Podcasts about greensboro

Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. We're talking with Andrew Hopper, Lead Pastor of Mercy Hill Church in North Carolina. Planted in 2012 with just 30 people, Mercy Hill has grown into a multi-campus, fast-growing church known for its gospel clarity and sending culture. In this conversation, Andrew shares why adoption and foster care have become central expressions of Mercy Hill's mission—and how those practices flow directly out of the gospel. He also unpacks the heart behind his book, Chosen: Building Your Family the Way God Builds His. Is your church unsure how to engage big social needs without drifting from the gospel? Are you looking for a way to mobilize people beyond church walls while keeping discipleship front and center? Andrew offers a clear framework for doing both. Doing good as a sign of the kingdom. // Andrew addresses a common tension churches feel between community engagement and disciple-making. Mercy Hill refuses to treat these as competing priorities. Acts of service—whether foster care, adoption, or family restoration—are not the kingdom itself but signposts pointing to it. Meeting tangible needs creates openings for gospel conversations. These ministries don't replace evangelism; they amplify it by demonstrating the heart of God in visible ways. A church’s collective heartbeat. // Mercy Hill's deep involvement in adoption, foster care, and family restoration didn't start as a top-down strategy but emerged organically from the gifts and passions within the church. Many leaders and members have adopted children themselves, shaping the church's collective heartbeat. Rather than attempting to address every social issue, Mercy Hill chose to focus deeply on a few—believing churches are most effective when they lean into the specific good works God has prepared for them. This focus has mobilized hundreds of families and created a powerful witness in their community. Rope-holding and shared responsibility. // Not everyone is called to adopt or foster, but everyone can hold the rope. Drawing from the William Carey analogy, Mercy Hill equips members to support families on the front lines through prayer, childcare, meals, financial help, and presence. Over time, they've learned that rope-holding works best when built on existing relationships rather than formal assignments. The goal is to ensure no family fights alone in what Andrew describes as intense spiritual warfare. Big vision with baby steps. // Mercy Hill isn't afraid to cast a bold vision—whether for global missions, adoption, or church planting—but they pair that vision with accessible next steps. Prayer nights, giving opportunities, short-term service, and relational support allow people to grow into greater obedience over time. High challenge without guilt creates healthy discipleship. Why Andrew wrote Chosen. // Andrew wrote Chosen: Building Your Family the Way God Builds His not to promote a program, but to give churches a theological foundation for engaging adoption and foster care. The book weaves together Andrew's family story, Mercy Hill's journey, and a deeply gospel-centered motivation rooted in Scripture. Designed to be used individually or in groups, Chosen includes discussion questions and practical guidance for churches or small groups wanting to explore this calling in community. Andrew's prayer is that the book would catalyze thousands of Christian families to participate meaningfully in caring for vulnerable children and families. Gospel-driven motivation. // Underneath everything is Andrew's conviction that gospel motivation outlasts guilt. Behavior rooted in grace goes further than behavior driven by pressure. Adopted people adopt people. Chosen people choose people. That theological clarity fuels Mercy Hill's sending culture, their community impact, and their ongoing growth. To explore Andrew's resources on adoption, foster care, and grab his book, Chosen, visit andrewphopper.com/chosen or follow him on Instagram @andrewphopper. You can learn more about Mercy Hill Church at mercyhillchurch.com. 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! Lastly, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live! Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Portable Church Your church is doing really well right now, and your leadership team is looking for solutions to keep momentum going! It could be time to start a new location. Maybe you have hesitated in the past few years, but you know it's time to step out in faith again and launch that next location. Portable Church has assembled a bundle of resources to help you leverage your growing momentum into a new location by sending a part of your congregation back to their neighborhood on Mission. This bundle of resources will give you a step-by-step plan to launch that new or next location, and a 5 minute readiness tool that will help you know your church is ready to do it! Click here to watch the free webinar “Launch a New Location in 150 Days or Less” and grab the bundle of resources for your church! Episode Transcript Rich Birch — Hey friends, welcome to the unSeminary podcast. We have got a multi-time guest on, and you know what that means. That means that I really respect, deeply admire, and want you to listen up, and today is no exception. Excited to have Andrew Hopper with us. He is the lead pastor of a church that they should be following, that you should be following. He’s a lead pastor of Mercy Hill Church with five locations, if I’m counting correctly, in North Carolina, and is repeatedly one of the fastest growing churches in the country. I love this church on many levels. They’re centered on the gospel and have a radical commitment to sending people to the nations. They have a desire to make disciples and multiply churches. Andrew, welcome to the show. So glad you’re here.Andrew Hopper — Man, I’m so pumped to be here. Love the podcast. Really appreciate it, man.Rich Birch — Yeah, I’m honored that you would come back. For folks that that don’t know Mercy Hill, give me a bit of a kind of an update. Tell us a little bit about the church.Andrew Hopper — Yeah.Rich Birch — Maybe update us from last time you were on.Andrew Hopper — Yeah, man. So just real quick, planted in 2012. We had 30 people, all you know kind of young professional age, and man, just really believe that God could do something incredible ah through, you know just through our our open hands, and he did.Andrew Hopper — And so it’s been 13 years. It’s crazy. We’ve been sort of pushing the same boulder up the same mountain for 13 years, just flywheel kind of concept and keep pushing. And ah the Lord has done an incredible thing, like you said, five campuses. And man, just moved into a new home and hub. That was from last time we had a chance. That’s been really great. Andrew Hopper — We were in a rented location for a long time as our main like broadcast campus. We’re a video-based multi-site. And so um it’s ah it was a three or four-year journey to raise the money and build this new facility. But we’re in, and the Lord has really blessed that with tons of new people, highest baptisms, sent ones, first time guest numbers, all everything that we’ve done. This has been a, you know, we’ve gone been on a ride – praise God for that. It’s it’s, um, it’s for his sake and his renown, but this year has been unlike the others. So it’s been…Rich Birch — Yeah, you were saying beforehand, it’s like 30 or something like 30 some percent year over year growth. That’s insane to keep up with.Andrew Hopper — It is man. And the, and the giving does not, uh, you know, the giving doesn’t happen.Rich Birch — Reflect that yet.Andrew Hopper — So it’s, it’s like, we’re trying to do ministry on a budget of a church that’s 3000, but a church that’s running 4,500. And it’s like, how do you do that effectively without killing everybody?Rich Birch — Nice.Andrew Hopper — All your staff, I mean, so, but we’re, we’re learning, man, we’re figuring it out. It’s fun. We got, we just planted our sixth church. So that’s apart from the campuses. This is first time, Rich, we’ve planted a church in our own city.Rich Birch — Oh, nice. That’s cool.Andrew Hopper — It’s been really, a really cool dynamic and it’s been fun. He’s doing great. Man, it was a college student that we met when he was 19 years old at North Carolina AT&T 10 years later. He’s an elder here. He’s done a lot of different things. And man, he goes and plants a new church in Greensboro about five minutes from one of our campuses and they’re doing great.Rich Birch — Wow. Yeah, that’s so good. Well, the thing, there’s lots I love about Mercy Hill, but one of the things that I’ve loved about your church from the you know the chance we’ve had to journey a little bit over the years about it is you just have real clarity around the mission, this idea of making disciples, multiplying churches. It’s like that has been rock solid from the beginning. When you think about we want churches to have discipleship at its core, this idea of a church that actually grows people up in their relationship with Christ. What matters most at the foundation? How are you keeping that so foundational to you know what’s happening at Mercy Hill?Andrew Hopper — Yeah, I think um I think that we always sort of bought into kind of what we see in Acts 2 as a little bit of a flywheel. We call it gather, group, give, go. A lot of churches have something like that.Andrew Hopper — The the difference, I think, at Mercy Hill a little bit than what I see ah in in in a lot of churches that we help mentor and coach is that 2020 hit and everybody was like, man, what is a church? What is discipleship? What are we going to do now? And and people were kind of… And I do think it was and it wasn’t, you know, it wasn’t just me. I mean, our, you know, our executive pastor Bobby, he was really integral in this. We sort of really doubled down on no, I kind of think the church is going to come back. Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — And I kind of think what we were doing is sort of what our church is set up to do. It kind of a brand thing. We are sort of a big box sending brand. And that, you know, for us, when we look at Acts 2, we’re like, dude, the gathering, there’s no more there’s no more important hour for discipleship and evangelism. And I know there’s a lot of things written against that. And people are kind of almost like downplaying it. Andrew Hopper — We’re just like, man, we just don’t believe it. We believe people need to be in a group. You know, we they need generosity is lead step in discipleship, give. And we got to teach people that there’s a mission bigger than themselves. And if we do that, it’s going to funnel more people into the gathering. Andrew Hopper — So I think fundamentally what I would say, we need to get, you know, we could talk about our value, you know we can talk about values to gospel and [inaudible] identity, but I think landing on you know, it’s very hard now to, to not get a word salad book form or thing. When you ask somebody, how are you making disciples? It can just be like…Rich Birch — Right. Very vacuous. Who knows what that means? Yeah.Andrew Hopper — For us, it’s just been a very clear, simple process.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — Like, man, we believe if someone is in the gathering, if they’re in relationship, if they’re being pushed on generosity, and if they’re living for a mission bigger than themselves, that’s a current of maturity that will move them. They just get in the stream, they’ll move.Rich Birch — Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It’s so good.Andrew Hopper — that’s kind of So you know for us, I think that’s as, you know we’ve we’ve tried to simplify things there.Rich Birch — Yeah. And, and your last episode, I’ve pointed a ton of people to it, uh, to really, and we really unpack a lot of what you talked about there in more detail.Andrew Hopper — Right. Yeah.Rich Birch — You’re going to want to go back and, uh, and listen to that. You’ve reached as a church, you’ve reached a lot of people who don’t grow up in church that it’s like, there’s a lot of people who are there. You know, we used to say we ain’t your mama’s church, but mama didn’t go to church, you know? So, you know, and it’s been a long time that people were there. What challenges have you seen, you know, helping move people from curiosity into real ongoing discipleship? So like, I think there are, we’re seeing a swell of attendance across the country. People are like, oh, I’m kind of interested in this, but we got to move them from just, oh, this is something interesting to like, oh, I’m actually want to grow my relationship with Jesus.Andrew Hopper — Yeah, I mean, and it’s it’s funny too, Rich, you probably have a better bird’s eye view of this than I do. But I feel like churches that have been faithfully growing for like the last 10 years, they’re not really doing a lot different now. Or even though there’s this big swell happening, what I do think is that some churches have sort of decided like, oh, clarity does matter.Rich Birch — Yes. Yeah, that’s true.Andrew Hopper — And don’t try to be friends with the culture. We’re going to speak in and be prophetic. And, you know, even even to the you know Proverbs 25:26 says, you know, there’s there there’s no there’s no benefit in a muddied spring. You know, it’s like you got to be sort of you got to figure out if we’re going to be clear.Andrew Hopper — So, I you know, for me, I think like and you’re right, we do reach most of the people that we reach that are in the camp that you’re talking about our college age. We reach a lot of people, though, ah that are, you know, they’re they’re coming back to the faith because they’re a southerner.Rich Birch — Sure.Andrew Hopper — You know, they they kind of they kind of were, you know, they they did have some church in their background. They’re coming back. Their kids are not only born, but they’re realizing they’re sinners and they don’t have answers. They’re trying to figure that out.Rich Birch — Right. Right.Andrew Hopper — They’re coming back to church.Andrew Hopper — And, you know, I think the biggest thing that moves people from like interest into a decision point is just being very clear on this is what the gospel is. This is the life it compels you to. Are you going to be in or out?Andrew Hopper — One of the things we say at Mercy Hill a lot is like, man, if you’re if you’re just intrigued, you know, if you’re interested, you’re not going to stay at Mercy Hill because we’re never going to let you, you’re going to get pushed every week. And it’s like, man, people are not really in or like that. I’m not going to do that. You know, they’re just like, no I’m not going to sit here and get like pushed every single week on something I don’t really… And the flip side is when people say, all right, you know what? Stake in the ground. I’m in.Rich Birch — Yeah, we’re doing this, yep.Andrew Hopper — I wanna look like this, I want to build my life on this. It’s like, well, now, you know, it’s it’s man, I’m hopefully, you know, putting tools in the belt every single week to live that life.Rich Birch — Yeah. Yeah, it’s good. I do think there was a time where people wandered into our churches where I don’t think that happens as much anymore. I think people, when they arrive, they come with questions, with live active questions that they’re trying to wrestle with, kind of regardless of where they’re they’re at in their journey.Andrew Hopper — Yeah.Rich Birch — And they’re what you to your point around, you know, there’s no benefit in a muddy stream. People aren’t looking for anything that sounds like, well, what do you think? Because the reason why they’re there is because they’re asking questions. And so, you know, they’re they’re looking for clarity, like I think you’re saying. Rich Birch — Well one of the things I love about your church is there’s a high commitment to, you’re you’re you’re tearing down what I think is a false dichotomy. Sometimes I think when churches come to this idea of outreach or making a difference in their community, there’s this there can be this gap or false dichotomy between doing good in our communities and making disciples. Like we gave that up at some point. We were like, you can’t, you know, we can’t do both of those things for some reason. Why, why did we do that? Why did we, as churches say, we can’t both make a difference in our communities and also make disciples?Andrew Hopper — Yeah, I think it’s, I actually have a lot of sympathy for the fundamentalist leaning. I know it sounds a little bit weird. Rich Birch — No, that’s fine.Andrew Hopper — Churches that led from the, you know, from the good do good in your city kind of thing. I don’t think they’re right, but I do have sympathy for that because I understand how quickly that sort of, you know, is so hijacked by liberal, by theological liberalism to where it’s finally man we’re digging wells and wherever but we’re not talking about who the true source of living water is. Like we don’t want to be offensive we just want to do good without speaking the whole you know you know live your life as a Christian only use words if necessary, whatever, you know. And and I so I understand why people kind of fled and have fled that.Andrew Hopper — Like, you know, I’ve even had our church before when I when I talk about adoption or we we have a ministry, and a ministry called No More Spectators. We’re like moving people towards community ministry. And we had people kind of going on like, oh, my gosh, this seems like a sign of like churches start going this way and then they lose the gospel.Andrew Hopper — And I’m like, well, the reason you’re