Annie F. Downs

That Sounds Fun Podcast Playlists You Need in Your Life

Annie — Tue, 14 May 2024 18:57:51 +0000

In honor of the 2024 KLOVE Fan Awards this year (and being nominated as Podcast of the Year!!), I’m sharing all the podcast episodes from That Sounds Fun that feature the KLOVE nominees of 2024. Hope you enjoy!

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AFD in NYC Episode 1: I’m moving to New York City

Annie — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 14:17:53 +0000

Hi friends.

Annie F. Downs here. Can I just be Annie on Sundays? Would that be okay? This feels like friend talk anyways.

I’ve been wanting to tell you a fuller story of what’s coming up this fall in my life, specifically when it comes to where I’ll be living, and why.

Summary: I’m moving to New York City for two months. October and November. I’ll leave Nashville the first weekend of October when I leave to go to a speaking event up north, and then I will come back to Nashville after Thanksgiving.

I mentioned it in passing when I talked with Rebekah Lyons (that’s episode 466), but haven’t really taken time to explain or explore that with you. And I do think this is a with you moment.

I’m thinking a lot about it… about how to share with you what I’m processing and learning and experiencing as this year plays out. Somewhat like ye olden days of blogging, but here instead. I want a place where I’m a little forced to write stories and tell you stories of this fall- of a new city, whether I feel like it or not. Social accountability-podcast accountability- is a powerful force.

So let’s start here. With the question that pops up all the time on my instagram posts.

Why am I moving to New York City for two months.

. . . . . .

I can’t really remember the first time I went to New York, I think it was in high school. I never considered living there, I never dreamed of it growing up. I watched all the same movies and shows- particularly You’ve Got Mail- 52 INSIGHTS INTO MY SOUL- and of course the city seems romantic in movies, but it didn’t make me want to live there.

But over the last decade, well, since 2010 actually, the more I’ve visited, the more I’ve seen it, the more I’ve spent time there with people who actually live there, it has taken over some real estate in my heart. I’ve written about this in multiple books- That Sounds Fun, Remember God I think?, and Looking For Lovely. The day I wrote about the community garden that’s in Looking For Lovely may be my very favorite writing day in my whole career.

I love New York. It matches my personality in a million ways. It’s so loud and busy and always, and well, me too. It lights me up. It doesn’t wear me out – yet. It also actually slows me down- I have to walk places and time things correctly and unlike here in Nashville, I can’t just race to my car and race to the next event. I actually really like the pace of New York and me. It’s everything they say in songs-

Concrete jungle where dreams are made of.

If you can make it there, you’ll make it anywhere.

And in the words of Taylor Swift, it’s a new soundtrack. I could dance to this beat.

So many of you know a lot of my dear friends there- people like Ginna Claire and Mary Kate from Wicked The Musical, Shauna Neiquist, her family, Jonathan Merritt, Jon Tyson, Meredith Toering… and a few others. And as I’ve spent time with them there, a little life has built for me. And many of you know my personal deep love for the Flatiron Building- it may be one of the most sacred spots for me and God. We’ve met there more than a few times and dreamed big in that park at the base of the building.

I’ve considered moving to New York City on and off through the years, but never pulled the trigger. Be it a budget decision or a dating relationship or a work commitment, it’s just never been the right yes. I’ve talked about it, with friends up there and friends down here, but never seriously considered it.

. . . . .

I was up there, this year, for New Years Eve. Sitting at the dinner table with Mary Kate and Ginna Claire and their husbands, Meredith and a few other friends, I said, kind of more to myself than anyone, “Man I love this place, I wish I lived here.”

And Mary Kate looked at me, nothing but kindness in her eyes and she said, “you know what’s funny? We’ve been friends for a lot of years and everything you say you are going to do, you actually do, except this.”

And it stopped me in my tracks. She’s right. I do try to be a woman of my word. And I knew that was a statement from a best friend inviting me to either change my choices or change my words. Do I REALLY want to move there or am I just going to keep saying it?

(Side note: either would have been fine. If I would have chosen just to quit saying it, that still makes me a woman of my word. It was just time to reckon with that.)

So the next day I called my friend Jonathan Merritt and told him what happened at the dinner table. He said, “I think you are on the line of I WOULD LOVE TO and I WISH I WOULD HAVE.”

Man, he was right. He is right.

