In this special episode, Forefront director Nate Mancini talks to professor, author and speaker Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson. This episode was recorded with a live studio audience at the Imagination Redeemed conference in Colorado Springs. In the first half we discuss which of today’s authors give Jessica hope for the future of fiction literature, how artists should read books differently from others, how to build an online presence without losing your soul, and of course, how our faith drives us to excellence in the arts. The second half features virtual audience questions from authors such as Dr. Russell Moore, Dr. Karen Swallow Prior, Dr. Benjamin Myers, and Dr. Ralph C. Wood. Jessica Hooten Wilson is the Louise Cowan Scholar in Residence at the University of Dallas. She is the author of Giving the Devil his Due: Flannery O’Connor and The Brothers Karamazov, which received a 2018 Christianity Today Book of the Year Award in the Culture & the Arts; as well as two books on Walker Percy: The Search for Influence: Walker Percy and Fyodor Dostoevsky (Ohio State University Press, 2017) and Reading Walker Percy’s Novels (Louisiana State University Press, 2018); most recently she co-edited Solzhenitsyn and American Culture: The Russian Soul in the West(University of Notre Dame Press, 2020). She has received numerous fellowships, grants, and awards, including a Fulbright Fellowship to the Czech Republic, an NEH grant to study Dante in Florence in 2014, and the Biola Center for Christian Thought sabbatical fellowship.  In 2018 she received the Emerging Public Intellectual Award given by a coalition of North American think tanks in collaboration with the Centre for Christian Scholarship at Redeemer University College, and in 2019 she received the Hiett Prize in Humanities from The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. Jessica has two books releasing in 2022, which you can preorder today: The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints and Learning the Good Life: Wisdom from the Great Hearts and Minds that Came Before.

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Interview: Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson

Rich talks to composer Zac Tiessen about his surprising start in the music world, his inspiration, and his latest project Streams in the Wasteland.   Zac Tiessen is an international award-winning musician, composer and audio engineer based near Toronto, Canada. His innovative techniques and cinematic progressive music have been featured numerous times in the media and press (Guitar World Magazine, Toronto Star). Tiessen has been awarded multiple FACTOR Canada music grants for his original compositions as a solo artist. In addition to his two solo EPs and debut full-length original soundtrack album "Streams In The Wasteland," his composing credits include music for Netflix and Ubisoft (Playstation/Xbox). Endorsed by six guitar companies, including Canton Custom Instruments, Tiessen co-designed and released his signature eight string Canton electric guitar. He studied music theory, guitar performance, production (mixing/mastering) and film scoring through UCLA and Berklee College of Music, where he was awarded a Celebrity Scholarship from Grammy-winning producer Don Was. Working out of ZT Music Studio, Tiessen has engineered thousands of songs for other bands and artists from over 45 countries, including Billboard charting albums, with millions of views and streams online.

Interview: Zac Tiessen

In this lively episode, Cody, Rich and Nate explicate the Gospel themes (whether intentionally present or not) in Star Wars, Harry Potter, and The Lord of the Rings — and debate which tale best evokes the beauty of the Great Story.

Debate: Star Wars vs. Harry Potter vs. LOTR

Rich and Dan talk to Adam Bannister, the founder of the band Songs for Revival and a full time missionary with Inca Link. He is currently serving in Honduras to raise worship leaders and assist youth programs until August 2021. Afterwards, he will be moving to the mountains of Guatemala to serve as a worship leader. Songs for Revival was born in January 2020 during a trip to Guatemala. Adam was unsure of his next steps after college, but he had recently begun writing music for the first time. He was inspired by the words of the Gospel of Luke, and by January 2020, he'd written 17 of the 20 songs of what would become the first album, It Is Finished. Songs for Revival consists of six members: Adam Bannister, Brooke Bannister, Katie Shaw Ficker, Giovanna Johnson, Mollie Landman, and Peter Stauffer. Over the past year they have continued to write and share their music and see the Lord bring healing, joy, and revival through the singing of His Word. They will be releasing an album telling the story of Moses later this fall. Learn more about the band at: songsforrevival.com

Interview: Adam Bannister

Forefront chairman Rich Christman talks to artist Josh Tiessen. Born in 1995 in Moscow, Russia, Josh Tiessen is an international award-winning artist based near Toronto, Ontario, Canada, He was listed as one of the world’s top ten prodigy artists (Huffington Post) and recognized as the only known male art prodigy in North America (Dr. J. Ruthsatz, international child prodigy expert). His hyperreal shaped oil paintings, which take up to 1700 hours to complete, reflect the interaction between the natural world and human-made structures, drawing upon his studies in philosophy, theology and intercultural aesthetics. Click here to learn about or preorder Josh's new book, Streams in the Wasteland.

