Mid-Faith Crisis: Finding a Path Through Doubt, Disillusionment, & Dead Ends with Catherine McNiel & Jason Hague

Faith Under Pressure: Loving Others in an Angry World | Dr. Case Thorp

You believe faith belongs in the public square, and you've tried to be a faithful presence, but you are simply tired. What happens when your neighbors aren't interested in connecting, or your workplace treats your convictions as a liability?   Facing a culture that is increasingly hostile to faith can be exhausting, tempting many to adopt a posture of grievance or to withdraw into their comfortable homes.   In this episode of Nuance, regular host Case Thorp takes the hot seat as guest host Katie Shook asks the hard questions about faith under pressure. Case gets honest about the real cost of showing up in the public square, sharing a personal story about a neighborhood dispute over backyard chickens that tested his commitment to loving his neighbors. They unpack the difference between engaging culture with grace versus angrily fighting back, the temptation to make faith overly palatable, and why creating new things is a better response than endless critique.   From finding hope in the longevity of institutions to learning how to focus on the micro when national issues feel overwhelming, Case and Katie provide a practical roadmap for staying grounded and kind in an angry world.   🔑 Key Topics Covered in This Episode: 🐔 The Cost of Presence: A firsthand look at what it costs to stay engaged, featuring a story about zoning laws, backyard chickens, and maintaining a Christian witness when neighbors push back.   🎨 Creating vs. Critiquing: Why Christians should focus on creating art, beauty, and positive environments rather than just sitting back and complaining about cultural shifts.   🏛️ The Power of Institutions: Exploring why society has lost trust in organizations, and why investing in healthy, long-lasting institutions is still crucial for stability.   🔬 Focusing on the Micro: Practical encouragement to stop stressing over massive national headlines and start serving the people directly in front of you.  🚪 Knowing When to Step Back: How to exercise wisdom and discernment when someone isn't ready for a deeper conversation, and learning to trust God's timing.  For more resources, including ways to get involved with The Collaborative, visit wecolabor.com Timestamps 0:00 Do You Know Your Neighbors? 0:21 Case Thorp Takes the Hot Seat  2:54 Exploring Faith In The Public Square  3:17 The Real Cost Of Faithful Presence  4:06 Navigating Zoning Laws and Backyard Chickens  9:09 Maintaining Righteousness During Conflict  10:21 When Christians Should Withdraw From Culture  11:58 Staying Kind In A Tacky Culture  14:09 Assessing Cultural Hostility Toward Faith  16:47 Avoiding a Posture of Grievance  18:13 The Danger of Making Faith Too Palatable  19:50 Creating New Culture Instead of Critiquing  21:47 Escaping The Comfort of Netflix Homes  25:10 Handling People Who Reject You  28:58 Why Society Needs Long Term Institutions  32:25 Knowing When To Shut Down Failing Institutions  35:54 Finding Real Rest When You Feel Burned Out  38:26 Solving Overwhelm By Focusing on the Micro  40:30 The Powerful Lessons of Staying in One Place  43:21 The Biggest Fear for the Modern Church  44:43 Final Thoughts

Deconstruction, Spiritual Lament, & the Dark Night of the Soul with Catherine McNeil & Jason Hague

