When Mars Hill Church was planted in Seattle in 1996, few would have imagined where it would lead. But in the next 18 years, it would become one of the largest, fastest-growing, and most influential churches in the United States. Controversy plagued the church, though, due in no small part to the lightning-rod personality at its helm: Mark Driscoll.

By 2014, the church had grown to 15,000 people in 15 locations. But before the year was over, the church collapsed. On January 1, 2015, Mars Hill was gone.

Produced by Cultivated host Mike Cosper, The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill explores the inside story of this church, its charismatic leader, and the conflicts and troubles that brought about its end. You’ll hear from insiders and experts, tracing the threads of this story to so many others that shape the church today.

Listen to the trailer and subscribe today. The full series launches on June 22.

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Jen Pollock Michel is a writer based in Toronto, CA. She’s the author of several books, including  Surprised by Paradox and A Habit Called Faith, which is releasing this week. On the podcast, she describes the road that led her to writing, the relationship between her vocations as a writer and a mother, and the place women writers occupy in Christian publishing.

She also talks about A Habit Called Faith, a book that invites seekers, skeptics, and Christians alike to explore a deeper experience of Christianity through a 40-day experience in the book of John and the book of Deuteronomy.

If you have feedback for us, you can email us at podcasts@christianitytoday.com

Subscribe to our show, and if you can – leave us a rating and review in iTunes.

Cultivated is produced and hosted by Mike Cosper

It’s edited by Mark Owens

Our music is by Dan Phelps

Our theme song is “Eden Was A Garden” by Roman Candle.

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Doug Logan was running a barbershop in Patterson, New Jersey when he met Jesus. Doug, who is black, quickly married his girlfriend Angel, who is white. Within days, he was preaching on the streets to the homeless.

In the twenty-five years since, their interracial marriage has been a kind of proving ground for the experience of racial tensions that have come along with being black and Reformed, both in majority white and in majority non-white contexts. That included serving at a historic, majority-white Presbyterian church in Philadelphia and planting a church in Camden, New Jersey.

Now, Doug serves as the Associate Director of Acts 29 and the president of Grimké Seminary, where he hopes to equip more pastors like him to bring new expressions of Reformed theology to the urban context.

Listen in as he shares his story, his passion for the gospel, and his vision for racial reconciliation at the foot of the cross.

Produced by Mike Cosper

Edited by Mark Owens

Theme Song “Eden Was a Garden” by Roman Candle

Music by Roman Candle and Dan Phelps

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We’re often unprepared or unwilling to face experiences of loss and suffering. But in fact, they are opportunities for deep encounters with the presence and mercy of God.

Tish Harrison Warren is a writer and a priest in the Anglican Church in North America. Her book Liturgy of the Ordinary was Christianity Today’s 2018 book of the year, and she just released Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep a few weeks ago.

This episode ends up being a deep-dive into the subject of suffering, grief, and lament, exploring the various ways North American culture both inside and outside the church have taught us to avoid them. And while the conversation is weighty, it’s not without hope. At its heart, the Christian faith has its roots in the knowledge that our God not only meets us in suffering, but as Tish puts it, he got there first. His presence with us is our hope for both life and death.

Cultivated is a production of Christianity Today.

It was produced by Mike Cosper.

It was edited by Mark Owens.

Our theme song is “Eden Was A Garden” by Roman Candle.

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Makoto Fujimura is a painter and the author of several books on the intersection of faith, culture, and the arts. Most recently he’s published Art and Faith: A Theology of Making.

In this episode, Mako describes his calling as an artist and how living three blocks from the World Trade Center transformed his painting. He also describes his work in kintsugi – the Japanese art of mending broken ceramics by pouring gold between the shattered pieces. The medium itself is a vision of grace: taking something that appears ruined and making it more beautiful and more valuable than the original.

It’s a conversation about vocation, creativity, the abundance of God’s love, and the importance of culture making as vision of the new creation.

Produced by Mike Cosper

Edited by Mark Owens

Music by Dan Phelps

Theme Song “Eden Was a Garden” by Roman Candle

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Timothy Dalrymple is the President and CEO of Christianity Today. His road to CT is marked by a number of surprise turns, the first being a significant, career-ending injury as an elite gymnast. In the years that followed, he pursued a sense of calling through a variety of ministries, ivy league schools, and the tech industry. This episode explores that story, how it led him to Christianity Today, and the vision he has for CT’s future work, including podcasts like this one.

You can listen his work on The Jerusalem Podcast here.

Produced by Mike Cosper

Edited by Mark Owens

Music by Dan Phelps

Theme Song “Eden Was a Garden” by Roman Candle

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Aundi Kolber is a therapist and the author of Try Softer: A Fresh Approach to Move Us out of Anxiety, Stress, and Survival Mode--and into a Life of Connection and Joy.

