The Happy Rant

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ronnie and Barnabas, sans Ted, wander to and fro through a variety of topics: 1. Jesus apparently needs a $100 million PR campaign 2. But does Jesus want a PR campaign? Will it do any good? 3. Is viral kindness actually kind? 4. Is therapy booming because the church is failing? (pastors as counselors, therapists as hired friends, and outsourcing honesty) For more...

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted and Barnabas, sans Ronnie, wander to and fro through a variety of topics: 1. Observations on how teens view their parents 2. How adults get boring 3. What’s the deal with Ronnie’s hair? 4. Why do people watch selfie videos? 5. Is there any way to be genuine online? For more ranting, conversation, and cultural analysis check out our book, The Happy Rant: Wander...

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted and Ronnie sans Barnabas wander to and fro through a variety of topics: 1. Baz Luhrman’s Elvis movie 2. Do we really care about Elvis? 3. The delightful energy of rock music movies 4. Journey and the appeal of beige music 5. The business of fame and whether we’ll ever see another dollar from this podcast For more ranting, conversation, and cultural analysis ch...

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas wander to and fro through a variety of topics: 1. How do professors choose how much to assign? 2. What makes a good professor? 3. Syllabus flexes 4. How do we break writing slumps? 5. Romanticism about writing: where did we lose it and where do we still have it? For more ranting, conversation, and cultural analysis check out our book, The...

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas wander to and fro through a variety of topics: 1. Reacting to the death of Queen Elizabeth 2. Reacting to the reactions to the death of Queen Elizabeth 3. Why do so many people make grieving about them? 4. Which celebrity deaths really affected us? 5. Adult hero worship and “knowing” public figures For more ranting, conversation, and cult...

In this episode of The Happy Rant, Ted and Barnabas, sans Ronnie, wander to and fro through a variety of topics: 1. Why does Ted mock the very things to which he devotes his time? 2. Doing dumb marketing things out necessity 3. Do most books really sell under 2,000 copies? 4. Social media influencing and playing the marketing game (which doesn’t work) 5. Giving away our own books and feeling like...

In this episode of The Happy Rant, Ted, Ronnie and Barnabas wander to and fro through a variety of topics: 1. The “We notice your silence” people on social media 2. Are we obliged to post about everything? 3. Learning the names of waitstaff: a pastor thing? 4. Book release expectations and feedback we’ve received For more ranting, conversation, and cultural analysis check out our book, The Happy R...

In this episode of The Happy Rant, Ted, Ronnie and Barnabas wander to and fro through a variety of topics: 1. How many more “Theology of” books do we need? 2. Theology of sports and ruining fun 3. Trading on people’s dreams 4. Parenting, sports, and church 5. Theology of food and reforemdom 6. Doing moderation well For more ranting, conversation, and cultural analysis check out our book, The Happy...

In this episode of The Happy Rant, Ronnie and Barnabas (sans Ted) wander to and fro through a variety of topics: 1. Coming to politics from different backgrounds and upbringings 2. What does it mean (and not mean) to be politically homeless? 3. When, why, and how should pastors address political issues from the pulpit? 4. Loyalty to different kingdoms 5. What we’ve enjoyed reading recently For mor...

In this episode of The Happy Rant, Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas wander to and fro through a variety of topics: 1. Wives doing lawn care 2. Outsourcing lawn care vs. the testosterone of DIY 3. The hardest part of sermon prep 4. Outsourcing sermon prep 5. When is sports gambling sinful? For more ranting, conversation, and cultural analysis check out our book, The Happy Rant: Wandering To and Fro Throug...

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas wander to and fro through a variety of topics: 1. How our book launch has felt 2. Back-to-school observations in 2022 3. Back-to-school shopping styles 4. Homework theories and summer reading 5. Preaching vs. teaching (especially to teens) For more ranting, conversation, and cultural analysis check out our book, The Happy Rant: Wandering...

In this episode of Ronnie and Barnabas celebrate the birth of their Happy Rant book baby by wandering to and fro through a variety of topics: 1. How does this book compare to Carl Trueman’s "The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self"? 2. The experience of reading the audiobook 3. Sections that pleasantly surprised us and surpassed our expectations 4. Should this count toward Ronnie's doctoral thesis...

