Kevin Allen talks with guest Father Michael Butler about how we might address the environmental issues that confront us today by appealing to the authentic Orthodox Tradition. Fr. Michael is the co-author of Creation and the Heart of Man.

Fr. Wilbur Ellsworth discusses with host Kevin Allen the challenges and opportunities of presenting Orthodoxy as plausible to non-Orthodox visitors and inquirers. Fr. Wilbur is a former Baptist pastor of a large influential church in Wheaton, IL, but now a priest in the Orthodox Church.

Father Barnabas Powell talks about why he left Pentecostalism, why he was drawn to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and how he and the Orthodox tradition view this contemporary Christian movement.

Guest: The V. Rev. Jon Braun, ex-Campus Crusade for Christ Regional Director and former leader of the Evangelical Orthodox Church.

Most Christians are not aware that in the latter part of the 16th century, early Lutheran Reformers - close colleagues and followers of Martin Luther - set in motion an eight year contact and correspondence with the (then) Ecumenical Patriarch, Jeremias II of Constantinople. The outcome might have changed the course of Christian history. Kevin Allen speaks with scholar Dr Paraskeve (Eve) Tibbs about this fascinating and largely unknown chapter in post-Reformation history.

Fr. George Aquaro, author of the blog "Orthodoxy and Recovery," and Dr. Albert Rossi, a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of New York, discuss addiction and ways to overcome it.

We welcome back Kevin Allen to AFR with his inaugural come back podcast which is part 1 of an interview with Fr. Josiah Trenham. They discuss his new book Rock and Sand - An Orthodox Appraisal of the Protestant Reformers and their Teaching, published by New Rome Press. This interview is also available in video format from Patristic Nectar Films.

In this episode of Ancient Faith Today, Kevin speaks with his guest Father Michael Varlamos about the historic march of His Eminence Iakovos of the Greek Orthodox Church on March 15, 1965, with Dr Martin Luther King in Selma, Alabama, and the Orthodox Christian teachings on racism, ethnic separatism and racial profiling.

In part 2 of his interview with Fr. Josiah Trenham, Kevin Allen gets specific on some of the modern day expressions of Reformed teaching and how it differs from the Orthodox Church. Fr. Josiah authored the book Rock and Sand: An Orthodox Appraisal of the Protestant Reformers and Their Theology. Click here to view the video version of this interview.

Alarming statistics are reported on the decline of Christianity (-8% in seven years) across all denominations in the U.S.; as well as significant data on the Orthodox Church in the U.S. Be the Bee's Steven Christoforou, Director of the GOA Youth and Adult Ministries Department, and the Office of Camping Ministries; also Fr. Jonathan Ivanoff, the director of the Orthodox Natural Church Development program, join Kevin Allen to discuss.

Kevin speaks with Fr. Chad Hatfield and Bishop Keith Ackerman shortly after their return from Moscow where bishops from the Anglican Church in North America were invited by Patriarch Kirill and Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) for a summit.

Earlier in the year one of Kevin's guests, Dr. George E. Demacopoulos, wrote on the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese blog that through the increasing expansion of 'Orthodox fundamentalism' in ordinary parishes, "the entire Orthodox Church is at risk of being hijacked by extremists." Father John Whiteford, ROCOR priest and blogger wrote a robust rebuttal to this article. On this episode of Ancient Faith Today, Kevin discusses with his guests their views of 'Orthodox fundamentalism': what it is, whether it truly exists, and what impact it is having on the Orthodox Church today.

In this two-part interview Kevin's guest is "George," who became a Sunni Muslim at age 14 and studied to become an Imam at a madrasa, studying Quran, Arabic language, Islamic theology, hadith, and jurisprudence. He left Islam and became an Orthodox Christian 20 years later. Among other things, Kevin and his guest discuss Islamic theology, common misunderstandings of Christianity by Muslims, differences between "orthodox" Islam and the Nation of Islam, the true understanding and practice in Islam of slavery and jihad, and the extraordinary journey that led "George" to Orthodox Christianity.

For most people in our society the Christmas season is a time of celebration, with holiday parties, and unleashed consumerism. For Orthodox Christians however the Advent Season is a time of fasting, prayer and ascetic struggle. Why? In this edition of Ancient Faith Today, host Kevin Allen discusses with Father Gregory Jensen, author of the book The Cure for Consumerism, the reason for the ascetic struggle for Orthodox Christians.

