The SkyePod

Drew Dyck is back with another roundup of stories from the web. Is a "tsunami" really coming for the American church? How many of your favorite sermon illustrations are completely made up? Are parents raising successful young men who are boring to talk to? Skye and Drew also discuss the Gen Z stare, why worship leaders are burning out, and why women may be more suspicious of AI than men. Plus, if the people building AI think there's a chance it could destroy humanity, should the rest of us be a little more worried? 0:03 - Theme Song 6:13 - Can We Predict Church Change? 18:10 - Bogus Sermon Illustrations 25:45 - How to Raise an Unattractive Son 28:41 - This episode is available only for Holy Post Plus subscribers. Not a subscriber? Head on over to: https://holypost.substack.com/p/e0a58469-27ba-49a7-9cd2-b88d13a18252?postPreview=free&updated=2026-09-17T21%3A36%3A38.704Z&audience=only_paid&free_preview=true&freemail=true

We are two months away from the midterm elections, and with multiple clergy running for office, faith is playing a larger role. Are evangelicals souring on MAGA? Will the Democrats close the "God gap?" Skye is joined by former chief political analyst for NBC News and moderator of Meet the Press , Chuck Todd, to discuss the intersection of faith and politics. Their conversation also turns to their diverse religious upbringings, the role of public education, backlash against big tech, and how to repair our broken, corrupt political system. Once named "The Most Powerful Journalist in Washington" by GQ magazine, Todd now hosts The Chuck ToddCast , featuring in-depth interviews with political figures, experts, and thought leaders. 0:00 - Theme Song 0:26 - Empty Nesters 2:16 - Clergy Running as Democrats 16:06 - Inflection Point in Evangelicalism 27:36 - Importance of Pluralism 36:48 - This episode is available only for Holy Post Plus subscribers. Not a subscriber? Head on over to: https://holypost.substack.com/p/93204b4f-df70-496e-ab96-8f9ce2a9cca8?postPreview=free&updated=2026-09-10T18%3A46%3A02.325Z&audience=only_paid&free_preview=true&freemail=true

It's back to school and off to college season. Sociologists and master of "Graphs About Religion," Ryan Burge, is back with new data about which college majors are the most and least devoted to Christianity. He also has stats about declining birth rates even among religious groups, and why some kids raised with and without faith switch their beliefs as adults. 0:11 - Theme Song 2:17 - Religiosity Among Different College Majors 10:42 - Finance Bros are Major Church-Goers 20:14 - Deconstruction and College 27:32 - This episode is available only for Holy Post Plus subscribers. Not a subscriber? Head on over to: https://holypost.substack.com/p/so-you-want-your-child-to-keep-the

New data finds that almost half of Gen Z adults won't consider going to church because of Christians' support for Donald Trump. David French and Skye Jethani wonder what the research means for the majority of evangelical churches that avoid anything political, and why that may actually be part of the problem. They also discuss the rise of socialism on the political left and why JD Vance's recent memoir suggests socialism may be just as popular on the political right. Plus, what America can learn from the goodness of Dolly Parton. 0:00 - Theme Song 0:17 - Mourning Dolly Parton 9:23 - Is Polarization Keeping Gen Z Out of Church? 21:02 - Should the Church Be Political? 31:04 - The Rise of Socialists 50:21 - Can the Middle Hold Together? 1:04:32 - End Credits

Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave, but Lazarus was not transformed. He was still mortal, subject to the curse, and destined to die again. In other words, Lazarus was resuscitated; he was not truly resurrected. This message contrasts the difference between being rescued by God and being reborn, and asks whether we have accepted a lesser gospel of mere resuscitation when the life we are called to is one of transformation possible through the power of Christ's resurrection. 0:05 - Theme Song 0:20 - Intro 4:42 - John Newton's Resuscitation 10:00 - Two Tombs 14:01 - Jesus Came Back Different 18:52 - This episode is available only for Holy Post Plus subscribers. Not a subscriber? Head on over to: https://holypost.substack.com/p/skyedive-resuscitation-vs-resurrection?r=35kf51&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

