Plain Values Podcast

In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast …

Some people build businesses. Others build lives that point to something greater.

In this powerful conversation, Derek and Lisa Guyer share the raw, beautiful story of their journey; from financial brokenness and a tiny two-bedroom home with six kids in one room, to owning and transforming Kentucky Lumber into a place of integrity, character, and genuine care.

Derek openly talks about the early failures, the lessons learned from his parents, and the deliberate choice to create a company culture where employees feel safe, customers are treated like family, and tough love meets real respect.

At the center of it all is their deep commitment to fostering and adopting children from hard places. Derek describes the chaos, the screaming, the fear… and the unwavering decision to be the safe place these kids desperately need.

Through every trial, financial stress, loss, and the daily grind, they return to the same truth: generosity matters most when it’s hardest.

If this conversation filled your coffee cup, we would humbly invite you to leave a thoughtful comment below and please, don’t be shy … the Like and Subscribe buttons help more friends find this episode. 

We’re always looking for more friends.

Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com

Marlin has always loved the simple, sensory pleasure of holding a real book or magazine; the feel of the paper, the weight in his hands. 

In this episode, he reflects on how rare and precious books once were in the Middle Ages, when monks painstakingly copied them by hand. Then Gutenberg’s printing press changed everything by giving “wings to truth.”

He beautifully connects this to God’s own design: trees become paper, language becomes Scripture, and the written word allows divine truth to spread across generations.

These short, heartfelt Minutes with Marlin deliver quick moments of wisdom, faith, humility, and encouragement—perfect for busy homestead days when we need a gentle reminder of what really matters.

Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com

In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast …

Some stories remind us that God still does the impossible.

On a seemingly normal Monday morning in 2013, Becky Mast collapsed at home. Within minutes she had no heartbeat. For the next 35 minutes she received no oxygen to her brain. She was clinically dead.

What followed was a cascade of miracles.

Paramedics worked on her relentlessly. After six shocks and heroic CPR, her heart finally restarted. Doctors at multiple hospitals gave grim prognoses, massive brain damage was expected. They prepared Jimmy for the possibility of bringing his wife home in a wheelchair, or worse.

Instead, after being anointed with oil according to James 5, Becky began showing signs of life. She responded to her favorite worship song. She spoke. She walked. She came home just 15 days later.

Jimmy and Becky share their story with raw honesty; the fear, the prayers, the friends who carried them, and the undeniable hand of God that defied every medical expectation.

If this conversation filled your coffee cup, we would humbly invite you to leave a thoughtful comment below and please, don’t be shy … the Like and Subscribe buttons help more friends find this episode. 

We’re always looking for more friends.

Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com

As a young boy, Marlin watched a powerful storm roll through with tornadoes touching down nearby. 

A funnel cloud spun just 100 yards behind their house, hovering above the treetops. While the rest of the family took shelter in the basement, his dad stood outside, calmly watching in awe of nature’s raw power.

Marlin was terrified, yet deeply moved by his father’s fearless wonder. That moment stayed with him.

These short, heartfelt Minutes with Marlin deliver quick moments of wisdom, faith, humility, and encouragement—perfect for busy homestead days when we need a gentle reminder of what really matters.

Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com

In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast, Marlin sits down with his good friend Larry Yoder for a conversation about God’s incredible redeeming grace.

Larry shares his remarkable journey of growing up Amish, leaving the church as a teenager, and spiraling into a life of heavy drug use, partying, and bad choices. From smoking weed at 11 to nearly overdosing multiple times, Larry openly talks about how he was searching for something to fill the void but kept running from the very thing he needed most: Jesus.

Then came the turning point. Sitting at a pizza shop with friends who simply shared how Jesus had changed their lives, Larry surrendered everything. What followed was radical transformation… quitting drugs cold turkey, moving to Baltimore to serve in an inner-city ministry, meeting his wife Amanda, and eventually stepping into the work he does today with Pure Gift of God.

Now, Larry and his team work tirelessly to support foster care and adoption, helping children find loving homes and walking alongside families through the hard, beautiful work of building forever families. His story is a powerful reminder that no one is too far gone for God’s grace, and that our past pain can become the very platform God uses to bring hope to others.

If you’ve ever wondered whether God can truly redeem the messiest parts of our stories, or if you want to be encouraged by a testimony of radical transformation, this episode is for you.

If this conversation filled your coffee cup, we would humbly invite you to leave a thoughtful comment below and please, don’t be shy … the Like and Subscribe buttons help more friends find this episode. 

We’re always looking for more friends.

Learn more about Larry Yoder’s work at https://puregiftofgod.org

Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com

It was a bitterly cold December day in 2016 (just 5 or 10 degrees) when Marlin, his brother, and a friend headed north to fly fish for steelhead. Marlin had years of experience and was excited to show off a little.

But pride has a way of humbling us. While demonstrating how it’s done, Marlin stepped in a deep hole and fell face-first upstream. His waders instantly filled with freezing river water. Soaked, freezing, and embarrassed, he had to trudge back to the truck while his brother and friend enjoyed a great day catching fish.

