A podcast designed to encourage believers that God can use you to impact His kingdom no matter your story. Yes, it requires surrender and trust, but His grace is enough.
Episodes
Tuesday Apr 23, 2019
Tuesday Apr 23, 2019
Bethany and I chat about how her first visit to Guatemala raised up a heart cry in her that followed her around until she finally launched a social enterprise. She shares about the challenges of running a small business that partners with other small businesses. She shares about her personal struggle over comparison during the first few years of The Root Collective and we chat a little about her chickens :)
2:59 Bethany introduces us to The Root Collective.
6:50 Bethany begins sharing her faith journey
14:34 Bethany begins to share about a quarter life crisis she experienced while working for a Fortune 500 company which eventually led to The Root Collective.
Home to 60,000 to 100,0000 people, La Limonada is the largest urban slum in Central America.
"Non-profits are focusing on education...which is great, but if you educate a kid and there is no job for them after they graduate, nothing has changed...We're approaching things a little bit backwards, when we are talking about poverty alleviation. Why aren't we focusing on jobs?"
Definition of Social Entrepreneurship
"We need people who love corporate America...but for me it was, this is not where I am supposed to be."
Half the Sky bookand documentary.
22:43 "One of the biggest, early mistakes I made was trying to do way too much too soon, because you can't do anything well...but had I not done that we never would have just done shoes."
The Root Collective celebrated 5 years in November.
23:50 Bethany begins sharing the process behind the making of The Root Collective (TRC) shoes, Guatemalan artisans, etc.
TRC partners with existing small businesses in Guatemala (shoe workshops and weavers).
Shoes are designed stateside, then TRC works with Guatemalan businesses for manufacturing.
They purchase products outright, so there is no risk to their partners.
TRC partners (currently) with:
- 3 shoe workshops
- 2-3 weaving cooperatives
"Weaving is very cultural for the Mayan culture...The thing that is very interesting about the women we work with is most of them never had the opportunity to go to school. If you are living in a rural Mayan community, you don't speak Spanish. You speak one of...[many] Mayan dialects. So if you don't go to school, you don't learn Spanish. If you don't know Spanish, you can't get a job in the formal economy....The weaving gives them the opportunity to have a trade that is cultural for them. They get to work from home, so they can still take care of their kids. And they get to earn an income which is beyond important."
25:50 Bethany and I discuss work and the value it has in our lives.
Our pastor did a sermon series on work and something he said stuck with me. "The first thing God did in the Bible was work. He created. He worked. So we are created in the image of God, which means we were created to work."
TRC has a full time in country (Guatemala) manager, Pablo who is employed by TRC.
30:25 Bethany shares about her attic being TRC's warehouse :)
33:20 Bethany discusses why it is so important for women to have a job.
"In a lot of these communities women are not valued, but when they have a job, all of a sudden...it makes them more valuable, it makes them more respected."
Bethany and I are both Enneagram one's. Bethany shares about the struggle with perfection and comparison during the first 4.5 years of the business. She speaks of it being like hell.
Referring her dark night of the soul experience: "It took me a year and a half to climb out of that. I almost sold the business last year, because it had gotten to that point of (Also, it was coming to the point of it is my business or my marriage. Nobody really talks about how much impact having a business is has on your marriage, but it is extreme if you allow it to be and we had allowed it to be. Mostly me.), so the growth in the last six months was me number one, coming out of that. Two (this always sounds really terrible, but you need to understand what I am saying), I stopped caring so much. I had to stop caring so much about what everybody else was doing. I had to stop caring about how quickly the business was growing. I had to stop caring so much about all the production problems we were having."
39:09 "I also realized I don't want to be a household name....When people ask me what I want for it, the way I explain it now is, 'I want to be a cult brand'."
"What a cult brand is basically, you are a little underground, not everybody knows who you are, but the people who do are hard core."
40:13 "My big thing is I am nobody special. I had no contacts, at all. It is the living proof that anyone can do this. Period. Anyone can do this, so if I can grow a business that is going to inspire other people who see a problem that Jesus is knocking on the door going, 'Um, hey, you wanna come out here and do something about this?' If I can do it, literally anybody can...That's what I want for it. I want to be able to have a manageable business that other people can look at and say, 'If she can do it, I can too'."
