"Gratitude and Growth" - Partnering With Our Mission

First and foremost, we extend our sincerest gratitude to our loyal listeners who consistently tune in to our podcast interviews and share them with others. We are truly appreciative of your support. On this episode, we aim to emphasize the global reach of our podcast, express our thanks to our listeners and financial supporters, and encourage continued support. This episode also delves into our podcast website, https://wrongtostrongchicago.buzzsprout.com
 financial contributions, merchandise options, and acknowledges the contributions of our listeners worldwide. It concludes with a prayer and final remarks, inviting listeners to share their experiences and feedback.

Transcript

Omar: 0:15

From the city of Chicago, a city most recently known for its crime and violence. On this podcast, we will be sharing stories of redemption from individuals raised in the tough streets of Chicago and from around the country. Some of them were gang members, drug dealers, incarcerated victims, and perpetrators of violence. Listen to my guests as they share their experiences, struggles, trauma, but also the strength, Hope, faith and perseverance. These have developed in them to keep pushing and moving forward in life. Tune in to hear how their lives have gone from darkness to light and from wrong to strong.

1:02

Everyone and welcome to another episode of wrong to strong Chicago. I'm your host. My name is Omar Calvillo.

Track 1: 1:09

So what I wanted to do today, first of all, I just want to thank you guys for supporting the podcast. I want to thank the listeners, those that have been sharing it, posting it on your social media feeds. We thank you please continue to do that. And I also wanted to thank those that have been contributing financially. Uh, to the podcast, probably a lot of you don't know, but now you guys have the ability to support this podcast, uh, financially. So what I wanted to show you guys, so this is the, the homepage, this is the, the website for the Wrong To Strong Chicago, uh, podcast. So if you go here, this will be how the, how the website looks so if you click on here, right on the top, if you see that money sign, now you could, you guys could become a supporter of the show. like I says here, you could cancel any time. We're looking for people to support the work that we're doing by contributing. You see here,$3 a month, five, eight, or$10. The most is$10 a month. And then here's, there's how you sign up, lemme go down. So you put your name, your email, and obviously your credit card number, and you could cancel anytime. So if, if you've been blessed by the work that we're doing. Please consider, uh, contributing to the work that we're doing. Uh, your, your financial support is going to meet the cost that we have. So these are the subscribers, you know, I wanted to give a shout out to those that are currently subscribed. You know, those, those that are giving a monthly to the podcast. Uh, I just want to thank you, you know, from the bottom of our hearts, you know, your financial support is going to help us to continue to, uh, to share these stories, to continue to do this work. Uh, I call it a mission from God. You know, I get that line, you know, from the blues brothers, which was filmed here in Chicago, you know, one of their lines throughout the movies, like we're on a mission from God. And I honestly believe that this podcast is a mission from God. We are sharing stories from individuals that were raised in the tough streets of Chicago and that we're able to, to overcome, uh, but here. So I just want to give a quick shout out to those that have been contributing. Uh, Jose and Erica Merced, Nico Indovina, Moy Mendez, uh, Sharon and Arturo Gamino. Right now we got five subscribers The software that I'm using to record right now, it's called Descript. Uh, we're paying 30 a month for the Julio Mercado. He's, uh, paying out of pocket. Um, so Buzzsprout, I'm actually paying for this as well. Uh, it's 27 a month that we're paying, you know, Buzzsprout is our host site where I upload the podcast interviews, the audio, and then Buzzsprout, they will send it out to, uh, Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon music, iHeartRadio, and all these various other, uh, streaming sites for the podcast. So I just want to show you this. And then another thing I wanted to show you guys, if you go to all the way to the bottom, but you see that we got the Facebook link to the Facebook page Wrong strong Chicago podcast page on Facebook. You can find us on Instagram. Our youtube obviously go there check out the videos to the interviews on there And then I believe this is to contribute financially as well. And this is via PayPal. If you wanted to donate in that way. But yeah, I just wanted to show you guys that here's one that I forgot to mention. You could also rep the podcast with fresh gear and join a community that's shaping positive change. So if you click on this link, wrong to strong creator spring. com click on there and it'll take you to the site where we sell hoodies t shirt coffee mug And that's another way that you could support the podcast buy some merch, so please uh prayerfully consider doing that as well. So let me go back to the, to stats. I want to show you guys. Just like the, what this podcast has been doing. So here's 708 downloads in the last 30 days. Uh, but let's go to all time. So all time we're at 15, 734 downloads. But what I did want to show you as well, let me go back up the locations where people here, I'm going to go to all episodes. So this, this podcast has reached the globe. If you guys can see here, we've reached obviously North America, 98 percent of our, our streams or downloads are North America, but check this out. Europe, 180 downloads, Asia, 20, Oceania, 60, Africa, six downloads and South America, six downloads. So what I want to challenge you guys, if you guys are listening any of these other continents, South America, Africa, Oceania, Asia, and Europe. Send me an email, wrong, the number two, strong Chicago at gmail. com. The email will be in the show notes as well. Send me an email. Tell me what continent country city you're listening to. How did you come across the podcast and share maybe what's the latest podcast episode that you listened to? Send me an email. And I want to bless you with a wrong to strong hoodie. So the first person that sends me an email wrong. The number two strong Chicago at gmail. com. And I'm, I want to bless you. So the first person from each one of these continents, once again, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Oceania. I'm going to bless you with a hoodie from darkness to light. And in the back, it says from wrong to strong. Got the city skyline, I want to bless you with a free hoodie. I want to thank you for listening. Um, another thing. So I just wanted to share so check out on the left hand side, we got the countries that listen to this podcast. So, uh, Guatemala, I got a brother that, uh, reached out to me from Guatemala. He's been sharing the podcast. If