Today I sit down with Micky Scotbey Jones. Micky is a justice doula, a writer, speaker and social justice advocate. Recently named one of the Black Christian leaders changing the world in the Huffington Post, Micky encourages others to join her in moments of holy disruption and self-care in community. If you love Micky (and I’m sure you will after this convo) you can support her endeavor to become a certified Enneagram Accredited Professional. She is so close and just needs your help to make her $4,000 goal. Find out more here.
Miriam Samuelson-Roberts is a co-host of the podcast Alter Guild and the author of our featured OBA devotional, New Year, Healed You. In this episode we discuss her amazing devotional which does away with the usual “new year, new you” traps. We also talk about what it’s like to be a bisexual pastor in a heterosexual (and monogamous) marriage. It was such a pleasure to chat with Miriam. I hope you feel the warmth too.
Have you ever felt entitled to rest? Can taking a Sabbath be an act of social justice? Lyndsey Medford thinks so! And she penned those words in her devotional series, “The Burnouts Guide to Being Human” now available in Our Bible App. I don’t know about you but a discussion about burnout feels quite timely right about now! Tune in as Lyndsey and I take this conversation to whole new and surprising places.
Today’s guest is OBA author Rev. Jacob Breeze. He is the pastor of the Holy Family Church in Houston. He wrote a devotional for the app about the Liturgical calendar and the importance of following it all the way through and not just at special holidays like Christmas. I gotta say I loved talking to this man and let’s hope he decides to contribute more to the app.
Laura Jean Truman is an Atlanta based writer, and the author of Our Bible App’s newest devotional series, Imagination: The Most Underrated Spiritual Discipline. In this episode I get to fangirl all over the place about Laura Jean’s amazing work, her activism and finally about the devotional she wrote for us.
Jamie Lee Finch is a musician, poet and a Relationship Guide between humans and their bodies. She works with individuals of all genders who consistently find within themselves an inability to connect with, communicate with, and successfully relate to their own bodies. Many of these individuals are survivors of fundamentalist religion who now experience a range of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual conditions. I hope you enjoy the show!
Chris Stroop is an ex-Evangelical seeking to create space for other ex-Evangelicals and exiles from other forms of religious fundamentalism. He writes, “Reclaiming and sharing our ex-Evangelical stories will serve both to foster healing and to raise awareness of the threat to democracy and human rights posed by theocratic views, and of the real human harm caused all too often by conservative Evangelicalism.” Follow Chris on Twitter @C_Stroop and read more of is writing here!
Today I bring you a conversation I had with a very special old life friend of mine, Jessie Standafer. You know those conversations where you pick up where you left off after 6 years and don’t realize how much you missed the person? This is that convo! Jessie Standafer is a musician a doula and all around artist. She is figuring the divide between lesbian and Christian and is probably doing it better than most of us! All that to say Jessie is glowing with wisdom and I hope you enjoy both their words and their music. Watch the videos we discuss here and visit iTunes to get ahold of her music.
I'm so excited to be back with another season of Lord Have Mercy and this episode is all about having the kind of sex we WANT to have and loving the bodies we inhabit. This wasn't my idea, it was all Emily Joy. Emily Joy is so RAD guys! This episode I got to sit and chat with her about all of the intimate and scary things. If you are a fan like me you should download her music, join her newsletter and send her all the love. You can start by dropping by her website at EmilyJoyPoetry.com.
Join me, Crystal Cheatham as I chat with Sarah Ngu about Church Clarity and a few other projects she's involved in. As a fellow podcaster Sarah has taken charge of Religious Socialism and works as a deacon in her church. Sarah and I talk about scripture, church and some of the things we have in common like being kids of immigrants who happened to also be missionaries. Finally we get to chat about Church Clarity which is an online database that is rating churches one-by-one on policies and personnel as a means of bringing clarity to their stances on some of todays most important public and, often divisive, issues. Find out more at ChurchClarity.org.
It's been a minute since the last episode. Our Bible App launched and I needed a second to catch up, but I'm back with a bang! Check out Jazz Fitzgerald. Seriously watch her move and shake in this world because it is an unbelievable show. Jazz is a student in her third semester at the University of Colorado and the founder of You Are Welcome Here, a conference centered on being interfaith and LGBTQIA+ inclusive and affirming. Jazz is in the processes of fundraising for her immigration status so I hope you'll check out her GoFundMe and tithe $10 or$50 if you can spare it. Blessings to you friends! Hope you enjoy the show.
