In this week’s Brief: We take a wide-angle look at 2025, what we thought the year would hold, what actually happened, and what surprised us along the way, starting with a revisit to our predictions from January.
Then we talk about the most influential people of 2025 followed by the biggest stories in fashion, food, pop-culture, sports, travel, nature, tech, global news, politics before landing on what we thought was the most defining story of the year.
Plus the biggest biggest flops, most bizarre headlines,the best spiritual moments of 2025, and the lessons, both personal and collective, that emerged as the year unfolded.
And as always, we zoom out to consider how Christians can look back honestly, discern wisely, and move forward with clarity and hope as culture continues to shift.
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Topics
- (00:00): Introduction
- (02:10): 2025 Predictions recap
- (06:42): Fun stats and tidbits from 2025
- (10:56): Most influential people of 2025
- (22:33): Prominent deaths in 2025
- (24:05): Biggest flops of 2025
- (28:48): Bizarre stories of the year
- (31:31): Pop culture highlights
- (34:24): Favorite movies of the year
- (35:47): Major sports stories
- (38:15): Travel disasters and aviation incidents
- (39:22): Natural disasters and government failures
- (41:58): Global headlines
- (43:08): Political shifts and controversies
- (45:53): Biggest story of the year
- (48:41): Reflections and lessons from 2025
- (51:45): Looking forward to 2026
Resources
Articles on this week’s top headlines:
About Conner Jones
Conner Jones is the Director of Performance Marketing at Denison Ministries and Co-Hosts Denison Forum’s “Culture Brief” podcast. He graduated from Dallas Baptist University in 2019 with a degree in Business Management. Conner passionately follows politics, sports, pop-culture, entertainment, and current events. He enjoys fishing, movie-going, and traveling the world with his wife and son.
About Micah Tomasella
Micah Tomasella is the Director of Advancement at Denison Ministries and co-hosts Denison Forum’s “Culture Brief” podcast. A graduate of Dallas Baptist University, Micah is married to Emily, and together they are the proud parents of two daughters. With an extensive background in nonprofit work, finance, and real estate, Micah also brings experience from his years in pastoral church ministry.
About Denison Forum
Denison Forum exists to thoughtfully engage the issues of the day from a biblical perspective through The Daily Article email newsletter and podcast, the Faith & Clarity podcast, as well as many books and additional resources.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
NOTE: This transcript was AI-generated and has not been fully edited.
Conner Jones: [00:00:00] Hi, I’m Conner Jones.
Micah Tomasella : I’m Micah Tomasella,
Conner Jones: and this is Culture Brief, a Dennison Forum podcast where we navigate the constant stream of top stories and news, politics, sports, pop culture, technology, and so much more. And we do it all from a Christian perspective, and we are doing a 2025 recap episode. Micah, are
Micah Tomasella : you excited?
Oh, I’m excited. I know that our audience, if they could speak right back to us right now, are just brimming with joy, excitement to recap the good, the bad, and the ugly of 2025 together.
Conner Jones: Yeah, man, I would say it was definitely a interesting and chaotic, but somewhat formative year, you know? Yeah, for sure.
Micah Tomasella : For
Conner Jones: sure. I think. Here’s what we’re gonna do, Micah. Yeah. We are gonna go back to our very first episode of 2025 in January. We made some predictions of what we thought could happen this year, so we’re gonna hit on those predictions. We’re gonna go through some other. Fun stats. We’re gonna talk about prominent people in 2025.
We’re gonna talk about the most bizarre stories, the biggest flops of 2025, and then we’re also gonna hit on the most important [00:01:00] stories that happened this year. Looking back at the episodes we recorded, just looking back at headlines and news, and then we’ll definitely talk about what did God teach us this year?
Yeah, that is something so big. What did we learn through this? What did we hope you guys learned through this? And what’s God pressing on our hearts as we look forward to 2026?
Micah Tomasella : And just the cultural impact. Of these stories is something to kind of keep in mind and frame the mindset as we head into this discussion.
It’s gonna be a fun one. We’re gonna fly through a lot of information together, looking back in order to look forward. It’s not just living in the past, just to live in the past, like we’re looking forward to what God’s gonna do in our lives. In your lives and in the lives of those who are in our country and around the world heading into 2026.
But just keep in mind, Conner said a great word here. It’s a very formative year. I think that’s the perfect way to put it. Good things and bad things. I think 2025 really help shape what culture’s gonna look like moving forward. There’s always surprises, but we saw a big shift here and so prayerfully, I hope some things change and honestly, prayerfully, I hope some things stay the same.
So let’s jump into it.
Conner Jones: Alright, let’s jump into, are we calling this the brief? I don’t know. [00:02:00] Let’s jump into the recap. The recap. There we go. The recap. The recap. Okay. Perfect.
Okay. Let’s start with our 2025 predictions. From January very first episode, we dropped these predictions. Oh, lordy. You know what Micah? I’m a little, I’m a little proud in some instances I’m a little ashamed in others. So let’s just start off. Yeah. We both predicted the Super Bowl champs right up front.
You had predicted the bills. I had predicted the lions. We were both wrong. That ended up being the
Micah Tomasella : Eagles. Yeah. Look, this, that was in, that was in February of this year. You know, so we could technically predict again who’s gonna win the Super Bowl early next year for this season. But anyway, yes, the Eagles won.
Conner and I would never pick the Eagles, even if, even if we knew we were gonna be wrong. We’re not gonna pick the Eagles to win anything whatsoever. Nope. Can’t. I hope they go, oh, in 17.
Conner Jones: Oh yeah, no kidding. Every year. Okay, then we, then we predicted the master’s champion. This is the biggest golf tournament in the world every year.
And Micah, you had predicted a good one. Scottie Scheffler. [00:03:00] Yeah. And I had predicted Rory McElroy. And guess what? Rory did it. Rory won one. He finally got his masters, so we took that one. Good for him. Yeah, good for him. And yeah, I was happy to get that one right. And then the biggest movie at the box office, we made predictions there, Micah, you had said Mission Impossible, the Final Reckoning, or Superman, you gave two answers and you still got ’em wrong.
Micah Tomasella : Oh yeah, yeah.
Conner Jones: I had predicted Avatar, fire and Ash. But as of this recording, we’re recording on. December 19th. This is Friday. That movie comes out today. So yeah, we’re not gonna know the answer to this one quite yet. I have a feeling it’s gonna get up there, but we’ll see. It’s gonna be a big one. Yeah, but just so y’all are aware, the biggest movie of the year technically was a movie called NI ZA two from China that made $2.2 billion.
It blew up over here in America too. In a sense. It was translated, but. The biggest US movie was a Minecraft, a movie, and then Zootopia two as well. Come on. So in all three animated films, the kids want to go to the movies, guys. That’s what Hollywood needs to know, [00:04:00] you know? Okay. Micah, biggest song of the year.
We were trying to predict who would have it. You said Post Malone? Yeah, I said Bruno Mars. Wow. Correct answer was Die With A Smile by Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga.
Micah Tomasella : But you didn’t know. He’d partner up with Lady Gaga and put out a banger like that. Goodness gracious. I’m just telling you, man. I know. Good for
Conner Jones: you.
There’s some magic touch there at brutal Bars. Good for you. I personally don’t even like his music that much, but I understand Posty.
Micah Tomasella : Yeah. I think his transition has been interesting from more r and b hip hop to. Country kind of still r and b, hip hop type of country. I think it’s been an interesting transition, but yeah, he’s all right.
Conner Jones: Okay. And then we threw out some big wild card predictions I had predicted, and this was a big thing back in January when Trump was coming into office when we were doing this. Yeah. I had predicted that the US would annex Greenland and Puerto Rico as new states completely wrong there. Just totally off base.
