The Marriage To The Max Podcast

EPISODE 42 – MANAGING ANXIETY IN RELATIONSHIPS (INTERVIEW WITH KEN SHUMAN)

How do you manage anxiety in marriage? Are you tempted to disengage? Even worse, do you have a tendency to want to manage your partner? This week, Brett & Kellie Hurst interview Ken Shuman, an adjunct professor at the Houston Graduate School of Theology. Ken has been married for thirty-six years, has over thirty years of experience as a coach, leader, pastor and teacher, and has personal experience in transformational leadership development and training. He currently teaches Family Systems Theory at the graduate level and has an innate ability to make conceptual ideas practical. We are confident that this extensive and rich interview with Ken will give you as a married couple a lot to discuss.

EPISODE 41 – HAVE SOME FUN!

Do you play enough together as a couple? When was the last time that you felt like you had a truly fun time with your spouse? Well, pardner….that’s too long! This week, Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement encourage married couples to enjoy one another by doing some off-the-wall things together….just for the fun of it! We believe that couples that play together stay together. We’d love to hear back from you on things that you do for enjoyment as a tandem.

Thanks again to Grant Peterson and Zach Alkire for making weekly production and posting of Marriage to the Max possible.

EPISODE 40 – GUILTY PLEASURES

What are the cheesier things you enjoy that you would never admit to anyone—except for your spouse?Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement believe that husbands and wives that are comfortable with speaking freely about such things can actually enjoy a richer marriage. After all, it’s just another facet of marital intimacy, isn’t it?

What topics would you like us to tackle on Marriage to the Max? Feel free to send your comments or suggestions to us at thehursts@homeencouragement.org.

EPISODE 39 – FORGIVENESS

Why is forgiveness so often so difficult for us? Wouldn’t we rather be free of the pain that unforgiveness can cause? This week, Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement discuss the many facets of forgiveness and how it can benefit marriage health. If you are struggling with forgiveness in your home or with someone else, we hope this conversation will spark healthy conversation in your situation.

Incidental music by Zach Alkire. Opening and closing theme: Loopsound. Extra thanks: Grant Peterson of South Hill Communications.

EPISODE 38 – A SEA OF LOVE (INTERVIEW WITH DANNY & TRISHA KENNEDY)

What happens when a romantic getaway cruise suddenly becomes anything but that? Brett & Kellie Hurstof Home Encouragement interview their friends Danny and Trisha Kennedy who, earlier this year, found themselves stranded on a crippled cruise ship somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico. In spite of their anxiety and struggles, what the Kennedy’s learned from this experience about themselves, each other, and their marriage was a nice surprise.

As always, thanks to Grant Peterson of South Hill Communications and to engineer/musician Zach Alkire for their ongoing help in posting “Marriage to the Max” each week!

EPISODE 37 – MISS COMMUNICATION VS. MISCOMMUNICATION

Do you always mean what you say? This week, Brett Hurst of Home Encouragement unwisely interviews his wife Kellie about words and phrases that she uses in their marriage relationship that often have alternative intentions and meaning. This is potentially an unwise move for Brett. Going down this road will most likely result in some kind of retribution toward Brett from Kellie… probably in a future episode. We hope you enjoy the episode.

Thanks to Grant Peterson of South Hill Communications and our engineer/musician Zach Alkire for all of their constant efforts to support the ongoing production of “Marriage to the Max”. We’d be lost without them!

EPISODE 36 – TRIED AND TRUE TOOLS

What relational tools work best to get a marriage back on track? Since every married couple is different, there are too many effective tools to mention. However, this week, Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement mention a few that they have used time and time again to effectively encourage spouses in their marriages. With prayer and grace, these tools (and others) might be beneficial to your marriage.

Resources mentioned on this podcast include: Gary Chapman www.garychapman.org; The Smalley Institute www.smalley.cc; Kelly Simpson/Active Relationships Center www.activerelationships.com; David Ferguson (www.greatcommandment.net); Karl Elkins/Christway Counseling www.christwaycounseling.com; John Gottman/The Gottman Institute (www.gottman.com).

If you have any further questions or have an effective tool that has worked for you in that past that you would like to share with others, please contact us at thehursts@homeencouragement.org. As always, thanks for listening!

EPISODE 35 – PRIVATE EYES

This week, Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement discuss the ideas of personal privacy as it involves couples. Should a wife have the access codes and passwords into her husband’s accounts and social media—and vice versa? Will this enhance intimacy and trust? How much is too much? Should individual spouses have their own sense of privacy? The idea for this podcast episode actually was triggered by a conversation with our recording engineer, Zach Alkire. As a result, Zach was spontaneously asked to join the episode midway through our discussion. We hope you enjoy the conversation. Thanks Zach!

EPISODE 34 – RECOVERING FROM INFIDELITY (INTERVIEW WITH MICKEY AND STEPHANIE PETERS)

This week, Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement interview Mickey and Stephanie Peters of Upside Ministries in Houston. The Peters have a remarkable story of infidelity recovery as well as an outreach to couples that have suffered or are suffering from the devastating trauma of betrayal, infidelity and sexual addiction. This is a candid conversation about the realities of dealing with such an extraordinary marital roadblock. There are few tougher blows that a married couple can experience. Yet, hope is always available for recovery for willing spouses. This discussion briefly explores the possibilities of healing from these wounds.

A couple of good resources mentioned during this episode including Mickey and Stephanie Peters of Upside Ministries (www.upsideministries.com) as well as Affair Recovery Center (www.affairrecovery.com) Both would be good starting places for couples that have suffered from the effects of infidelity. If you have further questions or comments, you may contact thehursts@homeencouragement.org. As always, thank you very much for listening!

EPISODE 33 – AGAIN WITH THE MARRIAGE QUOTES?

This week on “Marriage to the Max”, Brett & Kellie Hurst revisit some famous and not-so-famous quotes about marriage… mainly not-so-famous. We hope you enjoy the conversation. This particular series has become a favorite installment of the hosts (not so sure if that’s the case for our listeners!). At any rate, send us your favorite celebrity quotes about marriage at thehursts@homeencouragement.org. We’d love to potentially use them in a future podcast. And thanks so much for listening each week.

Special thanks to Grant Peterson of South Hill Communications and Zach Alkire. Opening and closing theme by Loopsound.