- 19
- Episodes
- Weekly
- Cadence
- 2021
- First episode
About HFL Speaks
This is the podcast of Hope For Life Calgary. This platform is for telling our stories, God's story, and teaching resources that will help us mature in Christ.
- Publisher
- Tim Pippus
- Category
- religion & spirituality
- Language
- en
- Explicit
- No
- First episode
- 23 Dec 2021
- Latest episode
- 28 Nov 2025
Latest episodes
19 episodes in the feed.
28 Nov 2025
Smarter Than Tim #13 - Spiritual Gifts Part 2 With Rhys Scott
0:29 - Intro and recap of last episode 2:35 - Rhys’ initial comments 8:18 - A story of the difference it makes to discover your gifts 14:20 - What happens to a church when you are missing gifts of over/under emphasize certain spiritual gifts? 21:00 - How do you respond to the idea that certain gifts are “weird?” 34:00 - How do we know when this “weird” thing is authentically a God thing? 38:45 - His experience with the Toronto Blessing of 1994-95 42:45 - How do we test prophetic words? 48:50 - “Prophesy” versus “revelation” 50:45 - Final comments on learning through failure
26 Nov 2025
Smarter Than Tim #12 - Spiritual Gifts Part 1 With Rhys Scott
Today Rhys Scott joins me to discuss spiritual gifts. I had a profound prophetic experience at their church in January, 2025 that spawned a friendship between us and I've learned a lot from him. 0:48 - Introducing Rhys Scott Tim’s Story - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rmmU0ZirCQ ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rmmU0ZirCQ) 3:30 - What is a Word and Spirit Church? 11:40 - What is a Spiritual gift? 15:10 - Natural gifts, acquired gifts, and Spiritual gifts 20:20 - How do I know my gifts? 27:40 - How would you address someone who has a less “spiritually sexy” gift? 32:40 - What is the gift of prophecy? 38:30 - How do I know this word/picture is from God or not? 40:55 - Final words 42:42 - Bonus content on growing in confidence in knowing God’s voice, and stories of how prophesy and tongues worked in their church
17 Oct 2024
Smarter Than Tim #11 - Is the Bible a Good Book, is it God's Book, and how do we Know What it Means?
Today I interview Professor Rikk Watts. You can access his bio from the link below. Here's an outline of the episode: 4:58 - What is the Bible? 9:12 - Why are there so many translations of the Bible? Which is best? 12:30 - How confident are we that the Bible we have is the Bible that was originally written? 16:10 - Is it God’s book and is it a good book? 25:40 - How do we know what the Bible means? 27:09 - How should an average person read the bible? 30:00 - Can the average person really understand - Rikk talks about practical approaches to greater understanding 33:04 - How do we balance the tension between the need for expertise/hard work to understand Scripture with the fact that everyone can read it and understand it? 35:22 - Two angels or one? What do we do when the Bible seems to contradict itself? 42:42 - The widows mite and how to handle different interpretations of the same text 49:40 - The first verses in Mark and the significance of cross-references. 59:15 - What’s the difference between citations, allusions, and echoes? 1:02:43 - What is proof-texting? Is Paul proof texting in Galatians chapter 3? 1:07:00 - How do we handle difficult texts? Is God an abusive Father in Isaiah 9? 1:11:00 - What is the role of the Spirit of God in reading and understanding the Bible? 1:13:00 - Final advice on reading the Bible. Rikk's Bio: https://www.regent-college.edu/faculty/research-faculty/rikk-watts
4 Oct 2024
Smarter Than Tim #10 - Calling
Today I interview Doug Pippus and Mark Buchanan about calling. It's an episode that left me praising the faithfulness and goodness of Jesus! 1:25 - Intro to calling 3:56 - Where does the idea of “calling” come from? 8:20 - Abuses and misunderstandings of “calling” 16:40 - What gives God the right to call me? Cultural pushback to God as master and Lord 20:40 - Mark and Doug’s stories of discovering goodness and wonder of Jesus - The Caller is good! 34:37 - Three levels of calling - general, specific, and immediate 37:00 - Thoughts on the general calling of God and Tim’s inability to run his life well 52:10 - Thoughts on specific calling 58:10 - Mark and Doug respond to specific calling 1:11:47 - Thoughts on Immediate Calling 1:22:10 - A Final Story
