Letisha Bereola (Fmr. News Anchor + Founder of Paradigm Media Group)

Today's episode will begin in three minutes. But first I want to tell you about something crazy I'm doing for my new book, five Mere Christians. I've never seen an author do this before, but I'm giving a money back.

Guarantee on this book.

I'm so confident you're gonna love this book that if I'm wrong, if you pre order the book, you don't love it, I'm gonna send you a $20Amazon gift card as a money back guarantee. Why? Two reasons. One, this is a different book for me, right. I know this is a very different biography. What is Jordan Rayner doing? And I know it's risky, so I'm going to de risk it for you. Because listen, in my other books, Redeeming youg Time, the Sacredness of Secular Work, Master of One, etc, etc, I am telling you and me how we can glorify God in our work, but in five Mere Christians, I'm doing something very different. I'm showing you what that looks like practically through these unforgettable life stories of five Mere Christians from history. These are the top men and women that I would love to have on this podcast today if, you know, they weren't dead, right? So that's the first reason this is a risk and I'm gonna de risk.

This book for you.

Here's the second reason. I'm just confident you're gonna love this book. My friend Mark Batterson said, quote, five Mere Christians proves that biographies can be extremely entertaining, profoundly helpful, and mercifully short. If you're looking for a book that combines the punch of a great sermon with the pace of a great thriller, this is it. Highly recommended.

End quote. But here's the thing.

In order to qualify for this money back guarantee, you got to do two things. Step one, pre order five Mere Christians in any format, hardback, ebook, audiobook, whatever. And then step two, go to 5merechristians.com and fill out the form on that page and that's it. But you got to do it by midnight Eastern Time on May 9. By filling out that form, you'll also get all of the pre order bonuses listed on 5 mereChristians. Calm and be entered to win this crazy, epic trip for two to Europe. So visit 5merechristians.com right now to sign up.

Now, please enjoy today's episode.

Hey friend.

Welcome to the Mere Christians podcast. Hi, I'm Jordan Raynor.

How does the Gospel influence the work of mere Christians?

Those of us who aren't pastors or.

Religious professionals, but who work as artists.

Marketers and boat builders.

That's the question we explore every week. And today I'm posing it to Leticia Bariola. She's a former news anchor in Jacksonville, Florida, who won the best anchor award.

From the association of broadcast journalists in 2020.

Today, she's the founder and CEO of Paradigm Media Group, where her team produces and manages podcasts for personalities and brands. Leticia and I recently sat down to talk about how to honor your employer with your side hustle, what AI means for human connection and podcasting, and why and how you can show your work when you create any type of content.

Even if it's just an email at.

Work as a means of demonstrating your trustworthiness. I think you guys are going to.

Really enjoy this conversation with my friend, Leticia Bariola. Leticia, welcome to the podcast.

Hi, Jordan. Thanks so much for having me.

Long time listener, first time caller.

Yes.

I always love to ask, any favorite episodes? Because I know you've listened to a lot of them.

Yeah. And I mean, I'm just gonna have to put it out there. It's maybe not the last one, but the one you put out two weeks ago. The Bringing Back Tim Keller. The Tim Keller episode.

Oh, man.

Because I really, that day was looking, you know, I was going over articles and I was looking, you know, I wanted to connect with Tim Keller again. And when I saw that you dropped it, I think it was the evening. It was like a random time.

It was like a few hours after they announced that he had died.

Yeah.

Yes. And it just hit my phone. And I know your relationship and your admiration for him. And I was like, oh, this is the one. So that is just fresh in my memory. I listened to it before bed and I really appreciated that one. For sure.

It was special. And, you know, kind of the backstory, that episode better than most because you remember my mere Christians community. But that was special. I, right after I dropped it, went and walked around the neighborhood and listen to it myself. It was a great way to remember and. And grieve over Sam. It was pretty special. By the way, this morning I found the greatest video ever that I just, like, have to put out there to our audience. There is a video somewhere and hopefully our editors will find it and put in the show notes of Tim Keller in a car riding around New York City singing the Music Man. And it is pure gold. Oh, my gosh. I don't know. The YouTube algorithm got me, showed it to me this morning. I was like, thank you, Lord, for this gift to the universe. It's gold. Hey, so you spent 11 years working as this award winning news anchor.

