The AC Podcast

Every year leading up to Christmas, protestants and catholics celebrate Advent. Historically it has been met with the lighting of candles with each representing a different theme. Hope, Joy, Peace, Love and Christ. However, few if any truly know of its origins. What's to say that it's not just another "pagan" holiday to be done away with? Join Andy, Troy and Wes as they talk about the history and origins of Advent and its significance in todays culture.

At Facebooks latest launch event, Co-Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Meta. According to their website "The metaverse is the next evolution of social connection." Their company’s vision is to "help bring the metaverse to life," so they are changing their name to reflect their "commitment to the future." This leads to the glaring question, what does that mean for real world implications and consequences of an alternate reality? As people who were designed for bodily community, how does the believer navigate the potential future of social interaction? For the first time, join the entire team of Andy, Steve, Troy and Wes as they discuss the METAverse.

On Friday November 5th, Rapper Travis Scott took the stage at his annual festival Astroworld. The festival was put on by Scotts label, "Cactus Jack" in partnership with renowned Live Entertainment company, Live Nation. Due to what many are calling negligence at the highest level, mixed with Travis' historical incitement of unstructured moshing or "raging", the festival scenes lead to the death of 9 guests and over 100 injured. In addition to lives lost, Travis Scott, Live Nation and others are facing numerous lawsuits and potential criminal charges. This tragedy has lead to many questioning whether or not this was preventable or if it was a ticking time bomb. As well as who does the blame fall to in a multi layered laps in organization. Listen to this weeks episode as our hosts Steve Kim and Troy Lydiate discuss the importance of accountability, leadership and integrity in lieu of these traumatic events.

What does investment banking have to do with Jesus? As odd a question as this might seem, how we answer this question has a close connection to our understanding of vocation and ministry. Does Jesus come to work with you? Does he have anything to say about your profession? Join us on this week’s edition of the AC Podcast as Andy sits down for a conversation with Garth Jestley, an accomplished business leader and author of More than Your Business Card.

Everyone knows that the Medieval era was a time of scientific stagnation brought on by the Church deliberately suppressing any knowledge outside of divine revelation. But is this true? Dr. Seb Falk, a historian of science at the University of Cambridge, has recently written a book entitled The Light Ages to address the gap between what scholars know of this period and what an average person on the street thinks of it. Andy and Steve sat down with him across the pond to hear his thoughts on a period that is too often misunderstood.

Most of us don’t think about death all that much, at least until we experience it near us. And yet, when we examine our behaviour, we will find that almost everything we do is driven by our fear of death at some level. How does the gospel change the framework on this? Andy and Steve invited a friend and teacher, Dr. Clay Jones, to discuss his newest book, Immortal: How the Fear of Death Drives Us and What We Can Do About It.

In 1799, a fascinating discovery was made by one Pierre-François Bouchard. This large and dark chunk of rock, discovered in the Egyptian port city of Rosetta, was the key to reviving a dead language. How might a dead language be revived? And how might that illuminate how to decipher our personhood? Andy, Steve, and Troy came together to discuss the significance of the Rosetta Stone that goes far beyond the deciphering of a dead language in this week’s edition of the AC Podcast.

What would happen if all copies of the New Testament were destroyed? Would we still be able to know anything about Jesus of Nazareth from history alone outside what the New Testament tells us? What can a cold-case homicide detective featured in Dateline tell us about such a scenario? In this week’s edition of the AC Podcast, Andy reunites virtually with a good friend, J. Warner Wallace, to discuss his new book, Person of Interest. In it, Jim shares how he employs a unique investigative strategy to solve murder cases that have no body or crime scene, and how we can use the same strategy to discover truths about Jesus.

Last week, we heard from Jennifer what her journey was like being in New Age spirituality. We continue that conversation this week as we hear more about the aftermath of that lifestyle. How did she come to be rescued by Jesus? What happens to a woman who was brainwashed for 20 years? How does one heal from something like that? Are there spiritual doors that Christians may be opening unwittingly? Hear more from Andy and Jennifer’s conversation on this week’s edition of the AC Podcast.

There's a shift occurring in our society today away from naturalism and toward supernaturalism. In a secular society starved for a spiritual perspective in their lives, people are increasingly turning to New Age Spirituality. On this episode of the AC podcast, join Andy as he interviews Jennifer about her cautionary tale. In an attempt to find a higher power to help her, Jennifer became trapped in New Age Spirituality for over 20 years. It wasn't until she met Jesus, a higher power who did help her, that she was set free.