Just A Guy In The Pew Podcast

Do you ever feel like no matter how hard you try, you're always letting somebody down? You work hard, you care about the people in your life, and you do your best to show up. Yet somehow, it still feels like you're not doing enough. But have you really failed, or are you expecting more of yourself than God ever asked? This week, Victor and I talk about: 🔹Why men feel responsible for everyone's ha...

Have you ever worked so hard for something, convinced it would finally make you happy, only to get it and realize something was still missing? Maybe it was a promotion, more money, a relationship, or finally reaching a goal you'd been chasing for years. It felt great for a while. But then the excitement faded, and you found yourself looking for the next thing. Why is it never enough? This week Vic...

Have you ever looked at your life and thought, “I really thought I'd be further along by now”? Maybe your career didn't turn out the way you hoped. Maybe you've made decisions you regret, missed opportunities, or spent years chasing things that didn't really matter. And now you're wondering, “Have I wasted too much time? Is it too late?” This week on Just a Guy in the Pew, Victor and I talk about...

Have you ever prayed and felt like God wasn't listening? No matter how hard you try, you just can't seem to feel His presence? I've been there. Even in ministry, I've found myself asking, "God, where are You?" But here's something I've learned: Just because God feels far away doesn't mean He's abandoned you. This week, Victor and I talk about why we sometimes feel distant from God and what we can...

When you first met your wife, you pursued her. You wanted to see her. You asked questions. You planned things. You noticed her. But somewhere along the way, life happened and sometimes the woman you couldn't wait to spend your life with starts to feel more like a roommate you're managing life with. This week on the podcast, Victor and I ask a difficult question: When did I stop choosing her? On th...

There’s a strange contradiction a lot of men live with: We desperately want someone to know we’re struggling—but we keep telling everyone we’re fine. We get really good at smiling, showing up, taking care of everyone else, and convincing the people around us that everything is okay. Then we wonder why nobody really knows us. This week, Victor and I talk about: 🔹Why men can have good friends and s...

Have you ever promised yourself, “I’m never doing that again”—only to find yourself right back there a few days or weeks later? Lying. Judging. Anger. Drinking. Gossip. Lust. Whatever the struggle is, eventually we start asking: Why do I keep doing something I don’t want to do? This week on the podcast, Victor and I get very real about why we keep falling into the same sins—and why the battle is o...

Have you ever lost your temper over something small—and ten minutes later wondered, Why did that bother me so much? Maybe the anger isn't actually the problem. Maybe it's pointing to something underneath. This week, Victor and I get real about why we get so angry, what our anger may be trying to tell us, and how Jesus wants to heal more than the behavior—He wants to get to what lies beneath it. If...

There is a question that men ask me all the time. How do you know if you’ve really changed? If you’ve really healed? If you’re actually becoming the man God created you to be? This week, we wrap up our Power Made Perfect series with the final step: Restoration. And here’s the truth: a restored life isn’t a perfect life. You’ll still struggle. You’ll still be tempted. You’ll still fall sometimes. T...

Your Wounds Don't Have to Define You There are things that happened to us years ago that may still be driving the way we live today. The rejection. The abandonment. The shame. The fear. We may not even realize how much the wounds—and the lies we believed because of them—are affecting our relationships, our choices, and even the way we see God. This week in the Power Made Perfect Series, we’re talk...

There are things you’ve done that you wish you could take back. Choices you regret. Sins you’re ashamed of. Parts of your story you wish no one knew. And even after you’ve repented, there can still be a voice inside that says: “God may forgive you…but He can’t really love you the same.” Guys, that is a lie. This week in our Power Made Perfect series, we move from repentance to reconciliation. Repe...

There’s a big difference between remorse and repentance. Remorse says, “I hate what I did.” Repentance says, “I don’t want to live this way anymore.” In this week’s episode of our Power Made Perfect series, Victor and I move from surrender into repentance—the point where surrender starts becoming visible in the way we actually live. We can tell God we surrender our lives to Him, but eventually we...

