Podcast
The Common Good Podcast
Hosted by Brian From · EN
The idea of “the common good” has a rich history within the Christian church. It’s the notion that, as we pursue Jesus in our lives and in the lives of others, we are fulfilling God’s purposes for His creation. This pursuit can be messy. It means rolling up our sleeves and creating space for hard conversations about real issues that impact our lives. Things like parenting, marriage, finances, politics, art, and culture. On The Common Good, Brian From creates space to have these conversations, to sit with the big questions that we all have, to sometimes disagree, but to always look for the chance to create common good, by following after Jesus. Brian welcome listeners to join them in these conversations, to bring their own questions, hopes, and struggles, and to ultimately share in a journey to see God’s design for all of us fulfilled.
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Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The Commodification of Christianity & What a Gen Z Skeptic Sees That We've Missed
Yesterday01:05:52Tap to summarizeA Gen Z writer who describes herself as new to the Christian faith wrote something that should stop every church leader cold: "I worry we're not finding God. We're finding content about God." Brian From unpacks her piece on the commodification and gamification of Christianity — prayer streaks, Bible subscription apps, Sunday sermons on Spotify — and asks whether making faith frictionless is actually costing us the transcendence people are desperately searching for. Then: a North Carolina valedictorian who ditched her pre-approved speech to go off-script, and why being brave doesn't make breaking your agreement okay. The solitude influencer phenomenon — hundreds of thousands of followers, zero friends — and what the church can uniquely offer into a loneliness epidemic. A Christian baseball player allegedly sidelined by the Washington Nationals for his Catholic views during Pride Month, and what that tells us about the kind of quiet sidelining Christians should actually expect. Albert Moller shares a difficult health update. Shane Eidelman is battling head and neck cancer with a 30-50% five-year survival rate. The life and legacy of Dale Rotan, quiet co-founder of Operation Mobilization, who just passed at 88. And a reminder that Jesus wins — and therefore, your labor in the Lord is not in vain.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →Pride Month, Table Flipping & the Good Shepherd
2d ago01:04:31Tap to summarizeA new Lifeway study finds that 76% of American Christians believe God wants them to prosper financially — and among younger churchgoers, that number climbs to 85%. The prosperity gospel didn't die with the TV preachers. It just got quieter, more therapeutic, and harder to recognize. Brian From unpacks why that matters and how to spot it. Then: June is Pride Month, and Brian pushes back on both the combative Christian response and the capitulating one — asking instead what it would look like for the church to be genuinely known as a friend of sinners, the way Jesus was. Should Christians flip tables like Jesus? A careful look at what scripture actually encourages us to imitate — and it isn't anger. A meditation on the "I am the Good Shepherd" declaration from John 10, and what it means that Jesus sleeps at the gate. A reflection on John James of the Newsboys and the message of his story for anyone who feels like they're on God's discard pile. Samaritan's Purse opening an Ebola field hospital in Congo. Church sign puns. And a closing word from Psalm 121: He who keeps you will not slumber.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →The Newsboys Story with John James
2d ago00:10:52Tap to summarizeHe helped build one of the biggest Christian bands of the 1990s, toured America with a dream of using music to point people to Jesus — and at the height of it all, watched his marriage, his family, his ministry, and his life fall apart. John James, the original lead singer of Newsboys, joins Brian From to talk about his memoir Newsboy: My Story of Hope and Second Chances. He's honest about what fame actually does to a person over time — not overnight destruction, but a slow distortion of reality, a quiet disconnection from the vine, and the gradual exposure of whatever cracks were already in the foundation. He's also honest about what it took to come back: returning to Australia, bitter and broken, riddled with shame, going to church only out of obligation — until one day he encountered God in a way that changed everything. His message to anyone who feels too far gone to be reached: if God could find me in that mess, there is no one He can't reach. Find the book and connect with John at ireachusa.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →Christians & Global Politics with Robert Joustra
2d ago00:10:11Tap to summarizeChristians have done plenty of thinking about faith and domestic politics — poverty, abortion, local justice. But almost no one has systematically asked what it looks like to follow Jesus in international relations. Robert Joustra, author of Christ and Covenant in Global Politics: A Christian Introduction to International Relations, joins Brian From to fill that gap. He tackles America First nationalism head-on, arguing that loving one's country is genuinely biblical — fifth commandment stuff — but that ordered love is very different from whitewashed love or willful blindness. He applies the just war tradition to the war in Iran, making the case that all war properly conceived is a form of neighbor love aimed at reconciliation. And he closes with a biographical story about his Dutch father, born under Nazi occupation in 1943, who got his first taste of chocolate from a Canadian soldier — a picture of what war at its most just can look like. A timely, unusual, and genuinely illuminating conversation for anyone trying to think Christianly about a complicated world. Robert is joining the faculty at Calvin University in Michigan.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →Cynicism, Identity & the Thorn in Your Flesh
3d ago00:46:39Tap to summarizeBrian From opens with a full report from one of the biggest weekends of his family's life — his son Jackson winning a regional baseball championship and graduating high school on the same weekend, capped off with a Head of School Award and all four family members under one roof. From there, a fascinating study: people consistently think their friends are less cynical than those friends actually are. Brian turns that into a challenge — of all people, Christians should be the least cynical, because we serve a God of redemption, transformation, and second chances. Then a meditation on one of Jesus' seven "I am" statements: I am the light of the world. What light actually does — reveals, convicts, purifies, connects — and why darkness always looks more comfortable until you've stood in the light long enough for your eyes to adjust. Two Relevant Magazine pieces that share the same root: the trad wife movement telling women this curated version of femininity will give them peace, and men silently battling body image issues they've never felt free to name. Both are identity crises in different packaging. And a closing word from JD Greear on suffering, pride, and why God sometimes leaves the thorn in place.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →Gig Eva, Clean Comedy & What Makes You Wealthy
