Dudes Without Dads Podcast

Dudes Without Dads is a podcast for men who grew up without a father—and are determined to become the dad they never had. Hosted by Joshua Brown, this movement is built on real stories, raw conversations, and the belief that your past doesn’t define your legacy. Each episode brings together powerful testimonies, expert insights, and practical wisdom to help you break cycles, heal from wounds, and lead with love. Whether you’re a young dad trying to figure it out, a grown man still wrestling with the silence of your childhood, or someone who feels disqualified—this show is for you. No shame. No sugarcoating. Just hope, healing, and a brotherhood of men becoming better fathers, husbands, and sons. 🔁 New episodes every week — including roundtable talks, guest interviews, and spiritual insights. 📍 Part of the As You Go Network — a movement to make disciples where we live, work, and play.

Dudes Without Dads Podcast is a arts podcast hosted by Joshua Brown, with 39 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Joshua Brown hosts Dudes Without Dads Podcast, a arts show with 39 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

• 

  Episode #38

  Pastor Brandon Petty: A Journey Through the Wilderness — Childhood Trauma, the Ministry Mask & Finding Freedom | Dudes Without Dads

  Aug 13, 202655 minS1

  Pastor Brandon Petty returns to Dudes Without Dads for a raw, deeply honest conversation about his new book A Journey Through the Wilderness — releasing August 11. Brandon is the lead pastor of Generation Church, a fast-growing congregation in a small farming town north of Nashville, and founder of the Landmark Association, a network of churches committed to pastor and church health. Brandon opens up about the severe sexual and physical abuse he suffered between the ages of 8 and 10, the identity that was formed underneath the shame, and the years he spent running from his story while building a ministry that was blessed beyond his character. He shares the 2015 moment when God stopped him from running — when he came face to face with his abuser — and the solitude sabbatical that finally began his healing. Joshua and Brandon talk about the difference between a memory and a monument, why your family of origin is part of your sanctification, why every man wants to be fully known but fears it more than anything, and what it looks like to live for fruit instead of achievement. In this episode: Why the years between 8 and 10 shape a man more than his teenage years The abuse Brandon endured — and what "love" was distorted to mean Memory vs. monument: how we turn wounds into shrines and stay stuck Reconciling with a father who wasn't there — and baptizing him before he died The ministry mask: being blessed beyond your character Achievement vs. fruit — and why nobody will talk about your achievements at your funeral The 2015 moment God forced him to stop running The solitude sabbatical that changed everything What Mother Teresa said about prayer — and why it wrecked Brandon His new book A Journey Through the Wilderness and the roadmap at the end Get the book & connect with Pastor Brandon: A Journey Through the Wilderness — releases August 11 on Amazon Instagram: @BePettyGC Facebook: Brandon Petty ⛪ Generation Church — Portland, TN Landmark Association — landmarkassociation.com Connect with Dudes Without Dads: dudeswithoutdadspodcast.com New episodes every Thursday ‍♂️ Apply to be a guest at dudeswithoutdadspodcast.com "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." — Proverbs 27:17 fatherhood, father wound, sonship, men's ministry, christian men, healing, identity, intentional fatherhood, dudes without dads, joshua brown, eric manly, the intentional dad, generational curses, masculinity, christian podcast, faith and fatherhood, becoming a better dad, father absence

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #36

  Carl Thomas: The Top 5 Questions Men Ask About Porn — Addiction, Shame, the Brain & How to Actually Break Free | Dudes Without Dads

  Jul 30, 202646 minS1

  This week on Dudes Without Dads, Joshua sits down with Carl Thomas — founder and executive director of Live Free Ministries and CEO of XXXchurch.com — for a straight-talking conversation about the one topic most men will never bring up in the lobby: pornography. Joshua brings the top 5 questions men are actually asking themselves — the ones typed into search bars at 2 a.m. — and Carl answers them with the compassion of a brother who's been there and the clarity of an expert who's spent 20+ years in this fight. Carl opens up about his own recovery, the moment his hidden father wounds surfaced as full-blown panic disorder years into ministry, and why the answer isn't "just love Jesus more." Joshua and Carl unpack the neuroscience of compulsive behavior (why "just stop it" doesn't work), why pornography is a "cure" for something deeper, the difference between white-knuckling and true agency, why shame is the fuel of addiction (not the solution), and the practical first step every man listening can take today. In this episode: Why an estimated 50% of men — and 30-40% of pastors — are struggling with pornography The real question isn't "what is porn?" — it's "what is porn for me?" Dysregulation: why porn is almost never actually about sex or lust Attachment wounds, father wounds, and how the brain learns to "regulate" through compulsion The window of tolerance and why rational thinking goes offline in a craving moment Why "just pray harder" from the pulpit hurts more than it helps The Body Keeps the Score principle: remove the cure without healing the cause, and something worse takes its place How 60–90 days of sobriety actually rewires the brain — and what it doesn't fix The goal isn't the absence of temptation — it's the agency to choose Carl's #1 next step for any man ready to break free: get connected Connect with Dudes Without Dads: dudeswithoutdadspodcast.com New episodes every Thursday ‍♂️ Apply to be a guest at dudeswithoutdadspodcast.com Learn more about Carl & the Rewired course: rewired.x3pure.com xxxchurch.com "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." — Proverbs 27:17 fatherhood, father wound, sonship, men's ministry, christian men, healing, identity, intentional fatherhood, dudes without dads, joshua brown, eric manly, the intentional dad, generational curses, masculinity, christian podcast, faith and fatherhood, becoming a better dad, father absence

