In this episode, I explore the complicated beginnings of English America, from Jamestown’s struggle for survival and tobacco wealth to New England’s covenantal vision and the religious diversity of the Middle Colonies. Along the way, we trace how profit, faith, migration, slavery, and empire shaped the colonies from the start, revealing a world marked by both noble ideals and deep moral contradictions.

Episode 1, “Encounter and Conquest,” begins the American story before Columbus, with the Indigenous peoples, cultures, cities, and trade networks that already filled the continent. From there, the episode traces the arrival of European powers, the ambitions that drove exploration, the devastation of disease and slavery, the rise of Spanish and French colonization, and the surprising connection between the Protestant Reformation and English expansion. It is a story of encounter, ambition, mission, exploitation, and empire—and a reminder that Christians must tell history with both gratitude and honesty.

In 2026, the United States will mark 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. But what kind of story should we tell about America at this milestone? In this introductory episode of *At 250 Years: The American Story, we set the stage for a ten-part journey through American history—from the first Native societies to the challenges of our own day. Rather than telling a story of blind patriotism or bitter cynicism, this series seeks a better way: one shaped by truth, gratitude, repentance, and hope. American history is filled with courage and contradiction, liberty and injustice, faith and failure, sacrifice and sin. For Christians, that means we do not need to worship the past or despise it. We can tell the truth because truth belongs to God, and we can hope because the rise and fall of nations rests in the hands of Christ. At 250 years, America is not our savior, but it is our stewardship. This series invites listeners to remember wisely, think Christianly, and consider what faithfulness looks like in this moment of American history.