Start at Home - EP 3 - The Case That Changed Everything

Start at Home - EP 3 - The Case That Changed Everything

Most Christians have heard the name Engel v. Vitale. Almost nobody knows the actual story — who brought the case, what the prayer said, how the court ruled and why, and what one of the justices wrote in his dissent that most believers have never heard. This episode walks through the 1962 Supreme Court decision that removed corporate prayer from American public schools — the door that opened everything the country has watched happen for the last sixty years. We cover the twenty-two-word prayer at the center of the case, Justice Hugo Black's reasoning (he was a Baptist, and his concerns were more complicated than the bumper-sticker version suggests), and Justice Potter Stewart's dissent — a remarkable piece of writing almost no Christian in America has ever heard. Then we walk through the cascade of rulings that followed Engel every ten years — 1963, 1980, 1985, 1992, 2000 — and the fruit that showed up in the schools themselves almost immediately. We close on the reality that God is not defeated by a Supreme Court ruling. He never was. He never will be. What He does is move — and He calls His people to move with Him. Free resource — The Doors: ten real ways back toward hope when you can't feel it. Grab it here: https://discipleblueprint.com/form/sah-door-overview [https://discipleblueprint.com/form/sah-door-overview] Read this week's companion blog posts: * https://discipleblueprint.com/when-you-cant-feel-gods-hope-start-here/ [https://discipleblueprint.com/when-you-cant-feel-gods-hope-start-here/] * https://discipleblueprint.com/how-america-turned-from-god-and-i-watched-it-happen/ [https://discipleblueprint.com/how-america-turned-from-god-and-i-watched-it-happen/] Follow Disciple Blueprint on Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest @discipleblueprint.

Start at Home - EP 2 - The Doors You Can Actually Walk Through

Yesterday we named the wound — that gap between knowing God is real and being unable to feel Him. Today we do something about it. Not with clever techniques or complicated programs, but with three doors any Christian can walk through starting tomorrow morning, no matter how flat they feel. The first door is Scripture. Not a devotional book about Scripture. Not somebody's tweet quoting a verse. The actual Word of God — read out loud if you have to, one paragraph at a time. The second door is prayer, but not the polished performance most Christians think prayer is supposed to be. Honest talking. Out loud, in your kitchen, if it helps. The third door is remembering — not sentimental nostalgia, but the biblical discipline God kept commanding Israel to practice when they were tempted to panic. We close with a concrete ten-minute plan for tomorrow morning — small enough to actually do, honest enough to work whether you feel anything the first day or not. Free resource — The Doors: ten real ways back toward hope when you can't feel it. This episode covered three of them. Grab all ten here: https://discipleblueprint.com/form/sah-door-overview [https://discipleblueprint.com/form/sah-door-overview] Read the companion blog: https://discipleblueprint.com/when-you-cant-feel-gods-hope-start-here/ [https://discipleblueprint.com/when-you-cant-feel-gods-hope-start-here/] Follow Disciple Blueprint on Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest @discipleblueprint.

Start at Home EP1 - You Are Not the First to Feel This

Most Christians have felt it, but very few name it out loud — that gap between knowing God is real and being unable to feel Him. It shows up on ordinary mornings, after a hard week, or in the middle of a season that should feel good and doesn't. If you've ever wondered whether that gap means something is wrong with your faith, this episode is for you. We open with the story of a Thursday morning after a layoff — dread already waiting before the day even started — and the second wound underneath the dread that most people never talk about. Then we walk through three people in Scripture who lived in that exact gap: David lamenting from the middle of Psalm 13, Elijah collapsing under a broom tree after the biggest victory of his life, and Jeremiah writing about darkness and mercies new every morning in the same chapter of Lamentations. This is the first episode of Start at Home, a new series about where we actually are as Christians in America, what God originally designed for the family, the church, and government, what went wrong, and what one person does about it starting at their own kitchen table. Free resource — The Doors: ten real ways back toward hope when you can't feel it. Grab it here: https://discipleblueprint.com/form/sah-door-overview [https://discipleblueprint.com/form/sah-door-overview] Read the companion blog: https://discipleblueprint.com/when-you-cant-feel-gods-hope-start-here/ [https://discipleblueprint.com/when-you-cant-feel-gods-hope-start-here/] Follow Disciple Blueprint on Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest @discipleblueprint.

