grandawakening: Recent Episodes
Randall Hekman
Dr. Rex M. Rogers is the former president of Cornerstone University and, subsequent to that, of SAT-7 USA. He is the author and voice of his podcast called Discerning What Is Best with Dr Rex M Rogers. In his podcast, Rex applies unchanging biblical principles in our rapidly changing world and provides a very helpful Christian worldview of current issues and everyday life. His books include Be One of God’s Unlikely Leaders—Live With Focus, Get Things Done, Gambling: Don’t Bet On It, Christian Liberty: Living for God in a Changing Culture, and, most recently, “We Hold These Truths”—Responsible Christian Patriotism. Learn more about Rex at www.rexmrogers.com.In this podcast, Rex helps us better understand the ungodly trends that have been impacting our nation in recent years and how, apart from God’s people choosing to rise up and courageously lead by sharing the truth in love to all aspects of our culture, we are heading to a very bleak future. It’s clear that only the nation with virtuous citizens who are seeking to live lives pleasing to God can truly be given liberty by their government. Otherwise, due to man’s sinful nature, government will be required to grow more powerful and controlling in its attempt to preserve a degree of peace and safety. Rex also shares how all leaders—including Christian pastors—need a degree of loving but truthful accountability to keep them from going “off the rails” with hubris and/or other sinful issues.
that brings a message of repentance to State Fairgrounds throughout the United States. Dr. LaTonya's beliefs are rooted in the Word of God toward the end that the Father may be glorified in all that she does. Dr. LaTonya is a United States Army retiree and Combat Veteran (Operation Iraqi Freedom). She has also served as a Public Official for 20+ years, managing a full-range of federal programs, contracts and Projects up to $28.7 Billion dollars with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and a host of Federal Agencies. She has dedicated her life to serving in both public and private arenas. Dr. LaTonya holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Healthcare Administration, a Master Degree in Business Administration, and a Doctorate degree in Education.In this podcast LaTonya Jones shares how, despite being more of an introvert, still chose to courageously obey the Lord’s leading to start her ministry of “Tent Revivals” in which she is called upon to regularly share her faith in Christ with large groups of people. She also shares how, while coming to faith in Christ at age 14, she subsequently spent a few years wandering spiritually before returning wholeheartedly to Jesus, where she continues to abide by His grace. LaTonya concludes by telling how optimistic she is that, while we know things will deteriorate prior to Christ’s Second Coming, she feels we are now in the midst of a great Revival and Spiritual Awakening in America. We pray it continues to grow for His glory and the saving of millions!
Kent Evans is a follower of Jesus, married to wife April for over 30 years, and, together, they have five amazing sons (plus two even amazing daughters-in-law). They make their home in Kentucky.After two decades in the business world, Kent co-founded Manhood Journey to help dads become disciple makers. He also became the host of the “Father On Purpose” podcast with his friend Lawson Brown. He is also the author of some books on the subject.His goal in writing and speaking is to:•Light a fire under Christian men to live their faith daily•Inspire men and women to live their faith in the workplace•Speak wisdom into the lives of married couples, parents, and families•Motivate leaders to become disciple makersKent takes his reading of the Bible, his faith, and the Gospel very seriously. He enjoys communicating with audiences everywhere.In this podcast, Kent describes how the Lord led him into his current ministry to help dads become better disciple makers of their children. One key is for men to truly get into the Word of God, the Bible, on a regular basis. Truth truly sets us free to become all that God desires for us! Kent shared how many of the thousands of men that he communicates with are discouraged and down on themselves, feeling like total failures as fathers. They need to hear God speaking to them through His Word and the Holy Spirit rather than being bullied by our arch-enemy satan. Kent also agreed about the importance of persistent prayer for our wives and children.
Narrative Arts. She also has a certificate in Theological Studies from Reformation Bible College located in Sanford, FL. Sarah continues to write on pro-life issues, religious liberty, bioethics, and the intersection of faith and culture — seeking to bring journalistic rigor and gospel-centered hope to every conversation.In this podcast, Sarah describes how, in college, God called her to learn more about why she should trust the truths of the Bible and to share these truths in love with those around her. That led to her attending Reformation Bible College and then beginning to work at Family Research Council. She totally loves communicating truth in a loving and persuasive manner. When asked what the American Church most desperately needs, Sarah shared how, compared to so many Christ-followers in other nations, we American Christians can tend to lose focus on what are God’s top priorities for His followers. We can feel we are entitled to comfort and no pain, when the Bible makes it clear that trials and pain and even persecution are a normal part of our lives as Christ’s followers. Sarah concluded the podcast by praying for us American Christians to be totally surrendered to our Lord who gave His all for us.
Tripp Hurst has been married to Nhung for 25 years and they are blessed with a daughter, Lexi. Tripp is a former Radio DJ with 20 years of experience, most of that taking place in Memphis, TN where he was raised. Now that Tripp lives in West Michigan, he currently serves inside the Kent County Jail with Reach the Forgotten Ministries. He also reaches out to other incarcerated folks inside the State Prison in Muskegon. In the past, Tripp has interacted with a number of evangelistic ministries, all of which helped develop his faith and equipped him to share the Gospel with those who don’t yet know Him. He also trained with Living Waters Ministries about doing open-air preaching. And, recently, Tripp did an open-air service in Indianapolis, Indiana during the Final Four basketball series held in that area around Easter time. Finally, another one of Tripp’s interests is theater. He loves acting in plays and even serves on the Board of Directors of Master Arts Theatre here in West Michigan.In this podcast, Tripp shares how, while his parents raised him in the church, he never became a true follower of Jesus. Twenty-five years ago, Tripp married Nhung, who was a true Christian. She soon realized her husband had only been faking his faith, so she began to pray earnestly that he would soon become a true Christ-follower. It took 10 painful years of addictions and other awful issues to finally see God answer Nhung’s prayers. And not only did Tripp then come to Christ, he began to be on fire for Jesus, and that passion continues to this day! He absolutely loves sharing the Gospel with anyone who needs to hear.
Brad Formsma is the founder of I Like Giving, an organization which has inspired millions of people to live generously through its Generous Business, Generous Family, and Generous Classroom initiatives. He’s also the host of The WOW Factor, a podcast for business leaders, and a popular speaker at corporate, church and community events. Brad’s most recent projects include the “Generous Students” curriculum for grades K-5 (plus a 26-week homeschool edition) and the Generous Kids Book Club, teaching children seven ways to live generously. Brad and his wife Laura live in Southern California and are the proud parents of 3 adult children.In this podcast, Brad talks about how the example of his grandfather’s generosity was so instrumental in Brad himself becoming a generous and giving man of God. Brad also shared how, through various media platforms, his ministry is now encouraging many young people to learn the life and joys of giving that will ideally start them on a lifetime of being generous to others. It truly is more blessed to give than to receive!
Prior to his nomination to his current position as the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra served as Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party during the 2024 elections, where his leadership did much to deliver a Republican victory. During the first Trump Administration, Pete served as Ambassador to the Netherlands. Previous to that service, Pete was elected as a Member of Congress from 1993 to 2011, representing Michigan’s 2nd District. In Congress among other responsibilities, Pete was Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence from 2004 to 2007. Pete is a graduate of Hope College in Holland, Michigan and then worked to receive an M.B.A. degree from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Subsequent to that, Pete was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Grand Valley State University and has also been the recipient of many other outstanding awards. Pete and his wife Diane recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and are grateful to God for their three adult children. In this podcast, Pete Hoekstra describes his heart for America as well as his gratitude for our close neighbor Canada, the nation in which he now is required, as our ambassador, to make his home. As we approach our nation’s 250th birthday, Pete shared how God’s blessing has kept America relatively prosperous and blessed in the past, and how we need constantly to renew our passion for Him and His ways to continue to receive God’s blessing. When I asked him about his relationship with his “boss” Donald Trump, Pete described some of his periodic one-on-one interactions with the President. Finally, Pete helped conclude our discussion by leading us in a sincere prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ.
. Graduating from GVSU in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in Biomedical Sciences, he then considered himself an atheist. That all changed in the years that followed as we will discuss in this exciting podcast. By God’s grace, Matt is now a devoted follower of Jesus. He also runs a thriving business called Lake Effect Lure Company. He is married to his dear wife Kalie, and together they have three awesome children and another on the way. I’m quite sure you will be touched as you hear his amazing story.In this podcast, Matt shares how a major crisis earlier in his life left him feeling totally hopeless, to the point that he came very close to intentionally taking his own life. But just before pulling the trigger on his gun, God spoke out loud to him! And that, amazingly, resulted in him beginning to choose to move in a totally new and life-giving direction. He is so grateful for all that God has done, and continues to do, in and through him. And because he can totally identify with people who are struggling with addictions and pain, he can help them find the only real cure: a life-giving relationship with Jesus!
Travis Lambright is of Irish and Italian descent. He and his older sister were raised in a succession of places, including California, Maine, and Seattle, Washington. His professional background involved both commercial fishing and sales. Currently, Travis is studying ministry leadership, since he is sensing the call of the Lord to become a pastor. His goal is to give support to individuals who are seeking a better life and who desire to receive healing from past trauma and addiction. Travis has a 25-year-old daughter. For fun, Travis enjoys good food and activities by the water.In this podcast, Travis describes how, after his mother died, his life went downhill in a major way. At age 14, his father kicked Travis permanently out of the home. Living much of his teen years either on the streets or, due to his lawbreaking, incarcerated, Travis tried in vain to numb his pain through various drugs, alcohol and unhealthy relationships. But God! Yes, God used the prayers and caring of various people to ultimately call Travis to faith in Christ and now even a call to ministry!
Dennis Fuqua currently serves as the Director of the International Renewal Ministries. Originally from Gig Harbor, Washington, Dennis received his Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Divinity degrees from Multnomah University. He served as a pastor of Peninsula Christian Fellowship in Gig Harbor for 25 years. Dennis began working as the director of IRM in February 2000. His leadership activities include facilitating summits, equipping others, and developing and maintaining relationship connections with the network of people in IRM. He has written multiple articles and three books available at www.lppress.net. Dennis and his wife, Marilyn, have 4 grown children and 13 grandkids. He can be emailed at: dennis@prayersummits.net.In this podcast, Dennis talks about the incredible impact he consistently sees among those who attend a prayer summit. Genuine miracles take place as people unite and enter God’s manifest presence. And, when that happens, Dennis has seen how God then showers His love on those attending, often leading them into new paths for their lives. Dennis also regularly sees the development of new and lasting friendships among those who attend, and how often even fractured relationships between people are wonderfully restored. In all, God is greatly glorified and virtually everyone in attendance is richly blessed. Spending 2 1/2 days in a prayer summit is like investing a small amount of money in a business, but reaping a huge return.
Mary Sterenberg is currently the Pastor of Discovery Church in the Grand Rapids area. She also is a Ministry Partner for Igniting Revival, a teacher and leader with Presbyterian-Reformed Ministries International (PRMI). In addition, for 11 years, Mary has been the Prayer Mobilizer for the Great Lakes Region of the Christian Reformed Church (CRCNA). Education wise, Mary received her bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy in 1980, and worked for several years in rehabilitation, homecare therapy, and eventually started her own private practice in that arena. But after becoming involved more heavily in ministry, Mary became ordained in the Christian Reformed Church in 2012 as a Commissioned Pastor. Mary felt called to attend Calvin Theological Seminary, from where she graduated in 2016. While Mary loves serving the local church, she also has a vision and passion to unite the greater church body together. She has worked with Gathering Grand Rapids, and was the Prayer Co-Chair for the Luis Palau Association City Fest which, in 2018, drew thousands of people to Grand Rapids MI and to the Lord.Mary has been married to her high school sweetheart Bruce Sterenberg for 45 years. Together, they have three adult children and ten grandchildren. Karl House grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He graduated with a Master of Divinity from Calvin Theological Seminary. Karl has planted a Christian Reformed Church near Toronto and a Vineyard Church in Tampa. He is back in Grand Rapids planting The Way MicroChurches—A new family of simple churches in Grand Rapids and beyond. Karl's passion is to pour into a new generation of disciples, leaders and MicroChurches. In the various places where Karl has lived, one of the many things he has done has been to encourage pastors in that geographical area to unite on a regular basis in prayer. Karl and his wife Anita have two adult children and one grandson.In this podcast, Mary and Karl highlight the upcoming Prayer Summit to be held at Maranatha April 20-22 and why Christ-followers should love to be part of it.
Gabe VanCoonis is 23 years old. While he was born in California, Gabe grew up in the Houghton Lake area of Northern Michigan. In 2022, he moved to Grand Rapids where he eventually came to Calvary Church that opened the door for him to begin a personal relationship with the Lord. Since coming to Christ, Gabe’s passion for Jesus has been on fire and continues to grow. His favorite things now are studying theology and sharing what he is learning with others.Gabe currently serves as the Facilities Night Shift Team Lead at Calvary Church, a role that gives him many opportunities for ministry. He regularly uses his passion and gift for teaching to pour into coworkers, high schoolers, and Community Service Volunteers. He’s involved in facilities ministry, young adults’ ministry, and leads a Saturday morning Bible study for his coworkers. Through everyday conversations and intentional discipleship, Gabe loves helping people grow in their faith and seeing the beauty of both them and himself as well walking more closely with Christ.In this podcast, Gabe tells his amazing story of how, since coming to Calvary church, he came to real faith in Christ. He also shares how Jesus’ presence in his life has produced in him an overwhelming love for our Lord and a passionate desire to share Jesus with those who don’t yet know Him. While Gabe is working in a job that could be considered a bit tedious, he loves the fact that it allows him daily to be able to encourage other people to come to faith in Jesus or, for those who already are Christians, to grow in their faith.
Arek O'Connell is an Outreach and Young Adult Pastor at Hillside Community Church in Grand Rapids, MI, where he has served faithfully since 2013. He has been married to his wife Jamie for 14 years and they have two children (Kaia;5 -and- Leighton;4). Arek is currently working on his Doctor of Ministry at Gordon Conwell where his thesis will be focused on spiritual healing from trauma. The work that brings Arek the most joy is teaching trauma classes in high-needs communities and being the chaplain for the East Kentwood varsity football team. In this podcast, Arek shares about his very turbulent background where, as a child, he experienced a home full of trauma and pain, which included multiple divorces and significant animosity and even cruelty. But, by the grace of God, as a young teen, Arek was greatly helped by a loving pastor who took Arek under his wing and brought him to saving faith in Christ. His life was radically changed!Yet, as Arek began to attend a Christian college in California, the external trauma suddenly got even worse as Arek’s father was viciously murdered. Arek shared how God clearly, miraculously, and even surprisingly empowered him to reach out to his father’s murderer in love and forgiveness, and actually lead that man to faith in Christ!Finally, Arek shared what a joy it has been to be chaplain of East Kentwood High School’s football team. Despite EK being a public high school, his players have chosen to lovingly pray with their opponents’ teammates after each game. Truly amazing! God is certainly on the move among Gen Z young people in our nation!
David Padgett is quick to tell you that his story is not about what he has done, but what God has done in his life. At 53 years old, he has been sober since June 21, 2014, and he gives all the glory to the Lord for the transformation that followed. After many years of struggling with drugs and alcohol, he was admitted to treatment at Bradford Health Services and then spent six months at Any Length Resources Sober Living. There, David experienced God’s hand of restoration in a way that reshaped his life. Once broken and without his family, he now leads them spiritually, reunited with his wife Laura—whom he first married in 1996, divorced in 2010, and by God’s grace remarried in 2018. Together they have three children and are blessed with two grandchildren.Since being ordained at Highlands College after graduating in May of 2020, where he received a degree in Biblical Studies and Pastoral leadership, David has served faithfully wherever God has placed him. For the past six years, he has humbly led as Pastoral Director at Bradford Health Services, the same place where he first went for help. In February 2024, he helped launch The Church of Receiving Hope, a ministry born out of his own story of healing and redemption, where he serves as lead pastor. David also serves as a managing partner and director of Any Length Resources, pouring back into the same community that once carried him. His life today stands as a reminder that when we fully surrender to God, and intently pursue a relationship with Him, He not only restores what was stolen by the enemy, but uses it to bring hope to others.In this podcast, David describes his upbringing in a rather strict religious home where God’s grace and mercy were greatly under-emphasized. He now understands that he had a God-shaped vacuum in his heart (that everyone of us actually has) that he sought to fill with drugs and alcohol. Obviously, nothing other than God can adequately fill that void, and drugs and alcohol certainly didn’t for David. But, by God’s grace, David got help from caring people in various treatment centers. And he then gradually began to have a real encounter with our loving God which resulted in his freedom from addiction and even ultimately restored his marriage and family! David concluded this podcast by offering hope for all of us who seek to fill our empty hearts with anything other than God, which can include food, gambling, pornography, work, acclaim, or whatever.
Henry E., better known as “Hank” Erwin, is widely known as the “storyteller of motivation!”His talent for telling stories that both entertain and result in commitment and action on the part of his listeners is legendary. Hank learned the art of storytelling from his late father, Medal of Honor Recipient Henry “Red” Erwin, who held small crowds spellbound with stories of bravery in World War II. Hank became a committed Christian in college and married his sweetheart Shelia Daniel theday before his graduation. They have now been together for 53 years and have two married sons and seven grandchildren. They reside in Spring Hill, Tennessee. But it was telling stories that guided Hank’s life. He attended Dallas Seminary in Texas tobecome a preacher. But during those days, God opened a door into radio and TV leading him to become an on-air personality. So, instead of becoming a preacher, Hank plunged into media for nearly thirty years as a journalist and talk show host. He soon became a media advocate for pro-life and family values, patriotism, and conservative issues. All that eventually won him awards and notice in Alabama among voters looking for fresh faces in the world of politics.So in 2002, Hank was elected to the Alabama State Senate, serving two terms as a firebrand for conservative family values across the state. He fought to bring gambling to a standstill and helped usher in a whole new Republican government for the people of Alabama.However, strange as it may sound, it was his bedtime stories that really changed history! As a loving father, he told his two sons bedtime stories when they were very young. For example, he used Woodlawn football stories that were so colorful that it ultimately ignited their imaginations to the point that they wanted to become movie makers! So, forty years later the world now knows the famous Erwin Brothers, Andy and Jon, who have gone on to produce and direct ten faith-based motion pictures, all of which that have garnered Dove Awards for outstanding achievements in Christian film! You will undoubtedly recall many of them, including “October Baby,” “Woodlawn,” “I Can Only Imagine,” “Jesus Revolution” and “House of David.”Hank now spends some of his time traveling around the country telling stories in banquets and churches to entertain and motivate people. But, recently Hank also assumed the role of leading a nation-wide movement for revival and spiritual awakening called the Great American Prayer Revival, or GAP26. This effort has the potential to be used by God to bring much-needed healing to America. In this podcast, Hank tells how, when he was in college, God lovingly brought him to faith in Christ and then, through a wide variety of career moves, to where he currently is now leading GAP26, a nation-wide effort to bring much-needed revival and spiritual awakening to America. You will find his call to get involved with this important effort very compelling! For more information, go to GAP-event.org.
