Nashville L'Abri Conference Podcast
Nashville L'Abri Conference
Recent Episodes
This week's episode features audio from a lecture by Ben Keyes entitled, The True Object of Human Longing: Re-embracing Dominion and Trust.
Ben Keyes grew up in Massachusetts at the Southborough L’Abri with the impression that having crowds of strangers in his home was a normal thing. From an early age he loved to play music. When he was in high school his family joined an African American church and Ben became involved in the music ministry—learning how to play gospel piano and bass guitar. He attended Brown University where he studied ethnomusicology. In 2002 he spent 6 months studying at the English L’Abri.
Ben Keyes studied Theology and the Arts at Regent College in Vancouver and directed a large gospel choir as part of his final thesis project. While at Regent, Ben and two of his classmates started a folk trio called Ordinary Time which sings both original songs and arrangements of old hymns. Ordinary Time has recorded 5 albums to date.
In 2007 Ben and his wife, Nickaela began working at the Southborough L’Abri and have been there ever since. In 2016 Ben and Nickaela became co-directors of the Southborough branch. They have twin daughters and a son. Ben loves to cook, lead music at his church, give lectures, read to his children, carve wooden birds, play the banjo, and tie flies.
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This week's episode features audio from a workshop with Sarah Chestnut entitled, Reflecting on the Incarnation with the Help of Poets: Jesus’ Humanity and Ours.
The incarnation is central both to the revealing of God to the world and the redemption and restoration of true humanness. How might poems by Christian Wiman, Andrew Hudgens, Mary Karr, and Tracy K. Smith give us imagination and hope for the restoration of our broken humanity?
Sarah Chestnut grew up in a small, rural community in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, outside Yosemite National Park. Her parents own a small furniture manufacturing business and she has fond childhood memories of days spent at the workshop making sawdust and woodchip pizzas with her younger sister.
After college, Sarah taught English in the Czech Republic for two years, then went to Regent College in Vancouver, BC for her Master’s in Christianity and the Arts, where she met Joshua. The Chestnuts have been at Southborough L’Abri since 2013. They have two children, Jacob and Lily. Sarah loves writing poetry, gardening, and making sourdough bread. She also loves the stone walls of New England, the walking trails near L’Abri, and Indian food.
Autumn used to be her favorite season, but after five winters in Southborough, now it’s Spring. Sarah makes pizza for family pizza night every week—not with sawdust and woodchips.
To receive e-mail updates about the podcast including lecture handouts, articles, books referenced in the lectures and updates about future gatherings, please submit your e-mail address via this link or at nashvillelabriconference.com.
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This week's episode features audio from a lecture with Dick Keyes called, "Early Peacemaking: Can Conflict be Outmaneuvered Before it Starts?"
Much has been well-said and well-written about conflict resolution. But it is, by definition, reactive to conflicts already burning. Christian peacemaking is more proactive, with strategies which can help to avoid conflict altogether.
Dick Keyes is the former director of Southborough L’Abri Fellowship, where he has worked with his wife and family since 1979. He holds a B.A. in History from Harvard University and an M.Div. from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.
Dick has also worked for L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland and in England. He served as a pastor in the International Presbyterian Church in London for eight years. He has been an adjunct professor at Gordon Conwell Seminary and Westminster Theological Seminary.
Dick is the author of Beyond Identity and many other titles and is currently writing a book on the significance of Jesus’ questions. He has lectured widely in the U.S. and also in Europe and Korea.
Dick and his wife, Mardi, are minority members of an African American Church, which has enriched their lives and experience of worship enormously. Dick is a member of the Ministerial Team.
To receive e-mail updates about the podcast including lecture handouts, articles, books referenced in the lectures and updates about future gatherings, please submit your e-mail address via this link or at nashvillelabriconference.com.
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This week's episode features audio from a workshop with Jock McGregor called, "T.S. Eliot’s Idea of a Christian Society".
In our Post-Christian society, as Evangelicals struggle to find their place, a growing number of ‘options’ are being considered – from “Benedict’ to ‘Wilberforce” and everything in between. One voice from the past may, somewhat surprisingly, offer perspective – the famous twentieth-20th Century British poet, T.S. Eliot.
Jock McGregor and his wife Alison have worked at the Rochester L’Abri for the past 16 years. They met at Swiss L’Abri in the early 80’s when Jock was on staff there. They also worked for ten years with L’Abri in England. Jock, who grew up in Africa, has a B.Sc undergraduate degree and an M.Div. from Regent College in Vancouver, Canada. Jock has lectured widely on many topics related to the relationship between Christianity and contemporary culture. Alison, who is Australian, worked in computing for 3M Australia before joining Jock in the ministry of L’Abri.
To receive e-mail updates about the podcast including lecture handouts, articles, books referenced in the lectures and updates about future gatherings, please submit your e-mail address via this link or at nashvillelabriconference.com.
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This week's episode features audio from a workshop by Phillip Johnston entitled, The Perfect Lie of Liberty - Pursuing Freedom in a Culture of Choice.
An inescapable aspect of life today is a constant sense of FOMO (fear of missing out). We are awash in options, a condition that has led to increased anxiety rather than enduring peace. At the root of this anxiety is a commonplace misunderstanding of freedom. What if true freedom is more than simply the ability to choose what we want?
Phillip Johnston’s L’Abri journey began in 2008 when he walked through the big red door at Southborough L’Abri and quickly realized his abundant cynicism was a vice, not a virtue. Though a Christian from an early age, this dawning awareness opened his heart to the beauty of Christ and left him a changed person.
In the ensuing years, Phillip spent time as a helper at Southborough and at English L’Abri before enrolling at Covenant Theological Seminary in 2012. After completing a Master of Divinity in 2015, Phillip took up a post as a worker at English L’Abri for over two years. While in England, he met a Nashvillian named Christa and returned to the USA to marry her in 2018. He now lives and works in East Nashville.
Phillip is an avid student of the Bible and culture, and finds great joy in helping people navigate the many barriers to Christian belief that proliferate in our distracting, secular world. He geeks out on slow movies, Bach cantatas, liturgical theology, and all things food. He’s also the curator of Three Things, a newsletter digest of three resources to help readers better engage with God, neighbor, and culture.
To receive e-mail updates about the podcast including lecture handouts, articles, books referenced in the lectures and updates about future gatherings, please submit your e-mail address at nashvillelabriconference.com.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.