Origin Story

Introducing the Voyage podcast with Mike Schramm and Jacob Klatte. In this episode, your hosts, Mike and Jacob, introduce themselves and talk to Phil Kosloski and Mike LaVoy, owners of Voyage Comics and Publishing, about the need for entertainment rooted in the true, good and beautiful.

original release date: 10 January 2023

Resources

Listen to the latest Voyage Podcast

Related Episodes (links to episode pages)

  • Theosis – minisode
  • Recapitulation – minisode

Transcription

mike: All right. Well, yeah, I guess I’m just kind of gear up a little bit. Welcome everybody to this maiden voyage of the voyage podcast. We caught we’re going to call this one the origin story, because like every good comic book or every good comic book character, it needs an origin story. And just like this podcast

jacob_klatte: like this podcast

mike: is going to be focusing on the intersection between, you know, faith, pop culture, literature, comic books, all those sorts of things.

jacob_klatte: This is an origin story. And…

mike: And that’s where that kind of brings in our two guests that we have, who are kind of the main reasons behind the Voyage podcast itself, which is Mike Lavoy and Phil Koslowski.

mike_lavoy: Thanks

jacob_klatte: Hi Mike.

mike: Did I say that right? Yeah.

phil_k: Yeah, pretty good.

mike: Yeah, all right. I’ve only ever seen it in writing, so.

mike_lavoy:
Hehehehe

mike:
But.

phil_k:
It’s just one of those weird Polish slash names that no one can pronounce, so…

mike_lavoy:
Yeah. And let me, let me add Mike, I’m glad you, you said made in voyage because we were, I was talking about using a different sailor lingo throughout the podcast. And you were kind of hesitant, like the young boy who his mom’s dropping him off from school and she’s like, don’t forget to wear your aunt Barb’s sweater that she knitted you. And you’re like, Oh mom.

jacob_klatte:
Oh,

mike:
Well,

jacob_klatte:
I think we should still do it. I think that

mike:
this

jacob_klatte:
we

mike:
is

jacob_klatte:
just need

mike:
a…

jacob_klatte: to as much sailor jargon as we can possibly fit into every podcast.

mike:
This is what’s called being a team player. I’m trying to model for Jacob a little bit.

jacob_klatte:
Oh, Seth.

mike:
If the boss man says to use sailor lingo, then I use sailor lingo.

mike_lavoy:
Hehehe

mike:
But anyway,

jacob_klatte:
But anyway,

mike:
so we wanted

jacob_klatte:
so we

mike:
this

jacob_klatte:
wanted

mike:
to be

jacob_klatte:
this to be a

mike:
a conversation

jacob_klatte:
conversation

mike:
about

jacob_klatte:
about

mike:
I hear the echo that was kind of getting me off track a little bit.

mike_lavoy:
I do too,

mike:
This

mike_lavoy:
yeah.

mike:
is all

jacob_klatte:
This is

mike:
great

jacob_klatte:
all

mike:
stuff

jacob_klatte:
great

mike:
that we

jacob_klatte:
stuff.

mike:
can take out in the afterwards, but we wanted this to be

jacob_klatte:
is to

mike:
a

jacob_klatte:
be

mike:
conversation

jacob_klatte:
a conversation

mike:
about

jacob_klatte:
about

mike:
Voyage

jacob_klatte:
Voyage

mike:
Comics

jacob_klatte:
Comics

mike:
itself,

jacob_klatte:
itself,

mike:
but then how

jacob_klatte:
but then

mike:
that

jacob_klatte:
how

mike:
kind

jacob_klatte:
that

mike:
of ties

jacob_klatte:
kind of ties

mike:
into

jacob_klatte:
into this podcast.

mike:
this podcast

jacob_klatte:
And so we’re gonna

mike:
specifically.

jacob_klatte:
be talking, like I said, a little

mike:
And

jacob_klatte:
bit

mike:
so

jacob_klatte:
about Voyage

mike:
we’re going

jacob_klatte:
Comics.

mike:
to

jacob_klatte:
So,

mike:
be

jacob_klatte:
we’re

mike:
talking,

jacob_klatte:
gonna be talking a little bit about

mike:
like

jacob_klatte:
Voyage

mike:
I said,

jacob_klatte:
Comics.

mike:
a

jacob_klatte:
And

mike:
little

jacob_klatte:
then

mike:
bit

jacob_klatte:
we’re

mike:
about

jacob_klatte:
gonna be talking

mike:
Voyage

jacob_klatte:
about

mike:
Comics.

jacob_klatte:
Voyage Comics.

mike:
Not only the, what inspired Voyage Comics itself, but then

jacob_klatte:
But

mike:
how

jacob_klatte:
then

mike:
that

jacob_klatte:
how

mike:
same

jacob_klatte:
that

mike:
inspiration

jacob_klatte:
same inspiration

mike:
sort of

jacob_klatte:
sort

mike:
led

jacob_klatte:
of

mike:
into

jacob_klatte:
led into

mike:
as a natural

jacob_klatte:
as a natural

mike:
kind of

jacob_klatte:
kind

mike:
growth

jacob_klatte:
of growth

mike:
or development

jacob_klatte:
or development

mike:
into this

jacob_klatte:
into

mike:
podcast.

jacob_klatte: And so first just gonna we’re just going to go very quickly on the Voyage Comics background.

mike: And that’s where we wanna talk with Mike and Phil a little bit more about that.

mike_lavoy: Alright, so Phil, why don’t you go ahead and lead us off with this. So you’re the founder of Voyage Comics.

phil_k:
Sure, yeah, we’ll just kind of go back a little bit. So, yeah, so kind of just briefly on my background. So I really have no past experience with comic books or creating comic books

jacob_klatte:
You

phil_k:
or.

jacob_klatte:
know

phil_k:
Ha

jacob_klatte:
what?

phil_k:
ha.

jacob_klatte:
I need to interject before we just keep going. Is Mike’s breathing gonna show up in the recording?

mike_lavoy:
My breathing?

jacob_klatte:
No, Mike’s shroom, I think.

mike:
My, it doesn’t, um… I don’t see

mike_lavoy:
Mike,

mike:
anything

jacob_klatte:
Is it

mike:
going

jacob_klatte:
me?

mike:
up on my…

mike_lavoy:
Mike, can you just stop

jacob_klatte:
Who’s

mike_lavoy:
breathing

jacob_klatte:
breathing?

mike_lavoy:
for this recording?

jacob_klatte:
Is it? No, no. It’s just while Phil’s talking all I hear is.

mike_lavoy:
It might be me, I don’t know.

jacob_klatte:
And I don’t know if it’s me maybe, but I just, there’s

mike_lavoy:
I might be

jacob_klatte:
a,

mike_lavoy:
too close.

