• Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley
• Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost
• Something Gold Has Come by Cody Adams

The end of the episode includes a scored excerpt from the beginning of Rickrode's newest book, The Mountains May Depart, a novel about grief, prayer, and forgiveness set in Missoula, Montana. Rickrode calls this a "scored" story because he's paired the passage with original music he wrote to accompany the text. At the start of The Mountains May Depart a year has passed since Dan and Sarah lost their young son in a car accident caused by Sarah. Sarah is thinking about leaving Dan, Dan is struggling to figure how he and Sarah can begin to reconnect. In this excerpt Sarah pretends to be asleep while Dan gets dressed to go jogging, then she gets out of bed and opens her prayer book. God feels distant but she prays anyway.

Matthew J. Andrews is primarily a poet, although he dabbles in prose. In his work, Matthew examines the intersection of the spiritual and the secular, the wrestling match between belief and doubt, and the challenges of practicing an ancient faith in a modern world. His writing also explores the many faces of the natural world and the sacredness of small moments, among other things. He is a native Californian now living in Central Iowa. 

When he is not writing, Matthew is a professional private investigator, a voracious reader, an amateur chef, a wannabe outdoorsman, a sometimes runner, a doting husband, and a competent father of two. 

• All Shall Be Well by Good Shepherd Collective
• Fantastic Four: First Steps
• Haunted Cosmos
• The Lord of Spirits

We have the pilot episode of Forefront Sounds in the Forefront 360 feed today. To hear future episodes of Forefront Sounds, subscribe to the new show on your favorite podcast app.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/forefront-sounds/id1841123765

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/44qQUdAuJOi9U2wZ1GFT2X

• Art for Ukraine benefit event on June 6 at Browncroft Community Church. Admission is free. RSVP here.
• Bombadil: A Four-Week Study of Vocation, Calling, and Mastery. Sign up here.

Matthew Mellema is the author of RED REX (Bandersnatch Books). He was born and raised in Colorado Springs: a place surrounded by dinosaur bones. After studying literature at Oxford and law at Yale, Matthew returned to Colorado. Once back home, the dinosaur bones of his childhood reignited his imagination.

• Polaroid Lovers by Sarah Jarosz
• Dr. Who
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
• Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
• As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again by The Decemberists

The first 30 minutes of the episode are spoiler-free, then we dive into plot details.

• 00:00 - Introduction
• 03:33 - What artistic mediums are you used to seeing in worship services?
• 13:40 - Why do many churches emphasize music over every other art form?
• 21:40 - A brief history of images & icons in church 
• 40:09 - Should we expand our understanding of what "worship" means in the gathered church? 
• 01:00:19 - Are there limits to the mediums or styles of art that would be appropriate in a church space (outside of corporate worship)?

Rev. Dr. David Kim is the CEO and co-founder of Goldenwood. Over the past several decades, he has trained, consulted, and counseled hundreds of leaders and organizations in developing a robust integration of faith and work. David’s past roles include Executive Director of the Center for Faith & Work, Director of the Gotham Fellowship, and editor of the NIV Faith and Work Bible. He was also our keynote speaker at Forefront Festival 22.

Amilee Watkins is the COO and co-founder of Goldenwood. Her work in the faith and work space has spanned over a decade, focusing on leadership development and spiritual formation at the Center for Faith & Work, and helping lead the Gotham Fellowship program.

Ilana Reimer is the editor of Love Is Moving. She studied journalism at Algonquin College and has worked as a freelance journalist and book editor since 2015. Her essays, poetry, and articles have appeared in a number of publications including Ekstasis, Breaking Ground, Faith Today, and Mutuality. In 2022, she was named a Cardus NextGEN Fellow. Ilana is passionate about championing and equipping Christian creators, believing they can be voices of influence, prophecy, and wisdom in our culture. She lives in Vancouver with her husband.

• 02:47 - Spoiler-free reactions
• 23:23 - Spoilers begin
• 28:43 - Paul's character journey
• 34:30 - Faith & politics in Dune
• 48:57 - Questions & nitpicks
• 01:12:51 - Chani's character journey
• 01:19:47 - Closing thoughts

• Neutral Milk Hotel, esp. The King of Carrot Flowers
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in Turkish
• Kings Kaleidoscope by Kings Kaleidoscope

We also mention Zack's article on the Forefront blog, "Jesus etc."

