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Pastor Bernard Anderson grew up in church every time the doors were open. He was a good kid from a good family in Wetumpka, Alabama. And he had no idea he didn’t know Jesus. That changed in 1974 when a fellow student at Troy stopped him in a dorm hallway and asked a question nobody had ever asked him: “Are you a Christian?” That conversation led to his salvation and three years of discipleship with a young white man in a season when that kind of friendship was rare in the South. But Bernard sensed a call to ministry and ran from it. He wanted a briefcase job. He found it in the car business, first on the sales floor, then in management, then as an owner. For more than a decade he lived in what he calls the far country, until God allowed it all to come apart and called him home. Today Bernard marks 30 years of vocational ministry, the last 17 as pastor of Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in Auburn, much of it while still working full time. In this conversation with Ben, Blayne, and guest host Greg, he talks about growing up during integration, being denied admission to Auburn, the danger of success without God, preaching without a manuscript, unity in the church across racial and cultural lines, and reconnecting with the man who led him to Christ after more than 40 years. His life verse says it all: the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable (Romans 11:29). Subscribe for more conversations with people in our community about what God has entrusted to them. Instagram: @entrustedpodcast Timestamps 00:00:00 Welcome Pastor Bernard Anderson 00:02:30 The Mount Moriah sign ministry 00:08:28 First Birth 00:13:51 Growing up during integration in Alabama 00:19:46 “Are you a Christian?” Salvation at Troy 00:36:09 Running from the call to ministry 00:46:10 From the want ads to selling Toyotas 00:52:20 Success, drift, and the far country 01:10:06 Coming home: repentance and restoration 01:16:46 Answering the call: seminary and bivocational ministry 01:25:02 Preaching without a manuscript 01:31:01 Finding Kim after 40 years 01:36:54 One church: unity beyond race and politics 01:53:12 Romans 11:29: the irrevocable calling of God

Ashley McCrary grew up in Mobile, Alabama, the third of four girls in a hardworking family, and gave her life to Christ at five years old at Spring Hill Baptist Church. But it wasn’t until years later, in a college Bible study at Auburn, that she could answer the question that changed everything: when did the Word of God change your life? In 2012, a friend noticed a dark spot on Ashley’s eye. It was ocular melanoma, a cancer that affects about six in a million people, and her right eye was removed weeks later. In 2020 the cancer returned with over 100 tumors in her liver. Eleven treatments, a first-in-the-world clinical trial, and weekly trips to Philadelphia later, Ashley has been told there are no options left. She shares how God provided before she ever knew the need, through an elevator ride, a persistent Aflac rep, and a $45 premium. She talks about meeting her husband Dave in high school, learning to follow so he could lead, and why Psalm 23 has become her daily prayer. And she shares how the Eye on Grace Foundation has funded over $1 million in travel grants for ocular melanoma patients and their caregivers across 47 states, three Canadian provinces, and eight countries. His grace is sufficient. His power is made perfect in weakness. https://www.eyeongracefoundation.org/ Timestamps 00:00:00 Brock’s Back 00:04:43 First Birth: Growing Up in Mobile 00:10:32 Chick-fil-A and Learning to Work Young 00:22:02 Saved at Five Years Old 00:30:33 Meeting Dave 00:43:12 When God’s Word Changed Her Life 00:47:53 Learning to Follow So He Can Lead 00:55:59 “For God So Loved Me” 00:59:57 Diagnosed With Ocular Melanoma 01:16:42 The Elevator, the Mouse, and the Cancer Plan 01:20:45 The Cancer Returns 01:24:43 The Eye on Grace Foundation 01:29:42 What She’s Been Entrusted With

