Host Stephanie Pavlantos interviews Kelly Hawley, founder and executive director of Warrior Bride Ministries, a donation-based ministry serving survivors of childhood sexual exploitation and severe trauma.
Kelly shares her own history of abuse, family brokenness, addiction, and recovery, and explains how her earlier involvement in healing weekends for abused women led her to launch Warrior Bride about six and a half years ago when churches lacked resources. She describes trauma on a spectrum, including dissociation and extreme ritual abuse, mind control, and trafficking, emphasizing that healing requires willingness to receive it and often involves re-parenting and practical life skills.
The conversation addresses spiritual warfare, boundaries, cleansing practices, and the need for believers to mature beyond “milk.” Hawley outlines ministry offerings (11 weekly classes, individual appointments, intensives, retreats) and her annual “Counting the Cost” conference, August 21–23 at Folly Beach, South Carolina, themed “Trust the Journey,” featuring frontline speakers and survivor participation.
Host Stephanie interviews Rico Cortez of Wisdom in Torah Ministries, who describes learning Torah since 1998 as a “cheat code” that brought structure, healing, and a clearer way to please God after painful church experiences. He explains how his background in professional baseball, scouting, coaching, and decades of martial arts shaped his teaching discipline, humility, and shift away from competition and “conspiracy” topics toward helping others approach God rightly.
They discuss identity struggles for believers “grafted in” between Christianity and Judaism, advocating gentle, non-argumentative communication. Cortez emphasizes reading Scripture through Ancient Near Eastern and honor-shame cultural lenses (e.g., nakedness, Exodus, Joseph, David, turning the other cheek), and outlines a deep focus on Leviticus and blood/atonement themes to better understand Yeshua, the priesthood, and end-times altar defilement. He invites viewers to his YouTube, Telegram, and weekly Shabbat teachings, noting travel to 39 countries.
Host Stephanie Pavlantos welcomes Bible teacher and Bible in Order podcast host David Doty, who shares his late conversion at 26, rapid entry into pastoring, and current family life. Doty explains how a daily devotional evolved into his podcast and led him to start a five-days-a-week Zoom prayer gathering inspired by Acts 2:42, emphasizing consistent discipleship, mutual care, shared participation, and reported answers to prayer including a healing from melanoma.
The discussion contrasts modern auditorium-style church with early house-to-house life and explores “ecclesia,” arguing it originally meant a governing assembly empowered to bind and loose rather than a religious service. They connect ecclesia to Israel’s priestly calling and believers as ambassadors, highlighting humility, prayer, and tribulation as God’s means of transforming character to resemble Jesus.
Welcome to Grafted: Jewish Roots of Christianity! My guest is Matthew Janzen.
Host Stephanie Pavlantos interviews Georgia pastor-teacher Matthew Janssen of Ministers of the New Covenant about his testimony and Torah observance. Raised Pentecostal, Janssen began learning Torah through his father-in-law in the sacred name movement, adopting dietary laws, Sabbath-keeping, and using the Creator and Messiah’s Hebrew names; he later took over and grew a small assembly. He argues believers must trust Yeshua’s saving work yet practice his teachings, emphasizing “Torah and grace” together.
Focusing on Matthew 5:17–20, he explains “abolish” versus “fulfill” as first-century rabbinic terms, saying Torah remains until heaven and earth pass away, and verse nineteen defines abolishing as “relaxing” commandments. He distinguishes weightier and lesser commandments, stresses heart-level righteousness, repentance, and answers objections by urging Christians to imitate Jesus’ Torah-observant life.
Welcome to Grafted: Jewish Roots of Christianity! My guest today is Angie Sickler!
Host Stephanie Pavlantos welcomes returning guest Angie Sickler, author of The Father’s Love Language, to discuss how Hebrew words and letters carry fuller meanings than English translations and how studying them deepens understanding of Scripture, including examples from Isaiah 11, Noah and grace, and word families connecting encampment with grace, mercy, and training.
They emphasize seeking intimacy with God rather than treating faith as mere Sunday routine, warning about deception and the need to “know” Jesus. The conversation explores how Christianity became disconnected from Hebrew foundations, describing early Jewish-Gentile tensions, Peter’s Acts 10 vision, and later developments under Constantine, including anti-Jewish policies, the Council of Nicaea, and replacing Passover observance with Easter. They argue the biblical “feasts of the Lord” remain prophetic and relevant, citing Tabernacles in the millennium and ongoing Sabbath worship.
