Steve Brown Etc

Steve Brown is an old white guy (their words, not mine!), author, former preacher, and seminary professor who's sick of religion. At least according to the intro spiel on his radio show and podcast. He's also a nationally syndicated talk show host so when he talks about free sins, he knows what he's talking about! But don't jump to conclusions just yet. If you're not familiar with Steve Brown or his radio show/s, you should know that it's not God, Jesus, Christianity (with a capital "c") or church (both capital and lowercase) that he's sick of. No, he's sick of the legalism, the falsehoods, and the man-made rules that keep believers tied down and tied in knots.

Steve is a freedom preacher. Much as you have prosperity teachers, healing teachers, faith teachers, and so on, Steve preaches the Bible and freedom.

Despite appearances, Steve Brown has the most amazing voice. While my husband refers to him as "the drunk" (and no, Steve Brown doesn't drink, but my husband insists that he talks like a drunk), I say that his voice is a wonderful combination of your favorite uncle or grandfather and an old time radio announcer. Honestly, I just like to hear him talk!

Steve's political conservatism doesn't stop him from communing and fellowshipping with liberals who love Jesus. Despite being, what he calls, a "right wing, reactionary, angry conservative", Tony Campolo (aka "the other old white guy") who is a well known politically liberal Christian preacher is one of his favorite guests and friends. He's so popular with Steve's radio show, that they've even created a special intro when he's on the show. Affectionately known as "our favorite lib", Tony and Steve agree on more than they ever would have admitted before becoming old guys. They also appear to threaten the world with a mooning that they wouldn't even have to take their pants down for (baldies, the both of them).

But there's so much more to Steve Brown and his radio shows, books, and guest speaking engagements than his political affiliations, and the 3 free sins that he gives to nearly every talk show guest. See below for more information.

(Photo taken from the Simon&Schuster site on the grounds that publishers are always happy for publicity and would never cry "foul". No, really, S&S would never do such a thing!)

Key Life is Steve Brown's 15 minute nationally syndicated radio talk show. Monday through Friday there's a new show uploaded to KeyLife.org and I assume to the radio stations that carry his show. This is where Steve talks about the Bible. While he is a freedom preacher in general, he does believe in the WHOLE Bible. A recent series that just finished up was on righteousness. You see, Steve's teaching on freedom tends to scandalize (hence his book and series A Scandalous Freedom) those bound up by religion. Jesus came to set us free, and yet we keep tying ourselves up! Because of his teaching, many people accused him of not valuing righteousness- and so, to show people exactly how much he does believe in righteousness, he set up a series on the subject that lasted, oh, 2 or 3 months.

But it's all good. What Steve has to say is good, and his voice is easy to listen to. And since each radio show is 10-15 minutes, you could conceivably finish the entire series in one or two days. (Several weeks are archived on the site, but you can also get CDs of his preaching- for free. He does ask for a bit of filthy lucre if you can afford it, but will also tell you not to sweat it if you can't.)

Wednesday, Steve usually answers one or two listener questions in addition to his 10 minute spot, and on Fridays, Steve and his pastor Pete Alwinson spend the entire broadcast answering listener questions. They accept questions via phone, email, and even questions left in a forum thread set up for that purpose.

Steve Brown Etc is the home of Steve Brown's hour long radio show. I listen to the podcast on SteveBrownEtc.com rather than actually to the radio, so it's only about 38 minutes for me.

This is where Steve mostly interviews authors, pastors, and anyone else that just seems interesting. Since the atmosphere is much more laid back, Kathy, the soft, feminine side often speaks up (I like her, cuz she keeps Steve in line- at least, as much as is possible), and Erik, The Merry Monk of Love at TheMerryMonk.com (don't go there- but, ok, go there) is allowed to wreak absolute havoc on the show and on guests. Very entertaining.

The website itself is more than just a home for the interviews from Steve Brown Etc- Steve did a series on A Scandalous Freedom which is also housed there (under the "Listen" button), all of the shows with Tony Campolo are aggregated into one section (also under "Listen"), The Brown Sessions (ditto) are what's left over when the interview is technically over, but Steve and the guest can't stop talking. Etcetera is Erik and friends whooping it up (to be honest, it can be a little hard to follow these shows) on various topics, and Watching Theology is like a focused Etcetera. Meaning, Steve Brown isn't actually a part of the conversation, but this group is really skilled at pulling out the truth in fiction. In other words, if you ever wondered how Star Wars glorifies God and how M. Night Shyamalan's The Village tends to represent the church- this is where you want to go. The episodes are very interesting, but it helps if you've seen whichever movie they're discussing.

And then... there's the Comedy Bits 'n Pieces. Oh my. What can I say about this? Well, there's the "movie trailer" for Nuns... With Guns. There's the "commercials" for Nospineltol, Celebate, and eHormoney.com. And then there's the interviews with the reincarnation of Ghandi.

This is all only what you'll HEAR on Steve Brown Etc. What you'll READ is posts from Steve himself, and a number of other (many distinguished) guest posters. You can also participate in forums, or even send your friends 3 Free Sins. They'll rise up and call you blessed..

Keep in mind that this is purely my opinion.

If you tend to be a more traditional Christian and struggle with being offended and/or only have a few minutes a day, I recommend starting with KeyLife.org. The shows are short, they're very Biblical, and they're practical.

If you enjoy banter, discussion, and interviews, go for Steve Brown Etc. The shows are much longer (an hour on the radio, just over half an hour via the website podcast), but there's a lot of good stuff to be heard. It's not preaching, though the A Scandalous Freedom series could be considered such.

If you're a pastor, get to Pooped Pastors. Whether you like Steve Brown or not, it's important to have a good group of people that can relate surrounding you. If you're not part of a close knit group of pastors in your own area, this is even more important. See below for more info on Pooped Pastors and links to all the websites that I've mentioned.

Steve Brown has a special place in his heart for Pastors. After all, he was one, and is friends with many more. He knows their struggles, their pain, and their need for a safe place to rest. So he created PoopedPastors.com.

Every week he uploads (well, technically someone else uploads it, I think) a new video, there are blog posts and there's a private forum. While anyone can view the videos and read the posts, in order to post in or read the forums you'll need to prove that you are a pastor. They do check.

Since you have to be a pastor to participate in any way in the forums, I don't know much about that. Since I'm not a pastor, the videos and posts aren't really up my alley, so I don't know much about that either. Still, if you're a pastor, I encourage you to check it out!