NLCF Podcast

We're wrapping up season 4 with a conversation about Advent! We dig into the purpose and importance of Advent before offering up some age-old Advent practices: groaning and singing. Groaning is a practice of lament. We consider the places in our lives and in our world where God has promised to be at work but we are having a hard time seeing Him. In the midst of difficulty and uncertainty, we continue calling to God in faith that He is near. Singing is a practice of celebration. We reflect on the ways God has advented among us over the past season and share our stories. 

We hope you've been blessed by this season of Shaped! 

Resources:

Advent by Fleming Rutledge

Watch for the Light-Advent devotional

This week, we dive into a practice that can feel pretty intimidating for us: confession! We talk about how God meets us as we confess our brokenness, how He uses the practice to heal and transform us, and why it's so important for confession to be a communal practice. Afterward, we move through a reflective time of confession together (starts at the 16:53 mark in the episode) which incorporates the prayer of confession from the Book of Common prayer. Here's the text of the prayer: 

Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against your holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done; and apart from your grace, there is no health in us. O Lord, have mercy upon us. Restore all those who are penitent, according to your promises declared to all people in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may now live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of your holy Name.

If we walk with Jesus for any length of time, we're bound to run into moments where doubt creeps in. Sometimes we have huge doubts (does God even exist?). Other times, we find places where we can't be certain that God is good or that He'll what we ask. We're joined today by one of our pastors, Steve Englund, to talk about doubt and faith. Steve offers us the liberating truth that Jesus is ok with our doubt and uncertainty as long as we stay close to Him. He goes on to share about some practical ways we can walk through doubt well.

Resources: 

-The Sin of Certainty by Peter Enns 

We're kicking off season 4 of Shaped with a discussion about joy! What is joy? How can we walk in it even when things are hard? 

To help us, unpack joy and how we might make space for the Spirit to cultivate joy in us, we're joined by Curtis Goodnight and Morgan Solorzano! Curtis and Morgan help lead Storehouse, the church that NLCF helped plant last year at Penn State. They share their experience with joy over the past year as they've gotten Storehouse going in the middle of a pandemic. 

Resources: 

Does God Really Like Me? by Geoff and Cyd Holsclaw

Season 3 finale! This week we wrap up season 3 by talking about how the Lord shapes us through the practice of reflection. In a world of hurry, reflection creates space for us to slow down enough to hear God, recognize His work in and around us, and walk in His ways more intentionally. At the end of the episode, we move through a guided reflection time together called the paschal cycle. The questions for each piece of that reflection are listed below. Shaped will return soon for season 4!

Good Friday-Name your losses. What have you lost this year?  

Easter-Claim your births. What has God birthed in you this year? What is the new thing that God is doing in and through you?

40 days-Grieve the old and adjust to the new. Consider what you’ve lost. What are the hurts it has caused? Take some time to really feel all that you've lost without just trying to immediately move past it. Secondly, as a result of the deaths and births, how do you need to adjust to this new season?

Ascension-Let go of the old and carry its blessing with you. What are you taking with you from the past season into this next thing? How does what came before bless what’s ahead?

Pentecost-Receive the new life that God has given you right now. Don’t dwell on the life you wish you had but draw your attention to the beauty of what God is doing with you right now. What joys is He leading you into? What opportunities is He inviting you into?

This week we're joined by Jim Pace to talk about what it looks like to walk with God over the long haul. Jim is one of the pastors of our church and has been on our staff team for 25 years now. In this conversation, Jim reflects on practices that have helped him stay close to God and be available for God to use to build His kingdom.

Questions for Reflection

Where do I need to grow?

What are the ways I don’t reflect Jesus?

How am I glorifying God?

Where is my shield of faith? Is it out front?

How am I loving the people around me?

What does NLCF need whether I enjoy it or not?

What are the things in me that work against what God is doing?

How am I interacting with the scriptures?

