Episode 011: Why doesn’t God answer every prayer?

Prayer often begins with asking—but what if that’s not where it should begin?

In the final episode of this five-part prayer series, Steve Carter and Eric Parks explore petition: bringing our requests, desires, and longings before God. Together they wrestle with why asking matters, how naming our desires forms us, and what it means to trust God even when the answer isn’t what we hoped for.

Along the way, they share stories from childhood prayers for baseball cards, bikes, elections, and first girlfriends before turning toward the deeper questions every follower of Jesus eventually faces: What do you do when God says no? How do you release the things you want most? And why might adoration, confession, lament, and thanksgiving reshape the very prayers we pray?

Rather than treating prayer as a way to get what we want, this conversation reframes petition as an act of relationship, trust, and surrender.

Whether you’re praying for healing, direction, your children, or simply trying to understand why some prayers seem unanswered, this conversation offers a thoughtful framework for bringing your deepest desires before God while learning to trust Him with the outcome.

Meet your hosts, Eric Parks and Steve Carter

Eric Parks

Eric is an Executive Pastor at Plum Creek Church in Castle Rock, Colorado, who cares deeply about helping people rehearse the way of Jesus in everyday life—and holds firm as a Denver Broncos fan, no matter how often Steve brings up the Bears.

Steve Carter

Steve is the Lead Pastor at Christ Church in Oak Brook, Illinois, offering a thoughtful and honest voice to the deeper work of formation and calling—and remains a devoted Chicago Bears fan, even with Eric representing Broncos country.

Explore all of FOLLOW

We’re all following something—habits, expectations, ambition—but Jesus offers a different way. A way marked by love, presence, trust, and a life that actually leads somewhere good. Not perfectly, but increasingly, we begin to shape our lives around his.

We believe that if Jesus is right—about God, about life, about the soul—then is only makes sense to rearrange your life around what he says is true.

Follow isn’t a program to complete or a path to master, but a way of life centered on Jesus. A way of living that takes shape over time through a steady rearrangement of our lives—our priorities, our rhythms, and the things we trust most.

Links

Follow: https://www.followtheway.church/

Plum...

Episode 010: How do you access the access?

Prayer is one of the most common spiritual practices, yet many of us only know one way to do it: asking God for what we need.

In this first conversation of a five-part series on prayer, Eric Parks and Steve Carter explore a different starting point—adoration. Before requests, before confession, before thanksgiving, prayer begins by remembering who God is and allowing that reality to reshape our own.

Rather than seeing prayer as another religious task, Eric and Steve invite listeners to see it as the foundation of spiritual formation and a relationship that grows over time. Along the way, they unpack why adoration changes our perspective, what neuroscience suggests happens in our brains when we focus on God’s greatness, and how learning to “access the access” we’ve already been given can transform the way we pray.

Meet your hosts, Eric Parks and Steve Carter

Eric Parks

Eric is an Executive Pastor at Plum Creek Church in Castle Rock, Colorado, who cares deeply about helping people rehearse the way of Jesus in everyday life—and holds firm as a Denver Broncos fan, no matter how often Steve brings up the Bears.

Steve Carter

Steve is the Lead Pastor at Christ Church in Oak Brook, Illinois, offering a thoughtful and honest voice to the deeper work of formation and calling—and remains a devoted Chicago Bears fan, even with Eric representing Broncos country.

Explore all of FOLLOW

We’re all following something—habits, expectations, ambition—but Jesus offers a different way. A way marked by love, presence, trust, and a life that actually leads somewhere good. Not perfectly, but increasingly, we begin to shape our lives around his.

We believe that if Jesus is right—about God, about life, about the soul—then is only makes sense to rearrange your life around what he says is true.

Follow isn’t a program to complete or a path to master, but a way of life centered on Jesus. A way of living that takes shape over time through a steady rearrangement of our lives—our priorities, our rhythms, and the things we trust most.

Links

Follow: https://www.followtheway.church/

Plum...

Episode 009: What are you still defending?

