This is my interview with Tim Challies who is the longest running continuous Christian personal blogger. His site has published an article every day since 2003 which was also the year I started writing my own blog, initially at adrianwarnock.com before moving to Patheos. In case you have not heard of this giant of the online Christian world, his blog can still be found at Challies.com.

Watch the full interview and read the transcript:

https://adrianwarnock.substack.com/p/live-with-dr-adrian-warnock

Or read a short article exploring the key themes from this interview,

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/adrianwarnock/2026/07/tim-challies-interview-we-trust-god-with-that-as-well/

Is it possible that I might be missing out on good content, elsewhere? What do I mean by the idea of Substack becoming for me something of a walled garden? I’ve not been on Substack for two months yet. But what I’ve noticed is I’m spending far less time on other social media sites.

Visit substack for the video or article accompanying this podcast which includes information about how you can cheat the algorithm and follow the sites you want to properly.

https://adrianwarnock.substack.com/p/is-substack-in-danger-of-becoming

.

I very much enjoyed this conversation with veteran blogger, old friend, and John Newton enthusiast, Keith Plummer. You can watch a video of our conversation or read the transcript, including links to the Newton quotes we discuss on Substack: https://adrianwarnock.substack.com/p/john-newton-helps-us-better-know

Or read a short article highlighting the key themes of our conversation on Patheos: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/adrianwarnock/2026/07/as-read-john-newton-he-reminds-me-that-i-need-christ

Lsten to John Newton speaking about his prayer life and how much weaker it was compared to what he would have liked right here. Or read John Newton’s updated words on Patheos:

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/adrianwarnock/2026/07/john-newton-struggled-with-prayer-just-like-you-and-me/

”I approach the throne of grace burdened with a thousand distracting thoughts.”

“My soul is very sick, but my physician is infallible.”

There’s a tension sometimes when we’re Christians, this idea that somehow we should always be full of joy in the Lord. People expect you to say, “I’m praising the Lord” with a fake Christian smile on your face when your life is falling apart. In this extract from one of his letters, John Newton responded to one of his many correspondents who was obviously feeling a little on the low side at the time. Here is how he replied (updated as always into modern English).

Watch the video or read the article on Substack:

https://adrianwarnock.substack.com/p/singing-and-sighing-hallelujahs-and

John Newton was in the middle of his pastorate when he said these words criticizing himself. His belief was that self awareness drives you closer to Christ. But what I like about Newton is he doesn't get stuck into a condemnation cycle. He is introspective, but he's not passive and he's not defeated. And I love his phrase towards the end of this little piece, “here hope revives.” I just want to ask you what helps your hope revive? This is Newton’s answer here, listen wherever you find your podcasts or read the full article on Patheos. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/adrianwarnock/2026/07/newton-i-am-a-riddle-to-myself-a-heap-of-contradictions/

This episode contains a letter written by John Newton updated into modern English which addresses the challenges we all find in deepening our relationship with God. He wrote it after one of his many visits to Yorkshire, where he had spent time with his friends and in churches seeing what God was doing there. You will see that even John Newton did not find this easy. There are a couple of lines in there that stand out, most of all is the line, “everything that’s wrong with me may be summed up in this one weakness, a tendency to wander from him.”

Listen to the letter right here or read it on Patheos.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/adrianwarnock/2026/07/newton-on-fellowship-with-other-christians-and-god-himself/

Where does temptation come from? Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us all and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions, and when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. So there’s a lot of controversy amongst Christians about our exact relationship to sin as Christians. But this episode explains we do still have a Traitor Within. Watch the video or read an edited transcript on Substack:

https://adrianwarnock.substack.com/p/where-does-temptation-come-from

We are often insulated from major suffering in the West. Is that why questions of meaning are less urgent to us? Would our approach to Christianity be different if our life expectancy was less? John Newton was saved in a crisis.

Watch the video or read an article version of this on Substack: https://adrianwarnock.substack.com/p/is-suffering-helpful-for-our-faith

This portion of Newton’s autobiography has been updated into modern English. It will form part of my book Amazing Grace: How Faith Grows in the Human Heart.

I wanted to share this with you today in case you feel like you have been drifting away from God, or even deliberately rebelling against Him. You are not alone and I’m confident that if you’ve found this podcast episode, He isn’t finished with you yet. The Holy Spirit directs algorithms.

Please like and subscribe wherever you found this podcast and you can read the article on Substack:

https://adrianwarnock.substack.com/p/when-john-newton-backslid-and-needed

The book is available in an early access (incomplete!) form on Amazon:

https://mybook.to/amazinggrace