In How to Make Worship Personal, I share how I discover natural unmanufactured worship, genuine acknowledgement of God simply because He alone is worthy. This is also the wrap on Season 1 and I offer a brief summary of key lessons learned in season 1.
Discover Spiritual Disciplines and how they can impact our walk in faith. In Spiritual Disciplines - What? I offer my experience. Perhaps you will identify with these, and perhaps you will learn something new. Be encouraged to be intentional about your faith.
Here's how I handle doubt. Doubt can be devastating in our walk of faith. For some, it may prevent them from stepping forward to accept and know God. Have you experienced moments of doubt? It can hit from many angles from God's existence to does He answer prayer. It can even cause us to question our calling. In experiencing doubt in faith I discuss the relationship between doubt, faith, and obedience. I have found that doubt is a part of my experience and in fact is an integral part of the devel...
Sometimes we're too busy to notice the small things in life. Hear how simple observations about a Christmas cactus that insists on blooming at Easter each year deepened my faith.
Missions trips were something I never thought I'd do myself. I reasoned that was something for someone else to do and report on in church occasionally. In Missions - A Growing Heart to Serve, a must hear episode, I share heartfelt, life altering, perspective changing lessons-learned, while on a trip to 4 countries in Asia that would result in my stepping out to unashamedly share my faith.
In Honoring Parents - My Tribute, I discuss the impact of my parents in the context of honoring them. Here I use a tribute to honor them publically. Listen. Here's why honoring parents matters.
In How To Know Your Calling - A Pastor's Perspective, gain biblical insight about just what calling is and how we can come into the knowledge of it. Also discover how connected identity, purpose, and calling are.
In Why YOU should mentor, enjoy an intimate view into the importance and incalculable value of these special relationships. In Season 1 Episode 5, I shared the mentee's perspective. Here, in Season 1 Episode 8, we discuss the mentor's perspective. Two men seeking God together intentionally and authentically. In his oft encouraging way Ralph states concerning people considering mentoring, "...we are not close to perfection. But, we might be a little further along in our experience. We might be a ...
In this episode, My Calling - How I knew, I share how I confidently knew my calling. Have you ever wondered what your calling is? I think we all have a one time or another. I remember sitting with the guidance counselor at school to discuss what I would do with my life. You know, that time when they try to align your interest, academic strengths, and possible majors with a suitable institution? You just kind of hope they get it right. Ultimately, life happens and adjustments get made or it was n...
Before we get to calling in the next episode, it is important to understand purpose. For years I thought the world was my oyster - or at least parts of it! In reality, getting beyond myself was a long and sometimes difficult process. There was a point that I discovered that the world was not all that I thought it to be. Getting there involved brokenness, recognition of need, loss of self in terms of realizing that God’s purpose is greater than my own and putting the prideful, self-sufficient me ...
Have you had an influential person in your life - one that stood by you, believed in you, built into you, maybe even helped shape your spiritual development and affirm you? I have. In Season 1 Episode 5 - Mentors and Their Impact, I speak about mentors who have impacted me for Christ and I am fortunate to have such men in my life. I speak to the committed role of a mentor, not a chance relationship with someone we look up to or who possesses a business skill or talent we want. Rather, it is an i...
We all have something that influences us or brings us to a cross-roads of sorts. Sometimes it's an uplifting experience. Something we read, heard or saw happen. Sometimes it's a relationship. Sometimes it's a loss. Sometimes it's temporary. Sometimes it's lasting... I have experienced what I'm coining The Word Effect - Impact of God's Word. How has God's Word impacted you? I pursued the Word as an answer about how to know God. Then knowledge of it began to influence my life and decisions (though...
As I returned to my faith, one of the key ingredients was a practical reality of God that I discovered in His word. I learned by reading in the bible about the many characters we all know. They weren't just irrelevant people founded in myth. They were real. They were flawed. But, they interacted with God and God interacted with them. I also, found deep conviction and transforming power as the Holy Spirit began His work. The reality of God set in when I saw transformation occurring in my life; th...
God is Real! Here's my testimony about how He moved in my life. This post is much more detailed than episode 1. "I went from being a churched Christian, to a skilled backslider, to a world loving man rejecting God, to a restored believer who enjoyed the risk free comforts of church, to having a full-fledged passion to unashamedly proclaim Jesus Christ crucified, dead and risen. After all, if as in the words of Paul, this message ”… is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believe th...
We all have a life story. Don't we? Mine brought me to a decision point after a long, hard fall. Here, I share my baptism testimony. It summarizes the journey of my return to faith. Since I loved the pleasures of the world, that was a rocky road! Was yours? My baptism 2 years ago was not a turning point. Rather, it was a stake in the ground, a declaration that I would not turn back. This podcast is the testimony written and shared for that event. Like most baptism testimonies, it is short and a ...