Authors

Henri Nouwen

Eugene Peterson

Dallas Willard

James K.A. Smith

Andy Crouch

David Fitch

Lesslie Newbigin

Conn Iggulden

This week we are talking about self talk - how we talk to ourselves, about ourselves. Self talk can be positive or negative, encouraging or discouraging, and point us towards or away from the Lord. We are joined by Morgan Solorzano, she is part of the church planting team of Storehouse at Penn State University. Morgan describes self talk and how she has experienced it not only in the past but even on the day of recording. She shares practices that have helped her recognize, refuse, and replace her negative self talk with life-giving words of scripture.

Questions for Reflection:

-Is what I’m thinking true? Pure? Lovely?

-Would you speak to someone else this way?  How would I feel if someone I admired heard what I was saying to myself?

-What have I been meditating on all day?  Is it scripture?

Resource Exercise for Lessening Impact of Inner Critic

-Ask: What message does my inner critic send? (You should know better, you’re not smart enough, not good enough)

-Write down adjectives

-Ask: What do I know about God that is true?

-Prompt: What if I was at least as ____ to myself as God is with me?

We're following up from NLCF's Shaped through Prayer series this week and diving a topic that we didn't get to hit on during the series and is massively shaping to our prayers: Unanswered prayers. To help us sort through the question of why doesn't God always answer our prayers, we're joined by two of NLCF's pastors, Robbie Poff and Wendy Chinn. They share about the challenge of staying close with God even when we aren't seeing Him do what we asked.

Questions for reflection:

-How have you seen God meet and grow you in prayer over the past season?

-Are there things you've experienced that have caused you to back away from God in prayer?

-Is there a prayer that scares you to pray? Or a request that pushes the limits of what you can honestly believe is possible?

After a couple weeks off, we're talking about how God uses the church calendar to help us enter into His story. As we enter Holy Week, we discuss Lent and its practices specifically. To do that we're joined by 3 NLCF seniors (Lilly Church, Greg Suliga, and Ben Fischer) to talk about how the Lord has met them and shaped them through the Lenten season.

Coming off NLCF's Shaped for Relationships series, Kristal Poff joins us for a conversation about a type of the relationship we didn't get to dive into during the series: friendship. Kristal highlights how crucial friendship was in Jesus's life and ministry. She also offers some helpful ideas about vulnerability and challenge in our friendships.

Questions for reflection:

What would it look like to take a step toward greater vulnerability in your friendships? Who can you let in on more of who you are?

When you consider encouraging and challenging your friends, consider this: are you doing this for their good or for your own?

This week we're talking about how we respond when we're BLASTED (Bored, Lonely, Anxious/Afraid/Angry, Stressed, Tired, Envious, or Depressed). The reality is we're going to experience some of these emotions at different points in our lives, but often times these emotions lead us to respond in ways that aren't in line with the abundant life that Jesus offers us. They can cause us to form bad habits in order to cope rather than allowing the Lord to meet us, comfort us, heal us, and guide us to walk in the way of Jesus. 

To help us talk through what it's like to be BLASTED and how we can respond with healthy, godly steps, we're joined by Curtis Goodnight. Curtis was a part of the NLCF staff team for 4 years before heading up to Penn State last year to help plant a new church there called Storehouse. 

Questions for reflection:

-When do I tend to get BLASTED? Are there seasons or situations that usually lead me to experience one or more of these emotions? Taking some time to consider these can help us understand ourselves and our tendencies so that we can walk with Jesus when they come in the future.

-What do I do when I get blasted? 

-Consider why am I choosing to do this?

-What would I like my response to be when I’m blasted?

-Who could I share this list with?

-When we're feeling BLASTED a helpful thought/prayer is: Jesus died so that I don't have to __________ anymore. 

We're kicking off season 3 of Shaped! Today we're joined by Mady Farley. Mady describes her experiences over the past few years as she's tried to discern where the Lord was leading her. Along the way, she shares some helpful for all of us as we're discerning God's guidance in our lives, whether in huge life choices or even in rhythms of our everyday lives.

Questions for reflection:

-God, how are you directing me?

