Aaron has an incredible story of wrestling through questions of SSA when he was very young, in a church context that struggled to communicate the Gospel. His testimony twists and turns over several years and several church contexts, and I found so many helpful and thoughtful takeaways from our conversation as well as several new books to read on the topic.

I’m grateful Aaron was willing to be vulnerable and honest with me. There is a lot to learn from his story.  

If you have feedback, feel free to hit me up on Instagram @itsthevalk or Aaron @theaaronmd 

Love y’all.

Jake

Lacy has been a singer and songwriter with Sovereign Grace Music for several years. We had a delightful conversation about all the things in the songwriting process. I loved this conversation, and if you are interested in the behind-the-scenes of the SGM world, this is a must-listen.

If you want to hear a gorgeous rendition of Psalm 90 sung by Lacy for SGM, view it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ara0P_pUMO4

I am on the gram at @itsthevalk

Love y’all.

Jake

I sat down with Nate Radsma and his mom, Kerri, for this incredible conversation about Nate's journey with depression. There is nothing I could write in this description that can do justice to how deeply moving this conversation is. I deeply respect Nate for having the courage to be vulnerable, honest, and articulate both the incredible struggles he has been through and his trust in God. 

If you want to send a message to Nate, feel free to DM me on Instagram @itsthevalk, and I'm happy to pass it along. 

I appreciate you all

Jake.

This is the final one; thank you all for listening to this monster 6-hour pod. The four of us sat down and talked about the over 150 books we collectively read over the last six months. I love these guys. Talking about books gives us the opportunity to discuss life, big ideas, fascinating people and have a good laugh along the way.

Here is a doc of all the books we discussed in the pod: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fwxRVGoXAU187TSX4si6dd0XJk_2sCONGmExH7vmNXQ/edit?usp=sharing

Owen is on Instagram @hebbert_the_writer

Jesse is on Instagram @boutjesse

John-Michael is on Instagram @aboutjem

I am always @itsthevalk

Love y’all.

Jake

I have been looking forward to this podcast for ages. The four of us sat down and talked about the over 150 books we collectively read over the last six months. I love these guys. Talking about books gives us the opportunity to discuss life, big ideas, fascinating people and have a good laugh along the way.

Here is a doc of all the books we discussed in the pod: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fwxRVGoXAU187TSX4si6dd0XJk_2sCONGmExH7vmNXQ/edit?usp=sharing

Owen is on Instagram @hebbert_the_writer

Jesse is on Instagram @boutjesse

John-Michael is on Instagram @aboutjem

I am always @itsthevalk

Love y’all.

Jake

PART 2: I included a document of all the books we discussed in the pod. I have been looking forward to this podcast for ages. The four of us sat down and talked about the over 150 books we collectively read over the last six months. I love these guys. Talking about books gives us the opportunity to discuss life, big ideas, fascinating people and have a good laugh along the way.

Here is a doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fwxRVGoXAU187TSX4si6dd0XJk_2sCONGmExH7vmNXQ/edit?usp=sharing

Owen is on Instagram @hebbert_the_writer

Jesse is on Instagram @boutjesse

John-Michael is on Instagram @aboutjem

I am always @itsthevalk

Love y’all.

Jake

I have been looking forward to this podcast for ages. The four of us sat down and talked about the over 150 books we collectively read over the last six months. I love these guys. Talking about books gives us the opportunity to discuss life, big ideas, fascinating people and have a good laugh along the way.

Here is a doc of all the books we discussed in the pod: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fwxRVGoXAU187TSX4si6dd0XJk_2sCONGmExH7vmNXQ/edit?usp=sharing

Owen is on Instagram @hebbert_the_writer

Jesse is on Instagram @boutjesse

John-Michael is on Instagram @aboutjem

I am always @itsthevalk

Love y’all.

Jake

Brad Rhoads is the founder of Grace Marriage, a ministry committed to equipping marriage ministries in the local church. When Brad guest-lectured in one of my classes at Southern, I left wishing that every church member could experience what I just heard. I’m grateful he was willing to come on the podcast. He told me about the rocky start to his marriage and a mentor who helped him prioritize his life properly. We talked about the dangers the pastors and seminary students face of letting their ministries swallow up time that should be reserved for family. Brad talked to me about how he and his wife have built rhythms into their life to make time for a healthy relationship. I loved this conversation, and I hope it is helpful.

Learn more about Grace Marriage at https://www.gracemarriage.com/

I am always on Instagram @itsthevalk

Love y’all.

Jesse is a musician, graphic designer, and writer based out of Hamilton, Ontario, and one of my oldest friends. For the last few years, he has been taking the Inktober prompt list and writing a song based on it every day for the month of October. This year, he wrote a short story based on the prompt words and then scored the resulting audiobook. We talked about that process, and I loved this conversation.

Follow Jesse on Instagram @boutjesse

I am always @itsthevalk

Peace fam.

Nik is one of the handful of Canadian brothers I have here at Southern and he has an almost endless series of fascinating stories from his times living in South India, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Morocco, and Louisville. We talked about his story of leaving the financial world of Toronto to go to Morocco as a missionary and the lessons he learned about hospitality from ping-ponging all over the world. Nik is one of my closest friends here at Southern and I was stoked to sit down with him and chat for an hour.

Follow Nik on Instagram @_curlynico

I am always @itsthevalk

Peace fam.