Man Camp

Taking care of your heart and soul is not selfish, it's strategic and spiritual. Adventure is something often with an unknown outcome. It requires faith, risk and trust. All elements that help us grow personally and fight complacency. This interview was captured with alive audience at a men's conference. Zack sits down with Jason Graves for this special summer episode to talk more about the spirituality of adventure.

Brett Miller has a rich and diverse history and story. He has been a firefighter, a member of the Army Reserves, a construction worker, learned the guitar, and at a young age, was on a trajectory to become a professional racing driver, when God changed his story significantly. Brett is now an incredible worship leader and songwriter, amateur surfer, and is on staff with our team at Jesus Culture San Diego. He is a dreamer, pioneer, poet, and relentless in fighting for the promises of God for his own life, family, and others. Brett overcame divorce and fatherlessness and settled into his identity as a son in relationships with Jesus. His story is a reminder that God is even more passionate about our purpose and dreams than we are.

Jamie Winship has decades of experience bringing peaceful solutions to some of the world's highest conflict areas working alongside governments, intelligence agencies, and more. After a distinguished career in law enforcement in the metro Washington DC area, Jamie earned an MA in English and developed a unique process called the Identity Method. His unconventional efforts to bring about societal and racial reconciliation led him to Indonesia, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Israel, and now Seattle. Jamie has worked with leaders in professional sports, business, education, law enforcement, government, non-profit and other sectors. Jamie and his wife, Donna, are co-founders and the corporate arm, providing training and consulting in the transformative power of living fearlessly in your true identity. The stories Jamie shares are amazing, but even more than that he has a way to bring people into a place of discovering or remembering their true identity.

Peter Mutabazi is a businessman, influencer, Foster Dad, Ambassador for World Vision, and has an incredible story. As a child, Peter ran away from an abusive home in Uganda to live on the streets of Kampala, and was helped by the kindness of strangers. As an adult, he found himself able to help foster children. He began taking children into his home years ago, to give back what was so freely given to him. Today, he is an advocate for foster agencies and runs a successful business flipping homes. Peter is an overcomer, and is on a mission to help kids who have been overlooked and forgotten to live a life of overcoming.

Brock Shinen is an attorney, author, and consultant with a love for people, strategic perspective, and a zeal to help his clients succeed. Brock is the founder of the Law Office of Brock Shinen, Inc., which represents most of the largest and fastest-growing churches in America. His client list is literally a “Who's Who” of leaders, ministry organizations, churches, worship leaders and songwriters, and Christian business leaders. His business expertise has been recognized by Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur, FOX, CBS, NBC, and ABC, to name a few. Brock has written three Amazon #1 bestselling books. He is a man of many talents, is known for helping people, and someone you want on your team. Not only has he overcome many different challenges in his own life, but he is an amazing example of someone who helps others overcome. Overcome and help others do the same; this is is the goal, and what success looks like.  Brock loves going on adventures with his wife and two children and loves to cook. Be inspired as you listen, to take what you have to overcome in your own life, and then help others.

Zac Ernst is a waterman. Formerly a Seal Beach Lifeguard, surfer, spearfisherman, and long-distance Stand-up Paddler. A few years ago, he paddled solo across the Channel, from Catalina to Seal Beach. Professionally, Zac is an entrepreneur in Fintech & Payments and is passionate about bringing the Kingdom of God to the marketplace. He is also an amazing father and husband. For the past six years, he has led a beach workout program for men called PURSUIT (formerly Savage Seals). PURSUIT is a holistic men's program designed to give you everything you need to pursue physical, mental, and spiritual health. Over the last 6 years, this beach workout has changed guys lives. People have met Jesus, overcome fear, broken addictions, become better dads, and saved their marriages. All from one dude inviting some guys to work out on the beach. Enjoy this conversation with Zac Ernst.

Jake Freels is a contractor, businessman, football coach, avid hunter, missionary, rodeo competitor, video producer, used to compete in motocross events, runs a men's ministry, mentors young men and is an amazing Dad and husband. The most incredible thing about Jake though, is not all of the things he does, but the story of how he overcame the tragic loss of his dad when he was a kid. This loss sent him spiraling out of control from ages 9 to 19. He then found hope, life, purpose and healing when he met Jesus in college. Today, Jake is helping hundreds of men overcome, because God stepped into his story.

Josiah Deguara just finished his rookie season as a tight end for the Green Bay Packers. He was drafted in the third round with the 94th overall pick. While his first season didn't go the way he would have planned, with a season-ending ACL tear, Josiah is no stranger to setbacks and obstacles. He overcame injuries and setbacks in his freshman and sophomore seasons at the University of Cincinnati. He didn't give up and went on to have two breakout years. Josiah's story is a reminder that setbacks and obstacles are not the end; that even in the midst of delay, you can still overcome.

