Summit After the Storm | Leadership, Faith and Resilience Podcast

What if the most meaningful moments of your life aren't found in the places everyone talks about? After leaving Rome, our family spent a day exploring Bari, Italy , before boarding an overnight ferry to Greece. What we expected to be a simple stopover became one of the most memorable days of our journey. Watching local women make fresh pasta by hand, exploring centuries-old streets, and slowin...

Have you ever realized that every new chapter in life begins with saying goodbye to the last one? After four unforgettable days exploring Rome, our family boarded a train bound for Bari. As the Eternal City disappeared through the window, I realized that growth often begins the moment we're willing to leave something familiar behind. In this episode of Summit After the Storm , discover how one...

Have you ever returned to a place from your past and realized the place hadn't changed... but you had? Years before returning to Rome with my family, I had visited the Colosseum during a stressful business trip. This time was different. Walking through one of history's most iconic landmarks with Amanda and our kids reminded me that God doesn't just change our circumstances. Sometimes H...

Have you ever watched thousands of people endure pouring rain without leaving? During Pope Francis' Wednesday Papal Audience in St. Peter's Square, our family experienced one of the wettest mornings of our entire trip through Europe. After getting separated from Amanda and the kids in a sea of people, I found myself soaked to the bone, sitting alone near the front, watching something remar...

What if the moments that shaped your life didn't seem important when they happened? In this episode, I look back at three birthdays spanning more than three decades: 🎂 Turning 21 after teaching English in Sopot, Poland and celebrating in London. ✈️ Celebrating another birthday over the Nile River on a flight to Tanzania, when a KLM flight attendant surprised Amanda and me with champagne as we...

One of the biggest surprises from our family's journey across Europe wasn't the Colosseum... Or the Eiffel Tower... Or even the Acropolis. It was discovering how many everyday assumptions I didn't even realize I had. Meals lasted longer. People walked almost everywhere. Air conditioning wasn't nearly as common. Public transportation was simply part of everyday life. Even something...

I never did figure out how many people fit on a European bus. Every time I thought it was completely full... Five more people climbed aboard. Then five more. Then somehow... even more. At one point, I wasn't entirely sure if the sweat on my shirt belonged to me or the passenger standing next to me. What started as one of the funniest moments of our family's journey across Europe became an...

I sat outside the Colosseum in Rome expecting to admire one of history's greatest landmarks. Instead, I witnessed something I'll never forget. A young Italian mother quietly sang to her baby while gently rocking the stroller. I couldn't understand a single word she sang, yet somehow I understood everything she was trying to say. In this episode of Summit After the Storm , I share one o...

I've visited Rome several times. Amanda and I had even experienced this incredible city together before. But this trip was completely different. For the first time, I wasn't experiencing Rome for myself—I was watching my children experience it for the very first time. That changed everything. In this episode of Summit After the Storm , I share how walking through the Colosseum, the Roman F...

Last year, I ran into an old friend, Richard Burt, in the Delta Sky Club in Memphis as Amanda and I prepared to leave for Tanzania and climb Mount Kilimanjaro. The next time I saw him was completely unexpected. After weeks of traveling through Rome, Athens, Amsterdam, Paris, and London, I boarded a flight home from Atlanta and discovered Richard sitting directly behind me. That chance encounter be...

I have a confession to make… I host this podcast… and I still don’t have everything figured out. In Episode 120 of Summit After the Storm , Bart reflects on uncertainty, growth, humility, parenting, faith, lifelong learning, and why nobody truly has life completely figured out. From climbing Kilimanjaro without knowing exactly what each day would bring… to raising teenagers… to exploring AI, codin...

What if the greatest lessons from Europe had nothing to do with travel? Season 4 of Summit After the Storm takes you on a journey across Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, France, and England , discovering timeless lessons from history, faith, leadership, family, culture, and personal growth. From standing inside the Colosseum in Rome... to walking the streets of Athens... to visiting the Anne Frank...

Some experiences don’t just challenge you… they permanently change you. In Episode 119 of Summit After the Storm , Bart reflects on travel, hardship, faith, leadership, perspective, and the life-changing experiences that reshape who people become. From spending six weeks in Sopot, Poland teaching conversational English during college… to climbing Kilimanjaro years later… this episode explores how...

