Podcasts about new growth press

Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. We're talking with Andrew Hopper, Lead Pastor of Mercy Hill Church in North Carolina. Planted in 2012 with just 30 people, Mercy Hill has grown into a multi-campus, fast-growing church known for its gospel clarity and sending culture. In this conversation, Andrew shares why adoption and foster care have become central expressions of Mercy Hill's mission—and how those practices flow directly out of the gospel. He also unpacks the heart behind his book, Chosen: Building Your Family the Way God Builds His. Is your church unsure how to engage big social needs without drifting from the gospel? Are you looking for a way to mobilize people beyond church walls while keeping discipleship front and center? Andrew offers a clear framework for doing both. Doing good as a sign of the kingdom. // Andrew addresses a common tension churches feel between community engagement and disciple-making. Mercy Hill refuses to treat these as competing priorities. Acts of service—whether foster care, adoption, or family restoration—are not the kingdom itself but signposts pointing to it. Meeting tangible needs creates openings for gospel conversations. These ministries don't replace evangelism; they amplify it by demonstrating the heart of God in visible ways. A church’s collective heartbeat. // Mercy Hill's deep involvement in adoption, foster care, and family restoration didn't start as a top-down strategy but emerged organically from the gifts and passions within the church. Many leaders and members have adopted children themselves, shaping the church's collective heartbeat. Rather than attempting to address every social issue, Mercy Hill chose to focus deeply on a few—believing churches are most effective when they lean into the specific good works God has prepared for them. This focus has mobilized hundreds of families and created a powerful witness in their community. Rope-holding and shared responsibility. // Not everyone is called to adopt or foster, but everyone can hold the rope. Drawing from the William Carey analogy, Mercy Hill equips members to support families on the front lines through prayer, childcare, meals, financial help, and presence. Over time, they've learned that rope-holding works best when built on existing relationships rather than formal assignments. The goal is to ensure no family fights alone in what Andrew describes as intense spiritual warfare. Big vision with baby steps. // Mercy Hill isn't afraid to cast a bold vision—whether for global missions, adoption, or church planting—but they pair that vision with accessible next steps. Prayer nights, giving opportunities, short-term service, and relational support allow people to grow into greater obedience over time. High challenge without guilt creates healthy discipleship. Why Andrew wrote Chosen. // Andrew wrote Chosen: Building Your Family the Way God Builds His not to promote a program, but to give churches a theological foundation for engaging adoption and foster care. The book weaves together Andrew's family story, Mercy Hill's journey, and a deeply gospel-centered motivation rooted in Scripture. Designed to be used individually or in groups, Chosen includes discussion questions and practical guidance for churches or small groups wanting to explore this calling in community. Andrew's prayer is that the book would catalyze thousands of Christian families to participate meaningfully in caring for vulnerable children and families. Gospel-driven motivation. // Underneath everything is Andrew's conviction that gospel motivation outlasts guilt. Behavior rooted in grace goes further than behavior driven by pressure. Adopted people adopt people. Chosen people choose people. That theological clarity fuels Mercy Hill's sending culture, their community impact, and their ongoing growth. To explore Andrew's resources on adoption, foster care, and grab his book, Chosen, visit andrewphopper.com/chosen or follow him on Instagram @andrewphopper. You can learn more about Mercy Hill Church at mercyhillchurch.com. Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I'm grateful for that. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they're extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Lastly, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live! Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Portable Church Your church is doing really well right now, and your leadership team is looking for solutions to keep momentum going! It could be time to start a new location. Maybe you have hesitated in the past few years, but you know it's time to step out in faith again and launch that next location. Portable Church has assembled a bundle of resources to help you leverage your growing momentum into a new location by sending a part of your congregation back to their neighborhood on Mission. This bundle of resources will give you a step-by-step plan to launch that new or next location, and a 5 minute readiness tool that will help you know your church is ready to do it! Click here to watch the free webinar “Launch a New Location in 150 Days or Less” and grab the bundle of resources for your church! Episode Transcript Rich Birch — Hey friends, welcome to the unSeminary podcast. We have got a multi-time guest on, and you know what that means. That means that I really respect, deeply admire, and want you to listen up, and today is no exception. Excited to have Andrew Hopper with us. He is the lead pastor of a church that they should be following, that you should be following. He’s a lead pastor of Mercy Hill Church with five locations, if I’m counting correctly, in North Carolina, and is repeatedly one of the fastest growing churches in the country. I love this church on many levels. They’re centered on the gospel and have a radical commitment to sending people to the nations. They have a desire to make disciples and multiply churches. Andrew, welcome to the show. So glad you’re here.Andrew Hopper — Man, I’m so pumped to be here. Love the podcast. Really appreciate it, man.Rich Birch — Yeah, I’m honored that you would come back. For folks that that don’t know Mercy Hill, give me a bit of a kind of an update. Tell us a little bit about the church.Andrew Hopper — Yeah.Rich Birch — Maybe update us from last time you were on.Andrew Hopper — Yeah, man. So just real quick, planted in 2012. We had 30 people, all you know kind of young professional age, and man, just really believe that God could do something incredible ah through, you know just through our our open hands, and he did.Andrew Hopper — And so it’s been 13 years. It’s crazy. We’ve been sort of pushing the same boulder up the same mountain for 13 years, just flywheel kind of concept and keep pushing. And ah the Lord has done an incredible thing, like you said, five campuses. And man, just moved into a new home and hub. That was from last time we had a chance. That’s been really great. Andrew Hopper — We were in a rented location for a long time as our main like broadcast campus. We’re a video-based multi-site. And so um it’s ah it was a three or four-year journey to raise the money and build this new facility. But we’re in, and the Lord has really blessed that with tons of new people, highest baptisms, sent ones, first time guest numbers, all everything that we’ve done. This has been a, you know, we’ve gone been on a ride – praise God for that. It’s it’s, um, it’s for his sake and his renown, but this year has been unlike the others. So it’s been…Rich Birch — Yeah, you were saying beforehand, it’s like 30 or something like 30 some percent year over year growth. That’s insane to keep up with.Andrew Hopper — It is man. And the, and the giving does not, uh, you know, the giving doesn’t happen.Rich Birch — Reflect that yet.Andrew Hopper — So it’s, it’s like, we’re trying to do ministry on a budget of a church that’s 3000, but a church that’s running 4,500. And it’s like, how do you do that effectively without killing everybody?Rich Birch — Nice.Andrew Hopper — All your staff, I mean, so, but we’re, we’re learning, man, we’re figuring it out. It’s fun. We got, we just planted our sixth church. So that’s apart from the campuses. This is first time, Rich, we’ve planted a church in our own city.Rich Birch — Oh, nice. That’s cool.Andrew Hopper — It’s been really, a really cool dynamic and it’s been fun. He’s doing great. Man, it was a college student that we met when he was 19 years old at North Carolina AT&T 10 years later. He’s an elder here. He’s done a lot of different things. And man, he goes and plants a new church in Greensboro about five minutes from one of our campuses and they’re doing great.Rich Birch — Wow. Yeah, that’s so good. Well, the thing, there’s lots I love about Mercy Hill, but one of the things that I’ve loved about your church from the you know the chance we’ve had to journey a little bit over the years about it is you just have real clarity around the mission, this idea of making disciples, multiplying churches. It’s like that has been rock solid from the beginning. When you think about we want churches to have discipleship at its core, this idea of a church that actually grows people up in their relationship with Christ. What matters most at the foundation? How are you keeping that so foundational to you know what’s happening at Mercy Hill?Andrew Hopper — Yeah, I think um I think that we always sort of bought into kind of what we see in Acts 2 as a little bit of a flywheel. We call it gather, group, give, go. A lot of churches have something like that.Andrew Hopper — The the difference, I think, at Mercy Hill a little bit than what I see ah in in in a lot of churches that we help mentor and coach is that 2020 hit and everybody was like, man, what is a church? What is discipleship? What are we going to do now? And and people were kind of… And I do think it was and it wasn’t, you know, it wasn’t just me. I mean, our, you know, our executive pastor Bobby, he was really integral in this. We sort of really doubled down on no, I kind of think the church is going to come back. Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — And I kind of think what we were doing is sort of what our church is set up to do. It kind of a brand thing. We are sort of a big box sending brand. And that, you know, for us, when we look at Acts 2, we’re like, dude, the gathering, there’s no more there’s no more important hour for discipleship and evangelism. And I know there’s a lot of things written against that. And people are kind of almost like downplaying it. Andrew Hopper — We’re just like, man, we just don’t believe it. We believe people need to be in a group. You know, we they need generosity is lead step in discipleship, give. And we got to teach people that there’s a mission bigger than themselves. And if we do that, it’s going to funnel more people into the gathering. Andrew Hopper — So I think fundamentally what I would say, we need to get, you know, we could talk about our value, you know we can talk about values to gospel and [inaudible] identity, but I think landing on you know, it’s very hard now to, to not get a word salad book form or thing. When you ask somebody, how are you making disciples? It can just be like…Rich Birch — Right. Very vacuous. Who knows what that means? Yeah.Andrew Hopper — For us, it’s just been a very clear, simple process.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — Like, man, we believe if someone is in the gathering, if they’re in relationship, if they’re being pushed on generosity, and if they’re living for a mission bigger than themselves, that’s a current of maturity that will move them. They just get in the stream, they’ll move.Rich Birch — Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It’s so good.Andrew Hopper — that’s kind of So you know for us, I think that’s as, you know we’ve we’ve tried to simplify things there.Rich Birch — Yeah. And, and your last episode, I’ve pointed a ton of people to it, uh, to really, and we really unpack a lot of what you talked about there in more detail.Andrew Hopper — Right. Yeah.Rich Birch — You’re going to want to go back and, uh, and listen to that. You’ve reached as a church, you’ve reached a lot of people who don’t grow up in church that it’s like, there’s a lot of people who are there. You know, we used to say we ain’t your mama’s church, but mama didn’t go to church, you know? So, you know, and it’s been a long time that people were there. What challenges have you seen, you know, helping move people from curiosity into real ongoing discipleship? So like, I think there are, we’re seeing a swell of attendance across the country. People are like, oh, I’m kind of interested in this, but we got to move them from just, oh, this is something interesting to like, oh, I’m actually want to grow my relationship with Jesus.Andrew Hopper — Yeah, I mean, and it’s it’s funny too, Rich, you probably have a better bird’s eye view of this than I do. But I feel like churches that have been faithfully growing for like the last 10 years, they’re not really doing a lot different now. Or even though there’s this big swell happening, what I do think is that some churches have sort of decided like, oh, clarity does matter.Rich Birch — Yes. Yeah, that’s true.Andrew Hopper — And don’t try to be friends with the culture. We’re going to speak in and be prophetic. And, you know, even even to the you know Proverbs 25:26 says, you know, there’s there there’s no there’s no benefit in a muddied spring. You know, it’s like you got to be sort of you got to figure out if we’re going to be clear.Andrew Hopper — So, I you know, for me, I think like and you’re right, we do reach most of the people that we reach that are in the camp that you’re talking about our college age. We reach a lot of people, though, ah that are, you know, they’re they’re coming back to the faith because they’re a southerner.Rich Birch — Sure.Andrew Hopper — You know, they they kind of they kind of were, you know, they they did have some church in their background. They’re coming back. Their kids are not only born, but they’re realizing they’re sinners and they don’t have answers. They’re trying to figure that out.Rich Birch — Right. Right.Andrew Hopper — They’re coming back to church.Andrew Hopper — And, you know, I think the biggest thing that moves people from like interest into a decision point is just being very clear on this is what the gospel is. This is the life it compels you to. Are you going to be in or out?Andrew Hopper — One of the things we say at Mercy Hill a lot is like, man, if you’re if you’re just intrigued, you know, if you’re interested, you’re not going to stay at Mercy Hill because we’re never going to let you, you’re going to get pushed every week. And it’s like, man, people are not really in or like that. I’m not going to do that. You know, they’re just like, no I’m not going to sit here and get like pushed every single week on something I don’t really… And the flip side is when people say, all right, you know what? Stake in the ground. I’m in.Rich Birch — Yeah, we’re doing this, yep.Andrew Hopper — I wanna look like this, I want to build my life on this. It’s like, well, now, you know, it’s it’s man, I’m hopefully, you know, putting tools in the belt every single week to live that life.Rich Birch — Yeah. Yeah, it’s good. I do think there was a time where people wandered into our churches where I don’t think that happens as much anymore. I think people, when they arrive, they come with questions, with live active questions that they’re trying to wrestle with, kind of regardless of where they’re they’re at in their journey.Andrew Hopper — Yeah.Rich Birch — And they’re what you to your point around, you know, there’s no benefit in a muddy stream. People aren’t looking for anything that sounds like, well, what do you think? Because the reason why they’re there is because they’re asking questions. And so, you know, they’re they’re looking for clarity, like I think you’re saying. Rich Birch — Well one of the things I love about your church is there’s a high commitment to, you’re you’re you’re tearing down what I think is a false dichotomy. Sometimes I think when churches come to this idea of outreach or making a difference in their community, there’s this there can be this gap or false dichotomy between doing good in our communities and making disciples. Like we gave that up at some point. We were like, you can’t, you know, we can’t do both of those things for some reason. Why, why did we do that? Why did we, as churches say, we can’t both make a difference in our communities and also make disciples?Andrew Hopper — Yeah, I think it’s, I actually have a lot of sympathy for the fundamentalist leaning. I know it sounds a little bit weird. Rich Birch — No, that’s fine.Andrew Hopper — Churches that led from the, you know, from the good do good in your city kind of thing. I don’t think they’re right, but I do have sympathy for that because I understand how quickly that sort of, you know, is so hijacked by liberal, by theological liberalism to where it’s finally man we’re digging wells and wherever but we’re not talking about who the true source of living water is. Like we don’t want to be offensive we just want to do good without speaking the whole you know you know live your life as a Christian only use words if necessary, whatever, you know. And and I so I understand why people kind of fled and have fled that.Andrew Hopper — Like, you know, I’ve even had our church before when I when I talk about adoption or we we have a ministry, and a ministry called No More Spectators. We’re like moving people towards community ministry. And we had people kind of going on like, oh, my gosh, this seems like a sign of like churches start going