March 1, 2025

EXPERIENCE 209 | Scott Kissel - Executive Director of Sky Corral Ranch - Raised in Small Business, Educated in Ministry, Experienced with All of The Above

This week, I was pleased to spend time with Scott Kissel, Executive Director of Sky Corral Ranch - located near the top of the full-year drivable portion of Old Flowers Road in Bellvue, Colorado.  LoCo Think Tank has held its annual Next Level Summit at Sky Corral the past two years, and we’re pleased to return this August for another amazing dose of mountain hospitality!  

Scott has lived quite an interesting journey, growing up in a retail grocery family in South Fork, Colorado as a hard-working multi-sport athlete, finding faith and then drawing his family to it - and then attending Colorado Christian University in Denver.  After college he soon found himself as a leader in Sales and Operations at Gibb’s Bagels and then Yancey’s Food Service - and then finding his way back to ministry as a Senior Executive with Timberline Church.  

Scott shares many amazing business and faith stories in this episode, and also gives us a behind the scenes on the renovation, operation, and future plans at Sky Corral Ranch - so tune in and enjoy my conversation with Scott Kissel.  

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by: Logistics Co-op | https://logisticscoop.com/

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Transcript
WEBVTT

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This week I was pleased to spend time with Scott Kissel, Executive Director of Sky Corral Ranch, located near the top of the full year drivable portion of Old Flowers Road in Bellevue, Colorado.

00:00:10.449 --> 00:00:18.910
Loco Think Tank has held its annual Next Level Summit at Sky Corral the past two years, and we're pleased to return this August for another amazing dose of mountain hospitality.

00:00:19.809 --> 00:00:32.450
Scott has lived quite an interesting journey, growing up in a retail grocery family in South Fork, Colorado as a hard working multi sport athlete, finding faith and then drawing his family to it, and then attending Colorado Christian University in Denver.

00:00:33.450 --> 00:00:39.600
After college, he soon found himself as a leader in sales and operations at Gibbs Bagels and then Yancey's Food Service.

00:00:40.189 --> 00:00:43.859
And then finding his way back to ministry as a senior executive with Timberline Church.

00:00:44.679 --> 00:00:53.009
Scott shares many amazing business and faith stories in this episode, and also gives us a behind the scenes on the renovation operation and future plans at Sky Corral Ranch.

00:00:53.490 --> 00:00:55.869
So tune in and enjoy my conversation with Scott Kissel.

00:00:57.500 --> 00:00:57.990
Let's have some fun.

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Welcome to the Low Cove Experience Podcast.

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On this show, you'll get to know business and community leaders from all around Northern Colorado and beyond.

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Our guests share their stories, business stories, life stories, stories of triumph and of tragedy, and through it all, you'll be inspired and entertained.

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These conversations are real and raw, and no topics are off limits.

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So pop in a breath mint and get ready to meet our latest guest.

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Welcome back to the Loco Experience Podcast.

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My guest today is Scott Kissel and Scott is the executive director.

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The Sky Corral Ranch and uh, I think I want one of those jackets like that that rocks the sky corral colors.

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We can make that happen for you.

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Thanks for having me.

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Yeah.

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Thanks for being here.

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Um, and so, I don't know, what percentage of people in Larimer County do you think know about the the Reimagined Sky Corral Ranch?

00:01:59.459 --> 00:02:00.989
Oh, man, it's gotta be low.

00:02:00.989 --> 00:02:02.459
It's kind of the best kept secret.

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20% or something?

00:02:02.584 --> 00:02:03.959
Yeah, I was gonna say 20% or less.

00:02:03.959 --> 00:02:04.528
30%?

00:02:04.528 --> 00:02:04.769
Yep.

00:02:04.948 --> 00:02:06.269
So for the 80 percenters.

00:02:06.953 --> 00:02:12.443
Uh, can you give a quick kind of overview, uh, a drone flyover of the operation at Sky Corral?

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Yeah.

00:02:12.824 --> 00:02:13.324
You bet.

00:02:13.343 --> 00:02:13.524
Yeah.

00:02:13.524 --> 00:02:14.074
Thank you.

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105 acres, private venue for about 50 people.

00:02:17.903 --> 00:02:23.343
They can either stay overnight and enjoy all things mountain, or they can do corporate retreats and strategic planning.

00:02:23.343 --> 00:02:26.584
It's just got a little bit of everything, rock climbing.

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Fishing, hiking, canoe, kayak, stand up paddle board.

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Bears, turkeys, deers.

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Oh yeah, absolutely.

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Moose.

00:02:33.299 --> 00:02:34.438
Yeah, exactly.

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Hawks and eagles.

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It's just a, a great opportunity to pause in the mountains with people that you enjoy and it's just you.

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Just private.

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I dig it.

00:02:41.998 --> 00:02:45.758
And this is basically up the top of Old Flowers Road, kinda.

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That's correct.

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Stove Prairie area.

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Over Risk Canyon.

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Yep.

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Up Stove Prairie.

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Up Old Flowers Road.

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Just past Stove Prairie Elementary School.

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Three miles.

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Um.

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Um.

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Where does it make sense to kind of start with talking about Sky Corral?

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Do you want us to talk about Like some of the events and teams you've had there in recent years, it came back into service when, and when did you join the team?

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Well, the best place probably Kurt to start is just the leadership legacy.

00:03:12.533 --> 00:03:22.044
Couldn't be sitting here today without, you know, the 1950s, the Grubbs family, or who turned it into an old dude ranch, 1957 became operational.

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Okay.

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Then a long history of leaders, you know, from that point.

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Uh, but the point where it really came into a new found, you know, business model was in 2008 with Bill and Avis ward.

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Okay.

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A great couple and family from front range internet.

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No, no different.

00:03:36.019 --> 00:03:36.348
Nope.

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Different.

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He is a word.

00:03:37.368 --> 00:03:37.883
Yeah.

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Word.

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Petroleum.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And so amazing family, Enid, Oklahoma, and they bought it in 2008 and really kind of put it on the map for, you know, family camps and just exciting getaways for people.

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And then they had it until 2015 and then they donated it.

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This is an amazing story of generosity to the community foundation.

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A great foundation in town that took it on as an asset and poured a million dollars into it for capital improvements.

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Uh, fire re, uh, suppression system kinda helped us dredge out the lake, set up another$1 million endowment with another foundation.

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And so that was Oh, like for, for maintenance kind of thing or something?

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Yeah, exactly.

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Yeah.

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Just after the Hyde Park fire of 2012.

00:04:17.834 --> 00:04:18.644
So this might.

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Sound weird, but I've had Kristin on from the Community Foundation and I know that they do investing in funds and donor directed things and stuff.

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This isn't the kind of investment that's really supposed to make a bunch of money.

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It's really preserving an asset for the community to use.

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Is that the right way to look at this?

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That is correct.

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Yeah.

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And so, uh, If they ever make any money on it, they'll be happy?

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No.

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It is probably one of the They probably could make They could.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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But there was just a unique opportunity for them to take us on as an asset.

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And we would not be in business today without the community foundation in Northern Colorado.

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That team has been amazing over the years.

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So like both the capital support and just even probably just awareness, like having a little, little, we'll call it a ranch yet, right?

00:05:00.869 --> 00:05:05.809
Like it's too small to be a working ranch and keep cattle or things like that to speak of.

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So it has to be.

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Touristy kind of oriented.

00:05:09.564 --> 00:05:09.894
Yes.

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But finding a voice in that marketplace is hard.

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Very hard.

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And uh, they were the experts in it.

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Yeah.

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So put a board of directors together and helped with all the capital, you know, campaign improvements and phenomenal partnership.

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Okay.

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And then in 20, uh, 18, uh, they turned it back over to Sky Corral Ranch, so it's now fully in our hands as a 5 0 1 C3.

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Oh, I see.

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So it almost had a incubation period.

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Correct.

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re transplanted the operating entity.

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And then is that where you came on?

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I came on a little bit later, almost four years ago, may of 2021.

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So during those COVID years, if you will, it just kind of was, uh, just limping by great reason to promote it to get a bunch of people together in the mountains and tight quarters.

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So, yeah, no, it was after they're seeing kind of the end of this.

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Period.

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They're like, okay, I guess it's time to get serious about this.

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Yes.

00:05:56.963 --> 00:05:57.194
Yeah.

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So Bill Ward and the other guy on the board, Andy Peterson got together with me and said, Hey, let's talk about this opportunity.

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Probably too early to get together to talk about an executive director, but we'd like to do that.

00:06:07.774 --> 00:06:09.663
And then the board agreed to give it a go.

00:06:09.663 --> 00:06:11.423
And so here I am almost four years later.

00:06:11.423 --> 00:06:12.233
What were you doing?

00:06:12.444 --> 00:06:18.494
Like, what were you, we'll jump in the time machine and get kind of more of your story, but what were you doing, like, going into that time?

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Yeah, at that time I was the Senior Executive Pastor at Timberline Church here in Fort Collins, Colorado.

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So, 14 years on staff at that church.

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It's been our home church since, uh, 30 years ago.

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Uh, and just was looking for a little bit of a change and wasn't sure what that meant.

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Seems like a pay cut.

00:06:34.363 --> 00:06:34.423
Yeah.

00:06:35.014 --> 00:06:35.144
Probably.

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Well, the, uh, Sky Corral Board has been, uh, been very good, very generous, very favorable, you know, for me.

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So grateful for that and the partnerships that we have.

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Yeah, but it's still probably a pretty big pick up from Timberline.

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I'm just saying, um, I know what those pastures are going to be, I'm just kidding.

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Um, so, so you were like seeing an opportunity and for sure, no question about it, but it's a big, complicated organization for sure.

00:06:56.733 --> 00:06:59.994
That's a, what, I don't know, a thousand person.

00:07:00.059 --> 00:07:01.478
More than that.

00:07:01.598 --> 00:07:01.999
Oh yeah.

00:07:01.999 --> 00:07:09.809
Well, 10, 000 call at home, 4, 500, yeah, 4, 500 on a weekend, all the campuses, so for sure a hundred staff.

00:07:10.158 --> 00:07:10.449
Right.

00:07:10.449 --> 00:07:10.908
Exactly.

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That's no play thing job there.

00:07:12.449 --> 00:07:13.848
They want you to actually work hard here.

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You just got to screw around a lot, kind of play rancher a little bit.

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Yeah.

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Glad hand people when they come up for conferences and stuff like that.

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Yeah.

00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:21.538
You're getting a little too personal.

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Sorry.

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I'm just seeing the benefit of this job change too.

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Yeah, definitely a big change going from that big of an organization to me being the sole, you know, employee of Sky Corral Ranch.

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And then we hire a bunch of contractors, which are phenomenal.

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And your team are awesome.

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Um, like the.

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The bang for buck on your catered food?

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Nobody can touch it.

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Like if anybody ever has a conference up there or something and they order food to be brought up from Fort Collins and with apologies to all the amazing Fort Collins caterers, they're foolish.

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Don't do it.

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Like, you'll regret it because you're gonna pay twice as much and it won't be It won't be half as good, probably.

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Ah, yeah.

00:07:59.913 --> 00:08:03.841
Yeah, Karen and Penny definitely spoil our group, so glad you had a good experience with that, Karen.

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Well, they're just so dedicated to service, too.

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You know, it's not just the quality of the food, but it's also just both, like, it's diversity, it's attentiveness.

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You know, when the lettuce is running low in the salad bar, they're, like, right out there before you get a chance to walk back and ask them.

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Yep.

00:08:18.384 --> 00:08:22.314
Pretty unique ladies blend of hospitality and catering and service.

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It's phenomenal.

00:08:23.004 --> 00:08:23.363
Yeah.

00:08:23.413 --> 00:08:23.733
Yeah.

00:08:23.764 --> 00:08:24.043
Yeah.

00:08:24.194 --> 00:08:26.843
Um, and so what kind of groups do you?

00:08:26.963 --> 00:08:42.923
Host mostly like it's kind of a set up and you want to describe the grounds just a little bit in terms of like Like for me, it was like, okay, this doesn't really work for like a couples Kind of outing or whatever, cause there's a lot of like bunk rooms and stuff like that.

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Mostly a bunk style model, uh, overnight, but during the day we can host, you know, corporate retreats, but we mostly have large groups that don't mind multiple people in a room sharing bunks, keeps the costs down and then they can just enjoy, you know, their whole group and their whole facility, fit a bunch of people into a small place.

00:08:58.614 --> 00:08:59.083
Absolutely.

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So it's like a big men's group thing.

00:09:01.573 --> 00:09:05.254
Skateboarders group I remember was either coming in or leaving last year.

00:09:05.254 --> 00:09:08.634
Yes, Camp Good Buddy, phenomenal organization, partner organization.

00:09:08.634 --> 00:09:13.423
They book three and a half weeks of skateboarding camps every summer, pretty much the month of July.

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What kind of skateboarding facilities do you have up there?

00:09:17.203 --> 00:09:18.563
They actually built everything.

00:09:18.629 --> 00:09:19.658
They have a half pipe.

00:09:19.678 --> 00:09:19.869
Yeah.

00:09:19.869 --> 00:09:22.729
They have a nice half pipe up the road behind the lodge.

00:09:22.769 --> 00:09:23.558
Oh, I didn't know that.

00:09:23.558 --> 00:09:23.759
Yeah.

00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:34.119
And then over at the barn, they have some mini ramps and then the sport court, which is between our two main buildings, they turn that into a full on skate park, ramps and rails, and they set it up and then tear it down when they're done.

00:09:34.734 --> 00:09:35.063
Wow.

00:09:35.144 --> 00:09:35.953
It is pretty unique.

00:09:35.953 --> 00:09:45.183
But yes, skateboarding camps, men's retreats, women's retreats, environmental groups, uh, we have a lot of student organizations, mostly because of another foundation.

00:09:45.183 --> 00:09:48.124
I have to give them a shout out, Enander Family Foundation.

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If it's faith based and student related, they get 50 percent off of whatever rate Sky Corral charges.

00:09:54.583 --> 00:09:55.303
Oh, is that right?

00:09:55.344 --> 00:09:57.764
Heavy student groups, May through October.

00:09:57.854 --> 00:09:58.104
Okay.

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You know, mostly when school's out.

00:09:59.193 --> 00:09:59.673
Yeah, yeah.

00:09:59.874 --> 00:10:00.403
It's pretty phenomenal.

00:10:00.403 --> 00:10:00.813
That makes sense.

00:10:00.813 --> 00:10:01.864
And did you do mixed?

00:10:02.244 --> 00:10:05.833
Students to do boys and girls, boys rooms and girls rooms.

00:10:05.833 --> 00:10:06.163
Correct.

00:10:06.374 --> 00:10:06.673
Yeah.

00:10:06.734 --> 00:10:10.094
And then you've got like bunk rooms for like four or six kind of four, six or eight.

00:10:10.104 --> 00:10:18.974
And then we have a couple outlying cabins that can, people can stay there too with other bunks and counselors can be kind of thing when they're ready to take a break from the craziness.

00:10:19.004 --> 00:10:19.644
Right, right.

00:10:20.104 --> 00:10:23.960
Well, it sounds like a perfect like youth camp of if it's small size.

00:10:23.960 --> 00:10:24.288
Yes.

00:10:24.288 --> 00:10:25.273
Up to 50.

00:10:25.273 --> 00:10:25.928
Could you.

00:10:26.089 --> 00:10:28.469
Build more and host bigger groups.

00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:33.369
That's the hope we're working on a strategic planning session right now to kind of look at the next three to five years.

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And what do we want to do?

00:10:34.318 --> 00:10:46.729
The dream would be to have a hundred bed bunk house on the hill, and then turn the lodge back into a marriage retreat, corporate retreat, where it's a king or a queen bed, private, similar to a hotel, because right now we don't have that.

00:10:46.729 --> 00:10:47.899
And we know we want to go that direction.

00:10:47.979 --> 00:10:48.448
Oh yeah.

00:10:48.448 --> 00:10:50.139
That would actually probably work pretty good.

00:10:50.158 --> 00:10:50.798
Really good.

00:10:50.839 --> 00:10:55.999
That we're returning to down a lot of groups that would love just to have some private, you know, rooms for their group.

00:10:56.379 --> 00:11:00.798
So getting ready to do a capital campaign, kind of, is that how that works in your situation?

00:11:00.798 --> 00:11:05.399
Just the very beginning stages of it with some great people on the board that are saying, let's talk about it.

00:11:05.408 --> 00:11:06.849
What do we want to raise the money for?

00:11:06.849 --> 00:11:07.749
And how long will it take?

00:11:07.798 --> 00:11:13.219
Well, and part of the benefit of your former position with Timberline is, you know, like who the deep pockets are over there.

00:11:14.908 --> 00:11:17.538
We have a very generous community, Kurt, for sure.

00:11:17.678 --> 00:11:18.808
I'm very thankful for it.

00:11:18.849 --> 00:11:23.379
And the nonprofit community here in Larimer County is off the charts as well.

00:11:23.438 --> 00:11:24.389
We're grateful for all of it.

00:11:24.658 --> 00:11:33.389
Can we talk about, uh, maybe some highlights, um, you spend a fair bit of time up there on the ranch, especially when you've got guests up there and stuff.

00:11:33.418 --> 00:11:36.719
You're usually there to greet them or send them off at least and whatnot.

00:11:37.099 --> 00:11:39.139
But what are some of the highlights of the really?

00:11:39.139 --> 00:11:43.328
You've got, like, I mentioned that summer of 21 was pretty slow still.

00:11:43.339 --> 00:11:46.278
So you've got two seasons effectively.

00:11:46.604 --> 00:11:47.553
Really done now?

00:11:47.553 --> 00:11:48.994
And are you closed in the wintertime?

00:11:48.994 --> 00:11:50.183
Are you still rocking it up there?

00:11:50.183 --> 00:11:52.903
You can still, it's still, you got the fires going and whatnot?

00:11:52.964 --> 00:11:54.014
Yeah, we're open year round.

00:11:54.014 --> 00:11:57.813
We just winterize a couple of our buildings, but the lodge and then the community room.

00:11:58.229 --> 00:12:06.239
Open year round, we can host, you know, people all the time, but, uh, yes, no, surprisingly may through, you know, August of 2021, wasn't terribly slow.

00:12:06.548 --> 00:12:14.589
It just, people had to manage the COVID requirements and the masks and things, but, uh, it was, you know, slower, they were, yeah, they wanted, they were like up in the mountains.

00:12:14.619 --> 00:12:15.469
Let's, this is fine.

00:12:15.479 --> 00:12:18.519
Our group is, we know our, we're not sharing space with another group.

00:12:18.958 --> 00:12:22.078
So it tattletales right around here.

00:12:22.109 --> 00:12:22.849
Nothing like that.

00:12:22.869 --> 00:12:23.198
Nope.

00:12:23.214 --> 00:12:24.364
Yeah.

00:12:24.364 --> 00:12:37.384
So 24 just saw, you know, tremendous growth as far as our groups that booked and then came back and then told other groups, so now we have a log jam in the summer and we're just trying to figure out how to expand our shoulder seasons right now.

00:12:37.433 --> 00:12:37.744
Yeah.

00:12:38.474 --> 00:12:41.754
You know, one thing we're going to have to dip into and maybe we'll even do it.

00:12:42.063 --> 00:12:56.884
Sooner than later, but the like managing a giant church like that with 4, 000 people and stuff I know how our church managed during kovat nation, but we're gonna have to talk a little bit about that, too So don't forget definitely a conversation to have for sure.

00:12:56.974 --> 00:12:57.313
Okay.

00:12:57.504 --> 00:13:02.203
Yeah Um, but the highlights, you were just talking about the highlights and, uh, with, I have Karen Steadman.

00:13:02.214 --> 00:13:04.823
She is a contractor that we contract with.

00:13:04.833 --> 00:13:07.563
She lives a mile from the property, phenomenal host.

00:13:07.563 --> 00:13:12.094
So she does a lot of the day to day stuff, hospitality, greeting groups, orientation.

00:13:12.094 --> 00:13:16.474
And then when I'm up there, my highlight is really just floating around, seeing people.

00:13:16.484 --> 00:13:17.774
She kind of makes the thing work.

00:13:17.884 --> 00:13:18.344
Oh my gosh.

00:13:18.344 --> 00:13:19.793
And you make sure there's customers.

00:13:19.813 --> 00:13:20.153
Correct.

00:13:20.423 --> 00:13:20.693
Yep.

00:13:20.913 --> 00:13:22.224
They say I'm the house works.

00:13:22.234 --> 00:13:24.433
Yeah, I'm the face of Sky Corral down here in town.

00:13:24.453 --> 00:13:30.283
Community networking, fundraising, all of that, and then Karen has boots on the ground to be able to make sure everything is running smoothly.

00:13:30.604 --> 00:13:31.094
Whatever else.

00:13:31.104 --> 00:13:31.553
Correct.

00:13:31.553 --> 00:13:33.703
Yeah, but my highlights are just seeing groups.

00:13:34.318 --> 00:13:36.979
Fulfilling their mission and their purpose for their stay up there.

00:13:36.999 --> 00:13:37.318
Yeah.

00:13:37.379 --> 00:13:38.458
And then how can we help them?

00:13:38.688 --> 00:13:38.969
Okay.

00:13:39.448 --> 00:13:41.428
Well, thanks for hosting Loco Think Tank.

00:13:41.428 --> 00:13:49.589
We've had two years in a row now, our next level summit up there for our largest kind of premium memberships at Loco and it's just so.

00:13:49.864 --> 00:14:06.283
Perfect size and shape like having the separate meeting rooms for some of the training and workshoppy things and then go back to the lunchroom and grab lunch and then go back over there and, you know, Well, we're glad and you guys, uh, turkeys, it's nothing like it really isn't.

00:14:06.313 --> 00:14:06.604
Yeah.

00:14:06.653 --> 00:14:07.494
And you guys are great.

00:14:07.504 --> 00:14:09.854
You provide us with so many great pictures and videos.

00:14:09.864 --> 00:14:12.913
So hats off to you and your team because we lean on you a lot for those.

00:14:12.933 --> 00:14:13.443
Thank you.

00:14:13.644 --> 00:14:13.933
Thank you.

00:14:14.183 --> 00:14:21.649
And have you gotten any, uh, any Like other business from our members over the last couple of years yet or yes, a couple of them.

00:14:21.649 --> 00:14:28.739
I don't remember the day things for sure that attended your, your seminar and say, Hey, we want to come back part of the goal.

00:14:28.739 --> 00:14:30.609
That's why you gave us the hookup that first time.

00:14:30.619 --> 00:14:31.808
Yes, absolutely.

00:14:32.308 --> 00:14:33.739
And we're looking forward to having you back again.

00:14:33.849 --> 00:14:35.048
Well, we're looking for the hookup again.

00:14:37.038 --> 00:14:37.839
We can talk about that.

00:14:38.249 --> 00:14:41.629
So should we talk about the vision a little bit more for Sky Corral?

00:14:41.658 --> 00:14:42.028
Sounds good.

00:14:42.068 --> 00:14:45.043
So if you do this, It's a hundred person bunk house.

00:14:45.043 --> 00:14:49.663
I imagine again, kind of the four, sixes, eights, kind of different, smaller and larger rooms.

00:14:50.283 --> 00:14:57.293
Um, maybe a couple of floors I imagine, or multiple even, so you can segregate the girls from the boys even easier and stuff like that.

00:14:57.303 --> 00:14:58.604
Put tape in the doors, whatnot.

00:14:59.094 --> 00:15:05.913
Um, and then like, do you need other facilities, maybe a bigger kitchen probably to serve all that and whatnot.

00:15:05.913 --> 00:15:07.474
Is that part of the vision?

