Jesse Seibel
Episode 59

Narrator: Welcome friends to another episode of The Story & Experience Podcast. Join your host Japhet De Oliveira with his guest today and discover the moments that shape us, our families, and communities.

Japhet De Oliveira: Welcome friends to another episode of The Story & Experience Podcast. I am delighted to still be here for this episode here at Adventist Health Castle in Hawaii with a guest sitting right across me who's just smiling very stuff like. When you hear his voice, you'll know the energy and love that this person has and I've known him for many, many years. So this is exciting for me to be able to be in this space. If you're brand new to this podcast, the way it works, that we have 100 questions. First 10 are really easy, then it starts to become more interesting towards 100 and our guest gets to choose which ones they actually want to go into. They don't know the questions, they just know the numbers. He's looking at me with excitement. I can tell. I can tell. He's a great leader, he knows this well. So let's begin with the very first question. Could you tell us your name and does anybody ever mispronounce it, misspell it, don't understand it.

Jesse Seibel: They do. My name is Jesse Seibel and Seibel is a German name. I'm half German or so, and there's people that say sea bowl all the time and I have to correct them and say, "No, the proper pronunciation is Seibel."

Japhet De Oliveira: Seibel.

Jesse Seibel: But when people see my skin complexion, they don't catch the German hint and it's great though, I joke-

Japhet De Oliveira: You're tanned well.

Jesse Seibel: I'm the darkest Seibel in Earth's history and I'm proud of it.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's beautiful, man. That's beautiful. All right, Jesse, what do you do for work?

Jesse Seibel: So I'm the mission and community executive here at Adventist Health Castle.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK.

Jesse Seibel: These are my words, not on my job description, but I get to connect with the best aspects of the hospital with the best aspects of the community and find other organizations that are aligned with our mission and find out how we can take care of people within and outside the hospital walls.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: How long you've been doing this?

Jesse Seibel: So this role about a year and a half. I came to Adventist health about three years ago.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK. So you worked three years and now year and a half, you've been doing this particular role, but always a mission?

Jesse Seibel: Always a mission.

Japhet De Oliveira: In some way.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah. Homegrown, right?

Jesse Seibel: Very homegrown. I wasn't born here, sadly.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK. So where were you born?

Jesse Seibel: So my parents, high school sweethearts.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh yeah?

Jesse Seibel: Got married way too young, had me way too young, moved to California for maybe two or three years when they first got married, came back and this has been home for me since I about three years old.

Japhet De Oliveira:

OK.

Jesse Seibel: So I literally came back to Castle, my mom was working at Castle 40 years ago or so.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh my goodness.

Jesse Seibel: And this is home, man.

Japhet De Oliveira: So legacy then.

Jesse Seibel: I'm reminded of that every once in a while when people say, "Hey, I know your wife." And it turns out to be my mom and she loves it. For me, I love my mom, but it's a compliment to her.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Hey, that's fantastic. Oh, wow. You got a lot to live up to. That's great. That's great. So in the morning when you get up and drink of choice, do you have coffee to start the day, tea, liquid green smoothie, maybe some poi?

Jesse Seibel: I will eat poi whenever, however.

Japhet De Oliveira: Really?

Jesse Seibel: In fact, I sit next to people strategically who don't eat poi so I can eat their poi.

Japhet De Oliveira: You can sit next to me then.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah, I'll eat all your poi, man. But in the morning, my wife drinks enough coffee for both of us. I'm not a coffee person at all. In fact, people know me. If I have a cup of coffee in my hand, in the hospital, it's a quote unquote, bad day.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK.

Jesse Seibel: But people are like, "Oh no." Because that means we've been going a long, long time and Jesse's about to hit the ground. But in the morning, man, just some water.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah, get myself going.

Japhet De Oliveira: Cold water? Warm water?

Jesse Seibel: Not too cold.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK.

