Podcasts I Enjoy

Here are podcasts I enjoy, listed by category.  I hope you might find some of them helpful for you.  I'm leaving off my poetry podcasts for another post.

Ministry/Theology

Audition (Mars Hill Audio): Ken Myers in an NPR style commentary on culture and Christianity through Myers' commentary and interviews.  This is a free spin-off of the Mars Hill Audio commentaries. 

Catalyst: Covers both church leadership issues and cultural issues through interviewing Christian leaders, authors, pastors, etc.  I really enjoy the Catalyst podcast, though I find myself skipping the first several minutes of pre-interview conversation about Catalyst Conference stuff and other random bits.  The interview is the meat, and it's consistently thoughtful and engaging. 

Church Leader Insights: Pastors Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas of The Journey Church in NYC talking together about church leadership, church growth, church planting, systems, evangelism, etc.  A lot of info of what has and hasn't worked for them.  I always come away with insights for pastoring and ministry, even if you don't approach ministry in quite the same way as these guys.

Covenant Worldwide: At least 15 free seminary classes are available on the topics of biblical theology, OT and NT, apologetics and outreach, the Reformation, life and letters of Paul, and more.  What the heck are you waiting for?

Fermi Project: Discussions with leaders on culture, the future, the Church and the Gospel.  It's hosted by Catalyst guys Gabe Lyons and Andy Crouch.  It's only on episode three, but I've enjoyed it tremendously so far.  A great, concise podcast.

Internet Monk Radio: Michael Spencer's thoughts on theology, ministry, his critics, yadda.  The worst aspect of this podcast is his love affair for the Cincinnati Reds.  Yuck.  But if you can get past that, Spencer can often deliver thoughtful insights on a variety of issues.  Warning: If you don't know Spencer and his online writings, some of this won't make much sense.  It's for the devoted.

National New Church Conference:  Interviews with conference speakers dealing with church and church planting.  Have learned a lot from this podcast and highly recommend it for church leaders.

Practically Speaking: North Point boys (Andy Stanley, et al) on the Seven Practices of Effective Ministry.  It's a "dead" podcast in that there are no new episodes, but their seven podcasts I have found very helpful as a pastor.  I've listened to them more than once, and will listen again.

Resurgence: Mark Driscoll's missional resource that includes talks from various conferences and lectures pertaining to ministry and theology.  Lots of good stuff here.

Movies

Filmspotting: A weekly podcast from Chicago featuring new movie reviews, top 5 lists, interviews and insightful film talk with Adam Kempenaar and Sam Van Hallgren. It's also found on Chicago Public Radio.  Ugh, this is a great podcast.  The best movie podcast I know of.  Even when I disagree with a particular take on a movie, which isn't often, these guys are still compelling in their arguments.  Worth every second.

Music

KEXP Live Performances: In-studio concerts at KEXP for all to hear.  I've found some great new stuff from this podcast.

KEXP Song of the Day: Live performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent musicians that KEXP thinks listeners should hear along with songs from more well-known artists.  Why not?

Introductions to newer bands and/or new albums through a free song.

NPR All Songs Considered: An eclectic mix of fresh music by emerging artists and breakout bands -- from NPR.org's Web-only music show.   Good stuff.

Paste Culture Club: A wonderful music magazine's podcast.  Always a treat.

Preaching

Capitol Hill Baptist: Pastor Mark Dever is one of the most important living Southern Baptist pastors/preachers, and a pastor who I have had a chance to talk with a bit.  He has seen a remarkable change over the years of his church in D.C.  Dever is obsessively expository in his approach.  If you want to know the Bible, this is a great way to digest it.  Dever is also well known for tackling very large sections of text, including single sermons on entire books of the Bible.

Cornerstone Simi: Pastor Francis Chan is fairly new on my radar, but I have enjoyed what I have heard so far.

The Journey - St. Louis: Pastor Darrin Patrick is a friend and has seen some great things happen after planting in St. Louis.  A good preacher, and a young leader worth watching.

Mars Hill Church, Grand Rapids: Pastor Rob Bell is a controversial writer and speaker in the emerging church movement.  I find him very engaging and biblical, though we would surely differ at points.  He challenges me with living the Gospel.

Mars Hill Church, Seattle: Pastor Mark Driscoll is a different sort of controversial writer and speaker in the emerging church movement.  He has been very influential in my ministry and life.

Village Church: Pastor Matt Chandler is SBC, Acts 29, and one of the best young preachers I've heard.  Probably my favorite younger preacher to listen to over the last few months.  Some people trip over a few of his stylistic traits at first, but please persist and you will find so much worth hearing. 

Miscellaneous

This American Life: Ira Glass hosts this show of first-person stories and short fiction pieces that are touching, funny and surprising.  An amazing show that takes a topic and surrounds it with pertinent stories.

