POPULARITY
Categories
Hosted by John John
Hosted by John John
156 episodes with John John
70 episodes with John John
64 episodes with John John
56 episodes with John John
37 episodes with John John
39 episodes with John John
28 episodes with John John
43 episodes with John John
24 episodes with John John
16 episodes with John John
31 episodes with John John
12 episodes with John John
16 episodes with John John
12 episodes with John John
11 episodes with John John
8 episodes with John John
23 episodes with John John
11 episodes with John John
10 episodes with John John
9 episodes with John John
7 episodes with John John
17 episodes with John John
14 episodes with John John
4 episodes with John John
8 episodes with John John
5 episodes with John John
9 episodes with John John
5 episodes with John John
5 episodes with John John
8 episodes with John John
4 episodes with John John
20 episodes with John John
6 episodes with John John
6 episodes with John John
19 episodes with John John
4 episodes with John John
6 episodes with John John
17 episodes with John John
4 episodes with John John
4 episodes with John John
4 episodes with John John
7 episodes with John John
7 episodes with John John
3 episodes with John John
8 episodes with John John
4 episodes with John John
2 episodes with John John
8 episodes with John John
5 episodes with John John
4 episodes with John John
7 episodes with John John
4 episodes with John John
This is Jesus' first appearance tothe eleven disciples in the upper room when they're all together. Jesus had told themmany times He would be crucified, and that He would rise again, but theirhearts still doubted even now. Whatwe want to talk about today is in these next words of Jesus to the disciples, “HandleMe and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see Ihave. And when He said this, He showed them His hands and His feet”. NowJohn's gospel tells us in John 20:25-27 that when Jesus showed them His handsand His feet, it doesn't say that He showed them the scars on His body, but at leasttwice it says that He showed them the prints. He showed them “the prints ofthe nails”. The prints of the nails in His hands and in His feet. Jesussaid, "Handle Me and see”, And again, it says, “He showedthem His hands and in His feet”, not the scars. The only thing in heaventhat will be made by man are the prints of the nails in His hands and His feet.We will be able to still see them. And then we find also that Jesus went on tosay, "And while they did not believe for joy and marveled, He said tothem, 'Do you have any food here?'" And they gave Him a piece of boiledfish and some honeycomb, and He took it and ate in their presence”. Now,one of the most asked questions I get is, "Will we eat in heaven?" Whatwill we be like in heaven? Will we have bodies in heaven? And for a fact, I'mconvinced at the rapture of the church, the Bible speaks about the dead inChrist rising in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4:13-18 and in 1 Corinthians 15:50-58.Paul reveals to us a mystery and there He says, "We shall all bechanged in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye." In Thessalonians 4:16,he wrote, "And the dead in Christ shall rise first”. The bodies ofall the deceased believers will resurrect out of the graves and at that momentthey'll reunite with their soul and spirit in heaven and at the same time ourbodies with be changed to a body like Jesus'. 1John 3: 2-3, tells us, "And when we see Him, we will be like Him, forwe shall see Him as He is." We'll have a body like Jesus. He could eatsolid foods. He could move in and out of rooms through closed doors. Now how aphysical body could go through a closed solid wall, I cannot explain. But myfriend, we'll have a body like that. I believe we'll travel at the speed ofthought even during the millennium, just like Jesus did from Galilee and backand forth to Jerusalem during the 40 days after His resurrection. Oh,heaven's going to be a wonderful place. We have new bodies. “Thiscorruptible must put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality, thenshall be brought to pass the saying that's written, Death is swallowed up invictory." We will have new bodies. A body that will not experience anymore pain, any more suffering, and has no more problems with health at all. Oh,we'll see perfectly because we'll still have all our faculties. People willrecognize each other in those bodies that we originally had on planet Earth,but they'll be glorified bodies just like Jesus. Jesusstill says troubled hearts, "Handle Me and see." Interestingto me, the Gospel of John starts out with, "Come and see," toAndrew and John (John 1:39). But now Luke's Gospel ends with, "HandleMe and see." Later John went on to write in 1John 1:1, “That whichwas from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word oflife”. Ohmy friend, today Jesus invites us to come and handle Him. First you, “Come andsee”, but now You can handle Him and see. Come to Jesus today and handle Him inHis Word. You can reach out and touch Him today! Open your heart to Him.Believe in the reality of a physical, literal resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thereality of this truth will change and transform your life like it did thedisciples as the Holy Spirit fills you.
https://schweitzer.church
Church Expands G'day and welcome to Partake! We are now on day 29 of our series "Glimpses", looking at the story of the Bible in 30 days - from the time of creation through to the time of the fullness of redemption! We saw last time Jesus making a sudden reappearance which resulted in the conversion of one of the main persecutors of the church - Saul, who later changed his name to Paul. We saw also a problem to be solved, it was done so judiciously and it was decided that salvation was by grace alone through Jesus' death on the cross and through the Holy Spirit alone. The church had begun to spread throughout the Roman Empire from its birthplace in Jerusalem. Remember back to the day of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit first came? The people there had gone back to their own countries and cities: places such as : Egypt, Arabia, Libya, Italy, Greece, Judea, Elam, Media, Mesopotamia, Cappadocia, Pontus, Pamphylia, Phrygia, Asia, Crete, Cyrene and Crete, parts of the Parthian Empire and of course even the headquarters of the Roman Empire, Rome! As far as we know, from the Bible record, the most effective missionary was Paul, and that's because most of what we call the New Testament consists of letters written by him. Here are the places he and his various teams of people visited on what we call his missionary journeys. You can read about them in the book of Acts. Paul's First Missionary Journey The first journey was to places such as: Antioch (Acts 13:4), Seleucia and sailed to Cyprus. From there they went to Salamis and Paphos (Acts 13:4-6). Then onwards to Perga in Pamphylia, which is now southern Turkey. At Antioch in Pisidia, Paul deliberately plans to take the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46). Then Iconium (Acts 14:3), Lystra (Acts 14:19), and Derbe. Where they went back to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch (in Pisidia) (Acts 14:21), before going throughout Pisidia, Pamphylia, then to Perga, Attalia, and returning to Antioch in Syria (Acts 14:24-26). Paul's Second Missionary Journey The second journey begins, Paul goes through Syria and Cilicia (now southeastern Turkey), coming to Derbe and Lystra, and then onto Phrygia and Galatia, before passing through Mysia to Troas, the island of Samothracia, and then to Neapolis in Macedonia (now northern Greece) and Philippi (Acts 16:14-34). Passing through Amphipolis and Appolonia, they came to Thessalonica. After teaching in Berea, Paul departed into Achaia (now southern Greece), to Athens (Acts 17:14-15). Then Paul then makes his first visit to Corinth (Acts 18:5)! Paul leaves Corinth to go to Cenchrea and then across to Ephesus and Caesarea, before finishing up in Antioch in Syria. Paul's Third Missionary Journey Paul's third journey begins in Galatia (central region of Turkey) and then to Phrygia (Acts 18:23) before arriving in Ephesus where he stayed for 3 years (Acts 20:31). Paul then went to Troas and continued to Macedonia (2 Corinthians 2:12-13 and 7:5). After going through Macedonia (northern Greece), Paul came to Achaia (southern Greece) (Acts 20:2-3), makes a third visit to Corinth before headed back to Macedonia (Acts 20:1) and onto Philippi (Acts 20:6). Following this, Paul went to Troas, Assos, Mitylene, Chios, Samos, Trogylium, Miletus (now in southwestern Turkey), Coos, Rhodes, Patara, Tyre (in Lebanon), Ptolemais and to Caesarea before finishing back in Jerusalem. Paul's final journey Paul in Jerusalem, is beaten by the Jewish authorities (Acts 22) and taken to trial before them. Many Jews wanted to kill him (Acts 23:12) for his service to Jesus Christ. Paul is taken before the Roman Governor Felix at Caesarea (Acts 24:10) and when the reign of Portius Felix begins, Paul appeals to Caesar in Rome! Paul was a Roman citizen, he was innocent of the crimes bought against him and it was his right to appeal to the Roman emperor! So He did and Paul's final journey starts in Acts 25:11. The boat sails to Sidon, Myra (now southern Turkey) and on to Crete (Acts 27:7-13), Melita, near Sicily, Syracuse, Rhegium (southern tip of Italy), then to Puteoli (on the western coast of Italy). Finally, Paul ends up in Rome (Acts 28:30)! During all these journeys, Paul has endured persecution, beatings, stonings, whippings, imprisonment, mock trials and shipwrecks! In 2 Corinthians 11 you can read all that Paul endured and he sums it up 2 Corinthians 12:10 "That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." Paul was an amazing man! Issues in the Churches of the Bible Lets look now at some of the issues of the churches at that time, and we see this best by looking very briefly at some of the letters of the New Testament, written by Paul, Peter, John, James and Jude. Romans: Paul's letter to the church in Rome presents God's plan of salvation, which sees it extended to all of humanity based solely on Jesus Christ' work on the cross and received by an individual's faith in Him alone. 1 Corinthians: At Corinth, the church was an established church, taught by Paul, yet they were not living he had taught by him. Members of the church were living improper lives and Paul wrote to correct them, with the love of a pastoral heart. 2 Corinthians: here due to people doubting his integrity and authority, Paul presents his authority, message, sufferings, disappointments, responsibilities, blessings, and hope. Ephesians: Paul discusses the position of Christian believers before God - that they are now children of God! He then goes on to discuss the daily function of the Christian, including living a life worthy of Jesus Christ, supremely by serving others. 1 Thessalonians: Paul is unable to revisit this new group of believers who are under attack and persecution. He commences with some personal reflections and continues on to teach, stabilize, console and to encourage them in their Christian walk. 2 Thessalonians: The Thessalonian church is still enduring persecution. Central to this letter is Paul's concern for them regarding the coming again of the Lord, where some believed it had already occurred. 1 Timothy: Paul the apostle delegates authority to Timothy, his personal representative in Ephesus. His instructions include Timothy's life and ministry as an apostolic representative and about the organization, function, and edification of the church. This includes countering all kinds of false teaching about Jesus the Christ. James: James writes to scattered and leaderless Jewish believers who still met at a synagogue and were enduring hardship. James urges them to keep going and develop an active working faith that is actively working and to live a morally and ethically correct life. 1 Peter: Peter writes to believers undergoing suffering & persecution. He instructs them toward Christian stability, and the proper expression of this stability and growth. Peter stresses a hope that is alive, glorious and certain, and because of that can endure persecution and suffering. 2 Peter: Peter is dying as he writes this letter to a group of believers who are enduring trials and being confronted with false teachers. He also clarifies teaching about the Last Days. 1 John: John writes about fellowship which comes through obedience to the Word of God and through confession of sin when sin is committed. John also writes to tackle false Gnostic teachers who were challenging the teachings of Jesus' apostles. Jude: Jude writes warning against apostasy, which is giving up and abandoning a belief in Jesus and going back to old ways. . He urges his readers to recognize the problem and fight for the faith. Through these letters of the New Testament, we see the early church dealing with issues of doctrine and teaching, countering false teachings about salvation and Jesus' return, warning against apostasy and encouraging wholesome living and service as believers in Jesus Christ. The church has grown and spread throughout most of the known world in obedience to Jesus' last command to go to all nations. This growth of the church is the greatest evidence of Jesus' bodily resurrection from the dead. His resurrection was the catalyst to turn 11 frightened men, his disciples, into the leaders of the early church. But Jesus also promised that He would come back again and that's what we will look at next time, in our final part of Glimpses! Thank you. Original Maps found at http://www.generationword.com/ Tap or click here to download as a MP3 audio file
In this episode of 'Don't Cut Your Own Bangs,' host Danielle Ireland introduces John Kippen, a resilience and empowerment coach, magician, and motivational speaker. John shares his incredible journey of overcoming a life-threatening brain tumor and how it transformed his life and career. Throughout the episode, John discusses his healing journey, the power of vulnerability, and the importance of facing one's limiting beliefs. He also reveals the origins of his unique phrase 'impossible really means I am possible' and offers a special gift to listeners. Tune in to uncover valuable wisdom nuggets and be inspired by John's story of triumph over adversity. 00:00 Introduction to the Episode 00:40 Meet John Kippen: A Multihyphenate Talent 01:23 John's Life-Altering Diagnosis 05:46 The Surgery and Its Aftermath 08:04 The Road to Recovery 13:30 Embracing the New Normal 17:29 The Power of Truth and Magic 29:14 The Power of Magic and Connection 29:31 Introducing Treasured: A Journal for Self-Discovery 30:44 The Magic of Personal Connection 32:59 Overcoming Personal Struggles Through Magic 34:38 The Journey to Self-Acceptance 35:42 The Importance of Asking and Vulnerability 50:24 The TED Talk Experience 54:34 Final Thoughts and Encouragement RATE, REVIEW, SUBSCRIBE TO “DON'T CUT YOUR OWN BANGS” Like your favorite recipe or song, the best things in life are shared. When you rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast, your engagement helps me connect with other listeners just like you. Plus, subscriptions just make life easier for everybody. It's one less thing for you to think about and you can easily keep up to date on everything that's new. So, please rate, review, and subscribe today. DANIELLE IRELAND, LCSW I greatly appreciate your support and engagement as part of the Don't Cut Your Own Bangs community. Feel free to reach out with questions, comments, or anything you'd like to share. You can connect with me at any of the links below. JOHN KIPPEN: https://www.ted.com/talks/john_kippen_being_different_is_my_super_power_magic_saved_my_life https://www.johnkippen.com DANIELLE IRELAND, LCSW Website: https://danielleireland.com/ The Treasured Journal: https://danielleireland.com/journal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielleireland_lcsw TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dontcutyourownbangspod?