The Rugged Path
New episodes every two weeks. Long-form conversations with people whose faith was forged in genuinely hard places. No polished testimonies. No formulas. Real stories.
Hunter Gochenour had a .320 in his hand, a horse farm outside Southern Pines, and nothing left to lose. Then a friend showed up with sunflowers. Neither of them knew why she came. Drug dealer at 18. 18X-Ray Army pipeline. Two marriages worth of damage. A 16,000-pound machine that ran over him and backed off. On November 10th, he drove to his friend Tom's house, knocked on the door, and said he thought he needed to be saved. Tom had unknowingly cooked dinner and laid out four gifts before Hunter ever knocked. God had known he was coming.
Army lieutenant colonel Chris Loschiavo spent 20 years in uniform, a loaded Glock in his hand one January night, and nearly two decades denying it ever happened — until God finally got his attention for good. In this honest conversation, Chris traces the long arc from suicidal isolation in Fayetteville to retirement, a barbecue food truck, and the first real peace he has known in 25 years.
Keith Golightly watched his father try to end his life in a restored Mustang on a Dallas highway overpass — and then spent years in JSOC before understanding that God had been present in both moments. In this conversation, Keith traces a path from a fractured Texas childhood through special operations deployments in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan, to pastoral ministry at Grace Church in Southern Pines, North Carolina.
Air Force veteran Will Johnson shares his incredible journey from LA gang territory to finding Christ in Germany, surviving a miraculous suicide intervention, and discovering God's faithfulness through family reunification and ministry to 200+ students.
Master Sergeant Sean O'Dowd survived two anti-tank mines, six combat deployments, and years of spiritual warfare before surrendering to Christ. In this raw conversation, Sean shares his journey from the 82nd Airborne to JSOC, from survivor's guilt to saving faith, and from battling PTSD to baptism in Aberdeen Lake.
A Green Beret who survived war comes home to face a harder battle — becoming the father and man of faith he never had a model for. This conversation goes deep into what it costs to trade one kind of strength for another.