The Slow Work with Sandra McCracken
The Slow Work is a new podcast connecting the creative process and spirituality. Join songwriter and host Sandra McCracken along with a talented array of guests as they explore the pursuit of beauty, grace, and justice in their lives and work.
Episodes
June 20, 2023 • 45 mins
Bassist John Patitucci retraces his life through faith and Fenders.
For show notes and more, click here.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mark as Played
June 14, 2023 • 47 mins
Once upon a time there was a music industry without streaming music. Songwriting duo JJ and Dave Heller remember this day well. They once had sixty thousand of JJ’s CDs in their garage to prove it.
This week on The Slow Work, host Sandra McCracken sits down with JJ and Dave to talk about how they have built their music careers outside of the traditional music industry. Prioritizing artistic independence, family time, and intention...
Mark as Played
June 6, 2023 • 42 mins
Most of us move at a frantic pace with little time for intentional rest. As author and artist Justin McRoberts works to balance his work and creative life with his spiritual and family life, he understands this pull toward frenetic anxiety. Leaning into the truth of our belovedness in Christ, McRoberts invites readers and others to slow down and pay attention.
This week on The Slow Work, McRoberts joins host Sandra McCracken to tal...
Mark as Played
June 1, 2023 • 40 mins
Author Bret Lott once held five majors in college; but he quit halfway through and learned the discipline of writing by pounding pavement as an RC Cola salesman. It is, perhaps, this salt of the earth quality that makes his writing so captivating and inspires others to the craft as well.
This week on The Slow Work, host Sandra McCracken talks with Lott about the way you become a writer -- from the ethic required for the daily grind...
Mark as Played
May 16, 2023 • 39 mins
Dave Barnes has been a Nashville fixture for more than 20 years now, and he’s still writing melodies that are new and creative. How does he keep doing it year after year? For Dave, it's pretty simple: respect the past and love the present.
In this week’s episode of The Slow Work, host Sandra McCracken sits down with singer-songwriter and producer, Dave Barnes to discuss what makes a tune stick in your head. Growing up in rural Miss...
Mark as Played
April 18, 2023 • 34 mins
Growing up as mountain folk in East Tennessee, two-time GRAMMY nominee and 13 time Dove award winner Cindy Morgan, learned to write and play music with its roots in gospel. Today, Cindy’s writing is arriving at fans in a new way, in the form of her first novel, The Year of Jubilee. She joins host Sandra McCracken in this week’s episode to talk all about it.
In this episode of The Slow Work, Sandra and Cindy talk about returning to ...
Mark as Played
February 28, 2023 • 6 mins
This week we wanted to share a new song that Sandra recorded with her friends at The Porter's Gate.
Slow Me Down songwriters: Leslie Joran, Sandra McCracken, Matthew Kaemingk, Wendell Kimbrough, Kate Bluett.
Special thanks to Isaac Wardell.
Be sure to subscribe and we'll be back with more episodes of The Slow Work in a few weeks!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mark as Played
February 14, 2023 • 40 mins
Who serves the servers? As it turns out, very few do. In the midst of serving others, those working in the hospitality industry -- waitresses, maids, line cooks and hotel front desk attendants -- often struggle to make ends meet. When crises come, few have the safety nets they need to weather the storms.
This week, host Sandra McCracken visits with Jen Seger, City Director of Big Table Nashville, to talk about the slow work of coll...
Mark as Played
February 7, 2023 • 34 mins
In a culture of loneliness, charisma and freewheeling rootlessness seduce with empty promises. We are all looking for meaning, but few stop long enough to consider where it might be found in rich supply.
In this week’s episode, host Sandra McCracken sits down with author and podcaster Mike Cosper to talk about the slow work of confessional living. Discussion winds from the viral podcast The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill to Cosper’s tr...
Mark as Played
January 31, 2023 • 42 mins
The pandemic changed how all creatives produced and marketed their work, but as restrictions have lifted many are holding onto the lessons learned from that season of limitations. Whether it’s saying “no” to technological advances in favor of stripped down recordings or shrugging off the frenetic nature of show business for a slower pace, musicians, artists, and others are discovering the surprising filling that comes in empty spac...
