5 Great Questions

Like the flag, I'm torn April 15, 2026 Should God (still) Bless America? by Alden Olmsted As a Gen-Xer, I grew up fairly apolitical, but while the 90's gov't seiges woke me up, the Clinton era had me wanting higher gov't official standards, and 9/11 got me a tad more patriotic - the societal losses began to outweigh the wins, and now in 2026 according to the data, the last 50 years have been espec...

Should God Even Bother - with a people too immoral or too distracted to care? No revival, no rebirth, a President's Easter F-Bomb Aldenolmsted.substack.com Full post available on Substack: https://aldenolmsted.substack.com/p/should-god-even-bother-with-a-people

If you attended Mexicali Outreach with Azusa Pacific University from 1988 - 2004 +/- chances are you sung along to songs by Reggie Coates. From 'Radically Committed' to 'Go The Distance,' and 'Take A Stand' Reggie wrote songs for three of Azusa's most popular themes of the 1990's. Hope you enjoy this episode - walking down the dusty memory lane that was the Mexicali Outreach ministry. Links: https...

Young people are flocking back to church - but do they need yet another interpretation? For the full post visit Substack

5 Great Questions | The Podcast Episode 7 | Erin Friday Erin Friday is a Northern California mom, lawyer, and advocate for children and teens to be allowed to grow up happy in their own bodies. Erin and I crossed paths at the Orange County premiere of the film ' Dysconnected' - a film on detransitioners I shot with longtime collaborator  Don Johnson. Erin and her daughter's full story can be heard...

5 Great Questions | The Podcast Episode 6 | Sasha Stone Born in Southern California towards the end of the hippy era, Sasha had a bit of a cliched life growing up in Topanga Canyon in the 1970's. Free sex, free drugs, and a single mother with a revolving door of boyfriends, Sasha found her salvation in movies, eventually leading to a self-started career begun in the early days of the internet, wit...

Wade Baynham was a founding member of the 90's coffee house band the Basics. Together with his wife Kelly and a revolving door of drummers and sound men, the Basics toured constantly between 1991 and 2005, from San Diego to Seattle and back, mostly playing at small venues in Palo Alto and Santa Cruz, summer camps like Mt. Hermon, and Coffee Houses like Mountain Roaster's in Felton, where I first s...

Welcome to The 5 Great Questions podcast, where I ask people interesting questions, and you get to hear their answers. My guest on episode 4 is a former roommate, but only for three months some 18 years ago. And yet somehow that short stint at a NorCal bachelor pad was part of a pivotal season for Jeff Dunkin of Bellingham, WA. Jeff's story is likely relatable for many early 20-somethings, especia...

Episode 3 Alden Olmsted Sari Lamela Welcome to The 5 Great Questions podcast, where I ask people interesting questions, and you get to hear their answers. My guest on episode three is longtime friend Sari Lamela, a powerhouse entreprenuer and promoter who left Hollywood to become a happily married woman in Northern Virginia. In episode three Sari answers the question: "Tell me about a loss you've...

Episode 2 Alden Olmsted Christopher Sell Welcome to The 5 Great Questions podcast, where I ask people interesting questions, and you get to hear their answers. My guest on episode two is longtime friend and former lost teenage soul Christopher Sell. Chris is a middle school teacher in middle California and is a multi-talented storyteller specializing in thoughtful acoustic songs and the occasional...

Episode 1 Alden Olmsted Donald J. Johnson Welcome to The 5 Great Questions podcast, where I ask people interesting questions, and you get to hear their answers. My first guest on my first episode is longtime friend and film collaborator Donald J. Johnson. Don is an author and filmmaker and devoted family road tripper, and has a great answer to the question "How did you meet your spouse without a c...