Finding Free Podcast

It's challenging to communicate when emotions and passions are at their peak.  To be honest, many times we aren't really taught how to discuss difficult topics with those whom we may disagree. With polarized opinions about almost everything at an all time high, having conversations on difficult subjects can feel like landmines we would rather avoid entirely.   But we were made for connection. We a...

If you could choose to live forever, would you want to?  If a scientific advancement could make it possible for you to reverse aging, would you make a jump for the fountain of youth?     In this episode, we talk with Dr. Calvin Mercer, co-author of Religion and the Technological Future .  Dr. Mercer has spent the last several decades researching the intersection of radical human enhancements and i...

New Milestone Unlocked! We passed 10,000 downloads! We are celebrating 10,000 downloads for Finding Free Podcast with laughs, champagne and a trip down memory lane. Hear our reflections on the best parts of podcasting and what we have found to be the most challenging. We wrap it up with a few off-the-cuff Top Ten lists (because Top Ten-Thousand would have taken too long) just for fun!    We could...

You don't have to be paying close attention to current events to have heard about Christian Nationalism.  Christian Nationalist ideas have been swimming in the water of society for centuries but has certainly emerged as a hot topic, especially during this election year.   In this podcast, Amy, Craig and Jeff sit down with Aaron Saufley, pastor at Jesus House in Greenville, NC and local hospice cha...

In order for the Church to continue to be God's presence in the world, people must be wiling to dream, think, plan and prioritize differently.  Sometimes this means rethinking long-held beliefs or traditional ways of thinking.   What does God think of us?  And how does "the work of the Church" reflect that?  Are we desiring a new way of being the Church, yet still mired in a concept of God that is...

It is very common for us at Finding Free to talk a lot about the Church. What are the trends we see happening? What seems to be on the horizon for the Church to tackle?  Most especially- we spend a lot of time on what the Church has missed, trailed woefully behind on, or just seemingly flat out ignored.   If you could change something about church culture, what would it be? Like snap your fingers...

If you grew up in the evangelical church culture, you are probably no stranger to rapture theology. Maybe you remember hearing detailed stories told about what the end of the world would be like or you may have poured over the Left Behind book series, using it as a map for what was to come.  Where did this theology come from and is this the only way to view the "end of the world as we know it?" (I...

What if God saves everyone? Christian Universalism (the idea that God will save everyone and the earth somehow in the end) is one theory of atonement that theologians have discussed for centuries.  Though the idea of universal reconciliation was the most prominent atonement theory among early Christ followers, after around the 4th century multiple atonement theories began to surface.   Penal subst...

The way we think about Jesus impacts the way we talk about faith and how we treat those around us.  Who is Jesus to you?  Where did that frame of reference come from and has it ever changed?     We don't do a lot of sermon discussion focused podcasts on Finding Free Podcast but there was so much dialogue around Amy's sermon at Cedarbridge on March 3rd that we wanted to dive a little deeper into th...

Grab your comfiest blankets and a mug of something great and listen to some stories of holidays past.  Laugh as Craig talks about the time his grandpa accidentally got sloshed at a family gathering.  Giggle as Amy shares her most memorable Christmas present (double AA batteries required).  And Jeff has a family "oops" moment that will have you in stitches.  And much more!    In this episode we sha...

When Craig and Amy started Finding Free Podcast in 2020, they thought a lot about the podcast name.  They settled on Finding Free Podcast because they wanted to focus on the freedom and liberation that can come from pushing yourself to break out of the metaphorical places where you feel stuck and bogged down.  This podcast was designed to give space to talk about hard topics with authenticity and...

"The next hard road for the Church will be walking with and beside those that are deconstructing their faith, taking it apart either in small bits and pieces or altogether, putting it back together in part or sometimes not at all.  The question is, how will the Church show up for people in this space?" ~ Amy Andrews The topic of faith deconstruction can be a hot button issue…but does it have to be...

