Finding Something Real Podcast

Happy Wednesday, friends! Today on the podcast, Janell and Zoé have a conversation with friend of the podcast Allen Crostic! Allen shares about his own faith journey and the miraculous way he came to know Jesus. Zoé shares about her own faith journey and the things that are interesting to her about Christianity. This episode has a lot of great information about logic and premises, the relationship...

Happy November from the Finding Something REAL Team! This month, we are excited to introduce to you Zoé, a wonderful young woman from France! Zoé shares her experience as an exchange student in the US and some of the biggest cultural differences that she has noticed. She shares a bit about her upbringing and the cultural opinions about religion that she’s experienced. Zoé shares her first experien...

Happy Wednesday! Today on the podcast, Janell is joined by Dagmar and Dubois du Toit. They have a great conversation about the cultures of the Netherlands and Namibia. Dubois shares his faith journey, his experience with repentance, and why he chose to study apologetics. He discusses how he shares Christ with those who are doubting and why the story of Jesus restoring peter after His resurrection...

Today on the Finding Something REAL podcast, Janell and Dagmar sit down with Phoenix Hayes, They talk about the Bible, apologetics, and more. Phoenix shares her personal faith journey, her experience with deep questions, and why she chose to study at seminary. The ladies have a thought provoking discussion about cultural Christianity vs real Christianity, why the search for identity is exclusive t...

Content Warning: Discussions of violence, trauma, and mental health Today, Shea and Michelle Watson join Dagmar and Janell on the podcast. Shea and Michelle share about their faith journeys, what helped them chose to follow Jesus, and the ministry they have created. Dagmar explains why she feels like she is holding back from surrendering to Jesus. They also have a discussion about being good with...

Happy October, friends! We hope you’ve had a great start to your fall! This month, Dagmar shares her story with us! She and Janell have a great conversation for you today! They chat about Dagmar’s previous experiences on the podcast, mental health and setting priorities, and more. Dagmar shares about why the idea of faith has always drawn her, why she decided to come back on the podcast, and her c...

Katie Dommel joins up for today’s FSR episode! She and Janell talk about the struggle of trusting God, how growing up in a legalistic environment impacted her, and more! They have a bit of a discussion about Liz’s faith story as well. They also talk about crystals, tarot cards, and other new age practices. They discuss the idea that “should Christians use them?” is not the best question to ask. In...

Dr. A. J Swoboda joins us today on the Finding Something REAL podcast! He shares a bit about his faith journey, his ministry, and what it means to be an academic. He shares about his book Over Doubt, why young people desire to break rules, and the tenancy humans have to be over-curious. They talk about how pharisaical rules may sometimes get in the way of someone’s spiritual journey, deconstructio...

Hey Friends! We hope you’re having a good Wednesday! Content warning: Lots of sex talk Today we’re welcoming Sheila Wray Gregoire on the podcast! Sheila shares her faith journey and shares about her ministry that helps Christians view sex in a Biblical way and helps them heal from harmful teachings about sex. Janell, Sheila, and Liz have a conversation about faith struggles, shame, the importance...

Hey Friends, happy September! We are excited to introduce you to Liz! Liz shares with us a bit about her experience growing up with a single mom and seeing her dad only so often. She shares how she felt like she needed to make her dad proud of her and how those insecurities have impacted her life today. Liz shares about her love for music and her experience loving church when she was younger and w...

Happy Wednesday! Kasey Leander joins us on the podcast again today! Though Leonie could not attend the recording, Dagmar has joined Janell and Kasey for today’s podcast! Kasey give a bit of an update on what’s been happening in his life and shares a bit about his ministry that revolves around writing about culture and the Christian response. Today, the crew talks about how people are not our adver...

Hey Friends! Today, Gernot joins Janell for another podcast! Janell talks a little about why Leonie chose not to record this episode and a little about the puddle ocean analogy when it comes to faith. Gernot shares his faith journey, how he started living his Christian faith, and his personal story about loss. Janell and Gernot talk about the question “Do you want God?” and they discuss the idea t...

Happy Wednesday! We are happy to welcome Stephanie Rousselle back to the podcast! She is joined by two young women who are special to Janell— Leonie and Zoe! Stephanie shares about her upbringing in France, her pursuit of academic excellence, how she went from an atheist to someone who surrendered to a God she wasn’t sure she could fully trust. She talks about how she wrestled with fully surrender...

