Podcasts about Robert Schuller

TODAY ON THE ROBERT SCOTT BELL SHOW: Public Health Fail, Rev. Robert Schuller, Is Water a Himan Right?, Elaterium-Officinarum, Fluoride Drug Ban Push, Colleen Kachmann, Life and Recovery Coach, Georgia Protects Roundup and MORE! https://robertscottbell.com/public-health-fail-rev-robert-schuller-is-water-a-himan-right-elaterium-officinarum-fluoride-drug-ban-push-colleen-kachmann-life-and-recovery-coach-georgia-protects-roundup-and-more/ Please read this disclaimer carefully before you (“you”, “your”) use our [Your Website URL] website (“website”, “service”) operated by the [Your Business Name] (“operator”, “us”, “we”, “our”). Purpose and Character The use of copyrighted material on the website is for non-commercial, educational purposes, and is intended to provide benefit to the public through information, critique, teaching, scholarship, or research. Nature of Copyrighted Material Weensure that the copyrighted material used is for supplementary and illustrative purposes and that it contributes significantly to the user's understanding of the content in a non-detrimental way to the commercial value of the original content. Amount and Substantiality Our website uses only the necessary amount of copyrighted material to achieve the intended purpose and does not substitute for the original market of the copyrighted works. Effect on Market Value The use of copyrighted material on our website does not in any way diminish or affect the market value of the original work. We believe that our use constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you believe that any content on the website violates your copyright, please contact us providing the necessary information, and we will take appropriate action to address your concern.

Protect Your Retirement W/ a PHYSICAL Gold IRA https://www.sgtreportgold.com/ CALL( 877) 646-5347 - Noble Gold is Who I Trust Thanks for tuning in for this very special commercial free broadcast with Reverend Robert Schuller, author of God Always Wins: Divine Liberation From the Gods of the Woke. America is at a crossroads between good and evil, and now young people are turning back to Jesus Christ in droves as the satanic 'new world order' falls apart at the seams. This one will change some lives, please share it far and wide. BUY the BOOK! God Always Wins: https://www.alibris.com/God-Always-Wins-Divine-Liberation-From-the-Gods-of-the-Woke-Robert-A-Schuller/book/56220097   Passion, Kristian Stanfill - Agnus Dei (Live From Passion 2024) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=har4itYxlBg   https://rumble.com/embed/v6qv7qt/?pub=2peuz

Rev. Dr. Robert Schuller joins Stew to discuss the widening divide occurring between Christians who either support or oppose the Israeli genocide of innocent Palestinian children. Rev. Schuller has one take away: Gaza must be completely wiped off the face of the earth. Watch this new show NOW at https://StewPeters.com! Western civilization has been infected by a parasitic invasion of foreign ideals and values that have been introduced into our culture by strange and morally degenerate people whose goal is world domination. We have been OCCUPIED. Watch the film NOW! https://stewpeters.com/occupied/

Huge thanks to @MelissaDougherty⁩ for joining us on the Good Fight Radio Show! On today's broadcast we take a deeper look into what is being taught in many of the mainstream churches and where these unbiblical doctrines originate. We discuss Paula White, Bethel Church, Kenneth Copeland, Robert Schuller, Norman Vincent Peale and others. Stay tuned to the end to see what Melissa wished she could have added to her book "Happy Lies" CHECK OUT HER NEW BOOK "Happy Lies: How a Movement You (Probably) Never Heard Of Shaped Our Self-Obsessed World"

Most of what Christians know about the life of Jesus centers on his birth, his 3-year ministry, or his death. But what about all the years in between?In this 1998 interview, author and former Catholic priest Joseph Girzone imagines how the young Jesus may have been regarded.Get your copy of A Portrait of Jesus by Joseph GirzoneAs an Amazon Associate, Now I've Heard Everything earns from qualifying purchases.You may also enjoy my interviews with Robert Schuller and Tony Hendra For more vintage interviews with celebrities, leaders, and influencers, subscribe to Now I've Heard Everything on Spotify, Apple Podcasts. and now on YouTube#Jesus #Christianity #Tell me 10 weird or unusual facts about aith #

Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do - Dr. Robert Schuller Check out John Lee Dumas' award winning Podcast Entrepreneurs on Fire on your favorite podcast directory. For world class free courses and resources to help you on your Entrepreneurial journey visit EOFire.com

Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do - Dr. Robert Schuller Check out John Lee Dumas' award winning Podcast Entrepreneurs on Fire on your favorite podcast directory. For world class free courses and resources to help you on your Entrepreneurial journey visit EOFire.com

In this recording of Sunday morning's live service at 8am PT, Rev. Robert Schuller continues his series from the book of Luke.   Today's message examines faith; what is it and how to acquire more when you know you really need it.  We all need it.....every day! Additional scripture reading is from Hebrews. 10 and 11, selected verses.   

"LOVE IS THE GREATEST.""Even greater than faith, or hope, or any other thing.We celebrate the love of Valentine's Day and appropriately so. That loving celebration is fun, romantic, even emotional. It is a day set aside once to live love and to express our love to all, but especially so to someone special.Love is a word difficult of definition. In fact, it has many component parts. Love is complex, defining itself, manifesting itself in so many different ways. But love is a force without which we can not live, or live right. It is the stuff of life, and without it, life is mere existence, sterile and harsh. Love is the force, the resource of God, an energy which produces the highest and best relationships with OTHERS, and, as we love ourselves, allows us to live life at its highest levels.TO LOVE AND TO BE LOVED IS THE GREATEST HAPPINESS OF EXISTENCE. Sosaid Sydnie Smith.Love out and in is a daily process which produces the greatest happiness. It does indeed. Nothing feels better than to give love, share love, and experience love.NOTHING.""If you had no one to love, you would never be hurt. But, you would never grow. You would never venture outside your own self-centered needs and perceptions. Your heart would never be cracked open so that God could enter it. To love and love unconditionally is to take risks, and especially the risk of rejection. But nothing energizes and cleanses like love.Profound words about love by a poet unknown. To love another, large or small, is the only real way that one can grow as a human being. The risk of loving produces the risk of hurt but even hurt toughens and matures love. The risk of loving another allows one to VENTURE OUTSIDE and to experience. Doing that allows your very own heart to be CRACKED OPEN so that love in its purest sense could enter, that is God Himself. Loving is always risky, and especially the risk of rejection. Rejection hurts but it is part of the loving process. The risk of love is worth it because nothingenergizes like love, and nothing cleanses like love, NOTHING.""Charles Dickens said that a loving heart is the truest wisdom. Knowing life at its best, the most real and the truest wisdom can only be produced by a loving heart, a heart cracked open and wanting more love.""Robert Schuller said that in the presence of love, miracles happen. Love itself is a miracle and the loving miracle produces other miracles. Miracles can and should happen more often and they can and will happen when:LOVE IS AT WORKTrue love allows us insight, real insight into the character and persona of another:“BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, I CATCH GLIMPSES OF THE YOU GOD CREATED, THE TRUE YOU. I SEE YOUR IMPERFECTIONS AND FAILURES, BUT I CHOOSE TO SEE PAST THEM TO THE REAL YOU. LOVE CREATES A PLACE WHERE YOU ARE FREETO BECOME YOUR COMPLETE SELF.”""What a marvelous statement. Perhaps we can only really know another not completely but only with glimpses and those glimpses made possible only because of love.We are all riddled with imperfections and failures, are we not? We can see past things in our desire to find the real person, the real you. Love breaks down those barriers and produces eyes that truly see.Benjamin Disraeli the great English Prime Minister said that:“WE ARE ALL BORN TO LOVE. IT IS THE PRINCIPLE OF ITS EXISTENCE AND ITS ONLY END.”""Born to love, genetic, all that we really are, the very highest principle itself of existence. And, its only end, like the highest and greatest spiritual commandment that we should love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. In fact, we are known as Christians, followers of the Christ:IF YOU HAVE LOVE ONE FOR ANOTHERLove said another is tough, practical, and active. Love is washing the kitchen floor over and over again. Love is scrubbing the toilet and doing the laundry. Love is taking out the garbage and cleaning the refrigerator. Love is smiling when you are tired, finding reasons to laugh even when you are angry, volunteering for a dirty job, working hard, and making the world a better place.Powerful and profound. Indeed, love is practical. Love is very much in the scrubbing of the toilet. Love is there from the one who takes out the garbage. Love indeed delights in the dirty jobs for when you do for the least of these, you do it unto HIM.""And yet more insight into the God of all love:GOD SAYS TO US, IN LOVE, I HOLD YOU IN MY MIND. I REMEMBER YOU. I HOLD ALL OF THE PIECES OF YOU. THE PAST WOUNDS AND THE PRESENT. AND INLOVE, I KNIT THEM TOGETHER INTO THE PERSON I LOVE, THE PERSON I CREATED TO GIVE ME JOY:""YOU.""Held are we in the mind of God, remembering us even as we remember Him, all of our various pieces, wounds, wrongs, and problems no matter. God knits them together and all become the mosaic, the person God loves, the individual and special you.Love frees us of the weight and pain of life! True love always lightens life's heaviestburdens. True love is a force far more powerful than the weapons of any enemy.Life is a flower of which love is the honey, so said Victor Hugo. Love is knit into the very cells of our bodies. It is written into our DNA. It is encoded in the chemicals that make plants green. It is that which makes the sky blue, the substance of the song of the birds in summer, the whisper of the wind in the trees, the silence of the snow as it falls. Love is the voice of God calling to us endlessly and passionately through all HIS marvelous creation.There is no fear in love. Perfect love drives out fear. The more one loves, the less there is of which to be afraid. Love secures and drives our insecurity. Love at work is the most powerful force and energy of all.Take away love, said Robert Browning, and our earth is a tomb. Without love, life is like dead, lifeless, even meaningless. And, if you wish to be loved, LOVE. Any time that is not spent on love is time wasted.True love is a durable fire in the mind ever-burning, never sick, never old, never dead, from itself never turning, so said Sir Walter Raleigh. The durable fire of love burns unquenchable, always alive, always energizing.The great artist Vincent Van Gogh said:“THE HEART THAT LOVES IS ALWAYS YOUNG. LOVE IS A MARVELOUS BEAUTIFIER. LOVE IS ART AT WORK. I ALWAYS THINK THAT THE BEST WAY TO KNOW GOD IS TO LOVE MANY THINGS.”""Indeed, all of art is love at work and there really can be no great art without love. It beautifies and brings out the best in everything.Here, the words of Thomas Merton:“THE BEGINNING OF LOVE IS TO LET THOSE WHO LOVE BE PERFECTLYTHEMSELVES, AND NOT TO TWIST THEM TO FIT OUR OWN IMAGE. OTHERWISE,WE LOVE ONLY THE REFLECTION OF OURSELVES WE FIND IN THEM.”""The more we are perfectly ourselves, living to our highest and best, the more and better of us there is.Love cures people, the ones who give it and the ones who receive it. Love conquers all things, so said the ancient poet, Virgil.""Love allows us to believe so fully and firmly in God even when He is silent!The great thinker-theologian Soren Kierkegaard profoundly stated that when one has once fully entered the realm of love, the world, no matter how imperfect becomes rich and beautiful. It consists solely of opportunities for love.It is love, said Thomas Mann, not reason that is stronger than death. And that love, stronger than and which conquers death is the love of the Christ on the cross and the resurrection which followed.To love someone is to see a miracle invisible to others, said Francois Mauriac. Life is replete with invisible miracles which can only be revealed by love at work.If you love somebody, tell them, so said Rod McKuen. The telling unleashes the energy and the power of love.The heart has its reasons which reason alone can not understand, so said the thinker Blaise Pascal. Love is a dimension in life different from and beyond reason itself. The more the mind the less the heart and consequently the less love. Reason no matter how wise can never understand love.The great theologian Paul Tillich said that the first beauty of love is to listen. One who loves wants to listen more than talk, listen to every word, every expression of thought and emotion which comes from the one loved. Listening, really listening in a caring way, may very well be the highest attribute of true love.For those who love, time is eternity. Love is God's finger on man's shoulder. Love is like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and to give thanks for another day of loving. Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end.Sir Alfred Lord Tennyson said:“TIS BETTER TO HAVE LOVED AND LOST THAN NEVER TO HAVE LOVED AT ALL.”""Love indeed is risky, the risk of rejection but a life lived without true love is a life never really lived at all.I love you, says Anna Corbin, as you are, not as you wish to be. I love you for the real person you are, not the imaginary perhaps I fantasize you could be. I love the real,amazing, utterly unique YOU.""Love in the ultimate, unconditional, love so REAL.If you love until it hurts, really hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love said the wonderfully loving Mother Teresa. True love at work drives away the hurt.""Looking back, said one, I have this to regret. That too often when I loved, I did not say so. Love uncommunicated is love aborted. It is there but never shared. More time is spent judging people which leaves less time to love them.Zelda Fitzgerald said that nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much love the heart can hold. There is no limit to love, none whatsoever. Love is there, always and love takes up when knowledge leaves off. In fact, love is the supreme knowledge, superior to all else.Love's greatest gift is its ability to make everything it touches sacred. Love at work produces the holiest of the holies. The great English statesman William E. Gladstone said the following:“WE LOOK FORWARD TO THE TIME WHEN THE POWER OF LOVE WILL REPLACE THE LOVE OF POWER. THEN WILL OUR WORLD KNOW THE BLESSINGS OF PEACE. POWER KILLS LOVE AND WITHOUT LOVE, THERE IS NO PEACE. THERE ISNOTHING MORE POWERFUL BEFORE AND EVER AGAIN THAN LOVE.”""The theologian Reinhold Niebuhr said the following:“WE ARE SAVED BY THE FINAL FORM OF LOVE, WHICH IS FORGIVENESS. FORGIVING AND FORGETTING ARE THE HIGHEST ACTS OF LOVE RESULTING IN OUR SALVATION. THERE WAS ONE, YEARS AGO, DRIVEN TO THE CROSS BY THE LOVE OF MANKIND PROVIDING IN HIS DEATH THE LIFE AND THE LOVE WE LEAD.THE CROSS WAS THE FINAL AND FORGIVING FORM OF LOVE.”""The crucifixion of the Christ on the cross was indeed the ultimate act of love. The great writer C.S. Lewis said the following:“TO LOVE AT ALL IS TO BE VULNERABLE. LOVE ANYTHING AND YOUR HEART WILL CERTAINLY BE WRUNG AND POSSIBLY BROKEN. LOVE BREAKS DOWN ALL BARRIERS, OPENS WIDE THE HEART, EXPOSES TRUE INNOCENCE AND RISKS THE WRINGING AND THE BREAKING OF THIS MORE PRIZED POSSESSION. REAL LOVE DEMANDS THIS, CONSTANTLY.”Sir Arthur Pinero said that “those who love deeply never grow old. They may die of old age, but they die young at heart.”That deep love here and now is but a prelude to the perfect love there. In fact, they are one love contiguous and continuous. Love is both earthly and eternal. Love never dies. For there is only one real happiness in life and that is to love and to be loved.The great writer Ralph Waldo Emerson said:“NEVER SELF-POSSESSED OR PRUDENT, LOVE IS ALL ABANDONMENT.”""True love is pure risk, always. Love at work risks hurt to the self and rejection by another. But the risk at work is what makes the word of love so special.""Vulnerability, openness, risk but so great reward.Hear then the marvelous words of the great poet William Wordsworth:“A PERSON CAN BE SO CHANGED BY LOVE AS TO BE UNRECOGNIZABLE AS THE SAME PERSON. LOVE TRANSFORMS, REGENERATES. LOVE PRODUCES CHANGE, EVERYWHERE AND IN EVERYONE. LOVE BETTERS WHAT IS BEST!”""The great philosopher Plato said that love is the best friend of human kind, the helper and the healer of all ills that stand in the way of human happiness. In fact, love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries and without them, humanity can not survive. And for some real definition of the word love, hear the words of Saint Augustine:“WHAT DOES LOVE LOOK LIKE? WHY, IT HAS HANDS TO HELP OTHERS. IT HAS FEET TO HASTEN TO THE POOR AND NEEDY. IT HAS EYES TO SEE MISERY AND WANT. IT HAS EARS TO HEAR THE SIGHS AND SORROWS OF HUMANKIND. THATIS WHAT LOVE LOOKS LIKE!”""Amen and amen. Hands and feet at work, eyes and ears to see and hear human need. Love at work is what love really is.Love comes supreme and most innocently from a child. A child's love is pure, uncomplicated, unconditional, fully trusting. Such innocence opens deep the world of feeling and emotion and it is a return to that childlike love and that ability to love which alone can make complete the adult version of that child. May we all be wise enough to return to the innocent love of a little child.And so my friends, my fellow Americans, we the Crawford Broadcasting Company wish you all of the love possible on Valentine's Day and during Valentine's week. May love in all its forms permeate your life and may you know the supreme love of the One who laid down His life for you. Live love every day and know the real and true meaning of life.And finally, the profound words of poet Emily Dickenson:“IF I CAN STOP ONE HEART FROM BREAKINGI SHALL NOT LIVE IN VAINIF I CAN EASE ONE LIFE THE ACHING OR COOL ONE PAINOR HELP ONE FAINTING ROBIN IN TO HIS NEST AGAINI SHALL NOT LIVE IN VAIN!”""Love is the greatest!"

