Best Jake Smeester Podcasts (2025)

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E3. What It's Really Like to Be a Pastor with David Burke 54:15

Play Pause

1M ago54:15

54:15

In this episode, we hear from a longtime friend and mentor, David Burke. With over 25 years of ministry experience—including 16 years in college ministry and nearly a decade as a senior pastor—David has a deep well of insight into the life of a pastor. Today, he serves with Standing Stone Ministry, offering confidential coaching and support to past…

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E2. Is the Bible Inerrant? A Conversation with Evan Kim 1:17:09

2M ago1:17:09

1:17:09

Is the Bible perfect—unchanging and immune to cultural shifts? Does it contain errors (errant), or is it entirely without error (inerrant)? The belief in biblical inerrancy is a traditional and widely held view, but what if that wasn’t the original intent of the text? In this episode, Jake sits down with his good friend Evan Kim, a former classmate…

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E1. What is I Don't Know S***? 11:04

5M ago11:04

11:04

Welcome to the first episode of I Don’t Know S***, hosted by Jake Smeester—a seminary grad, former church worker, and lifelong learner. In this intro eposide Jake shares his personal journey through faith, ministry, and deconstruction, laying the foundation for a podcast centered on exploring the gray areas of theology, culture, and identity. From …

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09 - Humiliated at a Potbelly (and other cheerful stories of learning humility on the path to living one’s life purpose) 1:27:39

3+ y ago1:27:39

1:27:39

Episode Overview As a child, Segun Olagunju prayed for wisdom, which is the only thing that can explain a 20-something recognizing that if he’s going to make a difference in the world (Nigeria, in particular), he’s going to work backwards from being a 50-something changemaker in 2035. Setting out on a 30-year journey to learn business, leadership, …

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08 - An Accidental Rant on Christianity With A Kind, Patient, Open-minded Pastor Who Took it Well 1:06:33

3+ y ago1:06:33

1:06:33

Most of the time on the Interesting Lives of Normal People, we try to dig into the stories of our guests to find out what they’re all about, what’s been on their mind, and what they ‘just need to get out into the world.’ This podcast turned out to be a bit of the reverse. In this episode with Dr. David Burke, mentor and friend of Jake’s, and a long…

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07 - “Do What You Love, Love What You Do!” And Other Hot Life Tips From The Fashion Queen of Denver 1:04:30

4y ago1:04:30

1:04:30

If you’ve ever seen a music video from the band OK Go, that’s basically what it’s like hanging out with Brandi Shigley. Over there is the flamethrower, in this corner is a family of ferrets dressed in matching outfits, in walks a mailman with a green mohawk who is also her tattoo artist, and here you are sitting on a giant hand-shaped chair that sm…

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06 - Time is Limited For Us All But Some Are More Aware of It Than Others 1:03:19

4y ago1:03:19

1:03:19

Here’s a classic Would You Rather: “Would you rather be blind your whole life or go blind gradually?” For Lindsey Blankenship (Siegel), she didn’t get to choose, but she has a rare eye disease that is slowly making her blind. As a teenager, she skied regularly; as a 41-year old mom, she has to look carefully at her feet to make sure she doesn’t wal…

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05 - Take Long Walks. And Other Mindblowing Creativity Tips from Normals in the Advertising World. 57:56

4+ y ago57:56

57:56

Here’s something of a truth: ‘normal’ people don’t make commercials for a living. They don’t write 30-second spots featuring Muppets talking on a Facebook Portal, they don’t have their words read by Arnold Schwarzeneggar, they don’t direct actors in Romania over Zoom, and they definitely don’t have their work seen by millions of people watching Mar…

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04 - What Happens When You Examine The Life You Live vs. The Life You Want to Live 1:01:56

4+ y ago1:01:56

1:01:56

In the Summer of 2008, Tory Leggat took the leap to move from Seattle to NYC with no job and no real friends, but all the optimism and pluck of a 22-year old ready to live out a dream of a year in the Big Apple. But when the (financial) world crumbled within days of her arrival to NYC, Tory had to recalibrate her expectations for work, personal fin…

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03 - Life as a Fun-loving Disco Ball Inside of a Kaleidoscope 1:08:50

4+ y ago1:08:50

1:08:50

Stephanie LaFlora is a disco ball inside of a kaleidoscope. On one hand, she’s a mom and a wife, she’s got a house in the burbs and a 9-5pm. She’s admittedly scattered, prone to quitting when things get painful and encounters impostor syndrome. She’s even got a 401k. On the other hand, Stephanie is black female in tech who has sang with Hillsong at…

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02 - How to Use Your Amazing Brain in the Quest for Meaning 41:59

4+ y ago41:59

41:59

In our second episode, we talk to Dr. Jessica Stern, a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist. She has spent many hours sitting with people, helping them sort through what is true in their life, and guiding them as they name what they want to be true. We asked Dr. Stern to help us discuss passion and the longing for meaningful work. In this conversation…

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01 - The Happy Journey of Listening, Learning, and Creating Something That Matters 41:36

4+ y ago41:36

41:36

Overview How do you start a podcast that’s about making a podcast? For us (Jake, Ryan and Fin), we ‘start’ this podcast almost a year into a what-should-we-make-a-podcast-about? journey. This “episode 1” is actually episode 14, recorded only once we found our proverbial North Star and were able to articulate--for ourselves and listeners--what this …

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Trailer 10:18

4+ y ago10:18

10:18

Welcome to The Interesting Lives of Normal People. A podcast experiment in finding passion, self-exploration, valuing others, asking good questions, and listening. Find out what it's all about in this short trailer. “I think you guys should start a podcast with Jake.” The podcast started with a group text from Maggie, Jake’s wife. A few months late…

Jake Smeester Podcasts

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I Don't Know S*** - a Christian Podcast

Jake Smeester

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Interesting Lives of Normal People

RH Projects

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E3. What It's Really Like to Be a Pastor with David Burke 54:15

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E2. Is the Bible Inerrant? A Conversation with Evan Kim 1:17:09

1
E1. What is I Don't Know S***? 11:04

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09 - Humiliated at a Potbelly (and other cheerful stories of learning humility on the path to living one’s life purpose) 1:27:39

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08 - An Accidental Rant on Christianity With A Kind, Patient, Open-minded Pastor Who Took it Well 1:06:33

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07 - “Do What You Love, Love What You Do!” And Other Hot Life Tips From The Fashion Queen of Denver 1:04:30

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06 - Time is Limited For Us All But Some Are More Aware of It Than Others 1:03:19

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05 - Take Long Walks. And Other Mindblowing Creativity Tips from Normals in the Advertising World. 57:56

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04 - What Happens When You Examine The Life You Live vs. The Life You Want to Live 1:01:56

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03 - Life as a Fun-loving Disco Ball Inside of a Kaleidoscope 1:08:50

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02 - How to Use Your Amazing Brain in the Quest for Meaning 41:59

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01 - The Happy Journey of Listening, Learning, and Creating Something That Matters 41:36

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Trailer 10:18