Plain Values Podcast

In this raw and unforgettable episode of The Plain Values Podcast, photographer Eric Brown opens his studio in rural Eastern NC and his life. 

He talks with Marlin about his time in Nashville, family, and the six miraculous years with his daughter Pearl … born with holoprosencephaly, doctors called incompatible with life.

Eric shares the gut-punch diagnosis, the choice to welcome siblings into the room, the relentless care, and the beauty that flooded their home like Kodachrome. 

Pearl's death in 2018 left a void: his theology cracked, the darkness crept in, and alcohol numbed.

But in the end, Christ alone held everything together.

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 Eric Brown at https://www.ericbrownphoto.com/

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

Jake Drumm, a longtime paramedic now running Drumm Emergency Solutions and managing Watauga Flats Farm in East Tennessee, sat down for a raw, beautiful conversation. 

He shares stories from the ambulance that’ll make you hug your people tighter … about the ghosts that linger from years of witnessing grief, the burnout, and how true healing comes from community, not isolation.

And then there’s the farm … regenerative practices breathing life back into the land.

This episode is for every one of us walking this path, balancing family, land, and the call to care for others. Jake’s honesty about regrets, direction, and trusting God’s leading … it’s the encouragement we all need some days.

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 Jake Drumm at https://www.drummemergencysolutions.com

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

In this warm, heartfelt episode, Chris and Kelli Coyne (owners of Muletown Coffee in Columbia, Tennessee) share the unlikely story of how a small coffee roasting operation became the spark that transformed a forgotten downtown into a thriving community hub.

What started in 2013 as a risky venture in a near-empty square has grown into something far bigger than great coffee (though their roasts are repeatedly called “fantastic”). Chris boldly told his team on day one, “Remember, what we’re doing here is not about coffee.” It’s about what coffee does … it gives people an excuse to gather, linger, and connect.

From first dates to Bible studies, grieving friends finding solace on the porch, kids playing Uno with parents, and an elderly couple making the shop their daily ritual, Muletown has become Columbia’s living room. The owners credit “Porch Time” (organic gatherings born out of shared loss) for deepening those bonds and helping draw people back downtown.

Amid reflections on slowing down in a noisy world, resisting hustle culture, and generous giving over strict profit, one truth shines through: sometimes the simplest things—a good cup shared without hurry—can rebuild a community one conversation at a time.

Pull up a chair, grab your favorite mug, and listen in. You’ll leave wanting both better coffee and better connection.

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 a raw and moving episode of The Plain Values Podcast, Kevin Hewitt, CEO of Christian Children’s Home of Ohio, pulls back the curtain on a lifetime devoted to foster care, adoption, and healing traumatized children. 

From his own faith awakening as a teen, sparked by his brother’s battle with cancer and a faithful basketball coach, to quitting law school because his heart couldn’t settle for money over people, Kevin’s journey is one of relentless surrender to God’s call.

What shines brightest is his unapologetic reverence for foster parents. “When I think of true heroes,” he says, voice cracking, “it’s foster parents.” These everyday missionaries open their homes, absorb emotional baggage, and love children who’ve known only brokenness … all without seeking applause. 

Yet he doesn’t sugarcoat the pain. Fostering hurts. Love risks grief. The system isn’t perfect. But woven through every story is unshakable hope: every child bears eternal worth in Christ, and no story is over until God says so.

This episode will wreck you, then rebuild you with gratitude and courage. If you’ve ever wondered whether one life can make a difference, listen. Then pray about opening your own door.

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 remarkable conversation, we sit down with Dr. Roberto Matthew — born in Cuba, shaped by revolution, exile, poverty, and perseverance to trace a life marked by danger, resilience, and deep conviction. 

As a child, he fled Castro’s regime with his mother, sister, grandmother, and aunt, while his father stayed behind to support counter-revolution efforts. What followed was a journey through Colombia, Puerto Rico, and finally the United States … years marked by scarcity, trauma, relentless work, and the kindness of unlikely mentors.

Dr. Matthew describes memories of dictatorship, refugee life, the Bay of Pigs, cultural upheaval, and the fragile line between truth and propaganda. He later builds a distinguished medical career, survives profound personal loss, and witnesses both the failures and triumphs of modern medicine from the inside.

This episode is sweeping, vulnerable, and historically rich. A rare look at how one man’s lived experience reveals the cost of political extremism, the power of courage, and the quiet grace of simply telling the truth.

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.

Timestamps:

0:00 – Intro

2:24 – Escaping to Colombia by Boat 

14:56 – The CIA, Sugar Cane & Exports 

20:42 – JFK & The Bay of Pigs Fallout 

27:45 – Mom's Rebellion: "My Kids Are Not State Property" 

37:35 – Surviving Colombia: Selling Empanadas 

42:37 – Puerto Rico: Strict Nuns & Schooling

59:09 – The Cost of Medical School 

1:09:39 – Meeting His Wife 

1:15:22 – Pregnancy & a Nightmare Procedure

1:28:07 – Family Loss & The Blessing of Three Kids 

1:31:59 – Becoming a Heart Surgeon in Ohio 

1:35:58 – Room 20 

1:43:47 – Final Thoughts & Future Conversations

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In this episode, we sit down with Buck Alford, an Atlanta native who traded suburban life for the wide-open fields and beauty of upstate New York. Buck shares the unexpected path that pulled his family north: a growing conviction about food, place, hospitality, and living closer to the land. 

