With five decades of preaching and teaching experience, Rev. Willimon has great respect for the listeners of God’s Word. Listening to sermons is one of the main ways that God reaches God’s people, so how do you listen well? How do you open yourself to a sermon that might not be about you or for you and come away with a change in your perspective? And how do preachers step aside and let the conversation happen between God and God’s people freely? Rev. Willimon has a few ideas.

As a preacher, Rev. Wells says that people tend to respond positively to his preaching because he doesn’t skirt around the issues of the day. He doesn’t hide Christianity’s often difficult past, and he isn’t afraid to have the hard conversations with believers, doubters, and nonbelievers, because he believes it’s all about trust. “We can trust God, and because we can trust God, we can trust ourselves and one another.”

We are excited to welcome Barbara Brown Taylor to The Weight for a conversation about hospitality and being in the center and being at the edge of a religion--how is it different when you’re the outsider versus when you’re on the inside? How do you let people who believe in something completely different strengthen your own faith? Barbara leaned into these lessons when she taught a Religion 101 class at Piedmont College, now Piedmont University, in Georgia.

In this episode, Chris and Eddie are joined by Tish Harrison Warren, author of Prayer in the Night. When Warren found herself at a place filled with too many questions to bear, she began to write about the empty space of night and how we can present the weariness of our souls to God. Warren discusses prayer as communion with the presence of God, a practice that shapes who we are, how we believe, and our vision of the world. We hope this episode moves you toward peace and comfort as Warren illustrates ways to draw near to God in the midst of uncertainty and fear.

According to a Gallup poll released in March of 2021, less than half of Americans belong to a church, mosque, or synagogue. The politicization of evangelical Christianity has resulted in utter disillusionment, specifically among young Christians who were once eagerly committed to the ideals of the faith. Christians and non-Christians alike are longing for truth and openness in conversation within the church, as well as a sense of connection rooted in hope, grace, and love.

Amy Crouch is a student at Cornell University and, with her father Andy Crouch, co-author of “My Tech Wise Life: Growing Up and Making Choices in a World of Devices.” She joins Chris and Eddie to discuss what boundaries and understandings regarding technology are necessary to harness its advantages while mitigating its negative effects. Crouch bases her message around the understanding that technology is not a bad thing, but something that must be seen as a tool rather than a foundation of life. What does that look like practically? Tune in to the conversation to find out!

Fujimura explains how the power, mystery, and depth of art drive us to ask deeper questions. He introduces his spiritual discipline of “slow art,” speaks to the nuances of tradition, and ponders the ways art can liberate us in our cultural context. Fujimura gives us space to identify where we meet Jesus in both making and consuming. This conversation speaks to the healing gift of art as culture care, rather than a commodity.

Abortion is a multi-faceted, multi-layered issue that the church often fails to engage with the depth and compassion it requires. Regardless of one’s position on this issue, the stories of those who have struggled with this impossible decision have been discounted in the midst of political fervor. Poverty forces many vulnerable, marginalized women to grapple with the decision to have an abortion, yet this factor is often overlooked. How do we make space for grace, respect, and empathy in such a nuanced conversation?

Chris and Eddie are joined by Kate Bowler, author of No Cure for Being Human, professor at Duke Divinity School and host of the podcast, Everything Happens. After receiving an unexpected cancer diagnosis at the age of 35, Kate began to observe that the world does not offer a safe space for people in pain. Her move from crisis to chronic has led her to asking deeper questions about faith, God, and human suffering. She talks to Eddie and Chris about the gift of presence, the absurdity of life, a robustly Christian account of time, and the many ways we try to make meaning out of everything.

Aimee discusses the gift of attention as the highest form of prayer, her perception of wealth and privilege in relation to her upbringing, and what the diverse, multifaceted nature of creation says about each of us. She challenges listeners to carve out time for stillness and careful attention in order to recognize the beauty in everything. This conversation reveals the precious mysteries of God’s nature and the ways our love for God constantly prompts a response of awe and wonder.

