Podcasts about South Texas

Send a textWelcome back to the Ready Set BBQ podcast, your go-to destination for the latest and most exciting happenings around the world! In this episode we talk about  Superbowl, Parties, Olympics, NBA, Smokin on the Rio, Brisket Auctions, Hot Sauce Challenge, and Hollywood gossip. 0-30 mins: HeadlinesSuper Bowl: We give our feedback on the Superbowl and some other things. Super Bowl Parties: Hiram tells us about the multiple Gucci parties he attended for the game.  Olympics: Some interesting news coming out of Olympic Village. NBA All-Star Game: The guys talk about the new format of the All-Star game. 30-45mins: BBQ Time Smokin on the Rio: I share my past weekend's experience at the biggest cookoff in the RGV. Brisket Auctions: People are now selling brisket by the pound on online auction sites.  30-50 mins: Other StuffHot Wing Challenge: We talk about part 2 of the season finale and our hot wing challenge. Hollywood Talk: Hiram tells us the latest on the Gutherie kidnapping story. Etsy/ShopReadySetBBQ - EtsyFacebook Pagehttps://www.facebook.com/readysetbbqFeedspothttps://podcast.feedspot.com/barbecue_podcasts/Etsy/Shop ReadySetBBQ - EtsyFacebook Page https://www.facebook.com/readysetbbq Feedspot https://podcast.feedspot.com/barbecue_podcasts/

MCALLEN, Texas - There was a 30 percent decrease in loans for construction companies in the Rio Grande Valley in January, the executive director of the South Texas Builders Association reports.Mario Guerrero visited Washington, D.C., recently to urge the White House and the Department of Homeland Security to stop ICE from conducting raids at construction sites. Those meetings in D.C. were set up by U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar.“We need to protect our economy. Right now in South Texas, we're being dramatically affected. In January, there was a 30 percent decrease in construction loans. Compared to 2025, there's been a 30 percent  decrease in construction loans that have been acquired by contractors in order to go ahead and build homes. It's a big strain on the economy. We have companies that have filed for bankruptcy. It's no secret to the people that are here from the Valley. We've also had companies that are seeing 40% losses on revenues, lumber companies, tile companies across the Valley.”Guerrero made those comments on a webinar with Congressman Cuellar and Monica Y. Martinez, executive director of Laredo Chamber of Commerce. Guerrero also participated on a webinar hosted recently by Comite de 100, a group founded buy business leaders who wish to create “an immigration system that reflects the values of fairness, economic prosperity, and respect for all.”Guerrero told the group that he will continue to call out local elected officials until ICE stops its raids of construction sites. “I'm nowhere near a professional when it comes to politics, and maybe my tactics are a little rugged, but one of the things that I did down here in South Texas is I called out every elected official by name, and I also put their picture on a video,” Guerrero said, explaining his tactics in getting attention for STBA's cause.“I really believe that our elected officials should be our voice. I'm a civilian, and if you're an elected official, you should be our voice in the good and in the bad. So I stated in a video that was released by my team in early November of last year that we needed to hold each elected official accountable. (The meeting) was set up for 200 people, and we had close to 400 people show up. It was extremely packed.”As a result to that meeting, STBA secured national media attention, Guerrero told Comite de 100. “I do have a very strong presence in the media outlets. I also have a podcast that reaches hundreds of thousands of people. I don't believe I'm doing anything special, but I do believe that we need to hold the politicians that we put an office accountable for what they're voting for.”The saddest thing builders are seeing is ICE agents racing 50 and 60 miles an hour in neighborhoods as they try to apprehend their construction workers, Guerrero said.“The saddest part that we're seeing is these ICE agents are going 50, 60, miles per hour down a subdivision. Okay, we understand that you're probably trying to get to a job site that's inside that subdivision. But what are you going to do if you kill the child? What if there's a child riding a bike? And I have videos that I showed at that meeting. When you have these ICE agents going and driving these vehicles between 40 to 60 miles per hour in people's backyards that are not fenced we have a real problem.”Editor's Note: To read the full story go to the Rio Grande Guardian website. The attached audio comes from the Comite de 100 webinar. Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.

SEGUIN — Thriving Hearts Crisis Center (THCC) is pleased to announce the selection of Jana Evans to lead the center and its thrift program, The Cranny. She was named the new executive director effective Jan. 21. Evans brings more than 13 years of nonprofit and public service leadership experience, with a career rooted in serving diverse and underserved populations across South Texas and at the national level. She began her career with the Comal County Senior Citizens Foundation and later served in impactful roles with the Children's Alliance of South Texas, Communities in Schools of South Central Texas, Seguin Independent...Article Link

SEGUIN — Thriving Hearts Crisis Center (THCC) is pleased to announce the selection of Jana Evans to lead the center and its thrift program, The Cranny. She was named the new executive director effective Jan. 21. Evans brings more than 13 years of nonprofit and public service leadership experience, with a career rooted in serving diverse and underserved populations across South Texas and at the national level. She began her career with the Comal County Senior Citizens Foundation and later served in impactful roles with the Children's Alliance of South Texas, Communities in Schools of South Central Texas, Seguin Independent...Article Link

The Trump administration is making changes to how it treats unaccompanied migrant children who are pregnant, and that's raising alarm bells inside the government. Since last July, the administration has been concentrating pregnant kids in one shelter in South Texas, even if they're apprehended in California or other states. This comes over objections from the government's own health and child welfare officials. They say neither the facility nor the region can provide the specialized care the girls need. Guest: Mark Betancourt, The California Newsroom Firefighters across the state are working with scientists at the University of California to minimize their risk to cancer. Reporter: Alonso Daboub, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

She had always considered herself sensitive, but nothing prepared her for the house her parents were renting in South Texas. From the moment she arrived, the space felt heavy—uncomfortable in a way that couldn't be explained by unfamiliar surroundings alone. Her mother had already mentioned strange occurrences: objects moving, unexplained noises, and the feeling of being watched when no one else was home.Once she moved in, the activity shifted. Sounds happened when everyone was asleep. Animals reacted to empty spaces. Voices began to surface—familiar voices, calling out from places they shouldn't have come from. The house didn't feel chaotic or violent. It felt intentional.#RealGhostStoriesOnline #ParanormalExperience #HauntedHouse #MimicEntity #SensitiveAbilities #ShadowFigures #UnexplainedVoices #TrueGhostStory #CreepyEncounters #HauntedRentalLove real ghost stories? Want even more?Become a supporter and unlock exclusive extras, ad-free episodes, and advanced access:

Border czar Tom Homan said the Trump administration's controversial months-long immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota that led to the deaths of two American citizens and widespread outrage across the country will conclude. Minnesota Public Radio's Brian Bakst explains what the drawdown might look like.Then, the Trump administration has locked up hundreds of children in its mass deportation campaign in conditions their parents describe as cold, crowded and unsanitary. ProPublica reporter Mica Rosenberg received letters and videos from dozens of detainees — half of them kids — at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas, and shares more.And, this week, the airspace over El Paso, Texas, shut down briefly. Was a party balloon sighting the cause? And did border officials shoot it down with a Pentagon-supplied laser without first coordinating with the Federal Aviation Administration? The Washington Post's Dan Lamothe breaks down what happened.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

P.M. Edition for Feb. 11. The U.S. economy added 130,000 jobs in January, its strongest growth in over a year. The number surpassed economists' expectations. WSJ economics reporter Justin Lahart joins to discuss what the numbers mean for the economy. Plus, immigration enforcement in South Texas is leaving half-built homes sitting empty. We hear from Journal reporter Elizabeth Findell about the impact that's having on the local economy. And the committee organizing the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics said that Casey Wasserman will remain its chair after his name appeared in the most recent batch of Jeffrey Epstein files. Alex Ossola hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

She had always considered herself sensitive, but nothing prepared her for the house her parents were renting in South Texas. From the moment she arrived, the space felt heavy—uncomfortable in a way that couldn't be explained by unfamiliar surroundings alone. Her mother had already mentioned strange occurrences: objects moving, unexplained noises, and the feeling of being watched when no one else was home.Once she moved in, the activity shifted. Sounds happened when everyone was asleep. Animals reacted to empty spaces. Voices began to surface—familiar voices, calling out from places they shouldn't have come from. The house didn't feel chaotic or violent. It felt intentional.#RealGhostStoriesOnline #ParanormalExperience #HauntedHouse #MimicEntity #SensitiveAbilities #ShadowFigures #UnexplainedVoices #TrueGhostStory #CreepyEncounters #HauntedRentalLove real ghost stories? Want even more?Become a supporter and unlock exclusive extras, ad-free episodes, and advanced access:

The FAA reopened airspace around El Paso as abruptly as it shut it down. We'll dig into what we know about the strange and unprecedented actions.A months-long investigation from The Texas Newsroom and The California Newsroom finds pregnant migrant girls are being held at a South Texas shelter that's been flagged as medically inadequate. Why […] The post Probe raises concerns over pregnant migrant girls held in Texas appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.

In this episode, Lorenzo Lasseter discusses the origins and future of the Beefmaster breed. Developed in South Texas and officially founded in 1937, Beefmasters were built as a three-way cross focused on economic efficiency through the “Six Essentials”: fertility, weight, conformation, hardiness, milk production, and disposition.Lasseter highlights the breed's balanced, stabilized hybrid design, recent USDA research validating its performance, growing international demand, and the opportunity to expand its role in the U.S. commercial cattle industry as the next generation continues the family legacy.

