Born out of the desire to share thoughts freely and in an accessible format, the Pastor’s Trellis is a blog containing a collection of articles authored by Dr. Duane Otto. These writings explore the nature of church ministry in relation to the Genesis mandates of place-making and place-keeping. This blog provides a voice for those thoughts that may not fit into a sermon or do not have the opportunity to be featured by Ithaka. However, it will also serve as an archive for Pastor Duane’s writings, and give insight to the larger context connecting the farm, the church, and ministry life. Born from the book, The Trellis and the Vine, by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne, the name of the blog symbolizes intimate and crucial relationship between the body of believers and spiritual structure.


Recent Podcasts

Here are a few of our most recent Ithaka Fellowship lectures, keep scrolling to connect to our archive. 

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Podcast Archives

The following recordings are mostly taken from our Friday Night Lectures. All resources are copyright Ithaka Fellowship. Feel free to quote for your own use. If you have a website, please provide a link to this page or one of the resources specifically. Thank you!

  • By Nick Thompson


    Approaching coffee as a guide to navigating culture differently. Finding beauty in details, hope in community, and intentionality in busyness.

  • By Donna England


    Donna shared primarily about her books, I Used to Be Little & My School Days in the 1950’s and on the “why” of writing and how she got started. She also read some selections from her books.

  • By Dr. Melody Green, Dean of Urbana Theological Seminary


    The BBC Television series Doctor Who has been running for more than 50 years.  While it is a lot of fun, it uses story to engage many different philosophical and even theological ideas.  This lecture, which was published by Square Halo Books in a symposium entitled "Bigger on the Inside: Christianity and Doctor Who," will explore five different ways that Doctor Who engages in a complex relationship with the faith.

  • By Krystal Kay Lyon, ZekeFilms Blogger, Program Director of Ithaka Fellowship


    Whether it’s the minute long silent films of the 1890’s or the three-hour long epic space voyages of 2014 we love going to the movies. There’s something magical about placing yourself in another person’s shoes or experiencing a fantastic adventure on another world. We are drawn to a good story, a tale that speaks the truth or relates to our own life’s dialogue. Why are we drawn to these stories and why...

  • By Joel Presley


    Joel is President of Presley Realty and Live Oak Land Company in North Augusta, South Carolina. Leading a business and making wise decisions with future generations in mind is important to Joel. As a steward of the land, he seeks to grow capital, improve value, and care for the needs of others by taking the long view. Joel is aa board member of Ithaka.

  • By Dr. Neil Skaggs


    Prior to his retirment, Neil (Ph.D. Duke University), was Professor of Economics and Interim Department Chair at Illinois State University. He taught Money and Banking, History of Economic Thought, Intermediate Macroeconomics, and Principles of Economics. His research specialty is the history of monetary economics and his work has appeared in numerous journals.

  • By Dr. Willem VanGemeren


    Willem (PhD, University of Wisconsin) is Professor Emeritus of Old Testament and Semitic Languages, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is a friend of Ithaka Fellowhip, a former board member of Langham Partnership (founded by Stott), and the author of a number of books, including Interpreting the Prophetic Word (Zondervan) and a commentary on Psalms in the Expositor's Bible Commentary Series (Zondervan).