Latest / Be the Bison / When Your Anchor Gives Way: Identity, Surrender, and the Power of Trust
Transcript
- Andrew Rauch: Hey Ron, good morning. Welcome to the Be the Bison podcast. So get to catch up with you and see you. I'm very excited about this one because you live in Colorado, so you know a little bit about the mountains and the wild animals and the bison and you've just got an amazing story of life in general. So welcome. And before we jump into it, Ron, maybe just take a minute or two and give the audience a little context about who you are and that'll be a good place to start. So good morning. Ron Forseth: Good morning, Andrew. Good to see you again. Thanks for inviting me onto the podcast. yeah. So I'm born and raised in Colorado, born in Denver and went to you know, my undergrad at Colorado State after years at Denver Christian Middle School and High School. And then well share more about that later, but yeah, I'm a Colorado guy, but I've also spent a lot of time around the world. spent some time in in in Mexico, spent some time in China, and then spent some time in China again, then spent years in the country of Mongolia and then some time in China again and then came back to the States and have played various roles in different organizations, including at Outreach Incorporated, where I was you know, the the general manager of sermoncenter.com and helped co-found with Brian Orme, Churchleaders.com. And so anyway, I that's I I don't know how much more you want me to share, but there's a little box. Andrew Rauch: Yeah. And of course, if anybody wants to get some more, you know, they can always look at a LinkedIn profile or do a Google search on you or these days maybe a chat GBT or Claude and figure out who is this wrong guy. But that's a great start. I do want to make sure we take a little bit. I I know you're working on an exciting Bible project. so can you tell us a little bit about about the work that you're doing with that? Ron Forseth: Yeah, well the yeah, thanks for asking. The the name of that project is the singing. And I've had a team of about 20 of us working on the project. And what we're doing is we're putting the entirety of scripture from Genesis one through Revelation 22 to song. And we're not just doing it one time, we've done it so far 44 times, which is 22 musical styles and two voices, male and female. And so the way it stands right now is we've got fifty-two thousand three hundred and sixteen recordings of that's one thousand one hundred and eighty-nine chapters in the Bible times forty-four renditions. And so the singing dot Bible is is as my wife would say, my obsession right now. That's all we talk about these days. but that's that's what I'm up to these days. Andrew Rauch: And I if I recall about a month ago is when it launched. So how's it doing? Ron Forseth: Yeah, well we we launched one month ago today and just have to pause right now and and just g give a shout out to God because I've done a lot of digital things in my day and and you you don't this doesn't happen because you're smart. It happens because God gives you his favor. But we have had six hundred and thirty thousand unique visitors to the singing dot bible and we have we've had we today we cracked six million song plays and so we've got people coming to our site from 219 countries and territories around the world and and and people they're liking it yeah so the singing dot bible Andrew Rauch: Quick. What's the URL? Ron Forseth: It's the singing dot Bible. It's not a dot com. It's a dot Bible. Yeah. Andrew Rauch: Very good. All right. Excellent. We'll be sure to you know get something out about that as well. So so be the bison. You know, the the idea that God gave me with this is talking to leaders like yourself that has has got some life experiences, maybe a little salt and seasoning, right? Not all the time, but you know, the idea is just to, you know, get some authentic stories about how people have gone into a storm. You know, how did God get them through that storm and what what was on the other end? So I I suspect you have a story for us. So tell us about a time where you've gone into a storm. Ron Forseth: Okay. Well, I I'll tell you, my my storm, it started early and and it and it lasted quite a while. but when I was three years old, my mother was diagnosed with Lugarrick's disease. And she went from being a a a normal mom to using a cane to using a walker to being in a wheelchair to being bedridden and I had six brothers and sisters and it was it was a unique upbringing. So just to tell you, my mother loved God and she would say to me something that really made me squirm back then, but she'd say, Ron, Jesus loves you and so do I. So in the midst of all of the the pain of having my mom in such a situation, she had this this strong testimony to the Lord. Well, that that trauma, created some some realities in my psyche. And one of these realities, I would, I'd describe it as a condition where I developed an external identity. And I was just looking for for meaning and answers. And and and and frankly, Andrew, I since since the first time I ever remember being depressed was at Disneyland when I was six years old, you know, and and Disneyland wasn't solving up for me. So I went into this this lifelong storm of depression that that really was was quite pervasive and and crushing to me. But I would look for things to kind of lift me out of it. And I I would I would find these