Today, Zach W. Lambert and I talk about embracing an expansive Christianity.

Zach W. Lambert (he/him) is the lead pastor and founder of Restore, a church in Austin, Texas. Under his leadership, Restore has grown from a launch team of five people in 2015 to more than one thousand members today. He holds a master of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary and is pursuing his doctorate at Duke Divinity School. Zach is the cofounder of the Post Evangelical Collective and serves on the boards of the Austin Church Planting Network and the Multi-Faith Neighbors Network. Zach and his wife, Amy, met each other in the sixth grade, fell in love at seventeen, and got married at twenty-one. They love watching live music, discovering local Mexican food places, and playing with their two boys.

You can preorder Better Ways to Read the Bible wherever you buy books. Follow Zach on all the socials and on Substack @zachwlambert. When in doubt, find any and all info on his website, zachwlambert.org. (Hi, I said the wrong url in the outro. This one is correct!) 

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Today, Ray Low and I talk about welcoming diverse perspectives on the Bible.

Pastor Ray graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree and is currently serving in New York City as Director of Community Engagement and Spiritual Formation at Kaleidoscope, a local and multiethnic ministry that exists to bridge the gap between the Church and the LGBTQ+ community through missional and pastoral care.

Support Kaleidoscope's Jesus at Pride campaign by becoming a one-time or monthly donor at kaleidoscopeusa.org. Follow Kaleidoscope on socials @kaleidoscope.usa 

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Today, Nia Chiatamonte is back on Found Family to talk about her new memoir, I Hardly Knew Me: Following Love, Faith, and Skittles to a Transgender Awakening. 

Nia Chiaramonte (she/her), with her wife Katie J. Chiaramonte, is the co-founder of Love in the Face and co-author of Embracing Queer Family. Nia and Katie work to support other transgender and LGBTQIA+ individuals and their families on their journeys of self-discovery. She and Katie were featured in the Hulu documentary We Live Here. Nia is a nonprofit professional, and she and Katie reside near Baltimore, Maryland with their five children.

You can preorder I Hardly Knew Me wherever you buy books, and there's still time to join the launch team! Just DM Nia on the 'gram @finding.nia and she'll tell you the next steps. Be sure to give Nia a follow while you're there. 

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Today, Karen González and I talk about practicing generosity without a savior complex.

Karen González (she/her) is a speaker, writer, storyteller, and immigrant advocate, who herself immigrated from Guatemala as a child. Karen is a former public school teacher and attended Fuller Theological Seminary, where she studied theology and missiology. For the last 17 years, she has been a non-profit professional. She wrote a book about her own immigration story and some of the immigrants found in the Bible: The God Who Sees: Immigrants, The Bible, and the Journey to Belong (Herald Press, May 2019). Karen’s second book is Beyond Welcome: Centering Immigrants in our Christian Response to Immigration (Brazos Press, October 2022). She also has bylines in Sojourners, Christianity Today, The Christian Century, and others. Karen lives in Washington DC with her cats, Oscar and Trudi.

You can follow Karen on Instagram @_karenjgonzalez. Her books, Beyond Welcome and The God Who Sees, are available wherever you get books. Here's the link to the Substack piece Karen and I discussed at the top of the episode, "At Home in My Country." 

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Today, Matt Nightingale and I talk about why we need queer only spaces for spiritual conversations. 

Matt Nightingale (he/him) is a pastor, musician, speaker, writer, and spiritual director from San Francisco’s North Bay Area. He is the founder and executive director of Common Sanctuary, and co-pastor of a progressive American Baptist church called The Quest.

As a gay Christian, Matt is passionate about the intersection of sexuality and spirituality, and he works to create safe, sacred spaces for people exploring these identities. His TEDx talk, “Choosing Gratitude and Hope,” with his former wife, Luanne Nightingale, tells their story of a mixed-orientation marriage, an evolving understanding of faith and sexuality, and the choice to divorce with gratitude and hope.

Matt is the husband of Alejandro and the father of four adult children. 

You can find Matt on socials @mattnightingale. Check out all the resources Matt mentioned on his website, mattnightingale.com, and commonsanctuary.org. 

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Today, Eugene Kim and I talk about practicing mutuality in church communities. 

