We Do Real is a pastoral conversation podcast from Centerpoint Church in Gorham, Maine. Each episode, Pastor Ben Thornton sits down with someone from the congregation and lets them tell their story: unscripted, unfiltered, and unrushed.
No celebrity guests. No highlight reels. Just real people with real faith and real roads that didn't always go straight.
The show exists because the best conversations Ben has happen in his office, and he got tired of keeping them to himself. So we hit record and started letting people listen in.
Real stories. Real faith. Real people.
We Do Real.
Mike McLaughlin played in the NFL and has spent his post-football life pouring himself into the next generation through FCA and his role as co-elder at Centerpoint. In this episode, Mike talks about what it means to build a legacy of faith, the discipline of showing up for others when the spotlight is gone, and what real mentorship looks like in the life of a church.
2 Nov 2026
Her Own Woman and Story
Jessica Thornton co-founded Centerpoint Church, holds a seminary degree, and spent years in ministry before any of this existed. She is also someone who said yes to carrying the Gospel into one of the least-churched corners of the country, and paid a price most people never saw. This episode is the most personal of the season: a conversation between a husband and wife about calling, suffering, and what it looks like when faith doesn’t flinch even when it has every reason to.
26 Oct 2026
The Ministry Nobody Sees
Suffering, Surrender, and Showing Up: Jimmy Murray is the spark plug of Centerpoint, the guy who makes you laugh, brings the energy, and shows up before anyone else does. But underneath the humor is a man who lost his dad at 14, watched his mom walk out on Christmas Eve, nearly took his own life, and spent years running from everything he was gifted to do. Today Jimmy leads the Boiler Room, Centerpoint's pre-service prayer ministry, pouring himself out in a room most people never see. This episode is funny, heavy, and full of grace.
19 Oct 2026
Surrender Is the Doorway to Real Life
Suffering, Surrender, and Showing Up: Chris Frakes is a youth pastor from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and one of Ben's oldest friends. He's been bringing teams of students to Maine for years to serve Centerpoint and the community through Center Camp. This standalone episode, recorded during one of those trips, became one of the most theologically rich conversations of the season. Chris talks about ministry fatigue, the discipline of prayer, a heart for New England, and why an unsurrendered life is, in his words, "like a Temu life."
12 Oct 2026
Saved at Centerpoint
Suffering, Surrender, and Showing Up: Keith Phillips grew up in Medford, Massachusetts, got tangled up in the wrong crowd, spent time in prison, and spent decades trying to get sober. His road included multiple treatment attempts, a suicide attempt, two heart attacks, and a cardiac arrest on a golf course in Falmouth, Maine. In the middle of all of it, he heard a voice in a hospital room: “You’re not alone. I’ve been with you your whole life.” Keith was baptized at Lake Winnipesaukee at Centerpoint’s fall retreat. His story is one of the most raw, honest, and hope-filled conversations of the season.
5 Oct 2026
Faith Built in Hard, Unglamorous Places
Identity, Calling, and What God Does With a Life: Ben Graffius has worked oil rigs, handled weapons systems, and captained a high-speed ferry across Casco Bay. His life has taken him places most people never go, and into work where most people would never think to look for God. In this episode, Ben talks about what it means to build an identity in the unglamorous corners of life, where faith showed up in the middle of all of it, and what it looks like to carry his story into his role as a husband, father, and deacon at Centerpoint.
28 Sept 2026
What Sobriety Actually Looks Like
Identity, Calling, and What God Does With a Life: Chris Grant had a Division I baseball career, a road that went sideways, and years of addiction before he found his footing. Today he runs Dirigo Sober Living in Portland, Maine, walking alongside men fighting the same battles he once fought. In this episode, Chris tells the real version of his story, not the highlight reel, and talks honestly about what sobriety looks like day to day, the wife who stayed, and the faith that finally became a foundation instead of a fallback.
21 Sept 2026
From the Field to the Boardroom to the Church
Identity, Calling, and What God Does With a Life: Kendrick Ballantyne grew up in Gorham, Maine, played Division I football, and spent time on the Baltimore Ravens roster, then watched the identity he'd built around athletics quietly dissolve. In this first-ever episode of We Do Real, Kendrick unpacks what it took to go from self-consumed competitor to husband, father, business leader, and deacon. A conversation about identity death, the emptiness of arrival, and what it actually looks like when God builds a man back up.
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
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