Seminary Dropout 32: Talking Baseball, Music & the Gospel with Brady Toops.

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My guest today is musician Brady Toops. You might have read about Brady’s music in Relevant Magazine. His sound is reminiscent of that whole rootsy, unplugged thing we all really like (see why I’m not a music critic?), but manages to stay original and not be another cookie cutter Mumford imitator.

In 2011 Brady released his first album, a 5 song EP called ‘A Little Love‘. His latest is a full-length album, produced by David bradytoopsalbumLeonard (of All Sons and Daughters), self titled Brady Toops.

On this episode we talk about definitions of success, and discuss the possible reasons why my favorite songs are the ones he least suspects.

You can find Brady on…
Twitter
Facebook
&
bradytoops.com

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Seminary Dropout 31: Halee Gray Scott on Women in Christian Leadership

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haleegrayscottMy guest today is Halee Gray Scott (PhD). Halee is an author, scholar, and global leadership consultant. Her writings appeared in Christianity Today, Christian Education Journal, Real Clear Religion, and Relevant. You can find her on her blog at hgscott.com and on twitter.

dare

 

Halee’s new book is called Dare Mighty Things: Mapping the Challenges of Leadership for Christian Women

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Seminary Dropout 030: Drew Hart on Race, the Church, Anabaptism & Black Theology

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Drew, along with pastoral ministry, is also a PhD student at Lutheran Theological Seminary drewhartat Philadelphia in Theology & Ethics. His research is focused on the intersection of Black theology and Anabaptism. Drew regularly speaks at churches and conferences, confronting racism, systemic oppression, and violence, while continually pleading with Christians to take a stand. Drew is committed to a life that struggles to take Jesus seriously while following him into the world.

Find Drew online at…
twitter.com/druhart
&
drewgihart.com

Some of the books Drew mentioned in the podcast:

      

Seminary Dropout 029: Austin Fischer… Young, Restless, No Longer Reformed

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austin fischerMy guest today is Austin Fischer. Austin is the Teaching Pastor at Vista Community Church. He and his wife, Allison, live in Temple, Texas. He speaks and writes and you can follow him on Twitter at @austintfischer or online at purpletheology.com.

yrnlrAustin’s first book is called Young, Restless, No Longer Reformed: Black Holes, Love, and a Journey In and Out of Calvinism, and it is fantastic. If you’re not a Calvinist and especially if you are, you need to read this book. Austin is a fantastic writer and the book is far from simple theology, like the title says Austins story of finding Calvinism as a high school student and then coming to grips with the fact that the theology just couldn’t be sustained.

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Seminary Dropout 028: Mary Demuth on Sexual Abuse & Healing.

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In her second visit to Seminary Dropout, my guest Mary Demuth joins me to talk about her 201100629-DeMuth057newest book, Not Marked: Finding Hope & Healing After Sexual Abuse.

NOTMARKEDsmallerNot Marked is Mary’s first hand account of sexual abuse as a child and her healing. Mary tells her story in raw honesty and vulnerability to help not only those who have been sexually abused but also those who love someone who has been sexually abused.

The Book: Not Marked: Finding Hope and Healing after Sexual Abuse
Mary’s site and blog: MaryDemuth.com

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Seminary Dropout 027: Greg Boyd on Doubt, Anti-Intellectualism & Open Theism

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GBFor the first episode of Seminary Dropout in the new year I’m starting out with a bucket list interview.

My guest Greg Boyd is a recognized authority on a number of issues like Christian apologetics, open-theism, and non-violence just to name a few. Greg is the  senior pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, and runs the website Reknew.org a place for those with questions about Christianity and faith.

benefit-of-the-doubt

 

Greg’s new book Benefit of the Doubt: Breaking the Idol of Certainty easily made my Top 10 list for 2013. As I wrote in that post:  I honestly thought this was going a be a well written “it’s ok to doubt” books, with some good points. But Boyd was serious when he titled it Benefit of a Doubt. Boyd skillfully breaks down the futility of the psychological trick many employ to have more faith, while exposing the anti-intellectualism that often comes from the belief that doubt is the worst thing the world, and a slippery slope into walking away from faith all together. He shows that having a more skeptical and critical thinking mind is not sinful, but a gift from God and that this natural doubt that comes out of it can serve to deepen our understanding about who God is and actually deepen our faith (wishing there were a less cliche way of saying ‘deepen our faith’)

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Seminary Dropout: Year End Review, co-hosted with Chris Morton, featuring a new interview with Tony Kriz.

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It’s the Seminary Dropout year end review. For this episode I’ve asked my friend Chris Morton to join to talk about the first year of Seminary Dropout. We talk about just a few of the great guests I’ve had on the show; Jamie Wright, Tony Campolo, Grace Biskie, and Scot McKnight.

First, your co-host…

Lauras-Picture-of-Chris

Chris Morton lives in Austin, Texas, where he is a freelance writer and helping start a new church community.

Chris’s passion is to connect people, both to Jesus and to each other, this has led him to help start a church community called Austin Mustard Seed, where he serves as Community Developer. Chris graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary. Chances are good that as you’re reading this, he’s sitting in a coffee shop.

 

 

Tony-Kriz

In addition to the years recap, I also check in with my friend Tony Kriz. Tony appeared on Seminary Dropout 1 as my first ever guest so I thought it would be fitting to check back in with him a year later to see what he’s up to and thank him for agreeing to be on the show when I was just a guy was going to eventually have a podcast. Be sure to listen as Tony give Seminary Dropout its first ever EXCLUSIVE!

 

 

Seminary Dropout 026: Kurt Willems

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kurtwillems picPastor & blogger Kurt Willems joins me on the show today. Kurt has a hugely popular blog called The Pangea Blog, in which he discusses ministry, theology, and culture from an Anabaptist perspective.

Kurt and I discuss his spiritual background, the growing pains of an evolving faith, non-violence, and  more.

Currently, Kurt is planting a church in Seattle, antiviral Washington called Pangea Communities. For more info on the church, Kurt, and his blog, check out the links below.

Twitter: @KurtWillems
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KurtWillems

Pangea Communities

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Seminary Dropout 025 Sarah Bessey

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Sarah-About-PageMy guest today is Sarah Bessey. Odds are, you’ve come across Sarah’s blog at some point and found her words to be insightful and refreshing.

Jesus-Feminist-Cover-copy

Today Sarah and I talk about her new book Jesus Feminist and how the words of scripture liberate women to embrace their God given gifts and abilities.