Dallas, TX
Bestselling Dallas-area author on what the church needs to learn about teaching emotions
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/dmn/QZ5AFW6MQJGXBNTOMXOTTJCZTI.jpg?ssl=1 "Bestselling Dallas-area author on what the church needs to learn about teaching emotions")
New York Times bestselling author and Dallas-area resident Jennie Allen, whose latest book was published this week, has been teaching the Bible since she was 17. “I met Jesus, and I literally just fell in love with him,” she said. “I had to talk about it; I was annoying all my friends.”
Allen started a Bible study with girls from her high school, and they met in her family’s living room to study the Book of Revelation. “It sounded interesting to me as a 17-year-old. I didn’t know how complicated it was,” she said of the famously-difficult book.
Her reach has since grown considerably. She has an active social media presence, with over 175,000 followers on Facebook and over 400,000 on Instagram. She also founded and leads an annual conference for Christian women called IF: Gathering, which will hold its 10th edition Feb. 23-24 at Fort Worth’s Dickies Arena. Last year, the conference had 50,000 in-person and virtual attendees and its livestream was viewed over 600,000 times in 129 countries, Allen’s press team said.
Allen’s 2020 book Get Out Of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts has sold over 1 million copies and spent 36 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, according to her press team. Her new book Untangle Your Emotions: Naming What You Feel and Knowing What to Do About It has made Amazon’s best-seller list. To promote the book, she appeared Thursday on the Today show.
Allen, 47, said her big break came in 2010, when she was offered a deal to write two books and seven Bible studies by a Christian publisher. “I had no platform whatsoever,” Allen said. “I didn’t deserve that.”
She has since written books on topics including mental health and faith. Her most recent one, she said, reflects a change in how she views emotions. It was informed by lessons she’s learned since the pandemic, when she met with a small group of friends and a counselor over Zoom. “We came together to carry each other’s heavy stuff,” she said.
The counselor helped Allen and her friends learn how to listen to one another’s feelings without shaming or judging emotions she said they’d otherwise see as “negative.” “They showed me that, when they spoke to my emotion with their emotion, instead of trying to fix me, I felt seen and safe and comforted,” Allen said of the group.
In her new book, she shares the lessons she learned, drawing on insights from the Bible and modern psychology. As she wrote, Allen read books from psychologists including Chip Dodd and Lisa Feldman Barrett.
In all her work, Allen said, she aims to share the “last 2%” of her life that even other vulnerable people might hold back. In Untangle Your Emotions, she talks about her husband’s experience with depression and her own anxiety around her children moving far from home. “I think why that’s embarrassing is it feels like a controlling, crazy mom,” she said of sharing her experience.
But it was important to do so, she said. “The Bible says ‘mourn with those who mourn,’ because our brain is meant to heal as we share the hard things.”
Part of her journey with emotions has involved shifting her perspective on parenting, Allen explained. “Once I got comfortable with ‘negative’ emotions, or uncomfortable emotions, I could sit with other people in them. My kids found me to be a much safer place.
“The most beautiful moments of parenting — for me, it’s been apologizing. And just saying I’d like to do this better, and I’m sorry that I didn’t.”
Allen hopes the thinking that transformed her parenting can help change the way the church teaches about emotions. “We don’t have a good theology of emotions,” she said. “We tend to make people feel guilty for being emotional or having emotions, when what a difficult emotion needs is comfort.”
Allen has a vision for the church that looks different. Citing Romans 8:1 — “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ” — she said it “means that we should be the safest place to struggle, to feel fear or anger or sadness. I do believe we have that potential.”
Joy Ashford covers faith and religion in North Texas for The Dallas Morning News through a partnership with Report for America.
Nextdoor, the social media platform that connects neighbors through shared recommendations and local updates, recently released its ranking of the friendliest places to live in Dallas. At the top of the list is South Winnetka Heights, an Oak Cliff neighborhood of about 95 homes, many of which date back to the 1920s and ’30s.
Lists like these are subjective, to put it mildly, but in a sprawling city like Dallas, friendliness can feel like a lost art. It’s heartening to see neighborhoods that value connection where the neighborly spirit is thriving.
Last year, the neighborhood just a few streets away from Bishop Arts became an approved conservation district. The ordinance protects the roughly four blocks of Craftsman and bungalow-style houses south of 12th Street, which divides South Winnetka Heights from the Winnetka Heights historic district.
In December, the historic district hosts a holiday home tour, when residents open the doors of their Craftsman homes to visitors. It’s clear that residents take pride in showing off their neighborhood and its Prairie-style and Craftsman houses.
Michael “Patty” Evans has called South Winnetka Heights home for over 20 years and was among the residents who pushed for its conservation district status. He explained that the rules are looser than those of their northern neighbors in the Winnetka Heights historic district — protecting the character of the homes without stricter material or design regulations.
Nextdoor determines neighborhood scores based on factors like posts with positive or negative tones, fulfilled neighbor requests and posts expressing neighborhood pride or dissatisfaction. But that community feel isn’t limited to online.
