Sadly, we start this episode with a brief update on the tragic killing of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk. His death came after we recorded the episode, and we hope to offer more information on next week’s podcast.
In this week’s brief: The Department of Defense has rebranded itself as the Department of War—yes, really—and tensions with Venezuela are heating up. We also didn’t miss the social media showdown between the Vice President and a powerful senator.
We’ll unpack fresh polling that reveals America’s growing crisis of hope, and weigh in on viral clips of adults snatching souvenirs from kids at sporting events.
Plus, quick takes on the latest from Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Gaza, the MTV Music Awards, Cracker Barrel, the US Open, the Emmys, and the NFL kickoff.
It’s a packed episode in a wild week of headlines—join us as we frame it all through a Christian lens, helping you think biblically, live faithfully, and engage today’s culture with confidence.
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Topics
- (01:00): Department of Defense renamed to Department of War
- (07:30): US drone strike on Venezuelan cartel
- (12:59): Spiritual perspective on war and peace
- (16:11): A crisis of hope in America
- (25:45): The urgency of encouragement
- (29:46): The power of mindset
- (32:24): Viral moments in sports
- (35:31): Global political updates
- (37:51): Pop-culture and sports highlights
- (42:51): NFL season kickoff
Resources
- Send us your thoughts, questions, and topic ideas: [email protected]
- Culture Brief Instagram
- Sign-up for Denison Forum’s daily newsletter: DenisonForum.org/subscribe
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Charlie Kirk fatally shot at speaking event in Utah – Denison Forum
- Donald Trump on Truth Social: Narcoterrorists
- Donald Trump on Truth Social: Deportations
- Image of Capitalism Slips to 54% in U.S.
- Millionaire CEO goes viral for stealing a hat from a child – Denison Forum
- Phillies home run ball stolen
- Media Bias Headline: U.S. Open Crowd Booed Trump Repeatedly
- Media Bias Headline: President Donald Trump Gets Cheers at US Open Men’s Final
Other articles on this week’s top headlines:
- Trump signs order renaming Pentagon ‘Department of War’ – ABC News
- Venezuelan fighter jets flew over U.S. Navy ship in “show of force” – CBS News
- US deploying 10 fighter jets to Puerto Rico in fight against drug cartels, as Trump threatens to ‘shoot down’ Venezuelan military planes
- Trump 2.0 refashions U.S. military muscle
- Morning Brew: September 9
- Belief in the American dream hits record low
- Axios: September 3 Newsletter
About Conner Jones
Conner Jones is the Director of Performance Marketing at Denison Ministries and Co-Hosts Denison Forum’s “Culture Brief” podcast. He graduated from Dallas Baptist University in 2019 with a degree in Business Management. Conner passionately follows politics, sports, pop-culture, entertainment, and current events. He enjoys fishing, movie-going, and traveling the world with his wife and son.
About Micah Tomasella
Micah Tomasella is the Senior Advancement Officer at Denison Ministries and co-hosts Denison Forum’s “Culture Brief” podcast. A graduate of Dallas Baptist University, Micah is married to Emily, and together they are the proud parents of two daughters. With an extensive background in nonprofit work, finance, and real estate, Micah also brings experience from his years in pastoral church ministry.
About Denison Forum
Denison Forum exists to thoughtfully engage the issues of the day from a biblical perspective through The Daily Article email newsletter and podcast, the Faith & Clarity podcast, as well as many books and additional resources.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
NOTE: This transcript was AI-generated and has not been fully edited.
Conner Jones: [00:00:00] Hi, I’m Conner Jones.
Micah Tomasella: I’m Micah Tomasella,
Conner Jones: and this is Culture Brief, a Denison Forum podcast where we are navigating the constant stream of top stories and news, politics, sports, pop culture, and so much more. And we’re doing it all from a Christian perspective. And Micah, we have a load of show today. It’s been a crazy week in culture, and so we gotta talk about a lot.
You wanna give us a rundown on what that’s gonna be?
Micah Tomasella: Yes, Conner, I’d love to hit the highlights. So first and foremost, Conner’s gonna break down for us, the Department of Defense, change to the Department of War and all of the corresponding headlines. With that, I’m gonna talk about how there’s a serious crisis of hope in America.
What we can do about it, what we can say about it, and how we can make an impact in and through it. Conner has a pretty good hot take for us today. We’re gonna talk about Putin and Zelensky. We’re gonna talk about Israel and Gaza, MTV, music Awards, Apple Announcements, NFL, and so much more. Let’s jump into the brief,
Conner Jones: the brief.[00:01:00]
Yeah like Micah mentioned you might have heard the Department of Defense is now kind of renamed the Department of War. Depends on who you ask. And so I wanna just hit on several headlines that are happening within our defense department, our war department, whatever you wanna call it this week.
’cause there’s been a lot going on across the world and even closer to home. So let’s hit on that stuff. But I wanna start off with just. We recognize that if you’re listening today on Thursday, the day this episode publishes, it is September 11th. And so we want to just call out a remembrance for the lives 2,977 lives that were lost that day, and obviously countless more in the years since that have died from illness related to nine 11 recovery and rescue and all of that.
Lots of people have unfortunately gotten sick in the years since, so that death toll is way higher than what we originally know It as. Yeah. Anyways, we are of course always praying and remembering the families who lost so many loved ones that day, friends and everybody dark day in our history, but also it did unite our country for a time at least.
And so we’re, we’re [00:02:00] walking through that Unitedness or Dividedness, whatever it is you wanna talk about in today’s current environment. But we will never forget nine 11. Okay. Secretary of War. Have you ever heard that term before, Micah?
Micah Tomasella: That’s what they were referred to, what? pre-World War ii, right?
Correct.