I feel like I remember as a.

Kid wanting to be a news anchor. Like I thought that was the coolest job.

Yeah. Was that true for you?

No, but when I think about when the idea first planted in my head because I get asked this a lot. Did you always want to be this? I say no. However, do you remember back when MTV was a dominant, you know, the music videos it would be on before school. And I remember the VJs. Remember VJs?

Yes.

They were like the. I don't know what even stands for, but they were like the cool hip interviewing artists and toss into videos. And I remember her name was Lala. Was. Was one of the main VJs. And I remember making like, I guess it's a vision board. I was in middle school or elementary school and I was like vj, la la. And I'm like, you know what? That was my first understanding of what it was to be like on TV and talking about cool stuff and like just being yourself. So maybe in a sense, yes. But it wasn't quite. News anchor.

Yeah. That's amazing. I remember as a kid, oh, this is gonna date me. My grandparents took me to Morrison's. Do you remember Morrison's? This like terrible buffet restaurant? Oh, it was like Piccadilly kind of. It was like the precursor. It was like slightly nicer than Golden Corral. I don't know. We were at Morrison's and our local news anchor from Fox 13, Kelly Ring was there and I was, I don't know, I was like 7, but I already had like a crush on Kelly Ring. And I'm like, yeah, I want to work next to Kelly Ring when I get older. But I don't think any kid grows up like wanting to be a news anchoring, but they don't even know what a new news anchor is. My kids are like, what are you talking about?

Yes.

What the heck is an anchor? Like on a boat?

Yeah, it's somebody on TV to them that is really dressed up and doing cool stuff. Really?

That's right. So what about broadcast journalism was appealing to you, like as a believer? Like, when did you look at this big man? This is a way that I could serve God and, and his purposes in the world.

So this came. It actually didn't start with news anchoring in college. I went to Florida A and M and I actually went to tcc, the community college first, and was going to transfer to Florida A and M. And during that time, my friend And I, my best friend in college, we were just kind of bored. We were bored. Like the college life, the parties, all that just didn't really fascinate us. We were Christian, we knew there was more to life. We wanted to have interesting conversations. Like we wanted to spark something cool. So we were like, what if we start a TV show? We just had the idea, let's start a TV show. So we did. We started something called College Remixed. We weren't in broadcast or TV journalism anything at the time. And we essentially had auditions and got host, we recruited editors and a producer team and we ended up basically producing a TV show that would air on FSU's and FAMU's public channels.

This is amazing. We have a second. What year is this?

Oh my gosh. This was probably 2004ish.

So I was in Tallahassee. I just got to Tallahassee in Florida State.

Yeah.

Yes, we would. And I didn't go to Florida. We didn't go to Florida State. We were FAMU kids. But we went over to Florida State and said to their media department and said, hey, we have a TV show, will you air it? I'm sure they aired at like 6am or whatever, but they did. And. But that was my taste of like, whoa. You mean we can get people together, have an idea, do some production and like put, I guess, content or put stories out into the world that align with just whatever we want to talk about. I was like, this is media. And so from there I knew the path I needed to understand media. And so in Tallahassee, you know, you have FSU has communications degree, but FAMU had broadcast journalism, which is like the studio and the editing and it was like a full on production. Right. They do live TV there. So I'm like, I guess I got to do broadcast journalism in order to do this work. It really wasn't ever I want to be a news person. It was I want to produce work that could change the world to spark conversations. And so that's kind of how I got into it.

I love it. I love that so much. It is so addicting, like getting that, I don't know, just that first experience of creating something and like seeing it on the news or even if it's local Tallahassee TV or a book in the world, whatever. Because we're made in the image of the creator God, right? Like it's just in our DNA.

Let me tell you, I had a moment once I got to FAMU and one of the classes was a documentary class. Documentary class. And that was my. My favorite out of all of it, because we could pitch an idea of what we wanted to do a doc on and go produce it. So this is so telling when you think about what I'm doing now. But my pitch was I want to do a documentary on happiness. I want to study happiness and everyone's different version of it. Of course, I had my version of it, but I figured that's something good I could do, right? So we did this doc. It's called Happy. And I remember sitting with people and just being able to ask them a question and sparking what I thought was a new thought, like a new way to see the world or something I've never heard before. And I loved the interaction between me asking a question and that sparking revelation. And so, like that interview kind of relationship, I really, really loved.

