Podcasts about finding holy

Biden's asylum order, intentional community, and the criminalization of clergy sexual misconduct This week on The Bulletin, producer and moderator Clarissa Moll welcomes Ashley Hales and Ekemeni Uwan for a conversation about President Biden's new asylum order, our fascination with intentional community, and the criminalization of clergy sexual misconduct. Special guests Bri Stensrud, John Shelton, and Boz Tchividjian join the discussion for an episode that will inform and encourage you toward kingdom thought and action. Today's Guests: With her husband, Ashley Hales is the co-founder of The Willowbrae Institute, a new think tank researching the intersection of Christianity and the common good in America. Ashley hosts the The Cartographers Podcast and is the author of Finding Holy in the Suburbs, A Spacious Life, and the forthcoming Bible study on the Sermon on the Mount, A Fruitful Life. She produces The Russell Moore Show for CT Media. Ekemini Uwan is a public theologian, international human rights activist, and co-author of Truth's Table: Black Women's Musings on Life, Love, and Liberation. She co-hosts the award-winning podcast Truth's Table and Get In The Word With Truth's Table. Uwan is a 2024 fellow at The Aspen Institute where she serves as the Special Advisor for The Aspen Institute's Racial Justice and Religion Collective. Her writings have been published in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post Black Voices, and Hallmark Mahogany. As one who is passionate about theology, Ekemini has a fierce commitment to the gospel and its implications for issues pertaining to reparations, racial injustice, anti-black racism, and white supremacy. John Shelton is the policy director for Advancing American Freedom. He received degrees from Duke Divinity School and the University of Virginia. Bri Stensrud is an author, human dignity advocate, and the Director of Women of Welcome. Her passion is to equip the Church to engage more consistently and tangibly in holistic human dignity issues. Bri holds a Masters of Biblical & Theological Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary and has authored two books: Start with Welcome: The Journey toward a Confident and Compassionate Immigration Conversation, and a children's book: The Biggest Best Light: Shining God's Light into the World Around You. Boz Tchividjian, Esq. is an experienced litigator who has dedicated his career to empowering survivors of sexual abuse, sexual assault, and sexual harassment to step forward and seek justice against perpetrators and the institutions legally responsible for their trauma. Prior to becoming a civil litigator, Boz served as an Assistant State Attorney in the 7th Judicial Circuit of Florida, where he created the first Sex Crimes Division at the Office of the State Attorney and served as Division Chief. Boz is also the Founder and former Executive Director of GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment), an internationally recognized non-profit organization that equips faith-based organizations with the tools they need to correctly respond to allegations of sexual abuse and educates them on how to create safeguards to protect children and other vulnerable people within their communities. Boz is the co-author of The Child Safeguarding Policy Guide, a handbook for faith-based non-profit organizations looking to improve their child safeguarding policies.  “The Bulletin” is a production of Christianity Today Producer: Clarissa Moll Associate Producer: Leslie Thompson Editing and Mix: TJ Hester Music: Dan Phelps Executive Producers: Erik Petrik and Mike Cosper Senior Producer: Matt Stevens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Ashley Hales talks about a more spacious life, helping us see that our limits are good and point us to God. She shares spiritual practices to help notice God in everyday life, to remind ourselves that we are His beloved children, and to move from the cerebral to the rest of the body. She also talks about how to have hope in suffering, and helps us navigate the cultural landscape we find ourselves in.Ashley Hales holds a PhD in English literature from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. With her husband, she is the co-founder of The Willowbrae Institute, a new think tank researching the intersection of Christianity and the common good in America . She is a Kirby Laing Centre Academic Fellow and advisor to the Board of Covenant College. Ashley hosts the The Cartographers Podcast and is the author of Finding Holy in the Suburbs and A Spacious Life. Connect on substack, Instagram or Twitter.Ashley's Book:A Spacious LifeAshley's Recommendations:New AmsterdamOn Getting Out of Bed by Alan NobleEleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail HoneymanThe Thursday Murder Club by Richard OsmanConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@allnations.usGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook or Instagram at www.facebook.com/shiftingculturepodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/shiftingculturepodcast/Consider Giving to the podcast and to the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link below.Support the show

Author, speaker, podcaster, Ashley Hales, talks today on how to find holy and be faithful to God wherever He's placed you. "How easy it is," she explains, "to look for our value or distract us from the hard stuff by leaning on stuff—bigger homes, safer places, or a simple To-Do List crossed off on a daily basis." She writes in Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much—"To fill my infinite things with finite things, the more distance I put between God and myself. And the more I do that, it creates a way of being."   Leave a comment on blog or social media to be entered in a giveaway for Finding Holy in the Suburbs. Follow Ashley at aahales.com where you can read about her ministry, writing and speaking.  Ashley is a mom of four, wife of a pastor here in San Luis Obispo, and seeks to follow Jesus and love others right where she is.  Some gems: We get antsy waiting on God so we ask our stuff to save us. God has made us hungry people but we remain unsatiated until we feed on Him first and foremost. Hospitality means making room in our lives and hearts for whomever God brings our way. The cross is the basis of our hospitality; Christ broken for us is God's invitation to come to Him.  I want to pay attention to the work God has for me to do TODAY and not worry about may or may not get accomplished.  We can't do Kingdom life by doing rather than being.  Like maps like my Man-in-Plaid? Here's one for you. Ashley and her husband, Bryce have a new podcast: The Cartographers: Charting the cultural landscape for 21st century Christian Leaders _____ When asked, “What's the greatest commandment?” Jesus replied simply: “Love God, love your neighbor.” I imagine He was thinking, “It's not rocket science” or “What's not to like?” or “It's not complicated.” He was right, it's not complicated. But people are people and we make it complicated. I need to pray daily to uncomplicate what He says is best for me and best for others. So I wrote “31 Days of Uncomplicated Prayers,” and once I pray them through, I start over again. You can too. One short, simple prayer to help uncomplicate love sent to your inbox for 31 days. Don't worry. They are short. God doesn't mind short prayers. Sign up HERE     

-- Opening song - "Let There Be Love" by Noah Aronson; performed by Temple Israel Cantorial Soloist Happie Hoffman Find sermons, music, conversations between clergy and special guests, and select Temple Israel University (TIU) classes – easily accessible to you through our podcast, Torah to the People. Learn more about Temple Israel-Memphis at timemphis.org.

A spacious life sounds lovely, doesn't it?But it can also feel unattainable.I mean, how are we supposed to live spacious lives and still get everything done? The truth is you will never get everything done. And another truth is - there is a different way to live.A way of life that honors the boundaries God has graciously set for us. Ashley Hales, author of Spacious Living: Trading Hustle and Hurry for the Goodness of Limits, helps us think through a different way to live. Ashley Hales is a writer, speaker, and host of the Finding Holy podcast. She is the author of Finding Holy in the Suburbs and A Spacious Life her writing has been featured in Christianity Today, Books & Culture, and The Gospel Coalition. If you're longing to leave hustle and hurry behind, start here. GREAT NEWS! IVP is generously giving So Much More listeners 30% off and free shipping on Ashley's new book, A Spacious Life, with the code MUCHMORE until February 15, 2023 at https://www.ivpress.com/a-spacious-life Some highlights from our conversation: Ashley reminds us that limits are good. They were established at creation – before Adam and Eve sinned. The truth is: God always intended for us to have limits. Discovering and honoring them brings freedom and peace.Ashley finds it fascinating that another word for sin is trespass,which means to go beyond. Sin is ultimately moving beyond our good limits.Ashley shares her personal story of discovering limits through the disorienting season of the pandemic, a job change, selling their home, and moving.One of the things she discovered in this disorienting season is that God is most concerned with our formation. Helping us become more the people he's created us to be.A spacious life is not a perfectly curated life. And a spacious life isn't something you will have some day after you've accomplished everything. The invitation to spacious living is for now, no matter what season you are in.Ashley shares why Psalm 18 is important to her and how this verse reminds her that spacious living start with God's gracious rescue.Ashley gives a few practices that can help us start living in our limits. She suggests we start with a time of short silence in the presence of God. She also suggests community because our limits are exposed in community and healed in community. You can connect with Ashley at: https://aahales.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/aahalesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/aahales/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aahales

Finding Holy is transitioning to The Cartographers: Mapping the Cultural Landscape for 21st century Christian Leaders. Join Ashley Hales and Bryce Hales as they have conversations with guests in a changing cultural landscape. Escape the same thoughtful commentary and questions, wise ways forward, and a new emphasis on the intersection between spiritual formation, imagination, individual and institutions. The Cartographers will release every other Tuesday. We'll be back in 2 weeks with 3 new episodes. Be sure to subscribe! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new MP3 sermon from Ambassador Baptist College is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Finding Holy Ground Subtitle: Fall Revival Services 2022 Speaker: Dr. Alton Beal Broadcaster: Ambassador Baptist College Event: Chapel Service Date: 8/30/2022 Bible: Exodus 3:1-10 Length: 38 min.

What does it mean to live a “spacious life?” How do our limits actually lead to flourishing? Ashley Hales, PhD, the author of two books, and host of the Finding Holy podcast, encourages us to follow the life of Christ into life-giving limits. Listen in for a sampling of much welcomed wisdom on how to “trade hustle and hurry for the goodness of limits.” Find her books and other amazing resources at aahales.com. Follow along with Ashley on Instagram: @aahales

In this episode Heather and Ashley look at what it means to live a spacious life. In a time where our success often feels measured by our productivity, what benefit could there possibly be to slowing down? How can we cultivate better rhythms of rest, and how much are we missing by not being present with ourselves and each other? Ashley Hales will talk to you about what may be disrupting your healthy rhythms, and why Sabbath is so important for Christians to take seriously.  Guest Bio Ashley Hales holds a PhD in English from the University of Edenborough, Scotland. She's a writer, speaker, and host of The Finding Holy Podcast. Her writing has been featured in places like Christianity Today, Books & Culture, and The Gospel Coalition. She is the author of Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much (IVP) and her latest book; A Spacious Life: Trading Hustle and Hurry for the Goodness of Limits. Mentioned in This Episode Princeton Study on seminarians and the Good Samaritan  Host Bio Heather Thompson Day is an associate professor of communication at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. She is the author of seven books, including It's Not Your Turn and Confessions of a Christian Wife. Reach out to Heather on Twitter @HeatherTDay and on Instagram @heatherthompsonday. Viral Jesus is a production of Christianity Today Host and creator: Heather Thompson Day Producer: Loren Joseph Executive Producer: Ed Gilbreath Director of CT Podcasts: Mike Cosper Associate Producer of CT Podcasts: Azurae Phelps Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ashley Hales (PhD, University of Edinburgh) is a writer, speaker, and host of the Finding Holy podcast. She is the author of Finding Holy in the Suburbs and her writing has been featured in Christianity Today and Books & Culture. Ashley is married to a pastor and the mother to four children. Her most recent book is A Spacious Life: Trading Hustle and Hurry for the Goodness of Limits. Find Ashley online at aahales.com, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Hello and welcome to Christchurch Xscape's Sunday Service Today we continue with our series 'Holy: Misunderstood.' As always, please get in touch hello@xchurch.org.uk Reading: Hebrews 12:18-29 and Ephesians 2:8-10 Our podcast https://anchor.fm/xchurch/ Check out our Spotify playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0wKgZ7UwLGL0mEgtf6PxI7?si=5e82416c5c31400a Our blog for thought-provoking articles https://xchurch.medium.com/ Sign up to our fortnightly email http://xchurch.us8.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=2ef1fcfe581f6926a1507b6e0&id=ff02df616e

