Episode 3: The Slow Drift

What happens when someone makes giving back a way of life? In A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge's transformation begins to change the lives of the people around him. This episode of The Ebenezer Project explores that possibility as David Anderson welcomes Dr. Gregory "Greg" Anderson to talk about how a commitment to serving others can help a community thrive. Greg was named Louisville, Ohio's 2024 Citizen of the Year after years of helping others celebrate through the award's selection process. His community involvement includes two decades on the YMCA Board of Directors, longstanding service through Rotary, and work supporting local schools and parks. His recognition came with a fitting moment: after riding in the parade as the honoree, Greg stepped out of the vehicle and went straight to volunteering, helping keep the parade traffic moving. David and Greg explore the experiences that shape a person's understanding of success and responsibility to others. Their conversation considers how community projects begin, what helps people work through differences, and how meaningful efforts continue after the initial excitement fades. They also explore the personal commitment required to sustain service alongside work and family demands. Inspired by David's book, The Funeral of Ebenezer Scrooge, this episode brings the question of lasting change close to home. How might one person's willingness to get involved influence a community for years to come? Greg's example invites listeners to consider the opportunities around them and the difference they can begin making while there is still time. Pick up a copy of David's book, The Funeral of Ebenezer Scrooge, today: ScroogeandCratchit.com On Amazon: Order the book The Ebenezer Project Homepage: EbenezerProject.com Facebook: Scrooge & Cratchit Instagram: @scroogeandcratchit Connect with Greg Anderson: LinkedIn For more on David Anderson: Author and Speaker Page  

How do two people who once imagined a future together gradually become strangers? In Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge's broken engagement to Belle offers a familiar picture of relationship drift. Over time, his priorities change, his pursuit of financial security takes greater hold, and the woman he loves finds herself displaced. Their final conversation brings years of growing distance into focus. In this crossover episode of The Wedding Chaplain Podcast and The Ebenezer Project, pastor and author David Anderson explores marriage, romantic relationships, and family life through the people surrounding Scrooge. Drawing on Day 11, "The Slow Drift," from his book The Funeral of Ebenezer Scrooge: Experiencing Change and Finding Meaning at Christmas, David considers how ordinary choices shape the relationships we treasure. Belle's honesty, the Cratchits' affection, and Fred's welcoming home invite us to examine what our loved ones experience through our daily habits. With Romans 12:9–13 as a foundation, David offers practical ways to recognize distance and begin moving toward one another again. Honest conversation and renewed attention create opportunities for repair, while consistent actions help rebuild connection. Whether you are dating, preparing for marriage, or nurturing relationships within your family, this episode asks a personal question: What are my repeated choices teaching the people I love about their place in my life? Scrooge's transformation invites us to consider what the change we begin today could make possible for someone we love. Pick up a copy of David's book, The Funeral of Ebenezer Scrooge: ScroogeAndCratchit.com Listen and connect: The Ebenezer Project: EbenezerProject.com The Wedding Chaplain Podcast: WeddingChaplainPodcast.com Wedding Chaplain: WeddingChaplain.com Facebook: Scrooge & Cratchit Instagram: @scroogeandcratchit For more on David Anderson: Author and Speaker Website

What did Charles Dickens really believe about Christianity, Jesus, and the Gospel? Although A Christmas Carol has become one of the most familiar stories in Western culture, its Christian foundations are frequently minimized or overlooked. In this episode of The Ebenezer Project, David Anderson sits down with Dickens scholar Dr. Gary Colledge to explore Charles Dickens's faith and the religious convictions that shaped his writing. Dr. Colledge earned his Ph.D. in Biblical Studies and New Testament from the University of St Andrews in Scotland, where his doctoral research examined Jesus, Dickens, and Dickens's privately written Gospel narrative, The Life of Our Lord. He is the author of God and Charles Dickens: Recovering the Christian Voice of a Classic Author and Dickens, Christianity and The Life of Our Lord: Humble Veneration, Profound Conviction, and his scholarship on Dickens and Christianity has also appeared in Dickens Studies Annual. Gary brings the perspectives of an English teacher, biblical scholar, pastor, and longtime theology instructor to the conversation. His teaching career has included courses in theology, the Bible, New Testament studies, Jesus and the Gospels, literature, Christian life, and ethics.  David and Gary discuss how Gary became interested in Charles Dickens, why the question of Dickens's Christian faith continues to generate debate, and why some literary critics have resisted reading Dickens through the religious convictions expressed in his own writings. They also explore the way film and stage adaptations can diminish the Christian elements of A Christmas Carol, along with what Dickens may still have to say to the modern church. The conversation eventually moves from scholarship to application. Dickens believed deeply in compassion for the poor, generosity, moral responsibility, and a Christianity expressed through the way people actually live. What might happen if we read Dickens devotionally as well as literarily? What can Ebenezer Scrooge's transformation teach us about becoming more generous, more attentive to others, and more willing to let faith reshape our lives?   Pick up a copy of David's book, The Funeral of Ebenezer Scrooge, today: https://scroogeandcratchit.com/  The Ebenezer Project Homepage: ebenezerproject.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scroogeandcratchit/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scroogeandcratchit  To get a copy of Gary Colledge's book, God and Charles Dickens: Recovering the Christian Voice of a Classic Author, please click here: https://link.amazon/B0f4Y24cV  To get a copy of Gary Colledge's book, Dickens, Christianity and 'The Life of Our Lord': Humble Veneration, Profound Conviction (Continuum Literary Studies Book 189), please click here: https://link.amazon/B02Ts5L3O  For more on David Anderson Author Speaker Page: https://davidmanderson.com/  David Anderson's Linktree Profile  

Can people really change? Ebenezer Scrooge appears to do exactly that. In a single Christmas Eve, the miser at the beginning of A Christmas Carol confronts his past, sees his present clearly, faces the future his choices are creating, and awakens on Christmas morning determined to live differently. Yet one extraordinary night raises another question: How do we know the change lasted? In the first full episode of The Ebenezer Project, David Anderson introduces the central questions that will guide the podcast. What causes genuine transformation? What makes change endure after the emotional moment has passed? And how does a changed life begin affecting a family, a business, a community, and eventually a legacy? David also explains why Ebenezer Scrooge provides such a powerful framework for exploring personal change. The experience that awakens us may happen suddenly, while the evidence of transformation is written through the choices that follow. From Dickens and A Christmas Carol to leadership, relationships, community impact, mortality, and redemption, The Ebenezer Project begins with the question at the center of it all: Can a person truly become someone different? Pick up a copy of David's book, The Funeral of Ebenezer Scrooge, today: https://scroogeandcratchit.com/  The Ebenezer Project Homepage: ebenezerproject.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scroogeandcratchit/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scroogeandcratchit  For more on David Anderson Author Speaker Page: https://davidmanderson.com/  David Anderson's Linktree Profile  

What makes change happen? And more importantly, what makes it last? Inspired by Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and David Anderson's book The Funeral of Ebenezer Scrooge, The Ebenezer Project explores transformation, redemption, legacy, and the ripple effect of one changed life. Join David as he speaks with scholars, artists, leaders, and people who have experienced profound turning points, all centered around one question: What happens when change is real, lasting, and powerful enough to change the lives around us?