What If I'm Wrong?

“We love talking to leaders who are using social media for the common good,” says Heather, “but that doesn’t mean social media doesn’t have a dark side.” In this episode, Heather invites you to learn about some of the existential dangers of social media from a leading scholar of digital technology. How do we use social media without allowing ourselves to be consumed by it? How does it impact our a...

Justin Giboney is an attorney and political strategist in Atlanta, Georgia, who leads the  AND Campaign  as its cofounder and president. The AND Campaign is a coalition of urban Christians who are determined to address the sociopolitical arena with the compassion and conviction of the gospel. He’s the coauthor of  Compassion (&) Conviction  with fellow AND Campaign leader Chris Butler and form...

How did a Baptist pastor’s kid from a small town in East Texas become a trailblazer in the areas of peacemaking and international religious freedom? Bob Roberts Jr.’s faith journey has had many twists and turns, but ultimately it has been—to echo Eugene Peterson—“a long obedience in the same direction.” Things got real for Roberts when he realized his understanding of the gospel was too small and...

Some people say you shouldn’t talk politics and religion in polite conversation, but author Kaitlyn Schiess would (politely) beg to differ. In fact, she’s written a book about the connections between faith and politics. Kaitlyn is a writer and a popular Christian voice on Twitter. A ThD student at Duke Divinity School (where she’s studying political theology, ethics, and biblical interpretation),...

Historian Jemar Tisby is The New York Times bestselling author of The Color of Compromise  and founder of The Witness: A Black Christian Collective, where he writes about race, religion, politics, and culture. He is also cohost of the Pass the Mic podcast. Jemar’s most recent books are How to Fight Racism and How To Fight Racism: Young Reader’s Edition . In this episode, Heather and Jemar discuss...

Sadie Robertson Huff is a Christian speaker, actress, and bestselling author. You may know her from the reality show Duck Dynasty , or her role in the movie God’s Not Dead , or the fact that she was the first runner-up on season 19 of Dancing with the Stars . Sadie is passionate about God and an effective communicator who regularly challenges her generation to wield their influence responsibly. He...

In this episode, Heather talks to Canadian Christian writer Sarah Bessey about public platforms, human connections, and embodying the fruit of the Spirit. As the author of such bestselling books as Jesus Feminist and A Rhythm of Prayer , Sarah had built a vibrant community of over 88,000 people on Twitter . But last year she was forced to start over from scratch when her account was unexpectedly d...

When she’s not teaching communication and social media in the classroom, author and Andrews University professor Heather Thompson Day is back in your podcast feed with all-new episodes of Viral Jesus . Join Heather as she delves deep with Christian influencers and creators who are using their social media platforms to build community and share the gospel. You’ll hear their stories and learn their...

Season's greetings! This is Heather Thompson Day, creator and host of the Viral Jesus podcast from Christianity Today. I hope you enjoyed listening to Viral Jesus ' inaugural season as much as our team enjoyed doing it. What a blast it was to talk to some of today's most profound and prolific Christian communicators about how they engage with social media. Whether it's Erin Moon reflecting on the...

This bonus edition of Viral Jesus features our host,  Heather Thompson Day . Dr. Heather Thompson Day is an interdenominational speaker and has been a contributor for Religion News Service,  Christianity Today ,  Newsweek  and the Barna Group. She is also the author of  It’s Not Your Turn: What to Do While You’re Waiting for Your Breakthrough . Heather is an associate professor of communication at...

This bonus episode of Viral Jesus features Esau McCaulley , author of the bestselling book Reading While Black . Esau is a prolific writer, theologian, and assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College in Illinois. Heather and Esau discuss Black interpretation of Scripture, social media popularity, and the importance of bringing personal integrity to your creative process. (This chat is...

This week Heather visits with her friend  Ed Stetzer for a no-holds-barred conversation on the evangelical community’s often fractious online engagement with politics and culture. Ed is a professor and dean at Wheaton College, where he also serves as executive director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center. He has planted, revitalized, and pastored churches; trained pastors and church planter...

This week, Heather is joined by  Erin Hicks Moon . Erin is the resident Bible scholar on  The Bible Binge podcast, host of the Faith Adjacent  podcast, and senior creative at the Popcast Media Group. Erin discusses her amazing journey in building authentic connections with thousands of women on Instagram using her honest humor and wisdom. She spills her trade secrets on growing an Instagram commun...

