The RELEVANT Podcast

Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac joins us as NBA teams kick off training camp this week. We talk about what happens when Christians put an athlete on a pedestal, the upcoming NBA season — his 10th — and how his faith-based athletic brand UNITUS has evolved over the last few years.
In Slices, Jesse found the 26-cent coin that just sold for $17,000 and has a retirement plan for whoever works at the Mint. Derek brings the new study showing Gen Z and millennials are drinking less (while Gen X picks up the slack). And Marty explains why Gen Z is buying CDs again without owning a CD player (K-pop, mostly).
Also, Marty keeps his raw denim in the freezer, started collecting Ralph Lauren stamps and is starting to worry about what California is doing to him. Derek has questions. Plus Jesse is going to a silent disco, Cameron debunks the Christopher Nolan Darth Vader rumor and we relitigate the time Derek wore a Rodman jersey in Cameron's courtside seats.
Question of the Week: What's your creative, unexpected Halloween costume idea for 2026? Drop it in the comments and we'll read the best ones next week.
Highlights:
00:30 — Marty's "life hack" that is just backing up your phone
02:55 — Derek's NBA 2K theory of why people don't take responsibility
04:39 — Marty keeps his $400 jeans in the freezer and Derek has questions
10:44 — Why we're running the whole Jonathan Isaac conversation uncut
15:26 — Cameron apologizes to a Magic coach in a Vegas casino
17:09 — Derek wore a Rodman jersey in Cameron's courtside seats
18:28 — Does Cameron need a signature courtside look?
21:44 — Slices: A 26-cent coin sold for $17,000 and Jesse has a plan for the Mint
24:58 — Marty bought a Ralph Lauren stamp collection and is worried about himself
30:54 — Jesse is going to a silent disco
34:43 — Gen Z and millennials are drinking less. Gen X is drinking a lot more
42:20 — The Christopher Nolan Darth Vader movie is not real
44:11 — CD sales are up 59% and half the buyers don't own a CD player
48:16 — Question of the Week: Halloween costume ideas for 2026
49:34 — Jonathan Isaac on year 10, faith under the spotlight and UNITUS

This week, the crew gets philosophical fast. Jesse makes the case that cornhole can cure the loneliness epidemic, Derek wants to bring back boredom and we figure out how doing nothing on a flight became an achievement. Derek also plays his new single 'Lift Me Up' and explains why he built it on the old synths instead of the easy way.
In RELEVANT Buzz, Greta Gerwig cast Meryl Streep as the voice of Aslan in the upcoming Narnia movie, and the comments did what the comments do. Jesse defends it, Derek explains it with potato salad and a text from someone who's actually seen the movie changes the conversation. 
Then Christian Bale opens a village so foster siblings don't get split up, which makes him the real Batman. Elevation Worship and Chandler Moore's 'God I'm Just Grateful' just did something a worship song hasn't done since 'Oceans.' And Jesse brings a CDC report that says most of us are exhausted, which turns into Bob Goff quitting something every Thursday and why no one ever preaches "pray for less." 
Then a new game, Take Sides, closes it out: Chick-fil-A vs. Raising Cane's, window vs. aisle, Waffle House as a life stage and Derek's very strong feelings about hot tubs.
Highlights:
01:28 — Jesse's plan to cure loneliness with cornhole
07:54 — Derek deleted social media. Bring back boredom
10:33 — Raw dogging a flight and the David Puddy origin story
17:22 — Derek's new single 'Lift Me Up' and curating Apple Music's Elevate playlist
24:09 — RELEVANT Buzz: The CDC says 3 in 4 Americans are exhausted (guess who's most tired)
29:35 — Bob Goff quits something every Thursday
32:15 — Why nobody preaches "pray for less"
34:14 — Warren Buffett hands Berkshire to his son
35:00 — The real Batman: Christian Bale's foster village opens
38:32 — Meryl Streep as Aslan? The Narnia fight
42:04 — Derek's potato salad theory of Narnia
48:34 — A text from inside the movie
50:51 — Elevation Worship & Chandler Moore crack the Hot 100
53:01 — Take Sides: Chick-fil-A vs. Raising Cane's, hot tub vs. pool

