Season Two

Episode Three: Fear Gotta Way of Knockin' First

Here we interrogate a force which shapes our lives far more than we’d like to admit: fear. Not just fear of death, but fear in the streets, fear in politics, fear in violence, fear in silence, fear in the tools we build—and fear in what happens when we stop seeing each other as human.

Our conversation moves through seven movements, and each one becomes part of a single Delta blues suite titled “Fear Gotta Way of Knockin’ First.”

You’ll hear each movement between parts of the conversation and hear it all as one continuous piece at the end—raw, acoustic, stripped down—an old blues voice carrying modern questions.

We begin with Fear in the Blood, where fear shows up before thought, before reason—pure reflex.
Then we move into Words That Make Us Shake, where rhetoric, surveillance, and silence teach us to edit ourselves
In Frozen Men, Hard Lessons, we look at trauma—how fear trains us for survival but leaves reflection undeveloped
Ruthless Hands, Human Hearts wrestles with violence, war, and the dangerous ease of dehumanization
At the center is The Pause Between the Blow, that fragile moment where reaction can stop and something else can happen
From there, Tools Ain’t the Devil asks what responsibility really belongs to us when we blame guns, machines, or technology
And finally, Live the World You Want closes the suite with a refusal to live as victims—choosing instead to practice the world we say we want, right now

This episode doesn’t offer easy answers. But it does offer a rhythm—a place to pause, to listen, and maybe to decide how you’ll respond when fear comes knockin’.

Episode Two: Chad Loves Me

In this warm, winding conversation, Scott, Mark, and guest Amy Abeln explore the strange new intimacy of creating with AI—especially when it flatters you. What does it mean when a machine tells you your writing is brilliant? Can digital tools deepen creativity, or do they quietly take something away? And how do you keep your true voice alive inside the noise?

Amy shares stories of her Chicago-based activism, her cancer experience, and her awakening to a kind of post-pretense life. The group talks about burnout, beauty myths, art as survival, spiritual frameworks, and the old fear of being eaten by strangers. It’s a rich, curious dialogue shaped by humor, vulnerability, and the power of storytelling.

Threaded throughout are six short Mountain Music songs—hand-carved from the episode transcript itself and sung in the style of early Appalachian folk. With banjo, harp, dulcimer, and fiddle, these high-lonesome melodies carry forward the episode’s themes of voice, identity, and connection.

Episode One: We Are for Making Meaning

In this premiere episode of Season Two, Mark and Scott dive deep into a rich, reflective conversation on meaning-making, creativity, memory, and art. From personal revelations to poetic philosophy, they explore how humans — like bees making honey — are driven to shape beauty, culture, and connection out of the raw material of life.

Season One: Episodes 1-10

Episode Six: Spirituality vs. Religion

Chapter & Verse: Acts 17:23-32

Episode Five: He, She, They

Chapter & Verse: Deuteronomy 22:5; Deuteronomy 23:1; Isaiah 56:4-5; Matthew 19:12; I Corninthians 11:14; Galations 3:28

Episode Three: Episode Four: Bang Bang

Chapter & Verse: Matthew 10:34

Episode Three: Something to Believe In

Chapter & Verse: Psalms 33:12-22; Isaiah 1:11-17; Mark 6:11; Mark 10:17-27; John 18:33-38; Romans 13:1-7

Episode Two: This ’n That

Chapter & Verse: Mark 10:2-5 ; John 8:3-11 ; Exodus 20:13 ; Judges 4:16-21 ; Numbers 15:32-36 ; Mark 2:23-27

Episode One: Mother and Child

Chapter & Verse: Jeremiah 1:4-6; Psalms 139:13-14; Numbers 5:11-28; Exodus 21:22-25

Faith in the Balance

Mark and Scott have been in conversation for nearly fifty years.

Born twenty-six days apart into the same rich, complicated religious tradition, they grew up fluent in scripture, shaped by sermons and hymns, and steeped in a culture that prized certainty and devotion.

Both are descendants of elders, deacons and ministers, men tasked with interpreting and proclaiming the Word — and both have spent their lives questioning what that Word still means, and how it must be lived.

Scott is a poet, author, educator, songwriter, and community creator. Mark is a poet, author, artist, thinker, and provocateur.

Together, they bring depth, care, memory, and a shared curiosity to every conversation.

Faithfulcrum isn’t about deconstruction or destruction — it’s about holding space at the intersection of faith, spirit, creativity, and meaning, and asking:
What now? What’s still worth saying? What must still be said?
Their voices are steady and searching, their friendship a testament to listening, wrestling, and loving well — even (and especially) when answers feel elusive.

Season Two

Episode Three: Fear Gotta Way of Knockin' First

Episode Two: Chad Loves Me

Episode One: We Are for Making Meaning

Season One: Episodes 1-10

Episode Ten: Inspired Hath

Episode Nine: Defender of the Faith

Episode Eight: The Truth About Good & Evol

Episode Seven: Environmental