Michael Dotts is a father, business owner, missionary, and former professional bodyboarder. If you were to meet Mike on the streets, or see him with his beautiful family in the community or at church, you would probably never guess that he lived in the drug culture as a user and dealer for over 8 years. His addiction began at 14 years old, and at his lowest point, he was addicted to OxyContin and Heroin, living homeless and suicidal. Michael's story of overcoming is inspiring and points to the truth that nothing is impossible with God.

Andy Byrd is one of the most authentic, inspiring, and real leaders we know. Andy is part of the leadership of the University of the Nations in YWAM Kona and has been with YWAM for 22 years traveling all over the world. Andy and his wife Holly have SIX children and continue to open their home to children in foster care. In this episode, we sat down with Andy to talk about family, treks to the Himalayas, foster care, adoption, and our call as men to walk in adoptive love.

Sean Smith has been traveling, speaking and impacting people’s lives for over 3 decades. In this episode, Sean shares about the earlier years of his life. On many accounts, he shouldn't be here today…! Sean shares his powerful story of how God met him when he didn't want to live anymore and helped him overcome significant obstacles and loss and found a life of hope and overcoming that he now helps others discover. This is our conversation with Sean Smith.

Derek Carr is widely known for his success as a NFL quarterback with the Las Vegas, Raiders. Who he is as a man and leader is much more than just a football player. He said it best himself when he said, “Being a Quarterback is what I do but it does not define who I am. I am first and foremost a follower of Jesus Christ…” We had the privilege of sitting down with Derek to hear more of his journey, the obstacles he has faced and what he did to overcome them. Here is our conversation with Derek Carr.

We are all overcomer’s and we all have things we still need to overcome; lies, past hurt, fear, pain, addiction…Join Zack Curry and guests for a brand new new season of Man Camp.  Join us as the hope found in these stories move us to action, to risk, find courage, step out again and embrace our call as overcomer’s.

Peter Fretheim has been a missionary in Nigeria for over 22 years. He has seen God do the miraculous and the hardest warlords and child soldiers transformed by Jesus. We first heard about Peter from Phillip Ward and Brent Theobald who have been on previous episodes of Season II of Man Camp. We also had him on our weekly Men’s Mission Zoom call. As shared about his journey as a leader, father and husband looked like, we knew more guys needed to hear his story. His passion for Jesus and people is moving and convicting. We can’t wait for you to hear our conversation with Peter Fretheim.

Sam Acho is an author, a public speaker, podcaster, a humanitarian and a committed Christian. He also has been a linebacker in the NFL for close to 10 years. He played college football at the University of Texas and was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in 2011 and played four seasons as a linebacker with the team before signing with the Chicago Bears before the 2015-16 season. In this episode we sat down with Sam to talk about his new book, “Let the World See You”. Most of us hide. We play small and don’t live up to our full potential. when we try to become someone we’re not. After many years of hiding himself, the person he had become had no connection to the real Sam. Only when he lost a friend and a mentor did he realize he was doing it all wrong–just like many of us do, when we try to become someone we’re not. All the while, we ignore the unique gifts and talents and personality we truly possess. We are really excited for you to hear this conversation with Sam Acho and believe that it will challenge you and free you to be who God created you to be.

Dan Matteson is a business man and is a part of JC Sacramento. He has a growing appliance repair company he started years ago, he is a great Dad, husband, loves Jesus and has a huge heart for helping men and discipling them. Looking at him you would never know that he struggled with drug addiction for 23 years. A couple years ago Dan shared his journey at the JC Sacamento Men’s Community in Sacramento and we knew more guys needed to hear it.  In this episode you will hear Dan’s story of transformation and freedom from addiction. It is our prayer that you will be reminded again that nothing is impossible with God, that no matter what you are facing there is hope and freedom. Here is our conversation with Dan Mattison.

In this episode we sat down with Lauren Hasson to talk about Dads & Daughters and how important the role of a father is to a girl growing up. As a Dad of 3 girls (Zack here) the reality of this is in front of me every day. Lauren shares first hand from her own life how her Dad was instrumental in building and imparting confidence, identity and value that she lives with today. How what he modeled and taught her opened doors in her life and empowered her to be all that God created her to be. For all the Dad’s out there this conversation is a must listen. Lauren’s account of what her Dad did and modeled for her is something we all can learn from. One of the greatest measures of success is what we can invest in our children. The good news is that doing this is practical, simple and attainable. You are always leaving a legacy wether you know it or not. The question is, what kind of legacy will it be. Here is our conversation with our friend Lauren Hasson.

