That Sounds Fun With Annie F. Downs

We recently recorded an episode of Single Purpose League about mothering, and as soon as we finished, I looked at the team and said, “Should we share this with the larger That Sounds Fun audience?” With Mother’s Day this past Sunday, we recognize how complicated that day can be for so many of us. For some, you’re mourning the loss of your mom or the mom you’d hope for. For others, you’re mourning the fact that you can’t biologically have children. And for others, you’re carrying the tension of being a mom while also wrestling with the fact that it’s harder than you ever could have imagined.  In this episode from Single Purpose League, you’re going to hear a conversation between myself, Katy Boatman who co-leads Single Purpose League with me, and our friend, Christen who is a single mom of two adopted little boys.  Our hope is that whatever emotion this day holds, you’ll be reminded that the story God writes is full of hope and purpose, even if it’s harder than you would have imagined. If you’re not marrie

Today we are unpacking generosity with my friend, Jon Acuff. Jon is always equal parts hilarious, honest, and incredibly helpful, and today’s conversation is one I think you’re going to love. As we talk about generosity…we’re going to talk about what it practically looks like, how it changes us, and ways to be generous with more than just our money. Jon brings so much wisdom and practical perspective to this conversation. He also has a brand new book out called Procrastination Proof, so we get into that too—how to stop putting off the things that matter most, how to actually make progress, and why procrastination doesn’t have to run the show. We also have a Generosity Practice Guide available for you over today on spirituallystronger.com We want to make sure we’re not just talking about spiritual disciplines this year, but actually putting them into practice, so we’ve created this practice guide to give you some ideas. Typically our resources are available only to our Spiritually Stronger paid substack subs

Welcome to the very first episode of what we’re calling AFD’s Friday Faves! I have a playlist on Spotify called AFD’s Friday Faves where I’ll update it from time to time with music I’m listening to or songs I think you’ll love, and now we’re bringing it to the podcast.  These shorter episodes won’t happen every Friday, but we wanted to make space to tell you stories and introduce you to friends who are creating incredible music, so AFD’s Friday Faves will pop up in your feed from time to time, and there is no better way to kick this off than with Amy Grant. Today her brand-new record, The Me That Remains releases. It is the kind of record that makes you want to sit on your porch and listen all the way through. Amy said, “I hope this album feels easy to be with,” and I thought… yes. That’s exactly it. Because that’s true of Amy too. She is easy to be with, but she always brings important things with her. So whether you’re on your porch, in your car, on a walk, or just trying to make it through your day, I t

Now that we’ve covered 2 different spiritual disciplines, prayer and fasting, we wanted to zoom out for a minute and talk about the practical side of our rhythms. Do we have to start our mornings with a quiet time? What if you’re a busy parent or a single mom? What does time with God in the morning look like? We’re talking about all of it today with Jennifer Dukes Lee! I really think you’re going to love her new book, How to Love Your Morning. Honestly, if you’re looking for a gift idea for a mom, this would be a great one.  Morning person or not, let’s figure out how to start our day from a place of surrender with God. It doesn’t have to be quiet and it doesn’t have to be hours long. Join us on Substack at spirituallystronger.com! 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 this is going to be a night of just pure fun. Get your tickets at thebuddiestour.com. . .

Today on the show, Eddie and I get to keep talking about the new season of Serial, whether we got Olympics tickets or not, merch at the Masters, laundry services, SNL UK, and our fear of heights and claustrophobia... Y’all know we always have long lists to cover and it’s going to be the same way on The Buddies Tour! Find the show notes here . . . . . We hit the road for the Buddies Tour in 2 WEEKS, YOU GUYS! Have you gotten your tickets 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 You can find the dates and details at thebuddiestour.com. We cannot wait to see you there!  . . . . . Want to watch this episode? Watch on your Spotify App, or head on over to our YouTube Channel and be sure to like and subscribe!  We have a Substack now! Find it at

Sissy Goff and David Thomas are here today from Raising Boys and Girls! Today we talk about the decline they’ve seen in the capability of kids throughout their work as counselors over the past 30 years, and what we, as adults who deeply care about this next generation, can do about it. Whether you’re a parent, an aunt, a teacher, or a mentor, this is an important conversation full of hope and also full of straightforward honesty about raising up boys and girls who are fully capable of taking on the world.  David and Sissy’s brand new book, Capable: How to Teach Your Kids the Strengths, Skills, and Strategies to Build Resilience, is a must read! 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 night of just pure fun. Get your tickets at thebuddiestour.com. . . . . Thank you to our sponsors: Thrive Causemetics: Go to thrivecausemetics.com/TSF

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