The Habit

Don Chaffer is a singer-songwriter (Waterdeep), a composer-lyricist-librettist ( Son of a Gun, The Unusual Tale of Mary and Joseph's Baby ), and a professor (Lipscomb University's School of Music). His stories are often sad and often funny—and often at the same time. In this "Sad Stories Told for Laughs" episode, Don Chaffer talks to Jonathan Rogers about the difference between embarrassment...

Alan Noble is Associate Professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University and editor-in-chief of Christ and Pop Culture . His new book is You Are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman World . Tim Keller has said “Alan is, I hope, the beginning of a new generation of scholar-writers who can bring the insights of [more esoteric thinkers and philosophers] down to earth and apply them i...

After years overseas, poet Rachel Donahue settled into life on a property that had been in her husband's family for generations. Paying attention to that piece of land transformed her poetry. Beyond Chittering Cottage is a collection of the poems that grew out of that new attentiveness. In this episode, Rachel and Jonathan Rogers talk about stewardship, place, and writerly friendship. Support the...

Ben Palpant is a poet, memoirist, novelist, and writer of nonfiction. His new book, Letters from the Mountain , is a collection of letters to his daughter about writing, creativity, paying attention, and generativity. He speaks of these and other matters with Jonathan Rogers in this episode of The Habit Podcast. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/liste...

Ashley Hales is a writer, a speaker, and the host of the Finding Holy Podcast . Her new book is A Spacious Life: Trading Hustle and Hurry for the Goodness of Limits . In this episode, Ashley Hales and Jonathan Rogers discuss a paradox: embracing your limitations can create more space and lead to greater creativity. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/li...

Dave and Licia Radford constitute the husband-wife duo, The Gray Havens . Their upcoming album, Blue Flower , is inspired by C. S. Lewis's autobiography, Surprised by Joy and explores "inconsolable longing" and every human's homesickness for a place they've never been. Most of the album's songs are available on Spotify . In this episode, Dave Radford and Jonathan Rogers talk about the ways that jo...

Singer-songwriter Taylor Leonhardt 's second solo album, Hold Still , releases in September, 2021. (You can hear several of the songs already on streaming services.) In this episode of The Habit Podcast, Taylor and Jonathan Rogers discuss what it means to be God's idea, and coming to terms with the truth that we are all in suspense and incomplete. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel...

Carrie Givens is a publisher and co-founder of Bandersnatch Books . She is also the author of the recently released novel Rosefire . In this episode, Carrie speaks with Jonathan Rogers about writers' groups, dry spells, the role of "namers" in our creative lives, and characters who arrive unbidden in our stories. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/list...

Bill Haslam was a two-term governor of Tennessee and a two-term mayor of Knoxville. In a political climate marked by metastasizing outrage and division, he found success by finding common ground and treating everyone—allies and opponents alike—with decency and respect. Bill Haslam is the author of Faithful Presence: The Promise and the Peril of Faith in the Public Square . Support the...

Professor Diana Pavlac Glyer is an expert on Tolkien and Lewis, especially with regard to their collaboration in the Inklings group. She is also the editor of A Compass for Deep Heaven —a collection of essays about Lewis's Ransom Trilogy. This book is the fruit of Professor Glyer's practicing what she preaches in generous collaboration with emerging scholars. Support the show: https://therab...

JJ Heller writes lullabies with her husband Dave and sings them for children, their parents, and the children inside the parents. Since 2017, the Hellers have released a new song on Spotify the first Friday of every month. One of those songs, "Hand to Hold," grew into a picture book by the same title, released a couple of weeks ago. In this episode, JJ and Dave talk with Jonathan Rogers about bedt...

For a decade and a half, Buddy Greene and Jeff Taylor have been making music together in a wide variety of venues and a wide variety of costumes. They are remarkable as performers, but even more remarkable is their friendship and good humor. As Jeff says, even a worst-case scenario performance is redeemed when it becomes a sad story told for laughs shared between friends. Support the show: https:/...

