Podcasts about convert part

evaluating launches overall thoughts convert part

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 28, 2022 33:58

In part four of this series, Katrina will be dishing out all the juicy details you really want to know, like the actual numbers behind her launch, lessons she learned, and how to adjust for future launches (plus, helpful mindset tips to keep in mind when executing your own launch). There's no gatekeeping inside this episode! KATRINA WIDENER COACHING INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/katrina.widener/ BADASS BUSINESS SQUAD SHOW NOTES: https://www.katrinawidener.com/badass-business-squad-podcast

Launches that Convert Part 3: How to Execute a Launch Plan with Less Stress

launches execute less stress launch plan convert part

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 21, 2022 30:01

In part three of this series, Katrina talks about how to set up the execution of everything within your launch plan to avoid burnout and overwhelm. Get the scoop on how she used her timelines to batch content, host a successful launch event, and show up on Instagram feeling inspired instead of forced. KATRINA WIDENER COACHING INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/katrina.widener/ BADASS BUSINESS SQUAD SHOW NOTES: https://www.katrinawidener.com/badass-business-squad-podcast

Launches that Convert Part 2: How to Plan and Create Content that Feels Fun

launches create content convert part

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 14, 2022 38:57

In part two of this series, Katrina describes her content creation process including why she chose to do an Instagram reel-heavy launch, how she broke the launch into four separate strategic stages, and what she did when her plans were interrupted (b/c #reallife). KATRINA WIDENER COACHING INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/katrina.widener/ BADASS BUSINESS SQUAD SHOW NOTES: https://www.katrinawidener.com/badass-business-squad-podcast

Launches that Convert Part 1: How to Set Up a Launch

setup launches convert part

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 7, 2022 29:15

Join us as Katrina kicks off a new series in the podcast and shares the behind-the-scenes of how to create a launch for your business that not only converts into clients -- but also sets it up to feel easy and effective the whole way through. In part one of this four-part series, Katrina breaks down what she launched, how she decided to format it, transforming her audience to a new buying culture, and the four stages of her launch plan. KATRINA WIDENER COACHING INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/katrina.widener/ BADASS BUSINESS SQUAD SHOW NOTES: https://www.katrinawidener.com/badass-business-squad-podcast

Episode 540: How to Create Landing Pages That Convert. (Part 2) Sponsored by SE Ranking #540

SEO Podcast Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 15, 2022 39:03

Five tips for creating a high-converting landing page. Learn the key features of a landing page and how to create a one!Author: Lily LopezSource: https://seranking.com/blog/high-converting-landing-page/Sponsor: https://seranking.comSpecial Offer: https://seranking.com/best-seo-podcast.html-Having 1st aired in 2009, with over 3.6 million downloads in 100+ counties, “SEO Podcast, Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing” has become one of the longest-running and most authoritative podcasts for staying ahead of the perpetually changing digital marketing landscape.Great for internal marketers, business owners, and agencies from novice to experienced in using the internet to market and grow a brand!You can also watch his episode here: https://bestseopodcast.com/Follow us on:https://www.facebook.com/bestseopodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/thebestseopodcasthttps://www.tiktok.com/@bestseopodcasthttps://www.linkedin.com/company/bestseopodcastPowered by: ewrdigital.comHost's: Matt Bertram & Chris Burres Disclaimer: For Educational and Entertainment purposes Only.

ranking landing pages internet marketing seo podcast matt bertram convert part unknown secrets se ranking

7 Ad Strategy Templates That Convert: Part 2

Marketing Ink: Big Ideas for Local Businesses

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 9, 2022 44:32

Today, You'll get part 2 of 7 high-converting ad strategy templates I use with my clients, including both low-ticket and high-ticket offer options. You'll also learn who each strategy is for, the benefits of each, and the unique technical details you'll need to know to put it in place. At the end of this episode, you'll understand what works best with Facebook ads right now and the tools to put fully-functioning strategies in place today. If you want to schedule a call to see how I can help your local business or agency with my mentorship, mastermind or Build & Scale Packages, visit https://alliebloydmedia.com ________________ - GET THE LOCAL LEAD GENERATION MASTERCLASS FOR ONLY $47: https://alliebloyd.com/leadgen-masterclass ________________ - GET THE ULTIMATE HIGHLEVEL MASTERCLASS FOR ONLY $47: https://alliebloyd.com/highlevel ________________ - Apply for my Upcoming Mastermind: https://alliebloyd.com/mastermind ________________ - Join My FREE Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/remodel.your.marketing

strategy social media marketing templates social media marketing strategy advertising strategy convert part

7 Ad Strategy Templates That Convert: Part 1

Marketing Ink: Big Ideas for Local Businesses

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2022 37:25

Struggling to get the Facebook & Instagram Ad campaign results you want? Not really sure what works anymore on the platform? In this episode, I'll teach you how to build a Facebook ads strategy that actually works for your business. You'll get part 1 of 7 high-converting ad strategy templates I use with my clients, including both low-ticket and high-ticket offer options. You'll also learn who each strategy is for, the benefits of each, and the unique technical details you'll need to know to put it in place. At the end of this episode, you'll understand what works best with Facebook ads right now and the tools to put fully-functioning strategies in place today. If you want to schedule a call to see how I can help your local business or agency with my mentorship, mastermind or Build & Scale Packages, visit https://alliebloydmedia.com ________________ - GET THE LOCAL LEAD GENERATION MASTERCLASS FOR ONLY $47: https://alliebloyd.com/leadgen-masterclass ________________ - GET THE ULTIMATE HIGHLEVEL MASTERCLASS FOR ONLY $47: https://alliebloyd.com/highlevel ________________ - Apply for my Upcoming Mastermind: https://alliebloyd.com/mastermind ________________ - Join My FREE Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/remodel.your.marketing

strategy struggling marketing strategies social media marketing templates advertising strategy convert part

Are You A False Convert? | Part 2

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2021 57:00

Are You A False Convert | Part 2

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2021 57:00

Are You A False Convert? | Part 1 of 2

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 12, 2021 51:00

Are You A False Convert? | Part 1 of 2

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 12, 2021 51:00

MBA1867 How I Create Video Lead Magnets That Convert Part 2 + Free Ride Friday

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 3, 2021

Does your content marketing include videos? If not, it's time to change that! We're continuing with our deep-dive lesson on creating video marketing assets. Yesterday, we focused on the video itself and its content. Today, we explain where to put that video on your website, and how to turn it into a lead-generating machine. The […] The post MBA1867 How I Create Video Lead Magnets That Convert Part 2 + Free Ride Friday appeared first on The $100 MBA.

mba lead magnets freeride convert part free ride friday

MBA1867 How I Create Video Lead Magnets That Convert Part 2 + Free Ride Friday

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 3, 2021 14:22

Does your content marketing include videos? If not, it's time to change that! We're continuing with our deep-dive lesson on creating video marketing assets. Yesterday, we focused on the video itself and its content. Today, we explain where to put that video on your website, and how to turn it into a lead-generating machine. The […] The post MBA1867 How I Create Video Lead Magnets That Convert Part 2 + Free Ride Friday appeared first on The $100 MBA.

mba lead magnets freeride convert part free ride friday

MBA1866 How I Create Video Lead Magnets That Convert Part 1

mba lead magnets convert part

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 2, 2021

Not sure how to start video marketing? We got you. Today is the first half of a 2-part, in-depth lesson on setting up a video lead magnet. From nailing the content to creating a complete funnel, this is your guide to creating customers by creating great videos! We'll explain how it's done step by step, […] The post MBA1866 How I Create Video Lead Magnets That Convert Part 1 appeared first on The $100 MBA.

MBA1866 How I Create Video Lead Magnets That Convert Part 1

mba lead magnets convert part

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 2, 2021 14:31

Not sure how to start video marketing? We got you. Today is the first half of a 2-part, in-depth lesson on setting up a video lead magnet. From nailing the content to creating a complete funnel, this is your guide to creating customers by creating great videos! We'll explain how it's done step by step, […] The post MBA1866 How I Create Video Lead Magnets That Convert Part 1 appeared first on The $100 MBA.