-Whatever you’re discerning, who are discerning it with? How are you walking with community in your discernment?

Resources on Discernment:

-Craig Robinson's calling talks from NLCF's 2019 Fall Retreat (https://www.nlcf.net/media_category/fallretreat19/)

-Hearing God by Dallas Willard

-Walking with God by John Eldredge

After Robbie's talk on marriage during NLCF's Shaped for Relationships series, he and Kristal have a conversation about some of the practices that the Lord has used to bless their marriage. Whether you're married, in a dating relationship, or even just living in community with others, these practices can help us walk in the way of Jesus together and step into more of the abundant life He has for us.

We're wrapping up season 2 by celebrating the ways we've seen the Lord come into our lives and our community this year. We're joined by some familiar voices from the first 2 seasons of Shaped to tell stories of God's Jubilee in 2020. Though it's been a crazy year, we proclaim together that 2020 is still the year of the Lord's favor, the year of Jubilee, just like it was when Jesus stood up and read from Isaiah 61 in Luke chapter 4. Jubilee guests in order of appearance are: 

Kristen Saia, Meg Hearl, Emma Rafferty, Sara Mathew, Margaret Davis, Wendy Chinn

Then we share a psalm that was written based on the 2020 celebrations of 10 NLCFers! You can find the full text of the psalm here (https://docs.google.com/document/d/11Dfl8KOyDdmum82dlxqBYrxsrToeOeBD4w5CnolLGn0/edit?usp=sharing)

Thanks to Anna Gibbs, Aislinn Grant, Kevin Moyer, Deena Hines, Devin Shephard, Emma Davis, Greg Suliga, Lilly Redman, Nate Usher, and Tabitha Ngo for sending us celebrations!

Shaped will be back in 2021!

We're joined this week by one of the pastors of our church, Jeanette Staats, to talk about the spiritual practice of celebration. Jeanette shares about celebrating the gifts of God, big and small, and rejoicing with others.

Questions:

• At the end of the day or start of the next make a list, what are 10 things that brought you hope, joy, peace or life?
  
  • Who can I be celebrating around me?
    
  • Prayer - “Help me see you haven’t forgotten me”
    
    

We're wrapping our series on the ways that COVID life has shaped us. This week we are joined by Emma Rafferty! Emma is a senior at Tech. She's been a part of NLCF for four years and she's one of the parents of Maroon Fam in our church. In our conversation, Emma shares about finding joy in simple things during COVID, being vulnerable with Lord and with others, and the ways that she's been both challenged and blessed by an empty calendar.

Questions for reflection:

-What makes it hard for you to slow down? What emotions does the thought of a slower pace bring up for you?

-Who are you vulnerable with? Who do you share with about how you're really doing, about the things you're afraid of or ashamed of? What would it look like to take a step into greater vulnerability with the people around you?

This week, as we continue our series on the ways COVID life is shaping us, we're joined by Margaret Davis. Margaret is an NLCF alum and a current member of the Storehouse church plant team at Penn State University. In this episode, Margaret shares about the difficulties and blessings of enforced slowness during this season and the importance of remembering the Lord's work in the face of uncertainty.

Questions for reflection

-Where are you groaning? Where are you dancing?

-What am I feeling? What does that indicate?

Resources

The Rest of God by Mark Buchanan

Psalm 46:10 prayer

     Be still and know that I am God

     Be still and know that I am

     Be still and know 

     Be still

     Be 

We're shifting gears this week to talk about the ways we've been shaped by the pandemic. The fact is, 8 months into COVID life, we're different people than we were back in March. In this episode, Jennie and Christian share their experiences and unpack the ways the pandemic has formed them, both positively and negatively. 

Share Shaped on your Instagram story to be entered for a chance to win a hacky sack!

Resources:

Managing Leadership Anxiety

Psalm 44 as a model for lament:

-Begin with praise of God's past work, His promises, and His faithfulness

-Be raw with how you're feeling

-Appeal to the Lord

Reflection questions:

-How has COVID life shaped you? How are you different today than you were back in March?

