#178: Can We Bring the Life Back? What We Discovered At A Farm Conference

We went to a conference about farming and found a conference about life.

Doug and Janet don’t even own a yard, so why would a family formation couple drive to the Etta Hills regenerative agriculture conference? It began with hearing Dr. Ben Edwards interview rancher Allen Williams on the You’re The Cure podcast, and with the terrain language they already carried from the Story Maps and Dr. Ben’s invitation to “steward the terrain, trust the design.” They found a room full of farmers, scientists, and physicians asking what kind of ground lets life flourish, while most of us in family and church work were taught to manage symptoms and outcomes instead.

In this episode, Doug and Janet share what they saw at the farm, and the new growth they’re noticing since coming home, all gathered around one question borrowed from researcher Stephan van Vliet: Can we bring the biology back? Or, as it keeps showing up in their work: Can we bring the life back?

In this conversation

• What we mean by “relational terrain,” and how regenerative agriculture helps us see regenerative family formation

• Why life begins within the soil, and within the adults who love children

• The overgrazed field: what looks like bare dirt can hold latent life, and so can people

• Why fear, shame, and manipulation are like seed oils, useful if the goal is to stay shelf-stable, but no living thing is shelf-stable

• Moving from a story organized around good and bad to a story organized around life

• Why recognizing the Source of life matters, and how it frees us to keep tending without carrying the weight of being the origin

• The Relational Terrain Initiative: asking whether the structures themselves are aligned with flourishing, so the answer belongs to the people who will live it

• A look back at Janet’s S.B. 155 story, and what’s ahead for Story Navigator cohorts in 2027

Regenerative family formation: Living and loving in step with the way life was designed. We Receive the life given to us, Release what was never ours to carry, Realign with what is true, and Regenerate relational terrain, beginning with the life within the adults who love children and expanding to life shared between parents and children, within families, and throughout communities.

Mentioned in this episode

• Dr. Ben Edwards, Veritas Wellness, and the You’re The Cure podcast 

• Allen Williams and regenerative agriculture 

• Stephan van Vliet, coming soon as a Love Is Fearless guest

• The Story Maps 

• The Story Expedition

Join the Can We Bring the Life Back? campaign

The Board of John 15 Academy has adopted this question as the theme of our end-of-year campaign. Your support makes Relational Terrain Initiatives possible with schools, churches, and communities, including resources like the Story Maps, walking alongside families, and the 2027 Story Navigator cohorts. If this question stirs something in you, pray with us, share this episode with a parent, teacher, or pastor who is tired in ways rest hasn’t fixed, and consider giving or becoming a monthly partner.

👉 Give to the EOY campaign / become a monthly donor: PARTNER
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Until next time, keep paying attention. The world God made may be more beautiful, more trustworthy, and more alive than you’ve imagined.

Let’s go see.