Ashley talks with Tanner Olson about his newest book of poetry and how poetry can be a vehicle to connect with others. LINKS Follow Tanner on Instagram @writtentospeak: https://www.instagram.com/writtentospeak/ Tanner's book, Walk a Little Slower: https://amzn.to/3rrLdko Other books of poetry recommended: Denise Levertov, Mary Oliver, Malcolm Guite Grab your “A Spacious New Year” workbook for $6 to help you create sustainable rhythms in 2022 (not the crazy goal-setting, wrestle-your-life list). You can grab it in Ashley's shop and also pick up a copy of her book, A Spacious Life. Subscribe and share Finding Holy today! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ashley Hales (PhD, University of Edinburgh) is a writer, speaker, and host of the Finding Holy podcast. She is the author of Finding Holy in the Suburbs and her writing has been featured in Christianity Today, Books & Culture, and The Gospel Coalition. Ashley is married to a pastor and the mother to four children. Episode Talking Points: Resources: "The American Dream" and success External measures of success to measure worth Slaves to production Living within God's good limits Paying attention to God, others, myself Helpful Links: A Spacious Life Finding Holy in the Suburbs https://aahales.com/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-monday-christian/support

A life without limits is part of the American dream. But what if living within limits is the key to a spacious life? What if we say “no” to hustle and hurry? Ashley Hales, author of A Spacious Life, talks with Amy Julia Becker about the benefits of limits, the goodness of interdependence within community, and the space needed to be attentive to others.Show Notes:Guest Bio:“Ashley Hales is a writer, speaker, podcast host, and holds a PhD in English from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She is the author of Finding Holy in the Suburbs and A Spacious Life. Listen to The Finding Holy Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and connect with Ashley at aahales.com or @aahales on Instagram and Twitter.”On the Podcast:Ashley's books: Finding Holy in the Suburbs and A Spacious LifePsalm 16:6; Psalm 18:19Quote misattributed to Walter Brueggemann is from Frederick BuechnerSteven GarberInterview Quotes“Limits are actually embedded in creation.”“We have spread ourselves out so thinly that we have transgressed; we've gone beyond those good guardrails—those good, natural, human limits that God intended for our flourishing. We've bypassed them for hustle and hurry.”“God's good limits are actually for our flourishing. They enable creativity. They enable rest. They enable purpose and joy and connection. And when we live without limits, we live exhausted, where the goalposts of success are continually moving.”“[How might choices] begin to bring more freedom for others, moving us outward from this boxed-in, closed-off sense where really life is all about me and my personal happiness and my sense of unlimited autonomy, which is what the American way tells us is the good life?”“To love someone well means that we are accepting constraints “ “Jesus invites us into the constraints, particularly of the church as our first and new family, so we can live for the life of the world...The point of community is to actually bless our world wherever we are.”___Season 5 of the Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast connects to themes in my newest book, To Be Made Well, releasing Spring 2022...you can pre-order here! Learn more about my writing and speaking at amyjuliabecker.com.*A transcript of this episode will be available within one business day, as well as a video with closed captions on my YouTube Channel.

The ERB Podcast is back after our summer reprieve! Jen is joined by returning guest Ashley Hales, and first-time guest Nathan Oates, to discuss the ways their writing interacts with the themes of stability, limits, and the work of ministry in our current cultural climate.Ashley Hales is the author of two books. Her first book, Finding Holy in the Suburbs, released in 2018. Her second book, A Spacious Life: Trading Hustle and Hurry for the Goodness of Limits, releases on September 14, 2021. Ashley has a PhD in English from the University of Edinburgh. She is a pastor's wife and mother of four as well as host of the Finding Holy podcast.Nathan Oates writes, speaks, and serves as lead pastor of Emmaus Church Community. For more than a decade, Nathan has been captivated by the Rule of St. Benedict, and this curiosity and life practice informed his book also releasing in September. That book is titled, Stability: How an ancient monastic practice can restore our relationships, churches and communities. Nathan holds a masters degree in spiritual formation from Wheaton College and lives in Northern California with his wife, three children, and a dog named True.Books Mentioned in this episode:If you'd like to order any of the following books, we encourage you to do so from Hearts and Minds Books(An independent bookstore in Dallastown, PA, run by Byron and Beth Borger) Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much by Ashley HalesA Spacious Life: Trading Hustle and Hurry for the Goodness of Limits by Ashley HalesStability: How and Ancient Monastic Practice Can Restore Our Relationships, Churches and Communities by Nathan OatesSeeking God: The Way of St. Benedict by Esther de WaalThe Rule of St. BenedictSlow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus by C. Christopher Smith and John PattisonTolkien's Modern Reading: Middle-Earth Beyond the Middle Ages by Holly OrdwayFaustian Economics (Essay) by Wendell BerryVisions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good by Steven GarberThe Seamless Life: A Tapestry of Love and Learning, Worship and Work by Steven GarberThe Pastor: A Memoir by Eugene PetersonThe Sign of Jonas by Thomas MertonWayward:  A Novel by Dana SpiottaReading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope by Esau McCaulleyReparations: A Christian Call for Repentance and Repair by Duke Kwon and Greg ThompsonDakota: A Spiritual Geography by Kathleen NorrisStill Life by Louise PennyThe Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni by Nikki GiovanniA Secular Age by Charles TaylorThe Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions by Arthur Bennett

Today on the show, we are talking to Ashley Hales about her latest book, 'A Spacious Life: Trading Hustle And Hurry For The Goodness Of Limits'. Ashley Hales holds a PhD in English from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She's a writer, speaker, and hosts The Finding Holy Podcast. Ashley's married to a pastor and the mother to 4. Her writing has been featured in such places as The Gospel Coalition, Books & Culture, and Christianity Today and she loves speaking around the US. She is the author of Finding Holy in the Suburbs and A Spacious Life. To connect with Ashley on Social Media, you can find her on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. What did you think about today's episode? What are the limits you need to lean into? We would love to hear from you! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. You can also watch today's episode by heading over to our YouTube channel. Next Tuesday we are talking to Rory Noland about his book, 'Transforming Worship: Planning and Leading Sunday Services as If Spiritual Formation Mattered.'

Remember He knows His Sheep, and Hi sheep knows their Shepherd. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/alfred-gay/message

How can we enjoy the Holy Spirit's fruit of peace, patience, kindness & goodness when our souls are hurried? Ashley Hales discusses how to embrace our God-given limits and live a more fulfilling life. "As women, juggling all the things, especially in a global pandemic, we don't need more arguments right now. We're exhausted, tired, and overwhelmed... We don't need an argument about why we need to pursue Jesus. We just need an invitation." Ashley Hales, Author of A Spacious Life @aahales #ASpaciousLife Bio: Ashley Hales (PhD, University of Edinburgh) is a writer, speaker, and host of the Finding Holy podcast. She is the author of Finding Holy in the Suburbs and her writing has been featured in Christianity Today, Books & Culture, and The Gospel Coalition. Ashley is married to a pastor and the mother to four children. A Spacious Life Book: https://www.ivpress.com/a-spacious-life FREE Excerpt: https://www.ivpress.com/Media/Default/Downloads/Excerpts-and-Samples/4738-excerpt.pdf Website and Hustle Habit Quiz: https://aahales.com/sayyestoaspaciouslife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aahales/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aahales.writer Twitter: https://twitter.com/aahales --- For support, giveaways, and to participate in the #MomentumChallenge, join the Faith Hope Love Women's Community on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/faithhopelovecommunity Music: "The Joy" by John Stratton (given permission to use) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yds65yDX0B8 Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/moorefaithhopelove Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moore.faith.hope.love/ Website: https://www.moorefaithhopelove.com #book #bookstagram #podcast #faith #hope #love #joy #peace #patience #kindness #goodness #faithfulness #gentleness #selfcontrol #Jesus #God #HolySpirit

(00:00-9:45): Aubrey welcomed guest co-host Catherine McNiel, Author of “All Shall Be Well: Awakening to God's Presence in His Messy, Abundant World” and “Long Days of Small Things: Motherhood as a Spiritual Discipline.” Catherine shared an exciting announcement about her upcoming book, “Fearing Bravely: Risking Love for Our Neighbors Strangers and Enemies.” Learn more about Catherine and her books at catherinemcniel.com and connect with her on Twitter at @CatherineMcNiel (9:45-26:41): Dr. Ashley Hales, Author of “Finding Holy in the Suburbs” and the Host of the Finding Holy Podcast, joined Aubrey and Catherine to chat about her new book, “A Spacious Life: Trading Hustle and Hurry for the Goodness of Limits.” Learn more about the special pre-order offer on Ashley's new book at aspacious.life Learn more about Ashley at aahales.com and connect with her on Twitter at @aahales (26:41-35:12): How should we respond when God calls us to something that requires a big sacrifice? Aubrey and Catherine shared their thoughts on Nicole Alcindor's Christian Post article, “Missouri pastor donates kidney to church member, says it was a calling from God.” (35:12-45:15): Aubrey chatted with Catherine about the writing and publishing world. They also discussed Catherine's books, “All Shall Be Well: Awakening to God's Presence in His Messy, Abundant World” and “Long Days of Small Things: Motherhood as a Spiritual Discipline.”  (45:15-1:05:12):  Anitra Parmele, representative from Food For The Poor, joined Aubrey and Catherine to talk about how Food For The Poor is helping the people of Haiti after the devastating 7.2 earthquake on August 14th. Learn more about Food For The Poor at foodforthepoor.org (1:05:12-1:14:33): What are some of the reasons that women choose to go to seminary? Aubrey and Catherine discussed this and commented on Sharon Hodde Miller's Christianity Today article, “The Surprising Reason Women Go to Seminary.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Ashley Hales shares from her deep knowledge of Scripture, culture, and spiritual formation as we discuss her new book A Spacious Life: Trading Hustle and Hurry for the Goodness of Limits (Releases Sept 14, 2021 via IVP) Bio: Ashley Hales holds a PhD in English from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She's a writer, speaker, and hosts The Finding Holy Podcast. Ashley's married to a pastor and the mother to 4. Her writing has been featured in such places as The Gospel Coalition, Books & Culture, and Christianity Today and she loves speaking around the US. She is the author of Finding Holy in the Suburbs and A Spacious Life (Releasing on Sept 14 2021). Connect with Ashley at aahales.com or on Instagram and Twitter at @aahales.     Buy Ashley's books: A Spacious Life: Trading Hustle and Hurry for the Goodness of Limits https://amzn.to/37jaofz Finding Holy in the Suburbs https://amzn.to/3iXvh56 Connecting with Ashley: Website: aahales.com The Finding Holy Podcast: https://aahales.com/podcast Twitter @aahales IG: https://www.instagram.com/aahales/?hl=en Books Recommended by Ashley: Nouwen Return of the Prodigal Son https://amzn.to/3zEpM20 Garber Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good https://amzn.to/2VjLVnC Connect with Brian Russell: Information about Brian's Fall 2021 book Centering Prayer: How Sitting Quietly in God's Presence Can Change Your Life www.centeringprayerbook.com or preorder: https://amzn.to/3pDpN2E Twitter: @briandrussell Instagram: @yourprofessorforlife Coaching for Pastors: www.deepdivespirituality.com Business and Life Coaching: www.drbrianrussellcoaching.com Brian Russell's Book on the Missional Interpretation of Scripture: (Re)Aligning with God: Reading Scripture for Church and World https://amzn.to/3qln258 Links to Amazon are affiliate links. Dr. Russell receives a small payment if you order resources through these links. There is no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting the podcast through your purchases. Please tell your friends about the Deep Dive Spirituality Conversations Podcast. It's also available on YouTube, Spotify, Podbean, and iTunes.

