Podcasts about evangelical press association

I went on a road trip this week from my home in Charlotte, N.C., through Nashville to Branson, Mo., where I spoke at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Press Association. From there I drove home through Terre Haute and Indianapolis, Ind., and Beckley, W.Va. In 72 hours, I put in more than 1800 miles. It wasn't all windshield time. I stopped for meetings all along the way, and I learned that real, life-changing and culture-changing work is happening in places that are not New York or Washington, or Los Angeles. Here's what I learned…. The producer for today's program is Jeff McIntosh. Until next time, may God bless you.

Managing editor Josh Mann and Deputy Editor Adam Wittenberg join host Chris Stigall on The Lion Week in Review. Returning from Branson's Evangelical Press Association, they celebrate The Lion's 11 awards, including a first-place series and podcast honors. They discuss an NBC poll showing 75% opposing males in women's sports, AI cutting school time at Alpha School, Illinois' union-backed homeschool restrictions, Pete Hegseth's military reforms targeting wokeness, and Trump's UK trade deal aiding farmers. They critique legacy media's cartel profiles and PBS funding defenses. 00:00:00 - Introduction00:03:22 - Lion's EPA Award Wins00:06:44 - Gender Sports Controversy00:10:06 - AI Transforms Education00:13:28 - Illinois Homeschool Battle00:16:50 - Hegseth's Military Changes00:20:12 - Trump's UK Trade Deal00:23:34 - Legacy Media CritiquesFollow The Lion on Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube. You can also sign-up for our newsletter and follow our coverage at ReadLion.com. To learn more about the Herzog Foundation, visit HerzogFoundation.com. Like and follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram, or sign up to receive monthly email updates. #ChristianEducation #Education #EducationPolicy #EducationReform #FaithAndLearning #Family #FaithInEducation #Faith #Homeschool #ChristianSchool #PrivateSchool #EducationNews #News #Religion #ReligiousNews #PublicSchool #SchoolNews #NewsShow #SchoolChoice

Chris Maxwell has known author and professor Sandra Glahn through their connection with the Evangelical Press Association. Tracy Reynolds joins Chris in inviting Sandra to you. Sandra Glahn, PhD, is a journalist and the author, coauthor, or editor of more than twenty books, including Vindicating the Vixens, Earl Grey with Ephesians, Sanctified Sexuality (coeditor), and Sexual Intimacy in Marriage (coauthor). She serves as Professor of Media Arts and Worship at Dallas Theological Seminary. Her latest book, Nobody's Mother, lays a biblical foundation for men and women serving side by side in the church. During these days of disappointment and division, listen to Dr Glahn's story. Life doesn't always go the way we wish. Pain is a part of each person's story. Her wisdom and compassion are needed for today's leaders who continue learning to trust God whatever the season. https://sandraglahn.com/