Conner Jones: Yeah. So the Secretary of Defense is Pete Hegseth, but now, according to an executive order that Trump signed last week. The entire Department of Defense and Secretary of Defense name has changed since now the Department of War or the Secretary of War. Yeah. Now, this is only in some regards, it has to go through Congress to get everybody to approve the full change so that everything can change.
But as we know what Trump, he likes to just do things on his own. And do it his way. And so they’re gonna go ahead and just start. I, I think never, I think the White House will start calling Pete Hex at the Secretary of War. He changed his label on his door and in his office, and they’re gonna start calling the department, the Department of War.
Do you have any initial, just thoughts on the [00:03:00] entire name change? Do you like this name change? Are you like. Man, this is game changing or is it just a, a nothing?
Micah Tomasella: It’s semantics, right? It’s it’s some political theater. It’s also some theater in the international affairs, right? Just showing those who maybe aren’t, are allies and are more adversaries that were serious.
And it might be a small thing, , I, I don’t really think it changes much either way, because technically right, he can’t. He can’t change it without an act of Congress, but it can be a second name and they can, you know, the White House will say it, Pete. Seth will refer himself to it, but technically it’s the Department of Defense.
Unless congress acts and moves, which that they very well could. I kind of liken this situation to the Gulf of America name change. Mm-hmm. Where it was changed from Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America. I’m like, cool, you know, sounds good. And then I just kind of wanna move on, you know? It’s okay.
Conner Jones: Yeah, it doesn’t really affect. Have you seen people getting mad about
Micah Tomasella: it? Have, have you seen [00:04:00] people getting upset about it?
Conner Jones: No. I saw more people get mad about the Gulf of Mexico name change than I have this. Yeah. Because I just don’t think that this really impacts anybody. This is a very right.
Insider DC thing and Yeah. Global thing. Obviously Trump is doing it. Yes, you’re right. It, it is a rebrand just like Gulf of America or like Mount Mackin. They changed back to that name. Yes. He loves to rebrand things. Branding is like his thing. Like he loves to just make it what he wants it to be. And in this sense it’s reverting back to an old name that was pre-World War ii.
It used to be the Secretary of War and de Department of War. And I, his, his intention apparently is to show that. War conveys war in the name conveys a more powerful and assertive posture compared to like defense, right? Which, you know, they consider as overly euphemistic. The historical appeal is there as well.
The, the Department of War has a legacy of winning wars. World War ii, world War I. War of 1812 and to be honest, post World War II wars have not exactly gone great other than the Gulf War in the early [00:05:00] nineties for America. So there’s a lot of legacy history with the Department of Defense that may not be seen as something that’s positive.
It is part of that ongoing trend though of just rebrands all around. Meanwhile, Trump also used the name in a Truth social post this past week with a meme depicting him. It’s an AI drawn up meme. It’s depicting him in a Vietnam War movie. You’ve maybe seen this Micah Apocalypse Now, the eighties movie for about the Vietnam War essentially.
And it, it’s got him in there acting like he’s the general, and in the background it’s the city of Chicago is Black Hawk Helicopters. And the graphic, the graphic instead of Apocalypse Now it says. Apocalypse now for Chicago. And in the caption he wrote, I love the smell of deportations in the morning.
Chicago is about to find out why it’s called the Department of War. You know, he is already starting to use it. He, that was a very controversial meme that he posted. It did not land well with a lot of people, at least in Chicago. And on the left, but [00:06:00] there’s your first use of the Department of War in a social media post.
Micah Tomasella: Sometimes, sometimes you just have to take a step back, no matter how you feel about the president or about that post specifically and say, my goodness gracious, what an interesting time that we live in that the president of the United States is the president of, of the United States is using artificial intelligence.
Okay. To then. Depict himself as a general in the Vietnam War, but then relating it to Chicago and saying he loves the smell of deportations in the morning. Just my goodness. It is just the ultimate, it’s just an ultimate troll move that you don’t, you don’t typically see from a president, but also he’s using AI like that.
I mean, it 20, 25 guys, we, we have arrived. It is, it is an interesting time to be alive.
Conner Jones: It is. That is a great way to put it. It is an interesting time to be alive. No matter how you feel. You certainly look at that and you’re like, wow, that’s a, that’s different than that. Just, just [00:07:00] take,
Micah Tomasella: just take a deep breath, take a step back and be like, wow.
Like interesting times.
Conner Jones: One of the other posts that he did an AI post was literally he had sumo wrestling, the governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker. Former governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, and they were sumo wrestling. And I was like, this is our precedent. This is what he’s doing. Oh my gosh. I don’t, it doesn’t matter how you feel, it’s just unreal to just sit and watch this.
Anyways, back to the, back to the Department of War headlines. Last week we mentioned that we the US did a drone strike on a Venezuelan cartel boat that killed 11 Venezuelan cartel members of the TDA cartel. That obviously opened up like a whole new phase of the war on drugs. It’s a total departure from the US’ previous strategy, which was generally just the Coast Guard arresting cartel members out at sea, and then bringing them in and confiscating the drugs.
But, you know, the Trump administration called them narco terrorists. That’s a, that’s a term you may not have heard before, but basically they’re saying these are. Terrorist [00:08:00] organizations, they’re just different than what we generally think of with terrorism, right? And because they’ve got that designation as a terrorist organization, that does open the door to more direct military intervention as a national security interest.
And so a lot has happened since that strike Last week secretary of State, Marco Rubio, it’s currently the. Department of State, right? So we’ll see if that name changes too. But Secretary of State, Marco Rubio said it will happen again talking about the strikes strike on this boat. It will happen again if dangerous.
