Podcasts about statistically

Austin shares how you can statistically “guarantee” that you'll get a job offer!Time Stamped Show Notes:[0:25] - Guaranteed job offers![0:43] - What sales can teach you about landing jobs[2:05] - Reverse engineering the process[4:44] - Track your successes and statistics[5:53] - Optimize, optimize, optimize!Want To Level Up Your Job Search?Click here to learn more about 1:1 career coaching to help you land your dream job without applying online.Check out Austin's courses and, as a thank you for listening to the show, use the code PODCAST to get 5% off any digital course:The Interview Preparation System - Austin's proven, all-in-one process for turning your next job interview into a job offer.Value Validation Project Starter Kit - Everything you need to create a job-winning VVP that will blow hiring managers away and set you apart from the competition.No Experience, No Problem - Austin's proven framework for building the skills and experience you need to break into a new industry (even if you have *zero* experience right now).Try Austin's Job Search ToolsResyBuild.io - Build a beautiful, job-winning resume in minutes.ResyMatch.io - Score your resume vs. your target job description and get feedback.ResyBullet.io - Learn how to write attention grabbing resume bullets.Mailscoop.io - Find anyone's professional email in seconds.Connect with Austin for daily job search content:Cultivated CultureLinkedInTwitterThanks for listening!

This is the full episode of The Morning Show with Preston Scott for Teusday, June 9th.Our guests today include:- Justin Haskins - Howard Eisenman- - Follow the show on Twitter @TMSPrestonScott. Check out Preston's latest blog by going to wflafm.com/preston. Listen live to Preston from 6 – 9 a.m. ET and 5 – 8 a.m. CT!WFLA Tallahassee Live stream: https://ihr.fm/3huZWYeWFLA Panama City Live stream: https://ihr.fm/34oufeR Follow WFLA Tallahassee on Twitter @WFLAFM and WFLA Panama City @wflapanamacity and like us on Facebook at @wflafm and @WFLAPanamaCity.

Statistically speaking, men are less likely to seek care, both for prevention and treatment. This applies to physical health and mental/behavioral health. In recent years, this discrepancy has led to a widening gap in life expectancy between men and women. We discussed these differences, the importance of care for men, and even dived into some trends with Dr. Kelly Ruel, Sr. Medical Director for Aetna/CVS Health.  To learn more about topics discussed in today's episode, please visit:AFSPA Events - https://www.afspa.org/eventsFSBP Preventive Care, Virtual Care, and Wellness Programs - https://www.afspa.org/fsbp/wellness-programs/

REMINDER: ONE WEEK TO GET THE VALIANT KICKSTARTER FUNDED Things Discussed: The Weddle comment: What does Bryce have to show this year to show this is working? Craig: If they win more than 8 games. Brian: Get the running game down. If he can read out an option everything becomes easier for him. Early Vince Young. Seth: He's got to show us his Detroit Hustles Harder side. There's a misconception in sports that money equals softness, but Underwood was the #1 prospect in his class because he was as much a grinder as he was talented. Let that show, and he'll win hearts and minds. Get to where JJ was as a true sophomore. Terrelle Pryor Year 2. Sam: Shoulda paid for a QB coach last year. He's got to stop looking at the rush. Statistically he was better than he looked. We're overrating his dismal Spring Game performance and underrating how often he had touchdown passes that his receivers botched or interceptions they didn't fight for. Andrew Marsh wasn't even looking for the ball early in the season. JJ Buchanan isn't missing the plays Freddie Moore didn't make. Whittingham recruiting: They're serious and they're recruiting the way they do, but it's interesting that they're also doing things that Harbaugh did. Tank (metal name!) Watson wasn't a Utah-style recruitment; it's a Harbaugh trick to go to big Southern schools and look at the late-developing fifth guy the scouts aren't watching because there are 4- and 5-stars all over the field. Is he a pure linebacker? Might be an edge, might be a Cole Sullivan. Sam: Dakota Guerrant is leaning Oregon but Michigan won't give up on him; they won't lose an NIL battle, but they need to prove they can pass the ball this fall. Gabe Osborne is the best player in the country; don't care what it costs. Like that he committed to hometown Oklahoma instead of Ohio State. Sam shares how Michigan flipped an NCAA decision to screw over SMSB by inviting all the campers to Michigan. Reminds us of the early Harbaugh alacrity in recruiting. Milan Momcilovic: Sam is down on Pope, thinks you don't go to Kentucky for any reason but money. Brian gives him a mulligan because UK was injured; Sam says if they don't go further than Texas this year he's fired. Funny that BYU has money as soon as Pope leaves. Michigan to play an outdoor basketball game at the Marlins stadium, because Fox was mad they didn't get to broadcast it if they played at MSG. B10 has rights to those games. Whatever the rationale is, it's a sad statement about how the sport is structured. The latest frontier is streaming. Seth thinks this is a very bad turn; how many streaming services do you need to sign up for to watch every Michigan football and basketball game this year? Worse, putting games behind paywalls is putting them out of reach of fans, especially young adults, who will find something else, cannibalizing your future (and destroying smaller market teams) for a few bucks today. Can't fault Dusty May and Michigan because they're just playing the game. I do fault the commissioner of the Big Ten and the TV execs who can't see past what money sticks to their fingers. Seth Dream: Cut out the TV guys, develop your own streaming network and keep all of the money. If you put a tenth of the money the TV guys get into production you'd have it. Brian: You're crazy; they outsource everything, and when they don't they create Big Ten Plus. Seth: not crazy, because TV takes a greater share now than they ever have before, because streaming is a new frontier that hasn't calcified yet, sports fans would rather install a free app where they could watch all of their games for free than six apps they have to sign up for. What makes it impossible is Michigan and Ohio State etc. won't like it because it's too fair.

Ever wonder if you've secretly dated a psychopath? Statistically, one in twenty people has psychopathic traits, and if you've been in the dating game for long, chances are you've run into one and didn't even know. This episode is here to give you tools that could literally save your heart, your sanity, and possibly your life. I'm joined by the world's #1 Communication Keynote Speaker and expert in Body Language and Human Behavior, Mark Bowden, who's here to teach us how to spot psychopaths, decode lies, and protect yourself from manipulators before it's too late. We break down the infamous Chris Watts case, dissecting the chilling body language and story inconsistencies that revealed the shocking truth. Mark gives us the ultimate five-point checklist for detecting deception, shares why some people don't show empathy, and teaches you how to read the red flags even when someone's acting like the perfect partner. This is a masterclass in self-defense of your mind, your emotions, and your intuition. SHOWNOTES Statistical reality: 1 in 20 have psychopathic traits. Chris Watts introduced as case study. What grief, concern, and anger look like (and what it means when you don't see them). Five things to watch for when detecting lies: changing stories, pronoun shifts, tense changes, oaths/euphemisms, and repeating questions.  Real-time analysis of Chris Watts' story: blame shifting, lack of distress, and loss of energy. Over-protesting innocence: when it signals guilt, plus the importance of conversational stakes. The psychology behind power, narcissism, and why some choose destruction over divorce. Unmasking the inner world: how psychopathic people process “unfairness” and why they act out.  How to assess guilt: what to do when your gut says “something's off.” Understanding charm as a ruse: the D4vid case and why “safe” can be smoke and mirrors. The SCAN method: suspend judgment, context, ask, new judgment, and why it can save you. Thank you to our sponsors: Shopify: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at https://shopify.com/lisa HomeServe: Plans start at just $4.99 a month https://homeserve.com K18: 10% off with code LISA at https://k18hair.com Monarch: 50% off your first year with code WOI https://monarch.com Learn more from Mark Bowden, the world's #1 Communication Keynote Speaker and expert in Body Language and Human Behavior. Watch deep-dive video breakdowns on his YouTube @MarkBowden1. Website: https://truthplane.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthplane/  Social Handles: @truthplane Follow Me, Lisa Bilyeu: Website: https://www.lisabilyeu.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisabilyeu/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisabilyeu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ever wonder if you've secretly dated a psychopath? Statistically, one in twenty people has psychopathic traits, and if you've been in the dating game for long, chances are you've run into one and didn't even know. This episode is here to give you tools that could literally save your heart, your sanity, and possibly your life. I'm joined by the world's #1 Communication Keynote Speaker and expert in Body Language and Human Behavior, Mark Bowden, who's here to teach us how to spot psychopaths, decode lies, and protect yourself from manipulators before it's too late. We break down the infamous Chris Watts case, dissecting the chilling body language and story inconsistencies that revealed the shocking truth. Mark gives us the ultimate five-point checklist for detecting deception, shares why some people don't show empathy, and teaches you how to read the red flags even when someone's acting like the perfect partner. This is a masterclass in self-defense of your mind, your emotions, and your intuition. SHOWNOTES Statistical reality: 1 in 20 have psychopathic traits. Chris Watts introduced as case study. What grief, concern, and anger look like (and what it means when you don't see them). Five things to watch for when detecting lies: changing stories, pronoun shifts, tense changes, oaths/euphemisms, and repeating questions.  Real-time analysis of Chris Watts' story: blame shifting, lack of distress, and loss of energy. Over-protesting innocence: when it signals guilt, plus the importance of conversational stakes. The psychology behind power, narcissism, and why some choose destruction over divorce. Unmasking the inner world: how psychopathic people process “unfairness” and why they act out.  How to assess guilt: what to do when your gut says “something's off.” Understanding charm as a ruse: the D4vid case and why “safe” can be smoke and mirrors. The SCAN method: suspend judgment, context, ask, new judgment, and why it can save you. Thank you to our sponsors: Shopify: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at https://shopify.com/lisa HomeServe: Plans start at just $4.99 a month https://homeserve.com K18: 10% off with code LISA at https://k18hair.com Monarch: 50% off your first year with code WOI https://monarch.com Learn more from Mark Bowden, the world's #1 Communication Keynote Speaker and expert in Body Language and Human Behavior. Watch deep-dive video breakdowns on his YouTube @MarkBowden1. Website: https://truthplane.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthplane/  Social Handles: @truthplane Follow Me, Lisa Bilyeu: Website: https://www.lisabilyeu.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisabilyeu/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisabilyeu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anfi and community members from Into UX Jobs share their real job‑search journeys — how many applications they submitted, how many interview stages they went through before landing their role, how long the process took, what their take‑home challenges looked like, the questions the design managers asked, the hardest moments they faced, what current job hunters need to know, practical interview tips, and the unfair advantages that helped them stand out.Timestamps: 02:40 - Members share general information about the companies they applied to and the positions they applied to.08:00 - Describe your job search in three words.09:30 - What was the reality you experienced? Statistically, how many companies did you apply to during your last job hunt?15:45 - How many interview stages did you go through at the company where you landed the job? If you remember, how long did the process take?18:17 - How many stages did you go through at the company where you received an offer?26:21 - When did you feel like you were actually getting an offer?32:20 - Questions you were asked by your design manager.46:28 - Moments when it felt particularly hard — the most challenging part of your process.54:38 - If you're currently job hunting, what do you need to hear right now?59:36 - What was your unfair advantage?Check out these links:Order Ioana's book on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, shipping worldwide.Ioana's ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠co-working space⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join Anfi's ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Job Search community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The community includes 3 courses, 12 live events and workshops, and a variety of templates to support you in your job search journey.Ioana's AI project: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠aidesign-os.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ioana's ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠WhatsApp group⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ioana's ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AI Goodies Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ioana's Domestika course ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Create a Learning Strategy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Enroll in Ioana's AI course ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"**AI-Powered UX Design: How to Elevate Your UX Career"**⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on Interaction Design Foundation with a 25% discount.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Into UX design⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ online course by Anfisa⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠❓Next topic ideas:Submit your questions or feedback anonymously ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on Instagram to stay tuned for the next episodes.

  https://www.uncommen.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/May-22nd.mp3 The Weight of the Rearview Mirror There is a familiar, exhausting sentiment echoed by men all over the country when they honestly assess their lives. It sounds exactly like this: “I have made so many mistakes; I am just trying to keep my head down and get through the day.” These men are operating in pure survival mode, carrying a massive, invisible backpack filled with yesterday's failures, missed opportunities, and moral blunders. They believe that their history permanently disqualifies them from spiritual leadership. But this defeated posture is a direct assault on the gospel. Understanding the biblical reality of letting go of the past is not just a self-help strategy; it is a fundamental requirement for stepping into the calling God has placed on your life. Far too many guys spend their days constantly looking in the rearview mirror. We replay our worst moments over and over again in our heads, engaging in imaginary arguments in the shower about things that happened five, ten, or even twenty years ago. We are completely convinced that everyone around us is constantly judging us for our past. But the harsh, realistic truth is that human beings are inherently self-absorbed. Most people are not thinking about your failures because they are entirely consumed with worrying about their own. If you want to change the trajectory of your family, you have to stop living in the past and start operating in the reality of God's grace. Letting go of the past means refusing to let a dead version of yourself dictate the decisions of the man you are called to be today. Distinguishing Between Healthy Reflection and Paralyzing Regret When we talk about letting go of the past, we are not suggesting you develop spiritual amnesia. There is a massive, critical difference between healthy reflection and paralyzing regret. Healthy reflection looks back at a massive failure, extracts the necessary wisdom, applies the painful lesson, and leaves the emotional baggage at the foot of the cross. It is looking in the rearview mirror just long enough to make sure you are changing lanes safely. Paralyzing regret, on the other hand, is staring into the rearview mirror so intensely that you inevitably crash the car you are currently driving. Think about the mentality required to play cornerback in the NFL. A defensive back can get completely beaten on a route, giving up a massive touchdown in the biggest game of the year. If that player dwells on that failure, if he lets that single play define his identity, he will get absolutely torched on the very next snap. To survive at an elite level, a cornerback must possess an incredibly short memory. Overcoming failure requires that exact same mental discipline. You have to learn from the blown coverage, make the necessary adjustment, and completely reset your mind for the next play. Letting go of the past is an active, ongoing discipline of resetting your mind to the truth of Scripture rather than the truth of your feelings. When you refuse to have a short memory regarding your forgiven sins, you are effectively telling God that His grace is insufficient. You are claiming that your specific brand of failure is somehow too complex or too terrible for the cross to cover. That is not humility; that is spiritual arrogance. Overcoming failure starts with acknowledging that Christ's sacrifice was entirely sufficient to cover every single one of your missteps. The Apostle Paul and the Art of Forgetting If anyone had a legitimate reason to be paralyzed by their history, it was the Apostle Paul. Before his radical encounter with Christ, Paul was actively hunting down and murdering Christians. He was holding the coats of the men who stoned Stephen to death. Yet, when Paul writes to the church, he does not write from a place of paralyzing guilt. In Philippians 3:13-14, he outlines the ultimate strategy for letting go of the past: “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Notice that Paul uses active, aggressive language. He is not passively waiting to feel better about his history; he is purposefully straining forward. Forgetting what lies behind does not mean Paul literally erased the memory of his sins. It means he systematically stripped those memories of their power to dictate his present identity. Letting go of the past is the conscious decision to stop allowing your history to act as a judge over your future. When the enemy tries to drag you backward to remind you of your past, your immediate response must be to confidently remind him of his eternal future. We often fail at letting go of the past because we try to white-knuckle our way through sanctification. We believe that if we just try harder, if we punish ourselves enough with guilt, we will somehow earn our redemption. But the gospel explicitly states that we are a new creation. When you step into a relationship with Christ, you get a clean slate. You do not receive a license to sin, but you absolutely receive the freedom to stop living in the past. If the God of the universe has chosen to cast your sins as far as the east is from the west, who are you to continually dig them back up? Shrinking God to the Size of Our Problems One of the primary reasons men struggle with letting go of the past is our deeply ingrained habit of worrying about the future consequences of our past mistakes. We look at a blunder in our marriage or a misstep in our parenting and immediately spiral into a catastrophic panic. Statistically, the vast majority of the things we relentlessly worry about never actually come to pass. Yet, we allow these phantom anxieties to entirely dictate our moods and our actions. When we operate in this constant state of panic, we are actively shrinking God down to the size of our problems. We look at a financial failure or a broken relationship and mistakenly conclude that the Creator of the universe is somehow unequipped to handle it. We treat God like a distant observer rather than an active, all-powerful Father. Letting go of the past requires you to radically enlarge your view of God. It means trusting that He is fully capable of redeeming your worst moments and using them for His ultimate glory. Think about the story of Jonah. He actively ran from God, heading in the exact opposite direction of his calling, and ended up bringing a massive, life-threatening storm upon everyone around him. When we refuse to deal with our failures, when we try to outrun our guilt, we inevitably bring chaos into our own homes. Stop running. Letting go of the past means you have to stop hiding in the bottom of the boat and willingly face the storm. Acknowledge the failure, repent, and trust that God controls the wind and the waves. The Power of the Pivot: Changing Your Ending There is an absolute, undeniable power in the pivot. It is a fundamental truth that you cannot change the beginning of your story. You cannot undo the times you lost your temper, the times you prioritized work over your children, or the times you compromised your integrity. But regardless of how poorly you started, it is never too late to radically change the ending of your story. Overcoming failure is not about achieving sudden, flawless perfection; it is about taking immediate, incremental steps in the right direction. It is realizing that every single day you wake up is a fresh opportunity to pivot toward Christ. You have the authority, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to course-correct. Letting go of the past involves a daily, sometimes hourly, surrender. It means that when you inevitably stumble, you do not throw your hands up and quit. You confess it, you leave it at the cross, and you aggressively get back to work. When men finally grasp this concept, the transformation in their homes is staggering. A father who is actively letting go of the past is a father who can offer genuine grace to his children when they make mistakes. He does not hold his family to an impossible standard of perfection because he intimately knows his own desperate need for a Savior. Stop living in the past, because your family desperately needs you fully present in the here and now. They do not need a flawless father; they need a forgiven father who is relentlessly pursuing Jesus. Generational Course-Correction Your decision regarding whether or not to embrace letting go of the past has massive, generational implications. Families are often caught in devastating cycles of anger, absence, and apathy. A father who was abandoned by his own dad often struggles with emotional absence in his own home. A man who grew up in a household defined by explosive rage will likely battle the exact same temper. These generational cycles will continue to destroy legacies until a man finally stands up and declares, "This stops with me." Addressing these deep-rooted issues is incredibly painful, messy work. It requires you to look honestly at the brokenness you inherited and the brokenness you have perpetuated. But you are not a victim of your biology, and you are not condemned to repeat the sins of your fathers. Through Christ, you possess the divine authority to break those cycles permanently. Letting go of the past is the exact mechanism that allows you to stop passing down your unhealed wounds to your children. When you actively practice letting go of the past, you are building a completely new bridge for your family to walk across. You are taking the raw materials of your failures, handing them over to the ultimate Architect, and allowing Him to construct a legacy of grace, resilience, and faith. You must use your past blunders as stepping stones for empathy and instruction, rather than allowing them to be a concrete wall that isolates you from your wife and kids. ...