On this episode, I am joined by Logan Isaac, a veteran, theologian, and ethicist, to discuss the intricate relationship between the church and veterans. This conversation delves into the trauma and moral harm veterans bring into faith communities, the stereotypes faced by soldiers, and the responsibility of the church in addressing these issues. Logan shares his personal journey from artilleryman to conscientious objector, offering deep insights into the ethical complexities, the role of humility, and the importance of creating inclusive spaces for veterans. Explore the narrative of spiritual and political empowerment, the impact of stereotypes, and the historical context of veterans' involvement in social movements. Don't miss this enriching dialogue, which also highlights some upcoming opportunities to connect at Theology Beer Camp aimed at fostering support and understanding for veterans and their families. Logan Issac served six years in the Army as a forward observer assigned to the 82nd Airborne and 25th Infantry (Light) divisions. After a deployment to Iraq, he sought to lay down my weapons as a noncombatant but was discharged instead. Then he earned degrees in theology at Duke University (MTS, 2013) and the University of St Andrews (M.Litt, 2015). He is an author and editor with over 20 publications, including Reborn on the Fourth of July, awarded a Publishers Weekly Starred Review, and “Ponder Christian Soldiers,” named the Best Article Series of 2016 by the Evangelical Press Association. _____________________ Join my Substack - Process This! Join our upcoming class - THE RISE OF BONHOEFFER, for a guided tour of Bonhoeffer's life and thought. Come to THEOLOGY BEER CAMP. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[00:00:24] Judy Douglass: Two people who've had the most impact on me. One would be Bill Bright because when I did the magazine, all of a sudden I was reporting to him and some other people as well because he didn't have time to really supervise and so those were sometimes tense times. Bill and I have one huge difference. Bill loves superlatives. Everybody was the greatest or the most talented or the best and that's the way he talked. I'm a journalist. Don't even believe superlatives are acceptable words, because nobody is the best or the greatest or anything. And so Bill would write these flowery promoting things and I would get it and bring it back to what I thought was realism. And he would come back, and he'd say, no, you need to… And I would put a little bit more back, but not all of it, and we would go about five rounds before I didn't go back to him anymore. I just decided we'd gotten it as far as I was willing to go and as much as he really needed. But that was challenging because we didn't always agree on things and yet he was always kind and gracious to me and positive and encouraging. But more than anything, he was trusting God. ++++++++++++ [00:01:53] Tommy Thomas: My guest today is Judy Douglass, a prominent figure within Cru, formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ. Throughout her career, she has held various roles within Cru and has become well known for her leadership and speaking. She served in positions such as staff member, mentor, and advocate for women in leadership within the organization. In addition to her work with Cru, Judy is a prolific writer, addressing topics related to faith, leadership, and personal growth. These writings offer practical guidance, encouragement, and hope to individuals navigating various challenges in life, particularly in the context of family relationships and spiritual journeys. Judy, welcome to NextGen Nonprofit Leadership. [00:02:38] Judy Douglass: Thank you so much for inviting me. I'm looking forward to it. [00:02:41] Tommy Thomas: I've been looking forward to this. I was thinking back, I guess the first time I met you was probably ‘73 or ‘74. That was, before the turn of the century, huh? [00:02:51] Judy Douglass: Definitely before the turn of the century. Yes, I was on staff then too. [00:02:57] Tommy Thomas: I want to learn a little bit about your childhood.  I know when I listen to a podcast and they start asking people those questions my ears perk up. So maybe take me back. What was it like growing up in your hometown and your family? [00:03:11] Judy Douglass: It was like it is for most people who grow up in Texas. [00:03:16] Tommy Thomas: Hot? [00:03:16] Judy Douglass: Opinionated. My family helped settle the State of Texas on both my mother's and my father's side. My mother's side, they came with Stephen F. Austin when he settled down near San Antonio. And on my father's side, it was after the war. And they moved to Dallas, which was just beginning to become a city. And so, I'm very Texan through and through, though I haven't lived there in a very long time, but my family is still there. [00:03:49] Judy Douglass:  I have three sisters, and we are still alive, and we get together every year or year and a half.   When my mother died, we all agreed if we weren't intentional, we wouldn't see each other. So, we became intentional, and we do that. My father was a doctor. My mother had been a nurse, basically. There was this expectation that you can do anything, you'll be supported and encouraged, and that was true. [00:04:23] Tommy Thomas: So, what did you want to be when you grew up coming out of a medical family? [00:04:33] Judy Douglass: I really don't like anything medical very much. From the time I was eight years old, I wanted to be a writer. I started a novel when I was eight and it was about my favorite topic, horses. And so, I loved horses, and I loved writing and they started to go together at a young age. I still have the manuscript of the chapter I wrote of my only novel ever. [00:04:59] Tommy Thomas:  What was high school like for you? Did that manifest itself in high school? Those two loves? [00:05:05] Judy Douglass:   They did. My high school was a very high-level school. And so, there were lots of smart kids. I didn't care for the social structure, but I loved the fact that I got a great education. Probably my biggest opportunity came when I studied journalism for a year, and the journalism teacher saw real hope in me, I think. And so, she encouraged me to work on the school paper, and she did things like she took an article I'd written for the paper and sent it into the Texas High School Press Association writing contest, and it was a feature, and I won for the whole state of Texas. [00:05:57] Judy Douglass: I didn't even know I was entered, but that was encouraging that I could do that, and that she thought I had enough potential that she would enter that for me without even telling me. So that was really a good thing. The horses, I had this, my father wasn't about to buy me a horse. He refused many times since I asked him many times, but he had a doctor, friend, with a horse and no one to ride it. And so they got together and I got a horse and I rode that horse for a number of years. At first, just fun with my friends, but then he said, she's a saddle horse. She's really a good horse. So, he wanted her trained. So, we went over to the training state of stable where I learned to write English and do some jumping and learned all the more proper things than just enjoying riding a horse. [00:06:53] Judy Douglass: And so that was maybe one of the happiest days of my life when my father says, I have a horse for you.  It was a great experience, and I loved it and it paid off later. +++++++++++++++++++++ [00:07:05] Tommy Thomas: My next question was going to be, what are people always surprised to find out about you? But what I would imagine, I certainly didn't know the horse story.  Is there anything else that people might be surprised to know that might know you or would call you a friend? What might they not know? [00:07:21] Judy Douglass: Probably a couple of things that would surprise them because I'm very much a strong advocate for what I care about. They might not know that I'm really a soft-hearted pushover and I'm interested in making sure people thrive than even making sure things happen the way I want. And the other thing that always seems to surprise them, not anyone in my family, but them, is I'm not a rule follower very well. I know rules are needed. And I know it is required, but basically when I see rules, I look at what's their objective and then it's how can I fulfill that objective, maybe keeping the rules and maybe not. [00:08:09] Tommy Thomas: So, you've served a long time with Cru.  Anytime I interview somebody that's been with an organization a long time, I ask them when you joined, did you think it would be a career? [00:08:21] Judy Douglass: It didn't surprise me, but because my parents were not happy that I was joining Campus Crusade for Christ, I said, it's just a two-year commitment because that's all we were signing up for. But in my mind, it probably was longer, but I sure didn't know it was going to be the 60 years that I've been part of the Cru staff. [00:08:44] Tommy Thomas: Oh, so when I met you, I think you were managing one of our magazines. And I suppose you had a staff reporting to you. What do you remember about that first management experience? [00:08:56] Judy Douglass: Oh, my goodness. I remember, one, that I was over my head, because what happened was, I went out there and I was planning to go on campus. When I decided to join the staff, I had to give up two important things. I was engaged to a young man I'd gone with all through college. And he wasn't interested at all in being a part of Cru. And, I said, Lord, when are you going to tell him? And God said, if you marry him, you won't be able to do what I want you to do. And, okay, that was something I wanted. I told the Lord when I met him that I would choose your way. And so that, I choose your way, was my pattern through life. [00:09:42] Judy Douglass: And, so I said, okay. But I was also giving up my dream to become a writer and to maybe eventually be a magazine editor. But when I got to the staff conference, Bill Bright called me into his office and he said, we have this magazine we started to use on the campuses, to help staff talk to students about topics. We wondered if instead of going to one campus, you would come to headquarters and do this magazine for all the campuses. And I'm like, what? Yes.  So, God gave me my dream back just right away. The other one came later. [00:10:27] Tommy Thomas: Was that the Collegiate, I'm trying to think, was that the Collegiate Challenge? [00:10:31] Judy Douglass: That was the Collegiate Challenge. And I did that for several years with the whole editorial staff and then their man named Robert was the designer and he was far more knowledgeable than I was. And what was interesting was that we and Campus Life Magazine from Youth for Christ at the same time, we're looking at most Christian magazines, which were tiny print little pictures. Yeah. Just not even readable. And not certainly enticing. And I said, we got to do something. And Bob was really creative. And we ended up making a magazine that when we took it to the Evangelical Press Association convention and entered their contest, we won Periodical of The Year of all the categories, because they'd never seen a magazine like it. [00:11:27] Judy Douglass: And it was full of color, and it was stories, and it was just a totally different thing, but that was that then we decided to start what became the Worldwide Challenge because we realized that staff were having a hard time convincing their parents that they should join this organization that parent's thought was a cult and also help people, donors and those parents and anyone else understand what it meant to know and walk with God. And the things we were teaching the students, lay people by then, we wanted others to hear. And so, we said, and this is one of the biggest things, hardest things I ever did was we said, okay, we'll do this magazine. Basically, I was the editor, and we had about six journalism school graduates. [00:12:23] Judy Douglass: We were not very old and not even very old in the Lord. Not really strong. We had no knowledge of what went on in the churches out there. And so, we're going to do a magazine that's going to represent our ministry. And we were really over our heads, but God was so good. We had no subscribers. We went to our staff and talked them into giving it to their donors. And so we had to start it off. We had 35,000 subscribers because the staff did that. Our theme for our campaign was tell your supporters you love them 12 times a year. And so it was unbelievably wonderful. God gave us wisdom on how to put together a team and I just marveled at what we were able to do and how God used it in people's lives. [00:13:18] Judy Douglass: And it only ended recently because of the cost of postage and the use of net and that there were other ways to communicate, but when I look back at my years on staff, that's one of my main highlights is getting to start the worldwide challenge and see it touch so many lives. [00:13:40] Tommy Thomas: Now was my friend Chuck McDonald on your team? He and I joined the staff about the same time. [00:13:46] Judy Douglass: Chuck McDonald was on my team. [00:13:48] Tommy Thomas: And he was a University of Missouri J School graduate, if I remember. [00:13:53] Judy Douglass: Which at that time was considered the best. ++++++++++++++++ [00:13:55] Tommy Thomas: So, let's go to mentors. Someone in your life who has brought you along on this journey. The two people who had the greatest impact on my life were Bill Bright and Steve Douglass [00:14:06] Judy Douglass: Two people who've had the most impact on me. One would be Bill Bright because when I did the magazine all of a sudden I was reporting to him and some other people as well because he didn't have time to really supervise, but I did a lot of work with him planning the magazine, editing the magazine, helping him write books, helping him write the first five transferable concepts. And so those were sometimes tense times. Bill and I have one huge difference. Bill loves superlatives. Everybody was the greatest or the most talented or the best and that's the way he talked. I'm a journalist. Don't even believe superlatives are acceptable words, because nobody is the best or the greatest or anything. [00:15:02] Judy Douglass: And so, Bill would write these flowery promoting things, and I would get it and bring it back to what I thought was realism. And he would come back, and he'd say, no, and I would put a little bit more back, but not all of it. And we would go about five rounds before I didn't go back to him anymore. I just decided we'd gotten it as far as I was willing to go and as much as he really needed. But that was challenging because we didn't always agree on things and yet he was always kind and gracious to me and positive and encouraging. But more than anything, he was trusting God. I've known a lot of people who trusted God and I've read many but knew Bill very well. [00:15:58] Judy Douglass: And he trusted God more than almost more than anyone I'd ever seen. And that was a huge thing in teaching me to walk with God on a consistent basis and believe that he would lead me and give me what I needed before me. So, he was probably at that time the biggest influence spiritually in my life, the biggest mentor. The other person I would mention is Steve Douglas. Steve and I dated for five years before we got married. But we were friends and then we were dating, and it was a long time. Sometimes everybody said, give up on him. And I said, yeah. And, so I said, Lord, I'm done. [00:16:48] Judy Douglass: And the Lord said, no, wait, don't give up. Don't quit. And so, it took five years before Steve came to a census. But the point I want to make is he was concerned that his parents had not had a good marriage. His father was an alcoholic, and he just was afraid he had too much of his father in him, which, not true, really, except for smart. He was afraid he wouldn't be a good husband as opposed to being so afraid of marriage. And he loved me. And so, from him, I learned a lot of principles of managing and leading because that's what he did. He went to Harvard. And then he came to Cru to reorganize it, which I didn't appreciate. [00:17:36] Judy Douglass: I had to move out of the president's office. But he spiritually just loved the Lord and sought him and wanted what God had for him. And then we were married for 47 years until God took him home two years ago. So just watching him live his life, lead the ministry in the 20 years he served as President. And I just learned how to work with people. He was maybe the kindest person I'd ever met. Just always responsive to people. Responsive to those who worked for him lifting them up. One of the girls that traveled with me, we were on a trip together with Steve and his assistant and we were coming home from a long international trip. And so we're all tired and she's dropping us off at our house and he says, what can I pray for you? And she says, oh, I've got a chair that's falling apart and I just need somebody to help me put it together, so pray for that. [00:18:47] Judy Douglass: He's knocking on her door with his tools in his hand and he fixed her chair and she's never forgotten it. The president, tired from a long trip, hurt her knee and went to meet it. And that would be what he was like. He was amazing with our children. He coached soccer for our older daughter for 12 years, I think maybe it was only 11, but because he wanted to be with her. Because he's naturally a coach, by the way, I've always thought if he weren't leading this ministry, he would be a coach somewhere. Also, he loved the girls that were on the soccer team. Before every game, he called each one to tell her what she would be expecting to do the next day, and his confidence that she would do a good job. [00:19:38] Judy Douglass: And he also did it so he could have opportunities to tell people about Jesus. And, he was very intentional. I'll tell you one other thing he did. I'm nice to people. I really am, but I don't go out of my way all the time. And so in our neighborhood, he would go walk in the morning and to get exercise. He'd listen to scripture on the way out and then he would pray on the way back. He would look for opportunities to meet the neighbors and talk to them. And for several years, until his body was really not working as well, he picked up trash in our neighborhood and the whole neighborhood knew what he did. [00:20:27] Judy Douglass: They didn't know who he was necessarily, but they knew, oh, he's the man who picks up the trash. I have great pictures of him. So, he's seeing, cause it's usually still dark and his pictures, his paper wrapper and a thing that holds three paper, plastic bags. So, he can put the trash in it. [00:20:49] Tommy Thomas: Wow. [00:20:49] Judy Douglass: It was amazing. I learned a lot from both of those two men. There were others, but you asked for the most. [00:20:56] Tommy Thomas: You've probably already answered this question, but maybe not - relative to team leadership, what's the most ambitious project you've ever undertaken? And how did you get your team to rally around it? [00:21:11] Judy Douglass: Two. Okay. One was starting the Worldwide Challenge. And I already basically explained, none of us really were equipped to do that job. They entered into it, and we learned and grew together, and the exciting thing is I can name one thing after another that those people are now doing so that they learned well, I learned well, we all worked together, the magazine benefited staff and their donors, and their parents and it was amazing and I am grateful. The biggest thing that I ever did was the Global Women's Leadership Forum. No, actually, the biggest thing that I did was adopt a boy, but that's another story. The Global Women's Leadership Forum, because I'd always been able to do things that I thought I could do, and others apparently thought I could. [00:22:13] Judy Douglass: I looked around a lot and noticed that again, I didn't come from an evangelical Christian background, so I didn't know any of the rules. I just saw, where are the women leading? And so, I just had it that I should see what I could do about it. I first did study and learn some things and when Steve became the U.S. Director, I suddenly had a little more beyond the magazine that was different, and I wasn't doing the magazine because I had two children by then and so I started writing to all of our mothers, encouraging them that God could still use them, even if they've got 5 children at home. [00:23:06] Judy Douglass: There were ways that the ministry could benefit from what they had to offer. And so, I wrote a book called What Can a Mother Do? And it's finding significance at home and beyond. It's still mostly a really good book, things have changed, but as my kids got older and I had a team of people, I didn't have to work all the time. They did a lot of the work, but I began to know a lot of the other women on the field and all of the women in any leadership were called senior women, as opposed to a real title so I just got to know some and grew and studied and got bold. And when Steve became President, he was willing to stand behind me. [00:23:57] Judy Douglass: And we said, we're going to have a global conference to bring together women who have shown potential to lead and help them get started at it. And we called it the global women's leadership forum. And in 2004, so we just celebrated 20 years since this happened. We brought about 400 staff women from all over the world together, for a week in Thailand. And the criteria were potential for leadership or maybe even given some leadership opportunities, but it was not you send whoever the next director's wife unless she shows the potential and we brought them together and we started out and we said your leaders and they all last sticker. [00:24:53] Judy Douglass: And we said no really and we're going to help you start. So, we did a week of training. Some of it was spiritual. We had a wonderful woman, who at 57 left the mission field with her husband and went to seminary and became a professor at Gordon Conwell. And so she came and did our devotions for us. [00:25:14] Judy Douglass:  And Andrea Buczynski, whom I know you've interviewed, was just appointed Global Director of Leadership Development. It took three years for me to convince my husband to tell the board that yes, she would be the Vice President of Global Leadership Development because that's what the previous person's title was. And we weren't nearly as tight and hard to get through as some places are. Anyway, we taught them important skills like leading and bringing a team together and helping people to evaluate themselves and their coworkers and see where they can grow. But we also taught them how to write and how to speak. [00:26:03] Judy Douglass: Everything's just beginning. And how to raise funds, because in Cru, if you want to do stuff, and so they had a wonderful time. We had a fun time with them. They went and rode elephants and things like that. But it was incredible. And all of us, and this is true, I've heard it over and over, had this sense that they were in a holy place. We walked around in this hotel in Chiang Mai, and we could sense God just smiling at his daughters who were believing that they could be more in the kingdom than they thought. And it took a long time to raise the money. I raised the money for it. And to pull together the team that could do it. And when it was almost, when we were just a few months out from doing it, most of the team that was planning it said, this is too big. [00:27:01] Judy Douglass: This is too much. This is going to fail. And then we're going to be embarrassed and it's going to set us back, not move us. And so, the small group of us that were leading it went and talked and prayed and came back and said, God gave us this assignment and we have to do it. And nobody would object as it turned out. It was wonderful that our Director in Switzerland had three women at the conference. They had quotas for their number of staff, and he wrote to me afterwards. He said, if you're going to do things that make anybody else like these three women are now, I'll send anybody because I've never seen such transformation in somebody. [00:27:49] Judy Douglass: And so, it was just believing in them and then beginning to equip them. And then the last thing I'll mention is we said, and if you want to go back to your country or your ministry and begin to start something to train some more people, we have a group of us and various ones of us will come to you and do training. I think we did 40 training sessions in the next two years and right now we have maybe only three global vice presidents who are women, and very capable women. And so that's what drives me more than anything, is to see people become who God made them and do what God has for them.  That vision is what guides me all the time. (If you are reading the transcript, note that we will continue this conversation with Judy next week) Links and Resources JobfitMatters Website NextGen Nonprofit Leadership with Tommy Thomas The Perfect Search - What every board needs to know about hiring their next CEO When You Love a Prodigal: 90 Days of Grace for the Wilderness by Judy Douglas Secrets of Success: God's Lifelines by Judy Douglas Connect tthomas@jobfitmatters.com Follow Tommy on LinkedIn Listen to NextGen Nonprofit Leadership with Tommy Thomas on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

On today's program, Arkansas pastor Steven Smith steps down after fallout from mishandling abuse allegations against a former children's minister. We'll have details. Also, controversial megachurch pastors Mark Driscoll and John Lindell seemed to reconcile on stage at the Stronger Men's Conference last week…but since then, tensions between the two leaders have only intensified. We'll take a look. And, how a small U-S evangelical seminary is defying the odds. While many theological schools are shrinking, this one's enrollment numbers keep growing. But we begin today with news of two resignations from leaders of Orange, a ministry known for hosting one of the world's most prominent family ministry conferences which is actually being held this week in Atlanta. Orange released an official statement stating that its founder and current chief creative officer Reggie Joiner has resigned along with CEO Kristen Ivy. I was in Lexington, Kentucky, last week, for the Evangelical Press Association annual meeting, and I'm pleased to report that my weekly column, “Editor's Notebook,” brought home a third place prize in their annual Awards of Excellence contest. I also had the privilege of presenting a Lifetime Achievement Award – posthumously – to Joel Belz, the founder of WORLD Magazine and a friend and mentor to me. I also want to remind everyone that this is the last week to get an important new book that we are offering to everyone who donates to MinistryWatch in April. It's called “How I Lost $1,500,000 in Missions” by John Addink. If you are a donor to foreign missions projects, a ministry leader of a missions organization, or perhaps a pastor who supports missionaries, you should read this book. We'll send it to you absolutely free, as our thank you, for a gift of any size to MinistryWatch this month. Just go to MinistryWatch.com and hit the donate button at the top of the page. The producer for today's program is Jeff McIntosh.  We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today's program include Daniel Ritchie, Jessica Eturralde, Clayton Sidenbender, Shannon Cuthrell, Brittany Smith, and Christina Darnell. A special thank you to Religion UnPlugged for contributing material for this week's podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.

