Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] There is a real challenge that we have within the church of grounding ourselves. I think it starts first of all with ourselves. Like, who is shaping the narratives in our hearts and our minds? Who is shaping what we want in life? Who is shaping our affections? That doesn't just happen on accident. You don't just pray a prayer and, you know, be baptized and then, boom, automatically your soul is shaped according to Jesus.
[00:00:28] Your desires, your affections, your dreams, the outcomes you want to see in life are shaped by the voices you give authority into your life. Well, hello, friends. Welcome back to Unfeigned Christianity, where we are on a journey of becoming theologically anchored and emotionally healthy so that we can love and disciple others. Well, this is my first episode in 2026, and a lot has happened. I think my last episode was the end of November. So we had all of December and most of January so far before popping back on here. The biggest thing that's happened is we had a baby. My wife gave birth to our youngest and number six in line, Zara Ariel. Her name means radiant and shining because my light is Yahweh. We are excited to have her with us. If you want to see pictures of Zara, you can. You can check out the YouTube video. And this for those that are wondering, this is probably our last.
[00:01:37] So we are excited to kind of. It's been a little bit of a.
[00:01:42] On one hand, we. We actually thought Asherah, our fifth child, was going to be our last. So that one went over. Her birth was almost a little more emotional. And then Zara came along, and so now it's been more maybe.
[00:01:58] What's the word I'm looking for? Not nostalgic, but just kind of.
[00:02:03] Yeah. As we enjoy these last moments.
[00:02:08] Romantic.
[00:02:10] There's a word I'm thinking of that's slipping my mind right now. But we've just been enjoying smelling the newborn skin, newborn hair, hearing the newborn cry. The kids have been just adoring her.
[00:02:26] And it has been a.
[00:02:30] A very good start to 2026, but we are in need of. Of catching up on sleep. I. I've been able to start catching up. We. We also had some sickness, so I was up with the sick. The sick ones. And Teresa was feeding Zara and I starting to catch up on sleep.
[00:02:49] I think my wife is starting to as well, but she. She probably needs.
[00:02:54] Needs quite a bit more. So that's where I've been.
[00:02:59] The other thing that I've been doing is kind of resetting in a sense. So 2024, I took pretty much the whole year off. And then in 25 I started dipping my toes back in, did some writing, did some podcasting, but all of the podcasts were just kind of me talking and I even dabbled a little bit with scripted podcasts there at the end, going through the Rewiring Desiring series, Rewiring Desire series.
[00:03:28] And I've just been kind of thinking, reflecting, planning and recording.
[00:03:33] But there is.
[00:03:36] Yeah, this kind of marks the resetting of unfeigned Christianity as a whole blog and podcast.
[00:03:43] I have one interview already recorded. It's the first interview I've done in over two years. So that was fun. It's.
[00:03:51] And then I have a number of others scheduled. So I I'm interviewing my sister Karita, who works at an inner city school and then I'm going to be interviewing Brian Dye who's a part of a part of discipleship ministry in down inner city Chicago and Karen Swallow Prior, you may be familiar with with her work. We're going to be talking specifically about her book the Imagination of or the Evangelical Imagination.
[00:04:18] And then I'm also looking forward to interviewing my boss, Cliff Stalsfus on Doing Business Like Jesus or Living Like Jesus and Doing Business One of the things that has always intrigued me about Cliff or intrigued is a weird way to word it. Something I've always admired but has fascinated me is his. The thing that got him into business business was the question is it possible to do business and live like Jesus? Because even within the Christian world there's often a when you get into business, there's, there's kind of a lot of talk about doing kingdom business, but then the actual living is still the business owns you. The business kind of takes over your life and everything is about the business. And that's the driving question that got Cliff into business. Now it's not that Cliff, in fact, he's kind of, he, when I asked him about coming on, he was kind of sheepish a little bit. He's like, well, he doesn't do this perfectly, but he has done well, the company has done well at modeling living a life like Jesus, which means profit isn't everything, even though it is a for profit business, which means just kind of scaling as fast and as quickly as we can isn't the goal. Even though we are trying to scale and we want to grow.