Marlin didn’t get to fish at all that day, but he walked away with a memorable lesson.

These short, heartfelt Minutes with Marlin deliver quick doses of wisdom, faith, humility, and encouragement—perfect for busy homestead days when we need a gentle reminder of what really matters.

Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com

In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast, Marlin sits down with his longtime friend and former pastor, Marlin Beachy, for a raw and honest conversation about life, ministry, and the unimaginable pain of losing a child.

Marlin shares his journey from growing up Amish, leaving the church at age eight after his father’s powerful conversion, to pastoring in Alaska for 30 years. But at the heart of this episode is the heartbreaking story of losing their son Ryan in a tragic motorcycle accident when a moose stepped into his path. Marlin doesn’t sugarcoat the shock, the grief, or the long road of learning to live with a pain that never fully goes away.

Together, they wrestle with hard questions: How do you trust God’s sovereignty when your world is shattered? What does it really mean to grieve with hope? And how do you keep walking forward when the wound is still fresh years later?

This isn’t a polished sermon… it’s a heartfelt, vulnerable dialogue between two men who love the Lord and have walked through deep valleys. If you’ve ever experienced loss, known someone walking through grief, or simply need to be reminded that God is still good even when life hurts most, this episode will meet you right where you are.

If this conversation filled your coffee cup, we would humbly invite you to leave a thoughtful comment below and please, don’t be shy … the Like and Subscribe buttons help more friends find this episode. 

We’re always looking for more friends.

Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com

Things don’t always go according to plan.

In this very first Minute with Marlin episode, Marlin Miller shares a memorable winter day when he and Lisa were trying to take their family to a little cabin for a much-needed getaway. What they didn’t plan on was waking up to a foot and a half of beautiful but heavy, powdery snow.

After getting the tractor stuck while trying to clear the steep driveway, Marlin hooked a chain to their Subaru Outback to pull it out… only to bury the car as well. Hours behind schedule and frustrated, they finally got on the road.

As they passed their elderly widow neighbor shoveling her sidewalk, Marlin pulled over. Despite being late and the chaos of the morning, they stopped to help her. A small act of kindness in the middle of their own struggle.

Marlin’s gentle reminder is simple yet powerful: A small act of kindness can go a long way.

These short, heartfelt Minutes with Marlin are quick moments of wisdom, faith, humility, and encouragement—perfect for busy homestead days when you need a reminder of what really matters.

Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com

In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast, Marlin sits down with his longtime friend and neighbor, Jerry Miller.

Jerry shares his life on the family farm in Holmes County, 173 acres that have been in his wife Gloria’s family since the late 1800s. He talks about raising five boys and now enjoying five grandchildren, milking 60–70 Jersey cows, and operating a certified organic, grass-fed dairy.

The conversation turns to the deep grief Jerry’s family has walked through. Jerry was the youngest of 11 children when his father died by suicide when Jerry was only four. He reflects on his mother’s strength and the way she never spoke harshly about his dad, protecting her children from bitterness. 

Years later, Jerry and Gloria lost their oldest son Kevin in a farm accident at age 15. Jerry also shares the ongoing health challenges their daughter Lisa and son Micah face.

Through it all, Jerry emphasizes the power of community, the hands and feet of Jesus shown by neighbors who stepped in during their hardest days, and the importance of allowing God to deal with the roots of bitterness so that healing and fruitfulness can come.

He speaks honestly about the need for believers to move beyond simply believing to actively doing… serving, showing up, and carrying one another’s burdens in tangible ways.

This heartfelt conversation is filled with hard-won wisdom, deep faith, and a quiet call to live as true doers of the Word.

If this conversation filled your coffee cup, we would humbly invite you to leave a thoughtful comment below and please, don’t be shy … the Like and Subscribe buttons help more friends find this episode. 

We’re always looking for more friends.

Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com

In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast, Marlin sits down with Aaron and Katie Ficker for the first of several conversations.

Aaron, the oldest of eight, shares what it was like growing up as his family followed the Lord’s call from Illinois to Guatemala. His dad, a corporate pilot, gave up a successful career, bought an old school bus, rebuilt it, and drove the family through Mexico to answer what they believed was God’s direction. Aaron describes the adventure, the challenges, and the faith that carried them through a spiritually dark and difficult time in a war-torn area.

Katie shares how she first went to Guatemala on a short-term trip while in nursing school, fell in love with the people and the work, and decided to stay. She talks about the clinics they helped run, the deep needs they saw, and the way the Lord used their obedience in hard places.

The conversation touches on the realities of serving in a remote area during the tail end of civil war… the poverty, the spiritual darkness, the broken family structures, and the hope that slowly grew as trust was built over time. Aaron and Katie reflect on how their parents’ radical obedience shaped their own lives and how they continue to seek the Lord’s leading as they raise their own family.

This honest and encouraging discussion is filled with stories of faith, sacrifice, and the quiet ways God works through ordinary people who say yes to His call.

If this conversation filled your coffee cup, we would humbly invite you to leave a thoughtful comment below and please, don’t be shy … the Like and Subscribe buttons help more friends find this episode. 

We’re always looking for more friends.

Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com