Hello and welcome to the Speak Life Podcast. My name is Thomas Thorogood. I work at Speak Life, and we have a bit of a special episode for you today, people. It's the Speak Life end of year review. Because it is the end, almost the end, of the year, 2021. That's quite a thought, isn't it? So this uh went out on our YouTube channel on Monday evening. And it's uh Nate Morgan Locke and Paul Feesey reflecting on the past year at Speak Life, uh recapping uh some of the content that we have put out. Glenn Scrivener couldn't actually make it to this uh discussion, but I think uh Nate and Paul do a great job of talking about content that they weren't actually around to film because obviously Nate joined in the summer and Paul was away for a lot of the year. Uh but nonetheless uh they've they've been in the loop with uh what's been going on at Speed Life, and so I think they they do a great job of talking about it. Over to Nate and Paul.
SPEAKER_04Well, good evening and welcome to the Speakeasy. My name is Paul Feasy, and as always, I am joined by Nate Morganlock.
SPEAKER_00Hello, hello, and with us we have Glenn the Christmas tree scrivener.
SPEAKER_04Yes, we are we are minus a Glenn today. Um I believe Glenn is isolating, is that right?
SPEAKER_00I th I think he's awaiting um a result.
SPEAKER_04Yes, yes, so he's not feeling he's been a bit under the weather, and so he's had his had his PCR. And so as yeah, unfortunately, like a lot of people, there's a potential that a lot of Christmas plans might have been thrown into thrown into chaos there um but we're kind of hoping that he's gonna be okay. He should receive it by tomorrow sometime. But you're gonna have to make do with us for now. But isn't this fun?
SPEAKER_00Because this is the first time. I'm not you know, it would be great for Glenn to be here, but it is the first time that just the two of us just the two of us can make it if we're trying to try. We can make it if we try. The two of us are on the speak easy together.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely, yeah, it is the first time, isn't it? Since um well, since yeah, because you came in September time. I wasn't here. That's right.
SPEAKER_00And but I it's in a weird way I've always felt, and I'll be honest here, I'm gonna draw in. I've always felt like I was slightly, I was slightly sitting in your seat, really. Because I think of the live cast, so much of that, which I did watch, you know. I was a fan before I was uh you know, a uh a member of the team, and I watched, and you and Glenn, you had this great thing going on, and I was like, Oh great, I get you know, and then I thought, oh, but this is Paul's thing. This is coming in. So I've always felt like the speakeasy really is your show. Oh, really? And that it wasn't until you actually arrived on it that we got it, got it where it ought to be.
SPEAKER_04Well well, I I will see for me coming back to it, I come back to it, and because before when I left it was the live cast, and when I came back, it was the speakeasy, and I've got no idea what's going on anymore. Like change. So all changed, not my show.
SPEAKER_00Like so But now maybe there's a new era, a new era of live speak live broadcasts.
SPEAKER_04Without Glenn. Without no, he's coming back. He will get back. You know, we feel that his material has been okay, so we're getting back in.
SPEAKER_00But let just talk about the thing you were you mentioned there, which is that a lot of people are feeling a bit anxious about the next few days because we don't know what might be announced, we don't know what results are lateral flow tests might produce, and so there's quite a bit of anxiety that the best-laid plans are gonna gonna glaze, as the great Scottish poet Robbie Burns said. And yeah, the idea of plans not going well is something that's been a a sort of a feature of the last couple of years. Um but your your situation, particularly in the last six months, you've I think you've experienced that potential anxiety much more than the most.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I guess maybe to some extent. Like um, so you know, for people who who maybe aren't in the nose, so my daughter Libby was very, very unwell this year and uh ended up in hospital and it was very serious, and you know, she almost died a couple of times and you know, we were in hospital for sort of three months. Um But there, you know, we we were thrown into a situation where you you really can't plan anything. You know, there's no point thinking, hey, you know, two weeks from now or even a week from now, let's you know, the kids will come up and we'll do this on the weekend and they can come in, etc. Because stuff could just change every day and you never knew what was round the corner. Um and so that was you know, that's obviously quite a you know exhausting thing to deal with. But then actually when when I came home, you sort of Libby was still in hosp hospital, but I was back home. I remember kind of thinking to myself, well, you know, this this position we're in where we don't know what tomorrow will bring. Um in one sense it's really no different to what anyone else is going through. Um and I don't just mean because of like COVID, although that does bring it up for people that with COVID we we weren't sure what was gonna happen tomorrow. Yeah. Um but like it's reality for everyone. It's just we were more aware of it all of a sudden. I remember a lady from church saying that, you know, I'd been thinking about it, and then she said to me, You kind of vocalized it, you know, she said, Oh, you're really going through, you know, we're all going through the same thing as you, really. You're you just are aware of it more. And I thought, yeah, like that's exactly what I've been thinking. Um, that none of us knows what tomorrow brings, you know. We and and even that was true before COVID, yeah, you know, and and we we would have kind of said, wouldn't we, that um, you know, where are you going in the summer? I've booked my holiday, we're going to Spain. And you might you might be saying that kind of six months in advance. We are going to Spain for our holidays. But the reality is none of us knew that that was actually ever going to happen. Yeah, we just assumed it would. Um, but you know, you can wake up in the morning and suddenly, oh, you know, what's oh, I don't feel very well, what's that? Go to the doctors and you get some kind of horrible news or you have some terrible accident. But actually, the situation we're in now, you know, as we come up to Christmas where people are feeling anxious about we don't know what's coming tomorrow, is really a situation we've all been living in for our entire lives. But COVID has just brought that to the fore, I suppose, in a way that um we weren't aware of before.
SPEAKER_00And the yeah, and that lack of awareness is is a slightly, you know, you're slightly living in a fantasy where you can decide what you'll do tomorrow and what you'll do next week and what you'll do next month and next year. And in a way, the shaking that's happened through COVID and through personal circumstances that people might have had is actually quite a healthy thing because it means that you've got to trust, you can't just plan and say, This is what we will do. I mean, there's a time and a place for trying to plan things out, yeah. But that God being in charge means you can enter the unknown with confidence that he's gonna be with you. Um but so we're thinking, you know, about the next few days and and obviously thinking about next year, but we've thought that this evening we'll retreat into the known. Yeah, absolutely. We won't try to predict what's gonna happen or plan. We're gonna spend some time uh reviewing what has happened, and it's gonna be quite fun because neither of us were around for a lot of the Ministry of Speak Life during 2029.
SPEAKER_04That's very true. It's you know, the year in review, as that is what we are doing, yeah, will be interesting given that none of us were here for quite a bit.