In this episode of the FOLLOW podcast, Steve Carter and Eric Parks explore the prayer of confession—not as shame, performance, or merely admitting what someone already knows, but as a courageous act of vulnerability before God and others.

Together, they unpack why confession is one of the least practiced spiritual muscles in many Christian communities, especially in a culture shaped by image management, self-protection, and curated versions of ourselves. Steve reframes confession as going first into the unknown—bringing what is hidden into the light and trusting that God, and trusted community, can hold it with us.

The conversation moves through the difference between defending our intent and owning our impact, the role of examination in prayer, and why true confession creates a pathway from rupture to repair. Steve also shares a personal leadership story about words that unintentionally hurt someone on his team, and what it required to own the impact, seek repair, and receive grace.

This episode is an invitation to stop hiding, stop managing, and begin practicing the kind of honest confession that leads to healing, integration, and deeper trust.

Meet your hosts, Eric Parks and Steve Carter

Eric Parks

Eric is an Executive Pastor at Plum Creek Church in Castle Rock, Colorado, who cares deeply about helping people rehearse the way of Jesus in everyday life—and holds firm as a Denver Broncos fan, no matter how often Steve brings up the Bears.

Steve Carter

Steve is the Lead Pastor at Christ Church in Oak Brook, Illinois, offering a thoughtful and honest voice to the deeper work of formation and calling—and remains a devoted Chicago Bears fan, even with Eric representing Broncos country.

Explore all of FOLLOW

We’re all following something—habits, expectations, ambition—but Jesus offers a different way. A way marked by love, presence, trust, and a life that actually leads somewhere good. Not perfectly, but increasingly, we begin to shape our lives around his.

We believe that if Jesus is right—about God, about life, about the soul—then is only makes sense to rearrange your life around what he says is true.

Follow isn’t a program to complete or a path to master, but a way of life centered on Jesus. A way of living that takes shape over time through a steady rearrangement of our lives—our priorities, our rhythms, and the things we trust most.

Links

Follow: https://www.followtheway.church/

Plum...

Episode 008: Did someone teach you how to grieve?

In this episode, Steve Carter and Eric Parks are joined by Chad Bruegman, Lead Pastor of River Pointe Church in Houston, for an honest conversation about grief, lament, and the prayers most of us were never taught to pray.

Drawing from personal seasons of church hurt, disappointment, and loss, Chad reflects on how forced positivity and spiritual performance can keep us from genuine healing. Together, the three explore why lament isn’t a failure of faith but one of its most courageous expressions.

Through stories, Scripture, and practical wisdom, they discuss the importance of naming pain, bringing difficult emotions to God, and learning to trust that honesty is not something God fears.

If you’ve ever wondered what to do with grief, disappointment, or unanswered questions, this conversation offers a framework for bringing your whole self before God and discovering that honest prayer may be the beginning of healing.

Meet your hosts, Eric Parks and Steve Carter

Eric Parks

Eric is an Executive Pastor at Plum Creek Church in Castle Rock, Colorado, who cares deeply about helping people rehearse the way of Jesus in everyday life—and holds firm as a Denver Broncos fan, no matter how often Steve brings up the Bears.

Steve Carter

Steve is the Lead Pastor at Christ Church in Oak Brook, Illinois, offering a thoughtful and honest voice to the deeper work of formation and calling—and remains a devoted Chicago Bears fan, even with Eric representing Broncos country.

Explore all of FOLLOW

We’re all following something—habits, expectations, ambition—but Jesus offers a different way. A way marked by love, presence, trust, and a life that actually leads somewhere good. Not perfectly, but increasingly, we begin to shape our lives around his.

We believe that if Jesus is right—about God, about life, about the soul—then is only makes sense to rearrange your life around what he says is true.

Follow isn’t a program to complete or a path to master, but a way of life centered on Jesus. A way of living that takes shape over time through a steady rearrangement of our lives—our priorities, our rhythms, and the things we trust most.

Links

Follow: https://www.followtheway.church/

Plum...

Episode 007: Why is “enough” is so hard to say?

