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Sermon Series | ParablesTo give to our M25 Initiative, text m25 to 623.252.5085 or visit redaz.in/m25.To download our Mobile App, search Redemption Church Peoria where you download apps to your device(s).To connect with us, visit this link: http://redaz.in/RPTo invest in our ministry financially, visit this link: https://bit.ly/3roZDAW
A look at the week in Central Illinois and across the world from Peoria's breaking news station, 1470 and 100.3 WMBD for the week of 8/24 - 8/30.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Ben and Dr D have a week's worth of news to discuss. But first! Ben apologizes to Cameron Maine for calling him British. He's Australian. Cameron explains how he turned a passion for gaming into a career covering Illinois politics for WMBD in Peoria. Then back to the beat for B and D…News on Pritzker, Trump, Alderman Sposato, Darren Bailey and more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chris, Molly, and Nathan take a look at the winter weather predictions from the Old Farmers' Almanac and the Farmers' Almanac and discuss how accurate they have been. They also take a deeper look into our recent cool and dry weather.
Greg and Dan welcome Major Anita Sells, President Theresa Mangieri, and Vice President Rachel Braker of the Peoria Women’s Auxiliary, an organization that works directly with the Salvation Army. Over the past 16 years, this dedicated group has helped raise more than $1.5 million to support vital programs and services in our community. They share their personal stories about why they chose to join, the impact of their work, and what the Women’s Auxiliary means to Peoria. Their next big fundraiser features Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith of the St. Louis Cardinals, happening Wednesday, September 25th at Venue Chisca. The evening kicks off with a meet & greet from 5-6 PM, followed by dinner at 6:15 PM. At 7:15 PM, Ozzie will share stories and inspiration, leading into a live auction filled with unique and exciting prizes, all to benefit the Salvation Army’s mission of serving those in need. Don’t miss this unforgettable night of baseball, community, and giving back.Tickets are available now at www.sapeoria.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Greg and Dan talk with Jack “Maddog” Manis from the Peoria Blues & Heritage Festival, happening this weekend, Friday, August 29th & Saturday, August 30th, along the Peoria Riverfront at 200 NE Water Street. Now celebrating 35 years of blues in Peoria, this iconic festival continues to bring the community together with two unforgettable days of music, culture, and energy. Jack says the lineup is packed with artists who truly have the “it factor.” Doors open at 5 PM on Friday and 12 PM on Saturday, with live performances, food, and fun stretching late into the night. For tickets and more information, visit www.peoriabluesandheritagefestival.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The engagement story, the open bar test, the Cracker Barrel rebrand, and Taylor Swift vs Katt Williams... On the net, it's a positive. ----- JOKES FOR HUMANS TOUR: https://johncristcomedy.com/tour/ 8/30 - Las Vegas, NV 9/19 - Grand Rapids, MI 9/20 - Fort Wayne, IN 9/21 - Paducah, KY 9/26 - North Charleston, SC 9/27 - Macon, GA 9/28 - Hiawassee, GA 10/2 - Evansville, IN 10/3 - Dayton, OH 10/4 - Peoria, IL 10/10 - Knoxville, TN 10/11 - Greenville, SC 10/16 - York, PA 10/17 - Detroit, MI 10/18 - Cleveland, OH 10/24 - Birmingham, AL 10/25 - Chattanooga, TN 11/7 - Boise, ID 11/8 - Spokane, WA 11/9 - Tacoma, WA 11/20 - Abilene, TX 11/21 - San Antonio, TX 11/22 - Tyler, TX 11/23 - Austin, TX 12/5 - Phoenix, AZ 12/6 - Santa Rosa, CA 12/7 - Redding, CA 12/11 - South Bend, IN 12/12 - Munhall, PA 12/14 - Buffalo, NY ----- Catch the full video podcast on YouTube, and follow us on social media (@netpositivepodcast) for clips, bonus content, and updates throughout the week. ----- Email us at netpositive@johncristcomedy.com ----- FOLLOW JOHN ON: Instagram Twitter TikTok Facebook YouTube ----- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS PONCHO: Go to https://ponchooutdoors.com/netpositive for $10 off and free shipping on your first order MIRACLE MADE: Save OVER 40% + 3 free towels with promo code NETPOSITIVE at https://trymiracle.com/NETPOSITIVE MOSH: Save 20% off plus FREE shipping on the Best-Sellers Trial Pack at https://moshlife.com/NETPOSITIVE ROCKET MONEY: Stop wasting money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions – and manage your money the easy way – by going to https://RocketMoney.com/netpositive ----- PRODUCED BY: Alex Lagos / Lagos Creative
The new Rumps & Bumps jersey just dropped! Check out afterpartyinc.com. Its a brand new episode of the After Party and on this one we bring on Baby Mama Bree! As she comes on spills some much need tea. She tells about her first time on the mean streets of Cinci, she gives us some tips and tricks on rizzing her up plus we catch up with the roll taco queen Tori. Follow us on social media @AaronScenesAfterParty
Greg and Dan talk with Dustin Crawford, owner of The 33 Room in Peoria Heights, along with organizers Johnathan Vota and Logan Wheaton, to talk about the upcoming Mt. Moon Fest, a two-day celebration of community, creativity, and independent music! The festival kicks off Friday, August 29th at Café Santa Rosa and continues with a block party on Saturday, August 30th along the 4500 block of Prospect Road. Festival-goers can enjoy incredible live music, local food and drinks, and a vibrant atmosphere supporting a great cause. All proceeds benefit LULA NFP, an organization dedicated to supporting Peoria’s homeless community. Tickets are just $20 per day or $30 for the full weekend and are available now at www.mtmoonfest.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
267. Apologetics with Ray Comfort Acts 4:20 NKJV "For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” **Transcription Below** Ray Comfort is a best selling author - having written over 100 books, including his most recent one, entitled Fifty Years of Open-Air Preaching: Everything I've Learned. He is a cohost of an award-winning television show that airs in 190 countries. Living Waters Website Living Waters YouTube Channel Questions and Topics We Cover: What are some memorable encounters you've had over the years as an open-air preacher? What fears do you notice holding believers back from evangelizing? What's an easy win or next step we can take today so that the inspiration from this conversation turns into action? Related Episodes on The Savvy Sauce: School Series (Legal) Gospel Sharing During School Hours with Joel Penton Stories Series: Faith Building Miracles with Dave Pridemore Stories Series: Testify to Glorify with Richard Gamble Thank You to Our Sponsor: Sam Leman Eureka Connect with The Savvy Sauce Facebook, Instagram or Our Website Please help us out by sharing this episode with a friend, leaving a 5-star rating and review, and subscribing to this podcast! Gospel Scripture: (all NIV) Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“ Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“ Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” *Transcription* Music: (0:00 – 0:09) Laura Dugger: (0:10 - 1:18) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here. Leman Property Management Company has the apartment you will be able to call home, with over 1,700 apartment units available in Central Illinois. Visit them today at lemanproperties.com or connect with them on Facebook. I'm delighted with this opportunity to interview my special guest for today, Mr. Ray Comfort. Ray is a best-selling author of over 100 books, one of which we'll be discussing today, about 50 years of open-air preaching. He's also a co-host of an award-winning television show that airs in over 190 countries around the world. So, I'm pleased to welcome Ray Comfort and get to hear all of his stories and inspiration. Here's our chat. Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Ray. Ray Comfort: (1:19 - 1:27) Well, thank you for having me. Can you explain Savvy Sauce to me? Absolutely. That means knowledge, knowledge poured out. Laura Dugger: (1:27 - 1:46) Well, savvy is synonymous with practical or insight. And my husband having a background in Chick-fil-A, people always talk about the Chick-fil-A sauce or the secret sauce. And so, when we were creating this podcast, that just became the favorite question that I wanted to ask every guest. Ray Comfort: (1:47 - 1:50) Oh, that's great. Yeah, it's great to be with you. Thanks for having me on. Laura Dugger: (1:51 - 2:00) It's truly my pleasure. And I just love how everybody has a unique testimony. So, would you be willing to share your salvation story with us? Ray Comfort: (2:01 - 4:47) Yeah, sure. I came from a non-Christian background. My mother was Jewish. My dad was Gentile. And when my mom met my dad, it caused problems in the family. So, they brought me up with no Christian instruction or any instruction whatsoever. Until at the age of 10, an aunt taught me the Lord's Prayer, which I prayed every night for 10 years. I believed in God. And at the age of about 20, 21, I had an epiphany, just a revelation that I was part of the ultimate statistic. 10 out of 10 die. And I thought, this is ridiculous. We're all waiting around to die. And you can have fun while you're dying. You can play sports or save money. And I'd achieved everything I wanted to achieve by the age of 21. I had my own business and my own house, my own wife. I'd made one child by then. Everything material I could want. And I remember one night just going to sleep, or my wife had gone to sleep just before I went to sleep. I looked at my wife, we're newly married, and I just wept at the thought of her dying. And I just cried out, why? Why is this thing called death? It's like there's an elephant in the room stomping on all humanity and nobody talks about it. And so, I cried out, why? I didn't know I was praying. I didn't know God heard. And six months later, I was on a surfing trip, and there was a young Christian guy there, and he had a Bible, and I remember reading parts of it. And my eyes fell upon, you've heard it said, by them of old you shall not commit adultery. And I thought, well, if there is a heaven, I'll make it there because I've never committed adultery. But then I read the words of Jesus, but I say to you, whoever looks upon a woman to lust for her has committed adultery already with her in his heart. And it was like an arrow went into my chest. And I thought, whoa, boy, am I undone. Because like every red-blooded male, I was filled with unlawful sexual desire and eyes full of adultery, as scripture says. And that's when I understood the cross. I realized I had sinned. Jesus bore my sin. And we broke the law, the commandments. Jesus paid the fine. And that meant God could forgive my sins, grant me everlasting life. And I cannot express to you the joy, it was unspeakable, that's why I can't express it, that I had and the knowledge my sins were forgiven. It was like an explosion of gratitude filled my heart. And for the last 50 years, it's been the high-octane fuel that's driven me to live for God's will and honor. So everywhere I go and everything I do is centered around sharing the gospel with unsaved people. And every Christian should be like that. I call myself a normal, biblical Christian. Laura Dugger: (4:48 - 4:59) I love that. Well, and something that you speak about and that you live out is open-air preaching. And I just want to read a piece from the dedication page, if that's okay. Ray Comfort: (5:01 - 5:03) So, make sure you speak in a New Zealand accent. Laura Dugger: (5:03 - 5:28) Oh, goodness. I won't even attempt. But you define open-air preaching saying, going somewhere I don't want to go, to preach a message I don't want to preach, to people who don't want to hear it, but the love of Christ compels me. And so, Ray, what was your journey to becoming an open-air preacher? Ray Comfort: (5:30 - 9:18) Well, I'll go back to when I was 16. I was in high school, and the teacher had the bright idea to have class speeches. And I was horrified at the thought of class speeches. Have to get up and make a speech? Because I was kind of introverted, and the day came when I got caught. I used to stay away when they had class speeches, but my name was left on the roster, and it was last. And the teacher got me up, and I thought I'll speak on the subject of surfing because I just loved surfing. And I dried up in the middle of that speech. My heart just went thump, thump, thump, thump till I could hardly hear. It was like a drum beating, and I couldn't think straight. And I sat down humiliated in front of my peers at the age of 16, which is huge. And I vowed never, ever to speak in public again. But I got born again. I became a new person in Christ. And I had a message that I could not be quiet about. And I remember one day I was on a bus going to the city, and I remember looking at the people that were sitting on the bus, and I thought most of them probably not Christians. They die. They're going to Hell. I've found everlasting life. I should stand up and speak to them. And I thought the bus would stop, and a whole lot of them would throw me off. And I thought, what do I do? And I remember praying, oh, God, if there's just some way where I could speak in public to people knowing there wasn't. And two weeks later, they legalized public speaking in our city through just strange circumstances. And I thought, whoa, what an answer to prayer. Horrors. And I remember avoiding any thought of going into that speaker's corner for the next two weeks until I opened a newspaper. Remember what newspapers were? I opened a newspaper and had a picture of an elderly lady with a Bible in her hand, and underneath it had the Bible lady sharing her Christian testimony in speaker's corner. And I felt so ashamed that here was an elderly lady, and here I was hiding like Jonah. So, I went in, took a deep breath, and preached the gospel to a crowd that was standing or sitting there. And I went back about 3,000 times and commuted to it for about 12 years, almost daily for 12 years. So, I broke the sound barrier, and I've been doing it ever since. And I'll tell you why I do it, because the average church wouldn't reach as many people in a year as a good open-air preacher can reach in 30 minutes. And you just have to learn how to draw a crowd and what to say, and you've got to have the will to say it. And if you're a Christian and you've found everlasting life, you should be saying with the disciples, I cannot but speak that which I've seen and heard. And I'm so glad the disciples didn't stay in the upper room. They found everlasting life. God granted eternal life. They didn't carpet out the room, put in pipe music, with a little notice outside their door, tonight, 7 o'clock, all welcome. They didn't do that, because they knew fish don't jump into the boat. That's not normal. If you're a fisher of men, you've got to go where the fish are. So, they went open-air and preached. And as you read the book of Acts, that's all they did. They preached open air at peril of their lives. And so if we want to walk in the steps of Jesus, in the steps of the disciples, in the steps of Spurgeon, Wesley, Moody, Whitfield, others down through the ages, then we've got to open our mouths and lift up our voice like a trumpet and show these people their transgression. And so, I am thrilled that you want to do an interview on this book, because I've often said the church has as much excitement about evangelism as you and I have about having a root canal. It's not exciting. But we all have fears, and we can learn to overcome them. Laura Dugger: (9:18 - 9:38) Ray, you make already such a compelling argument for why we as Christians are called to evangelize and deliver the good news and specifically calling it as open-air preachers. So, will you still share a few more arguments or reasons to try and help people understand why this is of utmost importance? Ray Comfort: (9:39 - 10:47) Yes, we have a moral obligation. We're like doctors with a cure to cancer. We must speak, as the disciples said. And if you've got fear, let me ask you a question. Could you jump into a pond that had big chunks of ice in it? It was so cold that you would die if you stayed in it for three minutes. And most people say, no, no, you wouldn't get me jumping into that pond for anything. Let's say a four-year-old boy fell into that pond and his feet couldn't reach the bottom, and he began to drown. You wouldn't hesitate. You'd just jump in. You wouldn't worry about how cold it was. Grab that kid and pull him out. And the waters of personal evangelism are freezing. Ice cold. We're not excited about it. Last thing we ever want to do is get involved in something like this. But love cannot but do something. Love couldn't stand there and watch a child drown. And love cannot sit on a pew while sinners sink into Hell. So, if you've got problems with fear, don't pray for less fear. Pray for more love because that's the problem. Laura Dugger: (10:48 - 11:02) Ray, I'm curious. You seem so confident and comfortable with this, but clearly you've been doing it, like you said, for many years. So, was there fear at the beginning for you? And is there still fear when you do this today? Ray Comfort: (11:03 - 18:09) No, there wasn't fear at the beginning. Fear is here. Terror is here. Mortification is here. I was up there somewhere. So, the first time I did it was terrifying. Second time wasn't quite so terrifying. But after all these years, I still battle fear, always. Every person I got a witness to on a one-to-one basis looks like Goliath. It goes from a Zacchaeus to a Goliath in a split second. I think a witness to that guy, he's anti-Christian. I can see it by the look on his jawline. He hates Christians. Can't wait to get his fingers around the neck of any Christian because I've got overripe imagination. I remember once I was driving my car and I saw a dead dog on the road about 100 yards ahead of me and it was such a sad sight. I could see its head was all twisted back and I could see its ears. It was a German shepherd. And as I got up to it, it was someone's jacket that had fallen off his bike. That's all. And I just had an overripe imagination. And that's exactly what it's like when it comes to fear. I have an imagination that some guy's going to kill me if I share the gospel with him. So, I've learned to not listen when fear speaks. I've learned to think about the fate of the person rather than myself. I mean, think of a firefighter. He arrives at a fire, and he looks up and he has to climb a 60-foot ladder. At the top of the ladder is a woman and two children leaning out of a window and the place is on fire. It's the fifth story. And they're screaming because they're going to be burned alive in about three minutes. So, he's got to climb that ladder amidst the screaming, amidst the smoke and the sirens. He could drop one of those kids. He could drop that woman. And so, would he rather be at home with his wife and kids watching an old black-and-white movie? Of course. Is he terrified? Absolutely. But he doesn't listen to his fears because of this one fact. He's not thinking of himself. He's thinking of that woman and her terrible fate and those kids. And that's the key to overcoming fear. When I get my fears, I don't listen because I'm not thinking of myself and my silly little fears, my imagination. I'm thinking of this person and their terrible fate, that they die in their sins. Lake of fire. Damned. If you think death is fearful on this side, wait till the other side. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And the apostle Paul said, Wherefore, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. So, if you've got a wrong image of God, it's kind of like a Santa Claus sitting in a cloud. You won't have a terror in your heart. You won't fear God enough to obey him. You know, Jesus said, “Why do you call me Lord and do not the things that I tell you?” And so, if we are submitted to Christ, if we yield to him, if he's our Lord, when he says, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” We go. He didn't say to stay. Think of what he said. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. I've actually studied the original Greek words of the word all, every, and go. Go actually means in the original, I think it's passe. The original Greek, it actually means go. Into all the world and all the world. That word all means all in the original Greek. And to every creature means every creature. So, when Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature”, in the original Greek, he actually was saying, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” So, we're so fortunate to have Greek lexicons and things that we can go back and see what Jesus was actually saying. And so, it's very simple. We shouldn't stay. We shouldn't want to fill our churches with people when they come in, where to go out and get them. And one of the most effective ways is with open air preaching. And so, we teach people how to get a crowd. Now, when I first started speaking, I would begin open air preaching with an anecdote, something very gripping. And it was always difficult because if I didn't live up to that, I didn't get a crowd. And so, for about four or five or six years, it was very difficult. And then I started asking trivia and giving away money. And I've been doing that for 30, 40 years, where you say to a crowd, I've got some trivia questions, giving away money. And a preacher giving away money is like water running uphill. It's kind of unnatural, so it gets people's attention. So, I'm going to ask trivia questions. I've got money here to give away. When you get it right. What's the capital of France? Anyone know? And someone says, “Paris?” That's right. Here you are. What's the capital of China? Beijing or whatever it is. Give out a dollar. Say, “What's your name?” Fred. That's right. And you give Fred a dollar and people laugh, and they gather around and it's just a great way to get rapport with a crowd. And while you're doing that, you look around to see who's got confidence. This guy over here, or Fred, laughs when I say, “Here's a dollar, and he yells out answers.” I say, “Fred, you want to go for $5?” He says, “Sure.” So, jump up on the box. So, we've got a box for the hecklers. So, you think you're a good person? He says, “Yeah, I'm a really good person.” So, if you are, you get $5. If you're not, give me $5 anyway. Just being a good sport. So, we're going to go through the Ten Commandments to see how you're going to do on Judgment Day and if you are a good person. Let me take him through the commandments as Jesus did with the rich young ruler. How many lies have you told? Ever stole something? Ever used God's name in vain? Ever looked at women with lust? And Fred says, “Yeah, I've done all those.” So, Fred, you've just told me you're a lying thief, a blasphemer, and an adulterer at heart. And you have to face God on Judgment Day. You're going to be innocent or guilty? He says, “Guilty.” Heaven or Hell? Hell. Does that concern you? Yeah, sure it does. And the crowd's listening. It's not some sweaty preacher pointing a finger at them. They're just listening to the gospel. And so, it's a great way. And then you go into that Christ died for our sins, took our punishment. And Fred, “Thanks for listening. I really appreciate this. Here's your dollar.” I've got a book for you that I wrote. I hope you enjoy it. Nice to meet you. He shook his hand. He's off. Anyone else, like any atheists here, never be intimidated by an atheist. Atheism is the epitome of stupidity. It's just so dumb. Every time I meet an atheist, I ask him one question, and I've seen so many atheists backslide when they've heard this. I say, “Do you really believe the scientific impossibility that nothing created everything? Puppies and kittens and flowers and seeds and the marvels of the human eye and the miracle of childbirth. All this happened because nothing created it. Do you really believe that?” They say, “Oh, no, I don't believe that. Oh, there was something in the beginning.” I say, “Oh, it just wasn't God. Is that it?” Yeah, that's it. It was something, but it wasn't God. Well, let's see if we can find out why you don't want it to be God. When did you last look at pornography? I say, “Oh, it was last night. What do you think God thinks of that?” And you realize the issue isn't intellectual. It's moral. They're running from God like Adam, hiding behind bushes. And so, you've just got to flush them out and then use the Ten Commandments to bring the knowledge of sin and address the conscience rather than the intellect. Let's take a quick break to hear a message from our sponsor. With over 1,700 apartment units available throughout Pekin, Peoria, Peoria Heights, Morton, Washington, and Canton, and with every price range covered, you will have plenty of options when you rent through Leman Property Management Company. Leman Property Management Company They have townhomes, duplexes, studios, and garden-style options located in many areas throughout Pekin. In Peoria, a historic downtown location and apartments adjacent to the OSF Medical Center provide excellent choices. Check out their brand-new luxury property in Peoria Heights overlooking the boutique shops and fine dining on Prospect. And in Morton, they offer a variety of apartment homes with garages, a hot downtown location, and now, a brand-new high-end complex near Idlewood Park. Their beautiful, spacious apartments with private garages in a quiet but convenient location await you in Washington. And if you're looking in Canton, don't miss Village Square Apartments. Renters may be excited to learn about their flexible leases, pet-friendly locations, and even mini-storage units available in some locations. Leman Property Management Company has a knowledgeable and helpful staff including several employees with over 30 years working with this reputable company. If you want to become a part of their team, contact them about open office positions. They're also hiring in their maintenance department, so we invite you to find out why so many people have chosen to make a career with them. Check them out on Facebook today or email their friendly staff at leasing@lemanprops.com. You can also stop by their website at lemanproperties.com. That's L-E-M-A-N-P-R-O-P-E-R-T-Y. Check them out and find your place to call home today. As you've done this, what has been your experience along the way? And would you even share a few stories of times that this has gone miraculously well and times that have been such a struggle? Ray Comfort: (20:19 - 30:16) It's always a struggle. But let me share the two great keys that I use when it comes to evangelism. I don't even like using the word evangelism because it scares Christians. Apologetics. And that is this. I address the conscience, as Jesus did. When you're in apologetics, and I believe in apologetics, we've got what's called the Evidence Study Bible, which is pregnant with apologetics. So, I believe in apologetics, but they have their place. Apologetics are like bait when you're fishing for men. If you stay with bait, you're going to end up with fat, happy fish that get away. You've got to have a hook, and that hook is God's law. So, you bait the hook. And so, it's important if you bait the hook with apologetics and address the intellect to realize this one fact. Romans 8:7 says, “The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” What does that mean? It means the carnal, natural mind of man is in a state of hostility towards God, particularly His law. It's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. And you can see this enmity by the fact that human beings lavished with life by God use His name as a cuss word, and the name of Jesus as a cuss word. Nobody in history has had their name used as a cuss word except Jesus, Jesus Christ, and God. And that shows the enmity they have towards their Creator because they're criminals. And as criminals hate the police, so sinners hate God without cause. So, you want to move away from the carnal mind because you're going to get enmity. If you say, “Look, I'm going to show you that Noah did build an ark. I'm going to prove it to you there was a big flood.” And so you go through the whole thing that the ark was really big and the animals were small and it could have happened. Then we've got oceans and that's evidence that the earth was flooded. You get this guy who was a skeptic who'd say, “Okay, I believe there was a big flood and Noah could have built an ark.” Well, great. Now you've got a mountain to climb of Jonah being swallowed by a big fish. Children of Israel shouting and walls coming down when they shout. Balaam's donkey speaking with a man's voice. Samson with strength in his hair. And you've got all these stories, and they're all an intellectual thing, and they're like a mountain you've got to climb to convince them to believe there's an easier way. And the early Christians didn't try and convince anyone the Bible is the word of God because they didn't have a New Testament. There was no printing press. No one could read or hardly anyone could read. Now they just preached the gospel, and you do it not by going for the intellect and trying to intellectually convince someone that God exists or the Bible's the word of God. You do what Jesus did with a rich young ruler. You address the conscience with the commandments. You shall not lie, shall not steal, shall not commit adultery. It's all written on the heart of man. Conscience means knowledge. So that knowledge is there. So, the commandments echo the truth, or the conscience echoes the truth of the commandments. When Paul used the commandments in Romans chapter 2, you who say you shall not steal, do you steal? You say, “You shall not commit adultery; do you commit adultery?” He was addressing the conscience. Romans 2:15, same chapter, would show the work of the law written on their hearts, the conscience bearing witness. So, I have an ally right in the heart of the enemy. I have a judge on the court and in the mind of every sinner that's going to affirm the truth of what I'm saying and point guilt to the sinner or show him that he's guilty. That's the conscience. The second great tool I have or weapon I have is the will to live. Human beings are not dogs, horses, cats, or cows. We're completely different. We're not primates. We're made in the image of God and God has written eternity upon our hearts. He doesn't seem to have done this with my dog. My dog's only concerned with chasing cats and eating. I don't think there's anything else that really interests her, although I love her, but she's not worrying about eternity, but human beings do. So, I know, according to scripture, that everybody has this will to live. So, when I go to the local college, and I go there twice a day, to interview people for our YouTube channel. I often say this, “Would you like to go on YouTube?” They say, “Yeah.” I'm going to ask you, “If you think there's life after death.” I say, “That's okay, and this is my first question. Are you afraid of dying?” And they go, “A little bit.” A little bit? It's huge. It's a tormenting fear of death. It haunts you, and that's what the Bible says, this fear of death that we have. And I can tell by the look in the eyes of this person, they're saying, “How did this guy know?” I haven't told mom or dad. I haven't told my boyfriend or my girlfriend, my brother, my sister, but there's something in me that's terrified of dying. Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us. Amplified Bible, so I'll quote it a little louder. It says, “That God has caused the fear of death or the will to live to be haunting,” it uses the word haunting, “within every human being all their lifetime.” Remember when I was a kid, maybe nine or ten, I used to play wars, cowboys and Indians, and someone would shoot me. I'd roll down a hill and lie there for two minutes and then get up. And then one day as I got older, I thought, I'm not going to get up one day. And that's that haunting fear of death. That revelation that comes to us, as light comes to us, as we get older. And so, I address that, and this is what I say, “Ever read the Bible?” “No, never opened it.” “Why not? It's the world's biggest selling book of all time. Did you know in the Old Testament, God promised he would destroy death? And in the New Testament, we're told how he did it. Did you know that?” They say, “No.” “Is he interested?” And even if it's an atheist, he's going to say, “Yeah, I'm interested.” Because he's got that haunting fear of death. And so, then I go through the gospel. This is the verse that I share with so many people, and it's the most illuminating verse, and I can see light coming to them as I say this. I say, “Have you ever heard the Bible verse, the wages of sin is death?” And they say, “Maybe.” It's saying that God is paying you in death for your sins. Like a judge who looks at a criminal who's committed murder, but he thinks he's a good person. The judge says, “I'm going to show you how serious your crime is. I'm giving you the death sentence.” This is your wages. This is what you've earned. And I say, “Fred, sin is so serious to a holy God, he's given you the death sentence.” You're on death row. You're in a holding cell. It's got a nice blue roof, good air conditioning, good lighting, but this life is a holding cell, and your death will be evidence to you that God is deadly serious about sin. That has a sobering effect on people because now they've got a reason why they die. Now they know what's going to happen after they die. It's appointed a man. It's appointment. It's appointed a man who wants to die, and after this, the judgment. And as you go through the commandments, it shows them how they need a Savior. And so many people say, I'm going to really think about this. Thank you for talking to me. I say, “When are you going to repent and put your trust in Jesus?” And so many people lately have been saying, “Today.” So, the pandemic, that plague that no one calls a plague, the pandemic did us a huge favor because it made a whole generation think about their mortality, made them realize they're going to die one day. And so, the harvest fields are white. One other thought regarding the fear of death and the will to live, the same thing. Think of a waitress who has to approach three men, businessmen wearing dark suits and little briefcases sitting at a table. They're obviously wheeling and dealing millions of dollars. Is she intimidated? No. She just walks up and says, “Can I take your order?” Why is she so bold? It's because she knows she has what they want. They're there for food. And so that makes her bold. And you and I have what this world wants. Right at this moment, there are people in torture chambers called gyms, lifting weights that are far too heavy for them, pulling things they shouldn't be pulling. And I believe in physical fitness is great. And at the same time, there are people drinking green slime. They would love a chocolate shake, but they drink because they want to increase their life just that little bit more. We have found everlasting life. So, if the world knew what we had, they would ask us. This is what Jesus said to the woman at the well. If you knew who it was that was speaking to you, you would ask me. And if the world knew what we had, everlasting life, they'd plead with us. So, because we know we have what the world wants, like that waitress, we must be bold. And when they realize that we have the answer to death that Jesus Christ has abolished death. When that revelation comes to them, what causes death. That Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, he destroyed death, bringing life and immortality to light through the gospel. That's when the light goes on and they say, “Thank you so much. Thank you for talking to me.” I've just about worn myself out. Laura Dugger: (30:16 - 30:30) Well, that's incredible to hear, especially the breakdown practically of how you do that. And I would say, “Do you even give people permission to use some of those examples if they want to give this a try?” Ray Comfort: (30:31 - 31:18) I would plead with them to do so. We've got the evidence Bible. It's filled with how to do these things. And that book, Fifty Years of Open-Air Preaching: Everything I've Learned is filled with stuff like this. How to get a crowd standing up nice and orderly. There's a picture, I don't know if you can see it, at Berkeley University. They're all standing around nice in a big circle. That's where you get stoned to death, Berkeley. But because we understand these principles, we just drew a circle out of chalk and said, stand behind the circle. If anyone got in front of the circle, approached us, we wouldn't talk to them unless they got to the edge of the circle. And people are like sheep. If you say, “Move back behind the chalk line. Do it now.” Okay. They'll do it, if you've got a little bit of authority. And so, you just learn to do things like that. And it means the gospel can go out. So yeah, please, please use these principles. Laura Dugger: (31:19 - 31:34) And then can you also just paint a picture. If somebody's never seen this before, they've never tried this before, are there any memorable encounters that you've had as you reflect back on these years of open air preaching? Ray Comfort: (31:35 - 33:54) Yes. Oh, I've got beaten up by a woman once. Oh dear. I'll have to tell you. I was in Santa Monica many years ago, and I had a crowd of maybe 40, 50 people. And there's a woman there that was very vocal and kept calling me, using the F word a couple of times. So, I said, “Ma'am, can you watch your language? There are ladies present.” And she said, “I'm a lady.” I said, “Ma'am, you may be a woman, but you are not a lady.” And with that, she ran at me like a bat out of heaven and began beating me up. Now, most women go scratch, and hair pulling, but she was like Mike Tyson's sister. She got in six punches, knocked me to the ground before my team pulled her off. They held her back. And she said, let me go and get my purse. They let her go. And she gave me a kidney punch and took two weeks for the bruising to go, but she doubled my crowd. She can come back anytime she wants. But that was my fault. And that was very memorable. So, I talk nicely to ladies now. One to one, one of the most memorable ones is a guy named Mario. Our YouTube channel's got 1.57 million subscribers, just past 314 million views. And one of the best, most gripping encounters was with a guy named Mario. I went out on my bike. My dog's on my bike. She's on a platform. She wears sunglasses. I wear sunglasses. It gets people's attention. She's the best bait I've ever had when fishing for men. Saw this guy standing by a tree on a pathway, and I said, “You want to come on camera?” He said, “Yeah.” I was surprised because I didn't have to talk him into it. And he was quite arrogant, very handsome young man. And as we went through the commandments, I saw a tear well in his eye and roll down his cheek. And I thought, oh, no, God's doing a work in the heart of this guy, and I don't want to mess it up. And so, I did my best to end up praying with him, and he was just beside himself in sorrow for his sin. And I think that's something like 4 million views on a YouTube channel. If you go to the most popular to see it, you'll see him there. But that was a very memorable encounter. One