As founder and CEO of Five Crowns Ministries, Dennis Funderburg has traveled the world and seen God do miracles, signs and wonders.

“And people always correlate to [thinking] I must be a very special holy person, or I must be a guy who has it all together. And that is not it at all,” Funderburg says on the Jesus Is Still Jesus podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network. “I’m a broken guy just like everybody else. And I have my struggles; I have my things that I go through.”

Funderburg wants people to know the one reason God has used him: submission. “It is simply being submitted to Christ, meaning I have set myself aside for Him and Him alone,” he says. “There are days I don’t get it right, there are days that I mess it up. But in majority, I keep bringing my heart back to Him. It’s not necessarily about arriving, like a lot of people think, God will use me when I arrive. Well, that’s a religious mindset. It’s like, God will use me when I do better. Well, that’s work- based.

“… God will use you when you desire to be there,” Funderburg explains. “When you have a desire to want to be there with the Lord … ‘I want to mature; I want to get better. I want to overcome these things. I want to know you more.’ Then God’s like, ‘I will totally work with that. That is how that kingdom works.”

To hear more of Funderburg’s teaching on Jesus as Master and how understanding that truth can transform your life, listen to the full podcast here.{eoa}

When God first began to speak to pastor and health coach Laura Aguillard about the Nazirite vow and DNA, she had no idea what it was. But she quickly found ways to learn about it, including through the teaching of Mike Bickle and Lou Engle as well as the Bible’s instruction in Numbers 6.

“For me, it’s all or nothing. I feel like it’s lifetime for me,” Aguillard tells host Tammie Southerland on the Voice of the Burning Ones podcast on the Charisma podcast network. “… That’s what was major me, is the Lord was like, ‘It’s voluntary. It’s voluntary. It’s a sacrificial offering.’

“‘So when you see Me … you get to make the choice. Are you going to do what I’m asking you to do? When I ask you not to touch something that maybe everybody else is touching, you don’t touch it, Laura,'” Aguillard says God told her. But she questioned Him as to why she couldn’t have some of the privileges He allowed other believers to have.

God had a clear answer for her, Aguillard says. “He said, ‘Because of your assignment, you cannot shake hands with things you have to have authority over. It has to do with your voice,'” she adds. “And that, to me, that’s like, in plain terms, the Nazirite vow to me is that ‘I’ve called you to be consecrated; it’s under purpose. It’s not just so you can look holy, it’s actually because you are to have an authority in the spirit realm.'”

To learn more about the Nazirite vow and how God is using Laura to call others into a walk of holiness, click here.

Have you noticed a shift in our approach to kingdom life? Are you dissatisfied with focusing on production-based Christianity? Is there a desire in your heart for relationship to take the lead over function? Could this be the Father releasing on the earth a relational focus so we can see the expansion of His kingdom?

The idea of a deep brewing in our hearts started from a very short dream I had several years ago. In the dream, a van pulled up in front of our home. Crystal and I were sitting out front. The wife got out of the van and began to talk with Crystal. The side door of the van opened, and there was a man in the back, the husband. I was trying to get him to step out, but he was sitting in the darkness of the van. After much prompting he leaned forward, and said, “Byron, we are walking similar paths on opposite sides of the fence,” and the dream ended.

For several years I spent time praying and thinking about this concept of walking similar paths on the opposite side of the fence. I began using the term “my bus, our bus.” I’ve heard others use “relationship versus function,” and I believe that speaks to it as easily if not better. I simply enjoy the visual aspect of the two buses.

The way I began to challenge this was through relationships we have with people from all over the world who were asking questions of why they were feeling so frustrated in the place they were in and their lives being function oriented. These are not disgruntled people or those who were not servants at heart. They were troubled in their situation because they were searching for a place that began with relationship, not function. There was something brewing deep in their hearts.

