The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey

Hey you guys! Today my guest on The Happy Hour is someone new to me, and that’s Rich Villodas. Rich is from New York, has been married to his wife Rosie for 16 years, and they have two children together, Karis and Nathan. Rich has been at New Life Fellowship Church for 15  years, 10 of those spent as head pastor. New Life Fellowship Church was founded in 1987 and there are over 75 nations represented in his church, in an area where 123 languages are spoken! Rich and I talk about his latest book that he released this past summer, Good and Beautiful and Kind: Becoming Whole in a Fractured World. This is a book we all need, because we are definitely living in a fractured world and we see those fractures around us all the time. Rich explains the three fractures he has seen in his church and fractures he sees happening all around the world. Rich says we are living in C.P.R. world: Covid, Political, and Racism. We are having a hard time breathing, and our hearts are whaling. In his new book, Rich starts with sin, reframing it in a way that would lean toward beauty, goodness, and kindness. Becoming whole is something we have been longing for as people since Genesis 3, and in Rich’s new book, he helps and guides us back to experiencing being whole again.We all long for beauty, goodness, and kindness, but we will not get there by accident. Transformation won’t take place without us actually doing the work. Connect with JamieFacebook //  Instagram // YouTubeGET ALL THE LINKS FROM THE SHOW HERE

Make connection today to a child through compassion. CLICK HERE TO SPONSORI love any time I get to sit down with my friend Jonathan and talk about Compassion International, so today is automatically up there in my list of favorites. After my conversation with Jonathan, stick around for Angie Elkins’ conversation on this episode with Dr. Yannely Suero, another former Compassion child who is now a pediatrician! Compassion International’s mission is to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name. During the episode, Jonathan and I talk about what Compassion does for children in the Dominican Republic, what happens when we say ‘yes’ to sponsoring a child, and how families and generations are changed forever through Compassion sponsorships. Jonathan shares his amazing story about what Compassion did for him! His sponsor, Jamie from Michigan, would write letters to him saying simple things like, “I’m thankful for you and I’m praying for you,” and that helped him to feel as though God had placed people around him for love and support, even thousands of miles away. Now Jonathan’s family – because of his sponsor Jamie’s $38 monthly gift – live a completely different life. He and his children are not enslaved to poverty, because of Compassion. Jonathan says Compassion is more than people writing a check: it’s about people truly joining in God’s mission. As a sponsor, I totally agree with Jonathan! My family and I sponsor four kids in Kenya, Haiti, Peru and Mexico City – it has not only been life changing for each of them but for my family as well. The second part of today’s episode is a conversation between Ivey Media’s own Angie Elkins and Yannely, another former Compassion child. Yannely also had an incredible sponsor, Dorothy, who encouraged her greatly, even prophesying that Yannely could be an amazing doctor – and now Yannely is a pediatrician! If you are not already sponsoring a child, I hope that you will pray about taking the next step to help another child who is waiting for sponsorship to change their life too. You never know what your $38 dollars can do for a child and for an entire generation. Connect with JamieFacebook //  Instagram // YouTubeGET ALL THE LINKS FROM THE SHOW HERE

It’s time again for one of my favorite things we do all year – the Holiday Gift Guide! Our team has been in the Christmas spirit since August as we’ve worked to pull together this year’s Gift Guide, and we’re thrilled to share it with you today.This year’s Gift Guide includes small and woman-owned businesses, ethically made products, companies with give-back models, and cause- or faith-based companies. As you’re planning your holiday shopping, our hope is that you’ll shop small and support these incredible people!We had the best time in early October at our Holiday Gift Guide LIVE! Event, and we captured all the fun through a podcast recording and YouTube video. In listening or watching, you’ll learn even more about these amazing brands and their products… plus these brands have exclusive discounts mentioned ONLY in the podcast + video content, so you’ll want to be sure and write those down too!Happy shopping, friends, and merry (early) Christmas!Connect with JamieFacebook //  Instagram // YouTubeGET ALL THE LINKS FROM THE SHOW HERE

If you’re not quite in the Christmas spirit yet, I think this episode will get you there, especially as we keep our focus on the birth of Jesus. In today’s episode, I interview four people, plus I’m giving away a ton of things (!!) so you want to stick around until the end! My first guest is David Taylor and let me just say, after talking with David, I’m inspired to go and get my doctorate degree. David is a professor at Fuller University and he teaches about the Trinity, the Bible, and creation. His ultimate goal is for his students to know and love God. In this episode, David defines the meaning of Advent, discusses why it matters, and stresses the importance of churches and followers of Jesus committing to the practice of Advent.My second guest is Clayton Greene. Clayton helps us to uniquely anticipate the days leading up to Christmas with our kids – not for the gifts they’ll receive but in anticipation of the birth of Jesus. I asked Clayton why Advent is so important to him and his family, and I think we can all relate to his story. In explaining to his five-year-old daughter that Christmas is all about Jesus, Clayton was met with her actual perception of the holiday, as she vocalized to him that Christmas felt like it was all about receiving presents. That’s when Clayton said he had to do something about his family’s priorities, so he created Advent Blocks. Advent Blocks are a way for kids to anticipate the story of Jesus leading up to Christmas instead of anticipating what gifts may be under the tree. When Clayton first started Advent Blocks, there were five families participating – today, around 16,000 families use Advent Blocks each year to observe Advent as a family! My last guests are Raechel and Amanda, founder and co-founder of She Reads Truth. If you have been listening to the show for a while, you know these two are no strangers to The Happy Hour! Raechel and Amanda’s desire is for every person to have a heart that longs for Jesus. They have written serval great resources, and we talk about their most recent resource, “Joy of Every Longing Heart.” We end our conversation by sharing how we can look at the Christmas story and focus on our Savior’s return.These resources that my friends have created are very helpful and they remind us what this Christmas season is all about: the birth of our Lord and Savior. Connect with JamieFacebook //  Instagram // YouTubeGET ALL THE LINKS FROM THE SHOW HERE

