We live in a difficult time. People have their opinions about how to solve problems, but distrust runs deep. People make promises—especially our politicians—but they can’t always deliver on those promises. In our season one finale, bestselling author and columnist David Brooks joins The Echoes Podcast to explore what’s really missing—and how we might find it again. Brooks helps us see that what’s broken in our world is not simply political, but spiritual and relational. He shares stories of moral formation and vulnerability, and together we practice the simple but powerful act of asking good questions. Along the way, we reflect on the limits of AI, the enduring power of art, and why overinvesting in friendship might just be the hope we need.

David Brooks is the author of The Road to Character, The Second Mountain, and How to Know a Person. A columnist for The New York Times and The Atlantic, he’s known for exploring the intersection of politics, culture, and morality.

Mentioned in this episode:

• The Road to Character and How to Know a Person by David Brooks

• East of Eden by John Steinbeck

• The Gift by Lewis Hyde (referenced contextually)

• Ronald Reagan’s address at the Laymen’s Leadership Institute in 1974 (excerpted clip begins at 6:50).

• “Remembering Jim Lehrer” on PBS

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What does it mean to create something beautiful—not despite our limitations, but because of them? We talk with bestselling author and artist Austin Kleon about creativity as resistance, the tension between process and product, and the courage to show our work. From crushed oyster shells to pink conchas, from ancient nun rhythms to the modern grind, this episode reminds us that creativity is not about abundance—it’s about attention. And it might just save our souls.

Our guest this week, Austin Kleon, is the New York Times bestselling author of Steal Like an Artist, Show Your Work, and Keep Going. Known for his accessible insights into the creative process, he writes a widely followed weekly newsletter and shares his own journey of making art with words and pictures.

Notes

• Steal Like an Artist, Keep Going, and Show Your Work by Austin Kleon
• The Gift by Lewis Hyde
• Makoto Fujimura at Laity Lodge
• Pink concha painting by Eva M. Marengo Sanchez
• Get a beautiful quarterly print magazine for free at echoesmagazine.org

Do “kids these days” have you scratching your head? You’re not alone. In this episode, Dr. Crystal Kirgiss joins Camille Hall-Ortega and Marcus Goodyear to explore the ancient roots of adolescence, the unchanging traits of teenagers across time, and why understanding young adults has more to do with showing up than keeping up with trends. Whether you're a parent, a mentor, or just someone who wants to support the next generation, this conversation offers wisdom, encouragement, and a reminder that you’re not the first person to face these challenges.

Even if you don't have kids, simply being a good neighbor can include noticing and caring for teens in your community. You don’t need to be cool—you just need to be there.

Notes

• Dr. Crystal Kirgiss – Director of Discipleship Content at Young Life, author, speaker, and expert on the history of adolescence.
• Hosted by Camille Hall-Ortega and Marcus Goodyear.
• The Relate Study by Young Life
• Young Life Discipleship Resources
• Eugene Peterson’s book on raising teenagers
• Crystal’s article in the Echoes Magazine (Issue 1, 2025)

Sister Pearl Ceasar has a remarkable journey from classroom teacher to nonpartisan community organizer. Guided by her deep faith and commitment to justice, Sister Pearl spent decades building coalitions for change in San Antonio and across Texas. She explains how personal relationships, listening, and persistence can transform neighborhoods—and entire cities. Co-hosts Marcus Goodyear and Camille Hall-Ortega join Sister Pearl to reflect on faith, leadership, and the power of binding communities together for the common good.

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🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode Notes:

• "If you’re walking and no one is following, you’re not leading—you’re just out for a walk."
• "Real change happens when neighbors listen to each other—and move forward together."
• "Organizing isn’t about politics; it’s about love made visible in community."
• "Faith isn’t abstract. It’s building drainage systems, raising wages, and ensuring everyone has a fair shot."
• "Justice is slow work, but the only thing slower is doing nothing at all."
• COPS/Metro Alliance
• Project Quest
• Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF)
• Learn more about community organizing in Texas at the West/Southwest IAF.

