A Conversation With Tommie Washington, Associate Professor for Digital Media, Faulkner University

Today I have the privilege of welcoming a very special guest, Tommie Washington. Many of you may remember my recent conversation with his wife, Leila Washington. If you haven't heard her inspiring story, I encourage you to visit our podcast page and listen to that episode as well.

 Professionally, Tommie is a two-time Emmy Award-winning designer and animator whose creative work has reached millions of viewers through ESPN. His career has been marked by creativity, excellence, and innovation.

 Currently, Tommie serves as an Associate Professor at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama, where he is developing and teaching a program of study in digital media. He brings a wealth of professional experience into the classroom, preparing the next generation of digital media professionals.

 But today, we're going beyond careers and accomplishments. We're going to talk about something that touches every family at some point in life: hope, caregiving, and faithfully walking beside someone we love through difficult circumstances.

 Tommie brings a unique perspective, not only as an accomplished professional, but as a husband who walked with Leila through her cancer journey. His story reminds us that some of life's greatest achievements never receive a trophy. They are found in quiet acts of love, faithfulness, and hope.

 If today's conversation sparks your interest in digital media or continuing education, I encourage you to learn more about Faulkner University's Digital Media Certificate program by visiting Faulkner's website.  https://www.faulkner.edu/dm-certificate/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Hello friends, I'm your host, Dr. Dave Leighton, and thank you for joining me on our journey to hope. This podcast is a place where together we explore how to discover, sustain, and sometimes regain hope. Wherever you're listening, let's take a deep breath, open our hearts, and continue this journey towards hope. And remember, no one walks alone. Today's program is sponsored by Come and See Publications, helping people discover Christ through Bible-based books and resources for all ages. Visit ComeandSeepublications.com. In today's episode, I'm speaking with Tommy Washington. Tommy is the husband of Leela Washington. Leela was a wonderful guest recently, and I encourage you to go to this podcast website and listen to her compelling story and insights on hope. Well, Tommy has an interesting job, one that I'm just a little bit envious of, but I'm glad he's in it so I can pick his brain for insights. But I'm going to let Tommy tell us about himself and what he does. Hello, Tommy. Hello, Dr. Dave. How are you? Dr. Dave, listen to that. I tell people the best thing about a doctorate is when you finish, you can read books you want to read, and I don't have to write a paper about it or anything else. Well, tell our listeners a little bit about yourself, what you do, and uh we'll go from there.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

Well, I'm a Christian first and foremost, um, baptizing the Christ at the Northeast Philadelphia Church of Christ, where I met my lovely wife, Leela. And um I've been blessed to be uh a deacon and an elder in the Lord's Church, and uh uh and and so in '94, when um Leela and I got married that same year, I was also uh blessed to be hired by ESPN to be a uh designer and animator for them.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

I sit in the presence of greatness. I didn't know all that. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

And um and so uh just you know blessed over the years uh to develop a lot of broadcast uh design um technology and things that um a lot of uh networks use today, a lot of sports networks. Um one being the bottom line uh sports um um ticker that uh gives you updates on scores and stuff like that. Yeah. So myself and uh a broadcast engineer and um an art director developed the first the first two, um uh which was in ninety five, uh and then uh we did one for USBN News in 96. But um so stuff like that, uh first 3D animation done um by an in-house uh designer and uh first uh animated over the shoulder and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

I am officially intimidated. That's learned from the seat of my pants, brother. No, that's great. I know that's great.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

So I'm still still learning today uh because the technology is always changing. Yeah, it's it's amazing. But I've you know been blessed uh again by uh um God's grace to be at Faulkner now. Uh I retired from ESPN in in 2024.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

And so uh now I'm developing a digital media program from the ground up at Faulkner University. And so that's coming along uh really well. I'm uh really busy because you know, teaching four classes and developing new classes and teaching some online classes as well. But um but it's it's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

I'll do a trade-off here. Yeah. You coach me about this kind of stuff, and I stand by to help you with curriculum design. That's that's what I do professionally, have done for since 1980. Yeah. So you you ever need help, brother, holler at me. Anyway, not that I think you do, but uh No, that sounds great. All right, anyway, keep going. That's fascinating.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

One hand washes the other, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So that's pretty much where where I'm at. Um now I have um two um Christian boys. Um one is uh working for Disney and the other one works for Epic Games.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

And um walking in your steps. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

And um so I can imagine the conversation at Thanksgiving. You guys get all kind of technical and stuff. Lila's back there shaking her head.

