Hold For Podcast

Looking for the Wisdom Path and trying to stay on it.
  • 4.9 (9)
  • Society & Culture

Three long-time friends, two Pastors and one CEO, explore the spaces between Ministry and Business, Professional and Amateur Christianity, and Faith and Disbelief, with joy, love, and a grain of salt. holdforpodcast.substack.com

  1. May 18

    S5E03 - Awareness, Clarity, and Moral Courage

    Alex debriefs his first management training gig — parachuting into a Florida nonprofit to coach twenty-something camp supervisors who’d rather be friends than give feedback. Then the tables turn: Macon’s been invited to do a 45-minute leadership talk and hates everything about it. What follows is Macon wrestling in real time with why management training makes him nauseous, landing on a framework he actually believes in: awareness, clarity, and focus — the same underlying muscle whether you’re doing lean on a warehouse floor, having a fierce conversation, or learning to deadlift. Alex pushes back on “focus” as too passive and calls out Macon’s blind spot: moral courage comes easy for an Enneagram 8, but most people are paralyzed by it. Along the way: the OODA loop, why the history of science is nothing like your textbook, survivorship bias in business books, the transferability of practices across domains, and whether rolling in on a skateboard would be the douchiest possible entrance. Show Notes: * Parable of the Good Samaritan — “the man wanted to justify himself” * Getting Things Done by David Allen * Lean / 5S * 4DX * Measure What Matters by John Doerr (OKRs) * Crucial Conversations * Radical Candor by Kim Scott * Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott — “short sentences, strong verbs” * OODA Loop — observe, orient, decide, act * Bullet Journaling * Hedonic adaptation This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit holdforpodcast.substack.com

    55 min

  2. May 4

    S5E02 - You know more than you can say.

    Alex and Macon debrief the Lenten reading of Torrance’s Atonement: why the judicial metaphor alone is eight-bit theology, how the familial metaphor recenters the whole story on a God who is for you. Then Macon goes full nerd on apprehension vs. comprehension: Polanyi’s tacit dimension, how scientists and warehouse workers alike interact with what’s real, why the Western philosophical tradition severed us from the world, and what Torrance means by critical realism. Along the way: the deposit of faith as not-perfectly-wordable Apostolic knowledge, Scripture as sign pointing beyond itself, repentance as an epistemological mode (not merely a moral mode), and why the incarnation is what makes God apprehensible to creatures. Show Notes * One does not simply walk into Mordor * Gladwellit * Stereogram * T.F. Torrance, Atonement * Julian of Norwich * Michael Polanyi: tacit dimension * TFT’s article: The Deposit of Faith * Critical realism This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit holdforpodcast.substack.com

    1h 2m

  3. Apr 27

    S5E02 - Management Consulting: What am I doing?

    Alex and Macon are back after a seven-week hiatus. Alex is preparing to fly out for his first corporate management training gig. Macon and Alex trade notes on what actually makes for good management, why most people in every profession are just figuring it out as they go, and (again) whether the word “culture” is even useful. Along the way: Torrance on relationships as constitutive of personhood, the Real Question for genuine management wisdom, Jesus washing feet as a model for authority, and why hiring might be the hardest job on the planet. Show Notes * Alex’s life vibes right now * Eastertide: all the way to Pentecost * Shane Arthur * Getting Things Done by David Allen * The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney et al. * Holacracy by Brian Robertson * Lean / 5S * Gary Deddo shout out for the “no” that serves the “yes” * John 13 * Boundaries for Leaders by Henry Cloud * Critical Realism * What would you say you do here? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit holdforpodcast.substack.com

    46 min

  4. Mar 2

    S4E11 - More On Mammon

    Alex and Macon check in on Atonement reading and then discuss what it’s like to preach on money and Jesus’ declaration that you can’t serve both God and Mammon. Show Notes Atonement, our Lenten Reading project. turns out it’s a New Orleans tradition: pinning dollars Andy Crouch: The Life We’re Looking For The Affluenza defense telos Actually all Firstfruits were all for the Levites. Other sacrifices like Peace offerings or Covenant-Making offerings were partially eaten by those making the offerings. Management regrets the error. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit holdforpodcast.substack.com

    59 min

  5. Feb 9

    S4E10 - the ethic of a Nation

    Alex helps Macon think through what are the mechanisms available to Christians who disagree on how to “cling to what is Good” and “abhor what is Evil” when those Christians live in a nation whose decision-making structure is a form of democracy? Show Notes TF tells pastoring stories wreath etymology Jordan Peterson and the Scriptures ICYMI: S4E08 on Christian Nationalism ad hominem Telos Whew! Doug Wilson isn’t from Texas, he’s from Idaho. It all makes sense now. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit holdforpodcast.substack.com

    1h 13m

  6. Feb 2

    S4E09 - Monkish

    Alex and Macon talk about Buddhist Monks walking through his town and the various reactions from Christians along the way. Is this going to be a good sermon illustration? Show Notes: A Way Into Till We Have Faces My (Still) Messy Beautiful Family Series Monks Walk for Peace Baptists and Bootleggers Dukes of Hazzard Atonement ← Read this for Lent with Macon! (The Sequel to Incarnation!) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit holdforpodcast.substack.com

    1h 6m

  7. Jan 19

    S4E08 - Christian Nationalism?

    Macon and Alex talk about “Christian Nationalism.” Macon is unimpressed with the coining of the term and the general pearl-clutching. Alex is concerned that there are deep problems when Christianity and Politics combine in bad ways. They talk about it. Show notes: Cedar Season Flying the Missing Man Formation Shabat Hallelujah Parallel Play The Protocol The Kata the Dead Marshes Rickets Clutching your pearls et, tu, IVPress? to fisk “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” It’s the 19th Amendment Polemicist AYFKM I have a pen and I have a phone. The Nuclear Option is Godwins’ Law Atonement by T.F. Torrance for Lent! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit holdforpodcast.substack.com

    1h 9m

  8. 12/15/2025

    S4E07 - Murd3r of the Innocents

    Alex explains to Macon and Marsh how and why he chose to preach on Matthew 2:13 - the murd3r of the children 2 and under in Bethlehem. Show Notes: MST3K Macon on LinkedIn : 1934 by now Veriflex Ramp Rat Powell Peralta Tommy Guerrero Dinosaur Train K&W Closing Lectio Divina a surd Evil and the Cross Kirk Franklin & God’s Property Pardon the Interruption This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit holdforpodcast.substack.com

    53 min
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4.9
out of 5
9 Ratings

About

Three long-time friends, two Pastors and one CEO, explore the spaces between Ministry and Business, Professional and Amateur Christianity, and Faith and Disbelief, with joy, love, and a grain of salt. holdforpodcast.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Looking for the Wisdom Path and trying to stay on it.
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    131
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Macon Stokes
  • Show Website
    Hold For Podcast