The Unconverted Convert Part 1

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 9, 2021 26:00

The Unconverted Convert Part 1

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 9, 2021 26:00

The Mitzva to love the convert. Part 4

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 10, 2020 6:18

The Mitzva to love the convert. Part 4

The Mitzva to love the convert. Part 3

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 6, 2020 7:15

The Mitzva to love the convert. Part 3 Nov 6, 2020

The Mitzva to love the convert. Part 2

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 1, 2020 10:04

The Mitzva to love the convert. Part 2

The Mitzva to love the convert. Part 1

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 29, 2020 7:20

The Mitzva to love the convert. Part 1 Oct 29, 2020

Sovereign Grace Church of Lawrenceburg

Cornelius-The First Gentile Convert Part II: Divine Salvation

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2020 40:20

In this passage that contains the second half of the story of the conversion of Cornelius, the first Gentile convert, we see God sovereignly bring salvation through faith in the gospel of Christ. As Brother Tracey breaks down this story he looks at many applications this story has for our own life and walk, including the essential elements of a gospel presentation.

god jesus christ salvation divine gentiles cornelius convert part

The First Gentile Convert Part 1: The Divine Preparation

Sovereign Grace Church of Lawrenceburg

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 14, 2020 37:39

Acts chapter 10 details the very important story of Cornelius, the first gentile convert of the church. In this first part of the story, we see how God sovereignly brings a bout Cornelius's salvation by sovereignly preparing both Cornelius and Peter ahead of time. In this sermon, Brother Tracey looks at the many lessons we can learn from these stories of divine preparation.

god acts divine preparation gentiles cornelius convert part

Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Part 3) - Rosaria Butterfield

