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This episode is something special. Imagine reconnecting with two young men from your youth group… fifty years later. That’s exactly what happened when Brad Thompson and Rick Axtell and I found our way back into each other’s lives after five decades apart, tracing a shared journey that none of us could have predicted.

Back in the early 1970s in Deerfield, Illinois, we were shaped by the same evangelical world at a thriving church on the north side of Chicago. Life, of course, took us in very different directions. Brad Thompson went on to pastoral ministry after graduating from St. Olaf College and earning his M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School—the same seminary I attended. Along the way, he also invested deeply in the lives of underserved young adults through YouthBuild, helping provide education, job training, and hope for a better future. Even in retirement, Brad continues to serve as an interim pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church—and he was the catalyst behind our remarkable reunion.

Rick Axtell’s journey led him into academia and service. He became a distinguished professor of religion and college chaplain at Centre College in Kentucky, earning multiple teaching awards and national recognition, including being named one of The Princeton Review’s top professors. Rick has also devoted himself to addressing hunger and homelessness, helping lead initiatives like Louisville United Against Hunger and founding a soup kitchen in Natchez, Mississippi.

Together, we reflect on our shared past and ask the deeper questions: What happened to us? Where has our faith evolved—or unraveled? What do we still hold in common?

If you grew up in fundamentalist or evangelical spaces and now find yourself wrestling with what to keep, what to leave behind, and what comes next—you’ll hear your own story echoing in ours.

Listen in on this remarkable reunion. SHOW NOTES

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This week, an original Beach Talk with Betsey Newenhuyse. We sit down for one of those conversations that moves from the deeply personal to the profoundly global.

Seven years after losing her husband Fritz, Betsey reflects on grief—not as something to “get over,” but as something to understand. She’s now editing a book on the journey of grief. Her insights are as honest as they are hopeful.

We also share the simple joy of a beautiful Easter and a California spring that reminds us life keeps renewing.

We dive into a world that feels increasingly unstable—from the renewed tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, where global energy and conflict collide, to questions about war, leadership, and whether peace talks can actually hold.

And then there’s a lift to the human spirit: the Artemis mission, reminding us what’s possible when we look upward instead of tearing each other apart.

We talk faith, politics, power, and the strange contradictions of our moment—from the Pope to populism, from scripture to strategy.

Join us for a thoughtful conversation that doesn’t shy away. Straight talk from the heart.

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(REPRISE) Ken welcomes back to the podcast the originator of the hashtag that launched a movement: #exvangelical, Blake Chastain. They discuss his new book, Exvangelical and Beyond: How American Christianity Went Radical and the Movement Fighting Back. An undergraduate at an evangelical university in Central Indiana, Blake had questions - about the Bible, the exclusive truth claims, the identification with conservative politics, the indifference to Earth care, to race, to social justice, and finally, the full-on embrace of MAGA Trumpism. It was a crisis of faith. When his hashtag went viral, CBS called him for a life-changing interview. Blake started The Exvangelical Podcast. In a wide-ranging conversation, Ken and Blake explore the history of evangelicalism and the contributing factors that have led to the evangelicalism we know today. SHOW NOTES

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Originally Aired November 15, 2024

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Become a Patron - Click on the link to learn how you can become a Patron of the show. Thank you!

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The Podcast Official Site: TheBeachedWhiteMale.com