New Canaan Society Franklin Podcast

This Thursday we will have a double header at our NCS Breakfast at Puckett’s. With us live and in-person will be Paul Young, author of The Shack, and friend of many brothers on death row at Riverbend. With us by cell phone will by Terry King, who, at the age of 22, was sentenced to death for murder and has spent more than 37 years on death row here in Nashville. During those 37 years, Terry has become a believer and a changed man. “I don’t need to pretend to be someone I am not,” he says. “I am just a sinner saved by God’s loving grace. I want to spend the rest of my life helping others so they don’t walk in the same footsteps that I have walked.” In C.S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters, Screwtape (the senior demon) tells Wormwood (the junior Tempter), “Remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy (i.e. Jesus). Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick.” In spite of Satan’s temptations to us, God’s love can be victorious. Whether you are guilty of murder or of “playing cards,” God’s forgiveness is available to you, as Terry has discovered. It will be a morning you won’t forget.

You’ve seen pictures, heard reports, lamented over the horrors perpetrated on the Ukrainian people, and prayed for those involved. Fred Heumann of MusicWorks International has made 18 trips to Ukraine to train church and seminary leaders in worship, theology, and music. One of those seminaries, the Ukraine Evangelical Theological Seminary (UETS), is 15 minutes from Bucha, the city that was savagely occupied by Russian soldiers. On the second day of the war, Fred founded ServeUkraine.org to help meet the needs of Ukrainians. On Thursday he will share some background and insight into Ukraine and its people from his unique perspective. He will also introduce us to Ivan Rusyn, president of UETS. If the technology works and he’s available, Ivan will be with us also by Zoom. If you want to know more about Ivan, you can read an interview in Christianity Today. Ivan concludes the interview, “I want to say I see God’s hand at work. When I go back to Bucha tomorrow, can I tell the old woman (who “had no windows, no water, no electricity, nothing”) that God is working in her life? Theologically I believe He is. But in front of such suffering, I lack the strength to communicate it.”

In case you missed Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival last week at the Bluebird Cafe, Station Inn, or Third & Lindsley, you can join us this Thursday when we’re having a morning of pickin’ and prayin’, singin’ and sharin’ at the NCS breakfast at Puckett’s. Except for the last two Covid-filled years, about 20 singers, songwriters, music producers, and “pastor types” have gathered at a two-day annual retreat organized by our own Lyle Williams. These brothers call themselves “Music City Fathers” and get together for a little friendship, a little encouragement, a lot of memories, and some really great music. The retreat is this week and some of the Music City Fathers are going to join us. We expect to have several Jesus Music legends with us including John Fischer, Scott Wesley Brown, Bob Bennett, and Bruce Carroll.

On December 10, tornadoes traveled 260 miles from Arkansas to Kentucky and pulverized Mayfield, Kentucky, a town of 10,000. The Tennessean headlined, “Tornado reveals strength of Mayfield people” – people who still needed help. “Food, water, heavy equipment, essential physical needs were addressed with hugs, pats, and smiles from total strangers.” Jason Ellerbrook was on our NCS leadership team while he was executive director of a Southern Baptist men’s ministry and living in Nashville. Nineteen months ago Jason moved to Murray, Kentucky to become Executive/Discipleship pastor of FBC Murray, 22 miles from Mayfield. Jason and his church became one of the many centers that provided food, water, hugs, pats, and prayers to help the people of Mayfield.

Chip Arnold is a Nashville actor who has played Paul, Jesus, and King Saul as well as Willy Loman (in “Death of a Salesman”), Henrik Ibsen, Henry Potter (in “It’s A Wonderful Life”), and many others. He was scheduled to be with us on January 6, but that breakfast was cancelled due to snow and ice.
This Thursday Chip will present -- as only he can do -- The Sermon on the Mount. Chip explains: “The words I memorized and speak are true. Most important, the words reveal the One who was and is the true source of power and life. I am not the same man.”

Philip Yancey is author of 25 books, including The Jesus I Never Knew and What’s So Amazing about Grace? His most recent – Where the Light Fell: A Memoir – is his most personal. It’s an amazing book. One reviewer said, “Where the Light Fell could be a Faulkner novel, with racist preachers, off-kilter parenting, tormented siblings, and religious hypocrisy right and left. It’s not an overstatement to say that this stunning memoir might be the miracle we’ve all waited for.”
This podcast is produced by underdog.film, based in Franklin, TN. Underdog.film focuses on video storytelling for businesses, churches, non-profits and documentary film production.  Everyone has stories,  we help tell it through powerful video.  Visit https://www.underdog.film or send Kendall an email at johnsonk@underdog.film to start a conversation about your film needs.

Becca is a Nashville treasure. The chaplain at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Chapel on Vanderbilt’s campus, she founded Magdalene, a residential program for women who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, addiction, and life on the streets. Thistle Farms, a job training program in which women create natural bath and body products and more, grew out of Magdalene and there is also a delightful restaurant, Thistle Stop Café on Charlotte Avenue.Magdalene and Thistle Farms seek to transform the culture around us that buys and sells women. They seek to demonstrate that love is more powerful than all the forces that drive women to the streets. This is what love looks like.
 
This podcast is produced by underdog.film, based in Franklin, TN. Underdog.film focuses on video storytelling for businesses, churches, non-profits and documentary film production.  Everyone has stories,  we help tell it through powerful video.  Visit https://www.underdog.film or send Kendall an email at johnsonk@underdog.film to start a conversation about your film needs.

I think Jimmy Sites has had a lot of fun filming nearly twenty years of “Spiritual Outdoor Adventures,” which airs in the US (of course), is popular in Russia, Ukraine, and Ecuador, and is seen in more than 50 other countries. Jimmy has hunted river bear and giant mountain goats in Alaska, trout in Lake Tahoe, whitetail in Arkansas, Ibex in Spain, and a giant mountain lion in Nevada. He has also filmed a visit to the Waodani tribe in Ecuador’s Amazon jungle with Steve Saint. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Would you believe that Jimmy has some very interesting stories to tell?
 
This podcast is produced by underdog.film, based in Franklin, TN. Underdog.film focuses on video storytelling for businesses, churches, non-profits and documentary film production.  Everyone has stories,  we help tell it through powerful video.  Visit https://www.underdog.film or send Kendall an email at johnsonk@underdog.film to start a conversation about your film needs.