[0:00] I’m Kevin, and I’m Steph, and during our marriage, we’ve dealt with an electrocution, a brain tumor, brain surgery, then doctors telling us the children were not

[0:08] in our future, followed by miscarriage, and then Kevin’s cancer diagnosis. However, today we live a life completely healed, completely restored with three healthy children who doctors said were not possible. And we’re here to tell stories that inspire, give hope, and brighten your day. Welcome to Tell Us A Good Story.

[0:27] Okay, friends, before we get to this episode, just a friendly reminder to please hit the subscribe button on YouTube and Apple Podcasts or give us a review. Five stars, please. In our world, this is super, super important because it will help with the algorithm to make it easier for people to find us. And thank you for sharing our posts across your social media. That really helps with engagement and with us getting guests. Yes. So, hey, if you want us to keep working our way up to talking to Chip and Joanna, please Share us with your friends. But regardless, thank you for listening to Tell Us A Good Story. All right, Steph. Let’s start episode 256. We’re going to see if this works because I’m still on the fence that it’s not going to work. But you are so convinced. He’s so convinced this is going to work. I’m like, how many people emailed us their stories? He’s like, none. How many people called with their stories? None. I’m like, okay. That looks so great. We’re going to see how it is It’s going to be a good one, It’s going to be a short 256 Hope you have a short commute, All green light.

[1:43] Alright well let me I don’t have a whole lot for this episode But honestly, Okay But I do want to start off with some news. Okay. Oh, we like news. We, we’ve had favor in regards to the people we’ve been able to talk to. Okay. It’s amazing. Including tonight. Including, yes. Including these wonderful ladies right here. Yes. Katie and Courtney. I don’t know. Here’s what’s interesting. Our friend, one of my closest friends, Pastor Mike Kapelke, he had mentioned, this was maybe two years ago, and it just continues. He said, Kevin, I feel like it’s almost like God’s given you a fast pass at the amusement park where these people that you’re talking to now, there are other shows who would go years, right? And would kill to be able to talk to these people. And it’s like, you’re going to the front of the line to be able to talk to Willie Robertson.

[2:38] And john gordon and all these other people like it is it really is incredible the people we’ve talked to so i do have some news steph when we think of our bucket list of people who is she’s listening now you have my attention wide awake who is the couple that we would love to talk to holy crap wait wait stop wait no are you serious wait wait sound it out is it it rhymes with hip and hohanna you shut up you freaking shut up okay so that was like your number one years ago who’s our bucket list stuff stuff good real chip and joanna chip and joanna gains yes So I reached out to them a couple years ago, and they gave me an address to send our book to. I remember that. So I sent them the book, nothing came of it, and then I couldn’t even get an interview request. So this time around, just a few months ago, this around Christmas time, I would say, I got passed around and got to Magnolia’s PR team. Made the request to Chip and Joanna to be on Tell Us Good Story. Stop. and they went through it and got back with me no fast pass no wait freaking stop it chip and joseph hannah wait are you lying said no.

[4:04] You’re a brat you are a brat i’m so sorry i’m like fast pass favor i just peed my pants for no reason.

[4:22] But it was more i mean it was a very nice polite no but i think it was more of it could be more of no right now yeah that’s what it was obviously but i they said it tell me exactly they kept the door open in the future what did they say yes so pc if it was more than just no then still that’s amazing it was like something like when hell freezes over oh next week so i think we still have a chance stuff i’m so mad at you right now i’m so mad at you right now sip and oh.