_t=ZP-8yFHmVNPKtq&_r=1 Transcript: John Kippen Edited Interview [00:00:00] [00:00:07] Hello. Hello, this is Danielle Ireland and you are catching an episode of Don't Cut Your Own Bangs. And today I have the great pleasure of introducing you to someone I can now call a new friend John Kippen. John is a multihyphenate. He has had quite a life and he's an excellent storyteller. So this episode you're gonna wanna buckle up. [00:00:31] It is so good. Get those AirPods in, go on your walk, get safely in your car, get ready to listen because this is just an absolutely beautiful episode. But let me tell you a little bit about John. John is a resilience and empowerment coach. He was and is the CEO of a very successful IT company. [00:00:49] He was a main stage performer at the Magic Castle in Los Angeles, so if that just gives you a little insight, is the level of his magic. He is a motivational speaker. He's a life coach, and. He has a TED talk that has received over a million views. And the heartbeat of this TED talk is how he triumphs over tragedy with a diagnosis of a tumor the size of a golf ball that is separating his brainstem and the procedure he needed to save his life, changed his life forever. [00:01:23] Doing the work of healing does not come easily to anyone, but as John so beautifully puts in this episode, if John can do it, you can do it. He's using his stories, his vulnerable and raw experiences, and talking about not only what happened to him, but how he moved through the impossible. [00:01:45] He actually coins a phrase that I love and I'm going to keep. Which is that impossible really means I am possible. So the ultimate magic trick, the ultimate illusion is what your limiting beliefs are about yourself, and how do you use facing those fears and those limiting beliefs to transform your life. [00:02:08] And in John's case, he takes that healing and offers it as a gift to us. As listeners to his clients and his coaching practice to the readers of his book, he has authored a book The Forward by None other than the Jamie Lee Curtis from all of the places. You know her most recently. The Bear where she won an Emmy, but everything everywhere, all at once. [00:02:32] She and John are buds, and she believes in him and believes in his work, and as a champion of that work, it just adds a little extra sparkle and fairy dust to the beautiful work that he's already doing to say that he's been vetted by someone who is so sparkly and magnetic and also deeply entrenched in holding space for the truth and honoring the truth. [00:02:52] This is a heartfelt episode, so what I would recommend. If you're in a place to do so is you might wanna jot some notes down because John drops some beautiful wisdom nuggets in this episode. And the book that he authored is playing The Hand You're Dealt. And what I wanna share too, we talk about it in the episode, but I wanna highlight this 'cause it's really important. [00:03:12] John is giving everyone who listens to the episode a free gift, but it is not linked in the show notes. It is only available to those of you who listen. It's a special little surprise embedded in the episode that you have to listen to find, but it is a free gift from him to you. So without further ado, get ready to sit back, relax, and enjoy the beautiful wisdom of John Kippen. [00:03:35] [00:03:36] Kippen, multihyphenate resilience and empowerment, coach magician, keynote speaker, author, and all around. Nice guy. Thank you for joining me today on the Don't Cut Your Own Bangs podcast. [00:03:47] Danielle: Hollywood legend wrote the forward of his beautiful book, playing the Hand You're Dealt Forward by the one and Only Take It Away, John, Jamie [00:03:58] John: Lee Curtis. [00:03:59] Danielle: Jamie Lee Curtis. Yes. So you have to stay and listen to the entire episode because he's going to tease out a special little giveaway that will only be revealed in the audio. [00:04:10] So you gotta listen. It's not gonna be linked in the show notes, folks. So buckle up, sit down. This is gonna be a great episode with a fun gift for you, a special little dose of magic hidden inside. So, John, you, I mean, all the different fun things that we listed about what you do. You're a magician, you're a motivational speaker, you're a coach. [00:04:30] What I know doing the work I do as a therapist is the skills and trade that you're building your life on. Those were skills that they were. Hard one, like nobody chooses, in my opinion and in my experience, no one chooses to go into a helping profession that hasn't needed help in their life. It's like the, our healing becomes our medicine. [00:04:54] And I really wanna learn about not just what you offer, but your healing journey that put you in the unique position you're in to do the work you do. So, welcome and I'd love to hear from you. [00:05:05] John: So just quickly, the Reader's Digest version of my backstory. Grew up Los Angeles, middle class family, two great parents loving, no sisters or brothers, had everything I needed. [00:05:18] They sent me to a nice school and, I got into theater, started doing theater, in college. I studied theater and became the big man on campus because pretty much I grabbed every opportunity that presented itself. Started a computer company out of college. 'cause I'm a creative problem solver. [00:05:38] That's the thread that goes through everything I do in my life. [00:05:42] Mm-hmm. [00:05:42] John: I look at a problem, I say, how am I gonna solve that? [00:05:45] Mm-hmm. [00:05:46] John: And then in June of July of 2002, I was diagnosed with a four half centimeter brain tumor called an acoustic neuroma. [00:05:55] Danielle: Yes. And this was, so it was slowly severing your brainstem? Correct. [00:05:59] John: It was displacing the brainstem. Causing not only hearing issues, but dizziness upon standing or walking. [00:06:07] Mm-hmm. [00:06:08] John: I had to have something done with it. I would not have survived. [00:06:12] Mm-hmm. [00:06:14] John: And. It was a whirlwind , I went and saw the doctor who finally diagnosed it after seeing him the MRI films, and he, he had no bedside manner. [00:06:25] I remember sitting on the examining room table, right. And the, the tissue paper is crinkling under my butt. Mm-hmm. I could feel the, I could sense the temperature. I'm heightened sensitivity. [00:06:37] And he looks up at the MRI after talking to a neurosurgeon, and he turns around and says, John, you have a four and a half centimeter brain tumor. [00:06:46] It's killing you. We're operating you on Friday. You're gonna go deaf in your left ear, and there's a possibility for some facial weakness. We're gonna do everything we can to prevent that. And he left [00:07:01] Danielle: the room. So he knew, and in his own. Brash in abrupt way, essentially prepared you for the outcome and challenges that would come assuming the surgery was a success? [00:07:17] John: Yeah. He is a world renowned acoustic neuroma surgeon. He's one of the guys you go to, when you have this kind of tumor and that's all he does. Wow. But he literally left the room and I'm sitting there and I didn't bring anybody in and [00:07:31] yeah. [00:07:32] John: A tip to anyone who's potentially going in for a serious diagnosis. [00:07:36] Yeah. [00:07:37] John: Bring a friend or a family member. [00:07:39] Because it goes in one ear and out the other, you're in shock. Right. Right. When you get home and you say, wait a minute, he said that surgery gonna be four hours or 14 hours or 20. How, how long ago and you have all these questions. Yeah. And you know, getting ahold of the doctor to ask them again is just not the way our medical system works. [00:08:01] He's back to back, to back to back patients. [00:08:04] So, I checked in the night before, they did blood tests and I tried to get an hour or two sleep, 6:00 AM my clockwork the orderly came in and said, okay, get naked, get on this cold gurney. What a sheet over you and we're going take you to the operating room. [00:08:21] Danielle: I wanna pause your story for a moment. 'cause there's a couple things that I, I wanna tease out a little. So one is you, the way that you tell your story, so well probably because you've told it on stages, you've shared it with others, you've written about it. There is something about a trauma. [00:08:37] That really marks the sort of BCAD of life. And the way you shared, I felt like I was in the room with you when you were getting this bomb of news dropped on you so you were theater trained, theater kid, a creative person, a creative problem solver, and a business owner. [00:08:57] Like I, I think about that often when people are experiencing trauma. What, what was life sort of the, the illusion of normalcy. The, the, you know, the predictability of this is my life and this is my to-do list and this is my calendar. So before that moment, you were just a guy on the west coast running a business. [00:09:17] Is that right? [00:09:18] John: Very successful business. [00:09:19] Danielle: And I, I just wanna share briefly too, I haven't met too many other only children. Theater background 'cause that's me too. [00:09:30] John: Oh, really? [00:09:31] Danielle: I'm an only child and I was a theater major and started acting when I was 13, so before. But, the creative problem solver, God, my theater background has paid dividends in ways I didn't know at the time. [00:09:42] I didn't know that when I was preparing for this interview, but now that you've said that, it's like that thing that I couldn't put my finger on has clicked into place. [00:09:49] John: I love doing improv. [00:09:51] Improv is the, you know, everybody talks about being in the moment. [00:09:57] Yeah. [00:09:57] John: What does that really mean, being in the moment? [00:10:00] When you do improv, you have to be in the moment. Otherwise you fall flat. And everybody, you're doing improv looks at you going. Well, it's your turn. [00:10:10] Danielle: You've tapped in. Now you've gotta say something. How are you gonna move the story forward? [00:10:14] Exactly. I feel most alive when I'm engaged in moments like that. And I, it's, I'm not a, a adrenaline junkie, but I would say that's my high, it's the, rush of connecting with somebody like that. So you were running a very successful business. This bomb has dropped. [00:10:32] You can barely remember what you were told and what your life is likely going to be. Assuming everything goes well, what is going to happen when you wake up off your op? And how long was your operation? [00:10:46] John: 15 hours. [00:10:48] Danielle: And the surgery was a success. They were able to remove the golf ice tumor. [00:10:52] Yeah. So they removed the fall sized tumor. [00:10:54] John: I didn't have time to think, you know, I got one of my guys who worked for me told him that he was gonna be running the company for a month or two. He agreed. [00:11:05] Mm-hmm. [00:11:05] John: Had to shovel up some more money to get him to do it, but, you know, it is what it is. You do what you have to do. [00:11:11] Yeah. And then,, I just tried to think positively, hope for the best. Plan for the worst. You know, I had someone gonna stay with me the first week, make food because I just wanted to recover and I didn't know what it was gonna be like. [00:11:27] Danielle: Yeah. You're like, I just need a week to recover, and then I'm just gonna hop back into life, hopefully. [00:11:31] John: Rolling the gurney into the surgical, prep area. [00:11:35] The nurse saying, Hey John, you know, we know we have to shape after your head. You want me to do it now or after you're under. [00:11:42] Danielle: So you didn't even know that they were gonna shave your head. Well, I didn't think about it. [00:11:48] John: I mean, if I had thought about it, I got a shaved part of my head. [00:11:51] Danielle: Right. [00:11:52] John: I said to her, please. [00:11:56] Danielle: Yeah. [00:11:58] John: And so, they roll me into the operating room. You got these really bright lights, , blinding you, and you're laying there and they're like, okay, you're gonna count back toward five. [00:12:09] The next thing I know, I hear faint voices and it was like I was 30 meters deep in a pool. Struggling to get to the surface. And I remember this like it was yesterday, literally trying to swim to the service to regain consciousness. [00:12:26] And finally when I got enough, I realized that my dad was sitting on the edge of my bed holding my hand, [00:12:34] and [00:12:34] John: he was smiling at me, but I didn't see my mom. [00:12:40] So I asked my dad for my glasses and he handed me the glasses. And I remember trying to put the, and then I realized my head's bandage. [00:12:48] Danielle: Oh, right. [00:12:50] John: So I had to figure out how to get the glasses in Cockeye to get 'em on my face, right? [00:12:55] And the look on her face was one of horror. What did these butchers do to my son's face? And at that point, I didn't know my face was paralyzed. Because I have full feeling, I just can't move it. [00:13:10] Danielle: So you currently, you still have full feeling in your face. You just lost mobility, [00:13:14] John: so I didn't really understand what that look was. [00:13:18] Danielle: Right. How could you? [00:13:19] John: And then my mom handed me her compact makeup. [00:13:22] And I opened it up and I'm like, holy crap. And then, I'm still getting [00:13:30] accustomed to, the one thing I noticed is leading into surgery, I was constantly dizzy and that dizziness was gone. [00:13:38] Danielle: Wow. [00:13:39] John: And that was like, oh my God, what a relief. [00:13:42] Mm-hmm. [00:13:43] John: So the doctor finally made his way in and I was like, so when's my face gonna move? And he said, John, we were, successful. [00:13:50] The tumors removed. Right when we were close the incision, your face stopped moving. But we think it's just to do the swelling, and once the swelling goes down, your face should start moving again. So I'm like, okay. I can handle that. That's a, it's not a permanent thing. I can deal with it. [00:14:05] So I'm in the hospital a week and, they're like, when you can do three laps around the hospital floor, without a walker, we'll send you home. [00:14:16] So that became my goal. I remember getting outta bed and then they said, no, no, no. Wait for the, I said, no. The doctor said that I need to rock three laps around. [00:14:26] I want to get the hell out of here [00:14:28] Five days I got home. My dad drove me home and I sat on my couch and now I'm like, okay, I can start healing and check email here and there. And I was taking lots of naps. And then I coughed and I touched the back of my neck and it was wet. [00:14:45] Mm. [00:14:47] John: Oh, it was a spinal fluid leak on the base of the incision. [00:14:51] Whew. [00:14:53] John: So immediately I called the doctor's office and the said, oh, get your ass back here. And I went back to the hospital three times with them to redo the bandaging to try to prevent the leak. [00:15:05] Danielle: Wait, you call the hospital. Hey, their spinal fluid leaking out of my surgical incision. And they're like, yeah, you should get in a car and drive yourself to the hospital. [00:15:16] John: They didn't say how I should get to the hospital. [00:15:19] Danielle: Okay. Fair, fair. But that, [00:15:22] okay. Wow. ' [00:15:24] John: cause that's not good. [00:15:25] And there was potential for getting, spinal meningitis in that. From what I understand is one of the most extreme pains out there. [00:15:35] Okay. [00:15:35] John: I went back and forth three different times over that week. [00:15:39] They tried to, it was just as right behind my ear, right at the base of the incision. So, there was no way that they were going to be able to, put a pressure manage to keep that and so it could start healing. [00:15:51] Danielle: Mm-hmm. [00:15:52] John: So they finally said, all right, tomorrow you're gonna come in and we're gonna, redo the incision and pull more belly fat outta your belly to fill the hole. [00:16:01] And Yeah. This time they used staples, man, thick Frankenstein. [00:16:07] All the way up. [00:16:08] But then I'm like, I was only in the hospital for a day. And then, and I'm like, okay, I can relax. I remember getting up and brushing my teeth, you know, and I'm looking at the mirror and God, , I don't recognize that guy. [00:16:24] Yeah. And I got rid of all the mirrors in my house. [00:16:30] I didn't want a constant reminder. [00:16:33] My face was screwed up. [00:16:34] Danielle: I, there's so much specificity to what is uniquely your story. [00:16:46] Mm-hmm. [00:16:47] Danielle: But what I have found is when people. Are able to share elements of their experience. It's when you go into the specificity of what you experienced. I can see myself in so many elements of your story in my own, like when we get in deeper, it becomes somehow more accessible and universal. [00:17:16] And in that way, you're not alone, even though it