MomQ: Christian Mom Community

One of our MomQ teachers, Julie Whitehurst, shares wisdom from a biblical perspective about how God designed marriage and what that means for us practically as wives today. When we better understand God’s purpose and role for us as women in the context of marriage, we can build a relationship that is fulfilling, meaningful, and honoring to God. In addition, we leave a legacy to our children for their future marriages.

We are excited to kick off a new semester of MomQ teaching! We have fresh content and a rotating team of speakers that will share from the truth of God's Word about who we are as Moms and the calling we have as the primary disciplers of our kids.

In week one of the semester Candace teaches on where our identify lies as moms. Ultimately, it is not in the approval of others or even in our role as a mom and wife. It is rooted in who God says we are as believers in Christ.

We kick off a new season of the MomQ podcast with a special, in depth interview with MomQ founder and president, Candace Nassar. She shares a bit of her personal testimony and how God used a local mom community to bring her to faith. She also shares how God led her to take a leap in faith to start the ministry and bring it to where it is today.
We also chat about some exciting new updates to MomQ that our podcast guests and in person members will see coming this fall!

On this episode we had the privelege to interview two special guests with me, Amanda Tipps and Staci Reichmanis. Amanda and Staci are both on the counseling staff at Hill country Bible Church in Austin, TX. Amanda works with adolescents and Staci is the Director of the Counseling Department. They have both been guest speakers at MomQ a few times and they are fantastic! They are consummate professionals who really know their stuff and they are also beautiful Godly women and mothers.

They share with us some powerful, yet practical tips for finding rest in God's presence in the chaos of our daily lives.

We are exited to catch up with Jesica Gierke who is a MomQ mentor, mother and most of all amazing servant of Christ. She shares with us some of her story and an experience she had on a missions trip in Costa Rica where she witnessed the awe-inspiring power of God in action. You don't want to miss it!

We are thrilled to interview Tracy Higley for our second episode in our summer series on experiencing the presence of God IN the chaos of summer.
Tracy is a bestselling author of twenty books and successful entrepreneur and business owner. After decades of keeping up with publishing contracts, four kids, church ministries and grad school, all the while running a million-dollar retail business, Tracy -crashed and burned.- And learned. The answer didn't come from changing her fundamental personality of achiever, but by taking those strengths and fitting them into a structure that explodes productivity while staying balanced, healthy and joyful. Her desire is to walk alongside Christian women who want to make a lasting impact with their lives, both within and outside the four walls of their homes.
You will enjoy the wisdom Tracy shares from her story and lessons God taught her during summers with her own kids.
To learn more about Tracy and her books, visit her website.

We are so excited to launch our first Summer Podcast Series with Stephanie James! We're going to be talking about practicing the presence of God IN the chaos of summer. We hope that you will be encouraged by the testimony of these women was they prioritize their relationship with Jesus in the absence of routine.
We are kicking off our series with Stephanie James. Stephanie is a mom who truly follows after God's heart. She has six kids ranging from teen to toddler and is determined to prioritize faith in their family. I think you will appreciate and value the wisdom she provides in this conversation for intentionally discipling your kids during summer.

We wrap up this semester with some key takeaways from the lessons from this semester on Building Families of Character. Our amazing mentor moms also join us for a panel to answer any and all questions from the audience on parenting.

We loved sharing in this journey with you this semester. Please stay tuned for some special episodes this summer before we kick off again in the fall!

No other relationship or situation can challenge our faith more than our marriage. So what is the secret to a satisfied marriage?

Surpisingly, it has much less to do with how our husband, or even relationship needs to change. Instead, it's about focusing on how God wants to sanctify us in the process. When we exchange our character for God's character, or focus turns from ourselves, to who God wants us to be.

In this episode, guest speaker Germaine Ferreira teaches on how we can raise children with JOY in a world that seeks an empty goal of “happiness.” She shares strategies she has used when raising her two grown boys to help our kids turn to Jesus as their ultimate form of satisfaction.

Life is full of ups and downs. It's so easy to feel anxious, complain about our circumstances or experience regret from our past. Is it truly possible to feel content in this life? Paul gives us that answer in Philippians 4:12. The short answer is YES but we must align ourselves to finding our satisfaction in Christ. Zooming out to see the eternal perspective and also zooming in to examine our hearts. Candace teaches on this topic and interviews mentor mom Jessica Geirke about her experience with finding contentment as a mom.

We know that God wants our families and our kids to be marked by honesty and integrity. But, instilling these values in our kids is easier said than done! Candace teaches on strategies for building a culture of honesty and confession in our homes. When our kids see us modeling honest behavior with other adults, with them and with our spouses, and confessing when we fail, we gift them a strong foundation in this area. Our mentor mom, Kendra, also shares a personal story about her journey with honesty and how God's grace has moved in her life in a powerful way.

