Bodies Behind The Bus

James shares his experience with the Austin Stone church, including his early motivations for moving to Austin, the challenges he faced as a Mexican American in a predominantly white evangelical institution, and the barriers to leadership he encountered despite his qualifications. He discusses his experience raising support, internal cultural tensions, tokenism, health struggles tied to workplace stress, and the events that led to his departure from staff. The conversation highlights systemic issues within church leadership structures, particularly around race, power, and access.

*Correction: James references reading through MLK’s “I have a Dream” speech and wanted to clarify it was actually “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

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Kelley joins the podcast to share her experience as both a former member of the Austin Stone church and staff member of its affiliated nonprofit, For the City. She discusses the church’s culture, internal power dynamics, financial mismanagement, and the challenges of working within a complementarian system. Kelley reflects on her personal story of spiritual and emotional harm, organizational dysfunction, and the long-term impact of abusive structures masked by ministry language. Her story highlights broader patterns of spiritual and institutional abuse within the Austin Stone and similar evangelical networks.

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Ben joins the Bodies Behind the Bus podcast to share his experience at Austin Stone Church, a large SBC-affiliated church in Austin, Texas. He reflects on his decade-long involvement, including leadership roles and the creation of a ministry for LGBTQIA+ individuals. The conversation explores church culture, leadership dynamics, personal transformation, and the challenges of reconciling faith with identity. Ben also discusses his departure from the church and the emotional and relational costs of stepping away from evangelical expectations.

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In this episode of Bodies Behind the Bus, B shares her deeply personal story about the emotional toll of navigating immigration, identity, and faith. B recounts her years at the Austin Stone Church in Austin, Texas, where she joined a residency program to serve the local Latino community, only to face institutional racism, cultural insensitivity, and burnout. Her story highlights the disconnect between church rhetoric and practice, especially around issues of justice, immigration, and diversity, and offers a candid look at the emotional and spiritual cost of being marginalized in faith-based spaces.

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In this episode, Johnna & Jay introduce a new four-part series investigating The Austin Stone Church in Austin, Texas. Joined by Board member Emily, they discuss the church’s influential role in evangelical culture, its connections to Acts 29 and the SBC, and a troubling pattern of abuse, cover-ups, and systemic harm within its leadership and programs. The episode highlights the church’s public image versus its internal realities, and previews the survivor stories that will follow in the coming weeks.

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In this episode, Jay and Johnna debrief the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. They discuss why Johnna chose to attend alone, the deaths of two high-profile survivors—Jennifer Lyell and Duane Rollins—and the emotional and physical toll survivor advocacy has taken. They reflect on the SBC’s failure to follow through on promised reforms, the lack of accountability, and the ongoing harm caused by the institution’s refusal to meaningfully address abuse. The episode also explores the role of power, complicity, and silence within evangelical culture, as well as the broader implications for churches and Christian communities across the country.

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This episode examines the legacy of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and draws a clear line from that policy to other moments of systemic injustice in American history—slavery, Japanese internment, discriminatory policing, and modern ICE raids. Through historical analysis and personal reflection, Jay challenges the narrative of American exceptionalism, exposes the role of the white church in reinforcing inequality, and confronts the systems that sustain white supremacy.

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Mollie Callahan, spiritual director and seminary student, joins to discuss the misuse of church discipline, its harmful impact, and how scripture has often been misapplied in these situations. She examines 1 Corinthians 5, Matthew 18, and stories like the woman caught in adultery, Zacchaeus, and the woman at the well to reframe church discipline through the lens of Jesus’ compassion, agency, and pursuit of the hurting.

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In this episode, Joyce shares her story of involvement in a PCA church in Florida and how her experience of marriage, faith, and community unfolded over more than a decade. She describes the early support her family received, her deep investment in church life, and how that shifted when she began raising concerns about her marriage. Joyce outlines the church’s response, her efforts to seek counseling, the process of pursuing divorce, and the consequences that followed, including church discipline. This episode examines how systems designed for accountability can fail those in crisis and how theological frameworks can impact the choices survivors feel they’re allowed to make. An update on Joyce’s situation is shared at the end of the episode.

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In this “At the Bus Stop” episode, Dr. Jared Stacy, a theologian and ethicist, joins Johnna and Jay to unpack the link between conspiracy theories, Christian nationalism, and the culture of abuse within white evangelical spaces. Drawing from his personal experience and academic research, Jared explores how storytelling shapes power, how conspiracy theories thrive in religious communities, and why many churches prioritize maintaining societal structures over faithful witness. The conversation also delves into the dehumanizing effects of disinformation, the role of the church in rural America, and what it means to follow Jesus in a moment of cultural and political disreality. Jared’s upcoming book offers language and insight for those wrestling with these complex dynamics.

Jared’s Substack: (19) The Homeward Dispatches | Jared Stacy | Substack

More from Jared: https://linktr.ee/jstacy

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