In a culture that constantly urges us toward the next achievement, experience, purchase, or milestone, gratitude can feel surprisingly difficult. Why is it so hard to believe that what we have—and where we are right now—is enough?

In this episode, Steve Carter, Eric Parks, and Michele Cushatt explore the prayer of thanksgiving and why gratitude is much more than a fleeting feeling. Together, they discuss the difference between chasing dopamine hits and cultivating contentment, the role suffering plays in shaping our capacity for joy, and how being fully present can transform the way we experience God’s goodness.

Through conversations about coffee, memorable meals, social media, Psalm 23, and the neuroscience of gratitude, they unpack what it means to adopt a posture of thanksgiving in both the beautiful and difficult moments of life.

Rather than ignoring pain or pretending everything is fine, gratitude becomes a way of recognizing God’s faithfulness in the middle of real life—and learning to say, even in uncertainty, “Thanks be to God. Enough.”

Meet your hosts, Eric Parks and Steve Carter

Eric Parks

Eric is an Executive Pastor at Plum Creek Church in Castle Rock, Colorado, who cares deeply about helping people rehearse the way of Jesus in everyday life—and holds firm as a Denver Broncos fan, no matter how often Steve brings up the Bears.

Steve Carter

Steve is the Lead Pastor at Christ Church in Oak Brook, Illinois, offering a thoughtful and honest voice to the deeper work of formation and calling—and remains a devoted Chicago Bears fan, even with Eric representing Broncos country.

Explore all of FOLLOW

We’re all following something—habits, expectations, ambition—but Jesus offers a different way. A way marked by love, presence, trust, and a life that actually leads somewhere good. Not perfectly, but increasingly, we begin to shape our lives around his.

We believe that if Jesus is right—about God, about life, about the soul—then is only makes sense to rearrange your life around what he says is true.

Follow isn’t a program to complete or a path to master, but a way of life centered on Jesus. A way of living that takes shape over time through a steady rearrangement of our lives—our priorities, our rhythms, and the things we trust most.

Links

Follow: https://www.followtheway.church/

Plum...

Episode 006: Can getting lost get you found?

In this episode, Eric Parks and Steve Carter explore the ancient practice of pilgrimage and why movement, disorientation, and embodied faith can become powerful parts of spiritual formation.

Steve reflects on walking the Camino, the gift of traveling lightly, and a moment of forgiveness that helped him realize he was carrying things he no longer needed to carry. Eric shares stories from Italy, Vietnam, and everyday thresholds that have helped him see pilgrimage not only as a journey across the world, but as a way of moving through ordinary life with intention.

Together, they talk about why Western Christians often separate spiritual life from the body, how pilgrimage creates “structured disorientation,” and why being lost can sometimes become an invitation to be found by the goodness of God.

If something in you feels disoriented, interrupted, or uncertain, this episode is an invitation to see that space differently. Maybe being lost is not the end of the story. Maybe it is the beginning of being found.

Meet your hosts, Eric Parks and Steve Carter

Eric Parks

Eric is an Executive Pastor at Plum Creek Church in Castle Rock, Colorado, who cares deeply about helping people rehearse the way of Jesus in everyday life—and holds firm as a Denver Broncos fan, no matter how often Steve brings up the Bears.

Steve Carter

Steve is the Lead Pastor at Christ Church in Oak Brook, Illinois, offering a thoughtful and honest voice to the deeper work of formation and calling—and remains a devoted Chicago Bears fan, even with Eric representing Broncos country.

Explore all of FOLLOW

We’re all following something—habits, expectations, ambition—but Jesus offers a different way. A way marked by love, presence, trust, and a life that actually leads somewhere good. Not perfectly, but increasingly, we begin to shape our lives around his.

We believe that if Jesus is right—about God, about life, about the soul—then is only makes sense to rearrange your life around what he says is true.

Follow isn’t a program to complete or a path to master, but a way of life centered on Jesus. A way of living that takes shape over time through a steady rearrangement of our lives—our priorities, our rhythms, and the things we trust most.

Links

Follow: https://www.followtheway.church/

Plum...