Doug McKelvey is best known as the author of Every Moment Holy , “new liturgies for daily life.” He has also been a songwriter and a screenwriter. In this episode, the Sad Stories Told for Laughs series continues with Doug’s stories of fan letters gone wrong, fostering misunderstanding for the sake of humor, and a finger puppet. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel....

Jessica Hooten Wilson is Louise Cowan Scholar in Residence at the University of Dallas. She’s a much sought-after speaker and the author of books about Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Walker Percy, and Flannery O’Connor. Spring of 2022 will see the release of her new book, The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints.  The academic world is a rich sourc...

Thomas McKenzie is an Anglican priest, the founding pastor of Church of the Redeemer in Nashville, and the author of The Anglican Way. Also, he once blew up a gas station. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Singer-songwriter Ellie Holcomb has just released a new solo album called Canyon —which, she says, is about a deeper sorrow, a higher hope, and the brokenness that is integral to our humanity. Hopefully she will come back in a later episode to talk about that project. But in this episode we’re going to talk about the times she and her husband Drew found themselves performing in communi...

Andrew Osenga is a singer-songwriter, an artist & repertoire director, and the host of the podcast The Pivot: Stories of People Who Have Made a Change . In this installment of Sad Stories Told for Laughs, Andrew talks about performing to empty seats, losing a toe, and playing a music festival organized by a money launderer. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omny...

The “Sad Stories Told for Laughs” series continues with Maryrose Wood, author of The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place  and Alice's Farm: A Rabbit's Tale . Before Maryrose Wood was a novelist, she was an actor. In this episode, she tells the story of her Broadway debut, in one of the most spectacular flops in Broadway history. It is a story of youthful naïveté, pub...

"Sad Stories Told for Laughs" is a special summer series of episodes in which writers speak of their public humiliations for your edification and entertainment. In this episode, memoirist Harrison Scott Key, author of The World's Largest Man and Congratulations, Who Are You Again? tells about the strange places he's done readings and the dream that wanted to eat him. Support the show: https://ther...

Songs from the Silent Passage  explores the literary career of Walt Wangerin, Jr. through a collection of essays by Wangerin's friends and colleagues—including Eugene Peterson, Luci Shaw, Philip Yancey, and John Wilson—edited into its final form by Matthew Dickerson. In this episode, Matthew and Jonathan discuss the relationship between pain and beauty in storytelling and the idea...

Sho Baraka is a hip-hop artist, an activist, a co-founder of the AND Campaign , and an author. His new book is He Saw That It Was Good: Reimagining Your Creative Life to Repair a Broken World . In this episode, Sho and Jonathan Rogers discuss memory and imagination, constructing a new normal through storytelling, and the perils of accepting a smaller identity than the one God gives us. Support the...

In this 100th conversation of The Habit Podcast, Jonathan Rogers and producer Drew Miller play back and discuss favorite moments from the first 99 episodes, as identified by listeners. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this 100th episode of The Habit Podcast, Jonathan Rogers and producer Drew Miller play back and discuss favorite moments from the first 99 episodes, as identified by listeners. To help The Habit celebrate this milestone (and to help other listeners find this podcast), would you consider rating and reviewing? Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See omnystudio.com/listen...

Lancia Smith is the founder of Cultivating, a quarterly online magazine, and the Cultivating Project, a nurtured community of writers and artists committed to pursuing spiritual maturity and creative excellence. Lancia writes about brilliant people doing brilliantly good things related to faith, character formation, and the creative arts. She is also a photographer and portraitist. In this episode...

Janna Barber is a blogger, poet, and memoirist. Her most recent book is Hidden in Shadow: Tales of Grief, Lamentation, and Faith . This memoir is one woman’s honest reckoning with the truth that even as our faith waxes and wanes, God is constant, and he loves his children even when they don’t know what he’s up to. Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/member See...