What happens when the foundational beliefs of your faith meet deep personal suffering? For many believers, major life wounds, like childhood church hurt or the loss of a close friend, make a good and powerful God feel distant. When the anchor meant to hold you steady seems to give way, the spiritual crisis makes all other suffering worse. In this episode of Nuance, host Case Thorp welcomes back Catherine McNiel and Jason Hague, co-authors of Mid-Faith Crisis, to discuss the personal origin stories behind their book. Catherine shares the difficult experience of being shunned by her church family at twelve years old. Jason discusses the grief of his children's severe health diagnoses and the loss of a close friend, leaving him preaching sermons he was not sure he believed. Case also shares about trusting God's providence during his wife's battle with cancer and a recent stroke. Catherine and Jason offer practical steps for surviving dark spiritual valleys, like practicing honest lament and using contemplative prayer to calm the nervous system. They explain how taking your anger directly to God and finding a safe community can lead to a mature faith. 🔑 Key Topics Covered in This Episode: * 🌪️ The Compounding Crisis: A faith crisis makes health or vocational struggles much harder. We discuss what it feels like when your spiritual anchor is lost. * 💔 The Broken Contract: The unique struggle of believing in a good and powerful God when circumstances are painful. * 🐑 The Seeking Shepherd: Catherine's experience of trusting God's slow providence and moving from decades of darkness into new spiritual life. * 🗣️ The Power of Lament: Hiding our anger creates distance from God. We look at why bringing your frustration to the Lord is a biblical practice. * 🧘 Contemplative Healing: Using the Prayer of Examen and breath prayers to soothe spiritual trauma and remember what we already believe. 📚 Episode Resources: * Mid-Faith Crisis: Finding a Path Through Doubt, Disillusionment, and Dead Ends by Catherine McNiel and Jason Hague: https://www.ivpress.com/mid-faith-crisis * Catherine McNiel's website: https://catherinemcniel.com/ * Jason Hague's website: https://jasonhague.com * InterVarsity Press: https://www.ivpress.com/ Timestamps: 0:00 The Challenge of a Good God  0:35 The Backstory of "Mid-Faith Crisis"  2:00 Catherine's Story: Enduring Church Hurt at Age 12  5:28 Jason's Story: Adulthood, Grief, and Unanswered Prayers  7:44 Why Faith Crises Compound All Other Suffering  12:00 Finding God as the Seeking Shepherd  14:48 Trusting God's Providence Through Severe Health Trials  17:09 Advice for Those Currently in a Faith Crisis  18:59 The Power of Honest Lament  23:05 Contemplative Practices and the Prayer of Examen  27:11 Advice for the Next Generation: Don't Walk Alone  28:54 Concluding Thoughts

Mid-Faith Crisis: Finding a Path Through Doubt, Disillusionment, & Dead Ends with Catherine McNiel & Jason Hague

What happens when the confident, inherited faith you've relied on suddenly fractures? Many believers eventually hit a wall where doubt, suffering, or church hurt make everything they thought they knew feel like it's dissolving.  Navigating this disillusionment isn't a sign of failure. It is often a deeply normal, expected part of the spiritual lifecycle that is rarely talked about openly.  In this episode of Nuance, host Case Thorp sits down with Catherine McNiel and Jason Hague, co-authors of the book Mid-Faith Crisis. Catherine and Jason unpack the difference between toxic spiritual environments and normal human failing, the danger of bringing consumer-culture expectations into our theology, and how to survive the inevitable valleys of faith. Drawing on their pastoral and personal experiences, they provide a roadmap for believers who feel stuck, showing that the path to true spiritual maturity often requires moving past easy answers and learning to sit in the sanctuary of God's presence.  From releasing unrealistic expectations to understanding the spiritual rhythms of consolation and desolation, Catherine and Jason help modern believers see how pressing through the darkness eventually leads to a more resilient, flourishing faith.  🔑 Key Topics Covered in This Episode: * 📉 The Mid-Faith Crisis: Defining what it means to hit a spiritual dead end after years of commitment, and why it so closely parallels a mid-life crisis.  * ⛰️ Valleys vs. Mountaintops: Why the expectation of a constantly flourishing faith is unbiblical, and how to embrace the natural spiritual seasons of consolation and desolation.  * ⛪ Navigating Church Hurt: Discerning the crucial difference between toxic, abusive institutions that lack accountability and normal, flawed human communities.  * 🛒 Consumer-Culture Christianity: How "magic bullet" theology and false expectations set us up for profound disappointment when real-world suffering strikes.  * 📖 Psalm 73 and Sanctuary: Finding hope and reorientation not by demanding immediate answers, but by remaining present in the sanctuary of God.  📚 Episode Resources: * Mid-Faith Crisis: Finding a Path Through Doubt, Disillusionment, and Dead Ends by Catherine McNiel and Jason Hague: https://www.ivpress.com/mid-faith-crisis * Catherine McNiel's website: https://catherinemcniel.com/ * Jason Hague's website: https://jasonhague.com * InterVarsity Press: https://www.ivpress.com/ Timestamps: 0:00 Introducing Catherine McNeil and Jason Hague  3:18 The Reality of Mid-Faith Crisis 5:09 Case's Story of Church Brokenness  6:08 Defining a "Mid-Faith Crisis"  8:08 Unmet Expectations and Disappointment  9:42 Normalizing the Valley: Moving Off the Mountaintop  12:09 Understanding Consolation and Desolation  14:41 How Consumer Culture Warps Faith Expectations  16:20 The Impact of Suffering and Disillusionment  17:56 Navigating Toxic Institutions and Church Scandal  25:17 When God Doesn't Meet Our Expectations  29:48 Finding Hope in Psalm 73  31:50 Releasing Expectations and Embracing Curiosity  34:00 The Fear of Losing Jesus  35:56 Practical Steps for Spiritual Renewal  38:35 Concluding Thoughts

