BeTempered

Five pregnancy losses will either pull you apart or force you to discover a strength you never knew you had. For Mark Broeker, that journey became one of faith, perseverance, and learning how to keep moving forward when life refuses to make sense. With Ben out this week, it's just me, Dan Schmidt, talking with Mark about a life that has been shaped by both incredible hardship and incredible r...

A kid tries to play basketball while limping, then pulls off his shoes and reveals socks soaked in blood. That single moment became the catalyst for everything Kris Horlacher would build through Shoes 4 The Shoeless. What started as one heartbreaking realization has grown into a nonprofit that has provided properly fitting shoes and socks to well over 200,000 children across Southwest Ohio, restor...

There are coaches who win games, and there are coaches who change lives. Mark Hoffman spent 46 years doing both, but ask the people who know him best and they’ll tell you the scoreboard was never the point. From small-town football fields to classrooms and communities across Ohio, Coach Hoff built a reputation for demanding excellence while never losing sight of the person behind the player. Hosts...

A lot of people can tell you what combat looks like. Fewer can tell you what happens when the war follows you home. Caleb Hutcheson spent his deployment in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, conducting route clearance missions as a combat engineer. Every day meant searching for hidden IEDs where a single mistake could cost lives. He shares what it was like driving the Buffalo, surviving an explosion b...

What happens when the thing you've built your identity around gets taken away? Carson Brower shares a story that goes far beyond baseball. Born with VATER syndrome affecting his right arm, Carson grew up learning how to adapt, solve problems differently, and push through obstacles most people never have to face. Those lessons eventually helped him achieve his dream of becoming a Division I pi...

At five years old, Mason Shrout made a decision that most kids only dream about. He was going to play Division I basketball. What followed was years of sacrifice, long drives, early mornings, pressure, criticism, and expectations that most people never see. Mason grew from a kid in rural Ohio into Preble County's all-time leading scorer, a historic Final Four participant, and eventually a Div...

A fighter jet drops out of the clouds at 300 miles an hour, the controls stop responding, and the pilot has seconds left to decide what to do. David Wheeler lived through that moment and what happened next still challenges everything he thought he knew about life, purpose, and survival. In this episode of BeTempered with Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr, David takes us from his 1950s Cincinnati childhood...

A single decision at 100 miles per hour can ripple through families, friendships, faith, and the rest of your life. In Episode 106 of BeTempered, hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with Tony Talbert to unpack the night a drunk driver changed everything. What started as a celebration of his friend David’s recovery journey through addiction and service ended in tragedy just minutes from home,...

What happens when your normal life disappears overnight? In this episode of BeTempered, hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with Kateryna Tabota to hear the real human side of the Ukraine war through the eyes of a wife, mother, and woman of faith. Her story moves from growing up in post-Soviet Ukraine, to serving in the medical field, to suddenly facing air raid sirens, uncertainty, and separ...

Two years later, we decided to turn the cameras around and let Brian Ballenger ask the questions. This episode pulls back the curtain on the real story behind the BeTempered podcast, how a mindset shift, a weight loss journey, and the idea of tempered glass became the foundation for something much bigger. Strength is not built in comfort. It is built through pressure, heat, failure, and choosing t...

A bowl of porridge does not look like a life plan, but for Dennis Alejo it was the first glimpse of something different. Sitting down with hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr, Dennis walks through a childhood in the Philippines shaped by hunger, instability, and survival. Introduced to alcohol at eight and working just to eat, long term thinking was not part of the equation. It was day to day, moment...

Some people know what to say when life is smooth. This episode is for when it isn’t. When work feels heavy, marriage feels strained, and you’re quietly asking yourself, “Is this all there is?” Joe Swartzel joins us with a story that doesn’t hide from the hard parts. A longtime bricklayer known for his smile, Joe shares what that smile has carried through. A childhood marked by constant moving and...

