I am thrilled to introduce today’s guest to you. Barrett Johnson is the founder of a ministry called Imperfect Normal Families Only. Barrett is just like the title of his ministry, so real and so approachable. I loved talking with him.

In this episode we talk about Barrett’s newest book, Disciple Them Like Jesus: Leading Your Kids the Way Christ Led the Twelve. We discussed what discipleship is and how we can disciple our kids. As a dad to 5 and grandparent to 8, Barrett is full of practical and Godly wisdom for raising our kids to know and love Jesus better. I found his book and our conversation so helpful.

Please be sure to listen to the end of this episode as Barrett shares a current battle he’s facing and yet manages to encourage mightily. I’d be so grateful if you’d join me in praying for him.

Resources:

His website here

His Instagram here

His book here

His courses here

My new book here

“We’re all imperfect, normal families and we serve a God who loves us that way!” Barrett Johnson

“The Bible is full of principles, guidelines, directives and stories about what is important to God. And that is training people up to know who Jesus is and join Him on His big agenda to redeem humanity. The Great Commission says to ‘go and make disciples’.” Barret Johnson

“If making disciples is important to God, why wouldn’t we be doing that in our homes?” Barrett Johnson

“Discipleship fundamentally is learning to walk in the ways of Jesus and join Him in His plan. Live out Ephesians 5:1. Be imitators of God.” Barrett Johnson

“Since our kids imitate us, we need to imitate God.” Greta Eskridge

“When we walk with God, He helps us discern and see what is really going on in the heart of our child. Not just their behavior, but what is happening in their heart.” Barrett Johnson

“We need to model to our kids how to pursue relationship with Christ.” Greta Eskridge

“When your kid comes to you and confesses something you can say to him, ‘we’re going to run together to the arms of God’.” Barrett Johnson

“Deeply connected relationships with our kids do not happen automatically or accidentally.” Greta Eskridge

“I am finding joy and wonder in lots of little things that I would have neglected before my current circumstance. I am saying, ‘God, show me the good things in this day that you’ve given me.” Barrett Johnson

The Greta Eskridge Podcast is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. For more information visit www.ChristianParenting.org

*Don’t forget to pre-order my new book, It’s Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn: A Parent’s Guide to Helping Children and Teens Develop Sexual Integrity. You can get your copy here!

And would you consider leaving this podcast a rating and writing a quick little review? A sentence or two would be so great and helpful. You can leave one here.

Both of these things would be so helpful to me in spreading the word about my mission to help families create connection in a disconnected world. Join me!

Today I am so excited to welcome homeschool grad and young author, the wonderful Millie Florence! This was my first time meeting Millie, but we share some friends and life experiences, so it felt like we were old friends right away. Millie has multiple middle grade novels out in the world, and her newest novel, Beyond Mulberry Glen comes out in January of 2025. I loved talking to Millie about this new book, about home schooling, about creativity, writing, publishing and more! I know you’ll love this conversation too. Enjoy!

Where to find Millie:

Her website here

Her newest book here

Her Instagram here

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Pre-order goodies here

Brave Writer (a home school writing program) here

Honey Butter (Millie’s first book) here

Ingram Spark (self-publishing book distributor) here

Waxwing Books (Millie’s publisher) here

Some favorite quotes from this episode:

“Home school is customizable.” Millie Florence

“My mom wanted our home school to be directed by the things we delighted in.” Millie Florence

“There was never a time in my life when I didn’t want to be a writer.” Millie Florence

“You’re never going to be ready. You just have to do it.” Sarah Mackensie

“Look at what you have and use that to the best of your ability.” Millie Florence

I am delighted to introduce you to today’s guest, my friend Alicia Hutchinson. Alicia and I have been online friends for a long time, and I have enjoyed learning from and have been inspired by her through those years. Alicia is a home schooling mom of 4, the founder of the Learning Well Community and the Learning Well Journal. She is not afraid to go deep and in fact, she’d much rather go deep than waste time with small talk. As a result, we dive deep right away in this podcast episode where we talk about a lot of things, but especially focus on home schooling in the high school years. I know you will enjoy this episode!