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #36

  Why Don't They Love Me?" — James Ludeman on 36 Years Without a Father, Approval Addiction & Being Asked "Will You Be My Dad?" | Dudes Without Dad

  Jul 23, 202658 minS1

  This week on Dudes Without Dads, Joshua welcomes James Ludeman — a 36-year-old husband and father of two from St. Petersburg, Florida, now living outside Nashville, Tennessee. James has never met his biological father. He was raised by his grandmother, grew up surrounded by addiction and abandonment, and later found faith in Christ on a missions trip at 15. James opens up about the "why don't they love me?" question that shaped his childhood, the approval addiction and pornography struggle that followed, and the rock-bottom moment at 21 that turned his life around. He shares how God met him in Jackson, Mississippi — and how, years later, a little girl asking "Will you be my dad?" changed everything. Today, James is a husband of nearly 10 years and the adoptive father of two. Joshua and James talk honestly about fatherlessness, faith, forgiveness, and what it takes for a man to break the cycle he was handed and become the father he never had. Connect with Dudes Without Dads: dudeswithoutdadspodcast.com New episodes every Thursday ‍♂️ Apply to be a guest at dudeswithoutdadspodcast.com "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." — Proverbs 27:17 fatherhood, father wound, sonship, men's ministry, christian men, healing, identity, intentional fatherhood, dudes without dads, joshua brown, eric manly, the intentional dad, generational curses, masculinity, christian podcast, faith and fatherhood, becoming a better dad, father absence

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #35

  Is This Where I Come to Get a Dad?" — Ron Hauenstein on the Orphan Spirit, Broken Homes & the 24/7 Dad Cure | Dudes Without Dads

  Jul 16, 202639 minS1

  August 2019. A warm Saturday night at a Spokane neighborhood fair. Ron Hauenstein is manning a booth alone when three 15-year-olds walk up. Before Ron can say a word, the girl asks him three questions in a row: "Is this where I come to get a dad?" "What do I have to do to get a dad?" "Will you be my dad?" Her father, she said, was "a druggie with seven kids who doesn't mean anything to him." That's the reality Ron has been staring down for a decade. This week on Dudes Without Dads, Joshua sits with Ron Hauenstein — founder and Executive Director of the Spokane Fatherhood Initiative (SpoFI) — for one of the most sobering and hopeful conversations we've had on the show. In 1960, only 5 out of every 100 American babies were born outside marriage. Today it's over 50%. Among first-time moms 25 and younger, it's roughly 80%. Ron didn't just watch it happen — he set out to do something about it. Since 2018, SpoFI has issued 700+ certificates of completion through their 24/7 Dad classes: 24 hours of instruction over 6 weeks, evidence-based, with the first four lessons pointed inward before a single "tool" is handed out. What Joshua and Ron unpack in this episode: 🕰️ How three shifts — no-fault divorce, the pill, and the workforce reshuffle — dismantled the covenant of home 🏠 Why kids today don't have a "home" anymore — just "my dad's apartment" and "my mom's house" 💔 The orphan spirit — what it is, how it forms, and 6 ways to know you're carrying it 😤 Why anger is really about security and shame is really about significance 📚 The 24/7 Dad curriculum — how men come in defeated and leave changed (without being told what to change) 🙏 James's story — separated from his four kids for 7 years, reunited after God got a hold of him 👨‍👧 The four-year-old who told her dad: "You don't get mad at us anymore. You don't yell at us like you used to." ✝️ Ron's personal turning point in Bible Study Fellowship — the identity shift from "a sinner saved by grace" to "a saint saved by grace who sins" 🇺🇸 A history moment you didn't know: Spokane is the birthplace of Father's Day (1910, Sonora Smart-Dodd) ⛓️ The stat every listener needs to hear: a child raised without a father is 20 times more likely to end up in prison Ron's closing word for every man listening: "There's a hole in you — and a hole in your children's hearts — that can only be filled by a father, or your Heavenly Father." Connect with Dudes Without Dads: 🌐 dudeswithoutdadspodcast.com 📅 New episodes every Thursday 🙋‍♂️ Apply to be a guest at dudeswithoutdadspodcast.com Learn more about Ron & take the class: 🔗 spofi.org — 24/7 Dad classes are on Zoom, six times a year, $20 refundable deposit 🔗 fatherhood.org — buy the 24/7 Dad curriculum and start it in your own town 🔗 fathers.com — Ken Canfield's Seven Secrets of Effective Fathers (free online course) If this episode marks you, do three things: leave a rating and review, share it with one brother who needs to hear it, and subscribe so you don't miss what's next. "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." — Proverbs 27:17 fatherhood, father wound, sonship, men's ministry, christian men, healing, identity, intentional fatherhood, dudes without dads, joshua brown, eric manly, the intentional dad, generational curses, masculinity, christian podcast, faith and fatherhood, becoming a better dad, father absence

