What We Really Want: Conversations About Connection

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Recently, Stacey and Greg were honored to appear as guests on Return to Heart, the podcast of Tin Man Ministries. We're posting these episodes here, with the microphones turned around, with the title "Who's Asking the Questions Now?" Next week will feature a conversation with both Stacey and Greg, and the week after another one with Greg.

In this episode Tin Man's clinical director Phi...

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Let’s just state the obvious. Runners are weird people. We know it and we embrace it. But if running is not your thing, please don’t skip this conversation. There’s something here for you.

Cary and Micah Morgan are pillars of the Birmingham AL running community. More than that, they’re wonderful people who genuinely care about others and love well. 

Cary is ...

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Why do people often feel more "churched" and cared for in recovery meetings than they do in their actual churches? What is present at those meetings, and/or missing from those churches? And what can we do about it?

Zac Hicks thinks these are important questions to consider. Zac is the lead pastor of Church of the Cross, a church plant in Birmingham AL. Over the past 20+ years, his exte...

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Conversations that don't feel rushed can feel pretty rare, but they're special when they happen. That's what it was like talking to our new friend, singer/songwriter Jason Gray. 

Jason has been around Christian music for a long time, writing and releasing music that connects deeply with the heart. He's a man who has been through a lot of pain in his life, including parental abando...

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One of the greatest gifts that can be given a person in recovery is presence. Company. Someone to walk with you. Someone to make sure you aren't doing recovery alone.

For 25 years, Troy and Melissa Haas have been walking with men and women impacted by addiction and betrayal trauma. Out of their own experience - with Troy's multiple addictions and incarceration and Melissa's discovery o...

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Parents raising kids today face challenges different from any other generation before. Technology is expanding and changing more rapidly than ever, and dangerous and harmful content hunts for young eyes. 

Kristen Jenson has a mission: to help equip parents to prepare their kids. When kids know what is out there, how it is harmful, and what to do when they're exposed, they'll be sa...

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There's a song lyric that reminds us of something important:

"If beauty’s what you’re after, just look close to see...
Knowing small things matter is really no small thing."

That's from one of our friend Andy Gullahorn's songs. What a treat to have Andy back for another conversation. Talking with someone who's been a friend for a long time means you don't have to have muc...

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Sometimes there's just too much good stuff to fit it all into an episode! This is what it felt like when Stacey and I - with our friend Stevi - talked with Crystal Renaud Day about her work with women who struggle with unwanted sexual behavior.

One part of the conversation we didn't want to get lost was when Crystal talked about the work she does with teenage and pre-teen girls and the...

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Ever hear the same lie we have? The lie that says, "Only men watch porn." What do you do if you're a female who struggles with something you're told is just a "guy's problem?"

Growing up, Crystal Renaud Day hear that message. Although she was exposed to porn at age 10, and it eventually became an addiction, she could not find people talking about it, or offering help. Thankfully, she d...

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It's What We Really Want's second anniversary episode! 🎂 🎉🎈 With gratitude for two years of great Conversations About Connection, we get to have another one with pastor and best-selling author Dane Ortlund.

Dane comes from a family with generations of ministry service, including his grandparents (Ray Ortlund Sr. and Anne Ortlund) and his father (Dane Ortlund Jr., author and founding...

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For too many people of faith, the only message about sex growing up was "Don't do it!" So many people had genuine curiosity about their sexuality, but nowhere to bring their questions and no one helping them steward it. As a result, many learned to either ignore an important part of them, resulting in a lack of ability to show up healthy in relationships; or to indulge it, substitutin...

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RE-RELEASE. This episode originally released September 24, 2024.

What is a sexual betrayal trauma workshop? And why - if you are a woman going through the pain of having been betrayed by your husband/partner - should you consider attending one? In this BONUS episode, Greg & Stacey are joined by Paige and Brittney, two friends who are part of our Awaken community in Birmingham AL, t...

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Have Christian men been conditioned to accept behaviors that marginalize and abuse women? When does normal relational conflict cross the line and become abusive? Has the Church been complicit in creating inequity between men and women?

Questions like these represent much of the work of our guest, Dr. Andrew Bauman. Andrew is a therapist and the Founder and Director of the Christian Cou...

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Here is Part 2 of our conversation with Jay Stringer.

Last week Jay released his book, Desire: The Longings Inside Us and the New Science of How We Love, Heal, and Grow. Moving beyond the singular experience of sexual struggles found in his first book Unwanted, Desire offers a critically important opportunity to better understand the core longings created in every person. To see desire...

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For people interested in digging deeply into their stories and better understanding themselves and the unwanted behaviors that plague them, few people have been as helpful as Jay Stringer.

In 2018, Jay's book Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing invited readers to a new approach to unwanted sexual behaviors: one that begins by "listening to our lust." Jay encourag...

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Does a focus on acknowledging trauma and providing safety create more resilient or fragile people? That question is at the heart of many charged discussions about therapy and trauma work. Virtually every contemporary therapeutic modality recognizes the impact trauma has on our current struggles. But many people feel it's too much focus, and that the result is people who can't handle a...

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For anyone who has ever said, "A part of me wants to ________, but another part thinks it might not be a good idea..." This episode is for you.

People actually ARE made up of many complex parts...it's part of how we reflect the image of God. And a counseling modality know as Internal Family Systems (IFS) that began in the 1980s has helped countless people better understand themselves a...

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Our guest for Episode 57 is a recognized expert in biblical sexuality. Dr. Juli Slattery has decades of experience as a therapist, author, and founder of the organization Authentic Intimacy. For years she has been helping women and men move toward healing from painful experiences with sexual brokenness, and developing a healthy view of their sexuality.

Her podcast Java With Juli offers...

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Since the late '90's / early 2000's, Passion Music has been blessing the Church with song after song to sing together. And one of its primary worship leaders is our guest Kristian Stanfill.

Kristian is the voice you've heard on songs like "One Thing Remains," "Death Was Arrested," "Glorious Day," and "Come to Jesus." He is a passionate, enthusiastic worshipper and worship leade...