Crusade with Me

If Jesus is all we need, why did He command us to be baptized?

And what if Baptism isn't about what WE do for God... but about what GOD does for us?

For many Christians, Baptism is a beautiful tradition, a public declaration of faith, or simply something the Church has always done. But what if we've been missing something extraordinary?

In Episode 198 of Crusade With Me!, Dave and Kat explore one of Christianity's most important—and often misunderstood—gifts.

Why did Peter proclaim Baptism for the forgiveness of sins? Why did Paul connect Baptism to Christ's death and resurrection? And what did the earliest Christians understand about the promises God attaches to water and His Word?

Drawing from Scripture, the ancient Church, and their own journey of faith, Dave and Kat challenge listeners to reconsider what Baptism really means.

But this conversation becomes deeply personal when Dave shares what it meant to baptize two of his own grandchildren—giving them something they couldn't yet understand, couldn't earn, and might not even remember.

And what about the thief on the cross? If Jesus saved him without Baptism, why does Baptism matter?

This isn't about winning a denominational argument. It's about discovering the extraordinary promises of Jesus Christ.

Whether you were baptized as an infant, baptized as an adult, or have never been baptized at all, this conversation may change the way you understand grace, salvation, and what it truly means to belong to Christ.

Because when your faith feels weak, when life falls apart, and when you wonder whether God could possibly still love you, there is a promise worth remembering.

All you need is Jesus. And Jesus has not left you without His promises.

Join Dave and Kat for Episode 198 of Crusade With Me!

The Truth Is Worth Seeking.

Remember to Crusade With Me!

The Moment He Spoke Her Name

She stood outside an empty tomb, weeping. The man she loved and followed was gone. And then someone spoke a single word.

"Mary."

In that moment, everything changed.

What if the story of Christianity isn't about humanity desperately trying to find its way back to God, but about a God who never stopped coming after us?

In this episode of Crusade With Me!, we journey from the Garden of Eden to the empty tomb, walking alongside Mary Magdalene on the morning of Christ's resurrection and two discouraged disciples on the road to Emmaus.

We explore the extraordinary connection between the Good Shepherd who calls His sheep by name, the risen Christ who reveals Himself in the breaking of bread, and the God who came looking for Adam when humanity first turned away.

And our journey doesn't end at the empty tomb.

It takes us all the way to Revelation, where the Tree of Life appears once again, the curse is removed, and God's promise of a restored creation is finally fulfilled.

Three gardens. One faithful God. One extraordinary promise.

This isn't a conversation about positive thinking or pretending life's tragedies don't hurt. It's about something far greater: the resurrection of Jesus Christ, His victory over death, and the hope that changes everything.

Because the greatest story ever told isn't about humanity finally becoming good enough to reach God.

It's about God never giving up on humanity.

Join me for a journey through Scripture that may change how you understand Easter, salvation, and the extraordinary love of Christ.

The Truth Is Worth Seeking.

Remember to Crusade With Me!

What if following Jesus isn't about learning the perfect recipe for being a Christian?

Forty years ago, Kat asked her mother, Betty, how to make her famous biscuits and gravy. Betty's instructions? No measurements. No written recipe. Just keep working at it until it looks right!

Today, Kat makes incredible biscuits and gravy without measuring a thing. And somewhere in that simple family story lies a beautiful truth about our relationship with Christ.

In this episode of Crusade With Me!, Dave and Kat share some laughs, family memories, and a conversation about what it really means to grow in faith.

Have we mistaken Christianity for a list of rules to follow? Are we looking for shortcuts to spiritual maturity? And what if God isn't simply interested in changing our behavior, but in transforming who we are?

Drawing from John 15, Galatians 5, and Philippians 1, we explore how the Holy Spirit works within us, often slowly and quietly, making us more like Christ.

Because the Christian life isn't about following a perfect recipe. It's about remaining connected to the One who gives us life.

And here's the beautiful part: God isn't finished with us yet.

Join Dave and Kat for a little laughter, a little wisdom from Betty's kitchen, and a whole lot more than breakfast.

The Truth Is Worth Seeking.

Remember to Crusade With Me!

What if everything you've believed about earning your way into heaven has been backward?

Imagine standing before God and being asked one question: "Why should you be allowed into heaven?"

Would you point to your good deeds? Your church attendance? Your baptism? Your efforts to live a Christian life?

Now consider a dying criminal hanging on a cross beside Jesus. He had no opportunity to make things right, perform good works, or prove himself worthy. Yet Jesus made him an extraordinary promise: "Today you will be with Me in Paradise."

