That Sounds Fun With Annie F. Downs

Today I get to talk with my friends Pastor Kevin Queen and Pastor Dave Clayton. Both are extremely wise voices not only in my life but in the lives of so many here in middle Tennessee. When I knew I wanted us to talk about what it looks like to do an extended fast, these were the 2 first I thought of. We’re talking about everything from why it can feel weird to talk about fasting, what it looks like to lead people through a corporate fast, and what it looks like to do an extended fast. Maybe it’s 3 days or 7 days or 21 days or 40 days. That may not be for everyone, but it is for someone and I wanted these two to help discern what that looks like and how to walk through it with discipline and grace. After you listen, head over to spirituallystronger.com. I’m telling a story about the moment I felt Holy Spirit invite me into an extended fast. And as always, we have questions there for you to process and think through this week. . . . . Eddie Kaufholz and I are hitting the road in May and June for The Buddie

Ryan Wekenman is back today to help us continue to unpack and better understand the spiritual discipline of fasting. If it’s something you’ve never tried and have always had questions or hesitations about, this conversation is going to be so helpful, especially as we get ready to practice fasting together tomorrow, April 14th! We have a guide for you to use to you have some things to read and pray through. That’s available to all of our paid Substack subscribers over at spirituallystronger.com. If you’re not yet subscribed, it’s never too late to jump us!  Ryan also has a brand new book coming out tomorrow called Free Me from Me: Escaping the Maze of Self-Centeredness by Embracing a God-Centered Life and it is excellent. We get to talk about that too and I’m really excited for you to read this book. Find the show notes here . . . . Eddie Kaufholz and I are hitting the road in May and June for The Buddies Tour and we want to see you there! We’re heading to 6 different cities and y’all this is going to be a

Today on the show, I get to talk to my new friend, Sophia Ruffin-Wilson. Sophia is an influencer, author, creator, and prophetic voice whose message of deliverance and transformation has resonated powerfully around the world. I started following her on instagram and fell in love with her wisdom and overall FUN vibes and knew we were meant to be friends.  Today you’re going to get to hear some of her story, what God’s teaching her right now, how Holy Spirit is speaking to her, and why she named her book It Will Be God. There’s no new post today over on Substack since this is a bonus episode, but remember we’re going to practice fasting together as a community on Tuesday, April 14th and we have a free prayer guide for you to use that day, so head over to spirituallystronger.com to subscribe and you can find it there. View the show notes here . . . . Eddie Kaufholz and I are hitting the road in May and June for The Buddies Tour and we want to see you there! We’re heading to 6 different cities and y’all thi

Alex Seeley is a Bible teacher, author, and co-founder of the Belonging Co. here in Nashville, and this is her 3rd time on the show. As we continue talking about the spiritual discipline of fasting, she is such a wise voice to help us understand why this practice really makes a difference in our relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and she’s also helping us better understand specifically our relationship with Holy Spirit. Her next book, which comes out tomorrow, is called  The Divine Counselor and is about just that— understanding we have direct access to the greatest helper, teacher, advocate, and counselor. After you listen, head over to spirituallystronger.com where we can continue to unpack this conversation together AND we want to invite you to put this spiritual discipline into practice with us on Tuesday, April 14th. We’re going to have a That Sounds Fun: Spiritually Stronger Day of Fasting, so together as a community, we can spend the day fasting and praying. It’s important to us that w

