Finding Your Spine

Herzog Foundation
  • 4.3 (12)
  • Self-Improvement

In a time when courage feels increasingly rare, Finding Your Spine challenges the status quo. Hosted by Dr. Chase Spears, this weekly podcast explores how Christians—and even secular conservatives—can stand firm in their values amid the pressures of cancel culture. With insightful commentary and bold conversations, Dr. Spears examines the tradeoff many make between conscience and comfort, reminding listeners that true freedom requires the spine to defend it. Tune in each week for thought-provoking discussions that inspire moral courage in an age of compromise.

  1. 3d ago

    Faith Cannot Withdraw from Politics

    Doug Richey, a longtime pastor, former Missouri state representative, law-enforcement chaplain, and State Government Relations Manager at Alliance Defending Freedom, argues that the claim “Christians should stay out of politics” is inconsistent with the faith. Christ holds all authority, and modern government touches nearly every detail of life, so withdrawal is not neutrality. Richey ran for office while still pastoring because the constant refrain that politics and politicians are corrupt was driving gifted people away. He wanted a visible example that a person can serve in governing authority, take hard stands, and keep integrity.   The conversation treats politics as the ordinary work of deciding how a community will live together, present in families, churches, companies, and the military as much as in legislatures. When Christians pull back, the seat does not stay empty. Richey points to the long leftward march through universities, media, and public schools, and to statutes that erode parental rights, free speech, and professional conscience. He describes what he learned on Missouri’s Joint Education Committee about critical pedagogy, school-board training, and the century-long effort to treat education as activism rather than the formation of free people. Parents, he says, still hold the primary duty and cannot outsource the hard questions. 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:03:02 – Christians and Politics 00:06:28 – From Pulpit to Legislature 00:08:22 – The Corruption Refrain 00:11:25 – Serving While Pastoring 00:13:09 – Politics as Common Rules 00:15:19 – Public Theology 00:18:36 – A Constitutional Republic 00:20:15 – The Vacuum Fills 00:22:30 – March Through Institutions 00:26:43 – Parental and Professional Rights 00:29:21 – Government Schools 00:31:26 – What the Committee Saw 00:34:43 – Dewey and Social Change 00:39:02 – Document-Based History 00:42:30 – Why Parents Stay 00:44:54 – Parental Responsibility You can follow Chase Spears on X @DrChaseSpears. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share your favorite episodes to keep the conversation going. To learn more about the Herzog Foundation, visit HerzogFoundation.com. Like and follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram, or sign up to receive monthly email updates. #Faith #ChristianLiving #Military #Discipline #Morality #Politics #BiblicalMasculinity #Masculinity #ChristianPodcast #American #America #Army #Navy #AirForce #Marines #CoastGuard #SpaceForce #NationalGuard #ChristianMen

