The Allender Center Podcast

Dan and Becky Allender invite us to look back on the past year, to remember the highlights and low points, the delights and challenges, and to wonder what themes Jesus has been growing in us this year.

Direct download: TAC215_Looking_Back_on_the_Year.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

Dan and Becky Allender conclude our holiday series by talking about something that will be all too familiar for most listeners: family conflict.

Direct download: TAC214_Home_for_the_Holidays_Part_Three.mp3
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Dan and Becky Allender continue their conversation about the holidays by discussing the deep sense of disappointment that so often leads to conflict.

Direct download: TAC213_Home_for_the_Holidays_Part_Two.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

Dan and Becky Allender reflect on the benefits and drawbacks of nostalgia—which can help inform our desire for goodness in the present, or can set up unrealistic expectations that inevitably lead to disappointment.

Direct download: TAC212_Home_for_the_Holidays_Part_One.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

Dan Allender continues talking with therapist and author Andrew Bauman, whose book Stumbling Toward Wholeness offers a new, vital perspective on the familiar story of the Prodigal Son.

Direct download: TAC211_Stumbling_Toward_Wholeness_Part_Two.mp3
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Dan Allender talks with therapist and author Andrew Bauman about his new book, Stumbling Toward Wholeness, and about the movement through shame and self-righteousness to kindness.

Direct download: TAC210_Stumbling_Toward_Wholeness_Part_One.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

Dan Allender continues his conversation with Stasi Eldredge about defiant joy, honest engagement with sorrow, and the unrelenting hope that brokenness is not the end of the story.

Direct download: TAC209_Defiant_Joy_with_Stasi_Eldredge_Part_Two_.mp3
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Dan Allender is joined by Stasi Eldredge to talk about her new book, Defiant Joy, and the intimate connection between joy and sorrow.

Direct download: TAC208_Defiant_Joy_with_Stasi_Eldredge_Part_One.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

Dan Allender and Cathy Loerzel continue their conversation about The Tale, a stunning new film that raises crucial questions about arousal, contempt, and the necessity of telling our stories of trauma and abuse.

Direct download: TAC207_Trauma_and_Memory_in_The_Tale_Part_Two.mp3
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Dan Allender and Cathy Loerzel talk about The Tale, a fiercely important new film from HBO that is a vital addition to ongoing conversations about childhood sexual abuse.

Direct download: TAC206_Trauma_and_Memory_in_The_Tale_Part_One.mp3
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Dan Allender, Rachael Clinton, and Beau Denton celebrate more than four years and 200 episodes of The Allender Center podcast. As they reflect on their favorite moments so far, they dream together about how the conversation might continue in the future.

Direct download: TAC205_Four_Years_of_The_Allender_Center_Podcast.mp3.mp3
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Dan Allender and Jay Stringer conclude their conversation about sexual brokenness, the need for integrity and community in healing, and Jay’s new book Unwanted.

Direct download: TAC204_Sexual_Brokenness_and_Healing_Part_Three.mp3
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Dan continues his conversation with Jay Stringer about sexual brokenness and the need to engage the particular stories that inform how we view ourselves and how we relate to others.

Direct download: TAC203_Sexual_Brokenness_and_Healing_Part_Two.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

Dan kicks off a three-part conversation with minister and therapist Jay Stringer, whose book, Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing, was released earlier this month.

Direct download: TAC202_Sexual_Brokenness_and_Healing_Part_One.mp3
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This week, Wendell Moss continues his conversation with Sam Eldredge, originally recorded for the podcast from And Sons Magazine in Colorado.

Direct download: TAC201_Trauma_Race_and_Masculinity_with_Wendell_Moss_Part_Two.mp3
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This week, we’re sharing a conversation from the folks at And Sons Magazine in Colorado. Teaching Staff member Wendell Moss talks with Sam Eldredge about the intersections of race, masculinity, and trauma.

Direct download: TAC200_Trauma_Race_and_Masculinity_with_Wendell_Moss_Part_One.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

This week, Dan talks with Dr. Craig Detweiler, President of The Seattle School, about the transfiguration narrative in Luke 9, and about how we respond to moments of divine beauty.

Direct download: TAC199_Intriguing_Scriptures_Part_Four-_Dr._Craig_Detweiler.mp3
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This week, Dan talks with Dr. Derek McNeil, Senior Vice President of Academics at The Seattle School, about Luke 22:24-34 and how our ongoing growth requires that we face both our capacity for betrayal and the ways we have been betrayed.

Direct download: TAC198_Intriguing_Scriptures_Part_Three-_Dr._Derek_McNeil.mp3
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This week, Dan talks with Dr. Angela Parker, Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at The Seattle School, about 1 Corinthians 4:8-13 and what it means to foster meaningful, nuanced conversations in the midst of difference.

Direct download: TAC197_Intriguing_Scriptures_Part_Two-_Dr._Angela_Parker.mp3
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This week, Dan talks with Dr. Chelle Stearns, Associate Professor of Theology at The Seattle School, about Philippians 2 and the idea that following the example of Christ means becoming more fully ourselves.

