John Christian Phifer

Tennessee’s Mortician on a Mission: John Christian Phifer

Finding Life in Death with Natural Burial


John Christian Phifer’s life revolves around death. He performed his first burial at the age of six, wrapping a grasshopper in a shroud of leaves, and today he digs bigger graves on a sweeping nature preserve in the hills of Tennessee. With each funeral, the land is restored and loved ones have wide open space to grieve and to celebrate the life we all are so lucky to live. Hear how John Christian went from mortician to man with a life-giving mission in this first episode of HOPE season 2. 

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about death — my own death, someone else’s death. And that doesn’t necessarily have to be a scary thing. Today is the first day of the rest of my life. So I have an opportunity to do something really powerful with it.”

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about death — my own death, someone else’s death. And that doesn’t necessarily have to be a scary thing. Today is the first day of the rest of my life. So I have an opportunity to do something really powerful with it.”

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about death — my own death, someone else’s death. And that doesn’t necessarily have to be a scary thing. Today is the first day of the rest of my life. So I have an opportunity to do something really powerful with it.”

Listen

Explore

Connect

Who’s bringing you hope these days? We’d love to hear. Message Kate on Instagram or LinkedIn with questions, ideas for new guests, or just to connect.


Subscribe to Kate’s YouTube channel for behind-the-scenes footage, music, and first-hand reflections.


Follow, rate, and review Hope Is My Middle Name on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Your love helps us reach more people with more HOPE.

Thanks

Hosted and executive-produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media produced in association with Reasonable Volume.



This episode was produced by Christine Fennessy with editing from Rachel Swaby. Sound design and mixing from Mark Bush. Music from Epidemic Sound, Soundstripe, and Kate Tucker. Big thanks to Conor Gaughan, publisher and CEO of Consensus Digital Media.

Share by: