Best ReNew Ames Podcasts (2025)

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October 26, 2025 "Grace Bearing Fruit" 33:20

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The Psalm talks about a way - a path - to lead a happy or blessed life. Let's start by talking a little bit about a path - the movement toward living a blessed life. We'll sum it up like this: living life with the divine is a constant oscillation between emptying yourself and allowing yourself to be filled again.Emptying yourself - when you hear th…

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October 19, 2025 "You Are Enough" 29:25

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Speaker: Marlin VisScripture: Luke 18:9-14http://bible.com/events/49509609By ReNew Ames

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October 5, 2025 "Prayer And Faith" 31:50

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The parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge. I'll start here by comparing Jesus' parables to the stories we read to kids at bedtime. Yes, they're a lot alike. Let's have some fun with it.This parable really does make for a good children's book. Of course, we have all kinds of adult sized questions after hearing this story. No, we may not have any…

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September 28, 2025 "Living Stones" 27:26

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I'll focus on the phrase "foreigners and exiles" or, "strangers and aliens" to begin. We have all probably been places that left us all feeling what it feels like to be a stranger in a strange land. In the context in which Peter is writing to these early Jesus people, they felt like strangers in a strange land because of their connection with Jesus…

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September 21, 2025 "Divine Diversity" 30:16

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We'll start off by talking a bit about the Spirit - cuz that's where Paul starts. We are the church because of the presence of the Spirit.Then Paul talks about how we are the body of Christ - that's the image he uses. The miracle of the human body is a complex wonder that shows us how every part is valuable, no matter how small or unnoticeable it m…

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September 14, 2025 "What Is Your Nineveh?" 26:24

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Speaker: Bev ModlinScripture: The Book of JonahBy ReNew Ames

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September 7, 2025 "The Cost of Discipleship" 28:45

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Jesus isn't holding anything back - he's letting the crowd know what it's going to cost to actually follow him. I appreciate that about Jesus - let's get all the cards on the table!We're going to spend a lot of time asking some questions, and these questions aren't necessarily going to be easy to answer. That's okay.Here are the questions that will…

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August 24, 2025 "Our Call During Uncertainty" 34:34

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(Apologies for the late upload, this sermon was previously posted the week of the 24th but didn't process correctly the first time)The calling of Abraham next to the calling of Matthew. I've done this before - this time we come at it from a very different angle. Change for us human beings is difficult. It's less of a point I'm making, and more of a…

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Activating Joy: Discover "Joy Activators" and 'Joy Blockers" in Retirement Planning and for Life Satisfaction with Dorian Mintzer and Yasmin Nguyen 58:35

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Retirement is a time of new beginnings, but without joy, purpose, and fulfillment, it can feel empty and directionless. Yasmin Nguyen, author, Joy Ambassador, and co-founder of the Retirement Innovation Lab, shares how you, in your professional or personal life, can transform your approach and life satisfaction by activating joy in retirement plann…

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August 17, 2025 "Freedom For The Captives" 35:18

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This is one of my favorite - if not my favorite story about Jesus. It's not a healing - it's not miraculous - it's Jesus' first sermon. In it, he pretty much frames what his whole life has been and will be all about.I'm going to help us visualize the story by describing in detail what things might have looked like. Let's talk through the movements …

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August 10, 2025 "An Ark In A Stormy World" 31:29

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We've got the end of the story of Noah and the Ark. This will be a broad, sweeping retelling of the story starting in Genesis 6. This is a conventional divine judgment story. God looks at the state of humanity and has some regrets - decides it's time to wipe the whole thing out - system reboot - clean slate. God decides to do what nearly all Near E…

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Toward a Fiduciary Society: The Three Domains of Freedom with Dorian Mintzer and George Kinder 1:00:23

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George Kinder's latest book, The Three Domains of Freedom, draws on the work of his lifetime, empowering readers to experience profound freedoms and aspires to change civilization. Drawing on his expertise in mindfulness and financial life planning, he offers a transformative guide to living authentically, discovering one's purpose, and contributin…

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August 3, 2025 "This Is Living Water" 24:09

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Speaker: Sara NielsonScripture: John 4:10-15http://bible.com/events/49472871By ReNew Ames

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July 27, 2025 "Romans Reconsidered" 29:36