[00:05:43] But just doing it at a pace that is healthy as humans, doing at a pace that is out of worship and then ultimately serving our clients in a way that is full of integrity and helps them succeed. And so Forth. So, anyways, I'm excited about that one, as you can tell. Looking forward to that. I also, a co worker of mine recently published a book and I'm looking forward to interviewing him also.
[00:06:11] So I've got. What is that, four or five interviews, either recorded or scheduled. Looking forward to that. Another thing that I'm going to be doing is when I publish a post, I'm going to offer a podcast that is a podcast version of the post. But it's not just going to be me reading the post.
[00:06:32] I tried the scripted post podcast thing, and I'm not sure I really like that.
[00:06:37] Maybe I'll do it, maybe I could get better at it, but it ends up sounding like I'm reading something. And also, this is the thing I kept coming back to. This is called unfeigned Christianity. And the whole, the goal and purpose is to become theologically anchored and emotionally healthy so we can love and disciple others. Well, but then the nature of it, the character of it is just kind of raw and real and not putting up a pretense, not trying to be something we aren't, not being honest, transparent. And I don't know, when I was doing some scripted podcasting, it. It just didn't feel, yes, I could keep it a lot shorter, and that's why I was dabbling with scripted podcasting, was can I be clearer and shorter if I script it, Maybe I'll still do some of that. I want to do a little bit more on YouTube as well, and so there might be some versions of that, but somehow I want to learn if I, if indeed I do provide that kind of structure, I still want it to have a very real and honest feel.
[00:07:42] And that may have had to do with I was writing things out and then dumping it into AI to help create a script that is. That is simple. And I was targeting a specific timeframe and so forth. So it may just have to do with needing to tweak any use of AI, like making sure it still sounds like me. And I don't know what all it is. You guys can give your feedback, but the focus or the tenor, the atmosphere that I'm driving for is one of conversational. Just like as though we're, you know, when it's just you and me, as though we're having coffee together, or if I'm interviewing somebody, as though we're sitting in the living room or across the table and.
[00:08:27] And no questions off the table necessarily saying things even.
[00:08:33] Even when it's not all polished and thought. Thought through, clearly just Kind of a way of fleshing things out and being real about the challenges and the calling of what it means to follow Jesus. And so today, I want to start by going over why I'm rooting my work in being theologically anchored, emotionally healthy, so that we can love and disciple others. Well, I did write a article about this in. In the middle of December, and so I will be.
[00:09:09] Be referencing that for those of you on YouTube. You can. You can track the. The main points of this via the screen on YouTube, but hopefully it's. It's clear and the points are clear enough. Even if you're listening to this as you drive, it makes sense for you. But there's a. There's a few things that, that have led me to this.
[00:09:37] Back in, so 2024, I went through some health stuff, stepped back from writing and podcasting, and almost totally quit altogether. Like, right before Christmas of 24, I was inches from quitting.
[00:09:54] And some of that honestly had to do with just my own where I was at emotionally and spiritually. I was at a pretty low place that year and just realizing how unhealthy I am and the tremendous work that I have to do. And so just feeling like, well, is it.
[00:10:14] Am I even the one to be doing this kind of work?
[00:10:18] Um, there was also a big part of it in just the, you know, over the elections and just realizing how divided the church is and really concerned about things within Christianity here in America, and not sure that publicly writing or talking about things was really making much of a difference.
[00:10:44] If anything, kind of maybe adding to the fuel.
[00:10:48] But over the holidays of that year, this would have been a little over a year ago.
[00:10:54] Something kept coming back to me.
[00:10:59] It would show up in my journaling. It would show up when I thought, because I haven't quite graduated from Bible college. And so I obviously took a step back from that even as well during going through my health stuff.