Nick Gonzales is statistically one of the top five third baseball in baseball both offensively and defensively. Bryan Reynolds is first in the NL in RBI's for left fielders. Austin indicates how the Pirates offense is pacing better than Pirates offenses of the last 50 years.

Hour 1 with Joe Starkey; The Pirates are 26-24 through the first 50 games of the season. Are you more frustrated with the Pirates or more optimistic? Joe is feeling frustrated and wants more. Austin thinks the Pirates have left multiple games on the table. Nick Gonzales is statistically one of the top five third baseball in baseball both offensively and defensively. Bryan Reynolds is first in the NL in RBI's for left fielders.

Remember Ed Sullivan? Statistically, you probably don't. The man has been dead for 50 years. But you've heard of him. That used to be the power of talk shows. If we're still talking about any of the current hosts fifty years from now, I'll be shocked. You know what we'll definitely be talking about? Hangnails. They're the human condition.Topics:Ed SullivanLocal media is dyingJesse and JohnnyTormented geniusAimee Bock sentencedBemidjiCuticle clippersSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/G8QTmh_wX28 In Episode 342 of the Glass and Out Podcast, we welcome the head coach of the Minnesota Class A State Champions, Jay Hardwick. He just wrapped up his 14th season with Warroad High School, which concluded with the fifth championship in program history. In addition, Hardwick serves as the Hockey Director of Warroad Youth Hockey. He eats, breathes, and sleeps Warroad hockey. Warroad is a community of roughly 1,800 residents in northern Minnesota. In a given year, about 200 of those residents are kids playing in the local youth association. If one player were to come out of Warroad and make it to the NHL, that alone would defy the odds. But not only has the community produced a number of NHL players, including TJ Oshie and Brock Nelson, it has also produced seven Olympians between the U.S. men's and women's national teams. Statistically, Warroad is a unicorn. As a result, it has earned the moniker "Hockeytown USA." Listen as he shares the journey to a state championship, his experience growing up in Warroad, and how he's paying it forward today. Secure your TCS Live ticket: https://thecoachessitelive.com/ Download the TCS app: https://www.thecoachessite.com/app Start your 30 Day Free Trial: https://www.thecoachessite.com/ Learn more about our presenting sponsors: Hudl: hudl.com/tcs Biosteel: BioSteelTeams.com/Glassandout

Visit Jason here at AfterTheLead.comIn this episode of The Selling Podcast, hosts Scott and Mike dive into the often-dreaded world of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. They welcome Jason Kramer, founder and CEO of Cultivize and self-proclaimed "CRM Whisperer," to discuss why CRMs are often despised by sales teams and how to transform them from an administrative burden into a powerful tool for driving revenue.Why CRMs are Often HatedJason begins by explaining that the negativity surrounding CRMs stems from a lack of process and proper training. Many salespeople view them merely as tools for data entry rather than aids to make their jobs easier. Companies often hire salespeople and expect them to naturally know how to use these complex tools without providing a clear playbook or defining the necessary processes.Common CRM Mistakes and the Importance of NurturingA major hurdle for sales reps is the failure to follow up effectively. Salespeople get busy and postpone following up with leads who aren't ready to buy immediately, causing potential deals to fall through the cracks.Jason emphasizes the critical importance of "nurturing" leads, which he defines not as bombarding them with weekly emails, but as educating them. By providing valuable resources (like relevant articles or insights) that help solve their problems, you build rapport and educate them to make better decisions when they are ready to buy. Studies show that 63% of leads who enter the funnel will eventually buy if properly nurtured.Practical Advice for Sales RepsBlock Time on Your Calendar: The "I don't have time" excuse is common. Jason and the hosts strongly advise allocating rigid time blocks on your calendar specifically for Business Development. Treating CRM updates as part of business development makes it less likely to be pushed aside.Define Your Process: Take a step back and literally write down the steps in your ideal sales cycle. This defines the standard activities that need to happen at each stage.Utilize "Lead Scoring": Most CRMs track prospect activity (website visits, email opens, etc.). Leveraging lead scoring allows sales reps to prioritize leads who are actively showing interest, telling you who to call today.The 15-Minute Rule: When responding to new inbound leads, speed is everything. Statistically, waiting more than 15 minutes to reach out can cause you to lose the deal to a competitor who responds faster. If you cannot call immediately, utilize automated auto-responder emails to set expectations and maintain the conversation.The Role of AI in the Future of CRMThe conversation concludes with insights into how AI is impacting CRM usage. AI tools can analyze transcripts of calls and meetings to identify pain points, detect tonality, and provide actionable highlights. Furthermore, AI can help salespeople articulate follow-up communications more clearly and effectively by analyzing the customer's concerns and suggesting the best language to overcome them.

Growing up is hard enough, but for the children of serial killers, the weight of their parents' horrific crimes is a shadow that never fades.EPISODE PAGE (includes sources and transcript): https://weirddarkness.com/ChildrenOfSerialKillersIN THIS EPISODE: Many people have claimed to see ghosts near the iconic “Hollywood” sign in California – but one particular ghost is seen more often than the others – and it comes with a sad story. *** Weirdo family member Andrew Horne tells of his ghostly experience in Gettysburg. *** Why did Nellie Blye intentionally check herself into an asylum for a harrowing ten days? *** Statistically speaking, you will walk past a murderer 10.76 times in your life. But what if you didn't just walk past a murderer - what if they were a part of your family and you didn't know it?CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = Show Open00:01:32.128 = The Children of Serial Killers00:30:05.441 = Hollywood Sign's Lady in White ***00:33:57.435 = Ghosts In Gettysburg00:38:10.085 = Nellie Bly's Living Nightmare00:42:29.147 = Show CloseSOURCES AND RESOURCES FROM THE EPISODE…“The Children of Serial Killers” by Stefanie Hammond for Ranker: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/557775be“The Hollywood Sign's Lady In White” posted at RealParanormalExperiences.com: (link no longer valid)“Ghosts In Gettysburg” by Weirdo family member Andrew Horne – submitted directly to Weird Darkness.“Nellie Bly's Living Nightmare” by Orrin Grey for The Line Up: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/nellie-bly=====(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46= = = = =WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.=====Originally aired: November, 2018

Four presidents were killed while in office:• Abraham Lincoln (1865)Shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre just days after the Civil War effectively ended. The timing alone makes it feel like history couldn't wait to pivot. • James A. Garfield (1881)Shot by Charles J. Guiteau. Garfield didn't die immediately. He lingered for weeks, and many historians believe poor medical treatment contributed to his death as much as the bullet did. • William McKinley (1901)Shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition. Another delayed death, another moment where medicine lagged behind the crisis. • John F. Kennedy (1963)Shot in Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald. This is the one that never really settled into history. It still hums in the background of American culture like an unresolved chord. ________________________________________Presidents Who Survived Assassination AttemptsA longer list, and in some ways, a more revealing one.• Andrew Jackson (1835)The first attempted assassination of a sitting president. The attacker's guns misfired. Jackson reportedly responded by beating the man with his cane. Not exactly a Secret Service moment. • Theodore Roosevelt (1912, while campaigning)Shot in the chest, then delivered a speech anyway. The bullet was slowed by a folded speech manuscript and a glasses case in his pocket. A literal case of paperwork saving a life. • Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933, president-elect)Shot at in Miami. He wasn't hit, but Chicago mayor Anton Cermak was killed. A reminder that these events rarely stay contained. • Harry S. Truman (1950)Puerto Rican nationalists attacked Blair House, where Truman was staying. A White House police officer was killed in the firefight. • Gerald Ford (1975, twice in one month)Two separate attempts in California, both by women, both failing. Statistically bizarre, historically overlooked. • Ronald Reagan (1981)Shot by John Hinckley Jr.. Reagan survived, but the bullet came terrifyingly close to killing him. The incident reshaped modern presidential security. • Bill Clinton (1994)Shots fired at the White House by Francisco Martin Duran. Clinton wasn't harmed. • George W. Bush (2005)A grenade was thrown during a speech in Georgia (the country). It failed to detonate. One of those moments where history hinges on a mechanical malfunction. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week's episode is part three of the layoff series, and it's focused entirely on the employee side of the experience: what to actually do when you or someone you know is the one getting laid off.Spoiler alert: Over 40% of Americans have been laid off at least once in their careers. Statistically, this conversation is more relevant than most of us want to admit.This is a greatest hits episode worth another listen because the layoff conversation almost always centers on the company executing it. Traci flips the lens and walks through what employees actually need to know in the aftermath, from the immediate questions that surface in that first conversation to negotiating your severance, protecting your intellectual property, and separating your sense of self from your employer.What We Cover:That initial shock and what it might actually be telling youThe questions you should absolutely ask in that roomSeparation agreements and why everything is negotiableThe age 40 rule that changes your review timelineHealthcare continuation and what to ask for before COBRA ever enters the pictureWhat your former employer can and can't say about why you leftThe intellectual property clause you might have already signedWhy your resume should never be an emergencyUntangling your identity from your job titleFinancial resources and moves worth having on your radarConnect with Traci here:https://linktr.ee/HRTraciDisclaimer: Thoughts, opinions, and statements made on this podcast are not a reflection of the thoughts, opinions, and statements of the Company by whom Traci Chernoff is actively employed.Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products or services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.

NEVER FORGET 15 YEARS AGO TONIGHT IN 2011 PRESIDENT OBAMA PUSHED BACK THE OSAMA BIN LADEN RAID ONE DAY SO HE COULD ATTEND THE WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS DINNER.When I researched the Leftist who wanted to kill President Trump, I got a TMZ article. And he was dressed in his graduation garb. He graduated last year.Assassination Attempts on PresidentsPresidents Who Were AssassinatedFour presidents were killed while in office:• Abraham Lincoln (1865)Shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre just days after the Civil War effectively ended. The timing alone makes it feel like history couldn't wait to pivot. • James A. Garfield (1881)Shot by Charles J. Guiteau. Garfield didn't die immediately. He lingered for weeks, and many historians believe poor medical treatment contributed to his death as much as the bullet did. • William McKinley (1901)Shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition. Another delayed death, another moment where medicine lagged behind the crisis. • John F. Kennedy (1963)Shot in Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald. This is the one that never really settled into history. It still hums in the background of American culture like an unresolved chord. ________________________________________Presidents Who Survived Assassination AttemptsA longer list, and in some ways, a more revealing one.• Andrew Jackson (1835)The first attempted assassination of a sitting president. The attacker's guns misfired. Jackson reportedly responded by beating the man with his cane. Not exactly a Secret Service moment. • Theodore Roosevelt (1912, while campaigning)Shot in the chest, then delivered a speech anyway. The bullet was slowed by a folded speech manuscript and a glasses case in his pocket. A literal case of paperwork saving a life. • Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933, president-elect)Shot at in Miami. He wasn't hit, but Chicago mayor Anton Cermak was killed. A reminder that these events rarely stay contained. • Harry S. Truman (1950)Puerto Rican nationalists attacked Blair House, where Truman was staying. A White House police officer was killed in the firefight. • Gerald Ford (1975, twice in one month)Two separate attempts in California, both by women, both failing. Statistically bizarre, historically overlooked. • Ronald Reagan (1981)Shot by John Hinckley Jr.. Reagan survived, but the bullet came terrifyingly close to killing him. The incident reshaped modern presidential security. • Bill Clinton (1994)Shots fired at the White House by Francisco Martin Duran. Clinton wasn't harmed. • George W. Bush (2005)A grenade was thrown during a speech in Georgia (the country). It failed to detonate. One of those moments where history hinges on a mechanical malfunction. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Maintain Your Heading or Course Correction. If you don't like where you are in your life, how do you change it? Discover the answer on this episode of Fight To Win with Pastor Kurt Owen.Tactical Tip: Many of our videos contain a short section we call Tactical Tips. Most offer ways to improve personal safety and security. The tactical tip on this video starts at 1:12. Statistically there are usually multiple attackers. Pastor Kurt shows how and what to do once you neutralized the threat you've already identified.Request the Free Offer: https://www.fighttowin.tvLearn More, Register for Events & Donate:https://www.kurtowen.com/***UPDATED TEXT TO GIVE INFORMATION***Text GIVEKOM to 44321Prefer to Watch the Video?https://youtu.be/jpPbJBw2rm0Become a supporter of this podcasthttps://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fight-to-win-tv-with-kurt-owen--5638799/support.

