Never Perfect Faith

In this deeply honest episode of Never Perfect Faith, Dr. Beth sits down with Doug Lynam, a former Marine, former monk, financial advisor, and spiritual thinker—to talk about doubt, deconstruction, spiritual trauma, and rebuilding faith from the ground up.

Doug shares his journey from evangelical Christianity to agnosticism, from the Marines to 20 years in a Catholic monastery—and the painful unraveling that followed. Together, Dr. Beth and Doug explore unhealthy or toxic Christianity, spiritual ego, tribalism, and why faith must mature beyond rigid rule-following if it’s going to survive real life.

They also talk about the dark night of the soul, projection, judgment, grace, and how spiritual growth often follows the pattern: order → disorder → reorder.

This conversation is thoughtful, vulnerable, and refreshingly nuanced.

In this episode, you’ll learn

How spiritual trauma and abuse can distort our image of God

What “sin” originally meant—and why that’s actually hopeful

How we project our parental wounds onto God

The difference between tribal religion and mature spirituality

Why deconstruction doesn’t have to mean abandoning faith

How prayer, nature, contemplation, and gratitude can reconnect us

What it means to move from believing in God “out there” to experiencing God “within”

If you’ve ever felt disillusioned by Christians… hurt by the church… or confused by your own doubts, this episode is a reminder that faith isn’t about perfection, performance, or pretending certainty.

It’s a journey.And sometimes falling apart is the most faithful step forward.

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What happens when you pray for years without an answer—and then God responds over lunch?

In this episode of Never Perfect Faith, an unplanned Saturday morning hospital visit turns into a deeply meaningful conversation with Dick Crotteau—a beloved friend, Air Force veteran, husband, father, and man of deep faith. Recovering from strokes and surgery, Dick shares stories from nearly 85 years of life, reflecting on what he calls his “final approach,” a term drawn from his Air Force days that now carries profound meaning in this later chapter of life.

You’ll hear about decades of service with adoption ministries like Bethany Christian Services, an unexpected calling into prison ministry, and mentoring a man released after 27 years in prison with nothing but a single box and a hopeful smile. Dick also shares his love of contemplation, the practice of slowing down, noticing God’s presence in creation, and even using the stars to navigate—a beautiful metaphor for how faith can guide us when we take the time to look up.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

How faith and service can unfold in unexpected ways.

The quiet power of stillness, reflection, and noticing God in everyday life.

That wisdom, purpose, and spiritual growth can deepen with age.

Why the most meaningful conversations often happen in imperfect, unplanned moments.

This episode is a reminder that God invites us into love, service, and presence in many ways—sometimes through action, sometimes through silence, and sometimes simply by being together.

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Dr. Beth’s father Dr. Jack Muller (retired professor of sociology) passed away in August 2025, leaving behind a legacy of "imperfect faith" that touched everyone from college students to inmates at Walker State Prison to the elderly at Thrive at Brow Wood.

In this heartfelt and humor-filled episode of Never Perfect Faith, we sit down with two of “Diamond Jack’s” closest friends and colleagues: Dr. Ray Clark (professor and minister) and Dr. Ed Salter (minister). Together, they reflect on the life of a man who devoted his life to teaching and encouraging his students at a Covenant College, but after his retirement, he found ways to use his gifts of faithfulness and encouragement to serve his community in various ways. He wanted to spend his entire life, even when he was physically unwell, serving his Lord and Savior and loving God’s people, whether it was mentoring prisoners, co-facilitating a support group at a nursing home, calling to check on friends who were sick or grieving, and being known as the cookie man. He even brought meals to people in his late 70s, even though his culinary skills were not his strong point.

Ray and Ed share intimate (and often hilarious) stories that paint a portrait of a man who was as frugal as he was generous, and as witty as he was humble. Join us as we celebrate a life of someone who was changed by God’s love which is “ so amazing, so divine, it demands my soul, my life, my all.”

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About a year ago, Dr. Beth’s father  took her to hear Lilli Meier speak at the Thrive Senior Living community on Lookout Mountain, GA, where he volunteered up until the time of his death August 25, 2025.  He suggested that Beth interview her to hear about her story and her book….so this is the culmination of his sweet suggestion. Lilli was born in Cuba in 1949, which she describes as an idyllic paradise before Fidel Castro took over and imposed a totalitarian system on this beautiful country. Lilli shares about her trauma and grief she had to endure when school-aged kids were forced to do a morning chant every day, “We are pioneers for Communicatism and we will all be Chegavada.” She adds,  “Our family had a hard time for a long time and Catholicism felt robotic.”

She and her family left her beloved country in 1961 to go to America and she wasn’t able to return for a visit until 2008.  She said “America will always be the beacon of freedom.” Lilli shares how her faith sustained her through all of this, saying, “ I found my freedom in Christ.” She adds,  “God takes a lot from us sometimes and we have to hold on to him. “

To order her book CLICK HERE

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Today Dr. Carol Stoney, Beth’s most frequent (and very likely one of the most popular ) podcast guests returns to the show to talk about marriage. She likes to encourage married couples to ask themselves the question regularly: “ Why did we get  married?” Like when things get hard  or when transitions happen, she urges them to sit down and have a conversation “What’s our purpose?” Sometimes couples have change their mission, she said.