In today's online church service Rev. Robert Schuller teaches from Luke 6 verses 1-11Often times in life we have to live by the spirit of the law and not the letter of the law.  It takes wisdom and courage to know when and where to follow and when to lead by example.  Jesus was the Christ and he didn't follow the rules of the religious people.  Instead, he taught us all how to always act out of love and to follow God's laws.  When we do this, we find more peace and fulfillment in life.   Join Rev. Schuller and his wife, Donna any Sunday morning, live at 8am PT

Unlocking life's potential begins with a mindset of Possibility Thinking. Inspired by Robert Schuller's teachings, this approach transforms challenges into opportunities through optimism, faith, and creative action. Gratitude plays a pivotal role, shifting focus from what's lacking to appreciating the present and fueling motivation. By celebrating small wins and envisioning success, we cultivate resilience and confidence. As we embrace bold dreams and express daily thankfulness, we not only achieve more but also enrich our journey with joy and purpose. What possibilities will gratitude unlock for you today?

Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do - Dr. Robert Schuller Check out John Lee Dumas' award winning Podcast Entrepreneurs on Fire on your favorite podcast directory. For world class free courses and resources to help you on your Entrepreneurial journey visit EOFire.com

We are ending our historical tour with what may be the most famous episodes of White Horse Inn. Our 1992 conversation with the founding pastor of what was the Crystal Cathedral, Robert Schuller. This conversation is full of astounding and surprising moments. CHECK OUT THIS MONTH'S OFFERS: Bible Studies from Sola Media Become a Partner to support the work of White Horse Inn as we apply the riches of the Reformation to the modern church. For more information, visit us at whitehorseinn.org or email us at info@whitehorseinn.org.

Millions of people say they have had a near-death experience, a term coined by Dr. Raymond Moody in 1975. But questions abound. What exactly happens during a near death experience? Some people have one and others don't? And why do some people choose to come back? In this 1988 interview Dr. Moody addressesthose and other critical questions about NDE. Get The Light Beyond by Raymond MoodyAs an Amazon Associate, Now I've Heard Everything earns from qualifying purchases.You may also enjoy my interviews with Robert Schuller and Andrew Young For more vintage interviews with celebrities, leaders, and influencers, subscribe to Now I've Heard Everything on Spotify, Apple Podcasts. and now on YouTube Photo by Ehabich #afterlife #neardeathexperience #dying #NDE

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 9th of July, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go straight to the word of God, to 2 Timothy 4:2: “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching.” I want to read you a story that was sent to me a couple of hours ago from a dear young man that I am mentoring. “Robert Schuller's teenage daughter, Cindy, was in a motorcycle accident and had to have her leg amputated. John Wayne was a big fan of Robert Schuller. He heard Dr Schuller say on one of his programmes that his daughter had been in an accident and had to have her leg amputated. John Wayne wrote a note to her saying:“Dear Cindy, Sorry to hear about your accident. Hope you will be all right.” Signed, John Wayne.The note was delivered to her and she decided she wanted to write John Wayne a note in reply. She wrote: Dear Mr Wayne,I got your note. Thanks for writing to me. I like you very much. I am going to be all right because Jesus is going to help me. Mr Wayne, do you know Jesus? I sure hope you know Jesus, Mr Wayne, because I can't imagine Heaven being complete without John Wayne being there. I hope if you don't know Jesus, that you will give your heart to Jesus right now. See you in Heaven, (and she signed her name).She had just put that letter in an envelope and sealed it and written across the front of it, “John Wayne”, when a visitor came into her hospital room to see her. He said to her, “What are you doing?” She said, “I have just written a letter to John Wayne, but I don't know how to get it to him. He said, “That's funny. I am going to have dinner tonight with John Wayne at the Newport Club down at Newport Beach. Give it to me and I will give it to him.” She gave him the letter and he put it in his coat pocket. There were twelve of them that night, sitting around a table for dinner. They were all laughing and joking and the guy happened to reach into his pocket and felt the letter, and he remembered. John Wayne was seated at the end of the table and the guy took the letter out and said, “Hey Duke, I was in Schuller's daughter's room today in the hospital and she wrote you a letter and wanted me to give it to you and here it is.” They passed the letter down to John Wayne and he opened it, and someone happened to notice, looking down at John Wayne, he was crying. One of them said, “Duke, what is the matter?” And he said, “I want to read you this letter.” He read the letter then he began to weep again. He folded it up, put it in his pocket and he pointed to the man who had delivered the letter to him and said, “You go and tell that little girl that in this restaurant, right here, John Wayne gives his heart to Jesus Christ and I will see her in Heaven." John Wayne died three weeks later.May God bless you richly. Tell somebody today about Jesus, Goodbye.

Kencan Dengan Tuhan - Jumat, 10 Mei 2024 Bacaan: "Dari Paulus, rasul Kristus Yesus menurut perintah Allah, Juruselamat kita, dan Kristus Yesus, dasar pengharapan kita." (1 Timotius 1:1) Renungan: Suatu kali sepasang suami istri sedang berada dalam misi di Korea. Namun, mereka sangat terkejut ketika mendengar kabar bahwa Carol, anak mereka mengalami kecelakaan dan kakinya harus diamputasi. Mereka langsung memutuskan untuk pulang menemui Carol. Di sepanjang perjalanan, sang istri menangis tidak keruan. Tangisan itu menyiratkan kesedihan sang suami. "Bagaimana kehidupan putriku ke depannya?" tanya sang suami dalam hati. Setibanya di tempat Carol terbaring, mereka pun terpaku. Tak ada kata-kata yang bisa keluar dari mulut mereka. Hingga Carol pun memulai pembicaraan yang sangat membekas di dalam hati kedua orang tuanya itu. "Yah, kurasa Tuhan tetap baik kepadaku dan akan menolongku untuk aku bisa membantu orang-orang yang telah cedera seperti aku." Kedua orang tuanya sangat takjub mendengar perkataannya itu. Memang Carol harus berjuang cukup lama untuk melalui masa-masa sakitnya, karena ia harus berada di rumah sakit selama tujuh bulan! Namun, Carol masih bisa melihat sisi positif terhadap tragedi yang ia alami. Situasi buruk tidak membuat ia kehilangan harapannya kepada Yesus. la percaya bahwa Tuhan tetap mengasihinya dan masih mau memakainya untuk berkarya bagi-Nya walau keadaan sepertinya berkata lain. Pikiran positifnya itu tercermin dari ungkapan isi hatinya yang ia utarakan di depan umum, "Saya melihat pada gadis-gadis yang berjalan tanpa ketimpangan dan saya ingin berjalan seperti mereka. Saya tidak dapat, namun inilah yang dapat saya pahami dan sekaligus ingin saya beritahukan kepada Anda semua: bukan cara berjalan Anda yang diperhitungkan, namun siapa yang berjalan dengan Anda dan dengan siapa Anda berjalan." Dalam hidup ini, tentu setiap kita memiliki harapan. Harapan ialah keinginan akan sesuatu untuk menjadi kenyataan. Memiliki harapan memang merupakan sesuatu yang indah, karena harapan menjadi sumber semangat di dalam hidup kita. Sayangnya, banyak orang tidak siap menerima kenyataan ketika keadaan dirinya seakan-akan tidak mendukung untuk terwujudnya harapan tersebut. Mereka menjadi kecewa dan marah kepada Tuhan serta kehilangan harapannya. Tetapi, tidak demikian seharusnya bagi orang percaya. Keberadaan Yesus di dalam hati kita menjadi dasar atas segala harapan dalam semua segi kehidupan kita. Itulah yang ditegaskan Rasul Paulus di dalam suratnya kepada Timotius. Mungkin kita sedang mengalami keadaan yang seolah-olah memaksa kita untuk tidak usah berharap lagi. Ingat, apa pun keadaan kita, jangan pernah berhenti berharap di dalam Yesus! Yesuslah dasar pengharapan kita. Seperti halnya Robert Schuller, papa Carol, dan juga Carol sendiri tetap memiliki harapan meskipun dalam keadaan tersulit, demikianlah hendaknya kita! Tuhan Yesus memberkati. Doa: Tuhan Yesus, berikanlah aku hati untuk selalu berharap kepada-Mu atas apa pun yang akan terjadi di dalam hidupku, bahkan ketika situasi terjadi tidak seperti yang aku inginkan. Amin. (Dod).

Does the liberal media hate Christianity? In this 2010 interview commentator and columnist SE Cupp malkes the case for a liberal bias against Christianity, in her book Losing Our Religion. Get Losing Our Religion by S E CuppAs an Amazon Associate, Now I've Heard Everything earns from qualifying purchases.You may also enjoy my interviews with Robert Schuller and Jim Bakker For more vintage interviews with celebrities, leaders, and influencers, subscribe to Now I've Heard Everything on Spotify, Apple Podcasts. and now on YouTube Photo by Gage Skidmore #Christian #conservative #media #religion

====================================================SUSCRIBETEhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNpffyr-7_zP1x1lS89ByaQ?sub_confirmation=1=======================================================================DECIDETE HOYDevoción Matutina para Jóvenes 2024Narrado por: Daniel RamosDesde: Connecticut, Estados Unidos===================|| www.drministries.org ||===================28 DE ABRIL¿QUIÉN SOY YO?«¿Qué es el hombre? ¿Qué es el ser humano? ¿Por qué lo recuerdas y te preocupas por él?» (Salmo 8: 4). El doctor Robert Schuller menciona en su interesante libro Discover your Possibilities [Descubra sus posibilidades] que uno de los diamantes de la corona de un rey europeo permaneció durante meses en el mostrador de un puesto de ventas situado en una plaza de Roma. La etiqueta acompañante anunciaba «Cristal de roca», un franco. ¡Un trozo de roca que se vendió por una suma ínfima, porque su aspecto exterior lo hacía parecer sin valor! Pero el que lo compró descubrió que se trataba de un diamante de inmenso valor. Sucede lo mismo con muchas personas inseguras de sí mismas, acomplejadas y fracasadas, que van por la vida sin rumbo, exhibiendo con su personalidad una etiqueta que anuncia una mercancía de poco valor. Como resultado, nadie se interesa en ellos, se los relega a lugares secundarios, no se los toma en cuenta, les va mal en el trabajo, no tienen amigos y nadie los respeta, a veces ni siquiera su propia familia. Eso los lleva a hacer cosas degradantes y perjudiciales que solo complican más aún su situación. Estas personas son diamantes en bruto, diamantes sin pulir. Hasta que caen en las manos expertas del Joyero divino, quien las contempla con amor y percibe preciosas gemas de valor infinito que podrían brillar a perpetua eternidad, si tan solo le permitieran pulidas con amor. Entonces, ¿quiénes somos? ¿Cuál es nuestra verdadera identidad? Genesis 2: 7 afirma: «Luego el Señor Dios formó al hombre del polvo de la tierra. Sopló aliento de vida en la nariz del hombre, y el hombre se convirtió en un ser viviente» (Génesis 2: 7, NTV). Nuestra identidad se halla en nuestros orígenes: somos creación de Dios. Por tanto, nuestro valor depende de la valoración de Dios, no la del ser humano. Él dice: «Ante mis ojos tú eres grandemente estimado y digno de honra. Yo te amo» (Isaías 43: 4, RVC). ¿No te parece maravilloso saber que somos creación de Dios y que pronto iremos al encuentro de nuestro Padre? Fortalece hoy tu identidad celestial estudiando la Palabra de Dios, dedicando tiempo en oración y compartiendo las buenas nuevas de salvación con otros. 

