Barnabas Piper's Blog, page 85

Steps to Starting a Podcast

Podcasting is now where blogging was in the early 2000s – booming and being discovered by the masses as a relatively easy way to both consume and create content of all sorts. This post is for the creators, or rather the prospective creators – those considering launching a podcast. I have been part of launching three in the past 5 years, so this stems from what I have learned in those experiences as well as conferring with other podcasters. This list was compiled with he help of Jonathan Howe who helped launch and co-hosts Rainer on Leadership. It is not a comprehensive list or a detailed plan exactly, but if you use this list as you plan It will help you over many podcasting speed bumps.

Listen to lots of podcasts

Familiarize yourself with the medium.
Learn what you love and hate.
Find styles with which you resonate.
Discover what’s already out there.

Define your specialty or focus

What are you passionate about?
What are you good at?
What do you bring to the table to benefit a specific audience?

Do you know who that target audience is?



Define your target audience

Based on your focus, who do you most need to reach?
Who will be the people you are speaking to/for each episode?
Who do you already reach that will likely tune in?

Would they be interested in your focus?



Determine the best format and style for your topic and audience

Conversational among set hosts – features the hosts thoughts and repartee
Conversational with guests – could have a single host or multiple hosts
Interview/Q&A – More formal interview with the guest as the feature.
Monologue/Teaching – One person speaks at length (think sermon podcasts)
Tightly prepared and scripted – think NPR’s podcasts that are highly produced and tightly woven together
Off-the-Cuff – Get some topics and go
Ask yourself “what kind of podcast would I want to listen to?”

Determine the ideal length for your selected format and focus

Leadership/Business – 20-35 minutes
Entertainment/Conversation – 40-90 minutes
Education/Teaching – 20-30 minutes
This is the loosest guideline and you’ll discover a comfort zone as you go.

Determine your release schedule

Ideally release weekly or more frequently – More frequent releases lead to more downloads, more sharing, and more regular listenership.
Decide what days you will release.
Determine what pace you can keep up over time.

Part of this has to do with how often you can come up with good content. Part of it has to do with energy, motivation, and schedule.



Confirm the basic recording and preparation logistics

Where and when will you record?
How much prep time do you need?

This really depends on format. The tighter the format or rigorous the interview the more prep time will be needed.


How much time for editing/preparation after recording?

Finalize the technical, web, and design support you need

Who will edit the audio?
Who will post the file?
Who will manage any blog and social media presence?
Who will track metrics, downloads, and listener data?
Who will design your logo and brand image?

Put together a launch plan

How will people find out about the podcast?
Do you have influencers and friends who will share on your behalf if you ask? Well then ask!

Give them specific links and wording to tweet or share to Facebook so they can just copy and paste.
Stagger these requests so that all the social media buzz does not happen on the same day.


Consider releasing multiple episodes at once at launch to give yourself a download boost and give prospective listeners enough to get them hooked.
Lead with strong content – top guests, topics with some hook, etc. Content is king and if you offer something awesome people will listen and share over time.

Get good equipment


A portable set up if you’re ready to invest some money

Audio Technica Mic and Cord 
Mic Stand
Sony Headphones
32 GB SD card
6 Track Zoom Recorder
Pelican Carryon Case 


USB Mics for the budget conscious or internet recorders

Blue Yeti
Blue Snoball


Call Recorder App – For Recording over Skype

New Happy Rant: Christian James Bond, Electronic giving, and are the Olympics lame?

In this episode of the Happy Rant podcast Barnabas Piper, Ted Kluck, and Ronnie Martin have a scintillating discussion about topics of utmost importance.

With Daniel Craig’s contract as Bond fulfilled, what prominent Christian leader would make the best James Bond?
Is it better to give to a church electronically or physically? Does it matter? Should there be giving kiosks?
Are the Olympics awesome or lame? Why did they used to be awesome than they are now?