this way and then they lose the gospel.Andrew Hopper — And I’m like, well, the reason you’re kind of feeling like that is because a lot of churches have done that. You know, you’re not [inaudible] like that just out of nowhere. Now, of course, I think it’s a little bit immature and we’ve got to push through. The way we talk about it, Rich, is, man, we want to do good in our community as signs of the kingdom coming.Andrew Hopper — They are not building the kingdom. You know, if we go repaint a house or house a homeless person, one day that person would parted with that house, whether they, you know, get messed up and leave or whether they do great and then would die one day, you know.Andrew Hopper — Or, if we have, ah you know, if we go and, and you know, we’re going to, for example, we have ah ah a family in our church that they need a ramp built because, man, the the brother is struggling with MS and he’s, they’re they’re fighting it like Christians do. We’re going to go do that. You know, we’re going to go build that ramp. That ramp’s going to rot and die one, you know, rot and rot away one day. And, you know, whether it’s 100 years from now or whatever.Andrew Hopper — Like it’s not literally the kingdom. But when the outside world sees us engage and, you know, our church will talk about this primarily when we think about community ministry, we think about it in terms of adoption, foster care and families count, which I can talk to you about. I think it’s bringing a sign of the kingdom that is to the community around us to say, hey, this is not the gospel. But it sure points to the gospel. Rich Birch — Right, right.Andrew Hopper — You know, it’s a pretty good signpost of like, yeah, there’s a kingdom coming where kids aren’t separated from their parents, you know. And and so that’s kind of the way that we think about, it’s not, you know, it’s not the kingdom. It’s a sign of the kingdom that is coming.Rich Birch — Yeah, let’s let’s dive in. So adoptions, foster care, families count. These are not small issues. Like you started with like putting a ramp on, painting somebody – those are like, okay, I can organize my head around that. And then we jump to what I think are obviously significant. How, it can be easy, I think, for church leaders it can be easy where, you know, we got a lot of fish to fry in our own backyard. When you see big problems like that, help us unpack that. Why do you as a lead pastor, why are you passionate about these issues? Why are these the things that you’ve chosen?Andrew Hopper — I think it’s, man, I think it’s great. I mean if you can’t if you don’t mind I’ll go back and give you a little bit of context. I’m a context [inaudible]… Rich Birch — Yeah, absolutely. Let’s do it. Yeah. Andrew Hopper — …number one so I always want to frame it in where we’ve been. But the short answer to the question is I think that every church because it is made up of individual believers that have individual gift matrix, you know they’re they’re gifted the church is gifted in a unique way because the people which are the church are gifted in a unique way, right? Andrew Hopper — And so to me, you know, slapping, you know, a top down every single church has to to manifest signs of the kingdom in X way, which, for for example, I’m not to pick on it, but like, you know, the whole diversity church kind of movement. I love you know, if that’s your brand, that’s awesome. That’s great. Go, go bring signs of the kingdom in that area. But you know what people do is they take their thing and then slap it on every single church. You know, this is the sign of the kingdom that you have to manifest.Andrew Hopper — I don’t think that. It takes every kind of church to reach a city because there’s all you know, there’s every kind of people in the city. Right? For us, though, and I think for a lot of churches that that maybe are are made up a little bit like we are, I think there is a lot of meat on the bone for adoption, foster care, families count ministry. And I think churches could be greatly helped by latching on to maybe, you know, something in particular, maybe this, maybe this specifically. How we got there, Rich, was we had we had, you know, huge movement in our church in 2019. I was very convicted.Andrew Hopper — Some of the exponential stuff was coming out, you know, mobilizing people outside the walls of the church. And I really was, man, I was just really affected by that. And I don’t want the dichotomy, you know, I don’t want, well, you your people serve in the church and not outside the church. It’s like, no, most people serve outside the church. If you watch them, they are serving inside the church as well. It’s it’s like a it’s like, man, you know, just just because serving inside the church is not the finish line, don’t demonize it because it is a starting place.Rich Birch — That’s good.Andrew Hopper — So it’s like, I don’t like that kind of whole thing. But but it did affect me to say, OK, what are we doing to push to the outside? So we we we did a thing. You would have loved this, man. But it except for the fact that it didn’t really work that good. OK, it was awesome.Andrew Hopper — It was, we still have the domain name – nomorespectators.com – I had the tagline: Jesus didn’t die to create spectators. He died to create servants, not spectators, workers, not watchers. We, man, you could go to nomorespectators.com and, you know, it was like, it was like a funnel for all of these community ministry opportunities in our city. So it was, you know, people from the housing, you know, authority type stuff would post things. And it was, it was all this kind of, it had a bunch of stuff in it. Andrew Hopper — In the end of the day, great idea. It was a little too complex. Our people latched on to the foster care, pregnancy network, you know, ended up being families count, Guardian ad Litem and adoption. So our guy that was over all that at the time our sending director, which is hard for me to have a good idea that ends up dying hard, okay that’s just tough for me.Rich Birch — You had a great sticky statement and everything. Come on.Andrew Hopper — I’m the king of sunken cost bias. Okay. Like, I’m like, dude. And so finally around 2020, he came to me and he said, bro, I know this is hard for you. Cause it was like a two year initiative. He’s like, this is hard. He said, No More Spectators needs to just turn into Chosen. And it needs to be like, you had this idea for 30 different things. It just, this needs to be our niche, man. You know, we we don’t do a lot of these other things, but we do this really well.Andrew Hopper — And it was hard for me. Ultimately, it was great wisdom by them, not me. And we started going down that road. And partly, I think it’s because, Rich, is heart is near to my heart. I have an adopted daughter. A lot of our staff have adopted kids. We just have a guy right now. Our associate director of first impressions at the Rich campus is in Texas right now, you know, bringing their daughter home.Andrew Hopper — I mean, so it’s just, and so it’s sort of started to morph into, and the the the big thing I’ll say, and I, you know, I’ve been talking a lot here, but the big thing I’ll say is, if you think about the way I just ah described all that, it doesn’t start with the need in the community. It starts with the gift matrix of the church. The poor we will always have with us. Like there there is no there’s no scenario until Jesus comes back that there’s no kids that need to be adopted, you know.Rich Birch — Right, right.Andrew Hopper — And it’s just the reality of it. And so there’s always going to be need in the community. It’s more about, okay, what are the Ephesians 2:10 works that your church, because the church is made up of people who are individually called, what are the you know what are those works that God has set out for your church? Rich Birch — That’s good.Andrew Hopper — And, you know, so for us, we just felt like, dude, this is a a heartbeat thing. Our people got more, they get more fired up. The greatest thing I’ve ever been able to mobilize our people for prayer for is go to the abortion clinic and pray. I mean, a thousand people on their face in the pavement. It’s like, it just strikes a chord with our church and who we are. So we wanna run after that.Rich Birch — Yeah. Well, I love that. And we’re going to dig out a bunch of this, but let’s think about it first from a perspective of somebody who’s maybe attended your church. They just started. They’re they’re relatively new, you know. The idea of something as weighty as adoption or foster care, that’s a big ask. And you know when you yeah how do I experience that as someone who’s just new? What are some ways that I could get plugged in? What does that look like? That, that, cause I, I’m hard, it’s hard to imagine that I go from zero to, to, you know, adoption, you know, how do I end up or flying to Texas to, you know, pick up a kid. That’s a lot. Help me understand. How are you, cause I know you guys are so good at moving people along from kind of where they are to where you’re hoping to – what’s that look like? What’s the kind of, how do you bring people along in this?Andrew Hopper — Man, totally. I think you’re right. I think it’s a combination of big vision on one end and then baby steps on the other. But the big vision matters.Rich Birch — That’s good.Andrew Hopper — Like we don’t want to be scared of the big vision. So, you know, for example, our weekender process, which I know you talked about some, you know, that weekender process, you know, people literally for years, we would give them a passport application in the weekender process. Because we’re like you’re at this church you’re probably going to be overseas at some point on a mission trip. And so to me it’s like people are like dude that probably scares the crap out of people. And it’s like well, I mean we want to make sure they know what they’re getting into, you know. We’re not telling them they got to do that tomorrow… Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — …but that is the, and then and then there’s all these baby steps, right? Like hey come to you know, every February we do Sent weekend. Come to the prayer night. Like that’s a baby step. That’s not you getting on a plane to go to Nepal. But you know hey we’re doing this missions offering at the end of the year, like maybe get you know. So there’s all these I would say that our the way we think about Chosen ministry, which again: adoption, foster care, families count, and rope holding, which is a big part of this discussion… Rich Birch — Okay. Andrew Hopper —…is that way. It’s big vision on the front end so we’re never going to tell somebody, hey you know, I know you could never do this. Like I’ll never…I think people can do it and they should. Or or you know more Christians than are should. At the same time we’re also not guilting anybody. Like so I’m I you know the the first thing I’ll tell people is like, hey, you know we start talking about adoption. I always say always say, hey, we have not lined up a bunch of little kids in the lobby for you to take one home today, okay. And then I’ll tell them, that’s next week.Rich Birch — That’s great.Andrew Hopper — Okay, so yeah but and we we try hard to like put some levity in it. Man, we’re not everybody’s not going to do that. In fact, a minority, of a small minority is going to do it. But everyone can be involved and there are baby steps.Andrew Hopper — So we try to highlight giving, man. Like if you someone adopts from Mercy Hill, we pay 25% of their adoption. Okay.Rich Birch — Wow. Yep.Andrew Hopper — If they’re a member and they’re in a community group, they get 25%. All right, well, you know, we’re going to connect that. Like, man, you you are never going to adopt. You feel like that’s, but it’s like, well, I give $100 a month to the church. Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — Well, hey, what? You know, you’re you are you are supporting.Rich Birch — We’re making a difference.Andrew Hopper — We do parents night out, you know, for all of our foster and adoptive parents. We do it quarterly. It’s like, hey, those are opportunities to come and serve, man. You can serve the meal you can do. We do rope holding, which I know we’ll probably talk about. But but the the idea of rope holding is just like, man, I’m not going to do this, but I can be in the corner for somebody. They’re in my community group. I want to be their first call if they need a babysitter or they need, you know, a gift card, or whatever they need.Andrew Hopper — So I think, man, we try to do big vision. You know, we’re going we’re going to set a huge vision, you know, for 2030 for 2030. Actually, we just hit our vision for 2025, which is 200 adoptive or foster families. There’s a lot of ways people can be involved with it.Rich Birch — So good. There’s, I think thing I would encourage friends who are listening in, you really should be following Mercy Hill, Andrew, because I do think you’re a very unique communicator where you, and you just described it. And I think to you, it’s just like, that’s just what you do. But this idea of like, you’re calling people to a high bar, but you’re not leveraging shame, guilt. you know, it’s, and I think so many times our language can kind of lean in that direction. Or we can, if we really are trying to push people towards something, or we can just undersell the vision. You know We can be like, oh, it’s not that it’s not that big of a deal. You know It’s not for everybody. So I would encourage people to listen in.Rich Birch — Talk to me about rope holding. How is that, what’s that look like? Unpack what that looks like a little bit.Andrew Hopper — Yeah, so rope so the the the rope-holding analogy, which a lot of your listeners probably gonna already know this, but you know William Carey, Andrew Fuller, William Carey, father of modern missions, he’s he he he makes the statement, “I’ll dangle at the end of the rope in the pit, if you’ll hold the rope,” talking to Fuller. And Fuller held the rope for him. Like, you know, Carey the mission field, Fuller’s raising money, preaching sermons, organizing mission boards. So that’s kind of the picture. Right.Andrew Hopper — So we say, all right, not everybody is going to go down into the pit of foster care adoption, even even families count. I mean, these are these are massive spiritual warfare battlegrounds you know um which is one of the reasons why our church wants to be involved so much. I mean you if you want to talk about getting to the you can do all the rhetoric in the world, brother, you want to get to the very bottom of societal issues, you you be involved in somebody’s story that’s trying that’s trying to get their kids back from the foster care system. You’re trying to help them with that. I mean, every you could fatherlessness, poverty, drug abuse. I mean, everything you can think, you know.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — So this this is just spiritual war. So what we tell people is like, hey, man. If we got people that are mobilizing for for adoption and foster care, we better have people in their corne,r because the enemy is going to bring his war machine.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — And we see it all the time. I mean, you’re going to see, you know, a family steps in to adopt and you’re going to start seeing them, you know, there can be sickness. They can have marital problems. They can have financial things that come up. They can begin to believe lies, frustrations. I mean, There’s just so they can become, you know, their their heart can start getting hard toward the system. I mean, there’s so many things that come at them. And so what we say is we need people in their corner, right. Andrew Hopper — Now, it’s funny because like the way our church has operated was at first we said, all right, we’re going to we’re going to do, you know, the the community group is going hold the rope for the people. And and that that was fine. The problem is when we really kicked off this ministry, so many people got involved that it became overwhelming to the group. So we said we got to start this… Rich Birch — Right. Andrew Hopper — …rope holding ministry. The rope holder ministry is good. It’s like, what does a rope holder do? They kind of do whatever the person needs them to do. Rich Birch — Right. Andrew Hopper — So there are examples of the rope holding ministry going really well, where it’s like, hey, man, they’re they’re helping with ah child care with the other kids when they’re going to foster care appointments in court. And or, hey, we’re we’re helping you do some things around the house whenever you’re overseas doing your adoption, which is going to put you three weeks in country. You know, there are some good examples like that. Andrew Hopper — But the other thing that we’ve learned is, you know, foster care and adoption families that are that are walking through this, they’re going through a very trying time. And to just pair them with somebody they don’t know and say, hey, look, here’s your supporter, it can be a little bit like, oh, that’s awesome, and then they never reach out to them.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — They never reach out – the rope holder’s ready.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — But it’s just like, dude, I don’t I don’t know you. And this is a hard time.Rich Birch — Who are you? Yeah, yeah.Andrew Hopper — And so what we’re trying to figure out now as we reboot that rope holder idea is, you know, how how do you kind of integrate relationships they’ve already had? Almost like, hey, do you have this massive pool of people called rope holders? Or when an adoptive family comes up, you say to them, hey, who can we shoulder tap, rope holder for you.Rich Birch — That’s good.Andrew Hopper — And then we’ll train them.Rich Birch — Oh, that’s cool. Yeah.Andrew Hopper — But not have this pool, but say for you, we’ll put them in. So that’s kind of what we’re, so as part of our reboot for 2030, you know, that’s sort of what’s in our mind right now.