There are some things in our lives we simply cannot fix. But that doesn’t stop us from trying. We grip tighter. We work harder. We run every scenario through our heads. We tell ourselves, “If I can just figure this out, I can make it okay.” But eventually, we have to face the truth: we were never in control to begin with. This week, Victor and I continue our Power Made Perfect series with the next...

Most men don't have a problem admitting that life is hard. The problem is admitting they can't fix it on their own. That's exactly where so many of us get stuck. This week on the Just a Guy in the Pew Podcast, Victor and I continue our Power Made Perfect series by talking about the second step in the process of healing and restoration: Humility. Humility isn't thinking less of yourself. It's final...

Most of us have spent our lives believing the same lie: Real men don't struggle. Real men don't ask for help. Real men keep it all together. But what if that's exactly what has been keeping us stuck? This week, Victor is back in the studio as we begin a brand-new seven-part series based on the process of healing and restoration in my new book, Power Made Perfect: Finding True Strength in Christ. I...

Most Christians love to talk about God's mercy. Far fewer want to talk about His judgment. But Jesus spoke about it constantly. Not to scare us, but to prepare us. In this powerful conversation, John sits down with renowned Catholic author and evangelist Ralph Martin to discuss his new book, The Coming Judgment: Are We Ready? Together they explore why the Church has grown quiet on one of the most...

The Christian life was never meant to be lived alone. In this heartfelt episode, John steps away from the plans and simply shares what's been on his heart after a powerful night of prayer and adoration. Reflecting on the countless emails, messages, and stories from listeners around the world, he reminds us that the mission of Just a Guy in the Pew has never been about one voice—it has always been...

Most everyone has felt stuck, that your life would be so much better if everyone else just got on your level one way or another. We know that’s a distraction by the enemy to get you focusing on the speck in your brother’s eye while you walk around with a two-by-four hanging out of your own. But what do we do to finally overcome that? How do we fight against this and win? Long story short: we can’t...

Most of us were taught how to work hard, provide, and solve problems. But very few of us were ever taught how to truly love, communicate, or lead our families the way Christ calls us to. That leaves a lot of men frustrated. We work harder, say less, withdraw emotionally, and wonder why our marriages keep drifting further apart. This week, I sit down with Dr. Greg Popcak, the founder of CatholicCou...

Tell me if you’ve ever said something like this before: “If my boss wasn’t such a jerk, I’d like my job.” “If my wife would just listen to me, we’d be able to be happy.” "If only my friends would stop doing x, y, or z, I’d be able to be myself.” This blame game is a favorite tool of the enemy going all the way back to Eden. As long as we’re focused on what other people aren’t doing right or how th...

How do you stay true to Christ? I hear this question so often. People are creatures of habit; when things get difficult, it’s easy for us to go back to our bad habits, our addictions, our sins. As the book of Proverbs says, we so often go back to our sins the way a dog goes back to its vomit. What I’ve discovered in my life is that the key to staying faithful to Christ is to understand the gift th...

As Catholics, we treat Mary with a particular sense of reverence and honor. But sometimes it’s hard to know how to relate to her, and how to open ourselves up to a relationship with her without feeling like we’re somehow taking time away from her Son. The truth is that she always brings us closer to Jesus, so the time we spend with her is time spent with Him. That’s what my friend John Heinen, exe...

God did not create us to have a mediocre marriage. My good friend Paul George, the author of Rethink Happiness and Holy Grit, joins us today to discuss common ways our marriages get put on the back burner and how to make sure that our union is treated like the sacrament that it is. In this episode we’re talking about: 🔹Different seasons of marriage 🔹How the fall of Adam and Eve contributed to ou...

"What happens when young Catholics stop sitting on the sidelines? Today Fr. Jacob Dumont, a local superior for the Legionaries of Christ in Cincinnati and my spiritual director, joins us in the pew to talk about the explosion of faith happening in the Church right now. This is happening in particular among younger people, and so many of them are searching for truth, purpose, and something real, an...

Folks, today is a huge day for the ministry. My new book, Power Made Perfect: Finding True Strength in Christ launches today, and I am so excited for you to read it. This whole episode is dedicated to telling you what this book is about, how it came together, and how grateful I am that the Lord brought each one of you here - whether to the podcast, to a pilgrimage, to a mission, or anything else -...