Dennis & Barbara's Top 25 All-Time Interviews

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 4, 2020 26:14

Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Part 1) - Rosaria ButterfieldSecret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Part 2) - Rosaria ButterfieldSecret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Part 3) - Rosaria ButterfieldFamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete. What Is Truth? Guest: Rosaria ButterfieldFrom the series: Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Day 3 of 3) Bob: After meeting a number of times with a local Presbyterian pastor, Rosaria Butterfield—a college professor, a committed feminist, a lesbian—remembers the morning that everything changed for her. Rosaria: One day, I got up; and I got out of bed that I shared with a woman. I brushed my teeth, and I walked the dogs. An hour later, I was sitting in a pew at the Syracuse Reformed Presbyterian Church. I came there to meet God. It was very powerful, sitting under the preaching of God's Word. It was very powerful. The prayer that came out—after that—which really surprised me, “Lord, could you make a woman, like me, a godly woman?” Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Wednesday, September 18th. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine. We will hear today how God answered Rosaria Butterfield's prayer. Stay tuned. And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us. There is a passage in a book I read years ago called A Severe Mercy. The author is a man named Sheldon Vanauken, and he was a skeptic at Oxford University. He started writing letters to one of his professors, C.S. Lewis, asking him questions all about Christianity. He'd get a letter written, and Lewis would respond back to him with an answer. He'd write a new letter and get an answer back. He'd finally written a letter to Lewis one time. The answer that came back was: “I've decided not to answer your questions anymore.” He said: “It's—I'm pretty well convinced that The Hound of Heaven is after you, and it's just a matter of time.” [Laughter] I remember reading that—and I remember Vanauken reading and going—he was a little put off; but then, he got a little worried that, maybe, in fact, it was just a matter of time. [Laughter] And I have to wonder if our guest, this week, has—didn't have something of that same experience in her life. Dennis: Yes. And I've been chased down by The Hound of Heaven, as well. It's good that He's on our trail. Rosaria: Amen. Amen. Dennis: I agree with you. Rosaria Butterfield joins us, again, on FamilyLife Today. Welcome back. Rosaria: Thank you very much. Dennis: She has written a book called The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. How do you summarize, Bob, what we've talked about— Bob: This week? Dennis: —this week. I mean, Professor of English at Syracuse University and was a part of the women's studies. You were a teacher in the queer studies program. You were a lesbian—had a live-in lover that you were with for a number of years. In the process, she wrote a letter, criticizing a group that came to the Carrier Dome, there at Syracuse University—a group called Promise Keepers. A pastor wrote you back. Long story made short—instead of condemning you, he just started asking you questions that caused you to ponder and reflect, spiritually. And The Hound of Heaven began to get on your trail. Bob: And you found yourself wrestling with whether the Bible is true—whether it's authoritative— Rosaria: That's right. That's right. Bob: —whether your life had to come under the authority of the Scriptures and of the God of the Scriptures. Rosaria: That's right. Bob: But in your case, if you are going to believe this— Rosaria: Right. Oh, yes, yes. Bob: —and if you are going to act like you believe this, it's revolutionary. It's going to leave you with a lot of your old friends who don't want to talk to you anymore and a lot of new friends that you don't know if you want to hang around with. Rosaria: Yes, that's very well-put; right. And so, I did. One day, I got up; and I got out of bed that I shared with a woman. I brushed my teeth, and I walked the dogs. An hour later, I was sitting in a pew at the Syracuse Reformed Presbyterian Church. I came there to meet God, and— Dennis: And when you said you came to meet God, you showed up to surrender. Rosaria: Well, not at first. I mean, I'd love to say that! You see, you make me look good; but that's not true. At first, I was just really curious about sort of the: “What's the next step? Okay, I've read the Bible, now, more than once; and I've studied it. Now, what? Okay, we you go to church. Let's find out what's going on there.” It was very powerful, sitting under the preaching of God's Word. It was very powerful. Then, the prayer that came out after that—which really surprised me. It had nothing to do with my sexuality. It had everything to do with my pride and my gender, “Lord, could you make a woman, like me, a godly woman?” It was really not much of a prayer. It was more of a question, but God answered that question because God can do anything! Right?— you know, “Can these dry bones rise?”—right? Not by their own will—they cannot. Bob: Those two questions, as you sat listening to God's Word being preached—and this is over a period of— Rosaria: Years. Bob: —of years. Rosaria: Of years. Bob: But those two questions kept haunting you to a point where you finally— Rosaria: Right, I did. Bob: —had to throw in the flag and say, “Okay.” Rosaria: “Okay, Lord, I'm yours. I'm yours.” Bob: Tell us about that day. Rosaria: In some ways, it was very anticlimactic because of all the things that had preceded it. I was still kicking up a bit of a fit about: “Oh, poor me. I have to give up so much.” Ken said to me once: “Well, you've got friends in this church. Why don't you ask them what they had to give up to be a Christian?” I thought “Well, okay. Have at it!” I learned the most amazing things. I heard from women who had to bury their children, but not their faith. I heard about people who were struggling with all kinds of other sexual issues—pornography addiction. I mean, it was just everywhere. Everybody was a mess but not really. That was really striking to me. It seemed to me that, maybe, original sin is a comforting idea. See, I started out believing that everybody was good; but that's a hard world view to keep pumping up. But I started to think about it: “Well, what if we were all born this way? Maybe, that's a comforting thing.” Bob: Born in sin. Rosaria: Born in sin—that weighed differently. Everybody has something that's going to take them by the neck. I think that was in the context that I really learned the first rule of repentance. Repentance is not some kind of one-time pledge you do at the moment of conversion. Repentance is a daily posture of the Christian—daily, hourly, minute-by-minute. There is no shame in repentance. It is the kindness of God—it says in the book of Romans—that leads us to repentance. All repentance does—I've figured out—it's really simple! It just proves that God was right all along! That's not new information! Dennis: And that we were broken— Rosaria: And that we were broken. Dennis: —and needed a Redeemer. Rosaria: That's right. And there are a million ways to be broken. Dennis: Oh, yes. Rosaria: But you know what? That's not the point. Bob: When you surrendered, you started on a new path that was very different than the path that you'd been on. Rosaria: It was. It was. Dennis: And she said she lost everything except her dog. Bob: Yes. I mean— Rosaria: He's a good dog, too. [Laughter] Bob: It was the end of your relationship with— Rosaria: Sure, of course. Bob: —your lesbian lover, but it was the beginning of the end of your time at Syracuse. Rosaria: It was. I did not lose my job. I should say that. It's not that I—I don't want to make this out to be that I was victim—but one of the things that I realized, in my repentance—and you know what? I realize this every day, in repentance: “Jesus, it was You I was persecuting the whole time.” So, that puts a certain caution on a person; right? I wasn't really sure what God would have me do. So, it was the end of my time at Syracuse; but at the time, I didn't know it was the end of my time at Syracuse. What it was—was it, at the beginning of my research leave—my post-tenured research leave—and I wanted to study Christian education. I thought: “Okay, Lord, I'm a Christian. Where does a Christian profess—at a secular university or at a Christian college?” So, a very good friend of mine, who is now the President of Geneva College—he was faculty member at Syracuse and Ken Smith's son. His name is also Ken Smith—just to further confuse everyone who is listening. He was able to get me an adjunct position at Geneva College. Then, I also had a teaching position at the Center for Urban Biblical Ministry in Pittsburgh. I pieced together a research program. It was in that context that I met Kent Butterfield, who is now my husband. So, I really never did go back to Syracuse; but that was totally shocking to me. Bob: Did everybody at Geneva College know who was coming to town when you showed up? Rosaria: You know they did, but they were okay with it. Bob: They knew that— Rosaria: They were okay with it. Bob: —the post-feminist, post-lesbian— Rosaria: They sure— Bob: —convert was coming to town. Rosaria: That's right. That's right. Bob: And tell us—because you don't really go into a whole lot of detail about the romance between you and your husband, in the book. Rosaria: I will tell you this—that when you are a sexually-broken person, the most terrifying idea is that you would, then, be a married woman because the fear that I had was that I would pollute or break— Bob: You'd mess everything up. Rosaria: —I'd mess everything up. So, one of the most amazing gifts, in my life, has been Kent and his daily, biblical ministry that repentance of sin is one thing—it's really important! We do it all the time. It's our posture. Dennis: Right. Rosaria: Healing—sexual healing is a separate but related experience. It is fully by the stripes of Christ that we are healed—that when you are a sexually-broken person, your sexuality runs a little bit like water in a groove on a path. If you walk a path over and over again, that path becomes pretty deep. So, when the water floods, it has no place to go but make it almost a river, even. I'm amazed that, over the years, as we meditate and appeal to Christ's balm—because He took those stripes—those grooves in our path get filled up. What they get filled up by is the means of grace. You know, it's intended—God intends to heal us. He intends for His people to be healed. Now, I want to be careful about how I say this. I did not say that He intends for all people who struggle with same-sex attraction to become heterosexual. That is not what I said, and that does not happen. What—I mean, it happens sometimes; but what we know is that we relinquish our life to God, and He gives back what He will. But those grooves that are worn down from sexual sin—and that includes sexual sin of the mind and the emotions—although I will say that acting on your sexual sin makes those grooves deep and dirty really fast much more so. But the layers—the layers that God established to fill that hole, through the means of grace, is a powerful thing. So, by God's grace, I married a Christian! I married someone who became a Christian at the age of 17. He was and has been a godly man for many, many more years than I certainly have been a godly woman. So, he could always—and does. I always tell people that I married a pastor because I need daily, biblical counsel; right? And that's true. But he knows that it's not—Kent is not healing me—and it's not marriage, per se, that's healing me. It's the means of grace. It's Bible reading and Psalm singing. It's the sacraments. It's the fellowship of the saints. And of course, Christ was leading the whole time because sexual sin is predatory. We see that, very early, in the Bible when God says to Cain, “Sin is lurking at your door.” It's Genesis 4: “Its desire is for you, but you will have mastery over it.” I think, too often, people think that: “Oh, you are struggling with pornography. Well, hey, let's just get you married;” right? “Let's find a ‘sanctified outlet' for your sexual desire”—not getting the fact that a predatory sexuality is a totally different desire. So, when I started to examine, “Well, what is the root of my homosexuality?” I did not come up with homosexuality. In the same way, when I go to my garden and I want to know the root of my weeds, I don't come up with the yellow dandelion head. When I really probed what was at the root of my homosexuality, it was pride. It was pride in wanting to invent myself on my own terms. When I married Kent, I became a submitted wife. There's not a lot of pride—not in that—nor is there humiliation in that—but there's a sense of connection and a puzzle piece, now, that suddenly finds its home. Dennis: And could I say it for you? Rosaria: Sure. Dennis: Because you were a feminist— Rosaria: Yes, I was. Dennis: —looking for completion, looking to be all that— Rosaria: That's right. Dennis: —you were made to be in that rightly-related relationship with your husband, both submitting to Jesus Christ— Rosaria: That's right. That's right. Dennis: —you found— Rosaria: That's right; absolutely. Dennis: —you found the completion you longed for, as a feminist. Rosaria: I did, and that really gets us to that question that we haven't really gotten to. And that's the question about: “What do we do now? What if gay marriage becomes normative?” Bob: We're heading in that direction. Dennis: We are; and my question to you is, “Coach us here and help us think, as followers of Christ.” Rosaria: We have to—we have to—we have to realize that well, first of all, we are all called to a sanctified sexuality. That includes our celibate, single members of our churches. They are not second-class citizens. It is shameful, on our part; and I would say it is part of the—perhaps, the potential homophobia of the church when we do that to people. So, I think we need to value a sanctified celibate singleness. But when we talk about marriage, between a man and a woman, we need to talk about it in biblical terms, not moral terms. We can't just say, “The Bible says, ‘Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.'” You know, all that does is take the door and take it off the hinges and then wonder why the door doesn't stand up. The hinge is the Bible; and there are a couple of things that we, as Christians, need to be able to articulately defend. One is that marriage is covenantal. It's a relationship that God establishes with us and guarantees by His Word. God does not make a covenant apart from the separate genders for marriage. So, it is covenantal. We also have to remember that the picture of marriage is Christ and the Church and that the completion factor—and it's the complement factor. It's C-O-M-P-L-E-M-E-N-T. It's not an “I”. We're not talking about trophy wives. We're talking about a man and a woman complementing—fitting together—in order to show the watching world a picture of Christ and the Church. We've likely not done that. Then, the other—and I know this is a controversial topic—not that we haven't talked about controversy, gentlemen. Bob: So, what's new; right? Dennis: Yes. Rosaria: So, what's new? But I think if you do not have historical Adam, if you do not have literal six-day creation, if you do not have Adam—made from the dust and then, Eve made from a rib of Adam—you have no biblical basis for a woman's submission to man. You have mutual submission. So, I think we've got to go back to the basics. I think we need to find a biblical defense for these things and I think that we need to stop fearing that people are going to call us stupid because that's what I did and look where I am; right? [Laughter] Dennis: Yes, and also, being afraid of being called a bigot as though you hate. Rosaria: Right—and we're getting there. We're getting there because I would absolutely say that to fail to defend homosexual marriage—that is the contemporary unforgiveable sin— Bob: It is. Rosaria: —in our culture. So, I think we are getting there; but again— Dennis: But we have to defend marriage with love. Rosaria: With love. So, that raises the question: “What do I do with my gay or lesbian daughter? And how do I interface with this person I love?” Let's just give a scenario. She was raised in the church. She made a profession of faith. “Now, she's lost to me. What do I do?” Those are really good questions. What you do is—you love your child. You love your child. Now, you do have to be careful, though, about this business about attending gay weddings. I mean, I think you can love someone without giving a false blessing because—think about it—you want to be there on the other side. You want to be able to be there, standing with a unified Christian witness; but you can still love. You can still enjoy your holidays together and be in each other's lives. Dennis: And they won't view it as a rejection that you didn't come to the wedding? Rosaria: Well, they may—they may—but we talked earlier about, “Where do you draw the line?” You know, you want to draw it carefully; and I can't tell you what to do. You know your family, and you know what to do. I'm just saying that because—“How do we defend marriage?” Well, one way that we defend marriage is to make sure that we are speaking in a unified voice about it. That's a hard one. I know. Dennis: It is a hard one—especially, if it was your daughter— Rosaria: Yes, absolutely! Absolutely, and so— Dennis: —marrying another woman and you drew the line and said, “Sweetheart, I want you to know I will love you to the end, but I will not bless this union because it doesn't represent what God commanded a man and a woman to merge together in a covenant with God.” Rosaria: Right. “But I'm not cutting you out.” Dennis: Yes. Rosaria: “I want you and your partner here for Christmas, and Thanksgiving, and”— Dennis: You know, there is a lot more we could talk about here; and Rosaria, I want to say, “Thanks for your book,”—how—this kind of sounds funny, coming from somebody who got a spanking in the eighth-grade English class—but how well-written it is and how entertaining—but also just allow us to peek into your life and to hear what transformation sounds like and what was going on in your soul, at the same time. There is a lot in this book that I'd recommend. I just want to say, “Thanks for being on our broadcast and hope you'll come back again someday.” Rosaria: Thank you. Bob: Well, I hope our listeners will get a copy and will read Rosaria's book. I think it's one of the best books I've read this year. Go to FamilyLifeToday.com for a copy of the book, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. You can order, online, if you'd like. Again, the website, FamilyLifeToday.com; or call us, toll-free, at 1-800-FL-TODAY, 1-800-358-6329. That's 1-800- “F” as in family, “L” as in life, and then, the word, “TODAY”. Now, I want to say a special word of thanks to the folks who have made today's program possible—and that would be those of you who help support the ministry of FamilyLife Today. We are listener-supported. It's our Legacy Partners who provide monthly support for this ministry; and it is those of you, who get in touch with us from time to time, to make a donation. You folks provide the financial support we need to cover the cost of being on this local radio station and on our network of stations, all across the country. You defray the production and syndication costs for this program. And we're grateful; and we want to say, “Thank you,” for that. In fact, this month, if you are able to make a donation to help support the ministry, we would like to say, “Thank you,” by sending you a couple of resources. One is a CD that features a conversation with Joanne Kraft, where she talked about the radical sabbatical that she had for her family. They said, “No,” to all outside activities for a year just to bring some normalcy back into the family. Then, in addition to that, we'd like to send you Tim Kimmel's book, Little House on the Freeway. Again, we'll send both resources to you if you are able to support the ministry, this month, with a donation of $25 or more. You can do that, online, at FamilyLifeToday.com. Click the button that says, “I CARE”, to make an online donation; or call 1-800-FL-TODAY. Make your donation over the phone, and ask about the “Busyness Bundle”. We'll send out these resources, designed to help you get a grip on the speed of life at which you are travelling. You can also mail your donation to FamilyLife Today. Our mailing address is Box 7111, Little Rock, Arkansas. And our zip code is 72223. Be sure to ask for the “Busyness Bundle” when you send your donation. And we hope you can join us back again tomorrow when we are going to tackle the question: “Do Christians have it wrong with our view of human sexuality?” Is what the Bible teaches just some antiquated idea for a bygone generation or is it something that ought to govern our behavior today?” We'll talk more about that tomorrow, and I hope you can tune in. I want to thank our engineer today, Keith Lynch, and our entire broadcast production team. On behalf of our host, Dennis Rainey, I'm Bob Lepine. We will see you back tomorrow for another edition of FamilyLife Today. FamilyLife Today is a production of FamilyLife of Little Rock, Arkansas. Help for today. Hope for tomorrow. We are so happy to provide these transcripts to you. However, there is a cost to produce them for our website. If you've benefited from the broadcast transcripts, would you consider donating today to help defray the costs? Copyright © 2013 FamilyLife. All rights reserved. www.FamilyLife.com

Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Part 1) - Rosaria Butterfield

Dennis & Barbara's Top 25 All-Time Interviews

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 4, 2020 25:16

Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Part 1) - Rosaria ButterfieldSecret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Part 2) - Rosaria ButterfieldSecret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Part 3) - Rosaria ButterfieldFamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete. A Train Wreck Conversion Guest: Rosaria ButterfieldFrom the series: Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Day 1 of 3) Bob: In 1997, Dr. Rosaria Champagne was a tenured professor at Syracuse University. She was a committed feminist who had no real belief in God. There was one other aspect to her story that made her an unlikely convert. Rosaria: I, at the time that I started reading the Bible, and I, at the time that I started meeting with a Christian pastor, was in a lesbian relationship. It wasn't just my first lesbian relationship. I fully embraced the lesbian community. Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Monday, September 16th. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine. Dr. Rosaria Champagne is now Dr. Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, a pastor's wife and a homeschooling mother of four adopted children. We'll hear her journey this week. Stay with us. And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us. You remember me coming to you a few months ago and going, “I have just read an amazing story;” right? Dennis: Right. And Barbara had read it, as well. Bob: Yes. And this is—in fact, I would say—I try to keep a running list of books that I read during the year. I would say this is still at the top of my 2013 list—this book—because it's just—it's a great story—but the greatness of the story is the transformation that takes place in what we're going to hear about today. Dennis: Yes. It's not often you hear someone refer to their conversion to Christ as a train wreck; but our guest, [Laughter] on today's broadcast, describes it that way. Rosaria Butterfield joins us on FamilyLife Today. Rosaria—welcome to our broadcast. Rosaria: Thank you so much. I'm delighted to be here with you. Dennis: I remember when Bob walked in—and I was getting it from him, here at the office—and Barbara had read a review of your book. She said, “This is something you ought to do radio on.” First of all, just to introduce you to our listeners, Rosaria has been married to her husband, Kent, since 2001. They have four children. She is a former English professor who was tenured at Syracuse University. That's kind of where we're going to go back to—to start this story. Rosaria: Okay. Dennis: And she has written a book called The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, subtitled An English Professor's Journey into the Christian Faith. Bob: And it's not unusual that English professors would come to Christ [Laughter]—but your particular interest and lifestyle, back in the 90's—that's what made your conversion unlikely; isn't it? Rosaria: Yes, definitely. So, just a quick answer would be, “Definitely.” When I first started reading the Bible, I was reading the Bible because I was working on a post-tenure book. It was a lesbian, feminist critique of the Bible. I was concerned about the rise of the religious right. I was threatened by the rise of the religious right, and I wanted to read this book that got all these people into trouble. So, that's where I started. But I guess, because my life just seemed sort of boring and normal to me, I find it sort of strange [Laughter] sometimes that my journey seems so odd; but I guess that's— Dennis: Well, let's just peel it back a little bit. Rosaria: Okay, let's peel it back. Dennis: Let's talk about—you were a feminist. Rosaria: Oh, yes, absolutely. Dennis: Yes. Rosaria: Yes, committed. Dennis: Explain what kind of feminist. I mean—there is a spectrum. Rosaria: There's a spectrum, absolutely. I firmly believed that a feminist world and life view was a moral and ethical approach to living and, in fact, one that would get us out of so many of the problems that we were facing. When I looked at the world—and I saw racism, and homophobia, and violence of all kinds—you know, there was no way I could look at this world and say, “Oh, you know, obviously, a loving God is in control of it.” So, I—like many, many other people—rolled up my sleeves and said, “Okay, how are you going to think our way of it?” So, feminism, to me, was a very broad umbrella that allowed for the pursuit of individual rights, within what I perceived to be a moral framework. Dennis: And you viewed Christians as— Rosaria: Dangerous. Dennis: Dangerous; okay. Rosaria: Dangerous, anti-intellectual people. Dennis: Yes. They weren't thinkers, and they weren't readers—you wrote about it in your book. Rosaria: Right. And that was—that's not very nice; is it? [Laughter] I am a Christian right now and I could be in charge of the self-help group: “Over-Readers Anonymous”. So, it's not nice to say; but that was my perception. My perception was—as a university professor, I met a number of Christians—this is how these people came across. Now, whether they came across this way because I was deep in my sin or whether this is an accurate portrayal, I will let you all decide. But folks who would tell me that Jesus is the answer—without caring to even hear about what some of my questions might be—you know, questions and answers go together. There is a logical relationship between the two. Or when the Bible was invoked, it was often invoked in the same way that I might invoke a punctuation mark—to end a conversation rather than deepen it. Well, that seemed pretty fear-driven to me. I didn't like it. And then, finally, my biggest concern, though, was the fact that the Bible—many, many people knew what the Bible said, or believed they did—but nobody could tell me why it was true. So, it seemed, to me, just a strange mixture of superstition and patriarchy—where God, the Father, and—the god of patriarchy—came together to oppress people like me. As a university professor, one of my jobs was to be on a war against stupid. So, this is where my war took me, guys. [Laughter] Bob: Your presupposition in life was: “If we can liberate women and eliminate patriarchy”— Rosaria: Yes. Bob: —“then, we will solve many of the evils that we are facing in our world today.” Rosaria: Right; absolutely. Back it up, even further—my belief was that people were inherently good and that the right to individual choice-making was an inherent good. There were material structures that stood between good people making good choices. Feminism, combined with Marxism, offered a way of unlocking that potential. That is what I believed. Bob: Somewhere, in your life, your feminist/Marxist presuppositions and your personal sexuality collided. Rosaria: Yes, they did. That's right. So, the big story for some people—which is not a big story for me, but that's okay—the big story for some people was that I, at the time that I started reading the Bible, and I, at the time that I started meeting with a Christian pastor, was in a lesbian relationship. And it wasn't just my first lesbian relationship. I fully embraced the lesbian community. It sort of snuck up on me. I don't know how else to say it. I was not—I know people who would say when they were nine years old they remember feeling attracted to people of the same sex. I do not remember that. I don't remember feeling attracted to anything but books and horses. [Laughter] So, I went off to college; but when I went to college, I met my first boyfriend. That was a very heady experience. I defined myself as heterosexual and presumed that I would have a heterosexual life. Now, I was also a feminist. I was not keen on marriage. I did not think I would ever want to get married, or have children, or any of that. But I had said to myself, at that point when I met my first lesbian lover, that: “I'm not going back. You know, this is a more moral choice. I am happier. I can be myself.” I loved being in a relationship with somebody who shares my—truly, my world and life view. So, I thought that I was there for life. That's part of why I wasn't a closeted lesbian. My research program went from 19th century feminist studies and it moved into Queer Theory—which is a post-modern, post-structural extension of gay and lesbian studies. So, I went on record as a queer theorist and published articles in that vein. Dennis: You scooted past a statement that I want to stop— Rosaria: [Laughter] Okay, I didn't mean to. Dennis: —and just have you unpack a bit. Rosaria: Okay. Dennis: You said, “It was a more moral”— Rosaria: I did. Dennis: —“choice.” Rosaria: I know. Dennis: How can this be a more moral faith when someone has a post-modern view,— Rosaria: Right; right. Dennis: —which doesn't believe in absolutes? Rosaria: Right. That's right. Well, morality doesn't depend upon absolutes. Morality depends, especially within a post-modern context, on decency for the moment. There are a number of things that you do not have to worry about in the lesbian community. For the most part, you do not have to worry about sexually-transmitted diseases, and you do not have to worry about unplanned pregnancy. That cleans up a whole lot of things for women. In fact, I remember being at a gay pride march once. There was a placard from the Christian community. After the Leviticus verse—that everybody has to quote, of course—the placard said: “AIDS is God's curse on homosexuality.” Then, there was another placard—a responsive placard, from the gay and lesbian community, that said: “If AIDS is God's curse on homosexuality, then, lesbians must be God's chosen people.” Dennis: Because you can't get it? Rosaria: Not in your vanilla forms of lesbian sexuality; no. No, you just can't. Bob: You also just made the statement that some people kind of consider what we're talking about here to be at the crux of your story, but you don't. Rosaria: Right. I don't. I don't, but I will entertain this. [Laughter] I'm also— Bob: You were a feminist, lesbian, queer theorist, tenured professor—and you don't see that as kind of integral to the whole idea of the transformation that's about to happen in your life. Rosaria: Sure. Sure. Sure. It's integral; but see, the train wreck was about my heart. The train wreck was about starting out with this premise that this book—the Bible, here—was filled with contradictions. It was an oppressive treatise against women, and African Americans, and everybody else in between. It was sentimental in some places. It was mythological in some places; but it was hardly, hardly, hardly the backdrop of a world view that anybody could sustain. I went from believing that firmly to many years later—after reading it through many, many times, meeting with a pastor, meeting with various other members of this church community—to seeing this book as an organic whole, whose canonicity was more solid than any other canonicity I had ever come up against—that had an organic revelation that started from Genesis, ended with Revelation—that offered an invitation to me—me?—me of all people?! Right?—that one!