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted and Barnabas (sans vacationing Ronnie) wander to and fro through a variety of topics: 1. Winning the local lawncare contest 2. The psyche of obsessive lawn watering 3. The retirement obsession with tinkering 4. What our generation is missing as parents (that our kids will really resent) Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advert...

In this episode of The Happy Rant, Ted and Barnabas (sans vacationing Ronnie) wander to and fro through a variety of topics: 1. We are unfit preachers 2. Which fictional TV characters would make good friends? 3. Which fictional movie characters would make good friends? 4. What makes a convincing action hero (and which actors just aren’t) Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquir...

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas wander to and fro through a variety of topics. (This was originally a Patreon bonus episode.) 1. Why do people love to give unsolicited parenting advice? 2. What do you do when you receive unsolicited parenting advice? 3. Are we obliged to like other people’s children? 4. What parenting advice do you wish you'd gotten when you were younge...

In this episode of the Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas wander to and fro through a variety of topics: 1. Which Karate Kid character is Matt Chandler? 2. Thoughts on Cobra Kai 3. Star Wars, Marvel, and Hollywood’s new industry: nostalgia 4. Celebrities in print vs. on screen 5. Podcast Magazine Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lif...

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas wander to and fro through a variety of topics: 1. A new metric for measuring reformedom 2. The general reformed lack of social skills 3. Kids as missional output and/or outsourcing evangelism 4. Matt Chandler as the Karate Kid 5. Pastors’ families on social media Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertis...

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas wander to and fro through a variety of topics: 1. Ted is so glum he’s bad at being glum 2. Are church planters just small business owners? 3. Everyone keeps doing the same things and arguing about the same things 4. Why do we even keep doing this podcast? 5. Reformed people romanticize plodding 6. How many actual exceptional people do we...

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas wander to and fro through a variety of topics: 1. Ted’s Vegas vibe 2. The Top Gun phenomenon and nostalgic keggers 3. Is Miles Teller a movie star? 4. The Tom Cruise aging pathology 5. Going at famous people’s kids on social media Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.co...

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ronnie and Barnabas, sans Vegas-going Ted, wander to and fro through a variety of topics. Or really just one: leading a church during times of cultural crisis. They discuss: 1. Deciding what to address with the congregation 2. Handling contentious cultural moments from the pulpit 3. Differences between a small church in a small town and a larger church in a big ci...

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas wander to and fro through a variety of topics: 1. Generational differences in parenting 2. Honesty in parenting vs. giving the impression of perfection 3. Relinquishing control as a parent 4. When is it better for particular churches or denominations to just go away? 5. Shepherding those inside a broken institution vs. the reputation to t...

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas wander to and fro through a variety of topics: - Why should anyone stay on Twitter? - Why are people leaving Twitter, and why now especially? - How did we used to discourse before social media? - Phone addiction vs. social media addiction - Our summer plans and going back to school Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inq...

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted and Barnabas, sans Ronnie, wander to and fro through a variety of topics: 1. Podcasts as the new radio 2. If there are so many writers and books, why do we keep doing it? 3. Writing idealism vs. pragmatism/capitalism 4. Writing for legacy vs. writing to “make it” 5. How do we treat younger generations well instead of dumping all over them? Discover more Christ...

In this episode of The Happy Rant, Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas wander to and fro through a variety of topics as posed by our listeners LIVE from New Albany, Indiana leading up to the final T4G conference: 1. Fan encounters and celebrity moments 2. Regrettable cultural choices and fashion decisions 3. Pastoral and teaching mistakes 4. Greeting others with a holy kiss 5. Transformative books, music, a...

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas wander to and fro through a variety of topics LIVE from New Albany, Indiana leading up to the final T4G conference: 1. Church decor and interesting instruments 2. Writing advice and writing cohorts 3. The value of writing inspiration 4. Advice for D.Min students and Ronnie’s classroom vibe 5. Marriage advice and marriage questions Discove...