The EquipCast

You leave work at five, but your brain stays parked at the office. You sit with your family, yet mentally you carry the entire parish on your back as if saving everyone depends on you. When evangelization becomes a task we tackle with our own strength, we burn out, our programs flop, and our homes suffer. This week, Hannah Keisling, Evangelization Coordinator at St. Vincent de Paul in Omaha, joins me to share how putting God first, family second, and ministry third gave her the freedom to stop forcing outcomes. We unpack why no program works without real accompaniment, how to surrender the urge to carry it all yourself, and what happens when you let the Holy Spirit do the heavy lifting.

[00:00] – Introduction

If The EquipCast is helping you navigate the realities of parish leadership, please take 60 seconds to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your review helps other tired ministry leaders find these tools and realize they don’t have to walk this path alone!

The EquipCast is powered by Everyday Evangelization in conjunction with Anchor Consulting, delivering practical evangelization strategies and parish ministry tools to help you leave your ministry better than you found it.

Copyright © 2026 Anchor Consulting. All rights reserved.

Imagine a standing coffee date with a friend who talks at you the entire time, looks at their watch, and then says, “Gotta go! This was great!” You’d walk away feeling pretty unsatisfied. The level of intimacy we can reach is limited when conversation remains one-sided. But, too often, we treat our prayer lives the exact same way. We focus on how well we said our prayers instead of stopping to listen to what God wants to say back.

This week, Jonna Schuster, author of Hearing God's Voice, joins me to talk about listening prayer. We dive into its theological foundations, the four primary "languages" God uses to communicate, and how learning to hear His voice shifts our daily mission from a heavy burden into a rest-filled collaboration.

If The EquipCast is helping you navigate the realities of parish leadership, please take 60 seconds to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your review helps other tired ministry leaders find these tools and realize they don’t have to walk this path alone!

The EquipCast is powered by Everyday Evangelization in conjunction with Anchor Consulting, delivering practical evangelization strategies and parish ministry tools to help you leave your ministry better than you found it.

Copyright © 2026 Anchor Consulting. All rights reserved.

What happens when a priest in a cassock and a layman with a clipboard start walking their neighborhood boundaries? Join me, Jim Jansen, as I sit down with Father Jeff Loseke and Adam Stephenson from St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Gretna, Nebraska, to talk about how they took on neighborhood outreach. Instead of waiting for people to walk through their church doors, they exported their parish database into Google Maps and started showing up on front porches. From active parishioners and homebound seniors to those who haven't set foot in a church in decades, they found that personal connection opens doors to healing old wounds and bringing people back to the sacraments. Whether you're responsible for every soul within your parish boundaries or you simply want to be a better neighbor, this conversation will help you turn a walk down the street into an encounter with Jesus.

If The EquipCast is helping you navigate the realities of parish leadership, please take 60 seconds to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your review helps other tired ministry leaders find these tools and realize they don’t have to walk this path alone!

The EquipCast is powered by Everyday Evangelization in conjunction with Anchor Consulting, delivering practical evangelization strategies and parish ministry tools to help you leave your ministry better than you found it.

Copyright © 2026 Anchor Consulting. All rights reserved.

The EquipCast is back!

After a few months away, I am excited to kick off a new chapter for The EquipCast. In this quick 3-minute teaser, I share a bit of my own story from this past spring, express my deep gratitude to the Archdiocese of Omaha, and share where we are heading next. Moving forward, The EquipCast is an independent production powered by EverydayEvangelization.org. While the platform is new, our mission remains exactly the same. We are here to give you practical tools, honest conversations, and encouragement for the messy work of parish renewal. You don't have to carry the weight of ministry alone.

👉 Resources & Tools: Visit EverydayEvangelization.org to access specialized tools to help train your team and guide your church renewal strategy.

Note: The EquipCast is an independent production powered by EverydayEvangelization.org and is no longer affiliated with the Archdiocese of Omaha.

Hey friends, the EquipCast is hitting pause early for a summer reset. We’re stepping into a break starting in May… because something new, bold, and exciting is coming your way. Rest up, enjoy the summer, and get ready. We’re back in August with fresh formats, global voices, and next‑level connections. Stay tuned!

