Fireside Talk Radio

Founder and CEO of Your Philanthropy, Dawn Franks joins Cathy to offer ideas about how to pass generosity down through the generations of your family. She talks about the impact grandparents can have. Offering practical tips, she suggests easy examples for cultivating the natural generosity of our children. "The kind of giver you were destined to become showed as early a elementary school," Dawn s...

Runner, mom, wife, and professional financial advisor, Colleen Long never thought she'd be planning an event for her region that was almost unheard of there. Sure, everyone knows what a triathlon is, but a mindfulness tri? If you're wondering how to get enough energy just for today, much less anything else, you'll love Colleen's perspective on taking care of yourself! (And you can listen quietly w...

The Mindfulness Tri is not your typical triathlon. A triathlon with walking or running, yoga and meditation as it's three pillars, Mindfulness triathlons are popping up all over. Runner and Civic leader, Colleen Long joins Cathy to talk about the different ways we all experience anxiety and depression. A mom, wife, and talented financial advisor, Colleen shares from her own personal experience how...

Baptist pastor and scholar, Benjamin A. Simpson joins Cathy for practical insight about creating families that flourish. In this episode he shares about falling in love with Molly, his wife who is a Methodist minister. Ben and Molly met on Baylor University’s campus and started as friends, both determined to be true to the calling God had already established in their individual hearts. Even so, in...

Pastor, curriculum writer, and thought leader, Benjamin A. Simpson joins Cathy to talk about how to create your own set of pracitcal Family Values. Based on a blog he wrote called "Tallying Family Values," Ben takes us through the simple process of defining and living by a set of personal family values. He explains, for instance, how making time for both work and play frees us to live a sustainabl...

Cathy invites Rabbi Neal Katz to explain the tradition of separation of church and state. A Bible scholar, Rabbi Neal gives us a crash course on what it means to serve the community, especially in elected office. Drawing on his Jewish background, Neal explains how roles and responsibilities of leadership from Old Testament times can look in our modern world. For a religious scholar, Neal is down-t...

In this episode, Rabbi Neal Katz shares about why Predicate Theology excites his imagination. If those words sound too scholarly...yawn...to be engaging, no worries! He also shares about falling in love with the love of his life, his wife Jen. But, truly, between Cathy and Neil, even the conversation around an intellectual topic like Predicate Theology turns out to be fun. In fact, this episode is...

Discovery Science Place's Whitney Patterson joins Cathy to talk about how her interest in science developed. She encourages young parents with the thought that often the best discoveries, like a love of learning, happen almost accidentally. Whitney's mom made learning fun. It wasn't until Whitney was an adult that she realized science was in everything, including her rock collection! If you're won...

Discovery Science Place's Whitney Patterson joins Cathy to share how we can give our kids a love of scientific discovery. She offers thoughts and events that may shape interest in the STEM disciplines: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Collaboration is a hallmark of Whitney's leadership style. In spite of reticence about collaborating among some nonprofits, Whitney offers proof that coll...

Cathy asks Neita Fran Ward for details about how God is using this woman of influence to transform the community. By bringing together artists, community leaders, university and college officials, Neita Fran is making art accessible to all, especially students. When UTTyler's College of Pharmacy approached her about creating an art exhibit of local artists, Neita Fran was overjoyed and knew just w...

Gallery Owner and Jewelry Designer, Neita Fran Ward joins Cathy to talk about how to nurture creativity in ourselves and others. As always, Neita Fran focuses on others, but Cathy presses her to reveal how God used Neita Fran's desire to help others, thus exposing her own artistic talent. God is very creative Himself, we know! If you've ever wondered about the risk and the natural process of creat...

Organic Soil Specialist James Van Dyke joins Cathy to talk about some of the lessons he's learned in his quest to turn sand into nourishing, fertile soil. Starting with Biblical insight, James expounds on how businesses are learning that efficiency of reclaiming and recycling turns out to be the quickest route to profit margins. Citing a personal example of a field that would not grow a thing, Jam...

