Bleeding Daylight

Mark Osborne spent decades in the background, playing rhythm guitar on the worship team, raising his kids, and going to church, while quietly living without real purpose, spiritual depth, or a genuine connection with God. A mild heart attack at 48 nudged him toward healthier habits, but it was the day he sat alone on his birthday with a bowl of Captain Crunch and asked God why he wasn’t happy that something finally cracked open. What followed was a fitness journey that spiralled into ego, social media obsession, a marriage pushed to its breaking point, and ultimately, a moment on his knees that changed the direction of his life entirely. In this honest and encouraging conversation, Mark shares how he and his wife rebuilt their relationship and their faith from the ground up, what he’s learned about the difference between self-improvement and Christ-centred development, and why he now believes discipline is not a pathway to self-mastery but a fruit of the Holy Spirit. He also speaks directly to men who are drifting, and to the women who love them, offering practical wisdom and genuine hope. Mark is the host of The Valiant Forge podcast. This episode could be the beginning of taking you from a life of staying in the background to the future that God has planned for you.

Dr. James Torkildson brings more than four decades of clinical experience to a conversation that covers far more than mental health. From a dramatic conversion experience in an army chapel in Germany to a career spent helping thousands of people understand the roots of their pain, James speaks with the kind of quiet authority that only comes from having lived through both the darkness and the light. He unpacks why he sees psychology and faith as complementary rather than competing, and why most of what psychology gets right can be traced directly back to scripture. His book, Awaken! Exposing the Web of Deception, Threatening Our Faith, Family and Freedom, forms the backdrop for a wide-ranging discussion about truth, deception, the eternal perspective that changes everything, and the urgent need for the church to rediscover its true north. Whether you’re grappling with emotional health, questioning what’s shaping our culture, or simply looking for a conversation that takes both faith and reason seriously, this episode offers wisdom that is both deeply grounded and immediately practical.

John Finkelde led a Perth church through three decades of growth before handing over the reins at 58, not because he was done, but because he’d been planning well ahead. In this warm and wide-ranging conversation, John shares how a moment behind the wheel watching a sunset shifted his entire perspective on ageing, and why he’s traded the word ”retirement” for something far more life-giving: redesign. From taking 72 flights in his first year of consultancy to inviting pastors to sit with him for a beachside sunset, John’s journey is a masterclass in pivoting with purpose and grace. Whether you’re in your 30s and haven’t given your latter decades a second thought, or you’re already navigating the go-slow season and wondering what’s next, this episode is for you. John talks candidly about building a multi-book series on healthy church leadership, launching a YouTube channel, the unexpected gift of a serious illness, and why he believes the wisdom accumulated over a lifetime is far too valuable to be parked in a fishing chair. His faith, his humour, and his hard-won insights make this one of those conversations that stays with you long after you’ve finished listening.

After 25 years in pastoral ministry,  spanning student ministry, worship, lead pastor, and church planting ,  Dustin Kleinschmidt found himself stepping into what he thought would be a redemptive season, only to discover it would become the hardest of his life. In this deeply honest conversation, Dustin walks us through the perfect storm of circumstances that led to his burnout: the relentless pressures of rebuilding a fractured church in the wake of pastoral moral failure, a global pandemic, and years of accumulated exhaustion. He shares how a chance encounter at a new church brought hidden wounds to the surface, leading him to seek counselling and face the uncomfortable truth that his identity had become inextricably tangled with his vocation, and that the unspoken deal he thought he had with God had never really existed. Dustin’s journey through what he calls his ”wilderness season” has given shape to his new book, The Wilderness Way, and to his ongoing work as a companion for people who are spiritually exhausted, disillusioned, or quietly pretending they’re fine. Drawing on the parallel of Israel’s 40 years between slavery and the Promised Land, Dustin offers a compelling and compassionate reframe: the wilderness isn’t something to escape, but a place where beauty and brokenness exist side by side, and where God is quietly, faithfully present. This episode is for anyone who has felt the gap between the faith they expected and the life they’re actually living.

Carolyn Sherrow’s healing journey began not with a memory, but with a symptom. After waking in the middle of the night unable to breathe, this physician assistant of 23 years found herself on an unexpected path that led through medical specialists, a speech therapist, and eventually a Christian counsellor, one who recognised something in Carolyn that she hadn’t yet seen in herself. What emerged over the following years was the gradual uncovering of childhood ritual abuse, suppressed so completely that Carolyn had no conscious awareness of it until her mid-40s. In this deeply honest conversation, she walks us through the process of piecing together a hidden past, the role of dissociation in protecting trauma survivors, and the painstaking but transformative work of healing through Theophostic Prayer Ministry. Now an author, speaker and founder of Cords of Grace ministry, Carolyn has turned her own journey into a resource for others. Her memoir, My Personal Holocaust, includes not only her personal story but also practical appendices written for survivors, counsellors and church leaders. She speaks candidly about the estimated six and a half million Americans living with trauma-based dissociation, many of whom don’t yet know it, and about the importance of helping survivors build dependence on God rather than solely on their counsellors. Whether you are a survivor yourself, someone who loves one, or a person in ministry or the helping professions, this episode offers both insight and genuine hope.