The Parable Podcast with Danielle Zapchenk

Send The Parable Podcast a Text Well, I have had the joy of getting to know Greg & Cathy Bufkin over this past year.  They have a heart for people walking through child loss and how to encourage them. Greg and Cathy have been married for 46 years and they have seen the joys and hardships of so many things in their life.  Yet together and with the community in their life they have had a safe pl...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text Well, I made it to 40 and I am feeling it!  2023 is definitely a milestone year in the Zapchenk House and I would love to tell you about it and what I am learning this year in this episode.  So thrilled to share what I have been learning in some of my own parable stories and excited to look back on this year and see what God is going to continue to do within my hear...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text Have you spent your time praying for everyone else, but not yourself? Is it hard because you think it is selfish or do you simply forget to pray?  Don't worry you are not alone in that.  I do that all the time!   My next guest, Ashlei Brathwaite shares with us that she felt that way too, and how God has been doing work in her own personal life.  "Seeing th...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text Rev. Dr. Jackie Frazier Roese grew up working on her family farm in upstate New York. She focused that work ethic in pursuing her Masters and Doctorate degrees while raising three children. She has taught the scriptures and trained other women to do the same for more than 25 years. She served as the Teaching Pastor to Women in a large church in Texas. While there sh...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text Have you ever just wanted to get away from it all?  My new friend Taylor Warbritton was running from loss, church hurt, and shame in her early twenties. But as we know in every parable, God shows up.  Taylor shares how God was the greatest parent she could ever have. And that in her moments of desperation she felt his strong arms around her so strongly. He was the g...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text Could you look at your life right now and say I am fully living?  Today I sit down with co-founders and twin sisters Rachel and Jaclyn of Open Frame. A community that Open Frame is a community that cherishes, empowers and connects after loss due to overdose.  Rachel and Jaclyn lost their brother due to the ingestion of a synthetic opioid and it changed everything. I...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text Have you ever felt like an imposter?  Have you ever felt like you are not capable of the role God has called you to? She candidly talks about a time in her life she was going to take a secret to the grave. Jenni Wong Clayville was born and raised in Seattle, WA. but she and her family now live in the Washington D.C area. She is wife to Brian and boy-mom to Chance &a...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text YOU made it into a new year and came out on the other side of 2022!  Congrats, you did it!  Today's episode is a little different.  If you have listened to one or more episodes of The Parable Podcast, you know that I love a time of reflection. This is your moment to slow down and look back before you go forward into 2023. For your time of reflection, know there...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text I believe God uses all things, all emotions, and all situations to further our relationship with Him.  Today you will meet Jen Farlow who is learning the secret of finding beauty, hope, and peace in a life that she never wanted or imagined.  Almost overnight Jen became a 26-year-old widow and single mother. She never thought she could live without her husband Nathan...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text How can we prepare the way for Christmas? Sometimes it is certain traditions, meals, Christmas movies. As a kid, one of our family’s favorite Christmas movies was White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye.  It just became a tradition to watch it every year. I know most of the lines, the songs, the flubs they never edited. So when Eric and I started dating he h...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text Have you ever gone through a situation or season in your life and said, "It is what it is."?  Today I sit down with Associate Director of Fellowship Housing, Amanda Woods.  Amanda shares how she grew up in the church, but after a family situation wondered what is next for her own faith.  She could have just become complacent, but instead, God used that tim...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text Did you have that one person in school that will always be the coolest to you?  Brynn was that girl for me. We met 27 years ago in middle school ( see picture on her episode post ). She didn't know it, but I looked up to her, she was kind, funny and just a great person to be around.  Thank you Brynn for being one of those girls who will always hold a fond place...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text Wow, you don't want to miss this one. Sewa Fields and I met a few months back. And to hear her talk for just 5 minutes, I knew I had to hear more. Sewa has authored the best-selling devotional: Overcomer: Defeating Anxiety and Abuse and Letters to the Broken.   Her heart and passion to share her story help us build awareness and motivation toward greater change...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text Have you ever had anyone ask you what is God doing in your life and your mind just goes blank?  I know God is doing things, amazing things, little things in my life.  However, in our human brain (well, at least my 39 yo brain) I just forget.  I wish that wasn't the case, but I am doing my best to keep remembering.  To keep things in the forefront so I can say,...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text It was a treat to talk with Claire Woodhouse, author of Healthy Copycat Treats and owner of Secretly Healthy Home. Her passion is to create secretly healthy recipes that taste amazing and discover tangible ways we can live every day in the healthiest way possible.  Claire shares honestly about navigating her body, eating, comparing, and getting it all done.  We live...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text Every story matters because God is in everything.  Meet a new friend of mine, Nikki Tigg who loves Jesus and shares hope with women and teens.  She is a Speaker, Blogger, Pro-Life Advocate, & Host of the Constant Surrender Podcast.  Nikki shares with us a simple story with big takeaways for each one of our lives.  She provides some deep wisdom on how we can easi...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text Have you ever felt like you have been hidden in the dark and you are searching for a way to come out into the light?  I am sure all of us have had moments like this. Ones that have shaped us and allowed us to forge ahead. Today we are in the final installment of our collaboration with the Baton Pass called Unleashing Your Story. We sat down with co-founders Lana and...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text I am sure each of us has wondered if we had anything to offer this world.  We found ourselves wondering what purpose do I even have. Angela Mancini wondered that just a few years ago while kneeling on the floor of her mother-in-law's basement.  Financial hardship, desperate for change, and in a tough spot in her marriage were just a few weights that were on her...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text At one time Diana Martinez found herself alone, wondering if her story related with others. Diana took a big step and decided to attend a Baton Pass event. That day this single mom, living out her sobriety heard something there that unleashed her own story . This moment continued to allow Diana the opportunity to break off the chains of shame and turn off those old...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text Have you known Jesus for a while, yet you still feel like you don't truly KNOW him?  Meet Leonard Davis, Associate Pastor of Forest City Church in Elgin, IL. Leonard grew up in the church and deepened his relationship with God because of Young Life.  But in a moment during Sunday Service Leonard discovered that there were significant gaps in his understanding o...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text I had the pleasure of getting to know Julane Fisher and her story this past Spring.  She is an author, speaker, wife, and mom to twin boys in North Georgia.  From a young age, Julane loved performing in her living room, singing her heart out.  However, her dreams were set aside when she lost her voice and it never was the same again. It's okay to question...but...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text Fellow podcaster Ivy Lassiter is the host of the For Parents of Podcasts and today she shares about when she was in 7th grade.  Sadly that was the time of her life when she discovered her mom was diagnosed with cancer.  Ivy walks us through the journey of what it was like to walk through the grief and loss of losing a parent.  Her encouragement was that God is that...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text For a time Saunie Lee Finch felt broken and wanted to hide the shame of divorce. The stigma of divorce just makes you feel like you have failed.  However, Saunie kept calling out to God as she raised her teens as a single mom.  She overcame the depression she was battling and allowed God to fill her up with the joy she was desperate for. It was hard for her to start...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text My conversation with Bette Dickinson was such a breath of fresh air.  Bette is a prophetic artist, writer, and speaker who invites you to connect with God through visual parables. Through her work, Bette helps her audience connect the inner life of spiritual formation with the outer life of mission. Her new devotional book, Making Room in Advent just launched, and n...

Send The Parable Podcast a Text Being in the middle of your parable story can be a tricky spot.  We wonder if He is listening, are we missing something, or impatience arises. For me, it is all the above. Parables are meant to be not so blatant, there is a process of figuring things out on our own.  I have the honor of being on our teaching team at the West Ridge Community Church in Elgin, and as a...