Walter Veith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is available at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazing Discoveries⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Walter is⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Seventh Day Advententast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. I am not. Here is Walter Veith and his take on things as of October 2011. ~~~ In an age of religious tolerance and ecumenism, old hatchets are being buried. Churches that have long been separated on questions of doctrine are reuniting. Are the current ecumenical developments based on Scripture or humanistic principles? Is truth being sacrificed for the sake of unity? Are we moving to the era of peace which the Bible warns us would come just before sudden destruction? Who leads the ecumenical movement? What are the goals of ecumenism? And what are the philosophies of ecumenical preachers like Robert Schuller and Billy Graham? Find out in this episode on ecumenism. ⁠ Click here to download the Study Guide for this lecture: http://pdf.amazingdiscoveries.org/Stu... ~ The YouTube Video: ⁠⁠Does God Desire Global Unity? Separating God's Plan From the Devil's Lies | That All May Be One⁠ Subscribe to their ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit their ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Watch ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠More⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ~~~~~~~ From ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Me I am not SDA. I just love Walter's humor and passion for the Word. I don't love that he thinks the only begotton Son is also the Father, and much more. But here he is in all his zeal. ~ Eat the meat and spit out the bones. Beware of cults. And be good. ~~~ I just rebroadcast publicly available content. Propagate it. Share it. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Contact⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Me Please Rate or Review ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or anywhare that's good. ~~~ This work is licensed under a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/begoodbroadcast/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/begoodbroadcast/support

