The reviews are in, and I am FLOORED!!!!!
I cannot get over all the positive feedback, comments, emails, and text messages that have come in since we released the very first episode of the Message From the Margins podcast.
Over two years’ worth of human hours have already been spent watching it, if you can believe that. I have read every comment I could find, and I keep seeing the same reaction: people who have spent decades in the Church are learning things they were never taught, having questions answered that they did not even know they had, and already planning to watch the episode again.
I’m going to let you in on a secret. I have something of a secret agenda.
I love taking the treasures of our faith, often hidden in plain sight, and sharing them with you in a way that gives them new life… with a little of my own whackadoodle humor woven through.
Christian history is filled with people, arguments, accidents, courage, conflict, and centuries of faithful struggle. Scripture did not float down from Heaven, leather-bound with the words of Jesus already printed in red. Real people carried these sacred texts through the world. Communities prayed with them, argued over them, copied them, protected them, and sometimes risked their lives to deliver them to people they would never meet.
Once you learn that story, the Bible does not become less sacred. It becomes more remarkable.
That is the kind of discovery I want this podcast to offer. I want to take subjects that can feel intimidating, technical, or safely locked away in a seminary library and open them up for ordinary people who are intelligent, curious, and hungry to understand their faith. We can learn something substantial without making it feel like homework. We can take faith seriously while still having a few laughs along the way.
And from what you have been telling me, that secret agenda appears to be working.
“Finally! An explanation of how the Bible came to be that isn’t Greek to me! Ba-dum!, Tisch!”
I deeply appreciate a quality theological pun.
“Congratulations on a wonderful podcast. I am 66 and have been a Catholic all of my life and attended Catholic school for 13 years. I learned things I never knew.”
“This first podcast episode was wonderful. As a Lector for over 40 years, I learned so much.”
“All I can say is WOW! This was an incredible history lesson that answers questions I didn’t even know I had.”
“I enjoyed and appreciate the humor and the questions answered with kindness that you weave into the podcast.”
One listener told me she plans to encourage the members of her St. Vincent de Paul conference to subscribe. Another said she expects to replay the episode because there was so much she had never heard before. One person was especially moved by Phoebe’s journey. Another told me that the blessing at the end left her feeling uplifted and cared for.
Those responses mean more to me than I can adequately say. This is exactly what I hoped Message From the Margins could become: a place where curiosity is welcomed, difficult questions are treated with kindness, serious learning is accessible, and faith is connected to the lives people are actually living. All while growing in faith, hope, and love.
Now, I Need Your Help
We have created something people clearly want. The work now is helping them find it.
One of the most helpful things you can do today is Restack the podcast with a few words of your own. Please do not simply press the button and send it silently into the Substack ether. Tell people what you enjoyed, what surprised you, or why you believe the episode is worth their time. A recommendation in your voice carries a credibility that no promotional writing from me can match. If the episode taught you something, made you laugh, or answered a question you have carried for years, say that. Your readers trust you, and your personal note may be the reason someone who would otherwise scroll past decides to press play.
Also, There are people in your parish, family, friend group, Bible study, Facebook feed, or mildly chaotic group chat who would love this episode. Some have always wondered how the Bible came together. Some were taught that asking questions about Scripture was dangerous. Some love history. Others are trying to find their way back to a faith sturdy enough to handle honest questions.
The internet, in its infinite wisdom, will not automatically place this episode in front of all those people. In algorithmic terms, How Did the Bible Become the Bible? has roughly the same mass appeal as Changing Your Engine Manifold: A 47-Step Guide.
Possibly less.
But you and I know what the algorithm cannot appreciate. This episode has real educational and entertainment value. It opens up a part of our faith that many people were never taught, answers questions they may not have known they were allowed to ask, and even makes them laugh along the way.
So there is still hope. You can help us reach them.
If you have not watched or listened yet, begin with Episode One today.
If you have already watched, send it directly to one or two people. Think about someone who would genuinely enjoy it, then tell them why the episode made you think of them. A personal recommendation from someone they trust carries more weight than any advertisement ever could.
Then help us make some noise. Share the episode on social media. Restack it. Leave a comment. Tell your parish group, your Bible study, or the friend who still has questions left over from Catholic school.
This podcast took an extraordinary amount of work to bring to life. It was made possible by the people who support Message From the Margins, the readers who submitted their questions, the friends who offered encouragement, and every person who believed this ministry was ready to take its next big step.
I am immensely grateful for the reception you have given our first episode. Now let’s see how far we can carry it together.
A Word About Supporting This Work
Before I close, I want to say a word about the financial reality behind all of this.
As you can imagine, launching a podcast at this level is expensive. There were cameras to buy, no fewer than twenty peripheral pieces of technology that suddenly became necessary, multiple platforms to subscribe to, software to purchase, and video sequences to create. The goal is to make it feel as though you and I are having a conversation over coffee. The reality behind making it feel that effortless is… well, an enormous amount of effort.
We have made tremendous strides toward making Message From the Margins self-sustaining over the last week. We have grown from roughly 2 percent of our subscribers offering paid support to about 2.6 percent. Substack says publications typically convert 10 percent of their free readers into paid supporters. We still have a way to go, but that growth represents real people deciding this work is worth sustaining. I am deeply grateful. Every subscription moves us closer to the kind of ministry I want to keep creating for you.
You may also have noticed that the podcast is completely ad-free. I had multiple opportunities to click a button and insert advertising throughout the episode. I simply could not bring myself to have the story of St. Phoebe interrupted by an ad for tires, GLP-1s, or interlocking paving stones.
So I hit the “Skip” button.
I decided to place my faith in this community instead. If enough people look at their lives and say, “This work is worth $9 a month,” or choose an annual subscription costing about the same as one dinner for two, we can keep the entire project aboveboard, ad-free, and available to everyone who needs it, whether or not they can afford to pay.
Your paid subscription helps carry this work beyond yourself. It allows people who can contribute to keep the doors open for those who cannot. In that very real sense, supporting Message From the Margins becomes an act of ministry.
And Now It’s Your Turn
After you watch, tell me: What surprised you most about how the Bible became the Bible?
Then tell us who you are sharing it with. Your answer may help another reader think of the person who needs to hear it.
If this episode taught you something, made you laugh, or gave you a richer way to understand Scripture, please press the share button and help someone else discover it today.
A Prayer for the Work Ahead
God of wisdom and truth,
Thank you for every person who has gathered around this work and helped bring it to life. Take what we have made together and carry it beyond the people and places we already know. Let it reach those who are searching, questioning, learning, or trying to find their way back to faith.
Give us curiosity without fear, conviction without cruelty, and the humility to keep learning from one another. Bless every person who listens, every conversation that follows, and every generous hand that helps pass this work along.
May all that we create serve your people and draw us closer to the living Word.
Amen.
Your Brother in Christ,
