We've certainly teased this a lot, but the December book for our personal book club was Sitting At the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg, and we're finally sitting down to review it.

Spoiler alert: We loved it! It's been transformational in both of our faiths, and we highly recommend it.

Today we'll cover a few of the highlights for each of us, but we barely scratch the surface. There's so much more to glean from this book. Have a listen, and then click the title above to purchase it for yourselves. You won't regret it.

SHOW NOTES

Joy spent the month of January teaching into just one chapter of the book At Table with Rabbi Jesus on her solo podcast The Mentor's Table. Check out her deep dives below.

On the Power of a Table: The Power and Protection From Gathering Around a Table

On the Power of a Table: Tables As Altars

On the Power of a Table: Tables As Peace Sanctuaries

On the Power of a Table: Tables As Invitations to Relationship

We’re excited to invite you into our reading community using Fable, a free book-club app that lets us discuss books chapter by chapter.

📖 As We Grow Book Club
Our next read is Captivating.

You can join at any time—even if you’re listening months from now. The conversations stay open, and we’d love to hear what stands out to you.

In this week's Top Two, Gretchen and Joy share our Bible reading plans for 2026. We would love to hear what your plan is, too! And towards the end of the podcast, we dive into the uncomfortable truth that most Christians don't know HOW to read the Bible. Why is that? Whose responsibility is it to teach this? How can we be part of the solution? We come to a surprising conclusion at the end. Tune in to find out.

SHOW NOTES

Encountering God Through Dance - Saara Taina

Text the show with the link above for a list of resources Joy is following while diving into the book of Genesis this year.

Gretchen is following @simplybible's reading plan for 2026.

No More Boring Bible Study by Faith Wommack is January's book.

Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus

Check out the Fable app, and look for "As We Grow" to follow along with our book club reading throughout the year.

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Last week, Gretchen laid a vital foundation talking about the power of our words in "The Power of Words: Life, Death, and What We Partner With" This week, Joy gets real spicy talking hard truths about how the Church is playing for the wrong team "in the name of Christ." This one has been brewing for awhile. Jump in with your thoughts by texting the show or DM us on Instagram. We love hearing from you.

Let's share this message and get our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to work toward unity before division. "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you LOVE one another" (John 13:35). Love first every time.

SHOW NOTES

Blake Healy books:

The Veil

Profound Good

Indestructible

Blurry Creatures Podcast - Ep 385 - Magick, Mediums and Mermaids with Jess Pheonix

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As We Grow is on Instagram. Follow @aswegrowpod for BTS pictures, episode highlights, and personal connections with Joy & Gretchen.

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In this solo episode of As We Grow, Gretchen reflects on the spiritual weight of our words — how they can create life, reinforce lies, establish patterns, or quietly partner with death when left unchecked.

Through personal testimony, Scripture, and recent teachings, this episode explores:

• How words spoken over families can shape generations
• What the Bible says about life and death being in the tongue
• The idea of spiritual “agreement” and why careless words matter
• How gossip functions as a destructive force — even when disguised as concern
• Why demons can only speak death, but God alone speaks life
• How our words shape environments, relationships, cities, and even our inner world

Gretchen shares a deeply personal story about discovering a curse spoken over her family line, walking through prayer and repentance, and learning how to actively speak blessing instead of agreement with lies. She also unpacks insights from The Courts of Heaven, Behind Enemy Lines, and a powerful testimony from a former witch turned Christian — all pointing back to one central truth: words are not neutral.

This episode invites listeners to slow down, examine what they are partnering with when they speak, and intentionally choose words that align with truth, redemption, and life.

Scriptures referenced include:
Proverbs 18:21
Proverbs 12:18
Proverbs 16:24, 28
Proverbs 11:11
James 1:26
James 3:9–10
Psalm 15:1–3
Psalm 19:14
Matthew 12:36
Ephesians 4:29
1 Thessalonians 5:11

Links:

Operating in the Courts of Heaven by Robert Henderson

Seeing Behind Enemy Lines by Aprile Osborne

Blurry Creatures Podcast - Ep 385 - Magick, Mediums and Mermaids with Jess Pheonix

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As We Grow is on Instagram. Follow @aswegrowpod for BTS pictures, episode highlights, and personal connections with Joy & Gretchen.

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Today we're reflecting on and naming what happened in 2025 (both personally and for the pod), and we're setting some intentions or naming some habits we'll be developing in 2026. This exercise in remembering is valuable for all of us to do, but we highly encourage you to grab your person and do it with someone else, not alone, to really get the value out of it.

Who's your person you're going to call today and reflect on 2025 and look ahead to 2026 with?

SHOW NOTES

Here are most of the books we read for our book club in 2025:

Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus by Ann Spangler & Lois Tverberg

The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

Surrendered to the Holy Spirit by Hayley Braun

Your Story Has a Villain by Jonathan Pokluda

Bait of Satan by John Bevere

Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster

Victorious Emotions by Wendy Backlund

SOZO: Saved, Healed, Delivered by Dawna Desilva

Learning to Be Loved by David Bowden & Mart Green

The Believer's Guide to Spiritual Warfare by Tom White

I Want to Trust You but I Don't by Lysa TerKeurst

Fully Known by Mo Aiken

Gretchen will be following along with @simplybible for her Bible reading this year.

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As We Grow is on Instagram. Follow @aswegrowpod for BTS pictures, episode highlights, and personal connections with Joy & Gretchen.

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If you missed us in December, we're back and making up for lost time! This is technically our Top Two, but it rabbit-trailed so often that it's really a Top Two, a bonus, and a we-love-you episode covering just about everything but especially praying with authority (as taught by Gretchen's new bestie Bill Johnson), and Joy, ironically, talking about fostering long-form conversations in 2026.

SHOW NOTES

The initial podcast episode ("Spiritual Disciplines While Vacationing and How to Pray") where Gretchen began talking about changing how we pray.

Bill Johnson's message from December 7, 2025.

Luke 2 & Luke 11 are the texts that we discussed.

The Joe Rogan Experience #2424 - Jelly Roll episode

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As We Grow is on Instagram. Follow @aswegrowpod for BTS pictures, episode highlights, and personal connections with Joy & Gretchen.

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We are back with our Top Two! This week, Gretchen is sharing a few of her favorite excerpts from Kris Vallotton's book The Supernatural Ways of Royalty, and Joy is talking about the biblical definition of HOPE (one of her favorite Advent themes).

We can't wait to hear your thoughts. Hit "text the show" above to message us, or comment on Instagram @aswegrowpod.

Merry Christmas, friends!

SHOW NOTES

The Supernatural Ways of Royalty: Discovering Your Rights and Priviledges of Being a Son or Daughter of God by Kris Vallotton.

"Hope" video from The Bible Project and other excellent Advent resources.

Living Fearless by Jamie Winship

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As We Grow is on Instagram. Follow @aswegrowpod for BTS pictures, episode highlights, and personal connections with Joy & Gretchen.

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Kicking off December with our latest Top Two. Joy reflects on her recent travels and discusses with Gretchen strategies to keep connected with God when not at home. Then Gretchen reflects on her Bible reading from Luke 11, and we dig into Jesus' instructions on how to pray.

We love hearing from you. Text the show with the above link, or DM us on Instagram @aswegrowpod.

SHOW NOTES

Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss

Support the show

As We Grow is on Instagram. Follow @aswegrowpod for BTS pictures, episode highlights, and personal connections with Joy & Gretchen.

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