The House We Build

Welcome to Season 2 of The House We Build Podcast!

In this powerful episode of The House We Build, we sit down with author, former pastor, realtor, and father Lucas Sherraden to explore what it truly means to live—and lead—uncaged.

At the heart of this conversation is a simple but life-altering truth: we are not trapped by our circumstances, but by the meaning we assign to them. So often, we live confined by judgment—of ourselves and others—mistaking our thoughts and preferences for truth. But what if curiosity could set us free?

Lucas shares raw, personal stories that reveal how the words we speak and the narratives we believe can either propel us toward the vision we long for—or keep us stuck, sedentary, and small. Drawing from his upcoming book The Uncaged Leader (releasing August 2026), he challenges the idea of quick fixes and high-performance hacks, offering something far more lasting: a new way of seeing ourselves, our relationships, and our leadership.

With the depth of a Master of Divinity and years of guiding others, Lucas brings clarity and conviction. He hands us a mirror to transform failure into fuel, a flashlight to uncover what’s holding us back, and a blueprint for building cultures rooted in trust, ownership, and creativity.

This episode is more than a conversation—it’s a wake-up call.

If you’re ready to step out of judgment, rewrite your story, and build a life marked by vision and hope, this is where it begins.

https://theuncagedleader.com/

#buildhishouse #thehousewebuildpodcast #theuncagedleader

Lean into this powerful and deeply personal episode, we sit down with Terry Childers—former professional baseball player with the New York Mets organization and a dedicated advocate for addiction recovery. Sober for over 20 years, Terry shares his incredible testimony of battling addiction, the one simple prayer that changed everything, and how he found true freedom through faith and surrender.
Previously a Clinical Liaison at The Bluff in Augusta, Georgia, Terry has spent over a decade helping individuals and families find hope, healing, and restoration. His journey hasn’t been without heartbreak—including the devastating loss of his son to addiction—but through it all, Terry’s unwavering belief is clear: God is with you in the darkest valleys.
Whether you're struggling with addiction, supporting a loved one, or facing emotional strongholds, Terry’s story is a beacon of hope. This episode reminds us that no family member should be left behind—and that recovery is possible, one step at a time.
 Tune in for a raw, real conversation about consequences, redemption, and the grace that carries us through it all.#thehousewebuildpodcast #buildhishouse #nofamilymemberleftbehind

In this soul-stirring episode 15 of The House We Build, Nicole Atkinson invites us into a powerful and honest conversation about emotional intelligence, the impact of what we consume, and the fruit our lives are producing. Drawing from research, personal testimony, and the transformative truth of Scripture, Nicole unpacks how our habits, thoughts, and influences shape how we show up in the world.

She shares how meeting Jesus began a lifelong process of inner transformation—how His promises continue to renew her mind and challenge negative, ruminating thoughts. From the science behind prayer and its mental health benefits to the dangers of unchecked social media consumption, this episode explores what it means to be strategic with our minds, our time, and our calling.

God has placed something inside of you. Are you producing with what He gave you? Dive in as Nicole asks the hard questions: What are you feeding your mind? What are you creating with your life? And how can we choose daily to consume His goodness and exude it into the earth? You were made for more!

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Meet Nicole Atkinson– Lover of Jesus, Author, Teacher, Ordained Minister, and Purpose Ignitor. She has her Masters Degree in Mental Health Counseling and a Licensed Professional Counselor.

She is an expert researcher and thrives on learning new things. Her superpower is helping others draw closer to God! - and in doing so, discover their purpose to overcome mental blocks that prohibit them from walking in their full potential!

Connect with Nicole, her books, retreats, etc. at www.nicoleatkinsoninc.com

The silent pandemic: Real Talk on Burnout! Discover the powerful connection between soul care and active rest. In this powerful episode of The House We Build, we welcome special guests Natalie and Bryant Borges for a deeply honest conversation about burnout, identity, and the soul.
As burnout silently spreads like a pandemic—impacting families, pastors, husbands, moms, and leaders—how do we truly find rest in a culture that keeps us running? So many of us have learned to survive at high levels of stress, driven by the belief that we always need to be doing something. But this constant drive floods our bodies with cortisol and stress hormones that don’t quickly leave—and overtime, they wear us down.

Bryant shares his personal journey of discontent in his military career, and the life-changing moment he encountered the Holy Spirit in the secret place. He speaks to the soul-level transformation that comes from radical humility, intimacy with Jesus, and the art of lingering in His presence—not for performance, but for peace. Bryant speaks to how the brain and the body react to ongoing stress and high levels of cortisol that can lead to burnout. He walks us through what it looks like to a "Tactical Pause" and keeps our spirit permeable to the Father through the Holy Spirit.

Natalie brings her expertise in counseling and soul care, reminding us that we are made of body, soul, and spirit. While we often care for the body and tend to our spiritual practices, the soul—our mind, will, and emotions—is frequently neglected. She invites us to consider: is your soul being shaped more by the pressures of the world, or by the wisdom and Word of God?

