Podcasts about Empty

Episode Summary In this episode, I'm talking about empty nest syndrome and what it really feels like when one or more of your children leave the nest. So many people talk about this season of life, but nothing can fully prepare you for the grief, quiet, sadness, and identity shift that can come when your child moves out, goes to college, or begins building a life outside your home.  Today, I'm sharing seven ways to navigate empty nest syndrome from your Adult Chair. We talk about allowing yourself to feel the grief instead of numbing or avoiding it, validating yourself for the job you did as a parent, trusting your children to figure life out, and learning how to let them make mistakes without rushing in to save them. I also talk about why this season can become the beginning of your "act three." After years of raising children, driving carpool, making meals, showing up at practices, helping with school, and focusing so much energy on your family, the focus begins to shift back to you. This can feel uncomfortable at first, but it can also become a beautiful opportunity to rediscover who you are now. This episode is a reminder that empty nest grief is real, but it does not last forever. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. When we allow our emotions to move through, trust our children, honor the wisdom we have earned, and create space to reconnect with ourselves, this new chapter can become a powerful season of healing, freedom, and rediscovery. Key Takeaways Grief is a healthy part of the empty nest process From the Adult Chair, we do not avoid grief. We feel it, journal it, walk with it, cry it out, and allow it to move through Grief may come in waves, especially when you think about your child or notice the quiet in the house You do not have to be a perfect parent to acknowledge that you did a good job Trusting your child means allowing them to make mistakes, figure things out, and learn resilience When we constantly save or fix things for our children, they do not learn how to trust themselves Empty nest can be the beginning of "act three," a new season where wisdom catches up with freedom Boredom can be powerful because it creates space for inspiration, intuition, and new ideas Getting quiet allows you to hear the deeper nudges and downloads that can guide your next chapter Resources from this Episode: The Adult Chair® Live Event: Metamorphosis https://theadultchair.com/liveevent    MORE MICHELLE CHALFANT Website: https://www.michellechalfant.com Membership: The Adult Chair® Collective https://www.michellechalfant.com/collective  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themichellechalfant Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheMichelleChalfant The Adult Chair® Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theadultchair YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Michellechalfant

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In this episode, Dr. Judith reveals why dissatisfaction can persist even in a “good life,” explaining that the problem often isn't wanting more but having too many competing desires pulling at once. She reframes the key question from “What do I want?” to “What part of me is doing the wanting?” noting desires can come from preference, real needs, fear, old wounds, comparison, absorbed expectations, or the soul's quieter pull toward truth, growth, and authenticity. Using examples like Angie avoiding conflict and Claire the caretaker, she shows how unrecognized contradictions can make relationships feel disappointing and turn unspoken needs into others' responsibility. She offers a practical exercise—“the desire beneath the desire”—to identify what we believe a want will give us and what belongs to circumstances versus inner attention, emphasizing awareness over suppression.00:00 Why Enough Feels Empty01:01 Wanting Is Human02:24 Who Is Wanting03:28 Midlife Wants Multiply05:57 Desire Levels Explained08:12 Divine Alignment09:05 Too Many Drivers11:40 Angie Conflict Example14:13 Relationship Contradictions17:19 Claire Caretaker Example20:16 Soul Perspective23:33 Prism Of Wants25:33 Desire Beneath Desire27:46 Weekly Invitation28:40 Closing And Next Week

Send us Fan MailFor the past five years, Rick Reinhard has been a consultant and thought leader on the issue of the reuse and redevelopment of empty faith properties. He's leading a new course with NLC University called “Spiritual Brownfields:  How Can Cities Strategically Reuse and Redevelop Their Emptying Faith Properties?” which explores ways cities can redevelop their unused houses of worship.For more information, visit us at nlc.org.

It's Work-Boot Wednesday on The Coach JB Show with Big Smitty as Super Bowl Champion Shaun King joins the show to react to Lincoln Riley calling criticism of USC crowd a false narrative, Dabo Swinney "Calling Out" Lane Kiffin, and more! Former Ole Miss Asst. AD Tyler Siskey joins the show as well! You don't wanna miss this WORK-BOOT Wednesday on The REALEST Show On Planet ERF! Like, Comment, and Subscribe! The Coach JB Show With Big Smitty Is Powered By Kalshi Download the Kalshi app and use code COACH JB to get $25 when you trade $25! - https://kalshi.com/sign-up?referral=COACHJB The Coach JB Show with Big Smitty is the realest sports show on Planet ERF! We discuss what other talk shows & debate shows refuse to discuss! We are LIVE 3 hours a day from 6-9am pacific with the realest guests on Planet ERF! Coach Jason Brown is the star of the hit Netflix series "Last Chance U", master motivator, and legendary JUCO football coach!! Darnell Smith Fox Sports very own, Ball State Alum, and Nap towns finest! Merciless Monday | Talk that Talk Tuesday | Work-Boot Wednesday | Truth Telling Thursday | Free Game Friday Live M-F 6am-9am PST. Subscribe and become a member today, $2.99 for general membership or $5.99 to join Slap Nation and get access to the exclusive Coach's Crew group Chat!! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The 20th-century days of vinyl records, tape decks, CDs, Tower Records, and MTV have given way to our 21st-century age of MP3s and music streaming, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, TikTok, and Ticketmaster. While certain people and certain companies in the music industry are making more money than ever, working musicians are finding it increasingly impossible to pay the bills and make a living from their art. In this episode of Working People, we speak with all four members of veteran Chicago rock band The Empty Pockets about the work that goes into being a professional musician, and the realities of working and trying to make a living in the music industry today.Additional links/info: The Empty Pockets website, Facebook page, Instagram, YouTube channel, and Spotify channelJosh Solomon, Hypebot, “We stopped waiting to be chosen and mailed 100,000 CDs instead”Jules Taylor Music website, Facebook page, Instagram, YouTube channel, and Spotify channelFeatured Music: Jules Taylor, Working People Theme SongCredits: Audio Post-Production: Jules TaylorBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

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Popok reports that the 17 oil fields Trump is bragging about in Venezuela may be EMPTY, have no infrastructure or even electricity and could only lead to oil production many decades from now! How does that help today's affordability crisis, gas prices, inflation or the midterms? Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@LegalAFMTN?sub_confirmation=1 Become a member of Legal AF YouTube community: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgZJZZbnLFPr5GJdCuIwpA/join Become a member of the Legal AF Substack: https://michaelpopok.substack.com/20off Follow Legal AF on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/legalafmtn.bsky.social Follow Michael Popok on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mspopok.bsky.social Subscribe to the Legal AF podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legal-af-by-meidastouch/id1580828595 Subscribe to the Intersection with Michael Popok podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-intersection-with-michael-popok/id1818863274 Subscribe to Unprecedented with Michael Popok and Dina Doll podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unprecedented-by-legal-af/id1867023089 Subscribe to Court of History with Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-court-of-history/id1867022920 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You hit the goal. You got the title, the revenue, the recognition. And instead of the feeling you expected, there's a quiet flatness you can't explain to anyone. In this episode, Elyse Archer unpacks why success so often lands hollow and walks through four things to look at when the outside is working but the inside isn't.You'll learn:- Why outgrowing a goal on the way to achieving it is normal, and how to give yourself permission to change course- The desert island test that reveals whether you built what you actually wanted or what you thought would make you feel worthy- Why fulfillment requires telling the truth, and what happens when you stop putting a smiley face on an empty gas tank- How to reverse-engineer your business from how you want to feel instead of what looks good on paper- The vacuum law of prosperity, and why letting go of what's not working is what makes room for what isIf you've been quietly wondering whether this is really it, this episode will help you name what's actually going on and start building toward a version of success that feels as good as it looks.✨ JOIN THE 10K CLUBElyse's program for women ready to scale to consistent 10K months and beyond → https://elysearcher.com/10kclub/

Somebody in California just stole 40,000 pounds of Pabst Blue Ribbon in what may be the largest beer heist ever, and somehow that isn't even the strangest story of the week. Villanova blew a 10-point lead in under a minute, USC opened against Fresno State in front of a painfully empty Coliseum, Eastern Michigan and UNLV delivered two very different entrances, and Brent Venables gave a great answer on why he still coaches. Then we get into the real college football chaos: Lane Kiffin says his players support bringing former NFL players back, while the SEC is reportedly considering extreme measures against LSU as the eligibility fight keeps escalating. Plus, Tampa Bay is moving forward with undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels as Baker Mayfield's backup.Live Show Tuesday and Thursday, 3pm est.SOCIALS: https://linktr.ee/drewberquistWEBSITE: https://AirItOutBro.com #DrewBerquist #Balls&Banter #BallsShow Notes/Links:Truck carrying 40,000 pounds of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer has been stolen in California, in what's believed to be the largest “beer heist” ever https://x.com/Polymarket/status/2093430377427660936?s=20Villanova blows 10 point lead in less than 1 minute (discuss)https://x.com/YahooSports/status/2093533346802343969?s=20California: "We care about sports!"...Also Californiahttps://x.com/CSOonX/status/2094032732976263187?s=20L.A. Coliseum near empty at kickoff for USC vs. Fresno Statehttps://x.com/JakeCrain_/status/2093851054387462331?s=20Eastern Michigan field entrance is...somethinghttps://x.com/EMUFB/status/2093830371125162308?s=20UNLV ran out with Elvishttps://x.com/ESPNCFB/status/2093891611327377739?s=20OU Coach Brent Venables on why he coaches https://x.com/barstoolsports/status/2094092782650409050?s=20Lane Kiffin says players gave him their blessing to bring NFL players backhttps://x.com/TreyWallace/status/2094482674681315673?s=20SEC considering extreme measures against LSU https://x.com/NextRoundLive/status/2094488691708244303?s=20Bucs are moving forward with UDFA QB Jalon Daniels as their backup QB to Baker Mayfieldhttps://x.com/RapSheet/status/2094059951010230362?s=20

