It’s so easy to identify as “I am what I do” or “I am how I feel.” The next generations especially seem to feel this pull. How can we help Gen Z and Alpha understand who they are in Christ? How can we start with our own identity so we speak from a place of firm-footing instead of hypocrisy? Author and therapist Jonathan Holmes is here to help lead us. | Highlights | “A gospel identity is one that is received and not achieved.” —Jonathan Holmes “All of us parents can struggle with wanting to make our kids into our image, rather than helping them fulfill and live into their image-bearing capacity.” “God’s first words about sexuality are ones of invitation not prohibition.” —Jonathan Holmes | QOTW| If you had the time and the desire, what sport would you want to get really good at? | Next Steps | His IG here. His book here. Join the HIMH Pod FB group here. Sign up to get on the email list here. 

Many parents feel a mixture of emotions about screens: On one hand, we see they can be useful tools. On the other, we feel a lot of shame because we are probably addicted to them ourselves and we let our kids use them too often.   We feel shame, anger, and . . . gratitude?   How should we feel?    How can parents approach screen time with their kids—and move us all from fighting to flourishing?   Christian dad, tech-guru, and founder of Protect Young Eyes, Chris McKenna, is here to help us.   | Highlights | “Some of the loudest voices advocating for our children are coming not from the Church.” —Chris McKenna “There is no other issue on earth today that is at risk for darkening the hearts of our children than their digital spaces. It must be the thing we talk about second most to Jesus Christ.” —Chris McKenna “This is Brain against the Game—not Kid versus Parent. If our child acts wild after stopping a game or show, our instinct is to think, ‘This is my kid is fighting back against me and being disobedient.’ That stirs up anger and confrontation between us. But if parents can remember, ‘That game is harming them. I am going to be upset at the *game* because of what it is doing to my precious child.’ That pivots our anger into empathy.” —Chris McKenna | Next Steps | Follow Protect Young Eyes on IG here. Read Protect Young Eyes Resources here. Join the HIMH Pod FB group here. Follow Laurie on IG (where she is the most active) here. Sign up to get on the email list here.

Parents and caregivers of the next generation need help to lead their kids in an affirming-LGBTQ world.   Our guest and author, Rachel Gilson, said it well on today’s episode: “Even my friends who had great discipling moms and dads didn’t grow up in this cultural moment. Their moms and dads didn’t have to help them navigate these cultural questions.”   She continued: “So even they feel out on a limb: ‘No one prepped me for this.’ There is a panic of feeling without a guide and lost. That’s no one’s fault but it’s where a lot of us find ourselves now.”   Parents were not prepared for this. How do we live and teach the next generation wisely?   We also talk discuss:   How do we engage this topic not with a culture-warrior mentality but a Jesus mentality? When do we talk about sex and sexuality? How can we teach our kids a gospel identity?   | Highlights |   “We are made for love, but for love that is richer and deeper and thicker than our culture is currently telling us it is.” “If I talk about sex and sexuality in a way that is calm and confident, I am going to signal to my daughter that she is never going to be shamed for asking questions, and that she is not going to cause me to curl up into embarrassment and fear. “I worked as a campus minister with college students for a long time. I kept asking the kids who grew up in Christian households and came to university and who were strong in the faith, ‘Why did you not get inoculated to the gospel? How did this become real to you?’ The number one answer I heard over and over and over again was, ‘It was real for my parents. As in, when they did something wrong, they asked for forgiveness.’”** | QOTW |    What generation do you actually belong to and which one should you belong to?   | Next Steps | Snag Rachel’s book here See her site here: https://www.rachelgilson.com We talked with Rachel about temptation on the show here We talked with Rachel about friendship here We mentioned thinking through school systems with a certain lens. This is the episode Laurie was referring to.  

Discipleship is something Christians are talking about more.   It’s so important. But…what is it?   Today, author and pastor Eun (EK) Strawser helps understand what discipleship is as well as:   --How can we become a community that centers discipleship?   --How can we know if we are doing it “right”?   --How does parenting relate to discipleship?   | Highlights |   “Discipleship means to imitate Jesus within the context of a community for the renewal of the local place around you.” “If discipleship is centered within a community, then that also means within a family.” “The discipleship of deficiency develops because people self-disqualify themselves all of the time. Jesus set out and said, ‘Every one of you who are making an intentional decision to imitate me within the context of community, you are a disciple maker. Go and make more.’ If that’s the call, then that should not be a leadership call. Making disciples should not be a criteria for leaders. It should be a baseline criteria for every congregant.”   | QOTW |   What do you need to prepare for winter?   | Next Steps |   Eun’s book here Her IG here. Join the HIMH Pod FB group here. Follow Laurie on IG (where she is the most active) here. 

