Sober Soldierz

Ben's heads-up: this is a partial episode

Ben opens with a heads-up: the episode is partial because the recording gear fell apart about 38 minutes in and the Sober Soldiers interview did not fully save. He decides to release it anyway because the message matters, and points listeners to the Sober Soldiers Facebook group.

Show open: knock-knock at Johnston Proper

After the produced intro voice announces the Pathway Studios in Johnston Proper, a host attempts a knock-knock joke — "Live from the who" / "Live from the past" — that gets roasted as a perfect setup-and-zing.

The complaint line and the 'bad show' bit

A host revives the show's complaint line — (515) 517-0085, the Bob Eisenlauer complaint line — and the running bit that the show is terrible: listeners should be discerning, since the podcast numbers keep increasing while no one is reading Hebrews, and James warns about the tongue.

Proverb-game setup and the shame round

• How long has it been since you read a proverb?

A host admits not being in the Solomon area of the Bible in about a year, then shame-checks the guests: TJ read a proverb this month while Mike is over a year out. The Sober Soldiers guests are previewed as the game players.

Sober Soldiers: origins and Cody's story

• What started the Sober Soldiers ministry?

The Sober Soldiers folks give a general introduction: a faith-based family around recovery and addiction help, including family members of addicts. They met at Prelude, a treatment facility on the east side of Des Moines, during the pandemic, and started the ministry because a 28-day program forces a recovery choice while the cloud is still lifting. Cody describes being a homeless, recovering meth addict with no understanding of where he was at the time.

TJ's story and the ministry's ongoing work

TJ contrasts his story with Cody's: congestive heart failure with his heart at 16 percent, being the youngest on the heart floor at Mercy Hospital, testing the waters again, then concluding both needed to change. Their slogan is "God in recovery must come first." The group brings a women's empowerment meeting into Bernie's halfway house every other Saturday, returns to Prelude every Friday night, and includes a man named Toby John who does a daily 5:15 live scripture feed. A close Sober Soldier family member, Tracy Doss, lost her cousin in a drowning.

Church be the church: history as witness

A host reflects on what it means to see the church actually being the church instead of a barrier: Christians going into the Black Plague to sit with the sick and dying, believers rescuing exposed infants left out overnight, and Christians founding most major colleges. The point is that barriers break down when people "smell Jesus and don't even know it."

Online home: Facebook group and the website launch

• What will people find on the Sober Soldiers website?

The group explains its online presence: a private Facebook group ("Sober Soldiers" with a z), kept private after bot spam, and sobersoldiers.com launching that week with basic info, emails, cell numbers, applications for a planned men's three-quarter living house, and personal written testimonies. TJ plugs the June 5 one-year Sober Soldiers anniversary and family events like tubing.

Gratitude for what God repairs

A host talks about watching God repair relationships the speaker could never have rebuilt, being thankful to witness four baptisms at church, and how Mike and he once carried the burden of making people meet Jesus — then learning to just watch God work through others. Another host describes the daily prayer posture "I literally can't go to work without you," notes how addiction programs make recovery self-focused, and recounts a friend praying for the first time during a visit.

Daily miracles, Doge, and three funerals

• Has anything in the past year made you stop and marvel at the change?

The hosts ask the guests for recent moments that stopped them cold. Cody says it's every single day — releasing control of his life is why he's alive. TJ says he changed his prayer patterns toward gratitude, jokes about his Doge dreams with Mike ("Wait, Mike. Did you sell the Doge?"), and notes they've been to three funerals in the past month, making him grateful to still be alive and not in federal prison.

Purpose out of trauma

Cody closes the surviving recording on the word purpose: after a childhood of trauma and family members who took their own lives, he has come out the other end of addiction and suicide's grip with a purpose. (Mentions of suicide in this segment are factual transcript content, flagged for secondary review.)