True North Man

The role of police in America has been under extreme scrutiny over the past year. What does the path for healing look like, and what can accountable policing look like? Dr. Obed Magny believes the answer lies, in part, in emotional intelligence. 

“If emotional intelligence has been proven to be effective in the public and private sector, and in just about every industry — in resiliency, stress management, and handling conflicts — why would we not do that today in policing?” Dr. Magny, himself an emotional intelligence trainer and de-escalation expert with 16 years of experience in policing, said. 

Far too few resources have historically been devoted to cultivating things like emotional intelligence and cultural awareness in police units, he continued. For all 18,000 police departments in the U.S., most only devote a maximum of four to six hours of training — if that — to emotional intelligence topics in their six-month academies. And the result is hurting not only the people being policed but also the people doing the policing. 

“This is where my passion lies,” he said. “We talk about emotional trauma because trauma can be physical, but the mental part of it is just as, if not more, prevalent. And so if we’re going to heal as a nation moving forward — if we’re going to build on trust and legitimacy moving forward — there’s got to be an understanding of the other side.” 

Through his work with the American Society of Evidence-Based Policing — the organization he co-founded to help bring science, research, and empathy into the way law enforcement implements the law — he hopes this understanding will be achieved. In this episode of True North Man, Paul and Dr. Magny talk about what it’ll take to innovate police systems for the modern era, for the benefit of all.

What You’ll Learn:

• How a lack of research and development led to the crises facing police officers today, and what police units can borrow from the private sector to correct that
• Why it’s important to see police as part of the community instead of separate from it
• How Dr. Magny describes his approach to leadership
• And much more! 

Favorite Quote:

“Emotional intelligence training is one way to mitigate issues and establish trust, legitimacy, and an understanding of different people, different cultures and subcultures, and so on. Because once I see you and I understand you and know who you are, then I can better interact with you and I can have more effective communication with you.”

— Dr. Obed Magny

Connect With Dr. Magny:

LinkedIn

Instagram

Twitter

The American Society of Evidence-Based Policing

How To Get Involved:

Discover all that Paul Beam has to offer at www.true-north-ministries.com 

Enjoyed the episode? Hop over to Apple Podcasts for more! Like and share to help spread the word. We appreciate your support—and we hope to return the favor: Leave a review to let us know what you want to hear from Paul next. 

Growing up with an abusive father led John Ward to believe at an early age that his life had little worth. There was no escape from the abuse — mental, physical, and emotional — that he endured. Ultimately, he’d seek that escape at every turn in life after dropping out of high school at age 16 to pop pills, fight and steal with his friends. 

One particularly bad fight led John to military school in exchange for the jail time he was facing. There, he started to feel the first glimmer of self-worth he’d ever known in life, but still left the military feeling embittered by its lack of accountability for those in power. After that, it was back to a self-destructive lifestyle, one marked by violence, cocaine addiction, and membership in an outlaw motorcycle gang. 

“I was a victim. I was a victim no matter what the circumstance. I had no self-worth… And what that does to somebody, not feeling worthy, is it will lead you into places you never would have expected yourself to be in.” 

One of those places, John was horrified to discover, was repeating the cycle of his own father’s hostility with his wife, their daughter, and his step-children. Still, saddled as he was by drug addiction and little will to live, John couldn’t find the motivation to change his life. Until God reentered it unexpectedly. 

In this episode of True North Man, Paul and John talk about the power of finding self-worth through God and breaking free of the cycles of your past. 

What You’ll Learn:

• How the idea he’d never be good enough became a poison that nearly ruined John’s life
• What’s helped him maintain his sobriety for five years
• How John and his wife, through the church and marital counseling, changed their family dynamic to one of love and mercy 
• And much more!

Favorite Quote:

“Life isn’t guaranteed to be easy. But with God on your side, struggles don’t seem like so much of a struggle. Your problems aren’t so big. There’s nothing insurmountable.” 

