August 21, 2025 • 11 mins
Welcome to Season 4 of Sidewalk Conversations, now broadcasting from our brand new studio designed to create a living room atmosphere. We've evolved over ten years of podcasting to focus on ordinary people doing extraordinary things, with a space that reflects our more conversational approach.
• Our dedicated team including Jen, Preston, Martin, Ethan, and Carol spent countless hours creating this new studio space
• Special thanks to donors Wendy Sweats, Jennifer Nichols, and Mike and Leanna for their generous contributions
• The Black Sheep theme remains central to our identity, representing those who think differently
• Season 4 kicks off with three fascinating guests: entrepreneur Rebecca, musician Amy Hooper, and Leanna who overcame a life-threatening accident
• Our studio is located within Pickleball Kingdom in Pflugerville (1900 East Howard Lane), the fastest growing sport in America
If you're interested in learning about pickleball or want to play, check out Pickleball Kingdom's premium facility with air-conditioned courts, a cafe, and store.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Piet Van Waarde (00:12):
Hey, I just want to say welcome to season
four.
Actually, we were talking aboutthis before we came on the air.
We've actually been doing somekind of podcast for like I think
, 10 years, because it was evenwhen I was back in pella.
We did this podcast calledvoices from the villa and carol
(00:35):
thought it sounds like some kindof horror show.
You can't keep that name, butit was all part of the evolution
.
And four years ago we kind ofgot serious about this whole
process and started something wecall now sidewalk conversations
, where we just talk to ordinarypeople doing extraordinary
things, and so we are gettingready to launch our next season
(00:57):
in the new studio, and so I justwant to give you a little
preview today about season four.
And I want to start with thestudio.
So look at what.
I have a team of people, and Iam always humbled by the fact
that there are folks who believeso passionately in this work
(01:21):
that they are willing tovolunteer time and kind of work
for not a lot of money to helpme pull all this off.
And so I want to begin just byrecognizing the team and the
folks that helped me do this.
So I have, first of all myadministrative assistant, jen,
who spent literally hourspainting and putting up things.
(01:44):
I have my technician, preston,who, similarly, was just willing
to do whatever needed to bedone to make this happen.
I also want to thank myvideographer, martin.
He does a lot of my projectsfor social media, but he also
came in and he fine-tuned thestudio in terms of the video and
audio pieces.
(02:04):
I also want to thank Ethan,who's terms of the video and
audio pieces.
I also want to thank Ethan,who's kind of the new guy on the
team.
He came for a day and helped medo some of the more dangerous
things like hang sound panelingand go back and forth between
here and Hobby Lobby and Lowe'sto make sure we had all the
supplies.
So it's just been a great teameffort.
(02:27):
And, of course, I cannot forgetmy beloved wife, carol Like.
If you see anything here in thestudio that looks good and
looks like it matches, it'sbecause she was a like champion
on marketplace Wayfair you knowall the Ikea and I gave her a
(02:51):
picture and I said here's what Ithink I would like to have done
, and so she was able to find itand I was like I could not
believe it.
She just kept on coming up withthings and then showing me, hey
, like, will this work, willthis work, and I can't even
imagine how many hours she spentworking on this project.
(03:15):
And so, carol, thank you sovery much for all the things you
did to help bring it togetherso that we have a wonderful new
environment to have theseconversations.
In fact, that might be a goodthing to share a little bit
about, because when we were kindof in the process of thinking
what we needed to do with thisspace, we realized that one of
(03:36):
the things that's kind ofhappened over the last few years
is that we've evolved from amore what I'd call formal
interview style to somethingthat would take place, hopefully
like in a living room, overcoffee, just friends talking,
and so we wanted the studiospace to reflect that new
emphasis and vibe.
(03:56):
And I'm just, I think we gotthere, I think we did it, and so
thanks to everybody who madethat possible.
From the pragmatic side and atthe same time, I also want to
say a thank you to there weresome sponsors and donors who
said hey when they heard aboutthis project, said, hey, we want
(04:17):
to help make that happen, we'dlike to donate some money, and
so I want to say thank you toWendy Sweats.
These chairs are a product ofher contribution.
I also want to say thank you toJennifer Nichols.
She was like she had somebody Ihad back in the college days,
and she was one who said I wantto try and help as a kind of
(04:38):
payback for the things that youprovided during my college years
, and so she made a verygenerous contribution as well.
And then there's Mike andLeanna.
These are people that we justmet recently at a conference.
We were sitting kind of closeto each other.
We just turned to each otherand we realized we had so much
in common and we started hangingout.
(05:01):
We had dinners together andthen, when they heard about this
podcast, they said, hey, whatcan we do to help?
