Blog – Page 13 – Revealing Voices: Podcast and Blog

Amy Simpson: Author, Advocate, Life & Leadership Coach

March 11, 2018 Tony Roberts 2 Comments

Eric and I are very enthusiastic about Episode 2 with Amy Simpson (to be released March 15). I first became aware of Amy’s work when I was writing my spiritual memoir, Delight in Disorder. She had recently written Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and the Church’s Mission. This book opened the doors of the sanctuary for conversations, prayers, and outreach with those who have mental illness. It still inspires individual believers and bodies of Christ to be more engaged in mental health ministry, to see the image of God even in those whom many would judge to have unsound minds.

Amy is deeply committed to seeing purposeful people make the most of their gifts and opportunities. As an author, speaker, and life & leadership coach, she helps influencers get clear on their calling and thrive in times of transition. She inspires others to see clearly, lead boldly, live true, and fully engage in life with guiding purpose.

A creative professional and a former publishing executive, Amy has a heart for leaders who are ready to thrive through change and come out stronger. As a member of a family affected by serious mental illness, she holds strong convictions that each person’s life has purpose and that points of crisis are opportunities for transformation. As an experienced leader, filling roles from executive to entrepreneur, she knows how to help others turn challenges into resources.

Whether speaking into a microphone or through the written word, Amy is a gifted communicator with a prophetic voice. She is author of the award-winning books Blessed Are the Unsatisfied: Finding Spiritual Freedom in an Imperfect World, Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and the Church’s Mission, and Anxious: Choosing Faith in a World of Worry (all InterVarsity Press). She serves as an editor-at-large for Christianity Today’s CTPastors.com and a regular contributor for various publications. She also serves as a member of the board for Minds Renewed, a national consortium of Christians who serve those impacted by mental health concerns and addictive disorders.

As a life & leadership coach, Amy helps influencers thrive through change so they can see clearly, lead boldly, and live true. A firm believer that life is too short to waste time living out of sync with God’s purposes, she challenges clients throughout the United States to step into their calling with authenticity and excellence. She specializes in working with people who find themselves on the edge of something new, whether a new role, organization, approach, project, or career.

Amy holds an English degree from Trinity International University, an MBA from the University of Colorado, and CPCC certification from Coaches Training Institute. She loves to travel with her husband, Trevor, their two teenage girls, and their lovable dog, Rosie. She lives with these wonderful folks in the suburbs of Chicago, where she is committed to perfecting her dry sense of humor and reading nearly everything she can.

You can find Amy at…

email: contact@amysimpson.com

Website: www.amysimpson.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amy.simpson.author

Twitter: @aresimpson

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aresimpson/

Instagram: amy.r.simpson

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/aresimpson/

Our episode with Amy will be available on iTunes and this website March 15. We hope you will join us as we discuss with Amy such things as what inspired her to write about faith and mental illness, how we can be blessed to live an unsatisfied life, and h0w loving the church and loving persons with mental illness can make a difference in our lives and ministry.

A Long, Strange Trip and We’ve Only Just Begun

March 3, 2018 Tony Roberts Comments Off

Thursday, March 1, 2018; 6:00 p.m. ; The Riddle household. ; Columbus, Indiana.

We posted episode 1 while recording on Facebook Live. Half an hour later, we were celebrating with 15 of our closest friends in our mental health ministry!

It’s been a long, strange trip since we first stepped out onto that country road that crosses the Columbus Reformed Presbyterian church. How did we move from the germ of an idea to the uploading on iTunes? Much of the journey is shared and will continued to be shared here in this “Behind the Scenes” Revealog. Today, I want to go behind the “Behind the Scenes,” and dig into some of the hustle and tussle, the push and pull, the punch and counterpunch, that makes every creative collaboration produce a work that is greater than the sum of its parts.

1, It’s all about the length, man!

From the beginning, Eric and I held strong and vastly different ideas of how long our podcast would be. Eric referred Inglorious Pasterds: Three guys from the Midwest talking about spirituality, the news, and all the things. It clocks in at 2+ hours. I preferred Mike Rowe’s The Way I Heard It : short mysteries for curious minds with short attention spans. It runs a consistent 10 minutes. We knew we would have some compromising to do in the editing process and, quite frankly, that was none too fun. It required much prayer to come to a common mind even on the opening episode. But we did it. And early feedback tells me we did it well.

