Honza Interviews

In this interview, I hit the jackpot. I got to interview the man who inspired me to start this project, to begin with, Dylan Newton. He's a prolific photographer from Southeast Texas now living in the Austin area. You may know him from Praise Church, Guitar Center, or anywhere else he's worked or volunteered. You may also know him from his more comparatively recent art-style of Cyberpunk. Dylan's really made a name for himself in his field, and we got to have a really nice chat. Dylan and I had the absolute longest interview I have ever done and I loved every second of it. That being said, I had to cut a lot of stuff out, so maybe one day I'll just release the audio file so you can hear us ramble about the question, "Are you human, and does that matter?" in fiction for hours. My ramblings aside, please enjoy. E: When you started getting more into Cyberpunk photography/art, what do you think gave you the biggest inspirational push to really jump into it? D: Ooh

(pictured is Adam and his wife Natalie) In this interview, I had the chance to speak with Adam Cessna. He's an old friend of mine as well as one of the co-hosts of the "Listen to This One" podcast alongside another friend of the blog, David Mosley. Adam and I got to talk about his personal relationship with Christ, how being a husband and father has impacted his faith, and how his life has changed over the years. Hope you enjoy this one! Ethan: If your 17-year old self had a time machine to see you today, would you be where you expected to be? In other words, when you were 17 did you think you would be married with a child at 24? Adam: Yeah, actually. It's funny, I always wanted to get married when I was super young, which I did, but I thought I would meet the person I would marry when I was 18. Maybe you've experienced some of this, but there are some times when you meet someone and even if you're not dating, you could see that relationship carrying over. The

In this interview, I had the great joy of talking with a good friend, Shaylie Brammer. She's a former Praise YTH intern, member of Praise Church, full-time nanny, and an absolute joy to be around. Shaylie and I had so much fun just getting a chance to connect and talk about some fun things and some real things. I hope the experience is as enriching to you as it was to me. Ethan: You've worked a lot with Praise, and by extension, Praise YTH. I have too. As you look back on your experiences whether they be as a student, intern, or bystander, what are some of the watershed moments for you in that moment of retrospect? Shaylie: Hmm, that's a good question. I've been in Praise YTH since I was in 9th grade. My Junior Year at Winter Retreat is one I remember. During Small Group time, a friend of mine and I were talking. She and I had just been going through the motions of church. We were attending, but not super involved. Then she asks me, "Shaylie, why are you here? Wher

In this interview, I had the amazing opportunity to speak to Carli Graves. She's the Director of Praise Youth, a Dance Instructor, a Hillsong Alumnus, and a good friend. We had a great time talking about her approach to ministry, her experiences in leadership, her love of dogs, and everything in between. I hope you enjoy it. What's something besides their faith that all great church leaders have in common? I would say leadership. Their leadership is their influence. I actually just listened to a Leadership Lean In Podcast with Taylor Madu. Something that challenges me every single day I try to remember this is: are you being the kind of leader you would want to follow. I ask myself that all the time. At the end of the day. everyone has influence, either positive or negative. You have to decide every day which direction you will go, positive or negative. Yes, all church staff share their faith, but they all have influence as well. No matter their platform - it could be from the

  In this edition, I had the chance to speak with another young person involved in ministry, this time my guest was Rinnah Edwards. She's a former Praise YTH intern, a volunteer with Praise's worship team, and now a student at Liberty University in Virginia, pursuing a journalism degree. We talked about her experience in behind-the-scenes ministry, her thoughts on the Church as it exists today, how her creative influences have shaped her, and much more. This one was a bit different because Rinnah and I didn't know each other very well before this. I hope you enjoy it. During your time with the Praise Youth internship and other background parts of ministry, is there anything you learned from the 'behind the scenes' part of church leadership? It's a whole different ball game. I was actually thinking about this just today. I'm no longer an intern, so now I'm back in the position I was before I got to see all the behind the scenes stuff. But, back when I was

In this interview, I had the great honor to interview Jason McElwee. He's a great friend of mine who has been with me through many highs and lows. He's always been a man that I can rely on when I require support or encouragement. I hope that in reading this, you're able to be built up by him in the same way that he has done many times for me.  Truly a man after God's own heart. Enjoy. You've probably seen me ask this to a few other people, and I've had some interesting answers, so now I direct it to you. I saw a Hot Ones interview featuring Tyra Banks where she talked about having students in a marketing class identify their personal brands. With that in mind, what is the "Jason McElwee" brand? Oh... that's a good one. I've seen that Hot Ones, and every time Sean asks a good question I think, "Whoa! That's good, I'd never think to ask that." Hmm, Jason McElwee brand. It's honestly everything you see. There's not a whol