What We Really Want: Conversations About Connection

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What do tacos have to do with making people feel valued, seen, and connected? Our guest Brooks Veazey has answers. As partner and CEO of Ladybird Taco, a Nashville-based restaurant (with locations in Birmingham AL and **soon** in Charlotte NC), Brooks is committed to cultivating an atmosphere that's about more than just good food. 

Providing true hospitality is in itself...

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We've just had a birthday, and we're celebrating by giving you a "Little Extra Helping" of the podcast. 

Bobby, Stacey and I sat down recently to reflect on this first year of What We Really Want... all the great conversations we've had, things we've heard from our listeners, things we hope for the future, etc. One thing we talked about...

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What We Really Want for our first anniversary episode 🎂 🎉🎈 is to celebrate a year of Conversations About Connection with the one-and-only John Eldredge.

John is known for his work as a therapist, for his development of the immensely popular One-Minute Pause app, and for his MANY books (like Wild at Heart, The Sacred Romance, Get Your Life Back, Resilient) including his new...

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We've known our guests Chad & Melissa Barrett for over 30 years. From days in Bible college to early church ministry, the Barretts and their families have been special people to us. So it was wonderful to be able to catch up with them and ask them to tell their beautiful story.

Chad and Melissa have four children. One of their kids, Kristina, bravely walked through a...

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Our guests this week understand the tough path to be navigated by couples recovering from sexual betrayal. Joanna and Matthew Raabsmith walked through this themselves when, three years into marriage, Matthew confessed his sexual addiction while Joanna was in training to become a therapist.

Out of their own healing experience they have created a counseling practice called The ...

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It can be terrifying to give another person full access to what we're thinking, feeling, believing, and struggling with. That's why almost no one does it. Even at our most vulnerable, most of us still withhold maybe 3% of what we really need to share.

This is the foundation of a new company/community launching this week. The Three Percent Co. was founded by Jamie Ha...

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Walking through a life where so many things go wrong (often so early), it’s no wonder many people struggle to understand what they need or even who they really are. That’s why I was so excited to talk with Ian Morgan Cron.

Ian is is an author, speaker, psychotherapist, songwriter, and Episcopal priest. He’s also known for popularizing the Enneagram, a personality ty...

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People say, "Pain has a purpose." While we all know that's true, statements like that are often pretty unhelpful for the person in pain. Physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual pain takes a toll and can push people to doubt or even walk away from what they once believed.

Barnabas Piper is a pastor and author who has walked through a lot of his own pain. ...

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Greg & Stacey got to meet and talk with a couple we've wanted to know for a long time... a couple offering hope for men and women harmed by toxic messages.

Sheila Wray Gregoire has been a writer and blogger for many years. But in 2021, with the release of The Great Sex Rescue (which she co-authored with Rebecca Gregoire Lindenbach and Joanna Sawatsky), she became an ...

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For our first episode of 2025, Greg & Stacey talk about the first week of January, in which they have TWO significant anniversaries. The first is their wedding anniversary, but just two days later is the anniversary of Greg's "Fan Day," when his 20+ year-long addiction was exposed.

Each year, the first week of January is a chance for Greg & St...

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We're closing out 2024 with a conversation with a long-time friend of mine. David Graves is - among many other interests - a photographer who uses his camera to capture images that connect us with faith.

This year he released a book, Alabama Faith: Churches and Stained Glass. It's a collection of over 125 photos from almost 100 churches across the state o...

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Known as the "Mr. Rogers of personal development," Mike Foster is a best-selling author, speaker, and executive coach empowering people to build strong lives by turning their setbacks into superpowers.

Mike is the creator of the Primal Question Framework, host of the highly acclaimed Primal Question podcast (formerly Fun Therapy), and creator of Rescue Aca...

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The best therapists are the ones who have done their own work. That's what I love about my guest Will Mooney. Will has his own story of unwanted sexual behavior, and also of serving in pastoral ministry. After finding his own help and recovery, his life went in a new direction, away from working in the church and into becoming a therapist. Not only A therapist, Will hap...

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Over the past 25 years in Christian music, few other bands have been as influential or have a sound as instantly recognizable as Tenth Avenue North. They have released multiple records with hope-filled songs for people who live with crippling shame.

Tenth Avenue North's "frontman," Mike Donehey, started the band while all the members were in college....

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After what we hope was a great Thanksgiving, please enjoy this "Little Extra Helping" of the podcast. 

While recording the intro to Episode 23 with Carol Sheets, Stacey and I talked for quite a long time. Too long to include it all in the episode itself. But we felt like what we talked about could be helpful for other people, so we're sharing that ent...

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People being introduced to today's wealth of resources for sexual addiction and sexual betrayal trauma recovery owe a lot to our guest. Carol Sheets, also known to her radio, podcast, and YouTube audiences as "Carol the Coach," was among the first therapists to become a Certified Sexual Addiction Therapist (CSAT). For years she has been offering encouragement,...

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Have you ever gotten lost in a conversation, unaware of how much time has passed, or even exactly what you were talking about? That's kind of how I felt talking with my John Lynch. It's easy to get pulled into John's warmth and sincerity, but he's also intense when talking about God's love for his children.

John co-wrote a book that changed ...

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One of the best ways parents can prepare their kids to live healthy, connected lives is to be honest and open with them about important topics. Few topics are more important for parents to bravely engage than teaching their kids about sex. And yet still so many parents are terrified and embarrassed to "go there." Moms and Dads, the time has come to stop using cutes...

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There are times when you know you're hearing/reading/experiencing something very important. That's how I felt as I read through Sam Jolman's book The Sex Talk You Never Got: Reclaiming the Heart of Masculine Sexuality.

Men's sexual desire has been attacked, abused, neglected, and misunderstood for as long as it's existed. Men have been ster...