The Common Good Podcast

In this episode of The Common Good, Brian From reflects on the tension between outward reputation and inward reality, beginning with JD Greer’s sobering warning from Revelation 3 about the church in Sardis: “You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” Brian unpacks the danger of spiritual hypocrisy, hidden compromise, and the gap between what people see and what Jesus sees.

He also shares a deeply personal and emotional story about dropping his daughter off for a Fulbright scholarship in Tunisia, reflecting on the mix of pride, joy, grief, and love that comes with parenting adult children. That moment leads into a broader conversation about how two things can be true at once: we can be excited for someone’s calling while also feeling the loss of their absence.

Later in the episode, Brian responds to a controversial report that MercyMe received millions of dollars through child sponsorship promotions over several years. He wrestles with questions of transparency, Christian celebrity, money, and whether a good cause is enough if the financial arrangement feels unclear or “icky.” The conversation raises larger concerns about the business side of Christian music and ministry.

Brian turns to a reflection on Wendell Berry and heaven, exploring the connection between creation, community, body and soul, and the hope of a restored world where heaven and earth meet. It’s a thoughtful, challenging, and personal episode that moves from conviction to family to faith to the beauty of God’s creation.

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Brian covers a lot of topics in this episode, moving from a solo reflection on God making broken things new, to interviews on generosity, suffering, biblical interpretation, mental health, midlife restlessness, and foster care. The throughline is clear: God meets people in practical, painful, and ordinary places and calls them toward faithfulness, integrity, and hope.

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Brian reflects on a season of family transitions, then moves through a series of short devotional and cultural topics: Wendell Berry’s legacy, a take on old fashioned baby names, a critique of Anne Hathaway’s abortion comments, and a look at JD Vance’s candid comments about doubt.

The episode also includes a sermon style reading of the Samaritan woman at the well and a meditation on Philippians 2 and the biblical view of the body.

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Brian talks with Steve Van Noort and Scott Wyatt, lead and assistant pastors of Sojourn Church, a new PCA church plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan started through the Detroit Project. Steve explains their mission to specifically reach the unchurched and lost rather than draw people from other congregations, and describes the church's DNA of gospel-centered worship, community, and mission — including weekly communion, expository preaching, and members going out to community colleges and local parks to have spiritual conversations. Scott, who came from two decades in campus ministry with Cru, shares an encouraging observation: young adults and teenagers today are showing surprising openness to the gospel after growing up largely without church exposure. Steve explains the church's name, drawn from 1 Peter's language of believers as "sojourners and strangers" journeying together toward their true home in Christ, and the two cast a vision for changed lives five years down the road.

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Brian discusses the disturbing new Netflix docuseries on the death of pastor's wife Mika Miller and the alleged abuse she suffered, pushing back hard against the narrative that her husband's horrific actions represent normative evangelical teaching on marriage. He shares a Nine Marks article on how pastors and church families can protect their kids from growing bitter toward the church even after painful experiences, drawing on his own story of being let go from the church he planted. Brian highlights a viral moment of poor sportsmanship backfiring when a Texas high school football team refused to shake hands before a game and lost 38-0 at halftime, and digs into a Detroit Public Schools program paying students up to $1,000 a year just for attendance amid a chronic absenteeism crisis. He shares a moving Christianity Today profile of former MLB star Daryl Strawberry, whose journey from addiction and prison to prison ministry now brings hope to society's most forgotten, plus a Gospel Coalition reflection on the surprising peace found in intentionally not knowing answers by blocking search engines, and closes with a Charles Stanley devotional on the practice of listening for God's voice.

