The Unfolding

The fall-out from the pandemic includes a post-pandemic mental health crisis. Some polls show about half of American families have at least one person who has had serious problems with depression, anxiety or stress. Those issues are made even worse when we suffer through them alone. When Tony Mansmith was young, there was a perfect storm of circumstances that left him feeling isolated. The sadness...

One week after high school graduation, Jan Rozga's son David smoked a legal synthetic drug he had purchased at the mall. Within minutes David had taken his life. Every hope for the future was shattered. From that moment until now, God has been writing Jan's survival story, helping her learn to have hope and to believe that she could live again. Jan is the author of Raw Survival. She and her husban...

When the police knocked on Pastor Monte Gannon's door, he never could have imagined it was the start of something beautiful. Everything his church-owned was packed in a trailer that had been stolen and burned to the ground. As Monte prayed, he remembered two things- desperate people do desperate things, and God can take what was meant for evil and turn it for good. In a video that went viral, Mont...

Julie Dennison experienced some hard things as a child. Like many of us, she didn't know a healthy way to deal with trauma. As an adult, opioid drugs became Julie's go-to coping mechanism. What at first seemed to be a way to numb the pain, soon turned into an addiction that controlled her life and devastated her closest relationships. There seemed to be no way out.

Angels play a big part in the Christmas story. But they also appear all throughout scripture as messengers, serving on assignment for God, and sometimes even protecting people from danger. While we don't worship angels, God clearly uses them to carry out his plan and scripture indicates He is still using angels among us today. In our annual episode of angel stories, we asked you to share your ange...

Psalm 91:11 says, "He has put his angels in charge of you. They will watch over you wherever you go." Do people still encounter angels today? In this special, annual edition of The Unfolding podcast, we asked about modern-day angel encounters. This collection of angel stories reminds us that the same God who sent angels the first Christmas, is directing angels around us today.

John Karakian has never really thought of himself as an evangelist. He's just a guy who really loves his dog and his neighbors. John and Buddy met thousands of people as they walked the streets of suburban Detroit for twelve years. John had no idea that God could use something as simple as a chocolate lab to connect searching people with genuine hope. Hundreds of people came to the Christmas progr...

You can't read the Christmas story without bumping into angels. Zechariah, Mary, Joseph and the shepherds all encountered them. Do people still encounter angels today? That's the question we asked, and the stories we share will fill you with wonder and hope.

Growing up in the U.S.S.R., Dmitri and Anya Poliakoff had never heard the story of the Bible. From the time they were young, they had been told there is no God. They were restoration artists who studied some of the greatest painters in the history of art. Many of those paintings depicted the story of Jesus. The truth was right in front of them, but Dmitri and Anya had no idea. One small, smuggled...

Behind Our Smiles Podcast with Joe and Tara Buchanan: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/behind-our-smiles/id1590398238 https://open.spotify.com/show/0vYvuocfjVvGU6vjGEyvAk https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ud21lZGlhLW9uZGVtYW5kLnN0cmVhbWd1eXMxLmNvbS9CZWhpbmQtT3VyLVNtaWxlcy9iZWhpbmRvdXJzbWlsZXMtZ29vZ2xlLXBvZGNhc3RzLnhtbA

Growing up in the slums in Kenya, George Odero always seemed to be on the outside looking in. He longed for the love and acceptance of God, but found people couldn't see past the dirt, poverty, and danger of being a street kid. He couldn't imagine that God would love him and use him to change his world. George is now a pastor with Forward Ministry Kenya.

How do you live out your faith in relationship with a child who rejects it? When Kevin and Jeanie Thomas' daughter announced she was leaving home and leaving her faith, they were stunned. They never imagined being the parent of a prodigal. They had done their best to lead their kids to Jesus. What followed was a journey of learning how to give unconditional love, and live out their faith with a da...