jacob_klatte:
there’s heavy breathing going on in the

mike_lavoy:
Hey,

jacob_klatte:
background.

mike:
It

jacob_klatte:
I’m

mike_lavoy:
so

mike:
would

jacob_klatte:
picking

mike_lavoy:
while

mike:
make

mike_lavoy:
we’re

jacob_klatte:
up

mike:
sense

jacob_klatte:
on it.

mike:
that it’d be me, but…

mike_lavoy:
at this point, do we want to start over? Or we feel like we just want

jacob_klatte:
Hahahaha

mike_lavoy:
to like

phil_k:
Next!

mike_lavoy:
cut all that out and pick up where we left off? I felt like you did good, Mike, on the intro, and then we just got derailed.

jacob_klatte:
Well, sure, I don’t think it hurts to restart things, especially this early in the actual thing. He totally steamrolled me. I was supposed to ask for these people’s bios, Mike, and you just… you just

mike:
I was

mike_lavoy:
It’s

mike:
giving

mike_lavoy:
going to

mike:
you…

mike_lavoy:
be

jacob_klatte:
took

mike_lavoy:
awkward

jacob_klatte:
control.

mike_lavoy:
with the four people. It’s awkward.

jacob_klatte:
Yeah.

mike_lavoy:
You just have to jump in. You have to push yourself into the conversation and just walk all over Mike.

jacob_klatte:
uh… you know far too polite for you catholic folks

mike_lavoy:
Ha ha.

jacob_klatte:
uh…

mike:
Maybe we should just start over. I mean, I don’t know.

phil_k:
Okay,

mike:
Because

phil_k:
yeah.

mike:
if it’s that with the breathing too.

jacob_klatte:
Well, I don’t know.


Well, half the reason I even signed up to do this is to find out if Phil was in fact a real

mike_lavoy:
Hehehehe

jacob_klatte:
person. So I guess that’s one mystery put to bed.

mike_lavoy:
Is this a teaser into your artificial intelligence episode you’re planning?

jacob_klatte:
Well, I wouldn’t call

mike:
It is

jacob_klatte:
Phil

mike:
now.

jacob_klatte:
intelligent.

mike:
I

mike_lavoy:
Ha

mike:
mean,

mike_lavoy:
ha ha

mike:
it is now, but I think there’s something to, I think there’s definitely room to explore just like the concept of mystery and where we can kind of see it show up in stories

jacob_klatte:
stories.

mike:
and comics and that sort of thing. So, yeah.

jacob_klatte:
Well tell us about yourselves there, Mike and Phil. Mike, you go first.

mike_lavoy:
All right, actually, I think I’m gonna have Phil go first. Then actually, we’ll just edit this part out. Jacob, I’ll have you redo that, just that one line, and introduce Phil first. He’s the founder, and just to kinda start it all.

jacob_klatte:
read through that one line.

mike_lavoy:
Yeah, just basically we’ll cut out that section where you took over and you’ll just say, well, speaking of that, you know, let’s start with these two guys. Phil introduce yourself. I mean

jacob_klatte:
Okay,

mike_lavoy:
those paraphrasing.

jacob_klatte:
sure, sure. Yeah, well, to get things going here, let’s start off with getting to know Phil and Mike first. Guys, you guys wanna give us a little bit of a bio?

phil_k:
Sure, I’ll start. So yeah, so I’m Phil Kosloski. I’m the founder of Voyage Comics. And really, being the founder of a comic book company was something I never really dreamed or imagined of doing. Even as a kid, I can’t really say that I had a very large comic book collection, maybe, I don’t know, five comics that I somewhat read. But then as I grew older, started to really get active in my Catholic faith, I wanted to, I don’t know, to kind of share it in a new and entertaining way. And a few years ago, it’s probably around 2018 or so, I had this idea of creating these Catholic comic books. And when I started, you know, again, like I said, I had absolutely no experience. You know, I wasn’t a script writer or anything. But then at the time I was, I did have a blog and I was kind of proposed this idea to kind of my audience at the time. And surprisingly, there was someone who who suggested to me a Catholic who was a veteran from Marvel Comics, Jim Fern, and he kind of really helped to kind of cement the idea like, hey, maybe I could do this. And then at the same time too, I knew I needed an artist and I was looking at this Catholic coloring book that was recently put out a few years ago and it’s by this Michael LaVoy and I’d never heard of him before, I’ll be honest. And um…

jacob_klatte:
What? You hadn’t heard of Mike Lavoy? Crazy.

mike:
That’s the ring of endorsement, you, yeah.

jacob_klatte: Oh man,

mike_lavoy: mild

jacob_klatte:
hiding

mike_lavoy:
mannered

jacob_klatte:
under a

mike_lavoy:
Mike

jacob_klatte:
rock

mike_lavoy:
LeVoy.

jacob_klatte:
over here.

mike:
Nothing

phil_k:
Yeah.

mike:
says entertainment, you know, literature in a world like, I’d never heard of him before.

phil_k:
Yeah, and, but I really was kind of struck by this, by his artwork and I knew some kind of common friends. And so I just kind of sent Mike an email saying, hey, do you want to do a comic book? And that was kind of it. Like I only had a vision for one comic book. And then, you know. That’s kind of how we got started.

mike_lavoy:
Yeah, I’ll just chime in here, Phil, if you don’t mind, but you and I, I think we’re really on a similar path in our spiritual journey at the same time. And like you said, we knew of each other. I think we’d seen each other at least once, maybe twice, through some mutual friends, but didn’t really know each other. And you were kind of seeking God’s will on how you could use your writing talent. to serve Him, and I was seeking God’s will in how I could use my artistic talent to serve Him. And I think, you know, Divine Providence brought us together and has continued to work in this company, you know, building it up to what it has become. And so hopefully when you said you’re struck by my artwork that was… a good thing. I didn’t give you like a heart attack or something because it was so bad. But that was right around the time where I had first started freelancing. I had completed that coloring book for a small Catholic publisher. And shortly after you gave me the phone call about this comic book idea and I was just thrilled and excited. I love comic book art. I’ve always kind of been more of an animation person growing up. That was kind of always the dream. But really attracted to comic book art. And certainly being able to work with Jim Fern, as you mentioned, and being guided by him as a young artist was kind of a dream come true. And again, definitely, you know, a godsend.

jacob_klatte:
How did

mike_lavoy:
So,

jacob_klatte:
that even happen?

mike_lavoy:
as you said,

jacob_klatte:
How did you guys run into this Marvel comic artist? You guys make it sound like they’re just walking down the street every day. It’s like, oh hey, I know you. How did that

phil_k:
Yeah,

jacob_klatte:
happen?