Cartels keep trying to traffic drugs into America. We’re going to take on wherever they’re operating against the interests of the United States. What will stop them is when you blow them up. When you get rid of them. So obviously the administration believes that the government supports the Venezuelan government, supports the drug cartels, and that the strike was really, you know, it was intended to be a deterrent to other cartels any other people getting all boats to come towards America with drugs.
But it’s also supposed to send a message to that Venezuelan dictator, Nicholas Maduro, the Justice Department, has a $50 million bounty on [00:09:00] Maduro’s head. He’s, he’s not a good guy. Holding his country hostage, essentially. They’re in a terrible economic situation, but he’s making a lot of money. He’s obviously part of the cartel money just grind there.
So there’s, there’s a lot to that. He also had Venezuelan f sixteens fly right over a US Navy destroyer last week. That did not make the US happy, that made the Navy very mad. So they have started sending in more warships, more aircraft to the Caribbean. There’s now I believe, eight warships in the Caribbean.
There’s 10 F 30 fives that is our top tier fighter jet now stationed in Puerto Rico, ready to respond to anything. So they are putting the pressure on Pete Hegseth and Trump and anybody else in charge at the Pentagon putting the pressure on Venezuela and these cartels to say, Hey, we’re, we’re not messing with this anymore.
You are our enemy. We see you as terrorists and we are going to take you out. And don’t threaten us with your little f sixteens that we sold you in the 1980s. That’s not gonna do it. That’s the way, is that true? They’re trying to message this. Yeah, we did. Yeah. We sold them a group of f [00:10:00] sixteens in the eighties before Hugo Chavez took over the country and became a dictator in the nineties.
It was actually kind of a friend. They’re oil country. We needed their oil, you know, and so yeah, those, the f sixteens
Micah Tomasella: they used.
Conner Jones: Yeah. That’s all they have left. You know, they’re not exactly in the strong military and economic position to, that’s, that’s an interest. They bought some other storyline. Yeah, it’s just kind of interesting.
Same thing happened with Iran. They used our, the Jets that we sold them in the seventies and eighties against us. You know, maybe we should be better about who we sell. Yeah.
Micah Tomasella: Aircraft to. Yeah. What’s the deal, man? Goodness. Buyer’s remorse. Back to the no. Seller’s remorse.
Conner Jones: Seller’s remorse. Yeah. Yeah.
Literally. All of us say there’s a bunch of people who are upset about the strike. They’re saying it was an extra, extra judicial killing that these people didn’t have the chance to go to trial. They weren’t arrested, all of that. How do, how can the US prove that they were carrying drugs and had mal intentions?
Everything the US says, they’ve got intelligence that says, you know, they, they were carrying drugs to come to America. Pete Hegseth, secretary of War did [00:11:00] go down to the Caribbean and talk to troops this week on ships and basically was just like, you know, trying to encourage him. He says, what you’re doing right now, it’s not training.
You are trained, you are prepared, you’re ready, and you are lethal. You will no longer allow the poisoning of the American people. So that’s kind of the mantra that the US is going in with these leaders of the US military trying to say they may not be landing on our shores with bombs and weapons, but they are landing on our shores with drugs that are meant to kill.
Essentially fentanyl is very deadly if that’s what they were carrying. But also they’re obviously stopping cocaine and anything else that’s coming into our country that is poisonous, right? So this whole thing kind of spilled over into an X fight Twitter, AKA between vice President JD Vance and another Republican senator.
So it started off with j JD Vance posting kind of after the strike a few days later. He said, killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military, this liberal ex influencer. His name’s Brian Kine. He responded by saying to JD Vance, killing the citizens of another nation who are [00:12:00] civilians without any due process is called a war crime.
So that’s a pretty hefty accusation, war crime accusation there. JD responded, I don’t give an expletive what you call it. Okay. So j d’s like I, I don’t really care what you’re saying. So then Rand Paul, Senator from Kentucky, Republican senator nonetheless, just ridicules, JD Vance, our vice president, he says.
J. D Vance says, killing people, he accuses of a crime is the highest and best use of the military. Did he ever read To Kill a Mockingbird? Did he ever wonder what might happen if the accused were immediately executed without trial or representation? What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without a trial.
Micah, you know, we got a little intraparty fighting there. That’s a pretty harsh response to the vice President of the United States from a man within his own party. Very powerful senator, so I’m not sure what’s gonna happen there. What I will say is, man, I obviously, now we’ve got this department of defense, department of war, whatever you wanna call it.
[00:13:00] You know, as I think about this from a spiritual perspective, obviously I think we all wish we could have a department of peace. That’s not a thing though, right? Yeah. And that’s because that’s just not how the world works. Because the world has fallen and man has fallen, and we always have wars and conflicts going on.
And this is not just in global wars, this is in our own internal conflict, our own internal wars, our own spiritual wars with the devil, with our own enemy, right? And so that’s just part of sin, that’s part of the fallen world and wars. Honestly, they’ve existed from the beginning of time. If you read the Old Testament, they’re littered throughout the whole entire Old Testament.
That’s just part of the Bible story. That’s part of the story of getting to Jesus, being the Messiah, is these wars and Israel having to fight wars. Yeah. And always having to go up against massive enemies. A lot of the Bible heroes that we think of, Joshua, Gideon, David, they were warriors. That’s part of this fallen world.
In Matthew 24, 6 and seven, Jesus warns that we will hear of wars and rumors of wars. But see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to [00:14:00] come. Nation will rise against nation in kingdom, against Kingdom. So obviously Jesus is kind of saying what’s gonna happen leading up to the to the end times that we don’t know when those will come, but there will always be wars, right?
This also though, like I said, it applies to our personal lives ’cause we’re always at war with the devil. So let me ask you this. When the evil one is attacking you, are you playing defense or offense? This is why in Ephesians chapter six, Paul lays out the armor of God that we are to put on and be ready for a battle with the enemy.
