Grants Pass VIP Podcast

John Chambers "Mr. Constitution"

John with his wife Debbie Musack

NeoLife Vitamins & Supplements

Join us for a joyful sit down between two friends.

John Chambers, “Mr. Constitution” takes us on a journey from his early years studying the Constitution to his life long work of helping people to understand it, no matter which side of the political aisle you happen to be on.

In addition to that we touch on a range of topics as listed in the bullets below.

Most notably his work with his wife Debbie Musack helping to education and help others have better awareness and decision making about nutrition.

Be sure to check out the links below for more on their health products, nutritional education video you won't want to miss and John's site about the Constitution.

Contact John and Debbie today - https://www.grantspasschamber.org/list/member/neolife-nutrition-musack-chambers-13248

Video (5 Key Criteria for Evaluating Any Supplement) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwYC8psM3sM

Mr. Constitution - https://www.itsyourconstitution.com/about-Mr-Constitution.html

Mr Constitution at age 3!

1:49 A Life Time Commitment: From Studying at The Smithsonian to Teaching the Constitution

9:18 Why I joined Toastmasters & Would Recommend It to Anyone

9:57 Constitution Study Group Locally & Nationally Online

11:07 Independence vs Dependence – Why I Believe in Being a Freedom Fighter

14:18 Working With Both Democrats and Republicans to Help Further Education About the Constitution

16:05 Governance is What Units Us, Politics is What Divides Us

18:47 What Brought Me to Josephine County

22:50 Grants Pass: A Community of Caring People

24:40 The Type of People I'd Love to Meet

29:21 Impact COVID-19 Had On My Life

31:29 Nutrition: Zoom Calls and Helping People Build-Up Their Immunity

34:21 Look Into the Future

Transcription

Brian: Welcome to Grants Pass VIP, I'm Brian Pombo.

What you're about to listen to is a conversation that I had with John Chambers and it's recorded a little bit differently. We were sitting at his dining room table, and we start kind of right in the middle of our conversation together.

I was asking John what he did, and as we start the podcast you'll hear John describing what he does. And so what you're going to hear is him break that down into pieces of all the different things that he does and what those things all have in common.

This is a very interesting conversation. I hope you enjoy

Intro: There's a place in Southern Oregon, filled with gorgeous natural beauty, friendly yet independent people and a mild, comfortable climate.

That place is called Grants Pass.

These are the stories of the people that live and work Josephine County. These are the movers and shakers that make this place of the best.

This is Grants Pass VIP.

John: All of the things that I do, they all have a theme to them and I had not recognized until recently.

There is the nutrition aspect of it. Because if a person that has proper nutrition, then they are not dependent upon the rest of when I say the rest of the world, I mean, like that medical and the government and this sort of thing to take care of them because they can take care of themselves because they have decent nutrition, they're independent of it.

Also, I do drug prevention here and there, not a whole lot but I'm certified as that. And I keep up my certification so that I can do that.

Then also, I have been teaching a constitution that started in 1991, a private high school that was near me. The headmaster of that private school wanted me to come and write a history text for him with no political bias, because the history texts around, they had a lot of public life.

So I came and I was at the school and I was doing research there and talking to the parents, talking to the kids, talking to the teachers, talking to the administrators, all that and also studying and putting things together and so on.

And after about three weeks I went to him (the headmaster) and his name was John also. I go John, I don't think it's possible to write history without a political bias. Because it doesn't matter, I mean, I have my preferences and they're going to show up just by the fact that I don't include certain things and I put emphasis on certain other things, and so on, my biases are going to show up, I kind of can't help it, so it's not possible to do that.

So we talked about what would be a really good thing would be perhaps a little booklet before a person starts studying history, on how to pick up the bias in the history that you read into kind of inoculate you or to immunize you from the bias, so you can look at you can see what the bias is.

Maybe you like the bias and you buy into it, but at least you'll see it that's what the biases anyway, a booklet called Why History?

And it talks about what history is good for what it's useful for, why you want to do it, what to look for, for biases. And when I moved up here to Oregon, I turned it into a little book, which you can get it on Amazon. It's called something like learning from history, how to make a better future little teeny booklet, and a kid can read it.

And at the end of that, it doesn't matter what history book they read, because there'll be watching for what the biases.

Oh, and while I was there at the school, some of the kids came up, said, do you know anything about the Constitution?

Which I did. And the reason that I did was because when I was 13, my pop sat me down, he said, You're not going to waste this summer. And he sat me down with one of those little composition books with a black and white squiggly cover.

On the left-hand side of the page, I wrote out the Constitution in its original language. Then on the facing page, I would translate it into the best I could have 13-year-old modern English.

So this was an assignment that your dad set you down if I was to do this over the summer, and I've told some people that and their kids hate them now because they're doing it.

So I actually surprised myself. I actually stuck to it. I went through the whole thing and I remember a few places where I…it was with a fountain pen too. I remember I threw the pen, I was so frustrated and I get splashed all over, you know, anyway.

And I've looked for that little booklet and it's gone. I haven't seen it for years decades. I kind of surprised myself and surprised him that I actually finished that assignment.

And at the end of the summer, he was like, flabbergasted and goes, What would you like as a reward for having done this thing?

He thought maybe I'd get a new bike or something like that, you know, I said, I want to week the Smithsonian. And he arranged it.

Brian: Wow.

