He Lived on the Streets by Choice. Here's What Nobody Tells You With Chad Wheeler

Built To Break Made to Rise

In this episode of the Peaceful Hugs Podcast, host Lorelei Cromer and Mark Zahringer sits down with her old high school friend and fellow storyteller Danielle Damrell — serial entrepreneur, life story coach, podcast host, and founder of Rise Leadership Collective — for one of the most raw, redemptive, and deeply personal conversations the show has ever aired. These two go way back, and it shows. This isn't an interview. It's two women who carried each other through some of the hardest seasons of their lives, finally getting to tell that story out loud. Danielle's journey begins in a volatile home — a mom who never quite learned how to be a mom, an abusive stepfather, multiple elementary schools, expulsion from the Archdiocese of Denver, an eating disorder, self-harm, a treatment facility in Nashville at 15, and seven different high school enrollments before she ever walked across a stage. But in the middle of all of it, the Lord gave her a vision: standing on a stage, pointing people to freedom through story. She had a 1-point-something GPA and no idea how she was going to get there. He made a way anyway. From a single mom at 19 finishing her communications degree, to meeting her husband — the man she calls the biggest miracle of her life — to building a creative business that has helped over 65 authors tell their stories for the very first time, Danielle's arc is nothing short of stunning. But the most powerful chapter might be the most recent one: two car accidents in three weeks, a traumatic brain injury, a Judas-level board betrayal, and a ministry she had to surrender completely — all because she didn't listen when God told her to rest. The conversation also gets beautifully honest about boundaries as acts of love, trusting yourself over trusting the wrong people, and what it means to be the author of a story you didn't choose to be born into. Takeaways * The Lord is the author, but you are the writer — and that means you have the power to rewrite the stories you didn't choose. * Resilience isn't something you aspire to. It's something God builds in you through the things you never would have picked for yourself. * When God says rest and you don't listen, he has a way of making you listen. * The ultimate form of trust is sleep — believing he will work on your behalf while your eyes are closed. * A boundary isn't rejection. It's a way to stay in relationship. Jesus set boundaries because he loved people. * Trusting the wrong people can make you stop trusting yourself — and that's one of the most damaging things that can happen. * Unprocessed emotions don't stay hidden. They destroy your relationships, even when you don't mean them to. * You cannot find your purpose in your children — but when you feel like you have nothing to live for, God can use a baby to turn the light switch on. * Generational patterns can be broken. You don't have to pass on what was passed to you. * Lead with love — in your workplace, your home, your career, wherever you lead. Chapters 00:15 Welcome & Introducing Danielle — Old Friends, Big Stories 03:30 Damrell Designs, Created Worthy & the Evolution of a Creative Business 07:00 Growing Up in a Volatile Home — Feeling Unparentable from the Start 11:15 Catholic School to Christian School — What in the Cult Is Happening? 15:00 Expelled, Acting Out & Why School Felt Safer Than Home 18:30 Bulimia, Self-Harm & Seven High School Enrollments 22:00 Mercy Ministries in Nashville — Meeting Jesus for the First Time 27:15 Getting Kicked Out of Treatment & Hitting the Lowest Point 31:00 A Vision at 17 — Standing on a Stage, Pointing People to Freedom 34:30 Single Mom at 19, a Christian University & the Miracle of Graduation 39:00 Meeting Her Husband — The Biggest Miracle of Her Life 43:15 65 Authors, Life Story Coaching & the Heart Behind Created Worthy 47:30 Lorelei & Danielle — The Morning Everything Came to a Head 52:00 Backpacks, Safety & What It Means to Hold Someone's Story 56:15 Boundaries Are Love — And Why That Changes Everything 1:00:00 Trust God, Trust Yourself — Why Trusting the Wrong People Costs You 1:04:30 God Said Rest. She Said Not Yet. Then Came Two Car Accidents. 1:10:00 Traumatic Brain Injury, Board Betrayal & Surrendering the Ministry 1:15:30 Spiritual Warfare & Walking in Obedience When the Enemy Shows Up 1:19:00 Rise Leadership Collective — What's Coming & How to Get Involved 1:23:00 Best Life Advice — Lead With Love 1:25:00 Book Recs: The Path Made Clear by Oprah & Strong Ground by Brené Brown + Wicked for the Movie Connect with Danielle Rise Leadership Collective: riseleadershipcollective.org Created Worthy Podcast: available wherever you listen to podcasts About the Peaceful Hugs Podcast The Peaceful Hugs Podcast is a space for thoughtful, real conversations about faith, culture, purpose, and the stories that shape us. Hosted by Mark Zahringer and Lorelei Cromer, the show brings together voices from different backgrounds and generations to explore what it means to live with empathy — especially when the world feels loud, polarized, and quick to judge. At the center of it all is a simple idea: kindness matters, and we can't afford to lose it. 🎙️ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeacefulHugsPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@PeacefulHugsPodcast]