I love that. So for more than a decade, your job was to read and report a lot of tragic stuff, right? I mean, local news, yeah, there's a lot of good news, but there's also a lot of dark news. I'm curious how that frequent, I don't know, just reminder of the brokenness of this world. How did that shape your relationship with God for that decade? You were sitting in the anchor chair.

Yeah. This is a question, Jordan. I'm still, like, working through now for all context, I left 2021, October 2021. So not even two years out. So I'm still thinking back on the experiences, because you're right. I mean, pretty much every day I was talking about the most tragic, the worst part of society, Right? The news. And I love you newsies, but, you guys know, at least on the local level, a lot of it is like, okay, what was kind of the craziest, worst thing that happened today that we think people should.

Florida man stories. You were in Jacksonville. Come on.

Yes. So it was car crashes, it was fires, it was deaths. That was shootings. All of it. Right. So having to reconcile, like, you know, I'm a good news girl. I'm here to spread the good news. And so when my path put me in what I felt was a really kind of dark place, I really struggled with that for many, many years. And I'm still trying to wrap my brain around sort of how God used me in that space. But here's what I do. I know that people could tell that there was something about me in the way that I told these stories that felt like empathy, that felt like a human, that felt like someone who cared, that felt like light to them. And so What I think I take from that is that God used me in a kind of a dark place to bring some light. You know, I was a morning anchor the last three years, so I was the first person you saw on Fox and CBS saying good morning. So even though I had, like, 10 seconds to give you a smile before I went and told you something kind of crazy, I really savored that. And then when I did tell you something crazy, I tried to tell it with my heart. And so I hope. My hope is that over time or as people got to know me, they say, oh, she's a Christian. Like, oh, she loves God. Maybe that's what I saw every day on the news.

Did you ever hear somebody connect those dots? And to be clear, you know, my heart, even if they didn't, you being salt and light is intrinsically valuable to God.

But I am curious if anyone ever.

Connected the dots, either a viewer or somebody on staff at the station. And if so, what did that conversation sound like?

I get a lot of ahas where people were out, especially now when I have a lot of freedom to post and say whatever I want, right? A lot of viewers are going, ah, I knew it. You know, they're usually Christians, right? They're like, I knew it. I knew you were. Amen, sister. Like, they give me a lot of support, support. But I think when I was in the game, the feedback that I got was that they knew I was different. They knew that I cared. They knew. And even in my goodbye speech, that what I said, they gave me, like, three minutes to say goodbye. And I told them that every death or every tragedy, a tiny piece of me was with them, right? I prayed for their kids. I prayed for their healing. I prayed, you know, like, I was in the trenches with them. And I got to tell them that when I said goodbye, but I also told them I was celebrating with you. I was praising God with you when there was healing or when you overcame, you know, the impossible. Like, there was a sliver of hope that in that commercial break, I was like, thank you, God. You know what I mean? So I was rejoicing with people. I was sad with people, and I think they really knew that, yeah, you're.

Rejoicing with those who rejoice and mourning with those who mourn. And I do think people can feel that. But even if they couldn't, that's what we're called to do. Born with those who born, Weep with those who weep, rejoice with those who rejoice. And so that act of obedience brought Your heavenly father. Great pleasure. Right?

Yeah.

It's funny, I watched a couple of your newscasts in preparation for this. I did watch a goodbye. Yeah, yeah. My team like dug up your goodbyes feature, which I like, loved. I thought it was really beautiful. It's clear that the joy of the Lord shaped how you told stories on the news. I'm curious if your faith had any role in shaping which stories you and the team chose to tell in the first place.

Is there any influence there?

Yeah. So it takes me back to the editorial room, right. Every day at 9:30 we sat at the big large conference table and we went around and we'd made our pitches and essentially the news director.

Yeah, yeah.

How does this work? I've never been in a local.

How does this work?

I don't think most people understand this.