Welcome to a Monday edition of WHAT THE TRUCK?!?. Coming off a masterful weekend in Chattanooga, hosts Malcolm Harris and Michael Vincent are back to break down the biggest headlines in freight, from the "sexiness" of cargo theft stats to the reality of Amazon's drone ambitions. While headlines are buzzing with $1,000,000 Lego heists and stolen Kit Kats, the guys look at the actual math. Statistically, freight fraud and theft account for only 0.0036% of freight moved in North America. We discuss why this "sexy" topic gets so much airtime and how technology from companies like Highway is driving necessary trust factors in the industry. Amazon is ramping up Prime Air, aiming to deliver 500 million packages annually by the end of the decade. Michael Vincent isn't buying the hype, questioning the efficiency and safety of "dropping a fragile vase 20 feet out of the ass of a drone" just to satisfy consumer demand for faster delivery Anna Falcon, VP of Customer Experience at MCA Connect, joins the show to discuss why manufacturers must move beyond "boring widgets" to holistic customer strategy. David Long, VP of Product Management at Fleetworthy, pulls back the curtain on the "illusion of data". Many fleets think they have a handle on accidents, but fragmented spreadsheets won't stand up in court. David introduces Legal Lock, a feature that creates an immutable, time-stamped record of an accident to protect a fleet's credibility during litigation. Watch on YouTube Visit our sponsor - TRUCKSTOP Subscribe to the WTT newsletter Apple Podcasts Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts #WHATTHETRUCK #FreightNews #supplychain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a Monday edition of WHAT THE TRUCK?!?. Coming off a masterful weekend in Chattanooga, hosts Malcolm Harris and Michael Vincent are back to break down the biggest headlines in freight, from the "sexiness" of cargo theft stats to the reality of Amazon's drone ambitions. While headlines are buzzing with $1,000,000 Lego heists and stolen Kit Kats, the guys look at the actual math. Statistically, freight fraud and theft account for only 0.0036% of freight moved in North America. We discuss why this "sexy" topic gets so much airtime and how technology from companies like Highway is driving necessary trust factors in the industry. Amazon is ramping up Prime Air, aiming to deliver 500 million packages annually by the end of the decade. Michael Vincent isn't buying the hype, questioning the efficiency and safety of "dropping a fragile vase 20 feet out of the ass of a drone" just to satisfy consumer demand for faster delivery Anna Falcon, VP of Customer Experience at MCA Connect, joins the show to discuss why manufacturers must move beyond "boring widgets" to holistic customer strategy. David Long, VP of Product Management at Fleetworthy, pulls back the curtain on the "illusion of data". Many fleets think they have a handle on accidents, but fragmented spreadsheets won't stand up in court. David introduces Legal Lock, a feature that creates an immutable, time-stamped record of an accident to protect a fleet's credibility during litigation. Watch on YouTube Visit our sponsor - TRUCKSTOP Subscribe to the WTT newsletter Apple Podcasts Spotify More FreightWaves Podcasts #WHATTHETRUCK #FreightNews #supplychain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The world is changing rapidly and violence directed at churches, church leaders and congregations has increased over ten times what it was five years ago. Statistically, churches that are protected by visible armed security are far less likely to experience violence compared to those that are not. While we all wish we could go back to a time when armed protection in church was not a necessity, and I would argue that most safety team members want that more than anyone; we must acknowledge the reality of where our society is at and take prudent precautions. Ana joins me in this episode of the podcast to switch roles and interview me about my role as a church safety team member and team leader. Visit our website for more podcast and content.

Andy and Jeff take a look at the Guardians' offensive stats compared to the rest of the league, and talk about how and why the team keeps winning when their offense seems to be lacking.

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning workplace podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture. Today, April 2nd, 2026, marks World Autism Day. Statistically, if you have 70 employees, at least one is likely autistic—whether they have disclosed it to you or not. In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Laura Dean, a chartered occupational psychologist, President-Elect of the British Psychological Society, and a leading expert on neurodiversity. Laura explains why building a workplace that works for autistic employees isn't just about "being nice"—it's about high-performance system design that makes work better for everyone.

Ah, yes.  Springtime means the return of your favorite eight United Football League (UFL) spring football teams for a third consecutive season. Except for the San Antonio Brahmas, Michigan Panthers, and Memphis Showboats, that is! Those three UFL teams were vaporized last summer to become a part of league history. The UFL moving trucks have been busy during the off-season United Football League team locations in San Antonio, Detroit, and Memphis were replaced with new franchises in the states of Florida, Ohio, and Kentucky. The Orlando Storm, Columbus Aviators, and Louisville Kings will join the Birmingham Stallions, DC Defenders, Houston Gamblers, and St. Louis Battlehawks in 2026. In addition, the former Arlington Renegades moved across town to morph into the Dallas Renegades.  But even the name “Dallas” is a bit misleading.  The Renegades will play this season in Toyota Stadium – a 24,000 seat soccer stadium in fast-growing Frisco.  That city is 25 miles north of downtown Dallas. The UFL has smartly downsized its stadiums and cut more costs this season. All eight UFL teams still practice at the same facility in Arlington, Texas on weekdays and then fly to play games on weekends in each team’s respective home market. All but two of the eight spring football franchises will play in smaller soccer venues beginning this season.  The new stadiums generally have a seating capacity of no more than 25,000. The Houston Gamblers vamoosed from the 40,000 seat football stadium at the University of Houston in favor of a more “right sized” environment at the downtown home of the Houston Dynamo soccer franchise. Wisely, the UFL owners have learned that the optics of showing thousands of empty seats on nationally televised football games is a very bad look for TV.  The high costs of leasing a traditional football stadium was another big factor in making that switch, too. The St. Louis Battlehawks (which led the UFL in home attendance with more than 30,000 fans per home game) will continue to play in the 60,000 seat Dome at America’s Center. Locally known as the “BattleDome”, the indoor football stadium was the former home of the NFL’s St. Louis Rams prior to the team moving to Los Angeles. Birmingham will continue to play in UAB’s state of the art 47,000 seat football stadium.  The league smartly cordoned off the upper deck last season, so the actual seating capacity for Stallions home games is about 25,000. When is the first UFL football game this year? The 2026 UFL season picked a bad time to get started (again).   This weekend’s season openers will have stiff competition from the men’s and women’s NCAA March Madness college basketball tournament. Game #1 of the new UFL season is this Friday night (March 27) at 7PM CDT on FOX. The Birmingham Stallions visit Kentucky to play in the first-ever home game for the Louisville Kings. Saturday, March 28 will feature an afternoon doubleheader.  The opening game will start at 11AM CDT on ESPN as 2025 champion DC Defenders invade the St. Louis Battlehawks.  The second game (3PM CDT on FOX) has the Houston Gamblers riding up I-45 to play their intrastate rival, the Dallas Renegades. Sunday’s final opening weekend game will pit two new entries taking the field for the first time. The Columbus Aviators take flight to central Florida to play the Orlando Storm at 7PM CDT on ESPN. The UFL added a giant source of cash as billionaire Mike Repole joined the ownership team Who is Mike Repole, you ask? If you have heard of beverage brands such as VitaminWater and BodyArmor, it was entrepreneur Mike Repole who built and sold those companies to Coca-Cola for a cool $12 billion. That means that the UFL just added another financial partner with deep pockets.  Mike Repole is about to learn that the UFL and every other prior spring football iteration has been a gigantic money pit. Last season’s UFL was owned by former WWE wrestling legend Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and his ex-wife Dany Garcia along with Fox Sports, Disney (ESPN), and private equity investor Redbird Capital Partners. The privately-held United Football League is not required to publish annual financial reports.  They are quite tight-lipped about the league’s finances. It’s not a secret that the UFL has posted annual losses into the tens of millions of dollars. A lot of cash is required to pay stadium leases, players, and other significant costs One source reported that Ford Field in Detroit (former home to the now-deceased Michigan Panthers franchise) cost the league $500,000 per home game. That’s a cool $2.5 million per season for just one stadium’s rental fees. Last year’s Michigan Panthers averaged less than 12,000 fans per home game.  Their average ticket price in 2025 was about $25.  That generated about $300,000 in ticket revenue per home game for a season-ending total of about $1.5 million. Ouch. But wait, there’s more. Each team had 45 active players on the roster in 2025.  The average salary per player was about $60,000.  That’s another $2.7 million per team – just for the player salaries. Coaches are another significant expense.  Even relatively unknown coaches will cost a UFL team about $1 million annually. Don’t forget the cost of insurance, transportation costs to and from the games, practice facilities, home office costs, and a lot more. Yes, the UFL is losing money with every game they play Television advertising is the largest revenue source for the UFL. However, the television ratings in 2025 dipped 20% below 2024’s mediocre numbers.  The UFL’s average weekly television audience last season was less than 800,000 viewers per game.  Even the league’s title game failed to attract more than one million television viewers. Until the UFL can capture and sustain at least one million television viewers per game, the league’s television revenues will be insufficient to cover the costs of operations. The UFL receives a set amount from its television partners (ESPN and FOX Sports).  In return, the networks pay for the production costs of each telecast.  They also retain the vast majority of the revenue generated from ads sold within each football game. The more home viewers tune-in to watch UFL games, the more money the networks will be able charge to advertisers.  The UFL must produce results for the networks this season.  It’s that simple. The UFL’s costs of operations seem relatively fixed.  The league can improve its financial picture by growing additional home stadium revenues (higher attendance and/or higher ticket prices).  Revenues from annual television fees will become more significant once home viewership grows by 50% over the puny 2025 TV ratings. That’s why new investor Mike Repole’s billion dollar checkbook is so important to the UFL this year. The other owners are, most likely, tapped-out. What’s new in the UFL for this season? Aside from my rather gloomy financial comments, the on-field product for the United Football League will feature some rather interesting innovations this spring. A 4-point field goal is coming! If your kicker can somehow clear the crossbar from 60 yards or more, a field goal will be worth four points in the UFL.  This new 4-point field goal option sounds good, until you realize that a missed attempt will hand the football over to the opposing team near midfield. Pass receivers need only one foot in-bounds for a legal catch! This is the same rule being used in college football.  The UFL felt like the NFL’s “both feet must be in bounds” rule was also a little bit dangerous for wide receivers. Another reason for the “one foot in-bounds” change by the UFL is get teams to score more points. The UFL has struggled with relatively low scoring games during its first two seasons.  Teams which first reach the 20 point mark generally win most UFL spring football games. No “tush push” in the UFL! This should have been outlawed by the NFL, too.  My personal thanks to the UFL for getting rid of this rather odd-looking and often dangerous play where the quarterback is shoved by his own players for a first down or into the end zone. No punts allowed from inside the 50-yard line This is yet another attempt to improve overall scoring in the UFL.  Today’s punters have become quite proficient at landing the football inside of the opponent’s ten yard line.  Statistically speaking, most offenses do not move the football 90 yards downfield for a touchdown or even a field goal after being pinned near their own goal line to start a drive. Summary: UFL televised games will be shown on FOX, FS1, ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 again this season. There is a ten game regular season beginning this Friday, March 27 and ending on Sunday, May 31.  There are two semifinal playoff games on Sunday, June 7.  The league championship game will be played on Saturday, June 13 with kick-off at 2PM CDT on ABC. New UFL financial backer Mike Repole is pushing hard to make the spring football league more fan-friendly this season. He said, “The UFL exists to innovate.  If we’re not making the game more exciting and fan-focused, we’re not doing our job.” As usual, I will track the attendance at UFL home games in addition to the television ratings this season.  Both measures must improve by 15% or more, or you could be watching the final season of UFL spring football unfold over the next 2 ½ months. The post Ready or not, UFL Spring Football returns this Weekend appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

Send us Fan MailShe's thought about faking it. Statistically, she probably has.Between 58–80% of women have faked an orgasm — not once, but regularly, with partners they actually cared about. Most of those men never knew. If you want to be the exception, this episode is for you.This isn't about blame. It's about understanding what actually creates faking — and the specific things you can do to change it.What you'll learn: ✔ The 6 real reasons women fake it (none of them are what you think) ✔ Why "just ask her what she wants" is not actually a solution ✔ The specific moves that make honesty feel safe enough to happen ✔ How to stop being the man she performs for and become the man she actually wants

Topics include: Was Vanderbilt falling down four runs and coming back to win what the team needed? Statistically, the team is several wins better than its 11-7 mark, which indicates some hope... ... if the pitching can come through (and parts have gotten somewhat better)... ... but the staff has to get healthy and we're not sure if that's happening or not. Baseball is really lacking a home-field advantage right now. Plus, brief basketball talk. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A controversial concrete crushing plant continues to grind near downtown Sarasota. But now the city is getting ready to sue.Next: On the board of New College, a culture war crusader is out, and a football coach is in. We're taking a close look at what Urban Meyer has to say about education.Then: An agreement with a large commercial developer to run their golf courses is creating anxiety at one of Sarasota's oldest planned developments. Next: If you live in the City of Sarasota, you have rented one of those e-scooters at least three times. Statistically, that is. Ed James III puts the spotlight on our fast-growing micromobility and the conflicts that come with it.Finally: Our reporter Rhatia Murphy will take you on a stroll through the area's farmers' markets.

HT2554 - Scant Feedback, If Any Applause is lovely. Accolades are lovely. Sales are lovely. Relying on such feedback to fuel your motivations is to place yourself in a position that doesn't help your creativity. Statistically, it just doesn't add up. Produce your work because you need to do it and because the Universe needs you to do it, not for the applause and (God forbid) not for the sales. This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2500 and counting! — are available to members of LensWork Online. Try a 30-day membership for only $10 and discover the literally terabytes of content about photography and the creative process.

Today's Sports Daily covers which college basketball teams have, statistically, the best shot to win the national championship and who do I like right now, how many networks are the four major sports shown on, and the ABS results are in after 2 weeks of spring training.  Music written by Bill Conti & Allee Willis (Casablanca Records/Universal Music Group)  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today's Sports Daily covers which college basketball teams have, statistically, the best shot to win the national championship and who do I like right now, how many networks are the four major sports shown on, and the ABS results are in after 2 weeks of spring training. Music written by Bill Conti & Allee Willis (Casablanca Records/Universal Music Group)  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today's Sports Daily covers which college basketball teams have, statistically, the best shot to win the national championship and who do I like right now, how many networks are the four major sports shown on, and the ABS results are in after 2 weeks of spring training.  Music written by Bill Conti & Allee Willis (Casablanca Records/Universal Music Group)  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today's Sports Daily covers which college basketball teams have, statistically, the best shot to win the national championship and who do I like right now, how many networks are the four major sports shown on, and the ABS results are in after 2 weeks of spring training.  Music written by Bill Conti & Allee Willis (Casablanca Records/Universal Music Group)  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today's Sports Daily covers which college basketball teams have, statistically, the best shot to win the national championship and who do I like right now, how many networks are the four major sports shown on, and the ABS results are in after 2 weeks of spring training. Music written by Bill Conti & Allee Willis (Casablanca Records/Universal Music Group)  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

"Statistically you're more likely to die in a hospital than anywhere else."The Horror Bulls descend into The Void (2016), a blood-soaked love letter to 80s cosmic horror packed with cult robes, hospital nightmares, and practical effects that melt your brain. We unpack the Lovecraftian ambition, the Carpenter vibes, and whether the story matches the monstrous spectacle.

In today's episode, we're talking about how sensory regulation through a trauma-informed multi-tiered system of supports is the missing link in moving the needle for student success at your school.My original research exposed that as a school counselor, I had spent over 500 hours on crisis intervention (putting out fires) in one academic calendar year. Statistically, knowing the prevalence of trauma in early childhood, I knew those hours weren't spent on willful disobedience, but on guiding students through survival strategies and fight-or-flight responses.Schools that don't implement trauma-informed best practices and sensory support are likely not buffering students from the 60 percent of dysregulation triggers in the school environment.That's why I created the Schools with GRIT®  Trauma-Informed Schools Maturity Audit, a free download to help you assess the need at your school and leverage Title funding to move the needle for school climate and achievement in your district.Free Download Trauma-Informed Schools Maturity Audit:https://na2.documents.adobe.com/public/esignWidget?wid=CBFCIBAA3AAABLblqZhDJA_ezzYln7EXqbR55ZVlY3SpMNpzzGjNsJ8qHjhOjuMYtgdiphjOOE7M68k8vg3A*Schools with GRIT® Guide:https://www.overcomingadversityllc.com/copy-of-online-trainings

Statistically, February is when most people abandon their goals. But this week's New Moon in Aquarius gives you a chance to recommit—unconventionally. In this episode, I share how I use this Aquarius energy to inject innovation into my business planning. This New Moon is about doing things YOUR way, an In Your Element, not the "proper" way, so let's brainstorm innovative approaches that work with how you tick and will help you break free from what's not working and find your unique path forward.From Chaos to Peace Consulting Inc - https://connygraf.com Get my newsletter In Your Element delivered every Moon-Day (Monday) Schedule a FREE "Bring Your Chaos To Me" Call Take the free Quiz and figure out your >>> Organizing Personality