kind of feeling like that is because a lot of churches have done that. You know, you’re not [inaudible] like that just out of nowhere. Now, of course, I think it’s a little bit immature and we’ve got to push through. The way we talk about it, Rich, is, man, we want to do good in our community as signs of the kingdom coming.Andrew Hopper — They are not building the kingdom. You know, if we go repaint a house or house a homeless person, one day that person would parted with that house, whether they, you know, get messed up and leave or whether they do great and then would die one day, you know.Andrew Hopper — Or, if we have, ah you know, if we go and, and you know, we’re going to, for example, we have ah ah a family in our church that they need a ramp built because, man, the the brother is struggling with MS and he’s, they’re they’re fighting it like Christians do. We’re going to go do that. You know, we’re going to go build that ramp. That ramp’s going to rot and die one, you know, rot and rot away one day. And, you know, whether it’s 100 years from now or whatever.Andrew Hopper — Like it’s not literally the kingdom. But when the outside world sees us engage and, you know, our church will talk about this primarily when we think about community ministry, we think about it in terms of adoption, foster care and families count, which I can talk to you about. I think it’s bringing a sign of the kingdom that is to the community around us to say, hey, this is not the gospel. But it sure points to the gospel. Rich Birch — Right, right.Andrew Hopper — You know, it’s a pretty good signpost of like, yeah, there’s a kingdom coming where kids aren’t separated from their parents, you know. And and so that’s kind of the way that we think about, it’s not, you know, it’s not the kingdom. It’s a sign of the kingdom that is coming.Rich Birch — Yeah, let’s let’s dive in. So adoptions, foster care, families count. These are not small issues. Like you started with like putting a ramp on, painting somebody – those are like, okay, I can organize my head around that. And then we jump to what I think are obviously significant. How, it can be easy, I think, for church leaders it can be easy where, you know, we got a lot of fish to fry in our own backyard. When you see big problems like that, help us unpack that. Why do you as a lead pastor, why are you passionate about these issues? Why are these the things that you’ve chosen?Andrew Hopper — I think it’s, man, I think it’s great. I mean if you can’t if you don’t mind I’ll go back and give you a little bit of context. I’m a context [inaudible]… Rich Birch — Yeah, absolutely. Let’s do it. Yeah. Andrew Hopper — …number one so I always want to frame it in where we’ve been. But the short answer to the question is I think that every church because it is made up of individual believers that have individual gift matrix, you know they’re they’re gifted the church is gifted in a unique way because the people which are the church are gifted in a unique way, right? Andrew Hopper — And so to me, you know, slapping, you know, a top down every single church has to to manifest signs of the kingdom in X way, which, for for example, I’m not to pick on it, but like, you know, the whole diversity church kind of movement. I love you know, if that’s your brand, that’s awesome. That’s great. Go, go bring signs of the kingdom in that area. But you know what people do is they take their thing and then slap it on every single church. You know, this is the sign of the kingdom that you have to manifest.Andrew Hopper — I don’t think that. It takes every kind of church to reach a city because there’s all you know, there’s every kind of people in the city. Right? For us, though, and I think for a lot of churches that that maybe are are made up a little bit like we are, I think there is a lot of meat on the bone for adoption, foster care, families count ministry. And I think churches could be greatly helped by latching on to maybe, you know, something in particular, maybe this, maybe this specifically. How we got there, Rich, was we had we had, you know, huge movement in our church in 2019. I was very convicted.Andrew Hopper — Some of the exponential stuff was coming out, you know, mobilizing people outside the walls of the church. And I really was, man, I was just really affected by that. And I don’t want the dichotomy, you know, I don’t want, well, you your people serve in the church and not outside the church. It’s like, no, most people serve outside the church. If you watch them, they are serving inside the church as well. It’s it’s like a it’s like, man, you know, just just because serving inside the church is not the finish line, don’t demonize it because it is a starting place.Rich Birch — That’s good.Andrew Hopper — So it’s like, I don’t like that kind of whole thing. But but it did affect me to say, OK, what are we doing to push to the outside? So we we we did a thing. You would have loved this, man. But it except for the fact that it didn’t really work that good. OK, it was awesome.Andrew Hopper — It was, we still have the domain name – nomorespectators.com – I had the tagline: Jesus didn’t die to create spectators. He died to create servants, not spectators, workers, not watchers. We, man, you could go to nomorespectators.com and, you know, it was like, it was like a funnel for all of these community ministry opportunities in our city. So it was, you know, people from the housing, you know, authority type stuff would post things. And it was, it was all this kind of, it had a bunch of stuff in it. Andrew Hopper — In the end of the day, great idea. It was a little too complex. Our people latched on to the foster care, pregnancy network, you know, ended up being families count, Guardian ad Litem and adoption. So our guy that was over all that at the time our sending director, which is hard for me to have a good idea that ends up dying hard, okay that’s just tough for me.Rich Birch — You had a great sticky statement and everything. Come on.Andrew Hopper — I’m the king of sunken cost bias. Okay. Like, I’m like, dude. And so finally around 2020, he came to me and he said, bro, I know this is hard for you. Cause it was like a two year initiative. He’s like, this is hard. He said, No More Spectators needs to just turn into Chosen. And it needs to be like, you had this idea for 30 different things. It just, this needs to be our niche, man. You know, we we don’t do a lot of these other things, but we do this really well.Andrew Hopper — And it was hard for me. Ultimately, it was great wisdom by them, not me. And we started going down that road. And partly, I think it’s because, Rich, is heart is near to my heart. I have an adopted daughter. A lot of our staff have adopted kids. We just have a guy right now. Our associate director of first impressions at the Rich campus is in Texas right now, you know, bringing their daughter home.Andrew Hopper — I mean, so it’s just, and so it’s sort of started to morph into, and the the the big thing I’ll say, and I, you know, I’ve been talking a lot here, but the big thing I’ll say is, if you think about the way I just ah described all that, it doesn’t start with the need in the community. It starts with the gift matrix of the church. The poor we will always have with us. Like there there is no there’s no scenario until Jesus comes back that there’s no kids that need to be adopted, you know.Rich Birch — Right, right.Andrew Hopper — And it’s just the reality of it. And so there’s always going to be need in the community. It’s more about, okay, what are the Ephesians 2:10 works that your church, because the church is made up of people who are individually called, what are the you know what are those works that God has set out for your church? Rich Birch — That’s good.Andrew Hopper — And, you know, so for us, we just felt like, dude, this is a a heartbeat thing. Our people got more, they get more fired up. The greatest thing I’ve ever been able to mobilize our people for prayer for is go to the abortion clinic and pray. I mean, a thousand people on their face in the pavement. It’s like, it just strikes a chord with our church and who we are. So we wanna run after that.Rich Birch — Yeah. Well, I love that. And we’re going to dig out a bunch of this, but let’s think about it first from a perspective of somebody who’s maybe attended your church. They just started. They’re they’re relatively new, you know. The idea of something as weighty as adoption or foster care, that’s a big ask. And you know when you yeah how do I experience that as someone who’s just new? What are some ways that I could get plugged in? What does that look like? That, that, cause I, I’m hard, it’s hard to imagine that I go from zero to, to, you know, adoption, you know, how do I end up or flying to Texas to, you know, pick up a kid. That’s a lot. Help me understand. How are you, cause I know you guys are so good at moving people along from kind of where they are to where you’re hoping to – what’s that look like? What’s the kind of, how do you bring people along in this?Andrew Hopper — Man, totally. I think you’re right. I think it’s a combination of big vision on one end and then baby steps on the other. But the big vision matters.Rich Birch — That’s good.Andrew Hopper — Like we don’t want to be scared of the big vision. So, you know, for example, our weekender process, which I know you talked about some, you know, that weekender process, you know, people literally for years, we would give them a passport application in the weekender process. Because we’re like you’re at this church you’re probably going to be overseas at some point on a mission trip. And so to me it’s like people are like dude that probably scares the crap out of people. And it’s like well, I mean we want to make sure they know what they’re getting into, you know. We’re not telling them they got to do that tomorrow… Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — …but that is the, and then and then there’s all these baby steps, right? Like hey come to you know, every February we do Sent weekend. Come to the prayer night. Like that’s a baby step. That’s not you getting on a plane to go to Nepal. But you know hey we’re doing this missions offering at the end of the year, like maybe get you know. So there’s all these I would say that our the way we think about Chosen ministry, which again: adoption, foster care, families count, and rope holding, which is a big part of this discussion… Rich Birch — Okay. Andrew Hopper —…is that way. It’s big vision on the front end so we’re never going to tell somebody, hey you know, I know you could never do this. Like I’ll never…I think people can do it and they should. Or or you know more Christians than are should. At the same time we’re also not guilting anybody. Like so I’m I you know the the first thing I’ll tell people is like, hey, you know we start talking about adoption. I always say always say, hey, we have not lined up a bunch of little kids in the lobby for you to take one home today, okay. And then I’ll tell them, that’s next week.Rich Birch — That’s great.Andrew Hopper — Okay, so yeah but and we we try hard to like put some levity in it. Man, we’re not everybody’s not going to do that. In fact, a minority, of a small minority is going to do it. But everyone can be involved and there are baby steps.Andrew Hopper — So we try to highlight giving, man. Like if you someone adopts from Mercy Hill, we pay 25% of their adoption. Okay.Rich Birch — Wow. Yep.Andrew Hopper — If they’re a member and they’re in a community group, they get 25%. All right, well, you know, we’re going to connect that. Like, man, you you are never going to adopt. You feel like that’s, but it’s like, well, I give $100 a month to the church. Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — Well, hey, what? You know, you’re you are you are supporting.Rich Birch — We’re making a difference.Andrew Hopper — We do parents night out, you know, for all of our foster and adoptive parents. We do it quarterly. It’s like, hey, those are opportunities to come and serve, man. You can serve the meal you can do. We do rope holding, which I know we’ll probably talk about. But but the the idea of rope holding is just like, man, I’m not going to do this, but I can be in the corner for somebody. They’re in my community group. I want to be their first call if they need a babysitter or they need, you know, a gift card, or whatever they need.Andrew Hopper — So I think, man, we try to do big vision. You know, we’re going we’re going to set a huge vision, you know, for 2030 for 2030. Actually, we just hit our vision for 2025, which is 200 adoptive or foster families. There’s a lot of ways people can be involved with it.Rich Birch — So good. There’s, I think thing I would encourage friends who are listening in, you really should be following Mercy Hill, Andrew, because I do think you’re a very unique communicator where you, and you just described it. And I think to you, it’s just like, that’s just what you do. But this idea of like, you’re calling people to a high bar, but you’re not leveraging shame, guilt. you know, it’s, and I think so many times our language can kind of lean in that direction. Or we can, if we really are trying to push people towards something, or we can just undersell the vision. You know We can be like, oh, it’s not that it’s not that big of a deal. You know It’s not for everybody. So I would encourage people to listen in.Rich Birch — Talk to me about rope holding. How is that, what’s that look like? Unpack what that looks like a little bit.Andrew Hopper — Yeah, so rope so the the the rope-holding analogy, which a lot of your listeners probably gonna already know this, but you know William Carey, Andrew Fuller, William Carey, father of modern missions, he’s he he he makes the statement, “I’ll dangle at the end of the rope in the pit, if you’ll hold the rope,” talking to Fuller. And Fuller held the rope for him. Like, you know, Carey the mission field, Fuller’s raising money, preaching sermons, organizing mission boards. So that’s kind of the picture. Right.Andrew Hopper — So we say, all right, not everybody is going to go down into the pit of foster care adoption, even even families count. I mean, these are these are massive spiritual warfare battlegrounds you know um which is one of the reasons why our church wants to be involved so much. I mean you if you want to talk about getting to the you can do all the rhetoric in the world, brother, you want to get to the very bottom of societal issues, you you be involved in somebody’s story that’s trying that’s trying to get their kids back from the foster care system. You’re trying to help them with that. I mean, every you could fatherlessness, poverty, drug abuse. I mean, everything you can think, you know.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — So this this is just spiritual war. So what we tell people is like, hey, man. If we got people that are mobilizing for for adoption and foster care, we better have people in their corne,r because the enemy is going to bring his war machine.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — And we see it all the time. I mean, you’re going to see, you know, a family steps in to adopt and you’re going to start seeing them, you know, there can be sickness. They can have marital problems. They can have financial things that come up. They can begin to believe lies, frustrations. I mean, There’s just so they can become, you know, their their heart can start getting hard toward the system. I mean, there’s so many things that come at them. And so what we say is we need people in their corner, right. Andrew Hopper — Now, it’s funny because like the way our church has operated was at first we said, all right, we’re going to we’re going to do, you know, the the community group is going hold the rope for the people. And and that that was fine. The problem is when we really kicked off this ministry, so many people got involved that it became overwhelming to the group. So we said we got to start this… Rich Birch — Right. Andrew Hopper — …rope holding ministry. The rope holder ministry is good. It’s like, what does a rope holder do? They kind of do whatever the person needs them to do. Rich Birch — Right. Andrew Hopper — So there are examples of the rope holding ministry going really well, where it’s like, hey, man, they’re they’re helping with ah child care with the other kids when they’re going to foster care appointments in court. And or, hey, we’re we’re helping you do some things around the house whenever you’re overseas doing your adoption, which is going to put you three weeks in country. You know, there are some good examples like that. Andrew Hopper — But the other thing that we’ve learned is, you know, foster care and adoption families that are that are walking through this, they’re going through a very trying time. And to just pair them with somebody they don’t know and say, hey, look, here’s your supporter, it can be a little bit like, oh, that’s awesome, and then they never reach out to them.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — They never reach out – the rope holder’s ready.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — But it’s just like, dude, I don’t I don’t know you. And this is a hard time.Rich Birch — Who are you? Yeah, yeah.Andrew Hopper — And so what we’re trying to figure out now as we reboot that rope holder idea is, you know, how how do you kind of integrate relationships they’ve already had? Almost like, hey, do you have this massive pool of people called rope holders? Or when an adoptive family comes up, you say to them, hey, who can we shoulder tap, rope holder for you.Rich Birch — That’s good.Andrew Hopper — And then we’ll train them.Rich Birch — Oh, that’s cool. Yeah.Andrew Hopper — But not have this pool, but say for you, we’ll put them in. So that’s kind of what we’re, so as part of our reboot for 2030, you know, that’s sort of what’s in our mind right now.