[4:59] My gosh my heart is still beating all right here’s your email i won’t say the individual’s name here but it’s magnolia’s pr team thank you so much for reaching out, and sharing with us about Tell Us a Good Story. We appreciate the invitation and the thoughtful pitch for featuring Chip and Joanna on your show. After discussing this internally, we’ve decided to pass on the opportunity at this time due to the existing commitments on Chip and Joanna’s schedules. That said, we love the heart and vision behind your show. We’ll keep this in mind for future opportunities, and we’d love to revisit this closer to next holiday season. That’s not a no! Wishing you continued success as you grow your platform and audience. Thanks again for thinking of us, and happy holidays. That’s five sentences. That’s them being nice. I feel like that’s them being nice. I don’t know how to interpret that because with PR folks, a lot of times you get the runaround and you don’t know. Dude, they didn’t have to answer you at all. Right. So that’s a good thing that they actually responded. I didn’t get ghosted. None of that. They actually responded with a polite no and left the door open in the future. Again, there’s a chance. You’re telling me there’s a chance. There’s a chance. Best movie ever, but yes. Thank you. So, sorry to… I’m so mad at you right now. We can just finish the show right now. There we go. First green light is all you got, people. We’re done.

[6:18] All right, friends. We want to hear from you. Every fifth episode has been us telling our own stories. But now we want to share some of your stories. That’s right, you guys. If you have a fun story you would like to share, please send it to us. You can email us, DM us, or even leave us a voicemail. And I will share our contact information, including a phone number, in the show notes. If you call us just leave us a voicemail and I will transcribe it and read it on one of our upcoming episodes And don’t worry if you’re not a master storyteller. That’s okay Yes, we want to share your stories and then you will hear us comment on them I promise you this will be so much fun. Oh my gosh, you guys so much fun You guys thank you for listening to tell us a good story But I mean we get we get nose all the time. I just don’t tell you I just don’t tell you about the nose, It happens. You don’t tell me. Then don’t tell me now. That was like right there. You know who I thought you were going to say? What’s that? My bucket list. I would love to talk to Mike Krzyzewski. Yeah. So when you said that, I was like, because we’re in March Madness right now. So I was like, this is it. So Mike, if you’re listening. But I threw you off. I threw you off when I said couple. Yeah. There’s only one couple. There’s only one couple. Okay. So if, no. When we talk to Chip and Joanna. Okay. Throwing that out there. When we talked to Chip and Joanna Gaines, I would love to tell them a story about the first time I heard of them because it’s very memorable. Oh, oh. I might as well share right now because I don’t have any other stories to share, apparently.

[7:44] So the very first time I heard Chip and Joanna Gaines and what’s the show? Fixer Upper. Yeah. And Fixer Upper was at our old house under Windrush. We were knocking a fence down. Demo day. Demo day.

[7:59] Mike and katie come over to help us knock down this fence and then i was going to rebuild it, mike comes over all excited which is not like your husband no okay he’s excited to do demo yeah all right amen and he comes over and says i’m chip gains and i’m like, and i’m like who is that he looks at me like you don’t know who chip gains is and i’m like dude no i don’t know who that is like he’s like i’m chip gains today i’m doing demo i’m like dude i don’t care if you’re freaking spider-man like just help me knock this thing down so then he explains who chip gains is and picture upper and how he loves to demo things, so we’re knocking this down and your husband mike decides he wants to do like a kick to the post yes he did around our pool, And he kicks the post and post wins.

[8:49] And he didn’t knock it down. Mike lost his balance and fell in the pool. Showmanship was not on point. And this is in what, March, I would say? So it’s still cold. And the pool had been closed. We had a tarp over it. But the water, like he went through the tarp into the water. Okay and when he went through that then you saw the actual water and it looked like green like nasty it looked like flesh-eating bacteria yeah in the pool right because they’ve been closed for months so he falls in four feet of water right and he’s like caught up in the tarp and he’s like like swimming for his life right and i’m just like stand up dude stand up.

[9:35] So then he gets out and i’m like hey nice job there chip and so i’m you know making fun of him and now he’s freezing. So now he had to go inside and borrow some clothes from me. And I think you ladies were inside and you saw it happen through the windows. Yeah, we were watching. We were instructing what would be the best way for you guys to do this. But we were very warm inside. Yeah. That’s why you did it. And loving every second of what we were seeing from a distance. So I distinctly remember that because Mike was telling me he was Chip Gaines and then he had to explain to me and then he ends up falling in the pool right on demo day. Right so it was yeah very funny and very memorable for me but it’s amazing the people were talking to why we were there that tuesday we’re walking through the gaylord, And I recognize somebody. I’m like, Steph, I think that’s Jimmy Evans. And you’re like, no, it’s not. And so… Do you guys know who Jimmy Evans is? Again, my church was on TV forever. Like, I follow these guys. I grew up with these guys. Okay. So I’m like, that’s Jimmy Evans. And I’ll explain who he is in a second. So Steph’s like, is it? I’m like, that is absolutely him. Let’s go say hello. So he’s walking. And I’m like, and I just yell out, Pastor Jimmy. He stops, turns. As soon as he turns, he gets a bear hug from Steph. I gotcha!

