Viral Jesus
133 episodes - English - Latest episode: 3 days ago - ★★★★★ - 126 ratingsViral Jesus is a podcast from Christianity Today about digital communication and the power of social connections. Join author and communication scholar Heather Thompson Day as she dives deep with ministry leaders, content creators, and social media influencers to find out how they're starting important conversations, building community, and sharing their faith in digital spaces.
Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Danté Stewart: Making Space for Growth
April 21, 2022 12:00 - 43 minutesIn this episode, Heather and Danté discuss something we often forget, that just as we have changed, we need to make room for others to grow and change too. Danté is open about the progression of his beliefs, and how he, as a Black man, has said things in the past about the Black experience that he regrets. Black literature was a major part of Danté’s faith and growth experience, which is why his book is so heavily sourced by Black writers. Danté brings a passion to every conversation he enter...
Tara Beth Leach: Learning to Be Undone
April 14, 2022 12:00 - 37 minutesWhat does it mean to be a radiant witness for Christ? In this episode, Heather talks to Tara Beth Leach about the difficulties of being a woman in ministry as well as the struggles of being a faithful Christian in increasingly divided times. Tara has endured attacks on her witness both online and offline but has continued to pour her heart into the work to which God has called her. Despite the battered reputation of the North American church, Tara is optimistic about the church’s future. Sh...
Rich Villodas: We Were Made to Belong
April 07, 2022 12:00 - 47 minutesWhat happens when Christians are committed to Christianity without being deeply formed by God? That's one of many subjects explored in Heather’s wide-ranging conversation with New York-based pastor and author Rich Villodas. They also discuss the dangers of Christian celebrity-ism and the importance of living a life marked by humility, accountability, and surrender. Plus, Rich reveals how he grew his social media presence, and why he is more careful with his posts now than when he first got on...
Tish Harrison Warren: Slow Answers to Hard Prayers
March 31, 2022 12:00 - 52 minutesIn this episode, Heather talks with bestselling author Tish Harrison Warren about prayer and what it means to communicate with God during our seasons of suffering. Tish explains how sometimes your prayer life doesn’t need more words, but more silence. Tish’s honest insights will encourage you on how to navigate the vulnerability of the human experience, and how to keep praying even when God feels far away. Tish Harrison Warren is a priest in the Anglican Church in North America. She is the au...
Felicia Wu Song: The Perils of Digital Discipleship
March 17, 2022 12:00 - 47 minutes“We love talking to leaders who are using social media for the common good,” says Heather, “but that doesn’t mean social media doesn’t have a dark side.” In this episode, Heather invites you to learn about some of the existential dangers of social media from a leading scholar of digital technology. How do we use social media without allowing ourselves to be consumed by it? How does it impact our ability to be present with the people around us? Felicia Wu Song is the perfect person to guide us...
Justin Giboney: Love and Truth in the Public Square
March 10, 2022 12:00 - 42 minutesJustin Giboney is an attorney and political strategist in Atlanta, Georgia, who leads the AND Campaign as its cofounder and president. The AND Campaign is a coalition of urban Christians who are determined to address the sociopolitical arena with the compassion and conviction of the gospel. He’s the coauthor of Compassion (&) Conviction with fellow AND Campaign leader Chris Butler and former colleague Michael Wear. In this episode, Heather and Justin unpack the myth that Christians must be c...
Bob Roberts Jr.: Their Religious Freedom Is Our Religious Freedom
March 03, 2022 17:35 - 48 minutesHow did a Baptist pastor’s kid from a small town in East Texas become a trailblazer in the areas of peacemaking and international religious freedom? Bob Roberts Jr.’s faith journey has had many twists and turns, but ultimately it has been—to echo Eugene Peterson—“a long obedience in the same direction.” Things got real for Roberts when he realized his understanding of the gospel was too small and that his theological fidelity was useless if he wasn’t loving people. Today, Roberts is the found...
Kaitlyn Schiess: Political Engagement as Spiritual Formation
February 24, 2022 23:10 - 36 minutesSome people say you shouldn’t talk politics and religion in polite conversation, but author Kaitlyn Schiess would (politely) beg to differ. In fact, she’s written a book about the connections between faith and politics. Kaitlyn is a writer and a popular Christian voice on Twitter. A ThD student at Duke Divinity School (where she’s studying political theology, ethics, and biblical interpretation), she previously earned a ThM in systematic theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. Kaitlyn’s bo...
