Celebrating 10 Years of Breaking Bread Podcast Episode

Learning together really captures my affection towards the listenership Arlan because that’s exactly what I am doing and I’m doing it in the cab of their tractor or in the laundry room or wherever. Me and them learning together. And that’s a tremendous blessing. Greetings and welcome to Breaking Bread Podcast, brought to you by Apostolic Christian Counseling and Family Services. 

And if you think that something sounds a little different right now, you are correct. I’m Arlan Miller and I’m joined here in the studio by the usual host, Matt Kaufman. Brian Sutter and Katie Miller have both joined us as well. And this is a special day, special episode, special podcast.  

It’s a takeover. This is not a takeover. This is not a hostile takeover. They warned me that this was going to happen.  

We have had the privilege now for over 10 years to have Breaking Bread podcast available to the Apostolic Christian Church and those who might listen in. And we want to take a moment to just pause, to reflect, and to be thankful. First off to you as a listener for your years of faithful listening. 

And just the acknowledgement to the work that God has done through this podcast. So, thanks all of you for joining us here in the podcast studio. Matt, we’ve wrestled with what to do about this. We knew this date was coming, circled on the calendar, and we wanted to give some type of acknowledgement because of God’s faithfulness. 

I mean, the Bible is filled with that, and so it’s good to pause and reflect and remember where we’ve been and how God has led throughout the way. And so, let’s just do that today. That’s really the spirit, Arlan. And when you encouraged me, hey, do something for the 10-year anniversary, if you’ve ever tried to plan a party for yourself, by yourself, and you’re not sure who’s going to show up to it. Or whether anybody’s going to show up and it really falls flat. 

I think self-congratulations falls flat, right? Yeah. And so that’s not the heart. But I think to do it just exactly what you said, to pause, reflect, give God glory, and to honor our listenership, I think is really appropriate. Yeah. And we want to do that today. Yeah. So, I want to go back just a little bit, maybe this is known, but where did the idea of Breaking Bread come from? 

How did this happen? 2015. Take us back, Matt. Well, Denny Virkler was where the podcast idea came from, and Brian, you were part of this discussion too, right? Yeah, I think prior to that I maybe was the one. Yes. So, at the end of the year we usually get together in the big conference room and say what we’re going to work on next year. And I was just like we’ve got all this information. We’re always trying to figure out how to get this out to people. I hear about this thing called podcast. Yeah. And you know, people are listening to stuff. Yeah. And I want to go on the record that I said, isn’t that kind of a fad? Like podcast people don’t do those things, do they? 

Trendy? Yeah. But Denny, to his credit, like you said, he knew how to do all of the audio stuff. So, his skillset really stuck to it, and he was really on board. The first time I heard it was in my interview, and he said, well, what do you think, can you do a podcast? I don’t know how you do interviews, but you just say yes to a lot. Yes. And I knew I was a good actor because I’ve been teaching for a decade. Yes, and every teacher knows how to act, and every teacher knows how to make believe like they actually know a thing. 

Yeah. And so, I thought, I guess I’m well suited for this. Well, and to be fair, you became a student of podcasting. Yes. I appreciated watching that, Matt, because on a scale of one to 10, Matt, how comfortable with technology, audio equipment things would you have been 10 years ago? Well, I still don’t like technology. 

It’s been a thing. Right. But Denny Virkler was the mastermind of the audio and the technology. He set me up, told me what button to push and the rest is history. But Brian, you and Craig, and I think Matt, you were in there and in the big conference room you kind of sat down, had a conversation about cell phones and technology and parents. 

I mean, that was the first episode. I don’t even remember. Yeah. Took three episodes to say what we wanted to say. Oh, my word. I mean, how many times did we start and didn’t push record, or we’d lose it halfway through? I mean, just thinking about the room we’re in today, I was just thinking about the little closet, but you’re saying you started in the conference room and then we went to the small closet space. 

So, the location has shifted a little bit. We’ve gone from closet to closet and now we have a really nice little studio that’s been built here in the ACCFS office. That audio equipment was really nice. It was state of the art. I remember you couldn’t rustle papers. You caught everything. 

And so, it was really the expertise of Denny coming into it, which really has been a beautiful gift to the agency and to the church to provide the environment for conversations to take place. And he was really wise because if you can’t pull off good content, pull off good audio, obviously. 

I’m hoping we’ve done some of both, but yeah, absolutely. And even after we started doing that, he would make those sorts of comments and then you’d look, listen to others, and it’s like, oh, I think their content’s pretty solid. Yeah. Audio exactly. Are they in the back seat of the car somewhere? 