Top headlines for Thursday, April 25, 2024In this today's episode, we start with the buzz around the leading third-party presidential candidate's bold new stance on abortion and childcare, a move that's stirring up a complex mix of responses among pro-life advocates. Next, we shift focus to the Episcopal Church, where the House of Deputies presidency is contested, sparking conversations about addressing what's claimed to be an unhealthy corporate culture within the denomination. The conversation takes a turn as we examine gospel music sensation Kirk Franklin's recent performance in Jamaica, which has conservative Christian circles reeling over his attire and stage actions. Lastly, we celebrate journalistic excellence with the Christian Post, which emerged victorious with four awards at the recent Evangelical Press Association's Christian Media Convention in Lexington, Kentucky.Subscribe to this PodcastApple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle PodcastsOvercastFollow Us on Social Media@ChristianPost on TwitterChristian Post on Facebook@ChristianPostIntl on InstagramSubscribe on YouTubeGet the Edifi AppDownload for iPhoneDownload for AndroidSubscribe to Our NewsletterSubscribe to the Freedom Post, delivered every Monday and ThursdayClick here to get the top headlines delivered to your inbox every morning!Links to the NewsRFK Jr. unveils new abortion platform: 'More choices, more life' | Politics NewsEpiscopal official wants to end 'unhealthy corporate culture' | Church & Ministries NewsIdaho pastor Gene Jacobs found dead after search | U.S. NewsKirk Franklin draws ire for dress, gyrating in Jamaica | Entertainment News5 charged for Australian church riot after bishop's stabbing | World NewsSchool accused of discrimination for rejecting interfaith club | Education NewsIlhan Omar's daughter says her suspension left her without food | U.S. NewsThe Christian Post wins Evangelical Press Association awards | U.S. News

This week, I speak with Lori Ann Wood, who lives with her husband in an empty nest in beautiful Bentonville, Arkansas. Having discovered a serious heart condition almost too late, Lori Ann writes and speaks to encourage deep faith questions along the detours of life. She has been awarded the Frederick Buechner Narrative Essay Award, and awards from the Evangelical Press Association as well as from Colorado Christian Writers. Her work has been published in several anthologies and numerous print and online venues, including The New York Times, The Christian Century Magazine, Just Between Us Magazine, Bella Grace Magazine, Truly Magazine, and Pepperdine University Press. Lori Ann's first book, Divine Detour: The Path You'd Never Choose Can Lead to the Faith You've Always Wanted, was recently published by CrossRiver Media. It quickly became #1 New Release on Amazon in Christian Spiritual Growth and in Personal Growth & Christianity. The book has won four international book awards. We take a look at her childhood up to the present to find the beautiful thread of Jesus in her life. You won't want to miss this inspiring episode! Website: https://loriannwood.comInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/loriannwood/Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/DivinelyDetouredYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClsYrW5KIUqMBVvRxzNZG5QFree Resource, 5 Prayers & Promises When You Can't Talk to God: https://loriannwood.com/hope/More Info: Books Page, including book trailer and first chapter free - https://loriannwood.com/books/*Theme Music “Blessed Time” by Ketsa 

On today's program, General Episcopal Theological Seminary thought it had found a solution to its financial woes—until 7 bishops intervened, saying they didn't want to be in partnership with a conservative. We'll have details. Also, controversial pastor Mark Driscoll got booted off the stage at last weekend's Stronger Men's Conference after calling out the conference host for his choice of entertainment opening night. And, Chuck Swindoll steps down as senior pastor of his church—but insists he's not retiring. He'll continue to preach the majority of the sermons. We'll take a look. But first, Calvin University finds itself at the center of a lawsuit with its former president. I was in Indianapolis last week meeting with donors and others there, next week I'll be in Lexington, Kentucky, for the annual meeting of the Evangelical Press Association. It will be my honor to present a Lifetime Achievement Award – posthumously – to Joel Belz, the founder of WORLD Magazine and a friend and mentor to me. I won't be able to do any donor or reader lunches in Lexington this time through, but if you plan to be at the EPA conference, I hope you'll say hello. I also want to remind everyone that we're offering an important new book this month to everyone who donates to MinistryWatch. It's called “How I Lost $1,500,000 in Missions” by John Addink. If you are a donor to foreign missions projects, a ministry leader of a missions organization, or perhaps a pastor who supports missionaries, you should read this book. We'll send it to you absolutely free, as our thank you, for a gift of any size to MinistryWatch this month. Just go to MinistryWatch.com and hit the donate button at the top of the page. The producer for today's program is Jeff McIntosh.  We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today's program include Bob Smietana, Jessica Eturralde, Tony Mator, Christopher Mann, Bethany Starin, Daniel Ritchie, Brittany Smith, and Christina Darnell. Until next time, may God bless you.

Why do we pull away from Bible study when life gets stressful?When Lori Ann Wood was diagnosed with a chronic heart condition, it turned her world upside down. In this episode, she talks with Angie about that difficult season, what it taught her about her faith, and the importance of staying connected to God through His Word.  https://livesteadyon.com/ Email Angie at: steadyonpodcast@gmail.com Facebook: @livesteadyon Instagram: @angiebaughman421 Looking for something not listed? It's probably here: https://linktr.ee/livesteadyon  https://loriannwood.com/ https://www.facebook.com/DivinelyDetoured https://www.instagram.com/loriannwood/ http://twitter.com/lori_ann_wood Having discovered a serious heart condition almost too late, Lori Ann Wood writes to encourage others to embrace their deep faith questions along the detours of life. Lori Ann has won the Frederick Buechner Narrative Essay Award as well as awards from the Evangelical Press Association and Write His Answer Ministries. Her work has been published in numerous print and online venues, including The New York Times, The Christian Century magazine, Just Between Us Magazine, The Joyful Life Magazine, Bella Grace Magazine, Pepperdine University Press, and Truly Magazine. Lori Ann lives with her husband in an empty nest in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. Lori Ann's book, “Divine Detour: The Path You'd Never Choose Can Lead to the Faith You've Always Wanted” can be found here:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BS4PH35M/ If you find yourself giving God the silent treatment, download Lori Ann's free guide, 5 Prayers & Promises When You Can't Talk to God:https://loriannwood.com/hope/  Angie mentioned “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young Lori Ann mentioned the YouVersion app  Theme music:Glimmer by Andy Ellison

Listen or watch singer/songwriter, author and Director of Education for Renovaré, Carolyn Arends being interviewed by Joanna la Fleur in this episode of Scripture Untangled. Carolyn talks about the role of Scripture in her life and different ways to engage with Scripture - prayerfully reading of Scripture, imaginative entering into Scripture and meditation on Scripture. They also discuss the honesty, realness and faithfulness that Carolyn weaves into her songs, and her efforts to listen, wake up and pay attention to God's little calling cards. Her hope is that her latest album, Recognition helps other people wake up to all the ways God is making overtures, whispering and reaching out to us. What are the ways we can open ourselves up to God to heal and transform us, to make us whole and holy?---Learn more about the Canadian Bible Society: biblesociety.caHelp people hear God speak: biblesociety.ca/donateConnect with us on Instagram: @canadianbiblesocietyWhether you're well-versed in Scripture or just starting out on your journey, The Bible Course offers a superb overview of the world's best-selling book.  This eight-session course will help you grow in your understanding of the Bible. Watch the first session of The Bible Course and learn more at biblecourse.ca. ---Carolyn Arends has released 14 albums (including two brand new projects, Recognition, and In the Morning) and is the author of 3 critically-acclaimed books. 15 of Arends' songs have become top 10 radio singles on the Canadian pop and US Christian charts. Carolyn has earned 2 Dove Awards, 3 Juno Nominations, and was recognized as the West Coast Music Awards' Songwriter of the Year. Her prose has been recognized by The Word Guild, The Evangelical Press Association and The Canadian Church Press Awards. In addition to her busy touring and speaking schedule, Carolyn has been a regular columnist for Christianity Today, Faith Today, and CT Women, and has served as an adjunct professor at a number of universities. She has a degree in Psychology and English from Trinity Western University and a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Regent College. She lives in Surrey, BC with her husband, Mark, and their young adult children Benjamin and Bethany.Carolyn is currently the Director of Education for Renovaré, a far-reaching organization that encourages and nurtures spiritual renewal. She continues to be available on a select basis for speaking, retreat facilitation, concerts, worship leading and songwriting and performance seminars.Learn more about Carolyn Arends:Website: carolynarends.com YouTube: youtube.com/user/CarolynArends Instagram: @carolyn_arendsFacebook: @CarolynArendsOfficial

The biggest thing for me because it's what I need the most and then I hope it helps other people, is just to wake up to all the ways God is making overtures to us, whispering to us, reaching out to us. And so you know, I think that the big three of goodness and beauty and truth...these you know, that old-fashioned idea that there's these three transcendentals and they're like little radar pings from the God of the universe and they ping in our soul. Any chance that I can in any kind of writing or communication go: Look there's something beautiful! or Look here's something true! or Look at the possibility for goodness that still exists in image bearers, people made in the image of God! That's all part of this quest to just pay attention, wake up, get the message.---Listen to singer/songwriter, author and Director of Education for Renovaré, Carolyn Arends being interviewed by Joanna la Fleur in this episode of Scripture Untangled. Carolyn talks about the role of Scripture in her life and different ways to engage with Scripture - prayerfully reading of Scripture, imaginative entering into Scripture and meditation on Scripture. They also discuss the honesty, realness and faithfulness that Carolyn weaves into her songs, and her efforts to listen, wake up and pay attention to God's little calling cards. Her hope is that her latest album, Recognition helps other people wake up to all the ways God is making overtures, whispering and reaching out to us. What are the ways we can open ourselves up to God to heal and transform us, to make us whole and holy?Carolyn Arends has released 14 albums (including two brand new projects, Recognition, and In the Morning) and is the author of 3 critically-acclaimed books. 15 of Arends' songs have become top 10 radio singles on the Canadian pop and US Christian charts. Carolyn has earned 2 Dove Awards, 3 Juno Nominations, and was recognized as the West Coast Music Awards' Songwriter of the Year. Her prose has been recognized by The Word Guild, The Evangelical Press Association and The Canadian Church Press Awards. In addition to her busy touring and speaking schedule, Carolyn has been a regular columnist for Christianity Today, Faith Today, and CT Women, and has served as an adjunct professor at a number of universities. She has a degree in Psychology and English from Trinity Western University and a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Regent College. She lives in Surrey, BC with her husband, Mark, and their young adult children Benjamin and Bethany.Carolyn is currently the Director of Education for Renovaré, a far-reaching organization that encourages and nurtures spiritual renewal. She continues to be available on a select basis for speaking, retreat facilitation, concerts, worship leading and songwriting and performance seminars.

Marcia and Don tell their stories of transformation and now are transforming the lives of many people all over the world by warning the body of Christ,  exposing the lies of the enemy and setting the record straight among cults and occults.   Here we are on part 2 of THE INFILTRATORS!  You are going to hear how that seducing spirits have been unleashed more now than ever before upon the earth and how the devil has infiltrated the church.    But listen…to all those who have an ear to hear…hear what the Holy Spirit of God is saying to his beloved church!   Revelation 3:19-22  The Message 19 “The people I love, I call to account—prod and correct and guide so that they'll live at their best. Up on your feet, then! About face! Run after God! 20-21 “Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I'll come right in and sit down to supper with you. Conquerors will sit alongside me at the head table, just as I, having conquered, took the place of honor at the side of my Father. That's my gift to the conquerors! 22 “Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.”   Will you open your heart and ask the Lord to show you truth? I pray your eyes will be enlightened, your ears awake, and your heart moldable to what the Lord is saying!     If you'd like to get in touch with Marcia or Don  or purchase their books, please see the links below Don: donveinot@midwestoutreach.org & www.midwestoutreach.org   In addition, your church might be interested in having Don for a Saturday to speak on some of the issues and the infiltration of false teachers in the church. He just did something for the Evangelical Press Association on this a few months ago: The Troubling Trend of False Teaching in the Church.   This is a review of one of the most recent pro-Enneagram books by a Christian publisher Diving Deep into Occultism: A Review of The Journey Home. Give us some dates you are considering and Marcia and I can compare calendars.   For Marcia: Marcia Montenegro Christian Answers for the New Age https://www.christiananswersnewage.com/

Marcia and Don tell their stories of transformation and now are transforming the lives of many people all over the world by warning the body of Christ,  exposing the lies of the enemy and setting the record straight among cults and  occults.   You guys are going to love this week's podcast.  Well…..you may not love it now…..but you'll thank me later. I don't know about you, but I am always needing to check my heart to make sure I am pleasing to the Lord, and that I have not opened any doors to the enemy.  This week's podcast is going to be a little different.  Like I said, it may not be your favorite, but it might….. just might be the most impactful and life changing one that will help you GROW!    II Tim. 4:2-5 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.   Reprove: elégxō – to convince by solid, compelling evidence which especially exposes what is wrong or right Rebuke: epitimaō ("to warn by instructing”)…"warning to prevent something from going wrong” to assign value as is fitting, building on the situation to correct (re-direct). Exhort: parakaléō "from close-beside” "make a call" when "close-up and personal."  ” Patience: (makrothymia) is a spiritual blend of: restraining human anger and showing the passion of the Lord, i.e. patience that is regulated by God (waits for His timing).  This includes expressing the Lord's indignation (opposition to what He disapproves). Instruction: didaxē (“to teach") – established teaching, especially a "summarized" body of respected teaching (viewed as reliable, time-honored). mýthos – a myth; a false account which poses to be the truth; a fabrication (fable) to subvert (replace) what is actually true.     Will you open your heart and ask the Lord to show you truth?   If you'd like to get in touch with Marcia or Don  or purchase their books, please see the links below Don: donveinot@midwestoutreach.org & www.midwestoutreach.org   In addition, your church might be interested in having Don for a Saturday to speak on some of the issues and the infiltration of false teachers in the church. He just did something for the Evangelical Press Association on this a few months ago: The Troubling Trend of False Teaching in the Church.   This is a review of one of the most recent pro-Enneagram books by a Christian publisher Diving Deep into Occultism: A Review of The Journey Home. Give us some dates you are considering and Marcia and I can compare calendars.   For Marcia: Marcia Montenegro Christian Answers for the New Age https://www.christiananswersnewage.com/

