Faith in Life

Top 5 Friday: Books on One-Another Ministry

In this broadcast, I share my Top 5 books on one-another ministry. These recommendations are for those who desire to learn more about one-another ministry (who/what/where/when/why/ & how,) grow in their ability to help people both BIBLICALLY and COMPASSIONATELY, and chat about helpful biblical resources that offer gospel hope and help for some of life's most challenging problems—like caring for others well!
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5 years ago

Top 5 Friday: Christian Books on Depression

In this broadcast, I share my top 5 favorite books that approach the experience of depression from a biblical perspective, explaining HOW they've ministered to me in the past, WHY I think they're helpful, WHO to recommend them to, and WHEN (hint: wise timing is both compassionate and important!)
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5 years ago

Hope + Help for Identifying Abuse with Darby Strickland

In this episode of the Hope + Help Podcast, Christine Chappell interviews Darby Strickland about her book, Is It Abuse?: A Biblical Guide to Identifying Domestic Abuse and Helping Victims. During the conversation, Darby explains why domestic abuse is easy to miss and easier to minimize and shares why abuse merits the biblical label of "oppression." Darby also addresses question such as: • What damage does it do to label a situation as "abusive" when it isn't? • How can people helpers become more sensitive to identifying physical abuse, especially when victims are typically hesitant to ask for help? • How can we tell if what is taking place in the marriage bed qualifies as sexual abuse? • What do people helpers need to keep in mind when helping a victim bring their story to the attention of the local church? • What are some questions people helpers can use to better get to know the victim and to assess the emotional, spiritual, and physical damage they have sustained?
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6 years ago

Hope + Help for Practicing Affirmation with Sam Crabtree

In this episode of the Hope + Help Podcast, Christine Chappell interviews Sam Crabtree about his book, Practicing Affirmation. IBCD Executive Director Jim Newheiser also joins the conversation as Sam explains why bringing God into compliments is the best way to give them. He also discusses why people are more prone to complaining than commending, offers four characteristics of good affirmations, and how practicing affirmation on a daily basis serves to nourish personal relationships while glorifying God at the same time. Additionally, Sam suggests reasons to keep affirmation separate from correction, encourages listeners to utilize affirmation as a means of evangelism, and answers the tough question, How do we commend someone whose behavior is anything but commendable?
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6 years ago

Hope + Help for One-Another Care with Scott Mehl & Josh Stephens

In this episode of the Hope + Help Podcast, Christine Chappell interviews Pastors and biblical counselors Scott Mehl and Josh Stephens on the topic of one-another care. Topics covered in the conversation include: counseling adjustments in the wake of COVID-19, what makes biblical counseling unique, how the church is positioned to minister to people in the midst of global pandemic, how lay people can get themselves equipped to provide soul care for others, and suggestions for pastors interested in exploring what's needed to start a biblical counseling ministry at their church.
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6 years ago

8 Facebook Live Videos on Counseling & Christian Living

I'm thankful to have had the opportunity to host a number of helpful conversations via Facebook LIVE over the past three months on a variety of topics related to Christian living in general, as well as biblical counseling in particular. This post offers the collection of previously recorded Facebook LIVE conversations in one spot, where you can watch the replays! Scroll below to view the guest names and topics addressed.
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6 years ago

Comforting Our Kids Through Hard Times • Women Encouraged Podcast

In today's episode, Christine M. Chappell joins Bethany for a conversation about how to give our kids true, biblical comfort when they’re hurting. This isn’t about empty platitudes or band-aid fixes, but rather acknowledging our children’s suffering while pointing them to the trustworthy and eternal promises of God. Christine and Bethany discuss how we should respond to our children in these situations, and take a look at the comfort God’s word offers.
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6 years ago

Hope + Help LIVE for Heart Change with Brad Bigney

In this episode of the Hope + Help Podcast, Christine Chappell interviews Pastor Brad Bigney via Facebook LIVE about his book, Gospel Treason: Betraying the Gospel with Hidden Idols. During the conversation, Brad defines idolatry, explains what it means to uncover "the sin beneath the sin," and cautions about the impact heart idolatry has on our relationships with God and other people. He also examines why it's so challenging to uproot idolatry once the Holy Spirit has revealed it to us, offers insights as to how a global pandemic has served to expose idolatry in our lives, and gives hope from the Scriptures for those seeking to experience true, meaningful heart change through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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6 years ago

Hope + Help for Domestic Abuse with Chris Moles, Joy Forrest, & Ann Maree Goudzwaard

In this episode of the Hope + Help Podcast, Christine Chappell interviews authors and biblical counselors Chris Moles, Joy Forrest, and Ann Maree Goudzwaard via Facebook LIVE about domestic abuse care in today's COVID-19 context. Together, the panel discusses cautions for victim/counselor communications, the danger of handling domestic abuse situations as marriage counseling cases, various ways to get equipped for one-another care when face-to-face contact with high-risk women and children is restricted, the basics and importance of developing a safety plan, and much more.
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6 years ago