I came home a little embarrassed, but mainly just between me and God. Like, “gosh have I missed this invitation before? Was I supposed to have already done this and I blew it?”

And just real quietly, in my heart, I felt the Holy Spirit ask me back, “But have you ever heard me invite you like THIS?” And I hadn’t. It had never been so clear. The desire had always been there, but not an invitation like this.

This is where things get complicated though. I love Nashville. My life is here and my family is close. There are a lot of kids who depend on me to show up in their lives. I’m an ordained pastor at Cross Point Church and I’m committed to that house of worship. My office is here and our staff is here. I own a house here. My best friends are here or close. I love this place. I want to see and be a part of the flourishing of Nashville, Tennessee. I don’t want to move away.

. . . . .

I sat down with my manager and business partner Kelli Haywood the next week of January, once we were back to work after the holidays. I knew my spring and summer calendar for 2023 were already set, but could I maybe go to New York for a month in the fall?

“Why don’t you go for 2?” she offered.

So I am. I found an apartment to rent. My friends are excited and so am I. I’ll still do my job, a little more of this type of writing and recording maybe?, but recording podcast episodes for That Sounds Fun, recording Let’s Read The Gospels, and maybe work on a few writing projects- I do my best consistent writing there. I will still travel and speak on a bunch of the weekends, and just fly in and out of LGA instead of BNA.

I’m scratching an itch long ignored, cracking open a dream long held, and chasing God to a new adventure I feel certain He’s invited me on.

And it was all going so well, just as planned for the last eight months, until I had surgery two weeks ago.

Not an emergency surgery, but a sudden one. The removal of a large ovarian cyst, my left ovary, and some other bits and bobs in there. (If this is your first time hearing of this, I told a lot of the story on instagram- just go there- @anniefdowns and look for the highlight with the cantaloupe emoji.)

And I originally set out, today, to tell you some parts of the surgery story, and I’m sure I will here and there. But as I stood in my kitchen last night, reheating my dinner, and thinking through what I wanted to say, I realized that this surgery story is actually part of my New York City story. Because it is the portion of track right before the next station- Grand Central Station, I guess. This is part of how God has so kindly shaped my whole year. It has not been without pain or sadness- certainly we’ve all experienced that- I mean for heaven’s sake I’m still barely recovering from surgery- but it’s been a year of Proverbs 16:9… “a man (or in this case, a woman) plans their course, but the Lord determines their steps.”

I would not have planned an activity-limiting surgery weeks before moving to a pedestrian city. But having a massive cyst out of my body has already changed my body in amazing ways. (Yes, there’s a whole body story here that we should talk about at some point, remind me.) This is not the course I would have created, but it’s the Lord who has determined my steps.

And gracious, can you imagine if I hadn’t had the surgery done, the cyst removed, before moving? This surgery has given my body freedom it would not have had otherwise. I’m so grateful.

6 weeks from today will be my first day in New York. 6 weeks I planned to have packed with lunches and coffees and dinners with my friends here in Nashville to top up my friendship cup before being gone for two months. I planned to see absolutely everyone. But that won’t happen because a healing body doesn’t need to go at 100 miles per hour socially. I’ve grieved that this week, realizing that I’ll leave like a whisper, not a whirlwind. But I have to, to let my body heal.

So your AFD will be in NYC. And I don’t know all the whys, I don’t know what kinds of joys and sadnesses are to come, I don’t know what God has up His sleeves, but what I do know is that He has made a way for a little special dream in my heart to come to life, and I’ll be thankful

forever.

. . . . .

So that’s the story. Did I leave anything out? Feel free to ask away over on instagram- @thatsoundsfunpodcast … and I’ll do my best to answer you there or use your question to springboard another little episode like this. Your thoughts and opinions are welcome and I’’ll see you tomorrow here on That Sounds Fun.

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2023 Annual Podcast Guide

Annie — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 15:00:32 +0000

Christianity Today recently released their 2023 Podcast Guide which featured two of our favorite shows: Let’s Read the Gospels and That Sounds Fun with Annie F. Downs!

Let’s Read the Gospels

Let’s Read the Gospel with Annie F. Downs is a daily podcast where Annie guides listeners through a monthly reading of the Gospels–the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. With a different version and order each month, this podcast invites you into an immersive, fresh approach to spending time in the story of Jesus.

Learn More: http://bit.ly/3zi4wBe

That Sounds Fun

That Sounds Fun is hosted by New York Times Bestselling author Annie F. Downs, featuring conversations with guests like Bob Goff, Lauren Daigle, and Tim Tebow. If sitting down for coffee to talk books, faith, music, relationships, and more with old (and new) friends sounds like fun to you, listen in on Mondays and Thursdays!

Learn More: http://bit.ly/3TVc06n

Check out the full guide here.

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NYT: Nashville, Battered and Mourning, Pauses for Easter

Annie — Mon, 10 Apr 2023 16:22:04 +0000

Less than two weeks after the shooting of six people at a small Christian school in Nashville, the city’s raw mourning was swept into sprawling, emotional protests and political strife, culminating in accusations of racism over the expulsion of two young Black state legislators. It has been an extraordinary and painful season of hugs and funerals, marches and speeches, tears and anger.

Now, this divided and battered city will pause and gather in its many churches for Easter Sunday, the culmination of the most important week in the Christian calendar. It is a day that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, a biblical account that for Christians signifies the ultimate triumph of life over death. And it is serving as a touchstone for mourners and activists across the city, who are finding a kind of assurance in the 2,000-year-old holiday.

“Everything changes on Sunday,” said the evangelical podcaster Annie F. Downs, who lives down the street from the Covenant School, where an armed assailant shot and killed three children and three adults on March 27. “Our loss is not erased, but we all get this very visible reminder that hope is not lost.”

Nashville’s distinctly evangelical ecosystem means the shooting deaths of three 9-year-olds and three adults in a Christian school have had a reverberating effect through a large network of churches, Christian schools and celebrities in the city’s interlocking worlds of music, money and ministry.

That means Easter in Nashville is different than in many other places in the country. There are services at the Ryman Auditorium, at the Catholic Cathedral downtown and at hundreds of congregations large and small. It is a city where most people know where the governor and their senators go to services, and where the question, “Where do you go to church?” is a common icebreaker. More than half of the adults in the state of Tennessee identified as evangelical Protestants in a 2014 survey by the Pew Research Center, more than twice the share nationally.

It will be a moment for residents across the city to sit down, perhaps not in the same pews or with the same politics, but to contemplate the same story.

Covenant Presbyterian Church, which is attached to the school where the shooting took place, is planning its first Sunday service in its sanctuary since the shooting. Ms. Downs will host a sold-out benefit concert for the school next week whose headliners include Carrie Underwood, Thomas Rhett, and Sandra McCracken, a high-profile hymn-writer and singer who is married to the church’s director of music, Tim Nicholson. They’re calling it the “Night of Joy.”

Read the full article here.

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WSJ: Annie F. Downs Shares Stories of Her Life and Faith

Annie — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 18:37:59 +0000

By Emily Bobrow

March 31, 2023

The popular Christian author and podcaster aims to ‘entertain people until they learn something.’

Annie F. Downs cringes when she describes her younger self. “I was not great at being a teenager,” she says. “Some of my friends knew how to dress, they knew how to be cool, they knew what to say to boys, I just didn’t know any of that.” The term “late bloomer” didn’t feel apt at the time because she worried she would never bloom at all.

By her 20s, however, Ms. Downs felt not just older but wiser, and suspected her stories could help ease the growing pains of others. She scribbled her thoughts on weekends and printed them out for the teenage girls who came to her Bible study group on Monday nights in Marietta, Ga. “By the end of that first semester, one of them said, ‘Hey, will you print one more of these and staple it like a book so I can give it to my friend?’ And I said, ‘Oh, did I just write a book?” she recalls.

As a bestselling author and podcaster, Ms. Downs, 42, has earned a large and loyal following for her candor about her own struggles, personal and spiritual. She is the co-founder of the That Sounds Fun Network, which has an average of 2.9 million monthly listeners across its 17 podcasts. Her newest, “Let’s Read the Gospels,” leads listeners through the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

“I think we’re kinder toward ourselves and more open to relationships with other people and with God when we realize we’re not the only one experiencing this thing,” she explains over video from her home in Nashville, Tenn. “What I’ve tried to do is say, ‘Hey, have you been worried about this? Me too, last year! Here’s the breakup I couldn’t talk about at the time, here are the questions about God I didn’t have words for yet.” It can be comforting, she adds, “to know that other people feel what you feel.”

