Your Sunday Drive

It's the holiday season. A time for friends, family, food, traditions.... and riffing on complex and controversial Christmas themed theological topics!We're joined by Levi Goodwin - local purveyor of fine viewpoints - for discussion on a range of topics related to Christmas and Advent: The incarnation, angels, Marian doctrines, miracles and more. We also take time to examine the question of "When is it *essential* to have a firm opinion on a specific doctrine or topic?" and share some Holiday Hot Takes :) Come along for Your Sunday Drive - quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive Required attributions: Straight Through by Groove Bakery | https://groovebakery.com; Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com; Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 In

How are things going on college campuses these days? What issues do college aged people face? What do they value? Is Christianity still a viable option for Zoomers? As our country becomes more post-Christian and pluralistic, what does the gospel even look like in a campus setting? In this episode we have a roundtable discussion about these topics and more with Hannah Balbaugh and Gabe Nelson - leaders in the Standing in the Gap campus ministries at Saginaw Valley State University and Northwood University (and representative actual young people! :) ) Come along for Your Sunday Drive - quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive Required attributions: Straight Through by Groove Bakery | https://groovebakery.com; Music promoted by https://www.free-sto

The country has never seemed more divided. New data suggests that many Americans think it's "time to split the country." Are we in for a new Civil War?We use an article by David French, a quote from Andrew Yang, the recent controversy surrounding Facebook, the current congressional fight over Biden's infrastructure bill and the debt ceiling, and other angles to take a look at this topic. What underlies such division? How is media and social media involved? Would there even be something ultimately "wrong" with an actual split in the country? Most vitally, how should individual Christians and the church navigate the *opportunity* of our polarized times?In our second segment, we shift focus to the uber popular Netflix show Squid Game, relating it to another current cultural obsession, the Gabby Petito case. Why are people fascinated by "true crime" stories and violent media such as Squid Game? What are the dangers and what elements of the redemptive can we discover in this human impulse? Come along for Your Sund

The war in Afghanistan comes to a controversial end. Abortion is again in the news due to an unusual Texas law. Ivermectin hits center stage in Covid politics thanks to Joe Rogan.How should Christians think through such varied yet pressing news items, events and issues? How is the nature of God a guide when it comes to having a "Christian take" on things?Also, a quick pop culture minute generates a metric ton of mentions, including Smallville, The Golden Girls, The White Lotus, Hades, Dune, Star Trek, Star Wars, David Lynch, Twin Peaks, The Green Knight, The Thin Red Line, The Fountain, and Ted Lasso. Come along for Your Sunday Drive - quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive Required attributions: Straight Through by Groove Bakery | https://groov

Is Christianity "metaphorically true, but literally false?" In this episode we look at recent critiques of (and hopes for) the faith from non-Christian "new pragmatists" such as Jordan Peterson, Bret Weinstein, Tom Holland and Douglas Murray. Along the way we discover some things non-Christians get right, some things they get wrong, and ask how the church can be faithful to its message, but still relevant in a changing culture.We also chat about our current pop culture faves, including Ted Lasso, The Suicide Squad and The Green Knight. These are all good, btw, and you should watch them all, btw, but for different reasons.....Come along for Your Sunday Drive - quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive Required attributions: Straight Through by Groov

In a shocking turn of events, 2021 is half over. We catch up on what's been happening in our usual realms of current events and pop culture in this fast-paced episode.What do we talk about? Better question is: What *don't* we talk about? :) Topics include: the seeming end of the pandemic and takeaways; related positives/negatives of technology; the Summer Olympics; the return of movie theaters, The Fast and the Furious 9 and memes; books we've been reading; Bo Burnham's Inside and Returnal on PS5. Come along for Your Sunday Drive - quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive Required attributions: Straight Through by Groove Bakery | https://groovebakery.com; Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com; Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internatio