We’d like to thank Moody publishers for sponsoring us. They would like to call attention to Create vs. Copy by Ken Wytsma. Ken is the founder of the Justice Conference and in this book explores how every person is gifted to create in some fashion and helps the reader understand how this might work in their respective contexts. He explains that creativity isn’t just a gift that some people have – it can be learned and practiced (and should be).

Like every week, we want to offer a big thank you to Resonate Recordings, the fine folks who make us sound listenable. If you are looking for great people to help your church put out recorded sermon audio or help you with a podcast they’re your people.

Feel free to hit us up on Twitter at @HappyRantPod or on Facebook or via email at HappyRantPodcast@Gmail.com with any topic suggestions or feedback. We love hearing from listeners!

To listen you can:

Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Stitcher.
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.

Episode #95

 

Questions to Help Pastors Draw Closer to Their Kids

Pastors’ kids need parents more than they need pastors. They need conversations more than sermons. They need a patient listener more than stern advice. These are all nice concepts, but how exactly can pastors (and spouses) do this? Here are 7 questions you can ask to help them bridge the gap between ministry and your children.

(Note: These questions are only useful if your children feel safe being honest and vulnerable and know that you are ok being vulnerable too.)

Do you feel like you’re different than other kids your age because of what I do?

Just be blunt. Be bold to ask. You might not like the answer, but it will likely peel away a façade you might not have even known existed. This could be the precursor to conversations about identity, pressure, expectations, legalism, and a whole heap of stuff that can skew a PK’s perspective on Jesus, the church, and grace.

What kinds of expectations do you feel like people put on you because you’re a PK?

Cue venting, ranting, and possibly tears. Many PKs have pent up frustration (ranging to rage) at the competing expectations they often feel obliged to fulfill. Expecations to be, to do, to not do – they pile high and deep. By asking you are lancing an angry boil and applying a soothing salve – listening and empathy.

Do you feel like I expect anything unfair from you as a PK?

Now you get to the next layer. It is relatively easy for PKs to vent about those people. But can they do the same about you and how you hold them to an unfair standard? Or maybe you don’t hold them to an unfair standard at all but they don’t understand why their life is just different than others or why they can’t do certain things. Either way this is an opportunity to sort through some tangled, difficult, painful stuff. To do that you must be willing to humbly admit any fault.

Do you think I act the same and treat people the same at home as I do at church?

Now that you’re here, what’s a little more vulnerability? You’re now asking your kids to help you be a better parent (and pastor). They know you inside and out. They see you every day. They know when you’re full of crap. So let them call you on it. Apologize. Ask for forgiveness. And repent. You will all be better for it.

Who is Jesus to you? What does He mean to you?

Be careful with this one. Your kids know what you want to hear and will default to that. They know what they are supposed to believe and what you teach week in and week out, and they will parrot that. Don’t assume that what they say first is what they truly believe. Don’t assume they know what they believe. Prod a little. Massage the conversation. Don’t interview or cross-examine. Don’t frown or challenge. Again, just listen and understand. Don’t teach or lecture (you do that for 40 minutes every Sunday and probably a few other times too). Tell them what Jesus means to you and how He’s changed your life. Tell them about the hard times you have following Jesus. Make Jesus a God-Man worth having a relationship with, not just the subject of a sermon.

Is there anything your struggling with or having a hard time with?

Be patient. They might not ant to answer this at first. But if they have seen you admit fault and humbly ask forgiveness then it will be easier. Easier still if you’ve done this toward them. Lead with your weaknesses and create an easier context for them to be honest. Then remember that the best correction isn’t angry and doesn’t look down. It’s patient and pointing upward.

Do you want to go get ice cream? (Or play catch, or grab coffee, or see a movie, or ride bikes, or . . .)

This is really the crux of the whole deal. All the other questions will dry up if your kids don’t like you and kids like nothing more than simply being with you and doing fun stuff. Spend time doing what they love. Invite them to do what you love. Just be with them. It’s in these contexts that the best conversations start and flourish. And your kids can flourish too.