Guest Bios Show Transcript Everything rises or falls on leadership. Ever heard that line? Think about what it means when applied to a pastor's role in a church. What about the priesthood of all believers? And where is Jesus in that equation? In this edition of The Roys Report, veteran church planter and pastor, Lance Ford, challenges popular views of leadership, showing how they're the opposite of what Scripture teaches. In the Body of Christ, the pastor is not the head; Jesus is! In 2012, Lance Ford's landmark work UnLeader exposed how unbiblical models of leadership have become an obsession in the church. Now The Atlas Factor, which is about shifting leadership onto the shoulders of Jesus, serves as a sequel to that book. One of the most eye-opening truths of The Atlas Factor is that leadership, when presented as a key to organizational success, is a relatively new concept. The multi-billion-dollar industry built around teaching and training people in leadership—in both the corporate world and the church—has emerged only within the past 40 to 50 years. And this model of leadership didn't come from Scripture; it came from the world. Lance was featured in a recent podcast with his message from the Restore Conference titled, “It's the System, Stupid.” If you caught that message, then you heard a preview of what Lance and Julie delve into in-depth in this podcast. Lance's prophetic message is a clarion call to the church to return to Jesus' way of doing things—or continue to face disastrous consequences. Guests Lance Ford Lance Ford is an author, church planter, coach, and consultant who has designed unique training systems currently being used by networks, seminaries, and leaders throughout the world. He has written several books including The Atlas Factor, UnLeader, The Missional Quest, and The Starfish and the Spirit. Lance holds a master's degree in Global Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary. Learn more at LanceFordBooks.com. Show Transcript SPEAKERSLANCE FORD, Julie Roys Julie Roys  00:04Everything rises or falls on leadership. Ever heard that line? Certainly, great leaders can make a big difference in the success of an organization. But think about what that line applied to the church really means. Does everything rise or fall on the pastor? What about the priesthood of all believers? What about the body of Christ, where each member plays a vital role? And most importantly, what about Jesus? Welcome to The Roys Report, a podcast dedicated to reporting the truth and restoring the church. I’m Julie Roys, and joining me today is Lance Ford, who spent decades planting and pastoring churches. And recently we published his talk from the RESTORE conference where he argued that so many of the scandals and issues that we see in the church today stem from our toxic model of leadership. Well, today you’re in for a treat, because Lance is joining me to discuss his new book, The Atlas Factor. And this book eviscerates the conventional wisdom that leadership is everything. In fact, one of the most eye-opening things I learned in this book is that leadership is a relatively new concept. Sure, there have always been people who lead and manage organizations. But leadership as this thing that’s crucial to the success of organizations is relatively new. And certainly, the industry that’s been built around teaching and training people in leadership in both the corporate world and the church is super new, like within the past 40 to 50 years. But I think the pressing question, especially in the church concerns whether these notions of leadership we’re training pastors to follow are actually biblical. And if they’re not, what’s the alternative? We’ll dig into those questions in just a minute.   Julie Roys  01:46 But first, I’d like to thank the sponsors of this podcast, Judson University and Marquardt of Barrington. If you’re looking for a top ranked Christian University, providing a caring community and an excellent college experience, Judson University is for you. Judson is located on 90 acres, just 40 miles west of Chicago in Elgin, Illinois. The school offers more than 60 majors, great leadership opportunities, and strong financial aid. Plus, you can take classes online as well as in person. Judson University is shaping lives that shaped the world. For more information, just go to JUDSONU.EDU Also, if you’re looking for a quality new or used car, I highly recommend my friends at Marquardt of Barrington. Marquardt is a Buick GMC dealership where you can expect honesty, integrity, and transparency. That’s because the owners there Dan and Kurt Marquardt, are men of integrity, to check them out, just go to BUYACAR123.COM.   Julie Roys  02:49 Well, again, joining me is Lance Ford, a church planter, coach, and consultant who spent decades pastoring and planting churches. And out of that experience and biblical study, he’s designed unique training systems that are being used by seminaries, church networks, and leaders throughout the world. Lance is also the author of several books, including one of my favorites called Unleader. This book exposes the obsession in the church to unbiblical models of leadership. It’s fantastic and eye opening. And Lance’s latest book, The Atlas Factor, is essentially a sequel to Unleader, and it’s quickly become one of my favorites as well. So, Lance, thanks so much for joining me. I’m really, really looking forward to our discussion.   LANCE FORD  03:29 It’s always one of my favorite things to do is visit with you, Julie.   Julie Roys  03:32 I’m glad to hear that. And I should mention that you also are a recent addition to The Roys Report board. So, we’re pretty excited about that. But I know you spoke at RESTORE and I heard from so so many people, but our board as well, just saying, hey, we need to get this guy on our board. So just really, really glad for all the wisdom that you’re going to bring to the board. So, thanks for being willing to do that.   LANCE FORD  03:55 Well, it’s a huge honor to be invited to be a part of y’all. The boardroom didn’t get smarter because I showed up it probably got a little dumber When I joined.   Julie Roys  04:04 I do not believe that. But as I mentioned, you spoke at RESTORE and gave a great talk on toxic leadership and  our obsession with it and probably had the best line of the entire conference I have to say, which became the title of the podcast that we put out with your talk, which is, It’s the System, Stupid! Just briefly for those who didn’t hear your talk, which if you didn’t hear Lance’s talk, it’s the System, Stupid!, I think it was like back in mid-December, we published that. Go back and listen to his talk. It is so so good. But talk about what you meant by that, that it’s the system stupid.   LANCE FORD  04:41 I think probably Julie one day I was probably somewhere along the midst of listening to The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill  podcast, and I was just thinking, they just keep talking about symptoms, symptoms. They never get to the solution, and I just said it out loud. It’s the system stupid. And it reminded me, James Carville’s deal with Clinton. It’s the economy stupid. So that’s kind of where that came from is that all these problems that we have are downstream from a messed-up system. And you can’t just deal with the symptoms and try to throw drugs at the symptoms. You have to bandage the wounds, pouring the oil on the wine, that’s necessary to say the least. Well, let’s do some preventative medicine. Let’s go back to the headwaters of this thing and try to nip some of this stuff in the bud. And it just seems that the answer almost every time, especially internally, from the groups that are in the midst of these falls and these breakdowns in leadership, usually their answer is, well, we just need better accountability. But it’s the same type of what they call accountability. So rare is it that when you hear a group say, well, we need new leadership, they don’t mean they need new leadership systems. They mean, we need a new hero leader.   Julie Roys  06:05 Yeah. Oh, exactly. I mean, I remember when Rick Warren was stepping down. And of course, there’s all sorts of issues with Andy Wood, who was picked as his successor. And we’ve published many articles on how he apparently is a horribly abusive leader. But he’s now in that position. And when I heard the language, though, it was like we need to find a successor for Rick. And I thought, really, who can be the successor to Rick Warren, and who is capable of being in a position over so many churches and having so many people following you? And I sit there and wonder, because there’s this idea that there’s going to be this really good, noble, full of integrity leader that can handle those kinds of pressures. And I sit there, and I look at that, and I’m like, I don’t know that I can handle that. That’s an awful lot to shoulder. And I think that really is at the root of what you’re talking about in this book, The Atlas Factor. The metaphor is great of you know, Atlas with the weight of the world on his shoulders. But essentially, that’s what we’ve set up leaders to be, to be Atlas, to do the impossible, and then we’re surprised when they fail. Here’s a quote that’s very early in your book from the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, they’re irrefutable.   LANCE FORD  07:15 Be careful, Julie.   Julie Roys  07:17 But the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership is this quote from LeRoy Eims, “a leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees further than others see, and who sees before others do.” And then there’s the quote that I said at the beginning of the podcast, that “everything rises or falls on leadership.” It’s almost like we have made these men into gods; talk about that whole dynamic and what it’s doing to pastors.   LANCE FORD  07:47 The thing about the typical the prevailing leadership system in the overwhelming majority of churches today, it puts a weight up on the senior, and I might as well just say senior guy, cuz 99% of them are guys. But there are a few women in senior leadership positions, but just the job description, and then even the unwritten expectations that are placed upon them. I know I was a pastor for well over 20 years and was a church planter and a senior pastor for 10 years. So, if you just look at the job description, you’re basically the CEO. In fact, some of them call themselves CEOs, you’re the face of the church, the organization, you’re the top fundraiser, you are the top theologian, you’re supposed to be a marriage expert, a family expert, a child rearer. I mean, just go on and on and by the way, you need to give 45 to 50 fantastic talks a year too. No one’s built for that. And certainly when you go to the New Testament of any description of any type of leadership in the church, you don’t see that. In fact, Paul mentioned several times that he wasn’t even a good speaker. So, it’s a burden. And so that created the metaphor for The Atlas Factor for the book. It’s the weight of the world. It’s like Atlas, and a lot of people look at Atlas and they go, he was this hero. No, that was a punishment, Zeus gave him the punishment of having to hold the weight of the world on his shoulders. It’s out of order. It’s a misalignment. So, a lot of these pastors are victims too; Even the ones that don’t abuse, they’re being abused by this system of expectations, this fault system of leadership as it’s been cast upon them. And then of course, the ones as you said, that are narcissistic, have the tendencies, then they take that power, and then they become the abusers. And basically, then they take that weight, and they place it up on the shoulders of their staff or the volunteers and church members, and then they crush others with that weight.   Julie Roys  09:49 I have heard that so much from these churches where there is this big celebrity pastor, and they have to put on the big show and it’s really impossible to do. I mean, I have I always said, When my husband and I used to be youth pastors and we always said, The World entertains better than we do. So, if you want to be entertained, like go see a movie, go to all those things, but in the church, we’re gonna focus on worship and prayer and discipleship and Bible study. That’s what we do. But I think we’ve gotten away from that. And we’ve certainly gotten to this model where man we have to put on the show every week, and it’s crushing. And the staffs are getting crushed too. You quote this in your book that there’s a 2021 Barna study, 38% of pastors say they’ve considered quitting within the past year. And then if you look at pastors who are just 45 or younger, that jumps to 46%. So, I mean, if this plays out, we’re looking at a crisis in the church, we’re not going to have pastors willing to take these jobs.   LANCE FORD  10:45 Yeah well, there’s some stats that came out, I forget if it was Barna or who it was a couple of weeks ago. But it said that right now, currently, between four and 5000 pastors a month, are leaving the ministry. So you’re talking about a huge under the watermark in the boat of the church right now. So not only are people leaving the church, but you’ve got pastors leaving the church. So, it is a crisis, as you said.   Julie Roys  11:09 Although, I have to say at the same time, like I’m in this small house church, and he said recently, if we get a pastor, I’m gone. I’m gone. I mean, I think we’re a unique group, because there’s some pretty highly competent, mature Christians in there. So, you kind of have more leaders than you know what to do with. So, God help the pastor that would come in and try to pastor that. But yeah, I think there is sort of a suspicion about pastors. But really, because I think exactly what you’re talking about in this book is that we have merged this idea of leadership that really is worldly based with, we’ve kind of baptized it in Christian lingo. So that now so many people think that leadership, the way it’s being taught, you know, by people who claim they’re Christian, so that, you know, this must be biblical, is biblical. But leadership, it’s not really talked about very much in Scripture is it?   LANCE FORD  12:03 It’s not that there’s not leaders in Scripture, there’s leaders all throughout Scripture, but the leadership system as we know it today, in fact, leader or leadership is not even mentioned. It’s like, a half a dozen times in the entire New Testament. And it’s not spoken favorably, most of those times. But if you really get down to it, and I do try to make a delineation between attorney leader in leadership, because it’s become such a in our nomenclature today, but it’s a real new term. I’ve said that before some well-known authors that immediately react, and just like push back. Okay, first off, definitely, there’s been leadership forever. And it’s been studied. I mean, the Chinese going back to the 1300s. I mean, you can look at Plato and Machiavelli and others that studied leadership, but not leadership as we know it today. And what got me on this was just doing some research on it. And I just got curious one day and thought, Well, I’m gonna look up the word leadership. And I went to my old 1955 Oxford Dictionary, which is probably the best because it gives the evolution of words. And it wasn’t even defined there. I couldn’t even find the term and a definition, I finally found at one time in about a seven- or eight-word definition for the word leader, but then it didn’t even define leadership. That pushed me back further, you start reverse engineering, you know, how you are doing research, and I found the 1915 Webster dictionary. The word leadership was not even in there. And that really took me down a rabbit hole of finding out after just doing a couple of years of research, in searching even secular scholars that had done research on the word leadership and come to find out you couldn’t even find the word leadership until the mid-19th century. So, you’re not finding publications anywhere that mentioned it until the early 1900s. Even the term. Now the reason I say that, and it should stand out to us as a stark contrast, because leadership is an $87 billion dollar industry today. 87 billion, I mean, that’s more than entertainment, media and everything put together. So, it’s a huge thing that’s evolved over the last 100 years. And it didn’t even really start entering in the church, which is a gigantic thing in the church now, it didn’t even start entering into the church until I would say the 1970s. Because you can’t even find a dozen books with the term leadership in the title, even in the 1960s. So, it’s a really new thing. And now, and I say it as its defined, because you could interchange the word management and you’d be just fine because that’s really what it is. It’s management theory. It goes back to Peter Drucker 1966, his famous book, The Effective Executive. There were some significant church growth leaders took that book, they parlayed it into the Church Growth Movement because some leaders such as Robert Schuller, for instance, with Crystal Cathedral, Robert Schuller doesn’t get enough if you want to call it credit or blame for really being the biggest shaper of what we have today. And my research bears this out. You can track Bill Hybels in Willow Creek, they go right back to Schuler, although they scrubbed a lot of that from their history, because Schuler became so controversial that they just didn’t want to be associated with him. Rick Warren was a disciple of Schuler. Schuler was a disciple of Norman Vincent Peale. That’s where he got all of his positive thinking and everything. But then all of them went to Peter Drucker to get the management systems. And then Bob Buford, who created Leadership Network, which a lot of people, the listeners would say, I’ve never heard of a guy named Bob Buford. Well, he was way behind the scenes. But he was hugely shaping of what we have today with Leadership Network and funded and raised up and platformed and helped develop a lot of those leaders such as Hybels and Warren and others. And then a lot of the newer leaders that lead these prevailing, what I call Neo attractional churches today, their heritage, the family tree goes straight back to Peter Drucker and these management systems. And these management systems just conflict with what Jesus said Matthew 20, of the Gentiles, or the world systems; it’s a metaphor, he where if he was in the Old Testament would have said, The Babylonians or the Egyptians. But when he says the Gentiles practice dominating one another, or lorded over one another, it will not be this way among you. But the first will be last, the greatest will be the servant, which basically was pushing back against power, and against dominating one another in any system in his kingdom. But that’s the very thing that we have today. And it goes right back to management systems that we imported straight into the church.   Julie Roys  17:06 And you alluded to this, that we don’t see lead or leader much in Scripture. You write, and this was in Unleader as well, and this just blew me away, that we see the word disciple 260 times, as opposed to leader. Leader, I think is mentioned like seven times. So, it’s a 37:1 ratio. We used to think of the pastor as the shepherd. Even when I was a kid, that was really the prevailing metaphor was that our pastor was the shepherd, that changed. And I remember even when I was at Willow Creek because my husband and I spent several years there. And I just remember Hybels talking about how they had found shepherds to do the shepherding within the church, because he didn’t do it. It was kind of like, yeah, they have been put in as pastors, but they’re really more Shepherd. So, we’re putting them over here to let them Shepherd. Meanwhile, I’ll do the pastor thing, which is being the great orator and charismatic leader, and all that. And that became our model for pastor and then of course, Bill Hybels brought in so many worldly leadership. In fact, if you go and read about the Global Leadership Summit, like I’ve read some of the articles that were published in secular publications saying, Man, this is like the best business school that’s out there, like, I know, it’s at a church, but this is like, this is a great business school. Everybody in business, whether you’re a Christian or not, whatever you profess, just go to this really good. And we love that as Christians, because we constantly were seeking the world’s affirmation, which is really sad. Like we wanted that credibility in the church. So again, you’re putting language into things I felt for so long, and that the research in your book, you even go back farther, and I found some of this stuff that gave birth to our modern leadership movement was fascinating. And you start with 1840s, 1900, around there with this thing called Great Man theory. Describe what this is, and how it’s impacted our view of leadership today.   LANCE FORD  19:01 Great Man theory was the prevailing ideology of where great leaders came from. That was the term that they used. And so, when you go back and you look at even, I was able to even trace back and find some of the speaking topics for some conventions, conferences that were taking place back in the 1920s and 1930s. And so Great Man theory was basically the idea that leaders are born, they’re not made. And so, you’re gonna think about Teddy Roosevelt, you’re gonna think about Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon, people like this, that just have this ability to lead, and you can’t make it. So that that would that would mean there’s a real limitation if you don’t happen to have a great man walk into the room, you know. So, then they started studying the traits of the great man and that about 20 years after Great Man theory was the prevailing theory. Then by the 1930s, 1940s was what was called Trait Theory, and they basically were studying the traits of the great man and saying, Well, maybe it’s possible that we can teach these traits, we can mimic these traits, and we can actually make great leaders. That’s how it started evolving. Then there became for a while it became what was called Group theory, which they said, well, leadership really is an effect upon a group of people. They actually started getting a little closer to what was right about what  I would call leadership, that leadership is a fruit product. It’s not a position, I would say a faithfully following Jesus as a servant. But then they moved away from the group theory, and that really went back into a person at the top. And then Management theory, by the 1950s, to corporate America, and the Industrial Revolution had matured and was getting old by that time. By that time, it really became Management theory. And then we replaced it with the word leadership. And like you said, earlier, Julie, I was just reflecting a while back and thinking, you know, when I was growing up, if you walked into a Denny’s, there were no Starbucks back then. So, if you walk through a breakfast place, and let’s say that there was and we used to have in small towns, they would call it the Ministerial Alliance. And pastors of local churches that actually liked each other, and they get together about once a month. So if you were to see a group of those guys sitting around, have a breakfast together, I say, 1980. I’ll guarantee you; the word leader and leadership would not even been uttered at that table while they’re having breakfast. It wouldn’t even come into their mind. They might have called themselves pastors or shepherds, they probably call themselves ministers. And certainly, the people from the local community sitting around would look over and said, Oh, yeah, that’s the ministers. They wouldn’t say that’s the leaders. That’s the leaders of the faith community. It just wasn’t in their thinking, right? Because the word Minister means servant, but it’s washed out today. And so, I mean, who wants to be a servant? You want to be a leader. This was the problem with the disciples of Jesus, and they watched him be a servant, and he still had to, you know, thump upside of the head, more than one occasion.   Julie Roys  22:20 I want to read a section of your book because I think it really crystallizes the moment that we’re living in right now. You write, “The industrial leadership approach to church leadership caused us to abandon the understanding of the church as a body and turn to a view of the church as a machine. Our language and titles changed as we veered away from the code of the New Testament in Jesus. It became normal to hear terms and titles such as strategic initiative, ROI, return on investment scale, engineering, management, leader, executive, superior, replace biblical language, such as steward, disciple, co-laborers, servant, minister, elder, brothers and sisters, et cetera. Noncompetes, and NDAs, and  HR became leverage points in place of loving your brother, blessing those you believed were your enemy and letting your Yes be Yes and your No be No.” Bingo. Right there. I mean, I talk a lot about the Evangelical industrial complex. And of course, that gets into the money and everything that’s involved. But it’s also once you become a corporation, you’ve got to manage that image. And that is the situation that we’re in. I’m guessing some people who have been really, really schooled in this, because I mean, leadership is everywhere, right? I mean, from the time kids are like teenagers, even maybe younger, in our church, we’re training them to be leaders. But it does beg the question, and I’m sure people are wondering right now is if everything doesn’t rise or fall on leadership, and what does it rise or fall on?   LANCE FORD  23:47 I believe it rises or falls on the headship of Jesus. And I believe that’s where we land on the problem of what’s happened in the church. That’s the other part of the metaphor for this book, The Atlas Factor was. I had written something one day, about three years ago on Facebook or X, it was Twitter then; we had the pretty little blue bird. But I just said something about leadership in the church being misaligned with the headship of Jesus, and the body. Had a buddy that reposted that and then his chiropractor made a comment. And he said, Yeah, that’s like subluxation with the C-1 and the C-2 vertebra in the body. Then he said something that really got my attention. He said, Yeah, when you have a problem with the Atlas vertebra, and the Axis vertebra, it misaligns the body with the head. And I was like, Whoa, that really got my attention because I’ve been playing around with this Atlas metaphor before. And little did I know, and you know, this is as a journalist and a researcher, then it sends me down into this wormhole. I ended up reading three or four books in chiropractic.   Julie Roys  24:57 You sound like my husband. My husband would do that. Give me the Cliff Notes honey.   LANCE FORD  25:02 My wife’s like land it, land it. Yeah, but it was fascinating Julie because he said C-1, the first vertebra is called the Atlas. So, in fact, this particular doctor had written a little book, a real tiny little pamphlet size book called, It Just Makes Sense. Well come to find out there’s a certain amount of chiropractors, it’s a small percentage of chiropractors that just practice, they call it upper cervical care. And so, they only focus on the two top vertebra, because they’re convinced that if you line those up, everything below is going to come in order and align. In fact, they’ve got some pretty large claims of incredible maladies that get healed and come into order when the body, the neurological system starts functioning like it should. In fact, my buddy that had posted this, his chiropractor, so my buddy has a very rare form of cancer. And I forget what it’s called, but it should not kill him. But he’s had it for several years. And so, he’s always having to watch his T counts and everything. And under Dr. Weller’s care, his numbers have totally come in order. And that’s been going on for about four or five years now. So, it’s really amazing. So, one of the quotes that he said, and I did quote it in Atlas, so that Atlas vertebra, that’s where the brain stem sits into. So, he’s talking about the relationship between the head and the body. And he says, there’s that extra something inside each and every one of us that gives life; the inborn, innate intelligence knows what to do and how to do it. The intelligence that came from our Creator travels in and through your nervous system, which is commonly referred to as the neurological system. Neuro logic or intelligence within the nerve, the neurological communication between the brain and the body through the brainstem is imperative for allowing the body the best ability to function at its optimum. We believe that the body does not need any assistance, just no interference in its functioning. When you apply that to what Paul said about the body of Christ, and the relationship to the head, which he really goes in depth in Ephesians 4, he mentioned the other places, but in Ephesians 4, which Ephesians. The whole book of Ephesians is scholars say this is the book for the church. And it’s not a book about leadership. Ephesians 4 is not text about leaders, it’s about the body, it’s a text, read to the body, corporately, it’s talking about the body when he says the apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd, and teacher – that’s within the body. These are not professional positions. And I would say, and I know you would agree, Julie, that your house church, you guys already have at least one, you have multiple pastors there already. So, you don’t need some pro that comes in leveraging authority and power. They’re gifted. So, the body of Christ is already gifted in these functions. But the problem is, is when humans try to occupy the place of headship and playing Atlas, then it creates a disjointedness, between the Atlas vertebra and the rest of the body. And so, what happens is, we get paralyzed, we can’t move. We get all these maladies in these atrophy that sets in below the neck because somebody else has stepped in and cause misalignment with our true head Jesus. And so, I really believe that the first job of a church leader, or a pastor that wants to try to change is it’s kind of what Dr. Eddie Weller said is that we need to eliminate interference between Jesus in the body. And usually, it’s our system of leadership that’s causing the interference, and is bringing that paralysis and those maladies that go along the neckline.   Julie Roys  28:54 That’s so interesting. As you’re saying this, I’m beginning to get an image in my head of a body trying to function with just the brain. Right? And the rest of the body being literally paralyzed or just limp and not able to move. And I think about that in the church because we have made these guys at the head who communicate truth to us. I mean, most of the people come into our churches right now, they don’t know how to read the scripture for themselves and listen to the Holy Spirit themselves. They need that pastor to interpret for them what’s going on, which is scary. I remember going to one of these, you know, video, Pastor churches, and I’m like, and it had a celebrity pastor who was in from, you know, states away, who was preaching to them, telling them what to do. And I thought to myself, that guy who was preaching, nothing he said was heretical; however, he was not explicating scripture right. He was making it say things it didn’t say, and it scared me because I thought, that guy anything he says will get swallowed by this mass of people, because they don’t know they are not equipped. They are not connected to the head. They’re connected to the pastor, right? Who really functions in a godlike way with so many of these people? And I think that’s why when you see one of these falls, you see, just huge disillusionment. You know, for a lot of us, it’s been hurtful. It’s been disillusioning. Yes. But not to that foundational level, because my pastor was never my God. He was always just a man. Right? That’s all he was. And so yeah, we’d have lost that idea that really, it’s a functioning body, and all the members have to be functioning for this thing to work. And the guy at the top is not the pastor. It’s Jesus Himself, which is a radical idea, the biblical idea.   LANCE FORD  30:43 You know, the word radical and radish have the same root. Radical literally means root. So, it’s funny how that when you talk about people that are radicals, man, they’re so radical. That’s usually the people that have gone back to the roots of things that we call the radicals. It  was like the hippies back in the 70s, they were reading Mother Earth News, you know, and they’re, you know, got their gardens out the backyard, and they’re doing all this stuff, you know, are they radical? No, they’re doing what people have done for thousands of years. So sometimes that’s the hint that the people that we call the radicals may just be the ones that have tapped back into something that’s at the root of our beginnings as the church. And so that’s one of the things that when you get to this misalignment of the body, the real job description of a pastor or if you believe in those FIFO gifts, the apostle, prophet, Pastor, shepherd, and evangelists and teacher, their job description, Paul says, is to equip or resource and train and supply the saints for the work of ministry. So, it’s not to do everything, it’s not to be the chief speaker to be the end all. Really your job there, when you wake up in the morning, I don’t care what your title is, if you’re on staff at a church, no matter what your rank is, first thing you wake up in the morning and think what I need to do is how can I best resource and equip and serve the people that are around me? So, during your day, you shouldn’t be telling people what to do, you should be asking people, how can I help you? How can I serve you? What do you need youth pastor? How can I help you today to fulfill your calling? But that’s not the way it is. I mean, it’s usually everybody’s here to serve my needs. That’s leadership. That’s the system.   Julie Roys  32:37 I mean, we have a professional pastorate. So, we pay for you to do things for us.   LANCE FORD  32:42 You’re a vendor of religious goods and services, and I’m a consumer. So, give it up.   Julie Roys  32:48 Exactly. And that’s where I don’t put all the blame on the guy at the top. It’s what we’ve allowed as consumers. It’s what we’ve allowed as the body that is not doing what the Bereans did, and going back and saying, is what they’re teaching us right now, is this biblical, or is it not?   LANCE FORD  33:03 One of the things I thought about is you look at iteration or a church says today, most people are biblically illiterate. We don’t expect them to read their Bibles. We don’t. I mean, that’s why we project every scripture on screen. We don’t expect people even to bring a Bible. When you and I were growing up. I mean, people were bringing a Bible to church. I grew up spent a lot of time in the Baptist Church. every other weekend, the whole family would load up and we go spend the weekend with my grandparents about an hour away. They were Nazarene. They were in a little Nazarene church. And so, I literally spent half my time in a Nazarene church. So, I got a lot of Nazarene in me. And that little church of about 60 people and 55 of them were my kinfolks. I mean, you talk about a pastor not having a chance. Stay in line buddy because the Browns and the Fords will kick you to the curb. Anyway, it was a sweet fellowship and all my great aunts and great uncles and everything, They had the little board on the side of the pulpit that told the attendance from the week before, it told the offering. And I’m not making this up, even had a place it said Bibles present, you know, which was always funny to me, because I’ve looked back, and I thought they were trying to make a point. And those folks knew their scriptures. I mean, they knew the Bible, and they may have been misapplying it, but they still knew the Scriptures. And we just don’t have that today. We really have dumbed people down. And that’s part of the entertainment and this all comes from the secret church evolvement but if you go into the prevailing church today, if you go anywhere on a Sunday morning, most of the churches especially of any size you walk in, you don’t even know what denomination you’re in because most of them are singing the same songs. And the style is the same you’re going to go into a dark room. The ceiling is going to be black. The stage is going to be well lit depending on how much money and resource they have. It may even have some smoke machines which I call that the Shekindof. Glory, by the way,   Julie Roys  35:03 When I see the smoke machine, I am so over the top that I just I cannot I just cannot. And by the way, though, when you talked about Nazarene, this is going to warm the heart of Christine Jones, who’s one of our board members because she’s Nazarene. But I did Bible Quizzing. So, when I heard she was a Nazarene I’m like, Oh, dang! Oh, man! You know, and I am was pretty good Bible quizzer.   LANCE FORD  35:27 I bet you were.   Julie Roys  35:29 We went to Nationals a couple times. Our Bible Quizzing, my mom was our coach, but I’m telling you, I learned 100 you know, 150 verses every single year I did Bible Quizzing. I mean, that’s how I learned the scripture. But those Nazarenes they memorized the whole book. They memorized the whole thing.   LANCE FORD  35:45 I had a niece that does the Bible Quizzing in the Nazarene church, and  I don’t ever want to go toe to toe with her.   Julie Roys  35:52 But here’s the thing. Like I know Christine to this day says when they say a passage, she’s going over the passage in her mind, because it’s still there, the memory is still there of that passage. And you can’t distort something that people know. But we’re in a situation where people don’t know it., and so it creates just this fertile ground for everything to be messed up, and it’s gotten really messed up. So, you’re talking about realignment, how do we realign? Like in this situation that we’re in, how can we realign because we’ve got some major, major vertebrae out of whack?   LANCE FORD  36:24 So, you have to start off not with just looking at and saying, Well, yeah, I gotta choose a different way lady. No, you have to repent. This is an issue of repentance. Because we disobey Jesus and the word disobedient in many places. In fact, Paul uses it when he talks about your disobedience coming into a line. It means to, to hearken to not just to hear, but to listen and obey. We’ve disobeyed Jesus disobeyed Jesus, not only with our systems, but just some of those things that you mentioned, when you read the quote from the book earlier, even our what we call ourselves as leaders is disobedient to Jesus. Jesus could not have been more plain, don’t call yourself Father, don’t call yourself Teacher, don’t call yourself leader, because he says it causes you to lift yourself up above your brothers and sisters. Because he’s trying to create a peer type of a culture, a sibling culture. And this is the nomenclature that you see throughout the New Testament, co-laborer, coworker, fellow worker, is mentioned dozens of times those terms. You never see employee and boss. Because what happens is, that’s a power difference, right? It differentiates between the power, every time those words are mentioned, every time those terms and those rank-based titles are mentioned. So, the first thing a leader has to do is say I have to change the culture, I have to repent. And I have to admit this, and then I have to be willing to start changing the culture. So, I think the first thing that a leader has to do is then move into saying, I’m going to ditch the management systems. And I’m going to try to learn what it would look like if people on our team are able self-manage. And as I’m doing that, not only am I changing my titles, which that’s probably the first thing you need to do, because it will just freak everybody out. But what you do is you change your role. And so, you wake up in the morning and saying, I’m no longer going to act like I am chief, and everybody’s here to serve me. But I’m going to do what Jesus said, I’m gonna become a chief servant. I’m gonna out serve everybody here. And I’m gonna go back to the very thing that Paul said in Ephesians 4. I am going to work myself silly in helping the people around me to fulfill their calling. I’m going to do everything I can to resource them, to equip them, and just watch this rising tide lift all the boats around. So that’s the  first moves. And I always say this is when you’re looking at moving from a centralized leadership to a decentralized leadership, you can’t just wipe everything out, because then it’s just chaos and anarchy. So, you have to replace the systems with other processes and agreements. And that’s one of the things I’ve tried to write a lot about, wrote about a lot book called The Starfish in the Spirit. And in this, try to give some processes in some systems and some agreements of how you can rebuild your system into working this way. Because it doesn’t just happen in a vacuum. It’s too enormous of a change to move into it. But it has to be biblical, because that’s where the safety and that’s where the joy is. And this doesn’t mean that everything’s going to be rainbows and unicorns. There’s still stress and hard things and difficulty. I mean, Paul talked about the anxiety he had in the churches, but a lot of that was him trying to straighten stuff like this out.   Julie Roys  39:58 The book that I interviewed Scott McKnight and Laura Behringer on, Pivot, you know, is talking a lot about sort of similar things making this pivot from realizing you have a toxic culture. You guys are talking about it from the same idea, but a little different vantage points. And given, you know, he’s more of a theologian, you’re more of a boots on the ground kind of guy. But I think saying a lot of the same things. And one thing I wonder is that we’re often thinking about it in terms of like you said, we’ve got this church that needs to change. I was very interested in church planting in my 20s. And a lot of people would say that a lot of time, it takes way more energy to change an existing church than it does to grow a new one. And it’s just something I’ve been wondering, you know, out of these ashes, because what’s happening in the evangelical church right now, I mean, it is, it’s imploding, which I know is painful for everybody involved in you know, to see these kinds of implosions. But I’ve really been asking myself, Should we be putting energy into changing the existing church, or should we be saying, we just need to close some churches, we need to scrap this model? Because I mean, even so often, when you get rid of like the toxic guy at the top, it’s a toxic system throughout,  it is so hard. You have so much inertia, that to change that church is so hard. So, I know you don’t get into this really in your book, but it’s something I’ve been wrestling with. And even wondering once you do start that new thing. How can we do it differently because this is what we’ve seen modeled?   Julie Roys  40:02 What you’re touching on there is the whole wineskin issue that Jesus taught. You can’t put new wine in an old wineskin. But can you create a new wineskin for the old wine? Heard a lot of people talk about that. Which yeah, well,  maybe you can, I think is very difficult for the reasons you said. Now, two out of the last three houses that my wife and I have lived in, we built ourselves. And when I say that, I mean, we built it ourselves. I didn’t contract it. Our hands, blood and sweat, and skin. And I just kind of grew up with that, my grandpa was a carpenter. So, I kind of grew up with that.   LANCE FORD  41:31 We built one house. We didn’t do everything ourselves. But yeah, I thought, general contracting, how hard can that be?   LANCE FORD  42:14 Oh yeah, you got that lesson, then, you found out. And you promise, I will never do this again, which I said I would never do it again after the first one.   Julie Roys  42:22 Well, no, actually, I said, I learned so much by making so many stupid mistakes in that first one that I want to do it again, so that I can capitalize on the lessons learned.   LANCE FORD  42:31 Now that’s good. And it is a fun process. And it was very cathartic. This one that we built was a smaller house. And it was very cathartic. But also, we’ve rehabbed houses. And I would say as hard as it is to build from the ground up, it’s easier than rehabbing a house.   Julie Roys  42:47 Cuz you never know what you’re gonna get into.   LANCE FORD  42:49 You don’t know what’s behind that wall, you know, and you think that you know, and you peel it back, and you just discover, oh, it’s deeper, and you’re taking it down to the studs, and you get down the studs and go, Oh, the termites were here before I was here, right? All kinds of stuff. So yeah, those issues come into place. I tell you, one of the things that we’ve seen a lot of success, and I say we because I do work with a few others. I’m a part of a team that we do help churches in consulting and coaching. we talk about terms of a parallel track, just trying smaller little projects, and seeing how they go. In fact, several of the largest churches, and we’ve worked with large churches that realize that they just cannot completely turn that thing around. So, what they do is they start investing in different types of church plants, or micro churches, or whatever. And I think their hearts are good and right in that. And so, I’ve got some friends that do lead large mega churches. And I think that they are, some of them have developed some leadership systems that are closest to what I would hope to see. And I think it’s probably about as close as they can get without just killing the thing.   LANCE FORD  44:06 Our time is getting short. But there’s one term that I thought was so good when you’re talking about developing a culture of equality, and you talked about this term, I’ve never heard this this term before, but equa-potency, thank you. But yeah, explain what you mean by that, because I thought that was actually a pretty key component to what you’re talking about.   LANCE FORD  44:30 What equa-potency basically, is kind of a culture of equals. When you talk about a quality in a leadership system, it freaks a lot of people out because immediately the pushback is somebody has to be in charge. The buck has to stop somewhere. You can’t have equality, everybody’s not equal. You can just look at him. Okay, so let’s start right there. And Paul talks about this in Romans 12. In fact, Romans 12:1-2 you know, we usually start out with be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind right? So that you can prove what is the good, perfect, pleasing will of God. And we usually stop there. And so, people usually read that verse and say, Oh, that’s the verse about not being worldly, you know, don’t drink, don’t chew, don’t run around with girls that do, right? And always blame a woman, right? That was the little saying growing up. But don’t stop there, keep reading the rest of the of the text, because then he’s really going into how gifts that the Lord pours out should be functioning. And so, one of the things that he says he talks about the different gifts, in fact, he talks about people that do have a gift of administration, or what we would call leadership. And he talks about, then he says, but do it with sobriety, be sober, and then he starts talking about don’t look on your own things and be selfish. And he starts going into this whole thing about different people have different measures for their giftings. So, in any room, if you have a sizable room, and you think about just outstanding, let’s say the great men or the great women that are great into gifting or whatever. And you and I, Julie may have a similar gifting. But we can just look like I’ve got a couple of friends that are mentors of mine. And I’m thinking about one in particular. He’s been an incredible mentor in my life. And he and I have similar gifts. Mine, I can’t even touch his abilities in some of this stuff. He is just far out. Well, Paul will call that he has a greater measure of faith. It’s not faith like we think about it all. Oh yeah, he’s confident and all that. No, it’s really the term there, really iterates it’s the ability to use that gift. And some people just have that, have a greater measure. And so, Paul warns them to treat the others as equals. And so, this particular mentor in my life, he’s always treated me that way. And in the first few years, we started working together, man, I mean, there was no way I could touch what he did. But he always encouraged me genuinely, not patronizing me. But really, he just thought you never know when what the Lord wants to say or do is going to come through Lance or Jill or Rob or Steve in the room, just because I’ve got the big platform, I’m speaking as him, I can use any of them. So that’s equa-potency. So, it’s potent. So, when you get a group of people together, and you have an equal atmosphere, not meaning that everybody has the same has equal gifts, but they have equal opportunity. And so that’s really what we’re saying. It’s a culture that everybody is treated as equals to have equal opportunity, even if they don’t have the equal faith in the giftings that they have. Does that make sense?   Julie Roys  47:55 Absolutely it does. And as you’re talking about this, we do think of the people that that are incredibly gifted. And we have examples of that in scripture. But we also have probably the greatest leader, or one of the ones that we look to in the Old Testament was Moses, who couldn’t speak, had all sorts of failings. And yet God used him in amazing ways. Because he had that spiritual connection to God. He knew God, and he had a heart after God. And we have majored on the minors, right? We’ve made the gifting so important instead of the heart for God. And there’s so much in your book, we could discuss, and I would love to discuss, you get into how spiritual warfare, how that plays out in this practical steps. And so, I really encourage people, this is going to be our book for this month, for anybody who gives a donation of $30 or more, we’ll get you a copy of The Atlas Factor, just a phenomenal phenomenal book. So, if you want to do that, support our work here at The Roys report, but also get this incredible resource, just go to JULIEROYS.COM/DONATE. And we can get this book in your hands. And I want to get this book as many hands as I can. Because I think it’s a paradigm shift is what you’re talking about. And you’ve been talking about it now for 11 years since you wrote your first one, Unleader. And I think there’s a lot of resistance. But the more and more we see the crash and burns, the more and more we’re going to have to say we’ve got to do it a different way. And so, I feel like you’re very much a prophetic voice when it comes to this issue. Just so grateful for it. So, Lance, thank you. Thank you for taking the time. Thank you for speaking at RESTORE. Thank you for being on our board. Thanks for writing this book, The Atlas Factor. Really awesome.   Julie Roys  48:13 Always a joy, Julie, thank you.   Julie Roys  49:41 Well, again, that was Lance Ford, an experienced church planter, pastor, consultant, and author of The Atlas Factor, Shifting Leadership Onto the Shoulders of Jesus. And as we mentioned, this book releases this month, and we’re actually giving away copies of The Atlas Factor to anyone who gives a gift of $30 or more  to The Roys Report this month. Again, we don’t have any big donors or advertisers almost all the funding for The Roys Report comes from you, the people who care about exposing abuse and corruption in the church and caring for abuse victims. So, if you can please go to JJULIEROYS.COM/DONATE  and give what you’re able to this ministry. And when you give, we’ll gladly send you a copy of The Atlas Factor. Also, just a quick reminder to subscribe to The Roys Report on Apple podcast, Google podcasts or Spotify. That way you won’t miss any of these episodes. And while you’re at it, I’d really appreciate it if you’d help us spread the word about the podcast by leaving a review. And then please share the podcast on social media so more people can hear about this great content. Again, thanks so much for joining me. Hope you are blessed and encouraged.   Read more