mike_lavoy:
Hehehe

phil_k:
well, kind of like I said, I had a blog, it wasn’t about comic books at all, it’s just about Catholic spirituality for several years. The funny thing with the internet is you never know who is on your email list. And so a person on the email list, who was kind of following my own writing, knew this Catholic artist, Jim Fern, who had worked for Marvel for like 30 years and introduced us to, you know, and really, like, from my point of view, it was very providential because, you know, like I said, I didn’t know anyone in the comic book industry, but meeting him and then there are also some other key connections that we’ve made over the years have really helped us to not only make you know, just to make comic books, but actually make good ones that people want to

mike:
This

phil_k:
pick

mike:
is

phil_k:
up.

mike:
a

jacob_klatte:
This is

mike:
Catholic

jacob_klatte:
a.

mike:
podcast though, Phil. So you’re supposed to say you were waiting in line for confession and

phil_k:
and I’ll see you next time. Bye.

mike:
he was right there

mike_lavoy:
Hehehe

mike:
behind you in line. And you’re like, hey, aren’t you,

jacob_klatte:
Hahaha

mike:
you know, like that’s like the, that’s the answer that we, we’re gonna try to mark it though a little.

phil_k:
Hehehehehehe

mike_lavoy:
I’m sorry.

jacob_klatte:
Yeah.

mike:
So you guys talked a little bit about kind of like the, I guess the practical sort of circumstances that led to your background to the start of voyage, but you were saying how it had to do with a re-engagement or just a deepening of each of your Catholic faiths. And so what was it specifically about your Catholic faith that led to stories or comics or artwork or visual arts, those sorts, like was there an idea? Or was there, like I said, a piece of the faith that really resonated with you that had to do with this, for lack of a better term, content creation, so to speak.

mike_lavoy:
Yeah, so I can tell you that for me, I was kind of looking around and just making this observation that I really wanted better Catholic entertainment available to my kids. You know, you look for Catholic entertainment, and there’s some out there, but generally speaking, it’s not very good. It’s low budget, it’s kind of cheesy. And I think my kids

mike:
Name

mike_lavoy:
deserve

mike:
names.

mike_lavoy:
better than that.

mike:
Name names.

mike_lavoy:
Yeah,

mike:
Names.

mike_lavoy:
no, we’re

jacob_klatte:
He’s

mike_lavoy:
gonna

jacob_klatte:
a gay

mike_lavoy:
keep,

jacob_klatte:
man.

mike:
Yeah.

mike_lavoy:
you’re gonna get us in trouble. So yeah, I really wanted to address that. And I’m sure Phil, you can talk a little bit about that as well. I’m sure you kind of had a similar feeling.

phil_k:
Yeah, you know, it’s, so at the time, kind of when I was starting to think about, you know, writing and kind of evangelizing through media, I had been working at the parish level, and, you know, just one thing I’ve always found that sometimes, you know, it’s good to teach kind of the, you know, the truths of the faith or to teach the catechism, but, often you can only do that kind of after someone’s like kind of encountered the faith in some way. And often, whether we realize it or not, we encounter it through stories. And just that the idea of presenting kind of Catholic truths in a narrative format just really kind of, it made sense to me. And it just also kind of made sense how in so many other areas of our life, you know, we encounter stories and we’re captivated by stories. And it really brings us in, or it has a lot of potential to, you know, either lead us towards God or away from God. And so I wanted to kind of focus on, well, let’s make stories that can, can lead us, lead us to God.

mike_lavoy:
Yeah,

mike:
And

mike_lavoy:
I think

mike:
yeah,

mike_lavoy:
we’re…

mike:
oh,

mike_lavoy:
Go ahead, Mike. No,

mike:
go

mike_lavoy:
you.

mike:
ahead,

mike_lavoy:
Ha

mike:
Mike.

mike_lavoy:
ha.

jacob_klatte:
No, Mike, you

mike:
So

jacob_klatte:
go, Mike.

mike:
it’s not a, so it’s not so much a, obviously not a replacement for the gospel, but it’s not an overt, just retelling of the gospel or the life of Jesus. It’s something that sort of like moves you along that path, whether it’s exciting the imagination or provoking thought, like you said, through entertainment or through stories and things like that. But sorry, Mike, go ahead and. what were you gonna follow up with?

mike_lavoy:
Yeah, I was just gonna say that I think we tend to be creatures that are the sum of all the little things we take in, and I think we unknowingly sometimes take in a lot of content that may seem harmless in itself, but when you aggregate it with all the other content you’re taking in, and it all really I think stems from a, you know, an atheist worldview. Again, even if something seems neutral, it’s not really leading us closer to God. And therefore, if it’s not leading us closer to God, we’re either stagnant or we’re moving backwards. And so, we wanted to provide, again, something that allowed Catholics to consume little bits here and there of enjoyment that builds them up towards God.

jacob_klatte:
I really love what you’re saying here because as a parent, one of the things that I realized a while back is that most of my communication with my kids is negative in the sense of like, no that’s bad, no that’s bad, no that’s bad, no that’s bad. It’s like, well what’s good, dad? you know, like, oh, you know, is that comic not good for my soul? Is that movie not good for my soul? OK, well, what is what is good for my soul then? You know, and there’s this reality where even if what I just said is kind of a caricature of what it’s like with my relationship with my kids, it’s not that far off, you know, whereas we live in this climate, this culture of what you were getting at, this kind of de facto atheistic. God isn’t here reality, you know, even the neutral stuff. Well, it doesn’t have God in it. It doesn’t have Jesus in it. And so we’ve we’ve already seeded the grounds in this modern era that neutrality means not getting closer to Jesus. Like, and that’s not neutral for Christians. That’s a net negative. And if we don’t create content that we can point to as parents. All we’re going to be able to do is tut tut all the things that our kids’ friends are into and it sets us up for failure.

mike:
Well, and it’s

mike_lavoy:
Yeah.

mike:
kind of the whole idea of, or the whole Catholic concept of grace building on nature. We sometimes only focus on the grace, but that assumes that there’s already a foundation of nature there. And so when it comes to, oh, we want to instill in them all the sense of grace when it comes to, obviously, prayer or the sacraments or the gospel or whatever. But that assumes there’s a level of nature on which to build upon. And If there isn’t that natural connection or that natural element, which is through, you know, relationships, but especially stories, because that’s how, whether it’s us as dads relating to our kids and, you know, watching things together or reading books together or talking about those things together, that’s that foundation of nature upon which we can then build, right? Or God can build with grace, you know, and whether it’s the grace of the sacraments, the grace of the gospel, talking about Jesus stuff, so to speak. It’s like that already presumes that we’ve already had those connections through, you know, whether it’s a movie we watched or a comic book we read or something like that.

jacob_klatte:
Well,

mike_lavoy:
Yeah.

