Together 4 Good: Making Sense of Life and Faith

Disclaimer: The audio is slightly less than optimal in this episode. Pastor Nate is aware of the issue and working on resolving it.

In this episode of Together 4 Good, Pastor Nate sits down with Deacon Debra to talk honestly and thoughtfully about immigration, social justice, and why the Bible keeps calling us back to compassion — especially for people on the move.

Debra shares stories from Bethany’s Social Justice Ministry, reflects on why food and storytelling matter so deeply in faith formation, and introduces two upcoming events designed to help our congregation listen, learn, and engage without fear.

This conversation isn’t about politics. It’s about Scripture, community, and learning how to see our neighbors the way God does.

• Why immigration shows up everywhere in Scripture — from Abraham to Jesus
  

• What children’s faith formation teaches us about repetition, grace, and growth
  

• How reading The God Who Sees reframes biblical stories we think we already know
  

• Why sharing food lowers defenses and opens deeper conversations
  

• How Bethany is creating safe spaces for honest dialogue across differences
  

📖 Book Study – The God Who Sees Sunday, February 22 | After second service

🍽️ Cocina Libre Community Meal & Documentary Saturday, March 8 | Featuring immigrant chefs, shared storytelling, and guided discussion

Both events are open to the congregation and wider community. Learn more here: https://www.bethany-denver.org/news

🎧 Listen, reflect, and join the conversation.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome + why this conversation matters

02:45 Social Justice Ministry at Bethany

06:30 How children really learn faith

10:30 Immigration stories in the Bible

14:45 Why The God Who Sees reframes Scripture

19:00 Immigration, law, and Christian compassion

24:30 Food as storytelling and sacred practice

29:30 Why sharing meals changes conversations

33:00 Invitation to upcoming events

In this Sunday School Remix episode, Pastor Nate revisits one of the most misunderstood disciples in the Bible. The story of Thomas (John 20:19-31) is often used as a warning about doubt—but what if it’s actually a story about trauma, fairness, and Jesus meeting people exactly where they are?

Through fresh storytelling and historical context, this episode reframes Thomas not as weak in faith, but deeply human. After witnessing the brutal crucifixion of Jesus, Thomas isn’t asking for proof out of stubbornness—he’s asking for healing.

This episode explores:

• Why Thomas gets an unfair reputation

• How trauma shapes faith and belief

• What it means that Jesus comes back just for one person

• Why doubt, questions, and locked doors are not barriers for Jesus

• How this story speaks to anyone who has ever felt left out, unsure, or behind in their faith
  

If you’ve ever thought, “I wish my faith felt easier,” or “Why don’t I experience God the way others do?”—this episode is for you.

Sunday school was just the beginning. Faith is still unfolding.

00:00 – Intro: What If Thomas Was Just Having a Bad Week?

01:05 – Why Pastors Always Preach This Text

02:10 – Why Thomas Wasn’t There03:00 – Roman Crucifixion & Trauma

04:45 – Why Doubt Makes Sense

06:15 – From “Doubting” to Honest Thomas

07:30 – Jesus Comes Back for the One

09:00 – Jesus, the God of Locked Doors

10:45 – Breaking the Fourth Wall in John’s Gospel

12:15 – What This Story Asks of Us Today

13:30 – Closing: Sunday School Was Just the Beginning

The episode everyone has been waiting for is finally here.

In this conversation, I sit down with Addison Andrix, Bethany’s newly hired Coordinator of Confirmation, High School, and Young Adult Ministry.

Addison shares his story and what brings him to Bethany Lutheran Church. Addison grew up Lutheran in Minnesota and stayed connected to church through high school. And as most college kids he drifted a bit before finding his way back and rediscovering a deeper relationship with God through prayer, rest, Scripture, and community. 

During this conversation we talk about:

• Growing up with faith as routine and stability

• How ministry can quietly turn into a job

• The difference between religious participation and a relationship with God

• Why pray isn’t magic, but it does reorient us

• Grace vs. performance (and why God isn’t keeping score)

• What Sabbath can teach us about the freedom to stop pretending we’re in control

• Why unconditional love is both central to faith and incredibly hard to live out

This conversation is more than meeting Addison, it’s about grace, burnout, trust and learning to navigate faith in real life.