Dr. Stoney stated “I don’t care what couples are fighting about, I care what they are fighting FOR“ “What is the mission and the purpose and the reason you are staying together?”

In essence, it is important for couples to know and remember what it is they are trying to achieve and what stands in the way (or threatens) what it is that they are trying to recover to achieve that goal they never knew they had.

She urges couples to consider, why is this so important to me? What is it that we’re fighting for?

To hear more episodes with Dr. Stoney, go to your favorite podcast platform and Google Never Perfect Dr. Stoney

To learn more about her, you can go to healingforcouples.com

Listen to this episode and more: ⁠⁠neverperfect.org⁠⁠ Follow us on instagram ⁠⁠@neverperfectpodcast⁠⁠

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Many of us who experienci significant pain and suffering, may start to doubt that God is still taking care of us and still loves us and still wants to give us good things . Sometimes we doubt that he is doing good things for us personally, even when we know that he is good globally. Many of us also think that we need to clean ourselves up before we can approach God and turn to him, or return to him after a period of withdrawal or retreat. We also forget that we don’t have to be good enough because he is good enough. When we cling to him, we need to be reminded that him clinging to us is the thing that we can really count on Today beth shares the highlights of an amazing sermon on the book of Ruth by Dr. Mary Willson Hannah.

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Today’s episode is dedicated to Pastor Roger Gulick, who passed away March 21. He left a wonderful legacy which you can hear about on the last episode which was published February 13.

Today Beth shares her journey of faith and her frequent struggle to tune into God and His Word, oftentimes going through the motions in a rote way, because she wants others to learn from her regrets and missed opportunities of knowing God and engaging with him in a deeper way. She encourages the listeners to find creative ways to engage with God and scripture, using their own unique minds and learning styles, whether that be through studying Scripture, creating art or poetry that represents biblical truths, Bible Studies, topical studies, etc. she emphasizes the importance of the Holy Spirit as a “tutor “or “illuminator” of Scripture. She shares strategies she has discovered to study the Bible in a more engaging an interactive way. see below for links to Bible Gateway and to some of the books Beth mentioned.

See below for links to Bible Gateway and to some of the books Beth mentioned.

Bible Gateway HERE

Also, If you’d like to check out, Laura Pettit’s art, her website HERE   

Instagram is @Laurapettitfineart

Bible study on Philippians HERE

Daily devotional HERE

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At the age of 86 and only six days after moving into an assisted living facility because of terminal cancer, Roger Gulick has agreed to share his life story with us today. Roger and his wife Joy have been in ministry, for more than 50 years. He and his wife Joy have been married for over 60 years, and their life has been quite the adventure, whether that was pastoring one of the churches in four different states, or traveling around the world ministering to pastors and their families for 17 years. Up until his college years, Roger believed that being a nice person would get him to heaven because he felt like he was “nicer” then 93% of the population. When someone explained to him that Christ did for him what he couldn’t do for himself (ie, live a perfect life) and gave himself up for him, his whole life changed and he has devoted the rest of his life to ministry. Joy has published a couple of books and she will soon be a guest on Never Perfect Faith as well. Attached is a beautiful song written 119 years ago that echoes the sentiments shared today, entitled “He Will Hold Me Fast”

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How many youth have been able to wrestle with the question: “ What does God want me to do with my life?”

Annette and Tim Gulick have devoted much of their lives traveling the world to help Youth (and adults who work with Youth organizations) discover who God created them to be and what their highest purpose is. They explain that Jesus gives shape to all of reality and to who we are and what we are meant to do, much like gravity gives planets their shape. Allowing Christ to shape you can fit into reality. After many years of doing this work and writing several books, Annette decided to write “Aligned: Flourishing in a World of Choice”, summarizing the principles that she and her husband Tim had been teaching for so many years. The book and workbook includes activities to help readers discover what it means to live a more fruitful life. The Gulicks were also recently on Beth‘s mental health podcast called Aligned and Flourishing on December 31, 2024. Check it out HERE

To learn more about Annette’s book, go to HERE

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Hollee Brock has a passion for living, holistically, and healing holistically. As a Christian and licensed Energy 4Life practitioner, she lives out her philosophy that “faith and science should not be separated.” While raising her six children ( now young adults) she studied and practiced a variety of things, including dance and earthing, and is currently using somatic techniques called bioenergetics. In her work, Hollee

takes a bioenergetic approach to health and wellbeing by working with the energy and information of the body system, understanding that they are the control center that drives our biology and chemistry. Today she shares part of her fascinating journey with us. Hollee also has a podcast called Along the Camino at Basecamp.

You can find her podcast at HERE

Or learn more about her practice at wellnesscornerchattanooga.com

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