The Brenton Peck Podcast

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Some links below are affiliate links. Jordan Peterson closes out 12 Rules for Life with two rules that hit different depending on who's reading them. Rule 11 says don't bother kids when they're skateboarding. Rule 12 says pet a cat when you encounter one on the street. Teri Peck joins me to finish the series, and what starts as a...

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Some links below are affiliate links. Teri is back for Rules 9 and 10 of Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life, and these two chapters land harder than anything in the series so far. Rule 9 asks you to assume the person you're listening to might know something you don't. Rule 10 tells you to be precise in your speech. Together, the...

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Some links below are affiliate links. Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life has a way of turning simple-sounding rules into two-hour conversations. Teri and I worked through Rules 7 and 8, and both of them went further than expected. Rule 7 is pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient. That sounds simple until you try to define mean...

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Some links below are affiliate links. Brenton and Teri are back for their third conversation on Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life — this time covering Rules 5 and 6. Rule 5 is the one that makes parents uncomfortable: "Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them." Rule 6 is the one most people skip: &quot...

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Some links below are affiliate links. Brenton's wife Teri is back, and this time they're working through chapters three and four of Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life — Rule 3: Make Friends With People Who Want the Best for You, and Rule 4: Compare Yourself to Who You Were Yesterday, Not to Who Someone Else Is Today. This one ge...

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Some links below are affiliate links. Brenton and Teri sit down to work through the first two rules of Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life — and what starts as a book discussion turns into something much more personal. Rule 1 forces a reckoning with order, chaos, and why most people are terrified to face the unknown. Rule 2 asks a harder...

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Some links below are affiliate links. Brenton sits down with his wife Teri to work through The Naked Marriage by Dave and Ashley Willis — and this one gets honest fast. They unpack what it actually means to be naked in a marriage: not provocatively, but the way Adam and Eve were naked in the garden — without shame, without hiding, without th...

What happens when a man serving at a homeless mission realizes he has been busy doing Christian things—but not actually listening to God? In this episode, Jason Billester of Boise Rescue Mission Ministries talks about growing up between money and ministry, the car accident that nearly killed him, the heartbreak of miscarriage, his son’s emergency open-heart surgery, and the hard lesson that servin...

What do you fear most for your kids? In this episode, Teri and I talk honestly about what we fear for our son and daughters as they grow up—relationships, faith, pressure from the culture, protection, prayer, maturity, and the kind of marriage that can shape a life for better or worse. This conversation starts with parenting, but it reaches into marriage, faith, discipline, self-defense, and the v...

What makes a conversation actually worth listening to? In this episode, my wife Teri joins me to look back at the podcast so far and say what has really landed, what kinds of stories stick, and where she thinks the show should go next. We talk about why ordinary family life can turn controversial online, why the podcast needs both heavy conversations and lighter ones, what she has learned from sta...

Disclosure: This description contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. In this episode, Teri Peck shares what stood out from reading the follow-up to The 5 Love Languages, and we use that as a springboard to talk about what real marriage looks like after the test ends. We get into why love languages can change quickly, why your spouse can’t read your mind,...

Disclosure: This description contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Episode 27 — Debra Peck (my mom)We talk about the books that shaped us—and why stories form people in a way slogans never will. Debra shares why she *wasn’t allowed* to read The Hobbit / Lord of the Rings growing up (because “wizards”), how her view of faith and story changed over time,...

Lane Schmelzenbach grew up commercial fishing in Kodiak and Bristol Bay, Alaska—starting at 10 years old—and spent decades living the rhythm of short seasons, long nights, storms, and hard rules that keep you alive. We talk about what the work is actually like (gillnetting, longlining, quotas, escapement), a storm rescue that still feels unreal, and how a life built around risk and routine shaped...

