Nice To Meet You | The Stories That Shape Us

You lead everybody — and nobody really knows you. If you're the strong one everyone leans on, here's the loneliness nobody warns leaders about — and the One who knew your name before you ever led a single person. In this talk I tell you about the last day of my first year teaching high school — the song I wrote for every class, the empty room after the last bell, and what I found sitting on my desk in the corner. Then I'll show you the loneliest leader in the whole Bible, and the quiet...

Cinematographer Emma Quirós grew up in Barcelona, studied healthcare, then moved to Los Angeles alone in 2022 to chase the filmmaking dream she'd had since she was ten. Rob Pene talks with her about studying cinematography at UCLA, working in the camera department on big commercial sets, and writing, directing and shooting her own short film. She also shares the three-question rule a teacher gave her for deciding which sets are worth your time. In This Episode How a childhood hobby in B...

Are you a Christian leader who feels exhausted even when the work isn't that hard? That's not burnout. That's the performance trap — and it's silently killing leaders from the inside out. In this video I break down what the performance trap actually is, why false identity forms in ministry, and how leaders like Moses, Paul, and Peter all had to be stripped of it before God could actually use them. If you're a pastor, ministry leader, Christian business owner, or parent leading f...

What if the vision for youth ministry you're chasing is actually too complicated? In this video, I break down the 5 pillars every youth pastor needs to disciple teens well — and 3 of them are already happening if you're doing ministry right. I share the exact framework I use with my own kids and any youth group I'm asked to speak into. You'll learn the non-negotiable foundation, the practical apprenticeship piece most pastors skip, and how to push your teens past the four walls of the church...

How do you find your calling without quitting your job? You don't leave the field — you let it train you. The work that pays you isn't the detour. It's the training ground. In this video I show you how to find your calling without walking away from the job that pays your bills. You'll learn why so many people feel stuck at work while the gift they were made for sits quiet inside them — and why your 9-to-5 might be your season of preparation, not your delay. If you feel stuck at wo...