Jesse Seibel: I'm an island boy. Cold for us is 75.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's amazing. That was amazing. All right. When you were a child, and you moved back here, you said when you were three, what did you imagine you were going to be when you grew up?

Jesse Seibel: Oh, I was supposed to be in the NFL and the NBA at the same time.

Japhet De Oliveira: Seriously?

Jesse Seibel: I remember telling my dad, I figured it out. By maybe 10, I realized, oops, I'm not even the best on the island, so that's not going to cut it. But I grew up surfing, so there was a little bit of visions of grandeur. One day I'll be a professional surfer, but that wasn't in the cards either.

Japhet De Oliveira: You like a lot of sports.

Jesse Seibel: I do.

Japhet De Oliveira: I mean, you're physically active all the time.

Jesse Seibel: I try to be, but not because of, I actually don't necessarily enjoy the physicality of it, because it hurts. It's exhausting. For instance, I hate running. I cannot stand running. But I'll force myself to run every once in a while just to remind myself that I should be moving every body part. But for me it's a mental thing. My wife knows I'm at my best when I'm active and-

Japhet De Oliveira: That's really good.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's fantastic. Personality. If they were to describe you as an extrovert or an introvert, which one would you say you are and would you agree?

Jesse Seibel: So I probably am known as an extrovert just because of how often I'm upfront and how often I have to speak, but I find that absolutely draining and exhausting and I constantly need to disappear. So actually some of my physical activity, actually, 90% of my physical activity is going away alone. So if I'm running, I'm running away-

Japhet De Oliveira: To replenish.

Jesse Seibel: I'm running away from everybody and everything. If I'm riding my bike, I'm riding away from everything. Even surfing, I surf by myself. Now that my children are older, they surf with daddy. But yeah, I think I'm an introvert, but I could be corrected, I guess, one day.

Japhet De Oliveira: You're a great speaker as well. I've heard you speak many times. It's been fantastic.

Jesse Seibel: Appreciate that.

Japhet De Oliveira: Are you a habit? Are you an early night, early riser or late night owl?

Jesse Seibel: Man, I switch. My wife and I have this ongoing joke, one of us is the opposite at all times. So right now she's the early sleeper, early riser and I'm the night owl. But night owl to me is getting close to midnight. So it's all relative.

Japhet De Oliveira: Right, relatively.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right then. So this morning, then late night owl work or whatever this morning, what was the first thing that went through your mind?

Jesse Seibel: 4:00 AM.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Jesse Seibel: What's happening-

Japhet De Oliveira: Clearly a late night owl.

Jesse Seibel: What's happening in Ukraine? Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh yeah.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah, that's what popped in my mind right away. We've just been checking on it, thinking about it, praying about it, asking people who are supporting it how we can support them. Then just the things of to-do with the family. My kids are on spring break. So I've tried to take a couple days off this week.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good.

Jesse Seibel: And I've tried to spend some time with them too.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's really good. That's really valuable. Fantastic. Leadership question here. Are you a backseat driver?

Jesse Seibel: Yikes. What number is that?

Japhet De Oliveira: That's just- And we hand it over at this point now and then we go to 11, so it's easy.

Jesse Seibel: So my son got his permit.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK, yeah.

Jesse Seibel: So literally I'm a front seat, passenger seat driver these days. As a leadership metaphor, I try my best not to be. To me, whoever... I have a profound respect for hierarchy. I love knowing who my boss is and what they want, but I also have a profound respect for people who are closest to the action, which sometimes doesn't, it's not the same thing when it comes to structure. So I try to trust the people who are closest to the action and who are in the role of leadership.

I've said this before, and I've tried to point to it a few times in my life. One of the biggest compliments I ever get is, "You're the best assistant I ever had." Now, have I always been the best assistant someone's ever had? No, but I think a great leader knows how to be a great number two. I've worked in a lot of places, Adventist Health included where, the number one, regardless if I'm two or not, you just have a ton of trust in them and they have a ton of trust in you. Those of us who might aspire to be number one, careful what you ask for. There's a lot going on there that you probably don't want.

