Maybe I'm Amazed

A pastor, author and longtime friend of James Howell joins James on the podcast today. Pastor Harnish served for more than 40 years at the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. He now enjoys retirement, although he stays busy authoring books like Make a Difference and A Disciple's Heart.

Jim and James talk about many of the themes of Jim's books, including how one can find their place in this world and make a difference. Jim also shows how a lack of orientation in life can contribute to one feeling unfulfilled.

Everywhere we look, conflict seems to be around us. Clearly in the political realm, but also the religious world and our own personal space too. Author Amanda Ripley claims that conflict that is healthy is both good but necessary, but far too often falls victim to the emotional and ideological context surrounding it.

On today's episode of Maybe I'm Amazed, host James Howell sits down with Amanda to talk about her new book High Conflict, and the ways in which miscommunication can lead to volatile situations. Ripley speaks about how the emotions experiences of both criminals and CEOs are remarkably similar, showing the effects of constant conflict on a person. Ripley also talks about what emotion she calls the "nuclear bomb" of human emotions.

Author, poet and educator Clint Smith joins host James Howell on today's episode of Maybe I'm Amazed to talk about the still very present impacts of slavery in modern society, and why the concept of slavery is much more recent in history than we generally believe it to be.

Clint Smith is the author of #1 NY Times Bestseller How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America, a book of poetry called Counting Descent, and is a staff writer at the Atlantic.

Old Testament scholar and Anglican clergyman John Goldingay joins James Howell to break down the book of Isaiah.

Amy Brittain has a voracious appetite for reading. She reads more than 100 books per year, and has worked as a publisher both for a major publishing company and on her own as a freelancer. As an outlet for her reading obsession, Amy created The Bossy Bookworm, a website dedicated to reviewing books that Amy reads.

In today's episode of Maybe I'm Amazed, host Dr. James Howell sits down with Amy to talk about their shared love of the written word, how they discover new books and what drives their passion to read.

There's a part of building a legacy that has a bit of bittersweetness to it. When you plant a tree, you know you may not live long enough to enjoy the fruit it produces, or the shade it creates. When you build something meant to last for generations or millenniums, you can be sure you'll only see a small fraction of your vision.

Today's guest on Maybe I'm Amazed is Allen Walworth. Allen has worked with many churches, including Myers Park UMC in Charlotte, on building lasting relationships with donors, and managing their giving campaigns.

Allen talks to host James Howell about the joys of giving, some of the reasons why people he's worked with give to the church, and how giving helps one plant a tree of their own.

In honor of Memorial Day and to help remember all those who gave their lives at war serving the United States, today's guest on Maybe I'm Amazed is Rufus Dalton, a 96 year-old veteran of WW2. Despite being technically too young to enlist at the time, Rufus was able to join the forces and fight on the front lines in southern France.

Rufus talks to James Howell about the clever way in which he was able to enlist, his service on the ground and what life was like in the trenches, and getting injured by shrapnel. Rufus also looks back on his life and service by considering what being part of the Greatest Generation means to him, the differences in military recruitment today versus back then, and revisiting a French town he had fought in. Finally, Rufus recites a poem from memory that a friend of his wrote that truly captures the spirit of Memorial Day.

"Money Rock" is what friends of Belton Platt used to call him when he was selling large amounts of cocaine in Charlotte, NC in the 1980s. The endeavors that earned Platt that nickname also landed him in federal prison for more than 20 years. Since that time, Platt has reformed himself, become a pastor, and has even started several mentorship programs.

Money Rock isn't just a nickname, it's also the title of a 2018 book written about Platt's life and urban gentrification in Charlotte written by Pam Kelly.

Platt joins host James Howell on today's episode of Maybe I'm Amazed to talk about growing up in Piedmont Courts, his mother's activism, his experiences in prison, how he changed his life around, how he now uses basketball camps to teach leadership, and where he hears the voice of God.

Frequent listeners of the podcast know what kind of affinity host James Howell has for books and reading. With an appetite for information as voracious as ever, James is never far from a good book.

Today's guest on Maybe I'm Amazed is an author, historian and an old friend of James: Frye Gaillard. Frye, who now lives and teaches in his home state of Alabama, was once neighbors with James in Charlotte, NC. Gaillard's work, including his newest book "A Hard Rain," focus on the civil rights movement of the 1960's.

James and Frye talk on the podcast about the relationship between journalism and history, why history matters, Robert Kennedy and South African apartheid, the Beatles and Rock n' Roll, and Frye's thoughts on James' assertion that the 60s were the most important decade of the 20th century.