that I often think when I'm going out on my bike each day. Lord, give me a Mario today, please. Laura Dugger: (33:55 - 34:58) When was the first time you listened to an episode of The Savvy Sauce? How did you hear about our podcast? Did a friend share it with you? Will you be willing to be that friend now and text five other friends or post on your socials anything about The Savvy Sauce that you love? If you share your favorite episodes, that is how we continue to expand our reach and get the good news of Jesus Christ in more ears across the world. So, we need your help. Another way to help us grow is to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. Each of these suggestions will cost you less than a minute, but it will be a great benefit to us. Thank you so much for being willing to be generous with your time and share. We appreciate you. It's compelling to hear this and inspiring, but then also if we're going back to talking about the fears. What fears do you see holding people back from giving this a try or from evangelizing in general? Ray Comfort: (34:59 - 37:37) That is a great question, and you provoke something very important. I've traveled on about 2,000 flights, itinerating over the years, and so many times I've prayed, and when there's an empty seat on a plane beside me, I always pray for the person who's going to sit there. This is the prayer I subliminally pray. Lord, please don't let this guy show up. That's what I pray. And then he shows up, and I share the gospel with him. My hardest, my biggest mountain to climb was how do you bring the subject up? Okay, I'm on a plane. This guy's a businessman. He's wearing a three-piece suit. He's very intimidating, and I've got to talk to him about the things of God and sin and righteousness and judgment. How do I bring the subject up with this guy? Oh, see those clouds? Guess who made the clouds? God. No, it's just terrifying. But I learned something many years ago that just dissipated that fear of man and the fear of women, and that's this. I just say to any stranger, “Do you think there's an afterlife?” That's a simple question. Do you think there's life after death? I haven't mentioned God, Jesus, Heaven, Hell, sin, righteousness, judgment, any of those things that make him feel uncomfortable. I just said, do you think there's an afterlife? And this is how I do it, and I've done it many times. I'm at the ministry now in our studio. Many a time I've had workmen come. Let's say there's a plumber working on something. I go up to him and say, “Hey, how are you doing?” He says, “Good.” I'm Ray. What's your name? He says, “Eric.” Nice to meet you, Eric. Eric, what? I've got a question for you, “Do you think there's an afterlife?” Eric stands up and says, “I don't know.” I say, “Do you think about it much?” Yeah, all the time. His all the time just dissipated my fears. He's not antichrist. He hasn't stabbed me to death. He's a normal human being. He thinks about the issues of life and death all the time. And so, I've got confidence. And the thing that got me in there was that question, do you think there's an afterlife? You can ask anyone. Even Uncle Arthur at the Christmas lunch, sitting there and usually he's working. Uncle Arthur, do you think there's an afterlife? Haven't mentioned God, Jesus, Heaven, Hell. Just let him talk. He says, “Oh, I don't know about heaven.” So Rich, “You ever read the Bible?” Oh, let me get you my Bible. Let me lend it to you. It just opens the door and lets them do the talking. So never forget that. You can talk to any stranger about the things of God by just asking that question. Do you think there's an afterlife? And I do it every day. Laura Dugger: (37:38 - 37:57) Wow. And I love it, even before we began recording when we were just getting to know each other for a moment. And then you said, well, before we begin, shall we do this in the flesh, or should we pray? And I love that. I think that's such an approachable first step to this. Ray Comfort: (37:57 - 38:07) Well, you just have to do something in the flesh to know how terrible it is. You need a pulpit, and you think, oh God, I need your help. So, I always pray. Laura Dugger: (38:08 - 38:24) Absolutely. That's very relatable. And so, if we're considering this invitation to evangelize publicly, what do you think this looks like for men and for women? And do you see any difference between the two? Ray Comfort: (38:25 - 39:21) Yes, I do. When I look at my wife, I see different from the local workman that comes to work around our home. But physically, no, I don't. Yeah. When Jesus had gone to all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, he didn't say, “Oh, that's just for men.” No. Look at the woman at the well. She went off and shared the gospel with the whole village. And so, if a woman's got the courage to stand up and do what men won't do, God bless her. I think that's wonderful. And so, I'm all for women and women stay silent at the church. Well, that's for the church. That's church discipline. But when it comes to sharing the gospel, telling people how they can find everlasting life, women can do just as well with men and a woman can do good with five people or 10 people. Now she can gather a crowd of 200 at a university and share how to find everlasting life. God bless her. And thank you for her, Aud. Laura Dugger: (39:22 - 39:35) Thank you for sharing that. And can you think of just an easy or approachable next step, something that we could do today that takes inspiration from this conversation and turns it into action? Ray Comfort: (39:35 - 39:38) Yes. Get the book. Laura Dugger: (39:40 - 39:41) Absolutely. Ray Comfort: (39:41 - 39:48) And I'll watch our YouTube channel too. I love it. It'll really help you build confidence. Thank you for that. Laura Dugger: (39:49 - 40:01) My pleasure. So, if we do determine that we're going to apply what we've learned today, then there's another side to this as well. What kind of attack can we expect from our enemy? Ray Comfort: (40:02 - 42:34) Oh, full on. You're going to get negative thoughts. You can't do this. You shouldn't do this. What are you going to do if you dry up? The dry up thing is a real big fear. I'm going to get up there and I'll say, “My mind's gone blank.” Well, just have a Gospel of John in your pocket, a little New Testament, maybe a little Gideon in your pocket there. And if you dry up, just say, “Oh, excuse me, I want to read this to you.” You've got John 3:16, corner turned down. Just say, “For God so loved the world and gave his only begotten son who believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Please think about that. Close it and get down. Or you can keep speaking. And so, if you've got an out, that will dissipate your fears if you know you can get out if that happens. I've used it many a time. I mean the fear of every preacher is drying up in a pulpit. I remember I was in a church of 3,000 once and I lost my place. So, you know what I did? I just said, look at that over there. And everyone looked at the wall. I said, I just lost my place. Or I'll say something like this. “Turn to Leviticus 15:3.” And everyone goes, shh, shh, shh. I look for my place. I've got my thoughts back. And they say that was a fake scripture. I don't know what it is. I wanted to do something while I was trying to find my place. And there I've never had problems drying up in the pulpit because I know that's my way out. And it's the same with open air preaching. If you dry up, you're just going to quote John 3:16 or begin reading Genesis chapter 1 to the crowd. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” And just knowing you've got that out will help dissipate your fears. And when you're finished, you'll have such a joy. I say to our team, whenever you go to preach the gospel, you're dragging your feet. When you come back, you'll be clicking your heels. And that's exactly what happens. You'll have such satisfaction that you did what you know you should. You overcame that Goliath. You ran at Goliath and overcame your fears. And so just do it. If you want to learn to swim, you don't study water. You jump in. That's the best way to learn to swim. And, you know, if you're going to drown, it's a pity more people don't know this, but if you just relax, you'll float. If you panic, you'll probably sink. And it's the same with this. Don't panic. Just trust in the Lord. Say, “Lord, you'll fill my mouth. You'll help me out with this.” And he'll float. He'll float you. He'll take you by the hand, and you'll be fine. I've done it thousands of times, and God's never let me down. Laura Dugger: (42:36 - 43:00) Amen. I hope we all are willing to give it a try. I think that you really articulated it well when you narrow it down to that fear of man, fear of woman. And I love also that just do it, and we can do it scared. But you're so full of these practical tips. There's one about hecklers that we haven't covered yet. Can you share your perspective on hecklers? Ray Comfort: (43:01 - 44:02) Hecklers are wonderful. If you fear hecklers, you're fearing the thing that could make what you're doing a great success. A good heckler, if he's handled well, can take a crowd of 15 people to 150 people in about 30, 40 seconds. And all you do is let him vent. There's one, I think we've got, it's called The Angry Atheist. I think it's one of our videos. And this guy was furious, a Christian. So, I just let him vent, and the crowd thickened up, and then we started one by one dealing with his problems. And just always remember a soft answer turns away wrath. If someone's angry, you just speak, what's your name? And they'll say, “Oh, John.” Nice to meet you, John. That's a nice sweater. I remember once a lady came up, this young lady. She was really angry, and I did say the sweater thing to her when she was yelling at me. I said, “That's a nice sweater.” She said, “Really?” I said, “Where'd you get it?” And so, a soft answer turns away wrath. So, you just learn these little things that can really help. Laura Dugger: (44:03 - 44:14) I love that. And just as a model for us, if we want to share the good news of Jesus, you've done this time and time again. Will you share it with all of us now? Ray Comfort: (44:16 - 46:05) What are you trying to do to me? You mean you'd like the gospel? Absolutely. One-minute gospel presentation. Okay, let's do a nutshell. Let me say, I'm meeting a stranger. I'll talk directly to them. You know, God's placed a will to live within you. Something in you says, I don't want to die. Did you know the Bible says, “Jesus Christ has abolished death and brought life and immortality to life through the gospel?” And the reason you're going to die is because you've sinned against God. And all you have to do for a few minutes with an honest heart is go through the commandments. The seventh commandment says, “You shall not commit adultery, but Jesus said if you look at a woman with lust, you commit adultery in your heart, lying lips and abomination to the Lord. No thief will inherit God's kingdom.” Ever stolen something? Ever used God's name in vain? And if you've been honest, you'll know you've sinned against God. And if all your sin comes out on Judgment Day as evidence of your guilt, you're going to end up justly in Hell, and that breaks my heart. And God is not willing that any perish. The Bible says, “He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, and he's provided a way for you to be forgiven by Christ dying on the cross.” We broke God's law. Jesus paid the fine. It's as simple as that. That means you can leave the courtroom. God can dismiss your case. He can take death off you because of what Jesus did through his death and resurrection. And all you have to do is so simple a child can understand it. You must repent, turn from your sins. You'll never do that while you think you're a good person. And trust in Jesus like you trust a parachute. The minute you do that, you've got God's promise, and he cannot lie. He'll grant you everlasting life as a free gift, not because you're good, but because He's good and kind and rich in mercy. And don't put it off until tomorrow because you may not have tomorrow. Fifty-four million people die every year. Today, if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart. Laura Dugger: (46:07 - 46:10) It just never gets old hearing that. Ray Comfort: (46:10 - 46:10) No. Laura Dugger: (46:10 - 46:28) Thank you. And you also bring up even so clearly from scripture but sharing repent and believe. And is there anything else that you would want to make sure that we wouldn't leave out of a conversation if we were evangelizing to someone? Ray Comfort: (46:29 - 48:02) Well, another good question. Yeah, a lot of people are saying all you have to do is believe. Just believe. They say if you repent, that's works. Well, by saying you have to believe, that's works. If you have to do anything, believe. No, the Bible says, “By grace you're saved through faith, through faith, and not of yourselves.” It's God's grace that saves us. But if you read scripture, it comes through repentance and faith. And the reason they want to drop repentance is because they don't see the true nature of sin. And what the commandments do, the Ten Commandments, they open up the law and show sin to be exceedingly sinful, and that necessitates repentance. Like with David, when he realized he'd committed adultery and lied and stolen his neighbor's wife, covered his neighbor's wife, murdered his neighbor, that's when he cried out, “Oh, have mercy upon me, oh God, according to your lovingkindness.” If Nathan hadn't said, “Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, and David hadn't said, I've sinned against heaven, he would have just said, oh, just believe. No, he had to get before God and agonize. Scripture says, “Cleanse your hands, you sinners.” Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Let your laugh to be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness.” That's contrition. And the law that shows us the nature of sin produces contrition, sorrow for sin, which works repentance, godly sorrow, works repentance unto life. So, it's most necessary to preach, as Jesus did, repent and believe in that order. Laura Dugger: (48:04 - 48:13) That is so good. Ray, where can we go to continue learning from you and continue to be inspired by the faithful work that you're doing? Ray Comfort: (48:14 - 48:46) Very kind of you to say that. LivingWaters.com, sign up for our newsletter. We've always got interesting stuff. We give away a lot of stuff. Watch the YouTube channel. We have different videos each day. We put one up four days ago that's had 4.6 million views. And so, it's a wonderful way to reach the lost. So, follow us. Just become part of a YouTube channel, subscribe, and that really helps us and helps further our reach. So LivingWaters.com and LivingWaters YouTube. Laura Dugger: (48:47 - 49:05) Wonderful. We'll make sure to add those links in the show notes for today's episode. And as you already know, our podcast is entitled The Savvy Sauce because savvy is synonymous with practical knowledge. And so, as my final question for you today, Ray, what is your Savvy Sauce? Ray Comfort: (49:06 - 49:12) My wife. Is that okay to say that? Laura Dugger: (49:12 - 49:17) I love that. Do you want to say anything more specific about her? Ray Comfort: (49:17 - 49:44) Sue and I have been married for 108 years, 54. We love each other. She's my best friend. She works at the ministry and also I love my dog. And one thing I might say just as we close is don't call this anything to do with evangelism. That'll kill. Use the word apologetics or say Ray Comfort says this about his wife. Anything other than evangelism that scares Christians off. Laura Dugger: (49:45 - 49:50) Wow. Interesting. So that's been your experience. That makes sense. Ray Comfort: (49:51 - 50:25) Yeah. That's a principle we use at the ministry. If we have a conference, don't mention evangelism. No one will come. It's like someone saying to me, “Hey, want to go door knocking, tell people about Jesus?” I go; I just wouldn't want to do that. And there's a reason for it. As a new Christian, I knocked on someone's door, fully aware that Jehovah's Witnesses had stolen our thunder, and I said to this lady, “Hello, I'm not a Jehovah's Witness.” She said, “Well, I am.” And so, I've got this aversion to door knocking, and that's what most Christians are like when it comes to evangelism. So, call it something else. Laura Dugger: (50:25 - 50:50) Wow. So practical, again. And Ray, you've just stewarded your many gifts that God has given you. You've stewarded them so well and so wisely. I can just imagine God greeting you someday and having just, well done, good and faithful servant. So, thank you for generously taking the time to share with us today. I'm grateful for you, and I just want to say thank you for being my guest. Ray Comfort: (50:51 - 50:52) Well, thank you for having me. Laura Dugger: (50:53 - 54:35) One more thing before you go. Have you heard the term gospel before? It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you. But it starts with the bad news. Every single one of us were born sinners, but Christ desires to rescue us from our sin, which is something we cannot do for ourselves. This means there is absolutely no chance we can make it to heaven on our own. So, for you and for me, it means we deserve death, and we can never pay back the sacrifice we owe to be saved. We need a savior. But God loved us so much, he made a way for his only son to willingly die in our place as the perfect substitute. This gives us hope of life forever in right relationship with him. That is good news. Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live and died in our place for our sin. This was God's plan to make a way to reconcile with us so that God can look at us and see Jesus. We can be covered and justified through the work Jesus finished if we choose to receive what He has done for us. Romans 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” So, would you pray with me now? Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to take our place. I pray someone today right now is touched and chooses to turn their life over to you. Will you clearly guide them and help them take their next step in faith to declare you as Lord of their life? We trust you to work and change lives now for eternity. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you prayed that prayer, you are declaring him for me, so me for him. You get the opportunity to live your life for him. And at this podcast, we're called The Savvy Sauce for a reason. We want to give you practical tools to implement the knowledge you have learned. So, you ready to get started? First, tell someone. Say it out loud. Get a Bible. The first day I made this decision, my parents took me to Barnes & Noble and let me choose my own Bible. I selected the Quest NIV Bible, and I love it. You can start by reading the book of John. Also, get connected locally, which just means tell someone who's a part of a church in your community that you made a decision to follow Christ. I'm assuming they will be thrilled to talk with you about further steps, such as going to church and getting connected to other believers to encourage you. We want to celebrate with you too, so feel free to leave a comment for us here if you did make a decision to follow Christ. We also have show notes included where you can read scripture that describes this process. And finally, be encouraged. Luke 15:10 says, “In the same way I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” The heavens are praising with you for your decision today. And if you've already received this good news, I pray you have someone to share it with. You are loved and I look forward to meeting you here next time.
