Having reached 100 episodes on this journey of “faith and folly,” and for this landmark installment of the Struggling for Purpose, I sat down with a man whose life story reads like a high-octane thriller: James R. Hannibal.

James isn’t just an author; he’s a former A-10 Warthog and B-2 Spirit stealth pilot, a synesthete, and the man tasked with carrying forward the legacy of one of the most unique Christian discipleship tools ever created: Dragon Raid.

The Evolution of a Legacy: From Dragon Raid to Light Raiders

In the 1980s, Dick Wolf created Dragon Raid, a tabletop role-playing game (RPG) designed to teach scripture memory and Christian character. For James, a pastor’s kid growing up in Colorado Springs, the game was a formative experience. Decades later, when James sought out the game for his own children, he ended up connecting with Dick Wolf himself.

Before his passing, Wolf asked James to expand the world. This birthed the Light Raider Academy novels and a completely redesigned gaming system.

“We wanted to change the sci-fi fantasy mashup and make it pure fantasy,” James explains. “We spent months creating cultures and the world before even writing. We took the map on the back of the original box and ‘zoomed in,’ fleshing out the towns and the people.”

The result is a streamlined, elegant mechanic that turns role-playing into a deep discipleship experience. By playing characters with specific “virtue ratings,” players learn to navigate moral dilemmas using scripture—all within a low-threat, imaginative environment.

Seeing Sound and Flying Stealth: Life with Synesthesia

One of the most fascinating segments of the interview touched on James’s synesthesia—a neurological condition where the senses intersect. For James, a flash of light might trigger a “clack” sound, or an engine noise might manifest as a “brown fog” that physically presses in on him.

Surprisingly, this helped him in the cockpit. While he had to “learn to deal” with sensory overload, his color graphemia (associating numbers and concepts with colors) made him an elite forward air controller. He could track multiple fighters, airspaces, and weapon loads with a mental organization that others struggled to match.

The “Write What You Know” Phase and the Leap to Faith

After a 10-year career in the Air Force—including time on the think tank for the B-21 Raider—James transitioned to writing. He started with military techno-thrillers like Wraith, but eventually found himself at a crossroads.

While writing for major New York publishers, James encountered a “glass ceiling” for his faith. He refused to include the foul language or explicit content often demanded in adult thrillers, and even in children’s literature, he found a push to include “indoctrination” that didn’t align with his values. This led him to Enclave and Revelle, where he now writes high-quality Christian fiction for both teens and adults.

A Miraculous Confirmation

The path to building Light Raiders hasn’t been easy. It is a labor of love funded largely by James and his wife. At one point, James faced a career-ending injury: his feet were riddled with stress fractures and torn tendons, a condition so severe he was navigating airports in a wheelchair.

During a conference where he was struggling to even stand on stage, a stranger offered to pray for him.

“I’m not Pentecostal or Charismatic, so I kind of laughed at the guy,” James admits. “But we prayed… and by the end of that prayer, I could no longer feel the pain. My left big toe—which had a disconnected tendon—was wiggling again. That moment answered every question about whether we should be doing Light Raiders. That’s the calling for the rest of our lives.”

How You Can Get Involved

Light Raiders is more than a game; it’s a non-profit mission (Courser Media Inc.) dedicated to equipping the next generation.

• Visit the Website: Head over to lightraiders.com to explore the trilogy of novels and the Starlots box set.
• Support the Mission: Because the games are sold below cost to keep them affordable for churches and families, donor support is vital. You can donate directly through their shop.
• Bring it to Your Church: If you’re looking for a way to engage youth in scripture memory that feels like an adventure, the Light Raider system is built for you.

Note: This blog post was generated using Google AI from the transcript of this podcast.

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Another nostalgic podcast where I talk about how grateful I’ve been to be able to podcast for 20 years.

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Music: “Loopster” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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I was sick for two days and had a lot of time to think, so, let’s talk about that.