[11:01] What kind of trick is that? It’s back on Jimmy Evans’ bingo card for the weekend. Because Larry turns around and then says, oh, okay. And those hugs take your breath away. I mean, he’s probably 70 by now. He’s probably seven years old. Yeah, be gentle. Okay. I go, Steph, be gentle. Be gentle. Yes. And then, of course, I shake his hand. I go, Pastor Jimmy, it’s very nice to meet you. I just wanted to say hello. I said, because Steph and I here, we’ve been married 20 years.

[11:31] And probably four years into our marriage, at our church, we did a small group. And it was called Marriage on the Rock. And it was videos of you. And I just want you to know, you helped our marriage significantly 15, 16 years ago. And I recognize you because you had done these videos, right? And so it was like a 10, 12 week course and he led it. And so his experience is marriage. And he’s like, you know, where are you all from? What are you doing here? And we told him. And he’s like, you know what? I would love to talk to you guys. And I said, would you? I said, and here’s the thing. I’ve reached out to his team before. And you get the polite decline. And you got ghosted. Yes. We’re busy. Yes, exactly. Well, yeah. I don’t think we got that. Right. So reached out multiple times, maybe two years ago. So now I’m talking, we’re talking to him. And he’s like, I would love to be on. We don’t need the middleman. No, went straight to the top.

[12:24] So he’s like, I would love to be on Tell Us Good Story. And I go, who do we talk to? He goes, get your phone out. And he’s like, text this person right here. And so I text her and I text a picture of the three of us. And so we talked to him in two weeks. Why? I cannot wait to hear that. Yes. Oh, it’s going to be good. So we talked to him and then we’ve got probably five or six people that we met as well that or people are like, you need to talk to this person. And so the one, she’s an entertainment attorney and she’s like, I represent the Oak Ridge boys. And I’m like, do they still do they still sing? And she’s like, yes. She’s like the one singer passed away last year. But she’s like, next weekend, I’m going to Nashville because they’re singing at the Grand Old Opry. And I’m like, no kidding. She’s like, you need to talk to Richard Sturbin. I think his name. And so he’s the one who did the oom-ba-boom. That’s the only part of now. He sings that. Well, then I looked him up. He sang with Elvis.

[13:25] Back in the day. Really? In the 70s, yes. So he toured with Elvis before he was part of the Oak Ridge Boys. And so you’re like, okay, this dude has some amazing stories. That’s another level. So I reached out this way. Well, even singing at the Grand Ole Opry would be amazing. Even the Oak Ridge Boys, when they blew up in the 80s, they went from gospel to country music. And they won award after award, like Grammy Awards and stuff, and country music awards. But the stories he would have from a career in Nashville, but just Elvis as well. That’s wild so cool so we’re meeting people like that which is insane so it is only getting better and that’s like from day one like you know katie and i getting firsthand front row with you guys from start like just seeing your journey on this we’re like you know we’ll get a phone call from your text you know like oh my gosh you’ll never believe who’s coming on the show and of course Steph’s like tight lip like I’ll give you a hint but I can’t tell you, Kevin will tell us it rhymes with Timmy Evans, no way no way yeah, Sounds like.

[14:39] Friends, we have been asked to speak at a few events recently in regards to sharing some of our story. And it has been an absolute honor. We have a lot of personal stories to share that will hopefully inspire, encourage, and maybe even make you laugh. So if you’re hosting some type of event or need a guest speaker, we’re here to help. That’s right. Just go to KevinAndSteph.com and click on the contact button. Like Steph said, let us know if we can be of help in any way. Whether it’s our personal testimony of healing and hope or me just telling some jokes. Oh, God, please, you guys, please don’t ask him to do that. But seriously, just go to KevinandSteph.com to contact us. And as always, thank you for listening to Tell Us a Good Story.