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s cool.Andrew Hopper — We have a whole playbook for the way we’ve done it, which anybody, you know, if anybody wants any of those things, they can go to AndrewPHopper.com/chosen. And I can send you any of that stuff we have, but on the rope holder side, you know, just full transparency, we’re still, you know, kind of, of you know, and I’m sure it’ll always be that way that we make an improvement.Rich Birch — Yeah, always trying to make it better. Yeah. And I want to, yeah, at some point in this journey, you decided, hey, we’ve got to put this vision and framework into writing, like we and you actually ended up writing a book, and friends who are listening in, I want to encourage you to pick up a copy of this book. Listen, we’re almost half an hour in. I know you’re interested in this. This is the kind of thing you, Andrew’s a trusted leader. He’s, I’ve had a chance to take a peek at the book. This will be super helpful for you. But, but that’s a lot of effort to put this together into a book. What pushed you from just leading this ministry to ultimately saying, hey, I want to capture this into a resource that could help other people?Andrew Hopper — Well, you know, Rich, I never really saw myself as like a writer, just like a practitioner, man. Let’s just keep keep working on the thing and going.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — And truthfully, I got approached. Hey, would you have any interest in writing? You know, New Growth Press is the one that’s editing this book and putting it out. And it was funny, though, because the second I was asked, I was like, man, I know what we should do [inaudible] that should be what we should do. It’s it’s our it’s it’s my story’s family story with our special needs child that we’ve adopted. It’s our church’s journey. But more important than either of those two things, it’s a grounding in the gospel-centered motivation. Because I think that is what is so important. We don’t do guilt motivation. And you know, cute kids and sad, cute kids and and sad stories are good reasons, but they you need a great reason, because it’s hard. Rich Birch — That’s good. Yep.Andrew Hopper — You know, and the great reason is of course, adopted people adopt people. And so we delve way into the helplessness of our spiritual condition, how God adopted us and then how, you know, that provides a deep motivation for us to go and do the same for others.Rich Birch — Can you unpack that a little bit more? Because I think this is, ah to me, a core part of the book that I think is really helpful. Even if you’re maybe listening in, you’re thinking, okay, I’m not sure adoption or foster care is necessarily the thing, but you unpack this idea of gospel rather than guilt. And can you talk us through, you know, how, yeah, just talk us through that part, that concept a bit more. Just double click on that a little bit.Andrew Hopper — Yeah. So, you know, when we think about behaviors that flow from the Christian life, there’s really only two ways to think about it, right? Like one of them is we try to do things in order that God would approve of us, you know, that he would, you know, he would, ah he would, he would let us in his family, you know, those those types of things. And we, you know, this is for a lot of Baptistic world, which I am, this was kind of like, wow, this is really revolutionary, but that was 20 years ago – Keller and all that. You know, we just started understanding what more of a gospel center motivation. Andrew Hopper — Of course, the other way to think about Christian behaviors is you are part of the family because of what Christ has done for you. And the family has a culture. The family works a certain way. There’s fruit that will pop out in your life, not so that you can gain entrance into the vine. That’s not how it works. Like, ah you know, you don’t you don’t produce fruit to get in the vine. You produce fruit because you’re in the vine. Andrew Hopper — And so, you know, when we think about like like Titus 2, for example, we think about how the grace of God appears to all men, teaching us not just salvation, but teaching us to obey his commands. So there’s something about salvation that and is inherent to the gospel-centered motivation of of of going out, living the Christian life. You know, it’s it’s kind of the John Bunyan idea when they said, man, if you, you know, if you keep preaching this gospel message, people are going to do whatever they want to do. And he said, no, if I keep preaching this gospel message, people are going to do whatever God wants them to do. Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — You know, and so I think what we’ve done in this book is just say, hey, that that is true universally in our Christian life. Like if I’m not tithing and I’m stingy, I can do motivation in two ways. Number one, how dare you, you piece of trash that you never, you know why would you never give? Look what God, you know, blah blah blah, blah, blah, guilt, guilt, shame, shame. Right. Andrew Hopper — Of course, the other way to say is like, man, what kind of riches has God given you in the gospel? And what kind of inheritance do you now have as a son of the king? It’s like, all right, that’s powerful, you know, and it will it will take us places that guilt never can. Guilt will work for a while. You can put fire under somebody and it’ll move them. But if you put it in them, they’ll run through a wall, you know. Rich Birch — So true.Andrew Hopper — And so it’s like it’s like, hey, OK, so you could do it with all these different things. We’ve tried to take this book and do that with adoption to say, all right.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — We know James 1:27, we need to care for the fatherless and the orphan. We understand. I mean, dude, there ain’t, when you talk about metaphors, there’s two big ones, marriage and adoption, you know? And so if you want to do adoption well, we can do it from two motivations. One motivation is look how many kids need. That’s all and that’s all true. That moves my heart. You know, look, can you believe this story of this kid? And that’s fine.Andrew Hopper — Of course, you could do guilt, too. Like, how dare you, you know, have this nice, happy family and not go adopt a little poor orphan kid. You know, you could do guilt. All those things will be fine. They’ll put fire under you a little bit. But if you want to put the fire in someone that is going to carry them through the long haul of all this stuff, I think it’s better to start with: All right. There’s kids that need to be chosen. Were you chosen?Andrew Hopper — You know, so like one of the you know, one I’ll give you an example. We know of a family here in the tribe. They’ve got an awesome son that is 20-something years old, kids got Down syndrome, and they adopted him from Ecuador. And his story was one day a carpenter was working on this building and he heard cries coming out of a dump, like a trash heap. This child had just been born and been left you know with his deformities had just been left for the dumpster. Andrew Hopper — And they brought him to the orphanage. And next thing you know, you know about three or four years later, he got adopted by this family that we know. And that family’s father, he said, Eddie’s story is my story. I was pulled from a trash heap by a carpenter. And if you it’s like that is powerful. Rich Birch — Right. Yes.Andrew Hopper — You know, when you start thinking about, man, in my sin, I was one who had no part and parcel in the kingdom of God. I was headlong in rebellion. I had rejected. I was not a son. And God lavished his love upon me, that I would be called his child. And if if that has happened to me spiritually, how could I not want to do that? Or at least help those. you know I’m not saying that’s a call for everybody, but be involved in others that are doing that as well.Andrew Hopper — And so that’s what we say. Adopted people, adopt people, chosen people, choose people. And hey, I didn’t answer your last question. Rich Birch — That’s fine.Andrew Hopper — Okay. Your last question was, why did we write the book? Very simply, I think more people just need to think about what I just said. You know, and I think churches do. And I think that if, you know, a lot of churches have adoption-minded people and a little bit of of fuel in that fire might create some really cool ministry in that church. And this book lays really well for being like, man, make it a small group resource for eight weeks. You know, it’s got questions at the end of each chapter.Andrew Hopper — Like my my prayer is that this book would catalyze tens of thousands of Christian adoptions. Rich Birch — Wow. Andrew Hopper — And that’s why we wrote the book.Rich Birch — Yeah. It’s and I thought the same thing as I was looking through it, that this would be a great resource for a small group, a great resource as a staff training thing. Because again, I think there’s two things happening on two levels. From my perspective, there’s what you’re actually talking about – adoption, but then there’s how you talk about it. And I think even both of those, I think could be interesting as a as a staff team to kind of unpack and think about. How do we ensure that what we’re doing is so gospel-infused. That’s part of why i love you as a communicator. I think you do such a good job on that. It’s just fantastic. So I would strongly encourage people to pick it up.Rich Birch — Help me understand the connection. So Mercy Hill is known for, or at least from my perspective, known as a sending church. You know, the thing, one of the and I’ve told again, I told you this before, you’re the first church leader I’ve ever bumped into that has connected new here guests to number of missionaries sent. This like idea of like this funnel of how do we move people all the way along to that? I think that’s incredible. How does that kind of sending culture and adoption, how does that fit together? How does that help kind of fuel the flywheel of what’s happening at Mercy Hill?Andrew Hopper — Well, you you helped me think about this when you came and did our one day for our for our Breaking Barriers group, you know, for the pastoral trainings that we do. Because in your church growth book, you talk about how, ah you know, community ministry is used as an evangelism tool. I’m not, I’m probably butchering the way you talk about it.Rich Birch — Yep. Yep. Oh, that’s good. Yep. That’s great.Andrew Hopper — That was like a big light bulb for me because because we we definitely do that, but we have not leveraged the communications of that.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — And so, um you know, for us now, what we’re trying to really think about is how does our adoption of foster care ministry and rope holding and families count ministry, how does that create open? We call them open doors, right? Rich Birch — Yep.Andrew Hopper — Like, how does it create open doors, questions in the community, where people come in? And we’ve seen it. You know, so like when we’re talking about the sending culture, that pipeline starts when new people get interested in faith, they get interested in church.Andrew Hopper — And, you know, like, for example, we we had a guy, we just did a historic video. Man, he’s saved, baptized, serving now, ah or, you know, family, young family, prototypical Mercy Hill guy, like, man, just you know blue collar heart, white collar job, just that. I mean, just everything we talk about. Right. He’s our he’s kind of our guy. And the way he got connected was his boss had signed up to be a rope holder. And it just blew his mind. Like, why would a guy take limited time and go help these families? I mean, he of course, he thought it was a good thing. But it really intrigued them. Andrew Hopper — And so we’ve tried to we’re trying to leverage more of the communication side. It’s tricky. You don’t want to be like, hey, look at us you know in the community. At the same time, I’m like, man, this year, you know when we’re going to do a pretty significant upgrade to some of the there our foster care system has, there’s a house that has a backyard and the backyard is where families come to play with kids, play with their kids they’re trying to get back from the foster care.Rich Birch — Right. Yep.Andrew Hopper — And we’ve said like, you know what, man, if these parents are putting in, that needs to be like the best, the best backyard, and you know?Rich Birch — Right. Yeah, absolutely. 100%.Andrew Hopper — And so, you know, we’re, we’re going to do a significant investment in some, you know, whatever…Rich Birch — Play structures and yeah. Andrew Hopper — …like a, you know, whatever, like a pergola type thing. They’re going put a shed out there. All going to connect it, pavers, all that stuff is what we want to do. And, you know, we’re, we’re looking at that and I’m going like, yeah, I mean, I get it. Like you don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, but at the same time, that’s not for us. That’s for people that are interested to say like, why would a church do that? You know, like why do they care so much?Andrew Hopper — And it’s because, Hey, sign of the kingdom. We want to build families through adoption. We want to restore families through foster care and families count. This is part of that. So we’ve tried to we’ve tried to use it as a way. And I would really encourage church leaders to think about that. Like, hey, is your community ministry actually an evangelism strategy?Rich Birch — Right. Yeah, that’s good. Love that. And yeah, I would encourage you continue to encourage you to think through those things because I do think that there’s, we’ve seen that there’s huge opportunity for folks who don’t normally attend church. They’re interested the way I’ve said in other contexts is they see it as a good thing. We see it as a God thing. We’re not going to fight them over the semantics of it at the front end. Because like you say it’s it’s the kingdom puncturing through that grabs their attention and you’re like oh what what you know what’s going on there? It’s a first step – how do we encourage those people? Rich Birch — Like on that backyard project, I no doubt if you’re rallying a bunch of guys to go work there, I know that there are guys in your church who have friends who they could invite who don’t attend church who maybe would never walk in your church who’d say, hey, will you come and work for a Saturday for a couple hours and swing a hammer and help us do this thing? Let me explain what this is about.They absolutely would show up, right? 100% they’d show up and and they’ll get intrigued by that. And they’ll be like, oh, what’s going on there? That’s that’s fantastic. Rich Birch — Well, friends, unabashedly, I want you to pick up copies of, not just a copy, copies of this book. So where do we want to send people to pick up copies, that sort of thing?Andrew Hopper — Yeah, man, they can just go to andrewphopper.com/chosen. Rich Birch — Perfect. Yep.Andrew Hopper — The book’s out so they can pick up a copy. I mean, it’s also just like on Amazon or whatever, but that link will take you straight to New Growth Press.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — So, yeah, man, would love it. Would love to hear from anybody who’s using it well in a church context um to catalyze Christian adoption.Rich Birch — Love it. Anything else you want to share just as we close and how can people track, go to the website, other places we want to send them as we close up today.Andrew Hopper — Also on Instagram, we have a lot of stuff on Instagram, andrewphopper on Instagram. Yeah, the last thing I would say as a closing thought, Rich, is you know, the Christian adoption boom has sort of happened 20 years ago. People started talking about this a lot more. And now you can feel in some of the podcast world and all that, there’s a bit of a backlash, not not to don’t do it, but also like, hey, no one told us how hard this was going to be. Andrew Hopper — You’re dealing with traumatic situations, kids that have been brought, you know, I mean, it’s, it’s crazy. One thing I try to do in this book is I try to say, Hey, that’s not a good reason to take our ball and go home, you know.Rich Birch — That’s good.Andrew Hopper — Instead we just need to try to shoot as straight as we can. And I do that in this book, man. It is hard. It’s you’re on the front lines of spiritual war. I mean, it’s almost like, dude, the, the, the greatest transfer of faith from one generation to another happens in the home. We love it when adults get saved. I get that. But let’s be honest. Statistically, where does it normally happen? Right. Rich Birch — Yeah. Kids. Andrew Hopper — And so if you got a home that’s broken apart, that Christians are trying to put back together, what did we think Satan was going to do? You know, and so instead of taking our ball and going home, let’s just call it what it is, and then ask the Lord to steel our spine… Rich Birch — That’s good. Andrew Hopper — …and to move forward with the mission. So, yeah, man, I’d love for people to pick it up. And I appreciate the time to talk about it today.Rich Birch — Andrew, thanks so much. Appreciate you. Just want to honor you for the work you do. You’re a great leader. And I love how God’s using you and your church to make a difference. Thanks for being on the show today.Andrew Hopper — Thanks, brother.

