I Don't Know You

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Dr. Matt Smith is the co-founder and president of Hildegard College in Costa Mesa, a micro-college that pairs the Great Books with a redemptive entrepreneurship lab. He spent a decade teaching at Azusa Pacific before leaving to build something new. We start in Yorba Linda, where a first-generation college kid who didn't read much was given two boxes of classics by his soccer coach and then, a few years later, a beat-up copy of The Hobbit by a kid in English class. From there we get into why grad school felt like a game he learned...

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Hyatt Moore has been a graphic designer, an art director at a surf magazine, an editor, a book designer, the president of Wycliffe Bible Translators, and — for the last twenty-some years — a full-time painter. Underneath all of it, the one constant has been writing. In this second conversation, we go narrow on purpose: how he became a writer, who told him he wasn’t one, what writing does to a person over the course of a life, and why he’s spending this season of his life putting a hundred short chapters into the world one week at...

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Rebecca Kindreich was the youngest of four, born the year her dad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and she’s been in caring mode ever since. After years working with developmentally disabled adults and watching therapists turn them away. She went back for her master’s in social work, spent five years as a floating medical social worker at UCI Medical Center, and then led the counseling center at Concordia University Irvine for twelve years. There, sitting in on crisis assessments, she kept hearing the same story from students: the struggle started in middle school, and nobody...

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Rod Fletcher’s grandmother took a job as the camp secretary at Campus by the Sea in 1953. His father grew up there. His parents met there — the lifeguard and the camper, breaking a rule the camp still enforces. Rod’s first summer was 1974, and he was five. Seventy years later, after InterVarsity decided to get out of the camping business and a group of former family campers formed a nonprofit to rescue the place, Rod found himself on the search committee for a new director — and got hired into the job himself. In this conversation, recorded live wit...

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Jeff Davis has spent forty-five years married to his high school sweetheart, twenty years in corporate tech, and twenty more in ministry and nonprofit work.

This conversation went almost nowhere I planned. We started with a word he picked up in Uganda, Mazungu, which literally means “white man busily running around looking at his watch,” and spent the first half hour on what cross-cultural work does to a Westerner’s sense of superiority.

From there Jeff walked me through the curriculum he’d design for Gen-Z if anyone let him, the moment he reali...

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Today I’m joined by my brother Ian — one of my closest friends, an incredible poet, writer, and teacher of seven-plus years — for a conversation I’ve been looking forward to for a while and is really special as it is my twentieth episode (thanks for continuing to listen). We both read the Pope’s new encyclical on AI, technology, and human dignity.

Our conversation ranges from what stuck with us, what it means for how Ian teaches, and how I parent, and build things with AI every day. Fair warning going in: I use AI con...

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Today, I’m joined by my friend Josh Henry. He’s been part of my story for over a decade. We met working together at Apple, and I got to watch him go from there into A21, an anti-trafficking organization where he eventually became my boss as I contracted with them through college.

He’s a husband, a father, and a pastor, and lives out in Nashville. This was a really special conversation for me as it pulls on some of the biggest questions I’m wrestling with in this season: what it actually looks li...

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Today I’m joined by Peter Varberg. He grew up a missionary kid in Tacloban, Philippines — the kind of upbringing where his dad’s name opened doors before he ever said a word himself, and being blonde and blue-eyed in a country where that stood out meant he never really got to be anonymous. He studied film almost by accident, won “Film of the Year” as a freshman with a borrowed camera, and eventually found his way into sales and coaching.

We talk about the real difference between managing people and leading them, what nearly two...

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Today I’m joined by Arian Ghiacy. He grew up in a single-parent home in a rough part of Anaheim, and from a young age he clung to the idea that even though his earthly father had failed him, he had a Heavenly Father who never would. That conviction ends up threading through almost every decision in his life — a part-time bookstore job at Insight for Living, a season writing thank-you letters at Orange County Rescue Mission, an unplanned four-year run at an investment firm through the 2008 crash, and — almost by accident — becoming the interim pastor of a sma...

