Your Biggest Breakthrough

Brother Paul-Vincent Niebauer was a terrible student. So terrible that life as a circus ring-master - a profession he had earlier professed a desire to pursue - was the clear choice over studying to be a pastor. Paul-Vincent "hosted" over 6500 circus shows in his career. The secret to keeping it fresh for him? Imagine you're in the audience watching it for the first time. Put yourself in the shoes...

There is no limit to what God can do with a life when a person is not in it for their own credit, but fully committed to glorifying God. Nate Burkhalter has an incredible story of perseverance and resilience through adversity and learning to fully surrender his life to God. This episode will encourage you to dig deeper and press on in your own life. You may discover some of your own limiting belie...

God is the great author writing the chapters of our lives. Richard and Patricia Hipps have an incredible life story full of chapters of love, adventure, missions, service, loss, grief, and finding purpose through their pain. Richard is a retired pastor, but you will still sense his pastoral care and deep love for God's sheep as he shares his personal story with honesty and vulnerability. He has a...

What would you do if your heard the voice of the Lord say, "Your life is not your own. You are to leave your corporate job and enter full time ministry."? This is exactly the call Mel and Cherie Jones responded to in their lives. They upgraded their American dream for whole-hearted kingdom living. Mel and Cherie are full time staff with Athletes in Action campus ministries at the University of Min...

Pain is inherently uncomfortable, but what happens if you or someone you love has to deal with pain every single day? People say they will pray for you, and then they run for the hills. There is a grieving process over all that is lost under such circumstances. There is also a choice: what will my attitude be? Gordon and Cherise Selley choose to praise the Lord each and every day, in the midst of...

Silence is deafening, until you attune to the Lord and listen for His voice. Todd traveled to a Benedictine monastery for 10 days recently to enter into some peace and quiet as he worked on his latest book. Embracing the rituals and spiritual disciplines of the monks during his stay, he struggled, surrendered, and gained meaningful life lessons he wants to share with you in this episode.  **E...

When a young basketball player suffered a serious back injury, the medicine he was prescribed initially helped relieve physical pain from the injury, and graduated over years to numb the God size void in his heart. Listen to this stereotype shattering account of a long-term addiction; with the classic addiction markers of isolation, self-loathing, shame, projection, and denial; transformed by the...

In today's episode, we welcome Pam Lundell, a popular personality among those who listen to KTIS radio, the local Christian radio station in the Twin Cities. Pam was devastated when her husband passed away after a drug overdose of prescription drugs in 2005. This loss left her angry, dejected. All the emotions one would expect a woman to experience - multiplied by 1,000 and you have what Pam felt....

Attitude. It's everything, right? It's easy to recite a platitude like that when things are going well, or perhaps when we experience the inevitable speed bump in life. How about when everything you've invested in a person's spiritual development goes awry as they make poor choice after poor choice? There's nothing you can do about it. After all, it's not like you can live someone's life for them....

Email addresses on scrap paper... Courier pigeons on wayward cargo ships... Mutual friends from the far corners of the earth... Must make for one heck of a love story, right? Well, it's interesting how our Father works things out in that way. Sometimes it's the way we would least expect it. Our guests today, James Newcomb and Sana Dorry, couldn't be more different when it comes to lifestyle, backg...

"Forgive and forget." That's the advice we're given as children, and as adults. But it's never quite that easy. We're offended by someone close to us, and we take on the mentality of the wronged victim in need of justice against the person who has wronged us. We take our case to God, the righteous judge, and tell Him to fix it, in the name of Jesus! But is that really the way we ought to think abo...

Sometimes we find ourselves in a really good place in life. A charmed life where we are amazed by all the blessings we are receiving and what God's doing in our lives. But is it possible that we also sometimes fool ourselves into thinking that life will always be this way, that nothing can break the perfect happy bubble you're living in right this moment. It's easy to get so comfortable in the cha...

The leaves are changing, the air feels different and the weather is getting cooler. Fall is upon us. With the crispy, colorful leaves everywhere in sight, it's hard not to think about how cool it is that the seasons change. Seasons change and so do we, so today, we talk about our different seasons. Change in our lives is inevitable. Sometimes we may feel like change has been imposed on us and othe...