jacob_klatte:
another thing that I like about it is this idea that when we venture into other cultures, right, historically speaking, when Christianity has spread throughout regions and things like that, oftentimes it would be engaging with the culture that’s there and mining from it what’s good, right? So there’s this kind of modern myth that Christianity just goes and bulldozes. other cultures that that that just goes in there and it just like you know, everything’s about hacking down the Like Odintree or whatever, you know, like all these different stories But there’s an awful lot of Christianity an awful lot of Christianity that is not just erasing people’s heritage It’s finding the gospel in it, right? And so, you know comic books they’re they’re an American Cultural product, you know, they’re one of those things that we developed in this country, so why not take that culture and use it for Christ?

mike_lavoy:
Yeah, I think we have to face the fact too that we have more time for leisure than any people in the history of the world. And we consume a lot of entertainment as a result. And so we’re being formed by the things we consume, whether we realize it or not.

phil_k:
Yeah, and I really do kind of believe in the concept as well of how beauty can attract and just the idea that, that God is beautiful and anything in the world that is participates in that beauty can lead us towards him. And so that’s why I just, I love the comic book format because it has, the potential of beautiful images, but then as well kind of a beautiful story that goes along with it and can then hopefully lead us to the truth and goodness of God.

mike:
Well, and to go kind of connect Jacob and Phil’s points together of like, you know, if the whole idea of evangelization, it’s not the colonization of taking away what made the culture what it was, whether it’s going to some, you know, far off place of the earth or re-engaging the culture as we see it now. And in doing it through beauty is it’s like you’re, you’re drawing out what, what was good or what was already there, drawing out, you know, whether it was the beautiful element or the true element to it. And then, again, it’s God’s way in a larger scale of being able to give that grace where there’s the fertile soil, so to speak, right? If we kind of paraphrase that parable that Jesus gives about, there has to be the seed that’s planted, there’s the soil, and then the watering and the time and the development. And comic books now, along with the sort of video or TV adaptations of comics, that’s the new mythology. It’s the mythology that the early Christians were experiencing, but now it’s just

jacob_klatte:
It’s amazing.

mike:
a new medium for the same kind

jacob_klatte:
same

mike:
of

jacob_klatte:
kind

mike:
mythical

jacob_klatte:
of mythical

mike:
structure

jacob_klatte:
structure

mike:
or similar

jacob_klatte:
or in

mike:
stories,

jacob_klatte:
similar

mike:
things

jacob_klatte:
ways.

mike:
like that.

mike_lavoy:
Hey, so that seems like a great segue for the next section, Seeds of the Word, and maybe we’re already in that conversation, but Mike, can you just tell

mike:
That was

mike_lavoy:
us a

mike:
my

mike_lavoy:
little

mike:
natural

mike_lavoy:
bit about what

mike:
transition.

mike_lavoy:
that phrase? Yeah, it was a good transition.

jacob_klatte:
It’s like he knew what he was doing.

mike:
Yeah.

mike_lavoy:
And I ruined it by making it so obvious. All

mike:
You guys,

mike_lavoy:
right.

mike:
yeah. That’s okay, we’ll cut it out anyway. If it’s just more of me on and on and on, that’s fine.

mike_lavoy:
All right, so Mike, why don’t you tell us a little bit about that phrase, Cesar word, where it comes from, what it means.

mike:
I should also say that in like 30 seconds, the second bell to tell everybody to go into class is going to ring, so maybe… There it is. Perfect.

mike_lavoy:
Alright

jacob_klatte:
Boom.

mike:
All

mike_lavoy:
Manny,

mike:
right.

mike_lavoy:
cut

mike:
Less than, not

mike_lavoy:
that

mike:
even

mike_lavoy:
out.

mike:
30 seconds. Yeah, so, I mean, that whole concept of the seeds of the word, I mean, that goes back to early Christianity, whether we’re talking St. Justin Martyr, St. Irenaeus of Lyon, some of these first Christian theologians who had to kind of engage with this largely pagan culture. I mean, fortunately, you know, Christians don’t have to deal with anything like that anymore. But dealing with this, like, anti-Christian or non-Christian where they have all of these different experiences, philosophies,

jacob_klatte:
philosophies,

mike:
stories,

jacob_klatte:
stories,

mike:
mythologies,

jacob_klatte:
mythologies.

mike:
and it’s up to these newly converted Christians, theologians to, like, Where is the good? Where is the true? Where is the beautiful in these things? And how can grace build upon this nature that’s already here? Because we, by our human nature, are going to find true things or discover true

jacob_klatte:
scourge.

mike:
things. We’re going to create beautiful things or sub-create beautiful things. We’re going to, on a natural level, do good things or recognize good things. But then, in recognizing that, Where is that grace that can build upon those? And that’s what this Seeds of the Word concept is. That’s what so much of Christian theology, as it’s developed over 2,000 years, has had to

jacob_klatte:
had

mike:
do,

jacob_klatte:
to do

mike:
is it’s had

jacob_klatte:
is

mike:
to

jacob_klatte:
it

mike:
look

jacob_klatte:
had to

mike:
out

jacob_klatte:
look

mike:
at the world around it, whether it’s the first

jacob_klatte:
the

mike:
century,

jacob_klatte:
first century,

mike:
the 10th

jacob_klatte:
the

mike:
century,

jacob_klatte:
tenth century,

mike:
or

jacob_klatte:
or

mike:
the

jacob_klatte:
the

mike:
21st

jacob_klatte:
21st

mike:
century,

jacob_klatte:
century,

mike:
and say,

jacob_klatte:
and say,

mike:
what is the

jacob_klatte:
what

mike:
true?

jacob_klatte:
is the truth,

mike:
What is the

jacob_klatte:
what

mike:
good?

jacob_klatte:
is the

mike:
What

jacob_klatte:
good

mike:
is the beautiful

jacob_klatte:
with

mike:
that’s

jacob_klatte:
you

mike:
here?

jacob_klatte:
that’s here,

mike:
And then,

jacob_klatte:
and then

mike:
how can

jacob_klatte:
how can

mike:
Christianity,

jacob_klatte:
Christianity,

mike:
or

jacob_klatte:
or how can

mike:
how can God

jacob_klatte:
God

mike:
reconcile?

jacob_klatte:
reconcile

mike:
these things

jacob_klatte:
these things

mike:
with the faith

jacob_klatte:
with the

mike:
that’s

jacob_klatte:
faith

mike:
been

jacob_klatte:
that’s

mike:
handed down.

jacob_klatte:
in the

mike:
Does

jacob_klatte:
devil?

mike:
that kind of,

jacob_klatte:
Is that

mike:
I mean,

jacob_klatte:
kind of,

mike:
I guess

jacob_klatte:
I mean,

mike:
as

jacob_klatte:
I guess

mike:
a sort

jacob_klatte:
that’s

mike:
of

jacob_klatte:
a

mike:
like

jacob_klatte:
sort of thinking.