Evans described the streets around him as a “tight neighborhood.” He said neighbors take the time to introduce themselves to new residents, and that this creates a network of people who know one another and keep tabs on what goes on in the neighborhood.
As much as Chicago or New York are cities of neighborhoods, Dallas is also a city of neighborhoods, and we should try to preserve this sense of community where we can.
As new developments and luxury apartment complexes come to Bishop Arts and more residents and businesses gravitate toward areas like Uptown, finding ways to stay connected to the local community feels increasingly important.
Evans said that sitting on his porch in South Winnetka Heights, especially when the leaves begin to fall, he can see downtown Dallas.
The city is a lot smaller than it can feel, especially when neighbors take the time to talk to each other, and not just online, but also by waving from their porches.
The Dallas Mavericks are in a tough spot. Through the early stages of the 2025-26 campaign, the Mavericks are a mere 4-12 and have one of the worst records in the NBA.
An unbalanced roster and plenty of injuries are making it more and more likely that the Mavericks won’t be able to dig out of this hole, even if Kyrie Irving is able to return from an ACL injury.
At this point, focusing on the future should be Dallas’s primary objective. The franchise only controls one of its own first-round picks through 2030, and that selection will fall this summer.
READ MORE: Mavericks deliver tough season-ending update on failed Nico Harrison signing
If there’s a path to regaining assets, the Mavericks must explore possibilities, including major moves that would break up the current team.
Trade Rumors Heating Up Around Mavericks’ Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson
It’s no real secret that the Mavericks would part with just about any player on their roster for the right price, including Anthony Davis and Klay Thompson.
According to Dallas Hoops Journal’s Ashish Mathur, Davis and Thompson are aware there’s reportedly “a high chance” the franchise trades them. Both players have been quite disappointing since being acquired by the Mavericks.
Davis was obviously the “crown jewel” in the trade that sent Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. He’s only played in 14 regular-season games since the deal due to a variety of injuries.
So far this year, Davis has appeared in five games, averaging 20.8 points, – tied for the second-lowest mark of his career – 10.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1.2 blocks. He’s missed the last 11 outings due to bilateral Achilles tendinosis and a calf strain.
Davis is signed through the 2027-28 season and is making north of $54 million this season. The 32-year-old is a 10x NBA All-Star and won a championship with the Lakers in 2020.
Thompson is in the second season of a three-year/$50 million contract, joining the Mavericks via sign-and-trade from the Golden State Warriors in 2024.
The veteran sharpshooter has fallen off a cliff this season. Thompson was removed from the starting lineup earlier this season. He’s averaging a career-low 9.7 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists. Thompson is only shooting 34.7% from the field and 31.3% from three-point range.
Thompson is a 5x NBA All-Star and he won four titles with the Warriors.
Parting ways with a handful of veterans would give the Mavericks an opportunity to fully focus on building around Cooper Flagg.
READ MORE: NBA expert believes Mavericks’ situation is most ‘dire’ it’s ever been
Stick with MavericksGameday for more FREE coverage of the Dallas Mavericks throughout the 2025-26 season
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Major League Soccer today announced FC Dallas’ 34-match schedule for the 2026 MLS regular season. FC Dallas opens its 31st season at Toyota Stadium on Saturday, Feb. 21, against Toronto FC.
Beginning in 2026, all FC Dallas MLS matches will be available to stream for Apple TV subscribers at no additional cost.
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Key items of the schedule
Long road stretch: Dallas will play nine consecutive road matches during Toyota Stadium renovations, the longest stretch in club history. This will kick off before the league’s pause for the 2026 World Cup in May and wrap up at the end of August.
FIFA World Cup break: The league will pause its schedule for the World Cup from May 25 through July 16.
No interrupted playoff schedule: Following Decision Day 2026 on November 7, the league will observe the November FIFA window before beginning one month of uninterrupted 2026 MLS Cup Playoffs action, culminating in 2026 MLS Cup. The complete postseason schedule will be announced at a later date.
First time against Charlotte: While the two clubs met in the 2023 Leagues Cup, FC Dallas will get its first match against Charlotte FC in league play when they visit the Queen City in early October.
Against the East: Including Charlotte and the opener against Toronto, Dallas will also face Nashville SC, D.C. United, the New York Red Bulls, and the Columbus Crew. Dallas last faced Toronto, D.C. United and the Red Bulls in the 2024 regular season and last faced Nashville and Columbus in 2023. Dallas will visit Charlotte FC for the first time.
Copa Tejas: There will be a pretty long stretch between games against the Houston Dynamo in 2026, with the first coming in March and the follow up in Houston in October. On the other hand, Dallas will see Austin twice within a month’s time.
Halloween game: Yes, Dallas will play a game on Halloween night. I believe this could be the first league game for Dallas on Halloween, but don’t hold me to that.
Wednesday night soccer: There will be seven mid-week games in the regular season for FC Dallas in 2026.
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