Actually kind of happy I was wrong. I don’t think we need them as, as states. Puerto Rico is a territory already and [00:05:00] Greenland is its own nation, so that was gonna be interesting if we went down that route. Micah, you had a good one here. You wanna tell us what your prediction was on this one?
Micah Tomasella : I mean, it was a good one.
It was a good prediction to have, but I was wrong. The prediction was that the AI investment bubble will take a hit in 2025 and it didn’t at all. If anything, it’s gained steam. It’s really been the driving force, been the foundation for why we’ve continued to have a bull market in 2025. And why, if you know, you know us with having in investments in the stock market and any of our listeners who invested in the stock market, you can think AI investments for why your portfolio looks good. This year, there were so many industries that took a hit and AI undergirded all of it. And if anything, I’m glad that it didn’t take a massive hit.
Conner Jones: Yeah. The only thing could be it’s actually building an even bigger bubble than it did back in January. I, I,
Micah Tomasella : I actually would say you, I could give me like a wild card, like another one for 2026.
I don’t think this is a bubble at all. I think this is okay. This is the wake. This is the economy now, like AI is the [00:06:00] Yeah, it’s, yeah, it might be, man, there are certain companies doing more or like doing less than we think, but there’s so many companies that you can invest in now that are focusing on different sectors within AI and what AI can do.
And so as long as the technology continues to progress, which it will and co competition does that, we’re in this big competition with China right now and so competition’s gonna continue to drive that and I think this is only gonna continue to go up. It definitely seems like the future. I don’t think there’s going back out and there and there’s pros and cons to that, but I’m just saying investment wise, it helped all of our investments in 2025.
True. Very true.
Conner Jones: Okay, those are where our predictions, we’ll come back in January. We’ll do some more predictions. Yeah, maybe we’ll add some things to that or change it up a little bit and see what we can come up with. But Michael, let’s hit on a couple little fun things from 2025. Just some little stats and tidbits that I think are interesting.
Would you like to guess what the most downloaded app in 2025 was? Chat DPT, without a doubt. You would be correct? Yeah, man, it’s gotta be the ai, just investment. Like without a doubt, [00:07:00] chatty is just up there. He’s just, he’s the most popular guy, most popular pal for everybody right now. I call him chat,
Micah Tomasella : but you know, just chat for short, you know what I mean?
He’s, I think only his mother calls him chatty.
Conner Jones: I, I don’t know, dude. I’ve been in a lot of conversations. People are like, yo, I asked chatty about this. I’m like, ah, that was definitely a Gen
Micah Tomasella : Z or Gen
Conner Jones: Alpha
Micah Tomasella : Who
Conner Jones: said that? Yeah, maybe. I mean, I’m talking about even some of our coworkers here at Dentist and Ministries.
We have Z on staff. We do. We do. Okay. Something else, this is a cool stat, interesting stat. Gallup says that Americans at 2025. Drank alcohol at the lowest level that they have since 1939. That is insane to me. It seems like a positive. I think there’s a lot of reasons for that. I’m not gonna dive into all the reasons, but isn’t that interesting, Micah?
Micah Tomasella : It’s very interesting. Let me give one good reason, one bad reason. There is a more investment in health ’cause there’s just so much at our fingertips now and knowledge is power and so people are understanding the negative. [00:08:00] Results of drinking alcohol. That’s the pro, the con. I think people are getting together less than they ever have.
True. I think there’s more isolation. I don’t think people are meeting for happy hours. I don’t think people are meeting for a drink anymore. You might not love that people go and get a drink and you might not partake in drinking. However, it is a medium to get people together and talking. So I think that that’s also a reason Isolation has led to this as well, which is the con.
Conner Jones: Yep. And there’s also been this massive uptick in non-alcoholic beer and beverages and mocktails and stuff. Yeah. So you get kind of the flavor, but not the ingredients that cause it to be alcohol. Yeah. I just think it’s interesting. It is a big cultural touchpoint. Okay. Words of the year. So let’s look back at the last two years from Words of the Year that came from like Oxford and dictionary.com and Mirror Webster.
Micah 2023. Everybody’s gonna remember this one. The word era was like the center of everything. Oh, when Taylor Swift was on her big Aris tour, Aris tour eras, everybody’s I’m in my blah blah, blah era. You know, all of that. The word, you know what I’m talking about. Every, every post on Instagram and social media was like in my whatever [00:09:00] era, and then the word Riz and AI came up in 2023.
That’s when AI became kind of like a word everybody knew, but Riz man. Yeah.
Micah Tomasella : 23. In 23, AI was kind of a thought. You know what I mean? Some people had a little bit of AI they were using, it’s way different now and then Riz. Yeah. I’m glad people aren’t saying that as much anymore.
Conner Jones: Yeah, me too. 2024, the words were brat, brain, rott, and demure, all just, you know, related to social media.
You know, that was that big word on TikTok. This year though, we talked about this one earlier in a podcast a few weeks ago. The Oxford Word of the year was rage bait. You know, we, we discussed that and what that means. Dictionary dot com’s, word of the year was 67 or six. Seven, six. That’s what would say, which I still don’t think anybody knows what that actually means.
It just, that’s the point it gets said, that’s the point. It is what it is.
And then Merrim, Webster’s word was slop. Yeah. Which I think they’re relating to ai, but I think you could also apply it to, we talked about this Netflix slop, like Netflix just produces so much bad [00:10:00] television, but so does so many other places, and
Micah Tomasella : so does ai.
It’s the Cheesecake Factory menu of options on. Yep. Things like Netflix. If you do so many things, you can’t do much in excellence. So that’s the trade off. So therefore, yeah, I was reading about, you get Slop,
Conner Jones: I was reading about the origin of the word slop and it came from in like the 18 hundreds. They would just.
Mixed together a bunch of foods to try to make something, and when it plopped down on the plate or whatever, it just, they came up with the word slop. I was thinking stuff that looked bad, what they
Micah Tomasella : fed pigs like pig slop, you know, something like that. Basically, yes, poured into the. Whatever container.
Whatever would what? A pigs out
Conner Jones: the trough eat outta the trough. A trough. The trough, yeah. Yeah.
Micah Tomasella : The trough. Sloping. The
Conner Jones: trough baby. Basically. And now that what those pigs are eating is basically what we’re just ingesting as our entertainment, right? Just on our You go our screens. Yeah. Ai slopping all that.
Okay, Michael, let’s do something fun here. Let’s rank the most [00:11:00] influential people of 20, 25. Now I wanna clarify. We both come up with our names. Mike is gonna say his, I’m gonna say mine. We’re gonna go five to one. This is not necessarily people we think are great. Correct. This is most influential. They had the biggest like impact on the world, on our country in 2025.
And we’re gonna give some honorable mentions afterwards as well. People that like they, it’s just their year. Yeah. For whatever reason, whether they’re doing bad things, good things, high achievements. Yeah, Lowe’s, we’re gonna talk about all of that. So Micah, let’s go 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and just give us our power rankings.
I would love to start with your number five.
Micah Tomasella : So I’m gonna do five and then you’re gonna do five and then, yeah, yeah, yeah. So on and so forth. Alright, so just to clarify, the rubric of this was the power rankings of the top five most influential people of 2025. The way that I would define influence is not somebody that you always hear about all the time.
Certainly that does fit this. My definition of influence is somebody who has sway, somebody who has power, somebody who changed the dynamics of [00:12:00] our culture, our country. What’s going on in the world now, but also for the future. So lemme just clarify. That was kind of my rubric for why. Oh yeah. I came up with this top five.
All right. Number five would be Jerome Powell. So he’s not. Flashy, he leads the Federal Reserve. It’s not a flashy pick, but it’s powerful because he’s still there after everything. Trump has hurled at him this year. So Trump has tried everything he can legally to remove him. He has stayed in power, but he has big influence over interest rates, inflation, housing markets, economic confidence, a lot of power in Jerome Powell’s hands.
