Resource Recommendations

On this page, you will discover a list of things I like personally and professionally. I’m sure I should make some disclaimer I don’t endorse any of these companies 100% or think any of these sources are infallible or idol-worthy… But I think you’re an intelligent bunch.

TLDR: I like these things and reserve the right to change my mind. Not Sponsored.

Personal Resource Recommendations: This list may expose me more than any other. I am a self-professed nerd and love a wide variety of things as you will notice on this list.

  1. Video Games: I predominantly use my desktop, Nintendo Switch, and my phone.
    1. Final Fantasy XIV
    2. WoW
    3. Diablo III (Switch)
    4. Animal Crossing
    5. Stardew Valley (Switch & phone)
    6. Pokemon GO
    7. Pokemon Shield (Switch)
    8. Lets Go Pikachu (Switch Pokemon)
    9. Wizards Unite (I’ve only dabbled in this)
  2. Tabletop Games & RPG
    1. Pathfinder (I’ve only dabbled in D&D or Starfinder)
    2. Settlers of Catan
    3. Ticket to Ride
    4. Exploding Kittens (and the expansion Imploding Kittens)
  3. Fiction Authors & Books: If I am speaking honestly, I can get in a rut of sticking to my ‘greatest hits’ genres and not get too adventurous with fiction books. (I’ve got a lot of emotional baggage that makes me self-censor.) This means a lot of Historical fiction, Young Adult/Dystopian literature, and fantasy fiction. Although, lately I’ve had a tough time diving into fiction when I feel like I “should” be reading nonfiction to continue to develop professionally.
    1. Top 3 Jane Austen books: (yes, in this order)
      1. Persuasion
      2. Northanger Abbey
      3. Pride & Prejudice
    2. Harry Potter series (Yes, J.K. Rowling is a hot mess right now… but I still have an emotional connection to the books and that world)
    3. Hunger Games
    4. JRR Tolkien… except the Silmarillion… that stuff is dense.
    5. CS Lewis
      1. Last Battle
      2. Magician’s Nephew
  4. Movies & Miniseries: Once again, I have a habit of sticking to my favorite genres and not expanding my horizons unless forced.
    1. Marvel Cinematic Universe: I will ingest all the cheesy goodness that exists in this world. No, it doesn’t have to be quality dialogue or cinematics.
    2. Pride & Prejudice (BBC Miniseries 1995)
    3. Pride & Prejudice (2005)
    4. Hunger Games
    5. Harry Potter Series
    6. Fantastic Beast Series
    7. Lord of The Rings Series
    8. Hobbit Series
  5. Tv shows: anything by BBC, you may notice my ‘greatest hits genres’ here too
    1. Victoria
    2. Doctor Who
    3. Sherlock
    4. Poldark
    5. West Wing
    6. Madame Secretary
    7. Stranger Things (although the last season was just OK for me)
  6. YouTube Channels
    1. Personal Perspectives & Stories of Unique Lifestyles
      1. Jessica Kellgren-Fozard
      2. PBS Idea Channel (No longer making videos)
      3. Say It Loud PBS
      4. SoulPancake
      5. Yo Samdy Sam
    2. History, Costuming, & Sewing
      1. Bernadette Banner
      2. Cathy Hay
      3. Costuming Drama: Noelle
      4. Morgan Donner
      5. Coolirpa
    3. Yoga with Adriene
  7. Podcasts
    1. Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!
    2. You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes
    3. The Bible for Normal People
    4. For The Love with Jen Hatmaker
    5. Great Women of Business 

Professional Resource Recommendations: Hello Pastoral Traveller! This list is the beginnings of a resource list for pastors and ministry workers of all contexts. The intention is that there would be Books, Podcasts, Episodes, Apps, and websites compiled in one place for pastors to share with each other. 
I have not experienced each of these resources exhaustively, therefore use your own discretion when diving in, perhaps not every resource on this list is a suitable fit for you. I try to balance my resources but as you will discover; I have an obvious bias. If you have recommendations for this list, send me a message!

