For Real with Kimberly Stuart

J.R. Briggs is a pastor, seminary professor, coach, consultant, and writer. The Rev. Dr. J.R. Briggs lives with a clear and focused calling: to grow fruit on other people’s trees. His work seeks to bridge the gap between spiritual formation and actionable leadership practices, aiming to help faith leaders and their organizations grow both in their faith and their impact on their communities. 

In 2011, he started Kairos Partnerships with a commitment to serve hungry kingdom leaders through leadership coaching, consulting, speaking, and teaching. He loves investing in the KP team of equippers so Kairos Partnerships can invest in all leaders who desire care and equipping. 

He has taught in higher education since 2017. After teaching in the practical theology department at Missio Seminary, he now serves as guest instructor at Friends University in their Masters of Christian Spiritual Formation and Leadership program and Taylor University in their Masters of Leadership program. He has guest lectured, taught, and spoken at over a dozen universities and seminaries across the U.S. He also serves as the Director of Leadership & Congregational Formation for The Ecclesia Network. 

He has written, co-written, and contributed to 15 books on a wide variety of topics and published over 50 articles, both online and in print, including Christianity Today, Missio Alliance, Preaching Today, American Bible Society, and N.T. Wright Online. He hosts the Resilient Leaders podcast, a weekly podcast equipping leaders to grow in their health and effectiveness.

In addition to being passionate about serving and equipping leaders, J.R. loves swimming, kayaking, skiing, hiking, reading, traveling, eating sushi and Thai food, and cheering for the Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Eagles and the Michigan Wolverines. 

Links from the episode:

• The Art of Asking Better Questions
• Task switching
• Question hijack study
• Sox the Fox
• Eugene Peterson
• Yeshiva
• GIVEAWAY! Win a copy of The Art of Asking Better Questions

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KimberlyStuart.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more from this episode.

Heather Avis is an accomplished speaker, podcaster, an author many times over, and a fierce advocate for families experiencing disability. Heather has helped thousands of people understand better how to value, learn from, and shout the worth of all people, with a specific focus on shifting the narrative of Down syndrome. She and her family of five live in Southern California, and it was my total joy to chat with and learn from her in this rich and honest conversation.

For over a decade, Heather has led a movement, reimagining what it looks like when we embrace our differences. Heather is a highly sought-after speaker renowned for her expertise in inclusion, storytelling, advocacy, and shifting the narrative around Down syndrome. Her engaging, conversational speaking style, unique insights, and captivating presence have made her a beloved speaker nationwide. With a gift for weaving personal experiences into compelling narratives, Heather illuminates broader human stories that resonate deeply with audiences with one simple mission: create inclusive spaces where everyone belongs.

Links from the episode:

• Heather’s Website
• The Lucky Few
• Baptism of Jesus
• Hope Heals Camp
• Gap’s Everyone Belongs Ad Campaign

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KimberlyStuart.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more from this episode.

Today we have the absolute delight of hearing from Britton and Maggie Buchanan. You might know Britton as the runner-up on season 14 of NBC's The Voice, which is a very fun fact that we certainly discuss. Maggie Buchanan is a writer and hometown girl and family business team member and just the person you want as a neighbor and constant coffee companion. Trust me. You’ll see. I loved talking with these two, and I’m absolutely certain they are the perfect addition of thoughtfulness and North Carolinian sunshine for your day. 

Britton and Maggie Buchanan are a young, married couple who are building a home with wide open doors and plenty of windows to let the Light in. Their joined creativity and passion for story-telling drive their faith and their careers. Britton is a singer-songwriter who gained national attention as runner-up on Season 14 of NBC’s The Voice. Since then, he’s toured across the country, released music that has charted on iTunes and Billboard, and collaborated with a wide range of artists across genres. Maggie is a Bible teacher, speaker, and writer with a heart for helping people connect with Scripture in ways that feel honest, accessible, and life-giving. She holds a Master of Divinity, founded Gospel Girl to help women grow in their faith, and now works with her family while continuing to teach and write. Together, they hope their marriage, creativity, and everyday rhythms invite others to feel welcomed, seen, and reminded that they belong to God and to one another.

