We’re proud to be partnering with voice over artist, Jonah Martin, to bring you a warm, resonant audio experience with each day’s readings and reflections during Exodus 90, starting in 2024.
His voice over work has been described as “an old growth tree.” Jonah’s bountiful life experience has contributed to his versatile sound. From Alaskan ship captain, to professional banjo player, guitar builder, Amazonian expedition guide, natural history lecturer, and goat farmer, Jonah’s sound is accustomed to a diversity of landscapes.
Jonah lives with his family on a farm in southern Iowa. You can learn more about Jonah and his work here.
In an effort to familiarize you with Jonah, we asked him a few questions:
1. Why did you get into voice over recording? Was there a spiritual journey to your career discernment?
My wife and I were both seagoing ship captains in the Pacific Northwest. Generally we worked in Alaska and the Sea of Cortez, but when we had our first child, we decided to “settle down a bit.” We bought a 100’ steel landing craft and were running freight and doing all sorts of wild stuff around the San Juan Islands of NW Washington State. I was able to sleep at home most nights. I’d say I was very “spiritual” but “spiritual not religious.” (As a youth I grew away from what was a shallow misrepresentation of Christianity.) It was during this period running the work boat that I sought some spiritual structure and was hooked by the hymnography of the ancient Greek tradition. I began a rule of prayer based upon Eastern Orthodox praxis and the books of hymnody. After our second child we decided to move closer to family in the midwest and start a farm in Iowa. In this transition period I was able to live around an Orthodox priest and become catechized. Since there aren’t too many seawater ships in Iowa, I needed to explore a new vocation. I got into voice over and immediately started exclusively in traditional Christian literature, mostly early patristic writings. So, yes, my pursuit of voice over is directly linked to my pursuit for spiritual growth and meaning.
2. What has surprised you about recording the daily reflections for Exodus 90?
Definitely the combo of reading straight through the Book of Exodus with very thoughtful commentary. It says a lot that the Brotherhood is committed to spiritual growth straight from the Bible, and that the Exodus content creators have the breadth and depth to provide commentary that is relevant and meaningful. I’m also very pleased to see Exodus bringing more people to a relationship with personal ascesis. It is so badly needed in our time.
3. What do you think are some of the more important takeaways a man will get from not just going through Exodus 90, but specifically from being able to listen to the daily reflections?
This might sound super basic, but, I think because our culture is possessed by “freedom” meaning “liberty,” Exodus men are benefitting from the Brotherhood so much, in part, because they are coming to rediscover that traditional “freedom” is tearing down the veils that stand between ourselves and God. Freedom is being able to move towards God in the unique ways for which God made us, in deliberate battle with those unholy tendencies to which we are prone to fall passive. When we realize we’ve been fooled by a culture of consumption and hedonism, we are free to come home to Christ; to come home to our purpose as men, whether we be monastic or in the world as husbands and fathers. I think the Exodus reflections help imprint this understanding of freedom as a result of movement toward God, unobstructed by the passions.
You can start Exodus 90 today:
