On January 15th my personal podcast, "Steve the Builder," begins airing on Ancient Faith. The focus will be about my 56 years of "real" life, our culture, living and working in the world, and just being a layperson seeking to be a Christian. Bill and I will still be producing Our Life in Christ programs in the future as we can hammer out some studio time together, but Steve the Builder will fill in the blanks in between Our Life in Christ productions.

Kevin Allen of "The Illumined Heart" podcast here on AFR interviewed Steve on lay ministry in the Orthodox Church. As usual, Kevin asks the hard questions. Join Steve and Kevin for a frank discussion of the opportunities and yes, sometimes pitfalls of trying to do lay ministry in the context of the Orthodox Church.

In the final program of the series on "Encountering Mary," we deal with some of the hymnography and prayers that are a "brick wall" to many Evangelicals. We discuss several prayers in which Mary seems to be given attributes of deity or usurps the work of Christ in the life of the Christian. But, when we go to the Scriptures we see that the hymnography of the Church is rooted in the Bible and biblical typology and scriptural language in a way that even modern Protestants sometimes use in their devotional lives, practice and hymns.

In this program we continue the discussion of the early Church's interpretation of Scripture and the typology that points to both the birth of Christ and His birth giver. The hymnography of the Church both praises Mary for her faith and obedience but also explicates the Scriptures and teaches us about the dogma of the person of Christ, our relationship to God, Christ, Mary and all the saints.

In Part Three of the series on Mary, Steve and Bill tackle some listener feedback and questions about Mary, veneration, worship and children. In the second half of the program they discuss the early second century Fathers of the Church and the universality of the doctrine of Mary as the second Eve which is evidence of the Church's early embracing of Mary and the development of an understanding of her importance in the history of our salvation in Christ.

In Part Two of our series on dealing with "Mary issues," the tardiloquent and equipotent Steve and Bill talk more about "the culture of the Kingdom," the language of the Church, and the development of the Marian doctrines in Church history.

In response to several panicked emails from listeners who attended their first Orthodox services and came face to face with the Church's piety regarding Mary, we begin a series on "Encountering Mary." In the first program we read a typical email and discuss several misconceptions, misperceptions and offer some perspectives that will help someone see the Orthodox devotion to Mary in a Biblical and balanced way.

The second hour of an interview with Fr. Gregory Jensen on the use of psychology and the Orthodox spiritual life.

Steve interviews Fr. Gregory Jensen, an Orthodox priest and psychologist. Fr. Gregory discusses the place of clinical psychology within Orthodox spirituality, particularly as it relates to pastoral care and confession.

In the sixth and final program on the series on "Relics," Steve and Bill discuss issues that face the Western theological concepts of nature, person, will and their relationships to one another before and after the fall. How one views the nature of God and the human being determines one's view of the meaning of salvation and the impact of "salvation" on the human being in this life. Relics are the evidence of the progressive nature of the human participation in the divine energies of God and a foretaste of the life to come in eternity. In the second half of the program Steve and Bill examine the New Testament and many passages that point us to the concept of "synergy," the working of the human person with God toward the goal of union with God.

We continue the discussion of essence and energy and give a very broad overview of the influence of the Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle on Augustine and Aquinas and how philosophy has influenced the views of God in the West. We also discuss how the East and West's views of God manifest themselves in how we view creation and the human being's relationship to God.

You can order the CD from Grace Brooks at goodnightgrace2006@gmail.com The cost is $12.50 plus shipping. Tell her you heard about it on Our Life in Christ! Thanks!

In part four of our discussion of relics, we tackle the nature of God and the nature of the human being and how we can "know" a person. What is the relationship of "nature" to a "person"? What is an "energy"? How are a nature's energies expressed? The proper definition of nature, energy and personhood form the cornerstone for a proper definition of salvation and the goal of our existence in God.

After a two-month disappearance, Steve and Bill resurface and finally record part three of the series on "Relics." In this program they discuss the Orthodox view of God and how the creation can literally "participate in God," or, as St. Peter says, be a "partaker of the divine nature." How can the infinite God who says, "You cannot see my face and live," also promise that "the pure in heart shall see God"? The distinction between the essence and energies of God is one of the fundamental dogmas of the Orthodox faith and gives us a vision of our union with God which is ultimately our salvation.

Hierotheos Vlachos of Nafpaktos said, "The job of the Church is to make relics." The phenomenon of relics is not merely a human sentimental reaction to the past, but it is a real evidence of our salvation in Christ in whom "the fullness of deity dwells bodily" (Colossians 1:19, 2:9). The consequences of the incarnation go beyond a juridical declaration of innocence, they are evidence of the eternal destiny of the human being. In this program Steve and Bill begin to delve into the theology of the Church regarding our union with God in Christ through the Holy Spirit.

After being AWOL for several months, we're actually back in the Basement Catacomb Studio recording new material! In the first of a several part series on "relics," we discuss the universal human behavior of collecting "memorabilia" of significant people, the universal human struggle to define the relationship between the spiritual and material worlds, and the significance of Christian relics based on the Incarnation of Christ and the Orthodox view of salvation.

Steve and Bill are once again invited to guest host the Andrew Tallman Show on KPXQ, a live Phoenix drive time Christian talk show. We decide to boldly go where no Evangelical talk show host has gone before. We discuss the topic of sola scriptura and during the program get a call from a suprise guest.

In the final interview of the series with Father Jonah, Steve and Bill have a major meltdown during the first segment trying to explain that even though this is the last interview it was really the first one recorded. This program focuses on the Christian life and monasticism as one expression of living out the Gospel of Christ in community. In this program Fr. Jonah discusses his view of our modern culture, the spirit of the age, and marriage and family and its similarities to the monastic community. It serves as a summary of many of the things discussed in the other five programs.

In part two of the conversation with Father Jonah we discuss the relationship of monasticism to the "normal" Christian life. The life lived in the Gospel is universally applied to all Christians, has the same goal and foundation, but is lived out in various ways.

We continue the series of interviews with Fr. Jonah. In part one of this interview we discuss a variety of topics that relate to the Orthodox view of the healing of the human person. Monasticism is but one of the ways that we are healed, but all of the spiritual disciplines and "methods" boil down to life within a community, whether it is a monastery, a marriage, a family or a parish. We are also trying some new sound file formats to attempt to fix the 49 minute podcast cut off problem. So, if our podcast listeners can let us know if THIS program plays all the way through we'd appreciate it!