Hello Friends!  

Here we are at Episode 20 of the Familying the Faith Podcast.

Rick, Jim, and Nancy thought the time was right to do an end of year reflection on what we’ve learned from the people we’ve talked with in 2024 as we all further this work of taking seriously the power of parents for the formation of faith and the thriving of our churches.  

You’ll hear us thinking about words that we’ve come to understand as critical for that process, like Familying (again!), Embedding, and Transformation.  Start your 2025 with greater focus on what really matters, and be able to take that next faithful step!  We thank you for the great feedback and your support for this work.  

Hello Friends, 

Here we are! It's Episode 19 of the Familying the Faith Podcast by Vibrant Faith. 

We’re in this to connect with ministry leaders who want to dig into THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB in today’s church, and that is connecting with and uplifting parents—the primary faith-forming agents in our world—and helping them grow in their capacity and confidence as they share a vibrant faith in Jesus with the next generation.  

We have another great conversation to share with you today. While at a recent conference, Rick and I both attended a workshop on story sharing—a commitment for Vibrant Faith. We both loved what Craig Gould had to say about the importance of that process for our families and our world and asked him to join us for a conversation with you right away. This is that conversation. 

Craig has a particular passion for helping youth, young adults, and parents understand their own story, and how it connects to the story of Jesus. He is a long-time youth minister who has built his ministry around the power of storytelling in families. Craig Gould approaches his work as a parent of 8 children, and serves as the Program Director of the McGrath Institute at Notre Dame, where he helps nourish the Catholic imagination and vocational call of the young church through the Notre Dame Vision summer conferences for high school students and their campus and youth ministry leaders.

He assists in aspects of planning, recruitment, program management and the formation of undergraduates who serve as Mentors within the high school Vision program. He has a particular passion for helping youth and young adults understand their own story as it connects to the story of Jesus.  

Rick and Nancy had such a great conversation Craig about: 

We were so excited by what Craig Gould had to share.  We think you will be too.   

Hello Friends!

Welcome to Episode 18 of Vibrant Faith’s Familying the Faith Podcast.  Today, we’re going to listen together about what supporting the faith life of kids through parents looks like for leaders at a large Catholic church in Ohio.    

We’re so happy to welcome our guests for our conversation: They are Joan Stoltz and Mary Lou Baker—both serve on the family ministry team at St. Maximilian Church in Liberty Township, Ohio. They have been on staff and working this turf together for many years. They are here to talk with us about their efforts to plant a Familying the Faith environment in their church.   

You’ll love hearing their very practical reflections on their pre-COVID and post-COVID church realities of family life and the process of formation. You’ll hear how they are experimenting with working with parents and kids together, and their focus on faith conversations while helping parents develop habits and faith experiences.    

You'll love hearing their honest struggles and passion for the faith of children.  They are such a great example of people who have taken that next faithful step!

Hello Friends! 

WOO! Welcome to Episode 17 of the Familying the Faith Podcast by Vibrant Faith. We’re all about connecting with ministry leaders who want to dig into THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB in today’s church, and that is connecting with and uplifting parents—the primary faith-forming agents in our world—and helping them grow in their capacity and confidence as they share a vibrant faith in Jesus with the next generation.  

We hope this episode will be especially meaningful. Familyings Jim and Nancy had the opportunity connect with a ministry colleague and friend from their 4th Soil Parenting Project. Her name is Bryn Hollenbeck, and she’s the Minister for Children and Congregational Life at Parish of the Epiphany—an Episcopal Church just outside of Boston in Winchester, MA.

Bryn started her work at her church just as Covid hit, so she gave us such a down to earth look at:

It was such a sweet conversation. We particularly loved hearing how Bryn shares her faith in Jesus with her own family! 

Some of our ministry takeaways include: 

Hello Friends,  

Welcome to Episode 16 of the Familying the Faith Podcast by Vibrant Faith. 

We have such a special treat for you today! We asked our friend Dr. Angela Williams Gorrell to join us for a conversation about Familying the Faith.   

Angela has worked with us several times in the past 5 years. She’s a youth minister, a professor, a consultant and an author.  Her research has been highlighted in media sources such as the NEW YORK TIMES, NPR, and THE WASHINGTON POST. She has both a Ph.D. and 21 years (and counting) of experience mentoring, speaking, teaching, planning, and guiding. 