It's a special (shorter) episode this week! Andrew Garfield joins us — we talk about his new Paul Greengrass film 'The Uprising,' why he keeps coming back to characters who are searching and what he thinks faith has to do with justice.
Then pop artist Claire Rosinkranz talks with us backstage at Lollapalooza. She gets into the moment she says she heard God at 11 years old, what her therapist told her when she felt like she'd stopped hearing Him and why she grieves her younger self. (Plus some lighter stuff too.)
And then Cameron briefly takes us through the new fall digital issue of RELEVANT, which is out this week. Make sure to check it out at RELEVANTmagazine.com!
Highlights:
02:41 — Andrew Garfield on 'The Uprising'
15:35 — Claire Rosinkranz
25:01 — Inside the new issue of RELEVANT

This week Cory Asbury joins us. He walked away from worship music five years ago—we talk about what pulled him back and why it's different this time. His new worship record, Outsing the Angels, is out September 18.
In Slices, Jesse brings up the Tesla Cyber Cab, which is now driving around Austin with no steering wheel, no rearview mirror and no brake pedal, and the federal government has questions. (He also has a theory about what’s actually driving them.) Derek tells us how Skilla Baby’s prayer took over The Breakfast Club this week, and Marty tells the story of the 1986 Zelda art where Link is kneeling in a church praying to Jesus.
Also, water parks are the last lawless place in America, and somebody in Virginia Beach burned down a 50-foot gorilla named Hugh Mungus.
Then One Has to Go closes it out: find out what slow jams, Good Charlotte, and Fast and Furious have in common.
Highlights:
03:00 — Water parks: the last lawless place in America
06:22 — Hugh Mungus, the 50-foot gorilla an arsonist burned down
11:17 — Slices: Tesla's Cyber Cab shipped without a brake pedal, and the feds noticed
18:48 — Marty walks away from a Waymo wreck
21:38 — Skilla Baby's prayer alarm goes off on The Breakfast Club
26:06 — Link was praying to Jesus, and Nintendo of America took it out
31:53 — Bible Adventures, bootleg cartridges and the Christian Marvel comics
33:52 — Cory Asbury on leaving worship music and what brought him back
42:39 — One Has to Go

This week SEU Worship joins us — we talk about the SEU Outpouring and their new album 'Found in the Field.' 
In RELEVANT Buzz, 'Scary Movie' star Anna Faris opens up on Chelsea Handler's podcast about her 14-year-old son and the conversations he keeps having with her about Jesus. Then the biggest artist in music right now, Ella Langley, is rewriting the record books and getting bolder about God from the stage. We play what she said at a recent show. Then there's 'Death of the Pastor's Wife,' the new Netflix series about Mica Miller, the South Carolina pastor's wife whose death became a national story.
In Slices, a 47-year-old Bay Area pastor made a college football roster and is now a defensive end at a community college. And scientists have worked out how to turn plastic bottles into protein cookies for disaster zones and deep space crews (nobody has actually eaten one yet). 
We close the show with a bracket game ranking five years of Emily’s time at RELEVANT: the Eras Tour, girl dinner, jalapeño poppers, a church prom photo. It's her last episode with us, and we send her off the right way.
Coincidentally, we also let you know about some new job openings over at RELEVANTmediagroup.com. 
Highlights:
02:24 — Derek on teenagers again
04:52 — The lame duck era
08:59 — Derek's Dell call center exit stories
13:37 — Jesse quits Kmart
17:06 — RELEVANT Buzz: Anna Faris on her son Jack's faith
21:58 — Ella Langley's record-breaking run and her mini sermon
26:26 — 'Death of the Pastor's Wife' on Netflix
30:33 — SEU Worship on 'Found in the Field'
38:34 — Slices: a 47-year-old pastor makes a college football roster
44:09 — Slices: plastic bottles into protein cookies
47:17 — The Emily Brown Bracket Challenge
58:34 — Five years of Emily Brown
59:37 — We're hiring