happened to you and that detail about your removing the mirrors from your home. It, it brings me to something I really wanted to ask you about. You share by saying, and then also , by, actually demonstrating in your TED talk that, once you began the healing process of really addressing your depression after your operation, that, the story, it led you to magic, literally. And I also think in a more magical way, beyond performing an illusion. And I know not to call it a trick, I learned that from arrested development. [00:18:03] But, there's something you said that I wanted to quote that it's amazing how accepting kids are of the truth. You open up your TED talk, which I will link in the show notes so people can see. But that you mentioned that this in a way that your permission and your humor and your honesty, it created levity and lightness. [00:18:27] For something that would be considered maybe so precious and heavy. And what I wanna speak to, and open up a question if that's okay, is, I'm curious what your relationship with the truth is because I think humor in its highest expression is allowing us to laugh at something that we see the truth in. [00:18:49] And yet it's this razor's edge between laughing at someone or laughing at something versus inviting us to laugh at the, the human experience that we maybe don't know how to name or express in another way. But I wanna know personally for you, what your relationship is with the truth and the value of embracing it. [00:19:13] And then in your line of work as a coach, where do you see people struggle with it? [00:19:19] John: Truth is an illusion. [00:19:21] Danielle: Ooh, tell me more. That just, that was a zingy response that you popped right out. Please tell me more. [00:19:28] John: Yeah. Truth. Everybody has their own truth. [00:19:31] Danielle: Oh, well there you go. [00:19:32] John: Their own perspective, [00:19:34] Danielle: uhhuh, [00:19:35] John: And the truth is formed out of your limiting beliefs. [00:19:41] Danielle: So the truth is formed out of your limited beliefs, [00:19:44] John: your limiting beliefs. [00:19:45] Danielle: Limiting beliefs. Okay. [00:19:47] John: Yeah. [00:19:48] I just wanted to take a slight step back. [00:19:50] Danielle: Mm-hmm. [00:19:51] John: I told you this was gonna be the Reader's Digest version. [00:19:54] Danielle: Yes. [00:19:54] John: But it took me 12 years [00:19:57] To come out of that hiding. Wow. 12 years. [00:20:02] Danielle: How old were you when you had your operation? [00:20:05] John: 33. [00:20:06] Danielle: 33. Okay. [00:20:08] John: And fortunately for me, I could work from home. But I miss so many celebrations with friends and family. 'cause I just didn't want to have to explain it. I didn't want to have to deal with the looks, , and I tell this story on my TED Talk and in my book. You know, at a restaurant I wanted to get a burger at Tony Aroma's. And I'm sitting there by myself and in a booth, and there's a booth right in front of me and there's a family with a kid, two parents and a kid. And the kid's squirming and gets up and turns around and is now on his knees on the bench and looking at me. [00:20:44] And he gets up and he comes over and he says, Mr, what's wrong with your face? And in that moment, I didn't want to have a five or 6-year-old come over and Right. And I'm like, okay, I had the strength to come out and go to a restaurant. I have to deal with this. So I started talking to this little boy [00:21:06] Danielle: Mm. [00:21:07] John: And saying, I had a medical procedure that caused me not to with my face before I could continue his mom grabbing him [00:21:16] mm-hmm. [00:21:17] John: The arm and drug him back and said, don't bother him. The nice man, he has enough troubles already. And I couldn't leave it there. [00:21:25] Mm-hmm. [00:21:27] John: So I had to go to the little boy and I knelt down and I got eye level and I said, I love my new face because it's different. [00:21:34] It's different just like yours. And I remember it like it was yesterday, he took his fingers and he tried to distort his face to be crooked like mine. And he turned to his mom and said, look, mom, I could do that too. And then he went back to eating his meal. His question was answered. [00:21:56] He had no judgment. And his parents were like, holy crap, did we just learn a lesson? How to raise our child? [00:22:03] They whispered, thank you on their way out. [00:22:07] Danielle: But there is something I, there, there's something to that woman's response to you that really resonated with me. [00:22:14] And it also, highlights the point you made so well about the, essentially the truth being relative. Because she projected onto you what her perception of your life was. Don't bother the nice man one, she didn't know you were nice, though. You are. But she didn't know that. Right. And she also didn't know what your troubles were or weren't, and she assumed that. [00:22:39] John: But I always wonder what her motives were. [00:22:41] Danielle: Right. [00:22:42] John: was it to make me comfortable or was it to make her and her son comfortable [00:22:48] Danielle: it for her? I think so. [00:22:50] John: And that's how I took it. [00:22:51] Danielle: I remember. So I have two children and I was pregnant once before and lost that pregnancy. [00:22:57] 12 weeks in. And I haven't thought about this in a very long time, but I remember going into, a annual doctor's appointment and she saw on the chart that I was listed as pregnant and clearly now was not. And it was in her own discomfort of not, she was asking me about the baby thinking, 'cause she was not my ob, GYN it was a different type of doctor. [00:23:20] And, she caught. Oh, and then I had sort of explained to her what that meant, and then she said, well, I'm sure, you blame yourself and I want you to know it's not your fault. Like she took her discomfort and tried to turn it into, she positioned herself above as someone who knew what he was experiencing and wanted to offer me this sympathy that was, one, she was wrong. [00:23:45] I totally misplaced. Yeah. I didn't blame myself. And it, that, that moment was such an extension of her own inability to hold the moment and the discomfort of the moment, and, tried to offer it up as a gift for me, which that's, yeah. [00:24:03] John: It's your perception of how you deal with that. [00:24:06] Danielle: Mm-hmm. [00:24:07] John: Losing a child can be. Empowering because you know that you can try again and get a child that is not gonna have any kind of defects and is gonna have a good life. And you know whether or not you believe in God or not. [00:24:24] Danielle: Yeah. [00:24:25] John: Things happen for a reason and we don't always understand the reason for them. [00:24:30] Danielle: I don't know if it, what the reason was, but I can say a gift from that was that somebody who lived with a very active monkey mind and a lot of head trash and some anxiety in the experience of the early grief, not for very long, but there was a moment in time where my mind was quiet, not numb, but quiet. [00:24:55] And it helped me realize, oh, there's the observer within me. Then there are the different conversations that are happening in my head that aren't me, which are maybe the perceptions that I call truth sometimes I wanna bring that same question of truth, which you had an answer I was not expecting, which I love when I never see it coming, so thank you. [00:25:18] Where do you see your clients? Because you're a coach, right? You are taking your healing and offering it as medicine to people that are trying to make a connection in their own life. So where do you see people that you work with? Struggle with the truth? [00:25:36] John: Everybody's hiding from someone something in their life. [00:25:40] They have buried something so deep and it keeps them from moving forward in their lives. 'cause it erodes their self-confidence. [00:25:50] That's what I learned through my love for performing magic. [00:25:58] Going to the magic castle, sitting at a table with a paralyzed face. [00:26:03] Yeah. I'm this overweight guy with balding, balding with a paralyzed face. And I could sit at a table and have people come to me. I tell this story sometimes, that the Magic Castle is a place where you have to get dressed up to the nines, you know? And women love to get dressed up [00:26:22] Danielle: That's true. [00:26:23] John: They're wearing their best outfits, right? And all of a sudden I'd have five or six women sitting at the table, and their reactions are very guarded. [00:26:34] Hmm. [00:26:36] John: You know, they're sitting there with their legs and arms crossed. [00:26:39] Hmm [00:26:40] John: they're leaning back. They have a smile that's just more of a grin. [00:26:45] Mm-hmm. ' [00:26:47] John: cause I don't know what I'm about. Sure. They don't know if I'm gonna be inappropriate, if I'm gonna come onto them, if I'm what it is. So they have no expectations other than they're gonna see some magic. [00:26:58] Mm-hmm. [00:26:59] John: So I start my act saying, hi guys. My name is John and I'm doing magic all my life. [00:27:05] But in 2 0 2 I had a brain tumor. And when they cut over my head, they traumatized medication, nerve offense, a paralyzed face. But something happened to me on that talk table that day, Danielle. [00:27:16] Mm-hmm. [00:27:17] John: I'm not sure what it was because I was unconscious. All I know is I recovered. I realized I had acquired some new skills and I pause. [00:27:29] Yeah. And I wait for everybody to get on the edge of their seat. Like, what happened, John, what? Skills. Skills I could acquire. I'm having brain surgery. [00:27:40] Mm-hmm. I [00:27:41] John: looked to my right and I looked to my left like it's the biggest secret. [00:27:45] Lean in and I whisper in a loud voice as I am able to visualize people's thoughts. And then I do some mental magic mentalism. Love it. And what I just did was I turned my biggest challenge into a superpower. [00:28:07] Danielle: Yes, you did. And I wanna pause you because when you said that in your talk, have, have you read Elizabeth Gilbert's book, big Magic? [00:28:15] Yes. [00:28:15] Danielle: When she talks about trickster energy, I was like, John Kippen is a freaking trickster. [00:28:22] That is trickster energy that you can shift. Before someone's very eyes. It's like you are performing magic and you are performing magic. You shifted before them and you invited them, your audience to see beyond their own limiting beliefs, their own projected truth. [00:28:47] John: They were distracted. They wanted to know why it was paralyzed, but they couldn't ask, did he have a stroke? Did he have be palsy? What was the reason? So I found them being distracted when I was performing. So I got that outta way in the first two minutes. [00:29:00] Mm-hmm. [00:29:01] John: I explained why my face is paralyzed. [00:29:03] And now I treat it as the experience is now I'm able to do superhuman things. [00:29:10] And now they're like, okay, cool. So as I perform [00:29:16] I focus on the spectator. Magic happens in your mind as a spectator. [00:29:22] Danielle: Oh, I love that magic happens in your mind [00:29:26] [00:29:31] If you've ever wanted to start a journaling practice but didn't know where to start, or if you've been journaling off and on your whole life, but you're like, I wanna take this work deeper, I've got you covered. I've written a journal called Treasured, a Journal for unearthing you. It's broken down into seven key areas of your life, filled with stories, sentence stems, prompts, questions, and exercises. [00:29:51] All rooted in the work that I do with actual clients in my therapy sessions. I have given these examples to clients in sessions as homework, and they come back with insights that allow us to do such incredible work. This is something you can do in the privacy of your own home, whether you're in therapy or not. [00:30:10] It has context, it has guides. And hopefully some safety bumpers to help digging a little deeper feel possible, accessible and safe. You don't have to do this alone. And there's also a guided treasured meditation series that accompanies each section in the journal to help ease you into the processing state. [00:30:29] So my hope is to help guide you into feeling more secure with the most important relationship in your life, the one between you and you. Hop on over to the show notes and grab your copy today. And now back to the episode. [00:30:44] John: Magic is what you see in your mind or someone else sees in their mind. [00:30:49] Magic is that thing that immediately makes you present. [00:30:56] Danielle: Yeah. [00:30:57] John: And your, all of your sensors are now in a heightened state , whether it's a sunset or a beautiful beach or a beautiful woman or a magic trick or whatever it is, there's that sense of awe and wonder. [00:31:15] So as I would start to take each spectator, I would learn their names. [00:31:19] And I would use their names throughout the show. [00:31:22] Danielle: People love that. [00:31:23] John: People, I ask them, the one word in everybody's language that they love to hear the most is their own name . and so I use that as a way of engaging the audience. [00:31:33] They start leaning in and now they've got real smiles on their face [00:31:37] and I can literally see this wall that women in today's society are forced to put up as a self-protection mechanism. [00:31:45] Yeah. [00:31:46] John: I see this wall start to grow as they start to identify with me and they're like, I'm okay being myself. [00:31:54] And then the end of this [00:31:56] they're asking permission to hug me. [00:31:58] And , having a creative mind, I wanted to understand. What that is. What that, what was going on. [00:32:06] Danielle: You also, not only through performing magic, inviting the curiosity you could see in other people's faces into your opening act essentially, or your sleight of hand. [00:32:17] I'm gonna show you this over here so that you can not see what's coming here. Vulnerability in its purest form is magic because it's the one thing sharing the story you feel like you couldn't share. Letting somebody see the one part of you that you would never let anybody see 'cause you were so utterly convinced you would be outed or you would be cast out by exposing that vulnerability is the birthplace of true connection. [00:32:47] Yeah. Which is the ultimate magic trick. It's, it's like what they say in nightmares, if you stop and face the thing that's chasing you, it, it can't chase you anymore in the dream. And so you spent a decade, did I remember that correctly, you wanted to be a main stage performer at the Magic Castle? [00:33:06] It took you about 10 years and you did it. [00:33:08] John: I did. [00:33:09] Yeah. [00:33:09] Danielle: 10 years. [00:33:11] John: Yeah. [00:33:12] Danielle: 10 years. [00:33:13] John: It was my creative coping mechanism. I had hit rock bottom, was I suicidal? No, not really. But I was unhappy. [00:33:25] Danielle: Yeah. [00:33:26] John: I was, my girlfriend left me, and, fortunately I had a job that I could focus on. But I needed something more. And through sharing something so personal and tying magic into it and making it a positive instead of a negative [00:33:45] people are attracted to it. [00:33:49] Danielle: Yeah. Well, because you're holding fire in your hand. Yeah. You're not just saying it's possible, but you're living. You're turning it into a performance, which I think for an artist is one of the most selfless, beautiful acts. [00:34:11] John: It's what separates great artists from mediocre artists. What is he giving me to care about? [00:34:18] Danielle: I never thought about that with magic. What are they giving me to care about? [00:34:22] John: Yeah. What do I want them to think when they leave the theater? [00:34:27] Ability to put your own life in perspective. If John can, so can I. [00:34:33] That's my true message. [00:34:36] Any different is your superpower. [00:34:38] Now, my facial paralysis does not have to define me if I don't let it. [00:34:44] You know, Danielle I live my life that it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. [00:34:51] And that's bit me in the butt numerous times. [00:34:54] Danielle: I can also say the opposite, can bite you in the butt. I think I waited probably too long, many times for permission that wasn't really coming because no one can ultimately grant it. Right? Like, if there's a path you wanna carve, like the job that you built, all of the different things that you've done, there's no resume posted on LinkedIn. [00:35:15] No one's hot. Like that's an empowerment coach slash magician slash keynote speaker, slash documentarian like that. You have to get curious and still, and listen to that little voice inside and follow that curiosity to a path that may not make sense for anyone for a really long time. And I didn't do that. [00:35:40] And that can bite you in the butt too. 