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Music: “Loopster” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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Some days it’s tough to podcast because your tech doesn’t work the way you expect it to. Besides briefly talking about my technical issues, I also talk about sharing my burdens with others.

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Music: “Loopster” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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As a whole, I think western cultures have forgotten how to wonder. We have a small slab of glass and silicon that we can use to get the answers to nearly every question we have and I don’t think that’s always a good thing.

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Today I talk about some shocking responses to a survey conducted by Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research. You can follow along here: thestateofthelogy.com

How is it that 100% of the respondents to this survey affirm that, “The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe,” and yet 53% believe the Holy Spirit is a force and not a person?

I talk about these and other findings from this survey and start preaching a little about how I think church is viewed by many Americans.

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Music: “Loopster” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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Today is International Podcast Day and I thought I’d share a brief history of podcasting as I witnessed it. I could talk longer than 10 minutes about podcasting but (like a lot of things I do) I waited until the last minute to record this episode.

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In the past 10 days there has been a lot of bad news. In this episode I talk about how Todd Cochrane influenced my podcasting journey, the killing of Charlie Kirk, and the hope I find in Jesus and the music of Rich Mullins.

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Music: “Loopster” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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Have you ever been asked what you’d bring with you if you were stranded in a deserted island? I’m terrible at this question but I’ve given it a try in this podcast episode.

In this episode you’ll hear:

• Why I think classical music (Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, etc.) would be my first choice.
• Why even though I love reading the Bible I wouldn’t bring one with me.
• Why I don’t like the idea of being stuck with certain movies.

Let me know what you’d bring with you. Also, did you catch the editing error?

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Music: “Loopster” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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Can the existence of God be mathematically proven? For many, faith and science are seen as opposing forces. In this podcast, I interview career chemist James Brown who suggests that a rigorous, mathematical approach to ancient texts may provide a verifiable bridge between the two.

The Genesis of a Mathematical Perspective

James Brown, author of Three Proofs of God, didn’t start his journey looking for a spiritual revelation. Instead, he applied his background as a chemist to examine the Bible with the same scrutiny he would use in a laboratory.

Brown’s investigation was triggered by a specific text: Daniel 9:25. This passage is notable because it makes a clear prediction about the future and, according to archaeological records and carbon dating, it significantly predates the life of Jesus.

Challenging Previous Solutions

The idea of using Daniel 9:25 as proof is not new. Brown initially encountered the “Anderson solution,” a well-known historical attempt to link this prophecy to specific events. However, upon closer inspection, he found it lacked scientific viability.

“I saw that it had problems,” Brown explained during the podcast. “It was not viable. But I felt compelled to dig and find out if it were or not”.

A Rigorous Approach to Faith

Brown’s approach is unique because it moves away from traditional ontological or theological arguments. Instead of philosophical debates, he focuses on:

• Verifiable Predictions: Using texts that can be objectively dated.
• Mathematical Solutions: Laying out the math in a way that is accessible to the layman.
• Objective Analysis: Being prepared to accept if the prophecy was “impossible,” as some critics have claimed over the centuries.

Conclusion

By merging the precision of chemistry with historical prophecy, James Brown offers a new way to look at the intersection of science and religion. Whether you are a believer or a skeptic, the mathematical exploration of the Book of Daniel provides a fascinating case study in how we define “proof” in the modern world.

About the Guest: James Brown is a career chemist and the author of Three Proofs of God. His work focuses on providing verifiable solutions to biblical prophecy.

Note: This blog post was generated using Google AI from the transcript of this podcast.

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Pope Francis has died. As Evangelicals, this gives us an opportunity to pray for our Catholic brothers and sisters.

We should also pray for the cardinals who will be part of the conclave to select the new Pope because whether we like it or not, the Pope speaks for all of Christendom.

Pray Holy Spirit guides their selections and pray that our Catholic brothers and sisters are comforted during this time of uncertainty.

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Music: “Loopster” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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