— John Ward

How To Get Involved:

Discover all that Paul Beam has to offer at www.true-north-ministries.com 

Enjoyed the episode? Hop over to Apple Podcasts for more! Like and share to help spread the word. We appreciate your support—and we hope to return the favor: Leave a review to let us know what you want to hear from Paul next. 

In 2001, Alan Placer was content enough with his life. 

He was married with a child, a new home and a stable job. When he was unable to answer what additional goals he had in life, his boss warned him that “if you don’t grow, you’re gonna grow stale.” At the time, Alan didn’t believe him. Six months later, he had lost that job, and two weeks after that, 9/11 terror happened.

“I wound up responding to the World Trade Centers,” Alan, who’s also a Firefighter EMT, said. “Thankfully I’m one of the people who got to come home, but obviously with a lot of PTSD issues. I saw horrible things there and escaped death several times.” 

He emerged from that experience “awakened.” 

“I understood what ‘going stale’ was. That I was just, like so many men do, settling for what came and what was in front of me, only taking advantage of opportunities if someone told me they were there.” 

From that point on, Alan’s life — and his relationship to fear — changed. On this episode of True North Man, Paul and Alan talk about how he went from a newly divorced single parent making $15 an hour to overcoming fear, starting his own business and transforming his life. 

What You’ll Learn:

• How Alan separates being fearful from being cautious (and why it’s still good to be the latter)
• The lessons he’s learned guiding his business through the pandemic
• And much more!

Favorite Quote:

“There is no ‘new normal.’ Everything is always normal. There's just stuff that happens that you have to overcome.”

– Alan Placer

Connect With Alan: 

LinkedIn

How To Get Involved:

Discover all that Paul Beam has to offer at www.true-north-ministries.com 

Enjoyed the episode? Hop over to Apple Podcasts for more! Like and share to help spread the word. We appreciate your support—and we hope to return the favor: Leave a review to let us know what you want to hear from Paul next. 

To some, “sovereignty” is a loaded term. That’s because the idea that you’re the one with power over your life can seem at odds as a Christian man with the message that God is the only sovereign. But that’s not the way Ryan Michler, founder of Order of Man, chooses to look at it. 

“The concept of sovereignty is in direct alignment with the concept of Christianity,” he says. “God has given us agency over our own lives… If you didn't have any agency, there would be no sin. There would also be no glory, right? If you were forced to do something — if you had to do it a certain way because you did not have any authority over your own life or any agency — there would be no plan of salvation. It wouldn't be necessary, actually. What makes it so rewarding is that you do have agency and that's a gift bestowed by God.”

Ryan has made it his mission to reconnect men with their sovereignty and help them reclaim power and authority in their lives. God has given us a personal responsibility to do that, he says, and it’s up to us as individuals to act on it.

On this episode of True North Man, Paul and Ryan talk about living a life that’s aligned with your virtues, the importance of seeing balance as an active verb instead of a static goal, and how sovereignty can help you be a better man.

What You’ll Learn:

• How Ryan developed a “four-quadrant approach” to help men reclaim their sovereignty through Calibration, Condition, Connection and Contribution 
• Why he believes that most people fail to intentionally use their time
• How he, as a father of four, applies the principles of his faith to parenting
• And much more!

Favorite Quote:

“It's not ‘if it's God's will.’ It's ‘if it's your will.’ But people don't like that language. They think it's at direct odds with Christianity, and I happen to believe it's directly in alignment with it. I think what God is hoping we’ll do is take these tools and resources and use them effectively by our own accord and produce positive outcomes for ourselves and the people that we have responsibility for.”

— Ryan Michler

Connect With Ryan: 

Orderofman.com

Instagram

Order of Man podcast

How To Get Involved:

Discover all that Paul Beam has to offer at www.true-north-ministries.com 

Enjoyed the episode? Hop over to Apple Podcasts for more! Like and share to help spread the word. We appreciate your support—and we hope to return the favor: Leave a review to let us know what you want to hear from Paul next.

Roy Edwards has been “obsessed,” in his words, with making remote work a reality since long before the pandemic started. It’s the basis of the business he started with his wife, Capitol Presence. And it’s also a mission that, for Roy, has highly personal meaning. 