[15:19] But let’s talk about some messages that we’ve received. Some of these messages are more, it’s either an email to me, it’s either a text message to me personally, or a comment to us on social media. Okay so the first message that we received that i want to share right is from our friend dr john stopper oh dr john so he is a surgeon down at the mayo clinic all right he was my college roommate for those who are not familiar with dr john just amazing dude i go down there now once a year the last two years i’ve gone down and it is just awesome just me and him down in jacksonville doing whatever right so it is an absolute blast, So he sent me a text the other day and it said, Kev, I just had a patient drive five hours to see me because he said he had all the confidence in the world in me. And it felt like he knew me from watching the YouTube video with me and you guys. Oh, he said, this is not an unusual thing to hear from my patients.

[16:19] So he will have patients basically Google him as a surgeon. We recorded a conversation with him on the first episodes that year and it’ll show that and then patients are like, okay, I want that guy to search him. I would love him because he does some really scary surgeries. He’s very good. Like life or death surgeries and if I was going through that and then I Googled him and saw that, I would feel so much better. But it humanizes him. For sure. As down to earth, group on a farm, stories making fun of me, all of that. But even his stories of him practicing or being in different countries and him having minimal equipment meant to save people’s lives yeah but he’s like when you listen to him he’s so calm oh very much doesn’t get like excited yeah he’s not me right so like he’s just so even keel like no we just figure it out i’m like oh okay so like that’s the staple gun use the rusty staple gun yes yes it’ll be fine no big deal no big deal hey i mean to show how good he is when i went down to jackson with that first time. He picks me up from the airport. I’m in his big old truck, right? They’re in Jacksonville. We’re driving. He gets a call from a surgeon who’s a colleague of his, right? I don’t know what hospital he was at. Who is in the middle of surgery? And he’s like, hey, Dr. John, hey, I just had this happen. And, you know, the person’s bleeding out and stuff. And John’s driving and he just walks this guy through.

[17:48] How to suture this guy up and i’m like sitting there dying yes and i’m like oh my gosh john did that just happen and he’s like well there’s multiple ways to kind of scan a cat and kind of in it i’m like you’re totally he’s humble you’re very humble you’re downplaying this totally just walked this other surgeon without he’s like a lot of times these surgeons will facetime him too and say hey here’s what i’m looking at what would you do in this situation because in that world, it’s not like you can YouTube it. No. If you have an issue, what are you going to do? You figure it out. You have them open on the table. You’re going through the pancreatic stuff, right? It’s not like you can, hold on, let me YouTube this video, figure it out. No, no, no. Phone a friend. Yes. Yeah. That’s exactly what he did. Dude, and can you imagine if he didn’t answer? That’s what I was thinking. Who else are you going to go to next? So the first person he calls is Dr. John. Wow. Dr. John always answers himself, obviously. I’m sure his wife loves that. That’s right. yeah but literally like over the phone i’m like oh my gosh like when i have a bad day it’s not like somebody died on the operating table no i mean no insane so that was wild so second message from john later that day do you want to see if one of my partners would like to do an interview and immediately i thought no i would oh yes how many surgeons have great personalities stuff who you want to talk to. How many accountants have great personalities? Kelly.

[19:15] Yes. Good point. Excuse you. So he said, I want to hear from these surgeons. Do you want to see if one of my partners would like to do an interview? The Mayo Clinic would greatly appreciate the increased business that it brings. Then he gave me the name of a neurosurgeon, whose name I can’t pronounce, but apparently has a great story. So I looked him up, and And Disney plans to make a movie about this guy. What? Yes.

