Podcasts about winter retreat

In this service, we continue exploring what it means to worship—not as a routine or obligation, but as a posture of the heart. This week, we focus on adoration—what it means to truly admire, love, and give our full attention to God for who He is, not just for what He can do for us. Through prayer, Scripture, and worship, we are reminded that God is worthy of our praise—yesterday, today, and forever. We are invited to lift our attention to Him, placing Him at the center, and allowing our worship to shape our perspective and protect our hearts from a self-centered faith. You'll also hear how worship impacts our lives beyond Sunday mornings, including the ongoing impact of Winter Retreat in the lives of children and students, made possible through the faithfulness of our church family. If this service encourages you, we invite you to: Connect with us in the comments during the service Partner with us in the work God is doing through giving Thank you for worshiping with us today.

(Karuna Buddhist Vihara) This dhamma talk, guided meditation, comments, questions and responses was offered on 4th of April, 2026 for “How do I apply the Dhamma to THIS!?!” 00:43 - Guided Meditation 28:09 - DHAMMA TALK 57:28 - COMMENTS, QUESTIONS & RESPONSES

Master the $500B Cloud Marketplace Engine Subscribe to our Newsletter:https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/ Check Out UPX:https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ In this compelling discussion, Vince Menzione sits down with Dexter Hardy, founder of Ntegral and the visionary behind Spark, to deconstruct the massive transformation happening within the cloud ecosystem. Dexter shares his journey of evolving from a traditional systems integrator to a marketplace powerhouse with over 300 solutions and customers in 100 countries, revealing the “Marketplace Operating System” that drives global sales without a massive headcount. They dive deep into the Spark GTM methodology, discussing how companies can bridge the gap between building a solution and actually driving “Get It Now” transactions while navigating the $500 billion committed cloud-spend landscape. From the nuances of multi-party private offers to the critical role of AI in becoming a “frontier firm,” this episode provides a high-level masterclass for any partner looking to turn the marketplace into their most effective revenue stream. https://youtu.be/VLkkuHPpYuk?si=x03Odt2UsCjhtVf4 Key Takeaways The cloud marketplace represents a potential $500 billion in committed spend that partners cannot access without MAC-eligible, transactable solutions. Marketplace as a Service (MaaS) helps traditional SIs pivot to becoming SDCs or ISVs by providing a strategic roadmap for IP conversion. Successful marketplace strategy requires a “Marketplace Operating System” that aligns digital sales with your internal operations and business goals. The “Get It Now” economy allows for 24-hour global sales and lead generation without the need for traditional manual email or phone chains. Becoming a “Frontier Firm” means combining human experience with AI to do things faster, better, and more efficiently than the competition. Co-selling is evolving beyond just the hyperscalers to include rich, multi-party private offers involving resellers and distributors. If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags: Integral, Spark, Marketplace as a Service, MaaS, Marketplace Operating System, Marketplace Strategy, Transactable Offers, Get It Now button, SI to ISV pivot, SDC, Microsoft Marketplace, AWS Marketplace, Google Cloud Marketplace, IP Co-sell, MAC eligible, Multi-party private offers, REO, Reseller enabled offers, Cloud Committed Spend, Frontier Firm, AI agents, Spark GTM methodology, Marketplace Optimization, Digital Sales Flywheel. Transcript: Dexter Hardy Audio Episode [00:00:00] Dexter Hardy: AI in the hands of someone who has no idea what they’re doing is just a, it’s a faster way to failure, right? Yeah. ’cause they have, they [00:00:06] Vince Menzione: still don’t understand the concepts. [00:00:11] Vince Menzione: We just finished Ultimate Partners Winter Retreat here in beautiful Boca to a sold out crowd. Today I’m joined by Dexter Hardy, the founder of Integral for a compelling discussion. Dexter, welcome back to the podcast. Great to be here, Vince. It’s [00:00:29] Dexter Hardy: always a pleasure. [00:00:30] Vince Menzione: It is so good to have you back in Boca. [00:00:33] Vince Menzione: Uh, we just wrapped up our ultimate partner executive winter retreat. We call it the Winter Retreat now. [00:00:39] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:00:39] Vince Menzione: It’s still February when this airs. It’ll probably be March or April. [00:00:43] Dexter Hardy: Okay. [00:00:43] Vince Menzione: But, um, yeah, the weather in the north has been, they’ve had a tough winter. [00:00:49] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. It’s been brutal [00:00:50] Vince Menzione: for, it’s been brutal. Even, even Atlanta where you are. [00:00:53] Vince Menzione: Had a little bit of winter this year as well. [00:00:54] Dexter Hardy: I was happy to get on the flight. Yeah. It was like 29 degrees the day out, so, [00:00:59] Vince Menzione: so, um, this is your second time Yeah. On Ultimate Partner. And we’ve been friends for, we’re just talking about this. You’ve been to every single one of our Ultimate Partner events. [00:01:10] Vince Menzione: Nine events, [00:01:12] Dexter Hardy: yep. [00:01:12] Vince Menzione: Three times here in Boca and then in other cities like Dallas and Las Colinas. Seattle, Seattle and Reston. Oh my goodness. And we’re back in Seattle again in May. So, uh, we’ve been, we’ve been busy. We’ve been busy. Both of us have [00:01:27] Dexter Hardy: Scott Myer [00:01:28] Vince Menzione: up and we’ve been, and we were introduced. We’ve been friends and worked together. [00:01:31] Vince Menzione: And so I would love to get caught up on you and Integral. [00:01:35] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:01:36] Vince Menzione: Um, the first time we sat down, we talked about Integral as a marketplace. Uh, customer base or, or, or vendor supporting the marketplace. [00:01:45] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:01:46] Vince Menzione: And you were, you’ve been, uh, showcased at Microsoft with the Marketplace organization. You’ve done some astounding things in terms of driving business without like a big sales force, you know, and driving marketplace sales, uh, to very high levels. [00:02:02] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:02:03] Vince Menzione: And, uh, and now you, I’ll call it a little bit of a twist and turn, but now. You’ve taken all the great learnings, and I’m probably sharing some of your thunder here, but you’ve taken all the great learnings that you’ve had in marketplace and your business [00:02:16] Dexter Hardy: mm-hmm. [00:02:16] Vince Menzione: And now you’re like looking at all these other companies, they’re probably trying to do the same thing and finding ways to help them. [00:02:21] Vince Menzione: So let’s, let’s talk about that. Let’s talk about where you’re going. [00:02:25] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. So, so thanks for that. And it’s always a pleasure to be, you know, in the room with you, especially on the podcast, uh, seeing it grow over the years. And, um, to kind of double click on. How did we get to where we are with, uh, spark Bi Integral? [00:02:40] Dexter Hardy: Um, it’s our marketplace as a service offering. Um, we [00:02:46] Vince Menzione: marketplace as a service. You get that? I just wanna make sure people are listening and watching. Get that. That’s a, that’s a new acronym for me. [00:02:53] Dexter Hardy: That’s a new one. But, but what we, how do we get there? So to your point, yes, we. We’re a, um, marketplace first organization looking at the digital sales leaned in heavily on marketplace. [00:03:08] Dexter Hardy: Um, and what we were doing internally was we created our marketplace operating system. Like literally, how do we run our business? How do we digitize, how do we get those, uh, how do we turn the marketplace into our 24 hour sales guy? Yeah. Taking all those lessons learned how you deal with the hyperscale or how do you understand, you know, the, the signals that’s happening in the market. [00:03:33] Dexter Hardy: Uh, coupling that with, because we’ve been a member of this wonderful organization and getting into the partner community ecosystem, we get asked a million times, I bet. What do you do? How do you do it? That’s help us understand marketplace and so what we. What we saw there was an opportunity to both lean into the challenges that other partners are facing. [00:04:00] Dexter Hardy: If you’re an SI that’s trying to pivot [00:04:02] Vince Menzione: yep, [00:04:03] Dexter Hardy: and be in the marketplace, you’re already established company, how do you create Transactable offers? How do we take the the marketplace opportunity and leverage AI and put our agents in the marketplace? Our aha moment was this is, this is an en enablement opportunity that we can get into and basically be the first ones in because we leaned into it, we understand it. [00:04:35] Dexter Hardy: What makes us different from the other companies is we actually use that methodology every day. [00:04:43] Vince Menzione: For those who maybe didn’t listen to the last podcast we did together, I know this story, but I want others to know the context of it. Tell us about your transformation to a marketplace firm. [00:04:54] Dexter Hardy: Okay, for sure. [00:04:56] Vince Menzione: Maybe the shorter version. [00:04:57] Dexter Hardy: The shorter version, [00:04:57] Vince Menzione: but I, I do know that there was some, you were in business for a long time before this became the business strategy. [00:05:03] Dexter Hardy: Yeah, so the shortened version business founded 2002, Microsoft partner for many years. Yep. 2020. Si. Si as an si. 2020 COVID. [00:05:16] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:05:16] Dexter Hardy: Consulting 2.0. [00:05:17] Dexter Hardy: How do you do what you do at scale for others? Taking your ip, converting it. We did that at 2020. Embraced the marketplace. We created our solutions, deploy them to the marketplace. The rest is history. We leaned in how [00:05:32] Vince Menzione: many solutions in the [00:05:33] Dexter Hardy: marketplace, over 300 solutions. I wanna [00:05:35] Vince Menzione: make sure people [00:05:35] Dexter Hardy: got that. [00:05:35] Dexter Hardy: Over a hundred, 300 [00:05:36] Vince Menzione: solutions. [00:05:37] Dexter Hardy: Over 300 solutions. Yeah. Uh, we have. Customers in over a hundred countries. I mean, and [00:05:42] Vince Menzione: yeah. [00:05:43] Dexter Hardy: You know, continuing to build and expand our customer base on a daily basis. And so, [00:05:48] Vince Menzione: and they’re, and they’re buying when you, while you sleep. I mean, we, we’ve known each other pretty well for a number of years. [00:05:54] Vince Menzione: And [00:05:54] Dexter Hardy: yeah, [00:05:54] Vince Menzione: you have customers like, um, I’ll throw out a number, like 25,000 customers, probably, maybe beyond that. And these customers are buying your solutions. All hours of the day and night, [00:06:06] Dexter Hardy: right? Yeah. I I love the get it now button