Where to find Alicia:

On her website here

In her home school journal here

On Instagram here and here

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Some favorite quotes from this episode:

“Hard things are not bad things, and sometimes they’re the best things!” Alicia Hutchinson

“The growth that happens from 14-18 is phenomenal and I would not miss that for the world.” Alicia Hutchinson

“High school is like the frosting on the cake!” Alicia Hutchinson

“There is a fear that comes with keeping kids home in high school but we don’t have to give into that.” Greta Eskridge

“I can’t teach my kids physics, but I bet I can find someone who can!” Greta Eskridge

“Everything you say yes to, you are saying no to something else.” Alicia Hutchinson

Don’t forget to pre-order my new book! Get your copy of It’s Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn—A Parent’s Guide to Helping Children and Teens Develop Sexual Integrity clicking on the title of the book.

Today’s episode is extra fun because it is my first episode with a guest from outside the Untied States. Meet Dave Boden, my friend from England! Dave is also the husband of one of my dear friends, Leah Boden, who is also known as Modern Miss Mason. Dave and I thought it was great fun that he was a guest on my show before Leah was. We sure had a great time together in this episode. I especially loved talking to Dave about his heart for reaching the next generation for Christ. Whether you have teens in your life or will one day, this episode will remind you that teenagers and young adults are craving meaning and purpose in their lives and we can help them find that through Jesus. I know you’ll love this conversation.

Where to find Dave:

On Substack here

His website here

On Instagram here

His book Like or Follow here

His book Parallel Faith here

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Get a discount on bulk orders of Dave’s book Like or Follow from 10 of Those here

Some favorite quotes from this episode:

“The heart of my family is all about the next generation. That is what we’re passionate about. We’re captivated by reaching the next generation.” Dave Boden

“If we’re open to teens and we don’t think the worst of them, we’ll see they’re such incredible people. At that time of life, they’re so excited about the world and they have ideas and questions and they want to learn.” Greta Eskridge

“Discover how Jesus can reframe your world with hope and purpose.” Dave Boden

“A part of our call as Christians is to leave our Christian bubble, bridge the gap and go where people are.” Dave Boden

“There are three questions every person has: who am I, what am I here for and where do I belong? Young people are asking these questions and searching for the answers.” Dave Boden

“Jesus is a real person who answers the real questions in our lives, but the places young people are searching won’t necessarily lead them to this answer.” Dave Boden

“Your kid might be pretty good at attending church. But the goal of Christianity is not to church people. The goal of Christianity is to help people become like Jesus.” Dave Boden

“So for me the end result is how Christ like are my children becoming? And how can our children become Christ like if they don’t know Christ?” Dave Boden

“Young people are looking for adventure. They’re looking for a sense of purpose. They are looking to right wrongs. And they’re longing for hope.” Dave Boden

“Teen don’t want to just be told about their faith. They want to go out and do it!” Dave Boden

“We’re meant to be inspired by Jesus and then go out and do inspiring things with Jesus! That message is incredible for teenagers! It helps them know they’re called to a great destiny.” Dave Boden

“Let’s rebel against low expectations! Jesus has incredible expectations for all His disciples.” Dave Boden

“Parents are so scared of the teen years. And I just tell them that it is an amazing time! Just like they were incredible humans when they were babies and toddlers and preschoolers, they’re incredible humans when they’re teenagers!” Greta Eskridge

“We should say to teens, “look at all you can do as a young person of faith!” Greta Eskridge

“As parents we need to support our kids as they make their faith their own. And a lot of times that looks like saying, “yes, you can have your friends over to sit around and talk about God. I’ll make snacks.” Greta Eskridge

The Greta Eskridge Podcast is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. For more information visit www.ChristianParenting.org

This is your reminder to pre-order my new book, It’s Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn: a Parent’s Guide to Helping Children and Teens Develop Sexual Integrity, today!

I have been asked to write this book for years and now, I have! Your pre-orders are tremendously helpful in growing the reach this book will have. I need your help in getting this book into as many hands as I possibly can, so pre-order and share away!

You can pre order It’s Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn here

In today’s episode, I get to talk with my friend Amber Johnston. Amber is a wife, a home-schooling mom to 4, a world traveler, author and speaker. She is also a world changer! One of the things that has most impressed me about Amber in my years of knowing her is the way she sees something that needs to be done and she does it. This is the way she changes the world. It is inspiring and hopeful. We talk about this and so much more in this episode. You are sure to enjoy it.