Jesus Culture has had the honor of being a part of an incredible prison ministry in Texas. Several people from our team have gone into the prison to minister and be a part of the incredible work going on there. There have been countless stories of redemption, transformation and we have had the privilege of meeting some amazing people. Zack first met Ron Adkins in Dallas Texas at a hotel, where we were filming his story for our JC Sacramento Easter service. We were able to meet Ron and his wife Dawn who also has an amazing story. Together they lead a ministry called Radical Restoration. We have stayed in touch over the years and have been able to hear him share his testimony several times. Every time we hear it we are moved and reminded again that nothing is impossible with God. Ron was serving a 500 year prison sentence when he had a radical encounter with God. What God did from there you will hear about today. Here is our conversation with Ron Adkins.

Robert Burhans is a part of the Jesus Culture team and is a great leader, father, friend and has an incredible story of redemption in his marriage. It’s a story of pain, disconnection, restoration and healing. Many men listening to this podcast are facing what seems like a hopeless situation in your marriage. Rob’s story points to the goodness of God and his ability to heal what seems to be impossible.  Rob is real, authentic and vulnerable as he shares his story, we believe it will release hope to many men and their marriages. Here is our conversation with Robert Burhans.

Phillip Ward is a man who carries the father’s heart in everything he does. He has a passion to see a generation come into their true identity as sons and daughters of a good and loving God. Since a very young age he had developed practical skills and talents in the construction trades and business that he now uses to disciple young people to become men and women of God with viable skills. He and his wife Amy Ward are full-time missionaries with Youth With A Mission and Phillip uses his skills in areas of leadership of Kona Campus Development team in building out the University of the Nations in Kona, Hawaii, as well as developing and overseeing Tekton Trade Construction Trade School that is sending out a wave of skilled missionaries into the inner cities and developing nations. His life is rich with experiences that have shaped his life. He grew up doing ministry in the inner cities of Texarkana, Arkansas with his family . He lived in Alaska working construction, as a hunting guide and working in the oil fields. He’s a hunter, grills, smokes or BBQs meat at another level. He has developed many types of trade skills such as Carpentry, Masonry, Welding, Pipe Fitting and Iron Work. He is also a very skilled artist and his work reflects it. One of his greatest passions is to trade schools in all the nations. Phillip’s story is powerful as he overcame some really dark movements in the midst of loss and pain  even contemplating suicide at his lowest point. His life was transformed and he is on a mission to see God do that over and over in other people’s lives. Here is our conversation with Phillip Ward.

Brent Theobald was a sniper in the special forces and served with the United States Marine Corps for three combat deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq and the Horn of Africa. As a member of the elite Marine Force Reconnaissance Company, Brent was among the first American boots on the ground in Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He grew up as a missionary in Papua New Guinea,  takes veterans and leaders on trips to Nigeria, shares the gospel with terrorists and is a strong advocate for veterans in higher education. He is married to his wife Caitlin  and they are the proud parents of two beautiful little girls. He recently started an organization called Integritas with some other friends. In this episode you are gong to hear some crazy stories of redemption, purpose, mission and veterans and men stepping into their purpose and living fully alive to change the world. We talk about the power of a mission and having a band of brothers to do it with. You will be inspired and challenged as you hear his story. Here is my conversation with my friend Brent Theobald.

Loss is something we all face at different levels and in different seasons. The question is how do we respond and what does our relationship with God look like when we face loss. We sat down with a really close friend of our host Zack and a key part of the Jesus Culture team Cody Williams. He is a Pastor, entrepreneur, real estate agent, creative, networker and a father of 5 girls. Cody shared his story about overcoming loss and the challenges he faced throughout his life, starting at a young age. We talked about being a dad, family, eternity, living in the moment, overcoming loss in his relationship with his father, choosing forgiveness, not being a victim and more. We really believe this episode will encourage and bring hope, healing and perspective for many guys out there. This is our conversation with Cody Williams. 

Every week we are posting a new segment we are calling “Five Minute Fuel.” Listen to five minutes of encouragement, inspiration and perspective to fuel you for the week and your journey to live life fully alive. Hopefully this new addition to Season II of Man Camp gives you an extra boost of hope. You have what it takes!

Every week we are posting a new segment we are calling “Five Minute Fuel.” Listen to five minutes of encouragement, inspiration and perspective to fuel you for the week and your journey to live life fully alive. Hopefully this new addition to Season II of Man Camp gives you an extra boost of hope. You have what it takes!

