#60: Farewell Rachel

#60: Farewell Rachel

Note: The Love Thy Neighborhood podcast is made for the ear, and not the eye. We would encourage you to listen to the audio for the full emotional emphasis of this episode. The following transcription may contain errors. Please refer to the audio before quoting any content from this episode. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Love Thy Neighborhood is now on Patreon, which offers exclusive bonus content to members. For just 10 bucks a month, you can unlock bonus interviews, livestreams, eBooks, and more. By becoming a Patreon member, you’re helping us make more of the podcast content that you love and supporting our urban missions program. It’s really easy to join. Just go to patreon.com/lovethyneighborhood. We’d love to have you with us as we explore discipleship and missions in our modern times. Again, go to patreon.com/lovethyneighborhood, and sign up today.

—————————————–

AUDIO CLIPS: Love Thy Neighborhood… Discipleship and missions for modern times.

RACHEL SZABO: What? Why is that battery dead already? Anyway, you are listening to the Love Thy Neighborhood podcast. My name is Jesse Eubanks, and today we’re talking about popcorn and why popcorn is an essential piece for every office to have. Thank you very much. Tip your waitresses. See ya, suckers. 

JESSE EUBANKS: (laughter) What did I just listen to? What was that? 

RACHEL SZABO: Okay, so that was me doing a mic test. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Uh-huh. 

RACHEL SZABO: For our very first episode. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Are you serious? 

RACHEL SZABO: Yes. 

JESSE EUBANKS: (laughter) That’s so good. So good. 

RACHEL SZABO: I’m, I’m pretty sure I was testing plosives, which is why I’m like, “Popcorn, popcorn.” 

JESSE EUBANKS: Uh-huh. Yeah. I’ve gotta say, I don’t know if your impersonation of me was very close though. 

RACHEL SZABO: I thought it was pretty accurate.

JESSE EUBANKS: (laughter) I, I don’t know. Okay. So right now we’re, like, sitting in this, you know, nice studio that we have built. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: But I don’t think a lot of people realize, like, the original episodes we were in the closet, uh, in the basement of an abandoned building. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yep. 

JESSE EUBANKS: We were in the cry room at church.

RACHEL SZABO: Uh-huh.

JESSE EUBANKS: Um, and we were in the attic of an old house where there was no air conditioning.

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah, I’m pretty sure that mic test was in your old office in the –

JESSE EUBANKS: Oh yeah. 

RACHEL SZABO: – in the attic. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Oh my gosh, yeah. My old office that used to be a bathroom. 

RACHEL SZABO: Uh-huh.

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: There’s a hole in the floor, and I would listen to people urinate all day long. It was the worst. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. Yeah. We’ve come a long way since then. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. Because I think about, like, how far you have brought this since the beginning. Um – 

RACHEL SZABO: Right, of me, like, working on the floor. (laughs)

JESSE EUBANKS: Right. And, like, a lot of people don’t realize, especially like those first several seasons, it was like just you – totally you, by yourself – writing, interviewing, editing. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yep, editing.

JESSE EUBANKS: Recording everything. Start to finish, it was you. And so, like, those first episodes, you know, would take you roughly a month per episode to produce.

RACHEL SZABO: At least. Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: And then you eventually got to where you’re like, “Okay, I can do it solo in like two and a half weeks.”

RACHEL SZABO: Right.

JESSE EUBANKS: You got it down and then we brought Anna on and now you can do it in, like, uh, three hours.

RACHEL SZABO: (laughs) Uh, not, not quite that fast. (laugh) Yeah.

JESSE EUBANKS: Uh, you know, but as we announced last week, you are stepping away from the podcast. 

RACHEL SZABO: That’s right. Yeah. Closing this chapter on life and, and moving ahead to some other things. Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah.

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. Well, we wanna say a thank you to you. So today, uh, I want us to take some time to look back on all the work that you’ve done over the last six years. So we’re gonna reminisce, we’re gonna hear some of your favorite moments. Uh, I even have a surprise for you – a never before released episode that you made years ago. 

RACHEL SZABO: Oh, man. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Uh, so stay with us and let’s celebrate Rachel Szabo.

—————————————–

JESSE EUBANKS: You’re listening to the Love Thy Neighborhood podcast. Today’s episode – “Farewell Rachel.” Welcome to our corner of the urban universe.

—————————————–

JESSE EUBANKS: Okay, so I don’t think a lot of our listeners realize that, you know, the beginnings of this podcast actually started years before we actually launched the podcast itself. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah, that’s right. So I was an intern with Love Thy Neighborhood, like, back in, like, 2010, 2011. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

RACHEL SZABO: And, yeah, during my time serving here, you know, you learned that I had gone to school for mass communication. I had some audio-visual skills. And you were like, “Hey, let’s, let’s experiment with a podcast.” And at that point, you know, in like 2010, I was like, “What’s a podcast?”

JESSE EUBANKS: Mm-hmm. 

RACHEL SZABO: Because that – those weren’t a thing really yet. 

JESSE EUBANKS: I think they were, like, not a big thing, like, for some people, but, like, I was pretty nerdy into them, you know? And I was, like, really enamored with This American Life and Radiolab.

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah, I guess podcasting was more like a niche thing. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah, yeah. But, uh, I came to you, and I, like, pitched this idea, like, “Why don’t you just do like a short story?” 

RACHEL SZABO: Mm-hmm.

JESSE EUBANKS: And so you put together the short story. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: It was, uh, called “Word and Deed.” 

RACHEL SZABO: Uh-huh.

JESSE EUBANKS: Um, and so actually I’ve got that story right here. 

RACHEL SZABO: Oh man, this is gonna be interesting. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Okay, so a little context for our listeners. The story takes place at one of our service site partners, Re:Center Ministries, which is a homelessness mission. Uh, at the time the ministry was actually called Jefferson Street Baptist Center or Jeff Street, so you’re gonna actually in the story hear me refer to it as that throughout the story. And Rach, you actually don’t appear in this story at all, uh, but you did all of the writing and the editing for it. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah, that’s right. I, I put the whole thing together. Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Okay, so here is Rachel’s never before heard very first audio project, “Word and Deed.”

