The Intentional Parents Podcast

Join us today as Brook, Phil, and Diane discuss their best daily habits. Spoiler alert: it’s reading their Bibles each day. Some stories and reflections are shared today about how God has transformed each of them over the years by reading the scriptures daily. Reading the Bible is not meant to be legalistic; God’s heart is an invitation, wanting to bless, meet, and help you. To keep it simple, the...

Today is all about marriage. Join Brook and Elizabeth as they share from a place of humble transparency how God has taught them to love one another. Brook and Elizabeth share crucial elements that have shifted their relationship, like care before criticism, being aware of the little foxes, and finding ways to encourage one another. They also discuss four things to try in your marriage to bring mor...

Today, we talk all about time! We cover different topics like letting our dreams die. What does that process look like? How do we accept the pain of life effectively and fruitfully? What do we do in the waiting when one season has not yet come but one season has already passed? What’s the right time to let something painful go? When is it time to conquer the next mountain? We cover many questions...

We welcome Jay Kim as our guest on the show today! Jay is a pastor, author, speaker, husband, and father. Jay has dedicated so much of his work to the topic of examination in the areas of technology, Christianity, and family. This delightful conversation dives into the Ignatian practices and how we can incorporate them into our daily lives, especially with our children. There are genuine moments a...

Today, we’re joined by Darren Whitehead to discuss his book, The Digital Fast . He highlights the crucial role of community in helping us break free from excessive phone use and invites us on a 40-day journey toward less digital noise and more spiritual peace. The average person spends 7 to 9 hours a day on their phone, and while we know it’s not a healthy habit, changing it can feel incredibly ch...

You are in for a special treat; we did our first-ever live Q+R recording from the Motherhood retreat! We had hundreds of women send in questions from the weekend that touch on many deep topics like giving care before criticism, how to encourage your husband, is anything off-limits when you are lamenting with God, how to cut the deadly loop of envy, how to offer help to your friends in a way they c...

Get ready to take some notes with this conversation! We have Justin Whitmel Earley on the show today. Justin is a full-time lawyer, writer, speaker, husband, and father to four boys. Justin’s books, especially Habits of the Household, center around habit formation, how our habits affect our family and personal well-being, and the idea that things can change when we bring those habits into the ligh...

We have a guest on our show today who is going to help you lower your defenses when it comes to the topic of technology use while at the same time giving you tools and encouragement to build a healthy relationship with it. We are so pleased to have Joey Odom on the show. This conversation is rich, deep, intelligent, and packed with practical help. Get ready to laugh at some great stories, connect...

On today’s show, Brook + Elizabeth and Phil + Diane respond to three questions that were sent in. This episode may be helpful to you if you have kids that express their emotions in big ways, if you want to understand your parent’s culture of Christianity to understand how it affected your upbringing, and if you have a neurodivergent child or grandchild and you want to cultivate hope and learn ways...

What does it look like to not only follow Jesus but also share Jesus in our time? We welcome the one and only Josh White back to the podcast today. Josh White is the pastor at Door of Hope in Portland, Oregon. He’s also an author, speaker, and musician. Join us for this deep and helpful conversation as Josh speaks the truth in love. We explore how sharing our faith is an excellent medium for sanct...

Is it our responsibility to do it all? Is there a better way? We have ideals, sometimes we feel like it’s all up to us, other times we have fears that show up in our thoughts and responses and we don’t always see our limitations, especially with the perspective that they can be a gift to us. Join us today as we explore these 5 questions to ask yourself:   1: Is this Striving? 2: Is it fear? 3: Are...

We are privileged to sit and talk with Jerry and Pat Sittser today. If you don’t know this couple you are in for a treat. They deposit thoughtful and Godly wisdom about marriage and blended families. They share how blended families and marriage are incredible gifts while acknowledging the dynamics are complex. As you will hear from their stories today, they are passionate about serving each other,...