  1. Cool Apps to use
    1. YouVersion The Bible App
    2. PAYG (Pray As You Go) App
    3. “Our Bible ” App is a more LGBTQ+ friendly app, the translations focus on gender inclusivity etc. 
    4. “Read Scripture” from The Bible Project
  2. Blogs
    1. Pastoral Experiences: 
      1. RevGalBlogPals https://revgalblogpals.org/ (note: SUPER progressive)– this blog is in tandem with the book “There’s a Woman in the Pulpit”
      2. Mindi Welton-Mitchell Rev-o-lution 
    2. Sermons
      1. https://meriahtigner.blogspot.com/
    3. RCL Translation Help
      1. https://leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/
      2. Faith & Theology https://www.faith-theology.com/p/matt-wilc.html   
    4. Commentaries
      1. The Text This Week  http://www.textweek.com/
    5. Prayer Resources
      1. Collection of prayers based on lectionary text- Re-worship.blogspot.com
  3. Books/Authors:
    1. Purity Culture, Sex, Sexuality
      1. Damaged Goods By Dianna E Anderson
      2. Shameless by Nadia Bolz-Weber 
    2. Female Perspectives & Spirituality
      1. A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans
      2. Jesus Feminist By Sarah Bessey
      3. There’s a Woman in the Pulpit: Christian Clergywomen Share Their Hard Days, Holy Moments and the Healing Power of Humor by Rev. Martha Spong and Rev. Carol Howard Merrit
        1. A collection of essays by female pastors (some are SUPER progressive) that talk about their life and ministry. 
    3. Spiritual Experiences
      1. Accidental Saints by Nadia Bolz-Weber 
      2. Searching for Sunday By Rachel Held Evans
      3. Pastrix by Nadia Bolz-Weber 
      4. Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life  Tish Harrison Warren
      5. Finding God in the Waves: How I Lost My Faith and Found It Again Through Science by Mike McHargue
      6. Out of Sorts By Sarah Bessey
      7. Outside the Lines: How Embracing Queerness Will Transform Your Faith by Mihee Kim-Kort
    4. Scripture: 
      1. Inspired by Rachel Held Evans
      2. How the Bible Actually Works By Peter Enns
      3. Bible Tells Me So  By Peter Enns
    5. Christian Concepts
      1. The Sin of Certainty: Why God Desires Our Trust More Than Our “Correct” Beliefs By Peter Enns
    6. Theology
      1. Solus Jesus: A Theology of Resistance by Emily Swan and Ken Wilson. Moving from Sola Scriptura to Solus Jesus and embracing queer theology and resistance to empire.
    7. Racism, oppression, and cultural differences
      1. James H. Cone
        1.  ‘The Cross and the Lynching Tree’  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1626980055/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_FnT0EbE8GY054 
        2. God of the Oppressed https://www.amazon.com/dp/1570751587/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_NoT0EbB4GF9DG 
      2. Kaitlin B. Curtice ‘Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God’  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1587434318/ 
      3. Barbara Brown Taylor ‘Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others’  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071DSP2D5/ 
      4.  Inés Hernández-Ávila and 1 more ‘Entre Guadalupe y Malinche: Tejanas in Literature and Art’ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0170CKQQI/ 
      5.  Michelle Alexander and 1 more ‘The New Jim Crow’https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0067NCQVU 
      6. Richard Twiss ‘Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys: A Native American Expression of the Jesus Way’. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01316U4IW/
      7. Richard Twiss and 1 more ‘One Church, Many Tribes’. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LA9GUEK/
      8. Willie James Jennings ‘The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race’ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0038LB480/ 
      9. J. Kameron Carter ‘Race: A Theological Account’ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005885DB0/
      10. Miguel A. De La Torre ‘Reading the Bible From the Margins’ https://www.amazon.com/dp/1570754101 
    8. Church and Transformation
