Clemenz With a ”Z” Podcast

Lately, I’ve been struck by how many of our religious conversations seem to turn into debates that leave us more divided, more entrenched, and more certain, but not more understanding. In this episode, I explore the idea that the problem might not be our disagreements, but the questions we’ve been trained to ask in the first place. Looking at the way Jesus consistently redirected the conversations...

We live in a world of constant noise and increasingly, our churches mirror it. In this episode, I reflect on what happens when worship never pauses, when silence feels unwelcome, and when space is something we’re quick to fill. This isn’t a critique of music or emotion, but an exploration of why silence matters, in church and in everyday life. Drawing on personal experience and a poem that helped...

I'm Back! After an intentional pause, this episode is a return, a re-orientation, and an honest reflection on why this podcast exists and where it’s going. What began years ago as conversations about masculinity and fatherhood has grown alongside me into something deeper, a space to unlearn, feel, rethink what we were told, and become whole. This episode is about remembering the “why,” honoring th...

Sometimes the hardest seasons are the ones that make us. In this episode, I share a story I’ve never told publicly, the moment everything I’d worked for almost came undone during my student teaching. What started as a field trip turned into one of the most difficult and defining chapters of my life. Through betrayal, uncertainty, and months of fighting to graduate, I discovered something I didn’t...

We love verses like Jeremiah 29:11.  You know, the ones that promise a future and a hope. They’re comforting, clean, easy to print on a mug or a graduation card. But what happens when life doesn’t match the verse? When the “plan” falls apart and the promises feel hollow? In this episode, Coffee Mug Theology, I talk about how we’ve turned ancient words of exile and endurance into quick-fix slogans,...

We grow up on stories that tell us life is about slaying the dragon and winning the prize. Disney fairytales, men’s groups, even church slogans repeat the same script: the battle is always “out there.” But Joseph Campbell flipped the story, reminding us that the real dragon is within, and the way forward isn’t conquest, it’s following your bliss. In this episode, I wrestle with what that actually...

In this episode, I step into the shadows with Marvel’s Thunderbolts, a story of misfits, scars, and the power of presence. From Sentry’s battle with the Void to Yelena’s moment of recognition, the film raises a question we all wrestle with: what do we do with the darkness inside of us? Some days we try to bury it, some days we stare right into it, and some days we need someone else to remind us we...

What do you do when the world feels too heavy? When you're tired, discouraged, or just numb from the noise? If you're me… you watch America’s Got Talent Golden Buzzer moments on YouTube. And you cry. Every time. In this episode, I’m sharing a surprising ritual that’s become one of the most healing parts of my life. We’ll talk about how a talent show, yes, a talent show has become a space for emoti...

Sometimes a song finds you when you need it most. I had never heard Wrabel’s “The Village” until I stumbled across a dance group performing to it on Britain’s Got Talent. What started as a quick break from writing turned into something deeper, a mirror for the world we’re living in right now. The song, originally written for the trans community, echoed wider truths as I watched dancers of all diff...

This episode started as a response to something I heard on a Christian podcast about God’s discipline. The words weren’t new, I’ve heard the same script my whole life, but they brought back memories of how deeply this theology shaped me. Growing up, I learned to see every disappointment and setback as punishment, every “no” as God disciplining me. What really grabbed me, though, was how seamlessly...

In this episode, I sit with the words of Thomas Merton, an American Trappist monk, writer, and mystic whose reflections on faith, identity, and community continue to resonate decades after his death. Merton warns against what he calls “the heresy of individualism,” the temptation to define ourselves only by what we’re not, to build our lives on separation and judgment. His challenge struck me deep...

I was on a plane recently watching the new Bob Dylan movie when a scene with Pete Seeger stopped me in my tracks. Why in the world would a folk singer be in court over a song? That moment opened up a hidden history I had never been taught: “This Land Is Your Land” wasn’t just a patriotic anthem, it was a protest. And it made me start to see a bigger pattern. We do this all the time. We take prophe...

This episode started with a reel:  Two pastors, loud and confident, claiming they were standing in the footsteps of Jesus by resisting culture and government control. And while I disagreed with their message, something deeper stirred in me. Because I’ve heard that same level of certainty on the other side too, in the progressive voices I often align with. And honestly? I’ve heard it in myself. So...

