"Christian Geek Central" Meets "Colin's Last Stand"! @notaxation

Last Friday evening I had the unique pleasure of recording an episode of "Fireside Chats" in person with Colin Moriarty of "Colin's Last Stand".

Colin has been a unique and prominent voice in games media for a number of years, establishing his career at IGN and later leaving to form "Kinda Funny" and "Kinda Funny Games" alongside games media personality Greg Miller and other associates from his IGN days.

In March of 2017, Colin left Kinda Funny and created his own brand, "Colin's Last Stand", which focuses on a mixture of his interests, including video games, politics, and history. Colin has also been an outspoken atheist for many years, although he enjoys talking about matters of faith and is refreshing in the grace and respect he brings to his conversations with Christians.

I've felt a growing affection for Colin since his early days with Kinda Funny, appreciating his thoughtfulness in dialogue and detecting some kinship with him in the way we are both wired. It was that affection that recurringly gave me a desire to reach out to him and share some thoughts about faith that I suspected he hadn't heard from anyone before. I also wanted to share some resources that I've found valuable as a Christian who is highly skeptical and prone to asking piercing questions about my own faith.

When he recently emphasized to his audience that he almost never turns anyone down who expresses interest in being a guest on his eclectic interview podcast series "Fireside Chats", I felt that uncomfortable pull that I believe was the Holy Spirit, urging me to volunteer to be a guest and talk about my faith with Colin.

Now, I'm no stranger to podcasting, having produced weekly episodes since 2007 of what is now the Christian Geek Central podcast . But I tend to be a slow, deliberate thinker with a poor memory for factoids, and so am very intimidated by debate, which calls for quick thinking and recall of relevant facts. Fireside Chats isn't a debate show, by any means. But Colin, very fairly and appropriately, likes to push back a bit in conversation and question the merits of beliefs held by his religious guests. So volunteering to do an episode of Fireside Chats was fairly stress-inducing, and became even more so when, to my surprise, he agreed to have me on!

Despite all the irrational fears and concerns my worrying mind brought upon itself beforehand, my time with Colin was fantastic. And in celebration of that I'll be releasing two videos, one before and one after my Fireside Chats episode is published. In the first video, releasing in late July or early August, I'll share what I did to prepare for my chat with Colin. I'll also talk a little about what those first moments were like as we introduced ourselves and prepared to record. In the second video, which I will release soon after my Fireside Chat episode is published, I'll reflect on how I felt the interview went and list some of the topics I had prepared to discuss, but that actually never came up. 

Despite the fact that Colin has interviewed four Christians already, we covered some new ground in this conversation, and both of us had surprising thoughts to share with each other. I don't think I could be any happier with how it all went and I can't wait for you guys to hear it! There is no firm release date for it yet, but rough estimates put it sometime in August, with the possibility of September as well. I will be sure to make an announcement as soon as I have a firm date!

In the meantime, and before I post the first of my two videos, I want to invite you to get to know Colin Moriarty a bit by visiting his patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/colinslaststand

And if you'd like to see how he has interacted with Christians in the past, be sure to check out:

Fireside Chats, Episode 23: Faith and Religion in the 21st Century https://www.patreon.com/posts/fireside-chats-16630405

Fireside Chats, Episode 61: Fighting the Culture War with Roaming Millennial https://www.patreon.com/posts/fireside-chats-22278110

Fireside Chats, Episode 69: Theological Intrigue https://www.patreon.com/posts/fireside-chats-23128090

Fireside Chats, Episode 84: The Southern Baptist https://www.patreon.com/posts/fireside-chats-25973585

Then stay tuned! In a few weeks, I'll share the details of what it's like to prepare for a conversation with Colin Moriarty, and describe the experience of meeting him face to face!

-Paeter