This week the podcast has a new name and an expanded audience. Welcome to "Jeff & Amy At the Well!" Jeff Slater is the pastor of Trinity United Methodist and Amy is Pastor of South Gate UMC in Lincoln, Nebraska. Get to know them both by way of their "call stories." Pastors always seem to have a story of God calling them, but the real truth is that they're just more practiced at talking about it. We are ALL called, though rarely do our journeys look the same. Listen in and use the links below to share your story with us!

trinitylincoln.org

southgateumc.org

It's embedded in our songs, our cultural understanding, and encoded in the text of our faith. But what is the deal with the cross and the death of Jesus? Did Jesus really have to die? And did God really orchestrate that - demand it even? Tune in to hear Pastor Jeff and Jodi-Renee talk about they "why" of the cross and tackle the question "Did God really kill Jesus?"

Be sure to check out Jeremy Miller's fabulous overview of Atonement Theory at Hacking Christianity: Primer on Atonement Theories

JR's recommended reading on the topic: Tony Jones' book "Did God Kill Jesus? Searching for Love in History's Most Famous Execution.

Additional music by Mark Fosson. Used under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.

Following up to last week's episodes on "what about demons" - Pastor Jeff and Jodi-Renee dive in to the second part of the question that came from Sharla: what about ghosts? And haunted houses? Be they spooky or nostalgic, we all have an interesting relationship with the other side. Does this have room in Christian theology? Maybe more than you think...listen in to find out!

Do you have a ghost story? Or a haunted space story? Tell us in the comments!

Additional music by Monplaisir, licensed under a Creative Commons CC-0 license. 

And special thanks again to Greg Simon who takes on the very creative editing on this podcast. (And yes, we know it wasn't Steven Spielberg who did Star Wars. Sorry, Mr. Lucas!)

Do you love movies like the Exorcist? How about Paranormal Activity? Well, even if you don't (that would be Jodi-Renee), demons and the personification of evil have long been a part of the Christian story. This week, a listener asked Pastor Jeff and Jodi-Renee about their thoughts on demons - the kind of Biblical lore and the kind that evoke images of pea soup. We want to hear your thoughts and stories about demons! Share with us in the comments here or write to us at [email protected]

Additional music at the outro by the Waco Brothers, licensed under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Additional music provided by Fesliyan Studios. More info at fesliyanstudios.com.

Pastor Jeff had his own question for the podcast this week. In the midst of all that's going on the world and in our own communities, important questions are rising to the surface. And in the places that it intersects with faith, things can get really murky and interesting. This week, Pastor Jeff posed the question "Does everyone have free will?" - more specifically does everyone have the fullness of free will in the same way? Or do things like poverty, systemic injustice, and generational trauma affect our choices? Tune in to hear more on this interesting and important topic.

You can always send your comments and questions to [email protected] and we'll get back to you!

If you'd like to find out more about the ACE test, you can take the test and learn more at npr. org and the CDC website:

Take the ACE Quiz and Learn What it Does and Doesn't Mean - NPR

CDC's ACE Study Website - with preventative resources

Pastor Jeff mentioned the podcast featuring Father Greg Boyle. Check it out here! Managing Leadership Anxiety: Yours and Theirs

Father Boyle presented a Ted Talk on Compassion and Kinship. You can watch it here.

As usual, thanks to Greg Simon for the production of this week's podcast. Send us your thoughts and questions!

A listener sent in a question on one of Jodi-Renee's favorite topics to talk about: The Enneagram! The question: Is the Enneagram a useful tool for spirituality? And Pastor Jeff and Jodi-Renee had to ask "is any personality test good for spiritual development?" In a world where you can take an online quiz to discover what kind of cheese you are or the color of your aura, how do we approach personality and the soul?

Want to discover your Enneagram type? Take the free test here: https://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/dotest

Jodi-Renee's reading rec for this episode: The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron

Outro music: “The Way I Roll” by Expendable Friend, licensed free under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

If you really need to know what cheese you are, you can find that quiz here: https://www.buzzfeed.com/ksbrsig/what-brand-of-cheese-are-you-ej0m725qi5

It's another interesting week here in the offices at Trinity UMC in Lincoln. This weeks questions seemed to tag team in the most thoughtful way. Pastor Jeff and Jodi-Renee ruminate on the idea of prayer -- if it works, what is it, how do we do it which led to question two: the use of hallucinogenics in spiritual practice. You definitely don't want to miss this week's episode of Ask Pastor Jeff Anything!

We're going for the big questions now! Sara wrote in to ask about sin: what is it? We don't really talk about it in the mainline churches and we never stop talking about it low-church and congregational circles. So what's up with it? Pastor Jeff and Jodi-Renee start to unpack the top layers of this question in this episode of Ask Pastor Jeff Anything.

Thanks for Dr. Greg Simon for providing the "Bringin' in the Sheaths" revival tune as well as editing and producing our eccentric and excited thoughts.

We'd love to hear your response! Join the conversation here or over on Facebook!

This week's question was timely and an interesting topic for all of us. In light of so many things going on the world and the Church's reputation for being both a force of good and of ill, what is the role the Church should take in political stance and action? Listen in as Pastor Jeff and Jodi-Renee cram in a lot of thought into their thirty minute conversation on this provocative and important topic.

This week, Niki sent in a great question about reincarnation and really digging down to this: Can I believe in more than one path to God and still call myself a Christian? Pastor Jeff and Jodi-Renee dove right in and had some interesting (and sometimes humorous) conversation on these two connected topics.

As usual, we want to thank the TUMC worship band for the bumper music and Dr. Greg Simon for his editing and production.

If you're curious to explore more about this topic, check out one of JR's favorite writers on the topic: David Bentley Hart. You can find her favorite book of his on this topic here: That All Shall Be Saved

Make sure to send us your questions! [email protected]