151. Change Your Negative Self Talk of Discouragement, Doubt and Fear by Focusing on Biblical Truths with the Author of “Dwell on These Things” John Stange

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The author of “Dwell on These Things” John Stange is Dr. Brad Miller guest on Episode 151 of The Beyond Adversity Podcast.

John Stange is a follower of Jesus, husband to Andrea, and father to four great kids. He holds degrees in Bible, Education, and Counseling, is a certified speaker, trainer, and coach with the John Maxwell Team, and serves as the Lead Pastor of Core Creek Community Church in Langhorne, PA. John is an adjunct professor at Cairn University, where he teaches courses on church planting, theology, and counseling. He also serves as the Director of the National Mission Board which is a ministry that is focused on church planting and church health.

John hosts three podcasts, “The Chapter-A-Day Audio Bible,” “Daily Devotions with Pastor John,” and “Dwell on These Things.” At present, his shows have been downloaded nearly 5 million times by listeners throughout the world. All three podcasts can be freely accessed via your favorite podcast app or DesireJesus.com. John’s books are focused on spiritual growth, leadership, marriage, and the practical and applicational aspects of following Jesus. 

In his discussion with Dr. Brad, he focuses on the overarching message of his latest book “Dwell on These Things.” 

John believes you can change your life by changing the messages that enter your mind! Learn to see yourself through God’s eyes by spending thirty-one days feeding your heart a new, biblical message of encouragement in his book “Dwell on These Things.” 

Every day, our hearts and minds fill with messages—about ourselves, the world, and God—that we replay again and again. Some of these messages are accurate and helpful. Others run counter to truths that God wants us to understand and embrace. 

Thankfully, you don’t have to live at the mercy of whatever thought pops into your mind. In fact, you can choose exactly which messages you wish to repeat and believe. 

  • Replace feelings of discouragement with a sense of God’s goodness. 
  • Practice seeing yourself in the loving way God sees you. 
  • Exchange negative self-talk for positive biblical messages. 
  • Learn to face the day with hope in your heart.   

Episode 151 of The Beyond Adversity Podcast is a great and entertaining listen to the person of faith and the person exploring faith as a vital piece of facing and navigating through adversity to achieve a promised life. In Episode 151 you will learn that there’s no need to remain stuck thinking unhelpful thoughts. Learn how you can fill your mind with encouraging, life-enriching truths through a gospel-saturated, thirty-one-day challenge that can help you replace a destructive mindset with a positive, empowering, and godly one.

The Beyond Adversity Podcast is published weekly by Dr. Brad Miller at DrBradMiller.com and on all the major podcast directories. The purpose of The Beyond Adversity Podcast is to help people to navigate adverse life events and to emerge to a promised life of peace, prosperity, and purpose.

DrBradMiller.com

DesireJesus.com

https://desirejesus.com/dwellonthesethings

Transcript
Brad Miller:

Dr. Bryan beller here with you on beyond

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adversity. This is the podcast where we help you to navigate

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adversity in your life, things like death in the family or

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disease perhaps or maybe debt, financial issues or perhaps

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depression or maybe a divorce relationship issues. And we help

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you to have a process and to do that, and we talk to authors and

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leaders who can help guide us in these areas. And john stogie is

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a guy who can do just that. He has an incredibly accomplished

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author, and podcaster. And pastor, he has the

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website desire jesus.com. What he brings to us is our guest

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today here on beyond adversity. He is a follower of Jesus

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Christ. He has full as a wife, Andrea, and four great kids. And

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he holds a degrees in Bible education and counseling. He's a

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speaker, a trainer works with the john Maxwell organization.

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He's the lead pastor of core Community Church in

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Pennsylvania. He works as a professor at Karen University.

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But he also provides a daily audio Bible podcast, daily

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devotional podcast, and a podcast related to some of his

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teaching that he his upcoming book called dwell on these

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things, quite an accomplished person to be our guest today on

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beyond diversity. JOHN, welcome to the podcast.

John Stange:

Thank you so much for having me. It's great to be

John Stange:

here.