Chris Cerci was born in Brockton, Massachusetts. Tragically, at age 3, Chris lost his father due to suicide. When Chris turned 7, his surviving family moved to Florida. Years later he moved with his family to Pittsburgh, PA where he also currently resides. Seeking employment, Chris began working as a firefighter with the McKeesport Fire Department. While he performed well, he nonetheless struggled with PTSD that he attempted to suppress through the use of alcohol and drugs, an addiction that lasted forty years. But, by God’s grace, Chris finally and miraculously overcame his struggle about two years ago. While he is now retired from his firefighting work, Chris currently runs a small tree business that he started almost 10 years ago. But his current overwhelming passion is to get the life-giving message he has learned about God’s amazing power and love out to the many who continue to suffer with hopelessness. In this podcast, Chris shares the painful struggles of his life that prompted him to find temporary escape in his drinking and drugging addiction. Despite repeated times in treatment facilities, Chris would ultimately relapse again into nonstop drinking that would result in total despair and bring much pain to his marriage, his family, and to his own life. But, about two years ago, following a serious motorcycle accident, God did an amazing miracle in Chris’s life that he emotionally shares with us. While he continues to pursue AA meetings, Chris no longer has any desire for alcohol or drugs. Finally, near the end of the podcast, Chris shares a very cute story of how he met my dear wife Marcia at Planet Fitness that ultimately resulted in us doing this podcast.
Whether smuggling Bibles, feeding lepers or working/living amongst a Muslim people group as a Humanitarian Pastor, Mick Veach’s commitment to share the love of God has taken him all over the world.Mick has served as a Global Partners’ Area Director for Central Asia and the Middle East, he has presented the gospel in more than 60 countries, been the Lead Pastor of a large suburban church north of Detroit, planted Mosaic Midtown in Detroit and has been the Lead Pastor of Kentwood Community Church in Kentwood, Michigan for more than 5 years. Their goal is to be “a church OF the nations and FOR the nations.”Mick’s desire is and always has been to see God’s truth compel others to action and to foster healthy local churches that engage in evangelism and discipleship.He and his wife, Melanie, have three adult children and live in West Michigan.In this podcast, Mick describes how he continues to maintain personal holiness, integrity and humility even when, as a pastor, he is often faced with pressure to stumble and fall. He also describes how his congregation has grown into a church that is incredibly diverse but still enjoys amazing unity and love. Finally, Mick tells how, by example and word, he and his team are motivating the people in his congregation to bring non-believers to faith in Christ, and to help those who are already believers to grow into disciples who in turn make disciples.
Michael Carrier is one amazing person! From an educational perspective, after graduating from high school in Michigan, he spent a year at DeVry Technical Institute in Chicago. Then he went to Central Bible College (later named Evangel University) in Missouri, getting his bachelor’s degree in Bible. Because of his excellent grades there, he was then awarded a fellowship in Semitic Languages at New York University in Manhattan, NY. Unfortunately, as he was working on his PhD dissertation there, political turmoil in the early 1970s rocked the campus and prevented him from getting his doctorate. Ultimately, Mike returned to Michigan with his dear wife Evie and began to work for a security company. Within a year he was made general manager of the second largest security company in West Michigan. Then, a few years later, Mike started his own security firm that he ran for about 30 years. He did contract work for the Military, the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency), General Motors, and other large and small corporations, along with thousands of private individuals. It was while Mike was running his security firm that another chapter in his life came alive: He wrote and self-published his first book entitled WIND. We will chat more about this in a minute.But about 15 years ago, Mike developed a heart condition that prompted him to sell his security business. Yet, not liking the boredom of “retirement,” Mike began to write what he calls his “hardboiled thrillers” marketed as “murder mysteries set in the Midwest.” To date he has published 18 of them with his author name Michael Carrier. Yes, Mike is one amazing dude!In this podcast Mike tells how a miraculous event with his radio of all things led him to understand the deep need in our nation for revival. And that, in turn, started him on a faithful routine of fervent prayer one day per week for revival to happen. Then along came self-publishing his book on revival entitled “Wind” followed by 18 fiction books. Truly, Michael Carrier is one unique and wholehearted follower of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Bill Elliff is the founder and National Engage Pastor of The Summit Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. His passion is to see both genuine revival and methodological renewal in the church—both new wine and new wineskins. He is a frequent conference speaker, writer, and consultant to churches drawing from his 50+ years of pastoring and revival ministry. Bill is also the Pastor/Church Director for OneCry, A Nationwide Call for Spiritual Awakening and the author of fifteen books and booklets and numerous articles. He lives to faithfully and effectively communicate the whole counsel of God to as many people as possible through preaching, writing, church development, and personal equipping that they may become intimate, reproducing disciples of Jesus Christ. Bill and his wife Holly are parents to eight children and grandparents to 27. Five of their sons are in fulltime ministry. In this podcast, Bill shares about the incredible joy and blessing we experience when we abide in the manifest presence of God. Sadly, it is all too easy for us Christ-followers to be distracted from pursuing that sweet spot of His presence, thereby causing us to lose the treasure that is freely offered to us by our loving Lord. Bill continues by suggesting what practical steps we can take to help us increasingly rest in God’s wonderful presence. Bill ends our conversation by sharing briefly how the revival and spiritual awakening many of us have been seeking for years is now happening, especially among Gen Z young people throughout America. He encourages us to not miss the growing opportunity for prayer and evangelism that this exciting movement of God provides.
Dean Vander Mey serves as the Executive Director of Set Free Ministries located here in West Michigan but touching lives around the world. Set Free guides individuals through the process of finding freedom from various forms of spiritual and emotional bondage. Not only does Dean oversee his dynamic staff, he also personally meets with individuals in crisis, offering them comfort and direction based on the truths of Scripture. In addition, Dean has a teaching ministry in which he shares the profound wisdom of God revealed through Freedom Ministry.In his personal life, Dean finds joy in his marriage to his beloved wife, Sharie. Together, they are blessed with six daughters, four sons-in-law, and eighteen grandchildren. Before dedicating himself to ministry, Dean successfully ran a business called Action Packaging for 23 years. When he’s not fulfilling his calling, Dean takes pleasure in spending quality time with his family and pursuing outdoor activities. As an enthusiastic sportsman, he cherishes moments spent hunting, fishing, and retreating to “Deer Camp” in the UP of Michigan.In this podcast Dean tells how Set Free Ministries continues to touch thousands of lives both locally and around the world. He says that a vast majority of the people coming into their West Michigan offices are followers of Christ but who are being held captive by lies they have embraced either intentionally or unintentionally. Ultimately, lies enslave, but truth sets us free! And so many of the people who engage in freedom appointments at Set Free do in fact receive a wonderful measure of God’s healing touch. Dean also describes how their Set Free Global division is seeing so many lives come to faith in Christ and growing into dynamic leaders for Christ who are passing His truth onto many more, all for His glory. The stories are truly exciting!Finally, Dean shares how, in our age of growing anxiety and worry, we can find God’s peace and joy as we concentrate on His truth and His promise to be with us and care for us. So we can take those scary steps of faith as we keep our eyes on Him.
Michael P. Farris is a litigator, educator, public advocate, and communicator, and is widely recognized for his successful work on both the national and international stage. He was founding president of both the Home School Legal Defense Association (1983) and Patrick Henry College (2000). Michael served as the President and CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom from 2017 to 2022. He is currently General Counsel to the National Religious Broadcasters. For over 40 years, Michael has practiced constitutional appellate litigation specializing in religious freedom and parental rights. In that capacity, he has argued before many state appellate courts, federal circuit courts of appeal, and even the Supreme Court of the United States! Of particular note is that Mike was CEO of the Alliance Defending Freedom organization while ADF was serving as co-counsel to the Attorney General of Mississippi for the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health which reversed Roe v. Wade! For his work, Michael has received numerous awards and honors, including two honorary doctorates. He is the author of over fifteen books, as well as law review and other scholarly and popular articles. He and his wife, Vickie, have ten children, 31 grandchildren and one great-grandchild (with more to come!)In this podcast, Michael talks about how as an attorney he helped me (Randy Hekman) in 1982 when I as a Juvenile Court Judge faced potential consequences due to my ruling on a case involving a 13 year old girl who sought an abortion. Michael also talks about the incredible blessing of children, a concept that far too few Christian parents fully embrace. Why should we Christians buy into the world’s lie that children are more a burden than a blessing and therefore should be minimized? Finally, Michael shares about a trip to the Soviet Union in 1988 where he met many Christian couples who had very large families. And they explained to Michael that they chose to have many children to show the distressed world around them that, with God and His blessings, we can have genuine hope for the future rather than despair.
Karla VanOtteren is an author, speaker, and prophetic teacher with a calling to equip and activate the body of Christ to know God’s voice, live out healthy prophetic ministry, and seek the Father’s heart for inner healing. She has authored a book “God Conversations: Prophetic Journaling that Ignites Transformation.” Karla is the National Day of Prayer Task Force Coordinator for the State of Michigan, where she is blessed to reside with her amazing husband of 31 years, Jim, and their rescue dog Ellie. Jim and Karla have one remarkable son, Alex, an exceptional musician and powerful man of God, of whom they are extremely proud every single day.\In this podcast, Karla describes her amazing conversion to Christianity in the midst of struggling with alcohol and drug addiction. And how, thereafter, she has been growing in her faith in and love for God. Karla also shares how God has been consistently and increasingly speaking to her by the Holy Spirit through various visions and words in her heart. But she cautions that what we sense God is saying to us must never be allowed to contradict the written Word of God, the Bible. Karla also describes how it was that she became connected to the National Day of Prayer and the importance of prayer for our region, state, nation and world. We see revival and spiritual awakening happening! May we continue to pray toward that end!
Mark Blocher is the co-founder and CEO of Christian Healthcare Centers, Inc., a Grand Rapids, MI-based non-profit organization providing primary and specialist medical services in Michigan. His educational background includes undergraduate and advanced degrees from Cornerstone University, Western Michigan University, Dallas Theological Seminary and Kennedy-Western University. Mark has personally taught at many colleges and universities in Michigan and has founded and run a number of non-profits concerned with pro-life and health related matters. Mark has authored a number of articles and books and is well known nation-wide as a speaker on issues dealing with life, health and bioethics.Mark and his dear wife Julie are parents of 4 grown children, and they are the proud grandparents of now 6 grandkids!In this podcast, Mark talks about one of the areas we American Christians have largely bought into the lies of our culture. And that is the area of children: being open to having a large family should God so lead. Our American culture says we should minimize child-bearing. But more and more books and studies are showing we face a very bleak future as a nation and a world due to insufficient numbers of children being born. Yes, it takes a lot of work and a lot of resources to raise even one child. But Scripture makes it abundantly clear that each precious child is created by God and in His image, and has the potential of impacting our world for good and then living forever in His eternal kingdom! And God has promised to meet all our needs as we put Him and His Kingdom first. So why not have a “quiver full” of kids (Psalm 127)?Bottom line, we American Christians need to repent of our lack of having God be the Lord of this area of our lives. For more information, check out our book: Sweeter by the Dozen: Making Jesus the Lord of Our Family Size.
WILLIAM J. FEDERER is a nationally known speaker, best-selling author, and president of Amerisearch, Inc., a publishing company dedicated to researching America's noble heritage. Bill's AMERICAN MINUTE radio feature is broadcasted daily across America and on the Internet. His Faith in History television airs on the TCT Network on stations across America and via DirectTV. He is the author of many books, has appeared on numerous television and radio network programs, has spoken in scores of places around the globe and has received numerous awards from various organizations for his great work.On a personal note, William was the fifth of eleven children, growing up in St, Louis, Missouri. He is a graduate of St. Louis University High School, and ultimately obtained a degree in Business from St. Louis University in 1980. He is married to his sweet wife Susie. Prior to his current work in ministry, William worked in real estate, oil & gas, and other religious organizations. You can learn more by going to his website AmericanMinute.com.In this podcast, William tells how most of the world’s history is about nations being ruled by a king or dictator who, to maintain order, assumes virtually all authority, thus depriving citizens of almost all of their freedom. One exception was the nation of Israel before King Saul was anointed. At that time, Jewish men and women, knowing they were created and loved by God and were accountable to Him, were able to enjoy relative freedom as long as they sought to follow God in obedience. William also points out how America’s history shows a similar background that was memorialized in our founding documents and which place ultimate authority in the hands of “we the people.” Contrary to what our modern “woke” culture suggests, America’s founding, while not perfect, was based on solid Biblical truth about the value of each human being created in God’s image. He points out that this continues to work until we citizens lose track of our accountability to God and start causing hurt to each other. Then government needs to step in to restore order.William also talks about the essential difference between angels and humans. That we are superior to angels in many respects because we are created in the image of God and have the capacity to choose to love Him, which our loving Heavenly Father is seeking.
Pastor Arthur Guice received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior in 1980, while attending Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, IL. It was during this season in his life that Arthur sensed a call to ministry. As a result, he changed his major from Business Administration to Theology. On March 23, 2003, Arthur was installed as the Senior Pastor of Spirit of Liberty Church of God, Markham, IL. A few years after serving as Senior Pastor, Arthur faced personal tragedy as his lovely and devoted wife of nine years went home to be with the Lord after a very courageous and lengthy battle with cancer. By the grace of God, Pastor Guice continued to serve as the Senior Pastor of Spirit of Liberty of God in Markham, IL until retiring in February 2023. Arthur also serves as the Great Lakes Regional Prayer coordinator for the Church of God, Cleveland Tennessee, and was ordained as a Bishop through the same ecclesiastical hierarchy. He is the founder and President of Full of Glory Ministries, Inc., a teaching ministry committed to developing fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ as well as the Illinois State Coordinator for Cry Out America. Art is a man who is deeply committed to fulfilling the “Great Commission” of our Lord Jesus Christ by making disciples of all nations. He has an anointing to teach and preach the Word of God with simplicity and with accuracy. He is a much sought-after speaker for conferences, seminars and workshops throughout the Chicago area and the nation.In this podcast, Pastor Art shares how he believes Black History Month (February) is actually helpful for people of color to help them see more clearly that some of the things they have been taught about their identity by a less than godly culture are simply not true. And that, with God and the truth of His Word, they can become all that He wants them to be. Art also emphasized the importance of the Church in America to have the true spiritual unity that Jesus prayed about in John 17:20-23, and that, unless we move quickly toward genuine unity, God’s judgment is close at hand.
David Blok helped found and is now the Executive Director of a ministry called Plant 616. His ministry journey has been driven by 3 burdens: a love for the city, a passion for church planting, and a fascination with movements. This has led him through 20 years of urban ministry experience, pastoring and church planting in an urban neighborhood in greater Grand Rapids. David received his Master of Divinity degree in 2010 from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary with an emphasis on Church planting. He is a certified dean of the Evangel School of Urban Church Planting, a Send Network church planter trainer, and a church planting coach. David has been married to his lovely wife, Amanda, for almost 16 years. Together they have embarked on a journey of neighborhood ministry, foster care and adoption. As a result, they are the proud parents of Anthony, Melvin, and Elliana. Through his work with Plant 616, David is excited to connect with and encourage mission minded leaders in the 616 area code, equip the next wave of missional adventurers, and catalyze a movement of missionary disciples in every crack and crevice of the 616 area code.In this podcast, David talks about how Plant 616 was formed and how it increasingly is bringing together a wide variety of genuine Christ-followers in greater Grand Rapids to do all they can to “make Jesus famous on every block” in our area. David is so excited to see how God is calling so many diverse people to work together toward this goal, including younger Gen Z believers along with older saints. Truly, we are seeing revival and spiritual awakening springing up all for His glory and our joy!
Allen Heneveld has an amazing background! He now is a practicing attorney in the greater Grand Rapids area, focusing on helping small businesses thrive. But he also has prior experience as a CPA accredited accountant. Allen has an undergrad degree from Hope College, an MBA degree from Duke University, and a Juris Doctor (law) degree from George Washington University Law School. Allen is married to his dear wife Nina, and together they have four wonderful children.Beyond that, Allen states on his law firm website that he is a very blessed man. Why? He says it’s because he has a deep relationship with the Father, with Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. And that his desire is that all of his life would flow out of that relationship – just like Jesus.In this podcast, Allen shares a wealth of godly wisdom for us. He begins by relating how he personally went from being a lukewarm Christ follower to being wholehearted in his pursuit of Jesus and His way of living. As a result, Allen followed the leading of the Holy Spirit to preach at a number of churches in various places of America, encouraging those in attendance to similarly give all to Christ. Many responded positively to his exhortation. In recent months, Allen has been working on a book that is much needed in our world: it’s about our need to forgive, to rid ourselves of ALL bitterness. Allen has personally helped many folks process the lack of forgiveness in their lives resulting in their having much greater peace, joy and love. Even our secular world is seeing a correlation between bitterness and cancer! Bitterness is truly a cancer of the soul and, apparently, the body as well!Finally, Allen shares how we can best do what Jesus commanded in Matthew 6:19-21, where Jesus tells us to lay up treasures in heaven, not on earth. We need to do it for Him, in love, and for His name’s sake. The result is possessing eternal blessings!
Nadia Gordinsky is a native from Ukraine. She founded and now runs Save A Life international, a life-saving organization that helps women in crisis pregnancies, and also those who have survived sexual abuse or domestic violence. In the past 10 years, Nadia has shared with many groups in the U.S., Ukraine and Europe her personal story of loss, overcoming obstacles, and fully thriving in her new country of America. She has also summarized her life story and heart in a book she recently released entitled: ”Little Feet, Big Hurt: One hour that changed my life.” Women in crisis situations can count on Nadia to assist them because of her passionate heart to promote the sanctity of life, women’s dignity, and love itself.In this podcast, Nadia shares her faith story as a teenager in Ukraine and how a very painful experience in her life led her, step-by-step, to launch the ministry of Save A Life International. You will be amazed at how God has blessed this growing work to touch thousands of lives in Ukraine and many more nations in our world as it draws women to the love and grace of God. With the result that many unborn children are being born instead of being aborted, and many of their mothers coming to saving faith in Jesus.
