Episode 25

This week, it is our executive director, Rick Ostrander’s turn to be in the interview chair. Rick sits down with the center's Julie Magro, director of operations and advancement, for a summer conversation.

Julie questions Rick about the nature of a Christian study center, how the Michigan Christian Study Center came to be, and what life is like as the director of a relatively new startup organization.

If you're a fan of the Michigan Christian Study Center, or just curious about the movement in general, I think you'll enjoy the conversation.

Episode 24

This week, we feature an engaging conversation with Stephanie Goetz, a lecturer in Spanish at the U of M. Stephanie shares her fascinating story of how traveling to Spain as a college student led to her own spiritual reawakening. She also explains how she views teaching Spanish as a way to minister to students spiritually and to extend the love of Christ to others.

Episode 23

Michael Buist, clinical assistant professor of anesthesiology at Michigan Medicine, is intimately familiar with human suffering. In our conversation, Michael shared how his Christian faith motivated his interest in alleviating human pain and how it enables him to minister to patients in some of their most vulnerable times in life.

Episode 22

This Good Friday, we had a conversation with Sean White, a UM alum who serves as the Director of Strategy and Partnerships at Michigan Central. Sean shared about his time as a student at Michigan, how God called him back to himself, and his eventual move to Detroit and work at Michigan Central.

Episode 21

This week, we welcomed political science professor Brian Min, who spoke about how his experiences growing up and working on his PhD led to his current work studying the relationship between energy access and poverty.

Episode 20

This week, we speak with Becky Schrotenboer, an interior designer and head of a charitable foundation in West Michigan. She provided students with a vivid example of how Christians can serve God in various professions. Also, having experienced a number of unexpected tragedies and hardships, she affirmed to students that "living faithfully" means trusting God in life's valleys as well as life's triumphs.

Episode 19

This week we were joined by Gabe Kasper, lead pastor at University Lutheran Chapel in Ann Arbor. As a young person, Gabe's dream was a star in a punk rock band, but God steered him to pastoral ministry instead. In his typical, lively style, Gabe discusses with us the joys and challenges of pastoral ministry and the importance of maintaining an active intellectual life as a Christian.

Episode 18

Our Friday lunch guest was Dave Brzezinski, teaching professor in the U of M School of Medicine. Our main topic was faith and science: We discussed Dave’s own spiritual journey as a believer and a scientist, issues of potential tension between faith and science, and how students at Michigan can deal with subjects (or professors) that may challenge their faith.

Episode 17

This week we spoke with Dr. Bethany Hughes, a professor of American Culture at Michigan who also serves as director of the Native American Studies Program at the U of M. Like many Christian scholars, Bethany straddles the world of academia--in which Christians are sometimes viewed with suspicion--and the church, where studying subjects such as racial and cultural identity can sometimes raise eyebrows. She shared with students how her Christian faith enables her to perceive the humanity in others and "translate" across cultural and spiritual divides.

Episode 16

This week, Karl Hoesch, a current Associate at the organization “Partners for Public Good”, shared his story of an academic journey that began at Hope College and ended at U-M with a PhD in Resource Policy & Behavior. Karl spoke about how he felt God guiding his journey and how shared Christian values can motivate discussions and actions toward environmental policies and postures that benefit all of humanity.