Welcome to the Table!
Looking for new ways to get to know your neighbors, create connection with others and build community where you live? Join author and speaker Kristin Schell, the founder of the #frontyardpeople movement, as she gathers at the table to talk with others about neighboring, community, hospitality, cooking, and more. Sponsored by Shipt.
S1E1: People Over Pixels with Mr. Manners, Thomas Farley
Kristin’s guest in our debut episode is Thomas Farley, better known as Mister Manners. Thomas is an etiquette expert, speaker, and author who inspires audiences across America. He’s perhaps best known as the beloved guest in his role as Mister Manners on NBC The Today Show. Kristin and Thomas talk about what it means to be a good neighbor and Thomas gives tips on simple ways to get around barriers that keep us from knowing the people who live near us whether home is the upper West Side of NYC or suburban America.
S1E2: Celebrating the Table with Shauna Niequist
The Turquoise Table Podcast welcomes our guest for Episode 2 who is a kindred spirit; she loves and honors the joys of gathering at the table as much as we do! Shauna Niequist is a New York Times best-selling author whose books include Bread & Wine, Savor & Present Over Perfect. She talks about the special bonds that are created over meeting across from each other at the table.
S1E3: The “Interruptible” Life, Dave Runyon & The Art of Neighboring
Ever wonder how you could be a better neighbor, but don’t know where to start? Help has arrived! Dave Runyon is the author of “The Art of Neighboring: Building Genuine Relationships Right Outside Your Door.” Dave’s experience with neighboring goes deep—in 2010 as pastor at Foothills Community Church and the Next Level Church, he launched a neighboring movement that mobilized over 70 churches and 40,000 people in the Denver Metro area and reshaped the community to become closer.
S1E4: Neighbors at the Table Part 1 – Where Community Begins
This week’s episode features Part 1 of Kristin live at the Turquoise Table talking to her own neighbors about how they got to know each other. Through a few simple steps of outreach, their community and neighborhood flourished as neighbors took the initiative to be welcoming, hospitable and accessible. Listen in on their conversation, which is full of advice to those of us who really want to know our neighbors, but don’t know where to start. You’ll love hearing about where they started and where they are today – and how we can all create greater connection on our own street.
S1E4: Neighbors at the Table Part 2 – Where Community Begins
A continuation of our table talk with Kristin’s actual real-life neighbors, discussing how they continue to foster community after first coming together years ago. You’ll hear honest interaction about the vulnerability of “putting yourself out there” as a neighbor, and how introverts and extroverts approach getting to know one another. Kristin’s Kitchen segment features one of Kristin’s favorite “go-to” recipes–so easy that the most difficult part of the recipe is using a can-opener!
S1E6: Invite and Invest: Simple Hospitality with Amy Hannon
Today Kristin visits with another kindred spirit in the “gathering well” tribe–Amy Hannon. After almost 13 years as a wedding stationer, Amy pursued her dream of opening a kitchen boutique in her community. Amy shares about her new venture, and the namesake of the enterprise–her grandmother Euna Mae–and the unique legacy she created around gatherings that left a lifetime imprint on Amy. She and Kristin also discuss the difference between “hospitality” and “entertaining” and encourage us to never shy away from get-togethers because of a crazy season of life we may be facing.
S1E7: Freeze it Forward with Polly Conner of Thriving Home Blog
This week we talk with the guru of freezer to table meals – Polly Conner. Polly will be walking us through how to easily make freezer meals ahead of time and serve them up to your table like a pro. She’ll also tell us about how to start your own “freezer clubs” where you and your neighbors can cook together to provide a week of meals for you and your families while creating community in the kitchen.
S1E8: Go Get the Neighbors – Bri McKoy Dishes About Food & Serving Others
Food blogger & cookbook author Bri McKoy wasn’t always a great cook. She didn’t really cook at all until the moment she realized what a gift it was to be able to feed her family and others. Bri discovered the true joy serving others with food and with hospitality. As she moved from food fails into cooking smart, she started her wildly popular food blog: OurSavoryLife.com.
S1E9: The Joy of Giving Your Life Away with Kristen Welch
Kristen Welch is a busy mother of three who runs the popular blog “We Are That Family” (WeAreThatFamily.com), in addition to a non-profit called Mercy Global House. Kristen wishes to give every family the tools to experience what it’s like to answer the call of the needs in our world, creating community with those in need, and in turn, raising up a new generation of “givers.”
