Followed By Mercy

Send us Fan Mail What if the loudest thief of joy isn’t failure or chaos, but tomorrow? We open with a poem that names what hurry hides, the way our plans and spiritual hustle can masquerade as faith while quietly draining the grace found in the present. From there, we get honest about how living split between what is and what might be creates anxiety, and we offer a slower, steadier way: gather t...

Send us Fan Mail If peace always feels one step away, this conversation invites you to stop chasing the horizon and meet the Shepherd who stands in the room. We talk about how a certain kind of “spiritual hunger” can disguise plain restlessness, and why the Lord is my shepherd only changes us when we hear it in present tense. Drawing from Psalm 23, the Lord’s Prayer, Lamentations’ new mercies, and...

Send us Fan Mail What if the self-protection you’ve been practicing is the very thing stealing your peace? From a quiet hotel room in Arequipa, while traveling and staying ahead on upcoming shows, Austin speaks to the listener who feels forgotten, unseen, and tired of fighting alone. Bitterness, he says, can sound like wisdom and look like strength, but it slowly becomes a hidden prison. We call i...

Send us Fan Mail A quiet confession opens the door: being forgotten can bruise a soul deeper than we admit. From a small hotel room in Arequipa, while traveling and staying ahead on upcoming shows, we speak to the listener who feels unseen, the one carrying silent wounds that never found closure. Bitterness can look like strength, but it slowly becomes a hidden prison. It promises protection, yet...

Send us Fan Mail What if your story doesn’t start with “I should try harder,” but with “I was dead, and God made me alive”? In this episode, we open Ephesians 2 with raw honesty and real hope, tracing Paul’s unflinching diagnosis and the breathtaking interruption of “but God.” We begin with identity saints and faithful by gift, not grind. Then we face the hard truth, dead in trespasses and sins, s...

Send us Fan Mail Mercy isn’t a mood; it’s the current we keep finding ourselves in. In this episode, we sit down with Chris in Arequipa and trace a family story that spans decades of missions, a son’s cleft lip and palate surgeries, a pastor school that gathered leaders from Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina, and a faithful Shepherd guiding it all. What unfolds is a living picture of Ps...

Send us Fan Mail What if the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is already working in your hardest places, quietly, steadily, right now? In this episode, we open Scripture and our own scars to trace a path from the pit to praise, showing how mercy follows and how weakness becomes the doorway to real strength. We explore Paul’s rich language for God’s might and anchor it in a living throne,...

Send us Fan Mail When a man in chains prays for your freedom, it changes how you see your own life. In this episode, we walk through Ephesians 1:17–19 and listen to Paul’s prayer not for comfort or status, but for wisdom, hope, and power. From a prison cell, he asks God to open eyes, anchor hearts, and unleash the same resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead. That kind of prayer reshape...

Send us Fan Mail Ever notice how God repeats the same truth until it finally sinks in? In this episode, we sit with Ephesians 1:15–16 and watch Paul pray not for his chains to be broken, but for people he loves. From a prison cell, he shows us a way out of self-pity and into a life marked by gratitude, intercession, and hope. Chris joins me as we discuss why repetition in Scripture isn’t wasted sp...

Send us Fan Mail What if the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is already at work in your everyday life? In this episode, we open Ephesians 1:19–20 and watch Paul pile up words for “power” to make sure we don’t miss it: this isn’t theory, it’s reality for those who believe. I share pieces of my own story, from cancer diagnoses and false accusations to nights when bitterness felt easier th...

Send us Fan Mail This recording is a message preached at Shady Grove Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia. Do you picture God the Father as stern and angry, while Jesus is the kind one who shields you from His wrath? You’re not alone, but that picture is far from the truth. In this episode, we explore a life-giving reality from Ephesians 1: grace and peace flow straight from the Father’s heart. Whe...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever felt worn out from trying to earn God’s approval? You’re not alone. In this episode, we open Ephesians 3:14-21 and discover what it means to be “strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.” Through honest stories and biblical truth, we explore the freedom that comes from moving from performance-driven striving to Spirit-enabled rest. Christianity was neve...

