Mormon Stories Podcast

Happy Utah Pride Week everyone! To celebrate Utah Pride week, I am sharing one of the most important interviews in the history of Mormon Stories Podcast. It is the story of Kyle Ashworth - a dear, brilliant, talented friend, and the host of Latter Gay Stories podcast. This interview is important for at least 3 reasons: Kyle is a truly brilliant, caring human. That should be enough. It conveys supe...

Happy Utah Pride Week everyone! To celebrate Utah Pride week, I am sharing one of the most important interviews in the history of Mormon Stories Podcast. It is the story of Kyle Ashworth – a dear, brilliant, talented friend, and the host of Latter Gay Stories podcast. This interview is important for at least 3 reasons: Kyle is a truly brilliant, caring human. That should be enough. It conveys supe...

Every year I try to provide donors and listeners with a "State of the Union" address for the Open Stories Foundation (the 501c3 non-profit that I lead which houses Mormon Stories Podcast), along with the overall success of Mormon Stories Podcast and the other OSF podcasts (Gift of the Mormon Faith Crisis Podcast, A Thoughtful Faith Podcast, and Mormon Mental Health Podcast). The topics for today w...

After converting to Mormonism as a teen and attending BYU, Haleigh Evert’s relationship with the Mormon church grew unfulfilling and complicated. After leaving the church for a time, Haleigh came back to the Mormon church, married in the temple, and started making videos and writing about her Mormon journey. Haleigh eventually published the book “Why I Left the Mormon Church and Came Back,” which...

Despite a happy facade, Lexi struggled with anxiety and perfectionism as many young LDS people do. Subjected to the lessons specifically directed towards LDS teen girls hyper-focusing on modesty and sexual purity along with the belief that LDS men who serve missions were always trustworthy, Lexi blames herself when she is assaulted as a teen by a returned missionary. This turns into hyper-vigilanc...

Today I am honored to share the story of Drew Manning - author, TV star, and founder of the viral brand, "Fit2Fat2Fit." Join us as we continue with Part 2 of Drew's Mormon story, which will cover: Healing after a divorce Discovering meditation Finding new wisdom outside of the church Spirituality through psychedelics Fit2Fat2Fit and the identity crisis that followed Drew’s beliefs around God and a...

Today I am honored to share the story of Drew Manning - author, TV star, and founder of the viral brand, "Fit2Fat2Fit." In part 1 of Drew's story, we will discuss, among other things: His upbringing in Mormonism LDS mission in Brazil Marriage & pornography use in a Mormon marriage, followed by the LDS church addiction recovery program Their eventual divorce Learning about problematic church histor...

Join me today for this truly inspiring interview with Lance Allred, the grandson of Rulon C. Allred - the prophet of a fundamentalist polygamous sect called the “Apostolic United Brethren." In addition to this, Lance is the first legally-deaf player in NBA history, an inspirational speaker (including a highly successful TedX presentation, "What is Your Polygamy?" ), and celebrated author of six bo...

JT & Lady Cee were raised as Jehovah’s Witnesses from the age of five years old. Lady Cee was a regular pioneer and went to serve where the need is great with her pioneer partners. JT served at Brooklyn Bethel and was an elder in the local congregation. After spending a combined 60 years of Watchtower indoctrination, they discovered that something was seriously wrong with the 1914 teaching. This l...

JT & Lady Cee were raised as Jehovah’s Witnesses from the age of five years old. Lady Cee was a regular pioneer and went to serve where the need is great with her pioneer partners. JT served at Brooklyn Bethel and was an elder in the local congregation. After spending a combined 60 years of Watchtower indoctrination, they discovered that something was seriously wrong with the 1914 teaching. This l...

Join me today as I sit down with a living legend, Rod Decker, who has gained great prominence in Utah over the past 50 years as a journalist, columnist, and reporter for KUTV Channel 2 news. An observer of Utah politics from an early age, Decker has a truly unique perspective on Utah culture, faith, and politics, and I could not be more honored to have him as a guest on Mormon Stories Podcast. Rod...

