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Articles by Heather Day
Living in the Dark Space
We can't always see the light when we are in the dark. But the light can always see us. Illustration by Jill DeHaan I was watching my son come out of the water at the beach. He was laughing until he wasn't. He couldn't see me. I watched him scan the sand for my chair. "Mom!" he shouted while starting to panic. He thought he was lost because he couldn't see me. But he wasn't lost at all. He had stopped watching me, but I never stopped watching him. I have gone through dark spaces in my life.
Purposeful Marketing Meets AI
Five practical ways creatives are using AI The end of the world or the dawn of a brighter tomorrow? Depending on whom you ask, the sentiments surrounding generative AI range from inevitable calamity to endless possibilities. But this is nothing new. According to the Center for Data Innovation, the public’s concern about AI has followed a classic and predictable “tech panic cycle,” not unlike earlier technologies, such as the printing press, the automobile, and the internet.
In the Rush of Great Waters
This Lent, may we remember the Cross as those who know the depth in which we need it. Illustration by Keith Negley Psalm 32 Many years ago, I had a student who shared with our class that he had killed a motorcyclist in a car accident. I was teaching a creative writing class. Every class period, we opened by looking at a writing prompt that I had projected onto the large screen. One evening every week, students would come in and quietly unzip their backpacks.
It’s Not About You
What makes for a catchy nursery rhyme does not play well in fundraising. If your donor materials still echo the tiniest little piggy’s refrain – “we, we, we” – it’s time to sing a different tune that touches hearts. It’s not about you! “People don’t give to our ministries because ‘we’ are so great,” explains Jim Bakke, executive director for Barnabas Foundation. “People give because they want to be part of something greater.” We must connect with their hearts.
AI 2030 Part 6
Streamed on: Aug 11, 11:40 am EDT EntertainmentSupernatural & Paranormalai 2030fictionlivereadingscience fiction. artificial intelligencenanotech Enjoyed this video? Join my Locals community for exclusive content at edencultures.locals.com! Congrats! You found my Rumble recordings of me reading my science fiction book, AI 2030. Today we read the Nanotech chapter, which is chapter 1 after the Prologue
AI 2030 Part 4
Enjoyed this video? Join my Locals community for exclusive content at edencultures.locals.com Congrats! You found my Rumble recordings of me reading my science fiction book, AI 2030. Today is the Prologue
AI 2030 Part 3
Congrats! You found my Rumble recordings of me reading my science fiction book, AI 2030. Today I will read the glossary, so that you can understand all the terms used throughout the book.
AI 2030 Part 2
Congrats! You found my Rumble recordings of me reading my science fiction book, AI 2030. If you want the short version (just the reading without the chat) you can find the consecutive parts in my Telegram group: https://t.me/+qOSzzI9GnIRjZTFh And find the "AI 2030 Readings" Topic where I will stream just the reading portion. Thanks for your support!
AI 2030 Part 1
Enjoyed this video? Join my Locals community for exclusive content at edencultures.locals.com Congrats! You found my Rumble recordings of me reading my science fiction book, AI 2030.
Jonathan Evans: When Misery Becomes Ministry
In today’s episode Heather sits down with Jonathan Evans to talk about his latest book, Fighting Your Battles: Every Christian’s Playbook for Victory. In this conversation Jonathan describes a God who has often “unsettled” him. What do we do when life brings us conflict and disappointment instead of comfort and security? It starts, Jonathan says, by realizing that Christian maturity is not independence but dependence.
Kara Powell: The Spiritual Promise of Generation Z
In today’s episode Heather is joined by youth ministry expert Kara Powell to talk about Kara’s latest book, 3 Big Questions That Change Every Teenager. Kara will teach us how to connect with Generation Z, what they need in order to thrive spiritually, and how we can help them as they wrestle with questions of identity, purpose, and belonging. But first we visit with Mandy Majors, author of Keeping Kids Safe in a Digital World, for this week’s #Blessed.
Anh Lin: Letting Go to Grow
This week, Heather sits down with social media influencer and Bible teacher Anh Lin to talk about all things YouTube and content creation. You’ll hear from one of the most dynamic content creators in the online lifestyle space about how she built her platform, what she discovered about handling burnout, and how being vulnerable about her failures helped save a life.
Christ, the Everlasting Lord
Advent Week 1: The Mighty God The infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger is the glorious Creator and sustainer of all things. We hear of his power and might in the teachings of John the Baptist. We anticipate his promised return and his ultimate reign. Jesus is the Mighty God.
Love in a Time of Social Conflict
In the August heat of 1965, widespread violence and bloodshed tore through the Watts area of Los Angeles. There were more than 30 deaths. Most of those were perpetrated by the police. There was fire and looting and vandalism. At the invitation of Black social groups, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. entered Watts. He later described the protests that followed as “disorganized,” though that was a major oversimplification.
Lord of ‘Little by Little’
This week, we review and reflect on what we learned in our “pod-class” series on gaining self-confidence. Heather shares feedback from her listeners and reminds us that God often moves in our lives gradually—little by little—one small shift after another. If you’re new to our pod-classes, you may want to pause this episode and start with Heather's preface to the series, “On Gaining Self-Confidence,” where she sets the framework for this three-week journey of faith.
