Christian women’s leader shares power of faith in extreme suffering
July 17, 2019
By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
Brooke Arnold Turner, a Christian women’s leader whose story, last year, captured the hearts of South Carolinians from one end of the state to the other is the featured guest of INTERSECT: WHERE CHURCH MEETS CULTURE – a Christian-based podcast series – in two recent episodes.
A mother of three, Turner lost her husband of 13 years, Justin, in a tragic hit-and-run accident on Aug. 25, 2018 while he was riding his bicycle on Hardscrabble Road in northeast Richland County. Then-director of Women’s Ministries at Columbia’s Northeast Presbyterian Church (NEPC), Turner was also battling – and continues to battle – stage-4 cancer, all the while raising three children under the age of eight.
In the two-part INTERSECT series, “Hope that Endures through suffering,” Turner shares the struggles and triumphs of her life, discussing everything from her walk with Christ, the various ways people deal with extreme suffering, surprises in suffering, what’s helpful and what’s not.
Listen to episode one here – https://media.blubrry.com/nepc/p/content.blubrry.com/nepc/Intersect_Episode_23.mp3
Listen to episode two here – https://media.blubrry.com/nepc/p/content.blubrry.com/nepc/Intersect_Episode_24.mp3
“In these two episodes, Brooke presents a number of resources for those in the various trials of life, as well as different, beneficial spiritual disciplines,” says Pastor Josh Desch of NEPC and the podcast series’ co-host. “We really think the audience will benefit from the practical, real-life things that have been helpful to Brooke as she’s put one foot in front of the other throughout her ordeal.”
Desch adds, “I don’t think I’ve seen faith lived out in quite the same way as I’ve seen through Brooke.”
INTERSECT is co-hosted by Desch, who serves as pastor of Community and Discipleship at NEPC, and his wife Betsy Desch, a cultural anthropologist and part-time fitness instructor.
Launched in Sept. 2018, the INTERSECT podcast series addresses the nexus where church encounters popular culture, and the series is reaching out to an ever-expanding audience across central S.C. and beyond.
According to Desch, “the newfound popularity of the twice monthly series reflects both the need for informative local Christian programming and the program’s filling a niche wherein the episodes are less sermon-like, less Bible study, less newscast, more talk-show format; though everything discussed is from a Biblical perspective.”
– INTERSECT: WHERE CHURCH MEETS CULTURE is available on iTunes, Google Play and anywhere podcasts may be found. Listeners might also visit INTERSECT’s podcast webpage at nepresbyterian.org/podcasts, and follow INTERSECT on instagram: @intersectpodcast.
