The Lion Within Us - Leadership for Christian Men · Chris Grainger

669. Kinda Christian With Roger Ross

April 8, 2026·52 min·4 clips

Chris Granger announces the 2026 Reclaiming the Wild Men's Retreat in North Carolina, urging men to unite and bring their sons.

The episode opens with a promotional ad for the Lion Within Us men's retreat in April 2026. Host Chris Granger introduces Roger Ross, a native of Cambridge, Illinois, who is a former pastor, now a coach and consultant to church leaders and nonprofits. Ross mentions enjoying scuba diving and having a 75-gallon fish tank at home. He explains the origin of his book title 'Kind of Christian,' noting that many Americans would check the Christian box if asked, yet feel spiritually empty and have given up on church while still being spiritually curious. He observes that Generation Z worldwide is called 'the open generation' and is spiritually curious across many traditions. Ross identifies fear of losing control as the primary barrier to full faith commitment, arguing that Jesus actually helps people become more fully who they were designed to be, not less recognizable to themselves. He then describes how the book's discipleship framework was born: while serving as a pastor, his church's mission was to make disciples, but staff could not actually define the term. Eight months of work eventually produced the G6 framework — six marks of a disciple all beginning with G: glory, grace, group, growth, giftedness, and generosity. Each G has both an inward experience and an outward expression. Ross describes rolling this out via a sermon series combined with small group classes over seven to eight weeks, noting that knowledge only becomes personal when a person speaks it aloud. Mentorship and small group accountability deepen the process. When asked which spiritual practice men struggle with most, Ross identifies solitude — simply being still with God — because men are oriented toward action and doing. He cites Psalm 46:10 and describes solitude not as a few quiet minutes but as cultivating an ongoing interior chapel, a 24/7 posture of presence. He offers a practical entry point: set a two-to-five-minute timer and silently repeat a single word such as 'Jesus,' which draws attention inward past surface distractions. He uses a watch timer instead of a phone to minimize interruptions. Ross addresses how the enemy attacks this practice and recommends setting a consistent time and place each day as the primary defense. On the topic of grace, Ross says that men typically need to reach a point of desperation before they are open to receiving something they cannot produce themselves. He addresses church hurt directly, saying that forgiveness of church leaders is necessary to move forward spiritually, while also affirming that authentic, healthy churches do exist. He distinguishes between becoming a Christian and becoming a disciple, calling conversion the starting line of a marathon, not the finish. For mature Christians working with younger believers, Ross presents the RIVER acronym: relay, invite, visualize, encourage, release. He describes 'visualize' as having an 'I see in you' conversation where a mentor names gifts the other person cannot yet see in themselves. Ross then shares his own conversion story at age 14, praying alone in his bedroom late at night, experiencing what he describes as 10,000 pounds coming off his heart, and recognizing God as a person rather than a principle. He notes that without a discipleship community afterward, he drifted through the rest of high school, and that it was a college group — not his conversion — that turned him from kind of Christian to serious disciple. The episode closes with a lightning round touching on golf, pizza, and the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark.

As heard by us

A practical conversation about solitude, discipline, and learning to be still.

The episode follows the Reclaiming the Wild Men's Retreat and keeps its focus on brotherhood, faith, solitude, and spiritual discipline. It presents the weekend as a way to step out of noise, get outside, and have honest conversations that do not stay at the surface.

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Need a straight talk on solitude, brotherhood, and spiritual discipline?

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