The UPside, Conversations that Light UP the World

Marion MacKenzie
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  • Religion & Spirituality
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Inspirational weekly talk show where faith meets real life. Featuring conversations exploring hope, healing, truth, and transformation that change the way you see the world. Every week, award-winning host Marion MacKenzie sits down with thought leaders, faith heroes, filmmakers, healers, and cultural trailblazers for conversations that go beneath the surface. Also available on YouTube and Rumble. To learn more, visit: https://www.highlanderstudios.org/the-upside

  1. 1d ago

    The Art of Making People Laugh | Paul Aldrich

    What does it really take to make people laugh—especially when you're not feeling particularly funny yourself?They say laughter is the best medicine, but for professional comedian and musician Paul Aldrich, making people laugh has been his life's work for decades!In this entertaining and insightful episode of The UPside Conversations, host Marion MacKenzie welcomes Paul for a behind-the-scenes look at the art of comedy, the challenges of performing, and the remarkable power of humor to bring people together.Where do comedians find their inspiration? What happens when a joke falls flat, an audience doesn't respond, or someone takes offense? And how do you keep bringing joy to others when life throws challenges your way?With his trademark wit, warmth, and Christian faith, Paul shares lessons learned from decades onstage, including why we can't always control how others respond to us—but we can choose where we find our confidence, identity, and purpose.Along the way, discover how laughter can help us navigate life's awkward moments, connect across differences, and find joy even when circumstances are far from perfect.Because sometimes, a good laugh is exactly what we need!Join us for a conversation filled with humor, heart, and a healthy dose of encouragement.SUBSCRIBE to The UPside Conversations for inspiring stories and conversations that light up the world!👍 LIKE this episode💬 COMMENT: What always makes YOU laugh?❤️ SHARE with someone who could use a good laugh today!🌐 Visit www.TheUPside.tvThe UPside Conversations is produced by Highlander Studios.#PaulAldrich #TheUPsideConversations #ChristianComedy #Laughter #FaithAndHumor #ChristianComedian #FindingJoy #MarionMacKenzie

    The Art of Making People Laugh | Paul Aldrich

  2. 5d ago

    UFOs, Fallen Angels & the Unseen World: What Are We Missing?

    Are we alone in the universe—or have we never been alone? For decades, UFOs have fascinated millions, but recent government disclosures and eyewitness accounts have raised even more questions. Are these mysterious visitors extraterrestrials from distant galaxies, or could something far more troubling be at work? This week on The UPside Conversations, I welcome award-winning filmmaker, author, and seminary graduate Derrick Warfel, whose fascinating new documentary and companion book, UFOs and GOD, explore the phenomenon through five years of research, eyewitness testimony, and biblical teachings. Derrick offers a provocative perspective: What if some UFO encounters are connected to the unseen spiritual realm—and what if our fascination with them could leave us vulnerable to deception? From angels and fallen angels to interdimensional beings, spiritual warfare, and the growing fascination among younger generations, this is a thought-provoking conversation about the mysteries we don't understand—and why wisdom, faith, and discernment matter more than ever. I hope you'll join us for this fascinating conversation! Derrick also generously shares two FREE articles that explore these questions further, along with information about his book and Bible study resources. Whether you're curious, skeptical, or deeply concerned about these phenomena, there's plenty here to consider. Listen to the episode, and share your thoughts with us!

    UFOs, Fallen Angels & the Unseen World: What Are We Missing?

