Come join us for an exciting bonus episode about our recent trip to Arizona to tackle the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim (R3) Challenge. Joining us on this episode is our special guest and good friend Jason Blair. The challenge was to go from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon to the North Rim and then all the way back in less than 24 hours. In this episode we recount the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual struggles we encountered during this epic quest. We break down the trip into pre-, mid-, and post-hike tensions and then provide some final parting reflections. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neil-placer/message

Come join us for a fantastic recap of Season 2 of ‘A World in Tension’. This season we explored Stories of Tension: Real People, Real Stories, Real Solutions. Whether you have heard every minute or none at all, you won't want to miss this episode. We provide our insights and reflections about all 9 episodes and talk about what lies ahead for Season 3. We also share the details about one final bonus episode to officially close out a great season. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neil-placer/message

Welcome to Season 2! Come join us as we explore Stories of Tension: Real People, Real Stories, Real Solutions. Over the course of history, many have studied the unique life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. He is like no other, fully God and fully man, a true enigma. In our quest to understand Jesus more deeply, the details of His humanity are often neglected and overlooked. On today's episode we speak with Robert Row, Student Ministries Coordinator for seeJesus Ministry. Robert shares his perspective after spending several years of focused study on the most perfect human the world has ever known. Robert explains how his faith has been tremendously impacted by zoning in on Jesus' humanity. He shares practical stories and provides us with useful resources to help shape our minds, hearts, and actions to be more like Jesus. seeJesus Ministry® is a global discipling mission helping the church see and reflect the life, death, and resurrection of Christ through discipleship resources and training. They labor to rekindle within the church the central passions of Christianity: a love for Jesus, a desire to imitate him, and real, working communion with the Father. Learn more at: https://www.seejesus.net/about --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neil-placer/message

Welcome to Season 2! Come join us as we explore Stories of Tension: Real People, Real Stories, Real Solutions. No matter how hard we try to avoid it, or how we may try to circumvent it, none of us can escape the simple fact that we are all getting older. In this episode, we speak with Dr. Robert Belding to examine the tension of aging. Although many of us want to steer clear of this uncomfortable topic, at some point we all must come to grips with our own mortality. Come join us as we consider how to live successfully in the latter stages of life and how we can prepare ourselves before getting there. Robert shares some insights about the trials, temptations, and obligations associated with aging and some of the surprises he personally encountered along the way. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neil-placer/message

Welcome to Season 2! Come join us as we explore Stories of Tension: Real People, Real Stories, Real Solutions. How do we let go of our finances, our family, and our familiarity to live a life of true surrender? In this episode, we speak with missionary Josh Rose to hear his story of wrestling with life's core tension, the tension between personal control and surrender to God. Consistently surrendering to God is not an easy task. We must regularly examine our motives and let go of areas of life that we are seeking to control. Josh Rose, a missionary living in Mexico, walks us through his progressive journey of applied surrender. He recounts the foundations of his pathway and call to missions, his early days of questioning his missionary call, and discusses his current struggles with applied surrender after over a decade of service. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neil-placer/message

Welcome to Season 2! Come join us as we explore Stories of Tension: Real People, Real Stories, Real Solutions. In this episode, we investigate the tension of time with our special guest Kevin Roig. Our lives are passing by minute by minute, exposing us to the reality that time really is our most precious commodity. Unfortunately, this sobering truth can leave many of us feeling a tremendous amount of restlessness and despair. At some point in our journey, we all wonder if we are living life to its maximum potential and purpose. How do we measure the use of time? What metric can we use to qualify and quantify the effectiveness of our lives? Kevin shares personal stories about how he has wrestled with this tension throughout his life and how it has consumed his thoughts, emotions, and actions. We discuss the pitfalls of being either overly analytical or too nonchalant about time. We explore practical solutions and resources to shift our focus from being consumed by time to offering it back to it's Creator. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neil-placer/message

