The Nothing Is Wasted Podcast

This is an unprecedented time for the church. If you’re involved in ministry on any scale, from a lead pastor to a volunteer, then you’re probably feeling the difficulty of this season. In this installment of our Livestream Videocast Series, Davey is joined by Brad Cooper, Aaron Brockett, and Tim Harlow to talk about what it looks like to do ministry in the mayhem that is our current COVID-19 cris...

Kelly Streiff’s story of pain isn’t one where she’s already walked through grief and healed and overcame. Those stories are powerful, but that isn’t the one Kelly has to share right now. When she sat down with Davey to tell her story, Kelly was only six months out from losing her baby daughter Imogen. While walking through still fresh pain and grief, Kelly shares her story and talks about what it...

“Blessing” is a word we throw around a lot in church circles. Every pastor has probably preached about it more times than they can count, and Mark Batterson is no exception. He’s even written about it in his newest book, Double Blessing. But what does a blessing actually look like? How do we know what is and isn’t a blessing? And what does it mean to see blessings even in the midst of trials? Mark...

Kasey Van Norman knows firsthand how God takes our trials and our pain and turns them around for good. She’s written a book called Nothing Wasted, and the title alone tells you that she is no stranger to the sort of things we talk about on this podcast. Kasey learned the hard way that God doesn’t waste anything when trauma early in her life left her with a disconnect between what she believed abou...

Trauma has a weird way of sneaking up on us. So many of us have experienced traumas big and small that we don’t even know the effects of to this day. These things that happen in the past live with us in the present and shape our lives without our noticing. This is at the root of the work that Aundi Kolber does. As a professional counselor and author, Aundi tries to help people understand the traum...

Nona Jones had what looked on the outside like success. She got a job at a Fortune 100 company at only 23, and her professional life only seemed to go up and to the right from there. Married to a pastor and with a deep faith of her own, it seemed that Nona had the “perfect” Christian life. But under the surface, trauma that had gone unaddressed built up until it could no longer be ignored, and Non...

Justin Skeesuck and Patrick Gray are, quite literally, lifelong best friends. Born only a couple days apart in the same small-town hospital, there hasn’t been a day when the two weren’t close. But when a teenaged Justin was diagnosed with a degenerative neuromuscular disease, both of their lives and their friendship were changed forever. Through unimaginable trial, these two friends have dedicated...

TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS SERIES PART FOUR From the outside, you could look at Ciara Weese’s life and see something close to a modern-day fairy tale. Married to her kindergarten best friend with a baby on the way and jobs as youth pastors at a church, Ciara’s life today bears little resemblance to the darkness in her past. Under the weight of trauma kept secret, unhealed wounds, and unspoken temptation,...

TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS SERIES PART THREE When Gary Thomas wrote Sacred Marriage, he probably didn’t know the amount of impact he would have. Now, with nearly a million copies sold, his words have been responsible for helping heal and sustain countless marriages. Which is, in part, why it’s so interesting that his newest book is called When To Walk Away. In the years since his earlier book, Gary has l...

Rebecca Bender’s story of becoming a victim of human trafficking is, sadly, not a unique one. By many estimates, there are more slaves in the world today than in any other time in history. In this bonus episode, Rebecca shares about some resources on how we can combat human trafficking in our own communities. This bonus episode is just a taste of the content we provide for our Nothing Is Wasted Mo...

TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS SERIES PART TWO It’s easy to think of human trafficking as something that happens “somewhere else.” We’d all agree that it’s a horrendous evil, but our subconscious minds dull its edges by framing it as happening in countries thousands of miles away or in the distant past. But for millions of people in the world today, human trafficking is a monster that must be confronted each...

TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS SERIES PART ONE Relationships that are worth having are never easy. While this is true for any relationship from friends to family members, it may never be more true than in romance. Anyone, whether single, dating, engaged or married, will tell you that a good relationship with a significant other takes work. Debra Fileta knows this all too well as a licensed counselor speciali...