Where to find Amber:

Find Amber’s website here

Find Amber’s first book, A Place to Belong, here

Find Amber’s second book, Soul School, here

Find Amber on Instagram here

Where to find the books mentioned in today’s episode:

Find Soul School here

Find The Read Aloud Family here

Find Honey for a Child’s Heart here

Find Honey for a Woman’s Heart here

Find Honey for a Teen’s Heart here

Find Book Girl here

Find Read for the Heart here

Some favorite quotes from today’s episode:

“The freedom of home schooling is one of, if not the best parts of home schooling. Even as a kid, I recognized the beauty of the freedom of home schooling.” Greta Eskridge

“My husband originally suggested home school and I burst out laughing. It was literally the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard. Then I joined a home-schooling group and that changed everything for me becau was in constant community.” Amber Johnston

“Those moms gently and consistently told me I was the best. They spoke truth into me and built me up and that made all the difference.” Amber Johnston

“My kids were always visitors to someone else’s stories and that was something we had to radically change.” Amber Johnston

“You know your kids and you know what makes their learning come alive. That’s a beautiful part of home schooling.” Greta Eskridge

“If there is a book you want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” Toni Morrison

“Don’t complain. Don’t talk about it. Be about it!” Amber Johnston

“I am really proud to have that work not just for home school moms but into perpetuity and into society and to be able to say there was a point in time when these authors and illustrators were given their flowers and really focused on.” Amber Johnston

The Greta Eskridge Podcast is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. For more information visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Reminder to pre-order my new book, It’s Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn: a Parent’s Guide to Helping Children and Teens Develop Sexual Integrity, right now and it will arrive at your door step March 4, 2025! You all have been asking for this book for years and I have been praying I could write it for years and now, I have. Please go ahead and pre-order it now as that is tremendously helpful in the reach this book will have. And then share the heck out of it, OK? I’ll need your help in getting this book into as many hands as I possibly can.

You can pre order It’s Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn here

Today’s episode is part 2 of my conversation with Anna and Nathan Sutherland. Today I get to speak with Nathan and our conversation it going to enlighten and inspire you! Nathan and his wife Anna are the founders of Gospel Tech, an organization that exists to equip families to use tech in a God honoring way in a tech saturated world. Rather than painting all tech as bad, Anna and Nathan want to help families talk about tech, communicate the gospel and connect the hope in the gospel to the use of tech. It is a beautiful mission and they are doing it so well!

In an effort to get more of this message into the hands of more people, Nathan wrote the book, Gospel-Centered Tech: Raising Faithful Followers of Christ in a Digitally Distracted World. This book will enlighten and inspire you to push forward in using tch in the best way possible with your family—a way that honors God. Yes, you can honor God with your tech use! Nathan’s book and our conversation is honest and helpful and it is also hopeful. That is such an important element whenever we talk about tech use and screen time. It is not all doom and gloom! I know you are going to love this episode like I did.

Where to find Nathan:

Find Nathan’s book here

Learn more about Gospel Tech here

Follow Gospel Tech on Instagram here

Some favorite quotes from today’s episode:

“There are two kinds of tech: tool tech and drool tech. Tech that helps us build is on the tool side and tech that helps us consume is on the drool side.” Nathan Sutherland

“Drool tch comes to the table with it’s own goals. It wants to take our time and our focus and our money. And until we understand that, we’re going to wonder why we keep fighting with our family. We’re never going to understand why it’s always Fortnite and never Microsoft Word.” Nathan Sutherland

“We aren’t perfect in our tech use. But the goal isn’t to be perfect. The goal is to be humble enough to recognize we need a savior and that applies to our tech too.” Anna Sutherland

“We need to know understanding what operant conditioning is so that we can have compassion for our kid when they’re stuck in the loop of social media or a video game.” Greta Eskridge

“Technology isn’t fair. It’s designed to increase engagement and build habits. That is not an accident. They’re using a mind bending amount of data to give you things you didn’t even know you wanted. And to make you think you need things that you never wanted.” Nathan Sutherland

“The definition of addiction is when you give up what you need to get what you want.” Nathan Sutherland

“When we understand how tech works it gives us the opportunity to come to our kids with compassion and grace and understanding rather than the frustration we often resort to.” Greta Eskridge

“Dumb phones are great!” Greta Eskridge

“Porn is bombastic now. I don’t know if the porn I saw in 7th grade even counts as porn anymore. I’m not 100% sure that we adults understand what kids are experiencing from their pocket device or their friend showed them on the bus.” Nathan Sutherland

“It’s not about porn proofing. It’s about equipping them to make the best choices. It’s about not being afraid to bring it up with them. It’s about not being afraid to answer their questions. These are all things we can do to help our kids be resilient in this world that is saturated with porn.” Greta Eskridge