JESSE EUBANKS (WORD AND DEED CLIP): I met my friend Larry Smothers back in 2007 when he moved into Jefferson Street Baptist Center. Larry had a history of mental illness and substance addiction and had lived on the streets on and off for over 20 years. Larry came to Jeff Street desiring to change, desiring to see his life transformed, and we quickly became friends. In today’s episode, Larry will be sharing with us about the struggle of living with mental illness and about the hope he received from the gospel of Christ.

LARRY SMOTHERS (WORD AND DEED CLIP): I came to Jeff Street in December of 2007. I have a history of alcohol and drug addiction and, uh, well, I have a bipolar disorder. I have an abnormal brain weight and there are certain chemicals that are secreted in the brain that I don’t possess and I take medication to secrete for me the chemical that I lack. I suffer sometimes depression. When I’m suffering, I don’t see those warning signs for that. They’re outside signs that other people see and bring to their attention. Uh, there’s a lot of confusion that sets in with depression and, uh, your personal hygiene declines and your intake of food declines. You – some people don’t eat at all. Others eat very little. And it’s very rapid. It comes on you very rapidly. And it, uh, is progressive.

JESSE EUBANKS (WORD AND DEED CLIP): The first time that Larry lived at Jeff Street, he was here with us for over a year. He graduated from our Fresh Start program and then eventually moved into our permanent supportive housing. Over time, Larry really desired to move out, and so he did. He moved out, he got his own apartment, got his own place, but like a lot of folks, he lived by himself with no one nearby, with no friends living in the building with him. 

LARRY SMOTHERS (WORD AND DEED CLIP): I was isolating, and, uh, I had too much time to myself where I would spend hours in thought versus actions and entered a depressed mode and, uh, started shutting down the people around me and the things around me. And, uh, I eventually became sicker through that.

JESSE EUBANKS (WORD AND DEED CLIP): This is the point in the story where things get pretty dark. One night I received a phone call from an unknown phone number. When I answered, it was Larry calling from the psychiatric ward at the Veteran’s Hospital. Larry told me that he had been in his apartment just a few nights before and that he had started to hear voices and these voices were telling him to do violent things to the fellow tenants in the building. He said that he would lay on his bed and he would just stare at the ceiling, counting the bolts in the ceiling fan – his attempt to stay connected to reality – but it wasn’t working. 

LARRY SMOTHERS (WORD AND DEED CLIP): I became afraid of what I might do in that state of mind, so I opted to go to the hospital instead. A lot of that period was not of my decision-making process. A lot of it was due to my depression and maybe areas of schizophrenia. Though I’m not diagnosed that, I’m sure it played a part. 

JESSE EUBANKS (WORD AND DEED CLIP): When I left the hospital that afternoon, I walked out to my car and I closed the door and I began to weep, tears running down my face. And I wept because Larry seemed so confused and so lost. But even in the midst of that despair, this other thing rang true. The book of Psalms says, “If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there.”

LARRY SMOTHERS (WORD AND DEED CLIP): We’re not here alone, and the cross just keeps me focused on reality versus what my mind wants to tell me it’s going on. It’s a frightening thing to know the reality of the fact that you are mentally ill and, apart from the cross, there’s very little help available to the mentally ill.

JESSE EUBANKS (WORD AND DEED CLIP): Even though Larry knew that he couldn’t even trust his own sense of reality, he believed that the gospel was true. He believed that the gospel was powerful enough to reach him even in his darkest place. Eventually Larry was discharged from the hospital and returned to his apartment. It took some time, but we were able to get him out of his lease. He moved back into Jeff Street and was a part of our newly restructured Fresh Start program. His doctor changed his medications. He became involved in the life of our church community again and eventually graduated from Fresh Start. He moved into Jeff Street’s permanent supportive housing, where he still lives now. According to Larry’s older sister, this is the healthiest she has seen him in almost three decades since his mental illness set in. When asked her why, she gives the credit to being in community. Larry agrees, but then goes one step further.

LARRY SMOTHERS (WORD AND DEED CLIP): I’m still susceptible to the depression, and here at Jeff Street, I’m, I’m not isolated. I’m not, I’m not off to myself where I’m left to the own devices of my mind. I have people I can interact with here who can notice the warning signs of my depression, and they can keep me in touch with reality. And we do have assurances from the cross, and no matter what occurs to me in this life in the life I have left, it’ll be all right.

JESSE EUBANKS: Man, that’s crazy. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. That’s 11 years ago. 

JESSE EUBANKS: 11 years ago. 

RACHEL SZABO: Mm-hmm.

JESSE EUBANKS: Wow. So you would’ve been 24, and, uh, I would have been, uh, 32 at the time. 

RACHEL SZABO: Wow. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Man. 

RACHEL SZABO: Young kids. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Young kids. Here’s, here’s why I love listening to that though – is, like, you can hear glimpses of what’s to come. It’s like – 

RACHEL SZABO: Mm-hmm.

JESSE EUBANKS: It’s like we had not figured it out. Like we – you know, I sound very, like, monotone. 

RACHEL SZABO: It’s kind of rough. 

JESSE EUBANKS: It’s pretty rough. 

RACHEL SZABO: It’s choppy. 

JESSE EUBANKS: It’s choppy, but like you can tell, like, what we’re aiming for. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. Like there’s, there’s glimpses of the style – 

JESSE EUBANKS: Mm-hmm.

RACHEL SZABO: – in there. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Mm-hmm. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. So what’s it like hearing that, you know, as like your first project compared to what you went on to produce later?

RACHEL SZABO: It, uh, (laugh) I think it’s, it’s hard not to critique it. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Sure. Yeah. 

RACHEL SZABO: Like, yeah it’s hard not to be like, “Well, I would, I would do this differently now. I would do that differently now.” 

JESSE EUBANKS: Sure. 

RACHEL SZABO: But I think as a first project, like, like you said, like, I think the, the heart behind it – 

JESSE EUBANKS: Mmm. 

RACHEL SZABO: – is there, and I think that that comes through, even though it’s a little, like, rough around the edges.

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. 

RACHEL SZABO: It’s like, “Oh yeah, I, I see what I was going for.” 

JESSE EUBANKS: Mm-hmm. 