In a world where everyone seems to be talking past each other,  online, in politics, and even in the church, what would it look like to slow down and actually see the person in front of us? In this episode, I explore the word sonder, the realization that every person you encounter is living a life as vivid and complex as your own and how Jesus embodied that in every interaction. From the woman cau...

Episode 200! I can’t quite believe we’ve reached this point: two hundred conversations, stories, and reflections shared with you. And for this milestone, I wanted to talk about something that’s been weaving through all of them: the power of metaphor. From Iron Man’s first suit to the parables of Jesus, from Joseph Campbell’s wisdom to Pete Holmes’ “finger and moon,” metaphors shape how we see the...

What do a punk rock lyric and the teachings of Jesus have in common? More than you might think. In this episode, inspired by Frank Turner’s raw line from “1933”:  “Be suspicious of simple answers, that shit’s for fascists (and maybe teenagers)”.  We dive headfirst into the beauty and challenge of the messy middle. From the “greatest commandment” conversation in the Gospels to the wisdom of mystics...

What if no one sees the whole picture and that’s the point? In this episode, I explore the ancient parable of the blind men and the elephant through the lens of my time in the ICOC, where we weren’t just taught that we held the truth we were the truth. But faith shaped by geography, cultural inheritance, and rigid certainty eventually started to crack. This episode is about those cracks. About wha...

In this episode of Clemenz With a “Z”, I take a deep dive into a sermon titled Sex By Design, delivered at a Christian marriage retreat. The pastor laid out what he called the “6 Divine Truths About Sex” (and their “demonic counterparts”), while his wife stood silently beside him the entire time. I walk through each so-called truth, unpacking the theology, the metaphors, the unspoken subtext, and...

In this episode, I wrestle with one of the hardest, and most liberating truths I’ve come to face: that the pain, division, and harm in our world isn’t just the result of some ancient curse or cosmic enemy. It’s us. We’ve been taught to blame Satan, to blame Adam, to see ourselves as born broken. But what if that story isn’t the whole story? What if we carry both light and dark within us, and what...

What if we’ve been looking at sin all wrong? In this episode, I reflect on the way sin was framed for me growing up, how it became a label, a burden, a weight I carried long after forgiveness was promised. I talk about my time as a teacher, how I tried to help students see that their choices don’t define their worth, and how that same truth applies to us as adults. I explore the original meaning o...

To be honest with y'all, I’ve been sitting with this one. This episode is a response and a critique from of a podcast episode I recently listened to titled “Boyhood Resurrected.”   As someone who’s deeply invested in the work of raising boys, mentoring teens, and wrestling with what masculinity means today, I came to this episode curious, but also aware of the mouthpieces of this conversation.  Wh...

What if the thing you were always taught to fear… was actually the thing trying to lead you home? In this episode of Clemenz With a Z, I dive deep into the power of doubt not as a spiritual failure, but as a sacred invitation. I reflect on growing up in a faith system that demanded certainty, punished questions, and taught me that doubt was a sign of weakness. But over time, I’ve come to believe t...

In this episode of Clemenz With a Z, I sit down with Jeremy Steele, also known as The Skeptic Pastor for a conversation that’s honest, wide-ranging, and refreshingly unpretentious. Jeremy is a United Methodist pastor, author, podcast host, and the founder of Not Church, a faith community for people who’ve been hurt by religion but haven’t given up on the sacred. We talk about what it means to unle...

What does it really mean to “share your faith”? In the church I grew up in, it didn’t mean storytelling or connection—it meant recruitment. Evangelism wasn’t optional; it was expected, required, and tracked. In this episode of This Was Supposed to Be the Place, I unpack the intense pressure we felt to bring people to church, the shame tied to “not producing fruit,” and the way our relationships be...

n this powerful episode of We Were In a Cult?, I sit down with Tara to unpack the layers of pain, survival, and spiritual manipulation she experienced—both before and during her time in the ICOC. Tara speaks openly about growing up in a home marked by abuse and instability, and how that history made her vulnerable to the church’s promises of love, family, and transformation. This conversation is r...