If you have ever felt trapped by a secret you were too ashamed to tell anyone, this episode will meet you right where you are. Barry Shore sits down with Blaine Bartel — author, speaker, and founder of House of Resurrection — for one of the most honest conversations the Joy of Living podcast has ever aired.

Blaine opens up about a 23-year hidden battle with pornography and sexual addiction that ran beneath a thriving public ministry. Starting with a single, impulsive moment in a hotel room at age 28, he describes how one choice to cover up rather than confess set off decades of shame, a double life, and eventually the destruction of his first marriage. He was suicidal, hated the man he saw in the mirror, and kept believing he could stop alone — until he couldn't.

What finally broke the cycle was what Blaine calls the terrifying grace of God — a confrontation that forced full confession to his family, his church, and himself. The road to freedom cost him his career, his finances, and nearly his relationships with his three sons. Yet today, after years of counseling, community, and deep personal work, he has been free for nearly 15 years.

Blaine explains the crucial difference between guilt and shame — guilt says "I did wrong" and drives you toward help, while shame says "I am wrong" and drives you into isolation. Understanding that difference, he says, is often the first step out of the trap.

Through House of Resurrection, Blaine and his wife Lori now offer residential freedom intensives and year-long coaching for men, ministers, and marriages in crisis — with an 80–85% freedom rate in the first year. Whether your struggle is pornography, alcohol, or any hidden addiction, Blaine's message is clear: you are not alone, and resurrection is real.

Blaine Bartel is an author, speaker, and founder of House of Resurrection, a nonprofit ministry dedicated to helping men, ministers, and marriages find freedom from sexual addiction and brokenness.