Month: December 2020

COLORADO SPRINGS — Ken Harrison, CEO of WaterStone and volunteer chairman of Promise Keepers, is joined by Mark McClain on the latest podcast of “On the Edge with Ken Harrison.” Together, they talk about the responsibility of stewarding money well, how to be a financially wise giver, and the importance of following God’s calling through a faith-filled mindset.

The podcast, available in both audio and video form, can be found on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. Podcast listeners can also receive a challenging weekly devotional that will inspire them to put their faith into action.

Mark McClain is the CEO and Founder of SailPoint (NYSE:SAIL). McClain has over 35 years of experience in technology, with over 20 years as a founder and leader of innovative identity management companies. Under his direction, the company has grown into a publicly recognized leader in its market. McClain directs and drives the overall vision and strategy for SailPoint, which is underpinned by his commitment and passion for building top-performing teams, creating a collaborative and innovative work environment, and focusing continuously on the needs of customers.

Prior to SailPoint, he co-founded Waveset Technologies, which was ultimately acquired by Sun Microsystems. McClain’s career also includes diverse experience in international sales and marketing with Hewlett-Packard and IBM/Tivoli Systems.

Highlights of McClain’s interview in the podcast include:

• The responsibility of stewarding money well for the Kingdom

“I know a lot of men and women, mostly men, who have incredible worldly success from building very substantial fortunes and successful companies. But their lives are a train wreck. You don’t want to end up as that single guy after his fourth divorce with kids in rehab, living in a 15,000 square foot home by yourself. That is not success, but unfortunately that is where a lot of stories end up because we only see the business side that is projected on Fortune and Forbes. I try to convey to young people — if God’s gift to you is to be a businessman, be a great businessman or woman, but do so in a way that you don’t look back with regret at the train wreck of your personal life.”

“As I learned to adopt my faith for myself, I really began to understand what money is. It’s just a tool like so many other things in our lives that can be used for good or for evil. It happens to be one of the most important tools because, as I read years ago in The Treasure Principle, a book by Randy Alcorn, when Jesus answered questions about how he thought people should live their lives of faith, he often answered with how they should steward their money. ‘How should I live?’ ‘You should not cheat people.’ ‘How should I live?’ ‘You should give carefully.’ I think it’s the ultimate barometer in some ways of our faith. If you don’t deal with money well, there are probably other things wrong with your theology. I have come to believe that money is ultimately an important tool that we are given to steward. We don’t own anything. We’re given an amount of wealth for a period and God calls us to manage it through faith and trust.”

• Giving wisely

“I try to be diligent, but I’m probably not as diligent as I could be. It sounds odd to say, but there are burdens from having more wealth to manage on God’s behalf than you expected. I want to be as faithful as I can to manage these resources I have been given and if I’m slipshod, I’m not going to be doing what I was called to do, am I? I struggle with the word generosity because it assumes that I’m the owner and I’m being generous with what I have to give. But, it’s not mine. We are managing resources for the one true owner no matter how small or large.”

“I give carefully by surrounding myself with a smart, godly team that can help me to think about how to manage my wealth and help me channel it to the right resources. We should use our giving to advance the Kingdom, spread the gospel, and help the poor directly in the name of Christ. It’s very easy for me to think about channeling the great majority of my giving toward things that are explicitly oriented toward God-ordained causes.”

• Following God’s calling through a faith-filled mindset

“I feel I was gifted with a stewardship mindset that didn’t only involve money because back then I didn’t have any, but I knew that I had some gifts and talents that I should pursue. I think like a lot of folks that ended up in business as a young, Christian, I wrestled a bit with going full time into ministry. Thankfully, I had some really good counsel not to do that because I would have been a lousy pastor. I think far more of us are called to be out among the world doing whatever God called us to do and doing it with a faith-filled and God-honoring mindset. In my case, I felt I was called to business and I began to steward what was happening as it came.”

