead offering me an Anabaptist Christian perspective. While discussing pacifism, "socialism", abortion, and free market capitalism, Michael lays out how the Church can declare the coming Kingdom in the po...

Zac Hicks is the author of the newly released book  The Worship Pastor . He is Canon for Worship and Liturgy at Cathedral Church of the Advent (Birmingham, AL) and writes regularly at zachicks.com. You can find out more about the book (along with a free excerpt) at: http://www.theworshippastorbook.com/

This episode features rare interviews from Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy taken from the Presidential Profiles  record series. In preparation for the 2016 election it is time to start considering politics at a deeper level. These speech excerpts and brief bios offer insights into the actions and lives of our presidents and in so doing act as a somewhat sober counter to our cur...

Eric Olsen is the author of Why Every President Sucked, and is putting on a Kickstarter campaign until the end of August in order to get the book published. In our conversation we talk about looking at America's presidents with fresh eyes, even the ones we love the most. The book isn't as negative as it sounds, but is an attempt open us up to the simple idea that our presidents were people too and...

Joe Johnson writes reviews on Bible and theology books at https://tabletalktheology.com/ and  http://www.theologues.net/ . Our conversation focuses on the importance for "normal churchgoers" to read theological texts and scholarly books on the Bible, as well as which books are good entry level texts to start off with.

Blair Jeffers is a Peoria area artist who is having a showing ("Comic Panels and Literals") at The Art Garage for the month of August. You can view some of her work at her blog:  https://blairjeffers.wordpress.com/ . Blair also juried the "Unseen Voices" exhibit which will be on display at the Foster Gallery of art during August as well. If you live close to Peoria come out to First Friday or find...

Carol McPherson is the Director of Discipleship and Fine Arts Ministries at First United Methodist Church in Peoria, Illinois. She is also the director of the Foster Gallery for Christianity and the Fine Arts, which runs out of First United. In our interview we talk about how the Church can be a patron for the arts, about what it means to bring true justice and acceptance to people, and about her...

This podcast episode is different from the norm for PostConsumer Reports. It features a talk Chris Marchand (host and writer for PCR) gave on Classical Education. Chris is the headmaster at Aletheia Christian School in Peoria, Illinois ( www.peoriaclassical.org ). Chris goes into the philosophy behind Classical Education, how we give our kids the "lost tools of learning", and how we hope to create...

Joe Cook is the station manager for three stations in the Western Indian Radio Network ( http://www.westernindian.net/ ) in New Mexico and Arizona. He and his family moved out west a few years ago to do ministry among the Navajo nation and its people. Joe is also the operator of the Ragamuffin Archive, which features numerous Rich Mullins, interviews, live shows, and song rarities ( https://www.yo...

Fr. Nathan Carr is our guest today. He is the headmaster at The Academy of Classical Christian studies and vicar of St. James' Episcopal Church, both in Oklahoma City. We discuss the tensions of leadership, building wonder into a preschool program, and how to get 3 year olds to walk in line. We did our interview after a workshop he had just given at the Association of Classical & Christian Schools...

Douglas Wilson is a pastor, theologian, and proponent of Classical Education. He has authored numerous books on various subjects pertaining to matters of the Christian faith, education, and history. Visit  Canon Press for a listing of many of his books or visit his blog, which he updates frequently . I spoke with Wilson last week from the Association of Classical and Christian Schools annual confe...

In our second Dialogue With Brandon we discuss the question "How Big Is Your Soul?" Are you a small-souled person? Most people wouldn't want to think so, but it's a question worth pursuing the answer to. Brandon and I discuss the thoughts of Douglas Hofstadter and his book I Am Strange Loop  and I end up getting more confused and frustrated by the end then when I started. Maybe that means I'm smal...