This week, Heather visits with  Kevin Spencer Wilson , known online to his throng of followers as “Cross Culture Christian.” Kevin was born in Sri Lanka and moved to the Sultanate of Oman when he was 12. Over the past 30 years, he has learned to speak three and a half languages and has traveled to 13 countries. He is currently a youth pastor in Oceanside, California, where he says he attempts to h...

Taylor S. Schumann says she’s always been a writer, but on a spring day in 2013 she became an activist, too. It was an otherwise ordinary afternoon at New River Community College in Christiansburg, Virginia, when a gunman’s bullet tore through her left hand, and she became a victim of yet another mass shooting in America. In the split-second moment of the shooting, and the long work of healing and...

This week, Heather talks to Raymond Chang, president and cofounder of the  Asian American Christian Collaborative (AACC). Ray is well known on social media for his bold voice on issues pertaining to faith, race, and justice. Ray also serves as a campus minister at Wheaton College, where he leads the school’s Discipleship Ministries program. He preaches and speaks around the country and has lived t...

This week, former Bachelor star and Bachelorette contestant Ben Higgins joins Heather for an insightful conversation about the emptiness of fame, the criticism he faced as a Christian on a reality-television dating show, and why authentic connections with people are more important than having millions of social media followers. Higgins is also garnering attention as an author. His new book,  Alone...

What if some of our greatest theologians are the last people we’d consider theologians? This is the riveting question posed by author Kat Armas in her new book,  Abuelita Faith . A second-generation Cuban American who grew up on the outskirts of Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, Kat's earliest theological formation came from her grandmother—her abuelita —who fled Cuba during the height of politi...

Social media spaces are full of mean-spirited and contentious personalities who thrive on antagonizing others. Listen in as Heather and her guest, theologian Ian Clary, discuss how to deal with social media bullies. They offer practical tips for focusing on your craft more than your critics. Ian also shares his formula for becoming an effective podcaster.  Ian Clary is an assistant professor of hi...

Author, literary scholar, and social media dynamo Karen Swallow Prior joins Heather for an engrossing discussion on what it means to build a “platform.” They dive right into the debate that is taking over much of Christian influencer culture—is a huge social media platform a byproduct of pursuing one’s call, or is it the call itself? Karen explains what she believes it means to be truly “called” a...

In this episode, Heather and her “online friend” Pastor Aaron Duvall discuss how to build genuine online friendships. They also explore the value of online Christian community—especially during the pandemic. Plus, Aaron reveals the story behind Weird Christian Twitter. Aaron is the teaching pastor and director of communication at Victory Highway Wesleyan Church in Painted Post, New York, where he...

This week, Heather introduces you to her good friend  Justin Khoe . Justin is a church consultant and a self-taught video whiz who now has over 116,000 subscribers to his  YouTube channel . With series like “ I’m Listening ,” where he sits down with people who hold various opposing views and simply listens, Justin is turning YouTube into a spiritual laboratory for curiosity and understanding. In t...

This week Heather welcomes pastor, radio host, and social media expert Douglas Bursch. Doug copastors Evergreen Foursquare Church in Auburn, Washington. He earned his DMin from George Fox Evangelical Seminary with a dissertation focused on social media, and he opens up the topic for a lay audience in his latest book,  Posting Peace: Why Social Media Divides Us and What We Can Do About It .   In an...

In this episode of Viral Jesus , Heather meets one of her online heroes, Kristina Kuzmic —mom blogger, YouTube storyteller, and author of  Hold On, But Don’t Hold Still . Kristina was discovered by Oprah Winfrey in 2011 and crowned the winner of Mark Burnett’s reality-television competition Oprah’s Search for the Next TV Star . Now, with over 1 billion video views, Kristina is providing her audien...

This first episode of Viral Jesus , season 1, features Esau McCaulley, author of  Reading While Black . Esau is a biblical scholar and assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College in Illinois. In this episode, Heather and Esau discuss Black interpretation of Scripture, social media, and critics. You can find Esau active on  Twitter . Also, in our #GrowingViral segment, meet  Dorena Will...