In this episode, Sara Hagerty explores why and how so many of us make productivity the measure of our lives. She shares what it has looked like for her to shift subtly to focus on growing down first…ultimately finding that this may be the only path to producing fruit that will last.

In this episode, we'll explore:

  • How attentiveness to things beyond this world ultimately grows us more attentive to the people and situations in it.
  • Finding identity and value beyond our productivity – especially as children of a loving Father.
  • Specific daily habits that help to slow us down and connect to God amidst the hubbub of life.
  • Why growing down first – cultivating our roots in Christ ahead of a focus on productivity – ultimately is most productive.

Key Quotes

“…There is brokenness on the earth that I want to be a part of, yet I physically know that if I keep doing this without tending to my inner life in God, I’m going to drown”

Sara Hagerty

“I treated [God] as a coach and a leader, not a gentle father.”

Sara Hagerty

“Jesus speaks a lot about fruitfulness, and God clearly intends that for us. And yet, prior to and underneath and far beyond mere productivity is that call to be connected to a good Father. If we race past that toward fruitfulness first, we are missing something profound.”

Jedd Medefind

“Some of the best, long-lasting things take a long time to get there.”

Sara Hagerty

“I started to enjoy unpacking the word of God in my heart, not for a bible study, not for something I would teach, not for a lesson that would help me to validate what I’m already doing for God.”

Sara Hagerty

“The less productive I have become, the more I have invested time in pursuing His heart…‘wasting time with God’ … I have found my life becoming more impactful.”

Sara Hagerty

Resources and Guests

Author, Speaker

Sara Hagerty is a lover of God, a wife to Nate, and a mother of six – four adopted from Africa and two through miracle pregnancies. She’s also a bestselling author and speaker. As a lifelong lover of words, Sara has experienced their power to revive. Words prayed during the long years it took to bring her six children into her fold. Raw words written in tearful honesty and shared with her readers. Words spoken in hidden places as whispers and worship to God. Today Sara’s words offer God’s hope to millions of readers facing unwanted circumstances in life.

In Sara’s first book, Every Bitter Thing Is Sweet (2014), she chronicles how her life expectations did not become reality – how the bitterness of loss and infertility was no match for God’s nearness to her in her pain. Sara’s second book, Unseen: The Gift of Being Hidden in a World that Loves to be Noticed (2017), explores the tension of our craving to be noticed as we live within the middle minutes, the unwitnessed parts of life, and how we can find God’s gently-searching eyes on us there. Sara writes and speaks on many topics, including adoration, the beauty of hiddenness, marriage, and adoption.

Sara and her family live in Kansas City where she loves long runs on back country roads, reading through her overly ambitious book stack, and an early morning mug of chai tea.

Jedd Medefind loves journeying life with his wife, Rachel.  He relishes wrestling matches with his five children—Siena, Marin, Eden, Lincoln, and Phoebe.  Most of all, he desires to reflect the heart of Jesus Christ in all of life.

Jedd has seen (and experienced!) that lives are turned upside-down when Christians begin to reflect God’s heart through adoption, foster care and service to orphans worldwide.  This kind of love transforms not only vulnerable children, but also those who open hearts and homes to them.  Churches begin to look different, too, as the entire community pulls together for children who’ve known great hurt.  Finally, the change touches even onlookers, who encounter the Gospel not only in words, but made visible before their eyes.

Desiring to spur this kind of transformation through the Church, Jedd serves as President of the Christian Alliance for Orphans.

Through CAFO, more than 225 respected organizations unite in shared initiatives, along with a wide network of churches.  CAFO’s membership works in tandem to inspire and equip families, churches and organizations for effective service to vulnerable children and families — from adoption and US foster care, to aid and empowerment programs worldwide.

Prior to his this role, Jedd served in the White House as a Special Assistant to President George W. Bush, leading the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.   In this post, he oversaw reform efforts across the government to make community- and faith-based groups central partners in all Federal efforts to aid the needy, from prisoner reentry to global AIDS.  As described by the Harvard Political Review, these reforms “fundamentally changed the government’s strategy for improving the lives of the downtrodden…”

Previously, Jedd held a range of posts in the California State Legislature.  He also helped establish the California Community Renewal Project, which strengthens nonprofits in some of the state’s most challenged communities.  He has worked, studied and served in more than thirty countries, with organizations ranging from Price-Waterhouse in Moscow to Christian Life Bangladesh.

Books written by Jedd include Upended and Four Souls.  He also writes articles and op-eds for publications ranging from the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post to Comment Magazine, and engages radio interviews with both faith-based and mainstream outlets, from NPR and Al Jazeera to Moody Radio.  Jedd’s most recent book, Becoming Home, offers a brief-yet-rich exploration of how families and communities can embrace vulnerable children with wisdom and love through adoption, foster care, mentoring and more.

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