Deconstructing Mamas

“In a time when we love to keep ourselves separated from one another with our ideologies and beliefs, liminality asks how we exist in those in between spaces.” - Kaitlin Curtis (Living Resistance) Kaitlin Curtice is our podcast guest this week. Kaitlin is an award-winning author, poet-storyteller, and public speaker. As an enrolled citizen of the Potawatomi nation, Kaitlin writes on the intersecti...

“Following Jesus out of the entanglements of Christian supremacy and white supremacy are deep convictions. We believe God desires so much more from the Church than the frequently empty religiosity and hypocrisy we have become adjusted to.”  -- Dr. Drew Hart Dr. Drew Hart, black activist, racial reconciliation expert, biblical studies professor and father of three boys, is our guest this week. Drew...

This Week on the Podcast: Dr. Glenn Siepert, a deconstructing dad, former pastor, author and podcast host of the What If Project, is our guest this week. Glenn creates a safe space for people to explore this idea: What if there are ways of thinking about God and faith that are different than what our traditions have handed us? . On this episode, we ask a big What If question: what do we do with ou...

Kyndall Rae Rothaus, a preacher, poet, feminist theologian, spiritual director, and preaching coach, is our guest this week.  She is the author of Thy Queendom Come: Breaking Free from Patriarchy to Save Your Soul (2021) and Preacher Breath (2015). She is the co-founder and Executive Director of Nevertheless She Preached, a national, ecumenical preaching conference designed to elevate the voices o...

Tara Teng, an Embodiment Coach who works in the intersections of spirituality and sexuality, is our guest this week. Tara helps people find their way back to their bodies, overcome shame, heal trauma and dismantle purity culture in a way that is in alignment with their values and beliefs so that they can build a healthy, sexual ethic and thrive in freedom and wholeness. On this episode, we explore...

Ericka Graham, freelance pastor and Bible-nerd extraordinaire, mama to two littles, recovering 12-stepper, and podcast hostess, is our guest this week.  Ericka has a passion for reframing the Bible to be a source of life and healing and spreading that word far and wide. On this episode, we dive deep into the hard spaces of OCD manifested in scrupulosity, drug addiction and herky-jerky recovery and...

Dr. Eric Seibert, Old Testament scholar and professor, dad of tweens and teens, prolific author and Minecraft guru, (yes, you read that right) is our guest this week. Eric is passionate against churchce sanctioned violenebecause he is troubled by how much violence Christians condone and sometimes participate in. I do NOT believe this is what God intended," he says (with a little bit of umph i...

We continue Season Four with Mary DeJong. Mary lives in Seattle, Washington's Rainier Valley in Columbia City, at Hedgewood, a home that for over a decade has hosted community connection through the reclamation and restoration of a neighborhood forest. Mary finds herself an eco-theologian and urban naturalist who delves into why place matters, the sacramentality of creation, and how together...

We are so excited to launch Season Four with Dr. Laura E. Anderson, the author of that wisdom.  Dr. Laura is a psychotherapist, trauma resolution coach and consultant, writer and educator specializing in complex and developmental trauma, dynamics of power and control and religious trauma.  She views herself as still a work in progress. She believes healing is a life-long process rather than a poin...

Annalise Hume, is our guest on our perfectly-timed summer bonus episode. Annalise is a passionate, creative, down-to-earth mover who loves listening and asking questions to help others recognize the movement of God in their life. After growing up in Boise, Idaho, she earned a BFA in Dance, spending a year touring with a performing-arts organization in South Africa upon graduation. Before moving to...

Bekah McNeel is our final guest of Season Three.  Bekah is a native of San Antonio, Texas, where she has been a reporter for nine years. Her work has appeared in print with Christianity Today, The San Antonio Current, and the Public Justice Review, as well as online with the Christian Science Monitor, Sojourners, the Texas Tribune, the Hechinger Report, The 74 Million, and numerous local outlets....

Matt Mattson, the "starter" of  both the BETWEEN community and Today I Pray For You project on Instagram and Facebook, is our guest this week.  Matt dreams of creating a global relational religious movement. Matt believes “church” (and faith exploration) can and should happen in our conversations with others. He's passionate that the space between us is sacred, a holy space. The way...