Direct download: TAC196_Intriguing_Scriptures_Part_One-_Dr._Chelle_Stearns.mp3
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This week, Dan and Becky Allender continue their conversation about parenting adult children, particularly when the relationship is so broken that it seems beyond repair.

Direct download: TAC195_Parenting_Adult_Children_Part_Two.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

This week, Dan and Becky Allender start a two-part conversation about parenting adult children. How can we engage complex dynamics with curiosity and a hope of change, rather than maintaining the status quo or reenacting past harm?

Direct download: TAC194_Parenting_Adult_Children_Part_One.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

This week, Dan and Becky Allender conclude our series on loneliness by discussing how the journey away from the shame of disconnection begins with an act of confession.

Direct download: TAC193_An_Epidemic_of_Loneliness_Part_Three.mp3
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This week, Dan and Becky Allender continue their conversation about loneliness by looking at the particular ways it shows up in marriage and other intimate relationships.

Direct download: TAC192_An_Epidemic_of_Loneliness_Part_Two.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

This week, Dan and Becky Allender kick off a three-part series on loneliness. They begin by wrestling with some of the differences between sporadic, situational loneliness and chronic, existential loneliness.

Direct download: TAC191_An_Epidemic_of_Loneliness_Part_One.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

This week, Dan continues his conversation with professor Nancy Kane about the work of spiritual formation. Nancy shares about the deep change she has seen in those who dare go beyond a Sunday morning faith.

Direct download: TAC190_Spiritual_Formation_with_Nancy_Kane_Part_Two.mp3
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This week, Dan talks with professor Nancy Kane about the work of spiritual formation. Nancy reminds us that following Christ is not just a matter of reading our Bible and going to church. It is a whole-bodied journey into the deepest needs and desires of the human heart.

Direct download: TAC189_Spiritual_Formation_with_Nancy_Kane_Part_One.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

This week, Dan and Becky Allender continue discussing the dynamics of hospitality by exploring what it means to be a good host as we welcome friends and relatives into our homes this summer.

Direct download: TAC188_Summer_Hospitality_Part_Two.mp3
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This week, Dan and Becky Allender dive into the dynamics of hospitality and what it means to be a good guest or host. As we visit the homes of others, how can we enter their world with gratitude, humility, and delight?

Direct download: TAC187_Summer_Hospitality_Part_One.mp3
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This week, Dan shares his second recommendation for essential summer reading: Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, a book that shines light into some of the darkest realities of our nation’s systems of racism and injustice.

Direct download: TAC186_Summer_Reading-_Just_Mercy.mp3
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This week, Dan kicks off our Summer Reading series with a recommendation for Survivor Cafe by Elizabeth Rosner, a vivid look at the impact of generational trauma and the ways we tell the stories we have no language for.

Direct download: TAC185_Summer_Reading_1.mp3
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This week, Dr. Chelle Stearns, Associate Professor of Theology at The Seattle School, continues talking with Dan about her work toward developing a theology of trauma and abuse. Chelle shares how learning from artists can help us enter those realms marked by an absence of language and meaning.

Direct download: TAC184_A_Theology_of_Abuse_with_Dr._Chelle_Stearns_Part_Two.mp3
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This week, Dr. Dan Allender is joined by Dr. Chelle Stearns, a violinist, theologian, and Associate Professor of Theology at The Seattle School. Chelle shares about her work in developing a theology of abuse, and about her deep conviction that we find God most often in places of immense sorrow and stunning beauty.

Direct download: TAC183_A_Theology_of_Abuse_with_Dr._Chelle_Stearns.mp3
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This week, Dr. Dan Allender continues his conversation with Dr. Craig Detweiler, President of The Seattle School. Craig, a writer and filmmaker, engages Dan’s questions about a few favorite directors, and together they wonder about how stories of tragedy, comedy, and fantasy might all reflect something of the heart of the Gospel.

Direct download: TAC182_Telling_Stories_with_Dr._Craig_Detweiler_Part_Two.mp3
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This week, Dr. Dan Allender talks with Dr. Craig Detweiler, President of The Seattle School, about how filmmaking and storytelling can help deepen our imagination for new ways of being in the world.

Direct download: TAC181_Telling_Stories_with_Dr._Craig_Detweiler_Part_One.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

This week, Dr. Dan Allender and his long-time friend, Biblical scholar Dr. Tremper Longman III, conclude our series about the mystery of living with adaptive, creative wisdom in a fallen world—something far more complex than rote knowledge or easy answers.

Direct download: TAC180_Wisdom_with_Dr._Tremper_Longman_Part_Three.mp3
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This week, Dr. Dan Allender and his best friend, Biblical scholar Dr. Tremper Longman III, continue our series about the complex category of wisdom by discussing the need to remain open to change and to never stop learning. What does it mean to have both the integrity of deep convictions and the willingness to be proven wrong? As we’ll hear today, that’s one of the many conundrums of wisdom.

Direct download: TAC179_Wisdom_with_Dr._Tremper_Longman_Part_Two.mp3
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This week, Dr. Dan Allender and his long-time best friend, Biblical scholar Dr. Tremper Longman III, kick off a three-part series about the complex category of wisdom, starting with a loaded and crucial concept: the fear of the Lord.

