In this episode of Craft & Character, Steve Carter interviews Westover Hills Senior Pastor Luke Norsworthy about having the internal character to meet the six demands of life.

It can be so easy to give time and energy wondering if my life would be better if I was in a new role or at a new church; but Luke beautifully articulate to love the life you already have isn’t about changing your circumstances but being the version of yourself that inhibits your life.

Luke walks us through each of the six demands that he writes about in his new book How To Love The Life You Already Have.

BIO

Luke, his wife Lindsay, and their three daughters live in Austin, TX where Luke is the senior minister of the Westover Hills Church. He is the author of God over Good, Befriending Your Monsters, and How to Love the Life You Already Have. For a decade, he has hosted Norsworthy, a podcast that helps his listeners navigate faith in the modern world.

EPISODE LINKS

Luke's New Book: How to Love the Life You Already Have

Podcast: Norsworthy

Website: www.lukenorsworthy.com

His Church: Westover Hills Church

@lukeanorsworthy

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In this special episode, the host of the Craft & Character, Steve Carter, unpacks how holy weekend is an incredible gift to anyone walking out a grief journey.

Steve opens up about what led to him writing these words, what his hope is for Grieve, Breathe, Receive, and how to honor what comes up when change shows up.

This is a book that will help you know what to do when life shocks us or we experience hurt, loss, death, an end to a relationship, or any form of change.

Give this episode a listen and may it show you how to grieve with hope.

BIO

Steve Carter is the bestselling author of The Thing Beneath The Thing, host of the Craft and Character podcast, a coach to communicators who are looking to find their unique voice or take their next step of growth in speaking and teaches regularly at churches, conferences, and various businesses around the country. His next book Grieve, Breathe, Receive releases on May 7th, 2024. He is the former lead teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church and currently serves as the lead pastor at Forest City Church. Steve lives outside Chicago, Illinois, with his wife and two kids.

EPISODE LINKS

Books: Grieve, Breathe, Receive and The Thing Beneath The Thing

Social - @steveryancarter on IG, Twitter, and Threads

www.stevecarter.org

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In this Craft & Character episode, Steve Carter interviews author and youth pastor Micha Boyett about her new book Blessed Are The Rest Of Us.

Micha talks about how she discovered the slow way when her son was born with Down Syndrome and later diagnosed with autism, she was drawn into the ancient teachings of the Beatitudes.

In a culture that values performance, perfection, and strength, Micha found in this small passage of ancient text a new language to honor the worth of her son and to push against the intrinsic ableism in our culture’s response to disability: blessed—whole—are the weak ones, the grieving ones, the ones who long for peace, the misunderstood.

In other words, blessed are the rest of us, who will never live up to the world’s exacting standards. Micha shares what this could look like fully embodied in our churches today.

BIO

Micha Boyett is an award winning podcaster, as well as a writer and speaker. In addition to Blessed Are The Rest of Us, she is the author of Found: A Story of Questions, Grace, and Everyday Prayer and a contributor to the New York Times bestseller A Rhythm of Prayer, edited by Sarah Bessey. She cohosts The Lucky Few podcast and is the creator and host of The Slow Way podcast.

EPISODE LINKS

Book: Blessed Are the Rest of Us

@micahboyett on Instagram and Threads

@steveryancarter

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In this episode of Craft & Character, Steve Carter interviews author and pastor Jay Kim about how to hear God’s voice and communicate truth in a noisy world.

Jay unpacks what led him to write his new book that comes out on April 16th called Listen, Listen, Speak. He talks about how discernment, mastering the art of listening well to God and one another, and also being able to clearly speak to the times is important for every preacher.

Jay is one of the wisest, most thoughtful and accessible pastoral voices of our day. His insights will help you in your time alone with God, leading one-on-one meetings with staff, congregants, elders as well as helping to best engage, respond, and speak order into the chaos.

BIO

Jay Y. Kim serves as lead pastor at WestGate Church in the Silicon Valley of California and is the author of Listen, Listen, Speak (Faithwords, 2024), Analog Christian (IVP, 2022), and Analog Church (IVP, 2020). Jay is also host of the Digital Examen podcast and the Making Space podcast.

EPISODE LINKS

Jay’s new book: Listen, Listen, Speak: Hearing God and Being Heard in a Noisy World

Jay’s other books: Analog Church, Analog Christian

Website: jaykimthinks.com

@jaykimthinks

@steveryancarter

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The relationship between a worship pastor and the preacher is crucial, especially on holiday weekends. In the latest episode of the Craft and Character podcast, Steve Carter interviews the worship pastor at Forest City Church, Carrington Gaines about how to work well together.

Steve and Carrington serve together and breakdown how they planned out the Good Friday and Easter services around the song “Alive in You.” They talk about the trust required between preacher and worship pastor, how to dream, push each other, and bring out the best in one another.

Carrington shares his process of writing a song as they break down the lyrics of "Alive in You."

BIO

Carrington Gaines is a husband, father, artist, songwriter, and a lover of all things Buffalo Bills related. He is the worship director at Forest City Church in Rockford & Elgin, Illinois, where they create spaces for anyone and everyone to encounter Jesus in the most authentic way they can!

EPISODE LINKS:

Worship Page: https://linktr.ee/forestcityworship

Website: https://www.carringtongaines.com

IG: @forestcityworship

IG: @carrington_gaines

@steveryancarter

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In this episode, Steve Carter interviews pastor and author Jay Hewitt about finding strength in our deepest need and weakness.