—to enter into a covenant with a holy God, Who would reveal His will for my life and to Whom I could share prayers, that He would hear. That is the story. Dennis: Okay. Let's go back, then, to a little men's group that came to Syracuse University. Promise Keepers— Rosaria: Yes, they did. Dennis: —came to town— Rosaria: They came to town. Dennis: —and held a giant rally on the university. Rosaria: Right. Dennis: And you, being the proud feminist that you were, did what? Rosaria: Well, you know—I don't know that—being the proud feminist. I was on a war against stupid. So, what I did is—I spent ten minutes of my precious time, and I knocked out an editorial to the newspaper. I presumed it would be a little dinky editorial and that nobody would ever see it. Well, they gave me a full page. It generated a great deal of rejoinders. Bob: Your editorial said: “Syracuse should have nothing to do with these patriarchs coming to our campus.” Rosaria: It did, and it even called them a cult. It—you know, I was just being myself, gentlemen! [Laughter] I don't know what else to say! Yet, I got all kinds of responses and— Dennis: And you had two boxes— Rosaria: I did. Dennis: —or two sections on your desk. Rosaria: Right—no boxes because I don't like a messy desk—right. You've got to keep it on the ground. This was back in the days when you had Xerox boxes—I was using that expression; and someone said, “What's a Xerox box?” [Laughter] That dates me so much, but I did! I had two Xerox boxes. One, I kept for hate mail. One, I kept for fan mail. Then, this one letter came in. It wasn't hate mail, and it wasn't fan mail. I had to figure out what to do with it. Bob: And the first thing you did with it was wad it up and throw it in the trash? Rosaria: Yes, absolutely; absolutely. Well, I don't think I wadded it up because it was going to go in the recycling bin—because I was a good feminist! It was not going to go in the trash! Come on, gentlemen! [Laughter] Bob: So, you put it in the recycle bin. Rosaria: Work with me. Work with me. Bob: Well, what did this letter, that didn't fit either box, say? Rosaria: Well, it was kind; and it was gentle. Yet, it was also clearly written from a Christian world and life view. It was from Ken Smith, who is my dear friend and became my first pastor. But at that time, he was just this dude who wrote me a letter. It asked me some basic questions that were genuine questions, and he wasn't answering those questions for me. I admired that. I really liked that. I was also a good user, at the time. I admired the fact that here was somebody who knew a lot about the Bible. I was going to need to read the Bible for my new research project; and I thought, “Well, you know, I'll bet this is somebody who could help me with my research.” At the bottom of the letter, Ken asked me to call him back; and so, I did. I thought these were questions that needed to be aired on the phone. We had such a lively conversation on the phone—that he invited me to come to his house for dinner. Sometimes, people don't know this—but the gay and lesbian community is also a community quite given to hospitality. I tell people this—that I'm a pastor's wife now. I believe, strongly, that hospitality is just the ground zero of the Christian life, and of evangelism, and of everything else that we do, apart from the formal worship of God. But I tell people that I honed my hospitality gifts in my former queer community. So, when Ken invited me to have dinner with him—that seemed really like a great idea. He already seemed like my kind of people. Bob: But you came with a little bit of a chip on your shoulder—a bottle of wine under your arm; right? Rosaria: Well, but that was normal! I didn't realize—see, now, I'm a teetotaler; but then, I wasn't! [Laughter] Dennis: But describe your haircut. You said— Rosaria: I did. I had a butch haircut. Yes, yes. And yes—and I had the bumper stickers. I mean, I did realize, that when I pulled my car into his driveway, you know—“What was the— Bob: “What were the neighbors going to think?” You were kind of proud of the fact that the neighbors might be a little bit— Rosaria: Well, you know what? Here's what I discovered in Ken's house. That door was always opening and closing. People, from all walks of life—I met them at that table. I did not meet Christians who shared a narrowly-bounded, priggish world view. That is not what I met. I met people who could talk openly about sexuality and politics and did not drop down dead in the process. Bob: You know what? When I first read your book, one of the things I got most excited about was the model of Ken Smith. Rosaria: Oh, yes, absolutely. Bob: I just—I was high-fiving and going, “We need to read this, all of us, to understand: ‘Here's how you do this.'” Dennis: “Here's how you engage somebody who doesn't think and believe like you do.” Rosaria: That's right. Bob: Yes. Rosaria: But you have to understand that was normal for Ken. Ken didn't say: “Oh great! We're going to have the lesbian over for dinner. Let's be sure to share the Gospel as soon as she walks through the door!” or, “Let's….” He—this was normal for Ken. Ken cares about the heart. In fact, I found Ken's business card in one of the books I was looking at for some writing that I'm doing. The business card said: “When you're ready to talk about God, give me a call.” That's what the business card says. It's just—that's how Ken was. It is how Ken is. There's a book out, right now—that many people are reading. I love it. I'm reading it. I'm getting some of my neighbors to read it. It's called The Art of Neighboring. Before that book, there was Ken Smith—he and Floy, his wife—his beautiful, wonderful wife, who is my first spiritual mother—that's what they did. So, I became a regular at Ken's house; and Ken and Floy became a regular at my house. They did two startling things the first time I had dinner at their house—two things that were against the rule book that I believed all Christians followed. They did not share the Gospel with me, and they did not invite me to church. But, at the end of our dinner, when Ken extended his hands, and I closed mine in it, he said: “We're neighbors. Neighbors should be friends.” I found myself being in complete agreement with Ken. Also, Ken had a way of asking questions; and he had an authority—you know, I had been in a queer community. I had been in a feminist community. In my community, women ran the show. I had not encountered a man like Ken in my whole life. I found that his gentle authority—that when he asked me a question—in fact, I left his house that night and I thought: “I cannot believe you said those things, Rosaria! Why did you give him all that material?!” I found myself actually answering his questions honestly instead of answering with the programmed— Bob: The party line. Rosaria: The party line, exactly. Dennis: Your defenses were down because he had done a good job of loving you. Rosaria: That's right. And you know what? It started with the prayer. I had heard plenty of prayers before—Planned Parenthood, gay pride marches—you know the prayers that the crumbs are there for the heathen, like me, to hear. I had heard—I could have written—you know those are hermeneutic; right? I'm an English professor. I love to study different art forms: “There is an art form to that prayer.” That was not Ken's prayer. It was vulnerable and honest. He prayed to a God Who is not a god I had ever been introduced to. One of the things Ken asked me that night—and I still cannot believe I actually answered him honestly!—I mean, it was just so—it was so out of character for me—but he asked me—he said: “Well, what do you really believe? I mean, do you really—you know, you just really don't believe in anything? What do you really believe?” I said: “I don't know what I believe. I was raised Catholic, and I'm now a Unitarian. I don't really know what I believe,” which was true but not anything I had said out loud. Dennis: You know, your story is a great reminder, I think, to each of us, who are followers of Jesus Christ—that we need to be using our homes— Rosaria: Yes, that's right. Dennis: —to be more hospitable and to reach out with kindness; but as we do that—maybe, instead of providing the answers to people—instead, as he did with you, ask a few questions to find out where the other person really is— Rosaria: Right. Dennis: —and what do they believe and not believe. I think, sometimes, we are so zealous, on behalf of the truth, we want to get to the bottom line— Rosaria: That's right. Dennis: —and if you're going to do that in an effective way, you first of all have to find out where you deliver the bottom line. The best way to do that is by asking some great questions. Rosaria: That's right. Bob: Well, and the story is not over yet. In fact, this week, we're going to hear more of this conversation; but you've really shared your journey in the book you've written called The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. We've got copies of the book in our FamilyLife Today Resource Center. Go online, at FamilyLifeToday.com, for more information about how to get a copy of the book, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. Again, the website is FamilyLifeToday.com. You can also order by calling 1-800-FL-TODAY, 1-800-358-6329. That's 1-800- “F” as in family, “L” as in life, and then, the word, “TODAY”. Now, I know this time of year tends to be a time when families get really busy. There's a lot going on. School is back in. There are activities for the kids. The calendar is crowded; and you start to think, “We just can't do it all!” We talked with a mom, a number of months ago, who decided to call a moratorium on extracurricular activities for the family for a year. They took a one-year sabbatical from those kinds of extra activities. She shared with us that strategy and how it impacted her family. If you can help us with a donation at FamilyLife Today, this month, we'd like to say, “Thank you,” by sending you a copy of that conversation that we had with Joanne Kraft about life being just too busy; and we'd also like to send a copy of Dr. Tim Kimmel's book, Little House on the Freeway. Again, this is for a donation to help support the ministry of FamilyLife Today. We're asking you to donate $25 or more; and we'll be happy to send you these two gifts as our way of saying, “Thank you for your support of this ministry.” Go to FamilyLifeToday.com and click the button that says, “I CARE”, to make an online donation; or call 1-800-FL-TODAY and make your donation over the phone. When you do, just mention that you'd like to receive the bundle on busyness. We'll be happy to send that to you. We do appreciate your support of this ministry, and we're thankful that you're a partner with us. And we hope you can join us back again tomorrow when we'll continue our conversation with Rosaria Butterfield. We're going to hear how she wound up in a local church, hearing the Gospel and responding to what she heard. I hope you can tune in for that. I want to thank our engineer today, Keith Lynch, and our entire broadcast production team. On behalf of our host, Dennis Rainey, I'm Bob Lepine. We will see you back next time for another edition of FamilyLife Today. FamilyLife Today is a production of FamilyLife of Little Rock, Arkansas. Help for today. Hope for tomorrow. We are so happy to provide these transcripts to you. However, there is a cost to produce them for our website. If you've benefited from the broadcast transcripts, would you consider donating today to help defray the costs? Copyright © 2013 FamilyLife. All rights reserved. www.FamilyLife.com

Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Part 2) - Rosaria Butterfield

Dennis & Barbara's Top 25 All-Time Interviews

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 4, 2020 25:07

Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Part 1) - Rosaria ButterfieldSecret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Part 2) - Rosaria ButterfieldSecret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Part 3) - Rosaria ButterfieldFamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete. What Is Hospitality? Guest: Rosaria ButterfieldFrom the series: Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Day 2 of 3) Bob: Rosaria Butterfield was a committed feminist and a lesbian when a local pastor and his wife invited her over for dinner. What she found in that dinner, and as she started attending his church, was that her caricature of Christians and Christianity was off the mark. Rosaria: I did not meet Christians who shared a narrowly-bounded, priggish world view. That is not what I met. I met people who could talk openly about sexuality and politics and did not drop down dead in the process. Ken Smith made it so clear to me that he could accept me right where I was—that there is a difference between acceptance and approval. Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Tuesday, September 17th. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine. We'll hear today how a Presbyterian pastor was used by God to share the Gospel with a lesbian college professor and about the remarkable transformation that God did in her life. Stay tuned. And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us. You know, if we were going to sit down in our communities and think where might there be a fertile mission field—people who would be open to hearing the message of the Gospel—I don't think we would think, “Well, I bet the queer studies program, down at the university—I bet they are dying for somebody to come in and share about Jesus with them.” You know? Dennis: I wouldn't think so. Bob: But the story we're hearing this week is the story of an unlikely convert. At least, that's what it says on the front of this book. Dennis: That's right. Rosaria Butterfield joins us, again, on FamilyLife Today. Rosaria—welcome back. Rosaria: Thank you so much. I am delighted to be here. Dennis: I want you to unpack what Bob just said because some of our listeners are going: “Wait a second! Did Bob just use the word, ‘queer'?” Rosaria: He did. He did. Dennis: And before we came into the studio— Rosaria: Right. We talked about it. Dennis: —I asked you about this. I think a lot of our listeners would— Rosaria: Sure. Dennis: —like to know what the background is. Let me just introduce you, though, before you answer my question. Rosaria has been married to her husband, Kent, since 2001. They have four children. She is a former English professor at Syracuse University. She has written a book called The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. Bob: And did I say something wrong when I said, “queer”? Rosaria: You did not! No, you did not. Gay and lesbian studies started as a way of understanding the lives and appreciating the contributions made by gay men and lesbian women—but in a context of post-modernism and post-structuralism, even the—what we call normative gender of that statement—men, women—even the normative gender of that statement has become what we call contested or something that is only fixed in the eyes of a culture, not in the hearts of people. So, Queer Theory is the academic manifestation of the post-modern and post-structural world views as it applies to a person's sexuality. Bob: So, in 1997, studying—advancing Queer Theory—as a tenured professor at Syracuse— Rosaria: Well, I was tenured in '98— Bob: Okay. Rosaria: —but you know. Bob: And you're in a lesbian relationship, at the time. Rosaria: Absolutely. Bob: You write an editorial in the Syracuse newspaper, talking about these patriarchs who are coming to Syracuse—the Promise Keepers group: “No way should we let them near the campus.” Rosaria: Right. Bob: You get hate mail, and you get fan mail, and you get one letter from a pastor who says, “Let's talk.” Rosaria: Right. Bob: And that conversation—the beginning of that conversation put you on an unexpected path. Rosaria: Yes, it did; absolutely; absolutely. My husband's name is Kent. Kent is the pastor of the First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Durham. He just finished a series on hospitality—a preaching series. It was really interesting for me to sit—many, many years later—and remember that hospitality does not mean fellowship. Hospitality means bringing the stranger in. More than that, it means going to the gate, and getting the stranger, and bringing him or her in. I think, sometimes, Christians think we're practicing hospitality when we have our homeschool friends from church over for lunch. Well, that's fellowship, and that's very good; but it's not hospitality. Dennis: You mentioned that the gay and lesbian community was good at this. Rosaria: Very good at this. So, every Thursday night, my partner and I would open our home to anybody in the gay and lesbian community who wanted to just come in, and talk to us, and tell us what is going on. I tell pastors—you know: “Hints from Eloise.” Bob: “It's a good strategy here.” Rosaria: “It's a good strategy—just open it up—don't call it a Bible study. Call it a—just whatever—and just find out who your people are.” Dennis: Give us some idea of who would come over to your house when you and your partner invited. Rosaria: Well, I lived—first of all, we are not—I think people don't understand, sometimes—that, at a university, and especially, where I was coming from—the gay and lesbian community was highly-respected, and valued, and appreciated. So, it could be anyone. You know, graduate students, or faculty members, or neighbors. We might talk about some environmental issue. We might talk about, “So and So's dog needs to be put to sleep, and we should do something,”—you know, it was simply a day to catch up and know how to be hand-on-hand with one another. Bob: And the people coming might be gay or might be straight. They—the— Rosaria: Oh, yes. Bob: There's a diversity of folks. Rosaria: Oh, yes! Thank you for mentioning that. The gay and lesbian community is a diverse community; absolutely! So, we didn't all have one journey into the community, and we didn't have one story; but a very special person, who was there every, every time because she was my dear, dear friend—was a transgendered woman—and I call her “Jay” in the book. Bob: And Jay, when you say a transgendered woman, she is born anatomically male— Rosaria: Right. And is— Bob: —identified more as a female, began a process that starts with hormonal therapy and ultimately ends in surgery. Rosaria: Well, it may ultimately end in surgery. Surgery is very expensive. So, at my season, when Jay and I were very good friends, Jay is what we would call chemically-castrated. Bob: You use the female pronoun when you refer to Jay. Why do you do that? Rosaria: I do. I do. In fact, I was asked, recently, at a biblical counseling conference why I do that—because I respect the fact that when I am meeting people—I would do that today, as a Christian, by the way—this was not—some of the things I did back, then, I wouldn't necessarily do today, but I would do this today— Dennis: Right. Rosaria: —because you have to meet and respect people where they are. And hospitality is—I believe it is God's ordained path for evangelism. In First Corinthians—when God tells us that no temptation will befall you except for that which He will provide a way of escape—I want all of our Christian listeners to know that, from the bottom of my heart, I believe that your home and your church is a way of escape for somebody—for somebody like me or not like me, but for somebody—somebody that God has called. But if your door is closed or if you can't get over yourself—and maybe I can talk a little bit about this—you know that we pray, “Lord, may there be more of You and less of me.” We, as Christians, pray for a relinquished life. If that is so, then, our churches and our homes are the way of escape—but that has not historically been the truth; right? Dennis: Right. We've had a lot of judgmental walls and bars— Rosaria: Right; right. Dennis: —on our homes instead of doors, at that point. Rosaria: That's right. You know, I think it's a good question. I'm sure that there are people listening saying: “But I thought she had small children! What is she saying?” and, “Where do we draw the line?” There are lines to draw. I'm not suggesting that you should be careless, but I am suggesting that we should examine some things. Probably, the most important thing to examine is: “Who is Jesus?” and, “Is grace sufficient?” and, “Have I been forgiven of my sins?” Dennis: And that's really what I want you to finish unpacking, in terms of your story with Pastor Ken, who wrote you the letter—as Bob mentioned earlier—and didn't take you to task. Rosaria: No. No. Dennis: He asked you a bunch of questions that were hard for you to answer—invited you over to his home. Rosaria: Right. Dennis: And you went and had a delightful time. Rosaria: I did. I did. I met Christians who were thoughtful, and engaging, and smart, and did not use the Bible to punctuate the end of a sentence but rather to deepen it and had a vital faith life. And you know—the other thing I want to say about Ken, which was really interesting—it was not like Ken had some—went to some PhD program, where he developed a para-church ministry on how to minister to homosexuals—not at all! I suspect that I was the first person, in the lesbian community—that Ken had ever met—that he knew, perhaps, was a lesbian. But Ken knew Jesus. He knew Him really well. He knows Him really well. Therefore, Ken could walk the long journey over to me and help me walk that long journey back to Jesus because he didn't need a para-church ministry. Ken didn't need to find somebody in the church who had a daughter who was a lesbian—he didn't—he pretty much presumed that he could ask me some straight-up questions. I could answer them, and nobody was going to fall down dead. I think the fact that I wanted to read the Bible, even for the wrong reasons, was delightful to Ken. You know, as a pastor's wife now, I will tell you anybody who is excited to read the Bible—we don't care!