The Signpost Inn Podcast

Need to blow off some steam? Get off the grid? Zone out for a while? You're not alone. Nearly everyone is chasing relief from something: the pressure to perform, to keep up, to finally be enough. In this episode, Brandon sits down with David Zahl, founder and director of Mockingbird Ministries, to talk about his new book The Big Relief. They talk about what we're really trying to escape, where Dav...

If church or a religious leader has ever hurt you, you know the particular kind of tired that comes with it. It's not just disappointment. It's the exhaustion of not knowing where to turn, or who's safe, or whether the faith you still want to hold onto is even yours to hold anymore. In this episode, Brandon sits down with Heidi Goehmann, LCSW, a trauma therapist, theologian, and spiritual-care pra...

Here's a sentence that'll get you kicked out of most small groups: you need to give up on spiritual growth. On today’s show we have a special guest with us who says that from the pulpit. Join us! By the end of this episode you’re going to have a whole new way of thinking about spiritual growth. Rev. John Newton has served as an Episcopal priest since 2009 and is the rector of St. Michael's Episcop...

You may believe God loves you and still feel like he is one failure, one unanswered prayer, or one hard season away from pulling back. You brace for disappointment. You work to stay acceptable. Or you keep him at a careful distance because needing him feels too exposed. Brandon, Matt, and Liv talk about attachment theory in plain language, and why the ways we learned to handle closeness can shape...

You picked up your phone 186 times yesterday. That's not a discipline problem, it's a hunger problem. This week we trace the ache behind the scroll back to Augustine and forward to the empty tomb, and land on the strange freedom of a faith that doesn't need you to fix yourself first. When you scroll, you're looking for something real. The compulsion isn't random, and it's not just weak willpower....

The world is genuinely dangerous and your nervous system knows it! The usual answers (trust God more, don't be anxious, just believe) don't seem to help, they only make you feel more ashamed that you must not be “doing it right!” So what does Jesus actually do with our generalized anxiety and fear? Brandon, Matt, and Liv work through what it feels like when Jesus changes the context you're living...

What does Jesus actually feel when he looks at you — worn out, knocked flat, barely holding on? The Gospels have a word for it. And it's nothing like the soft, managed thing we usually call "compassion." Today Brandon and Matt dig into Matthew 9:36, the Greek behind two of the most overlooked words in the Gospels, and a gut-level emotion that drove everything Jesus did. Then we close with an imagi...

A listener asked a question we couldn't stop thinking about: if nothing we do saves us, are we just supposed to sit back and let Jesus do everything? Are we "grace potatoes"? This episode untangles what it actually means to work on your relationship with God — and why the real question might be bigger and better than you realized. Links: Liv’s Substack https://livbooth.substack.com/ Not Home Yet h...

Join Matt and Brandon for an incredibly moving discussion with Tom Gibbs, the creator of Art Lectio. After a brief introduction and explanation of Tom’s unique method for meditating on and praying with art, Tom guides the gents through three meditations on three completely different paintings. Each one opens up thoughts, and prompts prayers, that are profound and beautiful.  If you are listening t...

When the structures we lean on for spiritual safety collapse, what remains? Terri Fisher joins Liv Booth and tells her story of leaving a “mechanized faith” and spiritually abusive past and discovering a quieter and more durable faith. After years in rigid ideological communities that promised predictable outcomes, Terri found herself without words, stripped of spiritual identity, and wondering wh...

In this episode, we read John 5:1-18 together and enter the story of a man who's been disabled for 38 years. We ask the question Jesus asks him: do you actually want to become whole? Not just relieved. Not just a little better. Whole.  Links: Death Comes to the Soul: The Vulnerable Christian in Distress — Fr. Gabriel O’Donnell The Thomistic Institute Podcast https://podcast.thomisticinstitute.org/...

In this episode, we read John 4 together and invite you to enter the story of the woman at the well with us. As we go, we reflect on soul thirst, the deeper questions that drive our lives, and the way Jesus makes himself available to people who feel ashamed, skeptical, or far from God. This is a slow, prayerful episode for anyone who needs to be reminded what Jesus is really like.        Links: Bo...