Rev. Tim Vink lives in Zeeland, Michigan and is a Disciple Making Movement Catalyst. He has been married to Dana for 37 years and together they have three adult daughters, two sons-in-law and now seven grandchildren. Tim has served churches in southern and central California, Iowa and Michigan. He has been part of starting hundreds of new churches with thousands of new believers grounded in Christ. He has also been engaged in healing and deliverance ministry for over 38 years.In this podcast, Tim describes his passion for making disciples who, in turn, make other disciples, with the result that the church grows via multiplication rather than merely by addition. Tim longs to see the attendees of American churches doing more than just attending church and expecting the church staff to do the job of sharing the Gospel. He has seen the huge difference that results when every church member does his or her part to spread the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ by making disciples in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is truly the heart of revival and spiritual awakening!
Jonah Engle is a graduate of Spring Arbor University, and he now makes his home in the Grand Rapids area. About six years ago, God began to move deeply on Jonah’s heart and he became, in his own words, “passionately in love with Jesus.” This passion grew to the point where he knew he had to share this good news of Jesus with others. So together with some close friends who likewise loved Jesus, they formed the EveryHeart movement. It started with just Jonah and his best friends traveling the country to share Jesus with people in America during the summer and also organizing a worship night at 9pm on Mondays during the school year. This past summer, over 100 young people went out on tour across the US sharing the Gospel and saw over 600 folks come to new faith in Jesus! In the past 3 years, well over 1000 have received Jesus. Jonah is married to his amazing wife Haley and he says that he continues to fall more in love with her and with Jesus daily. He desires nothing more than to go forth making disciples of all nations and proclaiming the Gospel to all creation.In this very encouraging podcast, Jonah Engle tells how, a number of years ago while a college student, he and a small group of friends decided to say “yes” to anything Jesus was leading them to do. It resulted in them giving up their summer plans and their career goals in favor of traveling the nation and sharing the love of Jesus with as many people as possible. The result has been an incredible, growing movement of God--both locally, and across the nation--as Gen Z young people from here and from other areas as well have been moved by God in similar ways! And this powerful movement continues to grow and spread! Near the end of the podcast, Jonah also shares a personal answer to prayer as well. Dear friends, much needed revival and spiritual awakening is here now and it’s growing!
Karl House grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He graduated with a Master of Divinity from Calvin Theological Seminary. Karl has planted a Christian Reformed Church near Toronto and a Vineyard Church in Tampa. He is back in Grand Rapids planting The Way MicroChurches—A new family of simple churches in Grand Rapids and beyond. Karl's passion is to pour into a new generation of disciples, leaders and MicroChurches. In the various places where Karl has lived, one of the many things he has done has been to encourage pastors in that geographical area to unite on a regular basis in prayer.In this podcast, Karl describes our upcoming one day prayer gathering for pastors, leaders and intercessors to be held at Venue3Two in Kentwood, MI on October 23, 2024. In Karl’s previous ministries, he saw how God can use these sorts of gatherings to build on-going prayer among otherwise diverse Christian groups with the result that the area becomes much more saturated with God’s manifest presence and more people are impacted with the Gospel of Christ. And that makes so much sense in light of Christ’s prayer in John 17:20-23 where He prayed for us to have unity that, He said, will result in much greater blessing.
Rick Warzywak is the founder and director of Transformation MI, whose mission it is to connect Michigan’s 83 counties in day and night prayer. As one way of accomplishing this goal, Rick hosts a nightly prayer call that began on November 4, 2020 and continues to the present time bringing literally hundreds together nightly at 9PM EST. Believe it or not, this call has been going on for over 1420 nights in a row! Rick also hosts prayer at the MI State capitol the Last Thursday of each month at 10AM in Room 426, as he and those in attendance pray for those in authority consistent with I Timothy 2.In the past, Rick was also an open-air preacher on various university campuses for more than 20 years, debating and contending with atheists, agnostics, liberal professors, witches, occultists, Muslims, and other young people whose faith had been shipwrecked. Rick believes a "Great Awakening" is underway in our nation and we are in a season of time where God is now preparing the way. His website is TransformMI.com.In this podcast, Rick talks about how he got involved in open air preaching at Michigan’s universities, a ministry that he did for over 20 years and the lives God impacted as a result. Rick also talks about a major stroke he recently had that could easily have ended his ministry and even his life altogether. But God used that stroke to tell Rick he needed to forgive many people who had offended him in his past. When he forgave, God wonderfully healed him! His healing allowed Rick to continue sharing his faith in various ways, including through the publication of an 80 page booklet entitled, “The Bible IS True.” Rick is now joyfully giving copies of this book away for anyone who asks for one. His heart’s desire is that all of us Christ-followers courageously and lovingly share our faith, using his book, our testimonies, and whatever else to draw people to Jesus so that the Spiritual Awakening we have been praying for grows very large. Bottom line as you will see from this podcast, Rick remains on fire for Jesus!
Geoff Eckart lives in Grand Rapids, MI with his wife, Arianna. Together they have 3 daughters. He is the Lead Pastor at Daybreak Church in Hudsonville, MI, and the Founder & CEO of “Never The Same,” a national youth ministry. Geoff is also the Chairman of the Board for the National Day of Prayer Task Force. In this podcast, Geoff talks about how he is God is helping him to juggle his various job responsibilities, keeping a top priority on his walk with Jesus and his family. Geoff has led a ministry for young people for a number of years called “Never The Same.” Geoff tells about the major impact this ministry made even this past summer in the lives of thousands of high school age young people. In fact, he strongly senses that there is a real movement of God, especially among high school and college aged folks in our day. This, he says, is part of a real revival that is happening in our land which may well have begun with the events over a year ago at places like Asbury University. Geoff also talks about the amazing power of prayer that we American Christ-followers often neglect to take full advantage of. His church is putting increasing emphasis on prayer and, already, they are seeing a very positive impact.Finally, Geoff mentions an upcoming movie premier that he has helped produce about his prayer walk a few years ago across much of America. The movie is called The Justice Trail and will be premiered on September 4, 2024 here in Grand Rapids.
Jason and Jennifer Rykse were High School sweethearts. They have been married for 22 years. Together they have 11 children, 7 boys and 4 girls. For many years they were neighbors with Randy and Marcia Hekman. Marcia shared the gospel with Jen who received Jesus in the front yard of their home and was freed from a crippling anxiety. She was led to the knowledge that Jesus loves her children more than she does. This was a turning point for their family and for their relationship with Jesus. Together with Randy and Marcia they met in a house church for several years watching many come to a relationship with the Father. This led to a deepening in their walk with the Lord and valuing the power of scripture. Jason and Jen continue to value this closeness with the Father and sharing this with others. They have opened a Youth Center in Howard City, to which they share the love of Jesus with teens in this area. This is part of the ministry City Impact led by dear friends Jonathan and Kelley Bergsma. They have a heart to raise their children (the best kids ever) to walk in step with Jesus and for teens to do the same. They believe God is on the move and enjoy being vessels used by Him. They value the power in a relationship with Jesus and teaching others the power of this closeness with Jesus, our King, Savior and Redeemer.In this podcast, Jason and Jen tell of the amazing day many years ago when Jen’s emotional and physical pain she was experiencing ultimately led to her coming to faith in Christ. And that, in turn, greatly influenced Jason’s walk with the Lord and, ultimately, has impacted their family and has touched hundreds of other lives as well! Also in this podcast, Marcia shares how, while a Freshman in college, she came into a life-changing relationship with Jesus and how others can do the same.
Clare DeGraaf is truly an amazing person! He is a native of Grand Rapids, MI where he still makes his home. Clare has been married to his high school sweetheart Susan for over 50 years, and they are parents to six children and grandparents to 20 amazing grandkids. Clare is a graduate of Calvin College, and, early in his career, one of Clare’s top priorities was to have a successful business and make a lot of money, which he did! But a life-threatening encounter with cancer at that point got his rapt attention and ultimately led him to discover a real, life-saving relationship with Jesus Christ. In his own words, Clare said, “I fell in love with Jesus and fell out of love with my “mistress” – my business.” A few years later, he felt the call of God to sell his business and devote full time to serving the Kingdom of God.Since making that decision, Clare has been involved in many ministries, touching literally millions of lives around the world. At his core, Clare has a heart for evangelizing and discipling men, leading them to following Jesus, as Clare does, wholeheartedly.He is the author of a best-selling book, “The 10 Second Rule.”So much more I could say, but to learn more, I encourage you to go to his website, ClareDegraaf.com. In this podcast, Clare describes how a severe cancer diagnosis at age 30 motivated him to seek a genuine faith in Jesus that was truly life-changing and resulted in great joy. Not only did God miraculously heal him of his cancer, but a few years after surrendering His life to Christ, Clare felt led to sell his very successful and profitable business and devote his life to full-time serving the Kingdom of God. That included starting a ministry providing special Bibles to deaf people in the world who, because the vast majority of them are illiterate, would otherwise not have a Bible they could read and comprehend.
Pastor Thomas Wilson, with the support of his wife Pastor Adriane, established Word of Faith-Grand Rapids on December 8, 1996. It is Pastor Tom’s heartfelt passion to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ by “Teaching the Word, Doing the Work, and Touching the World” one life at a time. Pastors Tom and Adriane are both graduates from the Pistis Bible School under the auspices of Bishop Keith A. Butler who heads Word of Faith International Christian Center in Southfield, MI. Both Tom and Adriane were ordained in 1994. They have two adult children and one awesome grandchild!In this podcast, Tom and Randy discuss the challenging issue of racism and how both of them have grown to better understand this issue from a Biblical perspective. Specifically, Tom shares how God has shown him how Satan desires to use this issue to bring division to the church in America. But Tom goes on to show how, by the power of God’s Spirit, we Christians can defeat our archenemy’s strategies and usher in the beautiful unity that will impact our world in a most powerful way.
Andrew Brunson and his wife Norine were involved in starting churches, training, giving aid to refugees, and holding a house of prayer in Turkey for 23 years. But that came to an abrupt end in October of 2016 when Andrew was falsely accused of terrorism and arrested. This resulted in him being held without trial for two whole years in various Turkish prisons. However, due to a worldwide prayer movement and significant political pressure from the US government, Andrew was finally sentenced and then dramatically and wonderfully released in October 2018. Andrew and Norine’s current ministry, WaveStarters, is focused on the Muslim world, the persecuted church, and in helping to prepare believers everywhere to stand strong for Jesus in difficult times. He and Norine have three children and now live in the Washington, DC area.In this second podcast with Andrew, we talk about where the American Church is heading in our day. Andrew believes we will be facing increasing persecution and opposition in our culture. Certainly we can see that happening as Biblical Christians are increasingly marginalized and viewed as being “Christian Nationalists,” bigots, homophobes and haters. Andrew believes this may result in fewer real believers in our nation; but it will also serve to strengthen the faith and resolve of those believers who remain. Is revival coming that will expand the church? Andrew is not sure, but he believes the numbers of believers could grow along with increasing persecution and opposition by culture. God does desire “all men to come to saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.” (I Timothy 2:4). Will there be a huge revival before Christ’s second coming? We pray so!
Jared Blauwkamp is the young adult's pastor at Resurrection Life Church here in West Michigan. He has a degree in Exercise Science from Grand Valley State University and will be graduating this December with a bachelor's degree in ministry from the International School of Ministry. Jared has a deep hunger and desire to know Jesus and make Him known, to fight for a deep relationship with the Holy Spirit, and to restore the identity of the Father in the next generation.In this podcast, Jared describes how he came to faith as a young child of age 4. But how, after a season of sinfulness, at age 10 he had an encounter with the living God that launched him into an intimacy with Christ that continues to the present day. Jared also shared how his parents provided an incredibly godly example that, along with their prayers, has resulted in Jared and his 4 brothers all serving the Lord wholeheartedly.Finally, and most importantly, Jared lays out what it will take for America to experience a true revival and spiritual awakening. He says we need two things: (1) Character Change: for us Christ-followers to be genuinely loving and serving the Lord with all our hearts. But we also need to see (2) God’s Power on Display: in the form of lives being miraculously transformed and other miracles like healings and the like that point people to Him. The latter will certainly garner the attention of the crowds. But the ultimate goal is not to be fixated on the miracles as much drawing our hearts to loving God with all that we are. Jared concludes by saying, with joy, that what he is observing here in West Michigan and beyond leads him to believe that revival is genuinely coming closer to us every day. Amen!
Vernon Spears was born in Louisiana, but his family moved to the Kalamazoo, Michigan area when he was four years old. There they attended the Second Baptist Church until, when Vernon was in 9th grade, they switched to a First Assembly of God church. Two years later, his family moved to Wyoming, MI, which is a suburb of Grand Rapids. After relocating to Wyoming, Vernon’s family attended The First Assembly of God Church in that town. After graduating from Wyoming Park High School in 1990, Vernon went on to Michigan State University, graduating from there in1994 with a degree in Psychology.Since 1996, Vernon has been making a positive difference in people’s lives by working as a Probation Officer for the 61st District Court.Vernon is married to his dear wife Angie, and together they have 2 daughters, ages 18 and 21. He and his family began to attend Calvary Church in the year 2000.For “fun,” Vernon loves to exercise. In fact, he has successfully run 4 marathons and 20 River Bank Runs! He also enjoys memorizing Scripture, which he finds useful when running. On a part-time basis, Vernon coaches a middle school girls’ basketball team. Finally, he also enjoys acting, and has actually been part of two commercials and even had a small speaking role in a movie a few years ago.In this podcast, Vernon shares about his role as a Probation Officer for the 61st District Court here in Grand Rapids. He talks how he does his best to help those he is working with to make better life choices in the future. We also chatted about the “defund the police” movement that is growing in America. We agree that this trend only tends to increase crime rates because all we humans are born as self-seeking sinners who need the “certainty of punishment” to deter us from crime. We also discussed the contrast between two newer trends in American culture today: (1) The gender identity movement, which emphasizes how gender is fluid; and (2) The racial issue, which insists that people of different races can never truly be united. REALITY: God created two genders, male and female that is decided at our birth. Having said that, we do need to love all people, even those who struggle with this reality. And, regarding the race issue, the reality is that we are all members of the human race regardless of the color of our skin. And those who have accepted Christ as Savior and Lord have been lovingly adopted into God’s family, which makes us all forever brothers and sisters of each other. Bottom line: truth sets us free, while lies enslave us.
Andrew Brunson and his wife Norine were involved in starting churches, training, giving aid to refugees, and holding a house of prayer in Turkey for 23 years. But that came to an abrupt end in October of 2016 when Andrew was falsely accused of terrorism and arrested. This resulted in him being held without trial for two whole years in various Turkish prisons. However, due to a worldwide prayer movement and significant political pressure from the US government, Andrew was finally sentenced and then dramatically and wonderfully released in October 2018. Andrew and Norine’s current ministry, WaveStarters, is focused on the Muslim world, the persecuted church, and in helping to prepare believers everywhere to stand strong for Jesus in difficult times. He and Norine have three children and now live in the Washington, DC area.In this podcast, Andrew talks about his experience in Turkish prisons for those two long years. He describes how disillusioned he became in prison, not knowing when, if ever, he would get out, and the physical, emotional and spiritual pain he was required to endure. In a real sense, he is still processing his past experiences with the Lord on a regular basis. He believes we need to love God and be faithful even when we can’t see God’s love and faithfulness. And that requires God’s Spirit to empower us as we daily die to self. I encourage Christ-followers to pray for Andrew and his dear wife Norine. For them to experience God’s wonderful healing and comfort as they continue to courageously and faithfully spread the Gospel around our needy world.
Judith E. King was raised in Canada, but is now a Christian therapist in Grand Rapids, MI. Her interests include women’s issues, substance abuse, and caring for professionals in ministry. She has traveled extensively in her ministry of teaching, counseling and music, as she applies sound psychological principles, spiritual concepts, and a very biblical worldview. Presently, Judy works in her own private practice called “Sonlife Associates” which was founded by her and her late husband Dr. Stephen King, a medical doctor psychiatrist. She is the author of three books and numerous journal articles about her research and interventions. Judy is the mother of two children and she has seven precious grandkids. In this podcast, Judy describes God’s calling on her life that actually began when she was only four years of age. It grew further as she came to full faith in Jesus when she was eleven years old, at a Billy Graham Crusade in Toronto. Years later, after marriage to her husband Stephen, they together ministered to many people around the world. One of their primary interests was for those in ministry who were in need of spiritual, emotional, and even physical help. Judy describes the phenomenal move of God’s Spirit in Western Canada during the season we now call “The Jesus Revolution” in the 1970s. During this time they also witnessed a number of amazing miracles, two of which Judy recounts in this podcast. Finally, Judy shares what she senses American Christians need to be doing in our day for revival to happen again.
Sydney Faber has worked as a pastoral administrator and writer at ResLife Church in Grandville, MI for the past five years. After graduating from Grand Valley State University with a degree in Literature and Writing, she joined the Missions Department at ResLife and enjoys working with over 70 missionaries from around the world. Recently, she has had the honor of witnessing a massive move of God in the brick kilns and slums of Pakistan.In this podcast, Sydney relates her amazing ministry in Pakistan as she and her team courageously and wholeheartedly followed the leading of the Holy Spirit in that largely Muslim nation. She describes how their team has helped many Pakistanis who have literally been enslaved to now begin to experience real freedom. Freedom from their human captors and, more importantly, also freedom from the burden of their sin as they have embraced Christ. I guarantee you will be blown away as you hear how the power of God has drawn thousands—including a number of former witch doctors—to genuine faith in Jesus!