Miracles, Burnout, and Prayer: Real Doctors Ask Dr. Mark David Topazian

What happens when the deep questions forged in exam rooms, hospital corridors, and long nights on call are brought to the forefront? In the modern medical economy, clinics and hospitals have become fast-paced hubs of technical performance, where patients and practitioners alike can easily feel reduced to mere commodities.    Healthcare professionals are suddenly being asked to carry overwhelming physical and emotional workloads, leading many to suffer from severe compassion fatigue.   The question is no longer whether our medical systems can cure physical ailments, but how practitioners can sustain their own humanity, empathy, and faith in the process.   In this follow-up Q&A episode of Nuance, host Case Thorp welcomes back gastroenterologist, professor, and author Dr. Mark Topazian to answer real-world questions submitted by practicing physicians. Dr. Topazian pulls back the curtain on the realities of clinical life, sharing insights on everything from unexpected miracles to the practical role of prayer at the bedside. From surviving 12-hour shifts to navigating the dehumanizing aspects of modern medicine, Dr. Topazian explains how to connect with God's presence to mitigate burnout.    Through their discussion, Dr. Topazian helps listeners see how a mature, Christian worldview can withstand the intense pressures of a modern healthcare culture. 🔑 Key Topics Covered in This Episode: 🩺 Compassion Fatigue vs. Burnout: Defining the weariness that builds from constant exposure to difficult situations, and how connecting to God as the source of compassion can mitigate emotional exhaustion.    ✨ Miracles & The Western Mind: Exploring unexpected cures, the intersection of science and the supernatural, and how resource-poor areas often display a greater openness to God's healing intervention compared to the empirical West.    🙏 Prayer at the Bedside: Practical advice on offering prayer without coercion, asking "would it help if I prayed with you?", and utilizing the TREAT acronym for prayers of lament.    🏥 The Dehumanizing System & AI: A candid look at how the busyness of modern US healthcare can reduce patients to commodities, and why Artificial Intelligence might actually help restore the human element by handling administrative burdens.    🎓 Advice for the Next Generation: Why medical students must look beyond clinical facts, find wise mentors to shadow, and learn to approach complex patient fears with holistic, spiritual care.    📚 Episode Resources: Healing Purpose: Finding Satisfaction in a Healthcare Career by Dr. Mark Topazian - www.ivpress.com/healing-purpose InterVarsity Press - www.ivpress.com Catch Part 1 of this conversation with Dr. Topazian here: https://youtu.be/LdUIoAe_P5o #podcast #podcastclips #faith #vocation #publicsquare #theology #listen #nuance #listenable #christianpodcast #christianliving #faithandwork  Nuance is a podcast of The Collaborative where we wrestle together about living our Christian faith in the public square. Nuance invites Christians to pursue the cultural and economic renewal by living out faith through work every facet of public life, including work, political engagement, the arts, philanthropy, and more.  Each episode, Dr. Case Thorp hosts conversations with Christian thinkers and leaders at the forefront of some of today's most pressing issues around living a public faith. Visit wecolabor.com for resources, events, and more. Timestamps 0:00 Q&A on Faith, Healthcare, and Healing Purpose  2:34 Question 1: What is the Most Spectacular Unexpected Cure You've Seen?  4:40 Medical Improbabilities and Miracles in Madagascar  7:50 Question 2: How to Deal with Burnout and Compassion Fatigue  9:34 Discussing the Impact of 12-Hour ER Shifts  11:00 The Symptoms and Spiritual Solutions for Compassion Fatigue  14:08 The Power of Scripture Memory and Hymns in Crisis Moments  18:41 Question 3: The Role of Prayer in the Doctor-Patient Relationship 20:53 Navigating Patient Fear in the Operating Room  22:39 How to Offer Prayer Without Coercion  24:05 The TREAT Acronym: Praying Prayers of Lament  26:10 Question 4: Is the US Healthcare System Dehumanizing?  29:57 Question 5: Advice for Medical Students Entering the Field  30:29 A Defining Medical School Story: Empathy vs. Clinical Facts  34:06 Closing Thoughts

