The 5T Podcast

Doug Schaupp and Steve Tamayo

From distrust to faith, one honest conversation at a time. Doug Schaupp, co-author of "I Once Was Lost," and fellow InterVarsity leader Steve Tamayo break down the Five Thresholds, the framework pastors and ministry leaders actually use to reach skeptics. This is a journey worth taking. For pastors, ministry leaders, and anyone who wants to share their faith without the awkwardness. New episodes exploring one threshold at a time, from Trust to Following. Interested in talking with Doug? Head over to https://www.dougschaupp.com to schedule some time today!

Episodes

  1. Nov 3

    Seeking: From Wandering to Focus

    What do you do when a friend finally opens up to God and starts exploring everything except Jesus? Doug Schaupp and Steve Tamayo explore Seeking, the fourth of the Five Thresholds, where a friend who is open to change stops wandering through every spiritual option and starts pursuing Jesus specifically. Rush past this season and people commit to a concept instead of a person. Walk through it with them, and they get the chance to fall in love with the real Jesus of the Gospels. · Welcome to The 5T Podcast, featuring: Doug Schaupp · Founder Steve Tamayo · Executive Coach · ⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more about the Five Thresholds.⁠⁠⁠⁠ Your next conversation about Jesus starts here. · Seeking is messy, and it's tiring. People who are newly open to God often try everything at once, and Christians tend to respond by panicking, clinging, or talking like salespeople. There's no guidebook for how to seek well, which is exactly why the best guide is a friend willing to seek alongside them. In Episode 5, Doug and Steve unpack how to help friends move from wandering to seeking, why praying and reading the Gospels with people who don't yet believe matters more than handing them a book, and what pastors can do to build a clear pathway for seekers in their church. You'll hear about: Why a season of seeking can fizzle after a few months, and why going "backward" means becoming cynical, not asking questions about other faithsMonica's 20 written questions for Jesus, the one that mattered most, and what happened the day after she asked it in prayerWhat the four friends who tore open a roof in Mark 2 teach us about bringing people to Jesus with no guaranteesWhy Mark and John work so well for reading with people who aren't Christians yet, and the two rules Doug builds into every seeker Bible studyHow to invite a friend to read the Gospels together without making it weirdCoaching for pastors: speaking to the unconvinced in every sermon, healthy vs. defensive doubt, and turning programs into pathwaysThe Seven-Day Prayer Challenge, Doug's homework for seekers who feel like God isn't showing up Doug and Steve keep coming back to the freedom at the heart of this threshold: Jesus is the best seeker and the best evangelist. Our job is to get our friends in front of him and trust him to do the heavy lifting. The Five Thresholds TrustCuriosityOpennessSeekingFollowing JesusScripture: Mark 2:1–12 (the paralyzed man and his four friends), John 5:39, John 20:31 Book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠I Once Was Lost ⁠⁠⁠⁠by Don Everts and Doug Schaupp Interested in coaching with Doug? Head over to ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://dougschaupp.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more!

    Seeking: From Wandering to Focus

  2. Oct 20

    Open: Decisions or Disciples?