THE FARR SIDE. We react to UCLA dismissing Athletic Director Martin Jarmond. USC football had their opening game at the Coliseum against San Jose State. D'Marco doesn't understand why it looked so empty at the Coliseum. Was it more because of the weather for it being empty or could it be an LA thing? Why are athletes allowed to return to college after participating for an NFL ? TIP OR NO TIP. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is money still supposed to do after it has already bought financial security? A larger balance sheet can expand your options, but it cannot decide which options make a life meaningful.Brian Portnoy, PhD, CFA, is the founder and CEO of Shaping Wealth, a global expert on the psychology of money, and the author of *The Geometry of Wealth*. After more than two decades across mutual funds, hedge funds, portfolio management, research, and investor education, Brian came to a blunt conclusion: investing is not only a math problem. It is a psychology problem.Sam and Brian examine "funded contentment", the ability to underwrite a meaningful life, and the four sources Brian uses to make that idea practical: connection, control, competence, and context. They discuss the moving definition of enough, what retirement can feel like when work supplied identity, and why experiences and relationships tend to outlast the pleasure of expensive objects.In this conversation:Why Brian left complex investment analysis for behavioral financeThe difference between being rich and being wealthyHow funded contentment turns meaning into a financial questionThe four C's: connection, control, competence, and contextWhy many of life's most valuable experiences carry a modest price tagRetiring from a career versus retiring toward a next chapterHow a $100 million portfolio can coexist with an empty lifeWhy the payoff from a luxury purchase often moves beyond the objectThe missing complexity premium in alternative investmentsWhy doing nothing may be the hardest part of compoundingIlliquidity as both behavioral guardrail and portfolio riskWhat volatility laundering hides in private-market reportingWhy investing outside a plan is speculationThe advisor's role as planner and behavioral coachHow social comparison turns everyone into your financial neighborTopics covered: psychology of money, behavioral finance, funded contentment, rich versus wealthy, financial planning, retirement purpose, alternative investments, complexity premium, private-market illiquidity, volatility laundering, investor behavior, wealth managementGuest: Brian Portnoy, PhD, CFA, founder and CEO of Shaping Wealth - https://www.shapingwealth.com/Newsletter: https://www.mechanicsofmoney.co  Website: https://silvermancapital.comSubscribe to Mechanics of Money for weekly conversations on private markets, alternative investments, and the mechanics behind building real wealth.#behavioralfinance #psychologyofmoney #fundedcontentment #financialplanning #alternativeinvestments #privatemarkets #wealthmanagement #investorbehavior #mechanicsofmoney

Patrick Teahan is a childhood trauma therapist, educator, and content creator known for helping people understand how dysfunctional family systems shape mental health, relationships, addiction, and emotional patterns in adulthood. Drawing from both his professional experience and his own recovery from childhood trauma and addiction, Patrick makes complex psychological concepts accessible through practical, relatable language. His work focuses on childhood trauma recovery, inner child work, dysfunctional family rules, emotional neglect, boundaries, estrangement, and rebuilding a healthier sense of self. Today on the show we discuss: refrigerator buzz depression and how to recognize it, how childhood trauma fuels addiction and emotional shutdown, the hidden family rules that shape adult relationships, when estrangement from a parent may be necessary, how to rebuild damaged family relationships with boundaries and realistic expectations, how trauma therapy and inner child work can help you heal and much more. Today's sponsor: ⁠⁠Waking Up ⁠⁠ Join me on my meditation journey and get your free 14-day trial here: ⁠⁠https://wakingup.go2cloud.org/SH1L⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One woman came in with years of therapy behind her. The other had never really tried. Here's what the same 10 weeks did for both of them. Episode Description: You've heard what the framework teaches. Now hear what it's actually like to live inside it for 10 weeks. Elizabeth and Mary sat down to share their honest stories, the reservations, the surprises, and the wins that stuck. In this episode: Hear two very different reasons women decide to join the Academy, and why both are valid Understand the real difference between the Academy and therapy, straight from women who've done both Learn how honest financial and logistical reservations get worked through Walk away with an honest picture of what changes, and what the work actually requires Resources mentioned: The four steps and the pain cycle, part of the framework developed by Dr. Terry Hargrave Made Whole Academy Love, Brittany Ready to go deeper? Here's where to start: The Unstuck Workshop — $37 and self-paced. If you want to finally understand why you keep feeling stuck and walk away with a tool to actually change it, this is your first step.  Made Whole Academy — The full 10-week journey. Real tools, real community, and lasting change. Applications are open.  Free Quiz: What's Actually Keeping You Stuck? — Not sure where to start? Take the quiz and find out.  Find everything else at madewholepath.com and come say hi on Instagram at @madewholepath. If this episode helped you, share it with a friend who needs it. That's how women like us find each other.

Why do so many people have everything they thought they wanted and still feel empty? In this episode of Talk'N Truth, Dan Whitney (aka Larry the Cable Guy), Bryan Clark, and Arnie Cole continue their journey through the Gospel of Mark and explore the meaning, purpose, and freedom Jesus offers to people willing to follow Him.As Jesus begins His ministry, He doesn't gravitate toward the powerful or impressive. He heals the sick, welcomes the broken, and even reaches out to touch a leper whom everyone else considered untouchable. The conversation explores what these encounters reveal about the compassion of Jesus and why the marginalized, hurting, and forgotten so often found Him irresistible.Dan shares how returning to Jesus changed his own perspective on success, purpose, and freedom, while Arnie and Bryan discuss how Christians can represent Christ through compassion toward people society often overlooks. Together, they challenge listeners to look beyond cultural caricatures of Christianity and investigate the Jesus revealed in Scripture.Following Jesus does come with a cost. But as Bryan puts it, the cost of refusing to follow Him may be far greater. If you've ever wondered whether surrendering to Jesus means losing your freedom, or whether Christianity can really offer something better than living life on your own terms, this conversation invites you to discover the real Jesus for yourself.Perfect for viewers interested in:Gospel of Mark, who Jesus really is, following Jesus, surrendering to Christ, meaning and purpose, Christian faith, compassion of Jesus, spiritual freedom, biblical truth, and authentic Christianity.#BibleStudy #ChristianPodcast #TalkNTruth #LarryTheCableGuy #BryanClark #ArnieCole #GospelOfMark #FollowJesus #BiblicalTruth #ChristianLiving #JesusChrist #BackToTheBible

AP correspondent Rica Ann Garcia reports on Russia's consecutive jet-powered drone attacks on Ukraine that disrupt the daily life of Ukrainians.

Brian Nashel joins TESD to talk Paisan-Con, the Mafia, Midget wrestler funeral, diarrhea woman, Hulkamania, Walt likes/dislikes, Empty nest, anniversaries. theperfectjean.nyc code TESD15, https://public.liveread.io/media-kit/tesd, IG: @Tellemants

Something in your life may feel like it's already decided. It seems too late or too broken to fix. But what feels permanent isn't always final. God's not done. He's still writing your story. NEXT STEPS Have you made the decision to follow Jesus? You might be wondering what's next for you. We want to help! Check out these resources to ​​discover what saying yes to Jesus means: https://go2.lc/podcastcommittochrist ABOUT THIS MESSAGE Have you ever looked at your life and wondered where God was? You're not alone. In the book of Esther, God's name doesn't appear once, but His fingerprints are on every page. In this series, we'll learn how God showed up in what looked like an ordinary story—and it might change the way you see your own. A Simple Overview of Esther's Story: https://finds.life.church/esther-bible-story-explained/ Start the Bible Plan Esther: Trusting God When You're Running on Empty: https://www.go2.lc/plan ABOUT LIFE.CHURCH Wherever you are in life, you have a purpose. Life.Church wants to help you find your next step. Our hope is that your journey will include joining us at a Life.Church location throughout the United States or globally online at https://www.live.life.church Find locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/app/download FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/life.church Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/life.church TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lifechurch YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@life.church CONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIG GROESCHEL YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/craiggroeschel Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschel Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschel TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@craiggroeschel LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/35447748/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Learn about our Patreon Offers!: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/DistancetoEmptyPod ⁠⁠⁠Get some free DTE Swag by supporting out sponsors!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://janji.com/pages/distance-to-empty⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and be sure to select 'podcast' > 'Distance to Empty' on the post purchase "How did you hear about Janji" page. Thank you!Check out Mount to Coast here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mounttocoast.com/discount/Distance⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jeff Garmire and Allison Powell join Kevin on the day Rewritten premieres — the film Allison directed about Jeff's Appalachian Trail FKT, out now on the Free Outside YouTube channel.Please note: this episode includes candid discussion of depression and suicidal ideation. Resources are listed at the bottom of these notes and at the top of the episode.We start where the film starts: Denver, a corporate job, twelve-hour days, and the drive home where Jeff realized that if the worst option was on the table, then literally every other option was too. That realization became the 2016 calendar year Triple Crown, a dehydrator running before sunrise, a daily blog, and about $15,000 raised for suicide prevention — as much a way to open a conversation he didn't know how to start as it was a fundraiser.Then we get into the AT: fifty miles and roughly eleven thousand feet of gain a day for forty-five days, and the parade of things that went sideways. Two left shoes in a resupply box (meaning two right shoes were sitting somewhere else). A broken pole in Shenandoah. A missing box. InReach messages so garbled Allison couldn't tell if Jeff was typing fast or coming apart. And the text, two hundred miles from the finish, asking whether he should hike twenty miles backward to retrieve every piece of electronics he owned.Allison gives the crew-from-2,000-miles-away perspective that rarely makes it into these stories — staring at a dot, sleeping with the ringer on, waking at 4am Mountain in case something had gone wrong at 6am Eastern, and the night she ended up on her knees on an Airbnb staircase during her cousin's wedding weekend. Jeff talks about the six or seven months of mental work that let him rewrite his A goal mid-effort without it becoming soft quitting, why a "why" can be simple, and what five years of therapy has done for him.Also in here: how the film came together, Allison's pitch for more producers in adventure filmmaking, her Moab 240 and a hard-won love of red rocks, where the title came from (and Jeff's extensive brainstorming before agreeing she was right), and a stop-the-episode moment near the end when Allison catches us leaving out the small matter of the ring Jeff carried in his pack for the entire trail.Watch Rewritten on the Free Outside YouTube channel.Learn more about the Trevor Project or donate: https://www.thetrevorproject.orgMental health resourcesThe Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386, or text START to 678-678988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (US): call or text 988