“I don’t know if this is my life verse, but I quote it a lot, the phrase in Psalms where David says ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.’ The implication of this is so powerful for me. I feel we all want big searchlights that shine way down the road to tell us where we’re going, but God gives us just enough light to see this step and maybe one more step, a light at our feet. I think that is what it has looked like for me to walk by faith in my business life. I’m just going to take the next step that I see make sense as I pray, talk to godly counselors, and trust my amazing team around me.”

MEDIA NOTE: Please email [email protected] to schedule an interview with WaterStone CEO Ken Harrison.

• KEN HARRISON is the host of “On the Edge with Ken Harrison,” a podcast building godly people for a better tomorrow. The podcast, available in both audio and video form, can be found on YouTube and your favorite podcast platform, including Apple and Spotify. The podcast also offers listeners the opportunity to receive a challenging weekly devotional that will inspire them to put their faith into action.Harrison serves as CEO of WaterStone, a Christian Community Foundation whose clients donate over $1 million per week on average to build God’s Kingdom. For nearly 40 years, Waterstone has assisted givers in supporting their favorite charities by crafting customized, innovative giving solutions that empower donors to prioritize income, minimize taxes and optimize giving.Ken started his career as an LAPD street cop in South Central and then spent nearly two decades in commercial real estate nationally and internationally. After successfully building and growing his company, he sold the majority interest to the second-largest commercial real estate company in the world while continuing as CEO of U.S. valuation and chair of international valuation.Ken volunteers his time as the chairman of Promise Keepers. His mission is to provide executive leadership and strategic direction to the ministry while inspiring men to be bold, humble and ambitious about their faith.Ken has been married to his wife, Elliette, for 29 years and they have three children.Harrison’s newest book, The Rise of the Servant Kings: What the Bible Says About Being a Man, is available wherever books are sold.

COLORADO SPRINGS — Ken Harrison, CEO of WaterStone and volunteer chairman of Promise Keepers, is joined by Matthew Mattera on the latest podcast of “On the Edge with Ken Harrison.” Together, they discuss the growing suicide rates in youth, how to recognize the signs, and finding strength in God’s plan after a loved one has taken their life. Due to the graphic nature of this episode, the host is issuing a warning for those who may be triggered by the discussion of suicide.

The podcast, available in both audio and video form, can be found on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. Podcast listeners can also receive a challenging weekly devotional that will inspire them to put their faith into action.

Matthew Mattera joined the Navy in 1998, where he met his wife, Erica, and has over 20 years of experience of continuing military service. His powerful and compelling story is a testimony of overcoming hardships and extreme adversity. When Mattera was only six years old, his dad, Michael, committed suicide; he found him moments after the fatal shot was fired. Since that tragic day, Mattera has endured the death of his little brother from an overdose in 2004, followed by the suicides of four other family members over a span of eight years, including the suicide of his own teenage daughter.

Mattera uses his platform, ChartedLife365, to bring awareness to suicide by sharing his story. As a public speaker, Mattera brings to life how God uses our personal testimonies to preserve, promote, and prosper us through every encounter and action drawn onto the map of our
lives.

Highlights of Mattera’s interview in the podcast include:

• Allowing God to turn our tragedies into good
  “I told my wife, ‘I don’t know how God is going to use this tragedy, but he’s going to use it in a way. We’re going to make that enemy pay because that adversary killed our little girl by renting space in her head and lying to her. This adversary killed my father, my brother, and now my little girl. It’s personal and I’m coming after you.’ That was the moment that I decided I’m going to steward this. The Bible tells us that all things work together for good, of those that love God and are called according to his purpose.”
  “A lot of people say that I can’t carry this burden on my shoulders all the time. I tell them that this isn’t a burden — this is an opportunity to steward something, a golden opportunity to open hearts and minds and to free millions of people while changing their perspective.”

