What happens when gang leaders become pastors and dropout teens become rocket scientists?

In this unforgettable episode of the INNOVAT3 Podcast, host Ted Hahs sits down with Dr. Linda Lara, a former gang leader whose transformation led her to become a pastor, community builder and co-founder of Firehouse, a gang intervention and youth development organization in San Jose.

With decades of experience reaching the overlooked, Dr. Lara shares how love, consistency and radical faith helped her and her husband Sonny shift from prison time and street life to family restoration, education reform and leadership development.

From running youth programs in gang-infested neighborhoods to launching a STEM partnership with Valley Christian that sent experiments to space, her story proves: when you believe in people’s potential, the impossible becomes possible.

She opens up about:

Growing up in East San Jose and surviving redlined neighborhoods.

Leading a gang as a teen and navigating a broken justice system.

Her powerful encounter with faith that changed her life overnight.

Launching Firehouse to work with gang-impacted youth and foster care teens.

Partnering with elite institutions to give ‘failing’ students a second chance.

Reaching families through love, parenting workshops and consistent presence.

Building a church that feeds the homeless, welcomes the rejected, and lives the gospel outside the walls.

This is not just a testimony. It’s a masterclass in lived experience leadership, community transformation and what happens when you show up for the people society overlooks.

Show Notes:

Host: Ted Hahs

Guest: Dr. Linda Lara — Pastor, Advocate, Founder of Firehouse

Location: San Jose, California

Topics:

Gang prevention and intervention programs in California.

Women in faith-based leadership.

Trauma-informed youth outreach.

Homelessness prevention in San Jose.

Parenting programs and family restoration.

Restorative justice through lived experience.

Educational access and equity through partnerships.

Grassroots innovation and community transformation.

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0:00 Intro

3:08 Faith-Driven Impact

5:31 From Streets to Space

12:05 All They Need is Care

16:41 A Marriage Redeemed

30:17 The Church That Won’t Quit

38:32 Breaking Cycles at Home

54:11 The Power of Belief

1:00:17 Full Circle

1:03:11 Prayer as Protest

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