Tori Hope Petersen: Fostering Hope
Welcome to part three of our three-part “pod-class” series on gaining self-confidence. Heather visits with author Tori Hope Petersen to discuss Tori’s incredibly inspiring story of growing up in foster care, becoming a four-time track state champion, and eventually becoming Mrs. Universe. By the end of their lively and thoughtful chat, you'll understand a truth that drives Tori’s ministry: “Healed people heal people.” In other words, we must use what God has given us to help others.
Jordan Lee Dooley: Embracing Your Almosts
Welcome to part two of our three-part “pod-class” series on gaining self-confidence. Heather sits down with author Jordan Lee Dooley to discuss what you should do when “almost” disrupts the life you thought God was calling you to.
Amanda Pittman: Stand in Confidence
This week, Heather is joined by her BFF Scarlett Longstreet for a #Blessed chat session on whether we should unfollow people who make us feel bad about ourselves online. Make sure to let us know your thoughts by typing in ViralJesusPod on Instagram or Twitter and using #blessed. Today is session one of our new pod-class series on gaining confidence. We will be doing this pod-class for the next three week.
On Gaining Self-Confidence
Kicking off this week’s episode, Heather sits down with Scarlett Longstreet to talk about whether or not we should be using filters on our photos. Are they hurting us? Are they making us insecure? Make sure to let us know your thoughts by typing in ViralJesusPod on Instagram or Twitter and using #Blessed. Today is the pre-game show for our new pod-class series on “Gaining Self-Confidence.” Heather sits down to have a heart to heart with you, the listener, about the reality of life right now.
Do the Next Right Thing
This week’s episode begins with a consideration of a constant danger of online life—oversharing. Heather is joined by her husband, Seth Day (a.k.a. @originalsadking), for a lively #Blessed discussion of the subject. Are we saying too much on social media? What are some guidelines for making sure we don’t overshare? Does knowing so much about one another online help us connect in person more easily?
Seth Day: I’ll See You Tomorrow
Kicking off this week’s episode, on #Blessed Heather sits down with Vimbo Watson and talks about online dating. Is this a wonderful blessing to our romantic lives or an absolute mess. Make sure to let us know your thoughts by typing in ViralJesusPod on Instagram or Twitter and using #Blessed.
Sheila Wise Rowe: Understanding Our Own Trauma
Kicking off this week’s episode, on #Blessed Heather sits down Seth Day and talks about whether Christians should use anger as an online tool for engagement. Anger is one of the fastest emotions to go viral online, so when it is appropriate, and when is it pandering for reactions? Make sure to let us know your thoughts by typing in ViralJesusPod on Instagram or Twitter and using #Blessed.
Sharon Hodde Miller: The Cost of Control
Kicking off this week's episode, on #blessed Heather sits down with Sharon Hodde Miller and talks about online church. Is online church a blessing that is making us more connected as a body of believers? Or is it a mess that is disconnecting us? Make sure to let us know your thoughts by typing in ViralJesusPod on Instagram or Twitter and using #blessed.
Nona Jones: Killing Comparison
Kicking off this week's episode, on #Blessed Heather brings in her best friend Scarlett Longstreet to discuss the new option on Instagram of paying for subscription. Scarlett has been using the new paid subscribers model, and will walk you through the difficulties and blessings of getting your audience to pay for your content. Make sure to let us know your thoughts by typing in ViralJesusPod on Instagram or Twitter and using #Blessed.
Chanel Dokun: Life Starts Now
Kicking off this week’s episode, Heather is joined by her husband, Seth, for another round of #Blessed.This time the pair explore the idea of buying social media followers. Is it ever a good thing? Is it even ethical? Have you ever thought about buying followers? Make sure to let us know your thoughts on the topic by typing in ViralJesusPod on Instagram or Twitter and using #blessed.
Katelyn Beaty: Resisting Christian Idols
In the second episode of Viral Jesus season 3, Heather discusses on #blessed the latest news out of The Village Church about Matt Chandler stepping down for a leave of absence due to an inappropriate relationship with a woman who wasn’t his wife in his DM’s on Instagram. Heather and Seth discuss the concept of what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior for married people in the DM’s. If you have thoughts on this please @viralJesusPod on Instagram or Twitter and let us know.
Everyone’s Exhausted
It’s a brand-new season of Viral Jesus, and change is in the air. In this first episode of Season 3, Heather is joined by a surprise guest to help her introduce a new segment called #Blessed. It’s a fun and breezy look at headlines and ideas from the world of tech and social media. Heather also previews a new Viral Jesus formation project called “pod-classes” that will connect and build upon her weekly conversations with Christian content creators, influencers, and thought leaders.
