Thoughts Beyond Thought

“Thoughts Beyond Thought” is an unscripted conversation hosted by Travis Meredith and Chris Fogle. This bonus episode is a cheerful take on the holidays with a few bloopers from the Season:

-Travis explains why a certain year anniversary has made the holidays a time of gratefulness for their family

-Chris acknowledges why some find the holidays painful while others feel blessed, then discusses gift giving in lieu of the wise men’s gifts in Matthew 2.

-The guys discuss and give some ideas around gift giving.

-Travis shares a theory that Santa is preparation to believe in Jesus, but Chris always worried that once his kids stopped believing in Santa they would question faith in Jesus.

-The guys introduce and play several bloopers from Season 1.

-And finally, the “Beyond Books” segment.

“Thoughts Beyond Thought” is an unscripted conversation hosted by Travis Meredith and Chris Fogle. This episode mashes stress and superabundance together. Here’s a summary:

-The guys have their Quick Ketchup where Chris talks about change saturation and Travis discusses work stress, prioritization, and how these impact our external spirituality.

-Travis explains how his dad’s death has impacted how he deals with stress.

-Chris hypothesizes that because we’re not perfect, maybe when we falter due to stress, we have grace with ourselves and mature on quickly getting back to our healthy mindset.

-Ask ourselves if stress is from discontentment or change, and act accordingly.

-Chris brings up Professors Tupy and Pooley’s book Superabundance (link below). Their research shows that globally we’re not headed toward an apocalypse, but resources are now more abundant.

-The guys wrestle with caveats to that idea and recognize resource management and transit is still an issue.

-Taking responsibility for poor decisions, both personally and nationally.

-We don’t have a crystal ball, but we should humbly evaluate ourselves to consider where we’re currently complicit or actively impacting the world negatively.

-And finally, the “Beyond Books” segment.

Links:

“Thoughts Beyond Thought” is an unscripted conversation hosted by Travis Meredith and Chris Fogle. This episode covers:

-The guys have a Quick Ketchup then…

-Chris reads four of Travis’ thoughts and then picks one as the topic for the episode.

-The theme comes from Travis’ thought: “This is the furthest point of existence.”

-Should we study history? Should we spend more time focusing on the present? Is there a balance?

-Did Jesus mean to have His words recorded and taught?

-Wrestling with the hollowness of words and asking if they are meaningless.

-Chris challenges Travis to read the whole Bible, for the right reason.

-Discussing why God told humanity about the future. And asking is there hope in eternity?

-The guys ask if absolute truth exists. Chris makes an argument for absolute truth by airing Travis’ dirty laundry, in a seemingly random event that had just occurred.

-Chris gets preachy about Jesus’ authority, hope, and guarantee of heaven in His discussion with the thief on the cross.
-Travis describes his out of body experience.

-And finally, the “Beyond Books” segment.

Links:

“Thoughts Beyond Thought” is an unscripted conversation hosted by Travis Meredith and Chris Fogle. This follow-up to Episode 2 ("Sexual Abuse in the Church") discusses enabling factors and character traits for unhealthy and abusive church leaders. The episode covers:

-A leader’s “ability” before character formation, our love of celebrity, arrogance, lack of accountability, issues with a visionary on a special mission. unquestioned loyalty, consolidated power, and refusal or excuses for being mentored.

-Human nature's propensity to be tempted by power and whether any leaders can be trusted.

-Realizing we are partly to blame for empowering, respecting and worshipping these prideful personalities, but we must acknowledge seeing the same problems in the mirror.

-Because we are complicit, now that we know what to look for, what can we do? Some suggestions covered are: don’t overgeneralize, don’t implicitly trust but don’t distrust everyone either, see how the leaders lives their life (and if you can’t get close enough to know, follow someone else).

-And finally, the “Beyond Books” segment.

*Please be aware sexual abuse is discussed in this episode which may be a trigger for some listeners.* “Thoughts Beyond Thought” is an unscripted conversation hosted by Travis Meredith and Chris Fogle. The most recent church sexual abuse case came out in the news in May 2022 when a report was released by the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Chris was galvanized to discuss the horrific history and trend of sexual abuse within Christian churches. This episode covers: 

-A general discussion on how and why the SBC initiated the third-party report. 

-The SBC leadership structure, attorneys, and cover up. -Wrestling with how funds could hypothetically be used for different reasons. 

-A call to other denominations and independent churches to conduct third-party investigations on themselves and bring findings into the light. 

-6 suggestions on how we can help prevent and fight against sexual abuse. 

-And finally, the “Beyond Books” segment. 

Links: 

“Thoughts Beyond Thought” is an unscripted conversation hosted by Travis Meredith and Chris Fogle. In this episode they talk about:  

-Anxiety (as a connection to the show Ted Lasso)  

-Thoughts and opinions on Jesus' Second Coming  

-Our culture’s inability to talk about truth, have real conversations (personal and global), and make personal connections.  

-Excess of distraction, being in the moment, and how to create value for the future.  

-The ability to have discussions without believing and agreeing with the other person.  

-And finally, their “Beyond Books” segment.