The Dynamic Duo Begins Co-Hosts Assemble

What if your favorite stories could sharpen your conscience instead of dull it? We’re kicking off Season 3 by building a space where faith and fandom can breathe together—no gatekeeping, no yelling, just honest talk about the movies, comics, anime, and music that move us and the values they awaken.

With Mickey joining as co-host, the conversation widens. We trade notes on Marvel vs DC, laugh about our biases, and unpack why certain scenes lift our courage while others feel like a punch to the gut. We tackle idolatry in practical terms—how a good thing turns consuming when it starts to set your schedule, shape your reactions, and crowd out what matters most. Instead of wagging fingers, we offer questions to test your habits: What is this story feeding? What is it costing? Where does it leave your heart?

We also make a case for starting before you feel ready. You don’t need a studio to speak into culture; your phone and a clear purpose are enough. Creativity is a gift to steward, not fear. We explore how scripture critiques lies without crushing imagination, why dark narratives can still teach discernment, and how to hold real differences without contempt. Expect guests, listener-driven topics, and more video as we build a table that welcomes curiosity and keeps it real.

If you’re hungry for thoughtful pop culture talk that honors faith without turning it into a hammer, you’re in the right place. Hit follow, share this with a friend who loves stories, and leave a review with one topic you want us to tackle next. Your questions will shape where we go from here.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Hello everyone and welcome to the first episode of season three of the Compass Chronicles Podcast, where fandom meets faith. I'm your host, Javier, and I'm excited to introduce my new co-host, Mickey Woolry. Mickey, go ahead and introduce yourself.

Defining Faith And Fandom

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Hi, everyone. Welcome in, and I hope you're all having a great day. I can't wait for this new year to get off the ground. We have a lot to talk about this year, and a lot of amazing things are happening. And I know Javier is excited to tell you all about where we're going to be taking this podcast and what our future is looking like.

Broadening Topics Beyond Pop Culture

Civil Discourse And Open Doors

Mickey’s Take: Faith Everywhere

SPEAKER_00 1:24

You want to share that? Absolutely. Now, thank you again for joining me and being part of this adventure of ours. Yeah. So, as most people know, the podcast is about pop culture and how faith and fandom can both be used together. And also how we want to let people know that being creative, enjoying comic books, anime, movies, music, it's not a bad thing. It's actually a very beautiful thing. God gave us all these talents and imagination. If it's used properly, it's a beautiful thing. Our goal in this new season is that we want to talk about other subjects, faith and well, not faith, but a fandom itself. I think there's a lot of subjects out there that we can touch. Also, under the pop culture banner, there are a lot of issues that we all deal with in our daily lives that affect us. We could watch a movie, we could watch a TV show, and it may affect us in a way that we didn't know. We, as they call triggered, and we can talk about things like that, like what our idols are, or what triggered us on this idea, or I don't like how this went. We're going to talk about many different subjects that I never talked about on the podcast. Obviously, we want to talk about life issues, mental health, just how to live life in the way that God wants us to live, in a way that's morally acceptable and just something that people will enjoy and want to get to know. And I think one of our goals is to make people critically think and have civil discourse. That's my biggest thing for the podcast. I want us to have a conversation, not yelling, not bringing down anyone or crucifying anyone. We're not going to be a Bible thumping podcast. We are definitely talking about, we are a faith-based podcast. We are believing in Jesus as our personal savior and all that. But we also want people to be comfortable in coming in and asking questions or just wanting to know what we're all about. I don't want people to be afraid to ask. If they want to come on, let's talk. That's the goal for 2026. Things can change. Letting people know now the podcast is in motion, it's in flux right now. So it's moving, it has a lot of moving parts that may look different than when we start off the year with Mickey on and us. We are looking to go into some interesting places. I think it's going to be exciting. And again, I'm excited to have Mickey on board. For the first time, we're going to have guests on. Having Mickey on is a little bit more comfortable. I have someone else to talk with. So that we can spread God's word and spread just positive energy and positive thoughts and make everyone feel comfortable. Obviously, we don't condone certain things, but we also like to talk about them and see why. So, anyway, Mickey, you can always cut me off. This is the kind of podcast where we're just having a conversation. We're just talking. So if I talk too much, say, hey hop, let me get in here for a minute.

