What I DO Believe

Episode Summary It’s been a minute. I’m back with a new direction for the show. More conversations instead of monologues, with a focus on humor, hope, and depth. In this episode, I’m joined by my friend, Julianna Tate Zoch , an Ignatian trained spiritual director and fellow MDiv. We talk about what it looks like to keep believing by staying open to possibility, even when certainty changes. Along t...

🎙 Episode 7 – Why I Hate Hot Takes Hot takes are everywhere—and not just from the usual suspects. In this episode of What I Do Believe , I talk about why hot takes frustrate me so much, not only when they come from culture warriors, fundamentalists, or angry atheists, but even when I see them from thoughtful people I normally respect. Quick outrage and snappy one-liners might get attention, but th...

🎙 Episode 6 – Can We Let the Church Die? What if faithfulness doesn’t always mean staying loyal to an institution? In this episode of What I Do Believe , I talk honestly about why I haven’t been part of an institutional church for years—and why I don’t feel guilty about it. While I still experience God in silence, prayer, and small contemplative communities, I no longer feel the need to keep the l...

🎙 Episode 5 – Am I Just Believing in the God I Want? One of the most common critiques I hear is that I’m just “making up God the way I want Him to be.” In this episode of What I Do Believe , I slow down to unpack that pushback. I name the assumptions underneath it—like the idea that desire equals deception, or that believing in love is the easy way out—and why those assumptions don’t actually hold...

🎙 Episode 4 – There’s No Proof God Exists. But I Still Believe in God Because I Want To. If we can’t prove God exists—and can’t prove God doesn’t—what’s left? For me, it comes down to this: I believe in God because I want to. In this episode, I talk about the freedom that comes from letting go of certainty and bulletproof arguments. Instead of faith being about “being right,” it’s about desire—wan...

🎙 Episode 3 – I’m Agnostic… JK I’m Not! Can you go through a second round of deconstruction without losing your faith completely? What if belief isn’t about being certain—it’s about choosing what kind of story you want to live? In this episode, Zach reflects on the past several months of quietly rethinking everything—again. From a fresh wave of doubt to a growing sympathy with agnosticism, he talk...

🎙 Episode 2 – God Is Already Here Have you ever felt like faith is about bringing God to people? What if God is already everywhere —in everything, in everyone? In this episode of What I Do Believe , Zach unpacks a major shift in his spiritual journey: moving from a mindset of bringing God to recognizing where God already is. Instead of seeing faith as a mission to "deliver" truth, Zach now approac...

🎙 Welcome to the very first episode of What I DO Believe ! Have you really moved on, or are you still keeping tabs? In this debut episode, Zachary Bryant challenges a common post-deconstruction trap—staying emotionally tethered to what we’ve left behind. Whether it’s fundamentalism, evangelicalism, or megachurch culture, many who have "moved on" still find themselves caught in a cycle of reactiona...