And they also made a greatdonation.
And you're going to be hearingfrom Leanna, who has just an
amazing story of God's redeeminggrace in the midst of hardship.
In fact, she's going to be oneof our guests here in the first
month of Sidewalk Conversations.
(05:22):
I also want to kind of give youa little tour of the specifics
of maybe some things that, whenyou look at it on your phone or
on a computer you may not beable to see real clearly, but I
think they're kind of coollittle additions.
And so first of all I want tokind of bring our attention to
this space right here.
So you notice the Bureau whichwhen Carol showed me this on the
(05:44):
internet I was like I'm notsure that.
But of course I have to listento her because she has proven
time and time again, when shepulls things together they all
match, they all look good.
And so this was one of hersuggestions.
And then we thought, you know,we can't keep the black sheep
out, so we got to figure out away to put the black sheep out.
So we got to figure out a wayto put the black sheep out there
(06:06):
.
And so if you've been part ofthis conversation from the early
days, you know that part ofwhat we want to do is we want to
be able to say hey, if you feellike you're a little bit
outside the norm or you want tokind of think through a
different grid, maybe a littlebit of a black sheep, we welcome
you.
And so that's kind of been ourlittle mascot, I guess you'd say
(06:28):
.
And then some of you mayremember that a couple of years
ago I put together a book ofpoetry and photography, the
Black Sheep Diary.
So that's here.
And then this is our newpainting that signals what we're
doing here.
It was sidewalk conversation,and so I had a little survey on
(06:49):
the sidewalk conversationsFacebook page.
We had a couple of differentoptions and just said hey, you
guys tell me what you thinkreflects best on the vibe that
we're trying to create here inthe studio and what we can use
as kind of a hint at what we aredoing in these sidewalk
conversations.
And so this was the one thatwon, and my administrative
(07:12):
assistant, jen, pulled it alltogether, made sure it came in
on time, and so that's thepainting that you're going to
see in our drawings or in ourinterviews.
And then behind me we also haveone of my favorite black sheep
pictures, because I think thatone of the hallmarks of the
(07:33):
person who has that like blacksheep mentality is they're
willing to stand against thegrain, like when everybody else
is willing to jump over the edge.
The black sheet says wait aminute.
Am I sure that that's what Iwant to do?
And that's, of course, what'sshown in that picture, and I
love it.
I think it's a great thing thatI want to kind of keep as a
(07:56):
centerpiece here.
And then our pocket prayerdevotionals.
Some of you are part of myPocket Prayer devotional team.
You've either bought thedevotional as a 365-day book or
you're part of the text streamthat I put out every morning,
and so we're giving a littleshout-out to the Pocket Prayer
group by posting those or havingthat on display here as well,
(08:20):
so that gives you a littleoverview of what we've done in
the studio.
I want to give you also alittle preview about what you
can expect in the next couple ofweeks.
I have three guests that we havebeen waiting to bring some of
these people on for a reallylong time.
First of all, we have Rebecca.
Rebecca is somebody who wasback in season one.
(08:43):
She is an entrepreneur.
She's written a great bookcalled Lost Girl and she has a
great company, and we're goingto spend some time talking about
entrepreneurship, like whatdoes it mean to start something
and stay with something, and I'mvery excited about having that
conversation.
Then, week two, we're going tohave Amy Hooper.
(09:05):
She is a person who is quitecreative.
She's a great musician.
We're going to talk aboutcreativity.
We're going to talk about music.
We're going to talk about whatit means to write music and to
take a risk to put your stuffout there.
I'm very excited about havingAmy.
Then, in the third week, wehave Leanna, whose story I begun
(09:26):
to tell you about.
She is a person who had alife-threatening accident and
came back from that accident tosee God do some really amazing
things, not just for herphysically, but to use her story
in providing encouragement forothers who are going through a
difficult season.
So those are our upcomingguests.
(09:46):
I cannot wait for you to hearfrom them and give us a chance
to talk through some of theirstory, and I am super thrilled
that you're going to be able tobe a part of that.
Now, as I close, I just want tosay one final thank you, and
that is to one of our greatsponsors of the broadcast, and
(10:06):
that is Pickleball Kingdom andJarrah Jolly.
Sponsors of the broadcast, andthat is Pickleball Kingdom and
Jared Jolly.
Our studio is actually locatedwithin the Pickleball Kingdom
facility.
Jared generously donated thespace and, if you are at all
interested in either playing itmore often or in learning how to
play, this is the fastestgrowing sport in the country
(10:29):
right now, and it's not just forthe older folks.
In fact, more and more youngpeople are engaged in the
activity as well, and so if youhave an interest in learning
about pickleball, if you'd liketo play, you can gain a
membership here.