In verse 11 of Ephesians six, Paul writes, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Verse 13. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all to stand firm. Verse 17 tells us to go on the offensive with the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
So we put on the armor to defend ourselves from the devil, but we also carry that sword. [00:15:00] The, the word of God that helps us go on the offensive fight the devil take him on. He he’s gonna, he’s always gonna be there. You’re never not being attacked by the devil. That’s part of it. But we are, we are equipped and prepared by God with the armor of God.
And I only mention a few of the verses. It’s a whole, I would highly encourage, if you’re not sure of what the armor of God is, go read Ephesians chapter six. Paul lays out every piece of the armor and what it represents and how it can protect us against. These conflicts with the devil, and I’ll just end with this.
Thankfully, we, we have a God of peace. Isaiah 25 8 is very, very positive. It says he will swallow up death forever and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces. That is promising. That is what we long for. We have a God who wipes away our tears and who is a God of peace? We’re grateful for that.
That includes wars globally and we are continuing to pray for peace across the globe, but that includes our own personal wars as well.
Micah Tomasella: [00:16:00] Love it. Conner, leave it to Conner Jones to take a Department of Defense. Rebrand and give us a good spiritual application from it. My brother, that was, that was timely and that was on point.
Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay, so I’m gonna talk about something and I kind of entitled this section A Crisis of Hope, specifically a Crisis of Hope in. America fresh data is painting a concerning picture of the American spirit, Axios, which Conner and I read frequently reports that belief in the American dream.
The idea if that you, if that if you work hard, you will get ahead, just hit a record low. Gallup finds that the image of capitalism has slipped to its weakest point in decades, and surveys show fewer and fewer people. Since this type of polling began, feel optimistic about our country’s future at this point, it feels like hope itself is under attack.
Hope itself is under pressure. The idea that tomorrow will be better than today, or that effort leads to opportunity is [00:17:00] fading. And when hope fades, division and despair are quick to fill the void. So I do think that in culture, in media, we feel despair and division much more than we feel hope. So it’d be easy to take this in a partisan direction or for me to simply say, it’s time for us to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.
And that might be my first reaction, honestly. But I, I truly felt the Holy Spirit nudge me in a different direction as I was preparing this. And I hope that you’re all able to get something out of it just as I have. Conner, before I dive into the specific results from this polling, do you have any thoughts on these initial results in polls?
Is any of this surprising to you?
Conner Jones: I would say it’s not fully surprising. I think there is so much dispar just in our, in our culture just because of. I don’t know. There’s a lot, there’s a lot of side effects of things like COVID. There’s a lot of side effects of things like smartphones and social media and being told that [00:18:00] you are not at fault for your own.
Issues or whatnot, that there’s no self responsibility. Culture tells you it’s somebody else’s responsibility. That truth is subjective. You’re oppressed. Yeah. Yeah. So I, I say that to say I’m not surprised by these results. I’m sad by them. ’cause I don’t, yeah, I don’t agree. I think there is so much to be hopeful for and I think there is so much to be excited about within a capitalistic society.
And I think you can point to literally. Any other country that is not capitalistic can be like, that’s the alternative reality, but Right. Yeah. I’m curious to see what else you’re about to present.
Micah Tomasella: Yeah, so lemme give some historical context and the numbers behind the decline and then I’m gonna kind of get on my soapbox.
So just get ready for generations. The American Dream has been at the heart of our national identity and it’s in, in a lot of ways, it still is. I mean, we’re having all these immigration issues because everyone wants to come here. Still true. This nation is still the shining star of the world for people who are willing to take risks, who are willing to work hard, and wanna make a better life for themselves [00:19:00] and for their family.
So no matter what these polls say I, I do wanna point to that, that that still is true of America in my opinion. But today the numbers show that the confidence in the American dream is eroding. Axios reports that only 36% of Americans believe that the American dream is still achievable. A decade ago, nearly two thirds of Americans believed it was within reach.
Now that. To a certain extent makes some sense to me. Just inflation has seemed to go up so quickly. Mm-hmm. It seems like there are just there are more and more obstacles to overcome than maybe there were 20 years ago. What I would personally argue is there are. At the same time, there’s more and more ways to dig yourself out too.
There’s more and more opportunity, you know, like in this technological world that we live in. But I, I, I can see why that number is lower. It is simply just more expensive to live now, it seems yeah. I mean, the, the cost of it specifically, I think housing is one of the things, a lot of people. Housing and groceries and [00:20:00] electricity.
I mean, just the things that you literally have to have are becoming increasingly expensive and something does need to be done about it. Gallup data also shows that only 36% of young adults now view capitalism positively compared to more than 55% 10 years ago. This is not just a dip in confidence, it’s a generational shift in a worldview.
So Pew Research finds that fewer than 20% of Americans now believe today’s children will have a better life than their parents. That is nearly the lowest level ever recorded, and across the board, trust in institutions have plummeted. Gallup reports confidence in, congress, the media and even the church has fallen to around 30% or lower.
These statistics tell a story, a fading belief, growing skepticism in a nation that feels like it’s losing its foundation of hope. And again, we could point to the reasons why over and over again, but I’m gonna take a specific angle on this. Let’s talk about what’s at stake. So what is at stake? Hope is not just an emotion.
Conner, it’s a fuel for action. [00:21:00] Without it, we pull back, we stop investing in our futures, our families, our neighbors. Cynicism grows, division deepens. And without hope, the very fabric of society begins to fray. Without a collective hope, without a collective vision that unites us. Just even this concept of believing in the American dream as an American people, Hey, the days are dark now, but tomorrow is going to be a better day.
The majority of Americans have that same hope and psyche. It’s better for our country. But I would say that that’s not what’s happening right now. So we start to adapt a defeatist mindset. We choose to fail rather than choosing to succeed. And I mean it that way. That happens when we lose hope. When we lose hope and our mindset shifts from what’s the point then?
