Episodes

  • Wayfinding through Revivalism - E3
    Aug 26 2025

    This season of Wayfinding is hosted by historians Mark Draper and Joe Thomas.

    Jesus Christ called his first disciples to follow him and leave behind the religiosity of their day. Since then, revival and reform have been a hallmark of Christianity. Every generation of Christians needs their hearts revitalized. Likewise, the church is always in need of reform. InWayfinding through Revivalism, Mark and Joe explore the surprising ways in which God moves among his people. Whether it is the itinerant preacher St. Francis of Assisi, the desert monk St. Anthony, the abbess Hildegard of Bingen, or the Czech reformer Jan Hus, God decides who he will use to arouse his people. Revivals, no matter what period, reveal a need for repentance, release an energy of wide popularity, display a need for personal transformation and devotion, call the church back to its original mission and purity, and hearken the saints to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ.

    Wayfinding is excited to work with the Christian History Institute on this three-part history of revivalism. For this first episode, you can read Christian History magazine issue #149 Revival: the first thousand years for free online, or purchase your print copy. Visit christianhistoryinstitute.org to sign up for your free first-year subscription to Christian History magazine and find more resources on the history of our faith.

    Questions, comments, feedback? Email us at joe.thomas@lifetogetherhouse.com

    Special thanks to our producer, Michael Chermak, and to James Karper and the studio at Lancaster Bible College (LBC) in Lancaster, PA. We are indebted to LBC students and voice actors Sydney Hersch and James Garman.

    Along with podcasting together, Mark and Joe also team up to teach church history graduate and doctoral courses, guide doctoral students towards a ThD in Church History, and lead Christian history tours throughout Europe.

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    1 hr
  • Wayfinding through Revivalism - Introduction E2
    May 8 2025

    This season of Wayfinding is hosted by historians Mark Draper and Joe Thomas.

    Jesus Christ called his first disciples to follow him and leave behind the religiosity of their day. Since then, revival and reform have been a hallmark of Christianity. Every generation of Christians needs their hearts revitalized. Likewise, the church is always in need of reform. InWayfinding through Revivalism, Mark and Joe explore the surprising ways in which God moves among his people. Whether it is the itinerant preacher St. Francis of Assisi, the desert monk St. Anthony, the abbess Hildegard of Bingen, or the Czech reformer Jan Hus, God decides who he will use to arouse his people. Revivals, no matter what period, reveal a need for repentance, release an energy of wide popularity, display a need for personal transformation and devotion, call the church back to its original mission and purity, and hearken the saints to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ.

    Wayfinding is excited to work with the Christian History Institute on this three-part history of revivalism. For this first episode, you can read Christian History magazine issue #149 Revival: the first thousand years for free online, or purchase your print copy. Visit christianhistoryinstitute.org to sign up for your free first-year subscription to Christian History magazine and find more resources on the history of our faith.

    Questions, comments, feedback? Email us at joe.thomas@lifetogetherhouse.com

    Special thanks to our producer, Michael Chermak, and to James Karper and the studio at Lancaster Bible College (LBC) in Lancaster, PA. We are indebted to LBC students and voice actors Sydney Hersch and James Garman.

    Along with podcasting together, Mark and Joe also team up to teach church history graduate and doctoral courses, guide doctoral students towards a ThD in Church History, and lead Christian history tours throughout Europe.

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    1 hr and 1 min
  • Wayfinding through Revivalism - Introduction E1
    Feb 17 2025

    This season of Wayfinding is hosted by historians Mark Draper and Joe Thomas.

    Jesus Christ called his first disciples to follow him and leave behind the religiosity of their day. Since then, revival and reform have been a hallmark of Christianity. Every generation of Christians needs their hearts revitalized. Likewise, the church is always in need of reform. In this first of three episodes of Wayfinding through Revivalism, Mark and Joe explore the surprising ways in which God moves among his people. Whether it is the itinerant preacher St. Francis of Assisi, the desert monk St. Anthony, the abbess Hildegard of Bingen, or the Czech reformer Jan Hus, God decides who he will use to arouse his people. Revivals, no matter what period, reveal a need for repentance, release an energy of wide popularity, display a need for personal transformation and devotion, call the church back to its original mission and purity, and hearken the saints to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ.

    Wayfinding is excited to work with the Christian History Institute on this three-part history of revivalism. For this first episode, you can read Christian History magazine issue #149 Revival: the first thousand years for free online, or purchase your print copy. Visit christianhistoryinstitute.org to sign up for your free first-year subscription to Christian History magazine and find more resources on the history of our faith.