Trauma and obstacles...we all have them, but not everyone is lucky enough to have a breakthrough to get beyond them. For some, we may get stuck on the 'why' of it all instead of wondering how God can use that trauma or obstacle for good. Our trauma does not have to define us and we don't have to go at it alone. We are over-comers in Christ. Our guest today can speak from many points of trauma. You...

Insecurities breed inadequacy. Inadequacy breeds insecurity. It's a vicious cycle, isn't it? Just about every single one of us has some kind of insecurity that creeps up and tries to hold us back from accomplishing our goals. But the truth is, if you don't feel adequate because you're insecure, you can't have confidence to go forward toward something that might be a little scary. It stops you cold...

People say, "The truth shall set you free." But what about the quality of that truth? What if the truth you're hearing is actually just leverage used for someone else's gain? In today's world of media, the truth can be hard to come by. Today's guest has learned some things about the real truth that he's been able to apply in his personal and business life. Michael Boerner is an innovative thinker,...

Are you over it? The 'it's' in your life that have caused grief. Maybe your 'it' was trauma or obstacles you've had to overcome, a past relationship or a friend that has departed your life. Are you over it? Generally it's about loss, the loss of a job, a marriage, a loved one. Would you say that you have been able to recover from the grief of a loss in your life? What happens if you think you're o...

We've all heard the statement, "Make lemonade out of lemons," right? Well today's guest is responsible for most of the lemons in her own life. After a lifetime of poor choices and pain, Valerie Bracchi finally chose the Lord and learned to make lemonade so that she could experience a refreshing breakthrough. Despite a troubled past, Valerie is a super successful, God loving woman. She has over 15...

"Still the seat encroaches into your daughters headspace and cracks her skull open, it kills people worldwide, it maims people worldwide." - Jason Fraser On Thanksgiving day, 2016, Jayden Faith Fraser was in the backseat of her fathers Sudan, heading home from feeding the homeless on thanksgiving 2016 when another car rear ended them on the highway. The drivers seat collapsed backward, slamming in...

According to the International Labor Organization, there are 40.3 million victims of human trafficking globally. Human trafficking is an issue that's taken center stage as numerous celebrities, businesses, organizations increase awareness to combat this modern day slavery. Our guest today, Holly Christine Hayes, knows all about this all too well. As a survivor of addiction and abuse herself, Holly...

Do you know your limits? Do you know when to pause for the sake of mental or physical wellness? What about knowing when to keep pushing past those limits in order to embark on new territory you never thought possible? Knowing your limits can be a two sided coin. It can be the difference between winning the gold, silver, bronze or no metal at all. Today, Todd and Wendie talk about a few incredible...

What happens if you discover that you have an incurable cancer and that you just have months to live? What would you do? How would you handle that? In this episode, we're talking about the C word...Cancer. The chances are that maybe you, a loved one or someone you know has experienced a cancer diagnosis. Sadly this is a topic that is never too far away from any of us. Today, we talk to Clayton Bje...

Have you ever felt like the cards you were dealt have led to a life filled with betrayal, disappointment and pain? Do you ever struggle with feelings of hopelessness, abandonment or feeling unloved? How do you not lose hope when things get really tough? Is it even possible to experience love or success after a life filled with negativity and loss? Today, we talk to Rob Dempsey, who walks us throug...

Mental health...a topic many of us can relate to, especially since the COVID pandemic started in March, 2020. Many of us who have been dealing with ups and downs of our mental health have also developed coping mechanisms and tactics to not have to feel pain or discomfort. What if these coping mechanisms are actually attacking our mental health and spiritual wellbeing? Could our avoidance in dealin...

Let's be real, we've all experienced failure at some point in life. The question is, are you learning from those failures or do you keep repeating the same failures time and time again? Failures occur in all of our lives often and the truth is that without those failures, we could not experience breakthroughs. In today's episode, we dive in to some of our own biggest failures that have also led to...