This episode we go over the good and bad of shark movies. There are so many shark movies out there, more than any other animal by far. We talk about the best shark movie and one of the best movies of all time, Jaws. And it's less than stellar sequels. Then we quickly go over other shark movies we have seen and I list the names of dozens of silly sh…

This episode we have a special guest joining us, Matt's sister, Dave's wife... Dayna Bodtcher. Great white sharks are her favorite animal. We go over why people have a fear of sharks, which is called "galeophobia." Then we discuss great whites in captivity and why it has never worked out. Then go over conservation and leading causes of shark deaths…

Reverend Adam Hamilton is the founding Senior Pastor of the Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City, the largest Methodist church in the U.S. Adam grew up in the Kansas City area, earned a Bachelor’s degree in Pastoral Ministry from Oral Roberts University and a Master of Divinity degree from Southern Methodist University. He is the author of num…

We go into the stats of all the shark attacks that happened in 2023. And a quick overview of all the shark fatalities. ***DM us on our Instagram or Facebook channels or email to get more info on how to order a t-shirt and stickers. On Venmo is my personal account at Matthew-Hamilton-51 On Paypal at @forceofnaturepod We would appreciate any donation…

Rabbi Matthew D. Gewirtz joins me to discuss his journey towards becoming a rabbi, the challenges faced in his role, and his deep involvement in interfaith work. The discussion also covers the Hebrew concept of machloket (disagreeing without rancor), its relevance in the current crisis between Israel and Gaza, and the importance of interfaith dialo…

Guest Dr. Matthew D. Taylor shares his faith journey and we discuss his involvement in religious pluralism and extensive research on the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) movement in America. Dr. Taylor shares insights into his background in and transition from evangelical fundamentalism, his interfaith dialogues, and the threats posed by NAR's radic…

This episode we look at one of the most iconic and famous animals on the planet... The Great White Shark. For part one we learn all about them... Their evolutionary history, where they live, about their bodies, the largest ones ever recorded and what they like to eat. This is a very informative episode and we hope you learn a lot about these amazin…

We bring some other family members on the show. Ryan is Dave's nephew and does a great job telling us about a mishap at a rodeo... and then we have Dave's brother-in-law, Marek... he may have been day drinking at the pool party. He tells us his story about his encounter with a jellyfish.Av Matthew D Hamilton

For this bonus episode we bring in Dave's dad, Aaron Bodtcher. Aaron was very excited to share his personal story about him being stung by a jellyfish and having a stranger pee on him. The pee thing is a myth... But Aaron didn't know that at the time. Aaron even wrote the entire script himself.Av Matthew D Hamilton

During the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, America and the Soviets were on the brink of nuclear war. And during this time a black bear jumped over the fence and into an American air base. The guard sounded the alarm thinking it was a Soviet spy nearly causing WW3. Also, Matt gets heat exhaustion while recording.…

This is a special episode in which I reflect on the last year of the Reconciliation Roundtable podcast and thank all listeners for spending time with me and my guests, exploring how we can be agents of reconciliation in a time and a place where doing so often seems to be beyond the pale. This podcast is possible because of your support, so if you e…

In this episode we look at what happens on the fateful day when Terry Thompson let out his 50 plus exotic animals and ended his own life. We look at what the officers had to do and the difficult decisions they had to make. No other police force has had to deal with a situation like this before... nobody is prepared for something like this. We also …

Wilk Wilkinson joins me to discuss his journey from political apathy to toxic political engagement, followed by the epiphany that since led him on a mission of bettering the world, one attitude at a time, by charting a course toward understanding, bridging divides, and fostering a community where wisdom prevails over discord. We talk about how this…

The Reverend Canon Dr. Stephanie Spellers is one of the Episcopal Church’s leading thinkers around 21st-century ministry and mission. She is a priest, author, speaker, and friend who currently serves as the Canon to the Presiding Bishop for Evangelism, Reconciliation, and Creation Care. She is the author of Radical Welcome: Embracing God, The Other…

We bring you the set up for a famous story from 2011. A man named Terry Thompson, a very excentric man who owned over 50 exotic animals. We learn about his life and mental state before the incident. Terry let all of his animals loose and then killed himself... leaving local authorities to deal with 50 dangerous animals on the loose. We're talking l…

This episode we cover one of the coolest animals in the world, the capybara. They have become super popular over the last few years thanks to memes and short videos, all the kids know of capybaras. The are the largest rodents in the world, getting up to 175lbs. They are also known for being the most chill and friendliest animal. They make all kinds…