      1. Welcoming Community: Diversity that Works by Douglas Avilesbernal
      2. Weird Church: Welcome to the Twenty-First Century by Beth Ann Estock and Paul Nixon. Begins with a framework of cultural revolution and possibilities for the church in the future.
      3. Neighborhood Church: Transforming Your Congregation into a Powerhouse For Mission by Krin Van Tatenhove and Robert Mueller. 
      4. Faithful Resistance: Gospel Visions For the Church in a Time of Empire, edited by Rick Ufford-Chase.
  4. Podcasts:
    1. RCL
      1. Strangely Warmed UMC podcast, I’d say theologically moderate, politically leaning progressive
      2. Pulpit Fiction ecumenical podcast leaning more progressive theologically and politically 
      3. Working Preacher: Sermon Brainwave- use workingpreacher.org to access episodes
        1. professors
    2. Scripture
      1. The Bible Project (also a great resource on YouTube for videos on topics and books of the bible- Also see app)
    3. Spirituality:
      1. The Liturgist Podcast (a podcast that includes non-Christians or ex-Christians in the conversation about faith filled topics)
      2. Sacred Ordinary Days is a great podcast about living out the church calendar! On the podcast Jen Giles Kemper and Lacy Clark talk about each season and what practices you could try to incorporate. They only did one year together, so there aren’t a lot of episodes. 
        1. https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/lacy-ellman/sacred-ordinary-days-podcast 
        2. Sacred Ordinary Days also has an amazing devotional/journal & online community https://sacredordinarydays.com/  
        3.  Lacy from A Sacred Journey has a cool website with unique resources too:  https://www.asacredjourney.net/
      3. Sunday School for Heathens (An Episcopalian and an atheist who is curious about faith discuss a topic). https://sundayschoolforheathens.podbean.com/
        1. It may be a dead podcast. No recent episodes since Sept. 2019, but their catalogue is great.
      4. The Daily Liturgy Podcast (12 minute devotional podcast with daily lectionary readings, times of prayer, and music for reflection)
        1. http://cdomaha.com/the-daily-liturgy-podcast
      5. On Being with Krista Tippett– https://onbeing.org/series/podcast/
    4. Sermons
      1. House for All Sinners and Saints (ELCA congregation in Denver, CO founded by Nadia Bolz-Weber, lead now by Rev. Reagan Humber)
        1. http://houseforall.org/
      2. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection (UMC in Leawood, KS, led by Rev. Adam Hamilton)
        1. http://www.cor.or
    5. Other topics
      1. The Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast  
        https://careynieuwhof.com/ 
      2. The Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast
        https://andystanley.com/podcast/
      3. E and Me (Robb McCoy from Pulpit Fiction and his daughter Elle talk about life, faith, and stuff) http://eandme.libsyn.com/ Only four episodes, but it’s really cool. More coming?
      4. Crackers and Grape Juice (talking about faith without using stained-glass language. Same people as Strangely Warmed) www.crackersandgrapejuice.com
      5. 200 Churches Podcast- Jeff and Johnny look at the strengths of leading smaller churches
        https://www.200churches.com/podcast.html
      6. Leading Ideas Talks- From Lewis Center on Church Leadership
        https://www.churchleadership.com/tag/podcast/
  5. Podcasts: Individual Episodes
    1. I have hunted out episodes by Nadia Bolz-Weber where she’s been a guest on  podcasts
    2. I’ve also hunted down Rachel Held Evans episodes. Especially since her death there has been an increase in content shared.
  6. YouTube Channels, Playlists, & Videos
    1. The Bible Project https://www.youtube.com/user/jointhebibleproject
    2. Kokomo Beer & Hymns https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT2ANQJTu7Pe-KJPYsEHTKuIWMnsCPrMP
    3. Liberty Baptist Church https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT2ANQJTu7PdXVK1QL80HPUG_xariDSIr
    4. Pastor Videos curated by Meriah Tigner https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT2ANQJTu7PcQuiGd-m8Wm9MTi16KJ4OM