    Questions, comments, feedback? Email us at joe.thomas@lifetogetherhouse.com

    Special thanks to our producer, Michael Chermak, and to James Karper and the studio at Lancaster Bible College (LBC) in Lancaster, PA. We are indebted to LBC students and voice actors Sydney Hersch and James Garman.

    Along with podcasting together, Mark and Joe also team up to teach church history graduate and doctoral courses, guide doctoral students towards a ThD in Church History, and lead Christian history tours throughout Europe.

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    52 mins
  • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Prayer Walk - Wayfinding with Joe Thomas
    Aug 29 2024

    In this unique, historically-inspired, and locally-rooted episode of the Wayfinding podcast, Joe Thomas guides listeners on a walking prayer tour of the historic University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. As a Christian historian at Urbana Theological Seminary, Founder of local ministry Life Together House, and a long-standing member of the Evangelical Christian Union, Joe holds a deep love for this campus and believes in its spiritual significance, from its founding to the present. Join Joe as he navigates campus, pointing out spiritual points of interest and noteworthy language on campus that will direct you in a prayer walk for the university. Along the way, Joe will pause at 10 focal prayer locations, offering things to consider and pray for as you walk. Thanks for joining us on this wayfinding journey.
    Click here for a campus map of the walking prayer tour.

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    47 mins
  • Wayfinding with Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Our Final Wayfinding Thoughts E7
    Oct 22 2022

    How then is Bonhoeffer a wayfinder for us today? In this concluding episode of season one, Joe and Jonathan look back over the previous six conversations and discuss several insights for us as we navigate a life of faithfulness to Christ in our own time.

    Show Notes

    Questions, comments, feedback? Email us at joe.thomas@lifetogetherhouse.com

    Interested in exploring further resources related to this episode? Email us at joe.thomas@lifetogetherhouse.com

    Special thanks to our producer, Bryce Bennyhoff, and the WBGL studio in Champaign, IL.
    We are indebted to our German-American friend and season one voice actor, Emanuel Martin.

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    40 mins
  • Wayfinding with Dietrich Bonhoeffer: World Come of Age E6
    Oct 20 2022

    How do we bear witness to Christ in a "world come of age"? Written from prison during his final months on earth, Bonhoeffer exchanged a multitude of letters with close friends and family. He also penned many creative works and musings about the future of the church in the midst of a changing Western landscape. In this episode, Joe and Jonathan explore some of Bonhoeffer’s unfinished thoughts from prison.

    Show Notes

    Questions, comments, feedback? Email us at joe.thomas@lifetogetherhouse.com

    Interested in exploring further resources related to this episode? Email us at joe.thomas@lifetogetherhouse.com

    Special thanks to our producer, Bryce Bennyhoff, and the WBGL studio in Champaign, IL.
    We are indebted to our German-American friend and season one voice actor, Emanuel Martin.

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    24 mins
  • Wayfinding with Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Bonhoeffer and South Africa E5
    Oct 18 2022

    What does Berlin have to do with Soweto? What could the German Bonhoeffer have to say, years after his death, to Christians struggling against apartheid? Listen in with Joe and Jonathan as they consider the legacy of Bonhoeffer as a wayfinder for the church in South Africa.

    Show Notes

    Questions, comments, feedback? Email us at joe.thomas@lifetogetherhouse.com

    Interested in exploring further resources related to this episode? Email us at joe.thomas@lifetogetherhouse.com

    Special thanks to our producer, Bryce Bennyhoff, and the WBGL studio in Champaign, IL.
    We are indebted to our German-American friend and season one voice actor, Emanuel Martin.

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    44 mins
  • Wayfinding with Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The Conspiracy E4
    Oct 16 2022

    The brutality of Adolf Hitler's Nazi ideology was unrelenting. As pastor, theologian, and vocal Nazi dissenter, Dietrich Bonhoeffer devoted many years to every possible means of peaceful resistance, but upon his return to Germany after a brief second sojourn in America, Bonhoeffer's energy shifted to the insider Conspiracy to remove Hitler. In this episode, Joe and Jonathan look behind the scenes of the conspiracy: what was it, who was involved, why did Bonhoeffer join, what was his role, how did this decision interact with his ethics, and how did things turn out?

    Show Notes

    Questions, comments, feedback? Email us at joe.thomas@lifetogetherhouse.com

    Interested in exploring further resources related to this episode? Email us at joe.thomas@lifetogetherhouse.com

    Special thanks to our producer, Bryce Bennyhoff, and the WBGL studio in Champaign, IL.
    We are indebted to our German-American friend and season one voice actor, Emanuel Martin.

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    41 mins