Topic: Justification Whiskey Review: Monkey Shoulder the Original Check out our Substack: Manhood Neat Podcast  Follow us on all your podcast platforms and: Instagram: @manhoodneat X: Manhood Neat (@ManhoodNeat) / X Youtube: Manhood, Neat Podcast - YouTube Reach out: manhood.neat@gmail.com   Show Notes: Justification Salvation Justification - Sanctification - Glorification How are the benefits of the cross transferred into our lives or how does that saving work become ours? We are declared right before God by faith in Jesus Christ alone.  Justification by faith.  We do not achieve righteousness. We receive it.  The Performance Reward System Eph. 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” We are trained from early life to think about how performance produces reward.  From childhood on we learn: Behave well and receive praise Achieve and receive recognition Fail and experience disappointment Perform and prove your worth This framework has quietly shaped how we approach God.  Eph 2 destroys that logic. Its Salvation: By grace Through faith Not from ourselves Not by works Good works matter, but they come after Salvation, not before it.  They are the evidence of salvation and part of sanctification, not the basis. Have I done enough? No. Christ has.  The only thing we bring to our salvation is the sin that requires it A disciple obeys from acceptance, not for acceptance.  The Righteousness of God: Just and Justifier Rom. 3:21-26 “But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in[a] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,[b] through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” “The righteousness of God” is often misunderstood.  “God is righteous and we are sinful” This drives us into religious performance, trying to please a God that we fear we can never please. God feels: Difficult to please Perpetually disappointed Constantly evaluating Always waiting for improvement God is not only just, He is also the One who justifies. He gives us righteousness.  Our confidence must lie in Christ's completed work, not in our ability to satisfy.  God does not look at sinners and pretend no crime occurred.  We are “guilty as charged” And immediately we are told “ You are free. The payment has been made” Justice has not been ignored. It has been satisfied.  Forgiveness/Justification is not divine denial.  God remains perfectly just while also justifying sinners.  Redemption and Propitiation: Justice Meets Mercy Rom. 3:24-25 “24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,[a] through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—” Redemption is the price paid to set someone free. Christ's life becomes the ransom price for ours.  Propitiation is the satisfaction of righteous anger. We do not provide the sacrifice to satisfy God. The Father gave the Son  Christ bears the penalty Justice is satisfied Mercy is extended The cross says two things at once: Sin is more serious than we want to believe God loves us more deeply than we dare to imagine.  Faith in Jesus Christ Rom. 3: 21-31 “21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in[a] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,[b] through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law. Faith is the means by which the righteousness of Christ becomes ours. Faith is not: Temporary dependence Not an emergency phone call An intellectual agreement Knowing Christian facts is not the same thing as trusting yourself to Christ.  Saving faith has an object: Christ Do I have faith? Where or what is your faith placed in? Faith is an admission of Bankruptcy Saving faith means recognizing that our spiritual account is overdrawn We are bankrupt. Works-based religion says: “Let me show God I can make this right” Faith says” “ I have nothing with which to make myself right” Saving faith is abandoning self-righteousness and ego and throwing ourselves at the foot of the cross and asking for mercy.  We all come to Christ the same way. Empty handed.  There is no room for spiritual superiority when everybody got in the same way.  Faith Produces Obedience - Sanctification Rom. 1:5 “5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from[a] faith for his name's sake.” Faith is not passive. Faith means putting our entire life at Christ's disposal. Trust Dependence Commitment Surrender Obedience does not create justification Real faith does produce an obedient life.  Grace and obedience are not enemies.  Works cannot save us.  Resting in the Finished Verdict.  Rom. 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” We can trust ourselves: Our goodness Our effort Our ability to control outcomes Our religious performance. Or we can trust Christ. To trust in Christ means to relinquish control and receive His righteousness as a gift.  Christ righteousness has credited our account and we are “Paid in full” Justification gives us something the performance-reward system never can: Rest.  No more endless “Have I done enough?” We stop trying to impress God. We live faithfully because Christ has secured a place for us before God.  Closing Thoughts: Justification means the full truth about us is known: Guilty.  And because of Christ, another verdict is spoken: Free.  The righteousness we could never produce has been given to us.  Questions: Where do I still approach God through a performance-reward mindset? When I fail, do I run toward God or try and fix things myself? What am I most tempted to trust besides Christ? Where should my faith be producing more visible obedience?

Running on Empty

Matthew 28:1-9 Juan Hernández August 30, 2026

In this episode of John Solomon Reports, we dive into the crucial geopolitical shifts impacting America's energy landscape. Host John Solomon discusses Canada's recent idle threats to withhold crude oil from the U.S., framing it as a hollow gesture given their reliance on American refining capabilities. In a powerful counter-move, President Trump announces the U.S. will take ownership stakes in significant oil fields in Venezuela, a game-changing development that signals a new era in energy independence.The episode features an insightful conversation with energy expert Sam Romain, who breaks down the implications of the Venezuela deal and why Canada's threats lack substance. As we approach the somber 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Solomon reflects on the lasting impact of that day on national security and the ever-evolving threats we face, including cyber attacks and drone warfare. Chairman Rick Crawford of the House Intelligence Committee joins to discuss a rare field hearing at the Flight 93 memorial, emphasizing the importance of vigilance against terrorism.In the latter segments, cultural commentator J. P. De Gance weighs in on current societal debates, while insights on the economy are provided, particularly regarding fluctuating oil prices and their effects on gold markets. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The emptiness you feel after finally reaching a goal isn't proof you aimed too low or that you should be more grateful — it's information about the goal itself. In this episode, Brett Ingram makes the case that a hollow "arrival" almost always means one of three things: the goal was never really yours, it was standing in for a feeling it could never actually deliver, or you never designed a life to live on the other side of it. Once you can tell which one you're dealing with, you stop needing a bigger goal to quiet the feeling. What You'll Learn in This Episode Why the flat, hollow feeling after a real achievement isn't a character flaw or a sign of ingratitude — it's a signal worth reading The "arrival fallacy," the psychological term for expecting a goal to deliver lasting happiness it was never going to deliver Why hedonic adaptation means your baseline quietly rises with every win, so the gap you're chasing never actually closes Why "set a bigger goal" — the standard advice for feeling flat — is often the thing keeping you on the treadmill instead of getting you off it The three reasons an achievement leaves you empty: the borrowed goal, the proxy goal, and the undesigned after Three honest questions to ask about any achievement that didn't land the way you expected What the longest-running study of adult life found actually predicts a life that feels good to live Episode Timestamps [0:00] The empty summit — crossing the line and waiting for a feeling that doesn't come [1:00] Why almost nobody admits this out loud [3:00] Tom Brady's three championships and "there's gotta be more than this" [4:00] The arrival fallacy, and why the feeling is half true [4:00] Hedonic adaptation — why your baseline moves the moment you level up [6:00] Why "set a bigger goal" is the trap dressed up as ambition [8:00] Reason #1 — the borrowed goal you never actually chose [9:00] Reason #2 — the proxy goal standing in for a feeling [11:00] Reason #3 — the undesigned after, and arriving with nothing built on the other side [12:00] Three questions to diagnose your own empty summit [14:00] What an 80-year study says actually predicts a good life [15:00] Rosebud, and the question worth sitting with instead of chasing the next goal Episode Summary There's a specific kind of disappointment nobody warns you about: the one that shows up after you win. You set the goal, put in the years, and crossed the line on some ordinary afternoon — and the feeling you'd been promised, the one that was supposed to make all of it worth it, either never arrived or left after about a Tuesday. This episode makes the case that the emptiness isn't a character flaw, and it isn't a sign you should have aimed higher. It's a signal, and once you can read it, you stop needing a bigger goal to quiet it. Brett opens with why this stays private. Admitting "I got what I wanted and I feel hollow" sounds like a humble brag to everyone who's still chasing what you already have, so people carry it quietly instead of talking about it — which is exactly why it deserves an honest conversation. And it isn't rare, even at the very top. In a 2005 60 Minutes interview that people still reference twenty years later, a 27-year-old Tom Brady, three Super Bowl rings in, asked on camera: "Why do I have three of these and still think there's something greater out there? God, it's gotta be more than this." If it happens at the top of a mountain millions of people are climbing, it isn't a personal failure — it's a human one. Psychologist Tal Ben-Shahar has a name for the specific mistake underneath it: the arrival fallacy — the false belief that reaching a goal will produce a lasting sense of happiness or completion. He coined it partly from his own experience as an elite squash player, winning again and again and feeling great for a night before the emptiness moved back in. The fallacy is convincing because it's half true — you do get a real hit of something when you win. It's just short-lived by design, thanks to hedonic adaptation: the well-documented tendency for humans to adjust to a new normal shockingly fast, whether that's a new salary, a new title, or a harder season of life. Every time you level up, your baseline quietly levels up with it, so the gap you're chasing never actually closes. That's not a bug — it's the same mechanism that helps people recover from hardship. It's just badly matched to a life built entirely around bigger wins. Here's where Brett pushes back on the standard advice. The mainstream playbook has one answer for the empty summit: set a bigger goal. Feel flat? Aim higher. But if the real problem is a finish line that keeps moving, running faster toward a farther finish line isn't the exit from the treadmill — it's a description of it. The bigger goal is the softer, more socially acceptable version of the hustle trap: it looks like ambition and gets applauded as ambition, but it functions as avoidance, keeping you from ever sitting with the signal and figuring out what it's actually saying. So what is it saying? Brett offers three answers, not a system — call them the borrowed goal, the proxy goal, and the undesigned after. The borrowed goal was never really yours. You inherited it — from a parent, a peer group, an industry, or a younger version of yourself trying to prove something — and you optimized brilliantly toward someone else's blueprint. The tell is relief mixed with resentment instead of joy: a quiet "was that it?" paired with "why did I let that run me?" The proxy goal was yours, but it was standing in for something else — safety, being enough, respect, being chosen, being done proving yourself. Achievements are very good at delivering achievements and surprisingly bad at delivering worth, so you get the title or the number and the actual feeling you wanted doesn't come with it, because it was never for sale at that store. The tell: the external thing arrives and the internal need is still standing there, unmet. The undesigned after is the case where the goal was genuinely yours and wasn't standing in for anything — it still felt empty because every ounce of attention, structure, and identity was pointed at the peak, and nothing was built for the other side of it. The scaffolding that organized your days disappears overnight, and what rushes in isn't peace, it's a void. This is the post-launch crash, the post-graduation dip, the flatness after the big project ships. The tell: you don't regret the goal, you just don't know who you are or what the days are for now that it's done. The practice Brett offers is three honest questions, asked once, about whatever achievement left you flat: Was this goal mine, or did I inherit it? What did I actually want this to make me feel — name the real word? And did I build anything to walk into on the other side of this? Most people find that one of the three lights up immediately, and the one that stings is usually the closest to the truth. Each diagnosis points to different work: a borrowed goal calls for an honest values conversation with yourself, not a new goal; a proxy goal calls for meeting the real need directly instead of routing it through one more accomplishment; and an undesigned after calls for designing the after on purpose — relationships, rest, and meaning that don't depend on the next milestone. Brett closes with a finding from the longest-running study of adult life, tracking people for more than eighty years: the strongest predictor of a life that felt good to live wasn't achievement — it was the quality of people's relationships. Which means the empty summit might be doing you a favor, pointing out that the scoreboard was never where the meaning lived. As Brett puts it, borrowing the image from Citizen Kane — a man who built an empire and died reaching for a word from his childhood — the flat feeling on the far side of a win isn't your enemy. It's your own life asking a better question than "what's next": what was this actually for? Resources Mentioned The arrival fallacy — term coined by positive psychologist Tal Ben-Shahar for the false belief that reaching a goal produces lasting happiness  Tom Brady's 2005 60 Minutes interview — the "there's gotta be more than this" moment referenced in the episode  Hedonic adaptation / the hedonic treadmill — the body of research on how quickly people adjust to a new baseline after major life changes  Harvard Study of Adult Development — the 80+ year longitudinal study finding relationship quality as the strongest predictor of a good life  Citizen Kane (1941) — the "Rosebud" reference used to close the episode  Frequently Asked Questions Why do I feel empty or disappointed after finally reaching a goal I worked hard for? It's a well-documented pattern called the arrival fallacy — the false belief that hitting a goal will produce lasting happiness or completion. The letdown almost never means you aimed too low; it usually means the goal was borrowed from someone else, was standing in for a feeling like safety or worth that achievement can't actually deliver, or you never designed anything to live for on the other side of it. What is the arrival fallacy? It's a term coined by psychologist Tal Ben-Shahar for the false belief that reaching a goal will bring lasting happiness or a sense of completion. He named it partly from his own experience as an elite athlete — winning repeatedly, feeling great for a night, and then feeling the emptiness return. What is hedonic adaptation, and why does it stop achievements from making me happier long-term? Hedonic adaptation is the human tendency to adjust to a new normal — a new salary, title, or circumstance — remarkably fast. It means your baseline quietly rises every time you level up, so the emotional gap you're chasing never actually closes, no matter how much you achieve. Why doesn't setting a bigger goal fix the empty feeling after achieving something? If the real problem is a finish line that keeps moving, running toward a farther finish line doesn't get you off the treadmill — it just describes the treadmill. Setting a bigger goal often functions as avoidance: it looks like ambition, but it keeps you from sitting with the signal long enough to understand what it's actually telling you. What's the difference between a "borrowed goal" and a "proxy goal"? A borrowed goal was never really yours to begin with — you inherited it from a parent, peer group, or an earlier version of yourself, and the tell is relief mixed with resentment instead of joy. A proxy goal was genuinely yours, but it was standing in for a feeling like safety, worth, or respect — you get the achievement, but the actual feeling you wanted doesn't come with it. What questions should I ask if an achievement left me feeling hollow? Ask three things, honestly: Was this goal mine, or did I inherit it? What did I actually want this achievement to make me feel — name the real word? And did I build anything to walk into on the other side of this goal? Whichever question stings the most is usually pointing at the truth. What actually predicts a happy, meaningful life if it's not achievement? The longest-running study of adult development, tracking participants for more than eighty years, found that the strongest predictor of a life that felt good to live wasn't career achievement or wealth — it was the quality of people's relationships. Keep Exploring If this episode resonated, these are worth your time: Why Am I So Tired When There's Nothing Actually Wrong With Me? — goes deeper on what happens when your identity and structure are built entirely around striving, and nothing's left in the tank once you stop  The Attention Economy — explores another way modern life quietly sets the goalposts for you before you've asked whether they're actually yours  Why Can't I Stop Replaying That Conversation in My Head? — unpacks the nervous-system side of chasing a finish line that never lets you feel done  Enjoyed This Episode? The best way to support optYOUmize is to subscribe and leave a review — it takes about two minutes and makes a real difference in helping more people find the show. Apple Podcasts · Spotify · Amazon Music · YouTube Leave a Review →