    What do you do when a friend is fascinated by Jesus, but nothing in their life ever changes? Doug Schaupp and Steve Tamayo explore Openness, the third of the Five Thresholds and the hardest one, where a curious friend moves from closed to change to open to transformation. Miss this step and you can end up with decisions that never take root. Learn it, and faith conversations move from the head to the heart. · Welcome to The 5T Podcast, featuring: Doug Schaupp · Founder Steve Tamayo · Executive Coach · ⁠⁠⁠Learn more about the Five Thresholds.⁠⁠⁠ Your next conversation about Jesus starts here. · We live in a culture that consumes information endlessly without being expected to do anything with it. The gospel doesn't work that way. It invites a change of worldview, community, and sometimes family, and that kind of change takes courage. In Episode 4, Doug and Steve unpack why Openness was the missing piece in Doug's 30-week seeker Bible study, how Jesus moved people from curiosity to the heart, and why praying with friends who don't yet believe may be the most underused tool in evangelism. You'll hear about: Why a room full of "seekers" may only be curious, and how Doug discovered the iceberg in the middle of the conversion pathwayHow Jesus adapts to closed people in John 3, 4, and 5, from sarcasm with Nicodemus to "Go call your husband" with the woman at the wellWhy skipping the change conversation can produce something that looks like a conversion but isn't, and Bonhoeffer's warning about cheap graceA two-minute interactive prayer exercise pastors can drop into the middle of a sermonHow to pray with someone who doesn't believe in God, including Doug's three-step model that starts with his own honest needThe atheist international student who asked "Can I know God?" and what happened when Doug invited her to ask God directlyAnswering "If God is good, why is there suffering?" personally instead of philosophically, through the worst day of Doug's life Next week, Doug and Steve take on Seeking, the threshold where people stop looking everywhere for help and start concentrating on Jesus. As they put it, seeking isn't really possible until someone is open to change.. The Five Thresholds TrustCuriosityOpennessSeekingFollowing JesusScripture: John 3 (Nicodemus), John 4 (the woman at the well), John 5 (the man at the pool) Book: ⁠⁠⁠I Once Was Lost ⁠⁠⁠by Don Everts and Doug Schaupp Interested in coaching with Doug? Head over to ⁠⁠⁠https://dougschaupp.com/⁠⁠⁠ for more!

    Open: Decisions or Disciples?

  3. Oct 6

    Curiosity: The Lost Art Of Asking Questions

    Why can a friend trust you completely and still have zero interest in your faith? Doug Schaupp and Steve Tamayo explore Curiosity, the second of the Five Thresholds, where a friend who trusts you moves from indifference to genuine interest in faith. Skip this step and conversations jump to answers nobody asked for. Learn it, and you start asking the kind of questions Jesus asked, the ones that open minds and hearts. · Welcome to The 5T Podcast, featuring: Doug Schaupp · Founder Steve Tamayo · Executive Coach · ⁠⁠Learn more about the Five Thresholds.⁠⁠ Your next conversation about Jesus starts here. · Trust matters, but it doesn't automatically lead to curiosity. In a culture where faith is treated as a private matter and indifference is the norm, being kind and trustworthy rarely prompts anyone to ask about your secret. In Episode 3, Doug and Steve look at why Jesus answered so many questions with questions, and why question asking is the lost skill of relational evangelism. You'll hear about: Why Koko the gorilla learned about a thousand words in sign language but never asked a question, and what that says about being made in God's imageDoug's 15 years as a youth soccer coach: complete trust from families, no curiosity about his faithJesus's "Q&Q" style, from "Why do you call me good?" to living water with the woman at the well in John 4The two-question rule: one question that connects and one that deepens, plus why open invitations beat yes-or-no questionsThe questions game, a one-minute exercise that generates 100 questions and helps awkward groups warm upPraying for one God moment a day and the courage to take it, plus the love and courage 2x2 self-assessmentHow churches are making room for questions: a front-door whiteboard question of the week, QR codes for gathering friends' questions, and healthy doubt sermon series In the next episode, Doug and Steve take on Openness, the threshold where people become open to change. It's the hardest threshold to help someone through, and the one the people they coach need the most help with. The Five Thresholds TrustCuriosityOpennessSeekingFollowing JesusScripture: John 3 (Nicodemus); ⁠John 4⁠; Mark 10:17-18 Book: ⁠⁠I Once Was Lost ⁠⁠by Don Everts and Doug Schaupp Interested in coaching with Doug? Head over to ⁠⁠https://dougschaupp.com/⁠⁠ for more!

