What Do You Do When God Only Says Wait?

Greg and Tonya start out joking about consultants and radio hits, then slide straight into something heavier: the dreams that actually wake you up. Greg has one from their years in Olympia that still hits hard—a long, dark one involving a controlling presence, a baby in danger, and his family under threat. Years later a real crisis with one of their kids lined up with pieces of that dream in ways that still give him chills.They talk through the difference between dreams and visions, biblical examples that actually made sense in their own culture, and the times God has used a dream for comfort or clarity instead of warning. Tonya shares her own college-era dream and a later one that involved real fear while she was pregnant. They also wrestle with the election atmosphere, how easy it is to vote for one thing and then for people who fight against it, and whether the real fight is mostly invisible.If you’ve ever woken up unsettled and wondered whether it was just stress or something more, this conversation is for you. No tidy answers, just two people trying to make sense of how God still speaks when we’re not even awake. Come listen.CHAPTERS00:01:43 – Playing the warning-dream clip and setting the topic00:02:03 – Dreams versus visions and the biblical examples00:11:27 – Core definitions of dream versus vision00:13:52 – Tonya’s college dream and Jesus as boyfriend00:18:52 – Greg’s Olympia dream begins00:28:41 – From personal crisis to the election battlefield00:37:51 – Scriptures on guarding your heart and seeing truth00:46:41 – Are you safe when you dream?01:01:12 – Night terrors, children, and protection

Halloween still leaves some kids uneasy, and Greg and Tonya aren’t convinced the culture is just having fun. A real attack in a Nashville parking garage, an election a week away, and the way politicians dress up abortion as “reproductive health care” all start sounding like the same unseen fight. They walk through why a vote still matters, why government keeps wanting what belongs to families and the church, and why some pastors stay quiet when the stakes are this clear. Pull up a chair—this one gets honest about what it actually costs to treat faith like it’s real.00:00 – Banter, Dentists, and Getting Started01:37 – Halloween Fears and the Unseen Realm08:01 – A Close Call in a Nashville Garage09:34 – Elections, Isaiah, and Spiritual Warfare12:22 – Life, Abortion, and the Love in Hosea30:45 – Why Your Vote Actually Counts46:32 – Principles for the Polls and Quiet Pastors58:04 – Nehemiah Alliance and God’s Sovereignty

Is Horror Actually the Most Christian Genre of Film?You turn on the TV and it’s wall-to-wall horror movies. Your kids want to dress up and hit the streets. Meanwhile the real world feels darker than the costumes. Greg and Tonya dig into the debate that exploded between Allie Beth Stuckey, Ben Shapiro, and Matt Walsh: is horror the most Christian genre of film, or is it something we should avoid?They talk about why some horror takes the supernatural more seriously than regular TV, what we should actually be afraid of, and how Christians can stand in the middle of Halloween without celebrating darkness. From Reformation Day and a prayer gathering on the National Mall to Ouija board ads and a missionary story that makes Hollywood look tame—this is the conversation about fear, faith, and where the line really is.If you’ve ever wondered whether to participate, hide the lights, or just turn the TV off, pull up a chair.CHAPTERS0:00 - Aging, Accolades, and Who’s Actually Listening5:05 - Holding Onto Hope While We Wait10:02 - Spiritual Warfare, Elections, and Real Fear12:11 - Reformation Day and the Nehemiah Alliance16:19 - The Horror Movie Debate Starts20:19 - Why People Watch Horror (Shapiro Clip)25:37 - What Should We Actually Be Afraid Of?28:36 - How Christians Can Handle Halloween37:26 - Teaching Kids Real vs. Fake Horror41:42 - A Missionary Story That Puts Hollywood to Shame45:15 - Boundaries, Scripture, and Closing

You can see where things can go. The problem is most of the people around you still can’t. Greg and Tonya are sitting in that exact tension—trying to minister in a small town where people like the atmosphere but still drive out for a bigger church experience, while the vision they came with has taken a slower path than they expected. They talk about sharing the gospel at a volleyball game, the difference between living in the future and bringing people with you, and what it actually takes to keep the picture alive when nothing feels like it’s moving. Then Tonya has to leave for a conference, Judah’s old recording fills the gap, and Greg sits alone with the question she left him: how do you hang on to a vision God put in your heart when the timeline keeps stretching? If you’ve ever felt like you’re waiting on something that still won’t show up, this one will feel familiar. Pull up a chair and listen in.CHAPTERS00:12 Intro Banter and the Volleyball Gospel Share02:30 Small Town Life vs. Driving Out for Church05:36 Living in a Future Most People Can’t See Yet07:14 Gentle Among You Like a Nursing Mother08:29 Not Everyone Is an Evangelist—and That’s the Point09:53 How Do You Wait Without Losing the Vision?13:21 A Song from Judah When He Was Eight15:25 Greg’s Solo Answer: Five Ways to Hold the Vision26:10 It Still Comes Back to Time with Jesus

