Podcasts about Wake Forest University

Dr Guenther interviews Dr Seth Hayden, Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Clinical Mental Health Program at Wake Forest University about how career choice affects mental health. The post Brain Matters S13.E04: Career Development and Mental Health first appeared on Capstone Voices Podcasting Network.

1 Timothy 4:8 NIV “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”   *Transcription Below*   Brian Smith, author of The Christian Athlete: Glorifying God in Sports, is a staff member with Athletes in Action and a cross-country coach at Lowell High School. A former collegiate runner at Wake Forest University, he earned a BA in Communications and Journalism before completing his MA in Theology and Sports Studies at Baylor University's Truett Theological Seminary. Brian lives in Lowell, MI with his wife and three children. You can find him on Twitter @BrianSmithAIA.   Ed Uszynski is an author, speaker, and sports minister with over three decades' experience discipling college and professional athletes. With a heart for reconciliation and justice, he also works as a racial literacy consultant and marriage conference speaker, blending Biblical wisdom with practical living in the midst of complex cultural realities. He has two theological degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a PhD in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University. He and his wife Amy have four children and live in Xenia, Ohio.   The Christian Athlete Website   Thank You to Our Sponsor:  Sam Leman Eureka   Questions and Topics We Cover: What is one of kids' greatest game day complaints?  Is it true that young athletic success is a predictor of adult athletic success? What are a few tips for instilling a heart of gratitude in our young athlete, rather than entitlement?   Related Savvy Sauce Episode: 230 Intentional Parenting in All The Stages with Dr. Rob Rienow   Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook or Instagram or Our Website   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV) Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”    Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”    Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”    Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”    John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   *Transcription*   Music: (0:00 – 0:11)   Laura Dugger: (0:12 - 1:51) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here.   The principles of honesty and integrity that Sam Leman founded his business on continue today, over 55 years later, at Sam Leman Chevrolet Eureka.   Owned and operated by the Bertschi family, Sam Leman and Eureka appreciates the support they've received from their customers all over Central Illinois and beyond. Visit them today at lemangm.com.   Brian Smith and Ed Uszynski are my guests for today.   They are co-authors of this recent amazing book entitled, A Way Game, A Christian Parents Guide to Navigating Youth Sports. And from the very beginning, I was captivated, even with one of the endorsements from Matt Martens, who's the president and CEO of Awana, and he summed it up this way, A Way Game provides a much needed perspective shift on one of the most sacred idols in our culture, youth sports. So, Brian and Ed are all for youth sports, and yet you're going to hear there's a different way to approach it than what we've been trained in culture.   And they're going to share some wonderful and very practical insights. I can't wait to share this with you. Here's our chat. Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Ed and Brian.   Ed Uszynski & Brian Smith: (1:51 - 1:54) Thanks for having us, Laura. Yeah, good to be here, Laura.   Laura Dugger: (1:54 - 2:04) So, excited about this chat. And will the two of you just start us off by sharing your family's stage of life and your involvement in sports?   Brian Smith: (2:05 - 3:29) Yeah, there could be a lot on the back end of that question. I'll start with sports, then get into family. I've been involved in sports my entire life, played every sport imaginable growing up, got cut from just about every single sport my freshman year of high school, ended up running track and cross country because it was the only sports that you could not get cut from at my high school.   And I ended up being pretty good at it by the time I was a senior, won some state championships, ended up getting a scholarship to run at Wake Forest University. So, I did that for four years right out of college. I coached a little bit collegiately.   Soon after that, I joined staff with a sports ministry called Athletes in Action that Ed and I have a combined 50 years with Athletes in Action. And really, that's been my life ever since. I've been ministering to college and pro athletes, discipling them, helping them figure out what does that actually look like to integrate faith in sport.   Even today, I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I coach high school cross country while I'm still on staff with Athletes in Action. I have a middle school Bible study that I run on Wednesday mornings.   Been married to my wife, who I actually met in high school. She was a distance runner too, and she ran at Wisconsin. So, we've been married for 20 years.   We have three kids, a high schooler, a middle schooler, and an elementary schooler who are all involved in sport at some level, some way, shape, or form.   Laura Dugger: (3:30 - 3:34) Wow, that's incredible. Thank you, Brian. And Ed, what about you?   Ed Uszynski: (3:34 - 5:04) Well, my story is very parallel to Brian's, just different sports and some different numbers. Just tack on 15 years. Yeah, I was a basketball player.   Grew up on the west side of Cleveland with a high school football coach. My dad was, but I was a basketball player. I played at high levels all the way through my 20s, got to play overseas.   I mean, this was a long time ago, but I got everything I could out of that sport. And as soon as I graduated from college, though, I started to work with that Athletes in Action ministry that Brian mentioned. So, I've been working with college and professional athletes for 34 years now.   And same, coached at different levels, have four kids. Amy and I have been married for 26 years. We have four kids, three are in college, and one's in ninth grade, who has a game this afternoon, actually.   So, we've just been going to games and have been involved in going to sports stuff for the last 20 years with our kids. And really what happened with Brian, and I is that we looked up a decade ago and realized this youth sports thing was a fast train that was moving in directions that we weren't used to ourselves, even though we've been around sports our whole life. It's like, there's something different happening now.   And then thinking about it as Christians, like, how do we do this well as Christ followers? We don't want to separate from it. We don't want to just go for the ride. How do we do this as Christian people? And that's what got us talking about it and eventually led to this book.   Laura Dugger: (5:05 - 5:23) Well, the book was easy to read and incredible. And I'd like to start there where you begin, even where you go back before going forward. So, when you're looking back, what are the factors at play that changed youth sports over time?   Ed Uszynski: (5:26 - 6:17) Well, I'll say this and then Brian, maybe you jump in and throw a couple of them out there. I mean, youth sports is a $40 billion industry today, which is wild to think about. It's four times how much money gets spent on the NFL, which is just staggering.   I can't even hardly believe that that's true, but it is. And it's really just in the last 20 years that that's happened. I mean, 50 years ago, you couldn't have had the youth sport industrial complex, as we refer to it.   You couldn't have had it. There were a bunch of things that had to happen culturally, as is true with any new movement or any paradigm shift that happens in culture. You've got to have certain things be true all at the same time that make it possible.   So, Brian, what were a couple of those? Again, I'll throw it over to you. There's six of them that we talk about in the book. And I think it's really fascinating because I'm a history guy.   Brian Smith: (6:18 - 8:40) Yeah. And we can obviously double click on any of these, Laura, that you want to, but we talk about how the college admissions process became an avenue where youth sports parents saw, man, if we can get our kids involved in some extracurriculars and kind of tag on high level athlete to their resume, it actually helps with the college admissions process. And so even the idea of college scholarships became an opportunity for youth sports parents to get their kids involved.   And then, yeah, maybe sports can actually get them into college. We talk about the economic shifts that happen, the rise of safetyism and helicopter parenting. ESPN was a massive one in 1979.   This thing called ESPN starts, and we get 24-7 coverage of sports, which they started exploring even early on. What does it look like to give coverage to something like Little League World Series and saw that it didn't really matter how young the sport was, it's going to draw a national audience. And so, we've almost been discipled by ESPN really over the last 50 years with this consistent coverage.   We talk about the rise of the sports complex. This one to me is like the most fascinating out of all of them. In 1997, Disney decided to try to get more people to come to their parks.   They built a sports complex, just a massive sports complex. The idea was, are the older kids getting sick of the Buzz Lightyear ride and the Disney princesses? So, let's build a sports complex and maybe it'll be something else that will draw this older crowd too.   And what happened was, I mean, a lot of people started coming to it, but kind of the stake in the ground game changer was when 9-11 hit. In the months and years after that, they saw a lot less people go to their parks, but population actually doubled going to the sports complex, which is wild to think that people were afraid to go to theme parks for a vacation, but they were willing to travel across state lines to play sports at the Disney complex. So other cities and municipalities took notice of that.   Today, there's over 30,000 sports complexes like Disney's, which again, this is all adding to the system of the youth sports industrial complex. Did I miss any, Ed?   Ed Uszynski: (8:41 - 10:47) Well, no, and that's good. And the reason why we even put all that on the table, again, everybody kind of intuitively knows if you're involved, you know, something's not right. But I think it's important to say this is not normal what's happening.   It's a new normal that's been manufactured by a bunch of cultural trends, by a bunch of entrepreneurs that are doing what entrepreneurs do, and they're taking advantage of the moment, and they are generating lots of money around it. So, it should be encouraging. If it's not normal, that means actually there's a counter way of going about this.   There really can be reformation. But when all this money gets involved, the two biggest consequences that come out of that is our kids start getting treated like commodities, which they are, and we could talk the whole time even just about what that means. But maybe even more importantly, or what comes out of that is that beyond their physical development, most coaches and clubs are not paying any attention to their emotional development, their psychological development, their spiritual development, all the different aspects of what it means to be human that, frankly, used to be paid quite a bit more attention to in youth leagues when I was growing up.   I'm 58 now, so I was playing in the 70s and the 80s. And it used to be expected, at least at some level, even among non-Christian people, that you would take those aspects of a kid's life seriously. And now those just aren't prioritized.   And so, what do we do about that? Again, that's kind of our whole point is, well, as Christian people, we're really supposed to be our kid's first discipler anyways. And part of that role and part of taking on that identity is that we would be asking, what is God trying to do in the wholeness of their life, the entirety of their life, even in the context of sports?   So again, I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but that's why we're trying to poke into that to say, oh, we could actually make change. We may not change the whole system. In fact, we won't. Most of us won't be expected to do that, but we can make significant change in our corner of the bleachers and what happens with our kids.   Laura Dugger: (10:48 - 11:05) That's good. And just like you said, to double-click on a few places, first of all, real quick, the 30,000 number, I remember that shocking me in the book, but I'm forgetting now, is that worldwide, the amount of sports complexes or is that just in America?   Brian Smith: (11:05 - 11:06) That's domestically in the US.   Laura Dugger: (11:07 - 11:52) Yeah. That is staggering. And then one other piece, all of this history was new to me as you brought it all together, but it was also fascinated.   This is from page 32. I'll just read your quote. The American youth sports ball began rolling when a British movement fusing spiritual development with physical activity made its way across the Atlantic Ocean at the turn of the last century.   And Ed, that's kind of what you were touching on, that they were mixing, I'm sure, spiritual, psychological discipleship, physical. Can you elaborate more on what was happening and where it originated? Because we've come very far from our origins.   Ed Uszynski: (11:53 - 13:18) Yeah. And there's been a bunch of really great books written about this topic called muscular Christianity. This idea, like you just said, Laura, of wedding physical activity through sports with our spiritual development and expecting and anticipating that somebody that was taking care of their body and that was engaging in sport activity, that was the closest thing to godliness.   That opened up the door for you to also be developing spiritually. And there was an expectation that both of those are going on at the same time. A bunch of criticism about that movement, but it was taken seriously.   The YMCA is actually a huge byproduct of the muscular Christianity movement. The Young Men's Christian Association created space for sports and for athletic activity to take place under the banner of you're also going to grow spiritually as you're doing this. So again, that was a hundred years ago.   And that's not really what AAU stands for today. The different clubs and leagues that we get involved in just don't talk that way anymore. Of course, culture just in general has shifted away from sort of a Judeo-Christian ethic guiding a North Star for us.   Even if we're not Christian people, that used to be more of a North Star. That's gone now. And so, it really is not expected in sports anymore.   Brian Smith: (13:18 - 13:55) And what we're saying is we cannot expect organizations to own that process for our kids. We can't outsource the discipleship of our kids to the youth sports industrial complex or the YMCA or the AAU. It really does start with us as Christian parents to be the primary discipler of our kids.   And there is a way to take what's happening on the field or the court or the pool and turn it into really amazing discipleship opportunities. But it means, and Ed is starting to tease this out, it means we need to change our perspective as parents when we sit in the bleachers or on the sidelines of what we're looking for and even the conversations we have with our kids on the back end.   Laura Dugger: (13:57 - 15:29) And now a brief message from our sponsor.   Sam Leman Chevrolet Eureka has been owned and operated by the Bertschi family for over 25 years. A lot has changed in the car business since Sam and Stephen's grandfather, Sam Leman, opened his first Chevrolet dealership over 55 years ago.   If you visit their dealership today though, you'll find that not everything has changed. They still operate their dealership like their grandfather did, with honesty and integrity. Sam and Stephen understand that you have many different choices in where you buy or service your vehicle.   This is why they do everything they can to make the car buying process as easy and hassle-free as possible. They are thankful for the many lasting friendships that began with a simple welcome to Sam Leman's. Their customers keep coming back because they experience something different.   I've known Sam and Stephen and their wives my entire life and I can vouch for their character and integrity, which makes it easy to highly recommend you check them out today. Your car buying process doesn't have to be something you dread, so come see for yourself at Sam Leman Chevrolet in Eureka. Sam and Stephen would love to see you and they appreciate your business.   Learn more at their website, LemanEureka.com or visit them on Facebook by searching for Sam Leman Eureka. You can also call them on 309-467-2351. Thanks for your sponsorship.   Laura Dugger: (15:30 - 15:31) And I want to continue getting into more of those practicals. Do you want to give us just a taste or an example or story of what that might look like?   Brian Smith: (15:32 - 16:54) We keep saying, we keep talking about the importance of the car ride home that it's tempting for us and not us broadly in the U.S., tempting for us, Ed and I, as people who have done this for 50 plus years and who should know better, it's tempting for us as discipled by an ESPN over analyzing everything culture and want to talk about sports to get in the car ride home with our kids and all we want to talk about is how game went, what they did right, what they did wrong, what they could fix next time.   Maybe instead of passing to Tim, they should take the shot next time because they're wide open. They just hit three in a row. So, and what our kids need from us in those moments is less coaching, less criticizing, less critiquing, and they just need us to connect with them.   The stats on kids quitting youth sports is crazy right now. Its 70 percent are quitting before the age of 13, in large part because it's not fun, and a lot of kids are attaching this idea of it not being fun to the car ride home with their parents who, let's say this too, most of us are well-intentioned parents. We're not trying to screw our kids up.   We want what's best for our kids, but the data and the research and the lived experience continues to tell us what our kids need from us is just to take a deep breath, connect with them, less coaching. Ed keeps saying less coaching, more slurpees.   Laura Dugger: (16:55 - 17:07) I like that. And that ties in. Is it called the peak-end principle that you discovered why kids are resisting that critique on the way home?   Brian Smith: (17:07 - 18:17) Yeah, absolutely. The peak-end rule in psychology is known as this: we, just as humans in general, not just kids, we largely remember things in our lives based on the peak moment of that event, but also how the event ends. And so, the peak moment in sport can be anything from something that goes really well, like they scored a goal or made a basket or something that did not go well, just like a massive event that took place that they're going to remember.   But then it's also married to how that event ends. So, if you think for kids, how does every youth sport experience end? It ends with the car ride home.   So, if they're experiencing the car ride home as I did not live up to mom and dad's standards, or there's fear getting into the car because they don't know what their parents are going to say, how are they remembering the totality of their youth sport experience? It is, I didn't, I didn't measure up. I wasn't enough.   It felt like sports was a place that I needed to perform for my parents or my coach. And I always feel a little bit short. We want to help parents see like there's a different path forward that can be more joyful for you, but hopefully more joyful for your kid as well.   Ed Uszynski: (18:17 - 21:37) Well, and, and I'll just, let me keep going with that, Brian. I thought you really articulated all that so well. I can just imagine a parent maybe thinking, was there never a time to correct?   Is there never a time to give input? And we would say, well, of course there, there is, they need far less of it from us than we think they need when it comes to their sport. And again, we can talk about that.   They need far less of that from us. They need us to be their parents, not to be their coaches. Even if we are their coach, they need us to be more their parents.   But there is a time to do it. We're just saying the car ride home is the worst time to do it. And that's usually the time that most of us, you know, we've got two hours of stuff to download with them.   And that's just, it's not a good time. But the other thing that Brian and I keep talking about is how about, what if we had some different metrics that we were even trying to measure? So, most of the time our metrics have to do with their performance.   Like what, what are we grading them on? Again, depending on what the sport is, there's these different things that we're looking for to say, how you did today is based on whether you did this or you didn't do that and whatnot. And we're saying as parents, and again, starting with us, we needed some other metrics that were actually more concerned about what was going on in their soul.   So again, I'm sure we'll talk more about this, but the virtues, how did love show up in the way they competed today? Where that usually is tied to them noticing somebody else. Do I, am I even asking them any questions about that?   Are they experiencing peace in the midst of all this chaos and anxiety that shows up at every game? How do we teach them to experience peace? How do they become other-centered instead of just self-centered all the time in a culture, a sport culture that's teaching them to always be the center of attention and try to be?   So, we just have needed to exchange some of what we had on that performance list, like tamper that down a little bit and maybe expand the list of categories that we're looking for that actually will matter when they're 25. And we keep saying this, our goal is that they'd come home for Thanksgiving when they're 25. And so, we need to stay relationally connected to them and how we act on the car ride home day after day after day after day, year after year is doing something to our relationship.   But we also are recognizing that it's really not going to matter whether Trey finishes with his left hand at the game today when he's 25, it's not going to matter. It's not going to matter probably a year from now, but how he goes through the handshake line after the game and the way he addresses other people, and whether or not he's learning to submit to authority, whether or not he's learning to embrace other people's humanity. Yes, even in the context of sports, that's really going to matter when he's 25.   It's going to matter when he's married. Those are the things that will matter. And we say that as people who are older and have been involved in ministry and have worked with college athletes and see what happens in their lives even after they're finished, and they have no idea who they are anymore.   And this thing that's dominated their life has not actually prepared them well to do life. And that's a problem that we say, let's start changing that when they're six and not hope they're figuring it out when they're 22.   Laura Dugger: (21:38 - 22:11) I love that because that's such a theme throughout those virtues that you talked about, but discipleship and sports are a tool or a way that we can disciple our kids. I also love that you give various questions throughout the book and even quick phrases. So to close that conversation on the car ride home, if we say, okay, that's what I've been coaching the whole way home, what is a question we could ask our child afterwards and a statement we could say and leave it at that and do it a better way?   Brian Smith: (22:12 - 23:56) The question I have consistently asked my kids after learning that I've been doing this the wrong way for a long time, I tweet my question to they get in the car and I say, is there anything that happened today from the game that you want to talk about? And it's frustrating to me because 99% of the time they say, no, can we listen to the radio? And we listen to the radio, or they play a on my phone, but I'm respecting their desire that they're done with what just happened and they're ready to move on to the next thing, even though I really want to talk about what just happened.   And then the statement that I want to make sure that I'm consistently saying that they're hearing is I love you and I'm proud of you. So, game didn't go well. Yeah, you did play well today.   That's okay. Hey, I love you and I'm proud of you. Game went well today.   Awesome. Great job. Hey, I love you and I'm proud of you.   So I want that to be the consistent theme that they're hearing for me, which is hopefully going to help them better understand the gospel later in life, that as they get older and older, hopefully they'll begin to realize it seemed like the way that my mom and dad interacted with me when I was performing in sport, but their love was not attached to my performance. That seems really similar to what I'm learning more and more that Jesus does for me, that I'm trying to do all these things that are good. But from what I'm understanding about the gospel, it seems like Jesus loves me in spite of what I do.   He loves me just because He's connected to me, that God loves me because I'm a son or daughter, not because I'm performing as a son or a daughter. So, in a very real way, I really am hoping that I'm giving a good teaser for my kids now for when they fully experience the gospel as they go through the life.   Ed Uszynski: (23:56 - 24:47) Another really good connecting question. I love how you said all that, Brian, is if they don't want to talk about the game, is it okay, did you have fun today? And they can only go in one of two directions.   No. Well, tell me about that. Why not?   And it opens up the door to talk about, well, because I didn't get to play or because something bad happened. And again, tell me more about that. Tell me more about that.   Or they say, yes, great. What happened that was fun? And it creates a very different conversation in the car.   And it opens up, again, relational possibilities that go way beyond, why do you keep passing it when you should be shooting it? Wow. And just all the different ways that that comes out of us, depending on sport, depending on their age.   But those are great questions. Go ahead, Brian.   Brian Smith: (24:47 - 25:41) I just asked my son this morning. He's a freshman. His wrestling season is almost done.   And I just asked, like, what has been most fun for you in wrestling this year? And his first thing was, I feel like I'm learning a lot. And that's really fun for me, which he's on a really good team.   He's had a lot of success. He's made a lot of good friends. But even that gave me a window into his characters.   My son enjoys and I knew this is true about him. But my son enjoys learning, which means he enjoys the process of getting better and better and better, which can happen in school, it can happen doing stuff in the yard, it can it can also happen in sport. But for me to remember moving forward, yeah, he he's probably going to have a different metric for what's fun in sport than I often do for him.   Yeah, like I wanted to learn. I want him to win though, too. He's happy with learning right now.   So, I need to be happy with that for him.   Ed Uszynski: (25:41 - 26:34) If I can say this, too, again, I don't want to be vulnerable on your behalf. But then knowing this, he's lost a lot this year to really good kids. Yeah.   And so much of the learning has been in the context of losing. So, you as a dad, actually, you could be crushing him because of those losses and what he needs to do to fix that and what he needs to do so that that doesn't happen again. And it's like he's already committed to learning.   How do you just how do you celebrate the loss? Like he took the risk to try something new in this movie. He tried to survive an extra period.   That's a process when and it's we just need to get better at that. Like you genuinely can celebrate that. That's not just a that's not like a participation trophy.   It's acknowledging now, do you're taking you're taking the right steps that are actually making you a winner, even if you don't have more points at the end of the game right now.   Laura Dugger: (26:34 - 26:54) Yeah. Yeah. And that long term win that you're talking about, even with character and you've talked about fun and asking them about fun.   Is it true that that's the main reason kids are dropping out of sports at such a rapid rate before age 13 is that it's just not fun anymore?   Ed Uszynski: (26:55 - 28:58) Yeah. Yeah. And why is it not fun?   And again, this is where Brian and I are always getting in each other's business. And we know that this conversation gets in all of our business as adults. But why is it not fun?   It's not fun because of the coaches and it's not fun because of the parents. We are creating stress. We are creating again collectively because we're all in different places on the on the spectrum on this in terms of what we're actually doing when we show up at games.   But if you even just go to any soccer game and you be quiet and just listen to what's happening and everybody's shouting and screaming things and there's contradictory messages being sent and there's angst at every turn and there's an incredible celebration because this eight year old was able to get the ball to go across the line for another goal. And what that's doing inside the kids is it is creating a not fun atmosphere. Let's just say it like that.   That's a not fun atmosphere when you're eight, when you're 10, when you're trying to figure out how to make your body work. You're trying to learn the game that you're unfamiliar with and you're trying to do what this coach is telling you to do. And you're also trying to do what all the parents are telling you what to do.   And if it's a team sport, you're trying to interact and play with other kids who are all in that same state of disarray, which is very stressful and frustrating. And we're just adding to it. So instead of removing it, instead of playing a role that says, we're going to keep diffusing that stress.   And again, I'll speak for myself. Too often, I have been the one that's actually adding to it. And so, kids are just like, why would I do this?   Why would I want to get in that car again with you? It's not fun. This is a game.   