Global Trellis: The Podcast

How do you keep up with work while traveling without missing the point of the trip? Amy and Bernie share practical ways to travel with less pressure: adjust your expectations, simplify your workflow, and use a pocket notebook to stay present in conversations. They also discuss why the simplest tool can sometimes work better than the fanciest one. ✏️ Obsidian Notes at https://obsidian.md/ 📔 Here a...

In this episode, Melanie Moxness joins Amy and Bernie to explore the characters who often shape our inner lives: Managers, firefighters, and exiles. Drawing on the book Boundaries for Your Soul by Dr. Allison Cook and Kimberly Miller and Internal Family System theory, they discuss how this framework can help cross-cultural workers recognize emotional patterns, tend their souls, and seek support as...

Sometimes the guide you need shows up in the last place you'd look. For Amy, it was a book about seven U.S. presidents. Life After Power by Jared Cohen follows what each of them did once the White House was behind them, and somewhere around the third president she thought, "Wait, this sounds a lot like cross-cultural workers." Whether you're in the middle of a transition, watching one get closer,...

In this episode, Amy and Bernie talk with counselor and author Charlene Benson about her book Unstuck and her simple but powerful model for navigating relational conflict. Using the metaphor of a road with two ditches—Others-Focused and Me-Focused—Charlene unpacks how fear keeps us stuck and offers practical steps to move toward win–win, healthy relationships on teams, in families, and on the fiel...

Amy and Bernie have a fun and helpful conversation with Melanie Moxness who shares how long COVID, injury, and prolonged physical healing led her to a practical "theology of the body." Melanie shares her story helping listeners discover God's presence, grace, and purpose in physical limitation when that becomes more of your calling than you'd like. Dr. Brad Fanestil ( The Boulder Institute for Min...

You’re doing better than you think! In this episode, Amy shares five very different milestones—spanning 18 months to 90 years—converging to reveal one core truth: your quiet, faithful work is building more than you can see and why your faithfulness matters more than you know. 🌿 Sexual harassment on the field resources: https://globaltrellis.com/lets-talk-about-sexual-harassment/ 🎉 The One Hundre...

Which zone are you in? Scott Brennan along with Amy and Bernie explore the comfort zone, stretch zone, and panic zone—a simple framework for understanding spiritual formation. Many cross-cultural workers stay in the  stretch and panic zones, burning out in the process. Drawing on the Desert Fathers, Celtic spirituality, and real field experience, Scott unpacks why genuine rest matters, when s...

Lori Ferrell joins Amy and Bernie to explore play as a spiritual practice, drawing on her own burnout and the sabbatical that helped her rediscover joy. They talk through why adults lose the habit of play, and how small things — baking bread, nature exploration, or a simple 15 minutes of fun a day — can reconnect us to a playful God. 🔖  Read Lori's article: Let's Play! (Global Trellis) 👀&nb...

Amy and Bernie go through the High Five of Celebration as they review the first 100 episodes. High-five to you, our guests, listeners, and stream members who have one hundred episodes of Global Trellis: the Podcast possible. We also share from you and the listeners survey. Find out where around the world this podcast is listened to, favorite episodes, and more. Join us today as we celebrate 100 ep...

Amy and Bernie talk to author Heather Fallis about her newest book, For Those Who Send: Prayers for Those With Loved Ones Serving Abroad . Heather shares how launching her daughter to college exposed the deep, unseen cost borne by parents, families, churches, and supporters as senders—and how liturgy gives them language for both grief and joy for their loved ones. Looking for a supporter gift? Thi...

When a global move is on the horizon—be it planned or abrupt—how do you handle the logistics, as well as the soul work of leaving well? In this episode, Amy and Bernie talk again with Karli VonHerbulis about a transition workbook, created especially for cross-cultural workers. This valuable resource is packed with practical tools, reflective prompts, and debrief-style questions to help cross-cultu...

Have you ever gone from talking to a neighbor in one language straight into a team meeting in a different language? Or written a newsletter and then WhatsApp messaged siblings about aging parents? Or worked all day and then headed to a ministry event in the evening. If you have, I bet that at times, those daily transitions haven't always gone as smoothly as you'd hoped. Why? Because you didn't kno...

