The Common Good Podcast

On the eve of the midterm elections, Brian From reminds listeners that Philippians 3 places our citizenship in heaven, so Christians can care about the results without losing their peace. He asks for prayer for Detroit Lions linebacker Jack Campbell after a frightening neck injury, and plays Mike Leach’s famous rant about Halloween candy. Marking Reformation Day, he shares Mark Dever’s...

Brian From welcomes fellow Chicago radio host and pastor Karl Clauson, co-host of Karl and Crew on Moody Radio and lead pastor of 180 Chicago Church, to discuss his new book, The Unstoppable Gospel: From Powerless Belief to a True Faith That Changes Everything . Karl describes a crisis inside the church: many people who have walked an aisle or prayed a prayer carry what he calls a “hallucina...

Brian From talks with Dr. Peter Larson, senior director of WinShape Marriage, about his Christian Post article on keeping marriages connected amid busy schedules, constant phone checking, and the new pull of AI. Drawing on 31 years of marriage, Peter offers four simple habits. First, greet each other like you mean it, to avoid the “roommate drift.” Second, say good things out loud, wit...

Brian From starts the weekend hoarse after his daughter’s volleyball team came back from seven match points down to win a regional title, a reminder to persevere because of Christ’s victory. On Halloween weekend, he shares Jim Denison’s observation that a death-avoidant culture reveals its fascination with mortality this time of year, and encourages listeners to use the holiday t...

Brian From and Adam Holz of Plugged In turn from movies to video games this week, looking ahead to the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 . Adam puts the franchise’s scale in perspective: the previous installment sold 230 million copies and earned $10 billion, far more than the biggest albums and movies of all time. He explains the M-rated series’ violent and sexual content, and the buzz th...

With the midterm elections days away, Brian From talks with Zach Mettler, issues and policy analyst and writer for Focus on the Family’s Daily Citizen, about why Christians should vote. Zach points to Barna research estimating that 32 million churchgoing Christians didn’t plan to vote in 2024, while recent presidential elections were decided by tens of thousands of votes in a handful o...

Brian From talks with author Brenda Knight about her memoir Faith Runner . Brenda, who was diagnosed with a visual impairment at age 12 and grew up with iron deficiency anemia, explains how God used those weaknesses to bring 2 Corinthians 12:9 to life: “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” After breaking her foot on a run years earlier, she felt God stirring her to run again after...

Brian From congratulates the Milwaukee Brewers on their first World Series title after years of playoff heartbreak, and draws a lesson about how we respond to disappointment. He gets a laugh out of a Boston protest against the Liberty Mutual mascot, then turns serious as the midterms approach, replaying Ernie Johnson’s reminder that no matter who wins, Christians know who is on the throne. H...

Brian From talks with Dr. Tanya Calendo, principal of Emmanuel Lutheran School in Palatine, who was recently named administrator of the year after a nomination from her own faculty and staff. Tanya traces the school’s roots to 1870, a year after its church was founded, reflecting the Lutheran conviction that churches should come alongside families to root children in the faith. She describes...

Brian From talks with Matt Blair, CEO and co-founder of The Well Resource Center, a Chicago nonprofit he and his wife started nearly nine years ago to support the mental health of first responders and their families. Matt explains how listening to neighbors on the city’s Northwest Side, where about 30 percent of Chicago’s protective services employees live, revealed a crisis: in 2018,...

Brian From talks with author Nicole Jacobsmeyer about her new book, Something Good Will Grow: Finding God’s Heart in the Soil of Suffering . Nicole shares how the book took root after her family moved to a North Carolina farm while she faced a possible recurrence of thyroid cancer. Walking the land, she realized that what she needed most wasn’t joy but hope that God was with her whatev...

Brian From opens with an Ohio pastor who called monogamy “unbiblical” while introducing his second wife to a cheering congregation. He then shares a Gospel Coalition argument that parachurch ministries aren’t a sign the church has failed but grow naturally out of God’s commands to serve. He has fun with a list of America’s most mispronounced words, and discusses a Chr...