2. Lynda, Lynda, wherefore art thou?

Along the way, there have been many technical challenges that required many calls and emails. Then, Eric found Lynda, shimmering in the glow of a midnight moon. Lynda is a training website for everything from computer programming to website hosting to podcast development. Eric fell madly in love and tried desperately to share her affections with me, even setting us up on a date Valentines Day. But there was one big problem. Lynda shows you her ways through video tutorials. I am not a visual learner. More than this, I still belong to the old school that says videos are for entertainment, not education. So Lynda and I were doomed from the outset. I will now need to learn the podcast dance from Eric.

3. Podcasts that have inspired us.

We knew from the outset that it would be foolish to reinvent the wheel. We spent much time researching podcasts that dealt with the topics of faith and/or mental illness. We contacted some hosts who have responded very graciously. We hope to develop mutually beneficial relationships with persons sowing some of the same seed in God’s kingdom garden.

Two shows of particular note — CXMH a podcast at the intersection of Christianity & mental health, with Robert Vore. And, Fresh Hope for Mental Health, with Pastor Brad Hoefs. These shows are more than podcasts; they are ministries blessing folks like us and many others.

4. One down, how many to go?

When deciding on how we would list our episodes, we noted that some podcasts name theirs with three digits, like 001, 002, 003, etc… This numbering system is both ambitious and limiting. What if you end the show at 003? You’ve left people hanging. Then again, what if you come to 999 and there is nowhere else to go, like Y2K? We opted to modestly and accurately number ours conventionally 1, 2, 3, etc… We hope this doesn’t disrupt some Podcast Dewey Decimal System, but it seemed the spiritually humble thing to do.

5. Where do we go from here?

God only knows. By God’s grace, we have met or exceeded our original goals. Fundraising figure. Equipment purchases. Four interviews on the computer before opening episode. World premiere March 1. Now what?

We have some idea of what lies ahead, but we are also open to where the Spirit leads. And one way the Spirit leads is through the work of the body of Christ, believers with passion for God’s kingdom ministry.

We’ve had a lot of help along the way and we trust God will continue to provide. What can you do?

a. Pray, pray, pray. Prayer won’t get us all we want, but it will give us just what we need.

b. Listen, share. Mental health ministry is not to exist in a vacuum. Care enough to share.

c. Subscribe, so you will get the latest episodes the moment that appear.

d. Review and rate with 5 stars. This will help us reach more with Good News for mental health.

Yes, what a long, strange trip it’s been. And we’ve only just begin.

Episode 1 – Faithful Family

March 1, 2018 Tony Roberts 47:45 4 Comments

Our guests today are Jen Riddle (Eric’s wife) and April Cohen (Tony’s sister).

April graduated with a B.A. in Nursing from University of Indianapolis in 1997. She has worked 21 years in the field of psychiatric nursing, both in-patient and out-patient. In addition to being Tony’s sister and principal caregiver, she is married to Dan Cohen. The two of them have 5 children and 5 grandchildren. Her favorite form of therapy is bargain shopping.

Jen is a recent graduate of Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, IN. For nearly 15 years, she has worked with children with autism and their families. She is an elder at The Living Room non-denominational church in Columbus, IN. A native of Buffalo, she enjoyed watching the Bills NFL playoff run this year!

On this episode, Jen and April discuss what drew them into their spiritual and healing professions. April shares what it is like to care for an adult brother who has bipolar disorder, and Jen reveals how she and Eric navigate a relationship with a mental health diagnosis.

Faithful Family

March 1, 2018 Eric Riddle 1 Comment

April Roberts Cohen was born, um, er, well, two years before I was. Her name was going to be Karen, but when she was born April 9, our parents were divinely inspired to name her April. From a human perspective, this helped them remember her birthday.

As mentioned, I came along two years later. From an early age, April assumed the role of surrogate mother. She was exceptionally caring. At three she was found to have taken me off the bed and was cuddling me with her blanket. It can’t be proven, but I think she dropped me on my head in the transition. That would explain a lot, anyway.

Our lives followed distinct paths, but merged when I was diagnosed with a mental illness and she became a psychiatric nurse. Now, in addition to being my sister-friend, she helps me monitor my moods and meds, advocates for me in the often complex world of mental health care, and encourages me in my walk with Christ.

Perhaps the greatest thing I can say about April is I have made her my medical power of attorney. I literally trust her with my life and death.