"Women control 85% of household budgets...You are talking trillions and trillions of dollars are controlled by women. Women literally control the global economy."
Hebrew word Karash has two meanings:
- to work; to labor
- to be still or to be silent
"Do everything you can and then, BE STILL."
Join The Root Collective's Insider group on Facebook for new products, discounts, sales, and sneak peeks.
Tuesday Apr 16, 2019
Tuesday Apr 16, 2019
Beth and I chat about the Enneagram being an internal GPS that can help you know your heart condition at any given moment. We chat about using the Enneagram to help you see, believe, and walk in the freedom Christ has already given you.
4:26 Beth begin sharing her faith journey and how that intersects with becoming an Enneagram coach.
"A lot of times if we are a believer, we have a lot of mixed theology in our mind. Whether it is the flesh, or bad theology just being spoken to us or who knows what. And we just really want them to understand who are you in Christ, because we are already are free in him, but so often we don't feel free....What we are doing with Enneagram coaching is really trying to give them the best theological base for who they are in Christ according to their personality type, because each of us have the core lies that are hard wired into us, from a flesh stand point...We hear the good news and we think this is amazing, but we still feel stuck. My goal is to say, 'Yeah, I can see that you feel stuck, but you're actually not, you're free. Let me show you exactly how in Christ, for you and your personality type.' "
7:37 Beth begins explaining the Enneagram
"Enneagram itself is just a neutral tool."
Think of it as being an "internal GPS. It is going help you to know where your heart condition is in any given moment."
Your Enneagram Coach Mission: For people to see themselves with astonishing clarity, so they can break free from self-condemnation, fear and shame by knowing and experiencing the unconditional love, forgiveness and freedom in Christ.
11:27 "The Enneagram...is really going to help you to know, am I aligned with the gospel? Is my heart mis-aligned or out of alignment?"
13:00 "The Enneagram is trying to assess why you do what you do.... [it] is getting to the core."
"When you are trying to find your main type, we want you to find the 4 core motivations in your personality type."
Core Motivations
- Core Fear: something you are always running away from
- Core Desire: if I just had that life would be grand and perfect
- Core Weakness: that thing you cry out to the Lord to be delivered from; constant struggle (shows us we are always dependent upon Jesus)
- Core Longing: the message your heart has always longed to hear (only Christ can fulfill this. no one else is sufficient, although we try to get it from other people.)
16:00 Beth shares a few stories of her Enneagram coaching that have helped to bring freedom.
"The whole way through I am coaching you into seeing how Christ has set you free and His love for you, so that when that self-condemnation pops up and shame I am right there to say, "[No way]. Nope. Let's look at exactly who you are and what He has done for you.' And all of a sudden, over those 5 sessions, you can see this person really coming to life. "
19:28 Beth discusses Enneagram wings
- 9 basic Enneagram types
- Wings: 2 numbers on either side of your main type
- For visual of star click HERE
You can access attributes of your wings in both healthy and unhealthy ways.
"We aren't just one dimensional...We are very fluid, as people. God created us with lots of dynamics."
In addition, every number has two lines (like a star would) coming from it. One line leads to an enneagram number that you take on when under stress, the second line leads to an enneagram number that you take on when growing.
24:22 "I am trying to help people realize what you long for is already there. Christ has already accomplished it for you, but our mind and our heart get derailed so quickly with false messages, lies, the world. etc. I am trying to help people to realize here's how your personality, when it is not doing well, thinks, this is how it operates, but when you are doing well, when it's aligned with the gospel this is where it is going to take you."
25:43 Beth speaks to the idea that personality types "put you in a box."
Russ Hudson and Don Richard Risso: The Enneagram doesn't put you in a box it gets you out of the box you are already in.
"Our personality when it is not healthy is hard wired to think in very specific ways, that's the box, but we're already free....The personality itself is not bad or wrong. It's beautiful. God created us with our personality, but when we're not thinking in a healthy correct way it's going to be really harmful and destructive to us."
"No one likes their type, because it is going to reveal what you are like when you aren't doing well. Here is the good news, Christ knew not only all you know about your personality type, but He knows when it is even worse and that's why in Romans 5:8 it says, 'While we were still sinners, Christ came for us.'..."
"All 9 types are the body of Christ. We need all 9 types."
