The Addicted to God Pod

Bible mentor Sarah Schneider sits down with Jeremy Burleson—Texas cowboy, transportation leader, and ordained minister—for an honest testimony about alcohol, a near-fatal diagnosis, and God’s second chance. A “high-functioning” drinker for decades, Jeremy landed in the hospital with a 1-in-4 chance of survival. Today he lives with stage 4 liver disease, walks with the Lord daily, and reaches other...

Take This Decision Away: Todd’s Story In this episode of The Addicted to God Pod, Bible mentor Sarah Schneider sits down with Todd Princl for a raw, hope-filled testimony about crisis, surrender, and the peace that only God can give. From a life built on vanity and self to a marriage and family shaped by faith, Todd shares how the Lord met him in the hardest moments—and answered a prayer the very...

At 31, Greg was a desperate, lonely, suicidal alcoholic hiding his drinking from everyone, including his counselor. Today he’s celebrating 39 years of sobriety and says it’s all God’s doing. Greg is a former pastor, Celebrate Recovery coordinator and recovery coach from the Joplin, Missouri area. He shares how God removed the obsession and compulsion to drink. He also talks about the sponsor who h...

At 17, Ryan VandeHei walked into the wrong house on the wrong night and walked out facing a prison sentence. What followed was 30 years of cocaine, repeat incarcerations, broken probation, and the crushing weight of labels like “arsonist” and “druggie.” By the end, he was overdosing alone, stealing daily, under investigation, and facing 140 criminal charges. But God never stopped pursuing him. Thr...

Muddy water or no water at all? Is that the choice you feel stuck with? After three powerful conversations with Pastor David Pendergrass, Maddy Stevens, and Brian Gerndt, Sarah pulls together the threads running through every one of their stories, and maybe yours too. Addiction is really about thirst. Even good things make terrible gods. Rock bottom is where the Father runs. The labels you wear ar...

Brian grew up on a dairy farm in Suring, Wisconsin, milking cows 360 days a year, with his only days off spent at Lake Lundgren Bible Camp. He gave his life to Jesus at age seven, but when he left the farm for college, he ran hard in the other direction. Toys, bars, and adrenaline led to marijuana, then cocaine, then crack, yet sat in a church pew; living a double life. When his wife caught him fo...

She had three DUIs in two and a half years. She'd buried her grandfather two days before the last one. That night, alone in a holding cell, 23-year-old Maddy was done. She was ready to give up on life itself. Then God spoke: "I need you to fight this fight." Instead of taking her own life, Maddy said, "Lord, take my life." And He did. In this raw, honest conversation, Maddy shares how she went fro...

What if more Bible verses aren't the answer — and the unhealed shame underneath is? Sarah Annie Schneider welcomes her first guest from outside her own community: Rev. David W. Pendergrass, Ph. D. — author, biblical specialist, and pastoral counselor who has spent more than 20 years sitting with people in grief, trauma, addiction, and broken marriages. David twice walked away from the faith intell...

Pete grew up in church with godly parents—and still had no relationship with Jesus. After his dad died when he was 12, then his mom years later, anger, identity loss, and daily drinking filled the hole. He hid in plain sight as a husband, dad, and funeral director… until his little girl looked at him one morning and said, “Dad, you stink.” That sentence became God’s invitation: Come home. It’s oka...

A pastor. A jail chaplain. A former atheist. Three men whose lives could not look more different on paper — and yet, as I sat with their stories from the last three episodes, I couldn't stop seeing the threads. The same God, doing the same kinds of things, in three completely different lives. That's not a coincidence. That's a pattern. And patterns are God's fingerprints. So this week it's just yo...

What if the most relational, unguarded, hope-filled place you've ever been… was jail? Today I'm sitting down with my friend and "ministry boss" — Chaplain David Myers of Fox Valley Jail Ministry at the Outagamie County Jail, where I've mentored women for over a decade. David never went to seminary. He was an accounting major who ran businesses, hit every worldly marker of success - then watched it...

On paper, he had it all together: dean's list student, All-American national champion athlete, the "good guy" everyone admired. Underneath? An angry atheist who lost his dad at 15, buried his grief to be "the man of the house," and hid a binge eating disorder that no one knew about. Christian Jensen — a husband, father, non-profit executive — shares his powerful testimony about how God used strong...

