This week on the Living Clean Podcast, we dive headfirst into Step Four: “We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.”

Our consistent panel returns — Archer, Pete, and Douglas — and we’re joined by two powerful guests, Tim and Dawn, as we break down all things Step Four. We talk about what it really means to be searching. What fearless actually looks like. How to write honestly without drowning in shame. Why resentment, fear, and sex inventories matter. And how this step becomes a turning point in recovery instead of a punishment.

This conversation is real. It’s raw. It’s practical. And it might be the strongest episode in our Step series so far.

If you’ve ever been intimidated by Step Four… If you’ve ever avoided it… If you’re in the middle of it right now…

Do yourself a favor and listen.

This is where freedom begins.

This week’s episode came together in a way that honestly couldn’t have been planned any better.

Francis and I had the opportunity to be together in person at the Texarkana Area Convention in Texarkana, Arkansas, and that alone made this week different. While we were there, we were both involved in different parts of the convention. We did a History of the Basic Text workshop together, I shared on conscious contact, and Francis was scheduled to be the Sunday morning spiritual speaker on the topic “Creative Action of the Spirit.”

All of the topics for the convention were pulled directly from Living Clean: The Journey Continues, and as we were talking through what we were going to do for this week’s episode, Francis mentioned he was having a hard time figuring out what he wanted to say on his topic.

That’s when the idea hit.

Instead of just recording a normal episode, we decided to take advantage of being surrounded by addicts in recovery from all over and do a live, in-person Living Clean study on the section “Creative Action of the Spirit.” We broke it up into its 12 paragraphs and had members from the convention share on different sections.

What came out of that was something powerful. You’ll hear different perspectives, different experiences, and real-time insight from people who don’t normally sit in the same rooms together.

And then we took it one step further.

At the end of this episode, we included Francis’s full Sunday morning message. So what you’re getting is the process and the result. You get to hear the preparation through the study and then hear how that message came to life.

This one is special.

In this episode, Mason and Francis sit down with comedian Mark L., a performer known for bringing humor into recovery spaces and treatment settings across the world.

While respecting the spiritual principle of anonymity, this conversation focuses on experience, strength, and hope — not identity. Mark shares about his past, the role humor played in his recovery, and how laughter can help us talk about the things we once hid, denied, or ran from.

This is an honest discussion about addiction, recovery, perspective, and the power of being able to laugh without minimizing the seriousness of the journey.

If we can laugh about it, we can talk about it. And when we can talk about it, we don’t have to go through it alone.