“See the World Through the Lowly”“Jesus really views this world very differently than we do. What is up for us is down for Him.”Ellen Haroutunian is Michael’s guest for the next two Restoring the Soul podcasts. Ellen is a psychotherapist, life coach, spiritual director, and writer, with a focus on the awakening and strengthening of the truest self in Christ. This focus includes an emphasis on gender, sexuality and identity formation as well as the healing of relational struggles, abuse, trauma, codependency, anxiety, and depression. Through her private counseling practice she has spent almost two decades listening to personal stories and helping people to see the movement of God in their lives and to grow towards emotional wholeness and integration, as well as wisdom for the larger telos for humankind of which we are all a part. As a former nurse, she is passionate about all human flourishing, and takes an integrated approach to include support in physical as well as mental and spiritual health.In addition to seminary training, she is certified as a Spiritual Director by Benet Hill Monastery in Colorado Spring, and in the Christian contemplative tradition through the Living School at the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, NM. She is currently a doctoral student, focusing on spiritual formation and transformation.She has two grown children and lives in Lakewood, CO with her husband Aram, two ex-racing greyhounds and two non-racing cats.In this podcast, we hope you will discover:How the AIDS epidemic impacted Ellen’s faith.How to see the world through the eyes of the lowly and the suffering.What brings us to the place of transformation; great suffering or great love?How Jesus resolves the tension we experience through mercy and love.How Jesus views ISIS.ENGAGE THE RESTORING THE SOUL PODCAST:- Follow us on YouTube - Tweet us at @michaeljcusick and @PodcastRTS- Like us on Facebook- Follow us on Instagram & Twitter- Follow Michael on Twitter- Email us at info@restoringthesoul.com Thanks for listening!

“Love Big, Be Well”“A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.” ― Franz KafkaOn this edition of Restoring the Soul, Michael concludes his conversation with author and pastor Winn Collier. Winn is from Charlottesville, Virginia, where he lives with his wife Miska and their two sons, Wyatt and Seth. Winn likes friendship, fair-trade coffee, smart movies, books worth reading, honest music, mountains, questions, walking in the woods, and doing just about anything with Miska or his boys. He dislikes pretense, fear, injustice—and that he doesn’t live anywhere near a Planet Smoothie. Winn writes for magazines and is the author of four books: Restless Faith: Hanging on to a God Just out of Reach, Let God: The Transforming Wisdom of Francois Fenelon, Holy Curiosity: Encountering Jesus’ Provocative Questions and his recent fiction: Love Big, Be Well: Letters to a Small-Town Church. Winn is pastor of All Souls Charlottesville.In this podcast, discover:The impact of Eugene Peterson on Winn’s life and writing.Insight into why writers write.Insight into the discussion on spirituality vs. religion and whether or not transcendence can happen in church.Winn’s pursuit of new ways of “doing church” actually causes him to look backwards.How the recent and tragic events in Charlottesville impacted him on a personal and spiritual level.ENGAGE THE RESTORING THE SOUL PODCAST:- Follow us on YouTube - Tweet us at @michaeljcusick and @PodcastRTS- Like us on Facebook- Follow us on Instagram & Twitter- Follow Michael on Twitter- Email us at info@restoringthesoul.com Thanks for listening!

“Love Big, Be Well”“...being a storyteller is really who I am.” - Winn CollierMichael’s special guest on the next two programs is Winn Collier. Winn makes his home in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he lives with his wife Miska, the woman he describes as “the most interesting woman alive” and their two sons, Wyatt and Seth. Winn likes friendship, fair-trade coffee, smart movies, books worth reading, honest music, mountains, questions, walking in the woods, and doing just about anything with Miska or his boys. Winn dislikes pretense, fear, injustice—and that he doesn’t live anywhere near a Planet Smoothie. Winn writes for magazines and is the author of four books: Restless Faith: Hanging on to a God Just out of Reach, Let God: The Transforming Wisdom of Francois Fenelon, Holy Curiosity: Encountering Jesus’ Provocative Questions and his recent fiction: Love Big, Be Well: Letters to a Small-Town Church. Winn is pastor of All Souls Charlottesville.In this podcast, discover:The inspiration for Love Big, Be Well.The essence of true spiritual authority and how it differs from expertise.Winn’s perspective on the move of the Holy Spirit in the contemporary church and some potentially dangerous influences.The “integrated life” of becoming more like God and still being very human.What does it meanENGAGE THE RESTORING THE SOUL PODCAST:- Follow us on YouTube - Tweet us at @michaeljcusick and @PodcastRTS- Like us on Facebook- Follow us on Instagram & Twitter- Follow Michael on Twitter- Email us at info@restoringthesoul.com Thanks for listening!

