Removing Barriers

Episode 213 What do you think of when you hear the word "marriage?" Perhaps the words love, sacrifice, or happily-ever-after come to mind. Maybe you think of the fact that marriage is hard work: difficult, but worth it. Still, perhaps others have negative connotations of marriage, like heartbreak, divorce, or abuse. The Bible says that marriage was established in the beginning -- a myste...

Episode 212 The assassination and martyrdom of Charlie Kirk at a Prove Me Wrong event at Utah Valley University is already going down in history as one of those events where everyone remembers where they were when it happened. Only time will tell how it will reverberate in the future. Charlie Kirk was many wonderful things, especially a husband and father, but the most important thing about him wa...

Episode 211 Bonkers - 14 Did you know that living in Iran is preferable to living in America if you're black? Or that cotton plant decorations are racist? On this episode of the Removing Barriers podcast, we are continuing our Bonkers series, were we pick out news headlines and discuss how they demonstrate that this world has gone bonkers. Some headlines are serious, some frivolous, but they a...

Episode 210 The gruesome murder of Iryna Zarutska on a public train in Charlotte, North Carolina shocked the world. Completely unprovoked and unexpected, the Ukrainian refugee's death added to the heavy and persistent burden we groan under: the realization that things have gone terribly wrong in our nation and the principalities we wrestle against (and the people submitted to their evil influe...

Episode 209 To the jubilation of some and the horrified dismay of others, Roe is no longer the law of the land in the United States. What does that look like in our day to day lives? On this episode of the Removing Barriers podcast, we sit down with Becky Sheetz of Life First Pregnancy Center. She is on the front line of the abortion issue, reaching out to men and women in crisis pregnancy situati...

Episode 208 A recent Ligonier survey of evangelicalism finds nearly 50% of processing Christians do not deem it important to share their faith with the lost. Nearly 50%! That is a topic for another day, but for the slight majority that do see the need to witness to others, many thousands feel they are hindered. The reasons may include a lack of equipping, a fear of not knowing what to say, or mayb...

Episode 207 Series: On the Mission Field - 23 Shane and Emily Tasker are a sweet couple called to minister to the souls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The DRC is a fascinating country not just for its history, but also because of the staggering number of youth that make up its population. Forty-two percent of the population is under the age of fourteen! This provides a phenomenal opportu...

Episode 206 Series: On the Mission Field - 22 We've interviewed many missionaries in the Removing Barriers podcast, but today, we have the opportunity to interview a different kind. This missionary is not called to a specific country or to a specific group of people, but instead is called to minister to missionaries themselves. Dr. Bud Steadman joins us to discuss his missions board and his wo...

Episode 205 This episode is a continuation of the reaction to Piers Morgan's conversation with a panel about Shiloh Hendrix calling a 5-year old autistic boy the N-word. Piers interviews Jacob Wells, CFO and cofounder of GiveSendGo, the crowdfunding platform that found success as an alternative to GoFundMe. GoFundMe had previously showed its true and ugly colors when it deplatformed people it...

Episode 204 On this episode of the Removing Barriers podcast, we react to the Piers Morgan Uncensored coverage of the Shiloh Hendrix situation and the ongoing racial tensions it exposes in our country today. Shiloh Hendrix was the white woman who called an autistic 5 year old boy a racial slur and unapologetically doubled down on her actions when confronted, then proceeded to raise nearly a millio...

Episode 203 Jordan Peterson collaborated with Jubilee and agreed to debate 20 atheists. He made four claims: Atheists reject God but they don't know what they are rejecting. Morality and purpose cannot be found within science. Everyone, including atheists, worships something, even if they don't know it.  Atheists accept Christian morality but deny Christianity's foundational stories. W...

Episode 202 Bonkers - 13 In today's episode of the Removing Barriers Podcast, we continue the Bonkers series in which we discuss a range of topics: the battle of the flags, known corruption in the Democratic Party, Bill SB292, and a frivolous murderous NY dad. You'll hear of radicalized, deeply misguided women, people who knowingly ignore obvious corruption in order to achieve a particular...

