The RELEVANT Podcast

'I Play Rocky' star Anthony Ippolito joins us as the movie about how a broke, unknown Sylvester Stallone got 'Rocky' made hits theaters this month. We talk about playing Stallone before he was Stallone, the audition tape nobody asked him for, what Stallone told him over Zoom and why the training montage was harder than the boxing.
In Slices, Jesse brings 'Shelf Life,' a new comedy starring 'Parks and Recreation' favorite Jim O'Heir and Zachary Levi about a pastor who loses his pulpit and lands at a grocery store, and asks why church comedy is so hard to get right. Derek has the other side of it: Druski is turning his megachurch pastor sketch into a Netflix series, and Marty crowns Lauren Daigle the Christian Mariah Carey and kicks off the Christmas season early.
Then Marty's Life Hack goes on trial. This week's hack isn’t up to par, so we hand him real life conundrums to solve on the spot.
Our new game ‘Rocky or Apollo?’ closes it out. Scrappy underdog we're rooting for, or overhyped champ? 
Highlights:
01:51 — Are we living in a Stallone renaissance? 
04:59 — Ranking the '80s action heroes: Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Van Damme 
10:11 — The one flaw in the original 'Rocky'
14:33 — Slices: Jim O'Heir and Zachary Levi's pastor-at-the-grocery-store comedy 'Shelf Life' 
16:15 — Why is church comedy so hard to get right? 
19:01 — Druski's megachurch pastor is getting a Netflix series 
20:30 — Derek's theory on who actually gets mad at church comedy 
23:45 — Why Jesse has never been canceled 
26:00 — Why Lauren Daigle is becoming the Christian Mariah Carey 
29:56 — Marty's Life Hack: Cameron has seen enough 
1:40 — Jesse vs. the TikTok appliance-moving straps 
45:32 — Anthony Ippolito on becoming young Sylvester Stallone in 'I Play Rocky' 
47:54 — The audition tape nobody asked for 
48:28 — What Stallone told him over Zoom 
49:44 — Why the training montage was harder than the fight 
50:09 — What Stallone's "no" says to anyone who's been told no their whole life 
51:37 — Our new game: Rocky or Apollo?

Joel Smallbone of for KING + COUNTRY joins us as his Christmas musical 'Drummer Boy' heads to theaters. We talk about the eight years it took to get it made, why the best musicals don't sing the whole time and an offer to musical haters that we have never heard an artist make before.
Then pastor and former NFL defensive back Dr. Derwin Gray gets honest about his new book, 'It's Time to Heal,' which sits right where faith and therapy meet. We talk about why depression isn't a sign you've sinned, why so many Christians spend years circling the same wound and the question from his son that helped him face his own childhood trauma.
Jesse is back from jury duty, which he was promised would be over by lunch. It was not, and he ended up on a murder trial. 
In Slices, Jesse brings a new Pew study that finds a surprising faith gap between college-age people and young adults just a few years older. Derek makes the case for Kirk Franklin's new album 'I Am What I Am,' and we hear about the Thanksgiving guest Kirk still hasn't gotten over. And Marty wants to know why the whole world keeps searching the Bible app for the same Psalm.
Then Marty's Life Hacks closes it out, and the hacks are starting to look a lot like signing up for things. 
Highlights: 
01:07 — Jesse's back from jury duty (he thought he'd be out by lunch and got put on a murder trial) 
10:08 — RELEVANT Recommends: Joel Smallbone of for KING + COUNTRY on his eight-year road to 'Drummer Boy' 
12:46 — How 2020 turned 'Drummer Boy' into 'Unsung Hero' 
15:44 — Joel's offer to anyone who hates musicals 
16:06 — Derek and Jesse already have a plan for Joel's offer 
17:35 — Slices: Pew finds 18-to-22-year-olds out-churching the rest of America 
22:15 — Derek on Kirk Franklin's new album 'I Am What I Am' 
26:57 — The Thanksgiving Kanye ate Kirk Franklin's leftovers 
31:51 — Jesse's spirit tunnel strategy
32:24 — Marty on the most searched term in the Bible app 
38:40 — Dr. Derwin Gray on 'It's Time to Heal' and where faith and therapy meet 
40:27 — When mourning stops being a season 
42:03 — "Christ's behavioral therapy" 
44:03 — "Depression is not a sign that you've sinned" 
45:30 — Derwin's question for the "just pray it away" crowd 
46:21 — Trauma isn't just something that happened to you 
49:36 — Marty's Life Hack
56:06 — Is Joel's offer legally binding?