In this two-part interview Kevin's guest is "George," who became a Sunni Muslim at age 14 and studied to become an Imam at a madrasa, studying Quran, Arabic language, Islamic theology, hadith, and jurisprudence. He left Islam and became an Orthodox Christian 20 years later. Among other things, Kevin and his guest discuss Islamic theology, common misunderstandings of Christianity by Muslims, differences between "orthodox" Islam and the Nation of Islam, the true understanding and practice in Islam of slavery and jihad, and the extraordinary journey that led "George" to Orthodox Christianity.

One of the great evils of all times is slavery and in this time human trafficking. Unknown to many an Antiochian Orthodox Christian has dedicated his life to educating the public and ending this evil practice. In this episode host Kevin Allen speaks about human trafficking with Tony Nassif Jr, the President of the Cedars Cultural and Educational Foundation. He also produces national Preventing Abuse Conferences which focuses on preventing human trafficking and child abduction.

In America Christianity is losing its youth, especially when they enter college and university. This is the case across all Christian faith traditions. Two recent studies conducted by both the Barna Group and USA Today found that nearly 75 percent of Christian young people fall away from the faith between the ages of 18 and 22. In this program, host Kevin Allen discusses with his guest Emma Solak, an Orthodox Christian university student and active member of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship—a pan-Orthodox Christian campus ministry—he challenges today’s Christian students face in college and our increasingly secular culture, and ways to stay strong in the faith.

As we enter the election cycle in 2016 what biblical principles or Church canons should be priorities in selecting candidates and supporting party platforms? Should Christian teachings, moral and bio-ethical teaching and Orthodox canons be disregarded in a contemporary secular society? Kevin’s guest is George E. Demacopolous, a Professor of Theology and the Fr. John Meyendorff and Patterson Family Chair of Orthodox Christian Studies, as well as the Co-Director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University in New York.

We are seeing eastern meditation and mind-body practices like hatha yoga, tai chi, qi gong; and mindfulness-based therapy gaining wide credibility and attracting more and more adherents. Whether we as Orthodox should adopt eastern spiritual mind-body practices is a matter of great debate in the Orthodox Church. In this edition of Ancient Faith Today, Kevin discusses with his guest Christopher Kies what “Mindfulness” meditation is in its secular and Buddhist spiritual contexts; the Orthodox Christian correlative approach of Nipsis or Watchfulness; how they differ in goals and approaches; and whether formal Mindfulness meditation practices are appropriate for Orthodox Christians.

What happens if we refuse the most important invitation ever?

What the heros and forefathers of the Old Testament could only dream about is yours for the having. So Come and See!

The good townsfolk of Jericho, the Pharisee (who did everything just right) and now the obedient and hardworking older brother - none of them went to the party. Ooops!

Faith, prayer and fasting each strengthen the other two ... but don't expect it to be painless.

"Saint Cosmas came from Bulgaria where his devout parents provided him with a good education in Slavonic and Greek. They wanted him to marry but he was drawn by the love of Christ and, unknown to them, made his way to the Holy Mountain of Athos to become a monk at the Bulgarian monastery of Zographou. On the feast of the Annunciation at the Monastery of Vatopedi, he saw a woman among those serving in the Church and in the refectory, and he was grieved at first to observe this breach of the monastic rule, but overjoyed when he realized that it was the Mother of God who had appeared to him in this way.   "He was clothed in the holy angelic Habit and, after some time, was ordained priest. One day, as he was praying before the icon of the Mother of God, asking her with tears how to achieve his salvation, he heard a voice saying, 'Let my servant withdraw to the desert outside the monastery.' He was obedient to the will of God and, with the blessing of his Abbot, lived in silence from then on. Some years later, he was found worthy of the grace of discernment of thoughts and of beholding things happening elsewhere, as well as of other spiritual gifts. In the course of many years, he was the spiritual helper of a great number of monks. At the end of his life, Christ appeared to him saying that he would shortly have a great trial to endure from the Devil. Indeed, the prince of demons made his appearance next day with a host of his servants bewailing and bemoaning their inability to annihilate their great enemy Cosmas, who had held them in check for so long and gained possession, by his virtue, of the throne in Heaven that had once been Lucifer's. Taking a heavy stick, the demon beat the Saint so violently that he left him half-dead. As God allowed, Saint Cosmas died in peace two days later, on 22 September 1323. When the fathers came from the monastery to bury him, the wild animals gathered round. They kept silent until the end of the service, but howled unusually loud as his body was covered with earth. Then having paid their respects, they made off into the wilderness. Forty days later, the monks came to take up the body of Saint Cosmas and translate it to the monastery, but it was no longer in the grave. Where it now is God alone knows." (Synaxarion)