Maybe you are noticing the change in focus from a function-based lifestyle to a relational-focused lifestyle? Function alone is never enough. How important is relationship as we enter this kingdom transition? Join me on this week’s podcast as I discuss this idea further. {eoa}

Links, books and equipping from Byron Easterling and New Era:

New Book: An Introduction to New Era

Discover more about Byron at:

BHH Widows Project:

Pontis Nicaragua Farm Project:

Bob Book Music:

May 30 | Mobilize Your Future Livestream digs deeper into questions about the New Era.

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Like many churches and denominations, Roman Catholics have adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic by offering virtual alternatives to normal religious rituals. And the Vatican recently released a statement from Pope Francis making it clear that confession can now be done at home, according to Fox News.

But what does this say about the Catholic sacrament of repentance? Mike Shreve explores this question in his current series on Catholic beliefs on his Revealing the True Light podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network, where he examines the sacraments, or sacred rites, of the Catholic church.

Shreve points out that the fourth sacrament is reconciliation. But what does that mean? Shreve says, “To be reconciled means to be restored to a former right relationship. And within Catholicism it means being restored to a right relationship not only with God, but with the church. This process is effected by confession, absolution and penance.

“Let’s talk about confession first. The necessity of confessing your sins to a priest is emphasized in Catholicism,” Shreve says. “Now, under the Old Covenant, it was necessary to go through priests who acted as mediators officiating over the sacrificial offerings and the ministry of the tabernacle of Moses and later on the temple of Solomon. However, in the New Covenant, every believer is granted access into God’s presence. And every believer can personally appeal to God for forgiveness.”

But should this only hold true during special circumstances? “If it is allowable during this crisis, why isn’t it allowable at any other time?” asks Shreve.

Click here to hear his discussion of this intriguing issue.

Apostle Joan Hunter is the daughter of famed evangelists Charles and Frances Hunter, known as “The Happy Hunters.” But God has given her an incredible ministry of her own that has included bringing healing to victims of PTSD, including a large number of veterans, she says.

“God’s given me incredible revelation in the area of trauma and stress and also erasing the pain of the past or erasing the memories, the bad memories of things that happened to you or that you did that you wish you could just forget,” Hunter tells host Jared Laskey on the Adventures in the Spirit podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network. “And I’ve been praying for people. And it’s like, they don’t remember [the source of the trauma]. You know, it’s like, ‘All I have [are] good memories.'”

God has given her a special ministry with veterans, Hunter tells Lasky. She details much of this in her latest book, Miracles for Veterans. “We have a blanket … and so we’ve been putting [it on veterans] … praying for the person, praying over the blanket laying on him, and they’re getting completely delivered of PTSD. And the memories are going—it’s … so supernaturally incredible.

Hunter tells the story of one veteran who had suffered night terrors ever since his military service in Vietnam. “He gets married to this little lady who’s just a sweetheart, and he tries to kill her in the night,” she says. “Night terrors: There’s somebody next to you in Vietnam, you’re trained to attack and kill. … He got a blanket a couple years ago and prayer, and he’s not had one night terror since then.”

For more of Hunter’s amazing stories of God’s miraculous healing power for veterans and other victims of trauma, listen to the entire podcast here.

People have lusted after things God doesn’t want them to have ever since the Garden of Eden. But indulging in that sort of behavior is just as wrong for us today as it was for Adam and Eve.

“Many of us are struggling with desiring someone of the same sex,” says Jessica Newsome on The Victory Is Greater Than the Struggle podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network. “[Satan] has this person constantly on our mind, and we wonder why. Maybe we haven’t even talked to this person; maybe God initially set you free and removed you from this situation, from this toxic person [or] this person who may not even be toxic, but it’s of the same sex or someone God does not want you to be around for whatever reason, and He wants to grow you.

“He wants to strengthen you, but you keep desiring that lust of the flesh,” Newsome says. “You keep desiring that drug, and it may not be an illegal substance. It could be the lust of the flesh. It could be seeing with your eyes something that you desire that’s healthy for you. Sometimes it’s even … good guys. Sometimes it’s even watching TV shows that we should not be watching, movies that portray and depict that very thing you’re desiring. … You are lusting after that thing, even on the TV screen.