🎧 Listen now and help us welcome Addison Andrix to Bethany Lutheran Church. Learn more at https://bethany-denver.org

Chapters:

00:00 – Meet Addison Andrix

02:10 – Growing Up Lutheran

05:15 – When Faith Turns Into a Job

08:45 – Prayer and Perspective

11:30 – College, Burnout, and Drifting Without Leaving

14:20 – “Caffeine and Jesus”

16:05 – Grace vs. Performance

18:10 – Rest, Sabbath, and Letting Things Be Good Enough

20:05 – Unconditional Love

22:00 – Why Addison Is Excited for Ministry

23:00 – Final Thoughts + How to Connect

In this episode of Together 4 Good, I’m joined by Kate Souther, who just completed her first semester at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia. 

During our conversation we talk about what seminary is really like, why theology still matters, and how faith can grow not just through prayer and worship, but also through reading, studying, and thinking deeply. 

Kate shares her experience studying pastoral care, Christian history, and contextual education. She reflects on her work with refugee children in an afterschool program and gained the knowledge that play, presence, and community impact ministry. 

We also talked about calling: how Kate first fell in love with theology in middle school, how being told “no” pushed her into becoming a Pastor, and what draws her into the idea of being a parish pastor. 

You’ll learn:

• Why seminary still matters

• How theology connects to everyday life

• What is means to feel “where you’re supposed to be”

• How faith can be strengthened through learning

Connect with us wherever you get your podcasts and for more on Bethany Lutheran Church in Denver, CO visit: https://linktr.ee/bethanydenver

What does faith actually look like for Gen Z right now?

In this episode of Together 4 Good, I sit down with two incredible young people, Addison, a high school sophomore, and Sophie, a first-year college student at Virginia Tech, to talk honestly about faith, friendship, and belonging in high school and college today.

We talk about:

• How friendships shift from middle school → high school → college
  

• Why community matters more than having all the right answers
  

• What it’s like to be Christian without making it your entire personality
  

• How Wednesday night youth group became a lifeline
  

• Why service, mission trips, and shared experiences shape faith more than lectures
  

• Navigating faith with friends who believe differently — or not at all
  

This conversation is thoughtful, funny, deeply human, and refreshingly honest. It’s not about forcing belief or having perfect theology — it’s about connection, curiosity, and finding people who help you feel less alone.

Whether you’re a student, a parent, or someone wondering how faith connects to real life today, this episode offers a hopeful glimpse into what Gen Z is actually experiencing.

🎧 Listen now and join the conversation.

00:00 – Intro: Faith, Gen Z, and real questions

01:30 – Moving from high school to college

04:00 – Making friends when everything changes07:30 – Surface-level vs. deeper friendships

12:30 – Being Christian without pushing it on others

17:00 – Why community keeps people connected to church

21:00 – Wednesday nights, youth group, and belonging

26:30 – Denominations, differences, and curiosity

31:00 – Mission trips, service, and lived faith

35:00 – Final advice for students today

We all know the story of the Good Samaritan. Most of us learned it in Sunday school as a lesson about being kind, helping others, and doing the right thing.

But Jesus wasn’t just giving us another moral rule to follow.

In this Sunday School Remix episode, I take a deeper look at Luke 10:25–37 and the moment that prompted Jesus to tell this parable in the first place. A lawyer—someone who knew all the religious rules—asked Jesus a familiar question: “Who is my neighbor?” Luke tells us he asked it hoping to justify himself.

That detail matters.

Because this story isn’t about earning goodness or proving you’re right. It’s about how easily religious rules can distract us from mercy—and how God keeps placing opportunities for compassion directly in our path.

• Why Jesus tells this story in response to self-justification

• How religious rules can become barriers to compassion

• Why the priest and Levite walk by—and why that made sense religiously

• Why making the Samaritan the hero was so shocking

• How humility is the starting point for real compassion

• What it looks like to notice the needs God places right in front of us

The Good Samaritan isn’t a story about being a better rule-follower. It’s an invitation to live a life shaped by mercy—again and again.

📖 Scripture: Luke 10:25–37

• The lawyer’s question isn’t about curiosity—it’s about self-justification

• Knowing the rules doesn’t automatically lead to compassion

• Mercy requires humility first

• Jesus centers the outsider as the example of faithful love

• Compassion doesn’t mean fixing everything—it means noticing and responding

Learn More at https://linktr.ee/bethanydenver

In this episode, we explore:Key Takeaways

This is not a Christmas story.