We’ve already chosen defeat before we ever really try. I think and I think that that’s happening a lot.
Conner Jones: I think a just easy example of seeing something like that is like a, [00:22:00] a professional sports team that does not think they have a chance to win a national championship won. So the team gives, won’t hope.
They won’t, so they stop playing hard and then they’re like, our only hope is to actually end up at the bottom, so we get a top draft pick the next year or something like that. It, it’s a mentality shift.
Micah Tomasella: Correct, correct. The mentality is super important. The mindset is very important. So I think about this often in my own life, Conner, growing up, I had people who believed in me, who spoke life into me.
It got me thinking about who has invested in me over the years and why I naturally do have so much hope and optimism just as a person, why do I still believe so strongly in the American dream? Like I was asking my ’cause, like I’m reading those poll results and I’m like I don’t feel that way. And I didn’t, there hasn’t been a point no matter who the president’s been, where I have just felt that low and hopeless about.
Our country and about the world. So why, why, why is that? First and foremost, it’s because Jesus has changed my life. My hope is [00:23:00] anchored in something far beyond and far deeper than the state of our country, so that that never changes, that never waves, no matter how the news, no matter how bad the news has gotten.
I mean, just think back people to during COVID years. How grim and dark in despair things felt, all of the infighting, all of the disagreement on how to go about it, right? Think about those moments when you’re thinking about these moments now think back to all the wars this country’s have, you know, this country has experienced, I’m not sitting here and telling you these are the darkest days in American history.
I’m not saying that. I’m just saying that there is a crisis of hope and but thankfully as a Jesus follower, as someone who Jesus has radically changed my life, and that’s my foundation. No matter what’s happening in this country, I have that hope and that never changes. And so that is the foundation for why I can have hope and why I feel the way that I feel.
But I’m also grateful for the people that God placed around me strategically in my life growing up and to and to this day, my grandparents and my mom. Gave me a foundation in Jesus [00:24:00] taught me the value of hard work and refused to let me quit when things got hard and reminded me again and again that I could do it, that I was capable and I could accomplish whatever I set my mind and effort towards.
That was my upbringing, and I’m so grateful for that upbringing, and that’s why I think twice when I read these poll results and it’s so easy to say, why do they feel that way? My mind goes to not everybody had somebody to invest in them. Not everybody had somebody tell them that you do have hope.
Not everybody has had somebody say, I do believe in you, and walk through life with them, right? And so I recognize that and I’m so grateful that I had that. But I’m also thankful for my mentor and my accountability brothers, my best friends, Conner is in that as well. Walking with them for many years has shaped me as a husband.
As a father, as a follower of Jesus, as a friend, as a worker, the list goes on and on, and I’m grateful for my wife. We have grown up together in so many ways, and I’m better in every [00:25:00] way because of her. Their presence has been transformative for me, all of those people that I’ve mentioned, and it continues to be transformative for me.
But not everybody has that. Like I mentioned, not everybody has that. And when you don’t, it’s easy to fall into despair because who believed in you? Who was the hands and feet of Jesus in your life who reminded you over and over again that you are capable, that you can do it, that you are loved, that God has more for you than what this circumstance is telling you right now.
Not everyone has grandparents or parents or mentors or friends who pour into them, and when you don’t, it’s easy to lose hope. That’s why we call that’s why we’re called as followers of Jesus. To do something about it, and that’s why the call in our life as followers of Jesus is so urgent. We’re called to invest in others, to be encouragers, to believe in people when they do not yet believe in themselves.
Hebrews 10 24 says, let us consider [00:26:00] how to stir up one another to love and good works. This is not passive. This is not an this is not a passive call. This is not a, a call. Oh, when I feel like it, this is what I’m going to do. No, it’s intentional. Who around you right now needs someone to speak life into them?
Who needs to hear? You can do this? God has a plan for your life. You are loved. Who needs to hear that? Everybody take a minute and think about who in my life needs to hear that right now? This could be a younger person looking for guidance. A friend who looks strong on the outside but is probably battling.
On the inside or someone who feels like they have no one in their corner, but investing in others is only one side of the coin. Conner, we also need to be intentional about who we allow to invest in us. So we can’t walk through life and say, God, where are all of these people who need to be investing in me?
Where are they? If, if you’re just asking that question and you’re not putting [00:27:00] action behind the prayers, you’re not getting your butt out of the chair it, it very well might not happen for you. You’ve gotta get up and you’ve gotta take action. You’ve gotta intentionally seek out those people.
Make yourself uncomfortable. Ask those question, involve yourself in that church, in that family, in that friendship. You have to take that step. So Proverbs 1320 says, whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm. So if we surround ourselves with cynics defeat us, or people who only point us to despair, we will eventually share their mindset.
If we place ourselves around wise, faithful, and encouraging people, that will change the trajectory of our lives. It will change the trajectory of our lives when we become intentional about who we allow to speak into our life and who we do life with. Before I kind of wrap this up with a challenge for all of us, Conner, what are your thoughts on that?
Conner Jones: You’re just, you’re just so right. There’s, there’s such a, a mentality that you have to have. It’s also spiritual [00:28:00] heart set that you’ve gotta have to find the right people to be in your life, right? If, if you are listening to this and you’re like, man, I just don’t have that. Okay. I would highly encourage you to step out, go into a church community or an organization, a faith-based organization, somewhere where you can really get plugged in and find like-minded people and find maybe people your own age or an older mentor, whatever it is.
And there are so many churches out there with so many groups that are just longing for people. To join them. Personally, my life group, I love it. It’s other couples about our age with young kids as well. Yeah. And so we’re able to just pour into each other in that way. And then obviously, yeah, Micah, our friendships from DBU and so many other people in my life, family and all that has been so crucial.