This episode is an invitation to pause—on purpose. To rediscover the power of rest. To let the Holy Spirit meet you where you are, and lead you into daily renewal.
If you're feeling exhausted, burned out, or barely holding on, you're not alone. This conversation is for you. Rest is possible. Wholeness is within reach. Let’s build from the inside out.

Get to know our guests:

Bryant is a Harvard-trained Executive Coach and Burnout Prevention Strategist with 15+ years of leadership in the medical field, Department of Defense, nonprofits, and mental health. He’s led multimillion-dollar operations and faith-based initiatives, witnessing how leadership without margin leads to burnout. Blending over 10,000 hours of clinical experience with neuroscience, somatics, and biblical leadership, Bryant equips CEOs, Pastors, and teams with practical tools for resilience, clarity, and sustainable impact. His mission: to help leaders overcome burnout and lead with endurance. Find him at: www.borgescatalyticsolutions.com

Natalie is Creation Therapy-certified, a Temperament Analyst and Wellness Coach with over 15+ years of ministry leadership experience across church, nonprofit, and community settings. She leads a faith-based coaching business equipping individuals and families for healing, growth, and sustainable transformation. As a homeschooling mother of four boys, Natalie brings both lived experience and spiritual insight into the challenges of modern Christian parenting, emotional resilience, and identity restoration. Drawing from her background in ministry, biblical counseling, and family systems, she helps women and families move from survival into Spirit-led wholeness. Her mission: to help faith-filled families heal from trauma, reclaim their identity in Christ and walk in lasting freedom.

What does it really mean to love unconditionally—especially when life takes an unexpected turn? In this powerful and deeply personal episode, April opens up about her own journey of walking in love and clinging to her faith in the midst of one of her adult children stepping into an unfamiliar space within the LGBTQ+ community.

Through her children's book, The Unexpected Guest, April offers a glimpse into the process of trusting God in the unexpected things life can throw at you. Lean in and listen to how she processes the disappointment and fear and into full surrender as she embraces the promises of God's unconditional love.

April Foster is a best-selling author, an encounter coach where she utilizes her Bachelors in Psychology degree and Master in counseling to assist individuals reclaim their identity in Christ. She is also a prior classical home schooling momma, wife to John for three decades and podcast host with her husband on Bedroom & and Bible.

Join host Becky Vasquez and her guest April Foster for a real conversation about navigating relationships through the lens of God’s Agape love, instead of religion. Together, we explore: How to maintain a strong, grace-filled connection with your children in the face of differing beliefs.

• The difference between religious spirit and Christ-like love
• What it looks like to walk “The Jesus Way” in today’s divided world
• How to support, listen, and love without losing your faith—or your family
• This episode is a must-listen for Christian parents, mentors, and anyone facing the tension between faith and unconditional love. Get ready to be challenged, encouraged, and reminded that love never fails—even when the path ahead feels uncertain. The path does feel uncertain. But it is a straight path. 

As we enter Memorial Day, our prior military family pauses to honor the lives laid down in sacrifice—men and women who gave everything so others could live in freedom. In this sacred moment of remembrance, we turn our hearts to the greatest act of love the world has ever known: Jesus laying down His life for all of humanity!

Join your host, Becky Vasquez, for a powerful conversation about the blood of Jesus—what it accomplished, what it promises, and how it offers us a new bloodline. Together, we’ll explore His words in John 15:12-13 and reflect on how His ultimate sacrifice birthed a new way to live, in union with the Father and through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

This episode is an invitation to receive a deeper revelation of the love of Christ—a love that redeems, purifies, and makes us new. Come and be reminded that you are no longer orphaned and estranged, but are adopted, restored, and called into a NEW bloodline through what Jesus did on the cross.

In this fun, heartfelt, and honest episode, we sit down with Kess and Steve Scharff — a couple who have weathered 27 years of marriage, raised three daughters, opened their hearts as foster parents, and walked through the shadows of childhood trauma and the freedom gained in Christ after years of struggle with alcohol dependency. Their story is one of resilience, raw faith, and radical love — not the kind that tries to fix or control, but the kind that holds space, leans into grace, and chooses personal growth over blame. As Kess and Steve share, Real love isn’t about fixing someone — it’s about holding space while they grow.

Together, they explore what it truly means to love someone as they are, to navigate pain without losing connection, and to let God’s love transform the way we care for those closest to us. Because as they’ve learned through experience, You can’t build a strong house if you’re only pointing at the cracks in someone else’s walls. Whether you're in the midst of relationship struggles, parenting challenges, or your own healing process, this episode is a powerful reminder: no house is too broken for God to rebuild — brick by brick, with Jesus at the center!

