The Restorative Man Podcast

This part 2 of our conversation with Doug McKelvey feels like sitting with someone who kept showing up even when it felt like nothing was working. He shares what it was like to write in the middle of doubt, where faith looked less like clarity and more like staying. There is something grounding in hearing how these prayers were shaped slowly, quietly, and sometimes without any sense of momentum. You start to realize this book was not rushed into existence but carried through a long season of uncertainty and trust. If you want to explore it for yourself, you can grab a copy here: https://store.rabbitroom.com/products/every-moment-holy-rites-of-passage-2It is also available on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0hXhUPCIIf you want to grow alongside other intentional men, you can jump into the Grove Collective at https://www.restorationproject.net/grovecollectiveSubscribe here: https://rp-grove.circle.so/To know more about Restoration Project, visit us here:Website: www.restorationproject.netInstagram: @restorationprojectcoFacebook: Restoration ProjectLinkedIn: Restoration Project Are you ready to move beyond traditional marriage counseling? The Thrive Marriage Lab offers a fresh approach to relationship growth. Get monthly guidance, tools, and support from experienced marriage counselors. Visit www.restory.life/thrive and start your journey today!FREE 12 Months of Dates: How date nights can lead to connectionSubscribe here: www.restory.life/thrive-datesHow healthy is your marriage? Take our FREE marriage assessment!Instagram: @ThriveMarriageLabYouTube: @ThriveMarriageLabLinkedIn: Thrive Marriage Lab

This conversation drifts through the quiet places most people try to avoid, where calling feels unclear and life doesn’t follow the script you expected. Doug McKelvey shares how years that looked like failure slowly became the very soil that shaped his most meaningful work. There’s something grounding in the idea that even the smallest, most ordinary moments are not wasted but somehow tied to a much bigger story. You start to feel how honesty, disappointment, and faith can sit in the same room without needing to resolve too quickly. By the end, it leaves you noticing your own life a little differently, and if you want to keep exploring that lens, his latest book Every Moment Holy: Rites of Passage is a meaningful place to start.You can find it here: https://store.rabbitroom.com/products/every-moment-holy-rites-of-passage-2 Also available on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0hXhUPCIIf you want to grow alongside other intentional men, you can jump into the Grove Collective at https://www.restorationproject.net/grovecollectiveSubscribe here: https://rp-grove.circle.so/To know more about Restoration Project, visit us here:Website: www.restorationproject.netInstagram: @restorationprojectcoFacebook: Restoration ProjectLinkedIn: Restoration Project Are you ready to move beyond traditional marriage counseling? The Thrive Marriage Lab offers a fresh approach to relationship growth. Get monthly guidance, tools, and support from experienced marriage counselors. Visit www.restory.life/thrive and start your journey today!FREE 12 Months of Dates: How date nights can lead to connectionSubscribe here: www.restory.life/thrive-datesHow healthy is your marriage? Take our FREE marriage assessment!Instagram: @ThriveMarriageLabYouTube: @ThriveMarriageLabLinkedIn: Thrive Marriage Lab

Beth Bruno, author and director of Restory Counseling who leads Lost Women pilgrimages, explores motherly images of God and why they unsettle us. She traces womb-like language in Scripture, connects ancient goddess echoes to longing for nurture, and invites men to consider healing mother wounds. She also describes restorative counseling work and pilgrimages that recover forgotten women in church history.

In Part 2 of our conversation with Jeff Zaugg, we move past surface-level fatherhood advice and into the deeper work of becoming present, wholehearted dads. Jeff unpacks the six core discoveries that shape a man’s journey and explains why intent alone does not transform our families. We talk honestly about how modern dads often default to provision and protection while quietly losing wonder, delight, and emotional presence. This episode explores how pace, freedom, identity, and courage intersect in everyday fatherhood, from bedtime routines to life-altering decisions. If you have ever felt the tension between grinding through responsibility and treasuring your kids, this conversation will name it and reframe it. If you want to know more about Jeff Zaugg, his work, and DadAwesome, visit https://dadawesome.org.Grab a copy of his book, DadAwesome on Amazon: https://www.dadawesome.org/store/p/dadawesome-dad-discoveries-to-activate-awesomeness-jeff-zaugg-pre-orderListen to DadAwesome Podcast: Apple Podcast: DadAwesomeSpotify: DadAwesomeYouTube: @DadAwesomeIf you want to grow alongside other intentional men, you can jump into the Grove Collective at https://www.restorationproject.net/grovecollectiveSubscribe here: https://rp-grove.circle.so/To know more about Restoration Project, visit us here:Website: www.restorationproject.netInstagram: @restorationprojectcoFacebook: Restoration ProjectLinkedIn: Restoration Project Want a thriving marriage? If your relationship feels more like roommates than lovers, or if you're struggling with connection and intimacy, you're not alone. Thrive Marriage Lab is a 12-month guided journey—offering practical tools, live sessions, and expert guidance to help you build a stronger, more connected marriage. Doors open just once a year, so don’t miss out! Use code RP for $20 off and join today at restory.life/thrive.FREE 12 Months of Dates: How date nights can lead to connectionSubscribe here: www.restory.life/thrive-datesHow healthy is your marriage? Take our FREE marriage assessment!Instagram: @ThriveMarriageLabYouTube: @ThriveMarriageLabLinkedIn: Thrive Marriage Lab

