The Next Step Podcast

Host Justin Rossow is joined by two staff members from Trinity, Arcadia, MI as the three discuss postures and experiments.

Jess Knoll, Ministry Assistant and Church Secretary, shares some of the attitudes and postures she experienced from her congregation as part of her cancer journey.

Chelsea Chapin, Community Connections Coordinator, talks about the language of "running an experiment" and how that framing opens people up to the possibility of change.

Together the three coworkers and friends discuss how postures and experiments help us take a small next step and grow in deeper dependence on Jesus.

Episode 10 was first recorded on Wednesday, March 27, 2024. It features a conversation with Jamie Wiechman and Justin Rossow.

After a brief introduction, you'll hear Justin process the Compass question (Where am I right now?) as well as the first of the Standard Following Prayers (Jesus, where are you speaking into my life?)

Then Jamie follows suit and shares a little bit about the difficult season her family is facing this Holy Week, and what it means for Jesus to drink the cup of suffering for us in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Both friends take comfort from the image of Jesus serving and sustaining us, even when we are too weak or too wounded to do anything active to try and get better.

CHOOSE YOUR FAITH ADVENTURE

If you decide to read more the Gethsemane blog they talked about in this episode, head over to It's Getting Dark.

If choose to hear more from NT Wright and Kate Bowler, check out this video: https://youtu.be/xICbsfop5PA?si=DyW4Sqd76AEF8i4V.

If you would like to check out the Disciple Like You Mean It course, visit this page. You can also discover more about Breathe Life Ministries at their home page:

The intro and outro music comes from Peter Prochnow's rendition of the hymn, "Awake My Soul and With the Sun" and is available from the Michigan District of the LCMS at www.thehymnalproject.com. Used by permission.

This episode of the Next Step Podcast was supported in part by the generosity of Next Step Patrons. Please consider becoming a Next Step Patron before the end 2023. To see different options for support, including monthly and annual options, visit https://www.patreon.com/findmynextstep, or email [email protected] to make a one-time gift.

Thank you to all of our Patrons! Patrons make it possible.

Episode 09 was first recorded on March 14, 2024. It features a conversation with Jamie Wiechman and Justin Rossow. They will be discussion how the Come, Sacrificing Often card became a faith experiment on the heals of the Disciple Like You Mean It course. You can download a printable version of that prayer card and read more here.

If you decide to read more from Jamie Wiechman, check out one of these blogs:

If choose to hear more from our friends at Breathe Life Ministries, you can pick from one of these podcasts:

You can also discover more about Breathe Life Ministries at their home page: https://breathelifetoday.com/

The intro and outro music comes from Peter Prochnow's rendition of the hymn, "Awake My Soul and With the Sun" and is available from the Michigan District of the LCMS at www.thehymnalproject.com. Used by permission.

This episode of the Next Step Podcast was supported in part by the generosity of Next Step Patrons. Please consider becoming a Next Step Patron before the end 2023. To see different options for support, including monthly and annual options, visit https://www.patreon.com/findmynextstep, or email [email protected] to make a one-time gift.

Thank you to all of our Patrons! Patrons make it possible.

Episode 07 was first recorded on Tuesday, January 30, 2024. It features a conversation with two lay leaders from Heart of the Shepherd Lutheran Church in Howell, Michigan.

The conversation is a kind of guided brainstorming session designed to help Katie and Bob expand the discipleship culture at their church. They have both been through the Disciple Like You Mean It online training, and now their pastor has asked them to help spread the impact of the tools and attitudes in that course.

After a brief introduction and opening prayer by Next Step Press founder Justin Rossow, you will get a little background on both of these lay leaders, including their impression of the course.

Three words seem to rise to the top in this conversation: Prayerful, Invitational, and Intentional. Those three keys to expanding your discipleship culture help these leaders imagine some ways to create new relationships as well as engage existing groups with insights from the Next Step discipleship process.

Along the way, you will hear Katie say that she is using Visual Faith® Ministry tools and taking a group to a Visual Faith® Ministry event in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She'll be using that common experience to springboard more engagement with ongoing discipleship and grow toward a DLYMI Triad.

If you are in the area on March 16, 2024 from 9am-1pm, you can sign up for that VFM event here: www.tinyurl.com/visualprayer101. Then keep your eyes open for Katie and Justin, and make sure you say hi!

CHOOSE YOUR FAITH ADVENTURE

If you choose to explore Visual Faith® Ministry, download one of their many free resource from their webpage: https://www.visualfaithmin.org/.

Justin, Bob, and Katie all make reference at different times to important concepts from the Disciple Like You Mean It training. Justin mentions Resonance from the acronym SMART. If you decide to take a SMART next step, turn to this blog.