Holy Week Bible Reading: Easter Sunday Matthew 28:1-10 Mark 16:1-13 Luke 24:1-35 John 20:1-25 (Read from my Bible in the New International Version 1984 and a portion of the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones) #TSFHolyWeek #thatsoundsfunpodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Holy Week Bible Reading: Good Friday Matthew 26:47-27:66 Mark 14:43-15:47 Luke 22:47-23:56 John 18:2-19:42 (Read in The Message Version) . . . . . There will be no reading tomorrow. Nothing is recorded in Scripture of this Saturday. But Sunday is coming... #TSFHolyWeek #thatsoundsfunpodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Holy Week Bible Reading: Thursday Matthew 26:17-46 Mark 14:12-42 Luke 22:7-46 John 13-17:26 (Read from the Christian Standard Bible Version) . . . . . #TSFHolyWeek #thatsoundsfunpodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Holy Week Bible Reading: Wednesday Matthew 26:14-16 Mark 14:10-11 Luke 22:3-6 (Read from the New English Translation) . . . . . #TSFHolyWeek #thatsoundsfunpodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Holy Week Bible Reading: Tuesday Matthew 21:23-23:39, 26:6-13 Mark 11:27-12:44 Luke 20-21:4 John 12:2-11 (Read in the New Living Translation) . . . . . #TSFHolyWeek #thatsoundsfunpodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Holy Week Bible Reading: Monday Matthew 21:12-22 Mark 11:12-18 Luke 19:45-48 (Read in the English Standard Version) . . . . . #TSFHolyWeek #thatsoundsfunpodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Holy Week Bible Reading: Palm Sunday Matthew 21:1-11 Mark 11:1-11 Luke 19:29-44 John 12:12-19 (Read from my Bible in the New International Version 1984) . . . . . #TSFHolyWeek #thatsoundsfunpodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on the show, I get to talk with my friend, Rabbi Jason Sobel. You may remember him from episode 1022 when we had him here during Advent to talk about the connections between the Old Testament and the New Testament when it comes to Jesus’ birth. Immediately when we finished recording that episode, I told him he had to come back and talk to us during Lent to help us also talk through Jesus’ resurrection. He has served as a spiritual advisor for The Chosen since it started and y’all went nuts for his latest book, Transformed By the Messiah. ME TOO. Rabbi Jason is a Jewish man who believes Jesus is the Messiah, and the way he connects the dots between the Old Testament and the new is like watching the story of Jesus go from regular definition to full-on high definition. Next week, we won’t be airing any new Spiritually Stronger episodes, but we are going to air a daily Scripture reading for Holy Week. I’ll read through the stories from the Gospels that correlate with each day’s events during Holy Week. We

We’re going to keep talking about fasting today with my friend, Dr. Derwin Gray. He is the co-founding and Lead Pastor of Transformation Church, just outside of Charlotte, NC.  We also talking about memorizing Scripture and what grace really looks like as we prepare for Holy Week. Head over to spirituallystronger.com after you listen because he also mentions “virtue ethics” today and I want us to talk about this some more and how it relates to spiritual disciplines. I’m really curious what you think. View the show notes here . . . . Thank you to our sponsors! This show is sponsored by BetterHelp: Sign up and my friends get 10% off at BetterHelp.com/thatsoundsfun. Ritual: Save 25% on your first month at Ritual.com/THATSOUNDSFUN. CreaTone: Get started with 20% off your first order. at TONETODAY.com, promo code TSF. Brodo: Head to Brodo.com/THATSOUNDSFUN for 20% off your first subscription order and use code THATSOUNDSFUN for an additional $10 off. Boll and Branch: Get 15% off your first

Today on the show, Eddie and I get to keep talking about the Winter Olympics (mountaineering is wild!), the latest wild west movie I’ve watched, snow skiing stories, the difference in weighing things vs measuring them, and what makes a good biscuit... and of course we're just adding to the list of what we want The Buddies Tour to look like!  Plus, you’re not ready to hear Eddie’s new way of saying, “I have to use the restroom.” Things get a bit unhinged today.  Have you gotten your tickets to The Buddies tour yet?! Eddie and I are coming to: Keller (Fort Worth), Texas on Friday, May 15th Colorado Springs, Colorado on Saturday, May 16th Orlando, Florida on Friday, June 5th Charlotte, North Carolina on Sunday, June 7th Trussville (Birmingham), Alabama on Friday, June 12th Nashville, TN on Saturday, June 13th Y’all, this is going to be an actual blast. I hope these nights are just pure fun. Tickets are selling QUICKLY! Go to thebuddiestour.com We cannot wait to see you there! IF YOU MAKE SOAP, please c

It’s time to talk about fasting. Lisa Bevere is a spiritual mom to a lot of us and was the exact right person to help us kick off this conversation. What I love about this conversation is how Lisa reframes fasting not as punishment or performance — but as invitation. As a way of intentionally making space for God to move in us and through us. We talk about what fasting actually is — and what it isn’t. We talk about motives, about hunger (the physical and the spiritual kind), and about how fasting, when paired with prayer, can sharpen our awareness of God’s presence in everyday life. It’s practical and deeply spiritual at the same time. If fasting is something you’ve been curious about but never tried, we talk about some simple ways to start. Head over to spirituallystronger.com after you listen as we process this together and give some questions to think through this week. Remember, this year we’re saying give us one hour a week listening to this episode and 10 minutes a day going through the Substack ques