RACHEL SZABO: And it, and it, and I think it was a good, like, first effort. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Yeah. Your heart and your taste both sort of come through –

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: – in that, in that project. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. Ah, that’s so good.

RACHEL SZABO: And we’ve, uh, we’ve perfected that since then. 

JESSE EUBANKS: A little, a little bit. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah.

JESSE EUBANKS: Uh, we’ve come quite a ways, like you’ve worked on the official LTN podcast since 2016. 

RACHEL SZABO: Mm-hmm.

JESSE EUBANKS: Uh, in that time you’ve made over 60 episodes. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: So let’s talk a little bit about some of your favorite moments over the years. Okay, so every time that we start to explore an episode, you start off by doing a lot of research and reporting.

RACHEL SZABO: Mm-hmm.

JESSE EUBANKS: Um, so what has been one of your favorite, you know, subjects that you have had the opportunity to do research and reporting on? 

RACHEL SZABO: Mmm. Yeah, that’s a good question. You know, I’ve done a lot of subjects and a lot of interesting subjects. I think, I think probably one of my favorite ones that I just found really fascinating and I didn’t know much about before starting the episode was our episode on the Evangelical Industrial Complex.

JESSE EUBANKS: Mmm, yeah. Yeah, that’s, that was a fascinating one. You know, we did that in partnership with The Holy Post and Skye Jethani. What about that topic in particular, like, grabbed you? 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah, I think just the, the depth and the pervasiveness of it, like in, in doing research about it and not knowing much about it, but then kind of doing some digging, finding stories, just realizing how big of an issue that is but it’s one that’s not really talked about much. I think I was very fascinated by like, “Oh, this is something people need to hear, like this is something that needs to get out there and be brought to people’s attention.” It was almost like, uh, “I’ve discovered this thing, and you all need to know about it” – 

JESSE EUBANKS: Mm-hmm. 

RACHEL SZABO: – kind of thing. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah, yeah.

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. In that episode I remember I was really, really fascinated by Ingrid’s story. So we had a woman named Ingrid Schleuter on, um, and she was able to kind of share her own experience in coming in contact with the evangelical industrial complex – or EIC as we call it in the episode – and I remember being very fascinated by her candid responses about her experience with it. 

JESSE EUBANKS: So let’s listen to part of that. Uh, so here’s the story of Ingrid Schleuter from “Where the Gospel Meets the Evangelical Industrial Complex.”

JESSE EUBANKS (EIC EPISODE CLIP): So Ingrid spent most of her life working in ministry – in Christian radio to be precise. 

INGRID SCHLEUTER (EIC EPISODE CLIP): I had been working in since, uh, actually 1988 and had done both production and co-hosting of a national talk show called Crosstalk.

JESSE EUBANKS (EIC EPISODE CLIP): So eventually Ingrid leaves that job and goes to work part-time for another show called The Janet Mefferd Show.

INGRID SCHLEUTER (EIC EPISODE CLIP): A lot of what I did had to do with current issues, breaking news stories, that kind of thing. We were dealing with everything from culture war issues, education, um, all the changes that were being made in our country, apologetics dealing with the defense of the faith in a pluralistic society, and things of that nature.

SKYE JETHANI (EIC EPISODE CLIP): Actually that sounds a lot like this podcast and my podcast The Holy Post.

JESSE EUBANKS (EIC EPISODE CLIP): Yeah, they were using their journalism and their Christian faith to look at current issues. But then there’s this one day, Janet, the host of the show – she comes to Ingrid with a new story that she wants to air. 

INGRID SCHLEUTER (EIC EPISODE CLIP): She alerted me to the fact that she was working on a plagiarism case, a, a plagiarism situation with Mark Driscoll.

JESSE EUBANKS (EIC EPISODE CLIP): Okay, so for those that don’t know, Mark Driscoll is a pastor who’s been the subject of a lot of controversy, including abuse of power, bullying. He talked a lot about sex from the pulpit and in his books. He’s perhaps best known as a pastor of Mars Hill Church, and he was actually removed in 2014 due to formal complaints of abuse. But this situation that we’re talking about with the plagiarism – it actually happened a full year before all of that. 

SKYE JETHANI (EIC EPISODE CLIP): Okay, so what was he actually accused of plagiarizing? 

JESSE EUBANKS (EIC EPISODE CLIP): Okay, so Janet was already scheduled to have Driscoll on her show for an interview. Uh, so in preparation for that interview, she read what would’ve been his latest book at the time, A Call to Resurgence – that’s the name of the book. And in that book, Janet saw 14 pages of plagiarized material taken from another source that she was familiar with. Again, here’s producer Ingrid. 

INGRID SCHLEUTER (EIC EPISODE CLIP): She also interviewed Mr. Driscoll and with him on the radio, on the recording of the program and the airing of the program, asked him point blank and allowed him to respond to the fact that she identified whole passages of his book from other people.

SKYE JETHANI (EIC EPISODE CLIP): Wow, so she asked him on the air. That’s a pretty bold move. 

JESSE EUBANKS (EIC EPISODE CLIP): Yeah. In addition to bringing it up in her interview, Janet also posted about it on her website. Okay so Skye, what would your response be if you heard a big name pastor accused of plagiarism? 

SKYE JETHANI (EIC EPISODE CLIP): Well I would probably wanna look into it to see if it was valid, if it was true or not.

JESSE EUBANKS (EIC EPISODE CLIP): Yeah, that is the common, normal person response. Like, “I’ve heard this accusation. I want to investigate it. I wanna figure out if it’s true.” So Ingrid saw no problem with the reporting that Janet had done. The facts supported her. 

INGRID SCHLEUTER (EIC EPISODE CLIP): The evidence Janet assembled was unassailable. 

JESSE EUBANKS (EIC EPISODE CLIP): Here’s the problem though. The radio network – they did not agree. 

INGRID SCHLEUTER (EIC EPISODE CLIP): The response of her bosses was that this was unacceptable. She was told to take it down off her website, where she had, you know, proven what she was alleging, and was also told to apologize on the air for the interview. 