Have you ever found yourself on a path you didn't choose, but it made all the difference in your life? In this episode of Fierce Calling, I'm talking with my friend Lori Ann Wood, a Christian writer and heart failure survivor. We're talking about wrestling with faith and navigating life's detours to find the faith we've always wanted. Lori shares her personal experience with heart failure, questioning her faith, and the value of asking questions. The episode encourages listeners who may be going through a difficult season to ask questions and wrestle with faith and offers a framework to do so. Lori's Book mentioned in Wrestling with Faith and Navigating Life's Detours to Find the Faith We've Always Wanted We're also talking about her book, Divine Detour: The path you'd never choose can lead to the faith you've always wanted The podcast episode also offers encouragement to those who may be going through a difficult season to ask questions and wrestle with a faith worth fighting for. If even one person's life is impacted by something we share, say, or write, it was all worth it, amen? If you're looking for a powerful conversation and some guidance on navigating difficult seasons, this episode of Fierce Calling is a must-listen. Connect with Lori! You can connect with Lori at loriannwood.com and find all her links and the giveaway she mentioned in the show. Thank you for being a part of our community. We appreciate you and hope you enjoy the podcast! More About Lori ... Lori Ann Wood lives in an empty nest in beautiful Bentonville, Arkansas, with her husband and miniature dachshund, Pearl. Having discovered a serious heart condition almost too late, Lori Ann writes to encourage othersto embrace deep faith questions along the detours of life. She has been awarded the Frederick Buechner Narrative Essay Award and awards from the Evangelical Press Association as well as from Colorado Christian Writers. Her work has been published in several anthologies and numerous print and online venues, including The New York Times, The Christian Century Magazine, The Joyful Life Magazine, Just Between UsMagazine, Bella Grace Magazine, Truly Magazine, Pepperdine University Press, and Sweet to the Soul FAITH Magazine. Connect with Doris! You can connect with me at dorisswift.com, check out my new Bible study, Surrender the Joy Stealers: Rediscover the Jesus Joy in You, and grab some freebies!! I'd also love to chat about speaking at your next women's event. You can find my speaking info on my speaking page or my profile on womenspeakers.com! Blessings! Doris

Dr. Wayde Goodall has written and co-authored fourteen books, many of which are translated into several languages. He is the creator of the Enrichment Journal, a clergy magazine that has received “Best Clergy Magazine” award from the Evangelical Press Association.   He is founder of WorldWideFamily.org which ministers to families, couples, men, pastors, and leaders in over 30 nations.  He also frequently assists leaders, pastors, and missionaries with marriage and family discipleship training, as well as healthy ministry adjustment, and change.    Listen to every episode of the Dr. Jeff Show wherever you listen to podcasts.  For more resources from Summit Ministries visit the Resource Library  The Dr. Jeff Show on YouTube More about Summit Ministries

Top headlines for Wednesday, April 19, 2023Updates from the Evangelical Press Association Christian Media Convention, where The Christian Post won four awards. We also discuss the growing outrage over the shooting of a 16-year-old in Kansas City, Missouri, and the arrest of a cult leader in Kenya for the death of four followers. Lastly, we'll share the news that the Global Methodist Church has endorsed a Christian academic institution in Oklahoma for deacon and elder candidates living outside the United States and Western Europe.Subscribe to this Podcast Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Overcast Follow Us on Social Media @ChristianPost on Twitter Christian Post on Facebook @ChristianPostIntl on Instagram Subscribe on YouTube Get the Edifi App Download for iPhone Download for Android Subscribe to Our Newsletter Subscribe to the Freedom Post, delivered every Monday and Thursday Click here to get the top headlines delivered to your inbox every morning! Links to the News The Christian Post wins 4 Evangelical Press Association awards | U.S. News The Will Smith event: Why it matters | Opinion News Review: Prestonwood glorifies incarnation in 'Gift of Christmas' | Church & Ministries News NBA player vows to 'stand up' for human rights despite setbacks | U.S. News Glenn Youngkin donates first quarter salary to prison ministry | Politics News Man arrested after protesting megachurch Pastor John Blanchard | Church & Ministries News Nigeria: Armed terrorists kill 33 Christians in Kaduna state | World News 4 dead as cult leader urges fasting to ‘meet Jesus' | World News More Christians turning to predatory payday loans: study | U.S. News GMC recognizes university as option for ordination requirements | Church & Ministries News

Treat Jen to Coffee www.PATREON.COM/JAVAWITHJEN  ——————————————————— Have you ever felt like life just took a crazy turn that you never consented to, interrupting your life in ways you never asked for? Yeah... sometimes life throws a curveball. But, despite how cool or how traumatizing those turns may turn out, if we hold close to the Lord in the process, asking the hard messy questions that we have shoved down into our "deal with it later" spaces, the Lord can take what you'd never choose to lead you into the faith you'd always wanted. Listen to today's episode to encourage your heart if you find yourself in that space of unexpected, or even unwelcomed change. God is REALLY good at using ALL things for our good... Read below for more about the author. -------------------------- ABOUT THE GUEST Lori Ann Wood lives in an empty nest in beautiful Bentonville, Arkansas, with her husband and miniature dachshund, Pearl. Having discovered a serious heart condition almost too late, Lori Ann writes to encourage others to embrace deep faith questions along the detours of life. She has been awarded the Frederick Buechner Narrative Essay Award, and awards from the Evangelical Press Association as well as from Colorado Christian Writers. Her work has been published in several anthologies and numerous print and online venues, including The New York Times, The Christian Century Magazine, The Joyful Life Magazine, Just Between Us Magazine, Bella Grace Magazine, Truly Magazine, Pepperdine University Press, Sweet to the Soul FAITH Magazine, and yahoo.com. Lori Ann's first book is scheduled to release February 21, 2023 with CrossRiver Media, Divine Detour: The Path You'd Never Choose Can Lead to the Faith You've Always Wanted. Read more from her at https://linktr.ee/LoriAnnWood. Living with a chronic, invisible illness and struggling with deep faith questions, Lori Ann knows that sometimes we want to give God the silent treatment. If you are on a detour, and find it difficult to communicate with God, get Lori Ann's free gift, 5 Prayers & Promises When You Can't Talk to God at https://loriannwood.com/hope/. Website:https://loriannwood.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DivinelyDetouredInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/loriannwood/ ——————————————————— JEN'S FASHION WORKSHOP: www.Jsamuelstyling.com Thank you for rating, reviewing and sharing the show on social media, this makes such an enormous difference on the reach of this show!   Follow and tag me on Instagram @javawithjen or on Facebook @javawithjenpodcast , and share when you're listening to a show!   I love seeing your posts

Lori Ann Wood is Dr. Brad Miller's guest on Episode 264 of “The Beyond Adversity Podcast.”Lori Ann is the author of Divine Detour: The Path You Didn't Choose Can Lead to the Faith You've Always Wanted. Lori Ann has won the Frederick Buechner Narrative Essay Award as well as awards from the Evangelical Press Association and Write His Answer Ministries. Her work has been published in numerous print and online venues, including The New York Times, The Christian Century magazine, Just Between Us Magazine, The Joyful Life Magazine, Bella Grace Magazine, Pepperdine University Press, and Truly Magazine. In this episode, Lori Ann shares about her detour and how God used these questions to grow her faith deeper. Lori Ann is a heart failure survivor. Having discovered a serious heart condition almost too late, Lori Ann encourages others to embrace their deep faith questions along the detours of life.But it was not an easy journey for Lori Ann. She was a lifelong believer who was deeply disappointed in the God she thought she knew. And in her book, Divine Detour, Lori Ann makes a bold decision to embrace those difficult questions, wanting answers but more importantly, needing permission to ask them. Lori Ann talks about her hard-won insights and invites you to join her on a 40-day journey deep into the heart of a God who doesn't always behave as we would like. https://loriannwood.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DivinelyDetoured/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/loriannwood/Twitter: https://twitter.com/lori_ann_wood

Lori Ann Wood - Divine Detour Today Cynthia helps you kick off American Heart Month with a story of how illness can strengthen your faith and the warning signs you need to know that may be signaling heart disease.  Lori Ann Wood's life took a detour she never expected which has led to her upcoming book that will help many! This podcast is brought to you by Team for the Soul!  Their newest online program, Growing in Christ, was specifically designed for you to learn to live in this world, but not of this world, and continue to serve others in Christ with joy, energy, patience and peace of mind. Dr. Popa wants to extend to this community a 2 week trial!  Join me by going to https://www.teamforthesoul.com/a/2147527368/tks35oM4 Have you also checked out My Beautiful Lent?  Now in it's 8th year…it's something that many people look forward to.  Just go to www.mybeautifullent.com to find out more! Lori Ann Wood lives in an empty nest in beautiful Bentonville, Arkansas, with her husband and miniature dachshund, Pearl. Having discovered a serious heart condition almost too late, Lori Ann writes to encourage others to embrace deep faith questions along the detours of life.  She has been awarded the Frederick Buechner Narrative Essay Award, and awards from the Evangelical Press Association as well as from Colorado Christian Writers. Her work has been published in several anthologies and numerous print and online venues, including The New York Times, The Christian Century Magazine, The Joyful Life Magazine, Just Between Us Magazine, Bella Grace Magazine, Truly Magazine, Pepperdine University Press, Sweet to the Soul FAITH Magazine, and yahoo.com.  Lori Ann's first book releases February 21, 2023, with CrossRiver Media, Divine Detour: The Path You'd Never Choose Can Lead to the Faith You've Always Wanted, available at https://loriannwood.com/books/. Connect with her on her website, on Instagram or on Facebook. Living with a chronic, invisible illness and struggling with deep faith questions, Lori Ann knows that sometimes we want to give God the silent treatment. If you are on a detour, and find it difficult to communicate with God, get her free gift, 5 Prayers & Promises When You Can't Talk to God at https://loriannwood.com/hope/. Is it time to make some changes in your life? Do you want to stop the madness and get on track with your health? Maybe coaching is right for you. I've helped many people gain their health back over the years, and would love to talk with you. Just reach out with the link below to get on my schedule. From time to time I have openings for new clients and accept them on a first come first serve basis. Book a Discovery Call

Inevitably, every sabbatical will meet a challenge, a place where the outside world creeps in and threatens to call you back to the work you've committed to set aside. When that happens, what is a leader to do? Ruth sits down with Dr. David C. Alves to discuss how to discern the necessary boundaries each individual must create for their own sabbatical, the resistance they may encounter and how congregations can help their pastors set and keep boundaries.   Then Ruth brings back former guest Rev. Dr. Phaedra D. Blocker to discuss their shared story of a time when they had to discern together whether or not to hold firm to the boundaries Ruth and the Transforming Center board set for Ruth's sabbatical. This period of dormancy for Ruth and the organization coincided with the national tragedy of George Floyd's murder and the question of if and how to respond publicly was difficult to discern. Dr. David C Alves is a New Hampshire writer, and the author of both A Sabbatical Primer for Pastors: How to Initiate and Navigate a Spiritual Renewal Leave and A Sabbatical Primer for Churches: How to Love and Honor the Pastor God Has Given You. As well as three other books. David holds earned degrees from Asbury University and two schools of divinity. He is a past member of the Evangelical Press Association. A semi-retired pastor. And a recovering widower. He currently lives in Concord, NH. He enjoys family, friends, and an intimate relationship with, and love for, God and His creation.   Rev. Dr. Phaedra D. Blocker is a preacher, teacher, singer, spiritual director, and consultant. Founder and principal of Word & Wisdom, she is dedicated to empowering individuals and organizations to move toward wholeness and actualize their potential as agents of change and shalom in the world. She serves as Director of the Center for Community Care, Formation & Vitality at Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University and is Affiliate Professor in Leadership & Formation. Purchase Ruth's new book! Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest is out now, wherever you buy books (Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Bookshop.org).   You can also order the Sabbath Journal, meant to accompany you on your sabbath journey and give you space to share what your soul wants to say to God. Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist Dusk from Transforming Center Resource Music in Solitude   Support the podcast! This season, patrons will receive an overflow of bonus content from the episodes, including exclusive conversations between Ruth and guests, clips that we couldn't fit into the final cuts, and more! Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!     The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!