But I’m trying to put myself in the shoes of yeah, you’re looking for somebody to help you through life, that’s totally normal. I would highly just encourage you to, to be bold and to go and, and seek that out. Yeah. Same thing with. It’s just like everything with the capitalism stuff, like you have to get up and go, you gotta try new opportunities, maybe take a [00:29:00] risk, whatever it is, and hopefully the Lord will open the door for you, whether it’s in a job or in a community, whatever it is.
And it’s, it is, it’s a shift in, in changing your mind.
Micah Tomasella: Right man with, with work ethic, with friendships, with whatever it might be in your life. Partner with God, go with God, and don’t be afraid to fail. Do not be afraid to fail. I think that is one of the beautiful things about our system.
You can fail so many times and you still might just have one more chance. Peter, you might have one more shot. You right Peter. Think about you might have one more opportunity. It’s true. It’s true. Yeah. Peter failed three, literally three times and then he denied Jesus three times.
Conner Jones: Peter. Yeah. And then God used him in such magnificent ways.
Peter.
Micah Tomasella: The rock. The rock in which I will build my church, beautiful. It’s, it’s a beautiful illustration. Okay, so side note here, just to be even more practical as, as I wrap this up, guys, mindset matters. If you believe the system is rigged against you, you will probably live as though. As like [00:30:00] that it is like you will live that way, even if it’s true or not.
That does not mean we ignore injustices or stop working for change, or stop trying for change. But it does mean that we must be careful not to let discouragement dictate our destiny because it will. And I’m not talking about manifestation. I don’t believe in all that stuff. I’m just saying like your mindset, the way that you view the world, if you choose to view the world in a certain way, you’re probably gonna view it that way.
Especially with social media algorithms and just all the things that that are thrown in our face, it finds out what you like and don’t like, and it reinforces the way that you feel. Oftentimes feelings lie. So take a deep breath and remember what God’s word says and what truth is. So when things are not going our way, that’s when we need to pray.
Seek out wise counsel and let God reframe our perspective. Keep at it, and keep working hard. So here’s the challenge. Be an equal opportunity encourager. I was told that a long time ago. I remember. I think like in youth group or something, be an equal opportunity encourager. [00:31:00] Encourage the ones who seem to have it all together.
Encourage the ones who are clearly struggling. Encourage the younger generation coming behind you. So peace, so joy into the relationships that God has intentionally placed around you. Speak life and at the same time, be wise about who you let speak into. You. Place yourself in circles where people build your faith.
Not steal your faith and remember, hope is contagious. If Jesus has filled us with hope, then we’re called to spread it, not hoard it just for ourselves. In a culture where hope feels like it’s slipping away our words, our prayers and our presence may be exactly what God uses to keep someone else moving forward too.
Conner Jones: Mm. Yeah. I think it’s easy to have a pessimistic mindset about a lot of things. Maybe you’re in an older generation and you’re like, oh, this younger generation has no chance in the world. They’re weak minded or whatnot. Actually, if you look at a lot of data, that’s not true. It’s the opposite. That’s common.
That would True. Common myth. Yeah. Yeah. There’s a lot of data to suggests that Gen Z is a hardworking group. Yep. They want [00:32:00] jobs and they’re very active in the church. More active than the previous generations, actually. Yep. So it’s things like that that I think we can change our mindset. This is how mom Donny’s become the leading contender in the New York marriage race as a socialist.
’cause people, mom, Donny. Okay. Yeah. You know what I’m talking about? Like he’s got that he’s got, yeah. He’s, he’s got that mindset that. Is actually not great, but Right. That’s where we’re at. Okay, Micah, thanks for taking us through that. Let’s hop into several different things. Our tune in, check-in and hot take section here.
Let’s it, let’s start off with a quick it’s kind of a hot take. I think we’re both gonna agree on this one. I just wanna point this out because there have been two pretty viral moments in the last week at sports events where adults took items from kids. And what do I mean by that? I’m talking about at the US Open tennis match.
We had a millionaire, CEO from Poland grab the hat of a player. That he was trying to hand to a kid. This guy came and snatched the hat and ran off with it, and he, then he issued a public apology, kind of, he did a non apology first and then a, a real apology. But in his non apology, he was [00:33:00] like basically finders, keepers life.
He literally said, life is first come, first served. It’s just a hat. If you were faster talking to this kid, you would have it. Okay. That’s, that’s one. Speed it up kid. Gosh, that’s a fun way to say that. And then of course, the super viral moment that I’m sure most people here listening have seen. The video of this lady at the Phillies game running over and just chastising his dad who grabbed a a home run ball for his son.
The dad was giving it to his son, and this lady ran over and started just yelling in his face, basically, I guess, claiming that. He took the ball from her, he gave the ball back. It ended up all panning out because the son got to meet the player who hit the home run, got a signed bat. Same thing with the, the tennis thing.
That kid ended up getting to meet the player, get a signed ball, and have it turns into a bigger spectacle, but, and it makes these adults look bad. I guess my question here is, Micah, do you agree with the Polish CEO, that life is first come, first served and it’s just, you know, whoever’s fastest is the winner?
Or do [00:34:00] you always let the kid get the item?
Micah Tomasella: This is a little bit more complicated. I, I don’t, I, I don’t agree with him using it in that way. You watch that video, he clearly just snatches it from the kid. I mean, and the kid was just waiting patiently for it. It’s just a kid. I would say life is going to teach that kid that lesson plenty, and that it’s not his job.
To steal something from this kid who is patiently waiting for it and to teach him that lesson. So in this instance, I disagree with him, but life, life has a way of teaching you kind of what that Polish, CEO says. Now you can choose to not live life that way, right? But that’s how a lot of people choose to live their lives.
