Popular author, speaker and Bible teacher Margaret Feinberg went on a unique journey — including fishing on the Sea of Galilee, descending 400 feet into a salt mine, and harvesting olives in Croatia — to discover God’s perspective on food. In Today’s Conversation podcast with NAE President Leith Anderson, Margaret offers a fresh perspective on food in the Bible.
In this podcast, you’ll hear from Margaret, a best-selling author and food enthusiast, on:
- Why God is the “original foodie”;
- How researching food changed the way she thinks about God;
- What the Bible teaches about the dark side of our relationship to food; and
- Where she gets inspiration for her writing.
Read a Portion of the Transcript
Leith: Suppose that you’re in front of a [writing] workshop, and somebody says to you, “Ok, I’ve heard all this and this is great, but what’s the number one piece of advice?” How would you answer a question like that?
Margaret: My number one piece of advice [for writers] is you’ve got to not just define your audience, but you have got to know them in and out. The “who” of your writing will determine the “what” of your writing. So often we just think we have a concept, or we have an idea, or we have something that happened to us, and we write out of that. The only problem is that often, when we’re writing that, we’re writing for ourselves.
If you write for yourself, do you know how many people want to read that? It’s one — it’s just you. But when you start with a “who” perspective of “Who are you going to serve?”, “What are their needs?”, “How well do you know them?” — then that’s going to shape your content in which you can directly meet their needs and transform them.
In the Write Brilliant course — especially the online one — we get real specific. We want you to name the person. We want you to know their age, where they live, what their work is. We want you to know everything about them in a specific way, because when you can write to somebody specific and their specific needs, then all the sudden you can reach everyone. We have a process for doing this in the course, and it is amazing how it transforms people’s writing.
We believe that at its core, writing is an act of self sacrifice. You don’t do it for you. You do it in following Christ to lay down your life and find words that will empower them to become stronger Christ-followers.
Share the Love
If you enjoyed the program, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That will help get the word out and raise the visibility of the show.
Today’s Conversation is brought to you by Ashland Theological Seminary.
Margaret Feinberg is a popular Bible teacher and speaks at events such as Catalyst, Thrive and Women of Joy. Her books, including “Taste and See,” “Scouting the Divine,” “Fight Back With Joy,” and their corresponding Bible studies, have sold over one million copies. Feinberg has been named one of 50 women shaping church and culture by Christianity Today, one of 30 emerging voices who will help lead the church by Charisma magazine, and one of the “40 under 40” who will shape Christian publishing by Christian Retailing. Feinberg holds a B.A. in religion from Wake Forest University.
Leith Anderson is president emeritus of the National Association of Evangelicals and pastor emeritus of Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. He served as NAE president from 2007–2019, after twice serving as interim president. He served as senior pastor of Wooddale Church for 35 years before retiring in 2011. He has been published in many periodicals and has written over 20 books. Anderson has a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary, and is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute, Bradley University and Denver Seminary.
View All Podcasts 
