It's the Threshing Floor's 50th episode! We celebrate this milestone by sitting down with sower-in-chief Rev. John David Walt. We take a short detour into our usual antics with JD in tow and then have a conversation about Advent. JD talks about the importance of Advent as a season, the eschatological dimensions of Advent and the power and role of poetry has an engine of expectation.

We are giving away 5 copies of JD's new book, Not Yet Christmas, to the first 5 listeners to tweet #boomsauce to us @ttfpodcast.

In this episode of the Threshing Floor we go back in time to New Room 2015. Chad and Joshua sit down with the infamous Dr. Howard Snyder. We have a fabulous conversation about creation care, incarnational theology and the power of realizing the presence of Christ. We get into eschatology (one of the TTF's favorite topics). 

We also take some time to talk about tambourines in worship and what you can look forward to for our 50th episode. 

Mentioned:
Salvation Means Creation Healed
The Community of the Kingdom

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What happens when Christian Artists go see Taylor Swift and share it on Instagram? (We promise this is the last episode we talk about Taylor Swift). ((Seriously)). #wehopeso

Our hosts also talk about their first experience with All Saints and why the All Saints celebration is a necessary part of not only Christian worship, but the larger theological perspective of Christianity. 

We also go through some listener mail, talk about Joshua's Halloween costume and get into a little #cagerage.

This episode our hosts begin a two-part conversation on Death, Dying and Grief. Today, we specifically share about what it looks like to pastor people in the middle of grief and why the Christian Church needs a better concept of death. We also share about the birth of Drew's son, McDonalds 24 hr breakfast and more about Ryan Adams 1989. In the end, we go through some listener mail.

Resources Mentioned:
Stanley Hauerwas on How the Church deals with Death
Tom Long: Accompany Them With Singing
James K A Smith: Desiring the Kingdom
James K A Smith: Liturgical Lessons From Ryan Adams 1989

Joshua and Chad sit down with Mike Breen, founder and 3dm. Mike is a discipleship guru and we had the time to grab him at New Room 2015. For 30 minutes, Mike opens up on the rawness of discipleship, the language of "missional", the family space, and why movements must be anti-fragile.

The hosts also talk about the latest Ryan Adams/Taylor Swift collaboration and do a quick run down of New Room.

Mentioned:
The Black Swan: The Impact Of The Highly Improbable
Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder
The Rise of Christianity
The Triumph of Christianity

The boys are back in town.

Chad, Drew and Joshua sit down to have a conversation about the recent Ashley Madison scandal and integrity in ministry. 

We also realize it is our 45th episode and contemplate what the Threshing Floor's mid-life crisis will be. We also talk about the worship record that sticks with us the most and Drew's wife giving birth to a man cup in the coming weeks. 

In this episode of The Threshing Floor, Drew and Joshua interview Dr. Quincy Brown, associate pastor at Peachtree City UMC in Peachtree City Georgia. They discuss growing up in the South, being a minority voice in ministry, and ways young leaders can engage in conversations about race that honor Christ and the other. They also discuss issues of social power and how recognizing where one sits in the social milieu is critical in engaging people who are unlike you.

They also discuss Chad’s absence due to breakfast, Vinyl Record Day, and 5 “Seed Thoughts” as to why everyone should go to New Room. 

Chad and Joshua run wild without Drew on this episode of the Threshing Floor. They share the longest they went between visits to the dentist and high dollar recreational vehicles.

We also have a discussion about the underbelly of leadership, those times you just have to grind down on new skills and growing as a minister. We focus our conversation around two topics. Leading under stress and leading through weaknesses. 

Resources Mentioned:
Tim Keller's Leadership and Church Size Dynamics (free .pdf). 
John Maxwell
Henry Nouwen In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership
Patrick Lencioni
Will Mancini Church Unique
Volunteer Rocket
Episode 5 with Mike Gammill

The Threshing Floor continues our conversation with Dr. Matthew Sleeth in this episode. Dr. Sleeth shares about sabbath and what it means and our hosts talk about their Sabbath experiences and struggles. We also talk about being offended on facebook, share our seedthought of the 5 best albums for Sabbath Soundtracking. And finally...Joshua is back. 

Drew sits down with Dr. Matthew Sleeth and has a conversation about wants, the speed of life and what it means for a Christian to care about creation. Drew and Chad also have a conversation about the recent S.C.O.T.U.S ruling over marriage, we talk about favorite hangouts and why #nicholasvillerocks