The Unbound Podcast with Dr. Tony Evans

Dr. Scott Stripling, archaeologist and biblical scholar who directs Shiloh excavations, joins to connect material finds with Scripture. He discusses how digs work and the slow, careful methods that reveal ancient life. He explores new crucifixion research, Roman execution practices, and discoveries like the Shiloh and Mount Ebal finds that challenge assumptions.

Love is heavier than anger.Forgiveness is harder than outrage.And John Perkins spent a lifetime showing what that looks like.In this special in-memory episode of The Unbound Podcast, we are sharing a previously unreleased conversation between Dr. Tony Evans and Dr. John M. Perkins, recorded a few years ago and now offered in honor of his life and legacy after his death on March 13, 2026. In it, Dr. Perkins speaks with the kind of clarity that only comes from suffering, friendship and decades of walking with Jesus. He talks about dignity, reconciliation, discipleship, race, forgiveness and why love is not weak at all. It is weighty. It is costly. And it is the only way forward. What makes this conversation so powerful is that it does not sound polished or distant. It sounds lived. Dr. Perkins reflects on his grandmother’s love, his brother’s murder, the torture he endured in a Mississippi jail and the hard-won realization that suffering can become a virtue when it drives a person deeper into Christ. Again and again, he returns to the same center: discipleship is friendship, the Bible must be embodied, and the Christian faith is the outliving of the indwelling Christ.Dr. Evans also makes this deeply personal. He honors Dr. Perkins not just as a public voice, but as a hero, mentor and living influence on his own life and ministry. What unfolds is more than an interview. It feels like a final charge. A conversation about what still matters when a life has been lived all the way down to the roots.This episode is for anyone who has felt worn down by anger, division or the shallow versions of justice and faith that dominate so much public life. It is for the listener who wants something older, deeper and truer. And it is for anyone who needs to hear John Perkins say one more time that love, dignity and the gospel will always belong together.———————————————————————The Unbound Podcast is a weekly space for conversations that don’t rush to conclusions. Each episode explores what it means to live free from what binds us—pressure, fear, reputation and the need to have it all figured out—through thoughtful dialogue and lived experience.Senior Producer & Creative Director: Heather HairTechnical Director, Audio & Lead Editor: Lee Sherman#TonyEvans #TonyEvansPodcast #UnboundPodcast

Streaming has changed how people learn, watch and grow. The question is what that shift means for the church.In this episode of The Unbound Podcast, Dr. Evans sits down with Phil Warner, VP of Video Content at RightNow Media, for a conversation about how faith is being communicated in a media-driven world. Phil has spent decades helping shape Christian video resources, watching technology transform how people engage with teaching, discipleship and storytelling.RightNow Media has grown into the largest streaming library of discipleship content in the world, but it began with a small team producing just a handful of Bible studies each year. Phil shares how those early efforts eventually led to a global platform now used by churches across the world, and what ministries can learn from the way media habits continue to change.Dr. Evans and Phil also pull back the curtain on the realities of producing ministry media. Dr. Evans admits that while the finished videos look great, capturing those moments sometimes requires very, very, very long walks just to get the right B-roll shot. The conversation moves easily from those lighter behind-the-scenes moments into a deeper discussion about why the church shouldn’t fear new technology, how streaming platforms are reshaping the way people grow spiritually and why believers need to understand the tools shaping culture today.Phil Warner serves as VP of Video Content at RightNow Media, where he leads the team producing films and video teaching used across the platform. During his time there, he has helped develop more than 250 video-based discipleship resources, driven by a passion to use media to boldly communicate the gospel.———————————————————————The Unbound Podcast is a weekly space for conversations that don’t rush to conclusions. Each episode explores what it means to live free from what binds us—pressure, fear, reputation and the need to have it all figured out—through thoughtful dialogue and lived experience.Senior Producer & Creative Director: Heather HairTechnical Director, Audio & Lead Editor: Lee Sherman#TonyEvans #TonyEvansPodcast #UnboundPodcast

You will lose someone you love.The question isn’t if. It’s when.And when it happens, will your faith hold?In this deeply personal episode of The Unbound Podcast, Pastor Tony Evans sits down with author and speaker John Onwuchekwa for a conversation about grief, faith and what hope actually looks like when life falls apart.John shares the story of losing his brother unexpectedly, planting a church while his world was unraveling and discovering that grief is not a journey you finish but a language you learn. Together they talk about why rushing people to hope can actually wound them, how Scripture becomes alive in suffering and why everything we love in this world will one day be lost.But they also talk about resurrection. About Good Friday moments that feel final. About how God meets us in the dark, not by turning the lights on, but by holding our hand.If you have ever lost someone. If you are walking through grief right now. Or if you want to know how to help someone who is hurting. This conversation is for you.John Onwuchekwa is a pastor, writer and speaker who helps people navigate grief and hope with honesty and depth. He is the author of We Go On. Learn more about John at https://www.johno.co/ and follow him on Instagram @jawn_o.Find his book "We Go On" here: https://a.co/d/0gBsEIKYWatch the full episode and subscribe for more conversations that connect Scripture to real life.———————————————————————The Unbound Podcast is a weekly space for conversations that don’t rush to conclusions. Each episode explores what it means to live free from what binds us—pressure, fear, reputation and the need to have it all figured out—through thoughtful dialogue and lived experience.Senior Producer & Creative Director: Heather HairTechnical Director, Audio & Lead Editor: Lee Sherman#TonyEvans #TonyEvansPodcast #UnboundPodcast