LOVE IS THE GREATEST.Even greater than faith, or hope, or any other thing.We celebrate the love of Valentine's Day and appropriately so. That loving celebration is fun, romantic, even emotional. It is a day set aside once to live love and to express our love to all, but especially so to someone special.Love is a word difficult of definition. In fact, it has many component parts. Love is complex, defining itself, manifesting itself in so many different ways. But love is a force without which we can not live, or live right. It is the stuff of life, and without it, life is mere existence, sterile and harsh. Love is the force, the resource of God, an energy which produces the highest and best relationships with OTHERS, and, as we love ourselves, allows us to live life at its highest levels.TO LOVE AND TO BE LOVED IS THE GREATEST HAPPINESS OF EXISTENCE. So said Sydnie Smith.Love out and in is a daily process which produces the greatest happiness. It does indeed. Nothing feels better than to give love, share love, and experience love. NOTHING.If you had no one to love, you would never be hurt. But, you would never grow. You would never venture outside your own self-centered needs and perceptions. Your heart would never be cracked open so that God could enter it. To love and love unconditionally is to take risks, and especially the risk of rejection. But nothing energizes and cleanses like love.Profound words about love by a poet unknown. To love another, large or small, is the only real way that one can grow as a human being. The risk of loving produces the risk of hurt but even hurt toughens and matures love. The risk of loving another allows one to VENTURE OUTSIDE and to experience. Doing that allows your very own heart to be CRACKED OPEN so that love in its purest sense could enter, that is God Himself. Loving is always risky, and especially the risk of rejection. Rejection hurts but it is part of the loving process. The risk of love is worth it because nothing energizes like love, and nothing cleanses like love, NOTHING.Charles Dickens said that a loving heart is the truest wisdom. Knowing life at its best, the most real and the truest wisdom can only be produced by a loving heart, a heart cracked open and wanting more love.Robert Schuller said that in the presence of love, miracles happen. Love itself is amiracle and the loving miracle produces other miracles. Miracles can and shouldhappen more often and they can and will happen when:LOVE IS AT WORKTrue love allows us insight, real insight into the character and persona of another:“BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, I CATCH GLIMPSES OF THE YOU GOD CREATED, THETRUE YOU. I SEE YOUR IMPERFECTIONS AND FAILURES, BUT I CHOOSE TO SEEPAST THEM TO THE REAL YOU. LOVE CREATES A PLACE WHERE YOU ARE FREETO BECOME YOUR COMPLETE SELF.”What a marvelous statement. Perhaps we can only really know another not completelybut only with glimpses and those glimpses made possible only because of love.We are all riddled with imperfections and failures, are we not? We can see past thingsin our desire to find the real person, the real you. Love breaks down those barriersand produces eyes that truly see.Benjamin Disraeli the great English Prime Minister said that:“WE ARE ALL BORN TO LOVE. IT IS THE PRINCIPLE OF ITS EXISTENCE AND ITSONLY END.”Born to love, genetic, all that we really are, the very highest principle itself of existence.And, its only end, like the highest and greatest spiritual commandment that we shouldlove the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighboras ourselves. In fact, we are known as Christians, followers of the Christ:IF YOU HAVE LOVE ONE FOR ANOTHERLove said another is tough, practical, and active. Love is washing the kitchen floorover and over again. Love is scrubbing the toilet and doing the laundry. Love is takingout the garbage and cleaning the refrigerator. Love is smiling when you are tired,finding reasons to laugh even when you are angry, volunteering for a dirty job, workinghard, and making the world a better place.Powerful and profound. Indeed, love is practical. Love is very much in the scrubbingof the toilet. Love is there from the one who takes out the garbage. Love indeeddelights in the dirty jobs for when you do for the least of these, you do it unto HIM.And yet more insight into the God of all love:GOD SAYS TO US, IN LOVE, I HOLD YOU IN MY MIND. I REMEMBER YOU. I HOLDALL OF THE PIECES OF YOU. THE PAST WOUNDS AND THE PRESENT. AND INLOVE, I KNIT THEM TOGETHER INTO THE PERSON I LOVE, THE PERSON ICREATED TO GIVE ME JOY:YOU.Held are we in the mind of God, remembering us even as we remember Him, all of ourvarious pieces, wounds, wrongs, and problems no matter. God knits them togetherand all become the mosaic, the person God loves, the individual and special you.Love frees us of the weight and pain of life! True love always lightens life's heaviestburdens. True love is a force far more powerful than the weapons of any enemy.Life is a flower of which love is the honey, so said Victor Hugo. Love is knit into thevery cells of our bodies. It is written into our DNA. It is encoded in the chemicals thatmake plants green. It is that which makes the sky blue, the substance of the song ofthe birds in summer, the whisper of the wind in the trees, the silence of the snow as itfalls. Love is the voice of God calling to us endlessly and passionately through all HISmarvelous creation.There is no fear in love. Perfect love drives out fear. The more one loves, the less thereis of which to be afraid. Love secures and drives our insecurity. Love at work is themost powerful force and energy of all.Take away love, said Robert Browning, and our earth is a tomb. Without love, life islike dead, lifeless, even meaningless. And, if you wish to be loved, LOVE. Any timethat is not spent on love is time wasted.True love is a durable fire in the mind ever-burning, never sick, never old, never dead,from itself never turning, so said Sir Walter Raleigh. The durable fire of love burnsunquenchable, always alive, always energizing.The great artist Vincent Van Gogh said:“THE HEART THAT LOVES IS ALWAYS YOUNG. LOVE IS A MARVELOUSBEAUTIFIER. LOVE IS ART AT WORK. I ALWAYS THINK THAT THE BEST WAY TOKNOW GOD IS TO LOVE MANY THINGS.”Indeed, all of art is love at work and there really can be no great art without love. Itbeautifies and brings out the best in everything.Here, the words of Thomas Merton:“THE BEGINNING OF LOVE IS TO LET THOSE WHO LOVE BE PERFECTLYTHEMSELVES, AND NOT TO TWIST THEM TO FIT OUR OWN IMAGE. OTHERWISE,WE LOVE ONLY THE REFLECTION OF OURSELVES WE FIND IN THEM.”The more we are perfectly ourselves, living to our highest and best, the more andbetter of us there is.Love cures people, the ones who give it and the ones who receive it. Love conquers allthings, so said the ancient poet, Virgil.Love allows us to believe so fully and firmly in God even when He is silent!The great thinker-theologian Soren Kierkegaard profoundly stated that when one hasonce fully entered the realm of love, the world, no matter how imperfect becomes richand beautiful. It consists solely of opportunities for love.It is love, said Thomas Mann, not reason that is stronger than death. And that love,stronger than and which conquers death is the love of the Christ on the cross and theresurrection which followed.To love someone is to see a miracle invisible to others, said Francois Mauriac. Life isreplete with invisible miracles which can only be revealed by love at work.If you love somebody, tell them, so said Rod McKuen. The telling unleashes the energyand the power of love.The heart has its reasons which reason alone can not understand, so said the thinkerBlaise Pascal. Love is a dimension in life different from and beyond reason itself. Themore the mind the less the heart and consequently the less love. Reason no matterhow wise can never understand love.The great theologian Paul Tillich said that the first beauty of love is to listen. One wholoves wants to listen more than talk, listen to every word, every expression of thoughtand emotion which comes from the one loved. Listening, really listening in a caringway, may very well be the highest attribute of true love.For those who love, time is eternity. Love is God's finger on man's shoulder. Love islike a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To wake at dawn with awinged heart and to give thanks for another day of loving. Love is a symbol of eternity.It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of anend.Sir Alfred Lord Tennyson said:“TIS BETTER TO HAVE LOVED AND LOST THAN NEVER TO HAVE LOVED AT ALL.”Love indeed is risky, the risk of rejection but a life lived without true love is a life neverreally lived at all.I love you, says Anna Corbin, as you are, not as you wish to be. I love you for the realperson you are, not the imaginary perhaps I fantasize you could be. I love the real,amazing, utterly unique YOU.Love in the ultimate, unconditional, love so REAL.If you love until it hurts, really hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love saidthe wonderfully loving Mother Teresa. True love at work drives away the hurt.Looking back, said one, I have this to regret. That too often when I loved, I did not sayso. Love uncommunicated is love aborted. It is there but never shared. More time isspent judging people which leaves less time to love them.Zelda Fitzgerald said that nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much lovethe heart can hold. There is no limit to love, none whatsoever. Love is there, alwaysand love takes up when knowledge leaves off. In fact, love is the supreme knowledge,superior to all else.Love's greatest gift is its ability to make everything it touches sacred. Love at workproduces the holiest of the holies. The great English statesman William E. Gladstonesaid the following:“WE LOOK FORWARD TO THE TIME WHEN THE POWER OF LOVE WILL REPLACETHE LOVE OF POWER. THEN WILL OUR WORLD KNOW THE BLESSINGS OFPEACE. POWER KILLS LOVE AND WITHOUT LOVE, THERE IS NO PEACE. THERE ISNOTHING MORE POWERFUL BEFORE AND EVER AGAIN THAN LOVE.”The theologian Reinhold Niebuhr said the following:“WE ARE SAVED BY THE FINAL FORM OF LOVE, WHICH IS FORGIVENESS.FORGIVING AND FORGETTING ARE THE HIGHEST ACTS OF LOVE RESULTING INOUR SALVATION. THERE WAS ONE, YEARS AGO, DRIVEN TO THE CROSS BY THELOVE OF MANKIND PROVIDING IN HIS DEATH THE LIFE AND THE LOVE WE LEAD.THE CROSS WAS THE FINAL AND FORGIVING FORM OF LOVE.”The crucifixion of the Christ on the cross was indeed the ultimate act of love.The great writer C.S. Lewis said the following:“TO LOVE AT ALL IS TO BE VULNERABLE. LOVE ANYTHING AND YOUR HEARTWILL CERTAINLY BE WRUNG AND POSSIBLY BROKEN. LOVE BREAKS DOWN ALLBARRIERS, OPENS WIDE THE HEART, EXPOSES TRUE INNOCENCE AND RISKS THEWRINGING AND THE BREAKING OF THIS MORE PRIZED POSSESSION. REAL LOVEDEMANDS THIS, CONSTANTLY.”Sir Arthur Pinero said that “those who love deeply never grow old. They may die of oldage, but they die young at heart.”That deep love here and now is but a prelude to the perfect love there. In fact, they areone love contiguous and continuous. Love is both earthly and eternal. Love neverdies. For there is only one real happiness in life and that is to love and to be loved.The great writer Ralph Waldo Emerson said:“NEVER SELF-POSSESSED OR PRUDENT, LOVE IS ALL ABANDONMENT.”True love is pure risk, always. Love at work risks hurt to the self and rejection byanother. But the risk at work is what makes the word of love so special.Vulnerability, openness, risk but so great reward.Hear then the marvelous words of the great poet William Wordsworth:“A PERSON CAN BE SO CHANGED BY LOVE AS TO BE UNRECOGNIZABLE AS THESAME PERSON. LOVE TRANSFORMS, REGENERATES. LOVE PRODUCES CHANGE,EVERYWHERE AND IN EVERYONE. LOVE BETTERS WHAT IS BEST!”The great philosopher Plato said that love is the best friend of human kind, the helperand the healer of all ills that stand in the way of human happiness. In fact, love andcompassion are necessities, not luxuries and without them, humanity can not survive.And for some real definition of the word love, hear the words of Saint Augustine:“WHAT DOES LOVE LOOK LIKE? WHY, IT HAS HANDS TO HELP OTHERS. IT HASFEET TO HASTEN TO THE POOR AND NEEDY. IT HAS EYES TO SEE MISERY ANDWANT. IT HAS EARS TO HEAR THE SIGHS AND SORROWS OF HUMANKIND. THATIS WHAT LOVE LOOKS LIKE!”Amen and amen. Hands and feet at work, eyes and ears to see and hear human need.Love at work is what love really is.Love comes supreme and most innocently from a child. A child's love is pure,uncomplicated, unconditional, fully trusting. Such innocence opens deep the world offeeling and emotion and it is a return to that childlike love and that ability to lovewhich alone can make complete the adult version of that child. May we all be wiseenough to return to the innocent love of a little child.And so my friends, my fellow Americans, we the Crawford Broadcasting Company wishyou all of the love possible on Valentine's Day and during Valentine's week. May lovein all its forms permeate your life and may you know the supreme love of the One wholaid down His life for you. Live love every day and know the real and true meaning oflife.And finally, the profound words of poet Emily Dickenson:“IF I CAN STOP ONE HEART FROM BREAKINGI SHALL NOT LIVE IN VAINIF I CAN EASE ONE LIFE THE ACHINGOR COOL ONE PAINOR HELP ONE FAINTING ROBININ TO HIS NEST AGAINI SHALL NOT LIVE IN VAIN!”Love is the greatest!

