Ordinary Discipleship Podcast

Daniel Yang - Proximity, Refugees, and Finding God in Displacement

In this episode of the Ordinary Discipleship Podcast, Jessie talks with Daniel Yang of World Relief about refugees, immigrants, trauma, enemy mode, and what it means to follow Jesus in a time when fear and suspicion are shaping so much of our public life. Daniel shares his own family’s refugee story, the work of World Relief, and how the church is called not only to welcome the vulnerable but to receive them as gifts from God. Together, Jessie and Daniel explore why loving our enemy is not an optional ideal but a core spiritual discipline, how proximity breaks down fear, and how ordinary disciples can practice welcome, prayer, courage, and embodied love in their own communities. Pre-Order Jessie and Julia's book Becoming Good News: Reimagining Discipleship Through Identity, Story, and Science [https://amzn.to/4rCdfHy] ORDER Jessie’s book, Ordinary Discipleship: How God Wires Us for the Adventure of Transformation [https://a.co/d/51j86DG] For more great stuff, check out: Ordinary Discipleship by Whoology: https://whoology.co [https://whoology.co/] Follow us on social media: https://instagram.com/ordinarydiscipleship [https://instagram.com/ordinarydiscipleship] https://facebook.com/ordinarydiscipleship [https://facebook.com/ordinarydiscipleship] Follow Jessie on social media: Instagram: https://instagram.com/yourbrainbyjess [https://instagram.com/yourbrainbyjess] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessica.s.cruickshank/ [https://www.facebook.com/jessica.s.cruickshank/] Twitter: https://twitter.com/yourbrainbyjess [https://twitter.com/yourbrainbyjess] ORDER Jessie’s newest book, Ordinary Discipleship: How God Wires Us for the Adventure of Transformation → https://a.co/d/51j86DG [https://a.co/d/51j86DG] For more great stuff, check out: Ordinary Discipleship by Whoology: https://whoology.co [https://whoology.co] Follow us on social media: https://instagram.com/ordinarydiscipleship [https://instagram.com/ordinarydiscipleship] https://facebook.com/ordinarydiscipleship [https://facebook.com/ordinarydiscipleship] Follow Jessie on social media: Instagram: https://instagram.com/yourbrainbyjess [https://instagram.com/yourbrainbyjess] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessica.s.cruickshank/ [https://www.facebook.com/jessica.s.cruickshank/] Twitter: https://twitter.com/yourbrainbyjess [https://twitter.com/yourbrainbyjess] Jessie Cruickshank is a disciple-maker, wilderness guide, and ordained minister. She has trained thousands of people how to survive when their life depended on it and earned a Master’s degree in experiential education at Harvard to learn how the brain works to help people train more effectively. The key to discipleship is not more information, but learning how to create intentional environments where people can learn and grow. By working with the brain and treating individuals as whole persons, you too can discover how God wired our brains for transformation. You already have all the tools you need, it is time to activate them in you and your church.

Timmy & 'Tisha Hensel

Timmy and 'Tisha Hensel share the real story of co-pastoring a church through pain, transition, and slow transformation. They talk about moving from busy, program-driven ministry to a culture of shared ownership, collaborative leadership, and deep, relational discipleship—where more voices are heard and more people carry the weight together. This conversation gets into what it actually costs to lead this way—loss of control, hard conversations, and letting go of outcomes—but also what it produces: healing, trust, freedom in worship, and a community where discipleship is lived, not just taught. Pre-Order Jessie and Julia's book Becoming Good News: Reimagining Discipleship Through Identity, Story, and Science [https://amzn.to/4rCdfHy] ORDER Jessie’s book, Ordinary Discipleship: How God Wires Us for the Adventure of Transformation [https://a.co/d/51j86DG] For more great stuff, check out: Ordinary Discipleship by Whoology: https://whoology.co [https://whoology.co/] Follow us on social media: https://instagram.com/ordinarydiscipleship [https://instagram.com/ordinarydiscipleship] https://facebook.com/ordinarydiscipleship [https://facebook.com/ordinarydiscipleship] Follow Jessie on social media: Instagram: https://instagram.com/yourbrainbyjess [https://instagram.com/yourbrainbyjess] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessica.s.cruickshank/ [https://www.facebook.com/jessica.s.cruickshank/] Twitter: https://twitter.com/yourbrainbyjess [https://twitter.com/yourbrainbyjess] ORDER Jessie’s newest book, Ordinary Discipleship: How God Wires Us for the Adventure of Transformation → https://a.co/d/51j86DG [https://a.co/d/51j86DG] For more great stuff, check out: Ordinary Discipleship by Whoology: https://whoology.co [https://whoology.co] Follow us on social media: https://instagram.com/ordinarydiscipleship [https://instagram.com/ordinarydiscipleship] https://facebook.com/ordinarydiscipleship [https://facebook.com/ordinarydiscipleship] Follow Jessie on social media: Instagram: https://instagram.com/yourbrainbyjess [https://instagram.com/yourbrainbyjess] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessica.s.cruickshank/ [https://www.facebook.com/jessica.s.cruickshank/] Twitter: https://twitter.com/yourbrainbyjess [https://twitter.com/yourbrainbyjess] Jessie Cruickshank is a disciple-maker, wilderness guide, and ordained minister. She has trained thousands of people how to survive when their life depended on it and earned a Master’s degree in experiential education at Harvard to learn how the brain works to help people train more effectively. The key to discipleship is not more information, but learning how to create intentional environments where people can learn and grow. By working with the brain and treating individuals as whole persons, you too can discover how God wired our brains for transformation. You already have all the tools you need, it is time to activate them in you and your church.