24 Jul 2024
Smarter Than Tim #9 - Cultivating Mental Wellness With Geri Fitch
1:00 - Who is Geri Fitch and why are we talking about mental health? 2:45 - Steps anyone can take to pursue mental wellness 4:25 - The messages we hear 8:40 - Mental wellness is linked to what you think and what you do 11:20 - People who do well aren’t just gifted, and learning to win arguments with yourself 18:40 - The tricks and lies of anxiety and depression 21:55 - More on self-talk and arguing with yourself 24:15 - Discerning the truth 29:00 - What helps a person with complex, multi-layered challenges move forward? 42:00 - Living as the caregiver of someone who seems to be stuck in complex and multi-layered challenges 53:00 - Advice for people who want to fast, but have a hard time separating it from insecurity and trying to lose weight 58:00 - Advice on looking for a good therapist
20 Jun 2024
Smarter Than Tim #8 - A Different Take on Retirement
Most retirees travel from Calgary to places like Phoenix, but Gary and Peter raised money to purchase critical food and medical supplies for Ukrainian refugees and then repeatedly drove into the war zone to deliver them with a European pastor. 1:30 - The origin story 3:45 - Rethinking retirement 5:25 - A quick summary of the trip 10:20 - The local churches they worked with 13:20 - Describing the places they saw 18:15 - Describing life in a war zone 28:40 - Why were you in a war zone? How did being there impact you? 37:08 - The challenges of the trip 45:55 - What they learned about the Ukrainian people and how they were inspired by the Ukrainian church 57:00 - Lessons the Ukrainian Church has to teach us 107:20 - Final thoughts
31 May 2024
Smarter Than Tim #7 with Phil Reinders - Rule of Life #2
1:45 - Introducing Phil Reinders 3:40 - Phil’s comments on the rising interest in Rule of Life amongst Western Christians 8:00 - Which spiritual disciplines do people dabble in where they should dive in? 14:50 - Further thoughts on dabbling versus diving in 17:35 - What are some of the most common renunciations people have to engage in to make space for new rhythms? 26:22 - What’s your favourite spiritual practice in this season and why? 28:54 - Honest discussion of Phil’s personal prayer life 38:20 - What do you do when you sense you’ve lost the heart of the practice? (I’m just ticking off my Bible reading on the app) 46:00 - How much freedom is there in the way we practice spiritual disciplines? 50:38 - How long should someone stick with a discipline before they can evaluate if it’s fruitful? 52:00 - The tension between grace (do I have to?) and truth (If I never want to, what does that mean about my spiritual life?) 56:50 - Where does God’s role end and our role begin? 58:15 - What spiritual rhythms work best in the life of a young family? 101:40 - Addressing a cycle of trying and failing alongside the discovery of our brokenness through spiritual practices. 104:48 - What would you say to someone who feels defeated and stuck? 106:25 - Final Words - a blessing for those practicing a rule of life
19 May 2024
Smarter Than Tim #6 - Fasting for Abundant Life
Four people at Hope For Life Church decided to participate in a radical lenten fast in 2024. This podcast captures some of their insights and will spur you to consider the impacts fasting would have on your life with God. You'll laugh a time or two along the way too. 1:00 - What was the lenten fast and why did you do it? 4:00 - How hard was this to do? 6:37 - What did you learn about the things that control you and more generally about yourselves through this fast? 13:30 - What did you observe about each other growing through this lenten journey? 24:48 - How did fasting affect your experience of Good Friday? 30:18 - What’s one of the most important things you learned through this fast? 46:33 - Would you do this again? 49:34 - What do you want to say to the church about this experience? 59:55 - Final comments 102:20 - "More Christians are dieting than fasting," AND "do I have to???" 104:00 - God isn’t trying to wreck your life 105:45 - Will Tim join next year’s fast?
