It’s our season wrap episode, and we could not have asked for a better guest. Ruth is a teacher and author, and she knows the real-life challenges of helping kids to and parents to turn their hearts toward God. How can we practice something like family devotions without it feeling too forced? What if husbands and wives are on different pages about how to lead the family spiritually? Is structure helpful or hurtful? Let’s dive in. | Next Steps | Ruth’s site here . Her IG here . This book here . H...
May 23, 2025•41 min•Ep. 243
THIS EPISODE. We literally cried. All of us. And it led to a mentoring relationship between Matt and our guest, Michael John Cusick. Why? We were struck thinking about how to *actually live* in that tension between our faith and our experience. Join us? Next Steps: Michael’s site here . His book here . Join the HIMH Pod FB group here . Follow Laurie on IG (where she is the most active) here ....
May 09, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 242
As ministry leaders and therapists (Matt and Laurie), we have often wondered: When do church leaders and pastors utilize therapists and para-church ministries and when do they care on their own? Do pastors always outsource? Do they never outsource? What role does the church have for families in crisis? Let’s talk about it with author and psychologist (and lover of the Church), Jennifer Ripley. | Highlights | “The church…will bring you casseroles, but when a crisis shows up, we often don’t know w...
Apr 25, 2025•43 min•Ep. 241
If the average age of pornography exposure is between 8 and 12 years old, and the majority of Christians are looking at it regularly, we need to talk about it. Specifically, documentary creator and author John Michael Bout helps us ask and answer: How can we help our kids prepare to see it? How can we help them recover? What hope do we have? | Highlights | “Parents are often like, ‘We live in a technological world. I know there is pornography out there. I have no idea what to do!” We can throw o...
Apr 11, 2025•48 min•Ep. 240
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...
Mar 28, 2025•39 min•Ep. 239
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 ...
Mar 14, 2025•46 min•Ep. 238
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 ...
Feb 28, 2025•47 min•Ep. 237
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 centere...
Feb 14, 2025•45 min•Ep. 236
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 be...
Jan 31, 2025•44 min•Ep. 235
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...
Jan 17, 2025•50 min•Ep. 234
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 t...
Jan 03, 2025•41 min•Ep. 233
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 t...
Dec 20, 2024•54 min•Ep. 232
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? | Hig...
Dec 06, 2024•51 min•Ep. 231
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...
Nov 22, 2024•33 min•Ep. 230
Suffering, eh? Sounds … super … fun. Ya know, the older we get, the more we realize just how important our theology of suffering is when we are … well, suffering. As Kelly Kapic said in today’s episode, “You don’t realize how flimsy your theology of suffering is until you use it as a resource to live on.” For example, if we think suffering should be escaped, *when* we suffer we will try to outrun it. (Which is hard to do if we are enduring physical pain.) If we think suffering should be embraced...
Nov 08, 2024•45 min•Ep. 229
When I [Laurie] met Kat, she was planning to marry her girlfriend and was considering transitioning to male. But God was already drawing Kat to Himself, and He tapped me on the shoulder to join the process. Hear the whole discipleship journey between us today on the podcast. | Highlights | “I would be doing absolutely nothing and I would feel this conviction … This fear of ‘Am I making the right choice? Am I rejecting The One?’” —Kat LaPrairie “This is going to be difficult, it is not solved, my...
Oct 25, 2024•50 min•Ep. 228
A new Barna study says 54% of Christians watch p*rnography. This number is only 7 percentage points behind the percent of all U.S. adults who consume it (61%). We need help. How can we get the help we need for our addictions at a soul-deep level? Author and therapist Sam Jolman is here to assist. Together, we discuss: —Is male sexuality just extra broken or what? —How can we (as men and women) process our first encounter with p*rnography? —How can we as parents help ready our kids for a porn-per...
Oct 11, 2024•50 min•Ep. 227
Many of us grew up in the church hearing that weakness was a good thing: In our weakness, God is strong through us. If that’s true, why does weakness feel so terrible? Today, we talk with author, podcaster, and pastor, Eric Schumacher about “the good gift of weakness,” why many of us don’t like it, and why it is the best place to thrive as a human being. We also discuss: —How did Eric’s “failing at ministry” help him to recover his life? —Is weakness found in creation and in the new heavens and ...
Sep 27, 2024•43 min•Ep. 226
Something we so appreciate about Dr. Preston Sprinkle is he doesn’t tell us what to think, he encourages us to think about what we are thinking about. When it comes to engaging politics, we need people to help us think about politics biblically first. If you’re like us, you’re all done with politics…yesterday. And yet, we cannot escape it. Is there a way to engage it without losing our minds (and faith)? Theologian, author, podcaster, and friend of the podcast, Preston Sprinkle, is just the expe...
Sep 13, 2024•53 min•Ep. 225
If you have ever struggled to process your story (and who hasn’t??), this episode is for you. Author, teacher, and child-of-a-one-time angry father, Lisa Jo Baker, takes us by the hand and guides us to take the tiniest look back so we can move forward into healing. | Main Themes | Why do we avoid going back into our stories? Why do we need to? (Do we need to?) How can you write a book about the most painful places in our lives? What if those we love don’t want to or can’t reconcile? | Highlights...