'cause regret's hard to hold. [00:35:42] John: Alex SBE came out on national television [00:35:45] to his fans, to the world and said, I'm scared. I am fighting the battle of my life and I'm gonna ask for everyone's good thoughts and prayers . of what I'm going through. I reached out to Nikki Trebek, Alex's daughter and I said, Nikki, I need to perform for your dad . we're having a 75th birthday party and we don't have any entertainment. [00:36:13] So if you wanna be the entertainment, and I was like. Damn. Yes. [00:36:18] Danielle: Well, yeah. I will go to his house and perform magic for him. a [00:36:22] John: restaurant, but [00:36:23] Danielle: Oh, a restaurant. Okay. [00:36:23] John: Wrote a unique magic show [00:36:25] With Jeopardy themes and the whole nine yards and he was actually at the table as one of my assistants. [00:36:33] Oh. Along with his daughter. so he was this, he needed to understand how things worked. [00:36:39] Was a genius. And so he was constantly looking at me like, wait a minute. That's not possible. Just embrace it, Alex. You're not gonna figure it out. Just enjoy it. [00:36:52] Danielle: That's awesome. [00:36:54] John: And there's, on my website, john kipp.com. There are some magic videos and there are two videos of me performing for Alex , sat with him, and I said, Alex, I need to share something with you that, when you came out so publicly about your diagnosis [00:37:10] I asked for everybody's support and love and prayers that resonated with me. I am here to give to you. You've been a part of my life and the lives of millions of people. [00:37:27] And your life's work is meaningful. [00:37:30] I just wanted to tell you that, 'cause I had a feeling that no one ever takes the time to say thank you for your life's work. [00:37:37] And he immediately started welling up. [00:37:39] Danielle: Well, anybody who makes something look easy that we do take for granted. [00:37:45] And I think that, like I appreciate so much in the telling of your story, you share not just the struggles, but the time you had a vision of yourself. On the main stage performing at the Magic Castle, like the most elusive place where magic is. And you didn't just wanna get in, you didn't just wanna get an audition, you didn't wanna just like get to per perform an illusion, like main stage. [00:38:23] You didn't just have a goal. You had the goal and you did it, but you also say that it took you 10 years. And there's usually themes that run with anxiety, about not enoughness and the crunchiness of time. There's never enough time. I'm not enough and there's not enough time. And not being worthy. [00:38:42] Yes, yes, yes. One of my main motivations when I started this podcast originally several years ago, was I was. Starting to increasingly feel, trapped in this sort of, world of before and after story. And it was no longer feeling inspirational. It was just another measuring stick for how not enough. [00:39:03] Yeah. 'Cause it, it's great to see where somebody was and where they are, but when I'm knee deep in my own struggle when I'm the caterpillar goo and the chrysalis, and I'm not the shiny butterfly, but I'm also not the caterpillar anymore. What do I do when my life is literally a shitty pile of goo this is something that most clients don't come right out and ask me like in sessions one, two, and three. But it inevitably comes well, I've been doing this for, so many months. How much longer is it gonna take? How long is it gonna take? And I just always, I appreciate when people can acknowledge. [00:39:41] The time and consistency that goes into healing [00:39:47] John: joy is in the journey. [00:39:48] Danielle: Mm. [00:39:49] John: Not in the destination. [00:39:51] And that's the thing I really focus with my clients. [00:39:55] I have clients come to me because they're holding themselves back in their life. [00:39:59] And it's my job to get that out of them by asking open-ended questions, by building a rapport, I can trust this guy. [00:40:08] Danielle: Yeah. Would you say that's your superpower as a coach? [00:40:11] John: Through my journey of reverse engineering who I am and who I wanted to become. Coming out the other side immediately understood that it's not about me. [00:40:24] Danielle: Yes. It's only true every single time. [00:40:27] John: The joy comes from helping others get that realization, [00:40:32] That they understand they are truly powerful and have a chance to shape their destiny. [00:40:40] That's why I talk about limiting beliefs. [00:40:43] And we grow up with our parents or whoever raised us, those are our belief systems. [00:40:49] And so that's what forms who you are. You stop dreaming. [00:40:54] That's what midlife crisis is all about. [00:40:58] Danielle: Yeah. [00:40:59] John: We got educated, we got a job, we built a career. We have a family. [00:41:06] Danielle: It's, I think the version of that I hear in my sessions is essentially I did everything right. Shouldn't I be feeling better than I am? Yeah. Like, I followed all the rules. I'm winning. Why does it not feel like I'm winning? Yeah. And finding our way back to that. [00:41:29] The unlearning and the unraveling. That is a, it's a process. [00:41:34] John: I'll talk to a friend. How you doing? And so many people respond automatically living the dream. But is it your dream? You're living? [00:41:46] Whose dream are you living? Because you're wasting your life by living someone else's dream. And that's why you get to that point in life where it's not enough. [00:41:58] Cause it's not your dream. You just finished the last 30 years building. [00:42:03] Danielle: Yeah. And the joy really is in the process and there's no way to enjoy the process of fulfilling the wishes of somebody else because you, what you're constantly chasing is when I get there, then the relief will come and then you're there and you're like, well, where's my pot of gold? [00:42:22] John: Yeah. I had, I spent 20 years learning how not to hide my face. [00:42:28] And what happened in March in 2020? The pandemic hit [00:42:33] now covering your face with a mask, became not only politically correct. [00:42:41] But government mandated and I'm like sitting there thinking to myself, what do I do? So I found a company who prints things on masks and I sent them a picture of my face and a picture of the lower part of my job. [00:43:01] Danielle: Trickster energy, John Kippen trickster. That's the new hyphen to your list of all of your accomplishments. [00:43:08] John: I would walk around and strangers would look at it and not understand. [00:43:12] Danielle: Right, right. But people who knew me [00:43:15] John: would do a double take. [00:43:17] Danielle: I will not hide. [00:43:19] John: Refuses to hide. [00:43:20] Even through a global pandemic. [00:43:23] Yeah. [00:43:23] John: I'm gonna live my life [00:43:25] Danielle: mm-hmm. On [00:43:26] John: my own terms. [00:43:28] Danielle: Yeah. I work too hard, too long to get free and I will not hide for you. Wow. Wow. And [00:43:37] John: when I share that story, people like, wow, John's done some soul searching. [00:43:44] Danielle: Which is why your clients come to you. [00:43:46] John: Yeah. [00:43:46] Danielle: Yeah. I unfortunately have come across many. People in the helping profession that haven't started with their first client, which is themselves. I put myself in that camp. I've talked about it on the podcast before, but I didn't start seeing a therapist until I became one, which is probably not the right order, but I didn't realize until I was sitting there trying to help people. [00:44:09] And then my own stuff was getting activated in the session. It's called Counter Transference. And, yeah, I was like, oh shit, I gotta look at the mirror. I gotta do a little more digging. But I think a, what leads a lot of people into helping professions is its desire to heal. And it sounds like in your case you did the herculean task of lifting your own self up before you said, now what can I offer you? [00:44:39] I wanna ask, just a purely curious, selfish question before we get to the very end I wanna ask. In your book playing the Hand you're Dealt how did you connect with Jamie Lee Curtis? The same way you did Alex Trebek? Did you just find someone and you DMed them and [00:44:55] John: you're like, her assistant worked for a production company [00:45:00] in a previous job. [00:45:02] Danielle: Gotcha. [00:45:02] John: That I knew. [00:45:03] When Jamie was like, I need it. So help with my computer. Her assistant said, I've got the guy for you. And I remember being at Jamie's house. [00:45:15] She knew me before my facial surgery, and after. [00:45:18] Danielle: So you have a history then? [00:45:19] John: Oh yeah. We met in 2000. [00:45:21] Danielle: Oh, okay. [00:45:22] John: So she saw me before. [00:45:24] She saw the struggle. Sure, she has two. Great kids. [00:45:29] And she adopted me as her third child. Wow. She saw the ability to help me. And so I had a filmmaker friend of mine reach out and said, John, I'd love your story. [00:45:45] I want to film a documentary on you. And I'm like, cool. So I realized I'm paying for the damn documentary. [00:45:51] Danielle: Oh. So I wanna offer you this gift, and by the way, here's the bill. [00:45:55] John: Yes, exactly. But at that point, I'm all in and I'm like, what do I have to lose? I'm a risk taker. I can afford it. [00:46:01] I've got money in the bank. [00:46:03] Let's make sure we stay on budget or close to budget, so there I am working on Jamie's computer and I'm staring at the screen and I'm summoning the courage. Ask Jamie. So I'm telling her the story. My friend Ryan's gonna direct this documentary about my life and my journey, and then I pause and I'm just staring at the screen. [00:46:23] I feel these eyes burning into the side of my head. [00:46:26] Mm-hmm. [00:46:28] John: And Jamie says, and [00:46:32] Danielle: I love that she didn't do it for you, but she made you do it. [00:46:36] John: And then at that point, I realized what the question was. I said, Jamie, will you be in my documentary? [00:46:44] And she goes, fuck yes, I will. [00:46:48] Danielle: Yeah. [00:46:49] John: She gets it. [00:46:50] Yeah. [00:46:51] John: Going through her sobriety, she wears her sobriety on her. Shoulder as a badge of honor. [00:47:00] And that is her message. [00:47:02] Yeah. [00:47:03] John: If she can get people to stop drinking by showing up for people. That's her ultimate goal in life. And so, she saw in me what I didn't see, [00:47:18] Danielle: and you asked the question. I think it's a lesson that I feel like I'm eternally playing a game of peekaboo with where I forget, and then I remember and then I forget and then I remember. But like the opportunities that you're asking for, you have to ask. [00:47:39] Yes. You have to say the thing. Right. Which is so brave and so vulnerable. But then the magic is sometimes when you ask, someone will say Yes. Now, in your case, she was essentially lovingly poking you until you, [00:47:55] John: asked. There was a point where I was debating plastic surgery. [00:48:00] Did I want to try to fix my face? Because at the end of the day, I wanted symmetry at rest. I wanted to be able to get rid of the droopiness and just, have a symmetrical base. That's all I really wanted. Sure. And because I would say, I hit my smile. And I've had friends come up and say, John, your first smile, we love your smile. [00:48:23] But I didn't love my smile. And until I, not up here, not in my head, but in my heart, accepted my smile. I couldn't move forward. I couldn't heal. And once I accepted my new smile, I found joy. I found that I could love myself. [00:48:46] And what's funny is when you get to that point, [00:48:49] yeah. [00:48:50] John: You overcome whatever that thing is that's holding you back. [00:48:53] Yeah. [00:48:54] John: And you want to share it with every person you come in contact with. [00:49:00] Danielle: Yeah. You are the love you're seeking. [00:49:02] John: Yes. Yes. And you are your acceptance. [00:49:05] Danielle: It reminds me of, something. He said in an interview, in, A New Earth, but author Eckert Tolle said that right before his essential death of the, he called it the death of his ego, but we could call it enlightenment or rebirth. [00:49:19] But he remembers the last thing he said before he went to sleep was, I can't live with myself anymore. And it wasn't about in the interpretation , of , taking one's own life . but what he realized is that he couldn't live with the self that was hating him. He couldn't live with that self. [00:49:40] And that self never woke up. But he did. [00:49:45] John: Through my journey [00:49:46] Of coming to accept myself for who I am. I immediately see others. [00:49:53] Yeah. [00:49:53] John: How they're hiding. [00:49:54] Before they recognize it. And so my coaching is all about not saying, this is why you're hiding. [00:50:03] That's what's holding you back. [00:50:06] Danielle: What you said about once you, you see somebody's wall so clearly because you understand your own so well. My less eloquent way of saying that to clients, it's once you smell bullshit, you can't unm it. It's the scent in the air and you're like, huh, what am I smelling? [00:50:23] Oh, it's bullshit. Well, John, I would love to know your, don't cut your own bang moment. [00:50:30] John: I'm backstage. There are a thousand people in the audience and I had theatrical training I had a talk memorized. It had to be 12 minutes long. [00:50:39] I'm doing a magic trick with other people that are coming up stage. I needed to control that. I got there early the morning of the TED Talk and helped the guys focus the lights so that it looked better. I'm all in. I want to shine in this TED Talk. , I remember I'm going up on stage and I'm saying, to the cherry picker operator, can I give you a hand? Because I have lighting experience. And I expected the presenter come and say, no, John, you're the actor. Go in your, the green room and there's some donuts and coffee , and we'll call you already, but you didn't. She knew that I was there to make the entire event better. And she let me do it, [00:51:18] That's awesome. [00:51:19] John: This is my first real speech. Okay, in front of a thousand people. And I knew that I had a limited time to get the audience on my side. [00:51:30] Get the audience engaged. How was I gonna be able to break their, going through their phone, talking to a neighbor, drinking, eating, snacking in a full day of speech? [00:51:41] Yeah. [00:51:43] John: So I said, I wanna go first. And everybody has said, great, but we don't, you can go first. And right before the mc went on stage to introduce me. I did a magic trick war. I turned Monopoly money into real money and then back again. [00:52:00] So as a magician, everything was possible. I turned monopoly into real money, but then I realized that's actually called counterfeiting he stays out for like seven seconds. I did that to the mc and now he just saw a miracle happen. [00:52:16] So he turns around and walks on stage beaming, and he told that story to the audience and said, Hey guys, your next speaker just did a miracle. He turned monopoly money into real money in front of my eyes. Pay attention to this cat. [00:52:37] Yeah. [00:52:38] John: So I walked on that stage. I had the love of everybody in the audience that everybody wanted to see what I was gonna do. [00:52:46] Everybody wanted to hear what I was gonna say, so I didn't have to warm up the audience. I got the mc to do it for me. Genius. And I do that every time I speak because it works but anyway, three quarters of the speech, I'm standing on my red circle and I'm delivering my talk. [00:53:08] And the front lights go out. [00:53:10] Danielle: Wait, you were three fours of the way done when they went out. [00:53:13] John: I'm standing in shadows. And my first reaction was, whoa. That Whoa. Got the lighting guy to realize, holy shit, I hit the wrong button, and he brought the lights slowly back up. [00:53:27] As the lights went back up, I went magic [00:53:32] and so I got an amazing laugh from the audience. [00:53:36] Because I cut the tension, I was doing improv. [00:53:38] I remember walking off stage and the producer of the event said, John, don't worry about, we'll edit that part out. And I said, don't you dare. That was my finest moment. Don't you dare edit that out. [00:53:54] I want that in the video. [00:53:57] She just smiled as I went back to the dressing room and sat down and then the adrenaline was like, whew. Walking out into the audience after the event and having strangers just come up to me and wanna hug me and say, holy cow, I resonate with your message. [00:54:18] And my message on the TED Talk was, treat people are different with respect to compassion. [00:54:23] That's what TED talks are all about. You want one key message and that was my message. [00:54:27] You never know, you might be in their shoes in an instant. [00:54:34] Danielle: I wanna add to that, another way to speak to the value of doing some self investigation, whether that's through journaling, through therapy, or seeking out a coach from someone like yourself is, because that expression of, treat other people the way you would wanna be treated. [00:54:53] What I know is that we don't treat ourselves all that well. A lot of us, many of us don't treat ourselves well, which is why accessing the compassion. Of treating others kindly is sometimes harder for us to find, jumping to criticism or judgment, because there's something we are rejecting in us. [00:55:13] So I think a way to do the thing you're saying , that beautiful treat others with kindness and compassion. The best way to do that is to look within. And I invite anybody listening to go to the show notes, visit John's website, seek out a coaching call, grab a copy of his book. There are resources that can help you be kinder to yourself, to lowering the walls, to lifting the veil, to seeing yourself in a new way, to performing the ultimate illusion, which is [00:55:52] to love yourself more fully exactly as you are so that we can be kinder to each other. 