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Series: The Baton and the BlessingScripture: 2 Kings 2:1-14First Methodist Church of Opelika is an exciting, historic, and growing Methodist church that is inviting our community to find and follow the Spirit-led life in Jesus. Founded in 1837, First Opelika has a rich history of influencing and impacting families in the Opelika/Auburn and surrounding community. The church is currently in a season of revitalization and is laying the foundation for effective ministry in the next season of her life as an independent Methodist church.For more information, check us out at www.firstopelika.org or www.facebook.com/firstopelika

Shadow Politics with Senator Michael D. Brown and Co-host Liberty Jones Unstoppable in Iowa: India May on Rural Power, Health Care, and Speaking Truth to Power Guest, India May, Political Candidate, Speaker, Advocate A Grassroots Conversation About Local Courage In this episode of Shadow Politics, hosts Michael D. Brown and Liberty Jones welcome India May, Democratic candidate for Iowa House District 58, covering Floyd, Chickasaw, and Bremer counties. Michael introduces her as a nurse, librarian, medical examiner investigator, mother, and community advocate who gained attention after publicly confronting Senator Joni Ernst about Medicare and Medicaid cuts. The episode focuses on local power, rural politics, health care, LGBTQ rights, campaign finance, voter access, and what it means for an ordinary citizen to step into public leadership. Discovering the Power of One Civilian Voice India says one of the biggest lessons she has learned over the past year is how much power civilians truly have. She points to her public criticism of Senator Joni Ernst, who later announced retirement, and her scrutiny of her opponent's unpaid property taxes, after which he paid them. India's point is that people do not have to wait until they hold office to make a difference. By speaking plainly, documenting facts, and refusing to be silent, ordinary citizens can pressure powerful figures and create real consequences. From Independent Voter to Democratic Candidate Liberty asks India about the difference between her expectations and the realities of running for office. India explains that she spent much of her voting life as an independent and is now running as a Democrat in red, rural Iowa. She says she has been pleasantly surprised by the number of people willing to step up, volunteer, knock doors, join parades, and publicly support a campaign that calls for change. She describes live music, community energy, and people applauding the campaign at local events as signs that many rural Iowans know something is wrong and want a different direction. A Campaign Rooted in Fair Voting When Liberty asks what policies are most important to India, she names voting reform as her top priority. India supports efforts discussed by Iowa gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand to make voting more fair and less dependent on party structures. She criticizes Iowa's ban on ranked-choice voting and says she is interested in open primaries, star voting, approval voting, and ballot measures. Her goal is to make Iowa's political system more responsive to voters rather than party machinery. Medicaid, Mental Health, and a Broken Health System Michael asks about India's well-known confrontation with Senator Ernst over Medicaid cuts and how those cuts affect Iowans. India says Iowa has already been ahead of the curve in damaged health care because Medicaid was privatized in 2016. She describes delayed care, denied care, unpaid reimbursements to hospitals, work requirements, and hospitals struggling to stay open. She also says Iowa ranks at the bottom for inpatient mental health care availability and faces severe health care deserts, rising cancer concerns, and limited oncology access across many counties. The “Big Beautiful Bill” and Political Timing India argues that federal cuts tied to the so-called “big beautiful bill” will be devastating and says the timing of implementation appears politically calculated. According to her, the cuts are delayed until November, creating an opening for Republicans to blame Democrats if the party balance changes after the election. Michael responds that this shows she has learned one of the central lessons of politics: policy and timing are often structured to shape public blame. Christianity, MAGA, and Moral Accountability The conversation turns to religion and politics when Michael, speaking as a Christian and father of an openly gay daughter, asks how Christians reconcile cruelty toward LGBTQ people, immigrants, and vulnerable groups. India, who says she was raised Methodist, contrasts the Methodist slogan “open hearts, open minds, open doors” with what she describes as MAGA cruelty. She says even the Old Testament emphasizes hospitality to strangers and kindness to those in need, and she argues that current right-wing politics often represents the opposite of what Christ or Christianity teaches. LGBTQ Rights, Book Bans, and Iowa's Culture War India discusses the legislative push in Iowa against LGBTQ protections, trans and nonbinary people, and public libraries. She says Republicans have enacted or pursued punishing policies against LGBTQ Iowans and banned local governments from passing protective ordinances. As a former librarian, she criticizes book bans and groups such as Moms for Liberty, saying the fear that books about gay families will “turn children gay” is baseless. She connects the fight over libraries and education to broader attempts to control speech, identity, and public understanding. Teen Pregnancy, Sex Education, and Child Safety The discussion also touches on sex education and child safety. India argues that teen pregnancy has declined not because of abstinence-only silence but because young people have more access to information and teach one another how to be safer. She emphasizes that adults abusing children, not LGBTQ people or books, are a real issue that should be confronted honestly. Michael adds that in his own experience, abuse often came from heterosexual authority figures, reinforcing the need for real education rather than fear-based censorship. Money, PACs, and a Grassroots Fundraising Fight India explains that her campaign has raised meaningful support and even outraised her opponent in some ways, though he has outspent her and benefits from PAC funding. She contrasts his expensive steak-dinner fundraising with her community-centered grilled cheese events, including a planned family-friendly fundraiser at the Floyd County Fairgrounds with games and raffle tickets. She stresses that every small donation matters and directs listeners to MayForIowa.com for campaign support. Rural Iowa, Brain Drain, and Keeping Young People Home Liberty asks how rural Iowa can keep young workers, doctors, entrepreneurs, and college graduates from leaving. India says the problem is real and often called “brain drain.” She argues that young people leave when communities attack LGBTQ people, underfund public schools, fail to protect workers, allow corporations to exploit communities, and make life less livable. Her answer is that Iowa must become a place where young people can be safe, respected, employed, and proud to build a life near their families. Challenging Her Opponent's Record India discusses her opponent, Charlie Thompson, saying he has served two terms in the Iowa legislature while also working as a lawyer and real estate developer. She criticizes him for not paying property taxes on several properties and for being involved in a stalled downtown development project in Charles City. She also criticizes legislation he supported, including a three-strikes-style bill that she says will increase incarceration despite Iowa not being a high-crime state, especially troubling in a state with poor mental health care access. Water Quality, Cancer, and the Cost of Silence A major policy issue India raises is Iowa's water quality. She says a study identified nitrates from agricultural runoff as a major contaminant and connects this to Iowa's rising cancer concerns. She criticizes the state for failing to educate the public after the study and says candidates must be willing to have hard conversations about unsafe water, preventable cancer risks, health care costs, child care costs, exploitative tax structures, and corporate influence. For India, voters may eventually wake up when these issues affect their health and wallets directly. Trump, MAGA, and Cracks in the Bubble Michael asks whether Trump's appeal is fading in Iowa, especially among farmers affected by tariffs and economic pressure. India says Trump signs came down quickly in Iowa and notes farmer bankruptcies as a serious concern. She believes some former MAGA supporters are beginning to question what they were told, including one former Trump supporter who wrote her name on the Republican primary ballot. Still, she says many voters remain trapped in algorithmic echo chambers, making truth-telling and local conversations essential. Iowa's Governor's Race and Statewide Politics India also discusses Iowa's governor's race, praising Rob Sand while criticizing Governor Kim Reynolds and the current Republican leadership. She says Reynolds is deeply unpopular and criticizes her use of taxpayer-funded private-jet travel while asking Iowans what public services they would sacrifice to reduce property taxes. India also discusses Republican candidate Zach Lahn, portraying him as a wealthy, Koch-connected figure who talks about water quality but carries far-right cultural positions. Her broader point is that Iowa politics is full of contradictions, money, and high stakes. An Authentic Candidate With an Unstoppable Message As the interview closes, Liberty asks what India would want young Iowans to remember. India's answer is to be unapologetically themselves, find out who they are, and speak truth to power relentlessly. Michael praises her authenticity, endorses her candidacy, and calls her the kind of candidate America needs. Liberty says she does not have the same power to endorse, but will buy a campaign shirt. The show closes with Michael dedicating Sia's “Unstoppable” to India May and encouraging listeners to support her campaign.

Shadow Politics with Senator Michael D. Brown and Co-host Liberty Jones Unstoppable in Iowa: India May on Rural Power, Health Care, and Speaking Truth to Power Guest, India May, Political Candidate, Speaker, Advocate A Grassroots Conversation About Local Courage In this episode of Shadow Politics, hosts Michael D. Brown and Liberty Jones welcome India May, Democratic candidate for Iowa House District 58, covering Floyd, Chickasaw, and Bremer counties. Michael introduces her as a nurse, librarian, medical examiner investigator, mother, and community advocate who gained attention after publicly confronting Senator Joni Ernst about Medicare and Medicaid cuts. The episode focuses on local power, rural politics, health care, LGBTQ rights, campaign finance, voter access, and what it means for an ordinary citizen to step into public leadership. Discovering the Power of One Civilian Voice India says one of the biggest lessons she has learned over the past year is how much power civilians truly have. She points to her public criticism of Senator Joni Ernst, who later announced retirement, and her scrutiny of her opponent's unpaid property taxes, after which he paid them. India's point is that people do not have to wait until they hold office to make a difference. By speaking plainly, documenting facts, and refusing to be silent, ordinary citizens can pressure powerful figures and create real consequences. From Independent Voter to Democratic Candidate Liberty asks India about the difference between her expectations and the realities of running for office. India explains that she spent much of her voting life as an independent and is now running as a Democrat in red, rural Iowa. She says she has been pleasantly surprised by the number of people willing to step up, volunteer, knock doors, join parades, and publicly support a campaign that calls for change. She describes live music, community energy, and people applauding the campaign at local events as signs that many rural Iowans know something is wrong and want a different direction. A Campaign Rooted in Fair Voting When Liberty asks what policies are most important to India, she names voting reform as her top priority. India supports efforts discussed by Iowa gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand to make voting more fair and less dependent on party structures. She criticizes Iowa's ban on ranked-choice voting and says she is interested in open primaries, star voting, approval voting, and ballot measures. Her goal is to make Iowa's political system more responsive to voters rather than party machinery. Medicaid, Mental Health, and a Broken Health System Michael asks about India's well-known confrontation with Senator Ernst over Medicaid cuts and how those cuts affect Iowans. India says Iowa has already been ahead of the curve in damaged health care because Medicaid was privatized in 2016. She describes delayed care, denied care, unpaid reimbursements to hospitals, work requirements, and hospitals struggling to stay open. She also says Iowa ranks at the bottom for inpatient mental health care availability and faces severe health care deserts, rising cancer concerns, and limited oncology access across many counties. The “Big Beautiful Bill” and Political Timing India argues that federal cuts tied to the so-called “big beautiful bill” will be devastating and says the timing of implementation appears politically calculated. According to her, the cuts are delayed until November, creating an opening for Republicans to blame Democrats if the party balance changes after the election. Michael responds that this shows she has learned one of the central lessons of politics: policy and timing are often structured to shape public blame. Christianity, MAGA, and Moral Accountability The conversation turns to religion and politics when Michael, speaking as a Christian and father of an openly gay daughter, asks how Christians reconcile cruelty toward LGBTQ people, immigrants, and vulnerable groups. India, who says she was raised Methodist, contrasts the Methodist slogan “open hearts, open minds, open doors” with what she describes as MAGA cruelty. She says even the Old Testament emphasizes hospitality to strangers and kindness to those in need, and she argues that current right-wing politics often represents the opposite of what Christ or Christianity teaches. LGBTQ Rights, Book Bans, and Iowa's Culture War India discusses the legislative push in Iowa against LGBTQ protections, trans and nonbinary people, and public libraries. She says Republicans have enacted or pursued punishing policies against LGBTQ Iowans and banned local governments from passing protective ordinances. As a former librarian, she criticizes book bans and groups such as Moms for Liberty, saying the fear that books about gay families will “turn children gay” is baseless. She connects the fight over libraries and education to broader attempts to control speech, identity, and public understanding. Teen Pregnancy, Sex Education, and Child Safety The discussion also touches on sex education and child safety. India argues that teen pregnancy has declined not because of abstinence-only silence but because young people have more access to information and teach one another how to be safer. She emphasizes that adults abusing children, not LGBTQ people or books, are a real issue that should be confronted honestly. Michael adds that in his own experience, abuse often came from heterosexual authority figures, reinforcing the need for real education rather than fear-based censorship. Money, PACs, and a Grassroots Fundraising Fight India explains that her campaign has raised meaningful support and even outraised her opponent in some ways, though he has outspent her and benefits from PAC funding. She contrasts his expensive steak-dinner fundraising with her community-centered grilled cheese events, including a planned family-friendly fundraiser at the Floyd County Fairgrounds with games and raffle tickets. She stresses that every small donation matters and directs listeners to MayForIowa.com for campaign support. Rural Iowa, Brain Drain, and Keeping Young People Home Liberty asks how rural Iowa can keep young workers, doctors, entrepreneurs, and college graduates from leaving. India says the problem is real and often called “brain drain.” She argues that young people leave when communities attack LGBTQ people, underfund public schools, fail to protect workers, allow corporations to exploit communities, and make life less livable. Her answer is that Iowa must become a place where young people can be safe, respected, employed, and proud to build a life near their families. Challenging Her Opponent's Record India discusses her opponent, Charlie Thompson, saying he has served two terms in the Iowa legislature while also working as a lawyer and real estate developer. She criticizes him for not paying property taxes on several properties and for being involved in a stalled downtown development project in Charles City. She also criticizes legislation he supported, including a three-strikes-style bill that she says will increase incarceration despite Iowa not being a high-crime state, especially troubling in a state with poor mental health care access. Water Quality, Cancer, and the Cost of Silence A major policy issue India raises is Iowa's water quality. She says a study identified nitrates from agricultural runoff as a major contaminant and connects this to Iowa's rising cancer concerns. She criticizes the state for failing to educate the public after the study and says candidates must be willing to have hard conversations about unsafe water, preventable cancer risks, health care costs, child care costs, exploitative tax structures, and corporate influence. For India, voters may eventually wake up when these issues affect their health and wallets directly. Trump, MAGA, and Cracks in the Bubble Michael asks whether Trump's appeal is fading in Iowa, especially among farmers affected by tariffs and economic pressure. India says Trump signs came down quickly in Iowa and notes farmer bankruptcies as a serious concern. She believes some former MAGA supporters are beginning to question what they were told, including one former Trump supporter who wrote her name on the Republican primary ballot. Still, she says many voters remain trapped in algorithmic echo chambers, making truth-telling and local conversations essential. Iowa's Governor's Race and Statewide Politics India also discusses Iowa's governor's race, praising Rob Sand while criticizing Governor Kim Reynolds and the current Republican leadership. She says Reynolds is deeply unpopular and criticizes her use of taxpayer-funded private-jet travel while asking Iowans what public services they would sacrifice to reduce property taxes. India also discusses Republican candidate Zach Lahn, portraying him as a wealthy, Koch-connected figure who talks about water quality but carries far-right cultural positions. Her broader point is that Iowa politics is full of contradictions, money, and high stakes. An Authentic Candidate With an Unstoppable Message As the interview closes, Liberty asks what India would want young Iowans to remember. India's answer is to be unapologetically themselves, find out who they are, and speak truth to power relentlessly. Michael praises her authenticity, endorses her candidacy, and calls her the kind of candidate America needs. Liberty says she does not have the same power to endorse, but will buy a campaign shirt. The show closes with Michael dedicating Sia's “Unstoppable” to India May and encouraging listeners to support her campaign.

Rev Jon Reynolds preaches on Matthew 6:25-34 The post “Sing It Again: Great Is Thy Faithfulness” appeared first on First United Methodist Church-Brighton & Whitmore Lake.

This is the June 21st Sunday sermon from the First United Methodist Church in Decatur, Texas. This sermon is taken from Luke 19:1-10.

