The operating room is his happy place. Doing God's healing work with the audio backdrop of Contemporary Christian music and an occasional Bible quiz with his surgical staff. Dr. Robert Kayal has build a "one stop" orthopedic care empire. The 20 Kayal Orthopedic Centers in New Jersey and New York were born out of his love of God, love of people, gifted hands, and an innate desire to "fix things". It was Dr. Kayal's pastor, who helped to ignite his life long career in medicine by encouraging him t...
Dec 17, 2024•51 min•Season 4Ep. 75
Steve Siler has written hundreds of songs , nine of them were #1 Christian Contemporary songs and 45 of them top 10. His songs have been recorded by some of the countries biggest stars...Kenny Loggins, Smokey Robinson, Patty Labelle, the Oak Ridge boys and others. To say the very least his song wrting skills are a true gift from God. Born out of his love of music at a very early age, combined with finding his way to Jesus as a teen was the fertile ground for what turned out to be his life's work...
Oct 30, 2024•40 min•Season 4Ep. 74
Hearing Christian stories in their triumphs and challenges is always inspiring. In this episode we're tracking the journey of musician, songwriter, worship team member and church planter, Jesse Butterworth. While many Christian lives start with their roots in early family life, most blossom later as we grow, mature and come to a true relationship with Jesus, in a real way. And every story is unique. Jesse's "moment" came in a dorm room listening to James Taylor. It was at this same Christian Col...
Oct 16, 2024•45 min•Season 4Ep. 73
His music career exploded within a year. From being a camp worker, councilor and worship leader at the Catholic Damascus summer camp in Ohio to world renown Christian Music artist...24 year old Seph Schluter's life long love of Jesus unfolds in this episode of Amazing Greats. "Counting My Blessings" was his breakout song and has been streamed over 100 million times in English and many million more in Portuguese ultimately becoming the #5 biggest song globally. It is a story of God's blessings in...
Sep 25, 2024•45 min•Season 4Ep. 72
Starting her entrepreneurial journey at the age of 15, Nicole Jansen utilizes her wealth of experience and divine guidance to empower leaders. She collaborates with small family-owned businesses, large franchise groups, and major corporations. In this episode, Nicole reveals her top 3 leadership skills, highlights common leadership errors, and much more. Beyond offering practical advice on cultivating mindset and leadership abilities, the most profound insights in this episode stem from her spir...
Sep 12, 2024•46 min•Season 4Ep. 71
God "shows off" with powerful miracles in the lives and stories of his people. And that is what the Amazing Greats podcast does; shares those stories. Joe Wankelman's story is an inspiring showcase of God's goodness. From a childhood of drama with his mother pretty much disappearing and his dad self focused, he was mostly raised by a caring grandmother. Joe didn't read until he was in 7th grade...graduated with a 1.9 GPA and was called "stupid" by many throughout his years growing up and even la...
Aug 08, 2024•49 min•Season 4Ep. 70
Suffering can be the gateway to a deeper relationship with God. For Jimmy Pena, it was a defining moment, that changed everything. It was the beginning of a climb up his second mountain. A lifelong Christian....his relationship with Jesus and his life purpose made a 180 degree pivot after a devastating diagnosis and health crisis. At first it resulted in his questioning everything, re-working his life and heading down a new path. But it wasn't easy. I truly loved this conversation with a man who...
Jul 25, 2024•34 min•Season 4Ep. 69
Bill Yeargin leads a billion dollar boat and marine supply super company on a culture of service. Service to the industry, yes, but just as important is the service to his 2000 employees as well as serving humanity through dozens of mission trips to underprivileged communities in countries around the world. Correct Craft was founded 100 years ago with a mission to "build boats for the glory of God." That remains their mission today under the leadership of our guest, who over the last 15 years tu...
Jul 10, 2024•41 min•Season 4Ep. 68
Dave Dravecky, a left-handed major league pitcher who played for the Padres and Giants, brings his infectious zest for life and his compelling life narrative to this episode. He recounts his personal faith journey, starting from a seemingly mystical encounter with God on a playground at the age of 12, a memory that has stayed with him for over 50 years. His path to a deeper connection with God was marked by various pivotal moments, such as a transformative baseball trip to South America where he...
Jun 25, 2024•51 min•Season 4Ep. 67
Here is the heartwarming story of a man and his canine police partner. Mark Tappan, a self confessed "non-planner", found his way on the perfectly (divinely?) planned career trajectory that lead him from a "Jesus epiphany" in the US Marine Corp, to youth pastor to police officer and then the human companion of A DOG NAMED MATTIS. Now with 5 million followers on social media and a new book, he shares his special bond and amazing true life stories along with his 6 year canine crime fighter. You'll...
