The Camp Beer Arrived with Three Seconds to Spare: Behind the Curtain at Theology Beer Camp

After more than three hours of podcasting in one day, I did the smartest thing a host can do: I handed the mic to our camp director, Josh Patterson. This is nearly the whole Theology Beer Camp planning team on one call (Tony Jones was out burning a forest so it can be replanted, which is a sentence I have now said out loud). We pulled back the curtain on how a team that doesn't live in the same state put on the ninth camp. Kansas City, 700 people, five stages, two breakout rooms, 1,600 pounds of ice, and a polka band that played the SpongeBob song.

You'll hear about the camp beer that arrived at 5:59 and 57 seconds, the livestream that ran all weekend off Josh Gilbert's phone hotspot, and Ben the Beer Guy's "so it begins" moment of pouring 500 beers in 30 minutes. There's also the Westboro Baptist protest and the airport teenager who was certain I was Jack Black. Mostly, though, it's the team naming why we do this. A first-timer felt welcome before he got in the door. A woman made sure a hard-of-hearing man could follow every session. And Pastor Chris at Pine Ridge Presbyterian told everyone there's a difference between being welcomed and being wanted. Ninety-seven percent of you gave camp the top score. Next year is the 10th camp, and I have some odd ideas. You can WATCH the conversation on YouTube.

Join us for TBC 2027

Camp number ten is coming. Sign up at theologybeer.camp for announcements and early access to the cheapest tickets for TBC 2027. And if you gave us four stars because two sessions you wanted overlapped, come volunteer. You'll get it.

The team

Josh Patterson (camp director, Rethinking Faith), Ben Price (beer coordinator), Bren Newlin (volunteers), Josh Gilbert (AV and livestream), Emily Arnold (marketing, design, photography, and sponsors), Sarah Heath (main stage co-host), Tony Jones (in absentia), and Davey, the team's youngest and most cuddled member.

Join me in Berlin for the Bonhoeffer Travel Learning Trip

In June 2027, Andy Root and I are leading two Rise of Bonhoeffer travel-learning weeks. The Seminar (June 12–17) reads Bonhoeffer’s sources where they were fought over — Luther in Wittenberg, Schleiermacher and Barth in Berlin, the prison letters in his own house. The Pilgrimage (June 17–22) is for pastors and faith leaders, built around Bonhoeffer as a working minister in a time of resistance. Twenty-two seats each, back to back so you can do one or both. Early bird pricing through January 31. Details and regis