Welcome to Season 2! Come join us as we explore Stories of Tension: Real People, Real Stories, Real Solutions In this episode, we investigate the tension of loving neighbor vs. loving self with our special guest Rainer Bantau. Rainer shares how he wrestles with this tension on a daily basis as the Senior Operations Manager for a ministry called OurCalling (https://www.ourcalling.org/). Our Calling (OC) is addressing the challenges of providing a community of integrity for the chronically homeless living on the streets of Dallas and ensuring they do so with excellence. We explore how loving your neighbor as yourself can be a difficult pursuit, especially when that neighbor is homeless. We also examine the inextricable link between loving self, loving others, and loving God. Rainer also serves as part of the OC preaching team providing weekly church services and as the Saturday ambassador educating and equipping volunteer groups with the tools and experience they need to minister to the growing homeless population in the DFW area. In addition to preaching and teaching God’s word and ministering to others, Rainer can be found blogging at The Devotional Guy™ (https://thedevotionalguy.blog/). Rainer and his wife, Terri, live in Richardson, Texas where they enjoy going to music concerts and catching a Texas Rangers game. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neil-placer/message

Welcome to Season 2! Come join us as we explore Stories of Tension: Real People, Real Stories, Real Solutions In this episode, we investigate the tension of the fear of God vs. the fear of man with our special guest Drew White. Drew recounts his constant pursuit to keep up public appearances and how he wasn't able to satisfy the never ending expectations of others. We probe down into the layers of tension to uncover how God used some very difficult experiences to draw Drew closer to Christ and how he found true freedom in Him alone. We also discuss practical solutions and resources to shift our focus from pleasing others to pleasing God and how that liberates us to live more securely and love others with greater confidence. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neil-placer/message

Welcome to Season 2! Come join us as we explore Stories of Tension: Real People, Real Stories, Real Solutions In this episode, we investigate the tension of worldly vs. Godly success with our special guest Dan LaRock. Dan shares his personals stories of how he pursued and acquired a life of wealth and success, only to find it to be hollow and empty. We explore Dan's journey of discovery from worldly success to a world of faith and how his catalyst for change came from the insightful words of his deceased grandfather. We also discuss how Dan's growing surrender to Christ led him and his wife to transform their Minnesota ranch into a Christ-centered, horsemanship ministry. Dan is an executive shareholder with HUB International and has published a book entitled 'Grandpa's Gift: How Old Wisdom Can Inspire New Life' (https://www.grandpasgiftbook.com/). He is also the co-founder of Rock Ranch, a charitable organization which provides horsemanship training, riding lessons, senior programming, and mental health counseling, all in a natural, Christ-filled setting (https://www.riderockranch.org/).   --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neil-placer/message

Welcome to Season 2! Come join us as we explore Stories of Tension: Real People, Real Stories, Real Solutions In this episode, we investigate the tension of God's plans vs. our own. Before we get too far down the guest list in Season 2, we thought it would be appropriate for us to share some of our own struggles and confessions. We talk honestly and openly about our difficulties in discerning if our plans are from God or our own creation and how we respond when God seems silent. Come join us as we unpack some key lessons from Proverbs and tell stories of quickly jumping into passion projects or getting stuck in our own paralysis by analysis. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neil-placer/message

Welcome to Season 2! Come join us as we explore Stories of Tension: Real People, Real Stories, Real Solutions In this episode, we investigate the tension of community vs. solitude with our special guest Rebecca Dragoo. Rebecca recounts her personal struggles of being broken by solitude as an extraverted extravert. We probe down into her personal layers of tension to uncover what Rebecca learned about herself, others, and her relationship with God. We also discuss practical solutions to effectively move between periods of earnest reflection in solitude to meaningful engagement with others in community. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neil-placer/message

This is a no-frills bonus episode recapping our first season of ‘A World in Tension’.  Come join us as we share an uncut, inside look at the podcast. We get into listener feedback, share our key reflections about Season 1, and lay out a future plans and direction for Season 2. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neil-placer/message

