West Ridge Church Next Steps Podcast

If you identify as a follower of Jesus, do your actions and how you live your life matter? Does it matter how you speak, or how you treat others, maybe even those who are very different than you? What would it look like to love those who may seem unlovable to you? To use the analogy the Apostle Paul uses, what are you clothed in? Are you clothed in anger, wrath, idolatry? Or are you clothed in kindness, humility, and compassion? Join our host Chase Gentes and his guest Blake Odgers on this week's episode.

One of the main things that God is passionate about is conforming his followers to be like His Son Jesus. He sent Jesus here to earth not only to give us a Savior, but He sent Him to give us a model by which we could live our lives and then to empower us through His Holy Spirit to live that way. Serving is one of the key ways that we can model the hands and feet of Jesus. Join us in our conversation about the importance of serving with our host, Steve Veale, and his guests Christie Meldrim and Rachel Chandler.

In today's culture true Unity almost sounds like a foreign concept. Join us today as we discuss the importance of unity for the body of Christ and ALL disciples in our continuation of our series on the Church. Our host this week is Jason Chandler and he will be join by his guests, Spencer Purdy and Dezirae Estes.

We are continuing in our series titled, "The Church", and Pastor Brian Bloye gave a great message about why small groups are important in the Christian community. What are the hesitations that people have when it comes to joining a group? Some might say it's just 'not for them', while others may not understand the value that groups have in our lives. Join our host Tyler Newsome and his guests, Turner and Candace Edwards.

We've had a great summer as guest speakers taught us how we too can walk with God as those in the Bible did. Now we are kicking off a brand new series titled, “The Church”. Pastor Brian Bloye kicked us off with a great message regarding why we gather as a church. So what is the Church and is it really important if I'm a part of it? We are wired to be in community and on mission. One of the things that Pastor Brian said was that The Church is God's plan to accomplish His mission on the Earth. This is Plan A and there is no Plan B. Join our host, Chase Gentes, and his guest Todd Hampton.

We are unpacking yesterday's message by our guest pastor/speaker Terrance Lester. Terrance gave the final message of the teaching series that we've been in titled, “They Walked With God”, focusing on Joseph and what it looks like to remain in faith while suffering. Join our host Julie Rape and her guests Jill Collin's and Toni Hitchcock as we dive into this week's conversation.

How easy is it to stay in the outskirts, blend in with the crowd and play it safe? Our guest speaker yesterday was Dakota Adair and he walked us through the book of Esther and how this topic relates to us in today's time. Join our host, Jason Chandler and his guests, Dakota and Maggie Adair, as we dive deeper into the story of Esther and discuss the importance of standing out to BE a blessing as we continue in our “They Walked with God” series.

Paul Richardson, pastor of Take Hold Church in Scotland, gave a powerful message yesterday in our series “They Walked with God”. Paul focused his message around David. David is often referred to as a man after God's own heart, but how did he become that man? Was it something extraordinary that he accomplished? Did he have an inside track? Well, maybe. What's amazing is that you and I can have the same said of us, that we are after God's heart and that we walk with Him. Our host today is Chase Gentes and he is uniquely joined by Paul Richardson.

Today we are unpacking yesterday's message by our guest speaker, James Griffin, the pastor Cross Point City Church. James continued the teaching series titled, “They Walked With God”, and focused on the life of Abraham. Abraham risked more for God than anyone in the Bible, but knew less about God than anyone in the Bible. As believers, we live on the other side of history of a risen Savior and yet we still constantly struggle to walk in the faith and immediate obedience that Abraham did. Our host in this episode is Julie Rape and she is joined by Jennifer Marblestone and Kellie Jimenez.

This week, we had a powerful message in our series, "They Walked with God", given by Tim Grandstaff. He is the pastor of Genesis Church in Orlando, Florida. He walked us through the book of Jeremiah and how he doubted God's plan. Early in Jeremiah, we can see a lot of similarities to culture today. Even as believers, we sometimes tend to doubt the plans God has rather than trusting fully in it. Join our host Tyler Newsome and his wife Hannah as they dive further into the message.