in the marketplace. Literally all they have to do to work with us or transact with us is click on, get It Now, and that’s the transactable offer that everyone, there’s this mystique around. [00:06:19] Dexter Hardy: People are like, well, we don’t have any leads. We can, you know, our, we have an offer in the marketplace and nobody’s clicking on it. And I’m like, Hmm, [00:06:27] Vince Menzione: yeah, [00:06:27] Dexter Hardy: we can help you with that. Right? And so, um, you know, that’s how we. Our, our story with that, our background with that was it’s our 24 hour sales guy. We drive our campaigns, we align with the solution plays. [00:06:41] Dexter Hardy: We’re getting those clicks with, to your point, without this huge army of people. Yeah. And so now we’re saying from a marketplace strategic advisory, a lot of people were saying it earlier, like, you know, marketplace isn’t this adjacent thing to business. How do you strategically think about it as. Um, part of your business all up. [00:07:03] Dexter Hardy: How do you add that as a revenue stream, uh, for your organization? And yeah, there may be some changes that you need to make, you know, how do you incorporate the channel? How do you add in all of the things that you’re currently doing, but create that as a flywheel for this. Get it now economy. [00:07:22] Vince Menzione: So all the, I’m, I’m thinking out loud, like there’s probably a lot of people watching you up on stage at these events talking about how you evolved your company and grew it. [00:07:31] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:07:32] Vince Menzione: Going, that’s me. [00:07:33] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:07:33] Vince Menzione: That’s me. The old, the old version of you absolutely is them. [00:07:37] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:07:38] Vince Menzione: And they all, they all want help. [00:07:39] Dexter Hardy: They all, [00:07:40] Vince Menzione: everybody wants help in marketplace. [00:07:41] Dexter Hardy: Right. And [00:07:43] Vince Menzione: yeah. [00:07:43] Dexter Hardy: And, and to that end. Because I was them. I understand how their mind, it’s a mindset shift, right? You’re saying, okay, we have these traditional sales, we’re a systems integrator, we have all this ip, these, there are all these things that we can do. [00:07:57] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:07:58] Dexter Hardy: I don’t, how do we convert this to transact ability? How do we get our sales teams enabled to sell it? And I was, and my, my feedback and my response to that is, well, one, we have a service for that. It’s our marketplace advisor services. I’m sorry for the plug, but not sorry. [00:08:16] Vince Menzione: No, we’re, no, we’re gonna plug today as well. [00:08:18] Vince Menzione: Much as you want. [00:08:19] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:08:20] Vince Menzione: And then I think about this too, because a lot of these sis are developing, we’re just, uh, talking with Agua about MSPs, developing agents for their customers and then making ’em repeatable. [00:08:30] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:08:31] Vince Menzione: And so you have other sis that are creating AI tools and agents. Microsoft is created and the, and so has AWS and Google, they’ve created space in their marketplaces for agent AI tools. [00:08:44] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:08:45] Vince Menzione: And so now you’ve got all these companies that were traditional sis that are now becoming what we would call ISVs or, or SDCs. And they need help in getting these solutions to the marketplace. [00:08:57] Dexter Hardy: Absolutely. [00:08:58] Vince Menzione: So, so talk about what you’re doing with Spark. [00:09:00] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. So our concept with Spark is. When you look at enablement, so you’ll have platforms that are enablers and a lot of people will say, well, what makes Spark different? [00:09:12] Dexter Hardy: Why? Why you versus Tackle Or Sugar? [00:09:15] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:09:15] Dexter Hardy: Any of the other work span. Work span or any, they’re all friendlys to us because we’re meeting you where you are. Right. In order for you to use their platform, you gotta already have the solution together. [00:09:29] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:09:30] Dexter Hardy: Right. They can help you deploy. There’s Deploy. They are a deployment firm or [00:09:35] Vince Menzione: Right. [00:09:36] Dexter Hardy: Um, platforms We’re saying [00:09:38] Vince Menzione: they’re middleware in many respects. Correct. Between the, they’re, [00:09:41] Dexter Hardy: they’re integrated into the marketplace. They’re highly embedded into the systems behind it, and we’re saying what happens before that? I have no idea what solution to build. I have no idea how we’re gonna take advantage of Marketplace. [00:09:58] Dexter Hardy: How is Marketplace gonna change? Again, we had these conversations at dinner. Um, [00:10:04] Vince Menzione: yeah, [00:10:04] Dexter Hardy: all of the big players are saying, we have channel, we have our sales teams, we have all these things already. How does marketplace play into that for us? And so that Marketplace strategic advisory goes into it and says, here’s how. [00:10:19] Dexter Hardy: Right. We have a. Our Spark GTM methodology goes into how do those things play together? What are your KPIs or what are your business goals as an organization all up? And then we marry this, basically a Venn diagram of how we marry marketplace with your current objectives. Okay. To not just be this, uh, ubiquitous thing that’s kind of sitting over on the side, like, let’s just put it in marketplace because we need to, and nobody knows it’s there and nobody knows it’s there. [00:10:49] Dexter Hardy: It’s part of. Everything all up. Your messaging, your sales organization, your, um, documentation that you have for your organization. So now everyone understands, not just you as the, let’s say you’re an SI that you were, but you, the si with your agents and how that plays into your bigger value proposition. [00:11:10] Dexter Hardy: So take [00:11:10] Vince Menzione: us through the, go to the methodology you described the Spark methodology. [00:11:15] Dexter Hardy: Yep. So, um, a lot of people, when they think about. The methodology, you’ll say we’re a, we’re an si. I’m just going to use an example. You’re an si. How, how do I get somebody to click on my, my opportunity? How do I get somebody to understand what we have as a value proposition? [00:11:39] Dexter Hardy: And I’d say to people, well, there’s this, it’s part of the methodology. There’s product viability. Can you build something? Versus should you build something. Right. [00:11:50] Vince Menzione: Interesting. [00:11:51] Dexter Hardy: If you are, if you are out there today and you’re saying, I mean, everybody’s seeing Claude, the agents, you can, you can ask AI to build you pretty much anything. [00:12:00] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:12:00] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:12:01] Dexter Hardy: Now the question scary and that, that’s a, that, that introduces a new problem. But it’s, can you do it or should you do it? [00:12:08] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:12:09] Dexter Hardy: And and what I’ll tell people is part of our advisory, so the steps are. What is your North Star right now and what is the software that would enable you to get on that AI rocket ship to propel you even further with where you are? [00:12:27] Dexter Hardy: Those are the solutions that we would try to [00:12:29] Vince Menzione: Okay. [00:12:30] Dexter Hardy: That out, pull out of, uh, as part of that marketplace. Um, advisory Second, what partner or partner organizations are you a member of? Is it Microsoft? Is it the AWS? Is it, you know, Google Cloud? Google Cloud, what have you, and let’s say Microsoft. What are solution plays? [00:12:51] Dexter Hardy: What is Microsoft focused on? How does what you’re doing as an organization align with that go to market? Mm-hmm. Because now you have that jet power of what they’re, um, promoting along with your organization. [00:13:06] Vince Menzione: Nice. [00:13:07] Dexter Hardy: And then the final piece is, well, now that you’ve done that, how do I get it into market? [00:13:12] Dexter Hardy: How do I, uh, get people to click on it? And that’s where some of the secret sauce that I won’t divulge on this, [00:13:19] Vince Menzione: uh, [00:13:20] Dexter Hardy: but there is some secret sauce to getting the ICPs to lean in, getting the [00:13:25] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:13:25] Dexter Hardy: You know, you’re listing to light up inside of that. And so that’s. You know, that’s at a high level. That’s kind of how the marketplace, [00:13:32] Vince Menzione: I think what you’re alluding to, and I, I don’t wanna put words in your mouth, but I do think you’ve done a very good job on what I would call maybe digital marketing, maybe. [00:13:41] Vince Menzione: Would that be the right terminology? Yeah. To make your solutions discoverable, to make people understand that they’re out there and to lean in and be able to purchase them. [00:13:51] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:13:52] Vince Menzione: Which I think I would say that’s probably part of the secret sauce, probably of Spark. That is what you’re saying because a lot of organizations struggle here. [00:13:59] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:14:00] Vince Menzione: They put something in the marketplace and nothing ever happens with it. Even even big companies do that. They don’t know how to do it. [00:14:06] Dexter Hardy: So, so yeah. Without divulging the secret sauce, I had a gentleman ask me yesterday, um, during the conference, so how is this different from SEO? I said, good question. [00:14:20] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. Is is SEOS? Is, is SEO involved? Sure, but that’s not the final answer. Because you could do SEO, that doesn’t mean anybody. That just gets you, doesn’t mean anything. Doesn’t mean anything. And so. That’s why I keep going back to this methodology of really aligning it with, uh, what it is you’re trying to accomplish, who it is you’re trying to get to lean in, and then what is the value proposition? [00:14:42] Dexter Hardy: Because at the end of the day, Vince, I think even with any service, like I said, we did our first offerings with our R zero offerings and now we’re doing this. It’s what is the value, right? Um, it’s a hard. Thing to do to really wrap your brain around how your, how your business is going to change from, if you’re doing direct sales and you got your bag and you’re out there selling to now, you mean I don’t have to pick up the phone and call you? [00:15:15] Dexter Hardy: There’s not an email chain that goes out. It’s literally people are just clicking on Get it now to get it [00:15:21] Vince Menzione: and getting it. [00:15:22] Dexter Hardy: That’s a, that’s a mind shift change and that’s. To your point, there is some market, there is some marketing expertise that is required. [00:15:29] Vince Menzione: And we’ve also talked about, I know you and I went down a journey on the co-sell business [00:15:34] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:15:34] Vince