I shared some big news at the start of this episode: my new book is available for pre-order! That’s right, you can go pre-order my next book, It’s Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn: a Parent’s Guide to Helping Children and Teens Develop Sexual Integrity, right now and it will arrive at your door step March 4, 2025! I am just overjoyed to be sharing this book with parents and giving them the tools they need to talk to their kids about a subject that can feel daunting, uncomfortable, scary, painful or just too difficult. Or maybe a mix of all of those things. I am here to help! You all have been asking for this book for years and I have been praying I could write it for years and now, I have. Please go ahead and pre-order it now as that is tremendously helpful in the reach this book will have. And then share the heck out of it, OK? I’ll need your help in getting this book into as many homes as I possible can.

Pre Order It’s Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn here

And now, for the rest of today’s episode: I get to speak with Anna Sutherland and our conversation it going to inspire and excite you! Anna and her husband Nathan are the founders of Gospel Tech, an organization that exists to equip families to use tech in a God honoring way in a tech saturated world. Rather than painting all tech as bad, Anna and Nathan want to help families talk about tech, communicate the gospel and connect the hope in the gospel to the use of tech. It is a beautiful mission and they are doing it so well!

In alignment with that mission, Anna just wrote a book called The Graceful Disconnect: 25 Days to a Quieter Heart in a Tech Saturated World. In this episode I get to talk with Anna and Nathan, but really focus on Anna’s book. Next week you’ll get to hear from Nathan and his book! Anna’s book is a challenge, but it is a doable challenge. And an inspiring one that most of us, if we’re honest, need to take part in. I can’t wait for you to learn more as you listen.

Where to find Anna:

Find Anna’s book here

Learn more about Gospel Tech here

Follow Gospel Tech on Instagram here

Some favorite quotes from today’s episode:

*“Moms, this is why I am writing to you. As much as we’d like to turn a blind eye to that screen time number that pops up (our own and our children’s) we simply cannot. We are fools if we think the conditions of our hearts aren’t impacted by what we digitally consume.” Anna Sutherland

*“Most conversations take at least seven minutes to really begin.” Sherry Turkle

*“The car is a space where we default to isolation. What if, instead, it became a place for conversation and connection?” Anna Sutherland

*“You can speak a common language because you share the time in the car instead of everyone doing their own thing.” Greta Eskridge

*“Even as a kid, I recognized there was a break in connection when people put their headphones on.” Greta Eskridge

*“We’re playing the long game as parents. We want these kids to launch and to be successful adults. Our job is teach them how to do that. Life is a parenting opportunity.” Anna Sutherland

*“Tech is the easy default because we don’t have to deal with our kids. But easy is not the goal.” Anna Sutherland

*“My grandma was a stay-at-home mom and her ministry was cookies. That’s attainable. I can make cookies! And she prayed for us every day and it’s incredible to have that kind of prayer covering. She made a difference for the kingdom.” Anna Sutherland

Don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast. And I’d be so very grateful if you leave a 5 star rating and a short review of the podcast.

Reviews are incredibly helpful to me as a new podcaster.

Thank you for listening and being part of my team.

I love you guys!

Greta

What a fun and important episode this is. A few weeks ago I shared a photo on Instagram introducing our son William and his new girlfriend, Georgia. The response was full of joy and excitement for William and Georgia but also for our whole family, as this was something to celebrate.

There were also a lot of questions from my Instagram followers. They wanted to know details like: how old are our kids when we let them start dating, how do set up healthy boundaries with dating, how did I feel about “losing my sons” (spoiler alert—I’m not losing them!) and so many more questions.

So I decided to turn it all into a podcast episode and here we are! I can’t wait for you to listen and to get a glimpse at the beautiful and good way God can uses dating in our kids’ lives to bring them toward Him and toward pursing relationships that are honoring to Him and to one another.

The two books mentioned in this episode can be found here:

Chasing Love: Sex, Love and Relationships in a Confused Culture by Sean McDowell

Outdated: Find Love That Lasts When Dating Has Changed by Jonathan “JP” Pokluda

If you enjoy this episode, will you please consider sharing it on your socials? Or text it to a friend? Sharing my podcast is so helpful and I deeply appreciate it!

And I also always appreciate podcast reviews. Have you left one on iTunes yet? I’d be wildly grateful if you leave one today. Thanks, team!

Love,

Greta