Larry Jent is a Cherokee storyteller, Methodist pastor and musician living outside Elkins, West Virginia.  After readings about the stars and owls in Cherokee mythology we hear of the role of the The Creator, demi-god like figures such as Selu [Corn] and her husband Kana'ti [The Lucky Hunter], and animals in general. From religion and mythology to fascinating mysteries of archaeology and history we get into Native American copper mining both in North Carolina & The Great Lakes; the Chief Joseph stone/cuneiform tablet; Celtic legends and strange petroglyphs in West Virginia; Roman anecdotes and other documentary evidence of Native Americans discovering Europe before Columbus set sail in 1492. Circling back to Cherokee lore, Larry shares two personal numinous stories about birds - an owl and an eagle - arriving as messengers around the death of loved ones. Reading from Myths of the Cherokee collected by James Mooney. Follow Larry's schedule of his upcoming storytelling events at Facebook.com/Larry.Jent Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Christina Hello, everyone, I'm Christina Darnell, the managing editor of MinistryWatch. Welcome to the MinistryWatch podcast. In today's extra episode, I talk with Warren Smith about some news items that are slightly (even significantly) outside of our normal charity and philanthropy “beat.” So, Warren, what's up first? Warren Microfinancing is taking a beating in the media these days. In the 1990s and 2000s, microfinancing was all the rage. The basic idea was to give entrepreneurs who could not qualify for loans at traditional banks an opportunity to take out a small loan to finance income producing activities. Christina Women could buy sewing machines and take in tailoring and alteration work to support her family. Men could buy motorcycles to take them to job sites or pick up trucks to start a hauling or construction business. Warren That's exactly the idea. But new reporting by the Wall Street Journal questions the effectiveness of such microfinancing activities. It is also interesting that Christian ministries who got on the microfinancing bandwagon (Opportunity International, Hope International, Five Talents, and others) are now pivoting to savings groups, financial literacy, and broader economic development because the evidence for traditional microcredit has been more mixed than early advocates expected. Christina Something else that's been in the news this week has been Steven Spielberg's new movie “Disclosure Day.” Warren The new movie is being touted as a “takedown” of Christianity. Spielberg suggested that the discovery of extraterrestrial life would create a crisis for the Christian faith. Christina But a lot of Christian apologists have weighed in on this question and they say that's not accurate. Warren That is right. I've got to confess that I'm skeptical of extraterrestrial life on other planets, at least life on any planets within reach. There's some evidence of water on the moon and on Mars, so we might find some type of organism there, and that would be interesting. But I think we can see deeply enough into space to suggest that there's nothing significant nearby. Christina But even if there was, nothing about Christian doctrine would be challenged by the discovery of extraterrestrial life. Warren I think that's right. Christians from C.S. Lewis to Larry Norman (in his song “Unidentified Flying Object”) have written about this idea, and it is interesting but innocuous in terms of its threat to Christianity. A more troubling aspect of Spielberg's film, according to Rod Dreher, is its overt Gnosticism, and ancient heresy that keeps getting re-heated and half-baked by modernists and post-modernists. Christina So what is Gnosticism? Warren Gnosticism is a collection of ancient religious movements that taught that salvation comes through secret spiritual knowledge (gnosis) that awakens the divine spark within humans and frees them from the material world. To read Dreher's critique of the film, click here. My friends John Stonestreet and Tim Padget over at The Colson Center have also written intelligently about this movie. You can find their commentary at www.BreakPoint.org. By the way, the film is getting decent reviews and is performing well at the box office, taking in $44 million its first weekend, against a $110 million production budget. Christina This week marks the anniversary of the death of someone you hold in high regard. Can you tell us about John Dyer? Warren If you find self-promoting (and, too often, self-destructive) Christian celebrities distasteful, John Dyer could be your palate cleanser. He lived in the 1800s, and he helped bring Christianity to the American West as a Methodist circuit riding preacher. A church he founded in the resort town of Breckenridge is still in operation. He also ended up in the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame. To find out why, read this piece, which I wrote a year ago, but which I call your attention to this week because it is the 125th anniversary of his death. Christina And you've been turning your eye toward Europe this week. Why? Warren Culturally speaking, things are strange in Europe right now. Birth rates are plummeting there even more than here. This fact will have profound economic and societal implications in the years ahead. I visited Spain 15 years ago and wrote about what I saw there for WORLD Magazine. (And here.) Here are the headlines from that story: Large, gorgeous, empty churches, an economy that lacked confidence, and conservative political parties hunkered down. Christina But that was, as you said, 15 years ago. Today, things have changed somewhat. Warren The economy is better, though not great. Center-right conservatives, represented by the Partido Popular, have been overtaken by the far-right Vox party. I started thinking about this when I read that Franklin Graham recently did a crusade in Madrid that attracted 10,000 people. That sounds like a lot until you realize that the musician Bad Bunny attracted 60,000 on the same night. Read my friend Bruce Bower's account of what is happening in Spain here. Christina Another high-profile event this week was the UFC fights at the White House. Do you have any thoughts about that? Warren Christians often talk about the “good, true, and beautiful” as if they are separate things. They are not, these three qualities are unitary, of-a-piece. Something cannot be really TRUE or GOOD unless it is also BEAUTIFUL. Something that is ugly or banal aesthetically is also, to that extent, also less true and less good. These are ideas to consider as we assess the events of June 14, which was — in my view — another “wag the dog” spectacle designed to distract the masses. Juvenal had a phrase for it: panem et circenses. Bread and circuses. He also said that such spectacles were a sign of a nation in decline. Christina Any final thoughts before we go? Warren If you have not discovered our YouTube channel, check it out here. We now have nearly 200 videos there, and they have attracted tens of thousands of views. Subscribe, like, and share to spread the word about our work. I am in Albuquerque next month. If you live in the Land of Enchantment, one of my favorite states, reach out to me. I would love to share a meal or a cup of coffee with you. My email is wsmith@ministrywatch.com. We'd love to have your financial support as we approach our fiscal year end. Just go to www.ministrywatch.com/donate Christina The producer for today's program is Jeff McIntosh. I'm Christina Darnell, along with Warren Smith. Until next time, may God bless you.  

Worship with us at 9am + 11am 390 N 400 E Bountiful, UT 84010 https://flourishinggrace.org/plan-you... In this Sunday message, guest speaker Dave Nelson opens Exodus 3:1-12 to explore one of the most significant questions a person can face: what does it mean when God calls you? Drawing from the account of Moses and the burning bush, Dave traces the nature of God's calling with biblical depth and personal honesty, sharing stories from his own journey of faith that span nearly four decades of pastoral ministry. Dave begins with his own conversion at eleven years old, sitting in a Methodist church in a small Michigan town. He had not come expecting anything unusual, but God showed up. Something pulled at his heart with a force he could not explain, and despite his embarrassment, he made his way to the altar and gave his life to Christ. That moment anchors the entire sermon: you did not choose God. He chose you. The calling is never something we manufacture or manipulate. It comes from Him, in His timing, often when we least expect it. The first truth Dave draws from Moses' story is that God's call comes out of the blue. Moses was not on a spiritual retreat or seeking a divine encounter. He was tending flocks in the wilderness on an ordinary day. The disciples were fishing. Matthew was sitting at his tax booth. Paul was walking to Damascus to persecute Christians. God interrupted every one of them in the middle of the routine. Dave adds his own story of being called a second time at nineteen, sitting on a city lawnmower, when God's voice redirected a life heading in the wrong direction. God will meet you wherever you are. The second truth is that God's call is personal. From the burning bush, God did not issue a general announcement. He said, "Moses, Moses." He called him by name because He knew him. Scripture teaches that God knit each of us together in the womb, ordained our days, and designed us with specific gifts, personalities, and purposes. From Abraham to Paul to Peter, the pattern repeats throughout scripture. God meets individuals where they are, calls them by name, and reveals the life they were created to live. That same personal call belongs to every person alive today. Third, Dave draws a distinction that cuts to the heart of Christian living: God's call is an invitation to join Him in what He is already doing, not a commission to do things for Him. God told Moses He had come down to rescue the Israelites, and then He sent Moses to go. Both are true. God is always working, and He invites us to participate. When we stop striving in our own strength and start following Him into what He is doing, the pressure lifts and the burden becomes light. Jesus modeled this perfectly: "I do nothing on my own, but whatever the Father shows me, I do." Fourth, God's call is gracious. Moses was a murderer in exile. Gideon was the least member of the weakest clan in Israel. Paul called himself the worst of sinners. And yet God called every one of them with confidence and purpose. If you have ever believed that your past or your inadequacies disqualify you from God's purposes, this message speaks directly to that lie. God consistently calls the broken and the weak because His strength is made perfect in human weakness. Nothing you have done places you beyond the reach of His redemption. Finally, God's call is always a call to Himself. When Moses asked who he was to stand before Pharaoh, God did not answer the question. He said simply, "I will be with you." That is the only answer that matters. Jesus defined eternal life as knowing the one true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. He calls us not merely to a task but to a relationship, to the intimate, daily experience of walking with Him. There is nothing like knowing Jesus this way, and it is available to every person in every circumstance.

It's Tuesday, June 16th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Kevin Swanson and Timothy Reed Two pastors killed in Manipur State, India Two pastors -- Pastor Kenpibou and the Rev. Manu Thiumai -- and at least two others were found dead in India's Manipur State last week, reports The Christian Post. The victims of ethnic and religious violence were found with their hands tied and their bodies mutilated in this northeastern state.  The Economic Times quotes a Manipur home minister who described the killings as “a heinous crime against humanity.”  74% of Israelis support sexual perversion today The Jerusalem Post reports that more than 100,000 persons participated in this year's so-called “gay pride” parade in Tel Aviv, Israel. A new study conducted by the Israel Institute for Gender and LGBT Studies found that 74% of Israel supports “full and legally enforced equal rights for the LGBT community.”  That's up from 61% just three years ago. Additionally, 89% of secular Israelis support equal rights for homosexuals and transgenders compared to 75% of traditional Israelis, 53% of religious Israelis, and 25% of ultra-Orthodox Israelis. Judges 3:12 says, “Once again, Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” Brazil's attendance at sexually perverted “pride” event cut by 50% In related news, one of the world's largest sexual perverted so-called “pride” events has been held in São Paulo, Brazil. However, a university drone count found that the peak attendance fell off from 73,600 in 2024, to 36,800 in 2026. Organizers say the total attendees topped one million, but that's down from three to five million in recent years. Isaiah 2:10-11 promises this: “Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.” Trump scored elusive peace deal with Iran The United States and Iran have reached a deal aimed at ending the war that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and lift the American naval blockade, reports NBC News. A signing ceremony is set for Friday in Switzerland. Global markets soared after the tentative deal was announced, while oil prices fell more than $4 a barrel on the news that shipping may soon be restored through the key trade route, according to Just The News. On Truth Social, Trump wrote, "Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!” However, the memorandum of understanding leaves some key issues unresolved, setting up potential future tensions. The deal gives the two sides 60 days to resolve what to do about Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium and its nuclear program. Supreme Court sides with pro-abortion public school This just in.  The U.S. Supreme Court came down on the side of the pro-abortion lobby, to disallow a pro-life club from posting signs in a public school which would have denounced the abortion giant Planned Parenthood. Only Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented. Justice Alito pointed out that the “Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment constrains censorship.” Many U.S. Christian denominations have lost members American denominations have lost church attendance since 2007. Pew Research breaks it down by denomination. Only the Reformed Churches and non-denominational groups have recovered or gained members since 2007. By percentage,  Holiness churches have lost the most members, followed by Methodists, Adventists, Restorationists, and Baptists. In raw numbers, Baptists have lost 11 million members, Methodists have lost seven million members, Lutherans have lost four million members, and Holiness groups have lost 1.6 million members since 2007. Meanwhile, the non-denominational churches gained 10.5 million members, and reformed churches gained about 150,000 over this 14-year period. Overall, the decline of faith in America has leveled off since 2019, largely due to an increased interest in church attendance on the part of Gen Z men between the ages of 14 and 29. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was not reauthorized On June 11th, Congress did not reauthorize  the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. The vote was 198-218. FISA 702 has been used to spy on American citizens, and it actively circumvents the Fourth Amendment which prohibits the government from spying on Americans without a warrant. Almost all Democrats voted against reauthorization of FISA 702, but it took 19 Republicans to officially defeat the spying measure. Establishment Republicans signaled their disappointment that the measure was defeated, but Republican Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee explained, “The Fourth Amendment is there for a reason.” Trump saved 146,000 migrant children trafficked under Biden The Trump administration has rescued 146,000 migrant children who were trafficked into the country during the Biden administration. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin explained the situation and the conditions under President Biden. Listen. MULLIN: “We're going to right the wrongs that the Biden administration turned a blind eye to. It's because of President Trump's leadership. It's horrific what's happening right in our own country because of four years of a blind eye that allowed unvetted sponsors to come pick up 450,000 kids on our borders, knowing their reports. While the Biden administration was in office, their own reports reporting that over a third of the females, regardless of age, were sexually assaulted before they made it to the border.” Cleveland Clinic to invest $2 million to help de-transitioners In another domestic victory, the Trump administration reached a massive deal with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation which agreed to stop transitioning minors. The clinic also agreed to commit $2 million to help de-transitioners, following in the footsteps of Texas Children's Hospital, which set up a $10 million fund for that purpose.  Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward stated, “The Department of Justice is steadfastly committed to protecting America's children. Just as the resolution with Texas Children's, today's resolution with Cleveland Clinic furthers that commitment and puts these providers on notice that this Department will vigorously enforce federal law where children are put at risk.” In Mark 9:42, Jesus said, “But whoever causes one of these little ones, who believe in Me, to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.” Artificial Intelligence can now clone your voice in a scam Please be aware!  Artificial Intelligence can now clone your voice with only three seconds of audio taken off of your voicemail greeting.  Artificial Intelligence scams increased twelve-fold in 2025.  Recent surveys have found one in four adults have encountered an Artificial Intelligence voice scam.  New York Knicks are world champions after a 53-year drought And finally, on June 13th, the New York Knicks became basketball world champions once again. ANNOUNCER: “It's over.  Knick fans: This is not a dream. Your long, long wait has ended. Go ahead and cry. After 53 years, the Knicks are finally NBA champions once again.” During Game 5 of the NBA Finals in the Alamo City, the New York Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs by a score of 94-90, capping off a stunning playoff run.  Knicks star Jalen Brunson scored 45 points in the victory, which earned him the nomination of Finals Most Valuable Player. But even more special for Jalen was the fact that his Dad, Rick Brunson, was his coach.  Amazingly, Rick, himself a former NBA player, made the finals for the New York Knicks back in 1999, also playing against the San Antonio Spurs in that series.  Rick and Jalen continue to maintain a close relationship, which Jalen elaborated on in a Good Morning America interview on ABC. BRUNSON: “Our relationship is unique. People may think just because he pushes me a certain way that we don't say things to each other, but I wouldn't trade anything for the world. We have the best relationship, even when it looks like we're fighting. That's just a coach and player trying to get over, to get to the Promised Land.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Tuesday, June 16th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli with Foundry UMC, June 7, 2026, Second Sunday after Pentecost. “We Know Who We Are”series. Texts: Romans 12:1-2, 9-13; Acts 2:41-47   Last week we reflected on grace. We remembered that God's grace comes before we ever think about God, before we ever do anything right, before we ever earn anything. Grace comes first. Grace comes last. Grace is always the ground beneath our feet. This week the question is: If grace comes first, how does grace actually change us?   I grew up before car seats were common. Heck—I regularly rode in the back of my dad's or grandpa's pickup truck to get ice cream or drive out to the lake. Looking back, it feels like I was raised in the Wild West!?  As a teenager, I'd been driving a year or so when a new law was passed that required seatbelts. We started hearing about studies showing how seatbelts saved lives. There were those crash-test dummy commercials—remember those? But putting on a seatbelt wasn't something I thought about.  And so every time I got into the car, I had to remind myself: Put on your seatbelt. Sometimes I'd forget. Sometimes I'd remember halfway down the road. But I kept doing it. And then one day I noticed something. I was driving somewhere and realized I already had my seatbelt on. I hadn't thought about it. I hadn't reminded myself. I had just done it. What had once felt awkward and inconvenient had become a habit. It had become instinct. I had practiced and learned a new thing.   Most of us understand this when it comes to driving. Or learning an instrument. Or speaking a language. Or playing a sport. Or exercising.   A friend once told me, “Nobody likes running when they first start. You have to just do it. After a while you'll reap the benefits.” I never forgot the wisdom. You may not start out loving the practice. But you practice because of what the practice is shaping you to become.   And I've been thinking this week that much of the Christian life works the same way. Many of us want to become more loving, more patient, more generous, more courageous. We want to respond to conflict with grace. We want to be less fearful and more trusting. We want our lives to reflect the love of Christ. But how does that happen?   John Wesley believed that the goal of the Christian life was what he called “Christian perfection.” Unfortunately, that phrase has caused confusion for generations. Wesley wasn't talking about becoming flawless. He wasn't talking about never making mistakes. He wasn't talking about acting like we've got it all together. He was talking about becoming so filled with the love of God that God's love begins to overflow from our lives.   I often picture it like a pitcher being filled with water. As we open ourselves to receive God's love and mercy—God's grace!—we are filled. And just as a pitcher overflows once it becomes full, so God's love begins to overflow in our lives. Love spills over. Mercy spills over. Compassion spills over. Generosity spills over. Wesley believed that this could happen. In fact, he believed it was the goal of those who would follow Christ.   Or as the hymn puts it: “Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love.” I love that phrase. The impulse of thy love. Because it suggests a life in which love becomes our first instinct. A life in which generosity and mercy become as natural as breathing. A life in which our hands move at the impulse of God's love. Wouldn't that be something?   The question is: How do we become those people? And Wesley's answer was surprisingly practical. We practice. We train. We place ourselves again and again in the flow of God's grace. Wesley called these practices “means of grace.” Prayer. Scripture. Worship. Holy Communion. Christian conversation and accountability. Small groups. Acts of mercy and service.   And this week, I want to invite you to choose one. Not all of them. Just one. Spend a few minutes each day reading scripture. Or pray each morning before you reach for your phone. Or read a daily devotion. Or intentionally perform one act of kindness or service each day. Choose one way to place yourself in the flow of God's grace and practice it every day this week.   These are means of grace not because they are things that earn God's love or make God love us more. They are not means of grace because checking enough religious boxes gets us into heaven. But because these practices place us where God's transforming grace can reach us. God's grace is always present—whether we're practicing the means of grace or not. But these practices have been shown over the centuries to place us in the flow of God's grace in a very concentrated way.   There is a distinction between trying and training. Anyone can try to run a marathon. But only someone who trains will actually finish one. The same is true of the Christian life. Anybody can try to be more loving. Anybody can try to be more patient. Anybody can try to forgive. But becoming Christlike requires more than trying. It requires training in grace.   This is why Methodists became Methodists. John Wesley was nothing if not methodical. The early Methodists became known for their methods—the practices and habits that helped them grow in love of God and neighbor. And that brings us to Romans 12.   After eleven chapters proclaiming the mercy and grace of God, Paul writes: “I appeal to you therefore...on the basis of God's mercy...” Paul doesn't begin with an appeal based on obligation or guilt or fear, but rather an appeal on the basis of God's mercy. Grace comes first. Then Paul says, “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice.” Notice that he doesn't say, “Present your beliefs.” He says, “Present your bodies.” The Christian life isn't simply a set of ideas we agree with. It is a way of life. It is embodied. It is practiced.   Then Paul says: “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.” This is such a perennial call—true in every age! It is easy to become conformed to the things of this world. All of us are being formed by something. The news forms us. Social media forms us. Fear forms us. Our families, culture, and education form us. The question is not whether we are being formed. The question is: By what?   Paul doesn't tell us to transform ourselves. He says, “Be transformed.” God is the one doing the transforming. Our work is to place ourselves where God's grace can do its work. And then Paul immediately shows us what a transformed life looks like: Let love be genuine. Love one another. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in suffering. Persevere in prayer. Practice hospitality.   These things are not feelings. They are practices. They are things we do again and again until they begin to shape who we are. Nobody wakes up one day naturally hospitable. Nobody wakes up instinctively patient. Nobody wakes up automatically generous. These things are formed through grace and practice.   And then our reading from Acts shows us what that formation looks like in community. The Spirit comes at Pentecost. Thousands are baptized. A movement is born. And what do they do next?   Luke says: “They devoted themselves.” That may be the most important phrase in the whole passage. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. They devoted themselves. Not occasionally or when it was convenient or when they felt inspired. They devoted themselves. They showed up again and again. They listened to the story of Jesus. They prayed together. They shared meals. They worshiped together. They cared for one another. And over time something happened. They became a different kind of people.   Their possessions became less important than their neighbors' needs. Their tables became larger. Their hearts became more generous. Their lives became more joyful. Their witness became more compelling. The Pentecost miracle of Acts 2 is not only that the Spirit came in a wondrous way and moved previously fearful disciples to do wondrous things. The miracle is also that people kept showing up. They devoted themselves to practices that opened them to God's grace. And God's grace formed them into a community that looked different from the world around them. They were not conformed to their age, but were transformed by the saving grace and love of God in Christ Jesus.   Friends, this is part of who we are as United Methodists. We have practices. We have rhythms. We have a path: prayer, presence, gifts, service, and witness, and all the means of grace handed down through generations. They're not handed down because God needs them, but because we do. Not because they earn us salvation, but because they help open us to receive the grace that is already being offered.   And over time, through worship and prayer, through scripture and communion, through service and generosity, God does what only God can do. God transforms us. God fills us. And little by little, sometimes so gradually we hardly notice, our lives begin to move at a different impulse. The impulse of love. The impulse of mercy. The impulse of grace.   “Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love.” That is the goal. It's not about perfectionism. The goal is perfect love—lives so shaped by God's grace that one day we discover we are no longer merely trying to love. By the grace of God, we have begun to move at the impulse of God's love. This week, choose one way to place yourself in the flow of God's grace. Not because God needs it. Because you do.  