Sermon Series | ParablesTo give to our M25 Initiative, text m25 to 623.252.5085 or visit redaz.in/m25.To download our Mobile App, search Redemption Church Peoria where you download apps to your device(s).To connect with us, visit this link: http://redaz.in/RPTo invest in our ministry financially, visit this link: https://bit.ly/3roZDAW
The season finale of Cubbie Corner previews the week in Peoria coming up for your first place South Bend Cubs. BK and Tyler talk about the Cubs' playoff push. Tyler talks to Chicago Cubs pitcher Eli Morgan, who's in South Bend on a rehab assignment.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A look at the week in Central Illinois and across the world from Peoria's breaking news station, 1470 and 100.3 WMBD for the week of 8/17 - 8/23.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The South Bend Cubs pick up the 4-2 series win with a 4-2 game win! The Cubs' bats had some pop, thanks to home runs from Edgar Alvarez and Cameron Sisneros. South Bend is again tied for first place with Beloit after the Sky Carp defeated Wisconsin 5-4. The Cubs head to Peoria for six games starting Tuesday night. BK and Tyler will have Cubbie Corner tomorrow night at 7 PM on Sports Radio WSBT.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Revelation’s 7 Seals: “Keeping Our Faith & Sanity,” Introduction Matthew 24:4-14 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 4 Jesus answered them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!' and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and […]
August 22, 2025 Today we look at the top songs debuting on the Billboard chart this week back in 1985, 1995, 2005, & 2015. Dustin, Jason, and Tyler welcome a Peoria music scene regular and first-time guest, Ryan Massey. We discuss 14 songs from this week in music history, including 10 Top 10s and 12 in the Top 40!! We have new songs from The Killers, John Mellencamp, Bone Thugs n Harmony, Drake, and more. Want to be cool like us and watch the music videos for all the songs? Then here's a convenient playlist that has them all in order of discussion.
Chris, Molly, and Nathan discuss the big cool down that's on the horizon, Hurricane Erin, and we revisit the August 21st, 2017 Total Solar Eclipse.
You gave us more church problems, we gave you more "advice"… On the net, it's a positive. ----- JOKES FOR HUMANS TOUR: https://johncristcomedy.com/tour/ 8/30 - Las Vegas, NV 9/19 - Grand Rapids, MI 9/20 - Fort Wayne, IN 9/21 - Paducah, KY 9/26 - North Charleston, SC 9/27 - Macon, GA 9/28 - Hiawassee, GA 10/2 - Evansville, IN 10/3 - Dayton, OH 10/4 - Peoria, IL 10/10 - Knoxville, TN 10/11 - Greenville, SC 10/16 - York, PA 10/17 - Detroit, MI 10/18 - Cleveland, OH 10/24 - Birmingham, AL 10/25 - Chattanooga, TN 11/7 - Boise, ID 11/8 - Spokane, WA 11/9 - Tacoma, WA 11/20 - Abilene, TX 11/21 - San Antonio, TX 11/22 - Tyler, TX 11/23 - Austin, TX 12/5 - Phoenix, AZ 12/6 - Santa Rosa, CA 12/7 - Redding, CA 12/11 - South Bend, IN 12/12 - Munhall, PA 12/14 - Buffalo, NY ----- Catch the full video podcast on YouTube, and follow us on social media (@netpositivepodcast) for clips, bonus content, and updates throughout the week. ----- Email us at netpositive@johncristcomedy.com ----- FOLLOW JOHN ON: Instagram Twitter TikTok Facebook YouTube ----- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS HELLO FRESH: Get 10 FREE MEALS AND A HIGH-PROTEIN ITEM FOR LIFE with promo code NETPOSITIVE10FM at https://hellofresh.com/NETPOSITIVE10FM GLORIFY: Get a 14 day free trial when you visit https://glorify-app.com/netpositive AG1: Get a FREE gift with your first order at https://DrinkAG1.com/netpositive to get started with AG1's Next Gen and and notice the benefits for yourself. ----- PRODUCED BY: Alex Lagos / Lagos Creative
On this week's episode of Out and About, Dr. Mae Gilliland of ArtsPartners of Central Illinois chats with Tom McConnaughay, Entertainment Chair for Peoria Irish Fest.
Sermon Series | ParablesTo give to our M25 Initiative, text m25 to 623.252.5085 or visit redaz.in/m25.To download our Mobile App, search Redemption Church Peoria where you download apps to your device(s).To connect with us, visit this link: http://redaz.in/RPTo invest in our ministry financially, visit this link: https://bit.ly/3roZDAW
“…Come Up Here..,” pt 6 Acts 1:1-9 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 1 In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach 2 until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. […]
CTex and Scotty Taylor talk about the crazy week in Sturgis. They're also joined by guest Kody Kopp to talk about his return to AFT this weekend in Peoria, MotoAmerica Talent Cup and more. Thanks to Roof Systems, Mission Foods and Indian Motorcycle for supporting the podcast.
CTex and Scotty Taylor talk about the crazy week in Sturgis. They're also joined by guest Kody Kopp to talk about his return to AFT this weekend in Peoria, MotoAmerica Talent Cup and more. Thanks to Roof Systems, Mission Foods and Indian Motorcycle for supporting the podcast.
A Peoria man was sent an HOA violation for having red and blue porch lights in support of first responders. Mike Broomhead talks about how people show support and why the HOA shouldn't fine Gene Sweeney.
Welcome to a Special episode of God's Gift Through His Word. In this episode T.Drake will share Stories by Ron. The title: Unstoppable Teniecka Drake's Story. Special thank you to Stories By Ron check out his YouTube page https://youtube.com/@storiesbyron11?si=Pqz1ZAt0cW9pNNmUPlease reach out to him for details if you want to share your story.#igniteanewstart #booklaunch #booksigning #audiobook #yourstory #yourpower✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️T.Drake is the Host of God's Gift Through His Word. Her passion for Jesus Christ and her faith are clearly evident. She shares her journey while sharing Indie Artists as well. Her lived experience with #DomesticViolence #HIV #homelessness #Specialneedsparent #disabled/military veteran. These things she has endured have shown her the Word is a gift in her life. She is resilient and grateful to God for allowing her each day to be alive and give praise and honor. The podcast is an extension of her book. Come be inspired, uplifted and encouraged on your faith journey.✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️New Events:
Chris, Molly, and Nathan go through some of our temperature and dew point stats over the past few months. We also get an update on recent rainfall and drought conditions across the region and where things are headed over the next few weeks.
You gave us your church problems, and we fixed them (maybe)… On the net, it's a positive. ----- JOKES FOR HUMANS TOUR: https://johncristcomedy.com/tour/ 8/30 - Las Vegas, NV 9/19 - Grand Rapids, MI 9/20 - Fort Wayne, IN 9/21 - Paducah, KY 9/26 - North Charleston, SC 9/27 - Macon, GA 9/28 - Hiawassee, GA 10/2 - Evansville, IN 10/3 - Dayton, OH 10/4 - Peoria, IL 10/10 - Knoxville, TN 10/11 - Greenville, SC 10/16 - York, PA 10/17 - Detroit, MI 10/18 - Cleveland, OH 10/24 - Birmingham, AL 10/25 - Chattanooga, TN 11/7 - Boise, ID 11/8 - Spokane, WA 11/9 - Tacoma, WA 11/20 - Abilene, TX 11/21 - San Antonio, TX 11/22 - Tyler, TX 11/23 - Austin, TX 12/5 - Phoenix, AZ 12/6 - Santa Rosa, CA 12/7 - Redding, CA 12/11 - South Bend, IN 12/12 - Munhall, PA 12/14 - Buffalo, NY ----- Catch the full video podcast on YouTube, and follow us on social media (@netpositivepodcast) for clips, bonus content, and updates throughout the week. ----- Email us at netpositive@johncristcomedy.com ----- FOLLOW JOHN ON: Instagram Twitter TikTok Facebook YouTube ----- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS BLUELAND: Get 15% off your order by going to https://blueland.com/netpositive GOODR: Pick up a pair at https://goodr.com/NETPOSITIVE and use code NETPOSITIVE for FREE SHIPPING ROCKET MONEY: Stop wasting money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions – and manage your money the easy way – by going to https://RocketMoney.com/netpositive ----- PRODUCED BY: Alex Lagos / Lagos Creative
Lisa Everett, Republican chair (LD-29) and Brent Peak, co-chair of the progressive Northwest Valley Indivisible Group joined the show to speak about their efforts to stop the deportation of Kelly Yu. Yu is a Peoria business owner who was taken to the Eloy Dentention Center after showing up for one of her immigration hearings.
On this week's episode of Out and About, Dr. Mae Gilliland of ArtsPartners of Central Illinois chats with Kristan McKinsey of the Fine Arts Society of Peoria about the upcoming lecture "How Graphic Novels Became an Art Form for Everyone (Really)."
Arizona's U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego joined the show to discuss his meeting with the family of Kelly Yu. She's the Peoria woman facing deportation. He also weighed in on ICE operations near schools and ICE quotas.
Welcome to another episode of God's Gift Through His Word. Your host is always the sweet and encouraging #TDrake. In this episode T.Drake will share about her Birthday book signing!!!
Growing up in Peoria, Bryan Lockwood's first job in the restaurant business was working with his mother at a diner. Fast forward to his first industry career position as a manager at Bonanza Steakhouse. He enjoyed the work and was promoted to a multi-unit franchise supervisor before becoming a franchise owner-operator in Jacksonville, Ill. At 25, Lockwood sold the business and moved to Florida where, in 2003, he and his partners created the Tavistock restaurant development and management group. Along with other investors, the group purchased 17 restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. Over the following two decades, Lockwood's company purchased and turned around struggling restaurant concepts and acquired more than 100 restaurants of various brands. "I learned many lessons from this experience, says Lockwood, going on to say, “that included the importance of guests and why listening to them makes you smarter." In this episode, he shares his tips on acquisition as well as the concept development process. “People creating a concept today should not fall in love with their own wishes but rather concentrate on the guest. They should build a team that specializes in areas you don't and finance with contingencies and sufficient working capital." In 2023, Lockwood created his current restaurant company Artistry to acquire and turn around struggling restaurants and create new concepts. Artistry currently owns and operates award-winning restaurants Boca, The Chapman, Oak and Stone, Shrimp Basket, Hickory Tavern, and the Sandbar on Florida's Amelia Island. Lockwood sees today's challenges as more than combating operating costs and the growing competitive landscape. “I see the need to become the employer of choice and maintaining a people culture that begins with the worker-to-manager relationship and from manager to ownership." He believes the best restaurants operate like a reverse mullet haircut. In other words, he explains, "put the party out front and run a tight business in the back.”