Join Dr. Robert Schuller as he continues to teach on "The I-Am of Jesus."  This week the Bible verse is John 10, verses 1-10.  

Join Dr. Robert Schuller and Donna for this episode of The Call.  How do you answer the question when people ask you, "are you ready for Christmas?!"  

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Friday morning, it's the 15th of December, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the First book of Timothy 6:12: "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses." We have got to fight the good fight. We have got to put on that armour of God every single morning because we are in the fight of our lives. I can hear somebody saying, "Oh, but the battle has been fought and the victory is ours when Jesus died and rose from the dead." Quite correct, absolutely correct, but still there is a fight and the fight is within us. Remember what they say? It's not the dog in the fight that wins, but the fight in the dog. Robert Schuller said, "Tough times do not last but tough people do." Rocky Marciano was the only heavyweight boxing champion of the world to have never lost a title fight - 49 fights, 49 wins. He only stood 5 foot 10" tall and weighed about 85 kilos, but what was the secret with Rocky Marciano? The secret was - he never gave up. He could take incredible pain. He was hugely disciplined. You know, I have two little Jack Russells. They think that they are Great Danes! They don't know how to go backwards. There is only one gear they have and that is forward. You and I need to fight the good fight of faith. We need to run this race to the finish line. We need to take hold of that eternal life that we were promised and called to. We have got to flee from sin, we have to vigorously pursue this fight with virtue, strong, healthy, full of energy. Oh my dear friend, I am talking to somebody who is down and out. I am talking to somebody who is giving up the race. You have run such a great race. Why are you stopping now? Get up, dust yourself off and get back in the fight. Now, Paul spoke about a fight, it's in the Bible, folks and I don't think there was a greater fighter than the Apostle Paul, who refused to give up and gave the devil the biggest hiding that he had had for a long time since Jesus walked on this earth. Today, let us confess, "Lord, we need You. Lord, we acknowledge that you are in our corner and Lord, we know we cannot lose this fight if you are with us." He has promised us in Hebrews 13:5: "I will never leave you and I will never forsake you."Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,Goodbye.

The power of branding is easy to see, but you will only reap incredible benefits when your strategy is successful and executed well. Make That Purpose Call! - FREE Purpose Call! - https://www.purposecall.com/now However, it is also possible to damage your business and ruin your chance for success when you fall into dangerous pitfalls when building your brand. Successful businesses have learned to avoid making these mistakes that can kill other businesses. If you know what they are, you can avoid them, too. With years of Leadership, Strategy and Marketing expertise, Coach Tam and Coach Jillian discuss the pitfalls you must avoid when building your brand. In This Episode:-The Most Common Pitfalls to Avoid When Building Your Business, Brand, or Ministry-5 Branding Mistakes and How To Fix Them-Why You Should Keep Your Inner Circle Small When Pursuing Your Dream-Discover Why Consistency is Key to Your Success-The Warning About Who *NOT* to Take Advice From When You Are Trying to Launch or Grow Your Business, Brand, or Ministry-Why Your Audience and Followers Are Your Most Valuable StakeholdersAnd much more!Resources: FREE GIFT: NYT BESTSELLER TAMARA LOWE'S BOOK “ON PURPOSE” - https://www.onpurposebook.com/free-ebook46807388The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale - https://www.amazon.com/Power-Positive-Thinking-Norman-Vincent/dp/0743234804Move Ahead With Possibility Thinking by Robert Schuller - https://www.amazon.com/Ahead-Possibility-Thinking-Robert-Schuller/dp/0515089842Books by Zig Ziglar - https://www.amazon.com/Books-Zig-Ziglar/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AZig+ZiglarConnect with The Kingdom Builders: Website - https://www.kingdombuilders.academy/Facebook - https://web.facebook.com/sz.lowe/Facebook Group - https://web.facebook.com/groups/kingdombuildersacademyLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/kingdombuildersacademy/YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@kingdombuildersacademy4771

  Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do - Dr. Robert Schuller Check out John Lee Dumas' award winning Podcast Entrepreneurs on Fire on your favorite podcast directory. For world class free courses and resources to help you on your Entrepreneurial journey visit EOFire.com

In 2020, Harrison Biehl bought his first mountain bike and immediately put his mind in the track, progressively doing bigger and bigger rides. In summer 2022, he successfully completed his first “Everesting” mission - repeating the same climb until reaching 29,032 feet of elevation gain. As a fundraiser for TAMBA, Harrison tackled Stanford Rock trail on the West Shore of Lake Tahoe and completed the mission in under 24 hours. In the afterglow, tragedy struck when his close friend Joe Fazzio took his own life a week before Christmas. To honor Joe's life and bring awareness to mental health, Harrison partnered with High Fives Foundation and launched the Pedal for Positivity. His new mission; “Trench to Everest” - climbing 65,099 feet - the elevation difference between the lowest point on earth, the Marianas Trench, to the highest, Mount Everest. Harrison did the ride on Old Highway 40 from Donner Lake to Historic Donner Summit on September 8-9 with a group of friends who rode by his side, completing nearly 60 laps in 29 hours. Recorded on Donner Summit at the site of the event, this is a heavy story of friendship, community, commitment, struggle and loss. 3:30 – During the latest brown pow cycle, Tom crashes his mountain bike hard.6:40 – Steven Kotler – Gnar Country – learning to become a park skier at age 53. 9:40 – Introducing Harrison Biehl – Everesting Stanford Rock, trenching Old Highway 40.13:30 – Another sign of a big winter coming – crazy squirrels. Another Hunga Tonga correlation.16:22 – Harrison Biehl interview recording on old Highway 40 on Donner Summit. 20:00 – Riding from the lowest point on the planet, Mariana Trench to the highest point on the planet, Mount Everest. 381 miles and 65,249 ft of climbing in 29 hours 42 minutes.24:20 – Completing massive rides with only three years of experience cycling. 26:30 – Everesting Stanford Rock trail on the west shore of Lake Tahoe, a fundraiser for Tahoe Area Mountain Bike Association.29:00 – Learning fitness, strength and training from Derek Teel of Dialed Health, who Everested Braille Trail in Soquel Demo Forest near Santa Cruz. 30:30 – Using the ride to raise funds for new mountain bike trails in Lake Tahoe, including the new Meeks Ridge trail. 37:00 – What did Harrison learn from the first big Everest challenge on Stanford Rock?39:45 – The backstory of the Old Highway 40 ride – in memory of Joe Fazzio. 41:00 – Living with loss and suicide, trying to make sense of those who take their own lives. 46:00 – The bicycle as a vehicle for blowing off steam, helping deal with the stress and loss.48:00 – Finding Joe on Donner Lake. 54:00 – Angry riding in the wake of Joe's passing, starting Pedal for Positivity with High Fives Foundation. 1:04:00 – Riding Old Highway 40 from Donner Lake to Historic Donner Summit. 1:11:00 – Pro grade support from the folks at Paco's bike shop in Truckee. 1:13:00 – Contribute to the Pedal for Positivity – highfivesfoundation.org/pedal-for-positivity/1:14:00 – Tom's grandfather, Raymond Beckering and Robert Schuller, of Garden Grove Ministries, built the Tower of Hope in the early 1970's; the first suicide helpline in North America – New Hope. 1:18:00 – What was harder, Stanford Rock or Old Highway 40?1:25:30 – Did Harrison ever think he couldn't complete the ride?1:28:30 – What does Mind the Track mean to you?1:30:00 – Follow Harrison – @harrison_biehl and @pedal_for_positivity