Left Everything to Pastor a City He Barely Knew | Rev. Antoine Colvin

In this episode of the Peaceful Hugs Podcast, hosts Mark Zahringer and Lorelei Cromer sit down with Reverend Antoine Colvin — pastor of Historic Little Rock Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan — for a rich, energizing conversation about faith, community, calling, and what it truly means to shine your light beyond the four walls of a church. Reverend Colvin's story begins in Baltimore, Maryland, where athletics, education, and a tight-knit community of mentors shaped him from the ground up. Baptized at 12, he initially set his sights on college football — earning a spot at NC State on an athletic scholarship — while quietly carrying the weight of a father whose health was declining and a family that needed him. It was the sudden death of his beloved high school coach, Benjamin Eaton Sr., that shifted everything. In that moment of grief, Reverend Colvin heard the words that would define his life's work: always leave a place better than you found it. From there, the road to ministry wound through Baltimore churches, a first pastorate in Columbus, Mississippi, and ultimately — by nothing short of divine call — to the Motor City, a city he had visited only once as a middle schooler and where he knew not a single soul. He arrived to shepherd a congregation that had been rooted in Detroit since 1936, following the near-50-year legacy of the internationally renowned Reverend Dr. Jim Holley. The pressure was immense. But Reverend Colvin's approach is simple: you don't replace a legacy — you build on it, one faithful step at a time. The conversation digs into what ministry actually looks like on the ground in Detroit today — from meeting people at their moment of need, to understanding that handing someone a turkey means nothing if they don't have a kitchen to cook it in. Reverend Colvin also opens up about his unique calling to bridge faith and mental health, drawing on both his Master of Divinity and his Master of Social Work to help his congregation and community understand that God cares deeply about what's happening in our minds and bodies — not just our souls. Takeaways * Always leave a place better than you found it — in ministry, in relationships, in life. * The church is not a building. The majority of Jesus's ministry happened in the marketplace, among ordinary people with real needs. * You can't skip Maslow. If someone's belly is empty, you can't minister to their soul first. * Anger isn't always a negative emotion — sometimes it's exactly what pushes us toward justice and change. * Every generation of leadership is meant to build on what came before it, not replace it. Moses had Joshua. John had Jesus. * Eat the meat, throw away the bones — not everything on your plate is meant to be ingested. * Faith and mental health are not opposites. The church has a responsibility to bridge that gap. * When you take a step back, it's not failure — sometimes you need to relearn step one to grow past the plateau you've reached. * Darkness isn't just in places. It's in people. And the light you carry is meant for them too. * Life is like a box of chocolates — but what matters is what you do with the box you've been given. Chapters 00:15 Welcome & Mark's Personal Connection to Little Rock Baptist Church 04:00 Growing Up in Baltimore — Athletics, Education & Older Parents 08:30 Baptized at 12 & the Dad Who Got Sick at the Same Time 12:45 NC State, Football & the Career Path He Almost Took 16:30 Coach Benjamin Eaton Sr. — The Hug That Changed Everything 21:00 Licensed to Preach in 2008 & the Road to Ministry Begins 25:15 Connecting Communities to Christ — The Vision of Little Rock 29:30 Love God, Love People — And Why Number Two Is the Hard One 33:00 Ministry Outside the Four Walls — Marketplace Ministry & Meeting Real Needs 38:15 The Bible Story That Sums It All Up — 1,000 Bibles & a Community That Couldn't Read 42:30 Why Detroit? A Divine Call to a City He Barely Knew 47:00 Following Reverend Dr. Jim Holley — Building on Legacy, Not Replacing It 51:30 Bridging Faith & Mental Health — A Pastor With a Master of Social Work 56:00 Nehemiah, Anger & What the Church Gets Wrong About Emotions 1:00:15 Best Life Advice — Eat the Meat, Throw Away the Bones 1:02:30 Must-See Movie: Forrest Gump & Must-Read Book: Peaks and Valleys 1:04:30 Closing — Detroit's on the Rise & How to Connect with Little Rock Connect with Historic Little Rock Missionary Baptist Church Visit them online or in person if you're in Detroit — one of the city's most beautiful and historic congregations. About the Peaceful Hugs Podcast The Peaceful Hugs Podcast is a space for thoughtful, real conversations about faith, culture, purpose, and the stories that shape us. Hosted by Mark Zahringer and Lorelei Cromer, the show brings together voices from different backgrounds and generations to explore what it means to live with empathy — especially when the world feels loud, polarized, and quick to judge. At the center of it all is a simple idea: kindness matters, and we can't afford to lose it.