I've dreamed of this episode since before Addicted to God even launched. Today I'm joined by my senior pastor — Pastor Brian of Alliance Church in Appleton, Wisconsin — and friends, this conversation is full of biblical wisdom and insights. Together we dig into the question at the very heart of this movement: What does the Bible actually say about addiction? In this episode: • Why addiction is rea...

A lot of people say “I’ve always been a Christian” or “I grew up in church,” yet have never actually met the Jesus of the Bible. They’ve met a cultural, moral, or performance-based version that leaves them exhausted and empty. In this episode, I open up about my own 32 years on that broad road — trying harder, looking better, and hoping God (and everyone else) would finally be impressed. Then I di...

Have you ever opened the Bible or sat in church and felt like the words were speaking a completely different language? Words like sin, grace, mercy, justification, atonement, propitiation, sanctification, glorification, and redemption can feel intimidating—or leave you thinking you’re the only one who doesn’t “get it.” You’re not. In this episode of The Addicted to God Podcast , Sarah Annie Schnei...

In Episode 21 I said the ultimate goal of reading the Bible is to become like Jesus. If you’re new to faith (or still figuring it all out), that can sound confusing. Become like who ? A guy who walked on water and only shows up at Christmas and Easter? This episode answers that question head-on. I walk through 10 real, powerful traits of Jesus that show why people dropped everything to follow Him—...

Join Sarah Annie Schneider on The Addicted to God Podcast for a heartfelt conversation with Joyel VandenBoogart, founder and owner of the KNOWN Women’s Conference . In this vulnerable episode, Joyel shares her journey from living a double life as a “good church kid” to fully surrendering to Jesus at camp, navigating a bipolar diagnosis, and learning daily surrender. Together, Sarah and Joyel discu...

In this foundational episode of the Addicted to God Podcast, host Sarah Annie Schneider tackles one of the most common questions she receives: “I want to read the Bible, but I don’t know where to start.” Using a relatable Couch-to-5K analogy, Sarah walks through practical steps to build a sustainable habit of engaging with God’s Word—starting with the right tools, scheduling devotional time, findi...

In this foundational episode, Sarah Annie Schneider makes the compelling case for pursuing a deep, intimate relationship with God and His living Word—especially if you’re new to faith, feeling distant from God, or stuck in destructive cycles you can’t seem to break. Drawing from over a decade mentoring women in jail, personal testimony, and Scripture (Ecclesiastes 3:11, Psalm 139, Ephesians 3:20-2...

In this heartfelt episode of The Addicted to God Pod , host Sarah Annie Schneider tackles the loneliness epidemic head-on and reveals why godly friendships and accountability partners are essential for our faith journey. Drawing from over a decade mentoring incarcerated women, her women's support groups, and personal experience, Sarah shares how to move from surface-level connections to the deep,...

She sat in a counselor's office after her husband confessed his porn addiction—and she wasn't angry. She wasn't threatening to leave, kick him out, or make him sleep on the couch. And the counselor noticed. What her husband didn't know—what no one knew—was that Andrea Sloma had been carrying the same secret for decades. Women don't talk about this. And that silence is exactly what keeps so many of...

In this one of the most powerful and most needed episodes of the Addicted to God Podcast series. Sarah Schneider tackles one of the most pervasive lies women believe: the lie of unworthiness. If you’ve ever tied your value to your career, motherhood, appearance, relationships, or even past failures and shame—this episode is for you. Through honest stories, illustrations and rich Bible teaching, Sa...

"If you died today, how confident are you that you would be in heaven?" 0%? 50/50? 99%? Not sure? If your answer is anything less than 100%, this episode is for you. We start with urgency. In Luke 12, Jesus tells the story of a man who had everything - full barns, big plans, zero worries. God's response? "You fool. Tonight your life is required of you." None of us is promised tomorrow. That questi...

Welcome to Addicted to God, the podcast for anyone with an addictive personality who’s ready to trade their old struggles for a life-changing love for Jesus. Hosted by Sarah Schneider — a woman who openly shares her own addictive wiring and decade-plus experience mentoring women in her local jail. This show delivers raw, biblical truth with zero shame and zero judgment. Through Scripture, real sto...

Church Hurt & Spiritual Disappointment — a heavy but hopeful conversation for anyone who’s ever been wounded by the very place that should have felt safest. In this episode, I open up about the deep pain so many carry from church experiences: judgment, exclusion, gossip, feeling you can’t show up as your real, struggling self, and far more serious wounds like betrayal, abuse of power, or viola...