Future Christian

What if being told “you are enough” isn’t actually good news?

David Zahl, founder and director of Mockingbird Ministries and author of The Big Relief: The Urgency of Grace for a Worn-Out World, joins Loren for an in-person conversation about grace, exhaustion, guilt, and the pressures shaping modern life. Zahl argues that beneath our culture’s constant messages of self-affirmation is an uncomfortable reality: most of us don’t actually feel like we’re enough. The Christian answer isn’t simply to convince ourselves otherwise, but to discover that Christ is enough—and God loves us in the midst of our inadequacy.

David and Loren explore the endless pressure to perform—from careers and parenting to politics, social media, and youth sports—and how even attempts to prove our goodness can become exhausting forms of self-justification. They also venture into a provocative conversation about guilt and atonement, including why theological ideas rejected by some Christians may sound very different to someone who has caused real harm and desperately needs forgiveness.

Together they explore:

• Why going to church remains his most important spiritual practice
• The pressure and exhaustion underneath modern life
• Why “you are enough” often fails to deliver
• Grace as an alternative to endless self-justification
• Guilt, forgiveness, and recovering the language of atonement
• Why church provides something community alone cannot
• Why the church needs to get back to the “forgiveness of sins business”

David Zahl is the founder and director of Mockingbird Ministries, editor-in-chief of the Mockingbird website, and co-host of both The Mockingcast and The Brothers Zahl podcasts. Zahl is the author of Seculosity: How Career, Parenting, Technology, Food, Politics, and Romance Became Our New Religion and What To Do About It and Low Anthropology: The Unlikely Key to a Gracious View of Others (and Yourself). His latest book, The Big Relief: The Urgency of Grace for a Worn-Out World appeared in April 2025 from Brazos Press. His writing has been featured in The Washington Post, Christianity Today, and The Guardian, among other venues. He and his family live in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he also serves on the staff of Christ Episcopal Church. Even after all these years, he’s still mourning the end of Calvin and Hobbes (and hoping that Morrissey and Marr will bury the hatchet). His favorite theologian is probably a cross between Johnny Cash, Flannery O’Connor and his brother Simeon.

 

Mentioned Resources:

📖 His Book:  The Big Relief

🌐 Mockingbird Ministries: Mbird.com

🌐 The Iowa Preachers Project: iapreachers.org

🎧 Mockingbird podcasts: podcasts

🎧 Episodes Referenced: Andy Root

 

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📱 Loren's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richmondljr/

🟧 Future Christian Substack: https://futurechristian.substack.com/

 

Supporting Sponsors:

Martha's Book! Anne Boleyn: Reputation, Revolution, Religion, and the Queen Who Changed History - Available now!

Loren's New Book: The Church as Community Hub: Sharing Spaces to Help Neighborhoods Thrive - Available for pre-order!

Free Range Priest Helping clergy and congregations reimagine ministry in the digital age.

 

Future Christian Team:

Loren Richmond Jr. – Host & Executive Producer

Martha Tatarnic – Co-Host

Dennis Sanders – Producer

 

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