We're capping season 3 with a fun, heartfelt, and thoughtful conversation with another one of Pete's "bosom-buddies", Keven Krieger. Keven shares about the experience of losing his dad at a young age, and how that impacted his faith journey. He

Finding God, even in Grand Rapids?! (with Michael Gorman)

Dec 23rd, 2021 1h 21m

It took nearly three full seasons, but we had our first Catholic on the podcast! We met Michael Gorman through some, ahem...crappy circumstances (that'll make sense when you listen). Michael has a pretty fascinating story, as he spent years pur

"God, my theology of church is in conflict with my experience." (with Philip Joubert)

Dec 16th, 2021 1h 11m

Whew...y'all. Those of you who've been with us for a while know that when Philip Joubert joins us for a conversation, it's fire. This time, Phil shares more about his experiences of growing up in church, what growing up in the black church gave

Befuddling Bible: What the F$&@ do we do with Paul?!? (with Dr. Tom Rundel)

Dec 2nd, 2021 1h 8m

For many of us who are beginning to think about our faith in new ways and ask questions about what we were given growing up, Paul is...tricky. We've heard people use passages from Paul's letters in the New Testament to maintain patriarchy, supp

"Thank You For Taking Care of Sick People" (with Sarah Fifer)

Nov 25th, 2021 58m 20s

On this episode of the podcast, we sit down with Tom's sister, Sarah Fifer. In addition to sharing how learning to listen to those who believe differently from her opened up her faith and her understanding of what the Church can and should be,

DTR with the Church (Special Guest Anna)

Nov 18th, 2021 1h 1m

Anna returns to the podcast, this time as a part of our series of conversations on people's relationship with the Church. In many ways, this is a Part Two conversation, as we pick up right where we left off from the first episode of season thre

The Night I Lost God (with Mark Shortt)

Nov 11th, 2021 1h 5m

Our podcast intro you may have heard (or skipped through) quite a few times by now mentions about the grief that can accompany losing the certainty we were raised with in regards to our faith. Mark Shortt shares with us his experience of growin

When It Becomes Disingenuous to Say You're a Christian (with Erik Fuller)

Nov 4th, 2021 1h 3m

Many of us have gone through changes in our faith. In this episode, Erik Fuller shares his story with us, which invites us to ask the question...when does it become disingenuous to say that you are a Christian, and how do you know?Erik's story

Benching Half the Church: Complementarian Theology Part 2 (with Mandy Fowler)

Oct 28th, 2021 1h 8m

This is the long-awaited follow-up conversation from our episode with Raphael discussing complimentarian theology!!Mandy Fowler returns once again to the podcast to help us understand some of the nuances of how complimentarian theologies of gen

The New Evangelicals (with guest Tim Whitaker)

Oct 21st, 2021 1h 1m

This was such a rich conversation. We had the pleasure of spending time with Tim Whitaker, who is the founder and curator of The New Evangelicals, an online community (that is now starting to meet in-person!) that is all about "Learning backwar

Show Me the Money!! - Finances in the church (with Pastor Matt Stone)

Oct 14th, 2021 1h 13m

Pete and Tom sit down with Pastor Matt Stone to talk about how the church has talked about and handled money...the good, the bad, and the ugly. They share their experiences in churches growing up, what they've tried to do and say in their respe

Leaving Behind Complementarian Theology - Part 1 (with Raphael Trujillo)

Oct 7th, 2021 1h 12m

Here is the first episode in an ongoing series of conversations breaking down the Complementarian Theology many of us were raised with…a belief common in many conservative Christian environments in which there are equal but specifically distinc

Checking In with (Not Pastor) Tom

Sep 30th, 2021 55m 52s

This episode, Pete helps Tom reflect on his transition out of full-time pastoral ministry, while sharing his own experiences and wisdom. _____Let’s keep this conversation going!We’d love for you to share this episode with a friend, family membe

Navigating Church While Gay (with special guest Anna)

Sep 23rd, 2021 1h 10m

We’re kicking off season 3!Special guest Anna joins us to share some of her story of coming to own her story and her sexuality while growing up in the church. This is a powerful conversation, and we are so grateful for Anna’s willingness to sha

Loving our neighbor (with Jenny Tanis)

May 5th, 2021 1h 15m

Compassion Fatigue (featuring Dr. Liz Sharda)

Apr 22nd, 2021 1h 10m

Toxic Positivity (featuring Jenn Strobl)

Apr 15th, 2021 1h 2m

How's your heart, bro?

Apr 8th, 2021 1h 2m

(Sorry if that title triggers you...)You may have noticed a pretty wide gap in episodes being released. Sorry about that! But, life happens...and in this episode, we take some time to share what's been going on in our lives recently, and just w

Befuddling Bible - Genesis 22 and "Testing Abraham's Faith"

Apr 1st, 2021 1h 5m

Befuddling Bible continues...this time, with a passage that is truly bizarre and distressing for a modern-day audience. God asks Abraham to take his only son up to the mountain and sacrifice him (WHAT?) in order to honor God. Before the end, Go

Open Theism (with Mandy Fowler)

Feb 25th, 2021 52m 11s

Mandy's back! Yay!She introduces Open Theism to us, a theological idea that initially sounds strange or even radical in the ways it challenges the assumptions of "Classical Theism", but has some really fascinating implications on many other the

EEEEVVVVIIIILLLL!!!! (with Dr. Tom Rundel)

Feb 18th, 2021 1h 9m

We're talking about evil. What is it? How can you know when something is evil? Dr. Tom Rundel joins us on the podcast again to help us sort through this age-old philosophical question. He helps us consider "the question behind the question", an

Befuddling Bible: JOB

Feb 13th, 2021 1h 3m

We return to our "Befuddling Bible" series to talk about Job, the Old Testament book about a guy who goes through incredible suffering and tragedy. Many Christians think they know what the story of Job is about. But, most people give a summary

Church?! Part 2

Feb 13th, 2021 48m 31s

It's Part 2, y'all!Picking up where the conversation left off in Part 1, we begin to ask the question about whether the church is still relevant to the world today (or what that word even means...), and some of the ways we think the church may

Church?! Part 1

Feb 13th, 2021 51m 58s

Oh boy...our first two-part episode!We wanted to have a conversation about the Church...and, turns out we had a lot to say about it. (A former pastor, and a tired pastor...are you surprised?)In this first part, we start by trying to define "Chu

Welcome to 2021! 🙃

Feb 13th, 2021 55m 57s

We're launching SEASON 2 of the podcast!!Much like we began the podcast by talking about the thing that was impacting all of us in ways we never could have imagined...we're beginning season 2 by grappling with the event that shook all of us at