—

Jen Anne (Johnston) Riddle and I met in April 2009 while I was visiting my sister in Boston. Jen was my sister’s roommate. I was there to see my sister run in the Boston Marathon. They were part of an intentional Christian community and I was the lucky man who had brother privileges. I stayed in an empty room next to Jen’s room. About a year later, we struck up daily phone conversations that led me to two more Boston trips for long weekends of dating around the city. Our first kiss was in a public park in Salem, Massachusetts. You may say I was bewitched.

She had courageously left Boston to live close to me in Columbus, IN in August 2010. She was able to transfer Masters of Divinity credits to Christian Theological Seminary and continue her career working with children with autism.

In 2012, I proposed to Jen in a labyrinth in Bloomington, IN. My youngest sister secretly hid behind bushes about 100 feet away and took pictures. Jen left the labyrinth with a ring on her finger.

The picture above was taken in October 2017 during our 5 year wedding anniversary trip. The labyrinth is carved into a gentle sloping hill at Kent University in Canterbury, England. In the background is the Canterbury Cathedral.

Jen is now an elder at The Living Room church in Columbus, IN. She continues to serve children with autism. She is very good at what she does, including being an incredible wife.

Editing Breathing

February 22, 2018 Eric Riddle Comments Off

Saturday was a busy day- easily my second most anxious day in the studio since we started. We were juggling recording the intro/outro on episode 1, as well as completing a few more loops. Earlier that morning, I woke up at 7 AM to begin editing our Marie Henning interview. Editing can be an obsessive activity. I knew it was getting bad when I was analyzing keeping or editing my breathing.

Its a good problem to have…. an engaging interview with many questions asked and intimate responses. The lesson in agonizing over editing to get to the 45 minute goal is…. just breathe. It’s a lesson I’ll remember as I continue on podcast production strategy. Read More

Revealing Progress

February 14, 2018 Eric Riddle 4 Comments

Another Monday night. I take my son to soccer practice and have 90 minutes to drive to Tony’s, get some collaborative work done, and then head back. Tony has had prolonged sickness, like many of our fellow Hoosiers this winter. I played bits from the episode I’m nearly done editing. I have probably put at least 6 hours into the editing process.

After watching the Garageband Podcasting Essentials Lynda.com video, I have become proficient in the editing. I do plan to watch the video again before I dive back into episode 2 editing. My biggest editing frustration is not being able to listen to it at 1.5x speed. Read More

3 weeks away….

February 9, 2018 Eric Riddle Comments Off

Precisely three weeks from today we launch our debut. Eric is currently working on the final edits of our pilot episode. He shared with me it is hard to cut anything out of such a quality interview. I agree, but think especially for our first show, we need to establish a reasonably firm time parameter at 45 minutes.

As Eric edits, I am busy with a number of tasks. Composing a “For Further Help” page, drafting an outline of “The Making of Revealing Voices,” proposing some ideal WordPress themes for podcasting, and investigating some Facebook ad campaigns. Finally, I’ve been crafting questions to ask our first three guests: Marie Henning, Katie Dale, and Amy Simpson.

Some of the questions I have come up with so far include:
Read More

0 – Revealing Voices Trailer

February 5, 2018 Eric Riddle 5:31 Comments Off

Episode 1 is less than a month away. In this release, Tony and Eric share a brief story of how they met in 2014 and what led them to the brink of Revealing Voices. There is also a sneak peak of what to look forward to in future episodes.

Behind the scenes blog posts of the podcast creation are at www.revealingvoices.com

All music in the release was produced by Tre Scott. Cover Photo produced by Ruby Reese Photography.

Less Than 1 Month Before Launch!

February 5, 2018 Eric Riddle Comments Off

Every other Saturday is my primary work day on the podcast. I probably total around 10 hours per week now. It is enough to keep us on schedule. Lynda.com has been very helpful. With my 1 month free subscription, I am also learning about WordPress, which will expand on the podcast content.

I do have my excited moments when I fantasize about my personal journal, Tony’s writing, and our blog posts being crafted into a book. As with my previous book, it would be partly personal journey, partly a how to manual (about starting a podcast), and partly a journey into mental health advocacy. Read More

Cheers to Amy from Ruby Reese Photography

February 1, 2018 Eric Riddle Comments Off

Tony and I want to thank Amy from Ruby Reese Photography for her time and talent. We really appreciate the images and had a great selection from which to choose our logo. Below are just a few examples.

Indiana friends, click the link to reach out to Amy and schedule a professional photography consultation.