Finding Jesus in Singleness

Dr. Harvey Powers isn't just a renowned therapist. He also happens to have a background in ministry with a degree in biblical theology. Dr. Powers has spent the past 30 years counseling people of all walks of life through all kinds of situations.

So what is it he wish you knew? What gaps does he continually see in people's lives or perceptions that hold them back from maturity and growth?

Join us as Dr. Powers offers professional and spiritual perspectives on personal growth processes, identity development, sexuality, dating, and marriage. Dr. Powers uses his incredible wisdom and a gift for merging the spiritual and the highly practical to help give listeners a grounded perspective on personal and relational development. His insight provides foundations for becoming whole and mature in any stage of life or development. 

A generation is rising up who have dreams and callings burning in their heart. In the midst of calling there is the time of waiting and preparation that can stretch on for years. In this episode Zuzanna Low tells the story of coming to Christ as a young woman in Yugoslovia, marrying a fiery American, their call to be missionaries in the Balkans, and the 25 years of waiting and preparation that ensued. Zuzanna expresses how the years of preparation were actually more critical than the call itself because of what it did for her heart to become surrendered to Jesus. Then, after waiting 25 years to walk into the dream of becoming a missionary, Zuzanna's husband was diagnosed with ALS and passed way after a difficult battle against the disease. Zuzanna tells listeners how she found God's beauty in the midst of incredible suffering and loss, and how she is now more in love with Jesus and more surrendered than ever. If we are to walk into what is to come, we as young believers desperately need to grasp hold of Zuzanna's message of living a surrendered life, keeping our eyes on Jesus, and trusting the process. Her longsuffering and faithfulness are something I hope we grab hold of as a generation!

There is no manual for how to be a man. What's worse, biological fathers, or spiritual fathers, seem to be few and far between. A man largely learns what it is to be a man from another man (and same with women!). Chris Jungles joined us this week to discuss his journey from young newlywed into a successful businessman, having a healthy marriage, and the father of 4 grown children who passionately love the Lord. Chris covers such topics as work ethic, women, dating, marriage, and fatherhood from a spiritual perspective and a practical perspective. He addresses fallacies in our culture about what a man is, and what the bible tells us a man really is. If you are a young man, an older man, or even a woman, this episode is challenging and encouraging! Join us as we look at what it is to be whole, complete, and mature MEN in Christ.

I'm in my 30's, and while I'm older than a lot of young people I spend time around, I definitely don't have the longevity of running with God that I see in men and women who may be in their 60's, 70's, or beyond. I see so many young people fall away from the Lord after having a burning passion for him early on; or they simply become jaded by life and lose that initial devotion and passion for Jesus. So how do we go the long haul with God and end well? How do we end with devotion and passion? Ken Grenfell, former pastor and itinerate minister is a man well on his way to running the race and ending well. Ken and I sat down to glean from his years of wisdom and insight about practical foundations we can build to sustain us in difficult times and ensure we keep burning for Jesus throughout our lives.

Dating in community is HARD. That's real. I see an epidemic of Christians avoiding dating within community often because of the pressure felt, or for fear of not wanting to ruin community life. Y'all, we have got to change church culture around community and dating. In this episode with guest host Rebekah Hess, we continue the conversation on singleness from last week to discuss opportunities we have to create a safe and healthy space to date within church community, and the importance of community when in a serious relationship. Rebekah and I share our own personal experiences with each other of dating within community and navigating feedback from friends. We delve into topics about our relationship we've never discussed, and in it find even more insight and wisdom to how to navigate healthy dating within community. Whether you are trying to date within community, or want to learn how to create a healthier space for community dating in the church, this episode is for you.

Join Alyse as she and her best friend, Rebekah Hess, discuss their journey of processing some of the hurt, disappointment, and grief of extended seasons of being unmarried. Alyse and Rebekah vulnerably invite listeners into the raw emotions of this journey, points of light along the way, and most importantly, how to find Jesus and invite him into this journey of the heart. Like David in the Psalms, Alyse and Rebekah are able to give words and space to matters of the heart while always pointing to the goodness of God.

There is a pandemic of an orphan mentality throughout the world -- including in the church. We are desperate to know who we are, that we are loved, and that we are accepted unconditionally. We are desperate for identity. Yet many of us walk around disconnected from experiencing the love of the Father in a way that actually undergirds our identity. It isn't enough to know what the bible says about us as children of God, we are missing a transformative experience of Father God's love. Join us with Pastor Peter Young as we discuss how the Father's love was the foundation of Jesus' life and ministry, what impedes our own experience of the Father's love, and how to cultivate a foundation of the Father's love in your own life. If Jesus' life and ministry was completely rooted in knowing and believing the Father loved Him, how much more imperative is it that we also become rooted in this foundational identity? Listen to the end for a special impartation from Peter as he prays a Father's Blessing over you, our listeners.

If you are a person in relationship with people in the church, it's inevitable (probably multiple times in your life) that you will experience church hurt. The church is full of people, and people are imperfect apart from God. In this co-hosted episode with Ellie Stailey, Alyse and Ellie discuss their own experiences with church hurt and offense, what the bible says about striving for unity in the body, and how to practically heal from offenses we may be carrying towards the church. 

Pastor and Spiritual Father Alex Jimenez joins us as we discuss what can be the difficult road between being called in the Lord and being commissioned in that calling. Alex discusses what it looks like to be called, 5 things that often happen between the calling and the commissioning, feeling stuck after being called, and delays to walking into your calling. Navigating the time after being called can be a lonely, discouraging, and frustrating time. Yet it is the most important time for us to develop the character that can withstand what the Lord has spoken over our life. For anyone in the in between, needing encouragement or clarification in the calling, this is for you.

Ellie Stailey joins us as co-host as we un-pack the idea of spiritual gluttony. In a culture that has become mindless and gluttonous in almost every resource we consume, learn to identify where this habit can leak into even how we consume spiritual podcasts, teachings, and books. Have you become mindless and disengaged in some of your spiritual consumption? Ellie and Alyse identify what spiritual gluttony looks like, why it's so dangerous, what the bible says about the spiritual food we consume, and practical ways to become present and intentional with your spiritual consumption.