Bridge of the Faithful

Thrown off Script: Mike Domeny

September 6, 2020 by Jenna No Comments

Thrown off Script: Mike Domeny

00:00 / 47:33

Mike Domeny graduated from Cedarville University in Ohio in 2009 with a BA in Organization Communication with minors in Theatre, Psychology, and Bible. As the title of his new book Throw off Script suggests, his life didn’t necessarily go the way he expected. From 2009 to 2011, Mike and his wife traveled the country, living out of suitcases and driving a cargo van to host character-building assemblies in public schools. In 2011 he joined 321 Improv, a hilarious traveling improv comedy ministry (not exactly where he expected to land). Since starting, God has shown him how the tactics of improv can be used in our lives as we face those unexpected moments (*cough* 2020 *cough*). True to form, God showed his sense of humor through Mike by having his book release right in the middle of a global pandemic, where He could bless so many through the wisdom of Mike’s words.

Proverbs 16:9 – The heart of the man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.

Connect with Mike:
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mikedomenyimprov
On Instagram: @mikedomeny

Created to Create: Engineer Jay Kinsinger

August 23, 2020 by Jenna No Comments

Bridge of the Faithful

Created to Create: Engineer Jay Kinsinger

00:00 / 28:25

Jay Kinsinger was created to build. From an early age, he loved being able to put things together and would much rather build his own toys than buy them. As he grew, he found himself working in a tool shop, and that’s exactly where God met him: where he specifically created him to create. After dedicating his life to Jesus in that shop, Jay began his journey in learning how to worship the way God made him to. To him, true worship includes using how his mind works with engineering and building beautiful bicycles out of the original composite: wood. He also is an engineering professor at Cedarville University where he helps others hone and grow in their God-given abilities to create through building. Like most creatives, Jay struggles with perfectionism and distraction, but he is ever learning that God faithfully dwells in our midst as we explore His character through our brilliant ability to create.

Exodus 31:3 – I have filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts.

Check out Jay’s beautiful wooden bicycles at Sojourn Cyclery

Created to Create: Painter Fiona Miller

August 8, 2020 by Jenna No Comments

Bridge of the Faithful

Created to Create: Painter Fiona Miller

00:00 / 29:50

Fiona Miller is a watercolor artist. Her vibrant and lively style stems from Fiona’s curiosity about the world: she has traveled extensively in the UK, US, Europe & Asia and she loves to seek out new vistas that celebrate both the extraordinary and everyday aspects of life. Her watercolors share a common thread: the humanity within us expressed through the space around us.

In this episode, Fiona discusses how being creative gives her the freedom to reflect Him through her own creations. This gives her the ability to be closer to Him, to be more like Him, but also to be more human. To her, art has been a release of emotions as well as an act of worship. If she is being honest, she struggles with separating her identity from her talent but also finds that it gives her the freedom to truly explore who God created her to be.

Psalm 8:3-5 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

Connect with Fiona:
www.fionamiller.net
www.etsy.com/shop/fionamiller
Instagram: @fionamillerart

Created to Create: Musician Leanor Ortega Till

July 26, 2020 by Jenna No Comments

Bridge of the Faithful

Created to Create: Musician Leanor Ortega Till

00:00 / 34:14

Leanor Ortega Till (a.k.a. Jeff the Girl from Five Iron Frenzy) inherited her love of music from her father. At a young age, she was introduced to the world of instruments which grew as she experienced how music and lyrics express and interpret so many aspects of our lives. She joined Five Iron Frenzy as their saxophone player and learned how beautiful and challenging it is to become an equal part of an eight-person team with an evil plan to save the world. Through her experiences and talents, she has learned to find God through her own interpretations of music as well as through the art she has curated and encourages others to do the same. Listen as she shares her creative process, where she struggles, and how fun it is to be right where God designed her to be. Being in a successful band reinforced that while part of her identity lies in how God created her to create, the anchor of who-she-is lies in Christ and His purposes for her. The rest is just an adventure.

The amazing closing song is the song All That is Good that she referenced in the episode.

1 Corinthians 2:9 – But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”

Check out Leanor’s projects here:
The band Five Iron Frenzy
The band The Fast Feeling
The podcast Too Punk to be a Hippie
Instagram @leanorinezortegatill
Facebook @Jeffthe Girl

Created to Create: Storyteller Eric Mishne

July 11, 2020 by Jenna No Comments

Bridge of the Faithful

Created to Create: Storyteller Eric Mishne

00:00 / 34:58

As a storyteller, Eric is always looking for what speaks to him. Sometimes that inspiration comes from people he meets in line somewhere, other times it occurs through the conversations he has with close friends. To Eric, being created in God’s image means we are following in the steps of the very first Creator, and that is to be taken seriously as those are some very big shoes to fill. Through his multiple mediums and experiences, he has learned that the beauty of art is to see life through other people’s eyes. One of the biggest takeaways from his projects is that the freedom to do whatever you want is actually quite limiting; while having guidelines and restrictions actually have brought about his most rewarding work.

