Plain Values Podcast
The most inspiring and heartfelt podcasts you’ll ever listen to. Hosted by Plain Values magazine Publisher Marlin Miller, he regularly interviews the people with the stories, wisdom, and advice we all need to hear.
Minute with Marlin EP #7 - One Penny Postage!
We’ve been printing and mailing Plain Values for a long time using the postal system… and Marlin loves it.
It’s expensive, but it’s great.
In this charming Minute with Marlin, he shares a fascinating bit of postal history: the system began in 1775, before the Revolutionary War. Back then, the recipient paid the one-penny postage, not the sender. There was also an 11-pound weight limit.
People took full advantage of that limit in creative (and sometimes hilarious) ways— including documented cases of parents mailing their children to grandparents!
These shor...
EP #42 - From Foster Care to Ukraine, One Yes at a Time w/ Jed Johnson
In this episode of the Plain Values Podcast, Marlin Miller sits down with Jed Johnson, founder of Wide Awake International, to hear how God led one ordinary family from Alaska to the front lines of caring for boys with disabilities in Ukraine.
Jed grew up as a pastor’s kid in Alaska. When he was six, his father suffered a devastating double stroke. Life changed dramatically. The strong, adventurous dad became someone who had to relearn almost everything. The family moved to Montana, faced financial hardship, and leaned deeply on faith. Those early years taught Jed resilience, com...
Minute with Marlin Ep #6 - I Can Hardly Wait
In 1929, at the very beginning of the Great Depression, a man named Albert Brumley sat down in the northwest corner of Arkansas and wrote a song called “I’ll Fly Away.”
It wasn’t published until 1932, but that simple hymn has since become the most recorded gospel song in history.
Brumley went on to write over 800 songs, yet “I’ll Fly Away” remains one of the most beloved of all time.
Marlin shares that it is easily one of his top one or two favorite hymns. When his time comes to fly h...
EP #41 - From Refugee Roots to a Regenerative Homestead w/ Sophia Eng | Plain Values
In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast… Sophia Eng shares her family’s journey from Vietnamese refugee roots to a thriving 40-acre regenerative homestead in East Tennessee.
With a military husband and two daughters, Sophia’s parents (boat people who fled Saigon) lived with them, creating a multi-generational home rich in tradition, work ethic, and faith.
When lockdowns hit California in 2020, Sophia’s intuition (shaped by her parents’ stories of curfews and uncertainty) told her it was time to leave. They sold everything, loaded their animals (including three $300 egg-laying hens bought in a...
Minute with Marlin EP #5 - God Moves in a Mysterious Way
There are seasons when life brings deep, hard things … the loss of a spouse, the burial of a child, a long-term disability, or seasons of uncertainty and anxiety where God feels distant and silent.
In this moving episode, Marlin shares the power of an old hymn written by William Cowper in 1779, “God Moves in a Mysterious Way.” The lyrics speak straight to the heart:
“God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform…
Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.”
Marlin reminds us that even when we cannot se...
EP #40 - Building a Family and a Legacy of Generosity w/ Derek & Lisa Guyer
In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast …
Some people build businesses. Others build lives that point to something greater.
In this powerful conversation, Derek and Lisa Guyer share the raw, beautiful story of their journey; from financial brokenness and a tiny two-bedroom home with six kids in one room, to owning and transforming Kentucky Lumber into a place of integrity, character, and genuine care.
Derek openly talks about the early failures, the lessons learned from his parents, and the deliberate choice to create a company culture where employees feel safe, cu...
Minute with Marlin EP #4 - Put Down the Screen and Pick Up a Real Book
Marlin has always loved the simple, sensory pleasure of holding a real book or magazine; the feel of the paper, the weight in his hands.
In this episode, he reflects on how rare and precious books once were in the Middle Ages, when monks painstakingly copied them by hand. Then Gutenberg’s printing press changed everything by giving “wings to truth.”
He beautifully connects this to God’s own design: trees become paper, language becomes Scripture, and the written word allows divine truth to spread across generations.
These short, heartfelt Minutes with Marlin de...
EP #39 - Dead for 35 Minutes and the Miracle That Followed w/ Jimmy & Becky Mast
In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast …
Some stories remind us that God still does the impossible.
On a seemingly normal Monday morning in 2013, Becky Mast collapsed at home. Within minutes she had no heartbeat. For the next 35 minutes she received no oxygen to her brain. She was clinically dead.