Some of the most important progress in life… happens so slowly you barely notice it. In Episode 118 of Summit After the Storm , Bart reflects on painful recovery, discipline, persistence, resilience, and why tiny steps still matter when progress feels frustratingly slow. After nearly severing tendons in his hand while working as a teenage butcher at the Piggly Wiggly, Bart shares the painful recov...

Every person listening to this podcast… is either coming out of a storm… walking through one… or heading toward one eventually. In Episode 117 of Summit After the Storm , Bart reflects on hardship, resilience, emotional survival, faith, loss, and why storms don’t have to destroy people. From divorce… to grief… to cancer battles… to depression… to personal failure… this episode explores how pain ca...

Some of the greatest gifts people ever give us… aren’t expensive. They’re present. In Episode 116 of Summit After the Storm , Bart reflects on parenting, emotional presence, family sacrifice, leadership, and the powerful impact of simply being there for the people who need you most. From childhood memories of growing up in a one-income household… to his mother quietly sacrificing career opportunit...

Some of the best leaders you’ll ever meet… aren’t the loudest people in the room. In Episode 115 of Summit After the Storm , Bart reflects on leadership, humility, emotional intelligence, workplace culture, and the quiet leaders who leave the deepest impact on the people around them. From difficult bosses… to workplace pressure… to a leader who refused to yell at employees even when mistakes were...

“You’ll understand when you’re older.” Most kids hear that from their parents… and roll their eyes. In Episode 114 of Summit After the Storm , Bart reflects on growing older, parenting, perspective, maturity, and the realization that many of the things parents tried to teach us finally begin making sense later in life. From childhood memories… to becoming a parent himself… to the shifting perspect...

Marriage isn’t a destination. It’s a climb. In Episode 113 of Summit After the Storm , Bart reflects on marriage, divorce, blended families, commitment, parenting differences, emotional strain, and why successful marriages require teamwork through difficult seasons. From the reality of second marriage challenges… to raising children in blended families… to the lessons learned climbing Kilimanjaro...

Even when you think they aren’t paying attention… your children are watching you closely. In Episode 112 of Summit After the Storm , Bart reflects on parenting, leadership at home, emotional influence, and the silent lessons children learn simply by observing the adults around them. From reactions and tone… to patience, kindness, stress, and consistency… this episode explores how children often im...

For all the ways modern life keeps people connected… many people have never felt more emotionally alone. In Episode 111 of Summit After the Storm , Bart reflects on emotional emptiness, loneliness, social media overload, spiritual drift, depression, and why so many people quietly feel disconnected in today’s world. From constant phone notifications… to endless scrolling… to losing real human conne...

Around 50,000 people die from storms every year. But the most dangerous storms in life… usually happen inside people. In Episode 110 of Summit After the Storm , Bart reflects on fear, anxiety, insecurity, emotional battles, and the invisible internal storms people quietly fight every day. From surviving a tornado warning as a child… to chasing storms outside… to confronting storms within… this epi...

Have you ever lied when someone asked: “How are you?” Most people answer: “I’m fine.” Even when they’re exhausted. In Episode 109 of Summit After the Storm , Bart reflects on emotional exhaustion, hidden stress, burnout, anxiety, and the silent burdens many people carry every single day while pretending everything is okay. From work pressure… to health fears… to family stress… to emotional overloa...

One of the loneliest feelings in leadership… is carrying something you cannot talk about. In Episode 108 of Summit After the Storm , Bart reflects on the emotional isolation leaders quietly experience while carrying responsibility for others. From confidential company decisions… to difficult conversations… to silently carrying pressure nobody else fully sees… this episode explores the hidden emoti...

If someone asked you to describe yourself… without mentioning your job… could you do it? In Episode 107 of Summit After the Storm , Bart reflects on identity, ambition, burnout, career pressure, and the dangerous way modern culture ties self-worth to titles, accomplishments, and professional success. From resumes and LinkedIn profiles… to promotions, deadlines, and external validation… this episod...