Foreign s this week, we're taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming to bring you a couple exciting announcements about my life and some upcoming changes to the podcast. Because in many ways, the two go hand in hand. First, for those who haven't yet seen the news on social media, I got engaged last August at Grace Agenda in Moscow, Idaho. I met a lovely woman named Tamara and we've been courting since then. On Good Friday, at the location where we met, I proposed and she said yes.
Now, I don't talk about my personal life much on the show, but man, it has been a journey to get here. Not only unlearning so much from my secular life, but also learning how to do Christian courtship right. It's harder than it seems, but it's also very intuitive. It's if you take a disciplined approach, read the Bible, and have good shepherds, including pastors and fathers, around you. I am so grateful for your support and prayers over the years because I know they played a role.
Now Tamara and I are already thinking about ways to produce content together about our journeys, our courtship, and our process as we build a Christian marriage, household and family. Now, I've kept my personal life somewhat separate from the podcast so far, and I'm sensitive to turning myself, my soon to be spouse, and my family into a product. But I think we'll have some good stories to tell and some good advice to offer too.
Now, I hope that becomes a reality if it's the Lord's will, and that you enjoy it too. Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about the podcast. And I'd like to start by giving you some insight into my thought process behind the show. So when I started this podcast Back in 2020, I was a no. 1. I was an unfinished man talking to what I thought were accomplished men about the subject of masculinity. I didn't feel I'd yet earned my right to contribute to the conversation.
I was the low man on the totem pole, you might say, and so it was my job to just listen, which was something that I'm more than happy to do now. That didn't change when I exited the manosphere for Reformed theology. In fact, it only got worse. The men and women I was interviewing were accomplished professionally, but they were also accomplished theologically, possessing degrees and a mastery of concepts, language, and doctrine that I couldn't imagine.
For these reasons and more, I respected my guests greatly, whether manosphere or Reformed theologian and pastor. I didn't want to do the standard podcast thing of having them introduce themselves to the audience. I hate that when someone forces you to do a cold intro about yourself. I wanted to spare my guests that indignity and set the stage ahead of time for who they were so we could get right into the meat of the conversation.
Now, to make that possible, I decided to do my extended monologue intros, which have become a signature of the show. In those opening bits, I could introduce my guests and frame the interview, letting the audience know what was important about what they were about to hear.
Over time, those intros grew longer and started embodying quite a bit of editorializing, not necessarily about the interview or about the guests specifically, but but about the subjects we'd cover and the topics that surrounded them. I enjoyed those intros. You enjoyed them? Even my guests enjoyed them. Everything was fine until recently. A few weeks ago, I released my podcast with Dr. Jared Longshore, which I had a blast recording.
But after I released it, I started getting the feeling that something wasn't right. I felt that I had gone too hard in my monologue. My friend said, no, it was fine, and it's not like anyone said otherwise, including Dr. Longshore. But I couldn't shake the feeling that somehow I'd gone too far. Now I started thinking about it, and I realized there's a reason I'm not a no one anymore. I'm a man with my own voice, platform and seat at the table.
My words carry weight and meaning in the public dialogue. And even if I'm inclined to think otherwise, 30,000 followers on X, 20,000 followers on Instagram, and 10,000 subscribers on YouTube say different. In other words, I am my own dude now. So there is the very real risk that my monologue intros might not honor my guests the ways that I intend. Rather, if I'm not careful, they might inappropriately color what you'll hear from them. And that is contrary to my entire point of doing the show.
And so it's with both a heavy heart and a measure of gratitude that I announce that my extended monologue intros will be going away. I'll be doing a brief introduction of my guests, sparing them the need to introduce themselves, but instead, I'll let the conversation speak, which I think is why most of you listen anyway.
Now, this prevents me from stepping on my guests with my own opinions, and also, I think, opens the door for a broader audience who don't know or care who this Will Spencer guy is or what he thinks. They're here to listen to my guests, and there's an added bonus too. And it has to do with my aforementioned engagement. Because I'm soon to be the head of a household of more than one person, I have to get smarter about how I spend my time and energy producing content.
It really is true about how much a family or or the possibility of one helps grow a man up, but those monologue intros take the majority of my time every week to write, record and edit. Also, on YouTube, they cost money to edit as well. In fact, they've been my biggest monthly expense because I have a professional do them.
With the removal of the monologues, I can put that time and energy into standalone content on YouTube, plus the production of courses based on my men's mentorship content and more. And speaking of my mentorship is running again and have I mentioned I have a new website? You can check it out at willspenser Co and more on that will be coming soon.
Now, I could ignore my inner sense and continue doing my monologues as I have, but learning to trust my gut has been an important part of my journey as a content creator, which is not exactly a place where I anticipated being. If I were to travel back in time to May 2020 and tell myself then where I'd be today and what would have happened in the meantime, I'm quite sure I wouldn't believe myself.
So what you're hearing in this podcast is my adventure as a stranger in a strange land, and maybe also a man on a pilgrimage and a walk of faith. I say all this because I value you as a listener and a viewer. If you're listening to this podcast on audio, you've probably been around for a while. You've heard shifts and changes in me, and I'm guessing for some of you that's part of the appeal. Where is Will going next? Who will he interview? How will this adventure continue?
And that's meaningful to me. So I try to not just change things arbitrarily without letting you know we're in this together. After all, and looking at my schedule in the weeks and months to come, this adventure might just be getting started and I'm thrilled to have you along for the ride. Now, if you enjoy the Will Spencer podcast. Thank you. Don't forget to like this episode, subscribe and share it with friends. Plus leave 5 star ratings and reviews on Apple and Spotify.
To go deeper, subscribe to my substack or click Buy me a Coffee in the show notes. Also, again, check out my new website at willspencer Co, which is the new community home for the podcast. It's been many months in the making, and I think you're going to love it. Thanks so much. And we'll be back with more interviews as regularly scheduled next week.