Her first book, Always On, was so helpful to us as we worked during and after the pandemic to help churches embrace engaging families online.

In this episode, she digs into a wonderful conversation with Rick and Nancy around her most recent book Braving Difficult Decisions: What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do.

Rick and Nancy had such a great conversation with Angela about: 

You can learn more about Angela by visiting her website: ⁠www.angelagorrell.com⁠ 

Dig into this one! There’s so much for you to learn and apply.

Join us as we help you take that next faithful step!

Hello Friends! 

Wow, here we are at Episode 15 of the Familying the Faith Podcast by Vibrant Faith. We’re working hard on the podcast to connect with ministry leaders who want to dig into what matters most for the formation of the next generation of children, and that is connecting with and coming alongside parents— the primary faith-formers in our world. We want to help you help them grow in their capacity and confidence as they share a vibrant faith in Jesus with their children.  

This episode brings you another sweet conversation with a ministry leader who has approached the whole notion of how faith gets formed from a very different angle. That's why we invited him on the podcast.  So welcome Vibrant Faith Coach and ministry partner, Fred Oduyoye.

Fred lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he launched Reachable Reconciliation—an organization and national movement designed to help people integrate into unfamiliar spaces of conversation and relationship. He has been working with and coaching leaders since 2007. He was a National Urban Training Director at Urban Youth Workers Institute for nine years. Fred has also worked as the National Director of Partnerships/Networking for Youth Specialities for four years and is an Advisory Committee Member of the National Network of Youth Ministries. You can learn more about Reachable Reconciliation at www.reachablereconciliation.com. 

But more importantly for this conversation, what began as a hobby for Fred is training and coaching soccer players. Fred has been a coach for elite jr. high and high school girls soccer teams around Cincinnati for the last 15 years. Fred brings a unique take to ministry leaders about the relationships and spiritual engagement that can happen through sports. Yes sports.   

Nancy talked to Fred about his take on Familying the Faith on the soccer field, and what he has learned from and for parents in that work.   

You are going to love hearing Fred’s unique take on what it means to minister outside the church.

Some of our takeaways include: 

You’re going to love this one! Join us as we help you take that next faithful step! 

Hello Friends!

Welcome to Episode 14 of the Familying the Faith Podcast by Vibrant Faith. We’re all about connecting with ministry leaders who want to dig into THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB in today’s church, and that is connecting with and uplifting parents—the primary faith-forming agents in our world—and helping them grow in their capacity and confidence as they share a vibrant faith in Jesus with the next generation.

This episode was another fun one for Rick and Nancy as they had the opportunity to re-connect with a ministry colleague and friend that each of them have known for a long time! So long we don’t even want to tell you how long its been!

We are joined today by Mark DeVries, founder of Ministry Architects—www.ministryarchitects.com. Mark reflected on his years and years of family-based youth ministry, and what he’s learned since his 1994 book Family-Based Youth Ministry was published. Mark was also the Director of Youth Ministry at First Presbyterian Church in Nashville for over 30 years. That is even MORE of a feat to be celebrated! We had just a great conversation with Mark about his perspective on:

Any conversation with Mark DeVries is always fun!

Some of our takeaways include:

You’re going to love this one! Join us as we help you take that next faithful step!

Hello Friends!

Intergenerational has become a big word in the church formation circles in the last decade as ministry leaders continue to see the negative impact of age segregation in the church.

SO welcome to episode 13 of Vibrant Faith’s Podcast, Familying the Faith. Our purpose is to connect with ministry leaders who are ready to dig into engaging and uplifting parents, the primary faith-forming agents in our world, grow in their capacity and confidence as they share a vibrant faith in Jesus with the next generation.

This episode turned out to be a remarkably interesting one for Jim LaDoux and Nancy Going as they had the opportunity to connect with a church-serving organization that has remarkably similar goals to Vibrant Faith, and yet a different ministry focus.

Today, we’re interviewing Liz Perraud and Brittany Sky from GenOn Ministries. Just like us, GenOn was the recipient of a Lilly Endowment sponsored Christian Parenting and Caregiving grant. Liz and Brittany joined us to talk about GenOn’s long history with intergenerational programming at churches, and their new focus on resources for intentionally intergeneration faith formation in homes through their grant.