Greg and Tonya open with a Wall Street Journal piece on adult children deciding to cut off their parents—sometimes over politics, lifestyle differences, or advice from therapists and peers online. They push back on the idea that ordinary friction automatically equals “toxic,” and they talk through the real difference between biblical counsel that points toward repair and a therapy culture that often prioritizes feeling better right now.They share their own early-marriage story of setting clear boundaries with Greg’s mom (it wasn’t permanent, and it wasn’t easy), look at what Scripture actually says about honoring parents even when it’s hard (including 2 Timothy 3 and James on listening and anger), and name the tension between wanting to belong and being told to separate. They also talk about identity rooted in Jesus instead of self-discovery, the real enemy behind family division, and why prayer for the person you’re struggling with can change the room before anything else does.If you’ve felt the pull to step away from family—or you’re watching it happen around you—this is a grounded, practical conversation about boundaries that still leave room for relationship.Scriptures for further reference: 2 Timothy 3:1-5, James 1:19, James 1:21, James 1:22-25, James 1:26, Matthew 15:11, Matthew 7:24-27, Psalm 34, Psalm 91:4, Matthew 5:22, Matthew 5:44, 1 Peter 5:8, John 16:33, Matthew 16:18, Romans 10:17, 2 Peter 1:3CHAPTERS0:00 Welcome and the article that started the conversation1:00 Family estrangement, therapy culture, and online peer advice8:00 Biblical counseling versus modern therapy that focuses on feeling better12:00 Their own story: boundaries with Greg’s mom early in marriage15:00 When cutoffs happen—grandchildren, church families, and real harm19:00 Identity in Jesus, the church as counsel, and why self-discovery falls short21:00 2 Timothy 3, honoring parents, and last-days attitudes24:00 Redefined “violence,” words versus real threat, and what actually shapes us29:00 Parenting, generational trends, and who is supposed to inform a child’s identity33:00 James on quick to listen, slow to speak, and defensiveness as anger40:00 Therapy culture, affirmation over instruction, and owning your own reactions45:00 Prayer, Psalm 34, and the real enemy behind family division49:00 Closing prayer and practical next step

Tonya sat down to keep writing and found out a chunk of the book had never actually saved. Six or seven thousand words, gone, right in the middle of the part she was most proud of.Greg and Tonya start there, then end up somewhere else. The missing pages were about a desert season in Phoenix, fear around Elijah, and the older stories God used to get Tonya ready for it. A car she was asked to give away. A breakup that shoved her into a prayer journal. Five years of begging to hear something and only getting one word back: wait.It is a conversation about ownership, security, and what you lean on when the voice you are used to goes quiet. If you have ever lost work, lost a plan, or wondered whether God was still in the room, pull up a chair.CHAPTERS00:00:00 The Book Stopped Saving00:04:32 Trials, James, and Why the Book Exists00:07:18 The Car That Was Not Really Hers00:17:52 Ownership Gets Harder With Kids00:23:37 Five Years of Hearing Only Wait00:29:12 Security, a Breakup, and a Picnic Table00:35:30 The Anonymous Bag of Skirts00:41:09 A Prayer by the Bed

Tonya has been trying to write a book for a couple of years. Not because publishing is hard now—anybody can print one. Because the story itself keeps getting bigger than the moment that started it.It began with their youngest son. Accidents. Fear. A stretch in Phoenix that felt like a desert on the outside and in her soul. And then this quiet thing she almost walked past: a promise God had already tucked into Elijah’s name, spoken back to her when things were at their worst. God would protect him. He was there.In this episode of Ask Mom and Dad, Greg and Tonya sit with that book while it’s still unfinished. Seven chapters mapped. About eighteen thousand words in. She’s aiming for something you can actually hold—deep enough to carry the promise, not so padded it loses what God put on her heart. Along the way they talk about Amazon books, instant “experts,” AI that can catch a muddy sermon but shouldn’t write your life, and why a story still needs a living soul behind it.If you’ve ever felt a promise in the dark and didn’t know how to tell it, this one is for you.CHAPTERS 00:00 Coffee, Questions, and Getting Settled 01:31 Why Everybody Suddenly Has a Book07:21 The Book Tonya Can’t Rush14:18 Elijah, the Desert, and a Promise She Almost Missed18:15 Filling It Out Without Losing the Thread20:19 Tools Can Help—They Can’t Live the Story32:52 Why a Book Doesn’t Make You an Expert38:37 Trusting the One Who Holds the Whole Thing Together