you look at that 236 downloads just from, uh, Guatemala, we got people in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Germany, Australia, Ireland. Spain. So Serbia, Singapore. So this, this podcast is reaching the world. And what are we reaching the world with? We're reaching the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We're telling people that there's a God who saves, there's a God that loves them. So thank you to everybody that's been listening and all these other countries and all these cities, let's see what the top cities are for the podcast. Obviously Chicago, 44 percent of the downloads are here in Chicago. But then second is Houston. Shout out to all the peeps in Houston. Phoenix, Arizona, Guatemala city, man. That's awesome. Guatemala city, man. Your number one, two, three, four on the list god bless you, brother. I know it was one brother down there that I believe started all this. And he says he's been sharing it with a lot of people down there., You've got Los Angeles, Dallas, Milwaukee, Aurora, Cicero, man, Joliet, Denver, Colorado. Shout out to Shawn Ray, Adam vigil. Rob Decker is out there, Colorado. So I just, I just wanted to share this so you guys could see the reach that we're having with this podcast. like I said, it's reaching the world. It's not just local. And like I said, going back to the contribution, if you guys, be become a, a supporter of this podcast, it'll greatly bless us. If you go to the website on your phone or anywhere, this is how it looks. Episode contributors about podcasts that we love. And like I said, if you click here on the money sign, this is where it'll take you. And this is where you sign up to become a monthly supporter. We will greatly appreciate it. Your financial support will help us continue to share this, continue to invest in equipment and just outreach, outreaches, travel, the team from wrong to strong, which is, Julio Mercado, Cisco Terrazas, Arturo Gamino. We've been going into Cook County Jail, ministering to the inmates, uh, Julio and I just went to East Moline Correctional Center, which is about two and a half hour drive here from the city. Uh, so we're involved in prison ministry. Uh, we're getting ready to do a newsletter that's gonna go into Cook County Jail, sharing like a brief summary of the podcast interviews, uh, so that these men and their could read them, and that they could, uh, have hope knowing that, um, just because they're in prison doesn't mean that they can't turn their life around and do something positive, uh, with their life. So. That's the one thing. So another thing I wanted to show is if you go to the episodes, I'm just going to click on the latest episode here. Okay. Uh, it's with Gil Lopez. So I'm going to click on here. So, so when you guys are listening to the podcast on your phone, you should be able to see this. Let me scroll down. So by the description, here you go. So here where it says, um, send us a text, click on there, send us a text. But the only thing is that I could get the text message from you guys, but I cannot respond back via text to you. Also, if you send me a message, uh, please include your email address. And I'll be able to respond to you, especially if you have a question, or maybe you have a question for me about the podcast, about myself, uh, feel free to reach out, uh, maybe you have a comment, we want to hear from the listeners, how, how this podcast is impacting you. If it's making a difference, if it's encouraging you, challenging you, um, send us feedback also, maybe there's, um, what type of interviews would you like us to do, or is there somebody, uh, that you will want us to get back on here and maybe, uh, ask them some follow up questions and send us a message. Like I said. So here where it says, send us a text, click on there, send me a text. But like I said, the only thing is I won't be able to respond. Uh, but I will start sharing like the comments that I get. I'll start sharing them in my upcoming, uh, podcast episodes, maybe towards the end, I'll, I'll share the messages, maybe take time to, to answer some questions as well, or maybe I could even do a whole podcast, episode strictly. We replying to comments, uh, answering questions that you guys might have. So feel free to send them. And here, this is the link for the support. And all, all the links are here. So this is for the website. This is the buzzsprout.com instagram. Here's the email. Like I said, I mentioned the email already, but it's right here on the bottom of the show notes, wrong2strongchicago@gmail.com youTube link is there Facebook link is there and so today I just wanted to take time, uh, to share this that way you guys could, um, reach out to us. Uh, so please like, subscribe, share what we're doing here. Oh, and also, obviously I want to wish you guys a happy Thanksgiving. God bless you, your families, uh, during this, uh, holiday season. I'm going to say a prayer, uh, to, to, to close us out. Uh, Heavenly Father, I just come to you this evening, Father, and I just want to give you thanks. I just thank you, Father, for the opportunity to, to host, uh, to do the work on this platform, I thank you, Father, for it's been a blessing. Uh, I thank you for all the connections, all the people that have been guests on here, those that have trusted us to, to share their stories, uh, stories of redemption, stories of how they went from darkness to light and from wrong to strong. I thank you for what you're doing through this podcast, continue to move in the lives of people, I pray that that many will come to the Lord through these stories. Um, I pray for the salvation of many, the healing of many, the deliverance of many, that those are, are, are in prison father, whether there be in their mind or in prison father held captive by a drug addiction father, maybe they're demon influenced I just pray for the freedom and deliverance that comes. Through your son, Jesus Christ. So, I thank you father for what you're doing. Bless these families, provide for them, uh, during this holiday seasons. Father, I pray for those that might be feeling alone, those that might be struggling, help them father, help your people, uh, in Jesus name I pray. Amen. So yeah, that's what I wanted to do. I just wanted to share a quick message. Um, share the work that we're doing. Please send us a text. Send us email. Remember those that are listening and all these other continents, send me an email. I'm going to get a hoodie out to you for the first person from each continent. And then when you get it, please take a picture of it, post it on social media, send us an email so that we can share with those that, uh, that are listening. Uh, so they know that we did get that, uh, that merch out to you, you know, so, um, like I said, we're thankful for what the Lord is doing through this platform. And we want to thank you, the listeners. So with that I think i'm gonna get ready to wrap up Um, Matthew four 16 reads the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has dawned. I'm your host. My name is Omar Calvillo and I am wrong too strong.