Jadon Fowler is now a teacher and film director from Grand Rapids Michigan. After spending eight years in Mortgage Finance and Real Estate area, Jadon decided to pursue his life passion of film making. He then started and now owns a film academy for kids called the Children’s Theater Company. Jadon previously attended Word of Life Bible Institute where his passion for God was really strengthened. He is also the proud father of two sons.In this podcast, Jadon tells the story of his life that includes a very dark time about seven years ago when he came very close to ending it all. He overdosed drugs and alcohol that resulted in him being in a coma that appeared to be fatal.BUT GOD! God answered the fervent prayers of his loved ones and many others and He literally brought Jadon back from what the medical community was sure would be certain death. In fact, after only a few months of therapy, Jadon came back to being virtually normal! He now loves leading, teaching and encouraging many young people in the area of theater and film. For more about his current work, go to https://fusionfilmacademy.org/
Aaron Bolduc is currently an evangelist with Ambassadors for Christ International (AFCI). Previously, Aaron served as a pastor in West Michigan for nearly 15 years. He has also served with Dare2Share, a national youth evangelism ministry. Aaron’s current ministry of Ambassadors for Christ International has a vision of bringing revival in the church, evangelism through the church, and training for the church. Through his ministry, Aaron works with local churches by providing evangelism training, pulpit supply, and the coaching of pastors. Aaron also serves as a conference speaker.Aaron is married to Emily and, together, they have four children and now make their home in Hudsonville Michigan.In this podcast, Aaron shares about the importance of evangelism for all true Christ-followers. While we don’t all have the spiritual gifting of evangelists, we are all called to be salt and light and share the Word to those who don’t yet know the Lord. Remember how Jesus, just before His ascension, said to ALL the disciples “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witness in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)Aaron also shares briefly how he came to faith in Christ and how God called him as an evangelist. He also helps us understand the seeming paradox in evangelism: is it God’s role or man’s role to lead someone to faith in Christ? Answer: both have a role to play! The burden is on God, but He uses us to do His work for His glory. And prayer is so critical in all this.Finally, Aaron talks about his ministry, Ambassadors in Christ International, in which he helps encourage and train pastors to equip their members so they can better share their faith with others.
Byron Paulus is the Founder of OneCry, a nationwide call for revival and spiritual awakening. For over three decades, Byron served as President and CEO of Life Action Ministries. As an author, speaker, and proven leader, he is passionate about mobilizing God’s people to seek Him for another revival and spiritual awakening. Byron is married to Sue, and they have three married children, and 13 grandchildren. They live in Niles, MI.In this podcast, Byron shares why, after close to 50 years in revival ministry, he is now actually growing in his belief that our merciful God will soon bring another revival and spiritual awakening to our nation such as He has done in the past. What has been especially encouraging to Byron has been the growing numbers of Gen Z followers of Christ, like those who began a year ago at Asbury University, and who are passionate about Jesus and so excited about sharing the Gospel with others. Byron also shares how cultural change comes as a result of revival in the church, not the other way around. The next step for healing in America must come from us in the Church as we unite, pray, repent of our sin, and wholeheartedly follow our wonderful Lord and Savior in the power of the Spirit.
Greg Dempster is the director of ChristLife ministries. He's married, has two boys, and has served in full-time pastoral ministry for the past 23 years. He's been a senior leader, elder, ministry director, and has played an instrumental role in developing the ChristLife experience and vision.In this podcast, Greg begins by sharing the amazing story of his own conversion to Christ as a teenager. While raised in a solidly Christian home in California, as a young teen, Greg began to wander from God. Eventually, he was pursuing a very sinful lifestyle that included immorality, psychedelic drugs and the like.But, in His incredible love and grace, God miraculously answered the fervent prayers of Greg’s parents even while Greg was “tripping out” on his drugs at a California beach. That turned out to be the significant turning point in his life!Gradually, as he grew in his faith, Greg began to move toward fulltime Christian ministry. He now oversees Christlife Ministries (ChristLifeUSA.org) which ministers primarily to pastors and ministry leaders in many places around our nation and elsewhere. Folks might wonder why Christian leaders need help, but the fact is that ALL of us come with a degree of brokenness. And when pastors and ministry leaders get God’s healing for their wounds, there can be such a positive ripple impact not only in their own families, but also to the many they serve in their ministries. Christlife Ministries continues daily to touch scores of lives, all for the glory of God!
Dr. William "Bill" Brownson Jr., was a long-time voice of the West Michigan-based radio ministry "Words of Hope" and was a former seminary professor. While he passed away at the age of 93 in 2022, I was able to get to know Bill and greatly appreciated his love of the Lord and his desire for revival and spiritual awakening.A little more about Bill Brownson: following his own seminary training, Bill served in two church pastorates. He moved to Holland, MI in 1964 to become a professor of preaching at Western Theological Seminary. He also took his pastoral approach to his role at the Words of Hope ministry, which he joined in the early 1970s.In his years at Words of Hope, Bill anchored hundreds of weekly radio broadcasts and also wrote devotionals for the ministry's printed outreach before retiring in 1994. Bill also authored many books, perhaps the best known was his book "Billy and Dave," a memoir written with his wife Helen about their life journey with their sons Billy and David, who sadly died in 1977 and 2003 respectively.Bill was a familiar and beloved figure, especially in Reformed Church circles. He served as president of the denomination's General Synod in 1984. In this podcast, Bill describes how he came to faith in Christ at the age of 16, and how that decision began to profoundly impact his life. Over time, Bill became a powerful proponent of prayer. He describes how important prayer should be to all of us Christ-followers as we cry out for God to impact not only our lives, but also the lives of our family, our community, our nation and our world.
Jay Jones is a church planter, speaker, author, and senior pastor of the Pentecostals of Kentwood Church in West Michigan. His training included studying at the Christian Leaders Institute, and he has instructed at the Purpose Institute. Jay is a passionate worshipper of Jesus Christ, a husband, and a father. He has a genuine heart for fervent prayer, for selfless service, and for seeing the Gospel of Jesus Christ spread throughout his community, state and nation for the glory of God.In this podcast, Jay recounts a trip last fall to Africa where he contracted typhoid fever which was so overwhelmingly serious that he was quite sure it would be terminal. But calling his wife Angela from Africa, she reminded him of dream that brought him great hope. He very soon recovered his strength and health! Jay also talks about a balanced biblical view of miraculous healing. He has personally seen amazing cases of people healed instantly by God. But he has also seen situations where people are not healed. And it is not a matter of a lack of faith. God is totally sovereign and does what is the ultimate best for those He dearly loves. Finally, Jay briefly shares his hope and belief that God is truly bringing revival and spiritual awakening to our region, state and nation.
Hany Ammanoeiel leads a ministry focusing on discipleship and leadership training events in Egypt and Spain. He and his wife Natalie now reside in the U.S. with their two children. He has a college degree in business. His passion is for the global church to receive God’s heart for the millions of the sons of Ishmael scattered around the world so they will be drawn to Jesus.In this podcast, Hany tells how God has given him a heart for all people, regardless of their background, to come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. That includes many of the “children of Ishmael” in the Mideast and northern Africa. Hany shares how the numbers of people coming to faith in Christ is accelerating around the world in what could become a great spiritual awakening prior to Christ’s second coming. It’s time for all Christ-followers to be bright lights in an increasingly dark world.
Jason Botbyl currently serves as the Minister and Director of Men’s and Marriage Ministries at Calvary Church of Grand Rapids, MI. Jason was raised in Muskegon, Michigan, growing up in a single-parent home where he regularly witnessed physical abuse, alcoholism, and brokenness. By God’s grace and the loving input of a Christian neighbor, Jason came to know Jesus as a young adult. A few years later, while attending his mother’s graduation ceremony at a rehab program, Jason sensed the call of God on his life to preach the Gospel. So, in obedience, he moved to Grand Rapids in 2001 and began to pursue this call. Since moving to Grand Rapids, Jason has led men’s and marriage small groups and retreats. He has preached at men’s conferences, churches, high schools, jails, and juvenile detention centers. Prior to coming to Calvary Church, Jason served for a number of years as the Lead Chaplain at the Kent County Correctional Facility in Grand Rapids. Jason has a Masters Degree in Ministry Leadership from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. He is married to his wife Julie, and together they have three children and three grandchildren. Jason has a heart to preach the Gospel and minister to those who are lost and broken. He longs for people to know Christ personally and continue to grow more deeply in love with Him.In this podcast, Jason describes his challenging background that, humanly speaking, would likely have resulted in Jason now being in prison or worse. But God had better plans for him! As a result, Jason is now positively impacting the lives of many people as he leads them to a life-giving relationship with Jesus who alone has the power to heal and restore. Jason particularly calls fathers to resist the temptation to desert their families, but rather for them to show up and lovingly provide the example and training each child needs.
Mark Blocher is the co-founder and CEO of Christian Healthcare Centers, Inc., a Grand Rapids, MI-based non-profit organization providing primary and specialist medical services in Michigan. His educational background includes undergraduate and advanced degrees from Cornerstone University, Dallas Theological Seminary and Kennedy-Western University. Mark has personally taught at many colleges and universities in Michigan and has founded and run a number of non-profits concerned with pro-life and health related matters. Mark has authored a number of articles and books and is well known nation-wide as a speaker on issues dealing with life, health and bioethics.Mark and his dear wife Julie are parents of 4 grown children, and they are the proud grandparents of now 6 grandkids!In this podcast, Mark recounts how the Church has a lengthy history in faithfully following the example of Christ who went everywhere healing people, but also how the modern church has largely lost track of this calling. And that is one of the primary reasons that Mark sensed the leading of God along with a small group of fellow believers to start Christian Healthcare Centers (CHC). Mark also shares how God has greatly blessed this ministry since its humble beginnings, touching the lives of many people locally and beyond. After sharing about CHC, Mark expands the topic by talking more generally about the state of our world today and how we Christians need to understand the spiritual nature of our battles rather than assuming it is merely about politics. It is time for Christians to get prepared for battle with our invisible adversaries, and to speak the truth to our culture, courageously and with love.
Randy and Marcia Hekman have been married for 54 years, but only have 12 children (and 37 grandkids) to show for it! They now lead The Grand Awakening, a nonprofit, with the goal of calling the Church of West Michigan to revival, with the hopes and belief that this will truly lead to another Great Spiritual Awakening.After graduation from MIT and GWU Law School, Randy served as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney and then was a Probate-Juvenile Court Judge for 15 years before leaving the bench to serve various roles in the Christian nonprofit world. Prior to the birth of their firstborn, Marcia taught at Thomas Jefferson High School in Northern Virginia. Since then, she has continued to be an amazing wife and an awesome fulltime mother of their growing family. She is also a gifted artist and an incredible evangelist, daily sharing the Gospel with many who don’t yet know Jesus.In this podcast, Randy and Marcia share about what has kept them close as a couple for their entire marriage, particularly the amazing role that Marcia has played in keeping them best friends. Marcia gives all the credit to Jesus who has consistently empowered her to both trust and love Randy who is still very much “in process.”
Matt Guy is a graduate of Grandville High School and Grand Valley State University. He worked briefly for the Walker and Grandville police departments before he was hired as a Kent County deputy in 1987, where he served with distinction until a life-changing event occurred that set him on a very negative path, ultimately resulting in a prison sentence. But it was in prison that Matt’s life began to change. Upon his release, God began to do some wonderful things in his life that he shares with us about on this podcast. Matt and his wife Tanya have 2 children, and he continues to trust God to use him daily to touch the lives of other men who are struggling with addictions and sin. The program he works with is called The Avenue. If you want help, you can email him at avenuegr@att.net.In this podcast, Matt describes how, after a challenging childhood, he decided to make something of his life by become the best police officer he could ever be. He followed through with gusto and was highly regarded by his fellow law enforcement personnel. But all this came to a screeching halt when, after some very painful experiences, he began to feel that he couldn’t measure up to the impossible standards he had set for himself. And, since he had no real faith in God at the time, his life began to unravel, and he ended up breaking the law. After conviction, Matt was sentenced to 22 month in prison! But, looking back on all that now, Matt insists that going to prison was actually the best thing that happened to him! Because it was at his lowest point that he was drawn to the arms of our all-loving Heavenly Father! As a result, through giving to others in need, Matt now has touched the lives of thousands of men who likewise struggle with an addiction to pornography. His top goal now is that God will continue to use him to touch the lives of others for the glory of God.
John “Barney” Barnes grew up in East Tennessee graduated from Carson-Newman University in 1968. Barney then joined the Navy as an Aviation Cadet earning his commission as a Naval Officer in April of 1969, earning his Navy “wings of gold” in April of 1970. Barney fought in the Vietnam War, flying helicopters there in support of navy SEAL teams, Swift Boats, and other allied units. His squadron, known as The Seawolves, was the highest decorated Navy squadron of the Vietnam War. Subsequent to his time in Vietnam, Barney’s 25-year Navy career included flight instruction and leading Navy Corrections efforts in Washington, D.C. and Charleston, SC. After retirement from the Navy, Barney has used his leadership skills and experience to bring needed reform to various criminal justice efforts in America. He also now serves as the “National Ambassador for the Military and Prisons” for the Promise Keepers ministry. As a result of his outstanding service both in the Navy and civilian life thereafter, Barney has been the recipient of numerous awards and medals.Barney is the author of two books: Born to Be a Warrior and The Sacred Art of Leadership: Turning the Soul Toward a Noble Purpose. In these books and through his numerous talks to men’s groups, Barney seeks to motivate men to be all that God has called them to be. Barney and his wife Pat have been married for 52 years and reside in Summerville, SC.In this podcast, John “Barney” Barnes talks about the incredibly courageous and humble leadership of our nation’s founder, George Washington in the early segment of the Revolutionary War. When all looked hopeless, Washington inspired his men not to give up but to give in to God’s call, and the result was amazing! Barney uses George Washington’s example to call American men today to have courage and be all that God wants them to be.
Randy Hekman currently directs The Grand Awakening, an organization seeking revival and spiritual awakening in West Michigan. Previously, he served 15 years as a Kent County Probate-Juvenile Court Judge and then directed a succession of Christian non-profits. Randy’s writing includes these books: Justice for the Unborn, Truth that Sets America Free, and Sweeter by the Dozen: Making Jesus the Lord of Our Family Size. He and his wife Marcia are the proud (and grateful) parents of 12 children and grandparents to 37.In this podcast, Randy calls the church of America to wholeheartedly repent for its part in unintentionally, but nonetheless still significantly supporting abortion through our own pro-sex, anti-child attitudes and actions.
James Kyle Sherbin is an attorney who is employed by the Van Den Heuvel Law Office here in Grand Rapids, Michigan. James was born in the state of Maryland. He attended college in North Carolina, earning his BA from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He subsequently obtained his Juris Doctor (Law) degree from Cooley Law School, in Lansing, Michigan. For enjoyment, besides fellowshipping with other Christ-followers, James enjoys going to the beach, playing pick-up basketball, and riding bikes on a summer day. His faith story is amazing and I’m sure you will be touched by how God moved in James’ life and drew James to faith in Him. In this podcast, James shares the amazing way in which God, almost immediately and in a very supernatural way, answered his humble prayer about how to start a genuine relationship with Jesus. He also shares how God amazingly led him to work for a law firm that is centered on Christ.
This is Part 2 of a podcast that is a bit different from most of those we have done in the past. As we did in Part 1, Marcia and I start with a brief introduction, talking about how we first met with Dr. James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, and his wife Shirley back in February of 1990 at a conference in Phoenix, AZ. After a very warm and friendly breakfast together, Jim invited Marcia and me to be guests on his daily radio program. So, in April of 1990, we took our whole family—Marcia and me and our 10 kids—to Southern California to be interviewed. We had a blast. And the two programs we recorded ultimately impacted scores, if not hundreds or even thousands, of families around the world, especially about the challenging area of making Jesus the Lord of our family size. We share some of that impact on this podcast.Note: because the program with Jim was for the radio, after Marcia and I give a brief intro, like we did in Part 1, most of the rest of what you will experience will be audio not video. But, regardless, I’m quite sure that what is said will still touch your heart and life as it continues to touch ours even as we listen again. ALL glory to God alone!
This podcast is a bit different from most of those we have done in the past. Marcia and I start with a brief introduction, talking about how we first met with Dr. James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, and his wife Shirley back in February of 1990 at a conference in Phoenix, AZ. At the time, I was a Probate-Juvenile Court Judge here in Kent County (greater Grand Rapids area) Michigan. His team had invited us to resign our judgeship and become the founding Executive Director of Michigan Family Forum, which was connected to Focus on the Family that Jim was head of at the time. But, before Marcia and I could feel comfortable with that major career change, we sensed we needed to talk directly to Jim himself, so this meeting was set up. Bottom line, we were very impressed with Jim and Shirley’s hearts, and they were likewise touched by our view of family and children. So much so that Jim invited Marcia and me to be guests on his daily radio program. So, in April of 1990, we took our whole family—Marcia and me and our 10 kids—to Southern California to be interviewed. We had a blast. And the two programs we recorded ultimately impacted scores, if not hundreds or even thousands, of families around the world, especially about the challenging area of making Jesus the Lord of our family size. Note: because the program with Jim was for the radio, after Marcia and I give a brief intro in this podcast, most of the rest of what you will experience will be audio, not video. But, regardless, I’m quite sure that what is said will still touch your heart and life as it continues to touch ours even as we listen again. ALL glory to God alone!
Dr. Emerson Eggerichs is an internationally known public speaker on the topic of male-female relationships. Based on over three decades of counseling as well as scientific and biblical research, Dr. Eggerichs and his wife, Sarah, developed the Love and Respect Conference which they present to live audiences around the country.This dynamic and life-changing conference is impacting the world, resulting in the healing and restoration of countless relationships. Dr. Eggerichs has authored several books, including the national bestseller Love & Respect, which is a Platinum and Book of the Year award winner, selling over 2.1 million copies.Emerson is the Founder and President of Love and Respect Ministries and his wife Sarah serves as Vice President. Married since 1973, they live in Grand Rapids, MI and have three adult children.In this podcast, Emerson shares about how his Bible-centered teaching on Love and Respect have brought wonderful healing to thousands of troubled marriages, and have made so many good marriages even better. Truth does, in fact, set us free!
Stephen Nylen is a fulltime Street Preacher of Frontline Street Ministry in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a street ministry he founded a decade ago. He is also the Veterans Chaplain for Equine Assisted Development of the Great Lakes. Stephen is sent out as an evangelist by the Reformed Evangelistic Fellowship and is a member of Harvest Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Stephen is the joyful husband of the beautiful Jessica Nylen and the proud father of 4 wonderful daughters (one through adoption) and the grandfather to 3 grandsons. You can find Stephen in various contexts in the streets of Grand Rapids as he and his team evangelize, minister and disciple in the public square and herald the glad tidings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.In this podcast, Stephen describes how, on active duty in the Army, he came to amazing faith in Christ and how he loves to share the Gospel with anyone who will listen. He is joyous in his calling to be a “street preacher” and longs for all people to come to faith in Christ. He also briefly shares how he amazingly uses the example of horses in reaching the hearts of veterans (and others) with Jesus’ grace and truth. Anyone who hears Stephen’s story will be challenged either to come to faith in Christ yourself or, if you already are a Christ-follower, to do more to spread the Word to those who don’t yet know Him.