The Rev. Amy Peeler, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College, IL and an Associate Rector at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Geneva, IL. Author of Women and Gender of God (Eerdmans, 2022), “You Are My Son”: The Family of God in the Epistle to the Hebrews (T&T Clark, 2014), and co-author with Patrick Gray of Hebrews: An Int…

We have part 2 of our 18th edition of recent animal stories and attacks. We look back at stories that happened in the back half of 2023. 1st Story- Siberian Tiger Attack 2nd Story- Blue Ringed Octopus 3rd Story- Rabies 4th Story- Man Survives Crocodile Attack in Strange Way 5th Story- Larges Gator Caught in Florida 6th Story- Woman Stabbed in the B…

Matt and Dave record together again. We have three recent shark attacks stories and all end in fatalities.Av Matthew D Hamilton

We have our 18th edition of recent animal stories and attacks. We look back at stories that happened in the back half of 2023. 1st Story- Jaguar Attacks Brave Uncle 2nd Story- Man Escapes Jaguar When Cell Phone Explodes in Pocket 3rd Story- UPS Driver Bitten by Rattlesnake 4th Story- Zookeeper Attacked by Hippo 5th Story- Adult Film Actor Bitten on…

Bishop Mariann Budde is the bishop and spiritual leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C., and the Washington National Cathedral. Prior to her election in 2011, she was a parish priest in Minneapolis for eighteen years. She has appeared on PBS NewsHour, Meet the Press, Good Morning America, and the Today show, among others. Bishop Budde …

Pastor Raymond Chang is the president of the Asian American Christian Collaborative (AACC), a pastor, and writer. He regularly preaches and speaks throughout the country on issues pertaining to Christianity and culture, race and faith. He has lived throughout the world (Korea, Guatemala, Panama, Spain, China), traveled to nearly 50 countries, and c…

Angela Ferrell-Zabala (“Fuh-RELL Zuh-BAH-luh”) serves as the first ever Executive Director of Moms Demand Action where she is responsible for leading and growing the largest grassroots network in the gun violence prevention space. Angela has been with the organization since 2019 leading its movement building work overseeing grassroots organizing, e…

Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon is the executive director of Churches for Middle East Peace and an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC). Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) is a coalition of more than 30 national Church communions and organizations working to encourage U.S. policies that actively promote just, lasting, and comprehen…

We had a solo episode where we learn all about the amazing big cat... The leopard. Since we have covered several man-eating leopard stories we thought it would be a good idea to learn more about them. There are actually eight different leopard subspecies sprinkled throughout Asia and Africa. We go over all of them, as well as quiz Dave on if he can…

Daniel Darling is an award-winning writer, bestselling author of fifteen books, pastor and Christian leader who regularly appears on and contributes to national news and media outlets. He currently serves as the Director of The Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Assistant Professor of Faith and Cult…

We bring you another adventure from our man, Jim Corbett. In this adventure we cover Jim's hunt for the Panar Man-eating Leopard. While this leopard is one of his lesser known stories it has the second highest kill count by an animal in recorded history. 400 kills. This large male leopard terrorized villages in India for years. We follow how Jim wa…

We celebrate Fat Bear Week... As winter approaches it's important for bears to pack on the pounds for hibernation. At Katmai National Park in Alaska people can vote for who they think is the fattest bear. We also cover a recent bear attack story from Banff National Park. Here's a link to Dave's audiobook. https://www.audible.com/pd/B0C9L7DGBC/?sour…

This episode we wanted to cover an animal with some Halloween street cred... Commonly associated with bad omens and death. The raven. We have never seen an animal with so much mythology and folklore from around the world. We learn about all the mythology and folklore as well as the differences between raven's and crows. As well as learning all abou…

In this episode, I talk with my friend and colleague Shane Claiborne about his passion for gun violence prevention, his faith journey, and his work as founder of The Simple Way and leader of Red Letter Christians, a movement of folks who are committed to living "as if Jesus meant the things he said." Shane is a champion for grace which has led him …

We have part 2... we cover several diverse animal stories that have happened so far in 2023. Story 1- Tiger Kills Two Members of a Family Story 2- Bus Crashes Into Bee Hives Story 3- The Myth of We Swallow Spiders in Our Sleep is Kinda True Story 4- Uptick in Dingo Attacks in Australia Story 5- Dave Covers Some Bear Attacks Story 6- Couple Gets Eng…