Spoiler alert; here are the ones that made the draft list at the end:

• Pride and Prejudice
• Little Women
• Treasure Island
• The Grapes of Wrath
• The Lord of the Rings
• A Tale of Two Cities
• The Metamorphosis 
• The Odyssey
• Things Fall Apart
• The Count of Monte Cristo
• Anna Karenina
• The Joy Luck Club
• The Great Gatsby 
• Charlotte's Web
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

• Sacred Strides book by Justin McRoberts
• The Bear TV series
• The Boy and the Heron film
• Memories in Old Age poem by Maryann Corbett

If you'd like to try Hallow free for 3 months: Hallow.com/Forefront

We cover what Narnia means to us personally, whether Narnia is for kids, whether we like the "allegorical" elements of the Chronicles, what adaptations we like and dislike, what we hope for the Netflix adaptations, and of course, our favorite passages from the books.

We're doing it on this occasion because the podcast Pints with Jack has established C.S. Lewis's birthday, November 29, as "C.S. Lewis Reading Day." It's the perfect day to talk about Narnia, and the perfect day to pick up the books for yourself!

Veronica McDonald is a published fiction writer, poet, visual artist, and editor. She graduated from American University in Washington D.C. with an M.A. Degree in Literature, and has since accumulated a growing list of published work.

In 2019, Veronica started a literary and art journal called Heart of Flesh, where she publishes Christian-themed literature, poetry, art, and photography by writers and artists from around the world. In 2021, she began a literary magazine for kids and families, called Pure in Heart Stories.

Veronica became a born-again Christian in July 2016 when Jesus saved her from anxiety, depression, and a nihilistic worldview.  Since then, she has been fascinated with good and evil, love and fear, life and death, and the various ways the Gospel and biblical themes shine out of secular literature, movies, and storytelling. This fascination is often reflected in her writing and art. You can read her full testimony on the Heart of Flesh website here.

Veronica currently lives in Mobile, Alabama with her husband and three children.

• Anastasia Trusova's paintings
• The Hallow app
• Brother to Brother by Michael Card & John Michael Talbot
• Ordinary Ways by Jon Guerra

• 00:04:23 - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
• 00:12:46 - Across the Spider-Verse
• 00:20:25 - John Wick 4
• 00:26:28 - The Flash
• 00:31:44 - Asteroid City
• 00:34:06 - Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
• 00:45:11 - Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning: Part One
• 00:49:55 - Barbie
• 01:02:38 - Oppenheimer

• How will widely accessible AI tools affect education?
• To what extent will AI displace jobs, and should we be concerned?
• Will using AI negatively affect our spiritual formation?

• Why has AI become so important recently?
• What are some positive use cases of new AI tools?
• What are our biggest concerns about the use of AI in the arts?

Karen Swallow Prior, Ph. D., is a reader, writer, and professor. In addition to The Evangelical Imagination, she is the author of On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books (Brazos 2018); Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More—Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist (Thomas Nelson, 2014); and Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me (T. S. Poetry Press, 2012). She is co-editor of Cultural Engagement: A Crash Course in Contemporary Issues (Zondervan 2019) and has contributed to numerous other books. She has a monthly column for Religion News Service. Her writing has appeared at Christianity Today, New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, First Things, Vox, Think Christian, The Gospel Coalition, and various other places. She hosted the podcast Jane and Jesus. 

Topics include:

• How The Chosen came to be
• Does it improve upon other recent Scripture-to-screen adaptations?
• Favorite scenes
• Is the show ever sacrilegious?
• Does The Chosen "bring Scripture to life"?
• Bonus nitpicks

She is the author of Butterfly Nebula (Backwaters, University of Nebraska Press, forthcoming October 2023), winner of the Backwaters Prize in Poetry, Litany of Flights (Paraclete Press, 2020), winner of the Paraclete Poetry Prize, the chapbook O Garden-Dweller (Finishing Line Press, 2017), and the award-winning nonfiction spiritual theology book I Live, No Longer I (Wipf & Stock, 2017). She is one of ten poets featured in the anthology In a Strange Land (Cascade Books, 2019).

You can preorder Butterfly Nebula today.

• Grand Opening Exhibition at Rehs Contemporary in NYC, April 28
• Forefront Festival: A Night of Art with Josh & Zac Tiessen in Rochester NY, May 4

James Matthew Wilson is Cullen Foundation Chair in English Literature and the Founding Director of the Master of Fine Arts program in Creative Writing, at the University of Saint Thomas, Houston. He is an award-winning scholar of philosophical-theology and literature, and he is a poet and critic of contemporary poetry. His work appears regularly in First Things,  The Wall Street Journal​, The Hudson Review, and many other publications. He has published twelve books, including six books and chapbooks of poetry.