In perhaps the most faith-centric Drew's News yet, Drew Dyck brings us the rise of A.I. sermons, the rise of exorcisms, and the delayed rise of an airplane where a woman decided to evangelize to the unenthusiastic captive audience. Skye and Drew also speculate if the brief period of lucidity dementia patients experience shortly before death points to the existence of the human soul. And why does the church favor people going through "spiritual puberty?" All this and more on the new Drew's news! 0:00 - Theme Song 2:52 - Is Deconstruction a meaningless word now? 15:03 - Florida Evangelist Kicked Off Alaska Flight 27:12 - Terminal Lucidity 29:31 - This episode is available only for Holy Post Plus subscribers. Not a subscriber? Head on over to: https://holypost.substack.com/p/drews-news-spiritual-puberty-ai-sermons?r=35kf51&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Skye wants to wrap his head around what's happening with A.I. There's the economic factor, the ethical factor, the societal factor… too much for most of us to keep up with. Skye sat down with Meghan Sullivan, a leading voice on ethics with A.I., to talk about how people in Silicon Valley are navigating this thorny topic. 0:00 - Intro 8:18 - Theme Song 8:38 - LLMs with Personalties 14:57 - Market Pressure 23:45 - Theory of Secularization 27:57 - This episode is available only for Holy Post Plus subscribers. Not a subscriber? Head on over to: https://holypost.substack.com/p/6bb8ed52-78c1-45d3-bb70-4851140b06b2?postPreview=free&updated=2026-08-06T22%3A10%3A37.356Z&audience=only_paid&free_preview=true&freemail=true Read more about Meghan Sullivan's work at her website: https://meghansullivan.org/

Guess what time it is? Once every year, David French and Skye Jethani devote an episode to movies, TV shows, and pop culture nerdery. This year's Nerdfest focuses on Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey," and David makes his case that the film is a Trojan horse filled with conservative values. They also react to the new "Avengers: Doomsday" trailer, why superhero movies aren't working anymore, and their shared hatred of multiverses. Finally, from the non-nerd world, they discuss new data showing Gen Z is turned off to Christianity by the evangelical support for Donald Trump. What's really behind the numbers? 0:00 - Theme Song 1:24 - The Conservatism of The Odyssey 16:04 - The Odyssey and Culture Wars 25:42 - Marvel, Star Wars, and Decay 43:24 - Is Trump Driving Gen Z from Church? 1:03:00 - End Credits

Christopher Nolan's take on Homer's epic "The Odyssey" is the biggest film in the world right now. Holy Post Pundit and New Testament scholar, Nijay Gupta, joins Skye to talk about what it tells us about pagan religion in the ancient world. He explains how the faith taught by the Apostles contradicted the kind of idolatry and superstition described in "The Odyssey," and what the ancient Greek understanding of hospitality toward strangers—a major theme in the movie—shares in common with both the Old and New Testaments. 0:07 - Theme Song 2:03 - The Odyssey and the Ancient World 8:28 - Demigods Among Us 22:02 - Hospitality as a Virtue 28:13 - This episode is available only for Holy Post Plus subscribers. Not a subscriber? Head on over to: https://holypost.substack.com/p/the-odyssey-and-the-bible-with-nijay?r=35kf51&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true Link to Nijay's Substack series on Paganism: https://nijaykgupta.substack.com/p/the-odyssey-and-the-world-of-the Engaging Scripture (Nijay Gupta's Substack): https://nijaykgupta.substack.com/ Link to Nijay's Substack series on Paganism: https://nijaykgupta.substack.com/p/the-odyssey-and-the-world-of-the Engaging Scripture (Nijay Gupta's Substack): https://nijaykgupta.substack.com/

Drew Dyck is back with another roundup of stories from the web. Are physically unfit pastors spiritually unfit for ministry? Christian influencers are only eating foods found in the Bible. Why non-denominational churches are a myth. What's really behind the falling birthrates, and why aren't economic solutions working? 0:01 - Theme Song 0:19 - Drew's Newsletter 1:39 - Fat Pastors 5:25 - Are Pastors Aspirational? 22:58 - The Bible Diet 27:24 - This episode is available only for Holy Post Plus subscribers. Not a subscriber? Head on over to: https://holypost.substack.com/p/drews-news-fat-pastors-non-denoms

