Becoming Church

There are easy conversations. Then there are conversations you never thought you could have due to a lack of knowledge, information or understanding. Bri Strensrud is a human dignity advocate who helps Christians detangle immigration and refugee issues from politically partisan, dehumanizing narratives. 

If you have a heart to help marginalized people but don’t know where to start in actively making a difference, this episode will meet you right at the intersection of fear and conviction with grace and compassion. Bri will help you better understand immigration as a human dignity issue and how you can seek out a holistic biblical perspective to know how God wants you to think about migrants.

Her book, Start with Welcome, is full of information and stories to bend your heart toward the marginalized people in your community as well as educational, practical things you can do to use your voice to make a difference.

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LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:

Start with Welcome book

Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes

Evangelical Immigration Table

Women of Welcome

Sign up for a Borderland Immersion Trip

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SCRIPTURE TO EXPLORE:

Luke 10:29-37

Romans 15:7

1 Corinthians 13

John 5

John 15

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HANG OUT WITH US:

BecomingChurch.tv

Bri on IG: @bri.stenz

Kristin on IG: @kristinmockleryoung
Mosaic on IG: @MosaicCLT

#becomingchurchpodcast

Follow @kristinmockleryoung and @mosaicclt on Instagram.

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Order Kristin’s book “The Other Side of Certainty: How to Follow Jesus When Easy Answers No Longer Work” on Amazon or Bookshop.org or read Chapter One to see if it's right for you!

If you've already read "The Other Side of Certainty," leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads to help other people find it.

Diversity leads to disagreement, which leads to division. This is why it’s so much easier to go through life with people who look like, think like, vote like and believe like you do. But Pastor and author Rich Villodas challenges us to lean in to discomfort instead of letting fear keep us isolated.

Whether your conversations of tension happen in your family or your church, whether your conflict revolves around race, politics, social justice or sexuality, this conversation between 3 pastors leading diverse, multiethnic churches, will provide you with practical ways to stay engaged. Through curiosity, you can move away from emotional reactivity into conversations that protect your relationships with people you don’t agree with.

Share this episode with someone who believes a little bit differently than you as an invitation to a healthier, stronger relationship.

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LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:

When Naeem showed up to chat with Marty Solomon

Pre-Order Rich’s new book: The Narrow Path

Rich’s past books in our library

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RELATED RESOURCES:

Mosaic’s Mission unpacked

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SCRIPTURE TO EXPLORE:

Colossians 1:17

Psalm 139

1 Corinthians 12:27

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HANG OUT WITH US:

BecomingChurch.tv

Rich on IG: @richvillodas
Kristin on IG: @kristinmockleryoung
Mosaic on IG: @MosaicCLT

#becomingchurchpodcast

Follow @kristinmockleryoung and @mosaicclt on Instagram.

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Order Kristin’s book “The Other Side of Certainty: How to Follow Jesus When Easy Answers No Longer Work” on Amazon or Bookshop.org or read Chapter One to see if it's right for you!

If you've already read "The Other Side of Certainty," leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads to help other people find it.

Grief often brings up heavy feelings of sadness and pain but this conversation is filled with hope and restoration. If you are living with grief or you aren’t sure how to best support other people in your life who have experienced loss, you will find both practicals and permission to feel in this episode.

In a surprise story of unexpected loss and grief, Dorina Lazo Gilmore-Young had her faith put to the test when her husband was suddenly faced with a cancer diagnosis that he did not survive. She shares her experience on how God met her in her pain and how she grieved as a parent with grieving children who had also lost their father. This episode focuses on celebration and life, exploring the different ways people grieve based on their culture and proposing new ways of talking about death with children to remove fear and replace it with remembrance.

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LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:

Breathing Through Grief

Chasing God’s Glory (grief for kids)

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RELATED RESOURCES:

Grieving Unexpected Loss

What Good is God when Life Hurts?

Healing Trauma with a Christ-Centered Therapist

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SCRIPTURE TO EXPLORE:

Psalms 34:18 MSG

Genesis 16:13

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HANG OUT WITH US:

BecomingChurch.tv

Dorina on IG: @dorinagilmore
Kristin on IG: @kristinmockleryoung
Mosaic on IG: @MosaicCLT

#becomingchurchpodcast

Follow @kristinmockleryoung and @mosaicclt on Instagram.

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Order Kristin’s book “The Other Side of Certainty: How to Follow Jesus When Easy Answers No Longer Work” on Amazon or Bookshop.org or read Chapter One to see if it's right for you!

If you've already read "The Other Side of Certainty," leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads to help other people find it.

“Let Your Husband Love You” may have been the first words that drew attention to Kristen LaValley’s work, but she wants it to be known that her frontal lobe has fully closed since then. And she has new things to say.

In “Even if He Doesn’t,” Kristen wrote the lightest book on suffering there is. If you’re not sure if you’re angry at God or His people, if you believe God is real but you’re not sure if He’s good, if you’re afraid God is going to forsake you because of all the things you’re holding…she has some words for you.

