The RELEVANT Podcast

Jamie MacDonald, fresh off winning New Artist of the Year at the Dove Awards, joins us as her new deluxe album arrives this week. We talk about what it’s like to be the biggest thing in CCM right now, reliving her testimony on stage every night and the Alaska fudge shop that can’t stop playing her record.
In RELEVANT Buzz, Instagram admits it’s been recommending Creed’s ‘Higher’ more than it should, and we think the algorithm might be trying to heal America. Drill rapper Fivio Foreign gets honest about the hardest part of his walk with Jesus, and Pope Leo says algorithms lack “the spark of humanity,” which has us asking where all the song bridges went.
Plus, Marty’s new co-working space comes with an indoor mini golf course, and his family’s Halloween costume plan leaves the rest of us in a cold sweat. Then One Has to Go closes it out: Pastor Appreciation Month downsized to a week, one severed head too many and a turkey leg that turns grown men into cavemen.
Highlights:
01:09 — Marty’s co-working space comes with a mini golf course
08:37 — RELEVANT Buzz: Instagram can’t stop recommending Creed’s ‘Higher’
10:26 — Jesse’s theory: The algorithm wants us back at Creed’s 2001 Thanksgiving halftime show
15:56 — Derek’s plan for the first Christian rap Super Bowl halftime
17:25 — Fivio Foreign goes from drill to praising Jesus (and gets honest about what’s hardest)
21:21 — Derek’s case for Fonzworth Bentley as hip-hop’s unsung hero
23:42 — Is AI art always a little cringe? Pope Leo weighs in
25:13 — Derek wants bridges and vamps back
29:21 — The architect who felt “God pushing my pencil”
32:53 — Jamie MacDonald on the long road to becoming Christian music’s biggest new name
35:37 — Why ‘Left It in the River’ hit so hard
38:29 — Playing the Ryman a mile from where she was born
40:21 — Is the pop culture Halloween costume dead?
41:07 — Marty’s family Halloween plan
45:37 — One Has to Go
47:05 — Derek on the Black church’s honor culture
50:39 — Derek has seen enough severed heads
52:26 — Seven-year-old Cameron explains street economics to his mom
54:34 — Where do the full-size candy bar houses actually live?

Irish folk trio Kingfishr joins us right as everyone's playlist turns to fall vibes. We talk about how they went from a self-described rip-off band to leaning all the way into traditional Irish music, the old farmhouse with walls thick enough to start a band in and what's giving them hope right now.
In Slices, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan says plainly that Jesus is his Lord and Savior and that he doesn't care what it costs him. Derek brings a new study about the surprising group of married couples that are having the best intimacy, and Jesse checks into sleep tourism, where people are paying huge amounts for a hotel room whose main attraction is being unconscious.
We also debut Marty’s Life Hack of the Week, and we bring back our annual Mascot Bracket Challenge!
Highlights:
00:52 — Diddy's prison perks and the only sneakers you can buy behind bars
04:47 — Derek's coffee-shop intervention for Cameron
06:02 — Marty's Life Hack of the Week: The accidental text on purpose
09:27 — Jesse, a leaking car and the cul-de-sac group text
10:37 — Derek explains who this will not work on
14:25 — Therapists, please diagnose Marty in the comments
15:33 — The steakhouse butter hack
18:50 — Slices: People are paying $1,700 a night just to sleep
23:53 — Aaron Rodgers and the darkness retreat
24:57 — Who's having the most sex? Derek has a study
27:01 — Wait, who paid for this survey?
29:06 — Are Billy Corgan and Bill Burr half-brothers?
31:50 — Billy Corgan calls Jesus his Lord and Savior
36:24 — Why our parents banned Smashing Pumpkins
37:45 — Kingfishr on trad Irish roots, the farmhouse and what's giving them hope
43:10 — The annual Mascot Bracket Challenge
45:36 — The spiritual round: Demon Deacon vs. Sun Devil
48:09 — We don't think about kangaroos enough
56:38 — The Final Four

Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac joins us as NBA teams kick off training camp this week. We talk about what happens when Christians put an athlete on a pedestal, the upcoming NBA season — his 10th — and how his faith-based athletic brand UNITUS has evolved over the last few years.
In Slices, Jesse found the 26-cent coin that just sold for $17,000 and has a retirement plan for whoever works at the Mint. Derek brings the new study showing Gen Z and millennials are drinking less (while Gen X picks up the slack). And Marty explains why Gen Z is buying CDs again without owning a CD player (K-pop, mostly).
Also, Marty keeps his raw denim in the freezer, started collecting Ralph Lauren stamps and is starting to worry about what California is doing to him. Derek has questions. Plus Jesse is going to a silent disco, Cameron debunks the Christopher Nolan Darth Vader rumor and we relitigate the time Derek wore a Rodman jersey in Cameron's courtside seats.
Question of the Week: What's your creative, unexpected Halloween costume idea for 2026? Drop it in the comments and we'll read the best ones next week.
Highlights:
00:30 — Marty's "life hack" that is just backing up your phone
02:55 — Derek's NBA 2K theory of why people don't take responsibility
04:39 — Marty keeps his $400 jeans in the freezer and Derek has questions
10:44 — Why we're running the whole Jonathan Isaac conversation uncut
15:26 — Cameron apologizes to a Magic coach in a Vegas casino
17:09 — Derek wore a Rodman jersey in Cameron's courtside seats
18:28 — Does Cameron need a signature courtside look?
21:44 — Slices: A 26-cent coin sold for $17,000 and Jesse has a plan for the Mint
24:58 — Marty bought a Ralph Lauren stamp collection and is worried about himself
30:54 — Jesse is going to a silent disco
34:43 — Gen Z and millennials are drinking less. Gen X is drinking a lot more
42:20 — The Christopher Nolan Darth Vader movie is not real
44:11 — CD sales are up 59% and half the buyers don't own a CD player
48:16 — Question of the Week: Halloween costume ideas for 2026
49:34 — Jonathan Isaac on year 10, faith under the spotlight and UNITUS

This week, the crew gets philosophical fast. Jesse makes the case that cornhole can cure the loneliness epidemic, Derek wants to bring back boredom and we figure out how doing nothing on a flight became an achievement. Derek also plays his new single 'Lift Me Up' and explains why he built it on the old synths instead of the easy way.
In RELEVANT Buzz, Greta Gerwig cast Meryl Streep as the voice of Aslan in the upcoming Narnia movie, and the comments did what the comments do. Jesse defends it, Derek explains it with potato salad and a text from someone who's actually seen the movie changes the conversation. 
Then Christian Bale opens a village so foster siblings don't get split up, which makes him the real Batman. Elevation Worship and Chandler Moore's 'God I'm Just Grateful' just did something a worship song hasn't done since 'Oceans.' And Jesse brings a CDC report that says most of us are exhausted, which turns into Bob Goff quitting something every Thursday and why no one ever preaches "pray for less." 
Then a new game, Take Sides, closes it out: Chick-fil-A vs. Raising Cane's, window vs. aisle, Waffle House as a life stage and Derek's very strong feelings about hot tubs.
Highlights:
01:28 — Jesse's plan to cure loneliness with cornhole
07:54 — Derek deleted social media. Bring back boredom
10:33 — Raw dogging a flight and the David Puddy origin story
17:22 — Derek's new single 'Lift Me Up' and curating Apple Music's Elevate playlist
24:09 — RELEVANT Buzz: The CDC says 3 in 4 Americans are exhausted (guess who's most tired)
29:35 — Bob Goff quits something every Thursday
32:15 — Why nobody preaches "pray for less"
34:14 — Warren Buffett hands Berkshire to his son
35:00 — The real Batman: Christian Bale's foster village opens
38:32 — Meryl Streep as Aslan? The Narnia fight
42:04 — Derek's potato salad theory of Narnia
48:34 — A text from inside the movie
50:51 — Elevation Worship & Chandler Moore crack the Hot 100
53:01 — Take Sides: Chick-fil-A vs. Raising Cane's, hot tub vs. pool

It's a special (shorter) episode this week! Andrew Garfield joins us — we talk about his new Paul Greengrass film 'The Uprising,' why he keeps coming back to characters who are searching and what he thinks faith has to do with justice.
Then pop artist Claire Rosinkranz talks with us backstage at Lollapalooza. She gets into the moment she says she heard God at 11 years old, what her therapist told her when she felt like she'd stopped hearing Him and why she grieves her younger self. (Plus some lighter stuff too.)
And then Cameron briefly takes us through the new fall digital issue of RELEVANT, which is out this week. Make sure to check it out at RELEVANTmagazine.com!
Highlights:
02:41 — Andrew Garfield on 'The Uprising'
15:35 — Claire Rosinkranz
25:01 — Inside the new issue of RELEVANT