What We Really Want: Conversations About Connection

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" In the counseling/mental health space , there are occasionally voices and messages with whom most everyone seems to connect. Voices that are addressing common experiences of pain, trauma, confusion, etc. Aundi Kolber is one of those important voices. Since 2020, when her first book Try Softer was released (just weeks before COVID lockdown)...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" Why is it that so many high-achieving men don't experience the same "success," achievement, or satisfaction in their marriages/personal lives that they do in other parts of life? Lantz Howard wants to help men find the answer to that question. Lantz is an executive coach whose mission is to help people through transformation...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" Several recent episodes have featured guests who are helping enable parents to engage in healthy conversations with their kids about sex. These are some of the hardest parts of parenting, but also some of the most critically important. Someone who has contributed a lot of helpful resources is John Fort . An author who is also on staff with...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" Nobody is out there searching for grief. None of us asks for it. But grief comes into our lives anyway. How do we experience and navigate grief in a way that not only doesn't destroy us, but actually helps us live more genuine, dependent, and connected lives? Ross King is learning about all of this. And he doesn't want to. For ov...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" For men who want to recover from porn addiction, what does the relationship between doing and understanding need to look like? How much of recovery and healing involves developing new skills vs. deep heart change? These are important questions, and ones our guest has worked through with thousands of men. Sathiya Sam is an author, speaker,...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" Talking to your kids about sex is a lot scarier than it used to be. It's always been uncomfortable for most parents, and is often a topic danced around or ignored completely. But the stakes for our kids are too high to ignore how changing cultural messages are affecting our kids. Amber Garrett Carroll knows all about this, and has bee...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" Talking with John Lynch is a treat. It's getting lost in a conversation, unaware of how much time has passed, or even exactly what you're talking about. 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 life-changing...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" This is a repost of the last of three episodes Greg & Stacey got to record for Return to Heart , the podcast of Tin Man Ministries . We're posting these episodes here, with the microphones turned around, with the title "Who's Asking the Questions Now?" In this episode Tin Man's clinical director Phil Herndon ta...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" In the Spring of 2026, Stacey and Greg were honored to record a few episodes for Return to Heart , the podcast of Tin Man Ministries . We're posting these episodes here, with the microphones turned around, with the title "Who's Asking the Questions Now?" Last week you heard Phil talking with Stacey (solo), and next week...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" Recently, Stacey and Greg were honored to appear as guests on Return to Heart , the podcast of Tin Man Ministries . We're posting these episodes here, with the microphones turned around, with the title "Who's Asking the Questions Now?" Next week will feature a conversation with both Stacey and Greg, and the week after a...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" Let’s just state the obvious. Runners are weird people. We know it and we embrace it. But if running is not your thing, please don’t skip this conversation. There’s something here for you. Cary and Micah Morgan are pillars of the Birmingham AL running community. More than that, they’re wonderful people who genuinely care about others and l...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" Why do people often feel more "churched" and cared for in recovery meetings than they do in their actual churches? What is present at those meetings, and/or missing from those churches? And what can we do about it? Zac Hicks thinks these are important questions to consider. Zac is the lead pastor of Church of the Cross , a church...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" Conversations that don't feel rushed can feel pretty rare, but they're special when they happen. That's what it was like talking to our new friend, singer/songwriter Jason Gray .  Jason has been around Christian music for a long time, writing and releasing music that connects deeply with the heart. He's a man who has be...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" One of the greatest gifts that can be given a person in recovery is presence. Company. Someone to walk with you. Someone to make sure you aren't doing recovery alone. For 25 years, Troy and Melissa Haas have been walking with men and women impacted by addiction and betrayal trauma. Out of their own experience - with Troy's multip...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" Parents raising kids today face challenges different from any other generation before. Technology is expanding and changing more rapidly than ever, and dangerous and harmful content hunts for young eyes.  Kristen Jenson has a mission: to help equip parents to prepare their kids. When kids know what is out there, how it is harmful, and what...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" There's a song lyric that reminds us of something important: "If beauty’s what you’re after, just look close to see... Knowing small things matter is really no small thing." That's from one of our friend Andy Gullahorn 's songs. What a treat to have Andy back for another conversation. Talking with someone who'...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" Sometimes there's just too much good stuff to fit it all into an episode! This is what it felt like when Stacey and I - with our friend Stevi - talked with Crystal Renaud Day about her work with women who struggle with unwanted sexual behavior. One part of the conversation we didn't want to get lost was when Crystal talked about...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" Ever hear the same lie we have? The lie that says, "Only men watch porn." What do you do if you're a female who struggles with something you're told is just a "guy's problem?" Growing up, Crystal Renaud Day hear that message. Although she was exposed to porn at age 10, and it eventually became an addictio...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" It's What We Really Want 's second anniversary episode! 🎂 🎉🎈 With gratitude for two years of great Conversations About Connection , we get to have another one with pastor and best-selling author Dane Ortlund . Dane comes from a family with generations of ministry service, including his grandparents (Ray Ortlund Sr. and Anne Or...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" For too many people of faith, the only message about sex growing up was "Don't do it!" So many people had genuine curiosity about their sexuality, but nowhere to bring their questions and no one helping them steward it. As a result, many learned to either ignore an important part of them, resulting in a lack of ability to sh...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" RE-RELEASE . This episode originally released September 24, 2024. What is a sexual betrayal trauma workshop? And why - if you are a woman going through the pain of having been betrayed by your husband/partner - should you consider attending one? In this BONUS episode, Greg & Stacey are joined by Paige and Brittney, two friends who are...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" Have Christian men been conditioned to accept behaviors that marginalize and abuse women? When does normal relational conflict cross the line and become abusive? Has the Church been complicit in creating inequity between men and women? Questions like these represent much of the work of our guest, Dr. Andrew Bauman . Andrew is a therapist a...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" Here is Part 2 of our conversation with Jay Stringer . Last week Jay released his book, Desire: The Longings Inside Us and the New Science of How We Love, Heal, and Grow . Moving beyond the singular experience of sexual struggles found in his first book Unwanted , Desire offers a critically important opportunity to better understand the co...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" For people interested in digging deeply into their stories and better understanding themselves and the unwanted behaviors that plague them, few people have been as helpful as Jay Stringer . In 2018, Jay's book Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing invited readers to a new approach to unwanted sexual behaviors: one...

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)" Does a focus on acknowledging trauma and providing safety create more resilient or fragile people? That question is at the heart of many charged discussions about therapy and trauma work. Virtually every contemporary therapeutic modality recognizes the impact trauma has on our current struggles. But many people feel it's too much focu...