We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aaron Veverka a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Aaron, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?
We are the Bible over Brews podcast; We are an interfaith show that endeavors to create cross cultural viewpoints from differing faith perspectives.
We have Catholics, evangelicals, agnostics and a Muslim that are either recurring co-hosts or guests that help create bridges to understanding between various people.
We started as a Bible study that roundtable conversations based on theology, history and pop culture; we called ourselves “The Berean Society”, based on Acts 17:11.
Aaron “Kru Juice” Veverka, Gamaliel “Gumbi” Lopez, Mike Donahue and Steve Bloom were the weekly constants that made the core of the group.
We started with ideas based on topics from Chuck Missler, Biblical textual criticism and looking into historical events.
Our group started sourcing so much material that eventually Gumbi suggested that we take this to the next level and create a podcast as we’d pulled so much content together.
At this point “Bible over Brews” was started, circa 2016.
The name came from the fact that us guys would often sneak craft Brews into our studies so we could relax while studying.
Not only did our studies continue, but we began to attract very talented and gifted guests, from scholars like Dr Michael S. Heiser (Unseen Realm, Supernatural), and David Burnett to author/screenwriters like Brian Godawa (To end all wars).
Since then, we’ve hosted the likes of people like Michael O’Neil (The Miracle Hunter), Ray Grijalba ((Eucharistic Miracle Movie/Joy of the Faith), Suan Sonna, Father Donald Calloway (Consecration to Saint Joseph/ Champions of the Rosary), and team ups with upcoming initiatives and podcasts like Poiema Podcast, The Black Catholic and Black Catholic Messenger.
Our podcast has gone through growth and change over the years, with Aaron, AKA “KruJuice” entering the Catholic faith as a revert, bringing Keith Kurak along with him, Gumbi and Mike being the groups Evangelicals, acquiring George Comer as the show’s agnostic, and recurring guest Khalil J. Khalil to represent the Muslim faith.
The shows formats have also grown and range from topical studies; to current events and news; to interviews; to Previews; to Skeptics corner (Now Skeptics Brewlette), where we sample various Brews and try to guess which ones they are while having to blindly answer questions from our different viewpoints.
Bible over Brews has now incorporated under the name of our original Bible study, “The Berean Society”, with Bible over Brews being the first brand we launched, and several more endeavors coming over the next few years; stay tuned!
We continue to dive deep, as we have “deep thoughts fermented over time and text”.
After all, “there’s nothing taboo over brew”.
Aaron, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
The background of our hosts is quite diverse, and ranges from linemen to software developers to professional musicians. We have come together under the idea that everyone has a voice in the investigation of the journey of life and spirituality.
We take deep dives into biblical contextualism, backgrounding ideas of cultural context and verbiage as well as the philosophic similarities between different faith traditions.
We do all this while enjoying the best craft beer, wines and spirits, comparing them against each other in the search for the best the market has to offer.
We decided to let our hosts vent on occasion, which led to “Skeptics Brewlette”, which is occasionally heated, but always fun!
We are expanding the brands outside of the podcast, and building out the media company side, please stay tuned!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Initially, when we started it wasn’t as easy and we had to find various solutions. Figure everything out from scratch. It was a lot of work on the backend, a huge commitment.
From getting to know the different algorithms and platform nuances in social media to understanding how to host guests and find good fits for the culture of the show.
Perhaps the more difficult part of the show is planning around the hosts daytime jobs, as each stalwart bastion of faith and reason works different hours.
As well as working in different drinks, so everyone has a rotating roster of their faves!
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
At one time, when we first started, we were more geared toward the evangelical view, however as we expanded in our personal lives and brought in more guests, there was this beautiful tapestry of history, philosophy, backgrounds and cultural views. We were inspired to broaden ourselves into a fully interfaith podcast, help everyone find the commonality in their views and make the world a better place, one show at a time!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bibleoverbrews.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bibleoverbrews/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BibleOverBrews
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BibleOverBrews
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChuiofDo1E2F9xUKKZai-NQ
Image Credits
All from Aaron Veverka