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Speaker: Suzanne VogelScripture: Romans 1:18-32; 2:1-4http://bible.com/events/49469584By ReNew Ames

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Relieving Pre-Retirement Dread and Post-Retirement Turmoil with Dorian Mintzer and Teresa Amabile 1:17:05

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Surprisingly, many older adults approaching retirement feel a sense of dread – even when they have sufficient financial security and are reasonably healthy. In a project sponsored by Harvard Business School, Teresa Amabile’s research team spent a decade researching retirement to understand people’s attitudes toward, decisions about, and experiences…

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July 20, 2025 "Will These Dry Bones Live?" 33:55

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This is the story of the Valley of the Dry Bones. To put it mildly - Israel probably felt like those dry bones - disconnected and isolated - alone and probably a bit dead inside during this time. Captivity, forced separation from loved ones, oppression, isolation in a new land. We know what those dry bones feel like.Then God asks a curious question…

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July 13, 2025 "Who Is My Neighbor?" 35:10

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The expert in the law wants to know how to experience life to the fullest. No, he's not talking about heaven when he asks about eternal life. He's asking about how to experience life deeply - now - in the present. Jesus turns the question around on him (we'll have a little fun with this here). He responds, "love God, love your neighbor." Jesus says…

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July 6, 2025 "Irrigation And Biblical Context" 30:23

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Speaker: Brian GelderScripture: Jonah 3:10; 4:1-4https://www.bible.com/events/49460035By ReNew Ames

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Renewment®: A Retirement Model for Career Women with Dorian Mintzer and Helen Dennis 58:22

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This is a story about Renewment®, a word Helen Dennis and her co-founder, Bernice Bratter, made up.  The word is a combination of retirement and renewal.  So, what is it?  It is a small movement, process, and forum that inspires and supports career women from work to retirement…and beyond.  Over the past 25 years, 35 to 40 small in-person renewment…

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June 29, 2025 "When We Humble Ourselves" 32:20

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A little different kind of sermon for Sunday. I'm gonna talk a little bit about what Jesus said about the heart - the idea is that it's the controlling center of people. You can tell a lot about where a person's heart is by the things they do - especially when they're tested. So we'll walk through the story of Naaman and leprosy and see if we might…

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June 22, 2025 "Keep Wrestling With God" 32:56

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Jacob wrestles with "God." So, did this one back in 2020 - now from a totally different angle. You could say I really "wrestled" with this one this week.A little background: Jacob's a deceiver - his life is a mess. He's on the run because his brother Esau wants to kill him 20 years after he stole the blessing. He finds himself alone on the banks of…

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Pedaling Through Midlife on a Bicycle Built for Two with Szifra Birk, Jay Livingston, and Dorian Mintzer 1:04:52

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Leaving middle age and approaching retirement is often portrayed as a time to settle into comfortable patterns and perhaps explore grand adventures. The common view suggests that after you've spent a lifetime building satisfying relationships, now there's time to sit back and enjoy them, to lean into the habits you enjoy, to stop working so hard at…

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June 15, 2025 "Jesus Is The Capstone" 26:47

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In order to understand the story, we're reading 4:1-12 - I'll need to talk about why Peter and John are in prison in the first place. Essentially, they came across a guy who was lame from birth. The guy asks for money; instead, since they knew that Jesus lived his life with love and compassion and healing and justice, they decided to go deeper. The…

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June 8, 2025 "A Renewed Sense of Community" 30:30

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It's Pentecost Sunday - the day we celebrate the arrival of the Spirit. Like we talked about last week, Christian means "follower of Christ." We can also understand it as meaning "little Christ." We're all little Jesuses. This happens with the indwelling of the Spirit. The Spirit is nothing more than Jesus moving from the outside to the inside. It'…

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June 1, 2025 "Baptism And Belonging" 32:55

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Speaker: Tony VisScripture: Matthew 3:13-17http://bible.com/events/49443990By ReNew Ames

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Designing an Ageless Mind: From Theory to Practice with Dorian Mintzer with Lynne and Joshua Berrett 59:17

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Since the early 2000s, Lynne and Josh Berrett have been pioneers in developing a holistic approach to aging that transforms it into a dynamic process of renewal. Their initial venture, Music and Happiness, combined Josh's expertise as a musician and musicologist with Lynne's training in Positive Psychology coaching to focus on "mindful listening" f…

