Thinking God Podcast

Encore: Brian McLaren is Pioneering a New Kind of Christianity

Brian McLaren joins the Thinking God podcast this week to discuss, among other things, his new book "The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World's Largest Religion is Seeking a Better Way to Be Christian." McClaren brings a scholarly pastor's heart to the conversation.

Brian is one of the pioneers of progressive Christianity. His book, "A Generous Orthodoxy," is one of the most influential works of the past several decades. He was a voice in the wilderness for a faith that included a bigger view of God.

Who has remembered the Widows and Orphans? JT Olson, that's who.

JT Olson is founder and exectutive director of Both Hands Ministries, a group dedicated to serving widows in need and helping families adopt orphans.

He tells the story in his new book, "The Orphan, the Widow and Me."

Encore: A Champion for "the Bible for Normal People" (anniversary edition)

Pete Enns was the first guest on the Thinking God Podcast in the fall of last year and this episode in an encore presentation of our discussion.

Author, scholar, professor and all-around nice guy Peter Enns joins me for the first episode of Thinking God. Pete has his own podcast now as well, and I highly recommend it. Find out more and buy his books at https://www.peteenns.com/

Ashley Cleveland, the Queen of Rock 'N Soul

Ashley Cleveland's biography may be called "Little Black Sheep," but there is nothing small about her talent. One of the best vocalists in Nashville, she has blown audiences away with her combination of rock and soul that is as powerful as ever. On the Thinking God Podcast, she talks about music, faith, recovery and more.

Dr. Joel Hunter Leaves 20,000-Member Church for Bigger Ministry to Those Who are Marginalized and Forgotten

Dr. Joel Hunter might be in a category of his own. When he announced earlier this month he was stepping down from Northland, a Church Distributed, after more than 30 years as senior pastor, those who praised his faith and action for those in need and those marginalized in Central Florida included leaders from both the Muslim and Jewish communities.

A rare megachurch pastor who believes that working with those of other faiths is the only way to fully minister to the world, Hunter will now devote his efforts in his Florida community in full devotion to "the least of these."

He says it's a return to his roots in ministry, which started with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Hunter is one of the good ones, who helps others find the light shining through the cracks in their lives.

Diana Butler Bass is Awake, Alive and Grounded

Diana Butler Bass is the author of 9 books, a highly sought-after speaker, and one of Ameria's top scholars on religion and culture.

She is also articulate and engaging concerning her own spiritual and political journey, and a very good guest. 

It's worth your time to find out more about her and her books, and the best plact to do that is here:

http://dianabutlerbass.com

A Wild Goose Chase with Vanna Fox, Who Is No Stranger to the Unexpected Nature of Faith and Reconciliation

Vanna Fox was on her way to the mission field (as a music missionary, no less!), when her path shifted and landed her for the next 17 years on drive time radio in North Carolina. But when she heard the call of the Wild Goose, she left the airwaves to surf the spirit waves of the nation's largest progressive Christian Festival.

She likes to laugh, and has a great story.

Stay tuned to the end of the bumper music on this podcast for a very special Wild Goose message.

Radical, Journalist and Jew Living in Evangelicalworld, Finds God in the Funniest Places, and in a Few Not So Funny

Mark Pinsky is a newspaperman, author, lecturer and insightful man.

Did I mention he was a newspaperman? I mean it in the old-school, highest-compliment sense of the word. Pinsky has a drive an desire to find good stories, but to make sure they are written and researched in a manner rare these days, and present them in compelling ways.

His books include: "The Gosple According to the Simpsons," "A Jew Among the Evangelicals," "The Gosple According to Disney," "Unfinished Business: The True Story of an Appalachian Cold Case Murder," and "Amazing Gifts: Stories of Faith Disability and Inclusion."

He still writes regularly for a variety of publications and it is worth you time to Google his name and read his work.

Maggie Rowe Recaps How She Learned to Sin Bravely in her new book, but she's still a bit "Flaked" and a victim of "Arrested Development"

If, as Anne Lamott writes, laughter is the carbonated form of the Holy Spirit, Maggie Rowe is a major distributor of divine carbonation for the third member of the trinity, something for which we can all be grateful.

(And for the record), though she worried at one point she was getting close, Maggie has never managed to blaspheme her bubbly supplier.

As writer, comedian, actor and the author of "Sin Bravely: My Great Escape from Evangelical Hell," she brings some serious fun to the Thinking God Podcast.

You may have seen her in such movies as "Ocean's Thirteen" or "Fun With Dick and Jane," or the monster television series "Arrested Development," a show for which she is also a writer.

And for 15 years she has been a key part of the Comedy Central show "Sit 'N' Spin."

Maggie is currently writing for the wonderful series "Flaked," which is available on Netflix. 

She is also someone who has found a path of recovery from misgued religion to a place of faith and hope, which makes her the perfect guest.

 

Bill Mallonee, a big talent with a big heart

Bill Mallonee talks about three decades of singing/sonwriting, the music business, Neil Young's "More Barn" mixing, living in the Rockies and how his faith has influenced his life and work.

I have known Bill longer than any of my other guest to date, and can say he is one of the most under-appreciated artists of his time, and more talented than he knows.

And his heart is as big as the New Mexico sky that fills the nights over his house.