For more on serving pastors’ kids well and the challenges they face check out my book The Pastor’s Kid: Finding Your Own Faith and Identity. If this blog is all the reading you can handle you can get the audio book with I read instead. I’m no Morgan Freeman, but it’s not too bad.

New Happy Rant:A Calvinist Documentary, Altar Calls for Kids, and Rachel The Held Evans

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas rant about the following pressing and timely subjects. Things get heated. Tension is high. Fun is had.

So there’s a new documentary coming out about Calvinism and it has a Kickstarter campaign. Ronnie and Barnabas square off about said project.
Should churches do altar calls for kids or is that just confusing?
Where did “Rachel the Held Evans” come from as a sign-off

We’d like to thank our sponsor, Olive Tree, this week. Olive Tree offers comprehensive and convenient Bible Study Software as well as a massive library of Christian books. Their apps for all mobile devices are clean and convenient. It is an incredible way to do in-depth study, compile all your notes and highlights, compare texts, open study materials and scripture side-by-side, and work in the original biblical languages. Or you can simply read your favorite Christian authors like Ted or Barnabas. They have a special offer for Happy Rant listeners too. If you use the code RANT at checkout you can get a 20% discount on whatever your purchase through July 31.

We’d also like to thank Moody publishers for sponsoring us. They would like to call attention to The Pursuit of God, the classic book by A.W. Tozer. Each chapter of the book describes a different aspect of waiting on God and how every human heart yearns for Him and to be filled by Him. It’s currently $.99 for Kindle and under $6 for the paperback. Snag it while the deal lasts!

Like every week, we want to offer a big thank you to Resonate Recordings, the fine folks who make us sound listenable. If you are looking for great people to help your church put out recorded sermon audio or help you with a podcast they’re your people.

Feel free to hit us up on Twitter at @HappyRantPod or on Facebook or via email at HappyRantPodcast@Gmail.com with any topic suggestions or feedback. We love hearing from listeners!

To listen you can:

Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Stitcher.
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.

Episode #94

9 Traits of Truly Curious People

Curiosity pointed in any direction is marked by the same traits. Whether we are investing in a marriage, a co-worker, a project, a sermon, a mission trip, a friendship, or a crisis a truly curious person shares these.

1 – Curiosity is loving because it has explored the depths of God’s love. It knows its own unworthiness and how much grace was poured out in spite of that.

2 – Curiosity is humble because it sees its own limitations and the bigness of God and His world. It recognizes that it is no better than any other person since each bears the same fingerprints of a creator.

3 – Curiosity is caring because it knows its own need and how its own needs have been met. It recognizes the needs in others because it has genuine interest in them as people, as image bearers of God.

4 – Curiosity asks and wonders because it yearns to know. It asks God. It asks His Word. It asks people. It asks the books they write and the words they record. It asks because it knows its knowledge and understanding are never complete. There is always something more to learn.

5 – Curiosity listens because there is so much to learn and it listens because it genuinely values what others say. It listens to make them feel valued. It listens because the world around it is full of music and words and phrases and each ahs the potential to raise its eyes and lift its heart and spark something new.

6 – Curiosity watches for all the same reasons it listens – watching is listening with the eyes. Every waking moment (and occasionally the dreaming ones) is an opportunity to observe creation, loved ones, cultures, news, art. Each of these offers glimmers of God’s creative glory and can spark further wonder.

7 – Curiosity is tenacious because it will never reach the limits of discovery of a single subject or person or discipline. It will never visit everywhere or hear everything. And it is tenacious in its focus not just its appetite. It seeks to really hear and understand and see.

8 – Curiosity solves because it finds brokenness and problems then sees them as opportunities for change rather than obstacles. It understands needs that exists and finds potential solutions.