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May 18, 2025 "We All Belong" 27:50

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Yeah...I don't know about this one.As we start by retelling this story, we're going to focus on the line, "If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly." Why are we dealing with this idea just five weeks after Easter? Easter is like the most obvious proof that Jesus was and is the Messiah - and yet, the church assigns this story just five weeks after Ea…

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May 11, 2025 "Jesus Is The Gate" 31:18

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Jesus is the gate. Once you walk into a relationship with Jesus the gate, there's a transition that takes place. You go from one place to another - you walk across the threshold. This is like the story of when Saul turned into Paul. In Paul's words, "If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come!"Walking into a …

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May 4, 2025 "Don't Do It Alone" 33:41

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These first 4 verses are a jumbled mess. It's really one run-on sentence with a bunch of dependent clauses at the beginning and doesn't get to the main subject and verb until what we have as verse three. In other words, John is really excited to write about what he's writing about. So instead of going verse by verse, we'll talk about the main thing…

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Telling Our Stories: The Gifts of Life Review with Dorian Mintzer and Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle 1:00:07

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Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle will reflect on the valuable process of life review for Elders focusing on her recently published memoir titled, Ley Lines of Love: Adventures Along the Spiritual Path. In this program, you will: Explore the process of life review as a valuable undertaking for Elders Discover new meanings in the arc of one's life Find a sens…

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April 27, 2025 "A Calling To Love" 30:29

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What is this story about? It's about failure and forgiveness - not one or the other, but both. The disciples spent three years with Jesus; in that time, they learned from him every day and spent all their time with him. After Jesus left them (after giving them his Spirit - his presence), they went back to the way things were - fishing. Sometimes we…

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April 20, 2025 Easter Sunday "Let Resurrection Define Our Lives" 32:50

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It's Easter Sunday! We're getting started here with a brief retelling of the story. Then we get to the part where the angel says, "Do not be afraid." I have trouble with this. Maybe we all have trouble with this. There's so much in the world that causes us fear. So what makes this angel think he can come into our place of worship, look us straight …

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From Babies to Rocket Scientists to Retirees: We Are All Creatives with Dorian Mintzer and Hugh Willard 57:35

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Creativity is an innate, generative, evolving process of self-expression. One application of creativity requires an individual to be open to new ideas and approaches to seek an original solution to a problem or challenge. Adjusting to retirement presents significant challenges to an individual's emotional, mental, social, and, therefore, physical h…

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April 13, 2025 "Rejecting Empire" 29:57

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A note: there are some audio issues in this one that are unfixable in editing. Our apologies!Palm Sunday! There's a connection between Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent, and Palm Sunday, as the season of Lent draws to a close. Both will lead us into contemplating our own mortality - the fact that all of us will one day die. THAT al…

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April 6, 2025 "A Life Of Joy And Laughter" 34:05

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Speaker: Tony VisScripture: Philippians 2:12-18http://bible.com/events/49416767By ReNew Ames

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March 30, 2025 "Look Up And Live" 30:11

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The story of Jesus and Nicodemus. In order to understand this, we have to know a little bit about Nicodemus. John gives us some clues. He's a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council. Smart. Well respected. His whole life was dedicated to understanding and living up to Torah - becoming as holy and righteous as can be in order to honor God…

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March 23, 2025 "Creating Space For Lament" 30:28

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Jesus weeps over Jerusalem as a mother hen - calling her chicks back and yet, they were not willing.We're going to spend some time thinking about this image of the mother hen. What in the world could this story be saying to us?1) Maybe this story is inviting us to embrace a vulnerability not often embraced in this world. Jesus doesn't offer to get …

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Increase Healthspan, Brainspan, and Lifespan with Ageless Aging with Dorian Mintzer and Maddy Dychtwald 1:01:02

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Women now live six years longer than men, yet for most, the last decade of life can be plagued with cascading poor health and a lack of purpose. In other words, women's healthspans and lifespans are out of sync. What if there was a way for women to extend not only their longevity but also their quality of life? In this interview, Maddy Dychtwald wi…

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March 16, 2025 "When Knowledge Grows Love" 32:09

