Episodes

  • Conversational Storytelling and the Power of Copywriting

    Conversational Storytelling and the Power of Copywriting
    Jan 9 2025
    What are the real-world stories that great persuaders use to make deals, close sales and bring masses of people to accept new ideas?In this breakthrough book, renowned coach and copywriter David Garfinkel reveals the types of stories that have proven to make millions of dollars, create important agreements and even change billions of minds, across a variety of industries and situations.Plus, he shows you step-by-step how to create these stories yourself, and use them to reach your own persuasion goals.The hero’s journey type of story is the go-to template for novels and film. But to say the hero’s journey is the best template for persuasion stories is to make a big mistake. This book shows why.Author David Garfinkel has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Fast Company and The Los Angeles Times, among many other publications.He has worked with businesses ranging from IBM and United Airlines to medium-sized and small companies—as well as many one-person business. He has helped them increase revenues overall by tens of millions of dollars—most notably through the effective use of persuasive messaging. David is author of the bestselling Breakthrough Copywriting and former San Francisco Bureau Chief for McGraw-Hill World News.
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    24 mins
  • Does the Church Really Know It’s Christmas?

    Does the Church Really Know It’s Christmas?
    Dec 19 2024
    Learn Something New This Christmas. We hate to admit it, but after years, sometimes even decades, of reading the same Luke 2 story of Christmas, we get a little bored—we lose some of the awe we ought to have when discussing the greatest miracle in history. That’s why The Characters of Christmas was written, to help you take a fresh look at the Christmas story by getting to know the minor characters that played a part in Jesus’ birth, such as Zechariah and Elizabeth, the Shepherds, and Herod. As you slow down, engage your imagination, and enter into the stories of these women and men, you’ll see the most important character—Jesus Christ—with new eyes. And with discussion questions and a Christmas song suggestion at the end of each chapter, it’s perfect for engaging your whole family. Break free from the familiar, and discover something you never knew about the story you’ve always heard.
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    16 mins
  • How Can You Turn Grumbling Into Thanksgiving?

    How Can You Turn Grumbling Into Thanksgiving?
    Dec 9 2024
    Trade Grumbling for Gratitude—Experience God like Never Before The apostle Paul instructed the Philippians to be anxious in nothing and thankful in everything. And when he said everything—he meant everything. We can all agree that this is easier said than done. Disappointments and discontent may cause you to slip into dissatisfaction, and grumbling becomes a state of mind—gratitude seems impossible to find. However, what if this is the precise reason you lack the joy of a God-filled life? Instead of a reaction to when things are going well, what if gratitude is actually necessary to knowing the hope of our gracious God? This is exactly what Pastor Dustin Crowe identifies in The Grumbler's Guide to Giving Thanks. Dustin examines the biblical foundations of thankfulness and traces how it can reshape every-day Christian living. When we express gratitude in all things, we not only praise our Creator, we also get to know Him better. With The Grumbler's Guide, you'll learn how to practice thanksgiving in both simple and extraordinary ways, even when you're tempted to dwell on the negative. You'll find your outlook on life realigned to see the hand of God in everything, strengthening your trust in Him. And in doing so, you'll find greater, more joy-filled reasons to continue expressing thanks to our good and generous God. DUSTIN CROWE (BA Moody Bible Institute; MA Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) serves as the discipleship pastor at Stones Crossing Church, just outside Indianapolis, IN. He has written two books (with another forthcoming from Moody Publishers in 2025) and has written for websites such as The Gospel Coalition, Gospel-Centered Discipleship, and Christianity Today. Dustin and his wife have two young kids. You can follow his blog www.indycrowe.com or find him on Twitter or Instagram (@indycrowe) and Facebook (Dustin Crowe).
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    29 mins
  • It Happened!: A Life in Sports Television by Jim Lampley