A Quick Timeout's Tony Miller and Aaron Fernandez, head women's basketball coach at Greensboro College (NCAA D3), discuss their small sided games for teaching individual and team defense.Check out Coach Tony Miller's new CoachTube.com course, SSGs for Player Development and Team Defense. These resources will provide a framework for building individual and team defensive skills into both individual workouts and team practices. Whether you're a traditional man-to-man coach, Pack Line coach, or zone defense coach, there are SSGs for teaching transition defense, on-ball defense, closeouts, help defense, and rebounding.If you're already using tools like FastDraw, FastScout, or FastRecruit—you know how essential they are to your workflows. And now that they're fully part of the Hudl ecosystem, they're more powerful than ever. From film and play diagrams to scouting reports and custom recruiting boards, everything flows together. One system. Built for high-performance programs. Learn more at hudl.com/aquicktimeout. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

David Lee Roth Announces 30-Date 2026 North American Tour David Lee Roth is officially back on the road. The former Van Halen frontman has announced a 30-date tour across the U.S. and Canada, kicking off April 16 in Airway Heights, Washington, and wrapping up August 7 in Sturgis, South Dakota. The announcement follows Roth's return to the stage in May 2025, ending a five-year hiatus. That comeback debuted at the M3 Festival, where Roth introduced a new eight-piece backing band that included four dedicated backing vocalists. “We've reached the end of my first retirement,” Roth joked during the performance. “How many retirements did Rocky have — nine?” Ticket pre-sales begin Tuesday, January 6 at 10 a.m. local time, with general on-sale starting Friday, January 9 at 10 a.m. local time. While Roth has released several stand-alone singles over the years, it has been more than two decades since his last solo album. His most recent full-length release was 2012's A Different Kind of Truth, recorded with Van Halen during their reunion. David Lee Roth – 2026 Tour Dates April 16 – Airway Heights, WA – Spokane Live April 18 – Grand Ronde, OR – Spirit Mountain Casino April 20 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues April 22 – Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theatre April 25 – Albuquerque, NM – Revel April 27 – Lubbock, TX – Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts April 29 – Austin, TX – Austin City Limits Live May 1 – Memphis, TN – Graceland Soundstage May 3 – Orlando, FL – Hard Rock Live May 6 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium May 12 – Wilmington, NC – Wilson Center May 14 – Greensboro, NC – Steven Tanger Center May 16 – Washington, DC – Warner Theatre May 19 – Glenside, PA – Keswick Theatre May 21 – Niagara Falls, ON – OLG Stage at Fallsview Casino May 24 – Boston, MA – House of Blues May 26 – Schenectady, NY – Proctor's May 29 – Hampton Beach, NH – Casino Ballroom May 31 – Wallingford, CT – Toyota Oakdale Theatre June 3 – Port Chester, NY – Capitol Theatre June 5 – Asbury Park, NJ – Stone Pony Summer Stage June 7 – Huntington, NY – The Paramount June 9 – Huber Heights, OH – Rose Music Center June 11 – Fort Wayne, IN – Foellinger Theatre June 13 – Battle Creek, MI – FireKeepers Casino June 15 – Rapid City, SD – The Monument June 17 – Moorhead, MN – Bluestem Amphitheatre June 20 – Milwaukee, WI – BMO Pavilion August 7 – Sturgis, SD – Buffalo Chip #ExclusivelyVanHalen #davidleeroth #vanhalen #johnnybeaneTV

Welcome to the Calvary Church Podcast! --To support this ministry and help us continue to spread the Gospel around the world, click here: https://www.calvar

KATIE CROSS - BIOGRAPHY Katie Cross is ALL ABOUT writing epic magic and wild places. Creating new fantasy worlds is her jam. When she's not hiking or chasing her two littles through the Montana mountains, you can find her curled up reading a book or arguing with her husband over the best kind of sushi. Visit her at www.KatieCrossBooks.com for free short stories, extra savings on all her books (and some you can't buy on the retailers), and so much more. Mark McWaters has long been a fan of all things that go bump in the night, scratch at the door, or blow cold air on the back of your neck. From a very young age, he carried a pad and pencil around with him, composing poems to give to girls. He devoured all the Hardy Boys and Doc Savage books he could get his hands on and expanded his reading horizons from there. Robert Heinlein, Asimov, and Bradbury, whetted his appetite for Sci-Fi. Ann Rice's Interview With The Vampire blew his mind. A scene from Stephen King's Salem's Lot haunts him to this day. And Watcher by Dean Koontz made him a lifelong fan. He earned an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Became an award-winning advertising copywriter and creative director and earned enough Clios, Addys, and Communication Arts awards for bragging rights. As a writer, Mark discovered the Florida Writers Association, critique groups and writing competitions. He's won a steady stream of FWA Royal Palm Literary awards for his unpublished short stories and novels. The inspiration behind “Ghost Dog” came while reading entry rules for a magazine looking for unusual spins on traditional horror. Houses, people, dolls, even cars get haunted. So, he thought, why not dogs? Bentley, a West Highland White Terrier who sleeps under Mark's desk while he writes, agreed. The Contest, one of the most prestigious writing and illustrating competitions in the world, is currently in its 43rd year and is judged by some of the premier names in speculative fiction. The Writers of the Future Contest judges include, Tim Powers (author of On Stranger Tides), Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert (Dune prequel series), Robert J. Sawyer (The Oppenheimer Alternative), Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn series, The Stormlight Archive), Larry Niven (Ringworld), Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game), Nnedi Okorafor (Who Fears Death), Hugh Howey (Wool), and Katherine Kurtz (Deryni series) to name a few. The Illustrators of the Future Contest judges include, Bob Eggleton (11 Chesley Awards and 9 Hugo Awards), Larry Elmore (Dungeons & Dragons book covers), Echo Chernik (graphic designs for major corporations including Celestial Seasonings tea packaging), Rob Prior (art for Spawn, Heavy Metal comics and Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Ciruelo (Eragon Coloring Book).

A quiet Christmas night turned into the kind of live hangout we love: full of warmth, road stories, and the kind of honest talk only a tight community can handle. We kicked off with Lola in her holiday outfit, fan roll call lighting up the chat, and Mac's Waffle House saga that only wrestling lifers truly understand on a day when everything else is closed.From there, we pulled back the curtain on how holiday shows used to work in the territory days—double shots in Greensboro and Atlanta, no time off, just the grind that built entire careers. Then we compared that to today's schedule, where TV and premium live events set the tempo and wrestlers actually get time with family. It's a real marker of how the business evolved and what it owes to the people who carried it when the road was all there was.We also faced a tough headline: the Ric Flair cameo that left a bad taste for fans who paid top dollar for a milestone message. We talked about what fans expect with paid access, the risks of tying big life moments to celebrity shoutouts, and how creators should protect trust. The mailbag kept spirits high and real—Die Hard's Christmas status, Grinch-vs-Santa self-portraits, and a candid memory of a holiday lost in the haze. Music shoutouts ranged from the Isley Brothers and the O'Jays to DJ Khaled, Cardi B, and a dash of Teddy Swims, because comfort tracks matter this time of year.We wrapped with what's ahead: celebrating Abdullah the Butcher's 80th birthday in Atlanta with Ron Simmons and the Rock 'n' Roll Express, plus MLW returning to Center Stage in March. If you want us at your con—Jacksonville and beyond—say the word and tell organizers. We're here for the meet-and-greets, the stories, and the sushi spots we never forget. If this felt like a living room on Christmas night, that's by design.If you enjoyed the show, tap subscribe and ring the bell to help us reach 10,000. Share this with a friend who loves old-school road tales and modern wrestling shifts, and drop your take: is Die Hard a Christmas movie? We'll see you next week.Send us a text

Fred Whitfield first set foot in Carter Gym in the late 1960s – as an 8-year-old attending the Campbell Basketball School. Little did he know then that Campbell University would be a launching point for an incredible career in athletics. A decade of summer camps in Buies Creek helped develop the skills that would enable him to play Division I basketball. The educational foundation set by his parents propelled him to not only an undergraduate degree, but an MBA and law school. His accomplishments and awards are numerous – induction into the Campbell Athletics and North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, recipient of the Order of the Longleaf Pine and the Thurgood Marshall Award of Excellence, the playing floor at his high school bears his name. Those honors and many others have followed a career that began in coaching at his alma mater, opening a law practice, joining one of the most prestigious sports agent firms in the world, working at Nike, where he helped launch the Jordan Brand and serving as an executive for two NBA franchises. Along the way, Fred Whitfield always built relationships first. Whether it was starting a basketball camp for underserved youth in his hometown of Greensboro, negotiating deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars, or working with leaders from both sides of the aisle through politically sensitive subjects, Fred's humility, sense of service and the ability to ask the right question at the right time all have served him, and those he encounters, well. In the next episode of Tales from the Creek, North Carolina Sports and Campbell Athletics Hall of Fame member Fred Whitfield chats with Stan Cole about growing up in Greensboro, attending the Campbell Basketball School, his path to Campbell, his professional journey and much more. Suggestions for future Tales from the Creek interview subjects are always welcome and may be sent to Stan Cole at cole@campbell.edu.

