Abortion is not a topic that is often brought up in churches. We might mention it in broad strokes or when talking about politics, but too often pastors and whole churches are afraid to engage in it personally. But whether we face it or not, many women like Serena Dyksen are facing this issue quietly in one way or another. When Serena found herself pregnant as a teenager following a terrible sexual assault, abortion seemed like the only option. Little did she know the amount of repercussions, both psychological and physical, that she would carry with her for the rest of her life. Serena sits down with Davey to share a bit of her story and how she works to prevent others from making the same mistakes she did while also showing the love and grace of Christ to those who have.

If the last several months have taught us anything, it’s that the racial tensions we read about in our history textbooks aren’t limited to the pages of the past. The pain that our black brothers and sisters have felt at the hands of white America hasn’t gone away, and ignoring it isn’t going to make it any better. In the second part of this powerful conversation, Dr. Anita Phillips shares with Davey about how racism has never truly left our culture or our churches, and how the body of Christ can begin the long, hard process of moving towards true unity, justice, and reconciliation.

Dr. Anita Phillips sits at the intersection of several important conversations in our culture today. As a trauma therapist, a black woman, and the wife of a pastor, she is uniquely positioned to speak into the intersection of mental health, race, and faith. Through her own traumatic experiences and through years of helping others, Anita has come to an understanding of the Kingdom of God and how we can relate to it that is vital to us in the season we find ourselves in right now. In this first part of the conversation, Anita shares the story of how she came to have a passion for mental health, some of the racial tensions she found lurking under the surface of the church, and more.

Dawn Barton’s demeanor and her story don’t seem to match at a glimpse. She radiates hope, optimism, and cheerfulness. You’d be forgiven for thinking she’s had an easy life, but that’s far from the truth. Dawn has walked through an amount of darkness that most of us couldn’t imagine. Through trial after trial, she’s learned to choose joy when despair would be a much more natural option. Dawn sits down with Davey to share some of the pain she’s walked through and how she found God in the midst of it all.

Sam Collier couldn’t be blamed for seeing his story as one of abandonment. Born to a 21-year-old single mother, Sam and his twin sister were given up for adoption. His birth parents never reached out, and he spent the entire time he was growing up never meeting either of his birth parents or the three other siblings he didn’t even know he had. But Sam looked past the abandonment to see what God was doing, and the faith to make that decision changed his life and the lives of his family. To close out our adoption series, Sam sits down with Davey to share his own greater story and how he’s made it his life’s mission to help others find theirs.

Sometimes the things God calls us to don’t make a lot of sense. We’re asked to give up our loaves and fishes, to step out of the boat, or to carry a cross, and there’s no telling what the outcome will be. Johanna and Brian CanneLongo had four biological children when they felt God calling them to not only adopt, but to adopt a child with special needs. Little did they know that their “yes” to this one opportunity would start them down a journey that no one would have either expected or asked for. Johanna and Brian sit down with Davey to share the unimaginable tragedy of their story, but also how that pain isn’t their story’s end.

Sara and Sam Ward were only just starting on their journey of adoption when they hit a wall that no one wants to experience. They went to the hospital for what they thought was a minor medical issue and left with a cancer diagnosis. Not only did this upend their entire lives, but they had to watch their dream of adoption seemingly die. Little did they know that this wasn’t the worst trial that they’d face on their journey. Years later, after finally adopting a little boy, the couple found themselves back in the hospital. They received another diagnosis no one wants to hear — their son had a terminal disease. To kick off our adoption series, Sara and Sam sit down with Davey to share their story of triumph, loss, and redemption, and a few things they’ve learned along the way.

American culture often makes the mistake of thinking success lies in what we do. We think a thriving life is one in which we accomplish great things, earn the most money, and climb our way to the top of whatever ladder we think we’re on. Joel Manby learned the hard way that this picture of life isn’t quite accurate. Having been at the top of multiple huge companies, Joel was “doing” everything right. His life was on track according to all the wrong metrics, and when failures came for him, it became clear that his dream life wasn’t all there was. Joel sits down with Davey to share what he’s learned on the other side of professional and personal failures and how it made him realize what really matters.

If we’re honest, the church hasn’t always done a great job of elevating diverse voices. Women, people of color, and other marginalized groups often find themselves on the outskirts of our faith communities, with no one they can learn from who shares their life experiences. This is a problem that Ashlee Eiland knows well. Both as a black woman and as a pastor and author, Ashlee has felt this pain, and she wants to work to help mend it. In a continuation of our ongoing conversations about racial reconciliation, Ashlee sits down with Aubrey to talk about her experiences and the radical kindness that God has called each of us to display in this pivotal moment in history.

For most of us, life-altering tragedies are something we experience in rare instances. For a firefighter in a big city, they’re everyday occurrences. Working as a first responder in the Oakland Fire Department, Jason Sautel saw suffering, tragedy, and death constantly. Jason looked to his job to make something of his life and to redeem his troubled childhood, but without any hope to draw from, he eventually ran dry himself. The misery he saw on a daily basis was too much for Jason, and at his lowest moment, he planned to take his own life. Instead, Jason found Jesus and learned that there was hope even in the worst circumstances. Jason sits down with Davey to share a bit of his story and how he’s made it his mission to help others see God in the midst of their pain.