Send us Fan Mail Freedom dawns when you finally grasp who you are in Christ. In this episode of Followed by Mercy , Robert Canfield, David Gardner, and I talk about what it means to live from your true identity instead of striving through religious performance. We examine Ephesians 1 and celebrate the breathtaking truth that believers are holy, blameless, and spotless, not because of what we do, b...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever wondered if your failures disqualified you from God’s plan? Maybe you’ve thought your mistakes derailed what He intended for your life. In this episode, we turn to Ephesians 1:11 and discover the freeing truth that God’s purpose for us isn’t built on our performance but on our position in Christ. Robert Canfield and I talk about how God’s plan unfolds according to Hi...

Send us Fan Mail What would your life look like if you truly understood your identity in Christ? In this episode of Followed By Mercy , Austin Gardner and Robert Canfield explore the freedom that comes when we stop striving to earn what God has already given us. Drawing from Ephesians 1:11, they unpack the difference between being “in Adam” and being “in Christ.” This isn’t just theology; it chang...

Send us Fan Mail Imagine switching family lines, moving from an inheritance of death to an inheritance of life. That’s the transformation that takes place when we move from being “in Adam” to being “in Christ.” In this episode of Followed by Mercy , we look at Ephesians 1:11 and discover the incredible truth of our inheritance in Christ. Being part of Adam’s family meant we inherited sin, guilt, a...

Send us Fan Mail What does real faith look like when it meets real suffering? In this episode, we explore the deep connection between faith and love through the story of the Good Samaritan. Paul once commended believers for their “faith in the Lord Jesus and love for all the saints” in Ephesians 1:15. Those two always go together. Jesus taught the same truth when He said that loving God and loving...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever felt like you had to earn God’s love? In this episode, we explore how liberating it is to discover that God’s love isn’t something we earn. It’s who He is. We walk through Luke 7 and the moving story of a woman known for her sins who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears. While others looked at her with judgment, Jesus saw her with love and forgiveness. His parable of th...

Send us Fan Mail Are you living with boundaries on God’s grace that He never placed on you? Many of us have all we need in Christ yet walk through life like spiritual beggars, blind to the power already at work within us. In this episode, we look at how easily we restrict God’s power in our lives, much like the early settlers of Manhattan who built a wall, never imagining the city would grow beyon...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever felt abandoned by God in your darkest hour? In this episode, I share from my own journey through cancer, surgeries, and treatments that left me questioning everything, only to discover that God’s mercy never left my side.  “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me” isn’t just poetic comfort; it’s a living reality that has carried me through despair and turned my pai...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever read God’s promises and quietly wondered if they were too good to be true? In this episode, we look at Ephesians 3:12 and the staggering truth that in Christ, you already have boldness, access, and confidence before God, not one day when you’re “good enough,” but right now, just as you are. Most believers trust God for heaven but live like they’re still on probation...

Send us Fan Mail Faith, love, and thanksgiving. Three simple words that carried Paul’s heart even as he sat chained in prison, facing the shadow of death. Instead of despair, his letters overflowed with joy. How? In this episode, we open Ephesians 1:15-16 and discover what it means to trust Jesus completely, to love others freely, and to give thanks no matter the circumstance. Faith isn’t just wis...

Send us Fan Mail This message was preached at Shady Grove Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia.  Have you ever introduced yourself by your failures? “I’m divorced.” “I’m an addict.” “I’m a mess.” What if your true identity had nothing to do with your past mistakes or even your greatest achievements? In this episode, we open Ephesians 1:1 and discover the breathtaking truth of who God says we are: s...

Send us Fan Mail What if you could stop trying to earn God’s approval and finally rest in the truth that you already have it? In this episode, we walk through Ephesians 1:13–14 and discover what it means to be sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. God’s seal isn’t fragile or conditional. It’s as real as DNA inside your body, an unshakable mark that says you belong to Him. This seal doesn’t vanis...

Send us Fan Mail For many, the word predestination brings more fear than comfort. Visions of a distant God choosing some for heaven and others for hell can feel unsettling. But what if that’s not what Scripture is saying at all? In this episode, we look into Ephesians 1:11-14 and discover the breathtaking truth: predestination isn’t about God excluding people, it’s about God making a way for every...