SPEAKER_02 4:55

Yeah, we do go on a tangent sometimes and gets pretty nerdy when it comes to that.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Yeah. I had a colleague, he and I had the same master's program, and and uh we would be working at the whiteboard developing curriculum, and my boss walked by one day and she said, You're a couple of geeks.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, but when you love what you do, it's like you haven't worked a day in your life, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:19

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

Okay, great. So you're at Faulkner with the digital program. Okay, that's fascinating. Yeah, and and I think that's incredible too, because uh I was thinking about this last night. Um I can I can imagine um Rome built the roads and the Christians used the roads to spread the gospel throughout the world.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

Um roll that forward, you know. You had um the printing press developed, and people were saying, hmm, I'm not sure about putting the Bible in people's hands. What's that what's that's gonna, you know? And then I remember when we started the internet ministries, radio ministries, people were saying, Well, people won't be coming to church anymore. Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

Now we have all kinds of things going on with technology, and it's instead of um slowing that evangelistic effort down, it has opened whole new horizons.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

And and Faulkner has um developed a digital ministry track as well. Yes, where they take six courses from the digital media program and add it to the Bible program. Yeah. And um and churches are hiring digital ministers, you know, to um control their their website and to design for their YouTube channel.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Well, and and that's that's the area I'm deacon over here in our congregation. I mean, it's a ministry within itself.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

It really is.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

Yeah, yeah. Okay, great. That's awesome. Um, so uh that is a fascinating job and and one that um I mean the horizon keeps moving further away because they're just so much capable out there, new things. Um Well, let's talk a little bit about in in my conversation with Leela, she shared about her journey through cancer and and uh all of the challenges that she faced, and uh that's kind of where I'd like to go with you. I am passionate about helping caregivers and uh not just also encouraging patients through the volunteer work I do and the writing sometimes that I do in classes and stuff, but caregivers are amazing. And so many times a a uh a woman is uh I hate to say easier because that's not what I mean, uh, a little bit more uh attuned to it than us guys are. Yeah. And so all of a sudden we're thrown into that. Right. I I kind of joke about it when uh my wife went through hip surgery. I talk about she made me wash dishes, she made me clean the floor, I had to do laundry. Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

You realize how much work she did.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Yeah, well, and she came back and said, uh-huh. You remember that time you went through cancer?

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Yeah.

unknown 8:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

No, we just we don't think about it as guys, about what it means to be a caregiver and all that's involved with that. But it's amazing um you and I vowed to our wives. I don't know what your vow said, but generally it's something about sickness and health. But when you're 20-something years old, you're not thinking cancer or hip surgery or anything like that long term. You're just not thinking about that. All of a sudden, here it is. So let's talk about that. Yeah. From your perspective. Um, most caregivers are women. So when you found yourself in that position, let talk about that.

SPEAKER_02 8:51

Yeah, well, to be honest with you, it it um it wasn't easy. Uh it taught me a lot. Yeah. Um you know, it reminds me of um Romans chapter 5, you know, where Paul says, um, therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we also glory in tribulations. And that always kind of um That's good. That always kind of confused me a little bit. It's like why are we glorying in tribulation? And then going on, he says, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope, which is what your podcast is about, right? Um now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts. So as I'm uh going through this uh tribulation with her getting sick, um, I wasn't like you were saying, I wasn't good at being a caregiver. I wasn't good, even with, you know, before she got sick and when she was, you know, uh fearful of something or she had some anxiety or you know, and and you know, I guess being the baby and having been spoiled, I was used to getting um the the the the comfort and you know mom you know taking care of me and and not so much me taking care of other people. So um so I just I just wasn't good at it. And um that was really an area that God wanted me to grow in. And so this kind of caused me and and forced me to grow in that area and to be more compassionate, to be more supportive, to be more encouraging, you know, when she's feeling down, when she's feeling um fearful when she's feeling, you know, having uh negative thoughts or whatever. And um you know, before, you know, that all happened, I'd just be like, eh, come on, you know, snap out of it. Yeah, you know. But then, you know, I I I learned to listen more, I learned to, you know, try to encourage with encouraging words and and and and scriptural, you know, uh guidance and stuff like that. So it but uh you know I was I really was bad at it to begin with.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Okay. Yeah, yeah, we we have to grow in it. Uh I wonderful things I get to experience at our local cancer center when I'm volunteering up there is I get to see older patients serving each other, the husband and wife. Yeah. I saw one the other day and I wanted to chat with them, but uh they were heading away and I didn't want to bother them. Uh a very elderly gentleman pushing a wheelchair with his wife in it, and I thought, you know, I don't know how many years they've been married. I always like to find out, but that that's a vow being lived in real time, and it's just a wonderful thing. And I see it all the time. Husbands caring for the wife or the wife for him in treatment. Yeah. And so it's a joy to see that.

