Jacobs Ladder Podcast

What You'll Hear:   12 years ago at 33 yrs old  Jason  was on a mountain top in life, having everything he ever wanted, but he checked himself into a hotel intending to kill himself because he was so lost spiritually He got a call about a business opportunity.  At a meeting the next day the man asked him if he knew Jesus Jason  had been asked this before, but this man shared Bible scriptures that...

What You'll Hear:   What the Bible calls our inner being is the matrix of what makes up how we think, our character, our affections, we live out of our heart That inner being has a view of self, God, and others and sometimes has wounds The relative health of what's on your inside will get projected to your life, relationships and profession To the degree pyschology is a truth process, it's good an...

What You'll Hear:   Raleigh wasn't growing up in a Christian household. He was invited to a vacation Bible School and they had cookies He later prayed to receive Christ at 8 years old, though he doubted it for years He is the founder and Exec Director of Let My People Go, a non-profit dedicated to stopping human trafficking which is the exploitation of vulnerability for commercial gain He had his...

What You'll Hear: Greg became a Christian at a young age with the guidance of his mother. He later spent a year in jail, where he learned more about God He reverted to his old ways, and about 3 years ago he rededicated his life to Christ and got baptized and hasn't looked back He's been rapping since age 12 and was rapping for the world. His grandmother said you better have a backup plan, so he we...

What You'll Hear: Growing up in a traditional church in a small town, Bill just thought about his faith as something you do.  When he went to college, through FCA he heard about Jesus as someone to have a relationship with instead of someone who wants to have their thumb on you The atmosphere his daughter is now in at college is very different and against Christianity Bill took a job with IBM.  Th...

What You'll Hear: Dr. Aten grew up in a small farming community.  He was baptized at age 8.  His faith didn't become his own until college. His college professor asked him why he was a Christian and he didn't have an answer He was given a bunch of books starting with "Mere Christianity" and he ended up with frequent talks with his professor As a result, he was mentored in his faith by an agnostic....

What You'll Hear: Mark Driscoll was born in North Dakota and grew up in Seattle, WA. His Mom was a born again Catholic and loved Jesus but Mark did not.   Mark's girlfriend gave him a Bible and he started reading it when he went to college. In his Freshman year, he was on a men's retreat on a walk by himself and God spoke to him audibly and told him to marry Grace, preach the Bible, train men, and...

Replay of "Real Men Connect" Podcast interview, used with Permission What You'll Hear: Dave  grew up in a home with a loving family that faithfully went to church every Sunday, but faith was considered a private matter In College  Dave  continued to go to church but led a sinful lifestyle He got a great job as an engineer at General Mills, but wasn't satisfied with his job or relationships and qui...

What You'll Hear: Bill became a Christian during his senior year of high school when he got invited to a speaker and some pizza He majored in math and wanted to become an astronaut He got married He started teaching theology at Bryan College He later went to become President at Bryan and then Cedarville University The best part was the ongoing discipleship of the students Most churches don't prepa...

What You'll Hear:   Kenny was the last of 7 children.  His Dad was in the military and was like a ghost Kenny felt ignored and was on a broken quest for recognition and visibility By age 17 Kenny made a lot of money and had friends but was very empty.  He came home from a party and prayed a prayer of desperation and said to Jesus "I need to see you", he felt an incredible presence in his mind and...

What You'll Hear: Dr. Vanderpool accepted the Lord at age 12.  The Lord was present in his house in a great way and his parents modeled Christ since he was an infant.  He was surrounded by believers for generations since he was born His Dad is a surgeon and there are many doctors in his family.  It's been a goal for him forever and it never wavered. The Lord annointed him to be a surgeon. He doesn...

What You'll Hear: Shawn was raised Catholic in Tyler, TX and is still Catholic When he was in the 8th grade he went to a large Pro-life event and heard a woman speak about how she had run abortion clinics originally, and Shawn got convicted to get involved in the Pro-life movement In college Shawn was dating his future wife and she would pray at abortion clinics and offer alternatives so he joined...