Jordan Sweezer married his dear wife Marie back in 2014. They have been blessed with four children Jordan (Jr), Caleb, Charles, and Calvin. Jordan started doing outreach in 2016, and has felt a strong conviction from the Lord to preach the gospel to the lost. By God’s grace his heart has grown to have a deep love for Christ, for Christ’s followers, and the sinners who don’t yet know Christ Jesus as their Savior and Lord. Jordan feels called to stand in the gap for the Lord, to hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter, and to be a voice for the voiceless.Through the sending of One Life For Life to our area, Jordan sees this external call being matched by his inward calling. So he daily chooses to confidently go out in service of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.In this podcast, Jordan discusses his calling to preach God’s grace and truth at abortion clinics on a daily basis. He describes the incredible number of women seeking abortion who have responded positively to the Gospel and have chosen to keep the child they are carrying. He tells how his wife Marie then holds a baby shower for these women and their church blesses these women by meeting their tangible needs and continuing to lead them to their growing faith in Christ. Jordan and Randy also discuss the underlying mentality for abortion: emphasizing the value of sex while demeaning the value of the child God may wish to produce through one’s sexual intimacy. Regrettably, most Christians in our day sympathize with this mentality. While most Christ-followers reject abortion, they nonetheless are totally fine with choosing other means to reach the very same result: sex—yes, but child created in the image of God—no! Isn’t God the One who creates children in the womb? (Psalm 139:13). And shouldn’t Jesus be Lord of every area of life, including our family size?
Dean Luurtsma is a lifelong resident of Ottawa County, Michigan. He senses a call and equipping from the Lord to follow the Lord and love the Lord with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength.
Dean is a small businessman, father, and lay evangelist. When the baby body parts from abortions scandal broke in 2015, he believes he was awakened fully from his slumber to diligently try to let his light shine in the greater Grand Rapids area.
Dean is grateful that, through God’s providential leading, the Lord connected him with his co-laborers in the Gospel, including Stephen Nylen and Jordan Sweezer.
In this podcast, Dean describes his call to ministry, his heart for the unborn, and his grief for our arch-enemy Satan rejoicing over the shed blood of the innocent. He also describes a miraculous answer to prayer which totally removed surgical abortions from Grand Rapids just a few weeks ago. He hopes this answer to prayer could be the start of a growing move of God in our region through revival and spiritual awakening.
Also, in this podcast, Randy briefly shares what is the heart behind legal abortion—insisting we build a wall between sex and the children God might wish to be produced through our sexual intimacy. While most Christ-followers don’t abort, they do take deliberate action to have sex without the possibility of producing a child thereby. So, same goal as those who have abortions; same result (no baby born alive); just a different means. No wonder many Christians are ambivalent about those who have abortions. We sympathize with their motivation; we just don’t like the means used.
Pastor Arthur Guice received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior in 1980, while attending Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, IL. It was during this season in his life that Arthur sensed a call to ministry. As a result, he changed his major from Business Administration to Theology. In May of 1983 Pastor Guice received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Elmhurst College with a double major in Theology and Psychology.
On March 23, 2003, Arthur was installed as the Senior Pastor of Spirit of Liberty Church of God, Markham, IL. A few years after serving as Senior Pastor, Arthur faced personal tragedy as his lovely and devoted wife of nine years went home to be with the Lord after a very courageous and lengthy battle with breast cancer. By the grace of God, Pastor Guice continued to serve as the Senior Pastor of Spirit of Liberty of God in Markham, IL until retiring in February 2023.
Arthur also serves as the Great Lakes Regional Prayer coordinator for the Church of God, Cleveland Tennessee, and was ordained as a Bishop through the same ecclesiastical hierarchy. He is the founder and President of Full of Glory Ministries, Inc., a teaching ministry committed to developing fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ as well as the Illinois State Coordinator for Cry Out America.
Art is a man who is deeply committed to fulfilling the “Great Commission” of our Lord Jesus Christ by making disciples of the nations. He has an anointing to teach and preach the Word of God with simplicity and with accuracy. He is a much sought-after speaker for conferences, seminars and workshops throughout the Chicago area and the nation.
In this podcast, Pastor Art shares his personal testimony of coming to faith in college and his call to ministry. He then challenges us American Christians to be the salt and light God calls us to be in our increasingly dark and secular culture. While we are on the ultimate winning team, we often live as though we are not. We Christ-followers need to repent of our cowardliness and lack of unity and choose, by God’s power, to live courageously and lovingly all for His glory and the building of His eternal Kingdom.
Mark Schaap lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan and is currently the minister for College and Young Adults at Calvary Church. He is married to his college sweetheart Megan and together they have four awesome kids. He previously graduated from California Baptist University in Riverside, California with a major in Theology and then completed his Masters Degree at Bethel Seminary in St. Paul Minnesota. Besides seeking to be a godly husband and father and also desirous of leading a large group of young people at Calvary to become wholehearted disciples of Jesus, in his spare time, Mark enjoys playing basketball, golf, and riding motorcycles.
In this podcast Mark tells about his own faith experience and call to ministry as well as his heart for encouraging a large group of young adults to be all in with Jesus in our increasingly dark world. He shares his joy in seeing spiritual growth among those he ministers to as they grow in their walk with our Lord and as they seek to share the Gospel with their peers.
As the Vice President of Presales for Global Accounts at AVEVA, an international information technology consulting company, Ganesh leads a team of high-performing professionals who deliver innovative solutions to the world's leading industrial and engineering companies. With over 20 years of experience in the simulation and training domain, he has a proven track record of growing internal businesses from less than $1M to over $50M by building talented teams and systems that enable rapid execution.
Ganesh is also the author of a fictional book entitled “Let Me Into Heaven” that explores the journey of three computer scientists chasing the truth. With his background in science and experience in working with highly analytical teams, Ganesh found that scientific explanations, while fine in themselves, lacked depth and human meaning. In his attempts to better understand life, Ganesh stumbled across religion and then Jesus.
In this podcast, Ganesh describes how he went from growing up as a Hindu in India and then becoming an atheist in college. But then, when he came to the U.S., he tells the amazing story of how he gradually began to learn about the claims of Christ. It took four years of serious investigation using his scientific methods, but he ultimately came to the conclusion that the Gospel is true, and he needed to quit putting the decision off and totally commit his life to Jesus. He has hopes that his book and life will encourage others in the scientific and engineering fields to do the same!
Lud Golz has been a pastor for over 50 years. Prior to that, he was a Bible teacher at Wheaton Academy where Randy Hekman was one of his students. He is now focusing his time on his daily radio program, “Getting God's Message” that is heard on hundreds of stations around the world. Over the years, Lud has traveled extensively to many foreign countries on mission trips. The churches he pastored always had a substantial missions’ ministry. He has authored articles and books and some of them have been translated into foreign languages.
Lud was married for 63 years to Muriel. She passed into glory in September of 2022. Lud and Muriel have four married children, 12 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
In this podcast, Lud begins by looking back at the 1960s during which time he taught numerous Bible courses at Wheaton Academy in the Wheaton, IL area. Randy expressed his great gratitude to Lud for being such a great Christian example and powerful teacher and mentor to him in those days. Lud also shared the importance of Christian parents to raise their children in godliness and with fervent prayer. Lud also tells of his concerns about where American culture is currently moving and what we Christ-followers must do in response. He tells how God has helped him deal with the loss of his best friend and wife Muriel. Finally, Lud shares some great wisdom on how we Christians can do our best to be like the Apostle Paul and finish strong in our faith at the end of our lives here on earth.
Maranda (her stage name) is the WOTV 4 Women kids and family expert. She hosts a daily segment, “Where You Live” which features a combination of information, inspiration and insights for West Michigan parents. It’s taped around West Michigan and is about real family life. “I love the new challenges everyday and connecting people with services they want and need,” said Maranda.
Maranda joined WOOD TV8, WOTV4 and WXSP-TV in January of 2001 as Children and Family Services Manager, but has served the community as an advocate for kids and families for more than 25 years. Maranda oversees the development of station projects on-air, online and in our community that target kids and families.
Besides finding Maranda on-air and online, she is on the radio too. She is the co-author of Maranda’s Guide to Family Fun in West Michigan, a book for parents and children. Maranda also offers weekly family fun updates on STAR 105.7 and Daybreak on WOOD TV8.
Maranda serves on several community advisory boards. These include the John Ball Zoological Society Board of Directors, Cornerstone University Board of Trustees, Wedgewood Christian Services Board of Directors, Equest Center for Therapeutic Riding Board of Directors, Careforce International Advisory Board and is the spokesperson for CampFire Boys and Girls Club Incredible Kid Day.
Maranda is the recipient of three Gracie Allen Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Women in Radio and Television West Michigan Chapter, an Emmy nomination, the Hope College Distinguished Alumni Award, a 2011 YWCA Tribute! Award, the 2014 Van Andel Institute Angel of Excellence Award, and 2019 Education Advocacy Award from Kent Intermediate Association of School Boards.
In this podcast, Maranda shares how, many years ago, God called her to a career in TV and radio media. She says that speaking the truth in love to her many audiences is a great and constant joy to her. While our forms of media change almost daily, Maranda emphasizes that quality content is always in demand. She hopes young people who are Christ-followers will find the calling God has for them, and that some will truly be called into media.
Rev. Bob Fu, Ph.D, was a former student leader during the Tiananmen Square democracy movement in 1989. In 1993, he graduated with a law degree on international relations from Renmin University of China in Beijing. He was a faculty member at the Beijing Party School of the Chinese Communist Party from 1993-1996. He was also a house church leader in Beijing until he and his wife, Bochun “Heidi” Cai, were imprisoned in 1996. In 1997 he was exiled to the U.S. In 2002, he founded ChinaAid in Philadelphia to promote religious freedom and rule of law in China. He graduated with Ph.D. from St. John’s College at the University of Durham in the U.K in the field of religious freedom. His autobiography, God's Double Agent, was published in 2013 by Baker Publishing Group. His academic book The Politics of Inclusive Pluralism was published in 2021. Bob regularly testifies and briefs foreign policymakers and legislators on religious freedom, foreign policy, national security, and rule of law as well refugee issues in the free world. Bob Fu is a recipient of William Wilberforce Award by the Colson Center (2020-2021). In 2022 he received the “Frank Wolf International Religious Freedom Award” by the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative. He is a consultant to both the Heritage Foundation and Family Research Council. He is a life member of Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and Editor-in-Chief of the Chinese Law and Religion Monitor journal.
In this podcast, Bob describes how the persecution against Christians in China is the worst it has ever been, with many followers of Christ there being tortured and imprisoned merely for following Jesus and sharing His Gospel with those who do not yet know Him. He also describes the ministry he has begun ChinaAid.org that offers help to the persecuted church in China. Yet, despite persecution, the church in China has been growing rapidly as non-believers there are drawn to Christ as they see real Christians willing to sacrifice so much for our Lord. It is the hope of Bob that the same will happen in America!
Mark Gottlieb is one amazing man! I will summarize some of the highlights of his life. While raised in a culturally Jewish, but spiritually atheistic home, Mark, later in life, came to genuine faith in Christ. Mark did his undergraduate studies at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Then he earned two Masters Degrees in technical areas from Stanford University. From there, Mark moved to the Washington, DC area where he worked with SRI International assisting a governmental agency on its technology. He also taught some graduate courses at GWU on the side. In 1985, Mark launched his own technology firm called DesignTech International, which focused on the design and production of innovative products in the consumer electronics field. His business was a huge success making millions and employing over 100 folks. He then created another company LogicMark in 2006 that was later sold to a private equity group.
Mark is happily married to his wife Sharon, and together they have 4 wonderful children and 12 grandkids. He is very active in his local church and for fun enjoys being an incredible photographer and 3D design and printer expert. He has traveled to 88 countries in the world and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as an Underwater Violinist!
But, on a much more negative side of things, a little over 3 years ago, in the middle of his travel and other activities, Mark had a very tragic mountain biking accident that left him paralyzed at the time from the neck down. But after many hours of physical therapy and the help of technology, Mark is actually able to walk again!
In this podcast, Mark describes how he now maintains a solid trust in and love for God despite his on-going physical limitations and pain resulting from his biking accident.
Kelly Clark, age 32, grew up in a Christian home and always knew about God. But she would say that at age 15 she was rather lethargic in her walk with God. At the same time, from an early age Kelly demonstrated a great ability in the area of ballet. So much so that, in her teens, she was invited to study with the Kirov Academy and the Royal Ballet School (summer program) in London. However, a growing medical issue in her life put a halt to her ballet dreams. Kelly was ultimately diagnosed with POTS, a non-curable disease that limits people in many ways, and made ballet impossible. But, looking back, Kelly is grateful that God gave her POTS as it drew her closer to Him on a daily basis. It also set her heart and mind on the blessings of eternity rather than on the passing joys of this life.
In this podcast, Kelly talks about the challenges of dealing with her medical diagnosis and how hard it was when she realized her hopes for a career in ballet were permanently dashed. Yet, over time, Kelly found hope alone in God and His love for her. She focused as well on the ultimate promise of being a citizen of heaven where all sickness and sadness will be forever banished. She shares how everyone who seeks God can find the joy she has found and actually experiences on a daily basis. What encouragement Kelly is for so many people who face major disappointment in life!
David Kallman has been a licensed attorney in the state of Michigan for the past 40 years. His law firm, the Kallman Legal Group, has clients with legal needs in a wide variety or areas, including business, probate and estate law, general litigation and education law. A number of years ago, in a landmark decision before the Michigan Supreme Court, David helped get home-schooling declared legal in Michigan. He is also the co-founder of the Great Lakes Justice Center which represents clients whose fundamental rights guaranteed by our Constitution are being challenged. David is married to Beth and together they have two children, both of whom they homeschooled through high school.
In this podcast, David talks about a bill now before the Michigan House of Representative, HB 4474, which creates the category of “hate crimes” that includes speech which “intimidates or harasses another individual” even if there was no criminal intent on the part of the person speaking. So, for example, merely sharing the Gospel with a person could be viewed as a “hate crime” if the person listening feels harassed or intimidated when they are told about the eternal punishment that awaits the one who refuses to accept God’s free gift of salvation. But not only does the law deal with religious issues, but also with other areas, including sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. And maximum punishment for those convicted of a hate crime felony is 5 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine. David believes there is a high probability the bill will become law. And what is happening in Michigan is likely to spread elsewhere as well. Sadly, this is where American culture is heading.
Jonah Engle is a graduate of Spring Arbor University, and he now makes his home in the Grand Rapids area. About six years ago, God began to move deeply on Jonah’s heart and he became, in his own words, “passionately in love with Jesus.” This passion grew to the point where he knew he had to share this good news of Jesus with others. So together with some close friends who likewise loved Jesus, they formed the EveryHeart movement. It started with just Jonah and his best friends traveling the country to share Jesus with people in America during the summer and also organizing a worship night at 9pm on Mondays during the school year. This summer, over 170 young people are going out on tour across the US sharing the Gospel. Also, the worship gatherings have multiplied all across America. The result is that thousands of lives have been touched by the Gospel and over 1000 have received Jesus in the past 3 years. Jonah is married to his amazing wife Haley and continues to fall more in love with her and with Jesus daily. He desires nothing more than to go forth making disciples of all nations and proclaiming the Gospel to all creation.
In this podcast, Jonah relates in greater depth about the exciting beginnings of this new Jesus Movement and how it is now spreading throughout America and beyond. What God is doing through these Gen Z young people is so encouraging to those of us who have been praying for revival and spiritual awakening for a number of years. It truly seems revival is on the way, with ALL glory to God!
Dr. Jerry R Kirk pastored three congregations and was Senior Pastor of the College Hill Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati, Ohio for eighteen years. Under Jerry’s leadership, College Hill Church became an international equipping center for pastors and leaders. He also founded pureHOPE in 1983 and the Religious Alliance Against Pornography in 1986 to address the increasing sexualization of our culture. In 2013 he established The Prayer Covenant as a ministry to serve as a catalyst for a spiritual awakening to the supremacy of Christ.In this podcast, Jerry, who is now in his 90s but still going so strong for the Lord, shares his love for Jesus and how he continues to grow in learning to daily abide in Christ bringing him great joy and even childlike excitement.
This year’s National Day of Prayer event was held at Calvary Church in Grand Rapids at 7:00 pm. It was there that over 150 folks from a variety of West Michigan congregations heard from a number of community leaders briefly pray for various “Cultural Mountains” like government, business, education, media and family. Two of those leaders were Kentwood’s Mayor Steve Kepley and WOOD Radio morning host Steve Kelly. That was all very good. But probably the highlight of the evening was hearing from three Gen Z young people who are literally on fire for the Lord share their passion for Jesus and helping others their age come to know Him. They are part of a ministry called Everyheart Movement and Met by Love.
Ron Sandison works full time in the medical field and is a professor of theology at Destiny School of Ministry. He is an advisory board member of the Art of Autism and the Els Center of Excellence. Ron has a Master of Divinity from Oral Roberts University and is the author of A Parent’s Guide to Autism: Practical Advice, Biblical Wisdom published by Charisma House, and Views from the Spectrum. Amazingly, he has memorized over 15,000 Scriptures including 22 complete books of the New Testament! He speaks at over 70 events a year including 20 education conferences. Ron and his wife Kristen reside in Rochester Hills, MI, with their daughter Makayla. His website is spectruminclusion.com. His email is sandison456@hotmail.com. In this podcast Ron describes how, after his birth, Ron’s parents were told that due to his autism, he would never read, attend college or do sports. But he shares that, through his mother’s prayers and diligence and his memorizing and meditating on God’s Word, Ron has miraculously exceeded all expectations! And as an avid Christ-follower, Ron is now able to share the Gospel with scores of young people—including those attending public schools—because his walk with God is a central part of his autism experience that he is free to explain! He truly is Exhibit A in how God’s strength is made perfect in our weaknesses.
