So… what if the greatest threat to faith isn’t doubt—but being absolutely certain you already understand everything?

EPISODE NOTES

Evan went to a pastors’ conference in Dry Ridge, Kentucky, and received a free pass to the Ark Encounter. Naturally, we made him review it.

The verdict: the building itself is genuinely impressive. The empty cages with fake animal growls, dinosaur “kinds,” Ark-era blacksmith shop, and animatronic biblical world-building were… less convincing.

What begins as a review of Christian Disneyland quickly becomes a much bigger conversation about young-earth creationism, old-earth creationism, science, biblical interpretation, and what happens when one person’s theory gets presented as the only faithful way to read Scripture.

The real issue isn’t whether someone believes the earth is young or old. It’s the insistence that one interpretation is the load-bearing brick holding all of Christianity together. When churches teach speculation as unquestionable fact, they don’t protect people’s faith. They make it dangerously fragile.

The conversation digs into the different kinds of writing found in Scripture, why the Bible isn’t a science or history textbook, and how the Noah story speaks within the world of ancient Mesopotamian flood narratives. Rather than merely answering questions about dinosaurs, geological layers, and animal storage, the story reveals something far more important about the character, redemption, and purposes of God.

From there, we talk about how churches teach children, why pastors need actual theological formation, and how both fundamentalist and progressive readings can flatten Scripture in opposite directions.

Eventually, we arrive at the real theological tension: doubt may not be the enemy of faith at all. Doubt requires faith—because you can only wrestle with something you first care enough to believe. Certainty, however, can eliminate curiosity, growth, transformation, and the need for faith altogether.

Also, Evan gives the Ark Encounter a 2/10.

One point for the zoo. One point for the zip line.

WE DIG INTO:

• Evan’s visit to the Ark Encounter
• The difference between an impressive building and a convincing argument
• Young-earth and old-earth approaches to creation
• Why creation debates existed long before modern science
• Ken Ham, animal “kinds,” dinosaurs, and the logistics of the Ark
• What happens when biblical interpretation is presented as scientific fact
• Reading Scripture according to genre, context, and purpose
• Noah’s Ark and other ancient Mesopotamian flood narratives
• What the flood story reveals about the character of God
• Teaching children more than one permanently simplified version of Scripture
• The need for theological education and pastoral formation
• How fundamentalists and progressives can flatten the Bible in opposite directions
• The demonization of doubt within American Christianity
• Why certainty may be the intellectual enemy of faith
• Christianity as lifelong transformation rather than rule-following

EPISODE DRINKING NOTES

BEST DAY BREWING – Kölsch
Non-Alcoholic Kölsch-Style Beer

GUINNESS – Guinness
Specific variety and ABV not stated

COFFEE
Brand and preparation not stated

SHOW NOTE TAGS

Ark Encounter, Noah’s Ark, young-earth creationism, old-earth creationism, Genesis, Genesis 1–11, biblical interpretation, biblical genres, science and faith, Ken Ham, Answers in Genesis, Mesopotamian flood narratives, fundamentalism, doubt and faith, religious certainty, Christian education, pastoral formation, biblical literacy, deconstruction, Discount Disciples

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So… what if every church movement is just one generation trying to fix the last generation’s church damage?

EPISODE NOTES

Welcome to the first official episode of Discount Disciples, the podcast for normal disciples who may or may not be viewed as “discount disciples” by the fancier, more aggressively tucked-in disciples among us.

This episode digs into the way American church movements have often followed generational instincts. Evan walks through the post-World War II suburban shift, the church growth movement, seeker-sensitive churches, the emergent church, the missional church, and the question of what might need to come next.

The big idea: these movements are not all garbage fires. Some of them corrected real problems. But each one also created new gaps. The attractional church offered accessibility but often lacked depth. The emergent church pushed against rigidity but sometimes tossed out theological clarity with the bathwater. The missional church recovered discipleship language but could still fail to form deep community.

The conversation eventually lands on the need for a more communal Christianity: not just “come and see,” not just “go and make,” but becoming a formed people who can actually carry the mission together. Basically, Jesus spent three years building a community before sending anyone out, which feels like a minor detail the church may have misplaced in the filing cabinet labeled “Programs.”

Along the way, the conversation touches on Gen Z anxiety, online culture, cultural fundamentalism, third spaces, church programming, sexual ethics, Acts 6, Sunday gatherings, and why the church may need fewer forced agendas and more actual shared life.

WE DIG INTO:

• How different generations shaped modern American church movements
• The post-WWII suburban shift and early church planting movements
• The church growth / seeker-sensitive / attractional model
• The emergent church and the limits of theological looseness
• The missional church, discipleship, and “go and make”
• Why mission without deep community can become thin and exhausting
• Gen Z, online life, anxiety, and black-and-white cultural thinking
• Communal Christianity as a needed corrective for the next church movement

:::

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Yes, you heard that right — the podcast has a new name.

After six years of conversations about faith, church, doubt, deconstruction, theology, scandals, strange ideas, and all the questions people are often afraid to ask out loud, we’re stepping into a new season as Discount Disciples.

In this short intro episode, Evan, Jesse, and Jen talk about why the name changed, what is staying the same, and who this podcast is for. The conversations will still be honest, raw, thoughtful, funny, and occasionally uncomfortable — but the focus is expanding beyond deconstruction into what it might look like to reconstruct faith in a healthier, humbler way.

We’re not experts. We’re not shiny. We’re not new. But we’re still here — scuffs, dents, questions, and all.

If you’re in church, out of church, church-adjacent, doubting, deconstructing, reconstructing, or just trying to figure out what you believe now, this podcast is probably for you.

We’re glad you’re here!

Support the show

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If this podcast has been helpful to you, share it with someone who is asking hard questions about faith, church, doubt, or what comes next.

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Email: discountdisciplespod@gmail.com