Yeah. So every single day, usually it's around 9:30, we sit around in the editorial room and we go over what happened the day before. And then it's time for pitch time. And this time, depending on the station you work at, it could be quite stressful because you have to get on that board, you have to get your slot, you got to get in there noon, 1, 2. Like you have to sort of pass the test. And so there's something called the lead story that everyone was kind of competing for. And the lead story is when you tune in at 5 o', clock, the music comes on. It's like, what's the big story of the day? And most reporters wanted the big story of the day. So we'd go around and we would talk about what we thought was the big story of the day. We would discuss it, go on the board. If not, you never wanted to be the last person still sitting in there with the news director trying to figure out your story. But my strategy, honestly, after a couple years of having the lead story and yeah, I get it, okay. Usually lead story was something pretty tragic. But then I realized like, ooh, the 5:30 slot or that 555 slot that wasn't as hard news. I started to angle my pitches to those slots, which are usually a little bit softer, which is maybe what a non profit is doing or maybe a story of hope. So I would actually look for those stories. And over time, as I became a veteran journalist, I didn't always get those stories. They would still put me on the lead story. But I at least knew that I did my part and said, well, look, this is what else is going on in the community. Like I can make this a good story and I could usually sell it and I could usually get on it unless they pulled me.

I love that. No, it's really good. It's being light in a dark place. It's like, hey, yeah, there is all this darkness, but there's also good. There's also hope. And we're going to choose to tell those stories too, right?

Yes. Yes.

Yeah.

You recently left the local news desk, let's call it two years ish ago. How did you come to that decision? What did that look like?

So I just started to feel in my spirit that the time was coming up. And that's the best way to describe it. I could feel that something was next, but I did not think it was going to be another news job. After a year and a half, probably. And you know, a lot of people were having this thought, this is around 2020, the great resignation. People were starting to rethink work. And I was one of those people. And so I just started to think about what else I could do. And entrepreneurship really felt like the next step for me. And so I was quite burned out at the time. I was a journalist at 20 20, like, and I just had a baby in February 2020. So we were going through a lot those couple years. And so I was like, you know what? I need a break. I'm going to start my own business. So I stepped out of news. That was kind of a big deal. I mean, I had a contract. They were gracious enough to let me out of the contract. I was successful, I was well liked, like nothing was wrong. Right. But I could feel the calling for something next.

Is that what was wrong though, is the fact that it was easy? Did that make you ironically uncomfortable, like you felt like you had to push a little bit more?

Yeah. And actually that's the reason why. And we'll talk about this. But I started a podcast in 2019, before all of this feeling of burnout ready to go because I was bored. I was like, you know what? I have got to find a way to put at least a tiny bit of my vision of how media should be into the world. So I started a podcast on my own. I asked for permission, of course they let me do it. I was one of the probably first. Cuz I remember some of the local journalism blogs writing about it. Like, look, there's. We found two anchors in the country doing a podcast and it was a big deal. And at the time it was just like, I want to start having conversations that talk about life, that talk about how we got through stuff that are empowering. And enlightening. So I can tell you that boredom and that itch started a while before, and I satisfied it with the podcast. But then once the pandemic and all of this started happening, I'm like, you know what? No, I actually needed to take this out in full force. So I started with coaching. I took some classes around how to be a coach, and I got 60 plus hours of coaching for free and charging a little bit of money. Like, coaching was an amazing transition from news into entrepreneurship. And then in 2023, early 2023, God was. I really felt him saying, okay, time's up. You know, you had your. I let you have a break, I let you do some good. But your anointing, your calling, my dear, is in media. I have created you specifically to use your voice, to use your skills in this arena, and it's time to come back. And so I was like, okay, God, like, what does that look like? It was kind of general. So I was like, maybe I'm a media coach, you know, but I mean, it only took about a week for me to get clarity. And I was like, wow. Where I start with, this is going to be in the medium that I've always loved and that I indulge in the most that I. I mean, I go to audio conferences, like, solo, just because I love the. Love the medium. And I'm like, oh, this is where I should start. And so right away, I had a great response. Right now is a hot time to start a podcast. I'm like, all right, God, here we go. We're going to build this media business, and we're going to start with podcasting. And so here I am.

Here you are. And this is what you're doing today with Paradigm Media. You guys are helping brands launch a managed podcast, correct?

