life together unscripted.

an interview with geneviève gilbert

Geneviève, a French-Québécoise native, details her Québécoise childhood in the 80s, and childhood trauma. She describes what she thought was a quiet, suburban childhood in a blue-collar neighborhood. Her dad, a milkman, and her mother a bank-teller, who dreamt of being a primary school teacher. Still, at the age of 9, her father left, and she rarely saw him again. She also learned eventually that her father had done many illegal things to the family, without her knowledge. Still, she believes she had a good childhood and is very grateful to her mother Suzanne LaBadie, a devout Catholic, who was always praying and did her best to raise her kids on her own, with a step-dad later joining the family. Since her father left and having grown up poor, she searched for worldly things and relationships to validate her hurt, and became a sex addict who was angry with men. In searching for healing, at the age of 16, she had her first boyfriend and her first sexual experience. Over time, she had many promiscuous encounters with men and women, having had long relationships with women too. For a while, Geneviève thought she was bisexual. From the age of 27, she spent 8 years as a prostitute. Prostitution is not a choice, and though legal, being sexually violated is not a job. It must be talked about. After exiting prostitution for good, she had three children with an Asian man. She understands God as her perfect father and has lived in Australia for twenty years, dealing with her trauma through art and research. In terms of childhood safety, it’s important to teach kids to deal with their emotions. That is, to talk about their feelings when they are young and to not tell them to ‘not cry’. Conversations about childhood trauma need to be had and addressed.

an interview with amanda

Amanda, former Events Manager at World Vision, Australia Red Cross, and Many Rooms, speaks of the centrality of prayer to the Christian life, her rough upbringing, faith in suffering, and mercy ministry. Whilst raised in a Christian home, her dad left Amanda’s mum to take care of four kids on her own. Despite the circumstances, she made the emotional well-being of her kids central and did her best to provide for her kids and nourish their faith. Because of her past, and with the compassionate heart God gave her, Amanda served in World Vision for almost a decade, and even now continues to work in mercy ministry. She encourages us to use our skills and resources to advance God’s kingdom, but first, we must focus on our personal relationship with Jesus, then look after our family, then our sphere of influence, and then the world.

an interview with throwdown

Dom reunites with his old band members from Throwdown in this special episode of LTU. The band reminisces over their favourite and last shows with Throwdown, some crazy experiences (like stabbing, guns, and how Matt went to jail on tour) and what they’ve been up to in the past fifteen years. In the decades since Dom left the band, he has gotten married, had a kid, moved to Geelong in Australia, and became a church creative director at City on a Hill. Keith dabbles in metal-Esque music, but his main work is in user interface design. Matt moved to Washington state, has a five-year-old son, is in the process of building a house, and works in marketing for a motorcycle accessory company as he has for fourteen years. Tommy has recently picked up the guitar during COVID after a fifteen-year hiatus and now seeks to be the Tedashii 69 of hardcore music on Soundcloud. He also has a few kids and is working on an organic plant-based café as he pursues a plant-based lifestyle. Ben hasn’t aged in 25 years and has worked in the fitness industry. He moved to Toronto with his now-ex-wife and kids in 2008, though has had a gnarly divorce a few years ago and is left raising the kids on his own. Marc has been opening gigs since 2001, formed a hardcore punk band called The Eulogy in 2012, and moved in with his girlfriend and her kids.

an interview with tessa rickard

Tessa Rickard, a nutritionist, mostly works with people with digestive issues and women with Hashimoto’s, and teaches them what to eat and how to eat for their body. She discusses her work, thyroid conditions, her son’s dyslexia, physical health, the danger of snacking, and the way the church has dealt with health and weight issues. Dyslexic children have their strengths. For example, her son is overwhelmed by written work but excels in creative and artistic work. When you understand the interests of dyslexic children and pursue them, you will find that they have their strengths and can excel. In terms of health, it’s important to find a good community and a good doctor, getting tested regularly, and eating right for our body. One shouldn’t discriminate on weight but focus on how a person feels about their weight. If we focus on how we feel, we avoid scales and learn to love ourselves. Taking care of our bodies is a spiritual issue.

an interview with dom macaluso

In today’s episode, Josh & Sarah step out from behind the scenes to ask Dom some questions people had about his experiences from playing in a straight-edge band to now serving as the Creative Director for City on a Hill. 0-4:30 Introductions 4:30-6:50. Dom discusses his life’s biggest challenge: "how do I continue to sit in a place of institution and structure as an oddball in the church...learning to be diplomatic in conversations that need to be had in the church." 6:55-11:00. Dom shares why he left the straight-edge band Throwdown in 2006. He felt he had a lot of pride in himself as being someone in the eyes of the world, and that his life didn’t match up with the Scriptures. He realised all the kingdoms he built up were for naught and needed to be let go so he could see something more beautiful. 11:20-13:00. Dom shares who he still keeps in touch with from his old crew. For him, it’s mostly Tommy who’s like a brother to him.   13:00-16:00. Dom discusses whether he would play in a band again, why the music industry was hard for him.  Although he wouldn't tour, he is still enjoying the process of writing lyrics and working on a project called New Noise with a friend.   16:00-17:00. Dom discusses how he feels about playing worship in the church. 18:00-23:00. Dom shares how he continues to live a faithful lifestyle amidst the ups and downs of life. The trick is to look for ways to see and experience God afresh... to never become complacent in your knowledge of him. 24:00-26:00. Dom revisits a previous question on Throwdown and whether he would ever play in the band again. 26:30-34:00. Does hardcore belong in the church? He believes worship will evolve but that it shouldn’t be about the individual expression as a solo concert. Playing that out will be difficult. 34:00-36:45. Playing board games with Cory from Slipknot. 36:50-39:00. Dom’s dream festival line-up: Sigur Ros, Refused, Sleeping Giant, and Chris Dicker. 39:20–45:00. How straight-edge made Dom feel prideful, but also saved him having grown up with patterns of addiction. A bad hallucinogenic trip on weed first made Dom renounce ‘those college years’ of drugs and alcohol. Also why Dom stopped being edge, and whether he would ever re-edge. 45:30-49:00. How tattoos hurt and are not fun, but also his views on tattoos and the church.   49:30-51:00. Dom shares how he manages discontentment in the world and his own anxiety and depression, with the concept of heaven. 53:00-59:00. What makes people fear and hate God is the hypocrisy of Christians. The Bible speaks about grace, and loving God and people,  but Christians are so judgemental because we forget the grace we have received in Christ. 59:30-1.03:00. How much of the Bible is literal, and how do you approach stories like six-day creation and the flood? Much of the Bible is allegorical, and if you wish to look into rationalisation of scriptures have a look at apologetics.\ 1.04:00-1.08:00. How the church has handled homosexuality, and why they need to be more flexible to what the Spirit wants to do with this generation. Jesus would have some strong things to say to the church regarding the issue. We have to learn to love people in their journey, and have conversations, but the topic is a lot more complicated than can be discussed in 10 minutes. 1.09:00-1.13:00. Open mic discussion with Dom, Sarah, and Josh around the difficulty of discussing homosexuality but the need for it to be addressed, and for the church to pick a side. 1.13:00-1.1:16:54 lighthearted close answering the question of ‘what is your favourite food?’