Kess and Steve Scharff's ministry center on showing the love of Jesus to everyone they meet, teaching their family to break generational sin, and teaching other to love and serve like Christ. They believe family extends beyond blood, encompassing all who love Jesus and live according to His call. Through their work with SEEDS for Change, they emphasize holistic healing, experiential growth, and breaking free from cycles of trauma by living in alignment with God's Word and being full of gratitude and joy in the simpleness of the day. Learn more at www.kessscharff.com and get the Couples Devotional on Amazon: Sacrificial Love: The Marriage I Didn't Say I Do To, Husbands and Wives Tell All

From Hustle to Harvest: Holy Surrenders and Slowly Becoming, and God's Way Forward with Christina Blincoe!
In this soul-nourishing episode, we sit down with the radiant Christina "Chrissy" Blincoe — author, entrepreneur, boss babe, wife, and mother — as she opens up about the transformation from a high-speed, high-stress lifestyle to one rooted in surrender, following Jesus, and God’s timing.

Christina shares her testimony of building a lavender farm with her husband Joe, and how her health crisis became the divine turning point that led to deep pruning, spiritual renewal, and a shift in priorities. From balancing work, entrepreneurship and motherhood to publishing multiple books, Christina shares insight and wisdom every season of her journey — and how leaning into God became her greatest business (and life) strategy to following God's design!

If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the hustle or unsure how to slow down, this conversation will encourage your heart and remind you that sometimes, the detour is the destination.

Don’t miss this inspiring episode filled with faith, farming, and purpose-filled living and dreaming with God!

Find Christina Blincoe:

www.sweetstreamslavender.com | Instagram: @sweetstreamslavender & @christinablincoe

Tune into The House We Build Podcast Eps 9: Living in the In-Between: Walking through Longsuffering as Daughters of God with Co-host Becky Vasquez and Special Guest Tierra Lebbie.

In this heartfelt episode, Tierra Lebbie, advocate for women and host of the Kept podcast, shares her deeply personal journey of walking through longsuffering as a daughter of God. As a woman who has experienced the pain of multiple miscarriages, Tierra opens up about the emotional and spiritual challenges she faced in the in-between seasons of waiting, loss, and longing. She shares how these heartbreaking experiences became an invitation to surrender everything to Jesus, even in the midst of the pain.

Tierra reflects on the temptation to covet the next season—the hope of a new beginning or the end of mourning—but reveals how God has taught her to embrace the present season of refinement and growth. Through raw vulnerability, she explains how the enemy seeks to distract us from the work God is doing in our hearts by pushing us to rush ahead or wish away our pain. Instead, Tierra shows how we can live fully in the "in-between," trusting that God’s purpose is unfolding, even in the waiting.

Ladies (Daughters), we have a legacy to leave behind! We are called to come together to speak the Gospel to one another, so not one family member is left behind! God wants His Daughters to be free! It's our rightful inheritance, because who the Son sets free is free indeed! We have in our inheritance the ability to be FREE even in the midst of the greatest pain in our lives. So, lean in ladies, and share this special episode with a sister who needs this word today!

In this powerful episode, we sit down with special guest Tamra Andress to explore the tension in seasons of decrease, self-reliance and total dependence on Christ. Much like the show Naked and Afraid, where participants strip down to their bare essentials, we dive into the process of stripping away false identities, self-righteousness, and man-made pursuits in order to stand raw and vulnerable before God. Just as the contestants on the show face their fears vulnerable and transparent, we, too, are called to abide, cloth and trust Him to cover us in seasons where we feel exposed—spiritually, emotionally, and mentally.

Together, Becky and Tamra share moments of "getting naked and unafraid" before the Lord—allowing Him to reshape and unveil the parts of their stories that were built on falsehoods, and embracing the divine transformation of being fully clothed in Christ. We talk about how we often spend our lives building our own "houses" of self-reliance, when it comes to business, and even things we "do for God" but that the real freedom comes when we lay down our own construction and surrender to God’s design.

This conversation is a raw and transparent exploration of vulnerability, identity, and the refining process where God unwraps false doctrines, replacing them with His pure truth. As Christians navigating the professional world, we often fear being exposed, but Tamra reminds us that God doesn’t just want the polished, perfect version of us—He wants all of us, the real, raw, and authentic selves, laid bare before Him.

Join us as we discuss the beauty of leaning into fear, embracing the process of unwrapping, and finding strength in being fully vulnerable before the Lord. God goes before us and prepares a way, so we can approach the table to dine with the Father—naked, unafraid, and fully seen. This episode is packed with revelation that will empower you to face your fears and step into the freedom God has for you.

Tamra Andress is a 8x #1 best selling author (…and counting) featured in Forbes, USA Today, Inc., Entrepreneur, LA Weekly and many other well known publications. She’s keynote speaker, and top podcaster - with The Messenger Movement Podcast (with over 500 episodes and counting) and 2 other notable shows (The Founder Collective and Girls Gone Holy). She’s a serial entrepreneur who works with high capacity christian leaders to turn their messages into movements and share the Good News. She is wildly in love with words and The Word! Through her publishing company, F.I.T.(fit) in Faith Press, she catalyzes messengers in the marketplace by building buisnesstry through publishing, podcasting and platform development while keeping play at the core! Her non-profit, The Founder Collective, focuses on ordaining and sustaining marketplace ministers and is launching a world class Academy in 2026 alongside partners like John Maxwell. Find her adventuring with her hubby, two kiddos and pups or dancing and cartwheeling to stay aligned and alive.