It's an absolutely premiumfacility, air conditioned, like
top grade courts and a wholeseries of them.
(10:50):
They have two differentbuildings, one with 11 courts,
one with three courts, and theyhave, of course, the cafe and
the store and all kinds ofamenities, and you can take
advantage of that.
They are located inPflugerville, at 1900 East
Howard Lane, and so takeadvantage of that.
Thank you, jared, for makingthis space possible, and I look
(11:11):
forward to seeing you all inweek one next week.
Hey, I just want to say welcome to season
four.
Actually, we were talking aboutthis before we came on the air.
We've actually been doing somekind of podcast for like I think
, 10 years, because it was evenwhen I was back in pella.
We did this podcast calledvoices from the villa and carol
(00:35):
thought it sounds like some kindof horror show.
You can't keep that name, butit was all part of the evolution
.
And four years ago we kind ofgot serious about this whole
process and started something wecall now sidewalk conversations
, where we just talk to ordinarypeople doing extraordinary
things, and so we are gettingready to launch our next season
(00:57):
in the new studio, and so I justwant to give you a little
preview today about season four.
And I want to start with thestudio.
So look at what.
I have a team of people, and Iam always humbled by the fact
that there are folks who believeso passionately in this work
(01:21):
that they are willing tovolunteer time and kind of work
for not a lot of money to helpme pull all this off.
And so I want to begin just byrecognizing the team and the
folks that helped me do this.
So I have, first of all myadministrative assistant, jen,
who spent literally hourspainting and putting up things.
(01:44):
I have my technician, preston,who, similarly, was just willing
to do whatever needed to bedone to make this happen.
I also want to thank myvideographer, martin.
He does a lot of my projectsfor social media, but he also
came in and he fine-tuned thestudio in terms of the video and
audio pieces.
(02:04):
I also want to thank Ethan,who's terms of the video and
audio pieces.
I also want to thank Ethan,who's kind of the new guy on the
team.
He came for a day and helped medo some of the more dangerous
things like hang sound panelingand go back and forth between
here and Hobby Lobby and Lowe'sto make sure we had all the
supplies.
So it's just been a great teameffort.
(02:27):
And, of course, I cannot forgetmy beloved wife, carol Like.
If you see anything here in thestudio that looks good and
looks like it matches, it'sbecause she was a like champion
on marketplace Wayfair you knowall the Ikea and I gave her a
(02:51):
picture and I said here's what Ithink I would like to have done
, and so she was able to find itand I was like I could not
believe it.
She just kept on coming up withthings and then showing me, hey
, like, will this work, willthis work, and I can't even
imagine how many hours she spentworking on this project.
(03:15):
And so, carol, thank you sovery much for all the things you
did to help bring it togetherso that we have a wonderful new
environment to have theseconversations.
In fact, that might be a goodthing to share a little bit
about, because when we were kindof in the process of thinking
what we needed to do with thisspace, we realized that one of
(03:36):
the things that's kind ofhappened over the last few years
is that we've evolved from amore what I'd call formal
interview style to somethingthat would take place, hopefully
like in a living room, overcoffee, just friends talking,
and so we wanted the studiospace to reflect that new
emphasis and vibe.
(03:56):
And I'm just, I think we gotthere, I think we did it, and so
thanks to everybody who madethat possible.
From the pragmatic side and atthe same time, I also want to
say a thank you to there weresome sponsors and donors who
said hey when they heard aboutthis project, said, hey, we want
(04:17):
to help make that happen, we'dlike to donate some money, and
so I want to say thank you toWendy Sweats.
These chairs are a product ofher contribution.
I also want to say thank you toJennifer Nichols.
She was like she had somebody Ihad back in the college days,
and she was one who said I wantto try and help as a kind of
(04:38):
payback for the things that youprovided during my college years
, and so she made a verygenerous contribution as well.
And then there's Mike andLeanna.
These are people that we justmet recently at a conference.
We were sitting kind of closeto each other.
We just turned to each otherand we realized we had so much
in common and we started hangingout.
(05:01):
We had dinners together andthen, when they heard about this
podcast, they said, hey, whatcan we do to help?
And they also made a greatdonation.
And you're going to be hearingfrom Leanna, who has just an
amazing story of God's redeeminggrace in the midst of hardship.
In fact, she's going to be oneof our guests here in the first
month of Sidewalk Conversations.
(05:22):
I also want to kind of give youa little tour of the specifics
of maybe some things that, whenyou look at it on your phone or
on a computer you may not beable to see real clearly, but I
think they're kind of coollittle additions.
And so first of all I want tokind of bring our attention to
this space right here.