—just start reading! Bob: —what your motive is—doesn't matter. Rosaria: It doesn't matter! [Laughter] Bob: Did you intentionally say things to Ken to try to shock him? Did you try to— Rosaria: I don't remember, intentionally, trying to scare Ken. I think I tried to tell him that I was a member of a Unitarian Church, in the hopes that he wouldn't invite me to church; but I didn't realize that he wasn't planning on inviting me to church. He was planning on bringing the church to me, a heathen. Bob: You said, “He and his wife, Floy, came to your house.” Rosaria: Oh, yes. Bob: Like, did they come on Thursday nights? Rosaria: No, well, I don't think so. No, no, no. Not in that kind of thing, but what happened—this is how it started. Ken and Floy and I became friends. They let me do things for them—which is really nice because, sometimes, Christians forget that a really good way to be loving is to let other people use their gifts. I loved to bake bread and make soup. So, if somebody was sick, I loved doing that. They let me serve them in that way. Then, they served me in many ways. We just had a grand old time. In fact, I felt like: “Wow! I have finally arrived! I am a real liberal! I finally have friends who are not in the queer community and have PhD's in the humanities. Look, I have these evangelical”— Dennis: These right-wingers! Rosaria: —“these straight, evangelical, conservative Christians; and I hang out with them. I've arrived!” Then, Ken said something really funny—well, it was the gauntlet moment. He said, “Rosaria, I am concerned about the English Department.” I should tell you I was the undergraduate coordinator of the English program. So, I was a little concerned about where this was going. He said: “Well, you've read the Bible now; and you see that it has every genre. It is a beautiful book of literature. I would like to go and speak to your English majors and tell them why they should be reading the Bible.” Well, my claws came out. I was—suddenly, the mother bear in me was born; and I just made it very clear that— Bob: That wasn't going to happen. Rosaria: Over my dead body and through my claws. Dennis: That was brilliant though. Rosaria: Well, let me tell you what happened next! It occurred to me, though, that this lecture would be pretty advantageous for me because I am a student of hermeneutics; but I do not know the hermeneutical traditions that an evangelical Christian uses. I know about canonicity, but I don't know about the canons that legitimated these 66 books. I thought to myself: “Hmm. You know what? I'd like to hear this lecture.” So, before I took Ken's head off, I said, “How about an audience of one?” And this is probably the most spectacular thing about Ken Smith. You think about it. Often, in the church, we want to talk to a thousand people. We get frustrated: “Oh, so few people came to this worship service,” or, “Oh, we had this outreach; and there were only—well, one.” Ken came for me—for one. I still have the notes. He lectured for an hour. I thought that man would never shut up! [Laughter] I was fuming! I was fuming. So, when he got to the end—finally, he stopped! [Laughter] You know, “Hallelujah! He stopped!” I said: “Ken, you have one book that declares it is the true truth—and it does so on—of all things—an ontology. It claims to be true because of its own truth claim! I mean, that's just—you get thrown out of the game for playing that way. I have—what?—a hundred, on the bookshelf behind you, that says you are wrong.” He just clapped his hands and grinned. He said, “Exactly! And next week, we're going to talk about that!” [Laughter] Bob: It wasn't just a lecture. He was taking you to a class, here. Rosaria: He did—a one student. Dennis: And so, what happened? I mean, how did you find your way on that journey? Rosaria: Well, yes. That night, I remember walking my dog and thinking, “My world would be a very different world if I believed these things.” Dennis: In fact, you were starting to change, even— Rosaria: I was. Dennis: —in the midst of that. Your friend, the transgender friend— Rosaria: My friend, Jay—well, that's right. She had cornered me, in the kitchen, at one of my Thursday night events—that was important, too, by the way, because I felt like, in some ways, her response gave me permission. So, this was important. She cornered me in the kitchen and said: “Look, before you pour any more glasses of wine or fill any more pasta bowls, you need to come clean with me. All of this Bible reading is changing you, and I'm worried.” I sat down in the chair. I felt like I was going to throw up. I said: “What if it's true? What if it's true—and you, and I, and everyone we know—we're all in trouble. What if Jesus is a real and risen Lord, Who sits at the right of God, the Father? What if all of this is true? What if Jesus died for the sins of His people? What if healing happens through the stripes of Jesus? What if He took on a curse so that people could be blessed? What if all of that—that whole story—I mean, do you know that story? What if all that is true?” Then, she sat down and looked like she was as bad off as I was, at that point, and said: “I know! I was a Presbyterian minister for 15 years. I prayed that God would heal me, but He didn't. If you'd like, I'll pray that God will heal you.” That threw me for a loop: “What does it mean that she prayed for healing but didn't get it?” That conversation left me a jumble of raw emotions. That was the thing about this whole journey—that it was just eating me alive. So, the next day, I came home from work, got the mail, and started to let the dogs out. I found a crate of books by my door, and it was from Jay. It was, I presume, her theological library. I picked up the first book, and it was Calvin's Institutes. I was just flipping through it. I love to see other people's handwriting in the margin of books because—especially, friends—I love to see the journey that friends have taken. Right there, next to the exposition of Romans 1, in Jay's handwriting—in her handwriting, it said: “Watch out. This is where you will fall.” Then, I went to the Bible. I opened it up, and I looked at Romans 1. I'd already read it; but this time, it just hit me, between the eyes, that God gives some over to a degrading passion. I had never thought about my life in those terms before. That made me want to just throw the Bible and everything in the trash and ignore Ken's e-mails and phone calls. It made me think about this. So, I tried to do that, of course; but it didn't work because Ken believes in the perseverance of the saints. So, there we were; [Laughter] but one of things it did make me realize—it was just a small, little chink in my armor—but it made me realize that I'd been reading the Bible, feeling perfectly justified that I would be the judge of it. I thought about a question—it's back to God's authority—that: “If God, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, used chosen men to write this Bible—and these are truly His God-breathed words, then, who has authority over God?” and, “Why do I feel that I should be the judge of the Bible? What if”—and I just kept it as a logic question. I didn't go there right away: “What if I allowed the Bible to be the judge of me?” It occurred to me that I was truly trying to write a book that understood how evangelical Christians got into this dilemma. It struck me that that is how Ken Smith read the Bible. This may seem so obvious to people—I don't know—millions of Christian listeners thinking, “That was really interesting?” But that was really interesting because, in a post-modern context, authority is— Dennis: Right. Rosaria: —you put it in quotation marks because it only exists because of Oz behind the curtain. It isn't real! So, that's when the question of God's authority entered into my thinking process, as I was reading. It did occur to me because I—obviously, for example—what I am doing on this radio station—I can talk for a really long time [Laughter] and not stop. You guys might have a million questions; and here, it's just like a train wreck; isn't it gentlemen? See, you get to experience it with me! Dennis: No, it's transformation. Rosaria: Well, but it did make me realize that I wanted to judge what God said about homosexuality; but I didn't even want to hear the other side. That did strike me as anti-intellectual. Dennis: You discovered that you're not going to judge God; but in fact, you're ultimately accountable to Him? Rosaria: Well, I didn't discover that right away! See, you are giving me more credit. [Laughter] Dennis: Well, but you are on the road. Bob: You are on the path. Rosaria: I'm on the road. I'm on the road. Dennis: You're on the road, and to that person who identifies with you— Rosaria: That's right. I'm on the road. Dennis: I just want to—I want to read to them the words of Jesus Christ in John, Chapter 5. He said: “Truly, truly, I say to you, ‘Whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life.” Rosaria: Amen! Dennis: It really is an issue of faith and of belief. And to that person, who is listening to Rosaria and identifies with her journey, maybe, all that's left for you to do is to finally give in to the ultimate Authority. Bob: And that's the point. It's an issue of authority. Who is in charge—you or somebody else? And when you come to that moment— Dennis: And is that somebody else, Jesus Christ? Bob: That's right. When you come to that moment—to go, “If I'm looking around, if it's not me, who is it?”—there is only one person who stands who has authority—all authority in heaven and earth—has been given to Him, according to Matthew, Chapter 28. That's the issue that you had to confront. You write about it so well in the book that you've written. Again, Rosaria's book is called The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. I want to encourage our listeners to get a copy. Go to FamilyLifeToday.com. You can order a copy from us online. Again, the website, FamilyLifeToday.com; or call 1-800-FL-TODAY. That's our toll-free number, 1-800- “F” as in family, “L” as in life, and then, the word, “TODAY”. We're happy to send a copy of this book out to you. I think you will find it very encouraging. By the way, we are very encouraged by those of you who come alongside this ministry and help support FamilyLife Today. You make programs like this possible through your generous financial support to FamilyLife Today. We're listener-supported. It's your donations that make it possible for us to cover the cost of producing and syndicating this daily radio program. If you can help with a donation, we'd like to say, “Thank you,” by sending you a couple of resources. The first is a CD—a conversation we had with Joanne Kraft about how she put her foot down when life got just too busy at her house. She had what she called “The Radical Sabbatical”. She talks about it in our conversation with her. Then, we'd also like to send you a copy of Tim Kimmel's book, Little House on the Freeway—just to help you calibrate the level of busyness around your house. These two resources are our thank-you gift to you if you can support FamilyLife Today, this month, with a donation of, at least, $25. Again, we want to say, “Thank you,” in advance, for whatever you are able to do in support of this ministry. Go to FamilyLifeToday.com and click the button that says, “I CARE”; or call 1-800-FL-TODAY. Make your donation over the phone and just ask for “The Busyness Bundle”. We're happy to send that out to you, and we do appreciate your faithful partnership with the ministry of FamilyLife Today. Tomorrow, we will hear the conclusion of the Rosaria Butterfield story and hear how God got her from where she was to where she is. I hope you can tune in for that. I want to thank our engineer today, Keith Lynch, and our entire broadcast production team. And on behalf of our host, Dennis Rainey, I am Bob Lepine. We will see you back next time for another edition of FamilyLife Today. FamilyLife Today is a production of FamilyLife of Little Rock, Arkansas. Help for today. Hope for tomorrow. We are so happy to provide these transcripts to you. However, there is a cost to produce them for our website. If you've benefited from the broadcast transcripts, would you consider donating today to help defray the costs? Copyright © 2013 FamilyLife. All rights reserved. www.FamilyLife.com