Liz Mall, apologist (fancy word for someone who uses "argument" and "reason" to make a point that something is or isn't true and she has her masters in this area of expertise), deconstructing mama of three littles and podcast hostess, is our guest this week. She and her cohost provide incredible resources for both faith deconstruction and reconstruction. They tackle subjec...

Melissa Neeb, author, deconstructing mama of two teens, avid photographer, and podcast hostess is our guest this week. Her mantra is "love big, live kind" and there could be nothing truer about Melissa. She's highly committed to loving without strings, inclusive of everyone who walks into her home or her life and kindness is her main squeeze. When she's not caring for babies at...

Mike Morrell, coauthor of the Divine Dance with Richard Rohr (a pretty big deal), dad of two, an opti-mystic (which he likes to call himself), and Dudeist Priest (look it up here) , is our guest this week. He's a contemplative-in-process, seeking a more grounded experience of God, life, himself and the world, not because of grand mystical aspiration, but in order to stay sane in the here and...

Dr. Camden Morgante, psychologist, coach, writer, and fellow mama is passionate about purity culture recovery, egalitarianism and reconstruction. She currently lives in Knoxville, TN with her husband and her two beautiful children. We know what is wrong with purity culture—now we need to know how to heal. As a licensed psychologist specializing in sexuality who grew up in the height of purity cult...

Jillian Benfield, author, mom of three, former TV news anchor, and fierce advocate for access and inclusion of all types, is our guest this week. When she and her husband Andy were just 27 years old, they unexpectedly found out their son would be born with Down syndrome. Originally, devastated, they later, through months and years of learning and unlearning, realized their grief was largely tied t...

Kat Wordsworth, author, mom of two, avid swimmer, and experienced doubter, is our guest this week. Although she is constantly living with doubt and unpacking both the harm and the healing it has brought to her life, she is taking slow steps on her own path of faith. Our conversation with Kat, one of most gentle souls we've had the privilege of interviewing, was raw, vulnerable and not wrapped...

Jason Elam, grateful husband, author, proud dad of four amazing kids, host of the Messy Spirituality Podcast , and former church pastor, is our guest this week.  Although he is deconstructing from toxic religion, he is still enamored by Jesus.  Our time with Jason was refreshing and empowering, especially in the area of deconstructing and parenting. Speaking from his very own mistakes and frustrat...

Meredith Miller, mom, children's pastor and soon-to-be author of a legit book coming out in August titled Woven: Nurturing a Faith Your Kid Doesn't Have to Heal From , is with us this week.   Meredith has over 20 years experience in children’s ministry and curriculum. In 2019 she and her husband Curtis started a small church on Zoom that wants to live the one-anothers, neighbor well, and...

Sarah Bessey, mom, best-selling author of dozens of words and books, podcast host herself and co-creator of the Evolving Summit is with us this week.   Sarah was born and raised in the prairies and foothills of western Canada. Now living in Calgary, Alberta, Canada (on the traditional territories of the people of the Treaty 7 region in southern Alberta and the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region 3), S...

Jonathan Puddle, dad of four, children's pastor and author, is with us this week.   Jonathan was born in New Zealand and now resides in Guelph, Ontario with his wife Maija and their three kids. He love books, music, movies, dark beer, good food, and long walks on the beach. Jonathan feels passionately about living freely and loving powerfully. He believes that LOVE is a burning thing. It&apos...

Jamie Edelbrock, mom of three tween and teenage daughters, children's author, mental health advocate and fellow deconstructing mama kicks off Season Three with us. Jamie was born and raised in Salem, Oregon. She's married to her high school sweetheart and has been all of the following at some point: homeschool mom, preschool director, family ministry director, author, and advocate for ch...

" Motherhood is the hardest and holiest work because my kids reflect back to me what I haven't yet resolved within myself."  (Shelly Robinson) Shelly Robinson, mom of two, founder of Raising Yourself , certified family wellness coach, author of the Rebirth Journal, and creator behind the Connected Collection, a powerful bundle of transformational parenting tools, is our podcast gues...

The funny, yet very insightful Danielle Shroyer, is our guest this week. Danielle Shroyer is an author, speaker, spiritual director, and former pastor. A founding member in the emerging church movement, Danielle served as the pastor of one of the nation’s first independent emerging communities of faith for nearly a decade. Her primary goal as a pastor was to help people going through a season of s...