Links from the episode:

• Britton’s Instagram

• Maggie’s Instagram

• Season 14 of The Voice

• Shoulders of Giant Quote

• Matthew 25

• On earth as it is in heaven

• Sam Wells

• Eat Pray Love

• LA Cemetery with Cultural Events

• Joan Didion

• Joanie Mitchell

Book recommendations:

• Slouching Toward Bethlehem

• The Correspondant

• Chinatown

• It’s A Wonderful Life

• Casablanca

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KimberlyStuart.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more from this episode.

Sean Dietrich, also known as Sean of the South, is my guest today, and you might pick up a little fangirling here and there because he’s just that kind of guy, okay? I can’t help it. I think so highly of him and of his extraordinary wife Jamie, and I’m just so excited for you to hear from him on writing, yes, but on so so many more things that matter deeply. Things like how writing works with grief, how he gets so much done (hint: it matters who you marry), and on how we all need each other, whether on our own familiar roads or on rural roads in Spain. Listen in, friends, to author, musician, and solid human being, Sean Dietrich.

Sean Dietrich is a columnist, humorist, multi-instrumentalist, and stand-up storyteller known for his commentary on life in the American South. His work has appeared in Newsweek, Southern Living, Reader's Digest, Garden and Gun, and his column appears weekly in newspapers throughout the U.S. He has authored eighteen books and over four thousand columns. He makes appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, his work has been featured on the Today Show, and he's a really nice guy. Check him out @seanofthesouth.

Links from the episode:

Sean’s Columns

Sean’s Books

Sean’s Music

Sean’s Instagram Reels

Straighten Up and Fly Right

Song Story by Sean

Over Yonder

Downton Abbey

El Camino de Santiago

Sean’s Hate Mail

Kinfolk

GIVEAWAY! Win a copy of Over Yonder

Sean's book recommendations:

The Story of My Life

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KimberlyStuart.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more from this episode.

If you are staring down a new year and seriously considering trading in your schedule, your house, your social situation, your entire situation for something new and improved, HOLD ON A SECOND. What if you don’t need a massive overhaul and instead need tiny tweaks? Today we get the chance to learn from the queen of the tweak, the ninja of the simple purposeful life, Erin Port. Erin’s done the work to help us figure out some simple and smart ways to begin, so listen in and learn with me in this conversation with author and entrepreneur and fellow Iowa girl (by way of Switzerland), Erin Port.

Erin Port is a writer, entrepreneur, and mother of four. She founded Simple Purposeful Living in 2018 to help busy women simplify life’s overwhelming tasks, creating space for what truly matters. With master’s-level training in education, Erin hosts The Simple Purposeful Living Podcast. Erin offers a line of products, including meal planners, cookbooks, and notebooks. She lives in Polk City, Iowa, with her family. Follow her @simplepurposefulliving.

Links from the episode:

Tiny Tweaks, Happy Life

Megan Reuther

Kim’s YouTube

Enneagram 3

She Reads Truth

Erin’s Gratitude Journal

GIVEAWAY! Enter to win a free copy of Erin’s book

Erin's book recommendations:

Sarah Adams

Garden City

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KimberlyStuart.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more from this episode.

For Real isn’t going away! (Just in case long pauses make you nervous.) New episodes will release in early 2026. I know there are treasures waiting for us as we keep asking good questions.

Before we reach the end of 2025, I wanted to take a few moments with just me on the mic to share an update and a hearty thank you for the many ways you reached out after the unexpected loss of my dad last summer. This isn’t the story I wanted for my family or for myself, but I’m grateful to be surrounded by people like you.

