The Bumpy Road to Better | Tim Timberlake
The Jon Gordon Podcast
Jon Gordon
4.8 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 5 December 2025
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of The Jon Gordon Podcast, I sit down with Pastor Tim Timberlake for a conversation about embracing life's challenges as opportunities for growth. Tim shares how his own experiences with pain and hardship inspired his latest book, author of 'The Bumpy Road to Better', and why adversity is often the training ground for our greatest breakthroughs.
We talk about the importance of asking for help, the power of a grateful mindset, and how faith can transform even our darkest seasons. Tim opens about leading with humility, stewarding responsibility, and why the bumps along our journey may be the very blessings we need.
If you're looking for hope on a difficult path or want to see how setbacks can set you up for strength, this uplifting episode is for you.
About Tim,
Tim Timberlake serves as the Senior Pastor of Celebration Church. He's a graduate of the Pistis School of Ministry in Detroit, Michigan. Pastor Tim is a gifted communicator and teacher who has the ability to communicate to people from all walks of life. His sense of humor, combined with his in-depth Bible teaching, gives the listener and reader the tools to transform their lives from the inside out. He takes pleasure in the small things, is an avid sports fan, and a popular thought leader.
Pastor Tim lives in Jacksonville, FL with his wife Jen and son Maxwell. The Timberlake's feel most alive when they are pouring back into others, and they seek to glorify God through their lives and family.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the John Gordon podcast, where we share John's interviews with guests, as well as key strategies and lessons from his keynotes, coaching, and more. |
| 0:09.0 | We want to encourage you to check out John Gordoncertified.com if you're interested in growing as a leader, coach, speaker, or trainer. |
| 0:15.6 | When you get certified, you'll be able to teach, coach, and train others on John's most impactful mindset, leadership, and teamwork principles. |
| 0:22.5 | For more information, visit John Gordoncertified.com. That's J-O-N-Gordoncertified.com. Now let's jump |
| 0:29.0 | into today's episode. Hey, this is John Gordon with the John Gordon podcast. And today, my guest is Timberlake. Tim, Tim, how you doing? Doing good, John. Such an honor and a privilege to be back on the podcast. Thank you so much, man. It's awesome seeing you. Great to have you back. You were on once before. If you want to listen to that past episode, you can, folks. It was a great one, but this is going to be an even better one, |
| 0:54.9 | I know, because we're going to talk about the bumpy road to better. So what you're saying, |
| 1:00.6 | Tim, is in order to get better, we're going to deal with the bumpy road. Absolutely. I think each |
| 1:06.5 | and every one of us is on a journey and discovering how life has better for us, but oftentimes on |
| 1:15.2 | that journey to better, we hit bumps in the road. We hit hurdles. We hit obstacles. For some of us, |
| 1:21.1 | we hit giants and mountains. And if we're not careful, we'll think that better is not possible |
| 1:27.4 | because of those bumps. |
| 1:29.1 | And what I try to do and endeavor to do with this book is just try to help us go on a journey |
| 1:34.5 | together and discover how there is better, but we've got to navigate these bumps. |
| 1:39.0 | And we've got to navigate these hurdles to get to the better that I believe God has in store for us. |
| 1:45.5 | Tim, why do we have to go through the bumps? Why does life have to be so hard and challenging? |
| 1:51.8 | I believe it's preparation. You know, I'm raising, along with my wife, an incredible eight-year-old son, |
| 1:59.2 | which you know, Maxwell. And, you know, one of the things |
| 2:03.1 | that I find beautiful in this season is his difficulty with challenges. And so he started basketball. |
| 2:12.1 | And one of the things in basketball, his coach is telling him, you have to do push-ups. He hates |
| 2:17.4 | push-ups. It's challenging for him to do push-ups. He hates push-ups. It's challenging for him |
| 2:19.3 | to do push-ups. He feels pain when he does push-ups. He has to do down and backs. He has to do suicides. He has to do |
| 2:25.7 | all these different things. But the pain is conditioning him to be better. And I believe if God is a loving |
... |
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