Brad Miller:

It's great to be here, too. I notice it just says

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you're the father for great kids, I was hoping you wouldn't

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say your two great kids and two stinkers or something like that,

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but but that that's awesome man, that you have a family life and

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that you have accomplished some accomplishments in your life,

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regarding your reading, or your writing, and your teaching, and

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your leadership and your podcasting with thank you for

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being with us. And what we're about here today is helping

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learn from you about some of the processes that you do in your

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life to help transform your life. Because it's my belief

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that everyone needs to have a transformed life and some of us

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get stuck in various areas in life. And we got to take, you

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know, very intentional actions to, to get unstuck and to lead

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us to a life of what I to call a life of peace, prosperity and

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purpose. And I just wonder, john, you got all these

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accomplishments. But Has there ever been a time when you've

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been stuck or been a time when you had to have some adversity

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to face

John Stange:

completely? And and you would certainly identify

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with this. One of the aspects of my ministry as a pastor has been

John Stange:

church planting. And in 2008, our family moved to Langhorne,

John Stange:

Pennsylvania. We uprooted our family. I remember I presented

John Stange:

to my to my wife, the idea that I said, hey, look, let's move

John Stange:

down there. Let's start a church. It comes with no

John Stange:

guaranteed salary. I don't know where we will live. And we don't

John Stange:

have a congregation assembled yet. And I said, What do you

John Stange:

think do you want to uproot with four small kids at that point?

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And, and, to my amazement, and, and gratefulness, she was very

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much on board with that. But as you can well identify, there are

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peaks, and there are valleys in your life when you're doing

John Stange:

things like that. And I hit a real Valley, when we got to

John Stange:

about 2014. So about six years into the process. 2014 2015, I

John Stange:

went through a season there, where I was dealing with a lot

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of discouragement, a lot of self doubt. One of the things that

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was also a real struggle was that was a season where the

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church wasn't able to pay me a salary for a season because the

John Stange:

finances of the church were not at a healthy point. And it was

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really a mental emotional and spiritual struggle for me where

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I was certain I was doing what God had called me to do, but I

John Stange:

was being tested in every direction. And I just remember

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that being probably one of the most discouraged seasons of my

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life. And it's not even that too terribly long ago, it's only six

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years ago, but it's fresh in my mind like it was yesterday or

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even today. When you can be on board with things like you said

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your wife was on board with you and you felt this in the

John Stange:

terminology you and coupled with a calling or leading to do

John Stange:

things for other people that might be kind of a pivot in life

John Stange:

things like this, that you do something you go on faith a

John Stange:

little bit, but reality tends to smack us in the face once in a

John Stange:

while, doesn't it? Sure does. We have have to deal with that with

John Stange:

a reality. And so the choice we have to make them when when the

John Stange:

season of discouragement comes like you said is what do we do

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about it? You could stay stuck. You can stay you know kind of in

John Stange:

your misery. I call it the malaise of mediocrity or the

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malaise of misery where you can stay stuck, or you can do

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something about it. What were some of the things what are some

John Stange:

of the actions or what are some things you did to

Brad Miller:

deal with that season of that

John Stange:

you mentioned, there, there were probably three

John Stange:

key things, prayer, talking to people that I trust, and taking

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some action to diversify my income streams. And so I

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remember actually being in the parking lot of an electronic

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store, and I don't remember what I was at the electronics store

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for, but I was there, it was a nice day I was sitting in my

John Stange:

car, the radio was on and a song came on, just reminding me of

John Stange:

the fact that I can trust the Lord to lead my life. And so I

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remember praying and just asking the Lord to show me what I

John Stange:

needed to do to make sure that our family was taken care of

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financially so that I can continue doing what I felt like

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he had called me to do. And that's really where I got into

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the process of writing books, I started writing books, it was,

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you know, it's very soon after that, that I felt like, that

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idea was given to me and, and I really started to pursue that.

John Stange:

And that started to take off. And then that led to podcasting.

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And that led to blogging, and that led to speaking and, and

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then that led to a book deal with a traditional publisher.

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And it's interesting, as I watch over the course of the past six

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years, I'm amazed at how the Lord allowed me to experience

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that crisis season, but how that was really a, a launchpad for

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things that very much are part of my life right now. And I look

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at it very differently from how I did in the moment, because in

John Stange:

the moment, I was feeling crushed, I was feeling

John Stange:

emotionally low. And, and now I look back at it, and I'm so

John Stange:

grateful that I was put in that kind of spot, because it forced

John Stange:

me to think differently about how I was approaching a variety

John Stange:

of things.