In this delightful end to season four (season four! huzzah!), I am joined by my friend Jess Connolly to talk about friendship, legacy, heartbreak, joy, and just for a plot twist, Jess’s current obsession with an obscure but very useful Amazon product. I’m saying we hit it all, and I loved it all. This ep is the perfect way to cap off a season, so lean in and listen to my life-drenched conversation with author, coach, podcaster, exceptional speaker, and dear friend, Jess Connolly.

Jess Connolly is an unlikely leader who is obsessed with helping other women. Her story might surprise you, but here's the gist: God has taken her from defeat, despair, and overwhelmed exhaustion to abundant life. She barely graduated high school, and now she writes books. She went from wild church hurt to church leader, from poverty to coaching other women. Learn more at jessconnolly.com and @jessaconnolly.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KimberlyStuart.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more from this episode.

Whitney English is a designer, author, entrepreneur, and someone who can help us both declutter and beautify without turning to strong drink. Huzzah! Whitney’s new book is called Organize First, Decorate Second, and I think you’ll love hearing about how she can help you bring order and beauty from nuttiness. I read Whitney’s book on a series of flights, and by about a third of the way through, I was ready to parachute out and get to my house to go through all my drawers and closets and rooms. I so appreciate practical advice and tools of how to make life and spaces more beautiful while human beings still live here. Kudos to Whitney for helping us make that happen.

Whitney English believes that anyone can live a beautiful life. She believes that gratitude is the birthplace of joy, that people matter, that love is the answer, that if you’re real you can’t be ugly, that everyone is creative and some of us have just forgotten, and that it’s worth trying to be a better version of yourself today than you were yesterday. She has boot-strapped two businesses to seven figures, has a degree in interior design, studied management at Parsons in New York City, and has had her work featured in O magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and on the Today Show (twice). She was featured as one of Country Living magazine’s Women Entrepreneurs in 2008. One of her favorite dreams-come-true, though, is her husband David, and their three children. Find her online at whitneyenglish.com and @whitneyenglish.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KimberlyStuart.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more from this episode.

I’m so stoked to share this bonus episode! We are celebrating the paperback release of my book, Star For Jesus and Other Jobs I Quit. This book was a long time in the living and the writing, so when it released in hardcover a year ago, I was nervous and thrilled. Nervous because this book is personal (yowza, is it personal!). Thrilled because it’s a book about grace. Real grace, grace stamped paid-in-full, grace that sets us FREE. So! When my publisher released this book in paperback, obviously I danced in my kitchen and obviously my producer Betsy and I thought it the perfect moment to share this conversation from the OG release one year ago.

My very dear friends in San Diego joined me with balloons and ice cream and a chat behind the mic. You’ll hear from them in a sec, but for now, keep your earbuds in OR head to YouTube, where you can see all the faces of all these dear people, and listen in on a really great night, the live release of Star For Jesus and Other Jobs I Quit: Rediscovering the Grace that Sets Us Free.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KimberlyStuart.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more from this episode.

Today’s episode is for you if you are a college student, a recent grad, or you love anyone who fits in those camps. My guest today is Erica Young Reitz, and she is THE expert in helping folks navigate life after college. I think you are going to absolutely love hearing what she has to say about everything from rooting yourself in a new community, making new friends, and figuring out a budget, to knowing how to give yourself some serious grace as you navigate the gigantic transitions after the graduation gown is packed away.

Erica Young Reitz is the founder of After College Transition, an organization that helps practitioners (higher education professionals, church leaders, and college ministers) equip students to thrive after college. Her experience working with college students includes teaching advanced writing at The Pennsylvania State University and campus ministry with the CCO (Coalition for Christian Outreach), directing Senior EXIT. She holds an MA in higher education from Geneva College with a research focus on the senior year transition, and her writing has appeared in publications including Christianity Today and Relevant. Erica serves as a leadership development specialist for Bartell and Bartell, helping individuals and teams uplevel their leadership and unleash their organizational potential. Erica lives in central Pennsylvania with her husband, Craig, and their two children.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KimberlyStuart.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more from this episode.