BeTempered

A locked door at 3 a.m., a voice that asked one piercing question, and a church parking lot where a bag of drugs met a trash can. Tim Clowers’ turning points do not read like safe, polished faith stories. They read like real life. On this episode of BeTempered, hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with the Knoxville chef and creator behind Cook It With Tim to unpack an extraordinary arc, from...

A great story does not skip the hard parts, and Erin Flynn refuses to. On BeTempered, hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with Erin to trace the real path from Indiana gym floors to Silicon Valley boardrooms. She chased a dream, ran into walls, and still chose to build a company and a life that actually fit. Her early chapters read like a crash course in grit. She graduated into the 2009 rece...

Some stories knock the wind out of you and then hand you back your breath. On this episode of BeTempered , hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with Robert Rogers, who in one devastating moment lost his wife and four children in a sudden flash flood and yet, in the very room where he identified their bodies, chose to lift a hand and trust God. This is not a tidy arc. It is a raw, lived map thr...

Senior year can feel like standing on a cliff’s edge, and Leah Schmidt brings us right to that moment with clarity, humor, and heart. Hosted by Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr, this conversation follows Dan’s daughter as she wraps a long soccer journey, weighs college athletics, and chooses something rarer: a future built on faith, family, and balance. From small town sidewalks to country life, 4-H chor...

Doubt has a way of sounding smart. It whispers that you’re a fraud, that you got lucky, that someone else would have done it better. On this episode of BeTempered , hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr challenge that voice head-on as they unpack how labels, setbacks, and perfectionism feed imposter syndrome and how faith, community, and honest storytelling cut it down to size. We start with the hard tr...

When someone says, “Brian’s dead,” life divides into a before and an after. For Chuck Winings , it divided twice. What began as an ordinary Super Bowl Sunday became a season of heartbreaking loss. First came the passing of his father. Soon after came the fight no family is ever ready for, when his wife Rhonda was diagnosed with triple negative metastatic breast cancer. On BeTempered , hosted by Da...

The wind through pine branches can sound like a lullaby, or the whisper of survival. That’s where Shirley Thacker loved to sit with her husband, Rich—a farm kid turned teacher, veteran, and fighter—dreaming about the book she would someday write. In this powerful episode of BeTempered , hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with Shirley to trace the hard and luminous arc of her life: a small In...

The first thing Greg Jackson will tell you is simple: no peace, no decision. That quiet rule has guided him from a teen revival moment in Dayton to decades of faithful pastoring in Camden, Ohio—through false starts at the post office, a bi-vocational grind, and the messy, beautiful work of building a church that truly serves its town. In this episode of BeTempered , hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr...

Raw vulnerability fills this deeply moving episode of BeTempered , where co-host Ben Spahr courageously opens up about processing a personal tragedy that has shaken his faith community to its core. When someone you’ve shared life with commits an unthinkable crime, how do you reconcile the good memories with their devastating actions? Where was God in the middle of all this heartbreak? Ben allows l...

What does it take to transform your deepest pain into purpose? Shawn Ruebush knows firsthand. After first sharing his life story on Episode 24 of the BeTempered podcast with hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr , Shawn took the courageous step of writing his memoir, Turning Pain into Purpose —a raw, unflinching account of tragedy, struggle, and ultimate redemption. Shawn’s journey began with unimaginab...

What happens when a young pastor with no money but unwavering faith decides to plant a church in a town of just 1,800 people? On this episode of BeTempered , hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with Pastor Justin Wiegand to uncover an extraordinary story of courage, obedience, and small-town ministry. Justin’s journey takes him from making pizza dough in Kentucky to leading five thriving chur...

What happens when a successful executive's carefully constructed facade finally crumbles, revealing decades of addiction, pain, and self-deception? Doug Macias knows this journey all too well. For more than 20 years, he was trapped in cycles of alcoholism, drug abuse, and emotional isolation. His story is raw, unflinching, and proof that even the most outwardly successful lives can mask unima...

