In this episode, Chris and Eddie are joined by David Magee, author of Dear William: A Father's Memoir of Addiction, Recovery, Love, and Loss. Dedicated to his late son, William Magee, Dear William details David’s pain of losing a child, destructive family patterns, and the grace of God in the midst of intense tragedy. He talks to Eddie and Chris about the freedom found in forgiving ourselves, the issue of codependency within a family system, and the power of testimony.

When we’re struck by unexpected suffering, we ask question after question attempting to find meaning in the midst of our pain. We wonder why this diagnosis, disaster, or death had to happen to us or someone we love. We wonder if God is really good. We wonder if it’s possible to live within our reality and still have hope, joy, and peace. Though these questions are important, our human nature lends itself toward the comfort of ignorance and flimsy optimism. What are the cultural scripts that dictate our understanding of pain and suffering? How can we come alongside one another through both the highs and lows?

In this episode, Eddie and Chris are joined by Dominic Done, author, pastor, teacher, and founder of Pursuing Faith. Dominic has gone through his own seasons of doubt, and openly shares his journey in his most recent book, When Faith Fails: Finding God in the Shadow of Doubt. He believes that we can not only push through doubt and step into a deeper faith, but we can and should come along side others in their seasons of doubt and struggle. If we are honest with our pain and willing to open ourselves to the grace of Jesus Christ through community, we grow as followers of Jesus.

As a preacher, Rev. Wells says that people tend to respond positively to his preaching because he doesn’t skirt around the issues of the day. He doesn’t hide Christianity’s often difficult past, and he isn’t afraid to have the hard conversations with believers, doubters, and nonbelievers, because he believes it’s all about trust. “We can trust God, and because we can trust God, we can trust ourselves and one another.”

As a preacher, Rev. Wells says that people tend to respond positively to his preaching because he doesn’t skirt around the issues of the day. He doesn’t hide Christianity’s often difficult past, and he isn’t afraid to have the hard conversations with believers, doubters, and nonbelievers, because he believes it’s all about trust. “We can trust God, and because we can trust God, we can trust ourselves and one another.”

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.

The Weight might be on a brief summer break, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have anything to listen to! We’ve got five seasons of excellent conversations, and Eddie and Chris offer their recommendations for re-listening to a few from this season. (They also share some life updates and a little advice at the end.)

We hope y’all have a wonderful summer, and we’ll see you in August with all new episodes of The Weight.

Dr. Luther Smith is Professor Emeritus of Church and Community at Candler University (and one of Chris’s former professors). He earned his Ph.D. from Saint Lewis University and his Master’s of Divinity from Eden Theological Seminary. He has worked with, researched, and written extensively about civil rights leader and theologian Howard Thurman. His most recent book is Hope Is Here! Spiritual Practices for Pursuing Justice and Beloved Community.

Dr. Angela Patterson is media psychologist, writer, and researcher with Springtide Research Institute, nonpartisan nonprofit organization. She earned her doctorate in media psychology from Fielding, where she focused on how media and technology affect cultural institutions. Her research centers on the impact of digital media in adolescents and young adults, especially in regards to religious and spiritual development. Her work with Springtide Research focuses on 13- to 25-year-olds, to give them a voice and to help others learn from them and serve them as we all figure out what’s next.

Dr. Scott Morris is a medical school graduate and an ordained United Methodist minister who believes that healing the sick is a vital part of the Christian faith, and he lives that belief out in a very real way in Memphis, Tennessee through Church Health. Church Health is a faith-based, not-for-profit healthcare organization that offers whole person, comprehensive health care to people facing social and economic difficulties. No one should go without critical healthcare because they can’t afford it, and Scott has worked since 1985 to solve this injustice.