So that’s why I picked him at number five.
Conner Jones: Yeah, I think that’s a good pick. Just one of those guys who’s kind of behind the scenes a lot of times, but his words carry a lot of weight because the economy listens. Yeah. Wall Street listens, right? We all are impacted by that. My number five is another one that you may not know super well, but it’s Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, and the reason I’ve picked him is because man, he’s been, his hands have been in everything from Hollywood to politics [00:13:00] to just world affairs and everything.
Yeah, I would say. First and foremost, he’s just a massive Trump donor, so he has a lot of influence over Trump. He was at one point this year, the world’s wealthiest man. He took over Elon Musk for two days, a few days there back in September. He’s not that anymore. He was worth 400 billion at that point.
He’s now sitting at like 233 billion. Not a bad bag, but he’s definitely, he’s, he’s dropped back down to Earth a little bit. That’s close to half. Wow. Yeah, he’s, it goes up and down, you know, stocks. Yeah,
Micah Tomasella : yeah, yeah. But
Conner Jones: with Oracle, he’s now got his fingers in Defense Department contracts, department of Energy contracts, AI contracts with the government.
Yep. His son is trying to buy Warner Brothers with Paramount, and he’s also now a part of a group that is buying TikTok. That was actually announced this week. He’s gonna have his hands on TikTok. So a lot of influence from this guy who, a lot of people don’t know, but he’s, he’s got his hands in everything.
We’re quite influential.
Micah Tomasella : Yep. Yep. Okay, so my number four is Benjamin Netanyahu. Hmm. Who is the. [00:14:00] He’s the Prime Minister of Israel, right? That’s his title. Yeah. Pm Yep. So you’ve got Israel’s ongoing war, regional instability in the Middle East, global diplomatic fallout, keep Netanyahu at the center. Bibb, as his friends would call him, of one of the most consequential geopolitical moments in decades.
So like he’s had a lot of accusations hurled at him. People love him, people hate him, but there’s a peace deal now in place they’re trying to regulate and try to get some relations moving forward. Between Israel and Saudi Arabia and you know, him and Trump have been going at it kind of back and forth with each other all year.
So I, you know, for global stability purposes, that’s why I picked him in number four. Yeah,
Conner Jones: I agree. He is definitely up there on my list as well. Okay, number four for me was Elon Musk, just because, I mean, you say his name, everybody knows who he is. He’s got his hands in ai, obviously social media with x.
Obviously at the beginning of the year, he was one of the most powerful figures in government. Briefly. Yeah. Even though he wasn’t even like an official employee. Yeah. [00:15:00] Just everywhere. Trying to get us to space, trying to get us in ai, trying to get the government to slash funds. It is insane how much Elon Musk was involved in this year, and he’s just is and probably will be for many, many years.
One of the most influential people on earth.
Micah Tomasella : Yep. That makes sense. All right. My number three is Sam Altman. Sam Altman is. CEO and founder of Open AI and AI is no longer theoretical guys like we’ve been talking about. It’s shaping education, work warfare ethics in real time. And Altman sits at the center of that conversation and has outsized influence over where all of this AI stuff goes has influence in the White House.
But even just the fact that open AI is like going head to head. With Google in ai, with meta in ai, I mean, he’s going up against Elon in AI and kind of winning most of the time. It’s, it’s actually unbelievable kind of how he came outta nowhere and wields a [00:16:00] tremendous amount of influence in the tool that we’re starting to all use now, and we’re gonna be using more in the future.
Conner Jones: Yeah, it’s funny, my number three is also Sam Altman because you’re exactly right man. He’s just, this AI thing is huge. I don’t know if he will stay at the forefront of it forever, but this year was a big year for him. Big
Micah Tomasella : year
Conner Jones: for him became a household name and an open ai. Just grew and grew and grew.
Now they’re losing money daily. Yeah, like they have not made a profit yet. A lot of ’em are though. He’s gotta turn the ship around, but if he can, it’s gonna be huge. Okay. Alright. Mike, what was your number
Micah Tomasella : two? Yeah okay, so we had the same number three. My number two is actually. Jinping of China. The leader of the People’s Republic of China, and yeah. China’s had an economic slowdown that they tried to put a bandaid on. They’re building up their military infrastructure to potentially trade, you know, to attack and invade Taiwan. Yep. And there’s growing tension with the West, specifically Donald Trump in the US of A, which makes [00:17:00] Q1 of the most influential figures shaping global stability this year.
I would say the reason why I put ’em at number two is that whatever America is doing to stay on top, to become on top, whether if that’s with energy with ai. With modern warfare, with the fleets and the military and planes. I mean, just name it educational, like whatever it might be. I think Chi and his leadership and what China’s doing is a huge driver for everybody here in America who’s in a position of power of we can’t lose ground to them.
So that’s why I put him at number two because he’s been kind of the boogeyman, which has led to good and bad things of what we’ve been doing here in the west.
Conner Jones: Yeah. We’re in kind of this odd cold war ish state. Yeah. With China. Yep. We used to be, the Soviet Union was our biggest foe, and now it definitely feels like China is, but for sure they’re trying to build a relationship.
I know Trump and Qi are meant to meet like four times in 2026. They’re,
Micah Tomasella : yeah, they’re frenemies. You know what I mean? It’s like Right. Nobody wants war, I don’t think, but they drive each other to grow. They drive each other to, there’s [00:18:00] to be better mutual or whatever you would define as better. They drive each other to make more money.
How about that? We’ll say that. We need each other essentially to a certain extent. Yep.
Conner Jones: My number two was actually Charlie Kirk, who obviously is no longer with us. That makes, makes sense. But man, just the impact and this is gonna be more American impact. So global wise, maybe not as much, but I just think the impact that he had even before he died on US policy and the way people thought about politics and stuff, and especially in the right wing sphere to.
Even after he died, really having this postmus impact, man, what a, what a life he lived and what a legacy. He’s left and we’re actually seeing the whole of his leadership in the right wing sphere now, there seems to be like no central figure that’s tying it all together the way that he did. And there’s warring factions within the right.
I think we’re just seeing how much of an impact Charlie had in politics, but also now we’re getting to see how much of an impact he had in faith. And we’re gonna talk about that again later. But yeah, I just think number two makes, makes sense for him.
Micah Tomasella : Cannot, cannot hate on that. Pick at all, man. Rest in peace.
Charlie Kirk. [00:19:00] What an impact, what a legacy. He left.
Conner Jones: Yep. Okay. Okay, Micah, we both had the same number one, so should we say it at the same time? Yeah.
Micah Tomasella : Okay. On three. 1, 2, 3. Donald, Donald. J Trump. Trump,
Conner Jones: you didn’t know I was gonna say the J did you? DJT.
Micah Tomasella : Oh, no, I, I didn’t know when you were gonna say it. So people are tired of his name.
Yeah, but the reality is that US politics, global alliances markets, media narratives completely and utterly orbit around him. Love, himer, hate him. His gravitational pull is absolutely unmatched in 2025. He’s the most important person, not only in America. He’s the most important person in the world. And it’s clear.
It’s clear. Good, good, bad, and ugly. That’s the truth.
Conner Jones: Look, there’s some things, if you’ve listened to us all year, you know, Mike and I both have things that we like that Trump did Totally. We both have things that we don’t like. Totally. And there’s things that he’s done that match up with scripture, things he’s done that does not.
So it’s hard totally to fully judge that. But there is no denying, he’s not even just the most influential person of this year. Maybe just [00:20:00] in history, one of the top, and when you think about world history, he’s up there, man, the influence he has since
Micah Tomasella : 2016. He’s had a vice grip, and you know what? It’s just the way he likes it.
