The Marriage To The Max Podcast

EPISODE 26 – MONEY TALK WITH RANDY SCHROEDER (PART II)

What are the types of conversations that married couples should be having together on the subject of money and finances? In this episode, Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement once again interview Randy Schroeder of Ron Blue & Co. LLC to discuss possible answers. Money continues to be a great stressor in many marriages. We encourage couples to be as open and transparent with each other on this subject in order to increase understanding and, ultimately, greater intimacy.

As always thanks to Grant Peterson of South Hill Communications for helping us post this podcast each week. We’re also grateful to engineer/musician Zach Alkire for his creativity and encouragement in producing Marriage to the Max. Opening and closing theme by Loopsound.

EPISODE 25 – MONEY TALK WITH RANDY SCHROEDER (PART I)

What is the number one cause of divorce in America? What is the least talked about significant topic in most marriages? Most studies indicate that money is the number one answer to both questions. This week, Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement interview good friend Randy Schroeder to talk about money issues that center around engaged and newlywed couples. Randy is the Managing Director for Ronald Blue & Co. LLC’s branch office in Houston. As a Certified Financial Planner, Randy focuses on how individuals can meet their life goals through proper management of their financial resources. This conversation will be extremely beneficial to any married couple that is looking toward a long married future together.

EPISODE 24 – “WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE…?

The many stressors of life can often simply wear out a married couple. Because of this ongoing daily pressure, couples often strangely find themselves unable to make conversation together. This week’s episode of Marriage to the Max with Brett and Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement centers on spouses asking one another simple questions beginning with “What is your favorite…?” As silly as this exercise might seem to some, it is a guaranteed way to start conversation that is not centered around bills, work, taxes and other things that bump in the night. We encourage you to try it sometime just for fun.

Thanks to Grant Peterson and Zach Alkire for all of their continued efforts in making the Marriage to the Max weekly episodes possible!

EPISODE 23 – I DIDN’T SIGN UP FOR THIS!

“I didn’t sign up for this!” This week, Brett and Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement discuss a phrase that they hear often from married couples, both newly married and those that have been married a long time. Frequently, this comment is made in the midst of a peak moment of frustration or disillusionment within marriage. It’s not uncommon. In fact, if most happily married “veteran” couples were completely honest, they would admit that they have uttered this desperate phrase a time or two (or three) throughout particularly heated instances in their long married life.

But, on the other hand, this is a remark that we are hearing with more regularity, often preceding a drastic step of a couple choosing to leave the relationship. Because of this, we want to encourage married couples to honor their vows and commitments, seeking out help for those tougher stretches of life. Horizons can change dramatically when a couple allows God to intervene. As a matter of fact, a recent study showed that over two-thirds of unhappily married couples that stayed together reported much higher satisfaction five years later. Many great things can happen to a husband and wife when they stay true to their commitment to one another. We want to encourage couples to consider praying and fighting for their marriages.

EPISODE 22 – DATE NIGHT AT THE HOSPITAL

Where would you take your spouse for a “dream” date night? A sunset beach setting? A mountaintop view? Or would it be your local hospital? In this episode, Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement unpack a recent family health crisis. During this conversation, they discuss the many lessons about their marriage that they learned and re-learned as they went through this particular experience together.

Thank you to engineer/musician/buddy Zach Alkire and to our great friend Grant Peterson of South Hill Communications for their tireless assistance in bringing “Marriage to the Max” to you. And we appreciate you for listening, for your encouraging comments, and for subscribing on iTunes!

EPISODE 21 – INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS AND MEKA AREND

This week on “Marriage to the Max”, Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement interview good friends Chris & Meka Arend. The Hursts and the Arends have been in the same Married Life Group for the last five years. During this episode, the conversation centers around the Arends’ new innovative idea–—having an annual “State of the Union” marriage and family retreat. Chris and Meka unpack their inspiration of getting away for a weekend (without kids) to pray, dream and plan together as husband and wife. During their initial weekend retreat experience, more and more specific marriage and family goals became clearer to both Chris and Meka as a result of being able to think clearly and without having the distractions of daily life. We think you will be intrigued by their idea and you may want to consider some similar kind of annual experience for your own marriage.

