A bi-weekly podcast that examines how working with teenagers can make us better versions of ourselves: better teachers, better counselors, better parents…better people.
Join two of Whetstone Boys Ranch's co-founders, Axel Liimatta and Brandon Maxwell, as they discuss what twenty years of serving struggling teenagers and their families has taught them about how to address the most challenging of behaviors. You'll find answers without dogma, encouragement without false hope, and sharpening without shame.
On October 9, 2011, Whetstone Boys Ranch opened its doors to its very first resident: Austin .
Today, exactly fifteen years later, we're opening a new chapter—and Austin is helping us turn the first page.
We're launching Beyond the Whetstone, our new video podcast series featuring the stories of former residents and graduates, told in their own words.
And we couldn't imagine a better person to begin with.
Austin's story isn't a tidy tale of troubled teenager turned model citizen. It's a winding, sometimes harrowing journey through addiction, despair, near-death experiences, and the relentless pursuit of a God who refused to let him go.
There are moments that will make you laugh. Others that will break your heart. And still others that will remind you just how astonishing God's grace can be.
Join us this week on A Time to Sharpen, as we reunite with the boy who started it all, fifteen years after his arrival.
Some stories take fifteen years to tell. Some are still being written.
28 Sept 2026
The History of Whetstone, Part 3
Join Axel and Brandon as they welcome another guest.
11 Sept 2026
Forged & Sharpened: The History of Whetstone, Part 2
There are seasons when God’s providence looks less like a straight road and more like a crooked map.
This second chapter of Whetstone’s history includes a near-death experience, disappointment, and detours that made very little sense at the time. Scripture says God works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. That does not mean we have to like how he does so.
We do have to remain willing clay in the Potter’s hands.
Join us this week on A Time to Sharpen, as Brandon and I trace the story from Waterford, Michigan, to Long Island, New York and Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch, where God begins quietly assembling a team.
They do not know it yet, but they are being shaped for the road ahead.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
11 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
9 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 37 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
46
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
71
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