Karl House grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He graduated with a Master of Divinity from Calvin Theological Seminary. Karl has planted a Christian Reformed Church near Toronto and a Vineyard Church in Tampa. He is back in Grand Rapids planting The Way MicroChurches—A new family of simple churches in Grand Rapids and beyond. Karl's passion is to pour into a new generation of disciples, leaders and MicroChurches.In this podcast, Karl explains what MicroChurches are and why they are not a new concept at all. In fact, the book of Acts in the New Testament describes many such entities that God used in powerful ways. While in no way putting down any type of church structure, Karl nonetheless points to the many positive results that happen as members of Christ’s Body meet in smaller groupings, generally maximizing the spiritual growth and positive impact of each individual.
Israel Wayne is a father of eleven who is passionate about defending the Christian faith and developing a Biblical worldview. He is the Director of Family Renewal, an international speaker, and author of the books Questions God Asks and Questions Jesus Asks, among others. More information may be found at www.familyrenewal.org. In this podcast, we talk about the joy, and actual benefit, of having a large family. We also discuss in depth what we parents must do in our increasingly secular culture to raise children who truly love and serve our Lord wholeheartedly. I encourage every Christian parent to listen to the practical wisdom on this podcast so that your children (really God’s children!) may be a precious source of light in our increasingly dark culture, all for God’s glory.
Geoff Eckart lives in Grand Rapids, MI with his wife Arianna. Together they have 3 daughters. He is the lead pastor of Daybreak Church and the founder and CEO of Never The Same, a national youth ministry. He also serves as Chairman of the Executive Board of the National Day of Prayer and leads America’s National Prayer Committee.In this podcast, Geoff tells of his recent visit to Asbury University. He describes the overwhelming sense of peace he believed was flowing from the manifest presence of Christ during their time of revival there. He also remarked how amazing it was that two other revival-connected events, both of which had been previously planned long in advance of Asbury’s revival, “just happened” to coincide with the move of God at Asbury! Those events are: (1) the Collegiate Day of Prayer held on February 23, but had been scheduled at least a year previous and to be held, of all places, there at Asbury; and (2) the release on February 22 of the major motion picture “Jesus Revolution” which covers a similar revival that occurred in 1970. Finally, Geoff shares his conviction that revival and spiritual awakening will indeed spread far and wide by the grace of God.
Bill Elliff is the founder and National Engage Pastor of The Summit Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. His passion is to see both genuine revival and methodological renewal in the church—both new wine and new wineskins. He is a frequent conference speaker, writer, and consultant to churches drawing from his 50+ years of pastoring and revival ministry. Bill is also the Pastor/Church Director for OneCry, A Nationwide Call for Spiritual Awakening and the author of fifteen books and booklets and numerous articles. He lives to faithfully and effectively communicate the whole counsel of God to as many people as possible through preaching, writing, church development, and personal equipping that they may become intimate, reproducing disciples of Jesus Christ. Bill and his wife Holly are parents to eight children and grandparents to 22. Five of their sons are in fulltime ministry. In this podcast, Bill describes the amazing things God has been doing at Asbury University these past 16 days and how that spark is now spreading far and wide in what Bill believes will soon become a world-wide spiritual awakening.
Geoff Eckart lives in Grand Rapids, MI with his wife Arianna. Together they have 3 daughters. He is the lead pastor of Daybreak Church and the founder and CEO of Never The Same, a national youth ministry. He also serves as Chairman of the Executive Board of the National Day of Prayer and leads America’s National Prayer Committee. In this podcast, Geoff shares about his call to ministry, particularly to calling high school students to pray for their schools with specificity. And how God is answering those prayers! He describes how his ministry, which started in one school in West Michigan, is now spreading across the nation. And as a leader of two national prayer movements, Geoff also inspires hope in us as he describes how he is aware that more people in America are praying and obeying with greater passion. He has also recently traveled to Asbury University and personally witnessed the amazing move of God going on there. All this leads Geoff to firmly believe that God will truly bring revival and spiritual awakening in our day. Join us in praying daily for that to happen!
Kevin Palau is President and CEO of the Luis Palau Association. Under his leadership, LPA has united tens of thousands of churches in hundreds of cities to love and serve their communities and clearly share the Good News of Jesus. During Kevin’s time at LPA he has also helped develop a global network of thousands of partner evangelists. Kevin helps lead TogetherPDX, a sustainable, united movement of churches in Portland, Oregon. His book, Unlikely: Setting Aside Our Differences to Live Out the Gospel describes the ongoing impact of the movement. Kevin lives in Beaverton, Oregon with his wife, Michelle, and enjoys serving on the boards of Alpha USA, Cedar Mill Bible Church, Christians Against Poverty, and Transforming the Bay with Christ.In this podcast, Kevin Palau talks about how the Luis Palau Association continues to flourish as God blesses their ministry’s impact worldwide. He also shares how, in the last few years, he personally has grown to more greatly experience the love and joyful freedom of God’s wonderful presence. Kevin concludes by encouraging us Christians here in America to be more open to lovingly share the Gospel with the people in our lives who don’t yet know Him. Satan will try to discourage us, but God’s power and love are so much stronger!
Jonathan Bergsma is the Pastor/Director of City Impact Outreach Center in Cedar Springs MI, 288 N Main St. Cedar Springs MI, 49319Jonathan lives in Rockford MI, He has been married 25 years to his lovely wife Kelley. Together they have four children, 3 boys 1 girl, from ages 25 to 9.Jonathan was raised in Hudsonville MI, and was actively involved in church throughout his early life. However, little-by-little, in his late teens Jonathan fell off God’s path. But God marvelously worked through many circumstances--some rather unpleasant--to get his attention and bring him back to Jesus. Jonathan is now totally passionate for evangelism and outreach. He wholeheartedly works daily to activate the body of Christ into meeting practical needs of the lost and underprivileged in our communities all fueled by the transforming power and love of Jesus. In this podcast, Jonathan Bergsma tells how, while raised as a preacher’s kid, he as a teenager chose to go astray from the Lord. In fact, it was in a jail cell that God began to get his full attention. And now, after a number of years of growing in the Lord, Jonathan and his wife Kelley lead a growing ministry that consistently impacts hundreds of lives with the grace and truth of the Gospel for the glory of God!
Joshua and his wife Emily VanderKlok serve as the Lead Pastors of Resurrection Life Holland and Iglesia Vida. Pastor Joshua graduated from Rhema Bible Training school in Tulsa, Oklahoma and received a BA in International Business from Oral Roberts University. He has lived as a missionary in Mexico and served in Pastoral and ministerial roles for more than 20 years. The VanderKloks are an active family with six children that enjoy exploring the beauty of God’s creation. Josh and Emily feel passionately called to equip Christians and expand the Kingdom of God in the name of Jesus.In this podcast, Josh shares about the challenges that currently exist for those in ministry and what it might take to stoke more passion in the hearts of Christ-followers in our nation. He also shares his belief that we need to see a much greater sense of unity among Christians if ever we can expect to see genuine revival and spiritual awakening.
Tom Olsson currently serves as the Lead Pastor of Calvary Church here in Grand Rapids, a role he has filled for the past 16 ½ years. Previous to that, Tom worked in the investment services industry and was in a law practice as a licensed attorney. He and his wife Jennifer have been married for 32 years, together they have three adult children, Jeffrey, Jonathan, and Kate who currently all live and work in Chicago. (Tom and Jennifer are hoping and praying their kids eventually will move back to the West Michigan area.) In this podcast, Tom shares how God used him to help bring Sara Blue (who shared her amazing story on a previous podcast) to faith in Christ. Tom also shares how God led him to transfer from his successful career in investment services and law to fulltime ministry, and how he has absolutely no regrets in making this major move in life.
Sara Blue, is currently the Director of Benevolence at Calvary Church here in Grand Rapids. She has an amazing background. In her distant past, Sara was herself addicted to hard drugs. But, through the grace of God, she now has been in long term recovery which means being off all opiates for over 15 years.
Following her own freedom from drugs, Sara has done much to help many others find help. Sara has done a number of trainings and speaking engagements all over the United States on topics of Trauma Informed Care, Medicated Assisted Treatment and Recovery Oriented Systems of Care.
For the last 12 years, Sara has been doing outreach with people who are experiencing homelessness and discovering how to support those individuals in bettering their lives. Part of this work was in her Directorship with Unlimited Alternatives, a nonprofit who served 140 people a day who were experiencing homelessness, substance abuse issues and severe mental health issues.
But most significantly, Sara was born again as a true follower of Jesus Christ almost 4 years ago. As a result, she is now more passionate than ever to serve all people who might be in a time of need, by sharing the Gospel with them, and clearly showing them Christ’s love, mercy and grace.
In this podcast, Sara tells the story of how her life deteriorated to the point that she became addicted to heroin, and then how she was delivered from that addiction. She ultimately became a leader in a treatment center, but was still feeling emptiness in her heart. Then, through amazing circumstances that only God could orchestrate, she came to faith in Jesus Christ and found the ultimate joy that has no regrets and continues forever.
Randy Hekman currently directs The Grand Awakening, an organization seeking revival and spiritual awakening in West Michigan. Previously, he was an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney and then served 15 years as a Kent County Probate-Juvenile Court Judge. Following that Randy directed a succession of Christian non-profits. Randy’s writing includes these books: Justice for the Unborn, Truth that Sets America Free, and Sweeter by the Dozen: Making Jesus the Lord of Our Family Size. He and his wife Marcia are the proud (and grateful) parents of 12 children and grandparents to 35.
In this podcast, Randy discusses how people’s subjective feelings are increasingly determining what they believe right and wrong to be. And how this reality has greatly impacted our culture’s view of gender and marriage.
Randy Hekman currently directs The Grand Awakening, an organization seeking revival and spiritual awakening in West Michigan. Previously, he was an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney and then served 15 years as a Kent County Probate-Juvenile Court Judge. Following that Randy directed a succession of Christian non-profits. Randy’s writing includes these books: Justice for the Unborn, Truth that Sets America Free, and Sweeter by the Dozen: Making Jesus the Lord of Our Family Size. He and his wife Marcia are the proud (and grateful) parents of 12 children and grandparents to 35.
In this podcast, Randy draws on his law enforcement, judicial and governmental background to explain what steps our nation must do to reduce crime.
Dr. Joel R. Beeke was converted at the age of 14, and has pastored for more than forty years in three churches.
Currently, he is president and professor of systematic theology and homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary (since 1994), a pastor of the Heritage Reformed Congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan (since 1986), editor of Puritan Reformed Journal and Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth, editorial director of Reformation Heritage Books, president of Inheritance Publishers, and vice-president of the Dutch Reformed Translation Society.
He has written and co-authored one hundred books (most recently, Reformed Systematic Theology, Reformed Preaching: Preaching God’s Word from the Heart of the Preacher to the Heart of His People, A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life; Knowing and Growing in Assurance; and Debated Issues in Sovereign Predestination), edited another one hundred books, and contributed 2,500 articles to Reformed books, journals, periodicals, and encyclopedias. He is presently working on writing a systematic theology and a book on preaching from the preacher’s heart to the listener’s heart.
His PhD is in Reformation and Post-Reformation theology from Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia) on assurance of faith. He is frequently called upon to lecture at seminaries and to speak at Reformed conferences around the world in dozens of countries. He and his wife Mary have been blessed with three children and four grandchildren.
In this podcast, Joel Beeke shares his joy as he senses the godly remnant of Christ-followers in America is growing and becoming even more godly. But, at the same time, he grieves that the majority of nominal American Christians are being increasingly influenced by our secular godless culture.
Joel also had a great segment on the wonderful partnership we have with God as we pray consistent with His will. That brief teaching alone will likely spark a resurgence of prayer in those who listen. He also shares about the wonderful unity of we have with all true Christ followers even if we disagree on non-essentials of the faith. And, finally, when asked what he would say to all true Christians in America to spur them on to love and good works, Joel has some very strong and challenging words of encouragement.
Art Remington, Jr., despite being in ministry for over 55 years, describes himself as a “footwasher for Jesus.” He is the Pastor and National Ambassador-at-Large for Promise Keepers, a ministry he has been involved with since 1994. Art also currently serves in two other capacities: he is a staff pastor for Project 200, a disciple-making ministry; and he is a pastor/partner at Come Behold Israel ministry. Art prepared for a career in ministry by attending Northwestern College in Minnesota and spent a number of years in various churches as a youth and college pastor. Art and his dear wife Miriam reside in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Anyone who knows Art, knows him to be perennially upbeat as evidenced by the fact that one of his favorite expressions is that he is “Blessed and Highly Favored of the Lord.”
In this podcast, Art Remington, Jr. shares how God has wonderfully led him through the trials and tribulations of his life to being used powerfully by God in many different venues of ministry including Promise Keepers. Despite realistically seeing our nation and culture increasingly antagonistic to the truths of Scripture, Art is incredibly hopeful that God is moving powerfully and will usher in revival and spiritual awakening as we pray and obey. We especially need Christ-following men who will boldly and lovingly share and live the truth.
John “Barney” Barnes grew up in East Tennessee graduated from Carson-Newman University in 1968. Barney then joined the Navy as an Aviation Cadet earning his commission as a Naval Officer in April of 1969. He then completed his flight training, earning his Navy “wings of gold” in April of 1970.
Barney fought in the Vietnam War effort, flying helicopters there in support of navy SEAL teams, Swift Boats, and other allied units. His squadron, known as The Seawolves, was the highest decorated Navy squadron of the Vietnam War. Subsequent to his time in Vietnam, Barney’s 25-year Navy career included flight instruction and leading Navy Corrections efforts in Washington, D.C. and Charleston, SC. After retirement from the Navy, Barney has used his leadership skills and experience to bring needed reform to various criminal justice efforts in America. He also now serves as the “National Ambassador for the Military and Prisons” for the Promise Keepers ministry. As a result of his outstanding service both in the Navy and civilian life thereafter, Barney has been the recipient of numerous awards and medals.
Barney understands more deeply than most leaders the importance of men engaging life with a warrior heart and mindset. He is the author of Born to Be a Warrior based upon his life in the warrior culture, and he continues to speak to many groups motivating men to be all that God has called them to be. His second book, The Sacred Art of Leadership: Turning the Soul Toward a Noble Purpose, will be out later this year.
Barney and his wife Pat have been married for 52 years and reside in Summerville, SC.
In this podcast, John “Barney” Barnes is joined by fellow warriors for Jesus, Angel Zapata and Jacob Brumbach as they together share how we need to show our love for God and others by being courageous warriors empowered by His Spirit and following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Richard “Dick” Brill is a business owner of a flourishing irrigation company here in West Michigan called H2Oasis. While raised in a Christian family, Dick himself says he gradually came to faith in Christ, but made sure of that reality at a Promise Keepers event in 1997. Since then, he has grown to be a mighty man of God who gives generously of his time, talents and treasure for the cause of Christ. Dick is a graduate of Calvin College and seminary and is a licensed CPA. He and his wife Sandra have been married for over 56 years, and together they have 4 biological children and 3 adopted ones. They now have 14 grandkids and 4 great-grandchildren. And, to top it off, they have also fostered over 90 other children!
In this podcast, Dick Brill describes his recent trip to Ukraine and how God protected him and gave him supernatural peace in the midst of the chaos there. Dick also shares how the true Bride of Christ is growing in Ukraine and also worldwide as we unite with each other and individually seek to listen and obey, day by day, what He would have us to do.
Jim Samra serves as the senior pastor of Calvary Church where his main responsibility is to lead others in worship of God. In addition to published articles and book reviews, he is the author of several books. His most recent publication is an allegory style novel entitled “Passage to the House of Power: a Prophetic Parable” Jim holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, a Master of Theology in New Testament and Pastoral Ministries from Dallas Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Philosophy in New Testament from the University of Oxford in England.” Jim and his wife Lisa are the proud parents of four awesome children.
In this podcast, Pastor Jim Samra describes how the American Church is being lovingly but firmly “pruned” by our Lord to help rid us of our love of this world so we can truly BE the church He desires us to be. As a result, Jim is actually optimistic that, as we increasingly trust and obey the Lord and as we unite with our fellow believers, we will see many lives impacted for eternity.
Randy Hekman currently directs The Grand Awakening, an organization seeking revival and spiritual awakening in West Michigan. Previously, he served 15 years as a Kent County Probate-Juvenile Court Judge and then directed a succession of Christian non-profits. Randy’s writing includes these books: Justice for the Unborn, Truth that Sets America Free, and Sweeter by the Dozen: Making Jesus the Lord of Our Family Size. He and his wife Marcia are the proud (and grateful) parents of 12 children and grandparents to 35. In this podcast, Randy describes from both scripture and his own life why bitterness brings with it such bondage that grieves the Holy Spirit and opens our lives to Satan’s torment. He also teaches the steps we can take to truly rid our lives of all bitterness.
Randy Hekman currently directs The Grand Awakening, an organization seeking revival and spiritual awakening in West Michigan. Previously, he served 15 years as a Kent County Probate-Juvenile Court Judge and then directed a succession of Christian non-profits. Randy’s writing includes these books: Justice for the Unborn, Truth that Sets America Free, and Sweeter by the Dozen: Making Jesus the Lord of Our Family Size. He and his wife Marcia are the proud (and grateful) parents of 12 children and grandparents to 35.
In this podcast, Randy looks at Isaiah 24 where the prophet, speaking about the end times, relates how the people of the world have “broken the Everlasting Covenant.” Randy explains how this likely relates to our not fulfilling the command to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” with people. Because, contrary to popular belief, the reality is we actually are experiencing UNDER-population as far too few babies are replacing deaths, and the median age of our citizenry is the highest in our nation’s history and going up. Randy ends by challenging all of us to have Christ the Lord of every part of our lives, including our family size.
Cameron Smith is the CEO of the Triptych Foundation whose mission is to promote a more virtuous society through investments in media, business, and public policy, laying the foundation for sound cultural leadership.
Prior to that, Cameron served as the Executive Director of the House Republican Policy Committee in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, he provided counsel to Governor Bill Lee as part of the governor-elect’s policy transition team.
He has also worked on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and served as an executive and general counsel with several nonprofits focused on shaping free-market public policy, defending religious liberty, and promoting common sense in politics.
Cameron brings a strong communications background to the foundation having served as a columnist for the Birmingham News, a regular presence on talk radio, and a contributor on cable news. His work has appeared in outlets such as Fox News, USA Today, New York Times, and National Public Radio.
He lives with his wife, Justine, and their three sons in Nolensville, TN, where he grows heirloom tomatoes, coaches youth sports, and tinkers with small engines.
In this podcast, Cameron calls for the Christ-followers in America to follow Christ’s example of having “brutal love” in which we show God’s love and truth to our world even if it results at times with rejection and persecution. It is not time to play defense, but to spend our time, talent and treasure in courageously and wholeheartedly spreading the Gospel by our lives and words.
