BONUS: Get To Know Leo McKinely

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Hey, it's me and it's Friday and
I know you weren't expecting 

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something from me and your feed 
today, but I'm trying something 

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a little new. 
I've recently been doing some 

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short interviews on our guest 
episodes to let you get to know 

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our guests a little better. 
However, I want to be sure that 

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the Sunday episodes are really 
accomplishing what the podcast 

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is intended to do, which is 
prepare minds for worship. 

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So I'm not sure that Sundays are
the best time for those 

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interviews. 
Now, I don't know if the many 

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interviews will stick around and
become a permanent fixture of 

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the show, but when I'm able to 
fit them into the schedule, I'm 

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going to plug those in the 
podcast feed on Fridays. 

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That way we can get to know our 
guests on Friday and get to know

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the Lord on his day. 
Clear as mud. 

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Great, I thought. 
So of course, if you have any 

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feedback, send it my way. 
I'd love to hear from you. 

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Anyway, our guest on Sunday will
be Leo McKinley. 

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I first met Leo over a decade 
ago when I was trying out for a 

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congregation in his area, and 
we've kept in touch to varying 

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degrees ever since. 
And after learning a little bit 

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more about him, I know you'll 
appreciate him like I do. 

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So without any further ado, 
here's my chat with brother Leo 

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McKinley. 
Hey Leo, welcome to the show. 

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I'm I'm excited to finally get 
some time to talk. 

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Why don't you tell us a little 
bit about yourself? 

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Thank you for having me, by the 
way. 

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I'm honored to be here as a part
of your podcast. 

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I know you've had some very 
impressive people here. 

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And so I'm not sure if I quite 
live up to that same level of 

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name. 
I went to breed Hardiman for 

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college down in Henderson, TN. 
You know, there you have to take

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one Bible class every semester. 
And so I have what, what amounts

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to close to a minor in Bible, 
but I never really intended to 

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preach. 
I just got invited to preach one

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time somewhere. 
And it's just fun from there 

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that I, I'm preach just about 
every week, but at a different 

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congregation. 
I'm not at a set congregation 

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every every week. 
And that's more of the space 

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that I like because I'm a full 
time math teacher at Paducah 

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Tillman High School in Paducah, 
KY, and I've been doing that for

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18 years. 
So just completed 18 years. 

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I've been the department chair 
since 2018. 

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And so that that keeps me busy, 
but I'm grateful that I still 

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get to scratch the edge of 
preaching as well. 

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Sure. 
Leo, on that note, has been 

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nominated for and the recipient 
of several awards for being an 

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outstanding educator. 
So, Leo, my first question for 

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you is what does it feel like to
be the best teacher in the 

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world? 
Yeah. 

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You'll have to ask somebody else
that question that actually fits

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that that title, but you know, 
like it. 

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It's a blessing to be able to 
teach my My dad passed away a 

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year ago and he was illiterate. 
And so I looked at how that 

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brought a lot of challenges to 
his life. 

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Being able to to read or write 
really brought some challenges. 

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And so being able to teach, and 
although I'm not teaching kids 

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how to read or write at the high
school level, especially 

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teaching math, being able to 
teach and provide people with 

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with knowledge that my dad was 
not able to gain is is what 

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allowed my heart to fall in love
with teaching. 

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Wow, it's, it's amazing. 
You know, it's, it's really 

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interesting how that came full 
circle for you. 

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Absolutely. 
You know, and then on my mom's 

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side, my mom did not go to high 
school as as a student. 

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She quit in 8th grade. 
And so it's really neat for 

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them. 
They've told me this, to have a 

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son that that's teaching. 
Well, that, that's excellent. 

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Thank you so much for sharing 
that with us, Leo. 

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On that same note, we see 
teachers around the country that

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seem to be exiting the 
profession for a variety of 

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reasons. 
What keeps you going back and 

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keeps you passionate about 
educating young people? 

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It's the kids, you know, and, 
and you're so right, there are 

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studies out there that suggest 
that, you know, most people, 

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they get out of education do so 
within the first five years that

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they've been in it. 
And so I've, I had some 

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struggles those first few years 
as well. 

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But then as you sink your teeth 
into it more, you, you get to a 

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point where it's, it's 
economically, it's not even 

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smart to get out of it because 
you don't want to start a new 

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career at let's say 30 years old
or something. 

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But beyond that, being able to 
help students see that light 

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bulb go off, being able to 
impart knowledge to kids, being 

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able to help them, help them 
achieve things that they didn't 

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think were possible. 
All of that inspires me. 

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Just being, being involved in 
the kids lives, you know, as a, 

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as a 40 year old person that 
doesn't have any kids, I look at

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a lot of these kids as my own 
kids and have been fortunate to 

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drop some of them off at college
to let some of them stay at my 

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house whenever they didn't have 
another place to stay. 

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So honestly, what keeps me in it
is the kids. 

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There are some rough days, but 
whenever you remember what your 

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why is, it's easy to keep going 
and through all of the 

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frustrations that come. 
Yeah. 

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And I see you being tagged on 
Facebook and other platforms by 

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a lot of those former students. 
And what I've really found 

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encouraging about that, the 
common denominator is the 

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positive impact that you've had 
on them. 