'cause we need that, we need a lot more kindness. [00:56:00] Thank you, John. Do we have the information we need for our listeners to get the special code? [00:56:06] John: John kipping.com. [00:56:08] Slash free gift. [00:56:11] Danielle: Ooh, you heard it here. John kipping.com/free gift. And this is only the gift for those of you who have listened this far. [00:56:20] So if you listen to the beginning and you just try to skip to the show notes, sorry. You ain't getting a gift. Thank you, John. [00:56:28] Thank you so much for joining me on this incredible episode of Don't Cut Your Own Bangs. I hope that you love listening because I thoroughly enjoyed making it. My favorite episodes are the ones where I get to learn something too. I'm also a listener. And benefiting from the wisdom and insights of all of the experts, creatives, performers, adventurers seekers that I get an opportunity to meet in this podcast format. [00:56:56] Don't forget to check out the show notes and please before you sign off , always remember rate, review, subscribe to the podcast when you interact with the podcast. It just helps send it out like a rocket ship to other people that are looking for the same value that you are. And it also helps create a conversation where I can continue to develop and cultivate something that benefits you more and is more fun for you to listen to. Feedback is great, and also if you just wanna throw a compliment, that's sweet too. But thank you so much for being here. [00:57:26] Your intention, your time mean the absolute world to me, and I hope you continue to have an incredible day. [00:57:32]
https://schweitzer.church
In this moving sermon, Richard Boonstra from Prison Fellowship shares stories of hope, redemption, and the radical love of Jesus for those society often overlooks. Reflecting on John 4 and his own experiences in prisons across Australia, Richard challenges us to stay weird by following Jesus into uncomfortable places, where the harvest is ripe and lives are being transformed. Tune in to hear how God is working in prisons, and how were all invited to partner in the Kingdom work of rescue, restoration, and redemption. To catch up on the latest sermons from Deep Creek, go to iTunes, Spotify ordeepcreekanglican.comand check out the website for more info about whats happening. We are a welcoming and growing multigenerational church in Doncaster East in Melbourne with refreshing faith in Jesus Christ. We think that looks like being life-giving to the believer, surprising to the world, and strengthening to the weary and doubting. Read the transcript Our Bible reading today comes from John chapter 4, verses 3442, just after Jesus has been speaking with the Samaritan woman. My food said, Jesus, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.Don't you have a saying? It's still four months until harvest?I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields.They are ripe for harvest.Even now, the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.Thus the saying one sows and another reaps is true.I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you've reaped the benefits of their labor.Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony.He told me everything I ever did.So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with him.And he stayed two days.And because of his words, many more became believers.They said to the woman, we no longer believe just because of what you said.Now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world. This is the word of the Lord. Introduction Good morning. Thank you for having me here this morning. my name is Richard Boonstra, and I'm the, the state manager for Victoria for Prison Fellowship. apologies to those who are here at the 8 a.m. service. You're going to hear the same things again, but, it's how it goes. I didn't come to the Ministry of Prison fellowship to work. it hasn't been part of my career. My career is, teaching. So I'm a school teacher and a school principal by trade, and I spent many years teaching and leading in Christian schools. However, in 2016 2017 we moved to Melbourne and I felt the need to just get out of Christian school, out of schooling and do something different. But my my passion for Christian ministry started when I was very young, newly married in in the 1980s, and it all started when I was at a small group, and it was a small group for newly married couples, and our small group leader said, hey, I'm a volunteer with Christian Fellowship, and we've got a workshop at Canning Vale Prison in a couple of months. We need some more volunteers. Who's interested? And I felt something in me just thought, yeah, let's do that. So I put my hand up, said, yeah, I'm interested. And my friend next to me, he said, yep, we'll do it. So we had to wait for a little while until the training day comes, because you don't go into a prison without training. By the time the training day came around and I could get the training done, my friend had dropped off. So it was just me. I still went ahead and did the training and, we completed the training. The day arrived of the workshop. I got in my car, drove down to Canning Vale Prison, which is about a half an hour of where I lived. Got out of the car in the car park, looked at the walls, the razor wire and I thought, what am I doing here? I had that moment where you sometimes have where you think if someone told me that they had to cancel it, I'd be okay with that? No worries. But they didn't. They still went ahead, so I thought. Stop it. Swallow it. Come on. So I went ahead. Went through the doors. Bang! No. Two doors in a prison opened at the same time. And they didn't just bang, bang, lock. Click. That was it. I was in, I couldn't get out if I wanted to. Anyway, I went through to the room where we had the workshop, and I'm sitting here thinking, oh, what am I doing? And, the guys came in and started coming in from the different units of the prison for the seminar, and it was like a fog that just the sun came out and disappeared. All that fear and apprehension just went and I thought, huh, I think this is where I should be. This is my happy place. And I just thought I had the greatest time. I had a great day just sharing with the guys. You know, one of the best things is to talk to them and treat them as people. Not to look at the greens that they were wearing, but to think of them as people and to treat them as people. From there, I straight away signed up to join a team and we went in to, Fremantle Prison. Fremantle Prison, if you don't know it, some of you may have been to Perth, may have been for a tour of Fremantle prison because now a museum and now that it's a museum, probably gives you an idea of what it was like. It was built in 1850s and nothing had changed. There were no toilets in the cell. There was just a bucket. And the cells were made for one two people per cell. It was pretty rough and spartan. We were a team of about 6 or 7 of us. There was myself and my friend from the Reform church. There was a Catholic nun who was with us as well, two salvo guys who probably looked like they came off the ark with Noah, a charismatic Baptist lady and a couple of Anglicans. And we worked so well together. And I thought, this is also what God wants to see people from different denominations working together, sharing the gospel. And that's what we did every Saturday afternoon for about five years. We ran a little chapel service in the prison. So that's my story. And that's why I became passionate about prison fellowship and reaching people in prison. So when we moved to Melbourne, the opportunity came up to work for it. I thought, yes, that would be good. So I did that. A Broken World: The Bad News First I'm going to start off with some bad news. There's good news and bad news. I'll start off with the bad news. We live in a broken world. That's the bad news that we know. And I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you already don't know. Both in and out of prisons, people are broken, and they don't treat each other as they should. They've lost sight of what it means to be truly human. To be living in peace with God and with themselves and with each other and with creation, to find that shalom. People have lost sight of it. But there is now I'm feeling, and we feel that in prisons too, the beginnings of a yearning. Dissatisfied with what the Western cultural mindset has led them to believe or has promised them, is not happening. And so they're looking for something different, looking for a different way of living. But first, I'll just show you some statistics from our prisons. As a slice, as a snapshot of the brokenness in our world, you can see that in the prisons at the moment, there are 6551 people in prison. A little bit up from what it was about a year ago. At the end of December last year, we were below 6000, which was really exciting. And I track these numbers, so I'm keen to see the numbers go down. And that's really because of the Victorian Government, the Department of Justice and Corrections Victoria and the prisons have a much more progressive attitude towards the people in prison. I just went on a tour of Western Plains Correctional Centre, which is a new one, opened up, and constantly the staff are talking about the people in our care. People in our care. They adopt a trauma informed and trauma based approach to caring for the people in prison. They're still there. They need to be there. They know that. But while they're there, let's see if we can help them. So that's really the attitude. But they're competing with the government policy. So the numbers are going up a little bit because of the recent controversies around bail and toughening the laws, the bail laws. So it means more people go to prison instead of go out on bail. So that's where we're at 6500 people in prison. 95% are men, a small proportion of women. But for a woman in prison, it's a lot harder. There's a lot more at stake for families and for kids when mum is in prison. So it's a very different kind of situation and scenario for volunteers going there. 40% are unsentenced. Now this is really interesting because we often think, oh, they're on remand. But when you're on remand, there's so much uncertainty and so much anxiety. What's going to happen? Where am I going to go? Because the remand centre that you're in won't be where you'll stay. You'll be shifted to another prison. Will I have a job when I finish my sentence? What's happening to my family? What about my kids and all this stuff? I've sat with a guy in Melbourne Assessment Prison and just I didn't have to say anything. I just sat with him and let him talk, because he needed to get a lot of stuff off his chest, stuff that was swirling around his mind. And just to have someone listen, who empathetically listened, was important for him. 14% of people in prison are Aboriginal. It's still an imbalance when you measure that against what the percentage of the Victorian population is 1% yet 14% of the prison population. So there's a big difference there. And that's multiplied when you look at places like Northern Territory and Western Australia and Queensland; there's a higher proportion of Aboriginal people. The prison I was visiting in Perth, Fremantle Prison, at one stage we were told there were 80% Aboriginal, and so many of them were Aboriginal people who came from way up north in the more cultural tribal areas, and they were in there for driving offences, which was crazy. But because of mandatory sentencing and things like that, they straightaway went to prison and it was nuts. So it was really great to minister to them, because they were lovely people to minister to and share with, and especially when we got Aboriginal volunteers to come in with us as well. That was fantastic. 60% that's gone up now 60% of people will return to prison within two years. So that's a statistic we want to hopefully drive down. If you measure that over ten years, it goes to 80%. 80% of people will return to prison. That's how hard it is, once you've been in prison, to shake that experience off and to make a life outside of prison. I met a guy in prison in Perth who was released, and about six months later he was back again. His name was Hynes. It was a long time ago, so it won't matter. But I said, Hynes, what happened? Why are you back? He said, where else can I go? He said, here I have a bed and three meals; out there, he had nothing. And that was sad that he could the only place he could go was just commit a crime and go back in again. A statistic that's not up there, but is 25% of people in prison come from 2% of Victorian postcodes. So there's a correlation. And the prison staff and the police call them prison collection areas. That's what they colloquially call them because they get so many people there. 