In this episode, John sat down with his father-in-law as he shares his powerful story, growing up in Columbus, Ohio. He opens up about the impact of losing his father at the young age of seven and how even though this was certainly a tragedy for him and his family, it didn’t stop God from shaping him. He talks about his experience being called as a young man to preach and knowing it was his purpose.

He dives deep into how Jesus was fundamentally anti-oppression, a truth often overlooked or avoided by many who study scripture. We discuss how scripture, Jesus, and the concepts of service, justice, and community are connected.

This perspective has not only shaped his life philosophy but also influenced his professional journey, including one of the countries first black owned mental health agencies Minority Behavioral Health Group over 30 years ago.

As we wrap up, he shares his insights on sustaining a healthy, happy marriage for almost 50 years, offering timeless wisdom on love, faith, and partnership.

In this weeks episode we sat with the good brother Taelor Gray a pastor, teacher, an artist/creative, entrepreneur, a mental health advocate, father and husband.

In this conversation we discuss Taelors childhood in Columbus growing up sheltered in a Christian household. This sheltered and strict environment caused him to rebel in his teens where he ultimately found and gained a closer relationship with God through multiple spiritual experiences.

We discuss his thoughts on Christian Hip Hop and the overall genre, fatherhood, his spiritual evolution and much more!

Enjoy the episode

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Sat down with my friend and brother Cam Joyce Head Basketball Coach for St. Ignatius Wildcats in Cleveland for this weeks episode of LYP. Coming off his first state championship win as a coach, we spoke about how his first few years came with winning, but still short of their ultimate goal of a championship. Those early successes and failures helped them build a culture and foundation that propelled them win it all last season.

Cam spoke about his experience being an understudy to his both his father Coach Dru Joyce and his older brother Dru, and being a kid 20 years ago as a ball boy for those St. Vincent St. Mary teams that featured LeBron James, Romeo Travis, Willie McGee and Sian Cotton.

We also talked about what it was like being the first person in our friend group to get married at 25, and recognizing today, he didn’t always know what it took to be married.

This was an episode of 20+ year of friendship on display between boys who now are fathers and husbands.

Enjoy the episode ✌🏾🌱

In this special episode, I sit down with my wife, Dr. Ciara Dennis-Morgan a talented children’s book author, to talk about her latest book, Look at God. This beautiful story features our son, Messiah, as he embarks on a journey through his everyday life, discovering how God is present in his routines, relationships, and surroundings. Through Messiah’s eyes, readers are reminded of the power of presence and how, if we slow down enough, we can witness God’s work in our lives.

We discuss the inspiration behind the book, the importance of recognizing divine moments in the ordinary, and how this message transcends religious or spiritual beliefs. Whether you follow a particular faith or not, Look at God reminds us that God’s presence is always close if we take the time to see it.

It’s been 5 years since LYP Podcast first dropped and the first person who blessed us with their presence was none other than John’s Father John Morgan Sr. In episode 1 John Sr. shared his entire story growing up in Akron. In this episode John & his Father spoke about both of their healing Journeys over the last few years since their last sit down. This episode was full of transparency and generational healing between Father and Son

This weeks episode of LYP we sat with good friend of the show recording artist Jerreau. Jerreau is coming off of releasing his newest project “WHY SOME PEOPLE BE MAD AT ME” where he shares with the world his real time processing of his emotions. From self reflection, giving himself and others grace to battling self sabotage Jerreau captures vulnerability in real time. On one record “DO BETTER” Jerreau raps “That’s why my shortcomings overshadow me at night…I think it’s me I’m the only constant in my life, you know man in the mirror self reflect”. Great music and great art creates great conversation and “WSPBMAM” is no different as John & Jerreau have an in depth discussion about music, healing, relationships & creating from a place of abundance. Enjoy the episode! GO LISTEN TO “WSPBMAM” NOW ON APPLE MUSIC OR SPOTIFY! https://music.apple.com/us/album/why-some-people-be-mad-at-me/1740873007 https://open.spotify.com/album/60QwuzsRzZ2Ib8pxZlTcN0?si=iCZ6OEHKR-SYhLg_pniXOA

“You can’t heal what you don’t reveal” The thing about healing is, it takes reflection, full out transparency and acceptance of the past. Even without full clarity or understanding, accepting that the things we’ve gone through are all a part of a bigger plan and we aren’t in control as much as we think. This weeks guest was the good brother Marcel McDaniel, he shared his story from being a gangster in the height of the crack era to now being a servant to young brothers who are on the same path that he once followed. He shared the value of fatherhood, how his wife had allowed him to be fully human, & why everyone has the capacity for change & growth. We met a year ago around this time as we started working on the film “MY LIFE”. At the time I had an idea of what story I wanted to tell, but during the process of production & editing, we quickly learned that God had a different plan for what story to tell.

In this episode, two of LYPs finest Dr. Ci & Devin Joyce sat down to share how them forming an organic relationship/friendship was the foundation of them collaborating together to create “MORE LIFE Retreat”. After starring in LYPs film MORE LIFE: A Love Story on Black Women’s Full Humanity & Transformative Love the two curated a retreat dedicated to Black Women & Black Maternal Health full of rest and building connection. As both Dr. Ci & Dev share their birthing stories, they reflect on the joy of becoming mothers, & the impact of experiencing racism during their most vulnerable moments of pregnancy. This episode was full of laughter of friends and the beauty that is creating MORE LIFE with those you love most.

In this weeks episode we sat down with an LYP Alum and family member, Producer, Artist & Grammy Award Winner Swoope. We start the conversation by reflecting on how much has changed since our first conversation back in 2019. From there we get into the reflections of getting older, and learning things that no longer serve us today. We briefly talk about the Swoope’s POV on the state of Hip Hop, specifically Kendrick Lamar’s verse on LIKE THAT. Will Swoope retire from rap? Inner child healing and his relationship with fear. This was a conversation Amongst men who respect each other but love one another as well. Thank you for tuning in!

