Pay Love Forward

Matthew Leavenworth
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Welcome to the Pay Love Forward Podcast — a community-powered show about mentoring, service, and the people who make Montana stronger. Hosted by Dr. Matthew Leavenworth, a mental health counselor and storyteller, this podcast highlights local heroes, changemakers, and everyday people working to build a better world. With rotating guest hosts and contributors, this is a collaborative platform for the stories that matter. Because the world needs better stories — and we’re here to tell them.

  1. 1D AGO

    Episode19_StoryAsNonviolentResistance (Part 4) Stumping for Alani

    This series on story as nonviolent resistance has been aboutone thing: who controls the narrative landscape and what does it mean to tell an authentic story.  This episode was recorded in May of 2026, right before the pivotal June primaries and November elections, we are faced with the daunting reality of the level of bad-faith influence and deception surrounding politics.  In the age of AI, dark money, news networks that act like propaganda machines, and billionaires that seem to care about only one thing, more power and wealth, how can we possibly know who to trust?       This episode is a recorded Zoom rally for Alani Bankhead’svolunteers.  Unpacking and understanding the structure of how this is set up is essential.  It is one thing to tell a better story, butit only matters if people are listening.  This episode demonstrates multiple converging techniques that canimprove reach and engagement that can all be replicated by any candidate.  These kinds of tactics are things future storytellers will have to account for in order to get the right stories to translate.  I live streamed this on my account.  Multiple live streams would improve engagement as demonstrated in the previous episode, Asymmetrical Warfare.  We also sent out invites beforehand, announcing it on Facebook and inviting anyone to log on via zoom.  Because of the multiple angles of engagement, we were ableto translate this to a significant audience that wasn’t just confined to this podcast release, which is more didactic than story-driven itself.  In this episode, we cover three things.  A pitch for Alani, Alani’s story and her why, and the campaign outreach coordinator.  Any candidate can do this with their team.  Russ Cleveland did something very similar on his 42ndbirthday.  For candidates, this kind of Zoom meeting is an incredible way to charge up the change makers out there campaigning for you.

    48 min

  2. MAY 18

    Episode18_ Story as Nonviolent Resistance: asymmetrical warfare (part3) with Ed Doctor and congressional candidates Brian Miller, and Sam Lux

    In this episode, I sit down with Ed Doctor, Brian Miller,and Sam Lux.  Ed and his crew at the Beer, Buds, and Big Sky podcast have been defending our. information streams.  The BBBS podcast has amassed a significant followership by telling a better story, through comedy, and an authenticity that Montanans and Americans are flocking to.  Brian and Sam are and running for congress in the same election and doing something almost unheard of in this day and age, campaigning together.       In this episode, I talk about asymmetrical warfare.  For me, this is about one thing, building a narrative platform that transcends the confusion and obfuscation that plagues our democracy.  This series is about taking back our stories and finding ways to elevate the right people, the right politicians, and the right leaders.  It is also about beta-testing new tactics that undercut the influence of dark money and can be repurposed and reused by those individuals willing to put themselves out there and stand up for what is right.  The narrative reality of politics is a live, unfolding story.  To get at the heart of it, we need to tell a live unfolding story.  For this episode, we used a video game streaming service that allowed all of us to live stream on all of our various platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and others, essentially combining the outreach capacity of all four of us.  We garnered thousands of views and interactions at a time when Montana primaries are decided often by hundreds of votes.  As far as I know, this hasn’t been done, and it allowed us to reach an audience far larger than any one of us could have.  If we are ever going to take back our information streams,these are the kinds of methods and tactics we are going to have to deploy.  We are simply going to have to get smarter, more creative, and work together if we stand any chance at fighting back against the insidious forces that seek to keep us divided, in the dark, and weak. Help us grow our platform as we fight back.  Please follow and subscribe.  Share this episode or any other that has moved you with a friend.  The world needs better stories, and Pay Love Forward and Resilient Stories intend to tell them.

    1h 24m

  3. MAY 6

    Episode17_Justice For Jamee (Women's Issues, Part 2) with Alani Bankhead

    In this episode, the second of our women’s issues series, congressional candidate Alani Bankhead and I sat down with Ashley and Talee to discuss the disappearance of Jamee Grossman, Ashley’s sister, and Talee’s mother.  Jamee went missing in 2012 and has not been seen since.  According to the nonstop local, Jamee was last seen at a party with her boyfriend Frank Hammontree who reported dropping her off at a gas station.  According to channel 8, there was no footage of this drop off ever taking place.    This episode was recorded an hour after a vigil held for Shawna Hart.  Shawna was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, a man she had a restraining order against and had previously been incarcerated for assaulting Shawna with a deadly weapon.  Just like in Jamee’s disappearance, questions remain as to why this horrible crime was not prevented, and our city is going to have to answer those.  More than that, we are going to have to do better.  We are sick and tired of our women going missing. We are sick and tired of the abuses of power, of the corruption embedded in our systems that allows these crimes against women to continue to happen.  As a city, we are calling for change.  We can no longer accept the levels of domestic violence and sexual assault against women. This is a call to our city, not to place blame or scapegoat, but rather to look this problem in the face, and hard questions while demanding we address them with everything we have, at every level.

