Ouachita Stories

Previously published in the 2021 Ouachitonian yearbook

While on a mission to answer his questions about Christianity, Levi Dade, a sophomore Christian Studies and Spanish double major from Senatobia, Miss., started his podcast, Defending Christianity. Through his podcast, Dade’s goal was to answer common questions regarding the Christian faith.

After starting classes at Ouachita in Fall 2019, Dade discovered there were many arguments to be made against the Christian faith. “I began just thinking to myself, and I realized I didn’t have an answer to any of these questions. It shook my faith in the sense that I knew I wasn’t grounded in my faith, and I didn’t know why I believed what I believed,” Dade said.

Motivated to find out more about the truth behind his faith, Dade used his free time in quarantine to grow his knowledge of Christianity. After diving into the world of apologetics, Dade spent hours researching, studying and listening to different sources such as podcasts.

“I liked to listen to podcasts about Christianity, so I said, ‘I’ll just make a podcast,’” Dade continued. “Once I found a free podcast plan, I decided to release an introductory episode where I described my intentions in starting my podcast. When thinking about my goal with the podcast, I knew I wanted to defend Christianity and give others a way to defend Christianity, so that was how Defending Christianity got its name.”

After releasing a 12-minute introductory episode, Dade made a list of episode ideas that included a look at Jesus through the Gospels and common objections to the Christian faith. His research would ultimately lead him to conduct interviews with several Biblical scholars such as Darrel Bock, Kristian Padilla and Dr. Michael Brown.

“When choosing who to reach out to for an interview, I tend to ask two questions. First, have they done specific studies on the topic, and secondly, are they a credible source? I think that if the answers to those questions are yes, then people are more likely to see the podcast as a credible source of information,” he said.

With excitement for what was to come, Dade was always planning his next episode. To Dade, his goal for Defending Christianity was two-fold. He wanted Christians to be tolerant and understanding of the people who don’t know Christ, and for non-believers to see and know the truth.  “If God uses my podcast to reach fellow believers and non-believers, then I will be very grateful, but I am not focused on it growing big. If one soul comes to know Jesus, then I know it was all worth it,” Dade said.

Photo by Abby Blankenship

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