Ms. Downs observes that her relationship with God has grown more profound after a 2022 filled with too much grief: a baby nephew died, friends passed away, a romantic relationship imploded, and she seriously hurt her knee. “I wouldn’t god the way God gods, but I recognize that He loves in ways I don’t understand,” she says. “The older I get, I think life proves itself to be tragic and God proves himself to be faithful.”

Growing up Methodist in Marietta, Ms. Downs says going to church was “part of the weekly rhythms of my family.” She joined her church’s youth group and sang in its choir. She was five years old when she says she made “a decision to believe” that Jesus Christ died and rose again for her: “I jokingly say God didn’t want me as a teenager without Him.”

Ms. Downs used to ride around on her bike conducting imaginary interviews of herself and other people, sensing she would one day “have a public life.” Yet she didn’t envision a leadership role in her church. “In the South in the 1990s, I saw women lead at home and in corporate settings”—her mother worked as a corporate lawyer—“but I didn’t see it in spiritual spaces,” she says. “I didn’t understand how I was going to bring all of my strengths into the faith space that I loved.”

At the University of Georgia, Ms. Downs joined the campus ministry and studied to become an elementary school teacher, graduating in 2002. She also probed her faith: “I started to wonder, was this faith mine or my culture’s?” She is now grateful for this “dark season” of hard questions, as it ultimately reaffirmed her beliefs. “I have never felt there was a better answer than Jesus, it just doesn’t always look the way you think it’s going to,” she says.

Teaching fourth- and fifth-graders in public schools in Georgia was fulfilling for a time. “I kind of have one skill set: I can entertain people until they learn something,” Ms. Downs says. Five years in, however, she felt unsettled in her spirit. She was already writing in her spare time, for her Bible study teens, and she felt called to do more: “I feel alive when I’m doing it, from my feet to my head.” In 2008 she quit her job, sold her house, and moved to Nashville. “I knew I had stories to tell,” she says.

Within a year Ms. Downs turned her stories for teens into her first book, “From Head to Foot,” but she couldn’t interest a publisher: “My agent and I got 42 noes. I mean, there aren’t even that many publishing houses!” With help from her parents, she published it herself in 2010, and its Amazon sales were healthy enough to catch the attention of Zondervan, a Christian publisher that rereleased the book under the title “Perfectly Unique.” (Zondervan is a division of HarperCollins, which like The Wall Street Journal is owned by News Corp.) “Had God opened up all the doors He’s opened since without that massive rejection up front, I would be an absolute monster of pride,” she says. “All that rejection helped me understand that my identity and my job weren’t the same thing.”

Ms. Downs is now the author of 11 books about life and faith for adults, teens and children, including the bestselling “That Sounds Fun.” She has hosted her popular podcast of the same name since 2014, and she spends much of her time speaking at conferences and churches, including a 13-city “Here For You” tour this June. She says she felt empowered to lead, in her own way, after seeing other women do it first as Christian ministers and authors, including Beth Moore, Joyce Meyer, Kay Arthur and Priscilla Shirer: “They opened the door, and now I can run into this field and do what I’m called to do.”

Much of Ms. Downs’s appeal comes from her openness about the challenges of finding peace in an imperfect life. “You don’t end up 42 and unmarried without kids in the South as a Christian woman. That’s just abnormal,” she says. “When your life doesn’t produce the blessings that you thought everyone got, you really get to decide what is true about God.” Her 2018 book “Remember God” chronicles her search for spiritual answers during a difficult period in her life. The book’s lack of a Hallmark ending may be why it has proved so popular: “We still get letters almost every week from people who’ve read it and want to tell me their story.”

It troubles Ms. Downs that religion has become so politicized. “It’s tragic that a faith that is meant to make people feel welcome and loved has not done that,” she says. “What Jesus models for us is you can love anybody, you can be friends with anybody, you can serve anybody,” she adds. “Heaven’s going to be a confusing place for some people when they see people who didn’t agree with them.”

Life, says Ms. Downs, demands humility. She admits it is still too easy to judge herself as somehow lacking, but she is getting better at appreciating how everyone is worthy of love: “The longer I study scripture, the more I learn to love and grow.”

Read the full article here.

