Cross Training Ministries Podcast

No one has ever given you the training you need to fight back against sinful passions - we are going to change that.https://www.survivingthetrenches.men/

Join us as we explore 10 marks of a Spiritual Friend. Subscribe now and catch a vision of life outside of isolation.https://www.xtrainingministries.com/

Life Planning is like a stick of dynamite. It's undeniably useful if used in the right way, but horrifically dangerous if played around with hastily. For this reason books by life coaching gurus like Michael Hyatt and David Allen ought to include a warning label. Unless filtered through a spiritual colander they easily lead to an achievement based, self-centered lifestyle. More than one Christian man has left the straight and narrow due to having some life coach affirm the favorite lie of Satan - that the center of the universe is me.In this episode, Joe and Evan give you 5 steps for making a Christian Life Plan.Want more help with life planning? Check out Challenge 5 in the Decathlon - or email evan@xtrainingministries.com

Picture a guy wanting a more focused life. He hears a podcast on how to draft a plan for his life, then he sits down with a notebook and pen and begins to attempt to write a vision for himself. He takes inventory of his roles and responsibilities. He budgets his time and creates space for new things. Will this result in focus? Sadly, the answer might be yes. It's entirely possible that this guy will figure out a way to more strategically pursue idol worship - he will be better at serving secular gods than before.Focus by itself is not a virtue - focus is only good if we're focused on the right things. What will help you focus on the right things? Perspective - the 5th Discipline of a Focused Mind.In this episode, Joe and Evan guide you on the path to perspective, and show you some of the challenges along the way.

We're in a series on the Disciplines of a Focused Mind. This week we're covering the fourth discipline: prayer.Prayer ought to focus the mind of a man, but often times prayer is a time when men are most easily distracted. In this episode, Joe and Evan talk about 6 ways to pray that won't lead you to focus, and then they give you 7 elements of prayer that help with focus and alignment.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if understanding and transformation were identical. They are not. There are lots of pastors and seminary teachers who are spiritually distracted and lifeless. How can this be? They know the meaning of 1,000 different Greek words, and they have read 100s of different books. The problem isn’t in the understanding but in the heart; they do not take the time needed to apply the truth to themselves so that it adheres and affects them.Men, be warned: it’s possible for you to understand a doctrine or a Bible verse without that truth adhering to you in a way that changes you.In this episode we talk about the third discipline of a focused mind: Adhesion. Listen as Joe Barnard gives you 4 steps to adhesion.https://www.xtrainingministries.com/

Information doesn't naturally stick in the mind - the mind is a sieve and billions of bits of data pass through all of the time. Think about how terrible it would be if we had to understand and process every piece of data that we encountered. The problem with this system is that sometimes important stuff passes through the sieve. Think of reading through John 17 - this is Jesus' great prayer - you read it and walk away without anything sticking with you or transforming you. This begs a question - how do we turn the sieve of the mind into a container that holds and stores vital spiritual truth?In this episode we give you three ways to improve your understanding.Join the Focus40 Challenge

"Focus" is what CS Lewis calls a "halo word". Everybody wants focus, but no one really knows what the word is referring to. We think that focus will come naturally if we eliminate distraction. That's a joke. Cutting out distraction will no more produce focus than cutting out dessert will produce muscle. Focus is something that must be cultivated. But what do we need to be doing to strengthen focus? That's the subject matter of this podcast season. We're going to look at the disciplines of a focused mind.Discipline One: MemorizationThis is the discipline everyone wants to skip - a lot of guys want to reduce the high bar of memorization to the low bar of reflection. In this episode we give you six reasons memorization is a vital discipline for Christian men who want to be focused on Christ.Join the Focus40 Challengehttps://www.xtrainingministries.com/

Do you want to learn what it means to be a loving dad? Look to the example of Jesus, Everlasting Father (Is 9:6).1) Protect your family2) Lead your family in worship3) Teach your children to follow JesusOther Cross Training Christmas resources:Blog: Help for Men Who Struggle to Make Much of the IncarnationVideo: The Incarnation Transforms Our Knowledge of Godhttps://www.xtrainingministries.com/

Imagine you could spend an afternoon with the 65 year old you, what do you hope to see? What do you hope to have accomplished at this point in your life?In the last two chapters of Hudson Taylor’s autobiography we get a glimpse of what it looks like to finish strong. It should be no surprise that finishing strong has very little to do with his worldly success, but rather the legacy he leaves after a lifetime of trusting in the faithfulness of God. This is the final week of the HeroChallenge. As you and your friends bring this spiritual exercise to a close, make sure to finish strong. Encourage one another to continue trusting God. Help your friends see what their life will look like, if they become the kind of man who believes the promises of God.Follow along with the HeroChallenge