John: I would get dropped off at the front of the Smithsonian at like, nine o'clock in the morning or whatever when it was open. This was many years ago when DC was not what it is now.

Brian: Yeah.

John: And I would go into the Smithsonian and I would have my little lunch with me and I would go through all the exhibits. I go through the different buildings and all this and at five o'clock, I'd be out there at the curb. I get picked up.

I did that for a week. I was just great fun.

But at any rate, some of the kids asked me, Do you know anything about the constitution?

So I said, Yeah, I guess I know.

And so I figured the best way to do is kind of the way that I did it, which was you just read through it, which is basically what I had done, as I read through it and translated it into English as best I understood.

The problem is that, at 13 years old, I didn't have enough life experience to know what these things mean. I could look at and I go, Okay, I understand what that is, but I don't know what the importance of that is.

I knew that these kids are going to need a study guide.

So I looked around for study guys, and all the study guides, guess what had a bias. And some of them were, you know, slanted towards religious this. Some of them were slanted towards something else.

The weirdest one was interpreting the Constitution, according to Freudian analysis.

Brian: Oh, wow.

John: That was really fascinating.

So I read all of these things and I'm looking at all these things and I'm going, what can I use for these kids?

I said, I couldn't find anything.

I had to write one myself. I would have the text, I would write some notes about it some ways that this test had been used over the years, but they'd go and look it up and say, This is cases that came up regarding this, and so on.

I had a little bit of a study guide, and we went through it, and I'd see the places where they were having difficulty than other places where they really got it and so on, started becoming a regular thing.

The next batch of kids that came through, would get the revised version. And then the next batch, we get the revised version, until finally, I got a version that could sit down in front of a kid.

That'd be you know, a high school-aged kid course, this was a number of years ago. And high school education is not what it used to be, I don't think, but anyway, you get to sit down in front of the kid and say, who's interested, and he could read.

At the end of it, he would read through the entire constitution, understood how it fit together, and what it was about, which some of the teachers and the parents thought was really cool, and so they wanted me to teach them.

So I started a little neighborhood. And then we had a group in that school, and some of the neighborhood people found out about so I ran a course for the neighborhood. Since then, so wherever I moved, wherever I went, I do something with the Constitution.

When I came to Josephine County, just so happened, I used my constitution study guide, kind of is a calling card.

Well, when I first moved up here, we knew a few people,...

Richard Emmons - Publisher and Editor at Josephine County Eagle, Author, and Marketing Strategist

Josephine County Eagle (JoCo Eagle)

Richard Emmons is a local business owner and marketing strategist.

The author of three books, Marketing Survival Guide, Chamber Advantage, and 52 Things to do in Southern Oregon.

From serving on the board of the Gospel Rescue Mission for 21 years, to being named Man of the Year by the Grants Pass and Josephine County Chamber of Commerce, Richard has been an active member of our community for years.

On top of all that, he's launched a new monthly newspaper called, Josephine County Eagle.

Join us as we take a fun journey through Richard's travels in life, and his new project with JoCo Eagle!

Active In The Local Community

Away from the Rat Race! Our Move to Grants Pass

What Makes Josephine County Special

A Joy Helping and Sharing with others through, The Gospel Rescue Mission

20 Year Windows: Richard's Entrepreneurial Journey

Why Richard Became an Author of 3 Books

Chamber Advantage: Get Involved, Get Known & Get Business

Why I Started the Josephine County Eagle

COVID-19 Lockdown's Impact on Our Community: We Can't Forget This!

JoCo Eagle: It's About Bringing People Together

Thank You: Early Positive Responses to The Josephine County Eagle

2021 & Beyond

The Value of Persistence

To get in touch with Richard and to find out what's new with JoCo Eagle, checkout the links below!

Richard Emmons - https://richardemmons.com/

Josephine County Eagle - https://jocoeagle.com/

Transcription

Intro Brian: Tell me if I'm wrong. What I'm getting from you is that in your entire discussion of what the Josephine County Eagle means to you, it's more about bringing people together instead of dividing people, you know, instead of dividing us between the city and county, instead of dividing us between Republican, Democrats have divided us between business owner and employees.

You're trying to bring people together to understand each other more, to understand each other's perspective more, is am I getting that right?

Richard: Dead on.

I mean, yes, we have differences. The old saying, learn to disagree agreeably, in some ways we have to learn to agree agreeably.

Podcast Intro: There's a place in Southern Oregon, filled with gorgeous natural beauty, friendly yet independent people and a mild, comfortable climate.

That place is called Grants Pass.

These are the stories of the people that live and work Josephine County. These are the movers and shakers that make this place of the best.

This is Grants Pass VIP.

Brian: Richard Emmons is a local business owner and marketing strategist.

He's the author of three books, Marketing Survival Guide, Chamber Advantage, and 52 Things to do in Southern Oregon.

Richard served on the board of the Gospel Rescue Mission for 21 years.

In 2014, he was named Man of the Year by Grants Pass and the Josephine County Chamber of Commerce. He lived in Rogue Valley with his wife, Kathleen and family since 1998. On top of all that, Richard is the publisher and editor of the brand new Josephine County Eagle.

Richard Edmonds, welcome to Grants Pass VIP.

Richard: Hey, Brian, thanks for having me on. It's great to be here. great talking to you.

Brian: We've met on and off through the years, and I've always wanted to get to know you a little bit better. So this is a great chance to be able to dig in further.

First, just off the bat, other than what we heard from your bio, how would people know you possibly for people within the county?