Yeah. So, the name Breaking Bread. Well, what does that mean? So Matt, where’s the name come from? Yeah. What’s the genesis? I think the essence and the spirit of the name is that Christ is the bread of life, and in every culture, bread is the basic substance of nourishment. 

Every culture has bread whether it’s the taco, sourdough, or Jira depending on your culture. But the idea is that we break bread together and we find life giving sustenance together. We come around tables, and we eat together, which is very AC. Right? It’s very AC but yet the better bread to break is Christ himself. And he offers himself as the bread that’s broken. And so, I would just hope that this podcast at some level breaks Christ among us and we share him, and we find health. Yeah. And so, I would say health is probably at the center of our intention here. 

Healthy content to encourage health and growth. Yeah. Because there is that metric in your mind that you walk through. You think, what’s a topic? What are we hearing? What are we seeing? What’s a way that we can engage the church in an encouraging growth way? 

Right? Our tagline, helping the hurting, nurturing hope, encouraging growth. There you go. So, this is where that comes from a little bit because this idea of how do we proactively, in an encouraging way, get out to the church and share ways to encourage? 

The health of the church. Yeah. And Katie, as you’ve engaged as a teacher out into the different churches in different places, you see this coming back full circle, perhaps. Yeah. It has been a really good blessing. It’s been humbling to get feedback and comments as we go to different churches or have conversations. 

I view it as a blessing and it’s humbling, but also the medium of podcasting is a great communication tool where you have a two-way voice. So, it’s not just the voices in the studio. Those are part of it. That’s one direction, but then it’s the other direction when we go out, we see people, we hear, oh, I liked this podcast. I had questions about this podcast. Have you ever thought about this podcast or this content? It’s a beautiful marriage just like the clinical piece. What are some trends that the counselors are seeing, but also, what are the grassroots, the church, the local ministers, hearing, seeing, needing resources, and then being able to speak there. So, their voice coming back into the studio has been really great. I feel blessed to be the ears sometimes and not just the voice. For sure.  

Well, Katie, if I can just geek out a little bit about the importance of knowing your audience. Yeah. And we have a unique podcast in the sense that we know our audience really well. Yeah. And it’s a real blessing. In fact, we’re in and among our audience. That’s true on a regular basis. And not to say that our audience does not move past the Apostolic Christian denomination. Certainly, we do, and we welcome listeners. And we know we do have listeners beyond us but that’s been a real advantage, I think, to our forum and it’s really helped it. So, if you feel like sometimes, you’re listening in on a conversation amongst family, that’s really our heart and our desire. 

This is like a family level conversation that we’re trying to have with our church family to encourage them in a way that can be easily consumed. Yeah. Can I share a story of somebody who is a long-time listener who gave me some advice to this very point, Arlan. 

She’s a great storyteller and so she comes up to me, and she says, I listened to the podcast. I received that and was very thankful but didn’t know what was coming. Then there was that deep breath, and she said, when I was a child. (I knew a story was coming.) We would go on vacation, and we would stop at those big travel centers for gas. You know what I’m talking about? Yeah, I know what you’re talking about. And she said, I would inevitably go in there and I would find the little license name plate stand. Do you know what I’m talking about? 

I said, yeah, I do. I know what you’re talking about. She said, I went, and I would turn that around and look. Do you know what I was looking for? Your name? Yes. I was looking for my name. She said her name was Jeannie. She says I would look for my name. And not that I was going to buy the license tag, but I just wanted to know that somebody thought about Jeannie. 

Right. And that there was Jeannie out there. Right. And then she says to me, sometimes when I listen to the podcast, I don’t feel like my name is there. You’re speaking to perhaps somebody else. And everybody listening is listening for their name. Yeah. Isn’t that powerful? It is powerful feedback. And that’s only when your audience is that close to you, do you get that type of feedback given in that type of way? 

And that was formative from that point forward. So how do you then, Matt, like when you get comments from church outreach or clinicians, how do you choose. Oh, that would maybe be a great family conversation or that is going to identify with most of our audience. I mean, that’s what your story example is. 

So how do you pick and choose, like, which content? How is it going to link? Well, some of that comes from feedback. Yeah. You know, if it’s coming up from the grassroots which we do that. We’ve had different ways for people to submit suggestions and that type of thing. 

Certainly, that’s one way. But Brian, you’ve got the perspective of a counseling room, right? Yeah. And those things that you see there often. Yeah. And it does seem like even from that perspective just some of the things that we feel like we’re constantly going over or sharing like, how do we get this out to a wider audience? 

