Background Check Podcast

We are bringing back the shorter episodes, Background Check In's, to hold us over til the next full episode is ready.    Have a great day. 

This is our annual tour of lights for the men and women still incarcerated. Before we start the tour, we do announcements, recap of events like Christmas party, talk sports, show video shout outs from residents and other organizations. This episode plays on their tablets inside prisons and jails across the nation. They can call their loved ones on the tablets, and the whole family can look at ligh...

John Montana performs "There For You" Written by John Montana and Terry Solley We air this here but it's for the men and women behind bars to enjoy too. If you have a loved one on the inside, across the nation, tell them to watch on the Edovo app, the Podcast App (Securus), the NCIC tablet (county jails).    To partner with us please click here: https://www.forgivenfelons.org/support   Other ways...

In this episode we sit down with John Montana. John is an author, speaker, father, husband, and prison minister. He comes from a family of partiers but now, they’re all prison ministers and serving the Lord. After having surgery at a young age, he became addicted to Vicodin and then eventually found Zannax. While giving his child a bath, an accident happened and his child was burned. He felt so gu...

In this episode, we sit down with the CEO of I Scoop Poop, Steven Trevino. We had fun recording this episode. We talked about everything from him getting hooked on hydrocodone at 15 after an injury, to how he started his poop scooping company while still on an ankle monitor. We laughed hard when he tells the story of him waiting on the corner, in the middle of a neighborhood, with bags of poop, wa...

In this episode, Jessa and Jay Dan recap the Forgiven Felons Thanksgiving Open House, Jay Dan’s trip to Chicago to see the Steelers and visit Stateville prison, tell thanksgiving jokes, and so much more. We talk about the upcoming Building Blocks 4 Kids event we are having so please sign your kids up. We share a devotion on remaining stable in this unstable world. And we do Thanksgiving shout outs...

In this episode, Jay Dan and Jessa share big events coming soon, air some shout outs from men who just got out, tell jokes, talk about our fishing trip, and the golf outing.   We share our Thanksgiving gatherings coming up. First one is this Saturday and the second one is on Thanksgiving day. Details in the podcast.   We also share about a community event coming up that is for justice impacted kid...

One of my favorite episodes. I know I say this a lot, but Cassie has helped so many of our men coming to the transitional house. The Way Back has been a sponsor of the show for a while now, and even though we had the directors on the audio version a long time ago, we have been waiting to get them back on in studio. Cassie is a case manager for The Way Back, and Drew, who has his own amazing story,...

In this episode, we sit down with Stevin "Hedake" Smith, a former college and professional basketball player known for his promising career that was derailed by a point-shaving scandal. He was a two-time All-Pac-10 selection at Arizona State, but in 1994, he was involved in a scandal where he bet on his own games, ultimately leading to a prison sentence and ending his NBA prospects. Today, Smith w...

Short video of one of our former residents and his boss.    Buddy is one of the reasons why we do this.    To help us continue helping others like Buddy, please consider partnering with us.  forgivenfelons.org https://www.forgivenfelons.org/

Due to technical difficulties on the tablets inside prison, we are replaying this special Christmas Lights episode for the men and women on the inside. 

EP 213 “Know Your Own Truth” Separated by Wrongful Conviction, Restored by Exoneration In 1987, just a few months after they were married, shortly before they had their son, the Spencer family was devastated and separated by our broken legal system which led to a wrongful conviction, for 34 years. We sit down with Ben and Deborah Spencer to hear their love story, and their wrongful conviction of B...

OUR WHY   Please watch this short music video.   The lyrics to this song were written by a Sgt. at a correctional center. It's a song about reentry and they have a pretty good reentry program there.   I asked him if we could use the song to show what we do at Forgiven Felons.   So, whether it's inside, outside, t-shirts, podcasts, or Breakfast Bible Study, everything we do takes time, energy, mone...

EP 211 “Driven”   This episode is jammed packed with fun. We start off with announcements and we talk football and baseball. And yes, it’s fun because I’m a Steeler fan. I fixed some things Jessa messed up in the studio.   We show the recap video from the Arts of Oppression art show, put on by Miles of Freedom. Some great art.   Then show the shout out video zoom call. There’s some special guests...