  2. Nov 2

    The Church’s First 1,900 Years Indict the Last 100

    Seth Gruber, founder of The White Rose Resistance and author of The 1916 Project and The Last Stand, argues that the modern evangelical habit of reducing the Christian’s public duty to evangelism is a recent departure. The dominion mandate given in Genesis and repeated after the flood still stands, he says, and the early church’s transformation of Roman culture shows what is possible when believers treat cultural engagement as ordinary obedience rather than a threat to the gospel.   Gruber distinguishes the Greek words for a private antagonist and a public enemy of mankind, contending that love for personal enemies does not require gentle accommodation of those who target the preborn or children. He walks through Isaiah’s rebuke of worship offered by people whose hands are full of blood, the historic role of the local church in opposing child sacrifice and sexual exploitation, and Tom Holland’s claim that Western moral assumptions about life, law, and the vulnerable are borrowed Christian capital. He also cites J.D. Unwin’s 1934 study of 86 civilizations and the claim that codified total sexual freedom precedes civilizational collapse within roughly a century. The conversation frames the present moment as a last stand for the church to recover its older public calling. 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:01:46 – Raise Children in the Fight 00:03:23 – History as High Ground 00:04:54 – Blueprint in the Pages 00:07:59 – Seeker-Sensitive Shift 00:09:54 – Dominion Is Inevitable 00:11:32 – Private and Public Enemies 00:15:58 – The War Declared 00:18:43 – Abortion as Parody 00:21:59 – Before the Pro-Life Movement 00:24:02 – Tom Holland’s Dominion 00:26:43 – Flower Pulled from Soil 00:28:25 – Church Flatulent or Militant 00:30:09 – Why “Last Stand” 00:31:19 – Unwin’s 86 Civilizations 00:33:58 – The Ticking Clock You can find out more about Seth's work at https://sethgruber.com/ or at https://thewhiterose.life/ You can follow Chase Spears on X @DrChaseSpears. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share your favorite episodes to keep the conversation going. To learn more about the Herzog Foundation, visit HerzogFoundation.com. Like and follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram, or sign up to receive monthly email updates. #Faith #ChristianLiving #Military #Discipline #Morality #Politics #BiblicalMasculinity #Masculinity #ChristianPodcast #American #America #Army #Navy #AirForce #Marines #CoastGuard #SpaceForce #NationalGuard #ChristianMen

  3. Oct 26

    The Untold Years That Forged Jimmy Stewart

    Aaron Burns, founder of Burns & Company, talks about his film Jimmy, which follows Jimmy Stewart from his Academy Award win through World War II service and the making of It’s a Wonderful Life. Burns discovered the story in a Guideposts article Stewart wrote decades ago and realized the actor’s real-life journey was as compelling as any role he played. Stewart came from a long line of veterans, enlisted in the Army Air Corps after the studio blocked his draft notice, flew 20 combat missions over Europe, and came home with what was then called “flak happy.”   The film, starring KJ Apa, explores how that experience shaped the prayer scene in It’s a Wonderful Life and the man Stewart became afterward: a husband, father, churchgoer, and Air Force Reserve brigadier general. Burns also discusses raising the “spiritual temperature” on set, the difference between amusement, propaganda, and entertainment, and how faith-rooted films have grown in production quality. He traces his own path from backyard movies to mentorship under the Kendrick brothers and explains why he measures success by faithfulness rather than results. Jimmy opens in theaters November 6. 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:02:16 – How Stewart Landed on Radar 00:04:02 – Trailer Plays 00:06:13 – Casting KJ Apa 00:09:40 – From Oscar to Enlistment 00:12:24 – Studio and Government Resistance 00:14:21 – Combat and the Toll 00:15:51 – Healing on the Set 00:20:12 – Raising Spiritual Temperature 00:23:12 – Be Kind 00:24:46 – Faith in Hollywood 00:26:35 – Amusement, Propaganda, Entertainment 00:29:07 – Backyard Movies to Filmmaking 00:32:40 – Quality of Christian Film 00:34:13 – Finances and the Audience 00:37:06 – No Clear Career Path 00:40:18 – Faith Over Fear 00:42:56 – November 6 and Vet Tix You can find out more about Aaron's work at https://www.burnsco.us/ and find showtimes for Jimmy at https://www.jimmythemovie.com/ You can follow Chase Spears on X @DrChaseSpears. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share your favorite episodes to keep the conversation going. To learn more about the Herzog Foundation, visit HerzogFoundation.com. Like and follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram, or sign up to receive monthly email updates. #Faith #ChristianLiving #Military #Discipline #Morality #Politics #BiblicalMasculinity #Masculinity #ChristianPodcast #American #America #Army #Navy #AirForce #Marines #CoastGuard #SpaceForce #NationalGuard #ChristianMen

  4. Oct 19

    Why Do Christians Feel Good About Losing?

