You can stop working and still struggle to rest. Former hospital CEO Bret Kolman joins Mark Osborne to explore the pressure to keep achieving, the difference between distraction and soul rest, and learning to surrender control to God.

Bret shares the cost of stepping away from his career, what years of mini-sabbaticals taught him, and why he encourages people to start with the time and circumstances they actually have. The conversation also explores fear, gratitude, community, and a personal regret that reminds us not to postpone the things that matter.

If you're balancing work, family, and ministry while feeling stretched thin, this conversation offers a place to reflect on what real rest could look like in your life.

Connect with Bret: https://sabbaticaltaker.com/

Book and resources — Wisdom That Leads to Soul Rest: https://sabbaticaltaker.com/wisdom_that_leads_to_soul_rest/

Share this episode with a friend, follow The Valiant Forge Podcast, and leave a review if the conversation encourages you.

Want to be a guest on The Valiant Forge Podcast? Send Mark Osborne a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/17432638464878159623a121d

How do you keep trusting God when life gives you reasons to question everything?

Michael Wright joins Mark Osborne for an honest conversation about grief, addiction, spiritual growth, and becoming a better husband and father.

Michael shares the loss of his daughter to a heroin overdose, a house fire shortly after his ordination, and a near-fatal accident he believes he should never have survived. He also opens up about twenty years of alcoholism and the moment he finally admitted, “I need to be a better dad. I need to be a better husband”—and asked for help.

Together, Mark and Michael explore what it means to move beyond going through the motions and build a faith that shapes everyday life.

In this episode:

• Trusting God through grief and unanswered questions

• Recognizing spiritual stagnation

• Why men struggle to ask for help

• Leading your family through your example

• The difference between practicing what you preach and preaching what you practice

• Finding encouragement and support when life feels overwhelming

Connect with Michael Wright:

Books, speaking, and Kingdom Conversations:

https://www.drmwright.com/

Want to be a guest on The Valiant Forge Podcast? Send Mark Osborne a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/17432638464878159623a121d

Episode chapters:

00:00 A life tested by loss and addiction

01:38 Welcome to The Valiant Forge

02:05 Meet Michael Wright

04:23 From the rodeo to the pulpit

07:21 When the church closed

11:40 Losing his daughter and trusting God through grief

14:25 A house fire and faith through trials

18:03 Breaking out of spiritual stagnation

21:09 “I should have died”

23:44 Following God into an unexpected opportunity

27:01 Church, hypocrisy, and living your faith

32:18 Welcoming a man who didn’t believe

33:42 Why men struggle to ask for help

35:49 Becoming a better leader at home

38:37 “I need to be a better dad”

40:16 Encouragement for discouraged men

42:02 Twenty years of alcoholism—and a new beginning

43:55 Final encouragement and connecting with Michael

Follow The Valiant Forge for honest conversations that help men become who God has called them to be.

How do you stay grounded in faith while pursuing a demanding career?

Talent agent and author Dr. Albert Bramante joins Mark Osborne for a conversation about faith, the struggles behind public success, and finding purpose through serving others. Albert shares his experiences of childhood illness, isolation, depression, and surviving suicide attempts, along with the unexpected path that brought him into the entertainment industry.

Together, they discuss prayer, shame, forgiveness, gratitude, community, and learning to surrender control. They also explore questions about psychology, hypnosis, and Christian faith.

For the man who feels stuck, the conversation closes with encouragement to take one small step toward becoming the man God has called him to be.

Connect with Albert:

Website: https://albertbramante.com/

Book: https://albertbramante.com/book.html

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dralbramante/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/albertbramante/

Want to be a guest on The Valiant Forge Podcast? Send Mark Osborne a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/17432638464878159623a121d

At one point, Chris LaFreniere lost touch with reality and believed he was God. Today, he’s a husband, a father, a Christian, and the author of Bipolar Is Who I Am.

Chris joins Mark Osborne on The Valiant Forge to share his experience of bipolar I disorder, substance abuse, hospitalization, and the long process of rebuilding his life. An arrest led to community service. Community service led to a church invitation. That invitation opened a door he hadn’t expected.

Together, they discuss the warning signs Chris missed, finding medication that worked for him, growing in faith, and the everyday work of marriage and fatherhood. Chris also explains why his story is about managing his condition and continuing to grow.

In this conversation:

• What psychosis and paranoia felt like for Chris
• Why the people around him began urging him to get help
• How he came to church and began following Jesus
• What he learned about becoming a husband, father, and spiritual leader
• Why there is hope and a meaningful life after diagnosis

Connect with Chris and explore his memoir, Bipolar Is Who I Am:

https://www.bipolariswhoiam.com/

If this conversation encourages you, follow The Valiant Forge and share it with someone who needs to hear it.