Katie talks about Non-Judgmental Noticing at one point. If that sparks your interest and you choose to find out more, choose from find several resources related to that concept on the Next Step Community blog:

Finally, all three talk about the importance of a GPS attitude instead of GPA approach to discipleship. If your next step relates to your GPS, you have options:

The intro and outro music comes from Peter Prochnow's rendition of the hymn, "Awake My Soul and With the Sun" and is available from the Michigan District of the LCMS at www.thehymnalproject.com. Used by permission.

If you choose to explore taking a Triad through the Disciple Like You Mean It course, visit this page.

This episode of the Next Step Podcast was supported in part by the generosity of Next Step Patrons. Please consider becoming a Next Step Patron to help keep these resources coming! To see different options for support, including monthly and annual options, visit https://www.patreon.com/findmynextstep, or email [email protected] to make a one-time gift.

Thank you to all of our Patrons! Patrons make it possible.

The Wednesdays are for Walking With series explores the Disciple Like You Mean It online training from Next Step Press. In this special production of the Next Step Podcast, we will practice non-judgmental noticing with Jesus and help one another take a small next step, together.

Episode 07 was first recorded on Wednesday, December 19, 2023. It features an advent devotion by Justin Rossow and a conversation with Professor Ted Hopkins from Concordia University, Ann Arbor.

0:00-14:30
After some background on Professor Ted Hopkins and an opening prayer, you'll hear the text for today's episode: Psalm 35:1-6, 22-28. Then we'll get an initial response to that reading before listening to an advent devotion (8:00-14:30).

14:31-22:29
Then you'll hear Drs Hopkins and Rossow discussion the theology behind the devotion and what it means to experience other people as enemies, but to hold that experience within a broader Scriptural narrative.

22:30-35:15
The talk then turns to Advent Eschatology (that is, the study of the last things, or end times: the Second Coming) and prolepsis (that is, God's future participating in your present). A brief discussion of those theological categories leads into a longer wrestling with a very practical question (25:17): what do I do when I experience someone as an enemy, even at Christmas?

35:16-end
Before we are done, we'll think through what we might have said to King David if he had joined us for this podcast, and Ted and Justin both consider what kind of response the Spirit may be shaping in them (42:38) before Pastor Hopkins closes us with prayer.

CHOOSE YOUR FAITH ADVENTURE

If you would like to hear (or read) more from Prof. Hopkins, you have options:

If you decide to explore the Scripture verses cited in this episode, you can start with this list:

If you want to watch, or share, the Advent devotion on Psalm 35:26, check out the YouTube video, below.

https://youtu.be/Qh_q96cZx7k?si=AgfRABnZ2ArBX6JJ

The intro and outro music comes from Peter Prochnow's rendition of the hymn, "Awake My Soul and With the Sun" and is available from the Michigan District of the LCMS at www.thehymnalproject.com. Used by permission.

If you choose to explore taking a Triad through the Disciple Like You Mean It course, visit this page.

This episode of the Next Step Podcast was supported in part by the generosity of Next Step Patrons. Please consider becoming a Next Step Patron before the end 2023. To see different options for support, including monthly and annual options, visit https://www.patreon.com/findmynextstep, or email [email protected] to make a one-time gift.

Thank you to all of our Patrons! Patrons make it possible.

Episode 06 was first recorded on Wednesday, December 13, 2023. It features a conversation with Pastor Sam Fink, who took two Triads through the very first cohort of the Disciple Like You Mean It online training.

0:00-13:22
After a brief introduction and opening prayer, you'll hear a little of Pastor Sam Fink's story and what brought him to launch a couple of Disciple Like You Mean It Triads in his first year at a new congregation.

13:23-30:58
Then we'll look at one of concepts from the course called Non-Judgmental Noticing. We'll talk about the Stop, Drop, and Roll method for noticing your emotions with Jesus. Then Sam will share a personal example (17:38), a parenting story (22:10), and a story of interacting with a church visitor (27:21). In each case, Non-Judgmental Noticing play a key roll in the encounter.

30:58-38:44
With the season of Christmas upon us, we'll take some time to wonder about how Non-Judgmental Noticing could be a tool you might use this holiday season as you spend time with people you don't typically get to see during the year.

38:35-end
Before we are done, we'll get final thoughts from a member of our Disciple Like You Mean It Community and Pastor Sam closes us with prayer.

If you choose to explore taking a Triad through the Disciple Like You Mean It course, visit this page. If another podcast episode is in your near future, here are three related episodes:

If you decide to read the sermon Justin Rossow preached at Sam Fink's installation as pastor at Heart of the Shepherd, Howell, MI, head over to Needing Jesus, Every Day.