Mitchell Dean is the Fellowship of Christian Athletes director for East Alabama and pastor of Resurrect Church in Opelika. He is also the author of Broken Cisterns: From the Crack House to the Church House, the Same Thirst, the Same Savior. Mitchell tells the story of a pastor in Columbus who saw a liquor bottle on a front porch and knocked on the door anyway. That one act of faithfulness started a ripple that reached his great-grandparents, his grandparents, his parents, and eventually Mitchell himself. He describes growing up in church while missing the person of Christ, how a shoulder injury in college broke him, and why he turned down a coaching job to join FCA with no salary. We also talk about personal evangelism in everyday places, a neighbor his children led to Christ, planting a house church, his father-in-law's redemption from addiction, praying for your children, refusing to give up on lost family members, and what a failed Ironman taught him about being loved apart from performance. Greg joins Ben and Blayne as guest co-host for this episode. Broken Cisterns (paperback): https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Cisterns-Church-Thirst-Savior/dp/B0FVG9FRL5 Broken Cisterns (Kindle): https://www.amazon.com/BROKEN-CISTERNS-CHURCH-THIRST-SAVIOR-ebook/dp/B0FW3Y211J East Alabama FCA: https://www.eastalabamafca.org Follow Entrusted on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/entrustedpodcast Timestamps 00:00:00 Intro and Guest Co-Host Greg 00:05:58 First Birth/Second Birth 00:08:02 A Liquor Bottle, a Knock on the Door, and Four Generations 00:11:04 The Shoulder Injury That Broke Him 00:16:37 Morality vs. the Person of Christ 00:22:24 Called to Ministry: Choosing FCA Over Coaching 00:31:09 Faithful in the Little 00:36:36 Everyday Evangelism and Walking at the Pace of Grace 00:48:04 Mr. Phillip: The Neighbor His Kids Led to Christ 00:53:28 Planting Resurrect Church and His Father-in-Law's Redemption 01:05:44 Ministry as a Family and Praying for Your Children 01:15:25 Don't Give Up on Lost Family Members 01:19:55 The Ironman and Being Loved Apart From Performance 01:25:44 Broken Cisterns and Godly Ambition 01:38:20 Entrusted With the Gospel

Kevin Webb has served as college pastor at Lakeview Baptist Church in Auburn since 2017. In this episode, Ben and Blayne sit down with Kevin to trace God's providence through his life. He grew up in the mill town of Piedmont, Alabama, came to faith at Vacation Bible School at age 7, and was discipled one-on-one at the Auburn BCM before his freshman year even started. Kevin shares how expositional preaching at Lakeview and hearing Louie Giglio and John Piper at Passion 99 gave him a big view of a sovereign God. He also tells how he met his wife Laura at a Christian bookstore and what it cost his family to work three jobs while pursuing a PhD in systematic theology at Southern Seminary. He talks honestly about walking away from that PhD, seven humbling years pastoring East Tallassee Baptist Church, and the unexpected phone call that brought him back to Lakeview. In the second half, Kevin walks through covenant theology from Adam to Christ. He explains the covenants of Scripture, federal headship, typology, and why his understanding of how the covenants fit together leads him to baptize believers only. He lays out where Baptist and Presbyterian covenant theology agree and where they differ, and why it matters: God is a covenant-making and covenant-keeping God, and every promise He makes is yes and amen in Christ. Kevin's encouragement to college students: plant your life in a local church, among people who are not just your age. Timestamps 00:00:00 Welcome Kevin Webb 00:04:53 Growing Up in Piedmont, Alabama and Coming to Faith 00:15:20 Discipled at the BCM Before Freshman Year 00:19:37 The Bookstore Girl and a Move to Lakeview 00:23:07 Expositional Preaching, Passion 99, and a Big View of God 00:29:18 The Call to Ministry and Seminary 00:34:27 Three Jobs, a PhD, and Walking Away 00:43:55Pastoring East Tallassee Baptist Church 00:49:50 The Call Back to Lakeview College Ministry 00:56:46 Plant Your Life in a Local Church 01:01:50 Covenant Theology: Why I'm a Baptist 01:22:35 Baptist vs. Presbyterian Views of the Covenants 01:33:18 Why Covenant Theology Matters 01:47:59 What God Has Entrusted to Kevin

Josh Chance didn't set out to be a missionary. He started in chemical engineering, switched to exercise science, audited financial statements for Alabama loggers, sold investments for American Express in Nashville, got a master's in education, taught seventh-grade science for six years, and built houses through the 2008 crash. Then a stranger called from Seattle asking if he'd build a Bible translation facility in South Sudan. Blayne sits down with Josh — a decade of service in Tanzania and Rwanda behind him, now back in Auburn with SIL — for a conversation that starts with a Vacation Bible School conversion and ends with the question of what's actually worth investing a life in. Along the way: why assurance of salvation can't be found by looking inward, whether a kid raised in church really "chose" anything, what it means to be a missionary in a law office or a financial advisory firm, and what happens when you're the only white family in central Tanzania the week COVID shuts down the world. There are roughly 7,400 languages spoken on earth. About 800 have a complete Bible. Around 500 still have nothing at all — no alphabet, no written word, nothing. Josh explains what it actually takes to change that, one village and one verse at a time, and why the smallest people group on the list is worth the work. https://global.sil.org/ https://tyndalebibletranslators.org/missionaries/josh-sue-chance/ 00:00:00 Cold open — Blayne and Josh Chance 00:02:21 Auburn, 1974 — saved at a Vacation Bible School 00:09:15 Did I only believe it because my parents did? 00:13:04 The assurance of my faith isn't in my faith 00:15:06 Chemistry, auditing, advising, teaching — and what "enough" means 00:21:10 Is your career a mission field? 00:33:55 The call: Bible translation in South Sudan 00:43:47 Ten years in Tanzania — what SIL actually does 00:50:17 COVID closes the country 01:00:01 How a Bible gets written from scratch 01:12:07 Two eternal things — the best investment he knows 01:18:30 How to pray, give, and get involved