What does our laundry have to do with the big ideas of life? At the Finding Holy podcast, I ask all my guests about their laundry routines. In this episode, hear why I ask that question, some memorable routines, and some tips for you as you connect the dots between the things that matter and your everyday, holy life. LINKS The Quotidian Mysteries by Kathleen Norris: https://amzn.to/3AStaYD Follow Ashley on Twitter or Instagram Curious about the original episodes? Check these out: Jen Pollock Michel, episode 70 on habits of faith Katelyn Beaty, episode 69, on influencer culture and women John Starke, episode 68, on prayer in a pandemic Sam Wheatley, episode 8, on parking in NYC Leslie Leyland Fields, episode 47, on how your story matters Dennae Pierre, episode 25, on ministry in an ordinary place Mike Cosper, episode 21 , on imagination, mental health and writing Season 5 -- all about finding a Spacious Life through your limits -- starts in August! Subscribe to stay tuned. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a great conversation on how faith might grow, not because we have it mentally sorted or we’re traveling from emotional high to emotional high, but because we practice particular habits. Jen Pollock Michel joins me to talk about habit, corporate practices of faith, and how we might explore the bible with others (for those who believe and those who don’t — including ourselves at times). LINKS Jen’s latest book, A Habit Called Faith Jen’s website to check out her other work: https://www.jenpollockmichel.com/ Follow Jen on Twitter or Instagram Book mentioned, One to One Bible Reading You can listen to Jen’s episodes on Finding Holy about finding home in a big city (Episode 3), and an Advent series we did together beginning on Episode 28. ONE SMALL STEP Think of one of the small habits you already have — like doing a load of laundry or going on a daily walk — and consider what sort of habit of faith you might add to it. Maybe you talk to a friend on your walk about spiritual matters, or listen to scripture being read as you fold laundry. Find ways to attach a faith habit to the habits you already have. Tag me at @aahales on Twitter or Instagram to let me know what works for you. SUBSCRIBE AND REVIEW! Your listenership helps good conversations happen! If you’ve found this episode helpful and encouraging, please share it with a friend! Leaving a review on iTunes helps keep the conversations going. *links to Amazon are affiliate links

In this episode Dr. Ashley Hales, author of Finding Holy in the Suburbs, talks with host Brian Phillips about consumerism, busyness, hospitality, and much more. Don't miss this one! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today we’ll bring you the latest on Pacific Northwest wildfires and talk with Melissa Henson, program director for the Parents Television Council, on the controversial Netflix release of the French film, Cuties. We’ll also share a classic interview with Ashley Hales, author of Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much (InterVarsity Press).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We need thoughtful voices that can ask hard questions and gently lead us forward. We need help as we consider how to vote, how to love our neighbor, and how to flex during this pandemic. Join us for Season 4: Living Faithfully in an Upside-Down World. Share a favorite episode on social media and tag me at @aahales (on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook) and you'll be entered to win a free copy of my book, Finding Holy in the Suburbs! For more info and past episodes, listen at www.aahales.com/podcast.

Ashley Hales and Aundi Kolber talk about Aundi's new book, Try Softer, and emotional health now. Aundi Kolber is a Licensed Professional Counselor (MA LPC), writer, and speaker in Castle Rock, Colorado. She specializes in trauma- and body-centered therapies and is passionate about the integration of faith and psychology. Connect with Aundi at aundikolber.com, on Facebook at aundikolberwrites, and on Instagram at aundikolber Tell us what you want to hear! 2 MINUTE SURVEY HERE. LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS, GOOGLE PODCASTS and MEGAPHONE.FM or your favorite podcast-listening app. Other applicable episodes: Episode 51 with K.J. Ramsey on suffering on hope, Episode 18 on talking about race with Cara Meredith, and Episode 52 on transforming ordinary losses with Stephanie Lobdell. LINKS Aundi’s book, Try Softer: https://amzn.to/3fanxto Aundi’s website: https://aundikolber.com/ Aundi on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aundikolber/ Faithful Counseling link for FInding Holy listeners: SHARE We need to create more language around trauma. Try Softer is the response. @aundikolber with @aahales on #findingholypodcast Try Softer allows our bodies to soften into the grace of wholeness. @aundikolber with @aahales on #findingholypodcast Compassion is a softened posture. It allows us to ask: is this in alignment with who I am? @aundikolber with @aahales on #findingholypodcast Taking a break is a form of resilience. @aundikolber and @aahales on #findingholypodcast ONE SMALL STEP As an ending prayer for your day — a sort of prayer of Examen — notice where you were outside of your window of tolerance. Instead of shaming yourself notice, too, what can help ground you and keep you in your window of tolerance. Things like nature, moving your body, times of silence or beauty, might be some things you choose. Write down three and choose to follow them this week as life-giving gifts (not a list of "shoulds", “or else.”). SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE! We’d love it if you could subscribe to the Finding Holy Podcast and tell your friends! Don’t forget to fill out that survey to help out: 2 MINUTE SURVEY HERE.

Ashley Hales and Stephanie Lobdell talk about loss shaming, church hurt, and we can lean into a narrative of hope in practical ways right now. Rev. Stephanie Lobdell, MDiv, is a pastor and writer. She served as co-lead pastor with her husband, Tommy, for ten years and is now the Campus Pastor at Mount Vernon Nazarene University in Ohio. She is the author of Signs of Life: Resurrecting Hope out of Ordinary Losses and co-author of Lenten Postcards. Stephanie and Tommy have two children, Josephine and Jack. Other applicable episodes: Episode 51 with K.J. Ramsey on suffering on hope, Episode 36 with Richella Parham on Life behind Lifehack Answers, and Episode 22 with Catherine McNiel on Hope in Chaos. LINKS Stephanie Lobdell’s website: http://www.stephanielobdell.com/ Stephanie’s book: Signs of Life: https://amzn.to/2ZAmAnO 2 MINUTE SURVEY about the podcast HERE SHARE Right now it feels like a feverpitch of loss. @srdlobdell and @aahales on #findingholypodcast What does the resurrection mean for us now? God breaks in to creation. @srdlobdell and @aahales on #findingholypodcast “I love Jesus but I’m not willing to lie about what hurts.” @srdlobdell and @aahales on #findingholypodcast “You cannot hustle your way to wholeness or resurrection.” @srdlobdell and @aahales on #findingholypodcast ONE SMALL STEP Practice keeping a pen and paper list of your losses (your ordinary ones as well as the large ones) with a corresponding gratitude list. It’ll be a way to move through rather than around pain and loss. This is how we practice resurrection. SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE! We’d love it if you could subscribe to the Finding Holy Podcast and tell your friends! Don’t forget to fill out that survey to help out: 2 MINUTE SURVEY HERE — and you’ll get a chance to win a copy of my book, Finding Holy in the Suburbs!

Ashley Hales identifies the idols of suburbia – including consumerism, individualism, and safety – and describes how we can ensure God is our top priority, along with His mission of sharing the Gospel with our neighbors. Ashley offers encouragement and practical steps we can take in a discussion based on her book, Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much. Podcast users, find today's related broadcast resources here: https://dbx.focusonthefamily.com/media/daily-broadcast/overcoming-suburban-idolatry-to-reach-others Your feedback would be really helpful to us. Please visit http://www.focusonthefamily.com/podcastsurvey to take a brief survey (less than 5 minutes). Thank you!

Ashley Hales and K.J. Ramsey talk about loss and suffering as an invitation to God and community. K.J. RAMSEY (BA, Covenant College; MA, Denver Seminary) is a licensed professional counselor, writer, and recovering idealist who believes sorrow and joy coexist. Her writing has been published in Christianity Today, Relevant, The Huffington Post, Fathom Magazine, Health Central, and other publications on the integration of theology, psychology, and spiritual formation. She and her husband live in Denver, Colorado. Follow K.J.’s writing at kjramsey.com and across social media at @kjramseywrites. Tell us what you want to hear! 2 MINUTE SURVEY HERE — and you’ll get a chance to win a copy of my book, Finding Holy in the Suburbs! LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS, GOOGLE PODCASTS and MEGAPHONE.FM or your favorite podcast-listening app. Other applicable episodes: Episode 42 on Cultivating Hope with Lore Ferguson Wilbert, Episode 48 with Risen Motherhood’s Laura Wifler and Emily Jensen on a Scaffolding for Faithfulness, and Episode 19 with Aubrey Sampson on lament. LINKS K.J’s book, This Too Shall Last: https://amzn.to/37XpAhK K.J.’s website: http://kjramsey.com/ K.J.’s podcast, This Too Shall Last: http://kjramsey.com/podcast Follow K.J. Ramsey on Instagram and Twitter. SPECIAL OFFER: Counseling with Faithful Counseling — get 10% off your first session here: getfaithful.com/findingholy. SHARE “Our suffering is an invitation to turn and see our suffering Savior.” @kjramseywrites Being more present to the moment we’re in enables us to dwell in peace and extend peace to others. @kjramseywrites “We weren’t made for pain. We were made for love.” @kjramseywrites Bear witness to what you feel and experience. That’s showing hospitality to yourself. @kjramseywrites “Suffering is an invitation to wake up to a God who is here.” @kjramseywrites ONE SMALL STEP Pay attention to your overwhelm and note where what triggers it. Practice praying a breath prayer in moments of overwhelm. Try a few lines from a psalm, such as “The Lord is my shepherd” (breathe in), “I shall not want, (breathe out). SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE! We’d love it if you could subscribe to the Finding Holy Podcast and tell your friends! Don’t forget to fill out that survey to help out: 2 MINUTE SURVEY HERE — and you’ll get a chance to win a copy of my book, Finding Holy in the Suburbs!

We talk about empathy, trauma, care for the sexually abused, and telling your story. Please note we talk about sexual abuse in this episode. But do know that the conversation is full of grace and aware of trauma and the healing of God. We talk what the church can do, too. LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS, GOOGLE PODCASTS and MEGAPHONE.FM or your favorite podcast-listening app. LINKS Mary DeMuth’s book, We Too: How the Church can Respond Redemptively to the Sexual Abuse Crisis: https://amzn.to/2Wu8vbb Mary’s site: https://www.marydemuth.com/ Resources for pastors from Mary: https://www.wetoo.org/resources/ Mary’s podcast: https://www.marydemuth.com/pray-every-day-podcast/ SPECIAL OFFER: Counseling with Faithful Counseling — get 10% off your first session here: getfaithful.com/findingholy. SHARE “The church has been my avenue of healing.” @marydemuth on the #findingholypodcast #wetoo #metoo “This journey has been fits and starts, trauma therapy, and underneath it all is this dogged desire to be whole.” @marydemuth on #findingholypodcast “What I would love to hear is survivor stories from the pulpit” @marydemuth #findingholypodcast “To work through the trauma that resides within you: Be tender with yourself.” @marydemuth #findingholypodcast “My spiritual habits of my sabbatical have served me during Covid-19.” @marydemuth #findingholypodcast ONE SMALL STEP This week’s small step is to practice the prayer Mary prayed. Here it is: “I can’t. You can. Please help.” This might be a great companion as you think about your own story and moments when you need God’s provision and help. You might want to start by telling your story to a licensed counselor. My friends over at Faithful Counseling offer a special discount for Finding Holy listeners. Get that here. SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE! We’d love it if you could subscribe to the Finding Holy Podcast and tell your friends!

Join us for this special bonus episode with Karla Reed, a style influencer on Instagram and a Christian. We're not economists (at all!) but we talk about all the confusion about how to think about our spending during the current pandemic. Do we support local businesses? Do we go on a spending freeze? How do we use our money in wise and generous ways when the future is uncertain? Listen in to Karla’s pathways towards generosity and her own rooting practices. Karla Reed uses Instagram to educate women on sustainable fashion, help women be creative with what they wear, and feel less alone. She's the mother of 3, wife to Jason, and lives in southern California. You can follow her on Instagram at @KarlaReed. LISTEN IN ON APPLE PODCASTS OR MEGAPHONE.FM. LINKS Follow Karla on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karlareed/ FIND YOUR ANCHORING POINTS IN A PANDEMIC (a resource) from Ashley Hales Ashley's book, Finding Holy in the Suburbs, available in ebook for $3.99 or in paperback and audio: https://amzn.to/3bylOfj SHARE What do you do when your livelihood depends on other people shopping? Join us on the #findingholypodcast How do we think about our spending or our lack of spending with the economy has grinded to a halt? What practices enable you to be generous even when it looks like resources are scarce? Join us for a bonus episode with Instagram influencer, Karla Reed How might we practice creativity and generosity during a pandemic? Join us for a bonus episode with Karla Reed on #findingholypodcast ONE SMALL STEP Pray through your budget. We're all experiencing this pandemic differently. Some have been let go, others are in stable positions, others are largely dependent on others for their income. If all of our resources are gifts from God, then we need to not act as if they are ours to control. Pray through your budget. Consider where you can cut back to be increasingly generous. Give and receive. We can easily default to hoarding -- either to hoard our excess in times of plenty or hoard our small resources in times of scarcity. Pray about how you might give -- money to a struggling friend, an extra roll of toilet paper, supporting local or small businesses, etc -- and then actually do it. Pray as you give, placing your trust in a good God. Also, receive the gifts of God's provision, too and practice gratitude. SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE! The Finding Holy podcast is still new and we'd love more people to be involved in conversations. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and let me know on social media at @aahales (on IG and Twitter) and you'll be entered to win a book!!