We are in the middle of a series, “They Walked With God”, where we are taking a look at the lives of some of the people we read about in the Old Testament. This week our teacher was Christian Newsome. He is the pastor at Journey Church International in Kansas City. His message was titled, “Better than Ehud”. Christian's primary text was Judges chapter 3, where we find the story of Ehud slaying the king of Moab in a very unique and even shocking way. Christian's message was centered around the great ministry of Ehud; as great as it was, we have a much greater Rescuer in Jesus. Our host this week is Steve Veale and he is joined by Christie Meldrim and Ruth Whittenbrook.

Yesterday we had a great Sunday as Kenn Kington painted a powerful picture of how trusting God is vital in our lives. Trusting God in every situation, especially the challenging seasons in our lives, is what gives us the strength to carry on. However, it doesn't always come naturally for us. Join our host Tyler Newsome and his guests Steve Veale and Brian Kase as they dive further into this topic.

Dr. Will Gravely gave a power message as he continued the teaching series that we've been in titled, “They Walked With God”. The focus this week was on the life of Moses and his relationship with the Lord. The illustration used was the difference between 'pitching a fit' verses 'pitching a tent'. He gave a great analogy of church gatherings being like a cabin where we don't have to do much because we depend on others to do the preparation and hearing from God. The fact to wrestle with is that we often don't engage with God because it takes too much work to prepare the environment. Join our host, Julie Rape, and her guests Jeff and Donna Brooks.

On today's episode, we dive into a topic from our new series, “They Walked with God”. We are going to wrestle with a tough question: How can people who have walked with God for many years, gone to church and served faithfully, suddenly walk away from God and the church? Most of us have witnessed people deciding, after a long walk with God, to take a turn and somehow becoming indifferent to it all. Our host leading us through this topic is Steve Veale and he is joined by Blake Odgers.

We are approaching the end of our series, "What's in a Name?" Doctor John Morgan is teaching on a name that most of us have probably not heard before. Jehovah Tsidkenu: The God of my Righteousness. Today's episode of our podcast is unique as we recorded it a few days before the message was preached due to our upcoming student camp (RUSH) in Daytona, Florida. Join our host, Tyler Newsome and his guest Sawyer Strickland in a great conversation about the God of our righteousness.

This week, Pastor Steve Veale spoke on one of the less familiar, but still, very encouraging names of God. Jehovah Tsaba - the Lord of Hosts, the Lord Our Warrior. We can often feel a disconnect between our faith in God and our trust in God. While dealing with the challenges of life, whether they're as big as Goliath or something much smaller, our thinking has to begin from our relationship with God and then to the details of the issue. Join our host Steve Veale and his guests, Julie Rape and John Morgan.

Continuing in our series titled, “What's in a Name?”, Todd Hampton taught on two names of God that may seem contradictory in theory. The Lion and the Lamb. Todd provided a clear picture of how two completely different symbols describes God's character throughout scripture. Powerful, yet tender hearted. Fierce, yet patient and gentle. Our host, Jason Chandler, will dive into this conversation with our guests Todd Hampton and Lauren Monaco.

As we make our way through our series titled, "What's in a Name?", Paul Richardson gave a powerful message focusingon Genesis 22 and the story of when God told Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham demonstratedtremendous faith and obedience during an unimaginable test as God revealed that he is Jehova Jirah, the Lord our provider. Join our host, Julie Rape, and her guests Christie Meldrim and Tanya Monroy for this week's conversation.

This week Pastor Brian and his wife Amy continued our series, What's In A Name with the name Jehovah Rapha - the God who heals from Exodus 15. No matter if you're in need of physical, emotional, relational or spiritual healing - God wants you to come to Him for that healing. We believe that He can be trusted regardless of your current circumstances. Chase Gentes hosts a powerful conversation in this week's episode as he is joined by Spencer Purdy.

