Samson is everything a man might imagine becoming. I like to imagine him in Ray-Bans, a man bun, and a CrossFit t-shirt, hiking through some remote red stone canyon, documenting his adventurous life on Instagram. He is the model man, driven by passion and restless for adventure and romance. He was fascinated with the seductive nature of Philistia, the risk of roaming into enemy territory only making it all the more adventurous.

Samson’s story is the millennial story—pursue your desires and individuality against any expectation that would hold you back. Your true self is out there on the horizon. Seize it. Don’t let your parent’s stuffy traditions or your community’s prudish tendencies hold you back.

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Phil Ayres is a pastor serving what he describes as a small church just north of Orlando, Florida. Phil blogs and writes about the challenges of doing ministry in a small church setting.

He has published two books, How to Survive Ministry and Flannel-Graph Jesus. And he is also the host of the Bible Revealed podcast.

In our conversation, we explore pastoring in a small church setting and the personal benefits of writing. Phil shares the challenges of getting started writing and how those challenges evolve over time. It's an encouraging conversation for anyone who has ever thought about writing and struggled to get started.

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I recently found a computer emulator for playing vintage Super Nintendo games. And who knew you could buy USB Nintendo controllers on Amazon for eight bucks. Two days of waiting for our Prime package to arrive, and I sat down to introduce my son to the video games of my childhood. The first game I downloaded was Aladdin.

Like so many of the other 30-somethings packed into this past Saturday evening’s showing, I was nervous and excited for the remake. Disney’s recent streak of live-action remakes has been pretty hit and miss. Overall, the new Aladdin was entertaining but predictably less than the one of my youth. At first, I found the casting of Will Smith as a blue genie hard to buy into. But eventually, with his Fresh Prince hip-hop take on Robin Williams classic character, I started to enjoy it. The songs are all there, along with a few new ones. But some changes felt odd and, by the end, had me shaking my head...

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Jon and his brother have spent the past 12 years building software for the faith-based community. But they have always had a passion to redesign the experience of listening to the Bible. With the help of their supporters, the Dwell Bible App became the #4 most funded app on Kickstarter.

Today, the Dwell app is supported by a large and passionate community of users. With a rich feature set, customizations, and careful attention to the user experience Dwell really has changed the way people are listening to the Bible. Jon is generously offering Pastor Writer listeners a limited time 33% discount to the app. Learn more at https://dwellapp.io/pastorwriter.

Jon joins me to talk about the app but also about how listening to the Bible has become a lost art, and how rediscovering the practice can impact you and your church.

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This May, Chis Nye is releasing his second book, Less of More: Pursuing Spiritual Abundance in a World of Never Enough. Chris is a pastor in the Bay area and his writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Christianity Today, and RELEVANT Magazine.

Chris is passionate about the craft of writing and has thought deeply about how writing has impacted him as a pastor. If you enjoy episodes on writing, this one's for you.

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Alan Noble articulates a need for a kind of Christian witness which can break through the secular and distracted lifestyle dominating our culture. Unfortunately, much of how we practice and preach Christ may only be contributing to the challenges we face.

Alan's book, Disruptive Witness: Speaking Truth in A Distracted Age, calls for a kind of witness which disrupts the ways we spend our time the ways we typically evaluate new ideas.

We also explore how Christian writers can take up this disruptive task. What does it look like for writers to offer readers a disruptive witness?

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If you are familiar with the gospel of Mark or have paid close attention to your bible’s footnotes, you know there are major questions about how Mark intended to end his gospel. The gospel of Mark ends with chapter 16, and most Bible's include this strange note between verses eight and nine. The ESV puts it, “Some Of The Earliest Manuscripts Do Not Include 16:9–20.”

I think Mark was making a literary move. I think Mark intended for his gospel to conclude with an open ending. I think he had good reasons for it.

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Adam Lewis Greene is the designer behind the top Kickstarter Bibliotheca campaign to redesign a reader-friendly version of the Bible.

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David Rawlings joins me to talk about his transition from copywriting and non-fiction to novels. David just released his debut novel, The Baggage Handler, and is under contract with Thomas Nelson for two more. David's books are modern parables that help readers discover Christ's kingdom through story.

We discuss making the transition to fiction and how studying fiction can impact non-fiction writers. There is a lot of helpful information for both fiction and non-fiction writers and encouragement for writers trying to figure out what to do with that novel idea.

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Pierce Taylor Hibbs serves as the Associate Director of the Theological English Department at Westminster Theological Seminary. He is the author of "The Speaking Trinity and His Worded World: Why Language Is at the Center of Everything" and "Finding God in the Ordinary."

At the core of our conversation is the question, is there such a thing as Christian writing? Are there qualities that Christian writers should possess. 

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