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New York Times Best-Selling Author and Podcast Host Annie F. Downs Partners with Author, Podcaster, and Hope Dealer Carlos Whittaker to Co-Headline “Here For You Tour” This Summer

Annie — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 17:39:32 +0000

NASHVILLE, TN – January 13, 2022 – New York Times best-selling author and podcast host Annie F. Downs is partnering with author, podcaster, and hope dealer Carlos Whittaker for the “Here For You Tour” this summer. Their first ever co-headlining tour, the one-of-a-kind event will make twelve stops across the nation with Downs and Whittaker sharing their unique commentaries on today’s culture, showcasing an individual in each local community, and inviting everyone to engage on a deeply human level.

“It’s high time we get that tour bus rolling and come and see you guys,” shared Downs about the tour. “So, we’re taking June 2023 to bus around and hang out with y’all, and it is like nothing I’ve ever done before! Carlos and I are coming to a bunch of cities in June because we like being where you are. That’s why we named it the “Here For You Tour” – you guys show up for us, show up for each other, and we get to show up, too. Each night will be incredible and unique and it’s not a podcast tour, so none of it will be recorded or shared. Just lived! We can’t wait to see you!”

“As I’ve watched my social following grow, I couldn’t be more excited about taking the good we do off of the screen and into real life,” Whittaker says. “And there is no one I trust more to partner with on my first official tour than Annie! Annie and I have been side by side for over a decade and she brings the exact message I want the people I invite to hear. Annie and I will team up every night for a few hours that I promise will make people feel seen and then feel free.”

To get more info and first access to tickets, go to hereforyoutour.com.

“Here For You Tour” Dates:

Annie F. Downs is a New York Times bestselling author, sought-after speaker, and successful podcast host based in Nashville, Tennessee. Engaging and honest, she makes readers and listeners alike feel as if they’ve been long-time friends. Founder of the That Sounds Fun Podcast Network—which includes her aptly named flagship show, “That Sounds Fun” — and author of multiple bestselling books like 100 Days to Brave, Remember God, and That Sounds Fun. Annie shoots straight and doesn’t shy away from the tough topics. But she always finds her way back to the truth that God is good and that life is a gift. Annie is a huge fan of laughing with friends, confetti, soccer, and boiled peanuts (preferably from a back-roads Georgia gas station). Read more at anniefdowns.com and find her (embarrassingly easily) all over the internet at @anniefdowns.

Carlos Whittaker is a storyteller, speaker, and author of Moment Maker, Kill the Spider, and Enter Wild, who is bringing hope to humans all over the world. His latest book, How To Human, releases on January 24, 2023. He frequently speaks at some of the nation’s largest churches, corporations, and culture-shaping conferences with a superpower in creating spaces—online and in-person—where people feel safe to engage in genuine dialogue and be themselves. Carlos is a People’s Choice Award winner and host of the popular Human Hope podcast. He lives in Nashville with his wife, Heather, and their three children. Follow along with Carlos on the internet @loswhit.

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New York Times Best-Selling Author & Podcaster Annie F. Downs Launches Brand New Podcast

Annie — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 18:05:29 +0000

LET’S READ THE GOSPELS with ANNIE F. DOWNS launched January 1st, will explore all four Gospels daily with various translations

NASHVILLE, TN… January 4, 2023 – New York Times best-selling author and podcaster Annie F. Downs has launched a brand new podcast, LET’S READ THE GOSPELS with ANNIE F. DOWNS. On January 1st, Downs began a daily exploration of all four Gospels, guiding listeners through a monthly reading of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Religion News Service covered new Bible podcasts prior to the launch, with Downs commenting on how while her inspiration came out of the confusion of 2020, the Bible was grounding in the midst of it all, sharing, “the Bible never changed… and these stories never changed… And Jesus’ response never changed.”

The 18th podcast to join Downs’ That Sounds Fun Podcast Network (TSFN), LET’S READ THE GOSPELS with ANNIE F. DOWNS will cover three chapters from a Gospel each day and often read from different translations, as well as in a different chronological order than they appear in the Bible. With each of these books telling the stories of Jesus’ life and ministry, the podcast will give listeners a chance to get to know Him in new ways. Downs will also offer a downloadable reading plan and guidebook at AnnieFDowns.com.

“Starting this podcast was the next right thing after spending a few years in this spiritual practice of reading the Gospels each month,” says Downs. “Getting to read it out loud now, for the next twelve months, will hopefully be an invitation and a bridge and an opportunity for God to move in our lives. You don’t have to spend every day in the Gospels to be changed, but every day you spend in the Gospels will change you.”

