Today’s episode features a wonderful conversation with John Simons, the new Men’s & Sports Pastor at Rolling Hills! John comes to us from Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA where he previously oversaw Men’s and Community groups. John is passionate about helping men grow in spiritual maturity/leadership and excited to work hands-on with the Versus Conference and creating a disciple-making culture with the men of Rolling Hills. 

John is a big believer in the fact that if you reach the man, you eventually get the whole family. In this episode, John talks about how he plans to help move Rolling Hills men toward better spiritual leadership in their homes, workplace, and community.

To start off the podcast, John gives a little of his testimony and shares about his wonderful family! He is married to his wife Kristen, who he met at California Baptist University, and they have two amazing kids, Noah (3) and Maddie (1). Having two kids under four can be a challenge, but John and Kristen have found a way to make it work! 

John is a lifelong scholar and is always striving for more knowledge about Jesus. After attending Cal Baptist, he went to Talbot School of Theology at Biola University for both his Master’s of Divinity and Philosophy. During his time at Biola, he was able to gain valuable experience as a Teaching Assistant and also went on staff with Saddleback Church, one of the most well-known and influential churches in America. Today, John is doing his Ph.D. in Ethics & Public Theology at Southern Seminary, so he is always willing to talk about the intersection of faith & culture. Between being a husband, dad, full-time pastor, and Ph.D. student, his time management skills are put to the test every week! 

In the episode, John also tells the story of his youth pastor Justin and how he received Christian discipleship through transparency and authenticity. He had never experienced this before, and it changed how he viewed following Jesus. John wants to bring these same discipleship values to the Rolling Hills men and community at large. 

Pastor Jeff and John also discuss some of the biggest challenges facing men today. John believes a man’s position in today’s culture can make them feel like they need to be outspoken on a lot of topics. If you tend to live this way, you are building your house on the sand! Leading your family through today’s world can be quite difficult, but John believes if you seek to live wisely (grounding your life upon Jesus), things will be much better! 
  
We hope you take 30 minutes to listen to this month’s podcast! It’s a great one with so much on the future of Rolling Hills Men’s ministry. We are so blessed to have John and can’t wait to see how God uses him here as our new Men’s & Sports Pastor.