Something Bigger Podcast

Simon and Sage are back with an impromptu episode tackling one of the most significant questions of all time: what is the difference between a bop, a banger, and a jam? This episode is super special, not only because of the many friends of the pods who weigh in on the discussion, but because it is recorded *during* fika at Soul Fuel, the adult weekend at Deeper Life Bible Camp (which also explains the poor audio quality ;) ).

Sage, Simon and Lon get into all kinds of news tidbits involving baby bunnies and coyotes and putting orange juice on your cereal-is that really a good idea? Maybe none of those things are good ideas. All of a sudden, Lon rants on mobility scooter based crimes committed against him and the rash of people rushing stages and starting to get what's coming to them. Sage and Simon finally settle Lon down enough to have a powerful conversation about the messiness of Jesus' style life and ministry and how that is how it should be. 

Hold on to your phones! Sage, Simon and Lon discuss the lengths people will go to rescue their phones. Lon confesses to locking his mom in the car and we go deep with the need to get to Jesus and to get our friends to Jesus.

What does your favorite candy say about you and how high can you stack it? Dive into important matters like this, Risus Paschalis (the Easter Laugh-let's do this!), Sage's realization that She's the Man is a modern re-telling of 12th Night and most importantly, the eucatastrophe of Easter with Sage, Simon and Lon.

What are your Easter traditions and true feelings about bunnies? Join us this week as Sage, Simon and Lon discuss Easter traditions and discover that Sage's fear of rabbits might be a result of her being an old soul who relates well to medieval sensibilities. All of this and a great dive into fishing with Jesus and pondering why it takes so long for us to stop trying to do it ourselves.

Sage, Simon and Lon dive deep into the world of capuchin monkeys and learn the importance of learning to dominate your pet capuchin (are you listening, Craig Feldspar?), Sage introduces Lon and Simon to a new social media app, which leads them to come up with ways to make it better or maybe ideas for starting their own version and after all that, we look into the importance of being intentional about being with Jesus and what that looks like.

Simon is back! Sage fills us in on her trip to a nunnery, they discuss what they would do with their very own invisibility panels and with April Fool's Day around the corner, they discuss ideas for pranks to try. Then they get around to talking about Jesus' words and the authority and power behind them and how that translates to the who we listen to and what we say.

Simon is out, so Sage and Lon try to hold down the fort without him, which leads to discussion about weird quirks and habits as well as the wonderful world of Guinness records before diving deep into Luke 4.14-30 and the journey of trust.

This is a super special podcast because we have a super special guest! Lon's brother (Sage's uncle), Seth joins the conversation as we get to know Seth better, Sage gives us a review of her experience at the Journey/TOTO concert and we celebrate Simon and his superior knowledge about St Patrick as he wins our St. Patrick's day trivia. Then we dig into identifying and resisting the devil's attempts to distract, divide and destroy by digging into the truth of God's Word.

Sage, Simon and Lon talk about pancakes, packis and other things connected to Shrove Tuesday and Lent and get deeply disappointed about a misleading story about extraterrestrials in King Tut's tomb. Even better, they process what it means to prepare the way for Jesus to come into our lives and the lives of others.

It's Shamrock Shake season! Sage, Simon and Lon share their thoughts on the shakes, menu hacks and then learn some new things about each other that we bet you didn't know-like Simon has an alter-ego from the 80's band HIPSWAY? Check it for yourself. Then they take a deep dive into one of the only descriptions of part of Jesus' childhood and what we can learn from 12 year old Jesus.

What do you do when there's a raccoon in the cafeteria? Join us this week to find out how our resident Eagle Scout, Simon would handle it. Plus, Lon rejoices in finding a workout that only requires one minute a day, Sage brings up the Jacob, Leah, and Rachel dilemma and we go deeper into living faithful lives of ordinary obedience as we reflect on what we are learning from Luke 2.21-38.

Sage, Simon and Lon discuss ways to improve the olympics, what they would cook or bake to make friends and Sage got to go dogsledding! They wrap everything up by discussing what it means to hide God's word in our hearts and why it matters.

This week, Sage, Simon and Lon discuss what they think they could set world records in, process what colors they might be and JOMO before processing our need as followers of Jesus to grow together in community. 

Sage, Simon and Lon catch up on the happenings and goings on this week, learn about Ice Bowling Soccer, discover Sage's love for Victorian times and process the idea of reading Scripture as an act of trusting God.

It's National Coffee Break Day, so grab a cuppa and join Sage, Simon and Lon as they delve into what motivates them, why they love Minnesota (tell us if you agree or disagree) and process how the Bible gives us the best and truest story and how we can live into it.