Jack Cassidy comes from a long line of talented entertainers. Starting with his grandmother, Oscar-winning actress Shirley Jones and including his uncles David Cassidy (The Partridge Family) and Shaun Cassidy, who was also a teen idol and continues to work in television today. Talent overflows in this family. Jack is a singer and songwriter who appeared on season 12 of The Voice. His passion is to...

How does the shyest, most introverted guy respond to a call to be a preacher? Rechab Gray decided to run. He couldn't see how God could use him. He was petrified at public speaking, even having conversations with an acquaintance made him sweat. Today Rechab is a church planter and preacher who has found the greatest joy and peace in life, is in surrendering to Jesus.

For many parents, losing a child is one of their greatest fears. How do you believe God is good and trustworthy as you watch your child suffer? When a friend's daughter received a terminal diagnosis, Esther Lee told God there was no way she could handle something so heartbreaking. When her daughter Ava was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, Esther's faith was devastated. It felt like God had...

Natalie Twedell struggled with fear while her husband Drew was deployed to Iraq. When he passed away while training to become a Navy Seal, her worst fears were confirmed. Anxiety became her constant companion. She referred to herself as a "control freak" who was waiting for the next bad thing to happen. But that way of life is exhausting, and God was calling her to trust him. As a woman overcome w...

We are constantly bombarded with things that compete not only for our attention, but to be the source of our identity. It's tempting to tie our sense of self-worth to our appearance, work, possessions, love relationships, and more. Ami Dean believed she had arrived. She had the house, the car, the spouse, and the kids- all the things that from the outside look like success. But she craved attentio...

In 1975 when the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia, Dareth Ly was 7 years old. He spent most of the next 4 years in a work camp, barely surviving starvation and torture. When he landed in the U.S. as an orphan, he forced himself to forget everything about Cambodia. He knew he would never go back. But God can take what others meant for evil, and turn it for good. (Caution for parents: this story conta...

After experiencing dysfunction and hurt, Tasha Layton left church and set out on a search for truth. That journey led her back to Jesus and a call to use her musical talents. As a gifted worship leader, God opened doors in music but not what Tasha had imagined. She found herself on American Idol and touring the world as a backup singer for Katy Perry, before finding her home writing worship songs...

If you were old enough to be aware of the events that day, you likely know exactly where you were on September 11, 2001.  In this special 20th anniversary edition of The Unfolding, we are sharing a collection of stories from 9/11.  With each story we move closer to Ground Zero.  We begin 8,000 miles from Manhattan in the jungles of the Philippines. Missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham were being...

As a Level 1 trauma nurse, Sarah Derocha had been trained to handle life and death situations. On a medical mission trip to a remote area of Bolivia, she was critically injured in a bus accident. She knew that her chance of survival was slim because of her nursing experience. The only way she could survive would be if God intervened.

In this special 100th episode of The Unfolding, we talk with Gary Levox, lead singer of Rascal Flatts, about how one night listening to the radio in his mom's kitchen, changed his life. Many people had told Gary he had a good voice, but he had never really thought of it as a gift, or that God might have a plan for him to use that gift. When he decided to take a leap of faith and move to Nashville,...

Do you have a story of how "The Unfolding Podcast" has impacted you? We want to know about it, and hope to share more stories like yours on the 100th episode. Share here: https://www.facebook.com/TheUnfoldingPodcast

Laura Johnson experienced some hard and traumatic things as a child. As she grew up, she saw what other children were going through and made herself a promise – she would never do that to her kids. But addiction was tricky. One minute she was in control of her drug use, and the next she wasn't. Laura found herself doing thing she never could have imagined. But what the enemy intended for evil, God...

When Anne Wilson was growing up, she wanted to be an astronaut. She made plans, started taking classes, and set her hopes on traveling to space. But one tragic summer night in 2017 altered the course of Anne's life. The death of her brother Jacob, set off a series of events that made clear to Anne that God's purpose was different than her plan. Anne sang in front of an audience for the very first...