[00:11:13] And so, you know, I contemplated, like, do I even continue with that? But then there was this kind of nagging thing that, that motivated me to, yes, let's restart and continue.
[00:11:27] And. And it's. It's just kind of this thing in my gut that I can't get rid of.
[00:11:34] And that is two things I don't think.
[00:11:38] I think we have a lot we could grow in when it comes to discipleship, making disciples of others. I hesitate to use that language because if we only talk about making disciples, it sounds really missional, which borders on maybe a little bit more of kind of the colonialism, heroism type of outreach.
[00:12:05] And cross cultural work. I'm all for missions, but because of my experience in missions, I am somewhat concerned about the posture in which white Americans enter into missions and how mission agencies do missions and so forth. And, and so I am like, well, I don't want to, you know, make disciples use, I don't necessarily want to use that kind of language and risk everyone's minds thinking in that way. I'm also talking about everyday life, your neighbors, your co workers, the people you relate to through your job and through your recreation and everything.
[00:12:49] But so, so I kind of at first initially used the language of just loving others. Well, like we're called to love others. And this has to do with people inside the church, it has to do with people outside the church. But then that's like super vague. What does love mean? And I'm definitely including a missional aspect. Making disciples of all people. I think that's ultimately as disciples of Jesus, the ultimate expression of love is to invite people into a walk with Jesus. And so I don't want to lose that in the lingo of love. But I think all of that we, we can grow a lot in there. There's a lot we can learn and everything from like understanding people's stories and backgrounds. Like there's a lot of, when you see Christians dialoguing on social media or even people in discipleship ministry, there's a lot of presuppositions that we just kind of bring into and we don't do well at first. Understanding why a person is at the place that they're at and then being able to more effectively speak into and engage them where they're at and know how to bring them into a walk with Jesus.
[00:14:08] So that's kind of the big picture. It's like, ah, we lack this. But the thing that I've noticed in that is from the setting that I grew up in, we lack theological anchoring, theological articulation and we'll get into what I mean by this.
[00:14:29] And we also lack emotional health.
[00:14:31] And so you have people who maybe are like really into theology and all about, you know, articulating and arguing defense of the faith and it's more cranial and they lack emotional connection and understanding that, you know, people, people don't really believe what they do because they were convinced of something. They believe what they do because of, of how people who held those same beliefs made them feel like the emotional aspects of life direct us way more than, than we may realize, more than we may want to admit sometimes.
[00:15:08] And so I, I, I want us to be grounded theologically, but also keenly aware of emotional health, even spiritual health. And then there's there's folks who are all into emotional health that don't have a very good grounding theologically and maybe even use scripture a little bit as proof texting like, oh, here's a scripture that seems to kind of communicate the point and yanking scripture out of context and just realizing we need both in order to love and disciple others well, and realizing that that's my own journey.
[00:15:50] Like, I've discovered a need for being theologically anchored. That's really what motivated me to go back to Bible College back in 2016 is when my wife and I made the decision.
[00:16:03] And I've also realized my need for emotional health.
[00:16:08] So just as a side side note, I am in the process of writing a book. It's called Unfolding Faith and my Patreon members are getting early excerpts of each chapter. I have released two chapters so far. I'm about to release chapter three, and that's walking through my bumping into a need for being theologically anchored and emotionally healthy. And then the process my journey in growing.
[00:16:39] I'm not sure I want to say I am theologically anchored and emotionally healthy, but more it's something I'm pursuing growing. That's why on my website on this podcast, you'll, you'll hear the language. Join me in the journey of becoming theologically anchored, emotionally healthy. Because I, I do believe it is a journey. It's not necessarily a destination that we arrive at.
[00:17:01] But then the, the last part of the book is going to be casting a vision for what that looks like in the church and in our every so if you're interested in that, consider becoming a member of Unfeigned Christianity on Patreon. Even just the inquirer tier at $5 a month gets you access to those chapters. Or you can wait maybe a year from now it'll be officially published so and you could purchase it then, but just kind of want to give that that heads up that alert out there.
