35. Ian Barnett-ASAP PREACH

Episode Summary

In this episode of Leading Forward, hosts Nick and Jeremy sit down with Ian Barnett, better known as the Christian hip-hop artist ASAP Preach (Always Say A Prayer). Ian shares his powerful and raw testimony of coming from a deeply broken past filled with childhood trauma, drug addiction, gang involvement, and multiple stints in jail. He opens up about the rock-bottom moment that landed him in a jail cell where he finally encountered the overwhelming peace of God through a Bible.

Today, Ian uses his passion for music and his radical transformation to minister to the forgotten, heavily focusing his time on prison ministry and serving the homeless. Throughout the episode, Ian unpacks how to embrace your story, the importance of bringing hidden traumas into the light for healing, and how God can take a seemingly unusable past and redeem it for His glory.

Show Notes & Timestamps

• [01:06] Meet Ian Barnett: The hosts introduce Ian, his background, his family, and his organization, Always Say A Prayer Inc.
• [02:27] Ministry Today: Ian discusses his current work traveling the US as a Christian hip-hop artist and his deep passion for prison ministry, where he finds people are deeply hungry for hope.
• [04:18] Is Rapping in the Bible?: Ian playfully shares how Ephesians 5:19 justifies his rap career by telling believers to "speak" to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs.
• [05:39] A Broken Foundation: Ian opens up about his childhood, navigating his parents' separation, lacking boundaries, experiencing tragic childhood abuse at age 9, and how that trauma was the root of his struggle with lust and acting out.
• [10:17] Bringing Darkness to the Light: The hosts and Ian discuss the profound need for men to talk about childhood trauma, seek counseling, and find healing rather than letting the enemy use it as a stronghold.
• [13:37] The Downward Spiral: Ian describes his descent into chasing worldly desires, experimenting with drugs, gang involvement, and acquiring multiple mugshots.
• [14:48] Rock Bottom: Ian recounts a devastating day of losing his job for stealing, taking drugs, and having a severe confrontation with the police where he wanted his life to end.
• [15:36] Encountering God in a Jail Cell: Left alone in a jail cell, Ian opened a Bible and felt the presence and peace of God for the first time, prompting him to surrender his life fully.
• [19:54] A Message to the Ashamed: Ian ministers to listeners who might feel they are "too far gone," reminding them that God's grace abounds and that He paid the price for all sins.
• [25:48] Stewarding Your Gifts: A conversation on recognizing the unique gifts God has given you—whether it's music, graphic design, or simply the social confidence to speak to others—and using them to glorify Him rather than using God to build a personal brand.
• [30:19] Staying Humble: Ian reflects on the surreal feeling of sitting at tables with influential Christian leaders, attributing it all to God's grace and his willingness to just be a vessel.
• [34:07] A Legacy for His Kids: What Ian hopes his children learn from his life: that it's okay to make mistakes, but they must always continue to abide in God and let Him build their testimony.
• [35:35] Advice to His 20-Year-Old Self: Ian shares a heartbreaking story about blocking his mother on social media just three days before she passed away, urging his younger self (and the audience) to cherish relationships like it’s their last day.