Five years after the bombing at Abbey Gate, 13 Gold Star families are still waiting for a real, bipartisan accounting of what happened during the withdrawal from Afghanistan — and of the two decades of war that led to it. Paul Rieckhoff sits down with Connell McShane on News Nation for the weekly Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Wednesday hit and refuses to let the anniversary pass as another partisan food fight. He walks through what he calls the great American betrayal of Afghanistan, the Afghan allies still hung out to dry at home and abroad, and why an honest after-action review matters more than another round of finger-pointing. From there, the conversation pivots to the story the legacy media keeps missing: independents are now the plurality in sixteen states, roughly 48% of the country, while Republicans and Democrats sit at 27% each. Ten thousand Americans leave the two parties every single week. Paul breaks down the new farm team of independent veteran candidates — Todd Achilles up 5 on Jim Risch in Idaho, Seth Bodnar in Montana, competitive races in Nebraska and South Dakota — and explains why a single independent win in November could break the logjam the way Joe Manchin, Angus King, and Jesse Ventura have shown is possible. This is the map of the movement the MAGA machine and the DNC both want you to ignore. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we're doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code [INDEPENDENT] to get ten dollars when you trade ten. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Join IVA and help us get independent veterans elected to office. -Learn more about Paul's work to elect a new generation of independent leaders with Independent Veterans of America. -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Remember Independent is an Attitude. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It's a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms Read more at Substack Support ad-free episodes at Patreon  Connect: Instagram  • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook  Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.  And now part of the BLEAV network!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

View This Week's Show NotesJuliet and I are officially empty nesters. Both girls are launched, the bathroom is clean every morning, and we're figuring out what the next phase looks like. It rhymes with dusk bike rides, protein shakes for dinner, and a cereal bar in Marin we somehow didn't know existed until now.We also revisited one of our longest-running household debates: women's pain tolerance. An Instagram infographic claiming childbirth equals breaking 20 bones made the rounds and reignited everything. We cover what the McGill pain scale actually says, why medical research has failed women on pain, and the full story of my eardrum, which ends with blood in the ER and a pain scale I have never quite recovered from.From there we got into our book Outplay and the data shaping every youth sports conversation right now. The number everyone cites is that 70% of kids drop out of sport by age 13. A researcher on LinkedIn tried to find the primary source and came up empty. So did researchers at the Aspen Institute. So did everyone else. We unpack what the CDC data actually shows and why citation drift doesn't mean youth sports is fine.The biggest chunk of this episode is something I wanted to make sure we gave real time to: what two years of running the Starrett System has actually taught us. Most people coming into the program weren't working a coherent physical practice at all. They might have been doing some weight training or riding a Peloton, but nobody was hitting all three legs of the longevity triangle: strength, conditioning, and mobility. Nobody was sprinting. And a lot of people believed that the moment they felt discomfort, they should stop.Watching that shift has been one of the most rewarding things we've done. Member Lily gained 5.4 pounds of lean mass in eight months. Cole said he's craving training every day for the first time. The fall cohort starts September 8th. Early bird: $200 off at starrettsystem.com.What You'll Learn in This EpisodeWhy the "70% of kids drop out of sports by age 13" statistic cited by the American Academy of Pediatrics and major sports governing bodies may have no verifiable primary source, and what the CDC and Aspen Institute data actually showsWhy the claim that childbirth equals breaking 20 bones is a myth, and what the McGill pain scale says is actually more painfulWhy medical research has historically underserved women on pain, and how self-reporting skews the pictureWhat two years of running the Starrett System revealed about what most people were actually missing in their physical practiceWhy having a strength practice, a conditioning practice, and mobility work are three separate things, and why most people were only doing one of themWhat the "longevity triangle" is and why most wellness and longevity conferences have almost no conversation about itHow teaching people to train around injuries and physical limitations, rather than stop, has been one of the biggest shifts for Starrett System membersWhy the program's nutrition approach centers on abundance and eliminating nothing, and what happens when people who have been chronically underfueling start eating enoughKey Highlights(00:00) Welcome to RECESS / Kelly and Juliet go officially empty nest(00:31) The bathroom story and Byron Katie's towel wisdom via Gabby Reese(03:19) Life as empty nesters: bike rides at dusk, protein shakes, cereal for dessert(04:43) Listener ask: send your best recipes for two(05:18) Women vs. men pain tolerance: the debate renewed(06:44) Kelly's eardrum story(08:57) McGill pain scale and Juliet's finger(11:11) Outplay: preparing families for youth sports(13:32) Pay-to-play, private equity, and the Norwegian youth sports model(16:26) The 70% dropout stat and its missing primary source(19:12) Starrett System: origin story from the YPO conference(26:48) Starrett System: member results and the September 8th fall cohort(30:41) Cereal bar in Marin and the great Raisin Bran debate(34:07) Wrap and early bird CTA