SPEAKER_02 12:07

But it's a temptation to, you know, ask God why me? Why us? You know, we're trying to do everything right, we're trying to obey, you know, your word and and hear this happens. But then, you know, the flip side is what is God trying to teach us from this?

SPEAKER_00 12:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:22

You know, and and what is he trying to teach me individually or her or whatever and she and she's you know, gave you her story and how she's grown throughout the whole process as well, spiritually, and you know and the other part of that is how can I teach someone else about this and bring them along as well, been there. Right, right. Yeah. How can I give back? Yeah, yeah. Which she's doing an amazing job with. And I'm trying to, you know, now um with teaching, you know, that's that's one of my goals is that I always always wanted to give back, you know, not only my career, but I loved the fact that it's a Christian university, so I can talk all about God as much as I want. Absolutely. What a blessing. So that's my favorite part, you know. Before every class, um, I do a little brief devotion devotion and we get into the word a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

Um a former instructor at Faulkner, friend of ours, uh dear friends, uh Robert Vickery. Okay. Robert taught the business area. Yeah, and he coined away.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

Is he related to Joseph Victory? Joseph Victory? Is he related to him?

SPEAKER_00 13:28

No, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02 13:29

No, okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

Um anyway, Robert came up with what he called ICE, I C E, and it stands for Intentional Christian Education. And he says, every one of my classes I weave in a Christian principle, no matter what the class is in business. Yeah. And I said, Robert, one of the rules I learned early in my curriculum design degree programs was steal every good idea you can and make it your own. Give credit where credit's due, but uh take it and adopt it. And I said, Why didn't I think about it? Yeah. No, absolutely. So ICE is what you're talking about. Having a devotional, having a few thoughts, saying, what is this?

SPEAKER_02 14:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

Serve the Lord, serve others. I'm glad to hear that. And you know, it's interesting. And by the way, you can take ice and run with it. Oh, sure, I will. I I can see it now. You're talking about developing uh using digital ministry or whatever, and you say, you know, there's a thing called intentional Christian education. You need to weave. That's great.

SPEAKER_02 14:31

I would do that, definitely. Um one of my slogans when I do little promos about the program is um that it's uh, you know, Faulkner's digital media program. It's a divine design.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

Oh, I like that. And that's what I talk about a lot is just God being our divine designer, and then everything that we look at that we have in our reality has been designed by him. And so, I know I just share a lot of those realities with my students, and it just I can see some of them, their eyes opening up and like, wow, I didn't really think of that. Yeah, that's a pretty amazing design that um that God did, you know, and we just take it for granted. So, you know, I talk a lot about the divine design.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

I've said it, Lynn has heard it before, where I'll say, Man, I wished I'd have been doing this 25 years ago. But all in God's time, not ours. We have to grow and learn, and then we take that body of knowledge and move it forward. That's right. That's right. I like that. Did you say divine design? Another good idea I'm stealing. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

That's great. It's all around us. It is, it really is. It is.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

Uh it's out there waiting for us to discover.

SPEAKER_02 15:47

It's like Romans 1, where it talks about the creation, you know, that uh shows us God's invisible power, you know.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

It is beyond exciting when we make a discovery. There's times when I I I've like, okay, I gotta go get rid of some emotion because I'm seeing either God's providence or a door open up in the in the midst of it. And um, you know, that just is amazing. I read a quote the other day, and I wish I could remember who was by. It was um we pray for an open door and God opens a life. And and that's the idea. We say, well, I'm looking for an opportunity, and all of a sudden, it's amazing what's out there.