He Lived on the Streets by Choice. Here's What Nobody Tells You With Chad Wheeler

In this episode of the Peaceful Hugs Podcast, hosts Mark Z and Lorelei Cromer sit down with Chad Wheeler — Executive Director of Open Door in Lubbock, Texas — for a candid, deeply moving conversation about what it truly looks like to love your neighbors, especially the ones most people would rather not see. Chad traces Open Door's remarkable origin back nearly 30 years to a returned missionary named Jim Beck, who — reeling from reverse culture shock after more than a decade in Kenya — didn't start a program or a nonprofit. He simply got in line at a soup kitchen, grabbed a plate of fried chicken, and sat down with a man named Bo. That single act of table fellowship planted the seed of what is today a thriving church, community center, supportive housing program, and survivor housing initiative serving hundreds of Lubbock's most vulnerable residents every single night. Chad also pulls back the curtain on his own remarkable journey — from an affluent upbringing with no exposure to homelessness, to sleeping in the backseat of a 1995 Toyota Camry as a college student, to spending three weeks on the streets of Austin with $12, a backpack, and no phone — all to understand from the inside what the people he serves actually experience. What he found wasn't danger. It was loneliness. And that discovery has quietly shaped everything Open Door does. Chapters 00:15 Welcome & Introduction to Chad Wheeler and Open Door 03:30 How Open Door Started: Jim Beck, Bo, and a Plate of Fried Chicken 08:45 From Carpenter's Church to Community Center — 30 Years of Showing Up 13:10 Chad's Journey: Sleeping in His Car and Three Weeks on the Streets of Austin 19:20 What He Learned: Loneliness, Judgment, and People Are Just People 25:00 Housing vs. Home — Why a Roof Alone Isn't Enough 29:40 Wraparound Services: Meeting People Where They Actually Are 34:15 Faith Without Force: Open Door's Approach to God and Belonging 39:30 The Story of the Man Who Drew Satanic Art in Art Class 43:00 Survivor Housing: Jamie Wheeler's Work with Domestic Violence and Sex Trafficking Survivors 48:20 How People Find Open Door — Word of Mouth, Law Enforcement, and Everything In Between 52:10 Encampment Laws, Political Realities, and the Revolving Door 57:00 The System That Holds People Down — DUIs, Daycare, and Broken Bureaucracy 1:01:30 Funding Realities: Federal Grants, Local Donors, and Building Sustainability 1:06:45 Best Advice: Trees Can Be Planted Often — But Their Default Is to Stay 1:09:30 Book Recommendations: Compassion by Henri Nouwen & The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle 1:11:00 How to Support Open Door in Lubbock, Texas Connect with Open Door Website: https://opendoorlbk.org Consider donating, volunteering, or joining their annual Hub City Bed Run — details at opendoorlbk.org About the Peaceful Hugs Podcast The Peaceful Hugs Podcast is a space for thoughtful, real conversations about faith, culture, purpose, and the stories that shape us. Hosted by Mark Z and Lorelei Cromer, the show brings together voices from different backgrounds and generations to explore what it means to live with empathy — especially when the world feels loud, polarized, and quick to judge. At the center of it all is a simple idea: kindness matters, and we can't afford to lose it.