Fresh Air (for Joe, "frosshhaar"): Terry Gross hosts this daily take on contemporary arts and issues.  Good stuff on politics, faith, entertainment, etc.  (Please no emails on her political POV, as if I don't know.)  A great show nearly every day.

Writers on Writing: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett hosts this weekly show on the art and business of writing.  She interviews authors, poets, literary agents, etc.  A staple in my life.  Great insights through great interviews.

Comments

[Kolin]

Don't know where you find the time to hear half of that. You must live 48 hours a day!

Thanks for the links!

Maybe you should add the hype machine to the links....

http://hypem.com/ ( it searches music blogs) and you can find sites like the following with Arcade Fire music.

http://thetorturegarden.blogspot.com/2005/12/great-arcade-fire-post.html

[Bill Streger]

Seriously, you have achieved GTD zen at a level I could never imagine... Someday I'll keep up with your level of reading/listening to great stuff. You always push and challenge me to stretch - thanks for that.

[Joe Thorn]

Great list Stevie. I almost posted a similar list last week, but remembered you said you were going to do this, so I thought I would just add two more here in your comments. You can find these in iTunes.

Filmspotting is really great and I am looking forward to their film noir marathon. Their downside is they can be a bit pretentious, and are not strong in genre films. Therefore people might want to check out:

Hollywood Saloon. LONG podcasts covering a film or theme in films in great detail. Well informed guys, rewarding listen for those serious about movies.

Hog's Head PubCast: For those wanting dialogue about Harry Potter. Travis is smart and has great insight into the series. Short podcasts that you get through quick but keep on thinking about long after.

[Steve McCoy]

Hehe. I'm a zen master! Ok, here's the reality check.

I don't listen much to the car radio, so podcasts get my attention there. I also listen to podcasts nearly every night as I do other things. If I get out to do photography I tend to listen the whole time (last week I was out for 4 hours from 11pm-3am!). That's how I find time. Plus, I see podcasts to be about as something like reading, so I make it a priority.

To be fair, I tend to be streaky in listening to preachers. For example, I recently finished preaching Ecclesiastes so I just skipped Chandler's series.

Joe, I didn't mention Hollywood Saloon because I really haven't taken it too seriously yet. And just so everyone knows, I wouldn't know a good film podcast if it jumped out from behind a bush at midnight. That's what Joe does. :)

[Michael Krahn]

Hey,

We have a few in common. I listen to both the Mars Hill Church Podcasts, the Resurgence is a must. I love those covenant worldwide seminars, although Calhoun is pretty dry.

I'll check out that "Writers on writing" podcast.

I'm blogging my way through Bell's "Velvet Elvis" right now at:

http://ascenttotruth.blogspot.com/

Join me there to discuss.

[Kolin]

Can recommend the Covenant series...

Listened to
all of OT (but it was Gerard Van Gronigen -looks like they've changed it now )

Most of Daniel Doriani on Life & Teachings of Jesus

Listening to Hans Bayer on Life & Letters of Paul.

[Ken Shomo]

Thanks for the great list. A couple comments:

- Hey, I listen to "Writers on Writing" too!

- I wondered whether I would see the Slate daily podcast here (I didn't). Great for short (5-10 min) podcasted articles from Slate.Com that are well written, often with a youthful and humorous edge, and which keep you current with pop and political culture. Easily found on iTunes.

- Terry Gross is the best interviewer I've ever heard. She pursues that which is not immediately obvious, and also asks great follow up questions. I've been disappointed with the tilt to the political ever since 9-11; I prefer her interviews with artists, which is her niche, but I'll tune in either way.

- To Michael: Dr. Calhoun may seem dry, but I have nowhere else seen his talent for summarizing church history in such an edifying manner. Taking his classes at CTS helped model to me how to teach laypeople church history.

Again, thanks for a great list and new ideas!

[Luke Simmons]

hey steve, thanks for these. i wonder if you're familiar with Steve Brown Etc (http://www.stevebrownetc.com/)? steve is a preaching professor at RTS. he hosts this fun show with interesting guests and good questions.

[Jeff Shinabarger]

Hey Steve! Thanks for the post about Fermi Project. We are just getting started and to hear that you are enjoying our interviews is encouraging. Great list. There is definitely a few I'll have to check out.
Peace.
Jeff

[Nick P.]

This is late in the game, but I LOVE the practically speaking podcast. I've listened to some of them multiple times and I am working my way through the book (basically the same content, with a parable at the beginning).

It has really challenged me to evaluate a lot of things in our ministry, and even just how I approach very routine things. Asking the question, "What do I went to have happened at the of this program?" or... "What does success look like for this volunteer meeting?" Is really helpful.

Know any other churches that simply don't offer a mid-week service? It's intriguing to think about them narrowing their focus in that way so other stuff can be better.