Creative Christians Tim Ristow

In the second season debut episode, host Tim Ristow welcomes returning guest, Dr. Kurt Senske, back on to discuss his latest book titled, “The CEO and the Board: The Art of Nonprofit Governance as a Competitive Advantage”.

Dr. Senske delves into the very relationship driven world of governance between a CEO and a board and between individual board members.  Digging into topics such as communication, ethics and personal integrity, Kurt discusses the critical importance of not only who serves as CEO but of diversifying who serves on a board as well and making sure all who serve are focused on driving the mission of the organization forward.     

Dr. Kurt Senske is the founder of CEO-Board Services, a consulting firm that specializes in working with mission-oriented organizations. Previously, Dr. Senske served as CEO of Upbring, a multi-faceted, multi-state social service organization. Dr. Senske’s extensive board service includes serving on eleven boards of directors, including as chairman of Thrivent Financial.

kurtsenske.com

Nature & wildlife photographer Dave DeVore joins host Tim Ristow to discuss how he uses his photography skills as a tool to witness to the wonders of God's Creation.  Providing a mix of helpful photography tips, descriptions of personal favorite photographs, and insights into the habitats and animals that he has had the opportunity to observe and photograph, DeVore shares a wide range of photography related stories with his folksy charm.  DeVore is a member of the North American Nature Photography Association. You can see some of his awesome photography on his website.

In addition, DeVore has also had opportunity to participate in 20 mission trips to Mexico & Kenya, where he has been able to serve, witness to, minister to, and pray over hundreds of people in need through a vision clinic ministry (sponsored in part by his church) that serves as a dual purpose as both health clinic and evangelism tool.  You can read stories from the mission field  and from Dave's most recent mission trip to Kenya on his blog.

Dave has also recently trained to become a fully licensed drone pilot.   He is a member of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Austin Texas and owner of Mr. PC, a computer repair business in the Austin area.  

Jazz musician Eric Willis joins host Tim Ristow for an in-depth & powerful interview  about music, family, fathers & sons, abuse, the Gospel, theology, and forgiveness and redemption.  Eric’s story is tied intimately into music and family. 

Eric is a highly talented and experienced pianist and keyboard artist out of Dallas, Texas who also began as a percussionist.  Mentored early on by the musical talents of people like Terrebonne Parish public school teacher, Howard Nixon, in Houma, Louisiana (where Eric was born) and later the renowned Alvin Batiste, an American avant-garde jazz clarinetist  from New Orleans.   Several well-known musicians studied under Batitse, including Bradford Marsalis.  Willis has a long list of successful performances and tours with artists like Kirk Whalum, Wayman Tisdale, Tom Braxton, Melba Moore, Angela Bofill, Fingerprints Band and many more. He is currently working with platinum-level producer, Erick J. Morgan. 

In 2018, Eric wrote a book to both of his sons titled, appropriately enough, "Father to Son", and produced an accompanying album of jazz with his son, Josh, also titled “Father to Son”.  In addition, Eric has  produced an audio book called “Turn on the Light” a true story set to music, narration and sound effects about the abusive relationship with his father.

Eric is passionate about ministry and is currently serving as Executive Director of City Lights Church Planting and Missions Network in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. 

Father to Son album

Turn on the Light audiobook

City Lights Church Planting & Missions Network

Award-winning author, Deborah DeArmond, one of the writers behind  "The Write Calling: Encouragement for the Writer's Heart" joins host Tim Ristow to discuss her writing, her books, coaching for writers and her faith.  

DeArmond has written 6 books, including  “Related by Chance, Family by Choice”, “I Choose You Today", and "Don’t Go to Bed Angry. Stay Up and Fight!” All three books focus on relationship dynamics, communication, and conflict resolution. Her humorous devotional entitled “Bumper Sticker Be-Attitudes” was published in late 2019.

Her newest releases, “We May Be Done But We’re Not Finished: Making the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life” and “The Write Calling: Encouragement for the Writer’s Heart”, were released in 2021 and 2022.  

DeArmond has also written over 200 articles, and is in her 10th year of writing a monthly column for LifeWay Magazine.  She was instrumental in developing a website for women in their fifties and beyond called “My Purpose Now”.

DeArmond is also a speaker, certified writing coach, editor, wife, mother and daughter-in-law.

For more information about Deb DeArmond, her writing, her faith and her coaching visit her website at debdearmond.com.

Film Scholar Dr. Philip Hohle started teaching video production & communication courses at Concordia Lutheran College in Austin, Texas in the 1980’s.  Host Tim Ristow was one of his students in his Introduction to Media class.     
Hohle went on to form his own production company, Parabolic Productions, in 1991 and has produced hundreds of videos over 20+ years in video production.  Parabolic eventually became the preferred video production company for The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod in St. Louis.  Today, Hohle continues to maintain his company, now rebranded as Parbolic Media, as a marketing, public relations and academic support firm.

Hohle returned to academics, got his Ph.D. and became a film scholar.  Hohle has written 3 books: Lenses: Ten Ways to Interpret the Movies You Love (and some you hated) in 2018; Leading from the Bottom: When a Beloved Organization Breaks Your Heart that same year; and Cinema and Religion: The Filmmaker’s Prayer in 2019.  He’s also written a chapter in the book Movies from the Mountaintop:100+ Films that Express God, Explore Faith and Enlighten Church by Cody Benjamin released in 2022.  Each of these books is available on Amazon.com.

Today, Dr. Hohle teaches speech communication at Mary Hardin-Baylor University in Belton, Texas.

This episode is the second half of a two-part interview with Dr. Hohle.  The first half focused on his experiences as a filmmaker while this part focuses on his academic career in film analysis.

For more information about Dr. Hohle visit parabolicmedia.com.

Filmmaker Philip Hohle started producing videos and films at Concordia Lutheran College in Austin, Texas in the 1980’s.  He also taught communications classes at the college and host Tim Ristow was one of his students in his Introduction to Media class.    
Hohle went on to form his own production company, Parabolic Productions, in 1991.  Parabolic eventually became the preferred video production company for The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod in St. Louis.  Hohle started producing the event and post-gathering videos for the National Youth Gatherings of the Lutheran church for many years. The gatherings were massive ministry events taking place every 3 years (and took that long to plan) and hosted in a different city around the country each year.

Hohle eventually returned to academics, got his Ph.D. and became a film scholar.  Hohle has written 3 books: Lenses: Ten Ways to Interpret the Movies You Love (and some you hated) in 2018; Leading from the Bottom: When a Beloved Organization Breaks Your Heart that same year; and Cinema and Religion: The Filmmaker’s Prayer in 2019.  He’s also written a chapter in the book Movies from the Mountaintop:100+ Films that Express God, Explore Faith and Enlighten Church by Cody Benjamin released in 2022.

Today, Dr. Hohle teaches speech communication at Mary Hardin-Baylor University in Belton, Texas.