A Nonconservative’s Plea to Those Leaving Conservative Churches
In the preface of Roger Olson’s new book, Against Liberal Theology, we meet a particular type of exvangelical all too familiar in this age of disillusionment and deconstruction. As Olson describes this tribe, “They grew up in fundamentalist churches, found them stifling, anti-intellectual, legalistic, whatever, and rushed past the middle ground to the opposite end of the Christian spectrum, to liberal Christianity.” These people haunt him.
Lent: The Season of Repentance and Renewal
ABOUT THE BOOK: “Lent is inescapably about repenting.” Every year, the church invites us into a season of repentance and fasting in preparation for Holy Week. It’s an invitation to turn away from our sins and toward the mercy and grace of Christ. Often, though, we experience the Lenten fast as either a mindless ritual or self-improvement program.
Christina Edmondson: How to Stop Feeling ‘Othered’
In the last episode of season 2, Heather says goodbye (for now) to listeners, and lets you in on a little secret about what is coming up for season 3. In this conversation, Heather and author Christina Edmondson discuss Christina’s work in anti-racism and diversity and inclusion. Christina brings up the value of affinity spaces, in allowing us to not feel “othered.” Christina also discusses how social media is helping and hurting us in our cultural competence.
Maryanne J. George: Still Talking to Jesus
In this episode, Heather sits down with singer/songwriter Maryanne J. George of Maverick City Music to discuss what it’s like to work in the music industry. Maverick City has had an impressive rise to fame in the last couple years with the award-winning album Old Church Basement (their live collaboration with Elevation Worship) and performances at the 2022 Grammys and the BET Music Awards.
York Moore: From Angry Atheist to TikTok Evangelist
In this episode Heather and York discuss his own testimony as well as his incredible story of his own conversion into Christianity. York grew up an atheist and remained so into adulthood, but he had an incredible experience of being called by God, and then surrendering his life to not just faith, but also evangelism while in College. York shares with us what he believes the next generation is looking for, how we can be more effective in reaching them, as well as what the voice of God sounds like.
DeVon Franklin: It Takes a Village
In this episode Heather and DeVon talk about his experience being raised one of three sons with a “village” of women supporting him after his father’s untimely death. DeVon also shares what he believes are some of the fair criticisms of Christianity, while encouraging people to follow after the model set before them in the life of Jesus Christ.
Karen Swallow Prior: The Work Is the Platform - Part II
In this episode Heather and Karen continue their most downloaded conversation from last season. They discuss what it means to be called, as well as the difficult conversation of platforming as it relates to a person’s art. Is a following proof of your call? Are we somehow more talented when other people notice our gifts? Are the millions of lives who have not known notoriety somehow less valuable? Karen doesn’t think so. And this conversation will tell you why.
Khristi Lauren Adams: Platforms, Publishing, and Parables
In this episode Heather and Khristi talk about how social media has removed the gatekeepers of the publishing industry. They discuss what it is like trying to break into the Christian market as Black women, as well as the importance of being thoughtful and intentional about what you post online.
Brandon J. O’Brien: Scripture as a Cross-Cultural Experience
In this episode Heather and Brandon talk about how we often read our own cultural values, perspectives and assumptions, into the Biblical text, and forget that Scripture is actually a cross-cultural experience. This episode will help each of us be better readers and perceivers of the Bible. Guest Bio Brandon J. O'Brien has a PhD from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
Katie Schnack: Standing in the Gap Decade
In this episode Heather and Katie talk about the difficulty of life transitions. If you are feeling overwhelmed with the reality of adulthood, while still kind of feeling like a kid, is it possible that it is because you are in the midst of your gap decade? The gap decade is that sometimes difficult transitional season young adults face in their twenties and early thirties, and it is in this space that our brains are overloaded with self-discovery, and transition.
Ashley Hales: Trading Hurry for Delight
In this episode Heather and Ashley look at what it means to live a spacious life. In a time where our success often feels measured by our productivity, what benefit could there possibly be to slowing down? How can we cultivate better rhythms of rest, and how much are we missing by not being present with ourselves and each other? Ashley Hales will talk to you about what may be disrupting your healthy rhythms, and why Sabbath is so important for Christians to take seriously.
Dante Stewart: Making Space for Growth
In 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.
Tara Beth Leach: Learning to Be Undone
What does it mean to be a radiant witness for Christ? In this episode, Heather talks to pastor and author 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.
Tish Harrison Warren: Slow Answers to Hard Prayers
In 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.
Felicia Wu Song: The Perils of Digital Discipleship
“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?
Justin Giboney: Love and Truth in the Public Square
Justin 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.
Bob Roberts Jr.: Their Religious Freedom Is Our Religious Freedom
How 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.
Kaitlyn Schiess: Political Engagement as Spiritual Formation
Some 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.
Jemar Tisby: Deconstructing Christian Racism
Subscribe to this Podcast: Historian 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.
Sadie Robertson Huff: Who Are You Following?
Sadie 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.
Sarah Bessey: Keeping the ‘Social’ in Social Media
In 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.
Welcome to Season 2 of ‘Viral Jesus’
Subscribe to this Podcast: When 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.
Attention All ‘Viral Jesus’ Listeners! Tell Us What You Think
Season’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.
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