SPEAKER_02 16:35

Yeah. Yeah. So it's it's so important to pray for those opportunities. Yeah, you know, and that's one of the things that I've started doing more, you know, more recently than uh in the past, you know.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

So and we're gonna get to hope in a minute, but one one more thing. Can you look back maybe pre-ESPN days or something where you kind of latched on to a mindset where you said, okay, I'm moving forward, and this is going to be what I do. And somewhere along the line, you began to say, How can I use this for the Lord? Yeah. That happened to me. Uh, you know, uh I had a student when I was on staff at the NCO Academy for the Air Force came up to me one day and said, Sergeant Leighton, you know a lot of the things that you guys teach us are Bible-based. And I said, Well, we didn't invent these. That got me to thinking about leadership taught by Jesus. And and so, yeah, that those are those moments. So do you have something like that? I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 17:46

Yeah, so there when I talk at different events and stuff, I I tell this story and it's it has it's kind of like not one event like that, but maybe two or three um put together. Yeah. So I think the first one was when I was in high school. Oh, okay. And um I wasn't, you know, I had a lot of dysfunction in my in my life and my family. Been there, done that. Yeah. And so I wasn't, you know, the most studious uh student and you know got kicked got got kicked off the track team and stuff like that. I just, you know, I had a lot of issues. But there was this one teacher. I'll laugh because probably a lot similar to a lot of a lot of young people. Yeah. But uh but there's one teacher who said three words to me that changed my life. He said, You have talent. Okay. And I was in his art class and I was designing some art, you know, some posters and and album covers and stuff like that. And you know, we I respected him because he was, you know, had been in the industry a commercial artist in the past, and he showed us his work and it was amazing work and yeah, and I and I liked it. And uh and um he's you know, he said those three words and he said, You could be a designer and and do that for a living. And then he set me up to go to college and all that good stuff. And so those three words. And then when I became a Christian in January of 1990, I remember those three words, but now I'm a Christian and and I'm thinking, okay, how can I serve God with this talent that that he gave me? Yeah, because now I'm realizing that I got it from him. Right. And um and so shortly thereafter, he gives me this job at ESPN. And so I say, you know what, I'm gonna do everything in my ability that he's blessed me with to be an innovator and to create some things that have never been done before. And that's what we ended up doing, and then what I was being uh able to be a part of. And so it goes back to, you know, whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord, you know. And so that was that was my goal. And at the same time, uh my wife and I were volunteering as youth leaders in the church, and you know, we're we're teaching classes and you know, uh we're in between preachers, so I'm preaching at some times, you know, and and so trying to grow spiritually as as well as serve God and his church and and at work, you know. And so it's one of those things where, you know, uh and I'll be talking at the the lectureship um at at Faulkner coming up in October. How to be a Christian. Um I think my title is the you know uh how how to how to live for Christ while working for Disney. There's a challenge. Right, you know, because you know there's a lot of uh a narrative that they try to push, you know.

SPEAKER_00 20:57

And so it's not restricted to Disney, it's lots of other things.

SPEAKER_02 21:01

So you know, folks will have to come to the lectureship and and see how that that's done, but uh but that's what it was all about.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

Yeah. Uh sometimes I use the analogy of you walk into a room and you flip on the switch, and okay, all of a sudden the light's shining around you. In my case, and it sounded a little bit like in yours, we walked into a room, flipped the switch, and then the light began to gradually turn on. It wasn't a bright light all of a sudden. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay. It's a process. That's fascinating, Tommy. Wow. That that's a neat career track, and now how you're applying all that body of knowledge that you've gained over the yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

So you've written, what, 42, 43 books? 44 now. 44 books. Yeah. So I've only written two. But I'm working on my third, and my third is going to be titled like you know, I was talking about the Divine Designer, yeah, guy. Divine Your Success.

SPEAKER_00 21:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:55

And it's basically my story. Okay. But how it's about Well, working for this amazing world's largest broadcast sports broadcasting network in the world, right? But at the same time growing as a Christian and serving in God's church and how do you do those things? And but it's it's basically my personal story of how that I did it. But uh yeah, divine your success, you know, coming to a a a bookstore near you.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

I'm looking forward to Lord willing. When when I was a we called them in the Air Force TI training instructor, it's a basically a drill sergeant.