22 Oct 2023
Smarter Than Tim #5 With Fred Waters - Learning From a Salvation Army Officer
Join us as Tim interviews Fred Waters, former COO of the Salvation Army and all around fantastic human being! Introducing Fred (1:00) Fred’s faith formation - let’s talk revival! (5:36) The story of the Salvation Army and discussion of addictions (9:15) More talk about addictions and hope (21:17) Lessons learned working for the Salvation Army (26:50) What role does the average Christian and church play in affordable housing, addictions, and other social ailments? (30:00) More talk of ways forward as a society - let’s talk partnership (35:27) Discussing vision, institutions, and fundraising (40:00) What else would you say to the average Christian about social ministry in Canada? Talking about housing first strategy, why everyone can’t just help themselves, and the epidemic of individualism. (41:35) Story time with Fred - stories of God showing up miraculously throughout Fred’s life (49:19) Final thoughts - salt and light in my neighbourhood (57:41)
16 Mar 2023
Growing Parents - Values Based Parenting With Geri Fitch
Geri Fitch recently spoke to a few Calgarian churches on values based parenting. The audio quality is poor, but the content is worth your time!
9 Mar 2023
Smarter than Tim #4 with Matt Pamplin - Spiritual Family and the Story of St. Claire
In this episode, we cover lots of ground... and Matt's accent doesn't hurt. 0:00 - Introduction - Introducing Matt Pamplin from Hamilton 3:45 - The Story of St. Claire Part 1 “people were longing for an authentic community that wasn’t just based on a meeting or an event… how do we do this life together?" 10:10 - Story of St. Claire Part 2 - “Are you starting a Sunday gathering or a church?” 15:00 - Experts Versus Ordinary Saints 18:15 - What is a Missional Family and the Early Years of St. Claire 26:00 - Spiritual Family and Community in the Age of Individualism and Consumerism. 30:30 - The Good News of a Highly Committed Community 35:20 - The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Community “Missional, family isn’t a once a week thing, but it does involve one.” 42:20 - How Many in a Missional Family? 43:15 - What’s the Connection Between Community and Mission? “one of the biggest lies we’ve been told is that people aren’t hungry for the good news." 49:35 - Final Comments
12 Dec 2022
Smarter Than Tim #3 with Phil Reinders - Rule of Life, Spiritual Practices, and Participating in the Life of Jesus
This topic may not draw you, but I think this is one of the best conversations I've had on one of the most important topics that there is. Here is an outline of the episode with links to articles and books mentioned below: 1. Intro 2. Why anyone should listen to a long-form discussion on spiritual practices (Boring right!?) 2:51 3. A fully human life and integrating faith with normal life 6:42 4. The petty forms of sin in daily life, the beauty of a life of love with Christ in God, and the mirror of spiritual practices 9:50 5. Is this conversation just for super-spiritual people? A history of spiritual practices 14:55 6. Does Jesus love us more if we choose more spiritual practices? Performance versus participating in the life of Christ 17:55 7. What are the spiritual practices? 21:20 8. Jazz and Christian maturity 25:00 9. Joy & “joy impaired people” 30:30 10. Thought, desire, and being human - practices shape and reveal what we love 33:00 11. Everyone already has a rule of life, but do we know what it is and where it is taking us? 40:55 12. The story of Habitus and their shared rule of life 49:20 13 - The fruit of practicing a rule of life 59:15 14 -Common objections to adopting spiritual practices 66:00 15 - Submitting to a received Rule of Life and/or individualizing your spiritual practices 76:24 16 - Final words - “Where is the good way to flourishing and rest for our souls?” 80:50 **A great article from Phil: https://www.christiancourier.ca/a-rule-for-reconstructing/ https://www.habituscommunity.org/ https://www.philreinders.com/ https://www.amazon.ca/You-Are-What-Love-Spiritual/dp/158743380X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=29OLVDK5XBBQG&keywords=you+are+what+you+love&qid=1670815953&sprefix=you+are+what+you+lov%2Caps%2C149&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.ca/Seeking-Gods-Face-Praying-Through/dp/1592557686/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1UIQ0UNXLYDTW&keywords=seeking+gods+face&qid=1670815969&sprefix=seeking+gods+fac%2Caps%2C164&sr=8-4
29 Nov 2022
How Much Is Enough
In this episode Tim dives into a question that's come up several times lately - how much (time/money/service/etc.) is enough? How do I know what God requires of me?
26 Jul 2022
HFL Storytime #3 - Spurred on by a Child
Today we talk magazines, binging the gospel of Mark, and what it means to spur one another on to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24) and be a community full of good deeds (Titus 2:11-15).