Brad Miller:

I love what you just said there, john, but

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crisis as a launchpad. Rather than crisis as a, you know,

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crash into the ditch somewhere, you know, where so many folks

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just stay stuck, or just crash and burn. And you use it as a

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launch pad. And I heard you say at least three things that you

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did prayer connections with people in the actions. And so we

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actually use it for writing and blogging and podcasting. Right.

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And I think it's important for people to know, do you ever see

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people in your ministry or in your encounters in your writing,

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who have been a little bit stuck and need a little encouragement

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in order to get unstuck

John Stange:

all the time. And it's interesting, because some

John Stange:

people are ready for the help to get unstuck. And there are other

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people who choose to remain stuck. And I have to say that in

John Stange:

my role, that's one of the most frustrating things to deal with.

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Because I don't know how to change somebody's mind. You

John Stange:

know, I don't know, I can offer my help. I can offer

John Stange:

encouragement, I can, I can try and point somebody in the right

John Stange:

direction. But I've learned that ultimately, if somebody doesn't

John Stange:

own it themself, if they don't ultimately value it, or or

John Stange:

desire it, or get to that spot, where they there, their mind is

John Stange:

open to it. There's not much you can do more than just be a

John Stange:

faithful friend and commit them to prayer, and continue to be

John Stange:

there for them and say, Hey, when you're ready, I'll still be

John Stange:

here. But at times, I see people stay stuck. And, and, and

John Stange:

sometimes I almost wonder if some people I've interacted with

John Stange:

kind of want to stay stuck? Oh,

Brad Miller:

yeah. It just I believe that's the case, I

Brad Miller:

believe. Wait about Yeah, I believe a lot of people are just

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kind of, like I said, just kind of comfortable in their misery,

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so to speak, and choose to stay there because the pain for

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whatever reason is not great enough, you know, to have worn

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change, or sometimes the pain come or the the the

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manifestations of the pain do turn up so late in the process

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that they have gone, you know, the woman was taken to a deep

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dark place, they have a hard time getting getting out of and,

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and the pain of getting out, as we know, you know, is it's not

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always pleasant, either to get out of the please place it when

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you are stuck. But tell me about you mentioned prayer, and you

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mentioned some of the spiritual resources that you draw upon. I

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believe change can take place without drawing on a power

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greater than yourself. So tell me a little bit about how that

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came into play in your life of your personal transformation,

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once you teach others, drawing on a power greater than

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yourself.

John Stange:

I know for me, it can be very easy for somebody in

John Stange:

my role as a pastor to start wrapping your sense of identity

John Stange:

and well being around that role, and what people think of your

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performance in that role and things of that nature. And I

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think at one point, I was starting to wrap my identity

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around that role, instead of thinking about the things that

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are eternally true of me because of my walk. with Christ and so,

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you know, scripture tells me that, that in my relationship

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with him, I am loved, I am adopted into his family, I am

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viewed blamelessly. And as holy in the eyes of God, the Father.

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And I look at that, and I think I need to start wrapping my

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sense of identity around things that will be eternally true of

John Stange:

me, not things that are only temporarily true of me. So in

John Stange:

eternity, I'm not going to be a pastor in eternity, I'm just a

John Stange:

child of God. And so I can't wrap my sense of well being or

John Stange:

my identity around a temporary role or a temporary stewardship,

John Stange:

or even how someone thinks I navigate that temporary role.

Brad Miller:

You have to go to a deeper place. Yeah, that's,

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that's what that's what you chose to do, by some of your,

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some of your processes that you have your, as you mentioned

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about prayer and people in action. And there's also I

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believe, you know, this emotional element to

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transformation that that takes place, and the emotions are

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almost always wrapped up in one way or another with our

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relationship with other people. You know, I believe that the the

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spiritual aspect is when we draw power from that place beyond

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ourselves, but interpersonally with people in our lives, is a

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place to draw some strength in. And some encouragement and

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accountability. Tell me a lot about relationships, especially

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loving relationships, be they interpersonal, or perhaps

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sometimes, Metro ships, you know, books, tapes, those type

Brad Miller:

of thing tiblet about the emotional element and

Brad Miller:

transformation for you.