SPEAKER_00Yes, this really was one that Glenn ought to have been present for.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so um I think our to because our tech team today, actually, we've got them, they're gonna be a little bit more vocal today, I think. Let's hope tech team. Do you want to say hi? Quick hellos. Hi, I'm Micah. Hi, I'm Thomas. G'day, I'm Max. There we go. So we've got um we've got a couple of our interns and well, one intern, and then we've got uh Thomas and Max uh here as well doing some bits for us, so they may chip in as well on this, but they're gonna kind of cue us up with a few bits that have gone on this year. Yeah. Um so what's the first thing you've got for us this year? What's the first highlight?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, we thought we'd uh kick us off with the reset series, and we've got a picture of the Andrew Peterson one there. Uh, but that was a a big project. You actually you were there before I was, Max. How how was it?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, reset started out as something and then it kept expanding actually. So I think it started um it was almost before the start of the year, actually, I think. December last year. Um so yeah, I I started the first half, but then you picked it up when I when I went home for for a few months. So um yeah.
SPEAKER_04Is it is it really I mean, I knew it had started back last year, the the series. Was it actually before you came, Thomas? Yeah. Goodness me, that's crazy, isn't it? Yeah, so reset uh began sort of in uh in the latter half of last year. So if you watched last year's review, you'll see us talking about that as the freshest piece of media that's gone out. Breaking news. Breaking news reset. Whereas now, yeah, it feels like such a long time ago, but it was still going on into the new year. And the idea behind reset was mostly based in sort of Genesis one to three and kind of looking at how do these how are these these texts actually foundational for us today and do they speak to us in some way? So Glenn spoke to um all kinds of different people at the time. I think initially there was supposed to be about 15 people, but it gradually grew and grew. There was, I think, near the end, particularly this year, this year's segment, there were a lot of faces who perhaps weren't on the original list. Um they were just accepting anyone in terms of at that point 2021.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So we had people like um Douglas Murray and Catherine Burble sing, um, and then we had Andrew Peterson this year. Um, Jonathan Pajo, I think, was quite a big name. I think he did a couple in the end with Glenn.
SPEAKER_00Um and that that was is all about the meaning crisis and the sense in which big ideas are being discussed online, particularly on YouTube and and things like that, where people are watching long-form content diving deep into big profound questions of life and meaning and everything. And I I think actually that is a significant part of what what we want to do at Speak Life is to speak life into that conversation, yeah. And to say that we don't have to retreat into um you know philosophical or political responses to the questions, but to say that in Christ we have uh we have genuine meaning and value and and not m most of the people who were interviewed on those things would not be professing Christians either.
SPEAKER_04No, some of them were, but yeah, there was a it was a it was a really good mixture of kind of yeah, Christians and people who wouldn't call themselves a Christian, um, but all with kind of valuable things to say. Yeah. Um and I think you know, we we just said a moment ago, didn't we, about how the uncertainty of kind of COVID has brought to light for people that the uncertainty of life. I think the research series were kind of picking up on that kind of through late 2020 into the beginning of this year, um, because COVID did for a lot of people make them kind of go, what's going on? The foundations of my life have been ripped out. You know, I thought that you know my job was secure, I thought that you know my health was secure, and suddenly life wasn't like that anymore. And so people were kind of asking questions. I think the research series was a way of trying to you know react to that. As you know, it wasn't purely reactive, but um, I think it it was certainly wanting to try and answer those questions where it felt like there was a hunger at least during that season. Um, I don't know whether there's still that hunger. I don't know whether we've got a bit kind of we got jaded. I don't think burnt.
SPEAKER_00It's still there. I think there isn't there is still a significant number of people who are wanting to engage with those sorts of questions online. And I think I think the ministry we may or may not be doing next year. We'll will try to engage with that in in significant ways. Um but yeah, certainly the Andrew Peterson uh interview, which was a fantastic one on the idea of world building and creating stories and music and and art was very interesting. There was a particular part of that which uh Glenn's referred to a couple of times, in which Andrew Peterson talked about a great show that they were doing, which was called Behold the Lamb something. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think that rings the bell. Sorry, but um, and it it ends with this um singing of the doxology as the band sort of slowly retreat off the stage after this musical concert. And yes, just a very funny part of that conversation that you can watch is where Andrew Peter shares what uh a particular minister wanted to do after this glorious and poetic and profound ending by coming up on stage and giving a talk. But you should watch that video uh to find out. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_04And we're gonna we're gonna put links to all these things, actually. We talked about, aren't we? So if you we'll find we'll put them in the video description afterwards. So if you're kind of thinking, oh, that sounds interesting, but how do I find it? Just check out the description, you'll be able to get there.
SPEAKER_00So yeah. So the the year was kicked off with reset, which is a great way to kick off a year to set uh again. Um I think in the the most people were actually watching a video of a town council meeting at the first box.
SPEAKER_04Read the read the standing orders. Read them and understand them.
SPEAKER_00Um which which council was that?
SPEAKER_04I can't remember now. Oh north was there. Someone's screaming at the screen right now, aren't they? Oh, it's handful of Paris.
SPEAKER_00Hand for Paris County. Yes. That feels like a very long time ago. So what was what was after that? What was the next part of our of the year as it unfolds? What have we got? Um cancel Valentine's, yes.
SPEAKER_04Um so you know, this is uh obviously for Valentine's Day, this one came out. So another one of our sort of seasonal video. That's our kind of big thing, isn't it? Seasonal videos is the big thing we do. So Valentine's Day was the one this year, uh or one of the ones this year. Um and so you had this kind of zoom conversation um between this this these two characters, the boy and the girl, the man and the woman. Um where I guess they were it's like a first date kind of thing, was it trying it trying out their lines on each other, um, but all done in kind of rhyming, yes, like a spoken word rhyming.
SPEAKER_00Largely to do with smelly bowels, I think.
SPEAKER_04There was definitely some mention of bowels, yeah, swelling entrails.
SPEAKER_00Uh but yeah, and and and with the great thing with the seasonal videos is obviously you know, we're we're hoping that they will have you know added value through the years that you can sort of pick them up and and set them down. But looking at the the the messages of of the true Valentine's Day and how that you know romance might relate to um to the gospel. Um but yes, Cameron and Anna did an absolutely standout job, which I should say relative to, I mean they were good in their own right, but specifically relative to the version of it that Glenn did by himself, which may not see the light of the internet, but um which money have you? Very, very funny. And he sent it through as a proof of concept, and I loved it. So uh you should request that online somehow, maybe a DM can be pledge your money now.
SPEAKER_04That's it, yeah. It's a fundraiser. We were behind the paywall.
SPEAKER_00That's not what that's that's what's there. Yeah, um, but yeah, so seasonal videos, and then um obviously these deeper kind of um meaning crisis questions with reset. Um, and then what came up in 2021 was Ravi Zacharias is Amnon, who are you? Um so this was um the story of um Ravi Zacharias's uh consistent um and persistent abuse, and then the the cover-up of that abuse. Um and Glenn did a um basically a recorded sermon um about that and about the nature of of abuse and just how how deep-rooted it is and how complicated it is, and how so many of our responses to it fall drastically and um uh tragically short of of the gospel. And in in a strange way, because I think if we got links to the other got the other thumbnails in there, that led to really a huge number of of um interviews and conversations that Speak Life was a part of. Um so you see there Lori Ann Thompson um in her own words, and and and interestingly these were the videos which got the greatest number of views.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Why do you think that was?