Al Fox Carraway Talks About Being a Mormon Convert: Part 1

Saints Unscripted

Play Episode Listen Later May 13, 2019 9:03

Al Fox Carraway describes her experience on being a Mormon Convert. She Has many experiences that brought her to the LDS church and she shares them with Saints Unscripted. Al Fox learned for herself that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the Church of God. She has had many experiences that have taught her that God is real and that He loves His children. Through her conversion, Al Fox has become a popular LDS figure and speaker and she even wrote her own book called the “Tattooed Mormon”! Becoming converted to the LDS Church, Carraway talks about how her perspective on family completely changed. She shares that dating was difficult for her, but she was able to find her husband and is married and has two kids of her own and is a firm believer that families can be together forever. Through her conversion, Al Fox learned new things like a “Ward” is a group of members, a “Stake” is not food, and how to sing hymns in church! These are some of the many new things about the Mormon Church that she learned.

god jesus christ church saints ward mormon stake lds mormon church lds church she has carraway convert part saints unscripted tattooed mormon

The Unconverted Convert Part 2

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 10, 2018 26:00

The Unconverted Convert Part 1

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 7, 2018 26:00

authority blogging minimalists grinding super important convert part

#071: Minimalist Blogging (Part 01)

Digital Ambition

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2018 42:55

There are three main types of bloggers: Those who ignore blogging as a channel and never get the powerful benefits from it. Those who are a slave to blogging and still never get any traction. Those who are a slave to blogging and get benefits, but can't get off the crazy blogging treadmill. But what if there was another way? What if you could get all the benefits of blogging without getting sucked into the deep dark blogging black hole that drains all the time from your schedule and ends up burning you out? In this 3-part mini series I'm going to lay out a minimalist blogging strategy that teaches you how to do exactly that. Here's the outline: Part 01: Why Blogging (The Right Way) is Super Important for EVERY Online Business Part 02: How to Identify Your Core Topics & Write Killer Blog Posts That RANK & CONVERT Part 03: How to Accelerate Your Reach, Authority, and Rankings Stay tuned. Text the word GRINDING to 444999 to join the tribe and get some special goodies. Also, registration is open for The 250K Society this week. This is the last enrollment period for 2018. Go to http://250ksociety.com to see the new membership options and enroll.

Interview with a New Convert Part 2

Padre Peregrino

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 22, 2018 74:05

This is part 2 of 2 of an interview with Stefanie Nicholas, a millennial who went from being an agnostic to following Christ and the Catholic Church. Hear in today’s podcast how she “runs into the fire” of a Church in crisis with scandals, even when many run away. Stefanie writes at onepeterfive.

jesus christ church catholic church convert part stefanie nicholas

Interview with a New Convert Part 1

Padre Peregrino

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 19, 2018 51:44

Why would anyone become Catholic *now*? This is part 1 of 2 of an interview with a single-Mom millennial who decided to follow Christ and the Catholic Church amidst the chaos of her own life, amidst the chaos of a Church in crisis.

jesus christ church mom catholic catholic church convert part

Best of BAM: Hank Unplugged: The Most Reluctant Convert - Part 2

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2018 55:01

On today's special edition of the Bible Answer Man broadcast, we pick up where we ended on our previous broadcast and present the 2nd half of an episode of the Hank Unplugged podcast, in which Hank talked with actor and Artistic Director of the New York City based Fellowship for Performing Arts, Max McLean.

new york city fellowship artistic directors performing arts reluctant max mclean hank hanegraaff bible answer man convert part hank unplugged

Best of BAM: Hank Unplugged: The Most Reluctant Convert - Part 2

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2018 55:00

Hank takes callers' questions and answers them to equip them to defend the truth of the gospel.

reluctant hank hanegraaff bible answer man convert part hank unplugged

Best of BAM: Hank Unplugged: The Most Reluctant Convert - Part 1

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 14, 2018 55:01

On today's special edition of the Bible Answer Man broadcast, we present another episode of the Hank Unplugged podcast. Hank's guest is actor and Artistic Director of the New York City based Fellowship for Performing Arts, Max McLean.

new york city fellowship artistic directors performing arts reluctant max mclean hank hanegraaff bible answer man convert part hank unplugged

Best of BAM: Hank Unplugged: The Most Reluctant Convert - Part 1