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Some stories don’t fit into neat church slogans, and that’s exactly why they matter. I’m joined by Cindy Mayo, a licensed minister and founder of Alpha Ministries, to share a deeply personal testimony of trauma, survival, and finding a way back to God after years away from church.

Cindy opens up about a childhood marked by dysfunction, sexual abuse, fear, and later being kicked out at 17. We talk about how unresolved trauma can surface as rage, shame, and identity confusion, and why many people who struggle with same-sex attraction or gender identity confusion don’t leave because they stop loving God, but because they don’t know how to overcome what’s happening inside them. We also unpack the difference between gender identity confusion and same-sex attraction in plain language, without sensationalism.

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If you have questions about homosexuality and how to live an overcoming life, contact Cindy Mayo at (209) 617-8114, or follow her on Facebook. Her ministry can offer many resources and counseling services to help.

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Redeem California, With God it IS Possible: 

God of the Impossible: 30-Prayers for the Redemption and Restoration of California

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A mother’s prayer can sound fearless on the outside and still be full of questions in the quiet. Kathy Chastain sits down with Ashley Zachary, a newer convert with a raw, hope-filled testimony about coming out of a lesbian lifestyle, learning the Bible for herself, and discovering the power of the Holy Ghost in a way that turns “God is real” into lived experience.

Ashley shares how her daughter Autumn’s 1p36 deletion syndrome diagnosis shattered expectations and triggered real grief, anger, and spiritual confusion. We talk about what it feels like to pray for healing, attend healing services, do “all the right things,” and still walk out without the instant miracle you hoped for. Along the way, Ashley explains the turning points that kept her from closing her heart: a God-given dream, wise counsel, and learning that trusting God is sometimes “one step at a time,” not a sudden burst of certainty.

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Kathy has two books out and they can be found on Amazon or Barnes & Noble online:

Redeem California, With God it IS Possible: 

God of the Impossible: 30-Prayers for the Redemption and Restoration of California

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Loneliness can be loud, even when you’re surrounded by people. Antonio Sarzi, a concert bassist who recently earned second chair in the Montana Symphony, joins me to tell the truth about what it feels like to be unseen, to chase perfection until it turns into shame, and to carry an addiction that started with childhood exposure to pornography and followed him into adulthood.

Tune in to listen to Antonio's testimony and please help us pray for all prodigals to come home.

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Kathy has two books out and they can be found on Amazon or Barnes & Noble online:

Redeem California, With God it IS Possible: 

God of the Impossible: 30-Prayers for the Redemption and Restoration of California

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A pastor’s son commits bank robbery, lands in federal prison, and still can’t shake the pull of God. That’s the real-life backdrop for our conversation with Rev. Michael Torres, who joins us to tell the story from the parent’s side and to offer something many families are starving for: hope that doesn’t deny the pain.

We talk about the roots that shaped his life and ministry in the Apostolic and Pentecostal tradition, from revival stories and youth camps to a discipline of prayer that became his lifeline. Rev. Torres also speaks plainly about the issues that often sit under the surface for church kids and backsliders: offense, loneliness, spiritual sensitivity, depression, and the confusion that comes when we confuse church culture with a personal relationship with Jesus.

Then the conversation turns to the moment every parent fears, the phone call that changes everything.

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To share your testimony, please email: [email protected]

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Kathy has two books out and they can be found on Amazon or Barnes & Noble online:

Redeem California, With God it IS Possible: 

God of the Impossible: 30-Prayers for the Redemption and Restoration of California

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A church kid can know every altar call and still feel unsafe when life collapses. Kathy Chastain sits down with author Elizabeth Rocha for a raw, deeply personal story about how bullying, grief, sexual assault, church conflict, and workplace betrayal can quietly erode trust and push someone into a slow drift away from God. If you’ve ever wondered why God didn’t protect you, or felt like you were living on other people’s faith, Elizabeth puts words to that ache without offering shallow answers. 

We talk about what backsliding really looks like before anyone notices, the difference between transactional faith and a real relationship with Jesus, and why shame from church people can make “coming home” feel impossible. Elizabeth also shares how pregnancy became her breaking point and her turning back, leading her into a relentless search for Bible study, community, and spiritual mentorship. Along the way, she learns discernment, how to recognize God’s voice, and how to unlearn harsh prayer habits rooted in fear.

Tune in for the rest of the story!

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Kathy has two books out and they can be found on Amazon or Barnes & Noble online:

Redeem California, With God it IS Possible: 

God of the Impossible: 30-Prayers for the Redemption and Restoration of California

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What if the power you’ve been chasing is actually found in surrender? That’s the electric current running through Jon Deaver’s story—part skate-park bravado, part barroom chaos, and ultimately a fierce return to hope. He grew up hearing Scripture, drifted into cigarettes at ten and parties by day, became a teen dad, married young, and watched it all collapse. The scene that followed is searing: an empty apartment, a drained bank account, a lawn chair, a rifle—and a mother’s phone call at the last possible second.

We trace the slow burn of addiction into pills, cocaine, and violence, then the fragile first steps back toward faith. Jon didn’t warm to church culture overnight. He resisted, analyzed, and kept his guard high until one small, stubborn decision at communion cracked pride open. At a men’s conference, he prayed a blunt prayer—“change me or kill me”—and encountered the presence of Jesus in a way he couldn’t explain away. He received the Holy Ghost, chose sobriety on a day he once worshiped for drinking, and was baptized in Jesus’ name alongside his wife, two days before she delivered twins.

Tune in to listen to the rest of the story!