265. Servant Leadership, Mentoring, and Actionable Steps with Kathryn Spitznagle 2 Timothy 2:2 (NIV) "And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others." **Transcription Below** Questions and Topics We Cover: What are some servant leadership principles you've learned over the years? How did you learn forgiveness is part of leadership? Will you elaborate on a leadership tool mentioned in your book, which is called the "Hero Page?" Thank You to Our Sponsor: WinShape Marriage Kathryn Spitznagle is the author of "Rock Star Millennials--Developing the Next Generation of Leaders," and the companion workbook, "Rock Star Millennials Toolkit." She is a professional coach and the founder of Mentoring Women Millennials, LLC. She has 30+ years of mentoring, coaching and leadership development in corporate, small business and not-for-profit environments as well as 10+ years of mentoring cancer survivors and their families throughout their journey. Her mission is to foster the personal and professional development of leaders... for the life they lead today...and the one they want tomorrow. Savvy Sauce Episodes Mentioned in Episode: Being Intentional with Marriage, Parenting, Rest, Personal development, and Leadership with Pastor, Podcaster, and Author, Jeff Henderson Biblical Principles as Wise Business Practices with Steve Robinson Additional Previous Episodes on Business and Leadership on The Savvy Sauce: The Inside Scoop on Chick-fil-A with Mark Dugger How to Apply Successful Business Principles to Your Life with Dee Ann Turner Leadership Principles and Practices with Former NFL Player, J Leman How to Lead When You're Not in Charge with Author and Pastor of North Point Community Church, Clay Scroggins Understanding the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator to Improve Your Marriage, Family, and Work Relationships Thriving at Work, Home, and Life with Author, Blogger, Podcaster, and Business Owner, Crystal Paine Energy to Spark Success in Your Business with Best-Selling Author, Speaker, and Podcaster, Christy Wright How 2 questions can grow your business and change your life with author, pastor, and podcaster, Jeff Henderson Radical Business and Radical Parenting with Gary & Marla Ringger, Founders of Lifesong for Orphans Stewardship as the Daughter of Chick-fil-A Founders with Trudy Cathy White Living Intentionally with Shunta Grant Generational Differences in the Workplace with Haydn Shaw Pursuing Your God-Given Dream with Francie Hinrichsen Leadership Training: Five Key Elements for Creating Customer Loyalty in Your Business with Elizabeth Dixon Uncover Your Purpose with Clarity with Isimemen Aladejobi Unlocking Meaning and Purpose in Your Life and Overcoming Burnout with Dale Wilsher Leading Your Family, Marriage, and Self with Justin Maust Divine Productivity with Matt Perman 223 Journey and Learnings as Former Second Lady of the United States with Karen Pence Patreon 27 Re-Release: Purposeful and Practical with Emily Thomas Special Patreon Re-Release: Creativity and Career While Raising a Family with Jean Stoffer Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook or Instagram or Our Website Please help us out by sharing this episode with a friend, leaving a 5-star rating and review, and subscribing to this podcast! Gospel Scripture: (all NIV) Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“ Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“ Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” **Transcription** Music: (0:00 – 0:09) Laura Dugger: (0:12 - 1:20) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here. I'm thrilled to introduce you to our sponsor, WinShape Marriage. Their weekend marriage retreats will strengthen your marriage while you enjoy the gorgeous setting, delicious food, and quality time with your spouse. To find out more, visit them online at winshapemarriage.org/savvy. Kathryn Spitznagle is my enchanting guest for today, and her resume is quite impressive, but what actually is even more of a standout is her humble heart. So, if you are one who learns from stories and encouragement, and you also appreciate actionable, practical tools, this conversation is definitely for you. Here's our chat. Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Kathryn. Kathryn Spitznagle: (1:21 - 1:24) Oh, thank you, Laura. Appreciate you having me. Laura Dugger: (1:24 - 1:32) Well, I'd love for you just to start us off by giving us a snapshot of your background and also your current phase of life. Kathryn Spitznagle: (1:33 - 6:47) Okay, lots of seasons. Yeah, learned, you know, you learn something from all of them. So, I started out in journalism. I've kind of come back to my roots interviewing folks. I was a sports writer, so I grew up in a family with four brothers, so when I went to college, I knew sports, and at the time, that was unusual to have a female sports So I did that, and then went into publishing after I got my journalism degree, and since I'd been a sports writer, they put me in the men's division of this magazine publishing company. So, I started out learning, I started out working for a helicopter magazine, and I was an editor, and the only one that did know how to fly, and so they sent me to flight school in order to be a better editor and, you know, learn how to communicate with our readers. And again, then because I'd done that and was in the men's division, they moved me then to shooting times, which was hunting and sports shooting. So, then I learned how to shoot guns and reload in that whole industry. From there, I went to fashion. So, I went to the women's division, and at first they said, you know, are you sure you want to do this? And I said, well, this will be the first job you've put me on that won't kill me. You know, I've learned how to fly planes and shoot guns. You know, let me have a shot at that Singer sewing machine. And I was a terrible seamstress. And they said, really, what we want you to do in fashion is to create a presence in New York, in Manhattan. And so, the publisher was in Peoria, Illinois, but they wanted a presence in Manhattan. And so that's what I did for three years, worked remotely back and forth, and created that presence, joined the Fashion Group International. They hired three consultants to fix me up. And so, I laugh if you've ever seen the movie Miss Congeniality, that was me. So, you know, learned all about the fashion industry and built those relationships with our advertisers. And also, then we went into television and did a lifetime, the TV show, weekly TV show on Lifetime called Make It Fashion. And we're trying to blend that the home sewing industry with the fashion industry. So, if you saw this on the runway, in Milan, or in New York, or in Paris, this is how you can make it yourself, be your own designer kind of thing. So that was my journalism start, then moved to St. Louis, got married, had babies, and went into corporate communications, worked for Purina in St. Louis, where I learned so much about leadership, moved back to Peoria, and I went to work for Caterpillar. And when I retired from Caterpillar, then I started this business, Mentoring Women Millennials. And I have such a heart for this generation. I think they're so bright and smart and creative and entrepreneurial, and they get a bad rap. And so, I wanted to have a platform to lift them up, and also to give them tools. So, the first year I wrote a book, Rockstar Millennials, Developing the Next Generation of Leaders. And what I found, there were so many really sharp, bright millennials that had never had good leaders. They never had a mentor. They didn't have the tools. Many of them were entrepreneurs. They didn't intend to lead people. They had a craft. They started a business, and it grew. And they're like, now I got people. What do I do with people? And as I was out speaking about my business, I found the audience very consistently had two types of attendees. One was what I would call a seasoned leader, who said, for helping the millennials, thank you. Something along that line. And then I would have a young person stand up and say, “Do you have a book”? And after that happened several times, okay, Lord, I got this. Yeah, write a book. And I remember saying, “That's a good idea, God, but I don't have time.” And so if you want to know why COVID happened, it was me. Because the good Lord said, hey, it's February of 2020. It looks like you have time right now. And so I hired an editor. We wrote a book in four months and published it at the end of the year. And in 2021, then started the podcast. Laura Dugger: (6:48 - 7:04) Well, that's an incredible resume and such a whirlwind to getting here today. But you mentioned some leadership principles, especially at Purina. So, Kathryn, what are some of those servant leadership principles that you've learned and acquired over the years? Kathryn Spitznagle: (7:04 - 9:34) Over the years, yeah. Just some amazing leaders at Purina. Their culture was very much a servant leadership culture. Purina as a company was created in the 1950s by an independently wealthy gentleman, William H. Danforth. And he created the Youth Foundation in St. Louis. And he found once he got kids out of gangs and out of jail and off drugs, nobody would hire them. So, he created a company to hire those kids, Purina. And so, they, yes, told us that, you know, the first day he said, you know, this is never confused what we make with why we're here. We were here, we were created to develop people for life. What we make will change. But the reason we're here will not. And Danforth also wrote a book called I Dare You. I Dare You to be the best you can be and help someone else do the same. And so that very first day we were told the story of the genesis of Purina, we were given that book, I Dare You. And when we left orientation, we met, they had 360-degree mentoring. And they said, “This is how we create this culture. And we continue this for generations through mentoring.” So, when you leave orientation, you're going to meet your leader mentor, your peer mentor, and in 90 days, you'll be mentoring. Everyone at Purina mentors, and we all learn from each other constantly. So that was the platform. And that was the culture. And when you think about feeling cherished, and valued, that's how they did it. Because if you're going to mentor someone, and someone's going to mentor you, you have value. And the people you're working with have value. And so that creating a cherished culture was their legacy. And then it's something that I took on to Caterpillar. And I continue now, in my keynote speaking, that's one of the most popular is how to create a cherished culture in the boardroom, in the living room, and in the classroom. Hmm. Laura Dugger: (9:35 - 9:47) And so, I won't ask for the entire keynote speech then, but is there an overview that you can give us of those things that we could implement that you've learned to implement over time as well? Kathryn Spitznagle: (9:47 - 11:29) Yes, some of the tools. And, and that was another wonderful thing about Purina that I saw then, and haven't seen it since. You know, it seemed unique to me at the time. Fast forward a few years, and it was like, yeah, that was very unusual leadership. And one of the things that they valued was, know your people, understand them, know their needs, know their wants. Even at this point, so, you know, I'm talking 30 years ago, I went to work there in 1990. They were talking about purpose. What's your purpose? Purina had a very specific purpose. We are a purposeful company. We're here to develop people for life. And, and they even said, I thought this was unique to it at orientation. They said, and we hire bright, smart people, and we don't expect you to stay here very long. Our job is to send you off better than we found you. And with a positive impression of Purina. And here's why. When you leave here, you may go to another Fortune 50 company, which I did. You may be in a position to impact a merger or acquisition. You can buy and sell our stock. And at the very least, when you go to the grocery store, you can buy dog food. And we want it to be Purina. Laura Dugger: (11:31 - 11:36) That's incredible. That actually happened then with you taking that forward. Kathryn Spitznagle: (11:37 - 16:07) And all of those lessons learned. So, when I talk about creating a cherished culture, Purina, one of the things they did very well was to introduce a concept, illustrate it with a story, and then activate it with a tool. So mentoring, they talked about here is the platform on which our company is built, developing people for life. And they told us that story then about Purina. Then they gave us the book. And then they gave us a mentor that we were meeting with each week. And they gave us a, what do I want to say, an outline. So, when you meet with your mentor or mentee, here are questions to ask. Here's a way to go about this. And the number one reason people do mentor is because they don't know how. What's a process? And so how smart? Purina's like, here. Here's an outline. Here are things to ask. Here are discussion topics. And here are different tools we're going to give you as you progress in leadership. And they're designed for you then to pass on. And so those are some of the tools when I talk about creating a cherished culture. One of the tools is here are questions to ask. Here's how to have that dialogue. Here are discussion topics. When you're developing a relationship with this person, ask about their life outside of work. Ask about their family and friends and whatever, as much as they'd like to share. Not everyone does. That's okay too. Ask about their best day at work. What's a bad day at work? What's their best boss like? How do they like to be recognized? What's their purpose? One of the most insightful questions they asked at Purina was, why do you want to succeed? And why do you want this company to succeed? And those two questions give insight to someone's purpose. And so, then if you frame discussions around their purpose and their values, it is exponentially more meaningful to them. So, when I talk about how do you lead millennials and how is it different? Those are a couple of the things. Understand their purpose. Understand their life. Their values outside of work, and frame things within their purpose. Here's an example and or their values. If someone says, my values are hard work and transparency. I want people to be honest. Those are a couple of my values. Okay. So, if I were leading that person and I saw them being transparent with someone else, being open and honest, I would recognize them for that. Not just recognize them for the work, but recognize them for their value, demonstrating their value. I saw you be open and honest with that person. Thank you for that. If kindness is a value, I saw you. I saw what you did there today to help someone out without being asked. Thank you for that kindness. That resonates on a whole different level. And if you have to have a tough discussion with that person to say, frame it in those words. I know you value honesty, and I do too. And so, we need to have an honest conversation. And here's some things that I'm seeing in your behavior, in your leadership, or in your work style that can hold you back. So, let's fix this whole different way to lead. Laura Dugger: (16:09 - 16:39) Absolutely. And I love how some of these even one-page practical tools you've included in the back of your book. So, it's a plug and play, but I'm even thinking back to your mentoring relationships where you had this circle of mentors and you were mentoring. I think it's also helpful to get to hear one another's mistakes. So, are you comfortable sharing any mistakes that you've made along the way that actually even turned out to be beneficial learning opportunities? Kathryn Spitznagle: (16:40 - 20:32) Absolutely. Loads of them. I've got loads of them. And one of the women I mentor has said, I think I've advanced my career 10 years by learning from your mistakes. And I love that. And she's like, now I'm going to make plenty of my own, but I'm not going to make yours. And I said, “Good. That's the point of all this.” One of the big ones I made at Purina. I think a lot of places I would have been fired, probably should have been. I was working in the marketing group, and we were like an internal marketing. So, we did the new product introduction, point of purchase, point of sale materials, the legal documents that went out, the whole packet that would go out to a distributor, a grocery store. And EverReady Battery was one of our product lines. So, we had internal clients. And as they had new product introductions, we'd get the materials together. We had in-house printing, all of the things, graphic design, and that was all under my purview. The letter, there's a letter that went out to distributors that was a legal document and had a number. And I pulled the wrong letter, the wrong number. And it wasn't discovered until last minute. And we sat down with the client and they're like, oh my gosh, this is the wrong legal letter. And I, you know, I'm the account rep, that was on me. So, I had to go back, I had to go to Neil Lewis, my boss and say, “Okay, we've got to pull this back before it all goes out, reprint, which is going to be all our expense. We're going to have to have people working off shifts and all that sort of thing to do it quickly. And then reassemble all these Eveready Battery packets and, you know, do as close as we can to meeting their deadline.” And so basically it's going to eat up our margin and we're going to have more printing expense. We're going to have more labor and we're going to have some unhappy people. And our client's not real happy either. And that was all me. And Neil said to me, “You know, I learned something today. And he said, until today, I thought you walked on water.” And he said, “Now I know you're human, just like the rest of us.” And I thought, oh, my word. And he's like, okay, so what happened? That was a mistake. How are we going to fix it? And I said, “I've already pulled the right letter, getting it reprinted. Here's the, additional time and money. Here's how it's going to impact our margin.” And he said, “You know, can we do it? And can we satisfy the customer and get, if not meet their deadline very close?” And I said, “We can meet their deadline if we have people work third shift.” And, you know, and he said, “Okay, let's do it. That's the right thing to do.” And, and he said, Kathryn, “I told you what I learned today. What did you learn?” And I said, “I learned how to be the kind of leader I want to be when someone makes a mistake.” Laura Dugger: (20:36 - 21:05) Wow. The humility in that is incredible. And thank you for sharing. Stories are so memorable. It makes me instantly reminded of two previous episodes. I'll make sure I link in the show notes, both with Jeff Henderson and Steve Robinson, accomplished businessmen, but who were also willing to share stories and how just like you, it actually made them a better, more relatable leader. And so that's encouraging. Kathryn Spitznagle: (21:06 - 21:34) And I knew when I got to Caterpillar and, uh, particularly when I was running the Caterpillar visitor center, because that was so new and never been done in Caterpillar. And so, we're going to make some mistakes and we're going to learn, you know, along the way. And there was more than one occasion where I was reminded of Neil Lewis. And I said, okay, I learned something today. You are human. Just like the rest of us. Now, how are we going to fix this? Laura Dugger: (21:35 - 23:48) And then what did you learn? Let's take a quick break to hear a message from our sponsor. Friends, I'm excited to share with you today's sponsor, WinShape Marriage. 