Breaking Bread Podcast

News of abuse is all too common today. Sorting out fact from fiction can be challenging. In this episode, Ted Witzig Jr. and Kaleb Beyer stick to the facts as they walk us through the ins and outs of marital abuse.

As an extension of God's love, He speaks to us. As an extension of our love, we speak to our children. In this episode, Craig Stickling shares five strategies for speaking with our children: envisioning, reinforcing, reminding, redirecting, and open ended questions.

Mission work is not without its difficulties and unmet expectations. Yet it possesses the potential for deep joys. In this episode, Kirk Plattner and Amber Miller speak to critical aspects of preparing for mission.

Repetitive, degenerative, unmanageable, medicative and destructive – the earmarks of addiction. In this episode, Roger Gasser continues to educate us on these characteristics while at the same time framing up the hope that can be found.

Am I addicted? A question not a few people have asked. In this episode ACCFS clinician Roger Gasser begins to sort through the finer points of addiction. What it is. How it works. What it means.

God is about setting the solitary into families. Psalms 68:6. It's a brilliant plan. As sons and daughters of His we have the opportunity to embrace each member of the family as He does – without being a respecter of persons. In this episode Arlan and Katie Miller provide welcome description on what this looks like.

God is not a respecter of persons. Amazing. In this episode Arlan and Katie Miller explain just how easy it is to be partial. Even in church. Yet the community of believers is called to reflect this attribute of God. And it's so good that she has.

While the process for sending missionaries to the field swirls with preparatory support systems, the process for re-entry can go seemingly without even a footnote. Kirk Plattner and Amber Miller address this vacuum for caring for our missionaries as they return home. And as you would expect, the local church has a large role to play.

The apostle Paul required care from the church. Specifically, he requested spiritual, relational and physical aid. In episode 1, Kirk Plattner and Amber Miller unpacked the relational care the local church can provide a missionary on the field. In this episode, they highlight in detail, ways the church can provide spiritual and physical care.

Out of sight, out of mind is true in many contexts. But it is painfully true when missionaries and local churches are those that grow dim. This episode is the first of a 3 part series on the church's responsibility and opportunity in missionary care. Guests on the show are HarvestCall's Kirk Plattner and ACCFS's Amber Miller. Wonderfully, tangible and meaningful connections can be made that will bless the missionary, the local church and as a result – "be a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God."

We want to honor our parents. After all, it is on God's top ten. Beautifully, honor takes on different hues depending on the life stage we are in. However, some situations make honor especially challenging. In this episode, Brian Sutter and Amber Miller address some of those challenging circumstances.

Honoring your father and mother is a big deal [Ten Commandments #5]. Yet working that out in real time can be challenging. Especially when we disagree. Obedience has an important voice at the table of honor, but its not the only voice.

Leave and then cleave. This is the pattern for marriage set early in the Scriptures. This is also the pattern for the gospel set throughout the Scriptures. Christ calls us to leave our previous lives, cleave to Him and become a new creation. In a divine reflection of the gospel, marriage calls us to leave our previous lives, cleave to our spouses and be a new family. In this episode, Kaleb Beyer walks through the nuts and bolts of this "marriage long" process.

God says to His children, "Come unto me." In like manner, I should say to my children, "Come unto me." But what does that look like? Craig Stickling and Brian Sutter offer practical encouragement for parents to engage their children in "family time."

One of the hard realities of relationships is that love and hurt are bundled together. The vulnerability that relationship requires makes disappointment possible, even likely. Getting back up after disappointment and repairing trust is required for relationship maintenance. In this episode Kaleb Beyer and Arlan Miller provide a helpful template for restoring trust.

God had a controversy with His chosen people in Hosea's day; they didn't know God (Hosea 4:1). Christ had a quarrel with the people of His day; they didn't know God (John 7:28,29). Paul had a burden for the people of his day; that they would know God (Ephesians 1:17). In this episode Matt Kaufmann interviews Brian Sutter about how we can know God better and the delightful and sometimes surprising end that comes as a result.

Every parent wants his or her child to excel at something; to possess a gift, a talent, a strength. Because they have been fearfully and wonderfully made, they do. As parents, how do we steward them in these strengths? In this episode, Brian Sutter and Craig Stickling help shed light on this responsibility.