This episode left us speechless.   Today, we are joined again by psychologist and author Dan Allender to talk about the most important part of parenting: Your marriage.    (If you are a single mom or dad, we bless you and intersperse much of the conversation with relating the conversation to close friendships.)   For those of us who are married, why is that the most important part of marriage? Dan tells us well:    “Our children are given the gift of watching the reality of love and life brokenness and beauty being played out in the theater of our marriage,” he says. “They are in the audience watching closely—far more closely than we presume. If our marriage doesn’t have the ability to actually name brokenness but also glory in one another, our children are going to be hungry souls looking for what they were made for.”   Okay, Dan. Help us out, friend. How can we lean in without setting the bar too high or low?   This episode is one we will be going back to again and again.   | Highlights |   “The process of growing in maturity is a family affair.” —Dan Allender “You can communicate well in marriage when you learn to suffer on behalf of the other.” —Dan Allender “My story needs to be known by my spouse well enough and deep enough to be able to engage it. Eventually, our kids need to know our stories. Each and every detail? No. Age appropriate.” —Dan Allender   | QOTW | What is your go-to birthday dinner?   | Next Steps | Talking with us about “Sexuality and Shame” here. We also talked with Dan and Cathy Loerzal about “Which of the Six Types are You?”  here. Check out Dan’s sites here and here. Snag his latest marriage book here. Join the HIMH Pod FB group here. Follow Laurie on IG (where she is the most active) here.

To launch our spring season focused on parenting and discipling the next generation, we are starting with YOUR QUESTIONS. We toss around:  “What parts of ‘the sex talk’ were helpful for us when we were growing up?” “How can we protect our kids’ bodies without being a helicopter parent?” “How can we approach school systems that don’t agree with our beliefs?” “Should we talk to our kids about p*rn even if they don’t have unlimited access to the internet?” Pull up an earbud and join us! | Highlights | “My parents taught me, ‘You are not defined by your behavior by your sin. It does not identify you or define you.’ That was very helpful in critical moments.”—Steve O’Dell “One of the biggest indicators for how well people will recover from trauma is if they know they have a place they can come in the event that something does happen.”—Matt Krieg “If our kids are going to hear an unbiblical worldview of marriage and sexuality in their schools, they need to hear the gospel vision of marriage and sexuality in our homes ten times more.” —Laurie Krieg | QOTW | Do you have a word, a focus, or theme for the year? | Next Steps | Jay Stringer’s book we cited Julia Sadusky’s book My friend, Phylicia Masonheimer who talks a lot about parenting from the home here. Join the HIMH Pod FB group here. Follow Laurie on IG (where she is the most active) here.  

Happy new year! Let’s talk about friendships?    Author and pastor Bryan Loritts joins us today to discuss:   Are friendships seasonal? (Should they be?) How can we make and keep lifelong friends? How should we think about boundaries with friends?   | Highlights | “The reason so many of our relationships are superficial is we are too scared of taking the time and the risk to walk in truth with each other.”  “There is a place to draw boundaries. I am just cautious against that being our reflex reaction the first time someone does something to us.” “Many people confuse transparency with authenticity. We have to be authentic with everyone but transparent with few.” “We are so busy so we don’t make time and margin for the longing of our souls for friends.” | QOTW |   What is your go-to quotable movie?   | Next Steps | His site His book His IG Connect to O’Neill Asset Management here. Join the HIMH Pod FB group here. Follow Laurie on IG (where she is the most active) here.