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s cool.Andrew Hopper — We have a whole playbook for the way we’ve done it, which anybody, you know, if anybody wants any of those things, they can go to AndrewPHopper.com/chosen. And I can send you any of that stuff we have, but on the rope holder side, you know, just full transparency, we’re still, you know, kind of, of you know, and I’m sure it’ll always be that way that we make an improvement.Rich Birch — Yeah, always trying to make it better. Yeah. And I want to, yeah, at some point in this journey, you decided, hey, we’ve got to put this vision and framework into writing, like we and you actually ended up writing a book, and friends who are listening in, I want to encourage you to pick up a copy of this book. Listen, we’re almost half an hour in. I know you’re interested in this. This is the kind of thing you, Andrew’s a trusted leader. He’s, I’ve had a chance to take a peek at the book. This will be super helpful for you. But, but that’s a lot of effort to put this together into a book. What pushed you from just leading this ministry to ultimately saying, hey, I want to capture this into a resource that could help other people?Andrew Hopper — Well, you know, Rich, I never really saw myself as like a writer, just like a practitioner, man. Let’s just keep keep working on the thing and going.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — And truthfully, I got approached. Hey, would you have any interest in writing? You know, New Growth Press is the one that’s editing this book and putting it out. And it was funny, though, because the second I was asked, I was like, man, I know what we should do [inaudible] that should be what we should do. It’s it’s our it’s it’s my story’s family story with our special needs child that we’ve adopted. It’s our church’s journey. But more important than either of those two things, it’s a grounding in the gospel-centered motivation. Because I think that is what is so important. We don’t do guilt motivation. And you know, cute kids and sad, cute kids and and sad stories are good reasons, but they you need a great reason, because it’s hard. Rich Birch — That’s good. Yep.Andrew Hopper — You know, and the great reason is of course, adopted people adopt people. And so we delve way into the helplessness of our spiritual condition, how God adopted us and then how, you know, that provides a deep motivation for us to go and do the same for others.Rich Birch — Can you unpack that a little bit more? Because I think this is, ah to me, a core part of the book that I think is really helpful. Even if you’re maybe listening in, you’re thinking, okay, I’m not sure adoption or foster care is necessarily the thing, but you unpack this idea of gospel rather than guilt. And can you talk us through, you know, how, yeah, just talk us through that part, that concept a bit more. Just double click on that a little bit.Andrew Hopper — Yeah. So, you know, when we think about behaviors that flow from the Christian life, there’s really only two ways to think about it, right? Like one of them is we try to do things in order that God would approve of us, you know, that he would, you know, he would, ah he would, he would let us in his family, you know, those those types of things. And we, you know, this is for a lot of Baptistic world, which I am, this was kind of like, wow, this is really revolutionary, but that was 20 years ago – Keller and all that. You know, we just started understanding what more of a gospel center motivation. Andrew Hopper — Of course, the other way to think about Christian behaviors is you are part of the family because of what Christ has done for you. And the family has a culture. The family works a certain way. There’s fruit that will pop out in your life, not so that you can gain entrance into the vine. That’s not how it works. Like, ah you know, you don’t you don’t produce fruit to get in the vine. You produce fruit because you’re in the vine. Andrew Hopper — And so, you know, when we think about like like Titus 2, for example, we think about how the grace of God appears to all men, teaching us not just salvation, but teaching us to obey his commands. So there’s something about salvation that and is inherent to the gospel-centered motivation of of of going out, living the Christian life. You know, it’s it’s kind of the John Bunyan idea when they said, man, if you, you know, if you keep preaching this gospel message, people are going to do whatever they want to do. And he said, no, if I keep preaching this gospel message, people are going to do whatever God wants them to do. Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — You know, and so I think what we’ve done in this book is just say, hey, that that is true universally in our Christian life. Like if I’m not tithing and I’m stingy, I can do motivation in two ways. Number one, how dare you, you piece of trash that you never, you know why would you never give? Look what God, you know, blah blah blah, blah, blah, guilt, guilt, shame, shame. Right. Andrew Hopper — Of course, the other way to say is like, man, what kind of riches has God given you in the gospel? And what kind of inheritance do you now have as a son of the king? It’s like, all right, that’s powerful, you know, and it will it will take us places that guilt never can. Guilt will work for a while. You can put fire under somebody and it’ll move them. But if you put it in them, they’ll run through a wall, you know. Rich Birch — So true.Andrew Hopper — And so it’s like it’s like, hey, OK, so you could do it with all these different things. We’ve tried to take this book and do that with adoption to say, all right.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — We know James 1:27, we need to care for the fatherless and the orphan. We understand. I mean, dude, there ain’t, when you talk about metaphors, there’s two big ones, marriage and adoption, you know? And so if you want to do adoption well, we can do it from two motivations. One motivation is look how many kids need. That’s all and that’s all true. That moves my heart. You know, look, can you believe this story of this kid? And that’s fine.Andrew Hopper — Of course, you could do guilt, too. Like, how dare you, you know, have this nice, happy family and not go adopt a little poor orphan kid. You know, you could do guilt. All those things will be fine. They’ll put fire under you a little bit. But if you want to put the fire in someone that is going to carry them through the long haul of all this stuff, I think it’s better to start with: All right. There’s kids that need to be chosen. Were you chosen?Andrew Hopper — You know, so like one of the you know, one I’ll give you an example. We know of a family here in the tribe. They’ve got an awesome son that is 20-something years old, kids got Down syndrome, and they adopted him from Ecuador. And his story was one day a carpenter was working on this building and he heard cries coming out of a dump, like a trash heap. This child had just been born and been left you know with his deformities had just been left for the dumpster. Andrew Hopper — And they brought him to the orphanage. And next thing you know, you know about three or four years later, he got adopted by this family that we know. And that family’s father, he said, Eddie’s story is my story. I was pulled from a trash heap by a carpenter. And if you it’s like that is powerful. Rich Birch — Right. Yes.Andrew Hopper — You know, when you start thinking about, man, in my sin, I was one who had no part and parcel in the kingdom of God. I was headlong in rebellion. I had rejected. I was not a son. And God lavished his love upon me, that I would be called his child. And if if that has happened to me spiritually, how could I not want to do that? Or at least help those. you know I’m not saying that’s a call for everybody, but be involved in others that are doing that as well.Andrew Hopper — And so that’s what we say. Adopted people, adopt people, chosen people, choose people. And hey, I didn’t answer your last question. Rich Birch — That’s fine.Andrew Hopper — Okay. Your last question was, why did we write the book? Very simply, I think more people just need to think about what I just said. You know, and I think churches do. And I think that if, you know, a lot of churches have adoption-minded people and a little bit of of fuel in that fire might create some really cool ministry in that church. And this book lays really well for being like, man, make it a small group resource for eight weeks. You know, it’s got questions at the end of each chapter.Andrew Hopper — Like my my prayer is that this book would catalyze tens of thousands of Christian adoptions. Rich Birch — Wow. Andrew Hopper — And that’s why we wrote the book.Rich Birch — Yeah. It’s and I thought the same thing as I was looking through it, that this would be a great resource for a small group, a great resource as a staff training thing. Because again, I think there’s two things happening on two levels. From my perspective, there’s what you’re actually talking about – adoption, but then there’s how you talk about it. And I think even both of those, I think could be interesting as a as a staff team to kind of unpack and think about. How do we ensure that what we’re doing is so gospel-infused. That’s part of why i love you as a communicator. I think you do such a good job on that. It’s just fantastic. So I would strongly encourage people to pick it up.Rich Birch — Help me understand the connection. So Mercy Hill is known for, or at least from my perspective, known as a sending church. You know, the thing, one of the and I’ve told again, I told you this before, you’re the first church leader I’ve ever bumped into that has connected new here guests to number of missionaries sent. This like idea of like this funnel of how do we move people all the way along to that? I think that’s incredible. How does that kind of sending culture and adoption, how does that fit together? How does that help kind of fuel the flywheel of what’s happening at Mercy Hill?Andrew Hopper — Well, you you helped me think about this when you came and did our one day for our for our Breaking Barriers group, you know, for the pastoral trainings that we do. Because in your church growth book, you talk about how, ah you know, community ministry is used as an evangelism tool. I’m not, I’m probably butchering the way you talk about it.Rich Birch — Yep. Yep. Oh, that’s good. Yep. That’s great.Andrew Hopper — That was like a big light bulb for me because because we we definitely do that, but we have not leveraged the communications of that.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — And so, um you know, for us now, what we’re trying to really think about is how does our adoption of foster care ministry and rope holding and families count ministry, how does that create open? We call them open doors, right? Rich Birch — Yep.Andrew Hopper — Like, how does it create open doors, questions in the community, where people come in? And we’ve seen it. You know, so like when we’re talking about the sending culture, that pipeline starts when new people get interested in faith, they get interested in church.Andrew Hopper — And, you know, like, for example, we we had a guy, we just did a historic video. Man, he’s saved, baptized, serving now, ah or, you know, family, young family, prototypical Mercy Hill guy, like, man, just you know blue collar heart, white collar job, just that. I mean, just everything we talk about. Right. He’s our he’s kind of our guy. And the way he got connected was his boss had signed up to be a rope holder. And it just blew his mind. Like, why would a guy take limited time and go help these families? I mean, he of course, he thought it was a good thing. But it really intrigued them. Andrew Hopper — And so we’ve tried to we’re trying to leverage more of the communication side. It’s tricky. You don’t want to be like, hey, look at us you know in the community. At the same time, I’m like, man, this year, you know when we’re going to do a pretty significant upgrade to some of the there our foster care system has, there’s a house that has a backyard and the backyard is where families come to play with kids, play with their kids they’re trying to get back from the foster care.Rich Birch — Right. Yep.Andrew Hopper — And we’ve said like, you know what, man, if these parents are putting in, that needs to be like the best, the best backyard, and you know?Rich Birch — Right. Yeah, absolutely. 100%.Andrew Hopper — And so, you know, we’re, we’re going to do a significant investment in some, you know, whatever…Rich Birch — Play structures and yeah. Andrew Hopper — …like a, you know, whatever, like a pergola type thing. They’re going put a shed out there. All going to connect it, pavers, all that stuff is what we want to do. And, you know, we’re, we’re looking at that and I’m going like, yeah, I mean, I get it. Like you don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, but at the same time, that’s not for us. That’s for people that are interested to say like, why would a church do that? You know, like why do they care so much?Andrew Hopper — And it’s because, Hey, sign of the kingdom. We want to build families through adoption. We want to restore families through foster care and families count. This is part of that. So we’ve tried to we’ve tried to use it as a way. And I would really encourage church leaders to think about that. Like, hey, is your community ministry actually an evangelism strategy?Rich Birch — Right. Yeah, that’s good. Love that. And yeah, I would encourage you continue to encourage you to think through those things because I do think that there’s, we’ve seen that there’s huge opportunity for folks who don’t normally attend church. They’re interested the way I’ve said in other contexts is they see it as a good thing. We see it as a God thing. We’re not going to fight them over the semantics of it at the front end. Because like you say it’s it’s the kingdom puncturing through that grabs their attention and you’re like oh what what you know what’s going on there? It’s a first step – how do we encourage those people? Rich Birch — Like on that backyard project, I no doubt if you’re rallying a bunch of guys to go work there, I know that there are guys in your church who have friends who they could invite who don’t attend church who maybe would never walk in your church who’d say, hey, will you come and work for a Saturday for a couple hours and swing a hammer and help us do this thing? Let me explain what this is about.They absolutely would show up, right? 100% they’d show up and and they’ll get intrigued by that. And they’ll be like, oh, what’s going on there? That’s that’s fantastic. Rich Birch — Well, friends, unabashedly, I want you to pick up copies of, not just a copy, copies of this book. So where do we want to send people to pick up copies, that sort of thing?Andrew Hopper — Yeah, man, they can just go to andrewphopper.com/chosen. Rich Birch — Perfect. Yep.Andrew Hopper — The book’s out so they can pick up a copy. I mean, it’s also just like on Amazon or whatever, but that link will take you straight to New Growth Press.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — So, yeah, man, would love it. Would love to hear from anybody who’s using it well in a church context um to catalyze Christian adoption.Rich Birch — Love it. Anything else you want to share just as we close and how can people track, go to the website, other places we want to send them as we close up today.Andrew Hopper — Also on Instagram, we have a lot of stuff on Instagram, andrewphopper on Instagram. Yeah, the last thing I would say as a closing thought, Rich, is you know, the Christian adoption boom has sort of happened 20 years ago. People started talking about this a lot more. And now you can feel in some of the podcast world and all that, there’s a bit of a backlash, not not to don’t do it, but also like, hey, no one told us how hard this was going to be. Andrew Hopper — You’re dealing with traumatic situations, kids that have been brought, you know, I mean, it’s, it’s crazy. One thing I try to do in this book is I try to say, Hey, that’s not a good reason to take our ball and go home, you know.Rich Birch — That’s good.Andrew Hopper — Instead we just need to try to shoot as straight as we can. And I do that in this book, man. It is hard. It’s you’re on the front lines of spiritual war. I mean, it’s almost like, dude, the, the, the greatest transfer of faith from one generation to another happens in the home. We love it when adults get saved. I get that. But let’s be honest. Statistically, where does it normally happen? Right. Rich Birch — Yeah. Kids. Andrew Hopper — And so if you got a home that’s broken apart, that Christians are trying to put back together, what did we think Satan was going to do? You know, and so instead of taking our ball and going home, let’s just call it what it is, and then ask the Lord to steel our spine… Rich Birch — That’s good. Andrew Hopper — …and to move forward with the mission. So, yeah, man, I’d love for people to pick it up. And I appreciate the time to talk about it today.Rich Birch — Andrew, thanks so much. Appreciate you. Just want to honor you for the work you do. You’re a great leader. And I love how God’s using you and your church to make a difference. Thanks for being on the show today.Andrew Hopper — Thanks, brother.