SPECIAL EPISODE We start with a long version of announcements and fun with Jay Dan and Jessa, including some questionable jokes from Jessa. We do some shout outs from men who have gotten out recently that watched the show from the inside. We share about our back to school drive and shout out to a married couple. Then, we end the announcement segment with a devotional on Kleenex, Toilet Paper, and...

In this episode, we respond, light-heartedly, to Real Vida’s corn hole challenge and subsequent no show. Jay Dan appears on a fake podcast called Tell the Truth Shame the Devil in episode one titled, “Cornhole Cut-n-run” talking with host Emcy from Hog Mob. We relive the call outs from Real Vida and share our response and call out of our own. Then we share Forgiven Felons July 4th celebration as w...

In this episode, Jessa and Jay Dan talk about the Guadalupe River crisis and pray for everyone involved.  We shout out all the books that have been sent to us by inmates as well as books authored by our guests on the show. We talk about our upcoming trips to Florida and North Dakota.  We air some shout outs from Breakfast Fellowship and share an important update on our current house in Dallas.  We...

PRODUCTION NOTE: This is a re-airing of this episode, but with video this time. Jimmy and Beth have informed us that they are opening three more houses so they have more room.    In this episode we do announcements with Jessa including talking about the weekend we had at Breakfast Bible Study and church. We had two ladies drive from a Weatherford transitional house to go to ‪@SocialDallas‬ with us...

In this episode, Jay Dan and Jessa take their time with announcements and have some fun. They do shout outs, show baptisms pictures, talk about breakfast Bible study, the ranch, the new truck, the new grill, and we show a video of Shannon Marshall, who was released in November of 2024, skydiving.   We address the recent “call out” from Real Vida podcast and their challenge in the corn hole tournam...

In this episode we sit down with the Erick Wilsons, One and Two. We talk about fatherhood, sports, and so many other things. Sponsors: Mention Forgiven Felons, Background Check, Jay Dan or Jessa when you contact them. They all donate to Forgiven Felons when you do.   First Option Mortgage Jessamy Gumm Loan Originator- NMLS #2252597 jgumm@myfirstoption.com 972-897-5476   From On High Roofing and Co...

On this episode, Jay Dan and Jessa tell some jokes, do a small devotion, play a shout out from Angelo, talk about sports, and Forgiven Ranch.  Ben's story intertwines with the previous week's guest, Kimberli Lemon. So many people's stories intersect in our broader Forgiven Felons family.  We talk yoga pants, peanut butter, satanic tattoos, and Jesus. We laugh so much and we get serious too. Watch...

In this episode, we air some Mother's Day shout outs from Alabama, we do a little devotional about having the keys, and we sit down with a mother.  Kimberli Lemon, a sister of an incarcerated man in Texas, shares her story of incarceration from a family's perspective. She shares how things were done in her family growing up, how she studied Buddhism for a very long time, and how she could feel God...

We hung out at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, TX with Deanna Luprete and the crew from Epicenter Ministries, in support for House Bill 200, aka the Second Look Bill.   We interviewed a couple of second lookers and the father of a second looker. Thank you to everyone at Epicenter Ministries for taking the time to speak about the bill. Visit the website: https://secondlooktexas.org/

During announcements Jay Dan and Jessa talk about Easter, shout outs, sports, 2nd Chance Month, and upcoming prison trips.    Round Two with Dr. Letitia Scott Jackson from Keeping Families Connected.  Speaker, author, playwriter, and so much more, Dr Jackson sits down with Jay Dan again and talks about all she's been doing since the last interview.  From toy drives, school backpack drives, to writ...

At 13 years of age, Fresh and his friend stole a pair of clippers from Minyards. The reason they stole them is because their families couldn’t afford a hair cut at the time. Fresh and his friend cut each other’s hair, but then started cutting all the kids hair in the neighborhood. Coming from a broken home, Fresh did his best along the way to avoid getting into gangs but couldn’t altogether avoid...