Starting at chapter one, in verse six of the book of john. It says, After this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias, and a large crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews was at hand, lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming towards him, Jesus said, to fill up, where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat? Now he said this to test him, for he knew himself what he would do, Philip answered, 200, denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon, Peter's brother said to him, there's a boy here, who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many? Jesus said, Have the people sit down, now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down about 5000, and number, Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated, so also the fish as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost. S o they gathered them up, filled 12 baskets, with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, this is indeed the prophet who has come into the world, perceiving that they were about to come and take him by forced to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. 

One of the things I want to encourage you with is that Jesus certainly cares about our spiritual being. But in this case, he was the one that mentioned, how are we going to feed all these people? Now he even says here that he knew what the answer was. But he said that to His disciples, just to kind of get them to think and to realize what was about to happen. One of the things I want to share is that we know, Jesus cares about our spiritual needs. 

Another thing I want to point out here is that Jesus is more powerful regardless of the situation that you're in.  I just want to remind you, regardless of where you're at, regardless of what you're going through, God is bigger than our problems, focus on him. And he will see us through. 

And finally, along those same lines, I just want to say if we stay close to Jesus, we know he'll care for us. 

Friends, I want to encourage you, wherever you're at today, we have people listening to this podcast from all over the world. And each of us live in different cultures in different situations and circumstances. But I want to tell you, hold on to Jesus. 

If you don't know Jesus as your Savior, I would encourage you find a Bible to find a Bible believing church and talk to someone. Read through the book of John, you'll see how much Jesus loves you how much God cares for you. And as you begin to focus on him, the things of this world will see much smaller, and you'll find that God does provide I want to thank you for listening today. I want to encourage you to subscribe if you're not already. I also want

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RESOURCES:

• Hope for Prisoners
• White House Statement of Jon's Pardon
• Donate to Hope for Prisoners
• Jon's Biography

Colossians 1:13-14
"For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

If you’ve listened to the show previously, you know that this podcast exists to share stories of hope and encouragement.  Well, today’s guest, Jon Ponder, certainly brings that. In our conversation, Jon shares his story of going from a convicted felon who was facing 23-years in prison, to becoming the Founder and CEO of an organization called “Hope for Prisoners”. We’ll talk more with Jon about “Hope for Prisoners” in our conversation too.

You may have recently heard about Jon Ponder during the Republican National Convention, where he received a full Presidential Pardon from President Donald Trump.  The transformation from his first arrest at age 12, to a hardened criminal, to CEO and an outspoken follower of Jesus Christ, will astound you & Jon’s story will stir you emotionally and leave you cheering.

  This may just be the most inspiring 50-some minutes of your week, so settle into your favorite chair and listen to Jon Ponder’s Conversation of Hope from Behind the Mike.

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Well, I’m not sure how to introduce my guest this week because he has so many roles: pastor, preacher, teacher, author, encourager, and so much more.

Max Lucado was one of the first at the top of my podcast guest list simply because of his encouragement to me over the years through his books.  He has written nearly 100 books with over 130 million in print today.  He has been a regular on bestseller lists including the New York Times Bestseller. He’s been featured on The Fox News Channel, Larry King Live, NBC Nightly News, and in USA Today, among others. He has also been a speaker at the National Prayer Breakfast.

I’m a big fan of Max Lucado. When I invited Max to join us on the podcast a few months ago, I was sent an advanced copy of his new book, “You Are Never Alone”, which is out this Tuesday.  The message in this new book of loneliness and trusting God is so incredibly timely for us all.  We’ll be talking with Max about what he learned as he referenced the Gospel of John for “You Are Never Alone”.  And as always, he has some incredible insight to share with us.

I know you will enjoy my Conversation of Hope with Max Lucado, from Behind the Mike.

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Have you ever had a moment in life when everything is going exactly the way you hoped it would? Maybe even better than you hoped—that time when you had complete joy and peace? Maybe you looked up with your hands raised to heaven and declared, “God, you are so good!”.  