Historian Daniel G. Hummel joins Skye Jethani to talk about the changing relationship between American evangelicals and Israel. Driven by a particular view of the end times, Hummel explains the origin of evangelical support for the modern state of Israel, and why current events are testing that commitment. They also examine influential media voices, like Tucker Carlson, who are aggressively pushing antisemitic conspiracy theories and half-truths about the origins of Christian Zionism. 0:07 - Theme Song 6:54 - Secularism and Zionism 12:03 - Dispensationalism 19:29 - Israel and Blessings 22:02 - Controlling God 27:56 - Carlson's Anti-semetic Anti-zionism 30:33 - End Credits CT's article on Tucker Carlson and the Scofield Bible: https://www.christianitytoday.com/2026/06/what-tucker-carlson-got-wrong-cyrus-scofield-christian-zionism/

In honor of Independence Day, Holy Post Media released a new explainer video titled "Should America Rededicate Itself to God?" The short 12-minute video featured clips of a conversation between Skye Jethani and Caleb Campbell, the pastor of Desert Springs Bible Church in Phoenix and author of "Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor." This episode features their full conversation, including Campbell's journey from neo-Nazi skinhead to senior pastor, what America's founders really thought about pluralism, and why so many pastors failed to speak up as their church members got sucked into Christian nationalism. 0:00 - Intro 1:29 - Theme Song 9:42 - The Founders RejectedNationalism 15:30 - Shouldn't Laws be Aligned to God's Will? 21:45 - How Caleb Changed 29:11 - This episode is available only for Holy Post Plus subscribers. Not a subscriber? Head on over to: https://holypost.substack.com/p/caleb-campbell

It's a history lesson on today's French Friday. David French explains the parallels between the Vichy French government that cooperated with the Nazis in WWII and Christian nationalists in America today. Both were highly misogynistic, nativist, and blamed liberal democracy for all of the country's problems. Obviously, things did not end well for the Vichy government in France. David and Skye discuss why the authoritarianism pushed by Christian nationalists won't work in America either. They also discuss the 2026 midterm elections and what the Democrats are learning from the popularity of pugilistic candidates like Platner in Maine and the decency of candidates like Talarico in Texas. 0:00 - Theme Song 1:11 - Vichy France and Modern America 8:18 - Mistrust Toward Democracy 17:50 - Why Do We Return to Authoritarianism? 33:08 - Graham Platner 43:41 - What's a Good "Representative?" 1:02:09 - End Credits David French's Vichy France article: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/14/opinion/christian-nationalism-maga-france.html

Skye and Esau saw Disclosure Day by Steven Spielberg this weekend—did it make them believe in aliens? Maybe not, but it does show a cultural preoccupation with our place in the world. Would the existence of aliens change history? Would you believe aliens were telling the truth? Skye and Esau debate these issues and Esau pitches a sequel. 0:06 - Theme Song 1:15 - Disclosure Day 7:27 - Why Aliens Would Change Our View of God 13:51 - Religion Without God 25:40 - Are Aliens Demons? 29:05 - This episode is available only for Holy Post Plus subscribers. Not a subscriber? Head on over to: https://holypost.substack.com/p/disclosure-day-faith-aliens-and-spielberg

The internet keeps serving up strange stories, and Drew Dyck is back to help Skye figure out what they reveal about faith, wisdom, and our very weird cultural moment. They start with a Christianity Today article on marijuana and the Christian life, but the conversation quickly turns toward a bigger question about how believers learn discernment when Scripture doesn't give a simple rule. Then they discuss Freya India's warning that prayer apps, livestreamed sermons, and gamified discipleship can quietly train new Christians to experience faith as one more thing to consume on a phone. Also this week, Skye and Drew talk about microwaved fish, AI-generated Christian content, ghostwriting, UFOs, demons, and why the modern world may be getting stranger, not less spiritual. 0:05 - Theme Song 2:10 - Christianity Today on Weed 11:02 - Fundamentalism 21:35 - Commodification of Christianity 24:46 - This episode is available only for Holy Post Plus subscribers. Not a subscriber? Head on over to: https://holypost.substack.com/p/drews-news-weed-prayer-apps-and-ufos

