Crusade with Me

“From Scoundrel to Shepherd: The 1975 Turning Point — A Conversation with Pastor Mike Hesterman”

In this powerful and deeply personal episode of Crusade With Me! Dave sits down with a lifelong friend — Pastor Mike Hesterman — to revisit a 30‑year friendship and a 50‑year faith journey. Pastor Mike opens up about his early life as a self‑described scoundrel, his years of rebellion, his time in the Army during a racially tense and dangerous season, and the night in 1975 when he was forced to confront the question: “If I died tonight… where would I go?” What follows is a raw, honest, and moving conversation about: * Growing up between two strong traditions — Lutheran and Mennonite * Wrestling with infant baptism, adult baptism, and what Scripture actually says * The dangers of drugs, deception, and dabbling in darkness * The moment in Germany that changed everything * How identity, rebellion, and human nature haven’t changed in 6,000 years * Why being made in the image of God still matters today * The struggle to mature spiritually — and why some truths only hit us decades later This episode is rich with wisdom, humility, humor, and the kind of honesty only two old friends can share. A must‑listen for anyone wrestling with faith, identity, or the long road of transformation.

What Are You Looking At?

In a world fighting for your attention, Jesus asks a deeper question: What are you really looking at? In Episode 157, we explore how focus shapes formation — and how the things we continually behold begin to shape who we become. Drawing from Matthew 6:22–33 and Romans 5:1–10, this episode dives into: * Why attention is a spiritual battleground * How divided allegiance fuels anxiety * The subtle masters we serve without realizing it * Why peace isn’t the absence of trouble — it’s the presence of the right focus * How God loved you before you ever got better You’ll walk away with clarity, conviction, and a practical daily challenge to re-center your heart on the Kingdom. If you’ve been overwhelmed, distracted, or pulled in too many directions… this episode is your reset. Seek first. Look up. Live with intention. Welcome back to the crusade.

Plans, What We Know, and How We Act

We all think we know how life is supposed to work. We make plans. We form opinions. We create expectations about what God should do, how He should do it, and when He should do it. But what happens when God's plans are different from ours? In this episode of Crusade with Me! Dave and Kathy explore the gap between what we think we know and the reality God reveals through Scripture. Abram thought he understood his future. He had a plan, a timeline, and a logical conclusion about how his life would unfold. Yet God had something far greater in mind—something Abram could not see from where he stood. The Psalmist reminds us that real security is never found in our own strength, intelligence, resources, or carefully constructed plans. The Lord is not impressed by the strength of a horse or the might of an army. Our hope is found in Him alone. In First John, we discover that God has already shown us what love looks like. Yet even with that revelation, we often reshape God's love into something more comfortable, more convenient, or more aligned with our preferences. We want God's blessings while resisting God's transformation. Then Jesus confronts us with the sobering account of the rich man and Lazarus. Even in torment, the rich man remains the same man he was in life. He still sees Lazarus as someone to serve him. He still wants to negotiate. He still refuses to truly repent. The flames reveal what was already there. Together, these readings ask a difficult but necessary question: Are we allowing God to transform us, or are we simply asking Him to bless the plans we've already made? Join us as we discuss faith, humility, self-deception, God's surprising plans, and the danger of becoming so attached to our own understanding that we miss what God is trying to teach us. Because sometimes the greatest obstacle to God's work in our lives is not what we don't know. It's what we're convinced we already know.

Crusade with Me! Come Back Episode: Just be a tree!

Crusade with Me! is back. After months away from the microphone, we're beginning a new chapter with a simple but life-changing question: What if the secret to peace, purpose, and growth is not becoming someone else—but becoming who God created you to be? A tree never struggles with its identity. An oak doesn't wish it were a maple. An apple tree doesn't envy an olive tree. A tree doesn't wake up one morning and decide it would rather be a goat. It simply receives what God made it to be and grows. Yet many of us spend our lives exhausted from comparison, chasing identities that were never ours, trying to force fruit that can only come from being properly rooted. In this comeback episode, Dave and Kathy explores one of the most powerful themes woven throughout Scripture: God's people are often described as trees. Trees planted by streams of water. Trees that endure drought. Trees that bear fruit in season. Trees that remain rooted when storms come. Drawing from Psalm 1, Jeremiah 17, Genesis 1, John 15, Romans 12, Ephesians 2, and other key passages, we'll examine what it means to stop striving to become someone else and start growing into the person God designed from the beginning. You'll discover: • Why identity always comes before behavior • Why comparison is one of the fastest ways to kill joy • What Scripture means when it says creation reproduces "after its kind" • Why fruit is not something we force but something that reveals who we are • How to stay rooted when life's heat, drought, and storms arrive • Why God's design for your life began long before your first success—or your first failure Most importantly, we'll discuss a truth that modern culture desperately needs to hear: The created thing does not define itself. The Creator does. The Christian life is not about inventing a new self. It is about recovering the person God intended all along. The tree's job is not to manufacture fruit. The tree's job is to stay rooted. And perhaps your job isn't to become someone else either. Perhaps your job is simply to remain connected to the One who created you. So welcome back to Crusade with Me! Let's begin this next chapter together. Be rooted. Be faithful. Be transformed. And above all... Just be the tree.

Crusade with Me! Final Episode New Years Eve.

Our last time. Countdowns. Fireworks. Endless advice on how to reinvent yourself by midnight. As if life responds to pressure. As if becoming whole can be rushed. But tonight, we slow down. Because the dawn is not rushed. The sun has never forced its way into the sky. It has never strained to arrive. It simply rises, steady, patient, right on time. That is how real beginning work.