In this episode, we dive into the topic of our very popular webinar on “reading the Gospels with your imagination” What is it, what do we teach, and we answer some of the big questions and concerns people have been asking. Whether you're wondering how reading the Gospels with your imagination works, concerned about staying grounded in Scripture, or curious about how this practice can be a powerful...

This episode releases on Good Friday, and we're leaning into the gravity of the day. We explore the universal experience of grief exhaustion—that bone-deep weariness that comes from living in a world marked by loss, disappointment, and unrelenting demands. We give you permission to name it: life IS hard. Then we ask the harder question: what do exhausted people actually need? And we discover that...

"By any human measure, Jesus' life was an abject failure." If he ever dreamed of a successful career in ministry, or of being hailed as king. That dream died.  What about you? Which of your dreams have died? Brandon, Liv, and Matt explore a hard but hopeful truth: God is in the habit of making good things come out of death. This episode digs into Brandon's article of the same name, wrestling with...

"The God of the Old Testament is a monster." If your teen or adult child has said something like this, you know how it feels. And if you're honest, part of you might wonder the same thing. Today Brandon sits down with Old Testament scholar Adam Hensley to tackle the hardest questions head-on. How can the God who commands "utterly destroy" be the same God who says "love your enemies"? What do we do...

Why do disagreements with my kids, or anyone I love, feel like the end of the world?        When my kid comes at me with 'Dad, you CAN'T believe that!' It feels like everything is on the line. Like if we can't agree, we're done. Have you felt that way recently? Brandon and Liv explore the concept of a "relational home"—that safe emotional space where we can hold pain without being destroyed by it....

Here's an uncomfortable reality: we parents can easily idolize our kids. When your teen or adult child is distant, critical, or just doesn't seem to like you, it cuts deep. You want their approval, their friendship, their gratitude. That's not wrong—it comes from love! But what happens when their opinion of you becomes the measure of your worth? Brandon, Liv, and Matt explore the common trap of ne...

Your kid doesn't want to go to church. Before you panic or strategize, take a breath. This episode isn't about fixing your kid. It's about looking in the mirror first. Brandon, Liv, and Matt explore why kids resist church (some reasons are healthy, some are legitimate critiques, some are heart resistance) and then ask the harder question: What implicit theology are you modeling at home? Your kids...

Have you ever stood in your kitchen, listening to your kids scream at each other, and thought: "A good parent wouldn't have kids like this. Did I screw them up?" How about the holidays with family? Was it like a Hallmark movie, or were there disagreements and fights? Did you feel a little helpless and wonder if you failed your family? Today we're going to talk about this feeling, because if you've...

Why does pain feel like "reality" and joy feel like a vacation?  It is December 26th. The wrapping paper is in the trash, and for many of us, that "magical" feeling—if it was there at all—is starting to fade into the gray reality of winter. When the Christmas lights come down and we discard the tree we often feel like we are "homeless" in a broken world again.  Join Matt and Brandon as they discus...

We tend to believe that trials and times of fear or grief, mean we've done something wrong. We feel that if we just prayed more, were more faithful with our spiritual disciplines, etc, we would feel fine, even through the worst! But Scripture offers a different picture. Feeling our grief, fear, and pain, while lifting it all to God is prayer. Feeling bad is NOT a sign that I am bad. It’s an honest...

🥳 Donate to our matching fund drive! https://www.signpostinn.org/donate Happy "National Pie for Breakfast Day." Or as most people call it... the day after Thanksgiving! How is your soul doing this morning? Maybe you woke up a little cringe? Maybe you’re wondering "Why did I bring that up?" "Why was I so awkward?"  Psychologist Brené Brown calls this a "Vulnerability Hangover." That regret we feel...

A technical glitch becomes a beautiful opportunity. This week, Brandon and Liv pull back the curtain and invite you to the back porch for a special, from-the-heart conversation. In celebration of Signpost Inn's 5th birthday, they share the real story of the ministry's journey: the unexpected joys, the raw and honest struggles, and the passionate vision that fuels it all.  It's also a chance to par...

On this special Halloween episode, hosts Liv and Brandon ask why creating AI avatars of the dead seems so alluring. What does it say about our deepest soul questions and longing for the permanent approval of the dead? And what does God have to say about all of this? Liv and Brandon wrap it up with lots of hope as we talk about the real promise of resurrection life in Christ that we celebrate on Al...