In this limited series, Pay Love Back: Cops, Robbers, andRappers, we focus on the interconnected story of leadership, mentorship, and redemption surrounding a young man and ex-gang member named Koa Hutchinson.Three men, Officer Brett Hilde, Coal Hill, also known as KillaC, and myself, have each invested in Koa in very different ways.  Part Two is with Coul Hill, aka Killa C, a juggalo and shock horror rapper who gained national notoriety after the Insane ClownPosse was officially declared a gang by the FBI.  The Rolling Stone ran a piece on this declaration, and Coul’s picture was featured on the cover, leading me to hum the song “The Cover of the Rolling Stone,” every time I see him.  Both his career in the music industry, and his involvement in organized crime, led Coul down a dark path towards an inevitable outcome, either death or incarceration.  Instead, Coul found Jesus.  His conversion to a life of faith is nothing short of astounding, demonstrating that salvation and redemption do not exclude those we counted out.  Author of the book from Crime to Christ and nearly a dozen albums, featuring artists like Grave Plot and Tech 9, Coul has since dedicated his life to serving others and bringing his gifts to the places and communities where he once, like Koa,caused harm.  Coul is a force of nature, and once he repurposed his gifts for Christ, he has been an unstoppable force.  He has received a doctoral degree in education and is now serving as a principle in an alternative school for youth on their last chance.  Because of his background and life experience, Coul is able to reach the kinds of kids that others simply cannot, kids just like Koa.  Like officer Hilde, Coul has done more to prevent gang violence in our community than anyone I know.        When I think of Coul, Brett, and Koa, I think of a seminal pieceof longitudinal research by Faith Scanlon and her fellow researchers on social support and protective factors.  Scanlonlooked at youth with high ACE Scores in the criminal justice system, examining those who were able to get out and go on to live meaningful and productive lives verses those who went on to recitivize.  The single common denominator the study identified was that all of those who made it out could cite a single thing.  They all had someone in their life who believed in them, saw the good in them even when they fell down, and cared enough to stay in the fight.  Coul, Brett, and myself have all done that for Koa.    I do not want to pretend for a second that this is a story witha happy ending.  What happens next in Koa’s life is unknown.  It is a battle between those who believe in him, his innate capacity for good, and the forces that would drag him back down.  Life isnever straightforward.  It exists in the interconnected spaces of impact, love, and redemption, made up of those of us who grieve and bleed and hurt, but choose to stand up and fight for what is good regardless.  IF YOU ARE ONE OF OUR LISTENERS, PLEASE SHARE, LIKE, AND SUBSCRIBE to the Pay Love Forward Podcast. We need your help making sure these stories are heard.  I’m going to pause right here while you dothis.The world needs more mentors, and Pay Love Forward intends to tell their stories. 

In this limited series, Cops, Robbers, andRappers, we focus on the interconnected story of leadership, mentorship, and redemption surrounding a young man and ex-gang member named Koa Hutchinson.  Three men, Officer Brett Hilde, Coal Hill, also known as Killa C, and myself, have each invested in Koa in very different ways.Part One begins with Officer Brett Hilde, Koa’s arrestingofficer, who shares the path that led him into law enforcement and onto the Billings gang task force. Since Koa’s arrest in 2022. Officer Hilde has done more to disrupt gang violence in thiscity than anyone I know. His story of relentless service is as compelling as Koa’s.  To learn more about Officer HIlde, check out his YouTube channel, Primal Advancements.  He also does contract work in tactical security for our city, providing his expertise and knowledge, to help keep homeowners andbusinesses safe.  

For this episode, I sat down with one of my mentors and one of the founding builders of the program I benefited so muchfrom.  Dr. Mark Manzanarez was one of the founders of Adam’s State’s online Counselor Education Program where I receivedboth my Masters and PhD.  Mark also received two degrees from Adams State, both as a football player during hisundergraduate degree in psychology and then in his master’s degree in community counseling.  He was hired on to Adam’sState’s counseling program while completing his PhD in Education and Human Resource Studies at Colorado State University.Dr. Mark Manzanares continues to teach Counselor Education atAdams State University and is a former chair of the Counselor Education Department.  He spent decades as a counselor, counselor educator, administrator, and mentor, helping traingenerations of counselors throughout the Rocky Mountain region. He was my professor through multiple stages of my education and mentored me while working on my PhD at Adams State as I wrestled with a traumatic brain injury and myson’s diagnosis of first Down syndrome and then leukemia.  Without his guidance, I would not be where I am today.  Dr. Manzanares has been recognized by Adams State as an Outstanding Alumnus and recipient of the Presidential Teaching Award.  It was an honor to sit down with him, reflect on the profession, and discuss the people, ideas, and experiences that have shaped so many counselors over the years.  It was an honor to hear his story, learn about the adversity he overcame, and the why behind what he has dedicated his life to building.  Thisconversation is also a continuation of the series on faith and the Holy Spirit, and how our shared belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is the driving force behind both of our lives, careers, and ministries.  Thank you, Mark, for everything you have done in my life, for believing in me, and for being a guardian at the gate of the sacred profession of mental health counseling. 

