Join Michael and repeat guest, Jimmy Graham, as they discuss the dangers of thinking we've arrived either vocationally or spiritually.

The symptoms of such thinking include complacency, complaining and criticizing. We tell you how to navigate these symptoms and what to do about them.

In this episode Mike and Jarrod sit down to discuss a recent comment they had in a public space saying its cool to see other undercover Christians blending in. We discuss this concept and as men are we supposed to blending in? Are we called to live different? We discuss this and more.

A native of north central New Jersey, Pastor Mark Nigro has spent the last 30 years serving the Lord around the world. After being part of a church-planting team in Serbia in the mid-‘90s, Mark returned to the US in 1997 with his wife, Renata to serve as missions pastor at Calvary Chapel Old Bridge. In 2001 the Lord led them to Italy, where Mark initially served as assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel Montebelluna before planting and pastoring Calvary Chapel Treviso from 2005 – 2013. Following their tenure in Italy, they returned to the US and Mark served both as the Director of Operations at Calvary Chapel Bible College and as associate pastor for Cross Culture Ministries. Since 2020, the Nigro family resides in Howell, NJ where Mark serves as Executive Pastor with Cornerstone Church. A musician, writer and motorcycle enthusiast, Mark has a BA in Theology from South African Theological Seminary, and a MA in Executive Leadership from Liberty University. Mark and Renata are proud parents to their son Luka (17) and daughter Matea (15).

Nick was born and raised In Las Vegas by a strong godly single mother. He grew up in the church and played a very active role at Cornerstone Christian Fellowship. Once he turned 18, his choices led him on a path of destruction. His mom being a very strong woman of God saw his path and where he was heading and gave him an ultimatum.  Go to college, join the military or choose life on the streets of Vegas. His decision was the military and a week later he was on his way to San Diego to the Marine Corp Recruit Depot in November of 2000.

After bootcamp, he was assigned to Infantry. He thought it was going to be an easy 4 years since he joined during peace time but all of that changed on Sept 11, 2001. He was sent to Iraq during the initial invasion and spent almost 3 years in active combat. He was in Nasiriyah during the initial push and experienced some pretty intense life changing events. He Also fought in Fallujah losing numerous friends and his convoys were frequently hit by IED’s. The experience of real combat pushed him farther into spiritual darkness.

After leaving the military, he received a job at a nightclub making great money. He would end up becoming Director of Security for many clubs and also worked in private armed security for high profile individuals and as a bounty hunter. After one of his bounty jobs went bad, he found himself with a heavy legal liability that almost cost him 30 years prison. During that time as he waited for the trial, he moved to California to attempt to his act together and build his relationship with God. Things didn’t go as planned and he ended up losing his apartment and was homeless for almost 3 years. During that time, he was drinking heavily and began smoke marijuana to deal with the physical and emotional pain of war. This all led to a suicide attempt where his weapon misfired by God’s grace.

This began new beginning and a new walk with God. He moved back home, went to court and all of his legal charges were dropped. He started to go back church, surrounded himself with Godly men began to volunteer at the Church. There met and married his wife Katie and they moved to Colorado. God led him to Reach Church where he devoted his life to full time ministry. He is the father of 3 beautiful girls and serves in various aspects of ministry.

Kevin Utile became a Christian in 2004 and began serving about a year afterward in youth ministry. He then moved on to become the youth director and bible teacher for teenagers in 2006 at Calvary Chapel Santa Cruz. Soon after he moved his family to Costa Mesa, CA to do music ministry full time and we began attending Calvary Chapel San Juan Capistrano, CA.

He became the Jr High pastor and marriage pastor in 2012 for CCSJC. Three years later God called him to plant a Calvary Chapel in Boulder, CO. After a couple years of planting and plodding in Boulder he was asked to take the pastorate at Calvary Chapel Broomfield in 2018.  They changed the name of the church to Reach Church in 2020. In addition to pastoring full time, Kevin started Doulos Coffee Co with his executive pastor as a way to evangelize our community while providing financially for the ministry. Kevin and his wife Ashley have been married for 15 years, and they have four boys Titus, Ezra, Zion, Judah and their baby girl Adeline.