That’s because, at 12 years old, Roy was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, an inflammatory bowel disease. In the short-term, that meant clocking hours in doctors’ waiting rooms and being pulled out of sports. In the long-term, it meant big consequences for how — and where — he’d be able to most comfortably live his life. An office, he began to think, may not be for him.

Ultimately, Roy did start his career in an office, working for the government. Until a particularly bad flare up sent him to the hospital, where it was determined that he’d need about a foot and a half of his intestines removed. 

“I was sitting in a hospital bed with my intestines literally hanging out of my stomach,” he recalls. “I had an ostomy bag, and I’m laying there in excruciating pain. I had to pull out my laptop and work. I was able to take off about a day and a half of this and was in the hospital for three weeks, working from the hospital. I was like, screw this.”

The inflexibility he felt from his employer during a time of crisis ultimately galvanized Roy to help create better workplace flexibility, for himself and others. From the hospital, he and his wife filed for an LLC, and now, six years later, their agency is delivering top-of-the-line customized products and solutions to businesses. 

On this episode of True North Man, host Paul Beam and Roy talk about creating a life on your own terms, going into business with your spouse, and why we should all be able to #workwherever. 

What You’ll Learn:

• The exercise Roy recommends for figuring out how to leave corporate life behind
• How to apply the lessons of 2020 to every year (and why we should)
• Why it’s OK not to use your degree
• And much more!

Favorite Quote:

“That's what innovation is. God has given us the tools, but we have to change. We have to be able to take action on those tools and the gifts that God's given us to ultimately become who he wants us to become. We're not going to become who he wants us to become by just sitting back and being like, ‘Look at all these blessings.’ He gave you those blessings, and he gave you those tools to take action.”

— Roy Edwards

Connect with Roy:

Innovare Podcast

Capitol Presence

Facebook

LinkedIn

How To Get Involved:

Discover all that Paul Beam has to offer at www.true-north-ministries.com 

Enjoyed the episode? Hop over to Apple Podcasts for more! Like and share to help spread the word. We appreciate your support—and we hope to return the favor: Leave a review to let us know what you want to hear from Paul next. 

Dr. Paul Henning — an active-duty Army officer who specializes in warfighter health and performance — has always been interested in the way optimized bodies yield optimized minds. 

In the Army, that interest has led him from everything to biomedical research on what soldiers should eat before specific types of missions to the pioneering of new injury-reducing physical assessment tests. Outside of the Army, Dr. Henning applies many of these same principles to a different kind of soldier — namely, working parents. 

A father of four himself, Dr. Henning is also a strength and conditioning coach who helps busy parents find holistic solutions that enhance their health, energy and mindset using a combination of behavioral psychology, exercise and nutrition. And for the working dads these solutions often have a transformational impact. 

“As men, I think we put a lot on our shoulders,” he says. “I say to myself, ‘I'm responsible for my family. I gotta provide, I gotta be there, I gotta show up and provide emotional support for them’… I think it's very important to have our fitness in check, because it just helps us stand up and be better men.”

On this episode of True North Man, host Paul Beam and Dr. Henning talk about the connection between a healthy body and a healthy life, why Dr. Henning joined the Army after getting his doctorate in Exercise Physiology, and what other working dads can learn from his example.

What You’ll Learn:

• How Dr. Henning’s work in the Army helps improve soldiers’ health and well-being
• Why creating new “habit loop mechanisms” is one of the biggest goals he works on with clients
• How journaling, meditation and “nutrition IQ” can help your overall fitness goals
• And much more!

Favorite Quote:

“I'm not saying that everybody's gonna have a six pack. But I think that when you’re in shape — whatever that means to you, since it’s different for different people — but I think that when you feel good about yourself and you get up day after day able to feel genuinely good inside and can look in the mirror and feel good, you start to carry yourself differently. You start to show up for your family and at your workplace differently, and that self-confidence just goes through the roof.”