John Stange:

Yeah, I know, for me, one of the things that I

John Stange:

have learned is that I deal with much more anxiety or worry in my

John Stange:

life, when I try and do things alone. When I share the burden

John Stange:

with others, people that I can trust, I feel so much better

John Stange:

about almost everything I'm doing. And I remember in the

John Stange:

midst of that season, which I really felt was kind of a pretty

John Stange:

low season for me, I reached out to a few friends and I was

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actually talking to one of those friends just yesterday. And I

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thanked him for the conversation at that time. Because I remember

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he and I, we just met at a at a restaurant, we just sat down and

John Stange:

we talked. And one of the things that he did for me was he just

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listened and allowed me to just share some of the things that

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were on my mind and on my heart. And he comes from a position of

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leadership. So he could understand many of those things.

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And to have someone who can identify with just the the

John Stange:

nature's of some of those peaks and valleys that that I would

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deal with in my role was immensely helpful. And it was

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also helpful for me not to keep it tucked away. I think so many

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times we suffer in silence, because we're unwilling to bear

John Stange:

our soul to other people. And so we just try and carry a burden

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that we really are not designed to carry alone. And I remember

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thanking him that day, and just saying, you know, essentially

John Stange:

Thank you for helping me to carry this burden today. And

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since that time, it's become more and more obvious to me that

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I need to keep people like that close by in my life, there are a

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series of people like that, that I have realized that I really

John Stange:

need their help. If I'm if I'm ultimately going to do what I

John Stange:

think I'm supposed to do, they really need to be part of this

John Stange:

process with me because I'm going to need to lean on them

John Stange:

for the strength that they can provide. And I believe that

John Stange:

they're a gift from God to me, people in my life that I can

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trust people that I can share very transparently with, and

John Stange:

then just listen to is they have helpful feedback. I think that

John Stange:

that's an important part of of growth for all of us. But I know

John Stange:

that that's certainly been an immensely helpful thing for me.

Brad Miller:

Yes, you mentioned, I think two aspects of this

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particular relationship you've mentioned here that I think are

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important and, and, and, and are loving and carrying, that is

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accountability and encouragement. And it I believe

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that a dynamic relationship that helps us grow helps us transform

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has at least those two elements and probably others as well. And

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we could draw upon that from I have a covenant group of a

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couple of other pastors Swami with on a regular basis. And

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that's a part of the process for me, we try to share in a little

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bit deeper level, and hold each other, encourage one another and

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call up hopefully to hold each other accountable. And then we

Brad Miller:

have in family relationships and mentorships and that type of

Brad Miller:

thing. If you had any mentors in your life or job that have

Brad Miller:

helped you in this whole process,

John Stange:

yeah, I really have when there's, there's a variety

John Stange:

of people I could list on that I could I could list my dad,

John Stange:

certainly as a mentor, somebody that he owned a grocery store

John Stange:

when I was growing up. And he taught me the value of hard work

John Stange:

and entrepreneurship and dealing with adversity in a variety of

John Stange:

ways because he didn't really have much of a safety net there.

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He ran the business and it either succeeded or it didn't

John Stange:

succeed. And so even though my, my vocation is different from

John Stange:

his there are a lot of things that I learned from working side

John Stange:

by side with my father in the family grocery store. And so I

John Stange:

would definitely list my father as a mentor, in many respects.

John Stange:

And then also, during the, the early years of my ministry, I

John Stange:

leaned pretty heavily on another pastor that had first hired me

John Stange:

to be the youth director at his church. And, and then over time,

John Stange:

you know, gave me more and more opportunity to speak and lead

John Stange:

and do different things. And, and so I've had the opportunity

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to reach out to him and, you know, really just lean on his

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wisdom is he's basically one generation older than I am. And

John Stange:

then as far as books go, I mean, I read so much. And I see, you

John Stange:

know, I know we're on a podcast, so people can't see what's

John Stange:

behind you, I see that you probably read. There's a whole

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series of books there. And yes, and I I'm one of those people

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that's guilty of buying more books than I think I will ever

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be able to read, you know, I have good intentions to read

John Stange:

everything I've I've purchased. But yeah, I mean, there's

John Stange:

there's a variety of authors that write in the leadership

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space, and the spiritual growth space in it even in things like

John Stange:

personal finance, and things like that. Those are some of the

John Stange:

things that I that I really have appreciated reading and the list

John Stange:

is pretty long.