When Lori Ann Wood found her life drastically altered by a medical crisis, she learned it was a divine detour leading her to answer three urgent questions we all wrestle with. Wood's new book, Divine Detour, will release in February 2023. Get Lori's free Resource, Hope for the Life You Didn't Choose at: https://lorieannwood.com/hope Learn more about her upcoming book at https://loriannwood.com/books Guest Bio:Lori Ann Wood lives in the shadow of the Ozark Mountains in beautiful Bentonville, Arkansas, with her husband, the unsuspecting guy she chased all the way from 9th grade to grad school. She is mom to three world-changing young adults, one impressive son-in-law (who all live too far away) and a miniature dachshund named Pearl (who threatens to never leave). Her new favorite role is appropriately spoiling her granddaughter Hazel.In addition to receiving the Frederick Buechner Narrative Essay Award from The Christian Century Magazine, her work has won awards from The Colorado Christian Writers Association and The Evangelical Press Association. Lori Ann has been published in numerous print journals including Just Between Us Magazine, The Joyful Life Magazine, Bella Grace Magazine, Heart Insight Magazine, and Sweet to the Soul FAITH Magazine. Her articles have also appeared on websites such as Pepperdine University Press, Yahoo Lifestyle, and MSN, and on blogs including Women | Faith & Story, Kindred Mom, WomenHeart, and The Mighty. Lori Ann also serves on the Blog Contributor Team for The Joyful Life Magazine.But Lori Ann has not always been a writer.A life detour reordered her priorities and rattled her faith.In 2015, despite otherwise pristine health, Lori Ann almost died from heart failure from an unknown cause. Her heart was functioning at just 6%. She spent 14 days in ICU as doctors tried to save her life. Lori Ann was then transferred to the Cleveland Clinic where she became her doctor's most critical patient for a year and a half. She was eventually implanted with a pacemaker and internal defibrillator. Against all medical odds, her heart function was initially restored sixteen months later. But as heart failure goes, her condition has experienced ups-and-downs since then. And as the Christian walk goes, so has her faith.Having discovered this chronic, progressive condition almost too late, Lori Ann now writes to encourage difficult faith questions along the detours of life. Her passion is to connect with readers and help them hold onto their faith when they find themselves on a path they didn't choose.Her first book, Divine Detour: The Path You Didn't Choose Can Lead to the Faith You've Always Wanted, will release in early 2023. Find her at https://loriannwood.com.Support the showLearn more about Radical Abundance at Radical-Abundance.comTeresa Janzen is your host. She ignites a passion for abundant living through radical service. Teresa is an international speaker, author, and coach of speakers and writers. Her experience in leadership and global ministry drives her to share inspiring stories with wit and insight. Her candid and personable style is sure to capture the heart of any audience.

This is part two of a rebroadcast of a live panel discussion between two atheists and two theists. The panel featured our very own President of Watchman Fellowship James Walker. If you have not listened to the first part, we suggest listening to that broadcast first for more context for part two. How do we have productive conversations in our day and age with those who not only do not believe in God but are actively outspoken against God's existence? There is no easy, one-size-fits-all method for giving a defense for the hope that is in us by any means, but we believe this conversation can serve as at least one example. As you listen to the conversation, ask yourself how you might respond to the topics and questions discussed. Perhaps you have had these questions asked of you by non-Christians before. We hope this conversation can encourage and equip you to give a defense for your faith with gentleness and respect. We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses and people will indeed ask you some of what you'll hear on our broadcast today. So be ready! Special thanks to Jim Hall of the Atheist Edge YouTube channel for permission to rebroadcast this for Apologetics Profile.  CONTENT WARNING: This has been edited for time and to remove explicit language. Mature themes are discussed in the broadcast. You may also watch the full interview on Atheist Edge YouTube channel here (Warning: Explicit Language and Mature Themes): https://youtu.be/mbZcEWqMSqs.JAMES WALKER is the president of Watchman Fellowship and a host of Apologetics Profile podcast. He is a former fourth generation Mormon with over twenty-five years of ministry experience in the field of Christian evangelism and apologetics. He is cofounder of the Atheist & Christian Book Club. Education: Rev. Walker holds a BA in Biblical Studies and an MA in Theology from Criswell College. He serves as an adjunct professor at Arlington Baptist University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is an ordained Baptist minister and a member of the International Society of Christian Apologetics (ISCA), the Evangelical Press Association, and serves on the Board of Directors of Evangelical Missions to Non-Christian Religions (EMNR). Media and Books: He has been interviewed as an expert on new religious movements and cults on a variety of network television programs including Nightline, ABC World News Tonight, and PBS NewsHour. In addition to network television, Rev. Walker has been interviewed numerous nationwide Christian radio programs. These include Truths that Transform with Dr. D. James Kennedy; Hope for the Heart, with June Hunt, OpenLine with Kirby Anderson on the Moody Broadcasting Network, and Point of View. He authored the books, The Concise Guide to Today's Religions and Spirituality, What the Qur'an Really Teaches about Jesus, and coauthored The Truth Behind 'The Secret.' ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: The Atheist & Christian Book Club: www.AtheistChristianBookClub.com Complete YouTube Video Playlist on Street Epistemology by Daniel Ray: watchman.org/PlaylistSE Watchman Fellowship's 4-page Profile on Street Epistemology by Daniel Ray: watchman.org/SE Watchman Fellowship's 4-page Profile on Atheism by Robert M. Bowman: watchman.org/Atheism Watchman Fellowship's 4-page Profile on Agnosticism by W. Russell Crawford: watchman.org/Agnostic FREE: We are also offering a free subscription to our bimonthly Profiles here: www.watchman.org/FreeSUPPORT: Help us create more content like this. Make a tax-deductible donation here: www.watchman.org/give.Apologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman FellowshipFor more information, visit www.watchman.org © Watchman Fellowship, Inc.

We may be quite familiar with the biblical exhortation from 1 Peter 3:15 to be ready to give a defense for the hope that is in us with gentleness and respect, but in our day and age where dialogue with those with whom we disagree is so polarized and divisive, we may easily forget what 1 Peter 3:15 looks like in practice. For the next two broadcasts of Apologetics Profile, we're stepping away from our normal "interview" format to bring you a special rebroadcast in two parts of a panel discussion between two atheists and two theists. One of those panel participants is James Walker, President of Watchman Fellowship. James was asked to appear on the panel by long-time friend of James', Jim Hall, himself a lifelong atheist. The challenge for the panel was to "trade places" with each other, with the atheists offering what they believed were the best arguments for God's existence and the weakest arguments for atheism, while the theists were challenged to offer what they thought were the strongest arguments for atheism and the weakest arguments for God's existence. The discussion was civil and cordial and we believe serves as a good example of how to put into practice what 1 Peter 3:15 tells us. We hope it serves to encourage you to have more informed and civil conversations in your own engagement with your non-Christian neighbors and friends. Special thanks to Jim Hall of Atheist Edge for permission to rebroadcast this for Apologetics Profile. CONTENT WARNING: This has been edited for time and to remove explicit language. Mature themes are discussed in the broadcast. You may also watch the full interview on Atheist Edge YouTube channel here (Warning: Explicit Language and Mature Themes): https://youtu.be/mbZcEWqMSqs.JAMES WALKER is the president of Watchman Fellowship and a host of Apologetics Profile podcast. He is a former fourth generation Mormon with over twenty-five years of ministry experience in the field of Christian evangelism and apologetics. He is cofounder of the Atheist & Christian Book Club. Education: Rev. Walker holds a BA in Biblical Studies and an MA in Theology from Criswell College. He serves as an adjunct professor at Arlington Baptist University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is an ordained Baptist minister and a member of the International Society of Christian Apologetics (ISCA), the Evangelical Press Association, and serves on the Board of Directors of Evangelical Missions to Non-Christian Religions (EMNR). Media and Books: He has been interviewed as an expert on new religious movements and cults on a variety of network television programs including Nightline, ABC World News Tonight, and PBS NewsHour. In addition to network television, Rev. Walker has been interviewed numerous nationwide Christian radio programs. These include Truths that Transform with Dr. D. James Kennedy; Hope for the Heart, with June Hunt, OpenLine with Kirby Anderson on the Moody Broadcasting Network, and Point of View. He authored the books, The Concise Guide to Today's Religions and Spirituality, What the Qur'an Really Teaches about Jesus, and coauthored The Truth Behind 'The Secret.' ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: The Atheist & Christian Book Club: www.AtheistChristianBookClub.com Complete YouTube Video Playlist on Street Epistemology by Daniel Ray: watchman.org/PlaylistSE Watchman Fellowship's 4-page Profile on Street Epistemology by Daniel Ray: watchman.org/SE Watchman Fellowship's 4-page Profile on Atheism by Robert M. Bowman: watchman.org/Atheism Watchman Fellowship's 4-page Profile on Agnosticism by W. Russell Crawford: watchman.org/Agnostic FREE: We are also offering a free subscription to our bimonthly Profiles here: www.watchman.org/FreeSUPPORT: Help us create more content like this. Make a tax-deductible donation here: www.watchman.org/give.Apologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman FellowshipFor more information, visit www.watchman.org © Watchman Fellowship, Inc.

I'm Warren Smith and I'd like to welcome you to the MinistryWatch podcast. On today's mid-week “Extra” episode I'm pleased to present to you a speech I recently did at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Press Association in Colorado Springs.  The title of the speech is “How Journalism Can Save Evangelicalism.” This speech outlines why we do what we do here at MinistryWatch, and I hope it will be both a challenge and an encouragement to you today. You've been listening to a speech I recently gave to the annual meeting of the Evangelical Press Association in Colorado Springs.  The title of the speech is “How Journalism Can Save Evangelicalism.” Before we go:  A quick reminder that this show exists because of the generosity of our readers and listeners.  We take no money from the ministries we cover.  There's no advertising on our website.  We are completely listener and reader funded.  If you'd like to make a donation to MinistryWatch, just go to MinistryWatch.com and hit the donate tab at the top of the page. If money is a little tight now…hey, I get it.  Been there a time or two myself.  You can still help the program.  Just rate us on your podcast app.  The more ratings we get, the higher we rank with search engines, and that means other people can find us more easily.  Rating us just takes a second, and it doesn't cost you a dime.  It's a free and easy – and important – way you can support the MinistryWatch podcast. The producers for today's program are Rich Roszel and Ben Warwick. We get database and other technical support from Cathy Goddard, Stephen DuBarry, Emily Kern, and Casey Sudduth.  I'm Warren Smith, and – until next time – May God bless you.

I'm Warren Smith and I'd like to welcome you to the MinistryWatch podcast. On today's mid-week “Extra” episode I'm pleased to present to you a speech I recently did at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Press Association in Colorado Springs.  The title of the speech is “How Journalism Can Save Evangelicalism.” This speech outlines why we do what we do here at MinistryWatch, and I hope it will be both a challenge and an encouragement to you today. You've been listening to a speech I recently gave to the annual meeting of the Evangelical Press Association in Colorado Springs.  The title of the speech is “How Journalism Can Save Evangelicalism.” Before we go:  A quick reminder that this show exists because of the generosity of our readers and listeners.  We take no money from the ministries we cover.  There's no advertising on our website.  We are completely listener and reader funded.  If you'd like to make a donation to MinistryWatch, just go to MinistryWatch.com and hit the donate tab at the top of the page. If money is a little tight now…hey, I get it.  Been there a time or two myself.  You can still help the program.  Just rate us on your podcast app.  The more ratings we get, the higher we rank with search engines, and that means other people can find us more easily.  Rating us just takes a second, and it doesn't cost you a dime.  It's a free and easy – and important – way you can support the MinistryWatch podcast. The producers for today's program are Rich Roszel and Ben Warwick. We get database and other technical support from Cathy Goddard, Stephen DuBarry, Emily Kern, and Casey Sudduth.  I'm Warren Smith, and – until next time – May God bless you.