Direct download: TAC178_Wisdom_with_Dr._Tremper_Longman_Part_One.mp3
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This week, Rachael Clinton continues her conversation about Black Panther with Teaching Staff member Wendell Moss and Michael Thornhill of the Coalition for Christian Outreach. Rachael, Wendell, and Michael talk about Erik Killmonger, a complex and compelling character who has much to teach us about collective trauma and systemic harm.

Direct download: TAC177_Trauma_and_Healing_in_Black_Panther_Part_Two.mp3
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This week, Rachael Clinton sits down with Teaching Staff member Wendell Moss and Michael Thornhill of the Coalition for Christian Outreach to launch a two-part conversation about the hit film Black Panther. Rachael, Wendell, and Michael discuss a few of the movie’s memorable characters and begin unpacking how the narrative reflects the complexity and humanity of trauma and healing.

Direct download: TAC176_Trauma_and_Healing_in_Black_Panther_Part_One.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

This week, Dan Allender and Rachael Clinton, Assistant Director of Program Development and Admissions, respond to feedback about our recent series on spiritual abuse. From the volume of responses, it is clear that this category strikes a deep and personal chord for many listeners, and we did not want to let this moment pass without acknowledging the complexity of this crucial conversation.

Direct download: TAC175_Listener_Feedback_Spiritual_Abuse.mp3
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This week, Dan Allender and Rachael Clinton, Assistant Director of Program Development and Admissions, conclude their conversation on spiritual abuse by talking about the long, painful journey toward healing. After being controlled and harmed by others in such profound ways, what does it look like to name our experience, allow ourselves to be cared for, and rediscover the goodness of God in our relationships?

Direct download: TAC174_Spiritual_Abuse_Part_Three.mp3
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This week, Dan Allender and Rachael Clinton, Assistant Director of Program Development and Admissions, continue their conversation on the dynamics and fallout of spiritual abuse. Rachael vulnerably shares more of her own story to help unpack the betrayal, loss of trust, and deep shame that come when corrupt leadership is seen as the voice of God in a community.

Direct download: TAC173_Spiritual_Abuse_Part_Two.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

This week, Dan Allender is joined by Rachael Clinton, Assistant Director of Program Development and Admissions, to begin a three-part conversation on the dynamics and fallout of spiritual abuse. Dan and Rachael discuss the pervasive and insidious realities of systems that use power to control and divide, fragmenting the beauty of a community that bears God’s name.

Direct download: TAC172_Spiritual_Abuse_Part_One.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

This week, Dan Allender, Cathy Loerzel, and Rachael Clinton conclude their conversation about our upcoming online course, Story Sage. As they continue wrestling with what it means to engage stories with boldness and care, they begin to explore what might be the most volatile and dangerous terrain in this work: family of origin.

Direct download: TAC171_Story_Sage_Part_Three.mp3
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This week, Dan Allender, Cathy Loerzel, and Rachael Clinton continue their conversation about what it means to enter the stories of others with curiosity, attunement, and care. As we gear up for our new Story Sage online course, we’re inviting you to consider how you might develop the capacity to enter stories of harm and heartache for the sake of healing.

Direct download: TAC170_Story_Sage_Part_Two.mp3
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This week, Dan talks with Cathy Loerzel and Rachael Clinton about the art of facilitating deep, meaningful conversations that enter into stories of harm and heartache. In an age of disconnection and isolation, how can we enter the stories of others with courage, artistry, and care?

Direct download: TAC169_Story_Sage_Part_One.mp3
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This week, Dan and Becky Allender continue their conversation about Becky’s new book, Hidden in Plain Sight. They reflect on the nature of calling and on the beautiful, wild invitation to step into new terrain while many others choose to coast through life.

Direct download: TAC168_Dan_and_Becky_Allender-_Hiding_No_More_Part_Two.mp3
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This week, Dan and Becky Allender talk about Becky’s new book, Hidden in Plain Sight. Becky shares about her writing process and about finding the courage to step from a lifetime of hiding into a beautiful and compelling new story.

Direct download: TAC167_Dan_and_Becky_Allender-_Hiding_No_More_Part_One.mp3
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This week, Dan continues his conversation with the band Lowland Hum. Lauren and Daniel Goans share about their songwriting process, and they talk with Dan about the haunting and holy privilege of creating music that reflects something of the nature of God.

Direct download: TAC166_Hospitality_in_Music-_An_Interview_with_Lowland_Hum_Part_Two.mp3
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This week, Dan is joined by Lauren and Daniel Goans of the band Lowland Hum, whose music we’re pleased to feature as our new intro. Dan asks the duo about their journey as songwriters, and about creating art that invites people into a larger, more hospitable experience of the Gospel.

Direct download: TAC165_Hospitality_in_Music-_An_Interview_with_Lowland_Hum.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

This week, Dan and Becky Allender look ahead and wonder about the desire, hope, and fear that comes with moving into a new year. Dan and Becky reflect on the themes and trajectories that will shape their year ahead, inviting you to join them in pondering the story your life will tell in 2018.

Direct download: TAC164_Writing_a_New_Story_in_2018.mp3
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