Connected Families Podcast

What happens when a parenting resource changes your family so deeply that you want every parent you know to experience it too? In this episode, guest host Chad Hayenga sits down with Joe Dewey, the new president of Connected Families, and Laura Way, manager of The Table, for a hope-filled look at what’s ahead.

Joe shares why he said yes to leading the ministry and offers a first glimpse of the new resources taking shape, including support for passing faith to the next generation, content for dads, and guidance for the questions today’s parents are facing. Laura shares the heart behind The Table, a growing community of families who have experienced transformation through this work and know they are blessed to be a blessing.

Whether you’re a longtime listener or just discovering Connected Families, this conversation invites you to see where the ministry is headed and how your family’s story might become part of another family’s transformation.

Key Takeaways:

Discover where Connected Families is headed next

Get a first look at upcoming parenting resources

Learn how monthly partners help transform families

Find ways your family’s story can bless others

Mentioned in this Podcast: 

The Table Monthly Giving Program

cf community

The Connected Families FrameworkTM

Certified Parent Coaching Program

Connected Families Partnership Program

Connected Families Research Initiative – Biblically Grounded and Research-Informed: What That Actually Means

Ep. 323 – Christian Parenting, Small Wins, and Hope for What’s Next

Check out our website for more resources to support your parenting!

Guest Bio:

Joe Dewey is the new President of Connected Families and a Connected Families Certified Parent Coach. He has a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering and has served in full-time ministry with Cru in Leader Development and Human Resources since 2010. He has been a certified life coach since 2017. These experiences, and more, have molded him into a leader who leads with solutions. Whether in ministry or parenting, he finds clarity amid complexity, providing win-win solutions.  

Laura Way felt like she was drowning as a young mom overseas. She thinks that God provided Connected Families for her when she needed it most. She’s thrilled to be on the team, offering hope & help to others! Laura and her husband live in Florida with their two elementary-aged daughters. In her free time, Laura loves to read in her hammock or have coffee with friends. 

Want to keep this conversation going?

Join us inside the cf community — a faith-anchored, coach-supported space where parents grow together. Reflect on episodes like this one, ask hard questions, and celebrate the small wins alongside parents from around the world.

👉 Join the cf community today

Love the podcast? Leave a review to help other parents find shows like this one.

This podcast was made possible by members of The Table, whose monthly support creates a ripple effect of change for generations to come. We’d love to have you take a seat at The Table!

© 2026 Connected Families

What does it look like when a family’s whole trajectory begins to change? For the Dewey family, it hasn’t looked like perfection. It has looked like grace, growth, and small wins worth celebrating. Joe and his wife, Courtney, have spent years practicing the Connected Families Framework™ in their busy, homeschooling, “beautifully messy” home. Now Joe is stepping in as the new president of Connected Families. In this episode, host Stacy Bellward joins Joe and founders Jim and Lynne Jackson for a personal conversation about Christian parenting, ministry, everyday faith, and the hope that how we love our kids today can shape our families for generations. 

Key Takeaways:

Find hope in small wins by hearing how one busy family celebrates everyday moments of growth 

Discover what it looks like to pass on a legacy with trust, humility, and grace, a model you can carry into your own family

Meet Joe Dewey and his family

Discover Joe’s vision for reaching more families with the Connected Families Framework and learn how to be part of what’s next

Mentioned in this Podcast: 

The Table Monthly Giving Program

The Celebration Highlight Video

YouTube – Jim and Lynne Jackson: 24 Years of Christ-Centered Parenting Ministry

YouTube – Screens On, Dishes Undone: A Grace-Based Parenting Role Play

Hebrews 13:7

Ephesians 3:20

2 Corinthians 5:14 

Ep. 320 – Jim and Lynne Jackson: 24 Years of Christ-Centered Parenting Ministry

Ep. 321 – Screens On, Dishes Undone: A Grace-Based Parenting Role Play

Ep. 322 – Parenting Stress: New Research on What Actually Lowers It

Discipline That Connects With Your Child’s Heart online course

Connected Families Certified Parent Coaching

Connected Families Partnership Program 

Check out our website for more resources to support your parenting!

Guest Bio:

Jim and Lynne Jackson are the Founders Emeritus of Connected Families in Plymouth, MN. With over 50 combined years of professionally helping families and a love for working in the church, Jim and Lynne have brought reliable, God-centered, research-based parenting resources to families since 2002. 

Joe Dewey is the new President of Connected Families and a Connected Families Certified Parent Coach. He has a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering and has served in full-time ministry with Cru in Leader Development and Human Resources since 2010. He has been a certified life coach since 2017. These experiences, and more, have molded him into a leader who leads with solutions. Whether in ministry or parenting, he finds clarity amid complexity, providing win-win solutions. 

Want to keep this conversation going?

Join us inside the cf community — a faith-anchored, coach-supported space where parents grow together. Reflect on episodes like this one, ask hard questions, and celebrate the small wins alongside parents from around the world.

👉 Join the cf community today

Love the podcast? Leave a review to help other parents find shows like this one.

This podcast was made possible by members of The Table, whose monthly support creates a ripple effect of change for generations to come. We’d love to have you take a seat at The Table!

© 2026 Connected Families

For more than twenty years, Connected Families has heard countless stories: parenting stress decreased, the angry household that got gentler, the relationship that came back to life. Beautiful stories, all of them. But a problem remained: stories aren’t data.

In this episode, Stacy Bellward welcomes back Dr. Cindy Wilson, Connected Families Director of Education, Equipping and Research, to share results from the ministry’s first official research study on the Connected Families Framework™ and the Discipline That Connects With Your Child’s Heart online course. Partnering with an independent research team at Florida State University, Cindy’s team asked 50 parents questions to uncover what actually changed in their homes.

If you’re in a hard parenting season and wondering whether the inward-first work is worth it, this conversation offers both encouragement and evidence.

Key Takeaways:

Discover what 50 parents reported changed in their homes after completing the Discipline That Connects With Your Child’s Heart online course 

Learn the real difference between “research-informed” and “evidence-based” and why that distinction opens doors for Connected Families to reach more families 

Why parents’ inward-first growth is the starting point for generational transformation 

Mentioned in this Podcast: 

Proverbs 15:1

Discipline That Connects With Your Child’s Heart online course

Book – Discipline That Connects With Your Child’s Heart

The Connected Families Framework

cf community

Certified Parent Coaching 

Check out our website for more resources to support your parenting!

Guest Bio:

Cindy Wilson is a CF-Certified Parent Coach and a Certified Family Life Educator with 20+ years in children & family ministry and academia. As Director of Education, Equipping, and Research for CF, she helps churches, schools, and other organizations use CF resources to equip and support families in their community. She is also helping collect data to show the impact of CF resources on parents and families. Cindy lives in Florida with her husband of over 30 years. She has three adult children, one son-in-law, four grandchildren, and a farm full of animals. 

Want to keep this conversation going?

Join us inside the cf community — a faith-anchored, coach-supported space where parents grow together. Reflect on episodes like this one, ask hard questions, and celebrate the small wins alongside parents from around the world.

👉 Join the cf community today

Love the podcast? Leave a review to help other parents find shows like this one.

This podcast was made possible by members of The Table, whose monthly support creates a ripple effect of change for generations to come. We’d love to have you take a seat at The Table!

© 2026 Connected Families







Not sure where to start?



Many parents begin with Discipline That Connects With Your Child’s Heart, a course that introduces the Connected Families Framework and the foundation for everything that follows.





Explore this course

In part two of our conversation, Jim and Lynne Jackson sit down with Stacy Bellward and Chad Hayenga to name what they hope remains true about the grace-based parenting ministry, Connected Families, for decades to come.

Along the way, listen as they unpack why grace impacts a child’s heart, walk through a live role-play of a screens-and-chores moment most of us know too well, and show what it looks like to invite restoration. You don’t want to miss it!

