Sacred & Strange
Welcome to Sacred & Strange — the official podcast of The Porch Missional Community & Coffee Roasters. Hosted by Jason Urena, Sacred & Strange is a space where theology meets mystery, story meets spirit, and nothing is too weird to talk about. Each episode features honest conversations with guests from all walks of life—exploring the sacred moments that shaped them, the strange encounters that stretched them, and the passions that make them who they are. From deep theology to cryptids, church wounds to comic books, revival to the mundane, this is where the wild and the holy collide. Brew a cup, open your mind, and join the journey.
Episodes
For the first time this season, the hosts of Sacred & Strange are not the ones asking the questions.
In the Season One finale, the conversation turns as the team behind the podcast interviews Jay and Erinn Urena about faith, leadership, marriage, parenting, anxiety, calling, and the quiet places where God does His deepest work.
This episode is less concerned with answers and more focused on posture—questions that ...
This Wednesday, Sacred & Strange closes out Season One.
For the first time, we’re not the ones asking the questions.
We’re sitting in them.
In this final episode, my wife and I are interviewed by our team—people who’ve shared the work, the table, the prayers, and the quiet moments in between. We talk about questions that shape us, the silence we often rush past, and the stories that don’t come from performanc...
This episode marks the beginning of FOUNDATIONS, a teaching segment of Sacred & Strange created to build deep, lasting roots of faith rather than just host conversations. While many episodes on this podcast take the form of interviews and shared stories, FOUNDATIONS is where we slow down, open the Scriptures, and engage in intentional formation — teaching meant to shape identity, practice, and the way we live as...
What does it mean to carry a promise from God—and what does it require of us while we wait?
In this Advent-centered episode, Jay revisits a message shared with the Porch missional community, exploring the story of Mary in Luke 1 and what it teaches us about promise, favor, and faith. Advent isn’t just about waiting for Christmas—it’s about the coming of something God has spoken, something growing, something not yet s...
⚠️ Content Warning:
This episode includes discussion of domestic violence, child abuse, and human trafficking. Listener discretion is advised.
Some stories don’t begin with calling — they begin with survival.
In this deeply moving episode of Sacred & Strange, Jay sits down with Steve and Brandyn Gipe, longtime friends and the founders of Cedar Refuge, a nonprofit building safe, long-term ho...
Some stories don’t start clean.
They start broken. Lost. Complicated.
In this episode of Sacred & Strange, I sit down with Steve & Brandyn Gipe to talk about the long road from pain to purpose — stories shaped by fractured childhoods, radical encounters with God, and a calling to stand in the gap for kids the world often overlooks.
We talk about what it means to be lost, what it looks like to be found, and...
What does it really mean to be the Bride of Christ?
In this special throwback episode, Jay and Levi crack open one of the most powerful—yet most misunderstood—ideas in the entire biblical story: Covenant.
This isn’t a sermon. It’s a raw, unscripted conversation about the kind of relationship God invites us into…
Not a surface-level “Sunday Christian” thing, but a life-on-life, blood-bound, transformational ...
In this powerful and deeply personal episode of Sacred & Strange, Ray Sullivan sits down with Jay to share a story that feels like a modern-day parable—raw, honest, and marked by the unmistakable fingerprints of God.
Ray grew up in church, but not the kind you easily forget. He talks candidly about the dogmatic rules, the church split that fractured families, and the disillusionment that pushed him away. What fol...
This week on Sacred & Strange, we sit down with Ray Sullivan—a man whose story feels like a whole book of the Bible packed into one life. From running with the wrong crowd to wrestling with church hurt, to unexpectedly breaking down in the middle of a worship livestream, Ray’s journey is raw, honest, and full of the fingerprints of God.
In this preview, Ray opens up about his early years drifting through bars, oc...