SPEAKER_04I mean, what what do you think it in one sense maybe it's obvious, but um yeah, I mean I think um I mean it was such a big it was such a big thing in itself. I mean it kind of reverberated very far, didn't it, because of who Ravi Zacharias was. But I think as well, because it wasn't only the Ravi stuff that was kind of coming out. We also had I mean stuff that had been kind of I think had been boiling for a little while. So just touching the tree there. Um sort of been simmering away some of the Jonathan Fletcher stuff had kind of already, I think it already come out, but it was there was more coming out about it. I think there was stuff with was it Steve Timmys? Is that is it Crowded House? Um and I think it suddenly opened the floodgates a bit for people to stand up and kind of say, you know what, it's not just Ravi. Yeah, there are lots of other people where this is going on. And that was that was one of the you know, part of Glenn's video response was to the kind of you know the attitude that might say, Oh, there's just a couple of bad apples here or over there, like Ravi was a bad apple or Jonathan Fletcher was a bad apple. Yeah, and I think it you know, as as he kind of said, it it it takes a whole church to almost allow that kind of abuse to go on. And I think what it forced us to do was to just reflect on our well, on ourselves individually, but also our churches and our ministries because I mean I mean the Ravi thing, I think maybe maybe for us in our circles wasn't um wasn't as immediate, but the the Jonathan Fletcher stuff is maybe more immediate because of the kind of circles some of us move in. Um and even if you weren't involved in the Jonathan Fletcher stuff, um because of the kind of influence he'd had, and a lot of people knew him and had been worked with him, trained with him, things had kind of trickled down into ministry that you wouldn't even, you know, it's not people being malicious, but maybe what unhelpful, you know. I think we talked in one of the things earlier in the year about you know, the kind of attitude of like so-and-so sound, men to watch, you know, that kind of thing. So it's very exclusionary of certain people and damning of others, you know, we're the chosen few, we're the ones who know what we're doing, the right ones, and how that's led to kind of basically abuse in the church. Um, and so I think it really struck a nerve for people who went, Yeah, actually I've seen this all the time, and any time I've tried to say anything about it, I've been silenced or pushed to the side. Um and that's why it spawned so many videos and and content, I think. Um yeah, I I think it just it's caused us all to re-do a lot, yeah, like I say, but a lot of reassessing. Um and I don't know about I don't know about how you how you've experienced it, because I know you were kind of uh overseas for quite a lot of it.
SPEAKER_00I don't know if the Ravi thing was more immediate over there in the American setting, but um Yeah, no, I mean I didn't think that I was really particular personally I was not uh I was aware that there was a guy called Ravi Zacharias and that he did um he did a lot of you know uh intellectual sparring and uh you know defence of the gospel, you know, on a big scale and you know was was very popular. I'd only ever watched one video, I think, in my whole life um of Rabbi Zacharias, and he was answering a question in a Q ⁇ A, obviously off the back of some letters. Apologetics talk he'd given. And I I just think I don't I didn't especially you know, I wasn't especially taken with it. I didn't think it he was someone I thought, oh wow, I really want to watch more of this. But obviously he had a global ministry, um in a ministry which bore his name, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, which um lots of people um lots of apologists and evangelists not only from the US but from this country as well were involved in. And so there really was a a considerable um edifice around him, which there was there was a major concern that he could fall, but how could the rest of that fall too? And what's the relationship between the individual and and the the ministry or the culture?
SPEAKER_07Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00And you mention other abuses of power in in the UK church, which which uh have s have similarities but obviously differences as well. And and the I suppose the question that ri it really comes down to is how deep does this go and how much needs to be addressed? How fundamental is this culture of abuse of power to the theology that's that's being presented? What is the relationship between those two things? And there will be a tendency to want to say, well, what's the minimum we sort of need to do to address this? How can we move as quickly through this to get back to what we really want to focus on? And how much do we need to say no? This has got to go right down to the roots, and in a sense, it's a good thing for it to fall, because then something else, something better, something much more faithful to the gospel can rise up in its place. And various people have various different opinions about about the depth of that. But it it I think it's still an unfolding situation. So it's been interesting to see um so Sam Aubrey, who was interviewed by Glenn a couple of times over the last 12 months, um how their conversations I think are still ongoing about what does it look like, you know. Um and again to just reflect personally, coming back to the UK having been out for a few years and coming back into a constituency that felt sort of slightly in shock and and as though there was still more to come out, I think I thought, well, the there is a re a reshaping of the landscape of the church in the UK that's going to take place. And what is it that's going to order that? What is it that's going to reconfigure the landscape into something that better reflects better reflects who Christ is. So I I think it I don't in any way want to sound opportunistic, because of course there is real trauma and real sin and all sorts of genuine um pain and shock and and anxiety that that is still there. And it's not the time to say, ah, and so we're gonna launch this brand new thing, bum, bum, bum. But to say when God is shaking the world, whether he's shaking it through pandemics or through scandal and scandal, that is a place in which the church will ultimately thrive. And whilst the particulars of what it's going to look like are still very much unknown, um there I think there can be real hope there that this is not this is not the end, and that's a good thing whether you know you're sure that it needs to go much deeper, or you're you're convinced that some people are manipulating the situation for their own ends. So so whatever that conversation is, I think I'm I'm ultimately hopeful um that it will it will reduce in something um much more um a balm. There is a balm of the gospel that will be um retrieved. And I think Diane Langberg was one of those who Glenn interviewed and um yeah, just her work in terms of helping people think through the power that they have and and how they use it and how they use it in a Christ-like way rather than um following the sort of pattern of the world, right?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, no, I think I think you're right, and I think there is there is this ongoing kind of reshaping and or still in some sense still trying to make sense of certain things. Um I suppose you know some people are obviously some will be more resistant, some are very much up for a complete reshaping. Um and I think you know, like you say, because someone like Diane Lamberg has helpfully shown that sometimes you you don't even realise the power you have and how you might misuse it. I think and I think um I mean uh my assumption would be, although I might be wrong, is that there are there are not lots and lots of people who are deliberately trying to misuse power, but sometimes but people can without if even realizing the power they have. Um or at least I would I would I would hope that that seems a better scenario than there are lots of people who are deliberately doing this in the church. But I think that's painful for a lot of people. I mean, I I think some a lot of resistance to some of these discussions and people kind of saying, Well, can't we just move on now? And things is because it does make us look at ourselves and the and and think about our own lives and think, well, what about my ministry and what have I gleaned from you know what might have trickled down into me that I'm doing and haven't even realized doing, and maybe am I part of the problem? Just like the Amnon thing, is it is it me? Um, and I think in some sense the answer is probably yes, we are, um, and that's quite tough. So I think that's gonna be a long process, but like you, I think you know that good good can come from it, yeah. Um, and that's not at all to dismiss the trauma um and to say, oh, that's just gonna go away and it'll all be rosy. Yeah. Um but we trust in a God who you know brings light out of darkness and all those things.