00:15:07.524 --> 00:15:07.943
It is.

00:15:07.943 --> 00:15:08.134
Yeah.

00:15:08.134 --> 00:15:22.214
The lower level of that bunk house would be more like a conference center, uh, would be uh, what we would have on the bottom where larger commercial kitchen, easier to serve, meeting space as well on that very bottom level of that kinda designed for that purpose.

00:15:22.244 --> 00:15:22.394
Correct.

00:15:22.394 --> 00:15:23.624
Instead of make it work.

00:15:23.683 --> 00:15:24.163
Correct.

00:15:24.403 --> 00:15:24.673
Yep.

00:15:24.673 --> 00:15:24.794
Got it.

00:15:24.794 --> 00:15:25.604
Got a lot more space.

00:15:25.754 --> 00:15:29.474
And then the upstairs would just be whatever, all the lodging, six rooms or eight rooms.

00:15:29.504 --> 00:15:29.788
That's correct.

00:15:29.788 --> 00:15:30.433
Or something like that's, yeah.

00:15:30.433 --> 00:15:30.644
Okay.

00:15:30.764 --> 00:15:31.183
Cool.

00:15:31.183 --> 00:15:31.869
Mm-hmm And probably.

00:15:32.708 --> 00:15:41.448
I don't know how the county feels about it, but can you put like, I guess you don't have that many flat spots, but I was thinking pads for like little cabinets and stuff like that, too.

00:15:41.578 --> 00:15:48.448
Yeah, the board that has served at Skycrawl for a lot of years has always talked about either like yurts or tent pads or things like that.

00:15:48.519 --> 00:15:50.028
So we have a lot of different, you know, spots.

00:15:50.298 --> 00:15:51.889
Have you been up to Avalanche Ranch before?

00:15:51.928 --> 00:15:52.239
No.

00:15:52.864 --> 00:15:56.844
They, uh, it's a hot springs up kind of not too far outside of Carbondale.

00:15:56.984 --> 00:15:57.464
Okay.

00:15:57.563 --> 00:16:02.394
And among, they've got a number of cabins and things, but they also have covered wagons.

00:16:02.553 --> 00:16:03.173
Oh man.

00:16:03.203 --> 00:16:05.764
With little propane heaters in the covered wagons.

00:16:05.974 --> 00:16:06.864
So you sleep in them?

00:16:06.984 --> 00:16:07.563
Yeah, yeah.

00:16:08.104 --> 00:16:10.033
If the wagon is rocking, don't come and occupy it.

00:16:10.813 --> 00:16:13.293
Uh, but yeah, they're just a little wagon.

00:16:13.293 --> 00:16:15.354
And they just, you just park them in a flat spot.

00:16:15.644 --> 00:16:18.134
And, uh, they seem to do the trick for them.

00:16:18.224 --> 00:16:24.749
And it would be kind of on theme for your Yeah, we're looking for all kinds of creative ways to be able to have more people up there.

00:16:24.749 --> 00:16:26.568
Saunas.

00:16:26.849 --> 00:16:29.389
You could use some saunas up there as well.

00:16:29.769 --> 00:16:30.989
Uh, a built in sauna.

00:16:30.999 --> 00:16:34.078
I've got a future guest coming on the podcast here I can introduce you to.

00:16:34.438 --> 00:16:37.229
Cause that would be a fun thing for any kind of retreat, right?

00:16:37.649 --> 00:16:37.989
Right.

00:16:37.989 --> 00:16:43.538
Just have that opportunity and uh, you know, don't have to have a gym membership or go to, Norway.

00:16:43.958 --> 00:16:44.318
Right.

00:16:44.339 --> 00:16:44.609
Right.

00:16:45.019 --> 00:16:53.269
We have the cold plunge taken care of with our lake, you know, but yeah, but the sauna put the sauna house down by the lake, you could put a word burning sauna right down in there.

00:16:53.499 --> 00:16:54.099
Double win.

00:16:54.249 --> 00:16:54.658
I like it.

00:16:54.658 --> 00:16:54.989
Okay.

00:16:55.068 --> 00:16:56.149
Capital campaign people.

00:16:56.149 --> 00:17:01.499
When you listen to this, make sure you don't forget the 12 person wood burning sauna down by the lake.

00:17:01.619 --> 00:17:03.198
We do take donor designated funds.

00:17:04.239 --> 00:17:04.509
Right.

00:17:04.929 --> 00:17:05.368
Perfect.

00:17:05.868 --> 00:17:09.318
Um, so anything else that would really be required to serve that.

00:17:09.374 --> 00:17:14.294
You know, what would then be 150 person size, probably community in that range.

00:17:14.294 --> 00:17:17.013
And then obviously need to work with the County and make sure we're going about it.

00:17:17.023 --> 00:17:17.314
Right.

00:17:17.314 --> 00:17:19.314
How about sewer system and stuff?

00:17:19.314 --> 00:17:20.814
Is it all septic up there?

00:17:20.874 --> 00:17:24.144
So that would be another thing that would, yeah, absolutely.

00:17:24.144 --> 00:17:24.163
Yeah.

00:17:24.163 --> 00:17:26.544
Different septics for each of our facilities.

00:17:26.544 --> 00:17:28.894
And that would require its own with acres.

00:17:28.894 --> 00:17:29.894
You got the a hundred acres.

00:17:29.894 --> 00:17:31.884
So yeah, makes sense.

00:17:31.913 --> 00:17:33.554
And typically it's really good.

00:17:33.854 --> 00:17:37.614
As long as you, you know, keep it living within its means.

00:17:37.624 --> 00:17:38.124
That's right.

00:17:38.624 --> 00:17:39.544
Maintenance is key.

00:17:39.743 --> 00:17:40.084
Yep.

00:17:40.124 --> 00:17:40.453
Yep.

00:17:40.584 --> 00:17:43.003
And, and overflow is bad.

00:17:43.804 --> 00:17:44.463
Very bad.

00:17:46.034 --> 00:17:46.794
Nobody wants that.

00:17:46.794 --> 00:17:47.094
Yeah.

00:17:47.203 --> 00:17:47.493
Yeah.

00:17:47.663 --> 00:17:51.084
Um, what else should people really know about the ranch?

00:17:51.104 --> 00:17:55.284
Uh, Do you want to talk about like how much it costs or anything like that?

00:17:55.284 --> 00:17:58.084
Or is that more of a negotiable based on the size of your group or?

00:17:58.134 --> 00:17:59.814
Yeah, no, it's, it's flexible for sure.

00:17:59.814 --> 00:18:07.463
And our peak season, May to October, you know, typically ranges around 115 a person and that covers everything on the property except our rock climbing wall.

00:18:07.848 --> 00:18:08.479
And catering.

00:18:08.828 --> 00:18:10.098
And so that's for staying there too.

00:18:10.128 --> 00:18:10.598
Yeah, correct.

00:18:10.628 --> 00:18:10.838
Okay.

00:18:10.939 --> 00:18:12.729
It was pretty much using everything on the property.

00:18:12.868 --> 00:18:19.858
So 115 per person per night is a fantastic rate to enjoy all 105 acres and all the activities that it comes with.

00:18:19.858 --> 00:18:23.669
So that's primary, but yes, it depends on the season, size of group, how much they need.

00:18:23.669 --> 00:18:25.989
If you're five people, we might not be able to give you the whole place.

00:18:26.078 --> 00:18:26.528
Correct.

00:18:26.929 --> 00:18:30.459
Minimum typically is 20, but we do, I just hate turning people away.

00:18:30.568 --> 00:18:31.479
I'm just being honest.

00:18:31.489 --> 00:18:33.169
So, so we can negotiate that.

00:18:33.169 --> 00:18:35.098
And if we're not booked and it's only three weeks out.

00:18:35.439 --> 00:18:35.868
Correct.

00:18:35.868 --> 00:18:36.568
I'm easier.

00:18:36.588 --> 00:18:37.838
Yeah, absolutely.

00:18:37.909 --> 00:18:39.219
Yeah, we want people to use it.

00:18:39.338 --> 00:18:43.068
Have you got, have you had any previous experience with kind of lodging type?

00:18:43.683 --> 00:18:46.503
Businesses or whatever that really isn't applicable.

00:18:46.503 --> 00:19:04.983
Maybe that's not on the lodging side, you know, I grew up down by Alamosa So between Alamosa and Pagosa Springs family business mom and pop grocery store sporting goods hardware all of that the whole family worked there So that's where business, you know really began, you know for me and that's kind of the roots of that Okay, so but no not on the lodging sit there.

00:19:05.003 --> 00:19:06.054
I mean, let's do it.

00:19:06.054 --> 00:19:08.844
Mom and dad told you more event, you know, it's an event space.

00:19:08.864 --> 00:19:09.854
Ultimately not right.

00:19:10.354 --> 00:19:11.804
Karen handles the lodging part.

00:19:11.804 --> 00:19:15.634
So hospitality and lodging, you know, my coworker would be the one that does that.

00:19:15.634 --> 00:19:25.463
So I'm more on the people side, the marketing side, all of that food industry for sure did a six years at Gibbs bagels, uh, here in Fort Collins and had a great stretch with them.

00:19:25.463 --> 00:19:31.183
And so learned a lot about the food industry and so business when I was a kid and then some food industry later in life.

00:19:31.679 --> 00:19:40.439
Well, let's, uh, you know, if there isn't a lot more to say about the Sky Corral kind of projects ahead, I think we can zoom back and jump in the time machine to Little Scotty.

00:19:40.528 --> 00:19:41.628
Yeah, no, sounds great.

00:19:41.679 --> 00:19:47.578
Sweepin the floor at the grocery store, hardware store, everything else store in Alamosa.

00:19:47.578 --> 00:19:52.048
Was it, it was probably the, the, At least one of a few everything stores, if not the only.

00:19:52.048 --> 00:19:57.058
Yep, we had two in town, uh, Foothills Market was ours, and uh, Rainbow Grocery was the other one.

00:19:57.068 --> 00:20:00.989
But yeah, we wanted to move out of California and be in a small town.

00:20:00.989 --> 00:20:04.269
So my dad said, let's go to South Fork, Colorado, population 300.

00:20:04.318 --> 00:20:05.189
Oh, South Fork.

00:20:05.769 --> 00:20:07.788
Yes, that's different than Alamosa.

00:20:07.838 --> 00:20:08.128
Yeah.

00:20:08.179 --> 00:20:09.038
Did you live in South Fork?

00:20:09.038 --> 00:20:09.328
We did.

00:20:09.338 --> 00:20:10.239
The store was in Alamosa?

00:20:10.269 --> 00:20:13.638
No, store, I say Alamosa, Kurt, because nobody knows where South Fork is.

00:20:13.638 --> 00:20:15.388
Oh yeah, South Fork is nothing.

00:20:15.808 --> 00:20:18.078
300 people, we live there and work there.

00:20:18.078 --> 00:20:21.239
It's a flat spot on the way down from Wolf Creek Pass, if I remember correctly.

00:20:21.239 --> 00:20:22.959
That's right, that was my ski haven as a kid.

00:20:23.489 --> 00:20:25.348
Would ski 40 times a winter, for sure.

00:20:25.348 --> 00:20:26.898
So were you born in California then?

00:20:26.909 --> 00:20:27.868
Yeah, Thousand Oaks.

00:20:27.939 --> 00:20:28.368
Okay.

00:20:28.439 --> 00:20:28.749
Yep.

00:20:28.778 --> 00:20:31.189
Which is, that's LA area, or what is Thousand Oaks?

00:20:31.199 --> 00:20:31.818
Orange County.

00:20:31.818 --> 00:20:32.648
Orange County, okay.

00:20:32.894 --> 00:20:33.044
Yep.

00:20:33.124 --> 00:20:35.584
Orange County before Orange County was Orange County, kind of thing?

00:20:35.604 --> 00:20:36.453
Yeah, for sure.

00:20:36.673 --> 00:20:39.953
And, uh, so you're just a little guy though, you arrive in the mountains.

00:20:40.003 --> 00:20:41.814
Did you have, what was the situation?

00:20:41.824 --> 00:20:44.433
Like, what were your parents doing?

00:20:44.683 --> 00:20:46.104
What were they escaping from?

00:20:46.473 --> 00:20:51.294
Yeah, so my mom and dad, my dad worked for Litton Industries, was in on the executive team there.

00:20:51.394 --> 00:20:53.554
Kind of a corporate guy, what's Litton do?

00:20:53.798 --> 00:21:02.959
I couldn't tell you stuff like depressed the worker and, uh, maximize profits for their shareholders.

00:21:03.209 --> 00:21:03.548
Yeah.

00:21:03.648 --> 00:21:09.888
You know, and then my mom was administrative assistant and so they just were excited to just, you know, start in a small town and raise our family.

00:21:09.888 --> 00:21:11.888
So I have an older sister and an older brother.

00:21:12.038 --> 00:21:12.398
Okay.

00:21:12.459 --> 00:21:13.979
And we all worked in the store together.

00:21:13.979 --> 00:21:17.618
Literally, Kurt, our house, I could walk there in 60 seconds.

00:21:18.019 --> 00:21:19.679
So house was right behind the store.

00:21:19.679 --> 00:21:24.159
And so it was just a really nice setup for how far is South Fork from from Alamosa?

00:21:24.959 --> 00:21:26.169
One hour, give or take.

00:21:26.199 --> 00:21:26.648
Okay.

00:21:26.699 --> 00:21:26.828
Yeah.

00:21:27.378 --> 00:21:30.614
South Fork kind of the Only town with that kind of stuff?

00:21:31.114 --> 00:21:35.961
Uh, so it goes Alamosa, Monta Vista, Del Norte, and then South Fork.

00:21:35.961 --> 00:21:40.263
So South Fork would be the small town before you go to Pagosa Springs or you go up to Creed, Colorado.

00:21:40.273 --> 00:21:44.913
Man, it just seems hard to have enough customers to make a store work.

00:21:45.344 --> 00:21:47.673
And that's why you sold everything but the kitchen sink, I guess.

00:21:47.723 --> 00:21:48.344
That's correct.

00:21:48.344 --> 00:21:51.894
Well, summers we went, our town was 300 and we went to 3, 000 in the summer.

00:21:52.134 --> 00:21:55.854
All the tourists, you know, the people want to come to the mountains and enjoy all things there.

00:21:56.429 --> 00:22:10.269
Uh, that was when we capitalized on the tourism, similar to Estes Park, yeah, you capitalize when, uh, when people are there and then in the winter, you know, Wolf, Wolf, Wolf Creek just being up the road, massive ski, you know, lots of people from out of state would come and enjoy skiing.

00:22:10.538 --> 00:22:19.939
So it was really a, a, a seasonal business, very much so dead as a doornail a lot of times during the, you know, in October, the doorbell ain't hardly ringing.

00:22:20.108 --> 00:22:20.628
That's right.

00:22:20.638 --> 00:22:22.919
And that's why family business, buying groceries and whatever.

00:22:23.259 --> 00:22:24.788
That's why you could adjust as a family.

00:22:24.788 --> 00:22:25.548
You just figure it out.

00:22:25.598 --> 00:22:26.088
Yeah, yeah.

00:22:26.179 --> 00:22:26.398
Yeah.

00:22:26.648 --> 00:22:30.378
Um, what was the motivating event, if I may, if your folks talked about it?

00:22:30.378 --> 00:22:34.808
Like, were they come from small towns and made it to Thousand Oaks?

00:22:34.808 --> 00:22:37.469
Or like, how the hell did they come to South Park?

00:22:37.578 --> 00:22:38.249
I know.

00:22:38.278 --> 00:22:42.048
They just were really looking for a serious Pace of life change.

00:22:42.618 --> 00:22:46.939
And I find that interesting now with working at sky Corral, because that's what it is up on the mountain.

00:22:47.259 --> 00:22:48.699
It's a serious change of pace.

00:22:48.729 --> 00:22:49.078
Yeah.

00:22:49.239 --> 00:22:51.858
Uh, so I'm kind of feeling like it's a full circle moment for me.

00:22:51.858 --> 00:22:53.239
Like, Oh my gosh, am I parents?

00:22:53.548 --> 00:22:56.259
Am I my parents taking a change of pace?

00:22:56.259 --> 00:22:57.239
But that's just what they did.

00:22:57.509 --> 00:23:00.719
And they just found South Fork and said, that's, that's the place for us.

00:23:00.939 --> 00:23:03.219
Found a business that was for sale and they jumped on it.

00:23:03.824 --> 00:23:20.493
What an interesting, like, uh, I don't know, just to, to me, to be imagining somebody from like a rapidly developing hop in California back in those days, especially it wasn't a miserable homeless bill, but to just like, how do you, how do you even learn about it?

00:23:20.503 --> 00:23:27.983
Like there wasn't an internet or nothing, you know, just, uh, people that he knew had been through that area and told him about it.

00:23:28.044 --> 00:23:28.364
Huh.

00:23:28.493 --> 00:23:28.773
Yeah.

00:23:28.844 --> 00:23:29.334
Fascinating.

00:23:29.344 --> 00:23:29.554
Yeah.

00:23:29.554 --> 00:23:33.604
The funny story that everybody tells in my family is my brother graduated class of one.

00:23:34.443 --> 00:23:37.763
So when people talk about small town, they're just like, what?

00:23:37.773 --> 00:23:39.693
What do you mean he graduated class of one?

00:23:39.693 --> 00:23:42.483
So that's a unique and interesting trait of our family.

00:23:42.483 --> 00:23:43.854
I'm a class of five.

00:23:44.134 --> 00:23:44.574
Oh man.

00:23:44.584 --> 00:23:47.523
So I've never met anybody that graduated with a smaller class than me.

00:23:47.523 --> 00:23:48.064
I don't think.

00:23:48.104 --> 00:23:49.124
I was 33.

00:23:49.134 --> 00:23:51.044
So I have not met anybody else under 10.

00:23:51.084 --> 00:23:52.074
was a class of one?

00:23:52.104 --> 00:23:53.144
He must have merged schools.

00:23:53.689 --> 00:23:55.868
Uh, yeah, but I went to the consolidated school.

00:23:56.169 --> 00:23:59.229
These classes of one are just not going to work out very good.

00:23:59.288 --> 00:23:59.719
Right.

00:23:59.858 --> 00:24:00.318
Oh my gosh.

00:24:00.338 --> 00:24:01.028
Where were you?

00:24:01.068 --> 00:24:01.868
Uh, North Dakota.

00:24:01.949 --> 00:24:02.328
Okay.

00:24:02.388 --> 00:24:03.269
Central North Dakota.

00:24:03.288 --> 00:24:05.929
Kind of, uh, I don't know if you know where Jamestown is.

00:24:05.929 --> 00:24:07.608
It's halfway between Bismarck and Fargo.

00:24:07.669 --> 00:24:07.979
I do.

00:24:08.318 --> 00:24:09.114
And I'm from, uh, North Dakota.

00:24:09.294 --> 00:24:10.554
12 miles north of there.

00:24:10.644 --> 00:24:10.864
Okay.

00:24:11.064 --> 00:24:12.653
A little village called Buchanan.

00:24:12.723 --> 00:24:13.054
Yeah.

00:24:13.263 --> 00:24:14.153
Classified.

00:24:14.233 --> 00:24:14.544
Yeah.

00:24:14.614 --> 00:24:14.884
Yeah.

00:24:15.163 --> 00:24:20.733
I, I'd like to say I comprise the top 20th percentile of my high school class just to see how good people are at math.

00:24:20.733 --> 00:24:23.423
Oh, that's great.

00:24:23.513 --> 00:24:23.703
Yeah.

00:24:23.703 --> 00:24:26.163
My brother's claim was it didn't matter what his GPA was.

00:24:26.163 --> 00:24:27.544
He'd be valedictorian anyway.

00:24:29.913 --> 00:24:33.054
Um, what a fascinating, so talk to me about like.

00:24:33.909 --> 00:24:35.269
How many kids were around?

00:24:35.278 --> 00:24:37.528
Were you kind of free range raised?

00:24:37.638 --> 00:24:42.848
Um, and like, what was little Scott like when you were seven, eight, 10 years old, whatever.

00:24:42.858 --> 00:24:43.098
Yep.

00:24:43.148 --> 00:24:45.439
Out on the bike, going to hang out with friends.

00:24:45.439 --> 00:24:46.798
Just got to be home by dark.

00:24:46.858 --> 00:24:49.128
Lots of basketball, lots of baseball.

00:24:49.138 --> 00:24:50.269
Lighting fires with hairspray.

00:24:50.298 --> 00:24:51.288
Oh my gosh.

00:24:51.298 --> 00:24:52.118
Dumb stuff like that.

00:24:52.118 --> 00:24:52.769
Oh, totally.

00:24:52.769 --> 00:24:57.308
Lighting parts through a, you know, a PVC pipe, seeing who could launch them the farthest.

00:24:57.903 --> 00:25:02.463
Lots of fishing and rafting and, you know, in the winter, snowmobiling, ice fishing.

00:25:02.463 --> 00:25:06.604
I mean, it was truly a mecca for a kid, you know, to grow up in that area.

00:25:06.634 --> 00:25:07.243
Yeah, I'm sure.

00:25:07.584 --> 00:25:07.933
I'm sure.

00:25:08.243 --> 00:25:12.443
I've only been through a couple few times, honestly, but I know it's gorgeous.

00:25:12.443 --> 00:25:25.144
So, uh, I'm sure the springs were especially, like, I've barely been there in the spring because it's too late for skiing, but it's But it has to be remarkable just to see that the transformation from so much white to so much green.

00:25:25.304 --> 00:25:25.703
Yes.

00:25:26.259 --> 00:25:31.118
It's phenomenal every year and you'd get excited because then you can start being outside and enjoying all things being out.

00:25:31.288 --> 00:25:32.628
You've been cooped up the whole time.

00:25:32.628 --> 00:25:33.249
That's correct.

00:25:33.618 --> 00:25:39.929
Yeah, we always went to bed with a snow shovel inside of our door because a lot of times we'd open the door and you can't really get out.

00:25:39.939 --> 00:25:40.338
Right.

00:25:40.358 --> 00:25:42.818
So we'd have to shovel from inside to get out.

00:25:44.108 --> 00:25:50.519
So, you kind of evolved, developed, and how many kids, like, talk to me about your, like, your school that you went to.

00:25:50.689 --> 00:25:53.189
Yep, so I went to one town over called Del Norte.

00:25:53.189 --> 00:25:58.429
Wanted to start playing sports, and when you're in a small school, like my brother was, not really opportunities for sports.

00:25:58.439 --> 00:26:00.838
So I went to the Consolidated School in Del Norte.

00:26:00.868 --> 00:26:02.689
And that's like a town of 5, 000 or something.

00:26:02.848 --> 00:26:03.848
Man, I don't even know.

00:26:03.929 --> 00:26:05.388
Now, yeah, probably.

00:26:05.398 --> 00:26:10.056
But, uh, yeah, then it was just a little bit bigger than South Fork, but that's where most of the kids in the area.

00:26:10.056 --> 00:26:13.179
They still can only field nine kids for the basketball team, but yeah.

00:26:13.278 --> 00:26:19.733
Yeah, well, and my wife always thinks this is a joke, but the football team at halftime Part of the team would be in the band as well.

00:26:21.023 --> 00:26:23.973
So they're out there on the field in their uniform playing in the band.

00:26:23.973 --> 00:26:26.193
And my wife's saying, that's not possible.

00:26:26.193 --> 00:26:28.384
I'm like, it is because they don't have enough to do both.

00:26:29.503 --> 00:26:30.703
They don't have a saxophone.

00:26:30.703 --> 00:26:35.104
If the tight end doesn't get out, I actually, so I was.