And so, there's a million other things that I can do with my time where I don't have everybody yelling at me and I don't have to listen to you correct me for two hours.   Laura Dugger: (29:00 - 29:21) Well, and one other thing that surprised me, maybe why kids are dropping out, you share on page 47, a quote that research reveals a strange correlation. The more we spend, the less our kids actually enjoy their sport. So, did you have any more insight into that?   Brian Smith: (29:21 - 30:50) Yeah, this was a real study that was done at Utah State. Researchers found that the more money parents are spending, again, let's say well-intentioned parents, the more we're spending in sports, the less our kids are enjoying. And the more they have dug into it, they're finding, and intuitively it makes sense.   If you buy your kid a $600 baseball bat, what's the expectation that they're supposed to do with this really expensive bat? When they swing, they better hit the ball, and they better get on base. If we're going to buy you this expensive of a bat, you can't just have process goals with it.   You better swing and hit it. And that's causing stress for kids. If you travel across state lines and you go to Disney to play at their sports complex, you're not there for vacation.   You're there to perform. So even if parents are saying we're trying to have fun, kids know when you're traveling and you're getting all this good equipment and you're on the elite team and you're receiving the best of the best stuff, they know it comes with some sort of an expectation. College athletes can barely handle that type of pressure and expectations, but we've placed this professional on youth sports from fifth five-year-olds to 15-year-olds, and it's just crushing them.   It's crushing them. Again, college athletes and professional athletes can barely handle it. They need mental health coaches for sports, but we're expecting that our five-year-olds can handle it, and they can't.   Ed Uszynski: (30:51 - 31:19) And they may not even be able to articulate it. So that's the other thing. They may not be able to identify what's actually going on inside and put it into words.   So again, that's why we're trying to sound the alarm for ourselves and for others who are listening, because we can do it different. Again, just to even keep spinning it back in an encouraging direction, we can do this different. We can change this this week in our corner of the bleachers.   We can start over again.   Laura Dugger: (31:21 - 31:48) Absolutely and make a difference. And before we talk about even more of the pros with sports, I think it's also necessary to reflect and maybe even grieve a few things. So, what would you say are some things families are missing out on when they choose youth sports to overfill their calendar, that that's all that they make time for?   What do you think they're missing out on?   Brian Smith: (31:51 - 33:16) Yeah, I think a couple that come to mind are family dinners are a big one. That's big for us in the Smith house, is just having the ability after a long day to sit at the dinner table together, to eat food together, and to process the day and be with one another. But when my kids' practice goes late, it means we're either eating almost towards bedtime or we're eating in different shifts.   And so that's something that we grieve. I think for me, when my schedule is full, I'm tempted to adopt the mindset that what's happening on the wrestling mat or on the track matters more than it actually does. And it robs me of the ability to just take a deep breath and smile and enjoy watching my kids play sports.   That without an intervention or a pregame devotional in the car for myself, I risk sitting in the stands or being on the sidelines, being stressed out and putting pressure on myself and pressure on my kids and gossiping about why the coach didn't put this kid into the people next to me, instead of just enjoying the gift that is sports and watching my kid try and succeed and try and fail. That is a gift available to me as a dad to watch my kid do that. But the busyness often robs me of that perspective.   Ed Uszynski: (33:17 - 36:06) Well, and the busyness robs, again, if you're married, that busyness eventually wears away at your relationship. And it's not just sports. I mean, busyness, we can fill our schedule, overfill our schedules with any number of things.   We can overfill our schedules with church stuff to a point where it becomes detrimental to our relationship. If we don't set boundaries so that we're making sure we're doing what we need to do to be face-to-face and to be going to areas beneath the surface with each other in our relationship and being able to do that with our kids as well, eventually there's negative consequences to that. It may not happen right away, but I've definitely experienced that.   We've experienced that in our home where it's easy to maybe chase one kid around for a while, but what happens when you add three into the mix and you haven't really done a time budget or paid attention to the fact that when we sign up for all these things, you get a month into it and you realize, oh, we have to be in different places at the same time. So, we're not even watching stuff together anymore. We're just running.   I can endure anything for a season, but what youth sports wants now in every sport from the youngest ages is that it becomes a year-round commitment. So, you're not even signing up to play a season anymore. You're signing up for a year in most cases because after the games, then they're going to have training.   They're going to have this other thing going on. And so again, can we say, well, we'll play the actual season, but then we're not going to do the additional training over these next three months. Again, we want to give parents' permission that you can say no to that.   Well, we paid for it. Well, it's okay. If you want your kid to be on that team and you like this club or whatever, then you pay the money and you just say, we're going to sit those three months out and we're going to use those three months actually to have people over our house for dinner.   Again, whatever's on the list, Laura, that you said about being more holistic and not letting sport operate like an idol in our life where it's taken on, it's washed out everything else in our life. We can get back in control of that by just saying no a little bit. You can go to church on Sunday.   Even if there's tournament games going on on Sunday, you can go to the coach early and say, hey, we just, in our family, we just don't want to be available before 12. Are you okay with that? And most of the time coaches will be.   The kid might have to sit extra maybe for not being, whatever. Okay. That's not going to be the end of the world that they had to sit out an extra game or had to sit out a half because they weren't available on Sunday morning.   It might actually make a huge difference that they weren't at church for two and a half years in the most formative time of their life.   Laura Dugger: (36:07 - 37:36) And a lot of times the way of wisdom includes reflection, getting alone with the Lord and asking, have we overstuffed our schedule this conversation today? Let's talk specifically with youth sports. Is that trumping everything else?   Because what if we're putting it in a place it was never intended to be as an idol where we sacrifice hospitality or discipleship or community or even just a more biblical way of life? I think we have to bring wisdom into the conversation for what you've mentioned. Whether it's worth it, if they're even enjoying it, how much we're spending on it, and do we have the budget to allocate our finances that way and evaluating the time just to see and make sure that it's rightly ordered.   Did you know you could receive a free email with monthly encouragement, practical tips, and plenty of questions to ask to take your conversation a level deeper, whether that's in parenting or on date nights? Make sure you access all of this at thesavvysauce.com by clicking the button that says join our email list so that you can follow the prompts and begin receiving these emails at the beginning of each month. Enjoy!   But if we flip that to if youth sports are rightly ordered, then what are some things that we can celebrate or reasons that you would want families to give this a try?   Brian Smith: (37:37 - 40:09) The massive positive that we keep coming back to is we have a front row seat to see our kids go through every possible emotion in sport, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. And then if we have the right perspective, we are armed with awesome opportunities and awesome information that we're seeing. We get to see what our kids are really good at.   We get to see their character gaps. And then we get to be the ones who, again, who are their primary response, primary disciplers. It really goes back to like, are we trusting youth sports for too little in our kids' lives?   Like many of us are trusting that our investment is going to get them a spot on a team, or maybe they get an opportunity in high school, maybe in college. And what we're saying is, yeah, that maybe. And that's not a bad end goal.   But if that's everything that you're investing into youth sports, it's not enough. Like what you have available to you every single day is to ask your kid if they showed somebody else's dignity on the field. You don't know if your kid's going to hit a home run today.   That may not be available to them their entire life. What's available to them every single day is to ask a question to their teammate, to see somebody and show dignity to them. And that's really, it's like, it's almost the opportunity of a lifetime for us as parents who, when our kids get home from school, we really don't know what happened most of the day.   We asked them how it went and we get the one-word answer. In sports, we don't have to guess. We get to see everything that happens.   And again, if we are actually trusting youth sports for discipleship investment, that's a good ROI. That's a good return on our investment. But we need a consistent intervention almost daily to say, no, this is why they're in sports.   Yes, I want to see them get better. I want to see them have fun, but Holy Spirit, would you help me see things today that I normally don't see? Holy Spirit, would you put them in circumstances and relationships today and in the season that's going to help them look more and more like Jesus by the time the season's done?   Holy Spirit, would you convict me in the moment when I am being a little too mouthy and saying things that I shouldn't? Would you help me to repent? And God, in those moments where I'm actually doing wrong on behalf of my kid, would you help me to humble myself and apologize to them?   And God, would you repair our relationship that way? So again, all of these options are available just because our kid's shooting a ball or they're on the field with somebody else tackling other people. We're trusting youth sports for too little.   Ed Uszynski: (40:10 - 41:10) That's all big boy and big girl stuff. It just is. I don't normally naturally do any of that.   I have to be coached into that. I have to be discipled myself. I have to work through my own issues, my own baggage, my own fears about the future, my own idolatrous holding onto this imagined future that I have for my kid, irrespective of what God may or may not want.   I've got my own resentment. I've got my own regrets from the past. I wish things had gone differently for me, so I'm going to make sure they go different for you when it comes to sports.   And it's hard to look in the mirror and admit that I have anger issues. I mean, youth sports create a great opportunity for me to get up all my pent-up frustration from the day. We've given ourselves permission to do that, in most cases, to just yell and yell at refs and gripe about coaches and yell at kids.   Brian Smith: (41:10 - 41:31) Because that's what we do at the TV, right? When our favorite team is playing, we've conditioned ourselves to say, awful call, that was terrible. Then we get on social media and we complain about it.   We are discipling ourselves to this is how it's normative to respond within the context of sports. Then we carry all that baggage to our six-year-old soccer game.   Laura Dugger: (41:33 - 42:02) Well, I love how you keep pointing it back toward character and discipleship. You clearly state throughout the book, sports don't develop character, people do. But could you maybe elaborate on that a little bit more and share more now that we've listed pros and cons, you still list a completely different way that we can meaningfully participate while also pushing back?   Brian Smith: (42:04 - 43:49) I'll start with the first part, and then you can answer the second. We use the handshake line as a great example of why character needs to be taught to our kids. If you just watch a normal handshake line left without coaching, the kids are going through it, especially the ones who lose with their head down, they have limp hands, there's no eye contact, and they're mumbling good game, good game.   Sometimes they don't even say it, they'll say GG stands for good game. They don't just learn character by going through the handshake line. If anything, that's going through it like that without any sort of intervention or coaching, that's malforming their character.   That's teaching them when things don't go well, that it's okay for them not to be a big boy or a big girl and look somebody in the eye and congratulate them. What needs to happen? An adult needs to step in and say, hey, as we go through the handshake line, whether you win or lose, here's how we do it with class.   We shake somebody's hand, we look them in the eye, and we say good game. Even if in those moments we don't actually mean it, we still show them dignity and honor. And then when we're done going through the handshake line, guess what we're going to do?   We're going to run down the refs who are trying to get in their car and get out of here, and we're going to give them a high five and say, thank you so much for reffing today. That stuff needs to be taught. Our kids don't just come out of the womb knowing how to do that.   We have to teach them how to do it. Sometimes good coaches will do that, but the more and more we get sucked up into the sports industrial complex, we're getting well-intentioned coaches, but we're getting coaches who care more about the big W, the win, than the character formation stuff that happens.   Ed Uszynski: (43:49 - 45:27) They need to keep hearing it over and over again. I have a ninth grade Bible study in my house the other day with athletes and a whole bunch of my son's basketball team. Exactly what Brian just said, I actually was like, wow, I've got them here.   There was a big blow up at a game the other day, and we wound up talking about it. I said, I'm going to take this opportunity actually to say what Brian just said. When you go through a handshake line, this is how you go through it.   I watched what happened in the game a couple days later. Basically, they did the exact opposite of what I told them to do, and they lost. It was just what Brian said.   They went through limp handed. They didn't look anybody in the face, and they weren't even saying anything. I just chuckled to myself, and you know how this is as a parent.   They may or may not do it. Of course, those aren't my kids. I have more stewardship over my child, who actually, he is doing what I've asked him to do because I've re-emphasized it across time now.   It's not a failure because they didn't do what I said. Again, the pouty side of me wants to be like, forget it. I'm just not even going to try anymore.   It's like, no, they're kids. That was the first time they've heard that. They're going to do what their patterns have, the muscle memory that's been created by their patterns, just like we do as adults.   The next time I have a chance to bring that up again, I'm not going to shame them. I'm just going to go over it again with them. Here's how we do it.   It's super hard to do this, guys, when you just want to be violent with people or you want to cry. You got to pull yourself together. That's what big men do.   That's what big women do in life. They pull themselves together in those moments and do the right thing.   Brian Smith: (45:28 - 46:01) You don't know whether the fifth time you say it is going to stick or the 50th time. Your responsibility as the Christ-following parent is to do it the sixth time and the seventh time and the seventh time and trust that God is going to take those moments and do what he does. We're ultimately not responsible for our kids' behavior.   We're responsible for pointing them in the right direction, and then hopefully, yeah, the Holy Spirit steps in and transforms and changes and convicts in those moments, but it might take some time.   Ed Uszynski: (46:02 - 47:47) Tom Bilyeu So that's how you push back, Laura. You were asking that. How do we push back without being just completely involved in it or going for the same ride that everybody else is going for?   There's just little moments like that scattered throughout. Literally, every day that my kids are involved in youth sports, the car ride over, what happens on the way home, how we talk about it, what happens during the game and what we wind up talking about out of that, the side conversations that happen that just get brought up apart from games of how we interact with people and so-and-so looks like they're struggling. What do you know about that?   That's how we push back, that in our corner of the bleachers, oh, how we interact with other parents. We haven't even talked about that yet, that I can take an interest in more than just my own kid in the bleachers and spend way more energy actually in cheering for other kids and just trying to give them confidence and spend way less time trying to direct that at my own child who knows that I'm there. In fact, my side kid has said he doesn't want to hear my voice during the game.   It distracts him. He's like, I'd much rather that you cheer for other people. It's like, okay.   Having questions ready for other parents during timeouts and as you sit there for hours together, what do you talk about? Well, I could be the one that actually initiates substantive conversations over time with them and asks them about what's going on in different parts of their life. And in having done that, people want to talk.   They want a safe place actually to share what's going on in their So let me be the sports minister. Let me take on that identity and actually care about other people.   Laura Dugger: (47:49 - 49:47) I love that. Even that practical idea of just coming to each game, maybe with a different question, ready to open up those conversations. And I'll share a quick story as well.   Our two oldest daughters recently just gave cheerleading a try at a local Christian school that allows homeschool kids to participate. And this is an overt way that somebody chooses the different way. So, it's the coach of the basketball team.   His name is Cole. And at the end of every game, we saw him consistently throughout this season when it was a home game, whether their team won or lost, he would ask them, okay, shut off the scoreboard. It's all blank.   He gathers both teams. As soon as the game is over teams, cheerleaders, the stands stay filled with all the parents. And he says, this is not our identity.   The world and Satan, our enemy, who's very real. He wants us to put our identity here, but it's not here. You made us better tonight by the way that you played and you were able to shine Jesus.   And we're going to go a step further and we're going to do what we call attaways. So, he's like, all right, boys, you open it up. And his team is trained.   They say to the other team, Hey, number 23, what's your name? I loved how you pushed me so much harder tonight and says, my name's Ben. And so, their Attaway is, Hey, Ben.   And everybody goes, Hey, Ben. Yeah, Ben. Yeah, Ben Attaway.   And everybody just erupts in clapping. And the other team is always blown away and they are just grinning, whether they just lost. So, the boys go through that for a while and then they open it up to the other team and they start sharing Attaways.   And then they open it up to the crowd and the parents are able to say, I see the way you modeled Jesus by being selfless with the ball or whatever it is. So, Cole said that his college coach did that many years ago and he's passed that on. And I love that's one way to redeem the game.   Ed Uszynski: (49:47 - 51:39) Wow. Beautiful. Beautiful.   Yeah. That's amazing. And, you know, I, so Brian and I talk about this too.   And I coached at a Christian school. So, we, we think that it's really important if you're going to play sports and you're going to be a Christian coach that you actually take the game seriously. And that we actually are here to compete and we are here to try to win.   There's nothing wrong with that. And we're going to pursue excellence when we show up with our bodies, and we train for this sport and we're going to try to win. Cause I think sometimes we end up kind of going all or nothing, especially within our Christian circles.   We're uncomfortable with that. And it's like, yes, do that. And on the backside of that to do what that coach did is amazing.   It's that, that is, that is exactly what we're saying. We're also going to try to form our souls in the midst of this. We're going to try to win on the scoreboard.   Okay. The game's over, we lost, we won, whatever. There's more going on here than just that. And can we access that together? And again, that's so rare. Probably everybody listening has never even heard of anything like what you just said.   It would be amazing if a bunch of people did, but that's what we're saying. Let's do more of that. Let's find ways to have more of those conversations in our sphere of influence.   Maybe we're not the coach, but we can do that in our car. We can do that when we're at dinners with the other, with other players and other team, you know, we, we can do that. We can take that kind of initiative.   If we have those categories in our mind, instead of just being frustrated that my kid didn't get to play as much tonight. And I'm that bugs me. It's like, okay, it can bug you.   And now I gotta, I gotta be a big boy and get more out of this than just being frustrated that he or she didn't get to play as much. It's hard.   Laura Dugger: (51:40 - 52:11) Absolutely. Well, and like you guys are doing having Bible studies outside of the, the team that you can instill values in that way and share scripture that they're memorizing to go out there with excellence for the Lord. So, I love all of that.   And I've got just a few quick questions, just kind of for perspective. I want to draw out something from the book. Is it true that young athletic success predicts adult athletic success?   Brian Smith: (52:13 - 53:51) It is not true. This is, this is not a hot take. This is researched back more and more research they're doing on this.   And they're finding that there's not a direct correlation between a young elite athlete and them continuing that up into the right trajectory and being an elite athlete later in life in large part, because when puberty hits, like everything is a game changer. So, this is, I found this fascinating and this is probably going to be new to you too. This just came out today.   At the time we're doing this podcast, the winter Olympics is going on in Norway. It's just like, they're killing it. Nor Norway's youth sports system.   This is wild. They give participation trophies for all the kids. They don't keep score until 13 years old.   They don't do any national travel competitions, no posting youth sports results online. So, there's no online presence of youth sport results. And their country motto is joy of sport for all.   And they're, they're killing it right now in the Olympics. So, like, that's not to say, like you got to follow their model and then you're going to win all these gold medals, but it is, there is something to just let the kids have fun. And the longer they play sport, because it's fun, the better opportunity you're actually going to have to see them blossom and develop some of these God-given gifts that they might have.   Don't expect it to come out before they're 13. Even if it does, there's no guarantee that it's going to continue on until they're 23. Just let them have fun.   Ed Uszynski: (53:52 - 55:55) Brian, we, Brian and I got to speak at a church the other day about this topic. And there was a couple that came up afterwards and they asked the question of what, so when do you think we should let our kids play organized sports or structured sports? And so again, Brian and I are careful.   Like I, there's no, there's no one size fits all answer to that. We would suggest as late as possible, wait as long as possible. Because once you start doing structured sport where there's a coach and you have to be at practices and the games are structured and there's reps, it just cuts away all the possibility they have to just play and just to go up to the YMCA and just play for three hours at whatever it is that they like to do.   And they said, well, it's encouraging to hear that they said, because we, we actually are way more into just developing their bodies physically. And so, we do dance with them, and we do rock climbing and they were kind of outdoorsy people, and they just started listing off all these things they do because we want them to become strong in their bodies, and learn to love activity like that. And I just thought, again, that's, that probably would cause a lot of people to freak out to hear that, that they have eight, nine-year-olds that aren't on teams yet.   They're just, they're training their bodies to appreciate physicality and to become coordinated and to, you know, to get better at movement. And it's like, what sport is that not going to be super helpful in five years from now, even when they're 12, 13 years old. And now they really do want to play one sport, and they do want to be on a team.   They're going to be way ahead of the kids actually that just sat on benches or stood in the outfield, you know, day after day after day at practices. Again, that's maybe hard to hear, but maybe there's some adjustments that need to be made again; to give ourselves permission to say, we don't have to get on that train right now. You don't have to, your kid's not going to be behind.   They actually could be ahead. If you do the kinds of things we just talked about.   Laura Dugger: (55:56 - 56:11) I love that. And even that example with what it looks like played out with Norway and also, do you have any other quick tips just for instilling and cultivating a heart of gratitude and youth sports rather than entitlement?   Brian Smith: (56:13 - 57:33) I'm a high school cross country and track coach, and I have kids on my team who want to get faster at running, but instead of running, they want to lift weights and they want to do plier metrics. So, there's, yes, there's a spot for that. But the way you get better at running is to run.   You got to run more miles and more miles. And I think gratitude is similar. That gratitude, part of it is a, it's a feeling, but it's also a muscle that we can flex even if we don't feel it.   And so, I would encourage parents who are trying to instill gratitude into their kids to give them practical things like, hey, after practice, just go shake your coach's hand or give them a fist bump and tell them, thanks for practice today, coach. That that's a disciplined way to practice gratitude that will hopefully build the muscle where they're, they're using it later in life. After a game, I taught my kids this when they were young and they still do it today.   Go shake a ref's hand. I mentioned this earlier, just a really, really practical way to show thankfulness and gratitude to somebody who really doesn't get a whole lot of gratitude pointed at them during a game or after a game. If anything, they have people chasing them through the parking lot for other reasons.   I want my kids to be chasing them down to give them a fist bump or a high five. And so, gratitude is something that we can just practice practically. And hopefully the discipline practice will lead to a delight and actually doing it.   Ed Uszynski: (57:34 - 59:39) And how do we cultivate an inner posture? Cause I tend to be a cup half empty type person. I'm a, I'm a whiner by nature and a continuous improvement.   There's always something wrong. And I'm, it's easy for me to find those things just as a person. I'm not even saying that as a dad or a coach or anything.   And it's been super helpful to me in the last decade, even to just like, I can choose to shift that. There, there is, there's a list of things that are broke, but there is always a list of things that are good. There's always something good here to be found.   And even as I've tried to like, again, tip the scales more in that direction, I can keep pushing that out of my kids. So, so this, you know, my ninth-grade son tends to just like, he doesn't like a whole bunch of what's going on in basketball right now. So, I keep asking him if he's having fun.   He says, no, like, why not? Or like, who did, why did you not have fun today? So, it's just the same thing every day.   I'm like, okay, who did you enjoy even being with today? Nobody. And I'm like, dude, I don't believe that actually.   I just, I don't believe that. There was somebody that you had some moment with today that you enjoyed, or you wouldn't want to keep going back up there because, and he does. So, give me a name.   Okay. Lenny. What happened with Lenny that was fun? And I make him name it. Like I'm, I'm, I'm trying to coach him through it. And sure enough, he does have some sentences of what was fun today.   And it's like, good, let's, let's at least hold onto that in the midst of all the other stuff that's not right. Let's choose to see the thing that was good and that you enjoyed and that we could be thankful for. Not everybody got to have that today.   Again, I have to have my, I have to be the parent. I have to be the discipler. I have to be in, you know, in charge of my own soul that wants to be negative all the time and say, nope, we're going to, we're going to choose gratitude today because the Bible tells us to do that.   There's something about that posture that opens the door for the gospel to be expressed through us. So, let's practice.   Laura Dugger: (59:40 - 59:50) Well said, and there's so much we could continue learning from both of you. Where can we go after this chat to learn more from each one of you?   Brian Smith: (59:52 - 1:00:14) Yeah, we do a lot of our writing online at thechristianathlete.com. And so, if you go there, you can see articles that are specifically written for parents, for coaches, for athletes, all around this idea of what does it look like to integrate faith and sport together? So, the