Pastor Al Jackson led Lake View Baptist Church in Auburn for 42 years, but his path there ran through a political science degree, a season chasing a US Senate seat, and a redirect from Washington DC to a dining hall in New Mexico. In this conversation he traces his first birth in Florala, Alabama, his second birth at age ten, and the night years later when he was filled with the Spirit and God began rewriting his ambitions. He talks candidly about the brutal first 28 months of his pastorate, the temptation to build a bigger platform instead of staying put, and why he has no fear of what comes after this life. Timestamps 00:00:00 Cold open and introducing Pastor Al Jackson 00:04:29 First birth: a "tithing baby" raised in Florala, Alabama 00:10:11 Second birth: saved at age ten during a revival 00:13:06 Two teenage passions: football and Republican politics 00:19:19 Arriving at Auburn with a plan to become a senator 00:22:57 Filled with the Spirit and learning to witness 00:29:47 Turning down a Congressional job for Glorieta, New Mexico 00:34:09 The call to preach takes root 00:42:41 Meeting and marrying Kim 01:08:01 Hearing God say "You're going to Auburn" 01:15:20 The brutal first 28 months as Lake View's pastor 01:32:54 Faithfulness over platform: what he was entrusted with

Anthony Lerew spent parts of a decade pitching professionally for the Atlanta Braves, the Kansas City Royals, and clubs in Japan, South Korea, and Venezuela, including a no-hitter that to this day remains the last one thrown in Venezuelan winter ball. He had the cars, the money, and the career most kids dream about. He was also empty. In this episode Anthony walks through growing up in a strict Pennsylvania home, a decade of heavy drinking that nearly cost him his leg after a motorcycle accident, and the moment lying in a hospital bed that changed the direction of his life for good. From the mound to the Mission. Timestamps 00:00:00 Cold open 00:01:11 Meet Anthony Lerew: from the mound to the mission 00:06:39 Growing up in Pennsylvania and tough love 00:11:13 Drafted by the Braves on graduation day 00:15:54 Life in pro ball and the slide into drinking 00:30:42 The no-hitter in Venezuela 00:41:50 Everything the world offers, still empty 00:46:03 The accident that nearly cost him his leg 00:57:10 The sermon that changed everything 01:02:12 Fourteen surgeries and a miraculous healing 01:19:02 A new calling: Standing on the Rock 01:39:36 What Anthony is entrusted with today

Alex McPherson was the number one kicker in the country. Seven SEC offers, his dream school, a perfect 13-for-13 season, and a brother already kicking in the NFL. He thought he knew what God meant when he heard "I need you in Auburn." Then he got sick. Ulcerative colitis took him from 165 pounds to 117. He couldn't sit through a church service. He couldn't keep water down. Two medications failed, and at 21 he made the decision to have his colon removed. This is the whole story — the play where he got saved, the night at camp when he chose Auburn, the years he lost, the surgery, the Missouri game, and what he learned about where his identity actually lives. Timestamps: 00:00:00 Cold open and welcome 00:01:53 Fort Payne: three brothers, church, and football 00:05:36 Saved at a church play 00:15:51 Seven SEC offers and "I need you in Auburn" 00:32:41 Auburn: the Iron Bowl and a perfect season 00:41:00 The first flare-up and a diagnosis 00:53:05 "I'd rather live without my colon" 01:04:20 Giving it to the Lord — and the comeback 01:09:07 Missouri, Portnoy, and six for six at Arkansas 01:21:19 Identity, suffering, and what he's been entrusted with