Conner Jones: It’s true. In fact though, that’s how a lot of very just ruthless business people do it. They, that they’ve got that mentality. I don’t care who it is. I, I’m always on it to win,
Micah Tomasella: kill or be killed all the time. It’s kind of the modern day hunter. It’s, it’s it, you know, this is how we live today.
And I mean, you definitely have to keep that in check. ’cause that [00:35:00] can bleed over into you’re going from the boardroom as a CEO to then you take that mindset to wear, you’re snatching hats from kids and you’re like, listen, first come, first serve kid. You know? Okay, let’s tone it down a bit, guy.
You know? Yeah. A
Conner Jones: lot of business titans like to say, you have to be a killer. You have to be willing to just strike the prey and, and not care what anybody thinks or says. Anyways. That was just an interesting thing. If you haven’t seen those videos, we’ll post them in the show notes. Micah, you wanna take us into check-in?
Micah Tomasella: Yeah, let’s jump into the check-in section. Okay. So first and foremost, just wanna give you a few updates. So Vladimir Putin, the guy over there in Russia, floated the idea that Zelensky. Who’s the guy over there in Ukraine? You know, we’ve talked a lot about this. Russia U Yeah. Ukraine War. Putin actually floated the idea of Zelensky coming to Moscow for talks.
He did that in the last few days. And Zelensky shut that down quick and countered with, okay, no, let’s meet in Kiev instead. All while Russia’s attacks keep getting more and more intense [00:36:00] by the week. Hot take here is Zelensky has gotta give a little bit. I know they’re going through a lot. Ukraine needs this war to end.
I know Russia does too, but Ukraine needs this war to end well, I
Conner Jones: just, I kind of get this. Zelinski doesn’t wanna go to Russia. He knows that his chances of being assassinated while he’s in their country high. That’s true. That’s, yes, that’s high. I I think they both know that ultimately they’re gonna have to meet in a, a middle country that is not their own, that’s what’s ultimately gonna have to happen.
But also, you
Micah Tomasella: know what, you know what, they’re both on extreme sides and it’s a negotiating tactic. They’re gonna meet in the middle. You know what guys come back to Alaska. Let’s talk again in Alaska, guys. Let, let’s do that. Yeah. ‘
Conner Jones: Cause that went so well last time. Yeah. ’cause that
Micah Tomasella: worked out right. And then the US just also sent over a new Israel Gaza peace proposal.
Israel was on board since it would bring the remaining hostages home, which is kind of their biggest thing. But while Hamas leaders were meeting in Qatar to review the deal. Israel decided to launch an airstrike on the building, aiming to take them out. Reports say the US was notified only after the missiles were already in the air.[00:37:00]
Trump said he learned of it too late to stop the attack and was very unhappy. I was just reading about this in Axios yesterday. How many people in the Trump White House were very, very upset that this happened because you’re in the middle of a peace deal that you’re, that they’re meeting to talk about from the Hamas side, and then Israel’s you know what?
Let me just go ahead and take all of them out real quick now. Oh, this is such a difficult situation to navigate. But I, yes, I can see how that would be frustrating.
Conner Jones: These guys are, these Hamas leaders, they’re terrorists in their own, they’re never in Gaza. They’re all billionaires. And they’re living in high luxury life in Qatar who is housing them, and letting them to stay. Now, should Israel have done this? I don’t know. That’s, that’s not up to us to decide. It’s obviously made a lot of people mad across the world, including in the White House, Trump obviously being upset, and I, I don’t know if it killed all of them, but it killed a few of those leaders.
Anyways, we’ll keep tabs on that. The MTV Music Video Awards or video music awards. The VMAs were this past Sunday. I did not watch them. Micah, you probably did not watch them. Why? Because there was a much bigger [00:38:00] deal going on at the time. Sunday night Football. I don’t know who put this up against that, but they did.
And hey, of course I didn’t watch it. What on earth? Why would, in fact, this used to be a massive deal. MTV barely has any relevance anymore. But all the A-list stars, all the A-list pop artists were still there. A lot of the. Female pop stars were the big winners, including like Sabrina Carpenter and Lady Gaga, Shakira, Ariana Grande.
They won all the awards. It drove a lot of social media engagement. So I just wanted to mention it and say the fact that I don’t think it really matters that much. It’s not the Grammys, but hey, a lot of people still do. Hey,
Micah Tomasella: hey, you know what, if it matters to you, anybody who’s listening, good for you.
But I, I, I believe I was watching football.
Conner Jones: I think most of America was. Anyways, this is culture brief. We’re gonna hit on all the things that culture’s discussing, including the VMAs. Yep. Also, something I talked about a couple weeks ago, cracker Barrel, they obviously reverted back to their old logo and they also announced this week kind of quietly that they’re not gonna remodel their restaurants anymore.
So if you were worried about that, there’s your update, it’s gonna stay the old style. Yep. And then we already [00:39:00] talked about the US open tennis match a little bit, but Trump was there this past I think it was Sunday for the big match between. Carlos Alvarez and Yanick sin. Those were the two and are the two best tennis players in the world right now.
That was an interesting match. I watched a little bit of it. Split screen with football. Of course. Micah, I know you’re a big tennis guy now all of a sudden, so maybe you’ve got some opinions there. Alcaraz won. I like tennis. I like tennis. Yeah. Yeah. You texted this week and you were like anybody watching the tennis match and crickets.
Not really big tennis. This crew here, I just like sports. Yeah. I know that these two guys are insanely talented, but a big, a big thing that happened was. Donald Trump being there caused a lot of delays for all the people to get into the stadium. And it’s just interesting to read the results of that.