SKYE JETHANI (EIC EPISODE CLIP): Okay, well the Bible has a thing or two to say about what to do with accusations against leaders, and I can understand why some were uncomfortable with the way Janet handled that on the air. But that’s separate from the accusations themselves about whether or not there was plagiarized materials in Driscoll’s book.

JESSE EUBANKS (EIC EPISODE CLIP): I mean you look at this whole thing, and it’s kind of just strange. Like here’s a Christian radio network with shows committed to seeking the truth. Janet’s evidence was good. The reporting was clean. Eventually what ended up coming out was that Driscoll’s team had made a mistake. The story is that they did not cite his notes correctly and that it was an honest mistake, that he did not mean to do it, but it still stands that Janet’s accusation of plagiarism was true. Intentional or not, plagiarism did take place. And her radio network essentially responded by saying, “We want you to go on-air and apologize and say that your accusation was incorrect.”

SKYE JETHANI (EIC EPISODE CLIP): It just seems like there had to be more going on behind the scenes. 

JESSE EUBANKS (EIC EPISODE CLIP): I mean, well, you’re right. I mean, here’s the thing – Janet’s show was part of Salem Radio Network, Driscoll’s book was published by Tyndale House, and it was later reported that Tyndale House had some sort of media partnership with Salem Radio Network. So another way of saying this is that these two entities were business clients. They were making money off of one another.

SKYE JETHANI (EIC EPISODE CLIP): Yeah, they were making money off of one another, and they were probably both making money from Mark Driscoll in the sale of his books. So there it is. That is the evangelical industrial complex at play. So we need to ask ourselves – are we seeking comfort or the status quo, or are we really interested in seeking the truth? Because within the EIC it’s, it’s all about promoting the big names that bring in lots of money and sometimes silencing anything or anyone who gets in the way of that.

JESSE EUBANKS (EIC EPISODE CLIP): Which is exactly what happened with Ingrid and The Janet Mefferd Show. They started receiving hate mail, getting bashed on Twitter, receiving little to no support from Christian media. And even though Ingrid was just a part-time producer on the show, she was the one that was caught in the crossfire. 

INGRID SCHLEUTER (EIC EPISODE CLIP): I was very displeased with any broadcast company that tells a, a talk show host, particularly one that claims to be Christian, that would not be immediately concerned about a plagiarist being promoted as a great spiritual voice speaking into the culture and publishing books on – I mean, uh, I, I’m not comfortable with working in that setting. 

JESSE EUBANKS (EIC EPISODE CLIP): You know, Ingrid was in a tough spot because at the time her husband was looking for work and her family needed that small income Ingrid was bringing home, but Ingrid just couldn’t justify a paycheck if it came with looking the other way when there were issues or promoting big names at any cost. And so, less than a month since the report had first aired, Ingrid resigned from the show.

SKYE JETHANI (EIC EPISODE CLIP): And I’m assuming Janet did as well?

JESSE EUBANKS (EIC EPISODE CLIP): Yeah. So here’s a part of the statement Ingrid gave with her resignation. It says, “I was a part-time topic producer for Janet Mefferd until yesterday when I resigned over the situation. All I can share is that there is an evangelical celebrity machine that is more powerful than anyone realizes. You may not go up against the machine. That is all. Mark Driscoll clearly plagiarized, and those who could have underscored the seriousness of it and demanded accountability did not. That is the reality of the evangelical industrial complex.”

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. What about that story in particular feels important to you? 

RACHEL SZABO: Mmm. I think just the fact that here’s this woman who, you know, is just – she’s doing her job, she’s doing her job well, and she kind of gets swallowed up by this bigger thing. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Mm-hmm. 

RACHEL SZABO: And it, and it affects her, her reputation and, and her life, almost just like a cog in the machine, and she’s like, “I can’t do this anymore.”

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. Yeah. And what’s sad in the whole thing is, like, in retrospect, it was very obvious, like plagiarism did take place and these people were literally just trying to do the right thing. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: And, but because there was money and influence and relationships and power involved, they were being prohibited from doing that.

RACHEL SZABO: Yep. Yep.

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. Yeah. I loved your reporting on all of that. I thought that it was such clear examples of what can happen in some pockets of Christianity when it gets mixed in with “how can we make a buck off of this whole thing?” 

RACHEL SZABO: Yep. Yep. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Okay, so here’s the other thing too. Every time that we do an episode, you actually do a bunch of interviews for each episode.

RACHEL SZABO: Mm-hmm.

JESSE EUBANKS: Most of those interviews make it into the episode. Some of them don’t. How many people roughly do you think that you have interviewed over the last six years? 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah, I would say probably in the vicinity of over 150 people. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Oh my gosh. And I’m thinking too about, like, 150 people, like you gotta do the research ahead of time so that it’s informed, you’re asking the right kinds of questions. You have to be really attuned to your subjects. 

RACHEL SZABO: Mm-hmm.

JESSE EUBANKS: Uh, they say that – uh, I heard an adage that said, uh, “A good interview usually feels like a good counseling session.” 

RACHEL SZABO: Mm-hmm.

JESSE EUBANKS: Like there’s a sense in which, like, you have to really go in. Like that’s, that is a lot of people.

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. Yeah. I’ve talked with all kinds of different people, and it, that’s been a really fun aspect of this job is just talking with folks and hearing their stories. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. Any stand out to you? 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, some that immediately come to mind – um, like I think about Kinshasta, um, who appeared in our episode on abortion, um, and just her, her willingness to be so candid and honest about her story, um, and just being very descriptive about that. I remember sitting in that interview – I mean that was in our first season, and so I was kind of new, new to the job – and just thinking like, “Wow, I’m surprised that she’s, like, opening up this much to me.”

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. 

RACHEL SZABO: Um, I think about – Jane Gumbiner is another one that comes to mind. She was in our episode on dementia, and she was just, like, the sweetest lady. She was like a referral from another person that I didn’t know. So I was like, “Oh, I don’t know how this interview’s gonna go,” and she was just so sweet and, and caring and just honest. You know, I’m, I’m a stranger. 

JESSE EUBANKS: She had, she had a spouse with dementia. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. Yeah. Her husband, um, had Alzheimer’s and, you know, she doesn’t know me and she is just so sweet –

JESSE EUBANKS: Mm-hmm. 