Indelible Grace Rendition of I Need You Every Hour
33:12 Beth shares when is a good time for children to begin exploring their Enneagram number.
Your Enneagram Coach courses, free resources, and one on one coaches can be HERE.
- COMING October 2019: Becoming Us: Using the Enneagram to create a thriving gospel-centered marriagebook and course
- COMING December 2019: Each type Gift books
Tuesday Apr 09, 2019
Tuesday Apr 09, 2019
Molly and I begin our conversation discussing her faith journey and how after years of being "burned" by Christians she finally heard, understood, and accepted the grace of Jesus. We discuss how she grieved the loss of her mother in an unhealthy way vs. how she clung to Jesus when grieving the loss of her 2 baby boys. We also discuss how her passion for ethical fashion ignited, which has led to her podcast, Business with Purpose.
3:47 Molly begins sharing how her faith journey with Jesus began.
4:43 Molly shares about her best friend "breaking up" with her
She said, "She couldn't be my friend anymore, because I wasn't Christian enough for her."
"I would dabble in church here and there, but I just never had a clear concept of the gospel."
8:54 Molly begins sharing about her mom's illness and decline during her childhood before passing away her senior year of high school.
Molly shares about how she did not deal with the grief well. She says one of the hardest things she had to do was pick out a casket for her mother.
13:00 "A lot of people when they go through grief and they shut it out, they medicate with things like alcohol or drugs or whatever. For me, it was spending money."
19:19 Molly begins sharing about "the guy" she worked with and how he was different from every other guy she met.
22:37 "I went to church that day. I walked in and it felt like I was home. I was like this is what church can be like, where people smile and welcome you and there's an incredible message (that I understand) and music that is incredible. It was the first time I really began to understand what the gospel was that all these people were talking about and I never missed a Sunday after that."
"There was a day when God brought me to my knees. I just said, 'Alright God, I have been trying to do things my way for a really long time and look at where it got me and I am going to try to do things Your way and the rest is history. And life has not been easy since then, by any stretch of the imagination, but God has shown me every single day that He is good and He has had a plan this entire time'."
Molly's mother's book: Home Before Morningby Lynda Van DeVanter
26:59 Molly begins sharing about her journey with ethical fashion and how that lead to her podcast. Business with Purpose.
"The #1 way to alleviate poverty in the world is by providing jobs."
"By providing a woman a job in a developing nation you can change the trajectory of an entire community, an entire country."
Molly recommends the documentary: The True Cost
Molly comes at ethical fashion from an empowerment narrative vs. a shaming narrative.
For example: "I don't say, 'I don't shop at Old Navy because they have slave labor in their supply chains.' I say, 'I love supporting Noonday Collection, because their products are beautiful and unique and well-made and I love knowing my purchase is supporting an artisian in a developing nation who is able to feed her family and send her kids to school.' It's not a pity purchase, because I'm buying the product because it is beautiful and I love it, but it also has this incredible story attached to it."
"There are so many amazing brands and companies that are doing good in the world that aren't necessarily a fair trade or ethical fashion brand, but it's showing people you can change the world with whatever gift or talent God has given you."
"What is that fire God has placed in your heart? He's placed it there for a reason."
Business with Purpose Ethical Brand Directory
37:07 Molly begins discussing 2018 and the loss of her two baby boys during the 2nd trimester of pregnancy.
In Memory of Elijah and Malachi
40:35 "I had a choice. I could've made the excuse that I couldn't, that this was not the year [regarding reading the Bible in one year], but God said, 'NOPE! I am here and I am going to walk with you and you're going to walk through it with me by reading My Word.' I had two choices to make. I could run from God. I could blame Him. I could be angry. I could say this is all His fault. Why would He do this to me? Why does He allow me to suffer like this? Why did He allow me to lose my mom and now to lose these babies? Why did He allow all of these terrible things? I could have done that. I could have run from Him. OR He said, 'How about this time you run towards me?' And I did that. I ran as fast as I could towards Jesus."
"I ended up reading my Bible in a year, which was one of the most transformative things I have ever done....I just got hungry for God's Word."
41:51 "I just became infatuated with His Word, because I had just begun, not even scratch the surface of the depth and detail and beauty of this love letter to us. This is our love letter from God Himself."
45:00 "We live in a culture, in a world that tells us we have to do everything ourselves. We have to pick ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We have to rely on our own strength....We're filled with excuses...I think it is a nice, pretty saying to put on a mug or a t-shirt, but we hear these things all the time that say, 'I am enough. I am enough. I am enough.' And sometimes y'all I am not enough. But guess who is? Jesus."
James 2:14-16 Faith without works is dead.
Tuesday Apr 02, 2019
Tuesday Apr 02, 2019
Leigh and I chat about her faith journey, her career journey, her roller coaster year in 2018, and managing Christian's top artist, Grammy Award winner, Lauren Daigle.
1:49 Leigh introduces us to her company madjettmanagement.
2:36 Leigh begins sharing her faith journey and how our lives intersected at the University of Kentucky
5:28 "You know when you know in your gut you have to do something and it is your choice if you are going to obey it or not?"
"I had just become a Christian, so I was reading the Word. The only thing I had to do was read my Bible, literally, at that phase of life where you drink it up."
7:45 Leigh shares about her transition from working for Kentucky basketball to working for the Orlando Magic.
11:18 Leigh begins to share about her transition out of athletics and into music.
"I'm a builder. I love to build it, but I hate to maintain it."
Enneagramtalk: I am a 1. Leigh is a 6.
20:09Record labels do the marketing for artist's albums.
20:39 Leigh begins sharing about the creation of maddjett
28:00Leigh shares about the transition to representing Lauren Daigleonly
29:23 "I want to do this with a Christian artist. I want to be able to sell out rooms like this with a really positive message. I remember God said to me clearly in that moment, 'I'm teaching you this for a reason. You're going to go back into Christian music and you are going to be able to do this'.... He basically said to me this experience will not be wasted."
33:31 "My first thought was, that's impossible. And God stopped me in my tracks and was like, 'Do not tell Me what's not possible."
33:59"I manage Laurenand what that means is ultimately I am (in the simpliest business form) basically the CEO of her business. At the end of the day, Laurenruns her business, she runs her ministry, she runs her company, and I take her vision and make sure it comes to life."
34:38 We begin discussing the difficult seasonLaurenand her team endured at the end of 2018
"Her [Lauren] vision has been, I want to play stadiums. I want healing and hope to come to people even if I don't mention the name of Jesus, that it would be so palpable through our love that He is present and people will come to know Him."
"She did not seek out to make a mainstream record. She literally sought out, how do I make a record that impacts as many people as possible. Let's not let anything in this record be a wall for anyone, any nationality, any race, any gender, any denominational belief, like I don't want to put any walls up between God and them. How do I pour out words into this record to do that? And I believe that she did."
Lauren wrote "You Say" three years ago after winning a Dove Award. She knew she needed to be rooted in her identity.
39:19 "We put out You Saywith no plans to take it to mainstream radio....It goes out on K-love and all of a sudden it is staying on the top of the iTunes charts week after week after week. Usually those things will stay at the top of the iTunes charts for the week it is released and then it will go to the bottom. Most songs don't have staying power. She was the 3rd top selling album the week we came out behind Eminem and Paul McCartney....Week after week, You Say, which clearly talks about God in the lyric is maintaining this top position. About 7 or 8 weeks later, we start getting phones calls from every single mainstream label, 'Who is this girl?', 'What is this voice?', 'What is this story?', it was insane."
About You Say, "This is the little church song that could."
40:49 "Nobody has asked us to change the lyric. Most the time if you have Christian content, but you put it on a secular station they ask you to change the lyric, rewrite a bridge, or cut it down. Even when we were on Dancing with The Stars, they cut the song to 2 1/2 minutes, I thought for sure when they cut the song they were going to cut the word, God...but they didn't cut the lyric."
41:21Leigh begins sharing about the backlash Laurenreceived after singing on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.
45:34 "Lauren, I feel like she handled the Ellen situation really well...She basically said (and I am totally paraphrasing), if I start drawing boundary lines around where God calls me to go then I am completely missing the heart of God."
49:24"If I'm not lock step on my identity how can I anything? How can I be away from my family? How can I be confident in my parenting? How can I be good at my job? It's really being rooted and knowing God is with my kids when I am gone. God is with my time when I am home to make sure it is quality time. I am able to protect Lauren in the role I am in in her life"
Exodus 14:14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.
That verse keeps coming up full circle for us.
Thursday Mar 28, 2019
Thursday Mar 28, 2019
Mary and I chat about loving Jesus and loving work, living on purpose and discovering your God given design.
3:45 Mary begins sharing how her walk with Jesus began after being turned off by the church after her parents divorce.
"I came to know Jesus and His love for me. That He wasn't up there keeping track of every thing I did wrong and it transformed my life. I fell in love with the Lord."
5:29 Mary begins sharing about her career at Disney World as a Marketing Brand Director.
"When my children were born I had to make a decision of whether I would be a better mother as a working mother or as a stay at home mother. And through lots of self-reflection and prayer I decided I would be a better working mother."
9:23 "My coaching is always, do your own self-reflection, realize how God has created you, and whatever you choose to do, do it joyfully. If I were to stay at home, because I think I need to stay at home and be bitter about that my kids would pick up on that and feel like they are the cause of my unhappiness. Or if I worked and I was unhappy working, then my children are going to believe that working is bad."
10:25 We begin discussing Mary's exit from Disney and the start of On-Purpose Partner's.
"I took a step away and started to do a lot of self-reflection on who I was and what I really wanted to do and what would make my heart sing. I put one foot in front of the other and over the next three years used every penny of savings that we had toward this dream. It really stretched my faith, because I knew the Lord had told me to leave and it just took a while for the business to start to grow."
"We want God to show us a spotlight of everything that's coming and instead He gives us a little flashlight to show us what the next step is."
14:05 "There are always new beginnings and new adventures for all of us in which we have to trust the Lord."
Mary's has a passion to help individuals discover what they are designed to do. She shares a few ways she goes about coaching individuals to find their God-given purpose.
Kevin McCarthy: The On-Purpose Personand The On-Purpose Business.
Women Doing Well: an organization that helps women live more generously. To be more generous, a survey showed, a woman must know:
- Her purpose
- Her passion
- A plan
J 4 Leaders: Judges 4 - Deborah. If Deborah, who was a leader in Israel, and successfully led Israel into battle in the Old Testament, then God can use women as leaders in the workplace today.
Professional Christian Women, a Raleigh non-profit: Purpose is to encourage Christian women in the marketplace.
"If God has given you the work gene, you can love Jesus and love to work. God will use you....Seek God and seek His Word and then be commissioned back into the marketplace as our mission-field, is really the purpose of Professional Christian Women."
19:47 Mary discusses her book Wholehearted Purpose: Women Discovering Their One-Of-A-Kind-Design.
Two-Word Purpose Statement
"Listen to God's whisper in our lives. Our lives are so loud and He is not going to scream, so when we take some time to think and reflect and ponder, amazing things finally bubble up."
Tuesday Mar 26, 2019
Tuesday Mar 26, 2019
My conversation with Hanha Hobson, the founder of Transparency Ministries got me excited about the leadership and passion of the next generation. We chat about her mother not only challenging her to read God's Word, but doing it with her. We talk about how the reading of God's Word satiated a need in her that she didn't know she had. We chat about proclaiming God's truth over your life until you believe it. She is young. She is bold. She loves Jesus and it shows.
SPONSOR
Designed For Joy is a transitional work experience for women coming from trafficking, time in prison, homelessness and other vulnerable situations. The women receive a living wage for their work creating a brand of jewelry and bags.
I own several Designed For Joypieces that always receive compliments from my friends and spark conversations on how we can wear cute jewelry and carry cute bags with greater joy, because we are providing a much needed job to women in the triangle.
Thursday Mar 21, 2019
Thursday Mar 21, 2019
Episode 11 is with Jackie Craig, the co-founder of The Green Chair Project.
The Green Chair Project is a non-profit organization that collects donated furnishings for people transitioning from homelessness, crisis or disasters. We partner with over 55 agencies, shelters and nonprofits to provide essential furnishings for referred clients to live sustainably in their new homes.
Jackie and I chat about about giving people the dignity of CHOICE, the NO-BED epidemic, what to expect at The Green Chair Project, follow God's leading, and how to get involved.
SPONSOR: Designed for Joy
Tuesday Mar 19, 2019
Tuesday Mar 19, 2019
Ep. 10 is with Faith Raider, the author of Confessions of A Roadkill Christian. Faith and I chat about her husband de-conversion from Christianity, facing the lie that "good" Christians don't fall apart, depression, shame in the church, and her writing Confessions of a Roadkill Christian.
