Episode 151 :: Dr. Jeremiah J. Johnston :: Stories of Reasons to Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and Becoming a Christian Thinker
Release Date: 04/27/2023
Episode 174 :: Douglas McKelvey :: Stories of Leaning into Advent, Lament, and Living with Every Moment Holy
Simply Stories Podcast
Today, I have the absolute pleasure of sharing my conversation with the one and only Douglas McKelvey. Douglas is a songwriter, author, and liturgy writer extraordinaire. I have never met someone like Douglas. His gift with words and passion for Christ cultivates a visceral invitation to be more present in this life, to find your fight again as you walk this weary way, and speaks to our hope of the next life with Jesus. Douglas shares with me his story of what led him to Nashville, TN, his journey from songwriting to fiction writing and the idea of unpacking his belief that every moment...
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Episode 173 :: Carole Holiday :: Stories of Learning Who You Are Again After Loss and Living with Grief
Simply Stories Podcast
A self-proclaimed “accidental author”, Carole Holiday was living a very full life as a wife, mother, and nana, until one day, everything fell apart. Her marriage to her childhood sweetheart of over 35 years ended, followed by losing her job and ultimately filing for bankruptcy. Then she developed heart issues because of all the stress, and a continued windfall of loss, and grief in losing close loved ones, until it felt like there was absolutely nothing recognizable about the life she had known. In her book I Don’t Know Who I Am Anymore, Carole shares her story, but it...
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Episode 172 :: Mike Nappa :: Stories from the Valley of the Shadow, and Blessing Those Who Mourn
Simply Stories Podcast
Over the last several years, I don’t think there is anyone who has not been touched by loss or some kind of grief. Today's guest, author, and literary agent Mike Nappa is incredibly familiar with loss and living with grief. In 2016, he lost his beloved wife, Amy, to cancer. In his learning how to live life without her, God has shown him why grieving is such an important part of losing a loved one. As Mike says, he learned how to cry into his keyboard and produced one of the most poignant books that bears witness to grief that I have ever personally encountered. It is called ...
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Episode 171 :: Gary Miracle :: Stories of Taking Heart, Persevering in Suffering, and No More Bad Days
Simply Stories Podcast
Gary Miracle is an author and a speaker who passionately believes in the power of storytelling and how it unites us and spurs us on when life is tragically hard, and also reminds us who we are and who God made us to be. In this episode, he shares his story of growing immersed in church culture on Sunday but then suffered from an identity crisis the rest of the week as he chased perfection, and changed personas in order to be affirmed by anyone and everyone. Finally, later in his life and career, now a married man with kids, Gary reached his breaking point and reached out to his friend Bart...
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Episode 170 :: Justin & J.L. Gerhardt:: Stories of Encountering God at the Intersection of Story and Worship
Simply Stories Podcast
Justin and J.L. Gerhardt are on the podcast today, and you will love hearing from them! There is an epic retelling of their meeting and falling in love complete with 90’s Hearthrob meet cute and all. More than that, Justin and J.L. share about their journey of God leading them both into ministry with words, calling their family to travel the world, and unleashing their creativity and courage to press into new ways to encounter God and His Word. This journey has given birth to various creative outlets for the Gerhardt family, but the one we talk about the most in this episode is Justin’s...
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Episode 169 :: Nikki Anders :: Stories of The Journey to Bethlehem
Simply Stories Podcast
I am so excited to share with you a really special conversation with the incredibly talented Renaissance woman Nikki Anders. Nikki is an award-winning musician, songwriter, and music producer in the TV and film industry. She shares some of her experiences in the music industry as a solo artist and member of the music group Avalon, her and her husband Adam’s time working on “Glee” as well as many other films, and now are the creative team behind the new movie musical “The Journey to Bethlehem.” Nikki shares how the Lord closed and opened so many doors over the last seventeen...
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Episode 168 :: Travis Thompson :: Stories of Mental Health, Addiction, Faith and Healing
Simply Stories Podcast
Travis Thompson is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who practices in Middle Tennessee. He is a PhD candidate who works with clients from many backgrounds to find the deeper meaning of their struggles and embrace long-term recovery from the pains that they experienced. His work is focused on being healed from past hurt and toward future success. During our conversation, Travis shares his journey of wrestling with his own mental health as a teenager, his recovery and healing journey, and entering the world of becoming a mental health professional serving and helping others like...
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Episode 167 :: Kelly Balarie :: Stories of The Power of God’s Word and Taking Every Thought Captive
Simply Stories Podcast
I have a powerhouse on the podcast in the form of Kelly Balarie. Kelly is an author and a speaker who is passionate about Jesus and the Word of God. She is a sister in the trenches and a self-proclaimed spiritual cheerleader. Every book she has written, she writes from a place of “this is where God has been faithful to me in this season.” Or “this is what God has been teaching me,” full of authenticity, and powerful scripture-saturated insights for women who desire to walk well and be filled to the fullness of God. In our conversation today, you’ll hear about her...