RACHEL SZABO: – and just honest and open. So those are some that come to mind. Uh, but I think there’s, there’s one in particular that, that really stands out and I found particularly touching, um, in, in speaking with this person.

JESSE EUBANKS: Well, hold that thought, and we’re gonna explore that when we come back. So stay with us.

COMMERCIAL

JESSE EUBANKS: It’s the Love Thy Neighborhood podcast. I’m Jesse Eubanks. Today’s episode is “Farewell Rachel.” So we’re sitting here with Rachel Szabo as she concludes six years of producing this podcast. You’ve been sharing some of your favorite moments from your time as a producer for the show. Uh, you said that there’s one interview in particular that stands out?

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah, so this is an interview from our episode on foster care. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Mmm. 

RACHEL SZABO: And it was a guy named Jim Shields, and I think this one stands out to me just because Jim was, so, first of all, just descriptive in telling his story. He was just incredibly detailed. Um, but then just he was very – like his emotion came through, like you could tell his, his own story means a lot to him and, like, he himself was moved as he was telling the story. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Mmm. Well, let’s take a listen. Okay, so here is Jim Shields from “Where the Gospel Meets Foster Care.” 

JIM SHIELDS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): My mom was never abusive in the sense that she would hit us or strike us, but it was just, uh, a neglect. Uh, the house was, um, you just imagine a hoarder with four children. Laundry, dirty laundry everywhere. Cats – there was just always cats. And not well-maintained, so it was always – it smelled bad. It was dirty. We would go to school, we would literally have cat feces on our clothes. And you were so, I guess, numbed by it that you didn’t even notice it until you got to school and got teased about it. So it was just a very dirty environment. 

JESSE EUBANKS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): And while his mom wasn’t abusive, Jim had other family members who were.

JIM SHIELDS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): So my earliest memory was being sexually abused in a pickup truck. I was, uh, preschool age, and then it happened, you know, repeatedly until, um, you know, throughout preschool. 

JESSE EUBANKS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): And then when his mom got married, Jim’s stepdad – he was also abusive. 

JIM SHIELDS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): You know, the abuse started with him – the physical abuse. Being the oldest, I sort of took the brunt of it because he, you know, he would look to me to be the quote unquote “man of the house” when he wasn’t there. 

JESSE EUBANKS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): And so around eight years old, Jim is basically taking care of the house – watching his siblings, doing all the dishes, making all the meals.

JIM SHIELDS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): A lot of cooking, a lot of cleaning, a lot of, you know – and then obviously at some point you gotta do some schoolwork in there too. And the other – we were sort of a Lord of the Flies environment with, you know, four kids, you know. Some people talk about, you know, the best shoes and a cool jacket and great music, and I’m like, “It’s cool that I get to eat today, and it’s cool that I didn’t get the crap kicked outta me by the people that are supposed to be caring for me.”

JESSE EUBANKS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): And as Jim grew older, he started becoming aware of his circumstances and his reality, and he no longer wanted anything to do with it. 

JIM SHIELDS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): It was like when I turned like 14, 15, I was really cognizant of what was happening. I was more mature than most of the adults I knew at that point. All of the men that were in my life had been – with very few exceptions – were, you know, abusing or abusing me in some way, and I just said, “That’s not gonna happen anymore. If it kills me and it knocks me out or gets me killed, I’m not letting another person put their hands on me.”

JESSE EUBANKS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): And so Jim ran away from home. Eventually the cops found him, and once the situation at home was assessed, Jim was taken before a family court judge. 

JIM SHIELDS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): I do remember the judge asking me, “Do you want to go to a group home, or do you want to go to an individual – a foster home would be like a family.” Well, I didn’t know what family meant, but I knew that in the, in the group home it was more like a, it felt like a jail. It’d be hard to escape. But if I was in a house, now that I can run away from. So I remember thinking, “Yeah, put me in a foster home dummy. You know, the first chance I get I’m out.”

JESSE EUBANKS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): So Jim was placed in his very first foster home, and this foster home was on a farm. 

JIM SHIELDS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): It was a steer farm, and they were looking for young boys who were, you know, between the ages of 12 and 15 that really were strong enough to do the labor but not really savvy enough to understand that they were really using the system. And, you know, it took me about a week to sort of figure out what their game was. 

JESSE EUBANKS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): And one day the father laid a hand on Jim, and you remember that was something that he vowed would never happen again. 

JIM SHIELDS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): And he sat on my chest and hit me in the face, and I looked him in the eyes and I told him, “I know where your guns are at, and I’m gonna kill you,” and I meant it. It was that commitment that I’d made to myself never to let another person abuse me or touch me. I never want to hurt any other human being, but I’m not willing to be hurt. 

JESSE EUBANKS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): After that, Jim’s case worker came. When she found out what was going on, all the foster kids were removed from that home, including Jim. Jim was placed with a new foster family – a lady named Carol and her husband Gary. 

JIM SHIELDS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): He was a little short guy who worked at Bethlehem Steel as a crane operator. I remember sizing him up. I’m like, “It’s a little guy.” I’m like, “Ah, I can take him, you know. I can get outta here, you know.” And again, within the first five or six minutes, I’m, I’m already thinking of my escape and “can I take this person? How would I do that? How do I escape danger?” because I was so in tune with “I’m in danger” regardless of where I was. 

JESSE EUBANKS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): So the case worker leaves Jim with his new foster dad Gary, and Gary tells Jim he’s got something for him. 

JIM SHIELDS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): Gary said, “All right, come on. I wanna take you out to the garage.” And I’m like, “Alright, here it comes.” Right? “I’m getting ready. Here comes the fist, you know.” And he showed me this row of dirt bikes, and, uh, he said, “I, I understand you like motorcycles.” I said, “Yep.” I said, “I do.” He goes, “Alright, pick one,” and I’m like, “I’ll play your game,” and I pointed to this yellow two-stroke Yamaha dirt bike and he goes, he said, “That is your responsibility.” He said, “You’re gonna pay for the fuel, you’ll pay for all those things, you’ll maintain it on your own. If you break it, you’re gonna pay for it.” He goes, “Now if you get in trouble, you’re not riding it.” And then he put his hand on my shoulder. He said, “I’ll never lay my hands on you.” And, um, that family welcomed me in. I felt safe.

