New Canaan Society Franklin Podcast

#85: Pastor Kevin Burns & Pastor Kevins Riggs

“Today is the Best Day of My Life” has been the life theme of Kevin Burns ever since he landed on Death Row more than 30 years ago.
 
Kevin Burns is one of the pastors at Franklin Community Church and the “in-residence” pastor of Riverbend Maximum Security Correctional Facility’s The Church of Life – the only church on a death row anywhere in the United States. Kevin Burns will be with us, via cell phone, in this podcast along with Franklin Community Church’s senior pastor, Kevin Riggs.  
 
In 1992 Kevin was caught in a gun fight in Memphis in which two people were killed. Three people, including Kevin, were convicted of felony murder, although Kevin did not actually kill anyone. The other two, who did commit the murders and were convicted, are now out on parole. Kevin is still awaiting his execution. His case was appealed to the Supreme Court, which in April refused to review it in spite of the strong objections of Justices Sotomayor, Jackson, and Kagan.
 
A year after Kevin’s arrest, God called him to become a believer. “God has the ability to change people,” he says. “There is that opportunity for salvation, for reconciliation, for God to restore lives.”
 
It’s not often that we have a speaker at our little breakfast group that is featured in a national television story the same month they are at NCS. We’ll provide more details about an upcoming ABC News story about the inconsistences of felony murder convictions in the United States that features Kevin Burns.

#84: Claude King

More than thirty years ago a publisher asked a little-known preacher in western Canada to write a book on how to experience God. The preacher had been challenging his listeners to ask, “What does God want to do through me?” because, he said, “God uses ordinary people to do extra-ordinary things.”
 
Like many busy preachers, Henry Blackaby did not have time to write a book. And so Claude King helped him write Experiencing God, a book that has been used since 1990 to transform lives, revive churches, heal marriages, and start ministries. For instance, Paul Van Woudenberg, who told us two months ago about Connect South Central Tennessee, is one person whose life was changed by Experiencing God.
 
In this presentation, Claude King, who wrote Experiencing God with Henry Blackaby and was Discipleship Specialist for Lifeway and is co-founder of Final Command Ministries, tells us how he learned that his own plans led nowhere. But when he joined God in where God was working, God used him to be a blessing to others. From New Mexico to Africa, from prisons to executive offices, the message of Experiencing God has been transformative and Claude has been in the middle of where God is working.

#81: Lee Camp

What does it mean to live a good life? What is true happiness? What are the habits, practices, and dispositions that facilitate human flourishing? You can find the answers – or at least listen to people who have wrestled with the questions -- on “No Small Endeavor,”the theological variety show that used to be called “Tokens.”
 
Or you can explore the answers at the NCS breakfast this Thursday when “No Small Endeavor” host Lee Camp will join us.
 
Lee is an Alabamian by birth, a Tennessean by choice, and has sojourned joyfully in Indiana, Texas, and Nairobi. He likes to think of himself as a radical conservative, or an orthodox liberal; loves teaching college and seminary students at Lipscomb University; delights in flying sailplanes; finds dark chocolate covered almonds with turbinado sea salt to be one of the finest confections of the human species; and gives great thanks for his lovely wife Laura, his three sons, and an abundance of family and friends. Besides teaching full-time and hosting “No Small Endeavor,” Lee has authored three books.
 
We do not expect either Brother Preacher or the Most Outstanding Horeb Mountain Boys to be with us. If you listen to the “Tokens Show,” that will make sense. If you don’t listen to the “Tokens Show,” it’s not worth explaining.

#80: Paul van Woudenberg

Today, we’re going to talk about making a difference in the lives of vulnerable children.
 
There are 8,500 children in the foster care program in Tennessee. The children who are not with one of Tennessee’s 4,000 foster families have to be housed by the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services. In Tennessee there are 400 children waiting for adoption. Those are the statistics and there is a lot we can do to support these vulnerable kids.
 
This Thursday Paul van Woudenberg will tell his story of how God called him and Rebecca to make a difference in the lives of vulnerable children – first by supporting children overseas, then by adopting and hosting children themselves, and finally by forming Connect South Central Tennessee -- a non-profit organization that encourages churches to support their local Department of Children’s Services office and showing God’s love to vulnerable children and the adults who care for them.
 
Paul’s Linked-in profile says he is a husband, father, and passionate advocate for vulnerable children. The benefit is not one way. Paul says, “I believe God is going to use these kids to wake up the church in Middle Tennessee.”

#79: Tom Cole

Did you know that our group is one of 45 chapters of the New Canaan Society? It’s named after the town in Connecticut where 28 years ago three men started meeting in the family room of Jim Lane’s house. After twenty years with Goldman Sachs, Jim had realized his life needed to be re-focused through friendship with brothers who wanted to “live pure, speak truth, right wrong, and worship the king” – to quote the NCS motto.
 
This Thursday, June 1, Tom Cole will be with us. Tom had a leadership role in the Manhattan chapter since it was formed in 2008 and served on the Board of Directors of New Canaan Society for the last 11 years.
 
Tom recently retired from a 37-year career on Wall Street where, during the last twenty years, he financed leveraged buyouts for the world’s largest private equity firms. The first thing he did in retirement was to write The Narrow Gate. After suffering two heart attacks and becoming keenly aware that every day is a gift, he wanted to document life lessons for his family. 
 
Tom will talk about some of these important lessons which he has learned from his own mistakes and adversity.

#78: Michael Card

You probably know Michael Card as a musician who has written “El Shaddai,” “Love Crucified Arose,” and Emmanuel.” But his goal in life was not to be a musician, but to follow Christ and teach the Bible. He believes we can know and be known by God and can enrich our lives by asking questions, having meaningful discussion with one another, and acknowledging Christ as the center of our life together.

#83: Nate Larkin

As the son of a Pentecostal preacher, Nate Larkin spent his childhood in storefront missions, camp meetings, and youth rallies. But after just five years in the pastorate, Nate quit because of an addiction to pornography and commercial sex and a private despair about his moral failures and the fear of public exposure.
 
After years of praying, fasting, and repenting in private, Nate finally found help for his sex addiction in the authentic friendship and safety of a 12-step recovery group. The 12-step group accomplished what solitary prayer and fasting could not do. He learned that the Christian life was designed by God as a team sport!
 
Nearly 20 years ago Nate and a few other Christian men began meeting in groups called The Samson Society where they had a safe place to take their real selves and say real truth about things they had kept hidden. Since then more than 450 Samson Society groups have started in North America and nearly 10,000 men have participated.
 
One way to think about it is that “Sound of Freedom” – this summer’s hit movie about child sex trafficking – tells a story about combating the supply side of an evil, while the Samson Society deals with the demand side of the same evil in men’s hearts. 
 
In part, the growth has been due to the leadership of Tom Moucka, who has been president of the Samson Society for the last six years.
 
Nate was the second speaker we had at our NCS breakfasts a dozen years ago and Tom is frequently with us at Puckett’s. Both Nate and Tom will be with us this Thursday, August 3, to share their stories and what God has been doing in their lives and through the Samson Society.

#77: Hank Erwin - Hope Hines - Darrell Waltrip

In February, 2020, Hank Erwin told us at NCS that his sons – Andrew and Jon, who had created Woodlawn, I Can Only Imagine, and other movies – were going to open a movie studio in Franklin. They did and a few months ago Kingdom Story Company released the hugely successful film Jesus Revolution.
 
In this podcast, Hank tells us about plans to bring Greg Laurie and a Harvest Crusade to Nashville in the summer of 2024.
 
Hank will bring two of his friends with him – Hope Hines, former sports director at WTVF, and Darrell Waltrip. Both are on the leadership team for Nashville’s Harvest Crusade.

#76: Anita Pringle

Our community is struggling with unfamiliar emotions. Three weeks ago we experienced the devastating shooting at Covenant School, and that experience will be with us for weeks, months, and for some a lifetime. We are collectively left with more questions than answers and many of us are still experiencing grief.
 
In this podcast, Anita Pringle, Clinical Director and a grief and trauma therapist at the Refuge Center in Franklin, will give us some insight into how to care for our own grief and how to love on the people who are hurting. She will share some thoughts on how to explain things to children in your life and when it is best to say nothing. Sometimes it's best to listen and be aware.
 
Anita will talk with us for ten minutes or so and then give you a chance to ask her whatever is on your heart.
 
Our prayer is that this content will be one small step in helping us to heal.

#75: Ulises Reyes & Alvaro Rivas

In this podcast, you will hear a remarkable story of redemption, of how God brought together two men whose faith carried each of them through both personal and family persecution. 
 
Ulises (Uli) Reyes, was born in Venezuela, immigrated to U.S. through Cuba as young child, and grew up on the streets of East Los Angeles. Today, he owns a successful beauty salon in downtown Franklin and helps an NGO that supports children in Nicaragua.
  
Alvardo (Al) Rivas, grew up as an orphan in Nicaragua and went to Los Angeles as young man. Through Young Life, Al felt God’s call to support orphans like himself in his home country, and so returned to Nicaragua to work with NGOs supporting children. However, he was forced to flee his country, leaving his wife and child, and sought political asylum in the U.S. Al is here in Franklin, awaiting trial to decide if he will be granted political asylum and permitted to stay. His story includes having to go underground to get out of Nicaragua, spending days in an enclosed container with 150 other people, many of whom died, and finally arriving in the United States. 
 
This is an emotional, very real story of how God cared for Uli and Al, brought them together, and how their friendship is impacting their own lives especially their walk with God.