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Breaking Free from A Cult To Reclaim Your Mind With Lydia Knight

Point Of Impact With Aaron Hale

Release Date: 06/11/2025

Why Standing Out Now Costs More Than Ever with Pastor Jackson Lahmeyer show art Why Standing Out Now Costs More Than Ever with Pastor Jackson Lahmeyer

Point Of Impact With Aaron Hale

Happiness… It has the tendency of slipping through our fingers no matter how much success, money, or influence we chase. In this powerful episode of Point of Impact, Aaron Hale sits down with Pastor Jackson Lahmeyer–author, church leader, and outspoken cultural voice–to unpack why so many people feel emptier than ever in a world flooded with distractions, dopamine, and conformity. Jackson shares how God redirected his life from business to ministry, why the church cannot stay silent on politics and culture, and what COVID revealed about fear, virtue signaling, and the cost of standing...

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Point Of Impact With Aaron Hale

What happens when the uniform comes off…and no one tells you what’s next? On this episode of Point of Impact, Aaron Hale talks with JR Butler, Founder & CEO of Shift Group. JR built Shift Group to help veterans and former athletes break into business careers without getting filtered out by outdated hiring systems. He believes the traditional resume reduces real people to lifeless bullet points, and that better tools and better storytelling create better opportunities. The conversation covers what transition is really like, why confidence follows discipline, and why starting over...

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Point Of Impact With Aaron Hale

Can the warrior mindset that keeps you alive in combat… …be the thing that holds you back once you’re home? In this episode of Point of Impact, Aaron Hale sits down with Ryan Woodruff, Marine Corps veteran and CEO of Clear Path for Veterans, to explore the unseen battles veterans face after the uniform comes off and what real healing actually requires. Ryan shares his journey from infantryman in Iraq to struggling civilian and how service dogs became a pathway back to empathy, connection, and humanity. Together, they unpack the human-animal bond, the ripple effects of trauma, and why...

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Point Of Impact With Aaron Hale

Every 11 minutes, a life is lost…and more than a hundred people are left carrying the weight of it. Today Aaron Hale sits down with Tony DeMaio, longtime advocate for veterans and first responders, and founder of Helping Heroes USA.  Tony breaks down what really leads people down the path of isolation, depression, and despair–and how everyday people can step in before it’s too late. From recognizing early warning signs to learning how to start hard conversations without judgment, Tony shares a clear, practical framework for prevention.  If you’ve ever wondered what to say,...

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Point Of Impact With Aaron Hale

93% of American business owners pay more in taxes than they are legally required to. Not because they’re bad at business, but because they’re playing the wrong game. Today Aaron Hale sits down with tax strategist Rondi Lambeth, who breaks down why there is one tax code but two tax systems: one for the informed, and one for everyone else. Rondi exposes why CPAs are referees and not coaches, how the wealthy legally structure their lives to protect assets and reduce taxes, and why trying to get to zero every year keeps most entrepreneurs broke. From the Augusta Rule to corporate structures,...

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Point Of Impact With Aaron Hale

What if addiction isn’t about substances at all…but about escaping reality? Today Aaron Hale sits down with Ken Miller, a Dartmouth grad, former felon, and now a man with 21+ years of sobriety, to unpack a harder truth most people avoid:  The real addiction is leaving reality–and there are no good excuses for doing it. Ken traces his path from foster care, violence, and prison to building multiple businesses, mentoring men across the country, and living with clarity and discipline. He explains why emotional pain never justifies relapse, why cliches block real thinking, and why...

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Point Of Impact With Aaron Hale

When 14-year-old Nick Prefontaine suffered a near-fatal snowboard accident, doctors told his parents he may never walk, talk, or eat on his own again.   He spent three weeks in a partially induced coma, months in rehabilitation, and was expected to need 24-hour care for the rest of his life…   Instead, he ran out of the hospital.   Today, Nick sits down with Aaron Hale to break down the 4-step framework behind his comeback, and the mindset that carried him through the darkest moments of his life.   Nick opens up about the doubt, the inner voice that told him he’d run...

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Point Of Impact With Aaron Hale

When Rick Hogg looks back on nearly three decades in Special Operations, one truth stands out above the rest: The dogs weren’t just teammates…they were the reason he came home. In this conversation, Rick walks through the moments that shaped his life on and off the battlefield: the first deployment where a dog saved his team, the long nights training in the heat, the surgeries and setbacks that came with age and miles, and the day he held his K9 partner Duco for the last time.  Rick also opens up about transition. The parts nobody prepares you for…  The missing tribe. The...

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Point Of Impact With Aaron Hale

What does a TOPGUN instructor, a Marine forward air controller in Ramadi, and the only Marine to ever fly the F-22 Raptor all have in common? One man–Dave Berke–and a lifetime of lessons on what leadership really looks like. Aaron Hale sits down with retired Marine Colonel Berke, a fighter pilot and ground combat leader who’s spent his career making hard calls in places where mistakes cost lives. From carrier decks to close air support in Ramadi, Berke learned early that complacency is deadly and humility keeps you alive. Berke shares stories from the cockpit, the streets, and the...

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Point Of Impact With Aaron Hale

What compels a man to fly to a refugee camp alone, endure malaria on a cot in Africa, join Special Forces, become the oldest rookie in the NFL, and still go searching for the next way to serve? For Nate Boyer, the answer is simple: purpose. service. responsibility. Today Aaron Hale sits down with a man who has spent his life moving toward the hard thing–not for glory, but because someone had to.  Nate shares how a single Time Magazine article pulled him into the Darfur crisis, how illness and the Battle of Fallujah pushed him toward the military, and how living among Iraqi and Afghan...

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Disruptor Nation, buckle up because this one goes deep. I sat down with Lydia Knight, founder of The She Center, and what started as a story about leaving the Mormon church turned into a raw and revelatory masterclass in reprogramming your life.

Lydia was born into what she now recognizes as a cult, wrapped in layers of religious extremism, patriarchal control, and generational trauma. Add to that a manipulative mother, an abusive marriage, and a devastating eating disorder and you’ve got the kind of pain most people would run from. But Lydia didn’t run, She rebuilt.

In this episode, she opens up about:

  • Her harrowing exit from the Mormon church and how she recognized the cult dynamics within it

  • The painful unraveling of lies learned in childhood and how those messages followed her even after she escaped

  • The science of brain reprogramming, and why most people try to heal the wrong way

  • The neuroscience behind why “changing your behavior” doesn’t work and what does

  • How she overcame disordered eating and rewrote her relationship with her body, her worth, and her voice

  • The moment she finally met her father and how it reframed her entire story

  • The mission behind The She Center and how she’s helping thousands of women do the same inner rescue

This isn’t just trauma talk. It’s transformation in action. Lydia blends fierce truth with practical tools, deep wisdom with dry humor, and gives you a roadmap to rewire your own beliefs and finally come home to yourself.

Countdown to Impact:
3 Books:

2 Quotes:

  • “A ship in harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.”

  • “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” – Maya Angelou

1 Person:

  • Her best friend and fellow cult survivor—a woman who showed Lydia what fierce self-worth and radical joy can look like in the aftermath of indoctrination.

 

 

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