When given the chance, I tend to avoid two kinds of content: devotional and short.
The 5 Minute Discipleship Podcast by Loren Hicks is the exception to both rules. With over 450 episodes at the time of this writing, Hicks reliably publishes a daily five-minute challenge.
Hicks is a pastor, which is why his show deserves to be highlighted.
The Christian category of podcasting is afflicted with a glut of pastors who make podcasting the modern version of 1980s “tape ministry.” That is, they turn their sermons into podcast episodes as a way to recycle their content. These kinds of shows get few downloads, and deservedly so. They are made for an audience in an auditorium, not earbuds.
Hicks, on the other hand, is writing fresh content—or, taking what once may have been sermon points from his decades of ministry experience and turning them into new content. The effect is more like a radio segment than eavesdropping on a sermon not meant for the podcast audience.
As promised in the title, each episode is only five minutes long, and the production is top shelf.
Given the show’s brevity, one might wonder how much training can be gleaned. But that’s not the point. The short episodes function more like drops of water than a tsunami—both of which powerfully shape the landscape in their own unique ways.
December 2021 Issue
