If you had asked me when I graduated high school if I wanted to be a podcaster, I would have had no idea what you were talking about. I don’t think I even listened to a podcast for the first time until after I graduated from college, and yet here I am, fifty episodes deep on my own podcast.
So, how did I get here? Well, let me tell you about it.
I grew up in a Christian home and personally trusted Christ at a young age. When I was around twelve years old, I started to develop an interest in ministry. I wanted to be a pastor or missionary. So, when I finished high school, I went to Crown College, a small independent Baptist school in east Tennessee. There, I got a solid theological education and I also discovered that I love to study, read, and learn.
After college, a couple of months before I got married, I began work as an assistant pastor at my home church, Good News Baptist Church, in Chesapeake, VA. There, I began to get practical experience in ministry and I began to grow as a preacher and teacher. I also discovered that, along with studying, reading, and preaching, I love to write.
Then comes 2020, and I, like many others, find myself uniquely stretched. There’s a time when our church is not meeting in person and we’re trying to be creative in how we’re getting God’s Word to our church family. We’re still able to live stream our services by running things with just a small group of people, but we also want to do something specifically for the kids and teens in the church. So I start shooting, editing, and posting Bible lessons for the children and teens every week. I only teach some of the lessons, but I edit every video. All this video work is new for me and I have no idea what I’m doing. But to my great surprise, I enjoy it, and as time goes on, I start to get better at it. People start to comment on some of the videos and how good they think they are and I feel like I’m getting better at being creative and engaging in front of the camera.
That gets me wondering about what other areas I might have where I can grow as a communicator. I start to read some books on effective communication. I only think self-help style books can carry you so far, but I notice a theme that keeps popping up in those books I read. The writers keep talking about the importance of storytelling. Everyone—from marketers to CEOs to people giving Ted Talks—seems to be intent on harnessing the power of storytelling. Knowing that I’m not a good storyteller, I decide that I need to get better. And I know there’s no better way to improve at something than to just do it!
So, I ask myself, How can I make myself regularly practice storytelling? And an odd idea strikes me.
The year before, I was at a conference at Crown College and one of my former teachers spoke in one of the sessions. His name is Scott Pauley and he’s a great storyteller. But in this particular session during this conference, he’s talking about meditating on God’s Word and he points out that one important aspect of meditating on the Bible is sharing what we have learned with others. And he tells those of us in the breakout session that he started his podcast “Enjoying the Journey” partially to help him regularly share with others what God is teaching him. Well, I figure that if Scott Pauley can start a podcast to help him with a good habit, so can I!
So I determine I’m going to start a podcast. I figure that if I have an audience, even if the audience is only a dozen people or so, it will help me be consistent with telling stories and trying to do it well. My church already has recording equipment from a radio program we ran for a while, so I’m set there. I do some research to learn about how to set up the online side of things, I familiarize myself with the software I’m going to use, and I start to gather stories that I want to tell on the podcast. I brainstorm possible names for the podcast and I look for theme music. I also know I want the podcast to be immersive, so I look for music and sound effects that I can use to make the stories come to life.
And so Exempla is born.
At first it’s just a few people listening—family and a few friends. Word slowly spreads and the number of listeners grows a little, but my audience stays small. That doesn’t bother me too much since the purpose for the podcast was never to amass a following. I’m just trying to grow my storytelling skills.
And as the months pass, it seems to be working. I notice my stories getting better and my preaching and teaching becoming more vibrant.
This growth leads me to dive even more deeply into the concept of storytelling, looking to the Bible for what we can learn about how Christians can use stories to share the truth with others. I discover that the Bible is packed with storytellers, not least of all Jesus himself. My study leads to a class on storytelling that I teach at my church. The class then grows into a book, The Christian Storyteller, which I published last fall. All the while, my work on Exempla is helping me learn more and more about the dos and don’ts of a well-told story.
In May of 2024, as I wrap up a second season of the podcast, I’m really happy with some of the stories I’ve been able to tell and I think the podcast has made a difference, but I’m starting to think that maybe Exempla has served it’s purpose. It might be time for my podcasting days to end. I’m back and forth about whether I want to do a third season when, one day, I get a message from Paul Hastings. Paul is the host of the Compelled Podcast. If you haven’t listened to Compelled, you should definitely check it out. It’s really well done—Christian testimonies that are expertly edited and mixed.
From a production standpoint, Compelled is on another level compared to Exempla. Also, Compelled is a very successful podcast with a large following. And yet, here’s Paul Hastings reaching out and saying that he’s listened to a few episodes of Exempla and he likes what he’s heard. He wants to talk. I’m unreasonably nervous going into the conversation, but as we talk, it’s quickly apparent that God has gifted Paul as an encourager. I’ve talked with Paul several times since that first conversation, and every time we talk, Paul is honest and gives helpful feedback, but I always leave our conversations invigorated and encouraged.
After our first conversation, Paul reaches out again and tells me about an idea he has for a podcast network. He’s passionate about podcasts that are devoted to telling stories well for the glory of God. He wants to bring some of those podcasts together so we can all encourage each other and help each other reach a larger audience.
And Paul invites me to be part of that network. When the Proclaim podcast network launches in August of last year, my audience immediately explodes. Many of you are listening right now because you found out about me through one of the other podcasts in the network. It’s kind of crazy to me that there are hundreds—even thousands—of people who listen to Exempla who I have never met and probably never will meet.
I think that’s pretty cool.
And so here we are. You know, my life has been pretty normal. I haven’t had any jaw-dropping experiences or newsworthy accomplishments, but as I look back, it’s clear to me that God has been working. When we try to follow God, He has a way of keeping us walking in the right direction.
Psalm 37 says, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.” (Psalm 37:23-24)
Part of God’s guidance comes in the form of the people He brings into our lives. In preparation for this episode, I did some thinking, reflecting on the many people who have pointed me to Christ along the way—my wife, my parents, pastors, college professors, church members, friends… Frankly, it’s overwhelming. It’s a long list.
Looking back makes me deeply thankful.
Can I challenge you to do one thing? Take some time to write down your story. You might focus on one particular episode in your life or you might try to tell it all. Your story might be full of pain and tragedy; it might be full of joy; it might be a little boring. But as you think through the ups and downs of what you have experienced, let me encourage you to look for two things. Look for the ways God led you when you didn’t even realize it, using circumstances or people to point you in the right direction because of what He knew was ahead. And look for the people God has brought into your life to encourage, teach, and challenge you along the way. Whether you see it or not, God’s fingerprints are all over your story. When we take time to reflect, we can often begin to trace those fingerprints and catch a glimpse of God’s amazing plan as it unfolds in our lives.
Taking time to relive the past can sometimes be hard, but if you look in the right place, it will fill your heart with gratitude to God and it might make you want to give somebody a hug the next time you see them.
God is good, and God’s people are amazing.
Learn More
Listen to Scott Pauley’s podcast “Enjoying the Journey“
Listen to Paul Hastings’s podcast “Compelled“
Check out the Proclaim Podcast Network
Exempla 