The Boundless Show

Ways to be a good gift giver, plus a sex Q&A with Dr. Juli Slattery, and is a second date recommended if the first one didn’t go well?    Featured musical artist:   Ginny Owens      Roundtable: Creative Gift Giving   Yes, Christmas is coming, but you don’t have to wait until the holidays to learn how to give good gifts. Even if gifts isn’t your love language, you’ll be inspired by this conversation to be more generous and creative in blessing others. Our guests share their gift-giving and -receiving experiences, what gifts have meant a lot to them and why, and how to think out of the box when considering gifts for friends, family and everyone in between.   Leave Us a Voicemail   Culture: Dr. Juli Slattery Answers Questions About Sex   We asked you to submit your questions about sex and sexuality, and this week Dr. Juli Slattery is here to answer them. Offering clinical expertise, biblical wisdom and practical application, Juli answers questions including: how to talk about sex when you’re engaged to be married, how to navigate a relationship with someone who has a sexual past, sexuality and singleness, loving your LGBT friends while affirming God’s design, and more.   Rethinking Sexuality: God’s Design and Why It Matters   Article: What’s the Purpose of Sexuality if I’m Single Article: Promise Rings and Purity Talks Aren’t Enough Article: Is It OK to Masturbate?   Inbox: Should I Try a Second Date?   If a first date didn’t go well, should you give a second one a chance? How do you know if it’s worth it? Counselor Angel Perez weighs in.         Link to Counseling Services 

Creating a useful wedding registry, plus Peter Mutabazi’s journey from street kid to foster dad, and do most adults know if they want kids?   Featured musical artist:   James Peden   Roundtable: Wedding Registry Advice   One of the most iconic tasks of the engagement season is setting up a wedding registry. But if you hop online and haphazardly add items, or run around a store with a scanner like your life depends on it, you’ll soon second-guess if you’re doing the whole registry thing right. (You’ll also be downright exhausted.) For advice on putting together a thoughtful and practical registry, we asked several of our newlywed friends to share lessons learned, out-of-the-box ideas, and how to avoid offending gift-givers. They also discuss gifts they got that have proven especially meaningful.   Leave Us a Voicemail   Culture: From Street Kid to Single Dad   As a child in Uganda, Peter Mutabazi experienced life in a violent home. He escaped and ran hundreds of miles away to Kampala, where he lived on the streets. He survived this way for years until a young man showed him kindness; this small encounter changed everything. Now living in the United States, Peter is a foster and adoptive dad in addition to running a business and working in the nonprofit world. His story will inspire you as a reminder that God can redeem even the most broken situations.   Now I Am Known: How a Street Kid Turned Foster Dad Found Acceptance and True Worth    Inbox: Do You Want Kids or Not?   Do most people know if they eventually want children? How much should having kids be prioritized, especially when so many young adults are delaying marriage? Counselor Geremy Keeton weighs in.   Link to Counseling Services

The advice we need most, plus Steve and Candice Watters tell the Boundless origin story, and how to effectively ask a girl out.   Featured musical artist:  Ellie Holcomb    Roundtable: Where Do You Need Advice?    As we celebrate 25 years since the launch of Boundless.org, our guests tell how they first heard about Boundless. They’ll also share the ways they’ve benefited personally from Boundless content, areas in which they need advice, and how to prioritize growth as a young adult. Finally, they list some of their favorite show moments through the years.   The Dating Manifesto: A Drama-Free Plan for Pursuing Marriage With Purpose    Leave Us a Voicemail   Culture: Steve & Candice Watters Tell the Boundless Story   Have you ever wondered how Boundless got started? Or where the name Boundless came from? Boundless founders Steve and Candice Watters join us for a special conversation to answer these questions and more. They’ll also share their thoughts on how the world has changed for young adults since Boundless launched in 1998.   The Dating Manifesto: A Drama-Free Plan for Pursuing Marriage With Purpose    Inbox: Ways to Ask a Girl Out   When pursuing a girl, what are ways to be upfront about asking her out — without being creepy? Counselor Glenn Lutjens weighs in.

