Connections with Mike Thom and Colleen Houde

Netflix and chill and broccoli, If you don't know what these words and phrases really mean to a teen, you are not alone.  Engaging Your Teen's World by David Eaton will teach you how to maintain open communication about everything from relationships to technology and media.  David Eaton is one of the founders of Axis, a non-profit that helps more than 200,000 parents and teenagers a month communic...

Sarah Kroger is a Nashville-based, Catholic worship leader and songwriter.  With parents involved in worship ministry, Kroger’s love for music was sparked at a young age but the impact of bullying and her struggle with anxiety and shyness hid her musical gift for years. Everything changed when she met Jesus in an intimate encounter through worship at a youth conference. She has since released a to...

Mandy Smith says Western culture is in a tailspin and the Christian faith is entangled in it. Western approaches to faith leave us feeling depressed, doubting, anxious, and burned out. We know something is wrong with the way we do faith and church in the West, but we’re so steeped in it that we don’t know where to begin to break old habits. She says the best way forward is in Jesus's surprising in...

At the age of 8, Raymond Mason was taken from his home in Peguis First Nation and sent to a residential school. He would stay there until the day he turned 18. He is just one of the 150,000 Indigenous children who were taken from their families and forced into Indian day and residential schools.  A riveting and at times harrowing story, Raymond Mason describes his experiences in Indian day and res...

With the success of Marie Kondo, a new Netflix documentary, and hundreds of blogs and YouTube videos on minimalism, it’s clear that it is more than just a trend. In a time of climate change and a pandemic, people are looking for new ways to live well and more meaningful lives, and minimalism is meeting that need. Consuming less may already be an environmental and personal priority, but Becca Ehrli...

Todd Terry became interested in acting at just 14 years old. He pursued that dream, went to acting school and eventually got an agent.  Terry says he thinks about each role before making a decision. He has acted in both faith-based and secular roles including "Breaking Bad", "American Crime", Friday Night Lights" and "Walker Texas Ranger. His latest role is Detective Gary Travis in Vindication, a...

AGORA Network Ministries was birthed out of a crisis, a mental health and spiritual crisis. On July 7th, 2017 Allan Gallant suffered a severe stroke.  After a month of recovery and learning to speak again, Allan began the hardest battle of his life. It was a battle with mental health; PTSD, severe anxiety, and depression.  The road was long and hard at times but God’s goodness led him to repentanc...

What if fear is the new brave? That's the question Katie Westenberg says you need answered if you are living afraid. Finding courage begins with fear itself--fear of the Lord. I Choose Brave, reveals a countercultural plan to help you where you are; knee-deep in fears regarding parenting, the future, your marriage, and a world that feels unstable. Katie Westenberg is first a follower of Christ, a...

Matthew Rucker is best known as The Story Telling Preacher. As a minister, Matthew Rucker found out early on in ministry that people like stories.  He says when you use a story with a spiritual meaning attached to it, people will remember. Matthew went through a few difficult years where his marriage ended and his son died from suicide. He is now sharing those stories in hopes of helping other fam...

Due to COVID-19, grief is rampant across the country. There is an urgent need to address the ever-present sense of loss and despair that many are feeling. As grief is something that everyone has to walk through eventually, this webinar is widely relevant. Hope for the Heart is hosting a virtual symposium, “Grief & Loss: Coping Day-to-Day in Our COVID World,” on May 26 to provide biblical hope and...

Author and illustrator Tara Shannon recently released a graphic novel titled Rabbit & Bear Make a Wish. This gem filled with inspirational insights was an outgrowth of a simple illustration Tara posted on social media of two characters, Rabbit and Bear, comforting each other last March when the lockdowns began. That post went on to help thousands cope with uncertainty and anxiety.   Today on Conne...

Kelly spent 13 years coaching at the college level. She started her journey at Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX and broke into Division I as a graduate assistant at the University of Oregon. From there she spent 3 years at TCU and then on to Iowa State, where she helped the Cyclones to 3 NCAA Appearances, finishing in the Sweet 16 twice.  Her career eventually took a nosedive, but it was...

