The Weight

In this episode, Chris and Eddie are joined by Jenny and Tyler Somers, the singer/songwriter duo who met at the University of Delaware, where they began building a life together. They moved to Nashville in 2006 to pursue a musical career and have navigated the highs and lows of being in the music industry, all while staying true to their voice in the Christian music scene, raising a family, and wo...

We welcome back Dana Trent to The Weight for a conversation about trauma and finding a path towards healing with empathy and faith.  Dana Trent is a graduate of Duke Divinity School and professor of World Religions and Critical Thinking at Wake Tech Community College. An ordained Baptist minister, Dana served as a hospital chaplain where she accompanied individuals and their families through the p...

You might need a snack for today’s episode. We welcome Kendall Vanderslice, baker, author, and theologian to The Weight for a discussion about the intersection of food--specifically, bread--and worship. Kendall explores the dichotomy of the simplicity and complexity of making bread and how it connects to the simplicity and complexity of a life of faith. Kendall is the author of By Bread Alone: A B...

What do you do after you win the College World Series? If you’re Mike Bianco, head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels baseball team, you let your routine guide you. You go to work every day. You have the hard conversations. You give praise when it’s due and constructive criticism when it’s needed. And you absolutely love what you do. Coach Bianco is now in his twenty-third year as head coach at the Univ...

Dr. Ethel Young Scurlock is a leader in two different spheres: education and religion. She is Dean of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, Associate Professor of English and African American Studies, and Senior Fellow of the Luckyday Residential College. Dr. Scurlock is also the pastor of two small Baptist churches in Mississippi, First United Missionary Baptist Church and Alvis Grove Mis...

In this episode, we welcome back Dr. Jason Vickers, professor of theology at Asbury Seminary. Jason is an ordained elder in full connection on the Western NC Conference of the United Methodist Church, past president of the Wesleyan Theological Society, and current editor of the Wesleyan Theological Journal . He also has first-hand experience with the ongoing revival at Asbury University, which sit...

Kari Kampakis is an author, speaker, podcaster, and newspaper columnist from Birmingham, Alabama. She writes for teen girls and moms, and her books include 10 Ultimate Truths Girls Should Know , Liked , Love Her Well , and More than a Mom . Kari offers advice to teens and parents, but more importantly she offers compassion and understanding. Parenting is hard at any stage, even if the struggles fr...

Ryan Burge’s Twitter bio says that he makes graphs about religion, but what Ryan does is so much more than making graphs. As a social scientist, Ryan studies the macro-level forces that are shaping churches across the nation--mostly in mainline Protestant denominations. The data that Ryan studies doesn’t show a surge of people coming back to mainline religious institutions, so what does that mean...

This week, Chris and Eddie have an important conversation about leadership with Tod Bolsinger, senior congregational strategist and associate professor of leadership formation at Fuller Theological Seminary and author of Canoeing the Mountains , a book about adaptive leadership.  Tod wants to help leaders--church leaders, community leaders, business leaders--understand how to lead in a world that...

It’s hard to believe that we’re wrapping up three seasons of The Weight, but here we are! Eddie and Chris are joined by producer Cody Hickman to talk about some of the highlight episodes for each of them this year--including conversations with Mac McAnally, Alice Matagora, and Austin Carty. This season, we’ve listened to conversations about music, mental health, parenting, faith, and history. We’v...

Mississippi’s history with slavery, segregation, and racism has deep roots, and has caused--and continues to cause--immense turmoil and violence. We like to think we’ve moved past it, but we haven’t. There is still work to do, and we can begin that work by looking to the leaders of the past, and take to heart what Jesus has tried, over and over again, to teach us. Today’s guest helps us grapple wi...

How do churches adapt to the world we’re in today? How do institutions with inherited traditions of membership and specific roles to play in a community change to actually fit their current context? Today’s guest, Lisa Greenwood, has a few ideas. Even if you’re not a pastor, this episode provides some thoughtful ways to engage the people around you and to help you better serve your community. Lisa...