What happens when a life built on fear, alcohol, and self-destruction finally crumbles? On this episode of BeTempered , hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with Alan Bair to share a story that is as raw and honest as it is inspiring. Alan grew up in a home overshadowed by dysfunction, where fear and insecurity became the lens through which he saw the world. Even with an elite prep school educ...

What does it really take to defy the odds when nine out of ten startups fail? On this episode of BeTempered , hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr welcome Justin Bayer, founder of Welcome to College , for a raw and inspiring conversation about perseverance, setbacks, and finding meaning in the grind of entrepreneurship. Justin opens up about his 15-year journey building Welcome to College , a company b...

What makes a leader? Is it the title, the position, or something deeper? In this powerful episode of BeTempered , host Dan Schmidt sits down with Tucker Perkerson to unpack the experiences, challenges, and defining moments that shaped his leadership journey—from a small-town childhood in Atlanta to making an impact in both education and corporate America. Tucker reflects on the lessons learned gro...

Some stories are about survival. This one is about transformation. In this unforgettable episode of BeTempered , hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr welcome Ray Mackelson—a man whose life was once confined by invisible walls. For decades, anxiety ruled everything. Ray couldn’t drive more than an hour from home without facing crippling panic. Normalcy, freedom, and adventure felt like distant dreams—ou...

Strength isn't pretending everything's fine—it’s having the courage to be real about what’s hard. On Episode 64 of BeTempered , hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr open up about how this podcast has become a journey of transformation through vulnerability—for themselves and for the community it’s building. From a young age, especially as men, we’re taught to suppress emotion, to “man up,” an...

How do you find strength when your world is crumbling from the inside out? In this powerful episode of BeTempered , hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with Susan Preble , whose story of perseverance through hidden trauma, heartbreak, and healing will leave you breathless and forever changed. Susan’s journey began with tragedy—when she was just 18 months old, her family car was T-boned, leavi...

Some friendships are built on shared victories, bruises, and sweat—on long bus rides and harder losses. But the deepest friendships aren’t just remembered; they return when we need them most. In this deeply moving episode of BeTempered , hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr reconnect with Jeff Swanson , a former University of Dayton teammate and roommate whose story is both heart-wrenching and hope-fil...

What does it take to break through the walls of selfishness we’ve built around ourselves? For Dan Schmidt, it was a brutal 24-hour journey through the mountains of Georgia that stripped away every comfort and convenience of modern life. In this powerful episode, host Ben Spahr leads a raw conversation with host Dan Schmidt about his experience in The Rite of Passage , an endurance challenge led by...

What does true freedom really look like in our daily lives? In this thought-provoking Independence Day episode of BeTempered , hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr welcome guest Brian Ballenger for an intimate, wide-ranging exploration of how personal discipline—and the courage to confront our own weaknesses—shapes genuine independence. Freedom, as the trio discovers, isn’t simply about doing whatever...

In Episode 59 Part 2 of BeTempered , hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with Jeff Travis for a raw, unflinching conversation about faith forged in the fires of real life. Jeff opens up about his remarkable journey—from a struggling student to a reluctant pastor and, eventually, a missionary in Thailand. What begins as a familiar story of answering God’s call soon unfolds into something far d...

What happens when following your faith costs everything? In this powerful episode of the BeTempered podcast, Pastor Jeff Travis joins hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr for a deeply personal and inspiring conversation that traces his extraordinary journey—from childhood struggles in suburban Detroit to anti-trafficking work along the Thailand-Myanmar border. As a young boy, Jeff battled severe readin...

What does it take to walk away from a successful 23-year career to serve those society often overlooks? In this powerful and thought-provoking episode, guest Tim Pierson joins hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr to share the story of how an unexpected calling turned his life upside down—and ultimately right side up. Tim’s journey from insurance executive to full-time advocate for the homeless and addi...

What does it mean to run toward the fire instead of away from it ? For Carl Rhinehart III, that question became more than a metaphor—it became a mission. On this powerful episode of the BeTempered Podcast , Carl joins hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr to share his journey from insecurity and adversity to purpose and impact. Growing up in Muncie, Indiana, Carl’s childhood was shaped by contradictions...