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You know, can you speak to that 
a little bit and say, you know, 

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I guess what does it mean for 
you to have them in a long 

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lasting way, look back and see 
the impact you've made actively 

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in their lives? 
You know, that's a hard question

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for me to answer, Daniel, simply
because I try not to sit back 

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and think about it, you know, 
because I don't want to get 

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haughty or, or think that I'm 
doing more than what I actually 

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am doing. 
It is very gracious of the 

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students that have that have 
come and kept in touch with me 

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or tagged me in pictures. 
I was just out on the other two 

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days ago and I ran into two, two
different students in two 

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different instances within a 
matter of 30 minutes of each 

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other. 
And we were able to have a have 

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a long conversation about, you 
know, just remembering yesterday

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about things and, and whatnot. 
Being able to have some 

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semblance of an impact on them 
is important because at the end 

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of the day, a lot of these kids 
don't have male role models. 

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And so being able to fill in the
gap for some of them has been 

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wonderful. 
But honestly, the and I'm not 

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trying to be rude to you, but I 
feel like the, the framing of 

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your, of your question is a 
little bit backwards because I 

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feel like I'm bidding by being 
able to be in their lives and 

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them to include me in it. 
I've had, I've had several 

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students that have asked me to 
perform their, their wedding 

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that have, you know, kept me in 
touch whenever they've had kids 

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being born. 
And, you know, that's, that's 

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all things where I feel like 
they're impacting my life more 

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than I'm impacting theirs. 
And maybe it's a reciprocal 

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thing there, but I'm I'm 
certainly not going to try to 

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take any, any credit. 
I've I've been blessed more than

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other teachers in the sense that
my entire career I've never been

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married and I haven't had kids. 
So whereas other teachers have 

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had to spend time with their 
personal family, I've been able 

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to stretch myself out some and 
be it more of their more of my 

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students games and activities 
and and go to college events 

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with them after they leave high 
school and whatnot. 

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So I've I've been blessed. 
I think that's an awesome way to

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think of it and I appreciate you
bringing out that perspective. 

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It, you know, so often I think 
we as the, the church can be 

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really backwards in that and we 
can sometimes view, well, the 

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ultimate fulfillment of life is 
marriedness and kids. 

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And we kind of lose sight of, 
well, there is an impact outside

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of that that I can have. 
And it's really neat to be able 

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to see you have that impact on 
those kids. 

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Absolutely. 
I was just thinking the other 

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day about that because I just 
turned 40 a week ago today. 

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And I remember thinking to 
myself, you know, being upset 

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and frustrated that I don't have
any kids. 

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And then it dawned on me, I've 
had 2000 kids at this point over

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the course of an 18 year career.
And so like I've that's, that's 

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a lot of kids I've had. 
That's that's excellent. 

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One more question for you before
I let you go today, Leo. 

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What encouragement do you have 
for those former students or 

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other believers and fellow 
educators? 

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Oh goodness. 
You know, I've, I've tried to 

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invite many of these kids to 
church over the years and 

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several have come. 
And that's what matters the most

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to me. 
Because at the end of the day, I

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tell my students this on the 
last day of school all the time.

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You're going to find somebody 
who's going to teach math to you

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better in a way that you 
understand better than I am that

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you will not find another 
teacher that's going to love you

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to the level that I do. 
And I hope that that's something

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that sticks with these kids, the
ones that I had way back in 2008

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whenever I first began, and the 
ones that just graduated 2 weeks

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ago. 
I hope that they all understand 

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that that love that I have for 
them does not dwindle over time.

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And as more kids come up, you 
know, like sometimes it's easy 

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to focus on the, on the 
periphery of what you have here 

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in front of you right now. 
But like I, I want to remain a 

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part of their life and I want 
them to understand that, you 

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know, like if, if you leave this
classroom and all I've taught 

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you is math, I've failed at what
I tried to accomplish because to

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me, there's things that are more
important than math, such as 

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their faith. 
Like I, I want to, I want to 

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have that kind of lasting impact
on these kids. 

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And I know that teaching at a 
public school, it's hard to 

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bring up faith honestly 
sometimes, but there are ways 

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that you can bring it up with 
without, you know, directly 

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talking about it sometimes. 
For instance, whenever we start 

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the school year, we'll play 
icebreaker games. 

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You know those good to know you 
games then. 

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And I'll just, you know, 
casually mention that I've that 

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I preach and you will not 
believe how many times from that

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convert from that, like little 
short mention that a kid, you 

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know, months later, years later 
even will will say something, 

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reach out to me about religion. 
And that's what matters to me 

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most. 
And that's that's what I want to

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leave the kids with is that I 
want you to understand math. 

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I want us to have the best test 
scores possible. 

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But at the end of the day, I 
want you to look at me as a 

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Christian and someone who wants 
to connect with you beyond 

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Paducah Tillman High School, but
to connect with you on something

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that is more lasting, which is 
our souls and and faith and a 

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love for God. 
Absolutely. 

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That's an excellent perspective,
man. 

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Thank you so much for sharing 
that with us. 

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Thank you for taking some time 
out of your morning to talk to 

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me today. 
And I, I so appreciate it and I 

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love you brother, and all the 
things that you're doing and the

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things that you're about. 
I, I count myself blessed to 

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have met you all day those years
ago. 

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I appreciate Leo taking some 
time to talk to us and I can't 

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wait to share his thoughts with 
you on the Lord's Day. 

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Thanks for listening. 
Thanks for spending some time 

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with me on a Friday and I'll see
you Sunday.