For this Episode about faith and the Holy Spirit, I sat down with two pastors at the Grey Cliff Mill, Matt Brandstadt and Jake Klingen-Smith.  I have felt for a very long time that Billings is a spiritual battle field.  As a follower of Christ, I am called to spread the story of salvation.  My faith has been an unfolding journey. In so many ways, this conversation is a continuation of my testimony of faith.  I believe Jesus was who he said he was, and when I found out that was true, it changed everything for me.  What I understood as the living water of Christ was only starting to form when I shared my story.  My encounter with the Holy Spirit at Grey Cliff Mill has indelibly shaped my understanding of faith and God’s plan here on earth.  I will be forever grateful for the presence of both Matt and Jake in my life.  They are spiritual mentors who have deeply walked out Christ’s vision for the gospel as living word on earth.  We recorded this a month after a fire that very nearly consumed Grey Cliff Mill.  This conversation is, at its heart about miracles and the living phenomenon of the Holy Spirit.  This fire raged up to the gates of Grey Cliff Mill.  It was an inferno.  Fireteams worked day and night.  As the conflagration reached the fences of Grey Cliff, it suddenly turned, and Grey Cliff Mill was spared.  We intended to talk about this as one of the miracles, but our conversation took us in so many other directions and coveredso many other topics and miracles that we never did.  The news story and video speak for itself.  I am an academic, a writer, anda scientific thinker.  The stories they told me exceed the rational.  They require faith to believe.  For the record, I believe them.  I have never met more genuine, deeply good people.  Theyoverflow in generosity and hospitality.  They have built a sanctuary and invited others inside.  There is a healing force flowing like a fountain from Grey Cliff Mill.  They representexactly what Christ meant when he said we will be known by our fruits.    

This series on story as nonviolent resistance has been aboutone thing: who controls the narrative landscape and what does it mean to tell an authentic story.  This episode was recorded in May of 2026, right before the pivotal June primaries and November elections, we are faced with the daunting reality of the level of bad-faith influence and deception surrounding politics.  In the age of AI, dark money, news networks that act like propaganda machines, and billionaires that seem to care about only one thing, more power and wealth, how can we possibly know who to trust?      This episode is a recorded Zoom rally for Alani Bankhead’svolunteers.  Unpacking and understanding the structure of how this is set up is essential.  It is one thing to tell a better story, butit only matters if people are listening.  This episode demonstrates multiple converging techniques that canimprove reach and engagement that can all be replicated by any candidate.  These kinds of tactics are things future storytellers will have to account for in order to get the right stories to translate.  I live streamed this on my account.  Multiple live streams would improve engagement as demonstrated in the previous episode, Asymmetrical Warfare.  We also sent out invites beforehand, announcing it on Facebook and inviting anyone to log on via zoom.  Because of the multiple angles of engagement, we were ableto translate this to a significant audience that wasn’t just confined to this podcast release, which is more didactic than story-driven itself.  In this episode, we cover three things.  A pitch for Alani, Alani’s story and her why, and the campaign outreach coordinator.  Any candidate can do this with their team.  Russ Cleveland did something very similar on his 42ndbirthday.  For candidates, this kind of Zoom meeting is an incredible way to charge up the change makers out there campaigning for you.    

In this episode, I sit down with Ed Doctor, Brian Miller,and Sam Lux.  Ed and his crew at the Beer, Buds, and Big Sky podcast have been defending our. information streams.  The BBBS podcast has amassed a significant followership by telling a better story, through comedy, and an authenticity that Montanans and Americans are flocking to.  Brian and Sam are and running for congress in the same election and doing something almost unheard of in this day and age, campaigning together.      In this episode, I talk about asymmetrical warfare.  For me, this is about one thing, building a narrative platform that transcends the confusion and obfuscation that plagues our democracy.  This series is about taking back our stories and finding ways to elevate the right people, the right politicians, and the right leaders.  It is also about beta-testing new tactics that undercut the influence of dark money and can be repurposed and reused by those individuals willing to put themselves out there and stand up for what is right.  The narrative reality of politics is a live, unfolding story.  To get at the heart of it, we need to tell a live unfolding story.  For this episode, we used a video game streaming service that allowed all of us to live stream on all of our various platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and others, essentially combining the outreach capacity of all four of us.  We garnered thousands of views and interactions at a time when Montana primaries are decided often by hundreds of votes.  As far as I know, this hasn’t been done, and it allowed us to reach an audience far larger than any one of us could have.  If we are ever going to take back our information streams,these are the kinds of methods and tactics we are going to have to deploy.  We are simply going to have to get smarter, more creative, and work together if we stand any chance at fighting back against the insidious forces that seek to keep us divided, in the dark, and weak.Help us grow our platform as we fight back.  Please follow and subscribe.  Share this episode or any other that has moved you with a friend.  The world needs better stories, and Pay Love Forward and Resilient Stories intend to tell them.

