Podcast Ep.25: Leaving A Godly Legacy! (John and Janine Schultz)
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Oh, the great stuff we can gain from the previous generations. But how will we ever do that unless we pause long enough and listen to their stories. When is the last time you sat down with an elderly saint in your church, or even sat down with your parents or grandparents and listened to their stories a
nd the experiences that shaped them? READ MORE
Podcast Ep.61: The Pastor and Good Doctrine (Pastor Dan Samms)
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We live in a day when increasingly people are living in a vacuum, many around us not sure what to believe or even not sure what they believe. This is why it is so important that the pastor and church leaders and even those who are part of the body of Christ own what they believe. READ MORE
Podcast Ep.60: A Theology of Suffering (Michelle Bates)
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Today we’re going to talk theology, especially the theology of suffering. If the church is ever going to become a healing community it needs to have a solid theology of suffering. A pastor who has a theology of suffering prepares his people for times of hardship and also empowers his people to serve one another when one member is hurting. All of this has to come out of a deep and committed understanding of the gospel.
The church committed to the gospel is a church that will understand the role that suffering has in God’s purposes. I have the privilege today to talk to someone who could not have survived deep suffering had it not been for the gospel of Jesus. She talks a lot about the gospel because it’s been her and her family’s lifeline. My guest today is Michelle Bates who in the span of several years faced unbelievable loss. Michelle wrote a book titled Beyond The Shadow, How Suffering Led Me to the Deep End of Grace. It is an excellent book and something we spent a lot of time talking about in this interview. Michelle lives in Humansville,MO where she and her husband Mike and their three children run an Inn.
Podcast Ep.59: The Third Cord in Our Marriage (Our Story-Mitch and Elaine Schultz)
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And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Eccl.4:12
Some have asked me when we will tell our story of loss and recovery in our family. And what was it like on our marriage. If you listen to this podcast enough you know I have made reference to my wife’s struggle in recovering from brain cancer, and my oldest son’s death to cancer. AS it happened, we recently were invited to speak at a valentine banquet for a local church. I decided to record it. So here we are, the two of us, telling our story of how Jesus, that third chord, held our world together during the hardest of times.
Travis always smiling 
Travis during radiation treatment 
Travis holding the FA Cup his team Everton FC 
Brett, Travis and Breanna shorty before Travis went to be with Jesus
Podcast Ep.58: The Story of Being Adopted (Tatiana Fortney)
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Some of the most beautiful stories that we hear today are those kind of stories that help us understand the gospel. The gospel story is simply the story of us, people made in the imagine of God who rebelled against him, but he because of his great love pursued us by dying for us, Jesus dying in our place, taking on himself the wrath of God we deserved, and then exchanging our sin for his righteousness. The most amazing verse I think about when I think of the gospel is 2 Cor 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. READ MORE
Podcast Ep.57: What the Church Should Know About Eating Disorders (Heather Lenox)
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Did you know that 30 million people in our nation suffer from some kind of eating disorder? If this is true, than there is a good chance that a good number of people who attend your church struggle with this? We want to help you today not just to understand the scope of this reality, but also what to do to help create a healing community for those who struggle with eating disorders. I believe its safe to say that the church ought to be a place where those who are hurting do not have to hide their hurt. We are told by the Apostle Paul in Gal 6:2 to carry one another’s burdens. What does it mean to carry the burden with someone who’s life has been impacted by an eating disorder? It is an absolute pleasure to talk with a good friend, Heather Lenox, about her struggle and recovery from many years with eating disorders. Heather does more than tell her story but through insight and maturity offers the church some very real ways to love those who are in this battle. Heather and her husband Shannon live in Cedarburg WI, north of Milwaukee and have five children from the ages of 1-7 years of age.
Podcast Ep.56: The Impact of Sexual Abuse on the Marriage (Dr. Bill Ronzheimer)
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I know that today’s topic is touching on something that is not talked much about. However, in my over 34 years of pastoring it’s an issue that is all to real in the church community and it is the subject of sexual abuse. Through my counseling and pastoral ministry I have met countless people who sadly have to include the painful experience of having been sexually abused. Often, the impact of this doesn’t hit until well into adulthood and often impacts the marriage relationship.Well, that brings us to our special guest today, Dr Bill Ronzheimer who knows first hand what it is like to be married to someone who has been sexually abused. Bill is now president of Marriage Reconstruction Marriage Reconstruction Ministries was founded by Bill and Pamela Ronzheimer. After serving at Alliance Bible Church in Mequon, WI for 39 years, the couple has transitioned to Minnesota. It is here that they launched Marriage Reconstruction Ministries Inc. Marriage Reconstruction exists to support and help men and women rebuild marriages affected by a wife’s childhood sexual abuse. After 40 years of marriage, the Ronzheimers have two married daughters and three grandchildren also living in Minnesota. Bill and Pamela have listed their personal bios below Bill is the author of Help, My Wife Is A Survivor of Sexual Abuse.
For the Marriage Reconstruction Ministry webpage click here
Podcast Ep.55: The Gospel and Listening (Pastor Darryl Handy)
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“It is God’s love for us that He not only gives us His Word but also lends us His ear…So it is His work that we do for our brother when we learn to listen to him. Christians, especially ministers, so often think they must always contribute something when they are in the company of others, that this is the one service they have to render. They forget that listening can be a greater service than speaking.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Podcast Ep.54: The Pastor and Adoption (Mosser and Santor)
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Today we are going to talk about adoption. It has amazed me to observe through the years how often I’ve seen pastors adopt children. Today I have the privilege of interviewing two young pastors and their wives about their experience with adoption. You will find that the journey for them was hard, real, and full of adventure. We hope through this podcast that you would not only consider adoption and fostering but also that you would encourage you church to be proactive in this arena as one of the greatest ways to serve the community.
” Due to sin, we were all born as spiritual orphans. The only person ever born who was not a spiritual orphan was Jesus. God believed in our adoption so much that he sent that same Jesus, his Son, to die on a cross for our sins so that our adoption would be possible. We are adopted, or placed as a son or daughter, when we receive the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. Understanding our own adoption through Christ helps us realize that the adoption of orphaned children on this earth is a response to God’s adoption of us.” -Micah Meurer
Podcast Ep.53: Grace and Grit. (The story of Elaine, my wife.)
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It’s been some time now that I have wanted to tell our story, in particular my wife, Elaine’s story. Twenty years ago our family faced a trial that I know was survivable only because of the help of our Lord Jesus. As we were wrapping up a season of ministry in England, Elaine fell into an unexplainable coma. It turned out she was the victim of an undetected brain tumor. READ MORE