Most organizations have a sexual harassment policy to handle incidents within their organization. Far fewer have a plan for what to actually do when an incident happens in the host culture. Stacey Covell returns to the show to join Amy and Bernie in unpacking best practices for handling the “dog bites” (isolated incidents) and “mosquito bites” (frequent reality) that your people experience. We’ve...

It’s no surprise that Amy and Bernie love books! In this fun episode each brings three books they’ve recently read—a novel, a cross-cultural pick, and a surprise—to spark your imagination, help tend your soul, and strengthen long-haul life in ministry. What are you reading right now? Leave your answers in the comments! We’d love to know!  Theo of Golden – Alan Levi  A tender, character-d...

Many men in cross-cultural work feel confused about their role when the women around them—wives, single teammates, daughters—face harassment. The instinct to protect and fix kicks in, but when that's not possible, many default to doing nothing. Tom Jones (husband of Rachel Pieh Jones) joins Amy and Bernie to move men past this paralysis, bringing a wealth of practical advice and hope to listeners...

Do you avoid conflict, or actually resolve it? Dr. Janeen Davis used to run from hard conversations on the field, until she found "Peace Pursuit," a biblically-grounded model for working through long-standing conflict with teammates. In this episode, she, Amy, and Bernie dig into what it means to address conflict one relationship at a time, starting with God, and how to walk into a peacemaking con...

Amy and Bernie walk through the stages of singleness on the field—from flexible 20s to calling questions in the 30s, the “in-between” 40s, and the realities of aging parents and retirement later in life. You’ll get a clear, practical look at what singles carry in each decade and how teams can genuinely honor, include, and support them. 💰 Ending Well Costs Money ( Read here ) 💧 How to Picture All...

Why do some third culture kids come through a cross-cultural childhood resilient and rooted, while others quietly struggle to feel like they belong anywhere? Author and coach Anna Danforth has spent years studying exactly that question, and in this episode she joins Amy and Bernie to talk about the answer she landed on: support — specifically, seven kinds of it. Drawing from her new book, Nourishe...

Is it possible for Mom and Dad to sabbatical at the same time? If you’ve ever tried, you know it’s tough. In this “Mailbag Episode,” Amy and Bernie are joined by Jenilee Goodwin to explore how parents with kids at home can realistically experience a sabbatical. They unpack how to redefine sabbatical in a full season of life by slowing the pace, lowering expectations, simplifying meals and schedule...

Women's security on the field isn't solved by a checklist or a one-off self-defence session, it's built through listening, learning, and making changes that actually fit the context. Shannon Mureithi of Crisis Consulting International joins Amy and Bernie to share practical, accessible steps that organisations and individuals can take right now to meaningfully increase women's safety and dignity i...

Before you ever landed on the field, you were already shaped by distorted ideas about authority, power, calling, and the body of Christ—and chances are, you're still carrying them. In this episode, Cori Crawford Van Oss joins Amy and Bernie to name five heresies that cross-cultural workers bring with them or encounter on the field. They also explore the tools you need to recognise, resist, and rep...

What is something you’ve always wanted to do? Discover why your God-given dreams and creative pursuits matter—even when they’re not “ministry related”—and how they can actually protect you from burnout and add richness to your life and work. In this episode, Bernie, Amy, and Stacey offer practical, grace-filled ideas for naming your dreams, taking small consistent steps, and investing time and res...

In this episode, Amy and Bernie talk with Emily Maljanian (who also happens to be Amy's niece!) from Wordsmith Services about why donor communication is essential for staying funded, connected, and emotionally supported in cross-cultural work. Emily shares practical tips for writing brief, consistent newsletters, even if you don't see yourself as a writer. Whether you're just starting out or feeli...

Every culture, organization, and person operates under an "overstory"—a dominant narrative so pervasive it's nearly invisible. In this episode, Amy and Bernie unpack Malcolm Gladwell's concept of overstories and explore what it means for cross-cultural workers who are constantly navigating between competing narratives. If you've ever felt disoriented, misunderstood, or stuck in a cultural context,...

After living and serving on the field, do you ever wonder if you’re ruined for finding work that will feel as meaningful again? You’re not alone. In this episode, Amy and Bernie step into the disorienting space of re-entry and finding a job.  because what you did on the field doesn’t seem to translate to a job. We unpack the messy middle of transition, wondering what skills still matter and h...