Jemar Tisby: Deconstructing Christian Racism
February 18, 2022 13:00 - 43 minutesHistorian Jemar Tisby is The New York Times bestselling author of The Color of Compromise and founder of The Witness: A Black Christian Collective, where he writes about race, religion, politics, and culture. He is also cohost of the Pass the Mic podcast. Jemar’s most recent books are How to Fight Racism and How To Fight Racism: Young Reader’s Edition. In this episode, Heather and Jemar discuss the complexity of racism within Christianity. Jemar shares ways that we can be better communicators...
Sadie Robertson Huff: Who Are You Following?
February 11, 2022 12:00 - 44 minutesSadie Robertson Huff is a Christian speaker, actress, and bestselling author. You may know her from the reality show Duck Dynasty, or her role in the movie God’s Not Dead, or the fact that she was the first runner-up on season 19 of Dancing with the Stars. Sadie is passionate about God and an effective communicator who regularly challenges her generation to wield their influence responsibly. Her latest book is Who Are You Following?: Pursuing Jesus in a Social Media Obsessed World. In this ep...
Sarah Bessey: Keeping the ‘Social’ in Social Media
February 03, 2022 22:02 - 40 minutesIn this episode, Heather talks to Canadian Christian writer Sarah Bessey about public platforms, human connections, and embodying the fruit of the Spirit. As the author of such bestselling books as Jesus Feminist and A Rhythm of Prayer, Sarah had built a vibrant community of over 88,000 people on Twitter. But last year she was forced to start over from scratch when her account was unexpectedly deleted. Today she has less than half her previous followers, but she’s steadily rebuilding. Most im...
Welcome to Season 2 of ‘Viral Jesus’
January 25, 2022 23:03 - 1 minuteWhen she’s not teaching communication and social media in the classroom, author and Andrews University professor Heather Thompson Day is back in your podcast feed with all-new episodes of Viral Jesus. Join Heather as she delves deep with Christian influencers and creators who are using their social media platforms to build community and share the gospel. You’ll hear their stories and learn their strategies for faithfully navigating digital spaces. This season’s guests include thought leaders ...
Attention All ‘Viral Jesus’ Listeners! Tell Us What You Think
December 07, 2021 14:21 - 1 minuteSeason's greetings! This is Heather Thompson Day, creator and host of the Viral Jesus podcast from Christianity Today. I hope you enjoyed listening to Viral Jesus' inaugural season as much as our team enjoyed doing it. What a blast it was to talk to some of today's most profound and prolific Christian communicators about how they engage with social media. Whether it's Erin Moon reflecting on the beauty of her Instagram friendships, Kevin Wilson sharing his secrets for TikTok evangelism, or Ed...
Bonus Episode: It’s Heather’s Turn!
November 04, 2021 20:21 - 33 minutesThis bonus edition of Viral Jesus features our host, Heather Thompson Day. Dr. Heather Thompson Day is an interdenominational speaker and has been a contributor for Religion News Service, Christianity Today, Newsweek and the Barna Group. She is also the author of It’s Not Your Turn: What to Do While You’re Waiting for Your Breakthrough. Heather is an associate professor of communication at Andrews University. She is passionate about supporting women, and runs an online community called I’m Th...
Esau McCaulley: ‘Jesus Is the Star of Our Show, Not Just a Solution to Our Problems’
October 28, 2021 18:30 - 22 minutesThis bonus episode of Viral Jesus features Esau McCaulley, author of the bestselling book Reading While Black. Esau is a prolific writer, theologian, and assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College in Illinois. Heather and Esau discuss Black interpretation of Scripture, social media popularity, and the importance of bringing personal integrity to your creative process. (This chat is a continuation of Esau’s earlier conversation with Heather from Episode One.) You can find Esau act...
Ed Stetzer: Rising Above the Outrage
October 21, 2021 18:00 - 45 minutesThis week Heather visits with her friend Ed Stetzer for a no-holds-barred conversation on the evangelical community’s often fractious online engagement with politics and culture. Ed is a professor and dean at Wheaton College, where he also serves as executive director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center. He has planted, revitalized, and pastored churches; trained pastors and church planters on six continents; and has written hundreds of articles and a dozen books on faith, leadership, ...
