You Never Studied

In different times we do different things—like live stream the recording of the episode and leaving it for you to enjoy on a Monday (with minor edits). A week ago many churches were scrambling to figure out what to do and how to do it when they weren't meeting. We work through this reality, our decisions, some lessons learned, and a couple predictions now that life has been somewhat upended temporarily. 

With COVID-19 in the states and cases growing each day, it was time to talk about how Christians (and churches) could approach it (or any) public health crisis. Evan takes some time after that to remind us of prayer—specifically the Lord's Prayer—and its role in our lives. We follow this all up with a discussion about the Batmobile, because Hans can't offer anything on those third segments anymore.

Happy eleven monthiversary!!! We go in opposite order this week as we need YOUR feedback on the show heading into a new year (you can also sponsor it if you'd like) (1:06). From there we ask ourselves what we'd do if we broke our leg miles away from help (also in sub-freezing weather) (11:47) and talk a bit about lasting as a pastor (23:59).

In this episode, Hans and Evan talk about the merits of accessible home security tech—Hans isn't a fan, Evan isn't NOT a fan (02:05). Another book on preaching (Hans' read this time—22:51) and a John Mark McMillan chaser bring you this episode of You Never Studied (32:12). 

What happens when you try and make a living shuttling food from place to place in your beater of a car? We take a Car and Driver article and discuss the merits (and detriments) of gig economy delivery jobs (02:49). Evan then changes gears (no pun intended) to a recent book on preaching (20:40). Finally, we discuss the Jonas brothers getting back together (27:42).

With the Godbold clan down with the flu, Hans had to handle this episode by himself. What else was he supposed to talk about than Star Wars?  Lots, actually. News came out amongst Chicagoland churches about their continued issues in transitioning (in the case of Willow) and another (James MacDonald) trying a new church strategy to avoid drama (2:10). That topic plus a book (21:18) plus carpool karaoke (25:50) means—that’s right—another episode for you.

Sometimes we just want to leave—to skip town and move away with people we like and who agree with us. Well, some people do that—and they take over entire towns. Join us as we investigate what happens when an offshoot of Catholicism spends 40 years in a Kansas town. Hans gives a brief review of Death by Living and Evan reviews Lost in Space.

Social media makes it possible to catch people at their worst (we hope). This happened recently when a pastor was caught mid-sermon asking a mom to take her child outside of the sanctuary. It isn’t a good look. We take some time to discuss this and—spoiler alert—Hans has a little sympathy (a little). We then discuss a book on pastor and abuses of power (as well as what to do about it) and finish up with a leader who didn’t abuse power—Picard. (Note: Hans mentions the metadata for the church’s website changing from being one of the friendliest churches. He just checked it again and it is back. Blame him for the confusion.)

It’s a sad day when the Astros are found cheating in a big way. Positively, we are talking about baseball in January. Negatively, the Astros are nefarious cheaters who will never be seen as the textbook way to win a championship ever again. 

Hans needs some time to process this gut punch, but baseball is to Evan what Star Wars is to Hans. We bring in friend of the show Ben Haug to process the news and what we are supposed to do about it.

We get back into the new year with a great episode for you: Mr. Rogers and the value of being present, a (finally) finished book on expertise, and a movie about something or another that Evan saw (it was Shazam!). Perhaps it was the few weeks off, perhaps it was the content, but we are glad to have this episode be the one to kick-off 2020.