Episode 201 Bonkers - 12 This is the twelfth installation in the series titled "This World Has Gone Bonkers." You will enjoy this series if you've ever read a news article and thought, "man, that is just crazy!" We know and see it increasingly everyday: happenings that show the powers and principalities at play behind the craziness, and we can't help but wonder just wha...

Episode 200 On this 200th episode, we sit down with recurring guest Sam to discuss Trump, DOGE, and Elon Musk. Trump has executed a relentless flurry of initiatives, maneuvers, and executive orders to aggressively tackle government fraud, waste, and abuse. Americans the world over have been shocked to learn of the excessive spending of taxpayer dollars on frivolous and shady endeavors, all labeled...

Episode 199 When Daniel Penny's intervention on a New York subway unintentionally resulted in the death of Jordan Neely, the country was up in arms and he was public enemy #1. When Luigi Mangione (allegedly, as of this post) deliberately took the life of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, millions rose to his defense and hailed him a hero. Why is that the case? The situations couldn't b...

Episode 198 Series: On the Mission Field - 21 In this installment of the On the Mission Field series, we interview the O'Briens to Ukraine. John and his wife Cathy have dedicated their lives to reaching the lost souls of eastern Ukraine. Despite the horrors following the 2022 invasion and at great personal cost, they refused to leave, continuing to provide help, comfort, supplies, and the gosp...

Episode 197 Can the bible be trusted? After all, who has ever seen a donkey talk, or a sea split down the middle, or or a curse-induced drought? Our scientific knowledge has multiplied to the point that the story of the sun standing still in the sky is just fantastic, right? Or could it be that these things really did happen, and the bible is completely trustworthy and its author's claims shou...

Episode 196 Series: On the Mission Field - 20 In this installation of the Removing Barriers podcast, we head back to the mission field and talk to David Gates, missionary to Dearborn, MI. Dearborn is in southern Michigan and is a suburb of Detroit. It is famous as the hometown of Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company, as well as for its status as the city with the largest Muslim population in the...

Episode 195 What do you think about para-church ministries? This is one of those subjects where if you ask a hundred Christians, you may get a hundred different answers. In this episode of the Removing Barriers podcast we talk with recurring guest Shawn Henly about the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF), a worldwide college campus organization that claims it seeks to establish and advance wi...

Episode 194 In this episode of the Removing Barriers podcast, we are delighted to have Tricia as a guest to discuss homeschooling! Tricia is a successful homeschool veteran, having educated her own children and now providing help and encouragement to others. Homeschooling participation had been steadily increasing since the 1980s, but 2020 caused an explosive increase that intensified interest and...

Episode 193 Series: What Do You Believe – 6 There is no shortage of religions and cults that promise salvation, joy, peace, or happiness. Followers can number in the billions as is the case with Islam, or it could be millions, as is the case with the Branhamists. Branhamism is the curious theology and collection of doctrines espoused by William M. Branham, a self-proclaimed prophet and faith heale...

Episode 192 Series: On the Mission Field - 19 The Fahringer family is on their way to Chile! In this episode of the Removing Barriers podcast, Geoffrey Fahringer takes precious time out of his day to tell us more about the country of Chile, the spiritual needs there, and his family's desire to minister to the people there. Chile is a long, narrow, beautiful strip of land in South America spann...

Episode 191 Sydney Wilson was a 33-year old woman who was killed by a police officer during a requested mental health wellness check after she attacked the officer with a knife. In this episode of the Removing Barriers podcast, we discuss the tragic incident involving Sydney's death, the actions taken by Officer Peter Liu, whether police-involved mental health checks are conducted in such a way th...

Episode 190 Bonkers - 11 In this episode of the Removing Barriers podcast, we continue our series titled "This World Has Gone Bonkers," where we grab headlines from all over that highlight the madness in our world. We will discuss the power the American president apparently has to just declare an amendment ratified and the law of the land, even when it isn't so. If you didn't rea...

Episode 189 Series: What Do You Believe – 5 Hinduism is the world's third largest religion, surpassed only by Islam and Christianity. Having originated in the Indian subcontinent over 2,500 years ago, Hinduism is practiced by more than one billion people worldwide, 96% percent of which live in India. Hinduism came under the neon lights of American public discourse and scrutiny with Vivek Ramas...