This feed is a grab bag of thoughts, reflections, and tomfoolery. The Bible will be talked about, other books will be talked about, concepts will be wrestled with, Jesus will be made much of.
marcjolicoeur.substack.com (https://marcjolicoeur.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)
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A repository for reflections on life, God, the Bible, etc.
“...I’ve never heard a message, read an article, or even had a conversation in which I heard it said the genealogies demonstrate what great sinners the men were…” - Dr Sandra Glahn (http://www.sandraglahn.com/), from A Woman’s Place Is In The Story (https://www.ivpress.com/a-woman-s-place-is-in-the-story)
Conversely, both Dr Glahn and myself (and possibly you could chime in, too?) have heard SEVERAL sermons & teachings that have highlighted the (im)morality of women in the Bible at what seems like a much more pronounced level. Why is that? Are women actually “worse” than men? Are women merely a foil to the activity of male biblical characters? What’s going on here?
In this book & conversation, Dr Glahn helps equip us with some helpful literary tools to approach the Bible better overall, and particularly so when it comes to understanding the role of the many women that fill the Bible’s pages.
I have a copy of this book to give away, and trust me, you want it! How might you enter? Just leave a comment on this post or share the episode (while tagging me) online, and within the next few weeks I’ll allow a machine to randomly select a winner. The more comments / shares, the more entries! Shipping included as loooooong as you’re within North America (if you’re from elsewhere – we can talk about it).
You can watch this video below, over here on YouTube (https://youtu.be/i6uQ3e4XO8M), or on Spotify.
Links:
Sandra Glahn – http://www.sandraglahn.com/
A Woman’s Place Is In The Story – https://www.ivpress.com/a-woman-s-place-is-in-the-story (https://www.ivpress.com/a-woman-s-place-is-in-the-story)
Nobody’s Mother – https://www.ivpress.com/nobody-s-mother (https://www.ivpress.com/nobody-s-mother)
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to the biblical narrative and the role of women
02:13 Sandra Glahn’s background and motivation for the book
04:01 Overview of ‘A Woman’s Place is in the Story’
05:13 Why the focus on women in biblical interpretation
06:35 The importance of character studies and narrative context
10:23 The significance of named and unnamed characters
17:14 The inclusion of women in Jesus’ genealogy
22:52 The story of Tamar and Judah as a case study
27:26 The story of Abigail and her role in biblical narrative
36:44 The story of Job’s daughters and the theme of suffering
44:25 The myth of Artemis and biblical comparisons
50:59 The importance of biblical characters for all believers
Keywords:
Biblical narrative, women in the Bible, hermeneutics, character analysis, biblical storytelling, Sandra Glahn, A Woman’s Place is in the Story, biblical interpretation, biblical characters, biblical hermeneutics
Get full access to Marc Jolicoeur (aka Jolly Thoughts) at marcjolicoeur.substack.com/subscribe (https://marcjolicoeur.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
11 Sept 2026
Worship Together: The Who & How of (some/many) Church Songs
On Episode 102 of the Jolly Thoughts pod, I am beyond blessed to be able to share this wonderful conversation with Christian music veteran + current influencer + aaaaaall around nice guy, the one & only Jimi Williams (https://www.instagram.com/jimi_williams/)
Jimi is a worship leader with tons of pastoral experience. He’s also currently the president of Jesus Culture music (https://jesusculture.com/music/). Before that, though, he was the longtime head of Worship Together (https://www.worshiptogether.com/), a popular worship resourcing site. It is primarily his tenure at WT that we talk about in this conversation, but we range from before his time at the imprint and on to his current pastoral hopes & concerns for the worship leaders he works with today.
If you have any memories of Worship Together conferences or resources (whether it’s from the recent or distant past), would love to hear about it in the comments!
You can watch the video of this conversation on my Substack or over here on YouTube (https://youtu.be/CDzZHd_Vt48?si=e8jeRl7EISMmz8Hq).
Links:
Worship Leader Research - https://worshipleaderresearch.com/ (https://worshipleaderresearch.com/)
Jimi’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jimi_williams/ (https://www.instagram.com/jimi_williams/)
Jesus Culture Music - https://jesusculture.com/music/ (https://jesusculture.com/music/)
Worship Together - https://www.worshiptogether.com/ (https://www.worshiptogether.com/)
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction and Jimmy Williams’ background
06:02 - Jimmy’s musical background and early influences
12:18 - Journey into worship and early ministry experiences
17:33 - Transition from church worship to music industry
22:24 - The founding and growth of Worship Together
31:15 - Jimmy’s move to Jesus Culture and current focus
36:20 - The role of local church in worship music development
42:22 - Reflections on industry competition and resources
47:36 - The peak years of Worship Together and industry impact
1:00:49 - Final thoughts on worship, industry, and church connection
Keywords:
worship music, church resources, Worship Together, Jesus Culture, songwriting, church leadership, music industry, worship conferences, local church impact
Get full access to Marc Jolicoeur (aka Jolly Thoughts) at marcjolicoeur.substack.com/subscribe (https://marcjolicoeur.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
4 Sept 2026
Praise Charts’ Ryan Dahl on Resourcing Your (actual) Church
In this episode of the pod, Ryan Dahl (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryandahl/) (founder & CEO of Praise Charts (https://www.praisecharts.com/)) and I sit down and geek out haaaaard over the relationship between what worship leaders say and how they behave. The impetus for this convo is our recent time together in Nashville at the inaugural Worship Leader Research conference, where Ryan unveiled this treasure trove of data (https://praisecharts.vercel.app/) (a treasure trove which he has agreed to share for a limited time with the listeners to this podcast, so… don’t sleep on it!) In this convo we cover Ryan’s backstory, what to do with tubas in modern worship, and what is the busiest time of the week for WLs to download chord charts (hint: it is not Wednesday afternoon). You can watch the conversation on YouTube (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc1j-n2pS9nrsZmAVHFX9RAYuV9s5N9xh&si=hiw3zG4gkSid9sGu) or at the bottom of this post.
Keywords:
worship resources, church music, praise charts, data analysis, worship leading, song complexity, music trends, church growth, worship theology
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction to Ryan Dahl and Praise Charts
05:02 - Praise Charts’ mission and impact on worship
06:06 - Ryan’s journey from worship leader to data enthusiast
08:14 - The unique setting of the worship leader research conference
09:33 - The importance of data in understanding worship trends
11:02 - Ryan’s nerdy passion for musicology and design
15:55 - The diversity of worship teams and song choices
21:32 - The shift from analog to digital distribution of charts
22:23 - Saturday night panic and last-minute downloads
28:41 - The complexity of songs and their popularity
33:11 - The longevity of classic hymns and their continued relevance
38:07 - The shared song repertoire across churches
46:14 - The role of data in understanding church song turnover
48:31 - The surprising discoverability of new songs
53:25 - Praise Charts’ role as an intermediary in the worship ecosystem
56:28 - Future directions: theological insights and resource customization
57:39 - Closing remarks and appreciation for Ryan Dahl
Get full access to Marc Jolicoeur (aka Jolly Thoughts) at marcjolicoeur.substack.com/subscribe (https://marcjolicoeur.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
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