Aging Together 12/21/25 (Audio)

The episode features Richie delivering a personal testimony to an adult Sunday school class at Otter Creek Church. He opens by explaining his spiritual disciplines of truth-telling and naming his sins to God, practices he adopted around 2019. Richie then recounts his early life, born in 1967 in Memphis to a 43-year-old mother from the 'greatest generation.' He grew up on a family farm in Velvet Ridge, Arkansas, with a culture of secrecy. At age 10 in 1977, he was baptized out of fear of hell at Baptist Memorial Hospital, but immediately slipped and swore aloud, a moment that haunted him. At 18, during a conflict before moving to Nashville for college, his mother revealed the troubled circumstances of his conception and her difficult marriage. In 1987, his 32-year-old sister died unexpectedly, which Richie initially blamed on his own wayward life, leading him to rededicate himself to God under an oak tree at Lipscomb University. He married Kelly and became involved in cycling. On June 16, 2007, during a group ride at Radnor Lake, he witnessed his best friend crash and die. Richie suppressed the trauma for over a decade until seeing his friend's widow at Brentwood Hills Church of Christ triggered an emotional breakdown. This led to a 'freedom prayer' session with Jen Barnett, where he visually surrendered his guilt to Jesus. Richie closes by discussing his current estrangement from his adult son, his struggle to relinquish control, and his belief that filling with the Holy Spirit produces spiritual fruits. He attempts to play a song on his phone as a final illustration.

As heard by us

A plainspoken testimony about 58 years of living, loss, and grace that keeps returning to the Lord's work.

The speaker turns 58 years of living into testimony, using Colonel Jessup and A Few Good Men to admit he cannot face the truth of his life alone.

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Why you'd press play

A testimony from a stool, shaped by 58 years of living, a sister's unexpected death, and a return to the Lord.

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