Technology is threatening our humanity — how do we push back?

The digital revolution is forcing the human race toward a civilizational bottleneck, Ross Douthat contends in a recent New York Times article. What survives depends on our deliberate choices. Unless we "fight for a future where human things and human beings survive and flourish," much of what we love will be lost. In this episode, we discuss Douthat's insights about how the virtual replaces the real, why we put up with this digital substitution, and how AI accelerates the process. We close by considering how Christians can help preserve the practices and pursuits that make us truly human.

Chapters:
(0:00) Introductions: Bob's Recent Cycling Accident
(4:47) The Digital Age as a Civilizational Bottleneck
(16:38) How The Virtual Replaces the Real
(21:30) Intentional & Purposeful Stewardship
(31:37) Preserving the Really Human Things

Bob interviews Trevin Wax about his new book, The Gospel Way Catechism.

Trevin Wax is Vice President of Resources and Marketing at the North American Mission Board and a well-known author, speaker, and cultural commentator. He also serves (along with Bob) as a fellow at The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. In this episode, Bob and Trevin talk apologetics. They discuss Trevin’s newest project "The Gospel Way Catechism" and its unique approach to counter-formation. They also explain the role of cultural apologetics in explaining and defending the Christian faith.

Chapters:
(0:00) Introductions: What is Counter-Catechesis?
(7:26) How to Decide What to Put In a Catechism
(14:56) Who Should Be Using Catechisms?
(21:40) Trevin’s Contribution to “The Gospel After Christendom”
(25:00) Explaining Cultural Apologetics
(30:45) Lesslie Newbigin's Missiology

Bob interviews Trevin Wax about his life, leadership, writing, and formative influences.

Trevin Wax is Vice President of Resources and Marketing at the North American Mission Board and a well-known author, speaker, and cultural commentator. He also serves (along with Bob) as a fellow at The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. During Trevin's recent visit to Nebraska for a TGC pastor's quarterly, we invited him to join the podcast to discuss his life and work. In this episode, we hear about Trevin’s upbringing, his writing, his experiences in ministry, and his vision for the next few decades.

Chapters:
(0:00) Introductions: Kelsey’s Cookies (Again)
(1:28) Trevin’s Family and Church Background
(10:18) Developing the Discipline of Writing
(21:46) Experiences with and Work with the Keller Center
(37:59) What’s Next?

What are catechisms and why do we use them?

To those unfamiliar with the term, “catechism” can seem like a strange word. Simply put, catechisms are question-and-answer tools that communicate Christian theology in simple ways. In this episode, we respond to a listener question about the origins of catechisms and creeds. We discuss why the Reformation led to a golden age of catechisms, what makes catechisms important, and how they connect us to historic Christianity and spur us to deeper worship.

Chapters:
(0:00) Introductions: Kelsey's Cookies
(1:55) Catechizing Catechumens with Catechisms
(12:50) Some Important Creeds & Catechisms
(18:56) Laying a Foundation for Theology & Discipleship
(29:29) Catechisms Tether Us to the Historic Church

In the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination, how do we process our emotions, responses, and reactions?

On September 10, 2025, conservative political activist and outspoken Christian Charlie Kirk was murdered during a campus event at Utah Valley University. Some people are feeling shock, anger, fear, grief, and lament; others are celebrating or mocking. How do we make sense of what we’re feeling? How do we respond to what others are saying? And what does this moment portend for American politics and the future of civic debate? In this episode, Bob engages these questions and offers some commentary and perspective.

Chapters:
(0:00) Introductions: First Things First
(5:44) Who Was Charlie Kirk ?
(12:36) What Does His Assassination Reveal?
(27:06) Temptations We Should Resist
(39:22) Parting Thoughts

Articles & Resources:
https://www.digitalliturgies.net/p/accelerants-and-tethers
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/opinion/charlie-kirk-assassination-left-violence.html
https://brianmattson.substack.com/p/theythem

If you’ve listened to the radio lately, perhaps you’ve noticed that pop music is sounding a lot like worship music. Some of the year's most popular songs use biblical imagery, emotive builds, and vocal choirs—not unlike what you might hear in church. On this week’s episode, we discuss a recent article that traces this trend. We explore why music producers are mimicking worship music and what it suggests about our cultural moment.

Chapters:
(0:00) Introductions: Myrtle & Cypress
(3:21) Is "Secular Praise Music" Even a Thing?
(13:24) What’s Driving the Change in Pop Music
(19:03) What Music Says About Our Collective Longings
(30:05) We Can Worship Even When Songs Are Hard to Sing

Article:
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/music/article/everyone-is-listening-to-secular-praise-music-yes-even-you-110058855.html

Over the past half-century, evangelical Christians have rediscovered spiritual formation. Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, John Ortberg, and more recently John Mark Comer have helped re-emphasize spiritual practices and the interior life. But why does so much popular writing and teaching on spiritual formation lean on Catholic sources – mystics and monks and Merton? Is there a distinctly Protestant stream of spiritual formation that we can rediscover? If so, what might it teach us? In this episode, we interact with a new book from Matthew Bingham, A Heart Aflame for God. Bingham asserts that there IS a deep Protestant tradition of spiritual formation, and one of its distinctives is the centrality of Scripture. In this episode, we discuss why we tend to minimize Scripture in spiritual formation, why the Puritans saw Scripture as central to spiritual formation, and how we can practically foreground the Scriptures in our spiritual practices.

Chapters:
(0:00) Introductions: Have We Lost the Thread on Spiritual Formation?
(4:26) The Primacy of the Word of God
(13:23) Some Critiques of a Word-Centric Spiritual Formation
(20:43) What the Puritans Have to Say
(26:22) Let the Word of Christ Dwell in You Richly

In credobaptist traditions, we baptize new Christians upon their profession of faith in Christ. But what happens when, a few years later, a new experience of God's grace makes me question my prior baptism? How can we separate our subjective experiences of God’s promises from the objective nature of those promises? In this episode, we respond to a listener question and discuss how the Reformation tradition understood baptism, what the animating force of baptism is, and the connections between baptism and discipleship.

Chapters:
(0:00) Introductions: Why We Love Our Listeners
(2:46) Can/Should I Get Re-Baptized?
(5:57) Who’s Speaking in Baptism?
(13:31) Differences Among Paedobaptist Traditions
(20:22) What "Conversion" Is and Isn't
(25:34) Coming Back to the Great Commission

August 2025 marks Coram Deo Church’s 20th birthday. On this episode, we reflect further on God’s grace to Coram Deo over the past two decades. We talk about what we’re grateful for, what years were the most fun, what aspects of Coram Deo turned out differently than we expected, and why the "institutional" aspect of a church is crucial to city renewal.

Chapters:
(0:00) Introductions: David's Reign
(2:19) What We're Grateful For
(10:42) The Church As Institution
(14:16) What We're Surprised By
(19:15) What Was the Most Fun
(24:38) Listener Take-Aways

August 2025 marks Coram Deo Church’s 20th birthday. On this episode, we reflect on God's grace to Coram Deo over the past two decades. We discuss the circumstances of the church's founding, the ups and downs of starting and leading a church, and what’s changed in the cultural and ministry environment between 2005 and 2025.

Chapters:
(0:00) Introductions: Happy Birthday, Coram Deo
(2:21) How Coram Deo Got Started
(10:06) What Ministry Looked Like in 2005
(18:35) Leading a Growing Church
(24:32) Joys and Trials
(30:33) Church Planting: Then Vs. Now