Parson Brown Podcast

Brandon Brown
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  • Christianity

We feature talks with authors, theologians, and pastors about engaging topics. blog.parsonbrown.page

  1. Aug 26

    Rev. Dr. Steve Fountain

    This week on the summer series finale, Brandon sits down with Reverend Dr. Steve Fountain, pastor of the Largs Church of the Nazarene on the west coast of Scotland, for a conversation about the Camino de Santiago and what a 200-mile pilgrimage teaches us about walking with God. Steve is a country boy from the American South whose winding road led through Trevecca, a PhD at the University of Glasgow, a career in medical communications, a charity with his wife Tasha, and finally a call to ministry in Scotland. In this episode he shares how he and Tasha took on the Camino Primitivo, the original and hardest route from Oviedo to Santiago, through a 95-degree heat wave, mountain climbs, and an eighteen-pound pack. But the Camino was never really about the finish line. Steve talks about carrying a homemade journal full of prayer requests from their church and literally bearing other people’s burdens mile after mile, leaving them on rocks at shrines along the way. He reflects on meeting fellow pilgrims and the strange trust that builds with strangers, the locals who welcomed two tired pilgrims into a Wednesday evening service they stumbled into by accident, and the realization that the moments along the journey mattered far more than the arrival in Santiago. He brings it all home with a simple pilgrim lesson for those of us who can’t walk 200 miles: simplify your day to just getting from here to here, carry as little as possible, leave behind what you don’t need, and don’t rush past the moments that actually mean the most. It’s a conversation about bodies, burdens, and what it means to actually walk with God rather than just talk about it. Get full access to Parson Brown at blog.parsonbrown.page/subscribe

    Rev. Dr. Steve Fountain

  2. Aug 21

    Rev. Caleb Haynes - Earthbound Christian

    In this week’s Wednesday night summer series, Rev. Caleb Haynes joins us to talk about his new book, “Earthbound Christian: Flourishing Within Limits in the Age of Infinite Growth.” He makes the case that we are not just heaven-bound people passing through - we were created for and within this earth, on purpose. The conversation covers why he opens the book with confession instead of guilt, the difference between guilt that moves us and shame that shuts us down, and why limits are not the enemy but God’s love language. What does it look like to live a qualitative life on a normal Tuesday?How the Tower of Babel speaks to our obsession with growth and technology. Why caring for creation is a holiness and sanctification issue, and how salvation is better understood as the healing of all things rather than a ticket out of here. Get full access to Parson Brown at blog.parsonbrown.page/subscribe

    Rev. Caleb Haynes - Earthbound Christian

  3. Aug 6

    Kevin Nye - Hope For the Mission

    Kevin Nye is an author, speaker, and co-founder of the National Faith Coalition to End Homelessness. His books, Grace Can Lead Us Home and Hope for the Mission, help Christians and faith communities confront the crisis of homelessness with care, faithfulness, and best practices. In this conversation, Kevin joins us to talk about what comes after we understand the problem - how churches turn head and heart into hands and feet. We talk about the rescue mission model: where it came from (including Jerry McCauley, who started the first one), what went wrong, and what is worth recovering. Kevin is honest about harmful practices - the transactional way basic needs get tied to conversion - but he refuses to stop at critique. The book is full of stories of churches actually getting it right: a few San Diego churches whose storage program helped more than 100 people secure housing, a mission in Oklahoma City that went from worst example to best, churches opening parking lots to people living in their cars, and organizations centering people with lived experience in leadership. We also get into the harder questions: how to respond to NIMBY opposition, what is happening with criminalization and Housing First policy, and why Kevin ends the book by calling us to turn “I” into “we.” If you have ever felt overwhelmed by the size of the problem and wondered what your church could actually do, this conversation is for you. Kevin’s answer is not a bigger program. It is finding one other person who wants to do something, and going from there. Get full access to Parson Brown at blog.parsonbrown.page/subscribe

    Kevin Nye - Hope For the Mission

  4. Aug 1

    Dr. Steven Hoskins

    Church historian Dr. Stephen Hoskins (Trevecca Nazarene University, president of the Wesleyan Theological Society) joins the Wednesday night summer series to make the case that history is the church’s best roadmap for revival. He tells the story of his South Carolina home church - planted in 1942 and grown from nine people to 609 through nine summers of nightly tent revivals - and introduces forgotten heroes of the Nazarene movement like Hiram F. Reynolds and Susan Fitkin. His challenge to us: make no little plans, quit fighting battles that don’t matter, and get back to the things that built the church - education, evangelism, and missions. Church of the Nazarene Clergy this series has a Lifelong Learning Code: 919014 Get full access to Parson Brown at blog.parsonbrown.page/subscribe

    Dr. Steven Hoskins

  5. Jul 23

    HCN Pastors

    For the first time since 2020, the HCN pastoral staff sat down together for a candid, unscripted conversation about what ministry actually looks like behind the scenes. Pastors Brandon, Hunter, and Terry tackle the questions nobody asks but everybody wonders - from what the staff really does all week (spoiler: it involves toilets and text messages, not just sermon prep) to the things they’ve changed their minds about over the last five years. In this wide-ranging discussion, they open up about: - What surprises people most about a pastor’s week - The one thing they’re praying when they look out at the congregation on Sunday - How they’ve evolved in their thinking about ministry, structure, and sanctification - What’s been harder than expected (relational ministry in a busy, screen-saturated culture) - What’s been better than expected (younger generations stepping up to serve) - The honest advice they’d give someone who feels spiritually stuck - The biggest misconception about how pastors actually relate to each other (hint: they don’t all think alike) - How they keep the energy fresh after decades of preaching the same texts Church of the Nazarene Clergy this series has a Lifelong Learning Code: 919014 Get full access to Parson Brown at blog.parsonbrown.page/subscribe

    HCN Pastors

  6. Jul 16

    Nick Polk - Eucatastrophe

    What do Gollum’s fall into Mount Doom, the fleet arriving in Star Wars, and the resurrection of Jesus all have in common? They’re all eucatastrophes. In this episode of the Parson Brown Podcast, Brandon welcomes back fan-favorite guest Nick Polk for the summer series to explore one of J.R.R. Tolkien’s most brilliant and hope-filled ideas: eucatastrophe. Coined by Tolkien from the Greek “eu” (good) and “catastrophe,” the term describes that sudden, unexpected joyful turn when all seems lost - the happy ending that emerges organically from the story itself, not dropped in from outside. Nick and Brandon unpack the difference between a true eucatastrophe and a cheap deus ex machina, tracing examples through Tolkien’s legendarium (the creation story of the Ainulindale, the romance of Beren and Luthien, the reshaping of the world from flat to round) and into pop culture touchstones like Star Wars, Independence Day, and Toy Story 3. They wrestle with Tolkien’s claim that he didn’t invent eucatastrophe but discovered it - and how the ultimate eucatastrophe, for Tolkien, was the death and resurrection of Christ. Along the way they tackle perennial fan questions - why couldn’t the eagles just take the Ring to Mordor? - and explore how the shape of story echoes the shape of the gospel. Whether you’re a Tolkien nerd, a theology nerd, or just someone who loves a good happy ending, this conversation will leave you seeing stories -- and your own story - in a new light. Church of the Nazarene Clergy this series has a Lifelong Learning Code: 919014 Get full access to Parson Brown at blog.parsonbrown.page/subscribe

    Nick Polk - Eucatastrophe

  7. Jul 9

    The Pastor As Midwife: Life-Giving Leadership for the Healing of the Church

    In this kickoff to the Summer Series 2026, Brandon sits down with Rev. Dr. Shawna Gaines to discuss her newly published book, Pastor as Midwife. Drawing from her own experience as a mother and years of pastoring, Dr. Gaines explores what it looks like when pastors and church leaders see themselves not as CEOs or shepherds with a rod, but as midwives - coming alongside, holding up a holy mirror, and trusting that God is already birthing something new. The conversation covers the tension between waiting and suffering, why male pastors might need this metaphor most, the difference between generative pain and oppression, informed consent in the church, and why “if ministry is your baby, you’ll probably end up killing it.” Whether you’re a pastor, a lay leader, or just someone trying to figure out what it means to be the church, this episode will change how you think about what God is doing in the dark.Church of the Nazarene Clergy this series has a Lifelong Learning Code: 919014 Get full access to Parson Brown at blog.parsonbrown.page/subscribe

    The Pastor As Midwife: Life-Giving Leadership for the Healing of the Church

  8. 10/10/2025

    Micah Voraritskul - Created to Create

    Created to Create: God, Humanity, and the Age of AI God is the ultimate creative, and we bear God’s image when we create. As AI reshapes our world with words and ideas, we don’t need to fear it–we need to engage it faithfully, with wisdom and courage, as people called to reflect the Creator and engage in culture. Micah Voraritskul is the author of Human Is the New Vinyl and founder of VerifiedHuman™. He challenges Christians to see AI not with fear but with faith–because God is the Creator, and we are made, Imago Dei, to co-create with God. Get full access to Parson Brown at blog.parsonbrown.page/subscribe

    Micah Voraritskul - Created to Create
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About

We feature talks with authors, theologians, and pastors about engaging topics. blog.parsonbrown.page

Information

  • Creator
    Brandon Brown
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    28
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Brandon Brown
  • Show Website
    Parson Brown Podcast