-As you consider the ways this season has formed you, what do you want to hold onto? What do you want to let go of?

-Is this season about running the race well or finishing the race? 

We are joined once again by Robbie Poff to consider what it looks like for us to be citizens of the kingdom of God first and foremost in the midst of the political turmoil here in our country. What does it look like to follow Jesus in our politics? Robbie helps us think about how the Spirit wants to shape us into people He can use to bring His kingdom more fully into our world.

Questions for reflection:

• In what areas do I need to expand my view’s on God’s kingdom or Jesus authority and Lordship in my life?
  
• As I look at my town or campus, where do I see brokenness, pain, or lack? How might God want to use me in those places?

Practices:

• Pray for our enemies
• Listen to others
• Silence and solitude
• Memorize the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7)

Don't forget: If you share Shaped on your Instagram story and tag @nlcfnet, you will be entered to win a gift from us!

This week we are joined by Robbie Poff as we start our two part series on being shaped by the election.  Robbie is one of the pastors of NLCF and a prophetic voice in our church.  He shares about how the election shapes us, what that shaping accomplishes in us and the opportunities he sees for believers in this cultural season.  Next week we will be following up with Robbie on ways we can be shaped for Kingdom Citizenship in the second part of this series.

Resources:

The Church of Us vs Them by David Fitch

God, Politics, and the Church sermon series from Rich Villodas at New Life Fellowship

Jennie and Christian are finally back with a new episode of Shaped! This week, we discuss what we've been up since the last episode of Shaped (4 months ago!). We also recap season 1 and preview what's to come in season 2.

Next week: How the presidential election shapes us

Shaped is back! Join us as we explore the ways that the Lord, our habits, and our culture shape who we are. This season, we're expanding our scope to consider the influence that things like COVID-19, the presidential election, and more have on the types of people we become. And of course, we're continuing to discuss practices that we can take up in order to make space for the Holy Spirit to transform our lives to look more like Jesus's. Season 2 of Shaped will be coming your way every Monday morning starting on October 19!

Apologies for the weird audio! We'll have it worked out for next week.

This week we are joined by Meg Hearl to talk about the practice of lectio divina. Meg is one of the parents of Maroon Family and a part of NLCF's staff team. Meg shares about how God has used lectio divina to help her truly encounter Him in her times in the Word and to turn her eyes to His presence and movement throughout the day.

Practicing Lectio Divina:

1. Begin by inviting Jesus to be present in the time.

2. If it's a new practice, consider picking a passage from one of the Gospels.

3. Read the passage asking the Spirit to give you a word or phrase from what you read. Give space to listen and receive what He has.

4. Read it again and ask God how that word or phrase connects with your life today.

5. Read it again and ask God what He wants you to be or know or do in response to that word or phrase He's given you.

6. Read it one last time and rest in His presence.

7. Come back to that word or phrase throughout your day.

Resources:

Eat This Book by Eugene Peterson

This week, we are joined by Shea McCormic, one of our Engage Group leaders, to talk about the practice of fasting. Shea shares about how fasting causes him to look to God to sustain him and how it builds in him a sense of desperation for God.

Practicing Fasting:

1. Write down the why.
2. Start small. Maybe give up one meal.
3. Fast with others
4. Use the fast to focus on reading Scripture and on prayer.
5. Write down questions and thoughts you want to bring to God so that you can hold them in your mind as you fast.

NLCF is New Life Christian Fellowship - a mission minded church serving the community in and around the campus of Virginia Tech. You can find us at www.nlcf.net, facebook.com/nlcfvt, and instagram.com/nlcfnet

We're starting our very own podcast! You'll hear about what we're planning in the future, as well as get a preview of "Shaped," which will come out every Tuesday, focusing on spiritual practices. We value multiple voices, so each week you'll hear from different folks within our church. Can't wait to start the journey with you!

NLCF is New Life Christian Fellowship - a church meeting on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. You can check us out on Instagram (@nlcfnet), Facebook (/nlcfvt), or on the web at www.nlcf.net.