Month: April 2021

COLORADO SPRINGS — Ken Harrison is joined by three-time New York Times bestselling author Rod Dreher on the latest episode of “On the Edge with Ken Harrison.” Together they discuss how the Soviets gained control over Russia and the Eastern Bloc, the Communist exploitation of people who lost their identity and were overcome with loneliness, and the parallels in America today.

Highlights of Dreher’s interview in the podcast include (edited for clarity):

The parallels in today’s America:

“Much of communism started only among the intellectuals at first and many ordinary people thought it would never amount to anything. Then, one day they woke up and crazy theories were ruling their society. It happened so quickly because many of them weren’t paying attention. We think if we elect the right people to office or get the right judges on the bench things will take care of themselves, but this isn’t necessarily true because here America stands, losing its culture.

“For example, if future legislation passes, we’re going to see the persecution of Christian businesses and Christian institutions. The reason I tell people this is not to scare them. I do want to alarm them in a positive sense, but not in the sense of go hide under your bed and hope it all goes away because it’s not going to all go away. I want to make people realize that what’s happening in America and our culture is not normal. A version of this happened a century ago and we in the church need to get ready right now to fight back. If God is, for whatever reason, allowing this stuff to rule our society for any number of years, we have to be prepared to resist it, to be resilient in our faith, and not let it crush us.”

Recognizing and learning from the past:

“I learned from talking to the Christians who experienced hard totalitarianism that, they told me, ‘You shouldn’t think that most Christians were willing to stand up because most Christians wanted to keep their head down and avoid trouble. Only the ones who were willing to suffer for their faith and to suffer for Christ stood up.’ This is something that we have to cultivate among ourselves, among Christians today, and especially among our men.

We have to root ourselves deeply in scripture and we have to relate what we know from the Bible to what’s going on in the world around us. It can’t just be an abstract thing. We have to do like what Father Jakovčić and his groups did, which is coming together in small groups not only to pray, but to study what’s happening around us in light of scripture and then deciding what exactly what we are going to do.”

“On the Edge with Ken Harrison” is a weekly podcast featuring fearless, no-holds-barred conversations from a biblical worldview with the leaders, influencers and changemakers behind today’s news. Harrison shines the light of God’s Word on the toughest, timeliest issues relating to current events, faith, family and fatherhood.

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

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

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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 $2 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.

COLORADO SPRINGS — Ken Harrison is joined by former U.S. Navy SEAL and Founder of Life of Valor, Jeff Bramstedt, on the latest episode of “On the Edge with Ken Harrison.” Together they discuss what it takes to become a U.S. Navy SEAL, surrounding yourself with people whose strengths are your weaknesses, and Bramstedt’s story of donating a portion of his liver out of Christian love for someone he had never met.

Highlights of Bramstedt’s interview in the podcast include (edited for clarity):

Becoming a U.S. Navy SEAL and practicing the legacy of excellence:

“I would say to anybody who wants to become a SEAL, understand that your body is ten times more capable than your brain tells it that it is. When you become tired, and your muscles and your body are saying ‘I’m exhausted. I need rest.’ know that you can still keep going. In training, you’re going to be pushed to the edge of your capabilities and who you have always known yourself to be physically.

Once you are launched off the ledge of your limitations, you will realize that you didn’t fail and you didn’t fall down. Not only are you still on your feet, but you will have a whole set of new limits—this is what the training is all about, pushing you past your limits and coming through the other side. You will be able to do more than you ever thought possible.”

“When you become a SEAL, everything is done in excellence. From what you say, to the way you treat your teammates and boat crew—don’t let anything come out of your mouth that’s discouraging and always be there for somebody. Take care of somebody else before you take care of yourself because it’s just as much a team sport as it is an individual sport.”

Leadership and surrounding yourself with people whose strengths are your weaknesses:

“I think there are two kinds of leaders that are out there, the kind that are born and the kind that are created, mentored. Take someone who is a born leader and they’re not mentored, they can be kind of the bossy guy. Take someone who learned how to be a great leader because they were a great follower, they’re going to be a really good leader. Then, take a born leader who was teachable and a great follower, he’s going to be an amazing leader.

But, how great of a leader is someone if you were to ask the people that follow them? You will get a much different answer than from the leader who has their own view of themselves. So when we look at the distorted mirror of our leadership, it can be easy to think ‘I’m awesome at this.’, but this can be dishonest because we tend not to think about our weaknesses.