Join me, Crystal Cheatham, as I catch up with an old friend. J Mase III is a black trans poet and together with fellow performer and spiritual guide, Lady Dane Figueroa we tackle common LHM themes on God, sex and the Bible. I can't help making fun of Mase but we all take our shots at the imperfections of religion, sex culture and Dan Savage (because why not). Hear how toxic religion affects the black trans community and how they intend to credential those who walk their same path. This episode is fire ya'll. I hope you laugh as hard as we did.
The #BLACKTRANSPRAYERBOOK
The #BlackTransPrayerBook is an interfaith, multi-dimensional, artistic and theological work that collects the stories, poems, prayers, meditation, spells, and incantations of Black Trans & Gender Non-Conforming contributors. Often pushed out of Faith spaces and yet still deeply connected to a historical legacy of spiritual essentiality, Black TGNC People face unprecedented amounts of spiritual, physical, and psychological violence. The Black Trans Prayer Book is a tool of healing, and affirmation centered on uplifting Black TGNC people and celebrating our place within faith.
What does it mean to have a faith practice that simultaneously challenges white supremacy and transphobia? Where is there a theological framework that centers the most marginalized and creates pathways towards an active spirituality moving alongside social justice? How might a spiritual practice not in tune with these questions cause harm? The #BlackTransPrayerBook, is holding these very questions. To support this vital work, go to https://www.gofundme.com/black-trans-prayer-book
Our Bible App launched! Check it out in your app store. Subscribe and don't forget to leave a comment so others can find it too! (APPLE) & (ANDROID)
In 2017 Louise Omer left behind a marriage, community and possessions to meet women around the world. Asking, where is their place in religion? And can a woman be holy? She is inviting us to join her on this epic trip that began in Australia, and is taking her to Ireland, Sweden, Mexico, Bulgaria, Kenya...and more. Check her out at LouiseOmer.com.
Matthew Blake, or as I like to call him Mr. Heathen, is the host of Heathen podcast. He’s on the other side of Christianity; the outskirts filled with mysticism, spirituality and well…. Questions. After a very religious upbringing he somehow found himself in this no-mans-land and instead of running scared he’s setting up camp and interviewing the natives. He calls each episode, "spiritual conversations for the godless," answering the call for each of us whether we are a believer or not. How can you not love what he's about? You can catch up with him at https://www.heathenpodcast.com/ or on most social media platforms @HeathenPodcast.
Antonia Terrazas and her project Holy Blacked Out is a manifesto against bad theology. Using it as an effort to reframe a history of run-ins with crooked-ish Christianity, Antonia is here to talk about her work and the Mountain Top Moments that brought her to it. You should see her work at @HolyBlackedOut on Instagram. I created one from an old purity book on courtship (yeah, I know right?!) one and it truly is therapeutic, allowing us to unbind the damaging messages from books we read years ago. Check out my poem above!
“Sex at its best. Great sex! Sex with cries of delight, with passion and pure desire, not only as a relationship. Your love, far from a curse, is a blessing.” By @CrystalCheatham @holyblackedout #LordHaveMercy @AntoniaTerrazas
Church is a very Christmasy thing, is it not? There's always some choir to go hear or play of children to witness. But for some folks, church isn't a once a year kind of thing. It's an entire life kind of ritual. Teammates Ray Gentry and Elizabeth Rawlings are here to disrupt all that and they do a fantastic job of make the finer parts of church more appealing. They are definitely onto something. Find out how host Crystal Cheatham brings together liturgy, Wicca and Ray's glorious beard all in a brief 40 minute episode. Find them at DisruptWorshipProject.com Oh and MERRY CHRISTMAS!
They call it "a visceral language for a visceral gospel." Tuhina Rasche and Jason Chestnut have decided to amplify the intensity of how the good book is read and we are all for it. Join host Crystal Cheatham as she discusses their annual project and what led these two faith leaders to embrace such apparent irreverence.
Subscribe to the daily advent devotional at Medium.com/FuckThisShit.
Listen in as Ryan Johnstone opens up about their struggles with Christian fundamentalism and being afraid to look at their own body naked in a mirror. Now they are a sex educator and a founder of the sex app KinkedIn. Later on in the episode Rev Sex unravels one of the toughest queer shaming texts in the New Testament.
We all get mad at what's going on in the US today but here's someone who can't stand still and watch. Yaz is a queer faith activist and works for Soulforce. In this episode they talk about the National Religious Broadcasters, the Marriott and what those two things have to do with remembering PULSE. Later Rev. Sex talks about what it's like to get arrested for a God and a people they believe in.