Kristen bravely faces the much-warned-against slippery slope to face Christianese platitudes that leave you feeling worse instead of better to show where God is in present in your pain, even if He isn’t showing up the way you expected Him to.

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LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:

Even if He Doesn’t

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RELATED RESOURCES:

Is there Hope after Church Hurt? with Jess Connolly
Broken Crayons Still Color with Toni Collier
What Good is God when Life Hurts with Amanda Held Opelt
Repentant Pastors for Change in the Church with Ben Cremer

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HANG OUT WITH US:

BecomingChurch.tv

Kristen on IG: @kristen.lavalley
Kristin on IG: @kristinmockleryoung
Mosaic on IG: @MosaicCLT

#becomingchurchpodcast

Follow @kristinmockleryoung and @mosaicclt on Instagram.

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Order Kristin’s book “The Other Side of Certainty: How to Follow Jesus When Easy Answers No Longer Work” on Amazon or Bookshop.org or read Chapter One to see if it's right for you!

If you've already read "The Other Side of Certainty," leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads to help other people find it.

Doubt isn’t the opposite of faith. If we lean in to it instead of running away in fear of where it could lead, it can actually be a gift that leads us to a more meaningful faith than we ever imagined.

Alexandra Hoover, author of Eyes Up and Without Wavering, has experienced a lot of resistance in her spiritual life. Through unexpected loss of close family members and church hurt on the side of vocational ministry, she has been left with unanswered prayers multiple times. Yet, she continues to see God’s hand in her life and believes in His bigger story.

This episode is for anyone who has experienced church hurt, doubt, questions or who wonders if their story is important enough to have an impact in the world.

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MENTIONS FROM THIS EPISODE:

AlexandraVHoover.com
Calling Academy

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SCRIPTURE TO EXPLORE:

1 Corinthians 3
Acts 9
Hebrews 11
Ephesians 2
Philippians 2

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HANG OUT WITH US:

BecomingChurch.tv

Kristin on IG: @kristinmockleryoung
Mosaic on IG: @MosaicCLT

#becomingchurchpodcast

Follow @kristinmockleryoung and @mosaicclt on Instagram.

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Order Kristin’s book “The Other Side of Certainty: How to Follow Jesus When Easy Answers No Longer Work” on Amazon or Bookshop.org or read Chapter One to see if it's right for you!

If you've already read "The Other Side of Certainty," leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads to help other people find it.

“Once upon a time you had it all beautifully sorted out. Then you didn’t.” If these words of Sarah Bessey’s resonate at all, this episode is my gift to you. As a leading voice in the conversation around deconstruction, Sarah has years of experience navigating doubt, wrestling with questions and challenging The Church to become the best and truest version of itself.

Through her books like Jesus Feminist, Out of Sorts and her Evolving Faith Community, Sarah communicates care, inclusion and grace for anyone who is trying to figure out who God is, what the Bible actually means and what it really can look like to be Jesus followers.

Sarah’s newest book, “Field Notes for the Wilderness: Practices for an Evolving Faith” is out now and it is a guidebook for anyone who is wandering, even if your path is taking you away from The Church. 

*The giftcard giveaway has ended.

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MENTIONS FROM THIS EPISODE:

Evolving Faith
Rachel Held Evans
Richard Rohr
Jeff Chu
Chanequa Walker Barnes
Barbara Brown Taylor

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HANG OUT WITH US:

BecomingChurch.tv

Kristin on IG: @kristinmockleryoung
Mosaic on IG: @MosaicCLT

#becomingchurchpodcast

Follow @kristinmockleryoung and @mosaicclt on Instagram.

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Order Kristin’s book “The Other Side of Certainty: How to Follow Jesus When Easy Answers No Longer Work” on Amazon or Bookshop.org or read Chapter One to see if it's right for you!

If you've already read "The Other Side of Certainty," leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads to help other people find it.

Don’t you wish you had access to a little voice that always knew the right thing to say? Maybe an encouragement to motivate you, to help you stay persistent in the painful times and remind you why it’s important to keep going even when it’s hard? Nick Connolly can be that voice for you in this episode of Becoming Church.

Nick and Kristin both share some vulnerable stories of times they wanted to quit, in order to remind you that there is always hope on the other side. If you don’t feel strong enough, you don’t have to be. Because we can live in the tension of both “God will solve this” and “we might not see resolution this side of heaven.”

This is an episode on obedience, persistence and knowing God’s will with a little Ted Lasso thrown in for good measure. We’ll also give you a preview to Nick’s book “Don’t Give Up Just Yet: Choosing Persistence in a World of Resistance” and the bonus free gifts you get by preordering before February 6th!

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LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:

Don’t Give Up Just Yet
Jess Connolly’s episode on Church Hurt
Life School

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SCRIPTURE TO EXPLORE:

Galatians 6:9
Ephesians 3:20-21

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HANG OUT WITH US:

BecomingChurch.tv

Nick on IG: @nconnolly
Kristin on IG: @kristinmockleryoung
Mosaic on IG: @MosaicCLT

#becomingchurchpodcast

Follow @kristinmockleryoung and @mosaicclt on Instagram.

