Behold…the power of man-ifesting. She’s been on the apps. She’s been to church events. She even went to a speed dating mixer with Roxy back in the day. So maybe it’s time Katelyn mix up her straight in her search for romance. Manifesting—the belief that our thoughts determine our futures—grows out of the positive thinking movement and has a distinctly American bent. Is it all hooey, or is there something to it? In episode 2 of our SBTC summer series, Katelyn asks the Beaty Brain Trust for tips a...
Aug 15, 2024•47 min
Remember when people used to throw “over the hill” parties when folks turned 40? Katelyn doesn’t feel over the hill, but she’s also aging out of the young adult church group, if you know what we mean. A milestone birthday is a great time to reflect on the life you’ve built and the person you’re becoming and want to become. That’s what this SBTC special summer series is all about. We’re calling it: “Tell Katelyn What to Do with Her Life.” Katelyn has gathered the Beaty Brain Trust to help her fin...
Aug 08, 2024•33 min
In the late '80s, a historical romance pro named Francine Rivers became a Christian, and decided to combine her creative interests with her newfound faith. The result is Redeeming Love, a runaway hit that repackaged a few verses from the Book of Hosea into a historical romance complete with trauma, betrayal, sex and more trauma. Tyler is joined by novelist Liz Riggs (who is, full disclosure, also his wife) to break down bodice-ripping, slut-shaming epic.
Jul 26, 2024•49 min
After you have spent most of your adult life single, as we have, you recognize the importance of building a network of friends who are more than just brunch buddies. You need those friends who send you soup when you're sick and offer their couch for days on end after a breakup and are more than happy to sit in the hospital waiting room while you recover from anesthesia. When you're married, these are the expected role of the spouse, but that's not the reality for many of us today. And maybe it w...
May 16, 2024•52 min
Why is it a tough time to be a pastor? Let's count the ways: a pandemic, a racial justice uprising, an insurrection, hyper partisanship in the pews, cataclysmic global wars. This is not to mention all the normal pulpit pressures, like blurry boundaries, pastoral care, complaining stakeholders, etc, etc. etc. Being a pastor is hard y'all! That's why Katelyn and Roxy wanted to talk with seasoned New York pastor, Rich Villodas, who has been pastoring an incredibly diverse church in Queens for 16 ye...
May 09, 2024•47 min
Of course there's one for women, too. In this episode, Katelyn joins Tyler to discuss Captivating, John and Stasi Eldredge's attempt to do Wild at Heart for girls. We dig into the flipside of the evangelical gender binary of the early '00s to explore what the Christian Macho Man playbook meant for all the damsels they were supposed to be rescuing. Also: quite a bit more Lord of the Rings content than we expected! APOCRYFUN returns, now as a monthly series as part of the expanding Saved By the Ci...
May 02, 2024•45 min
A dozen religion journalists walk into a karaoke bar... On this episode, Katelyn and Roxy bring you all the hot takes from the world of Religion News Association. And believe you me, there are some real spicy stories to tell. We've got Julie Roys, from the Roys Report, talking investigative reporting on scandalous religion. Kate Shellnutt, of Christianity Today, with a daring provocation. And Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, professor of religion at Northeastern University, delivering the receipts on East...
Apr 25, 2024•48 min
A synod on synodality? Sign us up! For the past three years, the global Catholic Church has been undergoing a period of discernment. One of the main issues of contention? Women's ordination. Given our interest in women's leadership in Protestant churches, we've been very curious how that conversation happens on the Catholic side. And now that we seem to have some clarity on where the Church will land on the issue, at least in the near term, we wanted to have RNS's Vatican reporter, Claire Giangr...
Apr 18, 2024•53 min
Limits. Schlimits. On this episode, Katelyn and Roxy have a lot to discuss. Like how a certain subset of evangelical Christians decided purity culture was for the birds and swapped it for "real American beauty" (aka: big boobs, apparently?). Or how the KJV is the best complement to the American Constitution (ironic, no?). But, really, we're here to talk limits — and why we're embracing them — with friend and author, Micha Boyett. GUEST: Micha Boyett is an author, youth pastor, podcaster and Down...
Apr 11, 2024•50 min
Do you think you’d like the person your parents picked for you? Parents being a part of the dating or courting or marriage process is a pretty old idea that has a history in most cultures. But we’ve dropped it almost completely in the U.S. in favor of finding true love ourselves. In fact, our families — and our churches and our communities and our friends — mostly avoid meddling in our dating lives at all. When did dating get so anonymous? And what have we lost along the way? Those are the quest...
