2025: pods, talks, travel, etc.
This year I traveled more for work more than I ever have in the past. I gave talks, lectures, classes, and at least one sermon in five different states (Florida, Washington, Illinois, Oklahoma, and Texas), plus another country (Canada). I also got to spend a week in Pittsburgh, my first time, for a mix of a grant meeting at Grove City College and a retreat for CT writers near Carnegie Mellon. And besides the travel, I recorded a total of twenty-one podcasts, thirteen of which were for Mere Fidelity.
The coming year looks to have more of the same: on top of stops in and around the great state of Texas—including Laity Lodge!—I’ll be in North Carolina, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Colorado, plus a pilgrimage abroad with friends. The pods will continue (although we’re on a bit of a hiatus right now). And in a happy development, we (i.e., the fam) have begun checking off national parks: Big Bend in 2023; Rocky Mountain, Zion, and Grand Canyon in 2024; and Wind Cave, Grand Tetons, and Glacier in 2025—with Carlsbad, Tetons (again), and Yellowstone set for 2026.
I don’t think we’ll ever top this summer’s trip, though. In August, one week before our kids went back to school, we pulled into town on the last of a fourteen-day road trip north-northwest, in which we hit a total of ten states, plus the Canadian side of Glacier. (Having never been to Canada before, I visited three times between October 2024 and August 2025: Toronto, Vancouver, and Alberta.)
In short, what a year! What a few years. And God willing, it’ll be another great one.
Head over to the podcast page for a complete list of episodes, with the most recent ones first. And below, in order, are the talks and lectures I gave by location and date.
“Spiritual Formation in a Digital Age,” University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, February 12, 2025.
“From Scripture to Scrolling: How to Be a Christian in a Digital World,” Whitworth University, Spokane, WA, February 19, 2025.
“Anxious Generations,” Memorial Road Church of Christ, Edmond, OK, March 5, 2025.
“Why the Church is the Reason God Created the Universe,” The Church of St. John the Divine, Houston, TX, April 9, 2025.
“Digital Discipleship in an AI-Driven World,” Christian Scholars’ Conference, Abilene, TX, June 4, 2025.
“The Future of Catechesis of the Bible in Churches of Christ” and “Response to Reviews of The Church,” Christian Scholars’ Conference, Abilene, TX, June 5, 2025.
“The Sanctuary of the Spirit of God,” Regent College, Vancouver, Canada, June 10, 2025.
“A Theological Case for Techno-Pessimism,” online webinar, Chesterton House at Cornell University, October 27, 2025.
“Lessons for Figural Reading from Saint Thomas on Isaiah,” plenary lecture, conference on Saint Thomas’s commentary on Isaiah, Mundelein Seminary, Mundelein, IL, November 7, 2025.
