Back in 2023 I was honored to be asked to be an expert voice and contribute to the writing of a chapter in the book Hungry for Hope: Letters to the Church from Young Adults published by Eerdmans and edited by Jeremy Myers and Kristina Frugé. I contributed to the chapter called: Sex is a Gift: The Bigger Gift is Talking About It. I will tell you that I could not have done this chapter without Kristina. She was so instrumental in the entire process for all of the 22 authors involved in the project. This book, I think is so important for faith leaders to read on what many young adults are wanting in their church spaces and beyond. I invited Kristina here to talk about the project and the wisdom she had in helping to create and what she learned in the process.

Shannon and Kara share emotional moments together as they talk about being women, wives, and mothers while maintaining and navigating their identity in church spaces.

Two sex therapists and a sex educator talk about their deconstruction journey with church and finding their way into being professionals helping people understand their sexuality. Purity culture had a way of convincing people to not listen to their bodies, to follow rules, and providing a limited definition of what love looks like.

Kara and Pam talk about her lifetime experience of domestic and intimate partner violence and how we as a society can help stop this lived existence for many. Pam also talks about her healing journey through writing while recovering from brain surgery. With October being domestic violence awareness month, this is a must listen.

In this episode Kara and Megan discuss intersex and how learning about those with varying sex chromosomes opened their world up more to faith and understanding gender. Gender and our biology are fascinating and there is a lot to learn. Megan has done intensive studies into both the theology and science around the intersex population and advocates on their behalf in church and community spaces.

Welcome to Season 2! Kara catches up with Amy Johnson to discuss their shared love of sexual health education as well as the need to talk about it openly and without shame in our church communities. Amy has twenty+ years of experience talking to church communities and her wisdom on this topic runs deep.

In this episode we talk to my friend, Eric Clapp, a Lutheran pastor. He openly speaks out about white supremacy, is a feminist, and works to be inclusive in his ministry. I have long admired Eric's thoughtfulness, wisdom, and the ability to be open to learn from many other voices. He is an avid reader and wants to see the church become a place that seeks reconciliation and uphold the true teaching of the gospels.

In this podcast, we discuss Linda’s work as the founder and president of the nonprofit, Break Free Together and her work as a personal coach dedicated to helping people release shame and claim their whole selves. She is changing lives and I am so happy to have spent our time together.

My good friend Sara Johnson does amazing racial equity work as a Founding Partner with The Truth & Titus Collective. Trigger warning for listeners -- in this episode, we talk about the death of a child. We also discuss church, fear, risk and learning to be uncomfortable. These are hard subjects for many, so please do what you need to do and care for yourself.