you know external people that I would define my life around. And at first it was my dad and then you know I had some challenges with my dad and that that was for a season was a a rough relationship. I found a a a a girlfriend in high school and I thought, wow, she's my answer to all my problems. She's gonna take all my pain away, you know. And and turns out she didn't she didn't go for me as much as I went for her. And that created a a a a crisis. And then I decided, you know, at at one point like, okay, well, hey, it's it's about my peers, you know. And and it's like I I I built my identity around them. Well one time I went to a a banquet it the homecoming banquet when I was a sophomore in high school. And we all decided we're gonna do something really cool and we were gonna not ask any girls out for homecoming. You know, well I was not a favorite any of the girls, but kind of a stupid peer thing we did together. But what happened on in that night with these peers that I was identifying with and defining myself by, they decided that they were going to ditch Forseth that day, you know? And and it's like I went to join them around the table and then they went around the other way and they they ran and and and it's like, whoa, I I I got forsaken by the people that I was defining myself around, you know? Wow. And I couldn't drive at that point. And I got on the payphone, you know, put the coins in and called my sister and said, hey, come pick me up, you know, because the the guys left, you know, and so it and something really, really profound broke in me as a result of that. And if I went into a downward spiral there and there was nothing to grab onto and I kept sinking lower and lower and lower. And I I I I mean, I I was I was just ready to die, to take my own life. And so January of of that year, you that was October. Then in January, I had sunk so low that I it's like I've I've got nothing, I've got no hope. And I was in my basement on my bed and I That afternoon in January of 79 and I I called out and I said, Jesus. And then I I stopped and I said, Wait a minute, I'm not talking to just any Jesus that happens to be out there. The only Jesus I'm talking to is the Jesus that my mother believes in, you know? And I said to him, If you want my life, you can have it. But if you don't want it, I don't want it either. And and and it was just a complete utter surrender and and I I laid down on my bed and and I fell asleep. And as soon as I woke up, I just had this compulsion and I I reached out and I grabbed the Bible that my mother had given me and I just started reading from Genesis one. And I read and I read and I read and I thought, what's this mean? What's that mean? I go upstairs and I ask my mom and she'd answer the questions. And by the way, she would listen to the Bible on records and and tapes all morning long as she's laying there in her bed, you know. So she had all the answers, you know. So I go up and ask her. I go downstairs, read some more, go upstairs, ask some more, go downstairs, read some more, go upstairs. And that went on for three days. And after three days, she said to me, did something happen to you? And I I just like I I wasn't sure. And I yeah, I said, You know what? Three days ago I told Jesus if he wanted my life, he could have it. And it looks like he took me up on that. And from from that time on, you know, Jesus Jesus displaced my dad and my girlfriend and my peers and and he became what I called my shining star. now, Andrew, that's that's a storm I went through and he brought me through in a powerful way. And it it it's I I I can promise you I've had a lot of storms since then. That did not take away my storms. And it didn't even take away my depression. It did for a while take away my depression. In in my my later years here, I'm 63 now, but I've I've discovered some new ways of of coping with and managing depression. And it's it's really tied into the the word trust. And it it's like if if I despair, I downward spiral. But if I lean in and and I just really practice trust, you know. God meets me there. So all right. Do I have do have another couple of minutes to share? I d I I might have gone too long. Andrew Rauch: No, no, that's that's that's perfect. I got some follow up questions. first of all, what's your mom's name? Ron Forseth: My my mom is named was Jean. And she she passed on November twentieth, nineteen eighty nine. At twenty three years she had Lugaric disease, which was close to a record, you know. Yeah. Yeah. So but yeah, Jean was my mom. Yeah, thanks. Andrew Rauch: What a blessing. And a little familiar with that the best man at my wedding, Kirk Caldwell, he died from Lugaric's disease. Ron Forseth: I'm sorry. Wow. Andrew Rauch: Live that long, but just knowing, you know, I was thinking about Kirk and you're talking about your mom and just, you know, I can picture her just with a lot of the time laying in bed and you know, listening to the Bible, records of the Bible, right? Such a great inspiration, you know, to you and for you. And you know, just having that moment in in in the basement. So it reminds me of, you know, when we think about the storms and we think about the bison, you know, going through a storm. just because they're this beautiful, strong, big animal and a herd together, you know, as as we know, you know, even here in Central Texas, last two years, you know, with these flooding situations that we have, the depression