Derek has built his life around a simple pattern: pray specifically, then be willing to go where the answer points. It took him from a turf management degree at Georgia to a Chick-fil-A counter across the street from his high school, to a brand new restaurant in Newport Beach, to a fifth wheel travel trailer with three kids, and eventually to Auburn. Along the way there was a coworker named Don who asked the only question that mattered, a private jet ride with Dan Cathy the weekend he proposed, and a growing conviction that the businesses he owns are not his. This is a conversation about answered prayer, the difference between wanting control and wanting to be faithful, and what it looks like to run a company that is not explicitly Christian on principles that unmistakably are. 00:00:00 Intro 00:04:15 First Birth 00:07:00 Second Birth 00:20:06 "Is It Real?" 00:24:14 Ashley: Same Birthday, Different Timelines 00:28:42 Is Wanting Control Sinful? 00:33:18 Three Prayer Requests and a Chick-fil-A Interview 00:52:47 A Private Jet with Dan Cathy 01:01:29 Launching 101 Mobility with His Brother 01:08:03 A Fifth Wheel, Four Kids, and the Move to Auburn 01:20:27 Christian Principles in a Business That Isn't Christian 01:33:32 What He's Been Entrusted With

Josh Yates prayed before every at-bat for God to make him famous. It worked, in a way — he became a D1 All-American catcher and got drafted by the Cleveland Indians in 2006. But by then his life had already come apart at the seams: three schools in three semesters, a scholarship pulled, and a baby on the way at 19 with a girlfriend he barely knew. In this episode, Josh — now the founding pastor of Vineyard Church in Auburn, AL — tells the whole story: the chaplain who wouldn't stop showing up, the chapel talk that changed his mind about signing with the Indians, the appendicitis that hit on his 22nd birthday mid-slump, and the eight months between "I don't think I was a Christian" and "I'm almost certain I was." We also get into why guilt wasn't what made the gospel attractive to him, why so many of us only know a truncated version of it, and what three years of planting a church has actually looked like — the glory and the chaos of it both. Josh and his wife Jennifer have six kids and have been married since 2005. Vineyard Auburn launched in 2023. — Follow Entrusted: Apple • Spotify • YouTube • Instagram • X Timestamps 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:50 First Birth 00:29:02 Why Jesus became attractive: identity before guilt 00:42:41 The gospel has tenses: saved, being saved, will be saved 00:53:28 A freak dugout injury and becoming a DH 00:55:33 The chapel talk where the scales came off 01:05:16 Joseph, hindsight, and why we can't plan the picture forward 01:07:23 Not drafted his senior year: "one of God's biggest kindnesses" 01:11:22 Matthew 9, the plentiful harvest, and campus outreach 01:20:22 The call to plant Vineyard Auburn 01:25:40 A plentiful harvest in one of the most churched towns in America 01:26:20 Footprint: where you live, learn, work, and play 01:45:46 What has the Lord entrusted to you? 1:50:02 Outro

Lutheran, Presbyterian, Anglican, Episcopalian, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, non-denominational. A pastor walks through what actually separates every major Christian denomination, and what unites them. Why are there so many different churches? Most people pick one based on the music, the preaching style, or where their family already goes. This conversation offers a different framework. Aaron, a seminary-trained pastor, maps the entire landscape from the top down: the historic creeds that define Christian faith, the Great Schism of 1054 that split East from West, the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, and then every major Protestant branch one at a time. For each denomination he covers three things. How the church is structured and who holds authority. What they believe about baptism and the Lord's Supper. And what you would actually experience walking into a service on Sunday. Along the way, the harder questions get asked directly. Can someone be saved inside a tradition that gets the gospel wrong? Why do Lutherans believe Christ is physically present in the bread and wine when Presbyterians do not? What did the thief on the cross actually understand about the Trinity? And where exactly is the risen Christ right now? The episode closes with news from Auburn. Lakeview Baptist Church has voted to plant a new church in the northwest part of town, and Aaron has been sent as the lead planter. North Plains Baptist Church is coming. Whether you are trying to figure out where you land, explaining your faith to someone who thinks denominations prove Christianity is broken, or just want to understand what you have been part of your whole life, this is the map. 00:00:00 Intro 00:01:00 What this episode is 00:03:50 Big Picture Overview of Beliefs 00:07:18 Catholic vs. Protestant 00:19:31 Denominational Differences 00:21:43 Lutherans 00:30:09 Presbyterians/Reformers 00:38:33 Anglican/Episcopalian 00:44:45 Baptists 00:49:55 Methodists 00:54:00 Pentecostal/Assembly of God 00:54:30 Non-denominational 00:58:00 Why Aaron is a Baptist 01:13:00 Encouragement to listeners to think through their beliefs 01:17:00 Aaron’s call to plant a new Church in Auburn

