My guest for The Happy Hour #427 is Clarissa Moll. Clarissa Moll is an award-winning writer who helps grieving people find flourishing after loss. She co-hosts Christianity Today's "Surprised by Grief" podcast and hosts hope*writers' "The Writerly Life" podcast where she encourages writers to craft their own joyful new stories.

Clarissa dove into how her life pivoted after her husband’s sudden death, and her journey through grief. She shares that grief is a companion that shows up unwelcomed but eventually helps us walk through life. We often don’t want to talk about it because we truly want to believe it will never happen. But I love the encouragement she shared: “Not only are we walking with grief beside us, but we are walking with Jesus beside us.” For the full summary and links to the show, click the link below!

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My guest for The Happy Hour #426 is Dustin Nickerson! Dustin Nickerson is a stand-up comedian and SUCH a delight to have on the show - I needed a good laugh! He has a comedy special that’s now available on YouTube and I HIGHLY recommend it.

In this episode, Dustin talks about his past in ministry and how he picked up stand-up on a whim! He spent years traveling to cities for shows, sleeping at airports, but always made it back home in time for work on Monday mornings. Laughter is such an important part of life and it’s so cool seeing people committed to creating more of that. For the full summary and links to the show, click below!

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My guest for The Happy Hour #425 is Mike Todd, pastor of Transformation Church! His newest book Crazy Faith comes out next week and is loaded with truth and encouragement.

Mike joined me on the podcast last year and it was such a blast, I just had to have him back! We caught up on the importance of sabbatical, and welcoming his new daughter into the world! Mike also dives deep into the concept of crazy faith, what it looks like and why we do it. Crazy faith feels scary because sometimes we think we need to be 100% sure about decisions, but the reality is that is not faith. If you take away any of Mike’s words from this episode, let it be this: “People think you live in faith for the outcome. You live in faith for obedience.” For the full summary and links to the show, click below!

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My guest for The Happy Hour #424 is Max Lucado. Max Lucado is a San Antonio-based pastor and best-selling author with more than 145 million products in print. His latest book is You Were Made for This Moment: Courage for Today and Hope for Tomorrow, which comes out next week!

In today’s show, Max dives into what it really looks like to stand up for our faith and how we sometimes use that as a reason to be hostile to others. We see it a lot online and in conversations with the heaviness of the world, but I was so encouraged when Max said “Taking a stand for our faith is loving people who are hard to love. Forgiving people who are hard to forgive.” For the full summary and links to the show, click the link below!

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My guest for The Happy Hour #423 is Mike Cosper. Mike Cosper is the Director of Podcasts at Christianity Today and the creator and host of The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. In this episode, Mike breaks down the premise of the podcast and what the overall goal is for sharing the story of Mars Hill. We talk about church wounds and why our culture continues to platform people whose charisma outweighs their character. We also talk about some of the backlash Mike has received by sharing this story, and people claiming that it is gossip and hurts the reputation of the church. I really appreciated that Mike stood his ground by saying, “What hurts the reputation of the church is abusive leaders.” For the full summary and links to the show, click the link below!

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My guest for The Happy Hour #422 is Jeannie Cunnion. Jeannie Cunnion is a Jesus lover and a grace clinger. She is the author of Don’t Miss Out and Mom Set Free. In today’s episode, Jeannie dives into her newest book, which is a whole book about The Holy Spirit: who He is, what He does, and why it matters so much. It’s beautiful to know that The Holy Spirit is always working in our lives, even when we don’t know He’s working. I love when she says “The same Holy Spirit who empowered Jesus is the same Holy Spirit that rose Jesus from the dead, is the same Holy Spirit that failed the disciples and radically transformed them...that’s the same Holy Spirit that is in you and is in me.” For the full summary and links to the show, click the link below!

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My guest for The Happy Hour #421 is my dear friend, Lisa Whittle. Lisa Whittle is an author, speaker and ministry leader. She has written several books and bible studies, including her newest book The Hard Good, which releases next week!

Lisa dives into grief and loss, and the reality that life is hard and good. The thing about “hard” is that it doesn’t care if it’s an inconvenient time or if you’ve invested so much into something - it just comes because it’s a part of life. But we also have to be reminded of what is good. And I love when Lisa says “God is good - it’s who He is. So things that draw us to Him are good for us.”

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My guest for The Happy Hour #420 is Rasool Berry. Rasool Berry serves as teaching pastor at The Bridge Church in Brooklyn, New York. He also is the Director of Partnerships & Content Development with Our Daily Bread Ministries.

We dove into the intersection of faith and culture, and how important it is for the Church to celebrate the diversity of cultures within the body of Christ. The reality is that it’s hard work to remove ourselves from the bubble of our own culture, traditions and practices. But I love when Rasool says “The goal is not to avoid conflict, but to lean into spaces where we can learn from that conflict. And the best way to fix that is not to start with the issue… but to start with the story of that person.” For the full summary and links to the show, click the link below!

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The Happy Hour #419 is a special episode in partnership with Love Thy Neighborhood! I had the opportunity to guest host, and we talk about where the Gospel meets human trafficking. Christians say we should care for the vulnerable, but what happens when the vulnerable are being exploited in our own communities? The story of a Christian boys choir that wasn’t what it seemed and how one seminary student is fighting back. This episode features Nita Belles, Rebecca Bender and Raleigh Sadler.

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My guest for The Happy Hour #418 is Rachel Jones. Rachel Jones is the author of A Brief Theology of Periods (Yes, Really), and Is This It? In this episode, Rachel talks about what scripture says about women’s periods and how we’ve been culturally raised to be secretive about it. Rachel also dives into the topic of another book she wrote called Is This It? which talks about the infamous quarter-life crisis and feeling like “is this really all there is?” It’s easy for us to be unhappy or dissatisfied when we have high hopes and big dreams, and we feel like we’re living this monotonous life. But I love when Rachel says “Life is short and eternity is long, and it’s very easy to get swept up in what now looks like or even what the next 50 years look like. But if we really believe that we’re headed to this glorious future with the Lord Jesus, then we’re not going to sweat the next 50 years.” For the full summary and links to the show, click the link below!

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