Yes. And I have to tell you the story behind the name Paradigm. I was. This is back in college. I remember. I think it was like a humanities class. And I remember the professors talking about the great paradigm shifters of our world, right? And he was going through Caesar and all these different great people, and he said Jesus. And I'm like, wait. And I never heard him say Jesus before. Right? Like, he's not talking about Jesus in humanities, but he said Jesus was one of those paradigm shifters. And I wrote down paradigm. And this is around the time where we were doing, you know, our TV show production, right?

Yeah.

And I was like, this is it. I want to do, like, paradigm shifting work. And I think it's in media. So I'm bringing that sort of Dream back from back in college when there's no responsibilities. And the dream hit me around media and what a paradigm shifter is. And I don't know, 18 years later, here I am.

I love it so much. That's so good. I love those seeds that God plants way, way early in our stories that blossom later on. Hey, I want to go back to something that you breeze past as like, oh, no big deal, but I think actually is a big deal. When you were still at the news station and you were thinking about launching this podcast, you asked for permission to do that. You said, I asked for permission, of course. And I don't think there's an of course there.

I think a lot of believers are.

Starting side hustles without consulting their employer.

And this is something I'm really passionate about. Right. Because Ephesians 6, all throughout Scripture, Colossians.

3 tells us that we are called.

To serve our employers, even employers we don't like, even employers we might hate with the ministry of excellence.

So talk about how you thought about that and how your faith compelled you to be open and transparent with your employer, even as you were thinking about leaving.

Yeah. Here's the thing. It's like, in order to do any endeavor while you're still working, you have to have as much freedom as you can. And if you're always having this, like, oh, my boss, you know, what if he finds out? Or like, having that conflict around starting something kind of in secret, I knew inherently that that was going to keep me from really enjoying it, like, really having ownership of it. Right. So I knew very first thing I needed to do is say, hey, this is what I want to do. And I told her the reasons why I. I was probably a little more, I don't know, softer in my pitch, where I said, I would just like to have something for myself. You know what I mean? And. And she was like, yeah, I get it. Okay. And we came to sort of terms which were very loose. It was just like, yeah, don't talk about anything crazy. You can't sell anything, you know? But she knew the kind of employee I was and could try trust that I could go on a microphone and do my own show, essentially. So, yeah, I had to get that permission because I didn't want this to be a secret. I wanted to be known, and I sort of wanted their blessing as I went to do this.

Yeah.

And I'm just thinking of Paul's words in Titus 2. He's talking to employees and saying, hey, don't steal from employers. Show that you can be, quote, unquote, fully trusted so that in every way you will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.

Right.

I think that applies here. Right. I. I think being open about and.

Transparent about the things we're doing outside the four walls of that nine to five. Yeah.

I think that shows that we could be fully trusted.

It serves the employer, and to your point, it also serves you well because you can engage in that side hustle with a lot more freedom. Right?

Yes. And I think that even. I think a lot of people are basically afraid they're going to say no. Like, and I had the biggest reason for them to say no.

Right.

Essentially, 100%, you are personality.

Yes. They own my likeness. They owned my name. And so you can't just go out and create new content. And so they still said yes. And because they knew it was something that was important to me, they knew that my job would be like, of course it's going to be my first priority. It's sort of like, sure, here comes some employee that I care about that's doing a great job, that wants to do a side project. She's telling me it won't interfere with her work, and I trust her word. Go ahead and do it. So I think you'd be surprised if you're thinking your boss is just going to be like, nah, just, you know, just try it and be honest. And I think the favor of the Lord will be on you in that situation, too.

That's a good word. By the way, I love the name of the podcast you started. Audacity. It's one of my favorite words. I think that's part of what we as Christmas should be known as in this world. Audacious. Do you agree?

Why'd you choose this term?

Oh, my goodness. I. So you have to think 2019. Ish. I was thinking about what life could be like outside of those four walls of a newsroom. And part of the podcast project at the time was like, ooh, I want to, like, talk to other people about how they are being audacious in their lives.

And.

