Today, I am excited to share an interview featuring my friend, Dr. Norman Horn, founder and President of the Libertarian Christian Institute (LCI) and host of the Faith Ventures podcast. Dr. Horn is the author of numerous peer-reviewed publications in economics, science, and political theory and has won several awards for his research and writing.
The Faith Ventures podcast highlights stories of Christians who are doing remarkable work in the marketplace in their pursuit of loving God and serving others. Read on to learn more about Faith Ventures and why you may want to tune in.
What originally inspired the Faith Ventures podcast, and how does it specifically tie into the work of your LCI?
Horn: Faith Ventures is the joint brainchild podcast of multiple inputs coming together over the course of a few years. As we were building up the Christians For Liberty Media Network a few years ago, one of our advisors mentioned that he wanted to run a podcast about Christian entrepreneurs. That didn’t pan out initially, but I kept revisiting that idea from time to time and it helped form the purpose of the show: telling great stories of Christians doing business for the glory of God.
At LCI, we do a great job of discussing politics, ethics, liberty ideas, and free market economics in the context of a Christian worldview and sound theology. But if we really believe that, outside of the church, God’s primary way of providing for human flourishing is through the free market, then shouldn’t we talk more about the Christians who are participating in the marketplace and how they are making an impact in God’s kingdom?
That’s what I want to do with Faith Ventures: show the world that the market is beautiful, and that our brothers and sisters in Christ are doing incredible things through commerce and production to make the world a better place.
In a world saturated with media, including podcasts, why is yours worth the time?
Horn: Saturated is probably an understatement, but I think what makes Faith Ventures special is the particular angle of discussing careers and work alongside the importance of the marketplace and our shared Christian principles. At roughly 30-35 minutes per interview, it’s the perfect length to get encouraged in your walk with Christ and your efforts to do great work in the free market.
What key topics, themes, and stories are discussed? How might they inspire and/or challenge your listeners?
Horn: It’s really important to me that Faith Ventures is not “the Norman show” but rather is all about the guest and their story. Broadly speaking, our key topics are the unique ways Christians serve in the marketplace, the integration of faith and work, and the interesting lessons learned along the way that may be job-specific or faith-related.
I’ll begin with a guest by having them describe how they came to be the person they are today, a “career trajectory” of sorts. Then we’ll unpack their current business or industry with its intricacies, and from there I try to seize upon their anecdotes or principles they discuss to go deeper and draw out the lessons. This is where the meat is, and I never really know where we’ll end up until we get to talking in detail. But we always find stupendously interesting stuff to talk about.
What do you hope your listeners will learn as they tune in?
Horn: I think there’s really something for every curious listener in each interview. For some, they will learn some new facet of integrating faith and work that they haven’t before considered. Maybe it’s about leadership, or professional ethics, excellence, or treating customers right. For others, it’s valuable to hear the story itself, to be inspired to greater service of Jesus through serving our fellow man.
In another sense, a lot of Christians simply have faulty negative views of certain kinds of work, and hearing from fellow Christians in those positions can be enlightening and corrective. And for the younger listener, they can learn about various industries and perhaps see opportunities for a productive career heretofore unconsidered.
What’s been your favorite part of producing this podcast? What’s been the most difficult?
Horn: My favorite part has absolutely been getting the opportunity to meet these incredible people from all over the map and gain new perspectives. It’s a real joy to garner even a single new insight and go forth applying it in my own work in some small way.
In addition to this podcast, what other creative endeavors are you and LCI working on? What’s in store for the future?
Horn: LCI’s mission is to equip the church to promote a free society, and we do that by creating all kinds of resources for Christians to learn about individual liberty, free market economics, and sound theology. I’m excited that we have multiple book projects underway to launch in 2025, and perhaps even more excited about our efforts to do a translation of all our major materials into Spanish so we can reach our Latino brothers and sisters better!
