Found Family with MaryB. Safrit

CW: As a heads up, Aaron describes the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, which includes mention of rape. If this is a tender subject for you, please take care while listening.  This week, Mary B is joined by biblical scholars Jennifer Garcia Bashaw and Aaron Higashi to discuss their upcoming book Serving Up Scripture: How to Interpret the Bible for Yourself and Others . The book offers accessible tools...

Rose Marie Berger, Senior Editor of Sojourners magazine, is a Catholic peace activist and poet who has worked within social justice movements for more than 40 years. She is the volume editor of Light for the Way: Seeking Simplicity, Connection, and Repair in a Broken World and joins MaryB. to discuss how the book extends the conversations long discussed within the Sojourners community, out into th...

Shelby Forsythia, a grief coach and author of Of Course I’m Here Right Now: Three Actually Helpful Things to Say to Someone Grieving , joins Mary B to offer practical guidance on how to show up for people in grief. When unsure of the “right” words, many people default to silence rather than risk saying the wrong thing, often leaving grievers feeling isolated.  Shelby’s work aims to interrupt that...

Mary B is joined by Kat Armas to discuss her new book, Liturgies for Resisting Empire: Seeking Community, Belonging, and Peace in a Dehumanizing World . This episode begins with Armas offering an invocation — as she does at the start of each chapter of her latest book. Her invocation is aptly a liturgy for resisting empire. Armas focuses on the important of community as resistance because as she s...

CW: abortion Mary B is joined by Dr. Sara Moslener to discuss her new book After Purity: Race, Sex, and Religion in White Christian America . Moslener traces her journey from a high school defender of purity culture to a scholar with a nuanced understanding of how the myth of purity has helped mask elements of white supremacy as Christian values. She reflects on the power of myth as a storytelling...

This week Mary B welcomes Angela Herrington to discuss her new book Embracing the Old Witch in the Woods: Liberating Feminine Wisdom from Christian Patriarchy . What begins as a discussion about favorite witches develops into a nuanced conversation about what it means to give oneself the same nurturing that women so often give to those they mother. In other words, we must learn how to mother ourse...

This week Mary B is joined by her dear friends Elizabeth Delgado Black, the Co-founder & CEO of Kaleidoscope Ministries, and Logan Morrison, Kaleidoscope’s Community Outreach Coordinator & Trans Ministry Specialist. Being part of one another’s found family themselves, Elizabeth and Logan share some of the joy of the family life they’ve forged together, as well as the lessons learned.  In t...

Today, Kaitlin Curtice and I talk about getting to the root of what we believe.  Kaitlin B. Curtice is an Indigenous poet-storyteller, a public speaker, and the award-winning author of Native and Living Resistance . She has written for Sojourners , Religion News Service , On Being , Oprah Daily , and The Liminality Journal , and her work has been featured on CBS and in USA Today . A citizen of the...

Today, Brian G. Murphy and I talk about how queerness can enrich everyone's faith.  Brian G. Murphy is an organizer, author, and certified relationship coach helping LGBTQ+ and polyamorous people build thriving relationships on their own terms without shame or "shoulds." As co-founder of QueerTheology.com , the longest-running LGBTQ+ spirituality podcast and the first explicitly que...

Today, Jaye Brix and I talk about their journey from evangelical pastor to tattoo artist.  Jaye Brix (they/she) is a tattoo artist, songwriter, and content creator whose work explores the intersections of creativity, identity, and healing. A former evangelical pastor who came out as Nonbinary in her 30s, Jaye now uses her platforms to speak candidly about deconstruction, queer joy, and reclaiming...

Today, Joash Thomas is back on Found Family, and we're talking about how Jesus’ story starts in the margins—and why that matters for us today.  Rev. Joash P. Thomas (MACL, MACS, Dallas Theological Seminary; MPS, The George Washington University) is a public theologian and a highly sought-after international speaker. Born and raised in India, he ran a political consulting and lobbying firm in...

Today's guest and I discuss the nuance of relationships and spaces where love and harm coexist.  Lauren Smallcomb is a certified Mind-Body Practitioner whose journey as a healer began at 20 when she became a registered nurse, dedicating a decade to caring for patients in the ER. She later expanded her expertise to become a birth doula and, eventually, a nutritional therapist. In 2020, after m...

Today, I have TWO guests for y'all, and we discuss love and prayer as calls to action, not just nice ideas.  Rev. Liz Theoharis and Charon Hribar are both anti-poverty activists. Liz is the founder and director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign. She has been arrested for praying on the steps of the Supreme Court as part o...

Today, Zach W. Lambert and I talk about embracing an expansive Christianity. Zach W. Lambert (he/him) is the lead pastor and founder of Restore, a church in Austin, Texas. Under his leadership, Restore has grown from a launch team of five people in 2015 to more than one thousand members today. He holds a master of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary and is pursuing his doctorate at Duke Divi...

Today, Ray Low and I talk about welcoming diverse perspectives on the Bible. Pastor Ray graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree and is currently serving in New York City as Director of Community Engagement and Spiritual Formation at Kaleidoscope, a local and multiethnic ministry that exists to bridge the gap between the Church and the LGBTQ+ community th...

Today, Nia Chiatamonte is back on Found Family to talk about her new memoir, I Hardly Knew Me: Following Love, Faith, and Skittles to a Transgender Awakening .   Nia Chiaramonte (she/her), with her wife Katie J. Chiaramonte, is the co-founder of Love in the Face and co-author of Embracing Queer Family . Nia and Katie work to support other transgender and LGBTQIA+ individuals and their families on...

Today, Karen González and I talk about practicing generosity without a savior complex. Karen González (she/her) is a speaker, writer, storyteller, and immigrant advocate, who herself immigrated from Guatemala as a child. Karen is a former public school teacher and attended Fuller Theological Seminary, where she studied theology and missiology. For the last 17 years, she has been a non-profit profe...

Today, Matt Nightingale and I talk about why we need queer only spaces for spiritual conversations.  Matt Nightingale (he/him) is a pastor, musician, speaker, writer, and spiritual director from San Francisco’s North Bay Area. He is the founder and executive director of Common Sanctuary , and co-pastor of a progressive American Baptist church called The Quest . As a gay Christian, Matt is passiona...

Today, Eugene Kim and I talk about practicing mutuality in church communities.  Eugene Kim (he/him) is an ordained minister with over 25 years of experience in local church ministry. However, recognizing the need to rethink traditional models, he discerned the need to step beyond the familiar in order to reimagine how we do “church” from the ground up. So, Eugene left his pastoral role in 2020 and...

Today, Cara Meredith and I talk about what church camp gets right (and wrong) about community. Cara Meredith (she/her) is the author of Church Camp: Bad Skits, Cry Night, and How White Evangelicalism Betrayed a Generation (Broadleaf Books, 2025). She is also a sought-after speaker, public theologian, and development director who found home at a church camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains. After servin...

Today, Rohadi Nagassar and I talk about the challenges of creating the belonging we crave.  Rohadi (he/him) is a writer predominantly engaging the topics of decolonizing and deconstructing Christianity. Discover Rohadi’s latest book, “ When We Belong. Reclaiming Christianity on the Margins . ” His podcast on decolonizing Christianity is called: Faith in a Fresh Vibe . Season 11 is now available en...

CW: spiritual abuse Today, Aimee Byrd and I talk about finding the courage to admit we were wrong.  Aimee (she/her) is an author, speaker, blogger, podcaster and former coffee shop owner. Aimee is the author of several books, including Saving Face , The Hope in Our Scars , Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and Sexual Reformation . Her articles have appeared in First Things , Table Tal...

Today, Shannon TL Kearns (he/him) and I talk about the complex journey to understand masculinity A former fundamentalist who became the first openly transgender man ordained to the Old Catholic priesthood, Shannon TL Kearns believes in the transformative power of story. As an ordained priest, a playwright, a theologian, and a writer, all of his work revolves around making meaning through story. He...

Today, Tracey Gee and I talk about the unexpected vulnerability of naming what we want.  Tracey Gee  (she/her) is a certified leadership coach and consultant dedicated to guiding individuals toward transformative self-awareness and meaningful personal and professional growth. As an author, Tracey draws insight from her extensive experience across workshops, speaking engagements, and personalized c...

Today, Scott and I talk about his journey out of Christian higher education. Scott Okamoto (he/him) is a 4th generation Japanese American (sansei) writer, musician, and podcaster. He grew up in a conservative evangelical household but found his way out while teaching English at Azusa Pacific University, a conservative evangelical school. He has since dedicated his work to helping people deconstruc...