Men's Leadership Network Podcas‪t‬ Rolling Hills Community Church

This month on the Men’s Leadership Network Podcast, Pastor Jeff Simmons sits down with Teddy Matosich for a conversation about how as men we can have a life-transforming impact on the individuals God has placed in our lives.

We’re kicking off this month on the Men’s Leadership Network Podcast with a candid and honest conversation with Former Major League Baseball All-Star Tim Burke and Pastor Jeff Simmons.

In this conversation, Tim openly shares about his childhood journey where he experienced much painful loss. However, it was on the pitcher’s mound that he found his safe place. In his life, he faced many ups and downs in his marriage, his family, and his time in the MLB. Today, he has the joy of walking alongside professional hockey players serving as the National Hockey League Chaplin.

Every man listening will be challenged and encouraged by Tim’s story of God’s consistent love and great care for us, as Tim shares how God has moved in his life time and time again. For example, God used a couple of teammates to reach out and simply invite him to a Bible study which ended up being the conduit for the Gospel to grip his heart and save him and his marriage. God continued to work when he and his wife faced great challenges as parents of five adopted children. Above all, the Lord has met him in the very depth of his darkness showing him grace and restoring him.

As you listen to Tim Burke, you can’t help but hear a man that has experienced just how amazing God’s grace is, a man who understands that we desperately need God at every moment, and a man who has abiding confidence that God has and will provide everything we need.


Reflection
1. 1 Peter 5:7 says, Cast all your anxiety on him because He cares for you. How has God met you in the midst of deep sorrow and shown you that He cares for you?

2. Who are the people God put on your heart when you heard Tim share about his teammates who, without knowing his story, reached out and invited him to a Bible study? Why do you think those names came to mind? Could God be using Tim’s story to challenge you to take a similar step?

This month, Pastor Jeff Simmons has a timely and challenging conversation with Pastor Wayne McCullough from Limestone Baptist Church in Franklin, TN, about race, racism, reconciliation, and the Gospel.

Pastor Wayne was born and raised in Franklin. His mother was a believer and raised him to love and trust the Lord. Pastor Wayne grew up in Franklin when the city was still largely segregated but attended high school at the very beginning of desegregation. He’s a graduate of Tennessee State University and has dual degrees in Accounting and Business Administration. Pastor Wayne retired from Kroger as District Manager with 38 years of service. While at Kroger, he held several positions in Human Resources, Operations, and Merchandising. It wasn't until October of 2000 that he began pastoring Limestone Baptist Church.

In the podcast, Pastor Wayne shares his experience of growing up in a segregated community and the transition to a desegregated high school. He addresses that what we are taught affects how we experience life and how we treat others of different races; however, we all have to make a choice about how we will treat those who are different from us. The Gospel must shape our understanding of race and should lead us to see and call racism what it is at its root. Because racism at any level is a sin, to hold hatred in our hearts towards anyone created in God’s image is a sin. Pastor Wayne also speaks to our current political climate and gives a handful of practical steps for every Christian.

This conversation will encourage you, challenge you, and call you to faithfulness and obedience to God’s Word as we live in the time God has given us and as we learn what it means to love God and love others.

Next Steps
1. Are there sinful attitudes or actions that God has exposed in your heart that he is calling you to confess and repent of?
2. For those who have placed their faith in Christ, what does it mean that, before anything else, our identity and our title is Christian? Not husband, dad, banker, mechanic, student, Democrat or Republican, but Christian – a child of God, a follower of Christ, saved by grace. How would this bring real change to the racial tension in our culture today?

Kicking off 2021, Pastor Jeff Simmons sits down with Austin Casselman for a challenging and encouraging conversation about the essentials for starting something new, as well as the importance of finishing things we have started in 2021.