Want to be a guest on The Valiant Forge Podcast? Send Mark Osborne a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/17432638464878159623a121d

Has modern spirituality given old ideas a new identity? Author Tom Snow returns to The Valiant Forge to discuss manifestation, spiritual deception, the prosperity gospel, and the difference between trusting God and trying to control outcomes.

Mark shares personal experiences with insecurity, the desire for approval, and a psychic reading. Tom offers his interpretations of psychic knowledge, spirit guides, mentalists, and other spiritual phenomena, and discusses Set the Captives Free Too: Evil’s Great Masquerade: Divine Light or Deceptive Woo?

This episode includes Tom’s personal interpretations. Listeners are encouraged to weigh the conversation against Scripture.

Connect with Tom and find his books: https://just2beclear.com/

Substack: https://just2beclear1.substack.com/

The Valiant Forge helps men become who God has called them to be through honest conversations about faith, testimony, and following Jesus.

Can you know Jesus loves you and still feel you have to prove your worth? Coach and author Tony Stoltzfus shares how devastating loss changed his relationship with God, then guides Mark through a personal coaching conversation about ministry, significance, and bringing the desires of the heart to Jesus.

You can know Jesus loves you and still feel like you have to prove you're worth something.

In this episode of The Valiant Forge Podcast, Mark Osborne sits down with Christian leadership coach and author Tony Stoltzfus to explore faith, loss, and the pressure to find your value in what you do for God.

Tony shares the painful seasons that reshaped his life: a church collapse, the loss of his home in a fire, and family crises that pushed him beyond his ability to cope. He describes how those experiences changed his relationship with Jesus and loosened his need to perform.

The conversation becomes deeply personal when Mark asks Tony to coach him through his own desire to reach more men and leave a meaningful legacy. Together, they explore the needs beneath those ambitions and what it looks like to bring those needs to Jesus.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Trusting God when life does not work out as expected
• Building deeper relationships through vulnerability
• Faith in seasons of loss and limited productivity
• Moving from transactional prayer toward relationship with Jesus
• Worth, significance, ministry, and the desire to leave a legacy
• Tony's Questions for Jesus approach and a live coaching demonstration

TONY'S RESOURCES

Questions for Jesus app — listed in the app stores as Qs 4 Jesus:

iPhone/iPad: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/qs-4-jesus/id1080235784

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?hl=en_US&id=com.zqquestionsforjesus

MetaFormation: https://meta-formation.com/

The Valiant Forge Podcast

Hosted by Mark Osborne

Where God shapes ordinary men into faithful men.

Want to be a guest on The Valiant Forge Podcast? Send Mark Osborne a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/17432638464878159623a121d

Do you treat sleep as wasted time—or as part of preparing yourself to serve the people God has placed in your life?

Mark Osborne sits down with Dr. Benjamin Long, a physician with dual board certification in sleep medicine and pediatrics, to explore what the Bible says about sleep, rest, and responsibility.

Their conversation covers waking during the night, sleep deprivation, the snooze button, overthinking, doomscrolling, and the pressure to keep producing. Ben shares his own experience with sleeplessness and explains why struggling to sleep should not automatically be treated as evidence of weak faith.

The conversation closes with a challenge for Christian men: think about your rest in relation to your family, neighbors, and community. Sleep helps prepare us to show up for others, and caring for others sometimes calls for sacrifice.

Connect with Ben:

https://thewholeheartedmd.com/

https://www.sleephabitsjournal.com/

His book: Sleep Habits Journal: Practices, Prayers, and Devotions to Ease Your Sleepless Nights

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/773706/sleep-habits-journal-by-benjamin-long-md/

Follow The Valiant Forge and share this episode with a man who feels like he always has to keep going.

The Valiant Forge — Where God shapes ordinary men into faithful men.

We're constantly told to love ourselves, choose ourselves, and put ourselves first. But Jesus said to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Him. So does following Jesus mean we're supposed to hate ourselves? Not at all. In this Valiant Monday, Mark shares how putting himself on the throne nearly destroyed his marriage—and why there's a crucial difference between caring for yourself and living for yourself.

“Some of the worst decisions I've made in my life started with one thought: What about me?”

We live in a culture saturated with self-development advice: love yourself, choose yourself, become the person you want to be, and build the life you want.

Some of that advice can be genuinely helpful.

But what happens when caring for ourselves turns into living for ourselves?

In this episode of Valiant Monday, Mark opens a new series examining popular self-development ideas through the lens of Scripture. He begins with one of the biggest: love yourself.

Jesus' words sound very different:

Drawing from a season that nearly destroyed his marriage, Mark explores the difference between self-care and self-rule, why denying yourself doesn't mean hating yourself, and the question underneath it all:

Who's sitting on the throne of your life?

Scriptures discussed: Luke 9:23, Matthew 22:39, 2 Timothy 3

The Valiant Forge Podcast

Where God shapes ordinary men into faithful men.