[19:42] And you turned him down. I didn’t turn. I didn’t respond. I said, yes, let me look him up and I’ll get back with you. You initially thought, no. Well, that was my initial thought. Yes. That was exactly my initial thought. So. Thank God for doing your homework. Yes. So how cool would that be? Very cool. Yes. Super cool. I’m all about that. All right. Next email. This is from, maybe you know, this individual, Jennifer Kirshner. That sounds familiar. She says, I am so glad that you guys are back on. After we took a little break around the holidays i’ll admit i was getting worried when you didn’t start right back up in the new year i’m always trying to think of people who might be able to interview and then she gave us a couple people that she’s seen speak in person i’m always looking for people for you guys love your podcast and your book so she’s just a big fan love you thanks jennifer that was an email to us which was nice so cool then i got we got a message on facebook from my cousin Angel Lavoie. She said, I love these episodes. Exclamation point. Love the recording with Steph screaming for Tate about the wrestling. Oh, that was gold.

[20:51] She said, it has been a long, rough week for me. And I so look forward to every Friday morning when I hear the new episodes. It lifts my spirits every time. Yep. Amen. Sure does. All right. Jeff Kolda. Jeff Kolda. Send me a text message this is truly amazing this is our interview with don yeager oh don yeager so good truly epic amazing incredible episode today what a great storyteller and what an amazing soothing voice i admit i teared up about walter payton’s daughter yeah in the wedding oh i cried and i’m now feeling very lame for not writing letters to my wife oh yeah which i’ve got to start doing for you as well oh you haven’t started well i meant start the next letter for this month uh-huh right that’s what it is uh-huh that’s what i meant uh-huh and then we have one more message sent to us i have not read this okay but our daughter today informed us emmy who’s 13 she went on chat gpt oh what is that oh chat gpt it’s ai ai okay like you you can give it prompts uh-huh and then it writes it can it can answer any question it can write you a home it can it can do travel itinerary i just oh did you did it work it worked amazing really.

[22:16] Give me the top luxury hotels in this area and things to do for yeah it was a boom boom and bullet points I love me some bullet points yes it’s so neat try it did you ask GPT about a husband or anything that’s next, that’s next where are they at why are they hiding they why all of them.

[22:43] Or maybe I’m hiding i don’t know so emmy apparently prompted chat gpt okay give me a review of tell us a good story with kevin and steph oh and so she just emailed this to me steph this is like six paragraphs oh i am shocked so i haven’t read all this okay but i’ll just as i just skimmed it there’s a few things that stick out so this is from chat gpt this is the response that emmy got and she emailed it to us tell us good story is a delightful and captivating podcast hosted by kevin and steph mason who bring a refreshing and engaging dynamic to their storytelling kevin and steph’s chemistry is evident from the start with their natural ability to play off each other’s personalities.

[23:28] Their back and forth is both entertaining and comfortable, creating an atmosphere where you can imagine yourself sitting around a cozy fire enjoying a good tail. Oh my. This is a robot? Yes. Right? But a smart one. This is terrifying. This is terrifying. It is a little scary. He’s smarter than me. Right? Well, it’s a better writer than me, obviously. Obviously. You could have used this in college. I could have used ChatGPT. Yes. You were born too early. You know what? But I could have used it to write my, oh, remember when I was nominated for the Hall of Fame, The Led Night? At Parkway. Apparently, mine wasn’t good enough because I never heard back. You didn’t hear back? No, it was probably because I didn’t use ChatGPT because I just, I’m not a good writer. Bullet points. I should have done bullet points. Dang it. The episodes often feel like life lessons, wrapped in engaging storytelling, making them both informative and entertaining.

[24:21] The production quality of the podcast is top notch. It’s easy to get lost in the episodes because of how well the host handled pacing and storytelling.

[24:31] I think Emmy added that. I don’t know. She’s going to add, and they have very good looking children. Yes. I have heard. And then it has final thoughts. Tell us a good story by Kevin and Seth Mason is a perfect listen for anyone looking for engaging and thoughtful storytelling.