Paul J. Pastor is a writer and editor living in Oregon. His writings on spirituality and culture blend a love of the Christian Scriptures with wide-ranging interests in literature, ecology, philosophy, and art, and a unique intimacy with the natural world. His work engages timeless ideas that speak boldly to the wounds and possibilities of our age.Paul's writing is widely recognized for its beauty and depth, and has won numerous awards, including from the Maggie Awards, the Evangelical Press Association, and the Christian Book Association. Bio via PaulJPastor.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This 4th of July, Hobby Lobby took out a controversial full page newspaper ad featuring quotes, or mis-quotes, from America's founders about being a Christian nation. An editorial from Robert P. Jones says July 4th is a time to decide what we believe more—the Declaration of Independence that says all people are created equal, or the European doctrine of discovery which enshrined white supremacy? And David French asks what it really means to be a patriot and love our country well as Christians. Then, Karen Swallow Prior is back on the show to talk about a recent address she gave to the Evangelical Press Association about Christian publishing's addiction to celebrity and lack of integrity. But who's really to blame—Christian book publishers, or Christian book consumers? All of that, plus is Spiderman & the Pope the best MCU team up yet? https://news.yahoo.com/pope-francis-meets-spider-man-130000577.html https://www.hobbylobby.com/about-us/holiday-messages?modal=one+nation+under+god https://www.scarymommy.com/stop-shopping-hobby-lobby-now/ https://religionnews.com/2021/07/02/lets-celebrate-this-fourth-of-july-without-the-myth-of-white-christian-innocence/ https://www.relevantmagazine.com/faith/church/the-american-conservative-does-the-unthinkable-and-defends-the-unmarked-indigenous-graves-as-good-actually/ https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/how-do-christian-patriots-love-their Patreon Bonus: https://www.patreon.com/posts/53681162

Today we are talking with author of A Kids Book About God Paul Pastor. He is a writer and has won several awards including Evangelical Press Association and Christian Book Association.  In this episode, we talk about: How to explain God to kids Why is talking to kids about God important Resources  Website www.akidsbookaboutgod.com This podcast is sponsored by She Matters By Boxed In, Co. To buy your She Matters Subscription box visit https://www.shemattersbyboxedin.com  

Welcome to a bonus episode of Every Voice Now! This week we are going rough and tumble with an impromptu conversation with the producer of the Every Voice Now podcast, Helen Lee. Helen also serves as the associate director of strategic partnerships and initiatives for InterVarsity Press and has previously worked as the director of marketing and as an associate editor at IVP. Helen recently had the chance to write an article for the Asian American Christian Collaborative entitled "US Demographics Are Changing, and the Publishing Industry Needs to Follow Suit," in which she outlined the current realities in this largely-white industry and also challenged Christian publishing professionals to be more proactive in pursuing change. You'll also hear about the origins of the Every Voice Now initiative and podcast! We hope you enjoy this honest conversation about the publishing context with three professionals of color.About the Guest:Helen Lee is the associate director of strategic partnerships and initiatives; she has a B.A. from Williams College in bioethics, an M.A. from Wheaton College Graduate School in interdisciplinary studies, and an MBA from Babson College in entrepreneurship. She has served as an acquisitions editor and as director of marketing at InterVarsity Press; she is also the author of The Missional Mom, co-author with Dr. Michelle Reyes of The Race-Wise Family, and contributor to numerous other Bibles, devotionals, and multi-author works. Helen has won awards in reporting and devotional writing from the Evangelical Press Association; she began her career in Christian publishing at Christianity Today, where she met Every Voice Now podcast co-host Ed Gilbreath. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram: @HelenLeeBooksAbout the Hosts: Maila Kim is a marketing manager at IVP; she holds a B.A. in English Language & Literature and a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of Michigan, and an M.A. in Christian Formation & Ministry with a concentration in Bible & Theology from Wheaton College Graduate School. She enjoys photography, growing and caring for her plants, and listening to podcasts such as This American Life, Invisibilia, and Unlocking Us. Follow Maila on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.Formerly an editor at IVP, Ed Gilbreath is currently an executive leader at Christianity Today; he earned his bachelor's in communication arts from Judson University and a master's in philosophy of history from Olivet Nazarene University. He is also the author of two IVP books: Reconciliation Blues and Birmingham Revolution. Ed loves listening to an eclectic mix of music, reading narrative nonfiction books on American history and pop culture, and taking long walks while listening to podcasts such as NPR's How I Built This, The Daily, Pass the Mic, and CT's Quick to Listen. Follow Ed on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.Credits: Producers: Ed Gilbreath, Maila Kim, and Helen LeeSupport the show

Randall House and D6 Family recently won seven awards from the Evangelical Press Association for their curriculum and magazines. Katie Greenwood joins the podcast to discuss the award winners. #NAFWB To order this award-winning, generational discipleship curriculum for your church or home, visit https://d6family.com.    

Randall House and D6 Family recently won seven awards from the Evangelical Press Association for their curriculum and magazines. Katie Greenwood joins the podcast to discuss the award winners. #NAFWB To order this award-winning, generational discipleship curriculum for your church or home, visit https://d6family.com.    

This interview is a special treat for Lisa Jernigan, as she recently shared that Carolyn's song "Seize the Day" has had a lasting impact on her life! What started as a social media post about the importance of the message of "Seize the Day", has turned into this impactful and heart warming conversation.Carolyn Arends has released 12 albums and is the author of 3 critically-acclaimed books. 15 of Arends’ songs have become top 10 radio singles on the Canadian pop and US Christian charts. Arends has earned 2 Dove Awards, 3 Juno Nominations, and was recognized as the West Coast Music Awards’ Songwriter of the Year. Her prose has been recognized by The Word Guild, The Evangelical Press Association and The Canadian Church Press Awards.In addition to her busy touring and speaking schedule, Carolyn has been a regular columnist for Christianity Today , Faith Today , and CT Women , and has served as an adjunct professor at Trinity Western University, Regent College, ACTS Seminary, Pacific Life Bible College, Columbia Bible College, and Prairie Bible College. She has a degree in Psychology and English from Trinity Western University and a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Regent College. She lives in Surrey, BC with her husband, Mark, and their young adult children Benjamin and Bethany.Carolyn is currently the Director of Education for Renovaré, a far-reaching organization that encourages and nurtures personal and spiritual renewal. She continues to be available on a select basis for speaking, retreat facilitation, concerts, worship leading, and songwriting and performance seminars.carolynarends.comamplifypeace.comHosted by Julie Bean

You're not the only one who expected to marry the first person they dated. Lots of evangelical teens raised in Purity Culture did. There was no talk on how to break up. No advice on what to do after you got dumped by someone you loved. We start to undo that today by talking about the personal side of breakups - what to do when a relationship ends, how can "metabolizing your trauma" help, and what does a future after a break up look like. Talk to us on Twitter and Instagram. Get episodes of The Jess & Devi Show for $3/month  Full episode show notes Joy Beth Smith is the author of Party of One and winner of the Evangelical Press Association’s Higher Goals in Christian Journalism Award. She’s been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, Salt Lake Tribune, Christianity Today, and Christ and Pop Culture. After earning her MA degree in English Lit, JB had a brief stint as a teacher, but she now works in advertising and happily resides in the Chicagoland area. Follow her on Twitter @JBsTwoCents.    

A Barefaced Journey: Stepping out of the Shame of Mental Illness when in Ministry with Amber Weigand-Buckley,Specializing in Global Brand and Communications Management, #barefacedcreative co-owner Amber Weigand-Buckley is a member of the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (AWSA) and has over 20 years of award-winning media experience. The publications she has served have received over 20 awards from the Evangelical Press Association. She was named the 2015 AWSA Member of the Year and the 2018 Evangel University Distinguished Communications Alumni of the Year. Currently, Amber serves clients in many capacities including her role as Awsa protege mentor, Marketing, Communications, Brand Director for the Right to the Heart Ministry Network, which includes AWSA. Amber is the founding editor and Art Director of Leading Hearts magazine (which has received an EPA award every year of its 7 years of publication. Amber is the host of a weekly FB Live video podcast and mentors the Advanced Speakers and Writers Protege . She also serves Asia Pacific Media (a ministry based in Manila, Philippines) as a fundraising consultant as well as editor and art director for their multi-media e-mag MISSION magazine. In partnership with AP Media, this summer she traveled to Asia Pacific Theological Seminary in Baguio, Philippines, to teach media missionaries from Myanmar, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines to how to launch a Christian publication at their home churches. others not only launch, but put their best foot forward in the ministry that God has called each one to serve. barefacedgirl.com barefacedcreativemedia on facebook @barefacedgirl on twitter, insta and pintrest And ministry group page--Flamingo Floatie Tribe on Facebook Your Host, Dawn Scott Damon       Dawn Scott Damon is a pastor, speaker, podcast host, Freedom Coach, and award-winning author. An ordained minister with the Wesleyan Church and Lead Pastor of the multi-cultural Tribes Church in Rockford, MI. Dawn and her husband Paul are committed to reaching people for Jesus while sharing the beauty of God's Mosaic.  Dawn is a favorite keynote conference speaker and an engaging communicator who inspires her audience to maximize their God-given purpose and potential in Christ. Dreams are ignited as Dawn uses sound biblical teaching, personal stories, and humor to awaken gifts and callings found in everyone. Dawn, also known as “Your Freedom Coach” is the podcast host of the FreedomGirl Sisterhood podcast, and serves as an authority on sexual abuse and trauma, and a regularly featured contributor to Salem Radio's Life!Line with Craig Roberts San Francisco drive time talk show, featured in the nation's 4th largest radio market. Dawn has written 5 books and can be found on Dawnscottdamon.com and amazon.com/author/dawnscottdamon   Dawn and Paul Damon, have a full family of 3 married children, 2 single sons, and 11 grandchildren.   A short bio about your book(s) or website The Freedom Challenge: 60 days to Untie the Cords that Bind You The Freedom Challenge is about ridding your mind and soul of toxic, negative, and destructive thoughts that keep you captive and create destructive behavior. By 60 days in daily immersion of truth—God's Word, your mind will begin to find freedom from the harmful internal narration and instead begin to speak nourishing, inspiring, and motivating truths. You'll find freedom and powerful life changes as you your mind is freed from thought-toxins. http://www.Amazon.com/author/dawnscottdamon (www.Amazon.com/author/dawnscottdamon) http://www.dawnscottdamon.com (www.dawnscottdamon.com) http://www.freedomgirlsisterhood.com (www.freedomgirlsisterhood.com) https://www.facebook.com/freedomgirlsisterhood (https://www.facebook.com/freedomgirlsisterhood) https://ariseesther.captivate.fm/ (https://ariseesther.captivate.fm/) https://twitter.com/DawnScottDamon...