Valentine’s Day episode with my wife, Teri. We talk through the real stories—how we met on Tinder, the proposal, the early years, and the communication lessons we learned the hard way. If you’re married (or want to be), this one’s for the people who want teamwork, not power games. In this episode:How our first dates actually went (and the “boulder” incident)Proposal expectations vs reality (Shania...

Episode 24 — LaRita Schandorff has been pushing Nampa toward a more bike-friendly, walkable city since 2005. In this conversation, we get into the unsexy truth of how cities change: projects are planned years out… and money follows plans. Episode page + show links: https://www.brentonpeckpodcast.com LaRita shares the story behind Bike Walk Nampa and the Nampa Bicycle Project, plus the real-world o...

Brenton sits down with his wife, Teri Peck, to talk through real life behind the camera—marriage communication, parenting pressure, and how we’re refining the direction and pitch of the show. We also get honest about the grind of editing and building clips week after week. In this episode: - Why we’re widening the show beyond only trauma-heavy stories—because everyone has a story. - The pitching m...

My wife Teri flips the script and interviews me. We talk about how the world feels different now—more tension, less freedom for kids—and how technology went from dial-up and MS-DOS to modern software and frameworks. Then we get into what actually shaped me: growing up mostly homeschooled, a stretch in public school, being bored when things came too easily, and how OCD/obsessive tendencies showed u...

Wendy Ann Mattox has written 15 action-packed Christian chapter books—but the story behind her stories is just as rich. In this episode, we talk about her roots in education, the turning point that led her to write full time, and the deeper mission behind every mystery she crafts for kids. We also explore:Her journey from teacher to authorWhy adventure stories are powerful tools for truthThe faith...

In episode 20 I’m sitting down again with my wife Teri (her third time on the podcast) to pull back the curtain on what actually goes into running this show as a team. Most people see the long-form episodes and the Shorts. They don’t see Teri watching full episodes, pulling timestamps, building the clips, and pushing everything across TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and more. In this conversation we wa...

My guest today is Master Cosmo Zimik — founder of Empty Hand Combat in Nampa, Idaho and a man who describes himself as “an evangelist first, martial artist second.” He grew up in remote mountain villages in the Naga region of India, where food was simple, resources were scarce, and life was hard from an early age. Martial arts wasn’t a hobby; it was a way of life and a path to protect the people h...

What happens when your kids watch from the window to see if dad is grumpy before they run to the door? That moment forced Nampa real estate broker Matt LeBaron to rethink the way he showed up at home—and it became the turning point in how he understands gratitude, happiness, and responsibility. Matt is a Nampa native, owner of Trust Realty in Idaho, and has spent over two decades in real estate. M...

What does it mean to build a life that actually holds—especially in a world being reshaped by AI, convenience, and pressure? In Part 1 of this conversation, Matt LeBaron shares his journey from pipeline work and early success into real estate, entrepreneurship, and fatherhood—and how faith, discipline, and responsibility were forged through hardship, market collapse, and long seasons of work. We t...

Doug Crist’s journey is one of the most honest and dramatic transformations we’ve featured on this podcast. This episode includes first-person accounts of past drug use, addiction, criminal behavior, and suicide attempts. It contains references to meth, cocaine, LSD, alcohol, and other substances, as well as discussions of self-harm and suicidal thoughts. The purpose of this story is to trace a de...

Parker Harger is a Marine Corps veteran, husband and father of five, cybersecurity pro, and the founder of So Good—a nonprofit focused on simple acts that actually help: teachers, veterans, first responders, food banks, and neighbors. Content advisory: discussion of the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting at Mandalay Bay (non-graphic). Includes mention of casualties, ringing phones while families tried t...

This week looks a little different. Our kids were sick, so instead of recording with our scheduled guest, Teri and I sat down for a conversation that turned out to be deeper and more personal than we expected. We started with Dennis Prager’s Happiness Is a Serious Problem—and how his ideas challenge the way we think about happiness, responsibility, meaning, and the quiet habits that shape our emot...