Holy Post and Houghton Family Update
I left Young Life, a mission I continue to believe deeply in, to run Holy Post Media because I was watching people leave the back door of the church faster than we could bring them in the front door. (40 million Americans have left the church in the last 25 years and another 40 million young people alone will leave in the next 25 if trends continue)
I left Young Life to run Holy Post because as I talked with people- young people in particular were not interested in Jesus because the Christians they knew or knew of were dumb, mean, and judgmental and didn’t seem to take the teaching of Jesus very seriously.
I knew we needed to do something about this problem.
Holy Post Media has the opportunity to have the huge missional impact of a ministry while running as efficiently as a for profit company. Thereby providing sustainability for Holy Post Media.
I was on a recent episode of The Holy Post podcast to discuss the future plans of Holy Post Media and why we are structured as a for profit. (My interview starts at 57:10)
The (very) short version is that Holy Post Media is a theologically orthodox, pro neighbor, entertaining Christian multi media company. If we are successful we will be a part of closing the back door of the church and will disciple Christians to work for the flourishing of their neighbors even if they have a different world view. (I have attached a list of our values at Holy Post Media as well). Much of our audience are disillusioned Christians who are trying to reconcile their faith with what they see of Christians in the world.
We are moving from primarily podcasts to multi media (podcasts, video, written and events). We are moving from Phil Vischer and Skye Jethani to a whole team of contributors including Esau McCaulley who writes for the New York Times and Kaitlyn Schiess whose new show “Curiously Kaitlyn” debuted at #1 on the Religion and Spirituality Charts and #6 overall on Apple podcast charts- right next to Joe Rogan.
I haven’t sent this kind of note for a while… but I would love to invite you to be a part of what we are doing by clicking here to become a Holy Post plus subscriber (starts at just $5/month) This is our primary stream of revenue and although you don’t get a tax deduction many of our subscribers do so simply to support the continued creation of content that paints a positive vision of life with God in a post Christian culture- even if they don’t plan on accessing the content on a regular basis. My guess is that you would love the content too.
At one of our recent Holy Post events these three people were among those in attendance:
One guest started off his question by saying “I have heard Phil say that HP is for people standing at the back door of the church saying ‘give me one good reason to stay’ and I am one of those people at the back door and for the last 3 years you have given me reasons to stay”
Another guest turned 18 that day and listens to the show with his dad. His dad asked him what he wanted to do for his 18th birthday and he said he wanted to go to this event. So they drove 3.5 hours to attend.
This is an email I received after the event:
I attended this evening’s event with Kaitlyn and met you at the door and while I’ve listened to
The Holy Post since 2020, I finally became a HP+ subscriber tonight.
I have stepped away from church in the last year and have really been struggling with what I believe because I have had so many people in church let me down, including my family. Tonight was the best church service I’ve been to in years. Hearing Kaitlyn talk about how each of the hosts is deeply critical of the church but also still deeply committed to it was such a good reminder that church doesn’t have to look the way it was taught to me, and that God can still be God, separate from the American church. I came away with hope. And I’m so grateful.
Chicago Fellowship
I am also very lucky to still get to lead Chicago Fellowship- where one of my highlights of the year continues to be leading a Civil Rights Tour to Atlanta and Alabama with guys from Chicagoland. . Chicago Fellowship gives me an outlet to continue to do relational ministry across coffee tables from men all over Chicagoland.
Family Update
Annie is loving her role as the Dean of Community Life at The Field School!
Kylie is home for the summer after completing her freshman year at Wheaton College which she is LOVING!
Nick is almost done with his freshman year at Oak Park River Forest High School where he loves running XC and track, playing violin in the orchestra and making a lot of new friends.
Raelyn (7th grade) is the most competitive Houghton by far.
Lucy (4th grade) is the sweetest.
Annie and I continue to be grateful for your support and friendship. Annie and I are grateful daily for the opportunity to do ministry alongside all of you for over 20 years!
Holy Post Values:
Orthodox
We are committed to the historic doctrines of Christianity, the authority of the Bible, the mission of the gospel, and the essential role of the Church in the life of every follower of Christ. We affirm The Laussane Covenant.
Illuminating
We want to honor God with our minds by hosting intelligent voices and smart conversations that help us see his world more clearly. We welcome complexity and nuance because they generate both wonder and humility.
Entertaining
We create content people want to engage with, not content they want to want to engage with. While we take Christ seriously, we do not take ourselves seriously. That means incorporating joy, humor, and surprises into the media we produce.
Pro-Neighbor
We love God by loving those made in his image. Therefore, we view our diverse, pluralistic culture as a blessing to embrace not a menace to fear. We are called to love and serve those who disagree with us and trust that Christians can flourish even in a post-Christian society.
Curious
We are learners. That means a willingness to question popular assumptions and conventional thinking, and exploring often overlooked topics and perspectives. Sometimes this will be challenging, but it can also reaffirm the value of inherited wisdom.
Hopeful
We resist the temptation to use fear and anger to build an audience. This does not mean ignoring or denying challenging realities but viewing them through the cosmic optimism of the gospel. This is a God-with-us world.
Hospitable
We want to welcome audience members at different levels of understanding, experience, and faith formation. This means creating a variety of products, engaging many topics, and platforming a diverse collection of voices.