FROM PULPIT TO PRESENCE

At some point the old way of living stops working — and it is not only the drinking. It is the hiding. The performing. The fear of being found out. It is living inside a belief system that demands certainty while something deeper in you knows the truth is more complicated.

From Pulpit to Presence is a concise, candid memoir that follows Don Phelps from Christian ministry into addiction, loss, and rebuilding. It is a story of recovery — and of what happens when the faith you are required to represent no longer matches your inner experience. When doctrine becomes a script. When the role becomes a cage. When keeping the image costs you yourself.

Recovery here is not a finish line. It is learning to sit with discomfort, tell the truth, and stay present — one day at a time. This memoir is descriptive, not prescriptive: an honest account of beginning again without pretending you have it all figured out.

This book is for you if:

• You’re exhausted from performing, hiding, or trying to keep it together

• A habit or coping pattern is costing you more than you can name

• You’ve outgrown a belief system or identity that once gave you certainty

• You’re rebuilding after loss, shame, or a public unraveling

• You want an honest story, not a step-by-step program

• You’re learning to stay present instead of escaping

• You’re trying to begin again, one day at a time