The BETWEEN Podcast

MaryB Safrit is a NYC-based relationship coach, an author, the host of the Found Family podcast , and she also makes and sells some pretty fun and empowering clothing and merch. She’s also your friendly neighborhood bisexual, recovering people-pleaser, and current goblin obsessed with all things relationship-building, hospitality, spirituality, and culture . (We talk about those obsessions in this...

When Paul wrote about being "DEEP-SPIRITED FRIENDS," well, we aren't exactly sure what he meant. But he might have been hinting at our longing for the full colors of our soul to be seen. He might have been encouraging us to feel all of the humanness that the people around us are feeling. Alongside them. Even if only for a while. This BONUS episode of The BETWEEN Podcast features host...

Our special guests on this episode of The BETWEEN Podcast are Ashlie Sanders and Emilie Call... and these two sisters are doing something really cool... Ashlie and Emilie are the hosts of a podcast called "That's Church." They're also both members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In fact, Ashlie has a separate big social media presence... she goes by "The...

Catherine McNiel is our guest and WOW, what a powerful and sacred conversation this is about fear and faith . Catherine's newest book is titled, Fearing Bravely: Risking Love for our Neighbors, Strangers, and Enemies. This book is an amazing mirror into which we all might look to see how much we might have been unknowingly discipled in fear instead of love. Catherine is an author and speaker w...

This episode features Kristen Lavalley (author of "Even If He Doesn't") and host Matt Mattson diving deeply into the experiences of trauma and suffering that mark so much of our life path. Our guest has experienced so much -- a major faith crisis, witnessing a murder, the loss of a pregnancy, a traumatic birth experience with twins, and yet finds faith even when God doesn't show...

This new episode of The BETWEEN Podcast features a sacred conversation between host Matt Mattson and author Gregory Coles, Ph. D. about his book No Longer Strangers . Gregory Coles is a tangle of identities: born in upstate New York, raised on the Indonesian island of Java, and now working as a freelance author and scholar in Idaho's Treasure Valley. He holds a PhD in English from Penn State a...

Whoa. Near Death Experiences is new territory for our podcast, and what a cool conversation this was. Host Matt Mattson shares a sacred conversation with Rev. Stephanie Chase Bradbury about the moments when people seem to transcend beyond our earthly realm and live to tell about it. The Reverend Stephanie Chase Bradbury is a graduate of Yale Divinity School, ordained an Episcopal Priest for 28 yea...

Enjoy this short BONUS episode of The BETWEEN Podcast featuring host, Matt Mattson telling you the secrets of the alternate universes he has discovered (and some that he learned about from people on social media). These alternate universes are "thin places." They are places where the rules of social engagement are morphed. They are places where it is incredibly easy to feel God in the pr...

This episode of The BETWEEN Podcast features a gentle and beautiful conversation between host Matt Mattson and our special guest, Sarah Westfall. What if BELONGING isn't something to attain, but instead is someone to become? How could faith offer a kind of belonging that could transform us all into "people of welcome"? Sarah E. Westfall is a writer, speaker, and host of the  Human To...

What if loneliness isn't the boogeyman we've made it out to be? What if in our pursuit of belonging we skipped self-worth and it has left us feeling inauthentic? What if God showed up in a hotel lobby, would you recognize God? This episode of The BETWEEN Podcast features a wonderfully sacred conversation between host Matt Mattson and our special guest, Dr. Kelly Flanagan. Dr. Kelly Flanaga...

Lizz Enns Petters and Esther Joy Goetz are our special guests on this episode of The BETWEEN Podcast. Lizz and Esther host The Deconstructing Mamas Podcast and... If you are trying to figure out how to navigate the tricky tightrope of parenting while you have questions, doubts and wonderings about your spiritual journey, their podcast is for you (and so is this episode of our podcast!) Lizz Enns P...

This episode features host Matt Mattson and special guest, Nicole Mason. This slightly longer and deeply sacred episode is somehow about the future of faith communities, the heavy weight carried by so many women within the context of religious institutions, innovative church life, and really so much more... Nicole Mason is a church planter. She is a writer. She is an innovative Christian. She spen...

What is a mystic? Can you be one? Is contemplative prayer something that might bring us closer to each other? Can a dirty diaper be a sacred thing? Keith Kristich joins host Matt Mattson on this very contemplative episode of The BETWEEN Podcast. Keith Kristich is a writer, a retreat leader, a contemplative, a mystic... and the founder of the online contemplative community called Closer Than Breath...

