On This Episode

Adrina Thorpe

Singer/songwriter Adrina Thorpe continues her amazing story of her struggle with physical pain, her faith in God, and how He has continued to encourage her in some very personal and intimate ways, ways that were specifically tuned to speak to Adrina so that she would know it was truly Him speaking.

After the interview, you’ll hear a song from Adrina’s newest CD, “Halflight and Shadows“. The song is entitled “Walk”

Mareena Webb

My first daughter-in-law…the wife of my firstborn son…the mother of my first grandchild, is an amazingly gifted photographer.

Mareena has decided to create a presence for her photography business on the internet, and asked me to invite you to see her work. Her foray onto the net is in its infancy at the time of this recording, so her website is on blogspot, but I’ll be helping her build her own site soon. In the meantime, check out her website here.

If you’re in the southern California area and want to have images captured in beautiful and creative ways, Mareena is your photographer!

Bryan Duncan

Someone who has been on the internet for a long time, and who has become almost family to me is Bryan Duncan. A pioneer in Christian music, Dove award winner, platinum and gold albums, you‘ve heard about Bryan here before.

Bryan is in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign right now, as I record this on November 19, 2011. It goes until December 17, 2011. The goal is to raise $40,000 for his next CD. He’s offering some very cool stuff to those who contribute, including the opportunity to be listed as Executive Producer of the new CD!

An Interview With Adrina Thorpe

Adrina Thorpe is one of my favorite singer/songwriters. I’ve known her now for about six years. She has a sweet, clear voice and the heart of a poet. Her music first came to my attention in the early days of podcasting, and she was one of the early stars of this medium. I found out she lived not far from me, right here in southern California, so I asked her to come to the Lifespring! studios in December of 2005 and do an interview with me. Since that show aired, we’ve kept in touch over the via email.

Not too long ago, Adrina sent an email newsletter out to her fans in which she told a story that brought tears to my eyes. You see, Adrina has suffered for years with a condition that causes her a great deal of pain. In her letter, she talked about her faith in God, her pleading to Him for healing, and how He has spoken to her in response. It’s a story I thought you should hear.

The drawing given to Adrina

Brought to  you by:

The Final Episode of our interview with Steven and Maryanne Abbate

Steven and Maryanne talk about how their marriage survived the loss of their fifteen year old son, Luke.

In addition they discuss how their family and priorities have changed, and their reasons for opening their lives for public view.

I have so much admiration for them for opening up their lives as they have done, but they truly want others to be helped by their experiences. And it is good to know that, even through the human frailties, God will lift us up and help us to make it through. It can be a long and painful process, and both Steven and Maryanne said that they are still working through some of the aftermath of such a great loss, you heard two people who still love God and trust Him.
Thank you again, Steven and Maryanne, for your generous gift of time to me and the family of Lifespring! listeners.

Music On Today’s Show

From The 5th Quarter Soundtrack

Trenna Barnes – Reach Out Your Hand

Adrina Thorpe – Fly Fly Fly

To purchase the songs through iTunes click here.

For more info on organ donation click here.

Music On Today’s Show

From The 5th Quarter Soundtrack

Stacy Earl – “Live and Breathe”

Black Mercies – “Less Than Zero”

The 5th Quarter

Today, I have part one of another story that will grab your heart and then, I think, ultimately encourage you to praise God. It’s the story of the Abbate family. Husband Steven and his wife, Maryanne, and their children Adam, Rachel, Jon and Luke.

If you are from the Atlanta, Georgia area, or from the Winston-Salem area of North Carolina, you are probably well aware of who these amazing people are. I had not heard of them until receiving a pre-release DVD of the film that tells what happened to them in February of 2005. The name of the film is The 5th Quarter, and when I watched it, I was gripped in a way I never have been gripped by a movie.

So today, I have for you part one of a conversation I had with Steven and Maryanne Abbate.

Watch the Promo

Music On Today’s Show

Bjork Ostrom…”Long Drive Home”

Michelle Gold…”Don’t Miss Me Too Much”

Lifespring! is brought to you by the TheGuyWithTheFriendlyVoice.com. Check it out! Mention you heard this show and get a 15% discount on any voiceover project!

Crossing Over, Part 3

Today, we conclude our conversation with the remarkable Ellie Collins.

By way of review, Ellie has told us of her very poor and traumatic childhood and adolescence. Raised by a physically abusive grandmother, sexually abused by her step-father and step-brother, forced into a marriage at 16 years old to a much older man who raped and beat her, raped again by a man who was supposed to be helping her escape, and then forced into prostitution.

In the midst of this, she cries out to God in the best way she knows how, and pleas with Him to get her out of there. Miraculously, God sends a friend who helps her escape the clutches of the brothel owner.

She makes her way to America, learns to speak English, and ultimately begins to build a life as a beautician, with a clientele that includes Hollywood celebrities.

She marries a man who after several years of marriage desserts her.

This sends her into a life of drugs and promiscuity. This is where we begin our episode.

You can order the book at RestoringHearts.net.

Music On Today’s Show

Track: Coming Home

Track: With Hope

Link to December, 2005 interview with Adrina Thorpe.

Lifespring! is brought to you by the TheGuyWithTheFriendlyVoice.com.
Check it out! Mention you heard this show and get a 15% discount on any voiceover project!

Today, we continue our conversation with Ellie Collins.

Last episode, we heard a story of innocence lost, betrayal, violence, human traficking and more, as Ellie told about her childhood in Honduras where she lived with her physically abusive grandmother, then with her mother where her step-father and step-brother abused her sexually.