Richard: You know, it's funny, it depends on how they view me. Because, you know, through the chamber, I've represented one business for a long time, The Boardroom and Executive Suite. So they see me as Mr. Boardroom.

Other people see me as a longtime member of the Gospel Rescue Mission.

Some people see me just at church, those activities, promote my books here and there.

And now, you know, everybody sees me as the publisher and editor of the Josephine County Eagle. So I'll just get that on the screen (logo of JoCo Eagle), even though this is an audio podcast, I still like to put it out there.

So people that know me from Toastmasters, I'm just a lifelong learner. I love to learn new things, and I love to tell other people about them.

My wife is extremely patient in this regard. She'll often listen to a podcast, so you got to hear this, you know, are reading a book, you got to hear this. And she'll sit there quietly say, okay, Richard, are we finished?

I say yes, yes. Thank you, Kathleen.

That's so great, because I process out loud, you know, I think through things, and that's just who I am. So they see me from Toastmasters.

I love to read a book, or have an experience or do something. Just give you one example, I learned about how you can publish on KDP on Amazon. It's a great platform to publish your first book on.

Well, I go to Toastmasters, and I deliver a seven minute speech and how to do that. And three of the people in my club published a book on Amazon, following my process before I had done it.

So anyway, that gives you a little insight to who I am and how I do things.

Brian: That's fabulous.

It's so funny, there's so much overlap and how your life runs and how my life runs. And we've been in this community together.

Just curious, how did you end up in Grants Pass, how did you end up in this area?

Richard: How it turned out was back in the mid 90s. I subscribed to Art Robinson's Access to Energy Newsletter. And every once in a while, he would say well, you know, move to Southern Oregon. You can buy five acres and a house for what it costs to buy a townhouse in San Diego.

So we moved up here in 1998, partly It was y2k that had a certain element to it. But that really just got us thinking about raising our family. We have four daughters, getting them out of the big city and the rat race.

Business was very busy. I had a very demanding boss who's very successful, you know, I was a controller at warehouser subsidiary at 28. And then at 31, we spun that company off into a separate company, and I became the chief financial officer, and my boss their Joe, he was fabulous marketer he built into a nationwide company.

But there are times when he come in on Monday, and I have my week planned out and he'd say, hey, Richard, I got to send you to Chicago. We got to open an office in Chicago, you get on the tomorrow flight and I was like, okay, Joe.

So it's a little bit of that rat race. It was fun work. It was challenging work. It was lucrative of providing for my family, but we wanted to get to a slower pace of life.

And Art Robinson had written about Southern Oregon.

So we came up in 1997 and took, you know, "several vacations" up here, ostensibly to fish, but we're really not looking for salmon or trout, we're looking for a home, or a place to live. And that's what we ended up doing.

I like to kid, you know, when I'm delivering speeches that I've moved my family up before the turn of the century, and then I say, 1998.

But yeah, that's how we got up here and it worked out great.

We're a homeschooling family. It was totally seamless, at the time our daughters got up here, and they really took to it.

They started getting into music, and that led to the Emmons Sisters Band. And they had opportunities to play at the Chamber's concerts in the park series. Then other regional bluegrass festivals and other things. And it's just a lot of fun things that I couldn't have done if I had stayed down in Southern California.

Brian: Fabulous. That's great. That's what brought you up here originally.

So in retrospect, and from where you're at today, what's the reasons why you stay here, what really makes Grants Pass and Josephine County special to you?

Richard: There's a number of different things.

Obviously, we joined a church, we got very involved in that. And that led to playing Ultimate Frisbee on Sunday afternoons are like 40 to 50 people, it was incredible.

I was in better shape in my 40s, than it was in my 30s. Because I'm playing Ultimate Frisbee so much. So it's just a lot of fun.

We like being up here, I got involved with the Gospel Rescue Mission, as you mentioned in my introduction, and that really got me connected to the local community in a way that I just had never really thought about and I was invited to join the board.

I didn't know anything about the Gospel Rescue Mission Board. But that's part of my personality, I just jumped in with two feet, and I figure it out as I go.

And what I learned was that we're big enough in Grants Pass, to have the Gospel Rescue Mission, and really help people in a big way.

But yet, we're a small enough community that you can get to know some of the residents by name. And you can see who you're helping.

These are real, live breathing men, women and children who are responsible, and they're trying to get out of this cycle of poverty and homelessness and despair.

We offer them hope, and we give them food and clothing and a place to sleep. But we also give them the gospel. That was one of the things that kept me here, because we just liked the community. And like I say, I just enjoy getting to know people and helping people in one way or the other.

Brian: Awesome.

What led you into your line of work, into the things that you're doing on a daily basis?

What brought you there?

Richard: Well, I'll give you a little bit of my backstory.

Like I say, I just jump in, you know, I was in high school, I was reading college manuals for different colleges, and I saw the United States Naval Academy, and I said, Wow, that would be great.

You know, I like sailing. I mean, I didn't have any family members in the military but it looked really interesting....

Sarah WagerCo-Owner at Oregon Books & Games

Chris NelsonCo-Owner at Oregon Books & Games

Oregon Books & Games | OregonBooks.com

New co-owners at Oregon Books & Games, Sarah Wager and Chris Nelson bring a renewed passion to our longtime, trusted bookstore in town!

Join us as Sarah and Chris share what's going on at the store these days, highlighted by some of the topics below.

A new adventure – being co-owners at Oregon Books & GamesThe importance of Customer Loyalty while facing the challenges of COVID19.Advantages of being a Longtime, Trusted Local BookstoreTop Sellers at Oregon Books & GamesA continued Passion for Helping Our Local CommunitySuccess of the stores sales through their website – OregonBooks.comAn eye towards the future – Making Oregon Books & Games the best it can be!

Drop by and hello at the store!

Also, be sure to check out their wide selection at the stores website below!

Online Bookstore – OregonBooks.com

Thank you to Sarah and Chris for joining us at Grants Pass VIP.

We look forward to their future success, and keeping Oregon Books & Games a staple of our town. :)

Michael E. Garnier - Treehouse Pioneer!

Treehouses.com - Out'n'About Treehouse Treesort

Every so often you get a chance to sit down with a true pioneer and legend.

Well, this conversation fits that qualification, and it was our treat to have a chance to have Michael E. Garnier from Out'n'About Treehouse Treesort on our local podcast.

Michael is a true legend, not only in the Josephine County area but in the Treehouse community world wide.

Join us for a special podcast as Michael takes us on his journey from coming to Oregon back in 1973, to building on a vision he had for Treehouses and standing for what he believes in no matter the push back he's had over the years.

All and all, we'd say things have worked out well, and we thank Michael for having us out to his Treesort to help him spread just a little more local Publicitree in the area. :)

For more about Michael and Out'n'About Treehouse Resort - https://treehouses.com/

Annie Sabel Executive Director at Barnstormers Theatre

Barnstormers Theatre in Grants Pass, Oregon

We all know about the COVID-19 pandemic, but imagine having a new job as Executive Director of Barnstormers Theatre, just days before the shutdowns in March of 2020! 👀

Well that's exactly what happened to our latest guest, Annie Sabel.

From putting on plays, to tackling livestreaming, to looking for exciting new ways Barnstormers can further connect with locals in the community, you can tell Annie has a lifelong passion for the Theatre and Barnstormers is in good hands going forward!

Be sure to checkout Barnstormers Theatre's upcoming play (directed by her husband Steven Sabel, whom we've had on the show before) Postmortem. See dates and times below.

Checkout Barnstormers Theatre - https://barnstormersgp.com/

Also a Great Follow on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/barnstormersgp/?rf=611547085593878

Postmortem - image by Jonas Stewart

Get Tickets for Postmortem today – https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?ticketing=barns

Or Call To Order - 541-479-3557

Dates and Times for Postmortem at Barnstormers Theatre

April 10-25, 2021Saturdays at 7:30 PMSundays at 2:00 PMPerformances will be live streamed

Dr. Cory S. Fawcett

Financial Success MD

Dr. Cory S. Fawcett and his wife settled in Grants Pass back in 1993, while at the same time Cory joined Grants Pass Surgical Associates on 6th street.

After a 23 year career practicing medicine, Cory retired and started a new journey to help teach finance to physicians and other high income earners through his business Financial Success MD.

A winner of several awards as a writer, Cory has now published five books and four of his books are Amazon Best Sellers.

Join us as we talk with Cory on his passion for his work with Financial Success MD, what he has going on in the Grants Pass area today and thoughts on his new book, The Doctors Guide To Navigating a Financial Crisis.

Checkout more of Cory's work today - https://financialsuccessmd.com/

Dave Siddon - Wildlife Images Director

Wildlife Images Rehabilitation & Education Center

Join us on a fun adventure as Dave Siddon from Wildlife Images talks to us about the family's history working with a wide range of animals, to moving to Oregon from LA and starting the nonprofit group so many of us and come to know for the past 40 years!

Checkout Wildlife Images website days and times to visit today - https://wildlifeimages.org/

Tim Thompson from RevThink & ZipLineGear

A creative entrepreneur, all around nice guy, Southern Oregon local, and if that wasn't enough, he loves drinking coffee! ☕

Join us as we sit down for a fun chat with Tim Thompson about life around Grants Pass and his business ventures with RevThink and ZipLineGear.

Checkout RevThink and ZipLineGear at the links below . Also be sure to listen to the Revthink Podcast, RevThinking!

ZipLineGear - https://www.ziplinegear.com/

RevThink - https://revthink.com/

RevThinking Podcast - https://revthink.com/resources/podcast/

Transcription

Brian: Tim Thompson is kind of an enigma. He's the owner and CEO of ZipLineGear.com and Grants Pass Oregon, but that doesn't explain all of who he is.

TV producer, Minister, investor, married for 23 years, father of five boys, I can go on and on. But at the core of Tim's career as an owner, consultant and coach is what Tim calls the four stages of a creative career.

At the consultancy he founded RevThink, which can be found at RevThink.com. And their podcast called RevThinking, they are the leader in the field of the creative entrepreneur.

His story in this interview will help you understand how this comes together.

So Tim Thompson, welcome to Grants Pass VIP.

Tim: Thanks, Brian. Thanks for the introduction.

Whoever brought that did a very good job, I might want to get a copy of that, because it's often hard to explain all those aspects.

But it's funny, as you read that off, you know, you're told as a kid to avoid three topics in conversation, money, religion, and politics. And I feel like as you read my bio, like you're basically saying, Here's Tim Thompson, he talks about those three things that no one's supposed to talk about.

Brian: Very cool.