“It could be porn. It could be sex scenes from TV shows … but what we’re doing is we are looking at that, and we’re desiring it. And the enemy is cultivating that desire, that lust of the flesh, the pride of life, the lust of the eyes; he’s cultivating that thing,” Newsome says. “It is like a seed that is planted in our hearts and will bloom in due season.

“You could be a Christian. But if you are indulging in behavior that is planting seeds that are not of God, trust me, they will bloom in due season,” she warns. “Trust me, they will bloom and in God’s timing and the enemy’s timing, they will bloom. Everything that you do in the dark will come to light. And that’s not always fun, and it can be quite painful.”

To learn more about how to resist the enemy’s pull on your life, listen to the podcast here. {eoa}

What does it look like to walk in the presence and power of God, no matter what your vocation? All believers would love to know the answer—and we can.

Longtime author, speaker and television producer Warren Marcus is a Messianic believer who is also vice president of Sid Roth’s Messianic Vision Inc. and oversees production of Sid Roth’s It’s Supernatural! television show. Marcus tells host Jeff Struss on the Presence, Power & Glory podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network, “When you see God alone in the New Testament, you have to understand it’s God the Father … when you understand the relationship between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

Marcus adds a key point: “The glory realm comes from the Father. He’s coming and showing up now on earth. So he’s not just locked up in the holy of holies being worshipped 24 hours a day. He’s omnipresent too, so He could come and visit with us. And so I now sense the Father, and I know when He’s in the room.”

Truly walking in God’s power and presence Marcus says, happens when you pray in a specific way. “When you start saying, ‘I want the Father to show up in all His glory … that He should come, that His presence on earth come,” there’s something that happens.”

“In the New Covenant,” Marcus continues, “Yeshua is our high priest, but he doesn’t just go once a year into the holy of holies. He is there 24 hours a day, seven days a week interceding for us. And we have been made priests under Jesus after the order of Melchizedek.”

Marcus explains that Christ has made a way for us “to be able to know God, not just how awesome God is, but as our Father, being born again as a son and daughter of the Most High God. And we’re moving from one level of glory to the next, becoming more and more covered with the glory of the Father.”

To learn more about God’s glory and how you can live and move in His presence, listen to the entire podcast here.

“A setback is a setup for something greater You had in store.” This lyric from Building 429’s 2019 hit, “Blessing I Can’t See,” seems to characterize the life of Jason Roy, the CCM band’s lead singer and founder. His parents divorced when he was only 5 years old, and after a nomadic life with his mother and an eventual court battle, he moved to Texas at 15 to live with his dad. Despite still more challenging times, Roy came to know Christ through the faithful ministry of a youth pastor, who also encouraged his singing and songwriting.

But salvation and, later, founding an award-winning Christian band didn’t mean Roy had it all figured out, he tells host Greg Stier on the Gospelize podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network.

“You would think that as long as I’ve been following Jesus, I would know that every setback is a setup, right? But in 2018, after 18 years of ministry and on the road, I got home from a long year of touring and got a call from my manager [who] told me that our record label had let us go,” he says. “Basically, they had fired us.”

But God.

Earlier that year, Roy had what he calls a “chance meeting” with a woman at his church who told him, “You know, I believe God’s about do something different in your life. And I want to invest in you when that happens.”

Roy didn’t really understand what that meant, so he thanked her and went on. But three days after the record label dropped his band, he and the woman had a meeting. He told her his news and that the label thought he was too old, that his ministry was coming to a close.

“And she said to me in that moment, ‘Well, let’s just call it a blessing we couldn’t see yet, because anybody who speaks that kind of word over your ministry has no place in your life … right?'” Roy says. “And then she said, ‘Now what would you like to do with the freedom that you have that you’ve never had before?’ And I’d never thought of it as freedom.”