Jeff Zaugg joins us to talk about fatherhood, but we end up talking about something deeper first. What if the pressure you feel as a dad is coming from a scoreboard God never set up? Jeff shares the story of the clipboard, the bridge, and the moment he realized he was trying to earn a love that was already his. This conversation is honest about the whispers that say you are not enough and clear about the truth that changes everything. If you have ever felt like you are behind, blowing it, or just tired, this one might feel like a deep breath. If you want to know more about Jeff Zaugg, his work, and DadAwesome, visit https://dadawesome.org.Grab a copy of his book, DadAwesome: https://www.dadawesome.org/store/p/dadawesome-dad-discoveries-to-activate-awesomeness-jeff-zaugg-pre-orderListen to DadAwesome Podcast:Apple Podcast: DadAwesomeSpotify: DadAwesomeYouTube: @DadAwesomeIf you want to grow alongside other intentional men, you can jump into the Grove Collective at https://www.restorationproject.net/grovecollectiveSubscribe here: https://rp-grove.circle.so/To know more about Restoration Project, visit us here:Website: www.restorationproject.netInstagram: @restorationprojectcoFacebook: Restoration ProjectLinkedIn: Restoration Project Want a thriving marriage? If your relationship feels more like roommates than lovers, or if you're struggling with connection and intimacy, you're not alone. Thrive Marriage Lab is a 12-month guided journey—offering practical tools, live sessions, and expert guidance to help you build a stronger, more connected marriage. Doors open just once a year, so don’t miss out! Use code RP for $20 off and join today at restory.life/thrive.FREE 12 Months of Dates: How date nights can lead to connectionSubscribe here: www.restory.life/thrive-datesHow healthy is your marriage? Take our FREE marriage assessment!Instagram: @ThriveMarriageLabYouTube: @ThriveMarriageLabLinkedIn: Thrive Marriage Lab

Discipline sounds simple until you realize how much of it is actually about you. In this episode, Jesse French and Cody Buriff get honest about the moments they got big, shut down, or simply forgot their kid in the hallway. They explore what is really happening underneath our anger, why something in us feels threatened, and how that spills onto our sons and daughters. This is not about perfect behavior or perfect dads, but about repair, humility, and becoming the kind of man who can keep the slowest heart rate in the room. If you have ever wondered whether you already messed your kids up, this conversation might feel like oxygen. If you want to grow alongside other intentional men, you can jump into the Grove Collective at https://www.restorationproject.net/grovecollectiveSubscribe here: https://www.grovecollective.netTo know more about Restoration Project, visit us here:Website: www.restorationproject.netInstagram: @restorationprojectcoFacebook: Restoration ProjectLinkedIn: Restoration Project Want a thriving marriage? If your relationship feels more like roommates than lovers, or if you're struggling with connection and intimacy, you're not alone. Thrive Marriage Lab is a 12-month guided journey—offering practical tools, live sessions, and expert guidance to help you build a stronger, more connected marriage. Doors open just once a year, so don’t miss out! Use code RP for $20 off and join today at restory.life/thrive.FREE 12 Months of Dates: How date nights can lead to connectionSubscribe here: www.restory.life/thrive-datesHow healthy is your marriage? Take our FREE marriage assessment!Instagram: @ThriveMarriageLabYouTube: @ThriveMarriageLabLinkedIn: Thrive Marriage Lab

Ash Wednesday is almost here, and for a lot of us Lent used to mean one thing: fish sandwiches and people with ashes on their foreheads. In this episode, Cody and Jesse unpack how Lent is actually an invitation to face suffering instead of numbing it, powering through it, or pretending we are fine. They wrestle with the idea of an “all-suffering God” and what it means to follow a Christ who meets us in grief, hunger, and weakness. From giving up sugar and coffee to choosing the slow lane on purpose, this conversation gets painfully practical about how fasting creates space for something deeper. If you have ever avoided pain or wondered why it matters, this one might change how you walk toward Easter. If you want to grow alongside other intentional men, you can jump into the Grove Collective at https://www.restorationproject.net/grovecollectiveSubscribe here: https://rp-grove.circle.so/To know more about Restoration Project, visit us here:Website: www.restorationproject.netInstagram: @restorationprojectcoFacebook: Restoration ProjectLinkedIn: Restoration Project Want a thriving marriage? If your relationship feels more like roommates than lovers, or if you're struggling with connection and intimacy, you're not alone. Thrive Marriage Lab is a 12-month guided journey—offering practical tools, live sessions, and expert guidance to help you build a stronger, more connected marriage. Doors open just once a year, so don’t miss out! Use code RP for $20 off and join today at restory.life/thrive.FREE 12 Months of Dates: How date nights can lead to connectionSubscribe here: www.restory.life/thrive-datesHow healthy is your marriage? Take our FREE marriage assessment!Instagram: @ThriveMarriageLabYouTube: @ThriveMarriageLabLinkedIn: Thrive Marriage Lab

