Joseph F. Radosevich

I've got some history with church planting. I have a failed plant and what seems so far to be a successful plant. I've been through some trainings and read a bunch of books. Let me tell you the best church planting training I've seen: The Basic Training system taught by the Central Region of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.  Today, I had a lunch with a prospective planter thinking about planting a church in Wisconsin, and I gave him an overview of it. I cannot say good enough things about it. The biggest difference it makes is that it gets the focus off of having a larger-than-life church planter as your leader. I've had lunch with so many church planters who told me stuff that was absolutely not transferable. I am not the amazing leader that they are. I cannot drum up support and followers like they can. I'm just a normal guy who loves people and believes that God changes people through his word.  Basic Training strategy and methods took 2 year...

I collect tickets. I've got just about every ticket I've had since the first MLB game I went to as a kid (Texas Rangers vs. Seattle Mariners). When I was about 15, I set up the sound system for an Andrew Peterson concert at our church. When we were tearing down and cleaning up, I found his set list and put it in with my tickets. The paper in the picture above is that set list. I've followed Peterson's career and enjoyed his creativity ever since. At Christmas, I play his song "Deliver Us" from his Behold the Lamb of God Christmas Opera. We knew we belonged at Southern Seminary when we pulled up to the campus hotel at 12 am and found the desk guy reading "Monster in the Hollows." We've worn out his copies from his Wingfeather Saga (we almost gave one of our kids a middle name from those books). Now, I'm excited to dig into his book on Christianity and creativity. The title has so much depth. This reminds me of Flannery O'Connor...

I noticed a yard yesterday. The house had continuous mow lines with the Catholic Church next door. I imagine it's the parsonage. I imagined the life of the priest who likely lives in that house. Growing up there was a Catholic Church behind our church. I never met the priest. But I heard of his reputation. He was well-educated and well-read. I believe he knew 7 languages. His learning was like a myth to me. And a goal. When I was younger, I never planned on marrying. Part of it was that I knew as strange as I am, I was unlikely to find a woman to put up with me. But a large part was what I wanted to accomplish. I didn't want to be a priest, but I wanted to be well-educated, well-read, and accomplished. I planned on being single because I imagined how productive my life could be. I could be like that mythical priest. When I noticed the house yesterday and imagined the life of a priest living in it, I compared it to my life with my family. Our little Ivy Jo More Radosevich...

Two gymanstic-based exercises that I really like right now are: Hanging Knees-to-Elbows--This is a new one that the army will be testing for their combat readyness test. Seeing it included caused me to take a second look at it, and I love it. To do it right, you have to work on shoulder stability, engaging your back muscles, and using your stomach muscles to pull you into position.  L-Sits--I've been bored with my Dip Holds for a while, but I like to work on stability in my shoulders. L-Sits give me something to work on at the same time I work on my stability. These two exercises make me feel strong. Some workouts and exercises leave me beaten up, but these build me up. Here's a workout that I do that I really love because it is gymnastic-based and hits all my priorities. Hits all 6 of the big movements (squat, hinge, push, pull, rotate, carry). Includes warm-up, strength, skill, and conditioning. Warm-up: 2x Squat and Curl, Glute Bridges, Kettlebell Halos St...

What is social media for? What's your social media for? One thing that I work on now is having a target for my social media use. It's too easy to just consume and to put up whatever comes to mind. But social media represents who we are, what we love, and how we want to contribute to the world. My social media targets: Facebook--photos and quotes documenting my family and life. Representing what we do to friends and family. I try to show what we create and how we have fun without money. Too many Christians (pastors especially) show only extravagant places that cost a lot of money. I think that shows the world that if you become a Christian or a pastor, then you can have a lot of money too. That's wrong and we shouldn't give that idea. Instagram--this is my public profile, so I don't post family photos. I post things from my life that will give a true idea of what I do and what I'm about. I want people who search for me to find this profile and find the ...

On vacation in September, we did a taste-test one day of different newer varieties of apple. It was inspired by the ad at Meijer that promoted their apple harvest. I remember when Meijer did really big and cool apple displays. This looked no bigger than a normal display and without any variety I hadn't tried. We bought 3 apples anyway and tasted them against each other. Rave was my favorite. It was crunchy and juicy. It tasted like Apple Juice. Nothing spectacular in the taste department, but it was good. Sweetango is a daughter of Honeycrisp. It had a lot of crispness to it, but little flavor or sweetness. The main flavor was tart. I didn't care for the extreme crispness of it without anything besides tartness. Ambrosia was all texture and no flavor. I didn't care for it. Totally bland. I like my apples sweet, and Rave was the sweetest of the three. I much preferred Sweet Sixteen from the orchard up near Crivitz, WI.

I've taken to writing to people about all sorts of things. Thank you cards, emails to authors about books I enjoy, letters to let my politicians know what I think about an issue, journalists about their work. Last week, I was emailing with a journalist and he commented that he had questions for my "boss"-- a Democratic presidential candidate. I knew exactly who he thought I was because I had googled my name and found the same Joe Radosevich. The most relevant "Joe Radosevich" you find when you google my name is a democratic political staffer. That reminded me why owning your name and having a public profile is so important--people google you and they believe what they find. That is why I started this website and why I opened my Instagram account up to the public. It is why LinkedIn is important to keep updated. People believe what they find on the internet. It goes for businesses, churches, and individuals. So pay attention to it.