And so at the time, honestly, Jordan, I was almost a student. I was kind of being a little selfish with. I was like, this will be great content, but I really want to hear how people kind of cultivated the audacity to go after the vision, God's vision in their heart. I will tell you, I did talk to some unbelievers and I talked to some believers, and with the unbelievers who were doing really amazing things in the world, what I Got from that was like, man, they have all this audacity to go out and just create these companies and, you know, just start a business here and do this. It's like, why don't I feel audacious in the calling on my life? So, like, my faith grew as I talked to Christians who just grew my faith and unbelievers who just trusted their own intellect and their own sort of path, and they were out here doing great things. So it kind of made me feel like, okay, if anybody on this earth should feel emboldened and empowered to shape the world, it should be me. Because God lives in me and I'm his daughter and this is all his anyway, right? So it was just an incredible experience. And that's why I named it Audacity.

Yes.

I mean, this is Ephesians.

What is it, 3, 20 that God has that a him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power to that is at work within us. We can't do more than what we ask or imagine.

But the Holy Spirit through us can we have the Creator God living inside of us? Why aren't more Christians taking bigger audacious swings?

Sorry, I'm up on my soapbox. But this, man, this gets me fired up and ready to go.

And it's a shame when we look.

Around and it's non believers who have everything to lose who are taking the biggest swings oftentimes.

Well. And I want to say, Jordan, you are probably one of the first voices that helped me make that connection as well. Right. So. And we. You talk a lot about this, so you have to think. I grew up in the late 90s and I was an on fire for God Christian. So this is back when, like Hillsong and Brownsville Revival and all of these things were happening in my world and I was sold out, right? Praying before lunch, during lunch, like, we had a group of on fire for God Christians. But I say this because, like, my foundation was amazing, right? I tasted and saw the Lord was good, but I didn't get a whole lot of guidance on how to then go out into the world outside of ministry and carry this out. So part of that it really created. On one hand, I had this amazing foundation that is still with me today of knowing God as a teenager. But on the other hand, I didn't really know how to use that in my career. I mean, there were times where I'm like, well, God, am I supposed to be in a pulpit? Am I supposed to go to Seminary school. Like, I remember applying for, like, different jobs within the church, and I just. It never felt like a good fit. But then someone like you came along and I started to get this along the way God was teaching me. But you were able to really lay out, like, no, like, you can be. You're supposed to. You're called to be excellent in your work. Like, that's part of being a Christian in the world. And working. It just really freed me from kind of the conflict of, like, okay, God, am I supposed to be doing this for Christians? You know what I mean? Like, even with my coaching business, I'm like, okay, I should probably do this for Christians only. You know what I mean? Because that's just what's in my heart. And he's like, well, no, daughter. Like, just. Just be you. It's.

Just do it. Just do the work.

Love me and it will show and help people. And so you've just helped me kind of reconcile what it means to be in love with God, but also want to be excellent and really make an impact on the world.

Oh, man, I appreciate you saying that. That is high praise. And trust me, it's a whole team of people behind me who are helping me deliver that content.

The world endless.

I love that you want to work with Christians and non Christians alike and help them launch. I am curious, though, like, and you're at the beginning of this venture, the beginning of this journey, how are you thinking differently about the creation of audio content? Not necessarily the content itself, right.

But the way that a podcast is.

Done and launched and managed and guest relations and all of the things.

How do you think you're thinking about.

That differently because you are a child of God.

Such a good question. Okay, first, I think what comes to mind is I don't really hear a lot of podcasters or people in the business of podcasting really talk about the power of the human voice. I believe that God has given us a voice and that voice and what we choose to do with it. When we sort of align with the purpose around using our voice, I think we can do more than any other skill, honestly, any other skill. So I think I look at language and my voice and other people's voices. Remember, I'm a newscaster, so I use my voice a lot of. And I understood, like, this untangible, like, you can't touch it. There's this connection that happens when someone uses their voice in the way God purpose for them to. Right? Time accelerates, work accelerates. He is able to do so much when we Kind of align our voice with his purpose. So first, and I tell people that even if they're not believers, I tell them, listen, you have an instrument, right? And that instrument is your voice. If we get a microphone, right, and put it in front of your voice, and I believe you have something good to say to bring good to the world. I just believe that that will be blessed. So I say that and. Right. So that's my first thing. And I think separately, I just think that it goes along with that point. But there's just no other medium out there where the connection is so strong. So if you have an audience, and most people I work with already have an audience, right. And you're not talking to them in this way, I feel like you're at a disadvantage and that there'll be a time where you'll just sort of be left out of the conversation. Right. Brands and organizations will have a podcast arm. I think it just that know, like and trust factor. They don't have to look at you. They can go on their walks, they can be in their beds, they plug in their earphones or the AirPods, and they can hear you, their friend, in their head. Right. Their companion. Talk to them about something valuable. I think that is really special. And I think people in the podcast business know that and are trying to figure out a way to really communicate that to the world. Because it's kind of tricky. It's like, what do you mean? You know what I mean. It's kind of like warm and fuzzy. But it's true.