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Episode 166 :: Dr. Clarence Shuler :: Stories of Finding Hope in Dark Places and Cross-Cultural Relationships that Can Heal
Simply Stories Podcast
Dr. Clarence Shuler is the President and CEO of his nonprofit BLR- which stands for Building Lasting Relationships. Their mission is to equip others for discipleship in various venues. He and his wife both speak and write about marriage, but also dealing with infidelity, and divorce, but they especially love to minister to singles in the church. Whatever it looks like, the Shulers are committed to “loving people with God’s love with no agenda and see what happens.” During our conversation today, Dr. Shuler shared his story of coming to Christ through a relationship that would impact...
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Episode 165 ::Kayla Craig :: Stories of Curiosity & Questions in Faith & Holding Every Season Sacred
Simply Stories Podcast
Today I have the absolute joy of sharing with you my conversation with Kayla Craig. Kayla is a modern liturgist as the woman behind Liturgies for Parents online. She is a Mama of 4, a supportive pastor’s wife, and just this week she released her second book Every Season Sacred. In our conversation today, you’ll get to hear Kayla’s heart as she shares about what it looks like to pursue an honest and abundant life full of wonder and work. In all the spaces she occupies, she offers an open invitation to be curious, to express our questions, doubts, or confusion as we walk out our faith...
info_outlineDr. Jeremiah Johnston is an author, pastor of apologetics, and what he refers to as a Christian thinker. He knew that he loved God and loved His word, but he had a burning desire to want to not only understand it better, and to be able to know and see for Himself that the Christian faith could stand up to questioning. Ultimately, what he found is “Jesus and the faith and the scriptures are the answers to the questions you have today, not just the questions of yesterday.”
Now he is the pastor of apologetics at Prestonwood Baptist Church, and his ministry Christian Thinkers Society is designed to speak to seekers and skeptics and those who have big and very real questions about the historical Jesus, the church, and scripture, but also to encourage followers of Christ to own their faith. In his latest book Body of Proof: The 7 Best Reasons to Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus- and Why It Matters Today Dr. Johnston shares some of the fascinating details that prove the resurrection as a historical event, and why focusing on the resurrection and not just the cross deeply matters. In his work and in our conversation today, he unpacks a little bit of the context of the world Jesus revealed Himself to in His resurrected form, and we discuss details that perhaps have been overlooked due to the familiarity of the narrative of the resurrection to many of us in the church.
I don’t know where you are or where this conversation finds you, but I hope that you can walk away with a little more hope and encouragement in your soul. The bedrock of Christianity stands firm. It is based on facts, and it can take questions and research, archeology, and history. Our resurrected Savior can take our big feelings, our questions, and the cries of our weary souls. The God of the universe that took on flesh, died, and rose again, cares about you, and He gave it all to show you. I hope you can believe that today. You matter, and your story matters.
Connecting with Dr. Johnston
Book: Body of Proof: The 7 Best Reasons to Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus- and Why It Matters Today
Sponsor for this Episode: Hopefuel
Use the code 'SIMPLY15' for 15% off
References:
Road to Emmaus painting by Robert Zund, 1877
The Messiah would be another David or Samson or would cleanse the priesthood and the Temple
The New Testament: Its Background, Growth and Content- Bruce Metzger
Saducee- Progressives bought out by the Romans
Pharisee- Tradition of keeping the Torah
Zealots- Extremists who trained to take power from Rome back by force
Sanhedrin- The governing body of the Jewish community
Remember- celebrate with festival example
Bone boxes on the Mount of Olives
Unimaginable book by Dr. Johnston
Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ
Scripture References:
Hebrews 4:12- The word of God is alive and active
Luke 24, John 20- The resurrection of Jesus
Revelation 2:28-The morning star of our faith
1 Corinthians 15 - the death AND resurrection of Jesus
Luke 23, John 18:28-19:42- The judiciary procedure that led to the crucifixion
John 20:1-18-Appears to women/Mary doesn’t recognize Jesus
John 20:24-29-Thomas
Luke 24:13-35-The two with Jesus on the road to Emmaus
Matthew 5-7- The sermon on the mount
Luke 4:14-30- the sermon in Nazareth
Exodus 11-19- The Passover
Deuteronomy 6:6-9,Deuteronomy 11:18-20,Isaiah 57:8- Put this on your doorpost
Luke 22:17-38- Jesus called them to remember through the last supper
Luke 22- Judas betrayed Jesus
Matthew 10:4,Mark 3:18,Luke 6:15,Acts 1:13- Simon the Zealot
John 19:38-40-Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus bury Jesus
Genesis 50:25- Joseph asked to have his bones carried back to the land of his father
Matthew 27:55-56-The women stayed with Jesus, and are at the cross
Matthew 26:56, Mark 14:50- They didn’t run like the disciples
1 Corinthians 12:12-31-The body of Christ needs all its parts for it to work
Romans 8- the message of the Gospl and of Jesus’ love that there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus
1 Corinthians 15:58-Be strong, steadfast and immovable, always abound in the work of the Lord
1 Corinthians 16- people are suffering, let’s care for people
Matthew 9:36- He had compassion on them because He saw them as sheep without a shepherd
Hebrews 12:2- keep your eyes on the author and perfector of our faith
1 Peter 2:4-8- Christ is the cornerstone
Hebrews 13:8-Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever
Hebrews 13:5–6; Deuteronomy 31:6–8- He never leaves us or forsakes us
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