Growing Up Christian

This week we’re joined by life coach and former pastor, Brad Klausman! Brad was in ministry for 20 years, but doubt and disdain for the church’s attitude towards LGBTQ community (including his young daughter) had weighed heavy on his heart for some time. When the actions of other leaders and his church’s lackluster response caused a rift between members, he decided it was time to go. Brad, like mo...

Do you ever feel like the Hallmark Channel has abandoned traditional values? Are your children only allowed to watch a 40 year old VHS recording of “The Secret Garden” because the Disney Channel is nothing but smut?? Are you absolutely dying to watch an off-brand Reese Witherspoon-circa-2001-esque rom-com without having to stomach seeing an interracial couple or two men making prolonged eye contac...

Our guest this week is musician, author, and podcaster Andrew Schwab, who is a founding member and lifelong vocalist for Project 86! Andrew has been creating music through Project 86 for over 25 years, and during that time, he has seen and experienced A LOT. Our conversation centers around his upbringing and introduction to music, getting swept up in the Christian rock wave of the late 90’s/early...

What a cataclysmic week it’s been… We were pretty nervous to discuss the war between Israel and Hamas, so forgive us for spending the first 30 minutes joking about dog appendages, flashers, and intestinal distress. We spend the rest of the episode talking about the bloodshed in the Holy Land, the effects that an Evangelical upbringing has on a person’s perception of events, the reactions and battl...

This week we’re excited to welcome back our good friend George Azar, author of “My Gay Church Days: Memoir of a Closeted Evangelical Pastor Who Eventually Had Enough,” and host of the My Gay Church Days podcast! We discuss some of his public appearances after releasing his book, the strange pushback he sometimes receives from unexpected places, what it was like growing up in the post-9/11 US as a...

Stand aside, Uncle Sam, because Father God (speaking directly through His chosen medium, The Gospel Coalition) wants you to take up the cross and fill out a participation form for “Bring Your Bible to School Day!” If by school, you’re referring to my aunt’s breakfast nook, then I’m in. We chat about a fascinating documentary on HBO called Telemarketers about Civic Development Group – a really gros...

Our guest this week this week is comedian Jeremy Alder! I’d be willing to bet that you’ve seen clips from his hilarious standup special “Purity Pants,” and if not, you’re missing out. Jeremy is a homeschool kid from Texas that experienced some very interesting segments of Evangelicalism as his family’s faith developed and changed, and we had a blast trading stories! Follow Jeremy on Instagram (@je...

This week we’re continuing our exploration of the Apocrypha with the story of Susanna, which is like an ancient Law & Order SVU episode written by a moron. BUT FIRST: we have to talk about our favorite pocket constitution-toting, gun-slinging, crotch-groping barfly of senator, Loren Boebert! Centennial State spitfire made headlines over the weekend after causing a ruckus at a Denver theater, a...

Our guest this week is musician and activist Tommy Green of Run Against Traffic! You may know Tommy from his time spent with bands xDeathstarx, Sleeping Giant, or his current project HolyName. He’s been an important figure in the metal and hardcore scene for a long time, but his primary focus nowadays is Run Against Traffic, an organization that “exists to utilize the transformational power o...

We just can’t get enough of the Apocrypha, right now, so this week we’re diving into the Book of Tobit! This is a very strange story that none of us had ever heard of, but there’s a lot of wisdom to be gleaned from it. We’ll be covering practical topics such as the medicinal and spiritual properties of aquatic offal, strange women and how to avoid them, the dangers of avian excrement, cadaver hand...

This week we’re joined by comedy duo Casey Grim and Adam McLaughlin, who cohost the A Couple of N3rds podcast! This conversation was one of the funniest we’ve ever had on this show, and it goes in every direction. Topics of discussion include hallmarks of a grandma house, scootering under the influence, teenage caloric intake journals, and a Catholic buyer’s guide to feline indulgences. We did a l...

This week we’re jumping back into the Apocrypha with The Apocalypse of Peter! Apparently this is one of the books that came the closest to being included in the Protestant Bible that we all know and love, and it centers around Peter’s visions of Heaven and Hell. You’re not going to believe this, but the vaaast majority of the book is dedicated to cataloguing elaborate tortures for specific sins, a...

This week we’re joined by a very funny comedian, Luke Severeid! Luke grew up in the Pacific Northwest interest in heavy music eventually pulled him away from Christianity. Luke has pursued comedy for over a decade, and we absolutely love his work! Follow him on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube (@lukesevereid), and check out his upcoming live dates in Washington and Oregon!

