Radiant Podcast

The story behind the worship song Everything to Me, and what it looks like to call God worthy through pain, confusion, and loss when you can’t feel him. Olivia wrote the opening line, “You are worthy,” at a time when she didn’t believe it. She shares how the song began at a songwriting retreat in a season when it felt like truth and relationships were being shaken, how she wrote both verses in one sitting, and how a verse she called too personal for a Sunday morning stayed in the song unchanged. She talks about singing truth as a ladder out of the pain, why there’s no right way to walk through a hard season, and the prayer she has learned to live by: “I don’t see you, but I trust that you’re here.” If you are in pain right now and having trouble seeing who God is in your story, stick around.

Saying yes when God gives you a big ask that doesn’t make sense. Donna shares what stepping out in faith cost her, and the peace she found. It started with one question on a weeklong trip to Thailand: “If God asked you to come back and stay longer, would you?” Within three days, three more people asked her the same thing. Donna shares how a lifelong heart for missions, held back by fear and finances, became a two-month calling that meant resigning from her job and serving a team that works with survivors of human trafficking. Then she came home to a hiring freeze. This is a story about risk, obedience, and the peace God gives underneath the fear. If you are in that conversation with the Lord right now, stay and listen.

Scott Volk serves on the leadership team of the Spirit and Truth Church Network. In this conversation recorded at the Arise Shine Conference, he shares what's been burning in his heart: the question of identity. Jesus was 30 years old and had done nothing significant in ministry when God declared him beloved. His sonship wasn't earned — it was given. Scott makes the case that the church is raising up people based on their gifts and usefulness rather than their identity as sons and daughters of God, and what it would look like to change that. One of the most theologically rich conversations in this series — and one of the funniest endings.Recorded live at the Arise Shine Conference.Learn more about ASC at https://www.ariseshineconference.com/Learn more about the Spirit and Truth Church Network at https://www.spiritandtruthchurches.com/

Pastor Rich leads Hope Church in South Carolina — one church, one service for 30 years before going multisite nine years ago. Now with three campuses, he realized their model had become so optimized that it was leaving no room for the Holy Spirit to move. In this conversation recorded at the Arise Shine Conference, he shares what it looked like to make that shift, why he stopped chasing trusted models and started following what God was saying directly, and what happened in their services when they finally made more room.Recorded live at the Arise Shine Conference.Learn more about ASC at https://www.ariseshineconference.com/Learn more about the Spirit and Truth Church Network at https://www.spiritandtruthchurches.com/

Pastor Mike leads Radiant Jackson in Jackson, Michigan — a church he planted about 12 years ago, after nearly three decades of faithful service at Radiant Church in Kalamazoo. In this conversation recorded at the Arise Shine Conference, he reflects on what he would tell his 20-year-old self: it's not talent, it's faithfulness. Little things done consistently over a long period of time produce big results. He talks about his morning routine, honoring the Sabbath, quarterly soul care rhythms, and why the health of a pastor's soul is directly tied to the health of their church.Recorded live at the Arise Shine Conference.Learn more about ASC at https://www.ariseshineconference.com/Learn more about the Spirit and Truth Church Network at https://www.spiritandtruthchurches.com/

Pastor Mat spent seven years building Takeover Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Then on a Good Friday with 20 people in the room, God told him maybe the church should die. In this conversation recorded at the Arise Shine Conference, Mat tells the full story — the moment at the altar, the conversation with his wife Adrianne, the team meeting, the relaunch as The Altar, and what happened just months later when another church called to donate their building. He said yes before he knew what was coming. And what came was more than he could have asked for.Recorded live at the Arise Shine Conference.Learn more about ASC at https://www.ariseshineconference.com/Learn more about the Spirit and Truth Church Network at https://www.spiritandtruthchurches.com/

Pastor Kent leads Kingdom Collective in Fort Wayne, Indiana — a church five and a half years old that found the Spirit and Truth Church Network after a Google search for a prayer conference for revival. In this conversation recorded at the Arise Shine Conference, he shares what it meant to be part of a network when their founding pastor had to transition out — and what it looked like when their network leader, who couldn't make it to a critical church meeting, landed in Grand Rapids anyway and drove straight to Fort Wayne to be there. They joined for revival. What they got was governance, guidance, and people who showed up when it mattered most.Recorded live at the Arise Shine Conference.Learn more about ASC at https://www.ariseshineconference.com/Learn more about the Spirit and Truth Church Network at https://www.spiritandtruthchurches.com/

Pastor Jerry leads Radiant Ludington in Ludington, Michigan — a church he planted 12 and a half years ago with a vision to plant life-giving churches and ministries all along the coast of Lake Michigan. This past year he launched a second campus, and found himself trying to pastor two congregations in completely different seasons simultaneously. In this conversation recorded at the Arise Shine Conference, he talks about what that's actually like, the moment God confirmed he was on the right path while he was playing drums and watching baptisms happen in real time at the new campus, and the one question a pastor friend challenged him to ask God every year — a question that changes everything when you're willing to ask it honestly.Recorded live at the Arise Shine Conference.Learn more about ASC at https://www.ariseshineconference.com/Learn more about the Spirit and Truth Church Network at https://www.spiritandtruthchurches.com/

Pastor Jeremy leads Vertical Life Church in and around Raleigh, North Carolina. In this conversation recorded live at the Arise Shine Conference, he draws a sharp distinction between being a child of God — which costs nothing, it's simply given — and being a friend of God, which has to be cultivated and costs everything. From there he takes aim at a quiet drift in the American church: building environments designed to impress people at the expense of the presence of God. He talks about consecration, the disappearance of spiritual gifts from Sunday mornings, and what it looks like to lead a church from a place of genuine friendship with God rather than borrowing what looks like it's working elsewhere. He closes with a prayer that ties it all together.Recorded live at the Arise Shine Conference.Learn more about ASC at https://www.ariseshineconference.com/Learn more about the Spirit and Truth Church Network at https://www.spiritandtruthchurches.com/

Pastor Edgar planted a church in Guadalajara, Mexico in February 2019 — a Radiant Church plant out of Kalamazoo. Three weeks after launching, he shut it down. In this conversation recorded at the Arise Shine Conference, he talks about what it's like to do ministry in an environment where the logistics are never easy, small groups start at 9 p.m., and parking means parking in the grass. But what he's discovered in those challenges is a congregation of people who are genuinely hungry — and a reminder that if the presence of God is there, people will do anything to get to it.Recorded live at the Arise Shine Conference.Learn more about ASC at https://www.ariseshineconference.com/Learn more about the Spirit and Truth Church Network at https://www.spiritandtruthchurches.com/