Living a life of regret is not fit for the Kingdom

• “The Bible tells us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You walk out of the spirit, not after the flesh. Condemnation takes on different colors and sizes and one of those is the ‘should have, would have, could have game.’ It is something the enemy seeks to exploit. Hindsight is used for lessons learned so that I take note and don’t do that action again. But, if you’re any man holding to only this plan and looking back, it’s not fit for the Kingdom. Meaning, if you’re constantly looking through the rearview mirror through an attitude of regret, that is when you become vulnerable to staying up to 2 o’clock in the morning, drinking beers, and drowning your sorrows. That’s where arguing with your wife and having resentful conversations about nickel and dime-sized things begin because you’re wrestling with a sense of bitterness and you’re against yourself instead of pausing, and seeking God so that you can do good with your tragedy.”

Recognizing the signs and intervening

• “My daughter, Elizabeth, started to disappear before my eyes. She started out with little, pink dresses, playing barbies, and as time slowly started to progress she started gravitating and orbiting around themes and messages that glorified and glamorized a dark narrative of death, depression, and destruction. I think for her, like many other children, social media and her smartphone became a fierce multiplier for it. She also started to gravitate toward music that exemplified depression as if it was a good thing and she chose to wear clothes that were all black. Elizabeth was cutting and everything of her outward appearance was an expression of what she was facing in her heart and mind. All the messaging that she was taking in from school, social media, music, and many other outside forces were affecting her because of what she was absorbing and ingesting constantly. At some point, it is our job as parents to step in and say ‘That’s enough’ of the negative messaging they are ingesting in their eyes and ears.”

The components of suicide and holistic healing

• “I think there’s a biological component, there’s certainly a behavioral, mental health component, but I also think there is a component that we are missing and it’s a spiritual component. I think the faith community and the secular health community have divorced themselves from approaching it. From a holistic standpoint, we are three-part beings — mind, body, and spirit. We’re the only species on earth that wrestle with depression, self-esteem, and self-worth. We are the only ones who self-destruct.”
• “I’m not a doctor, but I believe there are biological components. The neural network in your mind is the most complex computer in creation. Then you allow it to not just be the primary computer for your body, but it’s also the housing for your spirit as well. I think we miss the mark when we focus only on pharmaceuticals and secular talk therapy. Then, the faith community comes in and we place a generic, ‘Just believe in Jesus and it’s going to go away.’ That’s not holistic nor comprehensive. I think what needs to happen is that the grown-ups in the room, everybody that’s a leader in our communities, whether it be at the schoolhouse, at the courthouse, at city hall, or in our homes, we need to ask ourselves the uncomfortable questions and be humble enough to face some inconvenient truths about the rise in suicide in our youth today.”

NOTE: this interview not only includes Matthew’s powerful story, it also provides valuable insight for parents on contributing factors like the harm caused by social media and the need for parents to take up their authority and intervene in the lives of their children. In addition, we’ve compiled several resources from friends of Promise Keepers that also provide insights and strategies to prevent suicide and heal from loss:
Dealing with the loss of a loved one to suicide: https://newlife.com/new-life-live-december-15-2020/
Help for those contemplating suicide: https://www.familylife.com/articles/topics/life-issues/challenges/mental-and-emotional-issues/help-for-the-suicidal/
Dealing with the loss of a spouse to suicide: https://newlife.com/new-life-live-april-16-2020/

If you or anyone you know is considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline, available 24 hours a day, at 1-800-273-8255 for free, professional, and confidential support and resources.

MEDIA NOTE: Please email [email protected] to schedule an interview with WaterStone CEO Ken Harrison.

• KEN HARRISON is the host of “On the Edge with Ken Harrison,” a podcast building godly people for a better tomorrow. The podcast, available in both audio and video form, can be found on YouTube and your favorite podcast platform, including Apple and Spotify. The podcast also offers listeners the opportunity to receive a challenging weekly devotional that will inspire them to put their faith into action.Harrison serves as CEO of WaterStone, a Christian Community Foundation whose clients donate over $1 million per week on average to build God’s Kingdom. For nearly 40 years, Waterstone has assisted givers in supporting their favorite charities by crafting customized, innovative giving solutions that empower donors to prioritize income, minimize taxes and optimize giving.Ken started his career as an LAPD street cop in South Central and then spent nearly two decades in commercial real estate nationally and internationally. After successfully building and growing his company, he sold the majority interest to the second-largest commercial real estate company in the world while continuing as CEO of U.S. valuation and chair of international valuation.Ken volunteers his time as the chairman of Promise Keepers. His mission is to provide executive leadership and strategic direction to the ministry while inspiring men to be bold, humble and ambitious about their faith.Ken has been married to his wife, Elliette, for 29 years and they have three children.Harrison’s newest book, The Rise of the Servant Kings: What the Bible Says About Being a Man, is available wherever books are sold.

