The Real Deal Conversations
By The Real Deal Conversations
The Real Deal ConversationsJul 08, 2022
Biblical Leadership and Growth with Host Megan Deal and Emmy-Award winning journalist Sara Forhetz
Sara Forhetz is a speaker, journalist, and podcaster. She's also hosts a daily, morning radio show on Christian radio station 88.3 The Wind. She spent 17 years as an Emmy Award-winning television news reporter and anchor... sharing mostly bad news. Now, Sara shares the Good News across the country and around the world. Her travels often take her to Africa, and the Middle East where she speaks about her faith in Jesus. Sara is also a wife and a homeschool mother of three kids, ages 11, 12, and 14. She loves swimming, biking, and running and often competes in triathlons. Sara and her husband, Ethan Forhetz, have been named one of the most influential couples in Southwest Missouri, and have been recognized as such by multiple publications.
She urges everyone to be bold in their faith.
Pastor Charles Rwomushana
Charles Rwomushana, a pastor from Kigali, Rwanda, and I sat down to talk about the calling God gives us, faith, obedience, persecution, and perseverance.
From his years in boarding high school, Charles has always been passionate about helping people experience God’s love and salvation. Since 2017, Charles has served either as senior, associate or volunteer pastor in Kigali, Rwanda and Springfield, Missouri. Prior to starting full-time pastoring in 2018, he spent over 10 years in microfinance and community development work in Rwanda. In 2020, Charles moved to Springfield, MO to pursue his MA in Theological Studies at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary of Evangel University, which he completed in 2022 with magna cum laude. In 2023, Charles started his Doctor of Ministry at AGTS/Evangel so he can prepare to equip many leaders and ministers in Rwanda and beyond. Currently, Charles is in the process of starting a new nonprofit to promote evangelism, plant churches, help the poor and promote formal theological and ministerial training as required by new regulations in Rwanda.
Charles is happily married to Chantal for nearly 14 years and both are blessed with a son (Genius, 11) and daughter (Lemuela, 9). Lack of sufficient financial resources made it difficult for the family to move to Springfield together or visit as often as needed, and Charles has only been able to visit them three times since 2021.
The Neurodivergent Child
Lyle and Alesia: Setting Boundaries In Recovery
Caleb Boch: Mental Health and the Military
👉 Reintegration
👉 What that looks like for marriages
👉Suicide: Why it is so high in military and what to look for
👉Help and resources
👉and more!
Ashley Gutermuth: Comedian, Military Spouse, and Seinfeld Winner on Jimmy Fallon
👉 Why people get married so quickly in military
👉Problems Military spouses face
👉Parenting while spouse is deployed
👉Parenting when deployed spouse comes back
👉Help and resources
👉and more!
Courtney Belk: Wild Faith In A Broken Marriage
👉Wild faith
👉Courtney received a vision from the Lord
👉Soon after, her husband left her
👉She stood on the vision...
👂 Find out what that vision was
👂What happened when her husband left
👂How she stood on the vision from the Lord
👂How God came full circle to heal her family
Don Mann: Known. Needed. Loved.
👉Having help available, but feeling undeserving of it
👉 Lies we believe that keep us broken
👉Not knowing how to ask for help
👉Attempted Suicide
👉 Step by step to healing
👉Finding community at church
👉Reconciling relationships
👉Finding hope and healing through Jesus
👉The mission behind Known Needed Loved
Joe McKinney,LCSW: Our Body and Brain In Anxiety and Trauma
👉Big T and Little T: What is the difference?
👉Self-Regulation
👉Co-Regulation
👉Feeling the pressure to look "all togethor" while you are crumbling on the inside
👉 Why our body and brain have a hard time syncing up in a state of anxiety
👉 Parenting in a state of anxiety
Lyle and Alesia - Barefoot and Broken
Lyle and Alesia discuss their challenges overcoming meth addiction; the effects on their family, faith, and relationships.
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Bio:
Lyle and Alesia live in the Ozarks with their 3 kids. They went from being bound to addiction to living a life of freedom and strive to share their story with others to give hope and encouragement to others who are bound in addiction to live a life of freedom.
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Debra Hedgecorth - Finding the Family
Debra joins us to speak about her recovery from meth and her ministry, Finding the Family.
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Bio:
As told in my book Mind Over Meth, our life was a far cry from the beautiful life we live today. And as you read the book, you will understand that the addiction wasn't the issue, it was the pain beneath the addiction that drove us to self-medicate. We are completely free from ALL addictions now for (Deb)21, and (Chris)20 years.
We served for 10 years in the "Living Free" ministry at our local church. And we love seeing others with stories similar to our past, find hope and forgiveness through Christ.
For many years, Chris and I earnestly prayed about a dream God had given us to open a transitional, recovery home for families who desperately needed to find restoration in Christ. Addictions affect more than just the addict and our desire is to minister to the whole family.
In 2014, we welcomed our first family into the home. Through the year, this family was able to regain custody of their children, who had been placed in foster care for 3 years to that point and walk through the steps of recovery, find true focus on Jesus, and re-establish themselves as productive members of society. It was an incredible first year of miracles. Since then, we have ministered to four more families and are embarking on a new adventure of ministering to three families EACH YEAR, now! We built two more homes because of the heartbreaking stories pouring into our inboxes of families that we had no ability to help because of lack of room! We are believing God for great miracles as they learn to put Him first!
Make sure you follow us on Facebook for updates and spread the word about this awesome ministry to help families recover and learn to put God FIRST in all things!