Disclaimer: This episode contains discussions about pornography and sex addictions.This Boundaries series has been a fun and meaningful one for us to put together, and I can’t believe we’ve reached the end of these episodes! For our final interview of the series, Jim Cress closes us out, and there couldn’t have been a more perfect person to wrap it all up. Jim is a father, a husband of almost 38 years, a licensed professional counselor and certified sex addiction therapist, as well as an ordained minister through Dallas Baptist Seminary.  Jim and I talk about boundaries within a marriage, why boundaries in a marriage are necessary, defining what a boundary is, and what it looks like for a parent to walk through a pornography addiction with their child. Boundaries can seem like a scary thing but my hope for you is that you see boundaries as good things. Boundaries are to keep us safe, which is an example of agape love because we are called to love our neighbors as we love ourselves – we can only do that if we are setting good boundaries. Jim defined a boundary as, “Not controlling the other person but controlling ourselves,” and when we understand this, we begin to set boundaries more frequently.We wrapped up our conversation discussing how spouses should address one another when one may be struggling with pornography, along with practical ways to be proactive with your kids about their sexual life. These are not easy conversations, but if we declare what is true and seek help, we can have hope that things will change.I hope you have enjoyed this series as much as I did. Now let’s go out and live healthier lives by setting good boundaries with our spouses, kids, friends, co-workers, and our technology. Connect with JamieFacebook //  Instagram // YouTubeGET ALL THE LINKS FROM THE SHOW HERE

Hey friends! I hope you are enjoying our Boundaries series as much as I am. Today is special – we have two interviews in one show, with three total guests! The focus of these conversations is boundaries with technology. I know this can be a touchy subject, but I encourage you to really lean in and examine your own relationship with technology as you listen.  First up is Tracy Foster, co-founder and executive director of Screen Sanity. Screen Sanity’s main focus is to maximize the benefits of technology while minimizing the side effects for kids. The second half of today’s episode is with Heath Wilson and Joey Odom, co-founders of technology company Aro. Their mission is to help people experience life uninterrupted by reducing time spent on devices.I think we can all agree that technology can be detrimental to family time, self-time, and even our ability to focus at work. In fact, I learned through today’s conversations that technology is one of the biggest obstacles families are facing right now, more than sex more than drugs. Tracy and I talk about boundaries with kids and social media, and about the playbook that Screen Sanity created for kids. We talk about how parents, adults, and teachers can help create healthy boundaries around technology. Tracy even walks us through how online companies target our kids to get as much time from them as possible, and encourages an emphasis on family values to help children understand why boundaries are put in place.Heath and Joey talk about one of the main reasons technology is a problem for us today – it’s because we don’t have a place for it. Defining the proper place for technology is the first step to cutting back on time spent on our phones. We talk about how Aro got started as a company, and the story is one I’m sure we can all relate to. When Heath’s son was five, he was playing in a soccer game and had not scored a goal all year. Until one day Heath’s son’s soccer dream came true and he scored a goal. But Heath missed the moment because he was looking down at his phone! It was at that moment Heath knew he had to come up with a solution for experiencing life uninterrupted with our cellular devices, and Aro was born. This Boundaries conversation is a good one! I can’t wait to hear what you think.   Connect with JamieFacebook //  Instagram // YouTubeGET ALL THE LINKS FROM THE SHOW HERE

We are continuing on in our new Boundaries series and it just keeps getting better! Today on the show is my friend, Dr. Alison Cook. Alison is a psychologist, has her own private practice, writes, coaches, and has worked as a therapist for women for approximately 20 years. Alison and I talk about how embracing healthy boundaries sometimes starts with setting initial boundaries for ourselves. She explains what it means to get to know the state of our soul, taking those parts of us that were formed when we were younger and what keeps us from moving past those wounds and burdens. We talk about why doing the internal work is so important and we end our conversation with Alison explaining the difference between codependency versus healthy dependency. Alison says boundaries aren’t primarily the exercise of saying ‘no’ to other people. Rather, boundaries are about saying yes to yourself and your own work of healing. It takes a lot of courage to say there is a wound inside of us that needs healing, but until we can understand ourselves more fully, we will be unable to create good boundaries. Alison believes our own internal work precedes the work of boundaries. The degree to which we are dealing with our own souls and the woundedness is the capacity with which we will be able to show up with others. Boundaries are not an easy thing, but as Alison will help you to see today, boundaries are meant to protect our beautiful souls.   Connect with JamieFacebook //  Instagram // YouTubeGET ALL THE LINKS FROM THE SHOW HERE

