Upside Down People

In this EP, we sit down with David Zahl, a popular author and theologian, and have a conversation around his recent book "Low Anthropology: The Unlikely Key to a Gracious View of Others (and Yourself)"

We discus how human nature, sin and grace can have an impact on how we see and experience things. David also discusses the importance of accepting our limitations as humans and living an embodied life.

David Zahl is founder and director of Mockingbird Ministries, which receives more than 1 million website page views per year. He is editor in chief of the Mockingbird blog and cohost of the Mockingcast podcast. Zahl wrote the critically acclaimed book "Seculosity: How Career, Parenting, Technology, Food, Politics", and "Romance Became Our New Religion" amongst others. He has written for Christianity Today and the Washington Post.

Click here to find out more about David Zahl or Mockingbird ministries - https://mbird.com/

In this EP we sit down with Spencer Goldstein and have a conversation around his decision to leave the US Army on reasons of conscience due to his Christian faith.

Spencer is the former director of development for the Center on Conscience & War. He is a graduate from West Point, has his masters in biblical exposition, and is committed to peace, justice, and inclusion for the disability community. He currently works with Dale House Project, bringing healing, empowerment, and connection to youth facing various challenges as they enter into adulthood.

Spencer discusses how the birth of his daughter, born with Down Syndrome and several medical complexities, led to a remarkable shift in perspective of what it means to experience God's love and ultimately his decision to leave the army. This experience opened a new world for Spencer and deepened his understanding of God's love and our need for community.

In this EP I sit down with Mikey Lynch and have a conversation around the role of the church and para-church in evangelism and missions. Mikey discusses how communication is key in creating a space of unity between the church and para church missions. Additionally we talk about burnout, digital discipleship and cultural formation in our relationship with Christ.

Mikey Lynch is the Editorial Director of TGC Australia and also serves as Campus Director of the University Fellowship of Christians, UTAS, Hobart. He was a founder of The Vision 100 Network (TAS) Tasmanian church planting network and is a board member of Reach Australia. He is also the chairman of New Front Door: the Church IT Guild.

Mikey is the author of The Vine Movement: Supporting Gospel Growth Beyond Your Church and The Good Life in the Last Days: Making Choices When the Time Is Short.

Click here to find out more about Mikey Lynch - https://genevapush.com/xian-reflections

In this EP Caleb sits down with Stephen McAlpine. The conversation covers a variety of pressing topics Christians are confronted with in this cultural moment, but looks at them through a gospel lens. From individualism to the community, church tinder to cultural discipleship and finding Christ within our culture . Stephen unpacks his thoughts on how we find our identity, express authenticity in a Western context and how the church can be instrumental in Christian formation.

We talk about his book “Being The Bad Guys” and cover some thoughts found in his recent book “Futureproof”, even though the conversation was recorded pre its release.

Stephen McAlpine has been a pastor and church planter for thirty years. He now writes and speaks on issues of theology, culture and church, in particular the increasing pressures on religious belief in the secular public square. 

To find out more about Stephen - https://stephenmcalpine.com/

To grab a copy of his books head to -

https://www.thegoodbook.com.au/being-the-bad-guys 

In this EP Caleb has a conversation with the evangelical author, Prof. Nancy Pearcey, whose research has critiqued societal and cultural understandings into the concept of masculinity, from the importance of fatherhood to the history of the nuclear family, and the impact of Christianity on marriage. She argues the latest sociological research shows that faithful Christian men make the most stable marriages, loving fathers, and happy families, despite claims Christianity makes men "toxic".

Nancy Pearcey is a bestselling author and speaker. A former agnostic, she was hailed in The Economist as “America’s pre-eminent evangelical Protestant female intellectual.” Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Washington Times, First Things, Human Events, American Thinker, Daily Caller, The Federalist, CNSNews, and Fox News. She has appeared on NPR, C-SPAN, and Fox & Friends. She is currently a professor and scholar in residence at Houston Christian University. Pearcey’s books have been translated into 19 languages and include Total Truth, The Soul of Science, Saving Leonardo, Finding Truth, Love Thy Body, and The Toxic War on Masculinity.

To find out more about Professor Pearcey or her work visit - www.nancypearcey.com

In this EP, Mark Tapping and I sit down with Kara Martin to discuss faith, business and redemptive work. We unpack the connection between the work we do and the outworking of our faith and find that work and worship are intricately connected.

Kara Martin is the author of Workship: How to Use your Work to Worship God, and Workship 2: How to Flourish at Work; co-author of Keeping Faith: How Christian organisation can stay true to the way of Jesus. She is Head of Storytelling for The Different Collective, and Adjunct Professor with Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Boston. Kara has worked in media and communications, human resources, business analysis and policy development roles, in a variety of organisations, and as a consultant.

If you want to find out more about Kara or her books - https://www.workship.com.au/

In this EP Jarryd and I sit down with Glen Scrivener and have a conversation around how Christian values and morality are found to underpin much of what secularism advocates for in freedom, equality, dignity, progress and kindness. Glen unpacks how the teachings of Jesus continue to underpin the way we think of life, worth, and meaning in this cultural moment.

Glen is an ordained minister and the Director of Speak Life, an organisation that exists to share the love of Jesus through creative communication. He is also an author and his recent book "The Air We Breathe: How We All Came to Believe in Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality" received The Good Book Company, The Gospel Coalition and Christianity Today 2022 Book Award Winner in Evangelism & Apologetics.

To find out more about Glen or his work head on over to https://speaklife.org.uk/

In this EP I had privilege to have a conversation with Ronald Rolheiser, an author, priest and theologian.

We talk about the Augustinian ideas surrounding the restlessness of the human heart, how our desires form and shape us, the role of faith in parenting and what it looks like to live a prayerful and contemplative life.

Ronald Rolheiser serves as the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) and is a specialist in the fields of spirituality and systematic theology. He is a bestselling author of numerous books, including, The Restless Heart, Sacred Fire and The Holy Longing.

"God has made everything beautiful in its own time, but God has put timelessness in the human heart"

To find out more about Ronald Rolheiser and his work -  https://ronrolheiser.com/en/

In this first 2024 EP, Jarryd and I sit down with pastor and author, Adam Ramsey, and have a conversation around how we can truly be present in every season of life. Our culture sells us the narrative that we can be everything and achieve anything, however this may be damaging our God given humanity. We discuss how accepting our limitations as humans brings us closer to the meaningfulness of life and how our deepest freedoms are not found in our accomplishments but in Jesus’ accomplishments.

Adam leads Liberti Church on the Gold Coast, Australia and also serves as the director for Acts 29 Asia Pacific. He has authored several books including "Truth on Fire" and "Truly, Truly, I Say to You" and more recently "Faithfully Present".

To find out more about Adam or his books head over to

https://www.thegoodbook.com.au/authors/adam-ramsey

or

www.threads.net/@adamramsey_

In this EP we have a conversation with Matthew Clarke and Annabella Rossini-Clarke around the transformative potential of mercy, justice, community flourishing and bringing agency to humanity amongst many others. We also explore some ideas of their recent book "Disrupting Mercy", shortlisted as 2023 Sparklit Book of the Year.

Matt and Bella are passionate about co-creating a world where everyone can flourish through their support of various international developments.

Bella runs a sustainable social enterprise selling takeaway coffee to raise funding for their various projects. Matt has worked in IT, most recently for an international development agency, but he now focuses on research into the on-going problems of human trafficking.

To find out more about Matt and Bella or the work they do head on over to https://www.turningteardropsintojoy.com/