Just the way you, it’s just never been, it
Conner Jones: never been as strong as it is now. Okay. Let’s, let’s hit on some honorable mentions here, Micah, that we did not rank in our top five, but we thought were worth mentioning of other influential people. Okay. You wanna just give us some of your names?
Micah Tomasella : Yeah, I’m gonna run through mine.
Elon Musk. Vladimir Putin. Emir Zelinsky. Bob Iger. Pope Leo Shhe. Tani. And I said Luca ic. ’cause that was, that was the biggest sports story of the year probably. Pretty close when, when he got traded for a bag of beans, basically like maybe an old washing machine or something. But that, that was a gigantic story.
That’s why I threw him in there.
Conner Jones: Yeah. And then he’s gone to the Lakers and he’s just taken off. Yeah, so it, it’s been a year for him, man. My honorable mentions also, I said Bob Iger, that’s the Disney CEO. And then also Pope Leo [00:21:00] the 14th. Yeah, just coming into the Vatican there. Vladimir Zelinsky, president of Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin, obviously president of Russia. Shhe Tani as well. Just probably dominating sports and making clear he is the best athlete on the planet. And then another one I said, this is kinda interesting ’cause this guy has not even been alive at all this year, but I do not think we can deny the fact that Jeffrey Epstein still is having an impact on at least American culture.
To this
Micah Tomasella : day and not in good ways, honestly, like a word for 2025. If another dictionary type website that’s looking for some like recognition, they could say the word for 25 was Epstein or Epstein files. If you could say that. Yeah, absolutely. The amount of times Americans have said Epstein individually.
Just think about it yourself. Like we’ve said Epstein a lot. I’ve definitely said it more than slop and rate bake. Yeah. Same. And six seven. Yeah. Anyway.
Conner Jones: Yeah. And even on the internet, Epstein is just everywhere. And I also wanna point out, I think his victims are part of this too. Totally. Like they’re also influential.
They’ve been so influential in getting this push to the [00:22:00] forefront of culture and getting, trying to get justice for good thanks. And we’re kind of backed up on this a little bit by Wikipedia’s top five searches. I look to see what they had published as their top five searches of 2025 on Wikipedia’s website.
It includes number five was Pope Leo the 14th. Number four was Donald Trump. Number three was Ed Gain the serial killer, which had the Netflix show come out this year. So I assume a lot of people were just like, oh wow, okay. Interested in him as a serial killer. Interesting. Number two is deaths in 2025, and the number one page visited in 2025 was Charlie Kirk’s Wikimedia page.
Yeah. Yep. Makes sense. Micah, we lost some prominent people this year, sadly. Obviously lots of people die every year, and that also includes just people who were celebrities or athletes had some sort of influence in culture and in the world. So just kinda wanna list these out. It’s kind of interesting to go back and you forget some of the people that passed away this year, but we’ll hit on some of those.
I’m gonna go backwards from December all the way to January. So as we go through this, if you’re listening, you’ll be like trying to remember, you know, and think, wow, I [00:23:00] totally forgot this person passed away. Just this week, sadly, we lost a NASCAR racer, Greg Biffle, and you and I were talking about him.
Before this incredible NASCAR racer, one of my favorites as a kid growing up, I loved watching Greg Biffle race his cars and his trucks. He died in a plane crash this week that he possibly was flying his private jet and his whole family was on there with him. Just so tragic in that way. So just wanted to mention that real fast.
But also we lost Rob Reiner in a terrible way just a couple weeks ago. Then Dick Cheney, Diane Keaton, Robert Redford, obviously Charlie Kirk. Hulk Hogan, Ozzy Osborne, Michael Madson. Pope Francis Val Kilmer. Man, I forgot we lost Val Kilmer. Mm, George Foreman, gene Hackman. That was also a bizarre story back in February, the way he passed away.
And the David Lynch, the director, and obviously that’s not everybody. Rest in peace y’all. But yeah, hard year for those families. And so if anything, we can be praying for those families and also just remember some of the great things that those people left behind as legacies in their work. [00:24:00] Totally. Micah, I’m ready for a fun part here.
Yeah. We gotta hit on the biggest flops of 2025. Yeah. And by flops we’re talking like stories or headlines that just did not go the way anybody wanted.
Micah Tomasella : Major disappointments. People being stupid, organizations being stupid. Yeah. Let’s do it. What do you have first up there? The one that seems most obvious was Karen Bass, who’s the mayor of LA when she knew of a fire risk and decided to go on her trip to Africa while her city burned to the ground.
That was, yeah. That was terrible leadership and to come back and make excuses, it just did not look good. She had people on her side of the aisle really not liking her and really haven’t forgiven her for how all that worked out. And even just the decisions made within the Californian government, but also just the city government that led to those wildfires.
Yeah, just, just a failure of leadership there. That was, that was a big flop. Lots
Conner Jones: of failures. I honestly am surprised she has not been like [00:25:00] impeached by the city, but
Micah Tomasella : she’s like talking about running for president or something. Everybody’s
Conner Jones: talking about running for president,
Micah Tomasella : but
Conner Jones: she has no
Micah Tomasella : chance, man.
And then signal Gate. Dude,
Conner Jones: that was a fun one. I mean, not really, but kind of, you know, like it was just these guys in power, like the most powerful people in government, Pete h, Pete and J Vance. Yeah. Texting war plans to bomb the Houthis just on signal, and we could accidentally adding a journalist to that who then published the messages.
Just unreal signal Gate. I just
Micah Tomasella : can alm I almost don’t believe it was on accident, but I don’t know. That just seems crazy to me, especially ’cause like you and I talked about this, this was the, the guy who heads up the Atlantic, they’re like New York Times level left, of all the media people to included it.
You know, I, I just, it’s hard to believe that was an accident somehow, some way, whether, if it was, I don’t even know what the reason would be. I can’t even come up with it, but that doesn’t feel like an accident. Something else I said just legacy media. Legacy media had another terrible year in the eyes of the public.
True, [00:26:00] no, no traction and gained trust. Trusted even less. Legacy Media is taking a huge hit. Social media news, YouTube news, independent news organizations, and people are popping up and legacy media continues to falter, so I would just say they did no damage control and made it worse for themselves in 2025.
Yeah,
Conner Jones: I fully agree with that. Another big one that kind of a flop was Doge, the Department of Government Efficiency Flop. That was totally, that was headed up by Elon Musk for a solid two months. Made a big impact, freaked a lot of people out, cut a lot of aid agencies and all of that. But then Elon left and it seems like we’ve never heard of Doge again.
Remember how big of a deal that was back in like February and March and everyone was talking about it all the time. And then Doon Musk Trump do, yeah, their bromance that they had just. Blew up and then Elon tweeted that Trump’s in the Epstein files and it just, it just went from like their best friends and buddy buddy cops like Elon standing next to him in the Oval Office every other day to they hate each other.
It was crazy.
Micah Tomasella : Public love and public hate just really [00:27:00] signifies. Oh my goodness gracious. If this ain’t 20, 25 for you, Conner, tell us about Snow White.
Conner Jones: Snow White was probably the biggest movie flop of the year. That was why I put that in here. Just massive budget. This is Disney movie, $270 million, and it only brought in $43 million in box office.
We even had a episode where we talked about why this happened, the liberal part of it, the activism part of it, what caused it to blow up, and it was just a big flop. Yep, big one. And then also, Micah, we have to just say a big flop is the Democrats shutting down the government and quite literally getting.
Nothing out of it. The government was shut down for a month and a half and they kind of like held the US population hostage in a way to extract, you know, things that they were wanting for healthcare and Obamacare, and they didn’t get a
Micah Tomasella : thing I think you could add to the flop of 2025 is all the lawmakers on both sides who made that battle about themselves.