In this episode, I had a chance to talk to Dr. Gilford (Gil) T. Monrose, who is based in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. He is doing amazing work serving humanity, building bridges, and working on gun violence prevention. Our conversation touches on how his faith anchors him and, when gun violence met Pastor Monrose "at the fr…

Well our second recording of this episode. The first time we thought we recorded the whole episode, but Matt forgot to press record. So we had to re-record this one. We cover several diverse stories that have happened in the first half of 2023. Story 1- Predator Black Bear Attack in Arizona Story 2- Cambodia Crocodile Farmer Falls into Crocodile Po…

In this week's episode, guest and friend John Wood Jr. joins me to discuss his "unorthodox path to Christianity" involving a beautiful journey of the heart facilitated by lessons he learned from his parents, by performing music, meeting the woman who would become his wife, and encountering Christ in others. John also shares about his pathway to wor…

This episode we go back to a story from 1983... What starts out as a shrimp fishing trip for three young friends ends in a horror story. After they find themselves in a big storm their shit capsizes. Leaving then with one option, swim to their safety. And that's when they see a shark fin circling them. This real story as even been adapted to a loos…

This episode we look at a few fairly recent shark attack stories. We cover the story of the viral video of a man being attacked by a tiger shark in Egypt that was caught on video. We found the back story and what led to the crazy attack. Dave also shares an attack from the Galapagos Islands. Then we end with a story about a Netflix documentary crew…

This week I had the chance to talk with a friend of mine, David Blankenhorn, about his passion for building bridges of understanding and helping people find common ground. You’ll learn about his journey from growing up in Mississippi to the inspiration behind an initiative he co-founded and leads called Braver Angels, a grassroots movement to resto…

This episode we learn all about the garbage can of the sea, the tiger shark. Tiger sharks are found mostly in warmer waters throughout the world. One of the most dangerous animals in the ocean, but always coming in second after the great white. They will literally eat anything... From turtles to license plates to even people. The tiger shark is a r…

Welcome to the first episode of Reconciliation Roundtable, a new podcast where we discuss building bridges of understanding across religious and political difference. This week I had the chance to talk with a friend and collaborator, Reverend Rob Schenck, about his path to God and what he calls his journey of "three conversions," from childhood Jew…

This episode we look at the tallest living land animal... The giraffe. Giraffe's are way cooler and way more weird than you expected. Evolution must have been a little drunk when making these animals. Giraffe's are native to Africa and there are nine subspecies. Like with other solo animals we've covered we learn all about these weirdos. Did you kn…

This episode we look at the very popular story of Cocaine Bear. This story has only gotten more popular with the recently released film. The film was great! But, obviously very fabricated. We tell the real crazy story. A drug smuggler named Andrew Thornton, who is a very interesting man, decided to dump cocaine out of his plane and jumped out himse…

***We had a little issue with our sound quality on this one. Working to make it better.*** We look at what might be one of the silliest stories of man vs bird. This story is a tragic-comedy, for how dumb and silly parts of it are, there was real human suffering. First we learn about emu's then we go back to 1932 in Western Australia. Due to multipl…

We conclude our three part series with some more wild and crazy stories from 2022. Story 1- Elephant Kills Woman, Then Attacks Her Grave Story 2- Over Worked Elephant Rips Man in Half Story 3- Elephant Attacks Car on Safari Story 4- Drunk Man Finds His Way Into Emu Enclosure Story 5- Amazon Driver Killed by Dogs Story 6- Bison Attack in South Dakot…

We go back to some of the most interesting stories of 2022. Also the return of Cheetor. Story 1- Grizzly Bear Objects to Wedding Story 2- 1st Death by Kangaroo in 86 Years Story 3- Alaskan Man Killed by Muskox Story 4- Trailer Park Woman Sicks Pitbull on her Friend Story 5- Monkey Business Story 6- Monkeys Force Woman to Fall 20ft Story 7- Japanese…

For this bonus episode, Matt and Dave test out their new remote recording. Since they now live a long ways from each other. The test went pretty well and so far happy with the audio quality. Let us know what you think. Also... Two crazy stories! Story 1- Florida Gator Attacks Elderly Woman Story 2- Leopard in India Attacks And Injures Many People I…

We return after a 13 month hiatus with recent animal stories and attacks, all from last year, 2022. This is just part 1. 1st Story- Grizzly Attacks Two College Wrestlers in Wyoming 2nd Story- Largest Python Ever Found in Florida 3rd-5th Stories- Dave Tells Multiple Stories of Gator Attacks in Florida 6th Story- Teenager Gets Attacked by Shark on Fl…