Holy Ghosting

Growing up in American Christianity in the 80’s and 90’s meant we were smack dab in the height of Dobson Domination. That is, Dr. James Dobson and his Focus on the Family ubiquity in the realm of parenting and child rearing advice, children’s entertainment (and, behind the scenes, lobbying and more exciting political dealings)… If your parents “dared to discipline” their “strong-willed children” t...

Growing up neurodivergent and in the throes of evangelicalism, a high control and fear-based religion, offered DL Mayfield one choice...to be the best darn good girl she could be, the bestest christian and martyr for the lord, and to do it with perfection and grace. And so she did. FOR YEARS, DECADES even! Come along on a wild ride as we hear how DL Mayfield (Lindsay's sister!!!) has begun to...

When we were kids, we were told to listen to “the voice of God” which was usually something someone else told us, and rarely, if ever, something we actually “heard” with our ears.  Even our own intuition couldn’t possibly be right, so we spent our childhoods and young adulthoods under the impression that we couldn’t make a decision lest we be out of God’s will.  In the Bible, there are SO MANY sto...

Not since Carman personally slayed the DEVIL himself when he called for Revival in the Land has there ever been such a meaningful movement of the awakening of the Christian spirit's openness to the Holy Ghost. Not until now. Asbury University has experienced a celebrity-level Revival in the Land amongst its student body. But, REVIVAL...what is it good for? Dr. Amy Ferrell "I hope for every...

It’s no surprise “God Hates Divorce” or at least “God Hates Divorce for Women” in evangelical christianity. There’s only one thing that will end a marriage in God’s eyes…ADULTERY. But even then, sometimes it’s best to forgive (the man) and stay married!  We’re all big fans of personal choice over here, even if you signed a legal (gasp!) document one time when you were 20 (oh, was that just Meg?!)...

A lot of things were considered real bad in the 80’s and 90’s - especially for evangelical kids like your fave trio, Lindsay, Meg, and Sarai. The devil, yikes! Having boobs, terrible! Even thinking about or knowing anybody who drank any kind of alcohol?? NO! And especially…DRUGS.  Then again, in the 80’s and 90’s, drugs were bad for everyone, because Nancy Reagan said so.  This season is all about...

In this season of the podcast, we’re talkin all about taboos. The people, places, things, and beliefs that never really quite fit into the narrow scope of evangelicalism. You know, all the things you couldn’t/shouldn’t/wouldn’t talk about because you were a Good Christian Girl™. Things like BODIES. Thanks to our ole friend Purity Culture, talking about bodies was weird. (You could even say it was...

In this very special episode of Holy Ghosting, we got to chat with everyone’s favorite rogue CCM songwriter, Derek Webb of Caedmon’s Call! If you were an evangelical Christian in the 90’s/2000’s, you know who we’re talkin about. Caedmon’s Call was THE band of youth groups and Bible colleges. And as it turns out, Derek is quite literally from a Long Line of Leavers (SEE WHAT WE DID THERE?!) and aft...

As Evangelical children in the 80’s and 90’s, we had plenty of Big Terrible Things to fear. Satanic Panic was in full swing, stranger danger lurked in every darkened doorway, and America’s Most Wanted sailed into our living rooms on the reg. One of the most fearful things, of course, was the rise of Environmentalism. (BUT WHY?!) Seriously, though, does anybody know why Evangelicals - people who be...

One afternoon, months and months ago, three loudmouth Type-A women gathered in Meg’s living room to record the inaugural episode of Holy Ghosting (“Panic at the Altar”). And if that weren’t enough sharing for one day, we decided to share our Testimonies and catch each other up on our walks, because that’s what fellowship is, we supposed. So if you’ve ever wondered how we went from Good Girls to wh...

Hiiiii! We’re surprising you this week with an extra special bonus extravaganza bonanza to let our beautiful Ghosties know we’ve launched a *drumrollllllllll* Patreon. Can you even believe it? You can?? Well, good. Because it’s the gospel truth.  We wanted to let y’all know that you, if you are so bold as to join the Ghostie brigade at any level before 12:00 AM on January 1, 2023, you’ll be an Ete...