While the American people, specifically those who worked for the government, suffered and struggled. And didn’t get paid for 43 days. I think that that was probably. The bigger flop
Conner Jones: and while they [00:28:00] got paid in Congress, just unbelievable.
Micah Tomasella : Yeah, absolutely. And then finally, you know, I added just in fighting within MAGA and the Republican party, just sticking their nose up and saying, I guess we’re just allergic to any kind of prosperity, right?
To just be like, Hey, the Republicans say Hey, we’ve got control of all three major branches of government. We’re gonna get significantly less done. I’m not saying stuff didn’t get done, but significantly less done because there’s been so much time fighting and putting out fires as opposed to just from their perspective getting done what needs to get done for the American people.
We’d say the same thing if the Democrats were in charge of all three. Absolutely. And then they were fighting within, you know, their own ranks and there has been a lot of fighting within their ranks, but they’re not in power right now. So that’s felt like a big flop to me. Yeah. Like distractions.
Conner Jones: Yeah. Big.
And the big thing was the Epstein files ripped the party apart in a way. Okay. Other bizarre stories we’re just calling it the most bizarre things that happened this year that at least that we could think of.
Micah Tomasella : Yeah.
Conner Jones: One of them, I would just say up top is the, unfortunately the Rob [00:29:00] Reiner and his wife being killed by their son, like just crazy.
That whole thing is just very sad and tragic, but also just so weird and bizarre. Yeah, I know. We’ll learn so much more about that ’cause that’s still a fresh story. But Micah, if you had said in January that. Three of these people would be arrested. I would’ve thought you were crazy. Who am I talking about?
Chauncey Billups, NBA Hall of Famer. Mark Sanchez and head coach of the Trailblazer we’re back. Fox Sports
Micah Tomasella : contributor.
Conner Jones: Yeah, Mark Sanchez and then Sharon Moore, head coach of the Michigan football team. All three of these guys, huge in sports world, arrested for bizarre things. Chauncey Billups being caught up in illegal poker games with the mafia.
Mark Sanchez stabbing a man in Indianapolis after everybody thought that he was the one who got attacked. It was apparently him who did the attack. And then Sharon Moore getting arrested for threatening the life of a female staffer that he was apparently having an affair with. Just golly crazy. So bizarre.
Crazy stories. Bizarre. Yep. All right, Mike, [00:30:00] it’s time. Let’s discuss our biggest stories of 2025. And we’re gonna do this through different sections we’re we kind of got it broken down into different categories that speak to culture. So let’s just start up top with kind of the lighter thing. So start with fashion.
I would say maybe you agree with me the biggest story in fashion, and we’re not fashionistas, so this is just kind of what we know, right? Things that bled
Micah Tomasella : out of the fashion world, like what story bled out of that into the general. Population. ’cause that’s why we would pay attention to it, right?
Conner Jones: Yeah. I’m, I’m, you, you don’t find me reading like the Vanity Fair Magazine.
Pieces don’t lie. Fashion don’t lie, don’t lie. Okay. I won’t. I would say the biggest story was American Eagle and the Sydney Sweeney Jeans campaign that they had that just took over the world by storm in July, August. And everybody was upset, or they were happy for what I say for three
Micah Tomasella : weeks. It was like the biggest story.
Yeah. Definitely. That makes sense. Okay. Here’s
Conner Jones: what we can say. American Eagle made a lot of money during that time, and they no doubt, ended up this year in the green and
Micah Tomasella : nobody apologized for anything. Nope. No. Sydney Sweeney, [00:31:00] not American Eagle. Nobody apologized for a darn thing.
Conner Jones: Nope. They just made money yep.
Good for them. I guess this could have been in the flop range, but this food story. Yeah, this is the food category. We gotta go with Cracker Barrels rebranding disaster. Terrible. Yeah. That did not go well. They’re gonna teach that one the business schools for a long time. Marketing, advertising pop.
Yeah, totally. Marketing. Yeah. It literally every leadership, everything, just the whole thing was a disaster. What not to do. Yeah. They literally reverted back to what they just currently are. It was one big, expensive disaster. Okay. Let’s talk about pop culture. I think one of the big things that happened this year for a lot of people was Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey got engaged.
That does not really impact any of our lives individually, but. People are happy about it. They like Travis, they like Taylor, obviously. Another big one, Jimmy Kimmel. Remember he got suspended a few months ago and that was like a huge deal ’cause of what he said about Charlie Kirk after Charlie was killed and all of that.
Yeah, that was crazy. Yep. I felt like that was a big one. Netflix buying Warner Brothers, if you’re curious about that. We [00:32:00] dedicated a whole episode of that at the beginning of December. I would highly suggest listening to that episode ’cause we just broke down what that’s gonna mean for culture and entertainment.
Micah Tomasella : It’s still not done yet. We’ll see. But it’s looking like it’s moving in that direction. But there’s a lot of hurdles still to jump through.
Conner Jones: Definitely. Definitely. Okay, Micah, we’re gonna go through ID B’S five most popular TV shows of 2025 that we’re gonna give our own. And so here’s what IMDB said was so popular.
This is based off their page views, just so you are aware, like here’s what got the most traction on their website app. White Lotus, the last of us, severance Wednesday and Squid Game. Most watched show of the year was Squid Game season three. None of that surprising to me. Those were all very big popular shows.
But Mike, I’m curious, what was your favorite show of the year?
Micah Tomasella : Before I answer that, which of these did you watch?
Conner Jones: You a severance
Micah Tomasella : guy, right? I love Severance, dude.
Conner Jones: Yeah, that was almost my best show of the year. I love Severance. Actually, I have not seen Wednesday. Have you seen Wednesday?
Micah Tomasella : No. That’s on Netflix, right?
Did you watch the second season of Last of Us? [00:33:00] I did not. Good. Is it worth it? Nope. Okay. See, that’s what I was thinking. That’s what I was hearing. That’s what I was thinking. Okay. So my favorite show of the year, honestly, I’ll say was Psych, which
Conner Jones: is an old show that’s not even, that’s not even this year from USA
Micah Tomasella : Network.
But that was probably what my wife and I watched the most of. And then secondly, I’d probably say my favorite show of the year that came out this year that had episodes was Tulsa King. Okay. On paramount. It’s a Taylor Sheridan show where Sylvester Stallone is, this New York crime family. Mobster moves town to Tulsa, Oklahoma creates his own crime empire, but kind of has a good heart.
And then the last several episodes, Samuel L. Jackson was in it. And so you just see Samuel L. Jackson and Sylvester Stallone just tearing it up. Dude, I loved every second of it. I
Conner Jones: had no idea Jackson came into that show. Wow. Yeah. I’m not surprised. But you’re a big Sheridan guy.
Micah Tomasella : I am.
Conner Jones: Mike.
Micah Tomasella : I am. ‘Cause it’s just, it’s, I mean, I’m not saying it’s real, but it’s just fits more of what real life is and they put you at like in an environment, no matter how gritty it might be, [00:34:00] it just feels more realistic than what a lot of, I’d say Hollywood puts out.
I
Conner Jones: mean, the whole country is watching Billy Bob Thornton driving a truck just through West Texas Landman two, because it’s, yeah. Yeah. You know, I mean, land Man Two
Micah Tomasella : is really popular. Yeah. Yeah.
Conner Jones: My favorite show of the year was The Pit. If you’re talking about Just Real, that is the best show of the year if you want Realism and Realisticness and just on Max, on HBO, max, yeah.
HBO. Just incredible hospital show. I would highly recommend that one. Most popular movies of the year, according to IMDB, Micah, was Superman. Weapons Sinners, one battle after another in Jurassic World Rebirth. Did you see any of these films? No. Okay. Did you End of discussion. I saw all of them, but hoping I didn’t see any of of them.
