Supporting Pastors
The mission of Holy Post Media is to help people think Christianly in all areas of their lives and to have fun while doing it. We want to partner with pastors in helping God’s people. Many of us have lamented that although we may be able to disciple our people for a few hours a week cable news and social media has access to them all week long. Holy Post wants to partner with you by being an alternative source of media consumption that helps people to think Christianly. We are not an alternative to the important work that you do in pastoral ministry, but we do seek to complement what you do by being an alternative to the often tribal tone of the media, including Christian media.
What started as a podcast between a couple of friends (Phil Vischer and Skye Jethani) is expanding to a broader Christian multi media company with a whole team of contributors. We now offer multiple podcasts, videos, writing and events. As the Holy Post expands we will never waver from our irreducible core of being a theologically orthodox, pro neighbor, entertaining multia media company. You can read more about what we mean by each of these pillars in our list of values.
Our Values
Orthodox: We are committed to the historic doctrines of Christianity, the authority of the Bible, the mission of the gospel, and the essential role of the Church in the life of every follower of Christ. We affirm The Laussane Covenant.
Illuminating: We want to honor God with our minds by hosting intelligent voices and smart conversations that help us see his world more clearly. We welcome complexity and nuance because they generate both wonder and humility.
Entertaining: We create content people want to engage with, not content they want to want to engage with. While we take Christ seriously, we do not take ourselves seriously. That means incorporating joy, humor, and surprises into the media we produce.
Pro-Neighbor: We love God by loving those made in his image. Therefore, we view our diverse, pluralistic culture as a blessing to embrace not a menace to fear. We are called to love and serve those who disagree with us and trust that Christians can flourish even in a post-Christian society.
Curious: We are learners. That means a willingness to question popular assumptions and conventional thinking, and exploring often overlooked topics and perspectives. Sometimes this will be challenging, but it can also reaffirm the value of inherited wisdom.
Hopeful: We resist the temptation to use fear and anger to build an audience. This does not mean ignoring or denying challenging realities but viewing them through the cosmic optimism of the gospel. This is a God-with-us world.
Hospitable: We want to welcome audience members at different levels of understanding, experience, and faith formation. This means creating a variety of products, engaging many topics, and platforming a diverse collection of voices.
The target audience of Holy Post Media is largely disillusioned Christians. We exist for those that have left (40 million have left the church in the US in the last 25 years), those that are leaving (40 Million more young people alone are projected to leave the church in the next 25 years according to Pinetops Foundation), and those that are solidly in the pews but are concerned about the witness of the church in the public square. As Phil likes to say, much of our audience are people standing at the back door of the church saying, ‘give me one good reason not to leave.’
Who Is Behind Holy Post Media?
Holy Post Media was founded by Phil Vischer (creator of Veggie Tales) and Skye Jethani (author, speaker, former pastor). It is now run by Jon Houghton who spent 20 years in various leadership roles with Young Life. Kaitlyn Schiess (Duke PhD Student, author) and Esau McCaulley (Wheaton College NT Professor, New York Times columnist) serve as Sr Editors. Mike Stralow (former pastor) serves as the producer. We have all been in various positions of pastoral ministry and all believe in the role of the local church.
We also have a team of Holy Post Pundits that includes pastors, scholars, and institutional leaders who are regular contributors to Holy Post Media. A full list can be found here.
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3 Things We Want You To Know
You're not alone - many pastors are trying to navigate these polarized cultural waters in a Christ honoring way while also trying to keep their job. It can be lonely, isolating, and extremely frustrating. We hope The Holy Post can be a refuge for those pastors - a reminder that there are other Christians who are trying to untangle their faith from fear, dogmatism, and partisan politics while continuing to participate in the redemptive work of Jesus in our culture.
We can be a resource for you - We are not afraid to dive into the complicated and hot button issues of our day, but we try to handle those issues with grace, nuance and humility. We hope that as we talk about these hard topics, it will give you ideas and resources for how you can help guide your congregation through these issues as well.
We can be a resource for your congregation - The Holy Post strives to help people think Christianly and live faithfully in our increasingly post-Christian culture. Between our podcasts, explainer videos, and articles, our content is rooted in Christian orthodoxy, not culture war, and it's always pro-neighbor rather than pro-anger. If you're looking for discipleship resources for small groups or even individuals, we believe The Holy Post has plenty to offer!