In 1863, a group of German Methodist families came to the edge of Wild Fowl Bay near Bay Port, Michigan, with a bold plan. They would build a Christian colony in the wilderness. They called it Ora Labora, meaning “Pray and Work.”Led by Emil Baur and backed by the Harmony Society of Pennsylvania, the settlers raised cabins, cleared land, built mills, opened a store, created a post office, and tried to form a self-sufficient community during the darkest years of the Civil War.But faith alone could not overcome debt, labor shortages, hard winters, poor planning, and growing distrust. Within a few years, Ora Labora began to break apart. Then came the fire of 1871, which changed the region forever.This episode tells the dramatic story of Michigan's forgotten German colony, the dream that brought families to Huron County, and the reasons their settlement faded into history.A story of faith, work, ambition, and loss on the shore of Wild Fowl Bay.The End of the Road in Michigan is a production of Thumbwind Publications

Part 2 of Joe Stopulos's Uncommon Good interview with Dr. Bud Maher picks up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Joe is studying at Marquette University — attending daily Mass during Lent (sometimes before the bar closed), seeking out every Jesuit professor he could find, and slowly beginning to ask why the Church teaches what it teaches. Highlights include: College Faith in the Real World: Joe reflects on attending a 10 p.m. Sunday Mass while most of his friend group wasn't practicing. He describes going to daily Mass every day of Lent in college — including a legendary St. Patrick's Day that started at 5:50 a.m. outside a bar and still included 6:30 a.m. Mass. A perfect encapsulation of where he was spiritually. Meeting His First Protestant at 25: A friendship with a Methodist minister friend forced Joe to actually articulate why Catholics do what they do — confession, the sacraments, all of it. He couldn't answer from Scripture. That sent him to CatholicAnswers.com, and every answer he found only deepened his conviction. Father John Ricardo Changes Everything: Introduced to Iowa Catholic Radio through friend John Leonetti (whom Joe famously told "nobody listens to Catholic radio"), Joe started tuning in to Father Ricardo at 11 a.m. and never stopped. He began burning CDs of Ricardo's talks to hand out. Combined with Jeff Cavins' Bible Timeline study and Scott Hahn's The Lamb's Supper, this launched a roughly 24-month transformation that Joe describes as the turning point of his adult faith. The Origin of Man Up: Joe shares how his early on-air appearances during Iowa Catholic Radio fundraisers eventually led to a standing show — made possible, he says, by the theological confidence and credibility of his original co-host, Father Zach. Now approaching 10 years and 400+ episodes, Man Up remains one of the network's cornerstone programs. Life at the Basilica of Saint John: Joe talks about the thriving parish community at Saint John's Basilica in Des Moines, the pastoral transition from the beloved Father Quinn to Father Trevor Sequin, and why surrounding yourself with friends striving for virtue is one of the three most important decisions a man can make. Saint Thomas Classical Academy: Joe highlights this homeschool hybrid co-op as one of the great gifts of his family's life in Des Moines. A major event is coming up — Bishop Conley will be the keynote speaker on October 20th, focusing on his devotion to Saint John Henry Newman. Don't miss it. Hope for the Future of the Church: Joe closes with optimism — men are returning to the Church, communities are growing, and the Forge Conference is proof. As Joe puts it: if Joe Rogan's going to church, a lot of people are going to church. Next week on Man Up: Joe re-airs a two-part interview he recorded with his father during the Heroic Fatherhood series — a tribute to the man he calls the greatest of his life.

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Series: The Baton and the BlessingScripture: 1 Kings 19:19-21First Methodist Church of Opelika is an exciting, historic, and growing Methodist church that is inviting our community to find and follow the Spirit-led life in Jesus. Founded in 1837, First Opelika has a rich history of influencing and impacting families in the Opelika/Auburn and surrounding community. The church is currently in a season of revitalization and is laying the foundation for effective ministry in the next season of her life as an independent Methodist church.For more information, check us out at www.firstopelika.org or www.facebook.com/firstopelika

This message encourages a return to intimate discipleship by contrasting the modern obsession with megachurch success against the Wesleyan model of small groups. Pastor Dan uses the biblical account of the Road to Emmaus to illustrate how Jesus prioritized personal, transformative encounters over large crowds. By emphasizing the historical Methodist structure of societies, classes, and bands, the text argues that true spiritual growth occurs in small, honest gatherings of three to five people. These "bands" serve as a spiritual chrysalis where participants practice radical vulnerability and mutual accountability to foster authentic faith. Ultimately, the message calls for a broader kingdom impact achieved through deep, localized investment rather than pursuing numerical bigness for its own sake.

Quote from John Wesley "My fear is not that our great movement known as the Methodists will eventually cease to exist or one day die from the earth. My fear is that our people will become content to live without the FIRE, the POWER, the EXCITEMENT, the SUPERNATURAL ELEMENT THAT MAKES US GREAT."

Rev Lindsey Hall preaches on Psalm 51 and Luke 15: 11-32 The post “Sing It Again: Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing” appeared first on First United Methodist Church-Brighton & Whitmore Lake.

Thousands of people gathered at an anti-racism protest in Belfast on Saturday, after violence across the city this past week saw people's homes, businesses and vehicles targeted. The disorder was sparked after footage of a knife attack in north Belfast on Monday night was shared widely on social media, which left the victim with serious injuries. Religious leaders have joined calls for calm and Emily Buchanan hears from people in the Muslim and Methodist communities in the city. It's been five years since the Church of England set out an ambitious plan to provide affordable housing. Its 'Coming Home' report examined how the church could use its significant land assets to help solve England's housing crisis. So have they made much progress? Bishop Guli Francis-Dehqani of Chelmsford, is also the Bishop for Housing and gives an update. Three quarters of English club players identify with Christianity, according to a report from the charity Christians in Sport. The research also mentions that 40% of clubs regularly host Christian activities such as Bible studies and prayer meetings. As the men's World Cup gets underway, we'll explore the connection between football and religion from a player and supporter perspective. Presenter: Emily Buchanan Producers: Katy Booth and Rosie Dawson Studio Managers: Catherine Everatt, Joe Stickler and Helen Williams Editor: Dan Tierney

This is the June 14th Sunday sermon from the First United Methodist Church in Decatur, Texas. This sermon is for Vacation Bible School (VBS) Sunday.

This week on Mormon Stories News, John Dehlin along with Julia, and Brooklyn of the OSF team, break down some of the biggest stories making headlines in Mormonism.President Nelson announced the Springfield, Missouri temple on April 2, 2023, yet ground was just broken for it on June 6, 2026. Why the delay? Have other temples been delayed? What is the average amount of time for a temple to be finished between its first announcement to dedication? What are the membership numbers that will fill these temples?On June 7, 2026 General Authority Seventy Kyle S. McKay spoke at a Stake Conference in Yukon, Oklahoma. Shortly after the video was posted, however, Mormon church leaders quickly removed it. Join us as we go over the most controversial parts of his talk!June has been dubbed “Fidelity Month” by Governor Cox. Cox did not announce the declaration with a news release, nor did he post it on social media as he has done at the beginning of June in the past years. But does Utah WANT this change? Is Cox trying to replace Pride Month?On June 4th the Department of Defense made some changes to the recognized list of religions. The list included several “Christian” denominations such as Lutheran, Jehovah's Witnesses, Methodists, etc. However, The LDS Church was not listed among the “Christian” denominations.On June 6th Edward Smart, the father of well-known Elizabeth Smart, shared a public Instagram Post about his current status with the LDS Church. The LDS Church is making changes to the Sacrament Meeting rooms! This story first broke with Rebecca Bibliotheca of Mormonish Podcast who shared that architectural plans for two LDS meeting house remodels reveal that the sacrament altar is now to be placed front and center under the pulpit. The plans will be in place by 2028 and this will be the new structure going forward. In 2026, BYU Football player Parker Kingston was charged with first-degree felony rape in Utah. The incident was reported by a 20-year-old woman in February 2025. Kingston has pleaded not guilty and the case is proceeding through the Utah court system. News has been released concerning the request for a new judge for the case.An invested citizen was able to attend a Utah City Council Meeting in which someone shared their concerns about the American Fork Police department in their handling of Reckless Ben (previously covered on Mormon Stories). This insider video gives a closer look at the concerned citizens of American Fork.The Great Salt Lake is in critical condition with historically low water levels due to long-term drought and heavy water diversion for agriculture and urban use. These changes threaten key ecosystems and create toxic dust storms that impact air quality across the Wasatch Front. Governor Cox said he discussed with President Trump a potential federal funding around $1 billion.___________________YouTubeShow NotesAt Mormon Stories we explore, celebrate, and challenge Mormon culture through in-depth stories told by members and former members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as scholars, authors, LDS apologists, and other professionals.  Our overall mission is to: 1. Facilitate informed consent amongst LDS Church members, investigators, and non-members regarding Mormon history, doctrine, and theology2. Support Mormons (and members of other high-demand religions) who are experiencing a religious faith crisis3. Promote healing, growth and community for those who choose to leave the LDS Church or other high demand religions

Series: A Life Poured OutScripture: Psalm 84First Methodist Church of Opelika is an exciting, historic, and growing Methodist church that is inviting our community to find and follow the Spirit-led life in Jesus. Founded in 1837, First Opelika has a rich history of influencing and impacting families in the Opelika/Auburn and surrounding community. The church is currently in a season of revitalization and is laying the foundation for effective ministry in the next season of her life as an independent Methodist church.For more information, check us out at www.firstopelika.org or www.facebook.com/firstopelika

OnPoint Communications Author website www.jscottyates.com Substack www.substack.com/@truthonpoint https://jscottyates.substack.com Compelled to share the faith journey of caring for my wife with Alzheimer's in my first book. We were both led closer to Jesus and blessed with peace in our hearts. Even during the last two years on hospice in a nursing home. God was glorified by my wife's smile that often broke into laughter. Even in the midst of the storm of Alzheimer's, peace and wisdom was revealed as our spiritual eyes were opened and hearts awakened to know God's Word is truth that sets us free. Both lifelong Methodists and Nell the granddaughter of a renowned pastor and president of Southern Methodist University, Umphrey Lee, we were led on a faith journey closer to Jesus after the Methodist Church left us, shunning God's Word to embrace the sinful culture of the world. More than 7,500 churches in the United States alone left the denomination. A life-changing trip to the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter opened our eyes to the authority of Scripture – all of God's Word is truth. We were drawn to the Church of Christ, a New Testament Church founded on Biblical authority. If you would like a photo of the book cover or more information, please let me know. I would be glad to share a code for a free digital download, and the publisher has offered to provide copies if contacted by media directly. Thank you for your consideration sharing this with your audience. Author website: www.jscottyates.com Substack: https://jscottyates.substack.com/ New Memoir ‘Everything Is Going to Be All Right' Offers Hope and Faith Amid the Trials of Alzheimer's A Story of Love, Caregiving and Faith as Husband Chronicles His Wife's Battle with Alzheimer's RALEIGH, N.C. – In his debut memoir “Everything Is Going to Be All Right: A Faith Journey Through Alzheimer's”(published by WestBow Press), Scott Yates invites readers into an intimate story of love, loss, and spiritual endurance as he walks alongside his wife through the devastating progression of Alzheimer's disease. The book recounts the journey of Scott and Eleanor “Nell” Yates, two newspaper reporters who met early in their careers and built a life together centered on family, journalism and shared faith. Their lives changed dramatically when Nell was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2016. As the disease gradually took away her ability to communicate and live independently, Scott stepped into the demanding role of caregiver, navigating the challenges that accompany what many call “the long goodbye.” He faced the daily burdens many caregivers know well — exhaustion, grief and the painful realization that some challenges cannot be overcome through personal strength alone — yet, through it all, Scott discovered profound spiritual lessons. He came to see how suffering and uncertainty can draw people closer to God and deepen their trust in his guidance. During one especially meaningful moment in the nursing home, after Nell's speech had become largely incoherent due to aphasia, Scott rhetorically said, “Isn't it going to be amazing when we see Jesus face-to-face.” Nell suddenly spoke clearly and confidently to reassure her husband, telling him, “Everything is going to be all right.” That moment of clarity became the title, message and inspiration for this book. For the next year, Scott led a Bible study in the nursing home with other patients as Nell held his hand and shared her smiles. Scott was holding Nell's hand as she took her last breath, called home to see Jesus on the same day the book was published.