In this episode of the ruling elder podcast John Fikkert draws attention to the excellent Pastoral Compensation Tool made available by the OPC Committee on Ministerial Care. The Pastoral Compensation Tool is available here.John's recommended readingOrdained Servant2026 Tax Prep Guide for Churches and Clergy (Downloadable PDF) by Richard R. Hammar and Elaine Sommerville.  Expected release date is Jan 1st 2026. Available here.The Politics of Ministry: Navigating Power Dynamics and Negotiating Interests by Bob Burns, Tasha D. Chapman, Donald C. Guthrie,, IVP, 2019.The Clay Pot Conspiracy: God's Plan to Use Weakness in Leaders, by Dave Harvey, New Growth Press,  2025.Quotes on Experience in the Christian MinistryFrom Alexander Whyte, Bunyan Characters “…pastors who are indeed to be pastors after God's own heart have all to pass into their pastorate through the school of experience.”“Preaching after God's own heart, and pastoral work of the same divine pattern, cannot be taught in any other school than the school of experience.”“Whenever I hear a single unconventional, immediate, penetrating, overawing petition or confession in a minister's pulpit prayer or in his family worship, I do not need to be told out of what prayer-book he took that. I know without his telling me that my minister has been, all unknown to me till now, at that same school of prayer to which his Master was put in the days of His flesh…”“What a quantity and what a quality of experience is needed to take a raw, light-minded, ignorant, and self-satisfied youth and transform him into the pastor, the tried and trusted friend of the tempted, the sorrow-laden, and the shipwrecked hearts and lives in his congregation! What years and years of the selectest experiences are needed to teach the average divinity student to know himself, to track out and run to earth his own heart, and thus to lay open and read other men's hearts to their self-deceived owners in the light of his own.”“Let no minister, then, lose heart when he is sent back to the school of experience. He knows in theory that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, but it is not theory, but experience, that makes a minister after God's own heart.”