You’ve spent six weeks considering this question: How would my life change if I were friends with Christian hero Hudson Taylor? You are the sum of your 5 closest friends, and by now we’ve read enough of the life of Hudson Taylor to know that his presence in our friend group would challenge our faithful obedience to God.This week we want to take that question, and scale it up: How would my church change, if Hudson Taylor became a member? In week 7 of the HeroChallenge, we want you to see yourself as the man in your church who leads with humility and trust - like Hudson Taylor would.Join the HeroChallenge

How would you describe the ordinary Christian man? Busy, exhausted, distracted - these are all fair descriptions that capture at least a small piece of the struggles of modern man. But here’s one word that keeps coming to my mind as I look at myself and my friends…waiting. And by this I don’t mean that men are waiting on the Lord. Rather, most men are waiting on someone else to act first. Waiting on the perfect circumstances before they commit. Waiting for life to slow down, before they get serious about growing in godliness. Waiting, waiting, waiting.Our friend Hudson Taylor was terrible at waiting. He lived with a sense of urgency. If you are friends with Hudson, you better get used to going.In week 6 of the HeroChallenge, we want to urge you to stop waiting - it’s time to follow through. Trust in the strength of God to carry you.Join the HeroChallenge.

How do you describe God? Does what you think about God change, when your circumstances change? Our friend Hudson Taylor described God as the One Great Circumstance. This view of God seemed to give him confidence, bring him comfort, and spur him forward. A friend like Hudson urges us to ask the question: how would my life change if I believed God to be the One Great Circumstance?In week 5 of the HeroChallenge, we want to challenge you to keep your mind on the One Great Circumstance. Trust Him. Know His peace.Join us on the HeroChallenge.

When Hudson Taylor landed in China, he was greeted by danger, disappointment, and discouragement. In fact, not long after landing in Shanghai he sent his family a special Christmas present: a 5 pound cannonball - the very cannonball that almost took his life while navigating through war-torn China.As you listen to Hudson’s stories about his early years in China, you discover that he’s is the kind of guy who can’t help but quote scripture and hymns. Cannonballs, death threats, hunger, loneliness - all produced the same result in him: recite the promises God. Hudson is the kind of friend who is always ready to remind you of God’s faithfulness.In week 4 of the HeroChallenge, we want you to join with your friend Hudson in believing the promise that God will uphold you, strengthen you and help you - especially during times of adversity.Join in here: HeroChallenge

Being friends with Hudson Taylor is an exercise in humility. Hudson is the kind of friend who you catch pleading with God - constantly. When he’s weak he pleads with God for physical strength to persevere. When no one else sees a way of escape, he pleads for a timely rescue. When he meets someone with a hard-heart, he pleads for their salvation.Hudson is the kind of friend who is convinced that a man’s faith can be strengthened through complete dependence on God - and he has stories to prove it. Each story reveals the thesis of Hudson’s life: God can be trusted.This is week three of the HeroChallenge. Follow along here: HeroChallenge

Hudson Taylor has unbelievable stories of receiving generous provision. He also has unbelievable stories of giving generously to others. Hudson’s stories scream this one truth: God is faithful to provide.This is week 2 of the HeroChallenge. You can follow along here: Week Two

This is week One of the Hudson Taylor HeroChallenge.When you read about the early years of Hudson Taylor’s life, you get the sense that his household was full connection points to the gospel. His mother and sister kept prayer journals. His dad invited missionaries over to the house regularly. His family had a bookshelf full of Bibles and books about the Bible. All of this, by God’s grace, fostered an environment where the young and skeptical Hudson grew to become  a man who believed that prayer works and God can be trusted.Do you need help learning to trust God?Join the HeroChallenge

It's been said that a man is the sum of his 5 closest friends. If that’s true, what would it be like to have Hudson Taylor as one of those friends? How would your life change if you began to mimic the man who left a legacy of trusting in the faithfulness of God? Let’s find out.For the next 8 weeks we are going to challenge you to trust God with every area of your life. By adapting some of the disciplines of Hudson Taylor, you are going to become intimately familiar with the faithfulness of God. This Hero Challenge is designed to disrupt a lifestyle of apathy and uncertainty. Over the course of this challenge, you will be exposed to eight unmissable promises of God. You will be confronted with unbelievable stories of what happens when an ordinary man trusts God. You will be challenged to pray fervently, and act boldly.Men need help strengthening their faith, learning to rely on God at all times and in all situations - that’s what this Hero Challenge will do. Get ready!Sign-up here: HeroChallenge

"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit." - Romans 8:5Habitual distraction, misdirected desire, disordered love, stupid life planning - these are the symptoms of a mind that is set on the flesh, not the spirit.Don't you wish you had the ability - in the midst of a busy life - to keep your focus and mind on God. You can.Listen as Joe trains us in the discipline of spiritual mindedness.

Is your daily devotional stale? Do you feel like your mind constantly distracted? Learn how to renew of life of prayer, meditation, and devotion with Hymn Workouts.In this episode, Evan reads the introduction to the book that gives distracted men 100 spiritual exercises.