Wayne Turner and Dylan Jones, who both serve in one of our JoshGen city congregations, have started a podcast! Aptly named after the JoshGen slogan, Dying to Live has kicked off with a bang. We connected with Wayne to find out what inspired the podcast and what listeners can expect when they subscribe, then we met up with the pair of podcast hosts to take a look at their studio.
How did the Dying to Live Podcast get started?
I joined JoshGen almost 9 years ago and was deeply impacted by JoshGen’s New Testament DNA of Acts 2:42-47 and the principle of dying to live.
Soon after joining I got involved with the FilmKru and helped make short films and videos, but realised that despite the amazing medium of video it took time and people had very short attention spans. (If you haven’t captured them in the first 15 seconds of a video you lose them very quickly.) But with audio it’s different.
Listen to the Podcast
With 21 years in radio and about 8,000 interviews under my belt I thought there must be a way to get the message out easier and more effectively with audio.
So, I launched a CCFm radio slot called Action 242 where we did short five-minute teachings on Acts 2:42 principles using JoshGenners from across the city.
At that time podcasting was starting to gain traction, so I put together a proposal for a JoshGen podcast to the church’s communications team. Even though they didn’t have capacity for it at the time, they were happy for us to run with it in my local congregation. This wasn’t possible for me at the time and I let the vision die knowing that if it was of God, He would resurrect it at the right time. I left the vision and continued with other podcasts, but with the Dying to Live podcast tucked away in my heart.
Over the last few years podcasting has gained lots of ground in South Africa – it seems that now everyone is listening to podcasts!
Last year I chatted with Dylan Jones about doing something together as we were both big podcast listeners. He mulled it over and mulled it over and… mulled it over some more. Then early this year we decided to go for it as an initiative in our local congregation. Our lead elder thought it was a great idea, chatted with the JoshGen eldership and the rest is history. We started recording in April 2019.
What was the inspiration behind starting the Dying to Live podcast?
We wanted to grow the body of Christ and inspire people through taking topics that are relevant and current and creating discussion around them, which is something you can’t do in a 30-minute preach or teaching. The other aspect that has become important to us is using the podcast to address specific issues that are of concern to leadership in a discussion format, which can sometimes be more effective.
How did you guys come to co-host it?
Dylan Jones is a legend and we’ve been friends since we joined JoshGen. He has a love for God, people and podcasting – in that order – and he is the perfect co-host. For any podcast there has to be a connection between the hosts and we just have that understanding. He’s my hero.
Why did you choose a podcast format?
Podcasting is huge around the world and growing phenomenally. It’s the new radio; a format people listen to in vehicles, at home, on planes, in the bath, at work, while waiting or literally anywhere. It reaches people where video has no chance.
You can lose a person after a few minutes with video, but many will listen to a podcast of 30-60 minutes because the content is so curated: podcasts usually fall into a particular niche and therefore attract people who are interested in that niche.
Episodes are based on very focussed topics that are meaningful to that group of people. What also attracted us to the podcast format was my 21 years in radio, which gave me the tech skills to make it happen.
What kind of content can listeners expect to hear?
Listeners can look forward to hearing content that is relevant to the vision of JoshGen in growing, equipping and challenging people in their relationships with others and with Jesus Christ: in essence, combining Acts 2:42-47, Hebrew 10:24 and Ephesians 4:12.
There are episodes on hospitality, serving, partnering cross-culturally and evangelism. Dylan and I are looking at addressing subjects like how to study your Bible and making theology easier to understand, too.
Is the Dying to Live podcast going to be a limited series, or will it be an ongoing project?
It’s going to be an ongoing project. It will be here as long as God wants it to be! We’ll continue for as long as necessary. Podcasting is here to stay and if it remains a communication medium that people want to use, we’ll provide content that will help grow the Kingdom.
How are you hoping that this podcast will shape the lives of those who listen?
We often hear great preaches with content that is life changing, but often questions remain unanswered because there is no ‘talkback’ channel for the congregation. We attempt to use the podcast format to ask the questions people would be asking as best we can by interviewing the teacher, or using a team to breakdown the subject.
Is there a way for people to subscribe? Where can they listen?
Podcasts will be available on our JoshGen website (discover the Podcast episodes here) and all the main podcast distribution sites like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, TuneinRadio, iHeartRadio, Castbox.fm, Overcast.fm or any site that draws their feed from the major distribution sites. All of these have apps where you can subscribe.
Give us a teaser for some of the upcoming episodes…
Why go on an outreach? We chat with those who’ve returned from local, regional and international outreaches.
Listen to the heart of leaders of a suffering church serving in Zimbabwe.
Should we be obeying the Old Testament laws?
What is real New Testament hospitality in Africa?