Uplift Appalachia
45 episodes listed below
Christian care for recovery’s hard places.
Intrinsically Motivated is a warm, interview-led series from Uplift Appalachia about addiction, recovery, mental health, and Christian care. Its conversations move between public health, church ministry, trauma-aware compassion, and the daily work of walking with people in pain.
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Intrinsically Motivated sits at the meeting point of Christian ministry, recovery work, and public health. Its center of gravity is care. The show follows Uplift Appalachia’s interest in addiction, mental health, trauma, and flourishing, but the episodes are strongest when they move from broad concerns into specific rooms, programs, churches, and relationships. A public-health conversation with Karl Johnson considers how technical language can widen the gap between professionals and communities. That theme returns in different forms. People need help they can understand, not just systems they are told to trust. The ministry conversations press the same point from another direction. Churches are asked to become patient, durable communities rather than places that offer quick advice and then step back. David Julin’s episode on prayer and addiction ministry turns repeatedly toward wisdom, support systems, and the difficulty of staying close to people whose recovery is not linear. It is honest about hard boundaries. It is also unwilling to abandon hope. Scotland episodes broaden the show’s geography without losing its Appalachian instincts. Chris Davidson’s church-planting conversation frames discipleship as a slow, side-by-side process among people at very different stages of faith and formation. Ron Roach’s discussion links Scotland and Appalachia through mountains, rurality, lost manufacturing work, health disparities, and addiction. That comparison gives the series a wider sense of place. Local pain is not treated as isolated. Other episodes look inward at ministry practice, including Stephanie Waldrop’s reflections on children’s ministry, trauma, shame, and the need to embody love before demanding trust. Ashton Belcher’s day reporting conversation brings criminal justice and community resources into the same field of concern. The show’s pacing is unhurried. Questions open space for story, then circle back toward a practical or theological landing place. For listeners in church, recovery, nonprofit, or public-health settings, it offers a grounded model of compassion that does not pretend the work is easy.
Made for: For listeners interested in addiction recovery, trauma-aware ministry, public health, and Christian community care, especially in Appalachian or rural contexts. It also suits church leaders and service workers who want practical language for complex human needs.
What sets it apart: The show’s strength is its translation work: public-health systems, recovery stories, scripture, rural culture, and ministry practice are brought into the same careful conversation. It favors lived examples over polished answers.
Join Uplift Appalachia as we talk to experts in the field of addiction, recovery, and those who have been affected by it as we seek to mobilize the church to replace addiction and mental health challenges with flourishing. Learn more at upliftappalachia.org.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Detailed interviews connect addiction recovery with clinical care, public health, trauma, faith, and the practical responsibilities of communities.
Intrinsically Motivated treats addiction and recovery as questions of medicine, relationships, faith, and community responsibility. Tucker Clements, identified as the show's audio engineer and editor, guides substantial interviews with clinicians, pastors, public-health…
Methadone and ministry share the table here; your easy answers may need a folding chair.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A steady conversation about substance use, trust, and making public health legible to real communities.
The episode gives Karl Johnson room to connect substance use, behavioral health, and public health without letting any of them drift into abstraction.
A church-planting conversation about equipping others, preaching clearly, and keeping a warm heart for hard ministry.
The conversation presents church planting in Scotland as a work of formation, recovery, and patient leadership. The pastor's self-description as a "gospel Stanley knife" and a generalist gives the discussion its center: a healthy church trains people to disciple, preach, and…
A ministry focused conversation about addiction work that keeps hope tied to hard realities.
David Julin, pastor at First Baptist Church of Cramerton and leader of Unbinding Lazarus, leads a conversation that keeps addiction ministry centered on showing up for people instead of pretending they can be fixed.
Compassion matters most when children's ministry stops looking away from trauma.
This conversation follows Stephanie Waldrop through the practical work of children's ministry and the harder, quieter part of it too: the children who show up carrying trauma, shame, and a need for care that is more than curriculum.
A thoughtful bridge between recovery care, theology, and the harder work of human flourishing.
Warren Kinghorn makes a clear case that mental health cannot be understood as something happening inside one body or brain alone. The conversation keeps circling back to relationships, communities, culture, and the wider work of helping people move toward flourishing, with…
Two Bible translators unpack Scripture's hardest passages, from Revelation's 666 to the Witch of Endor.
Scripture, surrender and faith put into practice.
Uplift Appalachia's season 4 wrap-up looks back on a two-week trip to Scotland at the end of May, where a team toured Edinburgh's homeless camping spots with the non-faith group the Serenians.
Tucker Clements sits down with a guest for a conversation that starts with titles and quickly gets to identity, calling, and care.
Chris Davidson calls himself a gospel Stanley knife.
This episode features interviews with individuals in Scotland discussing how Christian community and recovery organizations lead to healing and transformation for people struggling with life's challenges.
David Julin joins Tucker Clements to talk about addiction ministry and the care it actually asks for.
This episode explores the geographical and cultural parallels between Scotland and Appalachia, focusing on shared challenges like economic decline and addiction, and highlights recovery work in both regions.
This episode features an interview with Ashton Belcher, Program Director of the Day Reporting Center and Community Resource Center, discussing the prison diversion program for high-risk felony offenders with addictions, its history since 2013, and its transition under TDOC.
This episode reflects on Season 3 of Intrinsically Motivated, discussing addiction, recovery, and mental health work with Uplift Appalachia, focusing on personal impacts and unresolved questions.
Stephanie Waldrop brings children's ministry down to earth.
Warren Kinghorn joins the conversation to talk about addiction, recovery, and the wider world of relationships, communities, and cultures around mental health.
This episode features an interview with John Swinton, a professor and expert in practical theology and pastoral care, discussing topics related to memory, identity, healing, and their connections to addiction recovery and mental health within a spiritual context.
This episode features an interview with Wally Dixon, a psychologist and founding director of the ETSU Ballot Health Strong Brain Institute, discussing adverse childhood experiences and their impact on brain development, addiction, and recovery.