Follow me on IG: @Nick.Carlile Ashley Hales holds a PhD in English from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She’s a writer, speaker, and hosts The Finding Holy Podcast. Ashley’s married to a church planter in the southern California suburbs and the mother to 4. Her writing has been featured in such places as The Gospel Coalition, Books & Culture, and Christianity Today and she loves speaking around the US. Her first book is Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much (IVP). Connect with Ashley at aahales.com or on Instagram and Twitter at @aahales. https://aahales.com/ https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Holy-Suburbs-Living-Faithfully/dp/0830845453 Follow me on IG: @MyLifeEnchanted

The Church has historically practiced Lent as a period of preparation for Easter. What does it have to do with our bodies? Why does this matter to our spiritual lives? Join me and Lore Ferguson Wilbert for a special four-week series on Lent. Lore Ferguson Wilbert is a writer, thinker, learner, and author of Handle With Care. She writes for She Reads Truth, Christianity Today, Lifeway, and more, as well as her own site, Sayable.net. You can find her on social media @lorewilbert. She has a husband named Nate, a puppy named Harper Nelle, and too many books to read in one lifetime. LISTEN on APPLE PODCASTS OR ONLINE AT MEGAPHONE, or wherever you listen to podcasts subscribe to the FINDING HOLY podcast. LINKS Lore’s website: Sayable.net Lore’s book: Handle with Care https://amzn.to/32PrMFz Ashley’s article mentioned from inTouch Magazine, “Across the Threshold” SHARE How do our bodies matter to the life of faith and to Lent particularly? Join @lorewilbert and @aahales on the #findingholypodcast Jesus sees women in their wholeness and we don’t experience that today often as women because we’re trying to fit into a man’s world. @lorewilbert on #findingholypodcast Denying is important and caring is important. On bodies this #Lent with @lorewilbert on #findingholypodcast The reward for giving up a chocolate bar might not be a chocolate bar. The reward is God himself. @lorewilbert on #lent and #bodies for #findingholypodcast ONE SMALL STEP Practice caring for your body this week. Maybe you notice how you feel after a walk, or you enjoy a bath, or have tasty food and a glass of water. If we’re choosing to deny our bodies, we can also choose to care for them properly and honoring God through them. For me, I’m taking daily walks and actually stretching after them! What about you? Let me know how it goes — tag me on social media at @aahales or #findingholypodcast. I’d love to hear! SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE! We’re a new podcast and we’d love for more people to connect the dots between the things that really matter and their everyday lives. Subscribe, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and share with a friend.

What does it look like to build a sustainable life as a mother? I talk with Emily Jensen and Laura Wifler for more. Emily Jensen and Laura Wifler are in the trenches of motherhood, right alongside their readers. With a combination of accessibility, relatability, and solid Biblical knowledge, Emily and Laura have a knack for simplifying complex Biblical truths, revealing how they relate and apply to everyday life. As the co-founders of the Risen Motherhood ministry, and co-hosts of the chart-topping podcast, God has consistently and powerfully used the voices of these two moms as a vehicle to captivate women around the world with the gospel. As sister-in-laws, Emily and Laura both live in central Iowa with their families. LISTEN on APPLE PODCASTS OR ONLINE AT MEGAPHONE, or wherever you listen to podcasts subscribe to the FINDING HOLY podcast. LINKS Risen Motherhood website and podcast Emily and Laura’s book: Risen Motherhood: https://amzn.to/2I0ClvI Resources mentioned: David Powlison’s book, How Does Sanctification Work? Valley of Vision Prayer Book: https://amzn.to/2vmR5T5 Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss: https://amzn.to/32wT7fj Valmarie Journal: http://www.valmariepaper.com/about/journal/ Give Me Jesus Journal by Well-Watered Women: https://shop.wellwateredwomen.com/products/give-me-jesus-journal-2 SHARE WIN A COPY of RISEN MOTHERHOOD! Subscribe to the Finding Holy Podcast. Contact @aahales on social media and you could win! #findingholypodcast How can we know if we’re a good mom? @Risenmotherhood’s @laurawifler and @emily__jensen on #motherhood and the #gospel on @aahales’ #findingholypodcast How do we remain faithful to God in our ministry (in and outside the home)? What’s the scaffolding of a life? @risenmotherhood Wouldn’t it be horrible if you became famous for gospel-centered motherhood and your own family didn’t see that in you? Real life with @risenmotherhood @emily__jensen and @laurawifler “I don’t know what’s big and what’s small and my job is just to be faithful.” @emily__jensen @laurawifler @risenmotherhood How do we live a quiet life? is still a question we ask. @risenmotherhood on #findingholypodcast Good questions for your closest relationships in your busy seasons @risenmotherhood @emily__jensen @laurawifler What a gift it is to create a safe space for our children to work through hard things — to learn how to fail and how to trust God. @risenmotherhood ONE SMALL STEP Set a timer to read your bible every day for Lent. 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes or 30… whatever it is try out a new habit. Also, consider using your imagination as you read. Maybe you imagine yourself into one of the stories of healing in one of the Gospels. Where do you need healing? How is God meeting you? Let me know how it goes — tag me on social media at @aahales or #findingholypodcast. I’d love to hear! SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE! We’re a new podcast and we’d love for more people to connect the dots between the things that really matter and their everyday lives. Subscribe, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and share with a friend. Stay tuned for a special series for Lent with Lore Ferguson Wilbert during the month of March! If you’re a new subscriber and want to win a copy of Risen Motherhood, subscribe and email me at findingholypodcast@gmail.com!

How do we live in a world where our physical and mental tasks keep getting easier (but also somehow more complicated?). What does it mean when our domestic tasks take less effort? Can we have a bigger imagination conquering other human problems with human ways and godly strength? Links from EPISODE 8:1. I retweeted this.2. Also about home-life and being a family kind of lady (NYT) 3. My favorite package of the month (this link saves you $5!).4. Preach to Yourself is $8 today on Amazon! 5. Shannan Martin and her books Falling Free and The Ministry of Ordinary Places6. Ashley Hales and her book Finding Holy in the Suburbs7. Fighting Feminism with Potatoes videoDon't forget you can save $5 with the code MIGHT at http://www.nellietaft.com

Listen in to a conversation about overwhelm and how to order a life that really matters. My guest today is Justin Whitmel Earley, author of the book The Common Rule, a CT Book Award Winner. It’s 40% at IVP this week here! Justin Whitmel Earley graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in English Literature before spending four years in Shanghai, China, teaching and writing. He got his law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center and he now practices business law, writes and speaks in Richmond, Virginia. He is married to Lauren and has four sons – Whit, Asher, Coulter and Shep. InterVarsity Press published his book on formational habits, The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction. You can learn more about cultivating a formational set of habits at www.thecommonrule.org and more about his law practice at www.earleylegalgroup.com. LISTEN on APPLE PODCASTS OR ONLINE AT MEGAPHONE, or wherever you listen to podcasts subscribe to the FINDING HOLY podcast. LINKS Justin’s book, The Common Rule: https://amzn.to/2v2TYIz Justin’s website: www.thecommonrule.org Twitter: @thecommonrule Instagram: @justinwhitmelearley SHARE “The architecture of my life was just like everyone else’s. Which worked until I collapsed.” @thecommonrule “What was a game changer was putting some habits and limitations around my schedule.” @thecommonrule “We like quick fixes instead of small changes. We ask pastors and doctors for a principle or a pill.” @thecommonrule We ask our phones (rather than God): “who do I need to become today?” not just “what I need to do today?” @thecommonrule “You are free when you are free to do what you’re made to do. Pick the master whose yoke is light.” @thecommonrule We’re going to bow our knee to something. Personal choice at every moment leads to decision fatigue. @thecommonrule ONE SMALL STEP Flip the order of your morning — like Justin talks about “scripture before phone” as a habit that has a big impact. This week, I’ll invite you into kneeling prayer at noon. Read a Psalm and kneel at lunchtime to humble yourself before God — to take the limits he gives as good gifts. SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE! We’re a new podcast and we’d love for more people to connect the dots between the things that really matter and their everyday lives. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and share with a friend. RATE and REVIEW this podcast and send me an email to win a copy of Justin’s book! findingholypodcast@gmail.com

When we realize we’ve been sucked into comparison, what do we do? When the “you’re perfect” line or the 5 steps to stop comparing” doesn’t cut it, how do we grow? Richella J. Parham is the author of Mythical Me: Finding Freedom from Constant Comparison (InterVarsity Press) and A Spiritual Formation Primer (Renovaré). She has blogged for over a decade at ImpartingGrace.com. Richella serves as a member of the Ministry Team and as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of Renovaré, a Christian spiritual formation ministry. She also serves as Worship Coordinator for The Gathering Church of Chapel Hill/Durham, North Carolina, and is a member of Redbud Writers Guild. The mother of three young adult sons, Richella lives in Durham with her husband, Jack. For Finding Holy Listeners!! WIN a copy of Mythical Me! Just rate and review Finding Holy HERE on Apple Podcasts and then email me at findingholypodcast@gmail.com to let me know! LISTEN on APPLE PODCASTS OR ONLINE AT MEGAPHONE, or wherever you listen to podcasts subscribe to the FINDING HOLY podcast. LINKS WIN A COPY OF MYTHICAL ME! Just rate and review Finding Holy HERE on Apple Podcasts and then to let me know by emailing findingholypodcast@gmail.com! Richella’s website: www.richellajparham.com/ and blog: https://www.impartinggrace.com/ Richella’s book, Mythical Me: https://amzn.to/2SzNoBa Richella’s book, A Spiritual Formation Primer: https://amzn.to/2OGg4Ht SHARE Comparison has been a life-long struggle for me. @richellaparham on #findingholypodcast Enter to win a copy of @richellaparham’s @ivpress winning book, #MythicalMe from @aahales #findingholypodcast “Love and acceptance is an irreducible human need. We’re looking for the knowledge that we’re acceptable. One of the ways we look for that is noticing those around us who appear to be loved and accepted.” @richellaparham on #findingholypodcast “With the advent of social media, the problem of comparison has gone viral.” @richellaparham on #findingholypodcast “We need a habit to replace the habits of comparison. @richellaparham on #findingholypodcast on comparison ONE SMALL STEP Use a timer for your use of social media use to begin to awaken yourself to your habits and where you’re looking for comfort and meaning. Share it with us at @aahales on social media or using the #findingholypodcast hashtag. Pray the Lord’s Prayer before your feet touch the floor in the morning. Use your actual spaces — like Richella did when she felt pulled to compare (your bathroom, your kitchen, your office desk) and ask God’s will be done in those places. Don’t forget to enter to WIN a free copy of Richella’s book! SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE! We’re a new podcast and we’d love for more people to connect the dots between the things that really matter and their everyday lives. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and share with a friend.

If the social fabric has broken down, what do we do about it? What might Christians have to offer our neighbors who are in search of the common good? We talk everything from loneliness, work, and ideas about how the church can be good neighbors, and how to build real community. Join me as I chat with Jake Meador — he’s the author of In Search of the Common Good and editor-in-chief of Mere Orthodoxy. He lives with his wife and three children in Lincoln, Nebraska. LISTEN on APPLE PODCASTS OR ONLINE AT MEGAPHONE, or wherever you listen to podcasts subscribe to the FINDING HOLY podcast. LINKS Mere Orthodoxy Jake’s book: In Search of the Common Good Ashley’s book, Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much: https://amzn.to/2FQr67Z SHARE How can Christians be a good neighbor in a very alienating culture? @jakemeador on #findingholypodcast Marriage, work, and sabbath are the norms of people before the Fall. @jakemeador on #findingholypodcast We shouldn’t be surprised that people who are hungry are finding their own way to the dinner table. On faith and the common good with @jakemeador on #findingholypodcast We have neighbors who are desperately lonely and we have something to offer them. @jakemeador on #findingholypodcast ONE SMALL STEP Notice something beautiful. Draw your own attention to things going around you that are beautiful and done well. Use it to talk with the others in your real life — your kids, your colleagues — bring someone along with you. Consider ways to share in your neighborhood — share resources. Find a need. Use the need to create relationships. SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE! We’re a new podcast and we’d love for more people to connect the dots between the things that really matter and their everyday lives. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and share with a friend!

