Hey! I'm Steve! Here's a bit about me...
Personal History: I currently live in Colorado with my wife, Kristi, and 2 fabulous kids: Hannah & Noah. Kristi and I have been ridiculously happily married 23 years. She's my rock. I grew up in Fort Collins, CO (lovely place) and later got my degree in Biblical Studies & Missions from Oklahoma Christian University. In 2005, Kristi & I (with Hannah in tow) moved to Dresden, Germany to work with a small church there. We planned to be there forever but moved back to the USA in 2009 (long story). I ended up working as a UX designer, then a manager of designers, and now a manager of designers and software engineers – and I love it! On the downside, I was diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinson's Disease in 2017, then with Multiple Sclerosis in 2019. It's rough living with those 2 neurological conditions, but I'm learning to look for the positives.
Faith History: I come from a long line of Church of Christ ministers and missionaries who taught me to love God and follow Him no matter what. Strangely, that's led me away from the "Church of Christ" as it exists now and to try follow God in a new way. Kind of like my own, personal, Restoration Movement, really. My "deconstruction" begain while we were in Germany as missionaries, but really hit high-gear during the COVID pandemic. The forced distance from things really gave me the space I needed to take a new look at my faith and I realized how it was more tied to the "church" than it was to God, himself. I decided to do something about that, and here we are, with me talking about my spiritual struggles for the world to hear, and you listening. Hello - welcome to the journey :-)
Steve has hosted 68 Episodes.
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19: Affirming: LGBTQ+ acceptance & the church - a conversation with Sally Gary
June 30th, 2021 | 1 hr 4 mins
Today we’re going to be discussing the book Affirming: A Memoir of Faith, Sexuality, and Staying in the Church by Sally Gary. This is Sally’s second memoir, and it’s about her journey from her youth growing up in the church of Christ, coming to terms with her sexuality as a gay woman, and moving from a stance of not approving of same sex marriage herself to marrying her wife Karen just this past year — all while remaining devoted to God. It’s a deeply touching story, and I believe a very important one that all Christians should check out.
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18: Science & Faith 01: Handling the Conflict of Science & Faith
June 23rd, 2021 | 25 mins 17 secs
The first in a mini-series on science and the Bible, we go deeper in to the idea that God wrote 2 books: the Word and the World. And what does Aristotle and a fixed-earth cosmology have to do with it all?
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17: It’s Complicated: Taking a new look at the Trinity
June 16th, 2021 | 1 hr 27 mins
Today we dive in to a deep and mysterious and complicated and confusing topic. We tend to just say this word and accept it and move on, but we're going to take some time to discuss the doctrine of the Trinity. The idea that 3 is 1 and 1 is 3. And we dive in to whether or not that's what we believe, and what does that mean for our lives, and what does it mean for how I treat my neighbor, or what I should do today?
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16: Aftershocks: Reactions to breaking up with your church
June 9th, 2021 | 1 hr 27 mins
Today we have a little bit of fun with a denomination personality quiz, then stick around until the end to hear Steve’s breakup letter to our congregation. And in the meantime, we talk about the emotions of this in-between space, community and lack thereof, and Nathan discovers #WeirdChristianTwitter
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15: Book Club: "Why We Can't Wait" by Martin Luther King, Jr.
June 2nd, 2021 | 1 hr 27 mins
We're joined by Nicole Magliore to discuss the book "Why We Can't Wait" by Martin Luther King, Jr. – Not only do we discuss the book, but what white Christians can do to make a difference in a country that is still so stuck in white supremacy and systemic racism. This, my friends, is a fantastic episode.
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14: Accidental Selection: Thoughts on finding a new church
May 26th, 2021 | 1 hr 20 mins
Today we’re talking about our personal criteria for what we’re looking for in a church. We’re both in this awkward stage of looking and it’s a bit like dating, except you only get to have a little bit of cracker and a little bit of juice. We'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback! Email us at followingthefirepodcast@gmail.com
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13: Flip-Floppers: Engaging in politics and keeping your soul
May 19th, 2021 | 1 hr 43 mins
Today we’re discussing everyone’s favorite topic: Politics. We’ll be talking about how and why and if we should involve ourselves in politics, whether or not we all have to agree, and where our focus through it all needs to be.
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12: Don't Give Moses Horns: Are science & faith friends or foes?
May 12th, 2021 | 1 hr 19 mins
Today we're going to talk about science and religion. Big, big topics that have influenced our faiths for our whole lives. Studies show that Christians everywhere experience the tension between the two things. But is there really a conflict? Do we have to make a choice? Or can there be a harmony when these two ways of looking at the world align?
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11: Grieving Leaving: How to leave a church
May 5th, 2021 | 1 hr 31 mins
For better or worse, one thing that comes with all the faith deconstruction going on these days is that a lot of people are leaving or changing the church they attend. Nathan has some great advice for those leaving, those who are left, and the leaders of churches. Wherever you fall on that list, this episode is for you.
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10: Book Club: "With" by Skye Jethani
April 28th, 2021 | 1 hr 20 mins
On this episode of the Following the Fire Book Club we discuss the book "With" by Skye Jethani. Special guest: Heather Meyer!
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9: Huge Black Eye: Modern idolatry and the image of God
April 21st, 2021 | 1 hr 31 mins
Today Nathan’s return to a short story about Jesus healing 10 lepers leads us into the 10 commandments, idolatry, can we safely say “OMG”, then to masks, vaccines, the mark of the beast. We talk about being the image of God in this messed up spiritual desert, and we wish for brave leadership through it.
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8: Deconstructing Deconstruction: What it is and why it's happening
April 14th, 2021 | 1 hr 53 mins
In this episode Nathan learns what the word ‘heuristic’ means, and we talk a lot about ‘deconstruction’ — what it means, what it doesn’t mean, and what the process might be like for people like us who are going through it.
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Bonus Episode: The Leaven of Nathan
April 10th, 2021 | 14 mins 45 secs
The Problem: Nathan is judgmental and gets it wrong about music
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7: Bowling Without Bumpers: Rethinking the Restoration movement
April 7th, 2021 | 1 hr 22 mins
Is restoration of the first century church REALLY what we should be focusing on? Is there a danger in trying to do the right thing all the time? Is faith supposed to be scary? Should we all give dancing naked a try? These and other questions, if not answered, will at least be asked on this week's episode.
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6: It’s not about farming: Is the Bible everything we think it is?
March 31st, 2021 | 1 hr 24 mins
We’re going to talk about the B.I.B.L.E. and discuss whether it’s the book for us. Where’d it come from? Is it truth? What is truth? Then we get deeper and deeper. Come follow along as we try to figure this out.
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5: The G.O.D. Club: The problem of Christian moral superiority
March 24th, 2021 | 1 hr 16 mins
Nathan shares his thoughts on how misunderstanding "Good Guys vs. Bad Guys" can lead to an inverted gospel of moral superiority, and how it contributes to the problem of "Us Against Them." And, along the way, Nathan realizes that he's not the Jedi he thought, but he was the Sith the whole time.