Guests: Vicki R. Deal-Williams, ASHA's Chief Executive Officer, and Perry Flynn, 2026 ASHA President ElectEarn 0.10 ASHA CEUs for this episode with Speech Therapy PD: https://www.speechtherapypd.com/courses/the-future-of-slhThis episode is a collaboration with the Keys for SLPs podcast, hosted by Mary Beth Hines, MS, CCC-SLP. Michelle Dawson, MS, CCC-SLP, CLC, BCS-S joins as a co-host to welcome ASHA leadership Vicki R. Deal-Williams, MA, CCC-SLP, FASAE, CAE, ASHA's Chief Executive Officer, and Perry Flynn, MEd, CCC-SLP, BCS-CL, CTRI, ASHA-F, 2026 ASHA President Elect for an inside look at the evolving speech-language-hearing professions.Together, they will explore emerging technologies, workforce trends, and ongoing efforts to recruit and retain professionals, particularly those from BIPOC communities. The conversation will also highlight the SLP Interstate Compact and offer practical guidance for students and early-career professionals navigating the changing landscape of the field.About the Guests:Vicki Deal-Williams serves as the Chief Executive Officer for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), where she has been a valued team member for more than three decades. A Certified Association Executive and distinguished Fellow of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), Vicki is also an ASHA certified speech-language pathologist and ASHA Fellow. Her expertise lies in cultivating leadership, aligning strategic goals with organizational priorities, and navigating teams through transformation with clarity and purpose. She is known for her ability to authentically build strong, collaborative relationships and to foster a welcoming culture where everyone feels they have a voice. Through clear vision, steady guidance, and deep commitment, she works alongside volunteer leaders and members, students, vendors, partners, and staff to advance ASHA's mission, achieve optimal results, and ensure lasting impact.Perry Flynn, MEd, CCC-SLP, BCS-CL, CTRI, is the Consultant to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction in the area of Speech-Language Pathology and a Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, a two-time member of ASHA's Board of Directors, and a Board Certified Specialist in Child Language. He is a Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH) Certified Therapeutic Horseback Riding Instructor. He has presented several times at ASHA Conventions on the topic of recruiting and retaining men and minorities in speech-language pathology and has written several articles on the topic.

Dolly Parton BioSnap a weekly updated Biography.Dolly Parton, the indomitable queen of country, has navigated a whirlwind of health hurdles and empire-building triumphs in recent days, proving once again why she's Tennessee's patron saint. Womens Weekly reports her Las Vegas residency, originally slated for this December at Caesars Palace, got pushed to September 2026 due to kidney stone woes that landed her in the hospital back in late September, with her sister Freida pleading for prayers on social media. She echoed that grit on Khloe Kardashians podcast, insisting God aint done with me yet amid grief over husband Carl Deans March passing, vowing to slow down but not quit.Nashville Public Radios WPLN News on December 19 hailed her as Saint Dolly in a year-end recap, spotlighting the Nashville Symphony premiere of her orchestral hits show and the August debut of Dolly the musical at Belmont University. Dollywood, her Smoky Mountain jewel, stunned fans with an unscheduled indefinite closure announced Saturday per Inside the Magic, though the park swiftly broke silence on future plans, teasing a roaring 2026 season with January hiring blitzes to fill hundreds of spots.Stage lights keep shining on her legacy: Ticketmaster lists her Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol packing Greensboro houses on December 17, with WMNF and iHeart confirming sold-out runs through December 22 at Ruth Eckerd Hall. Country Music Hall of Fame spotlights her Journey of a Seeker exhibit running all day December 22, while Concerts50 eyes a cheeky Huntsville Levity Live gig December 28. Sunny 1063 buzzes about her Threads: My Songs in Symphony tour hitting 12 cities in 2026, including Naples.Business never sleeps for this billion-dollar boss. Womens Weekly notes her November Instagram apology video for skipping her own Dollywood Hall of Fame induction on doctors orders, and whispers of frozen Southern comfort foods from her Conagra deal linger from May. No fresh social media flares or public sightings in the last 48 hours, but her symphonic surge and park pivot scream long-term biographical gold, cementing Partons phoenix-like reign at 79.Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOtaThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

Our story tonight is called Candlewalk, and it's a story about a special Holiday tradition in downtown Nothing Much. It's also about tea lights and snow shovels, Christmas cookies, and cocoa, keeping warm in a thermos. A smiley face on a sticky note, voices in harmony, and a winding, forgotten alley where light begins to shine. Subscribe to our ⁠Premium channel.⁠ The first two months are on us. 

Send us a textMany of us want the holiday season to be a time of connection and celebration, but this time of year can also be complicated. Family gatherings can come with unspoken tension, old dynamics resurface, expectations rise, and the pressure to “keep the peace” can collide with our deep desire to protect and affirm our kids. And for some, this season can bring loneliness, depression, or grief—not warmth. We know you're navigating all of that. And you don't have to do it alone. Today In the Den, Sara is joined by therapist David Zealy-Wright to talk honestly about what the holidays can stir up, how to prepare for tough conversations, how to set boundaries with love, how to care for ourselves while caring for our kids, and how to find moments of joy and grounding even in challenging spaces.Special Guest: David Zealy-WrightDavid is a Licensed Professional Counselor (Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor), a Licensed Clinical Addictions Specialist, and a Clinical Supervisor Intern(Certified Clinical Supervisor). He graduated from Catawba Valley Community College in 2005 earning an Associate in Arts, Lenoir-Rhyne University in 2008 earning a BA in Psychology, and in 2010 an MA in Agency Counseling. He enjoys working with diverse populations, but specifically has experience with teens, adults and couples. His specialty areas include addiction, depression, anxiety, life changes, men's issues, relationships, and LGBTQIA issues. As an addictions specialist, he believes that addiction is a disorder, not a moral failing. David is a native of Greensboro, North Carolina, but has lived in Hickory for over 23 years with his spouse. Links from the Show:Join Mama Dragons TodayIn the Den is made possible by generous donors like you. Help us continue to deliver quality content by becoming a donor today at www.mamadragons.org. Support the showConnect with Mama Dragons:WebsiteInstagramFacebookDonate to this podcast

Heartwarming!

Heartwarming!

Heartwarming!

This segment is informational, not tax advice.For more information: https://www.irs.gov/https://breslowstarling.com/https://www.nobleknights.org/ways-to-give Produced by Noble Academy, a school for students with learning differences in Greensboro, NC. https://www.nobleknights.org/

“Sometimes you don't know what you had until it's gone—and then you realize it was community.” In this powerful Detroit is Different conversation, Johnny Cannon of Joe Louis Southern Kitchen takes us on a journey that weaves food, family, faith, and legacy into one rich Detroit story. Born and raised on the east side, five generations deep, Johnny reflects on roots stretching from Tuscaloosa and Greensboro to Black Bottom and Paradise Valley, reminding us that “food and culture go hand in hand.” From stumbling into the restaurant business as a dishwasher to building beloved spaces like New Center Eatery, Sweet Magnolias, and now stewarding the global legacy of Joe Louis, Johnny shares how Detroit grit and divine order shaped his path. He speaks candidly about meeting Joe Louis Jr. “over Brussels sprouts and a beer,” and realizing that preserving Joe Louis' story wasn't just business—it was cultural responsibility. Through memories of elders banging pots in the streets, seniors gathered around radios, and customers learning history from photos on the restaurant walls, this episode connects the past joy of Black celebration to the future of Black ownership, storytelling, and pride. This is an episode about how legacy lives on the plate, in the neighborhood, and in the choices we make to honor our people. Detroit is Different is a podcast hosted by Khary Frazier covering people adding to the culture of an American Classic city. Visit www.detroitisdifferent.com to hear, see and experience more of what makes Detroit different. Follow, like, share, and subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and Sticher. Comment, suggest and connect with the podcast by emailing info@detroitisdifferent.com

Dolly Parton BioSnap a weekly updated Biography.Dolly Parton, the indomitable country queen nearing her 80th birthday, shared a deeply personal reflection this weekend, telling Whiskey Riff her sole life goal now is to lift people up and glorify God, a heartfelt glimpse into her enduring spirit amid holiday buzz. Inside the Magic reports that her cherished Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge slashed operations on December 14, closing at 6 p.m. instead of the full day due to biting winter weather, disappointing fans eyeing the Smoky Mountain Christmas festivities and highlighting the parks seasonal vulnerabilities. No direct involvement from Dolly herself surfaced there, but it underscores her empires ongoing heartbeat. Meanwhile, her name sparkles across yuletide stages nationwide, with Concerts50 listing a tribute show Dolly Partons Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol set for December 21 at Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center in The Villages, Florida, tickets fetching up to 187 dollars, alongside Ticketmaster noting a Greensboro, North Carolina, performance on December 17 and JCCC announcing one December 11 in Yardley Hall. The Carson Center and Iowa State Center echo similar tour stops through mid-December, proving her holiday musical legacy thrives via these polished productions. Business whispers from AOL hint at Dolly resuming oversight of her 650 million dollar empire, including Dollywood, despite recent health setbacks, though details stay vague and unconfirmed. House Beautiful revisited her festive flair, recalling from The Ellen Show how she decks multiple homes with themed treeslike water motifs at her lake houseand a 2024 People interview affirming she never skips family Christmas traditions. The Drinks Business recapped celebrity booze launches but slotted Dolly in last years roundup, with no fresh 2025 pours confirmed. Farther out, JamBase notes her Las Vegas residency kicks off September 2026 at Caesars Palace Colosseum, her first in 32 years, postponed from earlier health hiccups. Tributes like The Dolly Show at Hitchin Town Hall on December 16 keep her sparkle alive, but these past days paint a quieter Dolly, letting her brand and beliefs shine bright.Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOtaThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

In February 2015, 22-year-old Asia LaRose Brown, a dedicated single mother and security guard from Greensboro, North Carolina, and her 2-year-old son Ashton were brutally murdered in a case that remains unsolved more than a decade later. On February 20, Asia bought a used 2005 Buick LaCrosse in High Point, registered it at the DMV alone, and later stopped at an AutoZone in Greensboro around 3:20 p.m. to buy car accessories; this was the last time she was seen alive on surveillance footage, appearing calm and unhurried. She and Ashton vanished that afternoon, and when she missed work shifts over the weekend, a welfare check was requested. Exactly 72 hours later, on February 23, her burned-out car was discovered in a wooded area near Thurston Avenue, less than two miles from her home. Inside the trunk, covered by a blue plastic tarp, police found the charred bodies of Asia and Ashton; the fire had been deliberately set with gasoline after they were killed. Autopsies revealed both died from multiple gunshot wounds from a .40-caliber handgun—Asia in the head and torso, and Ashton at close range—with the murders likely occurring within hours of Asia leaving the AutoZone. The car's seller, Ashton's father, and other persons of interest were cleared, and no evidence linked Asia to drugs or crime despite Greensboro's opioid crisis at the time. The blue tarp, purchased at a nearby Walmart, and the removal of the license plates suggest premeditation, yet the case has yielded few solid leads despite extensive investigation involving dozens of officers, FBI profilers, and forensic experts. As of December 2025, the double homicide remains active but cold, with Asia's family continuing to hold vigils and advocate for justice, especially for Black mothers affected by violence. A $15,000 reward is still offered for information leading to an arrest, and anyone with tips is urged to contact Greensboro Police or Crime Stoppers at 336-373-1000.     Sources: Chris Venzon (WFMY News2). (2020, March 10). Who killed 2-year-old Ashton and his mother Asia? Five years later, the Greensboro case remains unsolved. wfmynews2.com. https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/crime/asia-brown-ashton-brown/83-31aea1d9-92fc-4277-97cc-2f24c3b019c5 Megan Allman (WFMY News 2 Digital). (2022, February 23). Who killed a Greensboro mom and her 2-year-old son? $15K reward in the 2015 cold case. wfmynews2.com. https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/crime/greensboro-mom-asia-brown-and-son-ashton-found-dead-in-trunk-of-burned-buick-lacrosse/83-4705c25b-db8c-433e-aec0-41d7bbba35e4 Sarah Newell Williamson sarah.williamson@greensboro.com. (2016, February 27). District Attorney Jim O'Neill talks about stabbing at North Forsyth High School [Video]. Greensboro News and Record. https://greensboro.com/news/crime/police-still-seeking-clues-in-year-old-killing-of-asia/article_64ad7df0-9c60-5d0e-a2af-85a2eeb6c069.html NANCY McLAUGHLIN nancy.mclaughlin@greensboro.com. (2022, February 28). District Attorney Jim O'Neill talks about stabbing at North Forsyth High School [Video]. Greensboro News and Record. https://greensboro.com/news/who-killed-asia-and-ashton-and-why-seven-years-later-there-are-no-answers/article_9e2e3e98-9812-11ec-a7b3-dfdd999af705.html   Join The Dark Oak Discussion: Patreon The Dark Oak Podcast Website Facebook Instagram Twitter TikTok Youtube This episode of The Dark Oak was created, researched, written, recorded, hosted, edited, published, and marketed by Cynthia and Stefanie of Just Us Gals Productions with artwork by Justyse Himes and Music by Ryan Creep

https://www.pefnc.org/  Produced by Noble Academy, a school for students with learning differences in Greensboro, NC. https://www.nobleknights.org/