Menzione: And how difficult it can be to get a, a seller from a Microsoft or a Google and Amazon involved, unless it’s, you know, a $10 million transaction, they don’t want to get involved. [00:15:45] Dexter Hardy: Right. [00:15:46] Vince Menzione: Uh, you really wanna reach the customer. Because you know, the hyperscalers is great. If you’re driving a ServiceNow or an ADO a big solution, it’s gonna be tens of millions of dollars. [00:15:56] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:15:57] Vince Menzione: But if you are an SI and you’re selling this as part of maybe a services offering, or you’re selling it as, you know, you’re just selling as a standalone. [00:16:04] Dexter Hardy: Right? [00:16:05] Vince Menzione: Um, you want as much eyeballs and transactions as possible and you’re not gonna get that just going co-selling. [00:16:12] Dexter Hardy: Right. And, and the other part of that I will say about co-sell. [00:16:17] Dexter Hardy: I think co-sell has gotten like a dirty rap or bad rap around it. Co-sell is with the hyperscaler, but it’s with other partners too. [00:16:28] Vince Menzione: Sure, [00:16:28] Dexter Hardy: right? Oh yeah, absolutely. So, um, being in the marketplace gives you the option of co-selling would, not just the hyperscaler, but co-selling with other orgs. And so now anytime that you’ve give, you’ve given yourself that X factor on top of your existing ability to deliver. [00:16:44] Dexter Hardy: That’s where you’re seeing the true power of marketplace. [00:16:47] Vince Menzione: And yesterday you were on stage with Jason Rook. [00:16:50] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:16:51] Vince Menzione: And this was part of the conversation. It was you, Jason Rook and Amit Sinha at, at uh, work Span. [00:16:58] Dexter Hardy: Mm-hmm. [00:16:58] Vince Menzione: And part of the conversation was around the, uh, reseller enabled offers. And I think what that’s somewhat of what you’re alluding to is that you have other wait routes to market channels to market. [00:17:10] Dexter Hardy: Right [00:17:11] Vince Menzione: through building other partnerships for co-selling. Yeah. That what you, you were alluding to. Yeah. [00:17:15] Dexter Hardy: So, so yeah, there, there are a million ways to, once you’re in, once you have a transactable offer, that’s when you get the magic unlocks. Right. You, the barrier to entry is being in marketplace with a transactable offer. [00:17:31] Dexter Hardy: And if you’re outside of that loop, again, the REO. You’re not available. Guess who? Guess who can’t do that? [00:17:39] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:17:40] Dexter Hardy: If you’re not in the marketplace, you can’t do that. [00:17:41] Vince Menzione: Can’t do that. [00:17:43] Dexter Hardy: Multi-party private offers can’t do that. ’cause you’re not in the marketplace. [00:17:47] Vince Menzione: No. [00:17:48] Dexter Hardy: Right. And so what we’re saying is think about all up, how you’re missing out on. [00:17:56] Dexter Hardy: All of these wonderful opportunities to, I think, I think the number got thrown out a couple of times. Jason ran away from it when you said it’s like a $300 billion number on, he [00:18:07] Vince Menzione: didn’t want, he didn’t, he didn’t want me sharing or he wasn’t, he, he didn’t want to, uh, what, what did he say? Validate that that was the right number, but $300 billion in potential cloud budgets. [00:18:21] Vince Menzione: That you could have access to. We know the number across the three hyperscalers is north of 500 billion. [00:18:27] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:18:27] Vince Menzione: It’s just that Microsoft doesn’t break out their numbers and make them public, and so we, you know, [00:18:32] Dexter Hardy: and, and [00:18:33] Vince Menzione: estimates. [00:18:33] Dexter Hardy: What I would tell everyone that’s listening, I would invite you to consider [00:18:37] Vince Menzione: Yeah, [00:18:38] Dexter Hardy: the following. [00:18:39] Dexter Hardy: If you’re not in the marketplace with a IP, co-sale or MAC eligible solution, you’re not eligible for that. [00:18:49] Vince Menzione: That’s right. [00:18:50] Dexter Hardy: Spend. And so is that worth it for you as an organization to say, yes, we need to figure out this and get involved with that? [00:19:01] Vince Menzione: So I’m an SI and I raise my hand. I’m like, Dexter, help me. [00:19:06] Vince Menzione: What happens next? [00:19:08] Dexter Hardy: I would say. Let me introduce you to my team. [00:19:12] Vince Menzione: I love it. I love it. [00:19:13] Dexter Hardy: Um, [00:19:14] Vince Menzione: and you’ve been building your team since, uh, we go back now four years, but like yeah. You, you’ve been growing your business, hired some incredible people in your [00:19:22] Dexter Hardy: team. Yeah, we have some rock stars on our team. I’m really, really happy with my team. [00:19:25] Dexter Hardy: Uh, you know, we’re still growing and it’s, it’s a wonderful thing to be in this economy and still growing. Yes. Um, and like I said, yes, we, I would introduce you to my team and my team would then help you, uh, through. The marketplace advisory. We can help you with the health check. We can do the strategic advisory, the alignment around, here’s what we’re doing. [00:19:47] Dexter Hardy: Another thing that I’ll go ahead and put in here, if you already have listings in the marketplace and people aren’t clicking on them, we have marketplace optimization as well. [00:19:58] Vince Menzione: I love that [00:19:59] Dexter Hardy: because we, again, that conversation comes up all the time. Yeah. We put, we, we invested in Marketplace and we have our listing out there. [00:20:08] Dexter Hardy: Nobody’s clicking on it. Well, we can help you with that too. [00:20:11] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:20:12] Dexter Hardy: Right, because to your point, it’s not just building an ar, arbitrarily writing something about it, putting it in marketplace. Right. That’s, that’s an arbitrary approach. We’re saying how do you turn those into a lead gen, revenue gen, um, operation arm of your business. [00:20:29] Vince Menzione: Nice. [00:20:29] Dexter Hardy: Which is what we call market marketplace operating system. [00:20:33] Vince Menzione: Marketplace operating. Okay. So we got another, I got another word I need to learn. Another acronym I need to learn. [00:20:38] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. You know, I [00:20:39] Vince Menzione: less, [00:20:40] Dexter Hardy: I’ve been around Microsoft too long, I guess. [00:20:42] Vince Menzione: Yes. I [00:20:42] Dexter Hardy: created all these, [00:20:45] Vince Menzione: so, um, just perspective could, because you’ve been in the marketplace since we talked about COVID. [00:20:50] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:20:51] Vince Menzione: Really. So that’s five years. Five [00:20:52] Dexter Hardy: years. Yeah. [00:20:54] Vince Menzione: Um, talk about how it’s changed from your perspective. I mean, I, we talk about it all. We talk, we have leaders like Jason and Cyril comes here and. Does, uh, speaks about some changes going on, but tell us your perspective on how it’s evolved. [00:21:08] Dexter Hardy: Um, so the marketplace is always evolving really. [00:21:12] Dexter Hardy: Um, from, from when we got in early in the marketplace. Uh, REO didn’t exist. Multi, multi-party. Private offers didn’t exist. The amount of committed spend on hyperscalers little was, wasn’t there. Um, the seller, the field sellers within the hyperscalers. Marketplace wasn’t part of their thing. So, um, you know, when that, when that frontier, not just that, not to confuse terms when that frontier opened up Yeah. [00:21:43] Dexter Hardy: Like there were, you know, it, it really wasn’t a clear path on how do you channel, how do you do sales, how do you integrate with the team? Um, and now there’s a lot more options, uh, for organizations that want to keep some of those motions together. Disti are now able to get involved with the conversation. [00:22:05] Dexter Hardy: They were kinda locked out for a while, but now with the s and the multi-party private offers and disti are in the conversation, [00:22:12] Vince Menzione: it’s lit up the disti like crazy. Yeah. In fact, we were, we just spent time with a few and some friends there and [00:22:19] Dexter Hardy: yeah. [00:22:19] Vince Menzione: Yeah, it’s been wild to watch this. [00:22:21] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:22:21] Vince Menzione: We haven’t talked about AI very much. [00:22:24] Vince Menzione: I mean, we talked about it from a solution and something you put in the, the market as an agent. But we haven’t talked about the change in a big way. Um, what’s your perspective for the partners out there and how they need to think about AI and embracing it and where they are in the journey? [00:22:41] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. Um, I really, AUL said something, uh, in his, in the panel discussion that he had the other day and it, it just really resonated with me. [00:22:53] Dexter Hardy: Uh, will AI take your job? Probably not. The person who’s using AI [00:23:00] Vince Menzione: will take [00:23:00] Dexter Hardy: the job. Will take you [00:23:01] Vince Menzione: job. Yes. [00:23:02] Dexter Hardy: Same thing. That’s really [00:23:04] Vince Menzione: so true. [00:23:05] Dexter Hardy: Same thing for, same thing for companies. Yeah. If you don’t have, and I, I’ll, I’m, I, I’m really gonna ask, I should have asked Jason this question. Why isn’t there a badge for frontier firms for SDCs? [00:23:21] Dexter Hardy: That’s a solution. Partner badge, not a frontier firm. [00:23:24] Vince Menzione: Yeah, [00:23:24] Dexter Hardy: but I’ll say if your company isn’t investing in combining people and ai, you’re missing the boat. [00:23:36] Vince Menzione: Yeah. So be a frontier firm. [00:23:37] Dexter Hardy: Be a frontier firm where it doesn’t matter if you’re an si, SDC, if you are not leveraging that superpower of how do we do things faster, better, quicker. [00:23:50] Dexter Hardy: Make that part of your go to market and your operating total operations, you’re going to get left behind. [00:23:57] Vince Menzione: Yeah. We’re hearing it loud and clear. I mean, all the sessions we had yesterday. [00:24:02] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:24:02] Vince Menzione: All the people like yourself that have been here are all frontier firms. They’re all companies that have leaned in, in a big way. [00:24:07] Dexter Hardy: Right. [00:24:08] Vince Menzione: Um, and in some respect, I mean, we we’re, I’m, I’m saying proceed with caution because I, I know by 2030 our world is gonna look very radically different than it looks today. [00:24:17] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:24:18] Vince Menzione: Uh, we just, I need to make sure we have the security and the governance and the data structure the right way so that we just don’t, things don’t just go crazy in some respects. [00:24:27] Vince Menzione: Right? [00:24:27] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. And I, I do think that, um, to your point, you have to, we still have to keep the human factor in everything that we’re doing. Um, there is, again, it’s AI plus your experience that makes you better. [00:24:46] Vince Menzione: Yeah, agreed. [00:24:47] Dexter Hardy: AI in the hands of someone who has no idea what they’re doing is just a, it’s a faster way to failure, right? [00:24:53] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. Because they have, they still don’t understand the concepts. And so I really want to make sure that, you know, when you think about ai, think about it from the context of experience, right? Yeah. [00:25:06] Vince Menzione: And yeah, we can go, we can go down a, a whole discussion point here about ethics and what I’ll call AI for good. [00:25:14] Vince Menzione: Mm-hmm. Like I said, having the right approach, having an ethical approach. We talked about Microsoft on stage yesterday with people like Brad Smith, who, uh, there’s people that have this, this right philosophy and approach to ai. Right. That [00:25:29] Dexter Hardy: right. [00:25:29] Vince Menzione: It will do good for the world and not bad for the world. [00:25:32] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:25:33] Dexter Hardy: And I think that has to be, well, I’ll just speak for myself. Can you do something and should you do something [00:25:42] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:25:43] Dexter Hardy: You have to, that should be a question that you’re asking yourself. You should be evaluating and you have to have whatever your moral compass is that has to align with your moral compass. [00:25:53] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. Because they’re, you know, because with AI the can you do something becomes a lot bigger. Yeah. [00:26:02] Vince Menzione: Good point. Good point. [00:26:03] Dexter Hardy: Should you do it well, you know, greater good. I think as a, as a collective, one of the things that’s. If it hasn’t rained true. Uh, we all live on this planet. We all are part of the, we’re all in part of a connected ecosystem. [00:26:21] Dexter Hardy: Um, and so can we do it? Should we do it? Those are questions that we need to, you know, really think about as we continue to leverage AI and do the things that we’re doing. I mean, there’s, there’s a lot of opportunities. [00:26:36] Vince Menzione: Good points, good points. So for partners watching, listening today, um, two, couple things. [00:26:43] Vince Menzione: First of all, it’s changing fast. We need like, what would be, we’re at the beginning of 2026. We’re the first quarter, 2026, maybe the end of the first quarter at this point. [00:26:53] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:26:54] Vince Menzione: What is the one or two or three things that partners need to go do differently or better? And then, um, what would you say to them about marketplace and embracing marketplace? [00:27:09] Dexter Hardy: So I’m gonna answer the second question first. [00:27:12] Vince Menzione: Okay. Sounds good. [00:27:14] Dexter Hardy: Get in the marketplace. [00:27:15] Vince Menzione: Get in the marketplace, [00:27:17] Dexter Hardy: period. [00:27:17] Vince Menzione: Like why wouldn’t you be in the marketplace? [00:27:20] Dexter Hardy: Every hyperscaler has doubled down, tripled down. Yeah. On their marketplace. Microsoft had multiple marketplaces, now it’s just one. [00:27:28] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:27:29] Dexter Hardy: Writing should be all over the wall. Not that [00:27:31] Vince Menzione: one. There is, there is no market without marketplace. I mean, literally today, the old way, days of selling, the old days of co-selling are gone. [00:27:39] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:27:39] Vince Menzione: Like the days when we, we got pos and we, we sent a, an Excel spreadsheet to Microsoft to tell ’em about the deals that were co-sell. [00:27:47] Vince Menzione: Ready? Those days are gone. So you’re saying we’ve gotta be in the marketplace now and then, what would you say maybe the one thing that’s, let’s limit it to one for all of our amazing viewers, listeners, and ultimate partner guests, when when you, when I see you in Bellevue again, ’cause you’re gonna be in Bellevue, May 11th to the 13th again. [00:28:08] Vince Menzione: Absolutely. With us helping lead the marketplace conversation. What do they need to be doing now? Right now? Besides getting the marketplace? [00:28:18] Dexter Hardy: Besides getting the marketplace, I, I would, I would do a hard look at operations. [00:28:24] Vince Menzione: Operations. [00:28:25] Dexter Hardy: Like a lot of companies, they’re growing and they, what is it? How are we looking internally in our organizations to figure out again, can we do it? [00:28:34] Dexter Hardy: Should we do it? Companies need to focus on their superpower, even, even the big ones, right? Um, being. Not having the focus, not look, looking at or listening to your why as an organization can, can put you in a, in a really weird space. And so, uh, with everyone being able to grow and do what we’re doing, I would say lean into your why, [00:29:01] Vince Menzione: like into your why. [00:29:02] Dexter Hardy: Lean into your why. [00:29:03] Vince Menzione: I think too, I think what you, what you’re saying here, and I’m, my, my reaction to it too is that, uh, we’re, we’re so caught up in the moment right now. And things are changing, so it feels like they’re changing so fast, like coming back to philanthropic and [00:29:20] Dexter Hardy: yeah. [00:29:20] Vince Menzione: What’s evolved just in the last month or so that people are taking their eye off the why or the wall, so to speak and reacting? [00:29:29] Vince Menzione: Is that, is that your point? [00:29:31] Dexter Hardy: Yeah, that’s my point and, and I’ll give you an example. So AI is different from the following technology, but. And I both were around for the blockchain, blockchain, blockchain conversation. [00:29:45] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:29:45] Dexter Hardy: And if you weren’t doing blockchain, you weren’t part of the conversation. I invite you to consider how many conversations have you heard about blockchain do? [00:29:56] Dexter Hardy: Again, AI is a little bit different because it’s, it’s an enabler. It’s, it’s, it’s, it, it does a lot more than that. But I, I will say. AI is gonna become table stakes. And that’s why I say you have to, you have to embrace it as an organization. Yeah. And if you’re not, you’re gonna get left behind. [00:30:13] Vince Menzione: Okay. It’s a drop. [00:30:14] Vince Menzione: Drop the mic moment there. So drop the mic. I’m gonna ask you one more question, personal question. Yeah. I’d love to ask this of every single one of my guests. [00:30:22] Dexter Hardy: Yep. [00:30:23] Vince Menzione: I probably have asked this to you before, but I’m gonna ask it to you again. [00:30:26] Dexter Hardy: Yes. [00:30:28] Vince Menzione: You are hosting a dinner party. You can have this dinner party anywhere in the world. [00:30:32] Vince Menzione: We could talk about locations as well, and you can invite any three guests from the present or the past to this amazing dinner party. [00:30:41] Dexter Hardy: Mm-hmm. [00:30:42] Vince Menzione: Whom would you invite today and why? [00:30:48] Dexter Hardy: Wow. So the last time I answered that question, for those who didn’t hear the first podcast, it was Barack Obama. [00:30:56] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Nelson [00:30:57] Dexter Hardy: Mandela. [00:30:58] Dexter Hardy: And my great-grandparents. [00:30:59] Vince Menzione: Your great-grandparents. I remember your great-grandparents [00:31:02] Dexter Hardy: In this conversation, it’s gonna be more than three people. I’m sorry. [00:31:07] Vince Menzione: All right. But [00:31:07] Dexter Hardy: it make [00:31:08] Vince Menzione: some exceptions here. We’ll make them. [00:31:10] Dexter Hardy: It would be my great-grandparents. Still [00:31:13] Vince Menzione: nice. [00:31:14] Dexter Hardy: My parents and my children. [00:31:18] Vince Menzione: Very cool. [00:31:19] Dexter Hardy: Because I want to look back and let them see the same reason that I had them there before. [00:31:25] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:31:26] Dexter Hardy: Look at what you started. [00:31:27] Vince Menzione: Nice. I love that. [00:31:29] Dexter Hardy: Look at the continuation of your legacy in my parents. [00:31:32] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:31:32] Dexter Hardy: Look at what I have been able to build because of the investments and the things that you’ve poured into the love, the energy, the effort, the sacrifice, and then the sacrifices that I’m making to pass into that legacy. [00:31:46] Dexter Hardy: The next legacy. So this would be a. This is why I would say leaning to your why, like understand the importance of family. [00:31:54] Vince Menzione: Tell us about your great, your great grandparents. You told me about this on the last podcast for those who didn’t, didn’t listen in. [00:32:01] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:32:02] Vince Menzione: And don’t have the inclination to go back. [00:32:05] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. [00:32:05] Vince Menzione: But I think it’s a great story. [00:32:06] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. So, you know, growing up in the south [00:32:10] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:32:10] Dexter Hardy: Alabama specifically, uh, my great grandparents were part of, you know, slavery era. [00:32:16] Vince Menzione: Yep. [00:32:16] Dexter Hardy: Jim Crow. Jim Crow. Crow. Yeah. The whole. [00:32:21] Dexter Hardy: The history of the United States and what, how it was built, you know, [00:32:26] Vince Menzione: an important part of the history of the United States, by the way, that we all should never forget. [00:32:29] Dexter Hardy: Yeah. So again, some of those, some of the ceilings that are out there now, there wasn’t even an option for. [00:32:36] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:32:36] Dexter Hardy: And so that’s why I really wanted them to, I would really want them to be here to see something that they probably could never even conceive as an option of, of it being. [00:32:47] Dexter Hardy: Uh, to be able to see where things are and then to, you know, why my kids, if this is where we are right now, I want you to dream big. The same amount of energy it takes to think small is the same amount [00:33:04] Vince Menzione: of energy it takes to think big. Dream big. Dream big. Dream. [00:33:09] Dexter Hardy: Dream big. [00:33:10] Vince Menzione: I think we’re gonna leave on that message. [00:33:12] Dexter Hardy: Yeah, [00:33:12] Vince Menzione: that’s a great message. [00:33:13] Dexter Hardy: Awesome. [00:33:14] Vince Menzione: So great to see you, my friend. It’s [00:33:16] Dexter Hardy: always a pleasure [00:33:16] Vince Menzione: to be with you, so always a real pleasure for me as well. [00:33:19] Dexter Hardy: Yeah, [00:33:19] Vince Menzione: and I want to thank you for watching and listening and being part of Ultimate Partner and the Ultimate Partner YouTube channel and our great guest and friend, Dexter Hardy. [00:33:30] Vince Menzione: Great to see you again. [00:33:31] Dexter Hardy: Always a pleasure us. Thank you, [00:33:33] Vince Menzione: sir. [00:33:33] Dexter Hardy: All right. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks. [00:33:35] Vince Menzione: Don’t forget, ultimate Partner Live is coming soon, May 11th through the 13th in beautiful Bellevue, Washington. I hope to see you there.

