Daniel Taylor (Ph.D., Emory University) is the author of eighteen books, including The Myth of Certainty, Letters to My Children, Tell Me A Story: The Life-Shaping Power of Our Stories, Creating a Spiritual Legacy, The Skeptical Believer: Telling Stories to Your Inner Atheist and four novels, Death Comes for the Decontructionist, Do We Not Bleed?, Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees, and The Mystery of Iniquity . He has also worked on a number of Bible translations. He speaks frequently at conferences, colleges, retreats, and churches on a variety of topics. Dr. Taylor is also co-founder of The Legacy Center, an organization devoted to helping individuals and organizations identify and preserve the values and stories that have shaped their lives. He was a contributing editor for Books and Culture. Dr. Taylor is married and the father of four adult children. In this episode we discussed how stories make up all of our lives. And how stories in this world can point to the one True Story found in the Gospels of Jesus Christ.

For more on Rocketsled Studios go to www.rocketsedstudios.com

In this episode, I got to talk with Tim Mahoney. Tim is the owner of Mahoney Media, Thinking Man Films, and Heroic Pictures. He is the director and producer of many movies including one of the most famous Christian documentaries, Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus. He is also the producer of a documentary coming out this Spring called The American Miracle.

Tim and I discussed why he got into filmmaking and how he got started. We also talked about why risk is essential to the Christian life and why the Gospel is predicated on risk. We talked about two of his new movies, The American Miracle and The Israel Dilemma. Finally, we discussed why it’s important for children to watch good content that is pointing them towards Christ. I hope you enjoy.

For more on Rocketsled Studios go to www.rocketsedstudios.com

In this podcast, writer/director Cristóbal Krusen shares with Andy Schmitt how God led him to embrace his original love of filmmaking as well as stories from around the world where his films have changed lives.  Cris also shares his hopes for the next generation of Christian filmmakers.

For more on Rocketsled Studios go to www.rocketsedstudios.com

In this podcast, Greg Silker (Producer) and Andy Schmitt (Producer) discuss the mission and vision of Rocketsled Studios and what it takes to create an animated children's series. They talk about the Tales of the Kingdom animated TV series, how they plan to create it, and how you can be a better storyteller!

For more on Rocketsled Studios go to www.rocketsedstudios.com

In this episode, I got to talk with Michael Ward. Ward is an English literary critic and theologian at the University of Oxford where he serves as an associate member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion. He is the author of many books including Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis and After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man. Dr. Ward is also a Professor of Apologetics at Houston Christian University in Texas. Most notably, Ward was in The World Is Not Enough, a James Bond movie from 1999. Michael and I discuss his book, Planet Narnia in this episode. We talk about the Ward’s finding of the secret hidden continuity between the seven books in the Chronicles of Narnia and how each book aligns with a medieval cosmological planet (it sounds crazy but it’s not!). Planet Narnia is one of the most significant books on Lewis and children’s fantasy of this past century, I hope you enjoy learning about it in this conversation. Enjoy!

For more on Rocketsled Studios go to www.rocketsedstudios.com

In this episode, I got to talk with Austin Freeman. Freeman is the Chair of the Department of Apologetics and Assistant Professor at Houston Christian University. He recently wrote a book, Tolkien Dogmatics, that reveals the systematic theology found in Middle Earth through The Lord of the Rings books. Austin has also written for many publications including Desiring God. We discussed his book, Tolkien Dogmatics, and how he started on this endeavor to write a systematic theology based on a fantasy series. We also talked about the key theological themes in Tolkien’s books related to God, Sin, Angels, and Creation. Finally, we discussed how Tolkien came to believe that his Lord of the Rings books could have been “inspired”. I hope you enjoy!

For more on Rocketsled Studios go to www.rocketsedstudios.com

In this episode, I got to sit down with the Professor of Faith and Culture at Union University, Dr. Hal Poe, and the Co-Director of the Wade Center in Wheaton, IL, Dr. David C. Downing. We talked about why it’s important for Christians to write fantasy stories, what inspired C.S. Lewis to write the Chronicles of Narnia, and the relationship between intellectual thinkers and creative artists. Dr. Hal Poe is a professor and author to many books including The Inklings of Oxford, Becoming C.S. Lewis, The Making of C.S. Lewis, and The Completion of C.S. Lewis. Dr. Poe served as the President of the Edgar Allan Poe foundation for ten years and the American Scientific Affiliation. He also served as the President of The Academy for Evangelism and Theological Education and The C.S. Lewis Foundation of Redland, CA and Oxford, England. Hal Poe is the Founder of the Inklings Fellowship in which he directs the annual Christianity in the Academy Conference, the Inklings Weekend, and every three years, the Inklings Week in Oxford, England. Dr. David C. Downing is the Co-Director of the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL, he is the author of C.S. Lewis: Planets In Peril, The Most Reluctant Convert, and Into The Wardrobe: C.S. Lewis and the Narnia Chronicles. Dr. Downing also received the Paul F. Ford Award for Excellence in Lewis Scholarship and Teaching. David Downing added an introduction and over 400 notes to the new edition of The Pilgrims Regress: The Wade Annotated Edition. I did this podcast in partnership with Rocketsled Studios, Rocketsled Studios is run by Greg Silker. Greg is a film maker, producer, and entrepreneur from Minneapolis, MN. I’ve been working with Greg for over a year now and our team has finally gotten a contract signed that will allow us to start working on an adaptation of the Tales of the Kingdom children’s book series written by David and Karen Mains. We’re super excited to be working on this project. This podcast is part of our research and promotion for this project. If you want to learn more about the project, you can go to www.rocketsledstudios.com and check it out.

For more on Rocketsled Studios go to www.rocketsedstudios.com