    1h 56m

  4. APR 12

    Episode16_Lea Bossler_Stumbling Through the F****d Up (Women's Issues, Part 1)

    This is part one of a series focused on women’s issues. One in five women in the United States report experiencing sexual assault in their lifetime. One in three women experience some form of sexual violence. Many cases go unreported, with only about one in three assaults ever reaching law enforcement. Experts consistently say actual numbers are significantly higher due to underreporting. These traumas cannot be addressed if communities remain silent about them. For episode one of this series, Dr. Matthew Leavenworth sits down with Lea Bossler. Leah is a wildland firefighter, white water rafter, political activist, big game hunter, and all-around bad ass. She is also a survivor of multiple sexual assaults across her life, including a near abduction while passing through Billings. This episode contains discussion of sexual violence, trauma, and loss. Listener discretion is advised. If you or someone you know needs support, you can call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or dial 211 to connect with local resources. You can also reach the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE. Lea, thank you for trusting us with your story. What you went through was “f****d up,” and it is time more people stood up and stumbled through talking about it.

    2h 31m

  5. APR 4

    Episode15_StoryAsNonviolentResistance_BrianMillerForCongress

    This is Part Three of the series on Story as Nonviolent Resistance. It was recorded in an open Zoom meeting and live-streamed on Facebook. Dr. Matthew Leavenworth is joined by Brian Miller, a Helena attorney and congressional candidate in Montana. Brian has spent the last fifteen years practicing law across the state, working in both state and federal courts. He is now running for Congress in Montana’s eastern district against Trump loyalist Troy Downing. This series continues to develop as a consistent live platform connecting with Montanans about issues in the state, including Brian’s bid for Congress. In this series, Matthew argues that an election is ultimately a war of stories. He makes the case that we can learn to fight with stories, and that meeting the demands of this moment requires understanding the narrative landscape and engaging it directly. If we do not, we will continue to lose, and the stakes are too high. The conversation explores how authoritarian movements do not begin with force, but with distortion and division. They begin by taking over the stories we tell about ourselves and the world around us, eventually demanding that we forsake objective reality. At its core, this episode centers on a question of identity: who we are as Americans, echoing earlier conversations with Penny Ronning about who we are as a moral people, and who we want to be moving forward. The world needs better stories.And Pay Love Forward intends to tell them. The world needs better leaders,And Brian Miller is one of them.

    1h 35m

  6. MAR 13

    Episode 14_Alani Bankhead: Who We are as a Moral People (Part 2)

    In this episode of the Pay Love Forward Podcast, Dr. Matthew Leavenworth sits down with Alani Bankhead, a third generation military veteran who served more than twenty years in the United States Air Force. Her career included counterintelligence investigations, human intelligence operations alongside special operations targeting terrorist networks, and service as the senior bodyguard to a top Pentagon official. She later led investigations into human trafficking and child exploitation and worked with law enforcement teams protecting vulnerable children and families. Now she is running for the United States Senate in Montana. This conversation explores the experiences that shaped her life in service, the moments that tested her resolve, and the path that ultimately led her to enter the political arena. Matthew and Alani discuss military life, investigations into trafficking and exploitation, the responsibility of leadership, and the deeper motivations that drive someone to step forward and serve in public life. The Pay Love Forward Podcast is part of a broader effort to strengthen compassionate communities through mentorship and civic engagement. In partnership with Resilient Stories, the podcast seeks to uncover the story within the story. The moments of struggle, conviction, and transformation that shape the people who lead our communities. The world needs better stories.And the world needs better leaders. Alani Bankhead is one of them.

    2h 53m

  7. FEB 23

    Episode13: Story as Nonviolent Resistance Part 2_Danielle Dahl

    For Part Two of Story as Nonviolent Resistance, I sat down with Danielle Dahl, a doctoral candidate and the founder of Resilient Stories.  Resilient Stories is an organization dedicated to creating spaces for people to share lived experiences shaped by adversity, recovery, and resilience. Danielle works in my home town of Billings Montana, facilitating storytelling events, supporting community dialogue, and working to strengthen connectivity and healing through the power of story. In this episode, we continue our conversation about story as a form of nonviolent resistance. We talk about how story, art, poetry, music, and compassionate listening can function as stabilizing forces in times of conflict and polarization. Authoritarian movements thrive on distortion, division, and spectacle. Story slows things down, restores humanity, and can be an antidote to outrage and tribalism. This series is intended to provide resources, techniques, and methods to resist the rise of authoritarianism and maintain what is most sacred, our sense of who we are as a moral people.The world needs better stories, and Pay LoveForward intends to tell them.

    1h 52m

  8. JAN 28

    Episode12: Story as a Form of Nonviolent Resistance (Part 1)

    Story as Nonviolent Resistance (Part One) In this first lecture of a new series, Dr. Matthew Leavenworth explores how story shapes power, perception, and belonging, and why narrative has always been one of the most effective tools for resisting authoritarian systems. Drawing from history, psychology, literature, and lived experience, Matthew examines how fear compresses human complexity into rigid binaries, while safety and connection make space for dignity, nuance, and moral imagination. The talk traces how figures like George Orwell, Pablo Picasso, and Jesus of Nazareth used story, art, and parable to challenge dehumanizing systems without reproducing their logic. It also looks at how modern information ecosystems reward distortion, outrage, and simplification, and how communities can choose a different path. Recorded in front of a live audience, this lecture invites listeners to see storytelling not as entertainment or branding, but as a civic, moral, and spiritual practice. This episode lays the foundation for a broader series on how individuals and communities can tell truer, braver stories in an age of polarization, propaganda, and fear.

    58 min
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About

Welcome to the Pay Love Forward Podcast — a community-powered show about mentoring, service, and the people who make Montana stronger. Hosted by Dr. Matthew Leavenworth, a mental health counselor and storyteller, this podcast highlights local heroes, changemakers, and everyday people working to build a better world. With rotating guest hosts and contributors, this is a collaborative platform for the stories that matter. Because the world needs better stories — and we’re here to tell them.

Information

  • Creator
    Matthew Leavenworth
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    20
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Matthew Leavenworth
  • Show Website
    Pay Love Forward