[00:17:33] But I wrote about it that in, in an article last month, just kind of a brief version of why I'm rooting my work in being theologically anchored, emotionally healthy so we can love and disciple others. Well.
[00:17:49] So that's kind of the background that leads me. I see a tremendous need within the church.
[00:17:57] Yes to a certain degree within church leadership and within in teachers, people speaking over the pulpit, but even more so within folks, just everyday Christians following Jesus.
[00:18:11] We are being discipled. There was a Barna study, I believe it was back in 2020.
[00:18:17] It may have been 2019, I can't quite remember.
[00:18:20] But it said, I remember this just standing out to me as someone who was involved in whether that was preaching on Sunday mornings or teaching Sunday school.
[00:18:35] It talked about how pastors have their, you know, they have two hours to disciple on a Sunday morning. This is just obviously like, ideally, discipleship happens in more formats than just Sunday morning. But in a given time, you know when most Christians are going to show up at church, the pastor or the church leaders have a two hour block a week to spend discipling their people in the way of Jesus and according to the scriptures.
[00:19:10] But the average Christian spends over 30 hours a week listening to news, to political pundits, to social commentary.
[00:19:22] And so there is a real challenge that we have within the church of Christ grounding ourselves. I think it starts first of all with ourselves. Like, who is shaping the narratives in our hearts and our minds? Who is shaping what we want in life? Who is shaping our affections? That doesn't just happen on accident. You don't just pray a prayer and, you know, be baptized and then boom, automatically your soul is shaped according to Jesus.
[00:19:52] Your, your desires, your affections, your dreams, the outcomes you want to see in life are shaped by, by the voices you give authority into your life.
[00:20:02] And sadly, most social commentary, most political pundits, most news sources out there are not shaping your narratives, your affections around the things of Jesus. And so we need to be aware. I'm not saying you should never listen to that or never do that.
[00:20:27] Rather I'm saying we need to be keenly aware of that effect and be spending even more time being shaped by the word of God, by the way of Jesus. And so that's kind of been the thrust of like, why we need to be theologically anchored as a church, as a people.
[00:20:49] We need to be theologically anchored so that we know how to navigate the times.
[00:20:54] And just so we're crystal clear, what I mean by being theologically anchored is having one's beliefs and actions firmly rooted in a consistent and well defined understanding of Jesus as revealed through the Scriptures.
[00:21:10] Being theologically anchored isn't about being able to argue best in a theological debate. It's not being able to know what all the, the definitions of Greek words and all of that.
[00:21:22] It's not even being theologically anchored is not meaning that you're going to believe and interpret the Bible the exact same way as I do, but rather that when you go to articulate your Beliefs and your actions and the way you live life. It is firmly rooted in a consistent and well defined understanding of Jesus as revealed through the Scriptures. So maybe you're reading the scriptures and you're seeing the life of Jesus and the teachings of the word of God as a whole and you have come to one interpretation that is different than mine and we're coming together and we don't attack each other as like, oh, you've just, you know, you've bought into some ideology or whatever, or, oh, you're just, you're, you know, one that's classic right now is just like you, you're not, you're not interpreting scripture well. You know, it's just kind of this brush off or like, I'm sorry you've missed it on this. Go back to the drawing board.
[00:22:18] It's like, well, you haven't, you haven't offered a consistent and well defined understanding of Jesus to counter my interpretation. So let's come together and let's open up the word of God together and let's argue with one another from a firmly rooted posture that is based in our understanding of Jesus as revealed through the Scriptures. That's what I mean by being theologically anchored. It's not going to solve conflict of differing opinions necessarily, but it does make sure that we're, we're actually working from the same foundation because there's a lot of Christians who aren't. Most Christians today, when they enter into even theological debates, are working from the, the posture of the voices they've heard most throughout the week.
[00:23:14] And they, they can't even argue, like, oh, you know, for example, I was in a conversation with someone recently who continues to use the phrase that government is ordained by God.