Tim: I love what you're doing with this podcast, this idea of building community get to know one another, especially in this odd situation we find ourselves in. So thanks for putting this together and inviting me onto it.

Brian: No sure thing, we're happy to have you here.

We were talking a little bit before about how I came across your name. And to tell you the truth, I don't recall how we came across your name, we start building a list together, we start asking other people about names. My producer, Sean E. Douglas had worked on this.

So it's one of these things where we're kind of, we're really getting to know each other from scratch, I know a little bit about you just from research, a little bit of your background that's found online. But other than that, we're just going straight into this and find out more about each other.

So why don't you give everyone kind of a common life story up to this point?

Tim: Sure. I don't think you're gonna want to hear my life story. You kind of read off the bio, it goes a lot of different directions. Usually I do this over coffee, though, Brian.

So just at least I have a raincheck for coffee in the future, right?

Brian: Of course, absolutely.

Tim: Yeah, that's great.

You know, it's hard to explain the path really because, as you mentioned, when I was in college kind of started my career, what I was really focused on was television, television production.

I'd like to say I fell in love with the television of the 80s. But by the time I got involved in television that time had already passed. So there was a new discovery in that field.

Obviously, the digital has changed all of our lives.

I look like I'm older than you. So I'm just going to tell you Brian, that back in my day kind of a thing. But the digital transition in the entertainment industry was something that was happening, and I was on the front lines.

So that gave me a chance as a young person to really create, invent, I don't know what it be, but like, just put standards into place. And that gave me like a foundation for a career that I'm still living today.

It's the foundation of why I became a consultant.

My friends who own businesses, or their friends that own businesses would call me in just asked me to solve problems for them. So that's the beginning of what's there. But yeah, once you kind of break into, you know, thinking about new things and new way, the world just opens up to you. And that's really the journey I'm on now.

Brian: That's a great way to put it.

So how did you how did you end up here in Grants Pass?

Tim: My in laws actually, they moved up here the year we got married. So we often visited. In the early 2000s, we had a rental property out in Williams. We of course, we were smart people in LA and so we built onto our Williams property. And then on boy number four, we realized we probably shouldn't give them a different place to grow up.

Because it was a pack boys. And one of the things I like to say it's like it's illegal to be a boy in Los Angeles. You know, like you can't ride your skateboard on the sidewalk. You can't climb a tree, you can't throw a rock, you can't mow your own lawn.

I don't know what the issues are.

So we just wanted our boys to grow up to be boys. So we moved into Williams and that's kind of how we ended up here.

Just by chance, a little bit of downshifting change of a career. And that ministry path I went on and started on actually used the Pacifica, there's a piece of land out in Williams called Pacifica, and we rented that house, Steve Miller's old house.

We rented that for a few years and we had students come and live there and I would mentor and teach and we do classes and church service and that kind of stuff out there.

So I love Williams, I love love Williams and have great time out there and great time for growth for everybody. It's really awesome.

Brian: Me and my wife were married in the barn at Pacifica.

Tim: Oh, you were! Oh yeah, that's great.

Oh, how long ago was that?

Brian: 2013.

Tim: So I actually was on the board of directors at Pacifica, when you got married they're. That's how we met each other, that's why I'm on this podcast.

Yeah that old, Steve Miller's old recording studio held an incredible place?

Brian: Yes it is, very cool.

Tim: It's very magical to be out there and to kind of be in that rustic wood environment, you know, now they have the nursery out there, and they do such a great job.

Here's one of the things that have inspired me of the people around Josephine County, and Grants Pass. The people that started Pacifica, Ray and Peg Prag, you know, and it was Pegs brother, they basically took their money, their private money that they've earned over the years, they bought 400 acres in the middle of Williams, and then they gave it away so that we can go enjoy it.

And you can right now go drive to Pacifica drive on that property, walk around our trails, there's horse trails, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful land that you wouldn't have access to if they were greedy. And they just give it away to the community. That's so inspiring to me there.

It's a wonderful journey that people can be on in life, if you believe and kind of think through what is actually important. And if you're always just like the give me, give me taking kind of person, you'll never understand the blessings of being one of those kind of Pacifica, trustees positions or a giver in that way.

But in the giving economy is way better than the receiving economy. So, yeah, I'm glad you benefited. I benefited from their generosity. It's wonderful out there.

Brian: That's fabulous. That's great.

What were you doing when you first moved to the area?

Tim: I actually started RevThink, and my ministry called The Church Works at the same time. I drove into the B of A, right there on G Street. And I opened both checking accounts the same day. The bank manager there was a guy named Jason Fletcher. And Jason works for me today.

So like, I remember him that moment helped me start my checking accounts. I did both those items. And it's simple, like, I just wanted to use my experience, my connections, whatever I had available to help other people.

And to do it in two ways that one in the RevThink way where I could leverage my television experience, the connections I have, meet the needs of the people in that industry, who I truly love, serve today through RevThink, you know, our own podcast is just giving away information as fast as we can to make other people healthy.

Then the church works the same way. We had a conviction that college aged folks have difficulty tackling their faith, understanding the skepticism that they're facing, dealing with reality.

Some very important Christian foundations like the gospel are being lost, the message of the gospel is lost. And we wanted to institutionalize that in people's hearts.

So we kind of in a way just opened a house, we open someone else's house, but we open up our house and we fed them and welcome them in and process with them. It was really an open door policy for about probably four years total, when we did it.