Japhet De Oliveira: You don't want.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, absolutely. All right, brilliant. So now the floor is yours and you can choose between 11 and 100.

Jesse Seibel: Because we did one through 10?

Japhet De Oliveira: We did from one through 10.

Jesse Seibel: And backseat driver was 10?

Japhet De Oliveira: It was 10, and it was just an opener. So just warm you up. So now it's-

Jesse Seibel: I'm going to count by tens, man. Let's do it. Let's go to 20.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK. 20 then. Tell us about something you would rate 10 out of 10.

Jesse Seibel: Anything-

Japhet De Oliveira: Anything.

Jesse Seibel: That's 10 out of 10?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, that you would say, "That is a 10 out of 10."

Jesse Seibel: First thing that comes to mind, I lived in Micronesia for two years, and on the island, there was me and two friends who surfed And there were certain spots that consistently when they were breaking, were 10 out of 10 surf spots. Every once in a while I'm surfing good waves and I just go, "Yeah, but..." And I live in Hawaii. Hawaii is a mecca for surfing, but I'm constantly living in my past on 10 out of 10 surf spots. I tell people all the time, most surfers are looking for 10 out of 10 perfect wave, I had a perfect island. So, good stuff.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. That's good. That's good to have that there. All right. So which you want to go after 20?

Jesse Seibel: Let's try to 30 and let's see if I get scared.

Japhet De Oliveira: No, it's going to be all right. Tell us about something that you're really looking forward to.

Jesse Seibel: Oh, that's easy.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, I see.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: I see.

Jesse Seibel:

I am absolutely looking forward to taking a surf trip with my oldest son.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh really?

Jesse Seibel: Who has absolutely got to a place where he wants to surf waves that I'm scared of surfing. So yesterday on my day off, he surfed Pipeline. I said, "I want nothing to do with that wave today." And I went to the old man spot, sunset down the street, but my son knows this. I'm still quote unquote a better surfer, but the kid is a specimen. He's in shape. He can paddle circles around me, but we're to the place where we can surf the same waves that we're both looking for and taking him on a surf trip's going to be a lot of fun.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's beautiful. That is beautiful. It is interesting actually, wisdom experiences, your life, your stories that you've had make you feel cautious about some and his wisdom experience in life he has, makes him feel brave about some, right?

Jesse Seibel: Braver than I ever was in my entire life.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's actually really interesting.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, that's powerful. That's powerful. All right. So 40 next?

Jesse Seibel: Yeah man, because 30 made me think I got this, so let's see.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, that's good. If you wouldn't mind, can you share with us a time about when you failed?

Jesse Seibel: Which one? So I come from a ministry experience in pastoral ministry. I can think of a number of times where I didn't just fail at something, I failed at someone. One that comes to mind I think is when I had a situation in my leadership team, and my hesitancy to address it head on, I believe, caused it to have even a larger negative impact with the effort and the mission we were trying to do. So instead of having an opportunity to just be transparent and authentic and hold others and myself accountable, it turned into this mess that lasted months, and months, and months. I constantly look back and then I go, was I scared? Yes. So that contributed to it. Was I maybe lacking experience, right? Knowing what to say, when to say yes. So, then I look back on that and I just go, "Man, if I had asked for help, right?"

I know I was the leader, and everyone was looking to me to be successful in that space, if I had been more transparent as a leader with other leaders and maybe even some of my team that were probably more well versed in this situation, I think we go all been done there. To me, the failure was not a management piece. I think that's always challenging to get that right perfectly. I think the failure for me was we were delivering to our community a really just impactful service, and that resource and that safe space eroded. So the people on the receiving end, the people that we were supposed to be focused on, we couldn't focus on anymore because I, as a leader and my leadership team, weren't holding each other accountable.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's not something that people just know, right? You would say, I mean, you alluded to this when you said it takes experience and time. Do you think that's actually the secret of this, that we all have to go through the moments like this of failure?