We kicked off a new series this week titled, “What's In A Name?” where we will be learning about the Names of God. This week, we specifically talked about the name Yahweh - The Relational God. Pastor Brian started out his message yesterday talking about the reverence we should have for the Name of God. We will be diving into this and more on this week's episode with our host Julie Rape and her guests Candace Raines and Theresa Anderson.

Whether you're a Christian or not, whether you're churched or not—you've probably at least heard of Easter. We're going to be diving a little deeper on the Resurrection of Jesus and why Easter is so important because for Christians. The true meaning, purpose and weight of Easter gets lost and if we could be awakened to the reality and power of the resurrection of Jesus, it would radically change how we live our lives. Our host for this week's episode is Blake Odgers and he is joined by Julie Rape and Chase Gentes.

The Holy Spirit plays a vital role in our daily lives as we follow Jesus. Pastor Brian continued to teach through Jesus' last teaching to His disciples in our last week of the Abide series. Join our host Jason Chandler and his guest Tyler Newsome as they discuss “Confidence Only the Holy Spirit Can Give.”

As we continue in our Abide Series, Todd Hampton spoke about what Abiding in Christ looks like in the midst of “The World's Hatred”. He explained that often we can operate from one extreme to another as we deal with haters. He started out quoting John 15:18-25 where Jesus is explaining to believers very bluntly, “The world will 100% hate you because they hate me!” Join our host, Julie Rape as we dive into this topic with our guests, Sawyer Strickland and Judy Rocker.

As we continue through our Abide series, Pastor Brian walked us through John 15 as we looked at a life that authentically abides in a relationship with God.One of the greatest hinderances to people in their belief is hypocrisy. Their greatest hang up seems to be that believers say one thing and do another. Is it possible for us to live a life that would be difficult for anyone to say that about us? Is that what we really want for ourselves? Our host this week is Steve Veale and he is joined by our guests, Dustin Allen and Rob Jones.

Who or what is the Holy Spirit? How do we properly view and relate to the Holy Spirit? What role does the Holy Spirit ultimately play in our lives and relationship with Jesus and what does this practically look like? We'll be hitting on all this and more with our host Blake Odgers as he is joined by Todd Hampton and Brad Chandler.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled.” These were some of Jesus' last words to His disciples and He's still speaking them over us today. Join us this week as we discuss more from the first week in our Abide series. Today our host is Jason Chandler and he is joined by Christie Meldrim & Caiti Woods

Is God, in every situation, regardless of how it may look to us, trustworthy? If you walk with God long enough, there will undoubtedly be moments when His way is either confusing, frustrating, or even hurtful. So what do we do with that? It is a very real question and one that this episode is going to wrestle with. The host of this episode is Steve Veale and he is joined by Robert Owens and Richie Shirah.

As we continue in our series titled “Castaway”, Dr. John Morgan spoke on the topic of Obedience as we walk through the book of Jonah. We've been taught that obeying God is an important aspect of following Jesus… but why? If we believe the Gospel and are under God's grace, has this done away with the need or requirement for obedience? Ultimately, what role should the commands and will of God play in our lives? Our host on this episode is Blake Odgers and he is joined by Dakota Adair.

As we continue into our Castaway series from the book of Jonah, we are diving into Pastor Brian's message  entitled “Running Back To God”. Jonah is running from God's call on his life to go to the city of Nineveh as God's prophet. He ends up going in the complete opposite direction and God, through many circumstances, appoints Jonah to spend 3 days and nights in the belly of a giant fish. Pastor Brian spent the morning teaching from chapter 2, in which we find Jonah in the fish crying out to God. Today's host is Chase Gentes and he is joined by Pastor John "JP" Morgan and John Foreman.

We began a new series this week called “Castaway” where we are going to be teaching through the book of Jonah. Pastor Brian began the series with his message he titled, “You Can Run, But You Cannot Hide”. The main idea is that Jonah is a good guy that's just wrestling with the will of God. God has asked him to do something, to go somewhere that Jonah doesn't want to do. He rebels and we get a front seat view so to speak as God deals with Jonah. We are going to be discussing the teaching in this series and joining it with applications of relationships and marriage. Our host today is Steve Veale and he is joined by Chase and Courtney Gentes.

