Have you ever had a crisis of faith? I can point to several points in my life—my mid-teens, my early 20s, and my late 30s—when serious doubts crept in. It can be a fearful and unsettling time, and even more so if we feel alone.

Authors Catherine McNiel and Jason Hague are no strangers to this type of crisis. Catherine faced her first at the tender age of twelve when the church her father pastored kicked her family to the curb. Jason’s biggest came to him in mid-life when a beloved friend died unexpectedly. In both seasons, they found themselves reeling, aching, confused, and lost.

But this isn’t the whole story. Jason shares the journey of his oldest son’s autism (where is God when our prayers seem to go unanswered?). And Catherine unpacks how a crisis of this kind can be incredibly painful, with no silver lining… and yet still create space for a deeper faith on the other side.

Join us for a special episode about hope (and penguins, loons, and Red-winged Blackbirds!) as we dig into Mid-Faith Crisis: Finding a Path Through Doubt, Disillusionment, and Dead Ends. It’s a gentle, truthful book that takes an unflinching look at crisis, pain, and the presence of God.

I’m a big fan of the ABA. No, not the American Bar Association. Not Applied Behavioral Analysis either. (Though I’m sure they’re both great.)

I’m a fan of the American Birding Association! The ABA does truly fantastic work on behalf of birds, wild spaces, and birders everywhere. From its young birder initiatives (start ‘em young!) to its bird of the year to its magazine to its podcast… I could go on and on.

But I don’t have to, because today we have the ABA’s director, Wayne Klockner, with us to talk about the ABA, his life’s work in conservation, and why he can’t ever choose a favorite bird.

Deb Rienstra is a professor of English at Calvin University. Her beautiful book, Refugia Faith, takes us deep into both an aching planet and the goodness of God. Friends, I couldn’t put this one down.

From despair to preparation, alienation to kinship, and indifference to attention, Deb’s masterful weaving of theology, literature, ecology, and a love for creation makes this book sing.

Join us for a conversation about birds and hope, about how the church calendar can help remind us of our creatureliness before God, and about the ways both lament and gratitude can tether us to one another.

One of our greatest tools in understanding ourselves and the world is the concept of both/and. When we can hold two ideas or feelings in tension, we discover whole worlds of understanding and goodness.

Author, speaker, and Episcopal-priest-in-training Cara Meredith has been fascinated with this concept for years. After dabbling in some essays about it, she landed on a both/and topic that really spoke to her soul: church camp.

Today we celebrate her new book, Church Camp: Bad Skits, Cry Night, and How White Evangelicalism Betrayed a Generation, hot off the presses from Broadleaf. We talk about the good, the bad, the ugly, and how we might all be a little bit more faithful to the both/and in our lives.

Plus: a little detour about penguins.

Jo Swinney is the Director of Communication for A Rocha International, a global Christian nature conservation charity.

She’s also the author of several books, including The Whole Easter Story: Why the Cross is Good News for All Creation. On this Easter Monday she joined me to talk about the power of hope in helping us steward our planet well.

“Love is what generates the desire to care,” she told me. It all comes down to love.

Join us for a hopeful Easter episode about loving this beautiful planet, signs of hope springing up all around, and the good, creative work of conservation from elephants to coral.

Dan Van Voorhis is a professional podcaster with a PhD in Church History. His podcast, The Christian History Almanac offers daily 5-minute episodes all about the work of God in the world over the centuries. It’s one of my favorites.

Dan is also a friend, congregant, and the best interviewer I know. He graciously agreed to come on The Thing with Feathers and interview me about the launch of the audiobook for Looking Up that comes out today (yayyyyyyy!) on the one-year anniversary of the paperback’s launch.

Come join us as we chat about the ins and outs of audiobook recording, the joys and surprises at the ways Looking Up has made its way into the world, the birds of spring, and the special additions that come with the audio version of this book.

Lee Pfannmuller and Jerry Niemi know a thing or two about birds. With over one hundred years(!) of birding experience between them, they have spent their lives doing fieldwork related to conservation and ecology throughout the state of Minnesota and beyond.

Today we celebrate the publication of their new, beautiful book The Breeding Birds of Minnesota. We talk about everything from bird surveys to caring for creation to wrangling volunteers.

Find out the most frequently seen bird in Minnesota (the answer surprised me!), the most difficult places to perform bird surveys, and a great story about one place you should never drive a Prius.

Join us for this special, encouraging episode all about the beautiful birds of one of our most fantastic and ecologically fragile states.

Peter Harris co-founded A Rocha, a Christian nonprofit dedicated to conservation back in 1983. Together he and his wife Miranda built an organization that helped churches and Christians across the world work together to care for creation. Their vision was to build a global family of conservation organizations working together to live out God’s calling to care for creation ​and equip others to do likewise.

Today, A Rocha exists in more than 20 countries, from Portugal to the United States to India to Kenya. It continues to bring together those interested in conservation with people of faith, offering practical ways people can work to steward the good gift of creation God has given.

Friends, I could have spoken with Peter for days upon days. He is a wealth of wisdom, humility, and kindness, and I learned so much from our hour together. I’m so excited to share today’s episode with you - our discussion ranges from practical tips for conservation to the British evangelist John Stott’s love for birds to coping with grief to and loss to the hollowness of consumerism to how gosh-darned wonderful the avian world is.

“People are looking to understand,” said Peter.

I’ll also never forget our initial email exchange where I, a little star-struck by a guest who has done so much good in the world, told Peter I was looking forward to learning from him.

“We will learn from each other, Courtney,” he said.

Check out Peter’s beautiful book from the 1990s, Under the Bright Wings, about the faith-filled founding of A Rocha, too.

Enjoy this gift of a podcast, perfect for thinking more about the beauty of God’s creation and how we might better care for it.

Liz Charlotte Grant’s new book, Knock at the Sky: Seeking God in Genesis after Losing Faith in the Bible is a wild and wondrous read. And rightly so—anyone who’s spent any time in Genesis knows that it’s a delightfully odd and messy book.

Join us on this episode about hope, backyard chickens, and the surprising ways God sometimes shows up even when we feel we’ve lost our faith.

You may want to check out Liz’s fabulous Substack, The Empathy List, which has won Webby awards for its writing, as well as her haunting article on one of the saints of the evangelical church, Elisabeth Elliot.

Duane Bidwell is the author, most recently, of the new book After the Worst Day Ever: What Sick Kids Know About Sustaining Hope in Chronic Illness, with Beacon Press. He’s a professor, a chaplain, and an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA). He also loves a raven, but we’ll get to that.

Today’s episode is all about hope. Where we might find it, what we can learn from kids who have it—often against all odds—and how may serve as agents of hope to one another.

We also dabble a little in birds, don’t you worry.

Whether you’re feeling hopeful or hopeless, this is an episode not to be missed, my friends. And don’t forget to check out Duane’s beautiful book. You can find it anywhere books are sold.