Saved by the City

Why is it a tough time to be a pastor? Let's count the ways: a pandemic, a racial justice uprising, an insurrection, hyper partisanship in the pews, cataclysmic global wars. This is not to mention all the normal pulpit pressures, like blurry boundaries, pastoral care, complaining stakeholders, etc, etc. etc. Being a pastor is hard y'all! That's why Katelyn and Roxy wanted to talk with seasoned New York pastor, Rich Villodas, who has been pastoring an incredibly diverse church in Queens for 16 years. We wanted to hear what unique pressures pastors face and how congregants can offer true support.

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Of course there's one for women, too.

In this episode, Katelyn joins Tyler to discuss Captivating, John and Stasi Eldredge's attempt to do Wild at Heart for girls. We dig into the flipside of the evangelical gender binary of the early '00s to explore what the Christian Macho Man playbook meant for all the damsels they were supposed to be rescuing. Also: quite a bit more Lord of the Rings content than we expected! 

APOCRYFUN returns, now as a monthly series as part of the expanding Saved By the City Auditory Multiverse! On each episode of this show, we talk about a popular, influential — or at least lucrative — Christian book from the 90s or 2000s (you know, our era). We discuss how the book shaped American Christianity, our own personal faith journeys, and how it has aged in our current dystopian Christian Nationalist hellscape.

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A dozen religion journalists walk into a karaoke bar...

On this episode, Katelyn and Roxy bring you all the hot takes from the world of Religion News Association. And believe you me, there are some real spicy stories to tell. We've got Julie Roys, from the Roys Report, talking investigative reporting on scandalous religion. Kate Shellnutt, of Christianity Today, with a daring provocation. And Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, professor of religion at Northeastern University, delivering the receipts on Eastern Orthodoxy in the manosphere.

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A synod on synodality? Sign us up!

For the past three years, the global Catholic Church has been undergoing a period of discernment. One of the main issues of contention? Women's ordination.

Given our interest in women's leadership in Protestant churches, we've been very curious how that conversation happens on the Catholic side. And now that we seem to have some clarity on where the Church will land on the issue, at least in the near term, we wanted to have RNS's Vatican reporter, Claire Giangravé, give us the inside scoop.

Plus, some popcorn with the pope.

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Limits. Schlimits.

On this episode, Katelyn and Roxy have a lot to discuss. Like how a certain subset of evangelical Christians decided purity culture was for the birds and swapped it for "real American beauty" (aka: big boobs, apparently?). Or how the KJV is the best complement to the American Constitution (ironic, no?). 

But, really, we're here to talk limits — and why we're embracing them — with friend and author, Micha Boyett. 

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Micha Boyett is an author, youth pastor, podcaster and Down syndrome advocate. She is the author of the new book "Blessed Are the Rest of Us: How Limits and Longing Make Us Whole" and host of the podcast "The Slow Way" and co-host of "The Lucky Few."

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Do you think you’d like the person your parents picked for you?

Parents being a part of the dating or courting or marriage process is a pretty old idea that has a history in most cultures. But we’ve dropped it almost completely in the U.S. in favor of finding true love ourselves. In fact, our families — and our churches and our communities and our friends — mostly avoid meddling in our dating lives at all. When did dating get so anonymous? And what have we lost along the way? Those are the questions Katelyn and Roxy tackle in this week’s episode. And they’re joined by Richa Karmarkar, RNS’s Hinduism reporter, who gives a little peek into the revival of Indian matchmaking in the diaspora — with an American twist.

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This episode, Katelyn and Roxy are joined by the GOAT, the legend who arguably started the spiritual podcasting genre, the longtime host of On Being, Krista Tippett. This wide-ranging conversation lingers on some of the more salient questions of our time: What is the role of faith in a technological era? Does religion only divide? How can spiritual practices make a difference in a world that needs action?

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Another year. Another election heckscape.

Would you talk politics on a first date? Nope. No, definitely not. What about on a 10th? Heck no. In this economy? Americans are not happy with the political landscape at the moment and the general mood going into the 2024 election is, to put it mildly, dread. We're exhausted and this presidential race is a rinse and repeat cycle that it seems no one really wants. On this episode, Katelyn and Roxy wade into the shark infested waters of partisan politics — and, we ask, did we go wrong somewhere? Author Michael Wear joins us to say: yes, we did. But maybe not where you think. Wear challenges us to a more soulful politics that, gasp, takes Christianity seriously.

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Maybe the real soulmates are the friends we met along the way.

As marriage has become the end-all, be-all relationship, friendships have been relegated to the "nice to have" category. But at a time when loneliness is being labeled an epidemic, we wonder if this paradigm hasn't stranded us all on islands of our own making. Katelyn and Roxy look at the significant role friendships have played in our lives — especially as single adult women — and ask how we can continue to cultivate intentional community. We are joined by Laura Tremaine (whose husband is definitely not her best friend) for a look at how different types of friends can contribute to our lives (and us to theirs!). Plus, the 10 things we learned about friendship from TV shows set in NYC.

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We're all living inside the code.

On this episode, Katelyn and Roxy recount their brushes with the evangelical bro code — that malignant workplace milieu of religion mixed with patriarchy mixed with entitlement. We discuss the nearly two hundred responses women sent to Katelyn on the topic and unpack the Three B's of the Evangelical Bro Code: Breadwinner Bias, The Billy Graham Rule and Bullying. In the end, we wonder: should women even work in male-led evangelical spaces? Is it worth it?

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