We’ve probably all heard the sermons about not trusting our emotions. “We should preach to our feelings and not let them lead us,” they say. After all, the heart is deceitful above all things, right? While that may be true, it doesn’t mean we should ignore our emotions or treat them as excess baggage. That’s something that Elizabeth Laing Thompson knows very well. Elizabeth advocates for us to recognize that God made us as emotional beings, and our feelings are not some problem for us to push aside or fight against. Elizabeth sits down with Davey to share some of her story of how she’s come to grips with her own feelings and how we can learn to have a healthy relationship with our own emotions.

Failure is not something any of us want. It is consistently ranked as one of the most common fears, but it is also a fact of life. None of us make it through with a perfect record. That’s something that Os Hillman learned the hard way. After not one, but two failed marriages, and going from thriving in business to being broke, Os had been through failure and adversity on a tremendous scale. What Os learned is that God was in those trials, and that there are lessons to be learned from all of our failures, if we are willing to listen. Os sits down with Davey to share a bit of his story and the lessons he’s learned the hard way on his journey.

For some of us, the idea of racial trauma is entirely theoretical. We maybe understand it as a thing of the past from the limited history we were taught, or we turn on the TV and see reports of it happening to someone else. Someone who doesn’t look like us. But we don’t all have that luxury, that unique privilege of experiencing racism in the third person. Sheila Wise Rowe knows this all too well. Ever since she was a child, racial trauma was a part of Sheila’s life. Now she’s made it her mission to help others heal from it. Sheila sits down with Davey for an important conversation about her story and what each of us can do in this pivotal moment in history.

As a pastor, Dr. Adam B. Dooley had preached about having faith in the midst of trials many times. After all, what pastor hasn’t? But standing in a hospital room with his three-year-old son, Adam’s theoretical knowledge was about the become practical. No parent should have to hear that their child has leukemia. With an uphill battle in front of his family and questions of whether his son would even survive, Adam was forced to find hope in the middle of the deepest darkness. Adam sits down with Davey to share a bit of story and what he’s learned through it all.

We want to believe that the churches and other Christian environments that our children grow up in will always be safe, but too often that isn’t the case. This is something Jill Monaco knows all too well. After a sexual assault from a priest as a child, Jill grew up wondering what was wrong with her. What had she done to invite this horrible abuse? As her adult life fell into a spiral of continued sexual and spiritual abuse, Jill was forced to learn the truth of who God is and who he says she is apart from the brokenness of others that she was experiencing. Jill sits down with Davey to share some of her story and how she’s helping others learn the hard lessons that God has taught her.

While Erin was in the midst of grieving her traumatic loss, Steve was about to walk into one of his own. He and his wife Wendy went to bed one night just like any other happily married couple, but Wendy never woke up. In the second part of their conversation with Davey, Steve shares his story and the couple shares how they found each other in the wake of unimaginable tragedy and what God has done in their lives since.

Before Erin Ullmer had met her husband Steve, before her new life and new family, there was the moment on the bridge. The moment where everything changed. A peaceful day walking in the park for Erin, her husband John, and their kids turned into a life-defining moment when Erin lost her husband, her daughter, and very nearly her life in a random act of violence. In this first part of their conversation with Davey, Erin and Steve share the beginning of her story and how God met her in a place of unimaginable pain.

Cory and Michelle Joy knew their oldest son Caleb had some struggles. They’d caught him in smaller things like drinking and smoking weed, but it was all too easy to dismiss this as childish foolishness. Surely he’d grow up and move past these things, right? By the time they realized the extent of the grip that addiction had on Caleb’s life, it was too late. Despite their best efforts to support him, Caleb’s addiction would eventually claim his life. Still fresh in their grief, Cory and Michelle sit down with Davey to finish off the addiction series by discussing what they’ve learned by walking through this painful valley and how they’re doing everything possible to keep others from going down the same path Caleb did.

Even as a child, Allen Cothran could tell his experience with drugs wasn’t like everyone else’s when he was quite literally intoxicated with the feeling he got from simple cold medicine. As an adult, Allen found himself pulled into using pills and alcohol to medicate away emotional pain, and the problem only grew from there. Stuck in the tension between his family and ministry and an uncontrollable addiction, it wasn’t until after a near-fatal overdose that Allen woke up to the struggle he was in. Allen sits down with Davey to share how he got clean and now helps others do the same in this continuation of our series on addiction.

Before he was the bestselling author of Every Man’s Battle and many other books, before the radio show and the successful ministry, Stephen Arterburn was an addict. When he was exposed to pornography at an early age, Stephen’s mindset was set down a dark path that would shape his life for years to come. Stephen’s journey from a sex addict to someone who’s ministered to thousands around the world is kind of story only God can write. Stephen sits down with Davey to continue our addiction series by talking about his story and the things he’s learned along the way.