00:26:36.213 --> 00:26:44.983
In my 7th grade year, so we, we, we actually merged with Pingree, so we were Pingree Buchanan High School that I graduated from, even though it was two towns that made five kids.

00:26:45.473 --> 00:27:01.653
But in my 7th, no, in my 6th grade year, me and my, my cousin, my, my dad's youngest brother, my, my uncle cousin, um, got called up from 6th grade to play on the B squad for the 7th grade.

00:27:02.013 --> 00:27:04.784
through 9th grade team basically, the JV team.

00:27:05.233 --> 00:27:11.653
And then in 7th grade, we both got called up to play in the varsity because some kids got caught with minor in possession and they just didn't have a team.

00:27:12.223 --> 00:27:17.084
So in 7th grade, I was like the first man off the bench on the point guard position.

00:27:17.153 --> 00:27:29.453
I was playing on the varsity, so I would play the B squad for the first half, and then me and Jim would go into the locker room to get ready for the A squad game that was immediately following that, and then we would get our asses kicked.

00:27:30.923 --> 00:27:41.784
We went like 5 and 46 or something over three years that I played 7th, grade, and then I was, and the coach was terrible, and the team was terrible, and I just got fed up and quit.

00:27:42.959 --> 00:27:48.098
Yeah, we need to get together after the podcast Oh, for sure.

00:27:49.148 --> 00:27:50.679
Um, but it toughens you up.

00:27:50.979 --> 00:27:51.638
Oh, for sure.

00:27:51.648 --> 00:27:52.388
For future years.

00:27:52.429 --> 00:27:52.878
Correct.

00:27:52.888 --> 00:27:57.689
So I'm guessing you're both a good athlete and a good student going through these years.

00:27:57.689 --> 00:27:59.439
You know, you're a pretty big guy, right?

00:27:59.638 --> 00:28:00.519
Small town like that.

00:28:00.519 --> 00:28:01.578
You can kind of make hay.

00:28:01.818 --> 00:28:02.199
Yeah.

00:28:02.199 --> 00:28:06.239
I was kind of a freak of nature as far as, you know, size goes, you know, as an athlete for sure.

00:28:06.239 --> 00:28:07.078
And then.

00:28:07.078 --> 00:28:08.249
Were you like super big already?

00:28:08.249 --> 00:28:08.969
Like seventh grade?

00:28:09.009 --> 00:28:09.519
I was.

00:28:09.848 --> 00:28:10.509
Like how big?

00:28:10.939 --> 00:28:11.578
Oh, man.

00:28:11.578 --> 00:28:16.648
I mean, when I was in high school, I mean, I was 6'3 6'4 you know, a freshman, you know, in high school.

00:28:17.128 --> 00:28:17.578
Right.

00:28:17.669 --> 00:28:17.848
Yeah.

00:28:17.848 --> 00:28:20.558
When I was 12, I grew so fast, I popped out of my hip joints.

00:28:20.788 --> 00:28:21.308
Oh, dang.

00:28:21.388 --> 00:28:24.679
And so, yeah, they had to bolt them closed, you know, to, to take care of that.

00:28:24.699 --> 00:28:25.148
Okay.

00:28:25.159 --> 00:28:28.148
So, I joke, I'd be 7 if they didn't bolt my hips closed.

00:28:29.528 --> 00:28:30.954
Well, too bad for you, I guess.

00:28:30.954 --> 00:28:31.638
So, yeah, loved athletics.

00:28:31.919 --> 00:28:35.088
Loved athletics and, uh, I did my best at school and had a good time.

00:28:35.199 --> 00:28:36.209
And what were your sports?

00:28:36.368 --> 00:28:37.499
Basketball primarily.

00:28:37.538 --> 00:28:37.759
Okay.

00:28:37.939 --> 00:28:39.088
And then baseball and track.

00:28:39.489 --> 00:28:39.818
Okay.

00:28:40.159 --> 00:28:41.429
What was your position in baseball?

00:28:41.808 --> 00:28:43.058
Uh, pitcher and first base.

00:28:43.638 --> 00:28:43.959
Nice.

00:28:44.009 --> 00:28:44.278
Yeah.

00:28:44.429 --> 00:28:45.509
When you're tall and lanky.

00:28:45.608 --> 00:28:45.909
Yeah.

00:28:45.989 --> 00:28:47.169
That's the two spots they want to stick you.

00:28:47.179 --> 00:28:48.999
Well, if you're scared of the grounders.

00:28:49.075 --> 00:28:58.584
Uh, and I was honestly, I was a third base shortstop and a pitcher, actually my, my claim to fame.

00:28:58.594 --> 00:28:59.314
And you're about my age.

00:28:59.314 --> 00:29:00.784
I think maybe I'm 53.

00:29:00.953 --> 00:29:01.604
I'm 50.

00:29:01.693 --> 00:29:02.044
Okay.

00:29:02.124 --> 00:29:06.913
So, uh, in little league in 12th or 13 year old kind of little league.

00:29:07.733 --> 00:29:09.673
So my mom founded our eighth grade.

00:29:10.088 --> 00:29:14.419
Or 8 year old, yeah, 8th grade little league team, or whatever that was, in our town.

00:29:17.038 --> 00:29:24.909
The Google speaker is talking to us, but my mom founded our, when I was 8 years old, she founded a little league baseball team, cause she was a long time fast pitch.

00:29:25.223 --> 00:29:26.124
Um, softball player.

00:29:26.134 --> 00:29:26.344
Yeah.

00:29:26.703 --> 00:29:35.183
And she, she rounded up a team from this 50 person high school, of the right age kids, just enough to make a team with, like, two people in a bench.

00:29:35.294 --> 00:29:35.894
Oh, man.

00:29:35.913 --> 00:29:43.814
Um, but then, eventually I played baseball and then I went to town to play for one year, uh, before the farm demanded my attention.

00:29:44.213 --> 00:29:53.294
Um, but, Darren Erstad, uh, was Um, the most famous kid from our town at the time, and he was first draft picked by the angels.

00:29:53.354 --> 00:29:53.743
Wow.

00:29:53.943 --> 00:29:54.973
Uh, back in the day.

00:29:54.973 --> 00:29:58.773
And he won several golden gloves and I struck him out twice in one game.

00:30:00.183 --> 00:30:00.874
There you go.

00:30:00.923 --> 00:30:01.844
That's a big deal.

00:30:02.064 --> 00:30:05.213
He hit 800 and like home runs half the time.

00:30:06.263 --> 00:30:07.134
How'd you strike him out?

00:30:07.334 --> 00:30:08.483
What was the plan?

00:30:08.493 --> 00:30:09.683
Um, you know.

00:30:10.209 --> 00:30:22.318
Honestly, it was keep it outside, keep it low and outside because he, he couldn't quite reach those because he was, he was built like you already, like an eighth grade and he just couldn't quite reach it.

00:30:22.318 --> 00:30:29.679
He knew he wanted to tap it out on me, but so I just made it, had to make him want it, you know, basically that was the strategy.

00:30:29.828 --> 00:30:30.358
That's awesome.

00:30:30.923 --> 00:30:34.544
And, uh, and, uh, you know, push them inside once in a while to be able to sort it.

00:30:34.624 --> 00:30:35.273
Keep them guessing.

00:30:35.493 --> 00:30:35.874
Yeah.

00:30:36.023 --> 00:30:37.213
You can't just throw it outside.

00:30:37.223 --> 00:30:39.534
But that was the, that was the strikeout pitch.

00:30:39.834 --> 00:30:40.784
Anyway, I digress.

00:30:41.034 --> 00:30:42.183
You don't know who Jared Nerstad is?

00:30:42.213 --> 00:30:42.763
I don't.

00:30:42.834 --> 00:30:44.513
Oh, he's a super famous baseball player.

00:30:44.513 --> 00:30:44.903
Okay.

00:30:44.993 --> 00:30:52.403
He challenged Rod Carew's batting championship one year back in like 2007 or so.

00:30:52.403 --> 00:30:54.864
He was batting over 400 for part of the season.

00:30:55.318 --> 00:30:55.558
Wow.

00:30:55.588 --> 00:30:55.888
Yeah.

00:30:56.019 --> 00:30:56.489
That's impressive.

00:30:56.499 --> 00:30:58.358
And then he totally flaked out.

00:30:59.469 --> 00:31:00.509
Darren, sorry.

00:31:00.588 --> 00:31:00.858
Yeah.

00:31:00.888 --> 00:31:01.729
It was a weak play.

00:31:02.308 --> 00:31:02.969
I digress.

00:31:03.868 --> 00:31:09.148
Darren, if you want to come on my podcast sometime, you're like the most famous person from Jamestown, North Dakota.

00:31:09.689 --> 00:31:15.358
And so if anybody out there is listening and knows Darren and wants to introduce, then you're, I'll put you up.

00:31:15.479 --> 00:31:17.199
I'll put you up in Fort Collins for the night.

00:31:17.358 --> 00:31:17.628
There you go.

00:31:17.638 --> 00:31:18.679
Or up at Sky Corral Ranch.

00:31:18.679 --> 00:31:19.249
We can do that too.

00:31:19.249 --> 00:31:19.679
Up at Sky Corral Ranch.

00:31:19.679 --> 00:31:19.959
Yeah.

00:31:20.009 --> 00:31:20.249
Yeah.

00:31:20.249 --> 00:31:26.263
We'll give you a So, so you're this stud football, not football.

00:31:26.324 --> 00:31:27.584
I know parents wouldn't let me play.

00:31:27.584 --> 00:31:28.344
They didn't want me to get hurt.

00:31:28.354 --> 00:31:29.023
Oh, too violent.

00:31:29.023 --> 00:31:29.773
Basketball.

00:31:29.784 --> 00:31:31.344
You got to keep your health for basketball.

00:31:31.403 --> 00:31:31.983
Interesting.

00:31:31.983 --> 00:31:32.263
Yeah.

00:31:32.723 --> 00:31:34.953
Because you were better at basketball or just.

00:31:35.013 --> 00:31:36.144
Yes, for sure.

00:31:36.183 --> 00:31:36.463
Okay.

00:31:36.463 --> 00:31:36.653
Yeah.

00:31:36.673 --> 00:31:39.354
That is one of my biggest regrets is to not have played football.

00:31:39.364 --> 00:31:39.733
Really?

00:31:39.743 --> 00:31:40.144
For sure.

00:31:40.193 --> 00:31:40.564
Interesting.

00:31:40.564 --> 00:31:41.273
I'd go back and do it again.

00:31:41.273 --> 00:31:42.523
You got a body for it, for sure.

00:31:42.554 --> 00:31:43.183
That's what they tell me.

00:31:43.203 --> 00:31:45.144
I hated playing guys like you in basketball.

00:31:45.453 --> 00:31:47.443
Like, I'm good if everybody's like, Bye.

00:31:47.443 --> 00:31:47.513
Bye.

00:31:48.044 --> 00:31:53.713
Six foot and skinny, but you put a six, four heavy guy in there and they just shut me down.

00:31:54.263 --> 00:31:57.804
Yeah, sorry, just saying, just saying so annoying.

00:31:58.003 --> 00:31:58.213
I know.

00:31:58.344 --> 00:32:04.894
Well, well, my first basketball game memory, we lost 124 to 24 dude.

00:32:04.903 --> 00:32:08.923
So to lose by a hundred points, you know, I should have just hung up my tennis shoes right then and there.

00:32:09.753 --> 00:32:10.163
In the.

00:32:10.604 --> 00:32:13.884
County tournament against the Woodworth Pettibone Robinson Wolfpack.

00:32:14.013 --> 00:32:16.874
We lost a hundred and thirteen to fifteen.

00:32:16.993 --> 00:32:20.844
Oh, see, they fell just short of beating us by a hundred points.

00:32:20.844 --> 00:32:22.153
Those guys were such assholes.

00:32:24.134 --> 00:32:25.173
That's just not right.

00:32:25.644 --> 00:32:28.013
It isn't, but it builds character.

00:32:28.064 --> 00:32:28.663
Absolutely.

00:32:29.134 --> 00:32:33.804
So, did you, like, go off to college on a basketball scholarship, I'm gonna say?

00:32:33.804 --> 00:32:34.824
I did, yes.

00:32:34.824 --> 00:32:38.403
I had the, uh, the privilege of playing at Colorado Christian University for four years.

00:32:38.433 --> 00:32:39.644
I wanted to stay in state.

00:32:39.699 --> 00:32:43.038
You wanted to keep getting beat badly for a few more years.

00:32:43.039 --> 00:32:48.739
So is your dad a pastor or something or were you raising a Christian family though?

00:32:48.858 --> 00:32:49.148
Yeah.

00:32:49.159 --> 00:32:51.578
So I was pretty much the first is going to church.

00:32:51.578 --> 00:32:54.148
It's a pretty unique story, but I don't have time for it today.

00:32:54.159 --> 00:32:55.818
No, let's, let's, let's zoom in there.

00:32:55.838 --> 00:32:56.229
Okay.

00:32:56.378 --> 00:32:56.989
No, I appreciate it.

00:32:56.999 --> 00:32:59.209
Like you started hanging out with your friends and stuff.

00:32:59.209 --> 00:33:01.729
And one of the friends was like, Hey, let's check out this church thing.

00:33:01.808 --> 00:33:03.058
Even more unique than that.

00:33:03.068 --> 00:33:05.638
So I told you that we have an influx of tourists in the summer.

00:33:05.659 --> 00:33:06.058
Sure.

00:33:06.278 --> 00:33:11.089
Uh, we had a lady named Edie Boatwright that would come in and do her grocery shopping every single Sunday in the summer.

00:33:11.089 --> 00:33:11.979
And she's your wife now?

00:33:12.388 --> 00:33:12.719
Nope.

00:33:13.009 --> 00:33:13.249
Nope.

00:33:13.378 --> 00:33:15.219
She was a 65 year old woman.

00:33:15.249 --> 00:33:15.618
Okay.

00:33:15.679 --> 00:33:17.058
Uh, you know, doing her grocery shopping.

00:33:17.259 --> 00:33:20.868
And so once she got to know us, she said, asked my mom and dad, hey, can I take your son to church?

00:33:20.868 --> 00:33:24.098
So from when I was 5 until I was 8, every Sunday in the summer.

00:33:24.574 --> 00:33:25.394
I would go to church.

00:33:25.403 --> 00:33:25.773
Really?

00:33:25.784 --> 00:33:26.074
Yup.

00:33:26.084 --> 00:33:26.193
So.

00:33:26.203 --> 00:33:27.824
And why did she ask them that?

00:33:28.134 --> 00:33:31.294
She just was a diehard church person from Plainview, Texas.

00:33:31.334 --> 00:33:31.513
Yeah.

00:33:31.513 --> 00:33:34.763
And she's like, this young man probably needs to the Texans are thick, right?

00:33:34.763 --> 00:33:37.223
Like half of that extra 3, 000 people was Texans.

00:33:37.233 --> 00:33:38.044
Oh, for sure.

00:33:38.304 --> 00:33:38.634
Right.

00:33:38.653 --> 00:33:39.314
A hundred percent.

00:33:39.384 --> 00:33:39.693
Okay.

00:33:39.693 --> 00:33:39.884
Yeah.

00:33:40.334 --> 00:33:42.330
Uh, and so that was my, my introduction to church.

00:33:42.330 --> 00:33:44.604
And you just started going to Sunday school in what church?

00:33:44.624 --> 00:33:45.023
If I may.

00:33:45.074 --> 00:33:47.134
Yeah, it was called Emanuel Chapel in South Fork.

00:33:47.134 --> 00:33:49.544
So pretty much an independent kind of little church kind of thing?

00:33:49.554 --> 00:33:52.503
Pretty much everyone in town would either go there or to the Catholic church.

00:33:52.513 --> 00:33:52.773
Right.

00:33:52.773 --> 00:33:53.894
Those were the two that really.

00:33:53.909 --> 00:34:02.388
You know, dominated the population and, uh, and then that's where I just became a churchgoer and, and, uh, started a relationship with Jesus family followed you.

00:34:02.648 --> 00:34:03.088
They did.

00:34:03.328 --> 00:34:08.648
We grew up Catholic, so, you know, religion, you know, structured churches in our world for a lot of years.

00:34:08.659 --> 00:34:15.728
But then as far as making a shift, uh, Emmanuel chapel, my mom, my dad, yeah, brother and sister and pretty unique.

00:34:15.898 --> 00:34:18.478
Can you describe like how that went down?

00:34:18.478 --> 00:34:20.778
Kind of like you said, five to eight, it was you.

00:34:20.789 --> 00:34:23.568
And then like, it started trickling in or like talk to me.

00:34:23.568 --> 00:34:29.668
Were you just, I mean, not to make it about that, but this is a really interesting story.

00:34:29.668 --> 00:34:30.929
I appreciate you asking.

00:34:30.929 --> 00:34:31.148
Yeah.

00:34:31.148 --> 00:34:32.528
Cause it's all about relationships.

00:34:32.528 --> 00:34:39.518
So if it weren't for Edie Boatwright making a difference in my life as a little five year old, I wouldn't be where I am as far as a person of faith.

00:34:39.518 --> 00:34:40.398
Yeah, absolutely.

00:34:40.518 --> 00:34:40.739
Yeah.

00:34:41.293 --> 00:34:58.873
Um, so no, it just, I went to vacation Bible school when I was eight, uh, which is a basically an everyday thing for, you know, a church that would do things for the students, and I never remembered one thing they talked about, but I remember the stories about Jesus that he would tell me in the car going and coming back and that's what stuck.

00:34:59.164 --> 00:35:06.173
And so that's really where it was and then I would come home and tell my mom and dad about you got to hear this story that Edie told me today and then it just led to that.

00:35:06.184 --> 00:35:07.673
It's all parables mostly.

00:35:07.684 --> 00:35:08.204
Pretty much.

00:35:08.443 --> 00:35:08.833
Stories.

00:35:08.983 --> 00:35:09.824
That's what it's full of.

00:35:09.884 --> 00:35:10.233
Yeah.

00:35:11.074 --> 00:35:13.903
And then they were like, Let's give it a try.

00:35:13.943 --> 00:35:14.483
Let's try it.

00:35:14.873 --> 00:35:15.253
Absolutely.

00:35:15.273 --> 00:35:18.893
Like they didn't, did they, had they, they just kind of rejected?

00:35:19.094 --> 00:35:23.713
Catholicism, I guess, because they weren't going to the Catholic church in town, even though they came from that background.

00:35:23.873 --> 00:35:24.503
No, they were.

00:35:24.514 --> 00:35:27.693
We were going to the Catholic church, uh, when we first moved to town.

00:35:28.134 --> 00:35:29.103
And so then they just made a shift.

00:35:29.134 --> 00:35:31.364
They said, you know what, Scott really loves this church.

00:35:31.364 --> 00:35:32.184
Yeah, exactly.

00:35:32.864 --> 00:35:34.884
And, uh, so let's go where Edie and Scott go.

00:35:34.914 --> 00:35:35.364
Yeah.

00:35:35.423 --> 00:35:36.724
And then we just never looked back.

00:35:36.724 --> 00:35:39.634
My mom became the Sunday school superintendent at the church.

00:35:39.693 --> 00:35:40.153
Interesting.

00:35:40.164 --> 00:35:41.244
Not very much long after.

00:35:41.244 --> 00:35:43.594
So we really went all in as a family.

00:35:43.914 --> 00:35:54.139
I grew up in a town and it's funny how Similar, our experiences are with you, like just off the mountains of Colorado and me in the midst of the prairies of North Dakota.

00:35:54.748 --> 00:35:57.369
But we had a Catholic church and a Lutheran church.

00:35:57.958 --> 00:36:00.099
And pretty much everybody was Catholic or Lutheran.

00:36:00.099 --> 00:36:02.278
My family was congregational.

00:36:02.309 --> 00:36:04.728
We went to the church in town that Grandma had gone to.

00:36:05.478 --> 00:36:06.858
Turns out it wasn't really a church.

00:36:06.889 --> 00:36:09.838
Like, I didn't know the good news until I was 25.

00:36:09.849 --> 00:36:12.909
So, they missed the mark in that respect.

00:36:13.498 --> 00:36:19.639
But Like, nobody cared if you were Catholic or Lutheran except if you started dating a girl.

00:36:20.239 --> 00:36:24.088
On the opposite team or something like that, like that was my observation.

00:36:24.088 --> 00:36:26.498
Like, I've always been an observer of people.

00:36:26.498 --> 00:36:33.528
I wasn't dating because I was five foot one and with a mullet, you know, but, um, Got to see a picture sometime.

00:36:33.789 --> 00:36:35.059
You can, I'll show you one.

00:36:35.429 --> 00:36:37.349
But, uh, but that was kind of the rules.

00:36:37.358 --> 00:36:38.148
Like it was all cool.

00:36:38.148 --> 00:36:45.289
There was no religious strife or disposition unless, you know, the Catholic girl wanted to date the Lutheran boy and vice versa.

00:36:45.329 --> 00:36:47.048
And then things were weird.

00:36:47.708 --> 00:36:48.088
It's true.

00:36:48.349 --> 00:36:49.739
Was that that way for you too?

00:36:49.768 --> 00:36:53.679
Yeah, and our church was, you know, very strict on the religious side of things.

00:36:53.989 --> 00:36:55.869
So they were like Baptist plus?

00:36:55.889 --> 00:36:59.028
Yeah, it was called non denominational, but yeah, more on the Baptist side I would say.

00:36:59.028 --> 00:36:59.438
Fair enough.

00:36:59.559 --> 00:37:01.898
Okay, well that's where the good Texans come from, right?

00:37:01.969 --> 00:37:02.268
Right.

00:37:03.648 --> 00:37:09.128
So, so your family gets further and further involved, your brothers, brother and sister rather, right?

00:37:09.268 --> 00:37:12.608
Yep, they did, yeah, older brother, older sister, you know, at that time, yeah.

00:37:13.068 --> 00:37:16.824
And then, uh, So that's why ultimately you went to CCU.

00:37:17.423 --> 00:37:17.864
Correct.

00:37:17.923 --> 00:37:18.844
Yeah, fair enough.

00:37:19.114 --> 00:37:21.184
That's where my, uh, my nephew goes right now.

00:37:21.184 --> 00:37:26.704
He's gonna finish up, uh, he's got a, uh, he's been their master flutist for a few years.

00:37:26.733 --> 00:37:28.094
Uh, Isaiah Johnson.

00:37:28.704 --> 00:37:37.534
Uh, he was a piano amazing kid at like 11 and then switched to the flute and he's been their first chair for, and he's gonna probably cure cancer or something, I don't know.

00:37:37.583 --> 00:37:39.054
Man, good for him.

00:37:39.123 --> 00:37:39.474
Yeah.

00:37:39.554 --> 00:37:39.804
Yeah.

00:37:39.804 --> 00:37:48.159
And he's been really enjoying that community and was just telling, My wife, he's going to Sweden and some kind of a exchange kind of thing with some of his friends.

00:37:48.349 --> 00:37:50.108
Wow, good for him.

00:37:50.579 --> 00:37:52.679
The university's changed a lot over the years.

00:37:52.679 --> 00:38:05.838
We were actually the first graduating class because Colorado Baptist University and Colorado Christian College okay merged and so we were freshmen the first year of the merger so we were technically the first graduating class of Colorado Christian University.

00:38:05.849 --> 00:38:13.454
So you're the center on the basketball team or more of a forward, power forward style, six, seven, six, 10 people from Nigeria.

00:38:13.563 --> 00:38:14.614
So I was definitely not the tallest.

00:38:14.824 --> 00:38:15.224
All right.

00:38:15.233 --> 00:38:16.333
Fair enough for sure.