SPEAKER_00So and I think one of the other things from my point of view, having made um a few sort of documentary shorts and then being involved in making a a feature-length documentary about uh the founder of the seminary that I was uh have been at, was uh that I think there's something profoundly Christian about journalism, which is that journalism uh the journalistic hero is one who goes out and and reveals the truth and shines a light on places where you know others would prefer it not to be to be shone. If I got the right verb ending there, I don't know, but anyway, yeah, they don't want the light to be shone there, they would prefer you to you to cover it up, and there is a courage and a bravery that needs to be present if someone's going to actually find out the truth. And I think when we look at something like have you seen the film Spotlight? Which was about um it was basically about the Boston Globe uh group of journalists who uncovered a um a set of scandals within the Roman Catholic Church. Um and and you really do see like journalism which has such a bad rep because we're all thinking, oh, we're being manipulated at any given point. There's something about investigative journalism which is properly Christ-like because it goes into dark places and and reveals them for what they are. Um so I I do think I I think there's there's more much more to be to be done in that area. Um and I think it'll be interesting to see where where things go. Um and but as we've said before, ultimately um hopeful that things will will reflect the character of of the god we worship much more um coherently. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. Should we think about the next one then? Should we move on from there? So what have we got next? Ah, seeing the future, episode one. So I think this was uh this was a this was. So this was uh I I was gonna say I think it's a five-part series. I'm pretty sure there were five parts, um, which were uh based around the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus. Okay. If I'm right off the top of my head. So there. Um so although uh if I'm honest, the the one thing that really stands out to me from this is I think it's episode one. Glenn does the entire thing in the car driving round. Right. And I just remember a number of people getting very angry, you know, full of anxiety about the fact that he was talking to the camera whilst driving the car. So that was my big takeaway from seeing the future.
SPEAKER_00It's worth it worse if you're actually in the car with Glenn and the car with Glenn. It is terrifying. No, he's a very good driver, and he's uh he's given me lots of lifts. Um, but you guys, who was around from the tech crew?
SPEAKER_01I was there actually. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Did you do some very early morning filming for things?
SPEAKER_01We did, so episode five takes place on the beach, and we filmed it about we got up about four to to film it, and we did an actual barbecue on the beach because it's about uh the bit where Jesus appears to the disciples. Um and uh yeah, so we were barbecuing our Kippers uh at six in the morning, which is a strong flavour to have to have at that time. Um but yeah, no, it was a great a great series to be involved in, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Uh so that is a series which obviously is is on the YouTube channel, and you can use for the you know, I'm assuming there will be still be Easter. They can't cancel Easter, can they? Who knows? Who knows? But it is about seeing the future, which is interesting because that's what we've talked about. And so seeing the future as it's you know, we we see it in that fur those first fruits of the well, Christ, who is the first fruits from among the dead, and so our destiny, if we're in him, is to join it's like a little glimpse of the new creation there in historical time that was happening.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So um yeah, so that was filmed Easter time or just coming up to Easter time? I think so. And yeah, what did the year I've still not joined the yeah?
SPEAKER_04You've still not even joined. I'm just about hanging on at this stage. Then got about another month and then I'm out of here. Okay, okay. So what was next? Best day. I'm out of the year. Best day gone. It means that one's left be gone. Okay. So this was Father's Day. Yeah. Um, and I know I wasn't there because I was in the hospital for Father's Day. It was literally about week, I think it was the first Sunday I was in the hospital actually. Um so yeah, this was a little um three maybe three-minute uh little um video that Glenn had devised where he had uh this character who played a dad, and the son keeps coming up to him, he's sitting on the sofa and he wants him to kind of play with him. And the dad's kind of like, oh in a minute, in a minute, he's on his phone. And he's gradually, as he says, you know, in a minute, he's getting sucked down into the sofa. Yeah. Um until eventually he's sucked right into the sofa. Enters a inside a sofa world. Inside the sofa the world, and who should he find in there but his own dad? His own father, who's still watching the telly um and has been for the last 30 years.
SPEAKER_00Um and that given the experience inside that sofa, he then he has an epiphany, he has a discovery of what the future could be, and so he he resolves to put down his phone to to stop his own screen time that he might re-enter um the real world and go and join his son, and put on the best eye cap. I should go and get the best eye cat. I should have been wearing it. He's still knocking around, is it still knocking around? UK.
SPEAKER_02Which I think I think Mike is about to go grab it. So we got a live crop from the colour. I'll wear we'll wear it. Um, this was quite a fun one to shoot as well. This was all on tables. We put a couch on tables, probably not the safest way to do it. Yeah. It was it was all it was all pretty much made up the morning of. All on tables, a table on table, the actors standing on tables, uh, just so that the couch could have a hole in it and and which the uh the lead could sink down under. Didn't you have fake legs as well? Yeah.
SPEAKER_04It's kind of a rod hole and emu thing going on, kind of right.
SPEAKER_00I'm just gonna put this best dad cap.
SPEAKER_04Now modelling the best dad cap.
SPEAKER_00It's very cool. I one of the things that's so great about working here is that because we make props and we make these sorts of things. Sorry, that's the sound of me just just adjusting the size on the cap. People on the podcast, you know. Yeah, yeah. We've actually got you on screen, there's a category. Oh, cool, cool. Here we go. Stick that one on. Um is that you do get to look at that, I get to be best at. With my beard at the moment, I do actually look like I'm some sort of fisherman or something. Oh, round of applause. Yeah. But yeah, so that and that's one of the things that's so brilliant is having production design and having stuff that you can make and then hold and touch. And it's it's not just a video, it's not just it's real, it's not just pixels, it's real. But uh, yeah, that was a great fun little video. And that was so who was shooting that, Max?
SPEAKER_02That was you, were yeah, so I I shot that. Um and Thomas was around. I think neither of you guys were here at the time, were you? Not at all.
SPEAKER_04It was it was very much in product you were just kind of getting on with getting the sofa and stuff like that before just before I left.
SPEAKER_02Um it was a fun one to shoot. I think it was a couple days after I landed. I remembered I got the brief the day beforehand, actually. So it was quite a scramble. And and Thomas and I did a one-day turnaround with with Post, so it was quite quite an adventure, but um but it it came out alright. Yeah, directed by Glenn. Um, of course, featuring Ben Bissett, because he's in every film we make. But yeah.