9 – Curiosity hopes because it has seen so many millions of ways God has provided and cared and loved and created. Curiosity has examined His promises and seen Him as true to keep them. So, while curiosity will never rest, it can rest in the hope of God’s faithfulness.

This is an excerpt from my forthcoming book, The Curious Christian: How Discovering Wonder Enriches All of Life that is due to be released in early 2017. 

7 Lies We Tell Our Children

We all lie to our kids. Sometimes it’s on purpose and for what we deem a good purpose. Sometimes it’s because we so want them to believe something, to feel better, to overcome a challenge, or to work through pain that we will say anything to try to help. Sometimes it’s because we’re idiots and just don’t realize what we’re doing. Here are seven of the most common lies parents tell kids.

1) You can do anything you set your mind to.

Right. Except for all the things you aren’t good at and simply aren’t wired for. Every child can do something well, usually lots of things. But no child can do everything, and we do them a disservice if we encourage them to pursue things they simply can’t succeed at. The challenge is knowing when to let them fail and when to convince them to avoid the road to failure.

2) It doesn’t matter what anybody thinks.

C’mon, parents. We don’t even believe this. We want to, but we don’t. We are trying to give our children a sense of security and self-confidence that we never developed. And, in fact, what people think does matter. It doesn’t change our children’s value or worth. But it matters because it hurts or helps. It matters because it lifts up or tears down. We know this because we feel it every day.

3) Good grades matter most.

Few of us would actually say this. We know we’re supposed to say that character and faith matter most. But our actions often give lie to these sentiments. In a thousand little ways we show our kids that their report card is their validation. We reward the grades but not the effort, overlooking the sweat and tears that went into that B-minus. We give our A-type oldest children achievement complexes that come back to bite them in the butt semester one of college when they get their first B ever. We devalue non-academic talents and soft skills (skills which will actually serve them far better than algebra two) in the pursuit of honor-roll parent status.

4) Don’t worry about the results; it’s effort that counts.

The answer to lie #3 is not lie #4. Results do matter. They matter a lot in life, and isn’t life what we are preparing kids for. There are times to comfort a crestfallen child with encouragement about how hard they tried. But they also need to be encouraged with successes. We need to praise their improvement and their results – learning an instrument, giving a speech, shooting a basket, driving a car, getting that B-minus. And we must remember that success is not a static standard. It is different from child to child and from instance to instance. Effort absolutely counts, and generally it leads to good results. But our kids need to learn that sometimes it simply isn’t enough to try hard.

5) It’s the thought that counts.

This is like the lazy version of lie #4. “If you think nice thoughts that’s good enough.” Since when? Learn to express your nice thoughts. Write them well. Give gifts. Make something. Show affection. Be present. Be attentive. Do the work and make the effort to turn thoughts into something visible, tangible, and memorable. The thought counts when it becomes action otherwise it’s just wasted latent potential.

6) Good job, buddy.

This could be the tagline for today’s parents. You finished your French fries? Good job, buddy! You played a lazy game of soccer and lollygagged through the second half? Good job, buddy! You did a simple thing every child should be expected to do? Good job, buddy! Kids need affirmation. But over-affirming the basic standards of behavior or even poor behavior pushes our kids towards a perpetual need for praise for stuff that deserves none. Many of the jobs our kids do are good in that they are done, but the doing doesn’t deserve applause. Acknowledgement, yes. Even a thank you. But not praise. They are just a part of life. And the more we praise the mundane and the expected the cheaper our praise becomes for those things that actually deserve it.

7) It will be ok, I promise.

This is the lie told with the best intentions. It is what we say when our children are frightened or hurt and we can’t do a thing about it. We cannot fix it. We cannot heal it. So we say, “the Sun will come out tomorrow” – it will be ok. But we don’t know that. Tomorrow might be worse. We cannot promise it will be ok. I mean, we know it will be ok because God promised it would be, but He didn’t promise we would feel better.

