The RELEVANT Podcast

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

This week Cory Asbury joins us. He walked away from worship music five years ago—we talk about what pulled him back and why it's different this time. His new worship record, Outsing the Angels, is out September 18.
In Slices, Jesse brings up the Tesla Cyber Cab, which is now driving around Austin with no steering wheel, no rearview mirror and no brake pedal, and the federal government has questions. (He also has a theory about what’s actually driving them.) Derek tells us how Skilla Baby’s prayer took over The Breakfast Club this week, and Marty tells the story of the 1986 Zelda art where Link is kneeling in a church praying to Jesus.
Also, water parks are the last lawless place in America, and somebody in Virginia Beach burned down a 50-foot gorilla named Hugh Mungus.
Then One Has to Go closes it out: find out what slow jams, Good Charlotte, and Fast and Furious have in common.
Highlights:
03:00 — Water parks: the last lawless place in America
06:22 — Hugh Mungus, the 50-foot gorilla an arsonist burned down
11:17 — Slices: Tesla's Cyber Cab shipped without a brake pedal, and the feds noticed
18:48 — Marty walks away from a Waymo wreck
21:38 — Skilla Baby's prayer alarm goes off on The Breakfast Club
26:06 — Link was praying to Jesus, and Nintendo of America took it out
31:53 — Bible Adventures, bootleg cartridges and the Christian Marvel comics
33:52 — Cory Asbury on leaving worship music and what brought him back
42:39 — One Has to Go

This week SEU Worship joins us — we talk about the SEU Outpouring and their new album 'Found in the Field.' 
In RELEVANT Buzz, 'Scary Movie' star Anna Faris opens up on Chelsea Handler's podcast about her 14-year-old son and the conversations he keeps having with her about Jesus. Then the biggest artist in music right now, Ella Langley, is rewriting the record books and getting bolder about God from the stage. We play what she said at a recent show. Then there's 'Death of the Pastor's Wife,' the new Netflix series about Mica Miller, the South Carolina pastor's wife whose death became a national story.
In Slices, a 47-year-old Bay Area pastor made a college football roster and is now a defensive end at a community college. And scientists have worked out how to turn plastic bottles into protein cookies for disaster zones and deep space crews (nobody has actually eaten one yet). 
We close the show with a bracket game ranking five years of Emily’s time at RELEVANT: the Eras Tour, girl dinner, jalapeño poppers, a church prom photo. It's her last episode with us, and we send her off the right way.
Coincidentally, we also let you know about some new job openings over at RELEVANTmediagroup.com. 
Highlights:
02:24 — Derek on teenagers again
04:52 — The lame duck era
08:59 — Derek's Dell call center exit stories
13:37 — Jesse quits Kmart
17:06 — RELEVANT Buzz: Anna Faris on her son Jack's faith
21:58 — Ella Langley's record-breaking run and her mini sermon
26:26 — 'Death of the Pastor's Wife' on Netflix
30:33 — SEU Worship on 'Found in the Field'
38:34 — Slices: a 47-year-old pastor makes a college football roster
44:09 — Slices: plastic bottles into protein cookies
47:17 — The Emily Brown Bracket Challenge
58:34 — Five years of Emily Brown
59:37 — We're hiring

This week we're joined by Michael Cochren, the soul-and-blues frontman of Cochren & Co. He talks about the eight years he spent waiting on an answer from God and why he refuses to say God is good just because things finally worked out. We spotlight the band's new album, 'Runs in the Blood.'
In RELEVANT Buzz, Cory Asbury posted and deleted a shirtless workout photo, apologized for it and then got roasted by every friend he has in Christian music. Also, survivors launched the first national database of Protestant leaders accused of abuse, years after the SBC voted to build one and then let it die. And The Promised Land, the Moses workplace mockumentary that started as a YouTube pilot, just signed Lionsgate and got a second season.
In Slices, Columbia House is finally shutting down, which mostly raises the question of how it was still open, and one of us confesses to running a stack of accounts under slightly different names to get free CDs as a teenager. And a woman in New Zealand went into cardiac arrest in a supermarket parking lot, got revived by a stranger and then got a parking ticket for it. 
Also in here: a follow-up on the resting heart rate situation, a public service announcement about energy drinks, and the actual reason last week's episode showed up five days late.
One Has to Go closes it out. And we're still taking answers to last week's question: What's something you wish you'd known going into your freshman year of college? Drop it in the comments or @ us. We're running your answers in a piece this week.
Highlights:
01:21 — Marty's new house and the California no-AC problem
04:07 — Is the house haunted
06:15 — The resting heart rate follow-up and a Celsius warning
07:48 — C4, Sour Patch Kids flavor and two hours of pins and needles
11:35 — David Blaine, stunt magic and the four kinds of magician
19:15 — Emily is podcasting from what appears to be a TJ Maxx dressing room
21:04 — Kohl's cash
22:13 — RELEVANT Buzz: Cory Asbury takes down the shirtless photo and apologizes
28:08 — Survivors launch the first national database of accused Protestant abusers
30:09 — The Promised Land gets a second season and Lionsgate
31:33 — Michael Cochren of Cochren & Co.
39:12 — Slices: Columbia House is shutting down after 71 years
43:34 — She died in a parking lot and still got a ticket
48:34 — Why last week's episode was late
50:05 — One Has to Go