SPEAKER_00He's going to appear later on in this uh rundown of the year as well, I think. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's the middle bit people. I'm gonna keep this quite brief because I feel like I've uh outstayed my welcome a little bit in this episode. You hear me chime in uh from the behind the camera every now and again. So, you know, I I just I don't want to overdo it, I don't want to push it. Okay. Um, also, just to say thank you so much to all of you who have supported us in any way, shape, or form. Just you listening to this episode is a great support to us. It means we're not speaking to ourselves. Um and prayer, especially. Thank you to all who have been praying for us this year. It's been a tricky year for lots of people, and and so your prayers have been much appreciated as we've muddled through uh things like COVID restrictions and all that jazz. If you do feel able and you would like to support us financially, you can go to speaklife.org.uk forward slash give. And any donation, big or small, one-off or regular, uh, will be very gratefully received. But I will hand back to Nate and Paul.
SPEAKER_00Um, so after Best Dad, what when is Father's Day?
SPEAKER_04I think it was June. June. I'm gonna say it must have been June. Okay. Sometime maybe June. You can still, I mean, you can it's different in America though, isn't it? Don't they have different days? Or is just Mother's Day? There's different days. Do they have Father's Day in America? Is there a Father's Day in the day? Yes. Micah should know. Yes. I don't know what it is. I can't remember when the date is.
SPEAKER_06The date is November. No, that's my dad's birthday. It's never there is Father's Day, but I can never remember the date of Father's Day or Mother's Day.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02It's different in New Zealand as well. I remember thinking, oh my goodness, I forgot about Father's Day, but it was just an entirely different day.
SPEAKER_00That's totally weird because Mother's Day is actually Mothering Sunday. So that's like a church calendar thing. Yeah. But do you have a name? There's a Fathering Sunday. That sounds much more like something a bit strange. Fathering Sunday Sunday. Right, let's move on. Let's move on. What's next? Oh, yeah. This is this is a symbol of uh well, I mean obviously, a picture of me talking about you, a symbol symbol. A representation of my face with a lot less hair on my chin. Oh, yeah. But um yes, when I was full of optimism and hope before uh coming ministry well ground me down again. Um but no, this this is, I think, supposed to uh recall the fact that over the summer we did a number of interviews. Right. So I was, you know, Glenn did a sort of entry interview with me. We talked about uh being a reformed mythologist and the power of story and the imagination and all that sort of stuff, um, which we've explored at some depth in the um in the intensives and through the uh foundry unlocked, which we'll talk about later. But yeah, summertime, interview time. Yeah, let's just chat to a bunch of people about some more interesting things.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and there were a whole load of things, and again, I mean, having not been here, I did keep up with some of them because I had a bit of time on my hands in the hospital. Um, so I mean the one that really stood out for me was uh Glenn's interview with Rebecca McLaughlin, who I think did a reset as well, possibly maybe last year. Um I might be wrong, um, or she did something. Maybe she was just talking about her book because she had a book confronting Christianity, right? Um, which is was excellent. But then uh when Glenn interviewed her interviewed her in the summer, it was just one of the you know, sometimes you listen to an interview and you just think, Oh, there's just every bit, you kind of there's such good stuff here, just good stuff after good stuff. And I just every time you know I hear um Rebecca kind of speak, I just think to myself, wow, I wish I could play this to my non-Christian friends, you know, because she just keeps putting a you know, she keeps just putting um putting her finger on so many things in the society and culture. Yeah. Um I mean one of the things she talked about was just the the big thing to do with kind of um if you're kind of more on the the progressive side of things who um will often claim to be uh looking out for those who are perhaps oppressed and vulnerable. Right. But yeah, all the stats show that those who are perhaps in those more minority groups hold very opposing views to those kind of progressive left people who don't do that. Um and she just time and time again just shows how so often what the world thinks um about things like that, but also just about the church and Christianity is just completely crazy and not at all founded um on reality. Um and so and it's strange that in in a sense I find it strange that I like her stuff so much because in in some ways she's quite an apologist, you know, she's she's much more apologetics. Um and I'm not a massive fan of apologetics in the sense of like here's a talk on you know the cosmological argument, that kind of stuff. Um for me, I'd I'd rather like here's a Bible passage that's preached Jesus. Um, but she's just got a way of bringing Jesus into it so naturally, um, which perhaps in in some other areas isn't quite the case, it can be a bit more philosophical than just you know, here's a debate. Um so if you get a chance to check out the Rebecca McLoughlin in Rebecca McLaughlin interview. Yeah, it is. Good job you weren't into.
SPEAKER_00I know Rebecca. Um yeah, so in that series as well, I think that probably covers the one the conversation that Glenn and I had with Liam Thatcher talking about the rise and fall of Mars Hill podcast. That was I remember listening to me. I was in a very irascable mood during that conversation.
SPEAKER_04Do you feel that that did you feel that perhaps some of the things you said made people angry?
SPEAKER_00Probably. I think I I gave a sort of full, you know, full throttle kind of um indictment of of the Twitter sphere or something. That was probably what I got into. And that was like week one of your Yeah, I was sort of started with a bang, and then he doesn't play well with others, but uh yeah, here he is. Um and but that was an interesting one because of course that Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast from uh Christianity Today, and I forget the name, Mike Cosper. Was that the guy who's the director or editor of that podcast? Um again that was looking at that theme or all the the the the tale of of Mark Driscoll and all the things that happened with with him in Seattle, and has multiple points of connection with the sorts of stuff that Glenn had been talking about with regard to Rami Zacharias, and they come out with um the Jonathan Fletcher and you know the the John Smythe conversations as well. And and the place of journalism within that, and of course that conversation um also it touches on the the social media age and the idea of releasing things, you know. Week by week and generating a conversation around what's what's being done. So yeah, um if you can cope with me being a bit I don't think I was snarky. I don't think snarkies are right.
SPEAKER_04I just sort of I I thought you were absolutely reasonable at sitting in home store, listening to you decrying Twitter. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I was like, yeah, I'm I'm with Glenn was going, no, there's there's hope that it kind of works.
SPEAKER_04I think my favourite moments when you said something about how Twitter was just filled with all this kind of vile stuff and you know horrible stuff. And uh and then you said to Glenn, and I only follow you.
SPEAKER_00That's yeah, it's mainly just his tweets that I was trying to address.
SPEAKER_01It was just quite funny. Sorry to jump in, but it was free to jump in.
SPEAKER_04Thomas, if you need to say something, we'll be quiet.
SPEAKER_01The irony was you were having this conversation over social media. Yes. Um so it was it was just quite funny. Yeah, I don't know how you reconciled that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I didn't reconcile it. I lived with the the tension.
SPEAKER_04An Alanis Morissette level of irony right there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I suppose there is. Yeah. Um yeah, no, we were, and uh and and there we are, inconsistency all the way down. That's me. So that was summertime.
SPEAKER_04No, that was after summer. No, that was all part. Yeah, you could start in September, is that right?
