Pressure always shapes you. The question is: how will you respond?
Every profession has its own mountain to climb. Whether you’re a trauma nurse, teacher, coach, business professional, stay-at-home parent, student, or serving in another role, you know what it feels like to carry responsibility that matters.
That’s where our inspiring series, Performing Under Pressure, comes in. Listen in as we interview people of different professions about the pressures they face and how to handle them. We talk honestly about the pressures that come with high-stress careers, navigating job stress in healthy ways, and how faith in Jesus influences leadership and service.
These conversations aren’t just for people in those professions. They’re an invitation to better understand the burdens others carry, and to live out Galatians 6:2 by “bearing one another’s burdens”.
The climb won’t always be easy, but you don’t have to do it alone.
Performing Under Pressure: Inside the Trauma Bay
What does it take to stay calm when someone else’s life is in on the line? That’s something our first guest, ER nurse Caroline Vandervoort, has to deal with on a daily basis. In this enlightening conversation with Austin Conner, PLPC, Caroline shares what it’s like to work in the trauma bay, care for patients on the hardest day of their lives, receive criticism without becoming cynical, and battle compassion fatigue by relying on God’s strength.
Whether you work in healthcare or not, we think you’ll see yourself in Caroline’s story. Because ultimately, this episode isn’t just about emergency medicine. It’s about remaining compassionate under pressure, pursuing excellence without losing your soul, and discovering that Jesus is present even in trauma and chaos.
Performing Under Pressure: In a War Zone
What keeps someone steady when every decision could mean the difference between life and death? In this gripping episode, Shay Roush, M.Div., sits down with Vince Bentinganan, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and former Commander of Bravo Company, 110th Engineer Battalion, to hear about the realities of searching for improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in a hostile environment with brutal physical, mental, and spiritual conditions.
As they reflect on their 20-year friendship, Vince shares openly about the stress of combat, the weight of leadership, and the spiritual disciplines that kept him grounded during deployment. It turns out that prayer, godly friendships, connection, and encouragement are helpful even in one of the most dangerous environments imaginable.
Performing Under Pressure: Pushing the Limits of Medicine
Listen in as Austin sits down with Dr. Brandon Huffman, a gastrointestinal oncologist and clinical researcher, to explore the intersection of extraordinary scientific progress and profound human suffering. Brandon shares how his Christian faith enables him to face suffering honestly without losing hope, even when healing doesn’t come in the way he or his patients desperately want.
Whether you work in medicine, care for people in another high-pressure profession, or simply wonder how to remain faithful when you’re confronted with problems you can’t fix, this conversation offers a thoughtful and deeply human perspective on calling, compassion, and the hope that endures even in the face of death.
Performing Under Pressure: Teaching with a Purpose
In this eye-opening episode, Austin sits down with elementary school teacher Lexie Darrough to talk about what it’s really like to stand at the front of a classroom. Their conversation explores teacher burnout, the challenge of caring for both the hearts and minds of the students, the partnership between parents and educators, and the freedom of knowing that God loves every child even more than we do.
Whether you’re a teacher, a parent, or simply someone who wants to better understand the people shaping the next generation, Lexie’s wisdom offers encouragement for anyone trying to faithfully serve others under pressure.
Performing Under Pressure: The Myth of Work-Life Balance
In this episode, hosts John Tinnin, MFT, and Lynn Roush, LPC, sit down with David and Molly Cover, a couple who found themselves navigating multiple job losses, major career transitions, the discovery of ADHD, and the anxiety and grief that came with all of it.
Listen in as David and Molly share honestly about what happened when their plans collided with a reality they couldn’t control, and how the pressure affected their marriage, their parenting, their identities, and their faith. As they turned to God, counseling, and their community for support, they learned to navigate their anxieties rather than be controlled by them.
Performing Under Pressure: Doing Business with Integrity
In this eye-opening episode, Austin sits down with Clint Guier, an executive leader who has spent more than two decades with the same company. Clint’s journey from a farm kid in small-town Missouri to an executive vice president offers a window into the everyday realities of leadership: making decisions that affect hundreds of people, knowing when to delegate, and learning from the people who have gone before him.
But this conversation goes beyond strategies for succeeding in the business world. Clint reflects honestly on the ways pressure has shaped him over the years, including the temptation to seek approval, the cost of carrying stress alone, and the impact that unprocessed pressure can have on the people closest to us.
Performing Under Pressure: It’s Kinda Chic to Be You
In this spirited episode, Lynn sits down with Ella Swindle, a senior setter for the University of Texas Longhorns volleyball team who helped lead her team to an NCAA National Championship as a freshman. As a setter, Ella calls the plays, directs the offense, and has to reset quickly after every point. But some of the most significant pressure she’s faced hasn’t come from the volleyball court at all.
For Ella, college athletics has become a place where questions of performance, identity, expectations, and faith collide. She opens up about the internal voices that tell her she’s not enough, and the hard work of learning to distinguish truth from lies. Along the way, she has discovered the importance of silence, stepping away from social media, and becoming her own biggest cheerleader.
Performing Under Pressure: The Voice of the Tigers
In this stunning conclusion to our series, Shay sits down with none other than the Voice of the Tigers, Mike Kelly, to talk about his remarkable career behind the microphone. For more than three decades, Mike has stepped into high-pressure moments to give listeners a clear picture of the plays unfolding in front of him.
Along the way, he has called more than 1,000 Mizzou basketball broadcasts and hundreds of consecutive football games, earning the respect of fans and fellow broadcasters. He talks candidly with Shay about not having all the answers, being kind to himself when he makes a mistake, and the importance of having people who will stay beside you when life gets hard.