Erin Moon: Spanx, Bible Binges, and the Beauty of Instagram Community
October 14, 2021 21:00 - 36 minutesThis week, Heather is joined by Erin Hicks Moon. Erin is the resident Bible scholar on The Bible Binge podcast, host of the Faith Adjacent podcast, and senior creative at the Popcast Media Group. Erin discusses her amazing journey in building authentic connections with thousands of women on Instagram using her honest humor and wisdom. She spills her trade secrets on growing an Instagram community and offers tips on how to not just use Instagram as a tool for yourself but to empower those aro...
Kevin Wilson, Chai Tea, and the Rise of Christian TikTok
October 07, 2021 16:00 - 35 minutesThis week, Heather visits with Kevin Spencer Wilson, known online to his throng of followers as “Cross Culture Christian.” Kevin was born in Sri Lanka and moved to the Sultanate of Oman when he was 12. Over the past 30 years, he has learned to speak three and a half languages and has traveled to 13 countries. He is currently a youth pastor in Oceanside, California, where he says he attempts to help his tribe think meaningfully about their lives so they can live their lives meaningfully. Heat...
Taylor Schumann: A Shooting Survivor Finds Her Voice
September 30, 2021 23:05 - 40 minutesTaylor S. Schumann says she’s always been a writer, but on a spring day in 2013 she became an activist, too. It was an otherwise ordinary afternoon at New River Community College in Christiansburg, Virginia, when a gunman’s bullet tore through her left hand, and she became a victim of yet another mass shooting in America. In the split-second moment of the shooting, and the long work of healing and trauma recovery that followed, her beliefs about gun reform, “thoughts and prayers,” and the rol...
Raymond Chang: From Invisibility to Advocacy
September 23, 2021 20:00 - 45 minutesThis week, Heather talks to Raymond Chang, president and cofounder of the Asian American Christian Collaborative (AACC). Ray is well known on social media for his bold voice on issues pertaining to faith, race, and justice. Ray also serves as a campus minister at Wheaton College, where he leads the school’s Discipleship Ministries program. He preaches and speaks around the country and has lived throughout the world (Korea, Guatemala, Panama, Spain, China). Find Ray on Twitter @tweetraychang. ...
From Invisibility to Advocacy
September 23, 2021 20:00 - 45 minutesThis week, Heather talks to Raymond Chang, president and cofounder of the Asian American Christian Collaborative (AACC). Ray is well known on social media for his bold voice on issues pertaining to faith, race, and justice. Ray also serves as a campus minister at Wheaton College, where he leads the school’s Discipleship Ministries program. He preaches and speaks around the country and has lived throughout the world (Korea, Guatemala, Panama, Spain, China). Find Ray on Twitter @tweetraychang. ...
Seen but Not Known: Finding Life Beyond ‘The Bachelor’
September 16, 2021 22:00 - 40 minutesThis week, former Bachelor star and Bachelorette contestant Ben Higgins joins Heather for an insightful conversation about the emptiness of fame, the criticism he faced as a Christian on a reality-television dating show, and why authentic connections with people are more important than having millions of social media followers. Higgins is also garnering attention as an author. His new book, Alone in Plain Sight: Searching for Connection When You’re Seen but Not Known, explores his struggles w...
Ben Higgins: Finding Life Beyond ‘The Bachelor’
September 16, 2021 22:00 - 40 minutesThis week, former Bachelor star and Bachelorette contestant Ben Higgins joins Heather for an insightful conversation about the emptiness of fame, the criticism he faced as a Christian on a reality-television dating show, and why authentic connections with people are more important than having millions of social media followers. Higgins is also garnering attention as an author. His new book, Alone in Plain Sight: Searching for Connection When You’re Seen but Not Known, explores his struggles w...
Unmuting Women’s Voices
September 09, 2021 11:00 - 40 minutesWhat if some of our greatest theologians are the last people we’d consider theologians? This is the riveting question posed by author Kat Armas in her new book, Abuelita Faith. A second-generation Cuban American who grew up on the outskirts of Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, Kat's earliest theological formation came from her grandmother—her abuelita—who fled Cuba during the height of political unrest and raised three children alone after her husband’s death. In her grandmother’s life, Kat...