    Curiosity: The Lost Art Of Asking Questions

  4. Sep 22

    Trust: Why It's So Hard to Earn Today

    Why does it feel almost impossible to earn someone's trust today, especially if you're a Christian? Doug and Steve dig into the first of the Five Thresholds: trust, the seed that has to be planted before curiosity, openness, seeking, or following Jesus can ever take root. They unpack why church scandals have raised the cost of trust so high, and share the small, practical moves, like asking for a favor or showing up in someone else's world, that actually rebuild it. · Welcome to The 5T Podcast, featuring: Doug Schaupp · Founder Steve Tamayo · Executive Coach · ⁠Learn more about the Five Thresholds.⁠ Your next conversation about Jesus starts here. · Trust doesn't happen by accident, and for a lot of people, distrust of Christians isn't an overreaction. It's the default starting point. In this episode, Doug and Steve look at why trust is so hard to earn in a culture shaped by public scandal and skepticism, and what Jesus's approach to the woman at the well in John 4 teaches about becoming a trust builder instead of just waiting for people to come to you. You'll hear about: How Doug still remembers the exact breakfast, decades later, that made him decide a Bible study leader named Elias was trustworthyWhy church scandals land differently than other public failures (and why millennials often open spiritual conversations already assuming the worst)How Jesus modeled trust-building in John 4 by going into Samaria firstWhy going to someone else's Easter egg hunt builds more trust than hosting your ownHow studying a Metallica song with a friend and entering into someone's world beats inviting them to yours Steve and Doug close by previewing where the Five Thresholds go next: once trust is in place, some people will start asking real questions about why you believe what you believe, which is exactly where curiosity begins. The Five Thresholds TrustCuriosityOpennessSeekingFollowing JesusScripture: John 4 Book: ⁠I Once Was Lost ⁠by Don Everts and Doug Schaupp Interested in coaching with Doug? Head over to ⁠https://dougschaupp.com/⁠ for more!

    Trust: Why It's So Hard to Earn Today

  5. Sep 8

    A Better Way to Walk People to Jesus: The Five Thresholds

    Why do spiritual conversations so often feel forced, frustrating, or like a sales pitch? Doug Schaupp and Steve Tamayo introduce the Five Thresholds, a practical framework for understanding how people move from distrust to trust, curiosity, openness, seeking, and ultimately following Jesus. Discover why friendship evangelism can stall when we misread someone's spiritual journey, and how learning to recognize their next step can turn evangelism from a burden into the joy of walking with people toward Jesus. · Welcome to The 5T Podcast, featuring: Doug Schaupp · Founder Steve Tamayo · Executive Coach · Learn more about the Five Thresholds. Your next conversation about Jesus starts here. Sharing Jesus with someone isn't always a single conversation or a straight line. In the first episode of the 5T Podcast, Steve Tamayo and Doug Schaupp share their own journeys and introduce the Five Thresholds, a framework developed through years of evangelism and campus ministry that helps Christians better understand how people move toward faith. You'll hear about: Why assuming everyone is already a "seeker" can make evangelism frustratingHow a 30-week Bible study helped expose a missing piece in Doug's understanding of conversionThe movement from distrust to trust, curiosity, openness, seeking, and following JesusWhy the right invitation at the wrong stage can actually push someone awayHow the Five Thresholds can complement approaches such as friendship evangelism and AlphaWhy evangelism is something the whole Christian community can participate inHow Mark 4:26–29 offers a biblical picture of sowing, waiting, discerning, and harvesting Steve and Doug also preview what's ahead this season: practical help becoming a better trust builder, asking better questions, cultivating openness, walking alongside seekers, and confidently inviting people to follow Jesus. The goal isn't simply better evangelism techniques. It's becoming the kind of friend who can recognize where God may already be at work in someone's life and faithfully join Him there. The Five Thresholds TrustCuriosityOpennessSeekingFollowing JesusScripture: Mark 4:26–29 Book: I Once Was Lost by Don Everts and Doug Schaupp Interested in coaching with Doug? Head over to https://dougschaupp.com/ for more!

    A Better Way to Walk People to Jesus: The Five Thresholds
  • 5 Episodes

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

From distrust to faith, one honest conversation at a time. Doug Schaupp, co-author of "I Once Was Lost," and fellow InterVarsity leader Steve Tamayo break down the Five Thresholds, the framework pastors and ministry leaders actually use to reach skeptics. This is a journey worth taking. For pastors, ministry leaders, and anyone who wants to share their faith without the awkwardness. New episodes exploring one threshold at a time, from Trust to Following. Interested in talking with Doug? Head over to https://www.dougschaupp.com to schedule some time today!

Information

  • Creator
    Doug Schaupp and Steve Tamayo
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    5
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Doug Schaupp and Steve Tamayo
  • Show Website
    The 5T Podcast