In the summer heat of Birmingham, children faced police dogs and fire hoses. On a bus in Montgomery, a 15-year-old refused to stand. From Claudette Colvin to Rosa Parks, from Greensboro counters to the March on Washington—the Civil Rights Movement shook America awake. Yet, even as laws changed, maps and mortgages quietly redrew the lines of belonging.In this episode of Built to Divide, Dimitrius Lynch tracks what happened after the marches. The Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination, but zoning boards found new tools to enforce it. Highways tore through Black neighborhoods in San Francisco and Detroit. Urban renewal became “Negro removal.” Birmingham forced the country to look. Kennedy named it a moral crisis. Johnson created HUD, appointing Robert C. Weaver, the first Black cabinet secretary. Then came the pivot—Section 235, 236, vouchers, block grants, Pruitt-Igoe, Moses vs. Jacobs, Nixon's New Federalism, and a shift from building homes to subsidizing rent.This is the story of how a movement won rights—but lost ground in planning rooms, mortgage offices, and zoning maps. How public housing gave way to vouchers. How the market replaced the public builder. And how America traded homes as social infrastructure for housing as financial asset.If you want to understand why affordability collapsed, why public housing withered, why vouchers fall short, and how modern inequality took shape—Episode 4 shows the pivot point.Episode Extras - Photos, videos, sources and links to additional content found during research. Episode Credits:Production in collaboration with Gābl MediaWritten & Executive Produced by Dimitrius LynchAudio Engineering and Sound Design by Jeff Alvarez

What do you get when you combine Mark Burnett, Angel and Evolve Studios and a film based upon a contextual deep dive written by 2 tenured Pastors, Brad Gray and Brad Nelson? A Transformative New Documentary Experience, called the Lord's Prayer and a companion book, “Bringing Heaven Here.”Deepen and transform your spiritual life with fresh insights into how this ancient prayer can provide structure, meaning and purpose in an increasingly fragmented world. Brad Gray Brad Nelson Companion Book Brad Gray CEO/Pres, Walking the TextFor Two decades, Brad's powerful teachings have impacted hundreds of thousands of people through a contextual approach to the Bible. Furthermore, his ability to teach complex ideas in easy-to-understand and creative ways has enabled him to reach audiences of all ages and backgrounds across the world. Bringing a rich understanding of the original context, as well as extensive experience traveling the lands of the Bible, Brad serves as The Lord's Prayer guide who sets the table and invites the audience in. He has lived and studied in the Middle East, and has been leading study trips to Israel and Turkey since 2010. Furthermore, he is a national speaker, published author, ordained minister, and former teaching pastor with over a decade of experience serving in the local church. Brad serves as the President & CEO of Walking The Text, creator of The Sacred ThreadBrad Nelson, Content Director, Walking the TextHe curates The Teaching Series, a bi-weekly podcast and video series, and is a cocreator and writer for The Sacred Thread. He is a national speaker, writer, and served in the local church as a pastor for seventeen years. Brad has a Bachelor of Arts in history from Cornerstone University (Grand Rapids, Michigan) and a Masters of Divinity from Western Theological Seminary (Holland, Michigan) and has done additional graduate work at Jerusalem University College (Jerusalem, Israel). He and his wife Trisha live with their three daughters in Greensboro, Georgia.WebsiteMovie/AngelWalking the Text

Dolly Parton BioSnap a weekly updated Biography.Dolly Parton is staying busy behind the scenes while fans eagerly await her next big move. The biggest recent development is her new business venture with Tennessean Travel Stop, now rebranded as Dolly's Tennessean Travel Stops. According to Fox News and C Store Dive, Parton has partnered with the owners of the long standing Tennessean Travel Stop in Cornersville, Tennessee, to relaunch that site as the flagship Dolly's Tennessean Travel Stop in early summer 2026. The plan is to expand the chain with more locations across Tennessee and other states, targeting underserved areas with modern amenities, curated dining, and regional retail, all infused with what they call the unmistakable Tennessee spirit of Dolly Parton. Her manager Danny Nozell says this project reflects her deep love for her home state and her commitment to supporting local communities and the travelers who keep America moving.On the performance front, Dolly Parton's Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol is currently on tour, with shows scheduled through December 2025. Vivid Seats and Ticketmaster list dates in Greensboro, North Carolina, on December 17 and in Clearwater, Florida, on December 22, among others, all under the official tour banner. These are not Parton herself performing but a stage production based on her reimagined Christmas Carol, which continues to draw audiences.Health concerns remain a topic of discussion. Entertainment Now and AOL note that Parton has been dealing with health challenges in 2025, leading her to postpone her Las Vegas residency and miss her International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Hall of Fame induction in November, which she accepted via video message. She's also taken a break from songwriting following the death of her husband, telling Khloe Kardashian she can't afford the emotional toll right now. There's no new health update in the past few days, but these developments underscore that while she's still very active in business and creative projects, she's also stepping back from some of the physical demands of touring and recording.Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOtaThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

In today's episode of The Practice of Therapy Podcast, I'm excited to introduce you to someone who made a big impact on me at the Wise Practice Conference—Derrick Boger. Derrick is a licensed clinical mental health counselor, military veteran, former firefighter, and the founder of Transformation Christian Counseling in Greensboro, North Carolina. His journey into the therapy world is rooted in a lifelong commitment to serving others, and you'll hear that passion come through in every part of our conversation. In this episode, Derrick and I dive deep into what it really looks like to support men in therapy, why emotional safety is the key to communication, and how vulnerability becomes a powerful tool for healing. We also explore the unique challenges men face when opening up, the importance of trust in relationships, and how faith and emotional intelligence can guide meaningful transformation. Whether you work with men, couples, or faith-based clients—or you simply want to listen in on a heartfelt conversation about connection and healing—I think you'll find Derrick's insights both inspiring and grounding. I'm thrilled to share this conversation with you. Resources Mentioned In This Episode  Read the show notes here Watch on YouTube  Use the promo code "GORDON" to get 2 months of Therapy Notes free Consulting with Gordon The PsychCraft Network Profit First for Therapists Workbook Meet Derrick Boger, LCMHCA, NCC Derrick Boger is an LCMHCA and the founder of Transformation Christian Counseling in Greensboro, NC. Before launching his private practice, he served eight years in the military, ten years as a firefighter, and over twenty years in church leadership. Derrick integrates faith-based and evidence-based approaches to help individuals and couples heal, grow, and thrive. He is passionate about supporting men, women, and marriages in experiencing true transformation from the inside out. Website LinkedIn Facebook

If you're enjoying the content, please like, subscribe, and comment! Dave's Links:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vamostoros/Website: https://www.newparadigmcapitalmanagement.com/homeDavid B. Mastran is a Founding Partner, Principal, and the President of New Paradigm Capital Management, LLC and the Founder, Chief Strategist, and Portfolio Manager of New Paradigm Fund.Mr. Mastran developed a passion for the markets when he first began trading at the age of eleven and has been trading equities full-time since 1993. In 1997, he founded New Paradigm Fund with $1.3 million in assets and grew it to $50 million and 19 investors by 2000. Mr. Mastran was the sole portfolio manager of the Fund from January 1997 through August 2003. He is proud to have successfully guided the Fund through the market crash of 2008, delivering on his mandate to preserve investor's capital. Mr. Mastran graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1993. He currently lives in Northern Virginia with his wife. He enjoys playing and coaching soccer and skiing.______________________Follow us!@worldxppodcast Instagram - https://bit.ly/3eoBwyr@worldxppodcast Twitter - https://bit.ly/2Oa7BzmSpotify - http://spoti.fi/3sZAUTGYouTube - http://bit.ly/3rxDvUL#hedgefund #stockmarket #stocks #optionstrading #shorts #financialfreedom #finance #trading #stock #bond #addictionrecovery #happy #happiness #explore #explorepage #podcastshow #longformpodcast #longformpodcast #podcasts #podcaster #explore #podcast #newshow #worldxppodcast

ICE, Border Patrol, and other federal agencies have turned immigrant neighborhoods in Chicago, IL, and Charlotte, NC, into open-air hunting grounds, snatching people off streets, out of parking lots, and in front of their children. But in each city, federal forces have also faced strong grassroots resistance. In this episode of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with organizers from Charlotte and Chicago, Miguel Alvelo Rivera and Andrew Willis Garcés, about the on-the-ground reality of President Trump's immigration raids and the ways communities are organizing and mobilizing against them. Guest:Miguel Alvelo Rivera is a migrant from Puerto Rico who came to the United States in 2007. He is the executive director of Latino Union of Chicago and has been a life-long educator, advocate, and believer in the power of people to change the world for the better. Co-founder of the community organizing, advocacy, and human rights group, Chicago Boricua Resistance, he's been active in community, environmental, and labor movements since he was a teenager in Puerto Rico. He's also worked as an Uber driver and delivery person, as a bartender, and as an educator in theater of the oppressed, adult education, and youth programming. Andrew Willis Garcés is based in Greensboro, NC. He is a lifelong Southerner shaped and inspired by the Southern grassroots organizing tradition and also by the communities of resistance from his maternal homeland of Colombia. He founded Siembra NC under the Trump Administration, and has worked with several dozen unions and grassroots community organizations over the last two decades as an organizer, strategist, communications consultant and trainer. He's been with Training for Change since 2009. You can read some of his writing at The Forge, Truthout, Waging Nonviolence, Convergence, In These Times.Additional links/info: Siembra NC website, Facebook page, TikTok, and InstagramLatino Union of Chicago website, Facebook page, and InstagramCredits:Producer: Rosette SewaliStudio Production: Cameron GranadinoAudio Post-Production: Stephen FrankBecome 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!

ICE, Border Patrol, and other federal agencies have turned immigrant neighborhoods in Chicago, IL, and Charlotte, NC, into open-air hunting grounds, snatching people off streets, out of parking lots, and in front of their children. But in each city, federal forces have also faced strong grassroots resistance. In this episode of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with organizers from Charlotte and Chicago, Miguel Alvelo Rivera and Andrew Willis Garcés, about the on-the-ground reality of President Trump's immigration raids and the ways communities are organizing and mobilizing against them. Guest:Miguel Alvelo Rivera is a migrant from Puerto Rico who came to the United States in 2007. He is the executive director of Latino Union of Chicago and has been a life-long educator, advocate, and believer in the power of people to change the world for the better. Co-founder of the community organizing, advocacy, and human rights group, Chicago Boricua Resistance, he's been active in community, environmental, and labor movements since he was a teenager in Puerto Rico. He's also worked as an Uber driver and delivery person, as a bartender, and as an educator in theater of the oppressed, adult education, and youth programming. Andrew Willis Garcés is based in Greensboro, NC. He is a lifelong Southerner shaped and inspired by the Southern grassroots organizing tradition and also by the communities of resistance from his maternal homeland of Colombia. He founded Siembra NC under the Trump Administration, and has worked with several dozen unions and grassroots community organizations over the last two decades as an organizer, strategist, communications consultant and trainer. He's been with Training for Change since 2009. You can read some of his writing at The Forge, Truthout, Waging Nonviolence, Convergence, In These Times.Additional links/info: Siembra NC website, Facebook page, TikTok, and InstagramLatino Union of Chicago website, Facebook page, and InstagramCredits:Producer: Rosette SewaliStudio Production: Cameron GranadinoAudio Post-Production: Stephen FrankBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-marc-steiner-show--4661751/support.Follow The Marc Steiner Show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.Help us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Dolly Parton BioSnap a weekly updated Biography.Dolly Parton has remained active and focused on business ventures and holiday celebrations despite ongoing health management. The country music icon confirmed through Women's World that she decorates for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving, which she celebrated this year by turning on all her lights inside and outside her home. She extends her holiday spirit through January nineteenth, her birthday, keeping decorations up to continue celebrating into the new year.On the entertainment front, Parton is performing her Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol tour at multiple venues through December, with shows scheduled in Greensboro, North Carolina on December seventeenth and Spartanburg, South Carolina on December twenty-second, according to ticketing websites and Visit Greensboro. These performances demonstrate her commitment to touring despite health considerations.Regarding health matters, Extra TV reported that Parton sent a Thanksgiving video message to fans, reassuring supporters about her wellbeing after persistent illness rumors. She emphasized that doctors have advised her to take it easy while she manages ongoing health procedures at Vanderbilt, though she stressed nothing is major. Her Las Vegas residency originally scheduled for December was postponed to September twenty twenty-six to accommodate these medical procedures, according to Wikipedia.On the business side, Parton continues expanding her empire significantly. According to Hillbilly Live, she's launching Dolly's Tennessean Travel Stop in Cornersville, Tennessee in early summer twenty twenty-six, bringing her signature style to the truck stop industry. She quoted herself saying her years on the road have given her understanding of what travelers desire. Additionally, Wikipedia confirms she announced plans in October twenty twenty-five to open the SongTeller Hotel in downtown Nashville in partnership with Herschend, alongside the new Dolly's Life of Many Colors Museum, with advance museum tickets going on sale in late October for a June twenty twenty-six opening.At seventy-nine years old, Parton maintains her characteristic work ethic. Hillbilly Live reports she still wakes at three in the morning daily, stating she doesn't want to miss anything. When addressing her approaching eightieth birthday, she told media outlets that she feels like she's just getting started and has no plans to retire, hoping to eventually drop dead on stage during one of her own songs. This sentiment encapsulates her continued dedication to her craft and business ventures heading into twenty twenty-six.Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOtaThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