We are so excited for you to hear our conversation with Darren Rouanzoin. He is a pastor, church planter, a deep thinker, an innovator and someone we respect a lot. He enjoys a CORSSFIT work out, a good surf session, family, friends and dreaming of ways to change the world. He is passionate about leading people to know and experience the extravagant generosity of God and the abundant life Jesus brings here and now. We sat down with Darren to talk about his own journey of burnout, what it looks like to thrive in desert seasons of our life and some crazy things the Lord spoke to Darren about before the Corona virus hit the U.S. What Darren shared in this conversation is something men need to hear, especially in this point in time. Here is our conversation with Darren Rouanzion.

Every week we are posting a new segment we are calling “Five Minute Fuel.” Listen to five minutes of encouragement, inspiration and perspective to fuel you for the week and your journey to live life fully alive. Hopefully this new addition to Season II of Man Camp gives you an extra boost of hope. You have what it takes!

This season in Man Camp we are adding the occasional Q&A Episode to answer questions that have come in from previous episodes. If you have a question in general or from one of our episodes send it in to mancamp@jesusculture.com or DM us on one of our social media platforms. For this first episode we asked Bryan Japhet, Cody Williams and Skyler Smith from the Jesus Culture team to jump in and help answer some of the questions. These three guys have been significantly involved in the local Man Camp community in Sacramento. Hope this conversation encourages you and spurs you on to live life fully alive.

Blake Casteel is the founding director of Respect the Corners- a CROSSFIT/ Functional Fitness movement out of YWAM-Kona. In RTC, his passion for fitness collides with his heart for discipleship and the nations to experience the love of Jesus. In this interview Blake shares his story. We talk about how faith and fitness intersect. He shares about his struggle and story of overcoming an addiction to pornography, we talk about Jesus, missions and more. We can’t wait for you to hear our conversation with Blake. He is an authentic, no nonsense man that is doing some pretty cool things around the world. This is our conversation with Blake Casteel.

Every week we are posting a new segment we are calling “Five Minute Fuel.” Listen to five minutes of encouragement, inspiration and perspective to fuel you for the week and your journey to live life fully alive. Hopefully this new addition to Season II of Man Camp gives you an extra boost of hope. You have what it takes!

Every week we are posting a new segment we are calling “Five Minute Fuel.” Listen to five minutes of encouragement, inspiration and perspective to fuel you for the week and your journey to live life fully alive. Hopefully this new addition to Season II of Man Camp gives you an extra boost of hope. You have what it takes!

How do you hear the voice of God? Our guest Shawn Bolz has a gift unlike many to not only hear the voice of God for others, but to teach people to hear God for themselves. He is authentic, real and demystifies what we over spiritualize like hearing God. He also shares his own story of how his own journey of listening to God started. We talk about what is looks like for men today to hear the voice of God and what that looks like practically. We believe that this conversation is critical in these times of uncertainty. This is our conversation with our friend Shawn Bolz.

Every week we are posting a new segment we are calling “Five Minute Fuel.” Listen to five minutes of encouragement, inspiration and perspective to fuel you for the week and your journey to live life fully alive. Hopefully this new addition to Season II of Man Camp gives you an extra boost of hope. You have what it takes!

Every week we are posting a new segment we are calling “Five Minute Fuel.” Listen to five minutes of encouragement, inspiration and perspective to fuel you for the week and your journey to live life fully alive. Hopefully this new addition to Season II of Man Camp gives you an extra boost of hope. You have what it takes!

Season 2 of Man Camp is officially here! Our host Zack Curry kicks off the first episode of a new season and talks about hope in the midst of fear in these uncertain times. He also gives a quick overview of what we are going after in Season 2. There is some exciting news, brand new elements we are adding this season and theme that we think is so timely for what is going on in the world today. We want to invite you on a journey to step out of isolation, be know and live life fully alive and with adventure. Join the camp!

We had the privilege of sitting down with John Bevere to talk about a new online course he just released called “Porn Free” as well as his book “Killing Kryptonite”. This issue is something that is very real struggle for many men. John shares some of his own story and some powerful tools to walk in complete freedom as men. John is an international known speaker and best-selling author known for his bold and uncompromising approach to God’s Word. John has developed a passion to embrace God’s call to the often forgotten and misunderstood virtue of honor and to instill the same desire in others. We can’t wait for you to hear our conversation with John Bevere.