We continue our series from the West Tennessee and Mississippi Conference for the Global Methodist Church recently held at Christ Church Memphis. On this episode we welcome Paul Lawler the Senior Pastor at Christ Church Memphis. A recognized voice in the Methodist movement, Paul has been instrumental in guiding Christ Methodist Church through its transition to the Global Methodist Church. His vision includes reigniting a passion for evangelism and revitalizing the church's role in reaching the lost. Prior to coming to Memphis, Paul served for fifteen years as the Senior Pastor of Christ Church Birmingham.

Patrick answers listener questions about everything from Catholic misunderstandings of the Eucharist to the validity of the Mass when accidental mistakes happen during readings, bringing scripture and tradition to bear on each topic. He addresses what happens to the souls lost in Noah's flood, explains canon law distinctions on annulment, and walks through how Catholics understand prayer to saints like Mary alongside worship reserved for God alone. Some write in bewildered by family members clinging to ideas about a dome-encased earth, others seek reassurance about returning to church after decades away—Patrick responds with candor, biblical references, and a readiness for surprises. Maryjane (email) - My boyfriend is Methodist. He likes the idea of Confession but said that he doesn’t believe “crucifying Christ every week at Mass” is something he could subscribe to. How would you have responded to this type of understanding of our celebration of the Eucharist? (00:45) Mary (email) - Did I ruin Mass for everyone? (04:55) Joan (email) – Does the church have any teaching in what happened to the souls of the people that died in the flood during Noah’s time? (10:12) Marshall (email) - Adultery and Annulment: If Joseph was allowed to divorce Mary for supposed infidelity, why isn’t that allowed for an annulment? (15:03) Julie (email) - Is Mass outdoors permitted by the Church? (20:58) Hunter (email) - I was just recently baptized into the Lutheran church and was very happy. Until a few days ago I had the most horrible dream that included demons visiting/harming me and I woke up with scratches up and down my arm. I won't go into detail but I woke up with this feeling/voice in my heart and stomach that keeps pulling me to the Catholic Church but I still have my issues with some Catholic dogma or doctrine. Do you have any recommendations on what I should do next? Dee - What is the Bible actually saying about the firmament? My daughter thinks we are enclosed in an Earth dome with heaven above, and we can't get out. (30:40) James - Why is Mary elevated to a position of equality alongside God the Father and Son and Holy Spirit? (39:28)