Mid-January and the past 4 days have been a blur of parched South Texas earth, mesquite and prickly pear teeming with dirt-tank ducks--to include a couple special bands--sandhill cranes, mourning doves, white-tailed deer, good eats and good times around campfire. Wrapping up a couples-trip, SpeckOps's Luke Bledsoe and I kick back at the 501 Ranch to catch up about everything--and it's a bunch--that makes this place a true desert paradise.     Learn more: Texas Waterfowl Hunt -- Desert Paradise https://www.getducks.com/ushunts/texas-waterfowl-hunt-desert-paradise/   Visit the Legendary Brands That Make MOJO's Duck Season Somewhere Podcast Possible: MOJO Outdoors  Alberta Professional Outfitters Society Benelli Shotguns Bow and Arrow Outdoors Ducks Unlimited  Flash Back Decoys GetDucks.com Migra Ammunitions onX Maps  Use code GetDucks25 to save 25% Sitka Gear SoundGear Use code GetDucks20 to save 25% Tom Beckbe USHuntList.com   Like what you heard? Let us know! • Tap Subscribe so you never miss an episode. • Drop a rating—it's like a high-five in the duck blind. • Leave a quick comment: What hit home? What made you laugh? What hunt did it remind you of? • Share this episode with a buddy who lives for duck season.   Want to partner? Have or know a story to share? Contact: Ramsey Russell ramsey@getducks.com  

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:Our board at Progress Texas announces the following endorsements in the 2026 midterm elections:Gina Hinojosa for Texas GovernorSarah Eckhardt for Texas ComptrollerAlisa Simmons for Tarrant County JudgeTerry Virts for Houston's Congressional District 9Bobby Pulido for South Texas' Congressional District 15Kevin Burge for North Texas' Congressional District 24Texas school districts are beginning to react to pressure from Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas Education Agency to clamp down on student anti-ICE walkout protests: https://www.statesman.com/news/education/article/austin-isd-new-protest-rules-walkouts-21339794.phpRecent appearances on ABC's "The View" by Texas Senate candidates and Democrats Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico have apparently led to an investigation of the network by the Trump FCC, which has recently modified its rules regarding "equal time": https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-agency-investigating-if-abcs-the-view-violated-equal-time-rules-2026-02-07/As last night's Bad Bunny Super Bowl appearance seems set to achieve an all-time viewership record, the Kid Rock-headlined Turning Point USA alternative is panned as "half-assed lip sync": https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/kid-rock-tpusa-halftime-show-1235513161/Early voting in the March primary starts on February 17 - Fat Tuesday! The time to research your ballot is right now: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://apps.texastribune.org/features/2026/texas-march-2026-primary-ballot/?_bhlid=7d8eca3d2a16adc7c9b44185414443fa32be6d84⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠All about voting in Texas can be found at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠GoVoteTexas.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Voter registration updates for the March primary from the Austin Chronicle ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠HERE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and from KUT Austin ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠HERE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.Check out our web store, including our newly-expanded Humans Against Greg Abbott collection: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://store.progresstexas.org/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Progress Texas is expanding into both broadcast radio - including a new partnership with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KPFT-FM in Houston⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - and into Spanish language media! Make a tax-deductible contribution to our radio initiative ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠HERE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and to our Spanish expansion ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠HERE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://progresstexas.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sheep and lamb inventories are down nationwide, but higher in Texas.  Screwworms have been found on a horse in a quarantine facility in Florida.  Registration is now open for the Texas Young Farmer and Rancher conference. CattleFax gave the annual cattle market outlook at last week's Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville.  Irrigated agriculture in the Texas High Plains uses a lot of water, but it's also a big driver of the economy.USDA has released the first farm income forecast for the year.  Some areas of South Texas hit record lows during the recent freeze.  Shockwave therapy may be helpful to some horses.  

NBA trade deadline just passed and the Spurs wowed with … nothing. There were some other movement, but nothing earth shattering. HOF snubs and then we talk some Super Bowl outlook. And we all are surprised that there is this thing happening in Italy called the Winter Olympics. We are in South Texas, no ice, so no visibility.

Send us a textWelcome back to the Ready Set BBQ podcast, your go-to destination for the latest and most exciting happenings around the world! In this episode we talk about  NFL, Mark Cuban, Puka, Sydney Sweeney, Mr. Bean, Mia Kalifa, Royal Rumble, Laredo Cookoff, Super Bowl Eats, Titanic and Hot Wings Challenge. 0-20 mins: HeadlinesNFL Super Bowl: We talk about the big game and our lack of interest in the game but more interest in the betting. Cuban: Did Mark Cuban offer Mendoza #1 pick salary to stay in Indiana? Puka Shoots his Shot: Puka responds to a tweet from Sidney Sweeney. Mr. Bean & Mia Kalifa: The rumor is that they are dating.  Royal Rumble: We give our reviews and thoughts of the Royal Rumble. 20-30mins: BBQ Time Laredo Cook off: We take a trip to Laredo to practice our steaks for the World Championships.  Super Bowl Eats: We talk about what we plan to eat for the Super Bowl and what are the top super bowl foods and what AI says about them. 30-50 mins: Other StuffTitanic: Hiram talks a virtual Titanic trip and goes back to 1912,Hot Wing Challenge: We talk about how we are going to attack the hot wing challenge during the season finale. Etsy/ShopReadySetBBQ - EtsyFacebook Pagehttps://www.facebook.com/readysetbbqFeedspothttps://podcast.feedspot.com/barbecue_podcasts/Etsy/Shop ReadySetBBQ - EtsyFacebook Page https://www.facebook.com/readysetbbq Feedspot https://podcast.feedspot.com/barbecue_podcasts/

Joe Pappalardo traces the post-service lives of Company F leaders: Scott builds railroads in Mexico while Brooksbecomes a South Texas judge battling alcoholism, establishing the stoic, disciplined template defining the modern Texas Ranger identity and legacy.1904 TEXAS RANGERS

In this episode, Manny and I recap our deer season, although we go off a few tangents we get into discussing the methods typically used here in deep South Texas, and calibers of choice for whitetail, I describe my rut-fest rattling experience where I rattled in 4 different bucks and was lucky enough to arrow an 8 pointer at 18 yards.   We also discuss struggles of bow hunting in South Texas and we eventually get into Manny's calibers of choice for Nilgai. If your looking an outdoor adventure with Coastal Concepts LLC., Contact Manny Perez via email at whtailhtr75@yahoo.com  or on FB and IG @coastalconceptsllc Listen to So Texas Outdoors Podcast on your favorite podcast platform or on our website https://www.sotxoutdoors.com Follow us on our FB page or on Instagram at @soTXoutdoors Contact us via email at sotxoutdoors@gmail.com

Democratic Congressman Vicente Gonzales - along with fellow South Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar - has become known for breaking ranks with his party and supporting the initiatives of Trump's GOP. Is the notion that "the Valley is different" - that intrinsic social conservatism in South Texas justifies these two Democrats' frequent undermining of their party's goals - one based in fact, or is it just an excuse? Dr. Etienne Rosas, who is challenging Congressman Gonzalez in South Texas' 34th congressional district, has strong opinions about that particular question.Learn more about Dr. Etienne Rosas and his campaign at https://www.rosasforcongress.com/.Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.

A brutal winter storm didn't just hit the South (Texas) — it completely rerouted Steve's travel plans, including a two-hour delay stuck on the tarmac in Detroit. The dream life of a comedian. Captain Evil shares her experience volunteering at Delilah's school. There are no snow days for parents. Plus, Steve gives his review Netflix's movie, The Rip. 

About the Lecture: This lecture will discuss the dangers that advanced AI would pose to the United States, the world, and humanity if developed and deployed without proper safeguards. These dangers would include its impact on our economy, geopolitical relations, and our national security. About the Speaker: Brendan Steinhauser is a Partner with Steinhauser Strategies, a public affairs firm based in Austin, Texas. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in Government from The University of Texas in 2004 and earned his M.A. in Statecraft and International Affairs from The Institute of World Politics in 2013. Brendan served as an adjunct professor of Political Science and Global Studies at St. Edward's University in Austin, where he taught courses on Global Issues and State & Local Government. He has been published in the peer-reviewed academic journal, The Journal of South Texas. ‍Brendan has led campaigns for candidates and causes in more than 40 states, including for Senator John Cornyn, Congressman Michael McCaul, and Congressman Dan Crenshaw. TIME magazine named Brendan as one of "40 Under 40" rising stars in American politics. Campaigns & Elections magazine awarded him a "Rising Star" award in 2012. Former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey called working with Brendan one of the highlights of his career. Over the years, Brendan has worked as a Director of Federal and State Campaigns, Communications Director, and Chief Strategy Officer of various nonprofit organizations. He is a frequent media commentator and has appeared on Fox News, Comedy Central, MSNBC, CNN, the BBC, NewsNation, and Newsmax. He has also been quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and many more newspapers, magazines, books, and journals. Some of his clients have included the Republican Party of Texas, Texas Right to Life, State Senator Angela Paxton, and the War Veterans Fund. Brendan serves as a First Lieutenant and Company Commander in the Texas State Guard, the premier state defense and emergency response force in the U.S. He graduated from Officer Candidate School and received his commission in 2021, at the age of 39. He earned a certificate in Counterintelligence Awareness from the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense. Mark Beall is a leading expert at the intersection of AI policy and national security. After serving as the inaugural Pentagon AI Policy Director at the Department of Defense's Joint AI Center, he became the Senior Advisor at the AI Policy Network, an organization that builds bipartisan support for legislation that will help the United States prepare for the future capabilities of AI systems. Beall also co-founded Gladstone AI, an entity that advocates for the responsible development of AI and guardrails to protect the country against national security threats from AI. He has publicly spoken on these issues numerous times through speeches, interviews, and more, and is a voice critical in the mission to prioritize security in the development of AI. Beall holds a BA in Physics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and an MA in Statecraft and National Security from the Institute of World Politics. **Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academics/graduate-degree-programs/ ***Make a gift to IWP: https://wl.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=3

Senate Democrats are threatening a partial government shutdown unless Republicans agree to new limits on immigration enforcement by Friday's deadline.A protest at an ICE family detention center in South Texas turned confrontational as demonstrators demanded the release of a five-year-old boy and his father taken from Minnesota and held at the facility hundreds of miles away.And despite pressure from President Trump to lower interest rates, the Federal Reserve is holding steady to fight lingering inflation and rising prices.Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Kelsey Snell, Susanna Capelouto, Rafael Nam, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Alice Woelfle.It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas, Ava Pukatch and Christopher Thomas.We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Stacey Abbott.Our deputy Executive Producer is Kelley Dickens.(0:00) Introduction(01:58) Senate Funding Vote(05:41) ICE Family Detention Protest(10:28) Fed Holds Interest RatesLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Welcome back to the Living Large Theater Podcast with Gary Rodriguez and Billy Santiago, joined by our producer, Noe Ayala.Today at Majestic Studios, we're joined by South Texas power attorney and Mission, Texas mayoral candidate Rick Salinas.

