CrossCurrent Podcasts

Parenting special needs children (while bringing many blessings) can also feel like entering the ultimate survival challenge with your spouse. Stress is heightened, and grief is often difficult to bear. Todd and Kristin speak about this struggle and how they pulled through some of the most difficult relational challenges and emotional barriers in their marriage. They bring a message of hope for marriages weighed down by the emotional burdens of life and parenting.
Receive a copy of the "How to Build a Thriving Marriage as You Care for Children with Disabilities" bundle and an audio download of "Strengthening Your Marriage While Caring for a Child with Special Needs" for your donation of any amount! Plus, receive member-exclusive benefits when you make a recurring gift today. Your monthly support helps families thrive.
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What happens when losing everything becomes the beginning of a greater purpose?

In this conversation, Kurt Luidhardt talks with Rob Ekno, an award-winning author, screenwriter, television host, and founder of the Knoxville International Christian Film Festival. Rob shares how his journey took him from a successful broadcasting career to addiction, homelessness, recovery, and a mission he never expected.

After losing his career and nearly everything else to alcohol and cocaine, Rob reached his breaking point following an arrest in Rhode Island. Twenty-eight days into sobriety, he returned to the church where he had taken two dollars from the collection plate as a child. Believing for years that God was punishing him, Rob placed five dollars in the offering and made his first amends to Jesus. He has remained sober ever since.

Rob later moved to Hollywood, where he spent more than three decades working in entertainment. His life changed direction again when he and his partner moved to Knoxville without knowing what they would do next. A few months later, Rob drove 11 hours to attend an awards event, where a stranger delivered an unexpected message: he was supposed to return home and immediately start a Christian film festival.

With no budget, no local connections, and no experience promoting a festival, Rob launched the Knoxville International Christian Film Festival online. Within hours, submissions arrived from filmmakers around the world.

What began as an online-only festival soon developed into live showcases that brought together Christian filmmakers from across the United States, Canada, and Malta.

Rob also explains why film festivals matter for independent filmmakers. Creating a quality film is only part of the challenge. Without distribution, marketing, and opportunities to be seen, many meaningful projects never reach an audience. His goal is to give faith-based filmmakers recognition, community, and a platform that helps their work continue.

One of the episode’s most moving stories involves a young filmmaker in recovery whose short film initially violated one of the festival’s content rules. Rather than immediately disqualifying her, Rob gave her an opportunity to revise and resubmit it. The creative change made the film even stronger, and she later traveled from Seattle with her mother to watch it screened in front of filmmakers from around the world.

The conversation also explores Rob’s television work, the Knoxville chapter of the Hollywood Prayer Network, and his larger vision for a Christian event center with theaters, a production studio, workshops, scholarships, and creative opportunities for the community.

If you have ever felt that your past disqualified you from making a difference, Rob’s story is a reminder that recovery, obedience, and a willingness to say yes can turn even the hardest experiences into a mission that serves others.

00:00 From Homelessness and Addiction to Sobriety

00:36 Introducing Rob Ekno

01:47 Knoxville’s Growing Christian Film Community

03:43 Losing His Career and Home to Addiction

04:53 The Night Rob Chose Sobriety

05:22 The $2 Offering and His First Amends to Jesus

08:43 Moving to Hollywood to Rebuild His Life

09:56 Why Rob Moved to Knoxville

11:15 The Unexpected Message That Changed Everything

12:26 Called to Start a Christian Film Festival

13:19 Starting With No Budget or Local Connections

16:52 Receiving International Submissions Within Hours

19:49 When an Online Festival Became a Live Showcase

21:27 Partnering With Rise Up Con

24:15 Bringing Together Filmmakers F

We must work to connect more men to wives and children. 

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Download the Colson Educators app today on the Apple App Store or Google Play.

No parenting strategy—no matter how faithful or intentional—guarantees your child will follow God. In one of the most honest and tender episodes to date, Catherine and her guest, D.J Harry, open up about the heartache and hope of raising children in a culture that stands in stark opposition to biblical truth.

This is a special “best of” episode that revisits a conversation rich with candor, compassion, and wisdom, as Catherine and D.J Harry confront the painful question: Does godly parenting always produce godly kids? Drawing on profound lessons from the book of Daniel, they discuss what it means to parent faithfully in an ungodly world—and what to do when the outcome isn't what you prayed for.

Key Takeaways & Topics:

• No Guaranteed Formula
  There’s no five, ten, or twenty-step plan that will ensure your child’s salvation. Every child must ultimately make their own faith decision, and parents are called to obedience and faithfulness, not results.