This is a story about perspective.About how the same moment can mean everything to one person—and almost nothing to another.

Over the next twelve episodes on Together 4 Good, we’re sharing real stories that remind us we don’t all experience joy, meaning, or even God in the same way.

This is not a Christmas story.But it is a real one.

In this episode of Together for Good, Pastor Gary shares a formative story from his teenage years—one that begins with a brand-new Schwinn bike, a scorching summer day, and a long ride toward Kings Island that didn’t exactly go as planned.

What started as a straightforward journey quickly turned into a series of wrong turns, repeated hills, and decisions made without a map. And somewhere along those winding country roads, a deeper truth emerged: faith often works the same way.

Many of us know where we hope our faith will lead—a deeper relationship with God, a sense of peace, meaning, or trust. But getting there isn’t always clear. Do we pray more? Read Scripture differently? Join a group? Try something new? Sometimes we choose a path that feels right… only to find ourselves back where we started, facing the same challenges again.

In this reflection, Pastor Gary reminds us that those moments aren’t failures. They’re part of the journey. Sometimes the road that feels like a setback is actually teaching us something essential. And sometimes we have to climb the same hill more than once before we discover what truly bears fruit.

The good news? God doesn’t disappear at the fork in the road. God stays—inviting us to choose again, to keep moving, and to trust that even the wrong turns can lead us closer to love.

Learn more: https://bethany-denver.org

faith stories, Christian storytelling, everyday faith, modern Christianity, spiritual reflections, faith and life, lived faith stories, faith beyond certainty

This is not a Christmas story.

This is a story about perspective.About how the same moment can mean everything to one person—and almost nothing to another.

Over the next twelve episodes on Together 4 Good, we’re sharing real stories that remind us we don’t all experience joy, meaning, or even God in the same way.

This is not a Christmas story.But it is a real one.

It starts with a snowy football game in Buffalo… and an eight-year-old who genuinely didn’t care who won.

In this episode, Pastor Nate reflects on a moment that seems small—but ends up saying something big about faith, God, and the many ways people experience the divine. From family, football, and pancakes to worship styles, prayer practices, and spiritual assumptions, this story becomes an invitation to loosen our grip on certainty and make room for a God who can’t be reduced to one voice, one style, or one “right” way.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your way of experiencing God counts—or felt uneasy when someone claims to have all the answers—this episode is for you.

Learn more: https://bethany-denver.org

faith stories, Christian storytelling, everyday faith, modern Christianity, spiritual reflections, faith and life, lived faith stories, faith beyond certainty

This is not a Christmas story.

This is a story about perspective.About how the same moment can mean everything to one person—and almost nothing to another.

Over the next twelve episodes on Together 4 Good, we’re sharing real stories that remind us we don’t all experience joy, meaning, or even God in the same way.

This is not a Christmas story.But it is a real one.

In this episode, Pastor Gary shares a story from his high school years—working late nights at McDonald’s, cleaning the store after closing, and still showing up for church every Sunday morning.

What began as a simple family rule slowly became something more: a life shaped by discipline, freedom, and faith.

This story is about how structure can create space for growth—and how discipleship is often formed long before we realize it.

Learn more: https://bethany-denver.org

faith stories, Christian storytelling, everyday faith, modern Christianity, spiritual reflections, faith and life, lived faith stories, faith beyond certainty

This is not a Christmas story.

This is a story about perspective.About how the same moment can mean everything to one person—and almost nothing to another.

Over the next twelve episodes on Together 4 Good, we’re sharing real stories that remind us we don’t all experience joy, meaning, or even God in the same way.

This is not a Christmas story.But it is a real one.

In this episode, I tell a story from my early twenties—about roommates, late nights, creative energy, and a sitcom that never quite happened.

What started as an ambitious idea turned into something else entirely: shared laughter, imagination, and the joy of making something for no other reason than that it was fun.

This story is about creativity as a spiritual practice—and why success isn’t always the point.

Learn more: https://bethany-denver.org

faith stories, Christian storytelling, everyday faith, modern Christianity, spiritual reflections, faith and life, lived faith stories, faith beyond certainty