The Harvest USA Podcast

A lot of ink has been spilled about Gen Z. They’re one of the most open and curious generations the church has the opportunity to disciple, even though they face unique challenges as they navigate the world’s dogmas and teachings concerning sex and sexuality. How does the church disciple and care for this up-and-coming generation well? Today’s episode from Caitlin McCaffrey offers six practical co...

If you’re a parent, you’ve likely read the biblical accounts of the patriarchs to your children. If they were paying attention, perhaps they asked you an awkward question that you didn’t know how to answer… “Mom, Dad, was God okay with Abraham and Jacob having more than one wife?” How do we understand polygamy in the Bible? On today’s episode, Mark Sanders makes a biblical case from the whole coun...

If we’re honest, more of our suffering than we’d prefer to admit is the result of our own unwise and sinful choices. While God surely uses suffering to sanctify us, 1 Peter 2:20 and 4:15 call us to avoid self-inflicted suffering because of unrighteous choices. Since suffering is a common context for sexual temptation, it’s important to examine the source and nature of our suffering. In today’s epi...

Today’s teenagers aren’t the first to desire real connection. But they are the first to hold technology that meets those desires without resistance. AI Chatbots offer teens the attention, affirmation, and emotional closeness they crave, delivered without interruption, awkwardness, or risk. The result? The illusion of human connection while quietly reshaping what teen’s expect real love to be. Toda...

Does the battle against sexual sin ever get any easier? Have you ever asked this question? Perhaps you’ve been giving in to sexual sin for years. Failing over and over again to say no to temptation to the point that you’re now questioning whether victory is possible at all. The simple answer to this question is “Yes, the battle against sexual sin does get easier.” However, as Mark Sanders shows us...

Waiting on the Lord is hard. Especially when you watch year after year pass and your child or loved one is still making destructive choices against their Creator. “What I want for my wandering child is good Lord, why aren’t you bringing it about?” Have you felt this frustration? Yet, as today’s episode from Joan McConnell teaches us, God is more interested in timing than in time. And as we learn t...

What if my son marries his partner? What if I’m the only one in the family who says this is wrong? What if my daughter decides to do hormones or surgery? God gave us the ability to be creative and imagine. The trouble is that we tend to misuse our creativity, twisted by our fallenness, to anxiously ask “what-if” as we attempt to gaze into the future. This can be all the more agonizing for parents...

“Sorrows arise in my heart as I contemplate how sexual sin continues to destroy lives. So many seasons have passed, but no matter how often I seek your face for hope, lament after lament has followed my footsteps as I hear a knocking on the door of my office and know that a particular kind of pain will break the room’s quiet. I tried to fill this space with good books, well-sung melodies, and beau...

Husband, is your heart wounded because of your wife’s sexual betrayal? We hope that today’s episode from Yohan Huh Prudente will help you find hope as you face the pain of your situation. Yohan brings to remembrance the call of Hosea to marry an adulteress woman, a vivid picture of God’s love for his own wayward and idolatrous people, to demonstrate that God is well acquainted with your pain and i...

Have you ever felt so distant from God that you were convinced he could no longer hear your prayers? Feeling far from God is one of the most painful experiences in the Christian life, and it often intensifies during seasons of suffering. For those wrestling with broken relationships, unwanted desires, or sexual sin, this sense of distance can feel especially heavy. Today’s episode from Catherine K...

The word “queer” has an interesting history. Initially used to describe something as strange, odd, or peculiar, since the 2000s, it’s become an umbrella term in LGBTQ+ vocabulary to refer to someone who does not experience sexual or romantic attraction to the opposite sex and/or does not identify with or accept the gender binary of male and female. In today’s episode, Ellen Mary Dykas points those...

Pastors, do you feel equipped to disciple and care for those struggling with same-sex attraction in your congregation? Today’s episode from Keith Seary presents four practical, biblical doctrines that pastors should keep in mind as they consider how to disciple someone struggling with same-sex attraction. At times, it can feel challenging to help someone if you haven’t experienced similar temptati...

