The Puddcast

Oct 22 2024 149 ep. 52 mins 40

The Puddcast Podcast artwork

Non-religious conversations about life, love and God. Past guests include Wm. Paul Young, Brian Zahnd, Lisa Sharon Harper, Kim Walker-Smith, Priscilla Shirer, Bradley Jersak and many more.

Religion & Spirituality

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#139: Sabbatical Reflections | "Love is Working"

Oct 22 2024 59 mins

After a year-long hiatus, The Puddcast is back with episode 139! Tryphena and I share some heartfelt reflections on my family’s six-month sabbatical to New Zealand, England, Greece, and Finland. I unpack some unexpected discoveries I made about identity, intuition, and the importance of family and cultural roots. We reflect on the diversity of global faith traditions, the impact

#138: Relational Resilience for the Exhausted (with Heather Thompson Day)

Jun 27 2023 58 mins

Professor, author, speaker and all-around delightful person Heather Thompson Day is our guest on The Puddcast—something I’ve been hoping to make happen for 3 years. Dr. Heather is Associate Professor of Communication at Andrews University, and the author of 8 books; including her latest, I'll See You Tomorrow: Building Relational Resilience When You Want to Quit. Heather shared

#137: Creating suicide-safe churches (Steve Austin tribute)

May 26 2023 57 mins

Two years ago, my friend Steve Austin, an author, mental health advocate and former pastor, died by suicide. Ever since then, I’ve intended to dedicate an episode to his memory and his work, and this is that episode. Including a powerful interview with Lindsey Austin, Steve’s wife, along with a selection of readings from Steve’s book, Hiding In The Pews: Shining Light on Ment

#136-B: Reflecting on Aundi Kolber and self-compassionate survival

Apr 12 2023 51 mins

Tryphena and I kept the mics rolling right after our interview with Aundi Kolber, and let me tell you… it’s a wild ride! We discussed the provocativeness of wholeness, including a physics lesson and a reflection on quantum physics… Why? Because presence is a powerful resource, and I have some theories about it. We talked about anger and injustice, we examined the time that Je

#136: Flexible strength—compassionate survival (with Aundi Kolber)

Mar 17 2023 61 mins

My good friend Aundi Kolber returns to the show to discuss her brand new book, Strong Like Water: Finding the Freedom, Safety, and Compassion to Move through Hard Things—and Experience True Flourishing. Our conversation revolves around reframing many things we’ve seen as weaknesses, even sins, as forms of strength that enabled us to survive hard things. We reflected on the part

#135-B: Unpacking Brad Jersak and the idol smashing of deconstruction

Mar 02 2023 62 mins

Here’s a new Puddcast B-Side, unpacking idol smashing and how to create a welcoming, forgiving space as we deconstruct from toxic theology. My pastor, Amy Ryan, joined Tryphena and I to discuss our takeaways from Brad Jersak’s thoughts on the necessity, perils and possibilities of deconstruction, including how painful and confusing it can be for us in the midst of it. We examin

#135: The necessity, perils and possibilities of deconstruction (with Brad Jersak)

Feb 15 2023 86 mins

The wonderfully wise and gentle Brad Jersak returns to the show, with a guest co-host! This special episode was recorded live when I was visiting Jonathan Martin recently, and we co-interviewed Brad about his latest book, Out of the Embers: Faith After the Great Deconstruction. We reflected on the historical precedence of faith deconstruction, observing that it is both a current mo

#134-B: Exploring Dave Connis on laughter, silliness and work

Feb 09 2023 52 mins

Here’s the latest Puddcast B-Side, exploring themes of laughter and silliness and the value of everything, from our interview with Dave Connis. When Dave said, “Everything counts” something inside me exploded, or clarified, or whatever… it’s been big for me. Tryphena and I discuss finding joy in all things, redefining joy as a valuable part of serious work, and discerning

#134: A theology of laughter and co-creation (with Dave Connis)

Jan 20 2023 58 mins

Children’s and Young Adult author Dave Connis comes to The Puddcast to teach us the importance of laughter (and more). Dave’s hilarious and meaningful storybooks, The Inventions of God (and Eva), and The Stories of God (and Kiki) both captured our affection in a big way. We reflected on being intentional about the stories we tell our children and what we pass on to them; seeing

#133-B: Debriefing Lisa Sharon Harper on race, monarchy & forgiveness

Dec 22 2022 52 mins

Just in time for Christmas comes a wild ride of a B-Side. Looking back at our interview with Lisa Sharon Harper, Tryphena and I reflected on themes of forgiveness and reparations, the gift of tongues as Indigenous celebration, how the monarcy dehumanizes people, the emotional impact on Europeans of that dehumanization, the myth of an American Christian nation and more. We were both