To subscribe, visit https://www.anniefdowns.com/letsreadthegospels/

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Annie F. Downs to Launch First-Ever Advent Series on November 27 on Her “That Sounds Fun” Podcast

Annie — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:41:28 +0000

Four week, daily series includes guidebook, videos, spotify playlist, graphics, specialized miniBFF episodes, and much more

NASHVILLE, TN…. November 21, 2022 – New York Times best-selling author and podcaster Annie F. Downs will launch her first-ever Advent Series on her “That Sounds Fun Podcast” on November 27th.

Sponsored by the CSB Bible, every Monday through Friday during the four weeks of Advent, Downs will lead listeners through a daily devotional leading up to Christmas Day, as well as introductory Advent conversations with Tsh Oxenreider and Father Mike Schmitz, concluding with a Christmas Eve reading featuring Mrs. & Mr. Downs. To enhance the experience, there is also a subscription on Annie’s website which includes a downloadable guidebook featuring 28 days of questions, prompts and prayers to use alongside the podcast, video for each day of the podcast, ad-free versions of the audio, specialized miniBFF episodes, downloadable resources, and so much more. Available for $30, all details and the official sign-up page can be found at anniefdowns.com/advent.

“I cannot wait to observe and celebrate this season with you,” Downs said on her Instagram account recently. “It’s gonna be so rich and full and knowing that God is preparing us for what the next year holds. We need these gifts, y’all. We need hope, peace, joy, and love. And there’s something about us doing this together – makes it even better.”

Desiring for listeners to really immerse themselves in the experience, Downs has also created an Advent Series Website with several ways to do so, including:

– your very own Advent candle set to light each Sunday of Advent

– a ‘Yes And’ Journal
– an Advent ornament
– Advent page flags that can be used to mark in your Guidebook, journal, or wherever you’d like!

Father Mike Schmidt and Tsh Oxenreider will be featured guests on “That Sounds Fun” podcast leading up to the series launch to share about the meaning of and prepare listeners for Advent. All regular podcast episodes of “That Sounds Fun” will continue to be free of charge to listeners.

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#TSFAdventSeries

Annie F. Downs is a New York Times bestselling author, sought-after speaker, and successful podcast host based in Nashville, Tennessee. Engaging and honest, she makes readers and listeners alike feel as if they’ve been long-time friends. Founder of the That Sounds Fun Network—which includes her aptly named flagship show,”That Sounds Fun”—and author of multiple bestselling books like 100 Days to Brave, Remember God, and That Sounds Fun. Annie shoots straight and doesn’t shy away from the tough topics. But she always finds her way back to the truth that God is good and that life is a gift. Annie is a huge fan of laughing with friends, confetti, soccer, and boiled peanuts (preferably from a back-roads Georgia gas station). Read more at anniefdowns.com and find her (embarrassingly easily) all over the internet at @anniefdowns.

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Chase The Fun is Out Now!

Annie — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 21:11:58 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR

ANNIE F. DOWNS “FUN COACHES” FANS UPON RELEASE OF

Chase The Fun: 100 Days to Discover Fun Right Where You Are

Downs Appears on the TODAY SHOW’S Wellness Today with Sheinelle Jones

NASHVILLE, TN – New York Times best-selling author and podcaster Annie F. Downs spent yesterday “fun coaching” fans just before today’s release of her latest endeavor, Chase The Fun: 100 Days to Discover Fun Right Where You Are, which is available here.

Fans that preordered the book were given the chance to submit a fun coaching question to Downs, from which she chose five to interview during her That Sounds Fun podcast where they asked their question directly to Annie and received fun coaching in return.

This Thursday, August 4, take a listen to Downs help them sort through some of the things that may be holding them back from finding the fun that’s all around them.

Ahead of the release, Downs appeared in two segments on The Today Show streaming channel, TODAY All Day show Wellness Today, where she helped host Sheinelle Jones explore the health benefits of having fun, including fun activities to do with friends, family, etc.

Take a look at the episodes here and here.

Over the past two and a half years Downs has helped readers understand fun matters (That Sounds Fun), helped children and parents see that fun is everywhere, (What Sounds Fun to You?), and now she invites everyone to experience 100 delightful days of discovering fun right where they are. With her insightful writing and provocative questions, she helps readers identify what they find fun and then go after it like it matters, because it does.