SPEAKER_00End of August. I think I was supposed to start in August, but maybe just didn't turn up. Yeah, just didn't turn up. And then when I did, just had a big rant. Big rant about Twitter. Yeah. Well, they need to hear it, someone's got to tell them. Someone has. But then this was a bit more uplifting. This was a bit more cheerful, Mr. Thankful.
SPEAKER_04Tell us about Mr.
SPEAKER_00Thankful then, because this was this was your brain child, is that right? It was. Well, it it came from a series of conversations because we wanting to release these um seasonal videos and something that grabs hold of it. And and harvest is a is in lots of ways a real missed opportunity evangelistically. Okay. And so there's there's this kind of idea of these sort of uh church services on harvest Sunday, and maybe some people turn up with some tin goods and a loaf of bread, and and uh and yet we don't really sort of press into it to say, well, what is a Christian approach to harvest, and what is a Christian uh uh understanding of this amazing thing that keeps happening where you put some small little things on the ground and then a few months later they grow up into plants and you can eat them. And so there's something about that which which essentially demands explanation, and there's a multiple different ways that various cultures oh look at this, we've got another one. Here we go. Thank you, Mike. Come on, Micah, come put your face in there.
SPEAKER_04We weren't even in shock then. He's not even finished last week. No, he's still not in shock. Come down here. Go right, get right close to him, get right next to his face. But you're just here, just still not in shock. You're not in shock. Look, you look at the show.
SPEAKER_00There's Micah, he's got this. Thank you, Micah. Um so yeah, we got um Katie to uh who's another of our interns, she made us uh harvest chair cereal. And look at that, we're sort of accumulating random props. But anyway, so what I was saying was that um harvest time and and the the amazing process of of plants is something that whatever your worldview, you need to have some explanatory myth, or you need to have some explanation for it. And so I'd been looking at the story of Ceres and Demeter and Persephone and Hades, and there's all these kind of Greek myths and Roman myths about um the reason for the season when it comes to harvest. And then there is this kind of you know, purely kind of materialist view, which just sees these as biological processes which have no meaning or value or significance whatsoever, but they just happen. And we wanted to spend some time exploring what the Christian um how how the gospel gives an account for harvest time. And so we had loads of conversation around that and um had some really fun times. And we thought, well, actually, there's something really celebratory from a Christian point of view about um rejoicing in the first fruits of the harvest. So we already talked about Christ as the first fruits from among the dead, but celebrating the fact that a seed goes down to the ground and dies and produces many seeds, and they're not just celebrating that but wanting to communicate the joy of it and wanting to say there's something so wonderful and positive and uplifting and affecting about this whole process. And the idea of thanksgiving and and taxing you know grace before meals is is to live your life as a very thankful person. And so then we just thought, well, let's do 24 hours in the day of the life, sorry, a day in the life of the world's most thankful man, yeah, Mr. Thankful. And so uh yeah, we uh we filmed that back in I don't know when that was, was it the end of August, Max? You were DP on that?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, was the end of what was it? Was it September?
SPEAKER_00It was probably was September. I think it might have been September, yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's right. Yeah, we did it, yeah, we did it the week prior to the internship. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And uh yeah, just so much, so much fun. And um yeah, and and then we sort of promoted it again in time for the Americans celebrating Thanksgiving in November. Of course.
SPEAKER_02A happy, a happy accident that happened on this one, I think. Um Well, it was half intentional, but half just landed in our laps was the amount of yellow that came on screen. And actually just did a wee a wee breakdown of all like key moments in the film as as a collage of frames, and it was quite cool to see how much yellow. But I think we wanted a yellow tie, but then it turned out his backpack was yellow.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and he was wearing tan-coloured trousers for chinos, and and it just yellow's a happy colour. It well, yeah, it just came across really cheerful, and we you know picked a reggae soundtrack, yeah. Um, because that's uplifting and positive, and so yeah, I I think it's it was a really nice, you know, an a nice sort of initial short film, seasonal film to work on for me being here.
SPEAKER_02And um, yeah, this was your first of Speak Life, wasn't it? That's right, yeah. Right.
SPEAKER_04And really nice to like you say, with harvest sometimes being a bit of a mist. I mean, I'll be honest, sometimes when harvest rolls around at church, I kind of get to the harvest service and I just kind of think, oh no, it's not this one, is it? Because it's the not this one, then because I know all it's gonna be is like, you know, someone bring your loaf of bread to the front, you know, or whatever it is, and then we're gonna sing cauliflowers of fluffy. Yeah. Um you know that one? Do you ever sing that? Have you sang that? I'd love to hear you sing it. I will. Can you give me an A? You must know the one that's like cauliflowers fluffy and cabbage is green. I don't know more words than that. And and it really is just an awful, awful time singing that song.
SPEAKER_00But the I think, but so my uh my older sister is an absolute, you know, it's probably her favourite song of all times. Um if it had been made by the 90s boy band five, it probably would be her favourite song of all time. But um no, that's um that one, it's a lot, it's a cheerful one, isn't it? It's it's brings, yeah, maybe.
SPEAKER_04But it I don't I it's not for you. But I feel at least with the video, the video you've got that cheerfulness, but we're getting to you're going a bit deeper than just like, hey, isn't it nice we've got a cabbage? Yes, you know, which seems to be the level sometimes Harvest Festival gets to in church, yeah. And then we can all go and have a jacket potato afterwards, maybe.
SPEAKER_00But there's all there's something very um uh contagious to use that word about joy, right? If someone's really cheerful and they they are really appreciative, yeah. Well that's the thing. Well, you got to be happy about certainly, yeah. There is a there's a cultural difference. Um yeah, yeah. Anyway, what came after Mr. Thankful in our year of review? Being ah, yes.
SPEAKER_04So this is not a video.
SPEAKER_00No, no, well, that is a video, I think. I think that's a thumbnail from the video.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, sorry, so that is uh a video from the intensive. So this is kind of about the the training, the new training opportunities at Speak Life that have started this year.
SPEAKER_00I know, but it was so we we did um we we kind of re uh reorganized our training here at Speak Life and decided that we would bite off quite a bit more than we could possibly chew. As is our way, as is our want. And so we said we're gonna invite people down for the first week of the internship and we are going to do a residential intensive training where people can meet the team, learn the craft, and catch the vision. I think that's all three. Is that right? I caught a cold from it too.
SPEAKER_06You caught the cold, I caught the vision and the cold. Yeah, but no, it was super cool because that was like my first my second week being here in England. Yeah. And I mean, actually being here in the first place wasn't I was pretty settled, like pretty quickly. Yeah, but the intensive was uh was a next level of information. Highly suggest it. Yeah. Everyone was taking notes. So that's a good sign. Except for me, because I never take notes.
SPEAKER_04But and it wasn't just it wasn't just the interns, was it? There were people. We had people, yeah. Who were here a few weeks ago as well, who were actually on the speakers.