Michael concludes his 2-part conversation with John Lynch on this edition of Restoring the Soul. John served for 27 years as teaching pastor at Open Door Fellowship in Phoenix, Arizona. As a world-class communicator, John is now a vital Trueface staff member. In addition to speaking internationally with the Trueface team since 1997, John has co-authored The Cure, Bo’s Café, Behind The Mask, and his own story, On My Worst Day. John also powerfully delivered the classic Two Roads Two Rooms allegory, which the co-authors created for The Cure. This message can be heard or seen online. Finally, John played an important role in the recent film, The Heart of Man. You can view it online today with a subscription to Netflix. It’s our hope that you experience the true “Good News” and know that you are loved with an everlasting love, not based on what you do but because it’s the essence of God’s character. In this podcast, discover:The “story behind the story” of Two Roads /Two Rooms.The difference between pleasing God and trusting God.Why our human tendency is to push away God’s grace and reckless love.Why you must travel the journey of grace with someone else in order to reverse the damage caused by pleasing God versus resting in His graceENGAGE THE RESTORING THE SOUL PODCAST:- Follow us on YouTube - Tweet us at @michaeljcusick and @PodcastRTS- Like us on Facebook- Follow us on Instagram & Twitter- Follow Michael on Twitter- Email us at info@restoringthesoul.com Thanks for listening!

“What if there was a place so safe that the worst of me could be known and I could discover that I’d be loved more, not less, in the telling of it.” - John Lynch Bo’s CafeJohn Lynch is Michael’s special guest on the next two Restoring the Soul podcasts. John served for 27 years as teaching pastor at Open Door Fellowship in Phoenix, Arizona. As a world-class communicator, John is now a vital Trueface staff member. In addition to speaking internationally with the Trueface team since 1997, John has co-authored The Cure, Bo’s Café, Behind The Mask, and his own story, On My Worst Day. John also powerfully delivered the classic Two Roads Two Rooms allegory, which the co-authors created for The Cure. This message can be heard or seen online.In this podcast, discover:The secret that John carried for decades, even while ministering and offering a message of hope, freedom, and authenticity.That we are changed and transformed by living in the reality that we are loved.How John’s story has helped people understand and experience the Gospel, the original Good News, as it was meant to be.John’s unique fondness for Ernest Borgnine of McHale’s Navy.ENGAGE THE RESTORING THE SOUL PODCAST:- Follow us on YouTube - Tweet us at @michaeljcusick and @PodcastRTS- Like us on Facebook- Follow us on Instagram & Twitter- Follow Michael on Twitter- Email us at info@restoringthesoul.com Thanks for listening!

In part two of Michael's conversation with Dan Allender, Dan discusses the following issues and much more:More reflections on why men must deal with the “original woman” in their life—namely the mother.Dan’s own triangulated relationship with his mother and how this brought wounds to his soul.How this triangulation impacts how we all live out our relationship with self, others, and God. How we are all in a journey between intimacy and individuation--connectedness and separation.What the process of addressing and healing our woundedness looks like.Responding to the question, “why bother?” by jumping into the pain and brokenness of our story.Why the emotion and reaction of shame is so powerful and where it often comes from.Dr. Dan Allender has pioneered a unique and innovative approach to trauma and abuse therapy over the past 30 years. Central to Dr. Allender’s theory and approach are the categories of Faith, Hope and Love, and their converses betrayal, ambivalence, and powerlessness. To learn more about Dan’s work with the Allender Center visit www.allendercenter.orgENGAGE THE RESTORING THE SOUL PODCAST:- Follow us on YouTube - Tweet us at @michaeljcusick and @PodcastRTS- Like us on Facebook- Follow us on Instagram & Twitter- Follow Michael on Twitter- Email us at info@restoringthesoul.com Thanks for listening!

