This time of year can feel unfair: “Just kick back and enjoy the season! But also get the perfect present for everyone. But don’t do too much! #selfcare But do enough so that you tell people you love and appreciate them. But don’t! But also do.” Thank the Lord we brought in our friend and wellness expert, Bonnie Gray, to help us learn how to approach this and every season not with another way to perfectly-imperfectly self-care your way into health and wholeness, but to sink deeply into the love of Jesus. We also discuss: Are people either helpers or those who are helped? What does the left brain/right brain have to do with this conversation? How can soul care be more than taking a bath or vegging out on our favorite TV show? What simple practices can we begin today to calm anxiety? // Highlights: “Being lonely, stressed, sad, or anxious doesn’t mean we are not strong. It just means we need to be loved.” —Bonnie Gray “We try to feel better by thinking our way out of stress, but we need to nurture our way to relieve stress.” —Bonnie Gray “Research shows that taking a ten minute walk outside lowers cortisol and releases the happy hormone serotonin more than 45 minutes working out at the gym.”—Bonnie Gray // Question of the Week:   What is your go-to TV genre?   // Do the Next Thing: That soul care quiz? Here Her book? Here Our HIMH Pod FB Group? Here Contact us? https://www.youtube.com/@wcsgradio

Ya’ll. This episode.  It could put language to some things some of us have been holding onto for too long. How? Author and scholar Zach Wagner, author of ‘Non-Toxic Masculinity,’ unpacks: What is toxic masculinity? How does it relate to Purity Culture? How did Purity Culture affect both men and women? How can men and women approach each other with a gospel lens instead of a sexual-threat lens? How do we process the science (or is it even science?) that men are more visual than women? How can men (and women) heal from what was taught? If you wonder if you have been affected by Purity Culture in any way, this episode may be for you.   // Highlights:  “It is not male to be sexual. It is human to be sexual.” —Zachary Wagner “Purity culture was overly formulaic in its thinking about human sexuality and relationships. It’s just ‘Do this, do this, and do this, and you’ll get a good result.’ But that’s just not how life works in a broken world.” —Zachary Wagner “What is toxic masculinity? The way I define it is that it is a way of living out your male embodiment that dehumanizes yourself and/or others.” —Zachary Wagner “As well intentioned as these resources were [such as ‘Every Man’s Battle’], I fear that they sometimes created a self-fulfilling prophecy where a toxic version of masculinity from the broader culture (the stereotype that ‘men only think about one thing’) was … baptized and Christianized. It turned into, ‘That is how God made men.’ Not something that men should mature out of.” —Zachary Wagner “I don’t think we should be telling young men, ‘Hey, you’re visual. That’s just how it goes!’ You should say, ‘Hey, if you find yourself visually sinning against other people, you need to stop treating them like objects and start treating them like humans.’” —Zachary Wagner // Question of the Week: Is there a time of day you seem to always look at the clock? What time is that? Why do you think you look at the clock at that time every day?   // Do the Next Thing: Find Zachary’s book here You can find all of his work here He is also onTwitter/X and Instagram at @ZacharyCWagner You can watch the episode here Listen to an episode that has views from a women's perspective with Rachel Joy Welcher here 

How would you pastor a congregation filled with a range of people from academics to farmers, and then walk them through the human sexuality conversation? Pastor Aaron Henning, lead pastor at State College Alliance Church in Pennsylvania, tells us how engaged the topic with a congregation that was and is exactly that makeup. How did he do it? What did he learn? How did fear interplay with his preaching? How did it go? Join us on our third and last in our courageous pastors series to hear how you can encourage yourself or a pastor-friend in engaging this important conversation.   // Highlights: “You can easily create a position and then wall off that position. You can say, ‘This is who we are and the rest of the world can go to heck.’ You can do that, but that’s not being on mission.” —Aaron Henning “We have smart people in our congregation. I really wanted to be prepared to speak intelligently, and to be able to present views that are defensible and embraceable and make sense: ‘Why do you draw this line here instead of here?’” —Aaron Henning “There were a lot of people saying, ‘This is everywhere, it is all around me. I do not feel equipped. I do not know how to have a spiritual conversation, and I definitely don’t know how how to have a missional conversation with somebody who wouldn’t think like me or who isn’t a follower of Jesus.’” —Aaron Henning // Question of the Week: What is the best pen to write with? (You guys . . . lol: “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this question.”)   // Do the Next Thing: That Barna study? Find it here Join the HIMH Podcast FB Group here Watch the episode here