On today's Bible Answer Man broadcast, Hank shares troubling statistics that claim seven out of ten teenagers will end up leaving the church. In light of this tragedy, Hank underscores the importance of what it means to be a reproducing disciple-maker of Jesus Christ.Hank also answers the following questions:Why didn't the disciples recognize Jesus after His resurrection? Does Paul touch on this in 1 Corinthians 15:35-49? (3:42)Where did God come from? Who created Him? (7:10)Believers are told to renew their minds, but how can unbelievers be enlightened since their minds are darkened? (8:32)How did Satan get kicked out of heaven? (15:11)Which member of the Trinity should we address in prayer? Is it okay to pray to Jesus? (17:05)What did Robert Schuller mean when he spoke of positive Christianity? (20:22)What do you think of Christians who say the Old Testament is not for today? (21:23)Is there sin in heaven? If not, then how did Satan fall? (22:14)

Listen to this weeks sermon by Dr. Robert Schuller and learn how you can "be transformed through the renewing of your mind."  Romans 12:2

This week's sermon by Pastor Robert Schuller is from Leviticus  19: 1-18  Hear how we choose to be Holy (set apart) and what a difference this makes in our life of faith.  Follow the ten commandments for a full and a healthy life.  

On today's Bible Answer Man broadcast (08/23/23), Hank answers the following questions:What role does fasting play in the lives of Christians today? (0:58)What is your opinion of common law marriage? (3:21)I am a former Mormon. Will I be held accountable for those I misled prior to my conversion? (4:50)I have a physical disability that makes it difficult to attend church, would listening to Christian programs at home be an acceptable replacement? (9:04)How did Satan get kicked out of heaven? (15:11)Which member of the Trinity should we address in prayer? Is it okay to pray to Jesus? (17:05)What did Robert Schuller mean when he spoke of positive Christianity? (20:22)What do you think of Christians who say the Old Testament is not for today? (21:23)Is there sin in heaven? If not, then how did Satan fall? (22:14)

Devin: Peter, what is your superpower?Peter: My superpower is caring and doing humanitarian efforts most of my life.Devin: John, what's your superpower?John: I grew up in a very large family, and the concept of getting along with people comes into play because, you know, you got to love brothers and sisters.When Peter Teahen started thinking about this round-the-world trip, his wife was supportive but didn't expect him to pull it off. After a year, when he announced his plan to actually go, she insisted he find a co-pilot. Luckily, marriage had connected the pair to a cousin who was also a pilot, John Ockenfels.John, with over three decades in Rotary, was excited to make the trip and, after a few weeks of contemplation–and discussion with his wife–agreed to the journey and brought the fight to end polio to the flight.That, it turns out, was just the beginning of their challenges.“This was the trip that couldn't be done, that shouldn't be done, that nobody in their right mind was going to do. But somehow, we managed to pull that off,” John says.Planned for 2020, the pair had their trip canceled by covid. Rescheduled for 2021, covid's relentlessness canceled the second effort. A third effort, in 2022, was blocked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The duo had planned to take an established northern route that included stops in Russia. US-Russia tension after the attack resulted in revoked invitations. Almost anyone else would have given up at this point. The primary alternative, a southern route, would require 15 and 17-hour-long hops over the Pacific, which their plane couldn't handle.Undeterred, the pilots just bought a plane that could make the trip!They left on May 5th and returned on July 31st. Over the years of preparation and during the flight, the duo raised millions for polio, counting the $2 for $1 match provided by the Gates Foundation.“We believe we had just raised our first million dollars before our departure. Since then, we're pretty sure that we've got at least another half a million that we've raised along the route. So that's going to be a pretty good check to the Rotary Foundation,” John says.Rotary leads the global effort, now funded primarily by the Gates Foundation, in collaboration with UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control.John explained the history from his perspective, “I joined Rotary in 1986. They had just gotten on board with this polio elimination program. At that point, three-fourths of the world was endemic with polio. We watched these charts go from red to green as polio around the world went away.”Today, polio is endemic only in Pakistan and Afghanistan. A 2022 visitor from Pakistan was contagious, and the first case of polio in the US in decades was recorded.Peter explains the growing vulnerability around the world, including in rich countries:In today's environment, where there's a decline in people vaccinating, especially post-covid, a lot of people have just dismissed vaccinations. The vaccination rate in the world is at the lowest it's been for years. That sets up trouble for children and families whose children will be exposed to the polio virus. Studies show that if we don't eliminate polio soon, in the next ten years, we'll see 200,000 new cases of polio. It's time to stop. It's time to get across the finish line.Completing the journey and raising so much money to end polio required the pilots to use their superpowers, Peter's caring and John's getting along with people.AI Episode Summary* Peter Teahen and John Ockenfels completed a round-the-world trip in their Cessna airplane to raise money and awareness for the fight to end polio.* Peter had the dream to fly his plane around the world and started planning in 2018.* He approached John, who initially hesitated but eventually joined the trip.* Their original route was canceled three times due to Covid and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, so they had to plan a new southern route.* The route included stops in Newfoundland, Iceland, Europe, Crete, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Kuala Lumpur, Surabaya, Darwin, Canes, Brisbane, Pango Pango, Hawaii, Maui, and Oakland.* The trip was challenging, and they faced risks and limited communication, but they successfully completed the journey.* Their goal was to raise money for the fight against polio, as there are still cases in Afghanistan and Pakistan.* They raised over a million dollars before their departure and believe they raised another half million along the route.* They emphasized the importance of polio eradication and the need for continued vaccinations and funding.* Their trip was a spiritual journey, and they were inspired by the support and dedication they witnessed in communities affected by polio.How to Develop Caring As a SuperpowerPeter shared his feelings about the trip, which included time volunteering directly to give oral polio vaccines to children:For me, this trip around the world became a spiritual journey. It was so true, especially when we were working in the ghettos in the poorest part of Karachi in Pakistan, holding babies in our arms and giving them the vaccine, talking to the parents, talking to the caregivers who are there. It moved me to tears.In Afghanistan, a lot of the resistance came from the fathers of the children who would prohibit the vaccinations. John and I witnessed in the ghettos of Karachi, where the fathers came out of their homes with their babies in their arms, and they presented their children for the polio [vaccine] drops. That brought tears to my eyes. I'm thinking that is the power of humanity when in one country, people would be killed for giving drops to their children and through education and creating an environment where they felt safe, the men presented their children for the drops.By following his example of caring, you strengthen your ability to care, potentially helping to create a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world.How to Develop Getting Along With People As a SuperpowerJohn grew up in a large family and learned a lot of lessons there. He shared a notable insight:Being in that large family, we didn't really have a lot of money. We had to make do. But we also found out that we got a lot of help from other people.I found out that returning that help, giving that help back and working in other entities, Rotary or Jaycees or whatever the organization is–many other organizations I've been working in–I enjoy that aspect of it. Even today, now that I'm retired, my wife and I still spend many, many hours every week and every year in particular, doing things for other organizations for which we get no funding or no pay. And we're okay with that.John has worked his entire career with his four brothers in the family business. He shared the advice he often gives to help people learn to get along. “There are differences for everybody and everything. Play to those differences. Work with those differences, and you can make a difference.”By following his example and advice, you can emulate John's ability to get along with others, serve in your community and make it a strength that can enable you to do even more good in the world.Superpowers for Good is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Guest-Provided ProfileAbout Flight To End Polio: Our pilots, Peter Teahen and John Ockenfels, are raising awareness for polio eradication by piloting a single-engine aircraft all the way around the globe in 90 days. Only 700 pilots in history have ever achieved this feat, and less than 270 are alive today! Both Peter and John are Rotarians and members of the Fellowship of Flying Rotarians. They departed from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on May 5th, 2023, and returned on July 30th. They flew a 1977 Cessna T210M (single-engine) airplane. Along the way, they encouraged support of ending polio forever throughout the world.Website: FlightToEndPolio.comCompany Facebook Page: facebook.com/flighttoendpolio/John Ockenfels (he/him):Pilot, Flight To End PolioBiographical Information: John has been piloting small aircraft for over 43 years. He maintains antique training airplanes from World War II in his free time and is the proud owner of two WWII war birds.He is a member of the Iowa City, Iowa A.M. Rotary Club and also served as District Governor for Rotary District 6000. Like Peter, John is also a member of the International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians.John is now retired, having spent his career as CEO of City Carton Recycling, based in Iowa City, Iowa. John attended the University of Iowa and then served in the United States Air Force from 1972 to 1976. Two years of his service to our country was as a crew member on board an AC-130 aircraft in Thailand.Personal Facebook Profile: John OckenfelsPeter Teahen (he/him):Pilot, Flight to End PolioBiographical Information: Peter is an experienced pilot and has been piloting small aircraft for over 47 years. He is a member of the Cedar Rapids West Rotary Club and of the International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians.​Peter is a Funeral Director and President of Teahen Funeral Home in Cedar Rapids, IA. He is an author and a mental health professional. He was awarded the designation of Diplomate from the National Center for Crisis Management and the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. Peter serves on the faculty at the University of Iowa and is the founder of the Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival.Peter has served in leadership roles on sixty-seven major disasters throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, Sri Lanka, Haiti, and the Darfur Region of Sudan. He responded to the September 11th World Trade Center attack, Hurricane Katrina, Indonesian Tsunami in 2004, and the Haiti Earthquake in 2010. He is recognized for his work on aviation disasters and is internationally known for his work in critical incident stress management and the psycho-social impact of disasters.He has served as a volunteer for 19 years as national media spokesperson for the American Red Cross. He has been interviewed on Good Morning America, Oprah, Weather Channel, Fox News, the British Broadcasting Company and Aljazeera.Peter is the recipient of numerous national awards of distinction that includes the National Public Spirit Award. American Legion Auxiliary. Previous recipients include Ronald Reagan, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Ann Landers, and Dr. Robert Schuller.For a complete record of Peter's boundless volunteerism, professional accomplishments, and philanthropic efforts, please visit PeterTeahen.com.Join us for the SuperCrowdHour with Lea Bouhelier-Gatreau of KingsCrowd as she explains how you can start investing for impact with just $100 on August 16th at 1:00 Eastern/10 Pacific. Register at half-price here.Léa is a Sr. Investment Analyst at KingsCrowd who writes the company's impact investing monthly article, providing investors with the best impact investing deals and market insights. She previously worked for Stanford's accelerator, StartX, and led the first award-winning study on the Malawian startup ecosystem. She holds a degree in Anthropology from France and studies at UC Davis, working toward an MBA. Get full access to Superpowers for Good at devinthorpe.substack.com/subscribe

Join Dr. Robert Schuller and Donna Schuller for their live 8am PDT church service.  Pastor Schuller is going through the book of Exodus.  Exodus 15

Join Dr. Robert Schuller and Donna Schuller for this episode of their live 8am PDT Sunday church service.  Pastor Robert continues his series on the Exodus.   Exodus 32

Ken welcomes professor, fellow podcaster, and author Dr. Brad Onishi back to the podcast to talk about his new book - Preparing for War - The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism and What Comes Next (release date: January 3, 2023). A long-time friend of the podcast, Brad has been busy after a major event in Denver focussed on Christian Nationalism last month with a large audience both live and virtual. It featured major influencers and thinkers including Robert P. Jones,  Sam Perry, Katherine Steward, Larycia Hawkins, and his podcast partner, Dan Miller. In addition to his regular podcast, Straight White American Jesus,. Brad is releasing a series on The New Apostolic Reformation with Professor Matthew Taylor, Ph.D. It's an expose on a growing movement advancing an extreme dominion version of Christianity. Brad introduces his book which traces what we now know as Christian Trumpism from the 1960s to the present in the context of his own personal journey - beginning with his conversion in high school in Orange County (CA); the great mid-west and Southern migration to California, the John Birch Society, The Crystal Cathedral and Robert Schuller, his own Friends Church (predominantly white) and Friendship Baptist Church (predominantly black), to Dr. James Dobson and his secular eugenicist mentor, Dr. Paul Pompenoe. Onishi fills in the background on two Jericho Marches, featuring Eric Metaxas, Michael Flynn and Alex Jones,  which were a prelude to the January 6 Insurrection. Finally, the two discuss the ways in which American Evangelicalism finds its roots in The Lost Case Narrative of the South. SHOW NOTESOriginally aired December 2022Purchase Brad's new Book: Preparing for War - The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism--and What Comes Next   Become a patron: www.patreon.com/beachedwhitemaleSupport the show

Join Pastor Robert and Donna Schuller in this episode of The Call.  Donna talks about her newest book "Fearless Women" and the two of then discuss what it means to be fearless and faith filled.  

On today's Bible Answer Man broadcast (02/08/23), Hank points to the fine-tuning of the universe as a powerful proof for a sovereign Creator. Using the example of gravity, Hank affirms that only the infinite mind of God could fine-tune the universe so perfectly.Hank also answers the following questions:Is the message of Robert Schuller and Joel Osteen just mixing Christian terms with modern psychology, or is there a real danger in their teaching?How would you respond to a pastor that says Joel Osteen is missing the mark, but some may come to Christ because of him?Could you explain the covenant God made with Abraham in Genesis chapter 15?Is there a reason why people in Genesis lived so long? Can I take that literally?We were approached by Mormons who talked to us about the Book of Mormon. It sounds suspicious; what are your thoughts?