Eric is a professor at Cedarville University. He coaches the competitive speech team, and teaches courses in public speaking and communication. Among his creative endeavors are original theatre, short fiction and poetry, award winning short films, and the occasional acting gig. Eric is also a published communication scholar. He lives in Xenia, Ohio with his wife. All it takes to get his undivided attention is the prospect of a cup of coffee and a good story.

Created to Create: Author Christine Kindberg

June 27, 2020 by Jenna No Comments

Bridge of the Faithful

Created to Create: Author Christine Kindberg

00:00 / 31:15

Christine grew up in Peru, Chile, Panama, Kentucky, and North Carolina. She studied English at Wheaton College and has an MFA in creative writing from Queens University of Charlotte. Now she lives in the Chicago area, where she works as a Spanish-language editor at Tyndale House Publishers.

This episode discusses her journey of growing up as a third-culture kid in South America to becoming a published author. From learning about her talent to pushing through painful criticism, she knows that God created her to create through her writing. Her newest book The Means that Make Us Strangers is such a timely story discussing racial issues in the 1960s but is so apropos for our current time and concerns. Her writing carries you away, exploring with her characters to discover who you are and how to stand up for what is right.

You can follow Christine on
Instagram: @Christine.Kindberg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Christine.Kindberg.Author
Website: https://www.christinekindberg.com/

Racial Reconciliation: An Interview with Faith Mamas

June 13, 2020 by Jenna No Comments

Bridge of the Faithful

Racial Reconciliation: An Interview with Faith Mamas

00:00 / 1:11:22

Our world has been through a lot in 2020 (I think that’s the understatement of the century). First, we had the COVID Crisis; and then here in America, a palpable change in racial tension. After my last episode The Next Right Thing, I realized that my next right thing was to LISTEN. I wanted to give you that opportunity as well. I met with the amazing women of Faith Mamas, who graciously and bravely gave their time and their words to describe their experiences with racism, racial reconciliation, identity, and the faithfulness of our God even in uncertain times like these.

The questions of this conversation include:
- What are your favorite things about African American Culture?
- Define racism. What has it looked like in your life?
- Building a strong identity is pivotal to seeing our true value through Jesus. Describe how racism has affected how you view your value as a person. How has God helped you grow from that?
- What are some ways for people to show respect to African American people and culture?
- As a parent, how can we help our children grow up to defend, love, and respect all ethnicities well?
- In our world’s climate, there is so much lost hope right now. What examples of hope has God provided for you in this time?
- Despite all of the horrible things happening right now, is God still faithful? How has He shown that faithfulness to you?