Apr 07, 2024•48 min
This episode, Katelyn and Roxy are joined by the GOAT, the legend who arguably started the spiritual podcasting genre, the longtime host of On Being, Krista Tippett. This wide-ranging conversation lingers on some of the more salient questions of our time: What is the role of faith in a technological era? Does religion only divide? How can spiritual practices make a difference in a world that needs action? GUEST: Krista Tippett is a journalist and Peabody Award-winning broadcaster. She created an...
Mar 28, 2024•56 min
Another year. Another election heckscape. Would you talk politics on a first date? Nope. No, definitely not. What about on a 10th? Heck no. In this economy? Americans are not happy with the political landscape at the moment and the general mood going into the 2024 election is, to put it mildly, dread. We're exhausted and this presidential race is a rinse and repeat cycle that it seems no one really wants. On this episode, Katelyn and Roxy wade into the shark infested waters of partisan politics ...
Mar 21, 2024•46 min
Maybe the real soulmates are the friends we met along the way. As marriage has become the end-all, be-all relationship, friendships have been relegated to the "nice to have" category. But at a time when loneliness is being labeled an epidemic, we wonder if this paradigm hasn't stranded us all on islands of our own making. Katelyn and Roxy look at the significant role friendships have played in our lives — especially as single adult women — and ask how we can continue to cultivate intentional com...
Mar 14, 2024•51 min
We're all living inside the code. On this episode, Katelyn and Roxy recount their brushes with the evangelical bro code — that malignant workplace milieu of religion mixed with patriarchy mixed with entitlement. We discuss the nearly two hundred responses women sent to Katelyn on the topic and unpack the Three B's of the Evangelical Bro Code: Breadwinner Bias, The Billy Graham Rule and Bullying. In the end, we wonder: should women even work in male-led evangelical spaces? Is it worth it?
Mar 07, 2024•46 min
That's poog spelled backward. The wellness industry has scope creep. Is it about health? Self-care? Spirituality? Mud masks? Yes, yes, yes, yes — and so much more. One thing it all seems to have in common though is that it costs money. Marketed primarily to women and promising solutions to every woe, wellness is more in the category of faith than science, but that doesn't keep millions of Americans from seeking their salvation in it ... to the tune of $4.4 trillion a year. On this episode, Katel...
Feb 28, 2024•48 min
The Jesus thing always gets in the way. Did you ever think Rob Reiner — director of such favorites as "When Harry Met Sally," "Princess Bride" and "Spinal Tap" — would make a movie about Christian nationalism? Inconceivable, right? Well, that word doesn't mean what you think it means and yes, he did. The documentary, "God & Country," directed by Dan Partland and produced by Reiner, is based on the book "Power Worshipers" by Katherine Stewart and features a who's who of Christian thinkers (le...
Feb 22, 2024•49 min
The son has come and you've been ... On each episode of this show, we talk about a popular, influential — or at least lucrative — Christian book from the 90s or 2000s (you know, our era). We discuss how the book shaped American Christianity, our own personal faith journeys, and how it has aged in our current dystopian Christian Nationalist hellscape. In this episode, Roxy reads Left Behind for the first time and reports back to Tyler. We dig into a word salad of eschatological terms and an absol...
Feb 08, 2024•47 min
Are you happy enough? On each episode of this show, we talk about a popular, influential — or at least lucrative — Christian book from the 90s or 2000s (you know, our era). We discuss how the book shaped American Christianity, our own personal faith journeys, and how it has aged in our current dystopian Christian Nationalist hellscape. In this episode, Tyler and Roxy wonder who is the most hedonistic of them all — like, in a Christian sense. In 1986, John Piper wrote Desiring God and introduced ...
Feb 01, 2024•37 min
This podcast will change your life. On each episode of this show, we talk about a popular, influential — or at least lucrative — Christian book from the 90s or 2000s (you know, our era). We discuss how the book shaped American Christianity, our own personal faith journeys, and how it has aged in our current dystopian Christian Nationalist hellscape. In this episode, Tyler and Roxy travel back in time to an era of 5 step growth strategies, acronyms for all things and Hawaiian shirts. AKA Southern...
