Podcasts - Stick It in Your Ear

In pursuit of better mental health, I have improved my learning habits. Reading more. Writing more. Actual study. Another learning tool is found in consuming podcasts. This is a deviation from my natural inclination to spend my day listening to music. I still believe in the therapeutic benefit of hearing a collection your favorite songs, but podcasts are something different.

I am using podcasts to keep my mind active. These are opportunities to learn something, to challenge and inspire myself, to support my geekier tendencies, and stimulate thinking beyond my daily routine. And occasionally, these podcasts provide much needed reason to laugh.

Here is my list of Podcasts - divided up in three sections.

Group 1: Thinkers

• Live Your List: A leadership podcast from Ryan Eller and Jerrod Murr with an emphasis on bucket lists and intentional living.
• The BadChristian Podcast: Matt and Toby of Emery with their friend and pastor Joey talk about church culture and taboo topics through irreverent conversations, interviews, and bizarre news stories in hopes to challenge the church to talk about stuff that actually matters.
• Never Was: Former Stavesacre vocalist Mark Salomon reminisces over his career while interviewing his friends and fellow 90s era musicians.
• NPR's TED Radio Hour: A showcase of TED keynote speakers with interviews and clips from their TED talks.
• Ask Science Mike: Mike McHargue answers questions about science and faith submitted by show listeners - grounded in both scientific and biblical study.
• RELEVANT Podcast: The weekly podcast mixing indie music, culture, interviews, and faith from the group that publishes RELEVANT Magazine.

Group 2: Nerds

• Fat Man on Batman: Kevin Smith discusses his Batman fandom and general geekery with filmmakers, comic books creators, and other Batman fans.
• The Weekly Planet: The two Australian guys behind comicbookmovie.com chat about movies, TV shows, comic books, and related geek news.
• The Deucecast Movie Show: David Dollar and some of his friends talk about their favorite movies with topics ranging from romantic comedies, to musicals, summer blockbusters, and Disney classics.
• You Hate Movies: Josh Dies of Showbread gather friends together to argue about movies.
• It's a Duck Blur: A husband and wife team from Australia spend an hour to an hour and a half talking about each 22 minute episodes of Duck Tales - all 100 of them.
• Doug Loves Movies: Comedian Doug Benson performs with his comedian friends before a live audience in a show that is equal parts stand-up comedy and trivial game show.

Group 3: Preachers

• The RobCast: The weekly podcast from Rob Bell featuring interviews or topical discussions to connect Jewish traditions of the ancient world and our modern society.
• Daily Audio Bible: Daily scripture reading from Brian Hardin that goes through the entire bible in a year.
• Hillsong: The weekly sermon from Brian Houston's Hillsong Church in Sydney Australia.
• Bethel: The weekly sermons from Bethel Church in Redding California.
• North Point: The weekly sermons from Andy Stanley's Atlanta area church.
• Beautiful Struggle: B3ar Fruit artist Octavious interviews hip-hop artists about the origins of their faith and artistry.

That is what fills my ears and brains, and I am always up for suggestions.

What podcasts do you enjoy?