Larry Glines is a man of God and has been married to his wife Yvonne for almost 30 years. Larry speaks about his transition from being a successful burned-out businessman with his plumbing business to a jiu-jitsu academy owner. He has 5 children and 4 grandchildren. He loves the outdoors in NE Florida and enjoys surfing, fishing and Jiu Jitsu. He is the owner of FOYA Jiu Jitsu Academy in St Augustine, FL and received blackbelts in both Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Judo.

Returning to the podcast is Pastor Mike McCarrick.

Pastor McCarrick has been involved in ministry for as long as he can remember. Mike was raised in New Jersey in a Christian home. He developed a genuine love for Jesus and began serving the Lord at a young age. He grew up as a pastor’s kid, watching his home church of Cornerstone Calvary Chapel grow from a small gathering in his family’s living room to a thriving ministry in Howell, New Jersey. 

In the teen years, Mike’s passion and commitment to Jesus grew, as did his love for worship music. He began leading worship regularly in his school and church, and in 2004, at age 18, he became the full time worship leader at Cornerstone. He took a brief break to complete an intense four month discipleship and Bible training  program in Montana in 2005. He returned to New Jersey to lead the youth ministry and continue  leading worship, and in 2008 he was officially ordained. The Lord had transformed Mike’s dream of  playing professional baseball into a desire to devote his life to serving the Lord in ministry. 

Mike married his high school sweetheart, Lauren, in 2007. Two years later, they answered a call to the  mission field and served with a discipleship ministry in both The Bahamas and Brazil for a year, bringing  their first baby, Hannah, along for the adventure. During that time, they felt a strong calling from God  that they would be returning to New Jersey where Mike would one day pastor Cornerstone, the church  that his father, Chris McCarrick, had founded in their living room in 1994.  

Mike and Lauren moved back to New Jersey in 2010. They served in ministry at Cornerstone as the Lord  grew their family, and they now have four beautiful, energetic children. Mike fulfilled the role of  assistant and worship pastor under his dad for ten years. In 2020, during the height of the pandemic,  Mike took on the role of lead pastor at Cornerstone Calvary Chapel, now Cornerstone Church. The Lord  grew his passion for teaching God’s word, and God continues to strengthen Mike with joy and wisdom  as he faithfully serves the family of God.

On today's episode of Uncommon Disciple, Michael is joined by 2x Super Bowl champion Lee Rouson.

Lee is from Greensboro, NC. He attended Page Senior High School. Lee varsity-lettered in several sports and was an integral part of the Page Pirate community. He went on to receive a full scholarship to the University of Colorado where he played for Coach Bill McCartney. Lee was the 4th all-time leading rusher at Colorado from 1980 - 84. He was a key factor in turning the Colorado Buffaloes’ program around to become a National Champion.

Lee was drafted by the New York Giants and played under Bill Parcells for six years and won two Super Bowl rings with the Giants. He was Special Teams player of the year in 1986. Lee's Professional Football career was ended because of ankle injury. In his final year in the NFL, he was a starting Full Back and Tight End with the Cleveland Browns under Coach Bill Belicheck.

Lee has worked as a professional speaker with Sports World Ministries for over 20 years. He has served as Director of North Jersey for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes for 15 years, and presently sits on the
board, serving North Jersey FCA. Lee helped to plant the New Horizon Church Ministry serving as Associate Pastor and praise and worship leader under the leadership of Pastor Michel Faulkner beginning
in 2006.

Lee recently worked as manager for the mentoring and leadership program in the Mount Olive Township School District. He serves as a board member for Legacy Minded Men and a Board Trustee for Pillar
College. Lee obtained a BA in Business Management at Malone University in Canton, Ohio. Also, Lee has an MBA with a concentration in Workplace Conflict Management. Currently, Lee is the Principal Executive for an LLC; Move Your Chains, a consulting company that looks to work within the
educational and business industries. Lee works tirelessly throughout the community encouraging everyone from the youth to the elderly with the message of Hope.

Lee and his wife, Lisa, have four children and five grandchildren.