And then also the, was he cheered or was he booed? Depend on who you read some headlines literally said Donald Trump booed as he entered the stadium. Donald Trump cheered as he entered the stadium. I read several reporters who were on the ground, they posted on Twitter. They were like, honestly, they’re both kind of true.[00:40:00]
But really there wasn’t that much booing and people were really just more focused on the tennis, all that to say, celebrities were part of the normal crowd for this event because they had to stand in the lines with for hours alongside all the people. The spottings included Catherine, Zeta Jones, Michael Douglas, Ben Stiller, all hanging out in the long, long security lines to get into the stadium for hours.
And some were hanging out in the cars ’cause they couldn’t find parking. So Micah, I know you had some thoughts there.
Micah Tomasella: Just because you and I were talking about it earlier, I’m just like, Hey guys, be careful. Your bias is showing. I mean, it was so frustrating that it’s I can’t even find the truth.
First of all, I, I didn’t even really think about, oh, how is the crowd of the US Open going to react to Donald Trump? I didn’t even think about it. But then I keep seeing all these posts that are like a, a few cheers, but mostly booze for Donald Trump. I mean, all these liberal outlets just wanna make sure.
That, that I know that the majority of the, of, of, of those American people did not like Donald Trump. And then, you know, you see some on the right that are like, [00:41:00] oh, everybody gave him a standing ovation. And I’m like, that’s probably not true either. Conservative people, maga people, that’s probably not true either, right?
But I’m just like, guys. Can we just stop being so petty for a second? It’s so frustrating. And then, oh, the, it took an hour longer to get in, and even celebrities had to wait in their cars and in lines to get in because of the, the security for Donald Trump. Get over yourself. I mean, I, I, I, I was really, it was just like this, this this small frustrating moment where I’m like, goodness gracious.
There is not one thing that we cannot be bias about. Of course, it’s gonna take longer. A lot of people have tried to kill Trump, literally, and we’ve seen it. So yeah, it’s probably gonna take longer. Everybody got in and saw the match. Take a deep breath, people. Get a grip.
Conner Jones: Oh, there’s a, there’s a little soapbox for you.
Here we go. I mean,
Micah Tomasella: do you disagree though?
Conner Jones: I mean, it’s just no, I actually don’t. Goodness. I thought, gracious. It was ridiculous. Yeah. Anyways couple things to tune into this weekend. The Emmys are on Sunday night. Again, why are we doing this against Sunday Night Football? I don’t understand, [00:42:00] but it’s on CBS and Paramount.
Plus, this one’s a bigger award show. I’ll probably try to tune in a little bit, maybe during commercials of the football game. This is gonna be at 8:00 PM Eastern and this year, here’s the good news. It’s hosted by a fantastic comedian, Nate Bartzi. He is he’s awesome, a faithful man, and he’s a clean comedian and he’s actually, he’s awesome.
Funny. Yeah, something a lot of hosts are not sometimes. Yeah. So I think he’ll do a great job. Top nominated shows include adolescents, the Bear, the Pit, and or Hack. The Last of Us, the White Lotus, the Studio, the Penguin, and the top contender with 27 nominations is severance. Insane. I’ve watched a lot of these shows.
I do think Severance will probably. Win a lot of this. Yeah. The pit will win a lot of their nominations as well, and just gonna be interesting to see. But Severance is kind of like everybody’s big show this year, right?
Micah Tomasella: Yep. Okay. And of course. We had football all weekend long. The football season officially kicked off this past weekend.
I hope you all enjoyed it, just like I know Conner and I did. And the NFL [00:43:00] debut did not disappoint people. Let me tell you, let me just give you some noteworthy things real quick. Danny Dimes, otherwise known as Daniel Jones, Danny Dimes. May have revived his dying career. He was with the Giants. Typically, when you’re with the Giants, bad things happen it seems like recently, and so he goes to the Colts and he looks like Peyton Manning out there.
It’s unreal. Just looks, looks unbelievably accurate and mobile in the pocket. The cowboys are not as bad as we thought. Conner and I got together with some friends and we watched the game and even though they lost, felt decent about the loss because they were playing the, the defending champions.
But Jerry Jones made sure to say that he was so proud and happy with his team’s performance despite a loss. And that just seems a little bit odd to me, and it just reminds me, I’m not sure if winning is the goal, if all Jerry keeps saying is after his team loses how proud he is and how happy he is with the performance.
If you lose. I wouldn’t, I, I wouldn’t be happy. But anyway, no. And then the Bills and Ravens [00:44:00] game, it was a classic with the Bills making a comeback for the ages. They were down 15 with eight minutes left. In the fourth quarter, they stormed back. I saw something like 20,000 fans had left early.
’cause the game was in Buffalo and they were, there were thousands trying to stream back in, trying to get back in, but they couldn’t get back in ’cause they’d already left and they missed the comeback. And the bills ended up winning like 41 40. It was an absolute classic. So yeah, they showed an, they showed
Conner Jones: an aerial view and the stadium was half empty.
And I was like, I looked at my wife, I was like, why is the stadium half empty? They technically still have a chance. You should never leave. People never leave if there’s even a slight chance at winning. ’cause you’ll, you might miss a miracle.
Micah Tomasella: I mean, if, if you have Josh Allen as your quarterback, yeah, you should never leave.
But I mean, there have been times I have left games early and I typically do not regret it. It just kind of depends on your team. But yes, if you’re a Bills fan, don’t leave early. If you’re a Ravens fan, don’t leave early. Guys, thank you so much for joining us for this week’s episode of Culture Brief, a Dentist and Forum podcast, all articles, all videos mentioned in the.
We will [00:45:00] be linked in the show notes. And if you enjoy today’s episode, please please subscribe and rate and review the show. That’s how we grow the show. Please share it with a friend and we’ll see you next Thursday. See you later.
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