  3. Oct 10

    Saving Children's Lives, One Heart at a Time | Save a Child's Heart

    What if saving a child's life could also bring people together across borders, cultures, and faiths?Every child deserves a chance to live, grow, and dream. Yet around the world, children born with serious heart conditions often lack access to the lifesaving medical care they desperately need.That's where Save a Child's Heart is making an extraordinary difference.In this inspiring episode of The UPside Conversations, host Marion MacKenzie welcomes Rabbi David Litwack, Executive Director of Save a Child's Heart in the United States, to explore the remarkable work of this Israeli humanitarian organization.Through lifesaving pediatric heart surgery, international medical partnerships, and training for healthcare professionals, Save a Child's Heart is transforming young lives and bringing hope to families around the world.But there's something even more extraordinary about this mission.Jewish, Christian, and Muslim doctors work together. Israeli and Palestinian families share the same hopes for their children. People from different countries, cultures, and religious backgrounds discover something that unites them all: the precious value of a human life.In this conversation, discover:How Save a Child's Heart began and the vision behind its humanitarian missionHow children receive lifesaving heart surgery regardless of nationality or backgroundThe extraordinary doctors and medical teams making this work possibleHow medical training helps communities build a healthier futureThe remarkable relationships formed between families from different backgroundsHow compassion and kindness can bridge seemingly impossible dividesWhat this inspiring mission teaches us about faith, hope, and the power of loveIn a world that can feel increasingly fragmented and uncertain, Save a Child's Heart offers a beautiful reminder that compassion is a language everyone understands.Love knows no borders. Every child matters. And every heartbeat is precious. ❤️LEARN MORE ABOUT SAVE A CHILD'S HEARThttps://saveachildsheart.org/ABOUT THE UPSIDE CONVERSATIONSHosted by Marion MacKenzie and produced by Highlander Studios, The UPside Conversations features inspiring stories of faith, resilience, healing, purpose, and extraordinary people making a difference.Conversations that Light Up the World.▶️ SUBSCRIBE for more inspiring conversations.👍 LIKE if this story touched your heart.💬 COMMENT: How have you seen kindness bring people together?↗️ SHARE this episode with someone who believes compassion can change the world.❤️ SUPPORT THE SHOW: https://TheUPside.tv#SaveAChildsHeart #TheUPsideConversations #LoveKnowsNoBorders #PediatricHeartSurgery #HumanitarianWork #FaithInAction #StoriesOfHope #SavingChildrensLives #MarionMacKenzie #HighlanderStudios

    Saving Children's Lives, One Heart at a Time | Save a Child's Heart

  4. Oct 2

    My 22-Year Search for Freedom | Dr. Laurette Willis

    What happens when a lifelong search for peace, healing and spiritual truth takes you deeper into the very things that are keeping you bound? In this powerful episode of The UPside Conversations, Dr. Laurette Willis shares her remarkable journey from childhood wounds, emotional eating and alcoholism into a 22-year involvement with yoga and New Age spirituality—all while searching for something that would finally bring lasting peace. At 29, Laurette says she came to the end of herself and faced a life-changing question: What if everything you believed about God was wrong? Would you be willing to give it all up to know the truth? Her answer began a radical transformation and a new life centered on Jesus Christ. Today, Dr. Laurette Willis is a Doctor of Theology, Christian Mind Coach, Cognitive Behavioral Therapist, health coach, author and founder of PraiseMoves®, which she describes as a Christian alternative to yoga. Through her Christian MindCoach Method™, she also combines biblical truth with practical neuroscience techniques to help people renew their minds, retrain their brains and break unhealthy patterns. Dr. Laurette Willis We talk about yoga and its spiritual roots, New Age practices, addiction, emotional eating, spiritual deception, surrender, deliverance, renewing the mind—and how the very mountains of our past can become ministries that help others. As Laurette beautifully says in our conversation: “Your mountain can become your ministry.” CONNECT WITH DR. LAURETTE WILLIS PraiseMoves® — Christian Alternative to YogaPraiseMoves.com ✅ SUBSCRIBE to The UPside Conversations for more conversations that bring hope, truth, healing and encouragement. 👍 LIKE💬 COMMENT↗️ SHARE❤️ SUPPORT: TheUPside.tv The UPside Conversations with Marion MacKenzieConversations that Light Up the World. #TheUPsideConversations #LauretteWillis #PraiseMoves #NewAge #ChristianTestimony #FreedomInChrist #ChristianLiving #RenewYourMind #Faith #SpiritualFreedom