    Michael Clary, Senior Pastor of Christ the King Church in Northern Kentucky and author of Loser Theology: Why Weak Men Will Not Inherit the Earth, argues that a popular strain of teaching conditions Christians to treat passivity as faithfulness. The cross was necessary, he says, but the crown was always the goal. Isolating the hours before the crucifixion and ignoring Jesus’ public authority, or Paul’s command to act like men and be strong, produces a piety that feels humble while undermining the duty to assert Christ’s lordship.   Clary traces the pattern to a neo-Gnostic split that treats only inner spiritual acts as truly Christian and leaves politics, work, and cultural stewardship in the category of worldliness. Evangelism then becomes the sole public duty, often practiced by punching right and coddling left. He discusses Russell Moore’s support for mosque construction and David French’s description of drag-queen story hour as a blessing of liberty, arguing that both land in the same place as secular critics of Christian public influence. The conversation also covers passive versus active righteousness, the stewardship mandate that the Great Commission did not revoke, and the cost of a church that has been discipled into thinking suffering under bad policy is proof it is doing it right. 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:01:10 – Pastor and Author 00:03:16 – Planting the Church 00:06:00 – Defining Loser Theology 00:08:27 – Cherry-Picking the Cross 00:10:33 – Cross Before the Crown 00:12:57 – Paul Was Not a Fatalist 00:15:07 – Weakness Is Not the Goal 00:19:12 – Only Evangelism Matters 00:20:47 – Neo-Gnostic Split 00:23:27 – Woke Evangelism 00:25:13 – Punch Right, Coddle Left 00:26:25 – Cultural Shibboleths 00:28:56 – Russell Moore Alignment 00:33:35 – French on Drag Story Hour 00:36:42 – Why He Wrote the Book 00:40:36 – Suffering as Works 00:41:12 – Passive Then Active 00:43:45 – Run the Race to Win You can find out more about Michael Clary and his work at https://www.dmichaelclary.com/ You can follow Chase Spears on X @DrChaseSpears. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share your favorite episodes to keep the conversation going. To learn more about the Herzog Foundation, visit HerzogFoundation.com. Like and follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram, or sign up to receive monthly email updates. #Faith #ChristianLiving #Military #Discipline #Morality #Politics #BiblicalMasculinity #Masculinity #ChristianPodcast #American #America #Army #Navy #AirForce #Marines #CoastGuard #SpaceForce #NationalGuard #ChristianMen

  5. Oct 12

    Courage Is a Muscle

    Jesse Boulden, Director of the ALERT Academy in Big Sandy, Texas, argues that courage is less a gift some men are born with than a capacity that has to be used. Scripture keeps telling people to be courageous, he says, and his own father’s hard years in the Navy made the point concrete. At ALERT, a gap-year program of discipleship, emergency training, and service, young men practice that muscle in small reps before they fight fires, dive, or deploy.   Boulden distinguishes real courage from the fake kind that talks big online and then refuses a face-to-face cost. He also warns that well-meant parental protection can bubble-wrap sons until they will not take a risk. Freedom and safety do not travel together. The conversation moves through public speaking, a broken obstacle course at officer candidate school, the leadership tests of 2020, and the fear of man that makes God look small. Boulden says a culture survives only if it has children and a pipeline that turns boys into men of self-control. Fathers do most of that work. ALERT tries to stand in the gap Ron Fuhrman opened in 1994: nine weeks of boot camp, emergency skills, a specialty, and a bias for service. 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:03:09 – How Jesse Came to ALERT 00:05:20 – Can Courage Be Trained 00:06:02 – Courage Like a Muscle 00:08:36 – False Courage Online 00:10:25 – Parents and Bubble Wrap 00:13:06 – Boys in the Creek 00:14:19 – Freedom Versus Safety 00:16:00 – Public Speaking Reps 00:18:31 – A Broken Obstacle Course 00:20:05 – 2020 Exposed the Cracks 00:21:11 – Courage Must Be Renewed 00:23:28 – Fear of Man 00:25:04 – Calls Based on Truth 00:27:16 – Harder Days Ahead 00:28:49 – Apathy Is Not Inevitable 00:30:22 – Boys Must Become Men 00:33:25 – Fathers Do the Forming 00:36:22 – What ALERT Actually Is 00:41:26 – Why He Stayed 00:42:06 – The Men Are the Mission   Find out more about Jesse and his work at ALERT Academy here: https://alertacademy.com/ You can follow Chase Spears on X @DrChaseSpears. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share your favorite episodes to keep the conversation going. To learn more about the Herzog Foundation, visit HerzogFoundation.com. Like and follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram, or sign up to receive monthly email updates. #Faith #ChristianLiving #Military #Discipline #Morality #Politics #BiblicalMasculinity #Masculinity #ChristianPodcast #American #America #Army #Navy #AirForce #Marines #CoastGuard #SpaceForce #NationalGuard #ChristianMen