Eugene Kim (he/him) is an ordained minister with over 25 years of experience in local church ministry. However, recognizing the need to rethink traditional models, he discerned the need to step beyond the familiar in order to reimagine how we do “church” from the ground up. So, Eugene left his pastoral role in 2020 and founded New Wine Collective—a church innovation think tank and R&D lab.

 Eugene’s passions lie in systemic change and designing new ways of being the Church that can help heal the world and give everyone a place to belong. He currently serves as Executive Director of the Wild Fig Network, an emerging relational network for ministers and ministries looking for an alternative to traditional denominational structures. 

 Eugene grew up in Queens, NY and Seoul, Korea, and now lives in the Boston area. He loves hanging out with his three children, cooking and enjoying good food, and watching Korean dramas with his wife.

 You can find Wild Fig at wildfig.org. Connect with Eugene on socials @eugenekim. 

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Today, Cara Meredith and I talk about what church camp gets right (and wrong) about community.

Cara Meredith (she/her) is the author of Church Camp: Bad Skits, Cry Night, and How White Evangelicalism Betrayed a Generation (Broadleaf Books, 2025). She is also a sought-after speaker, public theologian, and development director who found home at a church camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains. After serving in various roles, she continued as a speaker for two decades at camps up and down the West Coast. With a master of theology (Fuller Seminary) and a background in education and nonprofit work, she is also the author of The Color of Life. Her writing has been featured in national media outlets such as The Oregonian, The New York Times, The Christian Century, and Christianity Today, among others. She lives with her family in Oakland, California. 

 Church Camp comes out April 29 and is available wherever you buy books. You can follow Cara on socials @carameredithwrites. Check out her Substack and her website, carameredith.com. 

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Today, Rohadi Nagassar and I talk about the challenges of creating the belonging we crave. 

Rohadi (he/him) is a writer predominantly engaging the topics of decolonizing and deconstructing Christianity. Discover Rohadi’s latest book, “When We Belong. Reclaiming Christianity on the Margins.” His podcast on decolonizing Christianity is called: Faith in a Fresh Vibe. Season 11 is now available entitled, “Farewell Evangelicalism”.

 Rohadi has planted three churches including an online church he co-leads called A Beautiful Table. He has also written extensively in the areas of missions and church leadership, including his book, “Thrive. Ideas to lead the church in post-Christendom”.

 Follow Rohadi on socials @rohadi.nagassar. 

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CW: spiritual abuse

Today, Aimee Byrd and I talk about finding the courage to admit we were wrong. 

Aimee (she/her) is an author, speaker, blogger, podcaster and former coffee shop owner. Aimee is the author of several books, including Saving Face, The Hope in Our Scars, Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and Sexual Reformation. Her articles have appeared in First Things, Table Talk, Modern Reformation, By Faith, New Horizons, Ordained Servant, Harvest USA, and Credo Magazine, and she has been interviewed and quoted in Christianity Today and The Atlantic.

As a heads up, we discuss Aimee's experience of spiritual abuse. If that's a tender topic for you, please take care while listening.

NAMI Helpline: call 1-800-950-6264 or text "helpline" to 62640. 

Saving Face is available today wherever books are sold. Check out her Substack at byrdinyourbox.substack.com. 

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Today, Shannon TL Kearns (he/him) and I talk about the complex journey to understand masculinity

A former fundamentalist who became the first openly transgender man ordained to the Old Catholic priesthood, Shannon TL Kearns believes in the transformative power of story. As an ordained priest, a playwright, a theologian, and a writer, all of his work revolves around making meaning through story. He is the co-founder of QueerTheology.com. His first book is In the Margins: A Transgender Man’s Journey With Scripture. He has three books forthcoming: No One Taught Me How To Be A Man: What a trans man's experience reveals about masculinity, Come and See: A Youth Devotional, and Reading the Bible Through Queer Eyes (co-written with Brian G. Murphy).

Shannon was a Humanitas New Voices Fellow for 2022 and was a recipient of the Playwrights’ Center Jerome Fellowship in 20/21 and he was a Lambda Literary Fellow for 2019 (in playwriting) and 2022 (in screenwriting) and a Finnovation Fellow for 2019/2020. He is a sought after speaker on transgender issues and religion as well as a skilled facilitator of a variety of workshops. 

You can follow Shannon on all the socials @shannontlkearns. Preorder No One Taught Me How To Be a Man wherever you buy books. You can join Shannon's newsletter crew on his website, shannontlkearns.com

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