Tokens: A New Podcast and The Welcome Table

Tokens: A New Podcast and The Welcome Table

by Pete Peterson on November 12, 2012

For the past few years, Nashville’s Lipscomb University has been hosting a live event called “Tokens.” It’s the brainchild of Lee Camp, Lipscomb’s professor of theology and ethics, and saying exactly what Tokens is is a bit of a challenge, but let me put it like this: It’s an eclectic descendant of The Prairie Home Companion and This American Life—with a little bit of Grand Ole Opry thrown in. It’s an old-fashioned radio show full of great music, satirical comedy, sound effects, and recurring characters, but it’s also an exploration (and celebration) of theology, art, and complex social issues. If you’ve ever been drawn in by an NPR show and found yourself, hours later, wondering where your day went, Tokens is your kind of show.

Each show has a different theme. Each is performed only once and only two or three are produced each year. I was lucky enough to see the “Tales of Reconciliation” show a few months ago (featuring Miroslav Volf, and Fred Gray (Martin Luther King’s lawyer)), and it was the first Tokens performance to be filmed for national public television. The new show, “The Welcome Table,” opens this Sunday evening at the Ryman Auditorium. It too will be filmed for national public television, so hopefully you’ll be able to catch it when it airs if you can’t make the live show here in Nashville. Here’s the official list of players and guests for “The Welcome Table”:

We’ll be joined by special guests Dailey & Vincent, Vince Gill, The McCrary Sisters, JohnnySwim, best selling author Brian McLaren, The Nashville Choir, and our friends Buddy Greene, Brother Preacher, Charlie Strobel, Our Most Outstanding Horeb Mountain Boys, and the Tokens Radio Players. And of course you never can tell who else might wander out on stage…

In addition to the Tokens show, Lee Camp also hosts a podcast called Dispatches from the Buckle. The most recent episode features an extended discussion with, and music by, our own Andrew Peterson. You can listen to that episode here and subscribe to other episodes here via iTunes.

Find out more about Tokens at their website, and click here for tickets to the show this weekend. Hope to see you there.