On this episode of The Disciple-Making Parent Podcast, we celebrate a major milestone—our 100th episode! We’ll take a moment to reflect on highlights from some standout episodes throughout the years.
Highlights include:
- Episode 01: Solid Gold Advice from Seasoned Christian Pediatrician – Dr. Tom Hines
- Episode 20: A Baby’s First Year – Dr. Tom Hines
- Episode 06: Bullying and the Gospel – Kevin McKay
- Episode 65: Current Issues Teens Face (Part 1) – Travis Rymer
- Episode 66: Current Issues Teens Face (Part 2) – Travis Rymer
- Episode 68: Respect the Image: How to Communicate Well – Tim Shorey
- Episode 94: God at Work Aboard Mercy Ships – Bekah Bettis
- Episode 83: Marriage Panel: Real-Life Conversation and Encouragment – Chap and Sharon Bettis
- Episode 32: Gospel Infused Parenting – Bob and Julie Kauflin
- Episode 73: How to Shepherd Troubled and Angry Teens – Dr. Rick Horne
- Episode 89: The Toxic War on Masculinity – Nancy Pearcey
- Episode 77: Glimpses of God’s Glory – Chap Bettis
- Episode 78: Glimpses of Christ’s Glory – Chap Bettis
- Episode 79: Glimpses of the Believer’s Glory – Chap Bettis
- Episode 86: Honor: Our Duty to God and Others – Chap Bettis
- Episode 90: Understanding and Helping the Pastor’s Kid – Barnabas Piper
- Episode 59: Hope When You Lose a Child – Cameron Cole
- Episode 72: Walking Through Deep Sorrows and Loss – Tim Challies
- Episode 96: Characters of Easter – Dan Darling
- Episode 39: Characters of Christmas – Dan Darling
- Episode 54: Making Our Church a Safe Place – Jeff Dalrymple
Thank you for being part of this journey. Here’s to many more episodes to come!
Episode Transcript
What do you do when you have reached a big milestone? You celebrate. And that’s what we want do today.
Hi, my name is Chap Bettis, and I’m the author of The Disciple-Making Parent. In today’s podcast, I want to do something a little different. I want to stop and take a look back at all the Lord has done. Why? Because this is the 100th episode of the Disciple-Making Parent podcast! I can’t believe that I’ve reached this milestone. How did we do it? Just one interview. Just one episode at a time. A long obedience in the same direction.
I’ll be honest. Sometimes I wonder if it is being helpful. It takes a decent amount of work to get ready for interviews, do the interview, and then, do the follow-up editing. There can be a very real temptation to what has been called pod fade. In other words, you start out with high hopes and a demanding schedule, but then over time life happens. My goal has always been to publish twice a month during the school year. But if you look back, you will see that there have been times when life got busy and I did not publish. Some podcast hosts will interview authors where they have not read the book because they want to stay on a schedule. But I am committed to reading the book before I have an author on the show. And that means that at times, I don’t keep up with that two-week schedule.
When I started my podcast, I vowed in one sense to do it for me. I was going to put up online things that I found interesting. I would not be a slave to statistics. And I think that has served me well. Sometimes my podcasts have been interviews with people that have information that I think would be interesting. It gives me an excuse to have a conversation with them and serve you at the same time. Other times I have shared with you sermons that I have preached. I don’t know if that is a way to get more subscribers! But you have a chance to think about the things that I am thinking about.
But whenever I start to doubt if the podcast is bearing fruit, I inevitably run into several people who will tell me how much they appreciate it. I even had one person come up to me the last time I was exhibiting and say “I recognize that voice!“ That is a strange thing to hear as an author, but it was very encouraging. The Lord is using these episodes.
So to celebrate the hundredth episode I would like to go back and think about some podcasts that stood out to me or that I reference all the time when talking to people. You may have overlooked them or you may have never gone back and listened. Maybe this will whet your appetite.
My first episode was with my friend Dr. Tom Hines who has been a pediatrician for many years. That first episode was recorded in April of 2018. In it we talked about his advice to parents. Who knew that when we turned on that microphone 6 years ago, we would keep going for 100 episodes? A few years later I had Dr. Hines back on and we recorded episode 20: A Pediatrician Speaks About a Baby’s First Year. And in this episode, two older guys sat down and talked about thoughts on a baby’s first year. I thought that was hilarious. But really I was doing very little talking and just asking him questions.