And it’s been fascinating even just reflecting on it as you interact. In the counseling room, the podcasts that people connect with. And then you go out and you’re interacting with a wider audience, and it seems like they connect with different ones. And just to recognize that you’re speaking to different audiences and depending on where they’re at that maybe it lands really well and it may be like, oh, have you thought about this other side? And it’s just been good to remember. There are always different versions of the story, and depending on where you’re at, it lands differently. 

You know? It reminds me of a conversation, Brian, you and I had a long time ago. At least, this is how I remember it, but I asked you, what would be one message that you wish every parent knew? What is something that if you could ask every parent, you’d want them to take hold of this/ 

And it was basically; I’d love to have every parent be able to be intentional about giving the talk on sexuality and sex education stuff to their kids. Can we raise the intentionality and the willingness to step into that? Which was interesting because if you look at the stats, it’s one of the most listened to. 

So like we’ve kind of, we’ve kind of wondered if it’s it on repeat, but that’s kind of what we’re wondering Right at the family table puts it on and there we go. Yeah. Because it’s like just super high. But that’s the opportunity of a medium like a podcast, right? Is to think about how do we reproduce. 

Messages that we, that we trust will be encouraging, supporting, helpful for the audience to listen to, to understand. And I think too, even that it, it kind of maybe reminds us that there’s all, for all of us, we have different topics that we’re interested in, but sometimes they’re kind of in, in the shadows and it’s a little bit hard to start that conversation. 

Yeah. So in some ways it, it, it feels like it’s a, an [00:14:00] opportunity to start to crack that door open. Absolutely. Hopefully. And make it a little bit safe on some spots because it’s really vulnerable to say, Hey. I am thinking that, but as a parent, are you thinking that Brian, and like, can we, is that a space to even talk about, is it something that would take, like, is there an interest to it? 

It’s, that’s extremely vulnerable and knowing that the podcast is used to launch conversation. Yeah. In the church, local church setting is, I think, super rewarding. We just did it last weekend. We, we had some young couples over beforehand. We said, would you listen to this podcast on busyness and marriage and whatnot? 

And, and then we’ll just come, we’ll just talk about it and, and, and it’s a beautiful con conversation starter and continuation within the church. That’s our prayer. And, and we want to acknowledge like all of this is much bigger than us. Like, you know, you can, you can lose yourself in trying to figure out every last piece. 

And so we trust ultimately the Lord and his working and the spirits to, to just lead to fruit greater than we can even understand. I think it’s, it’s just been fun for us too. Yes. In some ways [00:15:00] I, I don’t know if that’s been your experience. Oh, it absolutely has, but has like, just to sit around and have an hour where we just get to have a conversation with each other. 

I mean, I’ve really enjoyed that and, and even going into counseling, I would’ve said, no, I’m not a teacher. But it’s, it’s helped me think about being a teacher and that in a counseling setting, you are a teacher, but that’s not necessarily our strong student. Mm-hmm. But it, it, it’s helped me in that I would say. 

So in that vein, I mean, let’s, let’s think about, I mean, Matt, what are some of the episodes that kind of stick out to you? Or just conversations or just some, some that kind of rise to the top in your memory bank? Yeah. I mean, I’m the first recipient, right? Yeah. Of the, of the conversation, the teaching that our professionals bring to bear or our guests bring to bear. 

We’ve had over. We’ve had over 30 guests on the, on the podcast. And then our staff has been something like 15, I think. And so by the time I listen to it once and then produce it, I’ve listened to it a [00:16:00] few other times, man, I, I ought to be a whole lot wiser than I really am. Do you listen to it on your own phone and device? 

Can I, I just ask that. Fun. Love f faq. Some, some I do. Do you? Yeah. Yeah. Some I do. Like once you’ve listened, you’ve edited. Mm-hmm. You’ve released it. Show, show notes, go out. Yeah. And there, well, and let me just say there, there are some episodes that are super special to me. Yeah. And, and I will re-listen to those because I was in the room when it happened. 

And, and the emotion of some of our testimonies, for example. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. We’ve had, you know, LL and June on N Block talking about the grief of suicide. Right. Or Mark and Marty Bel. Right. Talking about what they went through with an an abortion. We’ve had Casey and Tyler Zimmerman on and talking about infertility. 

Right. These are really, really sacred spaces. Sacred spaces. We had, we had Randy and Evie Moler come and talk about special needs. Yeah. Which is my old time [00:17:00] favorite actually is is it really? Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. But it educates me. It reorients me, and I, I just feel like they did such a great job. Yeah. And it was, it was a topic that I didn’t feel like could possibly done well enough, but they certainly were able to do that. 