You Don't Have To Go Alone, How Therapy Helps With Jillian Garner Nakayama

In this episode of the Peaceful Hugs Podcast, hosts Mark Z and Lorelei Cromer sit down with Jillian — Licensed Social Worker, therapist, and Mark's own counselor — for one of the most open and disarmingly honest conversations the show has ever hosted. Recorded during Mental Health Awareness Month, this episode pulls no punches: Mark shares his own journey through a called-off wedding, a traumatic robbery, and the very real stigma that kept him — a 59-year-old man — from asking for help. And Jillian, making her podcast debut, brings the clinical knowledge, the warmth, and just enough push-back to make it all land. Jillian traces her path into social work back to childhood — fighting against her family's wishes, navigating her own experiences, and arriving at a simple but profound conviction: we are all human, having a human experience, just trying to deal with it in whatever way we can. She breaks down what therapy actually is versus what most people imagine it to be, why your best friend — no matter how wise or well-meaning — simply cannot do what a trained therapist can, and what treatments like EMDR are actually doing inside your body when talk alone isn't enough. The conversation gets real about forgiveness — the difference between saying sorry and actually reconciling, why so many people can't accept forgiveness even when it's offered, and how self-forgiveness is often the deepest wound of all. Mark opens up about forgiving the man who robbed him, crying at his death, and what it would have meant to look him in the eye and say the words out loud. They also dig into the workplace — how burnout, dysregulation, and unprocessed trauma show up every day in high-performing people who have no idea anything is wrong — and how Unbridled Acts' Identity Fund is quietly changing that, one company at a time. And yes — Ted Lasso comes up. Because of course it does. Takeaways You don't have to go alone. Reaching out is not weakness — it's the bravest thing you can do. Your best friend loves you, but they cannot give you an unbiased perspective. That's what therapy is for. Trauma is stored in the body. Saying "I don't think about it anymore" doesn't mean it's gone — it means it's coming out another way. If therapy is all validation and no challenge, you're not getting what you need. Find someone who will push you. You can't accept forgiveness from others until you learn to forgive yourself. Forgiveness is a process, not a moment — and asking "do you forgive me?" might be the step most of us skip. Stuffing your feelings down is not coping. Those feelings will come out — as addiction, anger, illness, or walls around your heart. Mental health isn't visible. The person who looks perfectly fine in the parking lot might be barely holding it together. Put your oxygen mask on first. You cannot pour from an empty cup. It's not always about you — and remembering that changes everything about how you respond to the people around you. High-functioning and high-performing doesn't mean okay. Your nervous system doesn't care about your productivity. The truth will set you free — but it'll tick you off first. Chapters 00:15 Welcome & Why Mental Health Month Hits Close to Home 03:00 Mark Opens Up — The Called-Off Wedding, the Robbery & Asking for Help 07:30 Meet Jillian — Her Path Into Social Work & Why Her Family Pushed Back 12:00 We're All Human — The Playbook Nobody Gave Us 15:45 Why Your Best Friend Can't Replace a Therapist 19:30 EMDR, CBT & the Treatments Most People Have Never Heard Of 24:15 When Medication Is the Bridge, Not the Destination 28:00 Forgiveness Is a Process — Saying Sorry Isn't Enough 33:30 Can You Accept Forgiveness If You Can't Forgive Yourself? 38:00 How to Know If You've Found the Right Therapist 43:15 Honesty in the Room — What Happens When You're Not 47:30 Trauma Lives in the Body — Even When You Think You're Over It 52:00 The Identity Fund — Destigmatizing Mental Health in the Workplace 57:30 Faith, Anchors & What You Hold Onto When It's 1 AM 1:02:00 It's Not Always About You — Two Pieces of Life-Changing Advice 1:04:30 Movie Recommendations: Little Black Book & Hector and the Search for Happiness 1:06:00 Closing Thoughts — Give People the Benefit of the Doubt About the Peaceful Hugs Podcast The Peaceful Hugs Podcast is a space for thoughtful, real conversations about faith, culture, purpose, and the stories that shape us. Hosted by Mark Z and Lorelei Cromer, the show brings together voices from different backgrounds and generations to explore what it means to live with empathy — especially when the world feels loud, polarized, and quick to judge. At the center of it all is a simple idea: kindness matters, and we can't afford to lose it.

