Brandan Spencer, Renovaré’s Director of Church Engagement, talks with Nate about family life, church renewal, and Renovaré’s new initiative to help communities step deeper into with-God life.

Author and teacher Jan Johnson joins Nate to talk about Jesus' parables that help us understand God's reign. The kingdom parables are the topic of a new book—created from Dallas Willard's teaching archives—and a companion workbook that Jan Johnson created. Show Notes The Scandal of the Kingdom Workbook The Scandal of the Kingdom Downloadable resources: The Foreword and Chapter OneChapter One of the WorkbookSix-Part Sermon Series.The original audio series (for The Scandal of the Kingdom) is...

Renovaré’s Education Program Coordinator Wendy Dean talks with Nate about wanting what’s best for our kids—and letting God’s vision of the best supersede our own.

Winn Collier, director of the Eugene Peterson Center for Christian Imagination, talks with Nathan about hardships that shatter false hopes and the one reality that provides a sturdy place to stand.

Steve and Nate have an honest conversation about whether Christian spiritual formation is a movement or just a moment or fad. They also delve into the importance of total abandonment to God and the gift of brokenness.

Nathan welcomes author Sarah Clarkson to the show to discuss Scottish preacher and fiction writer George MacDonald—a key influence on Sarah’s literary career as well as her faith. Show Notes You can find Sarah writing regularly at her Substack, From the Vicarage (sarahclarkson.substack.com) or discover her books at sarahclarkson.com Recommended by Sarah Free online version of The Light Princess and Other Fairy Stories Free online version of Princess and the Goblins, one of Sarah’s favorite...

Renovaré Book Club begins September 23. Learn more at renovare.org/bookclub.---- Poet laureate, professor, and author Ben Myers joins Nate to discuss a book that has been a constant and formative presence in his life: Dante's The Divine Comedy. Benjamin Myers is the Crouch-Matthis Professor of Literature and the director of theGreat Books Honors Program at Oklahoma Baptist University. A former poet laureate ofOklahoma, he is the author of four books of poetry as well as of one previous and...

Renovaré Book Club begins September 23. Learn more at renovare.org/bookclub.---- Nathan Foster has an in-person conversation with Mimi Dixon and Richard Foster about the two introductory books in the 2024-2025 Renovaré Book Club season — Richard's classic Celebration of Discipline and Mimi's Worth Celebrating (a book biography that explores why Celebration of Discipline started a movement). Registration for the Renovaré Book Club 2024-2025 season is open! Celebration of Discipline by Richard...

Renovaré Book Club registration is now open with early bird pricing through Sep 1. Learn more at renovare.org/bookclub.----- Author and podcast host Nick Page shares some guidelines for understanding the Bible and reading with a heart open to encountering God. Show Notes The Mid-Faith Crisis PodcastSome of Nick’s Books Nick Page on microblog

Mariah Velásquez, Director of the Incarnatio Center for Formation and Integration at Westmont College and Associate Director of the Martin Center, joins Nate on the Life with God podcast to talk about a favorite book—Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God. Show Notes 1. Book excerpts:  Practicing the Presence of Christ An Habitual Sense of God's PresenceLiving Each Moment with a Sense of God's Presence2. Lectio 365 Prayer App - A helpful way to re-orient to God's presence in...

Writer and editor Julia Roller joins Nate to talk about how God uses books to guide us into transforming ideas and encounters and shares about the book that changed her life. Julia Roller is an author and editor living in San Diego, CA with her husband and three children. She is also the MomCo Coordinator at Point Loma Community Presbyterian Church. Julia's most recent book is Mom Seeks God, but some of her other books include A Year with God (with Richard J. Foster), A Year with Aslan, and...

Deep relationships take time. Renovaré board and ministry team member Margaret Campbell shares with Nate what she's learned through the years about the slow and beautiful unfolding of true friendships — with people and with God.

Joe Davis and Nick Page have been friends for over 30 years and co-host The Mid-Faith Crisis Podcast. They share with Nate about disagreement as a productive part of friendship and faith that helps us work through concepts that impact our ability to love God and others. Show Notes The Mid-Faith Crisis PodcastSome of Nick’s Books Nick Page on microblog

South African Spiritual Director Adri-Marie van Heerden talks with Nate about making friends cross-culturally, the need for humility, and learning to see others as God sees us — with great regard. Adri-Marie's organization is called Tending the Fire. You can contact her at [email protected].