26 May 2022
HFL Storytime #2 - Grace and Works
Here is the link to the podcast Tim references in his episode: https://www.68culture.org/episode-4-brian-mcconaghy-ratanak-international-part-1/ You can also find it on Spotify or Apple Podcasts - look for 68culture and "Ratanak International" If you have any comments, we'd love to hear them!
17 Mar 2022
Smarter Than Tim #2 With Nick Mitchell - Tough Conversations About the Opioid Epidemic and Harm Reduction
Nick Mitchell is currently the Provincial Medical Director for Addictions and Mental Health, and we're grateful he was willing to do this interview. Below is a table of contents for the interview. If you have any feedback or there are questions you wish Tim had asked, email Tim (Tim@hflchurch.ca) and let him know. 3:06 Who is Nick and why he’s well positioned to speak into the opioid crisis and about harm reduction in Alberta. 3:55 Introducing the opioid crisis and how it’s similar/dissimilar to “drug addiction” generally 6:00 A quick history of the opioid crisis… Tim talks addiction to pleasure 8:22 Profiles of Albertan Opioid addicts according to local data 14:09 Fatalities in Alberta from Opioids (and alcohol) 17:53 Introducing “Harm Reduction” 22:00 Comparing harm reduction and abstinence based approaches to addiction treatment 24:00 Introducing newer harm reduction practices like safe injection sites, needle exchanges, etc. 28:20 Myths about opioid use and treatment 33:40 Are we saying, “Keep on sinning?” Is substance use a moral issue? (This is picked up again later at 110:45) 37:40 What stats are you counting to evaluate harm reduction programs? 42:55 How do you determine if safe injection sites are effective? 46:55 What convinces you safe injection sites are a good idea? 50:00 What would it take to change your mind on harm reduction (needle exchange/safe injection sites)? 52:45 Why do we have to help if someone doesn’t want to get well? 57:40 Nature versus nurture 58:45 Substance dependency versus addiction 59:35 Tim get’s longwinded asking about four big issues - Is it a sin to use drugs, nature versus nurture part 2, victim mentality & is harm reduction enabling and actually helping people hurt themselves? 110:45 Is substance use sinful? 114:10 Actions steps (learning, donating, volunteering) 122:07 A few reflections from Tim after this interview - where I want to know more, am repenting, and the questions and struggles I still have
28 Jan 2022
Smarter Than Tim With Nick Mitchell - A Conversation About Mental Health
Nick is one of the smartest, most engaging, and most interesting people Tim's ever met. He's also a practicing psychiatrist and senior administrator in the addiction and mental health department of AHS (Alberta Health Services). Today they discuss mental health. If there is a question you wish Tim had asked, let him know! We'll have round #2 with Nick sometime soon. Section 1 - Mental Health and Me 1) What are mental health and resilience? (2:20) 2) Let's talk personality (Enneagram, Myers Briggs, etc.) (5:10) 3) How can people assess how they are doing? (7:50) 4) What are some practical steps people can take (whether they are sick or healthy) to pursue mental well-being? (13:00) **Aside 1 on Neurogenesis (18:50) **Aside 2 on Parenting & Resilience (21:55) Section 2 - Mental Health and Us 5) The news regularly reports an emerging and coming mental health crisis as we continue to wrestle with Covid 19. Can you comment on whether that is the case and what it means? (23:00) 6) As a clinician, what do you mean when you say clinical depression or anxiety? (27:15) 7) How do I walk with someone who is struggling with mental illness? (31:30) **Aside 3 on fixing people and our insecurities (35:30) 8) Can mental illness be cured and what hope is available to those finding the road through to be long and hard? (41:20) **Aside 4 - Final Comments (49:20) Note the final comments about the risk factor of social isolation in the last two minutes!
14 Jan 2022
HFL Storytime #1 - No Ordinary People
Today Tim kicks off HFL Storytime with a story of his failure, the leading of the Holy Spirit, and a great quote from C.S. Lewis.
23 Dec 2021
HFL's Origin Story - A Different Kind of Church
In this podcast, Tim interviews Doug about the formation of HFL. Doug presents his perspective on how the church came to be, what God may have been doing, and the vision for a different kind of church that drove HFL in the early years.
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