6d ago00:54:23Tap to summarizeA Pennsylvania man demolished his own house with an excavator after his wife said the marriage was over — which is a wild story, but also a useful case study in what not to do when you're angry. Jim Carrey showed up to a French awards ceremony looking unrecognizable, which opens a bigger conversation about image, aging, and why the only foundation for genuine self-acceptance is knowing you are created in the image of God, fearfully and wonderfully made. Carl Truman has coined a new term — Gig Eva — and it's more concerning than Big Eva: online evangelical influencers who are accountable to no one, may not even be real, and are quietly replacing the local church as the primary discipleship vehicle for millions. Mitt Romney told Harvard Business School graduates that the true measure of wealth is the people you love and your friends — which is either obvious or convicting depending on how you're actually spending your time. Nate Bargatze on why not cursing actually gives you more freedom as a comedian, and what that says about being distinctively different in your field. And a closing devotion from Charles Stanley on the stages of the Christian journey — recognizing where God is working right now, and why we all need people ahead of us, behind us, and alongside us in the race.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →Women, Wealth & Faith with Julie Wilson
6d ago00:10:09Tap to summarize184 trillion dollars is changing hands over the next two decades — and 70% of it is coming to women who, by and large, don't feel ready for it. The average age of a widow is 59. 95% of women will be the primary financial decision-maker for their household at some point. And yet most women are still sitting on the sidelines when it comes to money. Julie Wilson, president of Women Doing Well, joins Brian From to talk about what the data shows, why the real issue isn't financial literacy but values and purpose, and what actually happens when a woman engages in her family's finances — spoiler, her husband said he finally didn't feel so alone. Julie also challenges pastors directly: if your church doesn't have a strategy for women and wealth, your congregation will start suffering as women become the primary financial decision-makers — and they won't come to you for help if you haven't built the relationship first. A practical, grounded conversation about stewardship, marriage, and what it looks like to manage money in alignment with your faith. Learn more at womendoingwell.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →The Breadwinner, Backrooms & D-Day with Paul Asay
6d ago00:09:26Tap to summarizeAdam Holtz is temporarily indisposed (Paul Asay's version of events involves a closet), so Paul steps in from the Plugged In team at Focus on the Family to run through what's worth watching this weekend. First up: The Breadwinner, a PG comedy starring Nate Bargatze about a dad who discovers he has no idea how to run his own household once his wife leaves for a month — sweet, clean, and a genuine rarity at the multiplex. Then a heads-up for parents of teenagers: Backrooms is getting buzz, teens are already emailing Plugged In asking when the review drops, and the R rating is earned. Finally, a World War II drama that tells a genuinely underreported story — the meteorologists whose weather forecast either made or broke the D-Day invasion. Brendan Fraser as Eisenhower takes some adjusting to, but the history is real and the story is worth knowing. All three are in theaters. Full reviews at pluggedin.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →Faith, Family & the Quiet Revival with Tim Goeglein
6d ago00:10:12Tap to summarizeThe lowest marriage rates, the lowest fertility rates, and more babies born to women in their 30s than their 20s — something is going on in America, and Timothy Goeglein thinks he knows what it is. A former eight-year special assistant to President George W. Bush and vice president of government and external relations at Focus on the Family, Goeglein joins Brian From to talk about his new book What Really Matters: Restoring a Legacy of Faith, Freedom, and Family. He makes the case that digital dislocation has built a brick wall between young men and women, that millions of men are checked out of school, work, and relationships entirely — and yet in that same demographic, something surprising is happening. Young men between 18 and 30 are returning to faith, going back to church, and saying they want marriage and fatherhood. By a factor of over 55%, more young men are now in church on Sundays than women. Goeglein calls it a quiet American revival, and he's optimistic — because despair, he says, is a sin that negates the hope of Jesus Christ.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →AI, Loneliness & Fleeing Sin
1w ago00:58:05Tap to summarizeIn 1982, theologian John Stott predicted that as electronic networks made personal relationships "ever less necessary," the fellowship of the local church would become increasingly important — not less. Brian From reads that quote in 2026 and can barely believe how precisely it describes this moment. That thread runs through this entire hour. Pope Leo's new statement on AI warns that the real danger isn't machines becoming too human, but humans becoming more like machines — efficient, optimized, and stripped of transcendence, mystery, and community. Can we be friends across political lines? Jimmy Kimmel choking up at Adam Carolla's Walk of Fame ceremony suggests maybe yes. A sweet story about an eight-year-old girl who tossed a paper airplane over her fence asking her neighbor to play Taylor Swift — and Taylor Swift herself showing up with signed guitars. Brian's son's playoff baseball team hangs on for another game as graduation weekend approaches and the emotions start arriving. A practical look at what it actually means to flee from sin — and why the Bible makes it so active: be alert, avoid, strive, throw off, run. And a word for everyone navigating change: God is immutable, and that changes everything.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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