Frank Turek joins the podcast today! Janell, Frank, and Leonie have a fascinating conversation about Frank’s New book, how Harry Potter parallels the Bible, what C. S. Lewis and Tolkein discussed about fantasies and myths, and more! They also talk about how we can dedicate our lives to something we cannot prove exists, how we can know God by his effects. They talk about design and moral law point...

Happy August! Today on Finding Something REAL, we are introducing Leonie! Leonie is one of the exchange daughters that Janell’s family has hosted. They talk about her experience going from being an only child to spending a year as the older sister of Janell’s four kids. They talk about Leonie’s plans for after graduation and why she was hesitant to come back on the podcast. Leonie expressed that t...

Today on the podcast, Dagmar and Leke join Janell for a conversation with Jahdiel Perez! Jahdiel shares about how he came to Christ and his journey from being disqualified from the Marine Corps to studying at a few of the world’s top universities. He defines philosophy and shares how studying it impacted his faith. He also shares his love of C. S. Lewis! We get to hear a wonderful conversation abo...

Today, Mark Sowersby joins Janell on the podcast. Mark shares about his experience of being abused as a child, how his identity was impacted by the abuse, and how he dealt with it. He shares how he came to faith at 16 years old, meeting his biological father at 45 years old and much more. Mark and Janell chat about what it means to forgive, dealing with the desire for justice, overcoming darkness...

Though Leke could not join Janell for this recording, Mabel NInan joins us on FSR today! Mabel shares her story of growing up in India with a Christian mother. She shares about her own desire for marriage, a bit of her faith journey, and the perspective shift that changed her view of serving God. She talks about how being an immigrant effects her faith, longing for eternity, finding community, and...

Happy July, everyone! Today on the podcast, we’re introducing you to Gbemileke! Gbemileke is from Nigeria and she shares a lot about the Nigerian culture, Jollof Rice, and what it was like for her to grow up in Nigeria. Her father worked at a university, so she shares about growing up around the university’s culture. In this podcast, she addresses how her dad’s abusive actions towards her family c...

Today, Hilary Morgan Ferrer joins the podcast! She share a bit about what has been going on in her life since her last appearance on the podcast, and the passion behind Mama Bear Apologetics. She talks about faith deconstruction, hypocrisy, spiritual obstacles and expectational doubt and so much more! She also shares what causes her personally to believe in the God of the Christian Bible. We hope...

Though Totti could not be present for the recording of Today’s episode, Lu is back. She and Janell have the pleasure of speaking with the host of the Unbelievable? Podcast, Justin Brierley! They talk about The Big Conversations Season 4 (over on Justin’s YouTube), the concession Richard Dawkins made about Christianity, the fine tuning of the Universe, making the leap between deism and Christianity...

Apologist Abdu Murray joins the podcast today! Though Totti could not be present for this recording, two other wonderful young women, Zoe and Leonie, join Janell and Abdu! Abdu shares his story of growing up Muslim, how he came to pursue Christianity, and what ultimately solidified his decision to follow Jesus. They discuss questions regarding God’s existence, how we can chose one religion without...

Gernot Zeilinger is our guest on the podcast today! Gernot is an Austrian husband and father of three. He grew up in a Roman Catholic family, but turned towards socialism, atheism, and punk when he was a teen. He shares his story of how his 5-year-old daughter’s questions lead him to investigate Christianity, how he came to finally surrender to God, and how Christianity was set apart from fairytal...

This month, Totti joins us on the podcast! Totti shares about being raised in Germany, her experience as an exchange student (how she met Janell), and her experience with religion. Totti has been on the podcast previously, but she shares how, even though she is atheist, she came back. This episode is very thought provoking. We hope you enjoy getting to know Totti and her faith journey! ___________...

We have a returning guest on the podcast today! Leah Chapman joins Janell on the podcast for a riveting conversation about the difference between Christianity and myths, the unseen world of spirits from a Christian perspective, and more! They also define apologetics and explain why it is important. We hope you enjoy the podcast! ___________________ We would love to thank our Patrons for all their...