Production Team:

Written and produced by Marcus Goodyear, Camille Hall-Ortega, and Rob Stennett

Hosted by Marcus Goodyear and Camille Hall-Ortega

Edited by Rob Stennett and Kim Stone

Executive Producers: Patton Dodd and David Rogers

Graphic Design Manager: Hilary Commer

Junior Designer: Lindsay Bruce

Content Creator: Alyson Amestoy

Staff Writer: Beth Avila

Funded by the H. E. Butt Foundation

Special thanks to our guest Sister Pearl Ceasar.

Grammy-winning musical artist and author Ashley Cleveland joins The Echoes Podcast to talk about grit. Through addiction and recovery, heartbreak and healing, Ashley invites us into a story where surrender becomes strength, vulnerability becomes vision, and brokenness gives way to beauty. This is a conversation about faith forged in fire, and the quiet, astonishing power of telling the whole, unvarnished truth.

🔗 Subscribe to Echoes Magazine for free: EchoesMagazine.org

🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode Notes:

• Little Black Sheep: A Memoir by Ashley Cleveland.
• Ashley Cleveland’s extensive discography includes three Grammy Award wins for Best Rock Gospel Album: The Daylight’s Shot, You Are There, and Lesson of Love.
• Also referenced:
• Olga Samples Davis (Echoes Podcast previous guest)
• Rust College (Historically Black College)
• Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”
• Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)
• Madeleine L’Engle (Author, speaker at Laity Lodge, mentioned via archive clip)
• Ignatian spiritual exercises (19th annotation)
• Ashley Cleveland’s sermons at Church of the Redeemer

Production Team:
Written and produced by Marcus Goodyear, Camille Hall-Ortega, and Rob Stennett
Hosted by Camille Hall-Ortega and Marcus Goodyear
Edited by Rob Stennett and Kim Stone
Executive Producers: Patton Dodd and David Rogers
Graphic Design Manager: Hilary Commer
Junior Designer: Lindsay Bruce
Content Creator: Alyson Amestoy
Staff Writer: Beth Avila

Funded by the H. E. Butt Foundation

Special thanks to our guest Ashley Cleveland for being vulnerable about her struggles and for talking with us about grit.

Theoretically, we are more connected than ever, yet loneliness is a growing crisis. Research shows that social isolation can be as harmful to our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. What’s behind this epidemic of disconnection, and what can we do about it?

In this episode, psychiatrist and theologian Dr. Warren Kinghorn joins hosts Marcus Goodyear and Camille Hall-Ortega to explore the medical and theological roots of loneliness. Drawing on his work with veterans, students, and other communities, Dr. Kinghorn offers a powerful perspective on why we struggle to find belonging—and how embracing vulnerability and deep connection can change our lives.

From the impact of social media to the lessons of faith, from the role of community to the surprising effects of shame, this conversation is a hopeful reflection on what it truly means to belong.

🔗 Subscribe to Echoes Magazine for free: EchoesMagazine.org

🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode Notes:

• Echoes Magazine feature on Dr. Kinghorn: Loneliness is killing us: Duke University, the University of Aberdeen, and guests explored solutions at a recent Laity Lodge retreat.
• Dr. Warren Kinghorn’s faculty page at Duke University
• Wayfaring: A Theological Journey by Warren Kinghorn
• Surgeon General’s 2023 Report: Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation
• The New York Times: Why Is the Loneliness Epidemic so Hard to Cure? (paywall)
• Pew Research Center: 2025 Religious Landscape Study
• Gallup: Church Attendance Has Declined in Most U.S. Religious Groups
• From the UK: Loneliness minister: “It’s more important than ever to take action”
• From the World Health Organization: Commission on Social Connection
• The Congregational Collective
• Braving the Wilderness by Brené Brown
• Madness and Grace by Matthew S. Stanford
• The Soul of Shame by Curt Thompson
• Josef Pieper, German philosopher and author
• Albert Borgmann, philosopher of technology
• Genesis 2-3 (Biblical account of humanity’s brokenness)
• 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 (The Body of Christ and community)

Production Team:
Written and produced by Marcus Goodyear, Rob Stennett, and Camille Hall-Ortega
Edited by Rob Stennett and Kim Stone
Executive Producers: Patton Dodd and David Rogers
Graphic Design Manager: Hilary Commer

Junior Designer: Lindsay Bruce

Content Creator: Alyson Amestoy

Staff Writer: Elisabeth Avila

Writer: Elizabeth Coffee

Funded by the H. E. Butt Foundation

Special thanks to our guest Dr. Warren Kinghorn for his thoughtful exploration of loneliness, belonging, and mental health.

