Ashley and I sat down during a rainy work day at the center to talk honestly about where things stand with the ministry, the building, and this next season. Support the 6043 Broad project: https://svtc.info/6043-broad For the first time in ministry, I don't have a clean five-year plan. We thought we were coming back to restart the residential program. That didn't happen the way we expected. Then we listed the building for sale. It didn't sell. Then a gift came in that changed the ...
May 1
13 min
In February 2025, historic flooding tore through McDowell County, West Virginia. Sandy's basement filled with five feet of water. Her daughter lost everything. The food pantry she had been running for nearly a decade was destroyed. And while her own home was still under water, Sandy helped coordinate over 50,000 hot meals for her neighbors. That sentence alone tells you most of what you need to know about this conversation. Sandy came to Jesus on her own couch in Statesville, North Carolina, ...
Apr 27
42 min
He watched God work what felt like miracle after miracle in the NICU. And then, the moment he crossed back home, everything unraveled. Jeremy puts words to a moment many people recognize but rarely admit: the split second where faith feels distant and the old escape routes feel close again. We talk with Jeremy about the grief of losing his infant daughter, the slow drift from trying to cope into prescription drug addiction, and how clonazepam left him numb and chasing relief. From there, his ...
Apr 19
37 min
Yes, his name is Bill Gates. No, not that one. This Bill is from Boston originally, lives in Port Saint Lucie, Florida now, and spent twenty years of his life absolutely convinced there was no God. Then life fell apart. A divorce he didn't want. A rebound relationship that broke his heart. Friends who kept inviting him to church week after week, and his answer was always the same. Whatever the answer is, that isn't it. One Sunday night there were no ball games on TV, and he decided to go with...
Apr 8
10 min
Jeff Arp serves as Vice President of US Operations and Training for Living Free. He gave his life to Jesus at four years old. He went through Bible college and seminary. He pastored for twenty years. And for most of that time, he looked at addiction the same way a lot of church people still do. If you have a problem, just stop. Just say no. Then he started working with Living Free, and the whole framework fell apart. In this conversation, Jeff talks about the paradigm shift that changed how h...
Apr 6
9 min
In McDowell County, WV, a little girl hides her food kits under the porch so her mom won't find them when she's sober. That's the world Pastor George works in. Bail bondsman, biker church pastor, and missionary to the communities everyone else forgot. This week on Rebuilding Life After Addiction, I sit down with Pastor George. He pastors Home Church in Dayton, VA, a church built for the people who don't fit in anywhere else. Bikers. People coming out of jail. People with addiction and a...
Mar 21
39 min
Sometimes momentum matters more than order. I'm at the 6043 Broad Street chapel working on the renovation, and I wanted to talk about why visible progress, even small and out of sequence, keeps you from stalling out. The sober living home page has been up for three days and we've already gotten calls. Monday the painter arrives. And today, I mulched the flower beds before the building even gets painted. If you're rebuilding anything right now, find something you can point to today and say: I ...
Mar 18
5 min
We recorded this from the empty chapel at Shenandoah Valley Teen Challenge. No students, no program, just an honest conversation about what's next. The ministry isn't closing. We're relaying the foundation and building something that serves the community differently. Full show notes and transcript: https://svtc.info/podcast/were-not-closing-were-relaying-the-foundation/ 🎙️ Host: Justin Franich | Executive Director, Shenandoah Valley Teen Challenge 🌐 Full episodes + resources: https://svtc.inf...
Feb 16
23 min
How do you honor the past without getting stuck in it? Sitting in an empty ministry building after sixteen years, Justin wrestles with gratitude, nostalgia, and the fear that the best days are behind him. Full show notes and transcript: https://svtc.info/podcast/what-i-m-learning-about-letting-go-and-what-you-might-need-to-hear 🎙️ Host: Justin Franich | Executive Director, Shenandoah Valley Teen Challenge 🌐 Full episodes + resources: https://svtc.info/podcast 📖 Faith-based recovery guides: ...
Feb 13
6 min
What if the story you tell about yourself is the very thing holding you back? We sit down with Aaron Gordon—raised in DC during its most violent years, humbled at West Point, and now a leader, speaker, and unexpected children’s author—to unpack how identity gets built, broken, and rebuilt on a truer foundation. Aaron shares candid moments from pickup games on concrete to a chlorine-stung locker room where a 1.8 GPA and a failed swim test shattered the myth of self-made strength. That collaps...
Feb 9
33 min
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