Fluent Fiction - Swedish: Finding Tranquility Amidst Squirrel Antics: A Winter Retreat Tale Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/sv/episode/2026-02-25-23-34-02-sv Story Transcript:Sv: På en plats långt bort från stadens brus låg en stillsam skogsretreat täckt av gnistrande vintervit snö.En: In a place far away from the city's hustle and bustle lay a tranquil forest retreat covered in sparkling winter-white snow.Sv: Träden stod höga och tysta som vakter, medan små stigar vindlade sig fram mellan de enkla trästugorna.En: The trees stood tall and silent like guards, while small paths wound their way between the simple wooden cabins.Sv: Här sökte Lars, en stressad revisor, efter inre frid.En: This is where Lars, a stressed accountant, sought inner peace.Sv: Han hade bett om några dagar av lugn och ro för att återhämta sig från sitt hektiska liv.En: He had asked for a few days of calm and quiet to recover from his hectic life.Sv: Svea, retreatens lugna och alltid hjälpsamma ledare, välkomnade alla med ett varmt leende.En: Svea, the retreat's calm and always helpful leader, welcomed everyone with a warm smile.Sv: Hon visste att många kom hit för att hitta sig själva, och hon gjorde alltid sitt bästa för att skapa en fridfull atmosfär.En: She knew that many came here to find themselves, and she always did her best to create a peaceful atmosphere.Sv: Denna vinterdag satt Lars i meditation, omgiven av tystnaden i skogen.En: On this winter day, Lars sat in meditation, surrounded by the silence of the forest.Sv: Men något störde freden.En: But something disturbed the peace.Sv: En liten busig ekorre gjorde sina upptåg precis intill honom.En: A little mischievous squirrel was making its antics right next to him.Sv: Ekorren hoppade från gren till gren, skrattade (om ekorrar nu gjorde det) och stal showen från den frid Lars försökte finna.En: The squirrel jumped from branch to branch, laughed (if squirrels did that), and stole the show from the peace Lars was trying to find.Sv: Gunnar, Lars gamla vän, deltog också på retreaten.En: Gunnar, Lars's old friend, was also attending the retreat.Sv: Han var tvärtemot Lars; en evigt nyfiken själ, alltid redo för nya äventyr.En: He was the opposite of Lars; an ever-curious soul, always ready for new adventures.Sv: Han hade noterat ekorren och ropade muntert, “Ser du ekorren, Lars?En: He had noticed the squirrel and called out cheerfully, "Do you see the squirrel, Lars?Sv: Det är naturens lilla clown!"En: It's nature's little clown!"Sv: Lars försökte ignorera ekorren, men det lilla djurets närvaro var obeveklig.En: Lars tried to ignore the squirrel, but the little animal's presence was relentless.Sv: Ekorren vågade sig till och med fram och betraktade med sina glittrande ögon Lars och hans meditation.En: The squirrel even dared to approach and, with its sparkling eyes, watched Lars and his meditation.Sv: Mitsom han skulle stjäla mer än bara hans uppmärksamhet gjorde ekorren plötsligt ett oväntat ryck framåt, grep tag i Lars's meditationsarmband och skuttade iväg in i skogen.En: As if it would steal more than just his attention, the squirrel suddenly made an unexpected leap forward, grabbed Lars's meditation bracelet, and darted off into the forest.Sv: Lars blev chockad och reste sig hastigt, hans tankar på meditation bortflugna.En: Lars was shocked and stood up quickly, his thoughts of meditation flown away.Sv: I en oväntad rörelse av impuls följde han efter ekorren in i skogen.En: In an unexpected impulse, he followed the squirrel into the forest.Sv: Begraven i snö, kurvades stigen mellan träden, och Gunnar ropade glatt efter honom: "Låt oss springa, Lars!En: Buried in snow, the path curved between the trees, and Gunnar cheerfully called after him: "Let's run, Lars!Sv: Se det som ett äventyr!"En: See it as an adventure!"Sv: Mitt bland träden stannade Lars plötsligt.En: Among the trees, Lars suddenly stopped.Sv: Han kände snön smälta lätt under sina skor och skrattet bubblade inom honom.En: He felt the snow melting lightly under his shoes and laughter bubbling within him.Sv: Här stod han, på jakt efter en ekorre, och insåg det absurda i situationen.En: Here he was, chasing a squirrel, realizing the absurdity of the situation.Sv: Gunnar sprang ifatt honom, och tillsammans brast de ut i skratt.En: Gunnar caught up with him, and together they burst out laughing.Sv: "Det är okej", sa Gunnar.En: "It's okay," said Gunnar.Sv: "Livet är oförutsägbart.En: "Life is unpredictable.Sv: Du måste hitta glädje även i kaoset."En: You must find joy even in the chaos."Sv: Svea, som såg allt från håll, log.En: Svea, who saw everything from a distance, smiled.Sv: Lars satte sig återigen ner och nu utan armband, fann han en ny känsla av ro.En: Lars sat down again and now without the bracelet, he found a new sense of calm.Sv: Det var en ro i att släppa taget, att inte försöka kontrollera allt.En: It was a peace in letting go, in not trying to control everything.Sv: Med snövit skog omkring sig och ekorrar som små vänner lärde sig Lars att acceptera livets medgångar och motgångar med ett leende.En: With the snow-white forest around him and squirrels as little friends, Lars learned to accept life's ups and downs with a smile.Sv: Och medan ekorren tittade fram bakom ett träd, med armbandet nu liggandes glömt i snön, kände Lars något han letat länge efter - inre frid.En: And while the squirrel peeked out from behind a tree, with the bracelet now lying forgotten in the snow, Lars felt something he had been searching for a long time - inner peace. Vocabulary Words:tranquil: stillsamretreat: retreathustle: brusaccountant: revisorhectic: hektisktcurved: kurvadesmischievous: busigantics: upptågpresence: närvarorelentless: obevekligimpulse: impulsunpredictable: oförutsägbartabsurdity: absurdameditation: meditationsparkling: gnistrandewound: vindladeguardian: vakterbracelet: armbandlaughter: skrattetforest: skogpeaceful: fridfullchaos: kaosetcontrol: kontrolleraburied: begravenbubbling: bubbladeuncommon: oväntadadventure: äventyrsilent: tystastood: stodrecover: återhämta