Tim Martinez, Value Creation, Strategic, and Exit & Succession Planning Advisor—also known as “The Inside Man”—is on a mission to empower entrepreneurs and make the world a better place with his philosophy of “No entrepreneur left behind.”  In this episode, Tim shares how he evolved from starting small businesses as a teenager to advising founders on high-stakes growth and exit decisions. We explore Tim's 3 Exits Framework, which breaks exit planning into three critical phases: Mental Exit (separating identity from the business), Role Exit (building leadership and succession so the business can run without the owner), and Technical Exit (valuation, deal structure, and the formal sale process). Tim also explains why AI is accelerating business disruption, why minimalism is a competitive advantage, and what keeps so many businesses stuck at the $3M revenue ceiling. — 3 Ways to Exit Your Business with Tim Martinez Good day, dear listeners. Steve Preda here, the Founder of the Summit OS Group. And I have as my guest today Tim Martinez, who is a Value Creation, Strategic, and Exit & Succession Planning Advisor, also known as “The Inside Man.” Tim also has a successful Substack with lots of followers, which has a similar title, Inside Man. He's also built his own ChatGPT API, so he's running with the times. Tim, welcome to the show.  Thanks, Steve. Great to be here.  Finally, we have someone who is ahead of the curve on AI and the technological evolution that's part of this new industry revolution. So let’s start with my favorite question. What is your personal ‘Why’ and how are you manifesting it in your practice and in your business?  Yeah. My personal ‘Why’ is to make the world a better place and to empower entrepreneurs. “No entrepreneur left behind” has kind of been my motto. Since I was a kid—I started businesses very young, like 15 or 16—people would ask me, “How are you doing this?” And I would help however I could. And it was just always felt really good to help my fellow entrepreneurs, whether I was helping them in a small way or a big way. And there's nothing better than seeing some of the advice you're able to give someone actually get implemented.Share on X Then you see them go, “Wow, oh my gosh, this is great.” And again, sometimes it’s small, sometimes it’s big. But I believe entrepreneurs rule the world, and I do my part every day—whether it's writing my Substack, jumping on podcasts, or writing books. I'm always here just to share what I've learned, because I think that’s what makes the world go round.  Well, you have a boundless energy, because you are writing books, you are writing your blog, you are doing these podcasts. Then you also have to gather the information, right? You have to work with clients—otherwise there's no raw material. That is very impressive. So what took you to this point? How did you evolve? I mean, you started at 15, but surely you were not coaching or consulting people at 15.  Yeah, so I probably spent about 10 years just starting small businesses. I had the lemonade stand, then a coffee business and a silk-screen business. I had a DJ business, a retail store, a marketing and advertising agency, a small one, but I was able to sell it. And I got lucky and sold a couple of these small businesses. I built websites, built apps—I mean, anything you can do to make a buck. I was just kind of hustling and figuring it out on my own. And at a certain point in time, maybe like 10 years later, someone asked me to help them write their business plan. It was the first time I thought, “Huh, someone wants to pay me to help them write a business plan. That sounds interesting.” Okay. And I had written all of my own business plans for 10 years. I used to go to SCORE—the Senior Corps of Retired Executives, a division of the SBA—and they would consult for free. They still do, by the way. And I always said my long-term goal was to be an old advisor at SCORE, because they helped me so much when I was a kid.Share on X So I charged money for my first business plan. That person was able to raise money from their uncle. Then they said, “Well, hey, we got this money. What do we do now?” So I said, “Well, I think I can charge you. I think this is called consulting. Maybe I'll just charge you to help execute your business plan.” It was a small business, and I went to Barnes & Noble and bought a book that was like this big—How to Start a Consulting Business. I just sat there and highlighted the whole thing. It had CD-ROM forms in the back. I knew nothing about consulting. And probably for the next handful of years, I just focused on writing business plans and helping people. That's kind of what got me into consulting and working with bigger businesses. It really started with business plans and small businesses.Share on X  Yeah. I mean, business plans are great because you are envisioning the future of the business, crunching the numbers—what's going to happen with your top line, bottom line, costs, overhead, margins—and essentially it helps you visualize the skeleton of the business. Then you can put the meat on the bone, kind of thing.  Yeah. And I had worked on hundreds of business plans, and  pitch decks, financial models, and market research. That documentation aspect of a business, I had spent a good, let's say, 10 years working very heavily with clients as an analyst in consulting firms. And that’s really what got me into the game and got me into bigger and bigger businesses, because I got very good at doing that with no formal training—and we didn't really have what the internet is today. I remember going to the downtown library in Los Angeles, finding articles, and taking scanned copies of them. That’s how we did our market research. And business plans used to be like a dictionary. The SBA would require business plans to meet all these requirements, so we ended up with huge business plans. Now people want a one-pager, maybe a 10-slide deck, and call it a day. Where I got my chops was from understanding every imaginable nuance of every business in all verticals. I worked around the world with businesses, and I guess I was in the right place at the right time for it.Share on X  Yeah, that’s very humble. So one of the things that you do is you help people prepare for exit, and you came up with this framework called The 3 Exits Framework. I thought it was fascinating to think about exits from different perspectives and to have different mental models for them. How did you come up with this, and can you explain to the audience what it looks like, how it works, and how it helps entrepreneurs? Yeah. And it’s important to note that I started my career starting businesses, helping people get the start. And as I got older, the businesses I worked with were also getting older. And as I got a little more gray hair and a few more wrinkles, people would take me more seriously at the later stages of the business, when they maybe wouldn’t take me so seriously when I was in my early twenties. So my business had evolved from starting to growing and then eventually to exiting, and that’s where most of my clients are now. What I’ve discovered is most people enter the exit planning conversation at the very end, asking, “What is my business worth? Who wants to buy it?” Needing a business valuation is the most common first question: “Whoa, what's it worth?” But after working with a handful of companies through this whole exit process, you start to realize that there’s far more than just the numbers. The 3 Exits Framework says there are three exits that need to occur before you're out and on your yacht, sailing into the sunset.Share on X The first exit is the mental exit, which we can talk about at length. It's your role—your identity in the business. Who am I if I'm not the CEO? What am I going to do with my time if I'm not running this business? Who am I if people can't come to me with their every burning question? It’s this piece, it’s so important. And a lot of people don’t want to give up control. They don’t even know they’re control freaks, which I'll call them for lack of a better term. But they don’t even know that they are that. You have to help them through that.  The second exit is really your role exit, because eventually someone needs to run this business in your absence. The whole tenant of selling a business is that you're not going to be in it. You might have earnouts or some transitional involvement, but eventually, you will not run this business. So you have to replicate yourself. Most people say, “I've tried, but it hasn't worked.” Well, you know what? Now’s the time for this to work. It's time to build SOPs, standards of excellence, and get someone who could be better than you ever were in that seat. So that role exit is a big part, and that would be true succession. The other part of that is it’s not just the CEO or the owner. A lot of times it’s them and they’re number one, or they’re number two, or number three, because in many cases those people also have equity and ownership in the companies in some cases. So we need to get succession in line for multiple roles.  And then the third exit is your technical exit. It’s the one piece everyone feels like they start with that is your valuation, getting your documentation together, running a formal auction process, making sure that you’re looking at multiple buyers, whether strategic or financial. And just running a very thorough, formal process that’s going to get you the highest valuation possible. And structuring a deal that there’s going to be a little bit of give and take. Most deals die because of misaligned expectations. And they’re usually misaligned expectations on that final exit. So when you put those three things together and someone says, I want to sell my business, or we're thinking about exiting in the next couple years, I just start first with the identity part.Share on X Yeah. And people underestimate the significance of that. It can sound touchy-feely and like an afterthought in most cases. And people think that just by earning a sack of money, their life will be solved and all problems will disappear. But actually, problems exist at all levels. Elon Musk probably has more problems than most listeners here.  Sure.  So, it's not going to solve your problems, and identity is huge. I talk to people—I was also an M&A advisor for over 10 years, sold many businesses, visited former clients, and went out on their boats on the lake. Often, that was the one time they actually used the boat, because they didn't really need it. They thought they did, but they didn't. Next time, the engine wouldn't start, or the boat was full of water. Or they'd go out on the golf course, meet new people, and ask, “Who are they?” It turned out they were just retired rich people—not interesting entrepreneurs or CEO. That's a huge change. And with the Great Wealth Transfer and the aging Baby Boomer population, there's a statistic that says 50% of business owners are forced into an exit—meaning there’s some life event that occurs that says you now need to sell your business and get out. And you and I both know that if you’re forced to an exit, you’re going to be taking a major discount. But those forces can happen when you have a heart attack, or someone in your family has a health issue, or your grandkids and everybody moves multiple states and you want to go with them. All these things happen. So our recommendation is just start having the conversation now.  Yeah. And so I think it's a little bit like saving for retirement. A lot of people keep putting it off, and eventually there's no time left to do it, and then they’re in trouble. So how do you even raise awareness with people about this? How do you work with them to prepare this? Can you actually raise awareness and make them feel this is a real issue? How do you raise awareness?  Well, I have my blog, and that’s probably where I do most of my conversations. I wrote about the 3 Exits Framework. Any chance I get to speak, I always use it to raise awareness around the subject. In my consulting practice, I work with a handful of consulting firms and investment banks. Anytime I get pulled into a conversation about exit planning, I usually just pause for a second and just talk about their life goals.Share on X Like, what do you really want this exit to do for you? Because there are so many things you can do and a million ways to do it. So, what do you really want this exit to mean for you? Also, remember, Uncle Sam is going to take his cut—so not everyone gets the biggest check possible. Usually, what we hear is people say, “I'm just so exhausted. I don't have anything left in me for this thing, and anything I can get for it, I'd be happy to take, as long as it means I don't have to put out every single fire.” And this usually happens because they didn't build good systems to remove themselves from the business.  Otherwise, they would've been the chairman, and just meeting with their CEO, who's running the business. That’s usually not the case with these owner-operator businesses. And that doesn't mean they're small, by the way. I mean, they could be running a $50 million business and still the choke point where everything has to run through them and they’re just exhausted and burnt out.  Do you think that this AI revolution is going to change things? Is it going to make more people exit-ready because it's easier to create systems?  Perhaps. Yeah, I think it's helping the service provider world be more efficient. In my world as a management consultant, I'm 10 times more efficient. I’m sure you’re 10 times more efficient with tools like the one we’re using here, and it just helps us speed things up. I've noticed people use it as a thought partner, as a psychiatrist, even as a best friend. I've seen people go into deep dialogue like, “Should I sell my business? Give me five factors.” The ones who are aware of this are using it fully. The people who aren't are a little behind the times. And then from an operational standpoint, yeah, I mean with the bots and all the many things you could put in your business to make you more efficient, but that doesn’t apply to everybody. I would say there’s going to be a 10 to 20% group of people that are already on it, making it work for them, and then there are the laggards who will probably never touch it.  Or is it that—okay, maybe we can be more efficient with AI, but we'll have the appetite to do more, and there will be more complexity? Some things we'll simplify, but we'll create other complexities that replace the previous ones. What do you think about it?  Yes. So businesses typically have cycles. There's usually a five- to seven-year cycle where a business hits its peak, and then it starts to trend down. And they usually have some level of innovation that has to reoccur for it to hit another up cycle, and then there will be a down cycle and so on and so forth. So it's always like an up slope after an up slope. When you've been in business for 30 or 40 years, you've gone through multiple rounds of these cycles—three or four rounds of those cycles. What I’m hearing right now is business owners that are, let’s say, at retirement age, they’re saying, “I don't know if I have what it takes to go through this AI cycle. Maybe I had what it took to make it through the eighties, nineties, and two thousands, but now we're in 2026. I’m not sure I’m equipped, or my team who’s also very senior, they don’t feel like they have what it takes to get through that next cycle without hiring young talent. But even then, they don’t really understand what they’re talking about. So there’s this gap. And again, I’m hearing it more and more of people saying, I think now’s the time to get out and let some other company that has gas in the tank, vision, and capacity to come in and do that thing.  Yeah, that's interesting. Do you think a multiple-AI–enabled company versus a post-AI company is going to be markedly different?  Maybe. Because it all comes down to revenue—it comes down to the revenue story. I'll give you a perfect example. You have a very profitable company, but they're using an old CRM. A new company comes in and says, “Hey, you're already profitable. If we buy you and put in a new CRM, maybe we could be even more profitable.” That’s cool. So we don’t really need you to put in all the tech. We’ll come in and do all that, and then we’ll get the upside on that. Just as long as you’re profitable, as long as you’re profitable, yet you don’t have major client concentration, your business has all the components. A new company with new vision could come in. That would largely be a strategic buyer. The PE buyer, the financial buyer, most likely is going to want to inject capital into your business so you can go and reinvest, and build new tech, or become a platform, whatever you’re going to be. But that would be a different arrangement. So it's basically a numbers issue. It doesn't matter your technological evolution. And maybe it’s even worse if you've already implemented AI and that only allows you to make five million dollars—there's less upside for the buyer.  Yeah. The bigger concern is: Is your industry at risk because of AI? Is your particular business at risk? And that's why I think people need to adopt it—so they can say, “No, we're not at risk. We've adopted it, we're applying it in whatever fashion we're doing it, and we're going to see the results.” We've already seen a major downswing in a handful of industries because of AI. I mean, advertising agencies are getting hit really hard. People used to be able to charge for writing press releases, to write blogs, to write social, to do video editing on social media. A lot of that's gone, so the bottom tier of those agencies is just gone—there's no need for them anymore.  Do you see people proactively working on making themselves AI-resilient? Everyone knows that they need to do it. Nobody is unaware that today, it’s like websites. There was a time when everyone knew they needed a website. They just didn’t really know how they were going to build it or who was going to build it. They knew it was going to be expensive. It’s kind of where we’re at right now. Everybody knows they need AI. They’re just not exactly sure how they need AI, what it can actually, literally do for them.I think for some people, that big dream that it was going to do everything quickly got taken off the tableShare on X and they say, okay, we could do this much, but even this much is make me very effective.  But it’s just not going to do everything. Like, I still need an accountant. I still need an account manager. I still need someone to do these things, but maybe I don’t need as many people as I once did. So we’re seeing kind of some leveling off there. But I would say largely most people don’t know what AI can do for them, and they’re not really prepared to make those investments. We have a client right now that just made a half million dollar investment into an RFP tool that’s going to help them move faster than their competitors, submit more on RFPs, build everything out in a very complicated way, but they’re making a half million dollar investment. How many companies out there are saying, let’s go, give me the invoice. I’m ready to roll. There’s still a lot of pause there.  What you're describing feels more like a defensive play—okay, we know AI is coming, so we have to implement some AI tools. But I’m thinking more about the big picture. Is my industry going to be disrupted by AI? And how do I pivot my business before I lose momentum, so I become like Netflix—going from a video rental company to a streaming company? Yep.  Do you see companies rethinking their business model?  I think from what I’ve seen, people are rethinking everything—top to bottom. Because you have to start with labor. That’s usually where people start. “AI can do all these things—do I need less talent on the deck?” And if I do, then what can AI do so I don’t have such heavy overhead? Because overhead is also liability, and it has this employment risk behind it. So if you can go from a thousand staff to 800 or 750, great, let’s do it—why wouldn't you do it? Most people are saying, “Let's figure that part out first.” The next thing is the industry disruption, which is what’s our competitors doing to service clients better, manufacture faster, or do things cheaper, so then we’re not left in the dust. So from a production standpoint, we need to figure this out quickly. What I'd say—what I do—is, as an analyst, as a consultant and advisor coming in, that's why I built my AI. I built my AI to fire myself. I basically said, “What I used to do as a management consultant is now irrelevant, because AI is better than me.” So let me just build the digital me and not worry about that side of my business anymore. So I just don’t worry about that anymore. I don’t even really take on assignments that I used to, because AI can do it better and faster. Now, if you want to hire me and allow me to use my AI tool to handle the technical work, I'm more than happy to do that. But I'll tell you firsthand—save your money.  So you're giving it away, or are you selling it?  Yeah, it's free. It's free. It's on ChatGPT. What people can’t do is sit down and have an honest, sincere conversation and ask them the hard questions and challenge them. That's where AI still lacks the human component. I can take a client and say, “Hey, let's hang out. Let's get lunch. Let's go play golf. Let's bring in your kids. Let's talk to your kids. Let's talk about the family dynamic.” Let’s just have a sincere conversation. Let me hold space and create a forum where I can hear people. And that human component is the only thing that I’m worried, like I’m working on now. I'm out of the technical side, because that part of my job is gone.  So fascinating. So does it mean you have to be more of a social animal?  I think so. If you're not going to be a social animal and you're just going to sit at your desk, you should probably be building software using tools like Replit, n8n, or any of these different software tools and just go all in.Share on X But the way we used to do it—you probably see this on LinkedIn, with all the bots on LinkedIn, it’s not what it used to be. It used to be a place where you had a handful of connections and actually met people. Now it’s just so overrun with the bots. It’s like I don’t even want to accept connections anymore. I'd much rather have a conversation like this. To me, this is the future.  Yeah. But maybe we connected originally through LinkedIn. I don’t know where, how we connected, but we may have have connected through a bot—actually.  It’s possible.  Yeah.  It’s possible. But I'll tell you, I connect with maybe one or two percent of people now. Previously, because I didn't get so many inbound inquiries, I would connect with more, because I felt like there was a sincere person on the other end. Now, I really don't know. I've become very skeptical.  Yeah, I'm with you. Let's switch gears, because our time is running out. And there are a couple of things that in our pre-interview you talked about, and one was minimalism. Yeah.  What is minimalism? How do you do it? And what’s a low-hanging way to start to become a minimalist?  It's kind of like that first-principles idea of what really matters. It’s essentialism. It’s kind of getting down to the one thing, that was my recent blog, if there was only one thing you could do this year, but it would make all the difference, what would it be? And anything that gets in the way of that one thing is just noise. For me, minimalism is really about reduction, and kind of getting rid, and being aware and cognizant of things that really shouldn't be on your desk, on your to-do list.Share on X And using AI tools and assistance to get rid of everything that’s low-level activity. If you think of a pyramid, at the very top is where the most value that you can add would be. But yet we spend all of our time, if this is a time pyramid, most of our time is spent at the bottom, the wide part that pretty much anyone can do. So we kind of got to invert the pyramid. To get there, you have to reduce and extract. To protect your time, you have to treat it as very precious and focus only on the most important thing at all times. It is a very hard thing for all professionals to do, and it’s always been a hard thing, but I just take it upon myself and say, okay, well, as a minimalist, I mean, if you were to come to my house and see how sparse my furniture is on purpose. How sparse my closet is on purpose. I’m trying to get rid of options. It's like Steve Jobs and the black turtleneck—if I have one less thing, because I can only make so many choices and decisions in a given day, let me spend my time on the things that are the most important and most impactful.Share on X And that’s not always, because it’s going to put millions of dollars in my bank account. Sometimes it’s just helps me sleep better at night. So I don’t need 50 clients. If I’m going to have 50 headaches. What if I just have five clients? And every one of those was one that I felt very good about, and that would allowed me to charge more. It allowed me to go deeper with them. It's that concept—then you're free to see where your scalable opportunities are. It's the story I told you about a monk who was carving away at this beautiful elephant. Someone walks up and asks, “How did you learn to do this, carving away this elephant in the stone? And he says, Oh, I just chip away everything that's not the elephant. So for me, I have to have a very clear picture of what the elephant is. I have to see the picture in my brain first—like what my life is, what I’m trying to build, how good of a dad I’m trying to be, how good of a husband I’m trying to be, how good of a business partner or a service provider, an advisor. This is my life’s work as a masterpiece, so let me just get rid of anything that doesn’t belong as part of that picture. So that, to me, is kind of how I would explain it. And my approach toward it is I just get rid of everything. It’s not about accumulation. I don't really need more information, because AI already has all the information. Anything I'm going to absorb, I have to be very intentional about—why am I reading it? I see all the books on your shelf. I could show you my bookshelf—tons of books, right? I feel like I've read them all. Am I going to learn anything new? I could also just go back to the books I've already read. I try to highlight them and stuff, but it's like, what more do I need at this point?  Yeah. So I’m wondering about this idea of a lifestyle business versus a growth business. Because what I see is that people who are building a lifestyle business, it’s easier for them to be a minimalist. Because you just do this most valuable thing. You don’t have to build the business. You don’t have to worry about necessarily all the other people, systems, and processes, or making sure of quality control. You just do your high-value work, and at the end of the day, you can put things down and relax. Whereas a growth business, it's different.  I would say with the clients that I have—some have thousands of employees, some have hundreds—I still encourage them to reduce and subtract. Even though they're in high-growth, highly scalable businesses, sometimes the conversation is: How many direct reports do you have, and why do you have that many direct reports? How are you delegating? How are you giving authority? How are you limiting all the inputs? Because a lot of it is noise in your given day. So how do I make your day a little more silent so you can have a little more peace to make better decisions while you run this highly scalable business? Just because you're scaling doesn't mean it needs to be pure chaos. That's what people think—they think, “Oh, if I scale, that means chaos.” I'm anti-chaos.  Okay. But let me ask you this: Two of the most successful entrepreneurs of our time are Elon Musk and Jensen Huang. Elon Musk runs six companies, so he's got a lot of direct reports and goes deep in each of them. And then Jensen Huang has, I don't know, 20, 30, or 40 direct reports—he basically has a million direct reports as well. And that actually allows them to be closer to decisions and make sure things don't go off the rails and their vision gets manifested. So that's what I'm kind of wondering—whether minimalism means you're going to, maybe the flip side is you have to accept less growth, or maybe not.  So I’ve met with a lot of entrepreneurs in my life. Not one of them has been Elon Musk. So I would say we’re looking at the median of entrepreneurs, the average entrepreneur. Those are the people I deal with. I’m not dealing with Elon Musk. I would love to, but I don’t have those types. I have the family-owned business who took it over from their dad and they’ve been running it for 50 years, and he has 250 employees, and he’s got pure chaos, and I’m getting the call to go in and try to sort him out. These are not always the highly sophisticated Steve Jobs types of the world. If you really take a look under the hood with Elon—I read his book and listened to the audiobook with my kids, so I'm very familiar with his story, because I've heard it twice now—what they don't really mention is all the heroes underneath Elon. He wouldn't be who he is without all the many heroes, all the systems, and the Six Sigma and other processes and procedures. That's not to say he doesn't take a deep analytical look at everything, but who are those heroes and what are the processes? I'm far more interested in hearing about his VP of Operations than about Elon. Because what has his VP of Operations worked out? What systems have they implemented that allow him to scale and build a Tesla? Or his COO, like, what do they have going on? Elon's a face. Elon's a madman. He creates all this momentum and chaos, and then he has teams of people behind him who make sense and order out of that chaos. That's why you have what you have with Tesla. If he were just Elon Chaos, without that, I don't believe he would be where he is. But he had people that wanted to get in line. He had a lot of people that wanted to get in line. They believed in his vision. He had huge visions, and it's very inspiring to get behind those visions. Then they say, “Okay, give me the ball. We'll create the infrastructure that allows this thing to take off.” So I'm far more interested in the infrastructure that allows for that scale.  I agree. I'm just thinking whether there is this kind of dichotomy. Because I see that many entrepreneurs—when I was an investment banker—until they sold their business, they were not able to have that simple lifestyle they perhaps desired, because they were building, they were reinvesting. And it wasn't just reinvesting their cash—they were reinvesting their time. So every time they simplified, that was the opportunity cost of not using that time to improve their business. So they plowed it back in, plowed it back in.  Well, it's kind of like the E-Myth is a bit skewed. It's almost like the E-Myth is a myth. E-Myth is a dream—a dream that you can work on your business, step out completely, and everything about it runs itself. It doesn't really work that way. If you're going to be a successful entrepreneur, you're going to have late nights, long weekends, and you're going to feel like every major problem is your own because you're taking all the legal risks. I'm not telling people not to scale. I'm not telling them not to have chaos. What I'm trying to help them do is get clear on what they consider to be important.  And not get killed in the process, and not get divorced.  Statistically, that can happen—the more successful someone gets.  Yeah, it does. Because our time becomes much more valuable, and at some point, it's really hard to say no to the million-dollar hour—to spend that hour watching Netflix with your spouse, right? Exactly. Just feels harder to do.  Exactly.  Yeah.  That was good.  Alright, well, I enjoyed this tremendously. So one more question, one more question that I have to ask you. You talk about this $3 million rule—what do you mean by that? That’s a really interesting concept.  Yeah. So most small businesses get stuck around $3 million, statistically. The question is, why? Why do they get stuck there? A large majority gets stuck and it’s because they create a lifestyle for themself around $3 million. They’re taking enough off the table that they would never be able to find a job that would be able to replace that type of income. So they've made their small business their sole business, their job, and they say, “This is good enough for me,” because let's say half a million dollars, more or less, is going into their bank. They're filling up their 401(k), sending their kids to private school, giving themselves big bonuses. If they're profitable, they don't really see the need to take more risks or double down to go past that wall. I've seen many businesses kind of stay there. They’ll go fluctuate up and down through the years, but more or less they’ll hit that wall. They could stay there for 20 years and never make any progress. It’s not until they put on new thinking and say, we’re going to grow through acquisitions, we’re going to target a different market, new products, we’re going to innovate in some way. But that takes extra gas in the tank. Sometimes, a lot of entrepreneurs, once they hit that first level of success, say, “This is good enough for me,” because it usually takes them about five to seven years to get to that first major breathing point.  They're not hungry enough anymore.  Exactly.  Does someone has to be a little crazy to still want to eat more, even though they're already full?  Yeah. Some people are just wired that way. Some people just more and more, and that's no slight against them. They're never satisfied. They always want more—another dollar, another nickel. If they saw a nickel on the floor, they would stop and pick it up. They want every piece of everything. And those people usually are the ones that go and go and go and go. They’re usually the ones that just keep going because it’s an insatiable appetite. I'm not talking about people who get—well, I don't want to call it lucky—but sometimes things do fall out of the sky. Sometimes a big client falls out of the sky, or an opportunity opens up, and people are smart enough to buy their competitor when the competitor approaches them. Or sometimes they make these little moves, and that gives them a leap. I’m not talking about those people. Those are outliers to me. I’m talking about your average entrepreneur that built a $3 million business on his own with no major clients falling, just hard work, blood, sweat in tears. The average Joe typically gets stuck around that $3 million.  Yeah, that’s interesting. Fascinating. Alright, well, if you don't want to be stuck around $3 million, or if you want to get to the next level, then reach out to Tim and check out what he’s doing. So where can our listeners find you? Where can our listeners find you if they want to learn with you, learn about you, read your Substack, read your books? Where should they go?  Just go to Google or AI and type in Tim “The Inside Man” Martinez. The Inside Man is an acronym for Tim. You'll find my LinkedIn—happy to connect with you, just tell me you heard me on Steve's podcast. You can also check out my blog: it's Tim “The Inside Man” on Substack, or go to www.theinsideman.biz, my website. I'd love to connect with anyone. Well, do check out Tim's Substack—it's awesome. You're going to get more of what you heard on this podcast. And if you enjoy listening, make sure you follow us. Subscribe on YouTube, LinkedIn, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you get your podcasts, because every week I'm inviting—and luckily more and more people want to come on the show—to have a conversation. So thank you, Tim, for coming, and thank you for listening. Important Links: Tim's LinkedIn Tim's website

