Brian Dahlen and Lauren Cuevas
97 episodes listed below
Local faith, honest talk, Northeast Ohio roots.
The Third Place gathers Northeast Ohio Christian voices around practical faith, local ministry, and everyday community life. Episodes move from scripture and parenting to counseling, poverty, gardening, and the odd studio tangent.
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The Third Place is a Christian community show rooted in Northeast Ohio and shaped by local ministry rather than national syndication. It presents faith as something that happens in ordinary relationships, awkward conversations, service networks, counseling, family life, and even the occasional argument over plant terminology. Brian Dolan and Lauren Cuevas open episodes with a loose, familiar rhythm, often joking about hair, clothing, missed phrases, studio quirks, or whoever has wandered into the conversation that day. Then the show settles into questions that matter to churches and families. It can be playful. It can also be quite direct. One episode with Matt Brinkley moves into parenting and grandparenting, especially the need for adults to be honest with teens rather than simply demanding openness from them. The discussion includes a frank story about internet pornography and lust, handled as a pastoral and family concern rather than as shock material. Another episode uses Jesus flipping tables as a doorway into anger, poverty, and the moral limits of religious respectability. Lauren Cuevas speaks from proximity to people living in poverty, and the conversation pushes back against easy assumptions about work, money, and blame. Counseling also has a place here. Crystal Kershaw of Fieldstone Counseling appears in a conversation about disrupting discouragement, giving the show room to treat emotional struggle as part of Christian life. The format is not narrowly devotional. John Palmer, the Cranky Arborist, brings a recurring comic detour through gardening, seasons, annuals, perennials, mums, TikTok myths, and the strange satisfaction of correcting common assumptions. Those episodes keep the show from becoming overly polished or distant. Cleveland Ministry Collective is a repeated reference point, presented as a way to connect, support, and lift up ministries in the region. The show is best understood as a local Christian gathering place with microphones: relational, practical, sometimes messy, and more interested in the people nearby than in abstract religious branding.
Made for: The show suits Christians connected to local church life, ministry support, parenting, counseling, and community service in or around Northeast Ohio. It also fits listeners who prefer informal faith conversations over highly produced devotional formats.
What sets it apart: Its local focus gives the show a grounded texture: Cleveland Ministry Collective, Northeast Ohio ministries, named guests, and everyday community concerns recur throughout. The tone balances pastoral seriousness with casual studio humor and unexpected gardening detours.
Brian and Lauren talk about topics related to faith in NE Ohio.
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A friendly ministry-and-gardening conversation that turns basic plant questions into clear, practical teaching.
Third Place stays in familiar ground: Christian community, local ministry, and some easy banter before it turns toward gardening. The strongest stretch is the plain explanation of annuals, perennials, dormancy, and why the same plant can act differently depending on where it…
Jesus' anger is traced through mercy, sorrow, and hard hearts.
This episode takes one of Jesus' most familiar scenes and gives it a fresh edge. Brian Dolan and Lauren Cuevas keep the tone conversational, moving from ministry-life banter into a clear reading of anger, mercy, and hard hearts without losing the thread.
The Third Place examines the United States’ 250th anniversary through King Charles’s visit to Congress and the history of U.S.-U.K.
The Third Place host Brian Dolan and Ben Chambers of Christ Community Church discuss Christian responses to incarcerated people, prison ministry, forgiveness, and reentry.
Brian Dolan and Lauren Cuevas talk with John Palmer, known as The Cranky Arborist, about why he joined TikTok to correct tree myths and bad practices.
The Third Place hosts Brian Dolan and Lauren Cuevas interview Matt Brinkley, founding and associate director of PACT Ministry, about helping Christian parents and grandparents connect with teenagers.
On The Third Place, Brian Dolan and Lauren Cuevas unpack a Relevant Magazine piece about Jesus flipping the money changers' tables.
This episode of the Third Place podcast discusses the launch of The Cleveland Ministry Collective nonprofit and reflects on the year-end with lighthearted banter about New Year's traditions.
This episode of the Third Place Podcast features an interview with Crystal Kershaw of Fieldstone Counseling about disrupting discouragement within the Christian community.
A podcast highlighting local Christian ministries and faith stories in Northeast Ohio.