On today’s episode on Engaging Culture, Pastor Brian talks with Ashley Hales - writer, author of “Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much”.

For three weeks, our Suburban Bootcamp helps you take the big ideas of secularism and connect the dots to your everyday, holy life. How do we live ordinary lives well in a secular age? Here’s some practical places to start. Bryce Hales (church planter at Resurrection Orange County) and Ashley Hales talk about freedom and secularism, how social media changes us, and how secularism affects those of us who live in suburbs and live rather ordinary lives. We talk about secularism of the right, give you some resources, and help you connect the dots between secularism and habits to move you towards the things of God. Listen in, share and subscribe! LISTEN on APPLE PODCASTS OR ONLINE AT MEGAPHONE, or wherever you listen to podcasts subscribe to the FINDING HOLY podcast. Check out Episode 32 for our first episode in Suburban Bootcamp 2020. LINKS Our church, Resurrection Orange County: https://www.resurrectionoc.com/ Ashley’s book, Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much: https://amzn.to/2FQr67Z And particularly check out this resource specifically for churches: aahales.com/forchurches Mentioned this episode: Faith for Exiles: 5 Ways for a New Generation to Follow Jesus in Digital Babylon, David Kinneman and Mark Matlock SHARE How has secularism infiltrated not only urban progressive places but the suburbs? Join @aahales and pastor @bahales of @res_oc talk about #secularism: Join @aahales and @bahales as they talk right-leaning secularism on #findingholypodcast We talk resilient disciples, information from @barnagroup, secularism, and more on #findingholypodcast The secularism of the right looks more reactionary than outward-focused. #findingholypodcast Meaningful life = community + freedom in a suburban secular age. Listen in to @aahales and @bahales on #findingholypodcast Thick identities are formed through story, attention and what community we’re doing life with. @aahales and @bahales on #findingholypodcast We have the story of the gospel in our heads but we have the story of the culture in our bones. @bahales and @aahales #findingholypodcast ONE SMALL STEP To form a gospel identity — consider what you give your attention to and what people you’re doing life with. Choose to commit to your community: go to church. Make it a priority from now before Easter. Choose to show up for the same group of ordinary people and see how it goes! If regular church-going is already your thing, consider what you might do to show up and volunteer regularly. We don’t want to see our church communities as yet another consumer product. SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE! Get special info for your church here: www.aahales.com/forchurches We’re a new podcast and we’d love for more people to connect the dots between the things that really matter and their everyday lives. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and share with a friend.

For three weeks, our Suburban Bootcamp helps you take the big ideas of secularism and connect the dots to your everyday, holy life. How do we live ordinary lives well in a secular age? Here’s some practical places to start. Bryce Hales (church planter at Resurrection Orange County) and Ashley Hales talk about freedom and secularism, how social media changes us, and how secularism affects those of us who live in suburbs and live rather ordinary lives. We talk about secularism of the right, give you some resources, and help you connect the dots between secularism and your phone. Listen in, share and subscribe! LISTEN on APPLE PODCASTS OR ONLINE AT MEGAPHONE, or wherever you listen to podcasts subscribe to the FINDING HOLY podcast. LINKS Our church, Resurrection Orange County: https://www.resurrectionoc.com/ My book, Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much: https://amzn.to/2FQr67Z Mentioned this episode: Faith for Exiles: 5 Ways for a New Generation to Follow Jesus in Digital Babylon, David Kinneman and Mark Matlock Tish Harrison Warren, “Want to Get into the Christmas Spirit?” New York Times Pete Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day-by-Day and the EHS course here. More on secularism: Charles Taylor, A Secular Age: https://amzn.to/2FQSqTA James K. A. Smith’s synopsis of Taylor, How (Not) to be Secular: https://amzn.to/2FRhLx1 SHARE How has secularism infiltrated not only urban progressive places but the suburbs? Join @aahales and pastor @bahales of @res_oc talk about #secularism: Join @aahales and @bahales as they talk right-leaning secularism on #findingholypodcast We justify ourselves and the right-now experience and so we use our kids as the excuse for that” @bahales and @aahales talk about suburban secularism on the #findingholypodcast We talk resilient disciples, information from @barnagroup, secularism, and more on #findingholypodcast Christianity is important because we do talk about routines, habits, and liturgies, yet nothing of those are supposed to be rote. #findingholypodcast #secularism “Secularism sees suffering as the only evil. When we’ve been insulated from suffering, we don’t feel our need for God” — #findingholypodcast with @aahales and @bahales There’s even secular ways to even read your bible. @bahales and @aahales on #findingholypodcast talking on secularism. We don’t like the idea that God is going to shake things up in the affluent suburbs. @bahales and @aahales on #findingholypodcast Gut check: I’ve been pursuing happiness. Am I happy? asks @bahales @aahales on #secularism on #findingholypodcast ONE SMALL STEP Practice pausing in the middle of your day to remind yourself that you’re in God’s presence. We’re often not aware that we are always in God’s presence. Put an alarm on your phone or put a bright orange sticky note on your bathroom mirror to practice pausing during your day. Read a Psalm. Move your body in a different way — sit down or stand up, kneel or go for a walk. Practice one small step to connect with the grander story of the gospel instead of the story of hurry and hustle. Let us know how it goes: tag me at @aahales or use the hashtag #findingholypodcast to tell us about it. SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE! We’re a new podcast and we’d love for more people to connect the dots between the things that really matter and their everyday lives. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and share with a friend.

For the month of January, our Suburban Bootcamp helps you take the big ideas of secularism and connect the dots to your everyday, holy life. How do we live ordinary lives well in a secular age? Here’s some practical places to start. Bryce Hales (church planter at Resurrection Orange County) and Ashley Hales talk about freedom and secularism, how social media changes us, and how secularism affects those of us who live in suburbs and live rather ordinary lives. We talk about secularism of the right, give you some resources, and help you connect the dots between secularism and your phone. Listen in, share and subscribe! LISTEN on APPLE PODCASTS OR ONLINE AT MEGAPHONE, or wherever you listen to podcasts subscribe to the FINDING HOLY podcast. LINKS This Cultural Moment podcast with Mark Sayers and John Mark Comer Our church, Resurrection Orange County: https://www.resurrectionoc.com/ My book, Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much: https://amzn.to/2FQr67Z Charles Taylor, A Secular Age: https://amzn.to/2FQSqTA James K. A. Smith’s synopsis of Taylor, How (Not) to be Secular: https://amzn.to/2FRhLx1 James K. A. Smith, On the Road with St. Augustine: https://amzn.to/3acimqJ SHARE How has secularism infiltrated not only urban progressive places but the suburbs? Join @aahales and pastor @bahales of @res_oc talk about #secularism: Join @aahales and @bahales as they talk right-leaning secularism on #findingholypodcast “What looks like happiness is: “I get to choose.” We see this on the right and the left. In cities and suburbs and everywhere in-between.” Join @aahales and @bahales for Suburban Bootcamp on the #findingholypodcast: “With social media, we are the product now.” Join @aahales and @bahales as they talk about secularism in the suburbs for #findingholypodcast “Political ideology of the left and the right is taking the place of religion in people’s lives.” @bahales and @aahales on #findingholypodcast “We don’t have to create an identity for ourselves.” Listen in to #findingholypodcast with @bahales and @aahales: ONE SMALL STEP Think about where you put your phone! Grab an old-fashioned alarm clock and plug in your phone across the house. Instead of reaching for your phone as a first step each day — essentially giving our to-do lists, email and social media accounts pride of place in our lives — start your day with your true identity. Read a psalm to start off your day to remind yourself of whose you are. Let us know how it goes! Tag @aahales and use the hashtag #findingholypodcast to share what changes you’re making (and your laundry routine)! SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE! We’re a new podcast and we’d love for more people to connect the dots between the things that really matter and their everyday lives. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and share with a friend.

Kate Bowler, academic and author, writes about women and power in Christian circles in her latest book, The Preacher’s Wife: The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities. Ashley Hales was able to interview Kate Bowler courtesy of The Englewood Review of Books. You can read the interview at The Englewood Review. Thanks to Englewood, here’s a longer version of the article that appeared in print. We talk about roles of women, authenticity, forms of power, and what cuts it in the marketplace and in institutions. This is not an episode to miss! At the Finding Holy podcast, we connect the dots between the things that really matter and your everyday, holy life. Subscribe now. LINKS The Preacher’s Wife: https://amzn.to/2QyBMyu Everything Happens for a Reason: https://amzn.to/2N8wyXW Kate’s website: KateBowler.com SHARE “I would be nothing without the institutions that shelter me.” @katecbowler with @aahales on #findingholypodcast “Why else spend a decade researching? I just want to be helpful.” @katecbowler on #thepreacherswife on #findingholypodcast “The marketplace can’t punish people appropriately. Without time and nuance, irresponsible promises are made because they sell.” @katecbowler on #findingholypodcast “When I was researching this book, I was trying to not die.” @katecbowler on #findingholypodcast “My research made me more empathetic to these women who have been release valves for other women.” @katecbowler on performed #vulnerability on #findingholypodcast SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE! We’re a new podcast and we’d love for more people to connect the dots between the things that really matter and their everyday lives. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and share with a friend. COMING UP! Suburban Bootcamp where we talk real-talk about ministry boots-on-the-ground and the influence of secularism and the digital age. Subscribe so you don’t miss it!

WHAT WE CHAT ABOUT: what it’s like for Ashley as an only child now raising four kids how learning to play with her kids and appreciating the moment has become a spiritual discipline what helped Ashley embrace her life as a mom letting go of expectations and embracing the things that are important to you the emphasis Ashley places on getting to know her kids and how she does that letting your overwhelm spill onto your kids learning to use your quiet time well what inspired Ashley to write her book how Ashley’s concept of Jesus different than most because of her experience as a church planter four idols of the suburbs the power of wanting and waiting LINKS MENTIONED: Finding Holy in the SuburbsSara Groves “This Cup” CONNECT WITH ASHLEY: website | instagram | facebook | podcast CONNECT WITH EMILY: website | instagram | facebook | patreon EPISODE SPONSORS: Polar Ignite Fitness Watch: visit polar.com/momstrugglingwell to get yours now Care Of: get 50% off your first order when you visit takecareof.com and use promo code MSW50 at checkout SUPPORT THE SHOW: Patreon  SHARE THE STRUGGLE! If you've been encouraged, share this episode with a friend.  The struggle is real.  We might as well do this together! Do you love Mom Struggling Well? Please leave a review here!

We’re busy and yet we want to connect with God. Listen in to these four weeks of short conversations that you can listen to in the midst of your real life with Ashley Hales and Jen Pollock Michel. We talk about the reality of December with busy schedules and messy pine needles and how to meet God in the real instead of the ideal. Listen in wherever you listen to podcasts! *A quick note: I wanted to let you know that we’ve changed podcast hosts. So make sure you’ve subscribed to this RSS feed: https://feeds.megaphone.fm/CHRTDY4295404622 LINKS Jen’s reflections on Advent are available to her email subscribers here. Jen’s book, Surprised by Paradox (which has a section on the incarnation). Ashley’s book, Finding Holy in the Suburbs, (which is helpful on consumerism and generosity this season). Works mentioned (and recipes): Acedia and Me, Kathleen Norris Jen’s plum torte recipe available here. Ashley’s millionaire shortbread recipe here. SHARE Food sure makes us laugh this episode. Get @jenpmichel’s plum torte and @aahales’ millionaire shortbread this episode! #findingholypodcast Meals were so special that the whole story of Jesus can be told in a meal. This brings us back to the why. @jenpmichel @aahales #findingholypodcast We deny the pleasures of eating. Hospitality portends something different. Listen in to @aahales and @jenpmichel on #findingholypodcast There is both an asceticism and a pleasure or indulgence to the story of God. @aahales and @jenpmichel on #findingholypodcast The food imagery in the Bible is no accident. @jenpmichel and @aahales on #findingholypodcast ONE SMALL STEP Who needs a spot at my table? Take this question with you through the month of December. Touch your table and pray. Ask God to show you how you can use your table as a welcome for Jesus. Keep the conversation going by tagging Ashley at @aahales on Twitter or using the hashtag, #findingholypodcast. SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE! We’re a new podcast and we’d love for more people to connect the dots between the things that really matter and their everyday lives. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and share with a friend. See you in January!