Jun 12, 2024•44 min•Season 4Ep. 66
A $300 a month job, with very little status or perks, upended his career trajectory and shaped Doug Burleigh's next 50 years. As a "Young Life" summer camper in his teens he uncovered what a relationship with Jesus looked like. After excelling in academics in high school and college, it appeared he'd laid the ground work for a career to skyrocketing career with several lucrative and prestigious options. But the God inspired decision he made at that point changed everything, as he found his passi...
May 27, 2024•47 min•Season 4Ep. 65
Here is the story of a small town boy, who among other things, toured 1100 high schools across the country, spent a year in the Neitherlands, hosted a talk radio show, helped found a thriving church 28 years ago and uses humor as a primary tool to introduce and share with people the love and grace of Jesus. Rick Enloe, author of the book, "Low Hanging Truth" is an awesome story teller who learned the importance of teaching through story telling from the master...Jesus himself. You'll get a glimp...
May 14, 2024•38 min•Season 4Ep. 64
What I love about this episode is how fun, human, unique and authentic our guest is. His name is Keith Koldsbaek, but from his story, in the next few minutes...you will also get to know more about hydroplane race driving legend Chip Hanauer , as well as Kaitlyn, Dee Dee and Bella. You'll find out about how Nascar driver Jimmy Johnson ended up standing on the sponson of a hydroplane with hydroplane driver icon Bill Muncey. Keith shares details of the marriage that didn't happen, but the daughter ...
Apr 29, 2024•33 min•Season 4Ep. 63
You'll love this story of a young "feeling" kid, who is ADHD, filled with anxiety and lacking in self confidence but ends up as a Super Bowl champion in the NFL and a sought after speaker and author. In this episode we walk through the up and down seasons in the life of Seahawk's long snapper, Clint Gresham. As a boy growing up in Texas, church was always a part of his story....but it became the focus of his story when he made a radical shift in 2009 when one month changed his life to this day. ...
Apr 16, 2024•41 min•Season 4Ep. 62
There are few people who have had more experience capturing the world of sports in the written word. Particularly baseball and golf. John Strege spent over 40 years sharing the highest and lowest moments in sports and everything in-between. His one-on-one connection with sports stars and celebrities give him a unique frame of reference and has offered him a distinctive opportunity to share some of the most amazing stories in his new book, "In the BIG INNING...Where faith meets sports: A Christia...
Apr 02, 2024•34 min•Season 4Ep. 61
He was the lead singer of one of the worlds most popular rock bands, and hung out with the likes of Smokey Robinson, The Pointer Sisters, Earth Wind and Fire and more. Leon Patillo was the lead singer for Santana and his music career was legendary. In the late 70's his life pivoted and he made the dramatic switch to what turned out to be the very beginnings of Contemporary Christian Music. Creating music that worshiped God with lyrics of praise in a totally new musical form with catchy choruses ...
Mar 19, 2024•37 min•Season 4Ep. 60
Sometimes it takes a leap of faith. Literally. It was a leap with no real landing spot for this creative genius when he packed his vehicle and headed off to the entertainment capital of LOS ANGELES. His only destination for sure was a storage unit there for his possessions. His wife and five kids were dropped off with friends in Redding and he was headed for a God inspired adventure into the wild world of acting....voice acting. No home, no job, just a promise from God that this was where he nee...
Mar 07, 2024•36 min•Season 4Ep. 59
An avid reader, a lover of the written word, this is the unlikely story of Arlyn Lawrence’s God inspired path from newspaper writer to magazine columnist to successful book editor, consultant and author. Her company Inspira Literary Solutions has been instrumental in the publishing of literally hundreds of books. Her company’s mission is to help writers; “ From idea in head, to book in hand”. She’ll share how her life long Christian journey became her own, half way around the world with the help...
Feb 19, 2024•35 min•Season 4Ep. 58
How does an angry, alcoholic, drug addicted comic "flip the script" and become one of the most talented "clean" comedians in America? Stand by......God's fingerprints are all over this story. Jeff Allen is one of the most sought after comedians, performing on stage, television, at corporate events and churches with his hilarious observational comedy. In the tradition of Cosby, Carlin, and Seinfeld, Jeff finds the humor in our everyday lives and leaves audiences doubled up in laughter. Marriage, ...
Nov 17, 2023•58 min•Season 3Ep. 57
K-Love Radio is heard on nearly 1000 radio signals in 48 states, Samoa, Puerto Rico and Washington DC. It is by far the largest outlet for Contemporary Christian music in the world. It is truly a phenomenon! It started with one radio station in California with one guy's "God inspired" idea. (Founder, Bob Anthony was our guest on episode 43 in season 2) In this episode we get some of the inside scoop on K-Love's exponential growth in the last few decades with our guest Alan Mason. He was the COO ...
Oct 04, 2023•41 min•Season 3Ep. 56
Carey Green is a pastor, yes, but his amazing work in the world of podcasting has been his passion for the past decade. His business, "Podcast Fast Track" provides coaching, and behind the scenes podcast detail work for his long list of clients. But he's also a podcaster himself, with a daily audience of nearly 100,000 listeners. His Morning Mindset was launched on January of 2018 and thus far has over 47 Million downloads in 180 countries. It's a 6 minute Biblical launch to your day designed to...
Sep 20, 2023•45 min•Season 3Ep. 55
Our Amazing Greats episode today focuses on the science of fitness combined with the power of spirituality. Our guest, PJ Glassey, was our guest to make the youngest alter call at the age of 6, which launched a life long journey in Christ. From that, combined with his passion for fitness, was the starting place for the birth of the XGyms and the XGym app. His unique approach to fitness was built on 3 characteristics: It is designed for people with a busy life style, it's safe and focuses on stre...
Aug 26, 2023•51 min•Season 3Ep. 54
Shannon Bream is an accomplished journalist, attorney, hosted Fox News@Night for years and now is Host of Fox News Sunday. Add to that, she's a podcast host and an author. We were excited to notch out a little time with this very busy woman for this Amazing Greats episode. We kick off our conversation by talking about her latest book "The Love Stories of the Bible Speak"... an awesome glimpse of the Biblical lessons on romance, friendships and faith that she shares in the book. We'll jump back a...
Jun 30, 2023•35 min•Season 3Ep. 53
Barry McGuire rocked the world of Top 40 music with a brash, scathing depiction of a world in turmoil. His number one hit song "Eve of Destruction" focused on the chaos surrounding the Vietnam war , the draft, Nuclear weapons, civil rights, and communism. It was so controversial, some radio stations and some countries banned the song from the airwaves. It jumped to the the top of billboard magazine in 1965, bumping the Beatles "Help" out of the number one spot. Although that song helped Barry Mc...
Jun 17, 2023•42 min•Season 3Ep. 52
The smiling face and genuine personality of television host and newscaster Penny LeGate has graced Northwest homes for over 2 decades. As co-host of KING TV's Evening Magazine and morning anchor on KIRO news she was (is) a star. On this Amazing Greats podcast she is authentic, vulnerable and opens up about her life's victories and struggles (...and we didn't even get a chance to talk about her husband's heart transplant and her own bout with cancer. ) Beyond her public life, her humanitarian wor...
May 30, 2023•56 min•Season 3Ep. 51
Bobb Biel has been sharing common sense (God inspired) mentoring to business executives for the past 40+ years. Over 500 companies and churches and 5000 executives have reached out to this brilliant behind-the-scenes leader for guidance. His mission is to strengthen leaders and provide support helping them to grow their organizations on solid, tested principals. In our conversation, Bobb shares how his doubt-filled teen years pivoted to a real rock solid faith in college due in large because of ...
May 17, 2023•49 min•Season 3Ep. 50
Sit back and enjoy the story of a young man, who at an early age was able to merge his two loves into a lifetime career and mission. You’ll hear about a very specific day, time and place when he made a decision to trust Jesus. After several years pitching In the minor leagues, Mickey made it to the majors by discovering the pitch style that he became noted for. That’s what opened the door to a bigger platform and opportunity to share the gospel with other players and ultimately to a mission that...
Apr 19, 2023•43 min•Season 3Ep. 49
Mike McCoy was a star at Notre Dame then off to an 11 year NFL award winning career as defensive tackle with Green Bay. In todays amazing story of his life and career you'll hear about his time in football, but maybe more powerful was his transition into prison ministry, and then to his youth mission, sharing the Gospel with young people in Catholic schools throughout America: Mike McCoy Ministries. From a tough childhood with an alcoholic father, Mike found football, several solid mentors and t...
Apr 05, 2023•45 min•Season 3Ep. 48
Brian Arnold was a professionally trained card shark. He made over 4 million dollars by age 24! He played the "peripheral edges" of the Mafia when they had BIG games to knock off. And..he also became suicidal. Brian was seconds away from pulling the trigger, and divine intervention stepped in. He had a powerful spiritual experience, and was delivered “instantly” from his depression, darkness, hopelessness, and found his purpose for living here on planet earth. Brian has spent over 45 years of hi...
Mar 22, 2023•47 min•Season 3Ep. 47
God is up to something among Generation Z. Young people at Asbury University and dozens of other college campuses across the country are experiencing a movement of love and connection with Jesus that has grabbed the attention of people around the world. Not unlike the Jesus movement of the 60s and 70s a youth revival seems to have taken shape. On this episode of Amazing Greats, Pastor Doug Hankins a theological revival historian, shares his unique perspective on this awakening by taking us on a ...
Mar 09, 2023•36 min•Season 3Ep. 46