Charles “Murph” Byrne didn’t become a coach because of wins. He became one because he showed up in the hardest moments when people needed someone to steady them, guide them, and refuse to let them quit. In this episode of the BeTempered Podcast, hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with Murph to unpack a life shaped by loss, discipline, faith, and the kind of mentorship that changes everything...

Episode 100 isn’t polished and that’s the point. This time, it’s not one guest sitting across the table. It’s a room full of people who have lived it. People who have carried addiction, trauma, loss, shame, and still chose to show up anyway. On this episode of the BeTempered Podcast, hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr step into something different. You’ll hear voices from past conversations and new o...

Cindy Lee shows up with energy, humor, and a presence that lights up the room. But behind that is a story most people would never guess. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at 28, battling relentless fatigue, surviving a head-on crash that left her with guilt she couldn’t shake, and walking through a career shift that pushed her into a level of depression she didn’t think she’d come back from. In th...

Rock bottom doesn’t always look like chaos. Sometimes it looks like a normal life slowly coming apart behind the scenes. In this episode, that’s exactly where the story begins before everything spirals. Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with Donald Reed, whose journey didn’t start with addiction, but with identity loss, divorce, and depression that cracked the door open just enough. What followed...

Some stories do not build slowly. They hit you with the reality of what trauma and addiction actually do, and they force you to sit in it before showing you what redemption can look like. Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with Joni Reed for a raw and honest conversation about a life shaped early by chaos, fear, and instability. Growing up in a home marked by severe mental illness, repeated suicid...

Tracy Nutt shares the painful and powerful truth about surviving childhood sexual abuse, the manipulation that kept her silent, and the shame that followed her into school, relationships, and her mental health. Joined by hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr, Tracy opens up about the reality many survivors carry behind closed doors. This conversation includes discussion of suicide and may be difficult t...

A 0.1 percent chance can sound impossible until you hear Cheyanne’s story. In this episode, hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with Cheyanne Mitchell and her aunt Maria to talk about a journey marked by resilience, faith, and the relentless hope for a second chance. Cheyanne shares what life has looked like since being diagnosed with a rare genetic condition, including a kidney transplant, t...

What if the most important thing you steward isn’t wealth, but identity? Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with financial planner and community builder Brett Guiley to unpack a journey rooted in small town values, deep curiosity, and the courage to step away from comfort to chase purpose. Brett reflects on how watching his dad make a bold career change and his mom return to school shaped his unde...

What starts as a foggy morning hike with his daughter turns into a life saving chain of events Dennis never could have planned. At 69, the firefighter, EMT, chaplain, and tool and die craftsman found himself facing multiple iliac aneurysms on the brink of rupture. What followed was a series of moments that felt anything but random: a hurricane delay that shifted their trip, swelling that refused t...

What happens when the crash you never wanted becomes the wake up call you needed? On this week’s episode of BeTempered, hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with Zac Shisler for one of the most raw and redemptive conversations we have had yet. Zac shares the moment everything came to a head. High behind the wheel after a speedball. Blacking out at a stop sign. Waking up to sirens, charges, and...

Pain does not ask permission before it reshapes a life. On this episode of BeTempered, hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with Lisa Chandler to talk about what it looks like to stop running and start rebuilding when survival has been the default for decades. Lisa’s story moves through constant childhood instability, overwhelming debt, and a traumatic brain injury from a car accident in 1984....

What if the thing you are most ashamed of becomes the bridge that helps someone else survive? That question frames this conversation as hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with Mandy Turner, a teacher, coach, photographer, and woman of deep faith whose life has been shaped by resilience, integrity, and hard decisions. Mandy’s story begins on an Ohio farm where her parents modeled discipline,...

What starts with a fifth a night and a recliner slowly becomes absence. Jerry Wilson was still providing, still present in the house, but slipping further away behind the glass. His story does not begin with a polished plan to change. It begins with a daughter asking hard questions about death, a desperate prayer whispered in a Kroger parking lot at midnight, and a baptism that changed everything...