Men and women are equal. Yes. But equality is far too narrow a term to say all that needs to be said concerning gender. In this episode, Amber Miller and Matt Kaufmann discuss the limitations of these terms and introduce a few more helpful ones.

God created man in His own image. Male and female created He them. And God blessed them. Genesis 1. In this episode Matt Kaufmann leads Amber Miller in a conversation that highlights the blessing of gender. In particular, the female gender. God has placed unique characteristics of Himself in women. In so doing, God has placed His likeness in the genders in such a way that each is necessary to illustrate Himself the Composite One.

Bringing the sun back out in our overcast marriages is not the result of extravagant acts. In this episode, Kaleb Beyer explains the power for good that accumulating small moments of connection have in warming up the climate of our marriages. The currency of affection is simple, basic, local and accessible.

Friendship is a critical component of marital love. Unfortunately, too often its maintenance is neglected and our "like" for our spouse suffers. Wonderfully, our friendship can be revived. In this episode, Kaleb Beyer gives us the first of three hints on helping our friendship flourish.

The New Year naturally engenders reflection and anticipation. With gusto, we make plans for improvement. In this episode, Ted Witzig Jr. explains that the best way to make plans for success – is to make plans for failure. Getting back on track is the discipline required to get to the end of the rail.

These are the darkest days on our calendar. For many, the darkness that overshadows is not only physical. The wintertime blues touch the psyche. In this episode, Ted Witzig Jr. speaks to the issue of Seasonal Affective Disorder and points us to the solution – The Light.

Discipline is much more than behavior change. In fact, it must be. In this episode, Craig Stickling and Brian Sutter elevate this parental role to a more noble end than that of producing good kids. Listen for the hope that naughty kids afford.

By default, our children enter into our families in a relationship with us. After all, they are our sons and daughters. However, relationships are not in name only. In this episode, Craig Stickling and Brian Sutter speak to the importance of building meaningful relationships with our children.

Teaching is wonderfully optimistic. The sky is the limit; what do you want your students to know? With a little intentionality, parenting is exciting in the same way. In this episode, Craig Stickling and Brian Sutter, interviewed by Matt Kaufmann, encourage us to seize the parenting moment of teaching.

Christ chose discipleship as the means to pass down faith and sanctify lives. When we engage in Christian discipleship, we participate in the divine and ancient classroom of Christ. In this episode, Arlan Miller and Matt Kaufmann help us understand what discipleship looks like in the church.

October marks a milestone for Breaking Bread. Two years, 48 episodes and 46,000 downloads later, we are blessed to find our listenership growing. We rejoice in Christ, our Broken Bread who meets our many and varied needs. He is the substance of our hope in every conversation. In celebration of this milestone we have given Breaking Bread a fresh look and a new sound. Check it out today by listening to our special broadcast.

Our brains are plastic – moldable, changeable. In this episode Dr. Aaron Plattner connects the dots between our thoughts and our actions. He explains how thinking patterns can be changed for the better. This is very good news and ups the ante for our thought life.

When it comes to human organs, the brain is arguably the most precious. Thinking, feeling and behaving find their genesis in the brain. How has God created our brains to function? In this episode, Psychiatrist Dr. Aaron Plattner helps us understand this brilliant creation. He sheds much needed light on the intersection of faith and psychiatry.

You don't need to be an intellectual to make a defense for the faith. A visible hope, a genuine love, an honest humility and a listening ear will go a long way in this regard. In this final episode of the Apologetics series Brian Sutter and Matt Kaufmann peal back the onion of faith to reveal the beauty of God and give some tips on how we can engage the skeptic.

The Christian faith is not a house of cards, tenuous and in need of protection. Thus, questions and challenges are welcome. Within the church especially. Within our families absolutely. In this episode, Brian Sutter helps us understand four main lenses through which we can understand apologetics and make a defense for the faith.

Christian apologetics is the discipline of making a defense for the Christian faith. Apologetics, therefore, has an important place in the life of a believer. But what place does it have? Does our faith rest on the sum total of a bunch of rational arguments? Or, do the arguments rest on our faith in God and thereby give rise to worship? In this episode, Brian Sutter, interviewed by Matt Kaufmann, cites the importance for both but advocates for worship. Apologetics offers a great deal of health and hope to the believer.