What happens when faith feels fragile in a world that feels fractured?In this episode of The Unbound Podcast, we sit down with Dr. Darren Provost—historian, professor and contributor to the documentary series Unbound: The Bible’s Journey through History—to talk about chaos, conviction and the quiet strength it takes to stand for truth without losing love.Darren specializes in the history of Christianity during the late Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Reformation. With a PhD from Yale University and years of teaching at Yale Divinity School, Southern Connecticut State University, Queen’s University and Trinity Western University, he brings deep scholarship to the table. But this conversation is not academic for the sake of information. It’s about what history teaches you when the Church is under pressure, when culture feels unstable and when believers are trying to discern how to respond.We explore questions that feel incredibly current:How do you hold conviction without becoming combative?How do you love your neighbor without compromising truth?What can figures like Erasmus, John Wycliffe and Jan Hus teach us about courage, discernment and spiritual wisdom today?If you’ve ever wrestled with how to live faithfully in a polarized culture, this conversation will ground you. It reminds us that chaos is not new, reform is not new and God’s Word has outlasted every attempt to silence it.History is not just about the past. It’s about who you choose to become in the present.Watch, listen and lean in.————————————The Unbound Podcast is a weekly space for conversations that don’t rush to conclusions. Each episode explores what it means to live free from what binds us—pressure, fear, reputation and the need to have it all figured out—through thoughtful dialogue and lived experience.Senior Producer & Creative Director: Heather HairTechnical Director, Audio & Lead Editor: Lee Sherman#TonyEvans #TonyEvansPodcast #UnboundPodcast

There are moments in life when you realize you’ve been carrying more than anyone ever knew. Stories you never told. Labels you never chose. A version of yourself shaped by loss, instability or simply being unseen.This episode of The Unbound Podcast is for anyone who knows that feeling.Dr. Tony Evans sits down with Terence Lester, whose life didn’t follow a straight line. Before the degrees or the leadership roles, there were seasons marked by homelessness, fracture and being overlooked. Those years didn’t disappear. They became the ground where something deeper took root.What unfolds here isn’t a résumé or a success story wrapped in neat conclusions. It’s an honest conversation about pain that lingers, dignity that has to be reclaimed, and what it means to let your past inform your purpose without being trapped by it. Terence talks about forgiveness that doesn’t rush, growth that tells the truth, and why truly seeing people is more than compassion—it’s an act of justice.Today, his work spans city streets, classrooms and communities across the country. He leads Love Beyond Walls, teaches public policy and social change and writes about poverty, race and human dignity from lived experience, not theory. His life’s work is shaped by a simple conviction: no one should be invisible.If you’ve ever wondered whether your story disqualifies you or whether the parts of your life you try hardest to forget might actually hold meaning, this conversation meets you there. Not with easy answers, but with clarity, humility and hope that feels earned.Freedom doesn’t always come from escaping the past. Sometimes it begins when we stop hiding from it and move forward, unbound.———————————Learn more about Dr. Terence Lester: https://terencelester.com/Love Beyond Walls: https://www.lovebeyondwalls.org/Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@imterencelesterFollow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imterencelester/Pre-order From Dropout to DoctorateAmazon: https://a.co/d/0alHweurBarnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/from-dropout-to-doctorate-terence-lester/1146878381————————————The Unbound Podcast is a weekly space for conversations that don’t rush to conclusions. Each episode explores what it means to live free from what binds us—pressure, fear, reputation and the need to have it all figured out—through thoughtful dialogue and lived experience.#TonyEvans #TonyEvansPodcast #UnboundPodcast

