Conversational Counseling

So often, when trouble comes to those we love, we are tempted to be quick to give advice. But the Gospel calls us to listen before we speak. And in our listening, to really seek to know and understand the other person rather than to just try to get information and facts out of them. This episode has a total of 20 tips you can practically use to pause, see and really experience someone’s story with...

If we’re going to care for someone, we have to be present with them. But it’s not just being a body in the room, it’s being truly present. Really being an embodied presence so they feel like they’re in the presence of Christ. Being present with others in this way can be risky and vulnerable. And it definitely requires a lot from us. But when we know that we are beloved by Jesus, we really are empo...

Ministry is to us, before it’s through us. Until we know how to receive it from the Lord, we’re not going to be able to let it flow through us to other people. As we pause and slow down to think about how Jesus moves towards people, what He asks, what He says, we start to learn how to share the same type of ministry care with others. This season of Conversational Counseling is all about equipping...

This season of Conversational Counseling is all about equipping you with frameworks to be able to minister more fully to those around you in your everyday life, the ones right in front of you. Much of the preparation for the best things in life really do not take a linear path. And so much preparation of our hearts comes through seasons of being in a desert place. A place of pain. A place of failu...

Season 2 was all about forgiveness, and we have a special treat for you in this bonus episode... Our dear friend and colleague Sherri Tate shares part of her own story and how the Lord brought her to a place of genuine healing and forgiveness after experiencing compound trauma and abuse. Sherri bravely shares her story of suffering and even her own sin, graciously dispels myths perpetuated by thos...

This season has been all about forgiveness, both what it is, but also what it isn’t. This episode is about restoration. We have to orient vertically to the safety we have in Christ. He's the only one who ultimately is not going to let us down. It's only from that place of safety, that we're going to be able to venture out into the risk of any relationship.  “How to Discern True Repentance When Ser...

This season, we’re talking about forgiveness, both what it is, but also what it isn’t. This episode is about reconciliation. Reconciliation is where we’re clearing away the rubble and beginning to repair the ruins of the relationship and the hearts that are involved. But reconciliation isn’t always possible, no matter how much we desire it. So when is it possible? And how can it look? Even in the...

This whole season, we’re looking at forgiveness… both what it is, but also what it isn’t. Our conversation on this episode is about discerning when to overlook and when to confront. What’s so hard about knowing whether to overlook or to confront, is that we could do either one from a place of fear and sin or from a place of love and obedience. All of us have a bent one way or the other, but being...

In this season, we’re looking at forgiveness, both what it is but also what it isn’t. This episode, we talk through what it looks like to release someone from personal vengeance and bitterness. The reality is, that we can’t rush this process. And if we try to do so, we’ll likely just experience more shame because we still feel the weight of the pain and a measure of bitterness. But if we choose to...

This season we're looking at forgiveness... what it is, but also what it isn't. In this episode we explore the reality that what we remember, what we rehearse and hold onto, impacts our lives and relationships. So much of forgiveness is not just an event, it's a process. And just because you have to walk in forgiveness again in something you already forgave before, doesn't mean you're doing someth...

This season is all about the topic of forgiveness. So often forgiveness is equated with complete repair and restoration of relationships. What we'd like to do, is look at what it means to walk in forgiveness and how it can really impact our relationships. There are a lot of myths around forgiveness. Forgiveness is not forgetting. Forgiveness is not the same as reconciling and trusting. So we're go...

Welcome to Conversational Counseling, where counseling and discipleship meet! In this episode, Brenda and Alex introduce themselves and their heart for you and this podcast... They're not trying to make professionals out of everyone, but just help meet you in your everyday life and everyday situations so you can enjoy and invite others into the comfort and change Jesus offers. For free visuals and...

The episode in which Brenda and Alex say a "bad" word… listen to find out which one… One of the things that is the biggest danger to good listening and good speaking up is assuming things. We have to be willing to wade in and ask questions and open up every part of what someone is telling us. Our methodology (how we go about ministering to people) is as important as our theology (what we’re saying...

In this episode, "These Three Things" we talk about are three aspects of God's character; His sovereignty, wisdom and love. There's something particular about suffering that makes us ask the question why? And why me? If we can't orient to the truest truth, we really begin to be tossed about. So often, we think our highest good is our happiness. But God says our highest good is that we would be con...

Join us as we explore the themes of confession, belief and love as a beautiful ongoing dance that brings the gospel to life every single day. It is a normal part of the Christian life for the Holy Spirit to show us the beauty of the character of God and that we don't measure up and to bring us to a place where we want to turn away from that.  God's love is inexhaustible. He's like, "I'm going...

Justification is nothing to prove, nothing to lose. Because God says I'm not guilty, I don't have to prove anything. I don't have anything to lose. I'm free. We begin to see the glory and grace of God grow so much as we really understand who God is, what He's done for us, how much He loves us. For free visuals and discussion questions for this podcast, sign up at knownministries.org . Helpful reso...

If you're asking yourself how you're going to do this, Brenda and Alex offer you some hope to know that you are not alone! For free visuals and discussion questions for this podcast, sign up at knownministries.org . Helpful resources on this topic are Anatomy of the Soul by Curt Thompson and his podcast called " Being Known ". Our theme music is by As Isaac . The featured song of this episode is "...

If you’re suffering, it’s about suffering. If you’re sinning, it’s about suffering. And if we’re driving ourselves to clean up our act and get it right, we’re missing it. For free visuals and discussion questions for this podcast, sign up at knownministries.org . A helpful resource on this topic is Saint, Sufferers, and Sinners: Loving Others as God Loves Us by Mike Emlet. Our theme music is by As...