What You'll Hear: Dan went to a church as a kid but didn't hear the Gospel and wasn't a Christian.  When he heard the Gospel he became a Christian, but his life didn't change much.   He got married and they went to the Billy Graham crusade. His wife accepted Christ and got involved in a Bible study.  Dan wasn't following God.  In early 1997 he got down on his knees and turned his life over to Him....

What You'll Hear: Bill surrendered his life after hitting a low point in Florida and living with ex-cons and being kicked out by his parents for drug and alcohol issues He moved back to Massachucetts and witnessed to his old party buddies, 9-10 took to heart what he shared and attended a Bible class, he also made some impact witnessing to his siblings Bill has had 23 jobs and worked with the highs...

What You'll Hear: The Jewish community does not have consensus on the question "Who is a Jew" In "Jews for Jesus" from a messianic perspective, a Jewish person is someone who is a physical descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  We define being Jewish as an ethnicity According to the Bible, if your father was Jewish you were Jewish Over times, the Rabbis changed that law so that your mother being...

What You'll Hear: Art Lindsley in 4th grade at a summer camp committed his life and felt forgiveness and closeness to the Lord He got a BS in Chemistry, a Master of Divinity and PhD in Religious Studies. He worked at the Ligonier Valley Studies Center with R.C. Sproul for 6 years as Director for Educational Initiatives and for 25 years at the C.S. Lewis Institute partly as President and has been a...

What You'll Hear: Gary became a Christian when he was 9 years old in a small church in 1960 in OK.  A women evangelist was preaching He answered the call to be a minister at age 15 and began a traveling ministry to hundreds of youth In 2005 Gary started BALNAM which stands for Be a Light Not a Mouth.  He started showing compassion and listening and serving and finding unique ways to let them know...

What You'll Hear: Dr.  Damon  Friedman had good people in his life who talked about Jesus and he even understood Jesus as Lord but hadn't embraced Him as his personal savior.  He was born and raised in LA. His Mom was born in Puerto Rico. He got a full scholarship to college for running but then he dropped out. In his sophomore year in college he accepted Jesus as his personal savior but didn't gr...

What You'll Hear: Bert   Jones  gave his life to Christ at the age of 8 at a Grady Wilson crusade at the football stadium in Reidsville, NC. Later in life he recommitted his life many times As a boy and young man,  Bert  had a lot of jobs, he worked mowing yards, bagging groceries, bussing tables, and spent summers working for the local Parks and Rec and for the local can plant. He also was a subs...

What You'll Hear: Ed became a Christian at age 9.  His Mom took him to an 8 day revival service.  He went forward on the last night. God saved him at 9 so he wouldn't have to go through his whole life without Jesus like his father did. His father didn't become a Christian until he was 55.  He was always there but didn't see a need for Christ in his life. Ed graduated from Clemson University and wo...

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What You'll Hear: Ru was raised knowing the Lord, but didn't have a personal encounter until he got in a car accident in 1979, running into a bridge going 55 mph, after which he was watching The Crystal Cathedral and got saved It took a while for Ru to get out of the habits he had, and on the way to work one day he heard the Lord speak to him telling him to preach and teach Ru started his career i...

What You'll Hear: Hugh always remembers knowing the saving grace of Jesus Christ Worked in the environmental industry, owned a construction company, worked in the IT industry Then ran a seminary in Wash DC for 7 years before starting the Institute for Faith, Work and Economics Hugh put himself through college as a pilot with a crop dusting business, including wrecking 2 airplanes Hugh remembers "I...

What You'll Hear: David grew up in South Africa in the early '70's.  He became a believer around 6 years old.  He didn't really grow up Jewish, he only embraced that later.  To have Jewish identity, you need community and Jewish identity is not generally recognized in the church, though that has changed in recent years Many Jews when they become believers, within a generation or two, they don't ev...