Jesus Wants The Rose

About Jesus Wants The Rose

Join Apollo for honest conversations about the gospel and the lives it has changed. Each episode is a long-form interview with someone whose story reveals what happens when grace meets real life—pastors, family members, musicians, former skeptics, and faithful believers. We talk about first encounters with Christianity, moments of true understanding, ongoing struggles, and the hope that sustains. This podcast is for anyone curious about how Jesus transforms people from the inside out.

Publisher

Apollo

Category

religion & spirituality · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

3 Jul 2026

Latest episode

8 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

8 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   8 Oct 2026

   JWTR #007 - Chad Blackman

   Chad Blackman could tell you exactly how salvation works. He grew up in church and knew all the right answers. And still, in his own words, he "fundamentally missed the gospel." In this episode of Jesus Wants The Rose, Apollo sits down with Chad, a full-time firefighter in the Bay Area who spent eight years in vocational ministry, went to seminary, and still preaches at Shelter Cove Community Church in Modesto about once a month. The two know each other from their Shelter Cove days, and it shows. This one is part testimony, part theology, and part catching up between two guys who were both deeply shaped by the same Matt Chandler sermon. In this conversation: • Why Chad and his family moved to Tennessee in 2022, why those three years were so hard, and why they came home to Modesto • What God was sanding down in Chad out there, especially an identity built on achievement and a paycheck • Seasons of consolation and desolation, and why God doesn't waste a single one, good or bad • How Chad "tripped and fell into ministry," with other people seeing the gift in him before he saw it himself • The Matt Chandler sermon, The Explicit Gospel, that changed Chad's life and gave this podcast its name • Growing up believing he had to earn grace, and the seven years he spent running from a God he thought was fed up with him • The turning point: Colossians 1 and Romans 5, and the news that Christ came after him while he was still rebellious • Alistair Begg's "man on the middle cross," and why we need to preach the cross to ourselves every day • Monergism vs. synergism, Ephesians 2, and why even our faith is a gift from God • A fresh take on the mustard seed: small, yes, but it spreads like wildfire once it takes root • Why Chad left full-time ministry after a year of wrestling, and how he landed at Stockton Fire Department • The real history behind fire station Dalmatians and fire poles A few things to sit with after this one. The gospel was never something you earn, it's something Christ starts while you're still running from Him. Hard seasons aren't wasted seasons. And a little faith is enough, because it's built to grow. (Heads up: we fought some technical glitches during this recording, so you'll hear a quick restart around the 21-minute mark, and the conversation wraps up a little earlier than we planned. We'd love to have Chad back for a part two.) If this conversation encouraged you, subscribe for new episodes, share it with a friend who's been trying to earn what's already been given, and drop a comment letting us know what stuck with you. Chapters 00:00 Intro and catching up: the Tennessee years and coming home to Modesto 05:02 What God was sanding down: seasons of consolation and desolation 10:36 Firefighting, preaching, and tripping into ministry 14:05 The Explicit Gospel and where "Jesus Wants The Rose" comes from 19:58 Raised in church, still missing the gospel: seven years of running 25:16 The man on the middle cross and why even our faith is a gift 30:05 The mustard seed and letting God into every corner 32:55 From the pulpit to the fire station 37:54 Dalmatians, fire poles, and wrap-up Chad Blackman Shelter Cove Community Church (Modesto, CA): https://sheltercovelive.com/ (https://sheltercovelive.com/) Mentioned in this episode Matt Chandler, The Explicit Gospel (book, Crossway): https://www.crossway.org/books/the-explicit-gospel-hcj/ (https://www.crossway.org/books/the-explicit-gospel-hcj/) Alistair Begg, "The Man on the Middle Cross" (Truth For Life): https://blog.truthforlife.org/the-man-on-the-middle-cross-said-i-can-come (https://blog.truthforlife.org/the-man-on-the-middle-cross-said-i-can-come) Jesus Wants The Rose on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@jesuswantstherose (https://youtube.com/@jesuswantstherose)

2. 

