Our Most Popular Episodes of 2021

To say that 2021 has been a strange year would be the understatement of a century but in spite of a raging global pandemic – hitherto unknown since the time of Moses – I’ve been privileged, here at the show, to have had some incredible conversations with wonderful Catholic thinkers, writers, and converts from all over the world.

Here’s a round-up of some of the most popular episodes this year. If you’re new to the show, any of these would be a great place to start listening – they’re popular for a reason – and if you’re a long-time fan, well, thank you. Here are some real gems, in case you missed them.

136: Why I’m Not Catholic (w/ Austin Suggs from Gospel Simplicity)

I first met Moody Bible Institute undergrad Austin Suggs when YouTube’s video algorithm suggested one of his videos to me. At the time, Austin’s channel had about 600 subscribers and didn’t have very much to do with Catholicism. But he’d been to a Catholic Bible study, and YouTube thought I might be interested.

What followed was a wonderful friendship and I was so thrilled to have Austin back on the show to talk about his experience interviewing Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestant thinkers over the past year of doing his YouTube channel in earnest – a channel that’s grown to nearly 40,000 subscribers, I might add.

Austin was honest, open, and humble about his journey thus far and we had a great conversation about it. Austin’s a good friend, and this is more like a eavesdrop on a conversation between two pals. I hope you enjoy it.

To listen to this episode click here.

132: Truth, Beauty, and Catholic Conversion (w/ Tsh Oxenreider)

OK, so I’m a fan of Tsh Oxenreider and when she posted one of my interviews on Twitter along with a remark like, “This would’ve probably offended me but now so much of this story resonates…” I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. I had no idea that Tsh listened to the show, or that she’d converted to Catholicism.

As you can imagine, I was thrilled to have her on as a guest.

This conversation will certainly go down as one of my favourites this year and was also one of our most popular–and I barely said a word! This is exactly how I prefer it. Instead, Tsh spread out a wonderful table full of stories of her adventures, her faith journey, and her ultimate conversion through the beauty and truth of Christ into His Catholic Church.

It was such a privilege and I hope you enjoy it.

To listen to this episode click here.

099: The Unintended Consequences of the Reformation (w/ Dr. Brad Gregory)

Some interviews feel like a fluke.

After managing to have a fantastic conversation with Dr. Brad Gregory on the Reformation and its long-lasting consequences on Christianity and the modern world I realized that Dr. Gregory really doesn’t do interviews – how lucky am I!

One of our most popular interviews of the year and one that I continue to return to, over and over again, in helping me to frame my interactions with Protestant Christians, Dr. Gregory takes us on a wild ride through the time, place, and piety of the Middle Ages and exact what contributed to the Protestant Reformation – good and bad – and then, in the same breath, exactly what the tragic consequences have been for the Christian Church, now torn asunder.

Dr. Gregory is such a fantastic guest; he speaks so well and so clear on this subject and truly brings so much light to help us understand the history of our faith, and how to frame our thinking about the present, too. I hope you enjoy this episode.

To listen to this episode click here.

115: How the Bible Made an Evangelical Seminary Professor a Catholic (w/ Dr. Douglas Beaumont)

Doug has been a good friend of mine ever since I e-mailed him, out of the blue, to ask him to be on my podcast. That was episode number 3 or 4 and, well, let’s just say it was pretty rough. But Dr. Beaumont’s book, Evangelical Exodus, had been absolutely formative in my own conversion and I knew I needed to talk to him as I was getting my podcast off the ground.

Doug was happy to oblige.

We’ve never looked back.

In this popular episode, Dr. Beaumont joins me to talk about his own conversion story. How he went from being a dyed-in-the-wool Evangelical seminary professor, teaching at one of the top seminaries in the US, to resigning his position and becoming a Roman Catholic.

It’s a great conversation told by a great storyteller about why digging deeply into the origins of the Bible and the Early Church made someone absolutely serious about their Evangelical faith question its fundamentals–its very foundations–and change his mind so completely.

To listen to this episode click here.

108: The Eucharist and the Early Church (w/ Dr. Kenneth Howell)

I’ve been an enormous fan of Dr. Kenneth Howell since before I was Catholic. In fact, it was through watching some of his lectures at conferences, preserved on YouTube, that I began to first ask some of those early questions about Catholicism.

In this episode, I was so thrilled to sit down with one of my heroes and talk about the Eucharist as understood by the very first Christians.

Dr. Howell doesn’t Minch words. Those that think the Eucharist – as the real body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ – isn’t evident in the Early Church are flat out wrong. So says Dr. Howell, and he has the experience and evidence to back up his claims.

This was such a great interview if you’re interested in a deep dive into how the first Christians worshipped and understood their faith–and just how Catholic their experience was.

To listen to this episode click here.

Honourable Mention: The One Question That Made Me Catholic

Here’s the God’s honest truth. After being convinced by a couple of good friends – Keith Nester and Austin Suggs – to begin to record my interviews not only for podcast but for release on YouTube as well I went out and bought some studio lights with the modest savings I had. I needed to test out the lights, and my cheap webcam, so I set them up and hit record. I didn’t even know what I was going to say.

The result? One of the most popular videos on our YouTube channel to date.

In this video, I talk about the Protestant pastor who first got me interested in exploring Catholicism and the fateful question he asked me which got the whole thing started. It’s me, speaking right from the heart, about the heart of my journey – and apparently people like to listen.

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Thanks for listening, watching, and have a fantastic New Year.