• Lessons from Daniel: Parenting in Babylon

  • The unpredictable timing and nature of faith-testing in the next generation

  • The importance of a well-rounded education and teaching children how to learn and discern

  • Faith transference as a relational—not mechanical—process

  • Training children to appeal to authority and stand firm amid pressure, without parents fighting every battle for them

• When the Result Is Not What You Expected
  Catherine shares her own experience of parenting a child who wrestled with faith and doubt, giving voice to the pain, uncertainty, and relentless prayer that many Christian parents experience. She emphasizes the foundational role parents play and affirms that their faithfulness is never wasted.

• Identity Under Fire
  The world seeks to rename and redefine our children’s identities—much like Daniel and his friends in Babylon. Knowing who God says they are is essential for resilience.

• Grace for Parents
  Catherine dispels shame and blame with biblical wisdom: even the perfect parent—God—had children who rebelled. God judges our faithfulness, not our results.

• Hope and Practical Help

  • Real-life stories of wandering and return

  • Prayers and scripture resources for parents of prodigals

  • Catherine's personal update: her daughter's faith journey over several years, highlighting the power of persistent, loving prayer

For Listeners Walking the Prodigal Road:
This episode is a lifeline for parents burdened with worry or sorrow over children who question or walk away from faith. You’ll find encouragement, solidarity, and actionable hope alongside scriptural truth and raw honesty.

Guest Bio:
D.J Harry is a pastor, speaker, podcaster, and father of four. He and his wife, Lori, cohost the Better Together podcast, which explores biblical wisdom for marriage and parenting. Learn more at growingbettertogether.org.

Parenting Resource Highlight:
Subscribers to Catherine’s website receive access to her Prodigal Bundle: podcasts, articles, five pages of scriptures to pray over your kids, and more.

If you need prayer or support, email Catherine at [email protected]. You are not alone.

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Parenting teens often means navigating some of the most challenging conversations families face—from broken trust to friendships and dating. Tim Shoemaker and his son Mark offer practical, grace-filled guidance to help parents communicate well, build trust, and strengthen their relationship with their teens. You’ll discover how listening well and responding with wisdom can turn difficult moments into opportunities for growth and deeper connection.
Receive a copy of the "What to Say and How to Say It to Your Teen" bundle and an audio download of "Essential Skills for Navigating Tough Conversations with Teens" for your donation of any amount! Plus, receive member-exclusive benefits when you make a recurring gift today. Your monthly support helps families thrive.
Get more episode resources 
Do you have a story or comment on how Focus on the Family impacted you or your family? Leave a message for Jim Daly!
If you enjoyed listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, please give us your feedback.

A new liturgy for those choosing medically-assisted suicide. 

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For more resources visit breakpoint.org.  

N. Gray Sutanto offers a fresh reading of Herman Bavinck's

Dr. Sutanto serves as the Associate Professor of Systematic Theology

For previous NBN conversations on similar topics, see these interviews on Herman Bavinck's Christology and academic addresses or an introduction on Neo-Calvinism or the T&T Clark handbook on the global movement. For the NBN conversation on a Bavinck biography.

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Dr. Josh Herring joins Jenn on the Them Before Us podcast to talk about his new book, Sons of Adam, Daughters of Eve: C.S. Lewis' Images of Gender.

Simone de Beauvoir said woman is made, not born. Judith Butler picked that up and ran it all the way to "gender is just a script — write your own." C.S. Lewis saw this coming decades before either of them published a word, and he said the opposite: gender isn't a costume to escape or a stereotype to perform, it's a gift to receive — and it's more fundamental than sex itself. Josh walks Jenn through what Lewis actually believed about masculinity and femininity across Narnia, his letters, and his nonfiction, and why it matters for anyone raising kids, teaching kids, or just tired of a culture that can't define what a woman is.

Get the book: https://amzn.to/45pkQjF
Learn more about Josh's work at the Logres Institute for Classical Liberal Studies: https://www.logresinstitute.org/

About Josh Herring, Ph.D.
Dr. Josh Herring spent 13 years working for Thales Academy as a classical instructor, administrator, and college professor. He is the author of Sons of Adam, Daughters of Eve: C.S. Lewis's Images of Gender. He loves helping students of all ages and stages discover their intellectual heritage; he is the founder of the Logres Institute for Classical Liberal Studies, a member of both the Ciceronian Society and the Academy of Philosophy and Letters, and a follower of Jesus. He and his wife Jennifer live in the Raleigh, NC area.