Presence + Poettry Podcast

Most of us have a device within arm's reach and/or something playing in the background (maybe the new Presence + Poettry Podcast episode?!). We have grown so accustomed to noise and distraction that Priscilla and I (Jacob) have begun to wonder if that constant grab for something to do is a form of performance—a way to only show up to God when we think He needs us to do something for Him.

In this episode, we talk about the different ways we might be holding God at arm's length—choosing to set ourselves up as His employees instead of sharing and collaborating our lives with Him.

Because there's a difference between using what's in front of you to avoid what's truly being offered, and using it to welcome the active presence of God into your ordinary moments.

If you've noticed you can't sit in the silence anymore, or you've got something made that you don't want to share with anyone—this one's for you!

About Presence + Poettry:

We're Jacob and Priscilla Poettker —an artist and a pastor—seeking to host moments where we encounter God's active presence in ordinary moments. We do this through more than the honest conversations you'll find in this podcast, through leading worship, preaching, writing, photography/videography, branding—the creative expressions God has wired in us to help people be more present with themselves, others, and God.

What if Satan didn’t create the things we struggle with?

What if he can’t create at all, but only twist what God has already made to be good?

We spend a lot of time talking about temptation, fear, evil, spiritual warfare, and “the enemy,” but what if we’ve given Satan more credit than he deserves? And what if the reason why sin is so tempting is because the Enemy has to take what God has made and twist it for his purposes so that, at the heart of every temptation is truly something good and God-given—it's just the way of which Satan offers to fill the desire that's wrong?

In this episode, we wrestle with what it means to recognize the good desire beneath the temptation, why fear can give evil more power than it actually has, and how the story of Eden might be less about a magical piece of fruit and more about believing the lie that God is withholding something from us.

Because maybe the question isn’t simply, “How do I fight this temptation?” Maybe it’s: "What am I actually looking for? And what if God has already been providing it all along?"

About Presence + Poettry:

We are Jacob & Priscilla Poettker—a poet and a pastor—hosting moments to help people be more aware of God's active presence in ordinary life. We do this more than just these honest conversations: through worship leading and preaching, photography and videography, branding and graphic design—creative expressions to help you be more present with yourself, others, and God. If you want to learn more, DM us on our social medias @PresencePoettry and if you like this episode, please give us a rating and share this with a friend who needs it!

"I'm just not being fed here."

Most of us have heard someone say it about their church. Some of us have said it ourselves. But what if a pastor was never supposed to feed you?

There's a different way to understand the job of a pastor. Not as a gas station attendant topping off your tank so you can make it through the week. But something closer to a poet—someone whose work is to find the sacred moments in the ordinary ones and to point at it until you see it, too.

Because God isn't just there on Sundays in church. He's with you in your job, your parenting, your kitchen, your hobbies. The role of a pastor is to help their congregation to see that. That's the role of every Christian, really.

So what's the difference between pastor and congregant? What does it mean to work in vocational ministry? What does it cost?

If you're in ministry and don't know what to do, you're tired of being in a metaphorical fishbowl, or you've lost sight of your calling to ministry—pull up a seat.

About Presence + Poettry: We are Jacob and Priscilla Poettker—a poet and a pastor—hosting moments of honest conversation to help people be more aware of God in the midst of their ordinary lives. We do more than just talk on a podcast—worship leading, preaching, spiritual direction, photography, videography, branding—creative expressions to help you become more present with yourself, others, and God. If you want to learn more, DM us on our social medias @PresencePoettry. And if you liked this episode, please rate the show and share this with a friend who needs it!

AT some point a lot of us quietly stop dreaming. Not dramatically — we just get busy, or tired, or the last thing we hoped for didn't happen — and eventually we don't even noticed that we haven't wanted anything in a while.

In this episode, we talk through the season of noticing and beginning to dream again, and what it means to discern whether a dream is from your own selfish desires or a God-given prompting.

Life can be very cruel, but we have the hope and strength to find joy and dreams in the midst of it!

About Presence + Poettry: We're Jacob & Priscilla Poettker — a poet and a pastor — making spaces to encounter God's active presence in everyday life. We do more than just talk on a podcast: worship leading, preaching, photography/videography, branding, and other creative work built on helping people be more present with themselves, others, and God.

Most of us are quietly organizing our lives around getting to the good part — the season where things finally settle, where we feel okay, where the hard times are behind us. And, if we're not careful, we can build our whole faith around it.

However, Scripture paints a different story — one of constant deconstruction and reformation.

So what were to happen if you stopped treating your faith like a membership to maintain until you get to heaven? What if you stopped trying to stay on the mountaintop or settle in to the valley? What if the best growth of our faith in Jesus happens not on the mountaintop or the valley alone, but in the journey back and forth?

