This month, The Briefing, Albert Mohler’s daily podcast, celebrated 10 years of analyzing daily events in the news from a Christian perspective.
The Briefing turned 10 on September 7 after more than 2,000 daily episodes. Ten years ago, Albert Mohler’s popular daily radio show, The Albert Mohler Program, ceased and the podcast began.
“It was not an easy decision to walk away from a prime time, national, daily radio program,” said Mohler, Southern Seminary’s ninth president. “But my hope that has now been fulfilled was that it would lead to a larger audience rather than a smaller audience. Over time the Lord has allowed that to happen.”
The Briefing’s audience is significant: at least 80,000 listeners per day and 400,000 downloads per week. The decision to move from a one-hour radio show to a 25-minute podcast was motivated mainly by the medium’s flexibility both for host and listeners.
“Podcasting had two assets that were really important to me; one was that it gave me more flexibility in the time of day the program would be aired or recorded,” he said. “The other is it would give people an incredible opportunity to listen when and where it fits their schedule. Those were two enormous gains.”
Since The Briefing interacts with issues in the news that impact Christian theology and ethics, Mohler said the podcast will remain a vital means of helping followers of Christ apply the gospel to everyday life. Our current cultural moment calls for a more intense engagement of issues with biblical truth, not less.
“Over the last decade, the issue is that we have enduring principles that engage daily headlines,” he said. “There is an unpredictability day by day but there are certain issues that are recurring because of the moral tenor of our times: Human life and human dignity, threats to the family, confusion about human sexuality—concerns about massive worldview issues—they’re all right there in the headlines.
“The Briefing is intended to be where enduring Christian truth and the headlines collide, where biblical truth and matters of cultural urgency intersect. And that’s what makes it fun. I get to talk about—and help Christians think about—the most important issues of the day. That keeps me at it.”
Mohler also pointed to the use of The Briefing in school curricula and by homeschooling families. “I am really thankful for the children and young people who are listening, and I really want to help parents and Christian teachers.”
In the end, Mohler said that the formation of a biblical worldview is the main purpose of the program: “My aim is to put the most important issues of the day and the eternal truth of the Bible into collision, helping Christians to think more faithfully and then live more faithfully. It’s an incredible privilege.”