After a lifetime of trauma and hardship, healing and wholeness can seem unattainable. Every new trial feels like a step in the wrong direction, and eventually we look up and the life we want to live seems impossibly far away. This is where Kristi Blackburn’s story begins. She’s walked through more trials than anyone should have to face: an abusive father left her fearing for her life and the lives...

Just about every pastor has preached at least a few sermons on how to go through trials. They can have all the right scriptures, all the best theology, all the best words to encourage and inspire the people they’ve been entrusted with. But what happens when a trial hits the pastor’s life? That’s what Mark Vroegop found himself asking when he and his wife lost their unborn daughter just weeks befor...

It seemed like everything was right in Rebekah Lyons’ world. Her young family had recently moved to New York, and she started to pursue her passions — it seemed like Rebekah was living a great life. But anxiety was lurking just below the surface, waiting to change all that. After her first panic attack left her lying on the floor of an airplane, Rebekah found herself living at the whims of anxiety...

At age nine, John O’Leary’s world was very literally set on fire. Childish curiosity got the best of him, and playing with a gas can left him with burns over his entire body and an incredibly slim chance for survival. But when John came out of the hospital, this literal inferno had stirred up a metaphorical fire inside him. John now makes it his mission to help and inspire others by sharing his st...

Terry Wardle’s upbringing was not an easy one. Growing up impoverished in rural America, young Terry watched his family struggle through an unbelievable amount of disfunction. Crime, violence, and death became staples of his life, and this exposure to things that no young child should see made a lasting impact. Years later, all these hurts bubbled up to the surface. Terry had a successful ministry...

It seemed like an evening like any other for Karen Millsap. She picked up her kids from her husband’s CrossFit gym in the evening and headed home to do some work. But a single phone call was all it would take to shatter the illusion of normalcy forever. Amid the chaos on the other end of the phone, Karen was able to make out just one word. “Shot.” By the time she got there it was too late, and Kar...

Debra Moerke’s story is one that is almost hard to process. It’s a story of immense tragedy and hardship, but also one of incredible grace and forgiveness. Being a foster parent couldn’t have seemed easy, but when Debra agreed to take in a group of siblings from an abusive home, she could never have foreseen the amount of pain that she was about to step into. But out of that pain, God taught Debra...

When Sarah Forgrave was only four years old, her older sister was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. The doctors said her chances of survival were slim. This worst case scenario became “normal” for Sarah as she spent some of her most formative years watching her sister’s four-year battle with cancer. Having walked through this trial, Sarah found herself unknowingly prepared for more to come, and as an...

When Kevan Chandler was diagnosed with a rare neuromuscular disease as a small child, it would have seemed that his life would have limits. How could it not be when he would never even take a single step? But Kevan chose not to let his disability define him. With the help of his friends, Kevan has traveled without a wheelchair across Europe and China, written a book called We Carry Kevan, and foun...

We often think of our perfect life as being very peaceful. We want everything to be neat and tidy, and any chaos or messes are obstacles to be eliminated. But when an encounter with a homeless man changed her life forever, Ginger Spouse began to wonder if the best that God has for us isn’t a perfectly clean life, but one where we embrace the messiness that He brings us. Ginger sits down with Davey...

Misty Phillip’s story is not an easy one. Through loss, rape, abortion, suicidal thoughts, stillbirth, and more, she’s walked through darker valleys than most could imagine. With everything she’s gone through, it would be hard to blame her for turning her back on God. After all, who could believe in a good God in the face of so much hurt? Instead, she’s learned to walk closer with God through ever...

Born into a life defined by poverty and crime, LaMorris Crawford had a pretty tough childhood. The orphaned son of a teenage mother, LaMorris looked for anything he could find to numb his pain. Sports, popularity, drugs — all the coping mechanisms available to a poor young kid were not enough. All of that changed when LaMorris had a radical encounter with Jesus. Once a poor kid with little hope fo...

The picture of life that existed in a young Justine Froelker’s mind was beautiful. She was a girl with a passion for dance, and she planned to make that dream her reality. But those dreams were shattered when mysterious pains landed her in the hospital, and she spent her high school years in and out of hospitals, surgeries, and body casts. Years later, Justine felt the ripple effect of these trial...