Most churches don’t start thinking about leadership development until a key person resigns. By then, the only real option is to post the role and hope someone qualified applies. In this special compilation episode, we’ve pulled together four conversations with leaders who have built the habit of developing people long before the seat opens up. The churches growing fastest right now are rarely the ones with the best job postings. They’re the ones who already know who’s next. Don’t miss the four critical lessons every church should consider as they head into fall hiring and budget planning. From the leadership model that quietly keeps benches empty to a mindset shift about where leaders actually come from to a challenge you could give your team on Monday to the structure that produces people you can genuinely put on payroll, each conversation offers a practical step forward. The Model Nobody Names Out Loud Tim Foot explains what he calls hero-driven leadership: the habit of relying too heavily on standout individuals to carry the mission. It produces short-term results, but it creates burnout, unrealistic hiring expectations, and fragile systems. What makes it so hard to escape is that it feels good. It feels productive to be the person who solves the problems and holds the answers. Foot also names the “shiny object trap,” where churches chase talent from larger organizations only to discover that the leader arrives with a playbook that doesn’t fit and no systems to support them. Key Takeaway // Hero dependence is a staffing strategy, whether or not anyone chose it on purpose. Healthy teams are built when leaders get comfortable saying they don’t know what to do next, because that’s what opens the room for collaboration. Listen to the Full Episode // Hero Dependence Is a Terrible Growth Strategy with Tim Foot (June 18, 2026) The Leaders Are Already in Your Building Spence Shelton draws a parallel most church leaders have never made. We all agree that growing a church by reaching lost people beats growing it by transfer from other churches. Then, when it comes to leaders, we reverse the logic and look for someone who’s already trained elsewhere. Shelton makes the case for the shoulder tap: intentionally asking someone whether God might be calling them into ministry. At Mercy Church, both executive pastors and two of three campus pastors came out of the marketplace, from banking, plant management, and physical therapy. None of them would have applied. Somebody had to ask. Key Takeaway // Many future ministry leaders never consider vocational ministry because no one ever raised the possibility with them. Developing from within takes longer than hiring from outside, and it produces leaders shaped by your church’s culture rather than someone else’s. Listen to the Full Episode // Stop Plucking Talent, Start Developing It with Spence Shelton (August 6, 2026) The Challenge That Costs Nothing Chris Vaught faced the constraint every growing church knows well. Connection Point was growing fast, but budget always arrives last, and southeastern Missouri isn’t a place people relocate to for a ministry position. So the church started looking at its own congregation and treating volunteers as unpaid staff with real roles and responsibilities. The starting point was a single challenge to every staff member: go find your Timothy. One person you invest in deeply enough that if you were out on a Sunday, the ministry would still run. Key Takeaway // A leadership pipeline doesn’t have to begin with a budget line. It can begin with one question asked of every staff member about who could carry their ministry if they weren’t there next weekend. Listen to the Full Episode // From 300 to 2,500: Building a Leadership Pipeline That Fuels Growth with Chris Vaught (September 25, 2025) Training Is Not Development Dave Miller draws a distinction that reframes what most churches call leadership development. Churches are excellent at training: the sermon, the class, the book of the month, the small group discussion. All of it is content delivery, and content has never been more available. Development is something else. Miller’s team identifies seven ingredients: training, spiritual formation, soft skills, ownership, mental wellness, and developmental conversations. He also challenges leaders on where accountability sits. When a sports team wins, we talk about the players. When it loses, we replace the manager. Church leaders should apply the same standard to the people they’re developing. Key Takeaway // If content were the key ingredient, leadership development would already be solved. What emerging leaders need is proximity, ownership, and someone willing to slow down and have the conversation. Listen to the Full Episode // Who’s the Next You? Building a Gen Z Residency Pipeline with Dave Miller (September 11, 2025) These four conversations form a ladder, and you don’t have to start at the top. Most churches never start at all because they assume the only real option is a residency program they can’t yet afford. Tim named the model keeping your bench empty. Spence gave the mindset shift and the shoulder tap. Chris gave the first move that costs nothing. Dave gave the structure that produces people you can hire. As you head into this fall, the question worth bringing to your next staff meeting is simple: who on our team has never been tapped on the shoulder, and what would it take to have that conversation this month? Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I'm grateful for that. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they're extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: TouchPoint As your church reaches more people, one of the biggest challenges is making sure no one slips through the cracks along the way.TouchPoint Church Management Software is an all-in-one ecosystem built for churches that want to elevate discipleship by providing clear data, strong engagement tools, and dependable workflows that scale as you grow. TouchPoint is trusted by some of the fastest-growing and largest churches in the country because it helps teams stay aligned, understand who they're reaching, and make confident ministry decisions week after week. If you've been wondering whether your current system can carry your next season of growth, it may be time to explore what TouchPoint can do for you. You can evaluate TouchPoint during a free, no-pressure one-hour demo at TouchPointSoftware.com/demo. Episode Transcript Rich Birch — At the beginning of 2026, we surveyed executive pastors like you and nearly one in four named that staff health and structure, how we get our teams to work together was your top fear going into 2026. You know and I know it, you probably have an open role at your church that you’re trying to fill, or you’re maybe about to have an open role. When a key person leaves your team and your instinct is just to post it, what can we do?Rich Birch — Finding, releasing, equipping leadership is critically important. Welcome to the last compilation episode of summer 2026 here on the unSeminary podcast. Super excited about today’s conversation, all about developing leaders within our organizations.Rich Birch — I know that in many churches, we think of this as a season where new staff are hiring or we’re hiring them into new roles. We’re working on budget planning for next year. There’s all the fall ramp up.Rich Birch — All four of these conversations are going to be helpful for you. The first one, we’ve got Tim Foot. He is the CEO of Slingshot, has nearly 30 years in ministry leadership, and his team has literally worked with thousands of churches on staffing.Rich Birch — Listen to this kickoff to today’s conversation, really setting up the tension that we find ourselves in. He names the leadership model that most of us have absorbed without anyone talking about it out loud, and it could be derailing your church and my church. Let’s listen in to what Tim has to say about developing leaders. [Clip 1 Begins]Tim Foot — Yeah, I mean, the model we see is hero-driven leadership. It’s when we rely too much on individuals to actually carry the mission. And I think the cracks have happened.Tim Foot — I mean, we’ve seen it, Rich. You and I are similar ages. I think the cracks are happening generationally.Tim Foot — The builders and boomers were wired differently for a different time and culture. And us Gen Xers, we can code switch. I mean, we see that happening all the time.Tim Foot — And as we stepped into leadership, the cracks started to appear. I mean, we see it every week, another leader burning out, doing stupid things because of too much pressure. Then Millennials and Gen Z are now leading in a new way that we need to embrace.Tim Foot — And so I think we’re seeing those cracks around that hero dependence, and we’re starting to see the need more than ever to have a team awareness, a holistic approach, or we’re just going to have leaders continue to burn out. And we see it around unrealistic hiring expectations, lack of support for great leaders when they’re hired, a lack of development. Hero dependence is a terrible staffing and growth strategy and becomes a massive trap when it comes to a number of the key focus areas or patterns we’ve seen that healthy teams focus on a move mission forward.Rich Birch — Yeah, see, this is the thing when you I heard you say that once and it literally I sat up and I was like, oh, man, I’ve seen that in my own, you know, my own hiring. I’ve seen that in the way I’ve talked with, you know, I see the leaders around me. You see these people who they’ve kind of built the entire ministry around themselves and they’ve built it’s like it doesn’t work if they don’t. It’s like they’re such a unique individual. They have to lift it all. Rich Birch — Like, why do we keep coming back to that? Why? Even if we know like intellectually in our heads, yeah, that’s not a good idea.Rich Birch — But what makes that model so sticky? It feels like we just keep coming back to this same thing time. In fact, we actually reward it. We’ll be like, wow, isn’t that great? This person’s amazing. And we just kind of keep moving on. Why is that?Tim Foot — It’s the shiny object trap. I mean, the shiny object, aka the talented leader that we think is going to catapult the ministry. Often we see it in hiring conversations when a particular organization wants to go after somebody that’s been in a much bigger organization than them.Tim Foot — And often that person, if they can attract them, will come in with a playbook that isn’t uniquely suited to the organization they’re stepping into. Or there aren’t systems to support that new leader and the growth that’s going to happen. And burnout happens at every level.Tim Foot — But we both know, Rich, busy work makes us feel productive. But is it the right work? And we know that we can be ourselves the shiny object. It feels good to be the hero. It feels good to be the one that’s solving problems. It feels good to be the one that has all the answers.Tim Foot — And I think that’s one of the biggest threats in healthy leadership today, is feeling like you have to have all the answers. Because I think one of the most powerful statements from healthy leaders and healthy teams is, Hey, we don’t know what to do next. Because it actually opens up the room for new thought. It opens up the room for collaboration. And it opens up the room for teamwork. Tim Foot — But it’s easier to move quick. It’s easier to move quick and be surrounded by people who agree and play it safe. And then down the road, we realize that we weren’t growing in every sense of that word. And the mission was stalled out.Tim Foot — We know we often have to slow down, re-strategize, look at who’s around the table, work out how we work together to move faster in the long term. We have to be vulnerable to make a team work. And sometimes it requires us to actually help others win than focus on heroes.Tim Foot — I mean, you think about a winning sports team. It’s not about just one person out there doing all the work. We’ve got to work together as a team.Tim Foot — You know, it’s how do we work together and have less dependence on that shiny object, those standout leaders or those heroes. [Clip 1 Ends]Rich Birch — Oh, so good. You know, Tim named something there. Man, it feels good to be the person with all the answers.Rich Birch — Can I have a little confessional time with you, friends? Earlier parts of my ministry career, I have really struggled with that. I wanted to be the person who had all the answers, but it’s a trap. And most of us find ourselves in it. Rich Birch — We’ve got to move beyond hero dependence, either wanting to be the hero or to find heroes. It’s not a character flaw. It’s a system that ultimately rewards the wrong thing. Rich Birch — So the question that I have is what is the alternative? Where do we go if we’re not just trying to hire the next shiny object?Rich Birch — The thing that will, the person that will, you know, plug in like a thing, where do leaders actually come from? I love this conversation coming up with Spence Shelton as the lead pastor of Mercy Church in Charlotte, planted in 2015, now three campuses online, plus launching a family of churches. I want you to listen for a few things.Rich Birch — First of all, Spence parallels, makes a parallel that I really have not heard many people say between how we think about reaching people who are far from God and how we think about finding leaders and how these two are connected. Listen carefully for the shoulder tap that he talks about. You know, oftentimes one of the things I find most revealing about podcast interviews is people say things just in the sides that really do under that, that give you a sense of what’s actually going on under the hood and pay attention to where his executive pastor campus pastors come from.Rich Birch — Let’s listen in to what Spence Shelton has to say. [Clip 2 Begins]Spence Shelton — I think that mentality starts all the way down to the idea of reaching people that don’t know Christ versus just sheep swapping from one church to the other church, right? So you can grow your church by transfer growth, which I actually am one who, hey man, if somebody’s on the sideline in one church and then they plug into your church, I’m all for it. And if the same thing happens with Mercy, all for it.Spence Shelton — But our aim, what we all know as pastors and ministry leaders is our aim is, man, let’s reach lost people and then disciple them, right? The same thing I think should be true with leadership development. For some reason, when it comes then to developing leaders, we tend to go a different direction and think, well, let’s just go find where some leaders are and get them to plug in.Spence Shelton — It’s like, we don’t do that even with discipleship. Why are we switching our mindset? And so I want to just kind of, I have to, I was convicted and wanted to call our church and I would call others to the same mindset that you have with discipleship.Spence Shelton — Let that carry over into your leadership and your leadership development as well. And I think that’s how we’re going to grow, just as how we’re going to grow the kingdom by reaching lost people, how we’re going to grow the leaders in the kingdom, the number of leaders we have, it’s going to be developing them in our church. And I just, I don’t know that we’re even thinking that way and asking the question, is the guy who’s a 27-year-old physical therapist in my church, has anybody ever bothered to tap him on the shoulder and ask, Hey man, could God be calling you into ministry because I watch you?Spence Shelton — And no, we’re not doing the shoulder tap, man. And so, um, our right now, I just, I love it. I’m just a little bit of the story of our church. Our exec, both of our executive pastors and two of our three campus pastors were all in the marketplace. Spence Shelton — One of our executive pastors was in banking. Another was a plant manager. We have two campus pastors who were both, I use physical therapists cause they’re both former physical therapists. And you know, we’re sitting there having these conversations. You know, what makes a great pastor is someone who has sat with person after person, told them, Hey, you should do this to feel better.Spence Shelton — And then they come back to you later and say, Hey, I don’t feel better. And you say, did you do the thing I told you to do? And they say, no. And you say, well, you should have done that. Spence Shelton — And a patient long suffering physical therapist turns out to be a great pastor, but somebody has got to tap him on the shoulder and say, Hey man, I think God might be calling you into this. Spence Shelton — And so my, my encouragement to anybody who’s in ministry right now, kind of in that leadership development role. And you’re like, I don’t know, we’re going to have to go outside to find some talent. I promise it’s going to take longer the way I’m talking about. But if you will seek the Lord, ask the Lord, and then start shoulder tapping and giving some opportunities for guys to lead for men and women to lead there in your ministry and whatever the leadership roles might be. I think there might be more people in there than you realize, because I believe that God provides for the church that he’s growing, that he’s called you to lead. And so I think that’s true with leaders as well. [Clip 2 Ends]Rich Birch — Hey, friends, 9 out of 10 campus pastors, they do come from within. So if you are launching new locations in the future, man, we got to start developing campus pastors today. Rich Birch — But I know some of you are saying, listen, listen, listen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That all sounds good. Shoulder tapping. Great, great, great. Rich Birch — But how, how do I do it? How do I train my team to do it? How do we motivate, stay focused on this? Rich Birch — The gap that my, what I have found, it’s not desire. It’s not even understand that people don’t understand that that’s how we do it. It’s not a resistance to those things. It’s none of that. It’s just that nobody owns it because you see development is everyone’s job, which means that it’s nobody’s job.Rich Birch — It’s easy for this to fall through the cracks. Aren’t we all supposed to be developing leaders? So if we’re all developing leaders, my experience has been that means that really none of us are or we’re not doing it in a systematic way.Rich Birch — Super excited to have Chris Vaught with us. He is the lead pastor of Connection Point Church in Missouri. Listen, it grew from 300 people in 2011 to 2,500 today across multiple campuses.Rich Birch — And he outlines one challenge that Chris gave every staff member. And I really want you to listen carefully for this, because to be honest, this is pure unSeminary magic. This is like what I love about our podcast.Rich Birch — You could take this out of this interview today and put it into your next team meeting on Monday. Apply it to your church. Let’s listen in for what Chris wants to say to you about how we train people to shoulder tap, find leaders and release them. [Clip 3 Begins]Chris Vaught — You can only hire out so much, right? Because even though our church has grown fast, budget always comes up last. But you have to look at other avenues other than just, oh, I’ll hire another position.Chris Vaught — So we started looking at congregation. We began to develop our own leadership pathway or pipeline to develop not only volunteers, but our future staff. We knew we grew really fast. We need to hire from within, but we still couldn’t hire every position. Chris Vaught — So we started looking at our volunteers as almost as non-paid staff positions. And so we have an atmosphere of expectation of roles and responsibilities and also the value of what they’re doing.Chris Vaught — That the kingdom is dependent upon all of us using our gifts and talents. And so we started this pathway. And at first it was simply a challenge to every staff member. You go find your Timothy. You go find one other person that you can invest yourself into, a volunteer. Chris Vaught — So that if on Saturday night, and here was kind of the criteria for us: if on Saturday night, something were to happen and you catch COVID. Okay. We’re at that time. Could this ministry run the next day because of the person you have personally equipped… Rich Birch — I love that clarity. Chris Vaught — …to hold the ministry.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s so good.Rich Birch — We began to put those pieces together. That’s right. You go ahead. I cut you off there. Chris Vaught — No, no. I was just saying that’s what we began. We began this pipeline and that was really the basic level at first. Every staff member finding that one Timothy, if you will, if you want to use that terminology, that could run that ministry if you were out. [Clip 3 Ends]Rich Birch — See what I told you? The Saturday night test is literally the cheapest leadership development tool in this entire episode. If you do nothing else out of today’s episode, do that.Rich Birch — But I know, listen, there can be a gap on that, a ceiling. Finding your Timothy fills gaps, but it does not produce people necessarily kind of week-in, week-out that you could put on print a payroll. You need to also do some development. You need to have some intentional leadership development.Rich Birch — Most churches, again, think that they’re developing leaders, but they’re really just handing out books or running a monthly team meeting, that sort of thing. I want to introduce you, reintroduce you to my friend Dave Miller. He’s a former worship and creative arts pastor in Las Vegas, in Kentucky, in Michigan, and he and his team have worked with over 150 churches and over 160 residents.Rich Birch — What do we mean by residents? These are people that are in the pipeline for thinking clearly in their lives about joining your staff team or staff teams of another church somewhere across the country. He defines seven ingredients.Rich Birch — Listen, I had the honor of writing the foreword to Dave’s book, Who’s the Next You? I would highly recommend you pick up a copy of that and think through that. But let’s listen in a little bit of what Dave has to say today. [Clip 4 Begins]Dave Miller — Well, we would say there’s seven ingredients. There’s a chapter in the book, seven ingredients. You can get it on our website right now.Dave Miller — Seven ingredients of what we would say is leadership development. So what you’re talking about, really, a sermon is training, if you think about it, like in a, in a market sense, I’m going to talk at you for 35 minutes. There’s four points. It’s very good. It’s inspired. It’s like Ted, Ted, long Ted Talk every 52 times a year, plus Christmas Eve and whatever.Dave Miller — And I would just say, we call that training. Churches for a long time have done really, really well with training, right? It’s either it’s the sermon or it’s Sunday school. It’s even the AI delivered small group questions I get from my men’s group, right? Dave Miller — It is staff. When I say, do y’all do leadership development? Yeah. Tell me about that.Dave Miller — And they start talking about your book or Carey's book or Craig Groeschel's book. It’s a book of the month. It’s conversation. Even now, now we’ve taken training and we’re still delivering the content, but we’re discussing it and we’re filling in blanks. Right. And we do that. Dave Miller — And, or spiritual formation. I had a well-known keynote kind of person. We just need to disciple these kids and get out of their way. And I was like, Oh, neat. Actually we don’t. Dave Miller — We did that once. It’s called the Jesus movement. I think that was the Jesus movement or the Jesus people in the early seventies, which kind of mirrors what’s going on on college campuses, you think. Dave Miller — We don’t need to just disciple them and get… We got to go with them. So, so training, spiritual formation, soft skills, which is the pain point of all the bosses, the emotional lack of intelligence of things. Those would be the three core ones.Dave Miller — And then we have to provide best practices. We have to, we have to provide ownership, which is a big thing for us in our small business, small church world at the 12 month mark. When we’re saying, well, she just doesn’t get it. She didn’t get, Oh, what doesn’t she get? Dave Miller — He just doesn’t understand what… We talk about our downline people as if they’re executive leaders with 20 years of experience. It would be totally fine for someone to accuse me of something like that.Dave Miller — But like when we think of sports, we don’t talk about individual players. We talk about the coaches. When the team’s losing, whose fault is it? As a lifetime Cincinnati Reds fan we change the manager. We don’t talk about number 78 and 14. Dave Miller — When the team’s doing amazing, it’s about the player.He’s killing it. She’s killing it. He’s killing it. When the team is losing, we have to own it similarly.Dave Miller — This is on us. Rich Birch — Wow. Wow. Dave Miller — Mental wellness. One of the seven things, mental wellness. If you can’t prove to me that you know, I’m not, I’m not here giving you even a theological construct. Cause we work with all sorts of churches that believe all sorts of things, right? But mental health, if you can’t prove to me that you have a plan, at least, or you’ve thought about it, that’s gonna be a problem. We’re checking it on. Dave Miller — And then finally developmental conversations. This is not delivered only through training to your point. [Clip 4 Ends]Rich Birch — What a fantastic group of conversations. Just a thin slice of so many of the conversations we’ve had over the last year in this whole area. Rich Birch — Tim, he named the model that can keep your and my bench empty. Spence gave us the mindset shift and the shoulder tap. Chris gave us the simplest form of the really first move that costs you absolutely nothing. And Dave finally gave you the formal structure that produces people you could hire, put on your team long-term.Rich Birch — Listen, you do not need to start at the top. Most churches never start at all because they only think the real option is just going out and hiring people externally. Listen, really the question I want to leave you with is where Tim started us at the beginning.Rich Birch — Maybe dear listener, you are listening in today and you have the hero mindset. Maybe you need to start with you and figure out what you can do in your area to pass it all along. Listen, we’ve got links for all these four episodes in the show notes here at unSeminary.Rich Birch — We’re on a mission to help 100 churches grow by a thousand people. We do that through these free podcasts, courses, coaching, cohorts. We do a lot to try to get in your corner.Rich Birch — We’ve got so much coming up this fall. Stay tuned. Some great stuff coming your way to see your church be more effective.Rich Birch — Thanks so much, friends. Take care.

