In Episode 1107 of the Outlier's Edge Podcast, Niiamah Ashong coaches Terry Read live on air. Terry is a retired engineer who had a career as a federal civilian in the Department of Defense, a director at the San Antonio Bible-Based Science Association, and a man with one message to spread: "you can believe the Bible." The coaching takes his question of how to reach the people in the pews, and explores turning the message from a push into a pull: making it safe to ask questions and showing up where the people who are seeking already listen.
Episode at a glance
- Guest: Terry Read, retired engineer and director at the San Antonio Bible-Based Science Association
- Background: career as a federal civilian in the Department of Defense
- Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
- Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, Episode 1107, released November 10, 2026
- Format: live coaching conversation, 46 minutes
- Topics: spreading a message, making it safe to ask questions, one human family, push versus pull, breaking through the noise, reaching people who are seeking
What Terry brought to the conversation
Terry Read is a retired engineer who had a career as a federal civilian in the Department of Defense, and today he is a director at the San Antonio Bible-Based Science Association. He believes the Bible should be taken the way it's written, and after years of questions he found answers that brought him peace, which left him asking where they had been all his life. His message is "you can believe the Bible," and that people should be able to ask questions when something isn't meshing. He has written articles and given presentations in churches, where the people in the pews have responded with positive comments, and he came in to take the message from church to church and reach the people who are seeking.
What shifted
Niiamah saw that Terry had been leading with information and answers, and invited him to turn the message from a push into a pull by creating safer spaces for questions to be asked. He then made it simple: Terry found his own answers on the radio, so the question is what the equivalent of that radio is today, and how to make sure the people already looking can find the message. Terry named his own insight on air: stay open, be willing to rethink things, and take the opportunity when it comes.
If you’re a leader ready for this kind of conversation about your own work, here’s where to start: 1:1 with Niiamah | World of Difference, our coaching membership.
Questions this episode answers
How can a leader turn a message from a push into a pull?
Niiamah Ashong's answer for Terry Read is to stop leading with all the answers and create safer spaces for questions to be asked. A good question invites someone to consider a different perspective and signals that questions are welcome, and that is what draws people toward a message.
How does a message break through the noise online?
Niiamah Ashong's view is that every platform, from a church to YouTube, has its own objectives, and a message travels further when it fits what that platform is trying to accomplish. He calls the algorithm a technical solution to a human problem, so the bigger question is whether the work is something people actually want to watch.
Where should someone with a message start reaching people?
Terry Read found the answers he was looking for on a radio program he came across while turning through stations. Niiamah Ashong asked what the equivalent of that radio is today, pretty much YouTube and podcasts, and suggested starting with hosts who already welcome people interested in the Bible, so the people who are seeking can hear Terry's questions and answers.
Why don't people know they want a message until they hear it?
Terry Read believes many people want to hear what he has to say but don't know it until they've heard it. Niiamah Ashong's answer is that the primary game is making sure people know the message exists, starting with the basics: can the people already looking for it find it?
What does it mean to see everyone as one human family?
For Terry Read, believing the Bible means all human beings are part of the same human family, with one race, the human race, so he and Niiamah Ashong are distant cousins. Niiamah said he could feel the warmth in it: if everyone is family, everyone should be doing the best for each other.
In their words
“I want to be able to spread that message to them that you can believe the Bible.”
Terry Read
“You and I are part of the same human family.”
Terry Read, to Niiamah Ashong
“Create safer spaces for questions to be asked.”
Niiamah Ashong, on turning a push into a pull
Key moments
00:00 – Welcome to the Outlier's Edge Podcast
00:34 – An Engineer With a Defense Department Career
01:16 – The Message: You Can Believe the Bible
02:47 – Feel Free to Ask Questions
06:33 – Where Has This Been All My Life?
08:24 – From Cognitive Dissonance to Peace
10:11 – One Human Family, One Human Race
16:03 – The One Thing: Reaching Church Leadership
19:11 – Taking the Message From Church to Church
21:02 – Available to Those Who Are Seeking
24:33 – People Are the Harder Skill
26:56 – From Push to Pull
33:41 – How Do You Break Through the Noise?
36:07 – A Technical Solution to a Human Problem
39:28 – They Don't Know They Want It Until They Hear It
43:03 – What's Your Equivalent of Radio?
45:41 – Stay Open and Rethink Things
Enter Terry Read’s world
Terry suggests that listeners start by reading the Bible themselves, and points them to the San Antonio Bible-Based Science Association website for links to its podcast and more information.
More conversations like this
- Stepping Into Greatness: Shaping Your Journey Without Settling for Mediocrity
- Journey to Healing: Finding Hope After a Tragedy with Jennifer Eikenhorst
- Building Safe Spaces with Alejandra Castillo
About Niiamah Ashong
Niiamah Ashong is a coach to outlier leaders, host of the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, and founder of the Trailblazer Collective. He coaches leaders who are creating something only they can make: a company, a body of work or a movement. The Outlier’s Edge Podcast is a live coaching show. Make a difference with your difference.
Work with Niiamah: 1:1 with Niiamah | World of Difference, our coaching membership
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