If you opt to explore some blogs related to joy, choose one or more of the following:

The intro and outro music comes from Peter Prochnow's rendition of the hymn, "Awake My Soul and With the Sun" and is available from the Michigan District of the LCMS at www.thehymnalproject.com. Used by permission.

This episode of the Next Step Podcast was supported in part by the generosity of Next Step Patrons. Please consider becoming a Next Step Patron before the end 2023. To see different options for support, including monthly and annual options, visit https://www.patreon.com/findmynextstep, or email [email protected] to make a one-time gift.

Thank you to all of our Patrons! Patrons make it possible.

The Wednesdays are for Walking With series explores the Disciple Like You Mean It online training from Next Step Press. In this special production of the Next Step Podcast, we will practice non-judgmental noticing with Jesus and help one another take a small next step, together.

Episode 05 was first recorded on November 13, 2023. It features a conversation with three men who formed a Triad for the very first cohort of the Disciple Like You Mean It online training, and their pastor (who got them all into it in the first place).

0:00-10:08
After a brief introduction and opening prayer, you'll hear from Daniel, David, Ryan and Pastor Nathan about how they got connected to the Disciple Like You Mean It course and their experience in a small group of three, or Triad.

10:09-17:04
Then we'll look at the role of Information, Imitation, and Innovation in the life of a disciple, with examples from their experience with the DLYMI training.

17:05-29:28
One specific faith experiment in the course is sometimes called the Catcher's Mitt Calendar. Our guests will share how Innovation played a role in their engagement with that faith experiment.

29:29-end
Before we are done, we'll get final thoughts from the group before Pastor Nathan closes us with prayer.

CHOOSE YOUR FAITH ADVENTURE

The intro and outro music comes from Peter Prochnow's rendition of the hymn, "Awake My Soul and With the Sun" and is available from the Michigan District of the LCMS at www.thehymnalproject.com. Used by permission.

This episode of the Next Step Podcast was supported in part by the generosity of Next Step Patrons. Please consider becoming a Next Step Patron before the end 2023. To see different options for support, including monthly and annual options, visit https://www.patreon.com/findmynextstep, or email [email protected] to make a one-time gift.

Thank you to all of our Patrons! Patrons make it possible.

The Wednesdays are for Walking With series explores the Disciple Like You Mean It online training from Next Step Press. In this special production of the Next Step Podcast, we will practice non-judgmental noticing with Jesus and help one another take a small next step, together.

Episode 04 was first recorded on November 6, 2023. It features a conversation with Kim Longden, Katie Helmreich, and Jamie Wiechman, three people who are walking through the Disciple Like You Mean It experience in a group of three (or Triad).

0:00-8:30
After a brief opening prayer, you'll hear from Jamie, Kim, and Katie about their experience so far with the Disciple Like You Mean It online training.

8:30-15:04
Then we'll discuss a question Jamie submitted in the course: How exactly do you lower the bar on your next step?

15:05-23:52
As part of that discussion, you'll hear the Triad talk about what happens when the people around you don't seem to be ready for the same next step as you are, and what it means to notice your acquaintances and even need help a little more intentionally.

23:53-33:31
Kim also noticed something significant as part of her interaction with the course material. She said she's sometimes uncomfortable when people begin to share more deeply, because she often feels like she has to fix it. That insight gives us a chance to talk about the ministry of listening to others as an intentional act of service and discipleship.

33:32-end
Before we are done, we'll talk about showing you care even in the silence and looking for ways for lowing the bar and taking small next steps as you grow in your practice of listening.

If you choose to read more from today's guest, check out the following:

If you want to read more, but you like the feel of a real book in your hands, turn to the volumes in our Tales from the Next Step Community series from Next Step Press:

If you decide to go back to the podcast Kim was listening to when she noticed she is sometime uncomfortable with silence, head over here: Listening on Behalf of Jesus.

If you would like to check out the Disciple Like You Mean It course, visit this page.

The intro and outro music comes from Peter Prochnow's rendition of the hymn, "Awake My Soul and With the Sun" and is available from the Michigan District of the LCMS at www.thehymnalproject.com. Used by permission.

This episode of the Next Step Podcast was supported in part by the generosity of Next Step Patrons. Please consider becoming a Next Step Patron before the end 2023. To see different options for support, including monthly and annual options, visit https://www.patreon.com/findmynextstep, or email [email protected] to make a one-time gift.

Thank you to all of our Patrons! Patrons make it possible.

