Renowned theologian Walter Brueggemann passed away in June 2025 at the age of 92. In this special retrospective episode of No Small Endeavor, we celebrate his remarkable life and legacy. Drawing from memorable conversations and insightful lectures, we revisit Brueggemann’s piercing critique of what he called the "totalism of market ideology"—the pervasive cultural force shaping American thought and suppressing dissenting voices. With characteristic wisdom, clarity, and wit, Brueggemann challenges us to reject narratives of scarcity, fear, and commodification, inviting us instead into the hopeful vision he famously described as the "prophetic imagination." Listen as he shares personal stories, intellectual turning points, and profound reflections on the power and urgency of truth-telling, both in pulpits and pews.

 Show Notes

 Resources:

 "The Prophetic Imagination" by Walter Brueggemann

 "My Bright Abyss" by Christian Wiman

 “Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism” by Robert Jay Lifton

 Walter Brueggemann on the NSE YouTube Channel

 Similar Episodes:

 Stanley Hauerwas: “America’s Best Theologian”

 John Dear

 Stanley Hawerwas

 Transcript

 You can get the unabridged version for this episode in NSE+. Click here to join NSE+ if you're not already a member. 

 Great Feeling Studios, the team behind No Small Endeavor and other award-winning podcasts, helps nonprofits and brands tell stories that inspire action. Start your podcast at helpmemakeapodcast.com.

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Five weeks before her 16th birthday in 1976, Amy Grant was offered her first record deal. Now, after tens of millions of record sales, six Grammy awards, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and a receipt of Kennedy Center Honors, she is widely recognized as the “Queen of Christian Pop.”

 From the outside, one might assume that Amy must be a character with a personality larger than life. But in this exclusive interview, Amy opens up about her career as a singer, her family life, and her faith, all against the backdrop of a troubling past few years which have included recovering from open-heart surgery and a severe bike accident.

 Through it all, she showcases what truly makes her an anomaly. In spite of her fame, she remains undoubtedly grounded to a life of quiet, peaceful fulfillment.

 Show Notes

 Resources:

 Amy Grant's Website

 Similar Episodes:

 Truth-telling, Anger, and Race: Vince Gill

 “Does This Make My Butt Look Big?”: Ashley Cleveland

 Fighting Dragons and Singing at Loss: Drew Holcomb

 Actor and Activist: Martin Sheen

 Transcript

 Want more NSE? JOIN NSE+ Today! Our subscriber only community comes with bonus content, ad-free listening, and early access to tickets for our live shows.

 Great Feeling Studios, the team behind No Small Endeavor and other award-winning podcasts, helps nonprofits and brands tell stories that inspire action. Start your podcast at helpmemakeapodcast.com.

 Subscribe to episodes: Apple | Spotify | Amazon | Google | YouTube
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Follow Lee: Instagram | Twitter
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 Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: Tokens Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

This is our unabridged interview with Charles Marsh.

 Has religion ever kept you from doing something that was actually good for you?

 It did for Charles Marsh. As a boy growing up in the evangelical South, Charles was taught to distrust his own body, to fear his desires, and to treat suffering as a gift from God. So when debilitating panic attacks shattered his world as a young man, he thought that he should count these panic attacks as something he was supposed to feel “joy” about.

 Charles is now the Commonwealth Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia. Find out how he navigated shedding the taboos of his evangelical upbringing as he sits down with Lee to discuss his memoir, Evangelical Anxiety.

 Show Notes

 Resources:

 "Evangelical Anxiety: A Memoir" by Charles Marsh

 "God’s Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights" by Charles Marsh

 Similar Episodes:

 What Hath Christianity to do with Psychology? Mark McMinn

 Is Conservative Christianity Anti-Intellectual?: Molly Worthen

 Mike Cosper: A Critique of American Christianity

 Transcript

 Want more NSE? JOIN NSE+ Today! Our subscriber only community comes with bonus content, ad-free listening, and early access to tickets for our live shows.

 Great Feeling Studios, the team behind No Small Endeavor and other award-winning podcasts, helps nonprofits and brands tell stories that inspire action. Start your podcast at helpmemakeapodcast.com.

 Subscribe to episodes: Apple | Spotify | Amazon | Google | YouTube
Follow Us: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Follow Lee: Instagram | Twitter
Join our Email List: nosmallendeavor.com

 See Privacy Policy: Privacy Policy

 Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: Tokens Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Has religion ever kept you from doing something that was actually good for you?

 It did for Charles Marsh. As a boy growing up in the evangelical South, Charles was taught to distrust his own body, to fear his desires, and to treat suffering as a gift from God. So when debilitating panic attacks shattered his world as a young man, he thought that he should count these panic attacks as something he was supposed to feel “joy” about.

 Charles is now the Commonwealth Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia. Find out how he navigated shedding the taboos of his evangelical upbringing as he sits down with Lee to discuss his memoir, Evangelical Anxiety.