About Presence + Poettry: We're Jacob & Priscilla Poettker — a pastor and a poet — making spaces to encounter God's active presence in everyday life. We do more than talk on a podcast: worship, preaching, photography/videography, and other creative expressions built around helping people be more present with themselves, others, and God.

There's a line between making something as a gift and making something as a job you're trying not to get fired from. It's a thinner line that you might think, and most of us cross it without noticing.

In today's episode, we hashed out the differences between doing something with God and doing something for God — what it does to your creativity, your ministry, and your sense of whether you're good at either.

If you've ever wondered whether the thing you make is actually an offering or just a performance you've gotten good at, this one's for you.

About Presence + Poettry: We're Jacob & Priscilla Poettker — a pastor and a poet — making spaces to encounter God's active presence in everyday life. We do more than talk on a podcast: worship, preaching, photography, videography, and other creative expressions to help people be more presence with themselves, others, and God.

We've spent years building very sophisticated ways to never be still, mentally if not physically. One more episode. One more scroll. One more thing to do first before the rest can feel "earned."

We've been justifying perfection and productivity to earn our rest rather than working from rest and letting it fuel us.

This isn't a new problem either... It's not just because of smart phones that people can't sit still anymore. Desert Mothers and Fathers from 1,500 years ago have written about the same thing.

So Priscilla and I (Jacob) have initiated a new house rule: no screen time at least one hour before bed, and it has already been opening our eyes to the ways our constant business has effected our faith!

So, this episode is one about Sabbath — the version of it that we actually practice, not the version we'd like to tell you we follow. This conversation has helped open both of our eyes to the desperate need to rest and our physical addiction to always being busy.

We love celebrating our birthdays together (Jacob's on the 19th, and Priscilla on the 20th). So, as Priscilla turns 29 I (Jacob) leave my 20s behind this week, we wanted to take the chance to reflection what God has taught us throughout this past year, and just our lives in general.

In all the crazy and diverse seasons of our lives, we have discovered that God has always been the same, even when we changed and our lives changed around us. He will never leave you, even if everything or everyone else does. Even when your life has come crashing down around you, you are still the temple of the Holy Spirit—you are still the altar of the Lord.

About Presence + Poettry: We're Jacob & Priscilla Poettker—a pastor and an artist—making spaces to encounter Go's active presence in everyday life. We do more than talk on a podcast: worship, preaching, photography, videography, and other creative expressions built on helping people be more present with themselves, each other, and God.

Priscilla just finished a class, in her Masters of Divinity program, about what it means to carry the Imago Dei (the Image of God) and I (Jacob) have a chapter that I need to rewrite about the role our bodies play in our faith. So we decided to compare notes on both of our understandings on the topic.

Being two people in our late 20s, we both shared how the Purity culture of the 90s and 2000s shaped an incorrect belief about our physical bodies: that they are obstacles in our way of faith and that the devil has more claim over them than we do. Through no specific fault of any pastor or church, we both formed an understanding not to trust our bodies or even care about them when every body was made in the image of God.

So if our bodies are made in the image of God—they're not liabilities, obstacles, or inconveniences—then how do we live differently, refusing to separate our body and soul, and live into the Image Bearers we were all created to be?

In this episode:

• What purity culture taught each of us—from opposite sides of the spectrum
• When your body stops being the temple and starts feeling like enemy territory
• "Flesh "doesn't just mean your physical body—what gets lost reading the Bible only in English
• Why Satan is called the prince of this world and what that means about the power he has over you
• Early-Church Heresies and how their address of incorrect theologies impact us today
• Every decision is a decision for both body and spirit
• Pandora's box

About Presence + Poettry:

We're Jacob & Priscilla Poettker—a pastor and a poet—making spaces to encounter God's active presence in everyday life. We do more than talk on a podcast: worship, preaching, discipleship, photography/videography, & more—anything to help people learn to be more present with themselves, others, and God.

This is the second half of Priscilla's conversation with Bp. Dr. Ryan Mackey. If you missed the first part, you can go back and listen to it for the setup (link below) but we believe that God may have something for you even in this part of the conversation!

This episode gets personal, as Priscilla & Ryan get into the thick of what growing pains look like in our faith: how struggles, questions, and trials are not signs that you're doing things right or wrong, they're signs of growth.

Pull up a seat (or just press play) and see if God has something for you in this amazing conversation!

About Our Guest: Bishop Dr. Ryan Mackey is the Chair of Humanities at Central Christian College of Kansas, a Bishop in the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches (CEEC), a musician and creator behind the Instagram account @SacredGlitches, and recently earned a Doctorate of Musicology from Durham University.

About Presence + Poettry: We are Jacob & Priscilla Poettker—a pastor and a poet—making spaces to encounter God's active presence in everyday life. We do more than talk on a podcast: worship, preaching, coaching & discipleship, photography, videography, and other creative expressions to help people learn to be more present with themselves, others, and God.