66% of people in prison were in care or were adopted as kids. So that's where this whole idea of being trauma informed comes in. A high proportion of people and that's the same percentage of people have a mental health issue in prison as well, whether it be ADHD or all sorts of different stuff happening in their life. So there's trauma. Now, we say that doesn't absolve them of the responsibility for their actions. They still need to suffer the consequences for their crime and for what they've done. But at the same time, we help to understand them and help helps to understand their background, to help them to rehabilitate. So in all of this brokenness, we sense a yearning. We're sensing that more so now a yearning for something different. My life isn't going well the way it is. I want something different. And in a sense, it's the yearning for that shalom a yearning to be truly human again. To find that place where I'm free of guilt and maybe free of that endless cycle of offending and re-offending, offending and re-offending. But now for the good news. The Bible tells us that God was not happy with this situation. Back in Genesis 3, he already started that plan he took God took the initiative to sort it out, to fix it. He took the initiative and promised to restore all things. To restore our relationships with him. To restore our relationship with each other, and to restore our relationship with creation. This is the Kingdom of God. He stepped into our world himself in the person of Jesus. He entered our world, and through Jesus he initiated the Kingdom of God. Jesus initiated it. And at the end of Matthew you can read where he said, I'm going back, but I want you to keep going. I want you to keep growing it. The Kingdom of God was initiated by Jesus. Jesus entered our world and demonstrated showed us what a citizen of this new kingdom looked like. He deliberately reached out to the marginalized, the downtrodden, the oppressed and the imprisoned, the forgotten or invisible people. And then, through his death and resurrection, he opened up the way to restored relationships with God, with each other, and with creation. Jesus reached out to the ones that everyone else thought were weird. He went places where people thought, that's not it's weird to go there. He came to rescue, restore and redeem and then to call us to put our faith in him, to discover freedom the freedom of being released from sin and guilt and to find our true selves as God's children. One of the key things I say to people when I go into prison, when I sit down with guys in prison, is I am just as much a sinner as you are. Just because you're in prison and I'm not doesn't make me any worse or better than you. In fact, I don't use the word prisoner, because I don't define you by where you are. You're a person someone who God created. And so I see that. I see you that way. And I want you to know that I was in darkness, and I needed to find the light, and I did, and I found hope, and I found love, and I found what it means to be truly human. And I want to share that with you. So we approach people in prison with a sense of humility not coming in as the great white savior, but coming in as a humble person who has found hope and wants to share it. And so we see a little example of Jesus modeling that kind of way of reaching people. In John 4, we read from John 4 verses 34 to 42. But just a little bit of background about it where this happened was in Samaria. Wait, what is a good Jewish rabbi doing in Samaria? That was weird. He, Jesus led the way of being weird. He showed what it meant to be to be going to weird places. He and he deliberately did that. He chose to go that way. Now he's on his way from Jerusalem to go back to Galilee the place where he based his ministry in Galilee was strategic for him, but that's another story. But he diverted, and he went through Samaria. Wow. I'm sure his disciples must have thought, what are you doing? Why are we going this way? Do you know where you are? This is Samaria. But Jesus knew what he was doing. Jesus never did anything by accident nothing was a coincidence in Jesus' ministry. So he had a plan. He had an appointment. This was no coincidence. All along he planned to meet this woman at the well. That's just before this passage that we read it's the woman at the well passage. Who was she? A Samaritan that black mark; a woman black mark for the Jewish rabbis at least. Anyway, also she was regarded as a woman of ill repute. We don't know exactly what her story was, but chances are that a lot of that wasn't her own fault that she was a victim of a very patriarchal society where she was passed from man to man through no fault of her own, just because of that patriarchal mentality. Regardless of that, we know that she was one of the people that nobody wanted she was one of the weird ones, if you like, because she could only get water at midday. No one else was allowed to be with she wasn't allowed to be with anyone else. She could only get water from the well at midday. And so what does Jesus do? I love this. He comes up to this well. She probably sees him, but she just knows she better keep her head down and get on with what she's doing. And he speaks to her. And what does he say? Can I could you get me a drink of water? Whoa! She stops and looks said, did you just speak to me? What men don't talk to her, let alone Jewish men. And she just can't deal with it what's going on here? He asked for a drink of water. In one sentence, in a beautiful way, he reached out to her, treated her like a human being treated her normally and said, can you get me a drink of water? Well, it it worked, because it arrested her attention. She got him a drink of water, and then she engages in this long conversation with him during which he, in a beautiful way, teases out her life and gets down to the nitty-gritty of what's going on in her life. You can read the story for yourself later, but there's so much stuff that he's dealing with there. But needless short story short long story short, he loved her and she couldn't escape from it. She didn't want to escape from it. And he restores her gently so much so that she drops her water bottle and runs back to tell everyone in the town where she lives what has just happened. It's like suddenly she's been made new and she's been loved and cared for, and she sees a glimpse of what it means to be truly human. Why didn't she run away from him? I told the story in the first service in Brazil, in South America, and a few other countries now too, there are these prisons called humane prisons they're run on Christian principles. They're run by Christians. These prisons have no walls or fences. The inmates look after the keys and lock up the gates at night. It's amazing it's astounding. They have regularly Christian courses like Alpha running throughout the prison all different things happening. They have families come in families can come and visit and stay for the weekend with their loved one, like a conjugal visit. And they were interviewing one guy who was there, and he had been a notorious inmate he had escaped from lots of different prisons. And they got this guy and said we'll call him John John, you've escaped from all these other prisons. This one would be easy to escape from there's no walls, no fences. Why don't you escape? And you know what he said? Nobody escapes from love. Why would I want to leave there, he says. Here, in this prison, I'm loved. I'm cared for. Someone took the time to love me. And so why he's willing wants to stay there. Above the door going into one of the main prisons is, here enters the man; the crime stays outside. And I love that thought. So she, like this man, doesn't want to escape from him. She sits down and talks to Jesus, and then he opens her eyes. And incredibly, he does something towards the end of his conversation and I think this is significant. Here is this Samaritan woman so-to-say ill repute woman and Jesus says she says, who are you? He says, I am the Messiah. He discloses to her. And I believe for me, it's one of the first times he actually honestly, clearly says I am the Messiah I am he. And who does he do that to? A woman a Samaritan woman a woman who has a bad reputation. I think that's significant. That's weird in the eyes of the world that's weird. You know, if the Messiah was coming, you'd think he'd announce it to all the important rabbis and bishops or whatever. But no he chooses this woman, because many other times people sort of work it out are you the one? he says, don't tell anyone. But here he says it openly to her. Anyway, the disciples of which they come he's gone ahead, and they come and find him. And the disciples you've got to imagine, the disciples are just young; many of them are still in their teenage years and they come up to Jesus and Jesus, can we keep going? This is not a place for a good Jewish boy to be this is Samaria. They were thinking, if our parents saw us here right now, we'd be in so much trouble. But instead, they mutter amongst themselves and they finally work up the courage to go to Jesus and said, Jesus, you need some lunch. Should we go into the town and get you some food? I'm sure many times Jesus rolls his eyes. And then he says, my food is to do the will of him who sent me. And he says this sort of sort of a almost a bit of a cryptic way: my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Food the word food in Hebrew can also mean calling in life. So is he saying my calling in life? You're worried about food and bread and stuff like that, but I'm thinking, what is your calling in life? What are you here to do? He says, I'm here to do the will of my Father who sent me sent me to finish his work. And then he goes on and says, don't you have a saying, it's still four months until harvest? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the harvest. Look at the fields it's there, ripe for the harvest. Even now, the one who who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying, one sows and another reaps is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you've reaped the benefits of their labor. What's he saying here? He's saying to his disciples, that's what we're here for we're here we're called to bring in the kingdom, to share the good news, to share hope, to rescue. Open your eyes, guys it's time for the harvest, it's right now, it's right in front of you. So he teaches his disciples, as a good rabbi would. Rabbis didn't have classrooms they wandered around the country and they looked at something and they said, see that tree over there? Let me tell you something about that, and then they drew a lesson from that. So now the disciples are saying, you want some food? Sit down I'm going to teach you about what this food thing is all about. And I'm going to teach you why we're here today. We came here for a reason I want you to see something. So he says, open your eyes I've come here because there is a harvest here; people are really keen to hear the good news, and we'll find that out in a minute. The time to get harvesting is now. But then the really cool bit of this bit I like as well is towards the end remember, it's not just up to you; it's a partnership. One sows, another reaps, another packs the harvest up, another fertilizes, another waters it's a teamwork thing. And that's very much so for the ministry that we have at Prison Fellowship it's a team thing, it's a partnership. Deep Creek Anglican is very much one of our partners we are incredibly thankful, incredibly thankful for this church, for the way that you partner with us and walk alongside us and help us to do the work the kingdom work of sharing the gospel in prisons. So thank you for the amazing work that you partner with us in doing. It's like you're going in with us even though you're not physically there, you're going with us into prison and we thank you for that. Jesus looked at this woman and saw someone who was ready to hear the gospel and to be redeemed and restored. The impact of her story and I think this is amazing if you look at verses 39 to 42, this woman has gone back and dropped her water bottle and ran into town. And that's no small thing I said to someone, and I said to the group in the earlier congregation, it's like leaving your phone at home and realizing you've got it it's that essential; it's like an important object. But she this was so important, she just forgot everything else and went and told the people in her village. Let's read the passage again. Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony.He told me everything I ever did.So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them. And he stayed two days.And because of his words, many more became believers.They said to the woman, we no longer believe just because of what you said. Now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man is really, really is the Savior of the world. What a testimony. Have a think about what that would have been like she, being the woman she was, had to go back to her village. Now, that wouldn't have been easy to tell people about what has just happened to her. They've got a they've got an attitude towards her; they judge her. So she has persisted she's pushed through all of that attitude to finally get some to hear. And so they said, okay, we'll come and have a look. And when they come there, they're just amazed they're touched by him by Jesus as well. And Jesus stays for two days, and there's a two-day-long Bible college Bible study. They sit down wow that's like the first church planted in Samaria. That's weird that's weird. Think about it you grow up thinking that Samaria is one of those people, and that's where Jesus goes. I love it, I think it's amazing. And that's exactly what Jesus models for us to do to get out there into places where people think is weird. Jesus came to rescue, restore and and redeem the rejected, the marginalized, and the invisible people prisoners. To many in society, this is weird. I've gone a little bit behind here we are. Mark 2 verse 17 is one of my favorite verses in prison ministries as well. We use this in one of our programs. Here, Jesus clearly says who he's come for. He's talking to the Pharisees. He says he didn't come to those who think they're right.I've come for those who know that they're wrong.People that know they need to be restored and they need to be healed. But look at the word the favorite word in that passage for me, and I'll share this with the guys in prison when I share this passage with them is the word call. It doesn't say I have not come to force the righteous, but sinners, or I have not come to push the righteous, but sinners, or I have not come to drag all these words he says I've come to call a gentle but honest word, I've come to call the sinners. Jesus comes to call. And I say to the guys in prison, he came to call you. And what does call mean? That means a response is needed. So you need to think what you need to do with this are you going to respond to this call when Jesus calls you? Are you going to say, yes, I'm going to come in here because he's not going to force he's not going to push you or twist your arm or anything. He comes to gently but persistently call, and he'll keep calling. And we keep having an opportunity a choice to make a decision. Can you hear that call today? Many of us here today have have heard that call and have come to Jesus, experiencing his love and being constantly restored. Are you ready to go out and bring in the harvest? Remember the three points. The harvest is right in front of us. The harvest time is now. It's a partnership. We believe with Augustine, who first said, every saint has a past. Sorry every saint has a past; every sinner has a future. I read that again. Every saint has a past. Every sinner has a future. We want to share that the call of Jesus that we first responded to, the love that conquered us. We want others to hear that call and to discover God's love, joy, hope, and his rest. We have a harvest field in our prisons it's right here. It's not overseas; it's right here in our town and our city, and it's calling for people to come to join the harvest. Caring for Prisoners: Ministry in Action I'm going to show you a little video now. It'll give you a bit of an idea of our ministry. In this cell. Your biggest enemy is time you drown in a sea of it. And you think? And think. In those first days, my mind drifted to what was happening outside. It's Wednesday. You know. I wonder what my wife is doing. What projects are the guys working on? Is anyone talking about me? Or have they all just moved on? Their remorse and regret are constant companions. Over and over again, you remember that you've stuffed your life up. Reputation, family, friends, colleagues all lost in the blink of an eye, and the guilt of the hurt you've caused is like a heavy weight that stays on your shoulders. I'll admit, there were days when I felt that all hope all reason to continue had gone. I'll never forget the first time I was visited by Greg. I remember thinking it was strange that someone I'd never met wanted to come and talk to me. Up until then, I'd gotten pretty used to people wanting to distance themselves from me. In prison, you do everything you can not to draw attention to yourself. Don't tell jokes. Don't tell your story. Don't look people in the eye. But here in these chairs I could talk, I could laugh. I could share my regrets and talk openly about my failures. And it was met with kindness and friendship. Greg told me about himself. And in doing so, he told me about Jesus. I later learned that close to a thousand volunteers men and women are visiting prisoners, running programs, playing sports, and leading Bible studies through Prison Fellowship. Prisoners like me have been profoundly impacted by this ministry. Through it, we've grown in character. We've taken responsibility. We've built self-control, and we've expressed repentance. We've come to understand grace and forgiveness. And hope is powerful it brings life and light to your soul. I found hope here, and it grew within me. I learned dependence. I learned to pray really pray. I found