Dr. Adrian Bardon, American philosopher and professor of philosophy at Wake Forest University, joins the "Relevant Or Irrelevant" team to discuss, "What Is Time?"The host for the 649th edition in this series is John Kealey, and the history buffs are Terri Toppler and Brett Monnard.Opinions expressed in this program are those of the hosts and the guest(s), and not necessarily those of KALA-FM or St. Ambrose University. This program is recorded at KALA-FM, St. Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa, USA!

BONUS DISCUSSION:  Dr. Adrian Bardon, American philosopher and professor of philosophy at Wake Forest University, joins the "Relevant Or Irrelevant" team to discuss, "What Is Time?"The host for the 649th edition in this series is John Kealey, and the history buffs are Terri Toppler and Brett Monnard.Opinions expressed in this program are those of the hosts and the guest(s), and not necessarily those of KALA-FM or St. Ambrose University. This program is recorded at KALA-FM, St. Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa, USA!

In this episode of Molecule to Market, you'll go inside the outsourcing space of the global drug development sector with Banks Bourne, Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Bourne Partners.   Your host, Raman Sehgal, discusses the pharmaceutical and biotechnology supply chain with Banks, covering:   How making a bet in the right place at the right time sparked an extraordinary journey in pharma investing. The founding of Bourne Partners and a twenty five plus year ride through multiple market cycles. Lessons from hundreds of deals, and why the best investments are often the most complex and hardest won. Why running from ego and listening obsessively to clients is one of the most underrated advantages in private equity. Why private equity has become increasingly commoditised, and why Banks believes momentum is building and sentiment is turning positive heading into 2026. As Founder and CEO, Banks oversees all business operations and direct investment opportunities at Bourne Partners. He and the firm have been party to more than $10 billion of transactions in the pharmaceutical (“pharma”), pharma services, and consumer healthcare sectors. Banks is also the founder of Tanner Pharma Group, a pharma services company dedicated to providing managed access, commercialization, and clinical trials services to patients and partners in more than 100 countries.   For almost 20 years, Bourne Partners has transacted with nearly all major pharmaceutical and specialty pharmaceuticals companies around the world, including Banks' initial investment in King Pharmaceuticals in the late 1990's. This investment introduced Banks to the pharmaceutical world and jump started his interest in the healthcare sector. Since then, he has invested in more than 200 private companies / assets.   While Banks has derived great satisfaction by offering focused advisory services to, and investing in, pharma, healthcare, and consumer-oriented companies that need strategic and operational insights, he is even more gratified knowing that his work has helped companies to improve the health and well-being of patients across the world. Banks is passionate about providing healthcare, and specifically pharmaceuticals, to less fortunate patients, as demonstrated by supporting The Max Foundation, Partners in Health, The Bourne Foundation, The Levine Children's Hospital, and other non-profit organizations. He received a B.A. degree in Business Management (Magna Cum Laude) from North Carolina State University and an M.B.A. from Wake Forest University. He is a member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO). Molecule to Market is also sponsored by Bora Pharmaceuticals, and supported by Lead Candidate. Please subscribe, tell your industry colleagues and join us in celebrating and promoting the value and importance of the global life science outsourcing space. We'd also appreciate a positive rating!

Welcome to the tenth episode of Authors in Conversation, a podcast from the series editors of the United States in the World series from Cornell University Press. This episode features Wake Forest University professor Benjamin Coates (co-editor of the United States in the World series) speaking with Stephen F. Austin State University professor Aaron Coy Moulton about his new book Caribbean Blood Pacts: Guatemala and the Cold War Struggle for Freedom. Written transcript here: https://otter.ai/u/AuJ0brOWPrRtDKYBA5Eg2PmOwPM?utm_source=copy_url

In the second installment of our three‑part mini‑series celebrating the 2025 Distinguished Risk Manager Award recipients, URMIA Matters turns the microphone toward one of its own: longtime host and newly honored DRM, Julie Groves of Wake Forest University. In this insightful conversation, Julie reflects on her unexpected path into risk management—from an English major to having three insurance folders dropped onto her desk, a moment that ultimately led her career in risk management. She shares how mentors, colleagues, and particularly the URMIA community shaped her professional journey; why collaboration and connection are essential for risk managers; and how involvement in URMIA helped elevate both her work and recognition within her institution. Julie discusses what the award means to her, the evolution of higher ed risk management, and the importance of being a steadfast, behind‑the‑scenes protector of campus communities. It's a warm, reflective episode that highlights Julie's impact, leadership, and enduring commitment to helping others succeed in the field. Connect with URMIA & URMIA with your network-Share /Tag in Social Media @urmianetwork-Not a member? Join ->www.urmia.org/join-Email | contactus@urmia.org Give URMIA Matters a boost:-Give the podcast a 5 star rating-Share the podcast - click that button!-Follow on your podcast platform - don't miss an episode!Thanks for listening to URMIA Matters!

On today's episode, we welcome Mike Glick, CEO of NIMA Partners — the company behind the next-generation portable gluten sensor designed to deliver real-time food testing with 99% accuracy across major gluten sources. With growing demand for food transparency and consumer diagnostics, NIMA is helping reshape how people with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity confidently navigate what they eat.Mike's journey to leading NIMA Partners has been rooted in a career focused on improving nutrition, safety, and health outcomes. Prior to joining NIMA, he led and scaled multiple food allergy and nutrition startups including Goode Health, Else Nutrition, and SpoonfulOne — the latter acquired by Nestlé. Earlier in his career, Mike spent over a decade at Abbott and began professionally in supply chain consulting after studying Business and Engineering at the University of Illinois and earning his MBA from Wake Forest University. Stepping into NIMA in 2025, he has been instrumental in relaunching the business at a moment when consumer trust and verification in food have never been more important.In this episode, Mike shares why he transitioned from packaged foods to food-tech diagnostics, the powerful consumer problem NIMA's sensor is solving, and what has changed in gluten testing since the company first launched. We discuss the prevalence of celiac disease, how people manage risk today, and the emotional impact of having real-time answers about what's on your plate. Mike also talks about leadership, measuring success, recognizing the right moment to move forward, and why standing still is rarely an option. A thoughtful conversation for founders, operators, health innovators, and anyone interested in the future of transparency in the food system. Are you interested in sponsoring and advertising on The Kara Goldin Show, which is now in the Top 1% of Entrepreneur podcasts in the world? Let me know by contacting me at karagoldin@gmail.com. You can also find me @‌KaraGoldin on all networks. To learn more about Mike Glick and NIMA Partners:https://www.nimapartners.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/glick/https://www.linkedin.com/company/nima-partnershttps://www.instagram.com/nimapartners/ Sponsored By:NerdWallet - Go to NerdWallet.com/KARAGOLDIN to find the funding you deserve. Check out our website to view this episode's show notes: https://karagoldin.com/podcast/803

Replay of the February 16 edition of The Coach Steve Forbes Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Men's Basketball Head Coach Steve Forbes and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Men's Basketball student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025-26 Wake Forest Men's Basketball season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Replay of the February 9 edition of The Coach Steve Forbes Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Men's Basketball Head Coach Steve Forbes and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Men's Basketball student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025-26 Wake Forest Men's Basketball season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Replay of the February 5 edition of The Coach Steve Forbes Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Men's Basketball Head Coach Steve Forbes and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Men's Basketball student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025-26 Wake Forest Men's Basketball season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The term "classical music" includes a wide variety of music and artists. This hour we take a look at what that category really means. We celebrate the form and help you figure out how to start listening to the genre. Plus, how video game music is bringing new listeners to classical music and live orchestras. GUESTS: Matthew Aucoin: American composer, conductor, writer, pianist, and a 2018 MacArthur Fellow. He is author of “The Impossible Art: Adventures in Opera” and is co-founder of the American Modern Opera Company. His opera “Euridyce” was produced by the Metropolitan Opera in 2021, making him the youngest composer in nearly a century to have an opera produced by The Met Arianna Warsaw-Fan Rauch: Author of “Declassified: A Low-Key Guide to the High-Strung World of Classical Music”. She is also a violinist who has performed in venues around the world Carolyn Kuan: Music Director of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. In 2025, she led the acclaimed world premiere of Huang Ruo’s "The Monkey King" at San Francisco Opera. Her recording of Huang Ruo’s "An American Soldier" with the American Composers Orchestra received a 2026 Grammy nomination J. Aaron Hardwick: An internationally active professional conductor, professor of music at Wake Forest University, and Director of the Wake Forest University Symphony Orchestra, recognized for his work in classical and contemporary repertoire and innovative orchestral programming, including video game music MUSIC FEATURED (in order): Symphony No. 5 I. Trauermarsch – Gustav Mahler, Claudio Abbado, Berlin Philharmonic 21 Hungarian Dances No. 5 – Johannes Brahms, Claudio Abbado, Berlin Philharmonic Revolucion Diamantina Act IV: Speaking the unspeakable – Gabriela Ortiz, Gustavo Dudamel, LA Phil Don’t Look Down I. Hammerspace – Christopher Cerrone, Sandbox Percussion Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter” IV. Molto Allegro – W.A. Mozart, Seiji Ozawa, Mito Chamber Orchestra String Quartet No. 8 II. Allegro molto – Dmitri Shostakovich, Dover Quartet 6 Bagatelles for Wind Quintet III. Allegro grazioso – Gyorgy Ligeti, Claudio Abbado, Chamber Orchestra of Europe Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Felix Mendelssohn, Seiji Ozawa, Boston Symphony Orchestra An American Soldier Act II Scene 1: Hey Danny – Huang Ruo, Carolyn Kuan, American Composers' Orchestra Hi – Caroline Shaw CUT FOR TIME The Monkey King Act II Scene 3 – Huang Ruo, Carolyn Kuan, San Francisco Opera Tears of the Kingdom Main Theme – Manaka Kataoka Temple of Time Theme Montage – The Legend of Zelda NES (1986) Style – Loeder Music Ocarina of Time (1998) – Koji Kondo Breath of the Wild (2017) – Yasuaki Iwata Planetrise – Inon Zur (Starfield) Lumiere – Lorien Testard (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33) CUT FOR TIME Atsu’s Theme – Toma Otowa (Ghost of Yōtei) CUT FOR TIME The Perfect Wave – Austin Wintory Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Every second, lightning strikes 50 to 100 times somewhere. It can wreak havoc by starting wildfires and sometimes killing people. But lightning also produces a form of nitrogen that's essential to vegetation. In this episode, we talk about the nature of these dramatic sparks. Ben Franklin established their electric origin, so what do we still not know? Also, why the frequency of lightning strikes is increasing in some parts of the world. And, what to do if you find someone hit by lightning. Guests: Thomas Yeadaker – Resident of Oakland, California Chris Davis – Medical doctor and Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Wake Forest University and Medical Director for the National Center for Outdoor Adventure Education Jonathan Martin –Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Steve Ackerman – Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison Peter Bieniek – Professor of Atmospheric and Space Science, University of Alaska, Fairbanks Descripción en español Originally aired September 12, 2022 Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every second, lightning strikes 50 to 100 times somewhere. It can wreak havoc by starting wildfires and sometimes killing people. But lightning also produces a form of nitrogen that's essential to vegetation. In this episode, we talk about the nature of these dramatic sparks. Ben Franklin established their electric origin, so what do we still not know? Also, why the frequency of lightning strikes is increasing in some parts of the world. And, what to do if you find someone hit by lightning. Guests: Thomas Yeadaker – Resident of Oakland, California Chris Davis – Medical doctor and Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Wake Forest University and Medical Director for the National Center for Outdoor Adventure Education Jonathan Martin –Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Steve Ackerman – Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison Peter Bieniek – Professor of Atmospheric and Space Science, University of Alaska, Fairbanks Descripción en español Originally aired September 12, 2022 Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Replay of the January 29 edition of The Coach Steve Forbes Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Men's Basketball Head Coach Steve Forbes and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Men's Basketball student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025-26 Wake Forest Men's Basketball season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to the Pinkleton Pull-Aside Podcast. On this podcast, let's step aside from our busy lives to have fun, fascinating life giving conversation with inspiring authors, pastors, sports personalities and other influencers, leaders and followers. Sit back, grab some coffee, or head down the road and let's get the good and the gold from today's guest. Our host is Jeff Pinkleton, Executive Director of the Gathering of the Miami Valley, where their mission is to connect men to men, and men to God. You can reach Jeff at GatheringMV.org or find him on Facebook at The Gathering of the Miami Valley.Brian Smith ran track and cross-country at Wake Forest University, where he graduated with a communications and journalism degree. He has been on staff with Athletes in Action for the past 15 years, helping athletes and coaches live biblically at the intersection of faith and sport. He is the author of The Christian Athlete: Glorifying God in Sports and coauthor of Away Game: A Christian Parent's Guide to Navigating Youth Sports. He resources the athletic community at The Christian Athlete. Ed Uszynski (PhD, Bowling Green State University) has been a content specialist for Cru, Athletes in Action, and FamilyLife for over three decades. He also serves as a oneness and diversity consultant for church and parachurch organizations. He has written for a range of online platforms such as Desiring God, Mockingbird, and The Washington Times. He is a frequent speaker and podcaster on topics of race, sport culture, and marriage.

Replay of the January 19 edition of The Coach Steve Forbes Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Men's Basketball Head Coach Steve Forbes and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Men's Basketball student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025-26 Wake Forest Men's Basketball season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to the Coaching Crossover, the newest podcast from The Coaches Site! Join Matt Dumouchelle as he invites two coaches from different sports to discuss leadership, team culture, and what it takes to thrive under pressure, straight from the experiences of the people who live the grind and shape the standard every day. Subscribe to Coaching Crossover now! We give you an exclusive listen to episode 1, which focuses on soccer and lacrosse with Wake Forest University men's soccer coach Bobby Muuss, and the general manager and co-head coach of the Saskatchewan Rush of the National Lacrosse League, Derek Keenan.  

Replay of the January 12 edition of The Coach Steve Forbes Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Men's Basketball Head Coach Steve Forbes and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Men's Basketball student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025-26 Wake Forest Men's Basketball season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this workshop from the 2024 Rooted Conference in Dallas, Tara Davis and Cameron Cole emphasize the central focus of every gospel-centered children's ministry: the Bible. They present three key approaches to help grow children's biblical literacy and offer practical guidance for implementing each one in your ministry context. Whether you're a seasoned leader or just starting out, this session equips you to faithfully ground your ministry in God's Word. About the Speakers:Tara Davis serves as the Director of Nursery and Children's Ministry at Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama. A former elementary school teacher, she taught for ten years across North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama. Tara was named Teacher of the Year at Crestline Elementary and received the Ann Pritchard Award for Excellence in Teaching—an honor given to the top educator in the Mountain Brook School System. She holds a B.S. in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from the University of Georgia and an M.A. in Elementary Education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Tara is married to Kyle, and they have a son and daughter.Cameron Cole is the Founding Chairman of Rooted Ministry and serves as the Director of Adult and NextGen Discipleship at St. Peter's Anglican Church in Birmingham, Alabama. With nearly two decades of experience in youth and family ministry, Cameron is the author of Therefore I Have Hope, Heavenward (2024), and co-editor of Gospel-Centered Youth Ministry and The Jesus I Wish I Knew in High School. He holds both an undergraduate degree and an M.A. in Education from Wake Forest University, as well as an M.Div. from Reformed Theological Seminary. Cameron and his wife, Lauren, have four children—one of whom lives in heaven.Rooted Resources:Family Discipleship Video CoursesResources for Family Ministry (Rooted Roundup)Rooted's Scope & Sequence for Youth Ministry Bible TeachingHow to Lead Collaboration Between Youth and Children's Ministry by Andy CornettFollow @therootedministry on Instagram for more updates  Follow @therootedministry on Instagram for more updates andSubscribe to Youth Ministry Unscripted wherever you listen to podcasts