A recent study conducted by Barna Group on behalf of Alpha revealed some surprising insights about the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on evangelization as a result of churches going virtual, and how the Church should respond in a more hybrid-model future. Shaila Visser is the national director at Alpha Canada and the senior vice president for Alpha International. Today on Connections Shaila shares wha...

This week is National Nursing Week. Since June 2020, Taryne Lepp, TWU Public Health Lead, has played a crucial role in helping the University navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and safeguard the health and safety of students, staff, faculty and community members. The current pandemic is not Taryne’s first experience with a public health emergency. In September 2010, she spent four months helping to sa...

Cameron Dueck grew up in a Mennonite family on a remote turkey farm in the Canadian prairies.  That led him to an unlikely career for someone who grew up on the prairies. He became an international journalist, filmmaker and an accomplished adventurer.  Some of those adventures include a trip on a yacht where he sailed from Thailand to the Mediterranean. He also went on the sea a second time. This...

When author Dione Martin was a girl, she often thought about her biological father. Who was he and what did he look like? Did he ever think about her and wonder if she was OK?  Martin poignantly explores the impact of family secrets and the importance of father-daughter bonds in The Wool Over Their Eyes, an authentic story with memorable characters who find redeeming qualities in each other — and...

A pastor says what simply started as a prayer on his porch has turned into a move of God that has seen over 1,000 people baptized since the end of December. Pastor Robby Gallaty of Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tenn., tells says it all started after the suicides of two close friends in ministry. Gallaty says that began a season of simply coming quietly to the Lord. On December 15,...

Fear can cripple our futures. And Migdalia Smith had a lot to be fearful of. The survivor of abuse and sex-trafficking wants other victims to know that God is real, and He can help. Smith’s new book, In the Case When God’s Promise of Safety Seems to Fail, which was inspired by real events, shares the story of one woman caught in a seemingly endless loop of bad decisions who finds salvation and hea...

Chris and Steph Teague were high school, mission trip sweethearts who met and began falling in love on a 13-hour road trip from Nashville to Pennsylvania. While dating through high school and marrying in college, they were volunteer worship leaders and served together in a variety of ways. However, things started to change when Chris entered a season of doubt that many people walk through on their...

This week is mental health week, an opportunity to shine a light on mental health and an opportunity to break the stigma surrounding it. Sean Miller is the executive director at Peer Connections Manitoba.  Today on Connections he shares the importance of drawing awareness to mental health and how we as a church can help break the stigma and help those who are struggling. See omnystudio.com/listene...

India's official count of COVID-19 cases has surpassed the 20-million mark and infections have nearly doubled in the past three months, while deaths have passed 220-thousand. Despite all of this, Vijayesh Lal, general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India says, there is still hope and God is still working despite the devastation they are surrounded by. Today on Connections Vijayesh shar...

Mark Buchanan began his career as a writer at age 12 - the year a remarkably creative grade 5 teacher awakened in him the possibilities of language and story. He eventually took a degree in writing, but that was simply to refine and hone what he felt compelled to do anyways. He ended up, en-route to being a published author, a pastor and now a professor. Buchanan's eight-plus books have so far all...

Do you believe your struggle with anger stems from the wrong behaviour you see displayed in your children? Wendy Speake says the knee-jerk reactions and blow-ups you’re facing are often a result of a bigger set of “triggers.” Some of these she says are external, like a child’s disobedience, backtalk, or selective hearing, while others are internal, like an overflowing schedule, sleep deprivation,...

Do you worry that you’re messing up your kids? Do you get stressed when you think about their futures? New York Times bestselling author Crystal Paine knows how you feel. A mom of four, Crystal has struggled with anxiety over parenting. She wanted to parent with grace, instead of a system of rules where kids are expected to do all the right things. She wanted to be a safe place for her children, a...

Char Harryman faced a life-limiting diagnosis with extraordinary courage and faith, and she used the time she was given to be a gift to others. On Easter Sunday back in 1995, Char suffered a grand mal seizure. And then another. And another. This eventually led to numerous tests where doctors discovered a golf ball-sized malignant tumour on her brain.  Doctors gave Char two years to live. God had o...