Welcome to Grace Enough Podcast, where Amber Cullum and special guests fearlessly tackle challenging faith questions while unraveling the limitless grace of God. Through engaging podcast conversations, Amber dives deep into the hard truths of life and reveals the boundless grace of God through inspiring stories of men and women walking in the kingdom of God here on earth. Grace Enough's mission is to offer more than a Band-aid Bible verse or empty platitude to individuals on their spiritual journeys with Jesus. Discover a wealth of free resources at www.graceenoughpodcast.com. This podcast is specially designed to uplift and encourage Christians, reminding them that, regardless of their stories, God can use them to make an impact on His kingdom. Embracing surrender and trust, you'll discover that His grace is truly enough. Tune in now and embark on a remarkable journey of faith.
Episodes
Tuesday May 28, 2019
Tuesday May 28, 2019
Steph and I chat about using business to empower people to fight human trafficking through what they purchase. We also talk about how Stories Foundation came about how and the Freedom Food Truck is not only raising awareness, but is supporting organization who are fighting human trafficking.
2:09: Stephanie takes us back to 2012 and shares the story behind Stories Foundationand the Freedom Truck.
Book: Passport Through the Darknessby Kimberly L. Smith
Kimberly L. Smith is the founder of Make Way Partners
"I remember looking out the window and saying to God, 'This isn't okay that children are being forced to do these horrific things and they're being taken advantage of and exploited.' I remember Him, it's like He said to my spirit, 'You're right. It's not okay. What are we going to do about that?' It was one of those moments where all of my excuses of when I'm done having babies or when we have more money or when we have more stable jobs or when we can pay our bills better, they just didn't matter when you think about the reality out there in the world."
Mark Batterson's Coffee Shop: Ebeneezer's
Eugene Cho: Q Cafe (closed due to location change) and One Day's Wages
6:27 "I started with what I had."
6:45 Steph shares about the early days speaking at small events and small groups to raise awareness of human trafficking.
"As Christ followers, we have been set free from sin. I think Satan is the greatest trafficker. Christ has purchased our freedom. We are free. And he [Satan] manipulates us, coerces us, lies to us, plays on our emotions, tells us we need these other things and traffics us into sin....We have been set free from that, so as Christians, I think, it is our greatest responsibility to be about freedom, both spiritual and physical."
9:01 Stephanie shares about acquiring the food truck, which is known as the Freedom Truck.
13:28 Steph walks us through what to expect when you walk up to the Freedom Truck
14:41 "I started Storieson the very optimistic belief that people would want to make a difference in this issue and that they would RISE UP. The truck has proven that to be true. People, if they're given an opportunity, they will choose to make a difference."
16:45 Steph shares some of what she has learned about human trafficking since 2012.
"When you look at sex trafficking. We have sex trafficking. We have child sex trafficking, because we have pornography, because we have an over sexualized culture, because we have sexual addiction. When you start...to say pornography is a reason for child sex trafficking, child sexual abuse, child sexual exploitation that's going to strike some chords of shame...When shame is revealed people want to hide."
"Traffickers look for vulnerabilities to exploit."
Grace Enough Podcast SHOW NOTES continued
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You can learn more about Stories Foundation at www.storiesfoundation.org and find her writing at www.stephaniempage.com as well as on Facebook and Instagram.
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Follow Grace Enough Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and at graceenoughpodcast.com to keep up with all that is going on. There is a lot going on during the summer months and I don't want you to miss a thing!
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Tuesday May 21, 2019
Tuesday May 21, 2019
Jason and and I chat about how music had become an idol in his life. He shares about eventually surrendering it all to God and how that altered his journey to one of a restored marriage, writing Christian music, and eventually Seeds Family Worship. Our conversation is one filled with joy, laughter and encouragement for families.
Seeds Family Worship mission: To get God's Word to as many hearts and homes as possible.
6:10: Jason begins sharing his faith journey with us
"God revealed Himself to me through the mountains of Idaho, through His creation."
Selfish ambition was an idol in my life. I would say things like, "We're gonna make this happen."
"Ambition in and of itself is not a bad thing, but when it is based on you...And music is an amazing thing and it is such a gift in my life, but in that season music was an idol. It came before the Lord. That is when I took a wrong turn and I wondered away from the Lord, but God pursued me."
Psalm 40 (life verse)
9:24 Jason talks about switching from country music to Christian music. He began working with Matthew West.
Jason shares two examples of God's grace in his life:
- He finally let go of music and that is when God gave him songs to write that become #1 hits.
- The gift of his 3rd a child. A daughter, Abby.
11:30 Jason shares more details about how Seeds Family Worship came to be.
x"The Lord really showed me, quit chasing after things and seek me first. Like Matthew 6: 31-33 says, 'Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.' But if you go back to earlier in that verse it says, 'Do not worry saying what shall we eat, what shall we drink, what shall we wear for the pagans run after all these thing and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them.' The Lord showed me, 'That's you. You're chasing after all these things. Seek me first and I'm going to bring everything you need to you."
"God always gave me a heart for kids."
The children's ministry director asked him to write 5 Scriptures to song for VBS. They became the first 5 Seeds songs.
12:59 "At the end of the week, I could see, every child, every teacher knew every song word for word. And because where God had my heart, I saw something happening, because of how I am wired, 'I'm like we could go for this and chase after this,' but I thought, 'No, if this is the Lord I'm not going to do anything.' I kind of felt that thing where I just kind of charge, because how God made me, but I was like, 'Lord, if you want this..."
14:25 Jason shares how Seeds Ministry has impacted his family personally and shares a few other impact stories.
YWAM : Ben (Jason's brothers) was a YWAM'er early on.
"Worship girl" is Jason's niece and she will be on tour with Seeds this summer.
Cast Your Cares (Psalm 55:22)
Do Not Be Anxious About Anything (Phil 4: 6-7)
Seeds Family Worship make excellent gifts. Each album comes with two identical CD's or download cards. One to keep and one to giveaway.
More Show Notes HERE.
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Tuesday May 14, 2019
Tuesday May 14, 2019
Cheryl and I chat about understanding and living the life God intends for us. We talk about her ministry Promised Land Living, the 7-step shift, contending vs. cooperating with God, and 100% responsibility.
5:33: Cheryl begins sharing her faith journey with us and how that intersects with Promised Land Living
Loving God by Chuck Colson
10:32 "I went on a quest to not only understand this way of life that God intended for me in the promised land, but to actually live it and that's what gave birth to Promised Land Living."
10:50 Cheryl describes a the 7-step shift, which is foundational to Promised Land Living.
"The 7-step shift is a tool we introduce at the very beginning of the journey. It is a method of repentance. You know, the modern day church, we don't do a lot of active contrition type work....Repentance is a glorious thing. It actually reflects what God wants for us more than anything is to repent and turn back to Him. And so this is what we are doing through 7-step shift. We are practicing, we are training in righteousness, by making a 180 degree turn away from a behavior, away from a thought, anything that is out of alignment with God, with what God says to be true and life-giving. And by the time you get to the 7th step, as you practice it, you are back on track with God. You're back in alignment with God."
7-step shift mechanics are born out of:
- Romans 12:1-2: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
- John 8:31-32:To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
"We see God is saying to transform our mind. How? Through taking the thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ and immediately. And if we continue in His Word, which begins the transformation in our mind, we are truly free. The 7-step shift is simply a tool that combines both."
Click for more SHOW NOTES.
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Tuesday May 07, 2019
Tuesday May 07, 2019
Quina and I chat about meeting Jesus as a teenager, her high school English teacher encouraging her to perform her first poem, and how her children's book, Love Made came to be.
2:50 Quina shares her faith journey with us, when she came to know Jesus.
"Pride was my god and once I got into a big public school to play basketball for them I just began to see my self-righteousness get confronted by my slavery to sin, meaning, when I went into freshman year I would say, I would never do this or that, only these types of girls do this. And sure enough, my freshman and sophomore year I started to see my sin snowball in all kinds of ways, particularly in lust. That was really something that God used to help me see that as Jesus say, 'If you sin, you are a slave to sin.' And thankfully, He brought a friend into my life...As I got to know her I saw something different about her and as I got to know her family saw something very different about them, mainly love."
6:10 "Soon after that God began to really just draw me to Himself. I realized that I was empty and there was nothing that was going satisfy me. I was popular. We were well off. I had everything that, I guess, a high schooler might dream of....and none of it was satisfying me. God used that sense of emptiness to really lead me to open one of the Bible's I had in my room..."
Her friend shared the gospel with her when she was 16.
7:16 Quinabegins sharing how she uses her gifting as a creative (spoken word poet, author, etc.) to glorify God.
9:42 Quinaspeaks about her spoken word videos/short films. TO VIEW:
11:37 Quina shares a spoken word piece, Genesis 1 & 2 summary
12:52 Quina shares how she goes about creating. A common theme being prayer.
"Typically, things start in my journal as I am spending time with the Lord."
13:55 We begin to discuss Quina's first children's book, LOVE MADE
14:03 My oldest son, Bennett, reads, LOVE MADE
16:50 Quina shares how LOVE MADE came to be
For MORE show notes: LINK GRACE ENOUGH PODCAST
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Tuesday Apr 30, 2019
Tuesday Apr 30, 2019
Maggie and I chat about how she began developing relationships with people who sleep outside and how those relationships led to A Place at the Table Cafe which seeks to build community and serve healthy food to all regardless of means. Not only are they seeking to live out their mission at the Table, they are DOING IT! This conversation is fantastic, because it is all about a dream becoming a reality and that dream was based on the least of these.
4:02 Maggie begins sharing the backstory of A Place At the Table
Presbyterian Campus Ministries
She began volunteering at Love Wins: a day shelter.
“When I started volunteering with this day shelter it changed my world. It changed my life. I fell in love with the people. I feel in love with building relationships with folks who live outside and they became some of my best friends.”
6:39 “God definitely called me to stay here. I saw there was this great need here and I could not imagine leaving this day shelter. I could not imagine leaving all these relationships that I had met and grown and been a part of for the past two years. So we built my position. I became the operations director [at Love Wins] and I ran the day shelter. We saw about 70 people a day coming in, getting out of the cold. That was a fantastic job. I learned so much there. Everything, I am now able to use in my own ministry”
7:16 Maggie shares about how she felt while volunteering in soup kitchens as a young girl.
“Fast forward when I am working with folks experiencing homelessness or poverty I started to go to the soup kitchen with them. I was very intentional about being with people and building community and wanting to know them more, so we would maybe go to a soup kitchen or eat together. What I found was we would get handed a plate, before that we would have to wait in line outside…we didn’t get to choose what we want, then we’d have to eat in about 5 minutes, so someone else could come in and eat. There is nothing wrong with soup kitchens, because they serve a purpose, they serve a need, they feed 300 people in an hour, they do what they can do and it is amazing, but in my life that is not my experience. I eat wherever I want, whenever I want, whatever I want, so I started taking people out for meals. I found they wanted to go to place like Golden Corral or K & W Cafeteria and I asked, ‘Why?’ They said because, ‘Maggie, we get to choose what we want…and we get to be treated like a human. People look at us like we are valued, that we have worth, that we’re not just some invisible person they’re passing on the street. We get served and we have that dignity while dining.’ It was then I started thinking, we have got to do something different here in Raleigh.”
There are over 60 pay what you can systems around the country.
F.A. R. M. café in Boone, NC: Feed All Regardless of Means.
Table incorporated as a business in January 2015. Then, applied for non-profit status
12:15 “I started working in restaurants at night, because I also knew I needed to learn how to run a restaurant. I needed to learn how to manage people. I needed to learn different skills. I grew up working in restaurants since I was 15, 14, so I had worked in them, but I had never managed one. I had a great friend who gave me an opportunity to manage her restaurant.”
SO-CA and bu-ku were opening and they invited Maggie to be a part of it in 2017.
“I have an incredible family who has supported me from the beginning.”
FYI, if you are a Raleighite, Maggie sets the record straight. She is not related to John and Willow Kane of Kane reality.
15:47 “This whole movement of A Place At The Table, of 3 ½ years of building it is God. That is the reason we are doing it. We are not a faith-based organization, but most of us come from faith backgrounds, because we have seen God working this whole entire time. Again, none of us had any idea what we were doing, but God provided people at every step of the way….”
16:34 Maggie shares about her and board member/friend, Allison sharing a word with one another when they would experience “God winks.”
17:10 Maggie shares how A Place At The Table acquired their brick and mortar at 300 W. Hargett St.
There was a 3 year journey prior to acquiring a space for her dream to become a reality.
“We were this concept and not a product, so it was hard to prove to landlords and other people that we were going to be a place like we are now. So for years, it took us telling the story, getting people excited, proving that we weren’t going anywhere.”
Eventually, they started hosting pop-up brunch every 2ndSaturday of the month at a different restaurant.
20:42 “By the end of them, we had 400 people at these pop-up brunches, in a 3 hour period….I have this great picture of Kristin Cooper (our governor’s wife) sitting across from a girl I go to the gym with, a guy I know who sleeps outside every night, and all these different people sharing conversation and just chatting….That really let us to live our mission, see that we wanted to do it, see that the community was ready for it, and then when we got our location, we were ready to go.”
21:16 Maggie begins to share about the spring of 2017 and being ready to give up before things began to take off.
“We spent 3 years friend-raising instead of fundraising, so 3 years building friends to now allow us to do what we do.”
22:48 Maggie shares about the regular volunteers that started at The Table who have become the core volunteer base that help The Table run on a daily basis.
23:52 Maggie shares what A Place At The Table is like today
- Pay Suggested Price
- Pay More (all tips are donations that go back into paying it forward)
- Pay Less
- Pay Nothing and Volunteer at The Table for your meal
- Pay It Forward: $10 Meal Tokens are full meals that can be given to people in need in our community
“We ask you volunteer, not because we think people need to work for their meal. We ask you to volunteer, because it is your way of being a part of the community. At the end of the day, our main mission is to provide community and healthy food for all regardless of means. “
26:10 “We knew the food had to be good, because people will come out once for a good cause, but they’ll come out again if the food is awesome, the experience is awesome. “
27:20 Maggie expounds on the jobs all volunteers participate in and how The Table does not differentiate between volunteers.
- 30-50 people/day who volunteer for their meal
- 5 people/day who are paying less for their meal (approximately)
“It truly does work. The model works. And what we are finding is people want to be a part of it. They love volunteering. They love feeling like they have a place. That they have people that love them, that care for them. And so, yes, the model works. It has worked far better than we ever thought it would.”
- wash tables
- roll silverware
- clear tables
- pickle veggies
- chop fruit
- fill butter cups
- greet people
- refill water
- deliver food to tables
- stamp bags
“The goal is that everyone is working on making this café happen together and not showing this separation of people with money and people without money.”
30:43 Maggie shares about the growth of A Place At The Table and the recent feature on The Today Show(view segment by clicking link)
“I think people feel good when they come eat at A Place At The Table that they are doing good. It is an easy place to pay it forward.”
33:08 “So for you to be able to come in with a token or even volunteer for your meal and be able to order whatever you want, because some days are just waffle days and some days I want a healthy salad. To be able to choose and to be able to sit and have a meal in dignity and get a re-fill on your tea or a re-fill on your coffee and just be. I think that is important.”
33:50 Maggie shares Dino’s story and the story of her staff working at A Place At The Table
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."
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