Sometimes it feels like your past mistakes have already determined your future. But what if the place you thought was the end is actually where God starts something new?

In this episode, I talk with Jermaine Wilson, whose journey moves from prison to purpose, rejection to leadership, and ultimately to impact. Early on, he reframes his story: “I lost my freedom, but God helped me discover my purpose.” What seemed like an ending became the foundation for everything after.

After prison, Jermaine faced rejection. He couldn’t find a job or a place to live, and doors kept closing. Still, he kept going: “No does not mean you’re not qualified. N-O simply means next opportunity.” That way of thinking helped him keep moving forward, no matter what stood in his way.

He embraced each step of the process. Whether janitor or dishwasher, he chose faithfulness: “If you become too big to swing a mop, you’re too small to serve at the top.” Even when questioned, he stayed grounded, repeating, “You don’t know where I came from—so you’ll never understand where I’m going.”

That focus helped him avoid distractions. Step by step, he stayed faithful. Over time, because he was ready, doors opened. In other words, the process prepared him for his purpose.

What happened next is remarkable: leadership, public service, and prison ministry. At the heart of it, surrender means letting go of what holds us back. As Jermaine says, “Your scars will either reflect shame… or strength.”

His story shows that real change happens when you bring your past into the open. For anyone weighed down by regret, remember his words: “Just because you have fallen does not mean you are a failure.”

Key Takeaways:

• Your lowest place doesn’t disqualify you—it often prepares you.
• Rejection isn’t the end—it’s redirection.
• Faithfulness in small things leads to bigger opportunities.
• Community changes everything.
• You can’t transform your community without first confronting yourself.
• Surrender isn’t weakness—it’s release.

If this episode speaks to you, subscribe to MercyCast for more stories about hope and new beginnings. Share it with someone who might feel stuck. You never know how one story can change a life. Leave a review to help others find these conversations.

You are not disqualified. You are not forgotten. And what feels like the end might actually be the place where everything starts.

Learn more about Jermaine’s work at Prison Fellowship.

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Thanks for listening. We want to hear from you!

Email us at info@mercycast.com.

When the world goes quiet at night, most of us feel safe.

But for many women and children, that’s when the hardest questions begin:

Where will I sleep? Who will protect me? Will tomorrow be any different?

In this episode, I sit down with Telicia Maxwell, director of My Sister’s House at Atlanta Mission—and her perspective will challenge the way you think about service, faith, and people.

This conversation isn’t just about homelessness.

It’s about what it means to truly see someone.

Telicia shares how real transformation doesn’t begin with programs or quick fixes—it begins with presence. With trust. When choosing to show up in someone’s life, not as a solution, but as a person.

Because often, the moments that change everything aren’t big at all:

It’s remembering a name.

It’s offering a small act of kindness.

It’s simply sitting with someone long enough for them to feel safe.

Key Takeaways:

• People don’t need to be fixed—they need to be seen.
• Trust is built through consistent, genuine presence.
• Healing often starts with small, human moments.
• Vulnerability creates connection—not weakness.
• Community is essential—we were never meant to do life alone.

So here’s the challenge:

Don’t just listen—act.

The next time you encounter someone in a vulnerable place, pause.

Look them in the eyes.

Learn their name.

Because that moment might be where healing begins.

Listen now—and start seeing people differently.

Learn more about Telicia’s work, My Sister’s House, and the Atlanta mission at Atlantamission.org.

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You can follow Raleigh on Twitter and Instagram.

Thanks for listening. We want to hear from you!

Email us at info@mercycast.com.

In this episode, I sit down with Cally Logan to talk about something I think we all wrestle with—how God actually works in our lives. Not just in the big, obvious moments, but in the quiet, unseen ones beneath the surface.

We get into calling, identity, and what it looks like to trust God when you don’t have clear answers. Because if I’m honest, most of my life hasn’t been marked by burning bush moments—it’s been shaped in the slow, ordinary steps.

We talk about surrender, about learning to listen, and about how God reroutes us—even when we think we’ve gone the wrong way. We look at stories like Jonah and reflect on how God uses even our resistance and mistakes for something bigger.

This conversation is really an invitation—to slow down, to trust God’s timing, and to believe that even the small moments are forming something deep in you.

Key Topics

The hidden work of God beneath the surface

I talk with Cally about how most of what God does in us isn’t loud—it’s quiet. It’s beneath the surface. And if we’re not paying attention, we’ll miss it.

Trusting God when clarity isn’t there

We unpack what it looks like to trust God when you don’t have a clear answer. Not every moment is dramatic or obvious—sometimes it’s just taking the next step.

Surrender as a daily practice

Surrender isn’t a one-time decision. It’s something I have to come back to every day—letting go, little by little, and trusting God with what I’m holding.