SPEAKER_00We decided we'll do four intensives, so four week-long residential training uh weeks. Um so we did one in September, we did one a couple of weeks ago back in uh whenever it was, start of December. And then we've got another one in March, and then one in May. Maybe saying these words with question marks at the end. I don't I can't.
SPEAKER_04We don't know the future. Who knows what happened tomorrow?
SPEAKER_00Who knows? This is such a good get out for never having a plan for anything. No, there is a plan, and the dates are are set, and uh we will um yeah, unless Christ tarries. Yeah, that is March and May.
SPEAKER_02Sorry, that was very delayed, but yes, March and May.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and they were here, yeah, like they were here again, uh, like we say, a couple of weeks back. Yeah, they were some of them were on the speakeasy, weren't they? We had the chat from those guys as well. Um, and I was only actually here for well, I missed the first intensive, and I was only actually here for one day of the second one. Um but the the day I was here it was great. Yeah, it was great fun, really good bunch.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and we had people coming in who've maybe taught uh or or created various film projects in the past um to come and help us to do that. Um, but also that I think that slide is supposed to also tears up to talk about the Foundry Fridays. Foundry unlocked. Yeah, and I don't work on a Friday.
SPEAKER_04I mean I do work, but barely work on a Monday. It's very true, that's fair. Yeah, um so what happens on a Foundry Friday, Foundry unlocked.
SPEAKER_00So in the mornings is when usually Glenn takes the lead on this, and we look at theology for life admission, and so he he I mean it's just been fantastic to really dive deep into you know what is a theologian, how do we do theology, what do we think about the relationship of you know and it's pretty you know, we don't there's no sort of certificate at the end of it. Yeah, I mean you could write it on your CV, and we'd very much appreciate it if you did. Um but people are getting really deep level teaching on um on systematic theology um through through those morning sessions. Um and then off the back of that we've then moved forward into talking about um various passages of scripture and and doing that in the mornings, and then the afternoons um I take the lead a bit more and we look at stories to win the world. And so I kind of just use it as an excuse to talk about things that interest me um and stories that I want to share with people. So we've done that a little bit, and I got to talk about my new favourite subject. Which is which is Rukenfigure. Yeah, beg your pardon? Ruchen figure. That's right, Paul. I said Rukenfigger. I thought that's what you said, and it's this it basically just German for uh figure shown from the back.
SPEAKER_04Oh, I heard about this, yes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I've heard about your so I just I like to sort of show a bunch of paintings from various points in history and say, look, look how it changes your perspective having a figure shown from the back, and then what does that mean? And how do we use it in photography or videography or cinematography if we're really fancy? And yeah, so I we get to explore some of those things, compositional elements. Um, we look we looked at camera movement, Max. What else have we looked at? Editing selections.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, we've looked at uh camera movements, aspect ratios, did some short film breakdowns of uh some of some fun short films, and got a couple uh couple shorts directors to uh to speak, some in person, some one person over Zoom, unfortunately. But um break down stuff that works well.
SPEAKER_00Ew catastrophe, attention economy, all sorts of phrases that make very little sense on their own. But if you care if you were there, oh it triggers a whole there's a whole flood of information and warm feeling that you can.
SPEAKER_04Oh, I thought when you just said eukatastrophe, I'd thought you'd be rude. No to me. I wasn't, I promise.
SPEAKER_00Or was I not sure? So we've looked at where have we got to?
SPEAKER_04We must be like in November or something. Please let it be the last one. Here we are Christmas The Christmas, the Christmas.
SPEAKER_06Did we come to a consensus as to can we call it can we call it its its origin its original original name?
SPEAKER_00It's working title was Die Christmas. De Die Christmaus. I think is the correct German pronunciation. We thought it was going to be a German film, and we sort of made it in that way, um, but then we sort of backed off from that because we thought it might confuse people even more than the current version does.
SPEAKER_04So the There's another one from this is another one of your brainchilds, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Brainchilds, yeah. Um it's I wrote and directed it, yes. I'll take responsibility for it. I to be honest, I've actually I've been thinking about it quite a bit. I think it might a better title might be The Widow and the Christmas Guest, or something like that, or The Widow and the Mouse. Okay. I wonder whether we slightly sent people in a funny direction, they we set them up for expectations.
unknownI don't know.
SPEAKER_00But everything's iterative. That's that's been the word of the year for for me. It's just that we work on something and then we think, okay, what what was great about that? How will we improve that? How do we keep developing better resources for Christians and for the church to use?
SPEAKER_04Um stance is one thing and then develops, and you go, actually, this is the next iteration. And yeah, that might not be the final iteration, but it keeps developing.
SPEAKER_00And I think that's that's in one sense got to be the case rather than thinking that we've nailed it, we've always succeeded in everything we wanted to do. I'm not sure I've been part of many projects where I've thought that was it, it was done, it was perfect, it could not be improved. You you always get to the end of that with in the creating process and think, oh if we'd had time again, or if we'd had this.
SPEAKER_04Um I think though that's when you when you're the people in the creative process and who do that, there's always a sense of you know, but could but but I think others looking in wouldn't look at it and go, Yeah, I wish they'd wish they'd done this instead. You know, I think and actually the response to it has been has been very, very positive actually. And I think particularly the it's just the kind of is it a kind of bait and switch where you know you you it just suddenly flips the narrative round, you know, when she gets the card.
SPEAKER_00In fact, here it is. Here's the cards. Thanks.
SPEAKER_04Glenn Glenn's been holding that the whole time. Yeah, the Glenn tree.
SPEAKER_00And look at that. So more props. Can we get in on that? Go on then. Can we see this? The little gift. If you're on the podcast, we've got the little card and a little uh present from the little card, Chris Mouse. Um and it's there. You can't really see it. You can't really see, but it says thanks for all the cheese. And um there was a very fun little chat that I had with Thomas about um yeah, the dire the director's commentary video. You can also check out. Um are you a cheese boy?
SPEAKER_01Um that's my question to you. Oh, I I'm not actually. I like lasagna and pizza, but I wouldn't have uh a cheese board or something. Yeah, so I'm interested. I wouldn't say I am a cheese boy.
SPEAKER_00Huh. Um I thought we could be cheese boys together, but never mind. Never mind.
SPEAKER_01Last but not least, we have I feel like the the guy on strictly come dancing. Anton Dubeck. Um I see what the voice the voice from off camera. Okay. Um sorry. It was uh I'll shut up.
SPEAKER_00Jeffany has Alex Alec Dubeck?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, that's Anton Dubeck.
SPEAKER_00No one in the UK knows what Japanese is.
SPEAKER_06Really?
SPEAKER_00Really? Oh it's an American long-running quiz show in which you give the answer and then the contestant has come up with the job.
SPEAKER_06But you can't just say the answer, you have to say what is blank. Yeah, or the answer, not just blank. Blank could be the answer.