She was then forced into a marriage at 16 years old to a much older man who raped her and beat her and would leave her tied up while he left the shack they lived in.

She ran away from there, only to be raped again by a man who was supposed to be helping her escape, and finally she finds herself seemingly rescued by a woman who takes her in, buys her medical care, and clothes, gives her a place to stay…only to find out that she is indebted to the woman, who is requiring her to work off the debt in the brothel the woman owns.

We’ll pick up the story here….

Lifespring! is brought to you by the TheGuyWithTheFriendlyVoice.com.
Check it out! Mention you heard this show and get a 15% discount on any voiceover project!

I  have a very special guest today, and the story you are about to hear will probably have you on the edge of your seat. It’s a story of innocence lost, betrayal, and violence, but even more, it is a story of God’s love, and His healing, redemptive power.

When I first heard this story, I knew that I had to introduce you to this incredible woman, whose name is Ellie Collins. Ellie’s full story is written about in the book “Crossing Over”. The author is Ish Payne.

Links

“Crossing Over” is available at RestoringHearts.net.

I also read an article from the blog Think Traffic.

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Mac Powell
“Mighty to Save” (mp3)
from “The Daraja Children’s Choir of Africa”
(IMI)

Buy at Napster
Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Amazon MP3
More On This Album

Lifespring! is brought to you by the TheGuyWithTheFriendlyVoice.com. Check it out! Mention you heard this show and get a 15% discount on any voiceover project!

Part Two

On this show we will conclude the interview with Mike Herrera. In this second of two parts, Mike answers my son Tim’s question about tatoos, he makes an announcement about MxPx that hasn’t been heard anywhere else, and we’ve got some of the new Tumbledown music for you.

Thanks again to Mike Herrera for spending time with us here on Lifespring. Be sure you go right out and pick up a copy of Tumbledown’s new album, Empty Bottle, right here. You can see the video for Arrested In El Paso Blues there.

Why This Interview?

So what’s all of this got to do with what Lifespring is all about? Let’s review what Lifespring is:

Jesus said, “…whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” It doesn’t matter where you’re at. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done. It doesn’t matter your age, your sex, your station in life. Jesus said “Who do you say that I am?”
Lifespring is about answering that question and the question of how and why the answer can and does affect your life today!

What will you find here? Music, conversation, and reasons to believe.

We’ve had a fun conversation with a guy who openly proclaims that he is a Christian, a believer in this Jesus. Mike Herrera is living his life and playing his music in a way that takes him to where the people who need to experience the love of God are. He’s not a preacher, he’s said, but as his thousands and thousands of fans know, the overarching direction of his music is undeniably one of encouragement. A well known Christian artist once said to me that not all music has to be a Sunday School lesson. I agree with that. Sunday School is not where we find the people who haven’t heard the message. We have to go where they are, be with them, laugh with them, eat with them, cry with them, and yes, even enjoy music with them. Mike Herrera’s been doing that since he was a kid in Bremerton, Washington.

Good on ya, Mike.

Lifespring is brought to you by Steve Webb Voicovers at theguywiththefriendlyvoice.com

On this episode, I’ve got a real different show for you. It’s a conversation with Mike Herrera, most notably of MxPx fame.

In case you don’t know about MxPx, it’s a group that was founded back in 1992, and has, in the words of Wikipedia, “connections to the Christian punk scene.” While all four members are Christians, they don’t call MxPx a Christian band. Mike Herrera, who has written the bulk of their songs, of which there are many, says of their faith, “We are Christian. It’s not a cult or something. It’s part of our story and I guess it’s different and controversial. But it’s a personal thing. It’s what we choose to believe. That’s all there is to it. We don’t preach to anyone.”

So there’s that.

But this conversation with Mike only touches on MxPx in a few places. Most of our conversation is in relation to another of Mike’s groups, called Tumbledown. Now if you are the kind of person who is easily offended by someone who professes to be a Christian, but is open about drinking alcohol, has tatoos, and doesn’t sing praise and worship music all the time, you might have a hard time with this interview. I understand that. I have family members who might easily fall into that camp.

But I’ve made it clear on past episodes of Lifespring that my belief is that the Bible speaks against drunkenness, not alcohol. And I’ve done a show about tattoos, in which I said that while I don’t personally like them, and prefer that my kids not have them, tattoos are not forbidden by scripture. Now, if you disagree, listen to that show before you send your email. By the way, my oldest son, who is 28, has several tattoos, with a full sleeve on his left arm, and work is progressing on his right arm to complete the sleeve there. Dad’s not happy about it, but he made the choice to do them as an adult. I love my son, and always will. He has played bass in his church worship band for many years and loves the Lord. Of that I have no doubt, and am proud of him to my very core.

So, with that said, let me say that I am a fan of Mike Herrera’s Tumbledown and the new album, entitled “Empty Bottle”. This is not a Christian album by any stretch of the imagination, but there is an undercurrent running through it, that, when I mentioned it to Mike during our conversation, it seemed as if he hadn’t even consciously realized. You can listen for that, and perhaps some surprising words about tattoos. Also, Mike makes some exclusive announcements to us that have not been made public heretofore! how cool is that?

One more difference with today’s interview is that I asked my youngest son, Timothy to join me in the conversation. Tim’s a huge fan, just like his older brothers, and I thought it would be fun to get a teen’s involvement, too.

This is part one of two parts.