Yeah. So you, you know, there’s, there’s some of those and I, and I could, I could go on and on with Yeah. Lots of episodes. That really blessed me. Arlin, what’s been one of your favorite podcast? Yeah, no, see, I’m asking the questions today. Oh, here we go. Hey. Hey. That’s what you can do. That’s right. That’s the power, that’s the rules. 

No, it’s a great question, Katie. I am, I, I actually really loved, we did a kind of a, I don’t know, a special little one around Christmas time once where we just talked about our favorite Christmas hymns as a church outreach team. And I loved it because of the comradery that we have as a team. Mm-hmm. And we hope, I mean, our goal again, not. 

To be about ourselves, [00:18:00] but to share the power of that season to the church family and get them thinking about, I think there’s such powerful songs during that time of the year, every time of the year, but especially that time of the year. And so, you know, that one is kind of sticks out to me. I had some nice feedback from the one we did on humor with counseling staff. 

Mm-hmm. Which was pretty funny. Oh yeah. And Kathy has yet to finish her joke about the three elders that walked into the bar. So, so the next podcast she’s on, please ask and start off, but. Hearing from the listeners, it was like, it was really good to hear counselors laugh and I think that’s been healthy. 

Yeah. No, and I think that’s, I mean, I don’t know that I would say I have a favorite, but my, the favorite times have been interacting with colleagues and, and laughing or like, you know, you, you have those funny experiences or like aha moments when somebody shares something and those have been sweet. Yeah. 

Katie, do you have a favorite podcast Kiss episode? Oh, you never [00:19:00] ask. 

So I like. Some of my favorite podcast episodes are probably, I think most likely speak to us in the stage we’re in. So some of the parenting ones have hit really, really well. It, like you said. Mm-hmm. It’s a great resource to open up the cupboard and have something when one of our kids is struggling with something and we’re like, oh, this is a God image thing, now I have a resource for, for helping me teach them or encourage them. 

In God mention, and honestly, this is going to maybe sound a little weird, one of my favorite ones was. Podcast on marijuana. Oh, yeah. Is that awkward or what? No, you’re among, you’re you’ve got good. And here’s why, because I know it hit well. Their numbers were high. It hit, and this speaks to another part of Breaking Bread where there are so many podcasts. 

And if I would just Google a. Christian’s viewpoint on marijuana use, I am going to get so many hits on so many different things. And yet breaking bread because of the support, the prayer, the ministry it is, is a trusted source. Mm-hmm. And so I trust it. I trust when somebody, like Dr. Plattner has done the research, [00:20:00] has stepped into that space, it’s not a space I’m in. 

And so me being vulnerable and sharing that, actually something like that. Mm-hmm. I, I don’t know that space, I don’t know those terms. And for him. You, the podcast to be able to speak into that is really huge for me. So something like that. And then I am obviously unique, not unique. I am obviously biased towards any, any venue that can speak into specific women’s issues like breaking bread. 

Ken, I’m those are, I’m, I’m a big fan of. Matt, was there any conversations that just totally surprised you? Like you kind of have, I mean, ’cause you, I mean you, you, we set up, you set up the topic, you kind of think through a little bit, maybe have an idea where this could be go or some questions you might want to ask and then. 

You get in there and it just is like, wow, that was just not at all what I expected. Well, actually I would say that’s very common. In fact, it’s so common. I can’t give you an A specific example. Mm-hmm. Because it happens all the time. Mm-hmm. And I would say that’s actually what I am listening for. I am looking [00:21:00] for as a host, is it like an aha or like this is something is, or a different direction than you maybe? 

Yes. Surprise surprise is is a tremendous human element, right? That you pay attention to and you awaken yourself to. And so I, I very much am listening within myself to that to that surprise. And I think that’s one of the things that’s made you such a great host, Matt. You, you’re just really good at being willing to learn. 

Curious. Exactly. Curious like most, some of us, myself included, like to hear something that surprises me or that’s different than what I expected. Like that makes me nervous because you get the world figured out. Right? Right. Oh man, Brian is so smart, dad, right? Yeah. Right. Insecure maybe would be actually alert not. 

And that is, and that is, it is just been such a gift to be such a great learner and so curious and, and to, to let us join you in that has been really fun. Yeah. Which is so powerful just to think about that idea. And I hope, again, I hope the heart, our heart of this podcast comes out to the [00:22:00] audience with just an abundant gratitude to those who are listening. 