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Kathy has two books out and they can be found on Amazon or Barnes & Noble online:

Redeem California, With God it IS Possible: 

God of the Impossible: 30-Prayers for the Redemption and Restoration of California

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A testimony this raw doesn’t whisper; it rings like a bell. Kathy sits with Diane, a drug and alcohol counselor whose childhood was marked by normalized sexual abuse, border crossings, and being left on a street corner in Mexico—only to be found because a grandmother stitched a phone number into a little brown coat. We travel through Mexican jail cells, classrooms that didn’t believe a word of English was missing, and foster homes that harmed—until one home, with Dorothy and John, gave structure, affection, and the courage to be a kid again.

The story doesn’t flatten into a neat turnaround. Diane marries young into violence, learns how trauma disguises itself as love, and fights a daily storm of intrusive thoughts. Then comes a turning point in church: a word about “freedom from the chains that bind our children” collides with a buried memory of literal chains. Rage breaks. Deliverance begins. From there, repentance becomes active, baptism becomes a burial of the old life, and recovery becomes both spiritual and practical—twelve steps beside Scripture, sponsors beside pastors, daily disciplines beside prayer.

Tune in to listen to more from Diane Thompson

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Kathy has two books out and they can be found on Amazon or Barnes & Noble online:

Redeem California, With God it IS Possible: 

God of the Impossible: 30-Prayers for the Redemption and Restoration of California

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A chance phone call, a buried wound, and a locked detox bathroom became turning points in a story that moves from numbing to purpose. We sit down with Dustin Long, president and CEO of High Hope Ministries, to trace the honest path from a prayer-filled childhood and a teenage call to ministry, through unresolved offense, career seduction, and the quiet compromises that led to addiction and despair. Then comes the pivot: a 0.467 BAC, a nurse who sees the glory of God and introduces himself as Michael, and a web of intercession already praying for “Michael to stand up.” The thread you can’t miss is how persistent love meets precise timing.

What follows isn’t a quick fix but a slow, sturdy rebuild. Dustin shares how a short rehab cleared his body, a grueling year-long program stripped control, and daily immersion in Scripture renewed his mind. Along the way a pastor’s wife named the childhood molestation he’d suppressed, opening the door for deep healing. That revelation reshaped his ministry philosophy: replace judgment with curiosity and ask, “What happened to you?” instead of “What’s wrong with you?” We explore why transformation outlasts conformity, how 2 Peter’s step-by-step growth—from faith through virtue, knowledge, and temperance to charity—offers a roadmap, and why many churchgoers need the same trauma-informed care we offer prodigals.

Tune in to listen to the rest of Dustin's story of Redemption. 

Visit www.highhopeministries.com

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Kathy has two books out and they can be found on Amazon or Barnes & Noble online:

Redeem California, With God it IS Possible: 

God of the Impossible: 30-Prayers for the Redemption and Restoration of California

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A bold prayer can outlast decades—and catch up to you when you least expect it. That’s the heartbeat of this powerful conversation with Ben Bland, a designer whose life moved from church pews to drag stages and back to the waters of baptism, where identity was stripped and reborn. We pull no punches about the pain: abuse hidden in a miracle-working church, the ache for belonging that made the LGBTQ scene feel like home, and the wilderness that comes after early victory when temptation returns and the crowd is gone.

Together we explore why love is not soft—it is strategic. Ben shares why deliverance must come before repentance for bound people to make a real decision for Christ, and how targeted intercession can go ahead of someone for years. We talk about not “jumping in front of prayer,” resisting the enemy in our thoughts, and recognizing the difference between inner desire and external spiritual attack. His baptism story is raw and helpful: it felt awful, warfare began immediately, and yet it changed him more than anything. That honesty will steady anyone who left the water confused rather than euphoric.

Tune in for the rest of the conversation and follow Ben Bland on social media, his posts will inspire you, make you laugh out-loud and make you cry at the beautiful love of God in Ben's Life.

If you are a prodigal who has come home, please reach out to us, we would love to feature your testimony.

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Partner with us : https://www.theredeemedbackslider.org

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Kathy has two books out and they can be found on Amazon or Barnes & Noble online:

Redeem California, With God it IS Possible: 

God of the Impossible: 30-Prayers for the Redemption and Restoration of California

Send us Fan Mail

A voice in a jail laundry room. A Bible open to a sentence that felt like a summons. And a quiet whisper that rewrote a life: “I never left you.” Kathy sits down with Rev. Robert “Bobby” Rodello to trace a raw, unforgettable journey—from a childhood steeped in altar calls and miracles, to the fracture of a family, to gang nights and a case that stacked into centuries on paper. As the bars closed, a prophecy remembered, and a soul tested prayer by inches, grace did what grace does best: it found a way in.

Bobby shares the turning points with striking clarity—the heaviness that drove him to argue with God, the line “you cannot serve two masters” that proved God was listening, and the seven-and-a-half-year wrestle to be renewed in the Holy Ghost. In a cramped room behind bars, he surrendered everything and felt the flood of the Spirit. Then came the words that cut through years of lies about abandonment, ushering him into a love that turned defiance into devotion. What followed was a jailhouse revival with daily Bible studies, healings, and over a hundred baptisms in Jesus’ name, even as legal setbacks tested hope and refined purpose.

Listen, share with someone who needs hope, and help us reach more prodigals ready to come home. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: what line in this story spoke to you most?

Support the show

Partner with us : https://www.theredeemedbackslider.org

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Kathy has two books out and they can be found on Amazon or Barnes & Noble online:

Redeem California, With God it IS Possible: 

God of the Impossible: 30-Prayers for the Redemption and Restoration of California