Key Takeaways:

You’ll discover why grace changes a child’s heart 

Gain practical shifts toward restorative consequences, rooted in the gospel pattern of making right what was made wrong

You’ll walk away with one reframed question that changes everyday interactions

Mentioned in this Podcast: 

Luke 15:1 

1 Thessalonians 2:8 

Ephesians 1:3 

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 

Ephesians 3:20 

Galatians 5:16-25 

Ep. 320 – Jim and Lynne Jackson: 24 Years of Christ-Centered Parenting Ministry

4 Messages of the Connected Families Framework (Included in the Free Learning Library)

YouTube – Old People Acting Like Kids

Connected Families Blog

Grace and Truth for Moms online course

Sibling Conflict online course

Ebook – Transform Bedtime Struggles

Sensitive and Intense Kids online course

cf community 

The Table Monthly Giving Program

Check out our website for more resources to support your parenting!

Guest Bio:

Jim and Lynne Jackson are the Co-Founders of Connected Families in Plymouth, MN. With over 50 combined years of professionally helping families and a love for working in the church, Jim and Lynne have brought reliable, God-centered, research-based parenting resources to families since 2002. 

Want to keep this conversation going?

Join us inside the cf community — a faith-anchored, coach-supported space where parents grow together. Reflect on episodes like this one, ask hard questions, and celebrate the small wins alongside parents from around the world.

👉 Join the cf community today

Love the podcast? Leave a review to help other parents find shows like this one.

This podcast was made possible by members of The Table, whose monthly support creates a ripple effect of change for generations to come. We’d love to have you take a seat at The Table!

© 2026 Connected Families







Not sure where to start?



Many parents begin with Discipline That Connects With Your Child’s Heart, a course that introduces the Connected Families Framework and the foundation for everything that follows.





Explore this course

Join us at our Celebration honoring Jim and Lynne Jackson at 7 pm (CST) on Thursday, September 24th, 2026. We’d love to have you with us!

An occupational therapist and a youth worker walked into a basement with a few ideas about parenting and three kids willing to run the camera. Twenty-four years later, the Connected Families Framework™ has reached homes in 22 countries.

In this first episode of a two-part series, Stacy Bellward sits down with co-founders Jim and Lynne Jackson, along with Director of Development Chad Hayenga, to mark a significant season for Connected Families. After more than two years of prayerful succession planning, Jim and Lynne are stepping back from day-to-day responsibilities and moving into the role of founders emeritus. It is a handing off to the next generation, done with care.

They speak candidly about what it takes to release something you have poured your life into, share an honest update on Lynne’s health journey, and trace how a message born in a Minnesota basement started translating across cultures no one expected. You’ll also hear the essence of the Framework, in their own words.

Key Takeaways:

Discover why parenting change starts in your heart, not in a new technique.

Find relief if you’re tired of parenting advice that only adds to your to-do list.

Learn the one simple idea to hold onto when you can’t remember the whole Framework.

Take hope that God can use ordinary, unqualified people right where you are.

Mentioned in this Podcast: 

Matthew 23:26 

Ephesians 1 

1 Thessalonians 2:8 

2 Corinthians 5:14 

1 Corinthians 1:27 

Discipline That Connects With Your Child’s Heart online course 

Parent Coaching Certification Program 

Entitlement Fix online course 

cf community 

The Table Monthly Giving Program

Lynne’s CaringBridge page 

Check out our website for more resources to support your parenting!

Guest Bio:

Jim and Lynne Jackson are the Co-Founders of Connected Families in Plymouth, MN. With over 50 combined years of professionally helping families and a love for working in the church, Jim and Lynne have brought reliable, God-centered, research-based parenting resources to families since 2002. 

Want to keep this conversation going?

Join us inside the cf community — a faith-anchored, coach-supported space where parents grow together. Reflect on episodes like this one, ask hard questions, and celebrate the small wins alongside parents from around the world.

👉 Join the cf community today

Love the podcast? Leave a review to help other parents find shows like this one.

This podcast was made possible by members of The Table, whose monthly support creates a ripple effect of change for generations to come. We’d love to have you take a seat at The Table!

© 2026 Connected Families