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

[0:08] 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. 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.

[0:45] 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, hello friends welcome to a mini episode of tell us a good story today we want to check in with listeners after taking some time off to give you some quick updates on things you guys we’re back we are back season six baby season six the very first episode will drop next friday february 7th it’s happening it is happening, Now, Steph, before this conversation, we’ve been on for, what, six weeks? Oh, my gosh, you guys.

[1:28] We needed it. We did. In fact, Kevin, I was trying to talk him into being done, like, I think the first week in December. Like, Kevin, we’re done. He’s like, no, no, no. I want to get to episode 250 and then be done. Because, of course, if you guys know Kevin, he’s all about the numbers.

[1:42] I’m a numbers guy. He has to be the perfect number for us to get a break. We didn’t make it. We didn’t make it, though. No, we didn’t make it because Mama done. Yes. You were done. You were tapping out. We were running on fumes. We needed a break. Yes, absolutely. When I say needing a break, that’s with me working nights and weekends to do all the stuff and work and do family stuff. And there’s a lot that goes into this. For sure. But if anybody thinks that podcasting is easy, just like spend a day with us. And you know, podcasting is not easy. I mean, having this conversation is the easy part.

[2:13] Absolutely. The tough part is working full time. Yeah. Dealing with kids, scheduling, everything that comes with it, right? Absolutely. actually having conversation that’s the easy part of all of us yeah that’s the fun part of all this yeah absolutely but you know what i bet podcasting is easy for people that have all the help like the sponsors the producers the camera the people that do the back we have a little bit of help but yes we don’t have a team of people no we need a team but yeah we we don’t have a team of people at this point that’s what we need so we need a team we do need a team we do yes because i had all these big ideas of things I was going to catch up on over these six weeks. And it didn’t happen.

[2:51] Because you were tired. You needed a break. We needed a break to just recoup and focus on our family. And I think I’m even busier now than I was six weeks ago. It’s so true.

[3:03] With work and things that have come up. And it’s like, okay. And tonight we were going through stuff. I’m like, okay, I think things are becoming a distraction here. Because we are supposed to start the season again yeah so it’s time to do this and so we’re excited to start season six so excited you you guys i would just like you to know i have been on it with giving kevin ideas in fact as he was setting up this is the second time that i’ve sent him this one person oh my gosh you guys her story is amazing and she’s still alive though right she’s still alive and i actually sent you her information so you didn’t have to look her up you sent me her Instagram. Yes! That’s not her contact information. You message her on Instagram. I will try. Oh, no. It’s happening because I want her so bad. You guys, her story is so good. Oh, my gosh. It’s so good. But you guys, the people we’ve already talked to… I am so flipping excited for this season. Okay. Before we get to that, though, let’s talk about the number of people who have reached out to us and asked, when are you dropping season six of Tell Us a Good Story?

[4:10] From family members to us walking into church to saying hello to a friend to… To messages on Instagram and Facebook. People reaching out to your mother. Yes. Hey, I don’t want to bother Kevin and Steph, but when’s our next episode being a job? Are they okay? Answer is yes. We’re amazing. Yes. We’ve been busy. Super busy. It’s so busy. But it will drop next Friday, February 7th. And like you said, the people we’ve talked to and the suggestions we’ve received from people have been very nice, right? Great. So listeners, please feel free to send us messages via kevinandsteph.com or tellusagoodstory.com. We’ve received messages. Also, we’re going to start reading your messages to us on fifth episodes. So episode 250 is going to be coming up. We’ve received some very kind messages from listeners. I want to share those in one of those episodes because they’ve been incredibly kind. I mean, I would like to hear some of them. How about that? You already know them. Are you sure? Yes. You shared them with me? Pretty sure.

[5:09] I’m pretty sure. But we have episode 250 is going to come up here in a couple of weeks with your sister, Katie Keller Schnitzer. Yes. And my buddy. Adam Bennett. Hilarious. The most hilarious friend ever, Adam Bennett. So we’re going to record with those two. And it’s funny because people are reaching out and I just tell them, hey, there are 248 episodes right now of Tell Us Good Story. Go back and re-listen to some of the fifth episodes. Those seem to be the most popular and the most downloaded are the fifth episodes with us sharing stories with our friends like Katie and Adam. So a lot of times you forget the conversation you have. So go re-listen to those. That’s what I’ve been telling people, right? Just do that until we start recording again.