mike:
brief overview, you know, that certainly relates to how what you guys are doing at Voyage and what we want to do with this podcast too.

mike_lavoy:
Yeah, I think that was, you know, Phil’s original aim with the voyage blog. If any of our listeners are readers of the blog is typically though, the, uh, the writers will take a story, um, either from a comic book or a movie. And it could even be like a section of a story, a small part of a story. And they will look for the, the true, the good and the beautiful and draw that out for the readers of the blog to, to ponder.

jacob_klatte:
Well, one of the things that I like to consider is this goes back even to St. Paul himself. So when he ventures into the Areopagus and he’s going to the place where the cultural, you know, Maloo… Meal-you? Meal-you? Of,

mike:
You’re

jacob_klatte:
uh,

mike:
doing great, you’re doing

jacob_klatte:
yeah,

mike:
great.

jacob_klatte:
right?

mike:
You’re doing great, sweetie.

jacob_klatte:
The cultural

mike_lavoy:
One

jacob_klatte:
Maloo…

mike_lavoy:
of those is bound to be correct.

jacob_klatte:
Yeah, right? was being shaped, right? Where you have these thinkers and cultural creators and content makers of their day hanging out in this public forum. It’s like the Twitter of its time, right? It’s like, it was a lot harder back then, kids. You actually had to go

mike_lavoy:
Yeah.

jacob_klatte:
on top of a mountain

mike:
I feel

jacob_klatte:
and just

mike:
like that’s

jacob_klatte:
sit in

mike:
the

jacob_klatte:
the…

mike:
premise

jacob_klatte:
Yes.

mike:
of like a cheesy SNL skit.

phil_k:
Hehehehehehe

mike_lavoy:
Heheheheheheh

mike:
Or whatever the like, you know, maybe EWTN does a, oh sorry I shouldn’t

jacob_klatte:
Oh,

mike:
drop. Maybe

jacob_klatte:
wait,

mike:
they have an SNL, maybe they have a version of SNL that they do.

jacob_klatte:
wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don’t give that to EWTN.

mike_lavoy:
Maybe Voyage

jacob_klatte:
That’s

mike_lavoy:
needs to start

jacob_klatte:
that’s

mike_lavoy:
sketch

jacob_klatte:
Voyage’s

mike_lavoy:
comedy.

jacob_klatte:
next sketch comedy. Next on the block for Voyage. It starts here, eventually.

mike:
I feel like the devotees would come after me though,

phil_k:
Thanks for watching!

mike:
so we gotta take

mike_lavoy:
Hehehe

mike:
that part out.

jacob_klatte:
Dude, 20 year plan. We have like a Voyage Comics plus app, you know,

mike:
BLEH

jacob_klatte:
and it’s on Roku

mike_lavoy:
Hehehehe

jacob_klatte:
and we’ve got all the content we’ve made. all the TV shows that we’ve produced.

mike:
The

jacob_klatte:
I mean,

mike:
fact

jacob_klatte:
it’s gonna

mike:
that

jacob_klatte:
happen.

mike:
you think

jacob_klatte:
Do

mike:
Roku

jacob_klatte:
you think

mike:
will be

jacob_klatte:
we’ll

mike:
relevant

jacob_klatte:
do it better?

mike:
shows

jacob_klatte:
Ha ha ha

mike:
that it’s

mike_lavoy:
Yeah,

mike:
not

jacob_klatte:
ha

mike:
going to happen.

mike_lavoy:
in 20

jacob_klatte:
ha.

mike_lavoy:
years.

phil_k:
Mm-hmm.

jacob_klatte:
um yeah maybe uh but uh oh yeah areopagus thanks mike i was i was

mike_lavoy:
Hehehe

jacob_klatte:
going somewhere with all that um no but like so he goes and he’s like he’s he’s quoting uh greek literature back to these kind of philosophers and thinkers and dare i say influencers eh ancient greek

mike_lavoy:
Getting

jacob_klatte:
influencers

mike_lavoy:
back to the…

jacob_klatte:
yeah um and he’s he’s and he’s saying here’s Jesus in your culture or here are the things pointing to Jesus in your culture so this is this is not even something that’s not in the bible itself right

mike_lavoy:
All right, so we have done this, as we mentioned, with the blog. We’re doing it with the comic books. Let’s talk a little bit about the podcast and why we’re branching out and trying to do a podcast. Let’s first start with Mike Schramm and Jacob Cletty. We wanna learn a little bit about you guys. We already learned about Phil and I. So Mike, why don’t we start with you? Tell us a little bit about yourself.

mike:
Yeah, so and I it’s always I sometimes do this too where if I’m talking and I’m going to refer to Mike Lavoy I’m like do I say Mike do I say Lavoy do I say Mike Lavoy, but anyway so I have been working in Education working in Catholic education pretty much since I graduated it from my undergrad I got a degree in elementary education started working actually in the parish setting doing a lot of adults faith formation, young adult faith formation, anything that had to do with education and preparation in the parish. I was doing a lot of that sort of stuff. And so I did that for seven years, went back to school, got my master’s in theology, and then I started looking at opportunities to teach at the higher level, whether it was high school theology, college level theology. And so that’s what I’ve been doing. This is my fourth year doing that. teaching at the local Catholic high school in our town, and then at the local Catholic university. I just do one class every semester. But I’ve been teaching theology pretty much ever since I graduated from college. And talking further about that, I mean, grew up cradle Catholic, went to Catholic school till seventh grade, did all the kind of classic cradle Catholic sorts of things. It wasn’t until I went to college, non-Catholic evangelical school where it wasn’t even anything where it’s like, oh, I left the church for a little bit or started practicing something else. I was never even tempted so much to practice another version of Christianity. It was just really a re-engagement with mere Christianity and how I was able to see that fulfilled from so much of my Catholic upbringing that I had already experienced. And so that’s what kind of led to a deeper, you know, reversion or deeper conversion into the faith, which then, like I said, led to wanting to kind of be in that world more, learning about and teaching Catholic theology.

mike_lavoy:
Awesome, Jacob, let’s hear your side.

jacob_klatte:
I’m just a really geeky nerdy guy and I like to drink beer and these guys

mike_lavoy:
Yeah.

jacob_klatte:
found me in a bar and they’re like, hey, you want to do a podcast? And I was

mike:
You

jacob_klatte:
like,

mike:
approached me,

jacob_klatte:
sure.

mike:
you know, you

jacob_klatte:
Well,

mike:
approached

jacob_klatte:
I

mike:
me.

mike_lavoy:
I’m sorry.

jacob_klatte:
don’t know. Sounds like we’re getting some revisionist history here, Mike. You can still be drunk

mike_lavoy:
Hehehe

jacob_klatte:
in this story.

mike:
You can still be drunk in this story, but you approached me, I think.