James K. A. Smith is professor of philosophy at Calvin University, where he holds the Gary & Henrietta Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology and Worldview. He is also the Editor in Chief of Image Journal. Trained as a philosopher with a focus on contemporary French thought, Smith has expanded on that scholarly platform to become an engaged public intellectual and cultural critic. An award-winning author and a widely traveled speaker, he has emerged as a thought leader with a unique gift of translation, building bridges between the academy, society, and the church. 

In this conversation we discuss a number of topics at the intersection of Christianity, philosophy, and the arts, with a focus on James's new book, How to Inhabit Time: Understanding the Past, Facing the Future, Living Faithfully Now.

Paul J. Pastor is a poet, writer, and editor from Oregon. His work uncovers the inner life of the world, as experienced in nature, literature, and the rich traditions of historic Christian spirituality.

Paul is the author of several books, including Bower Lodge: Poems, A Kids Book About God, The Listening Day series, and The Face of the Deep. His work has been widely published in many fine outlets, including Books & Culture, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Windhover, Christianity Today, Fathom, Ekstasis, Solum Literary Press, and has been anthologized by The New York Quarterly Review.

Act II features these artists:

• The Kenaniah Project
• Kathryn Sullo
• The Houghton Choir

Join us as we celebrate Christmas together.

Act I features these artists:

• M. Jerome Bell
• Sarah Collins
• The Houghton Choir

Join us as we celebrate Christmas together.

Jared C. Wilson is Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Author in Residence at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, General Editor of For The Church (and host of the FTC Podcast), and a pastor and Director of The Pastoral Training Center at Liberty Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri. He is an award-winning author of over 20 books. Jared also co-hosts The Art of Pastoring Podcast published by Christianity Today.

Glenn Arbery is a teacher, writer, and novelist currently working as the president of Wyoming Catholic College. Some of his famous works include the oft taught Why Literature Matters; What is a Teacher; and his recent novel, Boundaries of Eden. He has successfully written journalistically, academically, and creatively for decades, to the glory of God. 

In Skipping Stones, Ryan writes about many things, long-dead saints, personal tragedy, everyday observations, and the nature of prayer. But what connects this collection is Ryan's desire for a transcendent experience. His vivid and story-driven poems create a secondary world for the reader to explore, worlds in which belief is possible and the divine looms large. For Ryan, "the Christian poet, and storyteller as well, is like the blind man whom Christ touched," and poetry "an invitation to deeper and stranger visions."

Gregory Wolfe is a writer, editor, publisher, and teacher. He has been a pioneer in the resurgence of interest in the relationship between art and religion. He is the founder & editor of Slant Books, which is an independent, not-for-profit literary press. In 1989, Wolfe founded Image, which Annie Dillard has called “one of the best journals on the planet.” Now one of America’s top literary quarterlies, Image is a unique forum for the best writing and artwork that is informed by—or grapples with—religious faith. 

• 00:02:44 Ring 1: General Reactions (Spoiler-Free)
• 00:38:41 Ring 2: Specific Reactions (Spoilers for Season 1)
  • 00:43:21 The Harfoots & the Stranger
  • 00:49:28 Galadriel, Halbrand and Numenor
  • 01:20:43 The Southlands
  • 01:28:37 Elves and Dwarves
  • 01:37:07 Favorite Characters
  • 01:40:22 Favorite Scenes
• 01:51:02 Ring 3: Speculation on the Future of the Series
  • 01:57:35 Closing Thoughts

Caroline is a Sony Artisan of Imagery and a creative artist. While she adores making all sorts of photographic art, her biggest passion is guiding other people to success, whatever that may be. 

Caroline's images strive to always take one step out of reality, be that digital painting, moving photos (cinemagraphs, time-lapse, or stop-motion), or creative editing. Photography can be therapeutic in many ways, and making the connection between this art form and stress relief is a huge part of her work.

To learn more from Caroline, check out the Creative Photography Network!

As artists, we are always in the act of formation: crafting sentences, mixing colors, shaping sounds, cultivating audiences. But as we practice our disciplines, how are we being formed? Taught by Andrew Nemr, an internationally renowned tap dance artist & TED fellow, this course will consider the link between our art practices and who we are becoming as we create. Sessions will include discussion on spiritual formation and disciplines, artistic practices in both personal and professional spheres, and draw from authors such as Dallas Willard and Makoto Fujimura. It is our hope that in considering how we are formed by our art making, we will be formed into the likeness of our loving Creator.

Learn more at ForefrontFestival.com and register starting August 30.

• 02:19 - When Did You Start Watching Stranger Things?
• 05:59 - What Made Stranger Things Successful?
• 20:08 - Spoilers Begin / What Did You Think of Season 4?
• 28:14 - Should Everyone Watch Stranger Things?
• 34:56 - Biblical Themes in Stranger Things
• 01:02:09 - Favorite Character / Which Song Would You Play?