Find the blog version and show notes HERE.What if you found an old sword that once belonged to a Roman gladiator? What if a mysterious journal held the key to a secret that could change how you see the world?What if studying the book of Romans didn't feel like a chore—but like an epic quest for truth and salvation?Our guest author today is Marty Machowski.Marty Machowski is a pastor and best-selling author. He serves as the Family Life Pastor at Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. He serves as the Executive Editor for Children's Resources for New Growth Press. Marty has authored over twenty books and curricula for children and families, including The Gospel Story Curriculum and The Ology. 

You've seen the headlines. You've read the data. And you know doubt have heard and even lived in the growing number of stories. Teen mental health is a growing concern, as our kids deal with what seems like unprecedented amounts of anxiety, stress, and pressure. . . all being experienced during the vulnerable years of adolescence. As parents and youth workers, we need help, and a new book from our friends Dr. Danny Kwon and Dr. Monica Kim is one resource we can't do without. Stick with us as I chat with Danny and Monica about how to understand and address the teen mental health epidemic, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

In this episode of 15:14, Rush Witt joins us to discuss the lived experience of someone who is contemplating suicide. Rush presented on this topic at the 2024 BCC Leadership Summit. With over 25 years of experience as a counselor and pastor, Rush Witt helps people grow through compassionate, biblical guidance. He is the author of books including Diehard Sins: How to Fight Wisely against Destructive Daily Habits and I Want to Escape: Reaching for Hope When Life Overwhelms. He also trains counselors, equipping them to support others with wisdom and care. He pastors in Bexley, Ohio, and enjoys reading, writing, distance running, listening to film scores, and spending time with his family. Alongside pastoral responsibilities, Rush serves as Acquisitions Editor and Manager for New Growth Press (that means he helps authors develop and publish book ideas).    FROM OUR SPONSOR:  To learn more about an undergraduate degree in biblical counseling, go to BoyceCollege.com/1514. For more information on the Biblical Counseling and Master of Divinity degree in 60 months go to BoyceCollege.com/five.   ONE WORD ONE WORLD CONFERENCE 2025: To learn more and register for the One Word One World Conference presented by the Biblical Counseling Coalition go to: bccglobalsummit.org. Support 15:14 – A Podcast of the Biblical Counseling Coalition today at biblicalcounselingcoalition.org/donate.

Can't or Won't? The Story of OthnielJudges 1 & 2Adam ReasnerSaint Andrew ChurchAuburn, IndianaCCLI# 1357907CCLI# 20112034Gibson, Jonathan and Brindle, Timothy. The Acrostic of Scripture. Illustrated by C.S. Fritz, New Growth Press, 2023.

Mark: AuthenticityAdam ReasnerSaint Andrew ChurchAuburn, IndianaCCLI# 1357907CCLI# 20112034Gibson, Jonathan and Brindle, Timothy. The Acrostic of Scripture. Illustrated by C.S. Fritz, New Growth Press, 2023.

Mark: Words MatterAdam ReasnerSaint Andrew ChurchAuburn, IndianaCCLI# 1357907CCLI# 20112034Gibson, Jonathan and Brindle, Timothy. The Acrostic of Scripture. Illustrated by C.S. Fritz, New Growth Press, 2023.

You Are What You LoveAdam ReasnerSaint Andrew ChurchAuburn, IndianaCCLI# 1357907CCLI# 20112034Gibson, Jonathan and Brindle, Timothy. The Acrostic of Scripture. Illustrated by C.S. Fritz, New Growth Press, 2023.

Mark: Wedding Bells in HeavenMark 12:18-27Adam ReasnerSaint Andrew ChurchAuburn, IndianaCCLI# 1357907CCLI# 20112034Gibson, Jonathan and Brindle, Timothy. The Acrostic of Scripture. Illustrated by C.S. Fritz, New Growth Press, 2023.

Future LifeHebrews 13:8Adam ReasnerSaint Andrew ChurchAuburn, IndianaCCLI# 1357907CCLI# 20112034Gibson, Jonathan and Brindle, Timothy. The Acrostic of Scripture. Illustrated by C.S. Fritz, New Growth Press, 2023.

Joined by special guests Sam Luce and Hunter Williams, we discuss the how and why of teaching kids theology as well as their new book. Get your copy of How To Teach Kids Theology at New Growth Press. 

The Life Counsel Bible provides biblical counsel and practical wisdom for pastors, ministry leaders, counselors, parents, couples, and any individual seeking practical wisdom through the application of God's Word. This excellent resource brings together the Bible and wonderful articles from biblical counseling leaders to help people apply the wisdom from God's Word to their daily lives. Rush Witt, Acquisitions Editor of Biblical Counseling Resources at New Growth Press, joins us for this episode of 15:14 to discuss the creation process and benefits of the Life Counsel Bible.    FROM OUR SPONSORS: Learn more about the new Southern Seminary MDiv at sbts.edu/newmdiv. Support the work of the BCC by making a donation here.

An Orthodox Presbyterian Church is coming to Central Orange County! Click here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠OPC in the OC⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Make a one-time or recurring donation on our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donor Box profile here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join us in the mission of introducing Reformed Theology across the world! Please help support the show on our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon Page⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!   WELCOME TO BOOK CLUB! Adriel Sanchez, (MA, Westminster Seminary California) is the pastor of North Park Presbyterian Church and host of Core Christianity Radio, a daily live Bible Q&A radio broadcast. He is the author of Praying with Jesus and has also been published in Christianity Today, Modern Reformation Magazine, Tabletalk Magazine, and Credo Magazine. He and his wife, Ysabel, live in San Diego with their five children. We want to thank ⁠New Growth Press⁠ for their help in setting up this interview and providing us with the necessary materials for this interview with Rev. Sanchez!   ⁠Purchase the book(s) here:⁠ Praying with Jesus: Getting to the Heart of the Lord's Prayer   Have Feedback or Questions? Email us at: guiltgracepod@gmail.com Find us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@guiltgracepod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@guiltgracepod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find us on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Guilt Grace Gratitude Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Please rate and subscribe to the podcast on whatever platform you use! Looking for a Reformed Church? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠North American Presbyterian & Reformed Churches --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gggpodcast/support

In this episode of Straight to the Heart, our host Rush Witt meets with Dan Alger who is the Canon for Church Planting for the Anglican Church in North America, through which he leads the Always Forward Church Planting Initiative. They discuss the important topic of liturgy in the normal Christian life.DAN ALGER ONLINEDan's WebsiteFacebookInstagramTwitter/XMENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEWord and SacramentAlways Forward PodcastFor more about the podcast at New Growth Press online.Timestamps:1:30 - Intro4:31 - What are people most curious to know about the Anglican Church?7:26 - How does the modern culture see a more liturgical approach to church?13:59 - Tell me more about what led you to write Word and Sacrament?20:24 - How would you describe the role of liturgy in the Christian life?29:23 - What is the potential for good liturgy to impact the Christian life?35:16. -How can Christians not in a liturgical church start using liturgy in their daily life?39:16 - Describe how liturgy changed your day already on this Wednesday.43:28 - Farewell