[24:46] The host, genuine warmth and humor make each episode a treat. And their ability to connect with listeners through relatable heartfelt stories make the podcast stand out if you’re in the mood for stories that resonate on a personal level this podcast is definitely worth checking out, what is that is you know what i want to say nailed it yeah i mean like took the words out of my mouth i thought better than i could have right good job it doesn’t say anything about stuff screaming and exciting at the guest it wasn’t it wasn’t listed there but that’s really good that’s impressive yeah that is very good it’s our world steph did you know that tell us a good story has a youtube channel wait seriously so apparently you don’t watch it Absolutely not That’s what I thought But it’s because you know I don’t like to watch myself That’s true That is true But friends We have a YouTube channel We would love for you to check out So if you would like to see Video clips of us With prior guests Or some entire episodes Or videos of my wife here Scaring guests with her excitement Oh that too You can see all of that By going to YouTube And searching Tell us a good story And don’t forget to hit The subscribe button Yes But as always you guys Thank you for listening To tell us a good story.

[26:00] So next steps step we need a marquee sponsor for the tv show tv version of tell us good story yeah to continue and we’re actually being serious like we need help you guys keep us in prayer keep us in prayer because financially we can’t keep doing this like we’re we got to show up here tapped out so if chick-fil-a wants to come in and say hey here’s some money per episode that would be wonderful so great but that’s kind of where we’re at right now so keep us in prayer guys we’re actually whoo we’re we’re in the thick of it now and just i mean it’s been incredible because we have so many stations like we need to sign this contract we need to sign yes we have all these contracts people wanting us to sign with tv yeah which is amazing which is great but they want paid they want paid yeah and they’ve given if i’m being honest they’ve given us incredible deals yes but and there’s one television station and i want to mention who it is who reached out to us well we met at the convention reached out and I told her like listen here’s the deal, We have 15 episodes in the hopper ready to go, but Stephanie, we don’t have money.

[27:09] We don’t have money to buy airtime or any of this. And I said, so that’s the thing we would love to do this, but we don’t have a budget and we’re looking for a sponsor to help with the production cost and airtime moving forward. And she’s like, I get that. She’s like, here’s the thing. After meeting you guys in person at in Dallas, I’ve been thinking about you guys for the past two weeks. Here’s what I want to do. And I won’t share who this was. But she said, I want to put you guys on the air for six months for free.

[27:38] And after that six month mark, if you have an audience, then we’re going to start charging you for airtime. And that’s what I want to do for you guys. You give us the episodes, you give our production team, and we’re going to air those for you. Whoa. I’m like, wow. So that has happened, but you still have to produce the episodes as well. I have to pay to produce the episodes. Editing and filming. For six months. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. So that’s what we’re dealing with. So again, doors opening, but we need some funding along with this to really get this moving.

[28:10] It’s like, what could really happen if it wasn’t just us? Right. Yeah. So that’s where we’re at. So people, please keep us in prayer on next steps because we’re kind of at a loss right now. And you got to show up. We need God to show up big. So reality setting in guys. But now it’s like, there’s a lot of costs that go into making a show. So there’s, a lot to go into making a TV show into a radio show, into a podcast. And like we’ve said, we’ve been self-funding it, but we just, we can’t do it anymore. Like it’s getting to that point where we just… We need God to show up or. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We don’t know what could happen. Yeah. That’s where we’re at right now. Yeah. It’s like a tipping point. Like we need a big sponsor to come through to fund this and go from there. Yeah. I love when God shows off. So. Yes. This is going to be good.

[29:06] Anything else stuff? Nope. Any other stories, ladies? Not appropriate. Yes. That is true. We talked for. folks we talked for a half hour before we i hit the record button and i asked courtney if she had any stories and she told like how many did i tell not not one of them not one of them was appropriate it’s over there shaking his head like we can’t absolutely not we can’t hear any of those thank you not one of them and they were real they were i um genuine and they were told in a show. It’s like for the Howard Stern show. Oh, come on. You’re amazing. Thank you. And I’m also seeking funding. Friends, we want to encourage you to please follow us wherever you listen to this, whether it’s on the Apple Podcast app, iHeartRadio, Spotify, or one of the other platforms. You guys, it’s completely free. And while you’re there, feel free to give us a rating or a nice review. Thank you for listening, too. Tell us a good story.