My friend Jen Lilley is joining us today. She’s an actress, producer, storyteller, and just a total delight of a human. You may know her from Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, or Hallmark and Great American Family movies. But here’s what I really love about her: behind the film sets is a woman with a deep, vibrant, anchored faith. So, while we thought we were taking a break from our theme this week, what you’ll hear is a friend who is indeed Spiritually Strong. Jen has written a 365-day devotional called Wake Up Your Faith that you absolutely want a copy of and in this conversation we get to beautifully usher in next week’s introduction to our next spiritual discipline: fasting. Join us on Substack at spirituallystronger.com!  Find the show notes here . . . .  Thank you to our sponsors! AG1: Go to drinkag1.com/SOUNDSFUN to get an AG1 Flavor Sampler and a bottle of Vitamin D3+K2 for FREE in your AG1 Welcome Kit with your first AG1subscription order! This show is sponsored by BetterHelp: Sign u

Matt Smallbone is the pastor of Church of the City’s downtown campus here in Nashville, and we’re continuing with a bit of a theme today as we talk again this week about The Lord’s Prayer. Every time we talk about it during this prayer series though, I feel like there’s something new to see and something deeper to understand. It’s wild how a prayer so familiar, so memorized, so repeated, can still surprise us. Matt has written a brand new book called The Prayer Experiment that comes out in April and you’re going to love. We're unpacking all of this over on spirituallystronger.com too, so please come join us as we process together over there! Find the show notes here . . . .   Thank you to our sponsors! This show is sponsored by BetterHelp: Sign up and my friends get 10% off at BetterHelp.com/thatsoundsfun. Our Place:  Visit fromourplace.com/TSF and use code TSF for 10% off sitewide. With a hundred-day risk-free trial, free shipping and returns, you can experience this game-changing cookware wit

Today Eddie and I get to keep talking about how much is going on in the world right now and just how hard it is for all of us to wrestle with it. We also talk about my ceiling falling in during the ice storm in Nashville! Our "7 minutes of serious" turned into closer to 47! But don’t worry, we of course had to wrap things up by chatting for a bit about Oscar nominations, Zootopia 2, and the first movie we ever remember seeing. Also... THE BUDDIES TOUR DATES AND CITIES HAVE NOW BEEN ANNOUNCED! We’re coming to: Keller (Fort Worth), Texas on Friday, May 15th Colorado Springs, Colorado on Saturday, May 16th Charlotte, North Carolina on Friday, June 5th Trussville (Birmingham), Alabama on Friday, June 12th And maybe more…stay tuned! You can find the dates and details at thebuddiestour.com and because you’re a podcast listener you get pre-sale access to tickets TODAY!!! Just use the code BUDDIES and get your tickets at thebuddiestour.com. We cannot wait to see you there! . . . . . Find the sho

If you’ve ever felt stuck and don’t have the words to pray, or you’ve felt so discouraged or disoriented that you don’t know where to start, this conversation is for you. Brad Gray and Brad Nelson are both with the organization Walking the Text, where they help people understand the original meaning and context of Scripture. They’ve been friends for 25 years and have now gotten to work on a documentary, TV series, and book all around The Lord’s Prayer. Their depth of knowledge around Scripture is incredible and they’re helping us figure out how to use the Lord’s prayer in our daily rhythms with God. There are some really practical ways to do this that we talk about at the end and I think you’re going to want to get your note-taking pages ready. We’re unpacking all of this over on spirituallystronger.com too, so please come join us! Go grab your copy of Bringing Heaven Here and go watch The Lord’s Prayer! We have a free link: angel.com/annie OR you can find all of their resources at thelordsprayer.com. Find

Y'all are going to LOVE this episode with my old friend Tim Timmons and my new friend, Milo Ventimiglia. You may know Milo from Gilmore Girls or This is Us, but he’s playing Tim Timmons in the brand new movie, I Can Only Imagine 2, which comes out TOMORROW! Go get your tickets, you’ve got to see this movie.  Tim toured with Bart Millard and MercyMe, and this movie tells the story of how Tim unknowingly brought renewed gratitude to Bart’s life through their friendship—and the powerful lessons of grief and gratitude we learn through Tim’s journey with terminal cancer. You’re also going to hear the incredible new but lifelong friendship that’s been created between Milo and Tim as Milo researched his life and got to know him in order to play this role. It’s really incredible to see. Tim also has a book coming out on March 3 called Waking Up Again, so preorder your copy so you have it the day it comes out! Find the show notes here . . . . Thank you to our sponsors! Shopify: Sign up for your one-dollar-p