Are you tired of drowning in back-office busywork and wondering how AI can actually improve your freight operations without overcomplicating your daily workflows? Today, let's discuss the reality of freight automation with my guest, Alex Reed of Overroute, as we talk about how true AI in transportation is built not to replace but to empower people!  We get real about utilizing robotic process automation to 10x your output, strip the emotion out of your operational decisions, and meet your customers exactly where they are.  Whether you are a small brokerage or a massive enterprise, leveraging the right freight tech and supply chain automation tools is about simplifying the mundane so your team can focus on what actually drives revenue in this highly competitive trucking market.  If you want to stop over-engineering your business and start implementing tech that actually works, tune in to this episode!   About Alex Reed Alex Reed is the founding CEO of Overroute. He has spent his career commercializing technical software and optimization platforms in complex industrial environments. Previously, Alex was the founding CEO of Fluence Analytics, a Tulane spinout he led from lab-stage IP through global commercialization and acquisition by Yokogawa Electric Corporation in 2023. Earlier, he was Associate Director for Operations and Strategy at Tulane-PolyRMC. He was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 (2016), serves as Entrepreneur in Residence at the Lepage Center at Tulane University, and advises founders and investors across deep tech and AI, both personally and through Founder Sherpas.   Connect with Alex Website: https://www.overroute.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/overroute/  

