Cross Training Ministries Podcast

Most guys want to date their wife, but their calendar is too full, their wallet is too empty, a babysitter is too hard to find, and they’re all out of new ideas. In this episode, Joe and Evan encourage ordinary men to push past these obstacles by focusing on the three essentials for dating your wife : Genuine Curiosity Curated List Predetermined Rhythms For a copy of Cross Training's guide to...

Modern culture is setting men up for burnout. Men are being shaped in a world where achievement is the god, and productivity is the cult. And the expectation to be a disciple-making, family-leading, neighborhood-evangelizing, church volunteer…doesn’t make it any easier. In this episode of the Cross Training Ministries podcast, Joe and Evan walk you through 9 questions that will help you avoid burn...

Life Planning is like a stick of dynamite. It's undeniably useful if used in the right way, but horrifically dangerous if played around with hastily. For this reason books by life coaching gurus like Michael Hyatt and David Allen ought to include a warning label. Unless filtered through a spiritual colander they easily lead to an achievement based, self-centered lifestyle. More than one Chris...

Picture a guy wanting a more focused life. He hears a podcast on how to draft a plan for his life, then he sits down with a notebook and pen and begins to attempt to write a vision for himself. He takes inventory of his roles and responsibilities. He budgets his time and creates space for new things.  Will this result in focus?  Sadly, the answer might be yes. It's entirely possible that this...

We're in a series on the Disciplines of a Focused Mind. This week we're covering the fourth discipline: prayer. Prayer ought to focus the mind of a man, but often times prayer is a time when men are most easily distracted. In this episode, Joe and Evan talk about 6 ways to pray that won't lead you to focus , and then they give you 7 elements of prayer that help with focus and alignm...

Wouldn't it be wonderful if understanding and transformation were identical. They are not. There are lots of pastors and seminary teachers who are spiritually distracted and lifeless. How can this be? They know the meaning of 1,000 different Greek words, and they have read 100s of different books. The problem isn’t in the understanding but in the heart; they do not take the time needed to app...

Information doesn't naturally stick in the mind - the mind is a sieve and billions of bits of data pass through all of the time. Think about how terrible it would be if we had to understand and process every piece of data that we encountered. The problem with this system is that sometimes important stuff passes through the sieve. Think of reading through John 17 - this is Jesus' great pr...

"Focus" is what CS Lewis calls a "halo word". Everybody wants focus, but no one really knows what the word is referring to. We think that focus will come naturally if we eliminate distraction. That's a joke. Cutting out distraction will no more produce focus than cutting out dessert will produce muscle. Focus is something that must be cultivated. But what do we need to be...

Do you want to learn what it means to be a loving dad? Look to the example of Jesus, Everlasting Father (Is 9:6). 1) Protect your family 2) Lead your family in worship 3) Teach your children to follow Jesus Other Cross Training Christmas resources: Blog: Help for Men Who Struggle to Make Much of the Incarnation Video: The Incarnation Transforms Our Knowledge of God https://www.xtrainingministries....

Imagine you could spend an afternoon with the 65 year old you, what do you hope to see? What do you hope to have accomplished at this point in your life? In the last two chapters of Hudson Taylor’s autobiography we get a glimpse of what it looks like to finish strong. It should be no surprise that finishing strong has very little to do with his worldly success, but rather the legacy he leaves afte...

You’ve spent six weeks considering this question: How would my life change if I were friends with Christian hero Hudson Taylor? You are the sum of your 5 closest friends, and by now we’ve read enough of the life of Hudson Taylor to know that his presence in our friend group would challenge our faithful obedience to God. This week we want to take that question, and scale it up: How would my church...

How would you describe the ordinary Christian man? Busy, exhausted, distracted - these are all fair descriptions that capture at least a small piece of the struggles of modern man. But here’s one word that keeps coming to my mind as I look at myself and my friends… waiting . And by this I don’t mean that men are waiting on the Lord . Rather, most men are waiting on someone else to act first. Waiti...

