Jake McCandless sits down with Dr. Jim Wilder to discuss the surprising connection between neuroscience and faith. Learn how your brain was designed to grow through joy and peace, how relational connections form the foundation of maturity, and how parents can use brain science to help their children develop a faith that truly lasts.

Dr. Wilder also reveals how gratitude rewires the brain for resilience, and why a fully integrated faith is the key to spiritual and emotional health.

Key Takeaways:

• Your brain was designed for joy—and faith should be fueled by it.

• Maturity is about staying yourself when things go wrong.

• Gratitude is brain training for spiritual and emotional health.

• Parents can build resilience in their children through joy-based parenting.

Dr. Jim Wilder - Bio & Links

Dr. Jim Wilder is a neurotheologian, author, and the chief neurotheologian at *Life Model Works*, where he integrates brain science with spiritual formation to help individuals and communities grow in maturity and connection. He has dedicated his career to exploring the intersection of neuroscience and discipleship, helping people cultivate emotionally and spiritually healthy relationships. His work has profoundly shaped the field of relational discipleship and character transformation.

📖 **Growing We the People: More Human Community** – Get it on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Growing-People-More-Human-Community/dp/B0DG2SX5F1

🔗 Life Model Works – Learn more:
https://lifemodelworks.org

Jake McCandless continues his conversation with Michael Hendrix about brain science and discipleship, focusing on practical steps parents can take to nurture a healthy and resilient faith in their children. Discover why building joy, practicing rest, and showing true connection with your kids can make all the difference.

Key Takeaways:

• Brain science reveals how children learn through joy and rest cycles

• Parenting with maturity impacts children's natural development

• Disciplining with grace and maintaining connection builds character

Michel Hendricks is a pastor, teacher, and the co-author of The Other Half of Church, a book that explores the integration of brain science and biblical principles to create healthy, thriving church communities. He has worked and trained alongside Dr. Jim Wilder, a leading voice in neurotheology, at Life Model Works. Michel’s passion is to help leaders cultivate environments where joy, hesed (loving-kindness), and spiritual maturity flourish. Learn more about his work at Life Model Works.

📖 The Other Half of Church by Michel Hendricks and Jim Wilder – Get it on Amazon

Have we been discipling with half the brain? Michel Hendricks, co-author of The Other Half of Church, reveals how right-brain training is essential for true spiritual transformation. Most discipleship focuses on knowledge and willpower, but what if emotional and relational growth is the missing key?

In this episode, we unpack:
🔹 How brain science connects to faith and formation
🔹 Why joy is the fuel for spiritual growth
🔹 The six big emotions that shape our discipleship
🔹 How parents can train their children’s emotional and spiritual resilience

The Book - The Other Half of Church - https://a.co/d/eaNy4Ms

Life Model Works - https://lifemodelworks.org

Brian Johnson, co-founder of KC Underground, joins Stand Firm Parents to discuss a radical shift in how we do church and raise disciples at home. Instead of separating faith into a Sunday event, Brian shares how to make disciple-making a natural, daily part of life.

Key Takeaways:
✔️ The biggest reasons young people leave the faith
✔️ What the early church teaches us about disciple-making
✔️ Why parents—not the church—are the primary disciple-makers
✔️ How microchurches can transform faith at home
✔️ Practical ways to integrate faith into everyday life

Brian Johnson is the co-founder and director of KC Underground, a decentralized movement of disciple-makers and microchurches in Kansas City. Their 40-year vision is to have a missionary on every street and a microchurch in every network of relationships. Brian also trains leaders globally through KC Underground's huddles and resources. He and his wife Kristen live as missionaries with their five children, seeking to model an extended spiritual family.

📖 KC Underground Toolkit: kcunderground.org/toolkit
📖 KC Underground Training Huddles: kcunderground.org/train

Rob Wegner joins Stand Firm Parents to challenge the way we think about church. Rather than centering faith around a weekly event, what if we saw it as a lifestyle of disciple-making? This episode explores how microchurches, spiritual families, and everyday disciple-makers are the future of faith.

Rob Wegner is a leading voice in the missional movement and the co-founder of KC Underground, a decentralized network of disciple-making communities. He also serves with NewThing, helping catalyze reproducing churches globally, and leads Microchurch.Next for Exponential, equipping leaders to embrace microchurch movements. Rob is the co-author of The Starfish and the Spirit, a book on decentralized church movements.

📖 The Starfish and the Spirit – Get it on Amazon

🔗 KC Underground: https://www.kcunderground.org

The underground church in Iran is thriving under persecution while Christianity in the West is in decline. Why? Joel Richardson shares what’s fueling explosive growth in the Middle East and what Western believers—and parents—must do differently to raise children with a faith that lasts. This eye-opening conversation challenges our approach to discipleship and evangelism.

Key Takeaways:

• Why Iran’s underground church is the fastest-growing in the world
• How disciple-making movements (DMM) are transforming communities
• What American Christians are getting wrong about church & faith
• A practical, actionable step to apply this model in your family

Joel Richardson is a New York Times bestselling author, filmmaker, and teacher. With a special love for all the peoples of the Middle East, Joel travels globally, preparing the Church for the great challenges of our time, teaching on the gospel, living with biblical hope, the return of Jesus. He is a New York Times Bestselling author of several books, an internationally recognized teacher, and has appeared in several documentaries and films by FAIStudios.
Joel lives in the United States with his wife and five children.

Joel's website: https://joelstrumpet.com

Sheep Among Wolves II: https://youtu.be/9SAPOLKF59U?feature=shared

Jake McCandless speaks with Darren Huckey about the Jewish context of discipleship and what it means for parents raising children in faith. Learn how first-century discipleship was more than just knowledge—it was about full-life transformation through devotion, imitation, and replication.

Key Takeaways:

• How first-century discipleship worked

• What Jesus meant when He said, "A disciple, when fully trained, will be like his teacher."

• How parents can model and teach discipleship at home

Darren Huckey is the Assistant to the Rabbi at Shalom Macon Messianic Synagogue in Macon, Georgia. He is a husband, a father, an author, a teacher, and posts weekly videos to the Shalom Macon YouTube channel. He has published seven books to date with his eighth book due out the first quarter of 2025. He has been active in ministry and/or religious leadership since 1994. Learning about the Jewishness of Jesus has radically changed his life and understanding of Jesus' call to discipleship. His focus over the last several years has been connecting the church back to its Jewish roots, bringing insights into the life, teachings, and ministry of Jesus from Jewish sources. Darren currently lives in Macon, GA with his beautiful wife and four of his five wonderful children (the oldest is happily married and living in Texas), building community with the people he loves.

Darren's book: Four Responsibilities of a Disciple, https://a.co/d/3LIICOZ

Darren's website: https://www.emethatorah.com

Jake McCandless sits down with Katharine van der Beek to explore the power of fully integrated faith through a Hebraic lens. Drawing from her experiences as an Israeli tour guide, Katharine shares profound insights into seeing God’s hand in everything and trusting His sovereignty in every aspect of life.

Key Takeaways:

• The Hebraic mindset of faith as all-encompassing.
• How parents can teach their kids to see God in the details of life.
• Why recognizing God’s sovereignty changes how we face challenges.

Katharine also gives a vivid snapshot of the current state of Israel, detailing the struggles and miracles amidst recent events.
🎥 Watch the companion video for more insights: 360 Degree View of Israel at the End of 2024