Mindy Caliguire says that stepping into life with God is like underwater breathing — we have to learn how to do it and use the practical supports available to us. Join Nathan and Mindy for a great conversation about practices for spiritual thriving. 

Brandan Spencer, Renovaré’s Director of Church Engagement, talks with Nate about family life, church renewal, and Renovaré’s new initiative to help communities step deeper into with-God life.

Author and teacher Jan Johnson joins Nate to talk about Jesus' parables that help us understand God's reign. The kingdom parables are the topic of a new book—created from Dallas Willard's teaching archives—and a companion workbook that Jan Johnson created.

Show Notes

The Scandal of the Kingdom Workbook

The Scandal of the Kingdom

Downloadable resources:

• The Foreword and Chapter One
• Chapter One of the Workbook
• Six-Part Sermon Series.

The original audio series (for The Scandal of the Kingdom) is being released week-by-week on The Dallas Willard Podcast.

Want to participate in a course on the book? You can join the interest list here.

Renovaré’s Education Program Coordinator Wendy Dean talks with Nate about wanting what’s best for our kids—and letting God’s vision of the best supersede our own.

Winn Collier, director of the Eugene Peterson Center for Christian Imagination, talks with Nathan about hardships that shatter false hopes and the one reality that provides a sturdy place to stand.

Steve and Nate have an honest conversation about whether Christian spiritual formation is a movement or just a moment or fad. They also delve into the importance of total abandonment to God and the gift of brokenness.

Nathan welcomes author Sarah Clarkson to the show to discuss Scottish preacher and fiction writer George MacDonald—a key influence on Sarah’s literary career as well as her faith.

Show Notes

You can find Sarah writing regularly at her Substack, From the Vicarage (sarahclarkson.substack.com) or discover her books at sarahclarkson.com

Recommended by Sarah

1. Free online version of The Light Princess and Other Fairy Stories 
2. Free online version of Princess and the Goblins, one of Sarah’s favorite children's novels by MacDonald
3. Free online version of Lilith, Sarah’s favorite adult fairy tale by MacDonald
4. Sarah’s friend, Dr. Amanda Vernon, is a MacDonald scholar and children’s literature enthusiast.
5. A website dedicated to books, articles, art, and music about, or inspired by, George MacDonald's sermons, lectures, poems, prose, and prayers.
6. Recent Word on Fire edition of The Golden Key.

Poet laureate, professor, and author Ben Myers joins Nate to discuss a book that has been a constant and formative presence in his life: Dante's The Divine Comedy.

Benjamin Myers is the Crouch-Matthis Professor of Literature and the director of the
Great Books Honors Program at Oklahoma Baptist University. A former poet laureate of
Oklahoma, he is the author of four books of poetry as well as of one previous and two
forthcoming books of nonfiction. His poems, essays, and stories have appeared in many
journals and magazines, including Image, The Yale Review, First Things, and Rattle.
He is a contributing editor for Front Porch Republic and lives in Chandler, OK. His most
recent book of poems is The Family Book of Martyrs (2023).

Show Notes

1. The "100 Days of Dante" project.
2. The entire Comedy without commentary. 
3. Ben's article “A Disgusting Poem on God’s Goodness.”  
4. Ben's book The Family Book of Martyrs.

Nathan Foster has an in-person conversation with Mimi Dixon and Richard Foster about the two introductory books in the 2024-2025 Renovaré Book Club season — Richard's classic Celebration of Discipline and Mimi's Worth Celebrating (a book biography that explores why Celebration of Discipline started a movement).

Registration for the Renovaré Book Club 2024-2025 season is open!

• Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster 
• Worth Celebrating by Mimi Dixon (Read an excerpt here.)

  Other articles, books, and podcast episodes by Richard Foster and by Mimi Dixon can be found at renovare.org

Author and podcast host Nick Page shares some guidelines for understanding the Bible and reading with a heart open to encountering God.

Show Notes

• The Mid-Faith Crisis Podcast
• Some of Nick’s Books 
• Nick Page on microblog

Mariah Velásquez, Director of the Incarnatio Center for Formation and Integration at Westmont College and Associate Director of the Martin Center, joins Nate on the Life with God podcast to talk about a favorite book—Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God.

Show Notes

1. Book excerpts: 

• Practicing the Presence of Christ 
• An Habitual Sense of God's Presence
• Living Each Moment with a Sense of God's Presence

2. Lectio 365 Prayer App - A helpful way to re-orient to God's presence in the morning and evening.

3. Content from the Martin Institute's recent academic workshop, "A Crisis Among Us: The Problem of Christian Immaturity" is available here.

4. You can find Mariah's writing on Conversatio.org

• The Practicing of Presence. 
• A roadmap report on spiritual formation