He chased success hard enough to build a global career and still ended up empty. Mitch Guinn joins us to tell the truth about what it looked like to spend years hunting for acceptance in all the wrong places: performance, sex, alcohol, and the constant need to be seen as “a man.” The cost was real: three marriages, five daughters growing up with an often absent father, and a level of guilt that nearly ended his life.

We walk through the roots of that pattern, including an absent dad, the craving for affirmation, and the way workaholism can masquerade as responsibility while starving your family of presence. Mitch shares the moment he first heard the gospel clearly, why it reshaped his understanding of worth, and how change can be both immediate in the heart and painfully slow in daily habits.

The conversation also goes where many Christian podcasts avoid: what do you do when your past echoes into your children’s choices, and you cannot fix what they decide? We talk about loving adult kids with clear boundaries, resisting constant arguments, and staying faithful to your “part” while trusting God with what you cannot control. Mitch explains the discipleship model that grounded him, the one Jesus laid out in his stories, plus the simple practice he credits with keeping him alive and growing for decades: opening the Bible daily, establishing direct contact and a living relationship with the God who created you, and maintaining communication with the source of all power.

If you are carrying a prodigal past, feeling disqualified, or trying to rebuild after divorce, addiction, or failure, this is for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review with the line that challenged you most.

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Visit www.thesavagepath.com for more on David, his book The Savage Path: A Memoir of Modern Masculinity, and the Savage Path Ministries Corp.

A kid doesn’t need a perfect dad, but they do need a present one, and the window to shape a heart doesn’t stay soft forever. Father’s Day sets the tone with a simple poem, “The Sculptor,” and it lands like a warning and a gift: the impressions we leave on our sons and daughters tend to last. If you’ve ever looked at middle school years and thought, I don’t have the tools for this, you’re not alone.

We sit down with Matt Hanson, president of the National Rite of Passage Council, to talk about Aion Path, a three-year Christian rite of passage built for 12 to 14 year olds and the fathers who walk beside them. We get into why male discipleship is struggling, why outsourcing faith formation has not worked, and why the solution is often simpler than we think: warm conversations, shared time, and a clear structure that makes leadership doable. Matt explains how Aion Path starts with “30 conversations” (five to ten minutes a day), how kids choose “30 skills” they want to learn, and why an overnight adventure can become a turning point when your child gets real ownership.

We also unpack the power of tangible milestones like challenge coins, the role of a pastor as a “shepherd,” and how three trusted “guides” (financial, vocational, spiritual) create the intergenerational relationships that help faith stick. If you want a practical framework for raising resilient teenage boys and teenage girls, strengthening father-child connection, and building lifelong Christian faith at home, this conversation gives you a clear next step.

Subscribe, share this with a dad who needs a playbook, and leave a review with the one rite of passage you wish you’d had growing up.

Go to www.aionpath.com to learn more

Chapter Markers

• 0:00
• Welcome And The Inner Fight
• 0:33
• The Sculptor And A Father's Weight
• 3:16
• The Hunger For Rites Of Passage
• 6:31
• Year One Building Real Connection
• 18:14
• Coins Skills And Trusted Guides
• 27:30
• Letting Your Kid Lead The Journey
• 32:00
• Year Two Faith Foundations And Year Three
• 35:41
• How To Find Aion Path And Closing Prayer

Send us Fan Mail

Visit www.thesavagepath.com for more on David, his book The Savage Path: A Memoir of Modern Masculinity, and the Savage Path Ministries Corp.

A lot of men carry a quiet ache they can’t quite name, then spend decades trying to outrun it with work, wins, and willpower. On this Father’s Day, we sit with that ache head-on: the father wound, the craving for approval, and the lifelong impact of a dad who is physically present but emotionally absent. We don’t treat it like a psychology trend or a sentimental story. We treat it like spiritual warfare in the heart, because what happens with dad often shows up everywhere else.

My guest, Buddy Griffin, is known around the world for his music and his leadership, but he tells a deeply personal story about growing up with a hard father who never hugged him, never affirmed him, and never said the words he needed. A moment from Robert Lewis’ Better Man teaching forces Buddy to face one brutal question: will he someday stand at a casket with everything still unresolved? That question leads to action and to an awkward first visit in a retirement center where Buddy asks directly for love and a hug and keeps coming back until the dam finally breaks.

We also talk about what to do when your father is already gone, how forgiveness can start with honesty, and why reconciliation changes not only a man’s peace but his parenting, marriage, and drive. If you’ve ever felt fueled by pressure but starved for approval, this conversation offers a clear path forward.

Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs it, and leave a review. What’s one conversation you know you’ve been putting off?

Chapter Markers

• 0:00
• Welcome To The Inner Fight
• 0:35
• Father’s Day And Why Dads Matter
• 3:00
• Growing Up Without Warmth At Home
• 4:43
• The Photo That Forced The Question
• 8:45
• Asking For Love And A Hug
• 12:58
• Final Words In The ICU
• 16:12
• Taking Other Men To The Grave
• 20:55
• Forgiveness, Action, And Closing Poem

Send us Fan Mail

Visit www.thesavagepath.com for more on David, his book The Savage Path: A Memoir of Modern Masculinity, and the Savage Path Ministries Corp.