  6. Oct 5

    Why Religious Liberty Protects Everyone’s Conscience

    Lathan Watts, vice president of public affairs at Alliance Defending Freedom, explains how ADF fights in court, in legislatures, and in public for the God-given right to live and speak the truth. He describes clients who never asked to become test cases, cases that can last years, and a public-affairs job that translates legal work so ordinary people can recognize when their rights are being crossed. Watts answers Christians who treat persecution as a reason not to use the law. He points to the Apostle Paul appealing to Caesar and treats American constitutional protections as a stewardship trust, not a talent to bury. The episode surveys recent Supreme Court work: a Colorado counseling ban, a New Jersey pregnancy center fight, and women’s-sports laws in Idaho and West Virginia. Watts argues that gender ideology now touches speech, religious liberty, and parental rights at once. He rejects the claim that law cannot teach morality, walks through the Declaration’s theological assumptions, and contrasts ordered liberty with the French Revolution’s collapse into chaos. The charge is simple: keep using the courts, keep forming consciences, and do not surrender what was given. 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:03:55 – Court of Public Opinion 00:08:00 – Conscience Protects All 00:12:19 – How a Client Case Starts 00:15:22 – Four Supreme Court Wins 00:16:04 – Counseling Ban Struck Down 00:17:28 – Pregnancy Center Harassment 00:19:05 – Women’s Sports Laws Stand 00:21:24 – One Ideology Many Rights 00:25:07 – Law Teaches Morality 00:27:43 – Theology of the Founding 00:32:17 – Ordered Liberty Not Chaos 00:36:22 – From Law to Messaging You can find out more about the work Lathan Watts does at https://adflegal.org/profile/lathan-watts/ You can follow Chase Spears on X @DrChaseSpears. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share your favorite episodes to keep the conversation going. To learn more about the Herzog Foundation, visit HerzogFoundation.com. Like and follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram, or sign up to receive monthly email updates. #Faith #ChristianLiving #Military #Discipline #Morality #Politics #BiblicalMasculinity #Masculinity #ChristianPodcast #American #America #Army #Navy #AirForce #Marines #CoastGuard #SpaceForce #NationalGuard #ChristianMen

  7. Sep 28

    Why Faith and Public Life Belong Together

    Tim Goeglein, vice president of external and government relations at Focus on the Family, argues that faith and public life were never meant to be strangers. Drawing on years in the Bush White House, the Senate, and Washington advocacy, he says the American story repeatedly turns on the church: the Revolution, the fight against the slave trade, the Cold War, and the pro-life movement. He revisits Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists and Washington’s letter to Rhode Island’s Jewish congregation to show that religious liberty was never a high wall shutting conviction out of civic life.  The conversation then turns to what Goeglein calls the permanent things: marriage, family, parental rights, conscience, and the meaning of words. He frames the country’s deepest problem as a spiritual crisis of moral relativism and defines conservatism as reforming in order to preserve. Goeglein discusses a hopeful turn among young men toward marriage and faith, the harder trend among many young women, and the “unmarriageable” pool of men who are neither in school nor at work. In Aaron Renn’s “negative world,” he says the local church is still the best place to teach friendship, dating, and the family before those goods are forgotten. 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:01:35 – Focus on the Family 00:03:13 – Speaking in Public 00:04:01 – Faith and Government 00:06:45 – Danbury Letter Myth 00:08:07 – Washington on Virtue 00:10:17 – A Moral Republic 00:12:04 – Church Family Government 00:14:40 – What Really Matters 00:19:12 – Conservatism and Christ 00:20:44 – Reform to Preserve 00:23:19 – Young Men Turning 00:24:41 – Restoring the American Male 00:27:27 – Living in Negative World 00:28:54 – Church and Relationships You can find out more about Tim Goeglein and Focus on the Family here: https://www.focusonthefamily.com/contributors/tim-goeglein/ You can follow Chase Spears on X @DrChaseSpears. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share your favorite episodes to keep the conversation going. To learn more about the Herzog Foundation, visit HerzogFoundation.com. Like and follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram, or sign up to receive monthly email updates. #Faith #ChristianLiving #Military #Discipline #Morality #Politics #BiblicalMasculinity #Masculinity #ChristianPodcast #American #America #Army #Navy #AirForce #Marines #CoastGuard #SpaceForce #NationalGuard #ChristianMen