Kat Armas: Unmuting Women’s Voices
September 09, 2021 11:00 - 40 minutesWhat if some of our greatest theologians are the last people we’d consider theologians? This is the riveting question posed by author Kat Armas in her new book, Abuelita Faith. A second-generation Cuban American who grew up on the outskirts of Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, Kat's earliest theological formation came from her grandmother—her abuelita—who fled Cuba during the height of political unrest and raised three children alone after her husband’s death. In her grandmother’s life, Kat...
When Trolls Attack
September 02, 2021 11:25 - 37 minutesSocial media spaces are full of mean-spirited and contentious personalities who thrive on antagonizing others. Listen in as Heather and her guest, theologian Ian Clary, discuss how to deal with social media bullies. They offer practical tips for focusing on your craft more than your critics. Ian also shares his formula for becoming an effective podcaster. Ian Clary is an assistant professor of historical theology at Colorado Christian University. He is a fellow of the Andrew Fuller Center fo...
'The Work Is the Platform'
August 26, 2021 15:30 - 39 minutesAuthor, literary scholar, and social media dynamo Karen Swallow Prior joins Heather for an engrossing discussion on what it means to build a “platform.” They dive right into the debate that is taking over much of Christian influencer culture—is a huge social media platform a byproduct of pursuing one’s call, or is it the call itself? Karen explains what she believes it means to be truly “called” and questions the unhealthy desperation to be published that she sees among some writers. Warning:...
Virtual Friends Forever
August 18, 2021 20:01 - 36 minutesIn this episode, Heather and her “online friend” Pastor Aaron Duvall discuss how to build genuine online friendships. They also explore the value of online Christian community—especially during the pandemic. Plus, Aaron reveals the story behind Weird Christian Twitter. Aaron is the teaching pastor and director of communication at Victory Highway Wesleyan Church in Painted Post, New York, where he resides with his wife, Chera, and daughter, Harper. You can find Aaron active on Twitter @RevDuv....
The Listening Channel
August 12, 2021 02:58 - 44 minutesThis week, Heather introduces you to her good friend Justin Khoe. Justin is a church consultant and a self-taught video whiz who now has over 116,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel. With series like “I’m Listening,” where he sits down with people who hold various opposing views and simply listens, Justin is turning YouTube into a spiritual laboratory for curiosity and understanding. In this episode, Heather and Justin discuss what it really means to be passionate about your calling, how t...
Becoming a Better Social Media Neighbor
August 04, 2021 19:40 - 40 minutesThis week Heather welcomes pastor, radio host, and social media expert Douglas Bursch. Doug copastors Evergreen Foursquare Church in Auburn, Washington. He earned his DMin from George Fox Evangelical Seminary with a dissertation focused on social media, and he opens up the topic for a lay audience in his latest book, Posting Peace: Why Social Media Divides Us and What We Can Do About It. In an episode filled with candid insight and inspiration, Heather and Doug discuss online discouragement,...
A Billion Views of Hope
July 28, 2021 14:43 - 35 minutesIn this episode of Viral Jesus, Heather meets one of her online heroes, Kristina Kuzmic—mom blogger, YouTube storyteller, and author of Hold On, But Don’t Hold Still. Kristina was discovered by Oprah Winfrey in 2011 and crowned the winner of Mark Burnett’s reality-television competition Oprah’s Search for the Next TV Star. Now, with over 1 billion video views, Kristina is providing her audience with encouragement, hope and humor in a role she never expected to fill. Listen in as Heather and ...
Tweeting While Black
July 20, 2021 18:34 - 41 minutesThis first episode of Viral Jesus, season 1, features Esau McCaulley, author of Reading While Black. Esau is a biblical scholar and assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College in Illinois. In this episode, Heather and Esau discuss Black interpretation of Scripture, social media, and critics. You can find Esau active on Twitter. Also, in our #GrowingViral segment, meet Dorena Williamson. Dorena is the author of a set of children’s books that help parents introduce conversations of ...
Introducing: Viral Jesus
July 12, 2021 21:28 - 2 minutesViral Jesus is a podcast from Christianity Today about digital communication and the power of social connections. Join author and communication scholar Heather Thompson Day as she dives deep with ministry founders, content creators, and social media thought leaders to find out how they’re starting important conversations online and making their faith go viral. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices