It's Advent, one of our favorite seasons of the liturgical year! In episode 30, Josh and Drew discuss some of their family Christmas traditions, including boxing matches and brass band caroling. We open up the conversation with some of our TTF Twitter follower's questions about the Lord of the Rings movies and our thoughts on the Exodus movie (we haven't seen it...), and then move into our Advent conversation.. With some of our nation's current events in view, we discuss what it means to anticipate the coming of Jesus and the justice of the Kingdom as a people in process. We also talk about the call to readiness during the Advent season and what it means in our day and time to be prepared for the return of Christ. Josh and Drew also close the episode by sharing some of their gift ideas for you last-minute Christmas shoppers.

In the final Threshing Floor episode featuring content from the New Room Conference, The Threshing Floor offers closing thoughts about the conference with a live audience.

If you have ever been curious what a random conversation with Drew, Joshua and Chad is like...then this is your episode. We get feedback from multiple other folks at the conference about the best learning moments at the conference. 

Plus, plenty of great banter and we finally let Joshua sing the majority of Usher's hit "Yeah" and Chad tells a story about eating horse. 

Mentioned:
Productive Pastor Interview with Justin Wise on Call, Hustle and Why Goals Matter

At the recent New Room Conference, the Threshing Floor had a chance to spend time with Alan and Deb Hirsch. It was a great time. Drew and Joshua managed to sit down and interview the Hirsch family. 

In addition to our interview, this episode features discussion about Patrick Swayze, Drew going to see Garth Brooks and Chad's most recent embarrassing musical declaration. 

We finish out our interview with a conversation about the future of the missional church. 

Have you ever served in Youth Ministry?  In this episode Drew interviews Jeremy Steele, author of Reclaiming the Lost Soul of Youth Ministry and serves as the head of Youth Ministry Collective.

We also talk about crazy youth ministry stories, talent shows, Christian rap battles,  should Chad shave his beard and Joshua no longer is known as the singing host…and the infamous Asbury Ale 8 One Whassup.

We are giving away 2 copies of Jeremy’s latest book. You can win one by sharing a youth ministry story and use the #hashtag #TTFshebear.

For the final installment in our series on Left  Behind our hosts talk about the best and worst parts of the Movie, rap about hanging out in hardware stores, Christian movies and do we go to heaven in our underwear?

We go through some user mail and talk with Joshua about his singing.

In the final part of the episode, Chad interviews Omar Rikabi about his upcoming seedbed resource on Left Behind theology and how it affects all of us.

For the very first time, The Threshing Floor has a topic so wild it deserves a two part episode! In this first part, our hosts break down their own latent fears of being Left Behind, some Eschatological Terminology and their own memories of crazy church end of the world culture in the 1980's.

Chad also decides how much it is worth him hugging a fish, we do some reader mail and debate the best/worst (because seriously...they are the same thing) Nicholas Cage movies.

On this episode of the Threshing Floor our hosts are live at the New Room conference. We share about the first day with Ed Stetzer and Alan and Deb Hirsch. We also go through a TON of listener tweets. We finish up with a listener question (via video) about social media and ministry.

We look forward to sharing day 2 with you in two weeks.

In this episode of The Threshing Floor, our three hosts talk about something important to each of them. Throughout the history of the Church, healing and healing ministry has played an important role. In the 21st century, healing can get a bad rap or just disappear  in a general state of confusion.

Joshua, Drew and Chad share about the ontological necessity of healing and what role healing plays in our sanctification. They also talk about the different roles of healing in the life of believers as well as the difference between healing and coping.

As always, we get things off with a totally out there conversation. Joshua talks about Michael Jordan, Chad shares how his greatest fear came into reality and Drew talks about a recent trip to Guatemala. We also bat around the idea of Threshing Floor Bingo and what would make it on the card.

In this episode of The Threshing Floor our hosts turn to a conversation on the hearts of many people today, The Middle East. We focus our conversation on having a heart for people outside of our world and what it means to cultivate a reality of living with a global mindset.

We also go through some twitter mail, share more about apocalyptic sidekicks, give reasons why we love vinyl records and go on an tangent about the matrix.

Resources Mentioned:
Standing in the shadow of the priest.
Omar Hamid Al-Rikabi

In the 21st episode of the Threshing Floor our hosts talk about some old favorites and discuss the effects of season of life and seasons of ministry.

We also talk about the new Mad Max Fury Road Trailer, why post-apocalyptic stories are popular right now and what sidekick they would each pick to live in a post-apocalyptic world.

Resources Mentioned:
Pagan Christianity? Frank Viola and George BarnaChrist in Culture H. Richard Niebuhr

Atonement. What's atonement?

In this episode of The Threshing Floor our hosts answer that question and talk about why atonement matters in our world. We also talk about contextualization and communion and middle eastern food in central Kentucky.

After much fanfare and great effort, The Threshing Floor has finally managed to get this episode on Evangelism recorded. Evangelism is our Sasquatch, we can never manage to get a record of it. We share stories about our hangups with evangelism, but also why it is absolutely necessary for the Christian life.

We also talk about awkward patriotic moments, crowd participation during Lee Greenwood songs and a trained bald eagle.

In this episode, one of our hosts is missing. Is Chad hunting bigfoot or does he just hate the show?

Joshua and Drew focus their conversation on The Sacramental Life and share about nostalgia. Plus, Joshua sings his favorite Dolly Parton song.

In the 17th episode of The Threshing Floor Drew, Joshua and Chad talk about call. What does it mean to live out a called life, and what exactly is the called life? Does it belong to everyone or just those in ministry?

We also share about Joshua's visit with Chad, finding Phil Robertson's house and share the music we are listening too. We also give Joshua grief for his enjoyment of early 80's synth based Willie Nelson.

In this episode, host Joshua Toepper shares about his trip to Rome and the hosts talk about the role of pilgrimage. They also talk about the role of subcultures and how groups of people learn to anchor themselves in the larger story of what God is doing.

Resources Mentioned.
Multiplying Missional Leaders. Review by Joshua Toepper
Reimagining Evangelism by Rick Richardson

In this episode of The Threshing Floor, our hosts share their experiences with family dynamics in ministry. We talk about what it is like to be in ministry as single people, married with no children and married with kids. Part of this conversation is how we need to understand the mystery to all different dynamics of family and how we show what a life of faithfulness is like no matter where we are in life. All stages of life matter and our identity is found in our relationship with Christ.

We also talk about king cakes, Corrie Ten Boom and why Russell Crowe should never cover Johnny Cash songs.

In the midst of the glorious (and Lent breaking) reality of the AM Crunchwrap our hosts find the time to talk about the recent movie Noah. They share a conversation about Biblical narrative, the nature of God and the interior human struggle of the Biblical Story. We also lament the loss of a childhood hero for two of the hosts and talk about the spring of super Jesus movies.

The Master List of Noah Links:
The Noah Movie and It's Sources
Noah: A Jewish Retelling
Sympathy For The Devil
The Storymen Podcast: Noah Episode

Have you ever wondered if the world self destructs with only two people on The Threshing Floor? Well, you can relax, nothing bad happens. Joshua and Chad lead this episode talking about leadership, connection and influence. Joshua interviews Rev. Steve Wood, Senior Pastor of Mt. Pisgah UMC in the greater Atlanta area. Steve talks about self leadership, leading congregations and the upcoming Large Church Initiative conference. 

We also talk about the deeper side of Joshua and Chad's relationship and what leadership looks like online for people in ministry. 

In this episode of The Threshing Floor our hosts get back to the basics of our relationship with a conversation on worship design. Drew interviews the Rev. Dr. Constance Cherry. In their conversation, Dr. Cherry shares about several topics: the centrality of Christ in worship, the rhythm of Eucharist and understanding worship as an appointment with God. If you are interested in worship, you will want to give this a listen.

Our hosts also talk about worship design and then share their oddest worship experience.

Resources Mentioned:
Your Best Move: The Transition Package The Worship Architect.com (Dr. Cherry's website)
The Worship Architect (Book link)
Book of Common Prayer
Mr. Bean goes to church (youtube link)

On this episode of the Threshing Floor our three hosts share about the Church Calendar and what they love about Lent. We ask questions to each other about what it means to Lead lent as a pastor but also share some of our own decision of the changes we are making during Lent in our own lives. 

They also spend some significant time talking about Drew's journey into adulthood through fostering and the power of the incarnation in the daily life. 

The Threshing Floor encourages our listeners to use the hashtag #lenting and journey through the season of Lent with each other. 

Resources Mentioned:
Your Best Move: The Transition Package
Athanasius: The Life of Antony of the Desert
Sayings of the Desert Fathers

The Threshing Floor has hit double digits!

In our tenth episode we cover a plethora of topics. In our focus conversation, our hosts talk about the Ken Ham and Bill Nye debate. We ask ourselves questions about how we read Genesis, how to talk about creation with church members and why Orthodoxy matters. Part of this conversation is the importance of Christian dialogue and we talk about John Wesley's Catholic Spirit.

Resources Mentioned:
Drew Causey: Wading Through the Creation Debate Aftermath.
JR Forasteros: Ken Ham vs. Bill Nye the Science Guy
John Wesley Sermon 39

The hosts of the Threshing Floor are all big book nerds. There, it is out in public. While we all have different books we absolutely love, we want to share a few certain books with you.

In this episode, each of our three hosts share their own opinion of the best books for Wesleyans. They run the gamut from modern books to foundational documents for the Wesleyan movement.

We another conversation about what excites us in modern contemporary worship. Worship music is taking a turn in artistic and contextual direction. There are Catholic writers (Matt Maher, Audrey Assad) as well as local churches developing their own cultural sound (Hillsong Young & Free, Elevation, Mars Hill).

On the completely unrelated side  some thoughts about movies in 2014 come up, Chad shares the Maximus theory about Russell Crowe movies and Joshua sounds like Optimus Prime. We talk about a funny little mix up with the Seedbed App podcast feed in the last episode.

What is your recommendation for the best book(s) for Wesleyans?

The Threshing Floor podcast is terribly excited to jump into 2014. Our first full episode with Seedbed centers around a conversation about why the hosts are Wesleyan. All three of us grew up outside of, but influenced by, a Wesleyan theological framework. We found out almost all of our reasons center around worship, experience, holiness and grace.

We also had conversations about our predictions for 2014 and Joshua's fascination with preacher techno. You can hear more of that here.

Our hosts are also writing blog posts on the topic. You can find them at Joshua Toepper, Drew Causey and Chad Brooks. We would absolutely love to hear your reasons why you are wesleyan. Share your thoughts and links in the comments below.