Michael DeFezio

Michael DeFazio

Michael DeFazio

Ajahn Amaro read and commented on subchapter 8, “Unsupported and Unsupportive Consciousness" (from the second chapter, “The Terrain”) on March 5, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 8 – Unsupported and Unsupportive Consciousness (part 1) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Amaro read and commented on subchapter 8, “Unsupported and Unsupportive Consciousness" (from the second chapter, “The Terrain”) on March 11, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 8 – Unsupported and Unsupportive Consciousness (part 5) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Amaro read and commented on subchapter 8, “Unsupported and Unsupportive Consciousness" (from the second chapter, “The Terrain”) on March 10, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 8 – Unsupported and Unsupportive Consciousness (part 4) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Amaro read and commented on subchapter 8, “Unsupported and Unsupportive Consciousness" (from the second chapter, “The Terrain”) on March 9, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 8 – Unsupported and Unsupportive Consciousness (part 3) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Amaro read and commented on subchapter 8, “Unsupported and Unsupportive Consciousness" (from the second chapter, “The Terrain”) on March 8, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 8 – Unsupported and Unsupportive Consciousness (part 2) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Amaro read and commented on subchapter 8, “Unsupported and Unsupportive Consciousness" (from the second chapter, “The Terrain”) on March 12, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 8 – Unsupported and Unsupportive Consciousness (part 6) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Amaro read and commented on subchapter 8, “Unsupported and Unsupportive Consciousness" (from the second chapter, “The Terrain”) on March 15, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 8 and 9 – Unsupported and Unsupportive Consciousness (part 7) and The Unconditioned and Non-locality (part 1) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Fluent Fiction - Korean: Seollal Harmony: A Hanok Winter Retreat Unites a Team Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/ko/episode/2026-02-09-23-34-02-ko Story Transcript:Ko: 찬바람이 지나가는 겨울날, 한옥 마을의 매서운 바람이 집안을 가득 채웠습니다.En: On a winter day when the cold wind was passing through, the fierce wind in the hanok village filled the house.Ko: 마을은 설경에 덮여 있었고, 곳곳에서 하얀 눈이 빛났습니다.En: The village was covered with snowy landscapes, and white snow sparkled here and there.Ko: 진우, 수현, 민지는 프로젝트 팀과 함께 이곳으로 휴식을 겸한 워크숍을 왔습니다.En: Jinwoo, Suhyun, and Minji came here with their project team for a workshop that doubles as a retreat.Ko: 설날이 가까워지면서 모두의 마음도 들떴습니다.En: As Seollal, the Lunar New Year, was approaching, everyone's hearts were excited.Ko: 진우는 늘 프로젝트를 성공적으로 이끌었던 팀장입니다.En: Jinwoo is the team leader who has always led projects successfully.Ko: 그의 분석 능력은 뛰어났지만, 사람들과의 교감이 어려웠습니다.En: His analytical skills were excellent, but he had difficulty connecting with people.Ko: 이번 워크숍에서는 팀원들과의 관계 개선이 필요했습니다.En: Improving his relationship with team members was necessary during this workshop.Ko: 수현은 창의적인 아이디어의 소유자였습니다.En: Suhyun was full of creative ideas.Ko: 하지만 가끔 섣부른 행동으로 모두를 놀라게 하곤 했습니다.En: However, occasionally, her rash actions surprised everyone.Ko: 민지는 모든 일을 꼼꼼하게 챙겼습니다.En: Minji took care of everything meticulously.Ko: 하지만 자신의 의견을 내는 것은 두려워했습니다.En: However, she was afraid to voice her opinions.Ko: 한옥 마을은 조용하고 평화로운 곳이었습니다.En: The hanok village was a quiet and peaceful place.Ko: 전통 한옥과 한국의 겨울 풍경이 어우러져 아늑하고도 아름다웠습니다.En: The traditional hanok and Korea's winter scenery blended together to be cozy and beautiful.Ko: 팀원들은 처음에는 각자의 프로젝트 구상에만 몰두했습니다.En: At first, team members were solely focused on their respective project plans.Ko: 그러나 진우는 이를 개선하고자 했습니다.En: However, Jinwoo wanted to improve this.Ko: 그는 자유 시간 동안 팀 빌딩 활동에 집중하기로 결심했습니다.En: He decided to focus on team-building activities during their free time.Ko: 설날 전날, 진우는 팀원들을 모아 마음을 전했습니다.En: The day before Seollal, Jinwoo gathered the team members and conveyed his thoughts.Ko: "여러분, 지금껏 서로 다른 방향을 이야기해왔지만, 이제는 함께 나아가야 할 때입니다.En: "Everyone, we have been talking in different directions so far, but now it's time to move forward together.Ko: 수현의 창의성, 민지의 꼼꼼함, 그리고 우리의 팀워크가 합쳐져야 합니다."En: Suhyun's creativity, Minji's meticulousness, and our teamwork need to come together."Ko: 설날에, 마을에는 따뜻한 빛이 가득했습니다.En: On Seollal, the village was filled with warm lights.Ko: 진우는 떡국을 끓이며 한옥의 정취를 만끽했습니다.En: Jinwoo enjoyed the ambiance of the hanok while cooking tteokguk, a traditional Korean rice cake soup.Ko: 식사가 끝나갈 즈음, 진우는 잔을 들고 말했습니다.En: As the meal was coming to an end, Jinwoo raised his glass and said,Ko: "수현, 너의 창의성이 우리 팀을 밝게 해.En: "Suhyun, your creativity brightens our team.Ko: 민지, 너의 세심함이 우리 팀의 방향을 잡아줘.En: Minji, your attentiveness guides our team's direction.Ko: 모두가 하나가 되어 이 모든 것을 만들어줘서 고마워."En: Thank you for coming together as one and making all of this possible."Ko: 그 말을 듣고, 팀원들은 서로를 더 이해하게 되었습니다.En: Upon hearing these words, the team members began to understand each other better.Ko: 각자의 장단점을 받아들이며, 그들은 프로젝트를 하나의 큰 그림으로 완성했습니다.En: Accepting each other's strengths and weaknesses, they completed the project as a cohesive masterpiece.Ko: 진우는 팀원들의 마음을 이해하기 시작했습니다.En: Jinwoo started to understand his team members' hearts.Ko: 그의 리더십은 더 빛을 발할 준비가 되었습니다.En: His leadership was ready to shine even brighter.Ko: 설날의 따뜻함 속에서 프로젝트는 성공적으로 마무리되었습니다.En: Within the warmth of Seollal, the project was successfully completed.Ko: 이렇게, 한옥 마을에서의 겨울날, 설날과 함께 진우와 팀원들은 새로운 이해와 화합을 발견했습니다.En: Thus, on a winter's day in the hanok village, alongside Seollal, Jinwoo and the team discovered new understanding and harmony.Ko: 프로젝트는 성공적이었고, 그들의 관계는 더 깊어졌습니다.En: The project was successful, and their relationships deepened.Ko: 진우는 이제 단지 리더가 아닌, 친구로서 그들과 함께 하고 있었습니다.En: Jinwoo was now not just a leader but was together with them as a friend. Vocabulary Words:fierce: 매서운landscapes: 설경retreat: 휴식analytical: 분석connecting: 교감meticulously: 꼼꼼하게voice: 의견을 내다respective: 각자solely: 몰두team-building: 팀 빌딩conveyed: 전했습니다ambiance: 정취attentiveness: 세심함cohesive: 하나의 큰 그림으로masterpiece: 완성했습니다harmony: 화합blended: 어우러져directions: 방향sparkled: 빛났습니다approaching: 가까워지면서rash: 섣부른cosy: 아늑guides: 방향을 잡아줘filled: 가득 채웠습니다understanding: 이해shine: 빛을 발할transformed: 변했습니다glow: 따뜻한 빛collaboration: 협력

Winter Retreat Men’s Session

Winter Retreat Women’s Session

Having a successful season of singleness might be the most important way to have a successful life-long relationship.

Thank you for listening to today's message. Stay Connected With Us Using The Links Below: Stay in the know: nebc.ch/weekly Give: nebc.ch/give Need Prayer?: nebc.ch/prayer Made A Decision For Christ?: nebc.ch/decision Mobile App: nebc.ch/mobile Website: nebc.ch #YouBelongHere

Brian McCollister shares the second talk in the series, The Majesty of Ministry, on the character of a disciple.

I stumbled into this camp idea, and I'm going to give it to you today! How I discovered it, what I've done that's worked, and how you can adapt it for your context. This is a great Winter Retreat, Summer Camp or D-Now game concept that runs in the background of your student ministry event! My Game Cheat Sheet: https://www.patreon.com/posts/object-hunt-146629811?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link SHOW NOTES Shownotes & Transcripts https://www.hybridministry.xyz/185 ❄️ WINTER SOCIAL MEDIA PACK https://www.patreon.com/posts/winter-seasonal-144943791?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link HYBRID HERO MEMBERS GET IT FREE! https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry DONUT BRACKET VIDEO: https://youtu.be/5ryhkIRyDb4?si=HGPeqL4k03WGceod

Winter Retreat: Locals “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lordrequire ofyou? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” ‭‭Micah‬ ‭6‬:‭8‬ ‭ “He went to Nazareth, wher

Winter Retreat: Locals  “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  ‭‭Micah‬ ‭6‬:‭8‬ ‭  “He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, […]

Students share powerful testimonies from Winter Retreat—how God met them in worship, conviction, and community—highlighting life-changing moments, renewed faith, and bold next steps.