myself with a peace that was totally at odds with my harsh and miserable situation. The gap between prison and the real world beyond the gates can be very daunting. You're asking the big questions again: how can I stay out for good this time? Is there anyone who can help me? Will I get a job? Can I restore those relationships? To have Greg and the others from Prison Fellowship to be there to help me bridge that gap was everything. All. Inmates are just like everyone else. They need purpose. They need grace. They need healing. They need someone to offer hope. That gives you a bit of an idea of what we do as a ministry. (It) covers most of the activities that our volunteers do in prison. The prison itself is not an active prison anymore the one in the film but it's a little bit like Fremantle Prison was like, very rough; lots of sandstone walls and barbed wire and bars. It wasn't a very pleasant place. This year has been going well for us as a ministry, in that we've had lots of good opportunities to get into prisons. There's still some prisons we've struggled to get into, but we're working on that. We've been able to serve, sharing love and friendship and ultimately the good news of the gospel and God's gracious love with people in prison. We also serve families who have a parent in prison or children who have a parent in prison, and often the families serve a social sentence themselves, which is very hard for them. So our key thing is visiting in prison. We have our volunteers go in and just be a presence we call it sometimes a ministry of presence just sitting there with guys and being prepared to share the hope that they have with people in prison when that opportunity comes up. But many times it's just someone to chat to to develop a friendship with. We have The Prisoner's Journey, which is an eight-week gospel course based on Christianity Explored but written from a prison perspective. So it's very successful and very well received by the prisons and by the men themselves. We have another course called Change on the Inside, which is not Christian-based, but it's on developing positive character. We also have our annual Easter Biscuit Bake, which I'm I'm told Deep Creek is a part of as well. So thank you for sharing in that and enabling people in prison to get a bag of home-baked biscuits with a gospel card at Easter, telling them the true meaning of Easter. And the impact of a biscuit on a person's life is amazing I've given them out to people in prison, and I've looked a guy in the eye who said, are these for me? I said, yeah. He said, I can't believe people would do this for me. So it has such a deep impact you'd think, just a biscuit but it certainly has a deep impact. A little thing goes a long way. We have a children's ministry or families ministry we call it Extraordinary Lives and in Victoria we do three things. We engage in one-on-one mentoring. Children with a parent in prison are six times more likely to go to prison themselves. So if we can have a mentor for them a younger person, a young adult who could walk with them, commit to spending time with them and share with them then we hope to change that statistic. I spoke with a grandmother on the phone who said, it's really hard she's a grandma, she's looking after the kids because mum can't have them and dad's in jail (or sometimes it's both mum and dad are in jail). He can't talk to anyone at school about it. He can't talk to his teachers about it. Just me. He needs someone to talk to. And so that's where a mentor comes in and can be that person he can talk to. We also have camps. We're running one residential camp, but also we have some day camps some day-outs. Churches host families, and the kids have a day together just doing some fun things like a Lego day, or we've taken them to Bounce or to the zoo or something like that and just help them have a good time and hope. The idea is to develop relationships and ultimately to get a mentor relationship happening. And then we do the Angel Tree campaign, which I'm told Deep Creek was a part of a few years ago. But you're more than welcome to join us this year in our Angel Tree campaign. This is a program where we facilitate the giving of Christmas gifts to children who have a parent in prison on behalf of their parent. So the person in prison fills a form in, writes down the name of their child and what they like and their age. We then send it out to churches who purchase the gifts and deliver them to the families. And again, like the biscuits, it's the little thing it's not so much about the gift, but it's all about connecting keeping families connected. So we get every year messages back saying, I can't believe my dad didn't forget about me that's great! Or my mum still remembered me and got me a present for Christmas and that's significant, that's special. So Angel Tree is a really good program it's a big program; it takes a lot of work, but we look for lots of churches to support us in that. We do a little bit of work in post-release as well. As people come out of prison I'd love to develop that further we do pick up people on the day of release and walk with them a little bit just in that first day, but we'd like to expand that if we can. People coming out of jail need at least two years of mentoring, and a home. They need a job, and they need mentoring. God is very active in our prisons and wants us to join him in furthering the work that he has started. But we can't do this on our own we know that. And just like Jesus shared in that passage we read, it is a partnership. We walk together with others with individuals and with churches. Churches like Deep Creek Anglican that walk with us in this journey and help us to achieve the things we can to spread the kingdom into prisons. Partnering in the Harvest So my challenge to you is, will you partner with us in that individually as well? And there's three things that you can do for that. Pray. Prayer is foundational for us. We have a prayer meeting every Monday morning on Zoom, and I put out a weekly prayer diary. We need people to pray for the ministry on a regular basis. Someone said to me once, Richard, the kingdom of God moves at the speed of prayer. And so please sign up if you want to get a prayer diary. There's a sheet on the back table there that I've got there that you can sign up to get a prayer door if you'd like to join us. Each week we put some prayer needs in there. Support Us Financially. Perhaps you're willing to support us financially. Maybe you're willing to make that sacrifice and to give as Deep Creek Anglican do that so well support us. But maybe as an individual, you want to support us by providing financial support. We offer everything we offer to the prisoners for free. We don't get any money back from our government funding it's all based on donations. Go as a Volunteer. To go and see that harvest field, to go and be one of the harvesters, to bring in that harvest in partnership with with many people from other different churches. One of the things we're initiating as well, in Victoria and across the country, is to have restoration hubs. We often have people come out of prison who have become Christians in prison, but need to be discipled when they come out. When they come out, one of the many challenges they face besides getting into society is to find a church that will be open and receptive. So we're looking to establish a network of churches across the country who would be willing to take in and look after someone from prison. It's a challenge, and it takes a lot of extra work. There's a lot of thinking that needs to go around that how do we handle that, with all the policies and child-safe policies and everything that goes with that? But it's still a commitment for a church to commit to us and to join with us as one of our restoration hub churches to support us. Deep Creek are already an amazing supporter for us. And so in many senses of the word, there is a restoration hub here already and we are thankful to Deep Creek for that. I'll be available at the end of the service, and if you want to come and chat with me more about the ministry, please feel free to ask any questions there. Prison Fellowship is a faith-based, for-impact organization seeking to grow the Kingdom of God that Jesus initiated 2000 years ago. Thanks for having me today.
https://schweitzer.church
Who Is He? G'day and welcome to Partake! We are now on day 10 of our series "Glimpses", looking at the story of the Bible in 30 days, from the time of creation through to the time of the fullness of redemption! We have looked together at the 8 Covenants in the Old Testament of the Bible, made between God and humanity. Now we fast forward to the time of the Gospels and the start of the New Testament. After the last of the Old Testament prophets spoke, Malachi around 444BC, there was a silence from God for about 400 years. During that time quite a few people came claiming to be the Messiah or saviour that Israel was waiting for and had been promised in the covenants we looked at. They proved to be false messiahs because they could not back up their claims. Israel as a country is now occupied by the Romans. While some people of Israel were in the country, a lot were dispersed throughout the vast Roman Empire. Into this world was a man of such significance that He splits history into two: BC and AD. This man we know as Jesus Christ and He claimed to be the long waited for Messiah. But how was he different from those messiahs before that proved to be false? Let's start by having a look in the stories about His life - the Gospels of the New Testament. What the Gospels are! How do we find out about this Jesus? There are a number of sources outside of the Bible that make reference to this man. However, in the Bible and its section called the New Testament, we have four accounts of His life. They are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These are called Gospels, and they are called that because they gave substance to the Good News of God has promised in the New Covenant! We know that Jesus Christ during his time on earth wrote nothing, yet the stories about him were preserved and passed on by his followers. For the first thirty years or so, these stories were collated and stored together. That would explain the similarity in the four accounts of Jesus' life. They are not an exhaustive biographical detail of all that Jesus did. Similarly they are also not diaries reflecting a daily account of Jesus' life. Rather they are selective accounts of His life, and were probably factual illustrations used by His disciples when preaching about Him. Therefore they would represent the theology of the disciples, as each story about Jesus is told. That is why they are trustworthy accounts as well as rooting Jesus' life in first century Judaism and the Greco-Roman world. Overview of the Gospels The first three of our Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke are what are called the synoptic Gospels. This is based on their great similarity and possibly use of a common source. Mark is probably the first Gospel as it is shorter in length than Matthew or Luke and it would appear that Matthew and Luke used Mark as a guide and elaborated where required. Mark wrote none of the great discourses of Matthew (Mark 13 being the exception), such as the Sermon on the Mount, nor does Mark show the great parables that Luke recorded, such as the Good Samaritan. Surely if Mark had used either the accounts of Matthew or Luke, he would have used those two examples! Matthew is closer in similarity to Mark than Luke. Luke does share large portions of Mark and quite often verbatim, and with a greater use of the Greek language. John on the other hand, while still telling about Jesus' ministry, has vastly different story content. Whereas in the synoptic Gospels Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God frequently, in the Gospel of John, Jesus talks about himself much more often, as in the seven I AM statements. For this reason, John was probably written later than the synoptic Gospels. The Gospels Lets look very briefly now what each Gospel offers about the life of Jesus Christ. As we do so, think through how the covenants promising a messiah or saviour match up with Jesus Christ. Matthew: Matthew wrote primarily to Jews who knew the Old Testament. He wrote to present Jesus as the Messiah to Israel and to record Israel's attitude towards Him as Messiah. Matthew gives us the genealogy, presentation, and the authentification of Jesus as the Christ Messiah. Matthew then shows the nation of Israel's opposition to and rejection of Jesus as the Christ followed by Jesus' rejection of Israel due to her unbelief. He then records the death and resurrection of Christ. He concludes with Christ commissioning the disciples. Mark: Mark presents Jesus as Servant of the Lord, coming in fulfilment of the Old Testament. Jesus offers His credentials, gathers His disciples, offers the Kingdom of God and its message. Jesus' teaching is seen in short parables, which hide the truth from those hardened against Him, yet prepares and instructs those responsive to Him. Overall Jesus calls those who follow him to serve others and to deny themselves by taking up their own cross, just as He took up His. Luke: Luke presents Jesus as the God-Man, as a saviour for the entire world, writing primarily to Gentiles. He does this from a broad vantage point that is compatible with the fact that he is a Greek. Luke traces the incarnation, Christ's introduction, ministry, rejection, subsequent teaching in view of His rejection, the cross, resurrection and ascension. Even though a Gentile, Luke emphasizes the kingdom program with Israel's place in the kingdom. John: John presents the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ so that mankind would believe in Him as the Son of God, Messiah, Saviour of the world. His selective argument portrays Christ as the God-Man. John records miracles and messages that affirm the deity and humanity of Christ. John builds his record around the public ministry of Christ, the private ministry, the cross, and the resurrection. As we go into the life of Jesus Christ, bear in mind what glimpses the Old Testament offered about a saviour or messiah figure. Think through the 8 Covenants we looked at and how they looked forward to that figure portrayed as a saviour or Messiah. As you do so, think just how Jesus Christ was that person! Right mouse click or tap here to download as a MP3 audio file
John John Florence is a three-time World Surf League Champion and one of the most naturally gifted surfers of his generation. This conversation explores John John's decision to step away from competition at his peak. We discuss his evolution from forcing outcomes to allowing flow, why mastery begins with surrendering control, and transforming pressure into presence. We delve into why external achievements can't heal internal wounds and his choice to prioritize fatherhood over fame. Through it all, John John shares the profound life lessons the ocean has taught him. This is surfing as spiritual practice. And John John is the perfect guide. Enjoy! Show notes + MORE Watch on YouTube Newsletter Sign-Up Today's Sponsors: LMNT: Get a free LMNT Sample Pack with any purchase
https://schweitzer.church
From bestselling and Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award-winning author, Sharon G. Flake, THE FAMILY I'M IN delves deep into the complex relationships between Black boys and their fathers, exploring the challenges of growing up and defining what it truly means to be a man. Following her groundbreaking novel THE SKIN I'M IN and its powerful sequel THE LIFE I'M IN, Flake returns with a story that resonates with a new generation of readers. THE FAMILY I'M IN introduces John-John and Caleb, childhood friends who are facing the triumphs and struggles of becoming young men in a world full of generational expectations, societal pressures, and uncertain futures. Together, John-John and Caleb navigate family illness, divorced parents, difficult teachers, and relationships with girls who think they have all the answers. As they search for their own identities, they wrestle with the idea of being “nice” kids who want to be seen for who they truly are. THE FAMILY I'M IN is a heartfelt exploration of friendship, family, and the challenges Black boys face on their journey to manhood, offering a poignant reflection on identity and love. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.