She Asked God Why. He Taught Her How with Patty Stewart

In this episode of the Peaceful Hugs Podcast, hosts Mark Z and Lorelei Cromer sit down with Patty Stewart — missionary kid, pastor's wife, nurse, musician, and author of No More Pat Answers: Living in the Not Knowing — for one of the most quietly powerful conversations the show has ever had. Patty's story spans continents, decades, and depths of suffering most people will never know — and yet she tells it with a warmth and honesty that makes you feel like you're sitting across the table from a dear friend. Born in 1948 in Mashhad, Iran — smuggled in unknowingly by her missionary parents before she even existed on paper  Patty grew up on a compound near the Afghan border surrounded by fruit trees, tire swings, donkeys, and a community of faith that felt like one big extended family. It was also where she first encountered the kind of poverty that breaks a child's heart and plants a seed that never quite leaves. She met her future husband Tat when she was two weeks old and he was two years old. It was not, she jokes, love at first sight. After returning to the U.S. in 1964 and building a life, a marriage, and a young family, Patty found herself pulled back — not by her own desire, but by a letter, a prayer, and a quiet but unmistakable shift in her heart. She and Tat returned to a post-revolution Iran that looked nothing like the one they'd known, raising two blonde children in a culture that stopped to stare, teaching a Sunday school class in two languages, and ministering to women who were quietly falling apart far from home. Then came the newspaper. Their photos. The word "spies." And seven days to get out of the country — driving through darkened alleys with no headlights, two half-asleep children in the back of a Land Rover, not knowing if they'd make it to the airport alive. But the hardest chapters, Patty says, came later. A traumatic brain injury in 2012 that left her at 93 pounds, unable to move, staring at a knife in the dark. Anxiety so severe that no medication, no therapy, nothing could touch it. Years of waiting, asking God why — and slowly, painstakingly, learning to stop asking why and start asking how. Her book, No More Pat Answers, is the culmination of that journey: a raw, honest, deeply personal account of what faith actually looks like when the darkness won't lift and the answers don't come. The conversation also turns to Iran today — and Patty shares what happened when she posted about her book in Farsi on Instagram and half a million Iranians responded. Chapters 00:15 Welcome & Introduction to Patty Stewart 02:30 Smuggled Into Iran Before She Was Born — Life in Mashhad 07:00 Growing Up on the Compound: Fruit Trees, Tire Swings & a Heart for the Poor 11:20 Meeting Tat at Two Weeks Old & Coming Back to America in 1964 14:45 The Letter That Changed Everything — God Shifts Patty's Heart to Return 19:30 Waiting Out the Revolution: Six Months in New Jersey, Then Back to a Different Iran 24:00 Raising Blonde Kids in Post-Revolution Tehran & Ministry to Expatriate Women 29:15 Teaching Sunday School in Two Languages (and One Kid Who Ate the Elmer's Glue) 33:00 The Iranian Children's TV Show That Told Kids to Bomb Americans 35:30 Illness, Breakdown & the Order to Leave in 10 Days 39:45 Fleeing Under Cover of Darkness — The Airport Story 46:00 "Party of Stuart, Please Step Out of Line" — First Class Out of Iran 49:30 The TBI, 93 Pounds & Learning to Live One More Day 55:00 Anxiety So Severe She Looked at a Knife in the Dark 59:30 From "Why" to "How" — The Question That Changes Everything 1:03:00 Half a Million Iranians on Instagram & What They Said About Her Book 1:07:15 The Prince of Persia — Spiritual Warfare and the Battle Over Iran 1:11:00 Western Comfort vs. What the Iranian People Are Enduring Today 1:14:30 Best Life Advice: Just Wait One More Day 1:16:00 Book Recommendation: The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee 1:17:30 About No More Pat Answers: Living in the Not Knowing Get Patty's Book No More Pat Answers: Living in the Not Knowing — available on Amazon About the Peaceful Hugs Podcast The Peaceful Hugs Podcast is a space for thoughtful, real conversations about faith, culture, purpose, and the stories that shape us. Hosted by Mark Zahringer and Lorelei Cromer, the show brings together voices from different backgrounds and generations to explore what it means to live with empathy — especially when the world feels loud, polarized, and quick to judge. At the center of it all is a simple idea: kindness matters, and we can't afford to lose it. 🎙️ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeacefulHugsPodcast