The MAVEN Parent Podcast

People make truth claims all day long. This is true, that's a lie, that's false. Ask them to actually define the word and most of them have nothing.

MAVEN recently hosted a C.S. Lewis Symposium in Southern California with Dr. Jerry Root — Lewis scholar, longtime Wheaton College professor, and a man with a deeply pastoral heart. In this session, Jerry makes the case that truth is simpler to define than we think and far more costly to abandon than we realize. There's a relativist, a blue cow on a piano, a sitcom romance that teaches logical fallacies better than any textbook, and an idea Jerry calls the biggest one Lewis ever had.

Want to hear Jerry in person? He's speaking at the 2026 MAVEN Conference in San Antonio on November 7! Register here: https://www.mavenconferences.com

MAVEN...is donor-supported...DONATE HERE: https://maventruth.com/donation/ 

Imagine a field trip permission slip that listed the side effects: anxiety, suicidal ideation, obesity, shortened attention span. You'd never sign it. But that's the trip we've sent an entire generation of kids on, and the results are in. In this episode, Brett and Erin talk with Arlene Pellicane, author of The Great Tech Reset: Reclaiming Real Life for Christian Families. Arlene lays out what she calls the A-B-C-D harms of a screen-based childhood, starting with anxiety, and explains why the problem isn't only bad content.

GET THE BOOK FREE: Summit Ministries is giving away copies of The Great Tech Reset while supplies last: https://techresetbook.com

More from Arlene Pellicane: https://arlenepellicane.com/

Watch her free film, Screen Kids: In Their Own Words: https://www.happyhomeuniversity.com/film

The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt: https://www.anxiousgeneration.com/book

Download the MAVEN smartphone contract: https://equip.maventruth.com/sign-up

Get the free Navigating a World of Screens course: https://equip.maventruth.com/navigating-a-world-of-screens

MAVEN...is donor-supported...DONATE HERE: https://maventruth.com/donation/ 

Is Islam a religion of peace? It's one of the most common claims in our culture, especially after a terrorist attack. But what do Islam's own sources actually say?

In this episode, Brett and Erin continue their conversation with Alan Shlemon of Stand to Reason. Christians follow Jesus, and Muslims follow Muhammad, so Alan takes us to the three sources Muslims look to for how to live: the Quran, the hadith, and the sunnah (the life of Muhammad). He explains why he thinks the better question is "Is violent jihad a valid Islamic doctrine?" He also explains why most Muslims you'll meet are peaceful even though, in his view, the doctrine is legitimate.

If you haven't yet, start with part one of our conversation with Alan: https://linktw.in/qtcxbm

Resources mentioned in this episode: The Ambassador's Guide to Islam by Alan Shlemon: https://store.str.org/purchase/the-ambassadors-guide-to-islam

More from Alan Shlemon at Stand to Reason: https://www.str.org/alan-shlemon

Answering Jihad by Nabeel Qureshi: https://www.amazon.com/Answering-Jihad-Better-Way-Forward/dp/0310531381

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus by Nabeel Qureshi: https://www.amazon.com/Seeking-Allah-Finding-Jesus-Christianity/dp/0310092647

Still the Best Hope by Dennis Prager: https://www.amazon.com/Still-Best-Hope-American-Triumph/dp/0061985139

MAVEN...is donor-supported...DONATE HERE: https://maventruth.com/donation/ 

Most Christians know a few things about Islam—the Quran, Allah, whatever they've picked up from the news—but not enough to put the pieces together. So when someone says "Muslims and Christians worship the same God," they're not sure how to answer.

In this episode, Brett and Erin sit down with Alan Shlemon of Stand to Reason, a longtime friend and colleague, for a ground-level introduction to Islam. Alan walks through the three things that matter most in any conversation with a Muslim—who God is, who Jesus is, and how salvation works—and explains why the Islamic doctrine of tawhid makes the Trinity not just wrong but blasphemous, why the Quran actually says more about Jesus than about Muhammad, and how the five pillars fit into a system where your good deeds are weighed against your bad ones.

Get Alan's booklet The Ambassador's Guide to Islam and more resources at Stand to Reason: https://www.str.org/

Register for the C.S. Lewis Symposium: https://www.mavenconferences.com/cslewissymposium

MAVEN...is donor-supported...DONATE HERE: https://maventruth.com/donation/ 

Abdu Murray grew up in a devout Shia Muslim home where faith wasn't one activity among many—it was identity, family, and daily life woven together. He was confident enough in it to spend years challenging Christians on their own beliefs, and winning. Then came a nine-year investigation into Islam and Christianity that led him to Christ, at real cost to the family and community that raised him.

In this episode, Brett and Erin sit down with Abdu, president of Embrace the Truth and author of Fake ID, to hear that story from the beginning: the home that formed him, the objections he pressed against Christians, the evidence that eventually broke through, and what it cost him to walk away.

They pull out what Christian parents can learn from it—why Muslim families are often better at forming identity than we are, the two questions our kids are least prepared to answer (Who is God? and Why trust the Bible?), why conversion asks far more of a person than we usually admit, and how to teach our kids about Islam in a way that treats Muslims as image-bearers rather than opponents.

Listen to our first conversation with Abdu on AI and identity: https://linktw.in/rKcxDZ

Learn more about Abdu's ministry Embrace the Truth here: https://embracethetruth.org/

Register for the C.S. Lewis Symposium: https://www.mavenconferences.com/cslewissymposium

MAVEN...is donor-supported...DONATE HERE: https://maventruth.com/donation/ 

AI is changing the world and developing faster than we can track. But what if the biggest danger isn't what AI can do, but what it reveals about what we believe about reality and what it means to be human?

In this episode, Brett and Erin sit down with Abdu Murray, president of Embrace Truth and author of Fake ID, to unpack the convergence of artificial intelligence and identity ideology, why he argues that both are accelerating a reality collapse in our culture, and what this means for Christian parents who are trying to disciple the next generation.

Purchase Abdu's book here: https://embracethetruth.org/fake-id/

Get the parent reader guide for Abdu's book here: https://embracethetruth.org/fake-id-resources-sign-up-form/

Learn more about Abdu's ministry Embrace the Truth here: https://embracethetruth.org/

Register for the C.S. Lewis Symposium: https://www.mavenconferences.com/cslewissymposium

MAVEN...is donor-supported...DONATE HERE: https://maventruth.com/donation/ 

What do you actually do when your kids don’t listen? We talk a lot on this podcast about setting boundaries, holding kids accountable, and discipline but what do those strategies actually look like in the nitty gritty of real life with real kids? What do you do when your child ignores you, hits a sibling, speaks disrespectfully, or refuses to do their chores? In this episode, Brett and Erin get incredibly practical by walking you through real-life discipline scenarios and explaining how Christian parents can move from biblical principles to concrete action.

Learn more about why Gentle Parenting isn't an effective way to parent: https://equip.maventruth.com/gentle-parenting-ebook

Register for the C.S. Lewis Symposium: https://www.mavenconferences.com/cslewissymposium

MAVEN...is donor-supported...DONATE HERE: https://maventruth.com/donation/ 

What does it mean to be male or female? And why does it matter? Our culture is notoriously confused about sex, gender, and identity. How can Christians cut through the confusion to communicate the truth with both Biblical clarity and compassion? In this episode, Erin exposes three lies shaping culture's conversation about gender and explores how the beauty and goodness of God's design for men and women goes beyond stereotypes.

Register for the C.S. Lewis Symposium: https://www.mavenconferences.com/cslewissymposium

MAVEN...is donor-supported...DONATE HERE: https://maventruth.com/donation/ 

Is youth sports slowly becoming the center of your family's life?

In this episode, Brett and Erin take a hard look at the growing “sports cult” in American culture and how parents can get sucked in without even realizing. From year-round teams and rising costs to Sunday games, early specialization, and the pressure to chase college scholarships, youth sports can easily move from being a good thing in a child's life to becoming the thing that dictates the family's priorities.

But this isn't an argument against sports. Sports teaches kids teamwork, discipline, and perseverance. The question is: Have we allowed a good thing to become an idol?

Brett and Erin share their own experiences navigating youth sports with their kids and offer practical ways parents can set healthy boundaries, resist the pressure to specialize, protect family and church priorities, and keep sports in their proper place.

Read the report on youth sports: https://www.kiplinger.com/personal-finance/family-savings/what-families-are-really-spending-to-keep-kids-in-sports

Register for the C.S. Lewis Symposium: https://www.mavenconferences.com/cslewissymposium

MAVEN...is donor-supported...DONATE HERE: https://maventruth.com/donation/

Is making life easier for your kids actually making their life harder?

In this episode, Brett and Erin explain why they intentionally made their own kids struggle...and why they don't regret it. From chores and earning money to facing consequences and doing hard things, they share practical ways they helped their kids build resilience, confidence, and character, in a culture that encourages parents to remove every obstacle from their kids' lives.

Watch the opening video: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1754917668871800/?fs=e&mibextid=wwXIfr&fs=e

Register for the C.S. Lewis Symposium: https://www.mavenconferences.com/cslewissymposium

MAVEN...is donor-supported...DONATE HERE: https://maventruth.com/donation/