Sarah Collins is a copywriter, poet, and emerging author. Sarah's writing style is fluid, flexing between different writer identities. And her work explores a variety of themes — faith, identity, emotions, nature, the mundane, the extraordinary. Her parents are from Jamaica, so she's proud of being a second-generation American. Her culture informs everything she does, from her creative expression to how she cleans the kitchen or folds fitted sheets. She lives in the Greater Rochester Area with her husband Ed and their sassy house rabbits, Buddy and Birdie.

Would you like to be the next guest on Forefront 360? Just head over to the Get Involved page and fill out the short form.

Outline:

• 2:02 Topic intro
• 4:42 What are the elements a story continuation really needs?
• 9:14 Spoiler-filled review of Spider-Man: No Way Home
• 22:51 Stories you never thought could happen
• 29:18 What is a story that has been continued that should not have been?
• 42:58 What is a story that has not been continued that should have been?
• 51:14 Stories that are written to be contained
• 53:53 What currently announced story continuation are you most excited about?
• 1:00:15 Why do we refuse to let go of certain stories?

From delicate acoustic songs to jazz and hip-hop infused pop, Jonathan crafts musical soundscapes that invite the listener on a journey. With a background in graphic design, he is passionate about exploring the intersection of visual art and music to form a complete experience. Describing his songs as ‘prayers set to music’ he expresses his faith through psalm-like lyrics and sweeping, melodic instrumentation. Following the release of his beat tape, Twenty Four, and an acoustic EP, Songs From Home, Jonathan is now releasing singles and working towards his first full-length album, Future Forever.

Check out Jonathan's work:

• Jonathan Ogden Music
• Magnify Studio
• Sencha
• Rivers & Robots

Learn More / Get Tickets

Help crowdfund Tim's next album at kickstartleaven.com.

Come see Tim (and many other incredible artists) at Forefront Festival 2022.

In this Act:

• Music from Victoria Moore's jazz combo
• A non-fiction story from Kyle Navratil
• Music from Timothy Leaven

Plus, conversations with the artists about why Christmas still gives us hope.

In this Act:

• Music from The Noble Kind
• Music from Cottage Street Band
• Poetry from Ryan Diaz
• Music from Victoria Moore's jazz combo
• A short story from Cody Schweickert

Plus, conversations with the artists about why Christmas still gives us hope.

In the episode we also mention Eva's new nonprofit, Here to Honor, and the video Nate produced for Goldenwood that features Eva.

Ryan Diaz is a writer, poet, and theologian from Queens, NY. He holds a BA in History from St. Johns University and is completing a MA in Biblical Studies. His writing has appeared in publications like Transcendentals, Dappled Things, Ekstasis, and Premier Christianity. His first poetry book, For Those Wandering Along the Way, debuted in 2021.

Ryan’s poetic work seeks to find the divine in the ordinary, the thin place where the transcendent and the mundane meet. His academic interests include the literature of J.R.R. Tolkien and the Inklings, the Christian Mystical tradition, and the relationship between Art and Faith. He currently lives in Queens, NY with his wife Janiece.

Mike McDonald works on cultivating awareness and creating strategic relationships with churches, organizations and other non-profits that are looking to use BibleProject Videos in their context. He also leads their Global Focus team which is working on localizing their videos into different languages. He previously spent 11 years leading a global development organization as well as serving on several boards for international organizations with compassion and justice missions. In a previous life, he owned and operated restaurants in Canada and the US, and still loves enjoying a great meal in new cities with his wife, Melissa.

Jessica Hooten Wilson is the Louise Cowan Scholar in Residence at the University of Dallas. She is the author of Giving the Devil his Due: Flannery O’Connor and The Brothers Karamazov, which received a 2018 Christianity Today Book of the Year Award in the Culture & the Arts; as well as two books on Walker Percy: The Search for Influence: Walker Percy and Fyodor Dostoevsky (Ohio State University Press, 2017) and Reading Walker Percy’s Novels (Louisiana State University Press, 2018); most recently she co-edited Solzhenitsyn and American Culture: The Russian Soul in the West(University of Notre Dame Press, 2020). She has received numerous fellowships, grants, and awards, including a Fulbright Fellowship to the Czech Republic, an NEH grant to study Dante in Florence in 2014, and the Biola Center for Christian Thought sabbatical fellowship.  In 2018 she received the Emerging Public Intellectual Award given by a coalition of North American think tanks in collaboration with the Centre for Christian Scholarship at Redeemer University College, and in 2019 she received the Hiett Prize in Humanities from The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture.