So maybe this isn’t a lie. Certainly not if we point them to promises that will be kept. Not if we tell them, yes, it will hurt but God is still good. Not if we say we will stand by them and help them and pray for them. “It will be ok” is a cheap phrase on it’s own – a platitude we utter in helpless moments. But it doesn’t have to be. It can be lift their little eyes to something and someone bigger than themselves that will not fail them.

New Happy Rant: Trump’s Religious Advisors, Cavs Victory, & iPod Preachers

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas rant about the following pressing and timely subjects:

Donald’s Trump’s board of “evangelical advisors” and what significance they have
The Cleveland Cavaliers break a curse, celebrate in odd ways, and leave Lebron with what legacy exactly?
Are iPod sermons good for listeners or unhelpful?

We’d like to thank our sponsor, Olive Tree, this week. Olive Tree offers comprehensive and convenient Bible Study Software as well as a massive library of Christian books. Their apps for all mobile devices are clean and convenient. It is an incredible way to do in-depth study, compile all your notes and highlights, compare texts, open study materials and scripture side-by-side, and work in the original biblical languages. Or you can simply read your favorite Christian authors like Ted or Barnabas. They have a special offer for Happy Rant listeners too. If you use the code RANT at checkout you can get a 20% discount on whatever your purchase through July 31.

Like every week, we want to offer a big thank you to Resonate Recordings, the fine folks who make us sound listenable. If you are looking for great people to help your church put out recorded sermon audio or help you with a podcast they’re your people.

Feel free to hit us up on Twitter at @HappyRantPod or on Facebook or via email at HappyRantPodcast@Gmail.com with any topic suggestions or feedback. We love hearing from listeners!

To listen you can:

Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Stitcher.
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.

Episode #93

The Two Tasks of The Writer

Writing, as complex a discipline and varied an art form as it is, seeks to accomplish two tasks. Sometimes it must do one, sometimes the other, and often both. The two tasks are these:

Say what others are thinking better than they are thinking it.

Say what others are not yet thinking but ought to be.

Say what others are thinking better than they are thinking it.

“Better” can mean many things. It can mean stating things with more clarity or artfulness. It can mean expressing something beautifully instead of boringly. It can mean clarifying confusion or restating for emphasis. It can mean using force to drive home an ignored point.

Regardless, the task of the writer is to notice what is subpar or incomplete in people’s thinking and fill it or improve it in some way. Such writing avoids being derivative or dry. It is true because anything false cannot be “better.” And by writing in this manner the writer often begins to accomplish the second task.

Say what others are not yet thinking but ought to be.

Often the means by which a writer can improve a reader’s thinking is by providing a missing piece or a missing story or a missing feeling. Sometimes this task is a delightful one as readers accept the writer’s work as a gift. Other times it is an exercise in persistence and persuasion. Writing deftly and with craft makes a difference because it can fashion work that fits just so into the gap in a reader’s mind.

Stories create worlds and contexts that draw the reader to places they’ve never even imagined and concepts they never considered. Poems turn common experiences or unexpressed feelings over to view the underside or see them from a different angle so readers see what they couldn’t before. Non fiction can build a case, make an argument, unearth findings, explain the befuddling, or describe afresh. Regardless, good writing fills a gap for the reader and puts a puzzle piece in place to help complete the picture of wisdom and understanding.

For the writer the key is to notice and to think. Can you see what others don’t? That is the key to the best writing. Put those noticings into words and you will complete the first task for some, the second task for others, and both tasks for many. The more you do this – notice, think, write – the better you will get and the more adept you will become at both these tasks.

How did Rape Become a Culture for Young Men?

Rape culture.

I am raising two daughters in a country where this phrase exists, and it is sickening. How can I protect them? How can I raise them to protect themselves?

This phrase is uttered daily with diminishing disgust, not because we are more accepting of rape but because we are progressively anesthetized to its horror because of its prevalence. And the prevalence is terrifying and nauseating

Think about that—rape culture.

