There’s an old joke that pastors only work one hour a week. While anyone who’s ever been around a church can probably tell just how far from the truth that is, perhaps not many people know how hard ministry can be as well as Tim and Denise Harlow.

This week marks two years of The Nothing Is Wasted Podcast! Thanks to all of you who’s listened and supported us over these last couple of years! To celebrate, Mel joins us in the studio to ask Davey Kristi some of your questions, hear the powerful story how Davey and Kristi met, and talk about some exciting new things that are coming to Nothing Is Wasted Ministries if the future.

If our children are our legacy, then Kate Battistelli’s legacy speaks volumes. Her daughter, Francesca Battistelli, is a Grammy-winning singer and songwriter who’s work has helped define Christian music for years. But Kate’s story starts before any of that. She shares her story of how God not only redeemed her story of abortion and infertility, but how he continues to call her into bigger and better things.

Brent and Jana Seaman are a testimony of how God can redeem the messiest of stories. A few years ago, Brent had gone through a divorce and spent time in prison, and Jana was mourning the death of her husband. Neither of their lives were anything like what they would have wanted, but God wasn’t done. Now they’ve made it their mission to help people experience the same type of life change that they did, and they sit down with Davey to share the story of how they got there.

Caleb Kaltenbach was given every reason to run as far away from Jesus and the Church as he could. Growing up with both of his parents in same-sex relationships, Caleb saw people hate his family in the name of God. But Caleb’s life would eventually be changed by an encounter with a Jesus who was different, and a group of Christians who modeled their faith by loving people no matter where they were. Caleb sits down with Davey to talk about this experience and his mission to reconcile the church and the LGBTQ community.

Losing someone we love is one of the hardest things any of us will ever go through, and it’s nearly impossible to know how to handle it. There is no manual for grief. But the story doesn’t end in sorrow. We mourn, but we don’t mourn like those who have no hope. Beth Marshall experience this pain when her mother passed away very suddenly. Now she sits down with Davey to talk about walking with God through grief, and how how she’s made it her mission to help others do the same.

When we go through trials in life, it can be easy to isolate ourselves. Sometimes misery doesn’t love company, and our instinct can be to face our pain on our own. When Tara-Leigh Cobble walked through a season of pain, she could have chosen to do just that. Instead, she shared her life with a community of believers, and they helped her walk through the loss of a family member, medical crises, and more. Tara-Leigh talks with Davey about connecting believers by leading the D-Group ministry, helping people engage with God’s word through the Bible Recap podcast, and more.

Jeff and Mackenzie Rollins are not content to see their ministry confined to the mission fields they’ve worked on. While they’ve served as full-time missionaries overseas, they’ve taken their calling far beyond that. On and off the mission fields, they’ve made it their mission to intentionally spread the Gospel and build a strong community wherever they are. But that community would be put to the test when tragedy struck the Rollins’ young family. Jeff and Mackenzie sit down with Davey to share their powerful story.

Erica Camacho’s story is one that’s almost hard to believe. It’s a story of success and heartbreak, exotic animals and sudden illness, hope and tragedy. But mostly, it’s a story of a family’s unwavering faith. Erica shares her story with Davey and Kristi about how her family kept their faith in God and their relationship with each other through unimaginable circumstances.

What’s on your mind right now? For most of us, the answer is usually a lot of things. We live in a culture of always doing more, of constantly trying to cram as much as possible into every moment. Too often we find ourselves worrying more than we can handle, and it’s eating away at us. In her new book The Next Right Thing, Emily P. Freeman suggests that we can live fuller lives by simplifying what we’re thinking about. She sits down with Davey to talk about what would happen if we let go of many of the worries we hold onto and simply asked, “What is the next right thing for me to do now?”

Family relationships have always been incredibly important to Mollie Thorsen. She works full-time helping run a family business with her dad, and her siblings were her best friends. None of us is ever ready to lose someone close to us, and when a sudden illness took the life of Mollie’s sister, she was devastated. But Mollie knows that the pain she feels won’t have the final word. In this episode, she sits down with Davey to talk about healing alongside her family, how God worked to prepare her to walk through this trial, and how her pain is propelling her to a greater purpose.

It only takes a single moment for everything to change forever. One split-second choice can send ripples through our entire lives. For Joni Eareckson Tada, that moment came when she misjudged the depth of the water as she was about to dive into, leaving her paralyzed from shoulders down at only seventeen years old. It’s hard to imagine that kind of suffering, but Joni’s trial was only beginning. She’s faced a lifetime of disability, cancer diagnoses, chronic pain, and more, and she’s come through all of it believing that God is good no matter what circumstances she may face. Joni shares with Davey about how she’s kept her faith through unimaginable suffering, as well as the incredible ministry that God has brought out of it to change countless lives.

We’ve all made choices we regret. Our stories never look like we wish they did, and Will and Ranae Shepherd know that all too well. Their story is one of incredible brokenness and pain, of momentary choices and lifelong consequences. But it’s also a story of hope, healing, and redemption. Will and Ranae sit down with Davey to share their story and talk about how God took their shame and turned it into restoration and a platform to bring change to countless lives around them.

Nate is an author, blogger and ordained pastor in the Reformed Church of America. He serves as the pastor of Christ's Community Church in Fishers, Indiana where he lives with his wife and three children.

In this episode Nate shares candidly and vulnerably about he and his wife’s struggle with infertility, atopic pregnancy and adoption. Nate dives into the depths and emotions of grief and disappointment as well as shares openly about his journey in walking beside his wife during the highs and lows of trying to start a family.

It’s the time of year when most of us are trying to change our lives for the better. But if we want to better ourselves, we first have to know ourselves. Chris Heuertz literally wrote the book on that. The enneagram is a tool used by millions to understand the unique ways God created each of us, and The Sacred Enneagram lays out what this concept means for each of us in our relationship with God and the people around us. Chris sits down with Davey to give an overview of what the enneagram is, how it can be used in healing, and much more.

When you can't pick just one favorite podcast episode ... you pick 5! And when you can't pick one topic to talk about ... you pick as many as you can fit into the hour! We had a blast recording the podcast these last 6 months and we want to celebrate by sharing some of our favorite moments and answer some of your questions! Don't miss the Nothing is Wasted Podcast End of the Year Best of Spectacular! 

Whether we realize it or not, we’re all preachers. Even if we aren’t on a stage with a microphone or a pulpit, we all have at least one person listening to what we have to say: ourselves. In her new book Preach to Yourself, Haley Morgan talks about how we can combat the lies of the enemy by preaching God’s truth to ourselves. Haley sits down with Davey to discuss how to preach to yourself, and much more.