A life written in fog,
refined by fire.
John Carpenter grew up surrounded by church. His grandfather, Phil Newhart, was a Baptist minister for more than 50 years - and faith was in the air everywhere John turned. Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness. Every denomination had a seat at the table.
But belonging to any one of them? That never came.
He believed in God. He just couldn’t find a home.
What followed were decades of life lived at full tilt - marriages, rebuilding, leading teams of up to 200 people, learning every hard lesson the long way. The fog wasn’t one thing. It was seasons. Divorce. Doubt. Distance. The quiet that follows when nothing makes sense and no one has an answer.
“I always believed. I just didn’t know where I fit.”
Where Fog & Fire began
Fog & Fire started as personal reflections - short pieces drawn from John’s own life, written for himself. Then something unexpected happened. People started reading them and saying “this is about me.”
That’s when the mission became clear. These weren’t just John’s stories. They were a mirror for anyone who’s been in a season they couldn’t name - tired, stuck, unsure if the fire was coming or if they’d imagined it.
When the book became a mission
In 2025, John walked into a wedding Mass at Our Lady of the Angels in Cleveland. He wasn’t looking for anything. Father Rob welcomed the guests and the new members - and something broke open. It felt like the words were meant only for him. Not Father Rob standing at the altar. Something else entirely.
The following week, he told himself he wasn’t going to Mass. Then he was up. Then he was driving. He didn’t decide to go. He just went.
In 2026, John entered the Catholic Church through OCIA and was baptized for the first time - the baptism that actually meant something.
His grandfather Phil - 50 years a Baptist minister - had made the same journey late in his own life. Phil became Catholic. He lectured at services. John always knew. And when the time came, he walked the same road.
That’s when Fog & Fire stopped being a book and became a calling.
No certificates. Just mileage.
John doesn’t have a coaching credential hanging on the wall. What he has is a track record of leading people - teams of up to 200, and himself, through seasons that had no roadmap. He’s rebuilt more than once. He knows what it looks like to be respected in a room and still feel lost inside it.
When you talk to John, you’re not getting a methodology. You’re getting someone who has been in the fog, found the fire, and isn’t pretending the path was straight.
“Then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.”
Jeremiah 20:9
You don’t have to figure it out alone.
Start with the community - or book a call and let’s talk about where you are and where you’re trying to go.