Stories of porn addiction recovery, plus finding belonging as a Christian, and how to know if your boyfriend is spiritually mature.   Featured musical artist:   Liz Vice    Roundtable: Overcoming Porn Addiction (Part 2)    Pornography addiction is increasingly common today, even among Christians. It’s a struggle many don’t want to admit, and freedom often feels out of reach. But our guests have broken the pornography cycle, and they join us this week to share more from the stories they began last week, including what worked (and what didn’t) and why through God’s grace, freedom from sexual sin is possible.       Leave Us a Voicemail   Link to Counseling Services    Culture: Fitting Into the Family of God   Katy McCown and her family moved six times in 10 years thanks to her husband’s NFL career. Uprooting yet again, her feelings of loneliness were acute. As an antidote, she had to aggressively pursue community at church and in smaller circles. She’ll share some of her best tips for making it work, with Scriptural applications for plugging in, welcoming others, and carrying friendships into a new season.   She Belongs: Finding Your Place in the Body of Christ    Inbox: Is My Boyfriend Spiritually Mature?    Her boyfriend is 20 years old and she’s wondering if his maturity is “on par” for his age. She’s nervous about predicting the health of their relational future with little data. How much spiritual maturity should she expect from him right now? Counselor Jerry Jones weighs in.

Stories of porn addiction recovery, plus how God saved a marriage from pornography, and when to talk about past traumas in a dating relationship.   Featured musical artist:  About a Mile   Roundtable: Overcoming Porn Addiction (Part 1)    Pornography addiction is increasingly common today, even among Christians. It’s a struggle many don’t want to admit, and freedom often feels out of reach. But our guests have broken the pornography cycle, and they join us this week to share their stories: what worked (and what didn’t) and why through God’s grace, freedom from sexual sin is possible.   Leave Us a Voicemail   Link to Counseling Services    Culture: When Porn Shows Up on Your Honeymoon   Mark and Rosie Makinney were on their honeymoon when a terrible secret was discovered — Mark was addicted to pornography. Rosie confronted him and together they began a journey to see if Mark was serious about his sin and if their marriage could be saved. You’ll hear their incredible testimony of God’s redemption, plus Mark’s no-holds-barred account of what he had to give up to finally crush porn’s hold on him.   Fight for Love: How to Take Your Marriage Back from Porn   Hope Restored   Inbox: When To Reveal Trauma to Your Date    Everything from past sexual experiences to self-harm, abuse and other traumas can be hard to discuss when dating. If you’ve made decisions you deeply regret, when is the right time to bring them up in a relationship? Counselor Glenn Lutjens weighs in.

When you need a dating “time out,” plus Q&A with Tovares and Safa Grey, and how to respond when your gay friends ask you to affirm their choices.   Featured musical artist:  About a Mile   Roundtable: How to Pause Your Dating Life    Dating can be exciting, but for certain reasons you may need to occasionally take a break. How do you know when a pause is necessary? And how long should it be? Our guests share the benefits they’ve seen in seasons of flying solo, and how to make a break work best for you. Oh, we also talk about how to not over-spiritualize non-dating or use it as an excuse for passive behavior or bitterness.   Leave Us a Voicemail   Culture: Q&A With Tovares and Safa Grey   Our friends Tovares and Safa Grey, founders of Godly Dating 101, have returned — this time in person! They address the most common dating questions they get from followers, the biggest mistakes singles make in waiting for a spouse, and lessons they’ve learned since tying the knot.    Link to Godly Dating 101   Inbox: When a Gay Friend Asks for Affirmation   You have a gay friend who asks for your support of their sexual choices. Amid intense cultural pressure and the desire to love your friend, how do you respond in a God-honoring way? Gender and sexuality analyst Jeff Johnston weighs in.

When friends and family urge you to date, plus Hannah Schermerhorn on lessons she learned in singleness, and being a sympathetic listener.   Featured musical artist:  Love and the Outcome    Roundtable: Feeling Pressured to Date    Friends and family are our biggest cheerleaders, but it’s unhelpful when they keep asking, “Have you found someone yet?” If you’ve fielded that question for what seems like the thousandth time, what can you do? We share ideas for responding with grace when others pressure you to date.   Leave us a Voicemail   Culture: One Woman’s Singleness Journey   For Hannah Schermerhorn, being single felt like admitting failure. After a broken engagement, she struggled to put the pieces of her heart together. But through that journey, she learned singleness can actually be a wonderful season with unexpected blessings. She joins us to tell her story, including an assurance that being a single adult doesn’t make you a second-class citizen.   A Single Life to Live: Stop Waiting for Your Life to Begin and Thrive Where God Has You Today    Inbox: How Can I Listen to a Friend’s Problem?    When anyone approaches our listener with a problem, he finds himself wanting to give advice rather than listening and showing compassion. How can he beef up his listening skills? Counselor Linda Miller weighs in.