Dr. Corneilus Plantinga has a few words to say about gratitude, and it may just change your life--physically, spiritually, and emotionally. A habit of gratitude can lower your blood pressure and help you sleep better. But the habit of gratitude also ties us together collectively, in community and in church. When there is genuine appreciation of an act of kindness or a loving word, the memory of that “thank you” is a cushion when disagreement tries to divide us. Gratitude for God’s gifts reminds us daily that we can find something good, even in tough situations.

Dana Trent is an author, professor, and preschool drug dealer, and now she’s part of the three-timers club on The Weight. She talks to Eddie and Chris about her new book, Between Two Trailers, how to live in the present with a past that continues to live with you, what it means to go home when you feel like you can’t, and how important personal connections are when you’re trying to work through trauma.

Dr. Gibson is professor of pastoral theology, care, and counseling at Calvin Theological Seminary. He is a licensed, practicing psychotherapist, and served for 16 years as the senior pastor of a church in Chicago. Through the Eyes of Titans takes the lives of four people crucial to the civil rights movement--Ida B. Wells, Fannie Lou Hamer, Benjamin Mays, and Martin Luther King, Jr.--and offers their experiences as a way for us to really live into our own stories.

Hunter Evans is the owner of Elvie’s that serves seasonal dishes and highlights ingredients from local farmers. For Hunter, owning a restaurant is first about hospitality. He focuses on making connections with his patrons, and is a champion of a city in Mississippi that often gets overlooked or looked down on. He also focuses on the wellbeing of his staff, because he believes that if he’s asking his staff to take care of others, they have to be taken care of first.

Living into a consistent ethic of life is central to the work of Kim Daniels. For Kim, that means living into a life that expands our moral imagination and puts the lives of other people front and center to whatever decision is being made, at every level in society. It means seeing people as the image of God, no matter their circumstances. It means looking out for the people on the edges, and bringing us all together to build a world that actively cares about those on the margins.

“Politics is an essential forum in which we can love our neighbors.”

Michael Wear reminds us that Christians are called to love, love of God and love of neighbor. And if you are a Christian in politics, when you go into the political sphere, what are you doing? What is the orientation of your heart? This question is for everyone to answer, not just politicians. Are you using the vast resources of the Christian tradition—scriptures, history, theology—to guide your decision making? Are you acting out of a spirit of loving service as Jesus did?

In this Holy Week episode, Chris and Eddie are joined by Kavin Rowe, author of Christianity’s Surprise: A Sure and Certain Hope. After 20 years of scriptural immersion as the George Washington Ivey Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School, Rowe began to discern the growing significance of Christianity’s groundbreaking impact when it first entered the world. His book evokes the lost sense of the explosive power at the heart of Christian story, detailing the new hope and fresh vision that brushes up against the familiarity of scripture. Christianity’s Surprise draws readers closer to an understanding of Christianity as a gift from God, a never-ending mystery filled with a robust, joyful sense of surprise.

Humility. Through. This episode hangs on those two words, and how they relate to Christianity today. Joel Muddamalle, Director of Theology and Research for Proverbs 31 Ministries, wrote the book on humility, The Hidden Peace. He explains that true, Christian humility--living out the humble life of Jesus--will bring us to God who will get us through the hurts, the hard times, and the exhaustion of life today. We find peace in humility, in that awareness that the Lord is with us always. And knowing that God is with us means God will walk through every broken moment with us.

Neil talks to Eddie and Chris about the importance of storytelling. They talk about the process of writing, practical ways to get better at writing, and how special it is to help someone craft their own story--to dig deep into their lives and pull out all the small details that need to be shared. They also talk a little bit about pickleball.

Traumatic events happen to us as individuals, but we also experience trauma as a community. How do we--individually and collectively--deal with trauma? How do we frame it within the narrative of our own stories and of our communities’ stories? How do we rebuild from traumatic fractures without leaning into the temptation to return to a false memory of a golden age that never existed in the first place?

This conversation on The Weight is built around a heavy topic, but Dr. Kimberly Wagner brings brightness, empathy, and hope to a discussion that is, well, weighty.