THE RUGGED PATH

Raw Faith.   Real Stories.

Long-form conversations with people who have been through war, addiction, trauma, and long stretches of darkness — and found their way to faith, or are still walking that road. No polished testimonies. No formulas. The faith conversations the Church usually leaves out.

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Latest Episode

Episode 008  ·  June 23, 2026

Jose Alvarez: He Heard God's Voice in the Garage

Jose Alvarez closed the garage door, started the car, and decided he was done. A few minutes later he heard a voice inside him say "It is done. It's done. Let it go." — and that was the night God got his attention for good. From Quito, Ecuador to Fort Bragg, from a broken first marriage to a prophetic dream that came true at a baptism years later, this is one of the most quietly remarkable transformation stories The Rugged Path has told.

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Dan Black — Host of The Rugged Path

The Host

Dan Black

Veteran  /  Former Tattoo Artist  /  Host

Dan Black spent years in environments where nobody talks about faith the way the Church does on Sunday morning. As a veteran and former tattoo artist, he sat across from people carrying real weight — combat, addiction, broken relationships, long stretches without hope — and noticed that the stories that actually changed lives rarely made it into a pew.

The Rugged Path is his answer to that. Dan brings a plain-spoken, honest approach to conversations about faith and darkness — not to produce a formula, but to give real people a place to tell the truth about what it actually took to get where they are.

"Faith conversations the Church usually leaves out."

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From Dan

A personal note written directly to you — what he is thinking about, what hit him from a recent conversation, what he is sitting with.

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One moment from a recent episode that did not make the final cut — raw, unedited, exactly what it was.

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