— Dr. Paul Henning

Connect with Dr. Henning: 

Drpaulhenningphd.com

LinkedIn

Facebook

How To Get Involved:

Discover all that Paul Beam has to offer at www.true-north-ministries.com 

Enjoyed the episode? Hop over to Apple Podcasts for more! Like and share to help spread the word. We appreciate your support—and we hope to return the favor: Leave a review to let us know what you want to hear from Paul next. 

EP 20: The Lifestyle Of A Full-Time Missionary - Craig Alsup

On this episode of True Man North, Paul Beam and Craig Alsup take a deeper look into the life of a full-time missionary. Craig and his family have been traveling the world as full-time missionaries for over 5 years. This amazing journey pushed the family to trust in God and build a stronger relationship with each other. Tune in to learn more about this lifestyle, and what led Craig to follow this path.  

Want to get more involved in your local ministry? If you are looking to learn more about the word of God and how to get involved in your local church, Craig and Paul discuss the best ways to step into a leadership role in your community.

Tune into this episode to hear the story of the events in Craig’s life that led to him becoming a full-time missionary and how that journey impacted his life.

What You’ll Learn:

• When to seek your next steps in life from God and how to know it’s time to make a tough decision.
• How to seek a deeper connection with God and why now is the time to do so!
• What motivates missionaries to spread the Lord’s word even in difficult times.
• And much more!

Favorite Quote:

“Years ago, I declared to God, ‘Whatever it is that you want me to do, the answer is yes. Wherever you want me to go, the answer is yes. Whatever you want me to give, the answer is yes.’ I believe when we say, with intention, ‘I will do whatever you put in front of me, God’ that frees up space for God to put things in front of you.”

- Craig Alsup

Connect With Craig:

Facebook Page

Send Craig An Email: [email protected]

How To Get Involved:

Discover all that Paul Beam has to offer at www.true-north-ministries.com 

Enjoyed the episode? Hop over to Apple Podcasts for more! Like and share to help spread the word. We appreciate your support—and we hope to return the favor: Leave a review to let us know what you want to hear from Paul next. 

Ask Chad Owen what one of the biggest problems plaguing society today is and he’ll tell you without hesitation: fatherlessness. That can mean fatherlessness in the literal sense, but it also applies to those whose fathers have been absent emotionally, spiritually or mentally. And the gaps left behind by this kind of neglect are often severe — they were for Chad’s own dad. 

Entering the foster system at age 12, Chad’s father ultimately wound up living with an abusive uncle. Although Chad believes he did his best, the wounds left behind by this experience never fully healed for his father, and they came out in some of the ways that Chad, in turn, was parented. It’s all part of a vicious, and common, cycle that harms so many people’s identities — something that Chad, now a father to four children himself, felt called by God to write about. But by forging resilient identities that are rooted in Christ, he believes that people can put an end to this cycle. 

“If you have an identity that you’re a child of God, that your Father is the king, and you have the Holy Spirit inside of you, that now drives your purpose,” he says. “If you listen to the Holy Spirit and follow your vision he gives you through your identity, that's when you become unstoppable.”

On this episode of True North Man, host Paul Beam discusses with Chad the key to healing broken identities, solving for the problem of fatherlessness, and better embodying unconditional love, to ourselves and others.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why a strong identity can impact the trajectory of your entire life
• Where true wealth is found, and how to use it to help others
• Why it’s so important for men to experience silence and solitude 
• And much more!

Favorite Quote:

“Some people unknowingly mistake purpose for significance. I believe another thing that men are looking for is significance, and we try to find in all the wrong places — going out partying with friends, sex, drugs, alcohol. Even business, you know, money. Collecting all the goods in the world and fancy cars, nice homes… When in reality our significance, if we’re talking about identity, is found in our identity being rooted in our Creator and our Heavenly Father. Because he finds us valuable.”

— Chad Owen

Connect With Chad: 

LinkedIn

SafeMoneyRadio.com

How To Get Involved:

Discover all that Paul Beam has to offer at www.true-north-ministries.com 

Enjoyed the episode? Hop over to Apple Podcasts for more! Like and share to help spread the word. We appreciate your support—and we hope to return the favor: Leave a review to let us know what you want to hear from Paul next. 