So you notice the Bureau whichwhen Carol showed me this on the
(05:44):
internet I was like I'm notsure that.
But of course I have to listento her because she has proven
time and time again, when shepulls things together they all
match, they all look good.
And so this was one of hersuggestions.
And then we thought, you know,we can't keep the black sheep
out, so we got to figure out away to put the black sheep out.
So we got to figure out a wayto put the black sheep out there
(06:06):
.
And so if you've been part ofthis conversation from the early
days, you know that part ofwhat we want to do is we want to
be able to say hey, if you feellike you're a little bit
outside the norm or you want tokind of think through a
different grid, maybe a littlebit of a black sheep, we welcome
you.
And so that's kind of been ourlittle mascot, I guess you'd say
(06:28):
.
And then some of you mayremember that a couple of years
ago I put together a book ofpoetry and photography, the
Black Sheep Diary.
So that's here.
And then this is our newpainting that signals what we're
doing here.
It was sidewalk conversation,and so I had a little survey on
(06:49):
the sidewalk conversationsFacebook page.
We had a couple of differentoptions and just said hey, you
guys tell me what you thinkreflects best on the vibe that
we're trying to create here inthe studio and what we can use
as kind of a hint at what we aredoing in these sidewalk
conversations.
And so this was the one thatwon, and my administrative
(07:12):
assistant, jen, pulled it alltogether, made sure it came in
on time, and so that's thepainting that you're going to
see in our drawings or in ourinterviews.
And then behind me we also haveone of my favorite black sheep
pictures, because I think thatone of the hallmarks of the
(07:33):
person who has that like blacksheep mentality is they're
willing to stand against thegrain, like when everybody else
is willing to jump over the edge.
The black sheet says wait aminute.
Am I sure that that's what Iwant to do?
And that's, of course, what'sshown in that picture, and I
love it.
I think it's a great thing thatI want to kind of keep as a
(07:56):
centerpiece here.
And then our pocket prayerdevotionals.
Some of you are part of myPocket Prayer devotional team.
You've either bought thedevotional as a 365-day book or
you're part of the text streamthat I put out every morning,
and so we're giving a littleshout-out to the Pocket Prayer
group by posting those or havingthat on display here as well,
(08:20):
so that gives you a littleoverview of what we've done in
the studio.
I want to give you also alittle preview about what you
can expect in the next couple ofweeks.
I have three guests that we havebeen waiting to bring some of
these people on for a reallylong time.
First of all, we have Rebecca.
Rebecca is somebody who wasback in season one.
(08:43):
She is an entrepreneur.
She's written a great bookcalled Lost Girl and she has a
great company, and we're goingto spend some time talking about
entrepreneurship, like whatdoes it mean to start something
and stay with something, and I'mvery excited about having that
conversation.
Then, week two, we're going tohave Amy Hooper.
(09:05):
She is a person who is quitecreative.
She's a great musician.
We're going to talk aboutcreativity.
We're going to talk about music.
We're going to talk about whatit means to write music and to
take a risk to put your stuffout there.
I'm very excited about havingAmy.
Then, in the third week, wehave Leanna, whose story I begun
(09:26):
to tell you about.
She is a person who had alife-threatening accident and
came back from that accident tosee God do some really amazing
things, not just for herphysically, but to use her story
in providing encouragement forothers who are going through a
difficult season.
So those are our upcomingguests.
(09:46):
I cannot wait for you to hearfrom them and give us a chance
to talk through some of theirstory, and I am super thrilled
that you're going to be able tobe a part of that.
Now, as I close, I just want tosay one final thank you, and
that is to one of our greatsponsors of the broadcast, and
(10:06):
that is Pickleball Kingdom andJarrah Jolly.
Sponsors of the broadcast, andthat is Pickleball Kingdom and
Jared Jolly.
Our studio is actually locatedwithin the Pickleball Kingdom
facility.
Jared generously donated thespace and, if you are at all
interested in either playing itmore often or in learning how to
play, this is the fastestgrowing sport in the country
(10:29):
right now, and it's not just forthe older folks.
In fact, more and more youngpeople are engaged in the
activity as well, and so if youhave an interest in learning
about pickleball, if you'd liketo play, you can gain a
membership here.
It's an absolutely premiumfacility, air conditioned, like
top grade courts and a wholeseries of them.
(10:50):
They have two differentbuildings, one with 11 courts,
one with three courts, and theyhave, of course, the cafe and
the store and all kinds ofamenities, and you can take
advantage of that.
They are located inPflugerville, at 1900 East
Howard Lane, and so takeadvantage of that.
Thank you, jared, for makingthis space possible, and I look
(11:11):
forward to seeing you all inweek one next week.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.