Mike and Joel - Growing in Grace program

I've updated our Growing in Grace podcast page with a couple of new pics. In case any of you are not aware, my friend Mike and I record a weekly 14 minute program for Grace Walk Internet Radio called "Growing in Grace." (All our past programs are archived as a podcast and are freely available to be downloaded). Our program began in February 2005, and since then we've aired 133 programs.

I met Mike in 1994 when I went to work at a local Christian radio station. He was the Program Director. During the next year or so, Mike began understanding and appropriating the biblical message that we would eventually come to know as the grace walk or the exchanged life. He became part of a church that itself had recently begun to preach a solid grace message. The pastor had formerly been a very legalistic Word of Faith preacher, but had "caught" the message of God's grace and had transitioned his preaching to the pure gospel message. Because of this huge change, many people left the church.


I was a wet-behind-the-ears volunteer DJ with absolutely NO experience in radio when I started working at the radio station and Mike trained me in everything I did. Over the months and years, we had lots of neat little conversations about God's grace. Through these conversations, and through Mike's sharing of the sermon tapes from his church with me, I eventually began understanding my identity in Christ better, and I became passionate about teaching the message of God's grace and our identity in Christ. Also, after a few months of nagging my wife - um, I mean gently speaking to my wife about what I was learning - we decided together to leave the church we attended and we began to attend Mike's church in 1996.

This church was a great source of life and encouragement for me for three solid years. However, our pastor was moved to go on to some other things in life, and at the end of 1999 the church decided to stop meeting together. (If I had known then what I know now, I probably would have strongly urged us to remain together, even without the benefit of this great source of preaching).

Fast forward to 2005. I had been earnestly praying for like-minded fellowship ever since those days. We did begin to attend a different church in early 2000, but I really lost the intimate grace-fellowship that I had been thriving upon. The Lord brought me to the Grace Walk Forum in early 2005, and I met some wonderful people and have had some great conversations there! One of the people I met was Dave Lesniak, who, among the 6,000 hats that he wears is the station manager for Grace Walk Radio. Having seen that I was in radio (I was still in radio at the time, but left two years ago), and knowing my passion for the grace message, Dave invited me to have a program on the online station. I talked to Mike about hopping on board with me and the rest is history.

I thoroughly enjoy recording these programs with Mike. I think it helps both of us to be encouraged in God's grace as we simply sit and chat about it informally. Through the podcast site, we've heard from people from all over the world and we're encouraged that the grace walk message is reaching so many people!