Because it's graduation season, Skye offers some lessons for those starting their careers. He takes us through the story of his professional development from seminary, to pastoral ministry, into journalism, publishing, and eventually the creation of Holy Post Media. Along the way, he draws on the metaphor from Gordon Mackenzie's 1996 book, "Orbiting the Giant Hairball," to explain the tension between our callings and feeling trapped in broken institutions. 0:04 - Theme Song 6:15 - Hairball Number One: Ministry 11:28 - Sermon ROI 17:03 - Hairball Number Two: Publishing 24:40 - This episode is available only for Holy Post Plus subscribers. Not a subscriber? Head on over to: https://holypost.substack.com/publish/post/200657253?r=35kf51&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

The Supreme Court recently struck down a provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Bill that prevented the dilution of votes by racial minorities, unleashing red states throughout the South to redraw congressional districts before the 2026 midterm elections. The outcome is likely to be fewer Black representatives in Congress. David French and Skye Jethani discuss the issue of gerrymandering—partisan and racial—and why it is contrary to both the Constitution and the Christian call to love our neighbors. They also offer suggestions for fixing the problem in order to heal our broken politics. 0:00 - Theme Song 0:21 - Being on Bill Marr 6:04 - What is Gerrymandering? 11:27 - Racial vs Political Gerrymandering 26:22 - Christian Podcast and Politics 29:57 - Disempowering the People 40:22 - Possible Solutions 52:37 - Do We Need a Third Founding? 1:10:47 - End Credits

We love stories about redemption, except when it happens to our enemies. Skye and Kaitlyn Schiess discuss why our culture has become fluent in justice, punishment, and public condemnation, but has lost the language of mercy, forgiveness, and restoration. Drawing from Priya Parker's conversation with Ezra Klein, they explore what happens when justice becomes vengeance and people are permanently sorted into victims and villains. They also ask whether the church still has the theological resources our culture desperately needs, including a vision of final judgment, true repair, and communities where sinners can be reintegrated without pretending harm never happened. 0:02 - Theme Song 1:22 - Announcements 2:54 - Priya Parker 8:03 - Inevitability of Harm 11:46 - Social Vengeance 19:00 - Rodney King and Reginald Denny 25:25 - The full episode is available only for Holy Post Plus subscribers. Not a subscriber? Head on over to: https://www.patreon.com/posts/158894092/ Priya Parker on the Ezra Klein Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=714IB4avhWg The Redemption Paradox: Why We Embrace it in Storytelling But Resist it in Life https://simplyputpsych.co.uk/mind-over-media/the-redemption-paradox-why-we-embrace-it-in-storytelling-but-resist-it-in-life?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Drew's back to talk about the youth and the Church. YouTube prophets preach about UFO's! Christian singles join dating shows on Hulu! Kids are saying "Christ is King..." but mean something different than allegiance to Jesus. It's a wild world, but Skye and Drew are here to talk about it. 0:08 - Theme Song 1:12 - Youtube Prophets and UFO Panic 16:46 - Christian Dating Reality Show? 24:52 - Gen Z Wants to be 80's Kids 26:08 - The full episode is available only for Holy Post Plus subscribers. Not a subscriber? Head on over to: https://www.patreon.com/posts/158271605/

Ryan Burge is back with graphs about (what else?) religion, as young men are increasingly identifying as religious, but aren't really participating in churches. What's going on? And how does this tie into Crotch Christianity? Skye and Ryan talk about this and maintaining humility in matters of faith. 0:00 - Theme Song 1:41 - People like the "Idea" of religion 5:11 - Young Men Claim Religious Identity 15:25 - Crotch Christianity, LGBTQ, and Roe V. Wade 24:01 - Moral Uncertainty and Religion Ryan Burge's Substack Article: https://substack.com/home/post/p-195438773