Halfway There

In last week’s episode, Doug Hazen shared with us part of his story and his calling to the mission field where he and his wife encountered unexpected adversity as the country was torn by war. Those events changed Doug’s perspective of God and his protection for the worse. Today, Doug shares how God revealed his goodness to Doug once again, the emotional work it took to understand evil from God’s perspective, and how God led him to his current position in ministry.

Great quotes from Doug:

God said “I didn’t do this for Ruth. I did this for you because you have to know I’m a good God and I love you…” It didn’t erase all the pain but it was a major turning point.

[Speaking of understanding the depths of evil in the world] I always thought God approached that with anger. I think he approaches it with grief.

Satan, you have had control of my family for 80 years. No more.

I’ve known for years that most people read the Scriptures for information. I read it to worship and find the presence of Christ.

From Andrew Murray: “The man who mobilizes the Christian church to pray will make the greatest contribution to world evangelization in history.“

Books mentioned by Doug:

Did you relate to Doug's story? Be sure to listen next week for the rest of the story. And tell someone you know who would enjoy Halfway There about the show. It's the highest compliment you can give.

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The post Doug Hazen and Waiting Until He Speaks to Your Soul Part 2 appeared first on Eric Nevins.

I didn’t plan on this episode but decided to share with you Psalm 107 today as a reflection of God’s goodness to us. It’s all about how good the Lord is to rescue us from all kinds of trouble. It’s easy – and right – to be thankful for the good things in our lives. And it’s good to remember the hard things and that God was faithful to rescue us when we needed him. It may not have looked as we would have designed but it’s always good.

The post Bonus episode: Happy Thanksgiving! appeared first on Eric Nevins.

Doug Hazen serves as the National Director of Mobilization Prayer at World Venture. His job is to pray that God would bring people who want to share the Gospel around the world. Today, he shares the story of how God has led him to this position.

The stories that Doug shares of the big events in his life that challenged his trust in God like resisting God’s call to ministry, finally surrendering, and serving as a missionary in the Republic of Congo (then Zaire) where refugees streamed across the boarder from the civil war in Rwanda. He and his family were robbed at gunpoint, he almost killed a child, and felt like a complete failure which caused him to face his brokenness.

And that’s where this episode ends. There’s a lot more to the story and we’ll pick it up the next episode because Doug and I spent another hour or so talking through his story from the brokenness he left the mission field with to the ultimate restoration and the fruit God brought in him.

Great quotes from Doug:

I would say the greatest part of my spiritual formation I attribute to my dad and to my mom. Dad because of his faith and pastoral skill. He taught me that loving God and loving people are the two most essential characteristics of a pastor. And my mom taught me that the Word of God speaks today.

The journey of determining God’s will is kind of like getting bounced back and forth between doubt and confirmation.

I don’t need to understand God’s will in order to have peace.

One of the principles I learned is when you’re going through stuff consistency in God’s word is not the answer. The answer is sufficiency in God’s Word. You better be in God’s Word until He speaks to your soul.

Books mentioned by Doug:

• Jim Cymbola – Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire “God is attracted to weakness.”

Did you relate to Doug's story? Be sure to listen next week for the rest of the story. And tell someone you know who would enjoy Halfway There about the show. It’s the highest compliment you can give.

Also, if you haven't yet, stop by iTunes and subscribe. Leave a review which helps our visibility in the rankings.

The post Doug Hazen and Waiting Until He Speaks to Your Soul Part 1 appeared first on Eric Nevins.

Zac Medeiros shares his story of growing up in a Christian family in Quebec, struggling  through depression, and finding life in God’s Word again.

In Quebec, evangelical Christians represent less than one percent of the population. Zac and I talked about how that’s different from the United States where there may multiple churches of varying denominations even in small town. While most people call themselves Catholic, few have any faith in God to speak of.

Zac was on a path of losing a faith instilled by a Christian family when a series of mentors came into his life at the right times. Then while he struggled with a serious depression he discovered Christian podcasts (see the links below) which reignited his love for God and Scripture.

Now, Zac is trying to make a difference whenever he can, and he even preached a sermon recently that God is using to spread the message of the Gospel in his sphere of influence.

Great quotes from Zac:

Christianity was kind of a puzzle. Even at that young age, God touched my heart and I had love for him for what he did on the cross. There was still some part of me I could not put my head around it.

God shook me up but he wasn’t done breaking me.

He [Francis Chan] made me read the Bible because I could not believe what he said was true.

The only reason I decided to be clean was for the Gospel.

Podcasts Zac mentioned:

• Francis Chan

Did you relate to Zac’s story? If so, wouldn’t your friends like it too? Share the show with them today!

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Jesse Bean shares why an experience of God’s grace is more powerful than all the knowledge in the world. When all his role models fell apart, Jesse gave up all but his faith that God existed and lived “without God at all.”

But God wouldn’t let him go. Even when Jesse decided to live his life working as hard as he could to be moral and just a good guy, he knew that God was reaching out to him.

His crisis moment came after he got married. Jesse felt the weight of caring for another human being’s needs in addition to his one purely from his own effort. After realizing that he could not continue on his own without expecting the same kinds of moral disasters that plagued his childhood role models Jesse sought help first from a counselor then eventually from God.

Jesse takes us to the watershed moment when God wrapped his arms around him and he finally came back.

Today, Jesse serves as the accountant at South Fellowship Church and is studying to become a counselor himself.

Great quotes from Jesse:

In hindsight, I’m certainly thankful for the periods of struggle with my faith that occurred as I got out of high school.

I felt like after my dad fell, if I could live my life the way Ted Haggard lived his life, I would be okay. And then it became clear that won’t work either.

I feel like at that time there was, for lack of a better term, there was a tug on my heart that I felt like the Lord wasn’t willing to let me go.

I knew there was no way my effort was going to get me all the way through life.

It was during that time when I began to be open to what it really looked like to be in relationship with the Lord again, to see Scripture in a different way where it really wasn’t about what I needed to do to live the good Christian life but what was available for me through the gift of grace that I was able to receive…I did not have to rely on my effort anymore. I did not have to be afraid of who I would become if left to my own strength.

I knew grace very well and I had never experienced it.

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