The feast of the fast

Matthew begins the story of the first great American convert priest. Learn more HERE.

Matthew continues the story of the first great American convert priest. Learn more HERE.

Matthew discusses the careers of Nicholas Bjerring (1870) and James Chrystal (1868), the first two convert priests in American Orthodox history. Learn more HERE.

Matthew interviews Fr. John Erickson, the preeminent historian of American Orthodoxy, about one of the past attempts at Orthodox administrative unity. Learn more HERE.

Matthew continues his discussion with Fr. John Erickson about one of the past attempts at Orthodox administrative unity. Learn more HERE.

Matthew interviews Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick, Associate Director of the Society for Orthodox Christian History in the Americas, about another of the past attempts at Orthodox administrative unity. Learn more HERE.

Matthew interviews Nicholas Chapman, the Managing Director of Orthodox Christian Books, about an 18th-century Orthodox convert from Virginia named Philip Ludwell III. Ludwell gave George Washington his commission in the army and was a cousin of George's wife Martha. Learn more HERE and HERE.

Matthew speaks at the Fortieth Biennial Clergy Laity Congress of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America in Atlanta, Georgia.

Matthew discusses Archbishop Arseny of Winnipeg, the first Orthodox chapel in Oregon, the first All-American Sobor, the funeral of St. Raphael Hawaweeny, and the life of the early Greek priest Fr. Kallinikos Kanellas.

Matthew discusses Philip Ludwell III, St. Alexis Toth, Archimandrite Theoclitos Triantafilides, and others.

In this episode, Matthew discusses, among other things, some influential early convert priests, the Romanian Bishop Polycarp Morusca, a 1940s attempt at jurisdictional unity, and the renowned church historian Jaroslav Pelikan.

This week, Matthew Namee and new co-host Aram Sarkisian discuss, among other things, the Russian Mission in North America, the consecration of Bishop Arseny of Winnipeg, three fascinating early parish priests, and the time Jimmy Carter awarded Archbishop Iakovos the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Our newest product BreezeDoc did $60,093+ in 40 days. It’s our 4th product in the last 3 years on track to generate $1m in revenue in ~12 months. Last week, I sat down with David Kelly, the General Manager for AppSumo Originals to share exactly how we ideate, build, test, and launch products. The goal […]

The post 5 Lessons From My Newest Startup appeared first on Noah Kagan.

This week’s email is about Dr. Cal Newport: Full-time professor at Georgetown University Author of multiple best-selling books Has ZERO social media He also has a new book called ‘Slow Productivity’ about how to accomplish more (without burning out). It’s helping me think about sustainability and success. I’ve known Cal for several years – and […]

The post Cal Newport changed my life appeared first on Noah Kagan.

Effective copywriting is your secret weapon for driving conversions. With strategic word choice (based on voice of customer data) and a clear understanding of your target audience, you can craft copy that not only grabs attention but actively encourages action. Here's how...

The post Copywriting for Startups: 7 Lessons To Drive Conversions appeared first on Coaching and training to scale your copywriting business, plus programs for new copywriters, startups, and marketers.

Here are two quick new book reviews. Think of them as tools for your Lenten tool box. :)

What do we do when bright week seems dim?

Join me as I review a few Orthodox toy items to consider for the children in your life this holiday season. AND since the last giveaway was so fun, I just have to do another. Make sure you watch to the end!

I had the great honor to participate in a MOPs (Mothers of Preschoolers) panel with other "seasoned" moms. We couldn't get to all the questions that day, so I thought I'd address them here in a 5 part series.

Continuing answering the panel discussion questions from MOPs. What did you do to spend 1:1 time with your children?