The One With Some Despicable People Being Despicable, The Return of Nelly, and Andrea Canning Says "Bull Crap!" AKA SECRETS IN THE ASHES!   Official Description from NBCU: A house fire in South Texas kills a woman while her young son miraculously escapes; her family becomes convinced that her widower was somehow involved when he remarries less than three months after the fire. Andrea Canning reports.   Check out our Patreon or Supercast and get instant access to over 80 full length true crime episodes, our monthly livestreams, ad free episodes, Karen Read All About It episodes, and MORE! patreon.com/datedateline datedateline.supercast.com Or gift a Patreon subscription to a friend! https://www.patreon.com/datedateline/gift   Shopping with our sponsors is an easy way to support our show!   Calm your stress the natural way. Head to VeracityHealth.co and use code DATEDATELINE for up to 45% off your order. Make sure you use our promo code, DATEDATELINE, so they know we sent you!   Start your deep dive now. Visit newspapers.com today and use promo code datewithdateline at checkout for 20% off a subscription.   Help your dog live their best life with high-quality food from The Pets Table. Take advantage of this limited time offer: Get 55% off your first box PLUS 10% off your next two at ThePetsTable.com and use code datedateline55.   Make 2026 your cat's healthiest year yet. Take advantage of their New Year's Special and get 60% off your first order, plus free shipping, when you head to smalls.com/DATEDATELINE!   Amplify Your Every Day! Go to thrivecausemetics.com/DATELINE for an exclusive offer of 20% off your first order.   Shop the best broth on the planet with Brodo.  Head to brodo.com/DATEDATELINE for 20% off your first subscription order and use code DATEDATELINE for an additional $10 off.

Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade — and the outlawing of abortion in Texas — Planned Parenthood in San Antonio has continued. Planned Parenthood South Texas continues to provide services — but not abortions. And Planned Parenthood in San Antonio is painting rainbow crosswalks at its health centers.

Send us a textWhat would society look like if we could all be ourselves with no repercussions? I can't be sure, but we touch on it in this episode of Dem Bois Podcast. Today's guest is Gabe Tha Babe, a multidisciplinary artist and community organizer, and we discuss the importance of family support, the challenges of navigating masculinity and mental health, and our vision for a supportive community space that encourages authenticity and visibility as pathways to empowerment. The episode also delves into the topic of sex positivity, emphasizing the need to break free from societal shame and embrace one's identity and desires. We talk:03:50 - Gabe's journey to self-discovery14:19 - The role of family in identity21:17 - Navigating masculinity and mental health35:55 - Combatting negativity and gatekeeping46:54 - The impact of houselessness on youth51:24 - A vision for community supportEpisode References:History of Downtown Los Angeles “Skid Row” Containment and Community: The History of Skid Row…Read more about Gabe in his bio below:Gabe Tha Babe is a Brown Latino TransMasc multidisciplinary artist, public figure, night life personality, event producer, sex worker and community organizer and leader. Originally from rural South Texas, he understands the importance of Trans PoC visibility and strives to represent and center that in all the work that he does. He's been living in Los Angeles almost 10 years and has been organizing and advocating for the queer, trans and houseless communities since 2018. IG - gabe_thababeCelebrate 10 years of Dem Bois Inc.! 2026 marks ten years of Dem Bois Inc. To honor this milestone, we invite you to join our 10 for 10 campaign by giving $10 a month to help sustain the care, leadership, and visibility that trans men of color deserve. Your support helps build a future rooted in care, visibility, and possibility. Donate today! Donate today to support Transmasc Gender Affirming Grants and Community Wellness Packages for Trans Men of Color! The Visibility = Possibility™️ Merch is here! - Not just merch, but a movement! Dem Bois Community Voices Facebook Group is a safe, moderated sanctuary where trans men of color can connect authentically, discuss podcast episodes, share powerful experiences, and build support networks. Dem Bois YouTube Channel! - @demboisinc - Exclusive content you won't find anywhere else!

A South Texas house fire kills Patricia Leigh Mills, while her young son escapes. When her husband remarries just months later, suspicion grows and questions emerge. Andrea Canning reports. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In Episode 309 of the Chasing Giants Podcast, Terry Peer and Don Higgins break down how extreme winter weather impacts whitetail deer, and what serious land managers should be doing right now to reduce stress and protect next year's herd. With brutal cold, deep snow, and howling wind across much of the Midwest, Don explains how thermal cover, food availability, and terrain can mean the difference between deer merely surviving — or thriving. This episode covers: • Winter habitat decisions that hold deer on your property • Why January is one of the most critical months for deer nutrition • Late-season buck behavior, fighting, and breeding • Frost seeding clover & switchgrass timing • Soil health priorities (pH, lime, biochar & humic acid) • Tree stand placement strategy that keeps bucks bedding on your farm • Upcoming events including Midwest Sportsman's Classic & dealer meetings • A South Texas hunt recap and future Lester's Feet Foundation fundraiser • Listener-submitted questions and Don's unfiltered hot-seat segment Whether you manage 40 acres or 4,000, this episode delivers real-world, experience-based advice you can apply immediately.

In this episode teammates Rob Fickett, Cody McDonald and Nathan Theriault are joined by KUIU's Justin Shaffer and the man responsible for it all, Lanham Napier. They are down in South Texas for the 2026 Women's Veteran Hunt with KUIU and Montana Grit. They share what it's like to be part of a mission-driven hunt that goes far beyond punching tags. Highlighting the grit, camaraderie, and purpose behind honoring women veterans in the field. The three hunters also jump on to share their experience. This is a behind-the-scenes look at why hunts like this matter and the people who make them possible.Full hunt breakdown coming soon!Check them out by clicking the links below!Montana Grit Outdoors - Serving Female Veterans and First RespondersKuiu - Veteran Nonprofit PartnersSupport the showFind us on Facebook! Click Here! Find us on Instagram! Click Here! Find us on Youtube! Click Here! Check out or website! Click Here!

The news of Texas covered today includes:Our Lone Star story of the day: After thinking they had won, the homosexual Left at West Texas A&M lose at trial in federal court over having drag queen performances in a WT campus facility.Meanwhile, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is sitting en banc this week and hearing an unprecedented seven cases. The WT case is one and the Ten Commandments in public schools is another (heard today.)Our Lone Star story of the day is sponsored by Allied Compliance Services providing the best service in DOT, business and personal drug and alcohol testing since 1995.Texas House District 88's Rep. Ken King taking casino gambling money this campaign cycle — one of 17 Republican candidates and nine Democrat candidates.In TX19, Gov. Abbott endorses young Trump campaigner Abraham Enriquez for Congress.  In Texas HD71, within the same area as TX19, Abbott endorses one of the least conservative candidates, retiring RINO Stan Lambert's, staffer Jay Hardaway.Tesla Owner Elon Musk Touts ‘Most Advanced Lithium Refinery in the World' in South Texas.Listen on the radio, or station stream, at 5pm Central. Click for our radio and streaming affiliates. www.PrattonTexas.com

Send us a textWelcome back to the Ready Set BBQ podcast, your go-to destination for the latest and most exciting happenings around the world! In this episode we talk about  NFL Playoffs, College football, Aaron Rodger's wife, Prohibition, BBQ World Cup, BBQ pizza, Pellet Smoker, Laredo cookoff, Top Movies coming out and Stranger Things. 0-20 mins: HeadlinesNFL Playoffs: The Bears and Niners both let us down this weekend. One game was close the other was not. College Football Playoffs: We talk about the college football playoffs and make our predictions for the championship.Trump: There was a rumor that Trump wanted to bring back prohibition. 20-30mins: BBQ Time BBQ World Cup: There is a million dollar barbecue in Las Vegas for the world championship. BBQ Pizza: I make some bbq pizza on my weber kettle with the pizza attachment.  Pellet Smoker: I give another review on my Pit Boss pellet smoker. Laredo Steak Cookoff- We plan to head out to Laredo to practice for the World Steak Championship30-50 mins: Red Carpet Top Movies 2026: Hiram talks about the top movies coming out this year. Stranger Things: Hiram gives us an updated review on Stranger Things. Etsy/Shop ReadySetBBQ - EtsyFacebook Page https://www.facebook.com/readysetbbq Feedspot https://podcast.feedspot.com/barbecue_podcasts/

*Screwworm cases in northern Mexico are on the rise.  *The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from Bayer, the maker of Roundup herbicide.  *Nominations are open for the 2026 National Golden Spur and Ranching Heritage Association Working Cowboy awards. *We still don't have a new Farm Bill.  *Feedyard cattle in the Texas High Plains have been putting on the pounds quickly.  *Why do people buy rural Texas land?  *South Texas has been warm this winter, but that's about to change.*Lots of performance get maintenance joint injections, but is it necessary? 

We were lucky enough to draw a deer/exotic archery hunt once again at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge in deep South Texas.  Only half the crew this time, but we still had a great time chasing the target species of Nilgai antelope.  This is the recap of the trials and tribulations of this adventure.  It is not easy to get within bow range of these free range animals. If you ever want to try to draw you this hunt, come on down and give it a try.  It is defenetly challenging to say the least.  Listen in as we cover day by day recap. Listen to So Texas Outdoors Podcast on your favorite podcast platform or on our website https://www.sotxoutdoors.com Follow us on our FB page or on Instagram at @soTXoutdoors Contact us via email at sotxoutdoors@gmail.com

*USDA is tightening up the balance sheet for U.S. cotton.   *Row crop farmers are facing challenges while cattle producers are experiencing record high prices.  Whole milk is back in schools. *Herd rebuilding has begun as some Texas High Plains ranches.  *A new South Texas sorghum variety is in the works.  *Enrollment in the Dairy Margin Coverage program is now open.  *Mild temperatures could be an issue for Texas peaches and pecans.  *There are many different causes for open cows in your herd.  