I looked inward at my own weaknesses and started to focus on them because I knew what my strengths were. After a long time of focusing on my weaknesses, I started thinking ‘What if I surround myself with the people whose strengths are my weaknesses and I keep those guys close to me?’ It changed the game for me, my growth, and my leadership. I’ve been doing this for close to a decade because it is important to surround yourself with these individuals, as well as those who are not going to say yes to everything.”

Bramstedt’s story of donating a portion of his liver out of Christian love for someone he had never met:

“I always tell my boys that character is the place inside you where the things that you say, the things that you do, and the decisions you make come from—from God’s center.

When I heard about Melinda’s story, I immediately said yes because it wasn’t okay that there was a man that was going to lose his wife and there was nothing he could do about it. So, I stood up in his shoes for his wife. Early on, I thought about what would it be like if I was in the position where my wife needed something and there was nothing I could do because maybe our blood types weren’t the same, or maybe I had something that would get in the way of me having to be who I needed to be for her. It would have destroyed me and changed me as a human being, husband, and father. When I met Melinda, I said, ‘I’m not doing this for you so much. No offense, I’m just doing it for him because I can’t imagine what it would feel like as a husband with your wife in this situation.’”

“On the Edge with Ken Harrison” is a weekly podcast featuring fearless, no-holds-barred conversations from a biblical worldview with the leaders, influencers and changemakers behind today’s news. Harrison shines the light of God’s Word on the toughest, timeliest issues relating to current events, faith, family and fatherhood.

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

MEDIA NOTE: Please email [email protected] to schedule an interview with WaterStone CEO Ken Harrison.
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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 $2 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.

COLORADO SPRINGS — Ken Harrison is joined by former San Diego Charger, author, and pastor Miles McPherson on the latest episode of “On the Edge with Ken Harrison.” Together they discuss McPherson’s unique perspective on race, how to successfully build a diverse megachurch, and how to be humble and see people in the image of God.

Highlights of McPherson’s interview in the podcast include (edited for clarity):

McPherson’s unique perspective on race:

Harrison: “In this episode, we’re going to talk about race and I know a lot of guys just thought, ‘Harrison, you’re doing race again?’, but I believe you have some unique perspectives on race that I think are really going to help change the conversation. You’ve written this awesome book, The Third Option, so tell us about your perspective on the race conversation. What is your take on it that’s completely different from what we’re currently hearing?”

McPherson: “Well, first I will give you my background because it’s important for context and to know the definition of words. I have a white grandmother, half black Chinese grandmother, and two black grandfathers so I grew up in a pretty diverse family. I lived in a black neighborhood, where I was considered too light-skinned and not black enough, and attended school in a white neighborhood where I was called the N-word constantly and in front of teachers.

When I got a chance to enter the discussion and write a book, I wanted to write something that would bring people together, but not deny the reality of race because I had lived it.

I think in our culture, we have a problem that is seen as an ‘us versus them’. In this culture, you have people saying that my truth is better than your truth and that’s the conflict. The division we experience is an ‘us versus them’ mentality. In today’s culture, Defund The Police, Black Lives Matter, etc, whatever side of the issue you’re on, there are people who see it as in order for me to be right, you have to be wrong. So, we continue to argue about who’s right over the other person and everybody has their justification from their experience because we only see things from our perspective. It’s causing major division in the world. I wanted to bring about a third option where we honor what we have in common because we all have more similarities than differences. When we have relationships with people based on things we have in common, if we start there, then we can see our differences as often variations of the same thing. If we begin to focus on wanting to know the other side better, as well as their perspective, we can begin to honor what we have in common. This is the third option.”

Celebrating diversity in McPherson’s megachurch, Rock Church:

Harrison: “You have a multi-racial and multi-ethnic church in San Diego, which is an area that most people don’t realize is a pretty conservative city in a really liberal state. San Diego has its weird dichotomies. What are the things that you’ve learned about the church and running a church in this kind of an area?”

McPherson: “Yes, San Diego is very diverse. Our church has been diverse since day one. First, I think the important thing to know, for pastors who are trying to minister to a diverse community, is that having people in your room that don’t look like you doesn’t automatically translate to you having a diverse ministry.

Second, when you have people in your church coming from all different political places and different socioeconomic places, your job is to unite them and bring them to Christ. God brings together people of different backgrounds and experiences and I think it is necessary for pastors to be aware and respectful no matter a person’s circumstances. We have to remember we are all made in the image of God. Anyone should be able to go to a church where no one looks like them and be welcomed and loved.”