JESSE EUBANKS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): Jim stayed with Gary and Carol until he turned 18. At 18 you age out of the foster care system, which means the state no longer compensates the foster parents. And since throughout his whole life Jim had never been wanted without any conditions, he figures Gary and Carol won’t want him anymore either. 

JIM SHIELDS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): So, you know, why would they keep me? By that time I wanted to stay there, but I’m like, “Who’s gonna – like they’re not getting paid. Why would they keep me? There’s no more check for them.” 

JESSE EUBANKS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): So Jim starts packing up his things. 

JIM SHIELDS (FOSTER CARE EPISODE CLIP): That night Gary and Carol pulled me to the kitchen table, and they said, “Why do you wanna leave?” I said, “I don’t, I don’t wanna leave.” I said, “But, you know, state’s gonna quit paying.” They’re like, “Jimmy, you’re part of the family. We don’t have you here for the check. We love you.” That changed me. I don’t wanna say my mom didn’t love me. She didn’t know how to do that. This family who had no incentive to do so cared not only for me, but they had been fostering as I understood it for like 19 years. I was one of their last kids that they were ever gonna bring in. And, uh, they said, “You’re part of the family, Jim.” 

JESSE EUBANKS: Why that story? 

RACHEL SZABO: Um, I think just the emotion behind it. So in, in audio stories there’s kind of two, two main things you wanna go for, and that’s narrative and emotion. And Jim really brought both of those in, in his interview. He was just very descriptive in, in telling his story, but then just – I mean, you can hear his voice crack and, and you can hear him kind of sniffling, just, like, he’s so moved by how God intervened in, in his life and showed his love through, you know, his, his foster parents that it just – yeah, I mean, I remember sitting with tears in my eyes listening to him. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you recorded that years ago and, uh, and I’ve heard it many times, and even now listening to it all these years later, I’m like, I’m very moved by it. 

RACHEL SZABO: Mm-hmm.

JESSE EUBANKS: Because it’s so horrible and then so beautiful.

RACHEL SZABO: It’s redemptive. 

JESSE EUBANKS: It’s so redemptive. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah.

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. Um, okay, so in the process of creating an episode, you interview people, you report on things, but then you bring it all together and you write these scripts. 

RACHEL SZABO: Mm-hmm.

JESSE EUBANKS: Right? And so you have written over 60 scripts, so let’s talk a little bit about writing.

RACHEL SZABO: Sure. 

JESSE EUBANKS: What stands out to you? 

RACHEL SZABO: Oh man, this is easy. Easy. Hands down probably my favorite writing project was our episode called “The Converted Gambler.” 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. Yeah. Uh, here’s what’s, here’s what’s funny. Okay, so this, this episode was about Steve Holcomb, who is the founder of Re:Center Ministries. It’s the fourth oldest homeless rescue mission in the country. It’s based here in Louisville. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yep. 

JESSE EUBANKS: And you wrote, like, this whole script. You were so energized about it. 

RACHEL SZABO: Well ’cause it was a different project –

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. 

RACHEL SZABO: – than – it was kind of a different format. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. 

RACHEL SZABO: – than we usually do. We were kind of copying this other show called The Memory Palace, and so it was a very different feel. It’s kind of more literary –

JESSE EUBANKS: Mm-hmm. 

RACHEL SZABO: – like audiobook style –

JESSE EUBANKS: Mm-hmm. 

RACHEL SZABO: – than our typical, just like, casual conversation. So it was, it was kind of an experiment. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Mm-hmm. So you send me The Memory Palace, and you’re like, “Hey, check out this other podcast. This is kind of the influence.” And then you, like, give me the script, and I come in. How would you describe my disposition as I’m attempting to deliver that script? 

RACHEL SZABO: You hated it. You hated it. 

JESSE EUBANKS: I did not get it. I didn’t understand it at all. 

RACHEL SZABO: You were like, “I don’t like this at all.” You were like, “I can’t deliver this.” 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: I was kind of a grump about the whole thing. 

RACHEL SZABO: You were. (laughs)

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. And, uh, and I remember like years ago when I was, uh, making music, I remember a buddy of mine said – um, he was a producer – and he said, “The artist sees something that the rest of us can’t and it’s something deep in their instincts and you just have to let them go for their vision all the way, like let ’em ride it to last station because they’re gonna bring something that the rest of us can’t see.” I remember, like, in that moment feeling like, “Rachel sees something in this that I can’t perceive.”

RACHEL SZABO: Mmm. 

JESSE EUBANKS: And, uh, and then you went and you delivered it and then I remember like the month after, like, I kept hearing from different listeners like, “That was fantastic. That was so good,” and I was just like, “That was all Rachel. I was, I was not seeing it.” And so, uh, so I, I’m very pleased to say I was very wrong, uh, and, and very blind on that one. So let’s, uh, let’s listen to that. So this is a clip from the episode “The Converted Gambler.”

RACHEL SZABO (CONVERTED GAMBLER EPISODE CLIP): It happened during a fishing trip. Steve and a buddy had gone up to Illinois where supposedly the fish were biting particularly well that season, and as they were walking along the docks back to their lodging after a full day of fishing, they could just make out a figure sitting in the dark. That figure pulled out a knife from his boot. “I heard some gamblers have come to town,” he said. He was referring to Steve and his friends. “And I can whip any man along the Ohio River.” It was a threat, a challenge to a game of cards. Steve felt he had no option but to accept. The three men walked to the nearest ballroom, and in due time, they had plenty of alcohol and a game of poker at the ready. It’s important to know that, after all his years of practice, Steve was a good gambler. He could hold his own, especially against this stranger who seemed to be all sass and no skill, and that is how Steve was able to notice during the game that the man was holding back certain cards in the deck. He was cheating. Luckily, Steve also had a good poker face. He made no indication that he knew what the man was doing and simply made his bet. The man saw his bet and raised it, to which Steve raised it again, to which the man raised it again and again. And back and forth it went until both men had all the money they possessed out on the table. The man revealed his hand – four Ace’s. That’s a good hand, a really good hand. In fact, Steve himself said, “That’s a pretty good hand, but I have a better one,” and he hit the man in the head, knocked him to the floor, took his money, and ran. And that was all it took. The rush of gambling all came back. The images of his boyhood fascinations, those gamblers dressed like princes, the allure of the steamboats – that was the life he wanted, not fishing in podunk Shipping Port. He didn’t even tell Mary where he was going. She was at home with their firstborn son. From Illinois, he jumped on a steamboat, headed to New Orleans, and started his second round of steamboat gambling excursions. 