When God reroutes your life

We talk about how God uses detours—how even when we think we’ve messed things up, He’s still at work. Nothing is wasted.

What Jonah teaches us about obedience and resistance

Jonah’s story reminds me that even when we run, God still pursues, redirects, and works through us in ways we couldn’t plan.

Embracing the “side quests” of life

Some of the most meaningful growth happens in the things that don’t seem connected. Those side paths? God uses those too.

Taking the next small step

We end with something simple but powerful—don’t try to figure everything out. Just ask God to show you one thing, and take that step.

Learn more about Cally’s work at her website, callylogan.com. Buy her new book.

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You can follow Raleigh on Twitter and Instagram.

Ambition isn’t the enemy. But we can reframe it.

This week on MercyCast, I sit down with Ryan Tinetti, author of The Quiet Ambition. We talk about the quiet line from First Epistle to the Thessalonians that has haunted him for years: make it your ambition to live quietly.

That verse doesn’t trend.

It won’t grow your platform.

It won’t help you build a brand.

But it might change your life.

Ryan shares the moment early in ministry when ambition pushed him to the edge—literally landing him in the ER with what he thought was a heart attack. It wasn’t. It was a panic attack. The kind that shows up when you believe everything depends on you.

We talk about the lie that louder equals faithful. About the subtle pressure—even in ministry—to build something impressive for God. About how the Kingdom often moves more slowly than we want. And how God usually works through small obedience rather than big moments.

We also talk about falling. Not failing—falling. Ryan tells a story about learning to cross-country ski in Michigan and a friend telling him, “That was a good fall.” It stuck with him. Because the Christian life isn’t about never falling. It’s about learning to fall into the arms of Christ.

We wrestle with the tension between ambition and humility. Scripture doesn’t call us to laziness. But it does call us to a different kind of ambition—the kind aimed at pleasing God rather than elevating ourselves.

A quiet ambition.

One that looks like:

• faithfulness in your vocation
• carving away at your small corner of the Kingdom
• trusting that God is doing more than you can see

We talk about why verses like “Be still and know that I am God” from the Book of Psalms can feel threatening in a culture built on striving.

Because if we stop striving…

What if we’re forgotten?

And yet the gospel tells a different story. God meets us not in spectacle but through ordinary means—Word, water, bread, and wine.

In the quiet.

In the mundane.

In the places we usually overlook.

By the end, Ryan offers two simple practices that resist the culture of hurry:

• Use the crockpot. Let something take time.
• Take a walk without earbuds. Just you and God.

No platform.

No applause.

Just faithfulness.

And maybe that’s where the real work of the Kingdom happens.

If you want to learn more, check out Ryan's substack and his new book, The Quiet Ambition.

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Thanks for listening. We want to hear from you!

Email us at info@mercycast.com.

What if obedience to Jesus actually costs us something? What if faith wasn’t safe, tidy, or convenient—but relational, risky, and deeply transformative?

In this episode of the Mercy Cast, I sit down with author Mark Buchanan to talk about his powerful novel, What Is Left of the Night, inspired by the true story of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. During World War II, this small French village quietly resisted Nazism. Around 900 residents sheltered more than 2,500 refugees—mostly Jews—with no refugee deaths. Their courage wasn’t loud. It was steady. Scripture-shaped. Costly.

We talk about the leadership of pastors André Trocmé and Magda Trocmé, whose lives were anchored in Matthew 25 and Jubilee theology. Their allegiance to Christ led them not only to protect the vulnerable, but—after the war—to show compassion even to German POWs. That’s the kind of gospel witness that unsettles our categories.

Mark shares how writing this novel coincided with the launch of New Story Community, a live-in healing ministry for Indigenous women. We wrestle with what it means to choose vulnerability today. To risk proximity. To move beyond ideology and into embodied love. To trade tribal loyalty for singular allegiance to Jesus.

Here’s what I want you to hear: quiet obedience can change the world. Vulnerability is not weakness—it’s the pathway to transformation. And when we step toward the marginalized, we don’t just offer mercy—we’re remade by it.

If you’ve been wondering what faithfulness looks like in a polarized, performative age, this conversation is for you.

Listen in. Then ask yourself:

Where is obedience becoming inconvenient for me?

Who is God inviting me to move toward?

What would it look like to choose costly love?

Let’s be people whose lives make mercy visible.

Takeaways

• Obedience becomes real when it costs us something.
• The story of Le Chambon reveals quiet, steadfast heroism.
• Vulnerability is an act of radical faith.
• Scripture must shape not just what we believe, but how we live.
• Proximity to the marginalized transforms us.
• Community creates space for mutual healing.
• Friendship deepens in discomfort and risk.
• Pilgrimage and place can awaken conviction.
• Allegiance to Christ must rise above political or cultural loyalties.
• Ideology shrinks love; the gospel expands it.