Greg Key spent over two decades in vocational ministry before circling back to the craft he first loved as a teenager: graphic design. In this episode, Greg walks through his first birth in Birmingham, a swimming career that nearly pulled him away from Auburn, and the second birth that came through a Proverbs 19 conviction at a campus Freedom Rally. He shares what it took to build Lakeview's media ministry from nothing, the toll a pandemic took on a local church staff, and the words his dying father spoke that pointed him toward the work he does today. Books mentioned: Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney What Every Christian Should Know by Adrian Rogers The Masculine Mandate by Richard Phillips Follow us: Instagram: @entrustedpodcast 00:00:00 Intro 00:04:48 First Birth 00:35:00 Second Birth 00:39:14 Proverbs 19 and Surrender 00:44:44 Getting Planted at Lakeview 01:16:02 Leaving Graphic Design for Ministry 01:33:16 COVID and the Media Ministry Years 01:47:56 A Father's Last Words and a New Season 01:56:14 Closing

Dr. Larry Wit has taught physiology at Auburn University for over 50 years — and along the way, discipled generations of college students in his home, walked through the death of his wife Nancy after 47 years of marriage, and kept showing up to serve. In this episode, he shares his testimony, how a chance encounter on an airplane and a series of "coincidences" led him to Auburn in 1976, what it means to grieve well without making an idol of what you've lost, and why he's still teaching at 82. We talk about: Growing up in A.W. Tozer's church and the meaning of "second birth" Meeting his wife Nancy and courting via cassette tape during Vietnam God's providence in landing the job at Auburn Sharing the gospel as a professor within the bounds of academic discipline Discipling college students by simply opening his home Losing Nancy to cancer and learning that "grief and peace can coexist" Facing his own health scare and what it means to set your mind on eternity Why retirement isn't the biblical model — and what stewardship looks like in your 80s Books mentioned: The Knowledge of the Holy, The Pursuit of God, and God's Pursuit of Man by A.W. Tozer (3-in-1 volume) Entrusted is a podcast about what you've been given — career, family, calling — and how to steward it well. Hosted by Ben Presley, Brock Murphy, and Blayne Barber. Follow us: Apple | Spotify | YouTube | Instagram | Twitter 00:00:00 Intro 00:02:00 First Birth / Second Birth 00:18:20 Meeting Nancy 00:25:00 Fascinating story of communication with Nancy 00:40:00 Coming to Auburn 01:06:00 God’s faithfulness to Larry as a widower 01:22:00 Stewarding Retirement to His Glory 01:25:00 New perspective after serious illness/Eternal Mindset 01:29:00 Closing

We talk through Zac's move and what it means for the show's editing and production, Brock's move to Birmingham, Ben's first eight weeks as a new dad (and Blayne's very different experience with newborn number one), a shoutout to a fundraiser for a friend's family battling childhood cancer, and where the podcast stands heading into its next season — momentum, growing pains,etc. Then we dig into a meatier one: The Village Church going remote for three weeks during a building renovation sparks a real-time, in-the-text debate on corporate worship, church size, screens vs. gathering in person, and where this issue actually falls on the primary/secondary/tertiary spectrum of Christian conviction. We land on a broader point — the value of holding tension in faith rather than forcing false certainty — anchored by Romans 1 and the "in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity" framework. Enjoyed the episode? Like, comment, and subscribe — and let us know what you think about the corporate worship discussion. Got a guest suggestion or a topic you want us to tackle? Reach out at [email protected] or through our socials. https://www.caringbridge.org/site/6f9746ef-77a9-11f0-b2e2-6f1188bcdf38?from=%252Fsearch&fname=Sally&utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAdGRleATLHDRwZG9mAmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDzEyNDAyNDU3NDI4NzQxNAABp9Dh7sf1hSF4-9sLWEiNrZ2NaJBOuVncA4TlEfowe8BepSekZEL7AkOofInX_aem_xWSzIx83mcOGuzhvsFTWcA   Follow Entrusted: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Instagram | Twitter/X Timestamps: 00:00:00 Intro 00:01:18 THANK YOU ZAC 00:02:33 How is Birmingham Brock? 00:05:19 How is dad life Ben? 00:11:41 State of the Pod 00:22:49 BLAYNE HATES CHURCH AT HOME 00:38:00 email us at : [email protected] 00:46:00 Tension/wrestling as Christians 00:55:30 Essentials vs. non-essentials in our Faith 01:02:33 Closing