Inner Views
BIO
Sara Forhetz is a speaker, journalist, and podcaster. She also hosts a daily morning radio show on Christian radio station 88.3 The Wind. She spent 17 years as an Emmy Award-winning television news reporter and anchor… sharing mostly bad news. Now, Sara shares the Good News across the country and around the world. Her travels often take her to Africa and the Middle East, where she speaks about her faith in Jesus. Sara is a wife and a homeschool mother of three kids, ages 12, 14, and 16. She loves swimming, biking, and running, and competes often in triathlons. She and her husband, Ethan Forhetz, have been named one of the most influential couples in Southwest Missouri and have been recognized by multiple publications. She urges everyone to be bold in their faith.
INNER VIEW
Kathleen Cooke: You have accomplished much in your career. You have a great family and, to many, appear to have an ideal life. What have you learned along your life journey that is the key?
Sara Forhetz: The Lord has been teaching me about HIS ALL-SUFFICIENCY. I didn’t realize I had started to do some things in my own strength, well, because I can. One of my hobbies is doing triathlons with my kids. That is a race where you swim, then bike, then run. I am a proficient swimmer and am gearing up for a race in San Francisco that starts at Alcatraz prison. I was recently practicing swimming in open water, something that typically would not be a problem for me. But as I was 750 meters offshore, the wind kicked up suddenly, and I quite literally felt like I was going to drown. Out of nowhere, God sent me a literal lifeboat. A man scooped me up and took me to shore. As I sat on the beach that day praising God for sending help, He began to teach me that I was swimming in my own sufficiency. Why? Because I can. At that moment, I knew the Lord was saying I was NOTHING without him. And I will not reach the metaphorical finish line well if I am going to operate in my own strength.
Kathleen: Wow! San Francisco’s harbor is known for its winds that come out of nowhere without warning and from all directions. My brother learned to sail there and was told that if you can sail SF harbor, you can sail anywhere in the world because of the changing winds. Training for a triathlon is like working in the creative arts in many ways. You must push hard on multiple levels; a successful career takes grit and ambition. What have you learned about when to press forward and when to step back?
Sara: I think the Lord puts desires in our hearts, and we can feel free to pursue them! If our ambition gets in the way, we stay low and humble and trust that He will course-correct. I’ve found that with God, it’s more about the journey than the destination. So, we resign to give ourselves to being refined along the journey. Scripture says, “Do not despise the day of small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin…” You start in the way of your heart’s desire, and trust that even if it starts small, IF He is in it, He is rejoicing that the journey has begun. And He will complete it and complete YOU in the process! The refining will come as He guides you along the way. I pray, Lord, thank you for your equipping as you call me.
Kathleen: With the ups and downs and constant unknown struggles of an artistic career, how have you dealt with the fear of failure?
Sara: If it doesn’t scare you, God might not be in it! The Lord sometimes calls us to do what we can do. But oftentimes, He calls us to do something we cannot do on our own! That is scary. But it’s what allows us to put all the “pressure” on Him. The Lord is our instructor; we are always His pupils. He is the one who makes it possible. We embrace our humility that says, I am scared, but if I am called, I trust You, Lord, to complete it through me.
Kathleen: God instructs us to GO — be an influence. Why is that more important than ever?
Sara: You are the only one who is where you are. You can reach the people in your cubicle at work that I cannot — that your pastor or friend cannot. God has placed you there for “such a time as this.” He says to us over and over again — GO! He only sends us to where He is already working. And, if we are faithful to work in the field where He planted us, He will set us over more. “He who is faithful in a very little thing is also faithful in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little thing is also dishonest in much” (Luke 16:10). If you desire to grow your influence for Kingdom purposes, it will start with your faithfulness right where you are.
Connect with Sara!
Instagram:@saraforhetz
Facebook:@Sara Forhetz
Website: saraforhetz.com
News
Excitement is growing for the Church Media Summit, August 15-17, 2024 in Ghana! Pastors, media teams, communications teams and independent filmmakers from across Africa are excited about the upcoming media training opportunity offered by TheoVision International and The Influence Lab.
