Episode

Justus and Cynthia interview Chi T. Mathias, a vocalist, author, speaker, and teacher, who tells her incredible story of overcoming trauma in and through creative expression.

Stay tuned at the end for Chi’s single, “Forgiveness.”

Justus and guest co-host Cynthia Giles (http://creativeactivation.org and http://cynthiasinspirations.com) talk to medical student and aspiring psychiatrist Lydia Jones about making art and staying mentally healthy during the pandemic and after.

Stay tuned after the episode to hear “Still,” a new single by Civilized Creature.

Justus sits down with Erik Løkkesmoe, a former DC press secretary and speechwriter who now produces films from his home-base in Nashville, to discuss politics and patronage and how we can contribute to cultural transformation without feeling like we as individuals need to (or even could) move the whole world.

Stay tuned at the end for “When There’s a Mountain” by Anthony Quails, from his record Before the Bright Lights.

Justus Stout talks on the phone with Joseph Pensak, main songwriter for the band Hallowell, about his most recent record, his approach to making music, and running a community art gallery.

Stay tuned at the end for “Another World” from Hallowell’s self-titled record.

Your hosts, Justus and Michael, return to launch into this year’s theme at Renew the Arts: Politics and the Arts. In our politics-obsessed climate, cultivating culture can seem like a most ineffective way to affect the future of our polarized nation. Michael and Justus explore the ways that culture precedes and predicts politics.

Stay tuned at the end for “Be the Beast,” from Warbler’s Sea of Glass.

Justus talked with David Hamilton of RYFO to discuss what David sees as some key ways to heal the apparent divide between artists and the church through better community practices.

Stay tuned at the end for “Living Water” by Fuel Music off their EP “The Life.”

Justus and Michael sat down with hip-hop artist Sho Baraka to discuss his work, his latest collaborative album with Vanessa Hill, and why he thinks the Christian community is so squeamish to discuss sex.

Stay tuned at the end for the track “Nasty,” from So Many Feelings, by Sho Baraka and Vanessa Hill.

Justus chats on the phone with singer-songwriter John Van Deusen to discuss his life as a signed artist with Tooth & Nail Records, his testimony, and expanding the boundaries of what Christians are willing to call hymns.

Stay tuned at the end to hear two tracks from John Van Deusen: “All Shall Be Well” from Every Power Wide Awake, and “You Don’t Know What You’re Asking” from A Catacomb Hymn.

Your hosts Michael and Rusty get you up to date on the back-and-forth that has ensued from former Hillsong singer Marty Sampson’s announcement that he’s losing his faith. Along the way, they discuss John Cooper (of Skillet) and his viral rebuke, truth and feelings, psalms of doubt and lament, and the important role the local community plays in an artist’s spiritual health.

Stay tuned until the end to hear “Valley” by Civilized Creature off of The Way Back Home.

Justus and Michael talk on the phone with Michael Wright about engaging the arts as a Christian guest in “secular” cultural spaces. As a culture curator who helps develop curriculum resources for Fuller Seminary’s Brehm Center for the Arts, Michael Wright is well-suited to assist newly awakening patrons to develop fruitful practices of appreciation.

Stay tuned at the end for “Riverwide (Bendblock Remix)” by Lolo Meares. (mateoandlo.squarespace.com) (mattlumpkin.com)