PODCASTS

Tag: evangelism

Hometown Heroes – Liz Smith – 5:9s outreach to first responders – 10/17/23

Hometown Heroes – Liz Smith – 5:9s outreach to first responders – 10/17/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:35 — 7.7MB)

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“Hometown Heroes” on Family Life

“We sometimes feel like we kind of have to put Jesus in a box, go to work, and we can take Him back out when we come home. We gotta break that.”  — Liz Smith

Chatauqua County (NY) Paramedic Liz Smith felt a divine calling to provide encouragement and support for first responders in her local area. She says law enforcement, firefighters and ambulance crew sometime need mental health services for PTSD and simply dealing with the stresses and tragedies they face in the line of duty to others. She also says spiritual nurture is an important component to help these front-line heroes.

She and a police officer had parallel visions for such a supportive group, and used the numbers in Matthew 5:9 (“Blessed are the peacemakers…”) to form their name.

Hear about this Christian outreach, about the needs of those on the front lines in their communities, and how the Gospel of Jesus Christ is shaping those who answer the call when there is an emergency.

Inside Out – Avoid “sketchy views” about God – 10/04/23

Inside Out – Avoid “sketchy views” about God – 10/04/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:40 — 13.3MB)

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If our understanding of who God is and how He works in the world doesn’t have a foundation in the Bible, it’s possible that we hold “sketchy views.”

A great many things work to pull us away from Jesus Christ. That’s not news. “The Scripture teaches us that the world, the flesh, and the devil are all going to be agents of temptation for us,” says Dr. Daniel DeWitt. The pull away from Christ can feel stronger if we’ve based our view of who God is on something other than Scripture. 

“I think that often Christian young people will make their experience in the world the chief authority by which they think about God,” he says. “And I’m reminded of a line from a Christian rap artist who said, ‘God made you in His image, and He didn’t ask you to return the favor.’” He believes that the way we think about God is the most important thing about us. DeWitt says we develop poor theology, or what he calls “sketchy views,” if our faith is unexamined or unfounded. We also have “sketchy views” if our beliefs are true but neglect love, or if they contradict the Bible. 

“We need to test everything by Scripture. And that means even the teachings of people we really might appreciate or enjoy. We always want to come back to Scripture as our ultimate authority.” 

We all know people who are deconstructing their faith–pulling it apart and examining what they’ve believed. DeWitt says the process may help them jettison aspects of the faith that were not actually based on what God says about Himself in Scripture.  “If they’re deconstructing an unfounded faith or an unbiblical faith, the deconstruction could be helpful to the degree that the goal is, in the end, to construct something new, and more reliable,” he says. “My prayer would be for young people that they’re working through these issues because, Lord willing, this is God’s way of refining what they truly do believe. And if on the back end there’s no belief at all, may the Gospel be demonstrated as the power of God to save them.” 

 

Dr. Daniel DeWitt is a senior fellow at Missouri’s Southwest Baptist University and leads the Center for Worldview and Culture. His newest book is Sketchy Views: A Beginner’s Guide to Making Sense of God.Learn more about Dr. Daniel DeWitt and his writings here and here. 

Faith Under Fire – Politics & Faithfulness – 09/28/23

Faith Under Fire – Politics & Faithfulness – 09/28/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:48 — 13.5MB)

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Family Life’s “Faith Under Fire“

A national Christian watchdog is concerned that too many big-name  Christian leaders seem to emphasize political positions rather than theological ones — or at least can be perceived that way in the culture. How then should churches — and local church leaders — seek to be faithful to their Biblical callings, while still being socially and culturally active with the public issues of the day?

Christian journalist Warren Smith is our guest on this week’s “Faith Under Fire” interview. He commends the congregations which are visiting the sick, feeding the poor, and caring for neighbors. He also says there are important times for Christians to step into the social ills (and political battlegrounds) which surround the church buildings. Smith contends that some Christians are too easily drawn into supporting or opposing populist demagogues who thrive in chaos. That said, there are some issues in which he sees clear Biblical mandates which lead to a spiritual position which may align with only one of the partisan stances. 

He cautions, though, that Christians’ tone and techniques matter. Rather than arguing stridently with people who disagree with you, the most faithful — and successful — action often is to simply ask a few good questions. Have the other person tell you what they have determined and why they hold that stance. (Smith notes that Jesus himself took part in debates by simply asking questions, so that the person or group would come up with their own answers — often the correct ones.)

