January 2024 | LISLE, IL— InterVarsity Press has announced the launch of a new podcast, The Digital Examen, hosted by pastor and author Jay Kim. The first episode releases on Wednesday, January 10.
The idea for The Digital Examen was developed in response to the exhaustion so many people are experiencing amid the noise of the modern digital age, where peace is scarce and self-reflection is infrequent. Through conversations with a variety of leaders, pastors, and scholars, Kim and his guests will focus on what it means to reorient one’s life in the direction of listening.
“Like many people these days, I often find myself overwhelmed by the chaos of the digital age—so much frenzy, so little peace,” Kim said. “My hope is that The Digital Examen will offer people not only a learning experience but also an invitation into stillness with God as we slow down enough to listen as much as we learn. In this first season, our conversations with pastors, writers, and scholars—John Mark Comer, Rich Villodas, Carmen Imes, John Ortberg, Felicia Wu Song, Tim Mackie, and others—will illuminate our minds and guide our hearts away from the noise and toward the quiet places of peace, where our hearts and minds can find the spaciousness necessary to hear God speaking.”
In the first episode of The Digital Examen, Kim introduces the podcast season and poses questions surrounding what it means to slow down and hear from God amid the noise and pace of the digital age. As the lead pastor at WestGate Church in Silicon Valley, Kim has experienced the digital church in all its splendor and writes about it in his two books, Analog Church and Analog Christian. Kim has also written on the topic of the digital age for Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, Missio Alliance, and Relevant Magazine.
New episodes of The Digital Examen release weekly on Wednesdays starting January 10 through March 20. Themes will include liturgical reflection, contemplation, spiritual formation/disciplines, faithful engagement with technology, and creating and sustaining rules/rhythms of life.
Kim’s guests for The Digital Examen include:
January 17 | John Mark Comer is a teacher and writer based in Southern California. He pastored Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon, for nearly two decades before launching Practicing the Way, a nonprofit that creates formation resources for local churches. He’s a teacher-in-residence at Vintage LA and the author of several bestselling books including The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, Live No Lies, and his most recent work, Practicing the Way.
January 24 | Carmen Imes is associate professor of Old Testament at Biola University and the author of Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters and Being God’s Image: Why Creation Still Matters. Her work helps us understand much more deeply what it means to be truly human.
January 31 | Patrick Miller serves as a pastor at The Crossing in Columbia, Missouri. He hosts the podcast Truth over Tribe and is the coauthor of a book by the same name, Truth over Tribe: Pledging Allegiance to the Lamb, Not the Donkey or the Elephant. He’s also the cofounder of Endeavor, a website and online space seeking to “disciple the Internet.”
February 7 | Felicia Wu Song is a professor of sociology at Westmont College. She is the author of Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence, and Place in the Digital Age, and she regularly speaks on digital practices, social media, the digital media industry, parenting in the digital age, and spiritual formation.
February 14 | John Ortberg is a pastor and speaker who has served in ministry for over forty years and teaches around a central theme of spiritual formation. Much of his work around spiritual formation is about equipping people to know God in an interactive, life-transforming way. Currently, John leads a ministry called Become New, which focuses on helping people grow spiritually one day at a time. He’s the author of many books.
February 21 | Regina Chow Trammel is a licensed therapist and a professor in the Master of Social Work program at Azusa Pacific University. She specializes in the area of Christian mindfulness and has given a popular TEDx talk on this topic as well as coauthoring A Counselor’s Guide to Christian Mindfulness: Engaging the Mind, Body, and Soul in Biblical Practices and Therapies.
February 28 | Rich Villodas is the lead pastor of New Life Fellowship Church in Queens, New York, and the author of the award-winning book The Deeply Formed Life. He also frequently writes and speaks on the topic of contemplative spirituality, as well serving as a presenter on the topic of emotionally healthy discipleship.
March 6 | Sarah Cowan Johnson is a ministry trainer, consultant, and coach based in Providence, Rhode Island. She is also the author of the award-winning book Teach Your Children Well: A Step-by-Step Guide to Family Discipleship. She speaks often on the topic of navigating the digital landscape as a parent or caregiver and helping children flourish in the midst of the ubiquity of technology.
March 13 | Tim Mackie is a teacher, writer, theologian, and creative director for BibleProject, a nonprofit, crowdfunded organization that produces animated Bible videos, podcasts, articles, and classes to help make the biblical story accessible to everyone everywhere. Tim believes the Scriptures are primarily meditation literature designed to invite us into an active, ongoing relationship with God.
March 20 | Kristel Acevedo is the spiritual formation director at Transformation Church in Indian Land, South Carolina. She is also the coauthor of 3 Big Questions that Shape Your Future and is writing a forthcoming Bible study with IVP. Discipleship is an area of expertise and focus for Kristel, and she curates her own social media presence with an eye toward a joyful and flourishing life.
The Digital Examen podcast will be available through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other major podcast distributors. Check out the IVP YouTube page for a peek at The Digital Examen trailer.
Contact: Krista Clayton, kclayton@ivpress.com