SPEAKER_00But they these are two different people, I think. We're saying there's someone called Anton Dubeck. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Who is a judge on strictly cum dancing? Correct. And there is Alex Trubeck Trubeck, who was the host of Jeffy.
SPEAKER_06The late Alex, the late. I was gonna say he's past.
SPEAKER_01But but Jeffany's not a dance show.
SPEAKER_04No, it's very different, in fact, not really related at all.
SPEAKER_00I mean, they're both television programmes, this is true.
SPEAKER_02And how this pertains to uh the Christmas video and run is uh magic in the back of the street.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. We are here the night before Christmas. What's that about?
SPEAKER_04Um can I be honest? I haven't had the chance to watch this one yet. I've not seen it. It's been released this week, and I've not even seen it.
SPEAKER_00It's only like four or five minutes. How long is it? Five minutes?
SPEAKER_04About five minutes. Yeah. I'm a very busy man. Yeah. Um but this was filmed in Rome. I know all I know so far is it's filmed in Rome. Yeah. And so it was a two-man crew who went over to do this. Yeah. And it's a spoken word piece. Yeah. I believe that's gonna be to tee up something Glenn might be doing in the future. Yes. Um, and it might not be suitable for children. These are all correct. This is what I've seen on Facebook.
SPEAKER_00So these are all correct. So you've been you've been scrolling through the video. I've been reading the information about it now, like so. Yes, so um the night before Christmas is it's a line taken from the poem of the same name. But uh Glenn is looking basically at the the history of the Western world prior to the Jesus Revolution. Yep. And to talk about particularly Rome is a great example, worked example of the brutality and and the massive abuse of power that was right there and at the heart of the founding of Rome, and the way in which then Christians were were brutalized and and massacred for public entertainment within that. But then in the course of history, as that gospel of Jesus took root, the change that brought about in terms of um not only Rome itself but also the rest of um the rest of the Western world.
SPEAKER_04So much so that we would just take those things for granted now. So a lot of this, in my understanding, is is grown out of uh some of the initial conversations, I think were maybe part of the reset series with Tom Holland, as in historian Tom Holland, not Spider-Man. Yeah, um and his book Dominion, which is very much about those issues of how he himself had been looking into Rome and was very shocked by Rome and realised it was an alien culture, and what was it that had changed that? Yeah. And actually he as he delved into it, he discovered it is it is Christianity, it's Jesus. Yeah. Um and so he himself wrote this, you know, excellent um but quite quite chunky book, yeah. Um Dominion. And so Glenn, I believe the project coming up in the future is that Glenn himself is writing a kind of um I well, I remember having this discussion with someone else. I said Glenn is writing a layman's version. To which someone told me Tom Holland apparently is the layman's version. So this is like the layman's layman's version for people like me who can't cope with big books. So Glenn is writing a book which I think Who wrote the proper version? The proper version. So yeah, if Tom Holland isn't the layman's version, who what's the proper one? Answers on a postcard. Sure. So this book I hope I think it's coming out sometime this year. But very much picks up on next year.
SPEAKER_00It's coming out in 2022. 22.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, not this year. Next year.
SPEAKER_00Just to say, by the way, last year was 2020. And next year is 2022. That is correct. No, but last year, do you get it? Last year was 2020. And next year. Oh, I see. It's 2020. Two. Also. We spent about 15 minutes. I spent 15 minutes telling that's that joke on uh on Friday. And eventually we got it. Got there. I'm glad we got there a bit quicker. But anyway, it's got a book coming out in the summer of next year. Yep. And it is called tentatively titled The Air We Breathe. Which uh during a pandemic is not. Is that the best? But it's basically just saying these are the cultural assumptions that we have, and if we investigate those, we find that actually they only really make sense based upon a Christian worldview. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_04And and and you know, when I was having a conversation with Glenn about um being in the hospital, and I said it really struck me, why are these nurses doing what they do? Why, why do you help the most sick and vulnerable in this in society? These nurses, the large majority, are not Christians, but what they're doing is profoundly Christian because they are caring for the most vulnerable. Um why do we do that? And we just take it for granted. Well, of course you help the sick and the vulnerable. Yeah. You know, we why you must have an NHS that helps people and anybody. Yeah, but that's because we're so saturated by the Christian worldview. Yeah. Um, we don't even realise how Christian that is, and hence, you know, why Glenn is able to say, look at what the Roman world was like before Christianity, or look at what the world was like, and you see the stark contrast. So I think that's going to be an exciting, exciting thing. And I guess around the book, I imagine there'll probably be some more confidence as well.
SPEAKER_00You can get hold of the a sort of free chapter, which is called I think the The Night Before Christmas, from that book is available. Uh if you go and follow the links through from that video. Right. Um, but yes, as you mentioned before, there are reasonably uh vivid descriptions of um of the the brutal uh life of Rome. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So um I did see someone say that they'd they'd seen it posted and they were like, Brilliant, I can use this in the all-age on Sunday, and then they went, No, I can't use that now.
SPEAKER_00Probably not, yeah. Um but certainly something for us to think about. Um but what's coming up in the next five days, we don't know. What's coming up, what's going to be allowed, what's your result going to say when you stick something up your nose and down the back of your throat, we're not sure. Um But I think as we've looked back over this this last year, um it's exciting to see the things that we prepared for and could reasonably say, oh that'll happen, you know, Father's Day, you know, will be on this particular day, and Valentine's Day will be this particular day, and you know there'll be a harvest to come. But then also so much that we could that couldn't have been prepared for, um or that just we we rec we needed to respond to in some way. Yeah, yeah, of course. And um and then in you know, in a way we're we're just very grateful for the fact that you know n though neither of us were particularly involved throughout the first half of the year, we're both back here, we've taken over this speakeasy now, yeah, and uh Glen will forever be represented now by a different type of tree. Each week, yeah. Each week. Um but yeah, just seeing how God's worked through um various things in ways that you know maybe we feel of of resolved and we're at peace with, or maybe are still unresolved and we still need to trust him with. Um, but that's a significant part of what it is to walk with Christ and um to to be uh to be part of his church and to do that together. And thank you uh for letting us do that with you. And uh we basically want to say thank you very much for joining us, not only this evening, but through uh 2021. And we wish you a very Merry Christmas and we hope you have a very happy new year. So thank you very much from me, Nate Morganlock, and Thank you very much for me, Paul Feesey.
SPEAKER_01Thank you so much for listening to this episode. Do subscribe to the the Speak Life podcast on your podcatcher of choice if you haven't if you haven't already. As I say, this is a bit of a special episode um recapping the past year, uh, but normally this podcast is home to conversations about all sorts of uh topics and and what Christians have to say on those topics, how the how the gospel can speak into those topics, uh especially current affairs, uh things in the news, that kind of thing. So do stick around for for future episodes. We'll be taking a bit of a break over the Christmas period, uh, and then we'll be back uh with more content.