What about that moment in life when everything seems to come crashing down.  Those moments when you are left with little to no hope. Instead of peace and joy, you are full of despair.  If you acknowledge God at all it’s something like, “God, how could you allow this to happen to me?”.

Maybe you are in that place of despair right now.  You wonder if you will ever find any semblance of hope, peace, or joy in life. You wonder why God would ever allow you to even be in this dark place—or worst yet, maybe you blame God for doing this to you?

My guest today knows exactly what it is like to go from a mountaintop experience to the darkest, deepest valley. There is hope.  You will find peace again, and you will experience joy unspeakable.

Dave Dravecky worked his way through the minor leagues to one day find his lifelong dream of becoming a Major League pitcher come true.  His career was moving forward when tragedy struck in the form of a cancerous tumor on his pitching arm. The doctors told Dave that, short of a miracle, he would never pitch again.  But Dave was focused on his comeback to Major League baseball.  

Less than a year after surgery removed half of Dave’s deltoid muscle, he made his comeback. He allowed 4 hits in 8 innings to beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-3. It was one of those mountaintop moments!

But Dave’s next Major League start would be his last.

I encourage you to share this episode with everyone you know.  We all need hope and encouragement, and I know you will be inspired as you listen to Dave Dravecky as he shares his story today from Behind the Mike.

RESOURCES:
Endurance.org - Dave & Jan's website
Dave & Jan's Books & More
The Cure (book Dave referenced)
Joni Eareckson Tada

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
Philippians 4:11-13
Ephesians 2:8-10
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If you haven’t already noticed, we are in an election year. This is, without a doubt, the most highly charged election season that I can remember. If it were up to me, I’d say that coronavirus is plenty for us to handle. However, on top of the virus (and all of the effects of it—job loss, quarantines, and loss of lives), we have added racial tensions, rioting in our cities, an exceptionally tense political race, hurricanes, derechos, wildfires, and we still have 4 months left in 2020!

Leaders across our country are making decisions no one ever thought we would have to consider. From city councils, mayors, and governors, to Congress and the White House. There is probably no better word to use for this time in our history than “unprecedented”.

It can be easy for us to have the ‘correct’ responses and answers to the problems we face, so I asked Christina Muryn, Mayor of my city, the City of Findlay, Ohio, to join me on this episode to give some perspective.  The majority of you listening probably don’t know anything about Findlay, Ohio. We are a city of approximately 42,000 people in northwestern Ohio.  We are the headquarters to corporations such as Marathon Petroleum, and Cooper Tire, we have major distribution centers such as Kohl’s and Best Buy, and we are proud of our Findlay City Schools and Trojan High School athletics.

Mayor Muryn shares some insight into her decision-making, whether it is everyday city operations issues or now, the challenges from COVID-19, protests and riots, and economic threats that face our cities. Mayor Muryn is wise beyond her years and offers hope, regardless of what city you call home.

Our conversation is centered around our faith.  Mayor Muryn is a Christ-follower and talks about how whether her faith plays any part in her decisions as mayor of a growing Ohio city.

Our conversation of hope is for everyone, everywhere—not just for Findlay, Ohio.  I know you will be encouraged and inspired as we hear from Mayor Christina Muryn, from Behind the Mike.

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My guest today is Carson Magee.  Carson is a normal 17-year-old who is about to enter his senior year of high school.  Like other teens, he has hope and dreams for his future after graduation.  He also faces many of the same challenges other teens his age face.  One of Carson’s challenges isn’t so normal though. At just 7-years of age, he was diagnosed with a condition that would require 24/7 attention. That diagnosis gave Carson two options: be a victim of this disease or accept the challenge and live his life to the fullest.

After the dust settled, Carson was given an opportunity. At that moment, he chose to rise above his circumstances and use his God-given talents to seize the opportunity. All along the past 10 years of challenges, Carson refuses to be a victim of his circumstances.