In this heartfelt and thought provoking conversation, Michael speaks with Dan Allender about topics such as: Why every one of us is sexually broken whether or not we have experienced sexual abuse or specific sexual harm.The major differences between man and woman, male and female as we are made in God’s image. Why women just may be more like God than men—and how this leads to the misogyny and violation of women driving the “#metoo” movement. The category of lust as “desire gone mad” and why it’s crucial to understand lust in terms of both relief and revenge.Why every man must come to terms with “the first woman in his life” which Dan describes as our mother.Dr. Dan Allender has pioneered a unique and innovative approach to trauma and abuse therapy over the past 30 years. Central to Dr. Allender’s theory and approach are the categories of Faith, Hope and Love, and their converses betrayal, ambivalence, and powerlessness. Through identifying and engaging these categories in one’s personal narrative, healing and transformation can occur by bridging the story of the gospel and the stories of trauma and abuse that mark so many.Dan continues to serve as Professor of Counseling Psychology at The Seattle School. He travels and speaks extensively to present his unique perspective on sexual abuse recovery, love and forgiveness, intimacy and marriage, worship, and other related topics. Dan is the author of The Wounded Heart, The Healing Path, To Be Told, and God Loves Sex, and he has co-authored several books with Dr. Tremper Longman, including Intimate Allies, The Cry of the Soul, Bold Love, and Bold Purpose.ENGAGE THE RESTORING THE SOUL PODCAST:- Follow us on YouTube - Tweet us at @michaeljcusick and @PodcastRTS- Like us on Facebook- Follow us on Instagram & Twitter- Follow Michael on Twitter- Email us at info@restoringthesoul.com Thanks for listening!

Are you struggling or perhaps you know someone with an addiction to pornography or any sexually compulsive behavior? If so, this is a great podcast for you.Tony Anderson and Kevin Triplett join Michael on this edition of Restoring the Soul. Tony has been a guest on previous episodes. He is a "sonic architect", composer, and Executive Producer of the film, The Heart of Man. Kevin Triplett also joins the conversation. He is a veteran of the US Army as well as a retired SWAT Team / law enforcement officer. Both of their stories were prominently featured in The Heart of Man, which recently debuted in 700 theatres across the US, and they also experienced a Surfing for God weekend intensive weekend in Colorado in 2013.In this conversation, Tony and Kevin share their stories, including how the Surfing for God weekend changed their lives and how it was the catalyst for stories told in The Heart of Man movie.ENGAGE THE RESTORING THE SOUL PODCAST:- Follow us on YouTube - Tweet us at @michaeljcusick and @PodcastRTS- Like us on Facebook- Follow us on Instagram & Twitter- Follow Michael on Twitter- Email us at info@restoringthesoul.com Thanks for listening!

Brant Hansen, is an author, nationally syndicated radio host, and advocate for healing children with correctible disabilities through CURE International.On his official website, Brant describes himself as ”Toast eater, occasional cape wearer, accordion player, also host of The Brant Hansen show.His first book, Unoffendable, has prompted a national discussion on the idea of forgiveness, and our culture’s embrace of self-righteous anger. His second book, both provocative and very personal, and will be released in November of 2017: Blessed are the Misfits: Great News for Those Who Are Introverts, Spiritual Strugglers, or Just Feel Like They’re Missing Something. In this book, Hansen addresses his own, and many others’, inability to “feel God’s presence”, and how God might Himself feel about that.ENGAGE THE RESTORING THE SOUL PODCAST:- Follow us on YouTube - Tweet us at @michaeljcusick and @PodcastRTS- Like us on Facebook- Follow us on Instagram & Twitter- Follow Michael on Twitter- Email us at info@restoringthesoul.com Thanks for listening!

Brant Hansen, is an author, nationally syndicated radio host, and advocate for healing children with correctible disabilities through CURE International.On his official website, Brant describes himself as ”Toast eater, occasional cape wearer, accordion player, also host of The Brant Hansen show.His first book, Unoffendable, has prompted a national discussion on the idea of forgiveness, and our culture’s embrace of self-righteous anger. His second book, both provocative and very personal, and will be released in November of 2017: Blessed are the Misfits: Great News for Those Who Are Introverts, Spiritual Strugglers, or Just Feel Like They’re Missing Something. In this book, Hansen addresses his own, and many others’, inability to “feel God’s presence”, and how God might Himself feel about that.ENGAGE THE RESTORING THE SOUL PODCAST:- Follow us on YouTube - Tweet us at @michaeljcusick and @PodcastRTS- Like us on Facebook- Follow us on Instagram & Twitter- Follow Michael on Twitter- Email us at info@restoringthesoul.com Thanks for listening!