None of us know how we will react and respond when tragedy happens. I pray that all of us can tap into some of the wisdom and courage that our guest Karl Majors gave me. Karl’s has worked in the world of finance for over 20 years, but this conversation we talked about his childhood growing up in Youngstown around substance, mental and physical abuse, lead him to Akron to pursue a career of nursing where he would ultimately meet his wife of almost 20 years before she tragically passed away from Breast Cancer almost 10 years ago. Karl was transparent, vulnerable & and a true testament to we are all stronger than we even know, but sometimes it takes pain and heartache to see so. We thank Karl for sharing his story. LYP 🌱

Dr. Ci came back and this time we expounded our some overall relationship topics from our last conversation. - foundational principles we established early in our relationship - different communication styles - why we choose marriage everyday - Parenting is no damn joke!!! Should Dr. Ci and I take this further and just start a pod together? Would y’all want to hear that? What do you think of that? Vote below!!!👇🏾

We invited Dr. C back!!!! Last time we spoke with her, she told us her own story, This time we went through the origin of how we originally got together, before marriage & kids, bringing up the question of “who bagged who?!”. We’ve never shared our story on camera so this was so much fun to re live that first date. For those who do not know John & Ciara’s first date wasn’t like most traditional dating nights, there’s involved an 8 hour car ride to NYC where they ultimately established a great foundation for what you see today. But the question remains…. WHO BAGGED WHO?! Listen today for the real answer and please give us your opinion on who you all think did the bagging in the poll and question attached to this episode!

In this week’s episode of LYP I sat with my friend Anthony Isom-Barnhill who I met years ago when him and I both worked at the Boys & Girls Club at a point where I now know to be divine. Everyone who’s ever had a job knows that if you keep a friend that you met at work AFTER you leave the job then yall REAL friends! lol We bonded & would talk about things most men do, sports, music, complain about our bosses, but our conversations would always evolve into spirituality, politics, even relationships. I even found out him and my mother share the same birthday! Crazy! This episode was all about watching & listening to two men display some of their vulnerable moments in a genuine way. He shared with me how it was for him meeting with his biological father as an adult, how creativity has been a healthy coping mechanism for him. After you listen to this episode ask yourself these few questions…. What is an early childhood memory you have of shame or embarrassment? When was an early childhood moment that had lasting impact? In what ways do you cope with stress? Positively or negatively? Who are my safe spaces to communicate my thoughts & feelings to? I respect my bro for sharing stuff most men would never tell anyone let alone the world. In a world where podcasts continue to make trash content, it’s important to me we give you real moments from real people. All 2024

In 2011 Kelley Williams-Bolar was convicted of lying about her residency to get her daughters into a better school district. In 2006 Kelley sent her daughters to school in Copley-Fairlawn School District. But it wasn't her Akron district of residence, so she was asked to remove her children from the district. 18 months after removing her daughters Kelley was sent an indictment from Copley schools. She was ultimately forced to spend 10 days in jail but her father was convicted also and later passed away in jail. This story is heartbreaking as it is another example of how oppressive this system is, this one highlighting the educational system. Kelley continues to advocate and fight for other families til this day. We thank you Kelley.

It’s been a min since we dropped anything podcast related. For a variety of different reasons… 1. I only want to share my space with people who genuinely care about the mission we are doing at LYP. Anything other than that don’t serve me. 2. I been focused on some of the other projects, while being a dad. Yo these kids mannnn… lol they make you EARN it 3. I’ve been grieving…. Hard. So I’ve been trying to slow down and allow myself to feel everything that comes with it. So sometimes the internet can be counter productive to that process. I recently sat with Delone Carter & Tyrus Dickerson nd we all shared our different experiences with grief. I recently lost my grandmother a few weeks ago and it’s shifted so many things about life that I once knew. Not to mention the grief of my Mother a few years ago still feels fresh in so many ways. Tyrus lost his mother almost 2 years ago at a pivotal time in his life while playing college football. I couldn’t imagine feeling that type of pain in my early 20s. Delone also lost his grandmother back in June and shares in this episode just how heavy the loss has been, but also shares the other side of it, which is how we can receive so much gratitude even in the darkest times. I appreciate these men for sharing their vulnerabilities on camera. So many of us experience some of the same things but in our own unique ways. If we each are willing to share our stories you’ll never know who you can help….. including yourself.

In this episode John & Dr. T jump right in and cover the social media uproar over Keke Palmer & her boyfriend Darius Jackson. They both give their opinions on who was in the right or wrong. Dr. T shares a personal story about an interaction with her significant other. They finish the conversation talking about recent comments made from a pastor about gender roles and expectations

This week John & Dr. T start this episode off with John memorizing and paying tribute to his late mother & discussing grief. Then go into a variety of topics including Open relationships becoming more and more of an option Spiritual connection leading to open relationships Head of household? What does it mean to lead a house? What does it mean to be submissive?

In this episode John & Dr. T discuss the topics - Friends with children - Authoritative parenting over authoritarian - Surviving & Healing - Parenting out of fear - Ego based & Spiritual Based

This episode Dr. T & John jump right into great discussions. Leading with John saying how he’s calling out all hate in 2023 by featuring classic songs. They discuss examples of vulnerability, family outside blood relationships, & if you should have friendships with your children

Dr. T & John start of this weeks episode with discussing the importance of practicing vulnerability during conflict.  From there we discuss inner child wounds in relationships and how that shows up.  We wrap the conversation up by answering A question from the audience. Lastly we talk about Ace Metaphor a relationship influencer and how his content and others are extremely divisive and dangerous