Ever get to the 30th of the month and wonder where the time went—and why your "Must-Do" list looks exactly the same as it did on the 1st? You aren't alone. Statistically, 92% of people fail to reach their goals. This week, we're talking about how to beat those odds. I'm sharing my personal journey of learning the piano (one hand at a time!) and how I built a "mommy-village" from scratch. We're moving from just existing to intentional evolving.In this episode, we discuss:The staggering "92% failure" statistic and why it happens.How to set goals that actually fit into a 24-hour day.The power of "hidden" resources (like insurance-provided coaches).A 3-step action plan for making adult friends and building community.Follow me at www.youngblackmrs.comwww.facebook.com/YoungBlackMRSwww.instagram.com/YoungBlackMRS https://www.youtube.com/@YoungBlackMRS

"Statistically, they were on a suicide mission." That's Roger Moorhouse's assessment of the odds facing Hitler's U-boat crews in the final years of the Second World War. Speaking with Spencer Mizen, Roger relates the story of these missions from the German perspective – a tale encompassing scurvy, sleep deprivation, terror and acts of astonishing kindness. (Ad) Roger Moorhouse is the author of Wolfpack: Inside Hitler's U-boat War (William Collins, 2025). Buy it now from Waterstones: https://go.skimresources.com?id=71026X1535947&xcust=historyextra-social-histboty&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterstones.com%2Fbook%2Fwolfpack%2Froger-moorhouse%2F9780008644895. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dorothy Littell Greco, marriage ministry leader and author joins us for a powerful conversation about abandoning misogyny and misandry (disdain for all men or women) in favor of mutual flourishing in marriage, including sexual flourishing, especially since pornography use, perpetrating harm to women is rampant. Despite undeniable progress as we discover the mental loads women and men carry in the 20th and 21st centuries, misogyny and misandry are still alive in culture, often in ways more subtle and insidious than outright sexism of the past, and it shows up in marriages in ways couples don't always recognize. Statistically, misogyny especially hurts marriage intimately and sexually. In this conversation, we focus specifically on how it shows up in Christian marriages and what it costs both women and men since this is a lose-lose system where no one wins. A type 1 justice fighter with a long and successful marriage of faith and confession, Dorothy unpacks how dismantling misogyny isn't just good for women, it benefits men and marriages too, creating space for true partnership where both spouses can grow and flourish. Join us as we talk about why we need to abandon both misogyny (disdain for women) and misandry (disdain for men) in favor of a partnership that honors the image of God in both. Find Dorthy's book, "For the Love of Women: Uprooting and Healing Misogyny in America" on Amazon: https://a.co/d/55qxeyd Find Dorthy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dorothylgreco/?hl=en Find Dorthy's riveting blog: https://www.dorothygreco.com/ The Enneagram and Marriage Coaching & Certification Masterclass course begins again February 12, use code COACH for discount ⁠⁠here ⁠⁠or at ⁠⁠https://www.enneagramandmarriage.com/the-e-m-coaching-masterclass⁠⁠ Find more about your type, the pod, freebies, and SO much more at our website right here! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.EnneagramandMarriage.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Love what you're learning on E + M? Make sure you leave us a podcast review so others can find us, too⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ here!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Get Christa's Best-Selling Book, The Enneagram in Marriage, here! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://a.co/d/df8SxVx Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Use our code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/LAPLATICA10 Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount If your relationship feels messy right now… you might wanna hear this.

Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. We're talking with Andrew Hopper, Lead Pastor of Mercy Hill Church in North Carolina. Planted in 2012 with just 30 people, Mercy Hill has grown into a multi-campus, fast-growing church known for its gospel clarity and sending culture. In this conversation, Andrew shares why adoption and foster care have become central expressions of Mercy Hill's mission—and how those practices flow directly out of the gospel. He also unpacks the heart behind his book, Chosen: Building Your Family the Way God Builds His. Is your church unsure how to engage big social needs without drifting from the gospel? Are you looking for a way to mobilize people beyond church walls while keeping discipleship front and center? Andrew offers a clear framework for doing both. Doing good as a sign of the kingdom. // Andrew addresses a common tension churches feel between community engagement and disciple-making. Mercy Hill refuses to treat these as competing priorities. Acts of service—whether foster care, adoption, or family restoration—are not the kingdom itself but signposts pointing to it. Meeting tangible needs creates openings for gospel conversations. These ministries don't replace evangelism; they amplify it by demonstrating the heart of God in visible ways. A church’s collective heartbeat. // Mercy Hill's deep involvement in adoption, foster care, and family restoration didn't start as a top-down strategy but emerged organically from the gifts and passions within the church. Many leaders and members have adopted children themselves, shaping the church's collective heartbeat. Rather than attempting to address every social issue, Mercy Hill chose to focus deeply on a few—believing churches are most effective when they lean into the specific good works God has prepared for them. This focus has mobilized hundreds of families and created a powerful witness in their community. Rope-holding and shared responsibility. // Not everyone is called to adopt or foster, but everyone can hold the rope. Drawing from the William Carey analogy, Mercy Hill equips members to support families on the front lines through prayer, childcare, meals, financial help, and presence. Over time, they've learned that rope-holding works best when built on existing relationships rather than formal assignments. The goal is to ensure no family fights alone in what Andrew describes as intense spiritual warfare. Big vision with baby steps. // Mercy Hill isn't afraid to cast a bold vision—whether for global missions, adoption, or church planting—but they pair that vision with accessible next steps. Prayer nights, giving opportunities, short-term service, and relational support allow people to grow into greater obedience over time. High challenge without guilt creates healthy discipleship. Why Andrew wrote Chosen. // Andrew wrote Chosen: Building Your Family the Way God Builds His not to promote a program, but to give churches a theological foundation for engaging adoption and foster care. The book weaves together Andrew's family story, Mercy Hill's journey, and a deeply gospel-centered motivation rooted in Scripture. Designed to be used individually or in groups, Chosen includes discussion questions and practical guidance for churches or small groups wanting to explore this calling in community. Andrew's prayer is that the book would catalyze thousands of Christian families to participate meaningfully in caring for vulnerable children and families. Gospel-driven motivation. // Underneath everything is Andrew's conviction that gospel motivation outlasts guilt. Behavior rooted in grace goes further than behavior driven by pressure. Adopted people adopt people. Chosen people choose people. That theological clarity fuels Mercy Hill's sending culture, their community impact, and their ongoing growth. To explore Andrew's resources on adoption, foster care, and grab his book, Chosen, visit andrewphopper.com/chosen or follow him on Instagram @andrewphopper. You can learn more about Mercy Hill Church at mercyhillchurch.com. Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I'm grateful for that. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they're extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Lastly, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live! Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Portable Church Your church is doing really well right now, and your leadership team is looking for solutions to keep momentum going! It could be time to start a new location. Maybe you have hesitated in the past few years, but you know it's time to step out in faith again and launch that next location. Portable Church has assembled a bundle of resources to help you leverage your growing momentum into a new location by sending a part of your congregation back to their neighborhood on Mission. This bundle of resources will give you a step-by-step plan to launch that new or next location, and a 5 minute readiness tool that will help you know your church is ready to do it! Click here to watch the free webinar “Launch a New Location in 150 Days or Less” and grab the bundle of resources for your church! Episode Transcript Rich Birch — Hey friends, welcome to the unSeminary podcast. We have got a multi-time guest on, and you know what that means. That means that I really respect, deeply admire, and want you to listen up, and today is no exception. Excited to have Andrew Hopper with us. He is the lead pastor of a church that they should be following, that you should be following. He’s a lead pastor of Mercy Hill Church with five locations, if I’m counting correctly, in North Carolina, and is repeatedly one of the fastest growing churches in the country. I love this church on many levels. They’re centered on the gospel and have a radical commitment to sending people to the nations. They have a desire to make disciples and multiply churches. Andrew, welcome to the show. So glad you’re here.Andrew Hopper — Man, I’m so pumped to be here. Love the podcast. Really appreciate it, man.Rich Birch — Yeah, I’m honored that you would come back. For folks that that don’t know Mercy Hill, give me a bit of a kind of an update. Tell us a little bit about the church.Andrew Hopper — Yeah.Rich Birch — Maybe update us from last time you were on.Andrew Hopper — Yeah, man. So just real quick, planted in 2012. We had 30 people, all you know kind of young professional age, and man, just really believe that God could do something incredible ah through, you know just through our our open hands, and he did.Andrew Hopper — And so it’s been 13 years. It’s crazy. We’ve been sort of pushing the same boulder up the same mountain for 13 years, just flywheel kind of concept and keep pushing. And ah the Lord has done an incredible thing, like you said, five campuses. And man, just moved into a new home and hub. That was from last time we had a chance. That’s been really great. Andrew Hopper — We were in a rented location for a long time as our main like broadcast campus. We’re a video-based multi-site. And so um it’s ah it was a three or four-year journey to raise the money and build this new facility. But we’re in, and the Lord has really blessed that with tons of new people, highest baptisms, sent ones, first time guest numbers, all everything that we’ve done. This has been a, you know, we’ve gone been on a ride – praise God for that. It’s it’s, um, it’s for his sake and his renown, but this year has been unlike the others. So it’s been…Rich Birch — Yeah, you were saying beforehand, it’s like 30 or something like 30 some percent year over year growth. That’s insane to keep up with.Andrew Hopper — It is man. And the, and the giving does not, uh, you know, the giving doesn’t happen.Rich Birch — Reflect that yet.Andrew Hopper — So it’s, it’s like, we’re trying to do ministry on a budget of a church that’s 3000, but a church that’s running 4,500. And it’s like, how do you do that effectively without killing everybody?Rich Birch — Nice.Andrew Hopper — All your staff, I mean, so, but we’re, we’re learning, man, we’re figuring it out. It’s fun. We got, we just planted our sixth church. So that’s apart from the campuses. This is first time, Rich, we’ve planted a church in our own city.Rich Birch — Oh, nice. That’s cool.Andrew Hopper — It’s been really, a really cool dynamic and it’s been fun. He’s doing great. Man, it was a college student that we met when he was 19 years old at North Carolina AT&T 10 years later. He’s an elder here. He’s done a lot of different things. And man, he goes and plants a new church in Greensboro about five minutes from one of our campuses and they’re doing great.Rich Birch — Wow. Yeah, that’s so good. Well, the thing, there’s lots I love about Mercy Hill, but one of the things that I’ve loved about your church from the you know the chance we’ve had to journey a little bit over the years about it is you just have real clarity around the mission, this idea of making disciples, multiplying churches. It’s like that has been rock solid from the beginning. When you think about we want churches to have discipleship at its core, this idea of a church that actually grows people up in their relationship with Christ. What matters most at the foundation? How are you keeping that so foundational to you know what’s happening at Mercy Hill?Andrew Hopper — Yeah, I think um I think that we always sort of bought into kind of what we see in Acts 2 as a little bit of a flywheel. We call it gather, group, give, go. A lot of churches have something like that.Andrew Hopper — The the difference, I think, at Mercy Hill a little bit than what I see ah in in in a lot of churches that we help mentor and coach is that 2020 hit and everybody was like, man, what is a church? What is discipleship? What are we going to do now? And and people were kind of… And I do think it was and it wasn’t, you know, it wasn’t just me. I mean, our, you know, our executive pastor Bobby, he was really integral in this. We sort of really doubled down on no, I kind of think the church is going to come back. Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — And I kind of think what we were doing is sort of what our church is set up to do. It kind of a brand thing. We are sort of a big box sending brand. And that, you know, for us, when we look at Acts 2, we’re like, dude, the gathering, there’s no more there’s no more important hour for discipleship and evangelism. And I know there’s a lot of things written against that. And people are kind of almost like downplaying it. Andrew Hopper — We’re just like, man, we just don’t believe it. We believe people need to be in a group. You know, we they need generosity is lead step in discipleship, give. And we got to teach people that there’s a mission bigger than themselves. And if we do that, it’s going to funnel more people into the gathering. Andrew Hopper — So I think fundamentally what I would say, we need to get, you know, we could talk about our value, you know we can talk about values to gospel and [inaudible] identity, but I think landing on you know, it’s very hard now to, to not get a word salad book form or thing. When you ask somebody, how are you making disciples? It can just be like…Rich Birch — Right. Very vacuous. Who knows what that means? Yeah.Andrew Hopper — For us, it’s just been a very clear, simple process.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — Like, man, we believe if someone is in the gathering, if they’re in relationship, if they’re being pushed on generosity, and if they’re living for a mission bigger than themselves, that’s a current of maturity that will move them. They just get in the stream, they’ll move.Rich Birch — Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It’s so good.Andrew Hopper — that’s kind of So you know for us, I think that’s as, you know we’ve we’ve tried to simplify things there.Rich Birch — Yeah. And, and your last episode, I’ve pointed a ton of people to it, uh, to really, and we really unpack a lot of what you talked about there in more detail.Andrew Hopper — Right. Yeah.Rich Birch — You’re going to want to go back and, uh, and listen to that. You’ve reached as a church, you’ve reached a lot of people who don’t grow up in church that it’s like, there’s a lot of people who are there. You know, we used to say we ain’t your mama’s church, but mama didn’t go to church, you know? So, you know, and it’s been a long time that people were there. What challenges have you seen, you know, helping move people from curiosity into real ongoing discipleship? So like, I think there are, we’re seeing a swell of attendance across the country. People are like, oh, I’m kind of interested in this, but we got to move them from just, oh, this is something interesting to like, oh, I’m actually want to grow my relationship with Jesus.Andrew Hopper — Yeah, I mean, and it’s it’s funny too, Rich, you probably have a better bird’s eye view of this than I do. But I feel like churches that have been faithfully growing for like the last 10 years, they’re not really doing a lot different now. Or even though there’s this big swell happening, what I do think is that some churches have sort of decided like, oh, clarity does matter.Rich Birch — Yes. Yeah, that’s true.Andrew Hopper — And don’t try to be friends with the culture. We’re going to speak in and be prophetic. And, you know, even even to the you know Proverbs 25:26 says, you know, there’s there there’s no there’s no benefit in a muddied spring. You know, it’s like you got to be sort of you got to figure out if we’re going to be clear.Andrew Hopper — So, I you know, for me, I think like and you’re right, we do reach most of the people that we reach that are in the camp that you’re talking about our college age. We reach a lot of people, though, ah that are, you know, they’re they’re coming back to the faith because they’re a southerner.Rich Birch — Sure.Andrew Hopper — You know, they they kind of they kind of were, you know, they they did have some church in their background. They’re coming back. Their kids are not only born, but they’re realizing they’re sinners and they don’t have answers. They’re trying to figure that out.Rich Birch — Right. Right.Andrew Hopper — They’re coming back to church.Andrew Hopper — And, you know, I think the biggest thing that moves people from like interest into a decision point is just being very clear on this is what the gospel is. This is the life it compels you to. Are you going to be in or out?Andrew Hopper — One of the things we say at Mercy Hill a lot is like, man, if you’re if you’re just intrigued, you know, if you’re interested, you’re not going to stay at Mercy Hill because we’re never going to let you, you’re going to get pushed every week. And it’s like, man, people are not really in or like that. I’m not going to do that. You know, they’re just like, no I’m not going to sit here and get like pushed every single week on something I don’t really… And the flip side is when people say, all right, you know what? Stake in the ground. I’m in.Rich Birch — Yeah, we’re doing this, yep.Andrew Hopper — I wanna look like this, I want to build my life on this. It’s like, well, now, you know, it’s it’s man, I’m hopefully, you know, putting tools in the belt every single week to live that life.Rich Birch — Yeah. Yeah, it’s good. I do think there was a time where people wandered into our churches where I don’t think that happens as much anymore. I think people, when they arrive, they come with questions, with live active questions that they’re trying to wrestle with, kind of regardless of where they’re they’re at in their journey.Andrew Hopper — Yeah.Rich Birch — And they’re what you to your point around, you know, there’s no benefit in a muddy stream. People aren’t looking for anything that sounds like, well, what do you think? Because the reason why they’re there is because they’re asking questions. And so, you know, they’re they’re looking for clarity, like I think you’re saying. Rich Birch — Well one of the things I love about your church is there’s a high commitment to, you’re you’re you’re tearing down what I think is a false dichotomy. Sometimes I think when churches come to this idea of outreach or making a difference in their community, there’s this there can be this gap or false dichotomy between doing good in our communities and making disciples. Like we gave that up at some point. We were like, you can’t, you know, we can’t do both of those things for some reason. Why, why did we do that? Why did we, as churches say, we can’t both make a difference in our communities and also make disciples?Andrew Hopper — Yeah, I think it’s, I actually have a lot of sympathy for the fundamentalist leaning. I know it sounds a little bit weird. Rich Birch — No, that’s fine.Andrew Hopper — Churches that led from the, you know, from the good do good in your city kind of thing. I don’t think they’re right, but I do have sympathy for that because I understand how quickly that sort of, you know, is so hijacked by liberal, by theological liberalism to where it’s finally man we’re digging wells and wherever but we’re not talking about who the true source of living water is. Like we don’t want to be offensive we just want to do good without speaking the whole you know you know live your life as a Christian only use words if necessary, whatever, you know. And and I so I understand why people kind of fled and have fled that.Andrew Hopper — Like, you know, I’ve even had our church before when I when I talk about adoption or we we have a ministry, and a ministry called No More Spectators. We’re like moving people towards community ministry. And we had people kind of going on like, oh, my gosh, this seems like a sign of like churches start going this way and then they lose the gospel.Andrew Hopper — And I’m like, well, the reason you’re kind of feeling like that is because a lot of churches have done that. You know, you’re not [inaudible] like that just out of nowhere. Now, of course, I think it’s a little bit immature and we’ve got to push through. The way we talk about it, Rich, is, man, we want to do good in our community as signs of the kingdom coming.Andrew Hopper — They are not building the kingdom. You know, if we go repaint a house or house a homeless person, one day that person would parted with that house, whether they, you know, get messed up and leave or whether they do great and then would die one day, you know.Andrew Hopper — Or, if we have, ah you know, if we go and, and you know, we’re going to, for example, we have ah ah a family in our church that they need a ramp built because, man, the the brother is struggling with MS and he’s, they’re they’re fighting it like Christians do. We’re going to go do that. You know, we’re going to go build that ramp. That ramp’s going to rot and die one, you know, rot and rot away one day. And, you know, whether it’s 100 years from now or whatever.Andrew Hopper — Like it’s not literally the kingdom. But when the outside world sees us engage and, you know, our church will talk about this primarily when we think about community ministry, we think about it in terms of adoption, foster care and families count, which I can talk to you about. I think it’s bringing a sign of the kingdom that is to the community around us to say, hey, this is not the gospel. But it sure points to the gospel. Rich Birch — Right, right.Andrew Hopper — You know, it’s a pretty good signpost of like, yeah, there’s a kingdom coming where kids aren’t separated from their parents, you know. And and so that’s kind of the way that we think about, it’s not, you know, it’s not the kingdom. It’s a sign of the kingdom that is coming.Rich Birch — Yeah, let’s let’s dive in. So adoptions, foster care, families count. These are not small issues. Like you started with like putting a ramp on, painting somebody – those are like, okay, I can organize my head around that. And then we jump to what I think are obviously significant. How, it can be easy, I think, for church leaders it can be easy where, you know, we got a lot of fish to fry in our own backyard. When you see big problems like that, help us unpack that. Why do you as a lead pastor, why are you passionate about these issues? Why are these the things that you’ve chosen?Andrew Hopper — I think it’s, man, I think it’s great. I mean if you can’t if you don’t mind I’ll go back and give you a little bit of context. I’m a context [inaudible]… Rich Birch — Yeah, absolutely. Let’s do it. Yeah. Andrew Hopper — …number one so I always want to frame it in where we’ve been. But the short answer to the question is I think that every church because it is made up of individual believers that have individual gift matrix, you know they’re they’re gifted the church is gifted in a unique way because the people which are the church are gifted in a unique way, right? Andrew Hopper — And so to me, you know, slapping, you know, a top down every single church has to to manifest signs of the kingdom in X way, which, for for example, I’m not to pick on it, but like, you know, the whole diversity church kind of movement. I love you know, if that’s your brand, that’s awesome. That’s great. Go, go bring signs of the kingdom in that area. But you know what people do is they take their thing and then slap it on every single church. You know, this is the sign of the kingdom that you have to manifest.Andrew Hopper — I don’t think that. It takes every kind of church to reach a city because there’s all you know, there’s every kind of people in the city. Right? For us, though, and I think for a lot of churches that that maybe are are made up a little bit like we are, I think there is a lot of meat on the bone for adoption, foster care, families count ministry. And I think churches could be greatly helped by latching on to maybe, you know, something in particular, maybe this, maybe this specifically. How we got there, Rich, was we had we had, you know, huge movement in our church in 2019. I was very convicted.Andrew Hopper — Some of the exponential stuff was coming out, you know, mobilizing people outside the walls of the church. And I really was, man, I was just really affected by that. And I don’t want the dichotomy, you know, I don’t want, well, you your people serve in the church and not outside the church. It’s like, no, most people serve outside the church. If you watch them, they are serving inside the church as well. It’s it’s like a it’s like, man, you know, just just because serving inside the church is not the finish line, don’t demonize it because it is a starting place.Rich Birch — That’s good.Andrew Hopper — So it’s like, I don’t like that kind of whole thing. But but it did affect me to say, OK, what are we doing to push to the outside? So we we we did a thing. You would have loved this, man. But it except for the fact that it didn’t really work that good. OK, it was awesome.Andrew Hopper — It was, we still have the domain name – nomorespectators.com – I had the tagline: Jesus didn’t die to create spectators. He died to create servants, not spectators, workers, not watchers. We, man, you could go to nomorespectators.com and, you know, it was like, it was like a funnel for all of these community ministry opportunities in our city. So it was, you know, people from the housing, you know, authority type stuff would post things. And it was, it was all this kind of, it had a bunch of stuff in it. Andrew Hopper — In the end of the day, great idea. It was a little too complex. Our people latched on to the foster care, pregnancy network, you know, ended up being families count, Guardian ad Litem and adoption. So our guy that was over all that at the time our sending director, which is hard for me to have a good idea that ends up dying hard, okay that’s just tough for me.Rich Birch — You had a great sticky statement and everything. Come on.Andrew Hopper — I’m the king of sunken cost bias. Okay. Like, I’m like, dude. And so finally around 2020, he came to me and he said, bro, I know this is hard for you. Cause it was like a two year initiative. He’s like, this is hard. He said, No More Spectators needs to just turn into Chosen. And it needs to be like, you had this idea for 30 different things. It just, this needs to be our niche, man. You know, we we don’t do a lot of these other things, but we do this really well.Andrew Hopper — And it was hard for me. Ultimately, it was great wisdom by them, not me. And we started going down that road. And partly, I think it’s because, Rich, is heart is near to my heart. I have an adopted daughter. A lot of our staff have adopted kids. We just have a guy right now. Our associate director of first impressions at the Rich campus is in Texas right now, you know, bringing their daughter home.Andrew Hopper — I mean, so it’s just, and so it’s sort of started to morph into, and the the the big thing I’ll say, and I, you know, I’ve been talking a lot here, but the big thing I’ll say is, if you think about the way I just ah described all that, it doesn’t start with the need in the community. It starts with the gift matrix of the church. The poor we will always have with us. Like there there is no there’s no scenario until Jesus comes back that there’s no kids that need to be adopted, you know.Rich Birch — Right, right.Andrew Hopper — And it’s just the reality of it. And so there’s always going to be need in the community. It’s more about, okay, what are the Ephesians 2:10 works that your church, because the church is made up of people who are individually called, what are the you know what are those works that God has set out for your church? Rich Birch — That’s good.Andrew Hopper — And, you know, so for us, we just felt like, dude, this is a a heartbeat thing. Our people got more, they get more fired up. The greatest thing I’ve ever been able to mobilize our people for prayer for is go to the abortion clinic and pray. I mean, a thousand people on their face in the pavement. It’s like, it just strikes a chord with our church and who we are. So we wanna run after that.Rich Birch — Yeah. Well, I love that. And we’re going to dig out a bunch of this, but let’s think about it first from a perspective of somebody who’s maybe attended your church. They just started. They’re they’re relatively new, you know. The idea of something as weighty as adoption or foster care, that’s a big ask. And you know when you yeah how do I experience that as someone who’s just new? What are some ways that I could get plugged in? What does that look like? That, that, cause I, I’m hard, it’s hard to imagine that I go from zero to, to, you know, adoption, you know, how do I end up or flying to Texas to, you know, pick up a kid. That’s a lot. Help me understand. How are you, cause I know you guys are so good at moving people along from kind of where they are to where you’re hoping to – what’s that look like? What’s the kind of, how do you bring people along in this?Andrew Hopper — Man, totally. I think you’re right. I think it’s a combination of big vision on one end and then baby steps on the other. But the big vision matters.Rich Birch — That’s good.Andrew Hopper — Like we don’t want to be scared of the big vision. So, you know, for example, our weekender process, which I know you talked about some, you know, that weekender process, you know, people literally for years, we would give them a passport application in the weekender process. Because we’re like you’re at this church you’re probably going to be overseas at some point on a mission trip. And so to me it’s like people are like dude that probably scares the crap out of people. And it’s like well, I mean we want to make sure they know what they’re getting into, you know. We’re not telling them they got to do that tomorrow… Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — …but that is the, and then and then there’s all these baby steps, right? Like hey come to you know, every February we do Sent weekend. Come to the prayer night. Like that’s a baby step. That’s not you getting on a plane to go to Nepal. But you know hey we’re doing this missions offering at the end of the year, like maybe get you know. So there’s all these I would say that our the way we think about Chosen ministry, which again: adoption, foster care, families count, and rope holding, which is a big part of this discussion… Rich Birch — Okay. Andrew Hopper —…is that way. It’s big vision on the front end so we’re never going to tell somebody, hey you know, I know you could never do this. Like I’ll never…I think people can do it and they should. Or or you know more Christians than are should. At the same time we’re also not guilting anybody. Like so I’m I you know the the first thing I’ll tell people is like, hey, you know we start talking about adoption. I always say always say, hey, we have not lined up a bunch of little kids in the lobby for you to take one home today, okay. And then I’ll tell them, that’s next week.Rich Birch — That’s great.Andrew Hopper — Okay, so yeah but and we we try hard to like put some levity in it. Man, we’re not everybody’s not going to do that. In fact, a minority, of a small minority is going to do it. But everyone can be involved and there are baby steps.Andrew Hopper — So we try to highlight giving, man. Like if you someone adopts from Mercy Hill, we pay 25% of their adoption. Okay.Rich Birch — Wow. Yep.Andrew Hopper — If they’re a member and they’re in a community group, they get 25%. All right, well, you know, we’re going to connect that. Like, man, you you are never going to adopt. You feel like that’s, but it’s like, well, I give $100 a month to the church. Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — Well, hey, what? You know, you’re you are you are supporting.Rich Birch — We’re making a difference.Andrew Hopper — We do parents night out, you know, for all of our foster and adoptive parents. We do it quarterly. It’s like, hey, those are opportunities to come and serve, man. You can serve the meal you can do. We do rope holding, which I know we’ll probably talk about. But but the the idea of rope holding is just like, man, I’m not going to do this, but I can be in the corner for somebody. They’re in my community group. I want to be their first call if they need a babysitter or they need, you know, a gift card, or whatever they need.Andrew Hopper — So I think, man, we try to do big vision. You know, we’re going we’re going to set a huge vision, you know, for 2030 for 2030. Actually, we just hit our vision for 2025, which is 200 adoptive or foster families. There’s a lot of ways people can be involved with it.Rich Birch — So good. There’s, I think thing I would encourage friends who are listening in, you really should be following Mercy Hill, Andrew, because I do think you’re a very unique communicator where you, and you just described it. And I think to you, it’s just like, that’s just what you do. But this idea of like, you’re calling people to a high bar, but you’re not leveraging shame, guilt. you know, it’s, and I think so many times our language can kind of lean in that direction. Or we can, if we really are trying to push people towards something, or we can just undersell the vision. You know We can be like, oh, it’s not that it’s not that big of a deal. You know It’s not for everybody. So I would encourage people to listen in.Rich Birch — Talk to me about rope holding. How is that, what’s that look like? Unpack what that looks like a little bit.Andrew Hopper — Yeah, so rope so the the the rope-holding analogy, which a lot of your listeners probably gonna already know this, but you know William Carey, Andrew Fuller, William Carey, father of modern missions, he’s he he he makes the statement, “I’ll dangle at the end of the rope in the pit, if you’ll hold the rope,” talking to Fuller. And Fuller held the rope for him. Like, you know, Carey the mission field, Fuller’s raising money, preaching sermons, organizing mission boards. So that’s kind of the picture. Right.Andrew Hopper — So we say, all right, not everybody is going to go down into the pit of foster care adoption, even even families count. I mean, these are these are massive spiritual warfare battlegrounds you know um which is one of the reasons why our church wants to be involved so much. I mean you if you want to talk about getting to the you can do all the rhetoric in the world, brother, you want to get to the very bottom of societal issues, you you be involved in somebody’s story that’s trying that’s trying to get their kids back from the foster care system. You’re trying to help them with that. I mean, every you could fatherlessness, poverty, drug abuse. I mean, everything you can think, you know.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — So this this is just spiritual war. So what we tell people is like, hey, man. If we got people that are mobilizing for for adoption and foster care, we better have people in their corne,r because the enemy is going to bring his war machine.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — And we see it all the time. I mean, you’re going to see, you know, a family steps in to adopt and you’re going to start seeing them, you know, there can be sickness. They can have marital problems. They can have financial things that come up. They can begin to believe lies, frustrations. I mean, There’s just so they can become, you know, their their heart can start getting hard toward the system. I mean, there’s so many things that come at them. And so what we say is we need people in their corner, right. Andrew Hopper — Now, it’s funny because like the way our church has operated was at first we said, all right, we’re going to we’re going to do, you know, the the community group is going hold the rope for the people. And and that that was fine. The problem is when we really kicked off this ministry, so many people got involved that it became overwhelming to the group. So we said we got to start this… Rich Birch — Right. Andrew Hopper — …rope holding ministry. The rope holder ministry is good. It’s like, what does a rope holder do? They kind of do whatever the person needs them to do. Rich Birch — Right. Andrew Hopper — So there are examples of the rope holding ministry going really well, where it’s like, hey, man, they’re they’re helping with ah child care with the other kids when they’re going to foster care appointments in court. And or, hey, we’re we’re helping you do some things around the house whenever you’re overseas doing your adoption, which is going to put you three weeks in country. You know, there are some good examples like that. Andrew Hopper — But the other thing that we’ve learned is, you know, foster care and adoption families that are that are walking through this, they’re going through a very trying time. And to just pair them with somebody they don’t know and say, hey, look, here’s your supporter, it can be a little bit like, oh, that’s awesome, and then they never reach out to them.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — They never reach out – the rope holder’s ready.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — But it’s just like, dude, I don’t I don’t know you. And this is a hard time.Rich Birch — Who are you? Yeah, yeah.Andrew Hopper — And so what we’re trying to figure out now as we reboot that rope holder idea is, you know, how how do you kind of integrate relationships they’ve already had? Almost like, hey, do you have this massive pool of people called rope holders? Or when an adoptive family comes up, you say to them, hey, who can we shoulder tap, rope holder for you.Rich Birch — That’s good.Andrew Hopper — And then we’ll train them.Rich Birch — Oh, that’s cool. Yeah.Andrew Hopper — But not have this pool, but say for you, we’ll put them in. So that’s kind of what we’re, so as part of our reboot for 2030, you know, that’s sort of what’s in our mind right now.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s cool.Andrew Hopper — We have a whole playbook for the way we’ve done it, which anybody, you know, if anybody wants any of those things, they can go to AndrewPHopper.com/chosen. And I can send you any of that stuff we have, but on the rope holder side, you know, just full transparency, we’re still, you know, kind of, of you know, and I’m sure it’ll always be that way that we make an improvement.Rich Birch — Yeah, always trying to make it better. Yeah. And I want to, yeah, at some point in this journey, you decided, hey, we’ve got to put this vision and framework into writing, like we and you actually ended up writing a book, and friends who are listening in, I want to encourage you to pick up a copy of this book. Listen, we’re almost half an hour in. I know you’re interested in this. This is the kind of thing you, Andrew’s a trusted leader. He’s, I’ve had a chance to take a peek at the book. This will be super helpful for you. But, but that’s a lot of effort to put this together into a book. What pushed you from just leading this ministry to ultimately saying, hey, I want to capture this into a resource that could help other people?Andrew Hopper — Well, you know, Rich, I never really saw myself as like a writer, just like a practitioner, man. Let’s just keep keep working on the thing and going.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — And truthfully, I got approached. Hey, would you have any interest in writing? You know, New Growth Press is the one that’s editing this book and putting it out. And it was funny, though, because the second I was asked, I was like, man, I know what we should do [inaudible] that should be what we should do. It’s it’s our it’s it’s my story’s family story with our special needs child that we’ve adopted. It’s our church’s journey. But more important than either of those two things, it’s a grounding in the gospel-centered motivation. Because I think that is what is so important. We don’t do guilt motivation. And you know, cute kids and sad, cute kids and and sad stories are good reasons, but they you need a great reason, because it’s hard. Rich Birch — That’s good. Yep.Andrew Hopper — You know, and the great reason is of course, adopted people adopt people. And so we delve way into the helplessness of our spiritual condition, how God adopted us and then how, you know, that provides a deep motivation for us to go and do the same for others.Rich Birch — Can you unpack that a little bit more? Because I think this is, ah to me, a core part of the book that I think is really helpful. Even if you’re maybe listening in, you’re thinking, okay, I’m not sure adoption or foster care is necessarily the thing, but you unpack this idea of gospel rather than guilt. And can you talk us through, you know, how, yeah, just talk us through that part, that concept a bit more. Just double click on that a little bit.Andrew Hopper — Yeah. So, you know, when we think about behaviors that flow from the Christian life, there’s really only two ways to think about it, right? Like one of them is we try to do things in order that God would approve of us, you know, that he would, you know, he would, ah he would, he would let us in his family, you know, those those types of things. And we, you know, this is for a lot of Baptistic world, which I am, this was kind of like, wow, this is really revolutionary, but that was 20 years ago – Keller and all that. You know, we just started understanding what more of a gospel center motivation. Andrew Hopper — Of course, the other way to think about Christian behaviors is you are part of the family because of what Christ has done for you. And the family has a culture. The family works a certain way. There’s fruit that will pop out in your life, not so that you can gain entrance into the vine. That’s not how it works. Like, ah you know, you don’t you don’t produce fruit to get in the vine. You produce fruit because you’re in the vine. Andrew Hopper — And so, you know, when we think about like like Titus 2, for example, we think about how the grace of God appears to all men, teaching us not just salvation, but teaching us to obey his commands. So there’s something about salvation that and is inherent to the gospel-centered motivation of of of going out, living the Christian life. You know, it’s it’s kind of the John Bunyan idea when they said, man, if you, you know, if you keep preaching this gospel message, people are going to do whatever they want to do. And he said, no, if I keep preaching this gospel message, people are going to do whatever God wants them to do. Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — You know, and so I think what we’ve done in this book is just say, hey, that that is true universally in our Christian life. Like if I’m not tithing and I’m stingy, I can do motivation in two ways. Number one, how dare you, you piece of trash that you never, you know why would you never give? Look what God, you know, blah blah blah, blah, blah, guilt, guilt, shame, shame. Right. Andrew Hopper — Of course, the other way to say is like, man, what kind of riches has God given you in the gospel? And what kind of inheritance do you now have as a son of the king? It’s like, all right, that’s powerful, you know, and it will it will take us places that guilt never can. Guilt will work for a while. You can put fire under somebody and it’ll move them. But if you put it in them, they’ll run through a wall, you know. Rich Birch — So true.Andrew Hopper — And so it’s like it’s like, hey, OK, so you could do it with all these different things. We’ve tried to take this book and do that with adoption to say, all right.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — We know James 1:27, we need to care for the fatherless and the orphan. We understand. I mean, dude, there ain’t, when you talk about metaphors, there’s two big ones, marriage and adoption, you know? And so if you want to do adoption well, we can do it from two motivations. One motivation is look how many kids need. That’s all and that’s all true. That moves my heart. You know, look, can you believe this story of this kid? And that’s fine.Andrew Hopper — Of course, you could do guilt, too. Like, how dare you, you know, have this nice, happy family and not go adopt a little poor orphan kid. You know, you could do guilt. All those things will be fine. They’ll put fire under you a little bit. But if you want to put the fire in someone that is going to carry them through the long haul of all this stuff, I think it’s better to start with: All right. There’s kids that need to be chosen. Were you chosen?Andrew Hopper — You know, so like one of the you know, one I’ll give you an example. We know of a family here in the tribe. They’ve got an awesome son that is 20-something years old, kids got Down syndrome, and they adopted him from Ecuador. And his story was one day a carpenter was working on this building and he heard cries coming out of a dump, like a trash heap. This child had just been born and been left you know with his deformities had just been left for the dumpster. Andrew Hopper — And they brought him to the orphanage. And next thing you know, you know about three or four years later, he got adopted by this family that we know. And that family’s father, he said, Eddie’s story is my story. I was pulled from a trash heap by a carpenter. And if you it’s like that is powerful. Rich Birch — Right. Yes.Andrew Hopper — You know, when you start thinking about, man, in my sin, I was one who had no part and parcel in the kingdom of God. I was headlong in rebellion. I had rejected. I was not a son. And God lavished his love upon me, that I would be called his child. And if if that has happened to me spiritually, how could I not want to do that? Or at least help those. you know I’m not saying that’s a call for everybody, but be involved in others that are doing that as well.Andrew Hopper — And so that’s what we say. Adopted people, adopt people, chosen people, choose people. And hey, I didn’t answer your last question. Rich Birch — That’s fine.Andrew Hopper — Okay. Your last question was, why did we write the book? Very simply, I think more people just need to think about what I just said. You know, and I think churches do. And I think that if, you know, a lot of churches have adoption-minded people and a little bit of of fuel in that fire might create some really cool ministry in that church. And this book lays really well for being like, man, make it a small group resource for eight weeks. You know, it’s got questions at the end of each chapter.Andrew Hopper — Like my my prayer is that this book would catalyze tens of thousands of Christian adoptions. Rich Birch — Wow. Andrew Hopper — And that’s why we wrote the book.Rich Birch — Yeah. It’s and I thought the same thing as I was looking through it, that this would be a great resource for a small group, a great resource as a staff training thing. Because again, I think there’s two things happening on two levels. From my perspective, there’s what you’re actually talking about – adoption, but then there’s how you talk about it. And I think even both of those, I think could be interesting as a as a staff team to kind of unpack and think about. How do we ensure that what we’re doing is so gospel-infused. That’s part of why i love you as a communicator. I think you do such a good job on that. It’s just fantastic. So I would strongly encourage people to pick it up.Rich Birch — Help me understand the connection. So Mercy Hill is known for, or at least from my perspective, known as a sending church. You know, the thing, one of the and I’ve told again, I told you this before, you’re the first church leader I’ve ever bumped into that has connected new here guests to number of missionaries sent. This like idea of like this funnel of how do we move people all the way along to that? I think that’s incredible. How does that kind of sending culture and adoption, how does that fit together? How does that help kind of fuel the flywheel of what’s happening at Mercy Hill?Andrew Hopper — Well, you you helped me think about this when you came and did our one day for our for our Breaking Barriers group, you know, for the pastoral trainings that we do. Because in your church growth book, you talk about how, ah you know, community ministry is used as an evangelism tool. I’m not, I’m probably butchering the way you talk about it.Rich Birch — Yep. Yep. Oh, that’s good. Yep. That’s great.Andrew Hopper — That was like a big light bulb for me because because we we definitely do that, but we have not leveraged the communications of that.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — And so, um you know, for us now, what we’re trying to really think about is how does our adoption of foster care ministry and rope holding and families count ministry, how does that create open? We call them open doors, right? Rich Birch — Yep.Andrew Hopper — Like, how does it create open doors, questions in the community, where people come in? And we’ve seen it. You know, so like when we’re talking about the sending culture, that pipeline starts when new people get interested in faith, they get interested in church.Andrew Hopper — And, you know, like, for example, we we had a guy, we just did a historic video. Man, he’s saved, baptized, serving now, ah or, you know, family, young family, prototypical Mercy Hill guy, like, man, just you know blue collar heart, white collar job, just that. I mean, just everything we talk about. Right. He’s our he’s kind of our guy. And the way he got connected was his boss had signed up to be a rope holder. And it just blew his mind. Like, why would a guy take limited time and go help these families? I mean, he of course, he thought it was a good thing. But it really intrigued them. Andrew Hopper — And so we’ve tried to we’re trying to leverage more of the communication side. It’s tricky. You don’t want to be like, hey, look at us you know in the community. At the same time, I’m like, man, this year, you know when we’re going to do a pretty significant upgrade to some of the there our foster care system has, there’s a house that has a backyard and the backyard is where families come to play with kids, play with their kids they’re trying to get back from the foster care.Rich Birch — Right. Yep.Andrew Hopper — And we’ve said like, you know what, man, if these parents are putting in, that needs to be like the best, the best backyard, and you know?Rich Birch — Right. Yeah, absolutely. 100%.Andrew Hopper — And so, you know, we’re, we’re going to do a significant investment in some, you know, whatever…Rich Birch — Play structures and yeah. Andrew Hopper — …like a, you know, whatever, like a pergola type thing. They’re going put a shed out there. All going to connect it, pavers, all that stuff is what we want to do. And, you know, we’re, we’re looking at that and I’m going like, yeah, I mean, I get it. Like you don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, but at the same time, that’s not for us. That’s for people that are interested to say like, why would a church do that? You know, like why do they care so much?Andrew Hopper — And it’s because, Hey, sign of the kingdom. We want to build families through adoption. We want to restore families through foster care and families count. This is part of that. So we’ve tried to we’ve tried to use it as a way. And I would really encourage church leaders to think about that. Like, hey, is your community ministry actually an evangelism strategy?Rich Birch — Right. Yeah, that’s good. Love that. And yeah, I would encourage you continue to encourage you to think through those things because I do think that there’s, we’ve seen that there’s huge opportunity for folks who don’t normally attend church. They’re interested the way I’ve said in other contexts is they see it as a good thing. We see it as a God thing. We’re not going to fight them over the semantics of it at the front end. Because like you say it’s it’s the kingdom puncturing through that grabs their attention and you’re like oh what what you know what’s going on there? It’s a first step – how do we encourage those people? Rich Birch — Like on that backyard project, I no doubt if you’re rallying a bunch of guys to go work there, I know that there are guys in your church who have friends who they could invite who don’t attend church who maybe would never walk in your church who’d say, hey, will you come and work for a Saturday for a couple hours and swing a hammer and help us do this thing? Let me explain what this is about.They absolutely would show up, right? 100% they’d show up and and they’ll get intrigued by that. And they’ll be like, oh, what’s going on there? That’s that’s fantastic. Rich Birch — Well, friends, unabashedly, I want you to pick up copies of, not just a copy, copies of this book. So where do we want to send people to pick up copies, that sort of thing?Andrew Hopper — Yeah, man, they can just go to andrewphopper.com/chosen. Rich Birch — Perfect. Yep.Andrew Hopper — The book’s out so they can pick up a copy. I mean, it’s also just like on Amazon or whatever, but that link will take you straight to New Growth Press.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — So, yeah, man, would love it. Would love to hear from anybody who’s using it well in a church context um to catalyze Christian adoption.Rich Birch — Love it. Anything else you want to share just as we close and how can people track, go to the website, other places we want to send them as we close up today.Andrew Hopper — Also on Instagram, we have a lot of stuff on Instagram, andrewphopper on Instagram. Yeah, the last thing I would say as a closing thought, Rich, is you know, the Christian adoption boom has sort of happened 20 years ago. People started talking about this a lot more. And now you can feel in some of the podcast world and all that, there’s a bit of a backlash, not not to don’t do it, but also like, hey, no one told us how hard this was going to be. Andrew Hopper — You’re dealing with traumatic situations, kids that have been brought, you know, I mean, it’s, it’s crazy. One thing I try to do in this book is I try to say, Hey, that’s not a good reason to take our ball and go home, you know.Rich Birch — That’s good.Andrew Hopper — Instead we just need to try to shoot as straight as we can. And I do that in this book, man. It is hard. It’s you’re on the front lines of spiritual war. I mean, it’s almost like, dude, the, the, the greatest transfer of faith from one generation to another happens in the home. We love it when adults get saved. I get that. But let’s be honest. Statistically, where does it normally happen? Right. Rich Birch — Yeah. Kids. Andrew Hopper — And so if you got a home that’s broken apart, that Christians are trying to put back together, what did we think Satan was going to do? You know, and so instead of taking our ball and going home, let’s just call it what it is, and then ask the Lord to steel our spine… Rich Birch — That’s good. Andrew Hopper — …and to move forward with the mission. So, yeah, man, I’d love for people to pick it up. And I appreciate the time to talk about it today.Rich Birch — Andrew, thanks so much. Appreciate you. Just want to honor you for the work you do. You’re a great leader. And I love how God’s using you and your church to make a difference. Thanks for being on the show today.Andrew Hopper — Thanks, brother.

HT2485 - One Lens to Rule Them All Clearly I'm not the only photographer who has dreamed of a single lens that would do everything I need. The popularity of so-called "superzoom" lenses would demonstrate that. I've tried several superzoom alternatives and all of them have left me unimpressed for one reason or another. Even with today's ultra-advanced lens designs and manufacturing tolerances, it seems there is always a compromise that leaves me unsatisfied. Statistically, however, in the last 8 years I've made 92% of my captures with just two lenses that cover the "superzoom" range of focal lengths. This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2400 and counting! — are available to members of LensWork Online. Try a 30-day membership for only $10 and discover the literally terabytes of content about photography and the creative process. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

•Granola Makes You Run Faster •When Illegals Post "I'm Illegal" on Facebook •America: Open Borders & Taken Land •My Dad's Slave Reciepts •Have You Ever Dug? Digging Sucks! •The Guy That Made Minesweeper Now Makes Butter In A Lab •Doug Is Worth More To Not Talk To •Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Dumb Thought •10 Mosquitoes Dipped In Alpha-Gal •Anthony Is Always Right (most of the time) •I Drink Whiskey. Not Liquor. •Jesus Told Me To Burn This Bush. Check This Out! •Statistically, Everything Sounds Better When Following The Word Statistically …And Much More! Support Us on Patreon Get access to bonus episodes every week, ad free episodes, and join us on our weekly after show chats. https://www.patreon.com/WhosRight Watch us Live Tuesday (Bonus Episodes) and Wednesday on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/c/WhosRightPodcast Our website - https://whosrightpodcast.com/ For superchat sounds, send them over to Doug at doug.whosrightpodcast@gmail.com with "superchat" in the subject line Submit Dear Flabby Questions - https://whosrightpodcast.com/dearflabby/ Don't miss any updates or content. Find all our social media links located in our Linktree: http://linktr.ee/whosrightpodcast Link to our Discord - https://discord.gg/5jkc6NfAW8 Doug's Substack - https://mindofdorg.substack.com/ Deputy Butterbean's Playlist - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4BgFV8Gik4pDL4HNiygudW?si=VUiKTlOIRuO7-JtZ5pjJ1Q&pi=0uChhaL3Stq-0 The infamous Beastie Boys episode - https://beastieboysepisode.com/

Most people don't fail because they lack motivation or ambition. They fail because they're trying to win the year with willpower instead of systems. Setting big goals, feeling fired up in January, and then wondering by February why the momentum disappeared. What finally changed everything for me wasn't more goals. It was one habit. Then another. And suddenly, success stopped feeling forced and started feeling inevitable.In this solo episode of The Happy Hustle Podcast, I break down why habits beat goals every single time and how you can use two specific habits to make 2026 your most aligned, productive, and fulfilling year yet. This isn't theory. It's a simple, repeatable process rooted in behavioral science, real-life experience, and what I've seen work consistently for high-performing entrepreneurs who actually follow through. No guest this time, just me pulling back the curtain on the exact habit framework I use to create momentum in both my personal life and business.This episode matters because most people are doing goal-setting backwards. Statistically, over 80% of goals are abandoned by February, not because people don't care, but because goals rely on motivation while habits rewire identity. Habits are responsible for nearly half of our daily behavior, and when you focus on systems instead of outcomes, long-term success becomes two to three times more likely. If you're tired of setting intentions that never stick, this conversation will hit home.One of the biggest takeaways is the shift from goal setting to habit building. Goals excite your ego, but habits train your nervous system. Instead of obsessing over outcomes, you choose micro-actions that make success unavoidable. When you commit to the habit, the result takes care of itself. You don't rise to the level of your goals—you fall to the level of your habits.Another key lesson is the power of simplifying your focus. One personal habit. One professional habit. That's it. For your personal life, I recommend a non-negotiable morning alignment routine—30 to 60 minutes, five days a week, before the world gets a vote. For your professional life, it's a daily impact block—around 90 minutes of focused, uninterrupted work that compounds revenue, relationships, or impact. When you win the morning and protect your impact block, everything else starts to align.The episode also dives into identity-based habits. Consistency beats intensity every time. When you keep small promises to yourself daily, you start seeing yourself as someone who follows through—and that identity drives behavior automatically. Environment matters too. Your surroundings either reinforce your habits or sabotage them, so removing friction and temptation is part of the work.One of the most important pieces I share is accountability and consequence. Habits stick when there's something at stake. That might be a financial penalty, an accountability partner, or a rule that rewards only come after the habit is complete. When you attach real consequences to inaction, discipline stops being optional.At the end of the day, 2026 doesn't need more pressure, more grind, or more resolutions. It needs alignment. It needs you to keep your word to yourself. One personal habit. One professional habit. Done consistently. That's how you build momentum, confidence, and a life you actually love living.If you want the full breakdown, the science, the stories, and the exact framework I use to make habits stick, listen to the full episode of The Happy Hustle Podcast. Lock in the habits now and let the results take care of themselves.Connect with Cary!https://www.instagram.com/caryjack/https://www.facebook.com/SirCaryJackhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/cary-jack-kendzior/https://twitter.com/thehappyhustlehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFDNsD59tLxv2JfEuSsNMOQ/featured Get a free copy of his new book, The Happy Hustle, 10 Alignments to Avoid Burnout & Achieve Blissful Balance https://www.thehappyhustle.com/bookSign up for The Journey: 10 Days To Become a Happy Hustler Online Coursehttps://thehappyhustle.com/thejourney/Apply to the Montana Mastermind Epic Camping Adventurehttps://thehappyhustle.com/mastermind/“It's time to Happy Hustle, a blissfully balanced life you love, full of passion, purpose, and positive impact!”Episode Sponsors:If you're feeling stressed, not sleeping great, or your energy's been kinda meh lately—let me put you on to something that's been a total game-changer for me: Magnesium Breakthrough by BiOptimizers. This ain't your average magnesium—it's got all 7 essential forms that your body needs to chill out, sleep deeper, and feel more balanced. I take it every night and legit notice the difference the next day. No more waking up groggy or tossing and turning all nightIf you're ready to sleep like a baby, calm your nervous system, and optimize your recovery, go grab yours now at bioptimizers.com/happy and use code HAPPY10 for 10% OFF.

Statistically, it's terrifying. All the things that can go wrong. But you need to remember that statistics are about averages.

Surveys show there are more people in therapy than ever. On one hand I feel there is more benefit in talking with someone than not. And on the other hand I'm concerned whether all the therapy is paying off. Statistically, mental health continues on a decline. So when I heard about SFBT therapy, I intrigued myself. SFBT is Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, defined as a goal-oriented, short-term approach that focuses on identifying a client's strengths and resources to find solutions to their problems, rather than dwelling on the problems themselves. My guest today is one of the foremost experts on Solution-Focused Brief Therapy. Elliott Connie is a respected author, top psychotherapist, and thought leader in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), takes a fresh approach. He has a book, Change Your Questions, Change Your Future: Overcome Challenges and Create a New Vision for Your Life Using the Principles of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy. In his book, Elliott challenges readers to rethink their questions and the thinking behind them, and I resonate with the concepts very much. The idea is using powerful, forward-focused questions that are designed to help you shift your mindset and create meaningful change. The highlights for me were the realization of how much more powerful it is when we think for ourselves and ask questions, rather than be told something. When we are told something by someone else, we can often push back against it. When we consider and come up with an answer to a question ourselves, we listen. We also got deep into the power of knowing and living in accordance with our core values. But not the “big picture core values,” as Elliott points out. We tend to think of beliefs and morality, but where he finds it most powerful is in the day to day values that actually support who we are and want to be. Elliott's book, Change Your Questions, Change Your Future, is available now, and you can connect with him and SFBT at elliottconnie.com Sign up for your $1/month trial period at shopify.com/kevin Go to shipstation.com and use code KEVIN to start your free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode was the moment Dolores fell in love with the show, but what did she and Wells think of the controversial win?! Dolores is one of the few who have made it to the fire of truth, so she tells us everything behind the scenes… Plus, Wells reveals that this game is based off of a Russian case study. Statistically speaking, what should be the outcome of the next few seasons?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

QAnon-style trafficking myths are hurting real victims and helping nobody. Nick Pell separates trafficking fact from fiction here on Skeptical Sunday.Welcome to Skeptical Sunday, a special edition of The Jordan Harbinger Show where Jordan and a guest break down a topic that you may have never thought about, open things up, and debunk common misconceptions. This time around, we're joined by writer and researcher Nick Pell!Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1215On This Week's Skeptical Sunday:The math doesn't add up. That viral "800,000 missing children" claim? Pure statistical sleight of hand. Most are runaways or parental custody disputes, not shadowy trafficking rings. The reality is that stranger abductions account for just one percent of kidnapping cases.Forget the Hollywood playbook. Real trafficking isn't a panel van at Walmart waiting for the perfect victim to whisk away — it's the slow burn of grooming. Predators pose as boyfriends, exploit trust, and use psychological manipulation over months.Privilege blinds us to real victims. That suburban soccer mom convinced she's a trafficking target? Statistically safer than she thinks. Actual victims tend to come from marginalized communities, LGBTQ+ youth, immigrants, and kids in foster care — people society already overlooks.Moral panic creates real harm. Trafficking hysteria spawned laws like SESTA/FOSTA that pushed sex work underground, making it more dangerous. When we chase fictional threats, we abandon real victims who need unsexy, long-term support — not rescue fantasies.Real solutions work through boring, beautiful basics. Want to actually help? Support organizations like Polaris Project that provide housing, mental health care, legal aid, and job training. One person at a time, one life rebuilt — that's how you dismantle trafficking networks for real.Connect with Jordan on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. If you have something you'd like us to tackle here on Skeptical Sunday, drop Jordan a line at jordan@jordanharbinger.com and let him know!And if you're still game to support us, please leave a review here — even one sentence helps! Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course!Subscribe to our once-a-week Wee Bit Wiser newsletter today and start filling your Wednesdays with wisdom!Do you even Reddit, bro? Join us at r/JordanHarbinger!This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors:Rag & Bone: 20% off: Rag-Bone.com, code JORDANWayfair: Start renovating: wayfair.comBetterHelp: 10% off first month: betterhelp.com/jordanLand Rover Defender: Build yours: landroverusa.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.