A culture in which the violent theft of peace, innocence, wholeness, and well-being is normative.

A culture in which sexual coercion and attacks are just part of life.

A culture in which young women have no advocates, no security, and no value except “twenty minutes of action.” 

Words cannot do justice to how repulsive this is. No woman is ever at fault for an assault done to her. No woman bears blame because a man coerces or forces her into a sexually compromising position. And no unwanted sexual act toward a woman is defensible or ignorable.

So I want to address men, young men and fathers alike, because it’s our responsibility to change this heinous “culture.”

Rape Culture and The Male Athlete

Just these past few weeks we have seen the football program at Baylor University turned upside down as a pattern of sexual assault came to light and it was shown that the athletic director and football coaches did little or nothing to resolve them.

In another well-publicized case a judge sentenced a former Stanford University swimmer to a mere six months in prison—a sentence which he will serve only half of—for raping an unconscious woman because a longer sentence would “have a severe effect on him.” (I should hope so—that is the point of punishment for crimes, after all.)

While these stories were rightly drawing outrage the Washington Post published an article revealing that more than half the college men they surveyed admitted to coercing a partner into sex.

These three stories are disgustingly exemplary of what rape culture is—young men feeling little remorse or hesitation at harming young women and a system of authority that does little to hinder or correct them.

They are not isolated incidents either. In 2014 a female University of Missouri swimmer committed suicide after her rape was not investigated or dealt with by the school or University police.

Nearly every week you can find a story of a male athlete being dismissed from a team for a violent act against a woman. The University of Louisville’s men’s basketball team has been investigated for using female escorts to lure recruits, a tactic rumored to be used widely elsewhere. Are these actions rape? Not technically, but they are exploitative of women and indicative of how so many men view them—all part of rape culture.

I don’t know whether such actions are more prevalent among athletes or simply more publicized, but it seems that their privileged position on college campuses gives some athletes a sense of invulnerability and the system that is supposed to provide oversight actually provides protection from justice.

How did we get here? What led young men to believe that sex is a thing to be forcibly inflicted on young women? What led them to see themselves so dishonorably and to view women so cheaply? Sin unchecked, sex commoditized, and selves worshiped. Young men live without boundaries and with no sense of who they are or what place sex has in life.

Our Sexual Ethic: No Ethic At All

Our country has a broken sexual ethic. It might be more accurate to say we have no sexual ethic.

Sex has no boundaries, no purpose but self-pleasure, and no defined place. It is how we define fulfillment, and in a culture that values self over all else that means an individual’s pursuit of sex can easily go unchecked.

Instead of being a shared act of mutual pleasure with a rightful place between husband and wife sex has become a drug to which America is addicted. We are simply chasing the high, consequences be damned.

We see this in pornography, a $12 billion industry in the United States, and of course that doesn’t include the amount of free porn accessed daily.

Porn is sexual pleasure offered without commitment or vulnerability—two ingredients in any healthy sexual relationship—and usually at the expense of the participants. It glorifies abuse, manipulation, and exploitation. Men are often faceless bodies and women are their pliable playthings.

And the young men of our country shotgun it like cheap beer at a frat party until they are too stupefied to know what’s what. They may think it is innocent pleasure, but it is affirming the upside down sexual ethic and confirming the cheapness of both sex and women.

Boys Without Dads Struggle to Be Men

Combine these factors with a culture full of fatherless young men, either literally or because their fathers have abdicated responsibility, and you get young men without discipline who view sex as a commodity and women as the delivery vehicle.

Who is to teach young men who they are, how they are to be, and how to view women?

Fathers.

Who is to set the limits on a young man’s life and provide the necessary consequences if he breaks those limits so that he learns the way he should live?

Fathers.

Who is to fill young men with truth, with godly confidence as image-bearers, and with deep respect and care for people of both genders as fellow image-bearers.