In this episode, the second of our women’s issues series, congressional candidate Alani Bankhead and I sat down with Ashley and Talee to discuss the disappearance of Jamee Grossman, Ashley’s sister, and Talee’s mother.  Jamee went missing in 2012 and has not been seen since.  According to the nonstop local, Jamee was last seen at a party with her boyfriend Frank Hammontree who reported dropping her off at a gas station.  According to channel 8, there was no footage of this drop off ever taking place.   This episode was recorded an hour after a vigil held for Shawna Hart.  Shawna was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, a man she had a restraining order against and had previously been incarcerated for assaulting Shawna with a deadly weapon.  Just like in Jamee’s disappearance, questions remain as to why this horrible crime was not prevented, and our city is going to have to answer those.  More than that, we are going to have to do better.  We are sick and tired of our women going missing. We are sick and tired of the abuses of power, of the corruption embedded in our systems that allows these crimes against women to continue to happen.  As a city, we are calling for change.  We can no longer accept the levels of domestic violence and sexual assault against women. This is a call to our city, not to place blame or scapegoat, but rather to look this problem in the face, and hard questions while demanding we address them with everything we have, at every level.      

This is part one of a series focused on women’s issues. One in five women in the United States report experiencing sexual assault in their lifetime. One in three women experience some form of sexual violence. Many cases go unreported, with only about one in three assaults ever reaching law enforcement. Experts consistently say actual numbers are significantly higher due to underreporting. These traumas cannot be addressed if communities remain silent about them.For episode one of this series, Dr. Matthew Leavenworth sits down with Lea Bossler. Leah is a wildland firefighter, white water rafter, political activist, big game hunter, and all-around bad ass. She is also a survivor of multiple sexual assaults across her life, including a near abduction while passing through Billings.This episode contains discussion of sexual violence, trauma, and loss. Listener discretion is advised. If you or someone you know needs support, you can call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or dial 211 to connect with local resources. You can also reach the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE.Lea, thank you for trusting us with your story. What you went through was “fucked up,” and it is time more people stood up and stumbled through talking about it.

This is Part Three of the series on Story as Nonviolent Resistance. It was recorded in an open Zoom meeting and live-streamed on Facebook.Dr. Matthew Leavenworth is joined by Brian Miller, a Helena attorney and congressional candidate in Montana. Brian has spent the last fifteen years practicing law across the state, working in both state and federal courts. He is now running for Congress in Montana’s eastern district against Trump loyalist Troy Downing.This series continues to develop as a consistent live platform connecting with Montanans about issues in the state, including Brian’s bid for Congress.In this series, Matthew argues that an election is ultimately a war of stories. He makes the case that we can learn to fight with stories, and that meeting the demands of this moment requires understanding the narrative landscape and engaging it directly. If we do not, we will continue to lose, and the stakes are too high.The conversation explores how authoritarian movements do not begin with force, but with distortion and division. They begin by taking over the stories we tell about ourselves and the world around us, eventually demanding that we forsake objective reality.At its core, this episode centers on a question of identity: who we are as Americans, echoing earlier conversations with Penny Ronning about who we are as a moral people, and who we want to be moving forward.The world needs better stories.And Pay Love Forward intends to tell them.The world needs better leaders,And Brian Miller is one of them.

In this episode of the Pay Love Forward Podcast, Dr. Matthew Leavenworth sits down with Alani Bankhead, a third generation military veteran who served more than twenty years in the United States Air Force. Her career included counterintelligence investigations, human intelligence operations alongside special operations targeting terrorist networks, and service as the senior bodyguard to a top Pentagon official. She later led investigations into human trafficking and child exploitation and worked with law enforcement teams protecting vulnerable children and families. Now she is running for the United States Senate in Montana. This conversation explores the experiences that shaped her life in service, the moments that tested her resolve, and the path that ultimately led her to enter the political arena. Matthew and Alani discuss military life, investigations into trafficking and exploitation, the responsibility of leadership, and the deeper motivations that drive someone to step forward and serve in public life.The Pay Love Forward Podcast is part of a broader effort to strengthen compassionate communities through mentorship and civic engagement. In partnership with Resilient Stories, the podcast seeks to uncover the story within the story. The moments of struggle, conviction, and transformation that shape the people who lead our communities. The world needs better stories.And the world needs better leaders.Alani Bankhead is one of them.