Wednesdays are for Walking With, Episode 03 was first recorded on Wednesday, September 20, 2023. It features a conversation with life coach Rev. Dr. Jonathan Brandenburg from LINC SoCal and the coaching firm Bridge and Rhino. You'll also hear from Deanna Rossow, one of the participants in the first cohort of the Disciple Like You Mean It training and my mom (Hi, Mom!).

0:00-4:51
After a brief introduction, we'll hear a little bit more about Dr. Brandenburg and his background, including his time as a parish pastor and working with LINC SoCal.

4:42-11:27
Then Justin will ask Jonathan about "coaching" in a Christian context and we'll hear a little about coaching with Bridge and Rhino.

11:28-25:21
A pop quiz is next, as Justin walks Jonathan through a multiple choice poll from Lesson 1.5 The Parable of the Pottery Class from the online course Disciple Like You Mean It. The two Drs will talk through Jon's answers as well as answers from people in the course.

25:22-41:22
Then the two friends apply insights from professional coaching to listening to others as a member of a Triad (micro-small group of 3 in the DLYMI course). The talk about listening with the ears of Jesus, non-judgmental noticing, and asking questions that help the other person process before allowing the Gospel to grow out of the conversation.

41:23-end
Before we are done, we'll open the conversation up to people currently taking the Disciple Like You Mean It course and talk about what was helpful in what they heard from Jon.

Choose Your Faith Adventure

If you decide to experience the kind of conversation involved in "life coaching" with a Gospel foundation, you can sign up for a complementary 30 min session with Jonathan by selecting a day and time here.

If you choose to check out the Parable of the Pottery Class mentioned in this podcast, you can find it in Volume 1 of the My Next Step series (the one with the compass on the cover), or in this blog.

If the repeated shout outs to Breathe Life Ministries caught your attention, head over to their homepage to discover more.

If you would like to check out the Disciple Like You Mean It course, visit this page.

This episode of the Next Step Podcast was supported in part by the generosity of Next Step Patrons. Please consider becoming a Next Step Patron before the end 2023. To see different options for support, including monthly and annual options, visit https://www.patreon.com/findmynextstep, or email [email protected] to make a one-time gift.

The Wednesdays are for Walking With series explores the Disciple Like You Mean It online training from Next Step Press. In this special production of the Next Step Podcast, we will practice non-judgmental noticing with Jesus and help one another take a small next step, together.

Episode 02 was first recorded on Wednesday, August 16, 2023. It features a conversation with Conrad Gempf, recently retired from the London School of Theology. You'll also hear a comment from Pastor Nathan Wendorf, one of the participants in the first cohort of the Disciple Like You Mean It training.

7:00-16:30
Then Conrad and Justin will discuss the mindset or attitudes you might take when you approach Scripture. Conrad shares his Batman vs Spiderman analogy (10:48) to describe different ways of setting the agenda for reading the Bible. And then suggests that steeping or marinating in Scripture (14:32) is a good way to think about what we are doing as we ask, "Jesus, where are you speaking into my life?"

16:31-23:31
Conrad also shares "The Gospel according to Superman" (this must be our comic book episode) and the two friends discuss a 911 approach to Scripture reading and prayer as opposed to a relational approach, where you might even ask questions of the text.

23:32-28:23
Conrad shares his personal habit of Bible reading, following the M'Cheyne plan for reading four chapters a day and discussing weekly with a friend. And then, instead of suggesting everyone start by reading the whole Bible in a year, Conrad highlights three elements from his personal practice that he thinks can apply to anyone when it comes to engaging Scripture:

28:24-end
Before we are done, you'll hear Justin ask Conrad specifically about applying the Old Testament to your life without allegorizing it, and you'll hear from one of our DLYMI trailblazers, Nathan Wendorf (Senior Pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Harlingen, Texas).

You can get more help on meditating as marinating (or savoring) in section 5.2 "Lip-Smacking Good" in Volume 2 of the My Next Step series (the one with the carabiner on the cover) or read a version of the Batman/Spiderman analogy in section 6.2 "Up Close and Personal" in that same volume.

If you would like to experiment with the M'Cheyne Reading Plan with Conrad, check out this web page.

You can hear more from Conrad in the following episodes of the Next Step Podcast. Or listen to him read his book Jesus Asked by visiting http://gempf.com/wp/Jesus-Asked-the-podcast/.

The intro and outro music comes from Peter Prochnow's rendition of the hymn, "Come Holy Ghost, Creator Blest" and is available at www.thehymnalproject.com. Used by permission.

This episode of the Next Step Podcast was supported in part by the generosity of Next Step Patrons. Please consider becoming a Next Step Patron before the end 2023. To see different options for support, including monthly and annual options, visit https://www.patreon.com/findmynextstep, or email [email protected] to make a one-time gift.

Thank you to all of our Patrons! Patrons make it possible.