COLORADO SPRINGS — Ken Harrison, CEO of WaterStone and volunteer chairman of Promise Keepers, is joined by Rick Burgess on the latest podcast of “On the Edge with Ken Harrison.” Together, they talk about losing a loved one, building a strong household under Christ, and the importance of a father’s leadership in times of turbulence.

The podcast, available in both audio and video form, can be found on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. Podcast listeners can also receive a challenging weekly devotional that will inspire them to put their faith into action.

Rick Burgess has been the co-host of the “Rick and Bubba Show” since 1994, a nationally syndicated radio show which airs to 1.2 million people weekly. Burgess has coauthored multiple New York Times bestselling books that are autobiographical in nature, but his latest release is a 40-day devotional designed to disciple men. How to Be a Man, the Pursuit of Christ-Centered Masculinity is coauthored by Andy Blanks and was released by Iron Hill Press in 2017. Burgess has appeared on various radio and television shows including Fox and Friends and the Sean Hannity Show as a commentator and guest. He is a frequent speaker at church services and youth and marriage conferences, but his true passion is men’s ministry.

Highlights of Burgess’ interview in the podcast include:

•  We are never alone if we belong to Christ

“The chaplain said, ‘Mr. Burgess, are you alone?’ Uncontrollably I said, ‘I’m never alone. I’m never alone.’ You know, we’re never alone if we belong to Christ. We have God’s spirit in us, the Holy Spirit, he’s always there, the comforter, the helper, and I felt the presence of God. I felt his comfort. I felt his strength saying, ‘I’m here and I’m in control.’ And then I said something to the chaplain that was so weird that it could only have been supernatural. I said, ‘I can’t imagine what you have to do every day.’ And the chaplain replied, ‘What?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, I just feel like I need to pray for you. I can’t believe you have to tell people what you’re about to tell me. You have to do this every day.’ I just had a connection to this chaplain and then the chaplain said, ‘Mr. Burgess, your son could not be revived. Your son’s passed away.’ ”

“In my wife’s book, she asks the question, ‘Where is God in this?’ And the answer is right in the middle of it. Scripture is not silent on suffering and pain. We are told about suffering and who God is in it. At the time our son passed, she was grasping for answers. She told me, ‘I was there and I was praying for my child to be revived. They were trying to revive him. I can remember these audible words coming out of my mouth that I couldn’t pray.’ Sometimes the Holy Spirit prays, what you ought to be praying. She said, ‘I heard myself saying, not my will, but your will be done, Lord.’ She told me, ‘I couldn’t say that because I didn’t really want that, I wanted him to do what I want.’ But — it is his will be done, Jesus in the garden, Father, not my will, because there’s no other way.”

• Building a household under the authority of Christ

“Our marriage is not based on Rick and Sherry. I’m imperfect. She’s imperfect. I don’t put pressure on her to fulfill me. She doesn’t put pressure on me to fulfill her. My wife and I built our house under the authority of Christ. And I can honestly tell you that I believe that marriages that fail in our situation are marriages that are not under the authority of Christ. I believe this reveals the state of the marriage. I knew who God was because he had prepared me for this. I wasn’t losing my mind, thinking ‘How do these things happen? What is his? Why do bad things happen to good people?’ You know why? Because I knew I wasn’t a good person. There are no good people. I wasn’t thinking ‘What was my wife doing?’ or how I should have been home at the time and not speaking at an event hour away. We never blamed each other. You know, I knew Psalms 139:13-16 that he had weaved my child together in his mother’s womb, my wife’s womb, and that he had written in his book every day of Brauner’s life before he had ever lived one. So my son’s life is not incomplete, it was completed in two and a half years because that’s what God designed. I’ve been able to see what God has done through that little boy to impact more people than those who are in their 80’s.”

