Rachel shares how youth group became her refuge during her parents' separation and shaped her entire approach to ministry and teaching.

Rachel grew up as the youngest of three, waiting years to finally join youth group. When her chance came in Year 5, it coincided with her parents splitting and youth became the place where this quiet child could finally be wild and free.

We discuss navigating high school friendships as people prioritised parties over church, the sadness of watching confirmation classmates disappear by Year 11, and what it means to keep showing up. Rachel reflects on how experiencing inconsistent leadership shaped her commitment to being there every single week when she started leading.

The conversation covers her journey from irritating Chris with excessive enthusiasm, to leading with Joel and to 18 years teaching early childhood. Plus stories about elaborate chip preparation and working at Michel's Patisserie.

Gemma returns four years after being our very first guest, and so much has changed. With Joel and Brayden, they explore her journey from anxious early twenties to finding contentment and joy.

When Gemma first appeared in 2020, she was living at home during COVID, working casually, and navigating youth ministry. Now she's married, teaching full-time, and stepped away from youth leadership to join Late Night. But the real transformation is internal.

Gemma shares about deleting social media from her phone and discovering she's happier without it. She reflects on resilience, not as being fazed by hard things, but as depending on God through difficulty. The conversation covers modelling healthy phone habits for students, the heartbreak of identity shifts when leaving youth ministry, and learning to find joy in seasons rather than rushing to the next milestone.

They also discuss teaching at a Christian school, trusting God through changes, contentment versus happiness, and fixing our eyes on Jesus when life is good and when it's not.

The OG3 reunite (and add in Hudson) for a year-in-review special, a look back at Schoolies, youth camp, Week Away, and standout moments of 2025.

They start with this year's Schoolies where they became bingo legends winning six of twenty games in matching mint green shirts. But beyond the laughs, they discuss what makes church Schoolies meaningful: welcoming young adults into Christian community and exploring what Christian freedom actually looks like.

Ethan reflects on college highlights, from Augustine hating Greek to a Genesis 2 lecture about God as a delighted father. Brayden shares finishing four years of theological study with a late-night email. They discuss youth camp bringing campuses together, the boys hall construction company theme, and impromptu baseball games.

The conversation explores why rituals matter in a culture that's lost them, how Schoolies addresses the emptiness many feel after finishing school, and why hanging out across age groups keeps us from staying immature.

Join us for Lewis's yearly update as he reflects on his journey from self-proclaimed atheism to vibrant Christian faith and youth leadership.

Lewis shares how book clubs during Australia's bushfire season led to reading "Silence" and C.S. Lewis's "Mere Christianity" with friends. But intellectual arguments weren't what ultimately convinced him. It was the radical love at Soul Revival Church, where adults genuinely cared for teenagers and his rough friends were welcomed.

We discuss the transformative power of intergenerational church community, why Lewis believes hanging out only with your age group keeps you immature, and how immediately serving in youth ministry shaped his faith. Lewis opens up about experiencing his grandfather's death as a Christian versus his non-Christian family, discovering grace as what "keeps life going," and why he's increasingly convinced Christianity offers something no other religion can provide.

The conversation challenges the assumption that you need a dramatic crisis to come to faith. Lewis reminds us that ultimately, "it's just you and Jesus" and that's enough.

Emily shares what it was like sitting her HSC exams from her bedroom during lockdown — complete with a cardboard desk and online supervision. She opens up about discovering her identity in Christ rather than her marks, and how that brought peace and gratitude through the chaos.

They talk about humility, resilience, and learning to trust that you’re not in control — and that’s a good thing. Emily also reflects on how her faith shapes her studies in medicine and her understanding that everything is a gift from God.

Brad takes us through his life journey from teaching himself to program at age seven, to studying aerospace engineering, transitioning into cybersecurity, and eventually helping plant Soul Revival church.

Following his accident Brad consistently points back to God's work, saying "but God and only God" has carried him through. We discuss the physics and aftermath of the accident, detailed rehabilitation processes for brain injury, learning compensating strategies for cognitive challenges, turning visual navigation into verbal storytelling, the balance between acknowledging hard work and giving God glory, marriage to Suzanne and raising two remarkable children, the philosophy of "raising adults, not children," career pivots and trusting God's timing, and what he would tell his younger Christian self.

Content Warning: This episode discusses traumatic injury, brain injury, and medical recovery.

Brain Injury Australia
Beyond Blue
Lifeline: 13 11 14

Brad shares his journey from childhood faith to a life-changing accident that redefined everything—and reveals how God's fingerprints were all over his recovery.

From planting churches as a kid in the Sutherland Shire to designing rockets as an aerospace engineer, Brad's story is full of "but God" moments. But nothing prepared him for the morning a cycling accident left him unconscious for 16 days with severed arteries and a broken neck in three places.

The odds of survival were almost zero. The first responders who showed up were an off-duty police officer, a running mate with nappies, and an ER nurse—all in the right place at the right time. The ambulance that arrived in 4 minutes and 32 seconds during peak hour happened to carry the only trial dressing in Australia for major arterial bleeds.

Brad opens up about growing up choosing service over comfort, making hard faith choices as a teenager, and what it's like learning to live with a severe traumatic brain injury. He graduated as an aerospace engineer, but some of those abilities are gone now. He grieves that loss, but he's not giving up. He's taking it all back with God's help, running marathons, and telling his story to anyone who will listen.

This is a story about asking "Why am I here?" and finding boldness to share faith in unexpected places. Because God's gift isn't the injury—it's the recovery, and the platform it's given him to share his faith.

In Part 2 of his story, Joel and Braden explore with Jairus what it means to be consistently Christian in a world that doesn't always understand.

Jairus doesn't shy away from the hard stuff. He talks about his family's story—his parents' long struggle to have children, the miracle of his birth, and how people he now meets in Adelaide still tell him they prayed for him before he was born. He shares how traveling to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and India as a young kid exposed him to real suffering and gave him perspective that keeps him grounded when peers at school "carry on like clowns" without realising how blessed they are.

The conversation explores what it's like when your mates already know not to invite you out on Saturday nights because you'll be at church and late night youth. Jairus explains why he never changes how he acts around non-Christian friends, why living consistently matters more than immediate conversions, and how standing out as different—"What are you doing Saturday? I'm going to church"—plants seeds that might grow 20 years later.

We also hear about youth leading, building relationships with Year 10 boys who don't come to church but show up every Friday, and the reward of seeing two of them start coming to church. Jairus shares about running at national championships in Adelaide with his grandfather watching, who FaceTimed him every day and he struggled through lockdown and then witnessed God's work culminating in baptism and representing NSW. And he reflects on the Easter Sunday when he baptized his brother Zach in the river, a moment that became a core memory.

Jairus's simple affirmation through chaos? "Life sucks, but God's got me."

This is Part 2 of Jairus' story. Listen to Part 1 for Jairus's journey through lockdown, discovering running as meditation, and how discipline carried him through the HSC.