His story, which is still being written, will inspire you to look at your life from a new perspective.  

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RESOURCES:

• Schedule Ed to Speak
• The Barna Group

This week, we are going to hear from Ed Stolle. Ed is a Certified Financial Crimes Investigator & Fraud Examiner. No, we are not going to talk about your finances or launch an investigation into your finances. It’s actually what Ed does in his spare time that caused me to reach out to him. His passion is giving apologetics presentations to middle school & high school students.

For those of you not familiar with the term ‘apologetics’, it is simply a part of theology that defends the Christian faith against any objections to it. Some contemporary apologists would be Norman Geisler, the late Ravi Zacharias, Lee Strobel, and R. C. Sproul.

Ed’s primary mission is to combat the crisis of 70% of youth leaving the church after high school. His presentations to youth emphasize proving the veracity of the Bible and providing answers to difficult questions from the Bible through the evaluation of evidence, rational thought, analysis, and historical content.

Ed leads a middle school youth group at First Baptist Church of Crofton, Maryland, where he, his wife, and their three children attend.

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 I’ve invited 5 high school student-athletes to join me today!  Why?  Well, the teen years can be challenging but even more so in 2020.

With COVID-19, we’ve watched schools close and turn to online classes.  Now, this fall we hear difficult conversations about whether schools will reopen, whether fall sports will continue as planned, and all of the what-ifs that our students today are facing. I wanted to hear directly from our teenagers.

My 5 guests today are not only student-athletes but are also followers of Jesus Christ.  I wanted to talk with them about what challenges they face as believers in public schools, their thoughts on topics that our society is facing today, and their insight into their relationship with Jesus.

This show will be helpful for high school students AND parents of any child K-12.   While we are focusing our attention, and rightfully so, on our jobs, our finances, our retirement, and so on, we need to remember that this is a very difficult time for our children and teens too.  Much of their “normal” is upside-down too.

I hope you will take some time out of your day to listen to the teens on today’s show as they have a discussion with me from Behind the Mike.

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This week's show is a bit different as our host, Mike Stone, simply shares some insight and encouragement about what has become a year of challenges.

Just when we think it cannot get any worse, our world faces another challenge. In the U.S., the coronavirus is the underlying challenge, but we also are being faced with racial tension, political unrest, cities under siege, and most of us trying to remind ourselves that, yes, God is still in control.

Should it be any surprise to us that as we continue to drift further and further from the truth of God's Word that we should face these unprecedented challenges?

This is a short episode, but hopefully, one that will encourage you as a believer in Jesus, and provide hope to anyone listening.

Give us your feedback on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter! We would love to hear from you.  We would also love to hear how the podcast has encouraged you, or hear how God has taken you through a difficult time in your life.

Visit "Behind the Mike: Conversations of Hope" website and be sure to share the podcast with your friends!  Help us grow!

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Last week we talked to Darren Hughes, the Stage Manager for Casting Crowns, and this week, as promised, we are having a conversation with Casting Crowns drummer, Brian Scoggin.

I’ve titled this show, “Whose Kingdom Are You Building?”.  When I asked Brian to join me on the show, we really didn’t have a topic to focus on but ended up just having a conversation about what we believe God laid on our hearts.

If you are feeling like life is not fulfilling, or it is pointless, maybe you need to hear this Conversation of Hope. Maybe, by the world’s standards, you should be content and happy—that you are living the American dream—the house, the cars, the vacation home, and financial security, but you are empty inside.  Or maybe the American dream that you are chasing is always 2 steps ahead of you and you are frustrated because it seems that you always miss out on the big opportunities.

Maybe your focus is on building the wrong kingdom?

I invite you to sit in on my conversation with Brian Scoggin as we look at a solution for the emptiness or frustration you may be feeling and give you some insight into the Bible on how you can find joy and contentment.

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