   17 Sept 2026

   JWTR #006 - Deformed Theology

   What if the name that stopped your scroll wasn't a jab at Reformed theology — but a mirror held up to every Christian heart? Jonathan and David of *Deformed Theology* sit down with Apollo Tull for a conversation that started with a name that made him do a double take, and landed somewhere much deeper: humility, unity across camps, and what it means to look at every person as an image bearer. In this episode, the co-hosts unpack why they hit record in the first place — they were already the nerds having these conversations, felt the Lord say do it, and took the brakes off. They explain what "Deformed Theology" actually means: not mocking the Reformed, not claiming to *be* Reformed, but an ongoing examination of the things that warp how we see God, His Word, and His people. Citing 1 Corinthians 13, they frame the name as an admission that we see through a glass darkly — we don't yet know fully as we are fully known. From there the room opens up: two kinds of people in the world, thinking of the unsaved as the "not yet," how wide God's love really is, Christian metal shows where the gospel reaches people who'd never walk into a Sunday service, the "prenuptial agreement" we try to cut with Jesus, submission as either slave to sin or hidden in Christ, and the aroma of Christ. Warm, pastoral, and deliberately non-combative — this is gospel conversation for people tired of us-versus-them Christianity. **Subscribe, leave a review, and follow @jesuswantstherose for more.**

3. 

   6 Aug 2026

   JWTR #005 - Magdalene Rose

   What do you do when the church that's supposed to welcome you turns you away for how you look? Magdalene Rose is a Christian rock and metalcore artist who has spent her whole career answering that question — with dark lipstick, heavy breakdowns, and a testimony she refuses to keep quiet. In this conversation, Magdalene shares the long road that got her here: growing up in a band with her sisters, marrying into the Seventh Day Slumber family, and turning her hardest season — a years-long fight with anorexia and depression — into the song "Teeth Eater" and a movement of people getting matching tooth tattoos to mark their own recovery. We talk about the prayer that changed everything, the one she prayed when she couldn't even want to get better: "God, help me want to want this." We talk about why seeking help from doctors and therapists isn't weak faith. And we talk about the spring several churches canceled her shows — not over her music, but over her appearance — and the pastor's apology that came afterward, the part of the story nobody usually gets to hear. This is a conversation about belonging, about the people Jesus actually sat with, and about what God does with the wreckage. Subscribe, leave a review, and follow @jesuswantstherose for more.

4. 

   30 Jul 2026

   JWTR #004 - Cliff Lambert

   "I don't love you because you can sing. I love you because you're My child." That's the moment Dr. Cliff Lambert says his relationship with Jesus actually began — not while leading worship, but while he'd lost his voice completely. Cliff is a classically trained vocalist, Associate Professor of Voice at Liberty University, and Worship Pastor at Liberty Baptist Church in Appomattox, VA. He's spent decades leading worship in churches from Detroit to Chesapeake to Lynchburg, and now trains the next generation of worship leaders in the theology behind what they do on a Sunday morning. Apollo and Cliff trace Cliff's winding, faith-led path from adjunct voice teacher to full-time faculty at Liberty — including a year-long job process that ended in a single dinner conversation. Then they dig into the theology of worship itself: what got lost in the "seeker sensitive" era, why some songs belong in private prayer and others belong in the room together, and how a worship leader's own walk with God shapes everything they lead. Key themes from this conversation: Surrender over striving — God doesn't want performance, He wants a surrendered heart. Every step of faith has a purpose, even when the "why" doesn't show up for years. The words we sing together matter, and so does how we introduce them. If this conversation resonates, subscribe, leave a review, and follow Jesus Wants the Rose on social for more.

5. 

