In this week's Disciple:

He isn’t chasing status. He isn’t fighting for the spotlight. He simply finds people and brings them to the Messiah.

What if the calling of Israel was always meant to look like this—not keeping God to ourselves, but becoming the kind of people who help others encounter Him?

Andrew may be one of the quietest disciples, but his life asks a loud question:

What if faithfulness isn’t being noticed by everyone, but making sure everyone has a chance to see Jesus?

In this episode, Scott Ritsema joins us to talk about the disciple history remembers as “Doubting Thomas”, a label that may not tell the whole story.

Thomas wanted to see before he believed. The problem is, so do we.

We live in a world of screens, algorithms, headlines, notifications, and endless content constantly fighting for our attention. We see more than any generation before us, yet somehow we may be becoming less capable of actually seeing.

Jesus calls us to something deeper: eyes of faith.

In this episode, we discuss the disciple none of us want our spiritual journey compared to. How does someone walk beside Jesus for three years and still fall apart spiritually? Joining us in the studio is our good friend, Pastor Adam Stacey, as we explore betrayal, self-deception, and the danger of being close to Jesus without truly surrendering to Him.

Simon the Zealot is one of the most mysterious figures among the disciples, identified only by his political label. If Matthew the Apostle was seen as a sellout to Rome, Simon would have been viewed as a patriot—aligned with the zealots, a movement marked by resistance and violence against Roman rule.

Why would Jesus call someone shaped by that kind of ideology, and then place him in the same circle as a Roman collaborator? This episode explores how Jesus builds a community that forces enemies to sit at the same table, and what that says about calling, identity, and kingdom politics.

Matthew the Apostle was an outsider everywhere he went. Rejected by his own people yet never fully accepted by the Romans he worked for, Matthew lived between two worlds. As a tax collector, he profited from the very fishermen and villages where Jesus was performing miracles. So why would Jesus call a man many viewed as a traitor? In this episode, we explore Matthew’s calling and what grace looks like for people no one thinks belong.

On our first episode of this season Garhett and Jermaine are joined by their good friend Pastor Justin Mertz. We explore not just the call of Peter, but the personality that Jesus willingly took on with much polishing needed. Peter is called the rock, but most of his story looks more like a rolling stone. We narrow in on the moment the disciples mistook Jesus for a ghost on the water. What does fear, chaos, and uncertainty reveal about faith and even your unique call?

The book of The Gospel of John is often chosen as the favorite Gospel of many Christians. John is known as the disciple Jesus loved, who was present in some of the most intimate moments of Christ’s earthly ministry. But one detail we often overlook is just how young John was when Jesus called him. What does John’s story reveal about calling, risk, and the willingness to follow God at a young age? Joining us for this conversation is Jeff Akenberger, chaplain at Great Lakes Adventist Academy.

What if Jesus showed up in the year 2026 instead of A.D. 27 and simply said, “Follow Me”?

Can you imagine being one of those twelve? What type of individuals would Jesus choose? It's not like today's common job descriptions are farmers, tax collectors, or fishermen. Would he choose a liberal or a conservative? Someone privileged or another who has been overlooked? someone well informed and another naive or ignorant?

What places would he choose from? Would he have walked the halls of college campuses and called students, or showed up in the mechanic shop and called a machinist? Would he be limited to just choosing the well, or would he consider the broken? What about the unconverted?

What are some questions a modern disciple would ask after hearing "follow me"? Jesus, does your program consider proper boundaries to prevent things like spiritual burnout? Will we have enough time for my self-care routine? I can follow you, Jesus, but I see a nationalist already in your ranks. How will we work together?

Here at God Ink, our curiosity often gets the best of us. And in this season, we can’t help but notice the tension as Jesus continued to call His disciples, these were men and women, who were from all walks of life, all with different stories, yet all converged under the influence of this brilliant leader who was so much more than just that. Like you, we often wondered how this all came together.

Join us May 25th, as we piece together a biographical sketch of each individual chosen by Jesus and listen as we unpack the special role Christ assigned each one as He worked to build up Heaven’s Kingdom.