Jeannie Marie gets personal about her physical health journey — what woke her up, why it matters specifically for global goers, and the practical changes she's making now. From walking and strength training to learning to see food as medicine, this is a candid, encouraging conversation about taking care of the body God gave you for the long haul.

Resources Mentioned:

• Book: Across the Street and Around the World
• Free Video Training : 3 Secrets to Share Jesus naturally with your Neighbors and Nations

Key Takeaways:

• Physical health is a spiritual discipline — our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit
• Global goers push their bodies in unique ways; physical reserves matter for the mission
• 30-40 minutes of daily movement transforms mood, clarity, and energy
• Strength training matters — especially post-50, muscle loss is real and preventable
• Learn what foods fuel YOUR body — food journal, Whole30, or work with a nutritionist
• Aim for: 30 min movement daily, 9 servings of fruit/veg, 100g protein, 90 oz water
• Living overseas can make you healthier — cooking from scratch beats processed food
• No shame, no guilt — just honest conversations with God and yourself

This Week's Challenge: Keep a food and exercise diary for 7 days. Then ask: what do I have to do to make it to 92? Pick one change. Get a coach, group, or app if you need accountability.

If you grew up overseas — or you're raising kids who are — this episode is for you.

Jeannie Marie is a classic TCK who grew up in the Philippines and moved to the US at 18. In this first episode of a planned TCK series, she talks about:

• what we all have in common,
• what shapes us,
• what we struggle with,
• and what an incredible gift this life really is.

IN THIS EPISODE

• What a third culture kid actually is — and why MK is no longer quite the right term
• The invisible "third culture" and the traits we all share
• Why TCKs make fast, deep friendships — and why goodbyes feel like death
• The question we all dread: "Where are you from?"
• Why coming back to your passport country can feel like culture shock
• What parents of TCKs can do to raise healthy, grounded kids
• Why TCKs often make incredible global goers as adults — and why mobilizers should be paying attention

BOOK MENTIONED

Third Culture Kid by David Pollock

COMING UP IN THIS TCK SERIES

• How to prepare your kids to go overseas
• Moving overseas with a teenager
• Special needs TCKs — should you go?
• Reentry: what coming home really looks like

RESOURCES

• Take the Global Goer Quiz
• Jeannie's book, Across the Street and Around the World

CONNECT WITH JEANNIE

• Instagram
• Website

Have you ever thought about creating an online business to help fund your life overseas or supplement your nonprofit work?

What if your years of training and knowledge could reach people while you sleep — and outlive you long after you’re gone?

In this episode, I’m sharing one way I have funded my own global passion and helped others do the same — through digital courses, memberships, and coaching programs built on an all-in-one platform called Kajabi.

If you’ve followed me for a while, you may remember that I used to partner with Amy Porterfield and her Digital Course Academy to help people learn how to create and launch online courses. That was a big investment. Amy isn’t doing that program anymore—so now I want to help you. I have a much lower-cost way to test this idea before you spend a lot of money. We’re talking $99 for three months, plus coaching from me, to see if this is even right for you.

This episode is for you if:

• You are heading overseas, and support raising feels hard
• You need income that travels with you
• You want a business that could serve as your visa identity in another country
• You have years of training and knowledge that need to outlive you
• You mobilize others and want to know about new ways to fund global work

Resources and links mentioned in this episode:

1) Free Info Session: Fund Your Passion and Leave Your Legacy with Kajabi
Is Kajabi Right For You?

2) Examples of successful online businesses using courses, memberships, and coaching:

• Gospel Conversations That Connect by Jerry McCorkle from Spread Truth
• Getting Started in Disciplemaking Movements by Cynthia Anderson

3) Neighbors and Nations Course:

4) Inviting Muslims to Follow Jesus Course

5) Travel Hacking Course with Tim Walker

6) Theology of Women Academy with Dr. Cynthia Hester

7) All of the above, plus the Kajabi signup link, can also be found at: jeanniemarieacademy.com/kajabi

8) Across the Street and Around the World book

Easter is one of the most important celebrations in the Christian faith — but do you know how to explain it to someone from a different faith background? In this episode, I walk you through how I explain Easter to my Muslim friends, my Hindu friends, and even culturally Christian people who have grown up with Easter eggs and bunnies but aren’t quite sure what it all means.

And even if Easter has already passed when you’re listening to this, these frameworks work any time of year — because we always need to be able to explain why Jesus had to die and why it matters that he is alive right now.

• How I explain Easter to my Muslim friends using Arabic words they already know — like Isa al-Masih (Jesus the Messiah), corbani (sacrifice), caliph (king), and malakoot (kingdom of God) — and even why I avoid the phrase “Son of God” in those conversations.
• Why the honor and shame framework matters when talking to people from Eastern cultures, and how to explain forgiveness and acceptance in a way that truly resonates.
• How I explain Easter to Hindu friends using concepts they already love — light over darkness, life over death, God becoming man, and freedom from the endless cycle of karma and reincarnation.
• Why Hindus might actually be more open to hearing the Easter story — and even attending an Easter service — than you might expect.
• How to explain Easter to culturally Christian people using the innocence and guilt framework most Westerners naturally understand.
• Why food, stories, and personal invitation are universal bridges, no matter who you are talking to.

🎧 Listen to Episode 8 now:

🍎 Apple Podcasts
🎤 Spotify
🌍 Global Goer Podcast Page

• Free 10-Minute Video: Three Mistakes Most People Make When Reaching Out to Muslims
• Inviting Muslims to Follow Jesus Course (get $50 off after watching the free video)
• Disciple Making Among Hindus: Making Authentic Relationships Grow by Timothy Shultz
• Ramadan Episode

Connect with Jeannie

• Website: jeanniemarieacademy.com
• Instagram: @jeanniemmarie

Some news stories you can scroll past. This isn't one of them.

My father and I were in India when the war in Iran broke out — my tickets routed through Qatar, checking flight apps every hour, eventually driving five hours to a different airport and routing home through Thailand and Japan just to get back to the US. Qatar is still closed. That experience sent me deep into every news source she could find. And what I learned from my international network, my Persian friends, and workers on the ground is a story most Americans aren't hearing.

In this episode, I’ll share my raw, personal take on why this war matters to every Global Goer — and why the Persian people need our voice right now.

In This Episode

• What's actually happening inside Iran that most US media isn't covering
• The difference between Persians and Iranians — and why it matters
• A biblical case for why peace sometimes has to be fought for
• The explosive growth of the underground church in Iran
• Nowruz — the Persian New Year and the prayer for light over darkness
• Is this World War III? Is this the end times?
• What every Global Goer can do right now

Resources Mentioned

• Follow Elica Lebon on Instagram for the inside Persian perspective: @elicalebon
• Follow Jeannie on Instagram for clips from inside Iran: @jeanniemmarie
• India episode — click here to listen
• Group Training Plan — Inviting Muslims to Follow Jesus
• Inviting Muslims to Follow Jesus Course

Connect with Jeannie

Website: jeanniemarieacademy.com

Instagram: @jeanniemmarie

Eid is coming up this weekend, and millions of Muslims around the world are preparing to celebrate the end of Ramadan with family, food, generosity, and community.

And that raises an important question many Christians ask when building friendships with Muslims:

Is it appropriate for Christians to celebrate Eid with their Muslim friends?

Should we go to their homes?
Eat their food?
Say Eid Mubarak?

Or does that somehow compromise our faith?

In this episode of The Global Goer Podcast, I discuss why moments like Eid celebrations can be powerful opportunities for relationships, hospitality, and meaningful connections with Muslims.

Because celebration matters. God loves celebration. Throughout Scripture, God established festivals and gatherings for His people. Sharing meals, honoring God, and celebrating together are deeply rooted kingdom values.

And when we see those values reflected in other cultures — family gatherings, hospitality, gratitude toward God — we can recognize something beautiful happening there.

In this episode I share:

• whether it's appropriate for Christians to celebrate holidays from other religions
• why showing up during Eid can build incredible relational bridges
• how to say Eid Mubarak and what it actually means
• simple ways to bless your Muslim friends during their celebration
• why holidays are one of the best times to be invited into someone's home
• and how moments like these can naturally lead to conversations about Jesus

I also share a story about celebrating Eid with Afghan friends here in the United States — and how one simple invitation opened the door to deeper conversations about faith, culture, and belonging.

For those of you preparing to live among Muslim peoples, this episode is especially important.

Because learning to honor culture while remaining faithful to Jesus is one of the most important skills you'll develop in cross-cultural ministry.

And Eid is one of the most beautiful opportunities you'll have to practice it.

🎧 Listen to Episode 8 now:

🍎 Apple Podcasts
🎤 Spotify
🌍 Global Goer Podcast Page

Or wherever you listen to Podcasts.

A few resources I mentioned in this episode if you'd like to go deeper:

✅ If you want to grow in how to naturally and respectfully share Jesus with Muslims, you can get the quick, step-by-step Inviting Muslims to Follow Jesus Course for a special deal through the end of the month.

✅ If you want a deeper framework for understanding God’s heart for the nations, I highly recommend Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. Many Global Goers have been deeply shaped by it.

✅ If you want to understand Ramadan and how to engage meaningfully with Muslims during that season, I recorded a podcast episode explaining it. You can listen to it here.

✅ I also created Eid graphics with Bible verses that you can text to your Muslim friends or post on social media. You can download them here.

I'm recording this episode from my hotel room in India, looking out over a sea of coconut trees and blue sky and just beyond it, the Arabian Sea. And I have so much to tell you.

Twelve years ago our family of six landed in this city - kids ages 5 to 15 - in a tropical, chaotic, beautiful unreached city of one million Muslims. We came expectant and hopeful and we had to leave much sooner than we wanted to. That story is coming in a future episode.

But this week I want to give you a behind-the-scenes field report. Because I am here right now, and so much has changed, and some things haven't changed at all, and I want you to feel like you are right here with me.

In this episode I talk about: what it felt like to land this time versus 12 years ago, how relationship and years of investment change everything, the staggering growth and globalization of this city, what God has been quietly doing in this people group for 12 years, a funeral that none of us expected, and the Muslim friend who encountered Jesus in the middle of it, the Ephesians 6 moment that put my armor back on, and why one team covering 37 million people is simply not enough.

This one is personal. I have tears recording parts of it. I hope it moves you.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Episode 4: Ramadan

Breakthrough Prayer Course

Connect with Jeannie Marie on Instagram and DM her which moment from this episode hit you hardest.

New episodes drop every Tuesday. Subscribe so you don't miss one:

LISTEN NOW:

Or wherever you listen to podcasts

🎙️ Travel “Rules” So You Don’t Lose Your Passport — or Your Mind

In this episode of the Global Goer Podcast, Jeannie shares her personal travel rules for international trips — the kind learned the hard way after decades of traveling across cultures and continents.

Recorded just before boarding a flight to India, these tips were fresh on her checklist — and they might save you serious stress on your next overseas trip.

If you're planning to:

• Move overseas

• Take a vision trip

• Travel internationally for ministry

• Navigate cross-cultural travel

• Or simply want smarter international travel habits

This episode is for you.

✈️ Why Most Travel Stress Happens

International travel problems are rarely dramatic.

They’re usually small oversights:

• Booking the cheapest flight without understanding the connection

• Arriving in a new country without local currency and internet data

• Leaving the airport without communication set up

• Packing far more than you actually need

Jeannie shares real experiences — including a World Cup connection in Paris where hotels were unexpectedly full — and how those situations shaped her travel mindset.

🧳 Inside This Episode:

You’ll learn practical international travel rules including:

• Why booking directly with the airline matters

• What “transit” really means when booking international flights

• Why lighter packing is smarter — even for long-term moves

• Why you should set up local currency and communication before leaving the airport

These aren’t trendy travel hacks.

They’re stability rules for global travelers.

🌍 For Global Goers

If you’re traveling cross-culturally, these travel rules can help you:

• Reduce stress

• Prevent avoidable problems

• Stay focused on your purpose

• Travel with confidence

International travel doesn’t have to be chaotic.

It just requires intentional preparation.

Available on:

• Apple Podcasts

• Spotify

• Wherever you listen

🔗 Mentioned in This Episode

Seven Starters: Questions That Open the Door to Spiritual Conversations
Start meaningful spiritual conversations naturally across cultures.
👉 https://www.jeanniemarieacademy.com/sevenstarters

Travel Multiplier (Flight Strategy Partner Mentioned in Episode)
Learn how to travel internationally more strategically.
👉 https://www.travelmultiplier.com/a/2148200807/4c6JYKg9

If this episode helped you, share it with a fellow traveler or future global goer.

And remember:

The world is bigger than your zip code. Let’s go.