Nathan talks with prison chaplain John Paul Westin about the penitentiary as parish and learning to see each person there as God's "friends and special ones." Show Notes A few annotated book suggestions from John Paul: Cur Deus Homo — Anselm of Canterbury thinks about why God needed/chose to become human.The 3 Colors of Community, Christian A. Schwarz — How highly flawed individuals can use their propensity to sin to help build healthy Christian community.Fearfully and Wonderfully, Dr. Paul...

Audrey Elledge and Elizabeth Moore, authors of Liturgies for Wholeness, join Nate to talk about the formational power of liturgy and friendship. Friendship is a relational connection point many people struggle with, but it's a grand invitation into deeper relationship with God. —Nathan FosterShow Notes Books by Elizabeth Moore and Audrey Elledge Liturgies for Hope: Sixty Prayers for the Highs, the Lows, and Everything in BetweenLiturgies for Wholeness: 60 Prayers to Encounter the Depth,...

This meditation by Nathan Foster on Luke 22 invites us to the Mount of Olives where Jesus prayed “let this cup pass from me.”

Trevor Hudson shares reflections on the influence that Desmond Tutu had on his life — as a friend, colleague, cellmate, and “contemplative in action.” Show Notes Desmond Tutu's Nobel Prize biography pageMade for Goodness by Desmond TutuBooks by Trevor HudsonOther Episodes With This Guest Ep 47: Trevor Hudson — Friendship with GodEp 73: Trevor Hudson — Holiness is Better Than You ThinkEp 131: Trevor Hudson — Listen to the GroansEp 154: Trevor Hudson — Meeting Christ in Our TearsEp 153: Trevor...

“We enriched each other.” Luci Shaw speaks with Nate about her rich friendship with Madeleine L'Engle and how they made one another better writers and better followers of Jesus. Show Notes + TranscriptNate: Lucy, we get to talk about your friend today. How did you first come to meet Madeline? Luci: Well, Madeleine and I met originally at Wheaton College at a conference on, on literature, and she was a speaker and I was a speaker, and so we just happened to connect at that, at that time, and...

Amisho “Sho” Baraka joins Nate for a fascinating conversation about George Washington Carver — a man whose faith directed his genius toward the good of others. Resources The Man Who Talks with the Flowers: The Intimate Life Story of Dr. George Washington Carver, by Glenn Clark Essential Writings of the American Black Church, by John HuntTuskegee UniversityHe Saw That It Was Good, by Sho BarakaAlbum: ​“The Narrative,” Sho Baraka, 2016“Bravery to Faithfully Create,” article by Sho Baraka on...

Pastor and author Andrew Arndt talks with Nathan Foster about how the stories and examples of the desert fathers and mothers move from exhaustion, burnout, and pain into a more vibrant faith.

Mimi Dixon shares how the life and words of Catherine Doherty—a pioneer for interracial justice and mentor to Thomas Merton—helped her to return to her first love. Resources Poustinia, by Catherine DohertyCatherine Doherty writes about prayer and sacraments as ways to welcome and know the presence of God in “First Meet God” Luminous Lives, a Renovaré e-course hosted my Mimi Dixon

Matthew Clark joined Nate in-person to tape this week's podcast conversation on the topic of truth — truthful storytelling, truthful music, true relationships and true worship.  Visit Matthew Clark's website. Books by Matthew Clark Tale of Two Trees   Only The Lover Sings  Find Matthew's music on Spotify and Apple Matthew's Podcast — One Thousand Words: Stories Along the Way

Printmaker Sally Kendrick talks with Nate about the creative act of finding and printing specimens from nature as a way of cultivating "openness to the presence of God and willingness to receive the love of God."  Sally Kendrick is a Maryland-based photographer with Carolina roots. She began experimenting with cyanotypes as a way of cultivating a habit of attentiveness to the beauty in the natural world around her.  Read Sally's essay "Attention Grows into Love" on renovare.org. True...