Marriage, Family, & Sex therapist, Natasha Helfer, hosts this special edition of Mormon Stories Podcast with John & Margi Dehlin, as they discuss the aftermath of Natasha's trial for apostasy and excommunication from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Join us now for Part 3 of what many are calling a truly groundbreaking Mormon Stories Podcast series - my interview with teen convert, former All-American athlete, and former Mormon seminary teacher and CES employee Marc Oslund. In today's episode Marc shares with us: An insider's view of how the Mormon church began realizing that it was hemorrhaging its youth and young adults, and how the church...

Join us today as we continue with part two of our three-part interview with former baseball player and LDS seminary teacher, Marc Oslund. Fascinating for so many reasons, I believe this is one of the most important Mormon Stories Podcast episodes I've ever released. Marc was a heavily recruited high school baseball and football player in the L.A., California area. He converted to the Mormon church...

Join us today as we kick off our three-part interview with former baseball player and LDS seminary teacher, Marc Oslund. Fascinating for so many reasons, I believe this is one of the most important Mormon Stories Podcast episodes I've ever released. Marc was a heavily recruited high school baseball and football player in the L.A., California area. He converted to the Mormon church as a teen. He wa...

As the COVID pandemic begins to slow in Spring of 2021, we are seeing a surge in vocal Mormon church members being summoned to disciplinary councils for excommunication on the charges of apostasy. Last week Natasha Helfer was excommunicated from the Mormon church for nothing less than advocating for ethical mental health and sexuality. Today we interview Neesha and Kyle Brost, who were recently th...

Join us as we talk to Shannon Flynn, who was an associate of bomber and forger Mark Hofmann, as well as a major figure in the new Netflix documentary "Murder Among the Mormons."

Please join us now as we interview Marriage and Sex therapist Natasha Helfer as she discusses her pending Mormon disciplinary council for apostasy. Natasha Helfer's membership council is taking place on April 18th at 7:30 pm central time zone.   How you can support Natasha: Write letters of support to President Stephen Daley, Attend the council itself as an "approved" participant or in a more gene...

Today we have Shannon Flynn and Tonya and Scott Reiter in studio to remember the life of their friend, Lyn Jacob’s, associate of Mormon forger and bomber Mark Hofmann.

Returning Mormon Stories Podcast guest, Roger Hendrix, is a former LDS Bishop, Mission President, and CES director, and was also called by Gorden B. Hinkley as a Trustee for the Deseret Trust Company for 18 years. And as if that weren't enough, Roger also worked as a business Management Consultant for 35 years, and did a syndicated daily radio commentary on social, political, and economic trends f...

For as long as the Mormon Internet has existed, Ex-Mormon women have been expressing concerns about abusive behavior by Ex-Mormon men. Today a panel of Ex-Mormon women come together on Mormon Stories Podcast to introduce athe following six concepts: 1) Consent, 2) Deference to Patriarchy, 3) Gender Roles, 4) Modesty, 5) Sex Shaming, and 6) Victim Blaming. The intent of this episode is to help educ...

Since Title IX passed in 1972 to prevent sex discrimination under any education program receiving Federal financial assistance, the religious exemption clause has gone virtually unchaellenched. For decades, the Department of Educations has granted Title IX exemptions allowing dozens of religious colleges like BYU and Liberty University to discriminate based on sex, gender identity, and sexual orie...

Join me today as I interview Carah Burrell (TikTok's "Nuancehoe") who has quickly became one of the most notable (and hilarious) ex-Mormons on social media right now! In addition to her great success on TikTok, Carah also has a very interesting Mormon story - from her unique upbringing in the church, to her experiences navigating the LA comedy scene with her husband, as a young mormon couple. Cara...

Join me today as I interview Salt Lake City lawyer, Mark Naugle, who developed the website QuitMormon.com - which aims to give former Mormons a more streamlined way to resign their membership from the LDS church, without the need to meet with a church authority figure. Since 2015, Mark has filed over 80,000 legal resignation letters with the LDS church. However, in response to his website, the chu...

What happens when a Mormon bishop falls in love with a member of his congregation?  How could this happen? What situation would make a divorced single mother returning to Mormon church activity fall in love with her married bishop? In what ways does the calling of Mormon bishop, including both excessive time demands on the Bishop and the practice of one-on-one "worthiness" interviews with single w...