Ministry Watch is a North Carolina-based ministry which provides donors and philanthropists information about the finances and openness of large Christian organizations, and they highlight faithful ministries and mission agencies carrying out Gospel work in the U.S. and around the world.  Warren Cole Smith writes more about this feature’s topic of political stances and positions of Scripture-based truths here in his weekly column online. In it, he urges preachers and congregations to reduce people’s fear, not add to the fear that already is dominating parts of today’s culture.

Hometown Heroes – more on Ukrainian mission with Jeff Seigworth – 09/26/23

Hometown Heroes – more on Ukrainian mission with Jeff Seigworth – 09/26/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:09 — 7.1MB)

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Family Life’s “Hometown Heroes“

This is part 2 of our conversation with Jeff Seigworth about his recent — and upcoming — mission work in western Ukraine.

Today’s segment focuses on how his experiences with people whose nation is at war influenced his own faith — and what he saw about faith and evangelization for the people in the cities and villages he visited.

Seigworth’s first overseas trip ever was his participation with the mission trip created by A-1-8, a mission organization which takes its name from scripture: Acts 1:8, the Biblical mandate to take Jesus’ Gospel to nearby places and to the whole world. A18 had been active in Ukraine multiple years before the current war.

The first part of Mark Webster’s interview of Jeff Seigworth is available here, among all of our “Hometown Heroes” podcasts.

 

Family Life Interview: Comedian Jeff Allen – part 3 – 09/05/23

Family Life Interview: Comedian Jeff Allen – part 3 – 09/05/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:37 — 6.3MB)

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Comedian Jeff Allen has been on the stand-up comedy circuit — with great success — across four decades.

His struggles with addiction and his search for meaning found resolution, when a comedian friend asked about his faith. Allen went on a long process which eventually led to his conversion to Christianity. In an extended Family Life Interview — and in a new book he authored — Allen talks about how Jesus has brought peace and blessing to his life.

This is the 3rd of three segments of Mark Webster’s extended conversation with the comedian credited whose clean, family-oriented routines often riff on the theme or the phrase  “Happy wife…Happy life.”

Click this link for more of Jeff’s comedy highlights.

 

 

Hear the full Family Life Interview with Jeff Allen:

From the News Podcasts page, you can listen, download, share or subscribe to any of your favorite Family Life features, podcasts, the Noon Report, and the 5 O’Clock Report.

 

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Faith Under Fire – The New Academic Year at Christian and Secular Colleges – 08/31/23

Faith Under Fire – The New Academic Year at Christian and Secular Colleges – 08/31/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:34 — 11.8MB)

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“Faith Under Fire”

A new academic year begins, and the president of a Christian university in the Family Life listening area offers insights into a trend he sees: some students are moving away from traditional colleges whose curricula, faculty and motivations differ from what some families see as their own academic and social priorities. Houghton University‘s President Wayne Lewis says the 24-hour news cycle and the reach of social media has given young people and their parents more information about how students are accepted and supported in their college experience. Dr. Lewis says students should not feel ostracized if they hold positions which differ from those of their professors. At his school, he says administrators strive to assure that students feel welcome at a Biblically-centered university, wherever that student may be on the conservative-moderate-liberal spectrum.

Also in this conversation with news producer Greg Gillispie, the president offers a bright and optimistic picture of today’s college students — and the energy and faith of young Christian adults.

You can hear (or download) our previous interview on similar topics with President Lewis last semester on our News Podcasts page.

Dr. Wayne Lewis became president of Houghton University two years ago and is a strong spokesperson for the gospel and for Christian higher education. You can read his blog and hear other conversations with him here and here.

Family Life Interview – Christian comedian Jeff Allen – part 2 – 08/29/23

Family Life Interview – Christian comedian Jeff Allen – part 2 – 08/29/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:11 — 7.1MB)

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Comedian Jeff Allen‘s comedy videos have amassed 400 million views online. The humor on stage was accompanied by desperation and a search for meaning and value in the rest of his life.

In this second segment of our conversation, the 40-year veteran performer tells of the sadness and desperation which led to his Christian conversion.

