On their way to deliver these talks, each student encountered a confederate (a research actor) slumped in an alley, coughing and groaning, clearly in distress. The results were stunning: students who were told they were running late stopped to help only 10% of the time, while those who weren’t rushed helped 63% of the time. Even more surprising? It didn’t matter if they were literally about to preach on the Good Samaritan, the sermon topic had no statistical impact on whether they stopped.
The conclusion was sobering: situational factors like time pressure overrode personal beliefs, religious training, and even immediate sermon preparation about helping others in need. When we’re too rushed, too focused on our own agenda, we miss the very people we’re called to serve.
This is exactly what makes this conversation with Steve Noble so powerful. In an era when organizations, ministries, and businesses are constantly pushing messages, creating content, and building platforms, Steve and host Dave Jones dive into a fundamental truth that transforms everything: you are not the hero of your story. Your client, donor, or first-time guest is the hero. You are their guide.
Steve Noble brings two decades of experience to this conversation, from starting a house painting company in 1997 to founding Called2Action (a Christian political grassroots organization), hosting 3,400 live radio shows over fifteen years, and now running Noble U, a teaching platform for homeschool high schoolers. Throughout every venture, Steve learned one critical lesson: if you don’t focus on understanding and serving your audience, you won’t eat. More importantly, you won’t make the impact God called you to make.
The conversation reveals how Steve’s journey mirrors the Good Samaritan study. Early in his radio career, a mentor asked him how big his audience was. Steve gave a vague answer about Christian radio metrics. His mentor stopped him: “I didn’t ask you about the noise. I asked you about the people.” That question changed everything. Steve realized he had been so focused on his message, his platform, his organization that he had forgotten to actually know the individuals he was trying to reach.
This shift from broadcasting to listening created transformation across every area of Steve’s work. He shares candidly about his own parenting journey, how he “preached” at his kids instead of listening to them, how his wife became the better marketer because she actually heard what their children needed. It’s a painful but profound admission: the most knowledgeable person in the room can’t create change if they’re not willing to meet people where they are.
The Most Powerful Marketing Strategy Is Actually Listening
Steve now applies this principle deliberately in his classroom at Noble U. Instead of expecting 16-year-olds to meet a 59-year-old educator where he’s at, he intentionally meets them in their language, in their world, at their level of understanding. His students feel it. They know he’s authentic. They know he cares. And that’s when real transformation happens, not through better messaging, but through genuine relationships.
This podcast challenges every Christian marketer, ministry leader, and business owner to ask uncomfortable questions: Are you preaching or listening? Are you pushing your message or understanding your audience’s actual needs? Are you so rushed with your own agenda that you’re walking past the very people you’re called to serve?
The episode also tackles broader cultural issues affecting today’s youth: the isolation amplified by COVID, the impact of helicopter parenting, the anxiety epidemic fueled by social media and disconnection from reality. Steve traces generational patterns that led to a bubble-wrapped generation unprepared for authentic challenges, and how the antidote isn’t more protection, but more genuine, listening-based relationships.
Whether you’re running a ministry, leading a business, parenting teenagers, or simply trying to make a meaningful impact, this conversation offers a masterclass in what it means to truly serve others. As Steve reminds us: “It’s not about me. It’s about you.”
Stop preaching. Start listening. Your audience isn’t waiting for your next message, they’re waiting for you to understand theirs.