What began as a simple desire to cook with better ingredients evolved into ripping out suburban landscaping, experimenting with edible gardens, and ultimately moving onto his father-in-law’s sixth-generation farm.

Buck talks candidly about raising five kids through the transition, learning to farm by doing “the next obvious thing,” and discovering the power of gathering people around a table. From pigs and pasture experiments to forming a new community in a rural town, Buck’s story is a reminder that small, faithful steps can reshape a family’s entire trajectory.

If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like to rebuild life around food, place, and Christian hospitality, this conversation is for you.

This conversation encapsulates what we hope to do here with the Plain Values Podcast, telling stories that matter and bring us closer to the table.

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 week’s conversation, we sit down with therapist Kent Ernsting, a man shaped by a lifetime of caring for wounded hearts. 

Trained in Marriage and Family Therapy and Theology at Fuller Seminary, Kent has spent 35 years walking with people through trauma, addiction, attachment wounds, and the long road toward healing. His story begins with adoption, loss, and a defining question, “What will I do with this one wild and precious life?” and unfolds into a calling to invest deeply in people.

Kent shares how early family experiences, a radical encounter with Christ, and decades of counseling have formed his gentle, steady way of entering another person’s pain without judgment. From stories of neglected children in L.A. to adults battling hidden addictions, his work centers on one truth: healing begins when someone is willing to climb down into the dark with you.

It’s a conversation about compassion, presence, and the God who never stops pursuing us.

Find out more about Kent and his work at: https://www.hopesourcecounseling.org/

This conversation encapsulates what we hope to do here with the Plain Values Podcast, telling stories that matter and bring us closer to the table.

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.

Today’s episode is with our friend Dave Sims. Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com.

Dave Sims is a man whose life was split cleanly in two by a single moment. 

In 1998, a slow family bike ride turned into a catastrophic accident, leaving him a C5/6 quadriplegic. The years that followed carried every dark instinct a person can have: despair, anger, bargaining, and the hollow silence of wishing life would simply end.

But Dave’s story does not stop in the valley. It turns. And what unfolds after that turn is one of the most compelling testimonies we’ve ever featured.

This conversation is raw, honest, and saturated with grace. Don’t miss it.

Find out more about Dave and his work at: https://reallifeministries.com/

Welcome to the Plain Values Podcast, please meet our friend Dave Sims ...

This conversation encapsulates what we hope to do here with the Plain Values Podcast, telling stories that matter and bring us closer to the table.

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.

Today’s episode is with our friends Curt Yoder, Brian Yoder, and Mark Schlabach. Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com.

In the rolling hills of Amish country, a small youth deer hunt that started with just four kids in 2012 has exploded into something extraordinary... A thriving 501(c)(3) that gives disabled, special-needs, and first-time hunters a life-changing day in the woods.

Today, their flagship event draws 700+ spectators to watch 36 hunters—ages 9 to 80, many in wheelchairs or with profound challenges—head out across 32 private farms and a 580-acre lease. 

Wheelchair-accessible blinds, bite-trigger crossbows, mirrored scopes for blind hunters, thermal drones for tracking—nothing is too much. In 2024, 27 of 36 hunters tagged deer in one afternoon. Families wept. Nonverbal kids spoke their first words of excitement. One blind young man who had never seen a deer felt “buck fever” so intensely he shook uncontrollably, then harvested his first doe with help from Ten Point Crossbow’s Barb Terry.

Whitetail Heritage proves conservation isn’t just about herd management, it’s about stewardship of people too. In a culture that often overlooks the disabled or inexperienced, these men and their army of landowners, drone pilots, butchers, and volunteers are the hands and feet of something greater.

They’re praying the passion passes to the next generation and that God keeps their hearts fixed on the hunters, not the applause.

Find out more at: https://whitetailheritageofohio.net/

Welcome to the Plain Values Podcast, please meet our friend Curt Yoder ...

This conversation encapsulates what we hope to do here with the Plain Values Podcast, telling stories that matter and bringing us closer to the table.

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.

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Today’s episode is with our friend Julie Kerby. Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com.

Julie is the founder of Hope’s House Foster Closet and a woman who has spent nearly two decades on the front lines of foster care. Julie and her husband fostered for over 18 years and opened their home to more than 100 children through emergency placements, respite care, and long-term fostering. 

Along the way, they adopted a sibling group of five, each carrying their own complex story shaped by trauma, instability, and loss.

In this raw and moving conversation, Julie explains the reality few see. Children often arrive with only the clothes on their backs. Foster parents must immediately scramble to buy wardrobes, schedule medical exams, enroll kids in new schools, and manage nonstop agency calls… all while helping frightened children adjust to yet another unfamiliar home. And the financial support? Often less than a dollar an hour.

Hope’s House was born from this gap.

After stepping away from active fostering, Julie knew she couldn’t step away from the children. She transformed an empty house in Kidron’s historic village into a fully stocked support center for foster families. In just three years, Hope’s House now provides 90–100% of what foster families need in those first overwhelming days: beds, car seats, clothes, school supplies, diapers, hygiene items, toys, and emotional comfort.

Welcome to the Plain Values Podcast, please meet our friend Julie Kerby ...

This conversation encapsulates what we hope to do here with the Plain Values Podcast, telling stories that matter and bringing us closer to the table.

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.

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