He Is Not Finished with What He Started in Your Mind

EPISODE 5 — HE IS NOT FINISHED WITH WHAT HE STARTED IN YOUR MIND Mental Health Maintenance Series • July 10, 2026 Wendy always pushed Raymond to write. For years he had good excuses. Then April 2, 2024 arrived, and six months later Disciple Blueprint launched — because sometimes God uses the thing you are most afraid of to get you to finally do what He has been preparing you for. That is what Philippians 1:6 sounds like in a real life. In this series closer, Raymond brings together everything from the week and lands on the most hopeful truth in the series: God began the work in your mind, and He has not set it down. Your job is to keep showing up. Also includes a teaser for the next series — Start at Home: Why Your Kitchen Table Matters More Than Washington Ever Will. IN THIS EPISODE * Wendy's story — the years she pushed Raymond to write, and what happened six months after she was gone * Philippians 1:6 — God who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion * What "completion" actually looks like in practice — not the absence of struggle, but increasing ability to navigate it with the tools God has given you * How every habit built, every lie named, and every honest prayer is evidence that the work is still ongoing * Teaser: Start at Home — Why Your Kitchen Table Matters More Than Washington Ever Will — coming next week FREE RESOURCE Disciple Blueprint Store — books, digital bundles, and tools to take the work of this series further. Including the Renew and Guard Complete Bundle — seven tools for a healthier thought life. 👉 Visit the store: https://www.discipleblueprint.com/store [https://www.discipleblueprint.com/store] SCRIPTURE REFERENCED * Philippians 1:6 (NLT) — God who began a good work in you will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. * Romans 12:2 (NLT) — Transformed by the renewing of your mind. * Colossians 3:2 (NLT) — Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. CONNECT WITH DISCIPLE BLUEPRINT * Podcast: https://www.discipleblueprint.com/podcast [https://www.discipleblueprint.com/podcast] * Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/discipleblueprint [https://www.facebook.com/discipleblueprint] * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@discipleblueprint [https://www.youtube.com/@discipleblueprint] * Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/discipleblueprint [https://www.pinterest.com/discipleblueprint] #Philippians1 #christianmentalhealth #mentalhealthfaith #biblicalmentalhealth #discipleblueprint #christianpodcast #renewyourmind #faithandhope #Godisnotfinished #christianwomen

The Peace That Doesn't Make Sense

EPISODE 4 — THE PEACE THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE Mental Health Maintenance Series • July 9, 2026 The night after Wendy's Celebration of Life in Pennsylvania, Raymond came home to a house that was too quiet in every room — and waited for the chaos he was sure was coming. It didn't come. What arrived instead had no business being there given everything that wasn't. In this episode, Raymond unpacks Philippians 4:6-7 — the sequence Paul gives for accessing the peace that passes understanding — and shows why that peace is specifically promised to guard your mind, not just your heart. Written from a Roman prison. Lived out in a quiet house in Pennsylvania. IN THIS EPISODE * The night after Wendy's Celebration of Life and the peace that arrived when Raymond expected chaos * Why Philippians 4:7 uses a military garrison image — and what that means for your mind specifically * The sequence that matters: prayer first, peace second — and why the order is not reversible * Why gratitude doesn't deny grief but places it inside a larger truth * What it means that God's peace guards both your heart and your mind — not just one of them FREE RESOURCE Disciple Blueprint Membership — weekly teaching, Bible studies, and member resources for believers who want more than Sunday morning. Disciple and Teacher level memberships available. 👉 Explore membership: https://www.discipleblueprint.com/explore-membership [https://www.discipleblueprint.com/explore-membership] SCRIPTURE REFERENCED * Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT) — Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand, will guard your hearts and minds. * Philippians 4:8 (NLT) — Fix your thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. CONNECT WITH DISCIPLE BLUEPRINT * Podcast: https://www.discipleblueprint.com/podcast [https://www.discipleblueprint.com/podcast] * Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/discipleblueprint [https://www.facebook.com/discipleblueprint] * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@discipleblueprint [https://www.youtube.com/@discipleblueprint] * Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/discipleblueprint [https://www.pinterest.com/discipleblueprint] #Philippians4 #peacethatpassesunderstanding #christianmentalhealth #mentalhealthfaith #biblicalmentalhealth #discipleblueprint #christianpodcast #grievingchristian #faithandgrief #christianwomen