Jesse Seibel: Yeah. Yes, and one of the things that I've been really working on in this last, maybe two years of my professional life is, not being consumed with having the right answer or trying to figure it out before I come to the table or before I initiate something, and being comfortable, knowing what question I'm asking, and being transparent enough to ask that same question at that table. What I've found is, in a healthy, functional workplace with people who are committed to the goal or the effort, that question isn't, "Well, why are you asking that question?" That question usually is one of two things it's, "Hey, I'm asking that too." Or, "Here's what I think." It brings alignment and it brings the ability for them to say, "But here's my question." Or, "And, here's my question." So I have really tried to get to a place where if I have a great answer, great, but I know I'm not growing and I'm not contributing if I'm not bringing my questions to the table, too.

Japhet De Oliveira: Good advice. Good advice. I think everyone will all have to go through that kind of journey as well.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: 50 then?

Jesse Seibel: Yeah, but this might be the one where we slow down.

Japhet De Oliveira: Would you share with us who has influenced you professionally?

Jesse Seibel: Oh man.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Jesse Seibel: So I'm going to rewind it a little bit. About 15 years ago, I interned at a church and the pastor there gave me his pulpit maybe 15 times in a matter of a summer.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah, and you know what that means, right?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, all the time.

Jesse Seibel: Now, there wasn't just weekend stuff. So it was weekday and all that, right? So on a preaching schedule, he was still doing his work too. But Rob Lloyd was his name and Rob just absolutely poured into me professionally and showed me what an empowering leader is, an empowering mentor. Pulled me aside a couple times when I made mistakes and was like, "Hey." And I could kind of see in his eyes and I was rewinding the tape and I'm like, "No more of that?" And he was like, "Yeah, let's not do that again." I was like, "I got it." Right?

I had a conference president really take me under his wing, Ralph Watts, and showed me what a leader looks like when they're caring for people as not employees, but people. Kathy Raethel, who just retired over here really kind of gave me some good groundwork on, I think, accountability and deliverables, and making sure that decisions that are made, people can act on them. So, I mean, that was really neat for me to see her in action. I had known her for years, never worked for her, and to get to know her professionally was really neat. So yeah. Professionally, I've had some really good-

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic.

Jesse Seibel: Mentors, yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's great. That was great. All right. So now you said you wanted to slow it down-

Jesse Seibel: Let's go 55.

Japhet De Oliveira: 55, all right. Here we go. If you wouldn't mind, share about something that frightens you.

Jesse Seibel: I don't want to be flippant with this answer.

Japhet De Oliveira: No. OK. All right.

Jesse Seibel: I'm scared to ride a few of the trails by my house. There's a rock drop that I haven't tried yet.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, fair.

Jesse Seibel: But that's totally my own choice in doing one day when I show up at the ED with a broken collarbone, again. I think for me, I'm actually worried about being in front of people, not knowing who they are, and not knowing either what they want or what I'm actually supposed to contribute. So the reoccurring nightmare, is showing up to that venue, getting tapped on your shoulder that you're up now, and absolutely going, "Well, hi." I think I come across, I think, as a nonchalant carefree kind of guy, but I'm scared to death to not know what to say when I have to say something. So I do a ton of writing, pre-writing, prep, going back and forth over ideas and concepts and I'm actually scared that sometimes what I'm actually delivering isn't working or is actually backfiring. That keeps me up at night, sometimes, it really does. As petty as that might sound that's sometimes my focus.

Japhet De Oliveira: Some of the most relaxed people up front in difficult situations are the most prepared, right? Yeah.

Jesse Seibel: I went to a few guys over the years and went, "Hey, you're pretty calm and collected up there, you got your A game." And then they pulled back the curtain a little bit for me to see the groundwork they did.

Japhet De Oliveira: The ground- Exactly.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: It's worth it.

Jesse Seibel: It is worth it.