Brad Miller:

Yes, I have regular conversations with my wife about

Brad Miller:

my Amazon and other bookstore budgets that get a little out of

Brad Miller:

hand, sometimes Lee does, I'm right there with you. Yeah,

Brad Miller:

because I, I'm not one of those, I get lots of books. And

Brad Miller:

sometimes I have those glean maybe one chapter, sometimes

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even a few pages, and I find it a value, at times I consume, not

Brad Miller:

the whole book and, you know, voracious reader. And that helps

Brad Miller:

us to be a contributor to others, you know, we can't share

Brad Miller:

with others unless we've been fed ourselves and Exactly, so.

Brad Miller:

But you do do a lot of sharing with others. I don't know how

Brad Miller:

many books you've written. But several, you got a new book

Brad Miller:

coming out, soon called dwell on these things. And then you put

Brad Miller:

out to daily podcast and another podcast as well. These are all

Brad Miller:

indicators that you're producing great content. But I'd like to

Brad Miller:

just speak for a minute about disciplines in your life, about

Brad Miller:

self disciplines, habits, rituals, maybe morning routines,

Brad Miller:

I want to hear some practical things that might be helpful to,

Brad Miller:

to our audience here on beyond adversity, to help them to

Brad Miller:

implement some of the other things you've talked about here.

Brad Miller:

So tell us a bit about yourself disciplines?

John Stange:

Well, two of the self disciplines that I think

John Stange:

really contribute to some of the things that you're listing there

John Stange:

that I get done. One is accountability. And, and so you

John Stange:

know, I like to surround myself with, with people that will keep

John Stange:

me accountable and are waiting for me to actually produce some

John Stange:

of the things that that you're that you reference there, I feel

John Stange:

like, if it's not just in my head, if I know that there are

John Stange:

actually people that are going to ask me about it, things tend

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to get done. And then the other discipline that I think really

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helps me out, is to be very selective, with how much time I

John Stange:

spend in front of a TV. And I've gotten to the point, I made a

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goal A few years ago, I thought, I want this year to be a year

John Stange:

that I watch less TV than ever. And that has been for the past

John Stange:

few years, a pattern that I've kept. And what has happened is,

John Stange:

in that time, I've replaced that time with more productive

John Stange:

activity. So I'll use that time to write or record or build

John Stange:

relationships. And I have been really, really grateful for the

John Stange:

fact that I decided to make that that transition and and for me,

John Stange:

you know, you know, it's, it used to be that I would watch

John Stange:

news constantly. And it dawned on me, I thought, you know, all

John Stange:

this does is just make me feel bad. You know what I was like

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this, just if there's any ever anything that can just sour your

John Stange:

mood, it's watching too much news. And I would watch too much

John Stange:

news. And I thought I got to, I got to cut that out. And, and

John Stange:

then a variety of other things. And the more I cut out the the

John Stange:

more productive I felt. And so the combination of of having

John Stange:

people that genuinely check in on me and are genuinely, you

John Stange:

know, looking for me to do the things that I've committed to

John Stange:

do. And then and then using the time that I used to waste just

John Stange:

sitting there staring at a TV screen, using it to write record

John Stange:

or build relationships has been a huge help. And those are two,

John Stange:

those are probably the two most productive habits that I could

John Stange:

list for you right off the top of my head. But a third one is

John Stange:

this. I'll even mention this. I've noticed that what gets on

John Stange:

my calendar happens and what stays in my mind and and like

John Stange:

the world of good intentions doesn't tend to happen. And so I

John Stange:

made a decision with my wife A few years ago, that once a

John Stange:

quarter, we would do something where we as a family just went

John Stange:

away. And usually what happens is once a quarter, so every

John Stange:

three months will take time, sometimes just a few days, or

John Stange:

sometimes it's a week, and we'll rent a cabin somewhere

John Stange:

different. And we'll just disappear from the world. And I

John Stange:

feel like that helps me recharge, and then come back,

John Stange:

ready to go. And so we do that every three months. And that's,

John Stange:

that's another thing i'd list in those disciplines. It's been a

John Stange:

huge help.

