Rule of Life

How should we exist in the tension between contemplation and action? Between listening and speaking? Between public and private? Where do our thoughts and prayers enter in? Join us for a conversation with luminary thinker, Jonathan Tremaine Thomas. This conversation covers contemplative activism, praying in the spirit, and the communion with God found in fasting. Jonathan Tremaine Thomas is a pastor, activist, prayer mobilizer, actor, and the founder of civilrighteousness.com. Today he directs prayer-fueled evangelism, discipleship, community transformation, and racial reconciliation initiatives in the St.Louis area while serving as on the pastoral team at Destiny Church St.Louis. He is also a justice, mercy, and reconciliation fellow at Bridgetown Church. With a strong conviction to “earnestly contend for the faith”; Jonathan carries an uncompromising message of identity in Christ and eternal perspective. He currently resides in Ferguson, MO with his wife Mollie and their young daughter.These podcasts accompany nine Practices developed by Practicing the Way. Thanks to the generosity of The Circle, these Practices are now free. To learn more about The Circle or to participate in a Practice with your church, community, or small group, visit www.practicingtheway.org.

What is it to simply be with God? What does it look like? What does it feel like? In this discussion on the fourth movement of prayer, you’ll hear what it means to go from talking to God, talking with God, and listening to God…to being with God. Existing together in his presence…free from any words at all. This episode features wisdom from Rich Villodas and Strahan Coleman as well as everyday apprentices of Jesus. These podcasts accompany nine Practices developed by Practicing the Way. Thanks to the generosity of The Circle, these Practices are now free. To learn more about The Circle or to participate in a Practice with your church, community, or small group, visit www.practicingtheway.org.

Have you ever wondered: Does God still speak? If he does, how does he speak? And what is he saying? How can I know that it’s him?In the last two episodes of the series, we learned about talking to God and talking with God. And like in many contexts in our modern world, we are better at talking than we are at listening. So what does it look like to listen to God? To hear his voice? In this third movement, listening to God, you’ll hear about six different ways that God speaks and three challenges that encompass our inability to hear him. These podcasts accompany nine Practices developed by Practicing the Way. Thanks to the generosity of The Circle, these Practices are now free. To learn more about The Circle or to participate in a Practice with your church, community, or small group, visit www.practicingtheway.org.

If you have any amount of experience with prayer, you probably have questions. Why does God answer some of my prayers and not others? Why does God wait to answer my prayers? If Jesus came to seek and save the lost and if prayer is powerful, then why doesn’t God seem to answer prayers for my lost friends and family? These questions can compound into confusion about God Himself and eventually lead us to think: Do my prayers matter? Do they matter to God? And do they matter in the real world and in the lives of real people? This episode includes personal stories about unanswered prayer, what prayer says about the character of God, and how different cultural traditions interact with these questions. You’ll also hear wisdom from Strahan Coleman, Pete Greig, and everyday apprentices of Jesus. These podcasts accompany nine Practices developed by Practicing the Way. Thanks to the generosity of The Circle, these Practices are now free. To learn more about The Circle or to participate in the Practice with your church, community, or small group, visit www.practicingtheway.org.

In this enlightening discussion, Reward Sibanda, a senior advisor at World Vision from Zimbabwe, Gemma Ryan, an Irish associate pastor and spiritual director, and Tyler Staton, lead pastor at Bridgetown Church, explore the profound art of prayer. They dive into various dimensions of communication with God, illustrating how structured prayers like the Lord's Prayer can deepen intimacy and connection. They also shed light on the significance of community in prayer and emphasize trusting God’s provision, revealing prayer as a transformative journey in spiritual life.

In this final episode of season one of the Rule of Life podcast, you will hear an interview with luminary thinker, Andy Crouch. Topically, this conversation covers a wide range - touching on topics like the spiritual implications of labor saving devices, modern magic, Sabbath, and the truth about human desires.Andy Crouch is partner for theology and culture at Praxis, an organization that works as a creative engine for redemptive entrepreneurship. His writing explores faith, culture, and the image of God in the domains of technology, power, leadership, and the arts. He is the author of five books (plus another with his daughter, Amy Crouch): The Life We're Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World, The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place, Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing, Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power, and Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling. For more than ten years Andy was an editor and producer at Christianity Today, including serving as executive editor from 2012 to 2016. His work and writing have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and several editions of Best Christian Writing and Best Spiritual Writing—and, most importantly, received a shout-out in Lecrae's 2014 single "Non-Fiction." Andy lives with his family in Pennsylvania.

In previous episodes of the Rule of Life podcast, listeners tune in to a roundtable discussion as well as audio-snippets from luminary thinkers, pastors, and apprentices who are following Jesus in the every day. Featured in the Sabbath series (season 1) is luminary thinker, Tish Harrison Warren. This episode of the Rule of Life podcast is the interview between John Mark and Tish in its entirety. In this episode they cover the sacredness of ordinary life, the ethical implications of Sabbath, and the importance of Spiritual, bodily habituation.About TishTish Harrison Warren is a priest in the Anglican Church in North America. She is the author of Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life (Christianity Today's 2018 Book of the Year) and Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work, or Watch, or Weep (Christianity Today's 2022 Book of the Year and 2022 ECPA Christian Book of the Year).Currently, Tish writes a weekly newsletter for The New York Times, and she is a columnist for Christianity Today. Her articles and essays have appeared in Religion News Service, Christianity Today, Comment Magazine, The Point Magazine, The New York Times, and elsewhere.For over a decade, Tish has worked in ministry settings as a campus minister with InterVarsity Graduate and Faculty Ministries, as an associate rector, and with addicts and those in poverty through various churches and non-profit organizations. Now, Tish serves as Writer in Residence at Resurrection South Austin. She is a founding member of The Pelican Project and a Senior Fellow with the Trinity Forum. She lives with her husband and three children in the Austin, Texas area.

What do you worship? And are you sure? Often times we have a narrow view of what worship is. We think that worship is just singing songs at the front end of a church service, but how do we orient our whole lives toward worship? In this fourth roundtable discussion, John Mark, Bethany, and Bryan discuss the fourth movement, the climax, of sabbath. This discussion on worship is accompanied by clips from Tish Harrison Warren, Rich Villodas, and Andy Crouch as well as every day disciples of Jesus.These podcasts accompany nine Practices developed by Practicing the Way. Thanks to the generosity of The Circle, these practices are now free. To learn more about The Circle or to participate in the Practice with your church, community, or small group, visit www.practicingtheway.org.

In a delight deficient culture, what does it look like to delight in God? Is delight different from happiness? What does delight have to do with practicing the sabbath? In this third episode of the sabbath series, John Mark, Bethany, and Bryan dive into the third movement through the lens of one core reality: God is joyful. These podcasts accompany nine Practices developed by Practicing the Way. Thanks to the generosity of The Circle, these practices are now free. To learn more about The Circle or to participate in the Practice with your church, community, or small group, visit www.practicingtheway.org.

When you hear the word rest, what comes to mind? Relief? Pressure? Familiarity? Foreignness? In this second episode of the sabbath series, John Mark, Bethany, and Bryan answer two ever-present questions: what is rest? And why is rest so hard? Alongside the wisdom of luminary thinkers and every day followers of Jesus, they discuss this second movement of Sabbath through the lens of external and internal resistances to rest itself. These podcasts accompany nine Practices developed by Practicing the Way. Thanks to the generosity of The Circle, these practices are now free. To learn more about The Circle or to participate in the Practice with your church, community, or small group, visit www.practicingtheway.org.