Anita Lustrea

I first encountered Ruth Everhart‘s writing while reading a friend’s blog post. I knew I had to read her book Ruined. I also knew I could hardly bear to read her book Ruined. When Ruth was a senior at a small midwestern college, two armed intruders held her and her 4 roommates captive and took turns raping them. This is every woman’s greatest fear, or some variation of it.

What surprised me most was that Ruth is a Presbyterian pastor and has been for two decades. What did the healing journey look like that brought her from serious trauma to pastor? And how does one go about putting the shattered pieces of their emotional and physical and spiritual life back together in a way that makes any sense at all after such a horror?

Ruth uncovers the often shallow version of faith many of us grow up with. How does that faith begin to form the foundation for a deeper experience of Jesus, or can it?

No matter what trauma or loss you are experiencing, the themes throughout our conversation on this week’s podcast are transcendent. I hope you’ll choose to listen. It’s probably not a conversation for little ones to overhear, but it’s an important one for all adults!

Thanks for choosing to listen to Faith Conversations and for sharing it with your friends!

Tracey Bianchi is, first and foremost, a friend. She also happens to be one of the pastors at the church I attend. Since my husband is one of the pastors, too, to take the pressure off of him, I consider Tracey to be my pastor, and she is a great one. Not only is she a marvelous speaker, but I can talk about ANYTHING with her. You know, those topics you think are off limits with pastors, or that you’re afraid to bring up? I can say anything in front of Tracey with no judgement! So she is one of my favorite people!

On the podcast this week, we talk about what it looks like to overcome self-doubt and use your voice. Tracey, along with Adele Calhoun have penned the book True You, which is where we center our conversation. Largely we are talking to women with this topic. Most men grow up knowing and speaking their voice. They usually don’t question if they should speak up. They do, and people listen. Not so much with women. Tracey is a pastor and the reality is that it’s a lot harder for her to find a job than 80% of other male pastors out there. While our conversation isn’t about that, I thought the fact was important to note in the context of what we are talking about.

Another part of our conversation centered on the fact that no matter your age or life stage, women find it difficult to bring their true selves to the mix. How can we stop doubting who we are and really bring all of us to the table? I think our conversation this week helps address that question.

Happy Listening.

I met Michael Cieslak for the first time via email. He happened upon the Faith Conversations podcast and took a moment to email his appreciation. We share the fuller story on the podcast. A number of weeks later he emailed an article and suggested I might try to book, as a guest, the person who wrote the article. Here is the article which serves as a backdrop to our conversation on the podcast. I read the article and decided, why book the writer of the article? Why not ask Michael to join me and discuss the article along with other things! He said, “Yes!” And I’m grateful because a new friend was made and an excellent conversation was had!

Michael is thoughtful and deeply interested in helping people take a deeper dive into faith in Christ. His mission field is within the Catholic Church and we talk about some of the similarities and differences in where God has placed each of us. The bottom line is that we talk about discipleship and what it does look like and what it could look like.

If you find good conversation partners along life’s way, you are rich, indeed. I’m a millionaire I’ve come to discover! Deeply grateful Michael reached out and this will not be the last time we hear his voice on Faith Conversations.

Happy Listening!

Melinda Schmidt and Michelle Van Loon join me again on the podcast. This time we talk about life transitions and their accompanying grief.

We’ll talk about how people respond to others in transition and how to best walk alongside someone in that season of life. Each of us are honest about where we are in life and what put us there. We also talk about engaging with God in the midst of our struggles.

Michelle has written a great book that could be helpful during a season of transition. It’s all about regret and titled If Only.

If you find yourself or a friend in the throes of transition, check out this week’s podcast.

Happy listening!

It’s always a fun time to have my husband, Mike Murphy, on the podcast. He is a good thinker and has helped me learn how to think deeper and broader about a variety of issues.

He is a pastor, and so Christian faith colors everything he says and does. I’ve received emails from many of you asking if I would have Mike back on the podcast to talk about the current political climate and possibly help with a grid for voting. While we won’t tell you how to vote, I think Mike says some insightful things and there is a really good exchange about this difficult election season during our conversation.

What does it mean for Christian people—people who value issues of faith—to vote their conscience? And how do we talk about it when a good friend or neighbor holds an opposing view? Just a couple of the important questions we tackle.

The book we have posted this week is The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything—a worthy read by James Martin that we find ourselves recommending to many these days.

I hope our conversation is helpful!

Happy listening!

Chris Fabry and I go back 33 years. I was the first babysitter for his and Andrea’s first child while they took a parenting break to play tennis. An inexperienced babysitter, I was just glad Erin stayed asleep the entire tennis match! Our friendship goes beyond the parent/babysitter relationship, however. While Chris and I were broadcasting colleagues for many years, it was his writing career that I’ve really enjoyed watching.

