One modern form of broadcasting that is quickly taking over is the downloadable podcast. iTunes alone has tens of thousands of podcasts in any genre/category imaginable. Podcasts can be created by anyone and can contain any video or audio content that you can think to put into it. I have been listening to and watching podcasts ever since I first got an iPod, but I never really dove into the podcasting world until this year. After weeding out the bad stuff and picking out the gems I decided to share some of my top podcast picks with you. Enjoy!
*These are in no specific order*
-The audio companion to Relevant Magazine and relevantmagazine.com
This podcast first caught my eye this winter when I was searching through the top Christian podcasts on iTunes. If you haven't seen the magazine or website Relevant is a resource focused on Christian 20-somethings. The site/magazine, and podcast hold a collection of reviews, news, blogs and thought provoking articles geared toward the emergent church. While some of their doctrine is anything but traditional their overall mission is sound. Their goal is to take the church to pop culture like never before. They have found that college age Christians arent looking to Christian tv and bookstores for their culture and they have bridged that gap.
Their podcast contains new music, exclusive interviews (i.e. Barack Obama, John McCain, Dan Merchant, Mark Steele), "Slices"(humorous and interesting news reports found by the gang), listener feedback and consistent hilarity throughout. The podcast is always a good time and is nice background for an hour of your life each week
-Sermons from minister, Jentzen Franklin
I always love listening to good preaching and Jentzen Franklin never disappoints. After years of ministry he has compiled countless powerful messages that are now readily downloadable. The podcast is very simple. It usually contains a sermon clip that is about 25 minutes long in most cases. That is shorter than some others, but it is power-packed and it always gets the job done. If you want a quick message to challenge you, get you thinking and get you psyched up for the week the Jentzen Franklin Ministries Podcast is an unbeatable choice.
-Music & ministry commentary from Passion leader, Louie Giglio
If you have been involved with worship or youth ministry at all in the last 8 years or so you've most likely heard of Passion. Their CDs have held multiple instant classics for worship such as How Great Is Our God, O Praise Him, Blessed Be Your Name etc. The podcast is the work of Passion pastor Louie Giglio. His podcast isn't preaching, but more of a news podcast. He interviews Passion artists (I.E. Chris Tomlin), discusses their current tours/ministry happenings worldwide, highlights new cd releases and announces various ministry news. This podcast is usually between 30-60 minutes in length and updating is very random. It is a great podcast because of the news and interviews, but it doesn't hold anything horribly groundbreaking. Hopefully they will develop a more consistent schedule or even a video podcast of the worship events.
-Your behind the scenes pass to the crazy life of Switchfoot
The Switchfoot podcast has been one of my favorites since the summer of 2006. It is updated every few weeks or so and it never exceeds 5 or 6 minutes, but it is always fun to watch. Not only is it awesome to see the band performing around the world, hear rare songs and watch recording sessions and video shoots, but their off-stage antics are what really makes the podcast great. I remember spending an entire night watching through about 30 of the podcasts right in a row with one of my best friends. We just couldn't get enough of it and never stopped laughing. If that isn't an indication of the podcast's awesomeness i don't know what is... so go watch it... now! No wait... read the rest of this blog and then go watch it!
-Church media releases, news and exclusives
I'm watching this one at this very moment. It probably won't be interesting to the average viewer, but being involved in worship arts and church media I love it. Worship House Media is a website that holds a vast quantity of church media resources including short films, motion backgrounds, countdown videos and graphics for worship services. The format of the podcast is two of the Worship House guys sitting on a couch in front of a giant green screen that shows the video content that they are discussing on the show. Obviously the graphics and video presentation of the podcast is very slick looking and is what gives this podcast the cutting edge. This podcast always comes in at under 20 minutes and I highly recommend it if you are involved at all with church media and wanna see what's new and available to enhance your church service. *As an added bonus they always promote deals and sales on the show*
-Your source for the best music that you've never heard of
I found this podcast through meeting the creator in a Christian music discussion on Roov.com (i'll tell you about that in a later blog). This podcast is nothing but music. There is a brief intro from the host and then an hour of continuous Christian music. That is great, but the thing that sets this show apart from normal Christian radio is the actual music content. In the last episode there was not a single song that i'd heard previously and it was all great music. Pete goes to great lengths to find indie and un-signed bands. This podcast comes out once a month and is definitely worth a listen if you're looking for some new music to add to your collection.