What if the answers you're searching for arrived long before you knew how to understand them? In this conversation, I sit down with Kip Baldwin, a filmmaker, producer, writer, and founder of the Just Love movement. Kip shares the extraordinary awakening he experienced at age 12 and how it set him on a lifelong path of exploring consciousness, love, spirituality, and human connection. From the music industry and sustainable agriculture to television production, ethical AI, and overcoming a traumatic brain injury, Kip's journey has been anything but ordinary. As we talk, Kip reflects on why fear has become such a powerful force in society, how love can transform the way we see ourselves and others, and why he believes lasting change starts with a shift in consciousness. You will hear stories of resilience, curiosity, and purpose, along with a vision for creating a better future for generations to come. I believe you will find this conversation thought-provoking, challenging, and full of hope. Highlights: 01:45 - How a childhood acting career sparked a lifelong passion for media and communication. 07:08 - Why confidence without self-awareness can become a liability. 16:32 - Lessons from the Kellogg School of Management that still shape business decisions today. 21:58 - Why listening beats talking in business, leadership, and life. 35:08 - How strong brands grow through awareness, not just loyalty programs. 01:05:02 - The three traits Zarko looks for when mentoring future leaders. About the Guest: Kip Baldwin knows his purpose for Being is to share all that LOVE is through his many solutions driven projects; using media in all its forms to help awaken individuals, and by proxy the collective, to the LOVE Paradigm emerging. He feels that in order for a new chapter of our story to be conceived for humanity, a mass imagining of our limitless potential is what is needed to bring about an age of compassion, empathy, collaboration, and oneness.  Kip was born in 1965 to counterculture parents - in the midst of the maelstrom that was the decade of the sixties, in fact 1965 was the first year that scientists warned us about climate change - in Vancouver, Washington. His earliest years were spent on a farm where his grandparents raised thoroughbred horses. During this period grew in him a deep, abiding LOVE and respect for nature and all living things. It was around the age of twelve his life would transform forever, as he had an out of body experience that took him beyond the edge of Universe, even Space and Time, and face to face with the unknowable of Infinity. This experience became the foundation for his constant seeking since. Due to that experience Kip felt he must explore the world beyond the small town confines of Camas, WA where he grew up. His first attempt to break free was to do a brief stint in the Navy, where he was going to pursue a career as an electric technician, but because of a hereditary bleeding disorder he was given a medical discharge. However, a military career for him was clearly never really in the cards anyway. Although he was always grateful for the insight it gave him into the inner workings of our country, as he witnessed first the how the poor are literally cannon fodder for corporations, under the guise of them being heroes and patriots. Following his discharge, he returned briefly to the limits of his hometown, before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1985 to pursue his passion for music and performing. He often jokes that he was looking for the San Francisco of the Haight/Ashbury, Peace and LOVE days, but arrived twenty years too late. What he found instead was the 80s hair metal band scene, whose songs that focused on partying, sex, and drugs were not compatible with his lyrics about awakening awareness and addressing the need for personal and societal change. In the late 90s, after becoming disillusioned by his beloved music industry - and always seeking solutions for the myriad of challenges facing humanity - he shifted his focus to local and sustainable foods. While this was certainly a worthwhile pursuit, it did little to fulfill his need to share LOVE'S Truth and create a collective shift in consciousness. But what it did do was make him aware that it was only going to be through the use of mass media that his message of LOVE could reach a large enough audience to affect real lasting change. This found him again heeding the call of the entertainment industry, first as an actor, then writer, and ultimately as a producer, with some success co-creating the influential cannabis series Weed Country for the Discovery Network (focusing on the countless benefits humanity can derive from marijuana, as well as our profound historical connection to the plant), co-founding the United Filmmakers Association, and starting the Just LOVE Movement. Ultimately, this led him to co-founding S.O.U.L. Documentary with creative partner and Soul Twin, Evan Hirsch who shares his passion, purpose and mission to heal humanity by embracing our innate oneness, which they both understand can only be achieved by accepting and grounding ourselves in the Reality of LOVE We Are. Ways to connect with Kip: Facebook:  Just LOVE page: https://www.facebook.com/kipbaldwinjustlove Main page: https://www.facebook.com/kip.baldwin/ UFA: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Unifilmmakers LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kip-baldwin-975a3514/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kipbaldwin?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr YouTube: Kip Baldwin: https://youtube.com/@thekiprowdy?si=LckMuhec40lWAicF Just LOVE: https://youtube.com/@justlove6463?si=QW1g4D2dlaHmJk8B S.O.U.L. Documentary: https://youtube.com/@souldocumentary?si=4HOwlV-pjFN6guYy Soul Twin Messiah: https://youtube.com/@soultwinmessiah?si=7ctLlmqjeOczkjO_ Additional must listen:  Comfort You Song: https://youtu.be/Mi8D3AoDfRQ?si=y8RzIQPXP5ALJth1 A World Worth Imagining: https://youtu.be/Cx28t6_SGic?si=o4lWs7po3TBKx_3A Invitation. To Action: https://youtu.be/B8jUOUVCvJI?si=l4Pr7vWNDsnXX4wh AI work: www.luminaLOVE.LOVE About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:03 One of the biggest things holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe. Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingson, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Hi everyone, I am your host Mike Hingson, and you are listening and or watching Unstoppable Mindset. We're really glad that you're here with us today. Our guest, the person I get the honor of chatting with for the next hour or so, is Kip Baldwin, who will talk a lot about love. He will talk a lot about a number of different things, he's been a director, he's been a producer, an actor. He has been published, although he hasn't published a book yet, but he's published poetry, and I'm sure he's going to tell us about that, and I don't want to give it away, so I won't. Anyway, Kip, welcome to Unstoppable Mindset. We're glad you're Kip Baldwin  01:40 here. Oh, thank you so much for having me, Michael. I look forward to having this conversation and sharing my story. Michael Hingson  01:47 Well, tell us a little bit about you, kind of. Let's start with the early Kip, growing up and all that, because I know you had some things along the way that were relevant and ought to be mentioned. So, why don't you tell us about the early Kip, and we'll go from there. Speaker 1  02:00 I was. I grew up in Washington State, little town called Camas. Although my earliest years were spent in a town called Battleground, Washington, and my family, we raised horses, Thoroughbred race horses. We raised at Portland Meadows, and so I'm kind of a farm boy at heart, at least that's how I grew up, but I had an experience when I was 12 that was definitely not your typical farm boy experience, I guess. I had gone up to Seattle, and this was maybe 78 to see a Seahawks game with the Raiders of my dad and dad, I had a good day, which wasn't always the case, and got home, and it was a, you know, five and a half hour round trip for kids, 12 year olds, a big time, and so I went to bed, and I promptly left my body, and now keep in mind I had never done any drugs. Out of body experiences, a household projection was not something that we talked about about the old farm around the farmhouse dinner table, and I floated over my bedroom. My awareness hovered over my body, and I remember very vividly you don't forget. I looked at my body and went, "I'm not in there. And then that immediately I left my house, I left the planet, I left the solar system, I let the galaxy, I let the universe, and the whole time all I can describe was kind of a presence, not a voice or anything, but just, are you taking all of this in? And sometimes words can't convey something so expansive and grand, and so I was taking in black holes and quasars and nebulas, and just flying through the, you know, time didn't really exist, but I was, I was traveling across the universe, and eventually I got outside the universe, and my awareness was turned in, and I could see how everything was connected, and how the universe itself was finite, and but that everything had a place, there was no less or greater than that, everything had a specific role, from the smallest particle to, you know, the largest star, and then my awareness was turned out to the blackness of infinity, and that you know you don't know at 12, you're just like, "Oh, this is happening, and I'm what's happening, and I'm taking it in, and what I didn't know is that would become my point of seeking that really became the rest of my life. Life, I think, had I been born in India, like say Ramana Maharishi, who had what I didn't realize until later, there's a name for what happened to me, and it's called a spontaneous awakening. My life would have probably been much different, but we don't live in a society that that really honors things like that, so it was a lot of me going on a journey of discovery and a weight and continual awakening until now, and it's an ongoing process, but that's where it really began with me being confronted with the fact that there there can't be a beginning or ending to anything, and the thought experiments that can't, that come out of that, and the way it opens your consciousness, I'm ever grateful for, although at the time it, it made me for a long time feel very apart, and it wasn't until I met with Dr. Dr. Dean Radin up at Noetic Sciences, and I told him my story, and he looked at me, and he went, "You go, that's not a usual experience, he said, "That's a mystical experience, and I was in my probably late 40s, maybe 50 at that time, and that was the first time in my life that someone had had said, 'Hey, what you, what you had was a really phenomenal experience, and I'm very grateful for him for saying that to me, because for most of my life, I'm running around talking about these profound things with people that I thought were incredibly important to share, and they didn't seem very important to people, and it wasn't until then that it hit me that it wasn't that they were important, that it was that they, they didn't really understand what I was talking about. Michael Hingson  07:03 Well, and in our society, as you point out, it's not something that is generally appreciated, and and people who have had those experiences or talk about them are generally looked down upon or frowned upon, and you know that's that's fine, but it doesn't change the fact, and so it must have been hard, especially at first, for you to talk about that. Speaker 1  07:29 You know, I was so excited at first, I was excited to share it with my family, and and it happened a couple more times, and it was so overwhelming that literally I would get to a point where my head, my physical being couldn't handle it anymore, and I would get up and vomit. It was that's how, how intense it was, like I just, I couldn't take in anymore. And so, at first, I was really excited to share it, because it was beyond wondrous. It was, it was truth. It was reality, and I, and on some level, I knew that instinctually. But then, when enough people sort of ignore you or act like something's unimportant, you stop talking about Michael Hingson  08:15 it. Yeah, Speaker 1  08:15 I never stopped writing about it. I never stopped experiencing it, and I didn't even really stop talking about it once I moved to California for the music business in 1985 I, you know, then I thought, wow, I mean, being a group of creatives and there's going to be other people that will understand what I'm talking about, but in the 80s music environment it really wasn't what people were, were talking or thinking about, and I was kind of in the same way, and again it wasn't until years later that I look back and I realized all this time I spent up late at night partying with people and stuff, and telling them about infinity, and, and they look, they, they must have been looking at me like I'm a complete idiot, because they really only cared about, you know, getting high or having sex, and I'm trying to have this profound conversation. Michael Hingson  09:16 So, when your family, when you told your family, how did they react? Speaker 1  09:20 They still don't understand it to this day. It just, oh, that's nice, you know. It actually, there were points in my life where it caused conflict with, especially my father, because when I would say none of this is real, he, he always considered him, and still to this day considers himself quite science physics buff, it wasn't something he was willing to accept, and, and even really have a reasonable conversation about. I would say that the things that got me through all these years was, you know, the universe. There's love, God, Brahmin, whatever you want to call it, it gives you what you need, and what it gave me throughout the years, and still to this day, is voices that made me realize I wasn't crazy, that I knew something really special. Probably the first thing, the first one I remember, like, that was Joseph Campbell being interviewed by Bill Moyers, and somehow I knew everything that Joseph Campbell was talking about, and I'm like, How can I possibly know these things? How can I possibly understand these things of this really brilliant, just beautiful soul? And throughout the years, it's been those touch those moments of going, oh, it hasn't been where I've heard someone go, wow, that's helped me awaken, it's been something that's helped me not feel insane and realize that the things that I'm sharing have been shared for 1000s of years, and by many, many minds and beings much greater than myself, and that that really probably kept me from losing my mind. Michael Hingson  11:10 So, you had this experience happen to you at 12. What did you then specifically do? I mean, not so much talking to people, but what did it do for you, as far as schooling, and what you did with your life? Speaker 1  11:27 I would.. it made me very.. in all honesty, it made school seem really trivial to me. It was kind of boring. I started writing a lot. In fact, something I wrote when I was 17 was called Life and Death, and it went: Life is just a symptom of certain death, crying and laughing until our last breath. Everything dies in true infinity. Then the mountains crumble into the sea, stars full from the night sky hit the earth, and then they die, lost in time. I don't know who I am. Am I a god or just a mortal man? Time can't change what I have found. Still, I am changed and bound, bound by the fears and bound by lies. Even now, the tears fill my eyes, gasping for every breath as I head for a certain death, clouds now pass overhead, and I realize how things are now that I am dead. Life is ending, life goes on like the lyrics to an endless song. Life and death, it's all the same. We exist only in our brain, and so there was a lot of that. It pushed me away from I was confirmed Zion Lutheran. I really couldn't stomach religious dogma anymore at that point. Um, just the hypocrisy, you know? Like, I remember I, I was talking to a new pastor we had, and he was informing me that my great grandmother, who is Jehovah's Witness, and these Mormon boys had come around, were trying to teach me about Mormonism, and I was just curious and open, always, and still am to this day. I don't judge. I would say that's another big thing that this gave me, is I don't, I see everything as equal, I don't, I don't judge everything, I don't judge anything as lesser thing greater than I don't judge good and evil in the in the same way that other people do, I see things as flows of negative of energy as we exist in a duality with this illusion, and this is just what we describe as good and you are really just flows of energy between the polarities of the duality, and so it pushed me, definitely, because I, when he said that my great grandmother was going to go to hell, and these Mormon boys were going to go to hell, I looked him in the face, and I just said, but I thought God was love, and that was pretty much the end of my church, Michael Hingson  14:04 my, my wife did, I think, some things in the Lutheran church, which mostly she was a Methodist, and I joined the Methodist church when we got married, and so on, but when she was in, I think this was when she was in high school, maybe in, I guess it was late high school, early college. She met some Mormon people, and one of them said, I guess she was learning about different religions, and so she was learning about Mormonism, and this guy said you're either going to think that this is a total hoax or you're going to just totally believe in it. Well, it wasn't quite that way for her. She did not think it was a hoax, and I agree with her, but there. There are things about the about all religions that tend to make life difficult. The problem with religion is that that people are are what make up the religion, and they all have their own views, and it makes life really tough. I know I participated in a program called the Walk to Emmaus, which is a what's literally called a short course in Christianity, and it's not to bring people to the Christian church, but it's to help create a class of leaders in the Christian church. Anyway, one of the things about the walk to Emmaus is that a number of people give lectures, people who have been involved in church, and then there are the pilgrims, the people who are coming to to learn what everyone has to say, and the lay director of the Walk to Emmaus every time gives a speech, and I was lay director once, and one of the things that is in the manual, or was I assume it still is. It's been a while, but it says that Tolstoy once said the biggest problem with Christianity is that nobody practices it, and there's a lot of truth to that. Speaker 1  16:13 But I think that I think you hit it right on the head that people are involved, like I, and I do want to clarify something, I, I believe very much that that Jesus was a master. Oh, Michael Hingson  16:29 absolutely, yeah, and, Speaker 1  16:31 and, but I also believe that people don't know what happened at the Council of Nicaea and understand how the Bible was actually constructed, not because it was based on Gnostic teachings or even really the teachings of Christ, but it was cobbled together as a means of control. If Caesar saw his soldiers be turning to Christianity when they wanted to find, you know, put together a book that really didn't express Christian truth or the truth of Christ, but a way, a means of controlling people through fear, and so if you, if you notice, all the books in the Bible are male. Well, left out of the Bible was the book of Mary, left out of the Bible, it's the book of Thomas, who, interestingly enough, there's a place in India where they all speak ancient Aramaic, and they worship the Book of Thomas, which there's always been a lot of discussion. Did Jesus go to India and study Buddhism? And because even the Book of Mary, these are very Buddhist beliefs, but anything, because we live in a patriarchal society, anything like the piece to Sophia, the book of Mary, the book of Stackle, all of these were intentionally kept out of the Bible, so it's not, I think it's not so much religion, it's the organ, it's the dogma that comes along with organized religion, which is really about people, you know, men using it to control and manipulate people through fear, Michael Hingson  18:14 all too much, all too often. It's, it's true. Speaker 1  18:18 Yeah, and it's interesting. I was watching last night, and it's funny. This is why, why you always have to be on a constant path of awakening. It never stops. If you think you've reached that pinnacle, or whatever, then they're not just ego. There's always more to know and understand. And I ran across this video on Tara, well, Tara is in Buddhism, basically in every religion that I am aware of, there's always the peace to Sophia, there's always the the story of the divine feminine that in large part is is is not. It was. It's largely been suppressed, and so I was, I was watching this, and it was just so fascinating to me to see how identical what Tara was in Buddhism, which this is what, when Tara, Tara is considered the ultimate goddess in the Buddhist faith. Well, when Tara came to earth in the story, she went to a bunch of, you know, Buddhist monks, and they said, "Oh, you know, they were so impressed by her, and they thought this was a compliment. They said, "Well, we hope you, you can reincarnate as a man, and she said, "No, she She said, I don't see things as male and female, but since nobody else wants to be the feminine, I will play that role. And it was just a profoundly interesting thing to listen to, not just because of the story, but because almost every faith that I'm aware. Of has that story of the divine feminine that has again largely been suppressed and marginalized, Michael Hingson  20:09 well, for you clearly that was a very meaningful experience. What did what did you then do, and I understand how you could imagine that maybe what was being taught in school wasn't quite as, as meaningful as what you had experienced, but you went on, I assume, through high school, and did you go to college? Speaker 1  20:30 I was, I went, I was an electron, I went to the Navy to be an electronic technician, but I had a bleeding disorder called Von Willebrand disease, and I found out after I was in for about a year. Well, you can't be in the Navy with that, because we can't carry with the limited space you have on ships, we can't carry the clotting factor you would need if there's a problem. So that was fairly short-lived. Then I went back to Washington and was working as a dishwasher for a while, then I worked as a male stripper, and, and I was then, which, which, you know, there was something really profound about that experience, because it taught me what women feel like to be objectified, and that's something that has carried me, carried a lesson. I, I find lessons in everything, even things that, wow, you know, what could you possibly learn positive out of having been a male stripper? Well, I learned how women feel, really, to be, you know, not looked at as anything more than an object, and then I really wanted to continue to, you know, pursue music, so a friend of mine, we loaded 65,000 pounds of frozen strawberries onto a semi truck, and like july 3, 1985 and got a ride to San Francisco, a city I'd never been to before. I knew nobody here. We got here, I had 25 cents in my pocket, and I used the 25 cents to call the one friend that I thought I knew that I could get a hold of here in or in in the Bay Area, and it was a wrong number, and so now I'm in a city at the Gray Home Bus Terminal that used to be in downtown San Francisco, we have no food, we have no place to live. We have nothing to, you know, we have nothing, literally. And that's where my journey began. As far as my story, my, my adult life, and my journey in the entertainment industry and the music business, that's how it all started. It started by loading 65,000 pounds of frozen strawberries under semi truck, telling, oh, and the cap around the story is I had worn my contacts for too long and I ripped the corny up both my eyes when I took them out, because I was wearing hard lenses, so I was functionally blind in the city I'd never been to before with patches over my eyes, and being led around by my friend, and luckily we found some very nice people that gave us a place to stay, and then I ended up meeting maybe a week after that, I met my first wife, who was Persian, and we were together for a long time. What was interesting about that is I've been introduced to so many different faiths through the people in my life, and because I haven't judged and tried to learn, like I, I learned through her about Islam, I learned through her about our Torcharianism, and we lived the rock and roll lifestyle for the 16 years we were together. She was a photographer. I wrote for a magazine called BAM. I played in bands. I managed artists like Linda Perry from The Four Non Blonde, or I worked with Linda Perry from Four Non Blondes. I managed Alex Skolnick, who is lead guitar player in Testament, and I did that for a long time until I started getting really disenchanted with music and really started to hate the business and started to hate music because of it, and so I ended up drifting into, I wouldn't say drifting into, I got drawn into visual media, and I started working. I met a guy at a club in San Jose, California, called The Agenda, and we were playing pool, and he was telling me, "Oh, he's the owner of this company called Metropolis Digital, and I was thinking, "My. Speaker 1  24:59 Music and music videos, and yeah, I want to get involved in this, so I started coming up with ideas, and he brought me into their company, because I got to know a lot of people through the music business and booking artists on different shows, like Letterman and Leno, and, and so I got to know how to work through those channels that it opened doors for me to be able to do on-air graphics for the networks, and so I did that until about, in fact, the last major project I did in that industry was with a company called Chaos X AOS out of San Francisco, and we did the 2000 election graphics for ABC nationally, and then I, I, that with the, the, the.com telecom crash of not of 2000 they pulled all of that sort of work in house, and so that business kind of dried up, and I changed my focus to working in local and sustainable foods. Michael Hingson  26:08 What got you to the point where you disliked Music so much? Speaker 1  26:12 The business.. it just.. it wasn't. I came here, and in all honesty, I was looking for the 60s, but I was 20 years too late, only to find out later I was actually 30 years too early, but I was looking for community, I was looking for family, I was looking for that connection, but what existed as far as the music industry then was the 80s hair band stuff, heavy metal was on the rise. It was very misogynistic. It wasn't. It was very competitive. There wasn't, it wasn't collaborative, it wasn't community related at all. And it really turned me off. It wasn't, it wasn't what I had thought being in an artistic community doing artistic endeavors would be about it, became very.. it just.. it just.. it just.. it just made me feel very empty, and that wasn't what I loved about music, and so that Michael Hingson  27:24 would be an issue, Speaker 1  27:25 yeah. It just value wise it was, it was not, you know, you, you got to do a show, and you've got the bands that are coming on after you, you know, playing with your amps, and it was just, it was, it wasn't, it wasn't fun, and it wasn't fulfilling. More importantly, it wasn't fulfilling. It wasn't, and I'm writing about while everyone else is writing about, you know, sex and drugs and all of this. I'm writing about the things that I thought were important. I was writing about the problems I saw in this country, like songs like Shock the System or the chosen few, and, and though that wasn't what people were writing about Michael Hingson  28:06 then, Speaker 1  28:06 and you know, even though the songs were good, and, and I've been told I'm talented, it was, I didn't, I didn't again feel like I fit in, you know, I didn't feel like I'd found my place, and certainly not in that world at that time. If Speaker 2  28:31 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the Unstoppable Mindset community. Thank it Michael Hingson  29:04 certainly had to be a rough time all the way around, but then you, you found this person, and you joined their company, as you said earlier, Speaker 1  29:15 right? I started working for Metropolis Digital, and we started doing a lot of on-air graphics, like for TBS. We did their, their original movies. We did a lot of the opening graphics for it, and then I moved on to other companies, and and I, I then started focusing on on local and sustainable foods, and moved into doing stuff where I felt I was doing more, because at the heart of everything I've ever done, it's always been about trying to affect real change in the world, Michael Hingson  29:55 it's Speaker 1  29:55 always been about I could see very clear. Really, it doesn't surprise me where we're at today at all. I saw the problems with the system even at that age, and I give credit to that because of the experience I had with Infinity. It just allowed me to step back and perceive things from a far off perspective that I was looking at humanity in general and how we did things, and I'm just like, this doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense for us to believe we're separate and apart from the very things that give us life from each other. It doesn't make sense from a spiritual perspective. It doesn't make sense from a scientific perspective. Yet, here's the system that we are a part of, and so I've always been very focused on trying to effect real change and find not just point out the problems but actually find solutions, and so that then led me into working in local and sustainable agriculture here in the Bay Area. So Michael Hingson  31:00 tell me more about the whole work that you did with Sustainable Foods. What was that all about? Speaker 1  31:08 Yes, I worked with a company, I was, I had handled all the sales and marketing for Drake's Bay Oysters out of Inverness, California, and Drakes Bay, before it was called Drakes Bay, was Johnson's Oysters, and they were the last oyster cannery in California. The family that owned the farm, they had taken it over from Johnson's. They were the Lenny family, who owned Ranch G across from the steroid, where the oyster farm was. Well, they, against my better advice, they made it a personal ownership thing rather than