The Family Disciple Me Podcast // Discipleship Starts With a Conversation
In a world filled with a lot of talk, we want to have meaningful, biblical conversations with those God has entrusted to us. Join Tosha Williams and the Family Disciple Me ministry for Devotion Driven Discipleship conversation starters that will encourage you to "Seek Him Speak Him" in your own life.
Family Disciple Me is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) Christian ministry dedicated to catalyzing Devotion Driven Discipleship in our own lives and homes as well as around the world.
For more information, visit familydiscipleme.org
The Family Disciple Me Podcast // Discipleship Starts With a Conversation
March MISSION Madness: Crazy, Amazing Lives for Jesus // An Introduction // 1 Corinthians 1:18
March Madness is great fun with basketball, buzzer beaters and crazy championship games. But, this March, let's talk about something even greater: March MISSION Madness. In this new collection of conversations, we focus on living crazy amazing lives for Jesus - - - and weave in some testimonies from history to inspire us.
In this episode, join Tosha Williams and Wendy Hickox for an inspiring introduction into living all out for Jesus. We will look at four amazing, inspiring women who experienced the power of God in their lives. The world may have seen them as "foolish," but their stories reverberate through history as examples to follow.
Listen in, then spend some time with Jesus in this conversation guide considering the theme verse for our March MISSION Madness series:
"The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18 (NIV)
(Then be sure to listen in to the rest of the March MISSION Madness podcasts!) Also, you can read the introduction to this series at https://familydiscipleme.org/an-intro-to-march-mission-madness/
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The Family Disciple Me ministry exists to catalyze devotion driven discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations along life's way. Sign up through our website to be "the first to know" about upcoming releases and resources (including the FDM App - coming soon!!!) You can also follow Family Disciple Me on social media.
Family Disciple Me is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry, and all donations are tax deductible. More information, blogs, statement of faith and contact info can be found at familydiscipleme.org
Welcome to Family Disciple Me. It's March and at least at my house it is March madness. It's full of brackets and buzzer beaters and basketball intensity. It keeps my family glued to the screen, that's right, tasha.
Speaker 2:It is that time of the year. It is teams pushing themselves to the limit, training, strategizing and giving everything. They've got Fans go wild. I know you see it at your house.
Speaker 1:We do, I see it at my house and over the years, because my husband is such a crazy March Madness maniac, I've started calling it March Sadness Ooh.
Speaker 2:I can totally empathize with that statement, although we don't watch basketball too much in our house mostly it's soccer but I can appreciate where you're coming from.
Speaker 1:Well, I was thinking about the fact that this year for March Madness, that maybe with Family Disciple Me, we could take it just a little bit different direction. So, wendy, thank you for joining me here in my clophus.
Speaker 2:I have to tell you it's the first time I've been actually in this clophus. As a matter of fact, I think the last time that we were together we were in my daughter's closet yes, which is very different than your clophus.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, I think we recorded an episode in season one in your daughter's closet. It has been a while. Way back during quarantine. It has been a while, but here we are. Here we are.
Speaker 2:And you're right. This is the kind of madness that happens in this month for everyone that is a basketball fan that has that TV on all day long. But I think that we're going to jump into something different, like let's leave this as a jump into something else.
Speaker 1:That's right. I want us to talk about March Mission Madness. This month. I'm so excited about the stories that we're going to talk about the true stories of historical godly women, as well as how we're going to use this to help us understand scripture better.
Speaker 2:It's a kind of madness that doesn't end with a championship trophy, but with an eternal reward.
Speaker 1:That's right. That's what we want to talk about in this conversation series and, wendy, as you know, in everything that we do, family Disciple Me always encourages us to seek Him and then turn around and speak Him. So as we learn these truths and as we look at these amazing, crazy, faith-filled lives, then we have the opportunity to turn around and share these things that point us to Jesus with the next generation.
Speaker 2:Absolutely that act of discipleship. It will make eternal rewards in heaven.
Speaker 1:That's right and it'll build relationship here. So thank you for joining me here in this clubhouse. And well, let's cue the podcast intro and then we'll be right back to talk about this introduction into our March Mission Madness series of conversations.
Speaker 3:Welcome to the Family Disciple Me podcast. If you have a real relationship with Jesus, then you're in the right place to be encouraged, challenged and blessed as you seek Him, speak Him. The mission of the Family Disciple Me ministry is to inspire devotion-driven discipleship, which is something we believe every Christ follower can do. Discipleship starts with a conversation, so let's get going with that right now.
Speaker 1:Wendy, here we are in my tiny little co-office on a Saturday afternoon. There's a thousand other things we could be doing, but instead we're in this tiny little space getting ready to record this podcast series. I think that that is something that you could call foolish.
Speaker 2:It could be foolish. If you saw this little space that we're crammed into, people might call it foolish. That we're crammed into, people might call it foolish. I know we have been waiting for months, if not a couple years, to find the time to really have this conversation with one another, to put it out there that this is what we do is have conversations, and here we are here.