In this deeply personal episode of Crusade With Me!, we explore one of Christianity's most important truths: Salvation isn't something we earn. It's a gift we receive through Jesus Christ.

But if Christ has already accomplished what we could never accomplish ourselves, why do baptism, Holy Communion, confession, repentance, and living a Christian life still matter?

Through the thief on the cross, the parable of the Prodigal Son, and the words of the Apostle Paul, we discover that perhaps we've been asking the wrong question all along.

We've been asking what we must do to reach God, when the Gospel announces what God has already done to reach us.

This isn't about abandoning the practices of our faith. It's about understanding why they matter and recognizing the One at the center of them all.

Because at the end of the day, our hope isn't found in how good we've managed to become. It's found in the astonishing mercy of Jesus Christ.

The man on the middle cross.

The One who saves.

The Truth Is Worth Seeking.

Let's keep walking.

Scripture references: Luke 23:39–43; Luke 15:11–32; Ephesians 2:8–10; Romans 5:8; Romans 6:3–4; John 14:6.

What happens when our pursuit of understanding God begins to interfere with simply trusting Him?

In this deeply personal episode of Crusade With Me!, Dave makes a confession. After reflecting on recent episodes, his spiritual journey, and decades spent studying theology, Scripture, Hebrew, and Greek, he's beginning to wonder whether his relentless search for answers has sometimes made faith more complicated than it needs to be.

Joined by Kat, Dave reflects on their journey through different Christian traditions, the Lutheran distinction between Law and Gospel, and a powerful illustration from Pastor Alistair Begg about the thief on the cross.

A dying criminal had no theological credentials, no impressive record of good works, and no answers to complicated doctrinal questions. But he had something far greater: the promise of the man on the middle cross.

Together, Dave and Kat wrestle with some uncomfortable questions. Are we studying God to know Him better, or sometimes to maintain control? Can our desire for certainty become an obstacle to faith? And what happens when we finally accept that salvation is God's gift, not something we can earn or intellectually master?

Drawing from Luke 23:39–43, Ephesians 2:8–9, John 5:39–40, and Mark 9:24, this honest, occasionally humorous conversation returns to one simple prayer:

"I do believe; help my unbelief."

Maybe faith isn't about having every answer.

Maybe the promise really is enough.

Crusade With Me! — The Truth Is Worth Seeking.

Let's keep walking.

Walking Back to Eden — Part Two

What if humanity's first mistake wasn't simply eating forbidden fruit—but believing we knew better than God? And what if we're still making that same mistake today?

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had everything they needed. Purpose. Relationship. Communion with God.

Then came temptation, mistrust, and a choice that changed the human story.

And what happened next?

They hid. They covered themselves. And when God confronted them, Adam blamed his wife!

Sound familiar?

In this episode of Crusade With Me!, Dave is joined by his bride of forty years, Kat, for an honest, sometimes humorous, and deeply personal conversation about what really happened in Eden—and why the consequences still show up in our marriages, families, friendships, and everyday lives.

Because this episode isn't really about an apple.

It's about the uncomfortable things we do when we don't want to face the truth about ourselves.

Together, Dave and Kat explore:

• Why we hide our fears, failures, and vulnerabilities—even from the people who love us most.
• The difference between guilt and shame, and how both influence our relationships.
• Why admitting we're wrong can feel harder than being wrong.
• How blame, rationalization, and self-deception keep us from genuine accountability.
• Why winning an argument can sometimes mean losing something far more valuable.
• How God's grace and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit can heal what is broken within us.

And beneath it all is a remarkable truth from Genesis:

Humanity hid from God. But God came looking.

What if walking back to Eden begins when we stop hiding, stop blaming, and finally become willing to acknowledge who we really are?

This isn't a conversation about becoming perfect. It's about becoming honest, learning to trust, and allowing God's grace to transform us into the people we were created to be.

From the Garden of Eden to the Garden of Gethsemane, we begin to see how Christ's obedience, death, and resurrection open the way toward humanity's restoration.

The question isn't just what Adam and Eve did thousands of years ago. It's what we're still doing today.

So, ask yourself:

What are you still hiding behind the fig leaves?

The Truth Is Worth Seeking.

Let's Keep Walking. Back to Eden.

Walking Back to Eden — Part One

We have more knowledge, more technology, and more conveniences than any generation before us. So why do so many of us feel like something is missing?

What if the problem isn't that we need more? What if we've forgotten who we were created to be?

In this powerful opening episode of Walking Back to Eden, we explore a question that reaches into the very heart of the human experience: Have we forgotten how to be human?