So Roy told her what he called his “pipe dream”: “I’ve always wanted to start my own record label.”

“‘It’s a great idea,'” Roy says she responded. “‘Well, how much would that cost?’

“I just kind of stumbled toward a ridiculous number and threw that on the table. And then the sweet lady just kind of smiled and said, ‘Well, I’d be more than happy to cover that.'”

To hear more of what God did in the lives of Roy and Building 429, click here for the entire podcast. {eoa}

For months, the coronavirus has dominated the news locally, nationally and globally. But what is the Spirit of God saying during the pandemic?

Minister Curt Landry says the Lord gave a word to him and to another friend who’s a prophet on the same day. The word comes from Haggai 1:4-6 (ESV), which begins, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways.”

“I’m going to break that down,” Landry tells Pastor Todd Smith on the Kingdom Ready podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network. “When the Lord says, ‘Consider your ways,’ He’s saying, ‘You’re out of alignment with Me … you have put your paneled house above My house.’ Let’s face it; the numbers show it. If you look at people’s checkbooks in the body of Christ, money goes to other things, which is idol worship.

“I’m not against any of those things, but the Scripture is very clear in Matthew 6:33, ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,’ and then all other things will be added onto you,” Landry says. He continues, explaining Haggai 1:6. “It says, ‘You have sown much and you brought in little.” … We like to prophesy, but we don’t like the work and the responsibility of what we prophesy. [The verse] says, ‘you eat, but you don’t have enough; you drink, but you’re not filled with drink; you clothe yourself, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages puts it into a bag with holes’—and that’s what’s happened in the stock market. So all of this has to do with alignment.”

To learn more from Curt Landry how to realign with God during this season, listen to this podcast.

If you are in crisis, please call 800-273-8255 or visit . You are not alone.

During this time of the coronavirus pandemic especially, churches and nonprofits are working to find ways to reach out to people in need. Karl Hargestam, executive director of CityServe, a nonprofit that partners with California churches to help them serve their communities with household goods, furniture and food, knows firsthand the impact of the kind of help CityServe provides.

On The Influencers Podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network, Hargestam shares with host Dave Donaldson what he calls “the power of the resource.”

“This man in Hanford, California, he was at the end of the rope,” Hargestam says. “He was … in a very dark time; he had lost his family. He had a wife, two children, he had lost his family due to mostly drinking … turning to alcoholism. So he said he was really struggling; in fact, things had gone so dark for him that he had written a suicide note. … He didn’t see any hope.

As he wrote his suicide note, Hargestam explains, the CityServe church in the area knocked on the door. “And they had what we call ‘initial contact’ visits,” he says. “They used a gift basket [the church uses] to build a relationship in that neighborhood.”

But it wasn’t about the basket, Hargestam says. In fact, the man didn’t even need the gifts himself. But the basket also contained an invitation to the church. Hargestam says the man told him, “What’s incredible is I’ve never met people like that who would just … be generous and give and talk about that they cared for me, and tangibly do it. … That invitation, I put on the table. Two days after, I was drinking [alcohol] … and that invitation was stuck on the bottom of the bottle.’

The man realized that the CityServe church was just down the street, Hargestam says, so he decided to go. “This was Saturday. So he walked in the next morning and yes, gave his life to Jesus. But what was incredible after this is that this man, he was just not just saved but just came on to the journey of deliverance, getting free from alcohol.”

Hargestam and a reporter heard the man share the story of his radical change just one year later. He says, “You know in church, engagement is life. So today, his family is restored; his children were standing there; his brothers had also come to faith, his sister as well. But his young boy that was 9 years old, he was saying, ‘I’m going to be a pastor when I grow up.’ So that’s what I think is incredible is the journey that people have when someone cares and engages in someone’s life.”

To hear more stories of God’s incredible work through CityServe, listen to this podcast.