No, but it's deeply human.

And I think as the world becomes less and less human, I think that's the risk. Right.

We're.

We're having this conversation in May 2023, where every other headline is about AI. I think podcasting is going to become even more important. Like, I don't know if I've ever said this on this show. I think I have, but I didn't want to launch this show. I don't consume podcasts. I can count on one hand the total number of podcasts I've listened to front to back. But I became totally convinced that this was a means of creating intimacy with guests, with listeners, and a way to make this conversation about how the gospel shapes the work of mere Christians more human. Where it's so abstract, it can feel so theoretical on the page. I think audio makes it three dimensional and concrete. Does that make sense?

Yeah, I didn't even. I had thought about it. But when you think about the rise of AI, you are right. I think this is also sort of a spiritual perspective, is that over time, I think, man, humans are going to be craving more and more human connection and a God connection because we're going to get further and further away from it, right? People who hold on to that human element of their work, where there's face to face conversations, where there's your voice off the cuff or maybe reading something, whatever. But it's like the more human connection that we can hold on to, I think, I mean, three years from now, two years from now, right. Will set you apart like nothing else, really. You're your human voice. And I don't know, they. They are doing weird things with voices now where you can.

Oh, I saw a demo the other day with my voice. It was pretty incredible. Yeah, yeah. See, but you could tell. You can tell a difference. Yeah, yeah. AI, Avatar, Jordan Rainer, can't make off the cuff, Taylor Swift, Easter eggs. Mid podcast conversation.

Okay, not gonna happen.

Not gonna happen. Here's something that I think will be interesting for you to be thinking about, for us to be thinking about. The blessing of podcasting, you know, is that anyone with a cell phone or laptop can say whatever they want whenever they want.

But that's also the curse, right?

Because most podcasters don't adhere to the strict disciplines of your former vocation of.

A traditional journalist when producing content, which is a big deal at this moment, right? When Christ followers should always have a.

Deep commitment to truth and where culturally our commitment to truth is eroding faster and faster.

Right? So I'm curious, from your perspective, what.

Can our listeners who create any type of content, whether it's a podcast or a document at work, or a book, or even just social media posts, what can we learn from the legacy of traditional journalism about how to vet information for truth before we put out new content in the world?

Wow. Well, you know, journalism doesn't have the best reputation now. I feel like it's getting worse every day. And it was really frustrating as a journalist. And, you know, local journalism is a little different, right? It's. It's not quite like you're talking heads on the networks. Most of these guys in your local cities are out there actually talking to sources. They're getting them on camera saying the things that they are reporting them to say. And so I think on a local level, and what you can take from that is get as close to your source as possible, especially in the day of ChatGPT and all the other things, right? Where you can just ask it questions and it just regurgitates information to you. I would say if you can pick up a phone and call someone, or if you can send an email even to a team to confirm information, to maybe get a quote from them, to get kind of back to that human interaction, to get that human touch to whatever you're creating, especially if it involves another person or an event. Just the fact that you touch base with someone regarding that topic is going to set you apart, like, I mean, a million years. Because you're doing some reporting and, oh, man, you're really digging into my news background. Now, part of what we called our reporting, they teach us to do kind of process reporting. So instead of saying, today the mayor signed a declaration to build a new school. Right. Instead, they teach you to say, you know, I started this morning, and I reached out to the mayor's office. I didn't get his mayor, but I did get his assistant, who told me she talked to the mayor just 20 minutes ago, and this is what she told her quote.

Interesting.

We show you the process behind how we got the information, and that builds trust and credibility because you're not just. You're giving them the process or. And a lot of times it was. I knocked on the door, no one was there. So I sat outside their home for about 30 minutes. Someone drove by. I asked the neighbor. So, like, just them hearing, sort of the work you put into getting people this content can make a big difference.

