Background Check Podcast

This is our annual tour of lights for the men and women still incarcerated.

Before we start the tour, we do announcements, recap of events like Christmas party, talk sports, show video shout outs from residents and other organizations.

This episode plays on their tablets inside prisons and jails across the nation. They can call their loved ones on the tablets, and the whole family can look at lights together.

This year, we had tech...

John Montana performs "There For You"

Written by John Montana and Terry Solley

We air this here but it's for the men and women behind bars to enjoy too. If you have a loved one on the inside, across the nation, tell them to watch on the Edovo app, the Podcast App (Securus), the NCIC tablet (county jails). 

To partner with us please click here: https://www.forgivenfelons.org/support

Oth...

In this episode we sit down with John Montana. John is an author, speaker, father, husband, and prison minister.

He comes from a family of partiers but now, they’re all prison ministers and serving the Lord.

After having surgery at a young age, he became addicted to Vicodin and then eventually found Zannax. While giving his child a bath, an accident happened and his child was burned. He felt so guilty and ashamed, that he prayed an...

In this episode, we sit down with the CEO of I Scoop Poop, Steven Trevino.

We had fun recording this episode. We talked about everything from him getting hooked on hydrocodone at 15 after an injury, to how he started his poop scooping company while still on an ankle monitor.

We laughed hard when he tells the story of him waiting on the corner, in the middle of a neighborhood, with bags ...

In this episode, Jessa and Jay Dan recap the Forgiven Felons Thanksgiving Open House, Jay Dan’s trip to Chicago to see the Steelers and visit Stateville prison, tell thanksgiving jokes, and so much more.

We talk about the upcoming Building Blocks 4 Kids event we are having so please sign your kids up.

We share a devotion on remaining stable in this unstable world.

And we do Th...

In this episode, Jay Dan and Jessa share big events coming soon, air some shout outs from men who just got out, tell jokes, talk about our fishing trip, and the golf outing.

We share our Thanksgiving gatherings coming up. First one is this Saturday and the second one is on Thanksgiving day. Details in the podcast.

We also share about a community event coming up that is for justice impacted kids. Whether the kids parents are sti...

One of my favorite episodes.

I know I say this a lot, but Cassie has helped so many of our men coming to the transitional house. The Way Back has been a sponsor of the show for a while now, and even though we had the directors on the audio version a long time ago, we have been waiting to get them back on in studio.

Cassie is a case manager for The Way Back, and Drew, who has his own amazing story, is her husband, and he joins the c...

In this episode, we sit down with Stevin "Hedake" Smith, a former college and professional basketball player known for his promising career that was derailed by a point-shaving scandal.

He was a two-time All-Pac-10 selection at Arizona State, but in 1994, he was involved in a scandal where he bet on his own games, ultimately leading to a prison sentence and ending his NBA prospects. Today, Smith works to educate young athletes abou...

EP 213 “Know Your Own Truth” Separated by Wrongful Conviction, Restored by Exoneration In 1987, just a few months after they were married, shortly before they had their son, the Spencer family was devastated and separated by our broken legal system which led to a wrongful conviction, for 34 years. We sit down with Ben and Deborah Spencer to hear their love story, and their wrongful conviction of Ben journey. Throug...

EP 211 “Driven”

This episode is jammed packed with fun. We start off with announcements and we talk football and baseball. And yes, it’s fun because I’m a Steeler fan. I fixed some things Jessa messed up in the studio.

We show the recap video from the Arts of Oppression art show, put on by Miles of Freedom. Some great art.

Then ...

SPECIAL EPISODE

We start with a long version of announcements and fun with Jay Dan and Jessa, including some questionable jokes from Jessa. We do some shout outs from men who have gotten out recently that watched the show from the inside.

We share about our back to school drive and shout out to a married couple. Then, we end the announcement segment with a devotional on Kleenex, Toilet Paper, and Paper Towels,

Now, to the good stuf...

In this episode, we respond, light-heartedly, to Real Vida’s corn hole challenge and subsequent no show. Jay Dan appears on a fake podcast called Tell the Truth Shame the Devil in episode one titled, “Cornhole Cut-n-run” talking with host Emcy from Hog Mob. We relive the call outs from Real Vida and share our response and call out of our own.

Then we share Forgiven Felons July 4th celebration as well as some of the fireworks from o...

In this episode, Jessa and Jay Dan talk about the Guadalupe River crisis and pray for everyone involved. 

We shout out all the books that have been sent to us by inmates as well as books authored by our guests on the show. We talk about our upcoming trips to Florida and North Dakota. 

We air some shout outs from Breakfast Fellowship and share an important update on our current house in Dallas. 

We practice some no look corn hole sh...

PRODUCTION NOTE:

This is a re-airing of this episode, but with video this time. Jimmy and Beth have informed us that they are opening three more houses so they have more room. 

In this episode we do announcements with Jessa including talking about the weekend we had at Breakfast Bible Study and church. We had two ladies drive from a Weatherford transitional house to go to ‪@SocialDallas‬ with us. Two men from another transitional...

In this episode, Jay Dan and Jessa take their time with announcements and have some fun. They do shout outs, show baptisms pictures, talk about breakfast Bible study, the ranch, the new truck, the new grill, and we show a video of Shannon Marshall, who was released in November of 2024, skydiving.

We address the recent “call out” from Real Vida podcast and their challenge in the corn hole ...