The CrossCounsel Podcast
Welcome to the CrossCounsel Podcast! Since 1997, we've been finding a better way to experience healing, growth, and maturity in Christ.
Join our co-founder, Rev. Steve Freitag, and special guests as they explore how the Spirit of Jesus transforms us into people who are strong, steady, sturdy, secure, and appropriately compassionate.
Diving into our MELT Process isn't easy, but it's well worth it. Those who are willing to engage with both their present and historical pain—and confront their "demons"—can discover unimaginable freedom and peace.
Much of this may feel surprisingly simple, yet deeply transformative—strangely normal.
Together, let's do all we can in the work God calls us to do.
The CrossCounsel Podcast
198 | Shane Holden - Called by God
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Steve Freitag and Pastor Shane Holden have shared more than 25 years of friendship—raising families, serving in ministry, walking through seasons of blessing and heartbreak, and watching God faithfully lead each of them on different paths. Though they now serve in different parts of Wisconsin, they've remained close friends since the early days of CrossCounsel. Today, CrossCounsel's Onalaska office sits just across the street from First Free Church—an unplanned proximity that reflects a long-standing partnership. Over the years, many people from First Free have found healing through CrossCounsel, making the church one of our closest ministry relationships.
In this conversation, Shane—whose church welcomed nearly 5,000 people over Easter weekend this year (2026) —shares the remarkable story of how God called him from a childhood marked by addiction, abuse, and brokenness into a life of faith, family, and ministry. It's a powerful reminder that no one is beyond the reach of God's grace and that God delights in writing stories no one could have imagined.