New Canaan Society Franklin Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Most of us have struggled with a sense of purpose at one point or another. If you're like me, you have had seasons where you feel directionless, needing clarity about how to connect your daily activities to some important goal. For some of us it doesn't hit too hard until after retirement. This Thursday Hal Hadden will be joining us to talk about this. As the founder of Christian Leadership Concepts (now called Christ Led Communities), he has a lot of experience helping people with finding a deeper purpose that provides meaning in their life.

How do you reconcile the ugly parts of yourself with the work of the Holy Spirit?

This week we're joined by George Tolbert, who will share about the need for God to heal the three parts of our soul: the sanctimonious, the straying, and the suffering.

Come hear his story about how God is continually doing this in his own life, and the joy and satisfaction it's created.

Are you doing what God created you to do? Can you identify your spiritual gifting and do you understand God’s purpose for your life?   This Thursday Andy Reese will ask two simple questions that will help you find your spiritual gift. This is not something just for 20-year-olds. Better understanding your spiritual gift later in life can help your gift to mature and strengthen and can be rewarding to you and a blessing to others.    Andy Reese has spoken twice at our NCS breakfast, but that was 12 years ago. He is a rainwater management engineer who also founded Freedom Prayer, a ministry that provides a biblical model of prayer counseling. He has four children, five grandchildren, is a retired military officer, writer, and serial entrepreneur.

Pastor Marvin Young, one of our own, has offered to share part of his fascinating story.  He’s a big, passionate man with big, creative ideas who serves the one true God who, in so many ways, is bigger than we can comprehend.   What is Marvin passionate about? Food (he can talk about pork rinds and Creole seasonings), mentoring kids (he’s starting a youth program in Franklin like the one he started in Ohio that helps young people become entrepreneurs), prayer (One Heart Ministries, of which he is pastor, has held Sunday evening Prayer on the Square, and Marvin leads a prayer walk every Friday morning at 6:30).   Marvin prays for unity, healing, and revival.  He and his brother were musicians with Starvin’ Artist Entertainment.  He renovates houses.  And Marvin was a narcotics agent who switched sides.  He met Jesus in what he calls “Bible Camp” (Federal Prison).   Enjoy hearing part of his amazing story and testimony here and be sure to meet him on a future Thursday the next time you see him sit by the window at NCS.

This Thursday bring some new or good used shoes to NCS breakfast – as many children’s shoes, men’s shoes, women’s shoes as you can donate so we can send them  to the Congo.   And meet Emmanuel Ntibonera who will tell us his story and why he is collecting shoes.   Emmanuel was born in eastern Congo (then called Zaire) near Rwanda. His first seven years were peaceful. Then rebels terrorized his town and his family fled. “As my bare feet carried me, my eyes and ears absorbed horrors I’ll never forget. Limp bodies painted with dry blood on the side of the road. Women’s screams turned my stomach. Children were looking for their parents, tears streaming down their faces. Through the madness, Dad warned us, over and over as we fled, ‘Don’t look back.’”   Eventually the Ntibonera family all received refugee status and came to the U.S. where Emmanuel went to Liberty University and built his own life. One day he returned to his homeland and what he discovered there – disease, extreme poverty, deficient infrastructure, and a spirit of hopelessness – changed his life forever. He has taken more than 125,000 pairs of shoes to people in Congo, giving children confidence, pride in their well-being, and safety from foot infection.   Emmanuel is on the staff of Exile International, a Nashville organization serving child soldiers and children orphaned by war in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.   Brothers, I encourage you to hear Emmanuel’s story this Thursday. His experiences are unlike those of most of us. But through it all, his family had faith like that of George Müller. They believed God would provide . . . and He did. They experienced miracles.

Why does God allow me to suffer?   We know that God is all powerful and that he loves us. And yet we suffer.   Gary Witherall can talk about suffering. In 2000 he and his wife, Bonnie, moved to Lebanon, began serving the church there, and learned Arabic. Bonnie worked in a Christian prenatal clinic and fell in love with the women she served. Life became more difficult after September 11, 2001. While Gary and Bonnie wept at the loss of American life, their neighbors celebrated it with joy. A year later when Bonnie went to the clinic, a man shot and killed her. The terrorist was never captured.