The Power of Naming

This episode explores how naming shapes identity and discipleship at a deep level—spiritually, relationally, and even neurologically. Drawing from Scripture, lived experience, and the themes of Becoming Good News, the conversation traces how the names we receive—both true and false—form our sense of self, and how God invites us into a different story through His voice. They unpack how false identities take root, why our “I am” statements matter, and how practices like confession, repentance, and listening to God can lead to real transformation and a reclaimed identity grounded in truth. Pre-Order Jessie and Julia's book Becoming Good News: Reimagining Discipleship Through Identity, Story, and Science [https://amzn.to/4rCdfHy] ORDER Jessie’s book, Ordinary Discipleship: How God Wires Us for the Adventure of Transformation [https://a.co/d/51j86DG] For more great stuff, check out: Ordinary Discipleship by Whoology: https://whoology.co [https://whoology.co/] Follow us on social media: https://instagram.com/ordinarydiscipleship [https://instagram.com/ordinarydiscipleship] https://facebook.com/ordinarydiscipleship [https://facebook.com/ordinarydiscipleship] Follow Jessie on social media: Instagram: https://instagram.com/yourbrainbyjess [https://instagram.com/yourbrainbyjess] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessica.s.cruickshank/ [https://www.facebook.com/jessica.s.cruickshank/] Twitter: https://twitter.com/yourbrainbyjess [https://twitter.com/yourbrainbyjess] ORDER Jessie’s newest book, Ordinary Discipleship: How God Wires Us for the Adventure of Transformation → https://a.co/d/51j86DG [https://a.co/d/51j86DG] For more great stuff, check out: Ordinary Discipleship by Whoology: https://whoology.co [https://whoology.co] Follow us on social media: https://instagram.com/ordinarydiscipleship [https://instagram.com/ordinarydiscipleship] https://facebook.com/ordinarydiscipleship [https://facebook.com/ordinarydiscipleship] Follow Jessie on social media: Instagram: https://instagram.com/yourbrainbyjess [https://instagram.com/yourbrainbyjess] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessica.s.cruickshank/ [https://www.facebook.com/jessica.s.cruickshank/] Twitter: https://twitter.com/yourbrainbyjess [https://twitter.com/yourbrainbyjess] Jessie Cruickshank is a disciple-maker, wilderness guide, and ordained minister. She has trained thousands of people how to survive when their life depended on it and earned a Master’s degree in experiential education at Harvard to learn how the brain works to help people train more effectively. The key to discipleship is not more information, but learning how to create intentional environments where people can learn and grow. By working with the brain and treating individuals as whole persons, you too can discover how God wired our brains for transformation. You already have all the tools you need, it is time to activate them in you and your church.

Are We Good?

