Pursuing God with Gene Appel

The easiest thing to do when tough times come is to give up. Looking back on your life, is there something that you gave up on too soon? A challenge you wish you had persevered through? One of the unexpected gifts of trials is they teach us how to persevere. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by...

James 1:2 says, “Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds…” But when the storm hits, it’s hard to imagine that anything positive can come out of it. In today’s podcast episode, Gene teaches that we can view any trial we face as either an enemy or a friend. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Script...

What weight are you carrying these days? We all carry burdens at times that can be oppressive and even paralyzing. In this week’s podcast series, Gene teaches from James 1 which tells us that, although trials are inescapable, in the midst of every trial comes an unexpected gift Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scr...

To put it simply -- it’s tough to be a mom. In today’s episode, Gene invites us to take a few minutes out of our day to do the most important thing we can do for moms as we gear up for Mother’s Day weekend by lifting them up in prayer. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s conviction...

Romans 12:10 says, “Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.” In today’s episode, Gene shares three simple yet powerful ways to apply this in our homes and genuinely communicate love to our families Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s convicti...

Romans 12:9 says, “Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.” In today’s episode, Gene teaches that this verse from Romans 12:9 isn’t talking about being judgemental but rather focusing on establishing God-honoring values in our lives and homes. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by East...

How does your schedule reflect real and authentic love to your family? Most of us are living at a pace that is not only unsustainable but also unbiblical. In today’s episode, Gene encourages us to say “no” to some good things so that we can have something better -- a healthy, connected family. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion....

No matter the challenges currently facing your household, “normal” isn’t working for so many families. In this week’s podcast series, Gene unpacks important truths from Romans 12 that guide us to get a bit weird as we invite His relentless love to permeate our homes. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and...

How do you cope with pain and loss? Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.” And as we learn to live in its pages, the Bible, and the Savior it points to lives in and through us. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s conviction that God’s gra...

What would you say if you were asked to explain what the Bible is all about? How would you clearly and briefly articulate this powerful library of 66 different books? In today’s episode, Gene simply outlines the story of the Bible so that we can be more equipped and less intimidated by God’s Word. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compass...

In Genesis 12, God makes three promises to Abraham that set His plan in motion to restore the relationship with people like us. And when you understand these three promises, it’s like a KEY that unlocks the rest of the Bible. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s conviction that God’s...

The only way you can love authentically is if you have the free will not to love. In the beginning, God’s very Spirit was inside of Adam and Eve. After the choice was made that led to spiritual death, His Spirit left them. And now people like us are in need of a new birth. Thankfully, we can be renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God...

 Every great book starts with the plot. In the beginning, Adam and Eve lived in a perfect world because they had a perfect relationship with God. God created mankind because He longed for a relationship with people like us -- but every authentic relationship goes two ways. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scriptur...

Are you readily available to be an instrument that God can use to introduce others to Jesus? In today’s episode, Gene elaborates on why we do what we do at Eastside every week to allow for lives to be changed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s convi...

What does it mean to turn to God? In today’s episode, Gene shares four marks of a person who is authentically changing through genuine repentance and what we can do in our own lives to experience true transformation. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s conviction that God’s grace is...

If we didn’t continually need to make changes in our lives, we wouldn’t need Jesus and His amazing grace. As incredible as the healing of the paralyzed man was in Acts 3, Gene shares in today’s episode that Peter and John had a greater change God wanted to do through them that day. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in...

 It was an ordinary day in Acts 3 when Peter and John were on their way to the temple for prayer and encountered a man, paralyzed at birth, who had lost all hope. And it’s in this moment that Isaiah’s prophecy from many years prior is brought to fruition Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eas...

God is using Eastside’s Change Makers in an instrumental way to make ministry happen. We see lives changed every week but it wouldn’t happen without the many servant hearts that make up this church. In this week’s podcast series, Gene highlights the unsung heroes in Acts 3 that play a prominent role in setting up the miraculous healing that would soon take place. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is de...

After watching Jesus ascend into heaven, the disciples have this anxiety about what the future would hold. So what did they do? Acts 4:24 says, “They raised their voices TOGETHER in prayer…” As a church, we cannot be empowered by the Holy Spirit until we are of one mind and heart -- and we are unified in prayer. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and...

Many times we can feel discouraged serving in the church when we don’t experience the Holy Spirit’s power in the same way that someone else does. In today’s episode, Gene warns us of the paralyzing damage that occurs when we play the comparison game.  Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastsi...

In Acts 1, Jesus tells the disciples that they are going to experience the inner workings of the Holy Spirit in their lives for the first time -- but first, they must WAIT.  When in seasons of waiting, followers of Jesus can anticipate that God has also promised to do the supernatural in our own lives. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash co...

Sometimes we can be so caught up in what a church does that we forget what a supernatural church is. In today’s episode, Gene shares from the book of Acts -- a book about ordinary people experiencing the Supernatural through God the Holy Spirit.  Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside’s...

What do we do in times of change and transition in our lives when it seems like all we can do is wait? Watching Jesus ascend into the heavens was one of the most high anxiety producing changes His followers had ever had to deal with….and they’re told to WAIT. In this week’s podcast series, Gene examines Acts 1 and shares thoughts on handling seasons of waiting. Pursuing God with Gene Appel is desi...

No matter what, followers of Jesus can cling to the hope we have beyond the grave. Revelations 21:3-4 says, “…God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash...

 Many times we look at tough circumstances and struggle to understand that God could possibly have a “Plan B” for us. In today’s episode, Gene focuses on how the living hope of Jesus has the power to fill us with a new attitude in seasons of unknown Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by Eastside...