 

Here are some of Jeff’s comedy highlights: 

Listen for more from Jeff Allen this coming Tuesday, September 5, during the Family Life Noon Report, on our live stream and on the radio.

The full conversation with Family Life’s Mark Webster is here for listening, downloading or sharing.

Hear the full Family Life Interview with Jeff Allen:

From our News Podcasts page, you can listen, download, share or subscribe to any of your favorite Family Life features, podcasts, the Noon Report, and the 5 O’Clock Report.

Inside Out – Finding Unity, We are Agents of Grace – 08/23/23

Inside Out – Finding Unity, We are Agents of Grace – 08/23/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:45 — 18.9MB)

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Bridging divides — and loving as Jesus loved — amid this era of conflict, in the church and in the culture:

“Strive actively for peace”

Conflict over presidential politics and pandemic precautions revealed the substantial divisions between Christians that we live with today. “The divisions that we’re seeing in the American church—the conversations—are not different than the ones that are happening in the world. Every institution is going through this,” says pastor and author Daniel Darling. “But as Christians we have an opportunity to model something different. That Jesus said that the world would know that we are His by the way we love each other.”  

Darling writes about which things should divide us — and which things should not — in his new book Agents of Grace.  

“I think part of that is understanding the things that we need to contend for, right?” he asks. “Paul says to Timothy ‘fight the good fight.’ And then there are other things that are important but not ultimate, right? He also tells Timothy, later in 2 Timothy, to avoid stupid and foolish questions.” We should be able to live in unity with believers who differ with us on the less important choices that are part of living as a Christian. If there’s going to be division, it should only be to defend what’s essential to the Gospel.   

“I think we have that upside down a little bit,” Darling says, “and we’ve succumbed to the sort of divisiveness of the spirit of the age.” 

So how do we learn to bridge divides and love as Jesus loved? One way, Darling suggests, is to choose not to assume bad motives on the part of believers we disagree with. Another way is to faithfully hold on to our friends, even when we disagree with them.  “These are hard and tumultuous times, and the more that we hang on to our friendships, the more that we love our brothers and sisters, the more we can do together. I think the Enemy—Satan—really wants to divide Christians and get us distracted so that we can’t fulfill the mission of God,” Darling says. 

That said, Darling sees many reasons to hold onto hope for the Church.  “God is active and alive today. We should ask ourselves, ‘What is God up to? What is God doing? What is He about to do in the world? And how do we join Him?’” 

Learn more about Daniel Darling here and here. 

Inside Out – Secular campuses are open to faith – 02/22/23

Inside Out – Secular campuses are open to faith – 02/22/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:11 — 20.9MB)

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Before heading off to university, Daniela Angulo was sure that her on-campus conversations about faith would require all the apologetics knowledge she’d ever learned.

“We saw secular college as a battlefield. That was what we expected,” she says. “We were expecting to go in with our weapons in hand.”  

What she found instead surprised her. Angulo, a student at Miami’s Florida International University, has written for The Gospel Coalition about the receptivity of her professors and classmates to learning what she, as a Christian, believes.   “I had classmates who, upon finding out I was a Christian, were more curious than anything else, and would ask me to have lunch with them,” she says.

She spends more time sharing her faith and less time defending it than she expected.

“While I still made sure to hold onto that foundation of apologetics that I needed, because I knew it would come in handy and there have been times where I have needed them, I also started approaching each class with a renewed excitement for the opportunity that God might give me to share the Gospel.”  

Her perspective today is quite different from her expectations. “At the end of the day it’s not a battlefield as much as it is an evangelistic ground of mission work,” she says. 

If your college search includes secular universities,  Angulo recommends three ways to prepare. “Know the Bible,” she says. “Whether it be a conversation, or defending your faith, you need to know what you believe. And so that foundation of just understanding what it is we believe and why is so important.”   

She also counsels that we view professors and fellow students as people God longs to be in relationship with. “Don’t view your secular classmates, your atheistic classmates, your  agnostic classmates, your liberal classmates—don’t view them as your enemies. View them as people who are lost and who we pray that God will reveal Himself to, and that  you will be able to be a tool for Him.” And lastly, pray for opportunities to talk about Jesus. God will give them.  “I started praying for that opportunity and it came,” she says. “The opportunity came.”

Read Daniela Angulo’s The Gospel Coalition article that inspired this podcast here.

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