How well do you know Jesus Christ? There are a lot of young men who have a great calling, but they have done awful things that destroyed themselves but that doesn't mean that they are not qualified for the work of God. God can restore anything.

Troy Mangum is a former YWAM missionary, hardcore punk singer, drug counselor, train hopper, longboarder, exotic fruit farmer, vert skater, singer-songwriter, software engineering manager, traveling hitchhiker & seminary dropout. A Jesus follower, husband of one for 25 years, father of four amazing children & a restless creative. He has traveled the world learning about and taking on new adventures over the course of his life. The creator of the Kindling Fire Podcast and a product marketing guy at a software company. Troy is quite literally a jack of all trades, but far from a master of none, as over the last several years he has dedicated himself to being a beacon of hope and offering the necessary tools for men to live a more meaningful life. 

On this episode of True North Man, motivational speaker and a Jesus follower Troy Mangum and host Paul Beam go in a deeper analysis of Christ’s unconditional love. Listen to an interview that will give you a closer look at how God operates within us and rekindle the fire of your love for Him.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why surrendering yourself to Christ is important when you ask for His help to restore your life
• How to recognize God’s voice and understanding it
• What lead Troy to create the Kindling Fire podcast, what inspired him

Favorite Quote:

“For whatever reason, God is not yelling, he is not being blunt and direct and shaking you so that you know. He is very subtle, it’s easy to ignore, sometimes it’s hard to discern, and you need practice.” —Troy Mangum

Connect With Troy:

Thekindlingfire.com

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-kindling-fire-podcast/id1223786679?mt=2

How To Get Involved:

Discover all that Paul Beam has to offer at www.true-north-ministries.com 

Enjoyed the episode? Hop over to Apple Podcasts for more! Like and share to help spread the word. We appreciate your support—and we hope to return the favor: Leave a review to let us know what you want to hear from Paul next. 

Are there Buddhist Christians? Discussing enlightenment and the God that many different religions allude to.

Time served in the army: about 7 - 71/2 years  2005 - 2012

Time as a Buddhist : 2003 or so... Present

Bachelors of Science in Business Management with a cert in Entrepreneurship Currently working on my Masters in Business administration.

Sewing (trying to start a venture again in). 

From North Carolina. 

Working Sewing for custom orders and being a student.

Whether we’re right or wrong we tend to attach to a faith and a God. The purpose of religion and faith is to guide an individual or a group, it is not the destination. Once you get to the destination the religion or faith has served its purpose, whether it’s Buddhism or Christianity, etc. We ought to talk to one another to strengthen our faith through the sharing of ideas. Through the discussion of ideas we strengthen our communities. As Christians we should not shy away from people who believe differently.  We should embrace the different ideas in a manner that allows others to see Christ in us.  This is the epitome of “living in the world, but not being of the world.”

On this episode of the True North Man podcast, Paul and Rev. Sam talk about faith and the purpose it serves. They add a refreshing perspective on Religion and invite the listener to look deeper into their faith and perhaps find a way to walk the line without compromising their values. Tune in for an episode that will give you a view of how a Buddhist and a Christian can engage in meaningful, thought provoking dialogue without attacking or judging each other.  

What You'll Learn:

• Religions from all walks of life have more commonalities than we may have thought prior.
• How sharing our beliefs and perspectives may add value to another who may have a different religion or faith.
• We strengthen and sharpen one another through thoughtful discussions.
• And much more!

Favorite Quote:

"Attachments create suffering. Everything is impermanent. It’s all based on a numerical equation that nobody has the absolute formula to. "

• Rev. Sam

How to Get Involved:

 Paul Beam is on a mission to use his experience, wisdom and purpose to uplift men of faith to reach their full potential and become who they were created to be.

 Visit True North Man on Instagram and engage with the community here, and visit Paul himself on Facebook and at @paulbeam81.

And don't forget to check out this and other episodes on Apple Podcasts. Leave a rating and a review letting us know what you thought. Your feedback means the world!