Former We The Kingdom singer Franni Cash grew up inside a cult, and her debut solo album ‘Here I Am’ is about what came after. We talk about the diary she had to hide, the day her family walked out, what she found when she met the real Jesus and what she’d tell anyone in a controlling church right now.
The crew also gets into the backlash to Carl and Laura Lentz’s latest round of interviews and what Christians actually expect from someone who is doing the work of repentance. 
In Slices, Derek takes us inside Peter Thiel’s leaked lectures on the Antichrist, where the people the billionaire says to watch are not who you’d guess. Marty brings good news for anyone who has paid an AirBnB cleaning fee and had to do the dishes anyway. Then Marty’s Life Hacks has a listener-submitted tip about your chips that the rest of us are still processing, and Derek gets some constructive feedback on the zipper location in his new music video.
An all hip-hop One Has to Go closes it out, and with two rappers on the panel, somebody was always going to get flamed.
Highlights:
02:24 — Are rappers’ gold chains secretly smart investing?
03:48 — Jesse’s on a jury, and Cameron played every card to get out of his
09:19 — Do hard times make better art? The Gulf War brought us Chingy
10:44 — Jay-Z reportedly books himself for the Super Bowl (and our guest list)
13:00 — “Can you tell me about your cult, please?”
15:32 — Introducing Unedited, our new full-interview series
16:46 — The backlash to Carl and Laura Lentz’s interviews
27:03 — “You’re only canceled until your next hit”
28:11 — Derek on why powerful people never admit they were wrong
31:32 — Franni Cash on growing up inside a cult
33:42 — What happened to the diary she kept hidden
35:57 — The night the cult jokes stopped being funny
38:21 — The burned page behind ‘Here I Am’
39:47 — Her message for anyone inside a controlling church
41:50 — Slices: Peter Thiel’s leaked lectures on the Antichrist
45:34 — Airbnb is ending checkout chores
49:53 — Marty’s Life Hacks: Should your chips live in the freezer?
54:22 — One Has to Go
58:53 — Marty’s case against Dr. Dre
1:00:53 — Marty braces to get flamed
1:08:03 — Marty’s new album gets a release date
1:10:36 — Derek’s ‘r n r’ video and some feedback on his hoodie zipper location

Former Hillsong NYC pastor Carl Lentz and his wife Laura stayed together, and now they've written the book on it, 'Overcoming Infidelity.' We talk about the small warning signs, when leaving is actually the right call, what they've told their kids and what Carl says to the skeptics calling this a comeback tour.
Plus, Cameron is back from NYC, where Greta Gerwig previewed 'Narnia: The Magician's Nephew.’ He went in skeptical and tells us what he saw and heard. 
In Slices, Jesse makes the case for 'You Can See Everything,' the three-hour Elizabeth Holmes movie everyone is talking about and nobody is spoiling (we won't either). Derek tells us why Hulvey canceled his Amsterdam show, and Marty asks the crew to name their favorite sin, which turns into a real conversation about Philip Anthony Mitchell and what comes after the celebrity pastor era.
Then Marty's Life Hacks closes it out with a tip so wholesome we're pretty sure city hall is paying him.
Highlights:
01:41 — Cameron's report from Greta Gerwig's Narnia preview event 
06:44 — The Aslan question 
10:06 — Derek's case against the Meryl Streep casting 
17:14 — How 'Stairway to Heaven' ended up in Narnia 
24:03 — Slices: The Elizabeth Holmes movie nobody is spoiling 
34:59 — Hulvey cancels a sold-out show over what was on the venue walls 
37:28 — Marty asks the crew to name their favorite sin 
37:46 — Philip Anthony Mitchell gets honest on The Breakfast Club 
40:29 — What comes after the celebrity pastor era? 
48:18 — Derek makes room for pastors in Jordans 
49:05 — Carl and Laura Lentz on 'Overcoming Infidelity' 
52:12 — Carl on the secrets that come before the big one 
54:13 — Laura on when leaving is the right call 
56:08 — What they've told their kids (and the phone call Carl didn't see coming) 
1:01:39 — Carl's answer for the skeptics
1:06:47 — Marty's Life Hacks: Wait, the library has 3D printers?

Jamie MacDonald, fresh off winning New Artist of the Year at the Dove Awards, joins us as her new deluxe album arrives this week. We talk about what it’s like to be the biggest thing in CCM right now, reliving her testimony on stage every night and the Alaska fudge shop that can’t stop playing her record.
In RELEVANT Buzz, Instagram admits it’s been recommending Creed’s ‘Higher’ more than it should, and we think the algorithm might be trying to heal America. Drill rapper Fivio Foreign gets honest about the hardest part of his walk with Jesus, and Pope Leo says algorithms lack “the spark of humanity,” which has us asking where all the song bridges went.
Plus, Marty’s new co-working space comes with an indoor mini golf course, and his family’s Halloween costume plan leaves the rest of us in a cold sweat. Then One Has to Go closes it out: Pastor Appreciation Month downsized to a week, one severed head too many and a turkey leg that turns grown men into cavemen.
Highlights:
01:09 — Marty’s co-working space comes with a mini golf course
08:37 — RELEVANT Buzz: Instagram can’t stop recommending Creed’s ‘Higher’
10:26 — Jesse’s theory: The algorithm wants us back at Creed’s 2001 Thanksgiving halftime show
15:56 — Derek’s plan for the first Christian rap Super Bowl halftime
17:25 — Fivio Foreign goes from drill to praising Jesus (and gets honest about what’s hardest)
21:21 — Derek’s case for Fonzworth Bentley as hip-hop’s unsung hero
23:42 — Is AI art always a little cringe? Pope Leo weighs in
25:13 — Derek wants bridges and vamps back
29:21 — The architect who felt “God pushing my pencil”
32:53 — Jamie MacDonald on the long road to becoming Christian music’s biggest new name
35:37 — Why ‘Left It in the River’ hit so hard
38:29 — Playing the Ryman a mile from where she was born
40:21 — Is the pop culture Halloween costume dead?
41:07 — Marty’s family Halloween plan
45:37 — One Has to Go
47:05 — Derek on the Black church’s honor culture
50:39 — Derek has seen enough severed heads
52:26 — Seven-year-old Cameron explains street economics to his mom
54:34 — Where do the full-size candy bar houses actually live?