 Show Notes

 Resources:

 "Evangelical Anxiety: A Memoir" by Charles Marsh

 "God’s Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights" by Charles Marsh

 Similar Episodes:

 What Hath Christianity to do with Psychology? Mark McMinn

 Is Conservative Christianity Anti-Intellectual?: Molly Worthen

 Mike Cosper: A Critique of American Christianity

 Transcript

 Want more NSE? JOIN NSE+ Today! Our subscriber only community comes with bonus content, ad-free listening, and early access to tickets for our live shows.

 Great Feeling Studios, the team behind No Small Endeavor and other award-winning podcasts, helps nonprofits and brands tell stories that inspire action. Start your podcast at helpmemakeapodcast.com.

 Subscribe to episodes: Apple | Spotify | Amazon | Google | YouTube
Follow Us: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Follow Lee: Instagram | Twitter
Join our Email List: nosmallendeavor.com

 See Privacy Policy: Privacy Policy

 Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: Tokens Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

This is our unabridged interview with Holy Post.

 Can you do insider critique with a sense of humor?

 You might know Phil Vischer as the creator of the beloved children’s show VeggieTales, or Skye Jethani for his work as a pastor, speaker, and author. Both of them are long-time public Christian voices.

 These days, though, they find themselves hosting the Holy Post podcast, doing the hard work of insider critique of a Christian subculture that, in recent years, has boiled over with white nationalism, Trumpism, and many forms of injustice. In this episode, they discuss how they try to do their work with intelligence, care, and humor.

 Show Notes

 Resources:

 The Holy Post

 “What If Jesus Was Serious about Justice?” by Skye Jethani

 Francis Collins on Stephen Colbert

 Similar Episodes:

 Russell Moore and David French: How Should Christians Do Politics?

 David French: Conservatism Without Trumpism

 Francis Collins: The Road to Wisdom in an Age of Distrust

 Transcript

 Want more NSE? JOIN NSE+ Today! Our subscriber only community comes with bonus content, ad-free listening, and early access to tickets for our live shows.

 Great Feeling Studios, the team behind No Small Endeavor and other award-winning podcasts, helps nonprofits and brands tell stories that inspire action. Start your podcast at helpmemakeapodcast.com.

 Subscribe to episodes: Apple | Spotify | Amazon | Google | YouTube
Follow Us: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Follow Lee: Instagram | Twitter
Join our Email List: nosmallendeavor.com

 See Privacy Policy: Privacy Policy

 Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: Tokens Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Can you do insider critique with a sense of humor?

 You might know Phil Vischer as the creator of the beloved children’s show VeggieTales, or Skye Jethani for his work as a pastor, speaker, and author. Both of them are long-time public Christian voices.

 These days, though, they find themselves hosting the Holy Post podcast, doing the hard work of insider critique of a Christian subculture that, in recent years, has boiled over with white nationalism, Trumpism, and many forms of injustice. In this episode, they discuss how they try to do their work with intelligence, care, and humor.

 Show Notes

 Resources:

 The Holy Post

 “What If Jesus Was Serious about Justice?” by Skye Jethani

 Francis Collins on Stephen Colbert

 Similar Episodes:

 Russell Moore and David French: How Should Christians Do Politics?

 David French: Conservatism Without Trumpism

 Francis Collins: The Road to Wisdom in an Age of Distrust

 Transcript

 Want more NSE? JOIN NSE+ Today! Our subscriber only community comes with bonus content, ad-free listening, and early access to tickets for our live shows.

 Great Feeling Studios, the team behind No Small Endeavor and other award-winning podcasts, helps nonprofits and brands tell stories that inspire action. Start your podcast at helpmemakeapodcast.com.

 Subscribe to episodes: Apple | Spotify | Amazon | Google | YouTube
Follow Us: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Follow Lee: Instagram | Twitter
Join our Email List: nosmallendeavor.com

 See Privacy Policy: Privacy Policy

 Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: Tokens Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

This is our unabridged interview with Freddie O'Connell.

 “If we want to thrive across the board, then there has to be an accounting for the fact that you may have things that befall you in your life that you have no control over.”

 In this episode of No Small Endeavor, Lee C. Camp sits down with Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell for a conversation about moral leadership, political realism, and the promise of community. 

 Growing up in Nashville, Freddie O’Connell was eager to leave for Brown University. But after his career in tech was interrupted by the dot com collapse, a “catastrophic transmission failure” changed the course of his life forever. When O’Connell returned to Nashville, he began riding the bus in his hometown, and discovered how inaccessible the city was for a large swath of the population. He soon became actively involved with the Metro Nashville Transit Authority, and his career in civic engagement began.

 Show Notes

 Resources:

 Privilege Walk 

 “To Love A City” by Rev. Bill Barnes

 Room At The Inn Nonprofit

 “Kingdom of The Poor” by Charles Strobel

 Similar Episodes:

 Charlie Strobel

 Bill Haslam

 Justin Jones

 Transcript

 Want more NSE? Join NSE+ Today! Our subscriber only community with bonus episodes designed specifically to help you live a good life, ad-free listening, and early access to tickets to our live shows.

 Great Feeling Studios, the team behind No Small Endeavor and other award-winning podcasts, helps nonprofits and brands tell stories that inspire action. If your organization has a message that deserves to be heard, start your podcast at helpmemakeapodcast.com.