Every holiday season brings tidings of great joy and shiny toys for the girls and boys (and people) who celebrate whatever holidays. For evangelical kids, the gifts kept giving all year long, because ours were…spiritual.  Join Lindsay, Meg, and Sarai as they troll through their past and reanimate their spiritual ghosts, we mean gifts. Remember words normals never use (exhortation, anyone??), join...

What’s one thing you regret NOT doing as a young evangelical? If you’re like us, it probably had something to do with sex. Don’t worry, the entire episode isn’t about premarital sexual things…but most of it is. So, content warning for those of you who want to be the ones to tell your teens that self-pleasure is good and to worry more about giving consent and getting consent than crossing an imagin...

SURPRISE! We couldn't stay quiet about politics...so we're sharing a bonus episode! Our advice in a nutshell? Vote your VALUES. If you “search engine” * the term “What should I NEVER talk about?” you’ll get a lot of lists. Most of those lists include sex, death, money, and especially religion and politics. Unfortunately, for those consumed with propriety, this podcast pretty much covers al...

Before we dive into the good, clean fun (explicit fun, so with all the swears still) of the episode, please take note if you are a human with regular human emotions. This episode contains a few campfire horror stories about strange events and spooky shit that happened in our youths. Content warning includes: demon possession, youth pastors grooming…well, youth, animal death (in a DEEPLY disturbing...

Witches and Christians haven’t always enjoyed one another’s company (see: all of church history, witch hunts, etc), but what if there’s more to it than ladies with ergot poisoning who may or may not have rode brooms around the house as a way to…pleasure…themselves…and a systematic femicide perpetuated by the patriarchy?  When we met Dr. Melissa Bird and heard about her work as a Christian witch, w...

Something Old, Something New: a Tale of Two Mexicos  Plus: save your soul and the world, inquire inside! If you were an evangelical in your coming of age period at the turn of the millennium, you or several of your close God-fearing friends took a mission trip (or dozens). Mission trips were like…I guess a wandering train of [Jesus] Freaks setting up shop in one nation or another. Instead of fortu...

Chances are if you were assigned the tender feminine gender at your evangelical birth, well, ya probably have a lot of baggage and issues that stem from questionable portrayals of women in the Bible. Among the vagina-laden humans celebrated in the canon, we have everyone from a literal teenager, whose virginity inspired millennia of penis-havers to idolize purity, to the wily, vengeful Judge Debor...

In the harrowing days of puberty, evangelical young women and girls were foisted into a shame spiral that kept them tame and readily codependent for…maybe their entire lives. Their every move governed by the grave understanding that it was their job to “not cause your brother to stumble,” they walked about with hunched shoulders, tucked their butts, and generally shut their every desire or bodily...

From the one-piece swimsuits and the oversized free t-shirts all the way to the tearful confessionals and personal testimonies around a bonfire, Evangelical Christian summer camps were a masterpiece of emotional manipulation and unadulterated peer on peer action.  Join Lindsay, Meg, and Sarai - a bevy of former camp attendees (and a lifer in the bunch, who would reconvert TODAY if a lifelong summe...

What does one do with the conundrum of abortion? When Lindsay, Meg, and Sarai were growing up, the Evangelical Christian stance on abortion was never, ever, no way, no how. The church made specious (and racist, xenophobic, peri-holocaust denying or at best minimizing) arguments meant to tug at the heartstrings of nice, Christian, white ladies. Present-day: billboards litter the interstates of Amer...

Here we are, June of 2022. Welcome summer, and farewell Mental Health Awareness Month (May!). But if we go back in time, just a little bit, to remember the good old days of the freewheeling 1980’s - when Evangelical churches and politicians were in the golden age of knitting together the interests of church and state (so cute!)…people were too busy to talk about mental health (at least not at chur...