Learn about our Patreon Offers!: ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/DistancetoEmptyPod ⁠⁠Get some free DTE Swag by supporting out sponsors!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://janji.com/pages/distance-to-empty⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and be sure to select 'podcast' > 'Distance to Empty' on the post purchase "How did you hear about Janji" page. Thank you!Check out Mount to Coast here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mounttocoast.com/discount/Distance⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Part of our miniseries on The Cutoff, the new Aravaipa/Dylan Harris film. Kevin and Peter sit down with Robby Chaney, who describes himself as a runner, hiker, and death marcher, and who has spent more time chasing cutoffs than almost anyone in the sport.Robby's first trail race was a 40K in 2018 that went so badly he wrote off trail running entirely. New shoes he'd never worn, a vest he'd never used, and temperatures over 100 degrees. Then a volunteer request for a race called Cocodona 250 landed in his inbox, and the number stuck in his head. Six years later he has four 200-mile finishes, a starring role in a film about the very thing he's spent his career outrunning, and a 2026 Grand Slam on the calendar.We get into what the back of the pack actually looks like from the inside: 100-plus hour races, aid stations where you turn around and walk straight back out, and the compounding physical, mental, and emotional cost of days on course. Robby also walks us through his 2025 Cocodona, where he made it to roughly mile 220 before his lungs quit on him in Walnut Canyon. Pulse ox in the low 80s, an IV, and a search and rescue extraction. (Peter, who also got to mile 220 and didn't finish, offers a competing explanation for his own DNF: he got tired.)The conversation closes somewhere we didn't expect. In 2002, Robby was stabbed by a stranger and left bleeding on the street. He woke up in the ICU and was told he'd probably never walk again. He used a cane for years. He turned 50 last month and is signed up for close to a thousand miles of racing.In this episode:(01:15) Aspirational ultrarunner: what "death march" actually means(02:26) What people get wrong about the back of the pack(05:41) From a miserable 40K to signing up for a 250(08:25) Coldwater Rumble 2024 and learning what a cutoff is mid-race(11:04) Respecting the cutoff without fearing it(13:37) DNFs as data points, and the trekking poles that cost him Mogollon Monster(16:27) Getting the email from Dylan and Emily, mid-race, on a ridgeline(19:40) What happened in Walnut Canyon(23:37) 2002, the ICU, and the twenty-year road backThe Cutoff is out from Aravaipa. Follow Robby's 2026 season with us.

What if the exhaustion you're feeling isn't really about being tired… but about achievement that's stopped delivering anything on the inside (even while it still looks successful from the outside)?  Today I'm joined on the podcast by Paige Frederica, a 2025 graduate of our Coaching Certification & a former professional dancer of 17 years, who now works with high-achieving women navigating exactly this kind of depletion. During today's episode we explore: Why achievement can quietly turn hollow even when it's working & the wins keep coming What actually gets harder for high achievers in burnout: not motivation, but disconnection from their own inner knowing Paige's definition of rest & why it's important for your next chapter  Reconnecting to your own intuition and creative direction: A simple practice for busy women    Enjoy the ep!  Jenna    Resources mentioned:  Paige Fredrika - Website | Instagram | Feminine Archetype Quiz  Jenna Ward - Website | Instagram  Feminine Embodiment Coaching Certification - professional training  Graduate Spotlight - more stories from past graduates

What happens when religious activity takes the place of Christ? In Colossians 2:16-23, Paul warns believers against empty forms of religion that may appear spiritual but cannot truly transform the heart. Whether through legalism, false spirituality, or man-made rules, anything that draws our focus away from Christ ultimately leaves us empty. Jesus is not simply part of the Christian life—He is enough. Join us as we continue our verse-by-verse study through the book of Colossians in our series, Christ Above All.

By 2031, public schools could lose another 3.4 million students to falling birth rates and rising homeschool numbers. Kevin and Danny make the case that this isn't just a trend; it's a values shift. They tackle the topics of trusting God with family size, wrestling with anger and control as a parent, and why every inconvenient child is a gift.

Anna's dad is digging in woods for mushrooms to eat. She is now scared for his life. And her own if he tried to feed it to her unknowingly.  Raven has been telling his friends what to gift his son for his upcoming wedding. He is worried they will embarrass him so he's being straightforward with them! Is this crazy?  The moment we've all been waiting for! Producer Justin and Raven have both been growing out their mustaches to achieve their “Ted Lasso” inspired look for the last 14 days. Today, the verdict is in! Are they uncool now? Anna and Raven give Gen Z Producer Sophia 10 millennial trends and she will deem them IN or OUT! Anna and Raven saw a very attractive man recently, be he had one very large red flag. His skinny jeans. That being said, what's your biggest ick?  Parents are fighting for schools to make recess even longer. Lot of learning lessons happen on the playground! Anna, Raven, Producer Justin and producer Sophia all discuss their recess learning lessons! Empty threats... or not! Anna overheard a mom threaten her child with taking away a birthday party later in the day. That isn't happening! What was the threat your parents gave you that they actually went through with?  Mark's buddy is getting married and so far, he's had a stag party, registered for a ton of outrageous things (including a Jeep and a honeymoon) and now has asked his groomsmen to pitch in to cover his expenses for his bachelor party trip to Vegas. Mark's wife, Caroline, says it's obnoxious and that the least he can do is pay his own travel costs. Mark says it's his wedding, and he's a groomsman, what's another $300 to cover his portion at this point? She says it's the principle, what do you think? Jason has a chance to win $2,300! All he has to do is answer more pop culture questions than Raven in Can't Beat Raven!   

What happens when consistency stops serving the mission and starts becoming an obligation? After more than 200 episodes of the Level Up + Live Podcast, I caught myself asking a question I think every entrepreneur and leader eventually needs to ask: Am I doing this because it still matters—or because I've always done it? In this episode, I unpack something I've been wrestling with personally: the difference between meaningful consistency and simply checking the box. I've felt the pressure to always have the next podcast ready. I've held business meetings because that's what we'd always done. I've kept habits long after they stopped serving the person I was trying to become. And eventually I realized: Meaningful consistency beats empty consistency. Consistency matters. Discipline matters. Measuring what matters. But only when it's connected to the mission. In this episode, we unpack: When discipline quietly becomes obligation Why some of our strongest habits eventually need to change How to recognize when you're producing just to produce Why leaders need to continually evaluate meetings, routines, and commitments The hidden cost of saying yes to things that no longer serve the mission Why protecting the mission matters more than protecting the metric Here's the question I want you to leave with: What are you still producing that no longer serves your mission? Your time and energy are two of your greatest resources. Don't spend them simply checking boxes. Protect the mission. Not just the metric. If this episode challenged you, share it with another entrepreneur, business owner, or leader who needs to hear it. And if you're looking for a room where business owners challenge one another to grow—not just in business, but in leadership, health, relationships, and life—we'd love to have you experience the Level Up + Live Mastermind as our guest. Be Our Guest: https://www.levelupandlive.com/lul-mastermind-group

By 2031, public schools could lose another 3.4 million students to falling birth rates and rising homeschool numbers. Kevin and Danny make the case that this isn't just a trend; it's a values shift. They tackle the topics of trusting God with family size, wrestling with anger and control as a parent, and why every inconvenient child is a gift.

By 2031, public schools could lose another 3.4 million students to falling birth rates and rising homeschool numbers. Kevin and Danny make the case that this isn't just a trend; it's a values shift. They tackle the topics of trusting God with family size, wrestling with anger and control as a parent, and why every inconvenient child is a gift.

What happens when your calendar is full, your days are busy, and your life looks full from the outside… but somehow, you still feel empty?In this episode of Dr. Davina's Dots, we reflect on the idea that sometimes we become so busy doing, going, achieving, and taking care of everything that we forget to ask ourselves whether the things filling our days are actually filling us.Take a little time to slow down, reflect, and enjoy an hour of thoughtful reflections and relaxing jazz as we consider what it really means to live a life that feels as full on the inside as it looks on the outside.Musical Selections includes Hypnotic feat Adrian Crutchfied feat Nicholas Cole Daydreams Randy Scott feat Cindy Bradley Ascend Demetrius Nabors Mike Levine Dreams Dance Lemek eat Ryan La Valette Gratitude Marcus Click Silky Smooth Jeff Logan Conversation C Andrews Publishing Secret Sauce Lowell Hopper The perfect Love Pamela Williams Nelson Rangell Grace Narobie Mr. Horn feat Nils & Ragan Whiteside Marcia Miget Somewhere over the rainbow If today's reflection resonated with you, you'll find similar calming thoughts throughout my books, created to offer gentle perspective, emotional clarity, and meaningful encouragement for everyday life and leadership.My books are designed to help you slow down, reflect deeply, and reconnect with what truly matters, whether you're navigating personal growth, professional demands, or simply seeking a quieter mind in a busy world.You can explore my full collection of books, reflections, and creative experiences at www.drdavinasdots.comUntil next time Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're talking about parallels to modern book collecting, investing, and Johnny's Empty Slot Effect (tm)

Are you trying to fill an eternal void with temporary fixes, only to find yourself still searching for real meaning? Join Pastor Jeff Vines as he unpacks Daniel 5 to expose the emptiness of worldly solutions and reveal how surrendering your life to Jesus brings the ultimate hope, purpose, and peace your soul is longing for.Did you decide to follow Jesus after listening to this? Let us help you get started on your journey at https://oneandall.church/jesus Join our global online community https://discord.gg/vvrwf6N Sign up to receive weekly content from ONE&ALL straight to your inbox | http://bit.ly/oneandallemailAsk us a question! Email media@oneandall.church

Two scientists just argued the brain might not produce consciousness at all. One says mind is a basic feature of the universe. The other says our endless obsession with consciousness is the fingerprint it leaves on the physical world. Tonight we follow that paper trail straight back into folklore, where the philosophical zombie, the golem, the out-of-body cord, and the ancient work of soul retrieval are all circling the same empty chair. What is the difference between a soul and a perfect imitation of one? And who goes to get you back when you don't return?

