01: Why We're Here

The Sunday morning gathering that became a symbol of our faith — and why we decided to keep the conversation going.

In this pilot episode, Jacob and Sam tell the origin story of Table Talk: how it began as an anti-event at the church where they both worked, why they kept pulling up chairs long after the church-staff chapter ended, and what they mean when they say faithful curiosity.

They share some questions still alive for them, introduce the quilting metaphor that runs through everything they do, and ground the whole project in two verses held in creative tension — Galatians 5:6 and Proverbs 25:2.

Less explaining, more exploring. Pull up a chair.

Chapters

00:00Intro
00:37Cold open
02:08Welcome to Table Talk
04:09How Table Talk began
10:23Curiosity over answers
13:36The table becomes a lab
15:49Jacob’s mystery: prayer
17:24Sam’s mystery: spiritual beings
20:29Faithful curiosity as a banner
24:00Is this deconstruction?
29:30The quilting metaphor
37:21Two verses, one framework
46:00The royal vocation of curiosity
51:44Pulling up chairs

Scripture

Galatians 5:6 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”
Proverbs 25:2 “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.”
Matthew 5–7 The Sermon on the Mount — the Kingdom Manifesto series the original Table Talk grew out of
Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
Matthew 6 Jesus teaching the disciples to pray
Mark 2:27 “Then he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.’”
Genesis 1 & Psalm 8 Image-bearing and humanity’s royal vocation
Job 1–2 The divine council scene

Mentioned

Faith After Doubt by Brian McLaren
Jiddu Krishnamurti “The day you teach the child the name of the bird, the child will never see that bird again.”

Stay in the conversation

Got a question, a story, or a thread you want us to pull on? Email us at hello@tabletalk.fm, or find us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at @tabletalkfm.

Here’s to faithful curiosity and patchwork spirituality.