Note from CM: Our friend Clark Bunch over at The Master’s Table is doing a series featuring some of the iMonk Radio podcasts Michael Spencer made. I told Clark I would be glad to promote these so that more people can once more hear Michael’s voice and wisdom. Here is Clark’s introduction to the series.
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Introduction to iMonk Radio Series
By Clark Bunch
Most readers of Internet Monk have probably been around since the Michael Spencer days. The “original Internet Monk” began blogging shortly after the 2000 election, the year of the hanging chads, and built a large audience over the next 10 years. Mike Mercer, a.k.a. Chaplain Mike, has been hosting, writing and moderating in the years since Michael passed. You may have seen archived posts under the headings Sunday with Michael Spencer, Tuesday with Michael Spencer or Wednesday with Michael Spencer over the years. Most recently Mike Bell has been posting a Bible Study of Mark’s Gospel titled Reconsider Jesus sourced from material originally written by Michael Spencer. I had the opportunity to participate in that Bible study in person during the time we served together at Oneida Baptist Institute so if it means anything I give that study my wholehearted endorsement.
Michael described himself as “a free range, New Covenant, Reformation-loving, post-evangelical Christian with an appreciation for the ancient church, missions, Christian community and theological underdogs.” He always had multiple projects going at the same time. In addition to blogging at Internet Monk he started another blog Jesus Shaped Spirituality in 2008, hosted an online discussion at The Boar’s Head Tavern, and published two podcasts, Internet Monk Radio and Coffee Cup Apologetics. This was all in addition to serving as the campus minister at a private Christian boarding school and providing pulpit supply for a local Presbyterian church. As an ordained Baptist minister they could not call him to pastor; but he was their regular preacher and minister for over eight years.
I said all that to say this: At my blog, The Master’s Table, there is a page featuring a small archive collection of Internet Monk Radio podcasts. I put that tribute together in 2010, shortly after Spencer’s passing, consisting of material that was even at that time no longer available. Beginning this week, on Thursday August 20th, I will begin re-posting a series of those podcasts. They will pick up at podcast #103 and run through the end of the original series, podcast #167. I plan to post on Thursday each week for the next 60 some odd weeks so we’re looking at a little over one year to get them all out there. Some of the references to current events in the news or updates on the Cincinnati Reds may be dated. But just like the Bible study of Mark’s Gospel, some of the wisdom and insights are absolutely timeless. Andy Griffith and Star Trek still show in reruns and in this case we’re talking about the Old Story which never gets old.
When I shared my idea with Chaplain Mike he was excited as well. I wanted to ask his permission and perhaps his blessing before doing anything so connected with the Internet Monk brand name. He offered me this platform to promote the new project. It has been a long time since anything I wrote appeared here and I appreciate the invitation. There is a huge online community today that Michael Spencer was instrumental in putting together. I hope that you look forward to hearing his voice again.
The Internet Monk Archives 
Goodness.
iMonk was the first podcast I ever listened to. In what seems like (but is not) ancient history, I used to download his podcast on my laptop while I was at work, and then I’d listen to it while I’d do the dishes back at my house (ahem, trailer) way off the beaten path. Just thinking about that show takes me back. The iMonk podcast walked me through a pretty difficult time in my life. I’m grateful folks might be able to experience the podcast and hear Michael in that venue for the first time.
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I might have some older ones too, but will have to resurrect a computer to find out.
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I’m starting at #103 and going to #167. I posted #103 last Thursday, look for podcast #104 tomorrow. Chaplain Mike tells me he has the “lost episodes” between 81 and 103 and can send me those mp3’s on a flash drive.
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There was a period of time that Michael recorded everything he did. Whether it was a Bible Study, Sunday school lesson, preaching in chapel or whatever he started a digital recorder before he spoke. I don’t know if he was planning on a building a multimedia library or maybe hadn’t fully formed a plan when he started but in a time before Facebook live and Zoom meetings he was definitely forward thinking. I mean, we’re talking about a man that was blogging before any of us knew what a blog was.
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A quick note:
Clark managed to cover most of my sources for the compiled commentary.
Denise was able to send me audio recordings for a set of Mark Bible studies that Clark refers to. I had them transcribed by volunteers. On top of that I had 5 sermons on Mark.
Way back in Michael Spencer’s earliest days of the Internet (even before Internet Monk) he did a series of written bible studies covering the first half of Mark. I found them all using the Internet Time Machine. He started rewriting them in his new blog Jesus Shaped Spirtuality, but didn’t get very far.
And of course there have been his thousands of blog post through which I did a search for references to the Gospel of Mark.
All told, over 800 pages of material which I have been condensing into the twice a week mini chapters.
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Awesome!
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