What followed was a cascade of miracles.
Paramedics worked on her relentlessly. After six shocks and heroic CPR, her heart finally restarted. Doctors at multiple hospitals gave grim prognoses, massive brain damage was expected. They prepared Jimmy for th...
Minute with Marlin EP #3 - Don’t Miss the Awe Right Outside Your Door
As a young boy, Marlin watched a powerful storm roll through with tornadoes touching down nearby.
A funnel cloud spun just 100 yards behind their house, hovering above the treetops. While the rest of the family took shelter in the basement, his dad stood outside, calmly watching in awe of nature’s raw power.
Marlin was terrified, yet deeply moved by his father’s fearless wonder. That moment stayed with him.
These short, heartfelt Minutes with Marlin deliver quick moments of wisdom, faith, humility, and encouragement—perfect for busy homestead days when we...
EP #38 - From Addiction to Adoption Ministry w/ Larry Yoder | Pure Gift of God
In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast, Marlin sits down with his good friend Larry Yoder for a conversation about God’s incredible redeeming grace.
Larry shares his remarkable journey of growing up Amish, leaving the church as a teenager, and spiraling into a life of heavy drug use, partying, and bad choices. From smoking weed at 11 to nearly overdosing multiple times, Larry openly talks about how he was searching for something to fill the void but kept running from the very thing he needed most: Jesus.
Then came the turning point. Si...
Minute with Marlin EP #2 - A Little Bit of Humility Can Go a Long Way
It was a bitterly cold December day in 2016 (just 5 or 10 degrees) when Marlin, his brother, and a friend headed north to fly fish for steelhead. Marlin had years of experience and was excited to show off a little.
But pride has a way of humbling us. While demonstrating how it’s done, Marlin stepped in a deep hole and fell face-first upstream. His waders instantly filled with freezing river water. Soaked, freezing, and embarrassed, he had to trudge back to the truck while his brother and friend enjoyed a great day catching fish.
Ma...
EP #37 - Walking Through Grief with Faith and Honesty w/ Marlin Beachy
In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast, Marlin sits down with his longtime friend and former pastor, Marlin Beachy, for a raw and honest conversation about life, ministry, and the unimaginable pain of losing a child.
Marlin shares his journey from growing up Amish, leaving the church at age eight after his father’s powerful conversion, to pastoring in Alaska for 30 years. But at the heart of this episode is the heartbreaking story of losing their son Ryan in a tragic motorcycle accident when a moose stepped into his path. Marlin doesn’t sugarcoat the shoc...
Minute with Marlin EP #1 - A Small Act of Kindness Can Go a Long Way
Things don’t always go according to plan.
In this very first Minute with Marlin episode, Marlin Miller shares a memorable winter day when he and Lisa were trying to take their family to a little cabin for a much-needed getaway. What they didn’t plan on was waking up to a foot and a half of beautiful but heavy, powdery snow.
After getting the tractor stuck while trying to clear the steep driveway, Marlin hooked a chain to their Subaru Outback to pull it out… only to bury the car as well...
EP #36 - Jerry D. Miller: Getting Through the Hardest Days on the Homestead
In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast, Marlin sits down with his longtime friend and neighbor, Jerry Miller.
Jerry shares his life on the family farm in Holmes County, 173 acres that have been in his wife Gloria’s family since the late 1800s. He talks about raising five boys and now enjoying five grandchildren, milking 60–70 Jersey cows, and operating a certified organic, grass-fed dairy.
The conversation turns to the deep grief Jerry’s family has walked through. Jerry was the youngest of 11 children when his father died by suicid...
EP #35 - The Radical Truth About Christian Missions | Aaron and Katie Ficker
In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast, Marlin sits down with Aaron and Katie Ficker for the first of several conversations.
Aaron, the oldest of eight, shares what it was like growing up as his family followed the Lord’s call from Illinois to Guatemala. His dad, a corporate pilot, gave up a successful career, bought an old school bus, rebuilt it, and drove the family through Mexico to answer what they believed was God’s direction. Aaron describes the adventure, the challenges, and the faith that carried them through a spiritually dark and...
EP #34 - Linda Kate: As Compassionate as a Judge
In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast, Marlin sits down with his neighbor and friend, retired judge Linda Kate.