Fathers.

But there is a shortage. Not of men to make babies, but of fathers who actually raise them.

Boys without the guiding influence of wiser more mature men stay bros for life. And buy into the “bro code” that sees sex as a conquest and shrugs at infidelity. Boys without such influences struggle to be become men—strong, godly strong men who love women as equals and care for them as people.

(None of this cheapens the efforts or impact of mothers, especially not single mothers. The role they play in their sons’ lives is no less important, and millions fight and strive to be both mother and father. Simply put, though, every young man yearns for and needs a father figure who is strong and affirming, corrective and constructive.)

Male and Female, In His Image

What both young men and women are left with is no sense of personhood—of identity as unique, invaluable, precious image bearers of God. Women have been cheapened to objects and men have been cheapened to mindless pursuers of said objects. What lies. What loss.

No human solutions will wholly resolve this problem, although proper enforcement of laws and policies, coaches and administrators doing their jobs, and staunch defense of victims would certainly help reduce violence against women.

But this only treats the symptoms. They need to be treated lest they rage out of control, but the disease must be diagnosed and treated too.

The disease is how sin has taken our eyes off our creator to worship the creation, especially self and sex. When we see ourselves as ultimately important and sex as the ultimate pleasure why wouldn’t we force it on another? They are, after all, not as important.

This lie was born in Eden and hisses into the hearts of young men across America. Male and female God created us, in His image. But Adam and eve bought the lie of self-glorification—wanting to be God—and we have bought it every day since, and in the pursuit of self love we lost our true selves, our true personhood.

Rape culture is the outflow of this, of the gender which holds both societal and physical strength advantages using those to exploit instead of protect, to harm instead of to help.

Each of us, apart from the transforming grace of God, will pursue our own pleasure at the expense of others. Without boundaries and enforcement nothing stops that pursuit from raping someone. This is rape culture—the pursuit of pleasure without conscience or boundaries or humanity—and it needs to be fought by advocates, those who care about the wellbeing of young women and young men.

But it can only be defeated by the promises of scripture—promises of identity, joy, fulfillment, purity, wholeness, redemption, and restoration.

These promises are what will transform perpetrators and heal victims. That is the power of Christ through the Holy Spirit.

Young men must turn their estimable energies to these truths and dig into them like their lives depend on it, for they do. Parents, fathers, must show and tell our children these truths so that our sons have someone to imitate and our daughters have a model of who to love.

Pastors must proclaim them consistently since culture would rather rape then listen.

Coaches must live them so players see a better way.

Managers and leaders must be guided by them so that issues don’t go unaddressed and organizational cultures uplift instead of becoming toxic places for men and women alike.

Teammates and classmates must be shaped by them so they can be true friends, holding one another to a truly fulfilling standard of joy and meaning and happiness.

These promises are the only hope when evil has become so prevalent and accepted as to define a culture.

This post was originally  published at Athletes in Action’s site.

New Happy Rant: Men Singing in Church, Awful Kids, and Favorite Cartoons

In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas discuss the following – all listener suggestions:

Why don’t men sing in church? Is it the music, dudes being dudes, or something else?
Why do parents make excuses for their awful children?
What were their favorite cartoons as children?

Our sponsor is NavPress. The particularly want to highlight two books by Jerry Bridges, The Blessing of Humility and his recently re-released classic The Pursuit of Holiness. Both books are rich with theology and gentleness, both reflective of their author. Pick them up, work through them slowly, digest, and benefit.

Like every week, we want to offer a big thank you to Resonate Recordings, the fine folks who make us sound listenable. If you are looking for great people to help your church put out recorded sermon audio or help you with a podcast they’re your people.

Feel free to hit us up on Twitter at @HappyRantPod or on Facebook or via email at HappyRantPodcast@Gmail.com with any topic suggestions or feedback. We love hearing from listeners!

To listen you can:

Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Stitcher.
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.

Episode #92