    It Happened!: A Life in Sports Television by Jim Lampley
    Nov 13 2024
    From Jim Lampley, HBO’s ringside face and voice of boxing, comes a first-person, blow-by-blow account of the evolution of sports television chock full of famous names, history-making events, and never-before-told stories from the world of sports. Jim Lampley’s story is a 50-year travelog of an unlikely career that catalogs the evolution of sports television—from his emergence as the first sideline reporter, through hosting and covering 14 Olympics, to working with all major sports networks. It Happened! charts Jim’s notable career, with highlights including: Becoming the first live reporter on the sideline of a nationally televised college football game Following in the footsteps of Jim McKay as host on ABC’s Wide World of Sports and Howard Cosell as halftime host for ABC’s Monday Night Football Partnering with ABC, CBS, NBC, Turner, and HBO Ascending to host of HBO’s Wimbledon weekday telecasts Reaching “icon” status as the 30-year face and voice of HBO World Championship Boxing Learn how Jim’s brilliance as an announcer and his revolutionary nature led to innovations in sportscasting, three sports Emmys, and induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Personal anecdotes and hard-earned lessons combine as Jim digs deep and shares celebrity stories from the upper echelons of superstar athletes and Hollywood hotshots, but also offers an introspective look at his personal life and trials. It Happened! tells it all. Jim Lampley is a Hall of Fame sportscaster with 50 years of on-site experience at numerous live sports events that include college and NFL football and ABC’s Wide World of Sports, inside NBA and MLB locker rooms, Wimbledon, Ryder Cup PGA Golf, and 14 Olympics. For 30 years, he was the face and voice of HBO World Championship boxing, including anecdotes and interactions with the most famous fighters of his era (Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Ray Leonard and George Foreman) and the biggest boxing matches up to and including the “Billion Dollar Bout” between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, which had the largest gross income in the history of pay-per-view sports.
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    33 mins
  • The Hebrew Bible: A Translation by Robert Alter

    The Hebrew Bible: A Translation by Robert Alter
    Nov 9 2024
    A landmark event: the complete Hebrew Bible in the award-winning translation that delivers the stunning literary power of the original. A masterpiece of deep learning and fine sensibility, Robert Alter’s translation of the Hebrew Bible, now complete, reanimates one of the formative works of our culture. Capturing its brilliantly compact poetry and finely wrought, purposeful prose, Alter renews the Old Testament as a source of literary power and spiritual inspiration. From the family frictions of Genesis and King David’s flawed humanity to the serene wisdom of Psalms and Job’s incendiary questioning of God’s ways, these magnificent works of world literature resonate with a startling immediacy. Featuring Alter’s generous commentary, which quietly alerts readers to the literary and historical dimensions of the text, this is the definitive edition of the Hebrew Bible. Robert Alter (Ph.D., Harvard University) teaches courses on the 19th-century European and American novel, on modernism, and on literary aspects of the Bible, and he also teaches and writes on modern Hebrew literature. His publications range from critical biography (Stendhal) to literary theory (The Pleasures of Reading in an Ideological Age) to two recent volumes of Bible translation accompanied by literary commentary —The Book of Psalms, and The Wisdom Books. His two most recent books are Pen of Iron: American Prose and the King James Bible (Princeton, 2010) and Strong As Death Is Love: The Song of Songs, Ruth, Esther, Jonah, Daniel (Norton, 2015). His translation with commentary of the complete Hebrew Bible has been published by Norton. In 2009, he received the Robert Kirsch Award from the Los Angeles Times for lifetime contribution to American letters.
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    29 mins
  • When Was the Last Time You Heard a Sermon on Leviticus?

    When Was the Last Time You Heard a Sermon on Leviticus?
    Oct 27 2024
    Leviticus focuses on relationships--a relationship with God through worship and relationships with other people through holiness. Throughout the book, the priests and the Levites receive special responsibilities to help Israel in both these spheres. Authors Michael A. Harbin and Mark C. Biehl show how Leviticus lays out three related practices that would hold these relationships together for the nation of Israel: corporate worship; personal and collective holiness; and righteous living as a covenant community. Harbin and Biehl suggest bridges to our own culture by discussing what the Israelites at Sinai would have understood about the reasons behind what Leviticus prescribes. Just as the Israelites' complex relationships with family and neighbors formed a foundation for both cultural and personal well-being, the church today is called to pursue wholistic shalom in its own time and place. Each volume uniquely combines the insights of an experienced Bible exegete (trained in interpretation) and a homiletician (trained in preaching). These two authors work together to explain the essential message for the original listeners or readers, unpack its timeless truth, and then provide a contemporary restatement and communication insights for the key biblical concept. Every book is a resource designed and written with the real needs of the pastor and teacher always in view, providing many ways to creatively express the principal thought in a biblical passage. Based on the Big Idea preaching model, Kerux enhances the reader's ability to deliver a message that is biblical, cohesive, and dynamic. Michael A. Harbin (ThD in Old Testament and Semitic Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary) is professor emeritus of biblical studies at Taylor University with thirty years of teaching experience. Mark C. Biehl (DVM, University of Illinois) serves as lead pastor of Upland Community Church, bringing a unique background with twenty-two years in veterinary medicine. He graduated from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and completed a ministry residency at College Church in Wheaton.
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    18 mins
  • The 100 Most Asked Questions About God and the Bible