Healing Purpose: Finding Satisfaction in a Healthcare Career with Dr. Mark David Topazian

What happens when an industry built on burnout, staff shortages, and broken systems begins to lose its very soul? In the modern medical economy, clinics and hospitals have become fast-paced hubs of technical performance, where the deeper meaning of care is easily lost in the shuffle. Healthcare professionals are suddenly being asked to carry overwhelming physical and emotional workloads, leading many to feel exhausted or disenfranchised. The question is no longer whether our medical systems can cure physical ailments, but what kind of spiritual blindness is being formed in the process. In this episode of Nuance, host Case Thorp welcomes gastroenterologist, professor, and author Dr. Mark Topazian to explore vocation, perception, and spiritual reality in healthcare. Dr. Topazian pulls back the curtain on the rapid commercialization of medicine and shares how learning to see differently can restore purpose to an already overwhelming job without adding a single thing to a clinician's to-do list. From serving in international missions to taking practical spiritual histories at the bedside, Dr. Topazian explains how to recognize God’s kingdom active in our clinics and hospitals. Through their discussion, Dr. Topazian helps listeners see how a mature, Christian worldview can withstand the intense pressures of a modern healthcare culture. 🔑 Key Topics Covered in This Episode: 🏥 The Spiritual Blindness in Healthcare: Confronting the idea that clinics and hospitals are spiritually neutral or merely cold, empirical spaces, and establishing why all true healing ultimately points to the kingdom of God. 📜 The Christian History of the Hospital: A look back at how the Christian tradition and a biblical view of human dignity directly birthed the modern hospital system, transforming how society cares for the sick and disabled. 🩺 Burnout vs. Missing Meaning: Redefining clinical burnout not merely as a crisis of workload or long hours, but as a crisis of meaning that can be recovered through attentiveness and true seeing. 📋 The FICA & LORD Frameworks: Practical, non-coercive tools for healthcare workers to take spiritual histories, helping clinicians put on "3D glasses" to care for patients as body, soul, and spirit. 🌍 Global Medicine & Training: A look inside Dr. Topazian's current work in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, exploring the unique challenges and rewards of training the next generation of specialized physicians in Sub-Saharan Africa. 📚 Episode Resources: Healing Purpose: Finding Satisfaction in a Healthcare Career by Dr. Mark Topazian - www.ivpress.com/healing-purpose InterVarsity Press - www.ivpress.com #podcast #podcastclips #faith #vocation #publicsquare #theology #listen #nuance #listenable #christianpodcast #christianliving #faithandwork  Nuance is a podcast of The Collaborative where we wrestle together about living our Christian faith in the public square. Nuance invites Christians to pursue the cultural and economic renewal by living out faith through work every facet of public life, including work, political engagement, the arts, philanthropy, and more.  Each episode, Dr. Case Thorp hosts conversations with Christian thinkers and leaders at the forefront of some of today's most pressing issues around living a public faith. Visit wecolabor.com for resources, events, and more. Timestamps 0:00 Spiritual Blindness in Healthcare 1:02 Introducing Dr. Mark Topazian 1:16 Moving to Ethiopia & Training Gastroenterologists 2:51 Introducing "Healing Purpose" & The Crisis of Meaning 3:57 The Realities of Compassion Fatigue & Burnout 6:45 Hospitals are Outposts of God's Kingdom 7:43 The Christian Roots of the Modern Hospital 9:00 Processing Medical Grief: A Gotham Fellowship Story 10:47 Unifying the Scientific and Scriptural Narratives 12:26 The Biblical Concept of Shalom (Holistic Health) 14:11 Putting on "3D Glasses" for Patient Care 15:01 The FICA Framework for Spiritual Histories 16:14 The Science of Faith and Health Outcomes 19:12 Exploring Spiritual Curiosity with the "Nones" 23:41 The LORD Framework & Religious Struggle 27:18 Practicing Good Medicine While Integrating Faith 28:51 Micro-Habits for Busy Clinicians (Lock Screens & Laments) 32:41 The Reality of God in the Operating Room 33:46 Advice for Early-Career Medical Professionals 35:05 The Saline Process Workshop 37:07 Final Encouragement, Episode Resources & Outro