UNSHACKLED! Audio Dramas

When the church comes to plant his corn, bringing a meal and testimonies, Jesse still won’t go to church until fall revival when seven different farmers come to invite them to church. Finally, he and his wife go and both get saved. Owen, the son and narrator, prays for salvation two weeks later and eventually the whole family receives Christ. Owen becomes a missionary evangelist traveling the world. Jesse dies in his arms.

John grows up feeling ashamed of his controlling mother, who humiliates him. His father goes along with her to avoid fights. John discovers a love for basketball but is kicked off the court by a bully. He practices secretly, becomes a star and finds acceptance. But in college he does drugs and drinks. After graduation, he dates a depressed girl who ultimately shares the gospel. John prays to receive Christ and is liberated. He marries and becomes a pastor.

Viorel is born into a poor family in Romania, where his drunken father abuses his mother and beats the children. The parents separate, and Viorel begins to run with bad boys as a teenager, drinking, stealing and lying. He meets Mihaela, who refuses to date him. After a drunken fight with his father, he runs away to work on farms, but returns home after a few months. Mihaela marries him, but his drinking ruins their marriage. During a big fight, Viorel throws himself off a fourth floor balcony, but his trousers snag on the railing. He reads the Bible and gives his life to Christ. Six years later his wife is saved.

Kevin grows up hearing about Jesus in church and from his grandfather. He goes forward and is baptized twice; but he doesn’t know the Savior. His family quits going to church when Kevin is twelve, and he smokes pot and drinks. His feelings of failure lead him to drink and fight constantly. He wrecks his truck and fears hell. He meets Michelle who leads him back to church where he truly gives his life to Christ. They marry and Kevin is now a preacher.

Susan’s baby brother is born with Down Syndrome, and the family quits going to church. Hungry for God, she falls prey to a family who practice Vedanta, believe in reincarnation and many paths to God. At college she mocks an evangelist on campus. She breaks her engagement to move to Ohio where she believes her destiny lies. There she teaches school, and a co-worker leads her to Christ.

Vladimir grows up in a Christian family in the Soviet Union. Churches are burned, Bibles banned and Believers persecuted. Atheism is enforced at school, and he is ridiculed and mocked. He learns to drink from his grandfather, learns about God from his grandmother and parents. But he joins in rebellion, vandalizing and drinking. He goes away to school at fifteen where a born-again cousin talks to him of God and takes him to underground church. The first part ends when police break up this meeting and he is arrested.

Volodya is arrested and taken for interrogation, where he realizes God must exist if they resist Him so much. He defiantly says he will teach the Bible. Then he goes back to the church and receives Christ. Persecution begins at school and continues in the army where he is threatened and even beaten for his faith. Still serving Christ as missionary and church planter in Russia.

Sherry excels in school and is ambitious even after her marriage to Jerry at seventeen. Being a housewife bores her, so she goes to work against her husband’s wishes and is successful in the political arena. She serves many gods: money, power, friends, even “good works” and astrology as her marriage slides downhill. Her godly mother prays for her. An old friend and she work together, and the friend leads her to Christ. The first part ends when Sherry is diagnosed with MS.

Sherry is invited to speak at an International Students’ Fellowship Home in Minnesota. The home has 22 students, most from Africa. She gives her testimony at dinner, and a young man named Binyam comes to her room where she leads him to Christ. The students barely have enough to eat, so Sherry buys groceries and prepares dinner. After she speaks on Sunday, Binyam shares his testimony of escaping from prison in Ethiopia.

Sherry Goodwin stops to help a crippled old man who is embittered by having been robbed and left for dead. She gives him money, prays for him and gives him rides to town each week. She eventually goes to the shack, where he lives without electricity and water, then invites him home. She tries to help him materially until she realizes his spiritual need. In time she leads him to Christ.