Leading Into 2026: Executive Pastor Insights Momentum is real. So is the pressure. This free report draws from the largest dedicated survey of Executive Pastors ever, revealing what leaders are actually facing as they prepare for 2026. Why staff health is the #1 pressure point Where churches feel hopeful — and stretched thin What worked in 2025 and is worth repeating Clear decision filters for the year ahead Download the Full Report Free PDF • Built for Executive Pastors • Instant access Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. We're continuing our special series responding to insights from the National Executive Pastor Survey with an executive pastor from a prevailing church. Today we're joined by Eric Garza, Executive Pastor at Cross Church. Cross Church is one of the fastest-growing churches in the country, with 12 campuses across South Texas, serving both English- and Spanish-speaking congregations. In this conversation, Eric helps unpack the number-one fear expressed by executive pastors in the survey: running out of space and not knowing what to do next. Is your church growing but feeling physically constrained? Are facilities, kids' space, or parking holding you back from what God may want to do next? Eric offers practical, hard-earned wisdom from leading through rapid multisite expansion. Facilities don't just limit space—they shape momentum. // At Cross Church, growth has come through both campus planting and mergers or acquisitions of existing churches. In both cases, facilities either enable momentum or quietly choke it. Sustainable space must support all aspects of ministry—not just a worship room. Parking, kids' environments, lobbies, restrooms, storage, and office space all play a role. A building that works on paper can quickly fail if it can't support the full weekend experience. Don't rush into permanence. // One of Eric's strongest recommendations is to resist the pressure to own a building too early. Several Cross campuses began in leased spaces, which reduced operational burden and allowed the church to test viability without long-term risk. Leasing removes concerns like insurance, major maintenance, and long-term liability, freeing leaders to focus on ministry. If a campus stalls or misses the mark, leaders can pivot without being locked into a costly asset. Location matters more than you think. // Some facility lessons are learned the hard way. Eric humorously—but seriously—warns against launching next to railroad tracks or industrial zones. Visiting a facility during a Sunday morning timeframe is essential. Noise, safety, curb appeal, and accessibility all influence guest experience. Cross has launched campuses in libraries and event centers, learning to adapt acoustics and layouts while prioritizing safety and hospitality. Capital campaigns need margin. // Eric is candid about capital campaigns. Churches often believe in faith for a number that rarely materializes at full scale, especially since capital giving sits above normal tithes. Meanwhile, construction costs almost always rise. Cross learned the hard way that campaign timelines and construction timelines rarely align. Building 10–15% margin into every campaign accounts for inflation, surprises, and delays. If surplus remains, it becomes a testimony of generosity rather than a crisis averted. Remodeling vs. rebuilding requires sober math. // Acquiring an existing building can be a gift—or a trap. Before knocking down walls, Eric urges leaders to get third-party inspections and cost estimates. Some remodels quietly approach the cost of new construction while delivering less functionality. Evaluate whether a building should serve as a long-term campus, a ministry center, or even collateral for future development. Sometimes the wisest move is not to hold services there at all. Define a clear facility standard. // Over time, Cross Church developed a consistent “Cross standard” across campuses—shared color palettes, stage layouts, kids' safety ratios, and ministry flow. While floor plans differ, the experience feels familiar. This standard helps teams evaluate remodels quickly and ensures families know what to expect. It also clarifies where compromise is acceptable and where it's not. When space is tight, simplify strategically. // Not every constraint requires construction. Cross has increased capacity by adding services, adjusting service times, and consolidating kids' age groups when space is limited. Combining grades temporarily doesn't dilute quality—it preserves momentum. Eric defines excellence not as “having the best,” but “doing the best with what you have.” Obstacles are reframed as opportunities to steward growth faithfully. Communicate the season clearly. // Your people can endure inconvenience when they understand the why. Leaders don't need to share every detail, but they should frame facility strain as evidence of impact, not failure. Clear vision keeps people focused on mission rather than discomfort. To learn more about Cross Church, visit crosschurchonline.com or follow @crosschurchrgv on social media. You can also connect with Eric directly on social media at @ericpgarza. Watch the full episode below: Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I'm grateful for that. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they're extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Lastly, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live! Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Risepointe Do you feel like your church’s or school's facility could be preventing growth? Are you frustrated or possibly overwhelmed at the thought of a complicated or costly building project? Are the limitations of your building becoming obstacles in the path of expanding your ministry? Have you ever felt that you could reach more people if only the facility was better suited to the community’s needs? Well, the team over at Risepointe can help! As former ministry staff and church leaders, they understand how to prioritize and help lead you to a place where the building is a ministry multiplier. Your mission should not be held back by your building. Their team of architects, interior designers and project managers have the professional experience to incorporate creative design solutions to help move YOUR mission forward. Check them out at risepointe.com/unseminary and while you’re there, schedule a FREE call to explore possibilities for your needs, vision and future…Risepointe believes that God still uses spaces…and they're here to help. Episode Transcript Rich Birch — Hey friends, welcome to the unSeminary podcast. So glad that you have decided to tune in. We are in the middle of, in the in the midst of, is maybe a better way to say, these special set of podcasts where we’re responding to what you said in the National Executive Pastor Survey, which turned out to be the largest dedicated or direct executive pastor survey that we’re aware of ever, which is kind of cool. And hundreds of people were you know, logged in and told, gave us a sense of where ministry is at. And what we’ve been doing is spending time with an executive pastor from a prevailing church, and frankly, people I like, to get their ah thoughts on kind of what was surfaced. Rich Birch — And today we’ve got a big one. This is a significant issue. In fact, it was the single biggest fear that was expressed. We asked a question around, what’s your kind of biggest fear for this year? And nearly one in five executive pastors expressed fear about this. And what is that fear? It’s the whole issue of our facilities, space, capital projects, that sort of thing. Many churches are running out of kids space, parking, seating, lobby capacity. Rich Birch — You know, we’re all worried about in inflation of construction costs. If you got a building quoted on five years ago, you’re going to want to get it quoted on again, you know, renovation, building, all of this stuff. And, you know, we’re excited to have ah today a return guest, Eric Garza with us. He is from a fantastic church, Cross Church, which is located in Texas. It’s one of the fastest growing churches of ah in the country, and they have 12 campuses, if I’m counting correctly. So Eric has thought about facilities and so excited to have you back on the show, Eric. Thanks for being here.Eric Garza — Rich, thanks for having me back. Good to have an opportunity to have a great conversation about a big topic for a lot of pastors and executives across the country. Yeah.Rich Birch — Well, you’re going to solve all our problems for us today, Eric. So.Eric Garza — It’s just some nuggets of what I’ve learned and experienced. But if I can make your life and your world a little bit better, awesome.Rich Birch — That’s great. That’s good. Kind of tell us a little bit about Cross again, kind of set the context, you know, give us a bit of sense of the the church.Eric Garza — Yeah, so we’re in deep south Texas. Most of our campuses are within a half hour north of the US-Mexico border. So right at the bottom of the tip of Texas. 30 years going on 31 years as a ministry. In the last eight years, we went from one site ah to now seven locations, physical locations and 12 campuses.Eric Garza — We’re a bilingual ministry, which means we do we have English campuses and we have Spanish campuses. And we recently, last year in 2025, launched our first campus outside of our region in San Antonio, Texas. Rich Birch — Love it.Eric Garza — And you can imagine a lot of ah victories and a lot of challenges, ah you know leaving your space, your comfort area, the region where you’ve been, for 30 years and then heading out and venturing off into what we believe God called us to do in in Central Texas.Eric Garza — So ah just phenomenal growth. We’ve seen God’s hand up on our ministry and it’s come with, ah like I said, a lot of wins and a lot of challenges we’ve had to navigate. And being a a predominantly Hispanic ministry that reaches both English congregants and Spanish congregants, dealing with cultural, political issues in our region of the country ah has just been a whirlwind. But as anybody could imagine, it’s been a big learning season for us for expansion. You know, I know we’re talking about facilities going from one side to multisite and all of that that entails operationally, logistically, financially. So I wouldn’t say we know it all. We certainly don’t if we’re always learning. But man, if if we can just impart any wisdom, we’re we’re all for that.Rich Birch — Love it. Well, I would say I actually re-looked at a lot of these fears. And the overall tone, if you were to kind of summarize the the conversation that people seem to be expressing is like, there’s this sense from a lot of executive pastors, listen, our ministry could grow, but our space, frankly, is holding us back. And we’re not entirely sure what the path forward is. It’s like, we we see the physical space issues, but I’m not sure where to go from here. So I’d love to jump right in. Eric Garza — Sure.Rich Birch — How have you, as you’ve looked at your seven physical locations, 12 campuses, how do you evaluate facility limitations? And are they the things that are actually restricting growth or does the issue lie somewhere else? How do you, how are you discerning that when you look at, you know, this, this whole issue?Eric Garza — Yeah, a lot of our of our growth has come from us planting campuses, but some of our growth has come from, I guess, what the corporate world calls mergers and acquisitions, where we’ve merged or really acquired other ministries who either had an existing facility that we took over. Or where we partnered with them through the acquisition and launched a campus in a new building or a new facility.Eric Garza — So some of the things that we’ve done is, there’s a whole process, right, that that it’s entailed with going multisite. And one of those big key indicators of whether the campus or the church plant is going to succeed is whether they have a sustainable facility that can house all aspects of the ministry. And sometimes that can be difficult to find.Eric Garza — For example, you don’t just want meeting space to have services, right? You need maybe an office space, you need childcare space, you need a meeting space, you need lobby, restrooms, you need adequate parking. And all of those factors come into play when you’re looking to find the right spaces. So for us, We’ve just been blessed that ah either we’ve have you know gone through the capital campaigns, we’ve gone through the funding, the you know internal funding to build new facilities, or the acquisition that we’ve ah done over the last couple of years already had an existing facility, which is a plus. Because instead of building, we just went into a remodel phase to bring that building up to what we would call our Cross-standard to house our campus and facility. And so I mean it’s It’s a holistic approach. Rich Birch — Yeah, yeah.Eric Garza — You look at parking, kids space. What you don’t want to do and what what we’ve run into in the past, is it’s okay to to launch with limited space, but if you’re launching and you already have a couple of hundred people that are gathered, you’re going to want to find a space that’s going to give you ample room to have one or two services without having to crunch yourself in the short term. And it’s going to, in in in a larger sense, going to really facilitate some challenge and some angst and frustrations early on. And you want to minimize as much of that, especially when you’re when you’re launching and you’re setting out to start a new campus or a new church.Rich Birch — Yeah, so that’s one of those kind of pinch points would be too small, right? Like I’m assuming you’ve ended up in facilities where it’s like, okay, this is this just frankly is too small. Eric Garza — It’s not going to work. Rich Birch — And so we’ve got to, it’s not going to work. We’re going have to start with three services and that, you know, or something like that. Or we’ll start with two and we’ll be pinched too quickly. Are there any other kind of tripwires that you’ve run into that are like, oh, like it might be great on these five things, but this, these, if it’s not these two or three, if these aren’t right, we were not going in there. Are there any other things to get to, as you said, a sustainable facility? Are there any kind of big no-nos that you’ve bumped into, or maybe you wish you knew before? Yeah. Tell me about that.Eric Garza — Yeah, a couple of things. Number one is don’t ah start a church next to the railroad tracks. That may sound a little funny.Rich Birch — No, tell me more.Eric Garza — You never know that during your Sunday morning message at your 10 o’clock service, roughly about 10:40 a.m., this train… Rich Birch — Oh, gosh. Eric Garza — …who’s two or three blocks away is going to come blaring out ah and just completely disrupt your sound and and your service and your message for a few minutes. So it may sound comical, but ah yeah, definitely don’t do that. Right.Rich Birch — No, that’s very good.Eric Garza — Yeah.Rich Birch — That’s well, and even going and seeing, that’s a great takeaway because even going and seeing the facility during a Sunday morning, like, cause you wouldn’t know that if you’re there to just Tuesday afternoon or something, you would have no sense of that. Eric Garza — Yeah.Rich Birch — But, but cause it might be a train, but there’s, I could see lots of things where.Eric Garza — Trains are not confined to Monday through Friday.Rich Birch — Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.Eric Garza — They’re there every day as they need. And so you just you just never know. That has to happen a couple of times, and it’s incredibly frustrating. Rich Birch — Yeah. That’s interesting. That’s good.Eric Garza — And so you play it off the middle of the service, but man, it can it can mess it could mess with some stuff. The second thing I would say is is this when looking for a facility. There’s obviously some innate some internal perhaps pressure or self-imposed pressure as a pastor or an executive to want to get into a permanent facility right away.Eric Garza — One of the things that helped us early on with with a couple of our campuses is we actually rented. And here’s the benefit of renting or leasing, even for a year or two, as you grow that site is number one, you’re not worried about insurance, right? You’re not worried about lawsuits. You’re not worried about maintenance or you’re paying for that, right? But there’s a lot that you minimize when it comes to overloading your mind and your brain about what you have to handle.Rich Birch — Yep. Eric Garza — Alright. And so you pay a fee, but the building’s clean when you come in. And right after you set, you know, you tear down your equipment for the service in your kids area, you don’t have to worry about that because you’re leasing a space. Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good.Eric Garza — And so if you can minimize, like I said, as much of the overload of operations and facilities on the front end, that’s that’s a great a great thing. And most spaces, right, what we did early on is if we had an event center where we would rent the main auditorium uh we would use conference rooms or or multi-purpose room for child care. We would safe proof them, right – all of our protocols in place. But that’s what we would do early on, and it would give us a chance to test and gather some data. Rich Birch — That’s so good.Eric Garza — Is this going to work long term? Right. Number one, we don’t believe we missed God. But if after a couple of years, this isn’t going anywhere. Well, thank God we didn’t buy a building… Rich Birch — Right. Eric Garza — …because now we’re you know up a creek without a paddle, as they say. And so leasing is not is not an entirely bad idea on the early outset.Rich Birch — No, that’s great.Eric Garza — But definitely the neighborhood that you’re in, right beside the town that you’re in, you want to be in a centrally as centrally as you can, centrally located as you can, and and not next to a railroad track or any industry or warehouses where there’s going to be trucks, just for safety concerns, for the curbside appeal. And so that’s why public libraries or where we had actually launched started campuses was at a public library – acoustic set because we couldn’t be so loud. So all of those facility concerns are are really things you want to keep in mind.Rich Birch — Yeah, I love that. I love the idea of the rental on the front end. What a great way to, it’s good use of capital. It’s a good, you know, it it gives you a chance to test… Eric Garza — Yeah. Rich Birch — …even if you stay for a couple of years, that’s, you know, that’s fantastic. So you’ve been through multiple, you know, capital campaigns, this whole process of like, we’ve got to raise money and then get a facility renovated or, you know, you know, expanded or whatever. Rich Birch — What, what do you wish you would have known before all that? Well, are there a couple like things that either, you know, you stumbled upon, you stubbed your toe or you wish, man, I wish somebody would have told me this. Are there any things that stand out to you?Eric Garza — Number, I think the first one is this. You have an you have a number in your mind, and you of course you believe God for it. It…Rich Birch — And it’s lower. It’s going to come in lower every time.Eric Garza — …it is. Every single, unless God does a miracle, which he is more than able to do… Rich Birch — Yes.Eric Garza — …it’s going to come in lower. And so I think have have high anticipation but realistic expectations… Rich Birch — Right. Eric Garza — …because most capital campaigns are campaigns that are above normal giving.Rich Birch — Yeah. Okay. Yep.Eric Garza — Right. And so at least for us, it’s above normal giving. Rich Birch — Yep.Eric Garza — We encourage and we get people to give towards a specific capital campaign, which is for a specific campus or a specific project or or what have you. But you have this number in mind and then if you can tend to early on. It’s not coming in yet. Or maybe you’ve done it for a year or give a specific timeline.Rich Birch — I see. Okay. Yep.Eric Garza — And you can get quickly discouraged, especially with capital campaigns where you’re like, we’re halfway through this thing and not even half has come in yet, or of what we thought would come in. And so it’s easier to get discouraged. But that was a big thing is that number in your mind, it’s going to be lower. And that’s not a bad thing. Right. That’s not a bad thing.Eric Garza — People are giving to a capital campaign above giving of their normal giving, sacrificially, they’re giving by faith. They’re giving with expectation. But at the same time, for those of us on the inside, right, those of us who are managing the resources and what have you, it’s it’s about having a realistic expectation that we have the faith that God can do it. But we’re all going to budget ourselves knowing that if there’s a high probability, not impossible, there’s a high probability that the number we had in mind, is not going to be what comes in for the capital campaign.Rich Birch — Let’s talk about that there. So there’s an interesting, um so I’ve seen that for sure in churches. There’s an interesting kind of tension that pulls in two different directions. One, you can have exactly what you’re talking about, which is, you know, we thought we would go in, we we were hoping we would raise X and we raised something less than that. Eric Garza — Yeah. Rich Birch — But then the other part of it is we were hoping the project was going to cost X and it costs X plus, you know, it’s costing us more than, than we anticipated. How do you manage that tension? How have you been able to kind of navigate that? That’s a, that’s a tough tension.Eric Garza — Yeah, the longevity of the capital campaign is gonna is not always going to be exactly match, it’s not going, rather, to exactly match what the building construction cost was at the beginning. Prices fluctuate and prices change.Eric Garza — And so let’s say you have let’s use so a rough even number, a million dollar capital campaign for your church organization. And the construction is going to cost, I don’t know, $900,000, $950,000. Well, a million dollars should cover it. But by the time a million dollars or shortly or short of that comes in, well, your budget is now at 1.2 or 1.3. Rich Birch — Right. Eric Garza — It’s fluctuated. And so the what’s congruent at the beginning can be really a little bit financially off by the time that can…In other words, the timelines of the capital campaign and your building projects sometimes don’t align perfectly. And we’ve run into that too, where we’ve had to take from our operating budget a little bit, or we’ve had to really emphasize a certain amount during the campaign, because that’s what needs to come in. We’ve you know met with with key givers and donors of the church. And those are challenges that you navigate ah during the capital campaign process. Rich Birch — Sure. Eric Garza — And and like I said earlier, it’s it’s challenging because, well, let me backtrack and say this.Eric Garza — This is why on the front end, you should add margin into your capital campaign… Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good. Eric Garza — …which we didn’t do that, perhaps the first go around. But certainly the later ah seasons, we added margin in our capital campaigns to account for any fluctuation in construction costs. And if there was ever in a surplus, well, we would tell the church it’s because of your giving and because of your support and generosity that we had more than enough come in. Rich Birch — That’s good.Eric Garza — And so now we’re going to use those funds for X or they’re going to go back to the general fund or or whatever whatever the case. But I think that the key that would be to incorporate some 10 to 15% margin in your capital campaign on the outset to account for anything that might happen 12, 15, 18 months down the road.