Life on Side B

Grant talks with artist Joel Briggs about creativity and storytelling in art and how they all help us live with resilience. Joel Briggs is a fine arts painter based in San Diego, California. He works predominantly in contemporary figurative representational oil painting. His work currently explores the intersection of traditional religious symbolism with the present-day embodied experiences of shame and sexuality. His work can be found on Instagram @joelbriggspaints

In this episode, Elizabeth sits down with our good friends Adelynn and Ben to talk about their experiences of faith and gender as trans Christians. They discuss transitioning, dysphoria, the trans feminine experience and what they would love to see change in the trans conversation occurring in Christian faith communities. 

Important note for those new to the trans conversation: Side B is a theological view specifically on sexual ethics and marriage, not gender identity. Therefore Side B Christians have diverse views on gender identity and trans Christians in Side B spaces express their gender in diverse ways. Conversations like these are important opportunities for our cisgender listeners and community members to take a posture of humility and listen. 

This week's episode topic was picked by our patrons. Josh and Ashley are talking with Keifer Lucchi, a missionary in Central Europe, and Jesse White, a university student preparing to go into missions in East Asia. From navigating missions organizations to cultural contexts, all four of them share about their experiences in missions from Latin America to Europe to Asia. Thank you to our patrons who chose this topic!

Art Pereira is back and talking with Elizabeth about the committed friendships in his life. Elizabeth also shares about important committed friendships in her life as well. What does commitment look like in friendship especially when it is with a friend who is or plans to marry? What does resilience look like in relationships? 

Johana Marie Williams has returned to the podcast to talk with Bekah and Grant about processing doubt and deconstruction. Deconstruction especially has been a main topic of discussion recently. So how do we engage this discussion around faith and sexuality? What do we do when we find ourselves in the midst of a time of deconstruction? Listen now to hear our cohosts and Johana Marie share from their experiences.

Mary, our cohost from Season 2, is BACK! She has returned home to Life on Side B to talk with Ashley, Grant, and Josh about how we engage with queer media as Side B Christians. What media most impacted us? How do we engage it when our values are different? What counts as queer baiting? This episode gets a little unhinged but we hope you enjoy this special Pride month episode.

This episode has been a long time coming. Grant talks with Collin, Michelle, and Will about asexuality and grey sexuality. They cover various aspects of their experiences as ace Christians pursuing celibacy. 

Paolo Errico joins Josh this week to talk about sexual integrity. How does it differ from sexual purity? How does the closet work against the process of integrity in queer lives? How do we restore integrity when our lives begin to compartmentalize? Paolo and Josh share vulnerably from each of their experiences pursuing sexual integrity and we hope it can be helpful for you all. 

Here are the books that were mentioned in the episode:

• The Deeply Formed Life by Rich Villodas

This is a conversation we have been looking forward to for a long time. Many of you know of Jackie Hill Perry. Today, Elizabeth, Henry and Ashley are sitting down with her to talk about her newest book, Holier Than Thou, plus the intersection of faith and sexuality and how she navigates conversations on racial justice.

Lesli is back and talking with Henry and Bekah about grief - grief over the loss of their wife, the loss of sexual intimacy in a life of celibacy, and the pain of church hurt. There is so much wisdom packed in this episode. Lesli shares how embracing grief helps us embrace God.