[00:23:28] And I was kind of intrigued by that.
[00:23:31] I was like, where in Scripture do we get the idea that government is ordained by God? I'm not aware of any place that Scripture says government is ordained by God. And it's kind of a small nitpick perhaps, but the concept of ordination is actually a fairly big deal in Scripture. And so I think we should be careful about just projecting that concept. It is very clear that governing authorities are instituted by God, that they are God's servants and there's a design for how they should function.
[00:24:02] But this notion that somehow government is inherently ordained by God. Commissioned, ordained as the same word that is used of the priests who would enter the holy temple. Temple. It's the same word that is used of spiritual pastoring of the people of God.
[00:24:21] And I think, I think it's Something to be careful about and alert about. And when I asked this young man about it, there was no response, no ability to kind of articulate, well, maybe that word isn't specifically used, but here's scripture that we can come to a conclusion that, oh, they are ordained by God.
[00:24:45] I think there's a difference between something being instituted and used of God, as opposed to God specifically imparting his spiritual authority on that piece in order to act on behalf of and a witness to himself as the Adonai Elohim, the ruler of all gods, the king of all kings.
[00:25:12] And that's a little bit more what the connotation of ordination would be. That's kind of a small side example. But what I'm saying is we have these conversations and we're not starting from a place where we're being firmly rooted. So maybe I am. Maybe what I just said isn't right, but engage me with it from a place where you are rooted in a consistent, well defined understanding of Jesus is revealed through the Scriptures, and let's work from there. That's what I mean by being theological.
[00:25:44] So don't. Don't hear me saying that, oh, if people are theologically anchored, they're going to believe just like Asher.
[00:25:49] That's not true.
[00:25:51] I hope people don't just believe just like Asher, but rather we are wrestling together, we are communicating together. We are working together to embody Jesus faithfully. Because we're like, no, no, I.
[00:26:09] Based on this text and this text, maybe even some throughout history, church history, the church believed this, this and this, you know, whatever. And we're working together. Is that consistent in who? The person and character of Jesus as revealed through the Scriptures?
[00:26:27] And then I might have to come back and be like, well, like, yeah, you have a good point. But what about these passages and this thrust and this, you know, as we see it culminating here in. In this text and so forth. And then our conversations can flow from that posture.
[00:26:45] That's why I start there.
[00:26:48] I don't think we can actually be truly emotionally and spiritually healthy without having.
[00:26:56] Without first being theologically anchored. But I don't think we can love others well and disciple them well without being emotionally anchored and spiritually healthy. So what do I mean by that?
[00:27:10] And this is one. I've had some conversations since publishing this, and I might change some wording. I'll read it as I have it right now, and then you guys can maybe give me feedback. Maybe the wording needs to change a little bit.
[00:27:24] But this is what I mean by being Emotionally healthy, having self awareness and the personal fortitude to process emotions in a way that fosters inner peace, healthy relating and personal growth. So having the self awareness, I'm aware of what's going on inside of me, emotionally, inside my body, even mentally, what's going on. And I have the personal fortitude, the ability to kind of process either in real time or to go walk out of a conversation or a meeting or some kind of experience and be able to process what's going on inside of me, like why did I react more strongly or why did I clam up and hide or whatever. In a way that fosters inner peace, healthy relating where I don't just avoid or I don't just have these, you know, kind of boxed ways of thinking about someone and personal growth where I am growing as a result.
[00:28:20] I think a lot of times it is helpful for us to have counselors and therapists to help us in this journey. I see a Christian therapist about once a month. It's every three weeks and over the holidays. And the baby, we have not met yet, so we're scheduled to meet here the end of the month. But the. I have found that to be incredibly helpful, even though. Even if there's not a major thing I'm working through.
[00:28:47] But it has helped me process.
