Close to Home Podcast

My hope and prayer today is to see God do what only he can do. Just some encouraging thoughts heading into Sunday!!

We all tend to think we operate with the necessary information to make the important decisions in our lives...but quite frequently we find ourselves leading others and not truly understanding where they’re coming from. Here are some quick leadership thoughts I gained from a somewhat humbling experience.

Some people are famous and not great while others are great, but not famous. In this episode, I use some of my story to talk through this simple, but important distinction.

September 24, 1992 was one of the most defining days of my life. It’s the day my mom, Joan Russo passed away. I use this extended episode to share with you some of the processing I’ve done and how I believe God can bring beauty from the ashes of our lives. (Isaiah 61:3)

A lot of times we fail to see God in the mundane day to day details of our lives. Here’s some simple advice from a prolific author that may help cure a strong case of the Mondays.

If you desire to follow God, part of the deal is repeatedly walking into circumstances and opportunities that are way too big for you. The comfort in this is that’s when trusting God becomes the only way to persevere. I believe this is the place God wants us to live in because that’s when his power shows up the most clearly.

Most of us tend to take the “What if?” question in the wrong direction. We imagine the worst case scenarios and are filled with unhelpful and harmful anxiety. What if we used “What if” to our advantage and spun it around in the opposite direction? Hope this episode encourages you!

Many of the divisions in our world today are caused by men and women who are so certain of they’re opinions, that everyone else must be wrong. Humility is needed, here and I hope this episode helps to encourage the lost art of being teachable.

In our fast paced, overly connected world, we have to be more intentional than ever when it comes to creating margin. I hope this episode encourages you to create the space your soul desperately needs.

Too many people sit back as arm chair critics of the church rather than being a part of the solution. Prayer has tremendous power to heal and transform. Let’s move beyond our offenses and pray that the church would become all that God’s designed it to be.

What or who we’re motivated by defines us in a lot of ways. I wanted to share with you guys the source of some of my motivation in hopes that it will help you in your search.

If we’re never in settings where we can share how we really think and feel, we run the risk of becoming completely disconnected from ourselves. I hope this episode encourages and challenges you and have a great day!

Not every struggle we face can be put into tidy boxes, but that doesn’t make them any less real. I hope this episode encourages you. We all have way more in common than we have differences.

I’m about to speak to about 300 middle and high school students this morning and I’m praying that God would show up powerfully. What if we were all desperate for God to use us every single day?

Let’s make going to church about being real...not a day when we feel like we need to be at our absolute best. Have a great day!

Storms on the inside of us can oftentimes effect us even more than the storms on the outside of us. How might God be speaking to you through the internal storms and how are you going to respond?

Growth means stepping out of your comfort zone. What authors, resources or people are you currently spending time with who are challenging your perspective?

When the storms of life come, be they physical or spiritual, it’s easy for us to react emotionally instead of looking to God and seeking his perspective. I hope this episode challenges you to think about the way you think.

God wants us to find him, but he invites us into an all out pursuit. It’s an encouragement as well as a challenge. Hope you enjoy this episode!

To achieve your goals, you need a greater sense of calling where the goals are merely mile markers along the way. Hope this episode challenges and inspires you!

Have you ever written out the dreams you feel called to for the future and shared them with anyone? That’s what I’ll be encouraging you to do in this episode!

I’m so excited to begin this podcast! It’s been something I’ve thought about for a long time. As with any dream, you have to take the first step, so here goes nothing. What’s an area of your life where you need to change the status quo? What’s something new you need to try that could be a game-changer? You’ll never know unless you’re willing to take the first step!