We're back from Christmas break and catch up to Sage and Simon to see how the new semester is going, celebrate Simon's birthday, process the idea of virtual reality church and process using lectio divina as a way to spend time with God in His Word.

In this super special Christmas episode, Sage, Simon and Lon discuss their least favorite Christmassy songs, bringing back the Christmas tradition of Mummering and other odd Christmas traditions from around the world as well as Mary's song and enjoying the grace of a God who owes us nothing, but gives us everything.

The first in our series of Christmas-y spectacular podcasts! Join Sage, Simon and Lon for a virtual small group as they discuss flaming Christmas trees (It was an ugly tree anyway), go deep on our favorite Christmas songs, suggestions for making Christmas at Living Hope even better and better yet, discuss Mary's response of humble surrender that made room for God's grace.

While Simon preps for Christmas at Northwestern, Sage and Lon discuss all things pastry and the sacred connection between doughnuts and proper religious holidays, getting ready for Christmas, even without snow and they also dive into the lesser known prequel to the Christmas story-Zechariah's encounter with Gabriel and what it means for how we pray and how God responds.

Simon, Sage and Lon discuss mobile saunas, share some Thanksgiving thoughts (what do they really think about turkey?) and wrap up our series on being resilient disciples by discussing Jesus, our hope and our anchor.

Lon and Sage got to see Simon in Peter Pan!  They share their thoughts and look back on how Lon narrowly avoided a catastrophe with Simon as the musical began and talk about how scientifically, smelling sage makes people feel better.  They also dig into a discussion on what it means to keep our eyes on Jesus in the midst of all of our troubles.

This week, Simon updates us on all things Peter Pan, Sage is getting certified to do pre-marital counseling and the gang discusses the need for creative high school id cards and solves the riddle of when it is ok to start listening to Christmas music.  Then, this last Sunday was a prayer time, so we hear what Sage and Simon are learning in UNW chapels from Skye Jethani and what Jesus said about prayer.

Simon preps for his first college theatre performance, Sage gives a Sonic review and Lon files his investigative report, spilling the tea on the great church coffee scandal of 2021 (not at Living Hope, no scandals with the coffee here).  And they go deeper into thoughts on Ephesians 3.14-21.

Lon is out of town, so the podcast takes on a more collegial flavor as Sage and Simon welcome in friend of the pod, Taylor.  Simon updates us on Peter Pan and invents a bakery, Taylor explains her addiction to steamed milk and the gang discusses what it means to not just listen to Jesus but to do what He says.  And by the way, they did go to Sonic.

This week, Simon talks about flight camp, Sage talks about her ideal Birthday-alone in a cabin in the woods with Jesus and a savory foods basket and we talk about the importance of being like a tree planted by the riverbanks.

Sage and Simon update us on caramel m&m's, Italian pirates, and concussions.  We find out how resilient the earth is and get into the good grace of living in an unshakable kingdom.

This week, Sage and Simon update us on the September Swoon, Sage gives us a concert review, Simon masters the Italian "Arrr" necessary to the life of an Italian pirate and we discuss what it looks like to live the hope of the gospel at work and school.

We're back!  We catch up with the Sage and Simon and their lives as they are into the school year at Northwestern and we turn the tables as it was Sage and Simon who did the teaching last weekend!  Join us as we process some of their ideas about how we can live the hope of the gospel.

We're back!  Simon, Sage and Lon talk about their experiences at camp this summer as Sage and Simon prepare for a week of counseling at camp and we discuss koinonia and how much we need it.

Before taking a break for a few weeks, the gang gets together to talk about their crazy week, the phenomena of Gen Z/Millennial gardening, and take a deep dive into Daniel's secret to thriving in exile-being people of the word and prayer.

Simon is back from a big trip to Nashville and he now has a cowboy hat and wants to live there.  Sage had coffee at a cute little shop by Summit Avenue in St. Paul and now she wants to live there.  Lon is quite happy with where he lives, but Sage wants to win him a Pastor Pod.  We also get into a great discussion about living for the kingdom of God rather than the empires of this world as we take a deeper dive into Daniel 7.

The whole gang is back together.  Simon talks a bit about recycling.  Lon fills us in on a bus full of elementary students that overpowered a would-be hijacker with the power of their inquisitive minds and Sage tries to remember that one song.  Eventually, we process what we learned about being a faithful witness in exile from Daniels night in the lion's den.

Sage is on a cross-country road trip this week, so the guys are left alone to talk about things like the saving of a literal eye of the tiger, cosmic brownie cereal, 1000 feral ninja-cats unleashed to solve Chicago's rat problem (don't worry all the cats have been vaccinated), movies that turned 20 in the last couple of weeks and most importantly, the stories of Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar in Daniel 4 & 5 and the lessons they teach us.