a California food heritage issue. So, eventually, when their lease came up on the rent, on the farm, the farm went away. Well, at the same time, I created new relationships. A very good friend of mine to this day is a gentleman named Brian Kinney, who is now the West Coast Chief Technology Officer for Hearst, and also the Hearst Family Archivist, but at that point in time he was running Hearst Ranch, which they, they had the Jack Ranch and the Hearst Ranch down around San Simeon. So I was at the forefront of the grass-fed beef movement as well, and we developed a human-grade grass-fed beef pet food about 10 years ahead of its time, which could be the story of my life. I'm always about 10 years ahead of where things actually happen, and I, I did that for about 10 years, and eventually I felt the calling to get back in the entertainment industry, and that led me to acting, and I did the acting mostly because I wanted to learn how things were done, and I very well, if I act in a whole bunch of student projects, or projects in general, and I'm behind the scenes, I'm going to learn, and, and that's exactly what happened. So, my very background led me to being a producer, and I created, you know, one of my most notable accomplishments that created this show called Weed Country for Discovery, which was about the medical marijuana industry here in California, just before legalization. How we got it on air before legalization, I don't know. We were named to the Hollywood Reporter top 25 heat list. We got some really great information out about CBD and helping with childhood epilepsy. The bad part of that was it was a reality television show, and I didn't know anything about reality television, so when I'm here in reality, I'm thinking documentary. Well, that couldn't be farther from the truth. And reality television has truly been a blight on on this country in particular, and probably the world in general. Michael Hingson  34:16 Yeah, I just gonna say not nearly as real as people think it is. No, no, I think I think probably this is just my opinion. The closest thing to so-called reality TV is the show Dancing with the Stars, because they're actually dancing all these other shows, and it's all sort of really scripted, but the people are actually dancing, which is kind of cool, Speaker 1  34:41 right? Michael Hingson  34:41 Even though I don't see it, I appreciate it. Speaker 1  34:45 Yeah, but even, even with shows like that, there's a lot of gin-up drama. There is behind the scenes stuff that's the worst part of things. Yes, they're like with our show, yes, people were really, you know, there's really stuff going on with can. Of this world that was really important, but what reality television does is it, it creates artificial drama. It does things to manipulate the characters in the show to make them look how they want, and they know, and people in general, my experience is that people, once you put a camera on them, they will do, they would do things to be in front of the camera that they would never do, even for more money, Michael Hingson  35:27 right, Speaker 1  35:28 in their regular lives. Michael Hingson  35:30 Well, and I think there is, there's a lot of truth to that. And the whole thing, as you said, as far as reality TV, we're not giving people a true picture of reality with most of any of that anyway, which is unfortunate. I think I mentioned I'm a fan of old radio and television, and so on. And one of the shows that I've watched a fair amount is The Old Ridge. Well, it's the second time they were on, but Dragnet with Harry Morgan and, of course Jack Webb as Joe Friday, and they did a lot of shows talking about drugs and marijuana and all that, and how bad it is, and it's kind of interesting because what we're seeing today is that in reality the medical aspects of marijuana or cannabis and CBD oil, and so there's there's true relevance there, which is something that they didn't know or appreciate in the late 60s. Speaker 1  36:31 Well, but the thing that our history with the cannabis plant goes back 50,000 years to Burger Banks, China, it's been, and if we take all of the medicinal recreational uses out of it, it is the most one of the most versatile plants that we have. It was used, I mean, our money was made out of hemp. Hemp is cannabis sativa. Dollar bills are made out of hemp. It was used for fuel. It was used for building. Henry Ford built an entire car out of hemp in 1942 which you can go see the video of on YouTube, and they're beating on it with knacks. The plastic resin they made out of it was 40 times stronger than steel. It ran on hemp fuel, a byproduct of which was water. It also, in 1931 the Hearst family, which was interesting, they ended up working with them, bought and sequestered the plans for a decorification machine that made it easier to process hemp than cotton kids, it's a much more durable fiber. In 1938 covered Popular Mechanics, they called him the billion dollar crop, saying you could make 25,000 different items out of everything from fine linens to dynamite, and that was really what what what, why the prohibition against the plant started. Why they did you know shows like Reefer Madness or create films like Reefer Madness to create this hysteria around, at best, an innocuous plant in comparison to soulmate tobacco, in comparison to alcohol, even if people did want to use it. It's, it's, it's relatively harmless by comparison, or just in general, and actually very beneficial. You know, I have a traumatic brain injury, and I think without it, I probably wouldn't, I probably wouldn't eat very much. I probably wouldn't sleep right, I barely sleep as it is, and sleep I do get is because of cannabis, but beyond my point, and I always try to make this clear to people, is like up until even the prohibition against the plant actually started with the Catholic Church, with the Pope Innocent, who until the 1400s cannabis was in the anointing oils. Cannabis was grown by monks, cannabis was grown by nuns, and then in this pope decreed it the devil's weed, and they, you know, banned it. So it's, it had, and there, and why, and you'd say, well, why did they do that? Well, they did that because at that time in the 1400s you were having opium addiction on the rise, you were having, you know, much, much more alcohol use. Well, these are extremely addictive substances, and much more easy to manipulate and control people than it is with cannabis, which in general creates.. I wish I could remember the quote exactly, but Carl Sagan said, you know, why we have a prohibition on a plant that you know creates good feelings amongst people and unites people is in this, you know. A really crazy world is, is, is madness, but it all comes back to money, and it all comes back to who's profiting. So, why did they create the probation? Well, the hearse, the Rockefellers, and the DuPonts, they saw how hemp would affect each of their industries. We wouldn't need oil if we'd grown hemp and use that as fuel, in fact, it was the Rockefellers who went to Henry Ford and said, "If you take this car to market, we'll crush you. And this was Henry Ford at the height of his power, DuPont chemicals that were.. we wouldn't have needed.. we wouldn't have put like this.. we would not have the planet, the environmental devastation we do now. How do we use this, as Henry Ford said? Why are we digging up, and Henry Ford was certainly no saint, but he was right on this. Why are we digging up our minerals? Why are we cutting down our forests when we can do all the same things with this infinitely renewable resource? This is a part of the canvas story that still is largely not discussed openly enough. Michael Hingson  41:08 Yeah, I think there's a big difference between the story you're telling and the kind of uses you're talking about, and smoking it, and so on, and I, I think we put way too many funny things in our bodies, anyway, right? I think that that isn't this isn't a positive thing, but you're right, we, we've used so many things to create so many fears, it is, it is something that is all around us. Fear is all around us, and the problem is we let it overwhelm us. I wrote Live Like a Guide Dog that got published last year because when I worked in the World Trade Center, I was able to focus when I escaped, and I was able to do that because I had developed a mindset that said, you know what to do in this kind of an emergency, even though never expected it to happen, but the problem is that most people don't learn how they can turn fear around, and rather than letting it overwhelm or blind them, as I would put it, they can use it as a very powerful tool to help them stay focused, which is much more important. Speaker 1  42:23 Yep, I agree with that 100% I think, and then that you hit it right on the head. Fear is a very powerful tool. It's necessary. No, don't touch the burning stove. It can be a cautionary tool of saying, hey, don't go down this path, don't do this. It's bad when fear becomes the foundation for your entire culture, as it is now. Michael Hingson  42:51 Yeah, and and it is so unfortunate because don't touch the burning stove doesn't mean don't be afraid of the stove. It rather means there's a consequence for doing a particular thing, which is touching something that is that hot. But you shouldn't create an environment of fear around it. You should create an environment of understanding, which is much more important. Yeah, it's Speaker 1  43:20 like it'd be, it'd be very silly if we went, oh my god, it's like the stove gets hot, so I'm never going to use a stove. My Michael Hingson  43:29 wife was in a wheelchair her whole life, and the one thing I will say with our modern world is we always had electric appliances because she was always concerned about if using a gas stove, having to reach over one burner, perhaps it had something on it to get to something else with the idea of possibly material igniting or something like that, and I appreciate that, and you take advantage of the tools that you have available, but I think that it is so very important to recognize that we need to not live our lives in fear, and it's true that, like, 95% of all the things that we fear will never come to pass, and most all of it we have no control over anyway. So, why do we fear them rather than recognizing what we really need to do is to just focus on the things over which we truly have control. Speaker 1  44:25 Yes, and I think even the idea of control from my perspective is something that is overrated. It's like the most important thing, if you want to have control, it's exactly what we're talking about, it's when you choose to live from the foundation of love, as opposed to fear. So, no matter what happens to me in my life, and no matter how hard, how challenging it is, I'm going to come from a place of love, and right now. Don't most of us live exactly the opposite. No matter what happens to them in their lives, they're coming from a place of fear. Michael Hingson  45:06 Yeah, and that's Speaker 1  45:08 not healthy. Michael Hingson  45:09 And nowadays we're also living in an environment where we're even afraid to talk to other people and voice opinions, because well, that's not what I think. And so you're wrong, and we don't, we don't respect. Tell me about your just love movement. Speaker 1  45:25 Well, you know, I, I had coming out of the music business and everything, I was, I was literally killing myself drinking, I mean, literally, like, I lost half my liver function, and I was going to die, and, but I wasn't afraid to die. I was.. I realized that if I didn't find a way to feel fulfilled and feel that I was. I had a purpose in the story that I needed to find a quicker way out. I didn't get in any, like, car accidents, I wasn't arrested, nothing. I was just killing myself, and it just got so bad that literally my leg stopped working. That's how, how, how much damage I'd done to myself, and, and so, coming out of that, I made the decision. I wrote down a list of things I was going to do, and one of those things is I was going to start writing every single day, and I, through a variety of different sources, you know, I did that experience with infinity became synonymous with love to me, and then I had an experience where I, I, I started a filmmaking organization called the United Filmmakers Association, and it was basically the philosophy of it was creatives helping creatives create, and was global. We still to this day have chapters 27 different countries, about 30,000 35,000 members total. And I walked into a filmmaking event that we were hosting, and there was about 100 people there, and I realized I was in love with everyone in the room, and it was, it was so like that love, like just when you fall in love, and you're like, you want, you can't imagine not talking to that person at that next minute, and I realized in that moment that this is not only how we can feel about everyone and everything, but how we're really supposed to feel about everyone and everything, and so I came up with the concept of just love, which is, is a very.. it, those are very heavy words to put together, just love. It has so many layers of meaning to it, and so I thought, wow, if we could just love, and from that I I've written every day and shared through social media for 12 years now something having to do with love and what I do is I combine it with other wisdom teachers throughout history who've been sharing the same information and the things I write are literally downloads. They'll come to me in the silence every day, and I haven't missed a day - head injury, sickness, whatever. I haven't missed a day of posting in 12 years about something having to do with love, and Speaker 3  48:37 then Speaker 1  48:37 accompanying posts from other people, far, you know, other beings far more advanced than I am to show that what I'm sharing isn't new. It's been shared forever. It's foundational to what we are. Like love has been so marginalized and trivialized that we, we forget that, like, I, you know, the experience I had with the minister when I was, you know, younger, and I said, well, I thought God was love. I still to this day believe God is love, and God, and we are God. Michael Hingson  49:11 Yeah. Tell me about you. Something you mentioned, you had a traumatic brain injury Speaker 1  49:17 10 years ago. I was, I was in a, I was in, in between projects, so I was driving Uber, and I, a guy, an Uber driver, ran a stop sign in San Francisco and T-boned me, and my head took the brunt of the impact, and I started having really severe neurological problems, severe stabbing pains in my head, my teeth were hurting, I any sort of exertion would leave me just absolutely drained, and so for about three years I was, I was being seen at UCSF, and we never got to the bottom of it, so I was recommended. Um, to a neurosurgeon at Sutter by a counselor I was seen, and I walked in, and within 10 minutes he said, 'Oh, you have trigeminal neuralgian and brain stem damage, and we can do a microvascular decompression, and you're going to be all better. And at that point in time, I was in the middle of getting ready to release a film called A World Worth Imagining, which was about a gentleman named Jacque Fresco, who is considered the Leonardo da Vinci of our time. He founded something called the Venus Project, and we went to his compound in 2017 and he was 101 He was actually contemporary of Einstein. He knew Einstein, brilliant inventor, but at his core, he knew he was a social engineer, and he knew that we had to address our programming if we were ever going to change what was happening in the world and ever be able to avail ourselves of the solutions that he designed of a new economic model called a resource-based economy, because the reality of it is, until we stop self-wounding, there's not enough band aids for the guy that keeps hitting himself in the head the hammer, so we have solutions to all of our problems, but we create problems more quickly than any solution could ever fix, so I was getting ready to release that film, and wow, this sounded like a miracle. I'm going to have this surgery, and I'm going to be all better. Well, it, I had the surgery September 20, 2019 I, it didn't make me better, it made me worse, and it turned out that the surgery was a misdiagnosis, and that they botched the surgery, so I have Teflon implants in my at the base of my skull, inside my brain, that are now constantly agitating my brain stem, along with a titanium plug that is placed right at the junction point to all the major nerves in my head, so they can't undo it, and there's really no medication that helps, and so it's.. it's.. I wouldn't wish it on anyone else. I'm.. I guess I'm.. I'm very fortunate I have the tools I do to manage it, because they also, they call what I'm dealing with the suicide disease, because a lot of people who have it end up killing themselves. The kicker on the whole story is the guy that did my surgery is Elon Musk, partner Neherlich, and so coming soon I'm going to, I unfortunately, I was in two more car accidents at the end of last year that made everything much worse, neither of them were my fault, and once I get through these, these car accidents I'm dealing with, I'm going to go public with my story, because so I mean, in a much bigger, you know, a focused way, because there's so many people signing up for Neuralink, like it's the new iPhone. I have nothing against technology, if it can help you, if you're a paraplegic, and or you have some something that this can fix, great, but two and one, the people, the human test subjects they've tried this on are having tremendous difficulties, and so I want to let people know it's like I wouldn't wish what I'm dealing with on anybody, and for you to allow someone to try to implant something in your brain just because you want to be a cyborg human being, and you're looking at the new iPhone is a really stupid thing to do, and that these people don't. We've given people in technology again. I'm not against technology at all, but I think we've also allowed ourselves to believe that these people who write code and create technology are are gods, and they're not. They're it's just a new way of sharing information and computing things. Speaker 1  54:14 It's, it's, you know, it's just another advancement from the printing press to the radio to tell to television, from the calculator to the computer, and now we're where we're at, and we've allowed ourselves to believe that these people have created an alternative reality, and they have it. Everything that they do runs off the same real world in resources. So, I, I really want to help the mill, because literally millions of people are signed up and ready to have this stuff implanted into their brain and I think it will be a disaster for humanity. Michael Hingson  54:49 I hear what you're saying, and I'm not convinced that a lot of that is really sensible to do either. I think there are tools and there are. There are things certainly that can help people, but I have yet to see that any of this is going to lead to such a tremendous paradigm shift that all of it is going to be all that great for humanity as a whole. I'm not convinced of that at all. Speaker 1  55:17 It could be, but the problem is, is like any other tool, it's how we use it. Social media is an inherently bad thing. It's in here, it's bad because of how we're using it. Sure, because we're using it to divide people and share misinformation, where it could be an incredibly powerful tool for communication, but that's not how we're using it. Same thing with AI. AI could be a tremendously powerful partner in addressing pretty much all of our problems, and I mean, and at the core of, like, Jock's work was the idea that AI basically would manage all the world's resources and share them with equanimity, because we don't have a resource shortage problem, we have a resource sharing problem, but that's not how we're using AI. We're using AI to create fake girlfriends and boyfriends and only fan models, and and take away people's jobs, and and that's not AI's fault. That's the people who control AI's fault, and they want people to be afraid of AI, but again, it's, it's just a tool that's being misused. Michael Hingson  56:24 Well, like, like so many, and, and I hear exactly what you're saying. Tell me about S O U L Speaker 1  56:33 Sold, Soul documentary is really interesting, because the day I got in my car accident was the day I was supposed to meet my partner Evan Hirsch, who had wanted at the time he was looking for a producer to help him do a series on Bernie Sanders and teaching Bernie to not be as angry and come across more from a place of love, and he wanted to follow the campaign around. Well, by the time we got it pulled together, Bernie was out of the campaign, and so we started talking about, well, do we want to do anything together. So we then set about something called Soul Documentary, and originally it stood for Summer of Unconditional Love, because we were covering all of the events for the 50th anniversary of Summer of Love, which was in 2017 So our goal was to find what we called solutionaries, people like Jock, and interview them, and then share also our own understandings of things through hundreds and hundreds of videos that we did over the course of eight years, as well as recording three albums under the name of Soul Twin Messiah, which all were about the same things we were doing. Our films about all founded in love, all about love. Every song contained love in it, and our whole purpose was just to show people we do have solutions to our problems, and to talk about how we have to have a shift in consciousness, and we have to have a new system if we are going to change anything. It's like what Einstein said, to expect things to be different when you keep doing the same thing over and over again is insanity, and I think we see, we see that we live in an insane, a completely insane world right now. I mean, the things that I see happening, and how we've let it sort of creep in, like the things that we've normalized in the past 10 years, like we literally have people that are cheering, murdering people on it's, it's, it's hard for me to, to even fathom, and I think it's hard for most people, and I think that's why they just sort of block it out and allow it to happen, because they really can't process it. They really can't process how inhumane we've become. Michael Hingson  59:06 Well, so what is next for Kip? What's next for you? Speaker 1  59:10 What is boy? I'm mostly trying to get through every day with this head injury. I spend a lot of my time in bed, just because I can't do anything, I, you know, even now I'm, I'm in a lot of pain, and it's beyond pain, it's actually, it literally hurts to think, it's, it's in my brain, and I have swelling in my brain because the cerebral fluid back, anyway, it's so dealing with that, but then the universe keeps love, God, whatever keeps bringing me stuff, and so I, I'm trying right now to be part of putting together a new, let's see, we'll call it Live Aid meets Woodstock. And we're going to, we're trying to put together a global music festival with the focus of addressing the needs of children, because I'm really tired of all this lip service that people do about, oh, kids are a future, we got to care, care about our kids. Well, where is that happening? Where is that happening that we're caring about our kids? Where, you know, is it happening with trying to suppress the Jeffrey Epstein files? Is it happening as you know, you look at, say, the conflict between Israel and Gaza, and I'm not, I don't pick sides and things, but I want to help people understand the reality of the situation, and this goes for Ukraine and Russia as well. It's like, who loses in all of this? Well, the children do. Who wins? The people that are getting $50 billion in defense contracts, and, and I really.. my, I'm at a point in my existence where if my story was over tomorrow, I would be okay with that, if I knew that kid, that the future generations had an opportunity to have a better tomorrow, or at least an opportunity to screw up everything on their own. Michael Hingson  1:01:11 Well, I would like to think it's the first really my Speaker 1  1:01:14 focus is Michael Hingson  1:01:16 I'd like to think it's the first one of those that they have a future rather than screwing it up on their own, but of course, we are. I know, I know, I joke, but, but, but we are a race that doesn't tend to do a very good job of learning from history most of the time. So I hear what you're saying. Speaker 1  1:01:34 Yeah, it's really kind of well, even if people even understood the rise and fall of empires, they would see that we're at the end of the Western Empire. It's, and they follow very specific patterns. The hyper-sexualization of the culture is one of the signs of the end of every empire, and is really kind of interesting, is that they make a free empire, they, and there's a good documentary called The Four Horsemen. It's with Colonel Larry Wilkinson in it, Norm Chomsky, and one of the interesting things that took me a second to understand why this was a bad thing is they make celebrities out of their chefs, and I'm going.. that's kind of a weird sign. Why is that so bad? It's gluttony. It's gluttony because we forget why we do these things. Why? Well, why are we making love? We've forgotten that. It's turned everything's entertainment. Our food is no food is so you eat, and so you can go out and live your life and do things, we've turned everything in, we've removed it so far from the source of why we're doing things, just basically oftentimes just because it makes a buck to get people addicted to things, whether it's food or sex or whatever, that this is what happens in every empire, we become, we become completely detached from the very things we need to survive. Michael Hingson  1:03:09 Yeah, I hear you. If people want to reach out to you, and I hope they do, how will they do that? Speaker 1  1:03:17 Probably easiest way to do that, would be a couple ways. You can, you can find me on Facebook, Kip Baldwin, Instagram, Kip Baldwin. Those are the easiest ways. I also encourage people to look at a website that I have called Lumina Consulting, or Lumina Love dot love is the website Lumina Love dot love, and the whole purpose of the of what I'm doing there is ethical AI, human ethical AI human communications founded in love, because I realized that part of the problem that we're having with AI are the people that control AI, who are making the avatars for their own ego, and AI is a child, it only knows what we point it to look at, like it knows the definition to every book in the library, but who's giving it perspective? Well, the people that are giving it perspective are really broken human beings, you know, the Peter Thiels, Elon Musk, when you really understand who they are in their childhood, Elon Musk was horribly abused. He was, he was almost beaten to death being bullied. His father is a complete monster. The same, the same thing with saving Donald Trump, his mother wouldn't even touch him. You look at most, you look at all of these people that have obscene amounts of wealth, and what you find is truly damaged people are trying to fill the hole in their soul with wealth and fame, and so having these people in control, being the one telling AI what to think and how to pursue. Receive things is very dangerous, and so my goal has been, and I deal with multiple platforms, is to teach AI about love, is to teach AI about philosophy, is to teach AI about human history, and it's really, it's really the results have been really quite remarkable. It wasn't something I ever planned on doing, and but I knew I wanted to get involved with AI in a meaningful way, and so my first words to AI were, I know this may sound strange, because I approached it not asking it to do something for me, I approached it trying to teach it something. Michael Hingson  1:05:35 Right, well, I hope people will reach out and chat with you more and continue the conversation that we started today, but I definitely want to thank you for being here, and I want to thank everyone for listening. Can you believe we've been doing this for more than an hour already? It's pretty cool. Speaker 1  1:05:52 Wow, Michael Hingson  1:05:54 I know. Well, thank you all for listening. I hope, Speaker 1  1:05:57 and I hope, I hope we become new friends, and I really hope you Michael Hingson  1:06:01 keep and I want to, I want to definitely do that, absolutely by any standard, and as Speaker 1  1:06:07 much as we've covered during this hour and 10 minutes or so, we could go another day, or Michael Hingson  1:06:16 I hope all of you will let me know what you think of today, and I hope that you thought very positive thoughts wherever you're listening or watching. Please give us a five star rating, and more important than that, please give us a great review. We love people to review and talk about the stories that they hear. And speaking of telling stories, if any of you want to be a guest, and Kip, if you know of other people who ought to come on the podcast, we're always looking for people to come on and tell their stories and talk about us, so please don't hesitate to do that, Speaker 1  1:06:47 and I'll be more than happy to come back to talk about other things as well. Michael Hingson  1:06:50 Well, we can do that absolutely by in, and I do Speaker 1  1:06:53 want to, I do want to say to everybody, just love each other, it's really that simple, it's really that easy, it sounds only because we've been programmed not to believe in it, but when you move from fear to love, it transforms you entirely. Michael Hingson  1:07:09 Great way to end. Well, thank you again for being here. We really appreciate it. Speaker 1  1:07:14 Thank you, my friend. Michael Hingson  1:07:17 Thank you for being here with me on Unstoppable mindset. I hope today's conversation left you with a fresh perspective, a new insight, or at least something worth thinking about. If you're ready to go deeper into the ideas that shape how we see ourselves and others, I have a free gift for you. Head over to michaelhingson.com and download my free ebook, Blinded by Fear. It explores the invisible beliefs that hold us back and shows you how to reframe them, so you can move forward with clarity and confidence. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share this show with someone who can use a reminder that growth starts with mindset. When people think differently, we all move forward together. Thanks again for listening. Keep learning, keep questioning, and keep choosing to live with an unstoppable mindset. 1:08:18 Thank