We’re busy and yet we want to connect with God. Listen in to these four weeks of short conversations that you can listen to in the midst of your real life with Ashley Hales and Jen Pollock Michel. We talk about the reality of December with busy schedules and messy pine needles and how to meet God in the real instead of the ideal. Listen in wherever you listen to podcasts! *A quick note: I wanted to let you know that we’ve changed podcast hosts. So make sure you’ve subscribed to this RSS feed: https://feeds.megaphone.fm/CHRTDY4295404622 LINKS Jen’s reflections on Advent are available to her email subscribers here. Jen’s book, Surprised by Paradox (which has a section on the incarnation). Ashley’s book, Finding Holy in the Suburbs, (which is helpful on consumerism and generosity this season). Tish Harrison Warren in the NYT: “Want to Get into the Spirit of Christmas? Face the Darkness” SHARE “Advent isn’t just a private experience. It’s public witness.” @jenpmichel on #Advent with @aahales on #findingholypodcast We have to face that Advent actually sends us into the public sphere: a cataclysmic message that God is fixing the world through Jesus. @jenpmichel and @aahales on #findingholypodcast God surprises us in how he fulfills our longings. @aahales @jenpmichel on #findingholypodcast this #Advent Who am I in relationship with that I can be more intentional with? @aahales @jenpmichel on #findingholypodcast ONE SMALL STEP Take 5 minutes each day to slow down. There’s so much to be gained by In those 5 minutes! Put away your to-do list, your sense of control, and instead welcome a bigger story by giving your full attention to the people around you — from your family, to friends, to a neighbor. Chat on social media chat with us by using the hashtag #findingholypodcast and let us know how your five minutes a day goes! And for you planner-types, consider Jen’s question: How am I going to make room for God’s mission in 2020? SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE! We’re a new podcast and we’d love for more people to connect the dots between the things that really matter and their everyday lives. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and share with a friend.

We’re busy and yet we want to connect with God. Listen in to these four weeks of short conversations that you can listen to in the midst of your real life with Ashley Hales and Jen Pollock Michel. We talk about the reality of December with busy schedules and messy pine needles and how to meet God in the real instead of the ideal. Listen in wherever you listen to podcasts! LINKS Jen’s reflections on Advent are available to her email subscribers here. Jen’s book, Surprised by Paradox (which has a section on the incarnation). Ashley’s book, Finding Holy in the Suburbs, (which is helpful on consumerism and generosity this season). SHARE “I like that stories of doubt are included in the Christmas story. Uncertainty is part of faith.” @jenpmichel and @aahales on #findingholypodcast “Scripture is full of real people, not idealized ones.” Listen in to the #findingholypodcast this #Advent with @aahales and @jenpmichel Advent is a reminder that the road never becomes clear. We don’t have certainty, just a little bit of light.” @jenpmichel and @aahales on #findingholypodcast “Faith is not formed when we have all the coordinates,” @jenpmichel and @aahales on detours, plans, and saying yes to God on #findingholypodcast “Our yeses are built incrementally” @jenpmichel and @aahales on #findingholypodcast on #Advent. ONE SMALL STEP Advent might be a time for you to take a posture of submission, to practice some silence to hear God speak. Make a list: what are yeses, what are your no’s, and what are your “wish you could’ve” things this Advent season. Bring your list to God. This helps us bring our actual self to God, not an idealized SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE! We’re a new podcast and we’d love for more people to connect the dots between the things that really matter and their everyday lives. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and share with a friend.

Church planting is the process that establishes a local Christian church, and it looks a lot like starting a business. Ashley Hales is the wife of a pastor who established a church in south Orange County, California.   She explains why they chose Orange County to plant their church, how they manage the stress that comes along with ministry, and how she juggles her own passions and career with family and being a pastor's wife.   Ashley is a writer, speaker, podcast host and PhD. She's the wife to a church planter and mom to 4. Her first book is: Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much. Listen to The Finding Holy Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and connect with Ashley at aahales.com or @aahales on Instagram and Twitter.   Resurrection OC website: https://www.resurrectionoc.com/ Ashley's website: https://aahales.com/ Ashley's Twitter: https://twitter.com/aahales Ashley's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aahales.writer Ashley's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aahales/   Mrs. Startup Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/mrsstartup/ Mrs. Startup Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/mrsstartup/ Mrs. Startup website: https://mrsstartup.com Karen's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howellkaren/

We’re busy and yet we want to connect with God. Listen in to these four weeks of short conversations that you can listen to in the midst of your real life with Ashley Hales and Jen Pollock Michel. We talk about the reality of December with busy schedules and messy pine needles and how to meet God in the real instead of the ideal. LINKS Jen’s reflections on Advent are available to her email subscribers here. Jen’s book, Surprised by Paradox (which has a section on the incarnation). Ashley’s book, Finding Holy in the Suburbs, (which is helpful on consumerism and generosity this season). Other works mentioned: James K. A. Smith, You Are what You Love and On the Road with St. Augustine Edith Schaeffer, What is a Family?  Athanasius, On the Incarnation SHARE “On the one hand I sense a longing for God and yet there are a gazillion things to do.” @jenpmichel on the #findingholypodcast Listen in to @jenpmichel and @aahales talk about the surprise of Advent in this series on the #findingholypodcast Incarnation is the death of abstraction. The invitation is for us notice being in a body this Advent. Listen to @jenpmichel and @aahales on #findingholypodcast “We keep pushing off the ideal for the real” @aahales and @jenpmichel on #findingholypodcast “Advent had been the occasion of my annual meltdown” @jenpmichel and @aahales on #findingholypodcast ONE SMALL STEP A question for you to ponder: What would it look like for you to embrace the real rather than the ideal this season? Practice embracing the real instead of pining for the ideal this Advent season? SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE! We’re a new podcast and we’d love for more people to connect the dots between the things that really matter and their everyday lives. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and share with a friend.

Our places shape our loves. Can the church stick with a place? We continue this mini-series in November on place with series co-host, Brandon J. O’Brien, and today we bring in José Humphreys of East Harlem, NYC. José Humphreys is a facilitator and pastor of Metro Hope Covenant Church, a multiethnic and multicultural church in East Harlem, New York City. He is also a social worker, consultant and author. Humphreys is involved in shalom-making in New York City through facilitating conversation, contemplation, and action across social, economic, cultural, and theological boundaries. Catch the first episode on place here, and the second one with Dennae Pierre here. LINKS Connect with Jose on his website: https://www.josehumphreys.com Buy Jose’s book: https://amzn.to/2qjUxvk Jose’s church: Metro Hope Church Giveaway to win Jose’s book (and other books too!): www.aahales.com/giveaway SHARE “We all show up with a certain gospel story…” @josehumphreys on #place and #churchplanting on the #findingholypodcast with @aahales “How do we live mindfully in the places God has put us?” A fabulous conversation with @josehumphreys and @brandonjobrien on a #theologyofplace “The theology we’ve inherited is very much about Sunday and resurrection. How is disorientation important part of the Christian life?” We talk place, race, gender and the gospel on #findingholypodcast with @josehumphreys @brandonjobrien Instead of thinking about property values of what a place has for us, start by looking at the cultural, political, colonization root systems of our places. @josehumphreys on #findingholypodcast “Staying put means that place can shape us as much as people, or other categories.” @josehumphreys on #findingholypodcast with @aahales and @brandonjobrien ONE SMALL STEP Start to think through the tender places in your own life about staying put in your place. What hurts about staying put? What’s exciting? Where are the tender places in your own life and desires where staying put feels a little achy? Name those tender places. Tag Ashley @aahales on Twitter or Instagram and use the hashtag #findingholypodcast to join the discussion. SUBSCRIBE, SHARE AND WIN! Subscribe to the Finding Holy podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. We’d be thrilled if you rated and reviewed it on iTunes and shared with a friend! Don’t forget to enter the GIVEAWAY NOW at aahales.com/giveaway.

Ashley Hales holds a PhD in English from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She’s a writer, speaker, and hosts The Finding Holy Podcast. Ashley’s married to a church planter in the southern California suburbs and the mother to 4. Her writing has been featured in such places as The Gospel Coalition, Books & Culture, and Christianity Today. Her first book is Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much (IVP). Connect with Ashley at aahales.com or on Instagram and Twitter at @aahales. We’ll talk about the contrasts of cities and suburbs, about her multi-layered sense of vocation, and about the power of place. Credits:   This show is a production of Harbormedia and Narrativo. We make podcasts at Narrativo – you can learn more about that at www.narrativogroup.com.   This episode was edited and mixed by  Mike Cosper Our theme song is by Roman Candle Our music is by Roman Candle and Dan Phelps.

We don’t often think about how our places shape us and our stories. We often think of our places as a backdrop to all the living we do, just the context for how we’ll move about in the world. We don’t clearly articulate how places shape our souls.  My guest today has a particularly helpful take on place — partly because she’s lived on different continents as a minority and has learned how to navigate majority cultures. She’s lovely to talk to and offers us so much wisdom (and stories) about how to tell our stories of place well.  Patrice Gopo articulately explains how places have shaped her in this episode. Patrice Gopo is the daughter of Jamaican immigrants and was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska. She is a personal essayist and often writes about topics of race, immigration, and belonging. Her first book, a collection of personal essays entitled All the Colors We Will See, is a Fall 2018 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. Patrice is a firm believer in the power of personal narratives to create pathways of connection and understanding in society. When she’s not writing and reflecting about her own journey, she teaches and speaks about the importance of personal storytelling. LINKS Buy Patrice’s book, All the Colors We Will See:  http://bit.ly/patricegopo Website: patricegopo.com/subscribe Instagram: @patricegopo Facebook: @patricegopowrites SHARE How do places form our loves? Listen to @patricegopo on place, race, immigration, and the stories our places tell on the #FindingHolyPodcast with @aahales.  What does moving across the world, writing our stories, and doing the laundry have in common? Find out from @patricegopo on the #findingholypodcast. Don’t miss this fantastic episode with @patricegopo and @aahales on the #findingholypodcast. It’s a theology of place unpacked.  ONE SMALL STEP Give yourself a 10-minute assignment: think about your place. Go on a walk in your neighborhood. Brainstorm in your journal. But give yourself 10 minutes to start noticing how who, what, when, where and what happens right where you live forms your loves.  Curious what that might look like? You can go to aahales.com, scroll to the bottom, and enter your email: then you’ll get a free download of the first chapter of my book, Finding Holy in the Suburbs, about how Target forms our desires. Red carts, coffee, and clearance sections, oh my! (And the book is 40% off right now at IVP as part of their Summer Reading List, details here).  Remember, no matter where you live, that you get to live the story of Jesus. But don’t forget the laundry — because big things matter, but so does the laundry! 