Quote from Confessions of A Roadkill Christian, "There was a woman at the front sharing her story about how God had worked in her life, and she said, “Surrender to God, and watch Him work His miracle in your life too.” and in this moment I cried out to God in my heart: 'Where is my miracle? I have surrendered to You! I have surrendered everything to You. Everything You have asked me to lay down, I have laid it down. Every hope. Every dream. Every expectation. I have surrendered it all to you. So where is my miracle?!!” And in that moment God spoke quietly, like a gentle whisper to my soul, “What if My miracle is YOU? What if My miracle is that you are filled with joy and peace in the middle of circumstances that have not changed, not even one bit.'"
4:09 Faith begins sharing her story
[Re-guarding her husband’s de-conversion] “It was a total identity make over that I had not signed up for and it was devastating.”
6:19 “I think that’s one of the things I have learned on this journey. It is a typical path. Everybody has moments where they question their faith or they go through a period of doubt. I think inside of church we have made a really small box for what is acceptable to do with that doubt. And if you can’t stay inside that box you have to get out.”
8:42 We begin discussing the lie that “good” Christians don’t fall apart.
“I felt like there were levels of Christians [while growing up]. There were the really good Christians who were steady and faithful and then, there were the other people who couldn’t get their act together….If they could just get their act together and try as hard as we are, they would be fine.”
11:13 "I think I expected to be judged, both by the community I was in and by God...but instead I was met with so much tenderness and grace and compassion and love. I discovered in this place that God loved me so tenderly. Even though I was making bad choices, even though my faith was not strong, God's orientation toward me was facing me like a tender Father."
14:32 "As I wrote my story, I realized the details of our stories are different, but the pain of them is so often the same. Not everybody who reads my book is going to have experienced an inter-faith marriage, but they know what it is like when their husband is going through a depressed season or they have got their own broken places. The hope is the same. God is a redeemer. He is a restorer. He loves healing the broken places of our lives."
"I knew God loved my husband, but I didn't know if my husband could ever receive that love. I had to really get into a space of whatever happens God has got me and He is going to take care of me. I can't put all my hope in Daniel coming back to God in order for our family to be happy, in order for me to love him. "
16:51 We begin discussing our journey with depression.
Ante-natal depression: depression during the last trimester of pregnancy
Tell people around you, "I am struggling. I'm afraid it is going to get worse again."
Have a support system.
19:51 "Early on I think I believed depression was about me and God. I just needed to believe the right things about God, get my head straight, and I wouldn't struggle, but there is so many more factors."
22:21 "One thing that has helped is verbalizing what's going on inside my head....I think about the thoughts in my head as being in a closet. Once I open the doors and let the light in and let them out they lose a lot of their power."
Find those people who understand. Not just one, but a community of people you can be open with.
24:35 Faith begins sharing about her brother's suicide.
30:17 Faith talks about the writing of Confessions of A Roadkill Christian
Facebook Group: Self Publishing Support
34:28 Faith discusses shame in the church.
"Shame doesn't change people and it doesn't work to change myself. Love has been a more powerful instrument of change."
"When we let God love us in the places where we feel the most shame we find so much redemption and power to follow God."
37:09 Faith shares where she and her husband are on their faith journey now.
"In life we are constantly deconstructing and re-constructing."
"When we are in a season of questioning, some people lean toward certainty...and some people lean into doubt. We need to have more compassion, especially for people who are leaning into doubt."
Thursday Mar 14, 2019
Thursday Mar 14, 2019
Christina is the founder and director of Beloved Women. Beloved Women exists to encourage, uplift, and equip women in the love of Jesus Christ and the truth of God’s Word.
We chat about God's unexpected leading, the truth behind works based faith, the joy in studying God's Word, and her ministry Beloved Women.
Connect with Amber on IG: @graceenoughpodcast_amber
Tuesday Mar 12, 2019
Tuesday Mar 12, 2019
Shannan and I talk about how she minister's in her day to day life through giving neighbor's a ride. We talk about neighboring being a part of our spiritual DNA, stepping into the uncomfortable, being available for inconvieneces, and her newest book The Ministry of Ordinary Places.