What if the most dangerous men are not the loud ones, but the ones who quietly stopped showing up. This episode wrestles with a different kind of threat, the man who abdicates his place in his own life, marriage, friendships, and story. Through a simple gift and an unexpected phrase, Jesse and Nic explore how passivity can wound just as deeply as aggression, and why presence is a form of courage. They talk about the subtle, daily risks of asking one more honest question, turning off your phone, saying I need help, and staying true to who you actually are. If being good has felt small or safe, this conversation might mess with that in the best way. If you want to grow alongside other intentional men, you can jump into the Grove Collective at https://www.restorationproject.net/grovecollectiveSubscribe here: https://rp-grove.circle.so/To know more about Restoration Project, visit us here:Website: www.restorationproject.netInstagram: @restorationprojectcoFacebook: Restoration ProjectLinkedIn: Restoration Project Want a thriving marriage? If your relationship feels more like roommates than lovers, or if you're struggling with connection and intimacy, you're not alone. Thrive Marriage Lab is a 12-month guided journey—offering practical tools, live sessions, and expert guidance to help you build a stronger, more connected marriage. Doors open just once a year, so don’t miss out! Use code RP for $20 off and join today at restory.life/thrive.FREE 12 Months of Dates: How date nights can lead to connectionSubscribe here: www.restory.life/thrive-datesHow healthy is your marriage? Take our FREE marriage assessment!Instagram: @ThriveMarriageLabYouTube: @ThriveMarriageLabLinkedIn: Thrive Marriage Lab

In this episode, Jesse French sits down with Greg Ehlert for an unhurried conversation about noticing God’s activity in everyday life. They explore spiritual direction as the practice of holy listening and what it means to pay attention without rushing toward answers. Greg shares how contemplative practices reshaped his understanding of God from performance to presence. The conversation makes room for questions, silence, and the full range of human experience that often gets overlooked in faith spaces. This episode invites listeners to slow down and consider where God might already be at work in their story.Resources mentioned in the episode:Spiritual Direction: A Guide to Giving and Receiving Direction by Gordon T. SmithGrafted Life and the Christ-Centered Spiritual Directors Association (CSDA): https://www.graftedlife.org/csda/home/If you want to grow alongside other intentional men, you can jump into the Grove Collective at https://www.restorationproject.net/grovecollectiveSubscribe here: https://rp-grove.circle.so/To know more about Restoration Project, visit us here:Website: www.restorationproject.netInstagram: @restorationprojectcoFacebook: Restoration ProjectLinkedIn: Restoration Project Want a thriving marriage? If your relationship feels more like roommates than lovers, or if you're struggling with connection and intimacy, you're not alone. Thrive Marriage Lab is a 12-month guided journey—offering practical tools, live sessions, and expert guidance to help you build a stronger, more connected marriage. Doors open just once a year, so don’t miss out! Use code RP for $20 off and join today at restory.life/thrive.FREE 12 Months of Dates: How date nights can lead to connectionSubscribe here: www.restory.life/thrive-datesHow healthy is your marriage? Take our FREE marriage assessment!Instagram: @ThriveMarriageLabYouTube: @ThriveMarriageLabLinkedIn: Thrive Marriage Lab

Young sons have a fire within them. But how is that fire channeled and not extinguished? In this episode, Beth Bruno joins Chris for an insightful conversation about the reality of mothering sons. Beth generously shares her own experience of navigating the emotions and shifts during her son's teenage years.  She unpacks the importance of mothers adopting a posture of space and delight with their sons. While risky and new, this offering of space must be paired with the intentional engagement of the father, so the son can continue to grow. This conversation is a wise invitation for both parents to partner together in the becoming process of their children. If this conversation stirred something in you and you want to go deeper with Beth’s work, here are a few places to start: Resources for Raising Fierce and Lovely Women: https://www.bethbruno.org/fierceandlovelyA Voice Becoming book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1478974672Follow Beth: https://www.bethbruno.org/If you want to grow alongside other intentional men, you can jump into the Grove Collective at https://www.restorationproject.net/grovecollectiveSubscribe here: https://rp-grove.circle.so/To know more about Restoration Project, visit us here:Website: www.restorationproject.netInstagram: @restorationprojectcoFacebook: Restoration ProjectLinkedIn: Restoration Project Want a thriving marriage? If your relationship feels more like roommates than lovers, or if you're struggling with connection and intimacy, you're not alone. Thrive Marriage Lab is a 12-month guided journey—offering practical tools, live sessions, and expert guidance to help you build a stronger, more connected marriage. Doors open just once a year, so don’t miss out! Use code RP for $20 off and join today at restory.life/thrive.FREE 12 Months of Dates: How date nights can lead to connectionSubscribe here: www.restory.life/thrive-datesHow healthy is your marriage? Take our FREE marriage assessment!Instagram: @ThriveMarriageLabYouTube: @ThriveMarriageLabLinkedIn: Thrive Marriage Lab