Also, would you join with us as we pray for OUR family while we minister, and believe that God will use us to be a tangible representation of His love for them?
Running with perseverance,
Deb
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Jody Hudson - My Promise to Alex
Jody Hudson joins us to talk about her daughter's experiences with lyme disease and navigating the healthcare system.
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Bio:
Grants and Philanthropy Director for California CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), Jody Hudson
is a fundraising professional with over 15 years of nonprofit leadership experience. She is also the CEO
and founder of the Alex Hudson Lyme Foundation (AHLF), an organization that seeks to increase
research efforts and patient support for Lyme disease and MCAS (Mast Cell Activation Disorder).
Before joining California CASA in 2021, Hudson served as Vice President of Development and
Communications for Girl Scouts of Central California South, and before that, led the Catholic Charities
Diocese of Fresno as Director of Operations.
In 2018, Hudson was honored with the Marjaree Mason Center Top Ten Professional Women Award. In
2020, she was KSEE24’s Remarkable Woman. Jody fought for ten years to save her daughter, Alex, from
a mysterious chronic illness. Unfortunately, Alex passed away in March of 2018. Hudson’s book, My
Promise to Alex, Creating Purpose from Pain, was released this past February and is available on
Amazon. Link to purchase is on www.alexhudsonlymefoundation.org
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Samantha Higgins - A Sermon in Testimony
Samantha Higgins lives in Edmond, Oklahoma with her husband Ben and their four sons, Jackson, Tyson, Steven and Lleyton. She has served as a pastor’s wife for the past seventeen years in vocational ministry, in Oklahoma, Ohio and Missouri. She loves the local church and believes in its importance to bring Christ to the nations. Samantha is passionate about maximizing the spiritual impact of women within the church, the family and in society. She brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in the areas of family ministry and raising kids.
Seth Hamilton - Finding Purpose
Seth Hamilton joins us to retell some amazing tales from around the world, his journey to find God, and to talk about his non-profit, Go! International.
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Bio:
Seth Hamilton is the founder and CEO of Go! International in East St. Louis, IL (www.go-int.org). He is also a linguist, a former pro fighter, and a faith-based humanitarian. He has spent the last 15 years traveling the world learning and establishing self-sustainability projects in impoverished and high-risk communities in the US, Latin America, and Africa, developing local leadership to galvanize transformation and creating once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for disadvantaged people to find and take hold of their own calling above what the world sees them as. Together they have collectively impacted thousands of lives around the world.
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Joe McKinney - Trauma in the Brain
Joe McKinney joins us to speak about mental trauma, behavioral health, and the brain.
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Bio:
I truly believe that all people want to and deserve to feel good and be happy. Much of our lives are spent trying to achieve these goals yet we continue to feel disappointed and like something is missing. I work with issues such as anxiety, depression, conflict in relationships, difficulty with emotions, trauma, shame, or even a general sense of hopelessness or discontentment in life. My hope in therapy is to come alongside you and make sense of what you are feeling and/or experiencing while working toward healing and wholeness in yourself and your relationships. I use Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) when working with couples or any relationship in distress. In individual work, I utilize EFT, AEDP, EMDR, Brainspotting, and/or Progressive Counting depending on the presenting issue(s). I am also trained in Trauma-Informed Yoga to integrate some body movement and breathing into our time together. At the core of my practice is my relationship with Jesus and identity as a Christian. Implicitly this affects my whole being and everything about what I do. It does not mean that you have to be a Christian or that I will try to convert you if we work together. It simply means that I will be with you and care for your whole person as we work together.
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Cody Swearingen - License to Counsel
Cody Swearingen speaks to us this week about mental health and counseling; the tools we need to improve ourselves.
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Bio:
Cody Swearingen is a licensed professional counselor in MO, with over 20 years of experience in the mental health field. Cody provides counseling for individuals and couples at Focus on the Family and his own practice, Applied Counseling.
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For more information about Cody and his practice, visit: Cody Swearengin, Counselor, Ozark, MO, 65721 | Psychology Today
Support and follow our podcast at https://anchor.fm/therealdealconversations/support
UPDATE: The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline has recently changed their number to simply '988'
Heidi Caudill - No Fear for Food
Heidi Caudill speaks about her eating disorder, her struggles and perseverance in recovery.
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Bio:
From Washington state..I’m a homeschool mama of 2, wife, homemaker, and daughter of the King. I run a health and fitness business to help people break free of the mental and physical barriers that hold them back from living their healthiest, happiest, full-potential life!
@Caudillheidi
Mark Sowersby - Forgiving the Nightmare
Mark Sowersby, author of Forgiving the Nightmare, shares his story about survival and recovery from sexual abuse as a young child and his path to forgiveness through God.
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Bio:
Pastor. Husband. Father.
Reverend Mark Sowersby has been married to his wonderful wife Jennifer for 18 years and is the father of four children. Mark has been an ordained minister with Assembly of God for over 25 years and is currently the Pastor of Calvary Community Church in Dudley, MA. Pastor Mark holds a BA in theology from Zion Bible College/Northpoint Bible College.
In 2019 Pastor Mark went through a time of great healing. He began speaking about the experiences of his past and God’s grace and the transformational work of forgiveness in his life. He now speaks about his story through his ministry, Forgiving The Nightmare.
When he isn’t serving his congregation and his community through ministry, teaching, and support, you can find him on all the trails and lakes in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Upstate New York, spending time with his family.