Re-releasing a DAT listener favorite! The Dental A-Team is joined by Dr. Nate Tilman! Fascinating history aside (read his bio below), Dr. Tilman talks with Kiera about his unique dental practice situation, how he's managed to merge five different practices into his own, and a strategy for doing so. He also speaks to the shifting of culture in his practice, what it took for him to recognize, and the success it's brought. More on Dr. Tilman: Originally from Salisbury, Maryland, Dr. Tilman attended Wake Forest University for his undergraduate degree. He was awarded his Doctor of Dental Surgery from the University of Maryland where he graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2001. Dr. Tilman served in the U.S. Navy Dental Corps for four years, including two years forward deployed aboard USS Ashland (LSD 48). Following his military service, Dr. Tilman moved to Newport, Rhode Island, in 2007 and opened Newport Family and Cosmetic Dentistry. He has had the pleasure to work with an amazing team and amazing patients in creating a state-of-the art, caring, and comfortable dental practice. His commitment to incorporating advanced technologies and techniques allows Dr. Tilman and his team to provide dental treatment in fewer visits and more comfortably than with traditional techniques. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: speaker-0 (00:05) Hey everyone, welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent, and I have this crazy idea that maybe I could combine a doctor and a team member's perspective, because let's face it, dentistry can be a challenging profession with those two perspectives. I've been a dental assistant, treatment coordinator, scheduler, filler, office manager, regional manager, practice owner, and I have a team of traveling consultants where we have traveled to over 165 different offices coaching teams. Yep, we don't just understand you, we are you.   Our mission is to positively impact the world of dental. And I believe that this podcast is the greatest way I can help elevate teams, grow VIP experiences, reduce stress, and create A-Teams. Welcome to the Dental A Team Podcast.   Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and you guys. I love podcasts where I get to bring on offices that I just think are fantastic. So this is an office that we have worked with in the Dental A Team. Also fun fact, he is in the smallest state in the entire United States. So you all know me and my state traveling. His state is one of my hardest states to get to every year, because it's so tiny and it's so far away from me. But he's just one of the best people I've ever met. He's an incredible leader, incredible dentist, incredible just   good human. So I'm so glad and so excited to welcome Dr. Nate Tilman to the show. How are you today, Nate?   speaker-1 (01:27) I am great. Thank you. Thank you. I'm super excited to be here. ⁓ as you know, I've been a fan of the podcast for, know, pretty much since you started. And it's kind of like, it's kind of surreal being, you know, being on, being on the podcast. So I appreciate, appreciate the offer.   speaker-0 (01:44) Well, I love it. love to one it's fun. Thank you for being a podcast fan I mean it's almost coming up on three years of the podcast since we created it and I never would have thought that the podcast could connect me with such cool people so one thank you for being a podcast listener and two things are just being a rad person I I liked the podcast has become a fun passion project for me to meet people to hear their stories   So I kind of alluded to it. You're also doing something similar to Dr. Dave Mogadon, who was on the podcast about those chart ⁓ mergers and buyouts that's kind of helped with your growth, but kind of just tell the listeners like how you even got into dentistry and kind of what your growth trajectory has been, just so they kind of know as a background to today's podcast.   speaker-1 (02:28) Yeah, I'll try not to ramble too much about it. yeah, I went to always wanted to do something in healthcare. My grandfather was a public health physician is a big inspiration for me. So kind of I think it's midway through college decided dentistry is gonna be a really good fit, you know, for a number of reasons. Went to University of Maryland for dental school, loved it decided to stay in general dentistry for   you know, all the variety of what we do. was on a Navy scholarship, so I was able to spend the first four years as a practicing dentist in the Navy. ⁓ Two years I was on a ship as the only dentist. So it was a really good, didn't realize like how helpful an experience that was for like running us an organization, even though it was an organization of three.   speaker-0 (03:14) Yeah, but I also feel like let's just talk about the Navy real fast because I didn't know this about you and my husband and I were literally talking probably two days ago and he said I don't think I ever could do the Navy like put me on a ship with these people for so long and dump me in the middle of the ocean like nowhere to go no hiking like what do you even do? How how was that? feel like more than anything it would teach you mental stamina is what I think I would learn from being on the Navy. But how was it for you? Maybe maybe you guys go swimming every day. I don't know like what do you do all day?   speaker-1 (03:43) Definitely not at all. it was, the two years on the ship was very, it's a super unique experience. And we were a small ship, 400 sailors. We transported Marines. So I was responsible for pretty much 400 patients. had, it was me, I had an administrative assistant and I had two dental technicians that could do some basic hygiene, not a hygienist, but it was me. ⁓   So having to learn like managing supplies and, know, managing appointments and all of that stuff. But the unique thing as a, as a dentist, and mean, this is one year out of a, you know, my GPR. still I was safe, but didn't really know necessarily all what I was doing, but I love to get myself out of jams because middle of the ocean, like. Mid procedure. I'm not going to be the guy calling a helicopter, you know, you got to work through it. So.   speaker-0 (04:40) They're like awesome because it's gonna push your limits and you've got to just figure it out Which I think so many dentists when they do own they don't learn that stamina that stress like hey, it's you figure it out But you're like the odds are even stacked more you're in the middle of the ocean and I mean it would been a pretty cool story for me maybe not for you to hear like a helicopter to come get a patient because you botched a root canal or something like you'd have to figure that out, but that that doesn't definitely up your odds of intensity   for sure being out there and nobody else is there to help you. You're the man. You got to figure it all out.   speaker-1 (05:13) Yeah. And I think it's, while it would have been nice to, you know, if I'd had a situation like, know, where I had a mentor, another dentist I was working with, you know, to be able to bail out, like it have been helpful, but it really, it did, it gave me a lot of, a lot of confidence, um, you know, early on for like, can work my way through this. And then also like what things I don't want to do. Cause I don't want to get stuck in that position again. Yeah. And it was, and yeah, while I didn't have to helicopter anybody out, one of the things I did do, and I don't think at the time, nobody had ever really.   speaker-0 (05:34) True.   speaker-1 (05:42) done it from a small ship or the even smaller ships around us that there were two times where people had some dental emergencies that I was able to fly out to their ship and take care of them.   speaker-0 (05:52) No way. Well, you do have like built in planes. You travel anywhere. So it's like quick, like fly you in, but that's crazy. Cause you ma I can't even imagine the stress that those poor other dentists were feeling of like we're in the middle of here. Like what am I supposed to do? ⁓ I guess call someone else. So, I mean, we talk about dentistry and I've said this so many times, like, feel like dental practices are like these solo islands out there. All y'all just kind of hang in your own area. You literally were in the middle of the ocean flying solo.   speaker-1 (06:22) Yeah. That's crazy. It was fun. There wasn't a ton of dentistry to do. I, know, cool thing with the Navy, they give you other jobs. So I became an air traffic controller. So I was in charge of, you know, all of the flight operations on the ship. so between that and dentistry, it me pretty busy. And then I played a of video games, you know,   speaker-0 (06:41) I'm like, I would be pulling pranks. mean, just throughout COVID, my husband, he makes fun of me. I feel like a roaming tiger in these four walls of our house. Like sometimes I'm like, just let me out of here. Like I can't even handle it. I'm like, I gotta go for a run. I gotta go for a hike that I can't even imagine being on a ship. would be like, I know I'd be pulling pranks on every single person on that ship and just like running for my life. Cause I probably would torment everybody, but air traffic control that like you really went for all the things, Nate, dentistry and air traffic controller.   What don't they say those are the top two suicide jobs? Like you really went for the whole extreme there. Nice job.   speaker-1 (07:15) Well, that's that's like when they selected me to go to the school for our traffic control. What are you guys trying to tell me? You already know I'm a dentist.   speaker-0 (07:23) Gosh, that's crazy. So you were in the Navy and then you went, got out of the Navy. Did you go straight to private practice? Did you go in and be an associate?   speaker-1 (07:32) So I was an associate for a year, still in the Virginia Beach area and then moved to Rhode Island. My wife is, we met in college, I'm two years older, so she was awesome for following me around. then, ⁓ so when she was done with her residency, she's from New England, so we kinda, that's where we looked up here. And I'll tell you, Virginia Beach area, super easy to get a job as an associate, tons of positions around, I figured it'd be the same thing coming up here and there was nothing.   speaker-0 (08:00) mean,   Rhode Island is like the size of a dot on a map. I mean, it's itty bitty, which I makes you a celebrity just because you live there. Like, not many people even live there, so.   speaker-1 (08:11) Yeah, it's in and it's there's there's a number of dentists, but it's it's all solo guys and it's tough like restricted covenants. You know you get a two mile radius. That's the whole state.   speaker-0 (08:21) Exactly   exactly that is you definitely have to look at your associate ships of their contracts really closely Otherwise, you might be booting out of that state just because like you said two mile radius is not far in Rhode Island   speaker-1 (08:34) Not at all. So I ended up having an opportunity to a it's like a four operatory practice, like three, I think two and a half, three days a week. The guy was definitely like on the decline of practice. So jumped into that, had no idea what I was doing. And then six months later, was approached by another dentist who was moving from the area. I think it was a family thing too. And he was having trouble getting somebody to buy   his practice Rhode Island. It's not many dentists moved to the state for a number of reasons. So again, I was still trying to figure out how I was paying my initial loan and how I was running this practice or whatever. the opportunity to buy, to merge this, the patient base. So I did that and it was definitely the best thing I did because it brought in a whole new group of patients. I was able to go from like two and a half days a week to four days a week.   I was able to add another hygienist at the time. so it wasn't super intentional, but the growth was happening. just kind of fell in my lap. I'm like, I'll do this. And looking back, it is where I realized what a good thing it was.   speaker-0 (09:48) For sure. And I hope people listening, ⁓ I am a firm believer that opportunity doesn't always knock on the door and say, I'm opportunity. Sometimes it looks like pure chaos. Sometimes it's stretching you beyond. Sometimes it's really just showing up. I remember the day that I was asked to work with DSI as a consultant. Guys, I had one consulting client before Mark asked me to be a consultant. And overnight, I had 45 clients in my lab. I didn't know what the heck I was doing. But I people listening realize like,   For you, you're struggling. just bought your practice. Don't know what you're doing. Yes, you've had quite a bit of experience, but at the same time, running a practice is very different than being an associate or I'm sure even in the Navy. And so now, and then, hey, by the way, there's all this other patient base wanting to come in. And I love that you just, jumped, you took that opportunity. And I think again, so many times in life, opportunities show up. It's just a matter of, we willing to take them and figure it out or are we too scared and just let them pass by? ⁓   You brought those patients in and you were mentioning pre record that adding in patients from other practices has really been a great way for you to get new patients. ⁓ which people are constantly looking for new patients. was just talking to, there's a guy out here. He's a pathiatrist guys. I'm like, I don't know. I just can't help myself, but help business owners. Like I love it. Podiatry is not that much different than dentistry. Y'all see patients like dentistry, we work on the mouth, but I treat work on the foot. Like   Basically, it's kind of like pediatric. You go to your surgery centers, they come in, you see these patients for their adjustments. But I was talking to him and he's a solo podiatrist and there are two podiatry offices around him that have just shut down doors. So he's like, yeah, it's just great. Like people are finding us and I'm like, did you call those people and ask them for their charts, buy those charts? that is two practices worth of patients that you're just hoping maybe one day will Google you when they're seriously sitting right in front of you. So   I'm super curious. I love this topic. know Dave's talked about it as well, but Nate, how do you buy charts successfully? How do you make that transition? Like Dave was talking about buying so many charts, but kind of from your experience, how do you buy these charts? How do you merge these patients in successfully? And other than just good luck and being in the right place at the right time, finding more of these opportunities. I'm super curious.   speaker-1 (12:04) Yeah, yeah. So for this one, know, having no idea what I was doing, I did have some, think, good advice from a transition attorney that I worked with. initially, the guy that was selling his charts, wanted X number of dollars for his, I think he said, 1,000 active records.   speaker-0 (12:26) And what's like X number of dollars like just give me a ballpark you don't have to say the exact amount but I'm like is it five dollars a chart ten dollars a chart thirty dollars a chart like what   speaker-1 (12:35) If I remember, this was probably 10 years ago, so I believe it was 60 a chart is what he wanted. So I think he wanted 60 million, right? And, you know, I, again, not knowing too much, I definitely knew that those 1,000 people were not gonna come over, right? So I was worried about like, what's the risk? Like, are 10 people gonna come or are 800 gonna come? I have no idea.   Yeah. So the attorney I was talking to, he said, he'd never done it this way. said, but maybe what you want to do is offer a little bit more per record, but only for like a small percentage at first. And then keep track of it over time. And that's what I think I did. It was either a hundred or 120 a chart. And I prepaid for like 300. But then for the next year, I kept track of all the, like once I got above that 300, I kept track of it.   So the nice thing is it limited my, it limited my risk. It put more, I guess, importance or motivation on the seller to really like push his patients to come. Cause the more you make more, the more people that came to see me. So it was a win-win that way. And it also, it let me kind of control that the influx too, because I think if all of sudden I was getting, you know, 800 patients calling all at once, it'd be a little bit trickier to merge this all in.   So that worked out really well.   speaker-0 (14:00) And I'm just curious on that, because this is something else I've been really wondering. After talking to Dave, now meeting this podiatrist, guys, I just love this type of stuff. This is cool business stuff that I feel a lot of people don't talk about. I'm curious, how long was the arrangement? Was it for a year that you would pay him? Was it for five years you'd pay the selling doctor? Because I'm curious, how is the motivation? for me as a business owner, I wouldn't want this to go on forever. I'd want an end date of when I don't have to pay you $120 per patient.   So how is that kind of arrangement set up?   speaker-1 (14:32) It actually, was nine months is what we had set. And I think it could work either, but I certainly wouldn't go more than a year, because it is, it becomes a major pain. And then, honestly for me, as I got close to that nine months, we sort of started slowing down. We strategically scheduled those last few patients in the nine months, but I still had all the records.   speaker-0 (14:54) That's what curious. So did you get all the records? So like you paid this, all the charts come to you, and then the other dentist has good faith that you're going to be honest? Or do they get access to it? Was that what it was?   speaker-1 (15:04) He could have like, had it written. If you wanted to send somebody to audit it, like absolutely. He had access to do that. He just never did. and yeah, we had an initial wave of a lot of people and then it slowed down a bit. And you know, it's, um, I think, I think it ended up, maybe we got 450 out of that thousand. Um, and it and it was close and it was close to that nine months. You know, we were getting close to like 400 and again, I just.   We slowed down a little bit, ⁓ just whatever. But as soon as that nine months hit, then we started re-marketing to the people we hadn't seen.   speaker-0 (15:43) 100   % because then it's like you've got basically 400 patients on recall that haven't been in and so did you guys win it happened and of course you might say things you'd do differently or whatnot but did you have that selling doctor send a letter to all of his patients like hey I'm no longer seeing it come see Nate like he's fantastic or did you guys just pick up the phone and start calling these people what was kind of the strategy of the how-to for you?   speaker-1 (16:07) So he, so he wrote, we both wrote a joint letter, which was good. And then I was able, I actually brought on his, he didn't have an office manager, but it was like his lead front desk and scheduler. So we brought her on. She wasn't a, she wasn't a great, perfect culture fit, but she knew the patients. So that worked. I think she was with us for probably about the nine months.   speaker-0 (16:26) Exactly.   Cause in my mind I was thinking like, that's genius. Maybe you can do like a little like sweetheart deal where it's like, Hey, I'm buying your charts and also your scheduler upfront. Can I just have them like help me call these patients? I'll pay them for a couple of months or whatnot. I don't know. Like there's a piece of me that's like, I could see the pros and the cons of that, but you're right. It's me calling that person who's known these patients for years calling to get them scheduled and help out with that. That's probably again, even if it wasn't a great culture fit, it probably did get more patients in your door.   speaker-1 (16:59) For that initial, yeah, absolutely for the initial. Because they already had the patients pre-scheduled, so they were able, and they know them, it was really helpful having that familiar voice.   speaker-0 (17:09) Totally. Yeah. Clever. Okay. So you went higher than what they're doing, ⁓ which I tell everybody, I'm like these people who are shutting their doors, pretty much any offer you give them is, mean, don't be like a low ball and completely have it feel ridiculous, but they, have no option to sell. There are no options for them to sell. They're not going to make any money. Like that's gotta be a hard reality for that selling doctor to realize like, Hey, I built this business up, but it's not even a sellable product.   So I have no asset anymore. So I'm like, honestly, any money that they can get for these charts, I do think is a good deal and something great for the selling doctor as well. So I don't think it's a ⁓ vicious, like you're taking advantage. I just think again, opportunity shows up in different ways. And I think for the selling doctor, it also was an opportunity that they got probably way more than they were expecting to get when they closed the doors of their practice.   speaker-1 (18:02) Yeah. Cause honestly, it hadn't been for new, he'd been trying actively to sell it somewhere. And I was like, I think I was like the last person, you know, had I not been able to step up and, and, work something out, it would have just been all those patients out into the ether. And, know, probably who knows how many of those, you know, 450 would have shown up with us anyway. But it's, it's, know, again, being younger, not knowing what I was doing, like it was intimidating for me. But as I look back, like he'd never done that either.   speaker-0 (18:22) Yeah   speaker-1 (18:30) You know, so was all, it was new for both of   speaker-0 (18:33) Well, and also thinking about, I'm sure some listeners might think like, Nate, that's a bad deal, though, spending $120 per patient chart. And if you are a wise business owner and you know the cost of acquisition of a new patient, yes, I would say that that probably is on the higher end of a patient. However, I think the perk of this is these are most likely patients who have been active patients in a dental practice that are going to be good patients that are coming. And odds are they also might be, I call them sleeping.   patients in the fact that this dentist was on the retiring side, odds are that dentist was just slowing down with dentistry. Every dentist will have this happen to where odds are these patients actually have a lot more treatment available since their selling doctor was slowing down in their career. while it might be more expensive, you're probably also paying for it with the dentistry available with an older doctor selling. So got it. Okay.   speaker-1 (19:22) Yeah. Yeah.   And then yeah, like, and then fast forward, you know, another five years or so from then, it's not five, about five years ago. I had a dentist moonlighting with me who was in the Navy. It was getting out, wanted to stay in the area. Awesome, awesome dentist, really good friend of mine now. And he wanted to stay, but again, at that point I wasn't busy enough to really support another.   