JESSE EUBANKS: What’s crazy is that you didn’t even have the opportunity to tell his whole story, like his whole story is nuts. 

RACHEL SZABO: Oh, there’s tons of stuff I had to leave out just for the sake of time. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. Yeah, it should totally be like a Hollywood movie. It, it is so good. 

RACHEL SZABO: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. 

RACHEL SZABO: It’s fascinating, fascinating story. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. So the end of every episode, we try to address this question, right – “Where is the gospel in this topic, and what difference does the gospel make in how we approach this topic?” Do you have a favorite ending to an episode where we explored how the gospel applies to a topic?

RACHEL SZABO: Mmm. Yeah. That’s tough. I think the one that readily comes to mind that was kind of memorable is our ending to our episode on environmentalism. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Mmm. 

RACHEL SZABO: Because, you know, that episode ended on a note of just such awe and, and wonder at creation and at the God who cares for creation. I think that one sticks out just in the sense of, of wonder and, and awestruckness.

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. Yeah, I love that episode. I, I think there’s so much just beauty in that episode. So, okay. Here is the ending clip from “Where the Gospel Meets Environmentalism.”

RACHEL SZABO (ENVIRONMENTALISM EPISODE CLIP): Can I ask you a question? 

JESSE EUBANKS (ENVIRONMENTALISM EPISODE CLIP): Yeah. 

RACHEL SZABO (ENVIRONMENTALISM EPISODE CLIP): What is a moment or time when you’ve been in nature and you were just awestruck at the wonder or the beauty that was around you?

JESSE EUBANKS (ENVIRONMENTALISM EPISODE CLIP): Mmm. So one time I went camping with some friends. Um, we were in California. And we’re driving through California, and we’re passing Sacramento. It’s fairly like the lowlands, but then we begin to slowly climb through the mountains. We go around these winding roads and we climb and we climb and there’s evergreens everywhere and mountain, you know, chains starting to surround us and eventually we come to this cabin. There’s a little lake at this cabin, and it was like the most perfect blue water, like you could see all the way down through this lake. And, uh, we would go, like, jump off the dock and go for a swim first thing in the morning. We’re so far from electricity at this point. Shortly after we had put the fire out, I’m laying out in my sleeping bag and I’m staring up at the night sky and there’s just stars, I mean just thousands of stars, and over and over again we could just see shooting stars passing by. And it was just this moment where you began to realize the universe is so big. I roll over and I begin to look at these evergreen trees and this lake and I can literally just hear the sounds of insects, you know, all around me like an orchestra and it just made me begin to realize how vast this planet is. And one of the things that really struck me was – how is it that this God of this universe – how is it that he knows me and sees me, and how is it that he loves me? Because unlike this planet and unlike these stars, I’ve rebelled against him, and yet somehow in the mystery of God’s love I’m not disposable to him. He’s redeeming me. He’s changing me. He’s making me new. That’s definitely also true for the world that he’s created. God loves all that he has created and he is making it new and he is telling us that we are caretakers of this good world that he’s made. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah, that’s like one of my favorite, uh, sound design moments too.

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. So another reason why I really like that clip is because that’s one of the first projects, or actually maybe the first project, that Anna Tran, our audio engineer, worked on. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. Uh, okay. So Anna’s here with us now. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yep, we’ve brought her into the studio. 

ANNA TRAN: Hey guys. 

RACHEL SZABO: Hey.

ANNA TRAN: Hey Rachel. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Okay, so you have been working closely with Rachel ever since we brought you on as an engineer back in 2020. What a time to join us. 

ANNA TRAN: Yeah. What a time. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Uh, anything stand out to you as you’ve worked with Rachel? 

ANNA TRAN: Yeah. I mean, you mentioned that that was one of your favorite soundscapes. I remember working on that episode. It was so exciting. It was like the first time I would get to cut my teeth on some, like, major piece of sound design that’s actually meant for something, not just for, you know, my creative side projects.

RACHEL SZABO: Mmm. 

ANNA TRAN: So I remember I was in my bedroom apartment, like I was in the middle of packing so there were, like, banker’s boxes stacked up and my desktop computer is sitting on, you know, my little desk and I’m, like, in a really cramped, I don’t know, situation. 

RACHEL SZABO: It sounds like the beginnings of this podcast. (laughter)

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah, it does. 

ANNA TRAN: Yeah, I know. So similar. Yeah, I think one thing I’ve so appreciated about working with Rachel is just like her writing and how much I trust Rachel’s writing. 

RACHEL SZABO: Mmm.

ANNA TRAN: Like coming on I knew I was editing, but I really wanted opportunities and moments for sound design, just like the ones you’ve heard. There have been just so many moments where I’ve really gotten to dig into a scene in an episode to expand on it, to amplify it with sound design, and I really trust Rachel to bring that to the podcast. That’s been just such, um, an honor and pleasure to be able to take Rachel’s writing and to be able to, um, have a lot of creative freedom and to run with it. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. Yeah. That’s cool. Yeah, it’s been really fun working with you and giving you those opportunities to kind of run with the sound design.

ANNA TRAN: Mm-hmm.

RACHEL SZABO: And kind of do your thing. 

ANNA TRAN: Yeah, it’s been so fun. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. Yeah. 

ANNA TRAN: I’m gonna miss that. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah, and as we mentioned, uh, last week, you are taking over the producer role, so you’re gonna cut your teeth on some writing here – 

ANNA TRAN: That’s right. 

RACHEL SZABO: – here pretty soon. Yeah. 

ANNA TRAN: Yeah. 

RACHEL SZABO: Mm-hmm.