Welcome to the Saltbox Church Podcast. We desire to lead people to become fully surrendered disciples of Jesus. On our channel, you'll learn how to read and understand the truths of the Bible from Pastor Michael Mattis and other members of our teaching team. You can expect to walk away with a deeper understanding of the things of God, but challenged to live a surrendered life. We cover topics such as the will of God, mental health, women in leadership, Christianity vs. other faith traditions and many other in-depth studies of scripture. -------------------------------- -------------------------------- CONNECT: LinkTree ► https://linktr.ee/saltboxchurch Website ► http://www.SaltboxChurch.com Podcast ► https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Instagram ► https://www.instagram.com/saltboxchurch/ Facebook ► https://www.facebook.com/saltboxchurch/ Yellow Truck Coffee Co. ► https://www.yellowtruckcoffeeco.com/ --------------------------------

Series: Matthew For TodayPastor Brian KetterAugust 23, 2026

You've stayed faithful, but nothing's changed. No breakthrough yet. You're starting to wonder if it even matters. What feels invisible to everyone else is seen by God. We're talking about how to keep going when it looks like nothing's happening.    NEXT STEPS Have you made the decision to follow Jesus? You might be wondering what's next for you. We want to help! Check out these resources to ​​discover what saying yes to Jesus means: https://go2.lc/podcastcommittochrist ABOUT THIS MESSAGE Have you ever looked at your life and wondered where God was? You're not alone. In the book of Esther, God's name doesn't appear once, but His fingerprints are on every page. In this series, we'll learn how God showed up in what looked like an ordinary story—and it might change the way you see your own. A Simple Overview of Esther's Story: https://finds.life.church/esther-bible-story-explained/ Start the Bible Plan Esther: Trusting God When You're Running on Empty: https://www.go2.lc/plan ABOUT LIFE.CHURCH Wherever you are in life, you have a purpose. Life.Church wants to help you find your next step. Our hope is that your journey will include joining us at a Life.Church location throughout the United States or globally online at https://www.live.life.church Find locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/app/download FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/life.church Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/life.church TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lifechurch YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@life.church CONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIG GROESCHEL YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/craiggroeschel Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschel Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschel TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@craiggroeschel LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/35447748/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Will the Future Always Look This Empty? Hope After Child Loss Will the future always look this empty? Everyone around you is planning something. Talking about next year like it's worth looking forward to. And you can't picture any of it. Not because you haven't tried. Every year ahead of you is a year your child won't be here — and looking at all of it at once is more than anyone could carry. So you stopped looking. This episode is for the mother who can't see one thing in the future her heart desires. Teresa is taking you on a journey today to help open your eyes to what is right in front of you. And it may be closer than you think. In this episode, you'll discover... ✨ The one thing you were never asked to do ✨ Why looking ahead costs you so much ✨ What you actually have today ✨ What that looks like on an ordinary Thursday afternoon You don't have to see your entire future to keep going. Calming the Chaos will meet you where you are today and give you the tools to manage what feels impossible — the future that looks empty.

We hope you enjoy today's Scripture reading and devotional aimed at equipping you for moral and spiritual transformation. Today's Bible reading is Mark 7:1–23. To read along with the podcast, grab a print copy of the devotional. Browse other resources from Scotty Ward Smith. Follow us on social media to stay up to date: Instagram Facebook Twitter

Her father had been the one who taught her how to drive, and even years later, she could still remember every warning he used to give her. Slow down. Leave more room. Pay attention to the road ahead.Nine months after his death, she was driving home alone late one night when she suddenly heard his voice from the empty passenger seat. It was unmistakable. He said her name...and told her to slow down.She reacted before she had time to question what she had heard. Seconds later, she discovered why.Was it instinct? A memory surfacing at exactly the right moment? Or had the man who spent so many years reminding her to be careful somehow found one last chance to do it?#Paranormal #GhostStories #SignsFromLovedOnes #LifeAfterDeath #Afterlife #ParanormalEncounter #Unexplained #GhostlyWarning #GuardianAngel #MessagesFromBeyondLove real ghost stories? Don't just listen—join us on YouTube and be part of the largest community of real paranormal encounters anywhere. Subscribe now and never miss a chilling new story:

Her father had been the one who taught her how to drive, and even years later, she could still remember every warning he used to give her. Slow down. Leave more room. Pay attention to the road ahead.Nine months after his death, she was driving home alone late one night when she suddenly heard his voice from the empty passenger seat. It was unmistakable. He said her name...and told her to slow down.She reacted before she had time to question what she had heard. Seconds later, she discovered why.Was it instinct? A memory surfacing at exactly the right moment? Or had the man who spent so many years reminding her to be careful somehow found one last chance to do it?#Paranormal #GhostStories #SignsFromLovedOnes #LifeAfterDeath #Afterlife #ParanormalEncounter #Unexplained #GhostlyWarning #GuardianAngel #MessagesFromBeyondLove real ghost stories? Don't just listen—join us on YouTube and be part of the largest community of real paranormal encounters anywhere. Subscribe now and never miss a chilling new story:

The school year is getting started across the country, but some families are sending their kids to school without access to a benefit many have relied on in previous years: free school meals. Significant changes to SNAP under last year's Republican tax and spending law have led to plummeting SNAP enrollment — which is often tied to free school meals. Also on the program: big retailers' quarterly results and a buyer's market (for wealthier homebuyers, that is).Every story has an economic angle. Want some in your inbox? Subscribe to our daily or weekly newsletter.Marketplace Morning Report is more than a radio show. Check out our original reporting and financial literacy content at marketplace.org — and consider making an investment in our future.Stories in this episode:A buyer's market? Yes. For those who can afford it.

Heat can make people do some strange things. It can change your mood, cloud your judgment, and even affect the way you treat other people. Scientists have discovered that hot weather has a surprisingly powerful influence on the human mind—and the effects show up in places you would never expect. Listen as I explain what's really going on and why it's important to know. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2024/06/heat-affects-mental-health More people today say they feel their lives lack meaning and purpose than at any point in recent decades. Why? Has modern life quietly stripped away something essential—or are we simply searching for fulfillment in all the wrong places? And if purpose really is the key to a happier life, where does it actually come from? There is no better person to explore these questions with than my guest Arthur Brooks. He is a professor at Harvard Business School, one of the world's leading experts on happiness and human flourishing, a nationally syndicated columnist, CBS News contributor, and co-author with Oprah Winfrey of the bestselling book Build the Life You Want. His latest book is The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness (https://amzn.to/4yUyVTp). If you've ever wondered what truly gives life meaning—and why so many people struggle to find it—you'll find this conversation fascinating. Every few months it seems we're told to stop eating one food and start eating another. Fat is bad—until it isn't. Carbs are the problem—unless they're not. With so much conflicting advice, it's no wonder so many people have no idea what a healthy diet actually looks like. According to Daniel Lieberman, much of what we've been taught about food is based on myths, misconceptions, and oversimplified thinking. Lieberman is Chair of the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and author of Fed Up: A Hungry Person's Guide to the Story and Science of Food and Diets (https://amzn.to/4btal2d). He explains what the science really says, why nutrition has become so confusing, and how understanding our evolutionary past can help us make smarter decisions about what we eat. Have you ever worried that everyone could tell you were nervous? Maybe before giving a presentation, going on a date, or walking into an interview? Most of us assume our anxiety is obvious—but is it? The answer may surprise you. Listen as I reveal what researchers discovered about how well other people can actually read your emotions. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9731312/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AIR DOCTOR: Head to ⁠https://AirDoctorPro.com⁠ and use promo code SYSK to get $250 off select AirDoctor air purifiers, including the 3500, 4000, and 5500 models. Plus, you'll receive a free 3year warranty, an $84 value, and AirDoctor's 30-day money back guarantee WAYFAIR: Ready to upgrade your home for way less? Head to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://Wayfair.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ right now to shop all things home and get your space ready for less.  QUINCE: Elevate your everyday. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://Quince.com/sysk⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too! SHOPIFY: It's time to turn those "what ifs" into CHA CHING with Shopify Today! Sign up for your $1 per month trail and start selling today at ⁠https://Shopify.com/realm⁠ INDEED: Get a $75 Sponsored Job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://Indeed.com/PODCAST⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feeling stuck? There's a decision or change you need to make. But you're waiting until it feels certain. Sometimes stepping into God's purpose means moving before you have all the details. How do you do that? Let's find out in this message.  NEXT STEPS Have you made the decision to follow Jesus? You might be wondering what's next for you. We want to help! Check out these resources to ​​discover what saying yes to Jesus means: https://go2.lc/podcastcommittochrist ABOUT THIS MESSAGE Have you ever looked at your life and wondered where God was? You're not alone. In the book of Esther, God's name doesn't appear once, but His fingerprints are on every page. In this series, we'll learn how God showed up in what looked like an ordinary story—and it might change the way you see your own. A Simple Overview of Esther's Story: https://finds.life.church/esther-bible-story-explained/ Start the Bible Plan Esther: Trusting God When You're Running on Empty: https://www.go2.lc/plan ABOUT LIFE.CHURCH Wherever you are in life, you have a purpose. Life.Church wants to help you find your next step. Our hope is that your journey will include joining us at a Life.Church location throughout the United States or globally online at https://www.live.life.church Find locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/app/download FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/life.church Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/life.church TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lifechurch YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@life.church CONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIG GROESCHEL YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/craiggroeschel Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschel Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschel TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@craiggroeschel LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/35447748/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.