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Will Tober is a Jesus follower, husband, and father whose faith shapes the way he works. His experience spans things like producing the documentary The Drop Box, board member at the Pregnancy Resource Center, and co-founder of 100 Companies That Care.

In this conversation, we get into how a random LA Times article led a college kid to South Korea to film a story that ended up changing his life, how that film planted a seed for everything he’s built since in the nonprofit world, and what it actually looks like to be a dr...

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Bruce Bartolomeo is an entrepreneur, husband, father, and grandfather who spent over 30 years building a construction company before stepping away to devote himself fully to mentorship and service. He serves on the board of The Barnabas Group and several other non profits

I loved getting to chat with Bruce and talk about the power of early mentorship, the cost of being more married to your business than your wife, the paradigm shift from owner to steward, and what it looks like to be an intentional father of daughters. I’m really excited to look at...

DescriptionToday I'm joined by one of my mentors, Russ Cline — pastor, family man, and entrepreneur who has started multiple global organizations and currently leads The Barnabas Group and Leader Mundial, a global leadership movement that's spent nearly 20 years training and coaching leaders across the world.We get into one of the biggest questions in my life right now: how to build a sustainable, fruitful career while also being a present father — two things that can feel like they're constantly pulling against each other. Incredibly thankful that he's poured into me so much. Love getting to do life alongside him.Less...

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Katie Kelly is the founder and president of Through It All Foundation, a nonprofit that equips churches and individuals to walk alongside people grieving the loss of a loved one. At 27 years old, Katie's husband Ben was killed in a shark attack while surfing off the coast of California. What followed was one of the most profound journeys of grief, faith, and calling I've heard — and what emerged on the other side is an organization born not from ambition, but from obedience. I encourage you to lean into the wisdom she has to share around how to...

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Steven Lindenfelser is a graphic designer, musician, voracious reader, and father of two who joined me in his beautifully curated home studio — a space as eclectic and intentional as the man himself. We talked about the origins of his creativity, what it actually means to make something original, how fatherhood is forcing him to rediscover his own childhood, and why AI doesn't scare him at all. Steven also shared one of the most striking spiritual experiences I've ever heard.

Lessons

1. Your earliest creative memory matters more than you think. (00:38:38) Steven didn't have a...

Today I’m joined by Cassie Furnari, founder and president of Milele Home — a rescue and recovery home for homeless young men in Kenya. This is a Barnabas Q&A episode, so it’s a bit different in format: Cassie shared her story with a group of young leaders, and we got to hear some really great questions from the audience. What struck me most is how Cassie didn’t set out to start a nonprofit. She was wrapping up an internship in Kenya when she met twelve boys living on the streets, tried to hand them off to existing...

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Noah is a pastor, husband, father, and thoughtful friend who spends his mornings making espresso and being present with his daughter before the busyness of the day begins. We begin with a quote from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin about trusting the slow work of God, then discuss how deep thinking comes from reading the ancients, why Jesuits produce such contemplative writers, and Noah's love for early church fathers like Justin Martyr and C.S. Lewis. Noah shares his conviction that character development is the slowest work—looking back and realizing he wasn't nearly as mature as he...

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Jake Hartson is a husband, father, veteran, and entrepreneur who recently transitioned into full-time ministry with Search Ministries, an organization that helps Christians and their friends give space to work through life’s biggest questions

He shares the tension of “mission first, people always”—a military value he watched fail in ministry contexts where mission became an excuse to forsake loving people well. He opens up about fatherhood as his greatest challenge, the question “what does love require?” that guides his parenting, and why he wants his kids to inherit his curiosity and his wife Kinsey’...

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This is a Q&A session following the main conversation with Hyatt and Anne Moore. The group asks questions about marriage, art, finding God in everyday life, managing creative pursuits alongside other responsibilities, and Anne’s role as a creative partner. Hyatt shares stories about God’s creativity and provision, including the miraculous job offer at Surfer Magazine that came on the same day he was fasting and praying about money. Anne opens up about adaptability as her core strength and her role in supporting Hyatt’s work while pursuing her own art.