The tools for shedding hurt should be viewed as items in a tool belt to be used upon demand as opposed to items stored away in a box if per chance the need for use arises. In this final episode of the "Shedding Hurt" series, Ted Witzig Jr. explains both the importance and the skills for not allowing hurt to pile up. Having a lifestyle of shedding hurt will allow us to weather life's many disappointments.

At the root of forgiveness there are two gifts to be given. The vindication we want to give to the offender we give to Jesus. The grace we want to keep for ourselves we give to the offender. In this episode, Ted Witzig Jr. walks through the steps of forgiveness and helps us give these gifts to the right recipient.

Are you hurting? Have you sustained an emotional wound? Suppose you could shed that hurt. Suppose that hurt could fall away. Ted Witzig Jr. suggests it can. In this podcast series, Matt Kaufmann leads Ted in unpacking the disciplines of shedding hurt, anger, and bitterness.

Settling your identity on Christ will be a journey. A journey worth taking. In this episode, Amber Miller identifies the road markings for this journey and provides some practical helps along the way.

Who am I? Some of us ask this question out right. Others of us ask this question beneath our awareness. To be sure, all of us ask this question. The degree to which we are settled, content, satisfied and secure partially rests in this answer of identity. In this episode, Amber Miller helps us understand the health that is ours when we place our identity in Christ.

To misquote William Shakespeare, "All the world is the audience." The stage is our technology. With ever widening audiences our lives are broadcasted in circles we never intended. Users of technology need to understand this principle as well as others to navigate technology in the twenty-first century. This episode speaks to three final principles in technology use: time usage, Christ likeness and social appropriateness.

The Bible makes no mention of the internet, apps or virtual reality. Yet it speaks to them. In this episode, Arlan Miller and Matt Kaufmann provide a few helpful principles to use when discerning our technology use.

The intimacy between a husband and a wife holds immense promise, for it springs from immense holiness – The Holy Trinity. Christian marriage is a living testimony of God's Oneness. In this episode, Kaleb Beyer helps us understand sex as God designed it.

Marriage is meant to be a reflection of Christ and the church. When husbands and wives take their cue from Christ, they become a living testimony of this most holy relationship. To be sure, Satan wants to upset this metaphor. In this episode, Kaleb Beyer explains where he does and how we can, through Christ, be re-centered.

From Genesis to Revelation, marriage is a major narrative of the Bible. This divine institution is a visible testimony of the relationship nature of God. In this episode, Matt Kaufmann will lead Kaleb Beyer in a discussion that will attempt to peer into marriage and discover the gospel elements contained therein.

Life is hard. Part of being human is working through tough stuff. In times like these people tend toward isolation. However, God bundles the answer in relationship. Counseling, lay or professional, is this relationship that exposes our hurts to Christ's healing light. In this episode, Ted Witzig Jr introduces the discipline of Christian counseling and gives you a window into the heart of Apostolic Christian Counseling and Family Services.

Boundaries define what is and is not the United States. Furthermore, the existence of those boundaries and the respect we have for the boundaries of other nations sets the footings for national relationships. In like manner, personal boundaries go a long way in framing up our relationships with other people. Proper respect, discernment and action in accordance to our boundaries free us up to live out the law of love.

Our lives bump up against the lives of others at our boundaries. The proper care of those boundaries is incumbent on us to avoid hurt, exhaustion, and frustration. In this podcast series, Arlan Miller and Matt Kaufmann walk through five principles for living with healthy boundaries.

Having the conversation about the "Birds and the Bees" can be intimidating. In this episode, Craig Stickling and Brian Sutter motivate and equip parents to train up our children on the topic of sex.

We live in a sexually confused culture. It is, therefore, of utmost importance that we engage our children and shape their sexual character. Brian Sutter and Craig Stickling frame up this task by giving parents five areas of focus: beliefs, values, needs, skills, and supports.

From a pillow of stones to a pillar for worship, Jacob's transition was redeemed. In like manner, God would like our transition to be a springboard for worship. Episode 3 concludes the Redeeming Transitions series by introducing two more redeemable qualities of transitions – transitions elicit worship and transitions teach us about ourselves.