Hey everyone, welcome to the podcast.

Today I am interviewing three women, a mom and two daughters, and together they make up the Coffee and Bible Time Ministry, which is a ministry that helps women learn how to delight in God's Word and thrive in Christian living.

Ellen Krause is the mom of this group.

She hosts the CBT podcast, and she also has been involved in women's ministry for over 20 years and mentors women worldwide through CBT.

Ashley is one of the daughters.

She is an alumna of the Moody Bible Institute with a Bachelor of Science in Integrated Ministries Studies.

And Ashley likes to open up her home to young women in the community.

Taylor is the other daughter.

Taylor holds a bachelor degree in pre-counseling and has devoted herself to extensive academic and personal study of the Bible.

With a deep commitment to integrating spiritual and mental health, Taylor encourages women to embrace their true selves and feel fully loved.

Let's get to that interview.

Okay, well, it's good to have all of you on the podcast today, and I have never interviewed three people at once.

But it's fun to see all of your little smiling faces out there.

And let's start by talking about your YouTube channel, because you guys have a really huge ministry, coffee and Bible time.

So how did the idea for your YouTube channel first come about?

And also just, you know, a mom and daughter team, I think is very interesting.

How did that all get started?

Yeah, so I'll answer this.

I'm Ashley.

I know sometimes we each sound really alike.

So we'll probably just say who's talking before.

But we We actually never planned on having a YouTube channel.

It was definitely all a part of God's plan as we look back.

But we originally had, back when me and Taylor were in high school, how many years ago was that Tay?

Like 10?

Yeah, gosh, 10 years ago.

Me and my sister had an app idea, and we pitched it to a company in California, and they really liked the idea.

So we flew out to California, and we created an app.

We were very adventurous, young teenage girls, and my mom came with us because she was kind of the supporter behind us.

And they told us that, what, 98% of apps fail.

And so after we got back from California, that did happen.

Our app failed.

But one of the training tools that they told us that we should have to be able to promote the app was create a YouTube channel.

So we had created a YouTube channel, and the app failed, but we kept making YouTube videos just because we enjoyed it so much.

We loved, you know, creating videos and doing that.

We've always loved doing that, and it's a very creative thing, and it's so much fun.

We ended up coming out with a prayer journal video, and this was, you know, years ago when there wasn't as much content, as much Christian content on YouTube.

for Christian Young Women.

And that video kind of just took off, it soared.

And from there we realized, oh, there might be a gap on YouTube of people who wanna learn how to study the Bible and pray and follow the Lord.

So from there, we kind of pivoted the YouTube channel.

We named it Coffee and Bible Time.

And ever since we've been creating Christian videos to help people learn how to delight in God's word.

And since then, we've added the podcast with which our mom, we call her Mentor Mama runs and, you know, books and products and Bible studies and all this stuff.

So it's been a big adventure that God just opened the door for.

That's great.

And what's the name of your podcast?

Coffee and Bible Time.

Okay.

Coffee and Bible

Time is the podcast

And the YouTube channel.

So in your new book, you're talking about a Bible study method.

And also just with the goal of reading your Bible study consistently, getting closer to God.

So have you guys all been always consistent with your Bible reading?

Is that something you struggle with on your own?

Oh, definitely.

Yeah, I would say that my struggle really primarily comes from having ADHD and I have a very hard time focusing.

My mind easily goes off track.

And the other part of it, too, for sure, is just busyness.

If I'm not intentional to have that time, it gets crowded out so easily.

How about you guys?

Yeah um this is taylor talking i just in complete honesty i struggle with discipline with things that i sometimes don't want to do and it's kind of like i think like working out like you know it's really good for you um but if you're always driven by your emotions and not always by what you know is best for you then you miss out on those really good important vital things for your health your spiritual health uh just like working out for your physical health so for me i think it's it's lack of discipline uh

Yeah, and I would say I just go through seasons where sometimes it's, like, really exciting and I can't wait to open my Bible.

But then there

Are other seasons where it feels more overwhelming or just kind of what they were saying, whether it would be my schedule's really full or I'm really tired because I'm taking care of, you know, a toddler, whatever it is.

In those seasons, I do have to be really disciplined and tell myself, okay, even though you might not feel like reading the Bible right now, it's good for you.

