Called to be Bad

Send us Fan Mail “It’s not that they thought these humans were like animals, that that they thought people who looked like me never made it out of the animal kingdom.”  Nekeisha Alayna Alexis is an educator and independent scholar. She does intercultural competency/undoing racism work, and she considers herself a liberationist. In this episode of Called to be Bad we talk about the places where ani...

Send us Fan Mail Debbie B Celebrating Queerness  “God created us all and declared that we were good and that includes all of who you are, your gender identity, your sexuality, all of that. No one can take away God’s love for you, no matter how they try.”   In this episode of Called to be Bad, I talk with Debbie B about what it would look like to move from tolerance/acceptance/inclusion to celebrat...

Send us Fan Mail "God didn't destroy Sodom and Gomorrah becasue they had gay people, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because they were a$$holes."  CW: biblical stories that mention sexual violence/rape, slurs against Queer folx, racism/homophobia/transphobia, suicidal ideation, self-harm  In this episode of Called to be Bad I talk with Leo Wolter Tejera about the passages in the Bi...

Send us Fan Mail CW: sexual assault by a church leader, mental health (depression), suicide, suicidal ideation “I tried to be pretty, I tried to do it right, I learned all the girl things, and I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t relate. It never felt right.”  In part 2 of “Bad at Binary: Growing up Non-binary in the Church” we get to hear more of Cedar’s story and their relationship with sexuality, gende...

Send us Fan Mail *CW: gender rejection, gender dysphoria, suicidal ideation, sexual abuse/asault by a church leader "I don't identify with either sex. I don't feel like a man or a woman...I want to be as in-between as possible."  In part one of a two part episode of Called to be Bad, Cedar and I explore what it is like being trans nonbinary, especially if you have grown up in a...

Send us Fan Mail “Bodies are good, even when they are gross…” CW: we talk about the shooting in Atlanta that occurred in March 2021 In this episode I talk to pastor Rebecca Anderson who serves as pastor in two Chicago churches, one who characterizes themselves as a "queer, storytelling bar church". In this setting Rebecca is able to live out both her theology and sex positivity.  Resourc...

Send us Fan Mail Content Warning Below  In "Stripping Down Purity Culture Part 2" Karly, Mylie, and I wade deeper into the multi-faceted world that is purity culture. We talk about its racist and sexist components and offer several resources for those who are navigating "surviving" purity culture.  CW: discussions of rape culture, the relationship between purity culture and rac...

Send us Fan Mail Content Warning Below "The framing of sexual desire as a moral failing is one of the biggest disservices that the church has ever done to people."  In this episode of the Called to be Bad Podcast I talk with Karly Poyner-Smith (she/her) and Mylie Brennan (she/her). Karly is a Ph. D. student and graduate instructer at the University of Memphis. Her research focuses on the...

Send us Fan Mail “What am I reading here? Is God Safe?” Content Warning:  We discuss honor based and sexual violence against women, particularly in the cultural context of Deuteronomy 22:13-29.  References:  “Virgin: The Untouched History” by Hanne Blank--https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/225909.Virgin “Come as you Are: The Surprising New Science that Will Transform Your Sex Life” by Emily Na...

Send us Fan Mail "Yeah I am not a good Indian, good Indians accompany the settlers and show them, 'Hey, we can help you, here's a deer.'" That's a good Indian. And I'm not that. The bad Indian is somebody who is like, 'Hey why don't you join with us and work for justice?'"  Sarah Augustine is a Pueblo Tewa descendant, she is the founder and co...

Send us Fan Mail In the second part of "What the Hell" Joey Trieb and I talk about what a deconstructed or more "biblical" view of Hell could look like. We discuss questions like, "does Hell exist within God?" and what Joey would say if people called him a bad Christian for his views on Hell. Don't miss the final part to this series!  References:    Follow us for...

Send us Fan Mail “Being freed from this fearful, punitive, penalizing God…and embracing Jesus as goodness itself, it honestly made Christianity worthwhile again. It kept me from deconstructing clear out of faith.” In part one of this episode of Called to be Bad I talk to tiktok sensation and fellow podcaster Joey Trieb about how he has deconstructed from the evangelical view of Hell he was taught...

Send us Fan Mail “And I truly believe that if most of the church were to go up in flames right now, Jesus himself would dance on the ashes.”  In episode eight of the Called to be Bad Podcast, Ian McPherson (he/they) and I talk about how the church is dying—and why that may be a good thing. We dig into discussions of how the church wields power, the harm the church needs to repent of, and ways the...

Send us Fan Mail “If it means to be a bad pastor to care about ableism or purity culture or race in the church, or any of these things that are taboo in the church then I want to be a bad pastor. I would even go as far as to say, don’t you mean badass pastor?”   In episode seven of the Called to be Bad Podcast I talk with Indiana Michigan Mennonite Conference--conference pastor--(and former congre...

Send us Fan Mail  “I would say that listening to profane pop music enables pastoral care…this is holy work.” Welcome to Called to be Bad episode six! Get your headphones ready to listen to Isaac Villegas and I talk about "bad" or profane pop music. Isaac is a writer, pastor, and prodigious curator of music playlists. In this episode we cover why some music is labeled as "bad" a...

Send us Fan Mail "You love your enemy by making a new world that is a good world....even for your enemy." In Called to be Bad Ep. 5, pastor, author, and "peacemaker" Melissa Florer-Bixler and I talk about what loving your enemy actually means. Our conversation centers around her book, "How to Have and Enemy: Righteous Anger and the Work of Peace." We dig into various...

Send us Fan Mail "I am playing with the edges here...the edges of language, and the edges of how we can learn to fully express what we need to express..."  Episode 4 of the Called to be Bad Podcast  In this episode I discuss the relationship between Christianity and cussing/swearing/'bad" words (whatever you would like to call them) with guest Allan Rudy-Froese. Allan teaches p...

Send us Fan Mail "Nothing opens a mind faster than laughter."  In this episode of Called to be Bad, I talk with Ted Swartz--writer, actor, and comedy extraordinaire (my words not his) about the relationship between theology and comedy. Is faith funny? How are humor and the holy connected? Let's find out.  References:  Book: "The Hidden Tools of Comedy" by Steve Kaplan http...

Send us Fan Mail “I said to her, and I say to all of you, if somebody asks that you stop talking, talk even more.”   On this episode of Called to be Bad I am joined by Cyneatha Millsaps. Cyneatha is a pastor in Elkhart, Indiana, a community activist, and the executive direction of Mennonite Women USA. Cyneatha and I talk about the relationship between faith and wealth. How do churches use all the...

Send us Fan Mail "They are trying to dismiss me, but that means what I am saying is powerful enough that I can't be dismissed."  CW: mention of sexual violence and violence against women In this episode of Called to Be Bad I talk patriarchy, complementarianism, and egalitarianism/mutuality with author, professor, and historian Beth Allison Barr. Her book, "The Making of Biblica...