Hey friends! We are starting a new series today called Boundaries, and as hard as boundaries may be for some of us, I really think you’re going to enjoy these conversations. I’m starting off the series with my dear friend, Lysa Terkeurst. Lysa is no stranger to The Happy Hour, and I’m sure many of you know her name. She is an author and speaker, not to mention an impactful communicator of God’s Word. Lysa recently wrote a book called Good Boundaries and Goodbyes, which I had the privilege and honor to endorse. Let me just say, you need to grab yourself a copy!In addition to talking about the new book, Lysa and I also have a discussion about the fact that people don’t understand that it’s perfectly okay to set healthy boundaries. We don’t know when it’s time to say goodbye, or what it truly means to love one another. And many of us have believed the lie that it’s un-Christian to put boundaries in place. Lysa wrote Good Boundaries and Goodbyes as a follow up to another of her books. She realized after writing Forgiving What You Can’t Forget that she needed to work on boundaries in her own life and get to the root issue of why she struggled to do so. Lysa says she was afraid to make boundaries because it could possibly disappoint people and they may walk away or stop providing what she thought only they could provide to make her feel okay in this world. Truth be told, when we set boundaries with people, sometimes it does upset them. But Lysa says, if we are afraid that someone is going to reject us or be upset with us, that person already had a high likelihood of eventually rejecting us one day. Boundaries aren’t just a good idea; they’re God’s idea. Join me today for a great conversation with my friend, Lysa Terkeurst. Connect with JamieFacebook //  Instagram // YouTubeGET ALL THE LINKS FROM THE SHOW HERE

I’m sad to say that we’re wrapping up our Collaboration Over Competition series, but we are finishing strong! My guests today are two of my dear friends, Lisa Whittle and Alli Worthington, founders of the organization Called Creatives. Called Creatives is a private coaching community with hands-on training for those who want to write and speak with influence and impact. With a growing membership base of more than 500, Called Creatives provides opportunities for mastermind groups, publishing support, private events, and so much more! In today’s episode, we talk about how Alli and Lisa meld their gifts together, how they work to overcome any feelings of jealousy, and what it looks like for them to collaborate with one another. I asked Lisa and Alli how the idea for Called Creatives came to be, and let me just say, I wish I had a personality like Alli. Alli decided she wanted to do a membership site for creative women who wanted to write and speak because nothing like it existed for women in that area. With no fear or hesitation, Alli immediately got started but she didn't want to do it alone. Alli prayed about the idea, and less than five minutes later, the Lord spoke very clearly to her: “It’s Lisa”. Lisa, on the other hand, was a bit more hesitant about collaborating with anyone because she said she really struggles to trust others. In fact, Lisa told Alli that she did not trust her when Alli first asked! Lisa says although she was afraid, she knew she just needed to take one step. Lisa reminds us that initial fear and not feeling “all in” in the early stages of something doesn’t mean we shouldn’t just start. See how it goes! Do it afraid.  Together, Alli and Lisa are thriving as teammates. Within their community of 500 members, more than THIRTY books will be published by the end of this year! That’s what intentionally choosing to collaborate can do! I hope you have enjoyed this series and that you have a new perspective on the decision to choose collaboration over competition, wherever in your life competition may start to creep in.Connect with JamieFacebook //  Instagram // YouTubeGET ALL THE LINKS FROM THE SHOW HERE

My next two guests are mastering collaboration over competition. Together, they have written several books, including Are My Kids On Track, and Intentional Parenting. They are also the hosts of the Raising Boys & Girls podcast. Sissy Goff is the Director of Child and Adolescent Counseling at Daystar Counseling Ministries for more than thirty years. David has been at Daystar for 25 years, now serving as the Director of Family Counseling. Have you enjoyed our Collaboration Over Competition series so far? If so, it only gets better! On the episode today, David and Sissy talk about the fear of someone liking the other person’s books more than they like yours, and how we can benefit from each other’s strengths. We also have a discussion on what Sissy and David say are the greatest struggles parents today face, and whether or not parents are responding adequately to kids who might be dealing with depression. David mentioned that he has only authored one book by himself, and he believes collaborating with others makes him a better writer. He says it is so much better when we work together and surround ourselves with people who outpace us. We talked about anxiety and the stress kids experience today as they apply to get into college, and that is something I’ve only recently come to learn in starting to launch my own children. When I was applying to get into college, it was not competitive – now, kids are up against so many other applicants just to get into their college of choice, and it is causing anxiety to rise dramatically. Sissy says, “Reminding them of their courage in the moments of anxiety starts with us. We have to use wise words to help our children get through the pressures that are weighing down on them.” Enjoy today’s show! If you find it encouraging, share it with a friend.Connect with JamieFacebook //  Instagram // YouTubeGET ALL THE LINKS FROM THE SHOW HERE