00:38:16.384 --> 00:38:19.954
That's where the Nigeria is, where they make the best basketball players and some of the best Christians.

00:38:21.733 --> 00:38:22.364
Yeah, they're good.

00:38:23.164 --> 00:38:26.114
So, so your experience there was pretty amazing.

00:38:26.123 --> 00:38:29.264
It was, um, did you find a girl there too?

00:38:29.264 --> 00:38:31.994
Or I did my current wife right now.

00:38:32.083 --> 00:38:32.494
All right.

00:38:32.503 --> 00:38:36.793
So we dated as freshmen all the way through and got married when we graduated.

00:38:37.228 --> 00:38:37.539
Awesome.

00:38:37.559 --> 00:38:38.539
Have three kids now.

00:38:38.679 --> 00:38:42.028
So twenty six, twenty four are our daughters and our son is twenty.

00:38:42.268 --> 00:38:44.838
We'll let you zoom in on the family in a moment.

00:38:44.838 --> 00:38:45.128
Okay.

00:39:28.494 --> 00:39:28.965
Um.

00:39:29.445 --> 00:39:33.545
So, what's your, like, show me, talk to me about your career trajectory, just a little bit.

00:39:33.635 --> 00:39:36.034
Like, uh, you get out of college, you're studying.

00:39:36.885 --> 00:39:39.255
Well, when I was in college, I started out as business.

00:39:39.304 --> 00:39:42.235
Uh, the plan was to go back and take over the family business.

00:39:42.585 --> 00:39:46.065
I went and worked at a sports camp in Branson, Missouri, called Camp Canicook.

00:39:46.114 --> 00:39:46.445
Okay.

00:39:46.485 --> 00:39:48.715
And at that camp, I decided, you know what?

00:39:48.945 --> 00:39:50.105
I want to work with students.

00:39:50.224 --> 00:39:53.554
And so I went back, changed my major from business to youth ministry.

00:39:53.695 --> 00:39:54.085
Oh, wow.

00:39:54.175 --> 00:39:57.135
Until the last three years of college, I was focused on that.

00:39:57.164 --> 00:40:01.375
And then that's where the church introduction as far as a staff position began.

00:40:01.724 --> 00:40:03.675
Is there a church associated with CCU?

00:40:04.045 --> 00:40:06.224
There is not multiple churches in the area.

00:40:06.255 --> 00:40:06.614
Yeah.

00:40:06.664 --> 00:40:08.715
And they all welcome CCU students.

00:40:08.724 --> 00:40:09.684
Of course they do.

00:40:10.474 --> 00:40:10.855
Right.

00:40:10.885 --> 00:40:11.175
Yeah.

00:40:11.474 --> 00:40:11.994
Oh, that's cool.

00:40:11.994 --> 00:40:18.105
Yeah, so we went to Bear Valley Church when we were down there, and that's when I worked with the youth group and thought, you know what, I think I want to go into this for a career.

00:40:18.105 --> 00:40:19.264
I've been to Bear Valley Brewery.

00:40:19.264 --> 00:40:20.315
I think that's right up the road there.

00:40:20.324 --> 00:40:20.945
I think it is up the road.

00:40:22.715 --> 00:40:24.735
So, you get into ministry right out of the gate.

00:40:25.250 --> 00:40:25.849
I did.

00:40:25.849 --> 00:40:27.679
I worked for Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

00:40:27.980 --> 00:40:29.559
Uh, so it came up to Fort Collins.

00:40:29.559 --> 00:40:30.730
That's what moved us up here.

00:40:30.730 --> 00:40:31.159
Okay.

00:40:31.280 --> 00:40:34.130
They were opening an office for FCA, is what it was called.

00:40:34.130 --> 00:40:38.610
And they said, hey, they knew me through college because I was involved, uh, as an athlete with FCA.

00:40:38.650 --> 00:40:39.090
Yeah.

00:40:39.150 --> 00:40:39.869
And so, yeah.

00:40:39.869 --> 00:40:44.369
That's surprising that, so you were the founder, really, of the FCA locally?

00:40:44.389 --> 00:40:45.880
Not the founder, but the first worker here?

00:40:45.960 --> 00:40:47.349
For, yeah, for Northern Colorado.

00:40:47.719 --> 00:40:50.500
They said, hey, we want you to be our first, uh, Northern Colorado director.

00:40:50.519 --> 00:40:53.840
That seems really surprising that they wouldn't have taken, like, a CSU athlete.

00:40:54.070 --> 00:41:02.110
I know, and the main reason they started it was there was 200 people going to the Colorado State University FCA huddle.

00:41:02.559 --> 00:41:03.079
Oh dang.

00:41:03.099 --> 00:41:05.489
So there was a bunch going and that's why they wanted to open an office.

00:41:05.510 --> 00:41:06.059
Interesting.

00:41:06.630 --> 00:41:10.050
Well, it's kind of sweet that they already had a captive audience for you.

00:41:10.059 --> 00:41:11.019
They definitely did.

00:41:11.150 --> 00:41:12.449
So, what was that job like?

00:41:12.869 --> 00:41:14.500
Oh, it was a dream.

00:41:14.530 --> 00:41:16.590
I mean, first of all, hats off to my wife.

00:41:16.590 --> 00:41:22.530
She gave up her dream job at Colorado Christian to follow us up here to Fort Collins, Colorado and start that.

00:41:22.530 --> 00:41:23.570
But, yeah, I just loved it.

00:41:23.659 --> 00:41:27.269
Worked with all of the Northeastern Colorado junior high, high school, and college.

00:41:27.880 --> 00:41:30.179
Summer camps, sports, Estes Park.

00:41:30.199 --> 00:41:31.730
I mean, it doesn't get any better than that.

00:41:31.849 --> 00:41:35.639
So, a guy in his early 20s, newly married, it was a dream.

00:41:36.054 --> 00:41:37.974
Didn't make a lot of money, but don't need a lot of money.

00:41:38.144 --> 00:41:38.414
Nope.

00:41:38.425 --> 00:41:43.204
We were at twenty two thousand dollars a year We just joked about this the other day as a newlywed.

00:41:43.215 --> 00:41:47.434
That was a four call I was 22 five when I started in banking man.

00:41:47.434 --> 00:41:54.074
Okay, so bankers make we have like a parallel life We suffer like you love God and I'm on the fringes kind of thing.

00:41:54.454 --> 00:41:57.275
We could start a brewery church I love God just as much.

00:41:57.574 --> 00:41:58.644
I know not quite as much.

00:41:59.135 --> 00:42:00.605
You don't know that her I don't know.

00:42:00.605 --> 00:42:01.054
Who knows?

00:42:01.054 --> 00:42:01.894
He loves me more though.

00:42:02.090 --> 00:42:03.215
I, I, okay.

00:42:03.244 --> 00:42:06.545
Otherwise, my life wouldn't be so blessed just by doing so many dumb things.

00:42:07.954 --> 00:42:09.514
so you're protected is what you're saying, right?

00:42:09.724 --> 00:42:10.894
I got gardened angels, dude.

00:42:10.894 --> 00:42:11.284
Yeah.

00:42:11.315 --> 00:42:12.454
Don't mess with me more than I have.

00:42:12.485 --> 00:42:13.295
Even though you're bigger.

00:42:15.425 --> 00:42:17.375
uh, the bourbons start to hit just a little bit.

00:42:17.405 --> 00:42:17.675
Okay.

00:42:17.675 --> 00:42:17.974
Alright.

00:42:17.974 --> 00:42:18.244
Yeah.

00:42:18.364 --> 00:42:18.815
How you doing?

00:42:18.844 --> 00:42:19.250
I'll give you that.

00:42:19.550 --> 00:42:21.815
You haven't even, I already almost drank all mine.

00:42:21.994 --> 00:42:25.324
Well, I don't officially really know how to, how to do that as well as you do.

00:42:25.409 --> 00:42:25.610
I know.

00:42:26.250 --> 00:42:28.739
But that's what makes it fun when we have podcast guests here.

00:42:29.150 --> 00:42:32.579
When you're big, you can have a whole bourbon while you're on this podcast.

00:42:33.130 --> 00:42:33.590
That's fine.

00:42:34.300 --> 00:42:36.920
Um, where did we leave off on that squirrel chase?

00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:41.690
Oh, uh, uh, going into ministry as far as college, you know, my career trajectory.

00:42:42.269 --> 00:42:43.590
So FCA, six years.

00:42:43.659 --> 00:42:44.829
So Aaron Santini pretty well.

00:42:44.849 --> 00:42:45.309
I do.

00:42:45.349 --> 00:42:45.599
Yeah.

00:42:45.610 --> 00:42:47.369
He was a staff person, uh, after me.

00:42:47.880 --> 00:42:52.090
So Aaron Santini is a phenomenal guy and, and, uh, leading a church here in town.

00:42:52.090 --> 00:42:52.800
Doing a great job.

00:42:53.369 --> 00:42:54.530
Oh, no, I didn't know that.

00:42:54.530 --> 00:42:55.469
I've been going to for.

00:42:55.594 --> 00:42:56.474
12 plus years.

00:42:56.894 --> 00:42:58.375
Him and Daniel Smith have been on.

00:42:58.375 --> 00:42:59.105
You know Daniel too?

00:42:59.114 --> 00:42:59.875
I've met Daniel.

00:42:59.875 --> 00:43:01.135
Aaron introduced me to Daniel.

00:43:01.204 --> 00:43:01.635
For sure.

00:43:01.735 --> 00:43:01.985
Yeah.

00:43:02.025 --> 00:43:03.375
Oh, and uh, Beck.

00:43:03.454 --> 00:43:04.054
Do you know Beck?

00:43:04.135 --> 00:43:04.434
Oh yeah.

00:43:04.434 --> 00:43:04.875
FCA.

00:43:04.934 --> 00:43:05.675
Been a long time.

00:43:05.675 --> 00:43:07.554
He's with our staff now too.

00:43:07.885 --> 00:43:08.264
Okay.

00:43:08.315 --> 00:43:08.934
Wow.

00:43:08.965 --> 00:43:09.335
Yeah.

00:43:09.335 --> 00:43:10.855
We pulled away from another church.

00:43:10.894 --> 00:43:11.414
We fixed it.

00:43:11.414 --> 00:43:13.414
Good for you.

00:43:13.414 --> 00:43:14.974
Sorry if you're the former church.

00:43:15.565 --> 00:43:17.195
But you did have some kind of whacked out views.

00:43:17.195 --> 00:43:17.644
I'm sorry.

00:43:18.065 --> 00:43:18.375
Oh man.

00:43:18.764 --> 00:43:19.224
I'm just kidding.

00:43:19.675 --> 00:43:20.255
Well, no.

00:43:20.344 --> 00:43:20.554
So yeah.

00:43:20.554 --> 00:43:21.465
This is the local experience, man.

00:43:21.465 --> 00:43:24.795
You gotta be ready for some non politically correct conversation here.

00:43:24.795 --> 00:43:24.914
Yeah.

00:43:24.914 --> 00:43:25.454
Understood.

00:43:25.605 --> 00:43:35.844
So you're, you're like leading these young guys to both be men and to be athletes and to be Christians, basically, is that kind of like a three legged stool of FCA?

00:43:35.954 --> 00:43:38.184
Really, my hot button is potential.

00:43:38.445 --> 00:43:44.764
And so putting FCA with focused on character as athletes with my hot button of let's push people towards their potential.

00:43:45.204 --> 00:43:51.025
It was a win win all the way around just because students, junior high, high school or college, they need that to be kept in front of them.

00:43:51.025 --> 00:43:52.105
Character and potential.

00:43:52.699 --> 00:43:53.510
It's a powerful one two punch.

00:43:53.510 --> 00:43:54.780
You gotta do hard things, you know.

00:43:54.840 --> 00:43:55.079
I'm telling you.

00:43:55.079 --> 00:43:55.860
You gotta do it right.

00:43:55.969 --> 00:43:56.250
Yep.

00:43:56.320 --> 00:43:56.909
Absolutely.

00:43:56.909 --> 00:43:57.300
I dig it.

00:43:57.340 --> 00:43:57.570
Okay.

00:43:57.570 --> 00:43:59.920
Yeah, so six years with, uh, Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

00:43:59.920 --> 00:44:00.239
Okay.

00:44:00.550 --> 00:44:02.840
Uh, and then I went into the crazy food industry.

00:44:02.840 --> 00:44:03.230
Yeah.

00:44:03.260 --> 00:44:05.360
I really did try to find other ministry jobs.

00:44:05.360 --> 00:44:07.139
Basically, I was gonna get transferred to Denver.

00:44:07.269 --> 00:44:07.730
Okay.

00:44:07.730 --> 00:44:10.039
And my wife and I were like, ah, we want to do the big city.

00:44:10.039 --> 00:44:10.757
And is she working?

00:44:10.757 --> 00:44:12.195
Is she having kids already or not yet?

00:44:12.195 --> 00:44:12.556
Not quite.

00:44:12.556 --> 00:44:12.916
Not quite.

00:44:12.916 --> 00:44:13.096
Yeah.

00:44:13.096 --> 00:44:14.175
She worked for a long time.

00:44:14.755 --> 00:44:25.445
at, uh, the Hilton, uh, here in Fort Collins, she worked with Alpine Manufacturing, the Girl Scouts, uh, for the early years of being, being up here, but decided we don't things this and that.

00:44:25.445 --> 00:44:26.335
Nothing career really.

00:44:26.335 --> 00:44:27.465
What was her degree?

00:44:27.465 --> 00:44:27.985
Study?

00:44:27.994 --> 00:44:30.864
She's uh, English, English, English.

00:44:30.864 --> 00:44:31.085
Yeah.

00:44:31.085 --> 00:44:31.375
Yeah.

00:44:31.394 --> 00:44:34.574
But she really wanted to be a stay at home mom and all of a sudden done.

00:44:34.945 --> 00:44:35.514
So yeah.

00:44:35.914 --> 00:44:37.784
Start making enough money so I can do that.

00:44:37.835 --> 00:44:39.114
I know exactly.

00:44:39.869 --> 00:44:40.599
Exactly.

00:44:40.610 --> 00:44:43.650
So I tried to find other ministry jobs because we didn't want to move to Denver.

00:44:43.829 --> 00:44:45.260
We're like, we don't want to do the city life.

00:44:45.269 --> 00:44:46.650
So I decided to stay here.

00:44:47.059 --> 00:44:50.329
Thought I'd just deliver bagels at night and look for jobs during the day.

00:44:50.329 --> 00:44:54.679
And that turned into a six year career at Gibbs Bagels and loved every minute of it.

00:44:54.679 --> 00:44:55.389
Right from there, yeah.

00:44:55.400 --> 00:44:56.380
That's a highlight for us.

00:44:56.429 --> 00:45:18.144
No, I mean, I, the company grew so much and how they, like just, I don't know, kind of set a different standard for how a local business can have kind of a multi location operation and influence and I don't know they had a lot of what was that there's a gal that maybe came after you that ran it?

00:45:18.175 --> 00:45:22.295
Well Rachel Yendra, her name was Rachel Bradley at the time.

00:45:22.655 --> 00:45:27.985
I know Zach better than I know Rachel but I know she's super well respected by a lot of people.

00:45:27.985 --> 00:45:28.405
Oh yeah.

00:45:28.775 --> 00:45:29.275
As well.

00:45:29.315 --> 00:45:30.414
Well Kurt, I have to tell you.

00:45:30.414 --> 00:45:32.364
And people say she turned it around after Scott left.

00:45:32.405 --> 00:45:32.824
That's right.

00:45:33.554 --> 00:45:35.275
Well she did and because I hired her.

00:45:35.635 --> 00:45:36.815
So it's pretty funny.

00:45:36.815 --> 00:45:38.204
I hired her as a high school student.

00:45:38.304 --> 00:45:38.925
Oh, is that right?

00:45:38.925 --> 00:45:43.324
And now she's obviously one of the best hires I ever made as a young manager at Gibbs bagel.

00:45:43.324 --> 00:45:44.804
So we stay in touch to this day.

00:45:44.985 --> 00:45:47.284
Like I was so jealous of Zach.

00:45:47.690 --> 00:45:57.369
Because he had like a wife that would make enough money so he could screw around and drive school buses around and take kids and do stuff and, and build awesome bikes and cool things.

00:45:57.369 --> 00:45:58.460
He's very talented.

00:45:58.969 --> 00:46:00.429
I love his creativity.

00:46:00.460 --> 00:46:00.730
Yeah.

00:46:00.730 --> 00:46:01.659
Anyway, I'm a fan.

00:46:02.119 --> 00:46:02.559
Well, good.

00:46:02.909 --> 00:46:04.650
And now they're merged with Spoons.

00:46:04.659 --> 00:46:06.920
So Spoons and Gibbs are owned by the same owner.

00:46:06.920 --> 00:46:07.489
And then Rachel.

00:46:07.500 --> 00:46:08.679
And who's the owner now?

00:46:09.070 --> 00:46:10.070
Mike Howland.

00:46:10.210 --> 00:46:10.900
Oh, is that right?

00:46:10.909 --> 00:46:12.780
So he's the one who bought Gibbs from Gibb.

00:46:12.780 --> 00:46:13.730
So Tom, Tom sold Spoons.

00:46:13.739 --> 00:46:14.510
That's correct.

00:46:14.510 --> 00:46:14.516
Tom.

00:46:14.516 --> 00:46:14.525
Tom.

00:46:14.795 --> 00:46:15.585
I don't remember his last name.

00:46:15.594 --> 00:46:16.695
Yeah, I don't remember either.

00:46:16.695 --> 00:46:20.945
So Mike bought it and so now Gibbs and Spoons are under the same ownership with Rachel at the helm.

00:46:20.945 --> 00:46:21.764
Running the whole thing.

00:46:21.994 --> 00:46:22.364
Pretty much.

00:46:22.635 --> 00:46:23.125
President.

00:46:23.125 --> 00:46:24.454
I hope she's got a slice of the equity at least.

00:46:24.454 --> 00:46:25.304
I am not sure.

00:46:25.324 --> 00:46:25.934
Let's ask her.

00:46:25.965 --> 00:46:26.704
She should.

00:46:26.764 --> 00:46:28.764
Oh man, she works so hard.

00:46:28.764 --> 00:46:31.005
Right, well she made it what it is in a So hard.

00:46:31.454 --> 00:46:35.635
And Spoons is a hard business too, but so good, like, I love their model.

00:46:35.744 --> 00:46:36.144
Yes.

00:46:36.699 --> 00:46:36.880
Yep.

00:46:36.909 --> 00:46:37.119
Yeah.

00:46:37.190 --> 00:46:38.099
And that's why they bought in.

00:46:38.139 --> 00:46:39.139
Okay, well that's interesting.

00:46:39.139 --> 00:46:39.570
Yeah, it's a small world.

00:46:39.579 --> 00:46:41.320
Maybe I'll have a future podcast.

00:46:41.380 --> 00:46:43.039
Maybe Rachel and Zach should be on it.

00:46:43.050 --> 00:46:43.659
Oh, they'd be great.

00:46:44.139 --> 00:46:45.070
They would be great.

00:46:45.070 --> 00:46:51.184
Zach has, uh A filter similar to mine, I suspect, when we start talking with Bourbon.

00:46:51.465 --> 00:46:51.934
Okay.

00:46:52.215 --> 00:46:53.565
I'm just, I'm just guessing.

00:46:53.744 --> 00:46:54.684
What would the filter be?

00:46:55.014 --> 00:46:55.644
No filter.

00:46:55.684 --> 00:46:55.914
Okay.

00:46:57.355 --> 00:46:58.255
Basically.

00:46:59.275 --> 00:47:11.925
So, so you kind of helped Gibbs in some ways kind of turn the corner to being a for real awesome business, and then you hired a high school that took it over when you went to I left from Gibbs and went to Yancey's Food Service.

00:47:11.994 --> 00:47:13.135
I don't know if you know Greg Yancey.

00:47:13.155 --> 00:47:13.605
Well, sure.

00:47:13.614 --> 00:47:17.255
Well, Greg and Drew have been on, and Drew is my next level 2 facilitator.

00:47:17.264 --> 00:47:18.275
Phenomenal family.

00:47:18.394 --> 00:47:18.614
Okay.

00:47:18.625 --> 00:47:21.304
So again, looked for ministry jobs when I was leaving Gibbs.

00:47:21.304 --> 00:47:22.045
Couldn't find any.

00:47:22.045 --> 00:47:26.675
And so Yancey's was very generous to say, Hey, do you want to come do some street sales for us?

00:47:26.920 --> 00:47:38.039
So I committed to that and then after that I landed at Timberline Church interesting Yeah, and how was what was that job at Timberline like and had you been searching try to get back into ministry proper or no?

00:47:38.039 --> 00:47:39.320
I pretty much wrote it off.

00:47:39.349 --> 00:47:40.139
I said, you know what?

00:47:40.139 --> 00:47:46.500
I think food industry is gonna have to be what you know The career path is and then the executive pastor at the time reached out to me.

00:47:46.500 --> 00:47:49.360
His name was Rob Coles Oh, yeah, and he said hey like that guy.

00:47:49.590 --> 00:47:50.179
Oh, man.

00:47:50.230 --> 00:47:54.570
He's so likable Yeah, he's doing a phenomenal job at Genesis project.

00:47:54.679 --> 00:47:55.050
Yep.

00:47:55.099 --> 00:47:55.449
Yep.

00:47:55.449 --> 00:47:56.155
Yep Yep.

00:47:56.775 --> 00:48:02.885
Um, I think I met him first with Sandy Brown from Colorado Christian School.

00:48:02.885 --> 00:48:05.894
I might be interlacing two different introductions.

00:48:06.224 --> 00:48:13.014
Anyway, um, I know Rob has been super involved with the Matthews House and hosting their offices and stuff and I met him there.

00:48:13.614 --> 00:48:22.255
But I think the very first time I met Rob was Sandy from CCU, not CCU, what's the, what's the high school here with the flexible kind of thing?

00:48:22.264 --> 00:48:24.284
Oh, CEC, Colorado Early College.

00:48:24.284 --> 00:48:24.684
Yes.

00:48:24.864 --> 00:48:25.465
Yes.

00:48:25.494 --> 00:48:25.855
Okay.

00:48:25.875 --> 00:48:29.625
Sandy, who has introduced me to Rob at the Peach Festival.

00:48:29.695 --> 00:48:30.494
Oh, okay.

00:48:30.514 --> 00:48:31.244
Forever ago.

00:48:31.315 --> 00:48:31.675
Anyway.

00:48:31.985 --> 00:48:32.244
Yeah.

00:48:32.264 --> 00:48:33.815
Sometimes, do you do this?

00:48:34.315 --> 00:48:37.835
Like, when you hear a name, do you flash back to the first moment that you met that person?

00:48:37.864 --> 00:48:38.394
Absolutely.

00:48:38.394 --> 00:48:38.454
Kind of?

00:48:39.215 --> 00:48:40.905
I think that's the importance of relationships.

00:48:40.934 --> 00:48:41.375
Yeah.

00:48:41.375 --> 00:48:41.724
Where did I meet you?

00:48:41.724 --> 00:48:42.045
Yeah.

00:48:42.440 --> 00:48:52.880
That's, so for me, that was Rob Coles, even though I've met him five other times at mostly Matthew's house related things, like I still flash to that moment at Hughes stadium when Sammy introduced me.

00:48:53.139 --> 00:48:53.510
Wow.

00:48:53.639 --> 00:48:53.949
Anyway.

00:48:54.039 --> 00:48:54.329
Yeah.

00:48:54.440 --> 00:48:57.269
So he's the one that met with me and said, Hey, we have opening at Timberline church.

