The Steier Group is proud to present our podcast, Twelve Wicker Baskets with Christopher Beaudet. Subscribe now on your favorite podcast app.
In the Gospel, Jesus fed 5,000 with only five loaves and two fish. After the crowd was satisfied, there were 12 wicker baskets left over. God provides the abundance. In each episode of this podcast, we will explore, with pastoral leaders and development professionals, all the many ways God meets the spiritual and temporal needs of our parish communities, our Catholic schools and the diocesan church. And not only meets those needs but provides in abundance.
The fourth episode of the podcast is Activated Discipleship with Jeff Cavins.
Creator of The Great Adventure Bible study series, host of the weekly podcast, The Jeff Cavins Show, and co-host of The Bible in A Year podcast with Fr. Mike Schmitz, Jeff Cavins is a well-known Catholic evangelist, author and biblical scholar.
In this episode, Jeff discusses his latest book, The Activated Disciple: Taking Your Faith to the Next Level. An activated disciple is someone who, having encountered the person of Jesus in a life-transforming way, shapes his or her day so as to foster and nourish that relationship of love. It isn’t enough to “consume the faith” by reading the latest books about Catholicism, attending conferences or listening to programs and podcasts; it’s necessary to live it.”
Reducing the faith to a “consumer religion,” Jeff notes, results in a crisis whereby disciples fail to witness convincingly to the gospel, failing to win souls for God and the Church. The Lord’s call to “come follow me,” Jeff explains, was a formulaic invitation used by all itinerant rabbis in the first century to choose those who had the ability to imitate the rabbi and become like him; to take up his mantle and assume his world view. Just so, Jesus called the apostles to take his yoke and learn from him – as he calls yet today. Discipleship is open to us all in every walk of life. It is an invitation to pick up the Lord’s mantle – his mission – and walk with it. The active disciple resists the noise and distractions that steals time away from prayer.
How do we come to know the voice of the Lord? There is no shortcut; it requires lots of time. But time spent with the Lord is not a burden; it’s an invitation to life. The active disciple is also one who gives generously since God has first given everything to us, even his only begotten Son, out of love. Imitating him, then, leads to that joyful giving which is a trademark, among other characteristics and virtues, of the disciple. When we give to God, he will do extraordinary things with what we give that far exceed anything we could do on our own. Giving is a joy.
Guest: Jeff Cainvs
Author and Podcast Host
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Previous episode: Interconnectedness of discipleship, stewardship and evangelization with David Baranowski
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Contact the podcast: email [email protected].