It’s Q+R time today! All four of us are here to answer some really great questions. We first dive deep into the question; how do you allow Jesus to change you so you can convert head knowledge into action? We also explore how to keep your relationship with God fun and lastly, we offer a few things we have learned about parenting teens as we experience our own in real time. Enjoy!   Book Recommenda...

Today, we welcome back one of our favorite guests and good friend, Greta Eskridge. Greta and her husband have four kids of their own. They are navigating this cultural moment when it comes to protecting their kids from pornography, and understanding how to be proactive with technology. In today’s conversation, Greta shares her wisdom about big issues our kids are facing like sexing, sexploitation,...

Today, we welcome back John Mark Comer to the podcast. Get ready to take notes on many key moments in this conversation that will have you hitting replay! John Mark deposits some helpful thoughts around information versus spiritual formation, stages in our spiritual journey, refreshing views on what parents really need- rest, and how we can practically keep taking one more step in the right direct...

Today we have Megan Fate Marshmon on the show! If you know, you know! Megan is determined to use her life to spread hope, share truth, and celebrate others. She is finishing her Doctorate of Ministry as she serves as a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church and the Director of Women’s Ministries at Hume Lake Christian Camps. She also shepherds women at Arbor Road Church in Long Beach, Ca...

Join us today with our special guests and dear friends, the Jauregui’s. They share their family’s story of longsuffering and loss. If you are in a season or have been in a season of suffering and loss we pray today’s conversation blesses your heart as you continue to bring your pain to Jesus. The Jauregi’s teach us a few things they have learned along their journey and we hope you will be encourag...

The culture of comparison is thick around us. It can be so easy to get caught up in it, even when it’s not as obvious and sneaks up on you. It’s constantly in our faces through social media or media of any kind. Today’s conversation is all about the ways comparison shows up in our lives and how God feels about it. There are 6 major areas that we often get stuck in comparison, but we don't have...

We all are leaving a legacy. The question is, what legacy will you leave behind? Parenting adult children and grandchildren can be tricky because it means you have to let go while still staying present and supportive. Today, Brook and Elizabeth interview Phil and Diane about what it means to be an intentional grandparent. Phil and Diane share a few key elements they have learned through the years....

What are the lies you are believing? On today's show, we walk through three common lies that many of us are prone to believe. We explore where lies entered our story as humans and how we can combat them. So often, our enemy carefully crafted the lies we hear for each of us. We hope today's conversation brings hope and healing to a lie you believe. Enjoy!   Three lies that we believe: 1) Ou...

We have an incredible guest on the show today; Andy Crouch joins Brook for an insightful and rich conversation about technology and the family. You may know Andy Crouch from his books The Techwise Family or The Life We Were Looking For. In this episode, we ask Andy questions like, what is the family for? And what worked or didn’t work as Andy and his wife raised their two kids? Brook and Andy also...

Complaining is not new to the human experience. We all suffer on this side of heaven; some is circumstantial, and some is perspective. Thankfully, the Bible has a lot to share with us about complaining. We hope you will join us for our conversation today, where we talk about perspective in suffering, some sneaky ways the enemy likes to fuel the fire and a few helpful questions to ask amid your gru...

Join us today for a Q+R where we respond to a few of your wonderfully, honest questions. This episode is for you if you are a highly sensitive person or are parenting one, if you struggle to connect with your child or they rub you the wrong way, and if you find yourself in a season of obscurity wondering when your life’s work will begin. We talk about all this and more and get down to the root of...

We have the whole crew here today, and we are diving into a great question that was submitted to us: How do you talk to your kids about alcohol in a culture that normalizes it? There are a lot of nuances to this topic and it’s not black and white. We discuss conviction versus preference, parenting out of relationship, and how easy it is to turn to external things rather than God. We hope you join...

How do we practically train our children to walk with Jesus and do what He did? On today’s show, we talk about a 4- step process that shows us how to bring our children on the journey with us. Just like Jesus involves us in His work, He wants us to do the same with our children. There are different stages in training our children and as you walk through each stage you give them the gift of leaders...