And it's going to help remind you of God's truth and keep you rooted in Him.

So, yeah.

Yeah, it's interesting because I also struggle kind of

With the ADHD personality.

And I feel like doing a Bible study method, like your Bible study, where you do a lot of writing it out, I feel like that helps me concentrate on the Bible and also kind of gets me excited about it because it engages my mind.

And for me, my mind being engaged is one thing that really makes me want to do things because that energizes me.

So how about you guys?

Was there anything that helped you develop a consistent quiet time habit?

You know, one of the things that was so incredibly helpful, I think, for me was when they came out with the audio Bible, even just on YouVersion.

And when you can see and hear it at the same time, for me, that was transformational because now it was really getting into my mind so much better and easier.

Yeah, I would say for me,

The thing that has helped me stay consistent is having the same time.

And usually what works for me is early in the mornings.

And so just every day kind of have that routine where I wake up, make my coffee, sit in the same spot of the couch, grab, you know, my Bible sitting right there on the coffee stand, grab it, open it.

And so it's kind of creating that habit of like, okay, this is what I do.

Wake up, coffee, Bible, and then make that, you know, the routine.

So that has really helped.

Yeah.

And I'm very similar with you.

I think I struggle to do my Bible reading if somebody else is even in the room with me because I'm so distractible.

I love, I'm a talker.

I'm a yapper.

So if somebody else is there with me, I am like talking about my day.

What are they doing?

This and that.

And so what's been really helpful since I just recently got married is my husband leaves for work and I have the whole apartment to myself and I just sit there and I have quiet and I can do my Bible reading.

And yeah, that's my routine now.

Yeah, I love that.

Those are all great ideas.

And I love your new book.

It's so colorful.

It's just a beautiful book.

And then it has so many helpful things in it.

And that one of the, I mean, what it mainly goes over is your Bible study method, your easy Bible study method.

And so I'd love to have you guys share a little bit about that Bible study method.

Yeah, I can start.

So the easy Bible study method is all about making Bible study easy, as the title suggests.

So it's a guide to understanding, applying, and delighting in God's Word, and what I love about it is that it does simplify Bible study into four steps, and we use the acronym EASY.

So E is the first step, A is the second step, S is the third step, and then Y is the fourth.

And for each step, you kind of go a step deeper into Bible study.

So for E, you're entering into the story.

And I love this step because it's so simple.

You're reading it, but you're putting yourself in the story.

And you're saying, okay, I'm going to really slow down.

I'm going to enter into the story.

I'm going to, you know, just kind of, you know, when you're jumping into a pool, You're just kind of slowly getting in.

Some people jump right in.

I'm more of a slogan.

That's kind of E.

And then A is assess the main idea.

So that's, you know, you're taking another step in.

You're trying to figure out, okay, what does this text mean?

S is seek God in his character.

So this is the step that you're really focusing on.

God, who are you within this text?

And what can I learn about you?

And how can I grow closer to you?

And then why is yearn for a heart change and deeper intimacy with God?

So why really is the application of, okay, God, what did you teach me?

How can I, you know, make my life look more like you, Jesus?

And how can I grow closer to you?

And throughout all of these steps, you.

Can take them

As deep as you want.

So if you have a whole hour and you want to go like detailed in every step, you can.

But I also say that if you're, you know, we were all saying we have busy schedules.

If you only have 20 minutes one morning, you can quickly do five minutes in each step and go through it and still get into God's word for the day.

So it's a very flexible method.

Yeah, I like that first one, the E, the enter into the picture.

That's not something I usually do.

And you had one example in the book of the feeding of the 5,000.

And I pictured what it would be like.

I mean, I just pictured that whole scene.

And I thought it was really interesting.

I never would have guessed it.

But taking that time to really envision everything, I felt like it helped me draw closer to God just by doing that.

So, and I haven't, I think all the steps are very interesting.

Some of those I've done on my own too, but that first one I've never done.

But how do you think this method, how is it different than other devotionals or other methods?

Well, I've done a lot of Bible studies over the years.

So I was in a mom's Bible group study for over 20 years.

And so I have done so many different authors and studies.

And what the difference here is, is that we're actually teaching you how to study the Bible for yourself.

So instead of an author, and those are wonderful, wonderful studies, they're doing all the digging for you, whereas we're teaching you how to dig.

So part of, for example, entering into the story is determining the context.

So you're taking the time to do some research and we tell you where to find these answers for yourself so that you can see what was the culture like back then, what was going on during that time period that would have affected the people living there and so on.

So that you can then go to any book of the Bible later and be able to apply this method and learn for yourself.

Yeah.

And would you say this method draws you closer to God?

And if so, how does it draw you closer to God?

Absolutely.

I think for me, when I've done this study, the big thing is slowing down.

You're not just slowing down when you enter into the story, you're slowing down with each step that you're doing.

And a lot of times, I think we go into our Bible study and we just imagine that, Okay, this is a big book about me.

So what I'm going to do is I'm just going to flip to a random page and whatever God you want to speak to me will speak to me and it'll automatically apply to my life.

And that's how Bible study is.

I think a lot of us think that Bible study is like that.

But the reality is that the Bible, excuse me, first and foremost is about God.

And when you take this easy Bible study method, it forces you to slow down, like Mentor Mama said, and see like, okay, what's the context?

What was going on with the original audience?

How is God working in their life?

How can I learn first and foremost from what God was doing for them?

Because this was written, a lot of these stories has an original audience.

Then when we assess the main idea, it's like, okay, God, what was true for them and what is true for All of us for all of eternity.

What are these eternal truths going into even learning about your character?

And that's my favorite step of the easy Bible study method is learning about God's character, seeking his character.

That's where I really grow myself.

With my connection to the Lord is when I am intentionally looking into scripture and seeing what are you saying about yourself?

Not what do I think about you?

Not what does culture tell me about you?

But what do you explicitly say about yourself?

And then because I'm already digging so deep, I'm seeing all of these implicit things about God's character just by the way that I see him move and his actions in scripture.

And so that's my absolute favorite part of the easy Bible study method.

And then what I will say, I think is a game changer for a lot of people is the why step.

That's the yearning for the heart change.

It's the application.

It's when you kind of do heart surgery on yourself.

It's the time where at the end of your Bible study, you're like, okay, now I'm going to apply this to my life.

Now is the time where I am going to ask the Holy Spirit to convict me where I need to be convicted.

And that is, I think, often the forgotten step of Bible study is like, okay, we're not just reading just to gain head knowledge, we're reading because we want our lives to look different.

And so those are just some of the ways that I think doing this method can be helpful in growing your intimacy with God.

Yeah.

And I think when you do those other steps first before the application step, you're so richly involved in that yes you know the passage that the application comes more easily and I also like how in the book you guys have examples of how you do it differently right you kind of have some examples in there of yeah some of those steps I like that one thing that people tell me sometimes is that they they procrastinate quiet times or have a hard time making themselves do it because they feel like they have to study the Bible a certain way.

And it's like, it's going to take so long to do it, they don't do it.

So in a way, it's like they're a perfectionist with their quiet time.

So how can people avoid being a perfectionist with their quiet time?

Because I think this method is great.

I love it.

I just think it's so helpful.

So how do you keep that method helpful and not turn it into a perfectionistic thing that'll keep people from doing their quiet times?

I would say, first and foremost, pray and ask God to sort of lift that lens from which you approach even Bible study.

Because I tend to be perfectionistic myself, and I can get into that group that you're identifying, and it can be a hindrance.

And so I think if you can stop first and pray and just say, let the Holy Spirit work in and through this experience of studying the Bible and then follow the steps that we've talked about.

And I think it's not rigid in the sense that as you go through this process of learning all of these different things, I don't think that you're going to find it, you know, kind of like you just described as a process that It can be overwhelming.

So I would, you know, I strongly just encourage people to try it, to...

Lift that cloud off, and you have to step in, because if you don't step in and try, then you're not going to move forward.

And there's just so many blessings to receive from God once you do that.

I'd love to add something, too, to that because I also really struggle with perfectionism, even some OCD tendencies that really do trickle into faith and quiet time for me that can lead me to major seasons of procrastination, mental blocks even to reading my Bible where I just feel like I can't even open it because if I don't do it the right way, X, Y, Z.

And what I want to encourage people with that is yes there is a right way to study the bible for instance looking at context that's really important to helping us you know see that there is a certain meaning that God wants us to get out of the text we can't just go into the bible and assume that like I said earlier everything's about us and you know the bible is what whatever we want it to be that's not true so yes there are certain parameters that are really good for reading Bible study or for doing Bible study.

But there's a lot of modifications that can make your Bible time unique to you and unique to your giftings and unique to your attention span even.

And I think for me, what has been really helpful with curbing my perfectionism tendencies is going into my Bible and setting the bar low in terms of how much I'm going to read.

Before I used to be like, okay, I'm going to read through, I have to read through an entire chapter and I need to read through the Bible in a year and I need to yada, yada, yada, all of these things that I was putting on top of myself that God doesn't put on top of us.

So for now, when I go into my Bible time, I'm reading three verses a day.

And that is the, that's the sweet spot for me.

It might not be for somebody else, but that curbs the perfectionism in me because now I don't feel overwhelmed when I just have to read three verses and I can look at the context and I can easily assess what the main idea is of three verses, see God's character in that, and pray that God would move in my life based off of what I read.

That has been, I would say, the game changer of me with perfectionism.

And maybe for those that are struggling with perfectionism, just to take time even now to think, okay, what area of my Bible time am I feeling like I need to be perfect for the Lord?

And how can I ask God, like Mentor Mama said in prayer, to pour grace into those areas of my life?

Because we oftentimes do need God to really speak into us that grace.

It's not all on our shoulders.

The Holy Spirit will work through what we're reading, and He's going to reveal to us what He wants to reveal to us.

Yeah, and I will add something, too.

All three of us are adding to this because I think we've all experienced perfectionism.

I would say something that's really helped me is asking, okay, what's the point of this?

Why am I doing Bible study?

Is it because I want to put a checkmark next to the box?

Is it because I want to please God and make him happy?

Is it because, you know, I think I have to do this in order to feel good?

You know, what is the real reason I'm doing this?

And I've, after many years of studying the Bible, I've come to the conclusion for me is that I want to know Jesus more.

I want to know him and I want to spend time with him.

And that has really helped the perfectionism because I can come to the Bible and do, you know, like I said, a deep in-depth Bible study and learn about Jesus and spend, let's say, 45 minutes.

And I will walk away going, okay, Lord, I love you.

I know you more deeply from this.

That was amazing.

Or I can come to a psalm and read one verse and learn more about Jesus and spend maybe five to 10 minutes on that and then walk away saying, you know what, Jesus, I learned more about you.

I love you.

I'm growing closer to you.

That's what matters.

Even if it wasn't this, you know, perfect four-step thing or whatever, you know, in-depth studying context and pulling out words and looking into their Greek, whatever, you know, the whole goal is to know Jesus more and to, you know, know him and love him.

And so I think knowing that going into it, it takes a lot of weight off of my shoulders of like, okay, I'm here to meet with you, Jesus.

and if that happens, then we're good.

That's great.

Yeah, I think too, like a quiet time is a conversation with God.

He speaks to us through his word.

We speak back to him through prayer and kind of have a dialogue about it.

And if you were really with Jesus in person when he lived on earth, people wouldn't have been, oh, no, I have to do this conversation a certain way.

It has to be a certain length and all that.

You'd just be visiting back and forth with him.

But we sometimes complicate things when we think it has to be a certain way and plus I can see value in both like I do have that the Bible app where you read the Bible in the year and it gives you Psalms, Proverbs, New Testament, Old Testament but you can always catch it up so I don't always read it in a year because sometimes I do just want to spend four verses or five verses and I honestly I feel like a lot of times I get far more personal growth out of just four verses than checking everything off the list and doing a whole bunch of Bible reading.

Me too.

Agree.

Yeah, everybody's nodding their heads on that one.

So what advice would you have for the person who's always wanted to develop a quiet time habit, hasn't been able to do it?

They're not a perfectionism.

They're not a perfectionist.

Either maybe they're bored with their Bible and they crave excitement or they're an accomplishment person.

They want to check things off the list and Bible reading takes time.

So what would you say to that person who's avoiding their quiet time for that reason?

Oh, I'm going

To say something that might hit home for some people.

So the world we're living today is fast, fast, fast, go, go, go.