Sometimes when we’re in the thralls of our normal routines, our roles in our families and in our neighborhoods, it’s hard to stop and pay attention. Shawn Smucker, author, husband, and busy father to 6, talks with us about what it looks like to choose presence from cross-cultural friendships with a refugee and with his own family.  Here’s a bit more about Shawn: He lives in Lancaster, PA with his wife, Maile, and his 6 children. He’s the author of The Day the Angels Fell, The Edge of Over There, Once We were Strangers, and the forthcoming novel, Light from Distant Stars. Be sure to preorder his latest release before July 16 for a free peek into the life and journal of a novelist.  You’ll want to listen in for wisdom about parenting, about how to navigate cross-cultural friendships and be present to your actual neighbors. But you’ll also want to stick around to hear his laundry routine for a family of 8, how his wife Maile and he aren’t just sliding into established roles in their writing and parenting lives together, and how you can take one small step of presence in a culture that idolizes hurry and busyness.  LINKS: Link to purchase The Day the Angels Fell: https://amzn.to/2X7B2oL Link to purchase The Edge of Over There: https://amzn.to/2RwDsr3 Link to purchase Once We Were Strangers:  https://amzn.to/2X2iIgR Link to pre-order Light from Distant Stars: https://amzn.to/2X6MBws More about Shawn, his work, and his writing services: http://shawnsmucker.com SHARE: Listen to @ShawnSmucker discuss his friendship with a Syrian refugee and what it taught him about a “drop in” friendship in a culture of busyness on the #FindingHolyPodcast with @aahales Curious about how to navigate a meaningful life in the midst of marriage and family life? You’ll want to listen to @shawnsmucker on the #findingholypodcast Listen to how @shawnsmucker and his wife reevaluated roles, made time for the work they love, and still manage to get the laundry done for a family of 8 on The #FindingHolyPodcast ONE SMALL STEP: Move your communication from social media to one-on-one for a week. Write a note of gratitude. Look your children in the eye. Practice presence in small and unseen ways. We’d even love to get a note here at the podcast (email us at findingholypodcast@gmail.com) and would love for you to stay in the conversation by subscribing.  Keep the conversation going by purchasing Finding Holy in the Suburbs for a friend and see how your can love your place, your actual neighbors, and those right in front of you. Better yet, buy it from real people (we recommend Hearts & Mind Bookstore, who will send it from real people not a drone!)

When it comes to building a lifestyle of discipleship, we tend to focus on the spiritual disciplines, reaching out to others to share the gospel, and understanding our the calling that God has placed on our lives. It's easy to overlook the geography of where all this takes place. And yet, when it comes creating a certain kind of lifestyle, the environment we're in plays a significant role in how we live. Our homes and our cities shape our lives as we build daily habits and routines around them so we might live more comfortably and be more effective in our work. And that's why we are talking to Ashley Hales today, who has written a book about Finding Holy in the Suburbs when the suburbs are often seen as places of escape for rich white people who measure their worth by how much stuff they have. Her story shows us there is so much more to the suburbs than the perfectly manicured lawns we see on the surface. Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.

Darryl Dash is pastor of Liberty Grace Church in Toronto, and author of *How to Grow: Applying the Gospel to All of Your Life*. He is also cofounder of Gospel for Life and director of Advance Church Planting Institute. He has a Doctor of Ministry degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and has over 25 years of ministry experience. Darryl is married to Charlene and has two adult children: Christy and Josiah. You can find Darryl online at DashHouse.com. WORKS MENTIONED Darryl Dash’s book : How to Grow: Applying the Gospel to All of Life: https://amzn.to/2JT07g8 Gretchen Rubin, Better than Before: What I learned about Making and Breaking habits: https://amzn.to/2JWrVjL  M. Scott Peck, on the stages of community: http://atlc.org/members/resources/four_stages_community.html SHARE “I am famished for God’s presence…I say that as someone desperate.” @dashhouse on the #findingholypodcast with @aahales:  “The church is going to be disillusioning. Yet there is something that happens. God uses the church to grow us.” @dashhouse on the #findingholypodcast with @aahales:  “Habits are valuable insofar that they lead me to God.” @dashhouse on the #findingholypodcast with @aahales:  How to commit to 3 small habits to grow in your faith. @dashhouse on the #findingholypodcast with @aahales:  ONE SMALL STEP Join me with one small step – let’s make a habit. For the next 21 days, let’s commit to reading our Bibles. It doesn’t need to big or studious. Start small – just even one verse before you check your email or grab your keys and coffee in the morning. Let me know how it goes! Email me on the contact form on the website: aahales.com.  IF YOU HAVEN’T YET… Subscribe to The Finding Holy Podcast on itunes or wherever you listen to podcasts.   Share an episode.   Read — continue the conversation by reading Finding Holy in the Suburbs. 

How do Christians live faithfully in the land of too much (i.e., the suburbs)? In this episode, Dr. Ashley Hales joins Matt, Derek, and Alastair to talk about consumerism, individualism, busyness, and safety, topics that are covered in her new book, "Finding Holy In The Suburbs" (IV Press).

On this second edition of a “Suburban Bootcamp,” Bryce and Ashley Hales talk together about how the gospel reorients our relationships vertically with God and horizontally with others. So how do we make the mental shift from the allure of convenience to moving outwards towards others?  Hospitality flows from God who has made room for us — seen most clearly in  the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  Ashley posed a few helpful diagnostic questions as we think about hospitality and making room: SOME QUESTIONS Where am I making room in my time? Where am I making room in my body for others — do I look at people? Do I see the needs around me? Where am I making room in my affections — so that I’m looking for ways to connect with others who are far from God?  But where do we start? Bryce encourages to embrace awkward and be a good neighbor and start today in one small step.  ONE SMALL STEP Put a date on the calendar three weeks out.  Create a reason to get together with some friends, neighbors, and people you sort of know. Try out your favorite barbecue recipe, or grab a Costco lasagna. The point is to make room in your schedule and your home to really see people.  GET INVOLVED Hooray! A Leader’s Guide is coming soon for Ashley’s book, Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much. With chapters on hospitality and busyness, you won’t want to miss the book, or the chance to read and talk about with friends. Buy yourself a copy (hey! pick one up for your whole group) and stay tuned for the release of the Leader Guide! If you’re looking for a little reminder about the things that matter in a noisy world, make sure you get The Essential 3. It’s a small dose of beauty, truth, and goodness in the form of 3 links sent directly to your inbox each week. It’s short, sweet, and just what you might need. Get it here.  SHARE “Hospitality is about making room.” @aahales @bahales #Findingholypodcast #suburbanbootcamp What to do when you feel like hospitality is all about Martha Stewart. It starts with a Costco lasagna and baby wipes. #hospitality #suburbanbootcamp #FindingHolyPodcast @aahales “Making room” makes the gospel and hospitality feel accessible. #findingholypodcast

Research shows our society's widespread isolation. What's the church's role in alleviating it? While technology, living situations, and neighborhood have all played roles in perpetuating these feelings of loneliness, arguably so have many of churches, says Ashley Hales, the author of Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much. “There’s a sense that our church structures have made people more lonely,” said Hales. “People can just come as they please. If they’re really unknown, they’re not getting plugged into any smaller forms of community.” Part of it is changing cultural expectations of church, said Hales. “We want church to be this customizable religious experience, instead of saying this is the bride of Christ, it’s going to be painful to be a part of, that it’s one of the only organizations where people of every tribe, tongue, and nation are getting together amidst different socioeconomic and racial differences,” she said. “ Hales joined digital media producer Morgan Lee and editor in chief Mark Galli to discuss the structural and existential reasons for our loneliness, how to be a good neighbor, and why it’s the small patterns of our life that make a big difference when it comes to relationships.

Today we’ll talk with Ashley Hales, author of “Finding Holy in the Suburbs; Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much” (InterVarsity Press). We'll also cover the day's top news. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My guest this week is Rev. Sam Wheatley, who we met when he was our pastor in Salt Lake city, UT. Whereas we’ve moved on to church planting in the SoCal suburbs, Sam and his wife Kate have moved back to NYC. Sam is the Executive Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church Downtown. He and his wife, Kate, have three grown children. Places form our loves. They also form our habits. I’d noticed how Sam was chronicling his new life in NYC on Instagram and how moving the car had become a spiritual space for contemplation and exploration. I was fascinated and I wanted to know how the big city connected with the gospel. Listen in. ONE SMALL STEPIdentify one transitional moment — find one spot in your day, whether that’s moving the car, doing the laundry, or your morning commute and consider how you can turn it Godward instead of selfward (or simply distracting yourself with technology). Identify one transitional step — meditate on a line from scripture, or say a simple prayer in your transitional moment. These sorts of small habits fashion our attention toward God and his gospel rather than towards self. THANK YOU! Thank you for joining us in Season One. May I ask you to do three things? Subscribe to The Finding Holy Podcast on itunes or wherever you listen to podcasts. Share an episode. Read — continue the conversation by reading Finding Holy in the Suburbs. UNTIL NEXT TIME We’ll be back in January for a special edition of “Suburban Bootcamp” with Bryce and Ashley Hales. In January expect a few episodes where Bryce and Ashley Hales sit down to talk about how to start from the ground up creating a culture of generosity, vulnerability and hospitality. You’ll want to listen in if you’re in ministry, if you live in the suburbs, or even if you’re curious about how to take some practical steps in conjunction with my book Finding Holy in the Suburbs.

My guest today lives in rural Appalachia -- probably not a spot most of my listeners live in. The temptation could be to skip this episode because you don’t live in a rural spot. Maybe you live in the city or suburbs or a small town.  But here’s the thing -- no matter where we live, we have to figure out how to live in that place well and there’s lots of crossovers between Appalachia and the suburbs. So listen in. My guest today on Episode 7 is Hannah Anderson. We talk about living as an outsider in a rural community, wisdom gained through discernment, her calling to her place and to her writing, and her new book, All That’s Good: Recovering the Lost Art of Discernment. Hannah lives with her pastor husband and three children in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She’s the author of Made for More, Humble Roots, and All that’s Good. In addition to writing and speaking, she also hosts The Persuasion Podcast with Erin Straza for Christ and Pop Culture Stick around: You’ll find some gold nuggets to encourage you to stay rooted in your place -- whether you’re in the country, city, or suburbs. And at the end, you’ll have your one small step to help take all the things that matter into your ordinary, holy, life. Hannah provided us some wonderful questions to help us in the ways of discernment: --How would what I share (online) affect my real-life relationships? --What is the point of correcting? Would it build the community? --What would I say to this person if this person was in my kitchen? Proximitiy checks our tendencies. A SMALL STEPThis week remember to lighten up. Humor disarms. Try a family dance party to get out of your own head or using a self-deprecating joke. It’ll allow you to begin to empathize instead of using truth as a weapon.   LINKS Hannah’s website: https://www.sometimesalight.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/sometimesalight Persuasion Podcast: https://persuasionpodcast.buzz/ Link to purchase Made for More: https://amzn.to/2QMwArB Link to purchase Humble Roots: https://amzn.to/2rtISa3 Link to purchase All that’s Good: https://amzn.to/2QINKpZ SHARE Discernment simply means developing a taste for what’s good. --@sometimesalight on #FindingHolyPodcast How does discernment equip us to navigate a broken, complicated world with confidence and joy? -- @sometimesalight #FindingHolyPodcast Hannah Anderson talks about rural, working class Appalachia, the mistakes she’s made and how she’s practicing discernment on #FindingHolyPodcast: “The nature of truth is communal.” Listen in to @sometimesalight on #FindingHolyPodcast: A GIFT FOR YOU Share an episode of The Finding Holy Podcast online and review it on iTunes. Then take a screenshot and send it to me at findingholypodcast@gmail.com. I’ll send you your very own Finding Holy journal!