It was compelling to hear both Liz and Brittany share their perspective on why intergenerational relationships matter so much for the formation of faith.

This was such a great conversation—you’re going to love it!

Some of our takeaways include:

1. Intergenerational relationships don’t just happen. We very naturally separate to spend time with people our own age, both at home and at church. GenOn’s Program AND resource work are both designed to intentionally create space for intergenerational relationships.

2. And GenOn’s intergenerational approach is just that: A foundational faith-formation approach, not a program. People of all ages are children of God and people of all ages need to be engaged with one another as they are involved with claiming Scripture and practicing their faith with one another.

3. Finally, we heard from Brittany that in HER work with resourcing parents for sharing their faith at home, it is so important to help them just LET GO of their worry that they are not enough, and to help them see how God is present in their every day.

Join us as we help you take that next faithful step!

Hello Friends! 

And welcome to Episode 12 of Vibrant Faith’s Podcast, Familying the Faith. Our purpose is to connect with ministry leaders who are ready to dig into engaging and uplifting parents, the primary faith-forming agents in our world, grow in their capacity and confidence as they share a vibrant faith in Jesus with the next generation. 

We’re featuring another one of our amazing Vibrant Faith coaches on this week’s episode. Her name is Maria Covarubias and she’s been a faith formation leader and then a diocesan leader for the church. Maria earned a Master of Arts in Religious Studies and is certified in Christian Spirituality. 

In this episode, Rick interviews both Maria and Vibrant Faith’s Nancy Going, Director of Research and Resources, about the unique life situation they both find themselves in, and that is EXTENDED familying. Actually, Nancy thought she was doing this well because she lives close to and is deeply engaged in the lives of her grandchildren, when Maria described her family as 50 people strong! You’ll love this thoughtful conversation about the theology and practice of familying across multiple generations.

You’ll learn so much as Maria’s way of life helps you begin to think about how the church could function more like extended family for children and youth especially. Some of the things we took away from the conversation are how unusual the United States is in the way that it asks people to function WITHOUT the closeness of extended family. Maria and her stories also made the familying process simple and do-able, even if you need to build that extended family because the nature of your blood family makes it difficult or even impossible to family. You’ll be able to see your own church in new ways as you listen to them talk about how churches and ministry leaders can help people who desperately need families find them.

This was such just a great conversation with so much wisdom about the power of family beyond Mom and Dad and the kids. We’re so grateful to have Maria and her life experiences among us!

This episode on extended family will encourage you to lead your church to take the next faithful step!

Hello Friends! 

Prepare to have your mind BLOWN.  Welcome to episode 11 of Vibrant Faith’s Familying the Faith podcast. Our purpose is to connect with ministry leaders who are ready to dig into engaging and uplifting parents, the primary faith-forming agents in our world, grow in their capacity and confidence as they share a vibrant faith in Jesus with the next generation.  

This episode is just so interesting and engaging. Our friend and youth research colleague Josh Packard just founded an exciting new organization called Future of Faith—Sacred Tools for Congregational Connections, and Rick and Nancy had the opportunity to re-connect with a ministry colleague and friend and hear about his big new idea first-hand.   

Join us as Josh reflects on his years of experience with research and listening, and how he believes that churches can and must be more systematic about relationships.  

Here’s how he and is co-founder Megan Bissell describe their work:  

No more big data.  Future of Faith is a collective effort to bolster one community at a time by helping them listen and love in real, dedicated ways that help leaders connect strategically with the people they care so much about.

We have devoted our careers to telling the stories of religious people and movements across this country through research.  As a professor, Josh's research agenda focused on collecting data and shining a light on people often left out of traditional church structures.  More recently, we both helped to found the only national research institute dedicated to the understanding the religious and spiritual lives of young people. Together, we have conducted nearly a hundred individual studies, amassed the largest dataset about religion and young people and spoken to tens of thousands to share research findings.

We are committed to using our expertise as sociologists and to help others explore and reimagine the future of faith in their communities. The resources and tools in this site are one piece of a much larger movement to rekindle the wonder of faith and spark curiosity that leads to engagement in a meaningful faith life.

This was such a great conversation—you’re going to love it!  Our primary takeaway was that you CAN not only talk about creating a “familying” culture of deep relationships at your church, but you can create a system for it so that it becomes central to your DNA and sustainable.  

Join us as we help you take that next faithful step!