   23 Jul 2026

   JWTR #003 - Lydio Banana

   What happens when the gospel finds you in a skate shop instead of a sanctuary? Lydio Banana is the Next Gen Pastor at The Lamb's Chapel in Burlington, NC, where he leads ministry to the next generation alongside his wife, Jessie, who directs the church's Children's Ministry. In this conversation, Lydio takes Apollo back through the skate scene of '90s Modesto and Turlock — the friendships, the injuries, and the unlikely encounter with a missionary kid in a skate shop that planted the first seed of faith. From there, the story winds through a season of drifting, a Bible study that grew too big for a living room, and a calling into vocational ministry that's lasted three decades. Lydio and Apollo dig into what they call "default faith" — the danger of mistaking a Christian upbringing for a real relationship with Jesus — and why the gratitude of someone radically saved and someone raised in the church should look exactly the same. It's a conversation about authenticity, calling, and what it actually looks like to give the next generation something real to hold onto. Subscribe for more honest conversations on faith, and leave a review if this one encouraged you.

6. 

   16 Jul 2026

   JWTR #002 - Brandon Savage

   What if your testimony doesn't need a dramatic rock-bottom to be miraculous? Brandon Savage is a worship and creative arts pastor at Lee's Summit Community Church near Kansas City — and he's spent years learning to look back and see God's hand all over a story he once thought was ordinary. In this conversation, Brandon walks Apollo through his whole journey: the youth pastor who gave him the gospel over Taco Bell across from Arrowhead Stadium, the sinner's prayer he said in the driveway of a white Ford F-150, and the season he walked away after a church experience left him confused. He shares how a David Crowder song broke him open in a worship service, how one family's quiet peace through financial hardship showed him what real faith looks like, and how losing his dad to cancer a year and a half ago has tested — and deepened — his belief that God is sovereign and good. Along the way, Brandon and Apollo dig into the difference between faithfulness you cultivate and faithfulness as a gift of the Spirit, why looking back is the key to trusting God forward, and what it means to shift from a worship leader to a worship pastor who shepherds people, not just sets. This is Episode 002 — an honest conversation about seeing God in the whole story, not just the highlight reel. Subscribe, leave a review, and follow @jesuswantstherose for more.

7. 

   9 Jul 2026

   JWTR #001 - Anthony Goodwin

   What does it look like to bring the gospel to people who would never walk into a church? Anthony Goodwin is a corporate and Army Reserve chaplain based in Austin, Texas — and his job is to go to people instead of waiting for them to come to him. In this conversation, Anthony shares how he came to faith after a breakup in junior college, how a quiet pull from God led his family to leave everything familiar and move to Texas, and what it actually looks like to do ministry one cubicle at a time. We talk about his three kids all getting baptized in January — and the moment each one described exactly where they were when they gave their life to Jesus. The bed. The dinner table. The communion room. And Anthony closes with one of the best lines of the episode: "Just share your cape." This is Episode 001 — the first conversation — and it's everything this show is about. Subscribe, leave a review, and follow @jesuswantstherose for more.

8. 

   3 Jul 2026

   JWTR Trailer

   What if the gospel isn't just something you agree with, but something you're still living out — right now, in whatever you're walking through? Welcome to Jesus Wants The Rose, a long-form, conversational podcast about how the gospel actually lands in real life. Each episode, host Apollo Tull sits down with a different Christian — pastors, artists, everyday believers — for an honest, unpolished conversation about how they first encountered Jesus, how they've come to understand the gospel, and how it keeps reshaping their story. This isn't a polished sermon or a performance. It's more like pulling up a chair and hitting record while the conversation goes wherever it goes — doubt, church, grace, failure, and the moments faith actually showed up. Across the episodes ahead, expect real stories of ordinary joy and deep struggle, honest conversations about what it actually looks like to follow Jesus day to day, and a consistent thread of hope — that the good news isn't abstract, it's alive and at work in real lives, including yours. Episode 001 drops soon. Subscribe now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen, so you don't miss it. Jesus Wants The Rose — real conversations, rooted in the gospel.

Contact Jesus Wants The Rose

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.