Japhet De Oliveira: It's worth it.

Jesse Seibel: So I still have a passion for speaking, and teaching, and preaching. You can just tell who's not doing their ground game, groundwork in an instant.

Japhet De Oliveira: No blood has been sweat.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah, and listen, it's hard. I'm sure every profession has professionals that when you're receiving that service, you just go, "Oh, you didn't..." But you can even tell mid presentation when someone goes from prepared to unprepared. Yeah. Now sometimes it's beautiful and it's authentic, most of the time it's just because you didn't spend the time, yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. That was 55.

Jesse Seibel: We're going to up it to 65.

Japhet De Oliveira: 65, all right. Share one word that you could use to describe your entire past. Then if you could unpack that one word for us.

Jesse Seibel: Blessed. That's actually easy for me.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good.

Jesse Seibel: Blessed because when I look on where I've come from, the growth I saw my parents go through when I was a kid, the different opportunities they had, I mean, just charmed to a fault as something go, "Man, I think I might be pretty soft." I just had a great upbringing and have had opportunities to do things that very often I felt were quote unquote before my time. I didn't earn this thing, but someone saw some potential or someone saw me doing what I could in that space and went, "Hey, I think you can do that over here too."

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great.

Jesse Seibel: So, yeah. I mean, I think I had- My wife about 10 years ago, looked at me one day and went, "You pretty much get whatever you want, don't you?" I had to laugh. Actually, I wasn't offended at all. I laughed. And I went, "Hey, here's the thing, I do want it. I'm so excited it came my way. I guess I'm blessed."

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fair enough. That's fair enough.

Jesse Seibel: I'll throw this out, one time I had a mentor of mine who will remain nameless, say, "Jesse, what happens the day someone tells you no?" Because in their perspective, I had been told yes, over and over and over.

Japhet De Oliveira: Interesting.

Jesse Seibel: Then my response to that was, "Well, you haven't heard what I really want."

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, that's good. I like that.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah. But shifting gears a little bit, it's because honestly, and this is my check, my self correction in this, am I trying to get blessed for me or am I advocating for something more important, deeper, richer for others? Whatever I get is just residual in that and that's kind of where I tried to hold myself accountable.

Japhet De Oliveira: I would concur with you as well. I think that there are people who would consider themselves blessed just for themselves and then there are those who are blessed because they're part of something bigger than themselves. I see that in your life. So yeah, that's true. That's a good qualifier.

Jesse Seibel: OK, good.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. All right. Where next then, sir?

Jesse Seibel: 75, man.

Japhet De Oliveira: 75, right.

Jesse Seibel: I mean, I got to ask-

Japhet De Oliveira: No, this is good.

Jesse Seibel: Who's got the highest number? Not who, but what is the highest number? Has anyone hit 100?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, people have- I mean, there was one guest who decided their very first one was question 100.

Jesse Seibel: I went there mentally and I said, "No, I'm not going to be that guy." So I'm glad someone did it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Somebody has done that. But most people, yeah, some do go to 100, 99, 98.

Jesse Seibel: Because I'm feeling just a little bit of-

Japhet De Oliveira: You could do this.

Jesse Seibel: I could, but 75's going to be telling, so. Is that where we're at, 75?

Japhet De Oliveira: We're at 75 right now.

Jesse Seibel: Let's do it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, it is a journey. All right. Do you remember the very first item you purchased with your own money? If so, what was it and why did you buy it?

Jesse Seibel: I actually think about this from time to time.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh really?

Jesse Seibel: I think it's the first thing I ever bought with quote unquote, my own money, because I don't think my parents would've ever bought it for me.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's the case.

Jesse Seibel: I rode my bike down to what I think still is a Longs, like a CVS drugstore that had the cassette tape aisle, right?

Japhet De Oliveira: OK, yeah.