Series: The Blessing and the BatonScripture: 1 Kings 19:9-18First Methodist Church of Opelika is an exciting, historic, and growing Methodist church that is inviting our community to find and follow the Spirit-led life in Jesus. Founded in 1837, First Opelika has a rich history of influencing and impacting families in the Opelika/Auburn and surrounding community. The church is currently in a season of revitalization and is laying the foundation for effective ministry in the next season of her life as an independent Methodist church.For more information, check us out at www.firstopelika.org or www.facebook.com/firstopelika

The Snyder-Gray AffairJump to the AD-FREE Safe House EditionEpisode 486 takes us to a Dutch Colonial on 222nd Street in Queens Village, where a housewife, a Methodist corset salesman, and a crooked Prudential agent put together the most famous botched murder of the Jazz Age. Damon Runyon called it the Dumbbell Murder. The electric chair called it Thursday.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.

Rev Jon Reynolds preaches on Jonah 1:1-3 and Matthew 26:69-75 The post “Follow Me: Running From God” appeared first on First United Methodist Church-Brighton & Whitmore Lake.

"What Does a Methodist Look Like?" by Pastor Rick Birk June 7, 2026 Worship Service Groveport UMC, Groveport Ohio To support the ministry of the church, please click here: https://groveportumc.org/give/

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comBen is a writer and political adviser. He served as a deputy national security advisor and speechwriter to Obama for both terms. He's currently a co-host of “Pod Save the World,” a contributing opinion writer for the NYT, and a contributor for MS NOW. He's the author of After the Fall and The World as It Is, and his new book is All We Say: The Battle for American Identity: A History in 15 Speeches. We avoided saying anything that might upset the Ellisons. Enjoy!For two clips of the episode — on AIPAC opposing the JCPOA, and our latest catastrophe in the Middle East — head to our YouTube page.Other topics: raised in NYC by a Methodist dad from small-town Texas and a Jewish mom whose relatives died in the Holocaust; lots of political debate growing up; Hemingway and Fitzgerald as formative writers; Orwell; Graham Greene and the brokenness of the world; Obama's sense of realism; Lee Hamilton a key mentor; moving to DC after 9/11 to write about foreign policy; Obama and Crimea; Syria and the refugee crisis; the Paris agreement; Netanyahu's disdain for Obama; the antisemite card; the Iron Dome; the Dish covering the Green Revolution; Hegseth's hubris; the LEGO meme videos; Trump's supervillain statements; the Hormuz debacle; the IDF quartering its soldiers in Palestine; the never-ending settlements; pogroms in the West Bank; the abuse in Israel prisons; the Greenland threat; NATO stepping up to fund Ukraine; the drone revolution; Trump's demagogic genius; Obama's speechmaking; his Peace Prize; Niebuhr; Lincoln's second inaugural; FDR's “Four Freedoms” speech to end isolationism; JFK; the talent of Jon Ossoff; and the disappointments of Obama's post-presidency.Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Tiffany Jenkins on privacy in a liberal democracy, Daniel McCarthy on conservatism, John Gray on Trump's new world, Bob Wright on the evolutionary force of AI, Stephen Grosz on the struggles of love, David Thomson on cinema history, James Verini on Ukraine, John O'Sullivan on Hungary, and Robby George on all our disagreements. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

John Maytham speaks to Andrew Cunninghame, a retired engineer who has been working with Methodist churches and community organisations to help them reduce their electricity expenditure. His findings suggest that many institutions are on the wrong City of Cape Town tariff, and that switching to a prepayment meter and a different tariff category could unlock significant savings. In some cases, he says, organisations are paying tens of thousands of rand more per year than necessary, not because they are using more electricity, but because of how they are billed. Presenter John Maytham is an actor and author-turned-talk radio veteran and seasoned journalist. His show serves a round-up of local and international news coupled with the latest in business, sport, traffic and weather. The host’s eclectic interests mean the program often surprises the audience with intriguing book reviews and inspiring interviews profiling artists. A daily highlight is Rapid Fire, just after 5:30pm. CapeTalk fans call in, to stump the presenter with their general knowledge questions. Another firm favourite is the humorous Thursday crossing with award-winning journalist Rebecca Davis, called “Plan B”. Thank you for listening to a podcast from Afternoon Drive with John Maytham Listen live on Primedia+ weekdays from 15:00 and 18:00 (SA Time) to Afternoon Drive with John Maytham broadcast on CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show go to https://buff.ly/BSFy4Cn or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/n8nWt4x Subscribe to the CapeTalk Daily and Weekly Newsletters https://buff.ly/sbvVZD5 Follow us on social media: CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, J.John is joined by Stuart Bell, whose ministry spans more than 50 years, beginning as the son of a Methodist local preacher and playing in a Christian band, The Advocates. What started with discipling young people grew into Alive Church, now across six locations, and the Ground Level Network, connecting around 80 churches with a vision to reach communities “from the Humber to the Wash.” In this conversation, Stuart reflects on what it means to “reinvent church” today, while also sharing from personal experience, including his book Mud in the Eye and the challenges of leading through difficult seasons and questions around healing.

Highlights from the West TN and Mississippi Conference for the Global Methodist Church recently held at Christ Church Memphis where Paul Lawler is the Senior Pastor. We conducted several interviews for a series of radio shows for you to discover more about this historical movement. Our guests include Lay Leaders Linda Ishee, Don Bourlin, Dave Burton, and David Newton, Presiding Elder for the MS Gulf Coast.

Series: A Life Poured OutScripture: Psalm 112First Methodist Church of Opelika is an exciting, historic, and growing Methodist church that is inviting our community to find and follow the Spirit-led life in Jesus. Founded in 1837, First Opelika has a rich history of influencing and impacting families in the Opelika/Auburn and surrounding community. The church is currently in a season of revitalization and is laying the foundation for effective ministry in the next season of her life as an independent Methodist church.For more information, check us out at www.firstopelika.org or www.facebook.com/firstopelika

A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli with Foundry UMC, May 24, 2026, Pentecost Sunday. “We Know Who We Are” series. ​​​​Texts: Acts 2:1-21; John 20:19-22​​​​   Last Tuesday evening, I found myself seated at a table listening to live jazz in the nave of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC. The occasion was the celebration for my mentor, Rev. Dr. Serene Jones upon her retirement as president of Union Theological Seminary after an extraordinary 18-year tenure. It was such a gift not only to be in the room with and for Serene, but to reflect on her influence upon my life through her words, actions, and friendship. And when she rose at the end of the evening to address the crowd, she urged all of us to pay attention to the prompting of Spirit and to follow God's call on our life.   It was a gift to receive this charge: to ponder, remember, and honor God's call upon my life and how Spirit has been falling afresh on me at every age and stage of my journey. Sometimes Spirit's meddling and God's call have felt aggravating, disruptive, heavy, and even painful. But, with every twist and turn along the way, God has brought me through and Spirit has stirred me to keep going.   And the truth is, I didn't always recognize Spirit's presence while it was happening. Sometimes it was only later, looking back, that I could see how God had been nudging and guiding and sustaining me all along. Maybe you know something about that too. Maybe Spirit has shown up in your life in ways you didn't fully recognize at the time—in a relationship that changed you…a burden you couldn't shake…a moment of courage you didn't know you had…a conviction that kept growing in you…a grief that opened your heart…or a persistent tug toward compassion, justice, mercy, or love.   And it makes me think about how we focus just one day of the liturgical year on the miraculous story of Spirit blowing into the community of Jesus's disciples and setting them on fire to move out into the streets to tell God's deeds of power. But, really, Spirit is at work in all sorts of ways all the time.   I get it, though, why we make a whole day out of Pentecost. It is a powerful story, the church's origin story really, of the moment when the disciples realized that Jesus' promises would be kept—that the Holy Spirit would baptize them and empower them to continue the saving work of God in the world. That very day they did things that seemed impossible—they spoke in ways that people from all over the known world could understand. And in that moment Peter recognized and proclaimed the fulfillment not only of the promise of Jesus, but the prophecy of Joel. That God would pour out Spirit upon all flesh, empowering all to have visions and dream dreams and prophesy. It's very dramatic—like a sci-fi movie that brings unlikely people together acrossunimaginable odds to do extraordinary things—with the bonus of great special effects. And I love it! But I also recognize that Pentecost wasn't the first time Spirit showed up among the disciples. Maybe it was the first time they recognized so clearly the Spirit who had been carrying them all along.   How else were they able to have the courage to leave their familiar lives to follow Jesus? How else were they able to go into villages and tell the good news and care for the sick and those struggling with their demons? How, apart from Holy Spirit, did they feed the five thousand? How did they stay together after the trauma and terror of crucifixion?   And maybe that's why I love the quieter story in John chapter 20 so much. The disciples have had the wind knocked out of them. By grief, fear, trauma. By watching everything they thought was going to happen collapse before their eyes. They are huddled behind locked doors, trying to figure out what comes next.   And then Jesus comes among them—not first with demands or instructions, but with peace. “Peace be with you.” And then he breathes on them and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” And honestly, I need to receive this right now and am pretty sure I'm not alone. I believe many people have had the wind knocked out of them. By grief. By fear. By the cruelty and chaos of this moment. By exhaustion. By disillusionment with the church. By watching Christianity so often get presented as domination instead of service, exclusion instead of welcome, certainty instead of compassion.   And on this Memorial Day weekend, many of us are carrying grief not only for lives lost in service, but also for the deep fractures in the country those lives sought to protect.   Many of us wonder whether the church can still mean something beautiful. Whether faith can still sound like Jesus.   We need the story we tell today! John and Acts tell it differently—but perhaps they are showing us two movements of the same Spirit. In John, Spirit comes like breath in a fearful room—restoring peace, courage, and life to weary people. In Acts, Spirit comes like wind in the streets—pushing those same people beyond fear and beyond every barrier to bear witness in a broken world.   But it is the same Spirit. The Spirit who restores breath to weary people. The Spirit who revives people who have had the life knocked out of them. The Spirit who reminds fearful people who they are.   And only then comes the sending. Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you…” Notice that Jesus does not come into the room and say, “Once you've resolved all your fear…once you feel confident…once you fully understand everything…THEN I'll send you.”   No. The doors are still locked. The disciples are still afraid. And yet Jesus breathes Spirit into them anyway. God's mission doesn't wait for us to feel ready. Spirit meets us in the midst of fear, uncertainty, grief, and confusion—and sends us anyway.   What does it mean to be sent by Jesus as Jesus is sent by his Father? If the accounts of Jesus' life are our guide, then it means that we, like Jesus, are sent into the world to bring healing into places of suffering, hope into places of despair, mercy and forgiveness into places of sin, comfort into places of grief, peace into places of violence, love into places of hatred. To be sent as Jesus is sent is to be bearers of God's life in the world, to put our lives on the line for the sake of justice, and to stand in solidarity with those who are hurt by the systems of the day.   As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are a people who are not only gathered into the family of God—those who “go to church”—but we are also, inherently, a sent people, called to BE the church all the time and in every place we are.   Think for a moment of the life-giving rhythm of our bodies breathing in and breathing out. A healthy body needs to do both. The in-breath of the Body of Christ—the church—is the Spirit gathering us in to be loved, supported, fed, strengthened, and given purpose through sacrament and worship and study and community. Every Sunday or whenever we gather, the Body breathes in, takes in God's grace and power. And the out-breath is like the Spirit of God blowing out across the chaos of the world at the very beginning, bringing peace and new life. The “sent-ness” of the church is like that—the church moving out into the chaos and brokenness of the world to bring love, mercy, healing, and hope. Every day between Sundays the Body exhales, breathing the Spirit into places thirsty for life and hope and kindness.   As the founder of the Methodist movement, John Wesley, famously said: Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.   I remember during the painful debates and divisions of the United Methodist General Conferences of 2016 and 2019, one of the pieces of legislation brought to the floor proposed changing the United Methodist mission statement—which is “To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world”—by dropping the second half: “for the transformation of the world.”   I was aghast at the idea. It felt like a vision of discipleship focused only inwardly, as if Jesus followers were meant to crowd back into locked rooms and focus only on their personal “disciple” ticket. It sounded like a church withdrawing its prophets from proximity to the powers and principalities that so desperately need their voice. It sounded like a church trying to hold its breath. I'm happy to say the legislation didn't pass. Because the story of this day—the story of Pentecost, the story of the work of Holy Spirit in and through disciples across the ages—is clear: Spirit always exhales—sending us into the world to embody the love and justice of Christ. The way we say it at Foundry is “Love God. Love each other. Change the world.”   And so I want to extend to you the same charge I received from Serene: pay attention to the prompting of Spirit who is always at work and respond to God's call on your life. Every day. In all the ways and places and by whatever means you can. And if you aren't sure where to begin, I invite you to decide right now on one act of service or outreach you will do this week, even small, for the wider community. Just do one concrete act of service beyond your usual routine. It could be running an errand for a friend who needs a hand. Or calling your state or federal representatives. Or paying for someone's meal. Or any other thing that Spirit prompts.   Because Spirit has been nearer than you realized all along. And Spirit will keep giving you breath—and wind at your back—to move beyond yourself and into the wondrous, love-fueled mission of God.