With the midterms a week away, Brian From responds to a Christianity Today report on Republican candidates courting evangelical voters, arguing that evangelicals are a movement of Christ followers, not a voting bloc. He reacts to Dictionary.com naming “maxing” its word of the year, and pushes back on a viral post claiming it’s fine for Christians to “disagree with Paul,&rdq...

Brian From returns from Dallas, where he officiated the wedding of a former youth group student, reflecting on how staying connected to Jesus is the key to a strong marriage. He passes along an Uber driver’s wise advice for empty nesters: keep seeing each other. He airs some frustrations about air travel etiquette, applauds a megachurch pastor for urging every Christian to vote without telli...

Brian From talks with New York Times bestselling author and Washington, D.C. pastor Mark Batterson, a Naperville native, about his new book, Not My Circus: Living with Courage, Conviction, and Compassion in a World of Chaos . Mark explains the title’s double meaning: the familiar proverb about healthy boundaries, and Paul’s call in Romans 12:2 not to be conformed to a world whose large...

Brian From kicks off the weekend reflecting on what fall’s changing seasons reveal about a God who never changes. He vents about increasingly reckless, distracted drivers, and walks through Russell Moore’s Christianity Today column explaining why recent events, including Christa Pike’s failed execution in Tennessee and plans to livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal...

Brian From opens with another cautionary youth sports story: a former MLB player and his wife charged with diverting about $60,000 from a youth baseball program. He then turns to a Christianity Today profile of a Portland Trail Blazers ball boy who sees his part-time job as a mission field, handing LeBron James a card with Isaiah 41:10 and telling him Jesus loves him. Brian shares research linking...

Brian From spends the afternoon again with Susana Sharp of Impact Latin America, which now counts more than 17,000 people who have come to faith since 2019. Susana explains how the ministry partners with more than 30 denominations in about 20 nations to equip lay leaders through a three-year training program, so they can start “Houses of Peace” outside church walls for people who would...

Brian From starts with a press pitch about Amelia Earhart’s missing plane and asks why unsolved mysteries fascinate us. He suggests we crave closure, and he encourages listeners facing the unexplainable in their own lives to turn toward God rather than away. He responds to a clip of President Trump claiming “the Christian vote” and saying he’ll lead Christianity into a new...

Brian From opens with his son’s hours-long flight delay back to college as a reminder that we’re never fully in control, but God is. He questions why Christianity Today published speculation about Elisabeth Elliot’s sexuality when she never addressed it herself, and shares a study finding that people paid a female AI chatbot less than an identical male one. He applauds Andy Stanl...

Brian From starts the weekend glad to have his son home from college for fall break, remembering his own first trip home from Wheaton. With the midterms weeks away, he urges listeners on both sides of the aisle to remember that elections are important but not ultimate, because Christ remains on the throne. He looks at Chick-fil-A’s growth from a small Georgia diner into a $24 billion company...

Adam Holz of Plugged In rejoins Brian From after several weeks away. He shares that a kidney tumor removed in surgery turned out to be benign despite a 90 percent chance it was malignant, but a septic infection put him back in the hospital. He reflects on how suffering can deepen our compassion for others, including people who are sick or injured in war zones. Then it’s on to the movies. Ada...

Brian From opens with a study linking walking to better mental health in teens, a good reminder for all of us. In a vulnerable moment, he admits that hearing about a hardship faced by someone who hurt him brought him a flash of satisfaction, and he reflects on what that reveals about unfinished forgiveness. He wrestles with senseless tragedies, including a father killed on a roller coaster and a W...

Brian From sits down with Susana Sharp of Impact Latin America, an interdenominational ministry that partners with more than 35 denominations in about 20 nations to train ordinary men and women to share the gospel outside church walls. Susana explains the ministry’s model of prayer-led outreach and “Houses of Peace,” informal gatherings in homes, gardens, basketball courts, and e...

Brian From catches up with his former college roommate Ben Reaoch and Ben’s wife, Stacy, about their new book, The Word in Our Home: A Family Plan for Exploring Every Book in the Bible . The project began as a vision of Ben’s mother, Barb, a Bible Study Fellowship children’s curriculum writer who had a book proposal ready when she was diagnosed with cancer. Before she died two ye...