Jesse Seibel: Someone had given me a Walkman. I didn't have any of my own music. I'm going through my parents' capes, right? I love the eighties jams, late seventies jams, but at 10 years old, eight years old, whatever I was, I needed my own cassette. So I walk in and I'm looking for a cassette. I find a Bob Marley cassette. His live album and the first song in there is a song called Trenchtown Rock, and the words I think are along the lines of one good thing about music is when it hits, you feel no pain.

So I'm popping that in. I've never heard that song before. I've heard Bob- Bob Marley plays on every island in every ocean in the world. Man, I still remember the feeling I had riding my bike home listening to music. I had never pedaled so fast. I had never even felt so much joy. To this day, I still listen to Bob Marley almost daily. My kids know, when we're driving to school, it's Bob Marley, and I can hear my kids humming in the background.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's beautiful, man. That's beautiful. Oh, that's pretty good. I love that. Good. All right. Where next, sir? Up or down?

Jesse Seibel: 85 man.

Japhet De Oliveira: 85, all right. Here it is. Describe a role model you aspire to be like.

Jesse Seibel: But easy. So my grandfather. He's passed now, my dad's father. This guy picked me up around third or fourth grade summer, I can't remember when and started a tradition in my family, now. Everyone works construction in the summer. At third or fourth grade, I rode shotgun with grandpa in his van. Now he was retired, kind of picking up supplies, but probably my first professional mentor to tell you the truth. Child labor laws, broken, but I remember I got paid, I think $2 when I was working and $1 when I was writing. So we just cut it in half about 50 an hour, a day and about 50 an hour and, yeah. My grandfather was an educator in the Adventist denomination for like 40 some years, but built homes in the summer with his boys, and then when he retired, he decided to continue in construction. So there was Seibel and Sons which was him and my father and the brother. Then when my dad kind of went on his own, hired my grandpa as an employee and yeah, so the guy worked-

Japhet De Oliveira: All his life.

Jesse Seibel: All his life and had a track record of doing the right thing. Being fair, I mean, I still have people show up, man and say, "Seibel? And then almost always they'll tell me a story about how my grandpa gave them a spanking.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK, well, fair enough.

Jesse Seibel: And I'm like, dude, if I can be a guy that hands out metaphorical spanking my whole life and people are still like, "Jesse was awesome."

Japhet De Oliveira: We don't edit this podcast.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: We can't edit this either, but let's... Yeah.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah, but my grandpa was just, he was the man. I mean, I absolutely adored that guy. He took me under his wing, having a third, fourth grader on the job site just gets in your way. Who wants that?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, sure.

Jesse Seibel: I made him a peanut butter sandwich one day when he stopped by the house and that was my job interview with him. He was like, "Oh you can work with me."

Japhet De Oliveira: You can work with me.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's good.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah, I love him. Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, beautiful. Beautiful. Lots of legacy in your family from all areas. All right. Where next?

Jesse Seibel: We're going to slow down because we are 85.

Japhet De Oliveira: 85.

Jesse Seibel: 90.

Japhet De Oliveira: 90, all right.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Tell us about how you overcame a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.

Jesse Seibel: Insurmountable obstacle.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, and how you have overcome it.

Jesse Seibel: Oh man. I'm going to share a lighthearted one I think, because it's just- So I was absolutely scared to death to speak up front, absolutely. I actually went through my first two years of college not asking a question in class.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's interesting.

Jesse Seibel: Out fear of raising my hand and speaking up. The first time I had to present in front of a college class, I couldn't put the lapel on, because I was shaking so hard. So I just held it like a mini microphone.

Japhet De Oliveira: Little mic, yeah.

Jesse Seibel: Then I was absolutely horrible, horrible at public speaking too, even content wise, right? I think people were like, "This isn't going to work." I don't think I even wanted to be up front and speak, too. So it was a really weird thing. But to go, I think, from where I started to where I'm being asked to speak in different places, I don't know how that happened. Other than I knew I was terrible at it and I better do some groundwork in case I have to ever do this. So, I think on a professional, personal level, that's something that comes to mind. Man, I feel like at 90, I should have something heart splitting and-

Japhet De Oliveira: No, it's OK. It's OK. This is good.