David and Karen Mains are joyful followers of Jesus, prolific authors, and teachers. Listen into this delightful conversation that helps us understand that detecting God in our ordinary days has the potential to help us see the extraordinary in ordinary moments -- if we can train ourselves to notice.The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found is a book by Karen Mains, available thru Amazon.Please join us for a virtual journey thru 'Listen to My Life' starting September 10, 2019 with Sharon Swing, Sibyl Towner and Joan Kelley. Find out more at: https://onelifemaps.lpages.co/september-2019-listen-to-my-life-virtual-workshop-landing-pagePlease explore www.onelifemaps.com to download a free introduction booklet to 'Listen to My Life: Maps for Recognizing and Responding to God in My Story,' that contains the artwork we refer to in this episode. You can purchase your 'Listen to My Life' portfolio on that website, too.Sharon Swing and others on our team offer one-on-one coaching or spiritual direction as guidance thru the 'Listen to My Life' experience in addition to virtual coaching groups that happen several times a year.Please join us for a virtual journey thru 'Listen to My Life' starting September 10, 2019 with Sharon Swing, Sibyl Towner and Joan Kelley. Find out more at: https://onelifemaps.lpages.co/september-2019-listen-to-my-life-virtual-workshop-landing-pageAudio Meditations as a Thank You for Your SupportWe're on a mission to help people recognize and respond to God in their story. Will you help?Our Patreon subscription, at http://www.patreon.com/onelifemaps offers you access to recorded audio meditations that are created to assist you in becoming self-aware and God-aware.Sibyl Towner and I (Sharon Swing), co-authored the 'Listen to My Life: Maps for Recognizing and Responding to God in My Story' visual maps, and we produce the oneLifemaps podcast along with our friend and Director of Facilitator Development, Joan Kelley.We are offering you the opportunity to support the continuation of the oneLifemaps podcast and the publishing of 'Listen to My Life' in and weekly audio meditations as a token of our appreciation.If we can serve you, please let us know by emailing us here.EquipmentWe've had some questions about our podcasting equipment. Here is what we use:RecorderMicrophonesMicrophone StandsHeadsetMicrophone Wind ScreensHeadset Extension CordsHeadset Cable SplitterThe links in this episode may give us a minuscule amount of affiliate revenue from Amazon, but they won't cost you anything at all. Thanks for the support.Bio for Karen MainsFor decades, Karen Mains, a prolific writer and gifted communicator, has offered her talents, as well as her joys and sorrows, to the building of God's Kingdom.Whether as an author, speaker, or radio and television producer and co-host, Karen has addressed the deep spiritual needs and longings that surface in our current society. Karen's voice is substantive, often humorous, many times lyrical, but always practical.Many of her creative works have been birthed out of personal experience. Her first best-selling book Open Heart, Open Home, is considered a classic and deals with the theology of Christian hospitality. It has sold over 600,000 copies and captured experiences out of 12 years serving in an inner city pastorate in a church founded by her husband, David R. Mains. The book challenges believers to use hospitality as a means of bringing redemption to a broken society.In 1977, Mains' communication gifts expanded when her husband became director of The Chapel of the Air Ministries. This nationally known outreach featured a syndicated radio broadcast, aired on almost 500 outlets each Monday through Saturday across the U.S. and Canada. Karen often served as co-host on the 15-minute program, lending her unique perspective to issues that impact the spiritual vitality of individual Christians and local churches. Her broadcast research generated the widely accepted book, Child Sexual Abuse: A Hope for Healing, co-authored with Maxine Hancock. The Mains' media ministry continued with the daily half-hour national television show, You Need 2 Know, which won the 1995 Producer of the Year award from The National Religious Broadcasters.In 1980, Karen traveled through the barrios and refugee camps in Central America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. As a result of these journeys, she wrote The Fragile Curtain, which won the 1982 Christopher Award given to writers, producers, and directors whose works affirm the highest values of the human spirit and are representative of the best achievements in their fields.Mains' three books for children, The Kingdom Tales Trilogy, was awarded the Gold Medallion by the Evangelical Press Association. These stories are frequently used by pastors as sermon material, have been endlessly adapted in dramatic form for churches and Christian schools, and have been regularly employed for the purposes of deep therapy by Christian counselors.Karen Mains served on the Board of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship for eight years and was elected its first woman chairperson. She is the co-founder of the Chrysosostom Society, a group of well-known Christian writers committed to excellence in their work. A past member of the Author's Guild of New York, she works to reconcile, through a variety of means (one of which is the establishment of Artists' Communities in local churches), the artist to Christianity. As part of her personal interest, Karen now offers informal Wannabee Writers mentoring discussions.Karen Mains now serves as co-director of Mainstay Ministries where she is responsible for Hungry Souls, a spiritual mentoring outreach that seeks to help people whose appetite for God is greater than what their present environment is meeting. An annual 24-hour Advent Retreat of Silence, 3-day Retreats of Silence to people in the Chicagoland area. She delights in leading hungry souls in growth groups where group spiritual direction is offered. In addition, she has developed Journeys for Hungry Souls, a travel ministry that seeks to introduce pilgrims to the disciplines of pilgrimage.The lastest growth edge in the Hungry Souls outreach has been to experiment with the powerful healing potential of listening groups. Over the past three years, Karen has overseen, observed, or participated in over 240 small listening groups. She is now beginning a research project that will assess the profound impact of these small group experiences.Always passionate about the underprivileged and under-resourced, this year Karen and similarly passionate colleagues have launched The Global Bag Project, a way to connect eco-shopping to micro-credit enterprises. The first cooperative bag-making project is now being formed in Nairobi, Kenya. Karen will be traveling to Kenya in March 2009 with a group of 14 women. They will be meeting with Kenyan women to link their distant worlds in pragmatic ways.Although she has authored over 27 books in the religious fields (her most recent is Going on a God Hunt with IVPress), Karen feels called to write about spiritual meaning into the secular culture, and is now spending much of her time discovering markets that are open to her work.The Mains have been married for 47 years and live in the western suburbs of Chicago. As the parents of four adult offspring, Karen and David are highly committed to creating healthy families and are eagerly sharing their invaluable spiritual journeys with the next generation, their own 7 grandchildren. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Karen Mains is a prolific author and activist. She joins us for this episode to talk to us about 'Listening Groups,' a unique group process that creates an environment of safety for people to hear themselves, God, and one another in a way that helps heal us.You can find out more about Karen at www.hungrysouls.com.In this episode, we mention Group Spiritual Direction: Community for Discernment, which can be purchased on Amazon here.Seeking God Together by Alice Fryling is also mentioned.Karen Mains' extensive biography is at the bottom of these show notes.Please explore www.onelifemaps.com to download a free introduction booklet to 'Listen to My Life: Maps for Recognizing and Responding to God in My Story,' that contains the artwork we refer to in this episode. You can purchase your 'Listen to My Life' portfolio on that website, too.Sharon Swing and others on our team offer one-on-one coaching or spiritual direction as guidance thru the 'Listen to My Life' experience in addition to virtual coaching groups that happen several times a year.Please join us for a virtual journey thru 'Listen to My Life' starting September 10, 2019 with Sharon Swing, Sibyl Towner and Joan Kelley. Find out more at: https://onelifemaps.lpages.co/september-2019-listen-to-my-life-virtual-workshop-landing-pageAudio Meditations as a Thank You for Your SupportWe're on a mission to help people recognize and respond to God in their story. Will you help?Our Patreon subscription, at http://www.patreon.com/onelifemaps offers you access to recorded audio meditations that are created to assist you in becoming self-aware and God-aware.Sibyl Towner and I (Sharon Swing), co-authored the 'Listen to My Life: Maps for Recognizing and Responding to God in My Story' visual maps, and we produce the oneLifemaps podcast along with our friend and Director of Facilitator Development, Joan Kelley.We are offering you the opportunity to support the continuation of the oneLifemaps podcast and the publishing of 'Listen to My Life' in and weekly audio meditations as a token of our appreciation.If we can serve you, please let us know by emailing us here.EquipmentWe've had some questions about our podcasting equipment. Here is what we use:RecorderMicrophonesMicrophone StandsHeadsetMicrophone Wind ScreensHeadset Extension CordsHeadset Cable SplitterThe links in this episode may give us a minuscule amount of affiliate revenue from Amazon, but they won't cost you anything at all. Thanks for the support.Bio for Karen MainsFor decades, Karen Mains, a prolific writer and gifted communicator, has offered her talents, as well as her joys and sorrows, to the building of God's Kingdom.Whether as an author, speaker, or radio and television producer and co-host, Karen has addressed the deep spiritual needs and longings that surface in our current society. Karen's voice is substantive, often humorous, many times lyrical, but always practical.Many of her creative works have been birthed out of personal experience. Her first best-selling book Open Heart, Open Home, is considered a classic and deals with the theology of Christian hospitality. It has sold over 600,000 copies and captured experiences out of 12 years serving in an inner city pastorate in a church founded by her husband, David R. Mains. The book challenges believers to use hospitality as a means of bringing redemption to a broken society.In 1977, Mains' communication gifts expanded when her husband became director of The Chapel of the Air Ministries. This nationally known outreach featured a syndicated radio broadcast, aired on almost 500 outlets each Monday through Saturday across the U.S. and Canada. Karen often served as co-host on the 15-minute program, lending her unique perspective to issues that impact the spiritual vitality of individual Christians and local churches. Her broadcast research generated the widely accepted book, Child Sexual Abuse: A Hope for Healing, co-authored with Maxine Hancock. The Mains' media ministry continued with the daily half-hour national television show, You Need 2 Know, which won the 1995 Producer of the Year award from The National Religious Broadcasters.In 1980, Karen traveled through the barrios and refugee camps in Central America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. As a result of these journeys, she wrote The Fragile Curtain, which won the 1982 Christopher Award given to writers, producers, and directors whose works affirm the highest values of the human spirit and are representative of the best achievements in their fields.Mains' three books for children, The Kingdom Tales Trilogy, was awarded the Gold Medallion by the Evangelical Press Association. These stories are frequently used by pastors as sermon material, have been endlessly adapted in dramatic form for churches and Christian schools, and have been regularly employed for the purposes of deep therapy by Christian counselors.Karen Mains served on the Board of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship for eight years and was elected its first woman chairperson. She is the co-founder of the Chrysosostom Society, a group of well-known Christian writers committed to excellence in their work. A past member of the Author's Guild of New York, she works to reconcile, through a variety of means (one of which is the establishment of Artists' Communities in local churches), the artist to Christianity. As part of her personal interest, Karen now offers informal Wannabee Writers mentoring discussions.Karen Mains now serves as co-director of Mainstay Ministries where she is responsible for Hungry Souls, a spiritual mentoring outreach that seeks to help people whose appetite for God is greater than what their present environment is meeting. An annual 24-hour Advent Retreat of Silence, 3-day Retreats of Silence to people in the Chicagoland area. She delights in leading hungry souls in growth groups where group spiritual direction is offered. In addition, she has developed Journeys for Hungry Souls, a travel ministry that seeks to introduce pilgrims to the disciplines of pilgrimage.The lastest growth edge in the Hungry Souls outreach has been to experiment with the powerful healing potential of listening groups. Over the past three years, Karen has overseen, observed, or participated in over 240 small listening groups. She is now beginning a research project that will assess the profound impact of these small group experiences.Always passionate about the underprivileged and under-resourced, this year Karen and similarly passionate colleagues have launched The Global Bag Project, a way to connect eco-shopping to micro-credit enterprises. The first cooperative bag-making project is now being formed in Nairobi, Kenya. Karen will be traveling to Kenya in March 2009 with a group of 14 women. They will be meeting with Kenyan women to link their distant worlds in pragmatic ways.Although she has authored over 27 books in the religious fields (her most recent is Going on a God Hunt with IVPress), Karen feels called to write about spiritual meaning into the secular culture, and is now spending much of her time discovering markets that are open to her work.The Mains have been married for 47 years and live in the western suburbs of Chicago. As the parents of four adult offspring, Karen and David are highly committed to creating healthy families and are eagerly sharing their invaluable spiritual journeys with the next generation, their own 7 grandchildren. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Karen Mains is a prolific author and activist. She researches topics of interest to her very deeply. Currently, rekindling hospitality is her passion and her activism. Listen as Karen helps us understand how the lost art of welcoming is the antidote to astounding levels of loneliness.Find out more about Karen Mains at www.hungrysouls.org. Her extensive bio is at the end of these show notes.Resources mentioned in this podcast include:Open Heart, Open Home:Open Heart, Open Home: The Hospitable Way to Make Others Feel Welcome and Wanted by Karen MainsTales of the Kingdom Trilogy by David & Karen MainsThe Turquoise Table by Kristen SchnellPlease explore www.onelifemaps.com to download a free introduction booklet to 'Listen to My Life: Maps for Recognizing and Responding to God in My Story,' that contains the artwork we refer to in this episode. You can purchase your 'Listen to My Life' portfolio on that website, too.Sharon Swing and others on our team offer one-on-one coaching or spiritual direction as guidance thru the 'Listen to My Life' experience in addition to virtual coaching groups that happen several times a year.Please join us for a virtual journey thru 'Listen to My Life' starting September 10, 2019 with Sharon Swing, Sibyl Towner and Joan Kelley. Find out more at: https://onelifemaps.lpages.co/september-2019-listen-to-my-life-virtual-workshop-landing-pageAudio Meditations as a Thank You for Your Support of oneLife Maps PodcastWe're on a mission to help people recognize and respond to God in their story. Will you help?Our Patreon subscription, at http://www.patreon.com/onelifemaps offers you access to recorded audio meditations that are created to assist you in becoming self-aware and God-aware.Sibyl Towner and I (Sharon Swing), co-authored the 'Listen to My Life: Maps for Recognizing and Responding to God in My Story' visual maps, and we produce the oneLifemaps podcast along with our friend and Director of Facilitator Development, Joan Kelley.We are offering you the opportunity to support the continuation of the oneLifemaps podcast and the publishing of 'Listen to My Life' in and weekly audio meditations as a token of our appreciation.If we can serve you, please let us know by emailing us here.EquipmentWe've had some questions about our podcasting equipment. Here is what we use:RecorderMicrophonesMicrophone StandsHeadsetMicrophone Wind ScreensHeadset Extension CordsHeadset Cable SplitterThe links in this episode may give us a minuscule amount of affiliate revenue from Amazon, but they won't cost you anything at all. Thanks for the support.Bio for Karen MainsFor decades, Karen Mains, a prolific writer and gifted communicator, has offered her talents, as well as her joys and sorrows, to the building of God's Kingdom.Whether as an author, speaker, or radio and television producer and co-host, Karen has addressed the deep spiritual needs and longings that surface in our current society. Karen's voice is substantive, often humorous, many times lyrical, but always practical.Many of her creative works have been birthed out of personal experience. Her first best-selling book Open Heart, Open Home, is considered a classic and deals with the theology of Christian hospitality. It has sold over 600,000 copies and captured experiences out of 12 years serving in an inner city pastorate in a church founded by her husband, David R. Mains. The book challenges believers to use hospitality as a means of bringing redemption to a broken society.In 1977, Mains' communication gifts expanded when her husband became director of The Chapel of the Air Ministries. This nationally known outreach featured a syndicated radio broadcast, aired on almost 500 outlets each Monday through Saturday across the U.S. and Canada. Karen often served as co-host on the 15-minute program, lending her unique perspective to issues that impact the spiritual vitality of individual Christians and local churches. Her broadcast research generated the widely accepted book, Child Sexual Abuse: A Hope for Healing, co-authored with Maxine Hancock. The Mains' media ministry continued with the daily half-hour national television show, You Need 2 Know, which won the 1995 Producer of the Year award from The National Religious Broadcasters.In 1980, Karen traveled through the barrios and refugee camps in Central America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. As a result of these journeys, she wrote The Fragile Curtain, which won the 1982 Christopher Award given to writers, producers, and directors whose works affirm the highest values of the human spirit and are representative of the best achievements in their fields.Mains' three books for children, The Kingdom Tales Trilogy, was awarded the Gold Medallion by the Evangelical Press Association. These stories are frequently used by pastors as sermon material, have been endlessly adapted in dramatic form for churches and Christian schools, and have been regularly employed for the purposes of deep therapy by Christian counselors.Karen Mains served on the Board of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship for eight years and was elected its first woman chairperson. She is the co-founder of the Chrysosostom Society, a group of well-known Christian writers committed to excellence in their work. A past member of the Author's Guild of New York, she works to reconcile, through a variety of means (one of which is the establishment of Artists' Communities in local churches), the artist to Christianity. As part of her personal interest, Karen now offers informal Wannabee Writers mentoring discussions.Karen Mains now serves as co-director of Mainstay Ministries where she is responsible for Hungry Souls, a spiritual mentoring outreach that seeks to help people whose appetite for God is greater than what their present environment is meeting. An annual 24-hour Advent Retreat of Silence, 3-day Retreats of Silence to people in the Chicagoland area. She delights in leading hungry souls in growth groups where group spiritual direction is offered. In addition, she has developed Journeys for Hungry Souls, a travel ministry that seeks to introduce pilgrims to the disciplines of pilgrimage.The lastest growth edge in the Hungry Souls outreach has been to experiment with the powerful healing potential of listening groups. Over the past three years, Karen has overseen, observed, or participated in over 240 small listening groups. She is now beginning a research project that will assess the profound impact of these small group experiences.Always passionate about the underprivileged and under-resourced, this year Karen and similarly passionate colleagues have launched The Global Bag Project, a way to connect eco-shopping to micro-credit enterprises. The first cooperative bag-making project is now being formed in Nairobi, Kenya. Karen will be traveling to Kenya in March 2009 with a group of 14 women. They will be meeting with Kenyan women to link their distant worlds in pragmatic ways.Although she has authored over 27 books in the religious fields (her most recent is Going on a God Hunt with IVPress), Karen feels called to write about spiritual meaning into the secular culture, and is now spending much of her time discovering markets that are open to her work.The Mains have been married for 47 years and live in the western suburbs of Chicago. As the parents of four adult offspring, Karen and David are highly committed to creating healthy families and are eagerly sharing their invaluable spiritual journeys with the next generation, their own 7 grandchildren. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Author Joel Belz founded World magazine, a Christian interest weekly, in 1986. He served as editor and publisher until late 1994. Before that, Belz was managing editor of The Presbyterian Journal, a magazine of theological interest started in 1942. In 1997 Belz was elected president of the Evangelical Press Association. In 1994, he received the James DeForest Murch award from the National Association of Evangelicals. Belz focuses now on editorial tasks for World magazine, having written the lead column for more than 20 years. He also speaks across the country. He is an active churchman, having served in 2003 as moderator of the highest assembly of his denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America. He has been a member of the board of Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, for most of the last 25 years. He has a B.A. from Covenant College, an M.A. in mass communications from the University of Iowa, and a doctor of humane letters from Geneva College.