While Simon takes a long nap in the dentist's chair, Lon and Sage press on processing all kinds of good news, including wondering if the presence of giant saber-tooth cats is really good news.  They eventually get around to processing what we can learn from Daniel 3 about standing firm in our identities as followers of Jesus and remaining faithful to God in the midst of exile.

Happy Star Wars Day from the somethingBigger podcast crew!  This week, Sage talks about aliens and her newfound status as a podcast all-star, Simon brings us some good news about why our mom's are the coolest, Lon warns us that a rocket is falling to earth this weekend and we all dig down and talk about how Daniel shows us how to be wisdom warriors and to trust that God's Kingdom endures forever.

In this week's episode, Sage, Simon and Lon discuss the busyness of their weeks, so far, Simon talks about a heroic geocacher, Sage realizes we are impacting her university's culture, Lon & Simon discuss the Dog Man phenomenon and they all weigh in on what they learn about being a creative minority in exile from the first chapter of Daniel.

Simon brings us more good news as he podcasts from a van down by the pond, Sage has been doing a lot of thinking and talked to a lot of people about what it would be like to have a tail and Lon gets everyone prepped for National Pretzel Day.  AND the gang discusses the paradigm shift of living as a creative minority in the midst of exile and what it means to seek the shalom of the community you live in.

Sage, Simon and Lon celebrate their 20th episode!  Join them as they ponder the voices of squirrels and pigeons and Simon brings us a whole bunch of good news to brighten our day. Sage celebrates her triumphant crusade to get chocolate covered coffee beans back to the Billy at UNW. They also have a great conversation about what it means to be in exile and to be a creative minority.

This week, we discuss Easter festivities and candies, Sage updates us on sports and thunderstorms and we process what we are learning this Easter season as Simon and Sage have decided to extend their Easter celebrations.  And finally, Lon makes it through the entire episode without saying ANYTHING about Smigus Dyngus!

This week, Sage is coming up with ways to spice up sports fandom at her school, we process Easter traditions from around the world (bilbys and water fights!) and Simon and Sage and Simon share their thoughts on Jesus' prayer in the garden and what it looks like to live, "Not my will, but yours be done."

Sage updates us on how her March Madness brackets are going, Simon shares his honest thoughts about moshi, the Japanese ice cream treat, we talk spring, our Contributing Editor, Taylor adds some valuable insights and we wrap up our journey through Ruth, discussing the ways this story has impacted us.

Simon, Sage and Lon discuss proper and not so proper ways to celebrate St. Urho and St. Patrick (i.e. the "rules for pinching" and why we might just want to skip it), Sage reveals her new adventure into embracing March Madness and the science of doing your brackets and we discuss the examples of faithfulness, blessing and the importance of who we are becoming as we dive into the last chapter of Ruth.

Join Sagier, Buzz and Lonnie-Ole as they come clean on renaming themselves as children, take a deep dive into great names for pets and dive even deeper into the story of God's faithful, redemptive love in Ruth 3.

Join the crew as they talk about playing in the mud, doll school and how to make carousels even more exciting.  And it just so happens that they dig deeper in talking about the ways God is always at work and how we can notice and respond to His presence and work.

Simon, I mean, Mr. Luckow is back with some great life updates, Sage corrects (and maybe even rescues) the boys when it comes to rational thinking about cargo pants and we dive deep into the hesed on display in Ruth 2.

Simon gets called away to make blizzards and cones, so Sage brings Cam and Taylor into the podcast, knowing it takes two people to pick up the slack for Simon.  Meanwhile, the gang discusses losing hockey fights, Sage's intense fear of rabbits, Cam relates to Naomi's bitterness as he tries to heal from Kansas City's loss in the Super Bowl.  Oh, and we talk about Ruth the struggle to trust that even when circumstances are difficult, God is still good and He still loves us, for instance, even when our favorite team fails to show up for the biggest game of their lives.  (Something Vikings fans are acutely aware of)

Join the gang as they discuss the potential for Christian Bale singing Newsies songs for the halftime spectacular of all spectaculars, thoughts on Galentines Day, paczkis and some of their aha moments as they think about living and sharing the gospel.

The gang is back together!  Simon and Lon give us updates on what they've been up to, Sage has a hot take about sports and not sports and we discuss intersecting truth and grace with our friends who are responsive.

Lon is making us all jealous by spending time in a cabin in the middle of nowhere for his personal retreat so Sage and Simon take over the podcast with some new friends, Kacy and Cam. Tune in to hear more hot takes than you can handle and some practical ideas for being an intentional friend.