Jesse Seibel: That's it.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. We have time for two more final two numbers. You don't need to tell me both. You can tell me one or you can tell me both. It's up to you.

Jesse Seibel: So we're going to go 95 and 100.

Japhet De Oliveira: 95 and 100. All right, there it is. So 95, tell us about how you see your faith and life intersecting? I mean, seriously of all the people, I mean, what was your title again? Executive for mission-

Jesse Seibel: And community.

Japhet De Oliveira: So could you tell us Jesse, how you see your faith and life intersecting?

Jesse Seibel: Yeah. I'll try to sum it up in 30 seconds, I think. So, I went from a place- I grew up Adventist, which means you know everything, whether you're a young child or young in the faith. Then you realize someday that you don't, or at least hopefully you realize you don't, right? People have to still bear with you as you've had all the answers. For me, I got to a place about 15 years ago where I realized these are not things I know, these are things I hope for.

That was a game changer for me, because if I was hoping for it, I was going to be living it too. Working for it too, but not in a sense of I better earn it or I better do it or else, but this is what I was actually built for. This hope I have about a world, my community, my family, these things, I want everyone to experience these things I want to experience. They're just around the corner and I'm being invited to participate in that hope that comes to fruition. So for me, my faith has become less and less about the things I know and more and more about the things I hope for. Therefore, the things I work for. Therefore, the things that I actually participate in community with others, and that's been a game changer for me.

Japhet De Oliveira: That is a good shift. A good shift.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Well last question then, question 100. Not often asked, but I'm glad that you're willing to go there. If you wouldn't mind, could you tell us about one question that you just don't want to answer?

Jesse Seibel: So I get to ask, I get to tell you the question, but I don't have to answer it?

Japhet De Oliveira: You don't have to answer it if you don't want to, but it would be intriguing.

Jesse Seibel: Wow. One question I don't have to answer.

Japhet De Oliveira: Well that you'd rather not answer.

Jesse Seibel: Thanks for clarifying that part.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Jesse Seibel: If you had to ask me today, "Jessie, are you sure you are doing what you're supposed to do?" That would be a hard one for me.

Japhet De Oliveira: That would be a hard one. That'd be an honest one.

Jesse Seibel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Jesse Seibel: I would have to tell you, I don't know. Then I have to tell you what I hope, and this might sound bad, but I hope it doesn't matter. I hope that there's someone or something that's not only dealing with my deficiencies, but my times I go astray, and going, "Jesse, I got this." If there is a script that I'm supposed to follow, that would wake me up at 4:00 AM tomorrow morning, again.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. That's good. Hey, I appreciate that, Jesse, and honestly, I mean, to everybody who's listening, I'd like to encourage you to do exactly the same that we've just done here. I learned so much in these conversations and I appreciate your honesty, your vulnerability and the lessons of your life that actually, I think we can all pick up from. So I want to encourage people to do the same thing we just did.

Jesse Seibel: Oh, awesome.

Japhet De Oliveira: Right? Just have conversations, listen, ask good questions.

Jesse Seibel: I'm going to ask all these same questions to my wife when I get home today.

Japhet De Oliveira: She'd be amazing. We should actually record her as well. We should record her because she'd be an amazing guest as well. Silly me. I should have thought of that straight away. No, it's true. But I think they actually do. I think they do. I think we actually, we can make the world a better place. We can live our mission and our community in a much better way that God has called us to. So thank you for your time.

Jesse Seibel: Thank you.

Japhet De Oliveira: God bless all our listeners, and we'll see you in another episode.

Narrator: Thank you for joining us for The Story & Experience Podcast. We invite you to read, watch and submit your story and experience at AdventistHealth.org/Story. The Story & Experience Podcast was bought to you by Adventist Health.