Great Questions, Great Conversations

Episode 48 - Helpful Advice for Parents in 2025 with Seth Fitzsimmons

Parenting has its challenges in every generation.  But some would argue that the onslaught of things pushing on families today is unrivaled in history.  From the pace of life, dual incomes, cell phones and the media culture it is a challenge to stay focused on the job at hand.  To give us some thoughts based on years of walking with kids and families, Seth Fitzsimmons, principal of a large  Lutheran elementary grade school (St. Paul’s), joins us to talk about some of the challenges and some of the opportunities that this time in history is giving parents along with his BEST piece of advice to parents! In our talk we reference a few things you may want to check out for yourself.  Here are the links: www.waituntil8th.org [http://www.waituntil8th.org] – helping kids be kids longer The Jesus Storybook Bible - https://a.co/d/iXUl5Vw [https://a.co/d/iXUl5Vw] The Story for Kids - https://a.co/d/9g0FKET [https://a.co/d/9g0FKET] If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a comment or, if you have questions for us to consider on the podcast, please email our host Mike Westendorf at mwestendorf@stpmuskego.org [mwestendorf@stpmuskego.org] Great Questions, Great Conversations is a podcast of St. Paul's and The Bridge Lutheran church in Muskego, WI. For more information visit www.stpaulmuskego.org [http://www.stpaulmuskego.org]

Episode 47 - Marriage Skills: Part 2 with Brandon Steenbock

We continue our conversation from last week with Dr. Brandon Steenbock especially looking at the topic of Marriage Skills that would be really helpful for us to have, but that oftentimes… we never learned.  Building on our conversation from the week before, we will continue to talk about three more skills that are very helpful as couples learn to better navigate the challenges that come in our marriages.   It is a great listen for all of those who are dating and engaged or hoping to one day be married in a marriage that functions well.  Learning some of these skills will help your friendships today and give you a stronger foundation for marriage in the future too!    If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a comment or, if you have questions for us to consider on the podcast, please email our host Mike Westendorf at mwestendorf@stpmuskego.org [mwestendorf@stpmuskego.org]  Great Questions, Great Conversations is a podcast of St. Paul's and The Bridge Lutheran church in Muskego, WI. For more information visit www.stpaulmuskego.org [http://www.stpaulmuskego.org]

Episode 46 - Marriage Skills: Part 1 with Brandon Steenbock

If you’re not married yet, you’ve likely got some ideas of how things will go.  If you’ve been married, you know that many of those ideas and plans you had didn’t go exactly to plan.  We’re joined by Dr. Brandon Steenbock, Staff Minister at St. Mark Ministries and an advisor to married couples and young people getting married for over a decade.  In this episode we will talk about some of the challenges that married people are facing today that might be a bit different from a few decades ago.  We will talk specifically about how to work on repairing a marriage that is hurting or breaking. This talk was so good that we needed to do a second part, so please be sure to join us for next week’s part two of the Marriage Skills that can help us build a more Jesus centered and more satisfying marriage partnership.    If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a comment or, if you have questions for us to consider on the podcast, please email our host Mike Westendorf at mwestendorf@stpmuskego.org [mwestendorf@stpmuskego.org]  Great Questions, Great Conversations is a podcast of St. Paul's and The Bridge Lutheran church in Muskego, WI. For more information visit www.stpaulmuskego.org [http://www.stpaulmuskego.org]

Episode 45 - You’re Never Too Old with Carol Kolosovsky

“Say thank you for the ideas that you don’t have time for today, because a time may come…” Author and retired teacher Carol Kolosovsky joins us on the podcast to talk about become an author and the journey that has led her to continue to write into her 70s.  Not only will you hear about her story of how she got here, but Carol shares wisdom from a life that has loved her Savior well.  If you’ve ever been tempted to give up on your dreams, or if you’ve thought you’re too old to pursue them, you’ll want to spend some time today with Carol and her story. To purchase a copy of her first book “Little Lamb Gabe” you can find it at many online retailers including Amazon and Walmart.  You can visit NPH as well: https://online.nph.net/little-lamb-gabe.html?srsltid=AfmBOoru6hzPJ_egjqBEFuTOgEKkddIblfHlbJoWk8lS4ojQeNr-gQMp    If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a comment or, if you have questions for us to consider on the podcast, please email our host Mike Westendorf at mwestendorf@stpmuskego.org [mwestendorf@stpmuskego.org]  Great Questions, Great Conversations is a podcast of St. Paul's and The Bridge Lutheran church in Muskego, WI. For more information visit www.stpaulmuskego.org [http://www.stpaulmuskego.org]

Episode 44 - The Power of the Gospel to Change Culture with Mark Paustian

“If you want to change the culture, entertain it!”  Story takes us someplace and all effective communication ultimately comes down to story.  Our guest this week is author and professor Dr. Mark Paustian who will be talking about the power of a 2 minute story around a single truth and how we can use communication theory to share our faith and help people connect more deeply to Jesus.  As the discussion winds down we hope you might consider a few questions:    What is your favorite Bible story?  Why that story? – What does it teach you or convey to you about Jesus?  What does it do TO you? What does that story do FOR you?  and lastly – How would you tell it to someone who needs to hear it? Perhaps the greatest opportunity for sharing your faith might be listening to someone else tell of their challenges and you yourself might reply “That reminds me of a story, stop me if you’ve heard it?”    If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a comment or, if you have questions for us to consider on the podcast, please email our host Mike Westendorf at mwestendorf@stpmuskego.org [mwestendorf@stpmuskego.org]  Great Questions, Great Conversations is a podcast of St. Paul's and The Bridge Lutheran church in Muskego, WI. For more information visit www.stpaulmuskego.org [http://www.stpaulmuskego.org]