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During your time away in this beautiful place, you and your spouse will learn from expert speakers and explore topics related to intimacy, overcoming challenges, improving communication, and more. I've stayed on site at WinShape before and I can attest to their generosity, food, and content. You will be so grateful you went. To find an experience that's right for you and your spouse, head to their website, to find out more, visit them online at winshapemarriage.org/savvy. That's W-I-N-S-H-A-P-E marriage.org slash S-A-V-V-Y. Thanks for your sponsorship. You've had so much experience in different areas and as a corporate leader. So what is it that drew you specifically to have a heart for millennials, which we can define as those approximately born between the 1980s and early 2000s? Kathryn Spitznagle: (23:50 - 28:18) I really started working with them. My last role at Caterpillar, I was a director of global sustainability and it was within public affairs. So, we were leading, Caterpillar was leading a natural infrastructure coalition. I was working with a lot of different entities, public, private, governmental. We're trying to get language passed into law. That was a big portion of my job. Another portion of my job was to be out speaking about what Caterpillar was doing in the world of sustainability. And I loved that. What I found was the sustainability groups of Caterpillar employees all around the world, we do a global call quarterly, learning what everybody was doing. They were all this age group. And when we would do the river cleanup on Saturday, these are the people that showed up with their kids. And when we do tree plantings, these are the people that showed up with their kids. It's like, okay. And I remember saying to my peers, you know what, this group of employees, these young people are not going to retire with a pension like we are with health care like we do. There's so many things that we have garnered through our career appropriately. They don't have that. What drives loyalty for them and what engages them with Caterpillar are these things. These things we're doing through the foundation where we're giving back and improving the world and the things we're doing in sustainability, giving back, improving the world. They are so much more engaged in our company through these things. And so, I kind of knew, I thought, okay, I'm not sure exactly where the Lord is leading, but it's going to be with those people. And that was the thing I knew when I retired that, okay, this is what I want to do. And then the more I worked, you know, I started the business mentoring women millennials. The more I worked with these young women, the more I saw, yes, there's a need. There's a need here. And I always, you know, again, people would ask, why? Why are you so connected? And I said, first of all, I saw the value in them. But secondly, I think I was one. My husband and I laughed that we never really fit in with our generation. And here's why. We both were out of school and working on our careers when we met. And in our generation, you got married right out of high school, or at the very least right out of college. And so, you know, our families had given up. They're like, they're never going to get married. They're working. They got this whole career thing going. And so, when we got married, well, then we didn't have children until we were in our 30s. You know, highly irregular for our generation. We were entrepreneurial. So, we were looking at franchises in our 20s. And our families were like, just get a job. What is this? You got to buy something and then you buy something else. And my husband owned a business, his first business in his 30s. We both had side hustles. Again, friends and family were like, just do one job. What is with you guys? Always got all these things, you know, going. And then when I took the job in fashion, and I was working in Manhattan and living in Peoria, like, what do you even call that kind of work to call it remote? Working remotely? Yeah. And so, I think part of my heart for them is I was one. And so, when they talk about some of the struggles and the things that are endearing to them, like, I got you. I felt like that, too. Laura Dugger: (28:20 - 28:57) That is incredible. And I think it really does make you the perfect person for that mentor mentee relationship. And I kind of want to camp out on that further, because we've alluded to it. And some of these tips are in your book, where you highlight those discussion topics that give people the tools. But then if we take it a step further or personalize it, how can all of us as listeners begin a mentoring relationship like the one you've described? And I'm even thinking of the beginning point. Do you think it's up to the mentor or the mentee to initially reach out? Kathryn Spitznagle: (28:58 - 33:07) Either one. Yeah, either one can work. When I left Purina, having had this wonderful leadership experience and mentoring environment, I thought, well, this must be what all corporations are like. No. Doesn't make them bad. They're just different. So, when I got to Caterpillar that was male, very male dominated, I remember calling my mentor at Purina, who is still my mentor today. She mentored me for 22 years at Caterpillar after I left Purina. And then was one of the biggest proponents of me writing my book and starting my business. And we still get together today. So, when they talk about developing people for life, they're very serious about that. And so, when I got to Caterpillar, I thought, well, they don't seem to have this. I think I'll start a mentoring program. Well, I was, you know, some little gal in marketing. You're not going to start a mentoring program for a Fortune 50 company out of that spot. It comes up through HR and Office of Business Practices and Legal and all of that. Anyway, I called my mentor at Purina, very frustrated, and I said, “Lynn, you and Neil make a place for me. I'm coming back. They don't have a mentoring program here.” I don't, you know, and she said, “Okay, first of all, we didn't train you up to come back. Your job is to take this forward.” And she said, “Are there young women there?” Yes. And she said, “Mentor them.” And she said, “Are there leaders that need support?” And I said, “Yes.” And she said, “Okay, support them.” She said, “Are there teams that need to be built?” And I said, “Yes.” And she said, “Then you have good work to do there.” Go. And she hung up. I thought, OK. And so, from that moment on, when I would see an announcement that would come through email where a woman was being hired into Caterpillar, I would reach out to her and just say, do you have a mentor or would you like one? And for 22 years, they all said yes. And so that's what I did. I worked with those women. And, you know, here's another God wink when my announcement went out, then that I was retiring. These women all started coming back to me wherever they were in the nation and even in the world. Many of them had gone on to do other things, bigger, better things. And they all started reaching out to me. Someone had forwarded the announcement to them and said, “We want you to start a business, a mentoring business and help others just like you helped us, and we will help you.” And one said, “You need to write a book, and I'll write the forward.” Another one said, “Yes, and you need to do podcasts and I'll be on one.” Another one said, “I know what's going to stop you at your website, so I'm going to help you with your website.” Another one said, “You're going to need testimonials.” So, she posted on social media that anyone that's ever been mentored by Kathryn Spitznagel, leave a message here. Very humbling. And another one said, “I'm now VP of a big company in Chicago and I will hire you.” And so, I retired one day and started a business the next. Laura Dugger: (33:09 - 33:30) Incredible how that all came back around. And I gleaned so much from your stories in your book, and then even getting to connect with you before today. But there's another story about servant leadership that you shared from the man who you've named your previous boss, Neil Lewis. Will you share? Do you know which one I'm thinking of? Kathryn Spitznagle: (33:31 - 36:35) Yeah. You need to know three personal things about everyone who works for you. Okay. So, Neil Lewis had leadership meetings. There were 12 of us were his leadership team every Monday morning. He was also a minister outside of work. So, a lot of times we would laugh that we were getting the rehash of the sermon from yesterday as part of his leadership. But he often gave us assignments. And one Monday morning, he said, okay, here's your assignment. I want you to know three personal things about everyone who works for you. And they need to be things that aren't in their personnel file. And he said, I'm going to ask you sometime this week about one of those people, but you won't know which one. So, you need to know all of them. And I, you know, lousy leader, I was just learning. And I said, Neil, I have 10 people, three things, 10 people, that's 30 things I got to know. And he said, Kathryn, good math. You have some work to do. So, I went back, and I interviewed each one of my 10 people, three things, found him out, followed the assignment. And I was ready. And I saw him in the hall later in the week. He said, “Kathryn, walk with me. I'm going to the next meeting.” I said, “Okay.” Tell me three personal things about Kathy, who works for you. I said, “Okay.” Kathy has recently divorced. Uh, she has an 18-month-old baby, and she is moving to a new apartment. And he said, “What have you done to help her?” And honest to God, I said, “That wasn't part of the assignment.” And he looked at me and I said, “No, wait a minute. I did help her. I changed her hours. She has a longer commute now into St. Louis. So, she's going to come in at 8:30 am and work till 5:00 pm.” And I was feeling pretty proud of myself, like bonus question. And he said, “Did she come to you, or did you go to her?” And I said, “Well, she came to me, but I said, it was okay.” So, Kathryn know your people. If you don't know your people, you don't know what they need. And if you don't know what they need, you can't help them. And if you can't help them, what in the world are you doing here? It says leaders were here to serve. And if you're not here to serve, you need to step out. I became a different leader that day. One who chose to lead by serving. Laura Dugger: (36:38 - 37:17) I just wanted to let you know there are now multiple ways to give when you visit thesavvysauce.com. We now have a donation button on our website and you can find it under the donate page, which is under the tab entitled support. Our mailing address is also provided. If you would prefer to save us the processing fee and send a check that is tax deductible. Either way, you'll be supporting the work of Savvy Sauce Charities and helping us continue to reach the nations with the good news of Jesus Christ. Make sure you visit thesavvysauce.com today. Thanks for your support. Kathryn Spitznagle: (37:18 - 38:19) You know, the other piece, uh, the other thing that he taught me there, uh, Laura, as we continued to walk, uh, because he always wanted to bring things back around to, to a positive. He was going to make his point, but he was not going to leave me there, you know? He said, Kathryn, “Do you understand what you missed there?” It was such a missed opportunity with Kathy, um, to engage her and to help her feel cherished. He said, “That's the difference when you anticipate someone's needs and you go to them before they ask. That's the opportunity.” That's the gold. That's what engages people and, uh, garners their loyalty. And that's when they feel cherished. That was the real missed opportunity. Laura Dugger: (38:23 - 38:35) And that never left you. And that's probably blessed so many people hearing that. What about lessons of forgiveness in leadership as well? Do you have any stories to illustrate that? Kathryn Spitznagle: (38:35 - 42:28) Yes. And that's another lesson from, from Neil Lewis that was a profound lesson for me that I've never heard anywhere else. Forgiveness is part of leadership. So, I learned this, um, again, lousy leader just starting out. And, um, when he put me into leadership, I was like, how hard could it be? Tell people what to do. They do it. And then came my first employee opinion survey results and they were bad. The numbers were bad. The comments were bad. The people were unhappy. Um, and the comments to me were, were hurtful. They were justified, but they were hurtful. And so, when I got, uh, you know, got all the information, I left, I was upset. The next day when I came into the office, I just went into my office and closed the door. I thought they don't want to talk to me. I don't want to talk to them. That's fine. I was working here. So, Neil gave me a little time to cool off. And then he came in and, um, on my desk, uh, one of the things that they, um, Purina does in terms of creating that cherished culture is, um, to have things around you that revitalize you. And so, they ask you one of the first days about what, what are things that revitalize you? And I said, okay, uh, fresh flowers revitalize me. They remind me of my grandmother, nanny, and being in the garden. Um, notes are cards from handwritten, you know, from friends and family and a walk outside. Those are three things that revitalize me. Okay. So again, I registered with Neil Lewis. He knew that was a way to frame things for me. So, when he came in that morning, he picked up one of the cards from my desk and he handed it to me and he said, to read that card. And I said, you can read it. He said, “No. No, I'm asking you to read it out loud to me.” So, it was a card from someone on my team, very complimentary about my leadership style and what it, how it impacted them. And he said, “Is that the leader you are today?” And I said, “No, but in fairness, they were mean to me. They said some very hurtful things and yeah, I'm not happy.” He said, “Okay.” And he said, “Kathryn, as leaders, our job is to give first and give again”. And he said, “Do you know what the bridge is between giving first and giving again?” And I said, “No.” I said, “Neil, I'm not tracking with you.” And he said, “Forgive.” And I said, “Oh, forgiveness.” And he said, “Nope. Forgiveness is something someone else does. That's a noun. Forgive is a verb. And that's what I need to see you do. Forgive.” He said, “Kathryn, forgiveness is a big part of leadership and it's something that will hold you back for the rest of your life. So, I am asking you today to be the leader I know you to be and forgive them.” Laura Dugger: (42:32 - 42:52) Well, in even the way he modeled that in the way you shared that story, it also reminds me of another leadership tool that you mentioned in your book, which I think if somebody is experiencing this, that could be a really practical next step. So, it's called the hero page. Will you elaborate on that for us? Kathryn Spitznagle: (42:52 - 52:07) Yes. And so, at Purina, when they talked about having these one-on-ones with your team, with your mentees, with your mentors, kind of framing the dialogue in three buckets, called it three bucket exercise. And I still, this is how I still mentor today. Uh, so the first thing we ask people to come prepared with is bucket one. What are we celebrating? What have you learned? What have you accomplished? What has gone so well? Um, since the last time we spoke, because we, as people, but particularly as women pass through things very quickly and go, yep, done good onto the next. Yeah. We don't take that time to celebrate. And Purina was very focused on what they called reveling. Take just a minute to revel. That was good work, did good work, but whatever was accomplished personal and professional, it was, there were things at home, baby slept four hours straight. Okay. So, bucket one, what are we celebrating? Um, so bucket one, they called aha. Bucket two, they called, hmm, what is, uh, what's out there that you need to, um, do, you know, what's on your to-do list. Is there something you need to get a plan for? Um, is there something that you want to talk through that's kind of on your assignment board, something like that. And we'll talk through some tactics. Bucket three is what in the world. So, anything that seems overwhelming, uh, caught you by surprise. You didn't know it was part of the job. You didn't know it was part of life. Those are the things we want to talk about in bucket three, every time. So, you want me to tell you the things that are overwhelming me and that I don't know where to start. Yes. Yes. Every week, because here's what we'll do. We will take the power out of that. Once you, that's it. We're going to fix it and say, okay, this is what's overwhelming me. This is what I'm anxious about. This is what caught me by surprise. And we're going to figure out how to break it down into something actionable. And then we're going to move it to bucket two. And next week, we're going to be talking about those action steps and pretty soon it's going to move to bucket one. There you go. We're celebrating that process that I learned at Purina still did at Caterpillar and doing today. Um, that just warms my heart. Uh, when I see, um, the folks that I've worked with who've now gone on to do other things. And, uh, one of the guys on my team at Caterpillar, um, now works for McDonald's in Chicago. And he said that Kathryn, that's our onboarding process. And so, anybody that comes through his team in McDonald's, that's what they learn how to do. And he said that it was just gold. And you can talk about creating a safe space, but again, the difference with Purina was they gave you a tool, not ours, we are a cherished culture. We create a safe space. And you know what, here's how, by asking this question and by setting aside time to answer it and wrestle with it and work through it. Now, having said all that, where do you put this information as you're learning this about this person? Uh, you're learning what they're celebrating. You're learning, um, what their values are. You're learning what they like to do outside of work. What's important to them learning about their purpose. That's a hero page. And so, they gave us a tool and they said, you know, it's very simple, a hero page. You, you just record things that you have learned about this person that you respect and admire about them. And you can do one for yourself. They ask you to do the first one for you. Um, but then also to do them for, you can do them for a peer or a leader. Um, you can also do them for someone you're struggling with because oftentimes we aren't really looking for the positives in that person. So, the, uh, the logic behind the hero page is once you've created it, uh, you're going to look for things to put on it. Positives, all positives, negatives we remember. Positives we're looking for and that's the first reason. The second reason for a hero page is you may have a tough day with that person sometime. And if you do, you go back and look at your hero page and it puts things in perspective. Yeah, this isn't going well today, but here are the things I respect and admire about this person. And yes, um, perspective. The third reason is they may have a tough day sometime and what an incredible gift you can be to them. Here's an example. When I worked at Caterpillar, um, had wonderful leaders, some remarkable women leaders at Caterpillar, I think because there were so few of them, they were rock stars. And one that I worked for, uh, was sent to Beijing, China on a short term, like a, I don't know, six month or one year assignment as it at the same time, I was also mentoring someone in that Beijing office and it was very remote. They were, in a remote area, creating an office, creating an HR office, you know, where they, where there's a factory and the person I was mentoring said, you know, let me give you an idea of what we're struggling with here. What kind of, what our situation is. And I'm at corporate and I said, well, whatever it is, I think I could send you some of our signage, some of our value signs. Those are, those are, that's what you need. I'll send you some value signs. You can put them up on your walls. And she said, Kathryn, we don't have walls. We're working out of a tent. And she said, each morning we send a bus out to the rural areas here in China and it stops to pick up workers. And if dad can't go, he sends mom. And if mom can't go, she puts a couple of kids on the bus. And we never know from day to day who's coming to work. What we do know is that the bus will be full. They will get two meals while they're at work, breakfast and lunch. And then when it returns them home, they will have gotten paid. She said, we