Mere Christians

Jordan Raynor sits down with Dr. Nido Qubein, President of High Point University, to talk about his story of emigrating to the U.S. from the Middle East, 3 things he did to cause his university to grow 5% during COVID while the average university lost 16% of its enrollment, and the two other lists he keeps handy in addition to his to-do list.

Links Mentioned:

• Assessment: jordanraynor.com/learn
• Dr. Nido Qubein
• Dr. Nido Qubein on Twitter
• High Point University
• Free Online Assessment
• The Call to Mastery with Jenna Fortier
• Camp Cheerio
• What Works and What Doesn't Work in Youth Ministry
• Albert Einstein
• Mother Teresa
• Ted Turner
• Zig Ziglar
• John Maxwell
• Kelly King
• Truist Bank

Jordan Raynor sits down with Francine Rivers, Author of Redeeming Love, to talk about her involvement in the upcoming Redeeming Love film, Francine’s 3-year bout of writer’s block, and the striking parallels in her life story and that of C.S. Lewis’s.

Links Mentioned:

• Francine Rivers
• Redeeming Love
• Redeeming Love: The Companion Study
• A Path to Redeeming Love
• A Voice in the Wind
• Lineage of Grace
• Angela Hunt
• Karin Stock Buursma
• WaterBrook & Multnomah
• Redeeming Love (film)
• Earth Psalms
• The Chronicles of Narnia
• The Screwtape Letters
• The Soul of Wine
• The Blue Parakeet
• Jesus through the Middle-Eastern Lens
• Dorothy Sayers
• Anne Graham Lotz on Twitter

Jordan Raynor sits down with Chris Carneal, Founder of Booster Enterprises, to talk about what he learned in going from 1,000 full-time employees down to 140 due to the pandemic and how they’ve rebuilt to nearly 400, how Booster makes the Kingdom winsome to their public school customers, and why Chris doesn’t go into the office until late morning.

Links Mentioned:

• The Christian Entrepreneur eBook
• Chris Carneal on LinkedIn
• Booster Enterprises
• Called to Create
• John Smoltz
• Laura Vanderkam
• What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast
• Horst Schulze
• Trusting God
• Culture Making
• City of God
• Dan Cathy
• Tim Tassopoulos
• Dee Ann Turner
• Cheryl Bachelder
• Dare to Serve

Jordan Raynor sits down with Darryl Strawberry, Former MLB All-Star, to talk about the remarkable story of how he went from a drug-addicted baseball star to evangelist, how Darryl submitted himself to the indirect mentorship of Billy Graham, and the power of praying mothers.

Links Mentioned:

• Jordan's weekly devotional, The Word Before Work
• Darryl Strawberry on Instagram
• Darry Strawberry on Twitter
• Turn Your Season Around
• Billy Graham
• Celebrity Apprentice
• Bret Michaels
• Greg Laurie
• Jack Graham
• Jentezen Franklin

Jordan Raynor sits down with Brad Lomenick, Former President of Catalyst, to talk about the difference between cultural and biblical hustle, how to be an exceptional, service-driven networker, and how to “crush The Now until you get to The Next.”

Links Mentioned:

• Jordan's weekly devotional, The Word Before Work
• Brad Lomenick on Twitter
• Brad Lomenick on LinkedIn
• Brad Lomenick on Instagram
• Brad Lomenick
• H3 Leadership
• H3 Leadership Podcast
• Catalyst Leader
• Catalyst
• Excellence Wins
• Tribes
• To Hell With the Hustle
• Called to Create
• The Bible App by YouVersion
• Bible in One Year
• Next Generation Leader

Jordan Raynor sits down with Wendy Speake, Author of The 40-Day Social Media Fast, to talk about how she sold 100K+ copies of her first self-published book, the moment she heard God tell her to “hone her craft,” and the impact “social media fasts” are having on Christ-followers.

Links Mentioned:

• Wendy Speake
• Wendy Speake on Twitter
• Triggers
• The 40-Day Social Media Fast
• The 40-Day Sugar Fast
• Life Creative
• The Call To Mastery EP9 with Kelli Stuart
• Sell Your Book Like Wildfire
• Called to Create
• Master of One
• How to Land a Book Deal with No Platform
• Deep Work
• Digital Minimalism
• Hind’s Feet on High Places
• Praying the Scriptures For Your Teens
• Becoming Mrs. Lewis
• Dorothy Sayers
• Dorothy and Jack
• Cal Newport

Jordan Raynor sits down with Kara Holden, Writer of Disney+’s Clouds, to talk about why Bob Iger was so adamant about distributing Clouds, the significance of Jesus as “the God who tells stories,” and why you should always take a glass of water in an interview.

Links Mentioned:

• Kara Holden
• Kara Holden on Twitter
• Clouds
• Hamilton
• Disney+
• Gilmore Girls
• Saved by the Bell
• Step by Step
• Soul Surfer
• Clueless
• Bob Iger
• Wonder
• Magic Castle
• Arrested Development
• David Copperfield
• University of Louisville
• Sheena
• Footloose
• USC
• UCLA
• Acting is Everything on Amazon
• The Wonder Years
• Marsha Hervey
• Bill McGhee
• Braveheart
• Pamela Grimes
• Sunset Beach
• AFTRA
• SAG
• Amy Heckerling
• Neal Israel
• Sylvester Stallone
• Rocky
• Ivan Moffat
• Giant
• Zach Sobiech
• Dead Poets Society
• Warner Brothers
• Blindside
• Once
• Laura Sobiech
• Clouds: A Memoir on Amazon
• Justin Baldoni
• The Ride of a Lifetime on Amazon
• Shoe Dog on Amazon
• Disney War on Amazon
• Screenplay on Amazon
• Cal Newport
• Madeleine L'Engle
• A Wrinkle in Time
• Billy Graham
• Fred Rogers
• J. R. R. Tolkein
• C. S Lewis
• The Sparrow on Amazon
• Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art Madeleine
• Jordan Raynor’s My Bookshelf
• Ryan Tedder
• OneRepublic
• Songland

Jordan Raynor sits down with Mark Batterson, Author of Win The Day and Lead Pastor, National Community Church, to talk about the 5 levels of highlighting Mark uses when reading thousands of books, what the “law of requisite variety” means for us and our need to switch up routines, and how your uniqueness is a testament to God’s creativity—not your value.

Links Mentioned:

• Mark Batterson
• Mark Batterson on Instagram
• Mark Batterson on Facebook
• Mark Batterson on Twitter
• The Circle Maker
• In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day
• Win the Day
• Gnarles Barkley
• NCC
• How to Take Smart Notes on Amazon
• Tim Ferriss
• Mark Twain
• NASA
• Why We Sleep on Amazon
• Called to Create
• The Ten Commandments
• Essentialism on Amazon
• Upstream on Amazon
• Canoeing the Mountains on Amazon
• John Harbaugh

Jordan Raynor sits down with Nona Jones, Head of Faith-Based Partnerships at Facebook, to talk about her traumatic upbringing and how that’s impacted her life and work, how to cultivate curiosity on the path to mastery, and the importance of budgeting time to reflect in between meetings.

Links Mentioned:

• Nona Jones
• Nona Jones on LinkedIn
• Nona Jones on Facebook
• Nona Jones on Instagram