Mark as Played
January 5, 2023 • 37 mins
Trauma may be a buzzword today, but it’s no simple concept to untangle. For many who experience abuse or trauma at the hands of church leaders, their pain becomes the breeding ground for doubt, deconstruction, and despair. Thankfully, God’s Spirit persists in bringing new life from the ashes of our suffering.
Sandra McCracken talks with trauma-informed counselor Colleen Ramser about the intersection between theology and therapy on ...
Mark as Played
January 5, 2023 • 45 mins
Singer-songwriter Sara Groves knows a thing or two about storytelling. However, in the experience of these recent years, Sara realized she still had much to learn about the narratives that shape us.
In this episode of The Slow Work, host Sandra McCracken welcomes Sara for a thoughtful, honest conversation about the stories we tell and how we tell them. The two explore how to tend the slow fires of creativity and how to bear witness...
Mark as Played
January 5, 2023 • 47 mins
In this first episode of The Slow Work, host Sandra McCracken sits down with husband and wife team, Makoto and Haejin Shim Fujimura, to discuss commitment, kintsugi, and creative justice. Learn how a unique marital commitment has focused the Fujimuras’ professional ambitions and how building in the midst of brokenness has the power to redeem generational pain. If you’ve been striving or struggling and need a better way, this conver...
Mark as Played
January 3, 2023 • 3 mins
We are all creatives at heart, no matter what career or calling we find ourselves in. Inspiration can happen in a second, but the work of creativity only happens when we are patient enough to stay with it. It takes grit to see it through.
Enjoy this short preview of The Slow Work with songwriter and host Sandra McCracken launching January 5, 2023. Subscribe today!
The Slow Work is a production of Christianity Today
Executive Produ...
Mark as Played
December 16, 2022 • 56 secs
The Slow Work is a podcast connecting the creative process and spirituality. Join songwriter and host Sandra McCracken along with a talented array of guests as they explore the pursuit of beauty, grace and justice. Launching January 5, 2023. Subscribe today!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mark as Played
June 18, 2021 • 33 mins
This finale episode of Steadfast season two features Bob Goff and latest book Dream Big. Bob is a best-selling author, storyteller, speaker, coach, and lawyer. Through this book and in his own life, Goff draws upon our ability to be patient and steadfast in all circumstances, holding tightly to a bright hope for the future.
Steadfast is a production of Sandra McCracken in partnership with Christianity Today.
Produced by Sandra McCr...
Mark as Played
June 4, 2021 • 50 mins
Dr. Curt Thompson is a therapist, speaker, and the author of The Anatomy of the Soul and The Soul of Shame. As a psychiatrist, Curt’s work in recent years has helped others develop authentic relationships through interpersonal neurobiology and the Christian worldview. While Thompson comes to the table with scientific research and knowledge of how God designed our brains to function, his perspective on patience carries the inflectio...
Mark as Played
May 21, 2021 • 39 mins
Goldenwood, a ministry that seeks to cultivate a new vision of faith and work, is the creation of Dr. David Kim and Amilee Watkins. Goldenwood offers quarterly reflective retreats, daily practice, and listening prayer exercises in community. Kim and Watkins join Sandra to discuss renewal and patience in a world that demands immediate gratification. This episode emphasizes seeing God’s work played out over time.
Steadfast is a produ...
Mark as Played
May 7, 2021 • 42 mins
One of the areas hardest-hit by COVID was the restaurant industry. This episode features a conversation with Mark Canlis, whose family restaurant has been a longtime favorite in Seattle. In order to survive, Canlis tried many different creative solutions over the last year. Mark and his wife, Anne Marie, joined Sandra to talk about patience—in their work as restaurant owners, in parenthood, in hospitality, and in leaning toward the...
Mark as Played
April 23, 2021 • 48 mins
This season has been a difficult one for many, and particularly those who make their living in and around music and performance. Matthew Perryman Jones has been writing songs for over twenty years and this season of slow taught him a great deal about patience. Sandra and Matthew met in her backyard to record this episode, and talked about how patience showed itself through the difficulties of 2020.
Steadfast is a production of Sa...
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Anna Sale explores the big questions and hard choices that are often left out of polite conversation.
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.
A straightforward look at the day's top news in 20 minutes. Powered by ABC News. Hosted by Brad Mielke.