Hope + Help for Evangelism with Becky Pippert

In this episode of the Hope + Help Podcast, Christine Chappell interviews Becky Pippert about her book, Stay Salt: The World Has Changed, Our Message Must Not. During the conversation, Becky recounts her personal journey from agnosticism to faith in Jesus Christ, and unpacks common reasons why Christians hesitate to share their faith with others.
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6 years ago

Hope + Help for Spiritual Warfare with Iain Duguid

In this episode of the Hope + Help Podcast, Christine Chappell interviews Iain Duguid about his book, "The Whole Armor of God: How Christ's Victory Strengthens Us for Spiritual Warfare." During the conversation, Iain unpacks various pieces of the spiritual armor Paul describes in Ephesians 6, inviting us to take up the armor each day, all the while resting in the finished victory of Christ and the assurance that our strength for the battle comes from him. Iain also offers relatable illustrations that demonstrate how the armor of God intersects with everyday challenges, and shares words of encouragement for those who find themselves weary and discouraged in their Christian walk.
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6 years ago

IBCD Book Review: Help! My Teen is Depressed

This new booklet is a practical guide for parents walking through depression with their children. It offers biblically-sound, wise advice for parents as they weather through a supremely difficult time.
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6 years ago

Discipling Our Children in Their Suffering

It’s disorienting when a child is suffering. Our parental instinct is to come to our children’s rescue and “make it better.” But life lived in a fallen world means that we cannot always protect our children from disease and death. Money and medicine has its limitations. The truth is that our children are not immune to experiencing the effects of the curse on this world, which means they will look to those charged with their care for comfort, hope, and help when suffering strikes.
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6 years ago

Hope + Help for the Age of Self with Jen Oshman

In this episode of the Hope + Help Podcast, Christine Chappell interviews Jen Oshman about her book, "Enough About Me: Finding Lasting Joy in the Age of Self," exploring how the gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to look away from ourselves in order to find the abundant life God offers us.
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6 years ago

Hope + Help for Loss and Grief with Paul Tautges

In this episode of the Hope + Help Podcast, Christine Chappell interviews Paul Tautges about his book, "A Small Book for the Hurting Heart: Meditations on Loss, Grief, and Healing," exploring how the gospel of Jesus Christ offers comfort and strength for those walking through seasons of mourning.
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6 years ago

Hope + Help for Self-Righteousness with Kendra Fletcher

In this episode of The Hope + Help Project, Christine Chappell interviews Kendra Fletcher. They discuss Kendra's book, "Lost and Found: Losing Religion, Finding Grace," to discover how the gospel of Jesus Christ frees us from the bondage of self-righteousness and legalism. Kendra shares how the Lord used her children’s illnesses and accidents to open her eyes to the spiritual pride she had been living in, and recounts the challenges that arose when her family began to pull away from the rigid religious behaviors and beliefs of their long-time church and homeschool community. She also addresses some of ways self-righteousness slowly bleeds into in our lives, and encourages listeners to "lose their religion" by finding acceptance, grace, and identity in Christ alone. Other questions considered: • How can love of religion manifest itself in our thoughts, behaviors, and attitudes? • How does the gospel free us from self-righteous living? • Why doesn't a "Jesus + something" belief system hold up in times of suffering? • How can we address self-righteousness when we recognize it in our lives?
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6 years ago

Hope + Help for Death-Awareness with Matthew McCullough

In this episode of The Hope + Help Project, Christine Chappell interviews author and pastor Matthew McCullough. They discuss Matt's book, "Remember Death: The Surprising Path to Living Hope" to learn how cultivating "death-awareness" clarifies the relevance of Jesus's promises in the midst of our everyday problems. During the conversation, Matt offers listeners an overview of the Christian tradition of "memento mori" (latin: remember death) and explains some of the reasons why death-awareness was such a prominent part of daily life in earlier centuries. He also considers why 21st century Western Christians have increasingly shoved the realities of death from their consciousness—and examines the various negative impacts such death-avoidance has had as a result. Finally, Matt carefully unpacks the hope and help of the gospel of Jesus to the problem of death-avoidance, encouraging listeners to remember their identity in Christ as they seek to better understand the enemy of death and its implications for fruitful Christian living.
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6 years ago

Hope + Help for Family Worship with Don Whitney

In this episode of The Hope + Help Project, Christine Chappell interviews Don Whitney about his book, "Family Worship," exploring why it's important, how to deal with common stumbling blocks that arise, and practical wisdom for busy families who want to develop a regular (yet doable) routine in the home. During the conversation, Don shares scriptural support for the practice of family worship and explores reasons why today's families may struggle to make it a priority in their daily lives. He debunks the notion that large amount of prep time is involved and offers three areas of focus for leaders who desire to become intentional in cultivating a routine. Don also encourages listeners not to have unrealistic expectations about the time spent together, but to embrace the reality that chaotic families will have chaotic family worship—and that's okay!
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6 years ago

Our Better Hope: Eight Priestly Comforts for Times of Need

The truth of Christ as our merciful high priest may, upon first glance, appear as an irrelevant consolation in times of need, but the book of Hebrews highlights the critical importance of Jesus’ role of the true and better priest of God’s people. Not only has the Son of Man entered into the Father’s presence as a forerunner on our behalf (Hebrews 6:20), but the book makes eight assurances of “better” things which directly result from Jesus’s permanent high priestly duty.
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6 years ago

