Sometimes the Lord opens doors we've been walking towards for years, other times He opens doors we never would have even knocked on. How do you decide which one to walk through when it comes to your career, a new opportunity, or a new season of life?

In this episode, hear from Mary what it was like growing up with the PLACE tool in her "toolbox". Hear how it impacted her life growing up and later helped her discern what she wanted to do with her life. All of which eventually led her to her role now with PLACE Ministries.

Do you know where God is calling you? In this episode, Mary interviews Jay on the journey God took him on that led him to start PLACE Ministries and dedicate his life to helping other people find theirs. What began with a tragedy, God redeemed and used in Jay's life to lead him to find God's purpose and calling for him. From meeting his wife, and Mary's mom, serving in a thriving singles ministry in Atlanta, moving across the country, to eventually writing his own tool, Jay walks us through his story, how he found his place in life and ministry, and began to help other people find theirs.

In Galatians we are told to walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh (Gal. 5:16). Could my personality be hindering my ability to walk in step with the Spirit? How could it help me to walk more in step with the Spirit and along the path God has for me? Each personality has strengths and weaknesses, in this episode, Mary and Jay talk about how your very personality can help or hurt your walk with the Spirit and how the awareness of those things can often be the key to overcoming those things that hinder you.

In difficult seasons of life, when it feels as though I am shackled to weaknesses or struggles that I can't seem to overcome, how do I know when to seek out help? What kind of help do I need to seek? In their book, The Dark Sides of Personality and How to Overcome Them, Jay and Mary dive deep into the dark sides, or weaknesses, of our personalities. Having an awareness of your weaknesses, or dark sides, is oftentimes just what you need to overcome them. Other times, however, you need someone or something else to help you overcome the obstacles you face. In this episode, Mary and Jay discuss how to know when you've wandered too far in the dark and need someone else to help you walk back into the light.

Could my personality be keeping me from moving on from past hurts and offenses? Do you find yourself lingering in past hurts rather than living in the present moment? Or are you typically able to move on from things pretty easily, nothing really phases you?

Our personalities influence how we act, react, and interact with other people and with and in certain situations. In this episode, Mary and Jay discuss what it means to be offended and talk about how different personalities tend to react when they have been offended.

In this episode, Jay and Mary sit down with their pastors, Dr. Jeff Jackson and Pastor Bucky Kennedy, to discuss their heart behind using the PLACE tool at each of their churches. During their conversation you'll hear about…

• A pastor's purpose for using the PLACE tool

• How to communicate that purpose to your people

• What it can look like to implement PLACE at your church

• Identifying people in a growing church

• Engaging people in the body of Christ

Whether you are interested in using PLACE at your church for the first time, wondering how to keep it before your people, or just curious about what it is, this is a great conversation to answer those questions from varying perspectives of pastors who all have a heart for the Lord, His people, and His church.

Throwback Thursday? This past summer Mary and Jay sat down with Pastor Bucky Kennedy on the Bucky Kennedy Podcast to discuss The Dark Sides of Personality and How to Overcome Them. As Mary and Jay have been zooming in on individual chapters, this is a conversation that zooms back out on how this discussion on personality and our "dark sides" came to be.

Watch the full interview on YouTube!

PLACE Ministries

For more discussions between Mary and Pastor Bucky, check out their weekly Sermon Recaps on the Bucky Kennedy Podcast

Bucky Kennedy Ministries

How do you communicate through your personality? Have you ever thought about how two people can say the same thing and yet it can come across completely differently? Or have you ever wondered how someone heard something you said and took a completely different meaning from you than you intended? Oftentimes those filters are a reflection of your personality and theirs. Our personality is like a lens through which we create and interpret messages and their meaning. In this episode, take a look at how your personality communicates to others and even interprets how others are communicating to you.

What motivates someone's desire to lead and how does that motivation impact their leadership style? What type of leader are you? Are you a goal oriented leader or a people oriented leader? Or perhaps a detail oriented leader? In this episode, you will gain insight into those questions and how your personality influences your leadership style. You will also get to dive into Scripture and examine leaders like Pharoah, Paul, David, Saul, Abraham, and Moses to get a glimpse into their strengths and weaknesses as leaders. By looking at them, we can learn what to emulate and what to learn from as we grow into the leaders God designed us to be.

The Lord designed us to connect with Him and with others, and each of us do so in our own unique way, much of which is impacted by a part of our design also known as our personality. Your personality has a great deal of influence on how other people perceive you and even how you perceive yourself. Are you aware of how you are often perceived by others? In this episode, Mary and Jay talk about the reason knowing who you are can be so valuable to connecting with other people. They also discuss how a lack of awareness of who you are and how you come across can sometimes be detrimental to your relationships with others.