What does that have to do with being a disciple-making parent? I believe that some of the principles start to play out even in that first year. If you are buying the lie that I should not mess up my baby then you will never try to get him or her on a routine. And if you think that limits are a bad thing, then you will be constantly chasing your little girl or little boy around. Tom as a pediatrician gives assurance that you can create order and should create order in the life of this new baby. And of course, as a pediatrician he is the expert. So that was episode 20, which is perhaps one of our most popular, because whenever I meet expectant parents I say “Check out episode 20.”
In episode 6 I talk to my senior pastor Kevin McKay on how he helped his son think about and face a bullying incident. Thankfully, I never faced this problem as a father with my children. But as a Christian man there was this tension within me, that says on the one hand, we are to be peacemakers and love our enemies. And on the other hand, we need to stand up to bullies. But I could never quite resolve those issues in my mind. And one day in an elders’ meeting, my lead pastor was describing how he walked his son through a situation he was facing. It was so wise and so thoughtful that I asked him if we could have the same conversation with the recorder going on again. That was a great interview, and a great example of what I wanted to do with the podcast. Good information that came up in the course of casual conversation. So check out episode 6 on bullying.
Episode 65 and 66 are with my associate pastor Travis Rymer. He did an excellent job researching and equipping our local church to handle the gender confusion and gender dogma that is being thrust upon us. He did this to think clearly in his own mind because his own children were being confronted, and because he was trying to raise his own children to love and follow Jesus. He predicted, rightly, that coming out of Covid it would be a big issue. And he was right.
In these two episodes he starts by telling us how we have gotten to where we are today. What some of the terms mean, and how did the agenda succeed thus far. In the other episode he gives a biblical defense of what Christians have understood throughout the ages. I have referred people to these episodes numerous times and I think they will serve you well as you face this issue in your family and in the culture.
Episode 68 is about communication. I interviewed Tim Shorey, author of Respect the Image. I received
numerous comments about this episode by many people. First, Tim does an excellent job of teaching on communication. He uses the acronym COMMUNICATE to teach us how to communicate. For something so common as communication, we actually are poor communicators. Tim Brings biblical help to that topic in all different areas. Another reason this interview stands out is because of the energy that it took. Tim is currently experiencing stage four cancer and talking with me took a lot of energy. Tim has been a good friend and we have taught together many times, so this was an emotional interview for me.
Speaking of emotional interviews, episode number 94 was also meaningful to me. In it I interviewed my daughter Bekah Bettis about her involvement with Mercy Ships. If you don’t know about Mercy Ships, they are a ministry where the ship is a floating hospital that docks at an impoverished nation for 10 months or so. They then offer on-board healthcare in particular surgeries. And at the same time they seek to strengthen the local health care as well. When you see how impoverished the rest of the world is you realize how many medical issues are taken care of here in the United states when our children are young. Rebecca volunteered to go for a five-month stint and now is headed back for a number of months. This is my interview with her about God’s work there. I am proud of all my children but I’m very hesitant to put them on stage because their walk with Jesus is their own, and it’s all by grace. They are not for me to parade around so that’s why you don’t often hear about family. But if you want to hear about what Bekah’s doing, you can listen to episode 94.
Speaking of family you might also want to check out episode 83 for some inside information on my marriage. Sharon and I were asked to be on a panel for our church when we held a marriage conference recently. Both of us objected saying we were here to learn, and we are still working at our marriage. But we later relented. Everything that was shared had been agreed on before the panel and many people told us how blessed they were with our vulnerability. Some couples seem to have an idyllic marriage and rarely disagree. But in this episode where we give you the inside scoop on how we we’ve had to work hard on our marriage.
I also remember my interview with Bob Kauflin the head of Sovereign Grace Music in episode 32. He has blessed many over the years both in his worship leading, for example at Together For the Gospel (T4G) as well as his ministry through Sovereign Grace Music. What many people don’t know is that he has also taught on occasion about parenting and grandparenting. So he’s thought about that from a biblical point of view. I was delighted to get to know him a little bit and ask if we could talk about those topics with the recording running. He has a wonderful heart for the savior and has a very gospel-focused perspective on parenting.
On the other end of the spectrum, though, is what about rebellious teens? One interview I find myself referring to people again and again is episode number 73. In it I talk with Dr. Rick Horne who is the author of Get Outta My Face. Get Outta My Face is especially helpful for parents and others dealing with a rebellious teen. In that episode we talk a little bit about his own life experience as well as his strategy. His strategy includes identifying what he calls wise wants. As we’re talking to our teen we’re able to help them identify wise things that they want, that they’re pursuing in a foolish way. So that can help you deal with the distress of teenage rebellion.
