As I work with men approaching the middle years of life all too often the questions are asked:
Who are the pioneers on the journey?
What hard-earned wisdom do they have to prepare us for the road ahead?
Each podcast episode Mike will sit down with a new guest for a unique interview experience. The guests are men 65 years and older. Each guest has prepared a written story to read before engaging the defining event in discussion. Each conversation ends with a survey of themes men are wrestling in life including career, relationships and family. These interview are produced with men in quarter-life and middle-years of life in mind. Have you enjoyed the conversation or know someone who would benefit from an episode? Please forward the episode along.
Welcome to Season One!
05 | John’s Moment
9/25/2024
John Blake is 78-years old and retired from a lifetime of careers including police and fire chaplain, church pastor, missionary, teacher, journalist and television producer. He and his wife Sandy live in Everett, Washington with their daughter and delight in their eight grandchildren. John will read the story when he and his wife were making a major life decision to move their young family overseas. They had come to transformative faith crossroad in their early forties and decided to align their lifestyle with their newfound values. When all doors seem closed and the future unclear John shares the unconventional moment when he made a bold step to do the next thing. The conversation concludes with a touching Speed Round where he will share his seasoned take on the topics of health, wealth, work, play, marriage, family and faith.
Enjoy this meaningful conversation hosted by Mike Wright and his guest John Blake. If you enjoy this conversation or know someone who would benefit from this podcast please forward this along.
John has recently published a short novel of a fictional account of the woman Jesus met at the well from the gospel of John called “Photina of Samaria”. The book is available for purchase on Amazon - https://a.co/d/5clYA29
04 | Larry’s Moment
9/18/2024
Larry Mark is 66-years old and practices as a marriage and family psychotherapist in Bellevue, Washington. Larry is the firstborn of four siblings and third-generation of emigrants from China. He grew up in Seattle, started his family in Los Angeles before returning to the Seattle area to pursue his vocation as pastor, church starter and finally as a mental health therapist. He is married to his wife, Chris and has two adult children Kelly and Kyle. Larry reads the story of the night when his incessant focus on work reached a crisis with his wife. He will share his discovery that his early childhood experiences shaped his style of relating to his wife and work, and how he found a way to change it. The conversation concludes with the helpful Speed Round where he will share his seasoned take on the topics of health, wealth, work, play, marriage, family and faith.
Enjoy this meaningful conversation hosted by Mike Wright and his guest Larry Mark. If you enjoy this conversation or know someone who would benefit from this podcast please forward this along.
For more information about Larry’s marriage and family practice visit his website - https://www.larrymarkchristiancounseling.com/
03 | Steve’s Moment
9/11/2024
Steve Frank is 65-years old, a retired software engineer and poet. Coming to fatherhood in his forties Steve encountered the impactful event of the birth of his firstborn Jordan who was born prematurely and faced the life-altering challenge of cerebral palsy quadriplegia. Reading from a portion of his recently published book “My Journey from Death to Life through Poetry: How I found my feelings and resurrected my relationships” Steve will offer his discovery of the deeper feelings that brought life in a new way: From a man unfamiliar with feelings to the man who found life and authentic emotion through the journey of raising a son with a severe disability and two daughters. The conversation concludes with an inspiring Speed Round where he will share his hot take on the topics of health, wealth, work, play, marriage, family and faith.
Enjoy this meaningful conversation hosted by Mike Wright and his guest Steve Frank. If you enjoy this conversation or know someone who would benefit from this podcast please forward this along.
If interested in purchasing Steve Frank’s book visit Amazon - https://a.co/d/c3exgY3
02 | Jim’s Moment
9/4/2024
Jim Wright is 71-years old, retired from a lifelong ministry in various non-profit church settings in Washington, Oregon, and Nevada and three years in France. He and his wife Tori are parents of three adult children, grandparents and presently live in Redmond, Oregon. In this conversation Jim shares the stunning phone call from a family member on a sunny afternoon in southern France as he and his three young children played in a pool. It would uproot and radically change their family. Jim shares the loss, grief and finding a new way forward when four children are suddenly added to the family with the death of their parents. The conversation concludes with an insightful Speed Round where he will share his seasoned take on the topics of health, wealth, work, play, marriage, family and faith.
Enjoy this meaningful conversation hosted by Mike Wright and his guest Jim Wright. If you enjoy this conversation or know someone who would benefit from this podcast please forward this along.
01 | Bob’s Moment
8/27/2024
Bob is 76-years old and a retired middle school chemistry teacher. He and his wife raised their family near Olympia, Washington, presently live in Arizona, and enjoy their three daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren. Bob reads the story about the violent and traumatic event that happened three weeks after he arrived in Vietnam. He was in the hot bed of military activity and witnessed… of the military draft. The story includes difficult-to-hear details that accompany Bob fifty-years later. From this defining event we transition in our conversation to discuss the topics men are wrestling with in their life and Bob will offer his insights on relationships, life and work.
Enjoy this meaningful conversation hosted by Mike Wright and his guest Bob. If you enjoy this conversation or know someone who would benefit from this podcast please forward this along.
Interested in recording your own Ordinary Men Podcast Interview?
Coaching the Crossroads is offering a new opportunity for men 65+ years of age interested in their own Ordinary Men and the Moments That Made Them experience. Men will be coached through the personal story writing exercise, engage in a personal interview with Mike and be provided with a recorded episode treasured by their family as a gifted legacy.
Contact Mike Wright for more information, pricing and scheduling of this keepsake service!