No. No. You didn’t even see Superman. Oh, you guys see Superman?
Micah Tomasella : No. No. I, I, maybe I’ll see ’em. I don’t know. I mean, if, if, if they’re coming out in theaters first, maybe I’ll stream it later.
Conner Jones: That’s why I think all of them are pretty much on streaming at this point. So you got your opportunity. What was your, I guess I’m not gonna watch ’em.
No, I’m saying they are on streaming.
Micah Tomasella : No, no, no. And And then I’m saying, oh, like they’re already out on streaming and I haven’t watched them yet. I guess I’m not [00:35:00] gonna watch ’em. Oh,
Conner Jones: okay. I gotcha. I gotcha. Okay, gotcha. Then, what was your favorite movie of the year? Did you even watch? My favorite movie
Micah Tomasella : was a movie I watched a couple weeks ago called Wake Up Dead Man, A Knives Out Mystery on Netflix, the Knives Out Series with Daniel Craig Al Blanc.
I love those mystery type shows. My wife and I love watching those, and it was. An awesome movie. And it had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. So that’s my number one movie of 25.
Conner Jones: I’m glad you said that ’cause I’m literally planning to watch that one tonight ’cause it’s on Netflix. Netflix, oh, it’s so good.
Oh, it’s so good. Yeah. I’ve heard good things. I did not enjoy the second Knives Out movie. I thought it was terrible. I did not My favorite movie.
Micah Tomasella : I did not either. This is
Conner Jones: better. That’s what I’ve heard. Yep. My favorite movie of the year was F1. Oddly enough, like it’s just a fun just racing movie. It’s like Top Gun but in a F1 car.
Just fun. Go watch that one. Sports stories. Micah, what would you say was the biggest sports
Micah Tomasella : story of the year? Lemme go ahead and warn everybody that some of the shows and movies that we mentioned are not always for kids, so just keep that mind. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. True. [00:36:00] Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know? Yeah.
Okay. Sports stories. So we had the Luka Donit trade, which I already mentioned for the Mavs. Shipped Luca Don, a generational talent that wanted to be in Dallas for his entire career, over to the hated Lakers, and got basically almost nothing in return. However, we’d ended up getting Cooper flagged. It’s a different story and he’s playing out of his mind right now, but that was through draft.
Rory McElroy finally wins the Masters. That was a huge story. That was his biggest win by far in 2025. Scottie Scheffler still one player of the year and had a better overall year, but this is the last major that Rory needed to win, to actually have all of them. And so good for Rory. I, I think he’s kind of a controversial guy, kind of comes off like a baby sometimes.
Even, even to me I don’t, I’m happy for him, but I, I don’t love his personality if I’m being honest.
Conner Jones: Yeah, same. But this was a big moment for him when he hit the ground just after winning the masters. Yeah. And just cried. It was powerful. Yeah. I would say also in the golf world, this is just big for faith in general.
Scottie Scheffler is the world’s [00:37:00] best golfer. Yeah. And he was very clear that success in being number one in winning championships and winning tournaments is not what brings happiness. Yeah. He finds joy in his faith and in his family. It’s just really cool to hear him be so vulnerable and honest about it.
I would also say another big story was just the NBA betting scandal. This is what took Chauncey Billups down, but just having rigged players in the games and then poker games tied to that with NBA players just bad look on the league, I think.
Micah Tomasella : I think it’s also just a bigger, a bigger story of, as these leagues and players get more intertwined with sports betting and gambling, we’re gonna keep seeing stories like this.
That’s a big story for sports in 25 is you’ve got leagues and teams being large benefactors of gambling companies. Of shady characters, right? Like this is, this is not gonna get better before it gets worse. I mean, it’s just, it’s, it’s not gonna be good.
Conner Jones: No. And just the all around destruction of sports, gambling, getting intertwined and culture everywhere.
Then I would also say just the Dodgers winning World Series in that insane game seven. Like what a, what a series. And then the chief [00:38:00] also, yeah, the chiefs losing their dynasty. That’s a big deal in the NFL world and just sports world all around. ’cause they’ve been the center 11 years
Micah Tomasella : in a row making the playoffs.
Conner Jones: Being in the A FFC championship, like how many years in a row? I just like unbelievable them not being at the center of the NFL. Going to the postseason is a big deal. Okay. Micah Travel. I would say there’s two things here. One take when the government shut down, it just dismantled air traffic control for several weeks and we were on the verge of like air traffic control being.
Totally decimated for Thanksgiving travel. Thankfully it wasn’t. I think it was a big deal and what that did to travel and already the air traffic control shortages we have and we just had crashes throughout the year. Yeah, and that doesn’t typically happen. We don’t get lots of plane crashes in America.
First, a passenger crash. Since, I think 2009 in America was over the Potomac at the beginning of the year where 64 people, unfortunately were killed on an American Eagle flight, and then three military crew members of the helicopter that collided with them. Two days later, there’s a Mexican Learjet that crashed into a block in Philadelphia.
Micah Tomasella : Yeah, that was crazy. Weekend Air
Conner Jones: India.
Micah Tomasella : Yeah,
Conner Jones: air India had a massive crash in India. That was the biggest one of the year that [00:39:00] killed 242 people on board and then 19 people on the ground. And then a few weeks ago we had the UPS plane that crashed into buildings in Louisville. Kentucky that killed 11 people on the ground and the three crew members on board just sat.
And then of course, even the great Biffle thing we just talked about a minute ago where his plane crashed. Just a weird year in aviation. It’s not, not typically like this. Yeah,
Micah Tomasella : it definitely was a tough year in that regard. Let’s do a couple nature stories. So the LA wildfires, we already mentioned 31 deaths, more than 50,000 acres, 16,000 homes and businesses were destroyed.
And that was just terrible in terms of nature, but also just. A complete and utter failure of government leadership to prepare for that. And also just some issues in putting the fire out and how that even got political. It was weird. And then, you know, this one hit really close to home. You know, for those who are in Texas, the Texas Hill country floods, you can almost forget that even happens sometimes because of everything that happens.
But that was, I mean, I think emotionally wise, I think the Texas Hill Country floods and the Charlie Kirk things were like very similar for me this year. Those hit me [00:40:00] very hard, had me. Questioning and processing through a lot with God. When it came to those stories, we lost 135 people, many of them young girls at a Christian camp, and a lot of them were children.
Just, just a terrible failure to plan as well in Texas with alert systems and people in leadership and the way the cabins were placed. Terrible, terrible tragedy. Just awful.
Conner Jones: Yeah. Both things were so heavy. Yeah, and we continue to pray for those people and the.
I think there’s one big clear winner here, and it’s just AI has, as we’ve already talked about, AI is just the center of the tech world and it kind of become the center of the economic world. It just has become central to life in America now. I think coming into this year, there were questions, and I think at the end of the year it’s like, Nope, AI is it.
This is, this is the future. And I don’t think there’s any arguing that. Another thing I would say is that TikTok is still around too. And it’s, it’s kind of getting bought 50% by US companies, but China’s still gonna have their hands in it. So I know [00:41:00] a weird deal there. But do you remember when we literally did like a eulogy for TikTok back in January?
’cause it was about to die and it’s still here. Lives on, I think I sang. Yeah man. I think you did some Sarah MCL Yus
Micah Tomasella : of the Angel Fly away.
Conner Jones: Keep going. Thank you for, for that. Even though it continues to live, it never even died. Tiktoks. I know, I know. I would also wanna point out what do we think the most viral moment of 2025 was? I think there’s no doubt it was the astronomer, CEO Canoodling with his HR director at the Coldplay concert. That became just the meme of the year, the biggest thing of the year.
Massive story. Did you just say
Micah Tomasella : canoodling?
Conner Jones: Yeah. I don’t know why that just came to mind. Is that even a word? Love that.