2 Timothy 1:7 – For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

1 John 4:7 – Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

Luke 10:27 – And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

The Next Right Thing

May 30, 2020 by Jenna 2 Comments

Bridge of the Faithful

The Next Right Thing

00:00 / 26:19

Like many parents during this quarantine, we have watched Frozen 2 several times. The lyrics of the song “The Next Right Thing” helped me realize that I needed to follow her wise advice.
This stay at home order started on rocky terrain: sleep deprivation and a sickness of some kind set me up at a weaker state. It also turned me into what Becky Kopitzke calls “the momster.”
I am a huge perfectionist, which is the socially acceptable way to say “control-freak.” Two of my top five strengths (found from Clifton Strengths) are “achiever” and “responsibility.” These are a great pair to have, except sometimes it can be incredibly overwhelming to balance them. My biggest issue: parenting.
- I am terrified of making the wrong choice and therefore ruining my kids forever.
- I can do all that I can to help, but I cannot make my kids’ choices for them.
Parenting stress along with all of the other responsibilities and events in my life brought me to my breaking point. I finally realized that I just cannot do everything on my own.
- When I put all of my trust in myself and my abilities, I have this bad habit of panicking. Responsibilities and emotions kept piling up and it took an embarrassingly long amount of time for me to realize that I couldn’t do it on my own. I was too exhausted, too weighed down, too human to be able to continue this way.
- Halfway through April, I realized that I needed to do something: give up. I needed to stop trying to control everything.
- I am a science person and I often look to specialists and their research data to make my decisions. These are great resources, but they cannot be the gods that we worship and trust for the success of our decisions.
I am also a nurse, which had its own interesting elements. I work with oncology patients who had to choose between fighting their cancer or having a higher risk of Covid-19; we had to learn new ways of communicating as a team and with our patients; we needed to brush up on PPE skills and so many other protocol changes weekly if not daily.
- It was only time until someone I had a relationship with would acquire the virus. The one I knew was a woman I helped train and orient to the hospital eight years ago. It was humbling to realize that I helped train her for the job that would almost take her life.
- I had to make a choice: was I willing to continue my job as a nurse, despite the future risks that I may face?
- In the same vein, as a Christian, am I willing to take the risks, to step out of the comfortable and safe, to help further God’s kingdom?
  - in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, two deadly plagues helped spread Christianity through Europe. When everyone was leaving the sick behind to die, Christians stayed behind to nurse them. This act of nursing helped increase survival rates! It also helped people realize what Jesus really meant in John 13:34-35, which was one of the important commandments Jesus gave just before the cross.
  - John 13:34-35 – So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.
I finally realized that part of giving up control meant that I needed to only focus on my next step. This brought another song to my mind: Thy Word.
- Psalm 119:105 – Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
- This verse paints a word picture in my mind of a path in the woods. The lamp, God’s word, gives us enough to see what we are standing on (are we on the right path?) and one step ahead.
- Only God’s word can get us on the right path and let us know where the safest next step. It does not show us what 10 years, 10 weeks, or even 10 days ahead looks like. That’s God’s job to be concerned with, not ours.
- Many of you have had even more nightmarish quarantines. Whether your issues were more emotional like me, physical, financial, abusive, or full of anxiety, Psalm 119:105 still applies.
- Elisabeth Elliot knows what it’s like to live in a changing time amidst unknowns and deep sorrows. Her husband was murdered, leaving her in the jungle with jobs she had never done before. She then became a single mother, and then said yes to taking Jesus back to the very people who killed her husband. Later, she lost her second husband to cancer.
  - Despite all of the terrible things she had been through, she still believed God had a plan. When she was overwhelmed with everything in front of her, she also realized that she needed to just do the next thing.
  - In her radio show Gateway to Joy, she talked about her decision to “simply do the next thing.” She also made the old Saxon poem “Do the Next Thing” famous.
Colossians 1:16 – all things have been created through him and for him.
- I truly believe that this includes the things that we humans create. Not everything we create glorifies God, but I feel like He often shows Himself through our creations.
Romans 2:14-16 – Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
- I also believe that the law that God inherently writes on our hearts shows itself through even non-Christian creation. I see it especially in things like Disney movies where they explore good vs. evil, true love, and morality in general.
- When Kristen and Robert Lopez wrote the song “The Next Right Thing,” God inspired them to show how people inherently search for Him, especially when they are overwhelmed and can’t cope.
  - So I’ll make the choice to hear that voice and do the next right thing.
Psalm 139:23-24 – Search me God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Mini Episode:Waves of Hope

April 19, 2020 by Jenna No Comments

Bridge of the Faithful

Mini Episode:Waves of Hope

00:00 / 4:40

This episode was made to be part of a collaboration of Hope with other Christian podcasters. Unfortunately, I was unable to build a whole episode from their contributions but I wanted to share mine on here. This is a time, isn’t it? We’re being pulled into so many different directions while also staying at home. There’s uncertainty, there’s stress, there are huge responsibilities, and there’s loneliness abound. It’s not easy to trust God when we’re so distracted by the “why’s,” the “why-nots” and the “what-ifs.” But in all of this, God reminded me that He controls the waves, and that is where my hope is established. I belong to a God who either makes waves to rescue me, or calms the waves that threaten to destroy me. I am safe in His hands, despite the storms that surround me. And with His still, calming, loving voide He says to my turbulent heart “Peace be still,” and still it becomes.

Exodus 14:13-14 – Moses answered the people “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.

*To listen to the other contributions to the collaboration, go to https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Byq22ukP25Wyfmdmb0NvRmstYWs2Q0NQa1hPR2ZVd2hfTGhCUGlMNEdBOEpjOFVfU0s3U2M

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A Note From Jenna

March 14, 2020 by Jenna No Comments

Due to attempting to help get many places in our lives, like church and school, ready for the social distancing directive, we have been unable to completely get this week’s episode for release. Instead, I wanted to just share some encouragement.

In this time of anxiety, uncertainty, and transition in the world, I would like to quote one of my favorite books: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. In the story, The Hitchhiker’s Guide has “Don’t Panic” written on the very first page.

We as Christians have a book like this. The Bible gives us instruction, encouragement, and poetry to help us deal with just this very type of situation.

As an oncology nurse, and also someone who greatly loves some of the most at-risk people for this virus, I see the incredible importance of following instructions given to us by the government. While of course the system is corrupted (because we are ALL sinners) I truly believe that these people are trying to do what is best for us as a country. Romans 13:1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

Our God is with us even when the outlook is scary. Our God will use this for His glory in amazing and powerful ways, we just don’t know what those are right now. And in the two years of me working on these episodes, the one thing that has stayed constant is that GOD IS AND EVER WILL BE FAITHFUL.

Our own version of the Hitchhiker’s Guide also tells us not to panic. God has this. He loves us. Let’s trust Him.

Joshua 1:9- Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

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Thrown off Script: Mike Domeny

Created to Create: Engineer Jay Kinsinger

Created to Create: Painter Fiona Miller

Created to Create: Musician Leanor Ortega Till

Created to Create: Storyteller Eric Mishne

Created to Create: Author Christine Kindberg

Racial Reconciliation: An Interview with Faith Mamas

The Next Right Thing

Mini Episode:Waves of Hope

A Note From Jenna

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