Our own kids were coming of age. It was hard to kind of give to that many other people and have a healthy family. So we had to take on the right priorities and focus on our own kids as they were maturing.

But I easily see myself getting back into the ministry.

My youngest is now 13. So just a few years away, we'll be back into doing some of that heart driven stuff again.

Brian: Wow, that's awesome.

Tim: I love it.

Brian: Tell me a little bit more about RevThink, what's that all about?

Tim: You're on the same journey that I'm on in a way, right?

Brian: Oh yeah.

Tim: Think about the processes of just writing your own book, like the effort you have to put into the research that you do to compile that information into somewhere that someone else didn't read and gets a benefit of, you know, a million times what they read in your book.

There's some of us that like, we can remember those decisions along the way....

Janice Cox - Natural Beauty at Home

Beautiful Lavender, by Janice Cox

An expert on the topic of Natural Beauty and Making your own cosmetic products with simple kitchen and garden ingredients. Janice Cox comes to you with her new book called, Beautiful Lavender.

A Southern Oregon native out of Medford, Janice joins us to talk about the wonderful properties that Lavender has and to talk about some of our local Lavender Farms.

Please checkout Janice's wonderful book and take a look at some of her other information at her website and over at Mother Earth News at the links below!

Beautiful Lavender - https://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Lavender-Janice-Cox/dp/1948734184

Mother Earth News - https://www.motherearthnewsfair.com/speakers/janice-cox/

Natural Beauty at Home - https://www.naturalbeautyathome.com/

Transcription

Brian: Janice Cox is an expert on the topic of Natural Beauty and making your own cosmetic products with simple kitchen and garden ingredients. She's the author of three best selling books on the topic natural beauty at home, natural beauty for all seasons and natural beauty from the garden.

She is currently the beauty editor for Herb Quarterly Magazine and a member of the editorial advisory board for Mother Earth Living magazine.

She lives in Medford, Oregon with her husband. She's a member of the Herb Society of America, International Herb Association, United States Lavender Growers Association, Oregon Lavender Association and Garden Communicators International. Janice Cox Welcome to Grants Pass VIP.

Janice: Thank you, Brian. It's nice to be here.

Brian: Yeah, it's great to have you on just for a little bit of background for everybody. Janice was on an episode of my other podcasts, Off The Grid Biz Podcast. She was on that last year for some earlier books and for her speaking schedule that she had with the Mother Earth News Fair. So I'm happy to have her back here.

Her latest book is, Beautiful Lavender.

Why don't you tell us a little bit about it, Janice.

Janice: Well, yes, that's right. I talked to you last time at about the fair we had up in Albany and you even made it up there to the fair, which was great, I like that. But this year…so I did that fair, and I think you even came to it, I used to give a talk all about lavender and growing lavender and using lavender and just enjoying lavender.

So out of that talk came this book or it's more, real actually written more workbook style, because that's kind of what I like is when people come up to me with my books, which are written cookbook style, and they're all written up and people make notes in the margins are swapped out ingredients and really made it their own. I wanted to incorporate that in this new series of books.

I wrote one on loofa and then this one is all about lavender. And so there are pages that you can actually write on make notes, so all your information stays in the same place.

If you bought a plant at a nursery and you just loved it. And you want to remember the variety and you want to remember the address of the nursery you can put it in the book, or if you've changed one of my recipes around for shortbread cookies, you can make notes there so we call it it's a book but it's also a workbook. That's kind of the new thing now.

Brian: Yeah, absolutely. The subtitle is a guide and workbook for growing using and enjoying lavender. So this is everything from A to Z when it comes to lavender which is amazing because I mean it goes through the history. I mean, I'm not sure how many of you had ever heard that. When they discovered King Tut's Tomb. They opened it up and it smelled like lavender immediately.

It's amazing how something like that would last that long.

Janice: It shows how important an herb it was because to be in a King's Tomb, right?

Brian: Absolutely. And it mentioned you know, Queen Elizabeth the first love lavender and just everything from the history to how you can grow it and the different varieties and you've even got a great map here for the hardiness zone for the US to kind of give an idea of where person would be able to grow what types and I mean it just goes on and on.

There's so much here and uses, and you still include the whole thing is not a cookbook you have a number of recipes available in it. So that's, it's really great stuff.

What drew you to lavender in the first place?

Janice: I've always loved lavender, I have it in my own yard. But lavender is probably never been more popular than it is right now. Especially with what we're going through, the lavender farms are doing really well because their sales of product and lavender and oils have almost tripled because the best known there's like I think over 100 uses for lavender.

It's a very versatile herb, but probably the most well known is for its treatment of anxiety. And so and it's calming and relaxing since people that are stressed out you know, using lavender products or smelling lavender or even just walking out and looking at some lavender, it really calms you down.

In fact, I even just prove this, I went to the grocery store Oh, before the book came out and I walked up and down every aisle and I knew I would find lavender and maybe body care products. But I didn't realize how many other products feature lavender now and I almost filled the whole shopping cart. We won't tell my husband how much I spent on it.

But I had cat litter, I had laundry detergent, I had beer, I had sodas, I had teas, I mean not just a cream and a lotion in a bar. So I mean lavender really is out there because a lot of people and if we're lucky here in Southern Oregon, we have some really amazing lavender farms very close by, they are open and you can go visit and take your class you know experience the plant and just see how they're growing and buy some of their products.