an associate and I'd never really never had an associate either. And again, opportunity I had, was having, it was like a county dental society meeting. I was talking to a friend of mine as well, who was a little bit older dentist and she was like, I'm thinking about slowing down. maybe this guy could work for you for a couple of days a week and me a couple of days a week. And kind of light bulb went off my head. I was like, or I could buy your practice if you're open to it. And then you can slow down whatever you want. ⁓   be an associate with me and he could work at the two. I kind of saw the writing, like the potential if he did that, what happens if now he wants to buy that practice and then it's, you know, so that actually.   speaker-0 (20:29) You would be training up your competition. So good job on seeing that and not letting that happen.   speaker-1 (20:35) Yeah. And, uh, and it worked and that worked out great around the, again, just weird timing around the same as I was closing on that deal. One town over those, dentist who unfortunately had a terminal, uh, terminal cancer and was looking for somebody to help take over his practice. So I was able to take over his patient base, which another bonus of being able to help, you know, get this new associate, you know, even busier.   speaker-0 (21:01) So really your practice is a makeup of four practices. Did I count my?   speaker-1 (21:06) And then I had one more a little bit later. There's like five, five, nine into two locations now. So yeah. Yeah. And with that one, was the, um, I was able to bring one of the hygienists on board. Um, which again, that familiar, familiar face, familiar voice, um, was a big, was big and she's still with us and she's awesome. So, um, so that's been, that's been really good.   speaker-0 (21:07) Okay, so   Clever. love it.   awesome.   Have you guys heard? But like really have you heard? And are you the type of person that loves to take massive action? Well, if you are, I would love to invite you to Dental A Team's Virtual Summit, April 22nd through 23rd. And yes, right now guys, it's early bird. That means it's $200 off the normal ticket price. You guys are going to learn how to optimize your practice this year. We know it's been a rough year. People have quit. We've had COVID, we've had changes. So we want to teach you guys how to optimize within your practice now and execute.   Friday is full team, Saturday is all things leadership. So bring your team, get some CE, take massive action, head on over to TheDentalATeam.com. Coupon code is summit early bird, and it's valid until March 31st. That's summit early bird, all one word, and it's valid until March 31st. So guys, head on over. I can't wait to have you take massive action, optimize your practice, and execute. Let's make 2022 your best year. I love it.   I love how much you have, ⁓ I think if anything I'm taking is don't be afraid to take those risks, don't be afraid to look at opportunities and also I think you just kind of have also positioned yourself to be well known within your community and I feel like so many dentists, like yes even within big cities like New York, Denver, guess what? People are always retiring. I just had a student from Midwestern reach out to me and was mentioning how like.   Hey, care, do you know of anybody to buy a practice? And I'm like, what is going on? I don't know all the details, but I'm like, this is somebody who's been graduating for maybe a couple of years looking to sell a practice. so I think it's just important to get to know the doctors around you to build those friendships. Because when I think it's often like you're putting yourself in a position to be ready for that opportunity, it's kind of like right now they say have a lot of cash on hand. We know something's going to be shifting in the economy.   So just be ready for when opportunities there. And I think getting to know your neighbors, getting to know those dentists, hey, great, you also as a dentist might need them as a resource in the future as well. So I think it can go both ways, but I love that you've done that. So now I'm curious, Nate, because I selfishly want to talk to you about this. You've got these two practices, you've got these dentists.   Who knows, you're gonna like probably add on like four more practices of charts in the next five years. I mean, based on your record, like let's just start piling them all on. You'll be the only dentist in Rhode Island. You're just gonna last. But I know culture is something you and I off air. Nate is one of my favorite clients. I don't even come to your practice, Nate, and you and I will just chat business, talk shop. You are somebody that I will say publicly is someone who's just been.   a really great influence in my life. Periodically, you will just send me a random text of like, just tell me that we're doing a good thing. And I will say, and you know, as an owner, those kudos and those like good vibes, they don't happen as often because you're the one who's giving all that out to your team and to your clients and to your patients. And so Nate, I will say publicly, like how much you've just been an influence in my life as well. Something I just have appreciated with you as a client, as a friend, as a mentor. So I'm excited to chat. You've got all these things going.   I know culture has been a piece that you and I both have been talking about of developing this culture. So kind of what spurred you into realizing you wanted to shift your culture of your practice. And then let's talk about the nitty gritty, but like how did you as a business owner know you needed to do a shift within your culture? Because I think that that's humility. And I'm just curious, like what tipped you off? How are you able as a dentist to own that, that you wanted to shift that?   speaker-1 (25:03) Yeah, I mean, I think for me it was noticing, you know, sort of the patterns over the years of the just the ups and downs of culture, you know, and it's, you know, whether you call it the vibe or how everybody's getting along. ⁓ And there, I mean, it's over the years, like we've had some pretty painful, painful times and times where it's like, nobody likes being here. That's way better, you know, in the last few years and it had been in the past, but.   It's, I was realizing I didn't really know how to, I didn't realize I had, that I could have influence on, on how to change that. It's, you know, some of it, I'm not a confrontational person. I'm pretty laid back and I want every, you know, I want to be the one that's liked. I want to be everybody's friend. And it's hard. It's, mean, whatever 13 years into practice ownership. And I still, you know, struggle with that.   kind of not being able to be everybody's best friend. Like I actually own the boss and like I have to own that. So it's, know, again, I finally got like just really got so exhausting of the ups and downs of like, is this going to be a good month or is this going to be a good week or who's going to be upset and all that. that it's like, you know, it's not just on me, but it's like, creating that environment that people, you know, that people want to be here. You know, people are happy people.   playing well together and trying to manage all that. it's, you know, it's certainly I haven't figured it out completely, but it's, you know, just trying to work on little things.   speaker-0 (26:41) Yeah, well and I love that you said that because incidentally I'm like, ⁓ Nate, why didn't I even think about this? I know why you and I are good friends. We're eyes on the disc profile. We both love to be liked. We're both very outgoing. We're like, you know life at the party have a good time. We're also okay to like let other people be the life of the party, but just really that and I do think a lot of dentists have that personality. ⁓ I was thinking about dentists last night actually while I was falling asleep and I'm like gosh you guys have to charm and dazzle and wow all day long.   Like you walk in and you have to make friends quickly and it's in an uncomfortable like, hey, let me like get real up and close and personal, like look in your mouth. And I got to like win you over and make you like me. I want to say yes to treat Mike. That's a lot of output of energy all day long for you guys. And so for you to realize that you also have to be a boss, I think one takes humility and two, also is ownership. And I would agree. I think it's like you get to a spot where I'm like, all right, being friends is fun.   But we got to have this like even kill because this up and down is just causing me to feel like I'm in whiplash all day long. So what were some of the things that you started to shift again? You and I chatted in December and I know we both like I've taken this from our conversation of culture is a slow burn. It is not something that happens overnight. It is not something that is instantaneous and I am an instantaneous person. Like I will figure it out. I will come up with it like we will find the solution and culture is like, all right.   Cool, I'm here for the journey. So what were some of the things you started to shift that you've been able to see? know Tiffanie's been helping you guys in your practice quite a bit as well, but I think ultimately at the end of the day, consultants can only help as far as the leaders are willing to go. And so for you to be willing to shift and change is why your team's been shifting and changing too. So what were some of those specifics?   speaker-1 (28:26) One of the, I would say the hardest thing for me and I still like, it still gives me anxiety and trouble is having difficult conversations. And while, you know, it's   you wouldn't think it would necessarily play toward helping with culture, having difficult conversations. I think it really does because I think it resets some of that, ⁓ like where the expectations are, what kind of the clarity on what needs to be done. But I think that's part of, on my ups and downs, I, again, wanting to be agreeable and being pretty laid back, if there was some...   trouble happening or there's some conflict between the team. Like a lot of my default for years was, it'll just blow over. Like, let's it work itself out. And it would work itself out by exploding after a drink or two. And then everybody would hug it out after a drink or two, and then we're fine for a while. But like, was no way to operate, right? So for me, getting over my fear and my anxiety of having those hard conversations, you know, and that's actually, that's one of the things that Tiffanie has been super helpful.   with on helping me through some of those. And I think one of the biggest skills that I've gotten with working with the Dental A Team is that, to have those conversations. They're not fun. People don't like them. I don't like them. But I think it makes a big difference and means a lot once people, like once you get through that.   speaker-0 (30:02) For sure. And you're lucky to have Tiff. think Tiff is one of the best at it. Tiffanie is very masterful on being able to, I say word ninja it. She's also just very direct, which is odd because she's so lovable and so nice. But something her and I have chatted a lot. And to your exact point, when team members have those uncomfortable conversations and they know their employer is willing to do it, everybody actually feels safe.   and that safety can create stability, which also creates like easiness. So my husband and I felt like I used to be a people pleaser with him. And just this week, he and I had a really big decision, a really awesome opportunity, and we ended up turning it down. And I was so frustrated. Like, I'm such a like driver and doer and like, this is an opportunity. We've been working for five years for this and we're just gonna like walk away from it. And I was not my most polished Kiera. ⁓   Thankfully, I would never do this with my team, but my husband, was just like full on expressive on like, and not anger at him, just the frustration of the situation. Like we've worked for this for five years and we're still not going to go through with it. And he made a comment to me, said, Kiera, I love that we've worked on our relationship so much to where you can feel comfortable and confident to have this conversation, to express your true feelings and we can work through it and find a solution. And I use that example because I feel like it's very similar with teams with   bosses that are willing to have these uncomfortable conversations because there's a there's a trust and a confidence that I can come to you. I know we can go toe to toe. I know we can work through this even though it's not fun in the moment per se. There's so much beauty and ease and flow that happens because we're not just always like holding it inside trying to like charm everybody else around us.   speaker-1 (31:47) Yeah. And what I have sort of seen ⁓ as I'm doing that more often and as I'm getting more comfortable with it, I'm seeing my team do the same thing with each other, in a, you know, in a respectful way. And they're confronting things before they become like these underlying deep seated issues. So yeah. So that's been good. ⁓ Working on gratitude is another, is another big one. Yeah. It's funny. It's, it's, ⁓   That's been, that's taken me a little bit to get used to and kind of coming up with a pattern of how to do it because it doesn't necessarily come naturally to me. You know, I think it all the time in my head, you know, how appreciative I am, but it's expressing it is what's hard and finding the way that resonates because everybody's different. What, you know, what lights everybody up is different. So it's trying to, I'm still trying to figure that out for everybody individually.   speaker-0 (32:42) But I think it's awesome that you're taking that on and like you said and I will say kudos to male doctors that are willing to share their appreciation because I'm not a male, but I have heard from several male colleagues that it's very uncomfortable. They're like, I'm just not somebody like you said, I think it, but I don't necessarily say it I don't know how to say it and sometimes it's an awkward thing. But I will say as a team member, I worked only with male doctors, except for one time I had a female doctor. But most of the time males were the doctors I would work with.   And as a team member, especially a female team member, it meant the world to me when they would share that appreciation. it just would, most women are very much ⁓ people who love those words of affirmation that are genuine and sincere. And so I think that that's a great thing that you've taken on. And I know that that's shifting because you shifting that way is shifting your entire team as well. Very cool. Okay. I just want like a quick highlight list as we wrap up, Nate, I appreciate you so much. What are some of the things working with Tiffanie that you've   that you guys have implemented in your practice or some things that you've seen, like we've talked about chart mergers, which gosh, it's just so fun. And we talked about culture shifts, but what are some of the things over the last year? I think you guys are just wrapping up your heading into year two. What are some of the things you guys have implemented with her this last year that were really just impactful for you?   speaker-1 (33:59) Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's a, we've done a bunch of like small things, you know, and, and, that's what I think has been great is like they, they're easy concepts, but communicating ⁓ better handoffs from front to back and committing to that. ⁓ It's, one of the first things that she introduced with us. And, you know, it seemed like such a simple thing, but it's made a huge difference in. ⁓   and just having consistency of communication and then also it helps the teamwork. ⁓ That's been really good. She's helped a lot with trying to ⁓ have us have a better of sense and strategy around our revenue cycle. Just little things that we didn't necessarily know that we weren't doing, you know, as efficiently as we could. But what I love the most is the process and the accountability part that's put in. ⁓   there, you know, I, in previous years, you know, I've worked with other coaches and consultants and things. Um, and it's always been like a kind of a cookie cutter type thing. And it's, you know, it has been helpful, but what I really love about Dental A Team is how. Yeah. She's able to look and see exactly what it is that we do and how we do it and tailor those systems to us. Um, uh, but also that holding us like holding us accountable to do it. Like we had a, we had a call.   this week, I think it was. we've been looking at outsourcing things for, and I think we've probably been talking about it for a month, two months or so. And it was kind of funny because she has, she's like the sweetest person in world, but she was like, all right guys, I'm tired of talking about this. You're going to buy the end of it. And we're going to, we're going to make a decision on this in my head. This is on Tuesday. I was like, all right, by the end of Thursday, we'll have this done. She's like today, like today that you've done this and tell me who you're going with. And I was like, all right.   But sometimes that's what we need, know, cause we were stuck in this little cycle. So she, you she's good with that. And then sort of same thing with, you know, those are one of the difficult kinds of conversations I needed to have, but was Tuesday was funny. She was, she like really lit a fire under us. Cause like three or four things are like, you're getting this stuff done today and it's happening. that's the push we need, but there's other, know, there's, it's not always that intense. You know, there's also, ⁓ you know, if we need a little help with, you know, with things and,   It's process. She's there each step of the way.   speaker-0 (36:25) awesome. I love it. Well, I think that other no, go ahead.   speaker-1 (36:28) Sorry, it's   been really, it's been really good that I haven't seen with anybody else I've worked with before is she's totally accessible to my team. And I have a couple of the people on my team who are like very growth mindset, growth oriented with us. And, know, they, I think they talked to her more than I realized. And it's, it's one of like, felt initially like when she, you know, gave everybody her contact information, she like, I don't know, I hope that doesn't get abused. And she's like, I love it. That's what I'm here for.   and not knowing the specifics of what she's helping some people with. Like I've had a couple of people on my team, they're like, is so great to be able to reach out to Tiffanie and get this advice on this. And she's helping them just as much as she's helping me. That's awesome.   speaker-0 (37:09) That's huge and I appreciate that Nate because one it's fun to hear how our consultants are doing and I love like a few pieces you said which makes me happy because like as an owner and I'm sure as dentists we have this great vision of what we want our company to be what we want our practice to be and then to hear a patient experience to hear a client experience I'm like we will never be cookie cutter I refuse like forever because no practice is cookie cutter so to hear that it's systems that are customized to you guys where it's what's gonna work with you and also like you said   that accountability. Tiff and I, will say kudos to Tiff because at first, you know, we were like, how do you consult offices? And most of time we'll just kind of go through with you holding you accountable. But there are times when we will need to like laser in, lay it down and be like, guys, here's the reality. Just like a coach at the gym. I'm like, I don't want you like high five. I mean, that was a great workout when my squats look terrible. Like tell me to get my booty down, get my back out. Like   make sure I'm actually doing the work if I'm going to put in the work. And so I love that she did that. And like you said, that is something that we are so pro having those team members elevate rising them around you. That's something like we have kind of, I have a three prong approach and it's making sure you are profitable as a business. Cause if we're not profitable, fantastic. And to hear that TIF is helping you guys with that revenue cycle, making sure that's there at the handoffs, but then also growing people themselves.   You with those hard conversations, you making sure, I mean, we were just talking, you're having time off and your whole team is like killing it and you're not even there, which is awesome. ⁓ Also elevating team members. So it's not just the dentists themselves, but the team and then putting in those systems and team development top to bottom. So to hear it from a client experience, and we didn't even rehearse this prior to it, but to really hear the, and I didn't even prep you Nate. I didn't tell you to like, Hey, think of the last year and the highlights before we get on it. And I purposely did that because I wanted to hear.   what really stood out to you over this last year? What were the things that, because sure, you could go back and reread the emails and prep for it, but I'm like, that doesn't actually matter. What matters is what sticks in the moment. And so I just appreciate that. I love you as a client. know Tiff loves you as a client. You're just a, you're a great example of execution, of humility, of seeing opportunities and executing on them. And I hope people realize that success in my opinion doesn't just happen by chance. It is methodical. is...   Executed on sometimes you get sprinkled with that good luck charm But I also think that good luck charm is only good luck if you actually execute on it So Nate, you're just a dream. I love it. I love what you've done. I appreciate you being on the podcast you're just such a happy human and You're you're a great person who's doing great things in this world and your team's super lucky to get to work with you and learn from you as well   speaker-1 (39:48) Oh, thank you so much. And I feel so, you know, so lucky to have come to come across the Dental A Team, you know, three years ago and, and, and gotten to know you, gotten to know your team and all of you thought, you know, to me, my team and my life, it's awesome.   speaker-0 (40:00) Totally.   Well, it's, you know, we said yes, because you're in Rhode Island first. That was the first like initial yes. then you know, so but no, I appreciate it, Nate. So guys, if you if you have questions on mergers, or how to buy these charts, like please reach out, we'll connect you in with Nate. And if his story and the successes he's had resonate with you, email us, we'd love to chat with you. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And Nate, thanks for being here today. Thanks for just being a good human in this world that we need more people like you. So thanks for being here today.   Thank you. Awesome, guys. All right. As always, thank you all for listening, and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.   wraps it up for another episode of the Dental A Team Podcast. Thank you so much for listening and we'll talk to you next time.  