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Order Kristin’s book “The Other Side of Certainty: How to Follow Jesus When Easy Answers No Longer Work” on Amazon or Bookshop.org or read Chapter One to see if it's right for you!

If you've already read "The Other Side of Certainty," leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads to help other people find it.

Theologian, author and basketball enthusiast Joel Muddamalle knows a lot about the Bible but he shares his knowledge in a humble, approachable way like he often does in his Humble Theology newsletter and social media posts. In this conversation, you’ll hear Joel talk about his own struggle with pride and peace as well what he’s learned by being surrounded by women as one of the only men on staff at Proverbs 31.

You can also pre-order his upcoming book "The Hidden Peace: Finding security, strength and confidence through humility” and see if you agree with Kristin that it hurts your feelings.

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LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:

Pre-Order for Bonuses 

Women Preaching

Did Paul ban women from speaking?

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RELATED RESOURCES:

The Cost of Control with Sharon Miller

When there’s Not Peace on Earth

How to Approach Relationships

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SCRIPTURE TO EXPLORE:

Galatians 5

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HANG OUT WITH US:

BecomingChurch.tv

Joel on IG: @muddamalle
Kristin on IG: @kristinmockleryoung
Mosaic on IG: @MosaicCLT

#becomingchurchpodcast

Follow @kristinmockleryoung and @mosaicclt on Instagram.

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Order Kristin’s book “The Other Side of Certainty: How to Follow Jesus When Easy Answers No Longer Work” on Amazon or Bookshop.org or read Chapter One to see if it's right for you!

If you've already read "The Other Side of Certainty," leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads to help other people find it.

Continuous Improver, Tara Bremer, knows a thing or two about how to declutter and organize your home. If you’re looking for a way to clean out your physical space or reduce your mental load, this episode has tips to bring you peace in the new year. As the founder of House Peace, Tara is the perfect person to lead us in our efforts.

Tara and Kristin also take the theme of decluttering from our lived in homes to our lived in beliefs with a discussion on how to unlearn, relearn and declutter our faith. If you’re not sure what you believe, what to hold on to or what it’s okay to get rid of when it comes to your views on God, the Bible or the church, this episode will help you let go of the things that don’t define you anymore.

Keep scrolling down for mentioned links and additional related resources on deconstruction and what to do after you “donate” the things that don’t fit you anymore.

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LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:

Find your Enneagram Style
Find Peace for your House
This is such a good box!

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RELATED RESOURCES:

Reimagine God: a series on unlearning and relearning God
Rebuild after Deconstructing

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SCRIPTURE TO EXPLORE:

Matthew 6:19-21

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HANG OUT WITH US:

BecomingChurch.tv

Tara on IG: @tarabbremer
Kristin on IG: @kristinmockleryoung
Mosaic on IG: @MosaicCLT

#becomingchurchpodcast

Follow @kristinmockleryoung and @mosaicclt on Instagram.

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Order Kristin’s book “The Other Side of Certainty: How to Follow Jesus When Easy Answers No Longer Work” on Amazon or Bookshop.org or read Chapter One to see if it's right for you!

If you've already read "The Other Side of Certainty," leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads to help other people find it.

Seriously what’s up with the Bible? Why are there so many translations? Is it literal? Is it metaphor? Did God write it or is he more of a co-author?

In this episode with Marty Solomon - and our special co-host Naeem Fazal - we take a look at the Bible from the Hebrew perspective, maybe as God intended it. Marty explains how scripture is supposed to be read, the mistakes we often face in our quiet times and what we can do to ask better questions of the text as we read.

If you’re not sure what to do with the Bible or you’re ready to try reading it again, you’ll find grace and insight in this episode. When you’re ready to dig deeper and think at a higher level, we can’t recommend Marty’s podcast, BEMA discipleship, enough. Until then, this conversation will meet you where you are with patience, guidance and practical application.

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LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:

Asking Better Questions of the Bible

MartySolomon.com

The Bema Podcast

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RELATED RESOURCES:

How Can I Believe the Bible

Reimagine God: a series on unlearning and relearning God

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SCRIPTURE TO EXPLORE:

SO MANY. Basically, just pick up your Bible. (But seriously, if you're looking for specific scriptures, Marty has many verses and additional resources linked up in each chapter of his book.)

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HANG OUT WITH US:

BecomingChurch.tv

Marty on IG: @marty_solomon
Kristin on IG: @kristinmockleryoung
Naeem on IG: @naeemfazal
Mosaic on IG: @MosaicCLT

#becomingchurchpodcast

Follow @kristinmockleryoung and @mosaicclt on Instagram.

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Order Kristin’s book “The Other Side of Certainty: How to Follow Jesus When Easy Answers No Longer Work” on Amazon or Bookshop.org or read Chapter One to see if it's right for you!

If you've already read "The Other Side of Certainty," leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads to help other people find it.