Brian: Absolutely. And you sent me this map and great pamphlet the Oregon lavender destinations, which you can find at OregonLavenderDestinations.com. This is put out by the Oregon Lavender Association, is that right?

Janice: That's correct, The Oregon Lavender Association and you don't have to be a lavender farmer to be a member, anybody that just wants to learn more about lavender or enjoys it can join, they have different levels of membership, I think I'm considered a friend of lavender.

And they also have all the way up to lavender farmers. But if you get their newsletter, you get recipes. And these maps now the maps are available in a lot of tourist locations at the visitor center.

Some hotels have, you know, nowadays, it's kind of harder to find those brochure kiosks. We just went to a state park and they had them behind Plexiglas and you had to talk to the Ranger to get one because they don't want people touching them.

Brian: Because of COVID and everything.

.Janice: Right!

COVID has kind of changed everything but it but it's increased lavenders popularity.

Brian: Has it really?

Janice: Yeah, because it's also antibacterial. So a lot of people that are cleaning their house, there's I have recipes in there for a natural household cleaner. But because people are cleaning their house more, they also want a natural scent, they want natural products. And lavender is anti bacterial and will help clean your not just your body but also your house.

Brian: Absolutely.

So why don't you tell me a little bit more about how has COVID affected you in your activities in your life?

Janice: You know, actually it's changed the way I've done business. I guess since this is a business podcast, I was going out face-to-face with people and running workshops, hands on workshops and that has all changed.

Everything's gone to the virtual world, I've had to kind of become more tech savvy, I even set up a little video shoot in my backyard, and my daughter was the cameraman, and instead of doing the workshops live, we record them because the Mother Earth News Fair now has gone virtual. So if you go on their site, you can buy a ticket, the ticket used to be if you went to the fair $20. Well, that's the same price, but you now can have access to maybe, I think it's like 56 videos now, we're up there.

So all the speakers have kind of gone ahead and either done their presentation online, you know, like a PowerPoint or they've recorded new things out in their yard or out in their on their homestead. So the amount of content virtually is really going up.

Also, you know, I've always written articles that has people have had an interest in more, you know, online articles. Because I think people are just home more and they're looking for content.

They're looking for things to watch and they're looking for things to do. So they're you know, people are cooking more, crafting more, gardening more. So that's all a good thing for me.

And that also, I've had both my daughters move back home. So that's kind of another COVID bonus and all all during this time period.

Brian: Wow, that's great.

What brought you to the Rogue Valley. I remember one time you were telling me you were living you lived in Australia, what brought you to live in this area of the world?

Janice: Well, actually I'm from Southern Oregon, I grew up in Klamath Falls. So left and you know, went we lived a lot of different places around the country. And then right before we moved back to Southern Oregon, we did live in Australia, my youngest daughter was born there, my husband had an opportunity.

And that's actually where I really got into making my own body care products. It was a little bit out of cost savings and then out of necessity, I just couldn't find things that I was used to use it.

You know, today, the cost savings is always a good thing. But it's also lifestyle choice.

A lot of people want to use natural things. And they're concerned with what they're using on their skin, hair and their body....

Steven Sabel - City of Grants Pass Information Coordinator | Host of the Don't Quill The Messenger Podcast | Will play the role of Henry Higgins in Pygmalion at the Barnstormers Theatre starting Oct 23rd

City of Grants Pass Information Coordinator

Pygmalion starts on Oct 23rd at the Barnstormers Theatre

Don't Quill The Messenger Podcast

A new Grants Pass native. Steven Sabel works as an Information Coordinator for the City of Grants Pass.

Beyond insightful conversation about working for the city, we then venture into his hit podcast he hosts called, Don't Quill The Messenger and just what is the Shakespeare Authorship Question?

Also head over to the link below and get your tickets (physical and virtual) for his upcoming theatre event. Steven and his wife Annie will be lead roles in Pygmalion, at the Barnstormers Theatre, starting on October 23rd, 2020 (dates below).

Get Tickets today - https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?ticketing=barns

Dates and Times for Pygmalion at Barnstormers Theatre

Friday Oct 30, 20207:30 PM - 10:00 PM PDT

October 23rd - November 8thFridays and Saturdays at 7:30 PMSundays at 2:00 PMNo performance on Halloween

Take a listen to the Don't Quill The Messenger Podcast that Steven Hosts - https://shakespeareoxfordfellowship.org/

Transcription

Brian: Steven Sabel is the Information Coordinator for the city of Grants Pass. A position he's held for the past year after moving his family to Grants Pass from the LA region of Southern California where he owned and operated his own Theatre Company for eight years.

He's an award winning producer and director with more than 130 successful productions to his name. He has an extensive background in journalism, public relations, marketing and the performing arts.

Welcome to Grants Pass VIP.

Steven: Well, I'm thrilled to be here. I don't consider myself a VIP in any terms or under any circumstances. But I'm thrilled to have been asked to be your guest today and talk to you about how I came to become a Grants Passien.

I don't even know yet if that's exactly how you refer to Grants Pass residents. But it's the one that I've seem too stick with since moving here.

As you mentioned, in the intro a little over a year ago, my family and I are very proud to be Grants Passien's now. And I'm happy to be here.

Brian: Yeah, that's great. So why Grants Pass of all places? How did you end up at this spot?