Austin is a husband and a father of three kids. He is an entrepreneur, CEO, and founder of “Implement Now,” an organization that partners with entrepreneurs and leading brands to manufacture their mission, helping them efficiently and effectively manage manufacturing and supply chains that are critical to their business’ success. Austin is also the co-founder and CEO of “Catching Deers,” an apparel brand inspired by the hunt camp and built for a hunter’s lifestyle. If you have not already, do yourself a favor and check out their funny videos page on the Catching Deers website!

While the main focus of the conversation is the essentials for starting something new and the importance of finishing things we have started in 2021, there is so much more for men to be challenged by as Austin shares the details of his personal journey of losing everything, watching his parents come to faith in Jesus, and experiencing the Lord’s provision. You can’t help but be challenged and encouraged when Austin shares his passion for men to lock arms with other men to study God’s Word and hold each other accountable.

Reflection

1. As you reflect on Austin’s story, how has God used tough circumstances in your life to draw you to himself and grow your trust in him?

2. Looking at 2021, how does Austin’s story challenge you when it comes to starting or finishing something this year?

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This month, we have a special treat as Rolling Hills’ very own Nashville Campus Pastor Nic Allen, Nolensville Campus Pastor Jason Hale, and Family Pastor Chase Baker join Pastor Jeff for a fun and incredibly helpful conversation about how we can prepare for and lead through a Christmas like no other.

In the podcast, we discuss how during this Christmas season we can recognize, embrace, and even celebrate the obvious things that will be different this Christmas. Each of the members of the panel challenge us to evaluate our attitudes about Christmas during a pandemic. They share practical ways to intentionally engage our families. They encourage us to seize this unique Christmas as a special blessing for our own relationship with Jesus to grow, as well as an opportunity to establish new traditions that may be more meaningful than the frantic Christmas seasons of the past. And, they remind us that, while many things are different, the foundational truths have not changed.

It all may feel different but Joy, Peace, Hope, and Love that were ushered into our world with the coming of Jesus has not changed at all!

Next Steps

1. What Christmas traditions are you going to have to alter this year?
2. How can we use the additional calendar space we have this year to do something meaningful and generous that the frantic schedule of the past would not allow?

Former professional golfer Danny Briggs joins Pastor Jeff to discuss leading in faith and marriage in the midst of an ever-changing work schedule. In today’s podcast interview, Danny talks about his time on the PGA tour, his legacy as a husband and father, and using his passion to give back to others.

Ever since he was ten years old, Danny has loved golf. He describes it as an immediate passion, and as he got older he used it to travel the world. In this interview, Danny describes all the professional golfers who’ve mentored him along the way, as well as how golf became an opportunity for fellowship with others.

One of the biggest influences on Danny’s faith has been his parents. Though he discovered golf through his father, he explains that his parents instilled him a Christian foundation at an early age. He remained involved with Christian organizations throughout college and later in life when he married his wife, Kim.

Danny discusses how his 20 years on the PGA Tour had a considerable impact on his marriage and family, but it wasn’t until he retired and spent more time at home. As he describes it, he and Kim had to “fall in love again” and struggled to live together for the first time. Despite this, Danny expresses gratitude for his family and emphasizes how he had to learn to put God first in his relationship with his loved ones in order that his marriage could be better than ever.

Though Danny has many stories about life on the Tour to tell, he makes clear that his transition from single life as a young golfer to a father has kept him humble. This is most evidently seen in the way he’s given back to the game of golf, working with the Tennessee Golf Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works to teach golf and life values to youth and the disadvantaged. Danny’s belief in the core values of joy and fellowship that golf instills in each player is what led him to joining the TGF. He’s passionate about introducing the game to people young and old and is always happy to join newcomers interested in a day out on the greens.

Next Steps
How are you using your passion to reach others for Christ? How could you bring people to know Christ in your own way?
What are some ways you’re pursuing your career right now may be sacrificing too much of your family? How are you balancing your career and your marriage?
What are the core values you’ve learned through your career that you believe in? How can you teach those values to others?