are all but paying people and chickens. Do you understand the situation, the gravity of what we're trying to do to come in here and create an office and HR processes? And she said, first, we're trying to determine who our employees are. I said, “Oh, our leader is struggling”. And she said, “Will you get on a call with her today?” I said, “Give me a minute.” And she said, “You're going to get her hero page.” So, we got on the call. Lois, “Kathryn, is this the woman that led one of the first NPI projects for Caterpillar as a woman with our flagship tractor?” And she said, “Yes.” I said, “Is this the woman who was handed a belt buckle and a t-shirt and created global merchandising stores all around the world?” And she said, “Yes.” I said, “Is this the woman who has been married 30 plus years happily, raised two remarkable children and showed us all it was possible?” Yes. I said, “I don't know what you're struggling with today, but I do know the woman who did these things can tackle this.” What a gift you would be to another leader on the day that they needed it in that moment, just to remind them of their value. Laura Dugger: (52:10 - 52:40) That encouragement is so powerful. And you're such an engaging storyteller. And like you had mentioned previously, you've gone on from corporate America to now beginning your own business, including your podcast that will link to Rockstar Millennials. So, I'm curious, Kathryn, are there any stories from those podcast episodes that really come to mind as you think of any standout lessons or your favorites? Kathryn Spitznagle: (52:41 - 55:51) Oh my gosh. There are so many. It just seems like when I think I can't meet someone any more incredible, I do. And again, good Lord's hand, they come from all different paths. We're international now. A couple of them that really stand out to me, Michael Kuzma,: he invented the self-playing guitar. He knew people in his life who had either never been able to play the guitar and wanted to, or they had experienced some sort of an injury or illness that then prevented them from doing what they loved. And so, he created this and just said, “I want this to bring joy and be fun for people.” And I guess the part of the platform that I have for the podcast is purpose. How are you living your purpose? Khushi Shah is 19 years old. So, she's a little bit younger than a millennial even. Created a company called Drizzl and it is an informed, what I want to say, it's an irrigation company. And she created this as a science project in grade school. She's now in college at MIT and Harvard and Northeastern. So, she's attending classes at all. She went to a science and math school in Chicago for high school, finished early and took a gap year at 17. And I said, “So you traveled?” And she said, “Nope, I decided I'd just run that business full-time, Drizzl.” And so, her families of Indian descent. They'd gone to India and seen the need for water, clean water. And she said, coming back to the States, I saw sprinklers, lawn sprinklers running and it was raining. And I thought, I need to fix that. There are products on the market that will turn a sprinkler off if it's raining. Her product is predictive. She's 19. Yeah. So, folks from St. Jude, folks from Midwest Food Bank, just incredible. Obviously, I can't name one. There are so many. And those who are living their purpose in all walks of life, in all places around the world, I want to talk to. Laura Dugger: (55:52 - 56:07) Wow. And Kathryn, you've invested in so many people and highlighted so many people through your podcast. As you look back, what are you happiest that you invested your life in? Kathryn Spitznagle: (56:09 - 57:07) Well, I'm a mom, boy mom. So that would have to be my first, my boys. Again, one of the women that I mentor said to me early on, Kathryn, one of the things I love the most is you're from the other side. I said, Kelsey, what does that mean? I'm from the other side. And she said, you've already done all of this. You've done the corporate life. You understand small business. You have a decades long, happy marriage. You've raised your boys. They're happy. They're successful. If you did this, we can do this and you can help us. And so that investment on so many levels, yeah, is coming back. Laura Dugger: (57:08 - 57:19) I love that. And would you be willing just to share anything else about your business or what all you have to offer so that we can continue learning from you after this conversation? Kathryn Spitznagle: (57:20 - 1:00:49) Oh, absolutely. So, the book that you mentioned, Rockstar Millennials, Developing the Next Generation of Leaders. That's the book. And it recounts so many of these leadership stories. And then in the back, as you said, are the different tools. And I have to credit the Caterpillar engineers because when I went to Caterpillar and I would tell these stories about Purina or I would live something that they had taught me. Very early on, in the meeting, or after the meeting, some of these gentlemen came up to me and said, “That thing you just did in that meeting, can you write that down? Like what?” And they said, “Like the words and or the process.” And so, it began. So, I'd start writing down the words and they might put a graphic with it or somehow improve it. And so, through the years, this same group kept coming back to me. And when they saw the announcement that I was retiring, they showed up again and said, “Okay, we need one more thing, a spreadsheet.” What do you mean a spreadsheet? They said, “You know, all through the years, we have all of these tools now that we've created out of your head on this paper that we can use and we're using.” If you can give us a spreadsheet that says, “If you're having this leadership issue, use this tool.” So, God bless the engineers. So, I credit them, and the tools are in the back of the hard book. What I found when I started doing workshops was people didn't want to write in the book and they also wanted something bigger and they wanted a place to make notes and doodle and that sort of thing. So that's why we have the book and then the toolkit. So, my business is Mentoring Women Millennials and I do one on one mentoring with individuals, small business primarily. They'll bring me in to work with their women leaders, but also just individuals who are in some sort of a transition in life or that have never had a mentor and would like one. And so, I do the one-on-one mentoring also with nonprofits. And I'm now an 18-year breast cancer survivor, still in treatment. And I also mentor breast cancer survivors. And keynote speaking. I work with the Capital City Speakers Bureau. And so, I do speaking there and I'm prepping for a TED Talk. So those are the next things. Laura Dugger: (1:00:50 - 1:01:16) I love it. Always something up your sleeve. We will link to your website so that people can follow up and get in touch if that would be a good partnership. And you may already be familiar that we're called The Savvy Sauce because savvy is synonymous with practical knowledge or insight. And so as my final question for you today, Kathryn, what is your Savvy Sauce? Kathryn Spitznagle: (1:01:18 - 1:01:49) Um, when I left Purina, um, I asked Neil, “You know, how do I ever repay this company that has given so much to me?” And he said, “Take what you've learned and help someone else.” And so, if you learn from me, that would be my ask, help someone else. Laura Dugger: (1:01:50 - 1:02:05) I love that. Amen. Great Savvy Sauce. And Kathryn, you're just so poised and classy and full of insight. And it was an absolute pleasure to get to host you as my guest today. So, thank you for being my guest. Kathryn Spitznagle: (1:02:05 - 1:02:07) Thank you. Thank you for having me. Laura Dugger: (1:02:09 - 1:05:52) One more thing before you go. Have you heard the term gospel before? It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you. But it starts with the bad news. Every single one of us were born sinners, but Christ desires to rescue us from our sin, which is something we cannot do for ourselves. This means there is absolutely no chance we can make it to heaven on our own. So, for you and for me, it means we deserve death, and we can never pay back the sacrifice we owe to be saved. We need a savior. But God loved us so much, he made a way for his only son to willingly die in our place as the perfect substitute. This gives us hope of life forever in right relationship with him. That is good news. Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live and died in our place for our sin. This was God's plan to make a way to reconcile with us so that God can look at us and see Jesus. We can be covered and justified through the work Jesus finished if we choose to receive what He has done for us. Romans 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” So, would you pray with me now? Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to take our place. I pray someone today right now is touched and chooses to turn their life over to you. Will you clearly guide them and help them take their next step in faith to declare you as Lord of their life? We trust you to work and change lives now for eternity. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you prayed that prayer, you are declaring him for me, so me for him. You get the opportunity to live your life for him. And at this podcast, we're called The Savvy Sauce for a reason. We want to give you practical tools to implement the knowledge you have learned. So, you ready to get started? First, tell someone. Say it out loud. Get a Bible. The first day I made this decision, my parents took me to Barnes & Noble and let me choose my own Bible. I selected the Quest NIV Bible, and I love it. You can start by reading the book of John. Also, get connected locally, which just means tell someone who's a part of a church in your community that you made a decision to follow Christ. I'm assuming they will be thrilled to talk with you about further steps, such as going to church and getting connected to other believers to encourage you. We want to celebrate with you too, so feel free to leave a comment for us here if you did make a decision to follow Christ. We also have show notes included where you can read scripture that describes this process. And finally, be encouraged. Luke 15:10 says, “In the same way I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” The heavens are praising with you for your decision today. And if you've already received this good news, I pray you have someone to share it with. You are loved and I look forward to meeting you here next time.
Sermon Series | Standalone SermonsTo give to our M25 Initiative, text m25 to 623.252.5085 or visit redaz.in/m25.To download our Mobile App, search Redemption Church Peoria where you download apps to your device(s).To connect with us, visit this link: http://redaz.in/RPTo invest in our ministry financially, visit this link: https://bit.ly/3roZDAW
In this week's "Sunday Special," join Pastor John King as he delivers a powerful and moving message on the urgency and importance of living a life fully surrendered to God's purpose. Drawing from his personal journey of faith, from Wales to establishing a thriving ministry in Peoria, Illinois, John King uses a powerful illustration to reveal the shortness of our time on Earth compared to eternity. This message is a compelling call to action, challenging you to reflect on your own "transformational moments" and to answer the call to a deeper, more meaningful relationship with Jesus. If you've ever questioned your purpose or felt a stirring for something more, this sermon will provide clarity and inspiration to live a life of eternal significance.Key Takeaways:- Embrace the Urgency of Now: Discover why understanding the brevity of life is the first step toward living with purpose and making every moment count for what truly matters.- Identify Your "Gauntlet Moments": Learn to recognize the key "transformational moments" and challenges in your life that God uses to draw you closer to your unique calling.- Move from "Liking" to "Loving" Jesus: John King shares his personal testimony of how a genuine love for Jesus, not just a fear of hell, became the driving force of his life and ministry, and how you can experience the same.-The Power of Radical Obedience: Be inspired by the incredible stories of how stepping out in faith—from leaving a comfortable position to starting a church and a homeless shelter—can lead to miraculous outcomes.- Live a Life That Lasts: Understand the profound truth in the motto, "Only one life will soon be passed, only what's done for Christ will last," and learn how to invest your life in what has eternal value.
“…Come Up Here..,” pt 5 Hebrews 8:1-5 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 8 Now the main point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a minister in the sanctuary and […]
July 22, 1989. Peoria, Arizona. Rob Page, the husband of 32-year old Pam Page, claims that she disappears from their home and leaves behind a letter revealing that she ran off with another woman named “Sarah”. Rob also says that Pam took one of their dogs with her, along with most of her personal possessions and $60,000 in cash that she was keeping inside the safe of the video store she owned. However, Rob does not immediately report Pam missing to the police and constantly changes his story about what happened and it is soon discovered that Rob typed up the letter himself and forged Pam's signature on it. Investigators are also unable to confirm that this mysterious “Sarah” actually existed, but while there is suspicion directed towards Rob, there is not enough evidence to charge him with anything and no trace of Pam is ever found. On this week's episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore a controversial spousal disappearance which was featured on “Unsolved Mysteries”. If you have any information about this case, please contact the Peoria Police Department Criminal Investigations Bureau at (623) 773-7097. Additional Reading: https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Pam_Page https://unsolved.com/gallery/pamela-page/ https://lostnfoundblogs.com/f/pam-page-a-forged-farewell https://charleyproject.org/case/pamela-jane-page https://www.newspapers.com/image/122392817/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/126139813/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/126481893/ https://www.peoriatimes.com/news/article_6524e54e-c9e1-54b6-8c9a-14ff5e133c80.html https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-coroners-report/id1705746048 “The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content. The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote. All music is composed by Vince Nitro.
Screaming for the DJ, non-alcoholic bars, Uber for women, and too much dopamine… On the net, it's a positive. ----- JOKES FOR HUMANS TOUR: https://johncristcomedy.com/tour/ 8/30 - Las Vegas, NV 9/19 - Grand Rapids, MI 9/20 - Fort Wayne, IN 9/21 - Paducah, KY 9/26 - North Charleston, SC 9/27 - Macon, GA 9/28 - Hiawassee, GA 10/2 - Evansville, IN 10/3 - Dayton, OH 10/4 - Peoria, IL 10/10 - Knoxville, TN 10/11 - Greenville, SC 10/16 - York, PA 10/17 - Detroit, MI 10/18 - Cleveland, OH 10/24 - Birmingham, AL 10/25 - Chattanooga, TN 11/7 - Boise, ID 11/8 - Spokane, WA 11/9 - Tacoma, WA 11/20 - Abilene, TX 11/21 - San Antonio, TX 11/22 - Tyler, TX 11/23 - Austin, TX 12/5 - Phoenix, AZ 12/6 - Santa Rosa, CA 12/7 - Redding, CA 12/11 - South Bend, IN 12/12 - Munhall, PA 12/14 - Buffalo, NY ----- Catch the full video podcast on YouTube, and follow us on social media (@netpositivepodcast) for clips, bonus content, and updates throughout the week. ----- Email us at netpositive@johncristcomedy.com ----- FOLLOW JOHN ON: Instagram Twitter TikTok Facebook YouTube ----- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS ROCKET MONEY: Stop wasting money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions – and manage your money the easy way – by going to https://RocketMoney.com/netpositive AG1: Get a FREE gift with your first order at https://DrinkAG1.com/netpositive to get started with AG1's Next Gen and and notice the benefits for yourself. MIRACLE MADE: Save OVER 40% + 3 free towels with promo code NETPOSITIVE at https://trymiracle.com/NETPOSITIVE ----- PRODUCED BY: Alex Lagos / Lagos Creative
Join Shawn and John as they share highlights and magical moments from their recent adventures to Disneyland and Walt Disney World! From classic attractions to unexpected surprises, it's a coast-to-coast Disney parks trip recap.Plus a little history on Donald Duck soft-drinks once proudly bottled in Peoria, IL. Hosts John Alois, Shawn Degenhart and John Redlingshafer would love to hear from you! Email or send a recorded audio message at podcast@thehyperionhub.com. Find us on social media. The Hyperion Hub is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company or its subsidiaries. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=100063622463796 https://www.instagram.com/hyperion_hub/ https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2FHubHyperionhttps://www.tiktok.com/@hyperion.hub?_t=ZT-8ydbxejHDcT&_r=1
In 2009, 21-year-old Christina Whittaker, a new mother from Hannibal, Missouri, disappeared after a night out with friends on November 13. She was last seen after being escorted out of Rookie's Sports Bar around 11:45 p.m. for disruptive behavior, having been previously banned from the establishment. Witnesses reported her being heavily intoxicated, and after failing to secure a ride home from two other nearby bars, River City Billiards and Sportsman's Bar, she was last seen leaving the latter, upset after a heated phone call. Her cell phone was found the next morning near Sportsman's Bar by Danny Baker, a registered sex offender, raising suspicions due to his questionable connection to Christina and the timing of the discovery. No significant evidence was recovered from the phone. Christina's mother, Cindy Young, has been vocal about the case, believing her daughter may have been kidnapped and trafficked to Peoria, Illinois, a theory fueled by rumors involving Darcy “Bookie” Morris, a known criminal with a violent history, including a 2014 murder conviction. Some speculate Morris may have abducted Christina, possibly disposing of her body at a hog farm, though he denies involvement, claiming he was in Peoria for his daughter's birth. Cindy insists Christina is alive in Peoria, possibly brainwashed and living among the homeless, though reported sightings remain unconfirmed. The Hannibal Police Department has conducted over 200 interviews but found no evidence of foul play, and no surveillance footage or solid leads have emerged. A 2021 documentary, *Relentless*, explored the case, introducing new perspectives and theories, including Morris's potential involvement and the questionable circumstances around Baker, who died before being fully interviewed. The documentary, discussed in a follow-up episode, challenges initial assumptions about the case. Despite extensive searches, including in areas known for crime, no trace of Christina has been found, and the police have largely stepped back, leaving the case unresolved. Sources: What happened to Christina Whittaker? (n.d.). Criminal. https://vocal.media/criminal/what-happened-to-christina-whittaker Tempesta, E. (2021, August 2). Fascinating docuseries lays bare disappearance of Missouri mother. Mail Online. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9832853/Fascinating-docuseries-lays-bare-disappearance-Mississippi-mother.html Synovacantrell, V. a. P. B. (2025, March 8). Difficult conversations around the disturbing case of Christina Whittaker. Synova Ink. https://synovaink.com/2024/10/16/difficult-conversations-around-the-disturbing-case-of-christina-whittaker/ Glen Ledbetter - Sippell, M. (2023, January 31). Relentless: What That Last Lead in Christina Whittaker's Case Tells Us. MovieMaker. https://www.moviemaker.com/relentless-finale-what-that-final-lead-in-the-christina-whittaker-case-tells-us/ 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
On this week's episode of Out and About, Dr. Mae Gilliland of ArtsPartners of Central Illinois chats with Indo-American Society of Peoria board member Krupal Sanghvi about the upcoming India Fest.
