The Weight

In this episode, Chris and Eddie are joined by Jenny and Tyler Somers, the singer/songwriter duo who met at the University of Delaware, where they began building a life together. They moved to Nashville in 2006 to pursue a musical career and have navigated the highs and lows of being in the music industry, all while staying true to their voice in the Christian music scene, raising a family, and working with the social justice organization International Justice Mission. They continue to tour (although not as much as they did before having children), perform, write, and produce music.Jenny and Tyler use their platform to bring awareness to the problems of human trafficking and modern slavery. They produced two records that directly benefit IJM (For Freedom and For Freedom II), and speak about the work of IJM. Their love for Christ, their love for their family, and their love for each other are clear in everything they do. Resources:Learn more about Jenny and Tyler’s music at their website, jennyandtyler.com.Learn more about International Justice Mission.Follow Jenny & Tyler on Instagram, Facebook, YouTubeListen to their music on Spotify or Apple Music.

We welcome back Dana Trent to The Weight for a conversation about trauma and finding a path towards healing with empathy and faith. Dana Trent is a graduate of Duke Divinity School and professor of World Religions and Critical Thinking at Wake Tech Community College. An ordained Baptist minister, Dana served as a hospital chaplain where she accompanied individuals and their families through the passage from life to death. This time, Dana talks to Eddie and Chris about her childhood and the trauma of being raised in a poor household with drug-running parents who both had their own mental health challenges. Dana has shared her story through the Breaking Good podcast, which she is currently turning into a book. In today’s conversation, she offers some tips for how she centers herself spiritually every day to help her navigate every day challenges.Resources:Learn more about Dana on her websiteFollow Dana on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTubeListen to Breaking Good on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Dana’s websiteBuy Dessert FirstStay tuned for information about Dana’s next book, Vermillion, based on her Breaking Good podcast.The Body Keeps Score by Bessel Van der Kolk

You might need a snack for today’s episode.We welcome Kendall Vanderslice, baker, author, and theologian to The Weight for a discussion about the intersection of food--specifically, bread--and worship. Kendall explores the dichotomy of the simplicity and complexity of making bread and how it connects to the simplicity and complexity of a life of faith.Kendall is the author of By Bread Alone: A Baker’s Reflections on Hunger, Longing, and the Goodness of God. She is also the founder of the Edible Theology Project, a nonprofit that creates resources for churches, families, and individuals to help you connect the meal shared at the Communion table to other meals you share. She is a graduate of Wheaton College with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, a graduate of Boston University with a Masters of Liberal Arts in Gastronomy, and a graduate of Duke University with a Masters of Theological Studies.  In 2018, Kendall was named the James Beard Foundation National Scholar for her work on food and religion.Resources:Find Kendall on Facebook and InstagramListen to her podcast, Kitchen MeditationsLearn more about the Edible Theology ProjectFollow Edible Theology on InstagramBuy By Bread Alone

What do you do after you win the College World Series?If you’re Mike Bianco, head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels baseball team, you let your routine guide you. You go to work every day. You have the hard conversations. You give praise when it’s due and constructive criticism when it’s needed. And you absolutely love what you do.Coach Bianco is now in his twenty-third year as head coach at the University of Mississippi. He is the winningest coach in the Rebels’ history with four SEC Western Division Championships, the 2006 SEC Baseball Tournament, the 2018 SEC Baseball Tournament, the 2009 Southeastern Conference Co-Championship, eight NCAA regional championships, and one national championship in 2022. Coach Bianco gives credit to consistency and communication in building such a strong college baseball program. He and his wife Cami are strong community leaders in Oxford, Mississippi, faithful members of St. John Catholic Church, and the parents of five children. Resources:Follow Coach Bianco on Twitter and InstagramFollow Ole Miss Baseball on Facebook, Twitter, InstagramLearn more about Coach Bianco’s career here

Dr. Ethel Young Scurlock is a leader in two different spheres: education and religion. She is Dean of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, Associate Professor of English and African American Studies, and Senior Fellow of the Luckyday Residential College. Dr. Scurlock is also the pastor of two small Baptist churches in Mississippi, First United Missionary Baptist Church and Alvis Grove Missionary Baptist Church. She is an award-winning teacher and the author of Trusting God in Crisis, Chaos, and Confusion. These two vocations give Dr. Scurlock a perspective of leadership that she shares with us. Her energy and passion for her students and her congregants is clear, as is her determination to empower future generations and leave the world a better place that she found it.Resources:Watch Dr. Scurlock’s speech at the 60th Anniversary of the Integration of the University of Mississippi (at 56 minutes) here. Buy Trusting God in Crisis, Chaos, and Confusion here.Learn more about Dr. Scurlock here, and learn more about the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College here.