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Brian defends a well-known pastor criticized for using AI as a research tool in sermon preparation, arguing it's no different than consulting commentaries as long as it stays in its proper place in the process. He shares a powerful Christianity Today testimony from David Washington, a former Chicago gang member who found faith after a Baptist church moved into his violent neighborhood, and who now pastors a church in that same community. Brian digs into Gavin Ortlund's Gospel Coalition piece on Old Testament messianic prophecy as an underappreciated argument for the truth of Christianity, and shares a feel-good story of a Wyoming pizzeria turning a costly prank order into a donation for hospital emergency room staff. He warns against trusting algorithm-curated news as much as professional editors, encourages listeners to read across the political spectrum, and shares a Relevant Magazine piece reassuring anyone who feels "behind in life" that comparison-driven timelines are largely a myth. Drawing from Nehemiah's heartbreak-fueled calling, Brian challenges listeners to identify both what breaks their heart and where they have unique access to do something about it, and closes with Ray Ortlund's case from Ecclesiastes for "bold enjoyment" as a legitimate, even wise, Christian way of life.

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Brian talks with Jeremy Sims, professor of spiritual formation and author of The Way of the Spirit: Recognizing and Responding to God's Subtle Movements. Jeremy explains "attentiveness to the Spirit" — the practice of recognizing the Holy Spirit's quiet, often unspectacular work drawing us toward Jesus — and why the noise and distraction of modern life make that so difficult. He shares practical habits from his own life, including a disciplined morning routine and fifteen years of ongoing spiritual direction, and unpacks the book's framework of seven "waypoints," or seasons of life that open us to particular movements of the Spirit. Jeremy walks through the first waypoint, transition or "liminality," using Mary, the mother of Jesus, as an exemplar of "holy acquiescence" — releasing our own plans to embrace God's larger, unseen work in our lives.

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Brian opens frustrated by what he sees as performative culture at every level — from politicians renaming Lake Ontario "Lake America" to grandstanding pastors — contrasting it with Jesus's call for authentic inner transformation over outward appearance. He shares a study linking over 150 minutes of daily social media use to rising rates of self-reported depression, and digs into a Christianity Today piece arguing that worship isn't meant to be primarily about how it makes us feel, but about giving God the glory He's due regardless of our emotions. Brian plays a clip from pastor Eric Reed making the case that saving faith isn't mere mental belief in Jesus but genuine submission to Him as Lord and King. He also shares a Relevant Magazine piece on shifting from a transactional relationship with God to a relational one, a wild follow-up story about a former Chick-fil-A employee's $80,000 mac-and-cheese fraud scheme, and closes with sobering research on the poor mental health of worship leaders and a broader reflection on the need for greater character and integrity among church leaders.

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Filling in for Adam Holz once again, Plugged In's Paul Asay joins Brian for a fun Friday lineup. They dig into Coyote vs. Acme, the long-shelved live-action/animated hybrid where Wile E. Coyote finally sues Acme Corporation (run by Foghorn Leghorn) for decades of exploding gadgets, now getting a theatrical release after a distributor rescued it from Warner Brothers' tax write-off shelf. Paul highlights its nostalgic charm and message of persistence, alongside some mild language and cartoon violence parents should weigh. They also cover Beyond Belief, a Christian throwback film set in the 1980s Christian music scene featuring cameos from the actual band Petra, following a teen guitarist who takes a literal word from God — "run" — as a call to train for a marathon on the same day as his band's make-or-break battle of the bands.

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Brian talks with Gary Schneeberger, assistant to the president for media relations at Focus on the Family, about the ministry's search for a new president as Jim Daly, nearing 65, begins a planned transition after 20 years of leadership. Gary explains the search process — conducted with the help of a search firm over an expected 12 to 18 months, landing near the ministry's 50th anniversary in 2027 — and reflects on Daly's legacy of refocusing the organization on marriage, parenting, and walking out faith in the public square, following founder Dr. James Dobson's more prophetic, public-policy-driven era. Gary shares why Daly wants to model a healthy leadership handoff to a next-generation leader attuned to today's cultural challenges, and says the top qualification the board is seeking is unchanged biblical conviction consistent with the ministry's 50-year history.

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