God has a vision for His Church and we don't want to miss it… What is our role in it as a local church? What it my role in it as a follower of Jesus? These are vital questions that we all have potentially wrestled with and it's what we will be discussing today as our host Blake Odgers is joined by Jason Chandler and Spencer Purdy.

We've learned our whole lives that God is loving, that He's forgiving, and that if we are good about asking Him for forgiveness then He is good about granting it.  But realistically, isn't there a limit?  At some point doesn't our continued failure to live obediently dictate or maybe necessitate God saying enough is enough?  There certainly would be for our relationships with each other.  Is God relationship to us just that different than what we have with each other?  Well, it seems like a fair question and we're gonna talk about it on this week's episode with Jeni Farnell and Ruth Wittenbrook.

In week 3 of our Draw Near series, pastor Todd Hampton brought a powerful and applicable word for “How to Draw Near to God.” As we've covered the promise of God drawing near in James 4:8 and then why we can draw near because of Jesus; this week was full of practical ways to actually take a step towards God. Join our host, Jason Chandler and guests, Jessica Dixon and Chandler Tracy, as they discuss more from this week's teaching.

Sydney Meagher Blake OdgersThis is our second week in our new series called “Draw Near”, taken from Hebrews 4:16 where the writer of Hebrews encourages his readers to draw near to the actual throne of grace to receive mercy and love. When life feels overwhelming, confusing, or broken... draw near! Pastor Brian titled his message this week, “Let Us Draw Near” helping us to see how Jesus fulfilled the role of High Priest and the required blood sacrifice gives us both the reason and the right to come before God with all assurance and peace, knowing that He has met the requirements we could not meet to allow us to draw near with confidence. Today, our host, Steve Veale, is joined by Sydney Meagher and Blake Odgers.

This past Sunday at West Ridge we began a brand-new teaching series entitled Draw Near. God's word tells us in the book of James that if we draw near to God, he will draw near to us. However, it also tells us that God resists the proud. How can we humble ourselves before the Lord and draw near to Him in the culture that we find ourselves in? This is the conversation our host, Chase Gentes, will dive into along with two members of our Elder Team, Ken Buwalda and Sandy Ransom.

One of the things that can be our greatest encouragement can also be one of our greatest discouragements as a follower of Christ is prayer. There's nothing more encouraging and faith building than to see God respond to our need that we have brought to him. But what about the many times we ask for something and God seems silent on it. It can be one of the biggest reasons people turn away from God.  Is there a way we can understand God's silence and not be discouraged? Is it a maturity thing, or is it just something we have to accept about God?This is what our discussion will be on today as we are joined by Carla Davis and Julie Rape.

On this week's episode of the Next Steps Podcast, we are throwing it back to a previous episode from our message series "When People Meet Jesus". In this episode, Tyler Newsome is joined by Blake Odgers in a great conversation about when faith and disbelief collide. 

What makes us think that God cares about the details - the small issues of our lives?  It seems obvious that He would be concerned about the big stuff; our marriages, purity, integrity, and our honesty.  But what about our worries, a financial need, or a nagging feeling of hopelessness?  What makes believe that he cares about those things?  Would you think the answer would be the story of the birth of Christ?  We're going to talk about why its is on this episode of our Next Steps podcast with Paul Richardson.

This week we are continuing in our Christmas series titled “The Songs of Christmas” where we are using some of the songs that have been sung by the church for centuries like the one we used yesterday, “Silent Night”, a song written by a young, catholic priest in the early 1800's.  Pastor Brian took the theme of that song and used it to focus on a set of witnesses to the coming of Christ we see in Luke chapter 2. These lowly, unexpected witnesses were the shepherds that were drawn to come see the Christ child and to proclaim the story of redemption that had come that silent and holy night in the humble means of the manger. Join us as we dive in this conversation with Jon Burklow and Jason Chandler.