Today we continue our Courageous Pastors series by interviewing Tom Kang, a lead pastor in Los Angeles, CA, on how he led his congregation through the human sexuality conversation.  Additionally, we explore: What is unique about Tom’s West Coast church and their cultural vibe? How can pastors cascade the human sexuality conversation to all of their leaders in a realistic way? Why did he choose a dialogue over a monologue? How did it go? (How many people walked out, and how many were grateful?) What would he say to a pastor considering preaching about this topic? This series has been encouraging us deeply. We pray it is doing the same for you and your community! // Highlights: “Everyone was having this [human sexuality] conversation anyway—in the lunchroom, in the locker rooms, in the car rides on the way to school. This conversation was happening everywhere—except church. I asked myself, ‘What’s happening? What’s going on there?’” —Tom Kang “Andy Stanley talks about how the church should be the safest place for any conversation. I remember when I first heard that a few years ago, and I thought, ‘That is so true, but that is so not going on.’” —Tom Kang “Everyone is going to walk away somehow offended. You are not going to be liberal enough, and you are not going to be conservative enough. You are not going to be biblical enough, you are not going to be contextual enough. You need to come to terms with that.” —Tom Kang “You’re going to have to roll up your sleeves if you’re going to do a sermon like this.” —Tom Kang // Question of the Week: What chore in your home is visible to you but invisible to your spouse/housemates? (So you end up doing it and they don’t?) Sorry for all of the fights this sparked @ everyone heh heh... ;) //Do the Next Thing: Listen to Tom’s dialogue-focused sermon series here Get a Salt Rifle (for bugs) lol here That $7 drain cleaner the guys were freaking out about? Find it here lol Watch the episode here!

We are so excited about this: Today, we are launching a mini-series interviewing three pastors from the South, the West Coast, and the East Coast on how they went from conceptualization of a sermon series on human sexuality to actualization. Why? In 2019, Barna shared the results of a study that said three of the top four things pastors feel both pressured and limited to speak on are related to human sexuality. If pastors feel so limited and yet pressured to speak on this, how in the world do they do it? Instead of hypothesizing, we put the microphone in front of three pastors who did it. First up: A pastor from the U.S. South, Dr. Josh Laxton. We ask him: What is unique about his culture (he is from the South but currently preaches in central Florida)? What was the conversation like within his church to prompt the sermon series? How did he prepare his leadership team? What elements were critical to have within the sermon? Why? How did it go?   //Highlights: “One of the reasons why people inside the church or outside the church have a difficult time digesting what pastors say is how they approach saying it: They don’t approach [challenging topics] with tears.” —Josh Laxton “Through the 2000-year history of the church marriage, family, gender and sexuality has always been primary [doctrine] but because of the cultural context was what it was you didn’t even think about it. But now that we are living in this post-Christian, post-Christendom type of culture now we have to clarify: This is what we’ve always believed.” —Josh Laxton “I know that the call to pastoral ministry is not only the call to know the power of Jesus’ resurrection, but to participate in his suffering... Part of that suffering is leading through very tough and messy issues and situations.” —Josh Laxton   //Question of the Week: What is your nickname and how did you get it?   //Do the Next Thing: Hear the sermon Josh preached here That Barna study? Find it here Hear Laurie and Josh’s conversation about his sermon on *his* podcast here Find more about Josh here: www.Joshlaxton.com or on his IG: Joshlaxton1 Join the episode conversation on FB here Watch the episode on YouTube here  

We get questions related to this topic often. Parents and disciple-makers of young kids are understandably anxious and wondering;  How can we guide kids in a way that makes them both courageously truthful and loving? Pastor and author, Sam Allberry, comes back on the show to help us answer discipleship questions based on his new children’s book on marriage, ‘God’s Signpost.’ In addition to questions about teaching kids about marriage, Sam unpacks: What are Christians doing poorly when it comes to engaging gender/sexuality/marriage? What are we doing well? What did Sam need from his Christian community while growing up in order to thrive today? How should we talk to a teen (or tween) who wants us to use their preferred pronouns?  How should we biblically consider pronoun-usage in our workplaces and places of worship? //Highlights: “If we start with the prohibitions [about marriage]; it’s very hard to make it seem like we are talking about something good.” —Sam Allberry “The redefinition of marriage wasn’t when we turned it into a same-sex thing. The redefinition of marriage happened when we turned it from a covenant into a contract.” —Sam Allberry “We must ensure that the relational quality of our church life is such that a young person growing up in church does not feel like their happiness rests on their marital status.” —Sam Allberry //Question of the Week: What non-word-word do you use often, and what is your definition of it?    //Do the Next Thing: Here is Sam’s new children’s book! We mention a Christianity Today article on pronoun usage here Annnnd, we were right. We have interviewed Sam two other times. :) Here are the other two episodes: Seven ways to navigate a sexually shifting culture here What God has to say about our bodies here Watch the full episode through WCSG here Join the conversation about the episode here!  