S1E10: You Are Enough: Jess Connolly & Hayley Morgan
Thanks to social media, it’s never been easier to compare ourselves to others—and feel ashamed our lives don’t look like the sparkly ones we see on our phone screens. In this episode, Kristin sits down with bestselling authors and entrepreneurs, Jess Connolly and Hayley Morgan, to talk about their new devotional Always Enough, Never Too Much and how we can stop struggling with comparison and hiding our flaws, and how to live more authentically.
S1E11: Turning Strangers into Neighbors: Rosaria Butterfield
What does “loving the stranger” mean? And how do we start a friendship with someone who seems so different from us? Today’s guest, Rosaria Butterfield, gives us the first step: practicing “radically ordinary hospitality.” Rosaria is an author, speaker, pastor’s wife, and homeschool mom in Durham, North Carolina. Her newest book The Gospel Comes with a Key tells how Rosaria and her husband Kent use their home as a mission field as they dine with guests every night, and how they’ve opened their not-really-a-spare-bedroom to house guests.
S1:E12 Loving Our Community Through Loss: Lauren Flake
Lauren Flake is an author and blogger from Austin, TX, and a member of our Turquoise Table community. Lauren has been using her table in powerful, special ways since she lost her mother Dixie to early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Today Lauren shares her story and walks us through what community looked like for her during and after her mother’s illness
S1:E13 Just Open the Door: Swapping Hospitality Tips with Jen Schmidt
When we open our homes to hospitality, how do our day-to-day lives change? Jen Schmidt is the popular lifestyle blogger behind Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, and she’s the author of the brand-new book Just Open the Door: How One Invitation Can Change a Generation. Jen is Kristin’s kindred spirit, and today they trade tidbits of wisdom about shepherding guests into their homes. And stay tuned to the very end of the episode, where Jen reveals her favorite ways to get folks to the table (hint: brunch is involved).
S1:E14 Finding the Rhythms of Rest: Shelly Miller
In today’s fast-paced world, keeping a Sabbath can seem impossible. Where do we find the time to rest? How does Sabbath work in a life filled with notifications? Enter Shelly Miller, an expert Sabbath Keeper and author of the popular book Rhythms of Rest: Finding the Spirit of Sabbath in a Busy World. Shelly takes us through Sabbath Keeping 101 and tells us how her journey began with cleaning up Christmas decorations, how Sabbath Keeping helps us offer hospitality, and why napkins can help us celebrate. And stay tuned to the end of the episode, when Shelly and Kristin dish on their favorite one-pot and slow cooker meals!
S1:E15 The Community a Storm Couldn’t Destroy
In 2011 Joplin, Missouri, was devastated by an EF-5 tornado. The storm ripped up 15 miles of the town, killing 161 people. Turquoise Table community member Ann Leach survived, but lost everything. Ann tells us her remarkable story of rebuilding after the storm, the miracle of the human spirit, and the beauty of a community coming together to survive and thrive. A grief counselor and life coach, Ann gives us tips on how to help those in our community who are hurting, what to say when you have no idea how to say it, and how we can find hope in the most dire situations.
S1:E16 Seasonal Family Meal Planning and Intentional Hospitality with Natasha Red
Natasha Red grew up loving food and hospitality. But when she married everything changed. Natasha found it impossible to create the beautiful, healthy dinners she once did and care for a fussy newborn. She noticed other moms were as overwhelmed as she was, and she knew she had to do something about it, so she did. Read more and listen to the podcast to find out! You’ll be encouraged by all the great things she has to say about feeding ourselves and our loved ones, even in the season of temper tantrums at Target and crushed Cheerios in the carpet.
S1:E17 The Ultimate Welcome: Sunday Morning Thoughts for Your Whole Week
We need to feel like we belong before we can extend an invitation to others. That’s what today’s guest at the Turquoise Table, Whitney Bell, reminded Kristin a few Sundays ago as Whitney gave a sermon at Kristin’s church. Whitney is the middle school ministry director at Kristin’s church in Austin, and she’s guided not only Kristin’s four kids, but scores of middle schoolers in her tenure. And whether you’re in the trenches with teens or looking for more inspiration on how to love deep, you’ll drink deeply from Whitney’s advice.
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