SPEAKER_02 22:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

Um I we had a uh program at the base chapel on Sunday mornings for members of the church. And uh I was one of the teachers and preachers there, and the the young recruits always got a kick out of, wait a minute, that's Sergeant Layton. He he's a he's a drill sergeant, he's in here teaching me about the Lord. Yeah, that's right. And I used to tell them, you know, you can be a stern disciplinarian and not go stupid. Yeah, right. There is something so that's that's what you say. You look at whatever that profession is that you're involved with, and how can I use this for the Lord?

SPEAKER_02 23:08

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

I I like again, I'm I'm repeating myself, I like to use what God asked Moses, what's in your hand? And then I got this staff. Right. God knew what was in his hand, he wanted Moses to think about it.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Yeah, and how can how can he use it for me?

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Yeah, and and that's what we look to do. Okay, and then whether it's caregiving or broadcasting or whatever it is, we can use that for our work. Okay, I'm gonna quit talking so much. I want to transition into hope. Um as somebody who's taught people and worked with people and counseled people and are still doing that, served as an elder.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Um, let's talk about hope. I want to know your understanding of hope.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

Yeah, it uh, you know, it then again it takes me back to to scripture, you know.

SPEAKER_00 24:02

Hope's that golden thread that runs through scripture.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

I I I uh I I preached a sermon years ago. Okay, and um my my sons and I were we're big Star War nerds. And uh I think it was when uh Princess Leia, there's this um hologram of her, and she's talking to Obi-Wan and she says, You're our only hope. Yeah, okay. I don't know if you remember.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

Oh yes, I remember that. You're our only hope.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

Good morning. So that was the title of my sermon, but it was like, you know, where would we be without Jesus? Right? You know, like like you were saying, the the forgiveness, the the grace, the mercy, the hope of an eternal life with with God, seeing God face to face, right? So, you know, that is really what inspires me to get up every morning, you know, the fact that we have this eternal hope, you know, that Paul talks about and all you know, the the apostles and and that um that we you know if we first obey the gospel, right, be baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and do our best to uh confess those sins that we're aware of. He's faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And and that's where, you know that word all is so important. All unrighteousness. Yeah, even though it's the unrighteousness that we're not aware of, you know, he cleanses us from that. And um but it's because of the work that Jesus did, you know, on the cross. And um and so just having that hope can bring us through the the very difficult times in life. Um and uh so that's you know basically what Leela and I have have focused on, and we've tried to teach our boys and our grandchildren as well, that um there's this eternal hope that we have in Christ that is uh unlike anything else.

SPEAKER_00 26:05

You know, I just connected a dot I hadn't thought of before. I think that Star Wars episode is called A New Hope. A New Hope, right, right, right, yeah. That's the title of the show or the movie. I I just made that connection in my brain.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

That's awesome. I didn't even think of that, but uh yeah, that's a great point.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

That that is a good point. I I talk about hope as a forward-looking concept because it does if if I don't have a forward view, uh uh I'm hopeless. But if I have something out there, then I have something I can work towards.

SPEAKER_02 26:38

So you know it it's not it doesn't only have to be spiritual, it can be, you know, a great job opportunity or a great, you know, opportunity to help someone or whatever. I mean whatever, you know, gives you that hope to go forward and to aspire to be better or to help someone or yeah, there's various different ways that um you can have hope.

SPEAKER_00 27:03

Um I talk about we're in the hope business. And sometimes we don't even realize that we're doing that. But I I am I've mentioned it in my book about hope, and and I've taught it many times that if you're dealing with a challenge to your hope right now, one of the best ways to overcome that is to look out there and say, who can I help with their challenge to hope? And and your hope then begins to grow immediately. I read something last night, uh Lynn and I were watching TV and I was scrolling through YouTube. Half my brain is watching TV, the other half's over here.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

And the anyway, um, I'm a big fan of Neil Diamond. Okay. Showing my age. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:48

There's a movie out about him now, right?