If your marriage looks fine on paper but feels disconnected in real life, this episode is for you.This conversation goes where most couples don’t. The quiet resentment. The emotional shutdown. The moment you realize you’re still married, but you’re no longer with each other. It talks about what happens when faith, responsibility, kids and calling slowly crowd out connection—and no one knows how to name it without blowing everything up.You’ll hear what it sounds like when someone finally says the thing they’ve been swallowing for years. When Scripture stops being inspirational and starts being disruptive. When love is no longer a concept but a mirror that exposes what’s actually missing.This isn’t marriage advice or a highlight reel. It’s about the long middle. The season where you’re exhausted, loyal, committed—and still lonely. It’s about learning how to fight for the relationship instead of fighting inside it. About rebuilding trust through curiosity instead of control. About choosing honesty when silence feels safer.If you’ve ever thought, “I love you, but I don’t feel close to you anymore,” this episode will hit home. And if you’ve wondered whether something that feels emotionally dead can actually come back to life, this conversation doesn’t hype the answer—it shows it.Follow Jake and Nicci on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/thejakehamiltonhttps://www.instagram.com/niccihamiltonYouTube  @TheJakeHamilton Listen to Jake's music on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2axIibWxJGHJ5gqRRRlMWnRead Jake's book "The Journey to Biblical Masculinity": https://a.co/d/03mYBIMpThe Unbound Podcast is a weekly conversation with Dr. Tony Evans about what it means to live free of what binds us, including fear, pressure, shame and the need to perform strength. New episodes release weekly.#TonyEvans #TonyEvansPodcast #UnboundPodcast

If you have ever wanted to read the Bible consistently but felt overwhelmed, distracted or unsure where to start, this episode will feel like a deep breath.Dr. Tony Evans sits down with Raechel Myers and Amanda Bible Williams from  @shereadstruth3958  for a warm, practical conversation about building a real relationship with Scripture in real life. Not a perfect routine. Not a guilt cycle. Just an invitation to open the Word, keep showing up and let God meet you there.They talk about the most common barriers people face, like intimidation, inconsistency and the feeling that Bible reading has to look a certain way to count. You will hear simple, doable ideas for busy seasons, including reading out loud with kids nearby, listening in the car line and giving yourself permission to be faithful without being fancy. The goal is not to perform spirituality. The goal is to keep coming back.You will also hear how She Reads Truth began as a small online invitation that unexpectedly grew into a global community, and why their heartbeat has always been to strengthen the local church, not replace it. This episode is for anyone who wants Scripture to feel less like a duty and more like a steady place to return to.Links and resources mentioned in this episode:She Reads Truth: https://shereadstruth.com/She Reads Truth online store: https://shopshereadstruth.com/The Bible Is for You (She Reads Truth store): https://www.shopshereadstruth.com/products/the-bible-is-for-you-a-devotional-journey-through-every-book-of-the-bible?_pos=1&_sid=44f4fee50&_ss=rThe Bible Is for You (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/dp/143368899915% off code for the She Reads Truth store:SHEREADS15#TonyEvans #UnboundPodcast #TonyEvansPodcast

If you have ever felt trapped by your body, your limits, or a season you didn’t choose, this conversation will meet you where you are.In this episode of The Unbound Podcast, Dr. Tony Evans sits down with Dan Wallace, one of the world’s leading Greek scholars and a lifelong student of the New Testament. Dan is best known for his work in textual criticism and for founding the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts, which has helped digitize thousands of ancient biblical manuscripts around the world. But this conversation centers on a chapter of his life few people know.After contracting encephalitis, Dan lost much of his strength, mobility, and even his grasp of Greek, the language he had devoted his life to studying and teaching. He shares what it was like to relearn Greek from scratch, using the very textbook he had written himself, while navigating years of uncertainty, pain, and physical limitation.This is not a technical discussion and not a polished testimony. It is an honest conversation about chronic illness, suffering without clear answers, and what faith looks like when progress is slow and control is gone. Together, they talk about what Scripture actually teaches about suffering, how endurance is formed over time, and why God’s presence often shows up through people rather than quick solutions.If you are carrying pain, fatigue, or unanswered questions, this episode offers clarity without clichés and hope without pretending everything is fine.The Unbound Podcast is a weekly conversation with Dr. Tony Evans about what it means to live free of what binds us, including fear, pressure, shame, and the need to perform strength. New episodes release weekly.

What happens when the life you built no longer fits the person you’re becoming?In this first episode of The Unbound Podcast, Dr. Tony Evans sits down with Lecrae for a raw, wide-ranging conversation about faith under pressure, public expectations, missteps, and the slow work of real growth.Lecrae opens up about seasons of success that came with unseen weight, moments that forced him to confront uncomfortable truths, and what it means to keep walking with God when certainty fades and the road gets quieter. This isn’t a soundbite interview or a performance — it’s an honest conversation about what happens after the applause, when you’re left with your questions, your calling, and your faith.The Unbound Podcast is a weekly space for conversations that don’t rush to conclusions. Each episode explores what it means to live free from what binds us — pressure, fear, reputation, and the need to have it all figured out — through thoughtful dialogue and lived experience.New episodes drop weekly.