Linda shares her journey from a small-town Catholic upbringing in Tuscarawas County to becoming one of the youngest judges ever elected in Ohio. She reflects on the weight of responsibility she felt the day she was sworn in, the exhausting good days and excruciating bad days in juvenile court, and how she learned to lean heavily on prayer and the support of fellow judges and staff.
The conversation touches...
EP #33 - Brian Dahlen: What it Means to Follow Christ in a Complicated World
In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast … Marlin invites listeners into a warm, wide-ranging conversation with his friend Brian Dahlen.
Brian spent 17 years hosting live radio for Moody Radio in Cleveland and Chicago. Known for his quick thinking and kind presence behind the microphone, he joins Marlin for breakfast and shares stories from his life … from growing up in Minnesota, teaching high school social studies, to the unexpected journey that led him into radio.
The two friends talk about everything from European travels and Renaissance art to the chal...
EP #32 - Tom and Ferree Hardy: A Widow and Widower with a Beautiful Second Chapter
In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast…
Some stories remind us that God writes better endings than we ever could.
Tom and Ferree Hardy both lost their spouses in 2000. Two hearts shattered by grief, hundreds of miles apart, each raising children and learning to breathe again in a world that suddenly felt empty.
Then, in 2002, their paths crossed. What began as a simple connection grew into a marriage that has now spanned more than two decades of blending families, navigating job changes, multiple mov...
EP #31 - Kristen Smith on Faith, Family, and Natural Health
In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast …
Kristen Smith never planned on becoming an herbalist.
As the oldest of three, she grew up surrounded by farmland in northwest Ohio, helping grandparents with conventional crops and meat chickens.
But life shifted after marriage, college, and her first baby. A routine blood test at 22 revealed severe hypothyroidism. The doctor offered medication for life with little explanation. That moment sparked questions: Why did this happen? Could food help?
With no home inter...
EP #30 - Zach & Katie Miller: From Brokenness to Building Men (and a Homestead)
In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast …
Some stories don’t just inspire you, they quietly rebuild your hope.
That’s what happened the moment I sat down with Zach and Katie Miller.
Zach, a former Air Force pilot and commercial airline captain, lost his first wife Kaley to cancer after a seven-year battle.
Left to raise three young children, he found himself in the kind of darkness that makes a man question everything. But instead of staying there...
EP #29 - Turning Wheelchairs into Witness, One Restored Life at a Time
In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast …
Joni Eareckson Tada was 17 when a diving accident in 1967 left her quadriplegic.
What followed was not defeat. She learned to paint holding a brush in her mouth, shared her testimony with millions alongside Billy Graham, and turned letters of despair into a ministry born at her kitchen table.
That ministry (Joni and Friends) now reaches families living with disability through family retreats, respite events, church training, and Wheels for the World.
Wheels for the World collects used manual wheelchairs, walkers, canes, and...
EP #28 - An Amish Preacher and a Former Real Estate Guru Walk Into a Hospital
In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast …
Most of us have felt it… that quiet exhaustion when the body is running on empty and the spirit feels even emptier. Chris Zimmerman lived it for seven long months.
Successful on paper, hollow inside, he reached a point where getting out of bed felt impossible.
Then he found cold water.
Not as a gimmick. As a last resort. What started as brutal cold showers became daily ice baths, and something profound shifted.
The constant noise in his head we...
EP #27 - The One Question That Changed an Entire Movement
In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast …
It was in his hometown church where Ryan Wolfe grew up and was drawn early to adults with intellectual disabilities who prayed, cross-stitched, and taught him more about friendship than any textbook.
From coaching Challenger baseball with his young family to building a field when no one else would, he asked one question, “How can we be a blessing, no strings attached?”
That simple obedience birthed Shine Ministry, guardianship programs, Jesus Proms that draw hundreds, and a faith...
EP #26 - Nobody Talks About It. Melissa Brown Will Never Stop Fighting It.
In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast …
Melissa Brown never planned to lead Ohio’s largest faith-based residential home for teen survivors of sex trafficking.
A Catalyst conference umbrella moment in 2013 shattered her world … kids sold for sex, hidden in plain sight.
She surrendered her “yes” to God anyway.
Today, Safe Harbor’s 30-acre campus offers everything on-site: medical care, school, chapel, gym, cottages with private rooms.
Girls arrive broken, often by someone they knew.