Drawing from modern neuroscience, psychology, Scripture, the ancient Didache, the wisdom of the Desert Fathers, Martin Luther, Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and even the Tao Te Ching, we examine how distraction, fear, pride, and our endless desire for control may be pulling us further from the life God intended.

But this isn't simply another conversation about self-improvement.

It's about something much bigger.

What if Christ came not only to forgive what we've done, but to heal what we've become?

We'll explore the ancient Christian understanding of theosis, the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, and the extraordinary significance of Christ's victory over death—not merely for our individual salvation, but for the restoration of creation itself.

And we'll ask some uncomfortable questions:

• What are we feeding our minds and spirits?
• What might we need to let go of?
• Are we becoming more loving, forgiving, and genuinely human?
• If Christ conquered death, why are we still allowing fear to control our lives?

From the Garden of Eden to the empty tomb, and ultimately to the promise of a new creation, this episode begins a journey of rediscovery.

Because Walking Back to Eden isn't about returning to the past. It's about becoming who God created us to be.

The Truth Is Worth Seeking.

Let's Keep Walking. Back to Eden.

We have more information at our fingertips than any generation in human history. So why does it sometimes feel like we know less about how to actually live?

Our grandparents knew how to fix things. Grow things. Preserve food. Stretch a dollar. Sit quietly. Help a neighbor. Endure hardship. And when something broke, their first instinct wasn’t always to throw it away.

That applied to more than tools.

It applied to marriages, families, communities—and sometimes themselves.

In Episode 190 of Crusade With Me!, we ask whether all of our progress has come with a hidden cost.

This isn’t about pretending the “good old days” were perfect. They weren’t. And it isn't about throwing away technology and moving to a cabin in the woods.

It’s about something deeper.

Have convenience and abundance slowly robbed us of resilience?

Have we become so accustomed to replacing things that we’ve forgotten how to repair them? So entertained that we’ve forgotten how to be still? So, connected that we’ve forgotten how to sit across a table from one another? So comfortable that ordinary hardship now feels unbearable?

And perhaps most importantly:

What did our grandparents know about faith, work, family, community, gratitude, and enough that we desperately need to remember?

Maybe moving forward doesn’t always mean leaving the past behind.

Sometimes wisdom means turning around, picking up something we dropped along the way, and carrying it forward.

The Truth Is Worth Seeking.

Let’s keep walking.

If you really trust God to provide, why are there cans of food, stored water, and emergency supplies stacked in your house?

Is preparing for hard times an act of wisdom—or an admission that we don’t actually trust God?

In this episode of Crusade With Me!, we wrestle with the uncomfortable line between faith and fear, trust and responsibility, preparedness and obsession.

Scripture tells us not to worry about tomorrow. Jesus tells us to trust our Father for our daily bread. But the Bible also gives us Joseph storing grain before famine, Noah building an ark before the rain ever fell, the ant preparing its food in summer, and repeated warnings that wisdom sees danger coming and prepares.

So, which is it?

Maybe the real question isn’t whether you have food in the pantry.

Maybe it’s why you put it there.

Are you preparing because you believe the world is about to collapse? Are you trying to control a future you cannot control? Or are you simply practicing stewardship—making sure you can care for your family and perhaps even your neighbor when something goes wrong?

This isn't an episode about bunkers, conspiracy theories, or predicting the end of the world.

It’s about wisdom without fear. Preparation without panic. And trusting God without using faith as an excuse to be foolish.

Because perhaps trusting God and preparing for tomorrow were never opposites in the first place.

The Truth Is Worth Seeking.

Let’s keep walking.

What if the breath in your lungs isn’t really yours?

In Genesis, God forms Adam from the dust—but Adam doesn’t become a living being until God breathes into him the breath of life.

And then God gives him something to do.

That raises a question we rarely stop long enough to ask:

If God gave you life… what did He give it to you for?

In Episode 188 of Crusade With Me!, we follow the breath of God through Scripture—from the creation of Adam to the valley of dry bones, to Jesus breathing on His disciples, to the Spirit descending at Pentecost.

Again and again, breath, life, Spirit, and purpose seem inseparable.

Maybe being alive isn't simply about surviving, working, accumulating things, getting older, and eventually dying.

Maybe the breath inside you is a gift.

Maybe it carries a calling.

And maybe one of the most important questions you'll ever ask is not “What do I want to do with my life?”

But rather:

“God, what did You give me this life to do?”

This one goes all the way back to the beginning.

Episode 188 — God’s Breath

The Truth Is Worth Seeking.

Let’s keep walking.