 Subscribe to episodes: Apple | Spotify | Amazon | Google | YouTube
Follow Us: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Follow Lee: Instagram | Twitter
Join our Email List: nosmallendeavor.com

 See Privacy Policy: Privacy Policy

 Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: Tokens Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program design…

“If we want to thrive across the board, then there has to be an accounting for the fact that you may have things that befall you in your life that you have no control over.”

 In this episode of No Small Endeavor, Lee C. Camp sits down with Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell for a conversation about moral leadership, political realism, and the promise of community. 

 Growing up in Nashville, Freddie O’Connell was eager to leave for Brown University. But after his career in tech was interrupted by the dot com collapse, a “catastrophic transmission failure” changed the course of his life forever. When O’Connell returned to Nashville, he began riding the bus in his hometown, and discovered how fundamentally inaccessible the city was for a large swath of the population. He soon became actively involved with the Metro Nashville Transit Authority, and his career in civic engagement began.

 Show Notes

 Resources:

 Privilege Walk 

 “To Love A City” by Rev. Bill Barnes

 Room At The Inn Nonprofit

 “Kingdom of The Poor” by Charles Strobel

 Similar Episodes:

 Charlie Strobel

 Bill Haslam

 Justin Jones

 Transcript

 Want more NSE? Join NSE+ Today! Our subscriber only community with bonus episodes designed specifically to help you live a good life, ad-free listening, and early access to tickets to our live shows.

 Great Feeling Studios, the team behind No Small Endeavor and other award-winning podcasts, helps nonprofits and brands tell stories that inspire action. If your organization has a message that deserves to be heard, start your podcast at helpmemakeapodcast.com.

 Subscribe to episodes: Apple | Spotify | Amazon | Google | YouTube
Follow Us: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Follow Lee: Instagram | Twitter
Join our Email List: nosmallendeavor.com

 See Privacy Policy: Privacy Policy

 Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: Tokens Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites …

This is our unabridged interview with Michele Norris.

 “I wanted to create a vehicle that allowed people to talk about this allegedly toxic topic on their own terms.”- Michele Norris. 

 Could you describe your experience of race in America in just 6 words? That’s the very thing Journalist Michele Norris asked 200 strangers to do back in 2015, when she printed a stack of postcards with these simple directions: Race, your story, 6 words, please send. What began as an exercise to spark conversation became The Race Card Project, a growing online archive comprising over 750,000 answers from Americans of every ethnicity and corner of the country. The responses are at once tender and confronting, and they hold a mirror up to a part of American life that is often felt, but rarely openly discussed.

 Show Notes

 Resources:

 "The Grace of Silence"

 "Our Hidden Conversations"

 The Race Card Project

 NPR's The Race Card Project: Six Word Essays

 Your Mamma’s Kitchen Podcast

 Similar Episodes:

 Musa al-Gharbi

 John Blake

 Eugene Cho and Karen Korematsu

 Transcript

 Want more NSE? Join NSE+ Today! Our subscriber only community with bonus episodes designed specifically to help you live a good life, ad-free listening, and early access to tickets to our live shows.

 Great Feeling Studios, the team behind No Small Endeavor and other award-winning podcasts, helps nonprofits and brands tell stories that inspire action. If your organization has a message that deserves to be heard, start your podcast at helpmemakeapodcast.com.

 Subscribe to episodes: Apple | Spotify | Amazon | Google | YouTube
Follow Us: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Follow Lee: Instagram | Twitter
Join our Email List: nosmallendeavor.com

 See Privacy Policy: Privacy Policy

 Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: Tokens Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

“I wanted to create a vehicle that allowed people to talk about this allegedly toxic topic on their own terms.”- Michele Norris. 

 Could you describe your experience of race in America in just 6 words? That’s the very thing Journalist Michele Norris asked 200 strangers to do back in 2015, when she printed a stack of postcards with these simple directions: Race, your story, 6 words, please send. What began as an exercise to spark conversation became The Race Card Project, a growing online archive comprising over 750,000 answers from Americans of every ethnicity and corner of the country. The responses are at once tender and confronting, and they hold a mirror up to a part of American life that is often felt, but rarely openly discussed.

 Show Notes

 Resources:

 "The Grace of Silence: A Family Memoir"

 "Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity"

 The Race Card Project

 NPR's The Race Card Project: Six Word Essays

 Your Mamma’s Kitchen Podcast

 Similar Episodes:

 Musa al-Gharbi

 John Blake

 Eugene Cho and Karen Korematsu

 Transcript

 Want more NSE? Join NSE+ Today! Our subscriber only community with bonus episodes designed specifically to help you live a good life, ad-free listening, and early access to tickets to our live shows.

 Great Feeling Studios, the team behind No Small Endeavor and other award-winning podcasts, helps nonprofits and brands tell stories that inspire action. If your organization has a message that deserves to be heard, start your podcast at helpmemakeapodcast.com.

 Subscribe to episodes: Apple | Spotify | Amazon | Google | YouTube
Follow Us: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Follow Lee: Instagram | Twitter
Join our Email List: nosmallendeavor.com

 See Privacy Policy: Privacy Policy

 Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: Tokens Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.