Forgiveness and freedom are connected. In the journey toward forgiveness we cannot ignore pain or hard things. We sat down with Jason Valloton, a pastor, a sought-after counselor, speaker and author who wrote the book The Supernatural Power of Forgiveness and co-authored Moral Revolution and Outrageous Courage. His own story of learning to walk in forgiveness and freedom is powerful! He is also a man’s man. He loves to hunt, fish and call other men to live fully alive and with adventure. He recently started doing BORN WILD Men’s Retreat’s with the vision to see men reconnect with God and each other in the most authentic, unconventional ways. In a time when masculinity has been confused, abandoned and even villainized, he and several other leaders are calling men to embrace how God has created us. We can’t wait for you to hear this conversation with Jason Vallotton.

As men there are lies, fears and areas in our lives that need to die and be replaced with truth, freedom and the perspective of heaven. We sat down with Danny Silk to talk about slaying those dragons in our lives. Danny is a really good friend of ours and someone we respect greatly. He is an author, speaker and the President and co-founder of Loving on Purpose, a ministry to families and communities worldwide. Danny has developed countless resources drawn from decades of experience as a counselor, social worker, advocate, pastor, spouse, parent, grandparent, and leader. We can’t wait for you to hear what he has to share with men. Here is our conversation with Danny Silk.

Lisa Bevere is a world renown speaker, New York Times best selling author, and the co-founder of Messenger International, with her husband John. Lisa is one of the most authentic, passionate and faith filled communicators we know. She is refreshingly real and carries a tremendous authority and wisdom. Lisa is also the only women on season 1 of Man Camp. We wanted to get a women’s perspective on masculinity, what women need from men and a women’s perspective on the expectations society puts on men. Here is our conversation with Lisa Bevere.

One of the most important roles, positions or titles a man can have is being a Father. Status, fame or wealth will never be able to substitute or replace the honored privilege of investing your life into someone else. The legacy that we leave behind must go beyond what we personally accomplish and instead be measured by what we pass on. In what we give away and model to those coming after us. This is success! In this episode we sat down with Skyler Smith and Derek Johnson. We talked about the Art of Fathering. What success really is as a Dad. We talked about our failures, coffee, UFC, shared a couple Dad life hacks, we shared stories and laughed a lot. Hopefully you will be encouraged and reminded that the Art of Fathering is a sacred role and honor as a man. That family is our first ministry and priority in life.

We sat down with Kris Vallotton to have a conversation about Restoring Fatherhood. Zack had recently listened to a couple messages that he had spoken on this topic and knew that other men needed to hear this. Kris shares some of his own story, we talked about how important fathers are and about the lack of Fathers in society today. This conversation will challenge, inspire and convince you that the role of a Father is one of the most critical position and roles a man can have. Here is our interview with Kris Vallotton.

We sat down with Jens Jacob a filmmaker, a story teller, an entrepreneur, a creative and one of the producers from the film “The Heart of Man”. The film is a cinematic retelling of the parable of the Prodigal Son, intertwined with contemporary, real and poignant true testimonies of personal and sexual brokenness. Our JC Sacramento Men’s Community rented a theater and showed this film to hundreds of men. You could feel men being moved by the message of this film. There was deep healing, freedom and a doorway to vulnerability that came simply from watching this story. We reached out to Jens to be on Man Camp because we wanted to hear more of story behind the story of The Heart of Man, from the people who created this film. This is our conversation with Jens Jacob.

We had the privilege of sitting down with author, speaker, influencer and outdoorsman John Eldredge. We had a conversation with John about what it means to live fully alive and from the heart. We talked about his book “Wild at Heart”, about culture and men today, adventures and more.

Needing others is not a sign of weakness. In this episode we sit down with Banning Liebscher the founder of Jesus Culture and Lead Pastor of JC Sacramento. We sat down with Banning to talk about a common struggle that men have. Isolation, independence and the fear of vulnerability. We talked about why we need other people in our lives and how we are stronger together. You will laugh, be encouraged and leave challenged.

One of the phrases we use at Man Camp is, “Step out of isolation, share your story and be known.” Community is something many people talk about especially in the church community, but what does it look like to really walk with people in an intentional way. What does it mean to find your tribe? Zack sits down with worship leader Phil Wickham to talk about a journey he has been on with community that has changed his life.

Success, money, identity. How do these things interact? More importantly how do you see yourself and think God views you? Zack interviews Businessman, consultant and author Bob Hasson to talk about these questions and how critical seeing ourselves the way God sees us leads to true success.

Welcome to Man Camp! In this first episode of this podcast we explain what Man Camp is and give an overview of Season 1 of the Man Camp Podcast. Join us on this journey of stepping out of normal, mundane and status quo and into adventure and living fully alive.