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good. That’s really good. That’s good. You maybe just saved somebody a lot of headache two years from now… Eric Garza — Yeah. Rich Birch — …because of that part of the conversation. I want to go back to something you talked about earlier. You’ve had multiple buildings that you’ve acquired or you’ve merged with, and you were talking about remodeling and there’s like, that can be a blessing and a curse. Like it can be amazing. Like, wow, this is great. And…Eric Garza — You never know what you’re going to find.Rich Birch — …you know, you open up, you open up a wall and who knows what’s behind that wall. And, you know, there’s all that. And you talked about bringing it up to the Cross standard. Talk me through what how have you decided what that is? What is the Cross standard? And how do you what are the common things that you find, Oh, we’ve got to make this change. And how have you kind of defined that as you think about projects like that?Eric Garza — Yeah, so over the last few years, we’ve pretty much honed in on, I guess, the vibe and the look of what we want our campuses to to feel and look like.Rich Birch — Okay.Eric Garza — They may be different ah floor plans because some of them we built, some of them we acquired, properties we took over. But as far as color schemes, we do our very best to match wall colors, sanctuary colors. We use the same stage equipment, both branding and layout as best as possible across all of our sanctuary auditoriums, our stages. Eric Garza — Our kids spaces, ah we have an internal ratio of how many teachers or volunteers per infants, per toddlers, for school-age children we want. And so that determines our spacing. And so sometimes we’ve got to knock some walls down or build some walls in to accommodate for for what, like I said, our standard of ministry, both in appeal, but also in care for for our congregants and for our families.Eric Garza — And so when we remodel, you’re right, there’s some things that once you knock down a wall, you’re not going to know until you knock it down. And that’s where that, you know, that margin comes in. But for the most part, right, we’ve had we do inspections, we get we get third party opinions on the building, on the cost estimates, and like we would encourage anybody to do, right.Eric Garza — But that’s our Cross standard is the look, the feel, the equipment, the wall colors, you know is there enough space for our our guests, connect area, our next steps area for first impressions. Does every ministry have adequate space to store their items – all of those factors come into play in deciding how we’re going to remodel a facility. Eric Garza — And I’ll say the second thing is this is why before you break or before you knock down a wall, get an inspector or or get some people either in your church or in the construction industry or somebody that you know in in your community. Because sometimes when you have a building, your initial thought is to remodel. That may not always be the most financial financially wise decision. And here’s why. Because you may not know all that you’re going to encounter, you may in the long run end up spending just as much as if you had built a brand new facility with the exact floor plan you want.Eric Garza — And so that’s where you’re evaluating and deciding, is it more feasible to remodel this building for X amount of dollars? Or are we within 5% to 10% budget margin, where we might just say it’s it’s in the best interest of the church perhaps to use either this facility as collateral for our next building or a brand new building, or is it better to use it a multisite building, excuse me, multi-purpose building, and we end up building a new facility…Rich Birch — Right.Eric Garza — …for the church or for the campus. And so those cost estimates are going to help you make the best, most informed decision of where you’re going to steward the resources financially in either remodeling or in building a site.Rich Birch — Yeah, I love that. One of my favorite churches, Mercy Hill Church in North Carolina, they they had a building that was given to them and they did, they weren’t entirely sure what to kind of, it was in a part of town, they weren’t necessarily sure they wanted to launch a campus and just they had a campus closer and all that. And they ended up using it turned it into a really a student center and it’s a fantastic ministry building and it’s active, you know, five, six days a week.Rich Birch — Now they don’t do Sunday morning services there, but they do all kinds of other stuff, which is fantastic. Like is a great, you know…Eric Garza — And we’ve seen that too. Yeah. They use for leadership meetings, for small chapel receptions… Rich Birch — Yeah. Eric Garza — …or gatherings or next gen events, youth, young adults, even renting it out to the community as a means to supply income to the church…Rich Birch — Yep. Yep. On a daycare or something.Eric Garza — …to like, you know aligned organizations, of course, whatever your church policy is. But yeah, sometimes the best use of that building is not for church services.Rich Birch — Have you, have you run into facilities that you’ve evaluated and then decided, no like this is going to cost way too much to renovate and we’re, so we won’t go forward with it. Have you run into that after evaluation?Eric Garza — Well, not entirely, but I’ll say this…recent… Rich Birch — I know that risk is there for sure.Eric Garza — Yeah, there is risk. There is risk. And the risk assessment is different when you’re leasing a space or remodel… Rich Birch — Right. Eric Garza — …and when you’re when you’re obviously building your own facility, as far as and including the costs associated with that. One of our campuses recently, and I mean in the last 24 months, before we moved into our new building was leasing a space and we were given the option to remodel the space we were leasing. Because though it was suitable for what we needed for the ministry, for Sunday services and and all the other ministries, parts of it were not really conducive to growth for the congregation and for the ministry.Eric Garza — So we did contemplate remodeling. I think I think what kept us from doing that number one is whatever you remodel for the landlord the landlord is going up keeping. And so the return on that investment would be short term and not long term, We were already in the midst of building our building but we were growing at a rapid rate, and so we were eight, twelve months out from from being in our building and the campus was growing, and so we needed a short-term solution. Rich Birch — Right.Eric Garza — So we did think, Well, we’ll spend X amount of dollars to remodel our site where we’re leasing before we get into the new building. But we found out that shifting our service times and and doing different different strategies ended up alleviating in the short term the constraints we had to give us a time to get into our new building, which is now more than enough space for us to grow for for years and years to come.Rich Birch — Right. That’s cool. Yeah. Cause I’ve said as a, I feel like I’ve been in a ton of conversations with XPs where, you know, they’re talking about this issue and you know, there’s like a building that they’re, maybe it’s another church that’s come to them and they’re having a conversation and they’re, I would say their mindset is like, I’m not sure we should do this. Like this is, they’re like, this other church came to us and statistically, actually the most likely for these mergers to succeed are when the joining church comes to the lead church. Eric Garza — Yeah.Rich Birch — So they would come to your church and be like, Hey, we’re interested. So it actually happens a fair amount. And I’ve, I feel like I’ve talked, tried to talk so many executive pastors into like, man, it’s gotta be a really bad building. If particularly if it’s like has debt or has no debt or very little debt on it, it’s gotta be a very bad building to not want to take it. Cause it’s like, you know, you can, you can take, invest, you know, a moderate amount of money. You don’t need to dump a ton into it and get something great. And like you said, as long as you’re above board with everybody, you know, five years from now, if it doesn’t work, you could take that asset, sell it and move on and use those resources somewhere else.Eric Garza — And that’s very good because when you talk about acquiring a ministry, especially if it has a low balance on their mortgage or or they don’t have much to pay off the building, and if you’re in a position to pay that off within the first year of acquiring the ministry… Rich Birch — Right. Eric Garza — …think of a collateral and the equity that your organization now has because of that new facility that’s in your portfolio.Rich Birch — 100%.Eric Garza — And I know it sounds very business-minded, but when you’re looking to expand into the future, even at another site in your church ministry organization, you now have more collateral, more resources to leverage for a better financial position in the future when you do want to actually build a building. Eric Garza — And the second thing is this, if you’re acquiring a ministry that already has an existing building, in most cases, it’s already built out for church purposes. So that’s very helpful. So at that point, you may be putting in a smaller amount and just… Rich Birch — Right. Eric Garza — …you know, refurbishing it, painting the walls, putting some new equipment, some new screens, maybe be changing out the flooring a little bit, or some of the fixtures in different spaces… Rich Birch — There’s technology or whatever, yep. Eric Garza — …because it’s already built out for a church. And so that’s the benefit of going or acquiring in a ministry if you’re going that route that already has an existing facility.Rich Birch — Yeah, we had, ah we were running, our budget was about $8 million dollars and we were, we had a church come to us and they were, they had really, they had had a tough season and the summer before we ended up merging with them or they joined us really, they had multiple Sundays where they had two people show up on Sunday. They had the person that was preaching and the guy that was opening the door, like it was, it had really atrophied down.Rich Birch — And I remember in one of those conversations, they had had a bit of a roof problem. The facility was worth just probably south of 2 million. It was like ah a great facility, but they had a roof problem. And I remember one of the the elders leader person, he said, you know, we we got a quote on the roof and it’s it’s going to cost maybe about $15,000 to fix. Do you think you guys will be able to fix that? And they had no debt and were going to give us their building. Rich Birch — Well, like I humbly had to say like, like, yeah, we’ll we’ll be okay. Like, it’s gonna it’s gonna be fine. Like, you know, I what I didn’t want to say is like, I feel like our youth guys have like wasted $15,000 this year. Like, you know, like it’s like we can, you know, the exchange just on paper. And again, that’s not why you go into those conversations. Eric Garza — Of course.Rich Birch — But a part of that is, particularly in our seats as executive pastors, that’s a part of what we have to wrestle through and think about those things. So let’s get back to the renovation thing. A lot of what churches were talking about is like, pressure of like, man, I just, our physical facilities are, are holding us back. Rich Birch — Any other thoughts around, you know, changes you’ve made to increase capacity or, um you know, things that maybe are like some low hanging fruit or creative solutions that have that, that maybe we’re not thinking about, but as a leader who’s been through this, you know, you’ve been, you’ve wrestled through that, that we, we could, you know, benefit from.Eric Garza — Yeah, absolutely. A couple of things. You can please everybody, right? Rich Birch — That’s good. Eric Garza — And so I think one of the ministry pressures well, we want to please the next gen. We also want to please the child care. We also want to please the elders of the church. And we also want to please the younger families of the church and young professionals. And when you’re when you’re in a facility that wasn’t originally built according to your specs, it’s going to be difficult to do that.Eric Garza — And so you have to focus, as we have, on the most critical areas, sanctuary and child care. If you don’t have child care, it’s going to be a barrier to growth because families or parents are not going to have the comfort level they need to come to your church on a regular basis and to be a part of the community. And so for us, when we’ve remodeled, the first things we look at are sanctuary and then the kid space. Do we have enough adequate kids space?Rich Birch — That’s good.Eric Garza — Some of the solutions when we’ve been limited in space is is launching multiple services to we have a smaller sanctuary or a smaller space, we’ll offer more service opportunities. Or when it comes to our kids ministry, we’ve evaluated with our kids directors and our our kids department of how can we best merge age groups to maximize the space that we have. So if you have right an ideal facility where you have you know your child your child care divided by grade level or age level, sometimes you have the amenity to do that and many times you don’t. And so what we’ve done is instead of having first grade on their own, maybe we’ll put you know kindergarten and first grade level kids together.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good.Eric Garza — We’ll put second and third together, fourth and fifth together as a way to consolidate because we don’t have the space that we prefer to have, at least in this season. And so for us, sometimes you’re not watering down in essence, the content, the quality, but you are consolidating in the short term or even medium term… Rich Birch — Right. Eric Garza — …if you will, if that’s even a term, to make adequate space for the constraints that you may have. Rich Birch — That’s good.Eric Garza — And so you have 600 members and you only have 200-seat sanctuary, 250. Well, that’s an opportunity for three services. Rich Birch — Right.Eric Garza — Is that is that is that Is that a strain? Well, it can be if you see it from core perspective versus a perspective of, Man, we’re so large and we have the space. You know, one of our core values at our church is excellence. And we’ve defined excellence as not having the best, but doing the best with what you have.Rich Birch — Oh, that’s good.Eric Garza — So we may not have a thousand seat auditorium for this growing congregation, but what we do have, we’re going utilize it and steward it to our best ability. So if that means two or three services, well, God give us the strength and the people to manage and to lead and to execute three strong services every weekend, or every Sunday, in order to meet the need of the congregation that we have.Eric Garza — And and I think one of the biggest things, Rich, is also communicating this. It’s keeping them current, right. You’re not going to go into all the details per se, unless that’s your preference and that’s your senior pastor’s prerogative. But to share with them the overarching theme of, hey, here’s where we’re at as a ministry. Here’s our facility. And here’s what we’re going to do to continue to offer as best a ministry as we can, while at the same time being cognizant of the challenges that we’re facing.Eric Garza — We said this to our staff and to our church many times, is we don’t look at obstacles as negatives. We look at obstacles as opportunities. Okay.Rich Birch — That’s so true.Eric Garza — If this is what we have, how can we be as excellent as possible with what we have? If that means going to a third service, well, then we’re going to give it a shot because what we don’t want to do is allow facility constraints to translate into diminished capacity or into a diminishing congregation and I’m talking about numerically. Because the diminishing congregation numerically also means a diminishing budget and revenue financially because you have less givers in the seats. And that’s those are some of the challenges that you got navigate so we don’t see it as obstacles. We don’t see obstacles necessarily as a challenge we see that’s an opportunity of okay how can we navigate around this mountain if you will to continue to provide as excellent a ministry as we can.Rich Birch — Yeah, I love that. I love your example of the kids age size rooms. Because I think you’ve you’re articulating a tension that whenever we’re, particularly for launching we talked a lot about this, like renovating other spaces and new campuses and all that, where I think really is germane to our job as executive pastor to to manage this tension of we want it feel, you know, the language you used was Cross standard. It’s absolutely has got to be Cross standard, but there will be areas where we’re going to have to compromise. Like that is just true. And a part of what we have to do, we have to use our leadership and our discernment and, you know, get the right players in the room and have the conversation. And, you know, somebody using your example, somebody kids’ ministry to be like, no, we can’t combine them together. That’ll be terrible. And it’s like, we’re going to be fine. Like, we’ll figure it out, you know. Eric Garza — Yeah [inaudible].Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s going to be okay. We’ll we’ll help that navigate. And that’s one example, but there’s a ton of those that can come up in these, you know, in these renovations for sure.Eric Garza — Yeah, absolutely.Rich Birch — That’s good.Eric Garza — and And people are always going to have opinions. Rich Birch — Right.Eric Garza — But I’ll say this from experience. And I mean, no ill intent towards anybody in your congregation or your ministry.Rich Birch — No.Eric Garza — Most of the people that are criticizing are the people that aren’t giving anyway. And so I’m not saying ignore them by any means. They’re part of your part of your ecosystem. They’re part of your church, they’re part of your flock.Rich Birch — Yep. That’s very true.Eric Garza — But it’s always with a grain of salt because the people that are really bought into your ministry are going to walk through those opportunities alongside you, ah hopefully with the best attitude that they possibly can muster up because this too shall pass.Rich Birch — Yes.Eric Garza — Right.Rich Birch — Yes.Eric Garza — If you’ve gone out in faith to plant or to grow or to expand your congregation, this is a temporary season. It’s not a permanent season. You won’t always be at three or four services, right? Or multiple services.Eric Garza — At some point, if God is in this and you really believe He is, and I believe He is for many organizations and ministries, the timing will be right when you have a facility that can house what you need, or that can provide the amenities and space that you need. And so for parents, for givers, for guests, it is just letting them know as best you can, even subtly through announcements or even messages and say, hey, we’re in a season of growth and expansion. Growth doesn’t always look you know perfect. And so we have seasons where we’re going to navigate some some challenges and opportunities as best we can to get us to an end goal.Eric Garza — This is a means to an end. What we’re going through is a means to get us to where we want to go as a ministry. And as long as you keep it at the forefront, tying it into the vision of the house, you’re going to see that in a large sense, you’re going to have people rally behind that idea and unfocused, if you will, from the constraints of their of the facility to the broader appeal of what God is doing in the ministry.Rich Birch — Yeah, that is so good. Friends, you should go back and re-listen to what Eric just said there. That is some wise advice. And obviously from somebody that’s been in the trenches a lot, that’s been my experience as well. The people, the complainers, I’m reading through the book of Job right now. And I’m like, man, his friends are just like, this guy needs better friends.Eric Garza — Yeah.Rich Birch — And that that reminded me of the people you’re talking about. Like…Eric Garza — Yeah.Rich Birch — You know, there’s these people who are just, you know, sniping from the cheap seats and they’re not really engaged in the mission where, man, those people that are right on in the middle of it, they’re like, let’s go, let’s lean in.Rich Birch — And man, that’s the kind of person, I’m hoping as I transition into older age that I’m that person, you know, because we have a number of those people at our church that I look at that are like, these are incredible saints who have seen so much change. And who I’m sure lots of things annoy them, but they’re fired up for the mission. They’re excited in our case to reach unchurched people, to see people who far from Jesus connected.Eric Garza — If you’re not changing, you’re not making progress, right? Rich Birch — Yeah, absolutely. And the fact you the fact that your ministry is facing opportunities or obstacles rather disguised as opportunities is proof positive you’re going somewhere. Rich Birch — Yeah.Eric Garza — You’re not a stagnant ministry. You’re not a you’re not a lazy ministry, right? You’re not apathetic. You’re really out in the field of vision that God has given you or to your senior leadership. And so it’s proof positive, right? And so take that as an badge of honor in some way to say, we must be doing something right.Rich Birch — So good. Well, Eric, just as we’re coming to kind of land, this has been a great conversation, hopefully been helpful for you, friends, as you’ve have been listening in. But as we kind of come to land today’s conversation, what’s a question or two that that you’re kicking around for this year at at Cross as you’re thinking about 2026? Where’s your head at? What are the things you’re wondering? It doesn’t have to be about this, could be anything.Eric Garza — Yeah, well, ah thanks for letting me speak into that, Rich. I think for me as an executive and looking at our ministry, you know, looking at the previous 30 years and looking at the next decade, if you will, of where God is going to take our ministry, being one of America’s fastest growing churches, being the largest bilingual Hispanic-led ministry in the country. We’ve, you know, like I’ve said in a previous episode with you, we haven’t had any precedent for us in our context. And so we’ve navigated a lot of uncharted waters and learned from both wins and losses and different opportunities and struggles to get us to where we’re at now. Eric Garza — I think one of the biggest questions facing the church at large in 2026 is how the church is going to respond to the ever increasingly fast-paced changes that we’re seeing on the political front, on the cultural front. I’m not saying that the church has to be a political response. The church has to be, has to provide a biblical response to what we’re seeing.Rich Birch — Yep. Eric Garza — And with the fast paced nature of culture and society and trends, I don’t believe it’s the church’s responsibility to respond to every trend or to everything, but certainly the overarching elements of our current culture and political dynamic where there is a biblical either mandate or precedent for it, that the church would speak it into that and provide biblical perspective… Rich Birch — That’s good. Eric Garza — …and and and wisdom for how people should think about certain topics that have a biblical or moral prerogative. And so navigating that as an organization, because as a growing church and being such a large ministry, if you can imagine the opinions. We have people in our church who are conservative and who some who are not. We have people who belong to one political party over another. We’re in multiple communities. And so different communities have different demographics, different cultural contexts, different policy initiatives. There’s a lot going on.Eric Garza — And as a church ministry, especially as that we’re multisite, one of the biggest questions I’m asking myself and our team is how do we, number one, stay biblically founded, right? And unwavering in what the biblical standard is.Eric Garza — Number two is how do we address the different things and different occurrences in different communities that we’re in? If we were just one site and one community, well, then we would just be I guess you could say in our own little space and our own little focus. But we have multisites, so we have multi-focus, if you will, at how we continue to provide as excellent a ministry as possible… Rich Birch — That’s good. Eric Garza — …keeping Jesus at the forefront, above the fray, and at the same time, giving a biblical perspective so that people have the right biblical worldview for how to walk out their journey of faith their relationship with Christ, but at the same time, how to respond to what’s happening in our world. I think for many times, for for many years, really for decades, the church has abdicated its biblical responsibility, if you will, to speak into things, not from a political perspective, but from a biblical perspective.Eric Garza — And because that abdication of responsibility we’ve seen a lot of things that have happened. Thankfully, in recent seasons, in recent years, we’ve seen a a shift where faith is now at the forefront. And so though I have that question, my biggest, I guess you could say prerogative is to leverage that people are focused more on faith, that people are open to faith now more so in our country, that people are focused more on this person of Jesus and is to leverage that as an opportunity to really hone in and speak into people’s hearts and minds and into the different communities that we’re in so that they have the right biblical perspective, the biblical worldview to carry out what God has enabled them or called them to do.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s so good. I love I love what you’re saying there. And you know I know had a friend say, you know if you’re, you know, we we all are serving in a context. We serve in a particular time, in a particular cultural context, and God’s called us to lead in that context. And if you’re not feeling the pull from, you know, multiple sides, multiple polarities, you’re like, well, everybody here agrees with me then it means you’re not actually reaching your community, you know. And the fact that you’re feeling that tension means, okay, like there’s there’s people from a wide variety of, and it can be all different political is one, but there’s lots of different ways to think of that.Eric Garza — Yeah.Rich Birch — And yeah, that’s that’s so true. I really appreciate this. Well, Eric, you’re you’re a blessing to us. I thank you so much for for giving us time today and helping us think about these things as we kick off into 2026. If where do we want to send people if they want to track with you or with the church?Rich Birch — How do we how do we want to get people connected to Cross?Eric Garza — Yeah, well, Rich, thanks for the opportunity. And it’s what a blessing for us and for me personally to be able to just share some thoughts. And if it helps anybody, well, praise God for that. I think if you want to follow the church, we’re crosschurchonline.com or crosschurchrgv on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, all of, you know, most of the social media platforms.Eric Garza — If you want to connect with me, I’d be happy to connect with you at Eric, E-R-I-C-P Garza on any of social media platforms. It’d be a h privilege for me to help you guys and to share some thoughts and even answer questions. I’d be more than happy to do that. If I can serve your ministries in any way, by all means, feel free to reach out to me on any of the social media platforms.Rich Birch — Nice. Thanks so much, Eric. Really appreciate being here today, sir. Thank you. Eric Garza — Thank you, man. God bless. Appreciate it.