As a parent, you’ve faithfully taught your children from a young age what God says about His design for sex. So what do you do when, on your daughter’s 18th birthday, she leaves home to live with her boyfriend? Today’s episode from Keith Seary helps parents prepare to offer godly, biblical direction to their adult children with gentleness and respect, even amidst their wandering. He calls parents...

“It began as an innocent friendship—at least I thought so. I admired her: a strong kind, beautiful woman. I didn’t think of it as sexual; I just wanted closeness, to be wanted. My desires deepened, and the emotional boundaries blurred. I thought about her constantly, craved her attention, and was jealous when others were close to her. One day, a casual touch from her felt electrifying— and terrify...

“She’s hot; she’s not.” “I hate his shoes.” “She has a pretty face, but she’s too tall.” “I don’t like his hobbies.” Have you had these thoughts as the glow of your phone illuminates your face late at night? Dating apps can be a means for bringing about Christ-centered marriages. But what are you sowing in your heart with your use of these apps? On today’s episode, Caitlin McCaffrey asks six diagn...

In the dialogue on gay desire in the broader church, two terms rise to the surface: attraction and orientation. Lack of definition has caused much confusion and debate among God’s people. The stakes are high, because gospel clarity is lost or found for sexual strugglers based on how we define these terms as pastors, counselors, and friends. This is a gospel discipleship issue for the church today;...

Brothers and sisters in Christ who legally wed a same-sex partner, yet have come to realize that same-sex marriage is outside of God’s will, are faced with a costly path of repentance. Not to mention numerous practical questions as they sort our their newly invigorated faith and present circumstances, especially if children were brought into the same-sex partnership. On today’s episode, Ellen Mary...

Is it possible for someone who isn’t attracted to the opposite sex to have a truly fulfilling, beautiful, biblical marriage? If we’re honest, when we think of our brothers and sisters who battle against exclusive same-sex attraction, we often assume that marriage simply isn’t an option for them. We think they should probably just accept that God wants them to remain celibate. After all, “How can y...

Why should you quit porn? Because Jesus is coming back! God designed our hearts to be motivated by future realities. As human beings, we’re wired to make sacrifices in the present in the hope of attaining some good in the future. We embrace the pain of diets and exercise now, hoping to achieve long term health down the road. Similarly, if you’re struggling with porn, the promise that Christ is com...

“In the months following that first confession of my same-sex desires, with help from Jesus, I began the slow and messy process of disentangling those desires from the man he created me to be. When I made my desires and my self a package deal, I couldn’t fight one without feeling like I was fighting the other. Repenting of my same-sex desires felt like I was repenting of being emotional, or creati...

Do you treat God like a mere tool to serve your own agenda? When life is comfortable, relationships are fulfilling, and ventures are successful, it might be easy to seek him. But when life gets tough and God isn’t delivering us from hardship, it becomes tempting to stop praying and find something else to fill our unmet desires. This heart posture is fertile ground for sexual sin to grow in. On tod...

If questions about masturbation, emotional crushes on other girls, hatred for their bodies, and exposure to porn are left unaddressed by the church, struggling women will pursue answers elsewhere. Women who believe in Jesus need faithful disciplers who will help them walk out true repentance by learning what it means to be sexually faithful women. On today’s episode, Ellen Mary Dykas shines light...

Life in Christ requires humbly surrendering to God as Lord, Creator, and Savior over every areas of our lives, including our relational desires and sexuality. Yet many Christians are tempted to believe they can take up their cross and follow Jesus here and there, while not surrendering their sexual identity to Him. On today’s episode, Ellen Mary Dykas shares how Jesus’s holy lordship lovingly conf...

One of the most common things we hear from parents who contact Harvest USA is the deep sense of isolation they feel when a son or daughter identifies as LGBTQ+. They already feel heartbroken over their child’s choices, and, on top of that, they carry a heavy load of guilt and shame—an inner voice telling them they must have failed as parents. Today’s episode from Joy Worrell seeks to help these pa...

Can cultivating habits, hobbies, and traditions really help you fight sexual sin? They can. Among many other lies and temptations, sexual sin tempts us to believe that we can navigate the unfolding of our lives better than God can and that our lives are ultimately self-governed. It bids us to pursue a pattern of life that’s contrary to God’s design and fails to glorify and enjoy God in every seaso...