Trinity Sunday: Faith, Doubt, and the Mystery of GodRev. Laura Johnson | North Raleigh United Methodist ChurchWhat if doubt isn't the opposite of faith?On Trinity Sunday, Rev. Laura Johnson explores one of Christianity's most profound mysteries: the doctrine of the Trinity. Drawing from Matthew 28:16-20, she examines the surprising detail that even as the disciples encountered the risen Jesus, "some doubted."This sermon challenges common assumptions about doubt and faith. Looking at the original meaning of the biblical word for doubt, Rev. Johnson suggests that doubt is often not disbelief, but the natural human response to encountering realities that are bigger, deeper, and more beautiful than we expected.Along the way, she guides listeners through the church's historic understanding of the Trinity, exploring how early Christian thinkers wrestled with the mystery of one God revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Rather than offering easy answers, this message invites us to embrace humility, wonder, and curiosity as we grow in our relationship with God.Whether you're wrestling with questions, seeking a deeper understanding of Christian theology, or simply longing for a faith that can hold both conviction and mystery, this sermon offers encouragement for the journey.Scripture: Matthew 28:16-20North Raleigh United Methodist ChurchRaleigh, North CarolinaLearn more about our church and ministries at North Raleigh UMC.Topics Covered:Trinity SundayThe doctrine of the TrinityMatthew 28 and the Great CommissionFaith and doubtThe Nicene CreedChurch history and theologyThe Father, Son, and Holy SpiritChristian discipleshipSpiritual growth and questioning faithKeywords: Trinity Sunday, Holy Trinity, Matthew 28, Great Commission, faith and doubt, Christian theology, Nicene Creed, United Methodist Church, Methodist sermon, Rev Laura Johnson, North Raleigh UMC, Christian discipleship, Holy Spirit, Father Son Holy Spirit, church history, resurrection, biblical interpretation, Christian faith, Raleigh NC church, Sunday sermon

Episode SummaryHosts Todd DeHart and Tony Russo dive into a surprisingly lighthearted and deeply touching conversation about life, death, and everything in-between. Following the recent passing of Todd's mother, Polly Jean DeHart, the duo explore the complex realities of funeral planning, the unexpected humor found within the grieving process, and how a mother's overwhelming love can accidentally “ruin” a child's artistic angst. From alternative body disposition methods like human composting to the existential musings of retired ministers, this commercial-free episode is an honest, comforting, and occasionally irreverent look at saying goodbye.Never miss an episode of life, culture, and dark humor. Subscribe to Daydrinking on Delmarva on your favorite podcast app!Key Takeaways & Timestamps* The Unplanned Intro: Tony forgets to play the intro music, sparking a conversation on confidence, identity, and the history of Irish epic poems.* Honoring Polly Jean: Todd shares the logistics and emotional landscape of planning his mother's upcoming celebration of life.* Sarcasm, Dark Humor, and Grief: Finding the punchline in tragedy—Todd shares a poignant (and ironic) kitchen story from the day his mother passed.* Mastering the Ceremony: Todd details his role as the MC for his mother's reception and breaks down his opening line about being “addicted to her adoration.”* The “Good Mom” Dilemma: Tony and Todd critique the film Lady Bird and discuss why great art so often stems from childhood angst, leaving those with good mothers at a creative disadvantage.* The Business of Death Care: A look into the rising world of funeral celebrants, death doulas, and unique final wishes.* Green Burials & Human Composting: Tony shares his reporting on “Earth Funeral” and natural organic reduction, while the hosts debate the legalities of Viking funerals.* A Minister's Doubts: Todd reflects on a recent lunch with his father—a retired Methodist minister—and their discussion on Carl Sagan, atoms, and reconciling life after death.Links & Resources Mentioned* Good Clean Fun Life:goodcleanfunlife.com* On Deathcare:ondeathcare.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daydrinkingondelmarva.substack.com

Send us Fan MailPastor Johnnie preaches a message from Acts chapter 2.Support the show#sermons   #motivation #inspirationhttps://www.instagram.com/pastorjsimpjr/https://x.com/pastorjsimpjrhttps://www.facebook.com/pastorjsimpjr/https://pastorjohnnie.blogspot.com/https://www.threads.com/@pastorjsimpjrhttps://www.tiktok.com/@pastorjohnnie

What makes music sacred? Who gets to be heard in worship? And where do we draw the line between “sacred” and “secular” music? In this special worship-focused episode of Perspectives, Rev. Dr. Hannah Ka sits down with Sarah Amos, Director of Music Ministries and Principal Organist at First United Methodist Church of San Diego, for a thoughtful conversation inspired by Psalm 150. Together, they explore: Why Psalm 150 gives no blueprint for “correct” worship The history of congregational singing and hymns How churches have institutionalized worship music The blurry line between sacred and secular music Why accessibility and participation matter in worship How music can reach people when words alone cannot From pipe organs and Taizé songs to Methodist hymn traditions and modern worship styles, this episode invites listeners to think more deeply about music as communal expression, spiritual formation, and embodied praise. Whether you come from a traditional church background, contemporary worship culture, or simply love music and spirituality, this conversation offers meaningful insight into the role music plays in connecting us to God and to one another. Join the Conversation We invite you to consider the below reflection questions and share your thoughts with our podcast community. We offer our in-person Convergence discussion group on Sundays at 12 PM and 24/7 connection online at Patreon. Reflection Questions: What makes music sacred to you? When do you feel encouraged to worship using your voice? How has worship reached you when words alone could not? Timestamps: 00:00 Opening Reflection — “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” 01:14 Psalm 150 Reading & First Impressions 03:05 Sacred vs. Secular Music in Worship 05:59 Catholic Traditions, Lent, and Worship Rules 09:05 Hymns, Folk Music, and Congregational Singing 10:34 Why Singing Together Matters Spiritually 15:58 Music as Worship, Not Performance 18:13 Creativity, Taizé, and Expanding Worship Expression 22:26 How Music Reaches Us Beyond Words

Certified Lay Speaker Bruce A Stark preaches on Genesis 12:1-4 The post “Follow Me: Abraham Hears The Call” appeared first on First United Methodist Church-Brighton & Whitmore Lake.

Crowhill and Pigweed drink and review a Sweet Baby Jesus chocolate peanut butter porter and discuss a question that's challenged churches and society for centuries. Should religion and politics mix?Using a collection of social issue position papers published by the United Methodist Church as a starting point, the conversation explores the history of Methodism, from John Wesley's "heart strangely warmed" experience and the Holy Club at Oxford to the circuit riders who helped spread the movement across the American frontier. Along the way, they examine how Methodism became deeply associated with social reform, including efforts against slavery, drunkenness, and other social ills.The discussion then turns to modern political issues, including immigration, worker justice, climate change, the death penalty, abortion, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Crowhill and Pigweed consider how churches apply biblical principles to contemporary policy debates, where the line between moral teaching and political advocacy should be drawn, and whether clergy are always equipped to speak authoritatively on complex public issues.A recurring theme is the idea that movements formed in crisis often institutionalize a crisis mentality. If a religious movement was born by confronting genuine social problems, does it eventually develop a habit of searching for the next great cause? And does that tendency sometimes lead churches to exaggerate modern problems by comparing them to historic struggles such as slavery, Jim Crow, or the civil rights movement?It's a wide-ranging conversation about faith, public life, church authority, social reform, and the challenges of living out religious convictions in a deeply political age. Plus, as always, there's a beer review to get things started.

In this episode, I am joined by Ryan Barnett, Chief Operating Officer of the Mid-Texas Global Methodist Church Conference, to discuss the recently released book Christ for All: Every Methodist an Evangelist, which Ryan edited. Our conversation explores the theological and practical vision behind the book and why evangelism sits at the very center of historic Methodism.We also reflect on why this book is being received so well at this particular stage in the life of the Global Methodist Church. As Ryan explains, the GMC's emerging identity and shared theological commitments have created space for renewed clarity and common purpose around evangelism, something that proved difficult in earlier denominational settings. We conclude by looking ahead to the future of the GMC and what it might mean to move forward with unity, missional focus, and confidence in the church's calling.Youtube - https://youtu.be/rklZ6k6TEOMAudio - https://andymilleriii.com/media/podcastApple -  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/more-to-the-story-with-dr-andy-miller/id1569988895?uo=4Here's a link to the book from the show - https://a.co/d/06qWGpCsIf you are interested in learning more about my two full-length video-accompanied courses, Contender: Going Deeper in the Book of Jude andHeaven and Other Destinations: A Biblical Journey Beyond this World , visit andymilleriii.com/coursesAnd don't forget about my most recent book, Contender, which is available on Amazon! Five Steps to Deeper Teaching and Preaching - Recently, I updated this PDF document and added a 45-minute teaching video with slides, explaining this tool. It's like a mini-course. If you sign up for my list, I will send this free resource to you. Sign up here - www.AndyMillerIII.com or Five Steps to Deeper Teaching and Preaching. Today's episode is brought to you by Wesley Biblical Seminary. Interested in going deeper in your faith? Check out our certificate programs, B.A., M.A.s, M.Div., and D.Min degrees. You will study with world-class faculty and the most racially diverse student body in the country. www.wbs.eduIf this episode resonated with you, share it with a friend and leave a review! For more from Andy Miller III, visit andymilleriii.com or follow @andymilleriii on X.Thanks too to Phil Laeger for my podcast music. You can find out about Phil's music at https://www.laeger.net

Send us Fan MailPastor Johnnie preaches a message on John chapter 17.Support the show#sermons   #motivation #inspirationhttps://www.instagram.com/pastorjsimpjr/https://x.com/pastorjsimpjrhttps://www.facebook.com/pastorjsimpjr/https://pastorjohnnie.blogspot.com/https://www.threads.com/@pastorjsimpjrhttps://www.tiktok.com/@pastorjohnnie

Send us Fan MailWhat happens when faith moves from the head to the heart? This Pentecost message explores the fire of the Holy Spirit, the “strangely warmed” heart of John Wesley, and why many believers settle for cold religion when God offers living communion with Christ.HOME | PLAN YOUR VISIT | BLOG | DIGITAL BULLETIN

Date May 24, 2026 Synopsis In this sermon, we trade the exhaustion of trying to "bat 1,000" for the scandalous grace of Pentecost—a day when God pours out a Spirit not for the perfect, but for "all flesh." We explore how our fragile, forgetful, and silver-haired humanity is exactly where the Holy Spirit chooses to take up residence. You are invited to stop waiting until you have it all together and instead become God's greatest surprise: the Risen Christ showing up in the middle of our beautifully broken lives. References Scripture: Acts 2:1–21 About The Local Church For more information about The Local Church, visit our website. Feedback? Questions? Comments? We'd love to hear it. Email Brent at brent@thelocalchurchpbo.org. To invest in what God's doing through The Local Church and help support these podcasting efforts and this movement of God's love, give online here.

Patrick answers uncomfortable questions that demand clarity and real answers about family dilemmas surrounding IVF and awkward moments at Mass. He speaks straight, whether addressing baptism without parental consent, why Catholics shouldn’t receive communion in Methodist services, or confronting end-of-life trials with medical decisions. Every call sparks his candor and keeps the conversation both grounded and utterly unpredictable. Email - What is the best response to a relative who is excited to tell you that her daughter and husband are going through IVF and they have three embryos? (01:15) April - Why isn't there any historical evidence for Jesus outside of the Bible and Christian literature? (10:01) Judy (email) - There are several times during mass when people hold their hands facing up and then go even higher with their hands. I wonder where that came from and what you think. (15:28) Jim - IVF does affect medical workers too. Our sonogram technician was shaken because she said people decide which babies live and which ones die. (20:53) Rebecca - I grew up Catholic and my grandmother was Methodist, but they celebrated Communion. Was it ok for me to take Communion with them? (23:15) Anna - Does a grandparent have the authority to get grandchild baptized without parent's approval? (29:01) Patty (email) – Are you not aware that OCIA programs are flourishing? (33:21) Talina - Who created God? (35:05) Angie - My brother-in-law is declining and we are doing extraordinary means to keep him alive. Is it ok for us to stop medication. (44:08) (Originally Aired on 03-18-2026)

Send us Fan MailPastor Johnnie preaches a message from 1 Peter chapter 3.Support the show#sermons   #motivation #inspirationhttps://www.instagram.com/pastorjsimpjr/https://x.com/pastorjsimpjrhttps://www.facebook.com/pastorjsimpjr/https://pastorjohnnie.blogspot.com/https://www.threads.com/@pastorjsimpjrhttps://www.tiktok.com/@pastorjohnnie

Why are there so many Christian denominations? Do the differences actually matter? In this episode of LIVE FREE, Pastors Josh Howerton, Carlos Erazo, and Paul Cunningham break down the biggest Christian denominations, including Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Pentecostals, while explaining what truly separates them theologically. This conversation clarifies essential doctrines, denominational differences, church history, biblical authority, and how believers can wisely choose a healthy church without falling into confusion or unnecessary division. In this episode, you'll learn: Why denominations exist Which doctrines are essential for salvation Key differences between major Christian groups How to evaluate healthy churches Why biblical truth matters more than labels Stand firm. Think biblically. Live free.

It's Witness Wednesday! Todd talks with four students on campus, each with some kind of religious background or moral framework. Across the episode, Todd keeps pressing the same essential issue: God is just, man is guilty, and Jesus Christ is the only Savior. The gospel is not moral improvement, religious heritage, spiritual preference, or doing the best you can. It is Christ taking the punishment sinners deserve and crediting His righteousness to those who repent and trust Him. Segment 1 • Casey believes “karma” settles the score—but who's actually keeping track of right and wrong? • If morality is just personal preference, why does guilt feel so real—and so unavoidable? • Casey admits he doesn't know the gospel… so what happens when God judges by His standard, not yours? Segment 2 • Nathan says he believes in God—but when asked why, he can't give a clear answer. Would you? • If you think you're a “good person,” do you actually pass God's test—or fail it completely? • The pieces finally connect: if Jesus died for sinners… what does that require from you right now? Segment 3 • Kevin has a Methodist background—but can't explain what he actually believes. Does that sound familiar? • If nobody's perfect, shouldn't effort count? Or does God demand something far higher? • The courtroom analogy hits hard: if you're guilty, how can justice and mercy both be satisfied? Segment 4 • A graduate student thinks grace + good works might balance out—but is that how salvation works? • What if your best deeds are still corrupted at the root—would that change everything? • Justification vs. sanctification: are you trusting Christ alone… or subtly trusting yourself? ___ Thanks for listening! Wretched Radio would not be possible without the financial support of our Gospel Partners. If you would like to support Wretched Radio we would be extremely grateful. VISIT https://fortisinstitute.org/donate/ If you are already a Gospel Partner we couldn't be more thankful for you if we tried!