of a storm and how debilitating, you know, that can be and how difficult it can be to walk through that. But what what what are some practical things? How does how is God taking you through those moments where you feel yourself maybe spiraling down a little bit and you know, getting getting depressed. How do you how do you get through that? How's God take you through those those moments, those storms? Ron Forseth: Well, for me, and and I've had my seasons where I've I've tried to medicate my way out of my depression and and that would alleviate it, but not take it away. You know, at the moment I'm I'm not on any medicine. I'm I'm I've I've learned to metacognitively handle my my depression. and I I I've I've really reached a a surprising level of of of victory over that and you know, one of my favorite movies is Anne of Green Gables, and Anne of Green Gables gets adopted by a gal named Marilla, and Marilla's this really you know, staunch, hardened woman. And and Anne talks about her despair and and Marilla says to Anne, says, To to despair is to turn your back on God, she says, you know. Well, she she didn't have any empathy, and and when you've got a depressed person. they deserve and they need empathy and Marilla didn't have that. But what I've what I've learned is I've been able to trace my depression to times where I've just given up on God and all of a sudden there's no handles and I just spiral down and spiral down. But when I call upon the Lord, he answers me. And and it's it's just it's really a skill that I'm I'm just learning in a new and deeper way right now of just leaning in to God. In fact every year I choose a word for the year and my word for 2026 is the word trust. And I'll tell you what, I want to say this, and that is that trust is God's favorite. And when people trust him, he does not let them down. You know, they might go through something like Job. And and Job said, Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. Well, when you've got trust of that level in God, God is very pleased. And so trust has begun to really bring hope to me because it it just gives me this confidence that. I'm gonna go to to Jesus, my savior. I'm gonna trust him and and he he's there for me. But it doesn't take away all my trials. I can promise you that. Yeah. Andrew Rauch: No, thank you for sharing that. I want to maybe leverage that idea of trust in your word for 2026. You know, what came to mind for me is I was thinking about you were telling your stories about identity. And you know, I suspect like myself, maybe you and pretty much everybody else, if we put our trust in an identity, let's say in the girlfriend in high school, right? The job role that I have in my career. Right, the money that I have in my bank, there's a good likelihood that putting your trust and faith and hope in those things, they're going to disappoint. Ron Forseth: Right. Absolutely. Guaranteed. Andrew Rauch: never disappoints. Right. So what would be maybe a final encouragement, exhortation, thought that you want to leave us with around trusting in the Lord? Ron Forseth: Well, and and by the way, God never disappoints, but sometimes it seems like he disappoints. And and and trust is what overcomes that. so you know, back to my girlfriend, this is a funny thing, but my word is God uses our weaknesses, okay? And and when we are weak, it's his chance to show himself strong. So I'm in chapel after I became a Christian in a as a sophomore high school. I'm still I'm sitting next to this, this standing next to this girl in chapel singing. And and and this girl, she looks up to me and she's listening to me singing. And I'm telling you what, I am so, so, so bad at singing and music. And she looked up and and from her heart, she just laughed at me because it was I was so off tune, you know. And I and I'm not down on her for that, but it was just an authentic laughter. Well, here, here I am that bad at music, that weak at it, and here I am. overseeing I'm the executive producer of a a a music program that's got 52 316 recordings that the going out to hundreds of thousands of people around the world. And so the Singing Dot Bible is God's sense of humor. And that's I I could tell you more stories there, but I'll leave it at that, Andrew. Andrew Rauch: No, that's a good way to bring it back to the singing bible. And Ron Forseth: Got it. Andrew Rauch: I I I I might just have a kind of a nice tune in church, but you know what you're bringing to sing the singing bible and all the different versions and you know different languages, what a what a blessing that that is. So Ron, if if somebody wants to connect with you, what's the best way to do that and maybe give a shout out again to the the singing singing. URL and and how else can somebody connect with you. Ron Forseth: Yeah, I would say go ahead and email me at Ron Forseth at gmail dot com. I think you see my name right there. There's no dots or spaces, just Ron Forseth at gmail dot com. Love to hear from you. Andrew Rauch: Okay, excellent. so thank you, Ron, for this morning. If you like the bison podcast stories, these amazing authentic stories like with Ron today, go to venture and philanthropy.com forward slash be the bison. and on social media, be the bison. You'll see the podcast or hear the podcast and others. So Ron, thanks for your time this morning. Blessings to you and we'll see you soon. Ron Forseth: Andrew, blessings to you. Thanks, brother. Bye-bye.