When we fixate on the outcomes or gifts of others, we lose sight of the unique calling God has placed on our lives. Comparison turns neighbors into competitors and blinds us to the needs and opportunities right in front of us. The story of Peter and John in John 21 offers a powerful corrective: Jesus calls each of us uniquely, and our focus must remain on Him, not on the outcomes or callings of those around us.
Every sign in the Gospel of John points not just to Jesus' power, but to his grace, mercy, and the life-transforming truth of who he is.Today, as we continue The Gospel: One Sign at a Time, our year-long study through the Gospel of John, Paul unpacks John 20:30–31, where the apostle reveals his purpose for writing: so that we might believe Jesus is the Christ and find life in his name.For more in-depth Bible studies, visit PaulTripp.com/John.
Every sign in the Gospel of John points not just to Jesus' power, but to his grace, mercy, and the life-transforming truth of who he is.Today, as we continue The Gospel: One Sign at a Time, our year-long study through the Gospel of John, Paul unpacks John 20:30–31, where the apostle reveals his purpose for writing: so that we might believe Jesus is the Christ and find life in his name.For more in-depth Bible studies, visit PaulTripp.com/John.
Dr. John Demartini's childhood was marked by major obstacles, from a severe speech impediment and dyslexia to a rough start in school. Told that he would never read, write, or communicate, he defied the odds. At age 13, he left home and embarked on a journey that would take him from street life to a global career as a human behavior specialist and entrepreneur. In this episode, John joins Ilana to share how he turned adversity into fuel for success, the mindset that led him to create the Demartini Institute, and how he overcame his learning disabilities to become one of the world's most influential speakers. Dr. John Demartini is a human behavior expert, researcher, author, and founder of the Demartini Institute. He has studied over 30,000 books, written more than 40, and shared his knowledge in 161 countries. In this episode, Ilana and John will discuss: (00:00) Introduction (01:48) Early Life Struggles and Dyslexia (04:47) Surviving on the Streets as a Teenager (08:26) Finding Purpose After a Near-Death Experience (12:10) Overcoming Learning Challenges (18:28) Discovering His Passion for Teaching (31:34) Leveraging Personal Values for Success (34:01) Turning Fear into a Business Ally (38:00) Adapting to Market Shifts (41:30) The Key to Charging What You're Worth (49:56) Living Life by Design, Not Duty Dr. John Demartini is a human behavior expert, researcher, author, and founder of the Demartini Institute. With over 40 years of research, he has developed methodologies to help individuals unlock their potential by understanding their values. Despite being diagnosed with dyslexia at an early age, John overcame this challenge, turning it into a driving force. He has studied over 30,000 books, written more than 40, and shared his knowledge in 161 countries. Connect with John: John's Website: https://drdemartini.com John's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/drjohndemartini Resources Mentioned: The Time Trap: The Classic Book on Time Management by Alec Mackenzie: https://www.amazon.com/Time-Trap-Classic-Book-Management/dp/0814413382 Leap Academy: Ready to make the LEAP in your career? There is a NEW way for professionals to Advance Their Careers & Make 5-6 figures of EXTRA INCOME in Record Time. Check out our free training today at leapacademy.com/training
Sharon G. Flake is a celebrated author with multiple honors, including two Coretta Scott King Honor Awards and author of THE FAMILY I'M IN, the third installment in the I'm In series, following her groundbreaking debut The Skin I'm In (2000) and sister novel The Life I'm In (2021). The Family I'm In explores the complex relationship between Black boys and their fathers, highlighting the challenges they face while growing up and defining what it means to be a man amidst societal pressures. John-John and Caleb, childhood friends, navigate common struggles like family illness, divorced parents, school, and crushes, while dealing with their labels as “nice boys”. Sharon wrote this novel in honor of all the young Black boys who wish to feel seen and heard. In this episode we talk about YA literature as a tool for talking more about masculinity and family and much more. Flake discusses how her characters resonate with readers and the significance of empathy in storytelling, while also addressing the challenges young people face today. The dialogue emphasizes the role of literature in fostering deep conversations about identity and societal issues. https://www.sharongflake.com/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the Series and Its Evolution 02:47 Navigating Young Adult Themes in Modern Contexts 06:09 Exploring Masculinity Through Literature 09:05 Character Development and Authenticity in Writing 12:07 The Role of Literature in Understanding Youth 15:00 Closing Thoughts and Future Directions
Deacon Dan Diesel leads The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to John (John 18 1-19:42), and Father Thomas Naval breaks open the word on Good Friday of the Lord's Passion. Words for your Way from Santiago de Compostela Catholic Church in Lake Forest, California.
Verse by verse study through the book of John Chapter Twenty and Verse Six
Sharon G. Flake is a celebrated author with multiple honors, including two Coretta Scott King Honor Awards and author of THE FAMILY I'M IN, the third installment in the I'm In series, following her groundbreaking debut The Skin I'm In (2000) and sister novel The Life I'm In (2021).The Family I'm In explores the complex relationship between Black boys and their fathers, highlighting the challenges they face while growing up and defining what it means to be a man amidst societal pressures. John-John and Caleb, childhood friends, navigate common struggles like family illness, divorced parents, school, and crushes, while dealing with their labels as “nice boys”. Sharon wrote this novel in honor of all the young Black boys who wish to feel seen and heard. Over twenty-five years ago, your novelTHE SKIN I'M IN started important conversations about bullying and self-acceptance and became a modern classic. It introduced readers to John-John and Maleeka, whose lives were further explored in the bestselling sequel, THE LIFE I'M IN. Now fans are reunited with these beloved characters as well as Charlese and Miss Saunders in THE FAMILY I'M IN.http://sharongflake.comThe Douglas Coleman Show VE (Video Edition) offers video promotional packages for authors.Please see our website for complete details. https://www.douglascolemanmusic.com/vepromo/Please help us to continue to bring you quality content by showing your support for our show. https://fundrazr.com/e2CLX2?ref=ab_eCTqb8_ab_31eRtAh53pq31eRtAh53pq
Blake Wilson, Vice President of Operations at Lifeline, leads a discussion on John John 11:1-44.LIFELINE CHILDREN'S SERVICESThe mission of Lifeline Children's Services is to equip the Body of Christ to manifest the gospel to vulnerable children. Our vision is for vulnerable children and their communities to be transformed by the gospel and to make disciples. FOLLOW USFacebook, Instagram, TwitterThe Defender Podcast: Subscribe on iTunes | Transistor | SpotifyThe Defender Bible Study: Subscribe on iTunes | Transistor | Spotify
John Hennessey's passion for cars began as a child, sitting on his father's lap as he drove and feeling the thrill of shifting gears. What started as a love for fast cars grew into a pursuit of speed and performance. Despite limited finances, John's entrepreneurial drive led him to start a car modification business with no formal training. Through trial and error, he founded Hennessey Performance Engineering, known for the Venom F5, the world's fastest car. In this episode, John shares how passion fueled his success, how he navigates criticism and competition, the role of branding in building a powerful business, and his mission to mentor future engineers through Tuner School. John Hennessy is the founder and CEO of Hennessey Special Vehicles and Hennessey Performance Engineering, known for high-performance, custom-built vehicles. Under his leadership, Hennessey Performance has become a recognized leader in automotive innovation, specializing in speed, power, and precision. In this episode, Ilana and John will discuss: (00:00) Introduction (01:30) Falling in Love With Cars as a Kid (04:51) Lessons from Early Jobs and Entrepreneurship (09:38) Racing Adventures and Early Successes (17:37) Turning His Passion for Cars into a Business (20:09) Leveraging Media Relationships to Build a Brand (29:15) How YouTube Helped Scale His Business (32:58) Overcoming Challenges to Build the Venom F5 (38:09) Financial Management and Business Growth (40:46) Embracing Haters as a Sign of Relevance (42:44) Building a Brand on Authenticity and Value (45:13) Training the Next Generation with Tuner School (49:00) Lessons From 35 Years of Entrepreneurship John Hennessy is the founder and CEO of Hennessey Special Vehicles and Hennessey Performance Engineering, known for high-performance, custom-built vehicles. An engineer with a passion for speed, John created the Hennessey Venom F5, a hypercar designed to exceed 300 mph. He also founded Tuner School to train future vehicle engineers and tuners. Under his leadership, Hennessey Performance has become a recognized leader in automotive innovation, specializing in speed, power, and precision. Connect with John: John's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/john-hennessey-9645a0b John's Instagram: instagram.com/john_hennessey_texas Resources Mentioned: Hennessey Performance: hennesseyperformance.com Tuner School: https://tunerschool.com Leap Academy: Ready to make the LEAP in your career? There is a NEW way for professionals to Advance Their Careers & Make 5-6 figures of EXTRA INCOME in Record Time. Check out our free training today at leapacademy.com/training
Two Zero Q: 20 Questions With Interesting People from the LGBT community and friends
You are listening to Two Zero Q – 20 Questions With Interesting People, where we learn the 'Origin Story' of Author Sharon Flake.Sharon G. Flake is a celebrated author with multiple honors, including two Coretta Scott King Honor Awards and author of THE FAMILY I'M IN, the third installment in the I'm In series, following her groundbreaking debut The Skin I'm In (2000) and sister novel The Life I'm In (2021).The Family I'm In explores the complex relationship between Black boys and their fathers, highlighting the challenges they face while growing up and defining what it means to be a man amidst societal pressures. John-John and Caleb, childhood friends, navigate common struggles like family illness, divorced parents, school, and crushes, while dealing with their labels as “nice boys”. Sharon wrote this novel in honor of all the young Black boys who wish to feel seen and heard.I spoke with Sharon about her life, her understanding of YA mindsets, work and her influences.“Readers will find much to appreciate about John-John's meandering journey, which doesn't spell out lessons but trusts them to reflect independently. [His] central relationships are well developed and poignantly described, and Flake renders his growing pains on the road to maturity in an authentic and accessible voice that will make readers root for him. A thought-provoking portrayal of growing up and defining yourself as a young man. – KIRKUS REVIEWS#TwoZeroQ#SharonFlake#theskinimin#thelifeimin#thefamilyimin#YANovels#theveryhandsometimkirk#Gay, #PRIDE, #LGBT Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Holmberg's Morning Sickness - Thursday March 20, 2025 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Holmberg's Morning Sickness - Thursday March 20, 2025 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Holmberg's Morning Sickness - Thursday March 20, 2025 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Holmberg's Morning Sickness - Thursday March 20, 2025 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