Kevin DeVries is the Founder and on-going President of Grace Explorations, a ministry with a mission to reach more men through Gospel-centered storytelling events. Kevin’s personal story is totally fascinating that includes years of feeling shame and failure, ultimately finding his heart and voice, climbing some of the highest mountains in the world, surviving a near-death experience, and much, much more. You will learn much from listening to his story and hearing his eagerness to call even more men to victory through humility and faith.
Chad Peck is an aspiring Pastor/Preacher who has a heart of passion for the Lord Jesus Christ. Chad has preached at several different churches and events throughout his time serving the Lord. He currently intends to plant a church in the Reformed denomination in Genesee County, Michigan sometime next year. Chad has a large following on social media, now reaching hundreds of thousands of people each month. He uses his platform to share the gospel and the love of God to all those who are willing to listen to God's word. He loves reading, writing sermons, and spending time with his family and friends. Chad, his wife, and his two sons live on a small family farm located in the town of Swartz Creek, Michigan.
In this podcast, Chad describes how the Church in America needs to do much more to lovingly, yet courageously spread the Gospel to young and old in our nation. He describes how God has wonderfully opened up Chad’s ability to communicate with so many people daily through social media. He is a great example of someone who is willing to do whatever God calls him to do, and giving all the glory to God!
Bill Elliff is the founder and National Engage Pastor of The Summit Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. His passion is to see both genuine revival and methodological renewal in the church—both new wine and new wineskins. He is a frequent conference speaker, writer, and consultant to churches drawing from his 50+ years of pastoring and revival ministry. Bill is also the Pastor/Church Director for OneCry, A Nationwide Call for Spiritual Awakening and the author of fifteen books and booklets and numerous articles. He lives to faithfully and effectively communicate the whole counsel of God to as many people as possible through preaching, writing, church development, and personal equipping that they may become intimate, reproducing disciples of Jesus Christ. Bill and his wife Holly are parents to eight children and grandparents to 22. Five of their sons are in fulltime ministry.
In this podcast, Bill shares how, in challenging cultural times like we are currently in, Biblical examples like King Hezekiah help us to understand what is most strategically wise for us to do. He also explains the importance of humility in our lives that is essential if we want to see God work powerfully through us.
Julián Guzmán, an ordained minister of Church of God-Anderson, IN, is the director of the Urban Church Leadership Center (UCLC) and founder pastor of Iglesia Vida Plena, a local Hispanic congregation in Wyoming, MI. Throughout his years in ministry, Guzmán has held numerous leadership positions in the church, including as an elected bishop for the Council of Missionary Churches of Christ Inc., overseeing Hispanic congregations in four states. He also has professional experience in both the insurance and construction industries.
Julian received both his Master of Arts in Ministry Leadership and Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary/Cornerstone University. He also holds a Doctor of Ministry in urban Hispanic ministry from Western Theological Seminary. In his role as the director of the Center, he provides training, support, and ministry resources to urban church leaders. He brings to the Center a passion for collaboration, education, organization, and planning, as well as a deep understanding of the joys and challenges of urban ministry. Guzmán and his wife Marina live in Wyoming, MI., and have three adult children who have blessed them with five wonderful grandchildren.
In this podcast, Julian tells of the work the UCLC performs in urban Grand Rapids and the hope that he has seeing many church leaders growing in their skills and knowledge of effective leadership and spiritual truth.
Chris Cooper led a team that founded the Mapping Center for Evangelism and Church Growth in 1997 and currently serves as President.
BlessEveryHome.com is the primary project of the Mapping Center and a major movement to fulfill the Great Commission throughout the United States. More than 87,000 Lights for Christ have signed up to live Pray-Care-Share lifestyles with 3.3 million neighbor homes. These Lights have posted more than 26 million prayers by name for those neighbors.
Previously, Chris was the VP for Development for the “I'm Third Foundation” that sponsored Christian sports camps for more than 4,000 urban youth from 65 cities throughout America. He also served as the Executive Director of a pro-family organization where he created development and communication strategies used in 35 states.
Chris grew up in the Chicago area and received a Presidential Appointment to the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. In 1969, he transferred to Kansas University and graduated with honors in 1971 with a B.S. degree in Business Administration.
In this podcast, Chris explains how the BlessEveryHome.com app allows Christians to pray for their neighbors by name, with the hope that after PRAYER, there will be opportunities to CARE for their neighbors, and then to SHARE the life-saving Gospel with them. Chris also tells about the miraculous way in which he came to faith in Christ.
Jim Sprague, MSW, is the Chief Executive Officer of the Pregnancy Resource Center (PRC) of Grand Rapids, MI whose mission is to live the truth that people matter to God.
Jim has been leading the organization for more than 20 years. He and his wife, Jody, have been part of the ministry since its inception in 1985, the same year they were married.
The Sprague’s have 3 adult children and one grandchild. Each of their children was adopted from an unplanned pregnancy situation, making Jim and Jody’s heart and passion for pregnancy care ministry both personal and sincere.
In this podcast, Jim shares what the law about abortion currently is in Michigan. He also indicates the high percentage of abortions that come from Evangelical church-going families and how the PRC can help local churches lovingly and compassionately promote childbirth among those who find themselves with challenging pregnancies. Jim and Randy also talk about the value of children created in the image of God and how we believers should welcome children truly as a “blessed event.”
Randy Hekman currently directs The Grand Awakening, an organization seeking revival and spiritual awakening in West Michigan. Previously, he served 15 years as a Kent County Probate-Juvenile Court Judge and then directed a succession of Christian non-profits. Randy’s writing includes these books: Justice for the Unborn, Truth that Sets America Free, and Sweeter by the Dozen: Making Jesus the Lord of Our Family Size. He and his wife Marcia are the proud (and grateful) parents of 12 children and grandparents to 35. In this podcast, Randy attempts to explain why the churches in nations that are under persecution in our world today are growing, while the churches in nations that are relatively free (including the U.S.) are in decline.
Windle H. Davis was born and raised in the Missouri Boot Heel and Northeast Arkansas. In 1972, he moved to Battle Creek, Michigan where he met and married the love of his life, Denice Rayburn Davis. In their 47 years as husband and wife they are thankful for their two children and seven grandchildren. Windle spent a number of years in music ministry, singing bass in a successful Southern Gospel quartet. He then began as pastor of his first church in Charlotte, Michigan which lasted five years, followed by seven years in direct evangelistic ministry. In 2002, Windle and Denice moved near Coloma, MI where he became the pastor of El Bethel Church of God (formerly Living Word Church of God) where he now serves. Windle’s passion is revival! He longs to see the church restored to its original state as an “upper room church” with apostolic power, anointing and authority. In that vein, Windle has volunteered to help organize a Solemn Assembly in Michigan to be held July 22 in Kalkaska, MI as part of a nation-wide movement called Prayer at the Heart (prayerattheheart.org) In this podcast, Windle shares about the upcoming Solemn Assembly and why all Michiganders who want to see God move in our state and nation should be there. We desperately need revival! There is no Plan B!
Randy and Marcia Hekman have been married for 52 years, but only have 12 children (and 35 grandkids) to show for it! They now lead The Grand Awakening, a nonprofit with the goal of calling the Church of West Michigan to revival, leading to another Great Spiritual Awakening.
After graduation from MIT and GWU Law School, Randy served as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney and then was a Probate-Juvenile Court Judge for 15 years before leaving the bench to serve various roles in the Christian nonprofit world.
Prior to the birth of their firstborn, Marcia taught at Thomas Jefferson High School in Northern Virginia. Since then, she has been an awesome fulltime mother of their growing family. She also is a gifted artist and an incredible evangelist, wholeheartedly sharing the Gospel with many who don’t yet know Jesus.
In this podcast, Marcia shares how she came to faith in Christ many years ago and the joy she continues to have in sharing the Gospel with others. She then relates how all of us can tell others about Jesus and His incredible offer of salvation how they can begin their personal relationship with God.
Vance Day is a modern-day profile in courage who strongly believes in helping to raise a generation of leaders equipped to address an ever-changing world. Few have had their personal convictions more sorely tested or triumphed over the politics of religious persecution and personal destruction like Judge Day.
Judge Day received his undergraduate degree Warner Pacific University in 1984 and his law degree from Willamette University College of Law in 1991. Vance is an accomplished trial lawyer and a member of the Oregon State Bar, and numerous other courts including the United States Supreme Court. He has tried over 300 bench and jury trials.
In September 2011 Mr. Day was appointed by Governor John Kitzhaber to serve as a Circuit Court Judge in Oregon’s Third Judicial District. He was elected to a full six-year term in November of 2012.
The primary function of a judge is to preside over cases, but judges are also permitted, at their discretion, to officiate weddings. In 2014 Judge Day, based on his Christian convictions, quitely recused himself from marrying same-sex couples—a decision that in no way prevented same-sex couples from getting married. As a result, he became the focus of a sustained, vicious attack that sought to end his career, take away his license to practice law, strip him of his possessions, ruin his reputation, and even have him imprisoned. Yet Vance maintained his innocence and kept his promise to his faith, to his family, and to the constitution. In October 2018, the State’s criminal case was dismissed, and the house of cards constructed against Vance collapsed from the weight of its own preposterousness.
Judge Day has served as a leader in Promise Keepers. He currently serves as Of Counsel to The James Madison Center for Free Speech. He is also head of the Oregon Free Speech Initiative and travels his home state educating communities on inalienable rights and how to productively engage in restoring our republic.
In this podcast, both Judge Day and our host Judge Hekman tell their stories of how their being faithful in their Christian faith resulted in them having to endure significant opposition as judges. They also as jurists describe how totally proper and consistent with our Constitution and the manner in which courts are supposed to operate would it be for the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse Roe v Wade in the coming days.
Erwin W. Lutzer is Pastor Emeritus of The Moody Church where he served as the Senior Pastor for 36 years. He earned an undergraduate degree in theology from Winnipeg Bible College, a Masters in Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, a Masters in Philosophy from Loyola University, and an honorary law degree from the Simon Greenleaf School of Law. A clear expositor of the Bible, Dr. Lutzer is the featured speaker on three radio programs that are heard on more than 1,000 outlets in the United States and around the world: • Running to Win—a daily Bible-teaching broadcast; • Moody Church Hour—The Moody Church’s Sunday morning worship service; • Songs in the Night—an evening program that’s been airing since 1943. Dr. Lutzer is also an award-winning author of numerous books including: We Will Not Be Silenced, Pandemics Plagues and Natural Disasters, The Church In Babylon, Rescuing The Gospel, He Will Be The Preacher, The Cross In The Shadow Of The Crescent, One Minute After You Die, When A Nation Forgets God [about Nazi Germany], and Christian Bookseller’s Gold Medallion Award winner, Hitler’s Cross. He and his wife Rebecca have co-written the books: Life-Changing Bible Verses You Should Know and Jesus, Lover of a Woman’s Soul. His speaking engagements include Bible conferences and seminars, both domestically and internationally, including: Russia, the Republic of Belarus, Germany, Scotland, Guatemala, and Japan. He also leads tours to Israel and the cities of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. Dr. Lutzer and Rebecca live in the Chicago area. They have three grown children and eight grandchildren. In this podcast, Dr. Lutzer describes how the church in America has sadly been heavily influenced by our secular culture, but that individual believers are called to choose to repent and live wholeheartedly for the Lord and His truth in love. This may well include being rejected by culture, impacting one’s employment or worse. He also indicated how the lack of unity in the church in America is one of the biggest obstacles for revival and spiritual awakening.
Randy and Marcia Hekman have been married for 52 years, but only have 12 children (and 35 grandkids) to show for it! They now lead The Grand Awakening, a nonprofit with the goal of calling the Church of West Michigan to revival, leading to another Great Spiritual Awakening.
After graduation from MIT and GWU Law School, Randy served as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney and then was a Probate-Juvenile Court Judge for 15 years before leaving the bench to serve various roles in the Christian nonprofit world.
Prior to the birth of their firstborn, Marcia taught at Thomas Jefferson High School in Northern Virginia. Since then, she has been an awesome fulltime mother of their growing family. She also is a gifted artist and an incredible evangelist, wholeheartedly sharing the Gospel with many who don’t yet know Jesus.
In this podcast, Marcia and Randy discuss what God is saying to the American Church with a special emphasis on the incredible value of children and the importance of making Jesus the Lord of every area of our lives.
Rev. Jon Mitchell has an amazing spirit, heart, and passion for the Kingdom of God and he desires to see lives ignited by the manifest presence of Christ. He is the Growth Director of the College of Prayer International, a global ministry actively mentoring, training, and equipping over 15 million Christian pastors and church leaders to reach a lost world through a revived church. He provides oversight to the growth, traction to the vision, and travels extensively to stir revival and teach on prayer wherever he goes. Jon also oversees Revival Now Media, an equipping ministry that provides churches and families with video, audio, and print resources that lead people to a fresh encounter with Christ and equips them to live lives empowered by the Holy Spirit. Jon lives in metro-Atlanta and loves spending time with his wife and three little girls, as well as watching the Alabama Crimson Tide beat other teams in football.
In this podcast, Jon shares how hopeful he is for God to send another revival and spiritual awakening to our world before Christ’s Second Coming (which he feels is imminent!) But for America to experience such an awakening will require more hunger on the part o f Christ-followers, leading to more collaboration of churches and fervent prayer. Jon concludes his remarks by sharing what simple steps we Christians can take to grow in our prayer lives.
Jonathan DeCou is currently serving as the Lead Pastor of Preaching & Teaching at Whitneyville Bible Church in Alto, Michigan. He brings more than 40 years of ministry experience to his current ministry responsibilities.
After his training at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois, DeCou served a number of churches across the country in various capacities. He has served as teaching pastor, worship arts pastor, and provided pulpit supply, all in addition to an extensive ministry of teaching at conferences and through church consulting.
DeCou states his passion for life this way: “I want to spend my life and all my talent and gifts to exceptionally and excellently make God famous, encourage other Christ-followers and introduce others to Jesus Christ.”
Jonathan is married to the love of his life, Shari, and together they have five children (a daughter and four sons), a “son-in-love”, two “daughters-in-love” and four beautiful grandchildren.
In this podcast, Jonathan shares how he grieves for our beloved nation and what we Christ-followers must do to bring much-needed healing to America.
Moses Alexander is the Pastor of Acts Gospel Outreach Ministry located in the NW quadrant of Grand Rapids. Moses has been in ministry for 37 years, 25 of which he has served as a pastor. He and his dear wife Diane have been married for 49 years. God has blessed them with 5 wonderful children, and now 6 precious grandchildren. Moses feels called by the Lord to reach those that are not saved with the life-giving Gospel of Jesus Christ. He also has a heart to reach out in love to those who are homeless, addicted to drugs or ensnared by other debilitating habits or lifestyles.
In this podcast, Pastor Moses describes his call to ministry and how he regularly sees the power of God bring healing to lives and how he has hope for God to move in power in our region, state and nation as well.
Jay Jones is a church planter, speaker, author, and senior pastor of the Pentecostals of Kentwood Church in West Michigan. His training included studying at the Christian Leaders Institute, and he has instructed at the Purpose Institute. Jay is a passionate worshipper of Jesus Christ, a husband, and a father. He has a genuine heart for fervent prayer, for selfless service, and for seeing the Gospel of Jesus Christ spread throughout his community, state and nation for the glory of God.
In this podcast, Jay talks about the importance, in ministry and life itself, of keeping Jesus the ultimate goal. Not seeing miracles or seeing our churches grow in numbers, as wonderful as these things may be. We need to keep our eyes on Him!
Whether smuggling Bibles, feeding lepers or working/living amongst a Muslim people group as a Humanitarian Pastor, Mick Veach’s commitment to share the love of God has taken him all over the world.
Mick has served as a Global Partners’ Area Director for Central Asia and the Middle East, he has presented the gospel in more than 60 countries, been the Lead Pastor of a large suburban church north of Detroit, planted Mosaic Midtown in Detroit and is now the Lead Pastor of Kentwood Community Church in Kentwood, Michigan.
Mick’s desire is and always has been to see God’s truth compel others to action and to foster healthy local churches that engage in evangelism and discipleship.
He and his wife, Melanie, have three adult children and live in West Michigan.
In this podcast, Mick describes his personal journey of faith and how that has led to his passion today to bring revival and awakening to his congregation, our region, our state and our nation. In light of cultural trends, Mick anticipates growing opposition to Biblical truth and even the potential of persecution. But he is confident of ultimate victory in Christ!
Scott Hekman is the Executive Pastor of the Downtown Congregation of the Austin Stone Community Church in Austin, Texas. He’s married to Lydia and together they are the parents of four awesome children, three daughters and one son. Scott received his undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from Calvin College and a Masters Degree in Water Resources Engineering from University of Texas in Austin. Scott transitioned from engineering to ministry about nine years ago as he and Lydia sensed the call of God to do so. Due to his background as both a pastor and an engineer, Scott enjoys talking about both Jesus and water treatment technology! He is also the precious eighth born child to Randy and Marcia Hekman! They are so proud of and thankful for him!
Renée Allsbrook is a classically trained pianist, church music director, worship leader, and songwriter. She received her Bachelor’s of Music in piano performance from Indiana University-Bloomington, and subsequently went on to study at Mannes College of Music in Manhattan, giving recitals and free-lancing during her nine years in New York.
Renée has a poet’s pen and a prophet’s heart, and tends to write music appropriate for worship, repentance and renewal. Her first album of original songs, “Call it Joy” (under the artist name Novare Music) came out in 2015, and her second album, “Daughters and Sons,” was released earlier this month. As the second-born of Randy and Marcia Hekman’s dozen children, Renee has always had a heart for young people, and volunteers as a leader in her local public elementary school’s after-school Bible Club.
Renée and her artist husband Luke reside in the mountains of western North Carolina. They have one married son (with a grandchild on the way in June) and three younger children, ages 18, 16 and 15.
In this podcast, Renée shares how God is powerfully using her music, poetry and words to bless the lives of many people—young and old—who are desperately looking for healing in our hurting world.
Marlin and Becky Bontrager, as husband and wife, are now blessed with 10 amazing children. While Marlin spends part of his days managing his farm, he also spends much of the year traveling throughout North America with his family blessing churches and groups of people with the wonderful music of their Bontrager Family Singers. Wife Becky is a full time mother who loves investing daily in the lives of their family. Becky thrives on having everyone around the table, gardening and cooking, and going on coffee dates with her children or young mothers who need encouragement. She also loves babysitting her many grandkids. And when the family is on the road, Becky’s beautiful voice lends sweetness to the family band. She also enjoys helping to arrange new songs for them to sing.
