We laughed. We cried. I thought Ben Franklin was a president (he wasn’t) and we talked about books for a ridiculous 4.5 hours. The end-of-the-year book recap we did in 2021 was an absolute riot and I couldn’t wait a whole year to talk books again. I love these bois, chatting with them is the best.

This is part one of three.

Owen is on Instagram @hebbert_the_writer

Jesse is on Instagram @boutjesse

John-Michael is on Instagram @aboutjem

I am always @itsthevalk

Love y’all.

Jake

Sam Oosterhoff is the MPP of Niagara West and a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. We talked about the books that were formative for him during his education, the work he did as a policy advisor in Ottawa, winning the race for MPP at 19, and some of the work he has done in Anti-Sex Trafficking Policy for schools in Ontario and hospice care in the province. I have a lot of respect for Sam and I am thrilled that he was willing to come on and chat for an hour.

Follow Sam on Instagram and Twitter @samoosterhoff

I am always @itsthevalk

Love y’all.

Jake

I love Fred. I always go to him (and his brother Marcel) when I have a systematic or philosophic theology question. In this chat, we talked a bit about the New Testament languages, why creation ex nihilo is important, and we walked through and discussed some of the attributes of God. I always love the conversations that we have in private and I’m stoked when we can get a good talk recorded.

Fred is on Instagram @freddyblousand

I am always @itsthevalk

Love y’all.

We just got back from filming part of our documentary Into The light with Heath Lambert in Florida and Jeremy Pierre in Louisville. I sat down with JM again and we chatted about the last couple of weeks of filming and how stoked we are to be working on a project like this. This film is so hopeful, it’s incredible.

It would mean so much to me if y’all would donate to get this documentary off the ground. https://www.givesendgo.com/IntoTheLight

Please check out Into The light on Instagram @intothelightdocumentary

John-Michael is @aboutjem

I am always @itsthevalk

Love y’all.

Aaron is a serial entrepreneur and owner of Tall Post Craft Cider. I have had him on the podcast before but since then he has built a home out of several shipping containers on the farm he manages. We talked about the process of building the sea can home and an update on how things are going with Tall Post, Windward Drones, and the other businesses and projects he is working on. Aaron is a good friend and it's always fun to try and keep his ADD brain on track during a conversation.

Tall Post Craft Cider can be found on Instagram @tallpostcraftcider

I am always @itsthevalk

Thanks guys.

I doubt that Owen needs much of an introduction at this point. He is one of my favorite conversationalists, one of the most insightful men I know, and a close friend. We talked a little about the deep cynicism we have all developed toward any form of establishment, doing meaningful work, the limits of humor, what books we are working through at the moment (shocker), and a fascinating chat about how difficult life can be for the teenagers among us and how competence scales with age. This conversation was as fun as they always are.

Slight correction to the podcast, Herodotus wrote his histories in 430 BC, not 1200 BC.

Owen is on Instagram @hebbert_the_writer

I am always @itsthevalk

Cheers Fam.

In 2007 Rachelle Starr founded Scarlet Hope as a ministry to share the hope and love of Jesus with women in the adult entertainment industry in Louisville. Since then they have expanded to seven cities across North America. I got to sit down with Rachelle and talk about how she got involved in helping women in the sex industry, the lessons she learned from years of running Scarlet Hope, and how the church can be involved in caring for women in the adult entertainment industry. This is a really complex and difficult topic that I have been wanting to learn more about and I’m really glad that Rachelle was willing to share her insights with me. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation.

Learn more about Scarlet Hope at their website https://scarlethope.org/

Follow Rachelle on Instagram @rachellestarr.co

I am always @itsthevalk

Cheers Fam.

Tim Jones, Holden Wynn, Josiah Blan, and I are Supervising Coordinators at Recenter ministries here in Louisville. Recenter is part homeless shelter, part drug recovery program, and part affordable housing. Re:Center is wholly dedicated to presenting the Gospel to the hurting and downcast in Louisville. Our responsibilities are to essentially run the shelter over the weekends. We sat down and talked about a few of the absolutely insane stories we have collected over the past year. I love these dudes and it's been a privilege to work with them here.

Find me on Instagram @itsthevalk

Love Y’all.