A few years back Jay was diagnosed with brain cancer and during his chemo treatment he decided to train for an Ironman to show his young daughter what resilience looks like. Jay ended up completing the Ironman and wrote an incredible book called “I Am Weak, I Am Strong” about what God has taught him during this fight with cancer.

Steve and Jay stood in each other's weddings, are dear friends, and this episode is one of the most moving because of how personal, tender, and difficult as Jay shares the reality that the brain cancer has returned.

BIO

Jay Hewitt is a pastor, author, and motivational speaker whose life journey is an awe-inspiring testimony of courage and faith. Diagnosed with terminal brain cancer at thirty-seven, he found strength through God, embracing his purpose as a storyteller. In his memoir, I Am Weak, I Am Strong, Jay shares his extraordinary quest to become an IRONMAN while battling cancer.

EPISODE LINKS

Book: I Am Weak, I Am Strong

Website: www.jayhewitt.org

Social: @jayhewitt

@steveryancarter

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In this episode of Craft and Character, Steve Carter interviews Justin Davis about how transparency leads to transformation. Justin details the hard lessons he had to learn and what God has redeemed and refined because of it.

They also unpack Justin’s latest book entitled Being Real > Being Perfect and how to embody that from the pulpit, in our leadership, marriage, and with the deepest friendships.

BIO

Justin is an author, speaker, and pastor and has dedicated his life to helping people experience life change through the power of authenticity. He co-founded RefineUs Ministries and is the author of the Being Real > Being Perfect: How Transparency Leads to Transformation and co-author of Beyond Ordinary: When a Good Marriage Just Isn't Good Enough, which he wrote alongside his wife, Trisha.

EPISODE LINKS

Sermon Series - https://www.refineus.org/greatersermons

Book - Being Real > Being Perfect: How Transparency Leads to Transformation

Instagram - @justindavis33

Website - www.refineus.com

@steveryancarter

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In this episode of Craft and Character, Steve interviews author Jenn Kautsch, who is the founder and creator of the SoberSis community. They talk about the season of Lent, what being sober curious is all about and how to renegotiate our relationship with alcohol.

Jenn opens up about showing up to church many Sunday mornings a little foggy from the night before. You would have never known this was an issue, but Jenn knew she was relying on something other than Christ to help get her through.

Jenn shares practical wisdom for what pastors can say and embody to help people in their congregation walking through this season.

BIO

Jenn Kautsch is the founder and creator of the SoberSis community and leader in the "Sober Curious" movement. SoberSis was "born" Christmas Day of 2017 and since then more than 200K women have downloaded her free "Happy Hour Survival Guide" and over 30K have participated in the 21 Day Reset Challenge. Those numbers are growing every month as she works hard to get the message out to more women! She is a motivational speaker and author of Look Alive, Sis.

EPISODE LINKS

Website: https://www.sobersis.com/home38426642

Blog: https://www.sobersisblog.com/

IG: @sobersis

Free Happy Hour Survival Guide

Jenn's Book: Look Alive, Sis!

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The majority of pastors are not looking forward to this 2024 presidential election season. The division between parties. The vitriol online. The angst within the congregation. The last few elections have been so difficult to navigate. There has to be a better way!

In this episode, Steve Carter interviews Michael Wear who is the President of The Center of Christianity and Public Life as well as the author of The Spirit of Our Politics. Michael shares how Dallas Willard’s teachings helped him understand a better way to engage with politics.

This interview will help pastors reframe the conversation of politics as an invitation for spiritual formation and how our depth with Christ will help us heal, bring hope, unite, and showcase the kind of goodness that Christ embodied.

EPISODE LINKS

Website: MichaelWear.com

IG: @michaelwear

X: @michaelrwear

Michael's Book: The Spirit of Our Politics

@steveryancarter

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As we kick off 2024, Mark Scandrette offers up profound wisdom from the nine sayings of Jesus from the Beatitudes. It’s what Mark writes about in his latest book, The Ninefofd Path of Jesus. This episode is an invitation to the postures that the beatitudes provide us personally but also how to communicate these from pulpit. Mark unpacks his preaching methodology, how he arranges a sermon to be practice focused to help the congregation try on the concept. 

EPISODE LINKS

Mark’s book: The Ninefold Path of Jesus

Website: www.markscandrette.com

The Ninefold Path website: https://ninefoldpath.org/

IG: @scandrette

@steveryancarter

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Do you ever feel like the tyranny of the urgent runs your life? Do you ever feel shame for wanting to take a day off or go on a vacation?

As pastors, the needs are great and time is limited. Sadly, for many this means neglecting the things that matter most: our relationship with God, family, and the health of our souls.

In this episode, Mark Dance, Director of Pastoral Wellness for Guidestone Financial Resources, explains to Steve Carter that orienting our lives around the two greatest commandments一loving God and neighbor一can be a joyful, restful experience. To deny yourself, as Jesus commands, doesn’t mean you should neglect yourself.

In his new book, Start to Finish, Mark explains how to reclaim the life God wants for you as a leader一a life defined by balance, peace, friendship, rest, and wisdom.

Every dollar from book sales go to Mission:Dignity, an organization that honors retirement-age ministers, workers, and widows struggling to meet basic needs through advocacy and financial assistance.

EPISODE LINKS

Mark’s books: Start to Finish: The Pastor’s Guide to Leading a Resilient Life and Ministry

Website: https://markdance.net

Guidestone: https://www.guidestone.org/

@markdance

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