Hope After Child & Sibling Loss/the empty chair endeavor

A Christian faith based podcast shining the light of Hope into the darkness of trauma and grief to offer support and encouragement to grieving parents and siblings on their healing journey and in rediscovering meaning, purpose, and peace after the unspeakable loss of a child. Join us as guests share their stories of heartbreaking loss and how God has shown up on their journeys to heal and restore broken lives. The host, Greg Buffkin, lives with his wife Cathy in South Carolina. Because Cathy and Greg lost their beautiful son Ryan to suicide in 2015, they understand the trauma and pain of losing a child. On a journey that began 10 years ago out of unspeakable trauma and brokenness, GOD has brought them through to a place of restoration, hope and joy with a passion to help other grieving families on their journeys. DISCLAIMER: The views, opinions, and beliefs expressed by our guests are not necessarily shared by this podcast or its host. We believe there is only one GOD: the Fat

Hope After Child & Sibling Loss/the empty chair endeavor is a religion podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 98 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Hope After Child & Sibling Loss/the empty chair endeavor, a religion show with 98 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

• 

  Episode #4

  Grace in the Wilderness of Grief with Sharon Hawkins, Bradley’s Mom

  Aug 18, 202655 minS10

  One minute you’re talking in the driveway, and the next minute your whole life splits into before and after. Sharon Hawkins joins us to tell the story of her son Bradley, a larger-than-life 21-year-old with a contagious laugh, an Eagle Scout’s grit, and a heart that kept pulling toward home. She also shares the moment that still feels unreal: Bradley’s sudden death after a skateboarding fall, and the blessing of a sweet visit just hours before. Bradley’s story starts even earlier, in Kharkov, Ukraine, where Sharon and her husband Scott adopted him from an orphanage in 2001. We talk candidly about international adoption, early neglect, attachment and bonding struggles, and his diagnosis of reactive attachment disorder. Sharon explains what those years are really like inside a family, how faith and steady mentors kept showing up, and why she holds tight to the hope that Bradley belongs to Jesus. We also get practical for bereaved parents and anyone who wants to support them: why “being present” matters more than advice, what to say when you don’t have words, and ways to carry memory forward through letters, photos, recordings, keepsakes, fundraisers, and traditions. Sharon shares her ongoing ministry, Grace in the Wilderness, plus her podcast Finding Grace in the Wilderness, built around Isaiah 43:19 and the promise that God makes a way in the wilderness. If this conversation helps you, please subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more grieving families can find real hope and support. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/finding-grace-in-the-wilderness/id1755067020 http://www.wildernessgrace.org/ Share any comments here *** If you have an Apple account, please take a minute to leave a review on Apple Podcasts if you enjoy this podcast by clicking the link below. By doing so you help increase our visibility and discoverability for others, and we value your feedback! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hope-after-child-sibling-loss-the-empty-chair-endeavor/id1654053256 **** You can also opt to leave a review or rating on Podchasers by clicking the link below. Your opinions matter and mean so much to us! https://www.podchaser.com/HopeAfterChildSiblingLossTheEmptyChairEndeavor You can contact us by email at: hope@emptychairendeavor.com If you would like to share your story on an upcoming episode, please send us an email so that we can talk with you about it. Thank you for listening!

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #3

  Leaning on Faith And Community After Losing Annie, with Cheri Fletcher

  Aug 4, 202652 minS10

  Thirteen days can change an entire family’s history. We sit down with Cheri Fletcher to remember her daughter Annie, a 29-year-old singer-songwriter, social worker, and photographer whose sudden decline ended in an unthinkable goodbye. With honesty and tenderness, Cheri walks us through what it’s like to lose an adult child to an aggressive cancer she did not even know was there, and how shock lingers long after the hospital. We also get practical about what grief really does. Cheri describes grief brain, the fog that makes reading hard and memory unreliable, the physical exhaustion that settles into daily life, and the way fear can spike when another loved one is late to return a call. We talk marriage and family dynamics, why counseling can help couples grieve in different ways without turning on each other, and how giving space and grace becomes a daily decision. A major thread is faith in suffering. When prayer feels impossible, Cheri shares how God met her through friends who kept sending scripture and personalized prayers, and how she learned to see God’s presence without minimizing pain. She also offers a perspective that stopped her in my tracks: God misses watching Annie too. Finally, we dig into the moment so many people dread: “I don’t know what to say.” Cheri created “Beyond I Don’t Know What To Say” grief cards to help friends and churches show up with courage, ask meaningful questions, and keep a child’s name present. Listen regularly for more hope-filled conversations, and share this with someone walking through loss, and leave a review so more grieving families can find this support. https://cherifletcher.com/ Share any comments here *** If you have an Apple account, please take a minute to leave a review on Apple Podcasts if you enjoy this podcast by clicking the link below. By doing so you help increase our visibility and discoverability for others, and we value your feedback! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hope-after-child-sibling-loss-the-empty-chair-endeavor/id1654053256 **** You can also opt to leave a review or rating on Podchasers by clicking the link below. Your opinions matter and mean so much to us! https://www.podchaser.com/HopeAfterChildSiblingLossTheEmptyChairEndeavor You can contact us by email at: hope@emptychairendeavor.com If you would like to share your story on an upcoming episode, please send us an email so that we can talk with you about it. Thank you for listening!

