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.

Brett McCracken is a senior editor and director of communications for The Gospel Coalition. He is the author of The Wisdom Pyramid: Feeding Your Soul in a Post-Truth World, Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community, Hipster Christianity: When Church & Cool Collide, and Gray Matters: Navigating the Space Between Legalism & Liberty, as well as the co-editor of Scrolling Ourselves to Death: Reclaiming Life in a Digital Age. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Huffington Post, CNN.com, Christianity Today, and many other publications.

A graduate of Wheaton College and UCLA (M.A. in Cinema & Media Studies), Brett lives in Santa Ana, California with his wife Kira and three children. He attends church at Southlands Church Santa Ana.

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.

Leslie Weirich in her own words:

Life is full of highs and lows, and I’ve seen my share of both. I’ve had a successful career, married the love of my life and was blessed to be the mother to two beautiful children. But I’ve also known incredible loss. It was 2:30 in the morning on September 10th, 2016. I awoke to the doorbell ringing and the news that my 20-year-old son, Austin, had taken his life. It was the moment that changed everything.

Because of the unique circumstances surrounding our story, it would eventually capture the attention of national news. The response we received made me realize that our story is meant to be told. It has the power to save young lives and spare other parents the devastating loss we experienced. Telling our story to save others is what gets me up and going every single day. It’s my passion and has become my life’s work. I left my career as a successful financial recruiter and now speak to thousands of people across the country about suicide prevention –sharing our story and giving practical tools to build resilience. In addition to traveling and speaking, I work as a Suicide Prevention Specialist for the community mental health center serving two local counties, where we are transforming suicide prevention in schools.

Click Here for the QPR Institute

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.

Heather Parady in her own words:

The real story.

Here’s a little about my unconventional path: I grew up in Arkansas, was homeschooled my entire life, and played Mary, the mother of Jesus, in more church human videos than I can count. Originally, I wanted to go into full-time ministry (that’s what Southern Christian Bible Belt folks do, y’all). I even got ordained. But through a series of events, I realized that wasn’t the path for me. I still wanted to make a difference in the world, so I went to school to be a nurse. I almost failed A&P 1 (yes, the first class), switched to psychology, and eventually earned a master’s degree in it. Therapist? Done deal.

But then I stumbled into the online space, fell in love with media, and discovered the world of creativity. Ironically, I feel like I found my way back to God through the creative process. This time, there wasn’t a weird institution behind it—it was just a straight connection. After graduating and getting my license as a Therapist, I turned down three perfectly good job offers to see if I could build something on my own.

Along my journey, I’ve hosted several top-ranking shows (conducted over 1,000 interviews), been hired by Old Navy to create content for their socials, ran a podcast with over 1,000,000 downloads in 8 months, spoken on stages about creativity, and worked with over 50 brands on their storytelling and content creation journeys. I’m more convinced than ever that the way to make an impact in your work is to bring every single ounce of you to the table.

Unashamed. Unbashful. And lit UP. I also believe there’s something greater at work—and It can be trusted.