Brad Miller:

I'm kind of like a mini Sabbath or sabbatical type

Brad Miller:

of thing. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. And I think that's so

Brad Miller:

important. You mentioned a couple of things there, john, I

Brad Miller:

think are so important, the screen time, and the distraction

Brad Miller:

culture that we live in, you know, tell you television alone,

Brad Miller:

you know, I am guilty of the of the news thing, for instance,

Brad Miller:

you know, news junkie, and all that kind of thing. Yeah. And

Brad Miller:

especially, you know, events of the world, Cosby at times to get

Brad Miller:

really consumed by that. Also, with the world of social media,

Brad Miller:

and so on, it's so easy to fall into that rabbit hole. Of

Brad Miller:

course, as you know, a lot of those things are just designed

Brad Miller:

psychologically, and, and even hooked even, or even

Brad Miller:

neurologically, and other things like that, to go you down that

Brad Miller:

rabbit hole and keep it going. Well, just one quick example.

Brad Miller:

For me, I'm on a rock and roll disc jockey. And so, you know, I

Brad Miller:

can get stuck in on just YouTube videos about old concerts and

Brad Miller:

things like this, and music videos from the 70s, especially

Brad Miller:

in a way I go, look up, and it's been three hours or whatever.

Brad Miller:

But I think that's so important that you get control of that and

Brad Miller:

wondered if you have put any kind of I know framework or any

Brad Miller:

accountability on that, or just been able to be able to mentally

Brad Miller:

to, to do this for yourself, have you I know there are even

Brad Miller:

some technological tools that some people use, I'm not totally

Brad Miller:

familiar with them, they help you limit your screen time and

Brad Miller:

so on

John Stange:

it, for me, it's just as far as limiting the

John Stange:

screen time, it's be it's setting up workspace in a

John Stange:

different room from where I have the TV. So I do a lot of work at

John Stange:

home, I set up a separate office, and I don't have a TV

John Stange:

here in this office space. So that that's one thing. That's

John Stange:

been immensely helpful. But as far as the social media, one of

John Stange:

the things that I did a few months ago, and I do this from

John Stange:

time to time, I'll go back and forth on this. But when I feel

John Stange:

like the social media time is increasing too much, I one of

John Stange:

the easiest things for me to do is to just take that off that

John Stange:

app off the front page of my, my, my smartphone, if I take it

John Stange:

off the front page and put it in a folder and make it so that I

John Stange:

have to dig a little bit for it, that definitely limits the time

John Stange:

because it becomes less intuitive. And it almost becomes

John Stange:

like a muscle memory thing where we're checking Facebook or

John Stange:

checking Twitter, or whatever it may be. And, and if you just

John Stange:

kind of interrupt that muscle memory, I

Brad Miller:

know for me that that's been a big help, when I

Brad Miller:

feel like I need to take a break from it. Yeah. And what we're

Brad Miller:

really talking about here is you take control of that then helps

Brad Miller:

you get by your focus, then and then helps you get into a flow

Brad Miller:

of in a better place, much more productive place to be and, you

Brad Miller:

know, you're you're drawing on some of those things that make

Brad Miller:

you feel better, you know, at least for me, please for me,

Brad Miller:

I'll speak for myself, when I get out of my own head, get out

Brad Miller:

of sprint, certainly get out the the dopamine hits of, you know,

Brad Miller:

for me know all that news and music videos would be kind of a

Brad Miller:

dopamine hit as well. And to break out of that pattern into

Brad Miller:

be productive, minus myself. And so you certainly have done that

Brad Miller:

in terms of how that's manifested. That makes you to

Brad Miller:

speak for a minute about what you one of the external or

Brad Miller:

outwardly focused outwardly facing, just what you have is

Brad Miller:

you do have a couple of daily podcast, biblical related and

Brad Miller:

devotional related to a little bit about how that has been a

Brad Miller:

part of your process. You said others keep you accountable as

Brad Miller:

well, I'm assuming some of that's your audience that's out

Brad Miller:

there who have to keep you accountable. And absolutely,

Brad Miller:

tell me about a how that has manifested itself and keep in

Brad Miller:

being productive, you know, in an outward facing way, how that

Brad Miller:

been a part of the transformation for you as well.

John Stange:

Well, it's interesting when I started

John Stange:

writing books, and when I started when I started the

John Stange:

podcast, and then when I started blogging, you don't do so with

John Stange:

any true knowledge of who's going to use what you produce,

John Stange:

you hope that what you're producing is valuable to people.