Kris and David are back as we discuss the partial week that was November 27-December 1, 1986 which means THANKSGIVING WEEK!! Topics of discussion include:Starrcade '86 with a full rundown of everything that went down in both Atlanta and Greensboro, featuring Ric Flair vs. Nikita Koloff, the Midnight Express vs. Road Warriors scaffold match, Dusty Rhodes vs. Tully Blanchard in a first blood match, Paul Jones becoming a BALD-HEADED GEEK, and so much more.“Bullet” Bob Armstrong making his return to WTBS after 2 years away to help his son Brad against Bill Dundee and Jimmy Garvin.Bruiser Brody issuing a grandstand challenge to Antonio Inoki.Bob Roop getting fired as the booker in Florida.The Fabulous Ones returning to Memphis, which pisses off the Rock 'n' Roll RPM's.Jonathan Boyd showing tbe world his New Zealand Death Box on TV, much to Lance Russell's consternation.Fritz Von Erich battling Abdullah the Butcher at Reunion Arena and why Bruiser Brody was there even though he wasn't booked.Saturday Night's Main Event headlined by Randy Savage vs. Jake Roberts. Andre the Giant giving us an update from London after he gets reinstated.All of the big Thanksgiving shows from around the country.This show was pretty damn awesome in our opinion, and we hope that you agree!!!Timestamps:0:00:00 Jim Crockett Promotions1:27:30 Int'l: AJPW, NJPW, Stampede, EMLL, UWA, & WWC1:43:54 Classic Commercial Break1:47:46 Halftime2:44:08 Other USA: NWF, Deep South, CWF, Continental, CWA/Memphis, UWF, WCCW, AWA, & Portland4:07:57 WWFTo support the show and get access to exclusive rewards like special members-only monthly themed shows, go to our Patreon page at Patreon.com/BetweenTheSheets and become an ongoing Patron. Becoming a Between the Sheets Patron will also get you exclusive access to not only the monthly themed episode of Between the Sheets, but also access to our new mailbag segment, a Patron-only chat room on Slack, and anything else we do outside of the main shows!If you're looking for the best deal on a VPN service—short for Virtual Private Network, it helps you get around regional restrictions as well as browse the internet more securely—then Private Internet Access is what you've been looking for. Not only will using our link help support Between The Sheets, but you'll get a special discount, with prices as low as $1.98/month if you go with a 40 month subscription. With numerous great features and even a TV-specific Android app to make streaming easier, there is no better choice if you're looking to subscribe to WWE Network, AEW Plus, and other region-locked services.For the best in both current and classic indie wrestling streaming, make sure to check out IndependentWrestling.tv and use coupon code BTSPOD for a free 5 day trial! (You can also go directly to TinyURL.com/IWTVsheets to sign up that way.) If you convert to a paid subscriber, we get a kickback for referring you, allowing you to support both the show and the indie scene.You can also use code BTSPOD to save 25% on your first payment — whether paying month to month or annually — when you subscribe to Ultimate Classic Wrestling Network at ClassicWrestling.net!To subscribe, you can find us on iTunes, Google Play, and just about every other podcast app's directory, or you can also paste Feeds.FeedBurner.com/BTSheets into your favorite podcast app using whatever “add feed manually” option it has.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/between-the-sheets/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Welcome to the Calvary Church Podcast! --To support this ministry and help us continue to spread the Gospel around the world, click here: https://www.calvar

Kris and David are back as we discuss the partial week that was November 27-December 1, 1986 which means THANKSGIVING WEEK!! Topics of discussion include:Starrcade '86 with a full rundown of everything that went down in both Atlanta and Greensboro, featuring Ric Flair vs. Nikita Koloff, the Midnight Express vs. Road Warriors scaffold match, Dusty Rhodes vs. Tully Blanchard in a first blood match, Paul Jones becoming a BALD-HEADED GEEK, and so much more.“Bullet” Bob Armstrong making his return to WTBS after 2 years away to help his son Brad against Bill Dundee and Jimmy Garvin.Bruiser Brody issuing a grandstand challenge to Antonio Inoki.Bob Roop getting fired as the booker in Florida.The Fabulous Ones returning to Memphis, which pisses off the Rock 'n' Roll RPM's.Jonathan Boyd showing tbe world his New Zealand Death Box on TV, much to Lance Russell's consternation.Fritz Von Erich battling Abdullah the Butcher at Reunion Arena and why Bruiser Brody was there even though he wasn't booked.Saturday Night's Main Event headlined by Randy Savage vs. Jake Roberts. Andre the Giant giving us an update from London after he gets reinstated.All of the big Thanksgiving shows from around the country.This show was pretty damn awesome in our opinion, and we hope that you agree!!!Timestamps:0:00:00 Jim Crockett Promotions1:27:30 Int'l: AJPW, NJPW, Stampede, EMLL, UWA, & WWC1:43:54 Classic Commercial Break1:47:46 Halftime2:44:08 Other USA: NWF, Deep South, CWF, Continental, CWA/Memphis, UWF, WCCW, AWA, & Portland4:07:57 WWFTo support the show and get access to exclusive rewards like special members-only monthly themed shows, go to our Patreon page at Patreon.com/BetweenTheSheets and become an ongoing Patron. Becoming a Between the Sheets Patron will also get you exclusive access to not only the monthly themed episode of Between the Sheets, but also access to our new mailbag segment, a Patron-only chat room on Slack, and anything else we do outside of the main shows!If you're looking for the best deal on a VPN service—short for Virtual Private Network, it helps you get around regional restrictions as well as browse the internet more securely—then Private Internet Access is what you've been looking for. Not only will using our link help support Between The Sheets, but you'll get a special discount, with prices as low as $1.98/month if you go with a 40 month subscription. With numerous great features and even a TV-specific Android app to make streaming easier, there is no better choice if you're looking to subscribe to WWE Network, AEW Plus, and other region-locked services.For the best in both current and classic indie wrestling streaming, make sure to check out IndependentWrestling.tv and use coupon code BTSPOD for a free 5 day trial! (You can also go directly to TinyURL.com/IWTVsheets to sign up that way.) If you convert to a paid subscriber, we get a kickback for referring you, allowing you to support both the show and the indie scene.You can also use code BTSPOD to save 25% on your first payment — whether paying month to month or annually — when you subscribe to Ultimate Classic Wrestling Network at ClassicWrestling.net!To subscribe, you can find us on iTunes, Google Play, and just about every other podcast app's directory, or you can also paste Feeds.FeedBurner.com/BTSheets into your favorite podcast app using whatever “add feed manually” option it has.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/between-the-sheets/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Welcome to the Calvary Church Podcast! --To support this ministry and help us continue to spread the Gospel around the world, click here: https://www.calvar

Send us a textDr. Eric Rodgers is an Optometrist at Triangle Visions Optometry. After owning practices in Raleigh and Hillsborough, he joined Triangle Visions in 2015 where he practices full scope Optometry treating Eye Disease and fitting all types of Contact lenses.He received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1982 with a degree in Chemistry. He received his Doctor of Optometry degree in 1986 from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (now known as Salus University), completing optometry residencies at the VA Hospital in Huntington West Virginia and Southern Eye Associates in Greensboro.Find Dr. Eric Rodgers at-TW- @DrEricRodgersYT- From Suffering to Science: Fixing LADA with – Jessica Apple – #CoSciYT- How Statins Made Me Stupid | EpicReviewGuys in 4k CCFind Boundless Body at- myboundlessbody.com Book a session with us here!

Welcome to the Calvary Church Podcast! --To support this ministry and help us continue to spread the Gospel around the world, click here: https://www.calvar

In a twist in our show, Jeff and Rachael interview Emily and Mongo about their experience in Greensboro NC as they witnessed History at the First ever dual Blood and Guts Episode of AEW Dynamite and the First ever Womens Blood and Guts! In this episode we break down and discuss both Blood and Guts Matches, as well as the rest of Dynamite as well. We breakdown our favorite spots, moments, stories and moments from this Epic episode of AEW. We also give you our thoughts on the MVP for each match, who shined, who stood out and our overall thoughts. So tune in, be sure to like  and comment what you thought of the 2025 version of AEW Blood and Guts! For a full episode archive (AD FREE) and exclusive content visit CWKPOD.COM Make sure and follow the show and leave us a 5 Star Frog Splash of a review! Be sure to Follow us on all of our socials @CruisingwithKayfabe on Facebook and Instagram, @ItsMongo and @CruisingWithKayfabe_Emily on TikTok.  Visit Dubby Energy at https://www.dubby.gg/discount/Mongo?ref=TokPgWhTYa3YrX and use promo code "MONGO" to save 10% on all orders all the time! Special Thanks to friends of the show the Undone for letting us use their song Miss Fortune! Now available to stream or purchase on Apple, Amazon Music & Spotify.  For more information visit https://wearetheundone.com/ and make sure to give them a follow!

It's Episode 208 and Johnny Taylor Jr., Diana Prince, and Gringo Fantastico saddle up to break down AEW Dynamite (11/12/25) from Greensboro — where the first-ever Women's Blood & Guts turned Mina into a barbed-wire crime scene, Hangman and Hobbs tore the building apart in a Falls Count Anywhere brawl, FTR disrespected Ricky Steamboat in his own house, and the Men's Blood & Guts ended with Kyle O'Reilly tapping out Jon Moxley after Darby took a flaming table ride. It's cages, blood, beds of nails, and fire and we are here to cover every melting second of it. Rate, review, and subscribe or we'll staple your hands into your pockets. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this episode of the show Floyd and Austin start the show by looking at the results of the PWI Women's 250 and then review AEW Blood & Guts from Greensboro. Buy All Things Elite MerchCheck Rich Latta's music https://solo.to/richlattaEmail Us at AllThingsElitePod@gmail.comFollow Floyd's InstagramGet Custom Sneakers from Ramen.AEW YouTube Match of the week.Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SocialSuplex/Visit our website for news, columns, and podcasts: https://socialsuplex.com/Join the Social Suplex community Facebook Group: The Wrestling (Squared) CircleJoin the Social Suplex Discord.All Things Elite is the AEW Podcast of the Social Suplex Podcast Network. Support the Social Podcast Network by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and StitcherSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/social-suplex-podcast-network/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of the show Floyd and Austin start the show by looking at the results of the PWI Women's 250 and then review AEW Blood & Guts from Greensboro. Buy All Things Elite MerchCheck Rich Latta's music https://solo.to/richlattaEmail Us at AllThingsElitePod@gmail.comFollow Floyd's InstagramGet Custom Sneakers from Ramen.AEW YouTube Match of the week.Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SocialSuplex/Visit our website for news, columns, and podcasts: https://socialsuplex.com/Join the Social Suplex community Facebook Group: The Wrestling (Squared) CircleJoin the Social Suplex Discord.All Things Elite is the AEW Podcast of the Social Suplex Podcast Network. Support the Social Podcast Network by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and StitcherSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/all-things-elite/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Director of Enrollment Management Christy Duncan joins Head of School Gayle Cole to walk families through Noble Academy's admissions process—from the first inquiry to enrollment and transition—and share key advice for both prospective and current families navigating financial aid and school choice scholarships. Produced by Noble Academy, a school for students with learning differences in Greensboro, NC.  https://www.nobleknights.org/

The big 2025 edition of Blood and Guts took place in Greensboro, NC on November 12, 2025, and I am really excited to talk about a show which was, simply put, signature AEW.

AEW BLOOD & GUTS HISTORY (2021 to 2025) From Jacksonville to Greensboro, we're breaking down every war that's painted the cage red. Mongo and Emily walk through all five Blood and Guts matches, from MJF's infamous shove off the cage in 2021 to Swerve leading Team AEW in 2024, and now the first ever Women's edition in 2025. We cover every key moment, rivalry, and record from AEW's most chaotic tradition.