That you walk on this journey with us with a spirit of curiosity and just, let’s learn together. Let’s just learn together. It is so powerful when we can have that attitude. And that’s, I dialogue does that when you have conversation, when you have dialogue together, we learn from each other. When we go into something thinking we’ve, we’ve kind of got it all settled and all figured out in their mind. 

It just shuts that down and that’s. That’s a really important just principle. I think we try to keep at the heart of it. I think learning together really captures my affection towards the listenership Marlon because that’s exactly what I am doing and I’m doing it in the cab of their tractor or in the laundry room or wherever, and me and them learning together. 

And that’s, that’s a tremendous blessing. And I would also add to that the grace that the audience has towards the content. We don’t say everything correctly. We don’t get it all right. We make mistakes and there has [00:23:00] been not that that’s. Ignored or not important, and we get some really nice feedback, some feedback that’s really instruct, constructive, instructive, and that’s all taken to heart, but it’s always in, in, in the heart of what you would expect around the table in a conversation. 

Yeah. Right. Yeah. And that’s exactly right because you’re, you’re going through a conversation together with people with the idea that 10 years down the road we’ve, we’ve morphed and we’ve changed and we’ve grown and we’ve learned, and we’ve maybe adjusted, maybe stayed the same, but, but that’s a different approach into content than when you go to a place of, of certainty. 

Apart from the scriptures, right. The scriptures we hang our head on, but beyond that. Let’s learn together. Let’s grow together. Let’s journey together. That’s the heartbeat. Really appreciate our conversation up to this point. Any other thoughts or questions? I mean, this is your chance to ask Matt Kaufman a question. 

I know. So I, okay. Okay. Okay. Fun [00:24:00] question, Matt. If you could bring any person into this studio to interview that are alive or like, okay. Okay. Stop caveats. Okay. Not maybe even in the mental health space, but be on a podcast with breaking bread and you’re on the opposite side of who would that be? Oh, wow. 

He’s a processor audience. He’s a processor. So you know what, I just got my dad in here. Okay. That was actually, and that’s, and, and in fact, that’s playing right before this one. So everybody will, if they listen, will have known that I just listened to it this morning. But that was, that was a very special moment. 

Yeah. I have. Not yet twisted my wife’s arm in here. I think we could have some really nice interaction and things that I would like to capture yet I, I’m, I’m thinking through the optics of that and, and, and I, I do feel like it becomes a little bit too personal. Mm-hmm. Then, and so I’m thinking through all of those lenses. 

Sure. Right. What is this and what is, this is not, this is not my show. Yeah. And so I may have bent that a little bit, even with my dad’s invitation, but. Those are some [00:25:00] things that I would think about. That’s a really thoughtful question though, Katie and I would more people, I’m putting my ke by her head on right now, and I I’m, I’m glad to hear that you think your wife would be your favorite, your favorite host to have in here. 

That’s, that’s good. That’s a good answer. Yeah. No, I did just listen to the one with you and Denny and that was special. That was super sweet. Did a great job. Matt, any other thoughts or anything you’d like to share? Well, I, I’ve, I really mentioned it already, but I will say it again. It has been an honor to serve in this capacity, been a privilege, and I I want to thank our listeners for trusting us with the amount of time. 

I really don’t want to waste people’s time. Really don’t. That’s as, as an instructor, as a teacher, it’s like one of the things that I know I am prone to do and that I really don’t want to do. And so the thought of this going on and on, and. People giving time. That’s [00:26:00] not really redemptive, it’s not what I’m interested in. 

So if that’s the case, turn me off. Just turn it off. Just the beautiful piece of a podcast. We have the autonomous to choose and to click or not click or, but, but for, for those who are sticking it out through the end, God bless you. Yeah. And anyway, so thank you. Yeah. Well, thank you Matt, for your dedication to this. 

Thank you listeners. For being part of our family conversation together as we strive to help the hurting, nurture hope. Encourage growth together. Thank you for listening in. And we thank the Lord for 10 years of faithfulness and ask that he would continue to add the increase because we don’t know how ministry. 

Of breaking back. We don’t know how long this is going to go, right. We have, I mean, what’s the life? I don’t know. We just re-upped your contract, so I, he didn’t know he signed it, but apparently the contract, but no, we do actually in all, seriously, it’s a valid point, right? Yeah, yeah. It needs to run its cycle. 

Let me just say that to the listeners, right? We have this conversation all the time. Is it [00:27:00] time? When, when do, when do, when do you change a thing? When do you let a thing fade? Mm-hmm. And this certainly will and we’ll need to. Yeah. And so, yeah. And we hope that it spurs on many, many more conversations Yeah. 

Within the family as we grow together. Thanks again for listening in and may God bless you all.