Top Ten from 2024: #1 Stories Series: Prodigal and Redemption with Renee Endress **Transcription of original episode** 237. Stories Series: Prodigal and Redemption with Renee Endress Isaiah 61:1-3 (KJV) "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified." Questions and Topics We Cover: Will you tell us a bit about your experience of surrendering your life to Christ? Will you share your journey with your prodigal daughter, Andrea? Will you tell us about Grace Catering and your cookbooks? Renée Endress is blessed to be the mother of seven children ranging from 16-32 years old, all of whom she homeschooled. Four of the seven are married and her six precious grandchildren bring her much joy and laughter! She is also part of a church family she loves and her dear parents passed on to her a love of sunsets, flowers, and the beauty of God's creation. Cooking has been a passion for much of her life and she's written three cookbooks, which were later combined into one large book. For the past ten years, she enjoyed catering, which kept growing and eventually blossomed into an almost full-time job. A couple years ago, she refurbished a building in Peoria, Illinois, which is now her catering kitchen where they make homemade take and bake meals for people to purchase. Through it all, God has been so good! Renée says, "I could share just the pretty parts of my life, but I've come to realize that something special can happen when people are real with each other -- when we share the muddy parts of our lives as well as the lovely parts. This can be used to encourage each other on the journey, and most of all, to point to the faithfulness of our amazing Savior, who loves to redeem our mud stories. My story looks much different than my idealistic hopes for my future as a young woman, but through it all, God has been faithful every single step of the way. He was faithful in teaching me as an immature newlywed struggling through some very difficult relationship situations. He was faithful as I walked, tripped, and floundered with a daughter through some very dark teenage years, deep rebellion, ten months at a residential facility for troubled teens, and a teenage pregnancy. He was oh, so faithful when my difficult marriage of twenty-four years turned more and more destructive and led to an ongoing separation. He was faithful two years later when I was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent two surgeries and radiation treatments. He has been faithful through ten years of "single" motherhood. He was faithful as He opened doors for me to start a thriving catering business at the perfect time. He was faithful when He allowed me to be a part of starting "Beauty for Ashes," a group for women from my national church who have come from painful marriages. As I look back on my life, I see plainly His footprints all the way through. These verses have been so meaningful in my life: "...He hath sent me (Jesus) to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound... to comfort all that mourn... to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified." Isaiah 61:1-3" Visit Renée's Business or Order Her Popular Cookbook at Grace Catering Other Related Episode from The Savvy Sauce: 78 Parenting the Prodigal Child And God's Desire For Redemption With Mother-Daughter Duo, Claire Stanfill and Tindell Baldwin Thank You to Our Sponsor: The Sue Neihouser Team Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook, Instagram or Our Website. Please help us out by sharing this episode with a friend, leaving a 5-star rating and review, and subscribing to this podcast! Gospel Scripture: (all NIV) Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“ Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“ Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Sermon Series | Five SolasTo give to our M25 Initiative, text m25 to 623.252.5085 or visit redaz.in/m25.To download our Mobile App, search Redemption Church Peoria where you download apps to your device(s).To connect with us, visit this link: http://redaz.in/RPTo invest in our ministry financially, visit this link: https://bit.ly/3roZDAW
What happens when a group of kids on horseback stumble into a hidden meadow deep in the Sierra Nevadas — and realize they're not alone? In this gripping episode, we speak with Loadmaster, a veteran who shares a chilling childhood encounter from the backwoods just south of Yosemite National Park. Snapped pine trees. A smell worse than death. Horses panicking beneath them. And the realization — confirmed by Native Me-Wuk elders — that they had crossed into forbidden territory.Loadmaster recounts a terrifying moment etched into his memory for over 50 years, where the forest itself seemed to push them back. You'll hear how journals from the 1800s spoke of “hairy men” destroying mining equipment, and why locals still avoid those uncharted hills to this day. From stories of juvenile Sasquatch sightings to tales of entire families migrating through lightning storms, this episode uncovers a side of Yosemite few have ever heard — and most are wise enough to leave alone.But the mystery doesn't stop there.You'll also hear from a woman who saw a Bigfoot from the window of a moving train in Canada at just 13 years old… a truck driver whose early-morning route through Illinois brought him face to face with something massive by the road… a camper in Northern California who heard heavy footsteps circling his tent all night… and a quiet stretch of river in South Carolina where something huge came walking out of the water.These aren't just backwoods legends. They're warnings.And some places… you only find once.
Check Out The Craziest Un-Aliving Note EVER FAKED A young woman with dreams of becoming a nurse was murdered by the person she trusted most. Then he tried to pass it off as suicide—complete with a handwritten note and a conveniently placed gun. In this episode, we explore the chilling case of Nathaniel Archuleta, 19, who murdered 20-year-old Mary Halcomb in Peoria, Illinois, and staged the scene to make it look like she took her own life. But from the moment police stepped onto the scene, things didn't add up. There was a trail of blood suggesting she had been moved. There was a bizarre note—allegedly written by Mary—giving Archuleta permission to “euthanize” her. And Archuleta? He couldn't keep his story straight for five minutes. First it was a gun accident. Then a suicide. Eventually, he confessed to another inmate: he'd killed Mary after finding messages from another man. The court gave him 45 years. But for Mary's family, that number doesn't even come close to justice. She was kind, ambitious, and nurturing—exactly the kind of nurse the world needs more of. Instead, she became a cautionary tale about control, jealousy, and the failure of young love turned toxic. #maryhalcomb #nathanielarchuleta #fakedsuicide #intimatepartnerviolence #peoriamurder #truecrimecase #domesticmurder #stagecrime #lifesentencing #murderandcoverup Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
Check Out The Craziest Un-Aliving Note EVER FAKED A young woman with dreams of becoming a nurse was murdered by the person she trusted most. Then he tried to pass it off as suicide—complete with a handwritten note and a conveniently placed gun. In this episode, we explore the chilling case of Nathaniel Archuleta, 19, who murdered 20-year-old Mary Halcomb in Peoria, Illinois, and staged the scene to make it look like she took her own life. But from the moment police stepped onto the scene, things didn't add up. There was a trail of blood suggesting she had been moved. There was a bizarre note—allegedly written by Mary—giving Archuleta permission to “euthanize” her. And Archuleta? He couldn't keep his story straight for five minutes. First it was a gun accident. Then a suicide. Eventually, he confessed to another inmate: he'd killed Mary after finding messages from another man. The court gave him 45 years. But for Mary's family, that number doesn't even come close to justice. She was kind, ambitious, and nurturing—exactly the kind of nurse the world needs more of. Instead, she became a cautionary tale about control, jealousy, and the failure of young love turned toxic. #maryhalcomb #nathanielarchuleta #fakedsuicide #intimatepartnerviolence #peoriamurder #truecrimecase #domesticmurder #stagecrime #lifesentencing #murderandcoverup Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872
The gold standard, revisiting Breaking Bad, talking frogs, and godly country songs… On the net, it's a positive. ----- JOKES FOR HUMANS TOUR: https://johncristcomedy.com/tour/ 8/30 - Las Vegas, NV 9/19 - Grand Rapids, MI 9/20 - Fort Wayne, IN 9/21 - Paducah, KY 9/26 - North Charleston, SC 9/27 - Macon, GA 9/28 - Hiawassee, GA 10/2 - Evansville, IN 10/3 - Dayton, OH 10/4 - Peoria, IL 10/10 - Knoxville, TN 10/11 - Greenville, SC 10/16 - York, PA 10/17 - Detroit, MI 10/18 - Cleveland, OH 10/24 - Birmingham, AL 10/25 - Chattanooga, TN 11/7 - Boise, ID 11/8 - Spokane, WA 11/9 - Tacoma, WA 11/20 - Abilene, TX 11/21 - San Antonio, TX 11/22 - Tyler, TX 11/23 - Austin, TX 12/5 - Phoenix, AZ 12/6 - Santa Rosa, CA 12/7 - Redding, CA 12/11 - South Bend, IN 12/12 - Munhall, PA 12/14 - Buffalo, NY ----- Catch the full video podcast on YouTube, and follow us on social media (@netpositivepodcast) for clips, bonus content, and updates throughout the week. ----- Email us at netpositive@johncristcomedy.com ----- FOLLOW JOHN ON: Instagram Twitter TikTok Facebook YouTube ----- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS PONCHO: Go to https://ponchooutdoors.com/netpositive for $10 OFF and free shipping on your first order HELLO FRESH: Get 10 FREE MEALS AND A HIGH-PROTEIN ITEM FOR LIFE with promo code NETPOSITIVE10FM at https://hellofresh.com/NETPOSITIVE10FM MOSH: Save 20% off plus FREE shipping on the Best-Sellers Trial Pack at https://moshlife.com/NETPOSITIVE GLORIFY: Get a 14 day free trial when you visit https://glorify-app.com/netpositive ----- PRODUCED BY: Alex Lagos / Lagos Creative
In 2009, 21-year-old Christina Whittaker, a new mother from Hannibal, Missouri, disappeared after a night out with friends on November 13. She was last seen after being escorted out of Rookie's Sports Bar around 11:45 p.m. for disruptive behavior, having been previously banned from the establishment. Witnesses reported her being heavily intoxicated, and after failing to secure a ride home from two other nearby bars, River City Billiards and Sportsman's Bar, she was last seen leaving the latter, upset after a heated phone call. Her cell phone was found the next morning near Sportsman's Bar by Danny Baker, a registered sex offender, raising suspicions due to his questionable connection to Christina and the timing of the discovery. No significant evidence was recovered from the phone. Christina's mother, Cindy Young, has been vocal about the case, believing her daughter may have been kidnapped and trafficked to Peoria, Illinois, a theory fueled by rumors involving Darcy “Bookie” Morris, a known criminal with a violent history, including a 2014 murder conviction. Some speculate Morris may have abducted Christina, possibly disposing of her body at a hog farm, though he denies involvement, claiming he was in Peoria for his daughter's birth. Cindy insists Christina is alive in Peoria, possibly brainwashed and living among the homeless, though reported sightings remain unconfirmed. The Hannibal Police Department has conducted over 200 interviews but found no evidence of foul play, and no surveillance footage or solid leads have emerged. A 2021 documentary, *Relentless*, explored the case, introducing new perspectives and theories, including Morris's potential involvement and the questionable circumstances around Baker, who died before being fully interviewed. The documentary, discussed in a follow-up episode, challenges initial assumptions about the case. Despite extensive searches, including in areas known for crime, no trace of Christina has been found, and the police have largely stepped back, leaving the case unresolved. Sources: What happened to Christina Whittaker? (n.d.). Criminal. https://vocal.media/criminal/what-happened-to-christina-whittaker Tempesta, E. (2021, August 2). Fascinating docuseries lays bare disappearance of Missouri mother. Mail Online. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9832853/Fascinating-docuseries-lays-bare-disappearance-Mississippi-mother.html Synovacantrell, V. a. P. B. (2025, March 8). Difficult conversations around the disturbing case of Christina Whittaker. Synova Ink. https://synovaink.com/2024/10/16/difficult-conversations-around-the-disturbing-case-of-christina-whittaker/ Glen Ledbetter - Sippell, M. (2023, January 31). Relentless: What That Last Lead in Christina Whittaker's Case Tells Us. MovieMaker. https://www.moviemaker.com/relentless-finale-what-that-final-lead-in-the-christina-whittaker-case-tells-us/ 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
Sermon Series | Five SolasTo give to our M25 Initiative, text m25 to 623.252.5085 or visit redaz.in/m25.To download our Mobile App, search Redemption Church Peoria where you download apps to your device(s).To connect with us, visit this link: http://redaz.in/RPTo invest in our ministry financially, visit this link: https://bit.ly/3roZDAW
Coldplay conspiracies, defining walking distance, and when we're allowed to raise our hand... On the net, it's a positive. ----- JOKES FOR HUMANS TOUR: https://johncristcomedy.com/tour/ 8/30 - Las Vegas, NV 9/19 - Grand Rapids, MI 9/20 - Fort Wayne, IN 9/21 - Paducah, KY 9/26 - North Charleston, SC 9/27 - Macon, GA 9/28 - Hiawassee, GA 10/2 - Evansville, IN 10/3 - Dayton, OH 10/4 - Peoria, IL 10/10 - Knoxville, TN 10/11 - Greenville, SC 10/16 - York, PA 10/17 - Detroit, MI 10/18 - Cleveland, OH 10/24 - Birmingham, AL 10/25 - Chattanooga, TN 11/7 - Boise, ID 11/8 - Spokane, WA 11/9 - Tacoma, WA 11/20 - Abilene, TX 11/21 - San Antonio, TX 11/22 - Tyler, TX 11/23 - Austin, TX 12/5 - Phoenix, AZ 12/6 - Santa Rosa, CA 12/7 - Redding, CA 12/11 - South Bend, IN 12/12 - Munhall, PA 12/14 - Buffalo, NY ----- Catch the full video podcast on YouTube, and follow us on social media (@netpositivepodcast) for clips, bonus content, and updates throughout the week. ----- Email us at netpositive@johncristcomedy.com ----- FOLLOW JOHN ON: Instagram Twitter TikTok Facebook YouTube ----- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AG1: Get a FREE gift with your first order at https://DrinkAG1.com/netpositive to get started with AG1's Next Gen and and notice the benefits for yourself. FRESH PRESSED OLIVE OIL: Try a bottle for just $1 and taste the difference yourself. Go to https://GetFreshNetPositive.com. MIRACLE MADE: Save OVER 40% + 3 free towels with promo code NETPOSITIVE at https://trymiracle.com/NETPOSITIVE ----- PRODUCED BY: Alex Lagos / Lagos Creative