This week on Sacred & Strange, Jay sits down with Joe Johnson—the family court judge who looks like Santa Claus and talks like a man who has actually wrestled with God. From the bench to the Bible, Joe pulls back the curtain on what justice really looks like when you’re dealing with real families, real failures, and real heartbreak.
He opens up about the loss of his brother, the guilt that nearly crushed him, and...
Next Wednesday, Sacred & Strange gets wild. Jay sits down with family-court judge, author, and honorary Santa-lookalike Joe Johnson for a conversation that swings from the courtroom to the supernatural—and somehow lands right in the heart of Jesus.
In this preview, Joe opens up about the kind of justice you never see on TV, the grief that nearly broke him after losing his brother, and the moment God stepped into ...
Trigger Warning: Child Loss, Grief, Trauma
This week on Sacred & Strange, Jay sits down with his close friend, Rip Wahlberg, for an honest, vulnerable, and deeply sacred conversation about walking through unimaginable grief. This episode includes a trigger warning: we discuss the death of Rip and Annemarie’s young son, Aiden, who tragically drowned in 2008. If this topic is tender or activating for you, please li...
“Shattered: The Tragedy, the Truth, and the God Who Stays w/ Rip Wahlberg”
Full episode drops next Wednesday.
This week’s preview comes with a trigger warning: we’re stepping into a story of unimaginable loss — the sudden passing of a child.
In this trailer, Jay gives listeners a raw glimpse into next Wednesday’s conversation with Rip Wahlberg, a father who walked through every parent’s worst nightmare… and someh...
In this episode, Jay sits down with Aaron Dolce, co-pastor of The Rock of Roseville in California, for a vulnerable, hilarious, and deeply honest conversation about what it really means to live in community.
Aaron shares his story of growing up in a cessationist church, encountering the Holy Spirit for the first time at a youth camp, and discovering the messy beauty of the charismatic life. Together, he and Jay unpac...
Coming next Wednesday — Jay sits down with The Rock of Roseville co-pastor Aaron Dolce for a real and raw conversation on what it truly costs to live in community. From confronting gossip and burnout to rediscovering joy, friendship, and the presence of God in everyday life, this episode dives deep into why we can’t heal alone — and how communion with others might be the most supernatural thing we ever experience.
In this heartfelt conversation, host Jay Urena sits down with friend and mentor Mike Stalker — a man whose quiet strength, wisdom, and faith have deeply shaped those around him. From growing up on a horse farm near Buffalo to leading global operations at GE and learning how to listen for God’s voice in the chaos, Mike shares a life marked by humility, discipline, and an ever-deepening communion with Jesus.
Through st...
Next week on Sacred & Strange, we’re sitting down with Mike Stalker — a man whose steady faith and quiet wisdom have shaped everyone around him.
Before he was a mentor, a leader in the corporate world, or a voice on The Porch’s board, Mike was a kid from western New York who learned to ride horses, play bass, and run track — and whose father’s words, “Hold your form,” would one day echo through every season of hi...
In this powerful continuation of his story, Dennis R. returns to Sacred & Strange to share the deeply human side of faith — where hope and heartbreak collide. From surviving cancer and discovering his calling to walking through the loss of both parents, Dennis opens up about what it means to trust God in the tension between grief and growth.
He shares how pain became his teacher, how boundaries became opportuniti...
This week on Sacred & Strange, we sit down once again with Dennis R. for part two of his powerful story — a journey through grief, growth, and grace. From surviving cancer and navigating ministry to losing his parents and confronting forgiveness, Dennis opens up about how God met him in the middle of pain and turned suffering into redemption.
In this preview, we dive into the moments that shaped him — t...
In this episode, Jay sits down with Rachel Stalker — a teacher, traveler, and leader at The Porch — to explore what it means to wrestle with God and still walk in friendship with Him. From growing up in Catholic roots to encountering the Holy Spirit in Spain and Mexico, Rachel shares how her faith has been shaped by questions, tears, and quiet moments of surrender.
This conversation dives into the holy tension betwee...
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