Our world is increasingly polarized, and public discourse often leads to anger. The Church used to be at the center of these conversations, but Scott Black Johnston sees the church as becoming more decentered: stepping to the side, offering critique--or praise--and adding to the conversation. He talks about the current pervasiveness of anger with gentleness and grace, and challenges everyone to ta...

Mickenzie Vought is the Editorial and Community Director at Onsite Workshops in Cumberland Furnace, Tennessee. Onsite is an emotional wellness company that focuses on enhanced emotional health through retreats, intensives, residential trauma care, and digital resources.  In her role at Onsite, Mickenzie is the producer and cohost of the Living Centered podcast and is the host of Onsite’s emotional...

Shownotes: Parenting is hard. Parenting through a pandemic is even harder, but David Thomas and Sissy Goff are here to provide help and support. Sissy and David work at Daystar Counseling Ministries in Nashville, Tennessee. Sissy is the Director of Child and Adolescent Counseling and David is the Director of Family Counseling. When they aren’t counseling and ministering to kids and parents alike,...

Shownotes: Eddie and Chris join music legend Mac McAnally in a delightful conversation about music, making your mark, and leaving the world a better place than you found it. Mac is a native of Belmont, Mississippi, but he’s better known as a country music singer, songwriter, session musician, and record producer. He is an award-winning talent who has worked with country stars Kenny Chesney and Saw...

Today’s episode covers some heavy topics--suicide, depression, mental health and physical health issues--with hope. Our guest, Jacob Armstrong, is the author of Breaking Open: How Your Pain Becomes the Path to Living Again . As a pastor and a person, Jacob has firsthand experience not only with his own pain and suffering, but those of the people around him--his family, his friends, and his congreg...

Eddie and Chris are joined by a previous guest on The Weight, Kevin Watson, for a discussion about Christian perfection, or the Wesleyan doctrine of entire sanctification--that Christians can live without sin. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, believed that the grace of God is available to all who hear the gospel, repent, and believe. The Christian life of faith means opening you...

How do we as Christians have hope in a world that is more secular than ever? With decreasing church attendance, fracturing denominations, and new scandals coming out all the time, what does the future of the Church look like? Today’s guest on The Weight, Dr. Cornelius Plantinga, shares some good news with Eddie and Chris--hopeful, bright news that God isn’t done moving and shaping the world. Dr. P...

Shownotes: How do we save the world? That’s a big question with a thousand answers, but today’s guest on The Weight has a simple solution: make disciples like Jesus did. Alice Matagora has worked with The Navigators, a Christian disciple-making ministry, for nearly 20 years and is currently leading a Leader Development Initiative to develop leaders all over the world. She is also a licensed marria...

Shownotes: We often look at books as a way into getting more information, but today’s guest, Rev. Austin Carty, looks at reading as a way of deeper formation. To him, reading--especially fiction--is a way to deepen our well of empathy, of relating to one another with kindness and charity. Even if we don’t realize that what we’re reading is impacting our lives, Austin believes that it is. For those...

Show Notes: In this episode, Eddie and Chris are joined by previous guest Jeff Bilbro in a continuing conversation about reading and contemplation. Jeff is an author and essayist whose most recent book, Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Inquiry into the News , is about how we consume the news--and how sometimes we let the news consume us. Jeff challenges us to think about how we spend...

Continuing our series reading and contemplation, Chris and Eddie are joined by Marilyn McEntyre, teacher, author, and lover of words. They primarily discuss two of Marilyn’s books, Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies and Speaking Peace in a Climate of Conflict. Throughout this episode, you’ll hear how much love and care Marilyn has for words, for language, and for the lost art of conversation. S...

Chris and Eddie are joined again by Reverend Dr. Will Willimon, Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry at Duke Divinity School and former Bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church. This time around, Rev. Willimon is here to talk about preaching--but not as a preacher. In his most recent book, Listeners Dare: Hearing God in the Sermon , Rev. Willimon helps liste...

Are you struggling with church? Do you have doubts and questions, but you aren’t sure where to go to talk them through? Do you have friends or family members who have been hurt by the church, or who have wandered away from the church, or, maybe, who have never been in church? In this episode, Chris and Eddie are joined by Rev. Dr. Sam Wells, priest in the Church of England and vicar of St. Martin-...