[00:28:50] Well, first of all, it's helped me just become more aware of what's going on inside of me on a daily level. And then when I'm not able to kind of pinpoint why I'm feeling that way or why I reacted that way to my wife, to my kids, to coworkers, to people in church or whatever in my community, I can bring it and talk with him about it. And he's been very helpful in kind of processing that. And it's a place that is.
[00:29:22] What's the word?
[00:29:23] He has no.
[00:29:25] No.
[00:29:26] There's no agenda. He. He has no.
[00:29:29] He just wants me to be able to come to a place of, of peace and healthy relating and personal growth. Right. Like, he doesn't even know the people that I'm talking about. He doesn't even know the situation exactly.
[00:29:44] And so he can offer objective insight, challenge.
[00:29:48] Most of what he does is just ask questions, ask questions, get me to talking and kind of uncovering it myself, so to speak. And then, yeah, I do believe that it's crucial that our counselors be people who are working from a framework of Jesus as Messiah, from the framework of what each of us ultimately need is healing from Jesus as Lord and the one who gives true identity. And so Forth. So I definitely believe that we should pursue Christian counselors and therapists. But I think that's really helpful in growing. You don't have to wait for the big tragedy, the big failure or the big explosion.
[00:30:41] Rather, start the work now, grow. And there's things all of us are experiencing.
[00:30:47] And that's actually the word that I'm considering chasing. It says having self awareness and personal fortitude to process emotions in a way that fosters inner peace. And I might change that to experiences in a way that fosters inner peace, healthy relating and personal growth. Because there are some people who genuinely don't feel emotions. There's certain biological instances where someone may not feel emotions. I also think that there's emotional states of being where our emotions can be locked.
[00:31:22] And so I think I might change the word to experiences to, to kind of grasp like, hey, this, this is. We can pursue emotional health even if we're not feeling the emotions, because there are experiences that we can learn. Like, hey, that affects you, right?
[00:31:42] You know when, when someone stabs you and maybe you don't feel it. I'm going to, I'll use an example. I've never been stabbed, but I've shot myself with a nail gun right through the fatty part of my hand. And honestly I didn't feel it right away.
[00:32:00] And so I saw it.
[00:32:03] I was framing a wall and looked down and saw the nail sticking halfway out. Thankfully, the wire part of where nails are connected, thankfully that had not sunk in.
[00:32:14] Otherwise that would have made it worse. But I saw it and I immediately pulled it out.
[00:32:20] But it was a good maybe 10 minutes or so before I started feeling it.
[00:32:26] And so obviously that's 10 minutes is a short time. But you know, if I would have just, I saw that, but I just continue working like, oh, that's, that's not a big deal. Like after a while that's, that's going to be a big problem. Within 10 minute time. I may have snagged it on something as I'm trying to continue framing. The metal part stuck in my flesh would have been pressing in against tendons and muscles and stuff as I'm trying to stand the wall up or whatever.
[00:32:53] And me cognitively knowing, oh, here's an experience, I just shot myself with a nail.
[00:33:01] I need to get that out and address it or else my hand is going to have bigger issues.
[00:33:07] And obviously pulling it out causes it to start bleeding. And then you start feeling things eventually as the blood starts flowing through there more. And yes, you do feel it, but I'm Using that as an example, a physical example of why there are situations in life, right?
[00:33:27] When someone, when you go to address a concern that you have with someone and they turn it around and accuse you of some grave evil and the confusion that that brings about, like that has an effect on you, whether or not you're feeling an emotion in the moment. And so understanding, like, oh, you know, that kind of response affects me emotionally. When, when I am told as a young person, you know, when, when, let me, you know, maybe I'm told that like, can't you get anything right? Like can you do anything right? Maybe that's told over and over again. Or maybe I'm just never encouraged and always criticized. Like that has an effect on you emotionally.
[00:34:20] And so there are things that we can learn, experiences that we may have gone through that we can learn are affecting us emotionally and that we need to process through.