“As adults, it often seems like fun is something we had when we were kids, and we just don’t have time for it now – am I right?,” she asks. “Most of us barely have time for all the stuff we have to do, let alone the stuff we want to do. We can go days without actually having any fun at all, and that’s no way to live!”

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Media Collective Contact:

Velvet Kelm
the media collective
velvet@themcollective.com
www.themcollective.com

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2022 Books for Dads

Annie — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 19:48:20 +0000

Oh friends, I don’t know about you, but I love gifting books to my dad, my friends who are dads, and the “fathering voices” in my life for Father’s Day. And BOY have there been a lot of great books put out into the world lately! Here are a few of my favorite reads that I think the dads in our lives might enjoy.

Life of Fire by Pat Martin –
For the master griller dad, or really, just the dad that likes to eat! Brought to you by Nashville’s own – Pat Martin of Martin’s Barbecue, reveals all he knows about the art of barbecue and live fire cooking. Through beautiful photography and detailed instruction, the lessons start with how to prepare and feed a fire—what wood to use, how to build a pit or a grill, how to position it to account for the weather—then move into cooking through all the stages of that fire’s life.

Life of Fire: Mastering the Arts of Pit-Cooked Barbecue, the Grill, and the Smokehouse: A Cookbook truly is a “cookbook” like no other I’ve ever seen. I bet your dad will be just as fascinated as I was with everything Pat teaches us about fire.

Mission Possible by Tim Tebow –
Tim believes that the secret to a truly meaningful life is not more comfort or ease, but recognizing the clear, unique mission that God has set before you. Having a focused sense of your personal, God-given significance will bring you a lasting sense of purpose.

Let this book ignite a new spark in the life of a dad you love. Wherever he is, whatever his work, this book will be a purpose-builder for the dad in your life.

The Secret Society of Success by Tim Schurrer –

There’s a message getting a lot of airtime these days. It says to be successful, you have to step into the spotlight, climb the ladder, become the boss, or chase whatever version of success that’s been dangled in front of you. But what if there’s another way? What if fame, money, and power aren’t all that we should be chasing?

In The Secret Society of Success: Stop Chasing the Spotlight and Learn to Enjoy Your Work (and Life) Again, Tim invites us to reevaluate our definition of success and learn a new, freer way to go about achieving it. If there’s a leader dad in your life, this is a great read for him!

How to Heal Our Racial Divide by Derwin Gray –
In this book, Derwin walks us through Scripture, showing us the heart of God. How God, from the beginning, envisioned a reconciled multiethnic family in loving community, reflecting his beauty and healing presence in the world. This message is central to the gospel itself.

I loved this book so much that I wrote the foreward to it! It truly was such an eye-opening scriptural journey that I know your dad will love!

Glad You’re Here
by Walker Hayes and Craig Cooper –

When Craig Cooper and Walker Hayes met, Walker was an alcoholic atheist reeling from the backlash of a failed music career. Through their unlikely friendship, Craig’s life demonstrated the love of Christ in a way that shattered Walker’s misconceptions of Christianity, ultimately leading him down the path to a dramatic conversion.

Glad You’re Here: Two Unlikely Friends Breaking Bread and Fences helps us discover how building relationships, sacrificing for the good of others, and drawing near in times of need can lead to powerful transformation. If your dad loves a good story, this one’s for him!

At the Table with Jesus by Louie Giglio –

Through practical daily devotions, At the Table with Jesus invites us to sit at the table with the Good Shepherd, building a habit of living life with him. The sixty-six day journey starts in Psalm 23 but takes us throughout all of Scripture to build a stronger relationship with the God of the universe.

The Life We’re Looking For by Andy Crouch –
There is a way out of our impersonal world, into a world where knowing and being known are the heartbeat of our days, our households, and our economies. Where our vulnerabilities are seen not as something to be escaped but as the key to our becoming who we were made to be together. Where technology serves us rather than masters us—and helps us become more human, not less.

In The Life We’re Looking For, Andy shows how we have been seduced by a false vision of human flourishing—and how each of us can fight back by restoring true community and putting people first in a world dominated by money, power, and devices. For that thinker dad who you love, I guarantee he’ll be challeneged and inspired by Andy’s brilliant encouragement in this book!

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