[5:54] So we did start recording again and here’s what happened steph sent me a name obviously and said make it happen yes and again she sent me their contact information called their instagram you are welcome you are and then i had to do some digging on who’s their pr team or what’s their contact information so found their pr team reached out and it was through harper collins christian publishing. Okay. Reached out to their team and they got back with me and said, I’m sorry, this individual is not doing interviews at this time. Then it was probably five or six hours later, I received another email from the same person and said, Kevin, I just looked at your website, started researching you guys. We love what you’re doing with Tell Us Good Story. Let me send you… I’m sending you a list right now of 10 clients that we have here with the book publishing company you let me know who you want to talk to sent us 10 i requested five she set them up, And so we’ve talked to or scheduled to talk to, you know, a lot of these people, but it was like, boom, boom, boom. So Steph, right now, the next eight to 10 episodes are either scheduled or we’ve already recorded.

[7:05] Who out of you listeners know how happy I am right now? Steph is super excited. I’m so excited. Because you’re nervous about nobody saying yes to us and it just be you and me talking like this. We know it’s not good. This is… It’s not good when it happens. This is the worst thing that’s going to happen right now. You and me doing this. People are probably saying, boring. That’s what you’re saying.

[7:27] So next week, the very next episode will be with our conversation with Chris Nickich. Oh, you guys. He is the first and only person in the world who has completed an Ironman race who has Down syndrome. He and his father got on Zoom and did a conversation with us, and it was awesome. It was great. By the end of this conversation, folks, I’m not lying. I am not making this up. I want you to listen to this because by the end of this conversation, Chris, who is, I think, 25, 26 at the time, he’s won two ESPY awards. I mean, he has been just all over the news. I mean, it’s incredible, right? But his father goes with him to these races. He was trying to ditch his father for my wife here. He asked steph if she would take him to his next race and let his dad stay home and i’m like dude i can hear you talking right now.

[8:30] It was such a sweet moment bless his heart so as you can imagine he was basically head over heels for my wife he wanted to be steph’s best friend after this conversation which was hilarious yeah It was absolutely hilarious and such a very sweet and innocent moment. It was. But listen to this next episode because it’s very funny how this transpires by the end of the conversation.

[8:55] All right. Then we have episode 250, like we just mentioned. And then we have a conversation with a man by the name of Don Yeager. Oh, you guys. Don Yeager. We just recorded this last week. Oh, my gosh. I’m not kidding when I say this is one of my favorite conversations of all time. It’s one of those where I knew of him, but then you had the conversation and it just wildly exceeds your expectations. Don Yeager is a former Sports Illustrated writer. He has now written 35 books, 12 of them being New York Times bestsellers. He’s sold over 7 million copies.

[9:35] This man is a world-renowned author, writer, and public speaker. He is a master storyteller. Yes. It is unbelievable. Like… I don’t want to oversell it, but I don’t think I can oversell it, Steph, how good he was telling stories. You guys, he was so good where we laughed, we cried. Like, I think I cried two or three times in that conversation. I was trying not to. But it’s not like you’re going to get there and you’re like, oh my gosh, this is so sad. It was so moving, his stories. Like, you are going to want to hear these stories because it’s just like mouth open. You’re shocked you’re listening. And then to the point where at the end, I was like, oh, no, no, no. I want to keep talking to him. Like, Kevin, can we please have him on again? And he absolutely said yes, he would come back on the show. So I am really excited for you guys to hear his conversation. I would talk to him every week if I could. Oh my gosh. And he probably would have a story for us every week. He would. Oh, stories with Don. We could do that.

[10:37] Okay, so I’m looking on my list here. Actually, he’s 251. Chris Nickich is 248. 249, we recorded last week as well with Ginger Duggar Volo. She’s one of the Duggar children, one of the 19. And her childhood was fascinating. Yes, it was. It was fascinating. Now, we’re going to give you kind of behind the scenes here, because when we’re doing research, there’s some massive accusations against their family, right? She did not have a picture-perfect childhood, I would say. As they would portray on TV. Yes, I would say that. And a lot of you know what’s going on with her older brother, Josh, and all that. When she got on the Zoom call with us, one of the first things I said was, listen, Ginger, just so you know, this is Tell Us a Good Story. We are here to have a super fun conversation with you.

