After an eighteen month absence, Shawn gives an update on their lives and solicits prayers for their future endeavors (both personally and missionally).

Shawn has a conversation with one of his new church members, Lori Day, who, along with her husband, Weston, showed up to his church a year ago, after making an unlikely move from Texas to Maine to join up with God's mission. Listen in as Lori shares her journey from atheism to grace, and from Texas to Maine.

Shawn interviews a long-time friend he's known since childhood - a friend from the boonies of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada, where Shawn's family has a vacation home. Jimmy tells his remarkable story of coming to Christ - going from a context where there are very few Christians, and mostly just Catholics if anyone is, to one that is learning what it means to follow Jesus. 

Shawn shares about an experience he had recently doing a sort of "public" evangelistic meeting, asking if it was, perhaps, the most successful one ever conducted. Of course, there is a twist to the whole experience, and he asks the question a little tongue-in-cheek.

Don't be too scandalized by the title: Shawn unpacks some recent realizations he's had about how to look at the idea of disciple-making. When understood in this way, he proposes it has a chance to elevate its significance. To subscribe to his new weekly newsletter, Reimagining Faith, go to shawnbrace.substack.com.

After a long, long hiatus, Shawn drops by with an update and a promise of future episodes.

Shawn has a really stimulating conversation with Pastor Kessia Reyne Bennett, pastor for discipleship at the College View Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, as they talk about her journey into faith, the community that drew her in, and whether or not we have to convert people to modernism in order to convert them to Christianity. 

Shawn has a conversation with his new pal Kevin, who became an overnight TikTok star, reflecting on what that's been like personally and missionally - and how it relates to incarnational ministry. 

Shawn has a conversation with his old friend Chad Stuart, pastor of the Spencerville Seventh-day Adventist Church, which is a large "institutional church" in Maryland. Chad talks about transitioning his church to focus on small groups, and what it's been like to do it with his whole family, prioritizing his children.

The title is pretty self-explanatory: as a part of a major recruitment effort, where Shawn's church is trying to bring in 5-10 families to help with their missional work, Shawn provides seven reasons why you should consider moving to Bangor!

We do something different: we cross-post an interview that Shawn was on the receiving end of a while back on a podcast called Disruptive Adventism. Though much of the content will probably sound like much of what we've shared on this podcast in the past, having someone else interview Shawn elicited a slightly different take than what we've heard before. Listen in as Jose Briones grills Shawn on what it means to be missional.

Shawn has a conversation with his friend and one-time parishioner Mike Brown to discuss his journey out of drug-dealing and into faith, and the insidious nature of shame-based discipleship. They talk about the power of going through the 12 steps, and how remembering our identity in Christ is crucial for the life of faith.

Shawn looks back at ten years of ministering in Bangor, five years of being on mission, and 100 episodes of the podcast, and shares his favorite and most meaningful missional memories.

A few months ago when Shawn was wrestling with how to take his church to the next level and develop leaders, he suddenly realized he had a great resource within his own congregation: a young, energetic, successful entrepreneur who has started multiple businesses. So he chats with friend and church member Courtney Wetzel, who launched into business ownership at age 23, to talk about how to lead with a compelling mission and how to develop leaders.

Shawn sits down with his good friend, Pastor Nathan Stearman, to talk about Nathan's journey from guilt-driven discipleship to gospel-centered discipleship. Nathan shares his story - about his upbringing, about stepping into the glorious light of the gospel, and about how the gospel has changed the way he treats his dog.

Have you ever thought about the possibility that one of your primary callings in life is to serve as the chaplain of your neighborhood? What would that look like and mean? Shawn shares some stories and reflections on this critical part of mission and life.

Combining a Greek and Latin word, Shawn reflects on what we are really inviting people into when we share with them the story of Jesus. In short, we're not inviting them into an idea or a theology or into propositional truth; we're inviting them into the community of God, in all its embodied and messy beauty. 

Shawn talks about what he does for his personal prayer and Scripture time. He makes sure to point out that he is not prescribing anything, but simply talking about what his journey has looked like, while noting that having an active and vibrant connection to Christ is critical for discipleship.

How should the church relate to the LGBT community? For some, the answer may be obvious. But Shawn has a conversation with his friend Elijah, who identifies as a gay Christian, and they talk about how he has faced this question, and what it's like to grow up always feeling different. They talk about how the church has done when it comes to the LGBT community, and what it can do better. This is a conversation that has been long overdue, but obviously requires great sensitivity and care. Note: the views expressed in this episode are solely the views of the Shawn and Elijah and do not necessarily speak for the Seventh-day Adventist Church as a whole.

Shawn has a conversation with his friend David Hamstra, who is a pastor in Edmonton, Alberta, and a ThD student at Andrews University. They talk about living in and ministering to a secular age, how to reach people in such a context, what it means to focus on immanent versus transcendent goods, and what this means for various aspects of life, including sexuality.