On this episode of the podcast, Aundi and Mike talk about the impact of complex trauma on the body and soul, and how Aundi’s own experiences of trauma led her into the work she does as a therapist. They also talk about how Christian faith shapes our perspective on trauma, the relationship between what the head knows and what the body knows, and how Jesus’ own embodiment points the way to our own healing.

Produced by Mike Cosper

Edited by Mark Owens

Theme Song “Eden Was a Garden” by Roman Candle

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Cultivated veteran Latifah Alattas returns to the podcast this week to talk about life, faith, and creative work after divorce. When her marriage ended in 2017, it derailed a host of dreams and left her asking hard questions about forgiveness, healing, and relationships. Her work in churches was almost entirely halted, and for months she had to attend to her own body and soul to begin healing from the trauma. A year later, she released "Divorce," an album of raw songs exploring the painful emotions and aftermath of that experience. Host Mike Cosper and Latifah discuss the record, the events leading up to and since, and how creative life goes on after loss.

Plus: Another Cultivated veteran, Melanie Penn, stops by to share about her release "More Alive Vol. 1", a collection of hope-filled songs written in quarantine and COVID.

Cultivated is a production of Christianity Today.

This episode was produced by Mike Cosper.

It was edited by Mark Owens

Our theme song is “Eden was a Garden” by Roman Candle.

Music in this episode was by Moda Spira, Page CXVI, and Melanie Penn.

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Ross Mason’s work has crossed the country and crossed the globe, from Moscow to Silicon Valley, and back to Georgia, where he’s from originally. A lifelong adventurer, he loved climbing, diving, competing in triathlons, and was even certified as a NASCAR driver. In 2007, even after he suffered a C6 spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the neck down, that adventurous spirit wasn’t hindered by his paralysis. If anything, it propelled him to look more determinedly for ways to express that spirit for his own good, and for the good of the world. In the years since, he’s been part of healthcare innovations that are revolutionizing care for people – like his own injury – often find themselves staring at a broken healthcare system and looking for help.

Cultivated is a production of Christianity Today.

If you like the show, leave us a rating and review wherever you’re listening. It helps other people find the show.

This episode was produced by Mike Cosper

It was edited by Mark Owens

Our music is by Dan Phelps and Roman Candle.

Our theme song is “Eden was a Garden” by Roman Candle.

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Dominic “Dom” D’Agostino is an Associate Professor at the University of South Florida, where he teaches at the Morsani College of Medicine and the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology. He’s also a Research Scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) where he leads research efforts to optimize the health and performance of astronauts and warfighters, including working with Navy Seals.

But for many people, Dom is known for his groundbreaking research into the ketogenic diet and it’s benefits for everything from athletic performance to cancer to epilepsy.

Behind his work is a deep curiosity that led him to not only into the sciences, but on a search for truth that eventually led him Jesus. Dom shares that story on this episode, and shares how it changed the way he thought about his work, leading him to the very research that has been his hallmark ever since.

Cultivated is a production of Christianity Today.

This episode was produced and edited by Mike Cosper

Our theme song is “Eden Was a Garden” by Roman Candle.

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Cultivated features the stories and ideas of Christians from a wide variety of perspectives. Their opinions do not necessarily reflect those of Christianity Today.

From the time he was a teenager, Rich Lowry aspired to write for National Review. In 1992, that dream came true and by 1997, he became the editor of the magazine. You’ve likely seen Rich regularly on cable news and Sunday roundtables, and his influence spreads far and wide inside the conservative movement.

On this episode of Cultivated, we talk about the roots of his fait and the state of the conservative movement. We also talk about how he and other have tried to thread the needle between supporting and opposing a president whose morals and character seem diametrically opposed to their own. And we explore what might come next for evangelicals and conservatism in a post-Trump world. 

This Episode was Produced by Mike Cosper

Our Theme Song is by Roman Candle

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Miroslav Volf’s writing is considered some of the most significant theological work of the last century. He was born into a family of Pentecostal Christians in Croatia, under oppressive Communist rule, and a “minority of a minority” (as he would later describe it). For almost four decades, his writing has been a testament to the power of the gospel for reunification and healing in the aftermath of war and political turmoil, as well as a vision for human flourishing in an experience of Trinitarian love.

On this episode, we talk about his emergence as a theologian, the development of his work, and his perspective on the turbulent times we’re experiencing today.

Cultivated is a production of Christianity Today.

This episode was produced by Mike Cosper

It was edited by Mark Owens.

Theme song is by Roman Candle

Music is by Dan Phelps and Roman Candle

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This sponsored episode of Cultivated is brought to you by CT Creative Studio in partnership with American Awakening, an ambitious multi-platform effort that embodies a campaign for the soul of America in an effort to slay the giants of death and despair in this American moment. Go to AmericanAwakening.us to learn more.

