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left_flag Tuesday, May 3
Tuesday, May 3, 2022
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Our host today is Dr. Merrill (Buddy) Matthews. He will first welcomes Jessica Sharpe & Andy McGuire by phone and Michael Nathanson in-studio. They’ll be talking about publishing for the Christian Author. Buddy’s guests in the final hour are Billy & Jodie Ballenger. Through time in prison, and time leaning into Christ’s redemption, they share their testimonies in word and in music.

Please call or contact us with your perspective, call 800-351-1212 or you can post a comment or question on Facebook at facebook.com/pointofviewradio.

Merrill_Matthews
Dr. Merrill Matthews
Resident Scholar - Institute for Policy Innovation
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Merrill Matthews, Ph.D., is a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation, a research-based, public policy “think tank.” He is a health policy expert and weekly contributor at Forbes.com. He also serves as Vice Chairman of the Texas Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Dr. Matthews is a past president of the Health Economics Roundtable forRead More

Guests
Michael Nathanson
Michael Nathanson
Husband | Marriage Minister | Novelist - Curse of the Eagle
Michael E. Nathanson is a novelist who has written two geopolitical suspense thriller novels that have an evangelical message woven into the stories. The first was Cries of the Eagle. The second has just been released, and is titled Curse of the Eagle. They are both available on Amazon. He resides in the great state of Texas, with his wife, Jan.
Jessica Sharpe Show Page
Jessica Sharpe
Fiction Acquisitions Editor - Bethany House Publishers
Jessica Sharpe is a fiction acquisitions editor at Bethany House Publishers, a division of Baker Publishing Group. She has been editing fiction for over fifteen years and has worked with several best-selling and award-winning authors. Life has taken her from the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains to Asia to New York City, but she’s currently based in the Twin Cities.
Andy McGuire Show Page
Andy McGuire
Editorial Director - Bethany House
Andy McGuire is editorial director of Bethany House, where he has worked for thirteen years. Previously he acquired for Moody Publishers and before that he edited economics textbooks for an academic publisher. Andy has a B.A. in Creative Writing from Miami University and an M.A. in Literature from Ohio University.

Andy also writes and illustrates children’s books in his spare time and has been either the author or illustrator of twelve books ranging from read-alouds to middle grade fiction. He and his wife have three kids and live in Burnsville, MN.
Billy Ballenger Show Page
Billy Ballenger
Speaker | Musician - Break the Grey Inc
Billy Ballenger’s powerful life story of finding redemption in prison has riveted audiences across the globe. Following a difficult childhood, which included being bullied, Ballenger married and became a father at the age of 18 as he pursued a lifestyle of partying, substance abuse, violence and burglary. After a SWAT team invaded their home, Ballenger and his wife, Jodie, were both sentenced to six years in prison and lost custody oftheir daughter. Shortly before he went to prison, Billy began attending church where he re-committed his life to Christ. While incarcerated, Ballenger studied the Word and grew in his faith, and two years later, he and Jodie were released and reunited with their daughter.

Today, his journey fuels his passion for sharing the Hope of Christ with audiences around the world, including Russia and China. Ballenger’s Break the Grey Inc. has produced assemblies at hundreds of schools, and he’s shared his testimony and music with more than 500,000 listeners at festivals, churches, camps and other venues. In 2020, Ballenger joined the Winter Jam Tour Spectacular lineup—Christian music’s largest annual tour—performing in 31 arenas around the country. He has released three EPs: Skin Deep in 2012; Walking On Waves in 2020; and this year’s Tree And The Nails.
Jodie Ballenger Show Page
Jodie Ballenger
Speaker | Author
Jodie Ballenger’s powerful life story intersects with husband Billy’s when they met as teens at a juvenile residential facility in Indiana, where they both sang in the choir. In the years prior, however, Jodie’s story is radically different as she was raised in abuse and neglect by her mother, who had been a prostitute, and a father who chose his new wife over her. Suffering mental, physical and sexual abuse, and abandonment and neglect, she knew at a young age she would need to learn to survive on her own. She began taking pills, smoking pot, and partying at the age of 9. She ran on the streets. When she met Billy, their paths became joined, eventually finding redemption before being sentenced to 6 years in prison. She and Billy grew in their faith while incarcerated, and after two years, were miraculously released and reunited with their daughter. They haven’t looked back, and have both together and individually, shared their stories with audiences around the world. Jodie documented her story in the 2020 book, Beautifully Unbroken – TheProstitute’s Daughter.
Beautifully Unbroken: The Prostitute's Daughter
FAITH, REDEMPTION, AND A LOVE STORY“Suddenly, the back door was thrown off its hinges as the SWAT team swarmed our house in a chaotic frenzy, rifles drawn. I sat in the front room with my baby, as I looked down the hallway at Billy already on the floor, and knew they were coming for me.”What do you expect from life? A warm bed and food to eat? A safe space free from harm? For Jodie Ballenger, those expectations were never a given. Raised in abuse and neglect by her mother, who had been a prostitute, and a father who chose his new wife over her, Jodie learned quickly that her body was a vessel for others to use. Suffering mental, physical, and sexual abuse; abandonment; and neglect; she knew at a young age that she would need to learn to survive on her own.Jodie grew tough as nails, learning to fight with her fists and mouth. She started taking pills, smoking pot, and partying hard at the tender age of nine. She spent her young life running the streets – she moved along like a feather in the wind, with no anchor, while her mom looked the other way. When she met Billy in reform school, he was another boy in a string of boys she’d turned to for sex and comfort. But what she didn’t know was how he would change her life. SWAT raid, pregnancies, running from the law, drive-by shootings, the death of her first true love, and a prison sentence... Could she find her way out and find happiness and most of all freedom?Join Jodie through her thrilling and heartbreaking story of agony and redemption and where a road that seems hopeless can lead to all you ever need.Meet the people along the way that gave them a hand up. And finally, rejoice with them when they arrived at their destinies founding the organization, Break the Grey, inspiring over 330,000 students across the United States and Canada to live and not die, helping them discover their personal value and worth.Who will this book help?This book will help people of all ages who deal with addiction (Jodie started smoking pot and popping pills at 9 years old and meth by 14). This book is for friends and loved ones of those dealing with addiction, those who believe they can’t change their lives because of the horrific circumstances they may be trapped in. Issues like criminal families, substance abuse addictions, prostitution, gangs, violence, jail and prison, sexual and domestic abuse, sex trafficking, depression, suicidal thoughts, poverty and shame.This book will show the light in a very dark tunnel, give a solution to escape to the other side of that tunnel and find your destinies. It will change lives forever, inspiring them to find hope, change, and restoration.This book may save your life or the lives of people you love and others. It’s the lifeline you and your loved ones are looking for.Includes: A Quick Start Guide to Help You Heal

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