00:48:57.309 --> 00:48:59.829
What do you think about getting back into ministry world?

00:48:59.980 --> 00:49:02.469
Oh, cause you knew from FCA kind of world or something like that.

00:49:02.679 --> 00:49:04.280
And I was attending the church at the time.

00:49:04.280 --> 00:49:05.869
So I knew him as one of the pastors.

00:49:06.840 --> 00:49:07.059
So there you go.

00:49:07.070 --> 00:49:09.119
Well, that's a good eye for talent exhibited.

00:49:09.304 --> 00:49:11.025
Right, Rob, I guess I would say.

00:49:11.065 --> 00:49:11.574
Too kind.

00:49:11.675 --> 00:49:17.215
Or, or maybe, maybe it was a disaster, I don't know, but you rose up the ranks, so we'll see.

00:49:17.385 --> 00:49:17.994
Yeah, well.

00:49:18.005 --> 00:49:25.519
So what's it look like to be So circuit me, by the way, because this is like 2014, 15, something like that.

00:49:25.519 --> 00:49:30.920
So I started at Timberline 2006 and then left in 2021, uh, as far as staff goes.

00:49:30.929 --> 00:49:31.369
Okay.

00:49:31.429 --> 00:49:31.659
Yep.

00:49:31.739 --> 00:49:32.019
Yep.

00:49:32.239 --> 00:49:32.460
Yep.

00:49:32.510 --> 00:49:35.349
And I kept my credentials when I left and went to work for Sky Corral.

00:49:35.349 --> 00:49:39.429
So it was 15 years at Timberline as far as paid staff.

00:49:39.429 --> 00:49:42.400
And then we started attending there in 94 as a family.

00:49:42.500 --> 00:49:42.880
Yeah.

00:49:42.880 --> 00:49:45.280
So it's been our, our home church for 30 years.

00:49:45.280 --> 00:49:45.480
Yeah.

00:49:45.480 --> 00:49:45.980
Yeah.

00:49:46.230 --> 00:49:47.030
Um, what.

00:49:48.335 --> 00:50:27.284
Like can we talk about the evolution of sure like it was I remember so I I've lived here starting in 99 Wasn't a Christian yet met my wife became a Christian eventually we went to the meeting place Church Mm hmm back in 99 with Dwight Bradshaw I know the name he and his wife were customers at the bank that I went to and eventually Persuaded me and along with my beautiful wife being a Christian already but then Like that was the circa and then I moved away for a few years later, but like Timberline was probably just Really good to be a big thing probably about that time, right?

00:50:27.355 --> 00:50:37.565
That's correct late 90s Yeah, so early 2000s really when they moved locations off of LeMay where Ridgeview is currently the school You know, they moved over to Timberline Road.

00:50:37.565 --> 00:50:43.179
It was that was explosive And it just blew up and I'm always like, I'm against the trends.

00:50:43.190 --> 00:50:46.670
So I never, I think I went once and I was like, nah, I'm not going to go to a big church like this.

00:50:46.710 --> 00:50:47.269
Understood.

00:50:48.079 --> 00:50:48.610
It is fine.

00:50:48.719 --> 00:50:49.070
Yeah.

00:50:49.760 --> 00:50:50.849
So, but tell me about that.

00:50:50.860 --> 00:50:52.699
Like being, you were there.

00:50:52.820 --> 00:50:53.130
Yeah.

00:50:53.130 --> 00:51:01.769
We were there as members of the church and then to move locations and to see this, uh, just explosive, you know, growth was very, especially being a small town, you know, church guy.

00:51:01.769 --> 00:51:02.230
Yeah.

00:51:02.344 --> 00:51:04.135
I'm like, okay, how am I going to handle this?

00:51:04.445 --> 00:51:06.914
And this is more people than I've been around in a long time.

00:51:07.315 --> 00:51:08.914
Uh, but it was amazing how they handled it.

00:51:08.925 --> 00:51:10.585
They just stayed focused on the community.

00:51:10.585 --> 00:51:12.014
They stay focused on the people.

00:51:12.014 --> 00:51:15.034
And they said, you know what, we're going to continue to love people where they are.

00:51:15.244 --> 00:51:19.144
Why do you think, like, was it the charisma of the pastor at the time?

00:51:19.144 --> 00:51:20.925
Was it the systems that developed?

00:51:20.954 --> 00:51:22.784
Like, was it multiple factors?

00:51:22.784 --> 00:51:24.275
Like what really contributed to that?

00:51:24.329 --> 00:51:25.409
Yeah.

00:51:25.409 --> 00:51:25.889
Definitely.

00:51:25.889 --> 00:51:26.849
I appreciate you asking.

00:51:26.849 --> 00:51:35.610
Definitely multiple factors, but Pastor Derry Northrup has been, you know, he's just getting ready to retire after 38, 39 years of senior leadership at the church.

00:51:35.610 --> 00:51:38.980
He's so excited about retirement.

00:51:39.570 --> 00:51:40.800
He's definitely no Joe Biden.

00:51:40.809 --> 00:51:41.199
Yeah.

00:51:41.199 --> 00:51:41.800
Oh man.

00:51:42.179 --> 00:51:42.239
Yeah.

00:51:42.489 --> 00:51:43.670
So very charismatic.

00:51:43.679 --> 00:51:44.070
Yeah.

00:51:44.199 --> 00:51:45.440
Love the community.

00:51:45.489 --> 00:51:51.369
He's very people oriented, you know, so it was that, and then the team that he had around him just were committed to go.

00:51:51.934 --> 00:52:10.164
Let's figure out how we can be a mom and pop church, but in the mega church model Yeah, and somehow they found a unique blend of how to do that and people just like you know what I'm gonna keep coming back Yeah, yeah, so that's what it was and then when I came on staff in 2006 They were kind of after that initial explosive growth, and then I'm more of a how do we make things better?

00:52:10.204 --> 00:52:14.364
So it worked out well my role is to come alongside of them and say what can I do to help like?

00:52:14.364 --> 00:52:15.385
How do you measure better?

00:52:15.650 --> 00:52:20.684
As a pastor, like, is it because we make more money, you know, is it because we get more members?

00:52:20.684 --> 00:52:22.447
Is it because they enjoy it more?

00:52:22.447 --> 00:52:24.713
How do you know if they enjoy it more?

00:52:24.713 --> 00:52:24.963
Yeah.

00:52:24.963 --> 00:52:39.980
You want a little inside, you know, you know, everybody always goes to nickels and noses as success of a church, the money and the number of people that you have, but any pastor can do the anecdotal anecdotal story of.

00:52:40.394 --> 00:52:46.764
Well, I met with so and so and they turned their life around and then all of a sudden your whole church is not 20 of those or 100.

00:52:46.795 --> 00:52:48.965
And so that could be happening, you know, all the time.

00:52:49.355 --> 00:52:52.364
So you look at retention, you know, how many people are coming back?

00:52:52.385 --> 00:52:54.284
Is there a new growth that's coming into the church?

00:52:54.454 --> 00:52:55.655
And then how is the back door?

00:52:55.954 --> 00:52:56.795
How many people are leaving?

00:52:57.244 --> 00:53:00.235
So that's really where you look at, you know, the same as local, same time.

00:53:01.025 --> 00:53:02.164
It's really a business model.

00:53:02.715 --> 00:53:03.565
People had the hardest time.

00:53:03.565 --> 00:53:05.054
How do you get people to respond?

00:53:05.065 --> 00:53:06.375
Like how they like it?

00:53:07.614 --> 00:53:09.094
Well, it depends on who they're talking to.

00:53:09.114 --> 00:53:11.954
If they're talking to the senior pastor, they're probably not going to say, right.

00:53:11.954 --> 00:53:16.434
If they're talking to the operations guy like me, they're going to tell you what they like and what they don't like.

00:53:16.574 --> 00:53:20.255
So you definitely had to navigate that because you would hear two sides of the coin.

00:53:20.405 --> 00:53:25.204
I just had one of the most interesting, so this is probably.

00:53:25.449 --> 00:53:32.539
Behind the curtain a little bit, but we, we had a chapter that was struggling and, and we made a change in the facilitator position.

00:53:32.630 --> 00:53:33.809
It had been decreasing in membership.

00:53:33.809 --> 00:53:34.510
Within LOCO?

00:53:34.599 --> 00:53:35.510
Yeah, within LOCO.

00:53:36.039 --> 00:53:43.360
And I, I offered to be the interim facilitator whilst I found the right next facilitator.

00:53:44.079 --> 00:53:46.300
And like, I'm a good facilitator.

00:53:46.690 --> 00:53:49.610
BSF, Bible Study Fellowship taught me how to facilitate.

00:53:49.690 --> 00:53:51.989
Like way back in the day when I was first a Christian and stuff.

00:53:51.989 --> 00:53:53.510
I'm good at it.

00:53:53.519 --> 00:53:54.690
And I heard from them, like.

00:53:55.235 --> 00:54:06.094
We don't really want you here because you're like the loco think tank guy and it's hard for us to be authentic and vulnerable while Loco think that guy is here and I'm like dude.

00:54:06.175 --> 00:54:18.744
My business is one fourth the size of yours and I barely make any money Like you don't really have to be ashamed But like it's almost like I'm the senior pastor.

00:54:18.815 --> 00:54:24.539
That's true of loco think tank and I can't really huh Yeah, that's what I'd say.

00:54:24.539 --> 00:54:28.389
Pastor Derry, he would say, if I'm going to walk in a room, everybody's head's going to turn to me.

00:54:28.469 --> 00:54:28.809
Right.

00:54:28.840 --> 00:54:34.349
So why would I walk in the room when I can have you walk in the room and navigate that meeting just as well or better?

00:54:34.780 --> 00:54:36.360
Because people are going to respond differently.

00:54:36.380 --> 00:54:37.619
That's tremendous leadership.

00:54:38.119 --> 00:54:41.369
Um, and insight, really, for probably, for him, what was at the time.

00:54:41.369 --> 00:54:41.840
Learned a lot.

00:54:42.530 --> 00:54:58.175
He didn't I don't really know if that was right, it just felt right, you know, so, okay, well, that's, uh, so sorry to take that squirrel chase, but I think it's so worth it, honestly, like, and I'm not starting a religion, just for those that are listening.

00:54:58.355 --> 00:54:59.715
You're not going to apply for Gary's job?

00:54:59.744 --> 00:55:07.434
Neither did Pastor Gary, he's just continuing the religion, you know, his religion is Jesus is awesome and mine is pure advisory is useful.

00:55:07.565 --> 00:55:09.684
Uh, in different ways.

00:55:09.835 --> 00:55:12.255
Yeah, and he would say it's not religion, it's a relationship.

00:55:12.675 --> 00:55:17.644
If he were sitting here next to me, he's like I hate the word religion, that's why we talk about faith, family, politics here.

00:55:17.715 --> 00:55:18.655
Yeah, love it.

00:55:18.775 --> 00:55:37.355
And so, so I guess your time, um, at, Timberline from 2006 to 2015 was kind of a support and development role kind of as the church kind of took its next phase in because it blew up fast to be kind of the power church in Fort Collins and then, and then what?

00:55:37.914 --> 00:55:40.454
Yeah, yeah, multiple years of lots of different roles.

00:55:40.465 --> 00:55:42.844
So I started out in the care area and men's.

00:55:43.135 --> 00:55:51.764
Uh, so funerals, memorials, you know, weddings, you know, all of those things, uh, and then shifted into a supervisory role with other staff, uh, directors.

00:55:51.764 --> 00:55:52.894
And then the last.

00:55:53.460 --> 00:55:54.530
Uh, what would that be?

00:55:54.559 --> 00:56:04.210
20, you know, 18 to 2021 would have been the senior executive role, which is more operational, you know, side kind of saying, Hey, I hear your vision.

00:56:04.239 --> 00:56:05.110
How do we get there?

00:56:05.110 --> 00:56:07.199
And then how do we mobilize the team to go do it?

00:56:07.239 --> 00:56:07.469
Huh?

00:56:07.789 --> 00:56:12.429
So it really was, I just really felt like I needed to help make things a little bit better.

00:56:12.429 --> 00:56:16.630
So you like probably had like one of the worst jobs during COVID nation.

00:56:17.034 --> 00:56:32.014
Not to flashback to that time, but it was challenging Not only challenging on the operational side, but we are such a relational church at the time Yeah How do you navigate all those relationships and everybody's opinions on what you should do what you shouldn't do and right online?

00:56:32.014 --> 00:56:33.925
Services and meeting in person.

00:56:34.085 --> 00:56:54.125
Well, I've got to jump to the punchline by any means, but you're like a country kid from the mountains, and you're like, big football player y guy, and I'm just gonna guess that your fear level over this bug wasn't quite as extreme as what you were supposed to expect, or whatever.

00:56:54.135 --> 00:57:12.489
No, we grew up not, nobody had a snow day, you didn't care about, you know, that, you just went about your business, all of those things, and Yeah, that was what I used to say, and it pissed people off a little bit, but I was like, you know, where I'm from, like, if there's a virus, or a Bug, you either get the bug or you don't get the bug, and then you either die or you don't die.

00:57:13.375 --> 00:57:16.364
And you just keep moving on and you do the things that need to happen.

00:57:16.434 --> 00:57:19.655
And people thought that was not very funny at all.

00:57:19.655 --> 00:57:20.534
No, no, I get it.

00:57:20.775 --> 00:57:21.215
I get it.

00:57:21.355 --> 00:57:24.344
Now, as a leader, I You couldn't say that kind of shit like I did.

00:57:24.344 --> 00:57:26.614
No, because as a leader, I wanted to follow the rules.

00:57:26.824 --> 00:57:30.304
And then, uh, with the county, we have a great relationship, you know, with Larimer County.

00:57:30.525 --> 00:57:31.855
I wanted to navigate that, you know, well.

00:57:32.105 --> 00:57:44.914
But I will never forget the visual, Kurt, of our 1, 400 seat auditorium being set aside in Two seaters and four seaters and six seaters and eight seaters and trying to guide families to sit six feet apart.

00:57:44.954 --> 00:57:49.005
I will never forget what our auditorium looked like and how that just changed what church felt.

00:57:49.094 --> 00:57:50.514
Oh, I'm sure it was gross.

00:57:50.554 --> 00:57:51.565
It was unbelievable.

00:57:51.675 --> 00:57:52.764
Just like crickets.

00:57:52.864 --> 00:58:03.215
2, 000 people watching from home because you're like, did you disinvite people or was it enough fear that just didn't fill up the stands anyway?

00:58:03.224 --> 00:58:03.875
It was a combo.

00:58:03.875 --> 00:58:08.985
We did encourage people to watch online if they could just for the safety of the people that really wanted to be in person.

00:58:09.594 --> 00:58:11.965
So it was just a unique blend that we had to try to figure out.

00:58:13.449 --> 00:58:16.909
A lot of technology, uh, development and implementation at that time.

00:58:16.909 --> 00:58:17.300
Absolutely.

00:58:17.360 --> 00:58:19.280
A lot of hires to be able to navigate it.

00:58:19.360 --> 00:58:24.539
No offense, but you guys were kind of the fancy church with the super cool band all the time anyway.

00:58:24.570 --> 00:58:30.039
And so, like, part of the experience was being there with, like, felt like God was right there with you, you know?

00:58:30.039 --> 00:58:30.320
Right.

00:58:30.565 --> 00:58:30.844
Right.

00:58:30.914 --> 00:58:34.235
I mean, I'm sorry to, no, no, I appreciate it.

00:58:34.235 --> 00:58:36.905
It's funny cause my town, my town would have fit.

00:58:36.934 --> 00:58:38.364
It's an amazing production.

00:58:38.414 --> 00:58:39.614
Like it was beautiful.

00:58:39.625 --> 00:58:41.065
One of the times I've been there.

00:58:41.094 --> 00:58:41.364
Yeah.

00:58:41.405 --> 00:58:44.914
When you have a producer for a service and, you know, making sure everything flows well.

00:58:45.215 --> 00:58:50.295
10, 000 members and 4, 000 attendees, your budget is a lot bigger than our little church, you know?

00:58:50.295 --> 00:58:57.744
And so to go from that to like here, here's, you know, no community, barely.

00:58:58.065 --> 00:59:06.244
Right, you got, what, 200 people attending with this proper spacing or something instead of 1, 300 or whatever, or 2, 000?

00:59:06.414 --> 00:59:06.625
Yep.

00:59:07.059 --> 00:59:23.739
Wow, you want to know what the unique thing was during that whole thing is everybody would automatically assume that we suffered, you know financially Yeah, the interesting thing was is you know, there were some blips of course, but people's generosity during that time because everybody got free money Everybody got tons of free money from the government.

00:59:24.260 --> 00:59:29.570
It was life was easy You didn't have to spend gas money anymore, right for a month right off your budget.

00:59:29.599 --> 00:59:35.235
You just stay home and Yeah, we were grateful for the generosity for sure.

00:59:35.454 --> 00:59:48.775
So, so I guess from a financial management and stuff, it wasn't that hard, but from an operational standpoint, it's like, uh, there's an old Bill Cosby line that I don't know the secret to success, but the secret to failure is to try to please everybody.

00:59:48.905 --> 00:59:49.445
Oh gosh.

00:59:49.485 --> 00:59:49.784
Yeah.

00:59:49.934 --> 00:59:52.215
Does that resonate with your experience there?

00:59:52.494 --> 00:59:53.724
Boy, it is so true.

00:59:53.784 --> 00:59:57.445
And Pastor Derry would always say, Hey, we're going to try something.

00:59:57.445 --> 00:59:59.534
If it doesn't work, we'll go back to what wasn't working before.

01:00:00.994 --> 01:00:01.465
I love it.

01:00:01.914 --> 01:00:02.275
I love it.

01:00:02.804 --> 01:00:11.005
So, uh, then kind of like, because if I remember right, May 2021 was like, Oh, we're going to be free.

01:00:11.014 --> 01:00:11.074
And then.

01:00:12.105 --> 01:00:17.775
Oh shit, all those vaccines didn't really work and we clamped back down in September of 21 or something like that.

01:00:17.804 --> 01:00:18.494
Is that true?

01:00:18.864 --> 01:00:20.445
I don't remember the specific dates.

01:00:20.445 --> 01:00:21.077
I think it did.

01:00:21.077 --> 01:00:25.014
But when I started at Sky Corral in May of 21, we were still navigating some of that.

01:00:25.014 --> 01:00:28.644
Yeah, yeah, and then it kind of freed up for that summer and then locked back down again.

01:00:28.644 --> 01:00:28.914
Right.

01:00:29.574 --> 01:00:34.255
No, seriously, we had to say to people, if you're not of the same family, you might have to sleep in a mask.

01:00:35.625 --> 01:00:38.715
And we looked at each other and went, how, how can we enforce that?

01:00:39.255 --> 01:00:39.614
Right.

01:00:40.309 --> 01:00:46.460
Well, I had, I had members leave Loco Think Tank because we didn't have a policy on how we were going to require it.

01:00:46.460 --> 01:00:52.369
And I was like, well, it seems like I should have just said it, I guess, like restaurant rules anyway, I don't know.

01:00:52.670 --> 01:00:53.699
Glad we're on the other side.

01:00:53.800 --> 01:00:56.420
Um, I feel like it's a good time for a break.

01:00:56.480 --> 01:00:56.860
Okay.

01:01:46.400 --> 01:01:46.730
All right.

01:01:46.730 --> 01:01:51.724
Well, so we got Faith family politics is our mandatory segments.

01:01:51.735 --> 01:01:51.954
Okay.

01:01:52.014 --> 01:01:53.795
Do you have a preference on where you would start?

01:01:54.135 --> 01:01:54.875
Probably family.

01:01:54.875 --> 01:01:56.235
Yeah, that's an easy one for me.

01:01:56.675 --> 01:01:57.614
Talk to me about your family.

01:01:57.614 --> 01:02:03.855
So, uh, this, this little gal that followed you up into this crappy job in Fort Collins, was whom again?

01:02:04.074 --> 01:02:06.954
Uh, Christina Seiler was her maiden name.

01:02:06.985 --> 01:02:07.454
Yes.

01:02:07.505 --> 01:02:09.625
And, uh, met our freshman year at Colorado Christian.

01:02:10.235 --> 01:02:14.215
Uh, just, uh, met our freshman year and it was like, man, she's from Boulder.

01:02:14.405 --> 01:02:14.715
Okay.

01:02:14.784 --> 01:02:15.715
Uh, born in Iowa.

01:02:15.764 --> 01:02:17.824
Uh, but she was a Boulder high school girl.

01:02:17.835 --> 01:02:19.695
So she was an outcast in her community as well.

01:02:19.695 --> 01:02:20.155
Yeah.

01:02:20.155 --> 01:02:20.594
Christian.

01:02:21.094 --> 01:02:23.815
Oh, everybody always talked about, wait, you're a Christian and you're from Boulder.

01:02:24.545 --> 01:02:25.974
So she had to answer that question.

01:02:25.974 --> 01:02:30.005
I don't know how many times, but yeah, freshman year we met and just dated all the way through.

01:02:30.014 --> 01:02:32.315
It was a great time to get to know her and.

01:02:32.844 --> 01:02:37.994
Uh, me being a small town boy, it was like, wow, you know, somebody from a big city, right?

01:02:38.434 --> 01:02:39.485
Somebody can see me.

01:02:39.494 --> 01:02:42.315
Why would she say that she saw in you?

01:02:43.025 --> 01:02:45.525
Other than the fact that you were like on the basketball team or whatever.

01:02:45.574 --> 01:02:47.425
Yeah, and she could have cared less about that.

01:02:47.425 --> 01:02:48.565
That was the interesting part.

01:02:48.574 --> 01:02:51.965
I just, you know, being a gentleman, you know, being kind, you know, all of that.

01:02:52.045 --> 01:02:52.304
Yeah.

01:02:52.335 --> 01:02:54.355
So it had to be something because it wasn't my clothes.

01:02:54.364 --> 01:02:55.735
Coming from a small town, man.

01:02:57.079 --> 01:02:58.710
The fashion was flannel or flannel.

01:02:59.139 --> 01:03:00.980
You know, it absolutely.

01:03:00.980 --> 01:03:02.349
You're calling it right there.

01:03:02.750 --> 01:03:02.949
Yeah.

01:03:02.949 --> 01:03:06.849
We always talk about that, but yeah, so met our freshman year and then dated all the way through.

01:03:06.849 --> 01:03:10.159
And you, what you liked about her was that she seemed to like you.

01:03:10.340 --> 01:03:12.820
No, well, no, I mean, she was a bombshell.

01:03:12.820 --> 01:03:15.980
I was just like very drawn to her, but it was really her personality.

01:03:15.989 --> 01:03:17.440
She was very, just.

01:03:18.195 --> 01:03:23.324
Outgoing and just so interactive and that's just somebody I hadn't been around in a long time.

01:03:23.394 --> 01:03:23.614
Yeah.

01:03:23.614 --> 01:03:23.894
Yeah.

01:03:23.974 --> 01:03:25.554
And so that just, you know, jumped right out at me.

01:03:25.565 --> 01:03:31.994
Well, and that kind of personality doesn't really blossom as much in small town environments.

01:03:32.005 --> 01:03:32.295
No.

01:03:32.755 --> 01:03:34.494
Like they're usually shushed down.

01:03:34.534 --> 01:03:34.945
Correct.

01:03:34.954 --> 01:03:39.695
Uh, by the peer pressure of not being like a, a butterfly or whatever, right?

01:03:39.764 --> 01:03:40.065
Yeah.

01:03:40.454 --> 01:03:40.724
Yeah.