In this episode of Straight to the Heart, our host Rush Witt talks with Mike Emlet who practiced as a family physician for over ten years before becoming a counselor and faculty member at the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF). They talk about difficult topics like intrusive thoughts and Scrupulosity, and the biblical wisdom that helps us overcome them.MIKE EMLET ONLINEMike's WebsiteMENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEAutism Spectrum Disorder (minibook)Saints, Sinners, and SufferersFor more about the podcast at New Growth Press online.Timestamps:1:21 - Why do you describe yourself as a cup half empty kind of guy?4:25 - What's the most recent cup-half-empty moment you've had?6:45 - What do you mean when you refer to emotional buoyancy?10:44 - The Intrusive Problem of Scrupulosity14:49 - Why are we prone to intrusive, unwanted thoughts?17:54 - When you counsel scrupulosity, what is the central approach you take?23:54 - What does growth look like in the area of intrusive thoughts?27:12 - How do we turn down the volume on intrusive thoughts?33:55 - In what ways does our embodied nature affect us?38:35 - Is Mike Emlet a hugger?41:50 - Farewell

In this episode of Straight to the Heart, our host Rush Witt talks with Eliza Huie, Director of Counseling at McLean Bible Church in Vienna, VA. They discuss Christian self-care, the relentless pressure to keep up with modern life, and the concerning problem of burnout among adults and children.ELIZA HUIE ONLINEEliza's WebsiteFacebookInstagramTwitter/XMENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEThe Whole LifeTeens and AnxietyI'm StressedFor more about the podcast at New Growth Press online.Timestamps:1:30 - Welcome4:00 - What interested you about the topics of self-care and counseling?9:23 - How can the average person find the best pace for life?16:00 - Isn't it selfish to practice self-care?18:30 - Keys Parents Can Use To Build Margin Into Their Kids21:28 - What are some big emotional struggles parents should watch for?24:50 - Eliza shares her own story of panic.31:06 - What reminds you to give better attention to your stress?35:05 - What have you done to encourage others toward self-awareness?37:21 - When do I need intensive help for my stress?41:29 - Farewell

Preview Season 3 of Straight to the Heart, a podcast from New Growth Press, hosted by Rush Witt. Each episode includes thought-provoking conversations with leading Christian writers and thinkers. We hear who they are, what they believe, how they approach their work and ministry, and the moments and people who have changed their lives. In "Straight to the Heart," we go beyond the books to connect with the remarkable people behind them.Join us for Season 3 conversations with Randy Alcorn, Joni Eareckson Tada, Adriel Sanchez, Paul Tripp, and more. Learn more about the podcast here.

In this episode of Straight to the Heart, our host Rush Witt talks with Dr. Curtis Solomon. They dive into the hallmarks of the PTSD experience, key ways biblical counseling has been effective in helping those suffering from PTSD, and they also touch on a fascinating historical perspective, discussing PTSD in the context of World War II and the lessons learned from that era.CURTIS SOLOMON ONLINECurtis' WebsiteBiblical Counseling CoalitionFacebookInstagramTwitter/XMENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEI Have PTSDRedeem Your MarriageReclaim Your MarriageFor more about the podcast at New Growth Press online.Timestamps:1:50 - Welcome3:28 - Can you give a brief overview of the BCC and your role in it?10:03 - Where did your interest in PTSD begin?17:16 - What are some of the hallmarks of the PTSD experience?24:57 - Does PTSD usually result from physical trauma?32:05 - How do you help a person see a difference between hardship and trauma.37:28 - What are the key ways you've seen biblical counseling help people suffering with PTSD.47:37 - A Final Question About PTSD and WWII57:11 - Farewell

In this episode of Straight to the Heart, our host Rush Witt down with Dr. Jeremy Pierre, Dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism, and Ministry, to talk about the daily help of the Gospel. They discuss the common misunderstandings of the Gospel, and how taking small steps to make the gospel central to life gives freedom from pressures to perform for God and comfort during hard times.JEREMY PIERRE ONLINEJeremy's WebsiteInstagramTwitter/XMENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEShepherding the PastorThe Gospel-Centered Life SeriesThe Dynamic Heart in Daily LifeFor more about the podcast at New Growth Press online.Timestamps:1:38 - Intro3:42 - How does the Gospel relate to your very busy life?5:40 - When do you remember first hearing the gospel?9:12 - How did the Gospel become "present tense" for you?12:22 - The Gospel Gap17:10 - Law and Gospel in Daily Life19:18 - What would you like to say to little Jeremy in 1987?22:06 - How can I make basic movements to be more in tune with the daily help of the Gospel?25:02 - Which personal struggles do you think are driven by our struggle to embrace the Gospel?31:44 - The Gospel gives freedom and comfort to parents too.34:30 - How do I counsel myself when I feel the pressure to perform?38:24 - The Importance of Close Friends for Gospel Encouragements41:30 - Farewell

In this episode of Straight to the Heart, our host Rush Witt enjoys a conversation with Juan and Jeanine Sanchez, coauthors of a new book called Reaching Your Child's Heart: A practical Guide to Faithful Parenting. Juan and Jeanine share wisdom about the value of reading aloud as a family, the importance of being present in our parenting, and finding a balance in our parental discipline–not too much and not too little, lest we provoke our children to anger.JUAN AND JEANINE SANCHEZ ONLINEWebsiteFacebook - Juan and JeanineInstagram - Juan and JeanineTwitter/X - Juan and JeanineMENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEReaching Your Child's HeartThe Treasure by Marty MachowskiFor more about the podcast at New Growth Press online.Timestamps:1:56 - Juan and Jeanine Fall In Love In Florida6:07 - The Journey of Differences Between 5 Daughters11:52 - A Key Message Shifted Juan to Be More Present at Home16:23 - How did reading aloud as a family assist your parenting?25:37 - What were the discipline influences in your own upbringing?28:35 - How should parents balance their discipline to avoid provoking children to anger?36:55 - How can parents model presence and positive instruction?41:21 - You should not be alone in parenting.44:04 - There are so many parenting books. Why another?45:15 - Farewell

In this episode of Straight to the Heart, our host Rush Witt discusses with Adriel Sanchez how the Lord's prayer can be used as a fresh and helpful guide for those of us who struggle in our prayer lives. Adriel also shares practical principles which will help you to pray faithfully, as well as the not-so-well-known National Day of Prayer, on Thursday May 2.ADRIEL SANCHEZ ONLINEAdriel's WebsiteFacebookInstagramTwitter/XMENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEPraying with JesusWhy Should I Pray?I Prayed and Nothing ChangedFor more about the podcast at New Growth Press online.Timestamps:1:53 - Welcome4:11 - Intro to the Book Praying with Jesus AG5:55 - Adriel's upbringing and conversion8:31 - Expecting God's Goodness in Prayer14:32 - What to do when you don't feel like praying AG21:50 - Tools which help us pray personally or at church31:51 - How the prayers of a homebound saint moved D.L. Moody across the ocean36:22 - The National Day of Prayer AG41:16 - How the Gospel connects to daily prayer AG45:13 - Farewell

In this episode of Straight to the Heart, our guest is Julie Lowe. She and Rush Witt discuss a an important topic that is on the minds of parents, teachers, pastors, and anyone who cares about the souls of kids—bullying. From her experience of counseling children, Julie shares practical, biblical wisdom for recognizing bullying, navigating the influences of social media in our digital world, and how we can bring the gospel to bear on this important issue.JULIE LOWE ONLINEJulie's WebsiteFacebookInstagramMENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEChild ProofSafeguardsBuilding BridgesHelping Your Child with A BullyFor more about the podcast at New Growth Press online.Timestamps:1:34 - How might we define bullying?4:20 - What was your introduction to biblical counseling?7:54 - What key lessons did you learn in the early days of counseling?9:32 - How does the Bible speak to the problem of bullying?14:36 - Bullying and Social Media20:22 - What about the influence of social media on parents and adults?26:52 - How to recognize when your child is bullied30:14 - Advice for helping kids learn to handle bullying32:50 - What should families and churches do to intervene in bullying?38:42 - How do you encourage Christians to see the gospel as central to bullying?40:28 - Farewell

In this episode of Straight to the Heart, our host Rush Witt, talks with Mike McGarry about some of the friends and enemies of theologically-minded youth ministry, the importance of team-based ministry among students, and Mike's advice to new, green youth ministry leaders.MIKE MCGARRY ONLINEWebsiteFacebookInstagramTwitter/XMENTIONED IN THIS EPISODELead Them to JesusDiscoverA Biblical Theology of Youth MinistryFor more about the podcast at New Growth Press online.Timestamps:1:33 - Welcome2:47 - What's Your Story?7:08 - Tell me about Youth Pastor Theologian11:21 - How theological is youth ministry really?16:19 - What's youth ministry like in a strong culture like Boston?21:35 - What youth ministry misunderstandings do you see among adults? 33:15 - Are fun and games the enemies of theological youth ministry?40:35 - The importance of team-based youth ministry46:57 - Mike McGarry's advice to brand new youth ministers49:10 - Farewell

Joni Eareckson Tada discusses her life and ministry in the present moment, where she finds grace to persevere through difficult challenges, and how students can become involved in summer internships with her ministry called Joni and Friends.JONI EARECKSON TADA ONLINEJoni's WebsiteFacebookTwitterInstagramMENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEThe Gospel for Hard TimesThe Gospel for Hard Times (Students)God Made Me UniqueFor more about the podcast at New Growth Press online.Timestamps:2:16 - Welcome3:56 - How are things at Joni and Friends today?6:01 - Joni and Rush Tell Their Stories8:12 - A Powerful Shift Toward Joyfully Glorifying God.13:42 - How has friendship help you through your suffering?17:04 - What is making you happy in life now?23:18 - Young people can serve in the Joni and Friends internship.25:02 - What are some ways serving has helped students find joy in future ministry?27:42 - How are you personally doing in daily life?30:04 - What are some ways people can pray for you?31:34 - Farewell

In this episode of Straight to the Heart, our host Rush Witt, talks with bestselling author Randy Alcorn about the recent death of his beloved wife, Nanci, and how his faith in Christ and familiarity with the Bible's teaching on heaven has comforted him and deepened his walk with God. His testimony and encouragement is helpful to any one who faces serious loss and needs God's help to grieve with heaven in view.RANDY ALCORN ONLINERandy's Website Facebook Twitter InstagramMENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEGod Made Me for HeavenSomeone I Know is GrievingThe Small Book Devotional SeriesThe Ask the Christian Counselor SeriesMore about the podcast at New Growth Press online.Timestamps:1:48 - Welcome2:23 - Life Since Nanci's Death6:09 - Tell me about Nancy9:29 - How have heaven given you peace in Nanci's death?15:51 - Randy paints a picture of the life to come.21:42 - How has your relationship with Jesus grown over recent years?24:58 - What surprised you in your grieving the loss of Nanci?30:11 - The Story of Eternal Perspective Ministries37:02 - How have Charles Spurgeon and C.S. Lewis influenced you?41:13 - What's one big truth you gained from reading C.S. Lewis?43:50 - How would you comfort someone who is grieving the loss of a loved one?48:34 - Farewell

Nick is an angry teen, with a desperate mother, who both miss his father - and a shadow is lurking in the background.Things are going from bad to worse after another argument with his mom, when she gives Nick a handwritten, leather-bound copy of a very old book—a family legend passed down through generations...The book, called Dragon Seed, leads Nick deep into his family's legacy and introduces him to another angry young man who lived in the shadows!Enjoy this reading of Dragon Seed by author Marty Machowski, a Family Life Pastor at Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. He has served on the pastoral staff for thirty years. Marty leads Promise Kingdom, the gospel-centered children's ministry of Covenant Fellowship. He is also the Executive Editor for Children's Resources at New Growth Press.Learn more about his books at http://martymachowski.com Please share StoryJumpers with a friend if you enjoyed this episode. StoryJumpers is still growing, and your positive review and 5-star rating would help.The Bridge Podcast Network is made possible by generous support from The Boardwalk Plaza Hotel and Victoria's Restaurant on the boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware - Open 7 days a week, year-round - Learn more at https://boardwalkplaza.comFeedback, or Show Ideas? Send an email to podcast@wearethebridge.orgDownload The Bridge Mobile App to get the latest podcast episodes as soon as they are published!

Ed Welch (MDiv and PhD) is a licensed psychologist and faculty member at the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation. Ed has been counseling for over forty years and has written numerous books on the topics of depression, fear and addictions. Most recently, he was a major contributor to the new Life Counsel Bible from Holman Bibles and New Growth Press. To learn more about Ed, see ccef.org  For the Life Counsel Bible, see here: https://lifecounselbible.com/  Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

In this episode of Straight to the Heart, our host Rush Witt, sits down with Sally Michael, co-founder of Truth78. They discuss how to help children know, love, and memorize God's Word, and how her new Bible Verses to Remember series for children assists parents, teachers, and church leaders in this important ministry.SALLY MICHAEL ONLINE Website Instagram Facebook Twitter/XMENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Give God Your Worries Good Gifts Come from God Our Great God The Treasure: Ancient Story Ever New of Jesus and His ChurchLearn more about the podcast here.Timestamps: 1:28 - Intro 2:19 - The Biggest Joy of Sally's Current Ministry Role 2:58 - Sally's New Children's Series, Bible Verses to Remember 5:27 - What are the best practices and goals of Scripture memorization?8:27 - How Memorizing Bible Passages Rescued Sally from Trouble 13:25 - What has been you path into developing so many resources for children? 21:11 - How can we help children across a broad age range love memorizing Scripture? 32:18 - Finding Moments to Emphasize Biblical Virtues in A Busy Family 36:35 - In what ways has John Piper influenced your time at Bethlehem Baptist Church? 39:51 - Farewell

In this episode of Straight to the Heart, our host Rush Witt, enjoys a conversation with pastor, author, and blogger, Tim Challies. They talk about Tim's prolific work, his family, and the death of his son Nick, which Tim discusses in his book, Seasons of Sorrow. Tim's faith and hope in God shine as a comfort and example to all of us.TIM CHALLIES ONLINE WebsiteInstagramFacebook Twitter/XMENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Seasons of Sorrow: The Pain of Loss and the Comfort of God Someone I Know Is Grieving by Edward T. Welch A Small Book for the Hurting Heart by Paul TautgesLearn more about the podcast here.Timestamps: 1:35 - Intro 3:10 - Worship Around the World 7:30 - Tim Challies and Church Life 9:20 - Trusting God in The Death of Nick Challies 22:20 - How Seasons of Sorrow Helped Tim Challies Grieve and Hope in Christ 29:25 - How the Challies Family Stays Strong In Hope 33:00 - Tim Challies' Broader Life and Interests 37:55 - Farewell

Welcome, Roar Nation! We are covering meaty topics in today's conversation, most notably how Jesus manifests His love for us in the care of our souls and why the Church often falls short in the counseling arena. Jon is joined by Rush Witt, the lead pastor of Paramount Church in Bexley, Ohio, which he planted 11 years ago. He and his wife are homeschooling parents of five kids, ranging from 8-19 years old. Rush has written several books, and he regularly partners with New Growth Press in the publishing industry.  Rush gives us a glimpse into his background and how he came to know Christ at a Christian basketball camp in 1995, soon feeling God's clear call into ministry. From his personal experience, Rush explains how God is most glorified when our hearts seek ultimate happiness in Him and how we experience “soul care” as we grow into a deeper relationship with Jesus.  Jon and Rush discuss the void in the Church regarding biblical counseling, loosely defined as “a ministry which brings Christ and His answers into the areas of our lives where we struggle to understand.” Rush outlines his passion for Christian counseling and why he partnered with New Growth Press and Lifeway to help produce the Life Counsel Bible. This unique Bible helps meet the counseling needs and bridges the gap in the Christian community in dealing with the hardest issues. With any struggle we seek to overcome, we can't look for the “quick fix” but have to trust the process of falling in love with Jesus to bring our healing and transformation. Jon closes the conversation by asking Rush about a time when he felt most desperate for God to show up, his strengths and weaknesses, and what he would say to his younger self. Rush's parting advice is for us to stop “thinking small” in light of the infinite God who lives in us, to give ourselves grace, and to invite God into our stories and journeys.  Resources: Connect with Rush Witt: Website and Life Counsel Bible Explore our podcast episodes and find resources at areyoureal.org.

Check out my conversation with Rush Witt⁠, of New Growth Press (newgrowthpress.com) for Season Two of Straight to the Heart. Rush and Italk about the challenges of ministry in our current culture, the important art of being winsome in conversation, and how pastors and Christians can productively engage others in discussion about difficult social topics like race. Be sure to get my first children's book African Heroes here: https://newgrowthpress.com/children-books/picture-books/african-heroes-discovering-our-christian-heritage/ For information and resources go to jeromegayjr.com! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theurbanperspective/support

Youth workers and children's ministry leaders need to work together. This should be obvious and common, but these ministries often fail to have intentional collaboration and transitions. What can youth workers learn from children's ministry leaders and how can they learn to meaningfully partner with families?   Discussion Includes: Why have you committed to remain serving in children's ministry?  Could you share your approach to discipling upper-elementary students?  How does your church navigate the transition from children's ministry into youth ministry? If there are other ways you've seen that transition done well, could you also share those?  Are there some common misconceptions youth workers have about children's ministry? What are some lessons or practices that are common in children's ministry that are overlooked in student ministry?  Sam Luce is one of the Pastors at Redeemer Church in Utica, NY and his blog, samluce.com is one of the top children's ministry blogs online. Sam is working on two books, one with Moody and the other with New Growth Press, so keep your eyes open for those.  Books New City Catechism Heidelberg Catechism Resilient: Child Discipleship and the Fearless Future of the Church, by Awana Show them Jesus: Teaching the Gospel to Kids, Jack Klumpenhower 

Preview of the second season of "Straight to the Heart," a podcast from New Growth Press, hosted by Rush Witt. Each episode includes thought-provoking conversations with leading Christian writers and thinkers. We hear who they are, what they believe, how they approach their work and ministry, and the moments and people who have changed their lives. In "Straight to the Heart," we go beyond the books to connect with the remarkable people behind them.Learn more about season 2 of the podcast here.

We kick off the anticipated second season of "Straight to the Heart," as Rush Witt meets with counselor and author Ed Welch.Rush asks Ed about the early years of Ed's life and faith in Christ, what it means to make counseling beautiful, and how to help people in the midst of grief and suffering. Join us for this wonderfully insightful start to Season 2. CONNECT ONLINECCEF's WebsiteFacebookXInstagramMENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Someone I Know Is Grieving: Responding with Humility and CompassionThe Small Book Devotions Bundle Learn more about the podcast here. Timestamps:0:38 - Intro 2:52 - Ed's Conversion and College Story8:33 - Ed's Introduction to Biblical Counseling10:51 - What big shifts most impacted your work with people? 15:37 - How do you make counseling beautiful?24:49 - Tell us more about your new book, Someone I Know is Grieving.34:00 - What have you learned most about humility and compassion?41:28 - Has there been a central theme to your over 40 years of counseling?44:29 - Farewell

We are designed to obey God. Often our restlessness in life is caused by some form of disobedience. Let this passage help you evaluate your own obedience and bring you peace with God through Jesus. If you like this podcast: Share it with a friend. Send ideas to improve the podcast (truesleepfeedback@gmail.com) You might also consider purchasing a copy of Good and Angry: Redeeming Anger, Irritation, Complaining and Bitterness and other resources from ⁠⁠⁠New Growth Press⁠⁠⁠ (using these links). --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/matt4155/support

God's people can trust him to overcome every challenge they may face in obedience to him--even their own limitations. If you like this podcast: Share it with a friend. Send ideas to improve the podcast (truesleepfeedback@gmail.com) You might also consider purchasing a copy of A Small Book about Why We Hide: How Jesus Rescues Us from Insecurity, Regret, Failure, and Shame and other resources from ⁠⁠New Growth Press⁠⁠ (using these links). --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/matt4155/support

God authenticates his message with miracles. This way people can be confident that the message is from God and now man. The entire Bible has been authenticated in this way. Do you believe it is God's word? Are you responding to it as such? If you like this podcast: Share it with a friend. Send ideas to improve the podcast (truesleepfeedback@gmail.com) You might also consider purchasing a copy of the CSB Life Counsel Bible or another resource from ⁠New Growth Press⁠ (using these links). --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/matt4155/support

God is the one God who exists. He is the God who has demonstrated his trustworthiness toward his people throughout history. Once your sins are forgiven through faith in Jesus, you can trust him as your God. This is the path to peace and rest. If you like this podcast: Share it with a friend. Send ideas to improve the podcast (truesleepfeedback@gmail.com) Purchasing a copy of A Bright Tomorrow: How to Face the Future without Fear and other resources from ⁠New Growth Press⁠ (using these links). --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/matt4155/support

God hears, sees, and knows his people. Go to him through faith in Jesus and you will find that he is attentive to you. If you like this podcast: Share it with a friend. Send ideas to improve the podcast (truesleepfeedback@gmail.com) Purchasing a copy of I Want to Escape: Reaching for Hope When Life Is Too Much and other resources from ⁠New Growth Press⁠ (using these links). --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/matt4155/support

In the midst of challenging seasons of life there is hope. The CSB Life Counsel Bible, developed in partnership with New Growth Press, is designed to equip readers with biblical truth and counsel on a wide range of topics and tough life issues related to relationships, marriage, parenting, and more. This Bible is full of useful tools and resources for life application and discipleship grounded in the truth of the gospel of grace. BUY HERE https://www.amazon.co.uk/CSB-Life-Counsel-Bible-Hardcover/dp/108777313X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=Z2WNXNELTN5B&keywords=csb+life+counsel+bible&qid=1695999709&sprefix=%2Caps%2C83&sr=8-1   Please consider becoming a supporter of Exposit The Word. Your one-time gift or regular monthly giving will help us reach more people with the Gospel and to help us equip people with sound bible teaching via online media and the production of physical Gospel tracts. https://exposittheword.com/support-us/

Get some rest by verbalizing your pain to God, and trusting his faithfulness to you through Jesus Christ. Invest in True Sleep by: Sharing it with a friend who might benefit from it. Making a donation. Sending your ideas to improve the podcast to truesleepfeedback@gmail.com Purchasing a copy of A Small Book for the Hurting Heart: Meditations on Loss, Grief, and Healing and other resources from New Growth Press using these links. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/matt4155/support

Rush Witt meets with Daniel Henderson, Vice-President of Strategy for Publications Chrétiennes, a French publishing house based in Quebec, Canada.In this bonus episode, they talk about the importance of book translation around the world and how churches and Christians can make a missional impact by supporting the translation of great Christian resources through publishing ministries like Publications Chrétiennes.DANIEL HENDERSON ONLINE Daniel's WebsiteInstagramFacebookTwitterMENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Publications ChrétiennesNew Releases at New Growth PressLearn more about the podcast here. Timestamps:0:15 - Intro1:25 - Daniel travels the world5:35 - How do books become translated to reach the world?16:15 - How did you and the publishing company become focused on biblical counseling?18:35 - Foreign publishing impacts thousands of people20:40 - What are the biggest needs in your work?32:35 - Farewell

Get some rest thinking about how God protected baby Moses--and how he provides hope through One Moses prefigured: Jesus Christ. Invest in True Sleep: By sharing it with a friend. By sending your ideas to improve the podcast to truesleepfeedback@gmail.com. By purchasing a copy of Take Heart: Daily Devotions to Deepen Your Faith and other resources from New Growth Press (using these links). --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/matt4155/support

Go to sleep thinking about how God's people tend to increase and consider your part in the expansion of God's kingdom. To invest in True Sleep: Consider purchasing Get Real: Sharing Your Everyday Faith Every Day and other helpful resources from New Growth Press. Share the podcast with a restless friend. Email me ideas to improve the podcast at truesleepfeedback@gmail.com. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/matt4155/support

David and Leslie are excited to launch a new themed episode on the show where they will address the questions or concerns we receive at TTD directly from you and families like yours. If you've got burning questions, curious inquiries, or just want to pick the topic for an episode, here's your chance. Send your questions to podcast@teachthemdiligently.net and let your family's voice be heard on the podcast! We can't wait to dive into your thoughts and make our podcast a true family affair. Tune in every Friday to see if your question gets featured!Today, Leslie and David will be addressing a question they get fairly often and that is about the “one thing” that as they look back, they see as being critically important in their family. We think you'll be really surprised when you hear where this episode goes. Topics Covered In This Episode:The "One Thing" that Led to SuccessUnpacking "Heart Schooling" as the Game-ChangerEmbracing Compassion and CallingThe Ripple Effect on Family ValuesLessons Learned and Wisdom SharedPodcast Sponsor:Christian Standard Bible- In the midst of life's challenging seasons, there is hope! The CSB Life Counsel Bible, developed in partnership with New Growth Press, is designed to equip readers with biblical truth and counsel on a wide range of topics and tough life issues related to relationships, marriage, parenting, and more. This Bible is full of useful tools and resources for life application and discipleship grounded in the truth of the gospel of grace. Click HERE to find out more! Additional Resources: Email the podcast to as a questionHeart School CourseHeart School BookHeart School Coaching with David and Leslie

David and Leslie are excited to launch a new themed episode on the show where they will address the questions or concerns we receive at TTD directly from you and families like yours. If you've got burning questions, curious inquiries, or just want to pick the topic for an episode, here's your chance. Send your questions to podcast@teachthemdiligently.net and let your family's voice be heard on the podcast! We can't wait to dive into your thoughts and make our podcast a true family affair. Tune in every Friday to see if your question gets featured! Today, Leslie and David will be addressing a question they get fairly often and that is about the “one thing” that as they look back, they see as being critically important in their family. We think you'll be really surprised when you hear where this episode goes. Topics Covered In This Episode: The "One Thing" that Led to Success Unpacking "Heart Schooling" as the Game-Changer Embracing Compassion and Calling The Ripple Effect on Family Values Lessons Learned and Wisdom Shared Podcast Sponsor: Christian Standard Bible- In the midst of life's challenging seasons, there is hope! The CSB Life Counsel Bible, developed in partnership with New Growth Press, is designed to equip readers with biblical truth and counsel on a wide range of topics and tough life issues related to relationships, marriage, parenting, and more. This Bible is full of useful tools and resources for life application and discipleship grounded in the truth of the gospel of grace. Click HERE to find out more! Additional Resources: Email the podcast to as a question Heart School Course Heart School Book Heart School Coaching with David and Leslie   Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

On this episode of Flourish-Meant, host Tina Yeager invites guest John Perritt to discuss ways to relieve social media pressure. John emphasizes the importance of physical presence and in-person interaction for developing social skills and authentic relationships. Cyberbullying and the impact of social media on developing brains are also explored. The discussion also highlights the benefits of conversation and listening to young people, and practical tips are shared for engaging with social media in a healthy way. Additionally, John stresses the importance of discussing idolatry in a compassionate way with children, and filling our minds and hearts with God's truth to combat the lies of social media and our own hearts. A resource book is recommended, and listeners are directed to the organization's website for additional resources and a special offer from New Growth Press. John Perritt is an experienced student ministry professional with over 20 years of experience. He has witnessed technology's impact on the younger generation, from the early days of texting to the emergence of smartphone apps. Seeing firsthand how technology affects students, Perritt created a devotional to positively influence their relationship with technology and faith. Although research on the impact is not fully available, Perritt aims to share his experiences with the younger generation. Podcast Episode Summary: Healthy Social Engagement: Balancing Technology and In-Person Interaction The importance of in-person interaction and its benefits Cyberbullying and the concerns around children using smartphones and accessing social media at a young age  Solutions to excessive online engagement and the recommendation of a book which promotes healthy online and in-person interaction The importance of learning social cues and developing empathy and compassion through in-person interaction  Conversation as a powerful tool for impacting students  The concerning impact of screen time on students, including depression and anxiety A devotion created for students in response to the impact of technology on them Practical tips for engaging with social media and smartphones in a healthy way The reality of idolatry in human nature and the importance of discussing this empathetically with children The importance of filling our minds and hearts with God's word Connect with John Perritt at https://rym.org/ and get his new book at newgrowthpress.com. To book Tina as a speaker, connect with her life coaching services, and more, visit her website: https://tinayeager.com/ Get inspired now and get Tina Yeager's newest release, Upcycled: Crafted for a Purpose! The book is available on Amazon, Bold Vision Books, or wherever books are sold. Visit Tina's website for craft videos and more at https://www.tinayeager.com/upcycled/ Follow Tina on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tina-Yeager-M.... Upcycled: Crafted for a Purpose (Bold Vision site) Beautiful Warrior: Finding Victory Over the Lies Formed Against You (publisher site): https://www.newhopepublishers.com/sho... If you're a writer, subscribe to Inkspirations Online (devotional publication by writers for writers): https://www.inkspirationsonline.com/ Manage stress and anxiety in 10 minutes a day with the course presented by 15 experts, Subdue Stress and Anxiety https://divineencouragement.onlinecou... Connect with Tina at: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tyeagerwriting/ Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tinayeager/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tina.yeager.9/ YouTube:    / tinayeager   Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/tyeagerwrites/ Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

If you avoid what's beneath your marital conflict…it'll probably keep happening. Former FamilyLife Today cohost Bob Lepine helps you get to what gets you. Show Notes and Resources Grab Bob's book, Build a Stronger Marriage: The Path to Oneness, from New Growth Press' Ask a Christian Counselor Series. And with any donation this week, receive recent FamilyLife Today guest Rachel Faulkner-Brown's 30-day devotional, His Name: Our Hope in Grief. Find resources from this podcast at shop.familylife.com. Find more content and resources on the FamilyLife's app! Help others find FamilyLife. Leave a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify. Check out all the FamilyLife podcasts on the FamilyLife Podcast Network

Fed up with your spouse? Author Bob Lepine helps you trade blame, dissatisfaction, & disappointment for a stronger, richer, and more rewarding marriage. Show Notes and Resources Grab Bob's book, Build a Stronger Marriage: The Path to Oneness, from New Growth Press' Ask a Christian Counselor Series. And with any donation this week, receive recent FamilyLife Today guest Rachel Faulkner-Brown's 30-day devotional, His Name: Our Hope in Grief. Find resources from this podcast at shop.familylife.com. Find more content and resources on the FamilyLife's app! Help others find FamilyLife. Leave a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify. Check out all the FamilyLife podcasts on the FamilyLife Podcast Network