My Build-it-Yourself Moment

Dan Wunderlich

“Daddy, can we listen to a podcast?”

Almost every day in my world, this question gets asked at the breakfast table, shouted from the bathtub over the sound of running water, and begged from the backseat of the car.

I am the parent of a 7-year-old who is obsessed with podcasts, much like her dad. I have enjoyed listening alongside her or getting a blow-by-blow recap of the latest thing she learned or story she’s gotten lost in.

It has become clear that these aren’t just time-fillers, but they are helping to shape her well of knowledge and growing imagination. And being a pastor, I’ve noticed that listening to podcasts has become a ritual of sorts for her. They are important parts of her everyday life; a practice she actively looks forward to and gets excited about.

Perhaps the clearest example was our nearly three-year run with the podcast “Chompers.”

This twice-daily podcast offers two minutes of stories, interviews, fun facts, songs, or jokes broken into 30-second segments, helping kids practice proper toothbrushing technique.

I began to wonder if a podcast could get a child excited about something like toothbrushing; could it do the same for spiritual disciplines?

Discovering the Need

I began searching, but I couldn’t find what I was looking for.

Above all, a podcast like this needs to be engaging and fun. No parent is going to force their kids to listen to a podcast they have no interest in. Secondly, it needs to explain spiritual concepts in ways that are age-appropriate and accessible to curious, thoughtful kids. And, as a United Methodist, the particular theological foundation matters to me.

I asked other parents for recommendations, and the response was practically universal: I don’t know of anything like that, but if you find it, please let me know. We need something like that!

Many of the parents I know through my ministry and personal relationships want to raise their children with a healthy faith. They want their kids to be rooted and grounded in love, to come to know and follow Jesus, and to practice disciplines like gratitude and prayer.

But they don’t feel equipped to do this, nor do they have the time or training to figure it out. Even fellow clergy expressed that they were often too tired by the end of the day to do anything more than a quick prayer with their kids. In-person kids ministry at a church is a great resource, but why isn’t there a better digital resource? Something accessible on-demand and designed to become part of the rhythm of real families.

It turns out, it is not just kids who need something like this—it is the whole family.

Why I Do This Work

I realized this was a build-it-yourself moment, and suddenly, multiple facets of my life seemed to come together in new and surprisingly clear ways.

I have previously hosted two long-running podcasts, so I have both the equipment and the technical skills needed. I am an ordained clergy person with decades of theological training and experience. I have a degree in advertising and have spent years teaching communications to church leaders. Over the last 4 years, I have trained and performed as an improviser, learning to craft engaging stories quickly. And I am the parent of two young kids with endless questions, which has forced me to figure out how to break down spiritual concepts and make the Bible accessible.

Around the same time, I joined a new program called Phygital Fellows, connecting me with others who are exploring how digital tools can be used to make a tangible impact on people’s lives. I pitched the idea to our cohort, and they affirmed the potential that I felt, while helping me dream about what it could become as digital ministry grows and evolves.

The Family Prayer Podcast

As a placeholder, I started calling my idea the Family Prayer Podcast. And as one more sign that this kind of resource does not yet exist, the URL and username were available on virtually every digital platform.

So, here’s the plan: craft an engaging podcast that, through the vehicle of creative storytelling and compelling reflections, equips families to practice spiritual disciplines that will help them mature in their faith together.

The ultimate dream is that families will discover sustainable rhythms of faith that extend far beyond any podcast. In the same way that my daughter now brushes her teeth for the full two minutes even without “Chompers,” my prayer is that families that eventually age out of the podcast will continue to practice gratitude, intention, and prayer.

In this way, the podcast goes beyond being merely entertainment or even a solution for a problem like keeping bedtime on track. It becomes a spiritual guide, meeting families where they are, and equipping them with powerful disciplines they can carry with them throughout their lives.