ANNA TRAN: Yeah, for sure. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Well, let me talk just for a second then about that. You know, because I, I don’t think that the majority of listeners realize, like, so much of what I say, um, is you writing for me.

RACHEL SZABO: Mm-hmm.

JESSE EUBANKS: Um, and so a lot of times when I’m speaking on the podcast and I’m throwing out stats like I’ve read all these things, you know, so often like, that – you’ve done all that research, you know?

RACHEL SZABO: That’s right. 

JESSE EUBANKS: And, um, and what I really appreciated is, like, it’s hard to write for another person. You know, you, you have this ability and this gift to, to write for other people, and in so many ways, like, you have over these last six years, like, you’ve given me a voice. 

RACHEL SZABO: Mmm.

JESSE EUBANKS: Or maybe another way of saying it is so often when I speak it’s not just my voice people are hearing – they’re hearing yours as well. 

RACHEL SZABO: Mmm. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Um, yeah, it’s, it’s just been such a gift to have somebody, um, just labor well, uh, and, and want to craft something beautiful and good and that is, uh, so thoughtful. And, uh, and then there’s like that x factor of taste, and, like, so much of your taste is so wonderful and excellent. And, you know, now that, uh, our friend Mike Cosper has, like, done The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, like there are finally other people entering into this narrative journalism space. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: In Christiandom. But really in a lot of ways, like when you first started doing this six years ago, like you were kind of first in the room. You know, uh –

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: You know, we can go back and do like, oh, Adventures in Odyssey kind of, or like Unshackled, you know, but, like, in terms of a modern podcast trying to do narrative journalism, like you were kind of first in the door. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: And, uh, and I just wanna celebrate that and recognize, like, it’s hard being a trailblazer and, uh, and in a lot of ways you’ve, you’ve really pushed things forward and we’re, we are all very grateful for you.

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. It’s been, it’s been super fun. 

ANNA TRAN: Yeah, it was such a cool thing to come as an intern in 2017, kind of at the beginning of it. I was only there for a summer, but it was like the budding part of the tree that I could see and was so excited for and there was no one else that I could find doing the type of narrative audio journalism that you were doing.

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. So for me, like, on the one hand there’s a part of me that’s like, “I’m totally okay with chapters have to come to a close, and I wanna make peace with that.” But it is also terribly, you know – we’re gonna miss you – 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: – is all I’m just trying to say. I mean, we have just spent hundreds of hours sitting across from each other, wrestling with topics, uh, arguing – sometimes overtly, sometimes passive aggressively – (laughs) uh, and trying to really wrestle with what does it mean to follow Jesus in this complicated culture.

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. 

JESSE EUBANKS: And, and for me to have another creative person in the room that is willing to really put up their dukes and get in there and do the hard work of wrestling through these things has been invaluable. Um, it’s hard to overstate how much you sort of working in the shadows so often nearby has, has really changed my life.

RACHEL SZABO: Mmm. 

JESSE EUBANKS: In a just world, you would’ve gotten a lot more credit for a lot of things and so I’m just very, very grateful for you and, uh, we’re gonna miss you and we’re, we are also excited just to see what the Lord does in the next chapter of your life. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. Thank you. I’m, I’m also excited to see kind of where you guys are gonna take the podcast from here. Like, I think it’ll be, it’ll be different and interesting, I think, for me to just be a listener now and kind of tune in and see like, “Oh, what, what are they making now?” You know? I think that’ll be fun. 

JESSE EUBANKS: We’re gonna take it right down the tubes. That’s our plan. (laughter)

RACHEL SZABO: Oh no. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. Yeah. I’m excited. You know, I’m excited for this next season, and, uh, it’s kind of fun to reimagine things and go, “Okay, all bets are off.”

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. Yeah.

JESSE EUBANKS: And so, like, where are we gonna go with this? 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. So I think, I think that’ll be a fun adventure for me to just kind of follow along and, and see where, where this goes. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. 

ANNA TRAN: Mmm.

JESSE EUBANKS: We’re excited for what’s next for you. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. Thank you. Um, just a, a side note for the listeners – this is my farewell episode, but I’m actually still gonna appear in a couple episodes – 

ANNA TRAN: Mm-hmm.

RACHEL SZABO: – after this just because, you know, production, it, it, it runs over. And so, um, you’ll still hear me here and there. So. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Mm-hmm. 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. Just, just wanna note that. But with that being said, Anna, I officially pass the baton, the podcast baton to you. 

ANNA TRAN: Great. Yeah. I receive it. (laughter) Yeah. I’m just super excited and really honored to be able to carry this forward and just build upon what you’ve created. One final surprise for you, Rachel – I put together a blooper reel. I save a lot of the gags and just like funny moments that happen during narration, so here’s a little bit of what listeners don’t get to hear in these recording sessions, um, over the years. So, Rachel, enjoy this. 

RACHEL SZABO: Great.

BLOOPER REEL

—————————————–

JESSE EUBANKS: Okay. It’s your last time to do the credits. Are you ready? 

RACHEL SZABO: Yeah. Alright. 

JESSE EUBANKS: This is it. 

RACHEL SZABO: Here we go. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Okay.

RACHEL SZABO: Our senior producer and host is Jesse Eubanks. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Our co-host today is Rachel Szabo, who has been our media director and producer and who as she departs from us wants to make one thing very clear.

RACHEL SZABO (CONVERTED GAMBLER EPISODE CLIP): And I can whip any man along the Ohio River. 

RACHEL SZABO: Anna Tran is our audio engineer. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Music for today’s episode comes from Lee Rosevere, Poddington Bear, Blue Dot Sessions, and Hammock. Theme music and commercial music by Murphy DX.

RACHEL SZABO: If you want a hands-on experience of missions in our modern times, come serve with Love Thy Neighborhood. We offer internships for young adults ages 18 to 30 through the areas of service, community, and discipleship. You’ll grow in your faith and your life skills. Learn more at lovethyneighborhood.org.

JESSE EUBANKS: Which of these was a neighbor to the man in need? The one who showed mercy. Jesus tells us, “Go, and do likewise.”

—————————————–

JESSE EUBANKS: Goodbye, Rachel. Goodbye, Rachel. Goodbye, Rachel. Sayonara.