What happens when a "conspiracy" is vindicated? In this episode we take a look at the Wuhan coronavirus lab leak hypothesis and its fascinating transformation from shunned conspiracy to legitimate possibility over the course of the past year. Along the way we discuss other conspiracies that have turned out to be accurate or otherwise gained credibility, including the Christian faith itself. Also included: How to be a good friend to someone under the influence of a more radical strain of thinking, why to keep friends of varied perspectives and other related epistemological best practices.Continuing the theme of friendship, we unpack the recent Friends reunion show on HBO. Was it good or bad? How do shows like Friends connect to our different phases of life? What are the benefits and dangers of nostalgia? Is Nate more a Ross, Joey or Chandler? Come along for Your Sunday Drive - quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jes

In this jam-packed, lightning round of an episode, we cover four fascinating topics in just one hour! First, mask mandates go away as we seem to be approaching the end of the pandemic. What's our experience so far and how do we handle the inevitable cultural friction of the moment? Next we talk about the renewed conflict in Israel. What's the history and context of the current violence and, most importantly, how can Christians respond? Church membership is down and deconversion stories are on the rise. We dig in to these trends and how, counterintuitively, there may be good news afoot.Finally, we spend some time discussing our current fave books, shows and games. Resident Evil Village (Resident Evil 8) is the focus, with a surprising connection made between fandoms and the church.Come along for Your Sunday Drive - quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in

Derek Chauvin is found guilty of murdering George Floyd. We talk about the trial, the verdict and the related issues: race, racism and justice in America; the influence of politics and media; policing and how race is related; what this event could mean for the future. Most importantly, we try to approach the topic from a Christian perspective, asking how we might respond to and participate in this moment of change.Come along for Your Sunday Drive - quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive  Required attributions: Straight Through by Groove Bakery | https://groovebakery.com; Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com; Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0); https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/; Source images via

The fallout continues after Ravi Zacharias' sexual abuse is confirmed. We talk about the related issues, trying to come up with some hopeful takeaways for how we can heal and do better in the future. We also take a few minutes to look at our current pop culture favorites, including WandaVision and The Bachelor, noting not to neglect pop culture's role as a primary way people interact with philosophical and social issues.Come along for Your Sunday Drive - quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive Required attributions: Straight Through by Groove Bakery | https://groovebakery.com; Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com; Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0); https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/; Source imag

The 24/7 news cycle is demonstrably unhealthy at best, increasingly dangerous at worst. Social media exacerbates the problem. Would you like to become "newsproof?" In this episode, we look at an article called "News as Spiritual Deformation," questioning some of its conclusions but gaining some solid insight too, as we develop key takeaways for being newsproof in today's world. Topics include: the dangers of media silos and conspiracy thinking; the need for diversity and credibility in sources; gnosticism and to what extent we should seek to be godlike; global vs. local concern; avoiding "doomscrolling" and social media flame wars; news as key to good citizenship and Christian cultural engagement; acknowledging God's ultimate sovereignty over the news and how that makes things so, so much better :) ; also, the applicability of these takeaways to the navigation and evaluation of any/all future current events and pop culture artifacts (you're welcome); chess and Da Bears. Come along for Your Sunday Drive - quic

This is an experimental episode recorded with literally no set topic, no notes, no agenda. We can't (won't) even pitch what we actually ended up talking about (because we do, of course, now know what that was), even though it for sure turned out to be very, very interesting. We could tell you what the goal of this experiment was, but that may be construed as an agenda and/or otherwise give you information about the episode ahead of time, which we can't (won't) do. You'll just have to listen and find out. We do, as usual, hope you find this beneficial :)Come along for Your Sunday Drive - quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive Required attributions: Straight Through by Groove Bakery | https://groovebakery.com; Music promoted by https://www.free-st

In our premiere episode of Season 3, we talk about the mass of issues related to the events at the Capitol in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021. Protesting vs. rioting. Similarities and differences to BLM. Trump's culpability. The role of Christian nationalism. Cancel culture, deplatforming and free speech. The continued siloing of media and cultural echo chambers. Is there a "third way" and what's the role of Christian faith?Then we change gears to discuss current favorite TV shows, Cobra Kai in particular, and why engaging pop culture at a time such as ours may be vitally important. Come along for Your Sunday Drive - quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive Required attributions: Straight Through by Groove Bakery | https://groovebakery.com; Mus