Differences Without Division

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Thank you for that. By the way, it's a great honor to have you asked me to join you in this. And I think it's going to be really exciting. So I thank you for that very much. For myself, I believe that faith should not be stuck in four walls of a church building. I think there's faith in everything. And I think that's where fandom and faith meet. When you watch movies and you read books, and whether it's you're watching binge watching the show or it's just a a good movie flick, a book you're reading, or music you're listening to, I think there's faith in everything. Faith means believing in something that's unseen. And fandom means being a fan of something or someone. So you can kind of put them together because I do believe that people have a lot of faith in what they're doing. And it kind of makes them who they are. The Lord says that He wants to give us the desires of our heart. He doesn't care if we like superheroes. My favorite superhero is Captain America. We all have our own favorites in life, and that's okay. We can relate because we all have a favorite. Now I'm not going to put Captain America up where God is. I know where his place is, but I do enjoy watching his movies. I think that with fandom and faith, when we connect the two and get people to talk about the things important to them, how they can relate to it in a face nature, but also just keeping it real and understanding that not everything in the world has to be sugar coated. There's a lot of sugar coating out there. Oh, yeah. And we can be real. We want to keep it real and talk about the ins and outs, sometimes the do's and don'ts, what we like and what we don't like. You know, it's okay to have differences. The world is so conformed about people being different that we're so offended. If you are different than me, we automatically become offended by that. We need to get over ourselves, is what we really need to do. Yeah, for sure. And accept each other, even with our differences. And my superhero may not be yours, but that doesn't mean I think any less of you or what you're doing.

Creativity, Darkness, And Meaning

Start Creating With What You Have

Idols, Focus, And Boundaries

Imagination Through A Faith Lens

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Exactly, exactly. Obviously, you're a Marvel fan. I'm a DC fan, so we are opposite tracks. But that's what's fun. You get to know what the other person enjoys, and maybe it's something you never thought of. All of a sudden you say, Wait, I never thought Captain America was this good. Let me go read comic book or let me look at the movie again. Winter Soldier is one of my favorite movies. Like you said, there's a lot in fandom and pop culture that can affect us, our faith can make us ask questions, it can uh make emotions react a certain way that we never thought we could react. I mean, I've read mangas that after I read them, I'm like, whoa, like, holy cow, how dark can this thing be? It starts to make you think like, what was this person thinking when they wrote it? What was their mental state when they wrote these stories or mangas or comic books? That's my thing. My thing is the creativity, right? The whole idea of like, where do you come up with these? And I think everybody has a little bit of crazy in them, only because of the stuff we create. I think we're a little crazy doing all this. Not everybody would take a chance enjoying to do something like a podcast, music, or anything like that. And I want to tell people also not to be afraid to go for it. Just go for it. What's the worst that can happen? Nothing, because it just stays there. If your goal is to make it a livelihood, then obviously you will put as much effort and as much want as you need. If God is directing you in that way, then obviously doors are gonna open. Just go and get on a mic, even on your phone. You don't need fancy equipment. Most phones have better cameras than we do on our desks. Just talk. Whatever's in your head. Somebody out there is gonna resonate with it. Somebody's gonna listen to it. When I first started the podcast, they was like, What? You're 100 years old? What are you talking about? Comics and everything. Well, there were comic books 100 years ago, and we enjoyed them, so you know, but there's so many things out there that we can that books, music, especially music, that does a lot to our emotions, and I think that's why the Bible, the book of Psalms, is in the Bible, because it's all music, it's all tone. God knew that music can make us feel very happy, very sad, very retrospective. So, like I said, we're gonna talk about whatever we can talk about. Obviously, there are gonna be subjects that we don't want to talk about because we're just not ready to talk about them, or whatever the point is. Also, want to tell people out we're not counselors, we're not Bible scholars, we're not theologians, we're just two people who enjoy fandom and pop culture and talking about stuff that goes on in our lives and how we can relate to fandom and faith. Fandom means being a fan of something. You can be an audiophile, you can be uh a book person that just enjoys books. Everything that you enjoy the most. I'm probably giving you a little bit of a preview. We're gonna be talking about what makes what idols do we have that separate us from uh what God wants us to do, or what makes it an idol, what made you make that into an idol. I think that's a good subject because I think a lot of people can relate to that because we can make anything an idol, it could be from money to food. I mean, it's anything. Anything can be an idol, can be an addiction, can be a you know, something that can hinder you. In my opinion, you can be that way and it can help you because if you're that focused, it can be a good thing. But when it becomes above the focus of God and it takes over who God is and who Christ is, then that's where the issue is. I think God gives us the energy to focus on things that will benefit and bless us and also benefit Him. So I think our podcast is going to be because both of us come from the same era, same time. We know what it is to grow up in a world where none of this craziness is going on. Every generation says it was a simpler time. We just didn't understand it because we were younger. When I look back at it, I'd be like, yeah, there are a lot of things. And if we tried now, there's no way it'll happen. But again, I'm excited to go on this journey with you. We're just gonna be talking about anything. We want people to be aware and keep in touch with us. Email us, call us, send us texts, DM us, message us. If you have ideas, do you want us to talk about questions? Or if you want to be on the show, that's a new goal for the compass to have actual video. We've always been audio. I don't like to show my face, but I have a uh co-host that can justify me being here. I think this is gonna be fun putting it out there and letting people see who we are, what we are, and just you know, have fun with it. I don't look at it as a job, I look at it as something that I enjoy doing. Well, a job, if you enjoy doing it, it doesn't become a job, right? So, you know, anyway, I'll bring it back to you. Any thoughts, any ideas?