01:03:40.804 --> 01:03:43.375
So yeah, it was definitely different than I'd ever experienced before.

01:03:43.375 --> 01:03:43.565
Yeah.

01:03:43.585 --> 01:03:44.394
I didn't date a lot.

01:03:44.844 --> 01:03:48.672
I'm in high school, so this was gonna be my first, you know, major, you know, dating experience.

01:03:48.672 --> 01:03:49.581
Yeah, exactly.

01:03:49.581 --> 01:03:53.295
Uh, and so yeah, learned a lot through that, and we just kept getting to know each other.

01:03:53.295 --> 01:03:53.414
Okay.

01:03:53.474 --> 01:03:59.114
And she made me laugh, and she was so creative and adventurous, and I just needed that.

01:03:59.184 --> 01:04:01.344
We felt like we were a really good blend for each other.

01:04:01.465 --> 01:04:01.914
I dig it.

01:04:02.144 --> 01:04:06.925
How, like, did you get engaged soon, or did you go all the way through college?

01:04:06.925 --> 01:04:07.514
All the way through college.

01:04:07.514 --> 01:04:12.349
It was like, kind of not, it wasn't really culturally normal to We know we talked about it.

01:04:12.360 --> 01:04:14.949
We talked about getting engaged in college and we said why would we do that?

01:04:15.019 --> 01:04:16.380
We don't only get to do this once.

01:04:16.599 --> 01:04:17.739
So let's finish college.

01:04:17.789 --> 01:04:19.409
Plus her dad was still paying for college.

01:04:19.530 --> 01:04:24.960
Yeah, right, right It wasn't certain if he And great family.

01:04:24.960 --> 01:04:31.110
So yeah, it's the funny We got engaged the fall of our senior year and then got married after we graduated college.

01:04:31.210 --> 01:04:39.719
Okay, and um Like what was her family up to like being a boulder and stuff like where did she did she have siblings as well?

01:04:39.760 --> 01:04:40.750
And she did.

01:04:40.760 --> 01:04:54.518
Yeah, she did So older brother older sister and then herself the unique part of that story is all three of them were adopted Mmm, my mother in law current mother in law that I know had cancer as an early teenager So she couldn't have kids.

01:04:54.518 --> 01:04:56.800
Oh, so her her parents adopted.

01:04:56.800 --> 01:04:58.239
Okay, all three of them.

01:04:58.289 --> 01:05:03.125
So that's a pretty nice story domestic adoptions Yep all domestic Yep.

01:05:03.204 --> 01:05:03.425
Yep.

01:05:03.434 --> 01:05:04.364
Des Moines, Iowa.

01:05:04.525 --> 01:05:04.914
Okay.

01:05:05.045 --> 01:05:05.514
Interesting.

01:05:05.574 --> 01:05:05.784
Yeah.

01:05:06.085 --> 01:05:09.025
And that's where she came to CCU from was Iowa.

01:05:09.094 --> 01:05:09.394
Nope.

01:05:09.425 --> 01:05:11.675
So they kind of born and raised.

01:05:11.675 --> 01:05:11.824
Yeah.

01:05:11.824 --> 01:05:13.195
And then, but Boulder was Boulder.

01:05:13.264 --> 01:05:13.545
Yeah.

01:05:13.784 --> 01:05:15.625
Boulder high school and all of that.

01:05:15.625 --> 01:05:16.003
Yeah.

01:05:16.003 --> 01:05:17.898
I came to Colorado Christian.

01:05:17.898 --> 01:05:18.277
Gotcha.

01:05:18.277 --> 01:05:18.655
Yeah.

01:05:18.655 --> 01:05:20.215
Um, And you have children?

01:05:20.505 --> 01:05:20.934
We do.

01:05:21.355 --> 01:05:22.195
So, two daughters.

01:05:22.244 --> 01:05:23.695
Uh, Reagan, who's 26.

01:05:23.775 --> 01:05:24.025
Okay.

01:05:24.034 --> 01:05:25.465
Uh, Whitney, who's 24.

01:05:25.724 --> 01:05:26.635
They live in Loveland.

01:05:26.764 --> 01:05:26.965
Okay.

01:05:26.965 --> 01:05:27.465
Uh, they're roomies.

01:05:27.954 --> 01:05:28.175
Alright.

01:05:28.175 --> 01:05:28.695
Which is great.

01:05:28.695 --> 01:05:29.815
It's fun having them close.

01:05:29.815 --> 01:05:29.954
Yeah, yeah.

01:05:29.965 --> 01:05:31.465
And our, uh, son is Tennyson.

01:05:31.474 --> 01:05:32.105
He's 20.

01:05:32.494 --> 01:05:34.476
Uh, junior at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.

01:05:34.476 --> 01:05:36.954
So, you've got like a fresh, uh, fresh empty nest, kinda.

01:05:37.230 --> 01:05:38.639
We are figuring that out.

01:05:38.639 --> 01:05:40.250
Yeah, Kurt, it is definitely different.

01:05:40.250 --> 01:05:41.030
We're enjoying it.

01:05:41.030 --> 01:05:42.219
Lots of flexibility.

01:05:42.219 --> 01:05:42.610
Yeah, yeah.

01:05:42.699 --> 01:05:46.809
We soak up the time when everybody's home, but then we definitely enjoy the time when everybody's out.

01:05:46.809 --> 01:05:52.699
And no grandkids or any, like, hints of that with girls or roommates, so.

01:05:52.750 --> 01:05:53.130
Right.

01:05:53.389 --> 01:05:53.639
Yep.

01:05:54.019 --> 01:05:54.280
Yep.

01:05:54.309 --> 01:05:56.849
One of them's dating, the other one is not at the current time.

01:05:56.869 --> 01:05:56.929
Okay.

01:05:57.230 --> 01:05:59.039
Yeah, so nothing on the horizon right now.

01:05:59.320 --> 01:06:04.364
Would you like to do the, uh, One word description challenge for your children.

01:06:04.474 --> 01:06:05.574
Oh man, go for it.

01:06:05.574 --> 01:06:07.454
You mean give one word to each one of them?

01:06:07.454 --> 01:06:08.204
For each one of them.

01:06:08.204 --> 01:06:08.565
Yeah.

01:06:08.614 --> 01:06:13.005
You've given them names and ages, but if you want to come back with a word for them, yeah, absolutely.

01:06:13.005 --> 01:06:15.605
Reagan, our oldest positive would be the one.

01:06:15.605 --> 01:06:16.894
Was she named after Ronald Reagan?

01:06:17.224 --> 01:06:17.945
No, she was not.

01:06:18.264 --> 01:06:22.175
You know, my wife being an English major, uh, you know, Reagan, all the stuff in literature and things.

01:06:22.474 --> 01:06:23.724
So that's where that, that name came from.

01:06:23.724 --> 01:06:26.485
I was thinking maybe it was about that time though, wasn't it?

01:06:27.559 --> 01:06:28.280
No, wait, no.

01:06:28.280 --> 01:06:29.329
It's way after Reagan.

01:06:29.420 --> 01:06:30.010
Holy crap.

01:06:30.019 --> 01:06:30.730
We're so old.

01:06:30.730 --> 01:06:34.000
We might want to edit that out.

01:06:34.510 --> 01:06:36.489
40 years ago was when Reagan was around.

01:06:37.590 --> 01:06:37.710
Yeah.

01:06:38.300 --> 01:06:40.309
And then, uh, yeah, Whitney would be caring.

01:06:40.559 --> 01:06:41.789
Very, very much caring.

01:06:42.199 --> 01:06:42.389
Yeah.

01:06:42.389 --> 01:06:45.030
And then Tennyson would be a entrepreneur.

01:06:45.065 --> 01:06:48.554
Tennyson is also, uh, English kind of a name, right?

01:06:48.775 --> 01:06:49.255
It is.

01:06:49.255 --> 01:06:49.474
Yeah.

01:06:49.474 --> 01:06:50.664
That is spelled with a Y.

01:06:50.675 --> 01:06:51.855
His is spelled with an I.

01:06:52.284 --> 01:07:01.224
Um, but if you're okay with it, I mean, his name comes from a, uh, university of Colorado football player named Tennyson was a tight end at the university of Colorado.

01:07:01.224 --> 01:07:03.864
And, uh, we met him through fellowship of Christian athletes.

01:07:04.355 --> 01:07:05.815
We're like, if we ever have a boy.

01:07:05.940 --> 01:07:07.914
We really like that name.

01:07:07.914 --> 01:07:11.880
And so two girls later, we had our boy and we said, we like that name.

01:07:11.980 --> 01:07:12.599
Let's go with that.

01:07:12.860 --> 01:07:13.300
That's good.

01:07:13.590 --> 01:07:13.960
Yeah, exactly.

01:07:15.860 --> 01:07:22.630
Um, that's gotta be an interesting time right now because like right now is where.

01:07:23.079 --> 01:07:26.980
The rubber hits the road a little bit in adulting, right, for them.

01:07:27.130 --> 01:07:32.269
And you can't put a firm hand on there, but you can always be an encourager.

01:07:32.269 --> 01:07:36.780
And like, it's just, you know, the next ten years you're gonna see how, how things play out.

01:07:37.280 --> 01:07:40.070
Who they, who the girls choose to be their husbands if they do.

01:07:40.340 --> 01:07:40.820
Correct.

01:07:40.974 --> 01:07:42.105
Um, and all that.

01:07:42.494 --> 01:07:42.775
Yeah.

01:07:42.775 --> 01:07:43.704
It's very unique.

01:07:43.704 --> 01:07:46.224
So to say, Hey, I'm going to be available, but then watch them.

01:07:46.224 --> 01:07:47.864
Adult is very, very unique.

01:07:47.864 --> 01:07:48.474
Yeah.

01:07:48.474 --> 01:07:48.784
Yeah.

01:07:48.905 --> 01:07:50.735
And you can come stay up at the ranch whenever you want.

01:07:51.005 --> 01:07:51.304
Right.

01:07:52.144 --> 01:07:52.385
Right.

01:07:53.344 --> 01:07:53.474
Yeah.

01:07:53.474 --> 01:07:56.065
The oldest is a fourth grade teacher at Rice elementary.

01:07:56.074 --> 01:07:58.014
So she's in the education world right now.

01:07:58.125 --> 01:08:01.574
And then, uh, Whitney is at Good Samaritan in Loveland.

01:08:01.585 --> 01:08:01.905
Oh, yeah.

01:08:01.905 --> 01:08:05.344
Activities director and keeping people moving and all the activities there.

01:08:05.605 --> 01:08:06.625
What's her last name?

01:08:06.664 --> 01:08:07.394
Whitney Kissel.

01:08:07.394 --> 01:08:07.534
Yeah.

01:08:07.534 --> 01:08:07.875
Okay.

01:08:07.905 --> 01:08:08.094
Yeah.

01:08:08.295 --> 01:08:08.905
I actually.

01:08:09.010 --> 01:08:15.639
I went and spoke to a group of guys down at the Good Samaritans down in Windsor about like entrepreneurship or something.

01:08:15.639 --> 01:08:20.350
I'm guessing the previous person that had the program director job was Maybe.

01:08:20.350 --> 01:08:20.899
That's Windsor.

01:08:20.899 --> 01:08:21.729
She's in Loveland.

01:08:21.859 --> 01:08:22.420
Oh, okay.

01:08:22.420 --> 01:08:22.739
Gotcha.

01:08:22.779 --> 01:08:22.960
Gotcha.

01:08:23.000 --> 01:08:23.800
Two different locations.

01:08:23.810 --> 01:08:25.630
So anyway, one of her peers, I guess.

01:08:25.630 --> 01:08:30.329
Yeah, somebody was like, Hey, would you like to come and talk to like 25 old dudes about Loco Think Tank?

01:08:30.390 --> 01:08:32.965
And I was like Sure, I guess.

01:08:33.024 --> 01:08:33.814
You know, why not?

01:08:33.875 --> 01:08:34.145
Yeah.

01:08:34.274 --> 01:08:35.475
We can talk about the podcast, too.

01:08:35.904 --> 01:08:36.835
And I bet they enjoyed that.

01:08:36.864 --> 01:08:37.935
Oh, yeah, for sure.

01:08:37.984 --> 01:08:38.385
Yeah.

01:08:38.475 --> 01:08:44.204
One of them was supposed to actually refer me to his son, who's a CEO of a local business, but I guess he slacked on it, so.

01:08:44.314 --> 01:08:44.744
Oh, man.

01:08:44.744 --> 01:08:47.324
Sir, if you're listening, you didn't follow up.

01:08:47.399 --> 01:08:58.250
Like I asked you to, uh, but I would say the greatest joy of watching them do adulting, you know, Kurt has just been seeing them make their decisions, you know, on their own and to watch them do that has been pretty fun so far.

01:08:58.250 --> 01:08:58.560
So good.

01:08:58.609 --> 01:08:58.979
So far.

01:08:58.979 --> 01:08:59.390
So good.

01:09:00.350 --> 01:09:01.090
Very proud of them.

01:09:01.140 --> 01:09:06.590
Um, we're, I'm going to say Scotch Irish.

01:09:07.479 --> 01:09:08.640
You talking about our name?

01:09:08.649 --> 01:09:08.909
Yeah.

01:09:08.909 --> 01:09:10.029
Your family, man.

01:09:10.029 --> 01:09:12.579
See, you're going to hit a spot where I don't know much about it.

01:09:13.069 --> 01:09:14.880
Well, Kissel sounds like more of a British name.

01:09:15.560 --> 01:09:21.319
But usually the British names are because the British like raped some Scotch Irish girl or whatever.

01:09:21.329 --> 01:09:22.949
Because that's how they got the big ones.

01:09:22.960 --> 01:09:24.939
Because the Brits didn't, weren't big.

01:09:25.289 --> 01:09:33.500
It was the Scotches and the Irish that were like the big people, plus the Danes and the So, but Kissel seems like a English name to me.

01:09:34.220 --> 01:09:34.420
Yeah.

01:09:34.420 --> 01:09:35.159
I don't know.

01:09:35.159 --> 01:09:36.500
No, no, mom.

01:09:36.500 --> 01:09:40.569
I know you're listening to this probably five times, so you can tell me where that's from.

01:09:41.149 --> 01:09:41.359
Okay.

01:09:41.359 --> 01:09:42.439
We just weren't big into that.

01:09:42.640 --> 01:09:43.909
So I'm not necessarily sure.

01:09:44.119 --> 01:09:45.189
I know the Kissel car.

01:09:45.210 --> 01:09:48.550
I get comments all the time about the, the brand Kissel car.

01:09:48.560 --> 01:09:49.529
So I don't know what that is.

01:09:49.569 --> 01:09:49.760
Yeah.

01:09:49.760 --> 01:09:50.819
You'll have to, where's it from?

01:09:51.250 --> 01:09:54.079
Don't even know, I shouldn't have brought it up, get this out of here.

01:09:54.119 --> 01:09:55.180
We're not getting that out of there.

01:09:55.180 --> 01:09:55.989
We're keeping this.

01:09:56.760 --> 01:10:00.470
Um, I just, I'm just surprised at the lack of curiosity, I guess a little bit.

01:10:01.000 --> 01:10:01.189
Yeah.

01:10:01.189 --> 01:10:02.340
I don't know where that came from.

01:10:02.340 --> 01:10:05.989
I just have never been like, you know, what kind of name do we have and where are we from?

01:10:06.239 --> 01:10:07.350
I've just, I don't know.

01:10:07.939 --> 01:10:12.824
And it's kind of, cause I've actually had people look at me like, Why are you asking me this?

01:10:12.885 --> 01:10:15.164
You know, especially if it's like an Asian name or something.

01:10:15.164 --> 01:10:17.734
I'm like, well, because I want to know if this is a Filipino name?

01:10:17.734 --> 01:10:18.614
Is it a Korean name?

01:10:18.614 --> 01:10:20.185
Is it a Japanese name?

01:10:20.185 --> 01:10:20.564
I don't know.

01:10:20.564 --> 01:10:21.175
I'm curious.

01:10:21.664 --> 01:10:25.534
Um, but as like an old white guy, people are like, well, why do you want to know?

01:10:26.114 --> 01:10:28.145
Uh, especially in Mega Days, right?

01:10:28.614 --> 01:10:36.154
Um, so But anyway, that would be my suspicion, uh, especially with a Catholic background and just being big.

01:10:36.704 --> 01:10:38.345
Like the Brits weren't very big.

01:10:38.545 --> 01:10:41.854
Like they're like little King Charles sized people and stuff like that.

01:10:41.854 --> 01:10:43.755
The aristocracy didn't need to be tough.

01:10:43.914 --> 01:10:44.675
Interesting.

01:10:44.774 --> 01:10:45.154
I don't know.

01:10:45.375 --> 01:10:48.885
Yeah, well my dad was 6'3 and my mom, Kurt, was 5'4.

01:10:49.899 --> 01:10:51.109
So there you go.

01:10:51.130 --> 01:10:51.720
Really tall.

01:10:51.899 --> 01:10:54.140
My wife is four 11 and I'm six.

01:10:56.289 --> 01:11:02.960
But I was, that's part of my listeners will be like annoyed, but I was five foot one at the end of my sophomore year.

01:11:03.829 --> 01:11:07.170
And then I grew six inches a year by junior senior as high school.

01:11:07.935 --> 01:11:12.255
Like, got to college at like, six, two, one thirty.

01:11:14.034 --> 01:11:14.694
With a mullet.

01:11:15.055 --> 01:11:15.324
Yeah.

01:11:16.234 --> 01:11:17.164
With your original parts?

01:11:17.164 --> 01:11:24.395
Yeah, that's the difference, that's the difference between me and you is like, you were like a stud muffin and I was like a dorkopotamus kinda.

01:11:24.454 --> 01:11:25.074
Oh man.

01:11:25.154 --> 01:11:25.645
Eh, you know.

01:11:25.840 --> 01:11:28.350
Whatever, at least I'm better looking than you now.

01:11:29.300 --> 01:11:29.680
Agree.

01:11:31.029 --> 01:11:34.699
So, uh, I think we kind of fished out the family tree.

01:11:34.699 --> 01:11:36.819
You just don't really know that much.

01:11:36.829 --> 01:11:38.529
I really don't have grandkids yet.

01:11:38.560 --> 01:11:42.850
So you got dogs or chickens or anything that are really close to you?

01:11:42.979 --> 01:11:43.329
Yeah.

01:11:43.409 --> 01:11:47.819
We are a big time dog family currently have a woodle, which, you know, everybody gets tired of hearing.

01:11:47.819 --> 01:11:47.840
A Wheatland?

01:11:47.840 --> 01:11:50.369
No, Wheaton and a poodle.

01:11:50.390 --> 01:11:51.529
Wheaton Terrier and a poodle.

01:11:51.795 --> 01:11:53.364
Yeah, that's probably pretty solid.

01:11:53.444 --> 01:11:54.694
I've got a schnauzer mix.

01:11:54.694 --> 01:11:55.734
Okay.

01:11:55.734 --> 01:11:57.354
Uh, schnocker, schnauzer, cocker.

01:11:57.555 --> 01:11:57.854
Okay.

01:11:57.854 --> 01:11:58.125
Yeah.

01:11:58.215 --> 01:12:00.675
Um, so that's probably 30, 40 pounds.

01:12:00.715 --> 01:12:00.734
Yeah.

01:12:00.734 --> 01:12:02.354
38.

01:12:02.354 --> 01:12:02.585
Okay.

01:12:02.585 --> 01:12:03.385
Right in there somewhere.

01:12:03.385 --> 01:12:03.604
Yep.

01:12:03.625 --> 01:12:03.784
Yep.

01:12:04.930 --> 01:12:08.670
We had a sheep dog, was our first one, so just a big hairy, you know, dog.

01:12:08.680 --> 01:12:09.579
We loved that.

01:12:09.850 --> 01:12:11.050
But then we got into the Wheaton mix.

01:12:11.159 --> 01:12:12.979
Yeah, it's nice having non shedding dogs.

01:12:13.029 --> 01:12:13.890
Oh, 100%.

01:12:14.050 --> 01:12:17.829
Yeah, Jill wants like a, a Bernese Mountain Dog next.

01:12:18.489 --> 01:12:24.689
I'm like Maybe a Bernadoodle, but definitely not a Bernese, like, no way.

01:12:24.819 --> 01:12:25.630
May as well go to the St.

01:12:25.630 --> 01:12:28.720
Bernard route and have the jowls and the drips right on top of the hair.

01:12:28.739 --> 01:12:29.640
I don't want none of that.

01:12:29.659 --> 01:12:30.689
I don't want no slobber.

01:12:30.720 --> 01:12:32.140
I don't want no hair, really.

01:12:32.619 --> 01:12:36.039
So, um, faith or politics next?

01:12:36.470 --> 01:12:38.359
Oh, yeah, faith, for sure.

01:12:38.689 --> 01:12:48.505
So, talk to me about, what was the, the 65 year old lady that started taking you to church and, I guess part of my question is, why did your parents, why were they okay with it?

01:12:48.595 --> 01:12:50.654
Like, that's a really interesting scenario.

01:12:50.734 --> 01:12:53.045
Everybody asked me that and it didn't happen right away.

01:12:53.585 --> 01:12:56.305
So definitely, uh, she started coming in to do the shopping.

01:12:56.305 --> 01:12:57.185
She got to know us.

01:12:57.185 --> 01:13:00.965
My mom was the cashier and I was the bagger, you know, putting the groceries in the bag.

01:13:01.534 --> 01:13:03.154
Just got to know sweet old Edie.

01:13:03.164 --> 01:13:04.694
And, uh, she started just asking.

01:13:05.404 --> 01:13:05.694
Yeah.

01:13:05.694 --> 01:13:06.375
And they said no.

01:13:06.404 --> 01:13:08.425
They originally said no for quite a few weeks.

01:13:08.425 --> 01:13:11.414
And then I don't know if it was the next summer or if it was just later that summer.

01:13:11.475 --> 01:13:11.734
Yeah.

01:13:11.774 --> 01:13:12.175
They said.

01:13:14.260 --> 01:13:18.529
Come get him, bring him home, do your shopping, and then you can head out and we'll see you next week.

01:13:19.079 --> 01:13:20.079
And that just worked out.

01:13:20.109 --> 01:13:20.380
Huh.

01:13:20.430 --> 01:13:22.069
So that's where, yeah, that began.

01:13:22.069 --> 01:13:26.529
And did you, like, you fell into it pretty strong.

01:13:26.529 --> 01:13:38.590
Sounds like you were like one of the big cheerleaders around and whatever, like when the question was whatever you were the first one to say, Jesus, I was more of an Edie fan than I was a Jesus fan.

01:13:38.590 --> 01:13:41.050
I think, uh, just, I wanted to hang out with Edie.

01:13:41.060 --> 01:13:41.329
Uh huh.

01:13:41.640 --> 01:13:45.680
She was just one of those loving ladies that just had great stories.

01:13:45.680 --> 01:13:46.600
She modeled it for you, kind of.

01:13:46.609 --> 01:13:53.529
Yeah, and then she'd invite me up to her cabin, and I would tube down the river, and she'd make me sandwiches, and it was just like a kid's dream.

01:13:53.529 --> 01:13:53.880
Just the two of you?

01:13:53.880 --> 01:13:55.159
Like you would hang out with this old lady?

01:13:55.170 --> 01:13:55.909
Oh yeah, totally.

01:13:56.329 --> 01:13:56.949
Nothing weird though.

01:13:56.970 --> 01:13:58.109
No! Just kidding, sorry.

01:13:58.119 --> 01:14:02.000
No, family cabin, it's all, I know, at this day and age, you wouldn't know.

01:14:02.000 --> 01:14:03.789
Right, you'd be like, that lady's crazy.