Yeah, but it's showing your work.

It's like the old math test of, like, showing, like, here's how I got here. Right. It's the same thing applied to distributing information.

I do think that makes whatever content.

Christians are putting out in the world, whether it's explicitly evangelical or not just credible, makes us trustworthy.

Right.

It makes it feel more trustworthy.

Right?

Absolutely. Try that. And you're right. It can apply to really any industry, especially with the rise of AI, where people can get answers. Right. If you start talking, even in meetings or if you. Wherever you can show your work, you're right. I think that in itself creates credibility.

I love that so much. This is really good advice. Hey, Leticia, three questions. We wrap up every episode with, number one, which books do you find yourself recommending or gifting most frequently to others?

All right, this one I actually got from your podcast because I think you interviewed him. So Sky Jahani.

Oh, man.

Sky's a good friend. He's amazing.

His book with changed me, changed me. Right. Talking about under, over, from and for, I will say the creator in you, Jordan Raynor, is A great book to gift to families. And I think finally I'm looking at my bookshelf. I think the last one I will say is Believe Bigger and that is by Marshawn Evans Daniels.

She.

She not only has a book, but a devotional that. I mean, talk about audacity. I mean, she is just building you up the entire book. So that would be my other one.

I love it. Those are great titles. Hey, who do you want to hear on the show?

I was thinking about this as well, and, you know, I think it would be cool to get some more media sort of heads right in this world and someone that I actually admire, and he's a family friend of ours and his name is Dottavio Samuels and he is the CEO of Revolt. And Revolt is Sean Combs, better known as P. Diddy. Well, but that's his media arm of his billion dollar empire. And so Dottavio is a Christian and he's working on one of the biggest mountains of media, and it's secular media.

T tavio is always welcome. That would be an amazing interview. So send the text, send the email.

You got it, Jordan.

Anytime, anytime. Hey, Letitia, what's one thing from our conversation you want to reiterate to our listeners before we sign off?

Let's go back to the human voice. If you feel called to use your voice, whether that be in your workplace. Right. It doesn't necessarily have to be a microphone, but if you feel that God has given you something to say, I want you to know that there is an immense amount of grace on your voice and that God will do more than your two hands, more than your imagination, more than your intellect can do if you align your voice with what God's put you to say. When you start doing that, I want you to see, see how he works on your behalf. And there's time. Again, if you look in the word, how he talks about the words we use, right, like and how we speak, I think that all goes into alignment with how powerful your voice is. So I hope you take that to heart and start thinking about, well, what has God called me to say, whether it's on a mic or just in everyday conversations or at work.

Yeah. Leticia reminds me of this quote from Mark Batterson's book. Please.

Sorry.

Thanks. I just pulled up. He said this quote, the Doppler effect, which I wasn't familiar with. The Doppler effect tells us that the universe is still expanding. In other words, the words God spoke in the beginning, see Genesis 1, are still creating galaxies at the outer edge of the universe. The universe is God's way of saying, look at what I can do with four words, end quote. Everything we see was once said. And the point Mark's making in this.

Is the power of words is the power of voice.

And here he's not talking about human voice. He's talking about the voice of of God the Father.

Right?

But his image is in you and I. And thus our words have great power. Power for destruction, but also power to build up and power to shape this world to make it more like the eternal kingdom of God. Amen, Leticia.

Amen. Thank you for that.

Hey, I want to commend you for the extraordinary work you do for the glory of God and the good of others, for spending so many years being salt and light in the darkness of.

News, and for helping others today be.

Salt and light via their own media channels.

Guys, if you want to connect with.

Leticia, you can do so at paradigm media group.co where are you at on Instagram or where you most active on social?

Latisha yeah, I would say Instagram is my name. Letitia Beriola and if you're not into Instagram, I'm also really active on LinkedIn. I'm starting to love that platform by the way.

Me too. It's one of the few platforms I do love. Hey Leticia, thanks for hanging out with us today.

Thank you Jordan.

Hey, who do you guys want to.

Hear on the podcast next?

Let me know@jordanrayner.com contact thank you guys so much for tuning in this week.

I'll see you next time.

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