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We live in a world that is obsessed with knowledge - which is a good thing. Knowledge gets you ahead. Knowledge is power. That's what we say. And we experience that, too.It worked for Paul. He really was THE MAN, when it came to all things God.For a lot of us who grew up in the Church, head knowledge of the contents and principles of the Bible was …

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March 9, 2025 "How Does God Shape Us?" 35:16

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It's Lent time, baby! It always starts with an examination of this particular story in Luke. Today we're talking about how we can approach it - from an individual perspective - how does this impact each of our lives? AND from a communal perspective - how does this impact us as a community?Temptation one is to go after the short-cut - to take the ea…

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March 2, 2025 "When We Are In Despair" 45:43

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This morning we are doing something a bit different once again, with a panel of therapists who are in our community. A huge thank you to Sarah Fleming, Holly Thompson, and Jason Stark for sharing their time and wisdom with us today!Speaker: Aaron VisScripture: Psalm 13:1-6http://bible.com/events/49399816…

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Build Your Resilience to Bounce Forward with Dorian Mintzer and Eileen Caroscio 1:03:20

8M ago1:03:20

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Change happens! Are you ready for what may appear on your horizon in midlife and beyond? Eileen Caroscio will present 3 key strategic ways to navigate those changes and bounce forward from the book, Midlife New Life: Living Consciously in Midlife and Beyond. Eileen's father died suddenly when she was a teenager. This made her realize that life coul…

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Let's Tell Our Stories: How Older Women Can Redefine Aging with Dorian Mintzer and Andrea Carlisle 53:39

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In her book, There Was an Old Woman: Reflections on These Strange, Surprising, Shining Years, Andrea Carlisle describes what it means to her to live a long life. She examines why her experience as an older woman is so different from what she expected it to be and realizes that her expectations came not from older women themselves but primarily from…

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February 23, 2025 "Blessed Are The Outcast" 28:46

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Luke's version of the Beatitudes - except he includes some "woes."The first thing we notice is that this is all backwards - Jesus has things all upside-down. What our world thinks of as blessed usually involves prosperity linked to wealth, comfort, no lack of possessions or materials to get what we want. Yeah, it's the opposite of what Jesus says.I…

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February 16, 2025 "ReNew Preaches The Sermon: How God Calls Us" 32:58

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What does this story say about us human beings? I love how this story talks about failure so honestly. We've been out all night and haven't caught anything! I know nothing about fishing, but I do know what it's like to put a lot of time and energy into something important and not get anything out of it. And I love it that these are the people Jesus…

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February 9, 2025 "The Truth Is Reorienting" 28:31

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This is the story of Isaiah's vision in the temple and his calling and commissioning as a prophet. At first, this story seems inaccessible. It's not like we're all seeing heavenly beings flying around all the time. So this raises all sorts of questions. And maybe we don't have answers to some, or all of those questions! But the story is still worth…

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Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age with Dorian Mintzer and Chip Conley 51:46

9M ago51:46

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It is time to reframe how we think about midlife, the transition period of life between young adulthood and old age, as not a "crisis" but a chrysalis - where a profound transformation happens. In his book, Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age, Chip Conley offers an alternative narrative to the way we commonly think of…

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February 2, 2025 "How Are We Structured?" 34:40

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This week's all about deacons, elders, and how we are organized with those structures in place. Sound a little dry? Well, let's talk about why it's actually exciting, and why we already have those systems in place, even if we haven't been using those labels. We're walking through the responsibilities of those roles, as well as talking about how we …

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From Retirement to Preferment: How to Create the Next Best Stage of Your Life with Dorian Mintzer and Barbara Waxman 57:39

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We live in a culture that believes anyone beyond midlife is on a slippery slope towards their demise. The truth is, you can harness the authorship of your next chapter to become your best self for the longest time possible and for what matters most. If you both look forward to and live in fear of retirement or know someone approaching this stage, j…

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January 26, 2025 "ReNew Practices Praying Color Together" 31:00

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This week looks a little different! We spent the sermon time working on a practice from the book Praying In Color by Sybil MacBeth. Our own Sarah Fleming walked us through the practice and then we spent some time together in the room actively participating in this form of prayer. This is more of a visual activity, obviously, so head over to ReNew A…