In this podcast, Marlin and Becky talk with Randy and Marcia Hekman about the joys of trusting God to be the Lord of their family sizes. The Hekmans’ broadcast years ago on Focus on the Family concerning their large family had a profound impact on the Bontragers openness to having additional children. Our world has been greatly blessed by their courageous obedience to God’s call.
Atheist-turned-Christian Lee Strobel, the former award-winning legal editor of The Chicago Tribune, is a New York Times best-selling author of more than forty books and curricula that have sold fourteen million copies in total. He currently serves as Founding Director of the Lee Strobel Center for Evangelism and Applied Apologetics at Colorado Christian University. Lee was educated at the University of Missouri (Bachelor of Journalism degree) and Yale Law School (Master of Studies in Law degree).
After probing the evidence for Jesus for nearly two years, Lee became a Christian in 1981. In 2017, Lee’s spiritual journey was depicted in an award-winning motion picture, The Case for Christ, which showed in theaters around the world. Lee and his wife Leslie have been married for forty-nine years. Their daughter, Alison, is a novelist and homeschooling expert (www.goodschooling.net), and their son, Kyle, is a professor of spiritual theology at the Talbot School of Theology at Biola University.
In this podcast, Lee provides hope that the Gospel still has power to change lives, but we need to get our evangelical churches to make sharing the Good News a priority. In our conversation, Lee suggests a way by which this can happen.
Rich Correll is a former steel marketing executive turned church planting missionary to Ukraine. Since 1991, Rich has traveled to Ukraine over 145 times and has helped plant 2071 churches resulting in over 14,000 baptisms and the establishment of 91 drug rehab homes. When he launched Church Planters' Training International (CPTI) in 1992 as founder and president, Rich had no prior theological or church planting experience, nor did he know any of the languages spoken by the people of Ukraine. "My joke is we did everything wrong but it worked out pretty good," said Correll.
However, Rich does possess the gift of exhortation and maintains a heartbeat for an apostolic vision. In Ukraine, Rich looked for people to work with “who have dirty hands and dirty feet." He defines "dirty hands and feet" as people who are preaching the Gospel in the marketplace and ministering to the needs of people. This produced the amazing results by God’s grace.
In this podcast Rich responds to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and explains how and why the Christians there are defending their land like they have had to do many times in the past. He encourages us to be praying for our brothers and sisters there and how we can be of help to them financially. He also shares how churches in any nation can become lazy and ineffective when things get too easy. This is a warning to the American Church to wake up and BE the church rather than just gather weekly in our comfortable church buildings.
James Pool has served as a pastor in Texas for 30 years. After that, he became the National Prayer Director for OneCry, and has been in that role since its inception ten years ago. He also started a college student organization called OneCry for Baylor University, and now serves as its onsite sponsor in Waco, TX. James is also a part of PrayerLink, the Southern Baptist Convention's state prayer leader network. He and his wife Valerie are parents to three wonderful children. In this podcast, James shares his heart for revival and spiritual awakening and the importance not only for us as individuals to repent of our sinful actions and attitudes, but also for entire churches to corporately repent for their sins like the churches Jesus addresses in the Book of Revelation in Scripture. James describes how he has personally seen how God has wonderfully blessed churches and communities where corporate repentance has taken place.
Bruce Bruinsma is a central figure in the "Retirement Reformation" movement. As the Founder and CEO of Envoy Financial, a retirement provider that serves those in ministry, Bruce has encouraged men and women for over 25 years to look at retirement as a "Future Funded Ministry" where they will have the time and financial freedom to apply a life's worth of talent and experiences to God's Kingdom. In addition, Bruce is the co-founder of several businesses that financially support ministries and communities in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Bruce is also the author of several books (including Retirement Reformation released in 2018), consults with Christian ministries worldwide, and is an energetic, sought-after presenter. Currently, he lives in Colorado with his wife Judy. In this podcast, Bruce shares how God wants those in their senior years to be a much-needed light in a dark world. While modern culture belittles senior citizens, God is calling them to use their wisdom and resources to help bring the revival and awakening American so desperately needs.
Neal Karsten grew up in West Michigan and came to know Jesus when he was at Hope College. With this major change in his life, Neal immediately gained a desire to see passionate believers raised up and empowered for mission. After working as a pastor within the traditional church for 10 years, Neal sensed a clear calling to see disciple making and simple church multiplication take place throughout North America. This work is continuing to multiply in many cities and states by the grace of God. He currently serves with Biglife as the Director of the work throughout North America. He and his wife Sara are the proud parents of three awesome daughters. In this podcast, Neal helps explain why the church in America has been in decline while the churches in persecuted lands have been growing. Bottom line: in many ways, the American church has been operating in a consumeristic fashion out of the flesh rather than daily dying to self and trusting Christ to miraculously do His work through us by His Spirit.
Dr. Jim Denison returns for a second podcast. Jim is the Chief Vision Officer of Denison Forum. Through The Daily Article email newsletter and podcast (DenisonForum.org), social media, interviews, and articles across the internet, Denison Forum reaches 2.6 million culture-changing Christians every month. Jim and his wife, Janet, live in Dallas, Texas, and they have two sons and four grandchildren. In this podcast, Jim talks about his recently released book The Coming Tsunami: Why Christians Are Labeled Intolerant, Irrelevant, Oppressive, and Dangerous—and How We Can Turn the Tide. This book does a great job of clarifying what is coming against the Church of America in our day and how we Christ-followers can and should be lovingly but courageously speaking and living the truth as salt and light to our hurting world.
Dianne Lee grew up on a farm in northeastern South Dakota and has lived in Aberdeen, SD for over 30 years. She was employed as a medical social worker until her retirement in 2020. Dianne and her husband, Jeff, have three adult children and four grandchildren.
For the past several years, Diane has had the privilege of mentoring many young women in her community, offering these women encouragement, support, and counsel based on Biblical principles. Eight years ago, she followed God’s prompting to gather a group of women from different area churches for prayer. This resulted in the founding of “Women at the Well”, a prayer group that continues to meet weekly for prayer and has hosted two interdenominational community women’s events. Her heart’s desire is to draw close to God and to inspire other women to be “all in” with God.
In this podcast, Dianne shares her heart for seeing God move in power in our nation and what it will take to turn so many nominal Christians that we now have into genuine Christ-followers who are totally sold out to our Lord.
Dr. Wayne Grudem is Distinguished Research Professor of Theology and Biblical Studies at Phoenix Seminary in Arizona. He is a graduate of Harvard, Westminster Seminary, and the University of Cambridge, England. He has published over twenty-five books, including Systematic Theology, and Politics According to the Bible. He is a past president of the Evangelical Theological Society, and he was the general editor of the ESV Study Bible. He and his wife Margaret have been married since 1969 and have three adult sons.
In this podcast, Wayne offers some hope for the Church in America while also admitting she needs to be all in with our Lord. Wayne likewise shares from his broad experience what he believes is the proper Biblical role of Christians in political matters today.
Pastor Keith Hemmila graduated from the University of Minnesota, Duluth with a Bachelor of Science degree and earned a Master of Divinity degree from Bethel Seminary, Saint Paul, Minnesota. He pastored in San Francisco, California, Hibbing Minnesota, Marquette Michigan, and Crossfire Church in Rockford, Michigan that he and his wife Judy founded in 2005 and continue to Pastor at present. Pastor Keith is presently the co-founder of the Black Robe Regiment which is a network of pastors who are committed to cultural change based on a biblical worldview. He strongly believes that civil government will only positively change when the church experiences revival that causes spiritual awakening in our communities. In this podcast, Keith discusses how American pastors need to speak the truth to cultural and even governmental issues with courage and love.
John Geaney serves as the Pastor of Faith Baptist Church here in Kentwood, MI. Originally from the United Kingdom, John moved to the Grand Rapids area with his Wife Stacie and 8 children in September 2016. His undergraduate is in Theology, from Westminster College, Oxford. Following on from that John studied at Cornhill in a one year intensive of Biblical Exegesis. John previously served as the Pastor at 5th Avenue Baptist Church in Rome, GA, associate minister at The Holy Redeemer Church, South London, and as Youth worker at Christ Church in East London. John’s passions are Jesus, his family, preaching, coffee, and pro life apologetics. He is also a diehard Arsenal Soccer fan. Feel free to get in touch and meet with John to learn more about Jesus and to tell him your story, at faithon44th.com. In this second of two podcasts, John shares about the need for much more unity among the churches here in West Michigan as a perquisite to the revival and spiritual awakening that we have been seeking. He also decries the sin of abortion as reflecting our not viewing people as really created in God’s image and therefore of great value.
John Geaney serves as the Pastor of Faith Baptist Church here in Kentwood, MI. Originally from the United Kingdom, John moved to the Grand Rapids area with his Wife Stacie and 8 children in September 2016. His undergraduate is in Theology, from Westminster College, Oxford. Following on from that John studied at Cornhill in a one year intensive of Biblical Exegesis. John previously served as the Pastor at 5th Avenue Baptist Church in Rome, GA, associate minister at The Holy Redeemer Church, South London, and as Youth worker at Christ Church in East London. John’s passions are Jesus, his family, preaching, coffee, and pro life apologetics. He is also a diehard Arsenal Soccer fan. Feel free to get in touch and meet with John to learn more about Jesus and to tell him your story, at faithon44th.com. In this first of two podcasts, John shares how the American Church is “paper thin” in its depth of knowing and obeying the Scriptures and how this has greatly impacted our lack of impact on our hurting nation.
Byron Paulus serves at Life Action Ministries (parent organization of Revive Our Hearts, Life Action, and OneCry). After serving 30 years as President/CEO, he now focuses on speaking, writing, and strategic partnerships, while serving on the Board of Directors and LAM’s Leadership Team. He is also the founder of OneCry: A Nationwide Call for Spiritual Awakening. His passion is to witness another Great Awakening in his lifetime. He is married to Sue, and they have three married children, and 13 grandchildren. They live in Niles, MI.
In this podcast, Byron shares how both united prayer and wholehearted repentance of us Christ-followers are critical if we hope to experience the revival and awakening we have been seeking. He shares a vivid story from Connersville, IN that highlights this truth.
David Moore II is originally from California. He attended California State University at Northridge, and studied Journalism, Creative Writing and Music. Later, he obtained an Associate of Biblical Studies Degree from Charis Bible College located in Woodland Park, Colorado. David is an accomplished writer, and worked with the Andrew Wommack Ministries as a Content Supervisor for a number of years. David has been married to his dear wife Dwell for 19 years, and together they parent eight amazing children. He leads a local home fellowship and has a passion to reach the Westernized Church with his prophetic gifting. In this podcast, David shares what he believes is preventing the spiritual awakening we have been praying for from happening, and what we need to do to remedy that situation.
Dr. Terry Slachter is the Executive Director of Reaching America Ministries, and lead pastor at Lamont Christian Reformed Church in Coopersville, MI. He has written a number of Bible studies and evangelistic materials to equip Churches and individual Christians to do saturation evangelism in their neighborhoods. He has also authored books and lectured on spiritual awakening movements and pastoral encouragement. Terry and his wife Carmen have two married daughters and three grandchildren. In this podcast, Terry reminds us of what prior generations of Americans did to encourage God to bring revival and awakening in our nation and what it will take for God to do it again in our day.
Israel Wayne is a father of eleven who is passionate about defending the Christian faith and developing a Biblical worldview. He is the Director of Family Renewal, an international speaker, and author of the books Questions God Asks and Questions Jesus Asks, among others. More information may be found at www.familyrenewal.org. In this podcast Israel talks about the need for parents, with special focus on fathers, to step up to the plate and utilize their prayers, words, authority and example to influence their children for Jesus and His ways. That when this is done by many in our nation, the result will likely be a massive revival and spiritual awakening!
John Whitehead is an attorney and author who has written, debated and practiced widely in the area of Constitutional law, human rights and popular culture. He is the founder and leader of The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties and human rights organization located in Charlottesville, Virginia. Whitehead has been co-counsel in several landmark Supreme Court cases. He has authored more than 30 books on various legal and social issues. In addition, he wrote and directed the celebrated documentary video series Grasping for the Wind about key cultural events of the 20th Century. In this podcast, John talks about how our American government has been steadily eroding our Constitutional rights and what we American Christians should be doing to take a stand against this dangerous trend.
Allan E. Parker, JD, is the President and Co-Founder of The Justice Foundation, which seeks to pray, litigate, educate and advocate for Life, Liberty and Justice. Allan is a former Professor of Law at two universities in Texas and a member of the Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court. In fact, it was Allan’s organization that represented Norma McCorvey, the "Roe" of Roe v. Wade and Sandra Cano, the "Doe" of Doe v. Bolton, for over 12 years in their legal efforts to reverse their cases. Not only is Allan a distinguished attorney, seeking the end of abortion in our nation, he also is a revivalist, seeking to see revival come again to America. But he believes neither of these goals is possible without massive repentance on our part. You will enjoy hearing Allan’s heart for God and His Kingdom.
Brent Brooks has been the Senior Pastor of Reno Christian Fellowship for the last 15 years. His background includes being a civil trial attorney prior to getting into ministry. Since coming to Reno, Brent was instrumental in helping to form and grow what has been called OneCry Reno which brings together over 100 ministries – Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, Evangelical, Charismatic, and Pentecostal - to pursue revival for the community. Brent and his wife Jill have a daughter Abby and also what he describes as three “incredible grandchildren.” In this podcast Brent explains how God continues to work in the Reno area and what he senses are the trends for the greater work of God in our nation today.
Dr. Jim Denison is the Chief Vision Officer of Denison Forum. Through The Daily Article email newsletter and podcast (DenisonForum.org), social media, interviews, and articles across the internet, Denison Forum reaches 2.6 million culture-changing Christians every month. Jim and his wife, Janet, live in Dallas, Texas, and they have two sons and four grandchildren. In this podcast, Jim discusses the current trends in American culture: on one hand showing how things are getting bleaker, but, on the other hand, how many segments of the church are actually having a growing impact in our world. He says there is a coming spiritual and cultural “tsunami” that will bring increasing pressure to bear on Christ-followers in America, but that it will also serve to help us take a bolder and more loving stand for Jesus.
Howie Levin is the Executive Director of OneHeartDC, an impactful nonprofit ministry located in our nation’s capital that has brought together over 750 churches and Christian ministries in the metro DC area with the goal of bringing the power of the Gospel to the millions of people living in that region. While raised Jewish, Howie came to faith in Christ later in life. He is doing an amazing job joining ministry leaders with marketplace leaders for the sake of spreading the Good News. You will be touched and encouraged by what he shares!
Simon Guevara is an ordained pastor currently serving in a suburb of Chicago. He hasn’t always served in ministry—in fact, he hasn’t always been a Christian. Raised culturally religious, he considered himself an “informed atheist” as a young adult. But the Lord had planted a seed of faith in his heart that opened him to the gospel on his 30th birthday. “I don’t say that I accepted Jesus at that time, more than I surrendered myself to Christ in His mercy.” Later, he followed the Lord’s leading to leave his career in broadcasting for ministry. He graduated Grand Rapids Theological Seminary in ’08 and has pastored churches in Michigan and Texas, before coming back north to Illinois in ‘18. He is passionate for evangelism and living out of the abundant love of God. His real joy is his wife Alicia (Hekman) and their family of 5—each with wildly different personalities.
Prayer is one of our greatest privileges as Christ followers. Dave Butts is a dear friend and has taught me personally so much about prayer. He is a much sought after conference speaker both nationally and internationally. Dave serves on several Boards of Directors and committees focused on prayer, revival and evangelism including being the Chairman of both the National Prayer Committee and the National Day of Prayer. He is a prolific writer, authoring 14 books and many articles on various aspects of prayer.
Adam T. Barr (MDiv, ThM), along with his wife, Jen, is the founder of Inheritance, a church-multiplying movement located in Grand Rapids, MI. In addition to 20+ years of ministry in the local church, Adam speaks and has published on Christianity and Culture, helping followers of Jesus pursue mission in an increasingly post-Christian society. Adam and Jen live with their four sons in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has much to say about what God is telling the American Church in our day.
Dean Vander Mey is the Executive Director of Set Free Ministries, based in Grand Rapids, MI. His ministry meets with people in crisis and guides them in the truth of Scripture to find freedom, peace and joy in Christ Jesus. In this podcast, Dean spells out clearly how our arch-enemy Satan is our ultimate enemy and how he uses our emotions to enslave us to sinful patterns of thoughts, words and deeds. Dean also describes how the lukewarm sand even sinful lifestyles of us members of the American Church in many ways stands in the way of the revival and awakening that we long for and so desperately need. Yet, we end the podcast with a word of hope that God will, as He has in the past, use the pain of our circumstances to drive the remnant to pray and obey so God will indeed respond with pouring out His Spirit in our land for the building of His Kingdom for His glory.
John Scafe is the Great Lakes Regional Director for Promise Keepers. Much of his life has revolved around ministering to Christian men and encouraging them to be the real deal: to avoid passivity and to lovingly bring God’s grace and truth into their marriages and families. He has much to share about what God is saying to Christ-followers in America today.
In this podcast, we talk with an amazing woman of God, Liz Doyle. Among other things, Liz has motivated Christian women from all over the world to unite to provide a Christlike influence. She formed a group called “She Leads Michigan” and will soon form “She Leads America.” Liz has some great things to share with us today.
In this podcast, Pastor Rod VanSolkema of Crossroads Bible Church in Grand Rapids tells us what he senses God wants to say to the American Church in our day. In short, God has some very direct things on His mind. We need to listen and have the courage to obey Him even if we get "cancelled" by our woke culture.
Pastor Thomas Wilson who along with his wife Adriane co-pastor the Word of Faith Church in Grand Rapids, MI. Tom has been praying for revival for many years. He brings to our podcast a sincere love for the Lord and a wonderful ability to teach and preach the Word of God. He is in tune with what our Lord is saying to the American Church today.
In this track, Pastor Bill Elliff from Little Rock, AR describes what he senses God desires to say to the Church in America. He also says what it will take for us to experience the revival and spiritual awakening that we have been praying for. He is cautiously optimistic that we WILL experience such a powerful move of God. He also shares how God is already moving in our nation for His glory.