SPEAKER_00 27:50

Uh it's a Neil Diamond Impersonator. Yeah, I forgot what it's called, but um I'm a little nervous about watching it. I don't want to spoil the image of the but he was um, I don't remember the song he was singing right now, but um there was a quote down in the comment section, and I read it out loud to Lynn. Uh this guy said I was a teenager, and I thought um suicide was my only option. And he says, then I listened to, and I I can't remember the song, but um I have to go back now. But anyway, uh he said I listened to Neil singing, and he said all of a sudden I had hoped, his words and the song and his music. And and then he said um uh he he later dated a young lady and she said, play me a love song. Or and he actually had started playing the guitar, learning to play the guitar based on Neil Diamond. Nice. And um, I'm getting somewhere with this, hang on. So anyway, uh he said years later, a few years later, he met a young lady and she asked him to play a love song and he played that song. Um uh he said not long after that she accepted my proposal for marriage. Wow, and now here he was all these years later, and my point is this we're able to offer people hope. Sometimes we don't even know it. Neil Diamond was probably never aware. But we're in the hope business. Yeah, we deliberately, you and I, deliberately do it as part of our ministry, our mission to bring Christ to the world and bring hope that way. But sometimes people don't realize if I'm demonstrating hopefulness, then I'm helping somebody else. They may look at you and say, Wow, by the way, that underscores my work at the cancer center. Been there, done that, how can I help you? Whatever it takes.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:52

And and so, okay.

SPEAKER_02 29:54

And that's why I'm I'm just so um excited about the the work that Leela does as well with uh the Live Strong program and how she helps others get past.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

We're gonna she and I are gonna talk more about that. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:11

So the Live Strong And giving people hope, you know, that uh they can get through this.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Brother, we could talk for a long time. Your time is valuable, and I am so appreciative of it. I I've I have thought several times since I first met Leela at the Women of Hope. Yeah. There you go. There you go. Uh my life has been enriched by knowing you two guys, and so that's a thrill. And I mean that sincerely.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

Appreciate you having this on.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

I'm I reserve the right to have both of you back on this program in the future. We would love to, yeah. I think that'd be great. Anything else you want to add? I am not cutting you off.

SPEAKER_02 30:49

Um just a real quick promo, if you don't mind. Um I am also starting a uh just recently started a 12-week um digital media continuing education uh certificate that is online and uh it goes through Photoshop, uh the a lot of the Adobe um Creative Suite um software. Photoshop, Illustrator, um, After Effects, doing some uh motion graphics with After Effects, and then video editing with uh Adobe Premiere. And then we get into some web design with Figma as well.

SPEAKER_00 31:29

Sorry, this is a digital media continuing education.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

Uh-huh. Okay online program. Um if you just uh would Googled um Faulkner um digital media certificate, um you'll see. I'm there, brother. You'll see.

SPEAKER_00 31:44

I need that. I am your student, and I'm gonna look into that.

SPEAKER_02 31:48

It's a little pricey, but a lot of times churches or or organizations or companies will will will foot the bill to um add that uh skill to their own.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

Well, I'm interested in it, absolutely. Okay, great. Um I need that help with what I'm doing uh as well. A lot of folks uh do, yeah. So that's neat. You know, the technology we have available today. You think about a radio, you think about the internet, and now you've got this.

SPEAKER_02 32:18

And I do I do um talk a lot, not a lot, but um towards the end of that uh program uh about AI and how we can uh use AI to uh in an ethical way to uh to help us. Yeah, to help us.

SPEAKER_00 32:33

There's people that are gonna and are abusing it. Right. But let's use it for the Lord. Exactly. And yeah, amazing. Um podcast show notes for the uh Faulkner Digital. Do you have a uh YouTube present? I mean or uh Facebook or anything like that presence?

SPEAKER_02 32:56

Um yeah, but I'm not on it that much. But I I will send you a link to the uh registration for that certificate of the phone.

SPEAKER_00 33:04

I will include that because I want to see folks starting to use this technology much, much more. Absolutely. Tommy, thank you. You have been a great guest, and I truly have enjoyed meeting you. All right, let me wrap up. Well, thank you for joining us on our journey to hope. For more articles, videos, devotionals, books, encouragement, please visit comeandsee publications.com. That's come and see publications.com. I'm your host, Dave Leighton. Until next time, remember, no one walks alone.