Send us a textWelcome back to the Ready Set BBQ podcast, your go-to destination for the latest and most exciting happenings around the world! In this episode we talk about  College football, Jake Paul, Fight Night, Fajitas, Brisket, Xmas party, Steaks, Christmas movies, music and food.  0-15 mins: HeadlinesNFL Playoffs: The Bears and Niners are both able to pull off comeback victories as two of our teams move on.  College Football Playoffs: We talk about the college football playoffs and make our predictions for the championship.Diggs Brothers: The Diggs brothers have a bad day as one gets cut and one chokes his chef. Black Monday: That time of year when coaches get fired. Who has been cut and who's on the chopping block.  Jerry Jones: Jerry wants to be the owner with the most super bowls before he calls it quits. 10-30mins: BBQ Time Steak Night: We pass up going out for steak night and decide to make some of our own. Shrimp Kabobs: We try to switch it up with something healthy with some grilled shrimp and pineapple kabobs. Burnt Bean: We talk about the Blue Moon breakfast sandwich from Burnt BeanWorld Steak- We are still looking for sponsors for the World Steak Championship.  30-50 mins: New Years Stuff New Years Parties: We talk about what we all did to celebrate New Years. Golden Globes: Hiram takes us behind the red carpet as we talk globes and movies. https://podcast.feedspot.com/barbecue_podcasts/Etsy/ShopReadySetBBQ - EtsyFacebook Pagehttps://www.facebook.com/readysetbbqFeedspothttps://podcast.feedspot.com/barbecue_podcasts/Etsy/Shop ReadySetBBQ - EtsyFacebook Page https://www.facebook.com/readysetbbq Feedspot https://podcast.feedspot.com/barbecue_podcasts/

