What Am I Listening to?

I've grown quite weary of the radio news these days; way too much analysis of politics and the presidential race, among other things, has driven me away at least for now.

So I've been adding to my regular round-up of podcasts. Here's a bit of a round-up of the podcasts I listen to regularly. (Note: most links are to the iTunes Store.)

Sermons

• Downtown Presbyterian Church, Greenville, SC. This congregation is pastored by my friend Brian Habig, and he is almost always the preacher. (He's on sabbatical now, however, until sometime in the summer.)
  
• Dr. Sinclair Ferguson, Senior Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Columbia, SC. One of my favorite preachers, from a church in my hometown.
  
• City Church, San Francisco, CA. Another friend, Fred Harrell, is the Senior Pastor (and frequent preacher) at City Church.
  
• Trinity Presbyterian Church, Charlottesville, VA. Once again, the Senior Pastor is a good friend of mine (Greg Thompson).
  
• Redeemer Church, Memphis, TN. Jeffrey Lancaster and Jeremy Jones were fellow pastors in the presbytery I used to serve in, and guys I always wished for more time with.
  

You may notice a pattern here: I usually only listen to pastors that I know, and/or that are connected to a church that I also have a connection to. This isn't by mistake: an interesting argument can be made about whether you should listen recordings of the Word preached by pastors you don't know, from churches you've never attended, and to whom you have no accountability whatsoever. (But perhaps that's for another post…)

Other Christian/Religion Podcasts

• On Being (from American Public Media). I don't listen to every episode of this one, but I "cherry-pick" from those interviewees that I'm really interested in. Also: I prefer the unedited interviews (which they regularly publish) to the produced ones.
  
• Christ the Center (from Reformed Forum). I don't listen to all, or even most, of these either; again, I pick and choose. These guys tend to ramble, and if you don't have a connection to Westminster Seminary (Philadelphia) then you may not get some of the "inside" references.
  
• Help and Hope (from the Christian Counseling Education Foundation). Great, short Q&A formatted advice on counseling, spiritual growth, and issues that commonly face Christians.
  

Others

• The Splendid Table (from American Public Media). I've loved this one for a long time— great ideas and information about food, drink, and enjoying the satisfaction of our appetites.
  
• Freakonomics Radio (from American Public Media). Yes, those guys— and always interesting stuff. The topics are virtually limitless, though always from a "social economics" point of view.
  
• Wait, Wait… Don't Tell Me! (from National Public Radio). A weekly roundup of the news… sort of… with a lot of humor interposed.
  
• This American Life (from Chicago Public Media). One of the best interview-format shows around, with lots of interesting topics.
  
• Mike and Tom Eat Snacks (from Nerdist Technologies). Very funny; two actors that I like a lot (they both were in a show called Ed— what's not to like?) and the show is literally centered around these two guys eating a snack, then talking about it. Warning: they DO use some explicit language at times, and they occasionally employ sarcasm and irony about topics that some might find offensive.
  
• A Way with Words (from WayWord Radio). This is one of my new favorites; a fun show about words, grammar, word puzzles, and other literary, lexical, and linguistic conundra.
  
• 99% Invisible (from Roman Mars and KALW in San Francisco). Another new favorite: insightful short takes on design, especially architecture and industrial design.
  

Off the list…

• Living Christ Today— mainly, because they began to repeat content so often. Also, I understand that they have plans to phase it out. And finally, I find it difficult to keep up with a daily (or even every weekday) podcast, and I would lose track of the series too frequently.
  
• Mac OS Ken— since I'm not so immersed in tech culture (and work) on a regular basis, I found this one less helpful for me than when I used to do some Mac consulting. Also, again, the every-weekday thing.
  
• White Horse Inn— I've always been cautious about recommending this one, because the tone is often too condescending and polemical for my tastes (and I want to avoid exposing others to that, because of the risk of their picking it up!). Also, I found the current series a bit tedious and more condescending than usual.
  

There you go— my current podcast lineup. On any given week, even I can't run out of stuff to listen to!