Replay of the January 5 edition of The Coach Steve Forbes Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Men's Basketball Head Coach Steve Forbes and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Men's Basketball student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025-26 Wake Forest Men's Basketball season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, Lisa and Rick discuss:How a student's choice of future intended major impacts their college admissions chancesThe role of holistic review in determining “Fit To Major” (FTM)The challenges students face when trying to change majors after admissionWhy flexibility is essential in the college application processKey Takeaways: Colleges often evaluate whether a student's academic choices and extracurricular activities align with their intended major, so applying without evidence of interest in that field can weaken an application, even at schools that do not directly admit by major.Some universities, particularly for highly competitive majors like computer science and business, have strict policies that prevent or limit students from switching into these programs after enrollment, making initial major selection a critical decision.Admissions officers look for patterns of demonstrated interest in their major, expecting engineering applicants to take advanced math and science courses or business applicants to show entrepreneurial involvement, which helps determine if a student is truly prepared for their chosen major.Students who remain open to alternative entry pathways—such as summer admissions, starting at a different campus, or transferring later—increase their chances of reaching their academic and career goals, even if they don't initially get into their first-choice program. “The more kids can put themselves in a position where they have choices and options, the better off they're going to be.” – Rick ClarkAbout Rick Clark: Rick Clark is Georgia Tech's inaugural Executive Director for Strategic Student Access, leading efforts to expand enrollment, access, and affordability. Previously, he spent 15 years as AVP and Executive Director of Undergraduate Admission, strengthening Tech's brand, academic profile, and enrollment. He serves on national councils, including NACAC's Committee on Leadership in College Admission, and speaks at U.S. embassies on higher education. Rick is the creator of the GT Admissions blog, co-author of The Truth About College Admission, and co-host of its podcast. A native of Atlanta, he holds degrees from UNC-Chapel Hill and Georgia State and has worked at Georgia State, The McCallie School, and Wake Forest University.Episode References:• Blueprint to Understanding Admissions by Major: https://flourishcoachingco.com/majors• The Truth about College Admission by Brennan Barnard & Rick Clark: https://www.amazon.com/Truth-about-College-Admission-Together/dp/142143637X• The College Admissions Process Podcast by John Durante: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-college-admissions-process-podcast/id1608682810Get Lisa's Free on-demand video: How-to guide for your teen to choose the right major, college, & career...(without painting themselves into a corner, missing crucial deadlines, or risking choices you both regret). flourishcoachingco.com/video Connect with Rick:Twitter: https://x.com/Clark2CollegeLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raclarkatl/The Truth about College Admission Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-truth-about-college-admission/id1649349413Connect with Lisa:Website: https://www.flourishcoachingco.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flourishcoachingcoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/flourishcoachingco/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flourishcoachingco/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/flourish-coaching-co