[00:34:31] So maybe I'll ask you guys that, should I change that? Having a self, having self awareness and personal fortitude to process experiences instead of emotions, experiences in a way that fosters inner peace, healthy relating and personal growth.
[00:34:46] How would you articulate emotional health?
[00:34:50] And as we are emotionally healthy, as we are anchored theologically, then we can love and disciple others well. And here's what I mean by that.
[00:35:03] Selflessly seeking another's well being through kindness, empathy and truth. Treating them with the same grace and care that God extends to us. Selflessly seeking another's well being through kindness, empathy and truth. Treating them with the same grace and care that God extends to us. So this can include learning how to engage my mega, my pro MEGA neighbors who they work in the federal prison and have been helping out ICE on the side with some of the work that has needed to be done there.
[00:35:47] And so they, they fly a don't tread on me flag.
[00:35:51] I am rather concerned about the MEGA movement. I'm rather concerned about the use of ICE right now.
[00:35:59] And what I'm talking about is the, the acronym ice.
[00:36:04] What does I stand for? I should know this.
[00:36:07] Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
[00:36:10] U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement.
[00:36:13] So rather than just kind of what I know about ICE based on what's happening in Minnesota or what has happened in LA or other places, rather than just, you know, kind of having this conclusion that I've drawn about them keeping them at a distance, like selflessly seeking another's well being, like they, my neighbors, deserve their well being to be pursued, right? And so I'm going to lay aside my presuppositions, my prejudice, I'm going to treat them with Kindness with empathy. So I want to understand their story, right? What, what led you into the work that you're in or whatever that that's even if I don't ask directly or whatever, that's going to be the posture I want to come with. But then I'm also going to relate with them in truth. And ultimately their well being is to know Jesus and to walk in the way of Jesus. And so that that's going to include discipleship aspects, it's going to include even having difficult conversations at times. But it comes from a place of, first of all, laying aside myself and being kind and empathetic. This also includes selflessly seeking another's well being, includes laying aside a pursuit of riches and wealth and being willing to sacrifice to tell people who are poor, who are under fortunate, who are maybe in a third world country. And it's the hard work of learning another language, understanding the culture and bringing the gospel into that culture, like all of that is included in loving and discipling others well, selflessly seeking another's well being through kindness, empathy and truth, treating them with the same grace and care that God extends to us.
[00:38:00] So that's what these are the three anchors.
[00:38:05] Maybe I shouldn't use the word anchor because my first point has anchored these are the three facets that I'm anchoring, that I'm grounding, rooting my work in everything.
[00:38:17] I found that to be true. Whether I'm developing a Sunday school lesson, whether I'm preaching a sermon, whether I'm teaching my kids and we're having conversations before bed, whether I'm just thinking about life and me and my wife are talking about life and marriage and family, whether I'm writing, whether I'm podcasting and the people I've invited to interview on my podcast. All of it is coming from a place of wanting to grow in, being theologically anchored, emotionally healthy so we can love and disciple others well.
[00:38:47] And that's why I so the people I interview throughout this year are going to be touching base on different ones of these aspects. The first person I'm privileged to interview is my sister, Karita Whitmer, and she's teaching in inner city Lancaster City, Pennsylvania right now.
[00:39:09] And so I'm asking her questions and hearing her story because she is embodying, loving and discipling others. Well, we're going to talk about some theology, we're going to talk about some things that you could classify as emotional health.
[00:39:26] But what I'm specifically thinking about is she is every day, through the mundane labor of teaching middle school kids, elementary kids. She is loving and discipling them. And no, it doesn't mean just because I have somebody on or just because this is my thing focus doesn't mean we're doing it perfectly. It means this is our aim, our objective and we want to grow in this, in this journey. So if that sounds like something you want to be a part of here in 2025, then I invite you to follow along. Subscribe if you're watching this on YouTube, subscribe to the channel. If you're listening to this on podcasts, make sure you're subscribed that you're following the podcast so you see every time an episode is released.
