Life Unwasted

In a volcano camp, Angelie remembers grownups praying over her body while nobody asked what a scared middle schooler actually needed.

Avery talks about growing up in Indonesia with New Tribes Mission, then returning to the United States with a car, a band, and a life that no longer fit the supporter version of who she was supposed to be. She remembers smoky open mics, private journals, family interrogations, and the fear that honesty could cost more than approval.

In Cameroon, Marjorie sat with online strangers, missionary school rules, and a friend’s pain, wondering who would be harmed if she spoke.

A boy on missionary ships keeps Star Wars and superheroes alive, until imagination becomes the door out.

Steve remembers the damp leather seats, the climb into the Malaysian highlands, and the rule that good children did not cry. After losing his mother, gaining new siblings, and moving across continents again, he learned how to smile on command while feeling untethered inside. Years later, a small town in northern Canada, a garden, and evenings with his daughters finally begin to feel like home.

Erin grew up moving between a Kalinga village, the mission center, Faith Academy dorm life, and later the United States, always trying to choose one place that could claim her. She remembers rice pounding, bamboo trips, lockers that felt almost unreal, and a body that froze when danger arrived. Years later, therapy gave language to feelings she had learned to bury, and to the child who wanted spor...

Alicia grew up in Mexico inside a family that knew how to look composed in public while doors slammed at home. A fall from a backyard swing set, a scorpion filled hotel room, white pants in third grade, two cats left behind when the family did not return. Years later, therapy gives those scenes new shape, and Alicia starts practicing a harder skill, asking for what her body and heart need.

She did everything right—faith, marriage, obedience—and still ended up in an abusive home. That’s when she realized: no one was coming to save her. Not even God.

Jonathan was seven when his family moved to Madrid and settled in a neighborhood overwhelmed by heroin use. What began as his parents’ calling turned into a growing rehab community, and his childhood unfolded inside it. He built real relationships with people in recovery, many of whom later died during the AIDS crisis. As an adult, he can see what he couldn’t then. It was not just unusual. It was...

This live conversation returns to Holly several years after her original Life Unwasted interview. In the time since, her book, The Missionary Kids: Unmasking the Myths of White Evangelicalism, has entered the world, and she has a different kind of clarity with her. She talks openly about releasing a story she could no longer keep inside anymore and about the uneasy waiting that followed the book l...

A phone line crackles, and Terri laughs through tears, remembering how goodbye always came before she was ready.

This was our very first recording. It has been remastered with the help of our MK friend Justin and now it's ready for your listening pleasure.

Mary recounts growing up in Kenya, Tanzania and the Philippines—where corporal punishment, neglect, and unsafe dorms shaped her childhood. She speaks about using her body as currency, discovering neurodivergence, and the slow, tenacious work of relearning trust and building a life in Virginia Beach. MKs will hear the raw logistics of survival and humane, practical steps toward healing.

Go live your life!

We see you. Hope is a beautiful thing.

Go live!

Home is where our people are / home is where you make it

The Ruins. The in-between.

A big thank you to all of our guests. You make everything possible.

Birthdays. Heartaches. Tears. Growth. Breakthrough.

You're enough. We love you just as you are.

Life is complicated. Embrace the good, the dark, the bad, the hard, the joy. They all mean something. Life is worth living when you're living all of it.

Life gets better; it really does.

You're all phenomenal individuals. Thank you to our guests and also our listeners who've all joined us in this fascinating journey. We will be back in a couple of months.

High school crushes. 20 years later. Everything comes back full circle.