John Townsend

And I got into a small group with an author named Henry Cloud.

He and John Townsend wrote a book called Boundaries.

Have you ever heard of Boundaries? It's a very interesting book.

And anyway, he had this experience for leaders.

Or like Henry Cloud and Boundaries.

I was on a flight and we sat next to each other and he co-wrote Boundaries with John Townsend.

And I said...

They've sold, I think, 10 million copies of that book or something absurd.

I'm like, I just need to throw a religious trauma warning in here.

We're talking about the book Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Hairdye Townsend.

Why

are we talking about this? Is this a books from the bad place redo or what's happening? I was going to say,

There are parts I loved about that book.

So,

Right, kind of following from the Prodigal Summer series, because we talked quite a bit about what John Townsend had to say about parents and their adult estranged children.

Yeah, so that's what this conversation is going to be couched in, is the current work Townsend is doing is with Focus on the Family and Estrangement, giving horrible advice.

And that's the agony of leadership.

And one of the reasons why John Townsend and I wrote this book was for those, and there are leaders of organizations, large and small, new and well-established.

And sometimes when they step into that pinnacle role at the apex of the organization, they experience some dimensions they just didn't see coming.

And this book is to help them understand, like with eyes wide open, like you're not alone in experiencing this.

So burdens are the most effective growth points of any leader.

And I believe this hands down.

And that's why John Townsend and I wanted to write this book to help you learn as a leader to to embrace them and not let them buckle your knees, but actually embolden your own courage and your strength as a leader.

So the way the book is formatted briefly is I describe these 14 burdens.

Boundaries is a big topic in the world of therapy.

If you've heard the word boundaries, most people have heard of the book Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend.

With OCD in particular, I would tell the supportive partner, remember that your boundaries are not forms of punishment.

We don't want your spouse to feel like you're punishing them, but they're loving limitations to protect you both.

really good boundaries, and there are more.

But let's go ahead and pause right now on this part of the conversation and transition to a discussion that Focus on the Family President Jim Daly had with Dr. John Townsend, who is really one of the preeminent speakers about boundaries.

And he wrote a book called Boundaries in Marriage.

Why are boundaries important? It sounds almost antithetical to marriage, like we become one and, you know, boundaries are not appropriate for people becoming one.

Something's not working.

And then that's when they need help.

All right, Erin, let's dive in just a little bit deeper on what was being shared there by Dr. John Townsend.

A boundary is intended for safety and well-being, but it's not necessarily supposed to be a tool for control.

And so one of the first books that I read, even before I went out to Mexico, but it was right before COVID.

was called Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend.

And I knew I specifically wanted to read that book because I'm very into mindset and I'm into faith.

And these are two Christian psychologists.

Boundaries are actually about closeness.

I'm going way off onto a tangent to say that when Kim and I realized that what we were trying to do with Boundaries For Your Soul really was about boundaries, we immediately thought of the groundbreaking, trailblazing book that has helped so many of us understand this idea of boundaries by Dr. John Townsend and Dr. Henry Cloud.

And in that moment of realization, I remember where we were in that moment when we realized this was really boundaries work.

We were essentially taking Cloud and Townsend's boundaries work and applying it to our inner lives, to our souls, to the parts of ourselves.

We just knew that that was the direction that Boundaries For Your Soul needed to go, and that connection immediately made us feel like we wanted to get the blessing of Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend.

We wanted to let them know, A, you know, how much their work had influenced us, and B, could we have their blessing to use boundaries in the title for Boundaries For Your Soul.

Long story short, they so generously and so graciously gave us their blessing to use boundaries in the title of Boundaries For Your Soul.

Dr. John Townsend ended up also endorsing it.