Registrants from Ghana as well as surrounding nations including Rwanda, Nigeria, Malawi, Liberia, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Ethiopia will gather in Accra, the capital city of Ghana, for three days of intensive training in media and digital strategies to share the gospel. Influence Lab co-founder Phil Cooke shares more in this video.
With anti-Christian tension rising in countries across the continent, pastors are desperate to strengthen their churches and reach their nations for Christ. They’re eager to gain the knowledge and expertise they need to tell stories that inspire faith, confront social issues and stir people’s hearts for the gospel.
Imagine the impact – not just within Ghana, but across Africa! Let’s help these pastors and their media teams get the training they need to strategically reach their nations with the gospel.
Partner with The Influence Lab now to send a team to Ghana this August 2024. Give your generous gift here.
“In countries where so few people are professing Christians, media may be the key to mission growth in that part of the world.” —Phil Cooke, Co-Founder, The Influence Lab
Find out more details about this Africa impact opportunity here.
Live in Africa? Register for the Church Media Summit 2024 here.
Inner Views
Bio
Australian, Darlene Zschech, is a globally acclaimed composer, worship leader, pastor, author and speaker and is well known for her ministry work at Sydney’s Hillsong Church. However, she claims her biggest success is serving God and His people whom she loves with all her heart. Alongside her husband Mark, and with their daughters, son-in-laws and grandchildren, they lead Hope Unlimited Church (HopeUC) with locations in Australia, India and the U.S. Darlene is perhaps most well known for her worship song, Shout to the Lord, but she has composed numerous other worship songs including Kiss of Heaven, Change Your World, You Are Love, In Jesus Name and the album, Revealing Jesus, which she recorded with Grammy Award winner, Israel Houghton. In 2016 Darlene recorded a live HopeUC worship album, Here I Am, Send Me, where she collaborated with other top worship leaders. In 2018 she released, The Table, and in 2019, she recorded, I Speak Jesus, with Integrity Music writer, Dustin Smith.
Her passion is to train and encourage others in worship and in the Word of God and has penned six books which have been translated into 20 different languages, including The Art of Mentoring, Revealing Jesus (devotional), Worship Changes Everything, and The Golden Thread, as well as an online worship course, Your Ministry Mentor, designed to equip global worship leaders.
She and Mark have a passion to restore Hope globally but especially to Rwandans. Their ministry provided strategic hope and healing following the 1994 horrific genocide and has continued to expand into parts of Africa, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and India. Darlene says, “First and foremost I am a woman who simply and wholeheartedly loves Jesus Christ, and serves Him through loving my family, serving the Church, and speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves.”
Kathleen Cooke: We are all working through recovering from the global pandemic on many levels, but what is the single biggest thing that has God taught you during the challenges that COVID has brought?
Darlene Zschech: The big thing for me over the last 3 years is how God has shown me the importance of The Table. It’s the importance of the gather… that as we break bread together and see and hear each other that we make the time to celebrate Christ together in a way that is personal and intentional. And… that discipleship and authentic community will be what flows from lives that have the table at the Centre.
Kathleen: You have had great successes but lots of challenges too. When those out-of-the-blue challenges came your way, what did God teach you?
Darlene: FORGIVENESS… this has been a big one for me. When I was going through treatment for cancer, I had lots of time to listen to God speak in a new and often challenging way. I had to dig deep on my theology about healing and about God’s plans and purposes. One day, He spoke to me and asked me to trust Him with my heart in a new way. To do this, He asked me to forgive those I had held deep unforgiveness toward… which REALLY shocked me. I thought I was a very forgiving person. So… slowly but surely, the Holy Spirit gently led me through person by person what I needed to set free in my heart. This was a life changing few months for me. Not only do I believe He helped with the healing in my body, but He has literally brought me so much more freedom that I didn’t even know I needed. (more…)