In his new book, Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope, Dr. Esau McCaulley aims not to answer questions the church is asking, but to answer questions that Black Christians are asking. A New Testament scholar, Anglican Priest, and theologian, McCaulley understands that the way we interpret the Bible often depends on our communities and context. He invites listeners to take an unfiltered look into the Black experience and to ponder how all of us can interpret the Bible as an exercise in hope.

In this episode, Chris and Eddie are joined by James K.A. Smith, Professor of Philosophy at Calvin University and Editor-in-Chief of Image Journal. Smith aspires to bridge the gap between the academy, society, and church, and he discusses the art of culture-making as it relates to the Christian faith. Smith recognizes the tension between the view of culture as the result of a broken world and God’s vision for culture as creational good, and he calls us to recognize that we all take part in framing culture.

Cal’s faith led him through several very difficult moments with his family and their growing business, especially 1988 when he had to fire his brother as Chief Operating Officer, his mother passed away unexpectedly, and then he had to force his father to retire from the Board. But through it all, the love of God guided him and held him strong, so that when he retired in 2003, his successors could be even more successful than he had, and allowed him to focus more on philanthropy and giving back to the families that built his family’s fortune.

Cal’s faith and deep connection to his family grounded him throughout his life. When he was 11 years old, he experienced a moment of spiritual clarity that has guided him since. In this episode, Cal, Eddie, and Chris talk about his faith, his family, and touch briefly on his leadership style, which boils down to being a follower of Christ and a follower of the employees and customers that were his to lead.

Dr. Brett McCarty joins Chris (no Eddie this week) in a conversation about the intersection of faith and healthcare, specifically as it relates to the opioid crisis in the US. Dr. McCarty is a theological ethicist from Duke University, where he is the associate director of the Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative at Duke Divinity School. He has written essays in The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, and the compilation Spirituality and Religion within the Practice of Medicine. Dr. McCarty’s research has centered greatly on the recovery communities of Appalachia and how these communities create space for truth telling, healing, and the transformative power of walking with someone through a journey of recovery.

Melissa’s journey into ministry began by way of a degree in finance from Louisiana Tech. She then went on to graduate from Asbury Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity and has been the lead pastor at Mercy Street for seven years. Melissa has a lot to say about the work of recovery and how churches, church members, and pastors can come alongside those in that journey with humility and love, sharing in the grace of God that is extended to all.

Today’s guest is Dr. Michael Battle, an Episcopal moral theologian whose work centers around the spirituality, life, and work of Archbishop Desomd Tutu of South Africa. Dr. Battle discusses his most recent work, Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor, and touches on how Archbishop Tutu saw forgiveness, reconciliation, and the work of the Holy Spirit in the world.

Today we are joined by Dr. Derwin Gray, Lead Pastor and Co-Founder of Transformation Church in Indian Land, South Carolina. Dr. Gray played professional football in the NFL following his graduation from Brigham Young University in 1993. After his NFL career, Dr. Gray graduated magna cum laude from Southern Evangelical Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree. He received an honorary doctorate from Southern Evangelical Seminary in 2015, and in 2018 he earned his Doctor of ministry in the New Testament in Context at Northern Seminary. He is also the author of several books, including his most recent, How to Heal Our Racial Divide.

In this Holy Week episode, Chris and Eddie are joined by Kavin Rowe, author of Christianity’s Surprise: A Sure and Certain Hope. Rowe discusses the missing sense of imagination in American Christianity, how God’s promises for the future reach into the present, the interconnectedness of humanity, and how Christian institutions have evolved over time.

What does it take to imagine a world without war? How do we begin to believe that as a possibility? Eddie and Chris begin a series on war with guest Stanley Hauerwas, noted theologian and ethicist. Dr. Hauerwas asks us to contemplate the hard questions of war and nonviolence, but he knows the answers don’t come easily.