I grew up believing I wouldn’t make it past 25… and that belief shaped everything. This episode is a raw, true story of childhood trauma, a broken home, and the deep questions that follow you when the people who claim faith don’t live it—identity, purpose, and whether God is real when life is falling apart. You’ll hear how a promising basketball future—Division 1 recruiting, a record freshman season, and NBA dreams—collapsed fast after an arrest and three felony drug trafficking charges. What happens when you’re expelled, in and out of jail, and still trying to prove you matter? This is a story about father wounds, chasing power, pleasure, and possessions, and hitting the kind of darkness that forces a decision. Then comes the turning point: a “death” before 25 that wasn’t what anyone expected—dying to the old life and finding a new one through Jesus Christ. And it doesn’t stop at a testimony. It becomes a mission: urban ministry, at-risk youth, and confronting a fatherless crisis—while asking the hard question many won’t: if the gospel is reconciliation, why do our cities still feel so divided?

You’ll learn how fatherlessness and trauma can distort identity and drive destructive decisions even when you look “successful” on the outside.

You’ll hear the behind-the-scenes story of going from D1 basketball to an arrest, jail time, and losing everything in a single season.

You’ll understand what real repentance and life change looked like for him—why he calls it dying before 25, and what shifted after that moment.

You’ll see why he believes the church must move beyond buildings and talk—toward reconciliation, community impact, and reaching fatherless, at-risk youth.

00:00 Intro
00:31 The double-life at home
00:56 Why I questioned God
01:24 Searching for identity
01:52 Two kids by 18
02:16 D1 basketball success
02:43 Arrested: three felonies
03:14 Second chance… then relapse
04:02 One-way ticket to Birmingham
04:28 “I died before 25” (the turning point)
04:58 Fatherless crisis + the church challenge
05:29 If reconciliation is real, where is it?

Hashtags:
#Testimony #FaithStory #Fatherless #SecondChance #UrbanMinistry