Epissode 005: What if the story in your head isn’t true?

In this episode, Eric and Steve explore the stories people live inside of—and how those stories quietly shape identity, grief, fear, ambition, and spiritual formation.

Through personal reflection on seasons of betrayal, disappointment, rebuilding, and unexpected change, they talk about what happens when the narrative you thought would define your life suddenly falls apart. Along the way, they unpack the internal scripts that replay in our minds, the false beliefs we inherit about worth and achievement, and the slow process of learning to replace those stories with what God says is true.

The conversation moves through grief, trauma, performance, healing, and formation, ultimately asking: what story are you allowing to tell you who you are?

Meet your hosts, Eric Parks and Steve Carter

Eric Parks

Eric is an Executive Pastor at Plum Creek Church in Castle Rock, Colorado, who cares deeply about helping people rehearse the way of Jesus in everyday life—and holds firm as a Denver Broncos fan, no matter how often Steve brings up the Bears.

Steve Carter

Steve is the Lead Pastor at Christ Church in Oak Brook, Illinois, offering a thoughtful and honest voice to the deeper work of formation and calling—and remains a devoted Chicago Bears fan, even with Eric representing Broncos country.

Explore all of FOLLOW

We’re all following something—habits, expectations, ambition—but Jesus offers a different way. A way marked by love, presence, trust, and a life that actually leads somewhere good. Not perfectly, but increasingly, we begin to shape our lives around his.

We believe that if Jesus is right—about God, about life, about the soul—then is only makes sense to rearrange your life around what he says is true.

Follow isn’t a program to complete or a path to master, but a way of life centered on Jesus. A way of living that takes shape over time through a steady rearrangement of our lives—our priorities, our rhythms, and the things we trust most.

Links

Follow: https://www.followtheway.church/

Plum...

Episode 004: What happens when charisma outruns character?

Very few people finish well. That reality is sobering, especially for those in Christian leadership.

In this episode, Eric Parks sits down with Steve Carter and returning guest Michele Cushatt for a deeply honest conversation about formation, leadership, church hurt, charisma, character, and the systems that can quietly shape pastors and communities over time.

Together, they explore why moral failure rarely happens all at once, how the pressures of platform and influence can distort a leader’s soul, and why spiritual formation must be more than something leaders teach — it has to be something they are actively living.

This conversation is not only for pastors. It is for anyone who has experienced hurt in the church, anyone who has placed a leader on a pedestal, and anyone who wants to follow Jesus with integrity for the long haul.

The invitation is simple and searching: do the work beneath the surface, resist the drift toward adoration, and build lives and communities that help one another finish well.

Meet your hosts, Eric Parks and Steve Carter

Eric Parks

Eric is an Executive Pastor at Plum Creek Church in Castle Rock, Colorado, who cares deeply about helping people rehearse the way of Jesus in everyday life—and holds firm as a Denver Broncos fan, no matter how often Steve brings up the Bears.

Steve Carter

Steve is the Lead Pastor at Christ Church in Oak Brook, Illinois, offering a thoughtful and honest voice to the deeper work of formation and calling—and remains a devoted Chicago Bears fan, even with Eric representing Broncos country.

Explore all of FOLLOW

We’re all following something—habits, expectations, ambition—but Jesus offers a different way. A way marked by love, presence, trust, and a life that actually leads somewhere good. Not perfectly, but increasingly, we begin to shape our lives around his.

We believe that if Jesus is right—about God, about life, about the soul—then is only makes sense to rearrange your life around what he says is true.

Follow isn’t a program to complete or a path to master, but a way of life centered on Jesus. A way of living that takes shape over time through a steady rearrangement of our lives—our priorities, our rhythms, and the things we trust most.

Links

Follow: https://www.followtheway.church/

Plum...

Episode 003: Can we learn to wander well?

In this episode, Steve Carter and Eric Parks are joined by Michele Cushatt, author, teacher, and seminary student, for a conversation about formation, suffering, truth, and the long journey of becoming more like Jesus.

