Episode Summary

Five-time Emmy award-winning journalist Rome Hartman talks with Marcus Goodyear and Camille Hall-Ortega to reflect on faith, leadership, and patriotism. They discuss three presidents—Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Gerald Ford—each of whom spoke at H. E. Butt Foundation events in the past. It’s a conversation about humility, power, public service, and the enduring challenge of loving a country honestly—celebrating its gifts while remaining willing to examine its shortcomings.

Show Notes

• Archival recordings from Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Gerald Ford available on the episode page at echoesmagazine.org/faith-leadership-power-america-250
• 11 Fireside Chats (F. Roosevelt) | The American Presidency Project
• President Ronald Reagan begins Saturday Morning Radio Addresses (April 3, 1982)| We Are Broadcasters

After nearly two seasons of conversations with thinkers, writers, artists, and scholars, Marcus and Camille take time to reflect on the ideas they can't stop thinking about. From mental health and human connection to AI, addiction, and the future of community, this episode explores the themes that have echoed long after the microphones were turned off. It's a candid look at what they've learned, what has challenged them, and what they hope listeners carry forward.

Notes:

• Dave Nienhaus — the difference between darkness and the deep, and what the church gets wrong about suffering
• Sally Lloyd-Jones — what children have taught a beloved children's book author about connection and art
• Andy Crouch — technology as the sorcerer's apprentice, and what we lose when we outsource our humanity
• Lydia Dugdale — hope is not a feeling but a discipline, a daily choice to orient toward a future good
• Ian Morgan-Cron — addiction, the Enneagram, and a Big Bend backpacking trip Marcus will never forget

Summary

We all hide. We hide from God, from each other, and even from ourselves — and it turns out that's not just a spiritual problem. It's a brain problem. In this episode, psychiatrist and author Dr. Curt Thompson joins Marcus Goodyear and Camille Hall-Ortega to explore what neuroscience and Christian spiritual formation have to say to each other about shame, community, and the human longing to be fully known.

Links and Resources

• Subscribe to Echoes magazine (free, quarterly print): echoesmagazine.org
• Dr. Curt Thompson's website: curtthompsonmd.com
• The Being Known Podcast: available on all major streaming platforms
• The Center for Being Known: www.thecbk.org/
• The Soul of Shame: Retelling the Stories We Believe About Ourselves (IVP, 2015)
• The Deepest Place: Suffering and the Formation of Hope (HarperOne, 2023)
• Paul Borgman, Genesis: The Story We Haven't Heard (IVP, 2001)

H. E. Butt Foundation: hebfdn.org