[00:40:14] If you want to be notified anytime an episode or an article or new resource is out, go ahead and join my email list which is in the description below. There's a link to join to sign up there. Right now I am offering a free seven day porn recovery journal as a bonus for signing up for joining the email list.
[00:40:41] And as a part of that we we have changed up the Patreon tiers for unfeigned Christianity on Patreon. I've not changed it up, just kind of get given them new focus.
[00:40:55] Let me share my screen for those of you who are watching on YouTube. But if you wish to take your journey deeper, consider becoming a member. So for $5 a month, the Inquirer tier.
[00:41:09] This is a safe place to explore faith honestly. You receive access to my private chat stream on WhatsApp where you can connect with me and others and we ask questions and so forth and then I respond to some of those questions through a quarterly Q and A episode which you also get access to. You'll also get reflective essays and teaching and specifically probably the biggest one right now is the book chapter previews.
[00:41:37] And then ultimately what you're what you're getting through these specific deliverables is Scripture engaged honestly and language for doubts without shame.
[00:41:49] The second tier, at $15 a month, is called the Grounded Seeker. This is for building theological roots in clarity. It's everything in Inquirer plus help reading scripture well. So I have different whether it's articles, even downloadable templates to help you start processing and studying scripture on your own, or even some courses that I share where it will help help you begin to read scripture well.
[00:42:16] And again the the the thing that you're getting through the deliverables is teaching that holds the various tensions of life without fear.
[00:42:25] A better, more grounded grasp of theology in the formation circle, which is where everything becomes well, more formed. That's why I call it the Formation circle.
[00:42:37] It is a mentored formation in real communities. So those that are a part of it right now, there's about five or six people in this tier. Currently they get everything in the other tiers, but also monthly group mentorship calls. And right now we're going through the Live Free course which you get access to as a part of the formation circle. And we're walking through processing unwanted sexual behavior. And so that's what we're, what we spend talking about on our monthly group mentorship calls. What you're getting through this tier is real people walking with you, space to process your faith and emotional health. If you haven't already gotten a copy of Live Free, you can request a free copy of that and, and overall, this tier helps you become a whole and healthy human.
[00:43:27] And then we have two more tiers which begin to go from your own formation to walking with others. The formation steward at $50 a month is helping to care for the formation of others. You get everything in all the other tiers, but then you also get support and access to monthly live calls where we can discuss challenges and resources as well as I'm anticipating having some, you know, maybe one off events where I bring in someone who's trained or has more experience in various areas to kind of guide us. What, how do we walk with people who are either struggling with sexual addictions or maybe how do we help people in our local communities understand scripture better? Like it's, it's going to be a variety of areas that we address.
[00:44:22] But that is that tier begins the, the movement beyond just your own formation to helping form others. And then the Last tier is $100 a month. The community cultivator. This is helping to shape and multiply this work together where you get to be a part of submitting ideas and suggestions for people to interview and event themes, input on direction and priorities.
[00:44:48] And you help to guard tone theology posture. You get virtual access to the annual reflection and vision development meeting.
[00:44:57] So if you're interested in that, if you're interested in taking your journey deeper in that way, check out www.asherwhitmer.com member to become a member of Unfeigned Christianity.
[00:45:12] So that's all I have for today, until next time. In my next episode, I'm going to be sharing seven dangerous teachings that are infiltrating our churches today. And this kind of just agitates why there's a need for us to be theologically anchored so that we can navigate our times. Well, so if you haven't. Again, why I'm rooting my word work in theology, Emotional Health and Love. That is an article, and I explain some things.
[00:45:45] I'm not sure which one gives more detail. I definitely say it differently in the written version than I do right now. Maybe I ramble a little bit more here, but I invite you to check it out on the blog as well if you're wanting to kind of grasp this.
[00:46:00] Oh, this sounds interesting, but I'd like to kind of dive into a little bit further. Go ahead and visit asherwitmer.com and then you'll see it there as one of my latest articles. Until next time, Grace and Peace.