*A Texas Panhandle young farm couple placed second in the nation.  *The National Cotton Council is working to increase demand for cotton. *Congressional ag committee leaders are hoping to address ag labor issues soon.  *Texas is one of 42 states involved in a national pork brand campaign.  *The Texas A&M AgriLife Center in Amarillo is getting a new location and a new name.  *South Texas has experienced a winter heat wave. *Vitamin A is important for cattle.  

This week, we release a timely classic on our conversation with Dr. Mike Chamberlain to talk through some of the latest whitetail management techniques he's seeing. Over the last fifty years, the landscape has changed and whitetails are clearly king! But what's changed, and what can we learn? His recent trip to South Texas leads us to ask about the story of his buck and what he sees that those intensively managed ranches are doing that works. As always when Mike joins us, it's an interesting discussion.Listen, Learn and Enjoy.Send a text message to the show! Support the showStay connected with GameKeepers: Instagram: @mossyoakgamekeepers Facebook: @GameKeepers Twitter: @MOGameKeepers YouTube: @MossyOakGameKeepers Website: https://mossyoakgamekeeper.com/ Enter The Gamekeeper Giveaway: https://bit.ly/GK_Giveaway Subscribe to Gamekeepers Magazine: https://bit.ly/GK_Magazine Buy a Single Issue of Gamekeepers Magazine: https://bit.ly/GK_Single_Issue Join our Newsletters: Field Notes - https://bit.ly/GKField_Notes | The Branch - https://bit.ly/the_branch Have a question for us or a podcast idea? Email us at gamekeepers@mossyoak.com