Think about TikTok.

You're scrolling through fast.

You're getting the dopamine hit.

If something doesn't catch your attention, nope, next, quickly, I'm going.

right we do that all the time whether it's Instagram or TikTok or YouTube or whatever it might be, And so what I'm going to be brutally honest, Bible study isn't like that.

And you have to come into it and think, okay, I'm going to set aside the craziness and busyness of the world and of constantly needing, you know, that excitement.

And I'm going to slow down.

That's what we really say is you just have to slow down and say, here I am, Lord.

This might be hard.

I'm used to a busy, crazy world.

And you know what?

I might get antsy.

I might get bored.

And I just need you to help me.

I really need you to help me and to slow down.

And I need you to speak to me through your word.

And so I think that, you know, we can romanticize Bible study and think, oh my gosh, I'm going to come to my Bible every time.

And I'm going to feel all these amazing emotions and feel so close to God.

And that does happen sometimes.

And that's amazing.

But there are times where you're going to read your Bible and you might not have all the fireworks and whatever.

You know what I mean?

So it's kind of just like Taylor was saying, a daily consistent habit.

And every day that you come and meet with the Lord, after years of doing that, months of doing that.

God is slowly going to work on shaping your heart and slowly going to work on refining you and slowly going to work on, you know, making you look more like Jesus.

But it's a process and it takes a lifetime.

And it's not like the quick fix of going to a TikTok or a reel.

And you know what I mean?

So just I want to say the hard thing of like, it does sometimes just require the discipline of opening God's Word, even when it might not feel as easy as going to your phone and scrolling.

So...

Yeah, that's good.

I would just add, too, that I always love having an accountability partner.

Or even when Taylor and Ashley lived in the same house, we would sometimes do it and talk about, what did you learn?

Or that kind of adds a little bit of joy to the process as well as to hear what other people are learning and doing in their quiet times.

Yeah, you could get this book, The Easy Bible Study Method, or honestly, any Bible study, and get together with a group of women at your church or in your community.

And then you keep each other accountable.

You talk about what you read.

And it is.

It's very transformative studying the Bible and community.

Yeah, and I think especially in the beginning when you're developing a habit, it's really helpful to have accountability and community.

I've been having my quiet time every day for like, I don't know, almost 20 years.

And it just, I just don't even think I'm not having it.

Even when I'm on vacation, I have it.

But I wasn't like that my whole walk with God.

In the beginning, I was all excited about reading the Bible for the first time.

So I just, you know, have my quiet time every day because I was so excited about my new relationship with God.

And then I went through a lot of years where I couldn't make myself do my quiet time.

And then, you know, the last 18 years I have.

So developing a habit and a habit is where you get to the point where you don't even think of not doing it.

You just do it.

So that's essential to do in the beginning.

Okay, so where can everybody find you guys online?

What's your new book?

Where can they find that?

Let us know a little bit about that.

Well, you can find us at coffeeandbibletime.com.

And that's all one word, coffee and Bible time.

And then all of our other platforms are also Coffee and Bible Time.

So that makes it easy to find us on Instagram.

Or if you're looking at podcasts, you can find it there.

And we also do have an Amazon shop that you can find our book on.

You can just look up Coffee and Bible Time and we'll show up on there.

Or you can look up the Easy Bible Study Method on Amazon and our book will come up there too.

So, yeah.

Okay.

And there's also, don't you guys have like a prayer journal or something like that?

Oh yeah.

That is actually a really big draw for our audience is our prayer journal supplies.

So if you are interested in having a prayer journal that is all built out for you with all the different tabs of areas of your life, you can pray.

We have that on our Amazon or on our website.

And we also have a smaller prayer binder that is more customizable to your needs with refillable tabs, et cetera.

And that is also on our Amazon or on our website.

We also have a community, which again, we talked about a little bit community, but we have this group of women.

If you go to the Coffee and Bible Time website, people that have joined us, and we actually have a book club going on right now where we're taking our community through the entire book and we have guest speakers that are talking about it.

So that's a fun way to get connected with people as well.

And then also for the independent person, we have our In-Depth Bible Study Academy.

So it's literally 12 courses, hours and hours that you can go through at your own pace and learn how to study the Bible through video instructions and