mike_lavoy:
Hehehehe

jacob_klatte:
I don’t know, that’s not how I remember it, but we can fight about it.

mike:
Shocking.

jacob_klatte:
Yeah, right? Go figure. No, anyway, let’s see here. I’m a graphic designer by trade and everything I said was largely true, despite what Mike

mike_lavoy:
Yeah.

jacob_klatte:
says. But I’m a graphic designer by trade. I work in the agriculture industry, actually. So I have zero backgrounds. in anything related to producing entertainment, which is why this show is so boring. No, I’m just

mike_lavoy:
Yeah.

jacob_klatte:
no, but let’s see, I came from an evangelical background growing up, you know, I actually have been through pretty much every form of Christianity there is at this point, where I was Lutheran when I was very young. And then I had a kind of come to Jesus evangelical thing. And then I kind of fell away in my twenties. And during that period of time, I did a lot of kind of kind of seeking and searching and things like that and found my way back to Jesus. Now, I ended up entering the Eastern Orthodox Church. So

mike_lavoy:
One of these

jacob_klatte:
spoiler

mike_lavoy:
things just

jacob_klatte:
alert.

mike_lavoy:
doesn’t belong here.

phil_k:
Mm-hmm.

mike:
For now.

jacob_klatte:
It’s what? Yeah.

mike:
For now.

jacob_klatte:
Spoiler alert. I’m not a

mike_lavoy:
So,

jacob_klatte:
heathen like the rest of you.

phil_k:
You

jacob_klatte:
I’m

mike_lavoy:
well

jacob_klatte:
actually…

mike_lavoy:
this is the problem with Noah Jacob is having you as the Orthodox and Mike as the Catholic, that’s kind of our schtick, but what are we gonna do when you can convert to Catholicism?

phil_k:
Thanks for

jacob_klatte:
then

phil_k:
watching!

mike_lavoy:
We gotta,

jacob_klatte:
you guys

mike_lavoy:
we’re

jacob_klatte:
just

mike_lavoy:
gonna start

jacob_klatte:
keep

mike_lavoy:
making

jacob_klatte:
hoping.

mike_lavoy:
like a second string, third string list of Orthodox guys to take your

jacob_klatte:
Bring

mike_lavoy:
place.

jacob_klatte:
in some replacement orthodox.

mike:
Yeah, right. We’ve tried finding another Orthodox guy willing to talk to me and

mike_lavoy:
Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe

jacob_klatte:
Mike is very off-putting, alright folks? No, very awkward in real life, let me tell you. No, but I ended up… here’s the thing is, you know, back when I was evangelical, I totally thought the Catholic Church was like the Whore of Babylon, right? Like, I was very anti-Catholic, and I think there’s something providential with me falling away from where I was. but then having a new found respect for historic Christianity and its development and whatnot. And so I am clearly way friendlier towards the Catholic Church now than I ever was when I was like kind of pre-20, let’s say. But yeah, entered the Orthodox Church. That was about five or six years ago now. And we ended up again meeting at a bar, Mike and I did. He says he met me at my church once too for one of our Greek festivals. Uh,

mike:
I mean,

jacob_klatte:
you can correct all this for the record later, I guess.

mike:
our kids were there.

jacob_klatte:
Yeah. Yeah. I remember the bars. Um, but, uh, and we were just hanging out. We were hanging out. Uh, we became friends. We, he was doing a, basically a Bible study, um, at the bar and I was there with some coworkers and like, you know, looking over my shoulder at all those cool kids at the cool kids table, you know, talking about Jesus stuff and being super jealous of it. And as I

mike:
I

jacob_klatte:
was

mike:
don’t

jacob_klatte:
walking

mike:
know if we’re

jacob_klatte:
out

mike:
gonna

jacob_klatte:
the door.

mike:
name drop on here, but it was technically pints with a quinus. It was a pints with a quinus group. It wasn’t just a bible study.

jacob_klatte:
I wasn’t sure if I should name

mike_lavoy:
If it

jacob_klatte:
drop

mike_lavoy:
helps

jacob_klatte:
or

mike_lavoy:
us

jacob_klatte:
not.

mike_lavoy:
get more listeners, yeah, we’re going to name

mike:
Yeah,

mike_lavoy:
drop.

mike:
well you know how some people will say like, oh, our show brought these two together and they got married. Well, you know, Matt Fradd brought us

jacob_klatte:
Mike

mike:
together

mike_lavoy:
I’m

mike:
and led

jacob_klatte:
let’s

mike:
to

jacob_klatte:
slow down

mike:
this

jacob_klatte:
a little

mike:
wonderful

jacob_klatte:
bit Mike No,

mike:
baby. So.

phil_k:
Thanks for watching!

jacob_klatte:
huh? Wow weird weird metaphors

mike_lavoy:
It’s getting

jacob_klatte:
going

mike_lavoy:
awkward.

jacob_klatte:
on over there. Yeah, I told you he was awkward folks but No, so we ended up but I was like hey, you know, here’s my information contact me next time you guys are doing this and that’s led into a multi-year kind of relationship where once a month we would and a group of people would go meet and You know just hang out like young Christian men at a bar having a good time. We’re not Ned Flanders, you know, we.

mike:
You gotta include though, the real turning point in our friendship, Jacob, was when we both drove an hour to go see Peter Crave give a talk about

jacob_klatte:
True.

mike:
the virtue of prudence.

jacob_klatte:
Mm-hmm.

mike:
And it was that where, that’s when we were like, okay, this is gonna be a lasting friendship. Because nobody else wanted to go with me.

jacob_klatte:
Yeah, I know. I was

mike:
Believe

jacob_klatte:
his

mike:
it or

jacob_klatte:
bottom

mike:
not.

jacob_klatte:
of the barrel, you know.

mike_lavoy:
Hahaha

jacob_klatte:
Leave it to the orthodox. The orthodox guy actually accepted the invitation. I mean

mike:
Oh,

jacob_klatte:
like,

mike:
I know. We’re always shamed

jacob_klatte:
wow.

mike:
amongst the Gentiles. We’re

phil_k:
Thanks

mike:
always

phil_k:
for

mike:
shamed.

phil_k:
watching!

mike_lavoy:
Yeah.

jacob_klatte:
So anyway, that’s how, you know, and then eventually Mike Lavoy ended up coming to those groups. And that’s kind of how I ended up here.

mike_lavoy:
Yeah, so like Jacob said, I went to the groups and I really enjoyed the conversational setting and the topics that would come up and I thought we just need to capture this in a podcast.

mike:
monetize it i think is what you

jacob_klatte:
Yeah, that’s what you meant to say, right? We need to make money off this somehow. How can we make money off this?

mike_lavoy:
That’s right.

jacob_klatte:
You know, when they were coming out with Voyage Podcast, they were really thinking Conquistadors, right? Like that’s

mike:
Yeah.