Discussing how we spent the summer, plus Covenant Eyes’ Sam Black on the church’s role in porn recovery, and how do you stop a panic attack?   Featured musical artist: Audio Adrenaline   Roundtable: Did You Have a Productive Summer?    Now that summer is coming to a close, it’s time to take stock: What went well with this season of longer and supposedly carefree days, and what do you wish you’d done differently? Lisa and our guests started out with high hopes and open calendars, and now admit their share of both highlights and disappointments. If you wish your summer had gone differently (or you’re discouraged heading into fall), we’ll give a few ideas for redeeming the remaining days and staying hopeful for the months to come.    Leave us a Voicemail   Culture: Why Porn Addicts Need the Church   Sam Black is director of recovery education at Covenant Eyes, a trusted ministry designed to help people in their journey out of porn addiction. Sam shares his story and provides reasons and ways the church must (and can) be a safe place of recovery for addicts. Join us for this hopeful and practical conversation about the power of vulnerable community done right.   The Healing Church: What Churches Get Wrong About Pornography and How to Fix It     Find the Victory App   Inbox: How to Stop a Panic Attack    Whenever our listener faces a stressor – whether it’s money, work or relationships – he finds himself battling a full-blown panic attack. What can he do? Counselor Tim Sanford weighs in.

Recognizing God in daily life, plus cultivating a good relationship with your parents, and what to do when you disagree with your parents’ advice.   Featured musical artist:  David Dunn   Roundtable: Seeing God’s Hand in Everyday Life   We look at big, life-changing events and say, “Only God could’ve done that!” But what about the everyday moments? What about the situations that seem entirely ordinary? Is God in those, too? This week we’re talking about the many ways we’re currently seeing God’s hand in our lives, and we’ll give you a few ideas for recognizing Him in yours as well.   Leave us a Voicemail   Culture: Do You Get Along With Your Parents?   One of the hardest parts about becoming an adult is navigating the tricky relational shift with your parents. You want to honor and respect them, but what if they still treat you like a kid? What if you struggle to understand their lifestyle or decisions? What if they’re a bit too clingy or nosy? For Rhonda Stoppe and her son Brandon, the journey has had plenty of ups, downs, and lightbulb moments along the way. In our conversation, they offer hope for a healthy, mature and balanced parent-child relationship. In fact, they’ll even argue that parents and their adult children can (gasp!) become friends.   Moms Raising Sons to Be Men: Guiding Them Toward Their Purpose and Passion    Rhonda’s Website   Inbox: When You Don’t Like a Parent’s Advice   Your parents may mean well, but what happens when you flat-out disagree with their advice? Is this a time to take it, ignore it, or call them out? Counselor Joannie DeBrito weighs in.

Butting into a friend’s dating life, plus making church a haven for victims of abuse, and what if your best friend doesn’t like your other friends?   Featured musical artist:  Austin Stone Worship Roundtable: Getting Involved in Your Friend’s Dating Life Your friend is dating and you see something in the relationship that concerns you. Is it time to speak up? If so, how? How much input should you have in friends’ relationships, anyway? Our guests (one married, one engaged, one single) offer pointers on how to “meddle with grace” in situations like these. Leave us a Voicemail Culture: Is Church a Safe Place for the Abused? Dr. James Reeves felt God call him to make the church he pastored a place of healing for those who’ve been sexually abused. The impact of the church’s ministry has been felt throughout the Dallas community since its inception, and now it is leading the way for other churches to follow suit. Dr. Reeves and Focus on the Family counselor Geremy Keeton discuss why church should be the safest place for those who’ve been abused, and what it looks like to make that happen.       The Fearless Series Website   The Wounded Heart Link to Counseling Services Link to Articles for Help for Abusive Relationships Inbox: Best Friend vs. Other Friends Your best friend feels he or she doesn’t fit in with your other friends, and isn’t afraid to say so. Is this a problem with your bestie or with everyone else? How can you discuss this in a loving and constructive manner? Counselor Tim Sanford weighs in.