If you care about the gender conversation at all, we believe this conversation is critical. Dr. Abigail Favale wrote Laurie’s favorite book on gender this year called “The Genesis of Gender,” and the conversation about it is—*chef’s kiss*—rich and practical. Together, they talk about: —Is sexual difference an afterthought of the Bible? How can we define woman and man? Is the fact that intersex people exist the proverbial “trump card” for more than two sexes? How can people walk alongside those they love who wrestle with gender? (And what if we wrestle ourselves?) | Highlights | “The gender-affirming medical model presents itself as a quick fix. It is concrete. ‘I now have a very concrete, step-by-step process that I can follow that will speak to this misery I am undergoing.’ That is a very compelling narrative, so I have nothing but compassion for people who go down this road to try to manage their suffering. I have less compassion for people in authority who should know better.” —Abigail Favale “Yes, boys can play with these toys, but they are still boys because of the kind of bodies they are…You  have a body where you could grow up and be a daddy one day.” And: “You have a body that could grow up and be a mommy one day.” —Abigail Favale “There was never a time where the medical establishment said, ‘The cure for anorexia is liposuction or to affirm young women’s views of themselves…’ Now we have adults in authority telling distressed young women [who wrestle with gender], ‘You are right about how you feel about your body, and let me help you to radically change it.’” —Abigail Favale | QOTW |  What is the best pickle? (Oh, my word…Matt writes a haiku against pickles hahaha)   | Next Steps | Abigail’s new memoir here. Her gender book here. Her Twitter: Twitter/X @FavaleAbs Connect to O’Neill Asset Management here. Join the HIMH Pod FB group here. Follow Laurie on IG (where she is the most active) here.

We LOVED this conversation.   In the midst of divisive ... everything… in the world today, it reminded us about what really matters: JESUS. THE GOSPEL. And that sharing Jesus (evangelism) is an absolute joy when you love Him.   Theologian, author, and our friend, David Bennett, is the one who reminds us of our first love (Jesus), and also helps us think through:   —Why should we tell people about Jesus? How can we make it less awkward? Should it feel natural to us? What if people respond poorly?  | Highlights |   “If I was married, I would tell people how amazing my spouse is all the time because I like to share good things with people. If you’re in love with Someone, you talk about them. That’s my favorite form of evangelism.” —David Bennett “Why do I love evangelism? Because I get to see God—Jesus—born in someone. There is nothing better than that in the world.” —David Bennett “When you realize, ‘I ain’t got nothing’—that’s when you’re the best evangelist. Because I don’t have anything. Even with all my degrees, who cares? What matters is that Jesus died and rose again and he’s awesome and there’s nothing better in life and people need that and are perishing and it’s urgent.” —David Bennett   | QOTW |   What was your youth group name if you had one—or what would you name it now?   | Next Steps |   David joined us twice before. Listen here and here.  David’s site here. David’s IG here.  Connect to O’Neill Asset Management here. Join the HIMH Pod FB group here. Follow Laurie on IG (where she is the most active) here.

We’re trying something new called Laurie’s Book Club, where “she reads the book so you don’t have to.   Granted, we would love it if you read the book and “discussed” it alongside us on the pod, but if you’re anything like most of the world, you’d love to hear a summary of the book, any major nuggets, a little discussion, and call it a day.   That’s what we are starting today!   The book of focus is Jonathan Haidt’s instant NYTimes best seller, The Anxious Generation. It’s globally shaking up families, school systems, and even legislation around phones and screen times for the Gen Z—and we believe it’s shaking it in a good way.   How?   It names some of the problems for the massive anxiety and depression outbreak among Gen Z and it offers some solutions.   What are they? You’re going to have to listen in—but you don’t have to read the book.   | Highlights |   “I see the mindsets in p*rnography as in social media: They can be a means to control negative emotions, they can foster passivity to your real life, you can consume the image of another person, and you are always seeking novelty. The more we live out of these mindsets in social media, the easier it is to jump over to the more overtly negative ones like p*rn.” —Matt Krieg “If I was to summarize Haidt's thesis statement it would be: Parents, over-protect online, and under-protect in real life when it comes to real life, outdoor play with trusted friends.” —Laurie Krieg “I think that the ironic thing about this is that what we have been told the intent of mobile technology is that it is a point of connection, but the evidence is showing that it is creating this weird isolation. It is an ironic result.” —Steve O’Dell   | Next Steps |   Find Haidt’s book here. Connect to O’Neill Asset Management here. Join the HIMH Pod FB group here. Follow Laurie on IG (where she is the most active) here.