Can you afford to say yes to God? I know that question might make you uncomfortable—because it’s made me uncomfortable. We talk a lot about trust, about saying yes to the Lord, about living on mission… but when it comes to finances, security, and taking care of our families, it can feel like the cost is just too high. In today’s episode of The Equip Cast, I sit down with Peter Levesque Xavier to talk honestly about what happens when we stop asking, “Can I afford this?” and start asking, “Lord, do I trust You?” This conversation is about freedom, healing our relationship with money, and discovering that God is already providing a way for His mission—and your yes—to be possible.

[02:55] Peter’s faith journey

Check out Xavier Mission Fund.

For more practical advice and experiences from real people sharing their mission with the world, go to https://equip.archomaha.org/podcast/.

A Production of the Archdiocese of Omaha

What would you do if the person you loved most was in danger—and there was no time to think? Today on the Equip Cast, I sit down with Chris Vander Woude to tell the story of a quiet, faithful father who answered that question with his life. Tom Vander Woude wasn’t famous. He wasn’t flashy. He was a husband, a dad, a farmer, a Navy pilot—and a man who spent his life showing up in ordinary ways. Until one extraordinary moment, when he gave everything to save his son Joseph. In this conversation, you’ll hear how a hidden life of prayer, love, and fatherhood prepared Tom for heroic sacrifice—and why his story is stirring hearts around the world today, even to the point that the Church is considering opening a cause for canonization. This is a story about love, courage, faith, and what it really means to live your life as a gift.

[01:45] Chris’s faith journey

Check out the Tom Vander Woude Guild.

For more practical advice and experiences from real people sharing their mission with the world, go to https://equip.archomaha.org/podcast/.

A Production of the Archdiocese of Omaha

Can love in marriage really last?

In this Coaches Corner, I review the book Spousal Prayer by Deacon James Keating. It’s a small, powerful book that connects marriage and prayer in a way that’s both deep and incredibly practical. We talk about why young people fear staying in love, how prayer brings us into the reality of love, and why marriage itself can become a living, breathing prayer. Whether you’re married, preparing couples, or walking with families in ministry, this episode is meant to equip you—and remind you that lasting love is not only possible, it’s sacramental.

[00:13] Book - Spousal Prayer

Check out the book Spousal Prayer.

For more practical advice and experiences from real people sharing their mission with the world, go to https://equip.archomaha.org/podcast/.

A Production of the Archdiocese of Omaha

Today, we begin a series where I talk to Evangelization Coordinators from across our archdiocese. You’ll hear the honest stories, hard-won wisdom and quiet ways God is moving through the people helping to lead parish renewal from the ground up. In this first episode, Renee Eames of the St. Joseph Family of Parishes, shares what the role looks like day-to-day. Her warm wisdom reminds us that evangelization isn’t about big programs or perfect strategies—it’s about people. It’s about staying close to Jesus in the small moments, letting your heart be softened, and choosing unity when division would be easier. Her story reveals how simple everyday faithfulness—prayer, presence, and quiet accompaniment—can quietly renew a community. This conversation is a reminder that God works through every relationship, every interruption, and every act of love toward the person right in front of you.

[00:00] Meet Renee Ames

For more practical advice and experiences from real people sharing their mission with the world, go to https://equip.archomaha.org/podcast/.

A Production of the Archdiocese of Omaha

Welcome to the very first episode of Inside Jim’s Inbox, a new Q&A series where I open up the real questions you send—about faith, fear, evangelization, ministry, and everything in between—and we walk through them together. In this kickoff episode, I’m sharing the questions I hear most often: What even is evangelization? Do I know enough to share my faith? How do I deal with the fear of rejection? Along the way, I’ll offer simple, hopeful ways to see evangelization not as expert level work, but as sharing what God has done in your life one honest, hope-filled conversation at a time.

We’ll also look at the questions parishes ask all the time: how to invite volunteers in a way that honors their gifts, and how to set healthy boundaries so that ministry strengthens you instead of draining you. My prayer is that this first episode feels like a welcoming doorway into a series where your questions guide the journey.

[02:23] Do I know enough to share my faith?

For more practical advice and experiences from real people sharing their mission with the world, go to https://equip.archomaha.org/podcast/.

A Production of the Archdiocese of Omaha