Thanks again to Grant Peterson of South Hill Communications and to engineer/musician Zach Alkire. Opening and closing theme by Loopsound.

EPISODE 20 – CONFLICT 201

We appreciate your ongoing listening to “Marriage to the Max”, the weekly marriage podcast hosted by Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement. This week, we revisit the topic of managing conflict within marriage. As always, it’s important for us to emphasize that EVERY married couple will encounter the challenges of disagreement—it’s a very normal situation in marriage. Conflict is simply a difference of perspective, and no two people see things exactly the same way. If they did, they would be clones of each other!

We hope to give you further practical insights this week to make typical conflict challenges more navigable. And, by the way, if you have additional insights that have been effective for you and your spouse, we would love to hear about them! Please feel free to contact us at thehursts@homeencouragement.org and let us know what has worked well for you in your marriage. After all, we’re all part of a growing healthy marriage community!

Thanks again to Grant Peterson of Southhill Communications and to our very talented engineer/funky musical interlude composer Zach Alkire. Each week, they help us bring “Marriage to the Max” to you and, hopefully, make it a much more pleasant experience—in spite of us! Also, you should know that this episode concludes the trilogy of Brett-as-a-sick-as-a-dog-co-host. Whew! Thanks for the prayers. Feeling much better now!

EPISODE 19 – YOUR COMMUNICATION IQ

Welcome back to “Marriage to the Max”, the marriage podcast hosted by Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement. In this week’s episode, we discuss “Your Communication IQ“. As a married couple, how do you currently communicate together? This is an important topic that needs constant unpacking within married couples. In marriage (or in any other personal relationship), you can’t take effective communication for granted. Honest conversation and frank self-evaluation can be quite beneficial for improving intimacy between husband and wife.

Again, Brett was sick during the recording of this episode. Apologies! Hope you enjoy it anyway. And if you’d like to contact us, please feel free to do so at thehursts@homeencouragement.org. We’d love to hear from you!

EPISODE 18 – REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS IN MARRIAGE

Thanks for listening to “Marriage to the Max”, a weekly podcast about marriage hosted by Brett & Kellie Hurst of Home Encouragement. This week, our topic is “Realistic Expectations in Marriage”. Now, of course, we believe with God at the center of your marriage relationship, that all things are possible—we believe that marriage offers a couple one joyful opportunity after another! Yet, many folks head into marriage with skewed expectations about what is truly satisfying within a marriage relationship. We hope that this episode is helpful to encourage couples to set their sights high, but to also extend grace to one another whenever we have days that are not our best.

Full disclosure: Brett was quite sick with flu-like symptoms during the recording of this episode. Hopefully, it won’t be too distracting!

Thanks again to Grant Peterson of South Hill Communications for helping us go “live” each week. We’re also grateful to our fantastic engineer, Zach Alkire, for providing funky incidental music to each episode. Opening and closing theme by Loopsound.

EPISODE 17 – INTERVIEW WITH JAMES AND RACHEL POYSKY

This week on “Marriage to the Max”, we bring you a rich marriage conversation with our good friends, James and Rachel Poysky. James earned an MA in Psychology, an MA in Christian Leadership, and a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the Graduate School of Psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary. James is a Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy board member and Clinical Assistant Professor at Baylor College of Medicine and is in private practice. Rachel is an ordained pastor and earned her Masters degree in Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary. She currently serves at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church in Houston as Children’s Ministries Director.

The Poyskys have two beautiful children, Joel and Hallie. In November 2005, Joel was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). Since their family received this diagnosis, the Poyskys have been on the frontlines of the fight against Muscular Dystrophy and have helped and encourage people literally around the world. In this podcast episode, they shared solid insights with us about marriage health. We knew that this conversation would benefit not only married couples with special needs children, but also all married couples.

You may now subscribe to “Marriage to the Max” on iTunes for free. Thank you so much for listening and for being students of healthy marriages!