Questions Asked...

DescriptionHyatt Moore is an artist, former missions leader, and art director navigating the mystery of what it means to be faithful to your gifts. He's been married to Anne for over five decades and has lived three distinct careers—each one marked by surrender.

We begin with Hyatt's conversion in a cheap hotel room in Mexico, the moment he decided to become "a man of God" without knowing what that meant, and the terrifying week of walking in empty fields wrestling with what it would cost to dedicate his life to God. Hyatt shares the story of gi...

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Jon Wells is a writer and filmmaker following Jesus. From church tech volunteer to filmmaker, shaped by watching over 100 films with a mentor: We talk about his daily writing practice, the challenge of showing up when the work feels mediocre, and his philosophy that guardrails only matter if they get you to "do the dance."

Jon shares about his current season of creative pruning—where outcomes disappoint but showing up brings unexpected peace. He opens up about how God provided before revealing the pregnancy, preparing him to trust through uncertainty.

We explore th...

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Jordan Avni is a husband, father, and one of the sharpest product minds I know. We worked together for years, and I watched him navigate complexity with clarity, discipline, and a thoughtful approach to technology and leadership. This is a conversation about being present in a busy season, finding fundamentals in the noise, and building an identity rather than chasing goals.

Timestamps

Why this busy season is one men wish they could return to (3:06)

Choosing identity-driven living over goal-driven achievement (5:19)

The analytical framework for de-risking ideas (13:09)

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Today, I'm joined by my friend Seth Kayser. He is a husband, father, music educator, and entrepreneur who runs Kayser Arts and Global Creation Foundation—bringing music education to places like Uganda and Nepal. We dive into deep capacity, intentional relationships, and the creative stirrings that keep pulling us forward.

We discuss:

- Why juggling is actually a form of entertainment (5:22)

- The procrastination-productivity paradox of entrepreneurship (6:34)

- Being married to another entrepreneur and protecting each other's dreams (30:07)

- How answering "yes" too many times becomes a lifestyle (4:35)

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Kyle Rutkin is a writer, marketer, husband, and father who takes creativity seriously—not just as output, but as a responsibility. In this conversation, we explore the tension between creative ambition and everyday life, the patience required to build something meaningful, and why the people who outlast the dip are the ones who would be doing the work anyway.

We discuss:

- Why journaling for hundreds of hours reveals patterns you can't see otherwise

- The difference between creating for an audience and creating because you can't help it

- Navigating th...

Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed our conversation, please rate and review the podcast on the platform of your choosing.

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In this episode, Brenden and Matt delve into the importance of starting despite imperfection, cultivating curiosity, balancing work and family, and leveraging tools like AI to enhance creativity and productivity. They explore how consistent effort, intentional planning, showing your work, and asking the right questions can lead to meaningful progress and personal fulfillment.

Segments

00:00 - The challenge of starting and embracing imperfection in content creation

02:23 - The...

In this episode of I Don’t Know You, Matt sits down with filmmaker, father, and longtime friend David Orgill (Story11.tv) in Dana Point, California.

Together, they explore what it means to wrestle with identity, faith, and vocation in a world full of distraction. David reflects on fatherhood, creativity, and how his understanding of God’s will has shifted—from looking for a single “correct” path to embracing freedom, responsibility, and presence.

They also unpack the difference between consuming “candy” content versus sitting down for a slow, nourishing, home-cooked meal—and what that metaphor reveals about ar...

In this conversation, Matt and Alvin explore the intricacies of parenting, cultural influences, and personal growth. They discuss the importance of intentional parenting, the impact of cultural backgrounds on family values, and the balance between ambition and a quiet life. The dialogue also touches on the significance of gratitude, the challenges of modern life, and the desire to create meaningful connections.