Jan 25, 2024•51 min
Paintball never looked so holy. On each episode of this show, we talk about a popular, influential — or at least lucrative — Christian book from the 90s or 2000s (you know, our era). We discuss how the book shaped American Christianity, our own personal faith journeys, and how it has aged in our current dystopian Christian Nationalist hellscape. In this episode, Tyler and Roxy become the men God created them to be with Wild at Heart, John Eldredge’s 2001 bestseller that challenged dudes to rock ...
Jan 18, 2024•50 min
Cozy up for this time traveling book club. On each episode of this show, we talk about a popular, influential — or at least lucrative — Christian book from the 90s or 2000s (you know, our era). We discuss how the book shaped American Christianity, our own personal faith journeys, and how it has aged in our current dystopian Christian Nationalist hellscape. This episode, Tyler and Roxy move into the liminal faith space of Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller’s 2003 word-of-mouth bestseller that introduc...
Jan 11, 2024•42 min
Decadent December is coming to a close and bills are due. Every year, we all get a little excited for what a new start could bring — who could I be this year? Surely this year, I'll do the thing. Or stop doing the thing. Or change everything. Right? When it comes to making goals, setting intentions, naming desires, we're as all-in as anybody ... but we also have a healthy dose of skepticism when it comes to the marketing machine that self-help has become. Somehow, we doubt all the wisdom we need...
Dec 21, 2023•54 min
Be good to your people. The holidays are hard for the grieving. This year, as Roxy and her family walk through their first Christmas without her dad, we wanted to do an episode on what has helped get them through. Well, who has helped really. This is an episode on the power of community and friendship when life hands you loss. Katelyn and Roxy are also joined by J.S. Park, a hospital chaplain who has counseled thousands of patients and their families through terminal illnesses, devastating diagn...
Dec 14, 2023•45 min
It's the new evangelical Vatican y'all. Before there was New York City, both Katelyn and Roxy flirted with Nashville. The draw was real: deep friendship, like-minded value systems, shared faith, the prospect of financial stability. But something never quite clicked. Nashville felt maybe a little ... too comfortable, too safe, even a bit stifling. In this episode, Katelyn and Roxy imagine what could have been. We also do a deep dive into who Nashville has become in our years apart — and how choos...
Dec 07, 2023•44 min
The range of a religion reporter. This week, we ask ourselves: would we do mushrooms for research? Plus, a journey from Kansas to Tennessee to California and their multiple misbehaving men in ministry. Katelyn and Roxy discuss the similarities and patterns present in congregations where clergy can get away with almost anything. And we're joined by guest Gloria Purvis, a Black Catholic scholar who lost her job at a prominent Catholic radio network in 2020 after speaking out about the killings of ...
Nov 30, 2023•49 min
For this Thanksgiving, we return to a favorite episode about food, hosting and the power of conversations around a dinner table.
Nov 23, 2023•46 min
It's a mancession. Or, as one woman put it to our guest today, "men are in their flop era." Men are lagging behind women in almost every measure of success today — from mental health, to education levels, to employment, to sexual satisfaction. What's going on? Katelyn and Roxy are joined (once again!) by columnist and author Christine Emba to discuss this masculinity crisis — and why it should matter to women. Plus: a dudely data dump. GUEST: Christine Emba is a columnist and member of the edito...
Nov 16, 2023•44 min
When the clock keeps ticking, you gotta get picking ... a sperm donor, that is. Ok, but really, as more and more women are single into their late thirties and early forties, the option to have a child through in vitro fertilization becomes a very live question. As much as forty may be the new twenty, the biological timeline for many women still looms large. If you're someone who wants to bear children, waiting for the right partner may feel like a dead end. Or, as our guest today puts it, that's...
Nov 09, 2023•54 min
But it is better if you get spiritual in the mornings. For a very long time, spending time with God felt a bit like a chore to be checked off. Remember quiet times? One year Bible reading plans? On this episode, Katelyn and Roxy discussing finding rhythms and rituals that actually work for connecting with God — no guilt attached. And, bonus, actually became morning people along the way. We can't believe it either! Plus, Karen Wright Marsh helps us find inspiration for our daily devotions from th...
Nov 02, 2023•50 min
"Seek peace and pursue it — especially when it seems impossible." Inspired by these words of his father, our guest today has been working to bring peace in the Holy Land since the early 2000s. The last few weeks have been an onslaught of horrifying news from Israel and Gaza — thousands upon thousands dead, hundreds held hostage, hundreds of thousands displaced. And, here, in America a rush to make sense of it — to clearly name the good guy and the bad guy, to further entrench lines in the sand t...
Oct 26, 2023•52 min