<...EP #25 - She Miscarried, Then God Called Her to Save Lives She Never Expected
In this episode of The Plain Values Podcast, Bekah Hilty, executive director of the Pregnancy Care Center of Wayne County (in Ohio), shares her unexpected path into ministry.
From a health education background and personal miscarriage to leading a center that offers free ultrasounds, parenting classes, and newborn support, she emphasizes affirming women's worth in Christ.
She details the risks of abortion pills (often obtained online without medical oversight) complications, reversals, how clients sometimes seek help post-decision, and how heartbeat ultrasounds change minds.
Bekah h...
EP #24 - An Absolute Miracle, Lived in Six Irreplaceable Years
In this raw and unforgettable episode of The Plain Values Podcast, photographer Eric Brown opens his studio in rural Eastern NC and his life.
He talks with Marlin about his time in Nashville, family, and the six miraculous years with his daughter Pearl … born with holoprosencephaly, doctors called incompatible with life.
Eric shares the gut-punch diagnosis, the choice to welcome siblings into the room, the relentless care, and the beauty that flooded their home like Kodachrome.
Pearl's death in 2018 left a void: his theology crac...
EP #23 - He Saw Too Much as a Paramedic … Then the Land Started Healing Him
Jake Drumm, a longtime paramedic now running Drumm Emergency Solutions and managing Watauga Flats Farm in East Tennessee, sat down for a raw, beautiful conversation.
He shares stories from the ambulance that’ll make you hug your people tighter … about the ghosts that linger from years of witnessing grief, the burnout, and how true healing comes from community, not isolation.
And then there’s the farm … regenerative practices breathing life back into the land.
This episode is for every one of us walking this path, bal...
EP #22 - More Than Coffee: How Muletown Coffee Revived a Town Square and Built Real Community
In this warm, heartfelt episode, Chris and Kelli Coyne (owners of Muletown Coffee in Columbia, Tennessee) share the unlikely story of how a small coffee roasting operation became the spark that transformed a forgotten downtown into a thriving community hub.
What started in 2013 as a risky venture in a near-empty square has grown into something far bigger than great coffee (though their roasts are repeatedly called “fantastic”). Chris boldly told his team on day one, “Remember, what we’re doing here is not about coffee.” It’s about what coffee does … it gives people an excuse to g...
EP #21 - The True Heroes of This Life … Foster Parents
In a raw and moving episode of The Plain Values Podcast, Kevin Hewitt, CEO of Christian Children’s Home of Ohio, pulls back the curtain on a lifetime devoted to foster care, adoption, and healing traumatized children.
From his own faith awakening as a teen, sparked by his brother’s battle with cancer and a faithful basketball coach, to quitting law school because his heart couldn’t settle for money over people, Kevin’s journey is one of relentless surrender to God’s call.
What shines brightest is his unapologeti...
EP #20 - From Castro’s Cuba to the Operating Room: The Extraordinary Life of Dr. Roberto Matthew
In this remarkable conversation, we sit down with Dr. Roberto Matthew — born in Cuba, shaped by revolution, exile, poverty, and perseverance to trace a life marked by danger, resilience, and deep conviction.
As a child, he fled Castro’s regime with his mother, sister, grandmother, and aunt, while his father stayed behind to support counter-revolution efforts. What followed was a journey through Colombia, Puerto Rico, and finally the United States … years marked by scarcity, trauma, relentless work, and the kindness of unlikely mentors.
Dr. Matthew describes memories of dictatorship, refugee...
EP #19 - From Atlanta Highways to New York Hayfields: Buck Alford’s Unlikely Journey
In this episode, we sit down with Buck Alford, an Atlanta native who traded suburban life for the wide-open fields and beauty of upstate New York. Buck shares the unexpected path that pulled his family north: a growing conviction about food, place, hospitality, and living closer to the land.
What began as a simple desire to cook with better ingredients evolved into ripping out suburban landscaping, experimenting with edible gardens, and ultimately moving onto his father-in-law’s sixth-generation farm.
Buck talks candidly about raising five kids through the transition, lea...
EP #18 - Kent Ernsting’s 35-Year Calling to Walk With the Wounded
In this week’s conversation, we sit down with therapist Kent Ernsting, a man shaped by a lifetime of caring for wounded hearts.