[11:31] And we are not going to bring up your brother, anything that’s going on with your father, we want to laugh with you. We want you to have some really fun stories and conversations. We’re not going to bring that up. And she was like, oh my gosh, thank you. Like I can do an interview. I can have a conversation and not talk about my brother and be guarded about how is this going to get spun and what’s the video clip that’s going to run with this. She was actually, it looked like she was very relieved. Like, thank you. You could almost see like the weight lifted from her. Like I can just relax. I can enjoy this conversation. Yes, and have fun with you guys. Because I can’t imagine going into an interview. She’s probably on edge every time. Like, what’s going to happen? What’s going to happen? And then when it’s done and if it was okay, then she’s like, okay, now I’m okay. That would be horrible. It would be. Having to go through that every conversation when you’re being interviewed. For sure. Then our next conversation was with an individual they call the Christian Avril Lavigne. Oh! Yes, we did have a conversation with her. Grace Graber. Yes. Oh, you guys. You’re going to. I have a good feeling you’re going to hear her name in the future. Yeah. In the Christian music industry. She was super cool. I had never heard of her before. And right before we had a conversation with her, Kevin’s like, just listen to some of her music.

[12:53] Me and Emmy and Elle love her music. Like, it’s so good. I love her voice her tone her music lyrics like she’s really good she is and she’s just so down to earth yes I really enjoyed her yes and hopefully we can meet her in person for sure someday she’s really good and then there’s a handful of other people don’t say it don’t say it who have maybe said yes yes okay and some we have scheduled yes some we don’t yet not yet but they’re on the radar and I’m not gonna I’m not gonna release the names yet thank you We have not recorded the conversation with them yet. Don’t you say it. It’s pretty exciting. It’s amazing. It is pretty exciting to people that we are getting to talk to. It really is. It is. And Steph, it’s exciting to people we got to talk to in season five. You know, it’s so funny. Like just going back year after year and I’m like, we’ve talked to these people. It’s amazing. It blows our minds. Steph, it is amazing. I mean, Steph, from Willie Robertson to Mac and Meredith Brock to Coach Scott Drew, Alex Kendrick, Phil Cook, John Gordon, Doug McNamee, Helen Smallbone, Josh Baldwin, Victor Marks again. I love Victor. I love Victor.

[14:15] I know I’m missing people. Johnny and Donnie Van Zandt. Oh, they were good. It was so much fun. From Lynyrd Skynyrd. Yes. You know what? It just goes back to say the conversations are so much fun. It’s everything that people don’t get to see. That’s so hard. And it’s funny because these people will jump on the Zoom call and immediately Steph’s like screaming at them in excitement. So excited. And scares half of our guests. It’s very funny. Like, I really think you scared Willie Robertson. I did, but I needed him to bring up his level. He needed to bring up his energy. It was the morning. Willie. He got on the call and he probably, he was still probably needing a coffee. Yes, he did. And Steph just. Willie, I need you to step up. Just overflow of energy. I’m going to need you to bring your energy level up, Willie, to match mine or even get half of what I have right now. We need to focus, Willie. That’s hard to do. That is hard to do. Bless him.

[15:07] 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.

[15:47] But another life event here, right, is we need people to keep us in prayer. Oh, you guys. Oh, my gosh, you guys. This is crazy.

[15:56] This is crazy. We will be going to Dallas, Texas here in a few weeks. End of February. We’re a finalist for Video Podcast of a Year Award at the NRB, which is the National Religious Broadcasting Convention. Yep. Okay. apparently this is a big deal yes i we’re not aware of all this we’re not aware of this right but we’re a finalist for this big award and then our producer john ondo has put a sizzle reel together it’s two minutes and then we get two minutes on stage and we are pitching tell us a good story as a tv show to all these networks so who knows where this goes so please keep us in prayer because this could be a big opportunity we have absolutely been recording these in video, and who knows where this goes but this this feels like the next step.

[16:46] My heart’s pounding right now. Don’t give me that look like, well, you should talk. My heart’s pounding right now because I can’t talk right now. Like, oh, oh, you guys, I’m so nervous. It’s going to be great. I’m excited. I’m humbled. I’m shocked. Like, I can’t believe, like, never thought we’d be up for this kind of award. Right. Right. Like, it just blows me away. But from this trip, Steph, I’m sure we are going to have plenty of stories from this trip to Dallas. Yep. And I joke in the past, like if we ever need stories, just go travel. Just go travel somewhere and hang out with you and things will happen. There will be stories to share, I’m sure.

[17:28] So listeners, thank you for being patient with us. Yes, you guys. Thank you so much. It’s funny. I’ve gotten messages like, Jay Luby, if you’re listening to this, I hear you, sir. Jay calls me up multiple times. Listen, I’m on Apple Podcasts right now. The last one I see is Santa Claus. I’m ready for a new episode. So, Jay, next week, my friend, you will have a new episode. There you go. So, just one more week until you get Season 6 starting to drop of Tell Us a Good Story. 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 to Tell Us a Good Story.