Micah Tomasella : No, I think, I think that’s the right word. I said it better myself, bud.
Conner Jones: Could there have possibly been a more viral moment? I don’t think so. Was the, no, there was not. That was it this year.
Okay. Biggest global headlines, Micah? [00:42:00] I think. Israel, Hamas, right? Yeah. Just the deal that was made there. The war seems to have finally come to a close. We don’t know about reconstruction in Gaza, but that has to be just one of the biggest things that’s been such a cultural touch point. So many deaths, so much destruction.
Micah Tomasella : But you know, that agreement’s entering into the second phase. It’s faded from the headlines, a little bit terrible, terrible tragedy in so many ways, how it all started, how it ended. But then I would say that the next global headline that was huge was when Trump and the US decided to bomb the nuclear sites in Iran, and I think that was a precursor for the Israel Hamas deal happening.
When Hamas loses its largest backer, at least in some way, and they get hampered, I think that’s what allowed this peace deal to take place. So actually. Kudos to America’s leadership on this one. Actually, we’ll just go and say that. I think it was a good, yeah, I would say so. I think, I think it didn’t cause the blowback that we were all concerned it would.
Conner Jones: Yeah. No, that, that one is still crazy to me. I think people forget that that even happened, but we literally sent B two steal bombers across the world, bombed. I ran, got out of the [00:43:00] country, and it was just like. Whoa. Yeah. All of a sudden you realize America is the military might in the world, which is kind of s All right.
Absolutely, absolutely. Politics. Let’s end here with politics and then we’ll give our overall biggest story of the year after this. But Micah, I think in politics, everything revolves really just around Donald Trump this year, as we’ve already discussed, he’s probably the most influential person on the planet, and when he came into the office.
In January, everything just shifted. It all started to change. We’ve seen a lot of policies enacted. The border was shut down, immigration’s been cracked down on tariffs. You’ve talked so much about tariffs. How many times have we done tariff corner with Micah this year, or tariff talk,
Micah Tomasella : I think is what you called it.
It’s been, it’s been probably one of my top five words of the year. I mean, it’s just so intricate in how tariffs have impacted the global economy, how it’s been worse than people thought, but mostly better than people thought, but hasn’t necessarily yielded everything that Trump said it would yield to.
So it’s been it’s been up and down with those for sure. You know, we’ve also had a lot of [00:44:00] peace deals internationally too. Yeah, I would say Trump did accomplish. A lot of the things he said he would, some of the things, I think this was also a year of Trump just being Trump. Trump being able to not get out of his own way.
You and I have talked about this a lot, not being able to stay on point, not being able to stay on message, making it about things that he shouldn’t. Being petty just, he just can’t not be himself for better or for worse. And there were just some better moments, but also a lot of worse moments too. Would you agree?
Yeah.
Conner Jones: I absolutely agree. He, he is, I think, his own worst enemy. There’s things he could be doing and then he steps on own toes. So he’s an enigma. It’s part of it.
Micah Tomasella : He’s an absolute, absolute enigma word. There’s nothing or no one that I can compare him to. Great word for him, because it’s not necessarily
Conner Jones: negative, it’s not necessarily positive, it’s just like he’s certainly an enigma.
He’s unique. Other big stories would be obviously the government shut down, as we’ve discussed. Yeah, that was just a big deal. I would say the rise of Zoran Mohamani as the now Mayor Elect, he’s about to become mayor, I think on January 1st of New York City as a [00:45:00] socialist, as a Muslim, which is a big deal
Micah Tomasella : for New York, an unashamed socialist, you know, like not hiding it.
Leaning into it and winning. That is a big story. Unbelievable. We’ll see how that pans out in 2026. The
Conner Jones: other thing, obviously, as we’ve discussed, is just at the Center of Politics this year was the Epstein files. It really drove a lot of stuff. Drove Congress, drove specific Congress people to turn on Trump.
Yeah, it kind of gave them leverage. Just such a big, big story, and we’re hoping to get those files soon. They’re supposed to come out, I think today as we are recording this on December 19th. Oh my goodness. Yes. Today’s a deadline. Yeah, you’re right. So by the time, by the time y’all are listening to this, we might have some answers.
I don’t know that we’ll know anything more. I don’t know that. We will, but maybe we’ll have some sort of insights on what was going on with him. I dunno. I just don’t
Micah Tomasella : think it’s gonna give us all the answers we’re yearning for. No, I think, I think everybody just loves a mystery. We’ll see. We’ll see. Yep.
Maybe I’m wrong.
Conner Jones: Alright, Micah. Overall biggest story of the year. This is not just relegated to one subsection of culture. This was the biggest cultural story, [00:46:00] biggest thing that happened this year, I think we both agreed with on this one. Immediately we knew what this was. You wanna tell us what it was?
Micah Tomasella : Yeah I mean, it was the Charlie Kirk assassination. I mean, it really wasn’t even close. It was a, it was a moment that really changed everything in terms of the way that we viewed politics, the way that we viewed our tribes, the way that we viewed our. Our faith. I think especially from a Christian perspective, this was just a big moment and I think like an American perspective for Unity’s sake, for the lack of unity’s sake.
I think it revealed a lot of issues within our country too. It’s really sad because you’re right, it was just one man. I mean, we lost so many other people and we’ve been through a lot of that, but I think this story encapsulated where we are as a country. What’s worth fighting for, what needs to change, what doesn’t need to change?
But you know, you and I talk a lot about revival. We work for a ministry that’s been working diligently to be a part of a revival happening within our country. This has given fuel to the fire and laid the framework for revival really taking place here in our [00:47:00] country. And I pray and hope that that’s what comes out of it.
Not more division, not more people hating each other, but that more people would repent and turn to Jesus because of this.
Conner Jones: Yeah, I really think it caused a lot of people to stop and say, oh my gosh. We were always headed towards something catastrophic with the way people talk to each other and the way they perceive each other as enemies with their words, and that’s what happened.
This was just a disaster in a sense of this was a man who just liked to speak his opinions and debate people, and it led to him being killed. Now, some people would say his words were harmful, but I, here I am to say that doesn’t always matter. Words. They’re not the same thing as actions. He was not ever really harming somebody physically or anything like that, and then he got physically harmed himself for just debating people.
Now I, you may not agree with everything he said, and that’s totally fine. I think a lot of people did it, but it never should have warranted what came about. So really sad. Killed, and you’re right. But I think it caused a lot of people to, to really reflect on that and think, okay, we gotta be better about debate and all that, and rhetoric.
But as you’re saying, I think one of the most important things of this is just the sense of [00:48:00] revival that came out of it. So many people recognizing that what Charlie preached was kind of true in terms of faith, and they were. Very interested in learning more about that. We saw a surge in attendance, particularly of young people at church.
We saw a surge in interest in Turning Point USA, chapters on school campuses. 50,000 plus chapter applications went in. Just an insane legacy that he kind of left. It’s really unique and I think we can take all of that. And say, you know, something tragic did happen, but God can also redeem anything that he allows.
That’s one thing that Dr. Jim Denison always says, founder here at Denison Ministries, God can redeem anything he allows. And I think that’s something we can take into just 2026 too. And so as we end this episode, Mike, I’d love for us both to just share what did God teach us this year? What did we learn as we went through this podcast?
What did we learn in faith as and through church and through our own time with the Lord and. What can we take into 2026? So I’ll just start off here and then I’ll hand it off to you to, to kind of discuss your, [00:49:00] your own faith journey this year. But yeah, I just feel like diving into all of these massive stories this year, you know, everything from the good to the bad from January to December really force my myself to take like a deeper look at scriptures and figure out how to apply them to the things that are going on in this world.