Jessica has two books releasing in 2022, which you can preorder today: The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints and Learning the Good Life: Wisdom from the Great Hearts and Minds that Came Before.

Zac Tiessen is an international award-winning musician, composer and audio engineer based near Toronto, Canada. His innovative techniques and cinematic progressive music have been featured numerous times in the media and press (Guitar World Magazine, Toronto Star). Tiessen has been awarded multiple FACTOR Canada music grants for his original compositions as a solo artist. In addition to his two solo EPs and debut full-length original soundtrack album "Streams In The Wasteland," his composing credits include music for Netflix and Ubisoft (Playstation/Xbox). Endorsed by six guitar companies, including Canton Custom Instruments, Tiessen co-designed and released his signature eight string Canton electric guitar. He studied music theory, guitar performance, production (mixing/mastering) and film scoring through UCLA and Berklee College of Music, where he was awarded a Celebrity Scholarship from Grammy-winning producer Don Was. Working out of ZT Music Studio, Tiessen has engineered thousands of songs for other bands and artists from over 45 countries, including Billboard charting albums, with millions of views and streams online.

Songs for Revival was born in January 2020 during a trip to Guatemala. Adam was unsure of his next steps after college, but he had recently begun writing music for the first time. He was inspired by the words of the Gospel of Luke, and by January 2020, he'd written 17 of the 20 songs of what would become the first album, It Is Finished.

Songs for Revival consists of six members: Adam Bannister, Brooke Bannister, Katie Shaw Ficker, Giovanna Johnson, Mollie Landman, and Peter Stauffer. Over the past year they have continued to write and share their music and see the Lord bring healing, joy, and revival through the singing of His Word. They will be releasing an album telling the story of Moses later this fall.

Learn more about the band at: songsforrevival.com

Born in 1995 in Moscow, Russia, Josh Tiessen is an international award-winning artist based near Toronto, Ontario, Canada, He was listed as one of the world’s top ten prodigy artists (Huffington Post) and recognized as the only known male art prodigy in North America (Dr. J. Ruthsatz, international child prodigy expert). His hyperreal shaped oil paintings, which take up to 1700 hours to complete, reflect the interaction between the natural world and human-made structures, drawing upon his studies in philosophy, theology and intercultural aesthetics.

Click here to learn about or preorder Josh's new book, Streams in the Wasteland.

In this special podcast episode, listen to the conversation that Forefront director Nate Mancini had with Andrew about what it means to find our identity.

In this episode, Cody and Peter discuss what it means to look at the Bible as literature instead of as a purely descriptive or scientific text. If the Bible is art, how does that change how we read it, and how will it change our relationship with God?

Subscribe to Forefront 360 in your favorite podcast app so you don't miss future episodes, and be sure to join the conversation on Instagram!

We invite you to enjoy this multi-layered conversation about faith, artistry, and identity.

Forefront leaders Nate Mancini and Rich Christman had the opportunity to speak with renowned artist Makoto Fujimura about the intersection of art and faith. In this far-reaching conversation, they talk about Mako’s routines & practices, his slow process of creation, how artists can bring God’s abundance to a world of scarcity, and ultimately, how Christ is deeply present in our experiences of darkness & trauma. 

As a special bonus, we conclude with some audience questions from artists like singer/songwriter Sandra McCracken and tap dancer Andrew Nemr.

Makoto Fujimura (b. 1960, Boston) is a leading contemporary artist whose process driven, refractive “slow art” has been described by David Brooks of New York Times as “a small rebellion against the quickening of time”. 

Fujimura’s art has been featured widely in galleries and museums around the world, and is collected by notable collections including The Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, The Huntington Library as well as Tikotin Museum in Israel. 

Fujimura is also an arts advocate, writer, and speaker who is recognized worldwide as a cultural influencer. A Presidential appointee to the National Council on the Arts from 2003-2009, Fujimura served as an international advocate for the arts, speaking with decision makers and advising governmental policies on the arts.

Fujimura founded the International Arts Movement in 1992, now IAMCultureCare, which oversees the Fujimura Institute. Most recently, he co-founded the Kintsugi Academy.

We are honored to share this special interview.

• Nate reads a passage from East of Eden by John Steinbeck
• Zack discusses music by Brenna MacCrimmon and Selim Sesler
• Rich reviews "Shore" by Fleet Foxes

0:00 - introduction

3:15 - thoughts on the theatrical experience

14:23 - spoiler review of Tenet

44:42 - Nolan's filmography