  8. Sep 21

    The Army’s Worldview Crisis

    Sam Rolofson, a serving Army officer and trainer of future leaders, talks about what happens when a fighting force tries to run on several incompatible moral systems at once. He traces the tension from equal-opportunity classrooms to Army values such as respect and dignity, which sound universal until leaders treat them as preferences instead of truths grounded in something higher. Vague language about readiness and lethality, he argues, lets officials justify almost any policy after the fact. The conversation turns to moral injury: the hidden cost of lying for a green box, enforcing rules you do not believe, or watching standards collapse after Afghanistan. Rolofson wants professional military education to teach worldview and philosophy so commanders can decide what is right rather than hide behind lawyers. He then walks through the GOMAR system—tens of thousands of permanently filed reprimands, investigations built on hearsay, and an appeals path so slow that soldiers must prove their own innocence while the Army assumes the file is correct. Zero-defect culture, he says, produces glass-jawed commanders and erodes the warrior ethos. His counsel to cadets is simple: stay true to yourself. 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:00:55 – Speaking While Still Serving 00:04:26 – Competing Army Worldviews 00:06:52 – Equal Opportunity Training 00:09:14 – Respect Without a Center 00:11:22 – Dignity and Combat Paradox 00:12:42 – Has Anything Changed 00:14:41 – Careerists Versus Warriors 00:17:37 – Vague Value Language 00:20:05 – What Moral Injury Is 00:22:28 – Spiritual Readiness and PME 00:25:15 – Ivy League Fellowships 00:28:34 – How GOMARs Work 00:32:02 – Permanent Filing Numbers 00:35:11 – Prove Your Own Innocence 00:40:47 – Zero Tolerance Culture 00:43:46 – Glass-Jawed Commanders 00:46:43 – Warrior Ethos Eroded 00:48:50 – Advice to Cadets You can follow Chase Spears on X @DrChaseSpears. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share your favorite episodes to keep the conversation going. To learn more about the Herzog Foundation, visit HerzogFoundation.com. Like and follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram, or sign up to receive monthly email updates. #Faith #ChristianLiving #Military #Discipline #Morality #Politics #BiblicalMasculinity #Masculinity #ChristianPodcast #American #America #Army #Navy #AirForce #Marines #CoastGuard #SpaceForce #NationalGuard #ChristianMen

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4.3
out of 5
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About

In a time when courage feels increasingly rare, Finding Your Spine challenges the status quo. Hosted by Dr. Chase Spears, this weekly podcast explores how Christians—and even secular conservatives—can stand firm in their values amid the pressures of cancel culture. With insightful commentary and bold conversations, Dr. Spears examines the tradeoff many make between conscience and comfort, reminding listeners that true freedom requires the spine to defend it. Tune in each week for thought-provoking discussions that inspire moral courage in an age of compromise.

Information

  • Creator
    Herzog Foundation
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    78
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Herzog Foundation
  • Show Website
    Finding Your Spine

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