Environmental Scientist James Van Dyke joins Cathy to talk about what young families can expect when they dig into entrepreneurship. No stranger to the daily challenges facing start-ups, James helped develop Texas Organics, a company devoted to solving soil issues with rich, nourishing compost, often specific to the site's needs. Meanwhile, he and his wife have taken on numerous house renovation p...

Suzy Shepherd joins Cathy to explain the Four Principles of how love can undergird all our relationships. As mom in a blended family with nine kiddos, Suzy gets to practice the four relationship principles on a daily basis. When asked how she and her husband manage their unique family blend, she laughs that they’ve “resigned themselves to the idea that laundry and dishes are forever." Don't miss t...

Gifted communicator, Suzy Shepherd tells her personal story of how brokenness transformed her life. A Divisional Director of Stonecroft and founder of the sisterhood, Suzy is dedicated to helping women connect with each other. She shares how the support of good women in our lives can make all the difference. Suzy devotes her life to nurturing all relationships through her teaching, writing, traini...

Christian Communicator and thought leader, Lori Boruff joins Cathy for more up close and personal conversation. Lori shares from from her extensive experience about how grief can set a son or daughter onto a self-destructive path. Lori's heart broke as her own son went to prison, only to see her prayers answered as his life turned around. Now the leader of a well-known and effective ministry to th...

Communications Guru, Lori Boruff, (Life Coach, Professional Speaker, and Co-Owner of Christian Communicators) joins Cathy to tell the story of having a son in jail. She describes what she calls her "personal nine-eleven moment." When they arrested her son, taking him away from their home in handcuffs, Lori's life direction changed instantly. Yet, she says, "God had plans for her family and "it was...

Award-winning Author Sandra Merville Hart joins Cathy to talk about her wonderful Civil War era book, A Rebel in My House. Both sides of the conflict receive tender grace from Sandra in this engaging, action-packed story. With compassion, Sandy creates characters to love. Cathy asks questions about her inspiration and decision-making when it comes to handling history respectfully. With five books...

When adults discourage a child from pursuing God-given talents, a creative child can feel boxed in. Author and Speaker Sandra Merville Hart and Cathy talk about escaping the box. Sandy wrote her first book in third grade. Sandy shares how a few poorly chosen words slammed her blossoming talent for story-telling and writing to a halt. If you’ve ever wondered what to do with your active, creative ch...

One of Cathy’s favorite thought leaders, Sarah Cumming, the head of Promise Academy, joins Cathy to chat about how communities benefit when joy and justice team up. Sarah describes the best kind of communities, when joy enhances respect and justice. “In a (healthy) community you come to things as equals. There’s not a skewed power dynamic. Joy says its good for us to be together and, as equals, to...

In this episode, thought leader Sarah Cumming shares how education can enhance justice in communities. She tells of her love story with education. Sarah is leveraging all her experience, including at the famous Manhattan Christian Academy, to benefit east Texas. She’s leading the charge for Promise Academy, the first Christian school in north Tyler, an underserved area. At Promise Academy, they’re...

Dave and Barb Howe share what works in the battle for freedom from porn addiction. How can wives or mothers bring up the topic when they suspect there's a problem? What can moms do to help their young sons avoid porn addiction? How can churches offer hope to men? Barb offer wisdom and even some catch phrases that soften the drama. This courageous couple takes on one of our culture's most taboo top...

What if you found a stash of, ahem, uncomfortable magazines or a special file on your spouse's computer? Are their symptoms that indicate your spouse may be struggling with a porn addiction? Together husband and wife team Dave and Barb Howe talk about how porn affected their marriage. She opens up about the battle for her marriage, offering a prayer strategy that works. He shares the ways men can...

Jon Drury, author of Lord, I Feel So Small, shares how even the most successful man may experience feelings of weakness, inadequacy, shame, and fear. These emotions can be overwhelming for men. Men may even isolate themselves and withdraw. Always practical, Jon offers ways women can identify the challenges their men face, offering truth and support. He even talks about specific prayer strategies,...

Jon Drury openly declares himself a man who had to search for significance. This successful leader, a pilot and pastor, shares his own personal battle with the lies that led him to believe he was insignificant. Out of his despair, he learned to look to God alone for his significance. “It’s strange that the low place would be the place of power," he says, "The Lord fellowships with the lowly person...