People in Nashville are feeling loneliness, burn-out, depression, and fear at a higher rate than most U.S. cities. We’re a traumatized city.   Eleven years ago Nashville was declared (by The NY Times) to be the “It City.” Since then we’ve attracted amazing restaurants, sports fans, huge companies (think of Oracle’s world headquarters), and bachelorettes in droves.     We’re also a “Christian” city, a religiously divided city, and a racially divided and unaware city.   Are you confused about what’s going on and where we’re going? Two years ago the Operation Andrew Group (OAG) partnered with the Barna Group to research the State of Nashville. This Thursday Adam Buzard from OAG will reveal what they learned about Nashville, the church, and maybe even what’s next.

Chances are you know a musician who would like to meet Michael and Celeste Guido.   Michael and Celeste were married in 1986 and have been walking alongside artists and entertainers ever since – encouraging and challenging them in their journeys of faith. The Guido’s passion is to see lives changed by the love of God.   In a video on the PR Ministries website, musicians said Michael was “a bit of a legend,” “a mentor,” “he modeled for me how to walk a life of obedience to Jesus.”   Michael and Celeste travel on the road with musicians, welcome musicians into their home, strengthen their marriages, walk alongside in financial difficulties and family tragedies, model for them how to follow Jesus. They are with musicians in prayer, in Bible study, and in worship. Michael and Celeste’s ministry is one of Pursuing Relationships (PR Ministries).   They have ministered to Michael W. Smith, Toby Mac, Jars of Clay, Stryper, and other Christian groups. And have also shepherded heavy metal musicians like Brian Welch and Dave Mustaine.   You want stories? Michael and Celeste will be with us this Thursday, May 16, to tell stories of God’s work in the lives of artists, musicians, and entertainers.

“Parkinson’s Disease is a gift,” said Michael J. Fox. “It’s a gift that keeps taking because it’s really opened me up to more compassion.” Another person with Parkinson’s explained, “Stories can connect with people in a way that facts and scientific reports can’t.”   This Thursday you can hear the stories of three people with Parkinson’s, and the founder of Bridges for Parkinson’s.   The three with Parkinson’s are . . .             Wes Yoder – owner of Ambassador Speakers Bureau and Literary Agency, Wes started and is director of Middle Tennessee New Canaan Society . . . and your friend.             Joel Anderson – one of the best graphic artists I know. He is probably best known around here for his Spirit of Nashville posters and best known nationally for his National Parks posters, books, calendars, and gifts.             Bob Gurich – a Christian marriage and family counselor from Spring Hill. You may know Bob because he has been a regular with us at Puckett’s.   And Colleen Bridges, an amazing personal trainer who eight years ago began Rock Steady Boxing to help those with Parkinson’s maintain strength, balance, and endurance.   Chances are you won’t get Parkinson’s. One percent of people over 60 get it; most are men. But you do have friends with Parkinson’s Disease. You owe it to yourself and them to hear these stories. And to hear Rich Gootee’s song about living with Parkinson’s, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDtbvzIVkEg. Rich, a Nashville singer-songwriter with Parkinson’s, works out at Rock Steady Boxing.  

Andy Andrews is a gifted storyteller and author. His The Traveler’s Gift, The Noticer, and How Do You Kill 11 Million People were all NY Times bestsellers. His The Bottom of the Pool was named by Forbes as “One of the Seven Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read.”    When Andy was 19, both his parents died – his mother from cancer; his father from an auto accident. Andy was homeless and hung out in a library reading more than 200 biographies of great men and women and came to realize there are seven decisions that determine a person’s success. Andy has shared what he learned with 20 million readers of his 26 books and, according to a NY Times reporter, “has quietly become one of the most influential people in America.”   Last month he delivered a course on Critical Thinking to the U.S. Naval War College. Listening to Andy were the Commanding Major Generals of the Army, Air Force, Space Force, Marines, Coast Guard and military heads of 16 U.S. allied countries.