Saints Unscripted Podcast

Danielle Calder from Our Mother in Heaven on Instagram joins Jake on the podcast to talk about Heavenly Mother!

In this full conversation, Jake talks to Stephen about his faith feeling diminished after struggling to reconcile God's character to the Mormon Priesthood and Temple ban from 1852 to 1978. Jake asks questions such as, is it ok to say leaders of the church got things wrong?  Stephen also talks about his experience playing Elijah Abel in the new feature film "Greenflake" coming out soon about an enslaved pioneer who lead the first handcart team into the Salt Lake Valley.   How did those early black saints do it? We talk about that in this episode.

Terryl Givens joins the SU Podcast with Jake to talk about his and his wife's, Fiona Givens, newest book, "All Things New!" Jake one day several months ago, found himself reading their book, and in chapter 5, Jake read that in the race of life so to speak, God isn't at the finish line waiting to see if we'll cross it, or that He'll deny or grant us the "winning cup." He is running the race with us.   

After Jake read that, he knew he had to get Terryl or Fiona on the podcast.   

Here is the full conversation. Jake asks what a relationship with God looks like when going through a faith crisis. What the relationship can be, and what it might look like. Will the relationship with God be different as a result? Is that a scary thing?

In this clip from a conversation with Stephen Jones about the Mormon Temple and Priesthood Ban, Jake asks him how we can deal with it, seeing how a lot of the historical figures, Greenflake, Elijah Abel and Jane Manning James dealt with it.   His answer is Jesus. He asks the question, "You don't think Christ can redeem it?"

In this clip from the conversation with Jake and Terryl Givens, Jake asks Terryl about a quote in his and his wife, Fiona Givens' newest book, "All Things New: Rethinking Sin, Salvation and Everything In Between," from chapter 5. Jake briefly talks about how it refers to God as running the race with us in this life. And of course, Terryl gives an amazing answer.

In this clip taken from the full interview with Stephen Jones about Race and the priesthood and temple ban, Stephen talks about his experience as an actor playing Elijah Abel. Jake asks how you can stay faithful and hopeful in a church and gospel that historically has been perceived as racist? And spoiler alert, but Jesus is always the answer!

Brian, history's transparanciest, comes back on the podcast to talk about his research over the past several years on the Book of Mormon. In this episode, Brian talks about an 'Author Gap' where he analyzes Joseph Smith's documented oratory and compositional writing skills in 1829, and what skills an author would actually need to produce a book such as the Book of Mormon.  

That's the gap.   

Brian will take you through and expound upon the truth of the Book of Mormon, while also adding an intellectual support for testimony.

Are we using the wrong wording for 'faith crisis?'

In this episode, we tell several funny but a little off-color and irreverent stories about historical church leaders and prophets. This episode is meant to show the human side of these great men and help us relate to them a bit more. If these people, who were called of God, could make mistakes and still hold their calling, then maybe we can extend a little bit of grace toward them and give them the benefit of the doubt that they were trying their best.  This episode features stories about Parley P. Pratt, Joseph Smith, Morris Phelps, King Follett, David O. McKay, Thomas S. Monson, and of course, J. Golden Kimball. You'll hear stories about escaping prison, breaking bones, swearing over the pulpit, peeing across a river, speeding on the road and nearly setting an entire canyon on fire.

At last! An episode about the Book of Mormon from the SU Podcast! Jake has been waiting for this since the beginning of season 1! Tyler Griffin joins Jake to talk about how the Book of Mormon can act as an anchor in your faith! Jake shares how this amazing book has kept him in his faith even though many other things in Jake's faith and in his life seemed to be failing.   

Tyler has many insights and experience with the Book of Mormon, having taught it for over 20 years along with other ancient scripture. He helps bolster Jake's faith in the Book of Mormon and helps him understand the phenomenon of the power of the book to anchor us in the body of Christ. Jake asks questions such as, What is the hardest obstacle to overcome when believing in the Book of Mormon? How can the Book of Mormon help me come closer to Christ? Why worship in an institution when I feel like I can worship God in my own way?  

Stick around for a special insight at the end of the episode where Tyler gives personal experience on how the Book of Mormon has helped him become a better disciple of Jesus Christ.