John Stange:

But you don't truly know if people are going to make use of

John Stange:

it. But I was amazed when I first started writing the books.

John Stange:

And I could see the metrics because most of them were being

John Stange:

sold on Amazon. And I would see people using it and I would get

John Stange:

feedback from it and people writing to me and people

John Stange:

messaging me, and I would egged me on to do more. Well soon

John Stange:

after that. I got into podcasting and I got into

John Stange:

podcasting in late 2015 at a time where People were still

John Stange:

kind of unfamiliar with it. When I would mention it to people, it

John Stange:

seemed like most people weren't super familiar with it. And the

John Stange:

first year so you know, the show started to grow. I started with

John Stange:

the chapter a day audio Bible, and then eventually added dwell

John Stange:

on these things. And then daily devotions with with Pastor john.

John Stange:

But when it went from 10, downloads to 100, to several 100

John Stange:

to 1000s. And, and then it started to be 1000s on an

John Stange:

individual day. And then now at this point, there, it's just

John Stange:

about at 5 million downloads. And I get feedback very, very

John Stange:

regularly from listeners to those podcasts because there's

John Stange:

it hit an exponential growth curve. And at this point, now,

John Stange:

you know, what I'm here where I record, I think of those faces

John Stange:

that some I've had the opportunity to see or interact

John Stange:

with, but most I haven't, but I think, alright, there are people

John Stange:

that wait for this every day. And I can't skip a day, you

John Stange:

know, I can't skip a day, I don't want to skip a day.

John Stange:

Because I'm thinking them,

Brad Miller:

Well, here's what I'm, here's what I want to

Brad Miller:

reflect with you on that one, just the extrapolation of what

Brad Miller:

happened there, you had some personal transformation

Brad Miller:

yourself, then you made the commitment to go forward, even

Brad Miller:

though you weren't 100% sure, about any feedback, or whatever

Brad Miller:

it would be. And then a built build built and all of a sudden

Brad Miller:

your personal transformation has led to tremendous impact 5

Brad Miller:

million downloads is unreal, and from my perspective, but Yay,

Brad Miller:

God for that, but I just want to say share with you know, that's

Brad Miller:

the impact that can happen when you choose a life of personal

Brad Miller:

transformation. It can only be for you it can be how God's word

Brad Miller:

Jude up to impact the world. So that's awesome. So tell us a

Brad Miller:

little bit more. I want us to speak very pragmatically right

Brad Miller:

now, to someone who is out there who is stuck to who maybe feels

Brad Miller:

like, okay, maybe there's got to be more to life than this. But

Brad Miller:

I'm still kind of stuck here. So that can be people any walk of

Brad Miller:

life, it can be, you know, you and I are pastors, it could be

Brad Miller:

people in our walk of life or could see somebody in any walk

Brad Miller:

of life that can find themselves stuck. But tell me a little bit

Brad Miller:

about what you might say to that person who has found there's

Brad Miller:

brass certainty regarding their COVID crisis around something

Brad Miller:

else that's happened, that they feel a little stuck, what kind

Brad Miller:

of advice or encouragement would you give to that person who's in

Brad Miller:

that position right now,

John Stange:

I think one of the best things they could do for

John Stange:

starters, is just admitted, start calling it what it is, you

John Stange:

know, don't give it a fancy name, don't decorate it. Just

John Stange:

admit that you're feeling stuck, or that you're feeling down or

John Stange:

that you're feeling depressed, whatever word you want to give

John Stange:

to it. But don't, don't try and make it seem like it's not a big

John Stange:

deal. Treat it like it's actually a big deal. And, and

John Stange:

purpose in your heart that there's more to life than that

John Stange:

stuff that valley that you seem stuck in. And I think it helps

John Stange:

you know, right away to just call it into the light. Because

John Stange:

I think a lot it's a lot of times these things take hold in

John Stange:

our life. Because we either try to pretend like they're not

John Stange:

happening, or we give it a friendly sounding name, or we

John Stange:

start wrapping our identity around our struggle. Instead of

John Stange:

realizing we've been designed to step out of this sort of thing,

John Stange:

this isn't something that we need to stay in forever, we can

John Stange:

learn from our trials, but we don't have to stay in those

John Stange:

valleys. For protracted periods of time, unnecessarily, you

John Stange:

know, we learn we grow. But let's not pretend it's something

John Stange:

nicer than it really is. Sometimes let's call it out for

John Stange:

what it is, and then start to take some positive steps to to

John Stange:

move beyond it. And then you know, from there, I mean, the

John Stange:

best I can advise somebody is to do what I feel has worked for me

John Stange:

prayer, and accountability, you know, prayer and accountability.

