This is my fourth conversation with the official What Matters Most Chaplain and well known grief guru J. Dana Trent (find her on Twitter!). As always this beautiful soul opens up her heart and here with such clarity. Also, check out her compelling book, Dessert First, a flowing read on death, dying, and living fully with joy and purpose. We covered a lot of sacred ground once again like the pandemic, racism, and what it means to be a Christian. She also shares what her life was like as a child which sounds like something that is straight out of a film.

J. Dana Trent is a graduate of Duke Divinity School and professor of World Religions and Critical Thinking at Wake Tech Community College. An ordained Baptist minister and former hospital chaplain, her work has appeared on Time.com, and in Religion News Service, Sojourners, Religion Dispatches, and The Christian Century.

Her third book, One Breath At a Time: A Skeptic’s Guide to Christian Meditation, was released January 1, 2019, from Upper Room Books. She is also the award-winning author of For Sabbath’s Sake: Embracing Your Need for Rest, Worship, and Community and Saffron Cross: The Unlikely Story of How a Christian Minister Married a Hindu Monk. Dana winds down from writing and teaching with episodes of The Young and the Restless as well as leading cardio and strength training classes for the YMCA.

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Paul Samuel Dolman, author, podcaster, and speaker, presents What Matters Most (the book!) a series of interview transcriptions from more than twenty inspirational Nashville and Tennessee residents, including special guest the journalist and author Bill Moyers.

Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, former Governor Don Sundquist, Academy Award-winning actress Patricia Neal, Grammy Award-winning entertainer Wynonna Judd, and many more share intimate and inspirational aspects of themselves.

This twentieth anniversary edition also features bonus material from thirty more notables from Tennessee, including local business owners, spiritual leaders, coaches, radio personalities, authors, and educators.

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