Traylor and Melody are joined by author Joy Beth Smith to discuss her book, Party of One, celebrating seasons of singleness, and finding other joys in life. Joy talks through her upbringing and various aspects of it that have impacted who she is as a person, a christian and a single. She discusses how she has had a desire to have a husband throughout her life, but she also appreciates her singleness as its own beautiful, life giving time on its own. Joy emphasizes that a season of singleness doesn’t mean you put your life on pause. There are so many things that single women put off because they are waiting for marriage. Something as simple as buying dishes for your house or taking a trip because you “want to do that with your husband”. She encourages women to live their life. Don’t live in the limbo of waiting. Do things you desire and buy things you love. That leads to an opportunity to combine lives with someone without losing your individuality. Joy discusses her experiences with dating and how as a bold, independent woman impacts dealing with the dating world. She discusses her thoughts on how single women are empowered and how this often times shuts men down leading to a insecure man in the dating world. Joy Beth Smith is a managing editor with Christianity Today and winner of the Evangelical Press Association’s Higher Goals in Christian Journalism Award. She’s been published in the Washington Post, Salt Lake Tribune, Virginia Pilot, and Christ and Pop Culture. After earning her MA degree in English Lit, Joy Beth had a brief stint as a teacher, but now she happily resides in the Chicagoland area, where she no longer has to give anyone permission to go to the bathroom.

Perhaps no group can take more credit for Donald Trump’s victory than the 81 percent of self-identified white evangelicals who elected him into office last November. Following an inauguration that featured evangelical leaders Franklin Graham and Sam Rodriguez, Trump has named evangelicals to more than half of his cabinet positions and fulfilled a key campaign promise with the arrival of Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court. Yet, for Trump’s white evangelical critics, concerns about his treatment of refugees and immigrants, among others, have persisted. Many are also worried about white evangelicalism’s witness to both fellow Americans and evangelicals of color. Earlier this week, Quick to Listen co-host and CT editor-in-chief Mark Galli led a discussion with three evangelical leaders to discuss their collective opposition to Trump during the election and how they understood the state of the evangelical movement now. Dan Darling, the vice president of communications for the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Katelyn Beaty, former Quick to Listen co-host and CT’s print managing editor, and Julie Roys, host of the national talk show Up For Debate on the Moody Radio Network joined Galli on the stage at the Evangelical Press Association’s annual convention in Lombard, Illinois.

Thebarge is a speaker and author who earned a master’s degree in medical science from Yale and was earning a master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University when she was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 27. After nearly dying, she sold everything she had and moved from New Haven, Connecticut, to Portland, Oregon, with just two suitcases of clothes and started over. It was at that point that she encountered a Somali refugee family on the train in Portland. Thebarge developed a relationship with them, and over the next few months, while she taught the single Somali mom and her five daughters how to live in America, they taught her how to love and be loved again. The details of Thebarge and the Somali girls’ story of survival, recovery and redemption are recorded in her memoir The Invisible Girls (Jericho Books, 2013). All of the proceeds from the book are going into a college fund for the Somali girls. Additionally, Thebarge’s blog was featured by MSNBC.com. Her writing has appeared in Everyday Health, Relevant Magazine, BurnsideWriters.com, Christianity Today, Sojo.net, Red Letter Christian and Huffington Post. Her writing for Christianity Today’s “This is Our City” project won first prize from the Evangelical Press Association in 2012. As a speaker, Thebarge is a regular at retreats, churches, colleges and conferences. She was recently featured at Donald Miller’s Storyline Conference and named one of 40 Women Under 40 who are challenging taboos of the Christian faith by the "I Speak For Myself" initiative. Her book was chosen as the First Year Experience book for incoming freshman at Mississippi State University, where she delivered the convocation in August 2014. She is a spokesperson for Vanity Fair Lingerie’s Women Who Do campaign, which features women who are making a positive difference in their communities. She is also a spokesperson for Compassion International. She currently lives in Southern California.

What You'll Hear: James Walker was a fourth generation Mormon but could not be assured of his salvation and then put his faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone His mother and sisters became Christians but it was more difficult with his father. James was helped by the Watchman Fellowship ministry.  He later became a volunteer and eventually the President of the organization and has spent over 20 years in this apologetics ministry The most bizzare belief system he's come across is that Jesus is actually a mushroom The greatest threats to Christianity come from Islam as well as religions that are very similar to Christianity but in fact are not Christian James has found that it's not enough to be right.  We have to take into account the whole person when sharing the Gospel and to show that we care and act in love Intro James Walker is a former fourth generation Mormon with over twenty five years of ministry experience in the field of Christian counter-cult evangelism, apologetics, and discernment. He has been interviewed as an expert on new religious movements and cults on a variety of network television programs including Nightline, ABC World News Tonight, and The News Hour with Jim Lehrer. He has spoken at hundreds of churches, colleges, universities, and seminaries throughout the United States and internationally. Rev. Walker holds a BA in Biblical Studies and an MA in Theology (Summa Cum Laude) from Criswell College in Dallas.  He is an ordained Baptist minister and a member of the International Society of Christian Apologetics (ISCA), the Evangelical Press Association, and serves on the Board of Directors of Evangelical Ministries to New Religions (EMNR). Q&A* Tell Us About Growing Up as a 4th Generation Mormon and Becoming a Christian I was born and raised LDS Mormon, had a good experience, believed the Book of Mormon was the word of God and Joseph Smith was a prophet.  I held the Aaronic priesthood.  I held the customary positions and participated in the Baptism of the dead in the temple in Salt Lake City. I had Christian friends.  Some of them were negative and bashing, but most were patient and understanding and shared key verses with me.  At age 21, I realized that I had not received forgiveness of sin, could not be obedient to all the Mormon laws and ordinances and so was not certain of my salvation. I then put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone. What Was That Like, Where You Came to Christ and Yet Your Closest Friends and Families Were Still Mormon? It was difficult.  It's always hardest with family.  The ones you love and are closest to are the hardest ones to talk to about things like this. My mother and my 4 sisters all came to Christ and left Mormonism. My father was different.  He had all these plans for me in the Mormon church that I had ruined.  My parents were divorced after my Mom left the Mormon church.  We spoke rarely.  In the last 5 years before he died, I had the opportunity to share with him the true Gospel.  I don't know if he received it or not. I've learned that it's more important to be relational and to say "I have a problem, can you help me" than to just tell people why they're wrong. God made us as a whole person.  We are the emotion and the intellect and we have to appeal to the whole person.  I tell my staff that being right is not enough.  You have to win not only in the area of truth but in the area of feeling and relationship and emotion and reach that whole person. The old saying is true "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."  When I was Mormon, some Christians spoke to me in such a way that I thought they were trying to make me look foolish. Tell Us How You Got Involved with Watchman Fellowship and What That Ministry is Involved In I was getting confused between what I had learned...

Saturday 5/07/16  1pm ET/12pm CTRL/11am MTN/10am Pac call in and listen, ask questions or share comments at 1-347-934-0379 or online during and after the program at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/healingxoutreach/2016/05/07/btr-guest-james-walker-on-new-atheists-zeitgeist-attacks-on-jesus-mythicism James Walker is a former 4th generation Mormon and President of the countercult Outreach ministry known as Watchman Fellowship. They have a fantastic extensive notebook which profiles many cults that is ever expanding. Check out their site at http://www.watchman.org/ and get the profile notebook! He holds a BA in Biblical Studies and an MA in Theology (Summa Cum Laude) from Criswell College in Dallas. He serves as an adjunct professor at Arlington Baptist College, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and Criswell College. He is an ordained Baptist minister and a member of the International Society of Christian Apologetics (ISCA), the Evangelical Press Association, and serves on the Board of Directors of Evangelical Ministries to New Religions (EMNR). Today we will discuss the religious portion of the popular Zeitgeist film, new atheists, and mythicism. Learn more here: http://watchman.org/MythProfile.pdf

Saturday 4/18/15  12pm ET/11am CTRL/10am MTN/9am Pac call in and listen, ask questions or share comments at 1-347-934-0379 or online during and after the program at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/healingxoutreach/2015/04/18/watchman-fellowship-pres-james-walker-discusses-the-hebrew-roots-movement James Walker is a former 4th generation Mormon and President of the countercult Outreach ministry known as Watchman Fellowship. They have a fantastic extensive notebook which profiles many cults that is ever expanding. Check out their site at http://www.watchman.org/ and get the profile notebook! He holds a BA in Biblical Studies and an MA in Theology (Summa Cum Laude) from Criswell College in Dallas. He serves as an adjunct professor at Arlington Baptist College, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and Criswell College. He is an ordained Baptist minister and a member of the International Society of Christian Apologetics (ISCA), the Evangelical Press Association, and serves on the Board of Directors of Evangelical Ministries to New Religions (EMNR). Today we will discuss the origins and teachings of the Hebrew Roots Movement! Watchman provides a free profile here: http://www.watchman.org/hr.pdf