• The importance of a father’s leadership in times of turbulence

“I remember my father and I would be in our boat, out on the water and sometimes storms would be coming for us. And I remember as a little boy I would look at my dad with those big muscular legs and a pair of shorts as he would get up on the steering wheel and start looking over everything. The minute I would see him taking the lead on our boat, I was at perfect peace. I thought ‘Well there’s dad, he’s got this now.’ I never knew whether he had it or not or if there were times where he was panicked because we were in trouble. I never noticed because I never saw it. He was always calm and under control. So when I looked at him, he was a calming force.”

“In times of turbulence, our families need to see fathers acting as a calming force and the man of God in their house. ‘Hey, Dad, is everything going to be all right?’ It is our responsibility to reply, ‘Yes, let me tell you who God is.’ Let us take what the scriptures say and give these truths to our children. We need to tell them, ‘It really is going to be alright because of this biblical truth.’ When they ask us, ‘Why is this happening?’ We hit them with another Biblical truth. It is our responsibilities as fathers and men of God to set our families up for success in times of turbulence.”

MEDIA NOTE: Please email [email protected] to schedule an interview with WaterStone CEO Ken Harrison.

• KEN HARRISON is the host of “On the Edge with Ken Harrison,” a podcast building godly people for a better tomorrow. The podcast, available in both audio and video form, can be found on YouTube and your favorite podcast platform, including Apple and Spotify. The podcast also offers listeners the opportunity to receive a challenging weekly devotional that will inspire them to put their faith into action.Harrison serves as CEO of WaterStone, a Christian Community Foundation whose clients donate over $1 million per week on average to build God’s Kingdom. For nearly 40 years, Waterstone has assisted givers in supporting their favorite charities by crafting customized, innovative giving solutions that empower donors to prioritize income, minimize taxes and optimize giving.Ken started his career as an LAPD street cop in South Central and then spent nearly two decades in commercial real estate nationally and internationally. After successfully building and growing his company, he sold the majority interest to the second-largest commercial real estate company in the world while continuing as CEO of U.S. valuation and chair of international valuation.Ken volunteers his time as the chairman of Promise Keepers. His mission is to provide executive leadership and strategic direction to the ministry while inspiring men to be bold, humble and ambitious about their faith.Ken has been married to his wife, Elliette, for 29 years and they have three children.Harrison’s newest book, The Rise of the Servant Kings: What the Bible Says About Being a Man, is available wherever books are sold.

COLORADO SPRINGS — Ken Harrison, CEO of WaterStone and volunteer chairman of Promise Keepers, explores issues of infidelity, overcoming sin, and finding redemption with Phil and Al Robertson on the latest podcast of “On the Edge with Ken Harrison.”

The podcast, available in both audio and video form, can be found on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. Podcast listeners can also receive a challenging weekly devotional that will inspire them to put their faith into action.

Phil Robertson is a professional hunter who invented his own duck call and founded the successful Duck Commander Company. He also starred in the popular television series on A&E, Duck Dynasty, and is now the host of the new subscription television series In the Woods with Phil on CRTV.com. He is a New York Times bestselling author of The Theft of America’s Soul, Happy, Happy, Happy, and UnPHILtered. His newest release is Jesus Politics: How to Win Back The Soul of America. He and his wife, Kay, live in West Monroe, Louisiana. He has five children, 18 grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

Al Robertson is the oldest son of Phil and Kay Robertson. He helped start the family business, Duck Commander and left in the late ’80s to serve as a Pastor for 22 years at the White’s Ferry Road Church in West Monroe, LA. He went back to Duck Commander in 2012 to begin appearing on Duck Dynasty with the Robertson family. Al has authored and co-authored five books and speaks around the country about the reasons behind the success of the show and the Robertson’s values of faith, family, and ducks. Al and his wife, Lisa, have been married for over 32 years and have two daughters and six grandchildren.