    My 22-Year Search for Freedom | Dr. Laurette Willis

  5. Sep 25

    How This Composer Creates Music Millions Remember | Bob Farnsworth

    What makes a piece of music stick in our minds for decades? And how does a composer take an idea, an emotion—or even a 30-second commercial—and turn it into something millions of people remember?This week on The UPside Conversations, Marion MacKenzie sits down with award-winning composer and Hummingbird Productions founder Bob Farnsworth, whose company is celebrating its 50th year. Bob takes us behind the creative curtain to reveal how a composer thinks simultaneously like a musician, storyteller and psychologist when creating music for brands, commercials and films. With plenty of humor, Bob shares the hilarious story of the very first commercial that got him thrown out of an advertising agency, what that failure taught him about taking creative risks, and how the very next project went on to win awards. We also explore the extraordinary power music has to change what we feel about exactly the same images, the very different demands of composing for a 30-second commercial versus scoring a film, and why collaboration became essential when Bob faced an unusually tight film deadline. And underneath Bob’s remarkable career is something deeper: faith, purpose and a different definition of success. His advice after five decades? Doing your best matters more than chasing some perfect outcome—and achievement alone can never answer life’s biggest questions. If you’re a musician, filmmaker, writer, artist—or anyone who has ever wondered where great ideas begin—this conversation is for you.CONNECT WITH BOB FARNSWORTH🎵 Hummingbird Productions: hummingbirdproductions.com🔔 SUBSCRIBE for more conversations that encourage, inspire and light up the world.👍 LIKE this episode💬 COMMENT: Where do your best ideas come from?↗️ SHARE this conversation with a creative person in your life.❤️ DONATE: https://TheUPside.tvProduced by Highlander Studios#BobFarnsworth #Creativity #MusicComposer #MusicComposition #CreativeProcess #Inspiration #FilmMusic #CommercialMusic #Jingles #HummingbirdProductions #FaithAndCreativity #TheUPsideConversations #HighlanderStudios #MarionMacKenzie

    How This Composer Creates Music Millions Remember | Bob Farnsworth

  6. Sep 18

    How Do You Rebuild When Your Old Life Is Gone?

    What do you do when the life you knew is suddenly gone?Pastor, worship leader, author, and recording artist Beverly Bilbo knows what it means to rebuild after devastating loss. When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Beverly and her husband Garland were displaced, their congregation was scattered, their church sat under 12½ feet of water, and the future of the ministry they had built was suddenly uncertain. But Katrina wasn’t Beverly’s first storm. Years earlier, her family had endured another deeply painful public crisis that shook her world and eventually contributed to a season of severe panic attacks and fear. Through it all, Beverly discovered the difference between knowing what you believe and learning how to stand on it when life falls apart.She shares how Scripture, worship, prayer, and intentionally redirecting her thoughts became anchors when circumstances seemed overwhelming. Today, Beverly and Garland have rebuilt, their family is thriving, and the next generation is carrying their faith forward. Her story is a powerful reminder that resilience doesn’t always mean getting your old life back. Sometimes it means discovering how to build a new one.If you’ve experienced loss, grief, anxiety, disappointment, financial upheaval, betrayal, trauma—or simply a future that looks nothing like the one you planned—this conversation is for you.📚 BEVERLY BILBO’S BOOKS👉 Resilient, Unbreakable, Unstoppable, Undefeatable👉 Free from the Grip of Fear✅ SUBSCRIBE to The UPside Conversations for new episodes every week.👍 LIKE this video to help others discover it.💬 COMMENT below: What has helped you rebuild after a difficult season?📤 SHARE this episode with someone who needs encouragement today.❤️ DONATE: Tax-deductible at https://TheUPside.tv and help us continue producing Conversations That Light Up the World. 🎥 The UPside Conversations with Marion MacKenzie is produced by Highlander Studios, Nashville TN: https://highlanderstudios.orgBeverly Bilbo, Hurricane Katrina survivor, how to rebuild your life, rebuilding after loss, starting over after loss, resilience after trauma, Christian resilience, faith through adversity, overcoming fear, panic attacks and faith, Christian anxiety, finding hope after loss, trusting God through hard times, faith after disappointment, healing after trauma, worship and healing, The UPside Conversations, Marion MacKenzie.

    How Do You Rebuild When Your Old Life Is Gone?

