In a world filled with noise and chaos, “The Light Podcast” features conversations among three Redondo students, centering on how their faith guides them. The podcast speaks about each group member’s favorite and special verses. Junior Ian Son, and seniors Zeke Johnson and Noah Elhardouzi have bonded and turned into better people through the relationships they have deepened with Jesus and have truly shown that Christianity can bring people closer together when practiced.
“We have that union of Christian faith to ask, can you pray for me? Or can we call? Can we talk about our problems? I think just having those Christian friends in my life has just been so beneficial for me, and I think us as a group have just bonded and grown so much,” Son said.
Son was motivated to create the podcast by “personal growth,” and the positive impact of faith.
“The main turning point where I felt super inspired to start a podcast was when I first started spreading the gospel, which is when I saw how it was impacting some people and the way it was positively changing their lives,” Son said. ”The podcast has made people come up to me and ask how else they can strengthen their relationship with God and devote their lives to Him. ‘The Light Podcast’ is a lot more than just a couple videos. It is also a community, and it gives people more opportunities to reach out and explore their faith.”
Son may have had the idea of a podcast, but the podcast includes co-creators, Johnson and Elhardouzi. Bringing these two in gave the podcast “some needed personality,” according to Son.
“One of the biggest reasons why I’m so glad I brought [Johnson] and [Elhardouzi] to the podcast is because each of them have so many different experiences and stories to share that their diverse testimonies are going to impact different people. I’m not going to be able to impact someone the same way that they’re going to be impacting them. It’s super important to have different people and different viewpoints,” Son said. “Both are great public speakers. Having them beside me with their confidence and humor is very helpful with spreading the Gospel.
Having different perspectives is also valuable to Elhardouzi, who believes that following Christianity can help people make amends and show others how much Christianity can be a part of someone’s life, no matter who they are.
“[Son] was called by God to add me or invite me to do it with him, so through my Testimony, we could reach other people. People look at [Son], and he’s the perfect dude, but [Johnson] and I have had our ups and downs through high school. I think that [Son] was called on for us to be used by God to spread His word and help show people that even though we aren’t perfect, we’re still followers of God,” Elhardouzi said.
According to Johnson, the three can help represent God’s messages, so people can grow closer through the help of the podcast and see role models of a true Christian around the community.
“[We started the podcast] to introduce people to Christianity. Even if people don’t watch it at all, all they have to do is see that we’re doing it, because if they see what we’re doing, they’ll know we are Christian. If they know we are Christian, see us around and see how we act, then they’ll know that we’re representing God,” Johnson said. “It’s good that people know I’m Christian because now if I’m living a certain way, they know you’re following God and know this is what it means to follow God. So ideally, the podcast was made to spread the word of God and help people grow in their faith.”
Though the podcast has had a successful start, the group still wants to expand into new ways to reach people, according to Elhardouzi.
“Aside from the podcast, we’re working right now to set up some kind of Bible study for Redondo students. We want to create a space for the community and for people who are watching the podcast. Also, we’re all leaders at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes [FCA] club on campus. We have a few famous guests in the works, so that hopefully will bring in a crowd,” Elhardouzi said.
They know the power of community-building through religion because it has developed the connection among the three of them. Their deep talks about Christianity have strengthened their relationship enough to be friends for life.
“[We now have] an unbreakable bond. [Religion] is the best thing you could have in common because the way you think about life is the exact same way,” Johnson said. “So whenever you have a disagreement, a fight or anything, you guys have Jesus in you.”