You’ll love this interview with author and activist Micha Boyett. She and her family live in San Francisco, CA. Micha Boyett, author of Found, talks motherhood, raising a son with Down Syndrome, and what it looks like to be a good neighbor in San Francisco. Don’t miss her helpful tips on practicing to see the way Jesus sees -- even when you’re in the school pick-up line. Here’s a bit more about our guest: Micha Boyett is a poet, activist and author of the book, Found: A Story of Questions, Grace and Everyday Prayer. She has an MFA and writes on spiritual formation, down syndrome and motherhood. She hosts The Lucky Few podcast which focuses on changing the narrative about Down Syndrome. A SMALL STEP It’s Micha’s practice. → Create a visual clue for the change you want to see. Try grabbing a sticky note right now. Write a word, phrase, or portion of scripture that you want to meditate on. (For me, I’m putting a bright pink sticky note on the fridge that says “breathe.” so that when the noise of four small kids gets too much, I’ll remember that breathing is one way we rewire those neurons)! So grab a sticky note, put on a word or phrase and put it where you’ll see it. Let me know how it goes! It’s one small way to begin to take the ideas we want to embody -- like peace, love, and kindness -- and begin to make a practice of them. LINKS Micha’s website: https://www.michaboyett.com/ The Lucky Few Podcast: www.theluckyfewpodcast.com/ Twitter: @michaboyett Link to purchase Micha’s book, Found: https://amzn.to/2SsFZBY Link to purchase No Drama Discipline: https://amzn.to/2QDlnK4 Link to purchase The Whole-Brained Child: https://amzn.to/2SuidWf SHARE “Spiritual discipline is sometimes about retraining our brains.” —@michaboyett on #findingholypodcast with @aahales: “The smallest choices are usually the ones that effect you the most.” —@michaboyett on #findingholypodcast with @aahales “Spiritual discipline is always going to be a practice.” —@michaboyett on #findingholypodcast with @aahales “Thanksgiving is always the heart of change.” —@michaboyett on #findingholypodcast with @aahales A GIFT FOR YOU Head over to aahales.com, enter your email, and you’ll get a free download of the first chapter of my book, Finding Holy in the Suburbs. (Or you can purchase it here).

Consumption! Capitalism! Consumerism! Christmas! We’re hitting pause and engaging the heart of consumption, capitalism, consumerism and most importantly, the heart of Christmas. What does it mean to celebrate the birth of Jesus, a poor kid from Nazareth who learned his father’s trade and had nowhere to lay his head? Ashley Hales and Shannan Martin join us as we ask: How do we opt out of the glitz and glitter around us to make space in our homes for the baby Messiah born in a manger?Shannan Martin, author of “The Ministry of Ordinary Places,” is a speaker, blogger, wife, and mom of four. Ashley Hales is a writer, speaker, pastor’s wife, and mother of four. She is the author of “Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much.” Ashley and Shannan join Kayla Craig and Lindsy Wallace for a conversation about staying Christ-centered in a season of excess.In this episode, we:Share how the life of Christ influences our approach to celebrating the Christmas holiday;Discuss whether modern capitalism is compatible with Christian living;Share how we mindfully engage in gift-giving; andThink about how we can emulate the life of Christ as consumers.Join us as we discuss how we can celebrate Christmas in a capitalistic society while emulating the life of Jesus.Recommended reading & resources:“Finding Holy in the Suburbs” by Ashley Hales“The Ministry of Ordinary Places” and “Falling Free” by Shannan MartinThe Pray as You Go app and podcastShannan Martin’s 12 Ways of ChristmasAdventconspiracy.org and @adventconspiracyThe Blessed is She Advent devotionalWalter Brueggeman’s two Advent devotionalsListen to our conversation on ethical fashion with Lauren Pinkston of Wearthy (episode #32).News, Notes, and Links:If you’d like to support us to keep Upside Down Podcast ad-free, please visit us here, where you can pledge a few dollars of monthly support to help us pay our bills and keep the conversations going.Find Ashley on Instagram: @aahalesFind Shannan on Instagram: @shannanwriteshttp://www.upsidedownpodcast.com/Join the Upside Down Tribe on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/upsidedowntribe/?fref=nfSupport the show (http://www.patreon.com/upsidedownpodcast)

In Episode 4, I sit down with Bronwyn Lea. Bronwyn Lea is originally from South Africa and brings a unique perspective to American listeners, not just on America, but on the way the places we live shape our lives. Bronwyn Lea is an author, speaker, activist, and most recently, editorial curator for Propel Sophia. She loves Jesus, puns, her home country of South Africa, her adopted country of the US, her endlessly patient husband, her three goofy kids, wisdom and justice, seeing women thrive in the Kingdom, and quality ice-cream (in no particular order). As a response to the interview, I simply invite you to pray. As you pray consider these questions from Bronwyn: Can you start by processing things with God in private? Tell God what I’m sad and mad about. Is this between just God and me? Do I need to speak out? Do I need to be quiet? Secondly, I'd love to hear if you took one small step towards being hospitable with your neighbors. Try something like a Trader Joe's Open House. Tell me all about it. As always we love when people subscribe and leave reviews on iTunes! When we get to 20, the first 20 reviews will get a free "Finding Holy" journal! (Screenshot it and send it to me at aahales AT gmail). Links: https://aahales.com/ Bronwyn's website: http://bronlea.com/ Twitter: @BronLeaTweets Propel Sophia: https://www.propelwomen.org/content/propel-sophia-landing-page/gk9bjk

Meredith and Kaytee are back in your earbuds to chat Non-Fiction and some other really wonderful titles! You’ll hear a “bookish moment of the week” from each of us: a bookish candle and IRL friendships that are reading more. Next, we tackle what we are currently reading, just two titles from each of us so we have time to talk about 50 thousand additional books! Our deep-dive this week centers on some of our favorite non-fiction genres! We throw a whole metric crap-ton of titles at you to get you started in the non-fiction world, if that seems to be a place that you’re lacking. Every one of these titles have been vetted by one or both of us (along with many others that we’ve mentioned in past episodes), and we are all about you picking them up! As always, we finish up with A Book (yep, capitalized) that we’d like to press into every reader’s hands. This week we have some beautiful fiction as well as a great and FUN contemporary mystery. Time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you’d like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don’t scroll down!  .  .  .  .  .  1:21 - Friday Reads candle from Main Line Candle Company 5:06 - Some Writer! The Story of E.B. White by Melissa Sweet 6:37 - Stuart Little by E.B. White 6:39 - Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White 6:56 - The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White 7:35 - A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas 8:24 - Episode 10 of Currently Reading 9:23 - The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King 12:02 - Finding Holy in the Suburbs by Ashley Hales 12:55 - The Art of Neighboring by Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon 15:12 - The Turquoise Table by Kristin Schell 15:45 - Little Free Library! 17:16 - Hens Dancing by Raphaella Barker 17:47 - Bridget Jones Diary by Helen Felding 23:23 - Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner 23:35 - Magnolia Story by Chip and Joanna Gaines 23:51 - Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan 24:28 - Yes, Please by Amy Poehler 24:31 - Monsoon Mansion by Cinelle Barnes 24:55 - Coming Clean by Seth Haines 25:18 - Educated by Tara Westover *Other memoirs mentioned in past episodes that I LOVE: As You Wish by Cary Elwes, Born A Crime by Trevor Noah, anything by David Sedaris 26:38 - Disney War by James B. Stewart 27:29 - Smartest Guys in the Room by Bethany McLean 27:34 - Conspiracy of Fools by Kurt Eichenwald 27:46 - The Pixar Touch by David Price 28:11 - Bad Blood by John Carreyrou 28:55 - So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo 28:57 - I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown 29:08 - The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton 29:13 - Evicted by Matthew Desmond 29:41 - Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson 30:08 - Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle 30:10 - Barking to the Choir by Gregory Boyle 31:14 - Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore 32:11 - Start With Why by Simon Sinek 32:17 - Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek 32:24 - Pour Your Heart Into It by Howard Schultz 32:44 - Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh 32:58 - 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership by Jim Dethmer and Diana Chapman 33:30 - Tools of Titans by Tim Ferris 35:07 - Essentialism by Greg McKeown 35:38 - Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin 35:39 - The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin 34:50 - The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown 35:05 - Daring Greatly by Brene Brown 35:07 - Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown 35:10 - Dare to Lead by Brene Brown 36:33 - Fringe Hours by Jessica Turner 37:15 - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R. Covey 37:28 - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Steven Covey 37:45 - Chasing Slow by Erin Loechner 38:20 - Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist 39:06 - Cozy Minimalist Home: More Style, Less Stuff by Myquillin Smith *Other productivity books mentioned in past episodes: Stretched Too Thin by Jessica Turner 41:00 - This is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel 44:28 - Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty 45:59 - The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty 46:02 - What Alice Forgot by Liane Moraiarty 46:54 - Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty *Please note that all book titles linked above are Amazon affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. Thanks for your support!*  

Award-winning author Jen Pollock Michel and I talk about how you can belong to a place when you’re an expat, our longings for home, and her amazing laundry song. You won’t want to miss this conversation about the incarnation, owning dogs, and how we belong to our places. We want the Finding Holy Podcast to help connect the dots between the things that matter and your everyday, holy life. Find out more at aahales.com/podcast. Here’s one small step to take to do just that: Take a walk. With or without a dog or kids. This allows you to meet neighbors and begin to hear their stories. So schedule a walk in your neighborhood this week. Simply start paying attention to the needs around you. As you walk more regularly, you’ll meet people, see needs to meet, and make time and space to pray and reflect. GIVEAWAY Leave a review on iTunes and I’ll contact you to receive your free Finding Holy journal for the first 20 reviews! LINKS: Link to purchase Teach Us to Want: https://amzn.to/2EkuI4n Link to purchase Keeping Place: https://amzn.to/2Cg6CVI Jen’s website: https://www.jenpollockmichel.com/ Twitter: @jenpmichel Share: “We can actually look at salvation itself as an act of housekeeping.” -@jenpmichel on home, Toronto, laundry and paradox for the #findingholy podcast with @aahales: https://apple.co/2CeiHLg

Ashley Hales is the author Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much. Check out the Shownotes for more information about Ashley, her book and how to connect with her. 

In this episode Ashley and I continue our discussion about her newly released book, Finding Holy in the Suburbs, available wherever books are sold. Join me as we chat about how she is learning to make her home and carve out a holy space within the southern California suburbs. And of course Ashley speaks to her pursuit of the art of noticing within the parameters of a full and busy wife as mother of four and pastor's wife. Ashley and her husband are involved in a church plant in Orange County where life is full. Did I mention she holds a PHD in English from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

The otherWISE podcast is back!Our guest today is Ashley Hales, author of the new book Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much that releases on October 23rd.Ashley Hales holds a PhD in English from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She's a writer, speaker, the wife to a church planter in the southern California suburbs and mother to 4. Her writing has been featured in such places as The Gospel Coalition,Books & Culture, and Christianity Today. Connect with Ashley at aahales.comor on social media at @aahales.She also hosts the newly launched Finding Holy podcast.Here are the books we mentioned on the podcast:Death By Suburb, Dave GoetzThe Weight of Glory, C.S. LewisWhat Are People For? or Jayber Crow, Wendell BerryMusic by Austin MartinCover Design by Eric Wright/Metamora Design

Beth Bruno and Ashley Hales discuss "Finding Holy in the Suburbs," a book about the places we live and the loves we have. Though urban ministry has been the focus of kingdom work this last decade, Ashley offers a theology of the suburbs in a tone that is prophetic, but not self-righteous. We talk about suburban geography informing our loves, finding value in busy, and blessing the ordinary of our days. **Connect with Ashley:** [Website](http://aahales.com/) [Book](https://www.ivpress.com/finding-holy-in-the-suburbs) [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/aahales/) [Twitter](https://twitter.com/aahales) **Connect with Beth**: [Instagram](https://instagram.com/bethhbruno) [Facebook](https://facebook.com/bethhillarybruno) [Twitter](https://twitter.com/bethhbruno) [Website](https://www.bethbruno.org) [Book](https://www.bethbruno.org/avoicebecoming/)

The Finding Holy Podcast is coming soon!

A sermon on Exodus 3:1-15 delivered by Rev. Jonathan C. Page on September 3 at First Congregational Church of Houston.

Joshua 5:13-15 || God's Promises Series Part 8 || First Delivered: 14/05/2017

Finding Holy Ground ~ Week 1 by St. Johns Church of God

Finding Holy Ground by St. Johns Church of God

Finding Holy Ground ~ Week 3 by St. Johns Church of God

Finding Holy Ground ~ Week 4 by St. Johns Church of God

Finding Holy Ground ~ Week 5 by St. Johns Church of God

Finding Holy Ground ~ Week 6 by St. Johns Church of God