John Kingston is a social entrepreneur engaged in a variety of aspects of culture, politics, and the arts. After decades in the corporate world, he has spent the last five years – first with Better for America and now with American Awakening and Christians Against Trumpism – working to bring about renewal of American Christians’ commitments to virtue, character, and first principles in public life and witness. On this episode, John talks to Mike Cosper about where he came from, the origins of his activism, and his hopes for the future of the church.

You can learn more about John’s work at AmericanAwakening.us and https://christiansagainsttrumpism.com/

Cultivated is a production of Christianity Today

If you like the show, make sure and subscribe, and if you can, leave us a rating or review wherever you’re listening.

This episode was produced and edited by me.

Our theme song is by Roman Candle

Our music is by Dan Phelps.

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Beth Moore has a passion for the scriptures that has guided her ministry for decades. On this episode, she recounts her story and some of the figures – like John Bisagno – who helped her along the way. She also revisits the moment in 2016 when, to her own shock and disappointment, she knew that she’d have to stand up to her own tribe.

This episode was produced and edited by Mike Cosper

Music by Dan Phelps

Theme Song by Roman Candle

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David French's story takes him from rural Alabama and Kentucky to Harvard law school. Afterwards, he found himself fighting for religious liberty and free speech throughout America's court system, and literally fighting for liberty in the surge in Iraq. In 2015, he turned to writing full-time, just about a month before Donald Trump descended an elevator in New York to announce his candidacy for President. In the years since he almost ran for president and has been a vocal critic of the President on a variety of issues.

David's new book is "Divided We Fall: America's Secession Threat and How to Heal Our Nation".

You can read his regular columns at The Dispatch, where he serves as Senior Editor.

Cultivated is a production of Christianity Today.

It was hosted, produced, and edited by Mike Cosper

It was mixed by Mark Owens.

Our theme song is by Roman Candle.

Music by Dan Phelps and Roman Candle

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On this episode of Cultivated, Mike sits down with obstetrician and friend Dr. Heather Lewis. Wildly funny, smart, and confident, Heather talks about the challenges of practicing medicine, caring for and loving her patients.

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Jeremy Casella has been a singer songwriter and performing artist for nearly twenty years. He’s performed and collaborated with people like Andrew Peterson, Phil Keaggy, and the Blind Boys of Alabama. Casella has released 6 full-length albums and an EP. He’s also been an integral part of the influential hymn collective Indelible Grace Music whose songs are sung in churches all over the United States.

On this episode, we talk about his journey as an artist, about the Christian Music industry’s rise and fall, and about his personal story – how the end of his marriage led to a deeper sense of God’s presence and kindness.

You can learn more about Jeremy at www.jeremycasella.com

Cultivated is Produced by Narrativo Group

It’s hosted by Mike Cosper

Our theme song is by Roman Candle

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James K.A. Smith talks with Mike Cosper about his story, his new book on Augustine, fatherlessness, and a wide range of other topics.

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On this episode, Mike Cosper and David Zahl talk about his story, why he came to start Mockingbird, and what their mission is all about. They also talk faith and pop culture, secular religions, and how coping with life really does demand that we get serious about faith in a crucified and resurrected savior.

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Ashley Hales holds a PhD in English from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She’s a writer, speaker, and hosts The Finding Holy Podcast. Ashley’s married to a church planter in the southern California suburbs and the mother to 4. Her writing has been featured in such places as The Gospel Coalition, Books & Culture, and Christianity Today. Her first book is Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much (IVP). Connect with Ashley at aahales.com or on Instagram and Twitter at @aahales.

We’ll talk about the contrasts of cities and suburbs, about her multi-layered sense of vocation, and about the power of place.

Credits:

This show is a production of Harbormedia and Narrativo. We make podcasts at Narrativo – you can learn more about that at www.narrativogroup.com.

This episode was edited and mixed by Mike Cosper

Our theme song is by Roman Candle

Our music is by Roman Candle and Dan Phelps.

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On this episode, we'll hear Chuck DeGroat's story – one that's full of surprising turns and surprising transitions. We'll talk about contemplative spirituality, the church's struggle with narcissism, and the resources available to us in church history for those seeking wholeness and spiritual vitality. 

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Mike Cosper sat down with hip hop recording artist Lecrae to discuss his life and work, and how he has come to terms with the idea that his career is an anomaly. Cultivated is a production of Harbor Media and Narrativo Group. This episode was produced and recorded by Mike Cosper, edited by Quinnette Connor, and mixed by Mark Owens. Music by Lecrae, with theme music by Roman Candle.

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