Throughout this podcast we talk a lot about tension and surrender. We often say that our fundamental tension is between our desire for control and our need to surrender. In other words, surrender to God is the ultimate remedy to the tensions of life we all experience. That sounds great in theory, but how do we apply this truth in a practical sense? How can we become more effective at practicing surrender in our every day lives? Are there specific tactics we can use or identified steps we can take? Come join us as we unpack the three essential ingredients of surrender and walk through a practical example of applying surrender to one of our current tensions - making this podcast. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neil-placer/message

Parenting is filled with tension. On a daily basis we wrestle with questions related to schooling, sports, social media, and how much space to grant our children. As we seek out the “right” way to parent our children, we often find guiding principles rather than prescriptive answers. We explore key parenting struggles and unpack practical approaches to address them. Credits ·  Hosts – Neil Placer & Rob McGarvey ·  Intro Voice – Michael Ake ·  Intro Music – ‘Energy of Rock’ by Lesfm ·  Outro Music – ‘The Tension’ by Temitope --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neil-placer/message

King Solomon’s life embodies the concept of tension. The magnitude of his wisdom, wealth, and extravagant lifestyle are hard to top. Solomon’s profound reflections of life are captured for us in the book of Ecclesiastes. We explore helpful insights that can be gleaned from a man that stretched the tension between right and wrong to its utter limits. Credits ·  Hosts – Neil Placer & Rob McGarvey ·  Intro Voice – Michael Ake ·  Intro Music – ‘Energy of Rock’ by Lesfm ·  Outro Music – ‘The Tension’ by Temitope --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neil-placer/message

Should political issues be so contentious, especially amongst those who share a common faith? When it comes to politics, it is easy to find ourselves polarized between activism and apathetic avoidance. We explore practical ways to pursue unity within a local church body and how a small shift in perspective can have profound impact. Credits ·  Hosts – Neil Placer & Rob McGarvey ·  Intro Voice – Michael Ake ·  Intro Music – ‘Energy of Rock’ by Lesfm ·  Outro Music – ‘The Tension’ by Temitope --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neil-placer/message

As we learn more about the life of King David, we encounter a confounding paradox. God declares David as a man after God’s own heart, yet the Bible recounts several less than honorable stories about David. What are we to make of these glaring contradictions, especially as it pertains to such a prominent Biblical figure? We examine David’s complicated and contradictory life and challenge ourselves to walk a mile in his shoes. Credits ·  Hosts – Neil Placer & Rob McGarvey ·  Intro Voice – Michael Ake ·  Intro Music – ‘Energy of Rock’ by Lesfm ·  Outro Music – ‘The Tension’ by Temitope --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neil-placer/message

One of the classic Christian tensions is the struggle between faith and works. Beyond the theological differences, finding a proper balance between faith and works in our daily lives can be challenging. As we seek to find the perfect balance, we are often left feeling anxious and restless. We seek to disarm the faith vs. works debate by digging below the surface of this timeless Christian tension. Credits ·  Hosts – Neil Placer & Rob McGarvey ·  Intro Voice – Michael Ake ·  Intro Music – ‘Energy of Rock’ by Lesfm ·  Outro Music – ‘The Tension’ by Temitope --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neil-placer/message

Whenever we are seeking to think more critically about a topic, categorization can be a very helpful tool. Categories provide us with the needed structure to explore topics in a more focused and systematic way. Come join us as we uncover the three primary layers of tension. Credits ·  Hosts – Neil Placer & Rob McGarvey ·  Intro Voice – Michael Ake ·  Intro Music – ‘Energy of Rock’ by Lesfm ·  Outro Music – ‘The Tension’ by Temitope --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neil-placer/message

The book of Genesis is a foundational location for discovering the origins of many topics, and tension is no exception. By examining how tension began, we can make a clearer connection to its work in our lives today. We ask provocative questions and seek to uncover key insights as we explore the beginning of the tension story. Credits ·  Hosts – Neil Placer & Rob McGarvey ·  Intro Voice – Michael Ake ·  Intro Music – ‘Energy of Rock’ by Lesfm ·  Outro Music – ‘The Tension’ by Temitope --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neil-placer/message