Moving forward can feel terrifying: Like we are jumping out of an airplane and we don’t know if we have a parachute. Why does it feel that way?  Today, author, multi-ministry founder, and teacher, Christine Caine, joins us to answer this question as well as:  What happened to us in Covid that made us extra afraid of moving forward? Why is moving forward not automatically betraying or ignoring our pasts? How do we know when it’s time to move on?  What if we feel we have to do penance for past sin? How can we move on from that? How does cancel culture play a role in this? //Highlights: “Fixating on your past with a desire to go back is very different than facing your past in order to move forward.” --Christine Caine “The blood of Jesus does not give us amnesia, but it does give us a life beyond our past.” --Christine Caine “Trust what you know about God more than what you don’t know about the future.” --Christine Caine //Question of the Week: What are you dumb at? ;) (This was one of our best questions so far IMHO lololol) //Do the Next Thing: Get Christine’s book here Listen to our previous episode together, “How Not to Give Up,” here Learn more about Propel + Wheaton Master’s here Join our HIMH Pod FB Group here

Today on the podcast, ministry leader Brenna Blain joins us to help us discern how, when, and where to share our own stories with others. Together, we unpack: How do you know when you are ready to share? What was Brenna’s most challenging audience to share with? What are the benefits and challenges to opening up? //Highlights: “The question I have not always gone to but I need to go to is, ‘Why? Why do I feel I need to share this or want to share this? Is it because I want attention?’… Or is it that I truly feel like God is asking me to share this, and then I need to work out what parts of this story am I supposed to share and in what context?” —Brenna Blain “It’s a little bit cliché, but [one of the biggest benefits for me in sharing my story] is getting to be the voice I wish I had heard growing up. I wish so badly I had heard from someone who was same-sex attracted who clung to a biblical sexual ethic. I wish it so badly.” —Brenna Blain “Sometimes, I just need to sit and say, ‘Do I believe that God knows what he is doing? Do I believe that he is faithful even if his faithfulness means keeping a door closed to me?’” —Brenna Blain //Question of the Week: Are you a pumpkin-spice-everything, can’t-wait-to-put-on-a-sweater person about fall? Or nah? (You guys have a lot of feelings about pumpkin spice and sweaters lolol) //Do the Next Thing: Listen to when Laurie was on Brenna’s podcast here Follow Brenna on IG here Steve mentions this episode where we talk about our hunger for authentic community here Watch the video of this episode here

It’s the season seven launch!! We are so glad to be back with you all, and are equally glad to engage last season’s identity theme one more time to ensure we take it from the ethereal to the practical. The person here to help us do this is the author of ‘Finding Your Best Identity’ and ministry leader, Andrew Bunt. Andrew joins the team today to talk about: How can we know which parts of us are the true us, and which are not? Is sexual identity and gender identity core to who we are? How can we engage the world’s mantra of “Listen to your heart” to know who you are? How can we engage the world’s other mantra of “Let others define who you are”? //Highlights: “Questions of sexuality and gender . . . have become so tied to identity in the cultural context around us that when people hear--that out of faithfulness to Jesus--I am choosing not to have a relationship with another man, people say, ‘Well, isn’t God asking you to deny who you really are?’ It’s seen as so core to identity . . . it’s considered bad news for somebody like me.” —Andrew Bunt “We are who God says we are. This actually frees us from defining ourselves by what we feel inside or defining ourselves based on the opinions of others.” —Andrew Bunt “I define identity as ‘our controlling self understanding.’” —Andrew Bunt “My sexuality describes me. I am attracted to other guys. I am same-sex attracted, gay, whatever language you want to use. I am not denying that. I am not ashamed of that. . . . But that describes part of my experience. It doesn’t define me. What defines me is that I have been adopted by God as his child.” —Andrew Bunt //Question of the Week: What was (or is) your favorite school supply? (You guys sure love some Lisa Frank! Lol) //Do the Next Thing: Find Andrew’s book here Join the HIMH Podcast FB Group here You can watch the episode here

“I think there are reasons we deny our pain including that we can are overwhelmed (‘Where do I start?’), the fear of ‘This will make things worse”… Or, we don’t have he community around us to help us process.” --Steve O'Dell Today, as only the Holy Spirit can do, these first three Shorts episodes link together. So today, we continue our accidental theme of "Spiritual practices that help us to become real" with Steve talking about why we avoid pain. Additionally, we talk about: How can we become people who can walk with others in challenging places? What is the cost of not engaging these painful places? What is the first step toward feeling these hard parts of our hearts? We also talk about these lament episodes here And talk about Healing Care Join us?