Interview: Josh Tiessen

At a recent Forefront virtual event, we screened the short film "Identity" featuring internationally known tap dance artist Andrew Nemr. The film joins Andrew as he navigates being the only son of immigrants, a trusted keeper of the oral tradition of tap dance, and a follower of Jesus Christ. Through many challenges we see Andrew as he literally dances his way through questions about family, ethnicity, race, art, community, and where one’s identity really comes from. In this special podcast episode, listen to the conversation that Forefront director Nate Mancini had with Andrew about what it means to find our identity.

Special: Identity with Andrew Nemr

Forefront Podcast Director Cody Schweickert talks to Peter Englert, the Adult Ministries Director at Browncroft Community Church. Peter co-hosts the Why God Why Podcast, which explores the questions that matter most in people lives — often the questions people do not feel safe to ask in church.  In this episode, Cody and Peter discuss what it means to look at the Bible as literature instead of as a purely descriptive or scientific text. If the Bible is art, how does that change how we read it, and how will it change our relationship with God?

Discussion: The Bible as Literature feat. Peter Englert

Rich, Nate, Zack and Dan discuss what they've been creating recently. Subscribe to Forefront 360 in your favorite podcast app so you don't miss future episodes, and be sure to join the conversation on Instagram!

Discussion: What We've Been Creating

Forefront board member Zack Osinski talks to percussionist Josh Graham about music, church, racial reconciliation, and the joys and challenges of life as a musician.

Interview: Josh Graham

The Christmans and the Mancinis review "A Week Away," Netflix's new musical set at a Christian camp.

Review: Netflix's "A Week Away"

Rich Christman interviews painter Misato Pang. Born and raised in Hong Kong to Japanese and Chinese parents, Misato migrated to the United States during late adolescence. Up until recently, she lived in New York City and relocated to St. Louis in the past year. Misato's works overlap personal narrative and cultural events, some of which allude to current social phenomenon and political discourse in Asia. She has participated in various residencies and exhibitions in the United States and Japan. Her most recent solo exhibition, "Breakdown", was a two-part exhibition that guides viewers through phases of the artist's creative process using verbal and visual languages. The synthesis of visual and auditory cues recreate spaces and moments in time, hence inviting the viewers to reflect and enter these intimate spaces that happened in isolation and solitude. We invite you to enjoy this multi-layered conversation about faith, artistry, and identity.

Interview: Misato Pang

Cody and Rich review Justin Bieber's new (explicitly Christian) EP "Freedom."

Review: Justin Bieber's "Freedom" EP

Rich, Cody, and special guest Aaron Lowin discuss whether video games count as "art."

Discussion: Are Video Games Art?

“You can walk on water if you are painting it.”  Forefront leaders Nate Mancini and Rich Christman had the opportunity to speak with renowned artist Makoto Fujimura about the intersection of art and faith. In this far-reaching conversation, they talk about Mako’s routines & practices, his slow process of creation, how artists can bring God’s abundance to a world of scarcity, and ultimately, how Christ is deeply present in our experiences of darkness & trauma.  As a special bonus, we conclude with some audience questions from artists like singer/songwriter Sandra McCracken and tap dancer Andrew Nemr. Makoto Fujimura (b. 1960, Boston) is a leading contemporary artist whose process driven, refractive “slow art” has been described by David Brooks of New York Times as “a small rebellion against the quickening of time”.  Fujimura’s art has been featured widely in galleries and museums around the world, and is collected by notable collections including The Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, The Huntington Library as well as Tikotin Museum in Israel.  Fujimura is also an arts advocate, writer, and speaker who is recognized worldwide as a cultural influencer. A Presidential appointee to the National Council on the Arts from 2003-2009, Fujimura served as an international advocate for the arts, speaking with decision makers and advising governmental policies on the arts. Fujimura founded the International Arts Movement in 1992, now IAMCultureCare, which oversees the Fujimura Institute. Most recently, he co-founded the Kintsugi Academy. We are honored to share this special interview.

Interview: Makoto Fujimura

In this new arts review episode: Nate reads a passage from East of Eden by John Steinbeck Zack discusses music by Brenna MacCrimmon and Selim Sesler Rich reviews "Shore" by Fleet Foxes  

Arts Review: East of Eden, Turkish music, Fleet Foxes

The team from Forefront Festival takes you around the intersection of the arts and the Christian faith.

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Forefront 360

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