    The 100 Most Asked Questions About God and the Bible
    Oct 26 2024
    What do you want to know about God and the Bible?Sometimes the truth can be hard to find. We live in an age where it only takes a few seconds to look up anything we want to know. But how reliable are the answers we get? For more than two decades, S. Michael Houdmann and GotQuestions.org have cut through the confusion, answering even the hardest of questions with clarity, grace, and love. GotQuestions.org receives more than sixteen million visitors each month and is the most trusted, biblically grounded resource online. This book answers one hundred of the most frequently asked questions on the site in a compassionate, accessible, and straightforward manner, covering topics like ● salvation and how we're supposed to live ● heaven and the afterlife ● sex ● difficult passages in the Bible ● the end times● and morePeople have big questions, and the answers have real-world consequences. Here is the biblical truth we all need to better understand God, ourselves, and the world we live in. S. Michael Houdmann is the Founder and CEO of Got Questions Ministries. He is a 1998 graduate of Calvary University with a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies, a 2001 graduate of Calvary Theological Seminary with a Master of Arts in Christian Theology, and a 2022 graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary with a Master of Theology, Christian Apologetics emphasis. He is also currently a student at Dallas Theological Seminary in the Doctor of Ministry program. In the years he has served with GotQuestions.org, S. Michael Houdmann has read, answered, and/or reviewed literally hundreds of thousands of questions and answers. This gives him unique insights into the questions people have, how they ask those questions, and how to answer the questions in a biblically sound and understandable way. His passion is to help people understand God’s Word and apply it to their lives. S. Michael Houdmann has been married to his wife, MeLissa, for over 25 years. They currently live in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. They do not have any biological children, so they instead invest into the lives of their friends’ children, through children’s ministry at their church, foreign exchange students, and through Compassion International. They both serve in leadership roles at their local church. They enjoy traveling, the outdoors, movies, good music, and great food. In addition to the Bible and theology, S. Michael Houdmann loves sports (both participating in and watching), technology, science fiction, off-roading, and hanging out with his German Shepherd.
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    17 mins
  • Using Interlinears and Bible Software to Study the Greek NT

    Using Interlinears and Bible Software to Study the Greek NT
    Oct 25 2024
    Learn the Essentials of Biblical Greek So You Can Study the New Testament More Deeply. This newly revised third edition of Greek for the Rest of Us by Greek instructor William Mounce is crash-course on "Greek for the rest of us" that acquaints the reader with the essentials of the language so they can study the New Testament more deeply. Readers will gain a sound knowledge of the fundamentals of Greek and learn how to use tools that will add muscle to their Bible studies. In Greek for the Rest of Us readers will learn to: Read and pronounce Greek words Learn the fundamentals of the Greek noun and verb system Conduct effective Greek word studies Learn the basics of Greek exegesis for biblical interpretation Understand why translations are different Read better commentaries Be comfortable using reverse and traditional interlinears Understand the information displayed by biblical software For anyone interested in seriously studying the New Testament, Greek for the Rest of Us is your gateway to learning the skills and tools you need to accomplish your goals. You can enhance your learning experience even more with the Greek for the Rest Us Workbook (sold separately) which contains exercises to help practice and reinforce the concepts you are learning in the main book. A Clear Guide to Help Readers Understand Why They Can Trust the Bible We are often told we can no longer assume that the Bible is trustworthy. From social media memes to popular scholarship, so many attacks have been launched on the believability of Scripture that many have serious questions about the Bible, such as: Did Jesus actually live? Did the biblical writers invent their message? How can we trust the gospels since they were written so long after Jesus lived? How can we believe a Bible that is full of internal contradictions with itself and external contradictions with science? Aren't the biblical manuscripts we have just copies of copies that are so corrupted they don't represent what the original authors wrote? Why should we believe the books that are in the Bible, since many good ones were left out, like the Gospel of Thomas? Why trust the Bible when there are so many contradictory translations of it? On this show we also cover, Why I Trust the Bible by eminent Bible scholar and translator William Mounce. The truth is that the Bible is better attested and more defensible today than it ever has been. Questions about the Bible are perhaps the most significant challenge confronting Christian faith today, but they can be answered well and in a way which will lead to a deeper appreciation for the truth and ongoing relevance of the Bible. Bill is the founder and President of BiblicalTraining.org, serves on the Committee for Bible Translation (which is responsible for the NIV translation of the Bible), and has written the best-selling biblical Greek textbook, Basics of Biblical Greek, and many other Greek resources. He blogs regularly on Greek and issues of spiritual growth. Bill was also a preaching pastor, a professor of New Testament and director of the Greek Language Program at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a professor at Azusa Pacific University. Robin and he have been married since 1983 and have three adult children. Ph.D. 1981, in New Testament. Aberdeen University, Aberdeen, Scotland.M.A. 1977, in Biblical Studies. Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California.B.A. 1975, in Biblical Studies, minor in Greek. Bethel College, St. Paul, Minnesota; Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky, 1971-74.
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    18 mins