Are we actually good—or just calling something broken “good” and hoping it sticks? In this conversation, we wrestle with sin, identity, and the stories we believe about ourselves, and why discipleship isn’t about behavior management or positive thinking. Julia and Jessie reframe sin as disconnection and false narrative, not just rule-breaking, and show how Jesus meets us there to restore relationship, renew our minds, and reshape our identity from the inside out. We explore why joy—not perfection—might be the truest marker of transformation, and how learning to listen to God rewrites the story we live by.   Pre-Order Jessie and Julia's book Becoming Good News: Reimagining Discipleship Through Identity, Story, and Science [https://amzn.to/4rCdfHy] ORDER Jessie’s book, Ordinary Discipleship: How God Wires Us for the Adventure of Transformation [https://a.co/d/51j86DG] For more great stuff, check out: Ordinary Discipleship by Whoology: https://whoology.co [https://whoology.co/] Follow us on social media: https://instagram.com/ordinarydiscipleship [https://instagram.com/ordinarydiscipleship] https://facebook.com/ordinarydiscipleship [https://facebook.com/ordinarydiscipleship] Follow Jessie on social media: Instagram: https://instagram.com/yourbrainbyjess [https://instagram.com/yourbrainbyjess] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessica.s.cruickshank/ [https://www.facebook.com/jessica.s.cruickshank/] Twitter: https://twitter.com/yourbrainbyjess [https://twitter.com/yourbrainbyjess] ORDER Jessie’s newest book, Ordinary Discipleship: How God Wires Us for the Adventure of Transformation → https://a.co/d/51j86DG [https://a.co/d/51j86DG] For more great stuff, check out: Ordinary Discipleship by Whoology: https://whoology.co [https://whoology.co] Follow us on social media: https://instagram.com/ordinarydiscipleship [https://instagram.com/ordinarydiscipleship] https://facebook.com/ordinarydiscipleship [https://facebook.com/ordinarydiscipleship] Follow Jessie on social media: Instagram: https://instagram.com/yourbrainbyjess [https://instagram.com/yourbrainbyjess] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessica.s.cruickshank/ [https://www.facebook.com/jessica.s.cruickshank/] Twitter: https://twitter.com/yourbrainbyjess [https://twitter.com/yourbrainbyjess] Jessie Cruickshank is a disciple-maker, wilderness guide, and ordained minister. She has trained thousands of people how to survive when their life depended on it and earned a Master’s degree in experiential education at Harvard to learn how the brain works to help people train more effectively. The key to discipleship is not more information, but learning how to create intentional environments where people can learn and grow. By working with the brain and treating individuals as whole persons, you too can discover how God wired our brains for transformation. You already have all the tools you need, it is time to activate them in you and your church.

The Power of Receiving

In this episode, we explore the difference between discipleship as doing and discipleship as receiving—and why that shift changes everything. Jessie and Julia share their own stories of burnout, identity loss, and the quiet invitation to stop striving and start receiving from God’s presence. We talk about anxiety, formation, confession, and how true growth begins not with what we do, but with who God is and how we learn to respond to Him. Pre-Order Jessie and Julia's book Becoming Good News: Reimagining Discipleship Through Identity, Story, and Science [https://amzn.to/4rCdfHy] ORDER Jessie’s book, Ordinary Discipleship: How God Wires Us for the Adventure of Transformation [https://a.co/d/51j86DG] For more great stuff, check out: Ordinary Discipleship by Whoology: https://whoology.co [https://whoology.co/] Follow us on social media: https://instagram.com/ordinarydiscipleship [https://instagram.com/ordinarydiscipleship] https://facebook.com/ordinarydiscipleship [https://facebook.com/ordinarydiscipleship] Follow Jessie on social media: Instagram: https://instagram.com/yourbrainbyjess [https://instagram.com/yourbrainbyjess] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessica.s.cruickshank/ [https://www.facebook.com/jessica.s.cruickshank/] Twitter: https://twitter.com/yourbrainbyjess [https://twitter.com/yourbrainbyjess] ORDER Jessie’s newest book, Ordinary Discipleship: How God Wires Us for the Adventure of Transformation → https://a.co/d/51j86DG [https://a.co/d/51j86DG] For more great stuff, check out: Ordinary Discipleship by Whoology: https://whoology.co [https://whoology.co] Follow us on social media: https://instagram.com/ordinarydiscipleship [https://instagram.com/ordinarydiscipleship] https://facebook.com/ordinarydiscipleship [https://facebook.com/ordinarydiscipleship] Follow Jessie on social media: Instagram: https://instagram.com/yourbrainbyjess [https://instagram.com/yourbrainbyjess] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessica.s.cruickshank/ [https://www.facebook.com/jessica.s.cruickshank/] Twitter: https://twitter.com/yourbrainbyjess [https://twitter.com/yourbrainbyjess] Jessie Cruickshank is a disciple-maker, wilderness guide, and ordained minister. She has trained thousands of people how to survive when their life depended on it and earned a Master’s degree in experiential education at Harvard to learn how the brain works to help people train more effectively. The key to discipleship is not more information, but learning how to create intentional environments where people can learn and grow. By working with the brain and treating individuals as whole persons, you too can discover how God wired our brains for transformation. You already have all the tools you need, it is time to activate them in you and your church.