It might be a surprise to some that he’s written over 70 books, some of which are children’s books. I got hooked on Chris’s writing when I read his book June Bug. When someone loves what they do and works hard at it, it’s always a joy to see them rewarded. Chris has been a Christy award nominee 6 times and twice, in 2009 and 2011, he found himself a Christy winner.

On the podcast this week we talk about his latest book, The Promise of Jesse Woods. What I always appreciate about Chris’s novels is the emotional depth and his willingness to delve into painful issues. Sometimes we need to move backward in order to move forward and we see that in The Promise of Jesse Woods as characters have no choice but to address and process pieces from their past in order to move forward into their future.

I hope you’ll check out this week’s podcast as we look at our own stories while digging into the story of Jesse Woods alongside Chris Fabry.

Happy Listening.

When good friends join you around the table, good conversation usually happens. That was the case when Melinda Schmidt, Michelle Van Loon, and I sat around my kitchen table to talk. We talked about our past as well as our present and a significant amount of laughter found its way into our conversation as well.

Something all three of us value, and believe is important, is the life of the mind. We don’t think Jesus was kidding when he said in Mark 12:30, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Often we grab onto loving God with our heart, soul and strength, but gloss over loving him with our mind. Probably because we’re not exactly sure what that looks like. We discuss that on the podcast, especially as it relates to women.

Since all three of us are big conversationalists, it’s no surprise that we talked about the art of conversation and how important it is to remain curious throughout our lives, and how that serves us well in conversation. We also get into the nuts and bolts of starting a Conversation Group. We hope some of you will take up the challenge and then tell us about it.

Happy listening!

Remember that feeling of excitement when meeting someone you’ve admired at a distance for a while? That was my experience this week as I had the chance to talk with Lisa Sharon Harper on Faith Conversations. She is as dynamic as everyone says, so it’s not surprising that The Huffington Post recognized Lisa as one of 50 Powerful Women Religious Leaders. She is also considered one of the nation’s most influential voices on a faith-rooted approach to advocacy. Bottom line, when Lisa speaks, we ought to listen!

Many will know her from her involvement with Sojourners. She is the chief church engagement officer at Sojourners, a non-profit organization committed to putting Christian faith into action in the pursuit of social justice, peace, and environmental stewardship. You will often see Lisa’s name on bylines there. And, one thing I learned recording the podcast with Lisa, she can preach! If you have the chance to go hear her speak, do it!  Her speaking schedule is on her website.

We are living in a world where violence often is the lead off story on the news, and sadly, all too often stories of racial oriented violence. Lisa has written a book that speaks to the heart of what is going on in our country and world today. I highly recommend The Very Good Gospel as a book worthy of gathering a small group together, reading it through, and then spending time in discussion. The subtitle, how everything wrong can be made right, grabbed me by the throat in light of what is happening currently in the news. We need The Very Good Gospel now more than ever. May we be carriers of it into all corners of our world.

Happy listening!

Long time friend Dave Trout joins me for Episode 40 of Faith Conversations. Dave and I go way back and we talk about it on the podcast. The beginnings of my career, maybe even half of it, was all music all the time — first as a solo artist, then as a producer of large scale music events. I still love music even though it’s not my full time job anymore. In fact, I’ve interviewed Andrew Peterson on the podcast back in November, and The Gray Havens, just a few weeks ago.

For Dave Trout, music is his full-time job and he is passionate about spreading the word concerning new artists just getting started who don’t fit the mold of what is being played on Christian radio these days. And if you don’t think there is a mold, then listen to the podcast and hear Dave tell about “Becky.” You might be surprised and even a bit, or a lot, disappointed.

I hope everyone will start subscribing to Dave’s podcast at RadarRadio.net. There are lots of things to explore on the Under the Radar website and I hope you take some time to look and see what Dave has to say and what he has to offer there.

Dave also has a great event coming up that might be perfect for you and your whole family. It’s an event we tell about on the podcast called Escape to the Lake. Check it out here!

I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Dave, partly because it delved into our history together and my musical history, and it got me reminiscing well after the microphone was turned off.

Happy Listening!

On this week’s podcast I have the privilege of talking to the former President of Exodus International, Alan Chambers. I picked up a copy of his book, My Exodus, and couldn’t put it down. Three years ago during Alan’s keynote speech at the annual Exodus conference he announced that Exodus was closing its doors. Somewhere over the course of the 12 years that Alan was at the helm of the ministry, he realized that his own theology was shifting and that Exodus wasn’t accomplishing what they set out to accomplish.

These kinds of decisions are always difficult, but as Alan and his wife Leslie sat under the ministry of their pastor, they listened to a lengthy series he preached on grace. Leslie wrote, “We might lose everything because of grace,” on the bottom of a church bulletin one Sunday and passed it to Alan. That was a year before Exodus closed its doors, but that statement, indeed, came to pass.

I hope you’ll not only check out Alan’s book for the complete story, but also listen to the podcast this week.

You can find Alan’s website with more information about supporting him and Leslie here. And you can follow him on Twitter @alanmchambers.

Happy listening!