Our special guest Rev. Lindsey Turner (They/Them) joins host Matt Mattson on this celestial episode of The BETWEEN Podcast. In 2018, Reverend Lindsey Turner who was a pastor at a church... was forced out of that church. In one swift and painful moment, Lindsey lost the house, career, and community they had built. After learning that Lindsey had offered a home to a young adult who was both trans an...

We're so excited to feature Sarah Bessey , author of Field Notes For The Wilderness: Practices for an Evolving Faith on this episode of The BETWEEN Podcast. Listen in as host Matt Mattson and Sarah Bessey discuss faith deconstruction, reconstruction, and things that are helpful if you find yourself wandering out there in a spiritual wilderness. Sarah Bessey is the author of the popular and cri...

This episode of The BETWEEN Podcast features host Matt Mattson jumping into the "MESS" with special guest, Melissa Neeb. They discuss faith, deconstruction, parenting, mental health, addiction, and public speaking -- all within the context of building sacred moments of human connection in our lives. S Melissa gives some powerful advice about showing up and creating "honest rooms&quo...

Join host Matt Mattson and special guest Pastor Justin Spurlock as they take a deep dive into the "unofficial sacrament of conversation." They discuss whether or not the "space between people" is actually sacred, they explore the importance of BELONGING in-depth, they talk about the challenges of faith-related language, and they share stories in an authentic exchange of real sa...

Today's guest on The BETWEEN Podcast is Rev. Nathan Albert (he/him). Nathan is a professional actor turned university chaplain, author, and religious pluralist. He seeks to be a disruptor of the dominant, a multifaceted theologian, a champion of religious diversity, and a multiple religious participant who promotes interreligious learning. As a chaplain, his focus is interreligious learning, s...

Reverend Bethany Peerbolte is known by literally HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of people... maybe MILLIONS OF PEOPLE on social media... especially TikTok... as RevBethany... RevBethany is a loving, affirming, celebrating representative of Christianity who lifts up everyone who encounters her content... especially folks who have been pushed to the margins by organized religion in the past. RevBethany finds...

Our guest on this episode of The BETWEEN Podcast is Paula Stephens . Paula is many things... Here are five lines from her bio... Paula Stephens is an ordained Chaplain in the Zen Buddhist tradition. She wrote a book a while back and spent a significant part of her career helping parents overcome the unspeakable grief of losing a child. She is a Gold Star Mom. Wife of an SVU detective. Mom to a fir...

Enjoy this short bonus episode of The BETWEEN Podcast featuring your host, Matt Mattson . It's just a quick little nugget about the shrines to togetherness we've manufactured around us, and why that's so important (and how we can work to put a little more sacred connection into the middle of our normal lives). Be sure to sign up for the BETWEEN mailing list and learn more about us at:...

Our guest on this episode of The BETWEEN Podcast is Barbara Ann Jacques, Ph. D. Barbara is a graceful disruptor. And this episode is a magnificent spiritual journey inward so that we all might be better at outwardly connecting. You're going to absolutely love this episode. For years, Barbara Ann Jacques, PhD led a secret life, keeping her spiritual practices separate from her professional/scie...

Paul Fahey , founder of Pope Francis Generation joins host Matt Mattson for a deep dive into Catholicism, human connection, Pope Francis, systemic abuse, and paradox. This conversation was playful and intellectual... serious and fun... really deep and just skimming the surface of some huge ideas. Paul Fahey is a lay catechist, a student of counseling, a writer, a speaker, and founder of Pope Franc...

This episode of The BETWEEN Podcast features host, Matt Mattson, joyfully getting to talk with one of his favorite authors, Shannan Martin . The episode explores ordinary places, what it means to be a neighbor, how to survive a politically challenging year, the sacred gift of awkwardness and more. Shannan Martin , author of  Start With Hello, The Ministry of Ordinary Places  , and  Falling Free ,...

Christy Lynne Wood is a writer, a podcast host, and a speaker who spent 10 years of her youth in a Christian Cult. Today she hosts a podcast named after her powerful book titled, "Religious Rebels." Growing up in the IBLP Christian cult-like culture (brought to light recently in the documentary " Shiny Happy People " featuring the Duggar Family, stars of "19 and Counting&q...