Speaker 1:We are In this little space. In this little space, I noticed that when I stepped out to the front and looked out the window, it's snowing outside. So on this snowy afternoon, here we are in this little space, finally getting to do what we have talked about doing for so long, and that is engaging meaningful conversations in order to encourage other people to have meaningful conversations.
Speaker 2:These conversations can really be the jumping board of bringing people to have meaningful conversations. These conversations can really be the jumping board of bringing people to Christ, allowing them to see who Christ is and showing them how to get there. This is what people are longing for. I've been listening to. People want to have conversations and it's hard, especially in today's society where we have all the social media and people think they're having conversations, but are they really having true conversations with one another?
Speaker 1:I don't know Well, we get to help inspire those conversations as family Disciple Me team members, and I just want to highlight my friend Wendy. She is a mom of three. She is a police officer's wife. She is an extraordinary teacher. She loves the Lord. This woman is amazing. Also, she has served with me in the Family Disciple Me ministry.
Speaker 2:For what six years now, six years, I think. That Family Disciple Me has been around for seven years now and I remember so clearly the day that you had, you know the Lord had brought this nonprofit ministry to your mind. You knew where you were going and you would ask me to be part of it. I remember at the time thinking, oh, I want to, I'm going to pray about it, and it just wasn't the right time. So I think I leaped in a year after and so thankful that I am here now and part of this nonprofit organization that is just teaching people how to seek him and then turn around and speak it to all those that are entrusted to us, our children, everyone that's around. So I thank you for the opportunity to be part and to not give up on me after I stepped away for a little bit and just needed to get grounded in where I was.
Speaker 1:Well, and you know, Wendy, I really think that that speaks into this topic that we're going to talk about this month, because I think that one reason that you initially said no to the invitation to be on the Family Disciple Me ministry team was because you felt maybe a little intimidated by the conversations.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Actually, at the time, seven years ago, my children were younger seven years younger than they are now and I remember being in the thick of it, like we were carpooling, we were going to activities and just being so in the middle of raising my children, and not always feeling like I was doing the best job of it. Who would I be to talk to somebody about discipling their children? And yet God came to me a year later and was like you are, you are the mama that needs to hear this. You are the mama that needs to reach out, because you are relatable, because no one is perfect. That's right.
Speaker 1:That's right. And for you, listener, wherever you are along life's journey right now, the reason we're sitting here is not because we're experts. The reason we're sitting here is not because we're experts but because we believe so passionately in the fact that God has entrusted people to every single one of us. So if you're sitting there listening to this as a mama or as a grandma, or as a big sister or dad, whoever it is, however you approach this conversation, the reason that we're sitting here, the reason we're a part of Family, disciple Me and do this podcast and all the different things with FDM, is to encourage and equip and inspire all of us that our stories matter, our Jesus stories matter.
Speaker 2:Our Jesus stories do absolutely matter. And I think with that I want to say you are listening to two women that come from very different backgrounds, in the sense that, tasha, you are a very accomplished pastor's wife that has a million things on your plate. You have five grown children now. I think one that is really is 18, getting ready to graduate from high school, and myself being a mother that has three children but I didn't grow up in the church Very different. I look at you and I think, oh my goodness, she has it all together. She walks through the church and a perception can be very different than how things come across. We all have something to bring to the table. That's right, might be different, but we're both in this together and that's what I want to bring to this table. That listen to where you are, see where you are. This is for everyone.
Speaker 1:That's right. Be encouraged. The world sees certain things about our lives as Christians. The world sees these things as foolish things like self-sacrifice, humility, faithfulness, prayer. These things seem foolish to the world and yet we live these out, even though they cost us so much. But here's the thing, and this is what I want us to really settle in our hearts and our minds as we go into this collection of conversations what the world calls foolish God calls powerful that is so powerful.
Speaker 2:Just that statement in itself really reminds me of 1 Corinthians 1.18. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. So that foolishness out there, that's what we're going to talk about. How are we foolish for Christ?
Speaker 1:Because that's really the power I love this tie in to March Mission Madness, because, in other words, god's game plan doesn't make sense to the world, but his strategy always wins in the end.
Speaker 3:Isn't that?
Speaker 1:good, wendy, it's so good. That encourages me so much. So this month, all month long, we're going to be looking at the lives of some different women in history who were absolutely crazy mad in the world's eyes, but whose faith echoes to us even today, but whose faith echoes to us even today.
Speaker 2:It's their determination. Their sacrifice, their commitment to Jesus would have made no sense to most people around them, but God used them in powerful ways. Yes.
Speaker 1:Two of them, wendy, are women that I have thought about for a long time, and then two of them were unexpected surprises for me this past year. Two of them were unexpected surprises for me this past year. So in this March Mission Madness series, we're going to start with one of my favorite heroes of the faith, and that is Harriet.