Agreeing To Disagree Well

SPEAKER_01 10:51

Yeah, I think this is gonna be a great place where we get to actually talk about our imaginations and have an open forum. It's interesting when we look at 2 Corinthians when they talk about casting down the imaginations and every high thought that exalteth itself against God. When we talk about that scripture, I know somebody said to me one time, we're not supposed to have imaginations. I don't think they understand the concept of the verse because it's talking about the lies of the enemy. It's not talking about our actual imagination. So I think it's important that we share with our listeners that it's okay to have an imagination. You know, it's okay to write a book and write cute stories and funny things. We do want to make sure that it stays in line with the word of God and with God. We don't want to upset God, we want to please God. There is evil in this world, and it's okay to talk about it. There is hate in this world, it's okay to talk about it. There is happiness in this world, and we don't talk about that enough sometimes. I think you're right, for real. We need to be talking about some things and bringing some stuff to the table. Sometimes it's gonna take our imaginations to do that because we are scripted, we are groomed sometimes. We need to step out of that threshold and just start having some real good, heart-to-heart, open forum discussion and just keep it completely real, you know, with one another.

Support, Prayer, And Next Steps

Schedule, Platforms, And Thanks

SPEAKER_00 12:01

Yeah, and I want to let people know that me and McGee may not agree on everything, and we'll have a civil discussion. We'll talk about what we don't like or what we like. And at the end, we're both gonna come back with different thoughts, different ideas, and be like, hey, cool. You know, I never thought of it that way. So I think uh that's exactly what our goal is to make people comfortable, to enjoy, because it takes time to listen to two people that you have no idea who they are, and talking to you. We thank everyone that supports us, everyone that supports my podcast, supports Mickey's podcast. And we just thank you because without them listening, we wouldn't be doing this. The support we get from a lot of people that don't know they're behind us in a lot of ways. They're not the ones that are forefront in the picture, but they're behind us, and they're prayer warriors, and there's people there that are just support us in ways that we may not, but we know they are, and we know we have a God that backs us up. And sometimes we'll smack us in the back of the head and say, Hey, nope, you're not going that way, go the other way. That's when we have to be open to know that's God telling us we have to go this way. There's gonna be a short video, just an introduction, short podcast show, so you get to know who we are. We're gonna be trying to release at least two episodes a month, if I'm correct. Anyway, you'll see when I post them up and everything else, and Mickey also will be putting them out there. So, anyway, Mickey, thank you so much for being part of this crazy adventure we're about to go on. We thank God and we pray that God holds our hands and be above us. Again, this is the Compass Chronicles podcast with myself, Javier, and my co-host. Mickey. Trust me, people, we're getting to learn this together. So, anyway, we want to thank everyone who listened, who joined, and who's gonna come forward. Please check us out. We're gonna have all the uh links to our stuff up soon. We're gonna have a Facebook page, we're gonna have uh YouTube page, we're gonna have all that stuff. Thank you everyone for joining, and we will see you on the next one.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

Take care.