TW: purity culture, rape culture, sexual abuse Explicit Content: Language, Sexual Content - masturbation, orgasm gap, general make-you-blush adult content. In Part 2 we continue the conversation about purity culture and its impacts.  We talk more about how conversations about purity and sex can be done better, focusing on dialogue about consent, body autonomy and integrity rather than shame and si...

TW: purity culture, rape culture, sexual abuse Explicit Content: Language, Sexual Content - masturbation, orgasm gap, general make-you-blush adult content. If you grew up in an Evangelical church in the 1990's, chances are you were exposed to the purity culture mindset.  Though purity culture began with the intention of encouraging teens to postpone sexual encounters until marriage, the lasting ef...

In this episode, our friend Jeff Bell joins us to talk candidly about what it was like to grow up in and be a part of Christian fundamentalist evangelical organizations and churches in the 80's and 90's.  We discuss what it was like to have this as our main faith experience during our formative years and what it was like to come out of that way of thinking.  What did we have to unlearn?  What evan...

This June, the Southern Baptist Convention approved an amendment to the Baptist Faith and Message to be approved next summer during their Annual Convention.  The amendment restricted women in ministry, who were already not supposed to hold lead pastor roles, from having any pastoral position, where the title of "pastor" was deserved. The role of women in ministry has been debated and debocled for...

Many organizations operate in shadowed ambiguity, rather than clarity when it comes to who can do what in the organization, and churches are no exception.  Unwritten rules are often enforced leaving individuals confused and hurt when they realize the "All are Welcome" slogan really doesn't apply to them.   Can a woman preach?  Will the pastor officiate a same-sex wedding?  Will the church hire gay...

Difficult conversations in churches are…well, difficult.  Most of us simply aren't taught how to disagree or discuss hard things in the context of faith within the church.  One of the most difficult conversations a church can journey through is a conversation on LGBTQ inclusivity.  Since there are typically a lot of theological perspectives, lived experiences and long held beliefs, this conversati...

Every experience we have in life impacts us.  Some experiences leave a huge impact, like a canyon in the desert.  Others might leave such a tiny ripple that we don't even notice the effects.  Religious trauma, hurts from the institutional Church, or any pain we experience at the hands of those who represent the spiritual to us are deep wounds that leave an impact that often takes years to process....

Stories matter.  Telling our stories matters.  And hearing the stories of others matters.   It is in the telling of our own stories that we claim our own beauty, claim our own experiences, claim that we matter.   And it is in hearing the stories of others, in holding space for what is real for someone else, that we become more fully and beautifully human ourselves. Craig and I are honored to hold...

"In the most general sense, faith deconstruction begins with people realizing that the answers they possess are answers they have memorized that were achieved or developed by other people or authority figures…they were not their own answers. The demand of deconstruction is not that you find different answers, though often that happens, but that you ask the questions and find out for yourself." Que...

Recently Craig and Jeff Bell did a "dad joke" video for Cedarbridge Baptist Church as a fun way to highlight Father's Day. Some of you have seen this video, but what you didn't see was the rest of the almost full hour of what they recorded. In this episode, we are releasing the full unedited version, and for laughs, we even included soundbites of Amy trying to get the intro right at the end. Enjoy...

Deconstruction is a bit of a buzz word these days, but for right reasons. Many people, especially those who grew up in a church atmosphere, find that at some point they need to rethink, unpack and "deconstruct" the theology, ideas and foundations that they were given early in life, sorting out elements that caused harm and eventually finding their way to a more complete and wholistic theology. Thi...

Trigger alert: sexual abuse, rape, sexual trauma, religious sexual abuse There are some experiences none of us want to have inside knowledge about. Yet too often the unbelievable happens, and we find ourselves living through experiences that are so horrifying, our lives are instantly and forever changed. Keith Morris grew up as a preacher's kid with a life that revolved around church in every way....

Any amount of research on stress and your body will tell you that chronic unresolved stress has a negative impact on your overall health. But what happens when life hands us more than stress, and in fact, we have to deal with experiences that are traumatic? Some trauma is easy to recognize because of the severity of the experiences themselves, but other traumatic experiences may be harder to ident...