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August 2017

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1)      Podcasting is a big deal, especially with young people.

From their start in 2003, podcasts have become the fastest growing media in the United States. In 2016, 40% of all Americans had listened to a podcast, 25% listen to a podcast at least monthly, and half of all those listeners are between the ages of 12-34.

2)      Podcasting build relationships faster than print does.

I talked with an author who told me that for publishers, 5000 monthly listeners are worth the same as 50,000 monthly readers on a blog. The average listener hears five podcast episodes in part or in their entirety every week. That level of engagement allows you to quickly build community with whomever you reach.

3)      Podcasting is effortlessly versatile.

Want to post sermons? Conduct interviews with religious leaders or ordinary church people? Highlight community-created poetry or music? Share your own thoughts on current events? Anything that can be recorded can be posted easily, depending on your goals.

4)      Podcasting is cheaper than you think.

My near-professional setup cost about $150 for a microphone, studio headphones, and the world’s tiniest sound booth, plus $12 a month for a podcast hosting service that connects it to Itunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and my website.  You can edit on any average laptop and there is powerful free sound editing software that provides easy post-production polish.

5)      Podcasting is easier that you think.

Yes, there is absolutely a learning curve at the beginning. However, if you are willing to pay attention to how you setup your recording space, getting an acceptable sounding podcast doesn’t take much time, especially if you don’t need a lot of bells and whistles. My podcast, which involves theme music, separately recorded intros and credits, mixing, and editing, takes me about two hours of editing time per episode.

Want hands-on help setting up a successful podcast for your church, ministry, or creative work? I’m teaching an eight-week, hands-on apprenticeship that will take you from the basics of sound editing, to learning how to conduct interviews, to launching your own podcast, starting in September. It’s called “Podcasting and the Art of Sacred Listening”, and if you register before Labor Day, you can get a $50 discount by entering the code “PODCAST2” when you check out.

Register at https://www.academymwf.com/browse/journey/courses/podcast

 

Join us for a conversation with Christy Dirren, church planter in Portland, Oregon as she shares with us the story of the life of Crossbridge, the community which she planted. Hear her share about how failure means “learning a new way that something didn’t work”, shares several beautiful moments and stories, and talks about quitting gracefully.

You can find all our episodes via your favorite podcast delivery service or by going to our facebook page: www.facebook.com/reportsfromthespiritualfrontier.

 

How do you ask for healing?

There are a thousand ways.

With a hand quickly raised.

With a name, an intention,

With a printed drop of water bobbing in an ocean,

With a song and a choir of candles,

With a cry

With a plea.

 

How do you ask for healing?

With carefully constructed provisos and well-built justifications,

With scriptures like weapons of war and theologies that could storm battlements

With tearful bargains and promises,

With fears under rugs and questions gagged like prisoners.

 

And then we hear yes; and rejoice with unbelieving surprise

Or hear no, and weep in stunned silence,

Or hear nothing, and listen for the echoes of our prayer in an uncaring darkness.

 

How do I ask for healing?

When I have rejoiced, and wept, and listened,

As my body shakes and trembles

And my mind stumbles in deep mists;

 

How do I ask for healing?

When I am betrayed by flesh that is either 33 or 92,

When I lie imprisoned on my bed,

Listening to the sounds of my wife and my boy beyond the bars,

Each gift and green thing repossessed,

Until I am a spectator to my own life.

 

How do we ask for healing?

If not as conquerors demanding tribute from subjugated gods,

If not as lawyers presenting cases before bored judges,

If not as con-men who turn each “no” into a “yes”?

 

How do we ask for healing?

We ask like centurions at the end of their power;

Lepers who have forgotten even hope,

Cripples who cannot bathe in water an arms-reach away.

 

How do we ask for healing?

We ask not like kings, but like beggars,

Not like queens, but like divine panhandlers,

Holding up signs as cars drive by,

Knowing that every real “yes” and “no” must come from anothers lips.

 

And then – almost unknowing,

We fall into the mystery of love;

Which cannot always heal, but can always hold,

As it trickles through the cracks of a broken world.

 

For it is then,

When  broken, despairing, and blind,

We stumble into arms that embrace us when we say,

“I am not worthy for you to come under my roof,

But say the words and I will be healed.”

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