John Boorman's Point Blank (1967) has long been recognized as one of the seminal films of the sixties, with its revisionary mix of genres including neo-noir, New Wave, and spaghetti western. Its lasting influence can be traced throughout the decades in films like Mean Streets (1973), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Heat (1995), The Limey (1999) and Memento (2000). Eric Wilson's compelling study Point Blank (British Film Institute, 2023) examines its significance to New Hollywood cinema. He argues that Boorman revises traditional Hollywood crime films by probing a second connotation of “point blank.” On the one hand, it is a neo-noir that aptly depicts close range violence, but, it also points toward blankness, a nothingness that is the consequence of corporate America unchecked, where humans are reduced to commodities and stripped of agency and playfulness. He goes on to reimagine the film's experimental style as a representation of and possible remedy for trauma. Examining Boorman's formal innovations, including his favoring of gesture over language and blurring of boundaries between dream and reality, he also positions the film as a grimly comical exploration of toxic masculinity and gender fluidity. Wilson's close reading of Point Blank reveals it to be a film that innovatively inflects its own generation and speaks powerfully to our own, arguing that it is this amplitude, which encompasses the many major films it has influenced, that qualifies the film as a classic. Eric Wilson is Professor of English at Wake Forest University, USA. His publications include Secret Cinema: Gnostic Vision in Film (2006) and The Strange World of David Lynch: Transcendental Irony from Eraserhead to Mulholland Dr (2007). His writing has featured in Psychology Today, L.A. Times, The New York Times and Huffington Post. Daniel Moran earned his B.A. and M.A. in English from Rutgers University and his Ph.D. in History from Drew University. The author of Creating Flannery O'Connor: Her Critics, Her Publishers, Her Readers and articles on G. K. Chesterton and John Ford, he teaches research and writing at Rutgers and co-hosts the podcast Fifteen-Minute Film Fanatics, found here on the New Books Network and on X.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

John Boorman's Point Blank (1967) has long been recognized as one of the seminal films of the sixties, with its revisionary mix of genres including neo-noir, New Wave, and spaghetti western. Its lasting influence can be traced throughout the decades in films like Mean Streets (1973), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Heat (1995), The Limey (1999) and Memento (2000). Eric Wilson's compelling study Point Blank (British Film Institute, 2023) examines its significance to New Hollywood cinema. He argues that Boorman revises traditional Hollywood crime films by probing a second connotation of “point blank.” On the one hand, it is a neo-noir that aptly depicts close range violence, but, it also points toward blankness, a nothingness that is the consequence of corporate America unchecked, where humans are reduced to commodities and stripped of agency and playfulness. He goes on to reimagine the film's experimental style as a representation of and possible remedy for trauma. Examining Boorman's formal innovations, including his favoring of gesture over language and blurring of boundaries between dream and reality, he also positions the film as a grimly comical exploration of toxic masculinity and gender fluidity. Wilson's close reading of Point Blank reveals it to be a film that innovatively inflects its own generation and speaks powerfully to our own, arguing that it is this amplitude, which encompasses the many major films it has influenced, that qualifies the film as a classic. Eric Wilson is Professor of English at Wake Forest University, USA. His publications include Secret Cinema: Gnostic Vision in Film (2006) and The Strange World of David Lynch: Transcendental Irony from Eraserhead to Mulholland Dr (2007). His writing has featured in Psychology Today, L.A. Times, The New York Times and Huffington Post. Daniel Moran earned his B.A. and M.A. in English from Rutgers University and his Ph.D. in History from Drew University. The author of Creating Flannery O'Connor: Her Critics, Her Publishers, Her Readers and articles on G. K. Chesterton and John Ford, he teaches research and writing at Rutgers and co-hosts the podcast Fifteen-Minute Film Fanatics, found here on the New Books Network and on X.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/performing-arts

In this episode of the Braun Performance & Rehab Podcast, Dan is joined by Lauren Storey to discuss her journey in the sport of field hockey and her current comeback from an ACL & meniscus injury. Lauren Storey is a Field Hockey forward currently playing for Wake Forest University. Originally from Auckland, New Zealand, Lauren's journey has been shaped by high-level competition, resilience, and growth through adversity. A former New Zealand Junior Blacksticks U18 national team member, she made an immediate impact in the ACC with her attacking style of play and competitive edge. Her story includes navigating a significant ACL injury, embracing the recovery process, and rebuilding both physically and mentally as a Division I athlete. Known for her drive, perspective, and team-first mindset, Lauren continues to grow through the game on and off the turf. Follow her on Instagram @_lauren.storey_ or check out https://godeacs.com/sports/field-hockey to keep up to date with everything happening with her team! Season 6 and 7 of the Braun Performance & Rehab Podcast is brought to you by Pura Health - Bringing ultrasound into every clinician's hand. For more on Pura Health be sure to check out https://www.purahealth.net & @pura.health_ultrasound*SEASON 6 of the Braun Performance & Rehab Podcast is brought to you by Isophit. For more on Isophit, please check out isophit.com and @isophit -BE SURE to use coupon code BraunPR25% to save 25% on your Isophit order!**Season 6 of the Braun Performance & Rehab Podcast is also brought to you by Firefly Recovery, the official recovery provider for Braun Performance & Rehab. For more on Firefly, please check out https://www.recoveryfirefly.com/ or email jake@recoveryfirefly.com***This episode is also powered by Dr. Ray Gorman, founder of Engage Movement. Learn how to boost your income without relying on sessions. Get a free training on the blended practice model by following @raygormandpt on Instagram. DM my name “Dan” to @raygormandpt on Instagram and receive your free breakdown on the model.Episode Affiliates:MoboBoard: BRAWNBODY10 saves 10% at checkout!AliRx: DBraunRx = 20% off at checkout! https://alirx.health/MedBridge: https://www.medbridgeeducation.com/brawn-body-training or Coupon Code "BRAWN" for 40% off your annual subscription!CTM Band: https://ctm.band/collections/ctm-band coupon code "BRAWN10" = 10% off!Ice shaker affiliate link: https://www.iceshaker.com?sca_ref=1520881.zOJLysQzKeMake sure you SHARE this episode with a friend who could benefit from the information we shared!Check out everything Dan is up to by clicking here: https://linktr.ee/braun_prLiked this episode? Leave a 5-star review on your favorite podcast platform

Replay of the December 15 edition of The Coach Steve Forbes Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Men's Basketball Head Coach Steve Forbes and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Men's Basketball student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025-26 Wake Forest Men's Basketball season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tune in to Lennar's Connor Johnstone on Atlanta land acquisition, data-driven underwriting, trends, and tech tools speeding deals for developers.The Crexi Podcast connects CRE professionals with industry insights built for smart decision-making. In each episode, we explore the latest trends, innovations and opportunities shaping commercial real estate, because we believe knowledge should move at the speed of ambition and every conversation should empower professionals to act with greater clarity and confidence.  In this episode of The Crexi Podcast, Shanti Ryle sits down with Connor Johnstone, a land acquisition manager at Lennar. They discuss Connor's transition from a professional baseball career to the real estate industry, emphasizing the importance of problem-solving, embracing failure, and leveraging technology.Connor shares insights on the development of an internal tool designed to streamline underwriting processes, which has significantly increased efficiency in evaluating land deals. The discussion also touches on the current state of the housing market in Atlanta, the challenges faced by first-time home buyers, and the role of technology in shaping the future of home-building. Tune in to learn about innovative strategies and key trends impacting today's commercial real estate landscape.Introduction to The Crexi PodcastMeet Connor Johnstone: From Baseball to Real EstateConnor's Journey: Physics, Coding, and Real EstateLessons Learned: Embracing Failure and InnovationBuilding Efficient Tools for Real EstateThe Power of ChatGPT and Learning CodingPractical Applications of AI in Land Acquisition & DevelopmentLeveraging Data in Home BuildingThe Future of Home Building TechnologyChallenges in the Housing MarketThe Rise of Build-to-Rent CommunitiesLong-Term View on Entry-Level HousingRapid Fire Questions and Wrap-Up  About Connor Johnstone:Connor Johnstone is a land acquisition manager at Lennar, one of the nation's largest homebuilders, where he plays a key role in identifying, underwriting, and securing development opportunities across the Atlanta metro area. Based in Smyrna, Georgia, Connor works on the front lines of Lennar's new community development strategy, focusing primarily on housing solutions for first-time homebuyers.Before entering the real estate world, Connor played professional baseball, an experience that shaped his discipline, teamwork, and strategic mindset—qualities that now inform his approach to development and deal-making. With a background in physics from Wake Forest University and a self-taught proficiency in coding, he has built internal web-based tools that streamline underwriting and decision-making for his division—innovations now being explored for company-wide use.Connor's approach blends traditional land acquisition principles with a forward-thinking use of technology, helping Lennar evaluate deals more efficiently and precisely in a rapidly changing housing landscape. As affordability challenges and build-to-rent opportunities continue to reshape the market, Connor's insight into site selection, market fit, and operational efficiency positions him as a valuable voice in the future of residential development. For show notes, past guests, and more CRE content, please check out Crexi's blog.Looking to stay ahead in commercial real estate? Visit Crexi to explore properties, analyze markets, and connect with opportunities nationwide. Follow Crexi:https://www.crexi.com/​ https://www.crexi.com/instagram​ https://www.crexi.com/facebook​ https://www.crexi.com/twitter​ https://www.crexi.com/linkedin​ https://www.youtube.com/crexi

Replay of the December 8 edition of The Coach Steve Forbes Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Men's Basketball Head Coach Steve Forbes and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Men's Basketball student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025-26 Wake Forest Men's Basketball season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On the latest episode of JohnWallStreet Presents: Big Business on Campus, a college sports podcast powered by Playfly Sports and sponsored by Short's Sports Travel Logistics, JohnWallStreet Founder Corey Leff and Playfly Sports Chairman Michael Schreiber sit down with Wake Forest University Vice President and Director of Athletics John Currie. In this 40-minute conversation, we touch on the benefits of a 100-acre, $215mm mixed-use development project, meeting changing donor expectations, the ACC's new media rev-share model, and more.

