Return of The Dice Steeple

If you are a regular reader on the site or listener to our podcasts, you know about the Dice Tower and the greater Dice Tower Network. However, maybe your various wanderings have brought you here through the wilds of the internet. Maybe you work at a church and are curious about the rumblings of this growing cultural phenomenon they call tabletop gaming. Perhaps you found us here at the intersection where of Christianity and cardboard. If that is you, then rather than give you an explanation of all that these wonderful people do, I’ll simply point you to their website and leave you to explore. Take your time. We’ll still be here when you get back and there is much to see over there.

One of the podcasts that appeared on the network, called The Dice Steeple, was an exploration of faith and gaming. For many of the people on the network, their Christian faith is a powerful part of their lives. Some of the contributors are even currently serving or have served as pastors and lay leaders in their local churches. Despite the network’s overall success, tight schedules and complications with getting people together meant that The Dice Steeple has struggled to find its footing. The last recorded episode was posted back in April, and actually featured a discussion with yours truly about the nature of gaming as ministry. But even before then, episodes have been sporadic at best.

But then I received a message that I needed to check out a thread on Boardgamegeek.com.

Apparently, now that more folks have been coming on full time over at the Dice Tower, there is a renewed drive to get the Dice Steeple back on course. The show will now be headed up by Sam Healey and Dan King – who goes by The Game Boy Geek. Based on what was revealed in the thread, it seems they are still in the planning stages, not revealing when we can expect to see new episodes, but there are a handful of reasons we think you should be excited about this news.

• Quality – The folks that make up the Dice Tower do not mess around. They set the bar for the rest of us in a lot of respects. I have no doubt that this will be a great podcast.
• Audience – I’d love to say that the presence of a Christ-centered podcast on the Dice Tower Network means that everyone who listens to the rest of the network will automatically be tuning in to this as well. I’m not so naive. However, if even a FRACTION of the greater Dice Tower listenership is willing to give it a shot, that means that the Gospel will go out to a lot of people who might otherwise have given up on God and His people in a huge new way.
• Passion – We here at InnRoads view games and gaming AS ministry, and see the table as a place where God can do great things in the lives of everyone involved. It is clear when you see Sam and Dan talk about this that they feel the same way. So if you like what we’re doing, you should be excited that more people are getting on board with this.

Since the announcement, Sam and Dan have both made mention to the fact that they like what we’re doing and hope to work together in the future. Sam even summed up so much of my own desire to see more people doing this work in a spirit of collaboration without fear of “staking claim” to the territory. If this is really about being passionate about sharing the love of God with others, then that should be what matters. I know I’m ecstatic about this, and look forward to what’s going to happen.I THINK both of these guys are going to be at Gencon in just about 3 weeks. If that’s true, I’ll be sure to try and get a moment with them to encourage them and get a little more info to share with you about the future of the Dice Steeple.

Be sure to check the Dice Steeple, their BGG guild, and our twitter for more info about when new episodes will go live. Our prayers are with these guys as they look to join in the work that God has called us to in order to serve this community.