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #34

  He Grew Up in a Tent — Now He's Teaching Dads How to Stay | Scott Maudsley | Dudes Without Dads

  Jul 9, 202646 minS1

  What does it take to become the dad you never had — when the dad you did have was present but never really there? Scott Maudsley grew up as the second of four boys in southwest Michigan. His dad was a man of faith. He was in the house. He loved his kids. But when the business failed, bankruptcy hit, and the family moved into a tent on a campground just trying to survive — the emotional distance between Scott and his father only grew. By the time Scott was 18, he had lived in 14 different homes. He attended three high schools in four years — including a move from a small white farming community in Michigan to Hialeah, Miami in the middle of his senior year. His mom left. His dad stayed. And Scott spent the next several decades learning — the hard way — what it means to be a present father to his own kids. Today Scott is a kingdom worker, author, and founder of two movements built around one conviction: every man needs a spiritual father, and every man needs to become one. In this conversation, Joshua Brown and Scott get into: What it felt like to grow up with a dad who was physically present but emotionally distant — and how that shaped Scott's identity as a man The bankruptcy, the tent, the 14 homes, and what financial chaos does to a family's emotional foundation The day his mom left — and what it was like to have a single dad for a year and a half The pivotal man God put in Scott's life in his thirties who forced him to go back and process all the trauma he had buried The single most important piece of fatherhood wisdom Scott ever received — and how it transformed the way he parented his own kids from birth to age 13 Why age 13 is the last real window a dad has for full influence over his child — and what happens when you miss it How Scott wrote A Dad's Bible Journey — a study of the actual fathers in scripture, not just principles, but real stories of real dads who failed and were redeemed The story behind Dads on Tap — a nonprofit that partners with breweries to reach dads who would never walk into a church What spiritual fathering actually looks like — and why every man needs one "There's no paycheck, no influence, no stage that I would trade for that intentionality from zero to 13." "Forgiveness is more for you than them. I had inner peace for the first time in my life. It's just Jesus — just Jesus." This episode is for the man who had a dad in the house but still grew up without one. For the dad who wants to do it differently but doesn't know how. And for every man who needs a spiritual father to show him the way. 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Spiritual Fathers (Man in the Mirror) → https://www.spiritualfathers.com Dads on Tap → https://www.dadsoontap.com A Dad's Bible Journey → Available on Amazon Scott Maudsley on Instagram → @ScottMaudsley Email Scott → scott@dadsontap.com 🎙️ Subscribe to Dudes Without Dads → https://www.DudesWithoutDadsPodcast.com 📲 Join the Movement → https://www.dudeswithoutdads.com 🎙️ Apply to Be a Guest → https://www.DudesWithoutDadsPodcast.com New episodes every Thursday. Subscribe, share, and get this into the hands of the man who needs it most. 🎙️ fatherhood, father wound, sonship, men's ministry, christian men, healing, identity, intentional fatherhood, dudes without dads, joshua brown, eric manly, the intentional dad, generational curses, masculinity, christian podcast, faith and fatherhood, becoming a better dad, father absence

  ListenShow Notes

Recent guests on Dudes Without Dads Podcast. Study who booked and why before you pitch.

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.