In this episode I sit down and share the entire inspiration for this D-Now, Winter Retreat & Summer Camp on-going games with my friend, Andrew Jansen. Andrew is a 10+ year youth worker, and his assassin game sparked this entire podcast mini-series. He expains his creative (and super CHEAP) adaptation to this game. Plus! Andrew shared his lock-in survival guide for FREE! Andrew's Lock-in Guide: https://www.patreon.com/posts/10-year-veterans-146449370?utmmedium=clipboardcopy&utmsource=copyLink&utmcampaign=postsharecreator&utmcontent=join_link SHOW NOTES Shownotes & Transcripts https://www.hybridministry.xyz/184 BECOME A HYBRID HERO https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry ❄️ WINTER SOCIAL MEDIA PACK https://www.patreon.com/posts/winter-seasonal-144943791?utmmedium=clipboardcopy&utmsource=copyLink&utmcampaign=postsharecreator&utmcontent=join_link

Fluent Fiction - Dutch: Balancing Books and Holiday Bliss: A Winter Retreat Story Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/nl/episode/2025-12-23-08-38-20-nl Story Transcript:Nl: De maan scheen helder op het stille strand.En: The moon shone brightly on the quiet strand.Nl: De golven glinsterden in het zwakke licht.En: The waves glistened in the faint light.Nl: Bram, Eline en Maarten liepen langs het water, hun adem zichtbaar in de koude winterlucht.En: Bram, Eline, and Maarten walked along the water, their breath visible in the cold winter air.Nl: Ze waren hier voor een studieretreat, maar de kerstsfeer zweefde ook om hen heen.En: They were here for a study retreat, but the Christmas spirit floated around them too.Nl: In hun knusse houten huisje stonden de kerstlampjes al aan.En: In their cozy wooden cottage, the Christmas lights were already on.Nl: Ze flikkerden vrolijk, weerspiegelend in de ramen.En: They twinkled merrily, reflecting in the windows.Nl: Eline legde haar boeken weg.En: Eline put her books away.Nl: "Kom op, jongens!En: "Come on, guys!Nl: Laten we genieten van de sneeuw en het strand," stelde ze voor.En: Let's enjoy the snow and the strand," she suggested.Nl: Haar frisheid en energie werkten aanstekelijk, maar Bram bleef gefocust op zijn studie.En: Her freshness and energy were infectious, but Bram remained focused on his studies.Nl: "We moeten leren, Eline," zei hij met een bezorgde blik.En: "We need to study, Eline," he said with a concerned look.Nl: De examens drukten zwaar op hem.En: The exams weighed heavily on him.Nl: Maarten, de stille kracht van het trio, voelde de spanning.En: Maarten, the quiet strength of the trio, felt the tension.Nl: Hij kende beide goed.En: He knew both of them well.Nl: Bram was gedreven en Eline zorgeloos.En: Bram was driven and Eline carefree.Nl: "Misschien kunnen we een balans vinden," stelde Maarten voor terwijl hij een marshmallow boven de open haard roosterde.En: "Maybe we can find a balance," Maarten proposed while he roasted a marshmallow over the open fire.Nl: "Een beetje studeren, en een beetje plezier."En: "A bit of studying and a bit of fun."Nl: Bram zuchtte.En: Bram sighed.Nl: Hij wist dat hij zijn vrienden niet moest negeren, zeker niet met Kerstmis nabij.En: He knew he shouldn't ignore his friends, especially not with Christmas near.Nl: Terwijl Eline en Maarten koekjes bakten in de keuken, stak Bram uiteindelijk zijn studieboeken weg.En: While Eline and Maarten baked cookies in the kitchen, Bram eventually put away his study books.Nl: Hij voelde de verleiding van de gezelligheid.En: He felt the temptation of coziness.Nl: "Oké, ik ben erbij," zei hij glimlachend.En: "Okay, I'm in," he said with a smile.Nl: Ze versierden een kleine kerstboom samen, terwijl de sneeuw zachtjes buiten viel.En: They decorated a small Christmas tree together while the snow gently fell outside.Nl: Lachen vulde de woonkamer.En: Laughter filled the living room.Nl: Bram voelde de druk van zijn schouders glijden.En: Bram felt the pressure slide off his shoulders.Nl: Maar net toen hij helemaal ontspannen was, vertelde Maarten over een mix-up met examendata.En: But just when he was completely relaxed, Maarten talked about a mix-up with exam dates.Nl: Bram stond voor een keuze: vertrouwen hebben of alsnog gaan crammen.En: Bram faced a choice: trust or cram after all.Nl: Na een moment van stilte, besloot Bram.En: After a moment of silence, Bram decided.Nl: "Ik ben klaar ermee," zei hij zelfverzekerd.En: "I'm done with it," he said confidently.Nl: "Ik heb goed geleerd.En: "I've studied well.Nl: Het is tijd om te genieten."En: It's time to enjoy."Nl: Samen met Eline en Maarten maakte hij een wandeling onder de sterren.En: Together with Eline and Maarten, he took a walk under the stars.Nl: De maan, de zee en het zand maakten het moment perfect.En: The moon, the sea, and the sand made the moment perfect.Nl: Toen de tijd kwam voor de examens, stapte Bram de zaal in met een glimlach.En: When the time came for the exams, Bram entered the room with a smile.Nl: Hij realiseerde zich dat betekenisvolle momenten en herinneringen net zo belangrijk zijn als academisch succes.En: He realized that meaningful moments and memories are just as important as academic success.Nl: Die winter leerde hij meer dan alleen uit boeken.En: That winter, he learned more than just from books.Nl: Hij zag het belang van balans en genoot volledig van Kerstmis en vriendschap.En: He saw the importance of balance and fully enjoyed Christmas and friendship. Vocabulary Words:shone: scheenstrand: strandfaint: zwakkecozy: knussetwinkled: flikkerdenmerrily: vrolijkinfectious: aanstekelijkfocused: gefocustconcerned: bezorgdeweighed: druktentension: spanningbalance: balansroasted: roosterdemarshmallow: marshmallowtemptation: verleidingcoziness: gezelligheidgently: zachtjespressure: drukslide off: glijdenmix-up: mix-upcram: crammentrust: vertrouwenfully: volledigstarlight: sterrenlichtmoment: momentrealized: realiseerdemeaningful: betekenisvollememories: herinneringenacademic: academischsuccess: succes