Do you ever wonder if in some way God has somehow lost control over the world or the world has just gotten so far away from what God intended for us? In this week's message, Pastor Brian asked it this way, “Have you ever said or thought to yourself, Come, Lord Jesus, come?” As a nation or as a people we've just gone too far.  What do we do with those emotions? Is there any real encouragement to be found?  If you've ever asked yourself those questions you certainly aren't alone and it's what we're going to be talking about today with Christie Meldrim and Todd Hampton on this week's After Message Edition.

If there is one thing that the holiday season brings it's stress.  There's an unrelenting amount of planning, shopping, decorating, budgeting, party invitations, wrapping…it just goes on and on.  It's always interesting to me how a season that's supposed to be all about taking the time for reflection and celebration has become such a whirlwind of busyness and stress.   Are we doing it wrong?  Have we allowed this season to get out of hand?  How are we supposed to deal with all the expectations and obligations we feel during this season?  As Christians, are there some adjustments we need to make or is it just the way it is? We're gonna wrestle with some of those questions with Dezirea Estes and Jeni Farnell on today's episode of our podcast.

On today's episode, we are diving into the last message in our series "In The Waiting". This week's message was titled “The Family of God” because this part of Paul's letter was very personal in 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22. It was obvious how deeply he loved the believers in Thessalonica. In our discussion with Jessica Dixon and Phil Bowdle, we will be touching base on Paul's encouragements in his letter, accountability in the church, challenges of admonishing idols and how praying without ceasing is essential in our lives as believers. 

Most believers are at least somewhat familiar with the idea of Jesus returning to the earth at some point in the future. But how are we supposed to respond to, or feel about that? We don't know if it will be in our lifetime so we may not think about it much, if at all. But how should we think about it? Should it cause us to live with at least a little bit of fear knowing that it really could happen at any moment? Or is there a different purpose that Jesus and the Apostle Paul had in mind when they told us about it? Not sure what you think about those questions? Well we're going to talk about them today here on the Next Steps podcast with our guests Pepper Pezold and Gary Griswell.

Talking about the end times can bring about a lot of different emotions, feelings, or connotations. Some good and exciting, or maybe some of fear and dread. As Christians, we do not want to obsess over the day and time of Jesus' return, however, we do want to be ready. We do not want to be ignorant of these things as the Apostle Paul points out in his letter to the Thessalonians; but instead be encouraged and find hope. Today, Chase Gentes is our host and is joined by Dr. John Morgan and Brad Chandler to go over this topic from Sunday's message in this week's After Message discussion

There are so many issues that are truly polarizing in our culture and even in the church these days, things that good people see differently; things that followers of Christ view differently. So here is the question: Is it okay, or even important to make our position on these cultural issues known? Or is this a time to seek for peace and civility and let some of this stuff go? When it comes to this question we're going to ask what did Paul write to the Thessalonians, and how does that apply to these questions we're asking today? Today we are joined by Kevin Bloye and John Arnold to discuss this topic.

Is the position that the traditional church has taken on sexual purity an antiquated idea? Does God really care about what we do with our bodies and put into our minds, especially if it really doesn't hurt anyone? Is it that big a deal, truthfully?  Well, these are some big questions and we hope to address them today on this edition of the Next Steps podcast.

Steve Veale is joined by Paul Richardson to dive deeper in the message: "Superabundance".

Steve Veale and Tyler Newsome is joined by Spencer Purdy to dive deeper into Sunday's message titled  "Standing For The Faith". 

Steve Veale and Tyler Newsome are joined by Ruth Wittenbrook  and Caiti Woods to dive deeper into Sunday's message titled  "How To Be The Real Deal In Tough Times". 

Steve Veale and Tyler Newsome are joined by Daniel Shadle  and Chase Gentes to dive deeper into Sunday's message titled  "What Is Shaping You". 

Tyler Newsome is joined by Julie Rape  and Pastor JP Morgan to dive deeper into Sunday's message titled  "A Church With The Right Stuff".