We know that honesty is the best policy. But when it comes to our relationship with our spouse, it's easy to fall into habits of withholding information, emotions, or behavior. Mentor mom Julie Whitehurst teaches on the power of courageous honesty and the freedom and security we experience when our marriage is built on integrity.

In this episode, Candace teaches on the value of living a life of integrity, in our conversations and in our conduct. When we surrender to God and seek to be honest in every area of our life, we bring our lives into conformity with His truth.

Special guest speaker Annie Mendrala teaches on what it looks like to be courageous in our marriage. She shares what the Bible says about our role in marriage and how we can work through challenges in a way that honors God. Annie reminds us that courage in marriage begins with our brokenness, and God changing us as we move toward greater intimacy.

How do we go about instilling courage in our kids? In this lesson, Candace shared some of the characteristics of courageous kids and how we can allow God to build their character by empowering them to fail. She also interviews Bible teacher Heather Van Stavern on what it looks like to help our kids overcome failure, and depend on God for their strength.

We have a special bonus interview with Christy Howard. She is a mom of three, pastors wife, and mentor to many. She shared a personal testimony with us about how to trust God and have courage in a tough situation.

We are thrilled to kick off a new semester of MomQ with the theme of Building Families of Character. In our first lesson, Candace teaches on the importance of courage, and how Godly courage enables us to step out in faith. It’s important to be courageous so that we can choose FAITH over FEAR.

Candace interviews Gina Cleminson about her wisdom in raising kids with a string faith that lasts. She also shares with us some fun family Christmas traditions that help place Christ at the center of the holidays.

Candace summarizes the lessons we learned from this semester about raising virtuous children. We also get the treat of hearing our mentor moms take questions from the audience about all areas of parenting and family, including navigating difficult conversations, handling strong willed children, and how to place Jesus at the center of family traditions.

As parents with young kids we dream of having open, rich relationships with them as they grow through adulthood. But what can we do know to ensure that is the case for our family? In this episode, Candace talks about how we can build spiritually vibrant homes that align our passions with God’s. And have fun together in the process! She also interviews mentor mom Amy Tipps who shares her wisdom and joys of having rich relationships with her grown kids.

Instead of relying on the culture for our cues on how to best discipline our kids, Candace gives practical advice on how we can discipline from a biblical perspective, using loving relationship as the foundation.

In this episode we have two special guest speakers, Heather VanStavern and Kendra Echols discuss how prioritizing our marriage is essential to effective parenting. They discuss several reasons why this is the case and practical ways to take the next steps in strengthening connection with our spouse.

The question of how we should discipline our kids often comes with the most strife in our home. But at the same time, it’s our primary calling according to the Bible. Candace discusses how to be intentional with our discipline with a focus on rich communication. This approach will cost us, our time, energy and maybe even a clean house. But the benefits outweigh the cost.

Listen to our special episode with an interview with mentor mom Jess Gierke. She shares her testimony of faith and journey to raise her two kids to follow Jesus.

The word “character” has many definition in our modern world. As Christians, our standard of character is God himself. But how do we help shape our kids to make decisions that are honoring to God? Candace discusses some tools for guiding them to worship the Creator vs. creation (Romans 1) and looking to Him to meet their desires.

In the throes of parenting it’s a question we often ponder. Will our kids ever do what we say? Will they hold onto their values? Will they follow God? We aren’t guaranteed the answers to those questions but we know that when we are tending to their hearts, God and His Holy Spirit will guide them. Candace and mentor mom Julie will share how we can bring this perspective into our everyday.

We often have doubts in our ability to be the parents we need or want to be. But as believers we know that anything good that we do comes from the grace that has been given to us through Jesus. In this episode, we discuss what it looks like to live out this grace in our parenting. We also hear from our mentor mom Barbara Bland and her testimony of how God shifted her parenting perspective from fear-based to grace-based.

Is the ultimate goal of parenting to raise happy kids? Good kids? Successful kids? In this episode we discuss the purpose of our parenting according to the Bible - to point our kids to His truth and grace. We also hear from one of our mentor moms, Sue McAlinden, about practical ways to center our homes around God’s truth in the depths of parenting.

There are so many sources of wisdom when it comes to parenting, but when it comes to a struggle you’re facing or a question you have, where do you turn first? In this episode we’ll talk through practical ways we can turn to God for Wisdom, and grow in our faith through our parenting journey. We’ll also hear from Candace a personal testimony of how that looked in her own life.

It’s a tough question but an important one- who do our kids really belong to? Are they our legacy or the legacy of the One who created them? Listen to Candace addressing these topics and more in our first session of the season!