“On the Edge with Ken Harrison” is a weekly podcast featuring fearless, no-holds-barred conversations from a biblical worldview with the leaders, influencers and changemakers behind today’s news. Harrison shines the light of God’s Word on the toughest, timeliest issues relating to current events, faith, family and fatherhood.

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

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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 $2 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.

“We’ve got to act like we have something to confront the darkness with because we do, it’s Jesus, the Word, and our own morals. Christians have to resist this behavior, take a stand, and not accept this perversion anymore.” – Pat Boone

COLORADO SPRINGS — Ken Harrison is joined by legendary singer, composer, actor, and writer Pat Boone on the latest episode of “On the Edge with Ken Harrison.” Together they discuss Boone’s rise to fame, his take on the shocking and scandalous performances at the 2021 Grammys, and how Christians can push back on the perversion that is being widely accepted as “culture”.

Highlights of Boone’s interview in the podcast include (edited for clarity):

Harrison: “The recent Grammy Awards stunned me. I knew our country was in bad shape, but when I saw the performance of WAP, I couldn’t comprehend how America had become so depraved and perverse. You’ve been at the top of the entertainment world for so long, when you see something like this, what are your thoughts?”

Boone: “Well, it’s hard. It makes me heartsick. It’s unbelievable. They do these things and the general public goes for it, at the least some put up with it. The producers, and even organizations like the NBA and the NFL, put up with all of these things because they’re trying to appeal to a younger audience. They think to appeal to a younger audience, they’ve got to appeal to the gutter, because that’s what so much of the music is.

We’ve let the culture be so dumbed down and corrupted and now we’re giving awards for this type of performance. Unfortunately, so many of the rappers, some of whom actually are Christian people, come out and they’re doing stuff that’s filled with expletives and filthy words, but when they win an award they say, ‘I want to thank my Lord and Savior’ and they’re wearing a cross. I can almost hear Jesus say, ‘Look, I had nothing to do with that. Don’t thank me for that. I had nothing to do whatsoever.’ I mean, it is such a perverse, corrupt thing and it’s being widely accepted as culture.”

Harrison: “What do we do about it as a culture, and more specifically, what should Christians do about it? At what point do we get involved in culture and start to say enough is enough?”

Boone: “Well, first of all, we should turn off the TV. If we have young people at home, we need to let them know that we are not going to watch filth, they can’t watch it. We can also do things that most people don’t think are effective. For example, we can write letters to sponsors letting them know that we don’t agree with what they are portraying on TV. I have done it myself. The bottom line is we’ve got to be more vocal. We have to resist. We are supposed to write songs about being earthen vessels because we are filled with his spirit and living by his word. We’re earthen vessels and we’re supposed to be light. He specifically says ‘You’re the light of the world.’ It is our job to be this light. We’ve got to act like we have something to confront the darkness with because we do, it’s Jesus, the Word and our own morals. We have to take a stand and act like we’re not going to accept this anymore. And we have the power literally. Our God will work with us and he will give us the power. I know because I’ve done it. I and other entertainers have been able to get certain shows kicked off the air because their sponsors quit on them. For the TV networks, social media, etc. we have to let our voices be heard and we’ve got to speak out because if we don’t it is going to keep burying us.”
“On the Edge with Ken Harrison” is a weekly podcast featuring fearless, no-holds-barred conversations from a biblical worldview with the leaders, influencers and changemakers behind today’s news. Harrison shines the light of God’s Word on the toughest, timeliest issues relating to current events, faith, family and fatherhood.

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

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 $2 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.

PAT BOONE is a legendary American singer, composer, actor, writer and spokesman. He was a #1 pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He sold more than 45 million records and had 38 top 40 hits, including 6 number one records, and 13 “million sellers”, or gold records. In addition, Boone appeared in more than 15 Hollywood films. Among his numerous awards and accolades, he has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Along with his Rock ‘n Roll hits, he recorded an abundance of Christian music, and wrote the words to what is considered Israel’s second national anthem, “Exodus.” In 2003, he was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

In his charitable endeavors, Boone has regularly hosted the Easter Seals Telethon to help raise $600 million for children with disabilities. Together with their son-in-law, Pat and Shirley Boone founded Mercy Corps, one of the top ten Christian humanitarian and relief organizations. Boone continues to support many other ministries, including the Salvation Army, Bible for the World, and the Fellowship of Christians and Jews.