Death Will Come When Christ Calls

It was not until I became a follower of Christ that my perspective on death changed, and I came to understand it as something more than an instrument of destruction. In Christ, death is no doomsday — it’s a gateway.
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6 years ago

Hope + Help for Grandparenting with Larry McCall

In this episode of The Hope + Help Project, Christine Chappell interviews pastor and author Larry McCall. They discuss Larry's book, Grandparenting with Grace: Living the Gospel with the Next Generation to help us better understand what it means to build a legacy worth following through intentional, gospel-centered relationships with our grandchildren. During the conversation, Larry explains harmful trending mindsets regarding our "golden years," and rich, biblical wisdom for cultivating fruitful family relationships through intentional grandparenting. He also cautions that Christian family heritage does not guarantee our grandchildren's salvation, helps listeners discern how to avoid overstepping boundaries when it comes to our adult children's parenting choices, and provides practical suggestions for navigating various familial challenges such as broken families and long-distance relationships. Larry also offers listeners six ways grandparents can be praying for themselves as they strive toward leaving behind a gospel-saturated legacy.
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6 years ago

Making Church a Safe Place for Sorrow

While Revelation 21 specifically lists death, mourning, crying, and pain as fundamental grievances believers will face, there's a shocking lack of corporate preparation to meet with such sorrows. Removing the stigma of deeply painful sadness requires the local church’s unhurried commitment to making room for it on Sunday mornings and a desire to equip leaders in one-another care.
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6 years ago

John Mark McMillan and the Grief Behind “How He Loves”

As I was writing last week, I stumbled upon John Mark McMillan's record, "The Song Inside the Sounds of Breaking Down" on Spotify. His song, "How He Loves" is one I am quite familiar with, but there's a particular version of the song on this record which was totally new to me—and it stopped me in my tracks.
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6 years ago

Hope + Help for Pursuing Discipleship with Jonathan Hayashi

In this episode of The Hope + Help Project, Christine Chappell interviews pastor and author Jonathan Hayashi. They discuss his book, Ordinary Radicals: A Return to Christ-Centered Discipleship to learn how the gospel of Jesus Christ informs the way we foster genuine, mission-minded Christian community within the context of the local church. Jonathan shares how God used intentional discipleship relationships to radically alter the gang-related trajectory he was on as a teenager. He explains some of the reasons why the church-at-large is failing to faithfully commit to making Christ-centered disciples, while also highlighting some of the unbiblical beliefs church members have about what it means to belong to the body of Christ. Jonathan encourages believers to remember that there are no special qualifications for making disciples, and offers practical suggestions for pursuing a discipleship relationship within the respective "mission fields" everyday Christians find themselves in.
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6 years ago

Dear Newlyweds: I Don’t Wish You Happiness—But I Do Pray for This

If I have learned one thing on my brief marriage journey, it’s that the pursuit of happiness swallows more marriages than we realize. It can chew you up and spit you out an unrecognizable, bitter mess. Pursuing personal happiness and fulfillment in your wedded relationship is only fueled by selfish desires, for our quest to be happy is always rooted in the search for soul-satisfaction rather than the offer of self-sacrifice and service.
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6 years ago

Hope + Help for Pornography Addiction with Deepak Reju

In this episode of The Hope + Help Project, Christine Chappell interviews author and biblical counselor Deepak Reju to discuss his book, Pornography: Fighting for Purity. During the conversation, Deepak explains what makes porn addiction a form of "voluntary slavery," unpacking the various heart struggles that can tempt men and women to become habitual viewers. Deepak also helps listeners discern what it looks like to "coddle" porn addiction, highlights the importance of radical corrective action, outlines what to look for in an accountability partner, and encourages strugglers to remember their identity in Christ when facing discouragement in the battle for heart change.
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6 years ago

Hope + Help for Dads and Sons with Joel Fitzpatrick

In this episode of The Hope + Help Project, Christine Chappell interviews author Joel Fitzpatrick about his book "Between Us Guys: Life-Changing Conversations for Dads & Sons" to discuss how both parent and child can lean in to important conversations with the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. During the interview, Joel talks about what biblical manhood is meant to look like and the importance of teaching our sons to embrace a gospel-centered view of women. He also addresses biblical wisdom for helping dads and sons navigate friendship problems, performance pressures, identity traps, as well as some helpful ways to practice generosity and financial stewardship.
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6 years ago

Hope + Help for Enduring Faith with Trillia Newbell

In this episode of The Hope + Help Project, Christine Chappell interviews author Trillia Newbell to discuss her new book, Sacred Endurance: Finding Grace and Strength for a Lasting Faith. During the interview, Trillia shares her story of coming to Christ as an adult. She also takes on the "fake it 'till you make it" mentality, warns against the toxic effects of the prosperity gospel, and explains how the Scriptures invite us to engage God in the midst of our suffering. Encouraging listeners with gospel-centered reminders, Trillia also helps us to understand how to keep our hearts from growing cynical in the midst of tumultuous political/cultural climates.
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6 years ago