Greg and Tonya keep meeting the same kind of faith: know the commandments, work hard, make it to Sunday, want the life God blesses.Just not always God in the center of it.This episode is about that gap. The fear of God is not a short list that makes you a good person. Jesus made it personal—love Him with everything, then treat the person in front of you like they already belong. They sit with Psalm 127 and the anxious toil we dress up as responsibility. They sit with Ephesians 2, where the wall that said “you don’t belong here” comes down, and strangers become members of the household of God.That’s the turn. You don’t visit the temple anymore. You’re being built into it. Jesus is the one holding the load. The gathering is the house coming alive in one room. And the people you pass in the grocery store are not on the other side of a wall He already tore down.If He’s building the house in you, you don’t have to protect it. You can invite people home.Come sit with Greg and Tonya.CHAPTERS00:00:11 – Ask Mom and Dad00:06:34 – Sacred, Secular, and Muddy Water00:10:48 – Fear of God Isn’t a Checklist00:15:14 – Anxious Toil and the Gift of Rest00:17:12 – Belonging Without Being the Center00:21:45 – The Wall Came Down00:27:40 – When the Temple Starts Talking00:32:00 – He Carries the Load. You Have a Role.00:39:59 – Living It Around Your Own Table

We just got back from England, where churches stand on nearly every corner… and yet so many people have never actually encountered Jesus.Greg and Tonya talk about the difference between “here’s a place to sit” and “come sit with me.” They dig into why the word “religion” itself can become a wall, what people really mean when they say “I’m not religious,” and how genuine relationship—not more programs or prettier buildings—creates the kind of access that changes everything.From a widower who just wanted to die, to a woman with tattoos talking about angels in the park, to the quiet work of preparing the ground so the seed can actually take root… this conversation gets honest about the barriers we don’t always see and the comfort zones we have to leave if we want others to feel at ease enough to meet Jesus.Pull up a chair. This one’s worth listening all the way through.CHAPTERS 00:00:00 – Opening Banter and the Real Question00:02:46 – England: Churches Everywhere, Understanding Nowhere00:05:06 – Jesus as a Person, Not Just a Feeling00:14:57 – Visible Access vs. Meaningful Access00:26:47 – “Places to Sit” or “Come Sit With Me”?00:27:21 – When the Word “Religion” Becomes the Barrier00:38:27 – Preparing the Ground and Leaving Comfort Zones00:49:34 – Listening for Stories and Lowering the Walls

We spent ten days bouncing between Oxford and the southern edges of London helping mission teams move from place to place. What started as practical work turned into a running conversation about everything from tube seats that try to dump you on the floor to food that actually lists real ingredients first.Along the way we kept running into the same quiet surprise: a Christian history that is still thick in the air even when a lot of people no longer notice it. Older men who pray with a weight that feels older than the room. Door-to-door conversations that open more easily than we expected. Standing in places where the gospel was fought for and realizing how much of what we take for granted came from there.Greg and Tonya process the funny, the awkward, and the weighty parts of the trip without polishing it up. If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like to carry faith into a culture that still has the memory of the gospel but not always the life of it, this conversation is worth sitting with.CHAPTERS00:00:00 – Funky Toes and Why Older People Talk About Things Nobody Asked For00:01:56 – Back From London: Ten Days of Mission Work and No Real Plan00:06:03 – Scones, Fig Bars, and Why the Food Tastes Different00:10:01 – “Way Out” Signs, Restroom Confusion, and Gen Z Slang00:14:13 – Hearing Prayers That Carried a Different Weight00:21:00 – Aging Churches and the Men Who Still Live the Faith Out Loud00:27:00 – When Ease Makes a Nation Forget Where the Gospel Came From00:33:00 – Door-to-Door Conversations and Learning to Talk About a Broken World00:36:00 – Tyndale, Wycliffe, Kings, and the God Who Uses Them AllTAGS MissionTrip,