Like it’s, it’s one thing to say you live. Christ and live in a faithful way in your daily life, but to actually take scripture and apply that is really, in a way, it’s a challenge, but in another way it’s really a sweet thing to do. It’s a very. Powerful thing to take God’s word and apply it to everyday happenings.
Micah Tomasella : Yeah.
Conner Jones: I just think it’s cool to see how the Lord he’ll open up our eyes and our heart to truths in his ways and in ways you could never have expected through news stories or headlines or even pop culture stuff. And for something specific. I really do. I feel like one of the verses we probably mentioned the most was John 10.
10, you know, the thief comes only to kill, steal, and destroy. Yeah. It’s kind of a frightening verse in that sense. Yeah. But you know. [00:50:00] It’s very true. We see that in the world. We see that in so many of the stories we just discussed, like the the enemy is here and he was lurking and he was seeking out death and destruction, and he did that.
He’ll be doing the same thing in 2026. He’s gonna continue doing it now. That sounds very negative. The positive part is the second part of verse John 10 10. It’s Jesus talking and he says, I have come that they may have life and have it to the fool.
Micah Tomasella : Amen.
Conner Jones: That’s. The powerful part of that. I mean, the whole verse is just powerful, but just the, if you only focus on the beginning part, you, you’ll be very negative and you’ll think that the world is the worst.
And in a way, the enemy makes it terrible. But then Jesus says, but I’m here. Yeah, I’ve come that you may have life and live it in abundance. And Romans 12, nine and 10 says, let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection, outdo one another and showing honor.
And so he gives us that playbook. Yeah. Of how do we. Be a light in such a dark world. I think we can take that. I think we’ve, we’ve tried to do that, you know, this year going through all of these stories [00:51:00] and I hope you guys as listeners have been able to do the same thing, go be a light in a dark world.
That’s what we’re called to do and I, I just love that God has laid that out for us. That is one thing, Conner, that’s I’ve learned this year and going into next year. I hope we can continue to do.
Micah Tomasella : Yeah, absolutely. I think in order to be a light and like that old kid song, like hiding it or a bushel, no, I’m gonna let it, you know, I’m gonna let it shine.
I think in order to do that, I think. You’ve gotta be spirit empowered, but you’ve also. You can’t bury your head in the sand. You gotta be able to be in the world and not of it. You gotta be able to approach culture, live amongst culture, live with your neighbors, live with your friends, make friends and talk to people who you don’t necessarily deal with and or want to deal with.
And that comes with trusting God, but also just being confident. Hey, like I, I know what’s going on in the world. And so we just hope that we were able to be a part of that for you guys in 25. And we’re even more resolute in what that looks like in 2026. We’re even more motivated to be able to do that. I think for me personally, real quick, in 2025.
I had a goal with my wife, her and I set goals for ourselves and for our families, but [00:52:00] I just wanted to be even more present with God and with others this year, and I really believe that I did exactly that, and I’m really grateful that God empowered me to do that to so many beautiful moments with my family.
And there was a part of this, the reason why I’m saying this is. You know, Carter and I consume a lot of news to be able to understand. We read a lot of different perspectives to be able to really present to you guys what’s going on. Like we actually know what we’re talking about, right? Like we wanted to study to show ourself approved.
So I was pushed in ways to do that more than I ever have before in 2025. And when I was doing that, it was forcing me to, at the right time. Shut the brain off, compartmentalize, say a prayer, God, you’ve got this. I can’t do anything about that global conflict. I can’t do anything about that economic issue, about that plane crash.
About that murder. God, I trust you. And then I went and I just spent time with my family. I went and I spent time with God. I went and I enjoyed the beautiful moments that God had for me in 2025. As Dave Ramsey always says, what happens in your house is more important than what happens in the White House.
I love that quote. I think it’s really [00:53:00] important. And then in 2026. I am so resolute on this, and you guys have been hearing me beat this drum for a lot. Conner’s heard this over the years, but also just our loyal audience has heard me say this a lot in the consumption of my news and studying data and all these polls and how people are feeling, stop letting.
Exterior problems dictate your destiny. Stop believing that systems are out to get you. That groups of people are out to get you. That the economy is so bad that I might as well just not try. No. Get up. Say a prayer. Ask God to lead you and guide your steps. Pray throughout the day and then work your tail off.
I think you’re gonna have a really good 2026. I think if we stop making excuses, I think 2026 should be the year of no more excuses. With God’s help, I’m gonna take control of my life and stop letting other people tell me that I can’t, or other people tell me that it’s so bad. I’m gonna take control with God’s help, like I said, and make a better future.
And I think that we could all learn from that, and I think that we should [00:54:00] encourage people around us to have that same attitude.
Conner Jones: That’s a good attitude to have for sure. Especially going into a new year. You sounded like a motivational speaker right there. I appreciate that. But
Micah Tomasella : again, it comes from what we study, Conner.
Yeah. There’s just a lot of people and organizations out there trying to scare people and make them feel like it’s so bad that it’s not even worth trying. You’re gonna guarantee failure if you don’t try.
Conner Jones: Yep. One thing, the news. Just all these websites or, or apps or whatever really rely on is kind like we said, rage bait to an extent.
But yeah, driving fear, ’cause that drives clicks, that drives viewership. So remember that remember that there are so many positive things happening in the world that you just don’t see in the news, you don’t see reported, you don’t see on social media. ’cause people like to, to produce fear. And I think you’re right, Micah, have that mindset.
Be able to unplug and just go focus on your friends and your family and your faith. And go do things and have fun. And that’s something yeah, we have to do too. We have to remind ourselves sometimes ’cause it can be. God’s got this. It’s hard to look at this stuff, but God’s got everything. God’s got this.
Micah Tomasella : Hebrews [00:55:00] 13, eight, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So then therefore, no matter what exterior things are going on, I can trust and my head can hit the pillow at night knowing that God is in control. Mm. And that’s the Christian difference, brother. That’s, yeah. That’s one of the many ways that following Jesus changes everything is understanding that there’s a God, God of the universe that created you, gifted you specifically, and has a plan for your life.
It’s time to grab hold of it.
Conner Jones: Yeah, definitely. Guys, thank you for just joining us for going through 2025, and honestly, maybe we miss a story. So if we did, I would encourage you to let us know what was the biggest story you think happened in 2025. Also, we’d love to hear what did the Lord teach you?
What did he teach you this year? What did he teach you about engaging culture? What did he teach you through, you know, news and podcasts and pop culture and all of that? Is there anything that you think we should try to cover in 2026? Is there anything you think we should try to predict in our first episode of 2026?
We’d love to do that. Let us know. Our mailbag is always open. You can send us those thoughts or questions at Culture brief@denisonforum.org [00:56:00] or follow us on Instagram, shoot us a DM at Culture Brief Podcast, and those will be linked down there in our show notes on whatever podcast platform you’re listening on.
But yeah, guys, we’re so grateful for you. Thank you for joining us on this first year of Culture Brief. It’s been a blast. It’s been a pleasure. We’ve loved engaging with you guys and it’s just so fun. And Micah, I’ve enjoyed doing it with you as well. Fun. Maybe we’ll come back fun next year and still be partners in doing this again.
It’s been fun, buddy. Yep. Guys, we’ll be back in, I think January 8th is our first episode back 2026, so see you next year, 20 year, see. Oh wow. Yeah. Classic joke. Anyways, thank y’all for joining us on this episode of Culture Brief at Dentist and Forum Podcast. All the articles, videos, anything that we talk about, it’s always linked in our show notes.
But if you enjoyed today’s episode, would you please subscribe, and rate or review the show and share it with a friend, and we will see you in January.
The post 2025 recap: Most influential people, biggest stories, biggest flops, & spiritual highlights | Ep. 50 appeared first on Denison Forum.
Source: 2025 recap: Most influential people, biggest stories, biggest flops, & spiritual highlights | Ep. 50
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