New Canaan Society Franklin Podcast

#109: Mason Rutledge

What is the Middle Tennessee New Canaan Society and why does it need newleadership? Mason Rutledge, president of the national organization, will be with us on Thursday. NCS started as an east-coast group of guys who got together in the family room of Jim Lane’s house in New Canaan, Connecticut, where they could share what was happening in their lives. They began to bond with each other and started other groups in Fairfield, Connecticut, Manhattan (where B.J. Weber was involved), Bergen County, New Jersey, and even Winston-Salem, North Carolina. For several years B.J. urged Wes Yoder to start an NCS chapter in Franklin and in 2011 some brothers from Winston-Salem sponsored a lunch here to encourage us. Marty Wheeler, who was at the lunch, approached Andy Marshall to see if we could have the breakfast at Puckett’s. Andy had been praying that God would use his restaurants for God’s glory and we’ve been meeting at Puckett’s ever since. The early New Canaan Society groups had a New York flavor. The Manhattan chapter used to meet at Rockefeller Center, for instance. Our Middle Tennessee chapter has its own down-home flavor. But the goal is still the same: one guy telling another, “This is what I want to share with you from my own life.”

#108: Ray Mullican

Ray Mullican is a 62 year-old Franklin boy. You may know him from Brentwood Academy, from Christ Community Church, or from sitting next to him at Puckett’s. His story is not unique, but it is his to share this Thursday. Loss, grief, anger, rage, shame . . . depression. What happens when God turns out to not be who you thought He was? What happens when you do all the right things so that people will like you and so that God will be your genie in a bottle, but it stops working? Ray was a faithful believer, a college athlete, an engineer with a beautiful new wife. He did his thing “for God” and God came through for him in incredible ways . . . or so it seemed. Then a series of losses including two failed business and practical bankruptcy brought grief . . . and shame . .  that led to rage-based depression, all while Ray got a Masters in Biblical Counseling and served as an elder at Christ Community Church. Ultimately, however, Ray sat in his car, praying and crying, “God I’m not going to kill myself, but I would appreciate it if you would give me a heart attack and let me die.” Then God took away Ray’s 9-year-old daughter, Erin, who died in a car accident. God’s shocking, almost audible words to Ray’s heart were unexpected. Ray surrendered to a good God, not understanding everything. He soon came to mentor and deeply love the 17-year-old young man who had caused Erin’s death.Ray now has an extraordinary job -- to follow Jesus and invest in others.

#107: Dan and Paige Pitts

Dan Pitts, owner of True Artist Management, and Paige Pitts, founder of New Hope Academy, will be with us this Thursday. Dan was a typical white kid who, Wes says, “knew next to nothing about racial injustice until he started working with Toby Mac and DC Talk and learned about the challenges that come with racial prejudice.” At the same time, Paige became deeply convinced that God calls His people to care about justice and righteousness. And since access to educational opportunities is a key indicator of racial inequality, she founded New Hope Academy 28 years ago in Franklin as a school of excellence that is both ethnically and socioeconomically diverse. Williamson County is the 22nd richest county out of the 3,144 counties in America. It’s easy for us to ignore the fact that some of us live in house trailers; a few still have outhouses; there is homelessness in our county. It’s easy for us to ignore that God calls His people to care about justice and righteousness.

#106: Mark Montgomery

This Thursday Mark Montgomery, Williamson County Director for Fellowship of Christian Athletes, will share his story, including the opportunities he has had to be a coach of coaches. Mark, a father of four, is from South Mississippi and attended Southern Miss on a football scholarship. Coaches are in a unique situation because athletes look up to them for guidance not just in sports but in other areas of life. Mark will tell us how he uses his experiences in teaching and coaching to encourage other coaches to reach young people in classrooms, on the fields, and courts.

#105: Andy Reese

Are you doing what God created you to do? Can you identify your spiritual gifting and do you understand God’s purpose for your life? This Thursday Andy Reese will ask two simple questions that will help you find your spiritual gift. This is not something just for 20-year-olds. Better understanding your spiritual gift later in life can help your gift to mature and strengthen and can be rewarding to you and a blessing to others.  Andy Reese has spoken twice at our NCS breakfast, but that was 12 years ago. He is a rainwater management engineer who also founded Freedom Prayer, a ministry that provides a biblical model of prayer counseling. He has four children, five grandchildren, is a retired military officer, writer, and serial entrepreneur.

#103: Marvin Young

Pastor Marvin Young, one of our own, has offered to share part of his fascinating story.  He’s a big, passionate man with big, creative ideas who serves the one true God who, in so many ways, is bigger than we can comprehend.   What is Marvin passionate about? Food (he can talk about pork rinds and Creole seasonings), mentoring kids (he’s starting a youth program in Franklin like the one he started in Ohio that helps young people become entrepreneurs), prayer (One Heart Ministries, of which he is pastor, has held Sunday evening Prayer on the Square, and Marvin leads a prayer walk every Friday morning at 6:30).   Marvin prays for unity, healing, and revival.  He and his brother were musicians with Starvin’ Artist Entertainment.  He renovates houses.  And Marvin was a narcotics agent who switched sides.  He met Jesus in what he calls “Bible Camp” (Federal Prison).   Enjoy hearing part of his amazing story and testimony here and be sure to meet him on a future Thursday the next time you see him sit by the window at NCS.

#105: Emmanuel Ntibonera

This Thursday bring some new or good used shoes to NCS breakfast – as many children’s shoes, men’s shoes, women’s shoes as you can donate so we can send them  to the Congo. And meet Emmanuel Ntibonera who will tell us his story and why he is collecting shoes. Emmanuel was born in eastern Congo (then called Zaire) near Rwanda. His first seven years were peaceful. Then rebels terrorized his town and his family fled. “As my bare feet carried me, my eyes and ears absorbed horrors I’ll never forget. Limp bodies painted with dry blood on the side of the road. Women’s screams turned my stomach. Children were looking for their parents, tears streaming down their faces. Through the madness, Dad warned us, over and over as we fled, ‘Don’t look back.’” Eventually the Ntibonera family all received refugee status and came to the U.S. where Emmanuel went to Liberty University and built his own life. One day he returned to his homeland and what he discovered there – disease, extreme poverty, deficient infrastructure, and a spirit of hopelessness – changed his life forever. He has taken more than 125,000 pairs of shoes to people in Congo, giving children confidence, pride in their well-being, and safety from foot infection. Emmanuel is on the staff of Exile International, a Nashville organization serving child soldiers and children orphaned by war in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Brothers, I encourage you to hear Emmanuel’s story this Thursday. His experiences are unlike those of most of us. But through it all, his family had faith like that of George Müller. They believed God would provide . . . and He did. They experienced miracles.

#104: Gary Witherall

Why does God allow me to suffer? We know that God is all powerful and that he loves us. And yet we suffer. Gary Witherall can talk about suffering. In 2000 he and his wife, Bonnie, moved to Lebanon, began serving the church there, and learned Arabic. Bonnie worked in a Christian prenatal clinic and fell in love with the women she served. Life became more difficult after September 11, 2001. While Gary and Bonnie wept at the loss of American life, their neighbors celebrated it with joy. A year later when Bonnie went to the clinic, a man shot and killed her. The terrorist was never captured.