Do you want THE definitive list of The Best Christmas Movies Ever? Want to know why they matter deeply? Look no further...In this final episode of 2020, we reminisce and riff on some of our favorites, unpacking plenty presents along the way: What makes a Christmas movie a Christmas movie and why does Die Hard count as one? What things do these stories have in common? Why do we build such strong traditions around them? Why does flying kites suck so bad? What role does magic and belief play in these movies? Most importantly: How do these favorite seasonal stories connect to the actual Christmas story and the gospel itself? Come along for Your Sunday Drive - quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive Required attributions: Straight Through by Groove Ba

Between the pandemic, social upheaval, political turmoil, etc., 2020 has obviously been a challenging year. In this Thanksgiving episode, we flip the script and explain why - plot twist! - we're thankful for 2020. We start with some reactions to the current election drama and positive spins on this year's political and media-related issues. Then we discuss a bunch of things we're thankful for, such as kids' resilience, the goodness of people, possible fruitful changes to work culture, and "small things" to appreciate such as video games (including an impromptu aesthetic discussion about the definition of art :) ). Finally, we examine how hard times, our view of God, trust and thankfulness are all intertwined in the Bible. Come along for Your Sunday Drive - quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit ch

With one week left before the 2020 election, we present some final thoughts, hot takes, questions, hopes and more.We also share about some of our favorite shows and other media of 2020, asking the question "how can we redeem the time spent on such things?"Finally - to help answer this question - we look at J.R.R. Tolkien's "On Fairy Stories" and the idea that stories have three essential parts, all of which mirror the gospel.Come along for Your Sunday Drive - quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive Required attributions: Straight Through by Groove Bakery | https://groovebakery.com; Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com; Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0); https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/; images

We respond to this week's (crazy? disheartening?) "debate," asking questions about what leadership in this country looks like, and whether Christians need to be wary of the idol of politics.We also discuss the allegations against the late Ravi Zacharias and how the church should respond when leaders fail.Finishing the theme of leadership, we listen to a portion of Dr. Francis Collins' recent Templeton Prize acceptance address, where he discusses what individuals can do to fight polarization, even without ideal leaders.Come along for Your Sunday Drive - quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive Required attributions: Straight Through by Groove Bakery | https://groovebakery.com; Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com; Attribution-NoDeriva

What is progressive Christianity and how is it different from more "traditional" forms? Is it dangerous? What positives does it have to offer? We discuss the pros and cons - referencing authors such as Alisa Childers, Pete Enns and Andy Stanley - and how to navigate the related issues.It's the fall, which means new shows, fall sports and plenty more in the world of entertainment. We talk about what we're into and what we're looking forward to - including Lovecraft Country, The Vow, The Boys, Utopia, the PS5, NFL and college sports, The Gifted, The Last Kingdom and Dune - and share some perspective on entertainment in general, thanks to our collective boy, C.S. Lewis :)Come along for Your Sunday Drive - quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive Requ

Mandy Polzin and Rob Shade join us for a roundtable discussion about our post-pandemic, more-distanced lives. Questions include: How are we experiencing doing work, school, church and life-in-general more remote, digital and online? What are the pros and cons of technologies like Zoom? Is there some sense in which church specifically needs to be physically present and in-person? What does the pandemic teach us about what humans are like? What perspective can our faith give us?Also, FYI, Laura was not mad about Matt's bad joke. She says "I'll talk about hairstyles anytime you want

2020 is nuts. Pandemic. Polarization. Social upheaval. The election. We try to put our arms around where the year is and where it might head next, seeking how we might respond from a Christian perspective.Everyone is talking Hamilton (again). We discuss this cultural juggernaut in terms of its artistic value, how it relates to our current climate, what it says about legacy, and more. Come along for Your Sunday Drive - quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive Required attributions: Straight Through by Groove Bakery | https://groovebakery.com; Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com; Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0); https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/; images via Google