  7. Sep 11

    Modern Prophets: Who's Really Hearing from God? (with Special Charlie Kirk Interview

    Does God still speak today? And if He does, how can we discern His voice from our own thoughts—or from people who claim to speak prophetically for Him?In this fascinating episode of The UPside Conversations, I sit down with award-winning filmmaker Matthew Thayer to explore his provocative new documentary, Can You Hear Me Now? Matthew takes an investigative look at the modern prophetic movement—examining biblical prophecy, discernment, false prophets, the intersection of prophecy and politics, and what Scripture actually tells us about testing the voices we hear.The documentary also features one of the final interviews Charlie Kirk ever gave, recorded just two weeks before his assassination—a conversation that took on an entirely new significance after his death.

    Modern Prophets: Who's Really Hearing from God? (with Special Charlie Kirk Interview

  8. Sep 4

    Inside the Making of Daniel and the Fiery Furnace

    What does it take to bring one of the Bible’s most beloved stories to the big screen—and remain faithful to the Scripture that inspired it? Filmmaking brothers Daniel and Matthew Kooman of Unveil Studios have spent more than two decades creating films and documentaries exploring faith, human dignity and some of the most challenging issues of our time. Now they’ve taken on their most ambitious project yet: Daniel and the Fiery Furnace, a sweeping new biblical epic opening in theaters nationwide September 18th. Starring Mena Massoud as Daniel and Elijah Alexander as King Nebuchadnezzar, the film takes audiences into ancient Babylon and the extraordinary story of Daniel and his friends—young men living under enormous pressure to conform, yet determined to remain faithful to God. In this episode of The UPside Conversations, Marion MacKenzie sits down with Daniel and Matthew to discover what it really took to bring this world to life—from filming in remarkable locations in India and working with horses, armies and massive sets, to the challenges of financing an independent biblical epic and some extraordinary moments the brothers experienced during production. We also explore the bigger question at the heart of Daniel’s story: What does it mean to stand firm when everything is on the line? What does it take to bring one of the Bible’s most beloved stories to the big screen—and remain faithful to the Scripture that inspired it?Filmmaking brothers Daniel and Matthew Kooman of Unveil Studios have spent more than two decades creating films and documentaries exploring faith, human dignity and some of the most challenging issues of our time. Now they’ve taken on their most ambitious project yet: Daniel and the Fiery Furnace, a sweeping new biblical epic opening in theaters nationwide September 18th.Starring Mena Massoud as Daniel and Elijah Alexander as King Nebuchadnezzar, the film takes audiences into ancient Babylon and the extraordinary story of Daniel and his friends—young men living under enormous pressure to conform, yet determined to remain faithful to God.In this episode of The UPside Conversations, Marion MacKenzie sits down with Daniel and Matthew to discover what it really took to bring this world to life—from filming in remarkable locations in India and working with horses, armies and massive sets, to the challenges of financing an independent biblical epic and some extraordinary moments the brothers experienced during production.We also explore the bigger question at the heart of Daniel’s story: What does it mean to stand firm when everything is on the line?🎬 DANIEL AND THE FIERY FURNACEIn theaters September 18th👉 Tickets + FREE resources: Daniel.movie✅ SUBSCRIBE to The UPside Conversations for new episodes every week. #DanielAndTheFieryFurnace #BookOfDaniel #BibleMovie #ChristianMovies #Faith #KoomanBrothers #TheUPsideConversations Daniel and the Fiery Furnace, Book of Daniel movie, Daniel movie 2026, Daniel Bible movie, Kooman brothers, Daniel Kooman, Matthew Kooman, Unveil Studios, biblical epic, Christian movies 2026, Christian films, faith based movies, Bible prophecy, ancient Babylon, biblical filmmaking, The UPside Conversations, Marion MacKenzie

    Inside the Making of Daniel and the Fiery Furnace
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About

Inspirational weekly talk show where faith meets real life. Featuring conversations exploring hope, healing, truth, and transformation that change the way you see the world. Every week, award-winning host Marion MacKenzie sits down with thought leaders, faith heroes, filmmakers, healers, and cultural trailblazers for conversations that go beneath the surface. Also available on YouTube and Rumble. To learn more, visit: https://www.highlanderstudios.org/the-upside

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