How do you describe God? Does what you think about God change, when your circumstances change?  Our friend Hudson Taylor described God as the One Great Circumstance . This view of God seemed to give him confidence, bring him comfort, and spur him forward. A friend like Hudson urges us to ask the question: how would my life change if I believed God to be the One Great Circumstance? In week 5 of the...

When Hudson Taylor landed in China, he was greeted by danger, disappointment, and discouragement. In fact, not long after landing in Shanghai he sent his family a special Christmas present: a 5 pound cannonball - the very cannonball that almost took his life while navigating through war-torn China. As you listen to Hudson’s stories about his early years in China, you discover that he’s is the kind...

Being friends with Hudson Taylor is an exercise in humility. Hudson is the kind of friend who you catch pleading with God - constantly. When he’s weak he pleads with God for physical strength to persevere. When no one else sees a way of escape, he pleads for a timely rescue. When he meets someone with a hard-heart, he pleads for their salvation. Hudson is the kind of friend who is convinced that a...

Hudson Taylor has unbelievable stories of receiving generous provision. He also has unbelievable stories of giving generously to others. Hudson’s stories scream this one truth: God is faithful to provide. This is week 2 of the HeroChallenge. You can follow along here: Week Two

This is week One of the Hudson Taylor HeroChallenge. When you read about the early years of Hudson Taylor’s life, you get the sense that his household was full connection points to the gospel. His mother and sister kept prayer journals. His dad invited missionaries over to the house regularly. His family had a bookshelf full of Bibles and books about the Bible. All of this, by God’s grace, fostere...

It's been said that a man is the sum of his 5 closest friends. If that’s true, what would it be like to have Hudson Taylor as one of those friends? How would your life change if you began to mimic the man who left a legacy of trusting in the faithfulness of God ? Let’s find out. For the next 8 weeks we are going to challenge you to trust God with every area of your life. By adapting some of t...

"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. " -  Romans 8:5 Habitual distraction, misdirected desire, disordered love, stupid life planning - these are the symptoms of a mind that is set on the flesh, not the spirit. Don't you wish you had the ability -...

Is your daily devotional stale? Do you feel like your mind constantly distracted? Learn how to renew of life of prayer, meditation, and devotion with Hymn Workouts . In this episode, Evan reads the introduction to the book that gives distracted men 100 spiritual exercises.

One of the main questions we get asked is how to help guys shift from being a Bible study group to becoming a band of brothers. Guys want a path. In this episode we give you one. My notes: Camaraderie is a special type of friendship shared with fellow pilgrims Extend to men an explicit invitation into friendship, not to your next Men's event. If you want to move from classmates to comrades, g...

There is no way to pursue godliness in a broken world without self-control. Self-control is using all of the internal and external resources God has given us to steer our lives in the direction of godliness. Listen as Joe and Evan dispel the myths that surround self-control, and point Christian men toward the internal and external resources that promote self-control. https://www.xtrainingministrie...

In this episode Joe and Evan discuss one of the 5 dimensions of spiritual fitness: Competence. Questions we answer: What is competence? Why is competence spiritually important? How does a lack of competence affect Christian guys?  Where specifically do men need competence?  What are the limits of competence?  What does it look like for guys to pursue competence together? 

Do you have clear convictions on the big questions of life? A lot of Christian men are in danger of floating through life with no clear convictions - or worse yet - convictions borrowed from the culture around them. Part of spiritual fitness is clarity - a Biblical perspective on life. In this conversation, Joe and Evan help define clarity and help guys grow in it. My Notes: Clarity is a Biblical...

No man will make serious progress toward spiritual maturity until he is captivated by the glory of Christ. In this episode we help guys understand what captivation is, and how they can begin to feed their captivation of Christ. My notes: Captivation is a heart that is fiercely gripped by a vision of unparalleled goodness. Captivation of Christ is often more like a steady bubbling stream than a mou...