Learn more about Mark and how to follow his work at Markbuchanan.net. Also, don’t forget to buy his new book, What is Left of the Night.

You can follow MercyCast on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

You can follow Raleigh on Twitter and Instagram.

Thanks for listening. We want to hear from you!

Email us at info@mercycast.com.

Secrecy is quiet at first. Then it gets heavy. Then it owns the room.

In this powerful episode of MercyCast, I sit down with Alicia Barr, author of More Than a Secret, for a raw and redemptive conversation about confession, compromise, accountability, and the transforming power of grace.

Alicia shares her story of a four-year extramarital affair, hitting rock bottom two years in, and quietly searching for a Christian resource written from the mistress’s perspective.

“I went searching in confidence… and I couldn’t find it.”

So she wrote the book she needed.

This episode addresses:

• The emotional and spiritual impact of secrecy
• Church hurt, isolation, and loss of belonging.
• Infidelity recovery and personal responsibility
• Christian counseling and confession
• Grace greater than shame

This is not a story of blame-shifting. Alicia takes full responsibility for her choices. But she also courageously names the vulnerabilities beneath them—loneliness, disconnection, and the deep human need to be seen and known.

As Scripture warns in 1 Corinthians 10:12, “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall.” None of us is beyond temptation.

Rock Bottom: When Secrets Collapse

Alicia describes rock bottom as lying on her bedroom floor, crying out to God, wanting nothing more than to die.

Years later, at a conference, author and speaker Annie F. Downs paused mid-session and said a sentence that would change Alicia’s life.

That moment pierced through the silence.

Alicia told her sister.

She found a counselor.

She stepped into the light.

According to research by Michael Slepian, author of The Secret Life of Secrets, the average person carries 13 secrets—five of which are never told to anyone.

We are not built to carry that weight alone.

Grace Greater Than Shame

During counseling, as Alicia condemned herself repeatedly, her therapist gently said:

“That’s what Jesus Christ went to the cross for.”

The cross did not excuse her sin—it transformed her.

“The story doesn’t end with secrecy. It ends with the cross.”

Today, community is non-negotiable. Alicia has trusted women in her life who can ask her anything, anytime, anywhere. Accountability is no longer optional—it’s life-giving.

This episode of MercyCast is for:

• Anyone carrying a secret
• Anyone battling shame after infidelity.
• Anyone who feels unforgivable
• Anyone afraid that being fully known means being abandoned.

Healing begins with truth.

Community breaks isolation.

Grace is stronger than your worst decision.

Learn more about Alicia at Aliciabarr.com. Buy her new book, More than a Secret.. Follow her on Instagram.

You can follow MercyCast on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

You can follow Raleigh on Twitter and Instagram.

Thanks for listening. We want to hear from you!

Email us at info@mercycast.com.

What if the thing you can’t say no to is shaping your spiritual life?

On this episode of the Mercycast, I talk with JT Tapias—former pro soccer player, once-homeless teen, and founder of a Christ-centered nutrition and wellness movement. His story moves from cartel violence and addiction to faith, redemption, and holistic health.

It began with a question I didn’t want to answer:

“What is your relationship to food?”

I wanted tactics. But behavior reveals belief—and belief shapes identity.

After hidden addiction led to an AFib diagnosis and a suicide letter, JT encountered Jesus in a way he couldn’t explain. The next day, he said it felt like “a 2,000-pound gorilla” had lifted off his shoulders.

Dopamine, Discipline & Surrender

We’re constantly chasing relief—food, alcohol, screens, approval. In JT’s word’s: “We are constantly scanning the room for dopaminergic moments.”

So here’s the question: What can’t you say no to?

This isn’t white-knuckled discipline. As I shared: “The law can reveal where you are, but it can’t deliver you. Only the gospel can do that.” In the Christian life, it is motivated by the Gospel. But the Holy Gospel has implications for the whole person. Holistic health—mind, body, and spirit—matters to God. Our stewardship can strengthen our spiritual resilience.

Key Takeaways:

• The “why” behind behavior matters.
• Addiction often hides in plain sight.
• Self-control flows from the Holy Spirit.
• Faith must be lived, not just professed.

If this episode stirred something in you, sit with this:

What can’t I say no to?

Bring it to the Lord.

Let surrender shape your growth.

Subscribe to the Mercycast for more conversations on compassion, adversity, faith, wellness, and personal growth—and share this with someone who needs hope today.

Learn about JT’s Empty Your Bucket Plan. Follow him on instagram.

You can follow MercyCast on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

You can follow Raleigh on Twitter and Instagram.

Thanks for listening. We want to hear from you!

Email us at info@mercycast.com.