Steven: Well, you know, my wife, her mother and stepfather moved here almost 15 years ago, to be closer to her brother and his family who lived in the Salem area. And so they chose Grants Pass as a means of not having to go quite so far north, so they could still venture down into California to visit California family and relatives. But to be in Oregon, and not California, and to enjoy all that Grants Pass and its surrounding area has to offer, which as you know, is one of the best places in all of Oregon, if not all the country, if not all the world.

So when I met Annie, my wife 10 years ago, very early on in our relationship, we knew that it was going to become a very serious relationship. And that sparked our first trip up here.

It was the, you know, come spend some time with mom and step dad and sister and brother in law who also live in Eugene close by. So it was sort of, you know, this guy's really a thing and get to know the family better, kind of a weekend trip.

And that was my first introduction to Grants Pass. So over the 10 years that we've been together, we've been married seven. Now we just celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary on September 14.

Over that 10 year span, we would come up here at least once a year, usually two to three times a year, over that period of time. So during that time, I came to know more about the community, I came to know more about the Rogue River.

Their property is right on the Applegate River. I came to fall in love with our beautiful historic quaint downtown area and district.

Started developing my favorite restaurants and places to go to, you know, marvel that you could walk in and still get a phosphate at the Grants Pass Pharmacy and soda fountain, for you know, just a few cents here and there.

Like that kind of thing appealed to me always from the get go. During the course of our relationship and marriage, we now have three magnificent, beautiful children.

Our eldest had reached the age where it was time for us to figure out what we're doing for her for school to start kindergarten. And that was last year. Through the spring and summer.

As we started approaching the fall, we went okay, we need to know what we're going to do. We had purchased a condominium in Southern California in the North Valley of LA.

And we bought what we could afford at the time wasn't necessarily the best location and definitely not the best with regards to school opportunities. So that was putting some pressure on us as far as making a decision on what we're going to do.

And we started looking at what our options were to get out of LA, to get out of Southern California. And we considered several different areas.

The company my wife worked for at the time had locations in different states and we considered a couple of those locations. Atlanta, Georgia was one Houston, Texas was another.

We had some family connections in New Mexico and we had considered some areas of New Mexico. And then of course, we knew that her mother was here in Grants Pass so we weighed out all of our different options and ultimately we decided, Okay, Grants Pass in Southern Oregon is where we're going to go and that's what started the move.

Ironically, once we made the decision, we said, we're doing it, Grants Pass, we actually were returning from a visit to New Mexico. And it was during that New Mexico visit where we'd like crossed New Mexico off the list. Okay, it's gonna be Southern Oregon.

And when we got home, and my wife said, Well, how do we start?

What do we do first, as well, the first thing we do is we start looking for jobs. And the very next day, I did a job search. And lo and behold, this position, the city Grants Pass, had posted about five or six weeks, maybe just a little over a month prior to when I was looking at it. And it was closing like three days, like I had three days to submit.

I turned to my wife and I said, We don't have time to deliberate and consider. is this the job I want to apply for or not or whatever, I just have to apply or I won't be able to have to get in my application.

So I submit, but we're not even ready. Like we don't, I mean even packed like nothing, like we're supposed to be looking at the job market not already applying for a job.

I said, Well, it's a perfect job for me and I'm perfectly qualified, I have to submit. So I did.

I remember saying this, I said, What's the worst thing that could happen? They offered me the job and we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Well, sure enough.

That's exactly what happened.

Then, when they call me for my first interview, it was so serendipitous because it was, it is, a perfect job for my skill set and my experience and what I've done in my previous life in previous careers, but also, when they contacted me and said, Here's why we want you to be here for an interview.

I was already scheduled to be here on an already pre-scheduled visit to be a part of a small symposium of Shakespearean scholars in Ashland, Oregon.

And we're already planning to be staying here and Grants Pass at my mother in law's and to did the interview, did the symposium in Ashland and we were in the car driving back to California. We had just passed through Ashland, and we're ready to go up Mount Ashland, then go over the Siskiyou's. When I got the call from the city Grants Pass Human Resources Department saying they wanted me back for a second interview.

We had to turn the car around, drive back to my mother in law's house. We pull up the driveway.

She goes What's going on? You left two hours ago.

You're back already? What's going on?

Said, well they call me back for a second interview. So we just stayed a couple extra days. And it was like, I had to tell them I have to be back in California on this particular day. It was like a Wednesday I had to be back. They called me on Monday. I said if I can come in on Tuesday, I have to be back on Wednesday, because I was in the middle of a production.

We were doing Henry IV parts one and two. I was playing Henry and I was the producer of the show, while we were doing it as sort of an encore performance at a secondary venue. And that production was that Thursday, Friday night.

So I had to be back on Wednesday to load the show in, get it set and perform it the next two nights after that. So it was really just the perfect window and it all fell right into place. As if it were guided by a force from above truly. True blessing to in the way it all panned out.

Brian: Fabulous. Yeah. Wow. That's incredible.

So what's an Information Coordinator do?

Steven: I don't know?

I've been trying to figure that out for a year.

No, it's really, it's actually a very detailed position. Because there are a lot of departments in the city. You know, we have our major departments, the ones that most people are aware of like public works or community development, Department of Public Safety, for instance.

But within each of those major departments, they're are also a plethora of different divisions beneath those major departments.

So for instance, in community development, you have a whole parks division, you know, in public works you have the most right, because you have the water treatment plant, the water restoration plant, water distribution, wastewater collections, streets, property management.

So one of the things I do is I coordinate information between those departments when necessary,...