Jeremiah is BACK, and we’re diving into one of the 14 bonus books of the Bible known as the Apocrypha! If you’re not familiar with the Apocrypha, it’s a series of stories set between the Old and New Testaments that were originally part of the Septuagint. Over the course of centuries, several sects of Christianity stopped recognizing them as “divinely inspired,” and eventually cut them altogether....

This week we’re joined by my old friend, Mikel Faulk! I’ve wanted to have Mike on since we started the show because 1) he’s one of the best guys I know, 2) he was one of the first Christians I got to know that wasn’t beholden to denominational dogma, and 3) he’s a man that has experienced tragedy and hardship that would have broken a lot of people, but he’s weathered those storms and come out the...

This week we’re joined by pastor and musician Joe Musten, member of several great bands including Beloved, Advent, and The Almost! Joe in the south attending an Assembly of God church – the very same church where he’s now a pastor. We talk about friends and music, fundamental spiritual experiences, and what being a pastor is all about. Joe is such a nice dude, and we had a great time talking to hi...

This week we’re talking about the adulterous Alex Jones of apostolic Christian infamy, Greg Locke. If you’re not familiar with Ol’ Greg, he’s the pastor of Global Vision Bible Church in Mount Juliet, TN. It’s a fairly small church that Locke has whittled down into a core group of followers that have stuck by his side in spite of his public affair and subsequent marriage to his administrative assis...

This week we’re joined by our new friend Jason Parr who spent 3 years inside a strange and insular group of counterculture Evangelicals known as Deliverance Bible Church (interview starts at 31:00 minutes). At the center of this unconventional church is a pastor by the name of Cleetus Adrian, a charismatic egomaniac who fancies himself some sort of prophet. If it sounds like I’m slinging mud right...

This week we’re studying one of the wonderful Christian books I bought for fifty cents at a thrift store or yard sale “10 Challenges of a Worldchanger” by Ron Luce. Ron was the founder and president of Teen Mania, a now-defunct multiheaded hydra of a ministry that went under in 2015 after declaring bankruptcy. They had several different divisions, but one of them was Acquire the Fire - an event ne...

This week we’re joined by Jason and Shauncey of the very funny podcast, Heretics’ Social Club! These fellas are kindred spirits of ours, having done hard time in strict Baptist, as well as charismatic churches, Christian school/college, and then falling headfirst into heavy music. This was a really fun conversation with a lot of laughs! Follow Heretics’ Social Club on Instagram @hereticssocial, fo...

If you spent your life in the church, I’m sure you’ve heard a lot of testimonies. The Christian redemption arc takes on a lot of different forms, but our favorite BY FAR is the “I was a bad dude livin’ life on the edge until I found God” trope. This week, we’re taking a look at a man with one such story. Richie the Barber is a guy who’s been grasping at fame for over a decade. Minus a few reality...

Our guest this week is musician Kelc Galluzzo, better known as Jetty Bones! Kelc has a wild story, to say the least. She’s dealt with trauma, loss, mental health struggles, as well as the turbulent ups and downs of the music industry. We cover a lot of ground in this episode, and it gave us an even deeper appreciation for Kelc’s music. Her new album “Songs I Wrote Instead of Killing Myself” is fan...

This week we welcome back South Jersey seamstress, shapeshifter, and sassy spouse to Casey, April Gloria! Continuing our conversation from last week, we’re jumping back into the early 2000’s controversy surrounding the Dixie Chicks, who voiced their opposition to the impending Iraq War, as well as their distaste for then-President George W. Bush. By today’s standards their comments seem extremely...

“Alert if you purchased any of the TRB SYSTEMS ITEMS, YOU GOT SCAMMED. THE TRB VOUCHERS, DJT GOLDEN CHECKS, DJT DIAMOND CHECKS, TRB GOLDEN CHECKS have no monetary values they are COMMEMORATIVE ONLY”     -Unknown/Cillian Murphy This week Jeremiah joins us to discuss a few fun topics from the recent allegations against America’s brown sweat-soaked mayor, Rudy Giuliani, our propos...

This week we’re excited to welcome back comedian, podcaster, and writer, Spencer McRay Bland! Spencer is the cohost of Bop or Flop, a music-comedy podcast that revisits the Billboard Top Ten songs from a specific date in history and determines whether they bop or flop. This time around we’re looking at First Timothy, which is a controversial letter supposedly written by Paul to New Testament Dwigh...