Replay of the December 1 edition of The Coach Steve Forbes Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Men's Basketball Head Coach Steve Forbes and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Men's Basketball student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025-26 Wake Forest Men's Basketball season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Replay of the November 26 edition of The Coach Jake Dickert Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Football Head Coach Jake Dickert and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Football student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025 Wake Forest Football season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Replay of the November 24 edition of The Coach Steve Forbes Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Men's Basketball Head Coach Steve Forbes and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Men's Basketball student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025-26 Wake Forest Men's Basketball season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Replay of the November 20 edition of The Coach Jake Dickert Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Football Head Coach Jake Dickert and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Football student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025 Wake Forest Football season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Replay of the November 17 edition of The Coach Steve Forbes Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Men's Basketball Head Coach Steve Forbes and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Men's Basketball student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025-26 Wake Forest Men's Basketball season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey Theology Nerds! On this episode, we're wrestling with one of those questions that'll mess with your theology AND your politics - Vincent Harding's knockout punch of a question: 'Is America possible?' I'm talking about the REAL America, not the one on your uncle's Facebook feed, but the wild, beautiful, messy dream of a multiracial, multi-ethnic, pluralistic, egalitarian democracy that actually, you know, WORKS. We're getting into all of it - how democracy and capitalism are duking it out, what Christianity has to say when it's not too busy blessing the status quo, and why asking better questions might just save us from ourselves. This is about imagination, the kind that gets people in trouble with empire. We're talking solidarity that actually costs something, conversations that require actual courage (not just Twitter courage), and why your algorithm might be more theologically problematic than that praise band you love to hate. If you've ever wondered whether faith communities could stop playing defense and start building the world we actually need, or if you're ready to imagine America as something more than a 250-year-old experiment in barely not falling apart - this one's for you. We're bringing the theological fire to the most urgent questions of our time, because apparently that's what we do around here. Corey D. B. Walker is Dean of the School of Divinity at Wake Forest University. As a scholar, he's committed to a broad vision of human flourishing. His research, teaching, and public scholarship span the areas of African American philosophy, critical theory, ethics, and religion and American public life.  Bill Leonard is the Founding Dean and Professor of Divinity Emeritus at Wake Divinity. Leonard's research focuses on Church History with particular attention to American religion, Baptist studies, and Appalachian religion. He is the author of over 25 books, including  The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Church History: Flaming Heretics and Heavy Drinkers.  Previous Episodes Bill & Corey: Theology in the Age of Anxiety and Algorithms Bill & Corey: Losing Sleep Before God Welcome to the Post-Christian Century the Fundamentalization of American Religion Listening Beyond the Times The History and Transformation of American Christianity  Faith and Politics Through Church History ACCESS to the cheapest tickets.⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠UPCOMING ONLINE ADVENT CLASS w/ Diana Butler Bass⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join us for a transformative four-week Advent journey exploring how the four gospels speak their own revolutionary word against empire—both in their ancient context under Roman occupation and for our contemporary world shaped by capitalism, militarism, and nationalism.  This course invites you into an alternative calendar and rhythm. We'll discover how these ancient texts of resistance offer wisdom for our own moment of political turmoil, economic inequality, and ecological crisis. This class is donation-based, including 0. You can sign-up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.HomebrewedClasses.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ This podcast is a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Homebrewed Christianity ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠production. Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the Homebrewed Christianity⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Theology Nerd Throwdown⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, & ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Rise of Bonhoeffer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ podcasts for more theological goodness for your earbuds. Join over 70,000other people by joining our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack - Process This!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get instant access to over 50 classes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.TheologyClass.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow the podcast, drop a review⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, send ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠feedback/questions⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or become a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠member of the HBC Community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Replay of the November 13 edition of The Coach Jake Dickert Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Football Head Coach Jake Dickert and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Football student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025 Wake Forest Football season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In my conversation with Austin Carty we explore the intersection of writing, personal growth, and the art of preaching. We discuss how technology, particularly AI, has revolutionized content creation, making it more efficient. Austin shares insights from his book, 'Some of the Words Are Theirs,' emphasizing the importance of time in both writing, and life experiences. Austin Carty is pastor of Boulevard Baptist Church in Anderson, South Carolina. He holds an MDiv from Wake Forest University and a DMin from Emory University. He is the author of High Points and Lows: Life, Faith, and Figuring It All Out and The Pastor's Bookshelf: Why Reading Matters for Ministry, which received the 2023 Christianity Today Award of Merit and was named Book of the Year by Preaching magazine. His new book, Some of the Words Are Theirs: The Art of Writing and Living a Sermon. Our conversation delves into themes of hope in hardship, the significance of place and personal history, and the journey of self-discovery through writing. We also touch on the complexities of human emotions, and the challenge of caring in a distracted world, ultimately highlighting the legacy of our words and actions.  

Amy Privette Perko is a leading voice in college sports reform and the Chief Executive Officer of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, a role she has held since 2016 after serving as its executive director since 2005. Under her leadership, the Commission has driven transformative changes in NCAA policy, including requiring teams to meet academic benchmarks for postseason eligibility and revising revenue distribution to reward educational outcomes. Perko has championed financial transparency, gender equity, and athlete well-being through initiatives like the C.A.R.E. Model, which aligns athletics revenue with educational priorities. A former standout basketball player at Wake Forest University, where she earned Academic All-America honors and set multiple school records, Perko combines athletic experience with decades of administrative leadership at the NCAA and the University of Kansas. Her contributions have earned her prestigious honors such as the NCAA Silver Anniversary Award, the Dick Enberg Award, and recognition as a “Game Changer” by Sports Business Journal. Beyond policy advocacy, she is a frequent media commentator and keynote speaker, shaping national conversations on governance, athlete compensation, and the future of college sports.

Replay of the November 6 edition of The Coach Jake Dickert Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Football Head Coach Jake Dickert and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Football student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025 Wake Forest Football season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Can cutting down on unforced errors really transform your tennis game? Discover the strategies and mental tactics used by the pros, as Bill Oakes enlightens us on how even a slight shift in focus can elevate your recreational play. Bill is a sports marketing, sponsorship, communications and event production professional. He has worked at Wake Forest University, the Winston-Salem Open, the USTA Southern Section and numerous sports marketing firms over the last thirty plus years.  He has hosted tennis television and radio shows since 2004, including doing play by play at the US Open for usopen.org radio.  Bill has been a tournament director on the ATP Tour, chaired ATP committees on Television and the 250s, served on the Tournament Council, and been an instructor at the ATP University during this period.  We would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating wherever you listen to podcasts! Please contact us - Website: secondservepodcast.com Instagram: secondservepodcastFacebook: secondservepodcast Use our referral link to get a FREE Swing Stick ($100 value) with your first year of SwingVision Pro. The bundles are only $149.99 (previously $179.99). This is a limited time offer that you won't want to miss! We are excited to team up with Michelle from Tennis Warehouse and her "Talk Tennis" podcast to bring you a "TW Tip of the Week!" Use the code SECONDSERVE to get $20 off clearance apparel when you spend $100 or more.

Gill is partnering with Glazier clinics for a FREE track and field clinic in December. To help you understand what value this clinic will provide you, we will have clinicians give introductions to themselves and their topics for December. Today we have Ashley Botham of Wake Forest University giving us an intro into her December topic "From Silence to Support: A Coach's Guide to Eating Disorders."Enjoy and look for the sign up for this FREE amazing clinic from Glazier Clinics soon!

Replay of the October 30 edition of The Coach Jake Dickert Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Football Head Coach Jake Dickert and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Football student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025 Wake Forest Football season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Bobby and Meghan talk with Brian Smith and Ed Uszynski about how families can keep faith central in the world of youth sports. They discuss what inspired Away Game, how parents can manage emotions and expectations, and practical ways to support kids without sideline coaching. Hear real stories of transformation as parents shift from performance-driven mindsets to gospel-centered parenting that brings spiritual health and joy, both on and off the field. Get the Book Here.Download a FREE Parenting Athletes Guide at Empoweredhomes.org.About the Authors As two dads who've seen both the challenges and beauty of youth sports, Brian and Ed offer relatable wisdom to help parents guide their children spiritually in every season. Brian Smith is the author of several books, including The Christian Athlete, and has been on staff with Athletes in Action since 2008. A graduate of Wake Forest University, Brian has a master's degree in Theology and Sports Studies through Baylor University. Brian lives in Lowell, Michigan, with his wife and three kids and writes regularly at the christianathlete.com. Ed Uszynski is an author, speaker, and sports minister with over three decades' experience discipling college and professional athletes. He's written articles, essays, and training manuals at the intersection of faith and sport and is the lead strategist for Content Mercenaries. He has two theological degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a PhD in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University. He and his wife Amy have four children and live in Xenia, Ohio.About Empowered Homes Who we are? The primary purpose of Empowered Homes is to connect church and home by equipping families, leaders and ministries to grow in the areas of marriage, parenting, personal growth. discipleship strategy, family ministry, and leadership development. We value the family as the first institution designed by God for spiritual formation, relationships, and reflecting His image. We seek to ensure that every element of church life supports and equips that essential role. What we do? Empowered Homes Ministry provides practical, gospel-based resources to connect church and home. The majority of our resources are offered online through our website empoweredhomes.org. We also partner with churches and ministries to provide conferences, equipping events & ministry coaching.Empowered Homes Podcast Show us some Love! Do you appreciate The Empowered Homes Podcast? Like, subscribe, comment, share. Every bit of your engagement helps us be open-handed in sharing resources to grow strong families, leaders and ministries. Thanks for your help in Empowering Homes for the gospel! FB : https://www.facebook.com/EmpoweredHomesResources Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empoweredhomesresources/ Youtube: ...

Replay of the October 27 edition of The Coach Steve Forbes Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Men's Basketball Head Coach Steve Forbes and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Men's Basketball student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025-26 Wake Forest Men's Basketball season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Replay of the October 23 edition of The Coach Jake Dickert Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Football Head Coach Jake Dickert and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Football student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025 Wake Forest Football season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

10.17.2025 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Shutdown Showdown Drags On, 15K Attacks on Black Progress, MS Pollution Fight, Wake Forest Honor The shutdown showdown continues as the Senate fails for the eleventh time to pass the bill to reopen the government, leaving thousands in financial limbo. A new study reveals 15,000 documented attempts to erase, distort, or suppress Black Progress in America. The founder of Onyx Impact will explain their findings. Mississippi's Department of Environmental Quality's permit board reversed its decision and unanimously approved a UK-based company to increase pollution from its wood pellet plant.We'll speak with a community organizer who promises to fight to keep Gloster's air clean.Wake Forest University names a residence hall in honor of two black distinguished alums with deep ties to the University and Winston-Salem. And we'll have highlights from the Chris Tucker Foundation Celebrity Golf Tournament. #BlackStarNetwork partner: Fanbasehttps://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbaseThis Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (https://bit.ly/3VDPKjD) and Risks (https://bit.ly/3ZQzHl0) related to this offering before investing.Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV.The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Replay of the October 8 edition of The Coach Jake Dickert Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Football Head Coach Jake Dickert and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Football student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025 Wake Forest Football season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Replay of the October 2 edition of The Coach Jake Dickert Show. Each week 'Voice of the Deacs' Stan Cotten interviews Wake Forest Football Head Coach Jake Dickert and select Wake Forest Demon Deacon Football student-athletes.The show is recorded each week during the 2025 Wake Forest Football season live at Miller's on Robinhood in Winston-Salem, NC. The show is available on the Wake Forest Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Why You Can't Miss This Episode Money and technology are evolving at breakneck speed, and blockchain sits right at the center of this transformation. It's more than cryptocurrency. It's about trust, transparency, and the future of finance. In this episode of Inspired Money, we bring together leading voices in blockchain, crypto investing, and emerging technologies to help you cut through the noise and understand where this digital revolution is headed. Whether you're curious about crypto or already investing, this expert panel delivers real-world insights, personal stories, and practical takeaways to help you make sense of blockchain, digital assets, and the opportunities ahead.  Meet the Expert Panelists Dr. Merav Ozair is a leading global expert on emerging technologies, blockchain, and responsible AI, with extensive experience as a data scientist, quant strategist, and fintech educator at institutions like Cornell and Wake Forest University. A member of the Academic Advisory Board at INATBA and founder of Emerging Technologies Mastery, she is widely recognized for her work in democratizing technology and shaping ethical, inclusive digital innovation. https://www.doctorblockchain.io Sir John Hargrave is the CEO of Media Shower and publisher of the widely read Bitcoin Market Journal, trusted by over 100,000 crypto investors each month. His highly anticipated new book, The Intelligent Crypto Investor (coming February 10, 2026), reveals a proven, accessible strategy for building long-term wealth through smart crypto investing—now available for preorder. https://www.bitcoinmarketjournal.com Chris Kline is the Co-Founder and COO of BitcoinIRA, the world's first platform enabling investors to hold cryptocurrencies directly in their retirement accounts. Since launching the company in 2016, Chris has expanded its offerings beyond Bitcoin to multiple digital assets, built a secure and compliant infrastructure, and helped establish BitcoinIRA as the trusted leader in crypto retirement investing. https://bitcoinira.com Nick Spanos is a pioneering entrepreneur in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space, best known for founding Bitcoin Center NYC in 2013, the world's first physical cryptocurrency exchange located just steps from the New York Stock Exchange. He is also the inventor of the multi-branched blockchain and blockchain-based voting systems, holds multiple patents, and is a recognized thought leader featured in the Netflix documentary Banking on Bitcoin. https://www.nickspanos.com Key Highlights from the Conversation 1. Blockchain: Powering the New Digital Trust Dr. Merav Ozair emphasizes that blockchain's impact goes far beyond cryptocurrency. “AI fakes. Blockchain authenticates.” She explains that as AI-generated content and digital interactions grow, we face a crisis of trust. Blockchain's immutable records and decentralized verification can bring authenticity to everything from online identities to supply chain data, ensuring we know what's real in a digital-first world. 2. Diversification and Smart Crypto Investing Sir John Hargrave demystifies crypto investing with simple, practical steps: “Start with a small amount of Bitcoin, maybe a little Ethereum. No more than 10% of your portfolio.” He explains that diversification helps reduce risk while offering exposure to the potential upside of digital assets. His upcoming book, The Intelligent Crypto Investor, provides a clear roadmap for building long-term wealth without gambling on hype or speculation. 3. Democratizing Financial Opportunity Chris Kline highlights how cryptocurrency is opening doors for everyday investors: “Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is the democratization of money—it is the people's currency.” Through platforms like BitcoinIRA, investors can now hold digital assets in secure, regulated retirement accounts, breaking down barriers that once limited access to alternative investments and giving individuals more control over their financial future. 4. Remaining Vigilant in a Rapidly Centralizing Landscape Nick Spanos, a pioneer from the early days of crypto, warns against forgetting its roots: “If these sleaze bags get a hold of it and turn it into what they can manipulate, it's the wrong move for humanity.” He shares how Bitcoin's original ethos was built on decentralization and freedom from centralized control—and why staying vigilant is essential as institutions and governments increasingly enter the space. Your Next Step Take 30 minutes to learn about one real-world use case of blockchain beyond cryptocurrency. Whether it's supply chain transparency, digital identity, or decentralized finance, pick one area and read an article, watch a video, or even explore a project's whitepaper. The goal isn't to invest. It's to educate yourself so you can make informed decisions in the future. IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION: This episode of Inspired Money is sponsored by Runnymede Capital Management, Inc. The views shared are for general information only and do not necessarily reflect Runnymede's opinions. Nothing you hear should be taken as personalized investment advice. For guidance specific to your situation, please speak with Runnymede or another qualified advisor. All investments involve risk. There's no guarantee that any strategy, service, or discussion will be profitable, suitable, or successful for you. Past results are not a promise of future performance. You can find Runnymede's current disclosure brochure, which explains our services and fees, at runnymede.com or by request. A note on cryptocurrency: Cryptocurrencies are digital assets not issued or regulated by a central authority. Their prices can swing dramatically, and investors should be prepared for volatility, liquidity risks, and even the possibility of losing their entire investment. Runnymede advises approaching cryptocurrency with caution and believes it is suitable only for investors who understand and can tolerate these risks. Find the Inspired Money channel on YouTube or listen to Inspired Money in your favorite podcast player. Andy Wang, Host/Producer of Inspired Money