Just recently, episode 89 with Nancy Pearcy about her book The Toxic War on Masculinity was also memorable. It codified something that I had been thinking about as I’m watching our young men who are not prospering because of a bias against being a man. She
articulates that with an impressive array of statistics. She traces the history of these thoughts and then makes some practical suggestions. I appreciated how sharp she was and the historical research she brings.
As I mentioned before, the podcast is for things that I find interesting and think may help you. I do not always follow the same format. So, many times what I’m thinking about is what I’ve been asked to preach on. Episodes 77, 78, and 79 are recordings of three smaller sermons I preached on God’s glory. As followers of Christ we use the word glory a lot. But in the words of Inigo Montoya, “You keep using that word but I don’t think it means what you think it means.” That caused me do to a deep dive into the word glory and how the Bible uses it. Those three episodes represent just a small amount of work to think about what the Bible means by the word glory and how we can glimpse the glory of God, the glory of Christ in the coming glory of the believer. I think it will motivate your holiness.
Similarly I am convinced that the biblical command to honor is also not prevalent in our culture. In episode 86 I spend just a short time unpacking this command and how it applies to different people. We will be very different in our churches and in our country if we upheld honor as a value. And though there are many other episodes, let mention just a few more before I wrap up.
I remember episode 90 where I interviewed Barnabas piper about his book The Preacher’s Kid. In that book he unpacks some of the unique challenges and blessings that it is to be the child of a paid pastor. He talked about the fact that everyone knew who you are and usually have some behavioral expectations for you. He also talked about the expectations that you might have for yourself. I thought the interview was helpful if you are a pastors’ kid. And I also thought it was helpful to think about how I as
a church member could minister to my current pastor’s kids.
Two very moving episodes were times that I talked to a parent who had lost a child to death. In episode 59 I talked with Cameron Cole about the sudden death of his three-year-old and how he processed that processed that. We ended up talking about his book Therefore I Have Hope. In addition in episode 72 I talked with Tim Challies a year after he had lost his adult son suddenly and seemingly for no apparent medical reason. I especially found it moving to listen to his book as he read it in his own voice. I don’t believe I included this in the interview but before I turned on the recording I told him how moving it was to hear his words in his own voice, and did he have to stop to compose himself as he was reading out loud what he had written? He responded, “Yes I did many many times.”
And I would be amiss if I did not mention those interviews with friends who faithfully serve on my board. Episodes 39 and 96 are my interviews with my friend and author Dan Darling. I enjoyed talking with him about the characters of Easter and of Christmas. We
have talked on occasion about how much we enjoy character studies of biblical people. And his short books are fine sketches and perfect for family devotions. In addition, episode 54 records my interview with Jeff Dalrymple. Jeff is the executive director of the Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention or ECAP for short. He is working hard to ensure that our churches our safe places for children. And I highly commend his work.
I could just keep going and going with favorite episodes. It is a little like asking which is your favorite child. Each episode has different positives to commend itself to others. And choosing some means leaving others off the list.
And since starting, I began another podcast that I am calling my audio blog. In it I read my blog content in a shorter format of 6 to 9 minutes. I realized that my blog posts were not doing anyone any good sitting passively on the website. But people were hungry for
content in the format of a podcast. So i invested quite a bit of time in reading those in editing those so that you can get good content no matter where you are. And no matter how much time you have.
Another exciting development that has happened recently is putting the audio book of The Disciple-Making Parent up in podcast format. We were giving away the MP3 files pretty easily. But they were difficult to use. For example if you stopped in the middle of a
chapter and then the next day wanted to restart, it started from the beginning. That was very annoying. To me even more annoying was the fact that you could not speed up the playback. The truth is even I cannot listen to myself for very long at normal speed.
Maybe it is because I live in the north now, but as I’m listening to myself read the audiobook I say, “Speed up! Speed up!” Now you can listen to the audio book and speed up the playback. Simply visit our website thedisciplemakingparent.com and put your name in
the pop-up offer.
What’s in store going forward? I have some ideas that I’m not ready to make public yet. But my goal is to equip you- parents and church leaders- to raise up children who will be not only disciples but disciple-makers. We hope and pray that they will be leaders
in the next generation. Increasingly the world seems to be getting darker. But the light of Christians will shine even brighter. And I’m committed to do all I can to make you successful in that. So keep listening, let me know that you’re listening, and send me an email to let me know how the podcast has blessed you. And if the Lord gives me grace, I intend to keep going for another 100 episodes. Thanks for listening.