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #3

  Wrestling With GOD Through the Loss of Three Children, with Roxanne Hutchison

  Jul 21, 202655 minS10

  We sit down with Roxanne Hutchison to talk through the unthinkable reality of losing three children and a son-in-law and what it takes to keep living when your family feels shredded. We explore honest faith, the loneliness of stillbirth and child loss, and the slow work of learning to grieve with hope instead of pretending you’re fine. • how Roxanne and Craig’s early faith and marriage foundation shape their endurance • the trauma of stillbirth and why neonatal loss is often dismissed or misunderstood • grief as a roller coaster and why isolating silence can hurt as much as words • the myth of “do everything right and life works” and what a broken world exposes • mental health, rare diagnoses, and the long shadow of medical crises • what life looks like after the funeral when routine tasks become triggers • what grieving parents actually need from friends: presence, listening, practical help • lament, the Psalms, and rebuilding trust in God over time • the Romans 8 promise that becomes a lifeline I hope that you'll rejoin us again in two weeks to hear another story of hope and healing in the life of another grieving parent. Share any comments here *** Please take a minute to leave a review on Apple Podcasts if you enjoy this podcast by clicking the link below. By doing so you help increase our visibility and discoverability for others, and we value your feedback! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hope-after-child-sibling-loss-the-empty-chair-endeavor/id1654053256 You can contact us by email at: hope@emptychairendeavor.com through our parent organization website: https://www.emptychairendeavor.com/ Our Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theemptychairendeavor If you would like to share your story on an upcoming episode, please send us an email so that we can talk with you about it. Thank you for listening!

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #2

  Cultivating a Grief Garden with Ron & Nan Deal, Connor’s parents

  Jul 7, 20261h 13mS10

  A sudden illness can take a child in days, but the grief can echo for decades and it changes far more than most people realize. I’m joined by Ron and Nan Deal as they share the story of losing their 12-year-old son, Connor, and what 17 years of child loss grief has taught them about love, memory, triggers, and the hard work of continuing to live. We talk about a mom’s experience of loss, including the moment Nan describes leaving the hospital and feeling like she’s losing part of herself. We also get painfully practical about grief triggers, why “sweet without bitter” becomes a normal tension, and how grief intensity can shift over time without ever fully ending. If you’re a bereaved parent, or you love someone who is, you’ll hear language that makes the invisible parts of grief easier to name. Then we go straight at marriage after the death of a child: the scary divorce statistic people repeat, what the actual research suggests, and how couples can protect their connection when one spouse needs words and the other needs quiet. We also discuss surviving siblings, fear and hypervigilance, and why honesty at home matters more than pretending to be strong. Ron and Nan share two memorable tools: protecting a “grief garden” with healthy boundaries, and “grieving between the rails” where sadness and hope run parallel, just like biblical lament. We end with the Scriptures they’ve clung to, including Proverbs 3:5–6 and the raw honesty of Psalm 22. I’ll include the Focus on the Family video link they reference in the episode notes. If this conversation helps you, subscribe, share it with someone who needs language for their pain, and leave a review so more grieving families can find it. Click the link below to view Ron and Nan’s Focus on the Family video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwC0xmKjccs Share any comments here *** Please take a minute to leave a review on Apple Podcasts if you enjoy this podcast by clicking the link below. By doing so you help increase our visibility and discoverability for others, and we value your feedback! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hope-after-child-sibling-loss-the-empty-chair-endeavor/id1654053256 You can contact us by email at: hope@emptychairendeavor.com through our parent organization website: https://www.emptychairendeavor.com/ Our Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theemptychairendeavor If you would like to share your story on an upcoming episode, please send us an email so that we can talk with you about it. Thank you for listening!

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #1

  From Sudden Traumatic Loss To Restored Hope with Linda Stirling, Jeff’s Mom

  Jun 23, 202657 minS10

  One phone call can erase the world you thought you were living in. Greg Buffkin talks with Linda Stirling, president of Umbrella Ministries, about the sudden and unthinkable loss of her 19-year-old son, Jeff, who was killed in an airplane crash in the mountains of Idaho. Linda doesn’t sanitize the story. She names the shock, the scream, the days that don’t feel real, and the quiet moment after the memorial when everyone goes home and the true weight of child loss settles in. We also dig into what actually helps a grieving parent and what makes it worse. Linda shares why simple presence matters more than perfect words, why people often look away out of fear, and why saying their child’s name can feel like warmth on a cold day. If you’ve ever wondered what to say to someone who lost a child, this conversation offers practical do’s and don’ts grounded in real life, not theory, along with honest talk about guilt, regret, and the “shoulda, coulda, woulda” loop so many bereaved parents carry. Faith is woven through everything, not as a shortcut around pain, but as a lifeline in it. Linda describes how Psalm 23 became personal and daily, and how learning to walk with God looked different than simply believing. We close with hope you can act on: the power of community, taking the next small step, and finding support through Umbrella Ministries, including conferences, groups, and resources for grieving moms and couples. Learn more at https://umbrellaministries.org and for San Diego support at https://umbrellaministriessd.com. If this helped you, subscribe, share it with someone who’s hurting, and leave a review so more families can find hope. https://www.umbrellaministries.com/ https://janetteifonelife.wixsite.com/umbrellaministries/san-diego Share any comments here *** Please take a minute to leave a review on Apple Podcasts if you enjoy this podcast by clicking the link below. By doing so you help increase our visibility and discoverability for others, and we value your feedback! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hope-after-child-sibling-loss-the-empty-chair-endeavor/id1654053256 You can contact us by email at: hope@emptychairendeavor.com through our parent organization website: https://www.emptychairendeavor.com/ Our Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theemptychairendeavor If you would like to share your story on an upcoming episode, please send us an email so that we can talk with you about it. Thank you for listening!

  ListenShow Notes

Recent guests on Hope After Child & Sibling Loss/the empty chair endeavor. Study who booked and why before you pitch.

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.