John Stange:

And then and then kind of acting on the things that you know, as

John Stange:

the the Lord speaks to your heart and his other people you

John Stange:

trust, speak to your heart, take action to actually do the things

John Stange:

that you're being encouraged and advise to do, let somebody else

John Stange:

lift you up, let somebody else give you counsel, let somebody

John Stange:

else lend you their strength when you feel sapped of your

John Stange:

strength, but get in motion because they always say motion

John Stange:

improves emotion. So if we can get in motion, I think that that

John Stange:

certainly has a very positive effect on how we end up feeling

John Stange:

overall.

Brad Miller:

And one of those persons and one of the one of

Brad Miller:

those ways of doing that is finding great resources to help

Brad Miller:

us we have to go from our earlier conversation. Every out

Brad Miller:

every person has to come to their point of their aha moment

Brad Miller:

or their I've had enough moment where they have to choose to

Brad Miller:

make a decision. But they can, as you mentioned, can call on

Brad Miller:

other people and other resources and certainly your website

Brad Miller:

desire Jesus calm has lots of resources on it as you do with

Brad Miller:

the upcoming several books as you publish an upcoming book

Brad Miller:

dwell on these things. Maybe people, somebody wants to reach

Brad Miller:

out to your website and your resources, what are they going

Brad Miller:

to find there, john, that might be helpful to that person who's

Brad Miller:

looking to make some changes themselves.

John Stange:

If they stopped by desire Jesus calm, they're going

John Stange:

to see a variety of things, they're going to see, obviously,

John Stange:

the resources that you mentioned, as far as books and

John Stange:

things like that, but they're also going to see several years

John Stange:

of blog content. So going back to 2017, so about four years of

John Stange:

very consistent blog content, that they can search by topic.

John Stange:

So if somebody is dealing with anxiety, all they have to do is

John Stange:

just put the word anxiety in the search area, and they'll be able

John Stange:

to see various things that have been written, related to that

John Stange:

particular topic, or parenting, or finances, or discouragement,

John Stange:

or accountability, or any of those things, we'll just be able

John Stange:

to put that in now. And there's enough of a bank of resources

John Stange:

there that there'll be something for them to read. But they'll

John Stange:

also be things for them to listen to, because all the

John Stange:

different training events, all the different podcasts, we have

John Stange:

it all on the in the podcast section there where where

John Stange:

they'll be able to listen to that content. So maybe that'll

John Stange:

be something that's useful to them, maybe, you know, if I'm

John Stange:

going through a season where where, you know, I'm sharing

John Stange:

something from a position of strength, maybe that can help

John Stange:

somebody else if they're going through a season where they feel

John Stange:

like they're at a spot of weakness. And so there's a lot

John Stange:

of content there, both audio and, and just being able to, you

John Stange:

know, content to read, that I truly hope will help people find

John Stange:

joy and encouragement in the midst of their daily

John Stange:

circumstances, it's certainly meant to and so we try and make

John Stange:

that that website as robust as we can. There isn't a week that

John Stange:

goes by that more content isn't being added to it, there's

John Stange:

something being added to it constantly. And it just

John Stange:

continues to grow and grow and grow with resources that I truly

John Stange:

hope will be a help to people.

Brad Miller:

What a great, a great resource that you've

Brad Miller:

offered to folks out there. And as course people can even go to

Brad Miller:

your website to see all that and they can also you know, it

Brad Miller:

actually comes out to them if they decide to connect up with

Brad Miller:

your, your daily podcast as well. And so, lots of

Brad Miller:

opportunities are is out there and just want to thank you for

Brad Miller:

what you've shared here today. JOHN, some great stuff. helpful

Brad Miller:

to our audience. I know and just want to thank john stodgy for

Brad Miller:

being our guest today on the beyond adversity podcast.

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