Acefield Retro and Chad are back for Wrestling Tonight, and Episode 150 lands during one of the biggest weeks of the year. AEW is heading to Greensboro next Wednesday for Blood and Guts, live on TBS and HBO Max, with an expanded two-and-a-half-hour broadcast that feels closer to a pay-per-view than a weekly show. Hangman Page does battle against Powerhouse Hobbs in a Falls Count Anywhere match, the fifth men's Blood and Guts takes place, and for the first time ever, the women get their turn inside the cage. Greensboro isn't just another stop—it's the birthplace of WarGames, and AEW is honoring that legacy with a lineup that blends history, chaos, and spectacle. While AEW doubles down on its roots, WWE is rewriting its global playbook. Beginning in 2026, the company will run three Premium Live Events in Saudi Arabia, starting with Royal Rumble: Riyadh. The strategy is paying off in a big way. WWE officially surpassed UFC in both revenue and profit this quarter, powered by massive site fees and fewer but bigger shows. Nick Khan calls it "strategic scarcity," and the numbers prove him right. Fewer events, fuller arenas, higher prices, and bigger energy. Triple H continues to steer creative toward long-term storytelling, trading shock moments for layered narratives. The road to WrestleMania 43 runs through Montreal, Riyadh, and San Diego, with each stop feeling like a blockbuster on its own. Chelsea Green might be the story of the week. She reclaimed the Women's United States Championship on SmackDown, just days after winning the AAA Mixed Tag Titles with Ethan Page. Her rise from comic relief to crossover champion shows how WWE's new era is connecting international stories with mainline programming. AEW stirred its own headlines by unveiling the National Championship, sparking backlash from the NWA, who claim Tony Khan hijacked their legacy. Legal battles, brand pride, and a healthy dose of ego are turning a simple belt unveiling into one of the year's most intriguing real-world rivalries. Behind the scenes, AEW quietly moved its training and storage hub from Florida to Nashville, signaling a shift in infrastructure. Darby Allin celebrated a personal milestone as his long-awaited skatepark project with Tony Hawk was approved in Georgia, turning his offbeat persona into a real community legacy. In WWE, Drew McIntyre's meltdown and suspension following his attack on Cody Rhodes showed how fragile redemption arcs can be, while Ridge Holland's early release after his injury highlighted the harsh business side of the sport. And in Japan, the biggest emotional announcement of the year became official. Kazuchika Okada will face Hiroshi Tanahashi in Tanahashi's retirement match at Wrestle Kingdom 20. It's the final chapter in one of wrestling's greatest rivalries, a torch-passing moment that connects generations and promotions across the world. Outside the ring, the sports world is battling its own integrity crisis. The UFC is under FBI investigation for another betting scandal, and NBA figures like Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier were charged in a federal gambling probe. These headlines cast a long shadow over sports entertainment as TKO navigates its dual ownership of WWE and UFC. As gambling expands across platforms, the line between competition and speculation grows thinner. Protecting legitimacy will matter just as much as growing profit. Episode 150 captures wrestling at a crossroads. AEW is refining its identity, WWE is globalizing its empire, and TKO is turning the entire industry into a corporate powerhouse. The business is bigger than ever, but it's still driven by the same thing that always made it work—real stories, human stakes, and the pull of seeing what happens next. Turnbuckle Tavern is powered by G FUEL, the clean energy that keeps you locked in for late-night shows and long nights on the mic. Save 20 percent with code TAVERN at GFUEL.com. And don't forget the ultimate prank gift—the official Dick Lazer—available now at DickLazers.com, also 20 percent off with code TAVERN. Support independent wrestling media, join the conversation, and as always, keep it Tavern.

Welcome to the Calvary Church Podcast! --To support this ministry and help us continue to spread the Gospel around the world, click here: https://www.calvar

 Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about a new fund for literary arts organizations, James Patterson's podcast, and how to read a book and feed a neighbor. Then, stick around for a chat with Orson Scott Card!Orson Scott Card is the author of the novels Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, and Speaker for the Dead, which are widely read by adults and younger readers. His most recent series, the young adult Pathfinder series (Pathfinder, Ruins, Visitors), the fantasy Mithermages series (Lost Gate, Gate Thief, Gatefather) and the Side Step series (Wakers, Reawakening) are taking readers in new directions.Besides these and other science fiction novels, Card writes contemporary fantasy (Magic Street, Enchantment, Lost Boys), biblical novels (Stone Tables, Sarah), the American frontier fantasy series The Tales of Alvin Maker (beginning with Seventh Son), poetry (An Open Book), and many plays and scripts, including his "freshened" Shakespeare scripts for Romeo & Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Merchant of Venice.Card was born in Washington and grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He served a mission for the LDS Church in Brazil in the early 1970s. Card currently lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this episode of the show Floyd and Austin ask the question, “Does AEW need another title?” We then review. AEW Dynamite from Houston and how it sets up next week's Blood & Guts from Greensboro. We then look at what has been announced for AEW Collision and give our predictions for Blood &Guts.Buy All Things Elite MerchCheck Rich Latta's music https://solo.to/richlattaEmail Us at AllThingsElitePod@gmail.comFollow Floyd's InstagramGet Custom Sneakers from Ramen.AEW YouTube Match of the week.Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SocialSuplex/Visit our website for news, columns, and podcasts: https://socialsuplex.com/Join the Social Suplex community Facebook Group: The Wrestling (Squared) CircleJoin the Social Suplex Discord.All Things Elite is the AEW Podcast of the Social Suplex Podcast Network. Support the Social Podcast Network by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and StitcherSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/social-suplex-podcast-network/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of the show Floyd and Austin ask the question, “Does AEW need another title?” We then review. AEW Dynamite from Houston and how it sets up next week's Blood & Guts from Greensboro. We then look at what has been announced for AEW Collision and give our predictions for Blood &Guts.Buy All Things Elite MerchCheck Rich Latta's music https://solo.to/richlattaEmail Us at AllThingsElitePod@gmail.comFollow Floyd's InstagramGet Custom Sneakers from Ramen.AEW YouTube Match of the week.Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SocialSuplex/Visit our website for news, columns, and podcasts: https://socialsuplex.com/Join the Social Suplex community Facebook Group: The Wrestling (Squared) CircleJoin the Social Suplex Discord.All Things Elite is the AEW Podcast of the Social Suplex Podcast Network. Support the Social Podcast Network by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and StitcherSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/all-things-elite/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this REMIX edition of Grilling JR, Jim Ross and Conrad Thompson revisit Survivor Series 2001, held November 18th at the historic Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina! The event featured the epic 5-on-5 showdown between Team WWF and Team Alliance for control of the company, plus unforgettable matches like the Immunity Battle Royal, Edge vs. Test to unify the U.S. and Intercontinental Titles, and The Dudley Boyz vs. The Hardy Boyz in a Steel Cage Match to unify the WCW and WWF Tag Team Championships. JR shares his firsthand experiences from that wild time in WWE, reflecting on the chaos, the egos, and the high stakes that defined the Invasion Era. All that and much more on this action-packed Grilling JR! BUTCHER BOX - As an exclusive offer, our listeners can get free protein in every box for a year PLUS $20 off your first box and free shipping when you go to http://ButcherBox.com/JR .  BLUECHEW - Visit https://bluechew.com  and try your first month of BlueChew FREE when you use promo code JR -- just pay $5 shipping. THE PERFECT JEAN - F*%k your khakis and get The Perfect Jean 15% off with the code JR15 at www.theperfectjean.nyc/JR15#theperfectjeanpod HOME CHEF - For a limited time, Home Chef is offering my listeners 50% OFF and free shipping for your first box PLUS free dessert for life! Go to http://www.homechef.com/JR  RAYCON - Raycon's going big for Black Friday and Cyber Monday — everything's up to 30% off! Just click the link in the description or go to http://buyraycon.com/jr  to save on Raycon audio products sitewide LEGAL BUDDY - Download the Legal Buddy App at http://LegalBuddyApp.com . Register today, use referral code LEGAL for your chance to win a $250 Amazon Gift Card. SAVE WITH CONRAD - Stop throwing money away by paying those high interest rates on your credit card. Roll them into one low monthly payment and on top of that, skip your next two house payments. Go to https://www.savewithconrad.com  to learn more.

Will Washington and Ref Aubrey Edwards are breaking down one of the wildest Dynamite episodes of the year — Fright Night! From Hangman Adam Page's perfect disguise as Tony Schiavone and the backstage chaos it caused, to the makeup, camera tricks, and live-show magic that made it work, they reveal how that unbelievable moment came together. Aubrey also relives taking a legit shot from Marina Shafir during Moxley vs. Kyle O'Reilly, and how that led straight into AEW's next massive event — Blood & Guts. Hear how the women's first-ever Blood & Guts match became a reality, what makes this year's double-cage lineup so different, and why Greensboro's legendary arena is the perfect home for AEW's most violent night. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Acefield Retro & Chad are here for episode 149 to discuss all things pro wrestling. Salt Lake City's Saturday Night's Main Event captured WWE's late-2025 identity. CM Punk's World Heavyweight Championship win over Jey Uso gave the company a new anchor at the top, Cody Rhodes retained his Undisputed Championship in another clean, composed defense, and Jade Cargill officially began her reign as WWE Women's Champion by ending Tiffany Stratton's impressive year-long run. Dominik Mysterio continued his momentum with a smart, character-driven Intercontinental Title defense against Penta and Rusev. Seth Rollins confirmed a six-month recovery timeline following shoulder surgery after his Crown Jewel: Perth injury, officially ruling him out until spring 2026. WWE's creative direction remains centered on continuity, with Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed leading The Vision and the CM Punk–Roman Reigns alliance giving the upcoming Survivor Series: WarGames an established focal point. John Cena officially announced his final match will take place on Saturday Night's Main Event December 13 in Washington, D.C., closing a twenty-year career where it began. A 16-man cross-brand tournament will determine his last opponent, and as Cena teased, "not everyone in this tournament works here yet." Reports suggest Gunther is the favorite to face him, potentially setting up one last "passing of the torch" moment before Cena's retirement. Over in AEW, Tony Khan confirmed both lineups for Blood & Guts, set for November 12 in Greensboro. The men's match will see The Conglomeration (Orange Cassidy, Kyle O'Reilly, Mark Briscoe, Roderick Strong, and Darby Allin) face The Death Riders (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Daniel Garcia, and PAC), while the first-ever women's Blood & Guts match will feature Mercedes Moné, Megan Bayne, Marina Shafir, Thekla, Julia Hart, and Skye Blue battling Kris Statlander, Toni Storm, Harley Cameron, Jamie Hayter, Queen Aminata, and Willow Nightingale. Meanwhile, Full Gear is beginning to take shape with Hangman Page vs. Samoa Joe for the AEW World Championship, Kris Statlander vs. Mercedes Moné for the Women's World Title, and FTR vs. Brodido for the Tag Titles among the confirmed bouts. AEW's focus on faction warfare, long-form storytelling, and cross-promotional balance continues to define its late-year build. Elsewhere, Chelsea Green signed a new five-year WWE deal through 2030 and is set to challenge for the AAA Mixed Tag Team Titles alongside Ethan Page at AAA Alianzas. Across the industry, promotions are closing the year by emphasizing stability, continuity, and legacy rather than volatility — a trend that defines wrestling's current moment as much as any title change. It was a week that highlighted structure over shock, balance over chaos, and transition over turbulence — a calm before what could be a seismic close to 2025 across all major promotions.

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about a new fund for literary arts organizations, James Patterson's podcast, and how to read a book and feed a neighbor. Then, stick around for a chat with Orson Scott Card!Orson Scott Card is the author of the novels Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, and Speaker for the Dead, which are widely read by adults and younger readers. His most recent series, the young adult Pathfinder series (Pathfinder, Ruins, Visitors), the fantasy Mithermages series (Lost Gate, Gate Thief, Gatefather) and the Side Step series (Wakers, Reawakening) are taking readers in new directions.Besides these and other science fiction novels, Card writes contemporary fantasy (Magic Street, Enchantment, Lost Boys), biblical novels (Stone Tables, Sarah), the American frontier fantasy series The Tales of Alvin Maker (beginning with Seventh Son), poetry (An Open Book), and many plays and scripts, including his "freshened" Shakespeare scripts for Romeo & Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Merchant of Venice.Card was born in Washington and grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He served a mission for the LDS Church in Brazil in the early 1970s. Card currently lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card.

Rod and Karen banter about a road trip to see the Hornets in Greensboro, why people consume ignorant content, kids at basketball games, a lit-up truck, the farmer’s market, new car tire pressure diagram, and a kid came over to our table. Then they discuss the young republicans leak, woman points gun at No Kings protestors, man pulls gun to get by a crash in traffic, Taco Bell ex-employee comes back to shoot the manager, McDonald’s shooting and sword ratchetness. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theblackguywhotips Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@rodimusprime⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@SayDatAgain⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TBGWT⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheBlackGuyWhoTips⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠theblackguywhotips@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Blog: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.theblackguywhotips.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Teepublic Store⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon Wishlist⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Crowdcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Voicemail: ‪(980) 500-9034Go Premium: https://www.theblackguywhotips.com/premium/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.