01:14:03.800 --> 01:14:06.020
Back then, in a small town, it's just, that's what you do.

01:14:06.020 --> 01:14:06.329
What a lovely thing.

01:14:06.359 --> 01:14:07.250
Everybody knows everybody.

01:14:07.250 --> 01:14:08.930
She was probably so lonely.

01:14:08.960 --> 01:14:09.229
For sure.

01:14:09.239 --> 01:14:10.079
In some ways.

01:14:10.260 --> 01:14:11.720
She didn't have like a family?

01:14:11.729 --> 01:14:12.220
She did.

01:14:12.420 --> 01:14:14.369
They would come up occasionally in the summer.

01:14:14.369 --> 01:14:14.819
Okay.

01:14:14.829 --> 01:14:15.819
So they're from Texas.

01:14:15.819 --> 01:14:19.359
And so it just depends on when her time, she stayed all summer time.

01:14:19.369 --> 01:14:19.649
Yeah.

01:14:19.890 --> 01:14:20.609
People would come and go.

01:14:20.710 --> 01:14:24.970
So her family would come and go, but I was like thinking added, you know, grandson, if you will.

01:14:24.989 --> 01:14:25.550
Right.

01:14:25.670 --> 01:14:28.029
Oh, what a beautiful like relationship.

01:14:28.029 --> 01:14:28.840
I think that's what.

01:14:30.175 --> 01:14:37.274
It's so interesting, like, in this world that's evolved since then, like, everything is cool.

01:14:37.354 --> 01:14:46.935
You can be whoever you wanna be, you can call yourself whatever gender you want, you can be in a relationship with whoever you want, but stuff like that isn't cool.

01:14:47.555 --> 01:14:48.055
It's weird.

01:14:48.085 --> 01:14:50.055
You know, like, but it's beautiful.

01:14:50.345 --> 01:14:50.635
Right.

01:14:50.675 --> 01:14:55.284
Like, to hear about it here 20 years later, or even to think about it happening today.

01:14:56.015 --> 01:15:07.835
You know, what a beautiful thing for an elderly person to have, probably a brighter than average six or eight year old kid.

01:15:08.420 --> 01:15:16.090
To just hang out with and talk with as they expand their knowledge of the world and you know She fed you and you fed her with probably so much.

01:15:16.199 --> 01:15:24.109
Yeah, so and I think part of it was I mean as a family business Most people that have family businesses No, it's a lot of work.

01:15:24.140 --> 01:15:28.475
So I think part of it for her was Does he ever get outside of the store at all?

01:15:28.484 --> 01:15:29.145
Oh, wow.

01:15:29.175 --> 01:15:34.925
You know, because if mom and dad are always in the store every time it opens and closes, what's he doing during the day?

01:15:35.185 --> 01:15:40.965
So I think part of it was, hey, can I help, you know, Scott's parents out by just getting them outside and letting them hang out and be a kid.

01:15:41.694 --> 01:15:47.510
How was your, like Family income level, like, could you go out to restaurants?

01:15:47.510 --> 01:15:49.739
Could you ever travel or do things?

01:15:49.739 --> 01:15:52.060
We would do one vacation a year, typically.

01:15:52.220 --> 01:15:52.460
Okay.

01:15:52.500 --> 01:15:54.600
Uh, not a whole lot of out to eat.

01:15:54.819 --> 01:16:00.029
I would say our family, uh, really focused on, you know, the things to enjoy experiences.

01:16:00.039 --> 01:16:00.479
Yeah, yeah.

01:16:00.770 --> 01:16:01.609
Snowmobiles.

01:16:01.659 --> 01:16:02.270
Fishing.

01:16:02.359 --> 01:16:02.909
Fishing.

01:16:02.920 --> 01:16:03.960
Getting a raft.

01:16:04.000 --> 01:16:09.159
You know, making sure that whatever we did as a family, we could do it on the weekend and whenever the store was closed.

01:16:09.369 --> 01:16:09.859
Yeah, yeah.

01:16:11.020 --> 01:16:13.760
And whenever there was that opportunity, then it was like, took it, get it.

01:16:13.880 --> 01:16:14.149
Yep.

01:16:14.220 --> 01:16:14.590
You took it.

01:16:14.619 --> 01:16:15.180
Interesting.

01:16:15.210 --> 01:16:15.590
Yeah.

01:16:15.729 --> 01:16:24.449
Um, well, and the interesting thing about a retail store like that is like every dollar that you pull out of that business is like a dollar less than you can have an inventory.

01:16:25.345 --> 01:16:28.795
Which is like a dollar less than the store can make down the road kind of thing, right?

01:16:28.805 --> 01:16:31.125
Like you're probably familiar with that notion.

01:16:31.154 --> 01:16:32.024
Different than a church.

01:16:32.024 --> 01:16:35.335
You just fill the pews a little more and you get more money kind of thing.

01:16:36.015 --> 01:16:37.675
Yeah, my brother was the butcher.

01:16:37.704 --> 01:16:40.835
Sister was the bookkeeper, you know, so you just kind of enjoyed it.

01:16:41.435 --> 01:16:48.265
Yeah, yeah, and I was the sneaky little kid that would accidentally cut the wrappers of a Snickers when I'm opening the box Oh, I guess I'm gonna have to eat this.

01:16:48.265 --> 01:16:49.145
I'm gonna have to eat this one.

01:16:49.585 --> 01:16:50.255
Exactly.

01:16:50.725 --> 01:16:57.484
That's the beauty of it Any times of doubt in your faith journey or times of real challenge?

01:16:58.319 --> 01:17:00.130
For you, for sure.

01:17:00.140 --> 01:17:09.010
I think, you know, one of the times was when I left the fellowship of Christian athletes and then could not find another ministry job, I thought, you know, what, what's my purpose.

01:17:09.079 --> 01:17:14.649
You know, if I can't go back into full time ministry, you know, what, where do I land in this whole, you know, ordeal.

01:17:14.649 --> 01:17:18.819
And then as I got into the food industry, you know, a couple of years into there, I was really struggling.

01:17:19.289 --> 01:17:21.210
Uh, my wife would look at me and say, you know what?

01:17:21.744 --> 01:17:23.095
You are in ministry.

01:17:23.234 --> 01:17:29.145
You're around people that don't know anything about church every single day, more than you ever have in all your other jobs.

01:17:29.545 --> 01:17:37.824
So kind of like suck it up, uh, figure out how to interact with people and not start, you know, don't keep complaining about not being in full time ministry.

01:17:38.354 --> 01:17:48.045
And it was at that moment where I said, okay, I'm all in, it gives bagels and I'm going to do the job that I know I can do, and I'm going to have a good time hanging out with these people that don't know much about church at all.

01:17:48.755 --> 01:17:49.564
And then did.

01:17:50.810 --> 01:18:00.810
That advanced kind of the cause at Gibbs we didn't kind of flash forward and past that chapter But it seems like there was probably a lot more there than I gave credit to yeah Gibb at the time You know Gibb who owned it.

01:18:00.819 --> 01:18:02.859
He would call me, you know pastor on the call.

01:18:03.100 --> 01:18:03.670
Okay.

01:18:03.710 --> 01:18:07.449
Yeah, he's like, you know I just I'm kind of the traveling pastor for Gibbs bagels.

01:18:07.449 --> 01:18:09.600
And so I've officiated some weddings.

01:18:09.600 --> 01:18:18.569
I was the amount of faith Uh, also, minimally, and then as we got to know each other, he really, uh, grew in his faith and was just peppering me with questions all the time.

01:18:18.569 --> 01:18:20.510
His favorite was, Hey, Scott, you got time?

01:18:20.520 --> 01:18:21.279
Let's go for a walk.

01:18:21.529 --> 01:18:25.310
Let me go for a walk around the bagel store and typically a spiritual question would pop up.

01:18:25.779 --> 01:18:28.520
So some of my favorite memories there, for sure, for sure.

01:18:29.380 --> 01:18:30.899
Um, politics.

01:18:31.399 --> 01:18:31.800
Oh boy.

01:18:31.800 --> 01:18:34.149
You are well versed, it sounds like, in politics.

01:18:34.564 --> 01:18:36.845
Uh, pretty much not versed at all.

01:18:37.395 --> 01:18:39.395
Uh, I think it's partly from my upbringing.

01:18:39.404 --> 01:18:40.895
Never talked about politics.

01:18:41.395 --> 01:18:48.305
Uh, it was never a discussion as far as, you know, voting or anything like that or Like it was kind of one of those kind of church kind of things.

01:18:48.305 --> 01:18:50.385
You just kind of live with the world that evolves.

01:18:50.395 --> 01:18:51.204
It's God's will.

01:18:51.204 --> 01:18:52.515
And so don't you question it?

01:18:52.784 --> 01:18:53.104
Yeah.

01:18:53.225 --> 01:18:59.034
I just, I never remember one instance of my parents saying, Hey, let's talk about leadership in our country.

01:18:59.114 --> 01:18:59.925
Oh, interesting.

01:19:00.005 --> 01:19:00.284
Yeah.

01:19:00.744 --> 01:19:06.359
So like, We're in a super weird time right now.

01:19:06.359 --> 01:19:08.550
Like, for listeners, we're February 4th.

01:19:09.050 --> 01:19:21.619
Like, Doge has been, like, dumping the USAID files on the countertop, saying, here's all the dumb shit we're paying for, and there's a bunch of protests, and we're dis immigrating.

01:19:22.154 --> 01:19:27.215
Quite a few thousands of people, some of which have criminal records, some of which don't.

01:19:27.795 --> 01:19:30.645
Like, are you familiar with any of those kind of hot button topics right now?

01:19:30.904 --> 01:19:32.095
A little bit, yes.

01:19:32.375 --> 01:19:33.045
Just enough?

01:19:33.095 --> 01:19:34.005
Yeah, just enough.

01:19:34.484 --> 01:19:39.550
And like We watch the 10 o'clock news for 30 minutes and that's literally my Interaction with it.

01:19:39.600 --> 01:19:40.000
Okay.

01:19:40.000 --> 01:19:40.109
Okay.

01:19:40.109 --> 01:19:41.403
Except for a few notifications on my phone.

01:19:41.403 --> 01:19:41.750
Well, don't watch this.

01:19:41.750 --> 01:19:42.920
Don't watch the news.

01:19:44.060 --> 01:19:44.550
Just kidding.

01:19:44.890 --> 01:19:49.930
Well, I mean, to be frank, it's been a more interesting season in politics.

01:19:49.930 --> 01:20:01.979
I've been kind of, I'm in the libertarian guy that just like, like I voted for Kanye last election and Gary Johnson the time before that, but I did vote for Trump in 2024 and now he's in and like.

01:20:02.545 --> 01:20:15.024
Shit's going down like, I don't know if you, yeah, there's a lot of, a lot of stuff happening, you know, massive anti immigration stuff and like Alma's, uh, from a local Hispanic church.

01:20:15.024 --> 01:20:28.010
And so she literally knows a few dozen people that, I feel like they are at risk of being deported, even though they haven't broken any laws here necessarily, but they haven't gotten their shit together with the immigration either.

01:20:28.659 --> 01:20:31.340
And so I'm brushed up against with that.

01:20:31.340 --> 01:20:38.729
And just, there's tons of federal funding to arts organizations and nonprofits.

01:20:38.729 --> 01:20:49.585
And like the city of Fort Collins has had its staff for their economic development department grow from five to twelve in the last few years, mostly due to federal funding of Unknown utility.

01:20:50.305 --> 01:21:03.505
And so there's like all this cuts potentially coming because Elon Musk and his AI powered investigative machine is like looking at how the government's been spending our 20 years.

01:21:03.505 --> 01:21:05.305
And it looks like it's terrible.

01:21:06.234 --> 01:21:08.454
Anyway, so I brought you up to speed.

01:21:08.555 --> 01:21:08.954
Okay.

01:21:08.954 --> 01:21:09.534
There you go.

01:21:09.574 --> 01:21:09.994
There you go.

01:21:10.005 --> 01:21:11.145
Thanks for the political upgrade.

01:21:11.154 --> 01:21:15.444
So I guess like in your role, like, I guess let's go here.

01:21:15.585 --> 01:21:18.194
Like is Skycrow Ranch a faith organization?

01:21:18.850 --> 01:21:19.659
It is, yes.

01:21:19.659 --> 01:21:25.039
Yeah, we, our core values are operate on Christian principles, love your neighbor, and build genuine relationships.

01:21:25.090 --> 01:21:25.449
Okay.

01:21:25.590 --> 01:21:25.960
Okay.

01:21:26.020 --> 01:21:27.880
So with the first one being the Christian principles.

01:21:27.890 --> 01:21:28.239
Yep.

01:21:28.569 --> 01:21:31.079
So, like from a Not exclusive.

01:21:31.119 --> 01:21:35.079
I mean, people would say, well, faith friendly because anybody can book Sky Corral.

01:21:35.590 --> 01:21:36.680
Uh, doesn't have to be faith based.

01:21:36.680 --> 01:21:39.154
Could I have my lesbian wedding there?

01:21:39.154 --> 01:21:40.539
No, we don't do weddings.

01:21:40.649 --> 01:21:42.420
Yeah, we have a wedding venue right down the road.

01:21:42.510 --> 01:21:44.340
Yeah, they're like, yeah, they're a mile away.

01:21:44.699 --> 01:21:49.680
So let me think about, uh, politics that I can I know, you're wondering, where can you go with this guy?

01:21:49.689 --> 01:21:50.430
Yeah, a little bit.

01:21:50.460 --> 01:21:52.579
Like, where can I go to get some interesting stuff?

01:21:52.930 --> 01:21:58.550
I guess, let's talk about, um, like, the climate of the world.

01:21:58.600 --> 01:21:58.970
Mm.

01:21:59.149 --> 01:22:40.015
Um, because, simplistically put, we had, like, a president that was, Barely there the last few years, um, I'm not going to get into January 6th, whether that was good or bad or whatever, you know, that's, it's settled history at this point kind of thing, um, but like an interesting thing is that if it wouldn't have been for the 2020 election, Trump wouldn't have nearly as much horsepower now, like, and now he's got kind of a, he's got the popular vote, he's got the The House, the Senate momentum, and it's really challenging kind of the, the deep state of America as it is.

01:22:40.385 --> 01:22:44.034
Is that good or is he dangerous?

01:22:44.204 --> 01:22:45.034
Or both?

01:22:45.085 --> 01:22:45.404
Hmm.

01:22:46.274 --> 01:22:46.454
Yeah.

01:22:46.454 --> 01:22:48.215
And see, I don't know how you want to go about this.

01:22:48.225 --> 01:22:49.034
Cause I, I don't know.

01:22:49.395 --> 01:22:59.944
Cause the, the two things that I always believe in when, if you're going to talk about politics with me is, uh, one is I don't envy anybody in politics regardless of party because they have an incredibly miserable job.

01:23:00.494 --> 01:23:06.595
Uh, two, when it comes to scripture, you know, we're encouraged to, you know, support and pray for anybody in authority.

01:23:07.064 --> 01:23:08.574
So regardless of who I.

01:23:09.175 --> 01:23:16.965
Vote for whoever wins, whoever loses as a believer, I am still called to pray for those in authority.

01:23:16.984 --> 01:23:21.494
I may not agree with them, uh, but I do have to pray for them and support them.

01:23:21.494 --> 01:23:22.685
It doesn't mean I have to agree.

01:23:23.045 --> 01:23:28.814
So I will say that I can't engage in that part of it because, you know, we're called to love people.

01:23:29.045 --> 01:23:32.045
You know, but if you don't know what they're doing, how do you know how to pray for them properly?

01:23:32.265 --> 01:23:32.645
I know.

01:23:32.715 --> 01:23:39.125
It says in Romans 8, 26, that, you know, the Holy Spirit is covering our gaps, covers us in our weaknesses.

01:23:39.125 --> 01:23:44.494
So when we pray, I may not know how to pray for politician a, but I can say, will you be with that person?

01:23:44.494 --> 01:23:45.305
That's in authority.

01:23:45.305 --> 01:23:47.064
Cause I have no idea what's on their plate.

01:23:47.385 --> 01:23:49.064
I have no idea who's around them.

01:23:49.085 --> 01:23:53.675
I have no idea who's chiming in their ear to go about this a certain direction, but.

01:23:54.039 --> 01:23:56.850
Well, you give them wisdom in whatever decisions, you know, they're making.

01:23:56.880 --> 01:23:57.319
All right.

01:23:57.359 --> 01:24:00.680
So I can, you know, go down that road on those two things for sure.

01:24:00.739 --> 01:24:01.340
That's fair.

01:24:01.380 --> 01:24:05.010
So regardless of political party, man, we, we got to love people.

01:24:05.010 --> 01:24:08.430
We got to love them well, and we have to pray for whoever's in authority.

01:24:09.390 --> 01:24:14.130
So can we take it more to the politics of our times instead of Pacific people?

01:24:14.220 --> 01:24:14.569
Sure.

01:24:14.569 --> 01:24:15.260
Like.

01:24:17.460 --> 01:24:23.720
Um, well, let me ask you this first is give me a definition of politics since I'm not highly versed in it.

01:24:23.750 --> 01:24:25.170
I don't engage with it all the time.

01:24:25.170 --> 01:24:26.729
Tell me where you're coming from.

01:24:26.899 --> 01:24:35.350
Well, so like one, uh, this is a, uh, uh, interesting caveat or a angle to come from, but like in a, in a.

01:24:35.619 --> 01:24:38.210
leadership Fort Collins conversation I was in.

01:24:39.369 --> 01:24:45.069
I put forward the theory to the, the, they had the, the, the head of the school counselors for Poodle School District there.

01:24:45.789 --> 01:24:53.039
And the, the girls transing themselves and saying they're boys kind of thing was at peak fervor at that point in time.

01:24:53.989 --> 01:25:06.859
And I, and I shared with them that I, I feel like the, the thing I'm concerned about, and one of the factors of this could be that climate change has convinced girls that creating a baby is like a bad thing.

01:25:07.739 --> 01:25:15.619
Like, this baby that you create is just gonna, like, make more carbon and, like, make the world a worse place, kind of, in a way.

01:25:16.590 --> 01:25:23.130
Where, being a woman has always kind of sucked because you gotta go through your monthly cycle.

01:25:23.640 --> 01:25:30.359
You gotta, you're weaker than men, you're subject to their potential physical domination and things like that.

01:25:30.880 --> 01:25:33.260
And it's all worth it because you can make babies.

01:25:34.265 --> 01:25:37.345
But if babies aren't valued, then that sucks.

01:25:38.034 --> 01:25:39.364
And so that's politics to me.

01:25:39.604 --> 01:25:40.055
Gotcha.

01:25:40.104 --> 01:25:45.625
That climate change narrative about, are babies valuable or are they a scourge on the earth?

01:25:46.284 --> 01:25:46.645
Right?

01:25:46.645 --> 01:25:56.795
And, and, and how does those deeper cultural issues influence actual trends in politics and government and how we go about things?

01:25:57.414 --> 01:26:03.534
You know, like, I've met people that are very legitimately confused about their, their gender.

01:26:05.289 --> 01:26:11.180
And like with this Trump administration, they kind of got rid of the, the T and the Q kind of thing.

01:26:11.189 --> 01:26:13.539
Like, we're not doing that anymore.

01:26:13.560 --> 01:26:17.079
We're no he, her, she, him, stuff like that.

01:26:17.779 --> 01:26:18.619
Like, that's harsh.

01:26:19.189 --> 01:26:24.670
And for people that are legitimately confused or struggling, that's very harsh, right?

01:26:24.810 --> 01:26:27.149
But it's also kind of true, right?

01:26:27.770 --> 01:26:30.899
For the most part, most of us are a boy or we're a girl.

01:26:31.289 --> 01:26:34.689
And we should decide and be the best boy or girl.

01:26:35.295 --> 01:26:35.755
We should be.

01:26:35.774 --> 01:26:43.555
So to me, those are political issues, even though they're actually science issues in a way, but it's cultural, political, right.

01:26:43.555 --> 01:26:45.494
Because of where the decisions are being made.

01:26:45.515 --> 01:26:45.944
Right.

01:26:45.944 --> 01:26:46.114
Yeah.

01:26:46.114 --> 01:26:47.715
So I don't view it as political.

01:26:47.715 --> 01:26:49.774
I view it really more relational.

01:26:49.774 --> 01:26:49.954
Yeah.

01:26:49.954 --> 01:26:51.385
And scientific for sure.

01:26:51.454 --> 01:26:52.104
Right.

01:26:52.314 --> 01:26:53.505
Well, and cultural as well.

01:26:54.064 --> 01:26:56.734
Like, how has that been navigating that both as a.

01:26:57.770 --> 01:27:00.439
Pastor and as a person raising daughters.

01:27:01.050 --> 01:27:01.409
Yup.

01:27:01.739 --> 01:27:17.119
Yeah, definitely interesting conversations in church leadership, you know, these days, regardless of what church, you know, people are attending to have those discussions, uh, you know, as far as child dedications, weddings, you know, things like that, uh, we always go back to what the Bible says.

01:27:17.359 --> 01:27:23.420
And, you know, biblically, it talks about, you know, uh, you know, marriage was between a man and a woman.

01:27:23.430 --> 01:27:26.350
I mean, God only created, you know, two, you know, genders.

01:27:26.770 --> 01:27:28.539
Um, is there confusion in the world?

01:27:28.560 --> 01:27:30.369
Of course, you know, there is confusion.

01:27:30.369 --> 01:27:34.859
There's confusion, not just gender, uh, confusion about, you know, everything else.

01:27:35.069 --> 01:27:39.989
Purpose, uh, family, you know, relational career, all those things.

01:27:39.989 --> 01:27:41.890
So it's not all just, you know, gender.

01:27:42.300 --> 01:27:47.859
I think where our world is politically, as far as what you're talking about is there's just confusion overall.

01:27:48.220 --> 01:27:52.619
And there's just a lot of noise, a lot of noise happening in our world.

01:27:52.970 --> 01:27:54.194
Um, and a lot of.

01:27:54.354 --> 01:28:02.694
Selfish, um, what's the word, uh, entitled, uh, things in our culture right now is a very entitled culture for the most part.

01:28:02.704 --> 01:28:11.574
I mean, I'm not saying it's a hundred percent all the way, but you know, we don't, I don't go through a day without running into somebody that is, you know, entitled, right?

01:28:11.574 --> 01:28:14.734
It's pretty much, you know, a more common occurrence, you know, these days.

01:28:14.744 --> 01:28:31.199
So I'm trying to work through that myself as an individual and as a leader of a nonprofit and as a family entitlement, you know, how do you shift that to some other, like, Humility or gratitude or those kinds of things because that's more better, right?

01:28:31.199 --> 01:28:37.449
Yeah, so to interact with somebody that might come across as entitled, you can't tell them you're entitled, right?

01:28:37.449 --> 01:29:00.170
It's not gonna go well, you know, or to talk to my kids, you know, they're adults now, but to say hey Let's talk through, you know, this whole ego Entitlement, you know, everything is mine, you know kind of a thing we need to talk about that We don't want to be that as a family So I think, um, this is slightly off topic, but I think the first time you really ate humble pie Ultimately was kind of after that FCA job.

01:29:00.229 --> 01:29:02.130
You'd kind of been a star.

01:29:02.130 --> 01:29:10.880
You got the the gorgeous wife Early on you came from this small town and then all of a sudden you're like, oh, I guess I got to work at the freakin Bagel shop.

01:29:11.149 --> 01:29:11.500
Yep.

01:29:11.699 --> 01:29:12.840
Was that good for you?

01:29:13.140 --> 01:29:14.649
Oh, yeah at the time.