Aug 30, 2024•45 min•Ep. 224
If you’re a parent or mentor of young kids right now like we are, I am pretty sure you could marinate in fear every day of the week. Add the fact that it is up to us parents and mentors to teach these kids facts and wisdom about sexuality and body safety, and you can just find us in a panic attack on the floor every-other day of the week. But what if we didn’t have to? What if we could learn how to wisely lead them in the midst of this wild world? Today, psychologist and author Julia Sadusky hel...
May 31, 2024•48 min•Ep. 223
It’s that time again: Let’s take your questions and try to respond with wisdom! Here are the ones we respond to today! How do you know when or if you need to move on from a therapist? How can we walk with people experiencing unwanted sexual desires? How do I recover my soul from burnout? How do I talk with my kids about a family member who is transitioning? How do I know if a temptation is spiritual attack or fruit from my sinful nature? | Highlights | “Our kids do not have to be fed rage and ot...
May 17, 2024•37 min•Ep. 222
Today, we conclude our two-part series looking at strategies to intentionally and evangelistically approach Pride Month. To continue the conversation, we talk with Elizabeth Delgado Black who is an evangelist and the co-founder and president of Kaleidoscope. Together, we talk about practical ways to love LGBTQ people like Jesus as well as: Can we talk a little bit about language? Why use LGBTQ language at all? How do LGBTQ people in New York City seem to view Christians generally? Why? How does ...
May 03, 2024•56 min•Ep. 221
Some Christians write off June’s Pride festivals as Sodom and Gomorrah. They don’t think anyone there could possibly want God. Are we so sure about that? At least two ministries in the U.S. are regularly going to Pride festivals in their areas, and they are seeing people come to know Jesus because of their presence, preaching, and practical love of neighbor. This week, we interview a street evangelist who has been going to Grand Rapids, Michigan’s Pride Festival for the last five years. We ask: ...
Apr 19, 2024•53 min•Ep. 220
When we are going through suffering, we don’t usually think, “Hmm, what treasures might God have for me to discover here?” It just feels like suffering. However, author and major stroke survivor, Katherine Wolf, has a message for us: God has gems for us to find in the darkness. “If you have to go through hardship, why not get the treasure? My goodness, don’t waste the pain,” she says. What else do we talk about? What exactly are these “treasures” anyway? How should we respond to our friends’ imm...
Apr 05, 2024•43 min•Ep. 219
“Hope in the gospel and discouragement are not mutually exclusive,” Pastor Derwin Gray encouraged us on today’s episode. But, how is that possible? The world can feel so defeating: Politics, racial division, pastor scandals, congregant sin, and the drudgery of faithfully trying to do this thing called advancing the Kingdom of God wherever we are called can overwhelm anyone. How can we both experience grief, discouragement, or mourning, and allow it to propel us further into the heart of God? Aut...
Mar 22, 2024•39 min•Ep. 218
This is a very gentle but powerful episode. Since having the conversation, I (Laurie) can’t stop seeing the people-as-trees metaphor everywhere. How? You’re just going to have to listen to find out. :) // Highlights: “We all have the seasons in life. We can’t expect the same things of ourselves in every single season. When we don’t experience seasons that are fruitful or blooming, it doesn’t mean that something is wrong with us, it can just mean we are in a different season.” —Joy Marie Clarkson...
Mar 08, 2024•40 min•Ep. 217
Christy grew up in a hyper-legalistic system that added rigid rules to the gospel of Jesus. (You might have seen glimpses of it if you watched the documentary, ‘Shiny Happy People.’) Even after leaving, Christy internally battled the legalism that attached itself to her knowledge of the real Jesus. How did she break free—not only physically, but mentally and spiritually? We also explore: What is the difference between authority and authoritarianism? How can you tell if you’re in a legalistic sys...
Feb 23, 2024•43 min•Ep. 216
Oh, wow. This story. How does one woman go from a childhood of following Jesus as much as she knows how, to professional hockey, to same-sex relationships, to transitioning to male for six years, to finding the real Jesus, and then to de-transitioning in the midst of a loving church community? This episode has her story. Hear a testimony and take part in a conversation on how to walk well with people who wrestle with gender today on the podcast. // Highlights: “I was crying out to God on the bed...
Feb 09, 2024•46 min•Ep. 215
Is anyone else feeling like they are in a rut in their marriage? Maybe you’re not in crisis mode, but it’s kinda just . . . meh? It’s easy to function; to sit on opposite couches and scroll on your phone. But, do you wonder if marriage could be better than that—not with some fantastical potion or even a weekend intensive per se, but what if it began with small, simple movements of risk toward one another? Today, marriage experts Tracy Johnson and Chris Bruno guide those of us who feel “in a rut”...
Jan 26, 2024•46 min•Ep. 214