jacob_klatte:
the… they’re looking for the gold in the hills.

mike_lavoy:
Ha

jacob_klatte:
That’s…

mike_lavoy:
ha ha.

mike:
You forgot to include that on the logo. You didn’t do that

jacob_klatte:
Yeah.

mike:
in the, yeah.

mike_lavoy:
Yeah. Right.

jacob_klatte:
Anyway, you know, I’m honestly just

mike_lavoy:
Alright

jacob_klatte:
going to

mike_lavoy:
so-

jacob_klatte:
sit here and, you know, trash talk the whole…

mike:
I was gonna say, bite the hand that feeds me, how about? It’s like,

mike_lavoy:
Yeah.

jacob_klatte:
Are you sure you want me

mike:
let’s,

jacob_klatte:
to be on

mike_lavoy:
Luckily,

jacob_klatte:
your

mike_lavoy:
we

jacob_klatte:
own?

mike_lavoy:
don’t pay you guys anything.

mike:
yeah. Oh, and it’s like, it’s not like this is the first time I’ve ever spoken to, you know, the founder of Voyage in person, but you know, whatever.

phil_k:
I’m

mike:
It’s

phil_k:
gonna

mike:
like,

phil_k:
go.

jacob_klatte:
Mm-hmm.

mike:
we’ll just keep going down that track too. I’ll just keep like, dragging the name through the mud the whole time.

jacob_klatte:
This is gonna

mike_lavoy:
All right,

jacob_klatte:
be great.

mike_lavoy:
so for

mike:
Yeah.

mike_lavoy:
you two, so this is kind of your baby. We’re gonna hand it off to you. What is it that you want to accomplish in this podcast? What are the things you want to bring? Why another podcast?

mike:
Well, you guys both kind of mentioned in just the founding of Voyage Comics is the whole idea of finding the true, finding the good, finding the beautiful. And doing that through the specific medium of comic books or really kind of literature, if this kind of falls under that umbrella of literature. And podcasting is just another medium where that same sort of thing. can happen, but now it’s through not necessarily the beauty of the visual arts, but beauty of a conversation, right? Which is, like you said, Mike, that’s what inspired you to want this is you were recognizing not that you would have necessarily used that term, but it was like, there was a there was a truth, there was a goodness, and there was a beauty to the conversations that we were able to have. And so how can we, you know, bring that same thing out when talking about the goodness of the faith, the truth of the faith, and the beauty of the faith found in the different avenues, the different mediums, like mythological stories or mythological characters or comic book characters, comic book stories, movie characters, TV shows, whatever. And so

jacob_klatte:
So

mike:
it’s that

jacob_klatte:
it’s

mike:
same

jacob_klatte:
that

mike:
kind

jacob_klatte:
same

mike:
of,

jacob_klatte:
kind of

mike:
you know,

jacob_klatte:
feeling.

mike:
I guess that’s

jacob_klatte:
I guess

mike:
the

jacob_klatte:
that’s

mike:
why

jacob_klatte:
the

mike:
another

jacob_klatte:
point.

mike:
one. You know what I mean?

mike_lavoy:
Yeah, no, I think it’s important that you brought up the difference between the different types of media. You know, there’s certain things that you can do in comic books that you can’t do with traditional literature, that you can’t do in film or other mediums. But at the same time, there’s things you can do in a podcast that you can’t do in comic books. So we have this whole different avenue to, again, spread truth and goodness and beauty. And you guys, you know. We’ll

phil_k:
Thanks for watching!

mike_lavoy:
maybe be able to do that. I’m not sure you might, you might feel

jacob_klatte:
Ha ha ha!

mike_lavoy:
horribly time will tell,

jacob_klatte:
Yeah, well time

mike_lavoy:
but that’s

jacob_klatte:
will

mike_lavoy:
the

jacob_klatte:
tell.

mike_lavoy:
goal, right?

jacob_klatte:
You know. Fair enough, man. Fair enough. You know, I never asked for this, Mike. No.

mike_lavoy:
I’m sorry.

jacob_klatte:
He says that I approached him. But no, I never thought that I would

mike_lavoy:
You

jacob_klatte:
end

mike_lavoy:
did

jacob_klatte:
up doing

mike_lavoy:
this to

jacob_klatte:
a pop.

mike_lavoy:
me!

jacob_klatte:
Yeah.

mike:
Yeah.

jacob_klatte:
And it really kind of came out of… left field as far as like my life plans go, right? I enjoy a good podcast as much as the next guy, but having the opportunity, having the, you know, kind of privilege really to come onto a program like this and try to bring the reality of Christ into the everyday, you know, by talking about the stories that we tell each other and how they shape the culture around us. There needs to be a lot more of this. And I think the big theme… I think the big theme for everything regarding… Are you guys hearing that? Alright, yeah. Sorry. The big thing that is going to be my relationship with Voyage Comics is creating content that provides Christians somewhere to live. Culturally speaking, we need more than just us doing this, but you gotta start somewhere. And this company is an organization that can lay some groundwork. And I’m pretty excited for the possibility of creating a counter example and actually creating our own space for faithful Christians to enjoy this world. Because at the end of the day, a lot of this content is about enjoyment, but not have to trade off anything in order to experience joy through entertainment, but for the glory of God.

mike:
Well, and there’s a reason why it feels like every organization or every, you know, public figure is doing some sort of podcast. And most of them, I know a lot of them are just one person, one talking head in front of a mic, but so many of them are built off of the concept of a conversation, not only because it’s so desperately needed, right? Even where, yeah, technically, you know, if I’m listening to a conversation, I feel like I’m there, but I’m not actually there. But it’s like, we want that because we recognize. how true, how good, and how beautiful that is. And so it’s like, who wouldn’t want to play a role in creating something? I mean, I know it sounds strange, but like, who wouldn’t want to have a role in creating a beautiful conversation? Think of how life-giving that is. After you just finish having a very, you know, whether it’s a deep conversation with a friend, or just an uplifting, encouraging one, it’s like, you felt like you’ve created something true, good, and beautiful. And so getting that opportunity to, you know. talk with a good friend or good friends, and about things that we both care about, ultimately about Christ, but through the different avenues of artwork, whether it’s stories or visual mediums or whatever, who wouldn’t want to participate in this?

jacob_klatte:
Mm-hmm. I know I do.

mike_lavoy:
Yeah, that’s great. We’re blessed to give you guys this avenue to do that. And why don’t you tell us a little bit about some of the ideas you have planned. Like what are some of the topics you’re going to talk about and what do you hope to…

mike:
I gotta get my outline up quick. It’ll take a while.

jacob_klatte:
Oh.

mike:
Yeah.

jacob_klatte:
Ha ha ha.

mike_lavoy:
Hehehehe

mike:
Yeah.

jacob_klatte:
Oh, Mike’s got plans. He’s got many,

mike:
Yeah.

jacob_klatte:
many plans.

mike:
Yeah, I mean, just you mean like in terms of topics and that sort of thing? Is that?

mike_lavoy:
Yeah, like not only topics, but how are you gonna, what are you gonna add to a topic that hasn’t already been, that hasn’t already been said? So

mike:
Well…

mike_lavoy:
yeah, start with the topics. Give us some ideas of some of the things you’re gonna talk about.

mike:
I mean, the first couple that we’ve, I think we were just both kind of excited about and wanted to talk about right away had to do with just sort of like the kind of the meta narrative or the monomyth or the just what do what are the characteristics that all stories have, which I think is a really good kind of foundational episode or foundational topic because it’s something that we can keep revisiting every time we talk about, you know, this this story or this character or this event that we seem to a trend almost that we seem to happen. we seem to see happen in all these different movies or all these different TV shows, we can point back to this big sort of, you know, what Joseph Campbell calls the hero’s journey or what so many people have come across as the hero’s journey. So that’s kind of our first like two-parter that we wanna talk about. Because there are always so many ethical implications in the different stories that we tell and the things that we watch, we have another one that talks about the classic trolley problem, but through I think a little bit of a unique lens. in terms of, well, how are we approaching it that’s a little bit different, but that’s the only thing I’ll give as a teaser. I’m not going to go into any more than that.

mike_lavoy:
Yeah, and again, you’ll be looking at stories too to tie into that, which is appropriate because we’re a story company. That’s our mission is to find the good and the beautiful through stories,

mike:
Well yeah, and

mike_lavoy:
to

mike:
all

mike_lavoy:
change

mike:
of

mike_lavoy:
people’s

mike:
these

mike_lavoy:
lives.

mike:
are gonna be in the context of, well this is where we’ve seen this scenario play out, or this is where we see this trope, or this is where we see this concept. Again, whether it’s looking at one story very closely, or just saying, wow, we see this across the board in the five most popular movies of the last 10 years or something like that. So those sorts of things.

mike_lavoy:
Awesome. Well, I think we’re just about out of time, Mike. So let’s go ahead. Is there anything else you wanted to add or fill?

phil_k:
I’m looking forward to the podcast. Yeah, I’m just gonna sit back and relax and listen.

mike_lavoy:
Yeah, nobody believes you exist, Phil, so I wanted to make sure you got a word in there.

phil_k:
Yep.

jacob_klatte:
I’ll vouch for you, Phil.

phil_k:
That’s good

jacob_klatte:
I’m excited to get this thing going. I’m excited for just to talk about things that I love and enjoy and find out how they can be a path towards learning more about Jesus. At the end of the day, there’s not some kind of division out there. there’s only what’s true, there’s only the reality that God has made around us and that includes this kind of like good forces and bad forces playing out in the background. And you’re going to see that battle in all kinds of different mediums and stories that weren’t inherently designed to be Christian, but they still reflect truth. And insofar as they reflect that truth, they’re going to, you’re going to find Christ there. So let’s, let’s pull all that out so that people can start to see Christ everywhere they look.

mike:
I mean, yeah, he wasn’t just the Son of God, he was the Son of Man. And so anything that’s truly human is going to kind of tie us to that divine element that Jesus unites. And so yeah, the deeper we can investigate the human elements of stories, human elements of art, we’re going to be pulled closer into the divine element too. Did it feel like I just had to get the last word in?

jacob_klatte:
Always, no.

mike_lavoy:
You already have the last word scripted, Mike. You didn’t even

mike:
Yeah,

mike_lavoy:
need to do that.

mike:
that didn’t feel authentic enough though, so yeah.

jacob_klatte:
Hahaha

mike:
So since this is, I mean, this is kind of a, obviously this unnatural break we’re not gonna include, but then do you want me to just kind of go right into the thanks to all those who joined us? Is that sort of like the

mike_lavoy:
Yeah,

mike:
next?

mike_lavoy:
I think if we said everything we wanna say, I think we can go ahead and do that.

mike:
Just, I know that you’re not gonna know exactly, but like a rough estimate in terms of time, because if we still wanted to make this about 40 minutes per episode, you know, once we cut all the things out that we already knew are gonna get cut out, are we looking at about 40 minutes? Because that’s what,

mike_lavoy:
Yeah,

mike:
you know, when

mike_lavoy:
we started

mike:
Jake and

mike_lavoy:
about

mike:
I have

mike_lavoy:
five

mike:
our…

mike_lavoy:
minutes into this.

mike:
Yeah, and like

jacob_klatte:
Mm-hmm.

mike:
Jacob, when Jake and I talk, we’ll have like, we usually go about 90 minutes, but we always do that with the sense of, okay, when after everything’s cut out and it’s cut in half, it’s really gonna be about 40 to 45 minutes per episode.

mike_lavoy:
Yeah, no, I

mike:
you

mike_lavoy:
think

mike:
know

mike_lavoy:
we’re in good shape.

mike:
alright let me just pull this over so i can see the whole thing All right. Thanks to all those who joined us this hour. We hope it was fun and beneficial for you. Please subscribe

mike_lavoy:
Stop,

mike:
to the Voyage Podcast.

mike_lavoy:
stop, stop.

mike:
Is that too canned?

mike_lavoy:
Mike, you’re reading it.

mike:
Yeah. Okay. So…

mike_lavoy:
No pressure.

mike:
yeah, yeah, yeah.

jacob_klatte:
Do it better.

phil_k:
Hahaha

mike_lavoy:
Do it better.

jacob_klatte:
Do it better, Mike.

mike:
Now this will feel thanks all those who joined us this hour. Oh, you just ruined it Thanks to all

jacob_klatte:
All

mike:
those

jacob_klatte:
right.

mike:
who joined us this hour No, it’s good if you have the laughing in the background, right? It feels

jacob_klatte:
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

mike:
more authentic.

mike_lavoy:
Yeah,

mike:
Thanks

mike_lavoy:
right.

mike:
Oh, that’s see now we can are we all gonna like shit on Jacob for

jacob_klatte:
Yeah,

mike:
that

jacob_klatte:
just

phil_k:
Thanks

mike:
cuz

phil_k:
for

jacob_klatte:
start,

mike:
okay.

phil_k:
watching!

jacob_klatte:
no. Let’s all

mike:
Thanks

jacob_klatte:
just start with a group laugh. Ah ha ha ha ha

phil_k:
Ha

jacob_klatte:
ha

phil_k:
ha ha!

jacob_klatte:
ha.

mike:
Thanks to all those who joined us this hour we hope it was fun and beneficial for you Please subscribe to the Voyage Podcast so you don’t miss our upcoming episodes. We hope you’ll join us on our next episode as we begin our discussion on the hero’s journey. and cut.

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