01:29:14.649 --> 01:29:20.835
I would have not said I would have said what is wrong with places not hiring me Now.

01:29:20.835 --> 01:29:21.555
Absolutely.

01:29:21.555 --> 01:29:22.335
It was good for me.

01:29:22.335 --> 01:29:31.774
I mean, Kurt, the moment I have in my mind vividly is getting my fifth rejection letter from the same organization when I've applied for multiple jobs.

01:29:31.805 --> 01:29:32.914
And I just threw it.

01:29:32.914 --> 01:29:37.595
I wadded it up, threw it on the floor, and said, what the hell, Lord, what's wrong with them?

01:29:37.595 --> 01:29:38.375
What is wrong?

01:29:38.375 --> 01:29:43.444
And it was like instantly in that moment, it was like entitlement kind of broke a little bit.

01:29:43.444 --> 01:29:44.494
It was, I felt this.

01:29:45.005 --> 01:29:47.645
Scott Kissel can't always get what Scott Kissel wants.

01:29:47.704 --> 01:29:50.050
Mm-hmm Cause you're ultimately not in charge.

01:29:50.569 --> 01:29:52.670
And I just went for a drive.

01:29:52.800 --> 01:29:56.979
I being honest, I bawled my eyes out and went, you're right.

01:29:57.920 --> 01:30:06.390
I thought I was the cat's meow and I guess I'm not, where should I work and where do I get my own and I'll go back to doing bagels tomorrow.

01:30:06.909 --> 01:30:07.300
I love it.

01:30:07.770 --> 01:30:08.060
I love it.

01:30:08.069 --> 01:30:09.385
Thanks for sharing that.

01:30:09.385 --> 01:30:10.890
It's an important moment.

01:30:11.020 --> 01:30:18.609
I think I've barely met anybody that didn't have a moment like that along the way that actually achieved great things.

01:30:19.920 --> 01:30:21.739
And I do reflect back on it quite a bit.

01:30:22.020 --> 01:30:24.439
And I hope you keep doing great things.

01:30:24.960 --> 01:30:27.500
Are you ready for the ping pong ball?

01:30:27.600 --> 01:30:28.369
Oh man, yeah.

01:30:28.989 --> 01:30:36.140
I told somebody earlier today, I'm a little nervous about this when you say, I think you said interesting and awkward, or did you say intimate?

01:30:37.350 --> 01:30:38.420
No, we're not going to get intimate.

01:30:38.420 --> 01:30:45.140
I can try to make you blush or cry, but I'm not going to get into your bedroom.

01:30:45.260 --> 01:30:45.960
All right, great.

01:30:46.000 --> 01:30:47.350
Um, grab three balls.

01:30:47.439 --> 01:30:47.859
Okay.

01:30:54.979 --> 01:30:58.170
And we have, uh, some special prizes.

01:30:58.170 --> 01:30:58.600
Actually.

01:30:58.600 --> 01:31:24.319
Scott brought, uh, some, uh, breezed through car wash cards and he brought some ferris wheel ride cards at shields and we'll we'll do some social media posting so follow us on both the loco experience on instagram and on linkedin if you want to get a chance at some of these prizes um so 22 22 is the first one 22 Let's see if I can read this.

01:31:25.340 --> 01:31:26.159
Oh, I like this one.

01:31:26.210 --> 01:31:27.270
I actually made this one up.

01:31:27.329 --> 01:31:28.720
Me and Ava worked on this project.

01:31:28.750 --> 01:31:33.520
If you could live anywhere for three months a year, where would it be?

01:31:33.520 --> 01:31:35.430
Oh, no brainer.

01:31:35.430 --> 01:31:36.100
Switzerland.

01:31:36.109 --> 01:31:40.739
It has been on my list to live in the Alps for And three months would be perfect.

01:31:40.750 --> 01:31:48.460
Because I would pick, you know, the height of the best skiing time and have a ski in and ski out residence of some kind in the Swiss Alps.

01:31:48.550 --> 01:31:50.739
Just gotta get the Skycrawl Ranch, uh Yeah.

01:31:50.800 --> 01:31:51.680
Built up a little bit.

01:31:51.680 --> 01:31:52.899
So you can afford that lifestyle.

01:31:52.899 --> 01:31:53.439
Just a little bit.

01:31:53.449 --> 01:31:53.659
Yeah.

01:31:54.210 --> 01:31:55.180
Or meet somebody that can.

01:31:57.750 --> 01:31:58.090
Yeah.

01:31:58.090 --> 01:32:00.100
You're not talking like a friend, right?

01:32:00.119 --> 01:32:01.220
Like you're already married.

01:32:01.260 --> 01:32:01.890
Cause right.

01:32:01.979 --> 01:32:02.409
Okay.

01:32:02.460 --> 01:32:02.760
Good.

01:32:02.789 --> 01:32:06.800
Just making sure you're not fishing for some rich Swiss girl that can bring you up there.

01:32:06.800 --> 01:32:07.680
Not at all.

01:32:07.770 --> 01:32:08.500
A really good friend.

01:32:08.510 --> 01:32:10.175
I would actually try to talk my wife into that.

01:32:10.175 --> 01:32:12.064
Be like, Hey, but it's just three months.

01:32:12.064 --> 01:32:12.994
I can just go up there.

01:32:13.024 --> 01:32:13.574
I'll be fine.

01:32:14.284 --> 01:32:20.465
No, I'm not gonna Just kidding 20 20.

01:32:23.645 --> 01:32:26.795
What's your go to excuse when you want to get out of plans?

01:32:27.864 --> 01:32:33.055
Oh Man, that is a good like if one of your Church members wants to be with you.

01:32:33.055 --> 01:32:35.505
You just really don't want to, man.

01:32:35.595 --> 01:32:42.965
I was taught at such a young, early age group to literally say the generic comment of, and see, I'm outing myself.

01:32:42.965 --> 01:32:46.175
So now when I use this, somebody is going to say, that's just your excuse.

01:32:46.505 --> 01:32:47.005
That's awesome.

01:32:47.034 --> 01:32:48.944
I can't, I have a previous engagement.

01:32:49.215 --> 01:32:49.375
Oh.

01:32:49.935 --> 01:33:04.585
And that previous engagement or commitment could be, I'm watching a football game at home, I'm going to hang out with my wife, I, you know, engagement is a broad term, but that is my go to is, I'm sorry, I can't have a previous engagement.

01:33:04.585 --> 01:33:06.145
A previous commitment, I say actually.

01:33:06.164 --> 01:33:06.545
Correct.

01:33:06.545 --> 01:33:07.435
Yeah, I do that one too.

01:33:08.385 --> 01:33:08.755
Good one.

01:33:09.675 --> 01:33:10.185
Okay.

01:33:12.864 --> 01:33:13.795
Number six.

01:33:16.029 --> 01:33:18.960
If you could only eat Oh, we just had this last podcast.

01:33:19.000 --> 01:33:19.350
Did you?

01:33:19.350 --> 01:33:20.380
Do I need to take another one?

01:33:20.390 --> 01:33:21.050
No, it's okay.

01:33:21.050 --> 01:33:22.390
We'll start the balls better next time.

01:33:22.390 --> 01:33:23.149
It's a good question.

01:33:23.149 --> 01:33:23.470
Okay.

01:33:23.619 --> 01:33:30.310
If you could only eat one color of food for the rest of your life, what color food would you choose?

01:33:30.409 --> 01:33:32.989
My favorite color is red.

01:33:33.329 --> 01:33:35.779
It also goes with marinara sauce and pizza.

01:33:35.850 --> 01:33:35.880
Right.

01:33:36.079 --> 01:33:36.550
Steak.

01:33:37.250 --> 01:33:38.069
Anything red.

01:33:38.069 --> 01:33:38.319
Steak.

01:33:38.359 --> 01:33:38.859
Absolutely.

01:33:38.859 --> 01:33:39.329
Tomatoes.

01:33:39.329 --> 01:33:40.189
Ribeye.

01:33:40.189 --> 01:33:40.869
You name it.

01:33:40.970 --> 01:33:41.380
Cherries.

01:33:41.600 --> 01:33:42.250
Strawberries.

01:33:42.569 --> 01:33:43.439
raspberries.

01:33:43.590 --> 01:33:43.920
Yep.

01:33:44.640 --> 01:33:46.510
Yeah, I don't Ava.

01:33:46.510 --> 01:33:49.689
I don't think anybody else is going to choose any other colors of red.

01:33:49.789 --> 01:33:50.630
Is that what it's been?

01:33:51.029 --> 01:33:51.680
What was last week?

01:33:51.699 --> 01:33:54.180
There's only two so far, but yeah, they both read, read, read.

01:33:54.949 --> 01:33:57.180
I can't think of any other, like what I'm going to choose.

01:33:57.819 --> 01:34:00.180
Brown, I guess maybe brown food.

01:34:00.180 --> 01:34:00.550
Good.

01:34:01.590 --> 01:34:03.229
Yeah, I guess, but I don't know.

01:34:03.409 --> 01:34:04.149
Green happened.

01:34:04.149 --> 01:34:05.880
People got to say green for veggies.

01:34:05.960 --> 01:34:13.329
I know, but If there was green meat, if there existed any kind of good green meat, yes, but there is no green meat.

01:34:13.329 --> 01:34:14.840
So that means I can never eat meat again.

01:34:14.840 --> 01:34:15.890
So fuck it.

01:34:15.939 --> 01:34:17.289
I'm choosing red, man.

01:34:17.340 --> 01:34:21.430
No, but growing up in a grocery store, I, we always got all the expired stuff at our house.

01:34:21.510 --> 01:34:22.060
All right.

01:34:22.069 --> 01:34:23.630
So I definitely had some green meat, Kurt.

01:34:23.960 --> 01:34:24.039
Right.

01:34:24.729 --> 01:34:25.670
Just trim that shit off.

01:34:25.670 --> 01:34:26.109
It's good.

01:34:26.289 --> 01:34:26.970
Can't go to waste.

01:34:27.350 --> 01:34:27.960
Take it home.

01:34:28.270 --> 01:34:31.729
Dude, as a food trucker, cause I was doing that for a while.

01:34:31.729 --> 01:34:32.000
Right.

01:34:32.489 --> 01:34:33.659
And I would have like.

01:34:34.465 --> 01:34:37.064
A gallon of extra, like, pulled pork.

01:34:37.895 --> 01:34:43.284
Like, I had a one week expiration, but do you think I could eat that more than one time or two times?

01:34:43.484 --> 01:34:44.085
You can only do so much with it.

01:34:44.085 --> 01:34:44.465
Rarely.

01:34:44.664 --> 01:34:46.034
Or cilantro lime coleslaw?

01:34:46.664 --> 01:34:47.875
That stuff is amazing.

01:34:47.914 --> 01:34:51.524
I could eat a ton of that stuff, but not four times a week.

01:34:51.914 --> 01:34:52.314
Heard.

01:34:53.175 --> 01:34:54.965
So, that was probably, that was interesting.

01:34:54.975 --> 01:35:00.645
How much of your, how much of your diet do you think was near expiration food when you were growing up?

01:35:00.864 --> 01:35:01.744
Easily 80%.

01:35:02.795 --> 01:35:03.274
Easily.

01:35:03.314 --> 01:35:03.814
Love it.

01:35:03.975 --> 01:35:08.904
No, the joke in our house is, what's expired in the fridge, and then, or, Hey, Scott, will you smell this?

01:35:08.914 --> 01:35:09.664
Is it expired?

01:35:09.664 --> 01:35:11.135
I'm like, well, the date doesn't matter.

01:35:11.154 --> 01:35:11.914
Let me smell it.

01:35:12.135 --> 01:35:12.574
Totally.

01:35:12.574 --> 01:35:15.244
I'm in the same ballpark with, why would I throw it away?

01:35:15.244 --> 01:35:18.925
If it's like we have an exchange student now, my wife and I, we don't have kids.

01:35:18.954 --> 01:35:19.164
Yeah.

01:35:19.164 --> 01:35:24.564
We don't, uh, we haven't had any kids, but we have, Lenny's our 12th exchange student from work.

01:35:24.765 --> 01:35:25.734
Uh, he's from Finland.

01:35:25.795 --> 01:35:26.135
Okay.

01:35:26.194 --> 01:35:26.425
Yeah.

01:35:26.425 --> 01:35:26.704
Yeah.

01:35:26.704 --> 01:35:27.305
It's been pretty.

01:35:27.579 --> 01:35:32.430
Pretty fun, he's, and I'm ready for him to leave in a few months, it's cool, you know, I don't want any real kids.

01:35:32.479 --> 01:35:34.420
Well, if I had one, it would be cool.

01:35:34.489 --> 01:35:37.600
Like, Jill, if you hear this, like, if you get pregnant, we're having it.

01:35:38.140 --> 01:35:41.149
Even though you're 44, we're gonna try.

01:35:41.569 --> 01:35:43.060
Uh, but anyway, I digress.

01:35:43.439 --> 01:35:48.529
Um, but I'm like, Dude, when you see things that are getting kind of tired, like, eat that.

01:35:49.090 --> 01:35:54.380
And, but nobody else does, except for me, because, like, there's a Clif Bar right there.

01:35:54.409 --> 01:36:01.439
And some strawberries, and some blueberries, and all the other things that aren't in danger of expiring.

01:36:02.300 --> 01:36:10.029
But I'm like, well, if I don't eat it The chickens are going to get it, you know, and I'd rather, we really are similar in a lot of ways.

01:36:10.710 --> 01:36:15.090
So, oh, which question is winner?

01:36:15.810 --> 01:36:18.020
Um, which of those questions did you like?

01:36:18.079 --> 01:36:19.729
We're not going to choose the color red.

01:36:20.739 --> 01:36:24.510
No, no, definitely has got to be, if I could go somewhere for three months, that's got to be the winning one.

01:36:24.510 --> 01:36:25.180
Yeah, Switzerland.

01:36:25.189 --> 01:36:25.390
For sure.

01:36:25.390 --> 01:36:40.845
Okay, so if you're listening to this podcast, that's going to be the answer, but you're going to have to go to Instagram or LinkedIn or some place to find the actual post where we share, like, DM us, and if you're the first one you get the answer.

01:36:41.465 --> 01:36:44.125
Um, and then the local experience.

01:36:44.835 --> 01:36:45.954
That's our final segment.

01:36:46.265 --> 01:37:02.835
Okay, your craziest experience of your lifetime that you're willing to share with our listeners Man, well the very first thing that comes to my mind is trying to get bagels sold To the airline industry.

01:37:02.904 --> 01:37:11.475
Oh, so being a small mom I don't know Gibbs ever did that that was kind of during the boom of when Gibbs really took off Okay, the wholesale business just shot through the roof.

01:37:12.385 --> 01:37:18.854
So I'm gonna give a little sales secret and as you follow other Bagel trucks around to see where they deliver Okay.

01:37:18.914 --> 01:37:23.505
And so as a salesperson for Gibbs, I did that and I found that they went down to the airlines.

01:37:23.505 --> 01:37:25.755
And so we're like, well, we gotta get our bagels on the airline.

01:37:25.784 --> 01:37:26.145
Right.

01:37:26.895 --> 01:37:31.484
Took a long time to finally get an appointment, would drop off samples all the time.

01:37:31.484 --> 01:37:32.145
Say, Hey, oh wow.

01:37:32.175 --> 01:37:32.744
Drop'em off.

01:37:32.744 --> 01:37:33.194
Drop'em off.

01:37:33.194 --> 01:37:34.515
Couldn't get anybody to call me back.

01:37:34.574 --> 01:37:38.654
All your experience with Yancy was probably, or was that pre, it was pre Gibbs was pre Yancy.

01:37:38.654 --> 01:37:39.045
Oh shit.

01:37:39.045 --> 01:37:39.435
Yeah.

01:37:39.435 --> 01:37:40.364
So totally was different.

01:37:40.364 --> 01:37:40.814
Persistent.

01:37:41.225 --> 01:37:43.715
And that probably got you the job at Yancey's in a way.

01:37:43.734 --> 01:37:44.744
No, it really was.

01:37:44.765 --> 01:37:47.694
And Gibb said he would switch the business to Yancey's if they hired me.

01:37:48.324 --> 01:37:49.494
So it was a no brainer.

01:37:49.784 --> 01:37:50.145
I like it.

01:37:50.154 --> 01:37:51.774
But anyway, we finally got a meeting.

01:37:51.784 --> 01:37:55.765
Gibb went with me and they said, we don't need bagels, but we could use some breadsticks.

01:37:55.765 --> 01:37:57.005
Do you guys do breadsticks?

01:37:57.145 --> 01:38:00.814
And before I got no out of my mouth, Gibb said, yes, we do breadsticks.

01:38:01.789 --> 01:38:03.130
And they get the best breadsticks.

01:38:03.189 --> 01:38:03.489
Yeah.

01:38:03.770 --> 01:38:04.909
How many flavors do you need?

01:38:04.909 --> 01:38:06.170
And when can we bring samples down?

01:38:06.579 --> 01:38:09.600
And they said, well, we need 4, 000 a day and we're looking for rosemary.

01:38:09.600 --> 01:38:10.140
He goes, great.

01:38:10.140 --> 01:38:11.630
We'll bring some samples down next week.

01:38:11.659 --> 01:38:13.760
Oh, we go out into the elevator in the lobby.

01:38:13.760 --> 01:38:14.520
The door closes.

01:38:14.520 --> 01:38:16.819
He looks over me and he goes, how the hell are we going to do this?

01:38:17.220 --> 01:38:18.229
I'm like, dude, I don't know.

01:38:18.229 --> 01:38:20.050
You sold her breadsticks.

01:38:20.350 --> 01:38:26.109
And so we went back to the bagel shop and probably can't tell you the rest of the story, but no, we basically cut a bagel in half.

01:38:26.430 --> 01:38:33.670
Stretched it out, same bagel dough, same recipe, bought a different oven, steamed them, and uh, took them down, and they bought them.

01:38:34.600 --> 01:38:41.590
So we did breadsticks, cookies, uh, marinara sauce for the breadsticks, the last product the airline took was the bagel.

01:38:42.130 --> 01:38:46.689
What was the, like the bend to the revenue line from that?

01:38:46.850 --> 01:38:52.670
My gosh, I mean it was, it was in the range of, you know, 20, 000 a month.

01:38:53.000 --> 01:39:05.260
You know, influx instantly, which was 20 percent or something, but a big chunk way too long ago, but no, no employees, just dough and delivery.

01:39:05.449 --> 01:39:05.789
Yeah.

01:39:06.050 --> 01:39:09.119
Trying to figure out how to get those things down there.

01:39:09.130 --> 01:39:10.109
Yeah, exactly.

01:39:10.109 --> 01:39:10.569
Interesting.

01:39:10.569 --> 01:39:12.569
So anyway, we joke about that one all the time.

01:39:12.649 --> 01:39:13.810
You still friends with Gibber?

01:39:13.859 --> 01:39:14.149
Oh yeah.

01:39:14.500 --> 01:39:14.739
Yeah.

01:39:14.770 --> 01:39:17.399
We text, you know, probably at least every other month or so.

01:39:17.399 --> 01:39:18.199
And he's in Florida.

01:39:18.435 --> 01:39:18.875
I dig it.

01:39:19.604 --> 01:39:20.034
Um.

01:39:20.045 --> 01:39:20.635
Love you Gibb.

01:39:20.795 --> 01:39:25.994
Last things you want to share with the people that are wondering what more to know about Scott?

01:39:26.045 --> 01:39:26.784
Man, I would.

01:39:26.784 --> 01:39:30.444
So if you're going to go to, like check out Scott, Sky Corral Ranch up at the website.

01:39:30.555 --> 01:39:30.845
Oh yeah.

01:39:30.845 --> 01:39:31.875
It's, I don't know, skycorralranch.

01:39:31.954 --> 01:39:31.984
org.

01:39:31.984 --> 01:39:33.114
Yeah, skycorral.

01:39:33.114 --> 01:39:33.604
org.

01:39:33.654 --> 01:39:34.715
Okay, skycorral.

01:39:34.715 --> 01:39:34.914
org.

01:39:34.925 --> 01:39:35.185
Yep.

01:39:35.244 --> 01:39:37.395
And we believe something happens in the pause.

01:39:37.935 --> 01:39:38.765
Get up there.

01:39:38.765 --> 01:39:39.225
Oh yeah.

01:39:39.234 --> 01:39:40.234
Slow your pace down.

01:39:40.305 --> 01:39:41.042
Did I tell you that?

01:39:41.042 --> 01:39:42.284
Just something happens in the pause.

01:39:42.675 --> 01:39:48.814
Did, did your gal that called me about featuring us in the newsletter talk to you about my conversation with her?

01:39:48.975 --> 01:39:51.414
No, I just saw it in the, in the actual newsletter.

01:39:51.414 --> 01:39:53.145
Oh dude, it was so much more interesting than that.

01:39:53.204 --> 01:39:53.704
Really?

01:39:53.755 --> 01:39:56.965
Because I totally didn't get back to her for like quite a while.

01:39:56.965 --> 01:39:57.185
Okay.

01:39:57.215 --> 01:39:59.465
And it was getting close to the time and I was like, oh shoot.

01:39:59.965 --> 01:40:02.364
So she called me and I was I was in St.

01:40:02.364 --> 01:40:10.104
Lucia, I think, maybe, or I was on vacation, um, or maybe not, maybe I came back, but anyway, that was part of why I missed it.

01:40:10.614 --> 01:40:52.500
But she asked me for like a powerful moment that was significant during our next little summit up there, and, uh, I said, well, you know, probably the coolest moment is when Max Anderson was talking about, Like he had a set of like four or five different like ways to really scale an acquired business because he's kind of built a group of Kind of pre middle market size companies that he's put together and he was our speaker up there and during the first I don't know, maybe 15 minutes in, he was like, If anyone wants to take a quick break and look at the mama bear and two baby bears, walking across the, the, the valley over there, Um, now would be a good time.

01:40:52.520 --> 01:40:54.319
And so we literally paused.

01:40:55.510 --> 01:40:57.579
And that's the language I used.

01:40:57.590 --> 01:41:05.210
So like, the speaker paused the presentation, and said, everybody go over to the window and look, and here's this mama and two babies.

01:41:05.930 --> 01:41:14.345
And then came back, and then your, your gal who called me was like, Well, that's so crazy because the power of the pause is actually the theme of our newsletter here.

01:41:14.965 --> 01:41:17.965
I was like, well, I'm Kurt Baer, so you can quote me on that.

01:41:19.685 --> 01:41:21.095
I know the power of pause.

01:41:21.295 --> 01:41:22.114
Absolutely.

01:41:22.295 --> 01:41:22.585
Yeah.

01:41:22.635 --> 01:41:31.425
And if we could apply that in our lives outside of Sky Corral, if we can just have some more pause moments as a society, as individuals and leaders, we'll, we'll do a lot better.

01:41:31.555 --> 01:41:31.954
I dig it.

01:41:32.024 --> 01:41:33.375
It's a, it's an important thing.

01:41:33.375 --> 01:41:37.494
And, uh, I'm glad you get the pauses and provide the pauses that you need.

01:41:37.805 --> 01:41:38.454
Well, thank you.

01:41:38.454 --> 01:41:38.784
Cheers.

01:41:38.895 --> 01:41:39.364
Thanks, Scott.

01:41:39.395 --> 01:41:40.034
Thank you for having me.

01:41:40.125 --> 01:41:40.864
Yeah, of course.

01:41:40.875 --> 01:41:41.244
All right.

01:41:41.284 --> 01:41:41.694
Bye for now.

01:41:41.784 --> 01:41:42.064
Bye.