“Your zip code shouldn’t determine your life expectancy—but in many American cities, it does.” In this eye-opening conversation, San Antonio vascular surgeon Dr. Lyssa Ochoa talks with us, your hosts Camille Hall-Ortega and Marcus Goodyear, about the stark health disparities in our communities. She highlights a 20-year gap in life expectancy between San Antonio neighborhoods just miles apart. This issue has complicated roots—including historical practices like redlining—and today, some communities are seeing higher rates of diabetes, amputations, and other chronic illnesses. Through her work at the SAVE Clinic, Dr. Ochoa advocates fiercely for equitable healthcare, investing in underserved neighborhoods, and offering compassionate, accessible care. Join us as we discuss why true community health means caring for our neighbors.

🔗 Subscribe to Echoes Magazine for free: EchoesMagazine.org

Episode Notes:

• Echoes Magazine feature on Dr. Ochoa: “What My Patients Are Facing Is Beyond Medical Need”
  
  
• Know Your Neighbor: “Making San Antonio” with Dr. Christine Drennon of Trinity University

• Laity Lodge: “Becoming a Beloved Community” by Michelle Lugalia-Hollon
  
  
• SAVE Clinic (San Antonio Vascular and Endovascular Clinic) founded by Dr. Lyssa Ochoa

• Dr. Roberto Treviño and the National Diabetes Prevention Program
  
  
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Social Determinants of Health framework
  
  
• San Antonio Report: Southside economic growth offers opportunity to work toward healthy equity
  
  
• San Antonio Report: Medical group ordered to pay $8M for Medicare fraud to lay off employees, close locations
  
  
• South Bexar County Medical Needs Assessment Report 2023
  
  
• San Antonio Express-News: Losing Limbs to a Terrible Disease
  
  
• CBS Morning News: “Less about people and more about profits”: Investors’ role in closure of San Antonio Hospital Under Scrutiny
  
  

Production Team:

Written and produced by Camille Hall-Ortega, Rob Stennett, and Marcus Goodyear

Edited by Rob Stennett and Kim Stone

Executive Producers: Patton Dodd and David Rogers

Graphic Design Manager: Hilary Commer

Junior Designer: Lindsay Bruce

Content Creator: Alyson Amestoy

Staff Writer: Beth Avila

Writer: Elizabeth Coffee

Funded by the H. E. Butt Foundation

Special thanks to our guest Dr. Lyssa Ochoa for highlighting health disparities and advocating passionately for equitable healthcare in our communities.

“We live in a world designed to distract us. Quiet isn’t passivity—it’s an active resistance, a space to reconnect with God and ourselves,” says celebrated singer-songwriter Jon Guerra in this episode. He joins hosts Camille Hall-Ortega and Marcus Goodyear to explore the profound relationship between worship, silence, and beauty. Known for his devotional music and work on the critically acclaimed film A Hidden Life, Jon shares his journey from confetti cannons to quiet reflection, crafting songs that offer healing and connection in a noisy world. Together, they talk about the transformative power of worship, the importance of embracing silence, and the ways beauty can draw us closer to God. If you are looking to create a sacred space in your own life, you don’t want to miss this one.

NOTES:

Jon Guerra’s website
"American Gospel" from Jon Guerra's latest EP
Keeper of Days by Jon Guerra
A Hidden Life by Terrence Malick
On Beauty and Being Just by Elaine Scarry
“As Kingfishers Catch Fire” by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Practicing the Way - John Mark Comer

On Beauty and Being Just - Elaine Scarry
The Beatitudes from the Gospels (Matthew 5:3–12)
The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:10)
Ecclesiastes on the rain and sun (Ecclesiastes 9:2)
Mary Magdalene at the tomb (John 20:11–18)

State of the heart (Proverbs 14:13)

Production Team:

• Written and produced by Camille Hall-Ortega, Rob Stennett, and Marcus Goodyear
• Edited by Rob Stennett and Kim Stone
• Executive Producers: Patton Dodd and David Rogers
• Funded by the H. E. Butt Foundation

Special thanks to our guest Jon Guerra for sharing his insights on worship and music.