In this episode, we welcome back Dr. Jason Vickers, professor of theology at Asbury Seminary. Jason is an ordained elder in full connection on the Western NC Conference of the United Methodist Church, past president of the Wesleyan Theological Society, and current editor of the Wesleyan Theological Journal.He also has first-hand experience with the ongoing revival at Asbury University, which sits across the street from his office at Asbury Seminary. This revival started with a few students who stayed after chapel one day. These students stayed, prayed, and sang, and as they did, more and more people showed up to stay, pray, and sing with them. People from around the United States and the world showed up to the small town of Wilmore, Kentucky, hoping to experience the presence of the Holy Spirit that lead these students to stay, pray, and sing.What happened in Hughes Auditorium at Asbury University wasn’t planned. It wasn’t packaged. It didn’t have a celebrity at the center. It was an organic movement that required the leaders of the school and the town to work quickly and together to provide for the thousands of people who showed up, looking to be part of this moment of revival. What does revival look like for you? What places in your life need renewal, the rekindling of your love of God and neighbor?Resources:Follow Jason on the Internet at jasonvickers.org.Find Jason’s books here.Follow Jason on Twitter and Facebook.Listen to his previous episode on The Weight.

Kari Kampakis is an author, speaker, podcaster, and newspaper columnist from Birmingham, Alabama. She writes for teen girls and moms, and her books include 10 Ultimate Truths Girls Should Know, Liked, Love Her Well, and More than a Mom.Kari offers advice to teens and parents, but more importantly she offers compassion and understanding. Parenting is hard at any stage, even if the struggles from family to family are different. As a mom of four girls, Kari has learned that parenting moves from a place of control to a place of influence. That transition can be hard without faith and without a strong support system. We live in a culture of child-centered parenting, which is why it’s important for parents and children that parents have a healthy adult life--passions, interests, and friends. For Kari and her husband, finding an identity in Christ and having hobbies and interests outside of parenting are vital to the overall health of their family.Resources:WebsiteInstagramFacebookGirl Mom PodcastKari’s Books:10 Ultimate Truths Girls Should Know Liked: Whose Approval Are You Living ForLove Her Well More Than a Mom

Ryan Burge’s Twitter bio says that he makes graphs about religion, but what Ryan does is so much more than making graphs. As a social scientist, Ryan studies the macro-level forces that are shaping churches across the nation--mostly in mainline Protestant denominations. The data that Ryan studies doesn’t show a surge of people coming back to mainline religious institutions, so what does that mean for churches? In Ryan’s view, it gives churches an opportunity to get back into local communities, lean into the diversity of the world around us, and do what the Church used to do well: build bridges to people who are different from us.Ryan is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and the Graduate Coordinator at Eastern Illinois University. He is the author of The Nones and 20 Myths. The second of edition of The Nones comes out in May 2023. He is also the pastor of an American Baptist Church and has served at his current church for the past 15 years.Resources:Ryan’s website (ryanburge.net)Find Ryan on Twitter (@ryanburge)Email Ryan: ryanburge@gmail.comRyan’s Books:The Nones20 Myths

This week, Chris and Eddie have an important conversation about leadership with Tod Bolsinger, senior congregational strategist and associate professor of leadership formation at Fuller Theological Seminary and author of Canoeing the Mountains, a book about adaptive leadership. Tod wants to help leaders--church leaders, community leaders, business leaders--understand how to lead in a world that is constantly changing. For a long time, leadership has been seen as solving technical problems with technical solutions. And while that aspect of leadership is incredibly important, especially in building trust, today’s world is vastly different from the world of 20 years ago. Today, the answer to the question, “Now what do we do?” is often, “I don’t know.” Today, leadership looks more like learning and less like exerting authority because of technical expertise.So how do we lead change in the changing world? There is no simple answer to this complex question, but Tod has a few ideas and a lot of hope for current and future leaders, where we embrace what we don’t know and learn to lead the learning.Resources: Find books by Tod, including Canoeing the Mountains, on IVPressLearn more about AE Sloan Leadership

It’s hard to believe that we’re wrapping up three seasons of The Weight, but here we are! Eddie and Chris are joined by producer Cody Hickman to talk about some of the highlight episodes for each of them this year--including conversations with Mac McAnally, Alice Matagora, and Austin Carty. This season, we’ve listened to conversations about music, mental health, parenting, faith, and history. We’ve heard a hopeful word about the future of the Church, and we’ve been given moments for reflection and contemplation.So thank you--to every guest on the podcast, to every listener, to everyone who has reached out to Chris or Eddie with thoughts and ideas. We could not have these conversations without you, and we can’t wait do it again next season!