Speaker 2:Tubman. Oh, what a perfect time to be studying that, digging deeper into it, as an elementary teacher. Actually, at this point I'm coaching teachers how to teach, but right now we're really studying Black History Month and digging in. How have people made a difference? And to start with Harriet Tubman, I can think of no better way than to see how she made a difference, for Jesus.
Speaker 1:She was a woman of faith, and sometimes I think that can get lost in the dialogue, but she was a woman of faith, so we're going to talk about her as we launch March Mission Madness. And then we're going to go to one of my favorite, most inspirational women, and her name is Monica. She is not well known, but she was the mother of St Augustine, who is one of history's most famous theologians. Monica was an amazing woman who prayed without ceasing, and she inspires me so much to pray for prodigals.
Speaker 2:Well, I know that she inspires you because two years ago we were at a retreat at our church and I remember you talking so fervently about Monica and how she prayed and she never ceased in that prayer for her prodigal son and boy. What a story she has and what a story it comes out to be to talk about her and dig into her life is inspiring.
Speaker 1:Yes, I can't get away from how inspirational her story is to me, so I love that so much that we get to share that. And then our last two women that we're going to highlight, or maybe the next two women, who knows? Maybe we'll keep going with this series, but the next two women were ones that I did not know about until I had this amazing opportunity to go to the United Kingdom last year, and these two women that I learned about along the way their names are Mary Slessor and Margaret Wilson and Wendy. I can't wait to share their stories, because these women have impacted my heart and my life so much, and I believe that as their stories are shared more and more, I believe that they'll just echo into other lives as well.
Speaker 2:I can't wait for our listeners to hear about these women's lives. You've just touched the surface with me about their lives. I remember you coming back from your trip and talking specifically about these women and how their stories just impacted you. I thought how in the world you were just there, for I think you were there for two weeks possibly, yes, and you came back, and so to speak about these women will again bring inspiration to those of you that are listening to our podcast, and it certainly has brought a lot of encouragement in my life and I am excited to dig into their life and see where they went with their faith.
Speaker 1:That's right. That's right. I love that, wendy. I love that Each of these women, honestly, they could have taken the easy road, but they chose faith over fear, they chose sacrifice over safety and they chose eternal conversations and focus over comfort, and that's why I believe their faith still speaks their stories seem to just really challenge us.
Speaker 2:What are we willing to sacrifice for Jesus? What are we willing to do for Jesus? What foolish thing is God calling us to, just like these?
Speaker 1:women. I think that as we dive into each of these stories this month, the Holy Spirit is going to highlight different ways that he wants us to obediently follow Him, ways that may seem foolish and crazy to everybody else but that, absolutely going back to our theme verse for this whole collection of conversations is the power of God.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. When I think about that, I'm thinking maybe it's sharing the gospel when it feels awkward, maybe it's standing for truth when the world really calls us crazy. Maybe it's choosing obedience when it actually cost us something. Because in God's eyes, wendy, this kind of madness is actually wisdom, that is so deep, to put it in that regard, because, truly, the world does see it as foolishness. And well, we're diving into this March Madness, let's do it.
Speaker 1:Let's do it.
Speaker 2:So let's get ready for a March filled with some incredible stories that will inspire us to live boldly with Jesus, and here's the challenge Each week, as we highlight these women, ask yourself, what would it look like for me to live with that kind of determination, with that kind of commitment, with that kind of faith?
Speaker 1:And friend. We want to hear from you along the way. We have social media, we have email. Reach out to us. Leave a message on your favorite podcast platform. If there's an episode that impacts you, share it with a friend. Put something on social media, invite other people in. But, wendy, here's the main thing that we always say as you seek him, turn around and speak him. The best thing that could come out of you listening to this podcast episode is that you lean into Jesus more than ever before and then you turn around and you share that with someone else, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I want us to just step into this madness of the gospel together, because what seems like foolishness to the world is actually the power of God. And we're here and we want to jump in together, amen.
Speaker 1:Well, I would love to close this episode with prayer. Father God, thank you, thank you for your word. Father God, thank you, thank you for your word. Thank you that you call us and invite us into an extraordinary life of faith. Sometimes it does feel like madness. Sometimes we know that others look at us like we are crazy, and yet, jesus, there's no place we would rather be than out on the court and in the game with you. And we know it's not a game. This is eternity we're talking about. But, jesus, you are, you are our coach, you are our leader, you are our guide, and we are thrilled to be on Team Jesus. So help us as we lean into this series this month, for your glory, for our good and the good of all of those that you've entrusted to us. Amen, amen, amen. Be encouraged, friend, until next time.
Speaker 3:Thanks for joining us in this podcast episode. You can find the Matching Conversation Guide in the show notes. To get the latest updates about the Family Disciple Me ministry, as well as word about our soon-to-be-released app, sign up to be the first to know at familydisciplemeorg. Also, if you enjoyed this podcast, help us get the word out by leaving us a review on your favorite podcast platform. God bless you, friend. Now go seek him. Speak him.