Highlights of Phil and Al’s interview in the podcast include:

God’s most righteous are not the greatest men, but those who suffered the most.
“When we think of the most righteous men in the Old Testament, the top three that come to mind are Moses, Elijah, and Abraham. Yet, God says the most righteous men were Noah, Daniel, and Job. Do you know what Noah, Daniel, and Job all have in common? They all suffered greatly. God tells us the three most righteous men of the Old Testament are not the greatest men, but they are the men that went through the greatest suffering.”

Men who believe they are too fallible for God to lift them up need to be met with compassion and a lack of judgment.“I was just sitting on the curb. My clothes are torn. My elbows are bloody elbows and the police officer just started talking to me. He could see I was in shock, but he had compassion. He saw me at the worst moment of my life. It was at that moment sitting there, he saw an opportunity to give me grace as all the officers left. So he just started talking to me and started asking me questions. He recognized I didn’t fit into this lifestyle, sleeping with a married woman. And I was amazed because the more he talked, the more I unfolded. All this stuff I had pent up, I started just crying uncontrollably. And so I realize now, looking back, that was my brokenness moment.”

“But you know what happened was from that day forward, my life changed. When I got into ministry, it was natural for me. I removed any sort of judgmental part because I had been broken. I realized what it was like to be broken. I felt like my role at church was to create an atmosphere where anybody could come home here and find Christ, with no one to judge you. There would be no rocks thrown. In fact, we welcome people with problems because we all have problems.”

Offer yourself to God, so sin shall no longer be your master.

“You have to decide to turn from sin and die to it. A man quits getting drunk when he’s dead, he quits using drugs when he’s dead, he quits lying when he’s dead, he quits stealing when he’s dead. God let us experience a mock death, burial, and resurrection of ourselves and once we come forth from the tomb, you’re like, well, ‘I’ve been raised from the dead. I thank you, Lord.’ And if it doesn’t change your mind about how you function, that’s why you read through all the texts of the Bible. All of them say, take the bad things away, take the bad things away, add the good, take the bad things away from drugs to immorality to all of it. It just takes human beings a while to climb out of there. It’s like old habits are hard to break. We have to train ourselves to know the difference between good and evil. It’s not rocket science. It’s really not. It’s in a person’s heart. They say, you know what, what’s riding on this? You say immortality and eternal life.”

MEDIA NOTE: Please email [email protected] to schedule an interview with WaterStone CEO Ken Harrison.

• KEN HARRISON is the host of “On the Edge with Ken Harrison,” a podcast building godly people for a better tomorrow. The podcast, available in both audio and video form, can be found on YouTube and your favorite podcast platform, including Apple and Spotify. The podcast also offers listeners the opportunity to receive a challenging weekly devotional that will inspire them to put their faith into action.Harrison serves as CEO of WaterStone, a Christian Community Foundation whose clients donate over $1 million per week on average to build God’s Kingdom. For nearly 40 years, Waterstone has assisted givers in supporting their favorite charities by crafting customized, innovative giving solutions that empower donors to prioritize income, minimize taxes and optimize giving.Ken started his career as an LAPD street cop in South Central and then spent nearly two decades in commercial real estate nationally and internationally. After successfully building and growing his company, he sold the majority interest to the second-largest commercial real estate company in the world while continuing as CEO of U.S. valuation and chair of international valuation.Ken volunteers his time as the chairman of Promise Keepers. His mission is to provide executive leadership and strategic direction to the ministry while inspiring men to be bold, humble and ambitious about their faith.Ken has been married to his wife, Elliette, for 29 years and they have three children.Harrison’s newest book, The Rise of the Servant Kings: What the Bible Says About Being a Man, is available wherever books are sold.