The Substance

And we're back with Part 2! Be sure to check out Part 1 if you missed it and enjoy the conclusion of our wonderful discussion with Jemar Tisby. Jemar Tisby is the New York Times bestselling author of The Color of Compromise & How To Fight Racism, president and co-founder of The Witness: A Black Christian Collective, co-host of the podcast, Pass The Mic, and Assistant Director of Narrative & Advoca...

We are extremely excited to share these next two episodes with you all! Jemar was so generous with his time and insights that we wanted to give it all room to breathe. Jemar Tisby is the New York Times bestselling author of The Color of Compromise & How To Fight Racism, president and co-founder of The Witness: A Black Christian Collective, co-host of the podcast, Pass The Mic, and Assistant Direct...

What can we say about this episode? Sometimes you just need to argue about hotdogs for 20 minutes. We also went long on our second topic, what it does and doesn't mean to "not cause a brother to stumble," so it's just two topics this time, but we had a great time and hope you do too! *Also, if you listen to this week's episode and read these notes the week it drops, get ready for an incredible sho...

First of all, thank you so much for helping us make it to Episode 50! We love doing the podcast and it's been great to hear about those of you who have been encouraged, challenged, and edified by the show. We wanted to make sure we did something special for our 50th episode and we're really pleased with what we came up with. If you've been listening to The Substance for a while, you'll know that T...

Buy/Rent Minari on iTunes With over 200 nominations for various awards (and over 100 wins), Minari was one of the most buzzed about films of 2020. But due to Covid protocols and many filmgoers not wanting to attend a theater in a pandemic, it went sadly very under-watched last year. But the film is widely available now and we're excited to have Brett McCracken back with us to talk about it! In Min...

Got a special one for you all with this show! We've had Jesse Eubanks on the podcast before and one of our previous Reflects shows was on the Enneagram. This week, we're bringing them both back! Our previous episode on the Enneagram was more about how Christians should think about it and what ways it might be beneficial. This time, with Jesse's help, we wanted to get more into what it actually is....

We recorded this one when we were all incredibly busy so we went informal and asked you guys what you wanted to hear us talk about. All three of us took turns answering questions from the listeners on topics like: How did we name our podcast? What are some of our favorite episodes we've done? Who are our dream guests on The Substance? What books would we recommend to everyone? And we talk about so...

We haven't done a full show on politics since we relaunched with Episode 13 but after reading Kaitlyn's book we thought it was time to revisit the subject! Similarly to our approach before, the goal of this episode is not to promote partisan ideologies and platforms but rather to encourage genuine reflection about how, as followers of Christ, we think and engage politically. Definitions are knocke...

This one has been a long time coming! The topic of abortion is extremely divisive, and sometimes that's fine. But as believers we want to make sure that we're thinking critically and biblically about the issue rather than farming out our thinking to political and social figureheads. What do the majority of women think about abortion? What are the factors that make it more likely for a woman to con...

It's Topic Toss Up (TTU) time again! On this episode Trevor, Philip, and Vincent answer a listener question about how to stay faithful to Jesus in college, discuss some of the  controversies surrounding pastors and their local jurisdictions regarding large assemblies during the pandemic, and look at the devastation that Ravi Zacharias's sin has brought about on his ministry and many people's...

“We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.” (Romans 6:9–12 ESV) Happy Easter f...

Today's episode is dedicated to all who cling to Jesus' promise that in him, "you will find rest for your soul." May you find soul rest this week. This week Trev, Vince and Philip's three topics all center around experiencing the gentleness of Christ, and how the church deals with the emotional life of believers. We flow from talking about a recent scathing review of ACBC's Biblical Counseling boo...

We are right around the corner from the release of the 36th feature film in the Godzilla franchise with Godzilla vs. Kong coming out on Wednesday, March 31st. It's not a movie that you may immediately think of as something that is substantive, but the roots of the character and the original film are full of meaning and social commentary. While Godzilla certainly is a spectacle film, it touches on...

We're finally here. Whether it's clearly articulated or not, the topic of this episode is at the heart of so many of our modern conflicts, inside and outside of the Church. And to a degree, it's simple. The notion of systemic racism is either true or untrue. If we can find no correlation of the claims of systemic racism to reality, then we must reject it. However, if we investigate the claims of t...

We've got a wonderful interview for you all on this episode! Our guest this week is St. Louis based rapper, Flame. With over 15 years in the Christian hip-hop world, Flame has been through a lot. We get into his backstory and how he came to faith, how his rap career and ministry started, his theological influences when he was younger and how some things in his perspective have shifted, the relatio...

Barnabas Piper is an author, speaker, Assistant Pastor at Immanuel Nashville, and co host of The Happy Rant podcast. He's also one of the most fun guests we've had on the show! We cover a number of important topics relating to curiosity and creativity, the role of doubt in the life of a believer, the fear of culture that characterizes too many people of faith, parenting from a position that truly...

We're back with another Topic Toss Up! This week we're looking at the aftermath of the Capitol insurrection, a listener question regarding censorship, and how to respond lovingly and appropriately to folks who are caught up in conspiracy theories. If you have any questions or topic suggestions for future shows, let us know! Contact info is at the end of the show notes. Sources: David French articl...

Boy, have we got a show for you all on this episode! Karen Swallow prior joins us for a wonderful conversation on literature, how to develop virtue and exercise discernment and how our faith can grow through reading widely. Karen is a reader, writer, and Research Professor of English and Christianity and Culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. She is the author of four books herself...

Rommel Ruiz is a strong storyteller and visual communicator, and his work is a significant part of what makes Love Gave such a powerful book. The words are simple and clear and his illustrations beautifully help bring the message of the book to life. In this episode we talk about what his goals with this project were and the role of art in the life of a Christian. Listen and share with a friend! L...

This week we welcome back returning guest Quina Aragon! Quina is a writer, editor, and spoken word artist. If you haven's listened to Quina's first appearance on Episode 10 (link below), you should absolutely check it out to hear about her testimony and what lead her to start writing children's books. Love Gave continues to build on the themes of a fully Trinitarian Gospel and the ways that each m...

We're excited to share our first Substantive Cinema of the new year with you all! Soul is the latest release from Pixar Animation Studios. At first look, it may seem like an odd premise for a film primarily targeted to a younger audience, but Soul's plot and themes are wonderful springboards for all sorts of valuable conversations. This week we're joined by Mitch Wiley and we talk about: how Chris...

Welcome to another edition of Topic Toss Up! This was pretty heavy as we recorded the evening of January 6th, but we're excited to share this with you and hear your thoughts. We start off with a great listener question about the death penalty, and we couldn't ignore the insurrection at the Capitol and the Church's variety of responses, and on a lighter note we round it out by talking about the boo...

This week on The Substance we are taking an introductory look at Critical Race Theory. Lots of folks in the culture and The Church have strong opinions about it, but when a topic gets so much cultural heat, it's easy not to approach it critically and thoughtfully. On this episode we cover the history of CRT, attempt to fairly define CRT, and engage with what the Bible says about the tenets and app...

We went long this week but we're also trying to cover a year's worth of content in one show (and there's a lot we didn't even mention!). Enjoy this larger episode that's essentially one long Substance Shoutout! If you like this format let us know and tell us what you think should have made our lists. Contact info at the bottom. We can only list so many items due to text limit so check our socials...

We've got another Topic Toss Up for you guys this week! There's a listener question following up on the topic of whether or not institutions should rename their buildings in light of a racist past, something we covered in Episode 20 , the practice of "Christian Worldview Analysis," and being godly in our social media etiquette. Sources: Al Mohler "Racism Is Heresy" The Southern Project  Inter...