Ajahn Amaro read and commented on subchapter 6, Atammayatā: “Not Made of That” (from the second chapter, “The Terrain”) on March 2, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 6 – Atammayatā: “Not Made of That” (part 1) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Amaro read and commented on subchapters 6 and 7, Atammayatā: “Not Made of That” and “Attending to the Deathless” (from the second chapter, “The Terrain”) on March 3, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapters 6 and 7 – Atammayatā: “Not Made of That” (part 2) and Attending to the Deathless (part 1) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Amaro read and commented on subchapter 7, Attending to the Deathless (from the second chapter, “The Terrain”) on March 4, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 7 – Attending to the Deathless (part 2) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Amaro read and commented on subchapter 6, Atammayatā: “Not Made of That” (from the second chapter, “The Terrain”) on March 2, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 6 – Atammayatā: “Not Made of That” (part 1) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Amaro read and commented on subchapters 6 and 7, Atammayatā: “Not Made of That” and “Attending to the Deathless” (from the second chapter, “The Terrain”) on March 3, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapters 6 and 7 – Atammayatā: “Not Made of That” (part 2) and Attending to the Deathless (part 1) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Amaro read and commented on subchapter 7, Attending to the Deathless (from the second chapter, “The Terrain”) on March 4, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 7 – Attending to the Deathless (part 2) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Fluent Fiction - Swedish: Finding Peace and Inspiration: A Winter Retreat to Remember Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/sv/episode/2025-12-10-23-34-02-sv Story Transcript:Sv: Snön föll mjukt över den svenska landsbygden.En: The snow fell softly over the svenska countryside.Sv: De gamla trästugorna vid retreatet gnistrade i den bleka vintersolen.En: The old wooden cabins at the retreat glittered in the pale winter sun.Sv: Det var Lucia-dagen.En: It was Lucia-day.Sv: Stearinljus brann i de snötäckta fönstren och doften av pepparkakor svävade i luften.En: Candles burned in the snow-covered windows, and the scent of gingerbread floated in the air.Sv: Ingrid kom till retreatet för att fly vardagens stress.En: Ingrid came to the retreat to escape the stress of everyday life.Sv: Hon jobbade som socialarbetare och behövde lugn och ro.En: She worked as a social worker and needed peace and quiet.Sv: Ingrid hade nyss anlänt till sin stuga när hennes gamla vän, Astrid, knackade på dörren.En: Ingrid had just arrived at her cabin when her old friend, Astrid, knocked on the door.Sv: "Välkommen, Ingrid!"En: "Welcome, Ingrid!"Sv: sa Astrid.En: said Astrid.Sv: "Jag har planerat många aktiviteter.En: "I've planned many activities.Sv: Du kan verkligen koppla av här."En: You can really relax here."Sv: Ingrid log tacksamt.En: Ingrid smiled gratefully.Sv: Hon hoppades att tiden här skulle ge henne inre frid.En: She hoped the time here would give her inner peace.Sv: Under tiden vandrade Lars runt retreatet med sin skissbok under armen.En: Meanwhile, Lars walked around the retreat with his sketchbook under his arm.Sv: Han var en tystlåten konstnär som sökte ny inspiration.En: He was a quiet artist searching for new inspiration.Sv: Den senaste tiden hade varit utan idéer, och han behövde bryta sin kreativa blockering.En: Lately, he had been without ideas, and he needed to break his creative block.Sv: På kvällen ordnade Astrid en meditation under stjärnorna.En: In the evening, Astrid organized a meditation under the stars.Sv: Ingrid, som älskade natthimlen, bestämde sig för att delta.En: Ingrid, who loved the night sky, decided to participate.Sv: Hon slog sig ner på den frostiga marken bland de andra deltagarna.En: She sat down on the frosty ground among the other participants.Sv: Kylan var bitande, men stjärnorna lyste klart.En: The cold was biting, but the stars shone brightly.Sv: Inte långt därifrån satt Lars vid en enslig bänk.En: Not far away, Lars sat on a solitary bench.Sv: Han skissade i skenet av ett fladdrande stearinljus.En: He sketched in the light of a flickering candle.Sv: Ingrid såg hans silhuett och blev nyfiken.En: Ingrid saw his silhouette and became curious.Sv: Hon närmade sig försiktigt.En: She approached cautiously.Sv: "Hej," sa hon.En: "Hi," she said.Sv: "Får jag titta på vad du ritar?"En: "May I look at what you're drawing?"Sv: Lars tittade upp, och efter ett ögonblicks tvekan visade han henne sina teckningar.En: Lars looked up, and after a moment's hesitation, he showed her his drawings.Sv: De var vackra, med fångade känslor och detaljer från den omgivande naturen.En: They were beautiful, capturing emotions and details from the surrounding nature.Sv: "De är fantastiska," sa Ingrid ärligt.En: "They're fantastic," said Ingrid honestly.Sv: "Jag jobbar mycket, ibland är det svårt att sakta ner och bara... ta in skönheten."En: "I work a lot, sometimes it's hard to slow down and just... take in the beauty."Sv: Lars log blekt.En: Lars smiled weakly.Sv: "Jag förstår.En: "I understand.Sv: Jag söker också något här."En: I'm searching for something here too."Sv: De pratade länge den kvällen, under den klara stjärnhimlen.En: They talked for a long time that evening, under the clear starry sky.Sv: Det var något som förde dem närmare varandra.En: There was something that brought them closer to each other.Sv: När Lucia-dagen grydde, väntade en speciell ceremoni.En: When Lucia-day dawned, a special ceremony awaited.Sv: Deltagarna samlades i den centrala salen.En: The participants gathered in the central hall.Sv: De bar vita kläder och ljuskronor.En: They wore white clothes and light crowns.Sv: Traditionella sånger ekade milt i den frostiga luften.En: Traditional songs echoed gently in the frosty air.Sv: Lars och Ingrid stod nära varandra.En: Lars and Ingrid stood close to each other.Sv: I det varma ljusets sken fann de en djupare förståelse.En: In the warm glow, they found a deeper understanding.Sv: För Lars öppnade sig en ny värld av inspiration.En: For Lars, a new world of inspiration opened up.Sv: För Ingrid fanns en förnyad fred.En: For Ingrid, there was renewed peace.Sv: Efter ceremonin satte de sig ner med kaffe och lussebullar.En: After the ceremony, they sat down with coffee and lussebullar.Sv: "Jag är glad att jag mötte dig här," sa Lars försiktigt.En: "I'm glad I met you here," said Lars cautiously.Sv: "Jag skulle vilja fortsätta lära känna dig."En: "I would like to continue getting to know you."Sv: Ingrid nickade.En: Ingrid nodded.Sv: "Det känns rätt.En: "It feels right.Sv: Låt oss hålla kontakten."En: Let's keep in touch."Sv: Så, i den svenska vinterkylan, inledde Lars och Ingrid något nytt.En: Thus, in the svenska winter cold, Lars and Ingrid began something new.Sv: Retreatet gav dem mer än de anat — ny inspiration, nya vänner och ett nytt kapitel i livet.En: The retreat gave them more than they expected—a new inspiration, new friends, and a new chapter in life. Vocabulary Words:countryside: landsbygdenretreat: retreatetglittered: gnistradeceremony: ceremonicautiously: försiktigtdeeper: djuparesilhouette: silhuettsketchbook: skissboksolitary: ensligrenewed: förnyadinspiration: inspirationtradition: traditionellaparticipants: deltagarnameditation: meditationfrosty: frostigahesitation: tvekancapture: fångadeemotions: känslorsurrounding: omgivandequiet: tystlåtenblock: blockeringbiting: bitandebrought: fördepeace: fridcrown: ljuskronorechoed: ekadeglow: skengingerbread: pepparkakortenderly: miltunderstand: förståelse

OCF MINISTRY NEWS  Support widows and widowers across OCF this GivingTuesday: Your gift—large or small—directly provides opportunities for widowed members of the OCF family to find comfort, community, and Christ-centered encouragement at our Conference Centers. Visit ocfusa.org/givingtuesday to learn more and donate now. https://www.ocfusa.org/givingtuesday/    Read the latest Annual Impact Report: Visit ocfusa.org/air to check out financial reports, members' stories of impact, and year-in-review reports from OCF Service Academy & Gateways, Regional Coordinators, and Conference Centers. https://www.ocfusa.org/air/    Join OCFers in prayer: Visit ocfusa.org/pip to download the current month's prayer list or ocfusa.org/needprayer to submit a prayer request. https://www.ocfusa.org/pip/  https://www.ocfusa.org/needprayer/   Register for a Winter Retreat session at one of OCF's Conference Centers:  20-27 December, 28 December-4 January at Spring Canyon in Buena Vista, Colo. https://www.springcanyon.org/winter-retreat/    21-26 December, 27-30 December, 30 December-2 January at White Sulphur Springs in Manns Choice, Pa. https://www.whitesulphursprings.org/winter-retreat/      GUEST SPOTLIGHT  Today's episode features two individuals—Naomi and Mackenzie—whose voices you'll hear more in the future as they begin hosting a new podcast called "OCF Anchored & Armed." Naomi lives at Edwards Air Force Base with her active-duty husband and their three kids, while Mackenzie is a first lieutenant stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.  Naomi and Mackenzie discuss their inspiration for the upcoming podcast designed for Christian women in uniform and military wives, share their passion for encouraging other women in the military community, participate in Crosspoint's first-ever lightning round, and more. Interested in connecting with them? You can send an email to anchored@ocfusa.org. And keep an eye out for the Google Form that will be featured in the show notes of each OCF Anchored & Armed episode to come. OCF Anchored & Armed launches in January 2026. If you would like to share your own story, complete the form on OCF's "Be a Guest" webpage. Alternatively, if you have an idea for a guest or topic we should consider for a future episode of the show, send an email to podcast@ocfusa.org. https://www.ocfusa.org/podcastguest/     POINTS TO PONDER  As you listen to this conversation with Naomi and Mackenzie, here are a few questions to ponder in your personal time, with a small group, or with a mentor:  Thinking of Hebrews 6:19, what does it mean to you to be "anchored and armed" in Christ?  What helps you feel connected to others who come from similar walks of life?  What difference does that connection make? 

Ajahn Pasanno read and commented on subchapter 13, "Practices and Perspectives II" (from the third chapter, "Cultivation and Fruition") on February 18, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 13 – Practices and Perspectives II (part 1) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Pasanno read and commented on subchapter 13, "Practices and Perspectives II" (from the third chapter, "Cultivation and Fruition") on February 24, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 13 – Practices and Perspectives II (part 5) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Pasanno read and commented on subchapter 13, "Practices and Perspectives II" (from the third chapter, "Cultivation and Fruition") on February 23, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 13 – Practices and Perspectives II (part 4) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Pasanno read and commented on subchapter 13, "Practices and Perspectives II" (from the third chapter, "Cultivation and Fruition") on February 22, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 13 – Practices and Perspectives II (part 3) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Pasanno read and commented on subchapter 13, "Practices and Perspectives II" (from the third chapter, "Cultivation and Fruition") on February 19, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 13 – Practices and Perspectives II (part 2) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Pasanno read and commented on subchapter 13, "Practices and Perspectives II" (from the third chapter, "Cultivation and Fruition") on February 28, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 13 – Practices and Perspectives II (part 7) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Pasanno read and commented on subchapter 13, "Practices and Perspectives II" (from the third chapter, "Cultivation and Fruition") on February 25, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 13 – Practices and Perspectives II (part 6) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Pasanno read and commented on subchapter 13, Practices and Perspectives I (from the third chapter, ‘Cultivation and Fruition') on February 15, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 13 – Practices and Perspectives I (part 6) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Pasanno read and commented on subchapter 13, Practices and Perspectives I (from the third chapter, ‘Cultivation and Fruition') on February 16, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 13 – Practices and Perspectives I (part 7) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Pasanno read and commented on subchapter 13, Practices and Perspectives I (from the third chapter, ‘Cultivation and Fruition') on February 17, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 13 – Practices and Perspectives I (part 8) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Pasanno read and commented on subchapter 13, Practices and Perspectives I (from the third chapter, ‘Cultivation and Fruition') on February 14, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 13 – Practices and Perspectives I (part 5) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Pasanno read and commented on subchapter 13, Practices and Perspectives I (from the third chapter, ‘Cultivation and Fruition') on February 11, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 13 – Practices and Perspectives I (part 4) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Pasanno read and commented on subchapter 13, Practices and Perspectives I (from the third chapter, ‘Cultivation and Fruition') on February 10, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 13 – Practices and Perspectives I (part 3) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Pasanno read and commented on subchapter 13, Practices and Perspectives I (from the third chapter, ‘Cultivation and Fruition') on February 8, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 13 – Practices and Perspectives I (part 1) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

Ajahn Pasanno read and commented on subchapter 13, Practices and Perspectives I (from the third chapter, ‘Cultivation and Fruition') on February 9, 2025, during the Winter Retreat at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. The post Chapter 13 – Practices and Perspectives I (part 2) appeared first on Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.