Ken welcomes professor, fellow podcaster, and author Dr. Brad Onishi back to the podcast to talk about his new book - Preparing for War - The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism and What Comes Next (release date: January 3, 2023). A long-time friend of the podcast, Brad has been busy after a major event in Denver focussed on Christian Nationalism last month with a large audience both live and virtual. It featured major influencers and thinkers including Robert P. Jones,  Sam Perry, Katherine Steward, Larycia Hawkins, and his podcast partner, Dan Miller. In addition to his regular podcast, Straight White American Jesus,. Brad is releasing a series on The New Apostolic Reformation with Professor Matthew Taylor, Ph.D. It's an expose on a growing movement advancing an extreme dominion version of Christianity. Brad introduces his book which traces what we now know as Christian Trumpism from the 1960s to the present in the context of his own personal journey - beginning with his conversion in high school in Orange County (CA); the great mid-west and Southern migration to California, the John Birch Society, The Crystal Cathedral and Robert Schuller, his own Friends Church (predominantly white) and Friendship Baptist Church (predominantly black), to Dr. James Dobson and his secular eugenicist mentor, Dr. Paul Pompenoe. Onishi fills in the background on two Jericho Marches, featuring Eric Metaxas, Michael Flynn and Alex Jones,  which were a prelude to the January 6 Insurrection. Finally, the two discuss the ways in which American Evangelicalism finds its roots in The Lost Case Narrative of the South. SHOW NOTESPre-Order Brad's new Book: Preparing for War - The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism--and What Comes    Become a patron: www.patreon.com/beachedwhitemaleSupport the show

Paul Harvey - Robert Schuller

Robert Schuller of Melissa's Produce is talking produce for the Holidays. You don't want to miss these produce secrets.

Hello, Masterminders. We offer you a NEW episode that will surely change your life! This episode will give you the strategies that you need to be successful in the SALES industry. So do not miss the chance to learn from a Sales Legend and listen to this episode until the end.We are extremely honored to have today's episode with us. He is the CEO of a Multimillion Dollar High-Tech company, he built a 25-year career as a Top Sales Executive, and is also one of the Top 100 USA Podcast Sales Influencer - Victor Antonio.Prior to his role as CEO, he was President of Global Sales and Marketing for a $420M company. He was also the Vice President of International Sales in a Fortune 500 corporation. With only two and a half year, he grew their business from $14M to $98M in annual revenue. With his impressive success in sales and management Victor has been able to establish extensive international channels. He's the author of 13 books on sales and motivation including “Sales Ex Machina: How Artificial Intelligence is Changing the World of Selling”. Victor has conducted business in: Europe, Asia, Latin America, Australia, South Africa and The Middle East and has shared  the stage with some of world's the top business speakers including: Rudy Giuliani, Zig Ziglar, Dr. Robert Schuller, Phil Town, and many other professional speakers!Listen until the end of this episode to grab this GEMS:- Sales in Corporate America- Sales Process- Techniques in Closing Deals- Why Marketing is Important- Online Presentations and Webinars- Sales Pitches and so much more!So what are you waiting for? Listen, Learn, and Start Taking Actions!Do you have any questions? Feel Free to Connect With us!Check out Victor's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/victorantonio/Victor's Sales Influence Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1139837809His Links: https://taplink.cc/victorantonioMy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tolu.owoyemi/My Website: https://go.mastermindyouragency.com/siteStay tunes for the next episode!

================================================== ==SUSCRIBETEhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNpffyr-7_zP1x1lS89ByaQ?sub_confirmation=1================================================== == DEVOCIÓN MATUTINA PARA ADULTOS 2022“NUESTRO MARAVILLOSO DIOS”Narrado por: Roberto NavarroDesde: Chiapas, MéxicoUna cortesía de DR'Ministries y Canaan Seventh-Day Adventist Church 26 DE JULIOA TRAVÉS DE LA TORMENTA«Les aseguro que estaré con ustedes siempre, hasta el fin del mundo». Mateo 28: 20, NVINO ME GUSTAN LAS CONSULTAS MÉDICAS, pero cada vez que visito el consultorio de mi médico veo un letrero que dice: «No le digas a Dios lo grandes que son tus problemas. Diles a tus problemas lo grande que es tu Dios».No hace mucho leí una historia que me hizo recordar ese letrero. La cuenta de Robert Schuller, y tiene que ver con Hazel, una mujer a quien le gustaba cantar, pero que tenía mucha dificultad para estabilizar el tono adecuado. A pesar de esta limitación, ingresó al coro de la iglesia, pero pronto tuvo que salir porque, bueno... desentonaba.Cuenta Schuller que, poco antes de esta experiencia con el coro, la madre de Hazel había muerto. Mientras cuidó de ella, durante años, Hazel no salió con amigos, ni participó tampoco de las típicas actividades juveniles. Por lo tanto, nunca se mató. Cuando tenía unos sesenta años, sin familiares cercanos, sin dinero y sin haber cumplido sus sueños, no es de sorprender que Hazel se sintiera muy infeliz. Sola, en el desgastado apartamento donde vivía, se preguntaba si su vida tenía algún significado.Un día, cuando Hazel salió del apartamento, supo que se había mudado al edificio un joven de mal aspecto, de pelo largo y barba abundante. Escuchó a varias inquilinas hablar de la necesidad de reforzar las cerraduras, como medida de protección.Una noche, cuando Hazel regresaba a su vivienda, vio a un hombre en actitud sospechosa. «¿Será el hippie?», se preguntó. Con el corazón latiéndole aceleradamente, lo único que se le ocurrió a Hazel fue cantar «You never walk alone» (Nunca caminarás solo): «Cuando camines a través de la tormenta/ Mantén en alto la cabeza/ Y no temas a la oscuridad. ..». Cuando finalmente llegó a su apartamento, agradeció a Dios por haberla cuidado.Al día siguiente, Hazel encontró una nota en la puerta. La había escrito el hippie, y decía: «No sé quién es usted, pero quiero darle las gracias por haberme cantado anoche. Ya había decidido suicidarme cuando escuché que nunca camino solo. Usted me salvó la vida. Ahora me dirigí a otra ciudad donde sé que conseguiré el tipo de trabajo que necesito. Gracias. Adiós». *¿Será que esa noche, por primera vez en su vida, Hazel pudo entonar bien? probablemente, no. Incluso, según ella contó posteriormente, ni siquiera estaba seguro de haber grabado bien la letra de la canción; sin embargo, ¡Dios la usó para salvar la vida de ese joven!¿Estás, ahora mismo, caminando a través de la tormenta? Si es así, recuerda que nunca caminas solo/sola. Cuando salgas por la puerta de tu casa hoy, mantén tu frente en alto, y enfrenta tus desafíos con la seguridad de que Dios está contigo. Padre amado, gracias por tu promesa de que estarás conmigo todos los días, hasta el fin del mundo. *Robert Schuller, Cambiadores de vida. A Jove Book, 1981, pp. 27-29.

This week, on Thursday, July 28, we get one of the most lovely new moons of the year. This new moon is extremely lucky and filled with positive energy. Because this new moon is in Leo, its vibes are all about going big, letting go of our fears, and being prepared to stand tall in our power. This new moon helps us to embody the most fabulous versions of ourselves and allow our goals to take center stage. As we move forward with complete faith in ourselves to make magical shit happen, we'll feel full of confidence and ready to think beyond what we previously believed was possible. This is one of the best times of the year to set intentions. Leo energy wants to be the best and shine the brightest and is willing to work hard until it reaches the top, so now is not the time to doubt yourself or your abilities. This new moon reminds us of the importance of believing in our unlimited potential. If you had no limitations whatsoever, what would you want? All of this is leading up to the Uranus, Mars, and North Node conjunction happening next Sunday. The North Node represents your soul purpose and soul destiny in this lifetime. This is a fantastic chance to expand your thinking about what is possible. Set aside time this week to think about the Robert Schuller quote "What would you do if you knew you could not fail?” And then do that!

Do you have that inclination associated with a greater need for achievement, higher propensity to take risks, and greater innovativeness? Our coach Trent Clark and his CEO guest will be able not only to discuss fresh knowledge but also to make enlightened decisions.       Today's episode, as our international coach Trent Clark talks to our guest, Mike Faith, a serial entrepreneur, a founder, and CEO of www.Headsets.com, America's headset specialists. Best known for their world-beating customer service and undeniably a little bit of a fanatic about giving Customers love. Mike Faith left school at 15. No business, no training, and no education. Entrepreneurship was his fit. He has been at the helm for 23 years.      “I really like people that I work with. And we really function well as a team. And that makes a huge difference. To me, I'd rather have that than all the monetary success in the world, but not enjoy the people that I'm working with” - Mike Faith       Learn from our guest CEO Mike Faith:    Audio Part 1 (3:07) How did Mike Faith creatively start Headsets.com? (6:52) What are the biggest challenges right now in social media particularly in duping young people to go and be an entrepreneur?    (15:45) The story of young Mike and how things progressed.    (17:46) How did Mike Faith overcome a category of losing, and find a way to come back and win? (21:09) What is Mike Faith's superpower to win?   Audio Part 2:   (0:57)  What  is their perception about taking a risk? (10:17)  How does Mike Faith handle pain and tough times? (15:53)  What's the best battle that he conquered in his lifetime? (18:21) What is his best way to win?     Podcast takeaways:   You have to keep learning. There's no ultimate end game. So I guess you can still get better, even if you're the world champion for continuous.    I think it said in every problem, or in every adversity, the seed is sown and for yet a greater triumph.    “Tough times never last, but tough people do” - Robert Schuller  Connect with CEO Mike Faith:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikefaith/ https://www.mikefaith.com/ https://www.headset.com/ Connect with Coach Trent Clark with these links : Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_76SFCClh6GbqLjzFgf8xw LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trentmclark/ Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/leadershipity/?hl=en Fb Page: https://www.facebook.com/Leadershipity/?ref=pages_you_manage   Thanks for tuning into today's episode of NO ULTIMATE END GAME  ll MIKE FAITH with Coach Trent Clark. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the show and leave us a review.

Do you have that inclination associated with a greater need for achievement, higher propensity to take risks, and greater innovativeness? Our coach Trent Clark and his CEO guest will be able not only to discuss fresh knowledge but also to make enlightened decisions.     Today's episode, as our international coach Trent Clark talks to our guest, Mike Faith, a serial entrepreneur, a founder and CEO of www.Headsets.com, America's headset specialists. Best known for their world-beating customer service and undeniably a little bit of a fanatic about giving Customer love. Mike Faith left school at 15. No business, no training, and no education. Entrepreneurship was his fit. He has been at the helm for 23 years.      “I really like people that I work with. And we really function well as a team. And that makes a huge difference. To me, I'd rather have that than all the monetary success in the world, but not enjoy the people that I'm working with” - Mike Faith       Learn from our guest CEO Mike Faith:  Audio Part 1 (3:07) How did Mike Faith creatively start Headsets.com? (6:52) What are the biggest challenges right now in social media particularly in duping young people to go and be an entrepreneur?    (15:45) The story of young Mike and how things progressed.    (17:46) How did Mike Faith overcome a category of losing, and find a way to come back and win? (21:09) What is Mike Faith's superpower to win? Audio Part 2:   (0:57)  What  is their perception about taking a risk? (10:17)  How does Mike Faith handle pain and tough times? (15:53)  What's the best battle that he conquered in his lifetime? (18:21) What is his best way to win?     Podcast takeaways:   You have to keep learning. There's no ultimate end game. So I guess you can still get better, even if you're the world champion for continuous.    I think it said in every problem, or in every adversity, the seed is sown and for yet a greater triumph.    “Tough times never last, but tough people do” - Robert Schuller    Connect with CEO Mike Faith:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikefaith/ https://www.mikefaith.com/ https://www.headset.com/     Connect with Coach Trent Clark with these links : Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_76SFCClh6GbqLjzFgf8xw LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trentmclark/ Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/leadershipity/?hl=en Fb Page: https://www.facebook.com/Leadershipity/?ref=pages_you_manage   Support our Sponsor:   Rebellious Beverages For 10% off your next purchase, use the code 99999 Rebellious infusions are available at drink rebellious.com      Thanks for tuning into today's episode of NO ULTIMATE END GAME  ll MIKE FAITH with Coach Trent Clark. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the show and leave us a review.

This presentation examines, in detail, the Catholic-Protestant controversy through history and current world events. Using quotes from prominent world thinkers and writers, Dr. Veith shows how ecumenism and Freemasonry play hand in hand—with a look at some prominent Christian leaders such as Robert Schuller, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Kenneth Copeland, Oral Roberts, Billy Graham, and Benny Hinn. Dr. Veith also examines the modern charismatic movement and the music industry and shows how Babylon, Catholicism and Protestantism, is truly fallen and is highly steeped in Freemason ideology.

In an age of religious tolerance and ecumenism, old hatchets are being buried. Churches that have long been separated on questions of doctrine are reuniting. Are the current ecumenical developments based on Scripture or humanistic principles? Is truth being sacrificed for the sake of unity? Are we moving to the era of peace which the Bible warns us would come just before sudden destruction? Who leads the ecumenical movement? What are the goals of ecumenism? And what are the philosophies of ecumenical preachers like Robert Schuller and Billy Graham? Find out in this episode on ecumenism.

God said “without a vision, we perish.”  Robert Schuller said “Goals are not only necessary to motivate us; they are essential to really keep us alive.”Goals keep you growing, stretching and moving to a new level.God wants you to experience your best year in 2022, which is why I can't wait to share this video with you. It's really going to help you gain clarity on what you want out of 2022. Click the link below to get my Goal Setting Crash Course

What is New Age Christianity and where did it come from? How did New Age teachings infiltrate the Christian church? What have the Jesuits got to do with New Age Christianity? What are modern-day manifestations of Jesuit infiltration into Protestantism? Is the work of the counter reformation still going on? In this video, Professor Walter J. Veith looks at the signs of New Age Christianity and connects the dots between the major influencers of society and Roman Catholic ideologies. What do people like Robert Schuller, Oprah Winfrey, Rick Warren and Joel Osteen have in common? Who's behind the teachings of Willow Creek and other mega churches? Where is Christianity heading? The world no longer remembers what the Protestants really stood for or against. This presentation explores the impact of Jesuit theology on religion today.

I'm Warren Smith and I'd like to welcome you to the MinistryWatch podcast. Here at MinistryWatch we bring you news about Christian ministries, as well as the latest in charity and philanthropy, news that we examine from a Christian worldview perspective.  Our goal is to help us become better stewards of the resources God has entrusted to us. These mid-week “Extra” episodes are a chance for us to go deep with a particular topic, and today we have on the program Dr. Gerardo Marti, and we're going to discuss his book “The Glass Church: Robert H. Schuller, the Crystal Cathedral, and the Strain of Megachurch Ministry.” This book caught my attention because it fills in an important chapter in the story of the evangelical movement.  Many people, including me, have traced the rise of the evangelical megachurch to the Jesus movement of the 1970s, the rise of cable television, or the Willow Creek seeker model of the 1980s.  And those influences were indeed powerful. But Gerardo Marti and his co-author Mark Mulder says that what Robert Schuller was doing as early as the late 1950s and early 60s, with drive-in churches and a sophisticated use of media and events, pre-date and provide a road map for many who followed, and that the rise and fall of Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral provides lessons we should learn today. Gerardo Marti, my guest today, is the L. Richardson King Professor of Sociology at Davidson College, in Davidson, North Carolina.  He has written a number of books about religion and culture, and he served for many years as editor in chief of the peer-reviewed journal “Sociology of Religion:  A Quarterly Review.” The producers for today's program are Rich Roszel and Steve Gandy. We get database and other technical support from Cathy Goddard, Stephen DuBarry, and Casey Sudduth. I'm Warren Smith, and – until next time – May God bless you.