| Dear Friend,
Today, we look back at this week ten years ago, when the Word on Fire Show started with Brandon Vogt, now executive publishing director of Word on Fire. Brandon tells the story of how it all got started.
"I first approached Bishop Barron with the idea sometime in 2015. I noted how podcasts were becoming more and more popular and were quickly supplanting radio. Unlike radio shows, which require the listener to be in a certain place at a certain time, podcasts were available on the listener's own schedule, while driving, working out, mowing the lawn, or doing housework."
The initial plan was to start the new podcast by sharing a weekly half-hour discussion on a topic Bishop Barron had recently written or spoken about. Most of the early episodes were on Word on Fire articles. The first episode was filmed the day after Bishop Barron was consecrated an auxiliary bishop in Los Angeles, in a little room at the cathedral.
Brandon says, "I remember sitting there just hours after the consecration, with two desktop mics and a cheap recorder, and having a discussion about Pope Francis's recent speech to the US Congress. We released that first episode on December 15, 2015, and thus the Word on Fire Show was born." |  | | It began as a weekly podcast (now biweekly), and the range of topics expanded to include cultural commentary, book and movie discussions, and conversations about trending articles online. Brandon continued, "We wanted the Word on Fire Show to be a vehicle for more evangelization ad extra rather than exclusively reaching Catholics in the pew; we wanted to identify 'seeds of the Word' in the culture."
If Word on Fire's content has strengthened your faith or deepened your love for Christ and his Church, please consider supporting our mission by making a gift to the 25th anniversary fund today. Your generosity helps us continue creating and sharing content that leads souls to Christ. | | MAKE A GIFT | | Brandon hosted the Word on Fire Show for more than eight years, producing over 425 episodes, until March 2024 when he passed the baton to Dr. Matthew Petrusek, senior director of the Word on Fire Institute. Dr. Petrusek has masterfully continued the show, which recently crossed 500 episodes and 25 million all-time downloads.
For 25 years, Word on Fire has been proclaiming Christ in the culture through beauty, truth, and goodness. If our work has influenced your faith journey, please consider a gift to the 25th anniversary fund to help us continue this vital mission of evangelization.
God bless you,
The Word on Fire Team |  | | | |
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