-Relient K with a camera... nuff said
After an over 18 month long podcasting hiatus Relient K has finally returned to the web with their new "Official" video podcast. The format is almost exactly the same as Switchfoot's and has the same general effect. Their old audio podcasts had interviews and things of that nature but the move to video brought about all of the hilarious antics and fun to watch characters that make up the band known as Relient K. Their last episode about bats was pretty funny and I hope to see this podcast continuing on for a while.
A variety of news, reviews, and discussions with Steelhouse Media Creators Mark Steele and Jeff Huston
Steelhouse media is the producer of some of the best media available for church and event use. This however has almost nothing to do with the podcast. The podcast is very very similar to The Relevant podcast with the only major difference being length. The average Steelehouse podcast clocks in at nearly an hour and a half which makes it by far the longest podcast on this list. This can make it hard to fit in in one car ride, but the extra length is achieved by in-depth content. The hosts go into deep discussions about faith, church structures, books, movies, music, technology and did I mention the office? Their show is very well rounded and always interesting. It is not as edgy as Relevant, but still has an appeal with the emergent generation. I should add this podcast takes full advantage of the iTunes interface by using different pictures throughout the show and links hidden in the now playing window. This obviously doesn't do you any good if you listen on the road, but it makes the experience more enjoyable at home or in the office.
-Monthly music updates from Christian rock record label, Tooth & Nail Records
Tooth & Nail records has arguably become the most popular and most succesfull Christian record label ever. Their artists are in rock genres that vary from Hawk Nelson & Capital Light's melodic punk to the hardcore sounds of Underoath & Demon Hunter. Their podcast is all about the music. The half hour show is packed full of interviews, news, and song clips from the best tooth & nail artists. The only downfall to this show is that it is a monthly so don't expect to be super up to date as far as the music news goes, but when it does come out there is always something new and exciting to hear. This podcast also takes advantage of the picture links so be sure to watch for links to your favorite artists and new music sites as well as album releases and pre-orders.
10. XXXchurch.com
-The podcast produced by the self-proclaimed #1 Christian porn site
Before you get freaked out XXXchurch is not at all what it sounds like. It is a ministry focused on people breaking their porn addictions and reaching the people that work in the adult film industry. Over the past few years their ministry has grown substantially and they are reaching countless numbers of people all around the world. Their next endeavor is going to be an actual XXXChurch on the Las Vegas Strip. As far as the podcast goes it has a lot of variety. The shows range from video clips of their ministry trips, various short film clips/commercials and their actual panel podcast show. The show is called Dirty Little Secrets and it has a lot of the same format as Relevant/Steelehouse. They discuss pop culture as well as their own ministry. They have interviews with authors/artists etc just like the other podcasts. Their podcast is the longest running out of all of these. Last weeks podcast was #97 and it has been running for nearly 3 years now. They will soon move over to a fully video show and they have a lot planned for their 100th episode. Their content is very groundbreaking, sometimes humorous and always unique and thought provoking.
Well that wraps up my top ten podcasts. You can listen to them all for free by clicking the links and downloading them on iTunes. If you don't have iTunes for some reason you can get all of these and other podcasts just by looking them up on the web. Feel free to leave comments on this blog with links to your own favorites. Happy listening!
Look out for The Electrified Life Podcast which is set to launch this fall!
2 comments:
oh my!
threee of those are on my favourites list as well!
[relient k, relevant, and bored again ]
i am glad people have the same tastes in podacsts as me!
you should check out my podcast at
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=284828825
thanks :]
alexis
Great list, Brandon. I too was introduced to the podcast world over the last year and agree that it is awesome! Between a great RSS newsreader and itunes podcasts I have quicker and better access to the resources that actually help me (and that I enjoy).
Thanks for sharing your favorites. I'll half to check out the few I don't already subscribe too!
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