Trained in Marriage and Family Therapy and Theology at Fuller Seminary, Kent has spent 35 years walking with people through trauma, addiction, attachment wounds, and the long road toward healing. His story begins with adoption, loss, and a defining question, “What will I do with this one wild and precious life?” and unfolds into a calling to invest deeply in people.
Kent shares how early family experiences, a radic...
EP #17 - How Dave Sims Found His Calling After Losing Everything
Today’s episode is with our friend Dave Sims. Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com.
Dave Sims is a man whose life was split cleanly in two by a single moment.
In 1998, a slow family bike ride turned into a catastrophic accident, leaving him a C5/6 quadriplegic. The years that followed carried every dark instinct a person can have: despair, anger, bargaining, and the hollow silence of wishing life would simply end.
But Dave’s story does not stop in the valle...
EP #16 - Where Hunting Meets Heart | Curt Yoder, Brian Yoder, Mark Schlabach
Today’s episode is with our friends Curt Yoder, Brian Yoder, and Mark Schlabach. Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com.
In the rolling hills of Amish country, a small youth deer hunt that started with just four kids in 2012 has exploded into something extraordinary... A thriving 501(c)(3) that gives disabled, special-needs, and first-time hunters a life-changing day in the woods.
Today, their flagship event draws 700+ spectators to watch 36 hunters—ages 9 to 80, many in wheelchairs or with profound challenges—head out across 32 private farms and a 580-acre lease...
EP #15 - Julie Kerby’s Mission to Wrap Foster Families in Care
Today’s episode is with our friend Julie Kerby. Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com.
Julie is the founder of Hope’s House Foster Closet and a woman who has spent nearly two decades on the front lines of foster care. Julie and her husband fostered for over 18 years and opened their home to more than 100 children through emergency placements, respite care, and long-term fostering.
Along the way, they adopted a sibling group of five, each carrying their own complex story shaped by trauma, instability, and loss...
EP #14 - Chad and Kyla Kethcart on Healing, Art, and the Homestead
Today’s episode is with our friends Chad and Kyla Kethcart. Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com.
Chad and Kyla Kethcart’s journey began in the creative pulse of Chicago … he a musician, she an artist … bound by both love and struggle.
When life’s storms hit in 2020, they were forced to confront what truly mattered. Out of hardship came a radical shift: rebuilding not just their marriage, but their foundation as a family.
Over the past five years, they’ve chosen a quieter, richer path … homesteading in Northeast Oh...
EP #13 - Pam McCue on Going from Defense Science to Divine Evidence
Today’s episode is with our friend Pam McCue. Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com.
After a distinguished 30-year career as a senior executive in the U.S. Department of Defense, Pam McCue could have easily settled into a quiet retirement. Instead, she turned her lifelong curiosity toward one of the most studied (and most mysterious) artifacts in human history: the Shroud of Turin.
With both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in electrical engineering and decades of experience in defense science, Pam brings a deeply analytical mind to a subj...
EP #12 - Griffin Long on God’s Work Through Special Needs
Today’s episode is with our friend Griffin Long. Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com.
Griffin and his wife Rachel live in Canton, OH with their three children Isaiah, Thomas, and Ely.
Griffin is a founder and Executive Director of Sacred Ground, a faith based nonprofit whose mission is to cultivate an environment of belonging and purpose for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their families.
Welcome to the Plain Values Podcast, please meet our friend, Griffin Long ...
EP #11 - Josh Thomas on Building a Healthy, Free, and Secure Life| Plain Values
Today’s episode is with our dear friend Josh Thomas. Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com.
As Co-Founder of The Homesteading Family and School of Traditional Skills, Josh partners with experts in the homesteading world to help people learn the skills they need to create a healthy, free, and secure life.
Welcome to the Plain Values Podcast, please meet our friend, Josh Thomas ...
This conversation encapsulates what we hope to do here with the Plain Values Podcast … telling stories that matter and b...
EP #10 - Gabe and Mandy McCauley on Work, Play, and the Miracle of Children
Today’s episode is with our dear friends Gabe and Mandy. Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com.
Gabe McCauley is an actor and film director as well as the founder of the production companies, Soul Feather Studios and lilDRAGON.
He has directed over eight seasons of television, feature films, commercials, and music videos. Gabe lives in Columbia, TN with his wife Mandy, the music supervisor of Reconnecting Roots, and is a proud daddy to Scout and Ash.
As the host of Reco...
