@ Sea With Justin Mcroberts

Welcome to Season 2 of The @ Sea Podcast! Before we get into the actual interviews and guests that will make up Season 2, I thought it appropriate to look back at a few of the highlights from Season 1; moments that defined the season and helped see me what the podcast was actually about. We are learning to navigate the turbulent waters in which the practice and expression of faith finds itself.  The past few years have been marked by a series of honest, poignant and in many cases, helpful critiques of religious culture. that the spaces and places in which we would normally or traditionally have gathered to see ourselves, one another and God more clearly… well, those places and spaces don’t quite connect or work they way they used to… or the way they were promised to… The @ Sea Podcast is not only a way to navigate those turbulent waters waters but to help shape what it looks like to think spiritually, humanly… to actually practice faith without the safe harbors we might have once counted on. We’re doing that

My guest on episode 8 is author and journalist Katelyn Beaty. Christianity Today made Katelyn the first female managing editor in the magazine’s 60-year history. She also happened to be the youngest managing editor during that same time span.  Earlier this year, she released her first book, Entitled “A Woman’s Place: A Christian Vision for your Calling in The Office, The Home and the World.” Most of our conversation focused on that book, which I found to be not only insightful but timely. This podcast puts you touch with great culture makers because I believe what they do deepens and enriches out lives, What strikes me most about Katelyn is the way she handles somewhat onerous and technically nuanced cultural ideas by keeping those ideas in close proximity to a human narrative, … very often her own. If authority is best used, as we discuss in our conversation, to create room for others, Katelyn exemplifies that practice, by letting her story provide room for people like you and me to more fully identify ourse

Songwriter and artist David Bazan is my guest on Episode 7 of the @ Sea Podcast. David has been making music professionally since 1995, most notably, As the frontman for Pedro The Lion, the mind behind Headphones and most pertinent to the purposes of this podcast, as a solo artist. Among the many things I enjoy about David is that he is not a brand, nor does he aspire to be. He is an artist. He is a man making music and musical culture he believes benefits the lives of those who consume it. We get into his odd role as a prophetic voice in a religious culture that often considers him an outsider, the value of setting vocational goals but holding them loosely and the extremely rare beginnings of his career, during which his parents quite literally encouraged him to quit school to give rock and roll a try. ONE NOTE about this episode of the podcast, this is the first episode to be labeled “explicit” because of language. I don’t make this note to warn you about bad words, in fear that you can’t handle it… instead

Jeremy Courtney is my guest on episode #6 of the @ Sea Podcast. Along with his wife Jessica, he is the founder of the Preemptive Love Coalition, an organization describing themselves as “a global movement of peacemakers changing the way the world engages polarizing conflict by confronting fear with acts of love.”  Here’s why I’ve asked Jeremy to be a guest: On August 2nd, 1990, Operation Desert Shield began, called by some the Persian Gulf War. I remember that time period clearly. I found myself blocking roadways in my hometown with groups of friends, each of us carrying cardboard signs with anti-war slogans. My response to that war was as emotional as it was uninformed. All I knew was that people my age, were dying violently and i reacted.  I didn’t know the politics or the sociology; I just knew I didn’t like the idea of war. Fast forward over a decade to the mid-2000’s and meet Jeremy Courtney who, in the shadow of the Iraq War, which began in March of 2003, moved his family to Iraq. Not because they had a

In Dallas, Texas On July 7th of this year, a heavily armed shooter fired upon a peaceful demonstration and the police officers who had been assembled to ensure the safety of those demonstrating. Two demonstrators were hurt. 5 officers died. the shooter was, reportedly, angered by the deaths of black men at the hands of police officers, specifically recent police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota… both of which were highly publicized and scrutinized as further evidence of the injustice dealt black citizens at the hands of law enforcement. And while there have been many violent moments in this cyclical history of ours, there was, in my experience, an almost palpable difference between this moment and recent moments. There seemed to be a kind of pause. There were fewer reactions. Fewer monologues. Fewer detached voices offering simple solutions to complex problems. There were far more expressions like…  “I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to do.” And I found myself among them; I didn’t know what to s

Jars of Clay has been living and working at the intersection of art, religion and advocacy for over 20years. We talked about early expectations for a successful band to how valuable that success is. We also discussed the usefulness of the word “christian,” and what it takes for a group of people to stick together for two decades. Because this was recorded during one of the dozen or so events the @ Sea team has hosted over the past four years, you’ll hear be start the evening with a bit of our philosophy and vision. You’ll also hear me laugh into the microphone quite loudly throughout the evening. Check it out at iTunes. NOTE: If the iTunes link gives you trouble, you can hear all the podcasts at our Stitcher page.)

My guest for episode 3 is Michael Wear. Buzzfeed calls him one of President Obama’s “ambassadors to America’s believers.”  Having worked in the White House office of Faith-Based initiateves, Michael Wear is recently the author of a book entitled “Reclaiming Hope: Lessons Learned in the Obama White House About the Future of Faith In America.” We talk about working at the intersection of politics and faith, the relationship between House of Cards and reality and whether or not it actually matters if people participate in the political process. Michael is also a Buffalo Bills fan, which means he and I share the pain that comes from backing historically underachieving teams (go Raiders). Check it out.

The @ Sea Podcast #2, featuring songwriter/producer busbee, is at iTunes now.  Mike Busbee (busbee) is a songwriter and producer working in Los Angeles and Nashville. If you’ve listened to pop music at all in the past few years, it’s very likely you’ve heard and enjoyed busbee’s work, as performed by Pink, Rascal Flats, Kelly Clarkson, Garth Brooks, The Fray, Lady Antebellum, Timbaland and many more. At the time of this post, two of the top 5 songs on the iTunes charts are busbee songs – Keith Urban’s “The Fighter” and “H.O.L.Y.” by Florida Georgia Line. Along with being a very talented writer, he’s a deeply thoughtful person. Busbee and I get into the nature and importance of pop music, the uniqueness of working in Los Angeles (as opposed to Bakersfield, CA) and the cultural dichotomy of filling a $500 cooler with cheap beer. Check it out. If, for any reason, the iTunes link gives you trouble, you can hear the podcast at Soundcloud (below) and at Stitcher.

The first installment of my first podcast, entitled “@Sea With Justin McRoberts,” is at iTunes. I am expecting this to become a significant part of my future and I’m glad you’ll be with me on these first few steps. Check it out. Gene Luen Yang is a writer and graphic novelist responsible for American Born Chinese and Boxers & Saints, both of which were nominated for National Book Awards. He is also the writer of DC’s “Superman” and will, this summer, be writing “New Superman” as part of DC’s Rebirth line. Gene and I talked about the importance and uniqueness of comics, the journey of Asian Americans in pop culture and how to wisely approach topics like race and religion in ones art. NOTE: If, for any reason, the iTunes link gives you problems, I’ve also uploaded the podcast to Soundcloud.  Connect with Gene: Web  Twitter Learn more about DC Comics’ Rebirth.