Together, Steve, Eric, and Michele explore the tension between growth and mystery, the inspired and acquired parts of formation, and why following Jesus cannot be reduced to outcomes or spiritual efficiency. They talk about suffering, lament, wilderness seasons, and how God often forms us in the places we would rather avoid.

The conversation also wrestles with cultural expectations around success, productivity, and certainty. Instead of possessing truth as something to control, Michele invites listeners to pursue truth as a way of knowing Jesus more deeply and allowing his truth to shape us from the inside out.

This episode is a reminder that formation is not quick, linear, or outcome-driven. It is a long, slow way of life rooted in knowing Jesus, staying present to tension, and allowing God to form us through solitude, community, suffering, Scripture, and honest conversation.

Meet your hosts, Eric Parks and Steve Carter

Eric Parks

Eric is an Executive Pastor at Plum Creek Church in Castle Rock, Colorado, who cares deeply about helping people rehearse the way of Jesus in everyday life—and holds firm as a Denver Broncos fan, no matter how often Steve brings up the Bears.

Steve Carter

Steve is the Lead Pastor at Christ Church in Oak Brook, Illinois, offering a thoughtful and honest voice to the deeper work of formation and calling—and remains a devoted Chicago Bears fan, even with Eric representing Broncos country.

Explore all of FOLLOW

We’re all following something—habits, expectations, ambition—but Jesus offers a different way. A way marked by love, presence, trust, and a life that actually leads somewhere good. Not perfectly, but increasingly, we begin to shape our lives around his.

We believe that if Jesus is right—about God, about life, about the soul—then is only makes sense to rearrange your life around what he says is true.

Follow isn’t a program to complete or a path to master, but a way of life centered on Jesus. A way of living that takes shape over time through a steady rearrangement of our lives—our priorities, our rhythms, and the things we trust most.

Links

Follow: https://www.followtheway.church/

Plum...

Episode 002: Is it impossible to arrive?

In this episode, Steve Carter and Eric Parks are joined by Doug Miller, Lead Pastor of Plum Creek Church, for a conversation about following Jesus over a lifetime.

Doug reflects on 20 years of ministry at Plum Creek, the transformation he witnessed in his father, and why he often describes himself not simply as a Christian, but as a Christ follower. Together, they explore why life with Jesus is not about arriving, performing, or getting everything cleaned up, but about staying present to the ongoing work of formation.

The conversation centers on rearranging our lives around Jesus as a relationship rather than a religious task. Like any meaningful relationship, following Jesus requires attention, effort, honesty, and continual reorientation. They discuss Dallas Willard’s framework of vision, intention, and means, the danger of compartmentalized faith, and how formation happens one step, one practice, and one honest conversation at a time.

They also talk about vulnerability and community, including the need for spaces where people can speak honestly about what is happening beneath the surface. From marriage and money to calling, desire, accountability, and hidden struggles, this episode invites listeners to stop hiding, pay attention, and take the next faithful step.

Meet your hosts, Eric Parks and Steve Carter

Eric Parks

Eric is an Executive Pastor at Plum Creek Church in Castle Rock, Colorado, who cares deeply about helping people rehearse the way of Jesus in everyday life—and holds firm as a Denver Broncos fan, no matter how often Steve brings up the Bears.

Steve Carter

Steve is the Lead Pastor at Christ Church in Oak Brook, Illinois, offering a thoughtful and honest voice to the deeper work of formation and calling—and remains a devoted Chicago Bears fan, even with Eric representing Broncos country.

Explore all of FOLLOW

We’re all following something—habits, expectations, ambition—but Jesus offers a different way. A way marked by love, presence, trust, and a life that actually leads somewhere good. Not perfectly, but increasingly, we begin to shape our lives around his.

We believe that if Jesus is right—about God, about life, about the soul—then is only makes sense to rearrange your life around what he says is true.

Follow isn’t a program to complete or a path to master, but a way of life centered on Jesus. A way of living that takes shape over time through a steady rearrangement of our lives—our priorities, our rhythms, and the things we trust most.

Links

Follow: https://www.followtheway.church/

Plum...