Tag Team – Podcasts #1 (Stephen)

by Stephen Rodgers

So, as I mentioned yesterday, we’re experimenting with a new type of series, where multiple authors all individually weigh in on a particular topic or issue. So, to start us off, we’re going to try to answer the following question:

“If you could recommend three (and only three!) Christian podcasts to everyone reading this, which three would you recommend, and why?”

Of course, there are a couple of rules:

  1. You’re not allowed to pick the LBC Sermon Archive. Of course we all recommend that people keep a weather on that so that they know what’s being taught in the various classes / ministries at LBC. If we don’t stipulate that is off limits, then everyone will pick it and our top 3 will suddenly look a lot like a favorite couple.
  2. Sermon archives are different than podcasts. We may do a series on those at a later date, but this is for podcasts only.

Alright, since it’s my job to get the ball rolling, here are my top three Christian podcasts that I would recommend to the folks reading this:

  1. The Briefing with Al Mohler – Ok, this is pure gold. Seriously, I’m not messing around here; if you’re not already listening to this podcast you should be! Al Mohler really needs no introduction (author, speaker, theologian, president of the SBTS, etc., etc.) but what you might not know about him is that he also hosts several podcasts including “The Briefing.” In this daily podcast Dr. Mohler discusses newspaper articles and current events from a Christian perspective.  New episodes are released weekdays, and each weekend there is a bonus episode where people call in and Dr. Mohler does a Q&A. The average length is ~15 minutes.
  2. 5 Minutes in Church History with Stephen Nichols – This is a neat little gem that I’m pretty sure Richard and Cesar won’t recommend. Stephen Nichols is an accomplished author and professor of church history, and he puts out a weekly podcast on various topics in (surprise!) church history. As the name of the podcast suggests, the average length is ~5 minutes, so these are interesting insights and tidbits rather than extended lectures.
  3. Christ the Center from Reformed Forum – Ok, for my last recommendation I’m going to cheat (just a little bit). Reformed Forum actually puts out a whole slew of material (podcasts included), but my favorite ongoing series is “Christ the Center.” It’s a weekly podcast where a group of panelists discuss…something. Seriously, you never know what you’re going to get: sometimes it’s a book review, sometimes it’s an interview, sometimes it’s a doctrinal debate. Some of the episodes are better than others, and the vast majority of these folks are conservative Presbyterians (so we’d differ with then on a few issues like baptism), but it’s always interesting. The average length is ~60 minutes, and be sure to check out one of their older series, “Philosophy for Theologians.”

That’s it! Next time, we’ll see what Richard recommends…