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, everybody! Happy New Year! It's 2026, and despite "feeling like ass" with a nasty flu, I'm fired up to share our 3-pronged attack strategy for the year ahead. History's repeating itself, folks: distressed real estate is on the rise, from residential notes to commercial defaults. Texas (and Florida's "errors") are hotspots, and opportunity knocks for those willing to roll up their sleeves!Forget 3% mortgages; people are tapping equity at 7% to survive, meaning more distressed assets hitting the market. Austin's getting a little too "hectic" with its "Democratic socialists" for my taste, so we're looking to South Texas for some probate action! This isn't just theory; it's our tactical approach to turn chaos into cash flow.Here's our battle plan for conquering distressed real estate in 2026:Non-Performing Notes & Strategic Sub-To Deals: We're targeting non-performing notes we can buy cheap enough for big checks or 12%+ cash flow. If not, we pivot to subject-to acquisitions with borrowers who have 20%+ equity, saving them from foreclosure while we pick up solid assets (using legal Texas wrap-arounds or lease options).South Texas Probate Power Plays: As Austin gets "not nice," we're diving deep into direct mail campaigns for probate deals in South Texas, aiming to scoop up properties from families who just want to move on.Capitalizing on Distressed Property & Borrower Engagement: Learn how we're reactivating direct marketing campaigns and old websites to find distressed properties, engaging directly with homeowners to help them avoid a credit-crushing foreclosure.The Unsung Hero: Consistent Marketing & Capital Raising: Discover why "consistency" is my word for 2026. Without it, you're a "ghost." We'll talk about effective social media (LinkedIn's good, Facebook's a "dumpster fire"), email lists, and why January-March are prime months for networking to raise capital.Why You Need to Take Action (Seriously!): This isn't a hobby; it's a business. Whether it's funding delinquencies or light rehab, you'll need capital. And if you've got a killer case study or a burning topic, reach out – we love to feature badasses closing deals!This isn't about sitting back and waiting; it's about leaning into the storm and finding the gold. If you're ready to stop getting "hobby results" and want to turn distressed properties into real wealth, it's time to act. Don't be a stranger – book a call at talkwithscottcarson.com, text me at (512) 585-3810, or join our Note Buying for Dummies workshop in Austin (notebuyingfordummies.com – includes a spouse/partner, so no excuses!). Go out, take some action, everybody, and we'll see you at the top!#RealEstateInvesting #DistressedRealEstate #NonPerformingNotes #SubjectTo #ProbateInvesting #TexasRealEstate #RealEstateStrategy #CashFlow #InvestorMindset #2026Goals #RealEstateMarketing #PodcastWatch the Original VIDEO HERE!Book a Call With Scott HERE!Sign up for the next FREE One-Day Note Class HERE!Sign up for the WCN Membership HERE!Sign up for the next Note Buying For Dummies Workshop HERE!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join the Note Closers Show community today:WeCloseNotes.comThe Note Closers Show FacebookThe Note Closers Show TwitterScott Carson LinkedInThe Note Closers Show YouTubeThe Note Closers Show VimeoThe Note Closers Show InstagramWe Close Notes Pinterest

Edward H. Muñoz rose from humble beginnings as a first-generation Mexican American in a South Texas border town to build a 33-year career at Celanese, where he played a key role in transforming the company into a global leader in engineering materials. After earning a chemistry degree from the University of Texas at Austin, he joined Celanese during its pivot from fibers to high-value engineering resins and helped establish its polyacetal product as a serious competitor to industry giants like DuPont and GE. His journey included navigating corporate takeovers, leading multinational teams, confronting cultural bias, and accepting personal sacrifices, particularly the strain his ambition placed on family life. A near-fatal car accident that killed a close friend became a defining turning point, propelling him into international leadership roles and reshaping both his career trajectory and personal life. In this episode of Marketer of the Day, Edward Muñoz reflects on his legacy through his memoir Challenges, Triumphs, and Heroes: Memoirs of My Celanese Odyssey, which honors the people behind corporate success while capturing the human cost of leadership. He discusses his work in Germany and Mexico, his commitment to inclusive leadership, and the lessons learned from balancing ambition, culture, and responsibility. Now living with Parkinson's disease, he remains active through photography, travel, and leadership within the arts community, helping an organization not only survive the pandemic but grow significantly. Key takeaways include the importance of resilience, values-driven leadership, preserving personal history, and leaving something meaningful behind for future generations. Quotes: “The hardest challenge was balancing ambition with family. You gain a career, but you pay a price, and you have to decide what you are willing to give up.” “I am an American. That moment taught me how perception works and how easily people define others before they listen.” “You are not going to be around forever, so you have to leave something behind that others can learn from.” “When I think I might get fired, I remember this: I was looking for a job when I got here.” Resources: Connect with Edward H. Muñoz on LinkedIn Discover Edward H. Muñoz's journey from first-generation roots to global leadership. Get Challenges, Triumphs, and Heroes: Memoirs of My Celanese Odyssey on Amazon.

Hour 3 of The Outdoors Show! Captain Mickey is joined by Reanna De La Cruz from Baffin and Blaein Friermood from South Texas. National Anthem sung by Beyonce.

For the first seven years of her life, Cristela Alonzo lived in an abandoned diner in a South Texas border town. She spoke with Terry Gross about ICE raids, being mentored by labor activist Dolores Huerta, and the culture shock of having money after growing up so poor. Her recent Netflix stand-up special is called ‘Upper Classy.'Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In this episode, we sit down with Dan Moultrie for a story-filled conversation about big bucks, legendary hunts, and why hunting should always stay fun. Dan shares years of experience from the iconic Kennedy Ranch in South Texas, often called the Augusta National of deer hunting, where rattling in multiple mature bucks and seeing world-class whitetails was the norm. We talk age-class deer management, book deer expectations, wild rattling encounters, close calls with snakes, and what it was like hunting with some of the most recognizable names in the outdoor industry. More importantly, we dig into the camaraderie, etiquette, and mindset that make hunting meaningful long after the shot. This one's about more than antlers—it's about stories, friendships, and the reason we all fell in love with the woods in the first place. Got a question for the show? Submit a listener Q&A form - https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1uMXP Grab some Southern Outdoorsmen merch here - https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1u4aK Join Woodsman Wire - https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1u4aR Use the promo code “southern” for a discount on your OnX Hunt membership here - https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1tyfm Use code SOUTHERN10 for a discount on Outdoor Edge Knives - https://linkly.link/2EvPX Check out Latitude Outdoors for your mobile hunting gear - https://2ly.link/1zVDI Use code TSOP15 for a discount on Mossy Oak - https://linkly.link/2ERb8 Save 10% on your next Vortex Optics order at eurooptic.com using the Promo Code “southern10” - https://2ly.link/1wyYO Use code SOUTHERN20 for a discount on all vortex apparel, including eyewear Use code “SOUTHERN25” for a discount on Houndstooth Game Calls: https://2ly.link/24tFz Have you tagged a deer using something you heard on the show? Submit your listener success story here - Share Your Story Here Come chat with us on our Thursday Hunter Hangouts! Join our patreon - https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1uMXU NOTE: Not all advertisements run on this show are endorsed by The Southern Outdoorsmen Podcast unless an ad is read by one of the hosts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices